***************************************************************** 02/23/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.42 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 [NYTr] Iran: Sound, Fury and American Amnesia 2 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, Schroeder Denounce Iran Nuclear Aims 3 Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush: talk of strike on Iran 4 The Daily Star: Bush or Bushehr? Russia puts its money on Iran 5 Daily Star: War of words heats up as Iran warns US of pre-emptive st 6 AFP: Kharazi says Iran will continue uranium enrichment - 7 AFP: No foreigners to question disgraced scientist AQ Khan 8 Guardian Unlimited: Top Nuclear Negotiators to Meet in Seoul 9 Korea Herald: S. Korea, U.S., Japan envoys to discuss N.K. nuke issu 10 YWS: U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Meeting Amid Impasse Over N.K.'s Nukes 11 YWS: USFK Chief Concerned over N. Korean Nuclear-tipped Missiles 12 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [OUTLOOK]Blind to the North Korea crisis 13 Korea Times: Kim Jong-il's Wordplay 14 US: [NYTr] Canada Hands US Another Blow on Missile "Defense" 15 US: [NYTr] DU Scandal Behind VA Resignation? 16 US: UCS: President Bush's FY 2006 Budget 17 US: South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Nuclear weapons a long-term danger 18 [du-list] Zero Nuclear Weapons 19 UN Panel Says Multilateral Approach Needed To Keep Nuclear Arms From 20 Bellona: Putin and Bush head to Bratislava for non-proliferation and NUCLEAR REACTORS 21 US: [NukeNet] Bush: Nuclear Power To Cut US Dependence On Foreign 22 US: NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Lifts Immediate Effectiveness 23 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice 24 US: NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; Concerning the Application for 25 US: NRC: Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.; Millstone Power Station 26 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for th 27 US: NRC: Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability 28 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 29 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 30 US: portclintonnewsherald.com: Davis-Besse reported 'clean' - 31 US: toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse still worries NRC 32 Daily Star: Iranian atomic power plant faces more delays 33 Xinhua: Shandong, Jilin opting for nuclear power plants 34 US: Vermont Guardian: Vermont Yankee tells lawmakers it needs more s 35 US: Eureka Reporter: PG&E issues report on ‘lost’ fuel rods 36 US: NRC: NRC, Company to Discuss License Renewal Inspection Conducte NUCLEAR SAFETY 37 uranium study - new health risks 38 Depleted uranium from proposed enrichment plant: Risky and 39 US: IEER/NIRS report finds increased, varied health risk from 40 US: [NukeNet] markey-connection between infant mortality and nukes 41 US: [NYTr] DU Scandal Behind VA Resignation? 42 DU: Crime Against All Species 43 US: 11,000 US soldiers dead from DU poisoning 44 US: [NukeNet] Study Links Infant Mortality to Radiation from 45 Bellona: Russian government developing federal program ”Nuclear and 46 US: Herald Tribune: Feds to pay for beryllium testing 47 US: Times and Democrat: A cancer in terms of public policy' 48 US: IEER: Depleted Uranium Costs and Risks from LES 49 US: herald-dispatch: Secret project leaves sad legacy 50 US: Cape Cod Times: 'Green' munitions linked to cancer 51 Business Centre: Noranda blamed for endangering health of smelter wo 52 US: Hudson Valley News: Some Ulster County Gulf War vets say they ar NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 53 US: Bradenton Herald: Feds expand Tallevast test coverage 54 Las Vegas RJ: NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: Yucca safety discussed 55 Las Vegas SUN: Lawyer: Nevada kept out of Yucca meetings 56 US: New Scientist: Perchlorate found in breast milk across US 57 US: Public Spirit: Nuclear waste dump in Ayer? Maxant makes case in 58 Standard: Kenya: UN warns of nuclear wastes in Somalia waters 59 US: Newsday.com: Cleanup resumes at former nuclear site NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 60 DOE: Office of Nonproliferation Policy; Proposed Subsequent 61 DOE: Penalties for classified information disclosure 62 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridg 63 ABQjournal: Benefits Plan Added to Proposed LANL Contract 64 ABQjournal: LANL Scientists Look for Possible Paths of Water 65 DenverPost.com: Rocky Flats workers deserve federal help 66 Newsweek: Vegas: Blast From the Past 67 Daily Herald: Fermilab looking to trim staff 68 DenverPost.com: Safety concerns linger at Flats 69 lamonitor.com: LANL contract extension asked by NNSA 70 lamonitor.com: Energy secretary to visit OTHER NUCLEAR ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] Iran: Sound, Fury and American Amnesia Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:42:56 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by John Clancy The Guardian Weekly 2005-02-11, page 13 Sound and fury over Iran America seems to have a case of amnesia about the theory of mutually assured destruction by Peter Preston Winston Churchill, as usual, gave the policy a floridly eloquent gloss. Britain, he said, 50 years ago, must reach that happy condition "where safety will be the sturdy child of terror, and survival the twin brother of annihilation". He was talking about mutually assured destruction, or MAD -- the theory of nuclear deterrence that dominated the second half of the 20th century and, uncountable billions of dollars later, kept us supposedly safe from obliteration. If our enemy had a bomb and we had a bomb, then neither of us could use it because we'd both be dead in an instant. And, at least in a negative way, that seemed to work, because the only bombs anyone dropped -- on Hiroshima and Nagasaki -- were Uncle Sam's message to non-nuclear Japan. MAD was salvation. MAD was security. MAD was the way of life many of us grew up with, the prevailing logic of uneasy peace. So whatever became of our mad, mad world? It isn't that such deterrence is a busted flush. It allegedly brings realism to Indo-Pakistan relations and keeps Russia and China sweet. Many more billions of dollars have been spent on refining it since Ronald Reagan dreamed his "evil empire" dreams and decided that his own version of Star Wars could shrug away the chance of a sneak attack. But now a strange silence reigns. Read George Bush's state of the union address and none of the grand old tunes are there; indeed, just the reverse. We had "outposts of tyranny" -- and Iran "as the world's primary state sponsor of terror". We had that Condoleezza riff on the globe's "most loathed regime". We heard, yet again, that "Tehran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons". We heard nothing about our leaders' ancestral faith in mutual assurance. It is surely worth wondering why. The theory, after all, was never disproved. It appeared, in a flurry of spending, to dispose of the evil empire. It worked between dictatorships and democracies, between Khrushchev and Kennedy. It seemingly works for Islamabad. Why, then, so much sound and fury over Iran, so many threats set aside for the "time being" only? Would a Tehran sandwiched between nuclear Pakistan and nuclear Israel, with nuclear Russia to the north and nuclear America everywhere in the skies above, really pose quite the menae Bush pretends? Of course, it's cheery when countries that could make a bomb renounce that opportunity. Fewer bombs clearly means less risk of accident (or illicit trafficking). Yet sometimes the hysteria involved in prospective proliferation becomes absurd. A bomb of your own can be hugely popular on the streets, as Pakistan and India demonstrate. But it doesn't change anything substantive. The subcontinent has fought itself into a cul de sac anyway. No, the prevailing theory of nuclear deterrence today is different. It sits snugly alongside George W's lectures on democracy rampant. It says that the only real superpower alone can be trusted with its nuclear arsenal, that true safety means leaving everything to the White House. But why on earth should such arguments run in countries like Iran, which have no reason to hail American hegemony? Iran has nuclear enemies all around, as we've seen. Iran may hunger after the respect now accorded to Pakistan. In theory -- old theory -- a Tehran bomb would only complete the regional balancing act. In theory -- old theory -- it would have stopped Saddam launching his hideous war. What's so worrying here? There's an answer, naturally; a Tom Clancy-style spiel featuring terror groups, greedy scientists, berserk mullahs and the rest. Yet, in truth, it's a thin little theme. Is civil nuclear power fading from use? To the contrary, nuclear power is a continuing fact of 21st-century life that many poorer nations in search of development feel obliged to fund. In sum, the current international block on nuclear proliferation isn't going to endure. It didn't stop Islamabad or Delhi. It won't, over time, stop central Asian republics from growing uneasy in their nuclear isolation, ringed by bomb-toting countries -- or Damascus and Tehran from feeling permanently threatened by Israel's bomb. The critical difficulty, of course, is perspective. If you even write about Israel's bomb, you're deluged with emails saying it can never be given up. Never? Not even in the tranquil Middle East of Condoleezza Rice's present imaginings? No, never. It is the final seal on Israel's security. Why don't you Brits give up your bomb first, those Israelis ask angrily. And there's the rub. Britain could do exactly that. Like Germany, Japan, Australia, South Africa, we could walk away. But no British government has the guts. It gives us a certain muzzy status. We don't want to lose our costly comfort blanket in an uncertain world. But nor do we want to ponder the future of the blanket industry. Thinking about such things makes us uneasy. Better to go through imbecile motions -- threatening Iran's Shias, say, just as Iraq's Shias sweep to power over the border -- than contemplate steps to a bomb-free world. Better to demonise Islam further by shivering over an Islamic bomb. In a sense it's almost reassuring to see Moscow and Washington falling out again: twin brothers of annihilation able to snarl but not think afresh, glad to be mad in their crazy cocoon. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 2 Guardian Unlimited: Bush, Schroeder Denounce Iran Nuclear Aims From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 23, 2005 2:01 PM AP Photo MNZ121 By TOM RAUM Associated Press Writer MAINZ, Germany (AP) - President Bush and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder insisted Wednesday that Iran not develop nuclear weapons, and the two discussed tactics on how to coax Tehran into giving up its nuclear ambitions. ``It's vital that the Iranians hear the world speak with one voice that they shouldn't have a nuclear weapon,'' Bush said at a news conference with the German leader. ``Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, for the sake of security and peace.'' Bush and Schroeder remain far apart on the subject of how to make Iran give up any plans it has to build such an arsenal, although both said they agreed that the end result must be a nuclear-arms free Iran. Schroeder sought to play down any differences the United States and Europe have in convincing Iran to abandon its nuclear enrichment program. ``Iran must not have any nuclear weapons,'' Schroeder said. ``They must waive any right to the production thereof.'' The two spoke during Bush's nine-hour stop here during his trip to Belgium, Germany and Slovakia, where the president will meet Thursday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At a round-table meeting with young German people later, Bush said both he and Schroeder have a close relationship with the Russian leader, who is under criticism from the West for rolling back some democratic reforms. ``I expressed some concerns at the European Union yesterday about some of the decisions such as freedom of the press that our mutual friend has made and I look forward to talking with him about his decision-making process,'' Bush said. Bush and Schroeder seemed resigned to accept differences between them on issues such as global warming and Iraq. Germany did not support the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, but Schroeder said, ``That is the past.'' ``Now, our joint interest is that we come to a stable, democratic Iraq,'' Schroeder said. Schroeder noted that while Germany has refused to go into that wartorn nation, it is training Iraqi security officers in the United Arab Emirates. ``We are very much interested in not just continuing with these things, but to also expand on those activities,'' Schroeder said, adding that Germany also would be willing to help the new Iraqi government draft a constitution or set up ministries. Bush thanked Germany for its help in Iraq. ``I appreciated your kind words about Iraq and the need for us to put past differences behind us,'' Bush said. ``I fully understand the limitations of German contributions.'' Bush said Middle East peace was a major focus of their meeting. He vowed that the United States will be heavily involved in helping the Israelis and Palestinians obtain peace. ``Because it is within reach it is vital for all of us to work together to help both parties achieve the two-state solution,'' Bush said. Schroeder agreed, ``I think there is hope today, and even more than hope possibly that we will come to a solution.'' The two remain far apart, however, on Europe's desire to end a 15-year-old arms embargo on China. Bush has said that lifting the embargo, imposed after the bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy activists, would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan. Comments about Iran dominated the news conference that followed their more than hour-long meeting. Schroeder wants both sides to make conciliations, including extending incentives to Iran for dropping its nuclear program. Such incentives would include membership in the World Trade Organization. Bush, in contrast, insists that Tehran must not be rewarded for breaking the nonproliferation treaty that prohibits it from making nuclear fuel. Bush also contends that Iran should not be given any incentives from the West as long as it supports extremist groups inside of Israel, such as Hezbollah, which the United States has placed on its list of groups sponsoring terrorists. ``They were caught enriching uranium,'' Bush said, remaining firm on his insistence that Iran not be rewarded. ``They have breached a contract with the international community. They're the party that needs to be held to account, not any of us,'' he said. Bush also repeated that Syria must remove its forces from Lebanon, noting that the United States and France were seeking a U.N. resolution to force Damascus to do so, following increased tension after last week's assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister. ``The charge is out there for the Syrian government to hear loud and clear,'' Bush said. ``We will see how they respond before there's any further discussions about going back to the United Nations.'' Schroeder welcomed Bush during an arrival ceremony at a 17th century castle in this city on the Rhine River. A light snow fell on the leaders as a military band played the national anthems of each country and they walked a red carpet to review a military honor guard. The two leaders posed with wide smiles for photographs and Bush threw his arm around the chancellor. Security for Bush's visit was so tight that nearly every street in downtown Mainz was closed to traffic and barricaded. Bush also was to visit a museum displaying the world's first printing presses, meet with young German entrepreneurs and address U.S. troops at nearby Wiesbaden Air Base. About 500 people braved wet snow and the heavy security in Mainz protest Bush's visit. A recent AP-Ipsos poll showed overwhelming Germany skepticism of Bush - about four in five Germans say they don't agree with the president's determination to promote democracy around the world. The protesters carried placards reading ``We don't Want your Kind of Peace'' and ``Where Bush Is, There's War'' and ``Wanted Dead or Alive - George 'Dubya' Bush and His Band of Congressmen.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Bush: talk of strike on Iran is ridiculous Nicholas Watt in Brussels Wednesday February 23, 2005 The Guardian [http://www.guardian.co.uk] Europe's fears about an imminent military strike against Iran are "simply ridiculous", the US president, George Bush, declared last night, using blunt language to allay widespread concern about another unilateral attack by the US. As police fired water cannon at hundreds of demonstrators protesting in the centre of Brussels against Mr Bush's visit, the president praised Europe's efforts to persuade Iran to abandon plans to develop nuclear weapons. Mr Bush said he was being offered "good advice" by Europeans: "Great Britain, Germany and France are negotiating with the ayatollahs to achieve our common objective. This notion that the US is getting ready to attack Iran is simply ridiculous. Having said that, all options are on the table." Mr Bush's remarks echoed a setpiece speech on Monday, in which he applauded European diplomacy and made clear that, for the moment, he had no intention of attacking Iran. But his colourful language last night showed that he felt the need to do more to reassure Europeans. Mr Bush experienced at first hand the widespread European anger at his presidency; he could hear protesters as he left the headquarters of the European Council. Police fired water cannon at demonstrators after a petrol bomb landed among police in riot gear, injuring a police officer. Behind a ring of security, European leaders were all smiles as Mr Bush embarked on the most intense day of his trip, with back-to-back summits at the headquarters of Nato and the EU. But the limits of the new transatlantic love-in were highlighted yesterday when Jacques Chirac, the French president, and Mr Bush clashed over China. Mr Bush voiced "deep con cern" about EU plans to lift its arms embargo on China. "There is deep concern in our country that a transfer of weapons would be a transfer of technology to China, which would change the balance of relations between China and Taiwan, and that's of concern," Mr Bush said after the Nato summit. Within minutes of the remarks, Mr Chirac insisted that the embargo was "no longer justified", a message he had delivered over dinner with his US counterpart on Monday night. Mr Chirac, an accomplished English speaker, addressed Mr Bush in French throughout the dinner. Less than 24 hours later, Mr Chirac kicked off yesterday's Nato summit with a lecture on how the US should do more to listen to Europe. He said: "Europe and the United States are true partners, which is why we need dialogue and to listen to each other more." Mr Chirac then threw his weight behind Germany's call for a major overhaul of Nato. Mr Bush made clear that he had doubts about the German plan when he described Nato as the most successful alliance in the history of the world. But he was encouraged when Mr Chirac praised his efforts to create a "real partnership". [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 4 The Daily Star: Bush or Bushehr? Russia puts its money on Iran Thursday, February 24, 2005 Gulf atomic plant back on track By Paul de Zardain Special to The Daily Star Wednesday, February 23, 2005 [Bush or Bushehr? Russia puts its money on Iran] MOSCOW: With a firm handshake from the Kremlin chief, Hassan Rohani concluded his visit to Moscow last Friday. As head of Iran's National Security Council, Rohani made no secret that his meetings were timed ahead of a U.S.-Russia summit in Bratislava this week. A triangulation of interests has emerged in which Russia is keen on bolstering ties with the U.S., while signing defense contracts with Iran. Russian President Vladimir Putin met Rohani's delegation with a broad smile, a signal that work on the Bushehr atomic plant remains on track: "We will continue to cooperate with Iran at all levels, including nuclear energy," a resolute Putin told the Kremlin pool. According to Izvestia, more than 1,500 Russian engineers are scheduled to bring Bushehr online by 2006. Putin restated his conviction that Tehran does not intend to develop nuclear weapons. Next to him at the bargaining table was Aleksandr Rumyantsev, head of Russia's Federal Agency for Atomic Energy. Rumyantsev is expected to sign a protocol in Tehran on Feb. 26 monitoring the return of spent fuels to Siberia. The precautionary measure has not quieted critics who argue that plutonium can easily be extracted from reprocessed fuels. Last September, Iran announced it was resuming large-scale conversion of uranium ore. The debate is now about mastering the whole nuclear cycle, in violation of a 2003 agreement reached with Britain, France and Germany. Although the Islamic Republic holds 9 percent of the world's proven crude oil reserves (and 64.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas), nuclear power is seen as an alternate source of electricity generation. Exports of crude oil could then be freed up to pay off the country's $9.9 billion in external debt. Tehran argues that the Gulf reactor at Bushehr will help meet the needs of a population fast approaching 70 million. With median age at 22, the mullahs fear youths with few job prospects could lead a de-facto opposition. For Moscow, the commercial incentives are strong. Putin is reluctant to alter his economic development plans on the basis of what he sees as unproven allegations. The Kremlin is concerned that Chinese oil companies are profiting from the diplomatic crisis by clinching deals in Iran. According to a January report by Cambridge Energy Research Associates, China's Sinopec has secured 51 percent of Iran's Yadavaran oil-field project. And in September, another Chinese oil major took over operations at Masjid-e Suleiman. Meanwhile, the European offer to supply Tehran with nuclear fuels and civilian technology is a potential slap in the face for Putin. Still, business daily Kommersant reminded its readers Saturday that Iran could be nuclear-enabled within six months. It said Kremlin officials had failed to mention that U.S. President George W. Bush is not ruling out pre-emptive attacks against Bushehr. A military showdown could put Russian trade policies at risk. In Moscow, a consensus among analysts holds that Bush's threats are not credible. "Iran is not Iraq. There is no possible way the U.S. can carry out the same type of campaign it launched against Saddam Hussein in Iraq," says Gleb Pavlovksy, a Kremlin-connected political strategist. "Anyway, business and diplomacy don't necessarily cancel each other out," he says. The war on terrorism can distract from other conflicts of interest between Russia and the United States. But when news hit trading floors last Wednesday that an explosion had taken place near Bushehr, oil prices moved up sharply. There is nothing like oil prices to correct market distractions. Izvestia revealed the next day that Russian specialists on the ground had not been harmed since the blast was detected 100 kilometers away from the reactor. But a source at Atomstroiexport, the Russian outfit in charge of Bushehr, said security measures had been heightened. Moscow is not only investing in Iran's atomic market, but also in exports of military equipment. Much of it is weaponry designed in the 1970s. When Putin came to power in 1999, he committed to double-tracking the economy. "The idea was that exports of oil and gas would help rebuild the high-tech sector. Preserving the legacy of the Soviet Union's space research, for example, was important to Putin's team," says Aleksei Bogaturov of Russia's Academy of Sciences. Deemed of strategic national interest, the Kremlin co-financed the construction of long-range Ilyushin aircraft equipped with U.S.-built engines. But the short-term vision of Russian bureaucrats, coupled with nostalgia for a lost sphere of influence, is getting in the way. Russia is struggling to find its strategic fit in the Middle East. One way is by opening new export markets. But to avoid upsetting the regional balance, it will have to tread lightly. This past week, Moscow had to qualify the sale of Strelets surface-to-air missile systems to Syria. A controversy erupted in January over the possible sale of rocket propellers. At the time, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denied talks over "illicit" weapons. During his three-day visit to Russia, Syrian President Bashar Assad also denied arms deals. But just last week, Ivanov's office resorted to a rhetorical device to explain that it was going ahead with sales to Syria. The Strelets is for defensive purposes only, an official source claimed. It cannot be detached from armored vehicles and is therefore unlikely to land in terrorist hands. Linguistic devices may not work after the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Any tracks leading to a Syrian role in the Beirut bombing will isolate Damascus. "I assume this issue will be raised in Bratislava [on Feb. 24] to avoid additional irritants in the Bush-Putin partnership," says Andrei Kortunov, president of the New Eurasia Foundation in Moscow. Kortunov thinks Putin is responding to the pressure of arms exporters linked to the Defense Ministry. "Putin will be as opportunistic as he is allowed to be. It all depends on U.S. persistence and whether Bush can convince the Europeans to hold the line," says Kortunov. The delivery of anti-aircraft systems to Syria does not directly violate UN conventions. But if Putin is unable to calibrate his policies, he may have to alter his portfolio and forsake Iran. Jobs@Daily Star Copyright © 2004, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Click ***************************************************************** 5 Daily Star: War of words heats up as Iran warns US of pre-emptive strike Minister: America is not only force in region The Islamic Republic vows that any Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities would be met with strong retaliation By Agence France Presse (AFP) Friday, August 20, 2004 TEHRAN: In a marked escalation of a war of words between Iran and its arch-enemies Israel and the United States, Tehran has for the first time threatened a preemptive strike against US troops in the region. "We will not sit (with arms folded) to wait for what others will do to us," Iranian defense minister, Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani told Al-Jazeera television Wednesday when asked if Iran would respond to a US attack on its nuclear facilities. "Some military commanders in Iran are convinced that preventive operations which the Americans talk about are not their monopoly. America is not the only one present in the region. We are also present, from Khost to Kandahar in Afghanistan; we are present in the Gulf and we can be present in Iraq," said Shamkhani. An exchange of threats between Israel and Iran in recent weeks has led to speculation of a repeat of Israel's strike against Iraqi nuclear facilities at Osirak in 1981. But analysts say such an attack is unlikely because of sensitivity to the US position in Iraq and the fact that Iran's nuclear facilities are scattered around the country. Asked about the possibility of an American or Israeli strike against Iran's atomic power plant being built in Bushehr, Shamkhani added: "We will consider any strike against our nuclear installations as an attack on Iran as a whole, and we will retaliate with all our strength. "Where Israel is concerned, we have no doubt that it is an evil entity, and it will not be able to launch any military operation without an American green light. You cannot separate the two." "The US military presence (in Iraq) will not become an element of strength (for Washington) at our expense. The opposite is true, because their forces would turn into a hostage" in Iranian hands in the event of an attack, he said. Earlier in the week, a commander of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying that Tehran would strike the Israeli reactor at Dimona if Israel attacks the Islamic Republic's own burgeoning nuclear facilities. "If Israel fires one missile at Bushehr atomic power plant, it should permanently forget about Dimona nuclear center, where it produces and keeps its nuclear weapons, and Israel would be responsible for the terrifying consequence of this move," General Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr warned. Iran's controversial bid to generate nuclear power at Bushehr is seen by arch-enemies Israel and the United States as a cover for nuclear weapons development. Iran insists that its nuclear intentions are peaceful, while pointing at its enemy's alleged nuclear arsenal, which Israel neither confirms nor denies possessing. Shamkhani also warned that Iran would consider itself no longer bound by its commitments to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in the event of an attack. "The execution of such threats (to attack Iran's nuclear installations) would mean that our cooperation with the IAEA had led to feeding information about our nuclear facilities to the attacking side, which (in turn) means that we would no longer be bound by any of our obligations" to the nuclear watchdog, he said. Tehran calls for meeting of Iraq's neighbors to resolve crisis TEHRAN: The Iranian foreign minister has called for an urgent meeting of Iraq's neighbors to help end the crisis there, the official IRNA agency said Thursday. "It is time for Iraq's neighbors to contribute to a resolution of the Iraq crisis," Kamal Kharrazi was quoted as saying during a telephone conversation with his Jordanian counterpart, Marwan Moasher. Kharrazi described the situation as critical, saying that Iraq's neighbors must do something to end the violence and protect the country's holy sites. Four other countries neighbor Iraq, besides Iran and Jordan: Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey. Their foreign ministers have had a number of meetings since the US-led invasion that toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein in March last year. They last met in Cairo on July 21 to discuss the new Iraqi interim government's pleas for help in restoring security to the ravaged nation. Kharrazi also warned US troops against entering the shrine of Imam Ali in Najaf, where US-led forces have been laying siege to Shiite leader Moqtada al-Sadr, as this would be seen as a provocation by Muslims. Kharrazi then called on the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to close the file on allegations that Iran is developing nuclear weapons. "If the case is not closed, it intensifies the suspicion about interference of political motives and pressures within the agency. And this is what the Americans are looking for," Kharazi asserted on state television. "To show its independence, IAEA, as a professional, technical and non-political organization, should naturally insist on its own technical criteria and principles and quickly announce the issues have been resolved, if they have been resolved," Kharazi said. Meanwhile, former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani compared the situation in Najaf to the devastation of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by US atomic bombs in 1945. "The American bombardment of the holy city of Najaf will stay in the world's memory, especially that of Muslims, like Hiroshima and Nagasaki," IRNA quoted him as saying Thursday, during a meeting with former Japanese prime minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. By Laurent Lozano, Agence France Presse Copyright © 2004, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Click ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: Kharazi says Iran will continue uranium enrichment - Wednesday February 23, 12:17 PM TEHRAN (AFP) - Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi said that Iran was determined to press ahead with uranium enrichment amid Western fears it is covertly developing a nuclear weapons program. "We are determined to continue enrichment and others cannot stop us," he told reporters on his return from a trip to India, calling on the Europeans to take "serious steps" in their negotiations with Iran on its nuclear activities. Iran has agreed to a temporary freeze on enrichment, a key process in the nuclear fuel cycle, during its negotiations with the Europeans aimed at allaying Western concerns over its activities. The United States has accused Iran of seeking nuclear weapons and hinted at the possible use of military force but President George W. Bush said Tuesday that the notion of an attack was "simply ridiculous". But he added: "Having said that, all options are on the table." Iran has vehemently denied it is pursuing a nuclear weapons program and Kharazi said Wednesday: "They cannot do anything with bullying, threats and pressure." Britain, France and Germany are leading diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to permanently abandon its nuclear enrichment program in return for a package of political and economic benefits. "The Islamic republic of Iran must be assured that Europeans are taking serious steps towards their commitments of transferring technology, investment and maintaining Iran's security," Kharazi said. Iran has agreed to freeze enrichment during the negotiations but the Europeans want it to permanently give up the processs, which depending on its degree can create fuel for power generation or for making an atomic bomb. "Iran's enrichment program is only for the fuel cycle, it will never go beyond that," Kharazi said. The Iranian minister also accused the United States of putting pressure on Iran's main ally in the region, Syria, "to secure benefits for Israel". And he accused European nations which have called for a Syrian withdrawal from neighboring Lebanon of "interference" in its domestic affairs. "The Lebanese must be careful not to fall in the trap of foreigners who are using beautiful words but are pursuing their own political interests," he added. Copyright © 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 AFP: No foreigners to question disgraced scientist AQ Khan Wednesday February 23, 07:13 PM TOKYO (AFP) - Pakistan will not let any foreigners question Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of the country's nuclear bomb who has admitted leaking secrets to states including North Korea, Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said. "We have refused direct interrogations by anyone. The reason is national sensitivity," Kasuri told a press conference at the end of a three-day visit to Tokyo on Wednesday. Kasuri said Pakistan had acted against Khan even though the Pakistani opposition had accused the government of "succumbing to international pressure" against the local hero. "Actions have been taken (against Khan) and they are very strict. We are prepared... to investigate and share information," Kasuri said. He noted that Khan, who os effectively under house arrest, had interacted with foreigners when he leaked informaton of the country's nuclear technology. "In fact there were some foreigners involved. Pakistan has taken actions. Other foreigners, we hope actions will be taken against them by their governments," Kasuri said. Khan, who is credited with making Pakistan a nuclear power, confessed in February 2004 to leaking nuclear know-how to Iran, Libya and North Korea. Khan was later pardoned by President Pervez Musharraf, who has repeatedly refused to allow the United States or the International Atomic Energy Agency to question him. "We have shared information with the International Atomic Energy Agency," Kasuri said. "We have shared all information we had on any issue relevant to this (Khan) with the United States and friendly countries, definitely with the government of Japan," he said. "If there are new leads, we will investigate those," he added. Japan is locked in a standoff with North Korea over the Stalinist state's kidnapping of Japanese citizens. Pyongyang fired a missile over Japan into the Pacific Ocean in 1998. "We are sensitive to Japanese concerns. We will share any information we have relevant to your security," Kasuri said. Copyright © 2005 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 8 Guardian Unlimited: Top Nuclear Negotiators to Meet in Seoul From the Associated Press [UP] Wednesday February 23, 2005 9:01 AM AP Photo TOK806 By BO-MI LIM Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Negotiators from the United States, Japan and South Korea will meet in Seoul this weekend to discuss resuming nuclear disarmament talks with North Korea after the communist country's leader hinted at a possible compromise, officials said Wednesday. Resuming the stalled talks gained urgency after North Korea claimed on Feb. 10 that it has nuclear weapons. On Monday, its leader Kim Jong Il told a visiting Chinese envoy that his government would return to the negotiating table if certain conditions are met, though he did not detail them. ``It's inappropriate for North Korea to attach conditions to returning to the talks,'' South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. ``The North must come to the talks unconditionally and then it can present its differences and all the parties can try to strike a deal through negotiations.'' The meeting, scheduled for Saturday, brings together South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon; Kenichiro Sasae, director-general of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau; and Christopher Hill, U.S. ambassador to Seoul, who was named Washington's top negotiator. The three allies, which routinely coordinate their strategies on how to end North Korea's nuclear threats through six-nation talks, will try to work out remaining differences, Japanese Ambassador Toshiyuki Takano said in Seoul. He did not elaborate, but Hill warned this week that Pyongyang could try to exploit divisions if the nations taking part in multilateral discussions do not adopt a unified approach. The other countries involved are China and Russia. Since 2003, China has hosted three rounds of six-nation talks in Beijing, with little progress reported. A fourth round scheduled for last September never took place because North Korea refused to attend, citing what it calls a ``hostile'' U.S. policy. Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice agreed in a telephone conversation Tuesday night that ``the six-party talks should be resumed as early as possible,'' the official Xinhua News Agency said. Li also reiterated that China hoped all parties would ``continue to work together,'' it said. North Korea has not elaborated on what conditions Kim set for returning to the negotiating table. In the previous talks, North Korea has demanded more aid and a peace treaty with Washington in exchange for giving up its nuclear program - measures that it apparently hopes will guarantee the survival of Kim's regime. But the United States continues to look for North Korean willingness to address the nuclear issue. ``All of the other five parties ... are in fact ready to return to the table at an early date and without preconditions,'' State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Tuesday. ``It's only North Korea that claims current conditions are unfavorable.'' Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported Tuesday that Kim told the Chinese envoy that a resumption of the six-party negotiations also depended on changes in Japan's position. It quoted a source close to the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang as saying that Kim complained that Tokyo was blocking the talks by demanding a settlement of a dispute over North Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens more than 25 years ago. North Korea insists the issue has been fully settled, but Japan is demanding a full accounting of the kidnap victims. China urged the United States and North Korea on Tuesday to be more flexible in efforts to resolve their nuclear standoff. But it would not confirm whether it had offered North Korea more aid to resume the negotiations. ITAR-Tass said the Chinese envoy told Kim that Beijing was ready to increase oil deliveries to North Korea if it returned to the six-nation talks. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 9 Korea Herald: S. Korea, U.S., Japan envoys to discuss N.K. nuke issues 2005.02.24 By Choi Soung-ah and news reports South Korean, U.S. and Japanese envoys will meet on Saturday in Seoul to try to coax North Korea back to talks on its nuclear weapons after leader Kim Jong-il signaled his isolationist country is ready to return to the negotiating table under certain conditions. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said the envoys will discuss the recent visit of top Chinese official Wang Jiarui to the North and how to arrange an early resumption of the six-party talks to curb North Korean nuclear ambitions. "They will also hold in-depth discussions on ways to tackle the current nuclear crisis," he told reporters. Participants in Saturday's meeting will be South Korea's Deputy Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State-designate Christopher Hill and Kenichiro Sasae, chief of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asia-Oceania bureau. The three men are the top negotiators from their countries to the six-party talks, which also involve North Korea, China and Russia. Pyongyang's official media reported on Tuesday that Kim Jong-il had told Wang his country would return to the talks if conditions were right and the United States showed sincerity. While wanting the talks to resume, the United States reacted skeptically to the reported North Korean readiness to resume negotiations. "The proof of the pudding is in the eating," a senior State Department official said in response to Kim's comments. The official, who asked not to be identified, said Pyongyang had issued numerous declarations on the six-party talks that were broken off last year. "All of these statements don't amount to them showing up," he said. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher reacted cautiously. He said the United States, China, South Korea, Japan and Russia were ready to return to the table without preconditions, and added, "It's only North Korea that claims current conditions are unfavorable." Boucher said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who was traveling in Europe with President George W. Bush, spoke by telephone with her Chinese counterpart Li Zhaoxing early on Tuesday about the nuclear talks. Rice and Li agreed that "the six-party talks should be resumed as soon as possible," the China Daily reported in Beijing. Li said China hoped all sides would continue to work together for the denuclearization and long-term peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula, Xinhua news agency said. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman appealed to the United States and North Korea on Tuesday to do more to get the six-party talks back on track by showing more flexibility and sincerity. Ban expressed agreement with the position taken by China, North Korea's closest ally. "All countries including North Korea must individually do their utmost to reach a common objective as a peaceful resolution to the nuclear issue and our government is also pushing toward that direction," he said. Russia welcomed the comments by Kim, saying the negotiations were the "shortest route" to resolving the nuclear tension on the Korean Peninsula. "The Russian side welcomes the declaration" from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il "on readiness to renew participation in the six-party negotiations for resolving the Korean peninsula nuclear issue," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement. (bluelle@heraldm.com) By Choi Soung-ah and news reports 2005.02.24 [http://www.heraldcampus.co.kr/Premium/] ***************************************************************** 10 YWS: U.N. Nuclear Watchdog Meeting Amid Impasse Over N.K.'s Nukes YONHAPNEWS WORLD SERVICE::ENGLISH NEWS [http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/] .. 2005/02/23 16:33 KST SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency is scheduled to hold a meeting next week in Austria, said South Korea's Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday. Officials predict South Korea's past nuclear experiments will most likely not be discussed when the 35-nation governing board of the International Atomic Energy Agency holds its regular session in Vienna. ***************************************************************** 11 YWS: USFK Chief Concerned over N. Korean Nuclear-tipped Missiles YONHAPNEWS WORLD SERVICE::ENGLISH NEWS [http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/] .. 2005/02/23 22:11 KST SEOUL, Feb. 23 (Yonhap) -- The chief of American troops in South Korea expressed concern Wednesday that North Korea might attach nuclear weapons to its ballistic missiles believed to be capable of reaching the western part of the U.S. continent. "The fact that North Korea self-proclaimed itself to have nuclear weapons needs to be a concern to all of us, because it's a serious threat to the international community," said Gen. Leon J. LaPorte during an Internet panel debate program in Seoul. ***************************************************************** 12 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [OUTLOOK]Blind to the North Korea crisis [http://joongangdaily.joins.com] February 24, 2005 KST 11:34 (GMT+9) Our country's response to North Korea's declaration that it has nuclear weapons is strange, indeed. Our government officials merely say that we should wait and see if the North does truly have nuclear weapons and that the North has made such remarks many times before. I don't know why our country works so hard to play down the matter when all we need to do is just take North Korea's words at face value and prepare accordingly. But instead, the South Korean government went a step further to say that regardless of the North's declaration, inter-Korean economic cooperation will go on and that the construction of the Gaesong industrial complex in the North will continue as planned. They are busy telling the North, "Whatever you do, we will keep helping you." But what about our people? According to an opinion poll, nearly 60 percent said that despite the nuclear declaration, they did not feel any threat to their security. On the other hand, the United States and Japan are agitated. The director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency testified that North Korea has developed missiles that can reach the continental United States, so the North's declaration that it has nuclear weapons constitutes a direct threat. Japan, which has experienced the horror of atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is in constant fear. In contrast, we are busy underestimating the declaration, saying that the North's nuclear weapons are ineffective because they are in a primitive stage and too big for strategic purposes and that they are nothing much because the North's bombers are too slow. Just think, who would be the most vulnerable to a nuclear attack by North Korea? Would it be Japan across the sea, or the United States across the Pacific Ocean? Naturally, it would be South Korea. Isn't it a strange country that South Korea should be least worried of all the nations? Would the North give the South some consideration because we are part of the same nation? The Wall Street Journal said in a recent editorial that there were some people in the South Korean government who see the United States as more of a threat to its security than the North. Is this the reason our country is so permissive with the North? Our senses have become numb. As an entomologist said in these pages, even ants discharge some alarm pheromone to alert their family members to a crisis. But our antennae may have already atrophied, thanks to politicians who maintained their power by selling out our security. Past administrations overstated the threat from the North so that people no longer believed them, just as the villagers stopped believing the boy who cried, "Wolf!" So why are we still insensitive to the current security threat? It's part of a trend of ignoring security. Because previous administrations maintained their power on the pretext of security, today's power elites thought that they should break that security structure to seize power. Perhaps it's this mentality that keeps President Roh from attending the commencement ceremony of the Korea Military Academy. The Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations' North Korean policies and views on national security are linked to the popular trend that enabled them to seize power. Therefore, both people who sold out South Korea's security to consolidate their positions and people who sacrifice security to create a new power should be equally blamed. National security is a matter that goes beyond power. With North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons, a new world, where the concept of security is completely different from the past, will appear. We have set the standards of security by comparing our aircraft, tanks and warships to those of the North. In other words, we have tried to prevent a war through the balance of power. But our rival's nuclear weapons mean that balance of conventional power has been abolished. However big it might be, a bull will die from the bite of a small viper. Even if we buy all kinds of conventional weapons with our economic power, which is 30 times greater than the North's, we will be ruined by one nuclear attack. This is why North Korea developed nuclear weapons. Nuclear arms can only be balanced by more nuclear arms. This is the balance of fear. Because both parties know that once a nuclear war gets started, both parties will be destroyed, in this way wars are prevented. Our primary goal is to remove the North's nuclear weapons. If we acknowledge the North's nuclear power, we will have to be at the mercy of the North for good. We need to be bold. Let's not be scared about what we should do when a war breaks out ¡ª we've got a long way to go before that happens, and there are dozens of steps that must be taken before a war. We have only to force North Korea to let go of its nuclear weapons. The "sunshine policy" led us to see North Korea as a rational party, but the North did not accept our rationality. The sunshine policy lost its light. We should admit this. Before the North Korean nuclear problem is resolved, we shouldn't even mention economic cooperation. We should pursue a North Korean policy that is based completely on reciprocity from now on. We can also use the balance of fear as a last resort. Now because of North Korea, the denuclearization goal for the Korean Peninsula is meaningless. We might as well try to buy the United States' tactical nuclear weapons or seek to even out the balance of power in our own way. China has the most to lose if the nuclear arms race takes over the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, we have a card to play with China. We can press China to get the North to give up its nuclear weapons. National security is not a partisan matter. Is South Korea becoming a country where we can't identify a crisis even when it's right in front of us? * The writer is the chief editor of the editorial page of the JoongAng Ilbo. by Moon Chang-keuk 2005.02.23 Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. ***************************************************************** 13 Korea Times: Kim Jong-il's Wordplay Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Opinion Return to Six-Party Dialogue Immediately North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may well be the wiliest head of state in the world. His playing with the six-party dialogue shows astuteness in using the geopolitical situation of the peninsula to the best interests of his communist regime. He knows when to keep low and when to spring forth in his gambling with the multilateral nuclear negotiations. Kim has once again demonstrated his expertise in stringing the international community along when he told Chinese special envoy Wang Jiarui on Monday that the North would return to the negotiating table when ``conditions¡¯¡¯ are met. As cautiously analyzed by both Seoul and Washington, there is virtually no change in the North¡¯s position. Instead, Kim¡¯s rhetoric is interpreted as a mere good-will gesture to China, the North¡¯s staunchest ally, so as not to hurt its effort to broker the nuclear standoff between Pyongyang and Washington to a peaceful resolution. Through Wang who returned to Beijing on Tuesday after a four-day visit to Pyongyang, Chinese President Hu Jintao conveyed his oral message to Kim, asking the North to return to the six-party talks at the earliest possible date. Hu was quoted as saying, ``China believes that a nuclear-free Korean peninsula will conform to the best interests of the Korean people as well as the security interests of China.¡¯¡¯ On Feb. 10, the North stunned the world by declaring that it has secured nuclear warheads and would stay away from the six-party dialogue for an indefinite period unless the U.S. changes its hostile policy toward it. In a statement by its Foreign Ministry, the North claimed that U.S. President George W. Bush¡¯s second-term policy regarding North Korea would be little different from that of his first-term. At the time, the international community expected that the North would return to the negotiating table soon, in consideration of President Bush¡¯s soft stance on Pyongyang in his State of the Union address on Feb. 2. Though taken aback at first, the world now regards the North¡¯s statement as yet more blackmail aimed at winning more concessions from the U.S. and other participants in the nuclear negotiations. As the U.S. has repeatedly said that it would guarantee the political system of the North, it is meaningless for Pyongyang to argue that it can¡¯t return to the negotiating table because conditions are not met. It is feared that the longer the North stays away from the six-party dialogue, the more it loses. In this vein, the North should immediately return to the multilateral negotiations to find a diplomatic settlement of the nuclear crisis, which began in October 2002, thereby restoring peace and stability to the peninsula. 02-23-2005 18:48 ***************************************************************** 14 [NYTr] Canada Hands US Another Blow on Missile "Defense" Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:29:08 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Simon McGuinness BBC NEWS - Feb 23,2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4289925.stm Canada 'shuns US missile system' Mr Martin had previously backed participation in the system Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin has reportedly decided that his country would not join a missile defence system being developed by the United States. Officials told Canadian media that Mr Martin would make a formal announcement later this week, when he returns from the Nato summit in Belgium. He had previously backed participation in the system, designed to detect missiles fired at North America. A majority of Canadians are opposed to the programme, opinion polls suggest. According to Radio-Canada television and the Canadian Press news agency, Mr Martin told Nato allies in Brussels on Tuesday that Ottawa would not join the US programme. The Canadian Press says the US has been informed of the decision. "It is a firm 'no'. I am not sure it is an indefinite 'no'," a federal official is quoted as saying. Row Canada started formal talks earlier this year on its possible participation. In the run-up to a federal election last year, Mr Martin said he thought Canada should be part of a system designed to protect North America. But federal officials told CBC's Radio-Canada that domestic considerations may have outweighed pressure from Washington. The proposal is opposed by many within Mr Martin's governing Liberal Party. Opinion polls indicate that nearly two-thirds of Canadians are against it. On Tuesday Ottawa's new ambassador to the US caused an uproar by saying a defence pact the two neighbours signed last year meant Canada was effectively already part of the defence system. Canada agreed in August to allow the joint Canadian-US air defence command to share information with the missile defence programme. *** Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Canada Will Stay Away from US Missile Defense System Ottawa, Feb 23 (Prensa Latina) After some political upheaval, Canadian officials have made clear the country will not join a controversial US missile defense system, a decision likely to be seen as a slap in the face of President Bush, the Canadian media reported Wednesday. The move represents an about-face for Prime Minister Paul Martin, who in the run-up to a federal election last June said he thought Canada should be part of a system designed to protect the North American continent. "The prime minister plans to announce this week that Canada will not be a part of the missile defense system," the local press quoted a senior official as saying. The US State Department had no reaction to the news. The fact that Martin4s ruling Liberal Party is split over the idea of signing on to the system is making things more difficult for him; also the government is facing a battle to ensure its first budget -to be presented today. Bush visited Ottawa last December and publicly urged Martin on three separate occasions to sign on to a network designed to ward off attacks from "rogue states" such as North Korea. However, this is the second time in less than two years that Ottawa has gone against Bush4s wishes. In March 2003, former Liberal Prime Minister Jean Chretien infuriated Washington by refusing to take part in the war on Iraq. mh/dig * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 15 [NYTr] DU Scandal Behind VA Resignation? Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:42:41 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Intense Red San Francisco Bay View - Feb 20, 2005 http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml Heads roll at Veterans Administration Mushrooming depleted uranium (DU) scandal blamed by Bob Nichols Project Censored Award Winner 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. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 16 UCS: President Bush's FY 2006 Budget [http://www.ucsusa.org/ucs/about/index.cfm] [rhayes@ucsusa.org]   © Union of Concerned Scientists Page Last Revised: 02.22.2005 ***************************************************************** 17 South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Nuclear weapons a long-term danger [Sun-Sentinel.com] Abbey Strauss boca raton Posted February 23 2005 Our government wants sturdier and more reliable nuclear weapons. So the tireless efforts of those who worried about the long-term worldwide danger of nuclear weapons appear to be losing clout. Traditional weapons adequately kill and maim, but they do not destroy the basic life process. They do not disrupt the genetic material that allows life to re-appear. Traditional weapons are also regional. A traditional bomb blast has little effect on distant populations that happen to be downstream or downwind from the explosion. Nuclear residue drifts. Remember the radiation patterns over Russia after Chernobyl? And now the United States, through the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, pays $50,000 to certain cancer victims when the illness is believed to have been caused by the downwind exposure to radioactivity coming from the Nevada desert atomic bomb tests. At the risk of sounding silly, we don't compensate for the illnesses induced in plant and non-human lives, but they are undoubtedly equally affected. The National Cancer Institute has a Web page that will calculate the effect of downwind radioactivity from our nuclear weapons testing program that ended up as radioactive iodine in the milk we drank from 1951 through 1962; this information is then converted into a risk factor for thyroid cancer. By remodeling, re-ordering or possibly testing nuclear weapons, we fundamentally sanction the existence and expense of nuclear weapons for anyone in the world. These are long-term weapons, not short-term armaments. They wage an environmental and medical war long after the political war ends. They are simply too dangerous for anyone to have. Our efforts have to put an end to their very existence in the same manner that we strive to eliminate, not just stop, infectious diseases. Now that the North Koreans announced that they have nuclear weapons, we must be even more aggressive and we must massively increase the efforts to stop the spread of devices that can put an end to more than our political conflicts. No real security will ever exist if the ultimate penalty for that security lies in a disruption of our biosphere. Copyright 2005, Sun-Sentinel Co. & South Florida Interactive, Inc. ***************************************************************** 18 [du-list] Zero Nuclear Weapons Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:25:30 -0800 Nuclear weapons are offensive weapons. They offend humanity and the Earth long after their use. They should be banned. I know many people assert that they are already banned but since Depleted Uranium weapons are still being used by the U.S. and NATO there is no effective ban in place. There should be sanctions against any country which sanctions their use. The U.S. and U.K. should be held accountable for their use in Iraq and Afghanistan and charged with cleaning up the environment and restoring the health of the people affected by their radioactive residue. The use of Depleted Uranium weapons has been a move to make nuclear weapons acceptable. The issue must be the presence of harmful radioactive materials rather than whether the weapons "explode" like conventional nuclear weapons. Both conventional and depleted uranium weapons have long-term and unjustifiable consequences for civilians in the area of use. Therefore, I am proposing a "Zero Nuclear Weapons" policy be adopted by NATO for any action it takes in the future. This is a relevant issue at this time since President Bush is meeting with NATO leaders in Europe this week. In particular, I am asking that Germany take the initiative and introduce this proposal to NATO and President Bush today. Steve Moyer http://nodes.net/steve ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/RzSHvD/UOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 19 UN Panel Says Multilateral Approach Needed To Keep Nuclear Arms From Terrorists Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:01:01 -0500 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.1 (2004-10-22) on pascal.ctyme.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-23.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FROM_ORG, SPF_HELO_PASS,SP_HAM_SUPER,SUBJ_ALL_CAPS,WHITE_PHRASE autolearn=ham version=3.0.1 X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com Status: O UN PANEL SAYS MULTILATERAL APPROACH NEEDED TO KEEP NUCLEAR ARMS FROM TERRORISTS New York, Feb 23 2005 12:00PM Multilateral control of the world’s civil nuclear fuel cycle is essential for curbing “burgeoning and alarmingly well organized nuclear supply networks” and preventing such materials from falling into the hands of terrorists, according to a report commissioned by the United Nations atomic watchdog agency. “The decades-long nuclear non-proliferation effort is under threat,” says the study, Multilateral Approaches to the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, commissioned last June after the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org">IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, suggested that wide dissemination of the most sensitive parts of the nuclear fuel cycle could be the “Achilles’ heel” of the non-proliferation regime. Such threats come from regional arms races, non-nuclear weapon states in breach of or in non-compliance with safeguards accords, and incomplete application of export controls required by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/treaty/">NPT). But they also arise “from burgeoning and alarmingly well organized nuclear supply networks, and from the increasing risk of acquisition of nuclear or other radioactive materials by terrorist and other non-State entities,” according to the report, drawn up by an expert group that included representatives from 26 countries. The study, examining the nuclear fuel cycle and multinational approaches, has been sent to the IAEA’s 138 Member States and will be more widely circulated, including to the Review Conference of 189 States party to the NPT in May. Multilateral approaches are “setting the nuclear agenda,” the group’s Chairman and former Head of IAEA Safeguards, Bruno Pellaud, <"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2005/fuelcycle.html">told a news conference yesterday in Vienna, Austria, the IAEA’s headquarters. He urged concerted action among governments. “Such approaches are needed and worth pursuing, on both security and economic grounds,” he said, in summing up the group’s consensus. “A joint nuclear facility with multinational staff puts all participants under a greater scrutiny from peers and partners, a fact that strengthens non-proliferation and security. “Moreover, they have the potential to facilitate the continued use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,” he added, noting that multilateral approaches are already followed in Europe and merit close consideration in South Asia and other regions. The report outlines five approaches to strengthen controls over fuel enrichment, reprocessing, spent fuel repositories and spent fuel storage, including reinforcing existing commercial market mechanisms through long-term contracts and transparent suppliers’ arrangements with government backing. Examples would be fuel leasing and fuel take-back offers, commercial offers to store and dispose of spent fuel, as well as commercial fuel banks. The proposals also include: developing international supply guarantees with IAEA participation; promoting voluntary conversion of existing facilities to multilateral nuclear approaches; and creating multinational, and in particular regional, approaches for new facilities based on joint ownership for uranium enrichment, fuel reprocessing and disposal and storage of spent fuel. Finally, the scenario of a further expansion of nuclear energy around the world might call for the development of a nuclear fuel cycle with stronger multilateral arrangements – by region or by continent – and for broader cooperation, involving the IAEA and the international community, the report said. 2005-02-23 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 20 Bellona: Putin and Bush head to Bratislava for non-proliferation and democracy summit Analysis WASHINGTON—Despite the political upheavals that have separated Russia and the United States since US President George Bush’s reelection, the most dominant public talking points at Bratislava’s Thursday summit—and the one on which Presidents Vladimir Putin and Bush seem to most heartily agree—will be nuclear non-proliferation and containing the threat of loose nuclear material in Russia. Charles Digges, 2005-02-23 15:21 Russia has long depended on the United States Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR)and related programmes—to the tune of some $1.3 billion a year—to help clean up the Soviet nuclear legacy by destroying weapons of mass destruction. And, it is clear enough to Moscow that this it relies on this and other money to keep the Russian nuclear industry—inherited as a creaky Soviet money-pit that has not been remodeled since—chugging along. Furthermore, following Russia’s recent democratic roll-backs, non-proliferation is also one of a small handful of topics the two leaders can address in public without dispute, and most indications indicate that the progressive failure of open democracy in Putin’s Russia will be addressed behind closed doors. Nevertheless, Iran’s nuclear programme—for which Moscow is building an $800m light water reactor in the Persian Gulf port of Bushehr—had, according to many US Government sources, recently become as much a concern to Russia as it has to the United States, which has insisted that Teheran is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme. Is Russia turning on Iran? This concern hinges on the alleged sale by Ukraine to Iran in 2000 of up t 20 Kh-55 missiles. These missiles have a range of 2880 kilometres and are capable of carrying a 200-kiloton nuclear warhead at altitudes too low to be detected by radar. Also, recent revelations that many of Iran’s uranium centrifuges came from Pakistani nuclear black-marketeer Abdul Qadir Khan’s network, have also put Moscow on edge. “Russia is close to Iran than the US is, so they better be scared,” said on State Department official to Bellona Web. Nonetheless Russia is so far sticking by Iran in public, according to Russian press outlets. Russia also believes the West is bent on isolating it from other countries in the CIS. The West in turn believes the Kremlin is trying to reestablish control over former Soviet republics. The Yukos affair and Putin's dismantling of democracy and the free press have poisoned US-Russia relations. MOX plan delayed by Bush administration budget documents The set-back-plagued US–Russian plan to destroy weapons grade plutonium in nuclear reactors has been delayed for at least another year, budget documents released last week by the White House show, leaving many experts on the US and Russian sides of the programme fearing that the job of destroying materials for thousands of nuclear bombs may never be accomplished.  Read on » [http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/nuke_industry/co-o peration/32534.html] State Department and other officials interviewed by Bellona Web in Washington last week have tipped that the two leaders will talk about upping the tempo on securing Russia’s weapons-usable nuclear materials, only 38 percent of which after 12 years of effort are under reliable lock and key. They are also likely to talk about breaking the legislative log-jam laid by the US Department of State that has prevented the 2000 US-Russia Plutonium Disposition agreement from moving forward. The slow pace of non-proliferation The 2000 agreement between former US President Bill Clinton and Putin, stipulated that both countries, in parallel progress, would destroy 34 tonnes of weapons-grade plutonium declared surplus to each countries arsenals. Later, Bush said these efforts would focus on mixing weapons grade plutonium with uranium in Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel for burning in specially retrofitted reactors. This disregarded the vastly cheaper and safer method—by the US Department of Energy’s (DOE) own calculations— of immobilisation, via which weapons-grade plutonium is, generally speaking, encased in highly radioactive glass and stored in special containers. The US MOX program is slated to cost some $4 billion and Russia some $2 billion. But Russia has thus far refused to succumb to US liability demands that place all liability implementation of the MOX programme. The DOE and others in the nuclear disarmament establishment that support the controversial plan are anxious for Putin and Bush to reach a liability resolution. Most analysts in Russia and the US agree, however, that the cumbersome, expensive and behind-schedule will collapse under its own weight—a goal the State Department was shooting for when it refused to renew the MOX programme’s five-year 1998 Technical Agreement, grinding MOX research to a halt on both sides of the ocean. A US official told Bellona Web, however, that the new State Department, under the control of Condoleezza Rice, Bush’s former National Security Advisor, is sending along amended liability documentation for the MOX programme for sideline negotiations at the summit. The Necessity of Creating an International Environmental and Non-Proliferation Oversight Agency Recent billion-dollar commitments to environmental and disarmament efforts are laudable and necessary for a secure future, but they need a strong and informed coordinating body lest they encounter the familiar bureaucratic impasses that previous non-proliferation efforts have struggled with.  Read Bellona's position » [http://www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/co-operation/ 29738.html] The US is also bringing with it newly proposed legislation for the creation of a “non-proliferation czar” to oversee U.S. efforts to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. The Omnibus Nonproliferation and Anti-Nuclear Terrorism Act of 2005 would establish within the White House an Office of Nonproliferation Programs, to be headed by a director nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. The director, who would serve as the president's chief nonproliferation adviser, would be responsible for overseeing the various programs conducted by the Defense, Energy and State departments. Among the director's responsibilities would be guiding the development of nonproliferation budgets and setting priorities. It is as yet unclear how this would interface with European donor nations’ efforts. Responsible European Union and US administration officials could be reached for comment. Concerns for Russian democracy It thus remains to be seen whether discussions in the area of nuclear non-proliferation are substantive or simply a distraction to divert from what some State Department officials expect to be closed door raps from the diplomatic ruler. In comments to Slovak state television last week, Bush said his "good relationship" with the Russian leader would "give me a chance to say in private—ask him why he's been making some of the decisions he's been making." The senior US official said; "If you talk to Russian experts, they will tell you Putin recoils from public criticism -- that's not the most effective way to deal with him. Bush has been criticized by some for not being more vocal publicly. On the other hand, the point is (that) you want to be effective." Washington’s political elite is expecting the US president to come back with results in this area. Republican Senator Richard Lugar, co-author of the 1992 CTR legislation and current Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman, last week urged Bush at a Senate hearing devoted to Russia’s deomcratic back-peddling, to "make democracy, human rights and the rule of law" priorities in his talks with Putin. Senator Joseph Biden, the panel's top Democrat, asked bluntly, "When are we going to get tough with Russia?" Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 21 [NukeNet] Bush: Nuclear Power To Cut US Dependence On Foreign Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:25:39 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) did he really call it renewable again? ================================= Bush: Nuclear Power To Cut US Dependence On Foreign Energy By ALEX KETO Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES February 23, 2005 9:08 a.m. MAINZ, Germany -- President George W. Bush Wednesday said he believed building more nuclear power plants in the U.S. would help the country cut its dependence on foreign sources of energy. Bush made the comments in a "Roundtable with Young Professionals" here. "The best way to diversify, at least for my country, I don't want to raise a sore subject here, but to diversify away from dependence on foreign sources of energy is for us to take advantage of new technologies and expand safe nuclear power in the United States of America," Bush said. Bush said expanding the U.S. nuclear power industry would accomplish several objectives. He said nuclear power is a "renewable" source of energy, the U.S. has domestic sources of uranium and it would help the U.S. meet obligations to "clean air requirements." Unfortunately, at the moment, there is a lot of political opposition to nuclear power in Congress, Bush said. Bush said he brought up the issue of nuclear power in his State of the Union address and promised to push the subject in the future as well. Bush's comments on nuclear power were momentarily carried on an in-house television that is covering his trip to Germany and broadcast in the White House press center. It was not clear whether the broadcast was intentional because the event was closed to the press corps. -By Alex Keto, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9256; Alex.Keto@dowjones.com _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 22 NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Lifts Immediate Effectiveness of Order Suspending License of Safety Light News Release - 2005-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 05-033 February 22, 2005 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission today lifted the immediate effectiveness of its staffs suspension of the licenses of Safety Light Corporation of Bloomsburg, Pa. On Dec. 10, 2004, the NRC staff issued an order that suspended, effective immediately, two nuclear materials licenses held by Safety Light, based on concerns related to inadequate provisions for decommissioning funding when license-related operations cease permanently. The staff also denied applications of Safety Light to renew its licenses. On Jan. 24, an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board denied the companys motion to set aside the immediate effectiveness of the suspension order. On Feb. 18, the Board directed the NRC staff to investigate claims raised by Safety Lights customers that the companys products are indispensable components of equipment necessary for national defense. The Board also directed the staff to address how national defense and security concerns would apply in this case. In view of this Board order, the public interest, other issues that have been raised and the near-term (March 10) schedule for an oral hearing on this case, the Commission, exercising its supervisory role over licensing and enforcement proceedings, decided to lift the immediate effectiveness of the staffs Dec. 10 license suspension order. Since Safety Light submitted an application for renewal on a timely basis, and since the staffs December denial of that renewal application is before an NRC hearing board and therefore not finally decided, the Commissions decision today lifting the immediate effectiveness of the suspension order means the license remains in effect as of this time and Safety Light can continue to operate. Last revised Wednesday, February 23, 2005 ***************************************************************** 23 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice FR Doc 05-3396 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8857-8858] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-98] In accordance with the purposes of Sections 29 and 182b. of the Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2039, 2232b), the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) will hold a meeting on March 3-5, 2005, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The date of this meeting was previously published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 (69 FR 68412). Thursday, March 3, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.-8:35 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open)-- The ACRS Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting. 8:35 a.m.-10 a.m.: Revised Draft NUREG on Expert Elicitation on Large-Break LOCA Frequencies (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the revised draft NUREG-xxx, ``Estimating Loss-of- Coolant Accident (LOCA) Frequencies Through the Elicitation Process,'' and related matters. 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Proposed Rulemaking Package for Risk- Informing 10 CFR 50.46 (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the proposed rulemaking package for risk-informing 10 CFR 50.46, ``Acceptance Criteria for Emergency Core Cooling Systems for Light- Water Nuclear Power Reactors.'' 1:15 p.m.-2:45 p.m.: Draft Safety Evaluation Report Related to North Anna Early Site Permit Application (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff and Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC regarding the NRC staff's draft Safety Evaluation Report related to the North Anna Early Site Permit Application. 3 p.m.-5 p.m.: Technical Basis for Potential Revision of the Pressurized Thermal Shock (PTS) Screening Criteria in the PTS Rule (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the technical basis for potential revision of the PTS screening criteria in the PTS rule. 5:15 p.m.-6:45 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports on matters considered during this meeting. Friday, March 4, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.--8:35 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open)-- The ACRS Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting. 8:35 a.m.-10:30 a.m.: Proposed Revisions to Generic License Renewal Guidance Documents/Scoping Review Process for BOP Systems (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding proposed revisions to: NUREG-1800, ``Standard Review Plan for Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear Power Plants;'' NUREG-1801, ``Generic Aging Lessons Learned (GALL) Report;'' and Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1140, ``Standard Format and Content for Applications to Renew Nuclear Power Plant Operating Licenses'' (Proposed Revision 1 to Regulatory Guide 1.188) that endorses, with certain exceptions, NEI 95-10, Rev. 5, ``Industry Guidelines for Implementing the Requirements of 10 CFR 54-- The License Renewal Rule.'' The Committee will also discuss with the staff the scoping review process for balance-of-plant (BOP) systems. 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Preparation for Meeting With the NRC Commissioners (Open)--The Committee will discuss topics for meeting with the NRC Commissioners which is scheduled for April 7, 2005. 1:15 p.m.-2:15 p.m.: Future ACRS Activities/Report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee (Open)--The Committee will discuss the recommendations of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee regarding items proposed for consideration by the full Committee during future meetings. Also, it will hear a report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee on matters related to the conduct of ACRS business, including anticipated workload and member assignments. 2:15 p.m.-2:30 p.m.: Reconciliation of ACRS Comments and Recommendations (Open)--The [[Page 8858]] Committee will discuss the responses from the NRC Executive Director for Operations (EDO) to comments and recommendations included in recent ACRS reports and letters. The EDO responses are expected to be made available to the Committee prior to the meeting. 2:45 p.m.-6:45 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports. Saturday, March 5, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will continue its discussion of proposed ACRS reports. 12:30 p.m.-1 p.m.: Miscellaneous (Open)--The Committee will discuss matters related to the conduct of Committee activities and matters and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. Procedures for the conduct of and participation in ACRS meetings were published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2004 (69 FR 59620). In accordance with those procedures, oral or written views may be presented by members of the public, including representatives of the nuclear industry. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during the open portions of the meeting. Persons desiring to make oral statements should notify the Cognizant ACRS staff named below five days before the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate arrangements can be made to allow necessary time during the meeting for such statements. Use of still, motion picture, and television cameras during the meeting may be limited to selected portions of the meeting as determined by the Chairman. Information regarding the time to be set aside for this purpose may be obtained by contacting the Cognizant ACRS staff prior to the meeting. In view of the possibility that the schedule for ACRS meetings may be adjusted by the Chairman as necessary to facilitate the conduct of the meeting, persons planning to attend should check with the Cognizant ACRS staff if such rescheduling would result in major inconvenience. Further information regarding topics to be discussed, whether the meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, as well as the Chairman's ruling on requests for the opportunity to present oral statements and the time allotted therefor can be obtained by contacting Mr. Sam Duraiswamy, Cognizant ACRS staff (301-415-7364), between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., e.t. ACRS meeting agenda, meeting transcripts, and letter reports are available through the NRC Public Document Room at pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] , or by calling the PDR at 1-800-397-4209, or from the Publicly Available Records System (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS) which is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] or http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/ [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collecti ons/] (ACRS & ACNW Mtg schedules/agendas). Videoteleconferencing service is available for observing open sessions of ACRS meetings. Those wishing to use this service for observing ACRS meetings should contact Mr. Theron Brown, ACRS Audio Visual Technician (301-415-8066), between 7:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., e.t., at least 10 days before the meeting to ensure the availability of this service. Individuals or organizations requesting this service will be responsible for telephone line charges and for providing the equipment and facilities that they use to establish the videoteleconferencing link. The availability of videoteleconferencing services is not guaranteed. Dated: February 16, 2005. Andrew L. Bates, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 05-3396 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 24 NRC: Duke Energy Corporation; Concerning the Application for FR Doc 05-3397 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8849-8851] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-94] Irradiation of Mixed Oxide Lead Test Assemblies at Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2, Supplement No. 1 to Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering issuance of amendments to the Facility Operating Licenses to permit the use of mixed oxide (MOX) lead test assemblies (LTAs) in one of the two Catawba units and is considering the granting of exemptions from (1) the requirements of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.44(a), 10 CFR 50.46(a)(1) and 10 CFR part 50, Appendix K with respect to the use of M5TM fuel rod cladding; (2) 10 CFR 50.46(a)(1) and Appendix K to part 50 with respect to the use of MOX fuel; and (3) certain physical security requirements of 10 CFR parts 11 and 73 that are usually required at fuel fabrication facilities for the protection of strategic quantities of special nuclear material. A similar request for an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.44(a) with respect to the use of M5TM fuel rod cladding is not being granted since 10 CFR 50.44 has been changed and an exemption is no longer necessary. The amended licenses and exemptions would apply to Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. NPF-35 and NPF-52, issued to Duke Energy Corporation (Duke, the licensee), for operation of the Catawba Nuclear [[Page 8850]] Station (Catawba), Units 1 and 2, located in York County, South Carolina. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC issued an environmental assessment (EA) and finding of no significant impact (FONSI) on this matter by letter dated August 10, 2004, and also published it in the Federal Register on August 17, 2004 (69 FR 51112) (Reference 1). However, in letters dated August 31, September 20, October 29, and December 10, 2004, (References 2, 3, 5 and 6) the licensee stated that certain radiological dose consequence information provided in previous submittals was based on out-of-date input values for design basis accident doses with low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel and provided additional information describing the updated licensing basis dose consequences for the analyzed accidents. Since the EA that was published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2004, was based, in part, on the outdated information, the NRC staff is issuing this Supplement to the EA to address the updated information. The dose consequence analyses that were affected by this change are (a) the control room doses for the loss-of-coolant accident analysis (LOCA), the locked rotor analysis (LRA) and the rod ejection analysis (REA), (b) the exclusion area boundary (EAB) doses for the LRA and REA, and (c) the low-population zone (LPZ) doses for the LRA, the REA and the LOCA. Section 5.6, ``Design Basis Accident Consequences,'' is the section of the EA that is affected by this change. This Supplement provides an update of the affected portions of Section 5.6 that supercedes and replaces the comparable portions of Section 5.6 of the EA published on August 17, 2004, to address the information provided in the licensee's letters dated August 31, September 20, October 29, and December 10, 2004, and reaffirms the NRC's conclusions for the EA and the FONSI. 5.6 Design-Basis Accident Consequences (DBAs) Duke has evaluated the radiological consequences of several categories of postulated DBAs involving MOX LTAs including the category of at-power accidents involving fuel damage to a significant portion of the entire core. These accidents range from the LRA that is calculated to damage 9.5 percent of the fuel assemblies (FAs) in the core (18 FAs) for Unit 1 and 5.0 percent (10 FAs) for Unit 2, the REA that is calculated to damage 50 percent of the core (97 FAs) for either unit, to the large break LOCA that is calculated to damage the full core (193 FAs). Accordingly, considering the proportion that four MOX LTAs represents of the number of fuel assemblies that are calculated to be damaged by each DBA, the calculated EAB thyroid dose increases that are attributable to the use of MOX are: for the LRA, 14.1 percent for Unit 1 and 25.4 percent for Unit 2; for the REA, 2.62 percent for each unit; and, for the LOCA, 1.32 percent. The analysis of public doses for the EAB and LPZ resulting from this class of accidents considered by Duke is discussed below. In addition, the NRC staff has evaluated the radiological consequences of affected DBAs on personnel in the control room. 5.6.2 At-Power Accidents The current licensing basis analyses assume that all FAs (193) are affected by a LOCA. For the LRA, 9.5 percent of the Unit 1 core is assumed to be affected and 5.0 percent of the Unit 2 core is assumed to be affected; for the REA, 50 percent of the core is assumed to be affected. For these events, Duke assumes that the four MOX LTAs are in the affected fuel population displacing four LEU assemblies. Because the dose is directly proportional to the fuel assembly inventory and gap fractions, the impact on the previously analyzed accident doses is based on quantifying the change in fission product release due to replacing up to four LEU fuel assemblies with the MOX LTAs. Although the consequences of these accidents could be determined by updating the current licensing basis analyses, Duke elected to perform a comparative evaluation, which the NRC staff has independently verified. Duke selected the thyroid dose due to Iodine-131 (I-131) as the evaluation benchmark because the thyroid dose is typically more limiting than the whole body dose in that there is less margin between calculated thyroid doses and its associated dose criterion. Also, I-131 is generally the most significant contributor to thyroid dose due to its abundance and long decay half-life. Duke has determined that the I- 131 inventory in a MOX LTA is 9 percent greater than that of an equivalent LEU fuel assembly. Loss-of-Coolant Accident For the LOCA, the four MOX LTAs represent 2.1 percent of the 193 assemblies in the core and the potential increase in the iodine release and the thyroid dose would be 1.32 percent. The resulting doses are 90.2 rem at the EAB and 12.9 rem at the LPZ. These doses are below the 300 rem dose reference value of 10 CFR 100.11, ``Determination of exclusion area, low population zone, and population center distance,'' and are not considered to be significant. Locked-Rotor Accident For the LRA in Unit 1, the four MOX LTAs represent 22 percent of the 18 affected assemblies in the core. The potential increase in the iodine release and the thyroid dose is 14.1 percent for Unit 1. The resulting doses are 26.9 rem at the EAB, and 4.6 rem at the LPZ. These doses are below the 300 rem dose reference value of 10 CFR 100.11, and are not considered to be significant. For the LRA in Unit 2, the four MOX LTAs represent 40 percent of the 10 affected assemblies in the core. The potential increase in the iodine release and the thyroid dose is 25.4 percent for Unit 2. The resulting thryoid doses are 27.8 rem at the EAB, and 4.5 rem at the LPZ. These doses are below the 300 rem dose criterion of 10 CFR 100.11, and are not considered to be significant. Rod-Ejection Accident For the REA in Unit 1, the four MOX LTAs represent 4.1 percent of the 97 assemblies in the core assumed to be involved in the postulated accident and the potential increase in the iodine release and the resulting thyroid dose would be 2.62 percent. The resulting calculated thyroid doses are 22.3 rem at the EAB, and 17.8 rem at the LPZ. These doses are below the 300 rem dose criterion of 10 CFR 100.11, and are not considered to be significant. For the REA in Unit 2, the four MOX LTAs represent 4.1 percent of the 97 assemblies in the core assumed to be involved in the postulated accident and the potential increase in the iodine release and the resulting thyroid dose would be 2.62 percent. Even though the percentage of iodine released from the fuel is the same for Units 1 and 2 (2.62 percent), the release of radioiodine to the environment is greater for Unit 2 due to differences in the design of the steam generators, thus resulting in a higher dose than calculated for Unit 1. The resulting calculated thyroid doses are 31.5 rem at the EAB, and 19.8 rem at the LPZ. These doses are below the 300 rem dose criterion of 10 CFR 100.11, and are not considered to be significant. 5.6.3 Control Room Dose Control room dose is the only occupational dose that has been previously considered for DBA conditions. The at-power accident with the most severe consequences for the control room personnel is the LOCA; the control room doses from postulated locked-rotor or rod- ejection accidents are bounded by the calculated control [[Page 8851]] room dose from the LOCA. Duke determined that the resulting control room thyroid dose after a postulated LOCA considering the use of four MOX fuel LTAs would be 13 rem. This is below the NRC staff's 30 rem acceptance criterion and is not considered to be significant. 5.6.4 Conclusion The DBA with the greatest consequences at the EAB (a LOCA) would result in a calculated offsite dose of 90.2 rem to the thyroid. The DBA with the greatest consequences at the LPZ (a REA) would result in calculated offsite doses of 17.8 and 19.8 rem to the thyroid for Units 1 and 2, respectively. These doses remain below the 300 rem reference value to the thyroid specified in 10 CFR 100.11 for offsite releases. The calculated change in dose consequences at the EAB and at the LPZ that could be attributable to the use of the four MOX fuel LTAs is not significant. The DBA with the greatest consequences to the control room personnel, a LOCA, would result in a calculated dose of 13 rem to the thyroid. This dose remains below the 30 rem acceptance criterion. The calculated change in dose consequences for control room personnel that could be attributable to the use of the four MOX fuel LTAs is not significant. The NRC staff concludes that the environmental impact resulting from incremental increases in EAB, LPZ, and control room dose following postulated DBAs that could occur as a result of the irradiation of four MOX LTAs does not represent a significant environmental impact. 11.0 Agencies and Persons Consulted Related to the publication of the EA in August 2004, (Reference 1), on July 30, 2004, the NRC staff consulted with the South Carolina State official, Mr. Mike Gandy of the Department of Health and Environmental Controls, regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official had no comments. Related to the issuance of this Supplement to the EA, on February 8, 2005, the NRC staff consulted with the South Carolina State official, Mr. Mike Gandy, of the Department of Health and Environmental Controls, regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official had no comment. 12.0 References 1. NRC letter to Duke, Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 and 2-- Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact Related to the Use of Mixed Oxide Lead Test Assemblies (TAC Nos. MB7863, MMB7864, MC0824, MC0825), dated August 10, 2004 (ADAMS ML042230368). Also published in the Federal Register on August 17, 2004, 69 FR 51112. 2. Duke letter to NRC, Dose Inputs, August 31, 2004 (ADAMS ML042660144). 3. Duke letter to NRC, Revised Dose Evaluations, September 20, 2004 (ADAMS ML042890343). 4. NRC Letter to Duke, Requesting Additional Information, October 7, 2004 (ADAMS ML042860050). 5. Duke letter to NRC, Response to Request for Additional Information on Revised Dose Evaluations, October 29, 2004 (ADAMS ML043150030). 6. Duke letter to NRC, Additional Information on Revised Dose Evaluations, December 10, 2004 (ADAMS ML043560170). 13.0 Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of the EA and Supplement No. 1 to the EA, the NRC reaffirms its conclusion that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed action. For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the licensee's letter dated February 27, 2003, and subsequent letters dated September 15, September 23, October 1 (two letters), October 3 (two letters), November 3 and 4, December 10, 2003, and February 2 (two letters), March 1 (three letters), March 9 (two letters), March 16 (two letters), March 26, March 31, April 13, April 16, May 13, June 17, August 31, September 20, October 4, October 29, and December 10, 2004. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] . Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to [pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of February, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Edwin M. Hackett, Project Director, Project Directorate II, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 05-3397 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 25 NRC: Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc.; Millstone Power Station, FR Doc 05-3398 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8851-8855] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-95] Unit No. 2; Exemption 1.0 Background Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. (DNC or the licensee) is the holder of Facility Operating License No. DPR-65, which authorizes operation of the Millstone Power Station, Unit No. 2 (MP2). The license provides, among other things, that the facility is subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) now or hereafter in effect. The facility consists of a pressurized water reactor located in New London County, Connecticut. 2.0 Request/Action By letter dated November 5, 2004, as supplemented by letters dated January 6 and January 25, 2005, the licensee submitted a request for an exemption from the requirements of title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) section 50.68(b)(1) for loading, unloading, and handling of the components of the Transnuclear (TN) NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT dry cask storage system at MP2. Section 50.68(b)(1) of 10 CFR sets forth the following requirement that must be met, in lieu of a monitoring system capable of detecting criticality events. Plant procedures shall prohibit the handling and storage at any one time of more fuel assemblies than have been determined to be safely subcritical under the most adverse moderation conditions feasible by unborated water. The licensee is unable to satisfy the above requirement for handling the 10 CFR part 72 licensed contents of the TN NUHOMS[supreg]- 32PT system. Section 50.12(a) allows licensees to apply for an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50 if the regulation is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule and other conditions are met. The licensee stated in the application that compliance with 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) is not necessary for [[Page 8852]] handling the 10 CFR part 72 licensed contents of the cask system to achieve the underlying purpose of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1). 3.0 Discussion Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50 when (1) the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the common defense and security, and (2) when special circumstances are present. Therefore, in determining the acceptability of the licensee's exemption request, the staff has performed the following regulatory, technical, and legal evaluations to satisfy the requirements of 10 CFR 50.12 for granting the exemption. 3.1 Regulatory Evaluation The MP2 Technical Specifications (TSs) currently permit the licensee to store spent fuel assemblies in high-density storage racks in the MP2 spent fuel pool (SFP). In accordance with the provisions of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(4), the licensee takes credit for soluble boron for criticality control and ensures that the effective multiplication factor (keff) of the SFP does not exceed 0.95, if flooded with borated water. Section 50.68(b)(4) of 10 CFR also requires that, if credit is taken for soluble boron, the keff must remain below 1.0 (subcritical) if flooded with unborated water. However, the licensee is unable to satisfy the requirement to maintain the keff below 1.0 (subcritical) with unborated water, which is also the requirement of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1), during cask handling operations in the SFP. Therefore, the licensee's request for exemption from 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) proposes to permit the licensee to perform spent fuel loading, unloading, and handling operations related to dry cask storage, without being subcritical under the most adverse moderation conditions feasible by unborated water. It should be noted that an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(4) is not necessary because it is only applicable to the spent fuel storage racks, which have been determined to be subcritical if flooded with unborated water. Part 50, Appendix A of 10 CFR, ``General Design Criteria (GDC) for Nuclear Power Plants,'' provides a list of the minimum design requirements for nuclear power plants. According to GDC-62, ``Prevention of Criticality in Fuel Storage and Handling,'' the licensee must prevent criticality in the fuel handling and storage system by physical systems or processes. Section 50.68 of 10 CFR part 50, ``Criticality Accident Requirements,'' provides the NRC requirements for maintaining subcritical conditions in SFPs. Section 50.68 of 10 CFR provides criticality control requirements which, if satisfied, ensure that an inadvertent criticality in the SFP is an extremely unlikely event. These requirements ensure that the licensee has appropriately conservative criticality margins during handling and storage of spent fuel. Section 50.68(b)(1) of 10 CFR states, ``Plant procedures shall prohibit the handling and storage at any one time of more fuel assemblies than have been determined to be safely subcritical under the most adverse moderation conditions feasible by unborated water.'' Specifically, 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) ensures that the licensee will maintain the pool in a subcritical condition during handling and storage operations without crediting the soluble boron in the SFP water. The licensee has received a license to construct and operate an Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) at MP2. The ISFSI permits the licensee to store spent fuel assemblies in large concrete dry storage casks. As part of its ISFSI loading activities, the licensee transfers spent fuel assemblies to a dry shielded canister (DSC) in the cask pit area of the SFP. The licensee performed criticality analyses of the DSC fully loaded with fuel having the highest permissible reactivity, and determined that a soluble boron credit was necessary to ensure that the DSC would remain subcritical in the SFP. Since the licensee is unable to satisfy the requirement of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) to ensure subcritical conditions during handling and storage of spent fuel assemblies in the pool with unborated water, the licensee identified the need for an exemption from the 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) requirement to support DSC loading, unloading, and handling operations, without being subcritical under the most adverse moderation conditions feasible by unborated water. The staff evaluated the possibility of an inadvertent criticality of the spent nuclear fuel at MP2 during DSC loading, unloading, and handling. The staff has established a set of acceptance criteria that, if met, satisfy the underlying intent of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1). In lieu of complying with 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1), the staff determined that an inadvertent criticality accident is unlikely to occur if the licensee meets the following five criteria:\1\ ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \1\ The criteria have been used previously in the review of similar exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) for Diablo Canyon Units No. 1 and 2 and Sequoyah Units No. 1 and 2. The evaluations for these exemptions are available in the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System under accession numbers ML040300693 and ML041540213, respectively. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- 1. The cask criticality analyses are based on the following conservative assumptions: a. All fuel assemblies in the cask are unirradiated and at the highest permissible enrichment, b. Only 75 percent of the Boron-10 in the Boral panel inserts is credited, c. No credit is taken for fuel-related burnable absorbers, and d. The cask is assumed to be flooded with moderator at the temperature and density corresponding to optimum moderation. 2. The licensee's ISFSI TS requires the soluble boron concentration to be equal to or greater than the level assumed in the criticality analysis and surveillance requirements necessitate the periodic verification of the concentration both prior to and during loading and unloading operations. 3. Radiation monitors, as required by GDC-63, ``Monitoring Fuel and Waste Storage,'' are provided in fuel storage and handling areas to detect excessive radiation levels and to initiate appropriate safety actions. 4. The quantity of other forms of special nuclear material, such as sources, detectors, etc., to be stored in the cask will not increase the effective multiplication factor above the limit calculated in the criticality analysis. 5. Sufficient time exists for plant personnel to identify and terminate a boron dilution event prior to achieving a critical boron concentration in the DSC. To demonstrate that it can safely identify and terminate a boron dilution event, the licensee must provide the following: a. A plant-specific criticality analysis to identify the critical boron concentration in the cask based on the highest reactivity loading pattern. b. A plant-specific boron dilution analysis to identify all potential dilution pathways, their flowrates, and the time necessary to reach a critical boron concentration. c. A description of all alarms and indications available to promptly alert operators of a boron dilution event. d. A description of plant controls that will be implemented to minimize the potential for a boron dilution event. e. A summary of operator training and procedures that will be used to ensure [[Page 8853]] that operators can quickly identify and terminate a boron dilution event. 3.2 Technical Evaluation In determining the acceptability of the licensee's exemption request, the staff reviewed three aspects of the licensee's analyses: (1) Criticality analyses submitted to support the ISFSI license application and its exemption request, (2) boron dilution analysis, and (3) legal basis for approving the exemption. For each of the aspects, the staff evaluated whether the licensee's analyses and methodologies provide reasonable assurance that adequate safety margins are developed and can be maintained in the MP2 SFP during loading of spent fuel into canisters for dry cask storage. 3.2.1 Criticality Analyses For evaluation of the acceptability of the licensee's exemption request, the staff reviewed the criticality analyses provided by the licensee in support of its ISFSI license application. Appendix M, Chapter 6, ``Criticality Evaluation,'' of the Standardized NUHOMS Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) contains detailed information regarding the methodology, assumptions, and controls used in the criticality analysis for the DSCs to be used at MP2. The staff reviewed the information contained in Chapter 6 as well as information provided by the licensee in its exemption request to determine if Criteria 1 through 4 of Section 3.1 were satisfied. First, the staff reviewed the methodology and assumptions used by the licensee in its criticality analysis to determine if Criterion 1 was satisfied. The licensee provided a detailed list of the assumptions used in the criticality analysis in Appendix M, Chapter 6 of the NUHOMS FSAR as well as in its exemption request. The licensee stated that it took no credit in the criticality analyses for burnup or fuel-related burnable absorbers. The licensee also stated that all assemblies were analyzed at the highest permissible enrichment. Additionally, the licensee stated that all criticality analyses for a flooded DSC were performed at temperatures and densities of water corresponding to optimum moderation conditions. In its supplemental response, dated January 25, 2005, the licensee provided the results of additional analyses it performed to determine the optimum moderation (i.e. maximum k\eff\) conditions in the DSC. The licensee, using previously approved methodologies, determined the optimum moderation condition occurred at 75 percent of full-water density in the DSC. The licensee determined that this condition would only occur during a boiling condition in the cask that resulted in significant voiding. The maximum design basis temperature for the MP2 SFP is 150 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, the cooling system in the SFP is designed to preclude reaching the conditions calculated in the optimum moderation analysis. This provides additional conservative margin in the criticality analysis. Finally, the licensee stated that it credited 90 percent of the Boron-10 content for the fixed neutron absorber in the DSC. NUREG-1536, ``Standard Review Plan for Dry Cask Storage System,'' states that ``[f]or a greater credit allowance [i.e. greater than 75 percent for fixed neutron absorbers] special, comprehensive fabrication tests capable of verifying the presence and uniformity of the neutron absorber are needed.'' In its review of the Standardized NUHOMS cask design, the staff reviewed and accepted the results of additional data supplied by the manufacturer which demonstrated that a 90-percent credit for the fixed neutron absorbers was acceptable in the TN NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT design. Therefore, for the purposes of this exemption, the staff finds a 90-percent credit acceptable on the basis that it has previously been reviewed and approved by the NRC. Subsequently, based on its review of the criticality analyses contained in Appendix M, Chapter 6 of the NUHOMS FSAR and the information submitted in its exemption request, the staff finds that the licensee has satisfied Criterion 1. Second, the staff reviewed the proposed MP2 ISFSI TSs. The licensee's criticality analyses credit soluble boron for reactivity control during DSC loading, unloading, and handling operations. Since the boron concentration is a key safety component necessary for ensuring subcritical conditions in the pool, the licensee must have a conservative TS capable of ensuring that sufficient soluble boron is present to perform its safety function. The most limiting loading configuration of a DSC requires 2500 parts-per-million (ppm) of soluble boron to ensure the k\eff\ is maintained below 0.95, the regulatory limit relied upon by the staff for demonstrating compliance with the requirements of 10 CFR 72.124(a). MP2's ISFSI TSs require the soluble boron concentration in the DSC cavity to be greater than or equal to the concentrations assumed in the criticality analyses under a variety of DSC loading configurations. In all cases, the boron concentration required by the ISFSI TS ensures that the k\eff\ will be below 0.95 for the analyzed loading configuration. Additionally, the licensee's ISFSI TSs contain surveillance requirements which ensure it will verify that the boron concentration is above the required level both prior to and during DSC loading, unloading, and handling operations. Based on its review of the MP2 ISFSI TSs, the staff finds that the licensee has satisfied Criterion 2. Third, the staff reviewed the MP2 Updated Final Safety Analysis Report (UFSAR) and the information provided by the licensee in its exemption request to ensure that it complies with GDC-63. GDC-63 requires that licensees have radiation monitors in fuel storage and associated handling areas to detect conditions that may result in a loss of residual heat removal capability and excessive radiation levels and initiate appropriate safety actions. As a condition of receiving and maintaining an operating license, the licensee must comply with GDC-63. The staff reviewed the MP2 UFSAR and exemption request to determine whether it had provided sufficient information to demonstrate continued compliance with GDC-63. Based on its review of both documents, the staff finds that the licensee complies with GDC-63 and has satisfied Criterion 3. Finally, as part of the criticality analysis review, the staff evaluated the storage of non-fuel related material in a DSC. The staff evaluated the potential to increase the reactivity of a DSC by loading it with materials other than spent nuclear fuel and fuel debris. The approved contents for storage in the NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT cask design are listed in the Standardized NUHOMS Certificate of Compliance (CoC) 1004 Amendment 5 TSs. The contents have been reviewed for storage in the DSCs to be used at MP2 to ensure that subcritical conditions can be maintained. As such, MP2 is restricted to the storage of only those approved contents listed in the TSs. Additionally, the TSs restrict the loading patterns for storage of the approved contents. All of these controls ensure that the DSCs will remain subcritical under the most adverse conditions. Therefore, the staff determined that the loading limitations described in the CoC will ensure that any authorized components loaded in the DSCs will not result in a reactivity increase. Based on its review of the loading restrictions, the staff finds that the licensee has satisfied Criterion 4. 3.2.2 Boron Dilution Analysis Since the licensee's ISFSI application relies on soluble boron to maintain subcritical conditions within the DSCs [[Page 8854]] during loading, unloading and handling operations, the staff reviewed the licensee's boron dilution analysis to determine whether appropriate controls, alarms, and procedures were available to identify and terminate a boron dilution accident prior to reaching a critical boron concentration. By letter dated October 25, 1996, the staff issued a safety evaluation (SE) of licensing topical report WCAP-14416, ``Westinghouse Spent Fuel Rack Criticality Analysis Methodology.'' This SE specified that the following issues be evaluated for applications involving soluble boron credit: the events that could cause boron dilution, the time available to detect and mitigate each dilution event, the potential for incomplete boron mixing, and the adequacy of the boron concentration surveillance interval. The TS requirements for the NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT Cask System include a minimum boron concentration requirement of 2500 ppm boron when spent fuel assemblies with enrichments less than or equal to 3.8 weight- percent (wt-percent) U-235 are loaded into an DSC canister. For higher enrichments, a combination of poison rod assemblies (PRAs) and SFP soluble boron concentration are used to ensure subcritical conditions are maintained in the DSC. The quantity of PRAs needed is a function of the initial, unirradiated enrichment of the fuel assemblies to be loaded in the DSC. For the purposes of this exemption review, the limiting critical boron concentration was determined for the 3.8 wt- percent enrichment loading with no PRAs. Therefore, the approval of this exemption is limited to the DSC loading, unloading, and handling of combustion engineering 14 x 14 fuel assemblies enriched to a maximum of 3.8 wt-percent U-235 and no PRAs. The NUHOMS soluble boron TS requirements ensure that k\eff\ is maintained less than 0.95. TS surveillance requirements require the boron concentration in the DSC water to be verified by two independent measurements within 4 hours prior to commencing any loading or unloading of fuel and verified every 48 hours thereafter while the DSC is in the SFP when one or more fuel assemblies are installed. The licensee contracted with TN to perform a criticality analysis to determine the soluble boron concentration that results in a k\eff\ equal to 1.0 for 3.8 wt-percent U-235 fuel enrichments using the same methodology as approved in the Standardized NUHOMS Cask System Final Safety Analysis. The analysis determined the critical boron concentration level for 3.9 wt-percent U-235 enriched fuel was 1700 ppm. The licensee selected 3.9 wt-percent U-235 enriched fuel as opposed to the 3.8 wt-percent limit in the TSs for added conservatism. The boron concentration within the canister would have to decrease from the TS limit to the critical boron concentration before criticality is possible. The licensee based its boron dilution analyses and its preventive and mitigative actions on dilution sources with the potential to reduce the boron concentration from the TS minimum value to the critical concentration. During the current analysis, the licensee referenced a previous analysis of the boron dilution event performed for MP2 and submitted to the NRC via letter on November 5, 2001. In this analysis the licensee identified all credible potential sources that could dilute the SFP to critical conditions. The licensee determined that the limiting boron dilution event occurs when primary make-up water (PMW), with a maximum flow rate of 200 gpm (gallons per minute), is added to the SFP. The licensee identified the following additional credible bounding dilution sources and their flow rates: 100 gpm from the auxiliary feedwater makeup to the SFP through an open valve directly to the SFP; 142 gpm from the reactor building closed component cooling water leaking to the SFP through a heat exchanger tube rupture; 93 gpm from a piping leak in the fire protection system, domestic water or the turbine building closed cooling water system. The staff found the scope and results of the dilution source evaluation acceptable. The licensee's calculations show that at least 5 hours will be available before the DSC water boron concentration decreases from 2500 ppm to the critical concentration of 1700 ppm when a slug flow (no mixing) model is assumed. To demonstrate that sufficient time exists for plant personnel to identify and terminate a boron dilution event, the licensee provided a description of all alarms available to alert operators, and plant controls that will be implemented. There is no automatic level control system for the SFP; therefore, the SFP will overflow on an uncontrolled water addition. However, a high-level alarm in the control room would alert personnel of a potential boron dilution event within an hour for a 200 gpm dilution rate. Since it would take an additional hour before the pool begin to overflow, at least 3 hours would be available for mitigation of the dilution. The staff finds that this is sufficient time to terminate the event before 1700 ppm in the DSC is reached. The configuration of the cask laydown pit in the pool could allow localized boron dilution and stratification because the pit is open to the SFP only through a narrow transfer path above the level of stored fuel. Addition of cold water directly to the cask loading area that is denser than the warm, borated pool water could fill the bottom of the cask pit with water having a low boron concentration. To avoid direct dilution to the cask pit area, the licensee has committed to include several requirements to its ISFSI operational procedures whenever a DSC is in the SFP with fuel inside. The procedures will require (1) verification that the opening of the cask pit is free from obstructions so that adequate flow between the SFP and the cask pit is established, (2) verification that the return isolation valve to the cask laydown pit is open, which will ensure adequate mixing and cooling within the cask pit area, thereby minimizing the possibility that boron stratification occurs, (3) continuous personnel presence on the SFP floor to promptly identify any inadvertent dilution that could cause stratification in the cask pit, and (4) maintaining 850 gpm of SFP cooling flow to establish adequate mixing throughout the pool. To ensure that operators are capable of identifying and terminating a boron dilution event during DSC loading, unloading, and handling operations, operator training will be conducted. The training will emphasize the importance of avoiding any inadvertent additions of unborated water to the SFP, responses to be taken for notifications or alarms that may be indicative of a potential boron dilution event during DSC loading and fuel movement, and identification of the potential for a boron dilution during decontamination activities. Based on the staff's review of the licensee's exemption request dated November 5, 2004, the supplemental information provided by letters dated January 6, and January 25, 2005, and its boron dilution analysis, the staff finds the licensee has provided sufficient information to demonstrate that an undetected and uncorrected dilution from the TS required boron concentration to the calculated critical boron concentration is not credible. Based on its review of the boron analysis and enhancements to the operating procedures and operator training program, the staff finds the licensee has satisfied Criterion 5. Therefore, in conjunction with the conservative assumptions used to [[Page 8855]] establish the TS required boron concentration and critical boron concentration, the boron dilution evaluation demonstrates that the underlying intent of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) is satisfied. 3.3 Legal Basis for the Exemption Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, ``Specific Exemption,'' the staff reviewed the licensee's exemption request to determine if the legal basis for granting an exemption had been satisfied, and concluded that the licensee has satisfied the requirements of 10 CFR 50.12. With regard to the six special circumstances listed in 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), the staff finds that the licensee's exemption request satisfies 50.12(a)(2)(ii), ``Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule.'' Specifically, the staff concludes that since the licensee has satisfied the five criteria in Section 3.1 of this exemption, the application of the rule is not necessary to achieve its underlying purpose in this case. 3.4 Summary The following limitations and/or conditions are applicable to this exemption: A. Loading, unloading, and handling of the DSC for the TN NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT shall only be done at MP2. B. Loading, unloading, and handling in the DSC at MP2 is limited to Combustion Engineering 14 x 14 fuel assemblies that had a maximum initial, unirradiated U-235 enrichment of 3.8 wt-percent. C. The licensee will implement the actions as stated in Attachment 2 of its supplement dated January 25, 2005, namely: 1. DNC will revise ISFSI procedures or calculations to state that poison rod assembly (PRA) use is not authorized by the proposed 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) exemption. 2. DNC will revise ISFSI procedures to require that when a fueled 32PT DSC is in the MPS2 [Millstone Power Station, Unit No. 2] SPF[,] Spent Fuel Pool Cooling Flow must be at least 850 gpm. 3. During the time that a fueled DSC is in the SFP procedural controls will be implemented to ensure that the transfer canal bulkhead gate will not be used to block the transfer canal opening to the SFP. 4. An additional precaution will be added to the SFP high level alarm response procedure to identify that if there is a fueled DSC in the SFP additional boron concentration limits apply. These limits will be specified in the procedure. 5. Training will be conducted to ensure operators are aware of the 32PT DSC TS SFP boron concentration requirements, and should a boron dilution occur, at what boron concentration criticality in the DSC could occur. The training will emphasize the importance of avoiding any inadvertent additions of unborated water to the SFP, responses to be taken for notification or alarms that may be indicative of a potential boron dilution event during cask loading and fuel movement in the SFP, and identification of the potential for a boron dilution event during decontamination rinsing activities. 6. Appropriate controls or measures to minimize the possibility of direct dilution of the cask handling area of the SFP will be established prior to DSC loading. (a) DNC will revise ISFSI procedures to require an individual remain on the SFP floor at all times when a fueled 32PT DSC is in the MPS2 SFP to ensure that the SFP is not overflowing and that water is not unintentionally spilling into the SFP. (b) DNC will revise ISFSI procedures to require Valve 2-RW-350 [to] remain open when a fueled 32PT DSC is in the MPS2 SFP. (c) DSC procedures will be modified to include a requirement that the SFP will be sampled for boron concentration after each intentional addition of a maximum of 500 gallons of unborated water. 7. DNC will revise ISFSI procedures to require [that] Valve 2-RW-2 will be closed when a fueled 32PT DSC is in the MP2 SFP. The staff finds, based upon the review of the licensee's proposal to credit soluble boron during DSC loading, unloading, and handling in the MP2 SFP, that pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), the licensee's exemption request is acceptable. 4.0 Conclusion Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security. Also, special circumstances are present. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. an exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR 50.68(b)(1) for the loading, unloading, and handling of the components of the TN NUHOMS[supreg]-32PT dry cask storage system at MP2. Any changes to the cask system design features affecting criticality or its supporting criticality analyses will invalidate this exemption. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the granting of this exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment (69 FR 2012). This exemption is effective upon issuance. Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 15th day of February, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ledyard B. Marsh, Director, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. 05-3398 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 26 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for the FR Doc 05-3399 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8849] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-93] Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ACTION: Notice of the OMB review of information collection and solicitation of public comment. SUMMARY: The NRC has recently submitted to OMB for review the following proposal for the collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). The NRC hereby informs potential respondents that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and that a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 1. Type of submission, new, revision, or extension: Extension. 2. The title of the information collection: NUREG/BR-0238, Materials Annual Fee Billing Handbook; NRC Form 628, ``Financial EDI Authorization''; NUREG/BR-0254, Payment Methods; NRC Form 629, ``Authorization for Payment by Credit Card''. 3. The form number if applicable: NRC Form 628, ``Financial EDI Authorization''; NRC Form 629, ``Authorization for Payment by Credit Card''. 4. How often the collection is required: Annually. 5. Who will be required or asked to report: Anyone doing business with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission including licensees, applicants and individuals who are required to pay a fee for inspections and licenses. 6. An estimate of the number of annual responses: 7,330 (10 for NRC Form 628 and 7,320 for NRC Form 629 and NUREG/BR-0254). 7. The estimated number of annual respondents: 7,330 (10 for NRC Form 628 and 7,320 for NRC Form 629 and NUREG/BR-0254). 8. An estimate of the total number of hours needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 611 (.8 hour for NRC Form 628 and 610 hours for NRC Form 629 and NUREG/BR-0254). 9. An indication of whether Section 3507(d), Pub. L. 104-13 applies: Not applicable. 10. Abstract: The U.S. Department of the Treasury encourages the public to pay monies owed the government through use of the Automated Clearinghouse Network and credit cards. These two methods of payment are used by licensees, applicants, and individuals to pay civil penalties, full cost licensing fees, and inspection fees to the NRC. A copy of the final supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/index.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comm ent/omb/index.html] . The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions should be directed to the OMB reviewer listed below by March 25, 2005. Comments received after this date will be considered if it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot be given to comments received after this date. John A. Asalone, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (3150- 0190), NEOB-10202, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503. Comments can also be e-mailed to John_A._Asalone@omb.eop.gov [John_A._Asalone@omb.eop.gov] or submitted by telephone at (202) 395-4650. The NRC Clearance Officer is Brenda Jo. Shelton, (301) 415-7233. Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of February, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services. [FR Doc. 05-3399 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 27 NRC: Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability FR Doc 05-3400 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8858-8859] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-99] The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a new guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This series has been developed to describe and make available to the public such information as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of applications for permits and licenses. Regulatory Guide 1.202, ``Standard Format and Content of Decommissioning Cost Estimates for Nuclear Power Reactors,'' provides guidance for licensees to use in meeting the NRC's regulatory requirements for the various cost estimates that the agency requires for different stages and methods of decommissioning. Specifically, on July 29, 1996, the NRC amended its regulations on decommissioning procedures that lead to termination of an operating license for nuclear power reactors, as specified in Title 10, Section 50.82, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50.82). That rulemaking included changes to the decommissioning-related provisions of 10 CFR part 2, ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings and Issuance of Orders''; part 50, ``Domestic Licensing of Production and Utilization Facilities''; and part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions.'' Regulatory Guide 1.202 describes a method that the NRC staff considers acceptable for complying with those amended regulations. In November 2001, the NRC staff published a draft of this guide as Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1085. Following the closure of the public comment period on January 30, 2002, the staff resolved all stakeholder comments in the course of preparing the new Regulatory Guide 1.202. The NRC staff encourages and welcomes comments and suggestions in connection with improvements to published regulatory guides, as well as items for inclusion in regulatory guides that are currently being developed. You may submit comments by any of the following methods. Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 415-5144. Requests for technical information about Regulatory Guide 1.202 may be directed to C.L. Pittiglio at (301) 415-1435 or via e-mail to [ CLP@nrc.gov] . Regulatory guides are available for inspection or downloading through the NRC's public Web site in the Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collecti ons] . Electronic copies of Regulatory Guide 1.202 are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) at [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] , under Accession No. ML050230008. Note, however, that the NRC has temporarily suspended public access to ADAMS so that the agency can complete security reviews of publicly [[Page 8859]] available documents and remove potentially sensitive information. Please check the NRC's Web site for updates concerning the resumption of public access to ADAMS. In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by e- mail to [PDR@nrc.gov] . Requests for single copies of draft or final guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in specific divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and Distribution Services Section; by e-mail to [DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov] ; or by fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce them. (5 U.S.C. 552(a)) Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 14th day of February, 2005. For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Carl J. Paperiello, Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research. [FR Doc. 05-3400 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 28 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc 05-3401 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8855-8856] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-96] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for the P-Clairol Facility in Stamford, CT AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathy Dolce Modes, Materials Security & Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone (610) 337-5251, fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: kad@nrc.gov [kad@nrc.gov] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license amendment to P-Clairol, Inc., (P-Clairol) for Materials License No. 06-11703-02, to authorize release of its facility in Stamford, Connecticut for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the publication of this Notice. II. EA Summary The purpose of the action is to authorize the release of the licensee's [[Page 8856]] Stamford, Connecticut facility for unrestricted use. P-Clairol was authorized by NRC from June 10, 1971, to use radioactive materials for research and development purposes at the site. On July 6, 2004, P- Clairol requested that NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. P-Clairol has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license amendment. The facility was remediated and surveyed prior to the licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by P-Clairol. Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the facility and concluded that since the residual radioactivity meets the requirements in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20, a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate. III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the license amendment to terminate the license and release the facility for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has evaluated P-Clairol's request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. The staff has found that the environmental impacts from the action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the action. IV. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the application for the license amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] . From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice are: The Environmental Assessment (ML050420203), Application dated July 6, 2004, requesting termination of the license (ML042030040), letter dated October 7, 2004, with attachments providing additional information (ML042920466), electronic mail dated October 8 and 10, 2004 (ML 043000248), electronic mail dated December 14, 2004 (ML043570057), and Addendum to the Report on the Final Radiological Status Survey dated November 22, 2004 (received on December 15, 2004) (ML043570467). Please note that on October 25, 2004, the NRC terminated public access to ADAMS and initiated an additional security review of publicly available documents to ensure that potentially sensitive information is removed from the ADAMS database accessible through the NRC's Web site. Interested members of the public may obtain copies of the referenced documents for review and/or copying by contacting the Public Document Room pending resumption of public access to ADAMS. The NRC Public documents Room is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can be contacted at (800) 397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [ pdr@nrc.gov] . The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. The PDR is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. Dated at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 15th day of February, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. James P. Dwyer, Chief, Commercial and R Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I. [FR Doc. 05-3401 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 29 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc 05-3402 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8856-8857] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-97] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Department of the Army, Walter Reed Army Medical Center Washington, DC AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability of environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laurie Kauffman, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5323, fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: lap@nrc.gov [lap@nrc.gov] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license amendment to Department of the Army, Walter Reed Army Medical Center (WRAMC) for Materials License No. 08-01738-02, to authorize release of Building T-2 of the Washington, DC site for unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the publication of this Notice. II. EA Summary The purpose of the action is to authorize the release of the licensee's Building T-2 of the Washington, DC facility for unrestricted use. WRAMC was authorized by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) on February 18, 1959 to use radioactive materials for medical research, diagnosis, and therapy purposes at the site. On October 29, 2004, WRAMC requested that the NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. WRAMC has conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination criteria in 10 CFR part 20, subpart E, for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license amendment. The facility was remediated and surveyed in support of the license amendment. The NRC staff has reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by WRAMC. Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are no additional remediation activities necessary to complete the proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the facility and concluded that since the residual radioactivity meets the requirements in 10 CFR part 20, subpart E, a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate. III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the EA (summarized above) in support of the license amendment to release Building T-2 in its entirety of the WRAMC [[Page 8857]] facility at 6900 Georgia Avenue, NW., Washington, DC for unrestricted use. The NRC staff has evaluated WRAMC's request and the results of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action complies with the criteria in 10 CFR part 20, subpart E. The staff has found that the environmental impacts from the action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496, Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). On the basis of the EA, the NRC has concluded that the environmental impacts from the action are expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an environmental impact statement for the action. IV. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the application for the license amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html] . From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related to this Notice are: Environmental Assessment (ADAMS Accession No. ML050460068); Amendment Request for WRAMC Building T-2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML043220447); Historical Site Assessment for WRAMC Building T-2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML043220460); and Final Status Survey for WRAMC Building T-2 (ADAMS Accession No. ML043220467). Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at (800) 397- 4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [pdr@nrc.gov] . Please note that on October 25, 2004, the NRC terminated public access to ADAMS and initiated an additional security review of publicly available documents to ensure that potentially sensitive information is removed from the ADAMS database accessible through the NRC's Web site. Interested members of the public may obtain copies of the referenced documents for review and/or copying by contacting the Public Document Room pending resumption of public access to ADAMS. The NRC Public Document Room is located at NRC Headquarters in Rockville, MD, and can be contacted at (800) 397-4209, (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov [ pdr@nrc.gov] . Dated in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 15th day of February, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Ronald R. Bellamy, Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I. [FR Doc. 05-3402 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 30 portclintonnewsherald.com: Davis-Besse reported 'clean' - Wednesday, February 23, 2005 By DAN DEARTH Staff writer OAK HARBOR -- FirstEnergy officials gave the Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station a clean bill of health Tuesday following a three-week shutdown for repairs. Richard G. Wilkins, First Energy spokesman, said Davis-Besse was shut down from Jan. 17 to Feb. 9 to fix 83 of 30,000 tubes in the plant's steam generators and make smaller repairs. "Some of the tubes showed signs of cracking ... some of them showed signs of wear," Wilkins said. "The plant has been here for 27 years." Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Jan Strasma said the repairs were conducted after third-party inspectors assessed areas of the plant that needed mending. "The requirement is they bring people in to do the assessment, and then they inform the NRC," Strasma said. "The plant made sufficient hardware improvements where (the NRC) felt the plant could operate safely." Strasma said 2004 marked the first year of an annual assessment program that will last until 2008 at Davis-Besse. The assessment involves inspections in four major areas of the plant: operations performance, corrective-action program, engineering-program effectiveness and organizational-safety culture, including the promotion of a safety-conscious work environment. The plant along Lake Erie was shut down for more than two years after it was discovered in early 2002 that a leak had allowed boric acid to eat nearly through the 6-inch-thick steel cap covering the reactor vessel. The annual assessment was part of the agreement allowing the plant to restart. In addition to checking the steam generators, this year's assessment involved an inspection to find leakage in the upper and lower vessel heads. Strasma said no leakage was detected. Wilkins said vessel heads contain nuclear fuel to operate the plant. "It's like a big pressure cooker," Wilkins said. "We need to make sure those aren't leaking. That's what the inspections are all about." Barry Allen, FirstEnergy's director of site operations at Davis-Besse, said the plant is functioning at 100-percent power after the repairs. "I feel we started off well and did better than we anticipated," Allen said. "We were very pleased with cleanliness and containment." Allen said Davis-Besse revised its procedures to expedite repairs and "avoid these problems in the future." FirstEnergy presented the repairs it made per the assessment to the NRC Tuesday afternoon in the Davis-Besse conference room. About 70 people, mostly FirstEnergy employees, attended the event. Originally published Wednesday, February 23, 2005 ***************************************************************** 31 toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse still worries NRC Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Article published Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Worker attitudes and perceptions of management cited By [thenry@theblade.com] BLADE STAFF WRITER OAK HARBOR, Ohio - Davis-Besse hasn't been hit with a safety crisis since the Nuclear Regulatory Commission allowed it to go back into operation 11 months ago. But the government agency remains uneasy about worker attitudes and perceptions that employees have of FirstEnergy Corp. management. The NRC has long said a fear of coming forward apparently led to the near-rupture of Davis-Besse's corroded reactor head and other equipment and operational issues that idled the plant for two years. "Right now, it's their biggest obstacle," Steve Reynolds, chairman of the NRC's oversight panel, told The Blade yesterday in regard to the Ottawa County nuclear plant's workplace atmosphere. The comment came after a meeting during which FirstEnergy revealed that its efforts to improve Davis-Besse's so-called "safety culture" have hit a snag. Mark Bezilla, plant vice president, acknowledged that attitudes and perceptions documented by renowned industrial psychologist Sonja Haber in December virtually mirrored the conclusions she issued in a February, 2003, report following her first assessment. "Our goal is to have it continually improve," Mr. Bezilla told the NRC. The near-rupture, which could have led to the first partial meltdown of a U.S. reactor since Three Mile Island in 1979, prompted the NRC to form a special oversight panel. Mr. Reynolds said though Davis-Besse has shown "adequate performance" lately, the NRC isn't going to disband the oversight panel until it sees more consistency. "We're looking at sustained performance, so it's going to be a while before Davis-Besse is there," he said. The latest safety culture assessment included other experts, including a retired Navy rear admiral. It is the fourth in a series of outside assessments that FirstEnergy paid to have done under the terms for Davis-Besse's restart. Steve Loehlein, the utility's nuclear engineering director, said one of those assessment teams found Davis-Besse's engineering program to be generally effective, although still in need of improvement. In December, FirstEnergy officials revealed they received a sub-average rating for Davis-Besse's corrective action program, one in which the company was told it does no better than a "marginal" job of self-diagnosing equipment and performance issues. It also got a failing mark for its interpretation of trend data. In the first outside assessment since restart, FirstEnergy was told it somewhat improved its operations at Davis-Besse but that its performance was not consistently good enough. Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. © 2005 The Blade.The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 32 Daily Star: Iranian atomic power plant faces more delays built with Russian help, The Bushehr plant could be operational in 2006 Russia will supply fuel for the facility for the first 10 years, after which the Iranians say they will produce their own Compiled by Daily Star staff Monday, August 23, 2004 [Iranian atomic power plant faces more delays] Iran on Sunday announced a further substantial delay in the long overdue project to complete its first nuclear power plant, part of a programme which Washington says could be used to make atomic arms. But the delay to the Bushehr reactor in southwestern Iran, now due to come onstream in October 2006, will do little to allay international concerns about Iran's atomic ambitions which focus more on its uranium enrichment efforts. Bushehr, which is being built with Russian help, has seen its start date pushed back steadily in recent years from an earlier target of 2003. Russian officials had recently said it would start up in 2005. "One of the reasons that the project has faced delay is our precise attention to international standards" on safety and the environment, Asadollah Sabouri, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told a news conference. Another factor holding up the 1,000 MW plant is the failure to agree on a contract to return spent fuel to Russia. The agreement is designed to ease fears that Iran could reprocess the spent fuel and turn it into bomb-grade material. Sabouri said Iran and Russia had yet to agree on the cost and procedures for returning the spent fuel, but said both sides were committed to reaching a deal. Iran rejects US accusations that it is secretly developing nuclear weapons. It says that despite its large oil and gas reserves it needs to generate 7,000 MW from nuclear power by 2021 to meet rising electricity demand. Sabouri said Russia had agreed to build at least one more reactor at Bushehr and that two European countries had expressed interest in building some other plants. "My message to the Europeans is ... we are ready and we have to move towards implementation contracts," he said. He declined to name the countries. While fuel for the first Bushehr reactor will be provided by Russia under a 10-year supply agreement, it is Iran's plans to produce its own nuclear fuel though sophisticated uranium enrichment plants that has proven most controversial. Tehran kept its uranium enrichment facilities secret until 2002. Low-grade enriched uranium is used as fuel in power plants but highly-enriched uranium is used to make bombs. Sabouri said Iran should be able to produce its own fuel in time for completion of the second reactor at Bushehr. Both the US and Israel are convinced that, under cover of producing nuclear power, the Islamic republic is secretly developing an atomic bomb, something Tehran strenuously denies. The IAEA governing body will consider the question of Iranian nuclear power projects at a meeting at its headquarters in Vienna in September. Iran, which has repeatedly claimed its nuclear programme is entirely for civil purposes, believes it has given sufficient assurances and is demanding that the issue be left off the IAEA agenda. However, far from agreeing, the IAEA demanded further cooperation from Iran at its June meeting to provide conclusive proof that it is not secretly developing nuclear weapons. Iran intends to produce its own fuel for the next stage of its nuclear programme after making "important advances" in its production, Sabouri said. "Important advances have been made, it will not be many years before we are in a position to produce our own fuel," he said. Iran's ability to master the uranium enrichment cycle is a cause for concern in the international community and the IAEA has expressed reservations that Iran could use the technology to produce its own bomb. As a gesture of good faith, Iran agreed last year to suspend enriching uranium used for nuclear fuel but has always insisted that it was a temporary measure. "Our programme is very clear," Sabouri said. "For the first stage we have a contract with the Russians for the supply of fuel for 10 years." But he added: "We are counting on the fact that the second phase will use fuel produced by Iran." Sabouri said that if Iran had gone ahead and built a brand new reactor rather than taken up with the Russians where German contractors had left off when they abandoned the project, the plant "would have been up and running two years ago." The plant "will have a life of 35 years" instead of the usual 50, he added, but said Iran was not worried about a possible Israeli attack on Bushehr. "Measures have been taken and will be taken" to protect the plant, he said. Copyright © 2004, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Click ***************************************************************** 33 Xinhua: Shandong, Jilin opting for nuclear power plants www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-02-24 08:41:32 BEIJING, Feb. 24 -- East China's Shandong Province is moving ahead with three nuclear power projects, which are expected to produce electricity by 2010. The three projects are the Haiyang Nuclear Power Station in Yantai, Rushan Nuclear Power Station and Rongcheng Power Station in Weihai, sources with the Shandong Provincial Development and Reform Commission said yesterday. Statistics show that Shandong has a total generating capacity of 30 million kilowatts a year. The province can currently provide only half of the 70 million tons of coal burnt to produce this electricity, with the rest being brought in from other provinces. It is estimated that the province's annual need for electricity-generation capacity will reach 50 million kilowatts in 2010. Hence, the province urgently needs to increase the proportion of nuclear power it produces. The layouts for the three plants are quite similar, with an annual capacity of 4 to 6 million kilowatts. An investment of 40 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) to 80 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion) will be needed for each of the three plants. To date, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology have approved the preliminary feasibility reports for the Haiyang and Rushan plants. But all three projects are still waiting for the final approval from the central government. Jilin project In another development, Northeast China's Jilin Province is also considering building the province's first-ever nuclear power plant, according to local media reports. China Electric Power Investment Corporation said it plans to invest 40 billion yuan (US$4.8 billion) to build a nuclear power station with a capacity of 4 million kilowatts, local media reported. "Up to now, the company has already invested over 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million) on preliminary construction," a senior official from the Baishan Development and Reform Commission was quoted as saying by the Shenyang-based East Asia Economy and Trade News. Jingyu, a county in Northeast China's Jilin Province, has been selected as the site for the plant because of its geological features and rich water resources after research done by the company and a local institution. This project will be the largest in the history of Jilin Province, said the newspaper. However, the construction work schedule has not yet been revealed. Jilin Province needs a generating capacity of 12 million kilowatts at present. However, production has so far lagged behind demand. The construction of the nuclear power station would help solve this shortfall. (Source: China Daily) Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 Vermont Guardian: Vermont Yankee tells lawmakers it needs more storage - now www.vermontguardian.com By Shay Totten | Vermont Yankee officials told lawmakers Wednesday that they need imminent approval to store nuclear waste in a series of six dry casks because they will run out of room to store spent fuel in three years, and may have to shut down the plant. "We will run out of storage space in 2007, possibly 2008, and a project of that magnitude needs to be planned out several years ahead of time before a site is ready to accept dry casks, said Jay Thayer, Vermont Yankees vice president of operations. There is a significant engineering effort underway right now. Thayer testified last week before the Senate Finance Committee that with the uprate they would need six casks to store enough spent fuel to get the plant through its existing license period, which expires in 2012. The uprate would increase spent fuel output by an estimated 20 to 30 percent. The uprate is widely seen as a precursor to a 20-year license extension. Conversely, without the increased profitability of an uprate, VY officials have said they could shut the plant down before its existing license expires. Former nuclear engineer Arnie Gunderson, an expert witness for the anti-nuclear group New England Coalition, said Entergy knew it would run out of room for spent fuel when it bought Vermont Yankee, but chose to ignore it. This is the first time in four years weve heard about it, but they knew all along. They could have raised the issue during its uprate proposal, but they chose not to. Thats because they are not focused on 2012, but on 2032, said Gunderson, referring to a widely held belief that Entergy will apply to extend Vermont Yankees operating license by 20 years. Its current license expires in 2012. This is a crisis that they created. Id like to help you think outside of the box that Entergy created. Gunderson said that his company, which designed fuel rod assemblies, had come up with strategies to help power plants maximize space within their spent fuel pool. He claims Entergy has not explored these options, which would allow the company to store more fuel inside the plant and not need to store them in casks next to the Connecticut River. Under Vermont law, any entity seeking approval to store nuclear waste must petition the speaker of the house and the president pro tem of the Senate for permission to do so. VY has not presented a petition, and likely wont have to. Thats because the House Speaker Gaye Symington, D-Jericho, and President Pro Tem Peter Welch, D-Windsor, agreed weeks ago to opt for a full committee hearing rather than a petition. We need to be educated on this issue, said Sen. Ginny Lyons, D-Chittenden, chairwoman of the Senate Natural Resources Committee. Vermont Yankee produces a significant amount of energy for the state, but there are a lot of issues to consider. Vermont law clearly states that no state officer, board, or subcommittee may grant such approval without legislative approval, which is why both key House and Senate energy committees are focused on the storage issue. Under questioning from Rep. David Darrow, D-Dummerston, Thayer said Entergy was not looking to make an end run around the legislative process. If you dont get what you want, will you seek federal preemption? asked Darrow, referring to the possibility of petitioning the federal government for the OK to store waste in dry casks and ignoring the Legislature. I dont mean to be trite, Thayer said. But, I have not spent any time looking at federal preemption. We have pledged to work through the certificate of public good process before the Public Service Board, and we will continue to use state processes, which is one of the reasons we are before you today. Lawmakers say they are not ready to broker a deal yet, and want to hear more information from witnesses about the short- and long-term impacts of dry cask storage. As we heard, they need a decision very soon, and if we did grant dry cask storage, we could grant it with a number of conditions and caveats, said Robert Dostis, chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee. Officials from the Department of Public Service, in written testimony to the committees, said it would be reasonable to limit dry cask storage to only that capacity sufficient for operation until the end of the current operating license. Dostis said the House committee will take testimony from lawmakers and regulators in Minnesota, which allows dry cask storage and taxes utilities for each cask. The Minnesota Legislature in 1994 created a renewable energy fund by charging the owner of the Prairie Island plant for dry cask storage at the rate of $500,000 per cask per year. That was changed in 2003 to $16 million a year. As a result, owner Xcel, formerly Northern States Power, has developed approximately 425 megawatts of wind power almost four-fifths of the power generated by Vermont Yankee and is now required to produce 10 percent of its energy from renewable sources by 2015. VYs spent-fuel pool contains 2,787 densely packed, highly radioactive spent-fuel assemblies. If the cooling water were to drain out of the pool, the alloy cladding on the fuel could ignite, resulting in a release of radioactivity. In its formal proposal unveiled earlier this month, Vermont Yankee officials asked for permission to build a heavily reinforced concrete pad just north of the reactor building to accommodate a group of steel-and-concrete containers. Each of the containers has the capacity to hold 68 fuel assemblies. Rep. Jim McCullough, D-Williston, asked what the 100-year flood level was for the Connecticut River and how high above sea level the proposed cask pad would be located. Thayer said the pad would be about 252 feet above sea level. The 100-year flood level is 227 feet above sea level and the 500-year flood level is 231.9 feet above sea level, said Thayer. The normal high water mark of the Connecticut River is 220 feet above sea level. The proposal does not specify the number of containers, or casks, that Vermont Yankee would install. A map included in the proposal indicates that the fenced pad could hold as many as 40. The 32-year-old Vermont Yankee, the oldest operating reactor in New England, generates 535 MW of power and supplies about one-third of the states total electricity. About 55 percent of its power production is sold to Vermont at a price set by contracts established when the plant was sold in 2002. Posted February 23, 2005 ©2004-2005 Vermont Guardian | info@vermontguardian.com [info@vermontguardian.com] ***************************************************************** 35 Eureka Reporter: PG&E issues report on ‘lost’ fuel rods [http://www.eurekareporter.com 2/23/05 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has provided the Nuclear Regulatory Commission with an interim report on the status of the investigation into the location of segments of a used nuclear fuel rod at its Humboldt Bay Power Plant near Eureka. The investigation began in June when the utility reported to the NRC the discovery of conflicting records about the location of three, 18-inch long segments. These records indicate that the segments were either stored in the used fuel pool in 1968 or were shipped to a licensed nuclear waste facility in 1969. The interim report to the NRC details the work that has been conducted over the past seven months to determine the location of the segments if possible, and to rule out unlikely locations and scenarios. The utility states in this interim report that there is reasonable, but not conclusive, evidence that the three 18-inch fuel rod segments have been found in the used fuel pool at the plant, but in broken, fragment form rather than as intact, 18-inch cut segments. “The results of the investigation to date, while inconclusive, support our original belief that the segments are either in our possession in the used fuel pool or were shipped offsite to a licensed nuclear waste facility,” said Greg Rueger, PG senior vice president for generation and chief nuclear officer. “Based on an independent expert analysis of the fuel fragments we have recovered from the used fuel pool, it is most likely that we have the cut fuel rod segments in our possession. Unfortunately, their condition after 40 years of being stored under other components in the pool makes positive identification extremely difficult.” Since the location of the three 18-inch segments in the used fuel pool is reasonably likely but not conclusive, HBPP personnel are continuing to search documentation, complete interviews, perform a cause analysis and analyze scenarios of possible off-site shipment of the three fuel rod segments. PG expects to submit a final report on the investigation in the second quarter of 2005. Although no intact, 18-inch fuel rod segments have been found to date, fragments of fuel rods of the same type as the three segments at issue have been retrieved from storage containers located in the used fuel pool. A number of the fragments have at least one end that appears under visual inspection to have been cut mechanically. Plant records indicate that General Electric “Type 1” stainless steel clad fuel experienced failures and broken fuel fragments were created; however, the rod removed from Assembly A-49 was the only rod ever mechanically cut. PG contracted with ATI Consulting, a firm specializing in metallurgical forensic analysis and supplemented by nationally known experts in nuclear fuel, to evaluate the various fuel fragments found in the storage containers in the pool. In its evaluation, ATI Consulting reviewed videotapes, close-up digital photos and dimensioned drawings of the fuel fragments, and was provided with plant records describing the cut plans used by plant staff in 1968 to segment the A-49 rod. In particular, ATI thoroughly examined the ends of fuel pieces to determine whether they were cut. ATI concluded that a strong case can be made that the end piece remnants of the cut seven-foot long A-49 fuel rod and at least a portion of one of the three cut segments have been found in the pool. Several of the other fragments also appear to have been mechanically cut, though the evidence is not as conclusive for these fragments. By inference and based on the cut plans indicating that eight cut ends should be found, ATI has concluded all three of the unaccounted for cut fuel rod segments have been found in the used fuel pool. ATI Consulting theorized that the cut fuel rod segments were struck during fuel movement activities occurring during the 1960s and 1970s, and were broken into smaller pieces ranging in length from thumbnail-sized pieces up to 14 inches. As a result, some end pieces likely would have been bent or crushed, making a final determination that they were mechanically cut difficult, if not impossible. The existence of multiple fuel fragments beyond the cut fuel rod in question are the result of the inferior nature of stainless steel cladding, which was used in early fuel rod manufacturing. Because of the tendency of the stainless steel cladding to fail, some fuel rods were broken during fuel assembly cleaning during the plant’s operation, and these fragments fell to the bottom of the pool, where they were collected and stored in containers in the pool. This stainless steel cladding failure was an industry issue, and not unique to Humboldt Bay, PG stated. ***************************************************************** 36 NRC: NRC, Company to Discuss License Renewal Inspection Conducted at Nine Mile Point Nuclear Power Plant News Release - Region I - 2005-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-008 February 23, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov [opa1@nrc.gov] The results of a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of the aging management program for Units 1 and 2 of the Nine Mile Point nuclear power plant will be discussed on Thursday, March 3, at a meeting between NRC officials and the facilitys management. The inspection is part of an NRC review of a license renewal application for the plant, which is located in Scriba, N.Y., and operated by Constellation Energy Group. That application is still under review. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Town of Scriba Assembly Hall, 42 Creamery Road in Oswego, N.Y. Members of the public are invited to observe and will have an opportunity to pose questions to NRC officials before the session is adjourned. In May 2004, Constellation Energy applied to the NRC for a 20-year extension of the operating licenses for the Nine Mile Point units. One important aspect of the NRC license renewal process is to ensure that a plant manages the effects of aging equipment through an effective monitoring and maintenance program. The NRC has found that a successful program will permit safe operation for an additional 20 years beyond its initial license period of 40 years. The current operating license for Nine Mile Point Unit 1 is due to expire on Aug. 22, 2009, while the current operating license for Nine Mile Point Unit 2 is scheduled to terminate on Oct. 31, 2026. A copy of the Nine Mile Point license renewal application is available via the NRCs web site at: www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applications/nin e-mile-pt.html. Additional information about the license renewal process is available at: www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html. Last revised Wednesday, February 23, 2005 ***************************************************************** 37 uranium study - new health risks Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 11:24:23 -0500 Press Release

Institute for Energy and Environmental Research

6935 Laurel Avenue, Suite 201, Takoma Park, MD 20912

301.270.5500; f: 301.270.3029; www.ieer.org, ieer@ieer.org

 

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036

202.328.0002; f: 202.462.2183; www.nirs.org; nirsnet@nirs.org

 

Press Release

 

For Immediate Release, February 23, 2005

For further information contact:                         Arjun Makhijani, IEER, 301-270-5500

Linda Gunter/Michael Mariotte, NIRS, 202-328-0002

 

New Research Indicates Health Risks from Uranium May Be More Varied Than Reflected in Current Federal Policy

Depleted Uranium from Proposed New Mexico Enrichment Plant May Become Multi-Billion Dollar Taxpayer Liability without a Hefty Financial Guarantee

Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Corporate Options for DU Disposal Risk Long-Term Violation of Health and Environmental Standards, New Analysis Indicates

 

TAKOMA PARK, MD, FEB. 23, 2005 – A new report about a uranium enrichment plant proposed to be built in New Mexico concludes that it would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion to properly manage and dispose of the depleted uranium (DU) waste that the plant would generate.  Such high costs could not be recovered from the customers for enrichment services.

 

The report also discusses recent research on the health effects of DU, much of it performed at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Institute in Bethesda, Maryland after the 1991 Gulf War, that has implications far wider than the New Mexico plant. The research indicates that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead.[1]  It may also cross the placenta and harm the embryo/fetus. There is also research that indicates that the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium may, in some cases, be acting in a synergistic manner.  Federal regulations limit uranium inhalation based on cancer risk and drinking water intake based mainly on kidney toxicity.

 

There are currently some 740,000 tons of depleted uranium in unstable hexafluoride form stockpiled at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee.  LES, a corporate consortium led by the European company Urenco, wants to build the plant in New Mexico. Another company, USEC, seeks to build a similar plant in Ohio.

 

The report—released today by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)—concludes that unless LES provides at least $2.5 billion dollars in financial guarantees, it is likely that the people of New Mexico, U.S. taxpayers, and future generations would be stuck with a multi-billion dollar radioactive waste liability.  The report was filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in late November 2004 by NIRS and the public interest group Public Citizen as part of their legal intervention in the licensing proceeding of LES.  A redacted version excluding proprietary LES corporate financial data is being released to the public today.

 

“The labeling of depleted uranium as ‘low-level’ waste by the NRC is not going to diminish its dangers,” said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, principal author of the report and president of IEER.  “To paraphrase Shakespeare, dangerous radioactive waste by any other name would still pose significant public health risks.”

 

The report is entitled Costs and Risks of Management and Disposal of Depleted Uranium from the National Enrichment Facility Proposed to be Built in Lea County New Mexico by LES.  It provides data showing that depleted uranium is radiologically comparable to transuranic waste, which is waste that is significantly contaminated with plutonium and other long-lived radionuclides like it.  Federal regulations define transuranic waste as that which has more than 100 nanocuries per gram of long-lived transuranic radionuclides that emit alpha radiation.  DU has a specific activity of about 400 nanocuries per gram.  Transuranic waste from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities is now being disposed of in a deep geologic repository in New Mexico called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which is a multi-billion dollar federal government project.

 

“The people of New Mexico and the taxpayers of the United States may find themselves saddled with enormous liabilities,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, which sponsored the IEER report.  “Corporations can easily wiggle out of their obligations.  It happened, for example, when Getty Oil dumped the wastes from its plutonium reprocessing plant into the laps of the federal government and the State of New York over three decades ago.  That multi-billion dollar mess still hasn’t been fully cleaned up, and the waste has nowhere to go.”

 

“The health risks of depleted uranium may be far more varied than is recognized in federal regulations today,” said Dr. Brice Smith, Senior Scientist at IEER and co-author of the report.  “Children in the future may be saddled with a legacy similar to that of the sorry history of lead poisoning over the past three generations, but this time we are dealing with a heavy metal that is also radioactive.”

 

The license application constitutes LES’s fourth attempt to build a uranium enrichment plant in the United States.  The first attempt, which was for a plant in Louisiana, cost LES more than $30 million.  LES withdrew the application after a citizens’ group successfully challenged the NRC’s environmental impact statement for the project on environmental justice grounds.  Two other locations, both in Tennessee, were also explored but abandoned in the face of local opposition.  DU disposal has remained a central public concern throughout.

 

“The NRC has so far failed to back up its claims that radiation doses from depleted uranium disposal in an abandoned mine would be within regulatory limits,” said Dr. Makhijani.  “Data-free analysis ought to be unacceptable in any forum, but it is especially so in an environmental impact statement prepared by a government agency charged with protecting public health and safety.”

 

LES may consider shallow land disposal as option; sites in Utah or in Texas just across the border from LES site in New Mexico may be considered.  LES may elect to pay the federal government to take on its waste.  DOE is building a plant to convert DU hexafluoride to a more stable oxide form but it has not yet identified a viable long-term disposal strategy even for its own DU.

 

“Transfer to the DOE cannot be considered a solution to LES’s waste problem,” said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program.  “The DOE has yet to take charge of a single spent fuel bundle from nuclear power plant operators—despite a legal commitment to begin in 1998 and billions of dollars in payments to the federal government by nuclear electricity consumers.”

 

The report can be downloaded in full at www.ieer.org or www.nirs.org.

 

--30--


[1] That is, it may cause or contribute to genetic mutations, tumors, birth defects, neurological damage, and cellular level toxicity.

 ***************************************************************** 38 Depleted uranium from proposed enrichment plant: Risky and Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:25:41 -0800 Press Release For Immediate Release For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani, IEER, 301-270-5500 Linda Gunter, NIRS, 202-328-0002 New Research Indicates Health Risks from Uranium May Be More Varied Than Reflected in Current Federal Policy Depleted Uranium from Proposed New Mexico Enrichment Plant May Become Multi-Billion Dollar Taxpayer Liability without a Hefty Financial Guarantee Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Corporate Options for DU Disposal Risk Long-Term Violation of Health and Environmental Standards, New Analysis Indicates TAKOMA PARK, MD, FEB. 23, 2005 – A new report about a uranium enrichment plant proposed to be built in New Mexico concludes that it would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion to properly manage and dispose of the depleted uranium (DU) waste that the plant would generate. Such high costs could not be recovered from the customers for enrichment services. The report also discusses recent research on the health effects of DU, much of it performed at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Institute in Bethesda, Maryland after the 1991 Gulf War, that has implications far wider than the New Mexico plant. The research indicates that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead.[1] It may also cross the placenta and harm the embryo/fetus. There is also research that indicates that the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium may, in some cases, be acting in a synergistic manner. Federal regulations limit uranium inhalation based on cancer risk and drinking water intake based mainly on kidney toxicity. There are currently some 740,000 tons of depleted uranium in unstable hexafluoride form stockpiled at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. LES, a corporate consortium led by the European company Urenco, wants to build the plant in New Mexico. Another company, USEC, seeks to build a similar plant in Ohio. The report­released today by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)­concludes that unless LES provides at least $2.5 billion dollars in financial guarantees, it is likely that the people of New Mexico, U.S. taxpayers, and future generations would be stuck with a multi-billion dollar radioactive waste liability. The report was filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in late November 2004 by NIRS and the public interest group Public Citizen as part of their legal intervention in the licensing proceeding of LES. A redacted version excluding proprietary LES corporate financial data is being released to the public today. “The labeling of depleted uranium as ‘low-level’ waste by the NRC is not going to diminish its dangers,” said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, principal author of the report and president of IEER. “To paraphrase Shakespeare, dangerous radioactive waste by any other name would still pose significant public health risks.” The report is entitled Costs and Risks of Management and Disposal of Depleted Uranium from the National Enrichment Facility Proposed to be Built in Lea County New Mexico by LES. It provides data showing that depleted uranium is radiologically comparable to transuranic waste, which is waste that is significantly contaminated with plutonium and other long-lived radionuclides like it. Federal regulations define transuranic waste as that which has more than 100 nanocuries per gram of long-lived transuranic radionuclides that emit alpha radiation. DU has a specific activity of about 400 nanocuries per gram. Transuranic waste from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities is now being disposed of in a deep geologic repository in New Mexico called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which is a multi-billion dollar federal government project. “The people of New Mexico and the taxpayers of the United States may find themselves saddled with enormous liabilities,” said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, which sponsored the IEER report. “Corporations can easily wiggle out of their obligations. It happened, for example, when Getty Oil dumped the wastes from its plutonium reprocessing plant into the laps of the federal government and the State of New York over three decades ago. That multi-billion dollar mess still hasn’t been fully cleaned up, and the waste has nowhere to go.” “The health risks of depleted uranium may be far more varied than is recognized in federal regulations today,” said Dr. Brice Smith, Senior Scientist at IEER and co-author of the report. “Children in the future may be saddled with a legacy similar to that of the sorry history of lead poisoning over the past three generations, but this time we are dealing with a heavy metal that is also radioactive.” The license application constitutes LES’s fourth attempt to build a uranium enrichment plant in the United States. The first attempt, which was for a plant in Louisiana, cost LES more than $30 million. LES withdrew the application after a citizens’ group successfully challenged the NRC’s environmental impact statement for the project on environmental justice grounds. Two other locations, both in Tennessee, were also explored but abandoned in the face of local opposition. DU disposal has remained a central public concern throughout. “The NRC has so far failed to back up its claims that radiation doses from depleted uranium disposal in an abandoned mine would be within regulatory limits,” said Dr. Makhijani. “Data-free analysis ought to be unacceptable in any forum, but it is especially so in an environmental impact statement prepared by a government agency charged with protecting public health and safety.” LES may consider shallow land disposal as option; sites in Utah or in Texas just across the border from LES site in New Mexico may be considered. LES may elect to pay the federal government to take on its waste. DOE is building a plant to convert DU hexafluoride to a more stable oxide form but it has not yet identified a viable long-term disposal strategy even for its own DU. “Transfer to the DOE cannot be considered a solution to LES’s waste problem,” said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen’s Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. “The DOE has yet to take charge of a single spent fuel bundle from nuclear power plant operators­despite a legal commitment to begin in 1998 and billions of dollars in payments to the federal government by nuclear electricity consumers.” The report can be downloaded in full by clicking www.ieer.org/reports/du/LESrptfeb05.pdf --30-- [1] That is, it may cause or contribute to genetic mutations, tumors, birth defects, neurological damage, and cellular level toxicity. dist a-n Lisa Ledwidge Outreach Director, United States, and Editor of Science for Democratic Action Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) PO Box 6674 | Minneapolis, MN 55406 USA tel. 1-612-722-9700 | fax: please call first | ieer@ieer.org | http://www.ieer.org IEER's main office: 6935 Laurel Ave. Suite 201 | Takoma Park, MD 20912 USA | tel. 1-301-270-5500 | fax 1-301-270-3029 ***************************************************************** 39 IEER/NIRS report finds increased, varied health risk from Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:25:43 -0800 Institute for Energy and Environmental Research 6935 Laurel Avenue, Suite 201, Takoma Park, MD 20912 301.270.5500; f: 301.270.3029; www.ieer.org, ieer@ieer.org Nuclear Information and Resource Service 1424 16th Street NW, #404, Washington, DC 20036 202.328.0002; f: 202.462.2183; www.nirs.org; nirsnet@nirs.org For Immediate Release, February 23, 2005 For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani, IEER, 301-270-5500 Linda Gunter/Michael Mariotte, NIRS, 202-328-0002 New Research Indicates Health Risks from Uranium May Be More Varied Than Reflected in Current Federal Policy Depleted Uranium from Proposed New Mexico Enrichment Plant May Become Multi-Billion Dollar Taxpayer Liability without a Hefty Financial Guarantee Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Corporate Options for DU Disposal Risk Long-Term Violation of Health and Environmental Standards, New Analysis Indicates TAKOMA PARK, MD, FEB. 23, 2005 A new report about a uranium enrichment plant proposed to be built in New Mexico concludes that it would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion to properly manage and dispose of the depleted uranium (DU) waste that the plant would generate. Such high costs could not be recovered from the customers for enrichment services. The report also discusses recent research on the health effects of DU, much of it performed at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland after the 1991 Gulf War, that has implications far wider than the New Mexico plant. The research indicates that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead.[1] It may also cross the placenta and harm the embryo/fetus. There is also research that indicates that the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium may, in some cases, be acting in a synergistic manner. Federal regulations limit uranium inhalation based on cancer risk and drinking water intake based mainly on kidney toxicity. There are currently some 740,000 tons of depleted uranium in unstable hexafluoride form stockpiled at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. LES, a corporate consortium led by the European company Urenco, wants to build the plant in New Mexico. Another company, USEC, seeks to build a similar plant in Ohio. The reportreleased today by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)concludes that unless LES provides at least $2.5 billion dollars in financial guarantees, it is likely that the people of New Mexico, U.S. taxpayers, and future generations would be stuck with a multi-billion dollar radioactive waste liability. The report was filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in late November 2004 by NIRS and the public interest group Public Citizen as part of their legal intervention in the licensing proceeding of LES. A redacted version excluding proprietary LES corporate financial data is being released to the public today. The labeling of depleted uranium as low-levelwaste by the NRC is not going to diminish its dangers,said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, principal author of the report and president of IEER. To paraphrase Shakespeare, dangerous radioactive waste by any other name would still pose significant public health risks. The report is entitled Costs and Risks of Management and Disposal of Depleted Uranium from the National Enrichment Facility Proposed to be Built in Lea County New Mexico by LES. It provides data showing that depleted uranium is radiologically comparable to transuranic waste, which is waste that is significantly contaminated with plutonium and other long-lived radionuclides like it. Federal regulations define transuranic waste as that which has more than 100 nanocuries per gram of long-lived transuranic radionuclides that emit alpha radiation. DU has a specific activity of about 400 nanocuries per gram. Transuranic waste from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities is now being disposed of in a deep geologic repository in New Mexico called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which is a multi-billion dollar federal government project. The people of New Mexico and the taxpayers of the United States may find themselves saddled with enormous liabilities,said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, which sponsored the IEER report. Corporations can easily wiggle out of their obligations. It happened, for example, when Getty Oil dumped the wastes from its plutonium reprocessing plant into the laps of the federal government and the State of New York over three decades ago. That multi-billion dollar mess still hasnt been fully cleaned up, and the waste has nowhere to go. The health risks of depleted uranium may be far more varied than is recognized in federal regulations today,said Dr. Brice Smith, Senior Scientist at IEER and co-author of the report. Children in the future may be saddled with a legacy similar to that of the sorry history of lead poisoning over the past three generations, but this time we are dealing with a heavy metal that is also radioactive. The license application constitutes LESs fourth attempt to build a uranium enrichment plant in the United States. The first attempt, which was for a plant in Louisiana, cost LES more than $30 million. LES withdrew the application after a citizensgroup successfully challenged the NRCs environmental impact statement for the project on environmental justice grounds. Two other locations, both in Tennessee, were also explored but abandoned in the face of local opposition. DU disposal has remained a central public concern throughout. The NRC has so far failed to back up its claims that radiation doses from depleted uranium disposal in an abandoned mine would be within regulatory limits,said Dr. Makhijani. Data-free analysis ought to be unacceptable in any forum, but it is especially so in an environmental impact statement prepared by a government agency charged with protecting public health and safety. LES may consider shallow land disposal as option; sites in Utah or in Texas just across the border from LES site in New Mexico may be considered. LES may elect to pay the federal government to take on its waste. DOE is building a plant to convert DU hexafluoride to a more stable oxide form but it has not yet identified a viable long-term disposal strategy even for its own DU. Transfer to the DOE cannot be considered a solution to LESs waste problem,said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizens Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. The DOE has yet to take charge of a single spent fuel bundle from nuclear power plant operatorsdespite a legal commitment to begin in 1998 and billions of dollars in payments to the federal government by nuclear electricity consumers. The report can be downloaded in full at www.ieer.org or www.nirs.org. --30 _______________________________________________________________________________ Help Stop the Senate Energy Bill! Sign the Petition for a Sustainable Energy Future! Members of the Senate Energy Committee are meeting behind the scenes to write a new energy bill, to be released this Spring. We dont know the details of it yet, but we do know it will seek to provide billions of your dollars as subsidies for new nuclear reactor construction and for the coal and oil industries. There is a better way. You can act now by signing the Petition for a Sustainable Energy Future at http://www.nirs.org Thank you! This is the NIRS E-Mail Alert list. You are on this list because you signed up on our website, at a NIRS table at a concert, on a petition, or directly to NIRS. Your name and address are never sold, rented, or traded with anyone for any reason. For address changes or to unsubscribe, just send an e-mail to nirsnet@nirs.org. If you have friends or colleagues who would like to be on this list, have them send a note to nirsnet@nirs.org [1] That is, it may cause or contribute to genetic mutations, tumors, birth defects, neurological damage, and cellular level toxicity. ***************************************************************** 40 [NukeNet] markey-connection between infant mortality and nukes Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:25:46 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) NEWS FROM ED MARKEY United States Congress Massachusetts Seventh District FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mark Bayer February 18, 2005 Michal Freedhoff (202) 225-2836 NEW STUDY SUGGESTS SPIKE IN INFANT MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH RADIATION FROM NUKE PLANTS Markey Questions NRC on Health Risks of Living Near Nuclear Reactors Washington, DC: Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel which oversees nuclear power regulation, today released a letter he sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding health risks for communities who live close to nuclear reactors. A new study released today by Dr. Ernest Sternglass of the University of Pittsburgh suggests that infant mortality increased significantly in 2002, after operating capacity at 104 nuclear power stations reached its highest levels. “The nuclear industry and the NRC have automatically dismissed all studies that link increased cancer risk to exposure to low levels of radiation,†said Rep. Markey. “The reality is that the data suggest that we should be taking this potential linkage much more seriously.†Rep. Markey’s letter to the NRC was motivated by the ordeals of the Sauer family, former residents of Minooka, IL, which is located close to the Dresden nuclear power plant. The family has recently relocated because of concerns about the health impacts associated with living near the Dresden plant, which were heightened because of their daughter’s brain cancer. In June 2003, the NRC was presented with data obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) that indicate that in Grundy County, IL between 1995-99, the infant mortality rate has doubled, there has been a nearly 400% increase in pediatric cancer and a 38% increase in cancer among those aged 28-44 years old (while the same statistic for all of IL decreased by 8%). Moreover, other statistics show that the incidence of leukemia was 50% higher in men and 100% higher in women in Grundy County than it was in the rest of the State. In its responses to the Sauers, NRC personnel have ignored these statistics and have instead cited a 1990 National Cancer Institute (NCI) study entitled “Cancer in Populations Living Near Nuclear Facilitiesâ€, which has numerous flaws in design, since, as the authors themselves stated, the limitations in the design were accepted so that “it could be completed in a timeframe that was relatively short for a survey of such magnitude.†In addition to the Sauer case, Rep. Markey’s office has been made aware of additional studies and data: · Today, Dr. Ernest Sternglass of the University of Pittsburgh is releasing data at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington DC indicating a spike in infant mortality that occurred in 2002, coming after operating capacity at 104 nuclear power stations reached its highest levels and increased at the highest rate in the U.S. between 1997 and 2001. His work also refers to a scientific paper indicating that low levels of radiation exposure during pregnancy is directly related to low birth weight which, in addition to infant mortality, has also been implicated in numerous chronic diseases, including autism, asthma, cognitive dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, obesity, heart disease and cancer. · A 2003 article by Joseph Mangano et al in Archives of Environmental Health found elevated levels of childhood cancers in populations living within 30 miles of nuclear power plants between 1988-1997. For example, in Plymouth County, MA (near the Pilgrim Power plant), there was found to be a 14.6% increase in the numbers of childhood cancers as compared to the rest of the country. And in Essex County, MA and Rockingham County, NH (near the Seabrook Power plant), there was found to be a 24.8% increase in the numbers of childhood cancer mortalities. “The NRC needs to study ­ not summarily dismiss - the connection between serious health risks and radiation released from nuclear reactors. I am urging the agency to investigate these risks, and I will continue to closely monitor the NRC’s progress in this important area,†Rep. Markey concluded. For a copy of the letter sent to the NRC, please see www.house.gov/markey -- Coalition for Peace and Justice UNPLUG Salem Campaign; 321 Barr Ave, Linwood NJ 08221; 609-601-8583; cell 609-742-0982 ncohen12@comcast.net; http://www.unplugsalem.org http://www.coalitionforpeaceandjustice.org "A time comes when silence is betrayal. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought, within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world." - Martin Luther King Jr. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.300 / Virus Database: 266.4.0 - Release Date: 2/22/05 _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 41 [NYTr] DU Scandal Behind VA Resignation? Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 12:42:41 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Intense Red San Francisco Bay View - Feb 20, 2005 http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml Heads roll at Veterans Administration Mushrooming depleted uranium (DU) scandal blamed by Bob Nichols Project Censored Award Winner 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. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 42 DU: Crime Against All Species Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 10:30:35 -0600 (CST) Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE): Free Americans Resisting the Fourth Reich on Behalf of All Species. DU - A Crime Against All Living Species What Happened to the Test Tube Paradigm? Originally published in SF Bayview http://www.sfbayview.com/020905/whathappened020905.shtml By Dennis Kyne These members of the 369th transportation battalion from New York City fought in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. They walked into the "test tube" - they were the "experiment" - that tested the effects, including the genetic effects, of the 300 tons of uranium used by the U.S. military on that battlefield. Now half a million of them are sick, and many of their babies have birth defects. Far more uranium is being used in Iraq. When I was in eighth grade science class, Mr. Wadley, who reminded us more of an ice cream truck driver than a teacher, taught the pupils one thing with an incredible amount of emphasis: If the test tube paradigm does not reflect the real world paradigm, then there is absolutely no reason to ever do scientific experiments. Wadley further explained that if you monitor the results of a laboratory experiment and allow this information to be a basis for your intelligence in real world applications, you should see results that are nearly identical. If the results are not nearly identical, then your departure point was faulty. That is the only safe conclusion. Again, if the results are not similar in scope or comparable in nature, then the departure point was wrong and the test tube lacked something that the real world provides to the equation. This makes my inquiry most important: "Why does the United States Army violate the very simplest of scientific requirements when it determines the validity of using uranium weapons on the battlefield? What test tube did the military explode hundreds of tons of uranium in and then walk hundreds of thousands of humans into?" We live in a real world result of the use of uranium that you could never put into a test tube to study. Recently, while in New York, I had the opportunity to discuss the implications of uranium use with Dr. Thomas Fasy, associate professor of pathology at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Dr. Fasy casually informed GNN's Anthony Lappe and me that the most damaging research regarding uranium is coming out of government laboratories in Bethesda, Md. Lappe, author of the recent "True Lies," with an entire chapter dedicated to uranium, was on the lookout for this evidence. Not only does it prove uranium is horrific to the human experience, it illustrates the military knows just how pathetic it is to denounce us who have been exposed to this microwave wasteland. In 1994, Lt. Gen. Calvin Waller said in a "Dateline" television interview with Storm Phillips that he had never been informed this uranium could be deadly. He appeared disgusted by memorandums which stated exposure to uranium used in weaponry could leave a residual effect which might cause death, sickness and, worst of all, genetic mutations. Calvin Waller was the second in command, behind Norman Schwarzkopf, during Operation Desert Storm. Waller has since passed away, and over a decade after his interview, Bethesda is busy burning through test tubes to come up with conclusions that are late by any standard of science. Tests should have been done before the military dumped a minimum of 300 tons of uranium in the Middle East in 1991. One ton is equal to 2,600 pounds. Studies should have been conclusive after they stuffed returning veterans into a slew of study groups. I was in one that tested for ionizing radiation, and in 1995 I was compensated for undiagnosed illnesses. The results should have been solid by the time they dumped bombs in Somalia and Yugoslavia. What are they going to tell the people living in Vieques, Puerto Rico? Sorry, they didn't have a test tube that resembled your city, so we will just go with the studies from Bethesda. Whatever happened to the test tube paradigm? Maybe Vieques is the test tube. Pandora's box was opened by the mining of uranium from the cradle it rested passively in. It has killed millions of indigenous humans and altered millions of others genetically. Modern medicine calls it cancer; I call it radiation exposure. Both express themselves as ruptured cells and altered organs. With hundreds of thousands of veterans from Operation Desert Storm filing for disability compensation, it is alarming how many of us cannot be diagnosed. How many years will it be before they can diagnose a human being with radiation sickness? Sounds like the half million veterans who stood on the front line of Desert Storm got tossed in the test tube as well. While we know the test tube was broken, we are sure that other problems were ignored. There was no test tube that included the results of uranium's 21 phases of oxidation, all deathly. There was no test tube that had metallurgical particles cooking down to become smaller than bacteria and viruses. There was no study of the implications of walking into these gaseous oxides or these particulates so small that even a standard military issue protective mask could not keep them from lodging in lungs. There was no study of the short term, long term or genetic effects of walking into low level radioactive particulate. I say was, and now there is us. Us being the 500,000 men and women sent to the front who walked into this madness remembered as Operation Desert Storm. Sadly, the 10,000 dead troops and half a million sick and dying veterans are left wondering what happened. What happened to the daughter of Sgt. Daryl Clark, who was on the front line and drowned in uranium dust from the tank buster rounds that were pelted at his feet? In the same "Dateline" episode, Phillips asks Clark how he feels. Clark responds, "When America called, we were there. Now that we are calling, America isn't answering." This cry has been echoed in the hospitals, psych wards, prison cells and gutters of America for the past decade, and it is an indicator of what the returning veterans of Operation Iraqi Freedom can expect. Later in this same "Dateline" episode, a goofy looking general by the name of Blank admits to the viewers that the Army dropped the ball. Storm asks him, "Who dropped the ball?" Blank can't provide a name. This is the military way: field grade officers promise to take care of the soldiers and can't seem to figure out who is dropping the ball. A general sat in the television monitor and said the buck stops somewhere else, but I can't tell you where. The ball dropped so hard that Clark's daughter Kennedy was born without a thyroid and with expressions of radiation exposure. Looks like Kennedy got stuffed down the test tube also. Middle East experts state that there is an incredible amount of pesticides and herbicides being used in the current war, and this is confirmed by the Department of Defense as well. What does that do in the test tube of 25 million Iraqi citizens? Pesticides, uranium, herbicides, fires, plastics, gases and a list of potential hazards, from rifle cleaner fluid to brake fluid, are being spilled all over the place by gallons. Science hijacked the battlefield, and supporters say the uranium is necessary because we can pierce the armor of a tank with it. They did the studies, it is conclusive, the stuff pierced armor. Testing officers would fire uraniu-tipped rounds and watch them pierce tanks. While we can't dispute these occurrences, surely we would never call it science. Surely it isn't scientific enough to base conclusions that put life as we know it in jeopardy. Mr. Wadley, my science teacher, would have failed the experiment. He'd have stamped a big "F" on the report entitled "Saving the Middle East with a history of good solid scientific research." He'd say, "There is not one bit of scientific support to substantiate the use of uranium. First of all, everyone knows that most military troops couldn't hit the broad side of a barn when firing any weapon. So, how many of these rounds hit innocent people? Churches, tin shacks, people on motor scooters?" Wadley was sharp. I know this is where he would lead us: "To fire a round in a piece of steal such as a tank that contains the explosion and say it is safe to fire at a wedding somewhere off the battlefield in Afghanistan is ridiculous." His style was such he might throw in: "You won't be getting out of junior high school bringing projects like this in. Do you know why?" "Class, do you know why this fails?" Wadley wasn't afraid of a little embarrassment for the kids either. The class loved it when they spotted one as easy as this, though, and got to yell as loud as their voices could bellow, "It doesn't meet the test tube paradigm." If the test tube paradigm does not reflect the real world paradigm, then there is absolutely no reason to ever do scientific experiments. It doesn't matter if you are an ice cream truck driver or a teacher, an eighth grade student or a four star general; firing a round into a tank as the test tube paradigm is not even close to the real world paradigm. We have been tossed in the tube together on this one. Are you going to rely on Gen. Blank telling the world someone dropped the ball here, and we don't know who? We can slip back into junior high with Wadley for a moment, though, and accept the fact that this is not science they provide us. It is a military misdirection, one that has cost thousands of lives and untold environmental consequences. It is a crime against all living species. Worst of all, it doesn't meet the test tube paradigm. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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. ===================================================== ***************************************************************** 43 11,000 US soldiers dead from DU poisoning Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 14:23:54 -0600 (CST) -------------------------------------------------------- From: Jim Macgregor Date: Sat, 19 Feb 2005 11:35:57 EST Subject: Fwd: Scandal Over Depleted Uranium To: richard@cyberjournal.org ------ Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 19:19:29 -0800 To: Recipient List Suppressed:; From: Tom Cahill Subject: Scandal Over Depleted Uranium 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. -- ============================================================ If you find this material useful, you might want to check out our website (http://cyberjournal.org) or try out our low-traffic, moderated email list by sending a message to: cj-subscribe@cyberjournal.org You are encouraged to forward any material from the lists or the website, provided it is for non-commercial use and you include the source and this disclaimer. Richard Moore (rkm) Wexford, Ireland "Escaping The Matrix - Global Transformation: WHY WE NEED IT, AND HOW WE CAN ACHIEVE IT ", somewhat current draft: http://www.ratical.org/co-globalize/rkmGlblTrans.html _____________________________ "...the Patriot Act followed 9-11 as smoothly as the suspension of the Weimar constitution followed the Reichstag fire." - Srdja Trifkovic There is not a problem with the system. The system is the problem. Faith in ourselves - not gods, ideologies, leaders, or programs. _____________________________ cj list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=cj newslog list archives: http://cyberjournal.org/cj/show_archives/?lists=newslog _____________________________ Informative links: http://www.indymedia.org/ http://www.globalresearch.ca/ http://www.MiddleEast.org http://www.rachel.org http://www.truthout.org http://www.williambowles.info/monthly_index/ http://www.zmag.org http://www.co-intelligence.org ============================================================ --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: cj-unsubscribe@cyberjournal.org For additional commands, e-mail: cj-help@cyberjournal.org ***************************************************************** 44 [NukeNet] Study Links Infant Mortality to Radiation from Date: Wed, 23 Feb 2005 15:26:01 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) NEWS FROM ED MARKEY United States Congress Massachusetts Seventh District FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Mark Bayer February 18, 2005 Michal Freedhoff (202) 225-2836 NEW STUDY SUGGESTS SPIKE IN INFANT MORTALITY ASSOCIATED WITH RADIATION FROM NUKE PLANTS Markey Questions NRC on Health Risks of Living Near Nuclear Reactors Washington, DC: Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA), a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the panel which oversees nuclear power regulation, today released a letter he sent to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) regarding health risks for communities who live close to nuclear reactors. A new study released today by Dr. Ernest Sternglass of the University of Pittsburgh suggests that infant mortality increased significantly in 2002, after operating capacity at 104 nuclear power stations reached its highest levels. “The nuclear industry and the NRC have automatically dismissed all studies that link increased cancer risk to exposure to low levels of radiation,” said Rep. Markey. “The reality is that the data suggest that we should be taking this potential linkage much more seriously.” Rep. Markey’s letter to the NRC was motivated by the ordeals of the Sauer family, former residents of Minooka, IL, which is located close to the Dresden nuclear power plant. The family has recently relocated because of concerns about the health impacts associated with living near the Dresden plant, which were heightened because of their daughter’s brain cancer. In June 2003, the NRC was presented with data obtained from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) that indicate that in Grundy County, IL between 1995-99, the infant mortality rate has doubled, there has been a nearly 400% increase in pediatric cancer and a 38% increase in cancer among those aged 28-44 years old (while the same statistic for all of IL decreased by 8%). Moreover, other statistics show that the incidence of leukemia was 50% higher in men and 100% higher in women in Grundy County than it was in the rest of the State. In its responses to the Sauers, NRC personnel have ignored these statistics and have instead cited a 1990 National Cancer Institute (NCI) study entitled “Cancer in Populations Living Near Nuclear Facilities”, which has numerous flaws in design, since, as the authors themselves stated, the limitations in the design were accepted so that “it could be completed in a timeframe that was relatively short for a survey of such magnitude.” In addition to the Sauer case, Rep. Markey’s office has been made aware of additional studies and data: · Today, Dr. Ernest Sternglass of the University of Pittsburgh is releasing data at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington DC indicating a spike in infant mortality that occurred in 2002, coming after operating capacity at 104 nuclear power stations reached its highest levels and increased at the highest rate in the U.S. between 1997 and 2001. His work also refers to a scientific paper indicating that low levels of radiation exposure during pregnancy is directly related to low birth weight which, in addition to infant mortality, has also been implicated in numerous chronic diseases, including autism, asthma, cognitive dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, anemia, obesity, heart disease and cancer. · A 2003 article by Joseph Mangano et al in Archives of Environmental Health found elevated levels of childhood cancers in populations living within 30 miles of nuclear power plants between 1988-1997. For example, in Plymouth County, MA (near the Pilgrim Power plant), there was found to be a 14.6% increase in the numbers of childhood cancers as compared to the rest of the country. And in Essex County, MA and Rockingham County, NH (near the Seabrook Power plant), there was found to be a 24.8% increase in the numbers of childhood cancer mortalities. “The NRC needs to study – not summarily dismiss - the connection between serious health risks and radiation released from nuclear reactors. I am urging the agency to investigate these risks, and I will continue to closely monitor the NRC’s progress in this important area,” Rep. Markey concluded. For a copy of the letter sent to the NRC, please see www.house.gov/markey Suzanne Leta Energy Associate NJPIRG 11 N. Willow St Trenton, NJ 08608 609 394 8155 x310 sleta@njpirg.org _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 45 Bellona: Russian government developing federal program ”Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Russia” This is the second edition of the program. 2005-02-23 18:40 By December 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers is to work out proposals on the blueprint for and draft of a federal targeted programme, entitled "The nuclear and radiation safety of Russia" 2007-2010 and by the end of the year is to work out proposals to list "The main threats to facilities that present a nuclear or radiation hazard and typical intruders in order to analyse the vulnerability of these facilities". By November 2005, the Cabinet of Ministers is to come up with a draft plan of activities to carry out the second phase in implementing the bases of state policy in ensuring Russia's nuclear and radiation safety until 2010, ITAR-TASS reported. According to Antiatom.ru, it will be the second edition of the federal program. Obviously, the first edition of the federal special-purpose program ”Nuclear and Radiation Safety of Russia” did not improve the situation. It is necessary to secure two conditions to make the new program successful: effective and goal-oriented operation of the state and regional agencies responsible for the nuclear safety as well as their interaction with the NGOs, which can secure independent control in this field. The attempts of the interaction of the Russian Nuclear agency with the NGOs from 2002 to 2004 added negative experience and tensions in this relationship. The main problems in the field of nuclear safety is spent nuclear fuel stocks, security of the nuclear sites, control of the dangerous substances and the first generation reactors, which are due to be decommissioned. The situation will not change for the better if Rosatom does not agree with the problems and starts close interaction with the NGOs. So, far no such signals were mentioned. Russia collected 17,000 ton of the spent nuclear fuel scattered around Russia in the reactor pools and at the various nuclear facilities. The first step to be made is to accept the conception on handling spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste i.e. to determine their future. Ten Russian nuclear power plants operate 31 nuclear reactors, 10 reactors have exceeded their designed lifetime and should be taken out of operation. Instead, Russia is trying to get lifetime extension for the first generation reactors, the safety of which cannot be upgraded to the modern standards. To work out the schedule of these reactors decommissioning is another fundamental task, Antiatom.ru reported. Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] , President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no] Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no] Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 46 Herald Tribune: Feds to pay for beryllium testing heraldtribune.com By SCOTT CARROLL scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com The federal government has agreed to pay to test thousands of former weapons manufacturing workers across the country, including hundreds who worked at a south Manatee County plant. The tests could reveal symptoms of a potentially life-threatening lung disease. The national policy change announced Tuesday, which could cover more than 28,000 workers nationwide and cost about $3.5 million, was prompted by the plight of former workers of the American Beryllium Co. plant in Tallevast. The plant operated for nearly 40 years before closing in 1996, exposing many of its more than 1,000 workers to the metal beryllium. Since the 1950s, the federal government has contracted with hundreds of companies like American Beryllium to mold the light and durable metal into components for nuclear weapons and the aerospace industry. Government officials now acknowledge that when inhaled the dust that is a byproduct of beryllium production can cause berylliosis, an incurable, often-fatal lung disease. The federal government has a program to pay the medical expenses and up to $150,000 to workers who have berylliosis. But in order to qualify, those workers have to take an initial blood test that shows whether they are allergic to the beryllium dust, and thus susceptible to berylliosis. Those tests cost at least $250, and many former ABC workers said they couldn't afford it. In December, Manatee County put up $60,000 to test former ABC workers who live in the county, and last month the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry committed $50,000 to test Sarasota County residents who worked at the plant. But that would only pay for about 450 tests, leaving hundreds of former workers untested. The expansion of the program, which the federal Department of Energy will officially announce today, will cover the remainder of former ABC workers. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris said Tuesday she is pleased Tallevast residents will get some more help. "This is huge," said Harris, R-Longboat Key. "The expansion of this program came about because of the situation at the ABC plant. It means that everyone who worked there can get tested." A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson said the senator also had been working to get the federal program expanded. Spokesman Dan McLaughlin said Nelson this month sent two letters to federal officials asking them to come up with more money for beryllium testing. ***************************************************************** 47 Times and Democrat: A cancer in terms of public policy' [webmaster@timesanddemocrat.com] | help ? Sanford challenges lawmakers to replenish Chem-Nuclear fund By [dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com] , T Staff Writer BARNWELL — Restoring $25 million borrowed from what was set aside to pay for monitoring and potential cleanup of a low-level nuclear waste site in Barnwell was part of Gov. Mark Sanford's rules of fiscal responsibility for the General Assembly Tuesday. Sanford held a news conference at Chem-Nuclear, which has handled buried nuclear waste such as radioactive clothing from hospitals and nuclear reactor parts from across the country since 1971, to shed light on what he considers a critical need to restore borrowed funds to the facility. The Barnwell Fund is one of several trust funds from which the General Assembly has borrowed $187 million since 2001. Users of the Chem-Nuclear site have paid into a long-term care fund over the years to pay for emergency needs and, at the same time, offset costs to the taxpayers. However, $90 million has been borrowed from the Barnwell Fund alone to fill gaps in the state budget since 2001, Sanford said. He pointed out that the fund, which now stands at $23 million, would have had a total of $136 million if it had not been touched and had its money used for other purposes. Dollars have also been diverted from reserve funds, Sanford said. A total of $313,000 has been taken from the state's Insurance Reserve Fund Health Plan Reserve Fund and General Reserve Fund, for a grand total of $500 million which has been borrowed from trust and reserve funds in recent years, the governor noted. "We have a cancer in terms of public policy. We have this greater problem in that ... people tend to want to get their hands on money in trust funds and take it and spend it on something else," he said, noting that the Barnwell Fund raid was "symptomatic of a larger hole ... in trust-fund borrowing in South Carolina government." The governor's budget devotes $158 million to begin the process of repaying money borrowed from trust and reserve funds, including the $25 million as a first installment to begin restoring the Barnwell Fund. As required by the Fiscal Discipline Act of 2004, the budget also includes fully repaying the state's General Reserve Fund from which $150,000 has been borrowed. The governor's budget also proposes using any surplus money from increased tax collections to replenish the State Health Plan Reserve Fund from which $135,000 has been borrowed in recent years. "All of a sudden you begin to add up ... and it becomes a real problem. Money has a way of disappearing over time if you don't allow compound interest to work in your behalf," said Sanford, who likened the state's problems to those of the federal Medicare and Social Security programs which are facing fund replenishments of their own. "Things are looking slightly upward in regards to the budget, but we ought to use this chance to recapture more money and pay off those trust funds. We extended what we had proposed in the Fiscal Discipline Act, which was to hold the rate of growth of government in this year to basically 3 percent," said Sanford, who also has the passage of a clearly-defined trust fund restoration legislation in the General Assembly among his goals. While there are estimates that more money — as much as $190 million — could be going into the state coffers this year, "things can turn south again; we're not out of the woods nationally or as a state with regards to the economy," Sanford said. "As we go into this budget year, it's absolutely critical that we restore those trust funds," he said. Chem-Nuclear Plant Manager James Latham said he is pleased the governor is taking a stand on replenishing the Barnwell Fund. "I'm just pleased that he's here, and I'm just happy to hear it being talked about because that's so important. The fund removes a burden from future taxpayers. Future generations shouldn't be saddled with something that we're doing. It's kind of a forward looking idea to have these funds set aside early on and built up over the operation period," Latham said, noting that the nuclear waste site will close its doors to the nation in 2008. Under the Atlantic Compact agreement, only South Carolina, Connecticut and New Jersey will use the site after that. While environmental groups have challenged the way Chem-Nuclear handles its waste and have protested the reissuance of Chem-Nuclear's operating permit, Sanford said he was not prepared to make a decision on the plant's future after 2008. He toured the nuclear waste site on Tuesday. "The administration has not yet taken a position on post-2008. Part of taking a position would obviously and first and foremost be a look at safety. A number of folks in terms of local political leadership have made a very strong case for what a huge impact it has in Barnwell's economy ... from the standpoint of public policy. Outside of that, you look at the number of relatively high-paying jobs to this part of South Carolina ... but ... we want to look a little bit deeper before we commit one way or the other," he said. 'It plays very well to the ... economy' Sanford also took a tour of the largest industry located in the Barnwell-based South Carolina Advanced Technology Park as part of his visit to Barnwell Tuesday. Kronotex is a world leader in the laminate flooring industry. Kronotex USA President Norm Voss took Sanford on a tour of the plant's 360,000-square-foot building. The building is included in the company's $40 million Phase One construction which will employ up to 80 employees. The building houses laminating and floor plank profiling lines capable of producing 200 million square feet of laminating flooring annually. Voss said Phase Two construction will include construction of a medium-density fiberboard and high-density fiberboard core plant. Additional phases will include more laminating and flooring lines. Voss has estimated that at the end of Phase Two, total employment will reach 140 or more and that the company will invest approximately $135 million into the local economy. The plant is able to manufacture the highest quality laminate flooring products, including embossed-in-register surfaces and beveled edges. Sanford said the company fit perfectly into the state's forestry-based economic base. "We have an economic cluster built around atomic energy here in South Carolina with the Savannah River Site and the Chem-Nuclear site. In that same vein, I would argue that Kronotex is tied to a forestry cluster that we have in South Carolina," the governor said. "If you look at the chip that ultimately is used in that foreign product, it comes from these pine trees in this part of the state. "And they have more uses for ... pure chip and saw timber. I think it's something that ultimately is advantageous to the local economy, so I think it plays very well to the forest-based component of our economy in this state." + T Staff Writer [dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com] can be reached by e-mail at [dgleaton@timesanddemocrat.com] or by phone at 803-533-5534. Copyright © 2005, The Times and Democrat ***************************************************************** 48 IEER: Depleted Uranium Costs and Risks from LES For immediate release For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani, IEER: 301-270-5500 Linda Gunter, NIRS: 202-328-0002 New Research Indicates Health Risks from Uranium May Be More Varied Than Reflected in Current Federal Policy Depleted Uranium from Proposed New Mexico Enrichment Plant May Become Multi-Billion Dollar Taxpayer Liability without a Hefty Financial Guarantee Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Corporate Options for DU Disposal Risk Long-Term Violation of Health and Environmental Standards, New Analysis Indicates TAKOMA PARK, MD, FEB. 23, 2005 - A new report about a uranium enrichment plant proposed to be built in New Mexico concludes that it would cost between $3 billion and $4 billion to properly manage and dispose of the depleted uranium (DU) waste that the plant would generate. Such high costs could not be recovered from the customers for enrichment services. The report also discusses recent research on the health effects of DU, much of it performed at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland after the 1991 Gulf War, that has implications far wider than the New Mexico plant. The research indicates that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic, including in a manner analogous to exposure to lead.1 It may also cross the placenta and harm the embryo/fetus. There is also research that indicates that the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium may, in some cases, be acting in a synergistic manner. Federal regulations limit uranium inhalation based on cancer risk and drinking water intake based mainly on kidney toxicity. There are currently some 740,000 tons of depleted uranium in unstable hexafluoride form stockpiled at Department of Energy sites at Paducah, Kentucky, Portsmouth, Ohio, and Oak Ridge, Tennessee. LES, a corporate consortium led by the European company Urenco, wants to build the plant in New Mexico. Another company, USEC, seeks to build a similar plant in Ohio. The report-released today by the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS)-concludes that unless LES provides at least $2.5 billion dollars in financial guarantees, it is likely that the people of New Mexico, U.S. taxpayers, and future generations would be stuck with a multi-billion dollar radioactive waste liability. The report was filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in late November 2004 by NIRS and the public interest group Public Citizen as part of their legal intervention in the licensing proceeding of LES. A redacted version excluding proprietary LES corporate financial data is being released to the public today. "The labeling of depleted uranium as 'low-level' waste by the NRC is not going to diminish its dangers," said Dr. Arjun Makhijani, principal author of the report and president of IEER. "To paraphrase Shakespeare, dangerous radioactive waste by any other name would still pose significant public health risks." The report is entitled Costs and Risks of Management and Disposal of Depleted Uranium from the National Enrichment Facility Proposed to be Built in Lea County New Mexico by LES. It provides data showing that depleted uranium is radiologically comparable to transuranic waste, which is waste that is significantly contaminated with plutonium and other long-lived radionuclides like it. Federal regulations define transuranic waste as that which has more than 100 nanocuries per gram of long-lived transuranic radionuclides that emit alpha radiation. DU has a specific activity of about 400 nanocuries per gram. Transuranic waste from U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) facilities is now being disposed of in a deep geologic repository in New Mexico called the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, which is a multi-billion dollar federal government project. "The people of New Mexico and the taxpayers of the United States may find themselves saddled with enormous liabilities," said Michael Mariotte, executive director of NIRS, which sponsored the IEER report. "Corporations can easily wiggle out of their obligations. It happened, for example, when Getty Oil dumped the wastes from its plutonium reprocessing plant into the laps of the federal government and the State of New York over three decades ago. That multi-billion dollar mess still hasn't been fully cleaned up, and the waste has nowhere to go." "The health risks of depleted uranium may be far more varied than is recognized in federal regulations today," said Dr. Brice Smith, Senior Scientist at IEER and co-author of the report. "Children in the future may be saddled with a legacy similar to that of the sorry history of lead poisoning over the past three generations, but this time we are dealing with a heavy metal that is also radioactive." The license application constitutes LES's fourth attempt to build a uranium enrichment plant in the United States. The first attempt, which was for a plant in Louisiana, cost LES more than $30 million. LES withdrew the application after a citizens' group successfully challenged the NRC's environmental impact statement for the project on environmental justice grounds. Two other locations, both in Tennessee, were also explored but abandoned in the face of local opposition. DU disposal has remained a central public concern throughout. "The NRC has so far failed to back up its claims that radiation doses from depleted uranium disposal in an abandoned mine would be within regulatory limits," said Dr. Makhijani. "Data-free analysis ought to be unacceptable in any forum, but it is especially so in an environmental impact statement prepared by a government agency charged with protecting public health and safety." LES may consider shallow land disposal as option; sites in Utah or in Texas just across the border from LES site in New Mexico may be considered. LES may elect to pay the federal government to take on its waste. DOE is building a plant to convert DU hexafluoride to a more stable oxide form but it has not yet identified a viable long-term disposal strategy even for its own DU. "Transfer to the DOE cannot be considered a solution to LES's waste problem," said Wenonah Hauter, director of Public Citizen's Critical Mass Energy and Environment Program. "The DOE has yet to take charge of a single spent fuel bundle from nuclear power plant operators-despite a legal commitment to begin in 1998 and billions of dollars in payments to the federal government by nuclear electricity consumers." The report can be downloaded in full at www.ieer.org/reports/du/LESrptfeb05.pdf 1. That is, it may cause or contribute to genetic mutations, tumors, birth defects, neurological damage, and cellular level toxicity. - - 3 0 - - Institute for Energy and Environmental Research [http://www.ieer.org/index.html] Comments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer at ieer.org Takoma Park, Maryland, USA Posted February 23, 2005 ***************************************************************** 49 herald-dispatch: Secret project leaves sad legacy [http://www.herald-dispatch.com] |Wednesday, Feb. 23, 2005 Former plant employees, families seek compensation for health risks By SCOTT WARTMAN [swartman@herald-dispatch.com] - The Herald-Dispatch HUNTINGTON -- Rosetta Layne remembers the day about 40 or 50 years ago when her husband came home from work at the former Inco Ltd. site in Huntington delirious with difficulty breathing and a high fever. Layne didnt know it then, but her late husband, Velma Layne, worked at a top-secret government plant at the Inco Ltd. location in Altizer that produced nickel carbonyl for a uranium enrichment plant near Piketon, Ohio, between 1951 to 1963. Not long after her husband began working for Inco in 1952, he developed high blood pressure and breathing problems, which plagued him until his death of an aneurysm in 1983 at the age of 58, Layne said. "He was talking out of his head," Layne said. "He had a high fever. He never told me he was working there. None of us knew our husbands were working in such a place." Former employees and the survivors of late employees who worked at the Inco plant where Special Metals now operates gathered Tuesday to learn how they can get federal compensation for the maladies or deaths they attribute to the nickel carbonyl operation more than 40 years ago. The plant was one of hundreds in the nation involved in creating atomic weapons. The Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 partially removed the cloak of secrecy shrouding the operations at the plant, known as the Huntington Pilot Plant or Reduction Pilot Plant (RPP), and confirmed decades of hushed rumors of the plants existence. The Atomic Energy Commission owned the pilot plant and leased the property for Inco to operate. Employees and family of employees say they took oaths of secrecy and could tell no one, even family members, of the plants existence. When the act passed in 2000 to compensate U.S. Department of Energy workers who fell victim to injuries and illnesses, the Huntington Pilot Plant at 3200 Riverside Drive was put on the list as one of the places where employees were eligible for compensation. For the family of many former workers of the plant, the existence of the pilot plant came as a surprise when the compensation program began. Norma Fullen said her husband, Henderson Fullen, was a healthy, vibrant man when he began working at Inco Ltd. in 1951. When he died of leukemia in 1971, Fullen said she did not know about the pilot plants existence. After learning three years ago her husband worked in the pilot plant in the 1950s, Fullen said she is convinced he contracted leukemia from his exposure to the chemicals. Nickel carbonyl is fatal if inhaled and has been linked to cancer. Fullen said she filed for compensation under the EEOIC Program and is still awaiting approval. "I really think whoever worked in the plant should be compensated," Fullen said. "My husband was only 48 years old. He had six kids." Compensation, however, has come at a plodding pace. Of the 468 claims filed for workers or family of workers at the pilot plant, only nine have been approved, according to the Web site of the Division of Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program, or DEEOIC. However, a law signed by President Bush in October 2004 expands the types of injuries and impairments that qualify for compensation for under the program.. When the EEOIC Program Act went into effect July 31, 2001, the program offered up to $150,000 to ailing workers with illnesses linked to exposure of radiation, beryllium and silica on the job. The program mainly looked at radiation-induced cancer, said Kevin Clausing, Energy Employees Compensation Resource Center manger in Portsmouth. Now, the program covers a wider array of illnesses and toxic substances, Clausing said. The program covers employees of any of the specified Department of Energy sites throughout the country. The Huntington Pilot Plant is the only one in West Virginia eligible for the program, but Ohio contains 13 sites including the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Piketon. Though the program targets workers at the pilot plant between 1951 to 1963, workers on the site after that period could also be eligible, Clausing said. People who worked at the Inco plant who may have been exposed to toxic substances from the pilot plant building may be eligible for benefits, Clausing said. The pilot plant was dismantled in 1979 and buried at the uranium enrichment plant in Piketon. Some workers at Inco between 1963 and 1979 say they regularly went into the remains of the pilot plant where equipment was stored. Harold Bare, a Proctorville resident and retired electrician from Inco, said workers would have to retrieve stored motors from that section of the property. Bare started working in the maintenance department at Inco in 1965 and remained at Inco for 37 years before retiring. Many of his co-workers on the maintenance staff at Inco fell victim to lung cancer, Bare said. Bare now suffers from asbestosis. "Years ago, we had a medical staff, and you would have a chest x-ray, because there were so many cancer cases," Bare said. Most of those who worked directly in the pilot plant have died, said Thomas J. Eubanks, a Huntington resident who worked at the pilot plant beginning in 1952. Only about six or 10 of his co-workers remain, Eubanks said. Eubanks said he believes he was exposed to dangerous chemicals. "I think (the government) should take care of the health benefits," Eubanks said. "I dont think much of the way the government has handled it." Copyright © 2005 The Herald-Dispatch ***************************************************************** 50 Cape Cod Times: 'Green' munitions linked to cancer (February 23, 2005) [http://www.capecodonline.com/] By AMANDA LEHMERT STAFF WRITER A tungsten alloy used in "environmentally friendly" munitions caused rapidly growing tumors in laboratory rats, according to a recently published study. The results raise concerns about the danger from nontoxic alternatives to depleted uranium and lead, including the 5.56 mm tungsten-nylon bullet used at Camp Edwards. The "green" bullet was introduced on the base in 1999, two years after the Environmental Protection Agency banned the use of lead ammunition. The EPA had ordered a massive cleanup of underground pollutants on the base and believed chemicals from spent rounds could seep into the groundwater. The tungsten-nylon bullet - which cost $12 million to develop, and about 800,000 rounds of which have been used at the firing ranges - was hailed as a solution to community concerns. It was thought to be insoluble, or incapable of disintegrating and making its way into Cape groundwater. But now researchers have linked the alloy to cancer clusters in rats. And a study last year in the Journal of Environmental Forensics showed the metal dissolves in water faster than lead, raising fresh groundwater concerns. The Army Environmental Center will spend between $350,000 and $400,000 to test what the tungsten-nylon bullets have done in Cape Cod soil. In the meantime, soldiers will continue to use the bullets at Camp Edwards. Tumors developed rapidly The Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., conducted the cancer study, published this month in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives. Researchers injected the legs of laboratory rats with pellets of nickel, tantalum and a tungsten alloy made of about 90 percent tungsten plus nickel and cobalt. The tungsten alloy was similar the ones used in munitions, such as the penetrator rounds that replaced depleted uranium rounds. The study did not use a tungsten-nylon combination similar to what is used in the small-caliber "green" bullets. The injections simulated shrapnel wounds. All the animals injected with the tungsten alloy developed tumors around the injection sites that quickly moved to their lungs. The animals implanted with the tungsten alloy and nickel, which is known to cause cancer, developed tumors within four to five months. The tumors developed rapidly in the tungsten alloy-injected rats, and they had to be euthanized by researchers just weeks later, according to the study. Military officials point out that no study has looked at the type of tungsten-nylon bullet used on the Cape. Tungsten factor unclear The other metals used in the study - nickel and cobalt - have been shown to cause cancer, said John Kalinich, a member of the research institute team that did the tungsten alloy study. He said it is uncertain whether the small amounts of those metals were enough to cause the tumors in the rats or whether tungsten was the key instigator. "Whether the presence of tungsten is the key factor in the alloy's carcinogenicity needs further research," Kalinich said. But researchers in Arizona are more certain about the links between the metal and cancer. Mark Witten, a research professor from the University of Arizona at Tucson, has studied leukemia clusters in Fallon, Nev., a town where the Centers for Disease Control found high levels of tungsten and arsenic in the urine of residents. Witten has exposed mice to airborne levels of tungsten to simulate conditions in Fallon. So far, they have seen abnormal blood profiles in the animals, which Witten said could be a precursor to leukemia. In other research, Witten exposed human leukemia cells to tungsten and found that they grew 170 percent in three days. "I think there is enough evidence that the Army should wait on this a bit. It's best to air on the side of caution when introducing a possible carcinogen into the environmental," Witten said. "We don't need any more kids with cancer." (Published: February 23, 2005) Copyright © 2005 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 51 Business Centre: Noranda blamed for endangering health of smelter workers; firm denies charge canada.com network Canadian Press Wednesday, February 23, 2005 MONTREAL (CP) - The Quebec agency responsible for workers' health says Noranda Inc. has failed to meet its obligations towards workers exposed to dust from the metal beryllium in the 1980s in a Quebec smelter. The company strongly denies it knowingly put workers at the Gaspe Smelter in Murdochville at risk, and said it took all measures available at the time to detect health problems attributed to the metallic dust. The Quebec health and safety board made public on Wednesday a report that had been completed a year ago and turned over to Quebec Provincial Police. At a news conference Wednesday, the board said Noranda did not furnish all the required information to the board and played down the risks of beryllium. Noranda spokesman Denis Couture responded that as soon as Noranda became aware that materials the smelter was recycling contained beryllium, it stopped treating them in 1990. Couture said Noranda hired international experts to examine the workers and helped set up a diagnostic clinic in Montreal. "It's easy to jump to conclusions and say that Noranda should have done things with today's state of scientific and medical knowledge concerning beryllium," Couture said. "In 1990 regulatory authorities knew almost nothing about beryllium." The Gaspe Smelter was closed in 2002; the nearby copper mine had been shut in 1997. The beryllium came from materials the smelter treated for recycling, not from product from the mine. Thirteen Gaspe Smelter workers were affected by the metal, and receive compensation from the health board, out of 70 Quebec workers who suffer respiratory problems attributed to beryllium. Besides Toronto-based Noranda (TSX:NRD), the board blamed a local doctor assigned to the smelter for neglecting his duties, and cited the union for not following up on worker complaints. © The Canadian Press 2005 [http://www.canwestglobal.com/privacy.html] | Terms | FAQ | Our Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 52 Hudson Valley News: Some Ulster County Gulf War vets say they are victims of depleted uranium Tuesday, February 22, 2005 Copyright © 2004 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of An Ulster County contingent including Michelle Riddell, Angela Morano and County Legislator Susan Zimet met with United States veterans of the current Gulf War who have been exposed to radioactive depleted uranium. Veterans Gerard Mathew, Herbert Reed and Ray Ramos, featured in the film, Poison Dust, an expose on the use of radioactive Depleted Uranium, were guests of honor at a special screening of the film in Manhattan. Matthews wife, Janice, recently gave birth to a baby girl, Victoria, who was born with a deformity. Thousands of tons of this radioactive material are currently being used in munitions and as protective armor on tanks. When weapons are deployed and ignite, the DU is released as fine radioactive dust and remains on the battlefield. It is inhaled or ingested. Many soldiers returning from Desert Storm, the first Gulf War, fathered children with deformities similar to Victoria. These children were featured in a 1995 Life magazine photo article The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm. Plans are in the works for the veterans to meet personally with Congressman Maurice Hinchey and to speak at a Hudson Valley forum being planned by the Saugerties Committee for Peace and Social Justice. HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com [http://www.midhudsonradio.com] , the Hudson Valley's only ***************************************************************** 53 Bradenton Herald: Feds expand Tallevast test coverage | 02/23/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer The Bush administration will expand a free medical screening program to former workers of the now-defunct Loral American Beryllium Co. in Tallevast, U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris announced Tuesday. The Department of Energy will pay for all recommended tests for beryllium sensitivity, whether results are negative or positive, Harris said. "It's official," the Sarasota Republican said late Tuesday. "I just spoke with Assistant Secretary John Shaw. We have been working so hard on this. This is pretty emotional. It will mean so much for former workers." Workers who test positive will receive medical treatment and monitoring through a companion program administered by the Department of Labor, Harris said. Known as the "Cold War warriors," workers at the Tallevast plant machined beryllium to produce parts for atomic weapons and missile guidance systems, starting in the 1960s. Exposure to the dust, produced when the exotic metal was milled, can lead to a severe and often fatal lung disease if not treated. Harris' announcement brought great relief to Terry Owen, the last union president at American Beryllium. "This is some of the best news we have heard in a long time," said Owen, who lives in Sarasota. "Our ultimate goal was to see that all workers were tested and that they receive lifetime surveillance, since beryllium exposure poses a lifetime risk." An estimated 1,500 workers were employed by the Tallevast plant during the four decades it was in operation. It was unclear Tuesday night how much the expanded program will cover. Because sensitivity to the toxic metal can take up to 30 years to develop, beryllium disease experts encourage workers who test negative to be retested every two to three years. "This will ease a lot of workers' minds, but I wonder if this means they will pay for repeat testing for workers with negative results," Owen said. Owen also questioned whether the expanded program means more workers from American Beryllium will be eligible for the medical benefits and compensation program for those who test positive. Under the original compensation program, eligibility for the federal program was limited to only those American Beryllium workers employed during the year 1968 and from 1980 to 1989, the only known years the company had contracts with the Energy Department. Harris could not answer those questions because she had no specific details on how the program would operate late Tuesday. The Department of Energy is expected to announce details of the expanded testing program today. Under the old rules, former workers also had to pay for their own blood tests to learn if they had developed a sensitivity to beryllium, a forerunner of beryllium disease. The expensive test is available from only five specialty laboratories in the country and can cost from $200 to $600. Only workers who tested positive were reimbursed for the test. Now all beryllium vendor company workers, including those formerly employed by companies that no longer exist, will get the free blood tests, Harris said. Dr. Gladys Branic, director of the Manatee County Health Department, said the testing program is an excellent opportunity to provide health services to former employees. "I am very happy to hear the news," Branic said. Instead of spending funds now allocated for former workers' tests, that money can be used instead to test more residents and their relatives. The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a branch of the Centers of Disease Control in Atlanta, set aside $50,000 to test former workers, their families and household members who lived with the workers during their time of employment at American Beryllium. Residents within a half-mile of the Tallevast plant during its operation also are eligible for beryllium tests, Branic said. Details on how that program will operate are expected by the end of the month. Manatee County commissioners allocated $60,000 to test 241 former workers and residents in December and January. Seven people, including four residents, tested positive for beryllium sensitivity during that first phase of local testing. Six workers who paid for their own tests also tested positive, bringing the total number of known positives to 13. Dr. Laurence Fuortes, a beryllium expert at the University of Iowa, recently called those results a clear indication that the community and workers were exposed to the dangerous levels of beryllium dust. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat and Florida's senior senator, will meet with public officials this morning to discuss details of the testing program. Nelson proposed expanding the beryllium testing program to American Beryllium workers in a Feb. 3 letter addressed to Assistant Secretary Shaw. Harris also plans to meet with officials today in Manatee County to discuss the program. Donna Wright health and social services reporter, can be reached at 745-7049 or at dwright@bradentonherald.com [dwright@bradentonherald.com] . About HeraldToday.com ***************************************************************** 54 Las Vegas RJ: NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES: Yucca safety discussed Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Experts talk about the challenge of predicting the distant future By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The National Academy of Sciences delved into Yucca Mountain safety Tuesday when scientists discussed the uncertainties of predicting how the proposed nuclear waste repository might perform over tens of thousands of years. The discussion before the academy's nuclear waste management board was watched closely by officials from federal agencies that will set standards for the project the Energy Department wants to build in Nevada. The session aimed to explore a major Yucca Mountain question: How much confidence can decision-makers have in repository studies that purport to measure health and safety far into the future? "Is it responsible to construct a waste repository with our present knowledge?" asked Klaus Kuhn, a climate scientist who sits on the academy board. Leonard Konikow, a hydrogeologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, cautioned against overrelying on complex computer models that are attempting to predict Yucca Mountain safety far into the future. Konikow said modeling errors can slant conclusions of the repository's performance. The errors could be magnified in predictions of whether the mountain can safely contain nuclear materials 10,000 years or longer, Konikow said. "We have to wonder if we are making predictions 10,000 years, 100,000 years into the future, are the error bands so wide so far out into the future as to make use of these models meaningless," he said. "There is value to using the models but we have to be careful," Konikow said. "They are the single best tool we have in making predictions but you just can't have the same degree of faith in a 10,000-year prediction as you can in a one-year prediction." The discussion took place as the Environmental Protection Agency rewrites standards that would require scientists to show that Yucca Mountain can safely contain highly radioactive materials for periods well beyond 10,000 years. Officials from the EPA and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will regulate repository operations, attended but did not speak. Henry Pollack, a geophysics professor at the University of Michigan who delivered a presentation, said policy-makers should not be deterred by uncertainty, which he said "can never be fully eliminated." "Waiting until uncertainty is eliminated before making important decisions is generally impossible," he said. "Unanswered questions should not lead to policy paralysis. "My vision of a policy is one that gets started in the face of uncertainty," Pollack said. Pollack said the government should anticipate "mid-course corrections." He said DOE should monitor the repository during construction and beyond for "surprises." "There will be something that will happen in the nature of a surprise," Konikow said. "You hope it is not a catastrophic surprise." Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 55 Las Vegas SUN: Lawyer: Nevada kept out of Yucca meetings Government agencies discuss court ruling By Benjamin Grove < [grove@lasvegassun.com] > SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency has been quietly meeting with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Energy Department to discuss the EPA's effort to comply with a court ruling that stalled a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, a lawyer for Nevada said today. The state should be a part of the discussions, Martin Malsch told the Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste, a panel that advises the commission on waste issues. Ultimately, the commission would license and regulate Yucca, the proposed repository for high-level nuclear waste. The Energy Department is planning to submit a license application to the commission by year's end to construct Yucca. "Nevada's requests to EPA to establish a public docket and to meet in public with interested stakeholders have gone unanswered," Malsch said. The state has filed Freedom of Information requests to obtain documents from the meetings, which took place in recent months, but many of the documents delivered to the state have been redacted, he said. The agencies have "drawn an iron curtain of secrecy around their deliberations," he said. The state has asked for the EPA to be more open in general about its rule-making. At issue is a 10,000-year radiation standard the EPA set for Yucca Mountain. A federal court last year said the EPA did not follow the law because it failed to set a standard that was consistent with a much stricter standard reccommended by the National Academies of Science. The academies recommended that the repository radiation standard should cover the period in which the "peak dose" of radiation is emitted from waste stored at the mountain. That could be far longer than 10,000 years, Nevada officials have said. The court ruling effectively directed the EPA to draft a new standard or better explain how its 10,000-year standard complies with the findings of the academies. The EPA is expected to release a draft of its new rule-making decision in late spring or early summer, but has not indicated to Nevada what the rule will look like, Malsch said. "Let me express the hope on behalf of the state of Nevada that logic and sound science will prevail here," he said. The waste panel today discussed its options for advising the five-member commission on the EPA rule when it is released. It will be important, panel member William Hinze noted, to build public confidence in the new standard. "If we start changing these things, it's very important to bring the community, the world, the country into an understanding that we are still protecting the safety of the public and the environment," Hinze said. ***************************************************************** 56 New Scientist: Perchlorate found in breast milk across US [NewScientist.com] + 16:30 23 February 2005 A chemical associated with rocket fuel has turned up in most samples of breast milk and store-bought cow's milk from 23 US states, a new study reveals. The chemical may disrupt metabolism in adults and lead to mental retardation in children. Perchlorate is a component of fuel for rockets and missiles and also appears to be made naturally in the atmosphere and stored in the soil. It is widely found in the US water supply and has previously been detected in samples of dairy milk and lettuce. Now, researchers led by Purnendu Dasgupta, a chemist at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, US, have published the first known study of perchlorate in breast milk. They found the substance in each of 36 breast-milk samples taken from 18 states and in all but one of 47 dairy milk samples from 11 states. The average level in breast milk was 10.5 micrograms per litre, while the average in dairy milk was 2.0 micrograms per litre. That compares with the limit of 24.5 micrograms per litre standard for drinking water, according to new guidelines set on Friday by the US Environmental Protection Agency. The new guidelines were drawn up according to the amount deemed safe for an average adult by a recent US National Academy of Sciences study. But the NAS reports that a "safe" perchlorate-intake limit should be set at about 4 micrograms per litre for a baby. The NAS study concluded there is "insufficient data" to establish a definitive link between perchlorate exposure and neurodevelopmental problems, but animal studies suggest perchlorate can damage the thyroid, which regulates metabolism. Iodine issues Perchlorate knocks an iodine ion off a protein that transports the ion to the thyroid. That can lead to iodine deficiency, which impairs thyroid development and is thought to be the main cause of mental retardation in young children, says Dasgupta. And he says people are not getting enough iodine in their diets as it is. He says dietary levels have fallen to half those in the 1970s and cites a recent study showing that pregnant women are taking in just half the iodine they should. "We have a potential problem with iodine nutrition - and perchlorate on top of it can make things worse," he told New Scientist. Much of the salt in processed foods is not fortified with iodine, so he recommends people eat dried seaweed capsules, which are packed with the nutrient. "I want people to be activists about good iodine nutrition," he says. In the study, published in the journal Environmental Science &amp;amp; Technology, he and his co-authors suggest the government may need to raise recommendations of iodine intake for pregnant and nursing women. Colleague Ernest Smith, a developmental toxicologist at Texas Tech University, says it is not clear why breast milk contained so much more perchlorate than dairy milk. But he says women could be getting the chemical from drinking store-bought milk and from eating food grown in perchlorate-tainted soil or irrigated with water containing the chemical. Just where the perchlorate is coming from is "the million-dollar question", Smith told New Scientist. Some of the states in the study are not known to host rocket launches, he notes. ***************************************************************** 57 Public Spirit: Nuclear waste dump in Ayer? Maxant makes case in pamphlet [http://www.ayerpublicspirit.com] February 23, 2005 Pepperell, MA By Nathan Lamb AYER -- Selectman Frank Maxant thinks there are plans to put a nuclear waste dump at the old Moore Army Airfield in Ayer, and he has assembled full-color multipage pamphlets outlining why. "Will former Moore Army Airfield be used as a nuclear waste cite?" it says on the cover of the pamphlet. "Like a dot-to-dot puzzle, this document will lead you to a conclusion you can draw for yourself." The pamphlet, which was Maxant's own private undertaking, is on display at the assessor's office at Town Hall. It is also available upon request from the town clerk and the selectmen's office. The pamphlet intersperses maps, documents and Maxant's observations. He uses these to build a circumstantial case on why he thinks steps are being taken by MassDevelopment to install a nuclear waste dump at the former airfield area on Devens that is nestled between West Main Street and Route 2A in Ayer. The crux of his argument is that MassDevelopment has long desired to place a waste dump at Devens and has taken subtle steps to enable that end. He also recommends several actions the town could take to help prevent that scenario from ever happening. In a telephone interview, Maxant explained why he produced the pamphlet. "If we don't understand what's going on there, there will be [a] nuclear waste dump there," he said. "Would anybody say that people don't have a right to know about it?" Maxant described the relationship between Ayer and MassDevelopment as a series of broken promises. He said this includes MassDevelopment moving away from the manufacturing/industrial specifications dictated by the host towns in the Reuse Plan and the ongoing construction of downtown Devens, which he sees as being harmful to Ayer. "Given the context of MassDevelopment having broken every promise they've made yes, I think it's responsible to level these charges," he said. "It would be irresponsible not to." Meg Delorier, MassDevelopment's vice president of Community Relations, said she has not seen the pamphlet, but she denied Maxant's conclusions. She disputed the notion that MassDevelopment has violated the Reuse Plan, that there are designs on a nuclear waste dump at Devens, or that there is some preconceived idea from MassDevelopment of what the future of the former base will be. She also said the future of the airfield and other outlying areas of the base would be determined through the Devens Disposition Executive Board, which comprises 15 representatives from Devens and the surrounding communities. "People are putting a lot of time, energy and effort into this," she said. "To have anybody talking about a predetermined outcome is disrespectful to the process and all of the people who are working hard on it." Delorier also noted she had seen Maxant at a Joint Boards of Selectmen (JBOS) meeting two days beforehand. She claimed he had given out copies of that report to selectmen from other towns unbeknownst to her. "Mr. Maxant doesn't share the information he shares with everyone else about MassDevelopment with MassDevelopment," she said. In response, Maxant said he has no doubt that MassDevelopment's representatives would deny such a plan exists, even if they had knowledge of it at the Devens level. "You expect them to say, 'Hey, we're going to built a nuclear waste dump there?'" he sasked. "Of course they're not going to indicate it's going to happen. They'll keep it a secret as long as they can." MassDevelopment was not the only entity Maxant called out in the pamphlets. On the title page of the pamphlet in the assessor's office, Maxant handwrote that the Ayer Board of Selectmen had decided the town could safely ignore these circumstances, and asked residents to let the board know if it should change its mind. That charge was disputed by selectmen Chairman Paul Bresnahan, who said the selectmen had indeed viewed Maxant's documents and found them lacking in credibility. "We determined as a board there is no credibility to Mr. Maxant's case," he said. "We have no indication that anyone has any thought of doing that. "If we did, we would fight it," he added. Bresnahan said Maxant had brought the pamphlet to the selectmen seeking to have it put on the agenda for a JBOS meeting, but the board did not consider it a credible complaint. For his own part, Maxant said his theory is nothing new. He said it started in 1996, when he attended a League of Women Voters forum in Harvard on the possibility of toxic waste dumps in Massachusetts. Since then, he said the pieces have fallen into place, as outlined in his pamphlet. Maxant also said he figures the pamphlet will not be popular with his peers on the Board of Selectmen, but said he had no choice. "I have a job to do, and I'm trying to do it," he said. "That it may be unpopular doesn't enter my mind. "I don't mind being wrong, but I'd hate to be right," he added. A copy of the report can also be obtained by contacting Maxant at (978) 772 4737. © 1999-2004 MediaNews Group, Inc. and Nashoba Publications ***************************************************************** 58 Standard: Kenya: UN warns of nuclear wastes in Somalia waters Thursday February 24, 2005 By Waweru Mugo Somali woman erect a shelter after they were forced to an internally displaced people’s camp in Barrdo in north east Somalia due to the severe effects of the tsunami. The environmental impact of the deadly Asian Tsunami was laid bare yesterday as it emerged that it stirred up nuclear and hazardous waste deposits dumped in the Somalia coastline. Fears were also expressed that the situation in the war-torn Somalia poses "a very serious environmental hazard" to the east African countries following possible contamination of the environment by radioactive waste. There are worries too that the tsunami may have impacted negatively on the mangroves and coastal vegetation, coral reefs, surface and ground water, soils, marine and coastal environment. In a new assessment report released yesterday, the United Nations revealed that contamination from these waste deposits has caused serious health and environmental problems to fishing communities in Somalia’s affected areas. "Many people in Somalia’s impacted areas are complaining of unusual health problems including acute respiratory infections, mouth bleeds and skin conditions," the report released at the Unep’s 23rd Governing Council/Global Ministerial Environment Forum where some 100 environment ministers have gathered for their annual talks says. Tsunami winds blowing inland villages has also caused other health problems like dry heavy coughing, abdominal haemorrhages, unusual skin chemical reactions, and sudden death after inhaling toxic materials, Unep added. The report "After the Tsunami- Rapid Environment Assessment" said nuclear and hazardous waste had for long been dumped in beaches around North Hobyo (South Mudug) and Warsheik, south of Benadir igniting catastrophic environmental concerns following the Tsunami wave.’’ The report released by the Unep executive director Klaus Toepfer blamed the huge human environmental impacts to Somalia to the lack of proper central government and associated civil war. From the early 1980s and continuing into the civil war, the hazardous waste dumped along Somalia’s coast comprised uranium radioactive waste, lead, cadmium, mercury, industrial, hospital, chemical, leather treatment and other toxic wastes, hesaid. The report noted, "Somalia’s coastline has been used as a dumping ground for other countries’ nuclear and hazardous wastes for many years as a result of the long civil war and the consequent inability of the authorities to police shipments or handle the wastes." It warns that while natural disasters are short-term catastrophes, the contamination of the environment by radioactive waste "can cause serious long-term effects on human health as well as severe impacts on groundwater, soil, agriculture and fisheries for many years". "Therefore, the current situation along the Somali coastline poses a very serious environmental hazard, not only in Somalia but also in the eastern Africa sub-region," the 140-page report further warns. Unlike in the other six affected countries featured- Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles and Yemen, in Somalia, the report is based on desk study only, as security restrictions did not allow an assessment mission to be fielded by Unep. Approximately 650 km of the Somali coastline was impacted by the tsunami, primarily in the stretch between Hafun (Bari region) and Garacad (Mudug region), with varying degrees of devastation. Some 300 people died from the tsunami effects while shelters, houses and water sources as well as fishing gear were extensively destroyed in the country. The livelihoods of 18,000 households were devastated, and all the people now need urgent humanitarian assistance. Copyright © MMV . The Standard Group I & M Building, Kenyatta Avenue, P.O Box 30080, 00100 GPO, Nairobi-Kenya. Tel: +254 20 3222111, Fax: +254 20 214467. News room Fax: +254 20 3222111,. Email: [editorial@eastandard.net] , [editorial@eastandard.net] ***************************************************************** 59 Newsday.com: Cleanup resumes at former nuclear site New York City - AP New York Wednesday, Feb 23, 2005, 9:35 PM EST By CAROLYN THOMPSON Associated Press Writer BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Cleanup operations resumed Wednesday at a former nuclear site in western New York, more than a month after two workers were exposed to higher doses of radiation than allowed under the site's guidelines. West Valley Nuclear Services Co. voluntarily halted work at the Cattaraugus County site following the Jan. 19 exposure, the third safety lapse in less than a month. Cleanup was being resumed in phases. The overexposed workers required no medical treatment and no radiation was released into the environment, authorities said. The other lapses involved the ignition of small fires. "Our approach to safety is to plan for all contingencies and stop work if something unexpected occurs," said Russ Mellor, president of West Valley Nuclear Services Co., which operates the West Valley Demonstration Project about 35 miles south of Buffalo. West Valley was the site of the country's first commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing plant from 1966 to 1972. The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and U.S. Department of Energy are partners in the ongoing decontamination and decommissioning of the site. An independent report sought by West Valley Nuclear Services following the worker exposure indicated the employees received doses of 315 and 169 millirems of radiation. That compares to the 360 millirems that the average American absorbs in a year from things like X-rays and the sun. The exposure exceeded West Valley's self-imposed limit of 100 millirems per day but did not exceed federal Energy Department standards, West Valley spokesman Terry Dunford said. The incident occurred inside a maintenance room while the workers, who were wearing protective clothing, emptied waste into metal containers. The report faulted managers for failing to adequately evaluate radiological hazards and implement safety controls. Mellor said training and other recommendations included in the findings were being implemented. On the Net: West Valley Nuclear Services Co.: http://www.wvnsco.com Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press ***************************************************************** 60 DOE: Office of Nonproliferation Policy; Proposed Subsequent FR Doc 05-3422 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8789] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-34] Arrangement AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of subsequent arrangement. SUMMARY: This notice has been issued under the authority of Section 131 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2160). The Department is providing notice of a proposed ``subsequent arrangement'' under the Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Civil Uses of Atomic Energy between the United States and Canada and Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM). This subsequent arrangement concerns the retransfer of 4,393,500 kg of U.S.-origin natural uranium hexafluoride, 2,970,000 kg of which is uranium, from Cogema Resources Inc., Saskatoon Saskatchewan, Canada to Urenco Almelo, Netherlands, Eurodif France, and Urenco Gronau, Germany. The material, which is now located at Cameco Corp., Port Hope, Ontario, will be transferred to the aforementioned recipients for toll enrichment. Urenco Almelo will receive 660,000 kg uranium, Eurodif France will receive 1,650,000 kg uranium, and Urenco Gronau will receive 660,000 kg uranium. Upon completion of the enrichment, the recipients will transfer the material to the Electicite de France, British Energy, and RWE Germany. Cameco Corp. originally obtained the uranium hexafluoride under the UF6 Fee Implementing Contract Component. In accordance with Section 131 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, we have determined that this subsequent arrangement is not inimical to the common defense and security. This subsequent arrangement will take effect no sooner than fifteen days after the date of publication of this notice. For the Department of Energy. Kurt Siemon, Acting Director, Office of Nonproliferation Policy. [FR Doc. 05-3422 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 61 DOE: Penalties for classified information disclosure [Docket No. SO-RM-00-01] FR Doc 05-3423 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 8716] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-3] RIN 1992-AA28 Procedural Rules for the Assessment of Civil Penalties for Classified Information Security Violations; Correction AGENCY: Office of Security, Department of Energy. ACTION: Final rule; correction. SUMMARY: The Department of Energy published a final rule on January 26, 2005, establishing 10 CFR Part 824 to implement section 234B of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. This document corrects an inadvertent omission in one sentence of the final rule. DATES: This final rule is effective on February 25, 2005. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Geralyn Praskievicz, (202) 586-4451 or, JoAnn Williams, (202) 586-6899. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This document makes a correction to a final rule that was published in the Federal Register on January 26, 2005 (67 FR 3599). In rule document FR Doc. 05-1303, appearing on page 3599, in the issue of Wednesday, January 26, 2005, the following correction is made. PART 824--[CORRECTED] Sec. 824.2 [Corrected] 0 Beginning on page 3607, in the third column, Sec. 824.2(c) is corrected to read as follows: * * * * * (c) Individual employees. No civil penalty may be assessed against an individual employee of a contractor or any other entity which enters into an agreement with DOE. Issued in Washington, DC, on February 16, 2005. Glenn S. Podonsky, Director, Office of Security and Safety Performance Assurance. [FR Doc. 05-3423 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 62 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridge FR Doc 05-3464 [Federal Register: February 23, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 35)] [Notices] [Page 8789] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr23fe05-35] Reservation AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Oak Ridge Reservation. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Wednesday, March 9, 2005, 6 p.m. ADDRESSES: DOE Information Center, 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Halsey, Federal Coordinator, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, P.O. Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. Phone (865) 576-4025; Fax (865) 576-5333 or e- mail: halseypj@oro.doe.gov [halseypj@oro.doe.gov] or check the Web site at http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab [http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.oakridge.doe.gov/em/ssab] . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related activities. Tentative Agenda: Presentation: Waste Disposition Issues on the Oak Ridge Reservation. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to the agenda item should contact Pat Halsey at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the Department of Energy's Information Center at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or by writing to Pat Halsey, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, P.O. Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, or by calling her at (865) 576-4025. Issued in Washington, DC on February 16, 2005. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 05-3464 Filed 2-22-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 63 ABQjournal: Benefits Plan Added to Proposed LANL Contract Albuquerque Journal newspaper. Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Albuquerque Journal--> The Associated Press LOS ALAMOS— Federal officials have amended a draft request for proposals regarding contract competition for Los Alamos National Laboratory, ensuring that the winner of the contract would have to provide a total compensation package for employees that is "substantially equivalent" to the benefits and pensions provided by the current contract with the University of California. The impact of a potential switch in lab managers on employee benefits has been a source of concern within the lab and among state leaders and the congressional delegation. Workers would be able to transfer their accrued service credit and leave balances with the new lab manager, according to the National Nuclear Security Administration's Source Evaluation Board. The board said it will ask the NNSA to seek approval from the Energy Department to negotiate an extension of UC's contract to provide enough time during the transition period for the winning bidder to submit a "well thought out pension and benefits package." The changes came after members of Congress, watchdog groups, employees and others sent their questions and comments to the NNSA to improve the proposed contract for managing the lab. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Tuesday he was evaluating the board's changes. "Right off the bat," he said, "one significant change that raises a red flag is the call for a stand-alone benefits plan at Los Alamos. That needs to be fully reviewed." The board also extended the base term of the proposed contract from five years to seven years and doubled to 3 percent the fee awarded to the contractor for DOE and NNSA work. The board will accept comments from potential bidders through March 4. Bidders also can meet with the board via teleconference this week or schedule a meeting next week in Washington, D.C. The government plans to select a contractor this summer to begin work Oct. 1. The new contract includes possible extensions up to 20 years. The contract is going out to bid for the first time in the lab's 60-year-plus history. Los Alamos has been managed by the University of California since the lab's inception as a top-secret World War II project to develop the atomic bomb. However, the Energy Department decided to put the contract up for bid before its September expiration after a series of management failures and security problems. Copyright Albuquerque Journal Steve@abqjournal.com ***************************************************************** 64 ABQjournal: LANL Scientists Look for Possible Paths of Water Contamination Albuquerque Journal newspaper. Wednesday, February 23, 2005 Albuquerque Journal--> By Adam Rankin Journal Staff Writer Dating the age of water flowing from a series of natural springs along the Rio Grande could help state and Los Alamos National Laboratory scientists identify the water's source— and possible paths for contamination. Results from the tests could help answer a decade-old question about which pathway contamination from LANL might be using to reach the springs— whether through deep ground water in the aquifer, some shallow and fast pathway, or some combination of the two. The springs are located directly below lab property in White Rock Canyon. "I can't say that it is going to be the silver bullet," said LANL geochemist Patrick Longmire, noting that the investigation could raise more questions than it answers. "But we are hoping that we can understand the data enough so that we can start sorting out flow paths and age gradients for the ground water." He said the earliest results could be reported by May or June. LANL is contributing about $600,000 to the study. The state Department of Energy Oversight Bureau is putting up about $7,500 and is also contributing man hours to collect some samples. For years, there has been debate among environmentalists and LANL and Department of Energy officials about whether six decades of contamination from the nuclear weapons facility could reach the aquifer, and if so, if it could then reach the Rio Grande. Several years ago, LANL scientists discovered contamination was reaching the ground water, mostly through canyon bottoms. Now the debate is about whether contamination is migrating through the deep regional aquifer to springs along the Rio Grande, or taking another, faster route. Ground water dating could help resolve the debate. In all, the investigation will be based on 182 samples from 25 deep aquifer wells and 25 natural springs. About 120 samples will be age-dated. Using a special technique that measures the ratio in the water of radioactive tritium to helium— a decay product of tritium— scientists can calculate how long the spring water has been underground. From that information, along with other water chemistry clues and known rates of how fast water flows over a distance in the underground aquifer, scientists can determine about where the water first went underground. The method is possible because tritium's rate of decay to helium is known. Normally, helium in the water will escape to the atmosphere, but because tritium in this case is decaying in water that is underground, the helium has nowhere to go and stays in the water. Scientists measure how much helium and tritium are in samples collected from springs and wells and, using the decay rate, determine how long the water has been underground. "This technique will get you down to plus or minus three or four months after tritium was shut off from the atmosphere," said Michael Dale, a scientist with the state's Department of Energy Oversight Bureau, which investigates environmental issues at LANL. "I think we are going to be able to figure it out, you know, where this stuff is coming from," he said in the canyon Tuesday, adding that his office and LANL have talked about doing the age dating for about three years. LANL's Longmire said laboratory environmental scientists began thinking about doing the analysis when tritium was detected at higher-than-expected levels in the springs along the Rio Grande. "What's the source of that tritium and what is coming (to the springs) next?" Longmire said they wondered. The levels of tritium, which was used in large quantities at the lab for years but which also can be naturally occurring, at the springs are still well below health standards. The sample sites— from springs along the Jemez Mountains above LANL, to monitoring wells at LANL and the springs along the Rio Grande— create an east-to-west transect. "West to east, we should see the water getting progressively older, but is there another flow path that we don't know about?" Longmire said. Copyright Albuquerque Journal Steve@abqjournal.com ***************************************************************** 65 DenverPost.com: Rocky Flats workers deserve federal help EDITORIALS Article Published: Monday, February 21, 2005 Red tape is slowing aid to former employees of the nuclear weapons facility who suffer from illnesses linked to hazardous materials that they handled. For decades, workers at the Rocky Flats nuclear bomb factory near Boulder handled some of the most dangerous elements on Earth, such as plutonium. Many of the employees now suffer from cancers and other illnesses that may be linked to hazardous materials they were exposed to on the job. They should be compensated, but the U.S. government has a cumbersome system for determining if medical payments are warranted. The United Steelworkers of America wants federal officials to relax the paperwork required for sick Rocky Flats workers to get help. Existing rules require workers to detail when and how they may were exposed to radiation and other hazards, and show a causal link with their current illnesses. But records that could prove the claims have been lost. Two members of Colorado's congressional delegation, Democrat Mark Udall of the 2nd District and Republican Bob Beauprez of the 7th, are co-sponsoring a bill to create an exemption for Rocky Flats workers. Employees at four other nuclear defense facilities already have been granted such waivers. Yet the legislative process is long and uncertain, and Rocky Flats workers need help now. But the administrative process could move quickly if managers wanted it so. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) should grant the United Steelworkers Local 8031's petition and send it to Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt for approval. Uncle Sam has a horrible record of compensating injured Cold War workers. In 2000, Congress gave the U.S. Department of Energy $95 million to pay claims from injured nuclear defense workers, but after four years, DOE had paid just 31 of 25,000 claims. Last year, Congress moved the program to the Labor Department, which has acted on the claims more quickly than DOE did. Still, Labor officials rely on their counterparts at Health and Human Services on medical issues. Sadly, HHS rules make little sense when applied to Rocky Flats. Rocky Flats workers have filed more than 2,100 claims with the Labor Department, but only 219 have been paid to date. That's too few. The NIOSH should grant the petition, Leavitt should OK it and Labor should write the checks. Editorials alone express The Denver Post's opinion. All contents Copyright 2005 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 66 Newsweek: Vegas: Blast From the Past Feb. 28 issue - Rarely do museums blow you away. Yet at the new Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas, guests experience a simulation of an aboveground nuclear test—complete with trembling benches, explosive noise and a swoosh of air. After that, the audience watches a film about the history of testing at the Nevada Test Site north of Las Vegas. Those tests were a huge spectator event from 1951 until an international treaty ended aboveground testing in 1962. "This doesn't even do justice to what it was really like: the heat, the light, the intensity," says director Bill Johnson, whose 8,000-square-foot museum is a Smithsonian affiliate. Museum displays include a collection of pop-culture items from the Ike era, like an atomic-themed "Li'l Abner" comic and postcards pushing Vegas as "The Up and Atom City." Anti-nuke protesters and advocates for the thousands of "downwinders" who suffered cancer caused by the radioactive residue are irked that their side of the story is barely mentioned at an institution largely funded by former test-site workers. (The museum's curator says a changing-exhibit gallery will "expand on those ideas.") Critics have likened the blast simulation to turning the collapse of the World Trade Center into a thrill ride—a "carnival attraction," says Ivan Eland, director of the Center on Peace and Liberty at the Independent Institute in Washington, D.C. "That may go over the top a bit." In Vegas? Imagine that. —Steve Friess© 2005 Newsweek, Inc. © 2005 MSNBC.com ***************************************************************** 67 Daily Herald: Fermilab looking to trim staff [http://www.dailyherald.com] Wednesday, February 23, 2005 By Tona Kunz Daily Herald Staff Writer Fermilab will ask some staff to voluntarily leave and will close the door on one experiment to mitigate budget shortfalls. But officials will keep another two dozen experiments and projects running as well as public tours and the hands-on science museum. "For about the last six years we've had what could be called flat funding, and at some point you have to make an adjustment to that," said spokesman Mike Perricone. The high-energy physics laboratory on the eastern edge of Batavia plans within the next two weeks to start offering early retirement to its 2,100 full-time staff. At least 90 people, or 5 percent of the work force, need to take advantage of the offer or lab officials will consider layoffs. Officials do not expect the budget crunch to affect any of the 2,500 graduate students or researchers from other laboratories who work on the 750-acre campus. Many of those researchers come from overseas and rent homes in nearby communities. The lab has long been considered a key component of the economics of neighboring communities. "I think it's imperative for Fermilab to remain a viable entity in our community," said Batavia Mayor Jeff Schielke. Monday he urged the city council to start drafting a resolution to urge the federal government to better fund Fermilab. Perricone said the staff intends to make that plea also as President Bush's proposed 2006 budget winds its way through Congress in the coming months. The proposed 2006 budget includes $303 million for Fermilab, down from $311 million in 2005. That drop eliminated the seed money for the Btev experiment, which was to explore the differences between matter and antimatter. Without that experiment, the lab has no large-scale projects planned for beyond 2009. Most of the science research money in the new budget targets research into alternative fuels and nuclear power, rather than Fermi's more abstract-type of science that looks to explain things like the creation of the Earth. • Daily Herald staff writer Gala Pierce contributed to this report. © 2005 Daily Herald, Paddock Publications, Inc. ***************************************************************** 68 DenverPost.com: Safety concerns linger at Flats EDITORIALS Article Published: Monday, February 21, 2005 Concerns about the future of Rocky Flats continue to simmer. As crews at the former nuclear bomb facility dismantled one building, they apparently dislodged radioactive particles, and contaminants were found downhill in ponds designed to stop pollutants from reaching nearby streams. Although the ponds worked as intended, Rocky Flats managers were still surprised to find the mess. The discovery underscores why Rocky Flats must be monitored even after formal cleanup is completed in 2006. Against that backdrop, state Rep. Wes McKinley, a Democrat from southeastern Colorado, is sponsoring legislation that would expand the state's involvement in management of a future national wildlife refuge on the site. Of Rocky Flats' approximate 6,000 acres, about 300 acres form the industrial core where the atomic bomb triggers were made. But the surrounding buffer area is lightly or virtually uncontaminated and is slated to be designated as a wildlife refuge. Originally, McKinley's House Bill 1079 shifted the burden for ensuring public safety at the future refuge from the federal government to the state, but it was amended and now calls for the state to post signs and issue detailed brochures to future refuge visitors. The underlying intent, to inform the public about the property's history and extent of the cleanup, is appropriate. What's inappropriate is that the bill mandates specifically what the warnings would say, and the wording is open to scientific dispute. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to fly a helicopter over Rocky Flats to scan for radioactivity. The flights could allay fears, expressed by some citizen activists, that the property harbors two especially troubling radioactive elements, cesium and strontium 90. (The site has traces of strontium 90, but the DOE says they came from pre-1960 open-air nuclear tests in Nevada and elsewhere.) The DOE has so many Rocky Flats soil samples (some 6 million "data points") there's little chance the new scan will find previously unknown trouble spots. But there is some risk, so the additional testing seems prudent. While it would be unwise for the DOE to grow complacent, it also would be imprudent for state lawmakers to overstate what risks remain. Editorials alone express The Denver Post's opinion. All contents Copyright 2005 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 69 lamonitor.com: LANL contract extension asked by NNSA [http://www.lac-nm.us] ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com [roger@lamonitor.com] , Monitor Assistant Editor One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and ... wait ... The National Nuclear Security Administration, which oversees the nuclear weapons complex for the Department of Energy, will seek to extend the University of California contract by six months. During a month in which NNSA has financially penalized UC severely for management infractions at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the quasi-independent agency now finds the need to keep them on the job while NNSA struggles to demonstrate a viable procedure for competing the contract. NNSA's surprising proposal arrived in a batch of e-mail notifications that had been plugged in the NNSA system for at least three weeks. The recovered information included a number of potentially significant revisions to the current draft request for proposal. NNSA is already a week behind its own projections of Feb. 15 for distributing a final RFP, and the flurry of suggested changes include an additional review period for comments on the new proposals as well as an extra 30 days, a total of 90, to prepare the proposal. "The SEB (Source Evaluation Board which has responsibility for the contracting process) will ask NNSA to seek Secretary of Energy approval to negotiate an extension to the current UC contract," states the white paper on pension benefits for current and retired LANL employees. An overview of the 14 major issues that will be adjusted to reflect bidder concerns provided details on the rationale for the delay, which is needed for the anticipated transition period. Sixty days are allowed for the successor contractor to develop a "substantially equivalent" pension and benefits plan; 60 days for the Contracting Officer to decide if the plan meets the definition; and a final 60 days for current employees to decide to transfer to a guaranteed job or retire. If approved, UC may continue to manage the contract for more than another year, until April 2006. If senior DOE managers go along with the suggested changes, there will be no difference between pension requirements for UC and other offerers. Both will require setting up a "stand-alone plan" for the LANL site, according to the new information. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, objected immediately to the stand-alone plan on Tuesday, saying, "Right off the bat, one significant change that raises a red flag is the call for a stand-alone benefits plan at Los Alamos. That needs to be fully reviewed." Both Domenici and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-NM, have expressed concerns about the prospect for destabilizing and demoralizing delays in arriving at a new contract at LANL. Pension and benefit concerns were raised on the first day that NNSA vowed to recompete the LANL contract at the direction of former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in April 2003. Two years later, NNSA is still looking for an acceptable formula. At the time, NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks said he didn't know how the change might be accomplished, but was confident that it could be done. After the draft RFP was released, a mounting clamor of dissatisfaction at LANL, based on vague language and perceived threats to the existing system, caused NNSA to extend the comment period briefly, while an additional public meeting was held with LANL employees at the end of January. NNSA also failed to meet its own tentative schedule in developing the draft RFP, creating a likelihood that a new contract would not be in place when the current contract expires on Sept. 30. Al Stotts, a spokesperson for the Albuquerque service center of NNSA, said the new proposals were in response to comments received from LANL employees and potential bidders. "This is another step in the process, to be timely in response," he said. The second round of suggestions and bidder responses were meant to say, "Here's what we're thinking. You tell us what you're thinking about," he said. Comments are due back to the NNSA officials by March 4. Among the other major changes: + SEB proposes to double the total available fee from 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the budget, nominally from about $25 million to $50 million as well as doubling the reimbursable work fixed fee from 1 percent to 2 percent. The increase is supposed to compensate the contractor for the non-reimbursable risks, including substantial liabilities. + SEB wants to increase the base term of the contract from five to seven years to promote workforce stability. + Apparently some bidders may want to have the flexibility of hiring some existing senior management, so SEB proposes to give them that flexibility. Chris Harrington, UC spokesperson, said he had just received the notices for the month of February on Friday. "We were able to start looking at it on Friday," he said. "We'll continue to look at it, as we have the entire RFP." The UC Board of Regents has yet to state their intention to compete for the contract UC has held for more than 60 years, although they have a staff working to prepare a proposal, should that decision be made. Harrington declined to comment on what effect a potential 180-day delay might have on UC's plans. NNSA's webmaster in Albuquerque, Lou Lubitz, said the system had consistently delivered a message saying that recipients had duly received their notifications. "I screwed up, in terms of taking the automated response as gospel," he said. "Now, we're going to open the hood every Monday," for a weekly check. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 70 lamonitor.com: Energy secretary to visit The Online News Source for Los Alamos [http://www.lac-nm.us] Sen. Pete Domenici will speak at a workshop at Los Alamos National Laboratory today. In a program jointly sponsored by LANL and the Los Alamos Committee on Arms Control and International Security, Domenici is scheduled to speak on "Reducing Nuclear Threats: Nonproliferation Today and Tomorrow." Domenici's office also announced that Domenici would return to Los Alamos Friday to accompany Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman during a visit. Details of that visit will be announced. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************