***************************************************************** 03/13/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.57 ***************************************************************** 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] Scornful Iran Says US Officials "Hallucinating" 2 [NYTr] The Force Bush Won't Use on Iran 3 [NYTr] US Iran Claims Based on Weak Intel 4 ICH: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant 5 [NYTr] Does Israel plan "air and ground" attack on Iran? 6 [NYTr] Iran Dismisses US Carrots as "Insignificant" 7 [NYTr] Iran has 'right' to nuclear program: Chavez 8 [NYTr] Iranians threaten to break off talks with EU3 9 Sunday Times: Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant 10 albawaba.com: Iran ”not concerned” over referral of nuclear case 11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Determined to Keep Nuclear Program 12 BBC NEWS: Iran rejects US nuclear incentive 13 BBC: Iran demands more US concessions 14 Daily Star: Editorial - Iran's nuclear power issue could enrich Mide 15 Guardian Unlimited: Adviser: U.S. Not Making Iran Concessions 16 Xinhua: Iran says to continue nuclear program, dismissing US incenti 17 Xinhua: Iran says nuclear deal with EU possible 18 Xinhua: Iran refutes Israel's allegation on nuclear program 19 AFP: Iran says ambiguities persist on crucial issues in nuclear talk 20 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says Europeans Slow on Nuke Talks 21 CBC: Despite western opposition, Iran says it will continue nuclear 22 CBC: Iran agrees to temporarily postpone uranium-enrichment, preside 23 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [EDITORIALS]No ambiguity on the North 24 YWS: Swedish Officials Fly to Pyongyang on N.K. Nuke, Aid 25 Korea Times : Russian Embassy Rebuffs Remark on NK's Nuclear Capabil 26 US: [NYTr] McNamara derides 'illegal' nuclear policies 27 US: [smygo] Mock Trident - Press Release 28 US Rep Calls for Nuking Syria 29 BBC: US watches China warily 30 US: Guardian Unlimited: AP Review: Gov't Reducing Access to Info 31 US: WorldNetDaily: Another intelligence fiasco? 32 US: Wired News: Museum Stirs Atomic Age Memories 33 [NYTr] The American Empire: Bossing the World 34 [NYTr] Annan: Nuclear terror a real risk 35 Bellona: France plans to create world-wide environmental police 36 BBC: Pakistan 'to submit centrifuges' 37 Deutsche Welle: German Faces Trial for Nuclear Smuggling NUCLEAR REACTORS 38 Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant 39 IndiaExpress.Com: India interested in EU's ITER energy project 40 Sunday Herald: Strathclyde wins £6.5m nuclear grant - 41 US: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Nuclear industry shows signs of revival 42 Turkish Daily: Nuclear energy not feasible for Turkey 43 US: toledoblade: NRC investigating slipup in control room at Perry 44 Independent: Nuclear giants team up to bid for UK reactor-building p 45 US: York Daily Record: Shutdowns vex plant - 46 Sofia Morning News: IMF Keen on Bulgaria's Belene Nuke Progress 47 STUFF : The 'n' word - nuclear 48 Ynetnews: 'Nuclear reactor safe’ NUCLEAR SAFETY 49 US: [du-list] CT Lawmakers want state to track effects of depleted 50 [du-list] Federal row over role of Australian troops in 51 US: [du-list] First Army caring for soldiers (but not for DU 52 US: [du-list] How dead animals dumped by HP shipyard lead to 53 [du-list] state task force to investigate the health effects 54 [DU-WATCH] Aussies feign concern for troops ... do you believe 55 US: [DU-WATCH] Downwind and downstream 56 US: [DU-WATCH] DU "research" by US Govt agencies 57 US: [DU-WATCH] Veterans exposure to uranium eyed 58 US: [DU Information List] Veterans exposure to uranium eyed 59 US: [NYTr] DU: Our Tools of War Turned Against Ourselves 60 [du-list] Australian majority oppose sending more troops 61 US: [du-list] Connecticut proposal - coverage from Google 62 US: Las Vegas RJ: EPA reveals work on new radiation standard NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 63 US: [du-list] Superfund site cleanup likely to begin this year 64 Las Vegas SUN: Reid considering bill to make Yucca Mountain dump obs 65 Nevada Appeal: If Nevadans want more nuclear waste options, start wi 66 US: Bradenton Herald: More testing scheduled for Tallevast soil 67 US: The State: Spratt knows his stuff on ra 68 US: Mainetoday: N-waste inflicts unwanted legacy 69 US: North County Times: Water officials say nuclear pile threatens w 70 Sunday Herald: Radiation device lost or stolen at Dounreay - 71 reviewjournal.com: Yucca's revenge 72 US: press-citizen.com: Hills ponders water Perchlorate standards don 73 US: Telegraph Online: Size of nuke waste facility scaled back 74 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Latest N-waste option: Just stay put 75 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Spills call the safety of rail into question 76 Japan Times: JNC fails to remove tainted soil, starts paying fine 77 US: PE.com: Wyle contaminants spread 78 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy submits dry cask proposal to Legis NUCLEAR WEAPONS US DEPT. OF ENERGY 79 [NukeNet] Tell the new Sec. of Energy: no more plutonium at 80 ABQjournal: Report on LANL's Failings Made Public OTHER NUCLEAR 81 [du-list] DU in the news - 14th March 05 ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [NYTr] Scornful Iran Says US Officials "Hallucinating" Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:24:58 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Reuters via Yahoo - Mar 13, 2005 http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=1&u=/nm/20050313/wl_nm/nuclear_iran_dc U.S. 'Hallucinating' Over Nuclear Talks, Iran Says By Paul Hughes TEHRAN (Reuters) - Washington is "hallucinating" if it thinks Iran will scrap its nuclear fuel production plans in return for economic incentives, a senior Iranian official was quoted as saying Sunday. The United States offered the encouragements in support of the European Union which is negotiating with Tehran to try to persuade it to give up sensitive nuclear activities. "U.S. officials are either unaware of the substance of the talks or (they are) hallucinating," Sirus Naseri, a senior member of Iran's nuclear negotiating team, told the official IRNA news agency. Iran says it needs atomic technology to generate electricity and will never use it to make bombs, as the United States fears. London's Sunday Times said Israel had drawn up plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iranian nuclear installations if diplomacy fails to halt Tehran's atomic program. The newspaper said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his inner cabinet had given "initial authorization" for a unilateral attack at a private meeting last month. Israel, which bombed Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor in 1981, played down the report. Iran has said it will respond vigorously to any attack on its nuclear plants. Washington gave practical backing for the EU's diplomatic approach Friday, offering to allow Iran to begin talks on joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) and consider letting it buy civilian airline parts if it ceased all activities that could produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons. Washington and the EU have warned Iran it faces referral to the U.N. Security Council, which could impose economic sanctions, if it fails to allay fears it wants the bomb. U.S. PROPOSAL "DISRESPECTFUL" Iran dismissed the U.S. offer as insignificant. Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi told IRNA it was "funny and disrespectful." "The U.S. should apologize to Iran for making this proposal," he said, going on to describe Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a "queen of war and violence." Naseri said it was not clear if greater U.S. involvement in the negotiations was "helpful or an obstacle to progress." He said the EU, which has persuaded Iran to suspend potentially weapons-related activities like uranium enrichment while the two sides try to reach a solution, was close to accepting that Iran would not give up enrichment. Instead, Tehran has offered to give "objective guarantees" that it will not divert nuclear fuel to military uses. "It seems the Europeans are ready to adopt a logical position," Naseri said. Iran has refused to disclose its guarantees publicly but diplomats and analysts say it is offering to allow intrusive inspections that ensure it only enriches uranium to a low grade which would be unsuitable for weapons. It may also be prepared to restrict its enrichment activities to a pilot project, too small to make weapons production practical, diplomats and analysts say. Such a solution would allow Iran to save face while meeting most of the West's concerns. So far EU officials have said the only acceptable guarantee would be for Iran to mothball its enrichment plans and rely on imported nuclear reactor fuel. The two sides are due to hold a crucial meeting in Paris on March 23 to review their talks. "If the policy of the United States and Europe is for Iran not to go after nuclear weapons, we are ready to negotiate and reach an agreement," Hossein Mousavian, another of Iran's nuclear negotiators, told IRNA. "However, if they want to prevent Iran producing the fuel it needs for its nuclear power plants, Iran will not welcome negotiations or these incentives." * 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 [NYTr] The Force Bush Won't Use on Iran Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:06:21 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The Nation via NewsIsFree http://www.newsisfree.com/iclick/i,74457962,6593,f/ The Force Bush Won't Use on Iran by Robert Scheer US policy toward Iran is now a big, dangerous mess. President Bush again has backed us into a corner with his confrontational framing of every dispute as one of pristine virtue versus stark evil, putting us out of sync with our allies in Europe and probably giving the ayatollahs in Tehran a public relations boost at home. In his State of the Union address, Bush singled out Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror...pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve." For weeks we heard ominous warnings of war with Iran. Then, last week, Bush scoffed at the idea that we were going to bomb Iran as "ridiculous," even as he menacingly noted that "all options are on the table." Meanwhile, Europe continued to negotiate constructively with Iran to find a peaceful solution and prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The sad fact, however, is that Bush's irrational policies and rhetoric have left the mostly fundamentalist leaders of Iran defending a more logical position than that of our own government on three counts. First, it is our government that has long proclaimed the wonders of something called "the peaceful uses of atomic energy" to counterbalance the horror of having unleashed the power of the atomic bomb on Japanese civilians in World War II. In asserting its right to build nuclear power plants, Tehran is emulating the United States. The pact signed on Sunday in which Russia will supply the fuel for an Iranian nuclear power plant but Tehran will return spent fuel would seem to remove the threat that Iran's now fully constructed Bushehr plant will be producing nuclear weapons material. Second, the United States has been woefully uncaring about nuclear proliferation except when it proves politically convenient, as with the false prewar claim that Saddam Hussein's Iraq might be close to acquiring or producing nuclear weapons. Another example came after 9/11, when Washington dropped anti-proliferation sanctions against Pakistan while Bush focused his wrath on Iraq. Ironically, it was back in 1987, when the U.S. was backing Hussein in his war with Iran, that Pakistan's top scientist first made overtures to sell nuclear technology to the ayatollahs in Tehran. Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's scandalous campaign to sell nuclear materials and knowledge to unstable countries such as North Korea and Libya, as well as Iran, was overlooked by successive U.S. administrations. Apparently, it was deemed too awkward to irritate our "allies" in Islamabad who helped us arm the mujahedin in Afghanistan against the Soviets, and, after 9/11, were enlisted to bring some of those same mujahedin to justice, including Osama bin Laden. Even after the appalling extent of Khan's sales ring was exposed in 2003, little was done. The Pakistan government pardoned Khan and won't allow him to be interviewed by outsiders. Intelligence reports indicate that his black market mob may be operating again. Finally, how can the president continue to escalate the rhetoric against Iran given that his invasion of neighboring Iraq has handed control of the country to Shiites trained in Tehran, like Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, as well as Kurds who have enjoyed significant Iranian support over the years? So, tangled history aside, what should the United States do now about a repressive and potentially threatening government in Iran? The one thing Bush strangely has refused to do throughout the world: practice the principles of capitalism. The model for such a policy, which emphasizes normal trade relations even with regimes that have religious and political obsessions different from our own, was most successfully employed by Richard Nixon in his famous opening to "Red" China, as well as in the detente period that should properly be credited with the ultimate fall of the Soviet empire. The most powerful liberalizing forces the United States wields are not military, but economic and cultural. Though not as macho as trying to spread democracy through the barrel of a gun, normalization offers a better prospect of accomplishing that end, while saving billions of dollars and priceless lives. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 3 [NYTr] US Iran Claims Based on Weak Intel Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:15:58 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit NY Times/IHT - March 9, 2005 http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/03/08/news/intel.html The International Herald Tribune Intelligence about Iran for Bush is called weak By Douglas Jehl and Eric Schmitt The New York Times WASHINGTON A presidential commission due to report to President George W. Bush this month will describe American intelligence on Iran as inadequate and not complete enough to allow firm judgments about that country's illicit weapons programs, according to people who have been briefed on the panel's work. The commission's sharp indictment of U.S. judgments on Iran follows a secretive 14-month review by the panel. Bush ordered it last year to assess the quality of overall U.S. intelligence about the proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The expected criticism will come while increasingly sharp warnings from the Bush administration about what it says are Iran's efforts to build nuclear weapons are being met with firm denials in Tehran. It says that its nuclear program is intended purely for civilian purposes. The nine-member panel, headed by Laurence Silberman, a retired federal judge, and Charles Robb, the former governor and senator from Virginia, is also expected to be critical of American intelligence on North Korea. But in interviews, people who have been briefed on the commission's deliberations and conclusions described the case of Iran as particularly troublesome. One person who described the panel's deliberations and conclusions characterized the state of American intelligence on Iran as "scandalous" given the importance and relative openness of the country. But the person said that Iran would only be one aspect of the commission's findings. They will also include recommendations for further structural changes among U.S. intelligence agencies to build on the legislation that Bush signed into law in December, creating a director of national intelligence. The panel is due to complete a classified report to Bush by March 31. It is expected to issue an unclassified version of the report at about the same time, but it is not clear whether the criticism of intelligence on Iran will be included in that public document, the people familiar with the panel's deliberations said. A spokesman for the commission, Carl Kropf, declined to comment about any conclusions reached by the panel. It has met only in closed session although it has questioned a number of senior officials. The Senate Intelligence Committee has recently begun its own review into the quality of intelligence on Iran. Republican and Democratic congressional officials have expressed concern that there may be similarities between the case of Iran and Iraq, which turned out to have destroyed all of its chemical and biological weapons nearly a decade before the Bush administration invaded the country in 2003 to eliminate what it asserted was an existing arsenal. The last formal U.S. intelligence estimate on Iran was completed in 2001 and is now being reassessed, under new guidelines adopted in response to the intelligence missteps on Iraq, according to intelligence officials. The guidelines require that the National Intelligence Council state more explicitly than in the past how much confidence it places on each judgment it makes in producing a National Intelligence Estimate. As a first step, the intelligence council, which reports to Porter Goss, the director of central intelligence, is expected to distribute within the government next month a partial, classified update that will focus on Iran and its nuclear weapons capabilities. The most complete recent statement by U.S. intelligence agencies about Iran was in an unclassified report that Goss sent to Congress in November. It said Iran continued "to vigorously pursue indigenous programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons." In particular, the report said that "the United States remains convinced that Tehran has been pursuing a clandestine nuclear weapons program, in contradiction to its obligations as a party to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty." However, the International Atomic Energy Agency, which has been conducting inspections in Iran for the last two years, has said it has not found evidence of any weapons program, but it has some skepticism about Iran's insistence that its nuclear activities are intended strictly for human purposes. Some partial drafts of the commission's reports have begun to circulate in Washington. In a television interview in February, Vice President Dick Cheney described the work of the commission as "one of the most important things that's going forward today." "What they've done, sort of quietly outside the glare of publicity so it hasn't been a media circus, if you will, I think a very, very thorough job of reviewing our intelligence needs and requirements across the board. "And I think that will be a very important piece of work that will be available in the next couple of months for us to use as guidelines for further ways in which we can improve our capability," Cheney said. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 4 ICH: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:31 -0800 ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Information Clearing House Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 06:04:08 +0100 Subject: ICH: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant To: bernief9@gmail.com American Gulag Jose Padilla : U.S. Citizen Imprisoned Without Trial for 2 Years and 279 Days = Government is not reason; it is not eloquent; it is force. Like fire, it is a dangerous servant and a fearful master: George Washington = The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return: Gore Vidal = For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery: Jonathan Swift === Read this newsletter online http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ To help support ICH using PayPal click here. http://tinyurl.com/v1l8 Or if you prefer to send a check or money order, Tom, PO Box 365 Imperial Beach, CA 91933. USA. To Unsubscribe see information at the base of this newsletter ================ Click Here To Read This Newsletter Online: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/ An alternative independent non-commercial source for news, information and insight. PLEASE ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO SUBSCRIBE http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm To change your email address. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/subscribe.htm RSS FEED http://rss.groups.yahoo.com/group/informationclearinghouse/rss === That’s me, a marine, a murderer of civilians’ “I was a sergeant with the Third Marine Battalion during the invasion, in the spring of 2003.” “We killed more than 30 people. That was the first time that I had to face up to the horror that my hands were soiled with the blood of civilians. We laid down cluster bombs on them. - “We ended up massacring innocent civilians ­ men, women, and children." http://207.44.245.159/article8249.htm === U.S. Marines Engaged in Mock Executions of Iraqi Juveniles The documents the ACLU released today, describe substantiated incidents of torture and abuse by U.S. Marines, including: holding a pistol to the back of a detainee’s head while another Marine took a picture (Karbala, May 2003) ordering four Iraqi juveniles to kneel while a pistol was "discharged to conduct a mock execution" (Adiwaniyah, June 2003) severely burning a detainee’s hands by covering them in alcohol and igniting them (Al Mumudiyah, August 2003), and shocking a detainee with an electric transformer, causing the detainee to "dance" as he was shocked (Al Mumudiyah, April 2004). http://207.44.245.159/article8246.htm === The Spoils of War Halliburton a company much like the law practice in John Grisham's novel The Firm: a rogue operation, with corrupt management, cynically conning the federal government as it rakes in billions of ill-earned taxpayer dollars. Michael Shnayerson Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official Bunnatine Greenhouse is blowing the whistle on the Dick Cheney­linked company's profits of war. http://207.44.245.159/article8247.htm === Saddam's Capture: Just Another Bush Lie? The account of American troops capturing Saddam and pulling him from his subterranean hovel has turned out to be just another Bush lie. By Mike Whitney Sergeant Nadim Abou Rabeh, who participated in the operation that netted Saddam, was quoted in the Saudi newspaper "Al-Medina" saying that the Iraqi leader was actually captured the day before and that "the public version of his capture was fabricated." The entire event was apparently choreographed by a Pentagon public relations team. http://207.44.245.159/article8248.htm === Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant: The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. http://207.44.245.159/article8254.htm === Cheney: Stronger Action If Iran Doesn't Meet International Vows-: U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Friday that if Iran doesn't live up to its "international obligations to forego a nuclear program, then obviously we'll have to take stronger action." http://207.44.245.159/article8256.htm === Khatami condemns 'military pressure': Iran's president has said that wealthy nations cannot keep today's technology for themselves alone and that Iran must be prepared to defend itself if necessary. http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/DB36A32C-28E0-4BDA-8096-5BD6F4742853.htm http://tinyurl.com/5psv2 === Iran agrees to postpone temporarily uranium enrichment: Iran has agreed to postpone temporarily uranium enrichment to show the world it is not trying to create nuclear weapons, Iran's president said Saturday http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2005/3/13/latest/21990Iranagree&sec=latest http://tinyurl.com/4mdb9 === Syria agrees timetable for total withdrawal from Lebanon : The UN said it had reached "an understanding" with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on a two-stage withdrawal of all Syrian troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon. http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=274782005 === Lebanese President warns of 'catastrophe' http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200503/s1322188.htm === Seven killed in Iraq violence : Three Iraqi policemen were gunned down in Mosul and a foreign truck driver killed near Baiji on Saturday http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=13692109 === Shiites, Kurds reach deal on top posts : Iraq’s main Shiite and Kurdish coalitions agreed in Baghdad on a deal divvying up the top three posts in the new government, but differences remained over the deployment of Arab troops in ethnic Kurdish areas http://nsnlb.us.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050312/NEWS03/103120040/-1/news http://tinyurl.com/445ht === Chained, Kicked And Beaten To Death By U.S. Soldiers: Two Afghan prisoners who died in American custody in Afghanistan in December 2002 were chained to the ceiling, kicked and beaten by American soldiers in sustained assaults that caused their deaths, according to Army criminal investigative reports that have not yet been made public. http://207.44.245.159/article8252.htm === War crime claims: Massey claims, he and his men had killed 30 Iraqi civilians. He says he and the others are guilty of war crimes. http://207.44.245.159/article8250.htm === Targeting Guiliana: Former Intel Officer: The US Considered Her a Military Target http://www.counterpunch.org/fresia03112005.html === 'Former Marine offers cautionary war story : Why did you do this? Why did you kill my brother? We're not terrorists.' " http://tinyurl.com/6g3jv === Ex-Marine criticizes war, recruitment: "I was in a controlled environment for 12 years," Staff Sgt. Jimmy Massey, 33, said. He said unethical recruiting techniques and the shooting of civilians in Iraq have prompted him to speak out against the U.S. government. http://www.thedailystar.com/news/stories/2005/03/10/speaker8.html === International group of doctors blast official toll of Iraqi civil dead: A group of top public-health physicians has branded the official toll of civilian dead from the Iraqi war as a serious underestimate and demanded an independent probe to establish the full casualty figures. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20050311/wl_mideast_afp/iraqtollcivilians_050311001143 http://tinyurl.com/5cxnj === Abu Ghraib, whitewashed again: This whitewash is typical of the reports issued by the Bush administration on the abuse, humiliation, and torture of prisoners at camps run by the military and the Central Intelligence Agency. http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/03/11/opinion/edprison.html http://tinyurl.com/6ntxy === The Spoils of War: Halliburton subsidiary KBR got $12 billion worth of exclusive contracts for work in Iraq. But even more shocking is how KBR spent some of the money. Former U.S. Army Corps of Engineers official Bunnatine Greenhouse is blowing the whistle on the Dick Cheney­linked company's profits of war http://207.44.245.159/article8247.htm === A Template for the U.S. War in Iraq : The aspiring historian of the current U.S. war in Iraq can draw upon earlier narratives to ease the burden, merely substituting a word here and there in order to make the text accord with the specific names and places that are now pertinent. http://www.independent.org/newsroom/article.asp?id=1474 === A thrilling epic of freedom : Nothing will stand in the way of the American spin, which connects events of differing backgrounds and unique circumstances into a thrilling epic of a "freedom intifada" that is spreading all over the Arab world, and which will confront terror and be victorious over it. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/550173.html === Uri Avnery: Bush's Guru : The idea that the teachings of this particular political philosopher are the guiding star of the mightiest leader in the world, the commander of the biggest military machine in history, is rather frightening http://207.44.245.159/article8244.htm === This web site represents the effort of one person. I need your help to offset the costs associated with site hosting and bandwidth usage. If you find this site informative please help by clicking here http://207.44.245.159/support.htm === Rice downplays Ukraine withdrawal of Iraq troops http://www.turkishpress.com/news.asp?id=38508 === For U.S. soldier injured by friendly fire, the wounds run deep: It was friendly fire, a military euphemism that left White with a wound for which no medals are awarded but with a life-altering injury as crippling as any delivered by an enemy. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/215699_soldier12.html === Soldiers on the cheap : There is one inequity that the federal government should address: the pay disparities for reservists and National Guard members. http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2005/03/11/opinion/edpay.html http://tinyurl.com/63bw7 === Regaining My Humanity: Conscientious objector Camilo Mejia: "I was a coward not for leaving the war, but for having been a part of it in the first place." http://www.alternet.org/story/21359/ === Bulgaria Says Thousands of US Troops Will Station in Balkan Nation: The Bulgarian Ministry of Defense said Friday it is confident that thousands of United States forces will be deployed as early as this year in Bulgaria and neighboring Romania to give logistic support for American-led missions in Iraq and around the world. http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-03-11-voa65.cfm === A Case Study in Postwar Chaos : The dealings of coalition officials in Iraq and a contractor now accused of fraud illustrate what went wrong in early rebuilding efforts. http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/printer_031205D.shtml === Democracy is Dead : Report Documents Republican Abuse of Power: A Congressional Report (pdf) on the Unprecedented Erosion of the Democratic Process in the 108th Congress. http://www.housedemocrats.gov/news/librarydetail.cfm?library_content_id=343 http://tinyurl.com/3w9eh === Noam Chomsky: The Toothpaste Election: Both Parties Try to Exclude People from Voting http://207.44.245.159/article8253.htm === Clearing the way for the American Police State : It's not enough that American's are forced to endure a daily infusion of the Crawford Fuehrer; his mangled English blaring on the morning radio, and his mottled visage peering out from the evening news programs. Now, we're getting a daily dosage of uncorroborated theory, innuendo and conjecture masquerading as news. http://207.44.245.159/article8251.htm === Molly Ivins: Move Up the Date For Armageddon: John Bolton is known for being arrogant, humorless, self-righteous and confrontational, and he hates the United Nations. In other words, the perfect diplomat. http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/21467/ === The Hon. John Bolton Nominated as U.S. Ambassador to the UN : A member of the JINSA Board of Advisors - is responsible for withdrawing withdrawing the U.S. signature from the treaty on the International Criminal Court with its provisions that contradict the U.S. Constitution; withdrawing the U.S. signature from the unworkable Kyoto Treaty. http://www.jinsa.org/articles/articles.html/function/view/categoryid/650/documentid/2880/history/3,2359,650,2880 http://tinyurl.com/4npfo === BBC says sorry to Israel : The BBC has bowed to an Israeli demand for a written apology from its deputy bureau chief in Jerusalem, Simon Wilson, who was barred from the country for failing to submit for censorship an interview with the nuclear whistleblower, Mordechai Vanunu. http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,1435973,00.html === Hariri reportedly assassinated to make way for large US air base in Lebanon? : According to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources—Christian and Muslim—former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was reportedly assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire bombing authorized by the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud government in Israel. http://www.onlinejournal.com/Special_Reports/031105Madsen/031105madsen.html http://tinyurl.com/6unma === Converging U.S. Navy aircraft carrier groups in Middle East : The convergence of three carrier groups in the corridor of the Middle East will send very strong message to the Syrians and Iranians. http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/1877.asp === US, Cuba and Democracy: As numerous interventions have demonstrated, the engine of American foreign policy has been fueled, not by a devotion to democracy, but rather by the desire to: 1)make the world safe for American transnational corporations; http://207.44.245.159/article8243.htm === Guantánamo jail switch planned : US inmates face threat of worse abuse under scheme to send them to prisons in their own countries http://www.guardian.co.uk/guantanamo/story/0,13743,1435896,00.html === Mistreatment of Muslim inmates cited: The Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General said yesterday it had ''found a disturbing pattern of discriminatory and retaliatory actions against Muslim inmates" by the warden and guards at an unnamed federal prison http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/03/12/mistreatment_of_muslim_inmates_cited/ http://tinyurl.com/45hmb === UK: This shoddy law is a defeat for all of us : Forget terrorism. It's our politicians we should be most worried about http://politics.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,9115,1436111,00.html === ‘Muslims are treated like terrorists. There’s one law for us and one for others’ http://www.sundayherald.com/48306 === Foreigners on US death row no longer have right to make international appeal: Showing its impatience with outside interference in the US system of capital punishment, the Bush administration has pulled out of an international protocol that allowed foreigners on death row to take their cases to the World Court. http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=618837 http://tinyurl.com/5bozy === Congress looking at cuts in food programs for the poor: Cuts in food programs for the poor are getting support in Congress as an alternative to President Bush's idea of cutting billions of dollars from the payments that go to large farm operations. http://tinyurl.com/4fzmx === A $2.46 trillion question: One of the hottest topics in world markets is whether Asian central banks will diversify their huge currency reserves, a move that could hit the dollar hard. http://www.reuters.com/financeQuoteCompanyNewsArticle.jhtml?duid=mtfh61574_2005-03-11_08-29-08_sp344615_newsml http://tinyurl.com/488v8 === Gambling Interests Funded DeLay Trip: An Indian tribe and a gambling services company made donations to a Washington public policy group that covered most of the cost of a $70,000 trip to Britain by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), his wife, two aides and two lobbyists http://tinyurl.com/3ny4s === Peace & Joy Tom Feeley === Liberty can not be preserved without general knowledge among people." (August 1765) John Adams -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.7.2 - Release Date: 3/11/2005 ***************************************************************** 5 [NYTr] Does Israel plan "air and ground" attack on Iran? Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:53:45 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit [This is most likely disinformation, planted by the US and Israel to put more pressure on Iran. Unless the US plans to invade Iran from Iraq, with troops dressed up as Israelis, it's hard to imagine how Israel can be planning a "ground attack" on Iran -- are they going to march their army through Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq? Or are they going to launch a massive air invasion with troop transports? Highly unlikely.] Sunday Times of London - March 13, 2005 http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant Uzi Mahnaimi ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave initial authorisation for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Irans Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israels elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israels way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed. Tehran claims that its programme is designed for peaceful purposes but Israeli and American intelligence officials who have met to share information in recent weeks are convinced that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons. The Israeli government responded cautiously yesterday to an announcement by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its programme. In return, the European countries promised to back Washington in referring Iran to the United Nations security council if the latest round of talks fails to secure agreement. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed that diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue. But he warned: The idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world. Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, emphasised on Friday that Iran would face stronger action if it failed to respond. But yesterday Iran rejected the initiative, which provides for entry to the World Trade Organisation and a supply of spare parts for airliners if it co-operates. No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give up its legitimate right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, said an Iranian spokesman. US officials warned last week that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli or American forces had not been ruled out should the issue become deadlocked at the United Nations. Additional reporting: Tony Allen-Mills, Washington * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 6 [NYTr] Iran Dismisses US Carrots as "Insignificant" Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:00:00 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Reuters via Al Jazeera - mar 12, 2005 http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BBE1F9D2-33BF-42DF-9750-FE2C67EC2704.htm Iran dismisses US incentives approach Iran has dismissed a US offer of economic incentives if Tehran abandons parts of its nuclear programme that allegedly could be used to develop atomic weapons. "What is being suggested is very much insignificant," Sirus Naseri, a senior Iranian negotiator in nuclear talks with the European Union, said on Friday. "In fact, it is too insignificant to comment about." Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington would allow Iran to begin talks on joining the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and would consider letting it buy civilian airline parts if it ceased all activities that could produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons. Naseri said Iran had not changed its position on uranium enrichment. He said France, Britain and Germany, who are trying to persuade Iran to give up enrichment in exchange for economic and political incentives, know Tehran will never give it up. "To abandon our nuclear fuel programme is not on the table. This is very clear to our European partners," he said. Programme will continue "Now that we can produce our own nuclear fuel, to give it up and rely on others to provide it would simply be ludicrous. Would the US do it? Or France, Germany, Britain or the Netherlands?" Naseri said. Washington says Iran's atomic programme is a front to build weapons. Iran insists its nuclear ambitions are limited to the peaceful generation of electricity. Naseri said Rice might have been misled in thinking Iran might stop its work on uranium enrichment, a process of purifying uranium for use as fuel in power plants or weapons. "I agree with Ms Rice that our enrichment programme should not be used for military purposes. But that there should be no nuclear fuel production at all - she has either been misled or is completely mistaken." He said the goal of nuclear talks with the Europeans was "ensuring our uranium is not enriched beyond the levels that would be needed for civilian purposes. Nothing else." Talks to resume EU diplomats close to the Iran-EU talks said the latest round in Geneva broke off earlier on Friday without any agreement on what to do with Iran's enrichment programme. Talks will resume next week, they said. Naseri said an agreement with the Europeans was possible if the political situation permitted. However, he said there needed to be movement from entrenched positions towards a compromise that would be acceptable to both sides. "I think there will be movement, I expect there will be movement," he said. Reuters * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 7 [NYTr] Iran has 'right' to nuclear program: Chavez Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 19:00:43 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit AP via USA Today - Mar 11, 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-03-11-venezuela-iran_x.htm?csp=34 Venezuela's Chavez says Iran has 'right' to nuclear program CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez defended Iran on Friday in its dispute with the United States and Europe over its nuclear program, saying Iran has a right to atomic energy. Chavez, whose country is a leading U.S. oil supplier, announced his stance after meeting Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who declared that both governments will stand "firm against any aggression." "Iran has every right, like many other countries have done, to develop its atomic energy and continue its research in this field," Chavez said after top officials from both countries signed 20 cooperation agreements in areas from petrochemical projects to agriculture. "Venezuela and Iran agree in firmly rejecting the imperialist policy of the United States." Both countries face increasingly tense relations with the Bush administration, which has voiced concerns that Iran could be trying to acquire nuclear arms and has criticized what Chavez's opponents call a drift toward dictatorship. Iran insists its nuclear program is purely for energy uses, and Chavez has accused Washington of backing plots to oust him. Speaking before Venezuela's congress, Khatami lamented "the injustice of the great powers that try to control the world." He said they include the United States and interfere "in other states under the precept of fighting terrorism and try to force all of humanity to follow their monopoly of power." "What must be condemned are calls for violence, whether from terrorists or from aggressors with yearnings for domination," Khatami said. U.S. officials said Friday they will support European diplomatic efforts to end Iran's alleged nuclear weapons ambitions by offering modest economic incentives. The European Union also revealed it will back U.S. calls to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council if it does not scrap programs linked to nuclear arms, such as uranium enrichment. Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 8 [NYTr] Iranians threaten to break off talks with EU3 Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 16:16:19 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The Daily Star (Lebanon) - Mar 9, 2005 http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=2&article_id=13256 Iranians threaten to break off negotiations with EU3 The Daily Star Iranian officials on Tuesday threatened to break off negotiations with France, Britain and Germany if the three European Union heavyweights continue to insist that Tehran abandon all sensitive atomic activities. European officials began a new round of talks with Iranian negotiators in Geneva aimed at working out a permanent resolution to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program, which Washington says is a front to hide the construction of atomic weapons. Tehran insists it is intended solely to generate electricity and has rejected an EU demand to end its uranium enrichment program, which could be used to produce fuel for nuclear power plants or atomic weapons. "If the Europeans refuse our proposals during the next couple of days, their proposals will be strongly opposed by Iran as well," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi was quoted as saying by Iran's student news agency, ISNA. Speaking on condition of anonymity, European diplomats close to the talks told Reuters no breakthroughs were expected. In a further sign of defiance, Iran's Parliament on Tuesday added a clause to next year's budget bill obliging the government to conduct feasibility studies for the construction of nuclear power plants that would generate 20 gigawatts (GW) of electricity. The government has so far announced plans for producing 7 GW from nuclear reactors by 2020. Iran's first 1 GW reactor is due to come on stream in late 2006. Despite abundant oil and gas reserves Iran says it needs atomic energy to preserve its export revenues from fossil fuels. The official IRNA news agency said lawmakers also obliged the government "to take necessary measures to produce and supply part of the fuel" for the reactors. The EU says Iran must provide "objective guarantees" that it is not pursuing atomic weapons - which they say can be nothing short of a termination of enrichment research. Iran says more inspections and limits on enrichment levels would suffice. Cyrus Nasseri, a senior member of Iran's negotiating team, told Iran's state television that, "If ambiguities over the guarantees remain in place, continuation of the talks will be meaningless," he said. This view was seconded by others in Tehran. "If the Europeans insist on cessation, it will mean the end of the negotiations," Ali Aghamohammadi, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council's Propaganda Office, told state radio on Monday. "In that case, surely we will resume our uranium enrichment activities. Also we will accelerate our activities to master the nuclear fuel cycle," he said. On behalf of the 25-nation EU, the trio have offered Iran economic and political benefits if Tehran gives up enrichment. In a significant shift in strategy towards Iran, U.S. President George W. Bush is leaning toward backing the EU offer of incentives, U.S. officials say. However, he is demanding assurances from Europe that if Iran fails to cooperate, the EU will back a referral to the UN Security Council, which could impose sanctions. Iran has frozen most of its enrichment program but has told the EU3 the freeze would be short-lived. The Europeans want a permanent suspension. Non-proliferation experts believe that any accord might have to wait until Iranian presidential elections on June 17. "In the run-up to the presidential elections, I do not think any of the Iranian officials have any interest in showing any flexibility because they will be strongly criticized for giving away Iran's rights," Gary Samore, from London's International Institute for Strategic Studies, said while in Tehran for a conference. Reuters, AFP * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 9 Sunday Times: Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant - [http://www.timesonline.co.uk] March 13, 2005 Uzi Mahnaimi ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave “initial authorisation” for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Iran’s Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israel’s elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israel’s way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed. Tehran claims that its programme is designed for peaceful purposes but Israeli and American intelligence officials — who have met to share information in recent weeks — are convinced that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons. The Israeli government responded cautiously yesterday to an announcement by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its programme. In return, the European countries promised to back Washington in referring Iran to the United Nations security council if the latest round of talks fails to secure agreement. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed that diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue. But he warned: “The idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world.” Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, emphasised on Friday that Iran would face “stronger action” if it failed to respond. But yesterday Iran rejected the initiative, which provides for entry to the World Trade Organisation and a supply of spare parts for airliners if it co-operates. “No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give up its legitimate right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes,” said an Iranian spokesman. US officials warned last week that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli or American forces had not been ruled out should the issue become deadlocked at the United Nations. Additional reporting: Tony Allen-Mills, Washington [http://www.timesonline.co.uk Copyright 2005 ***************************************************************** 10 albawaba.com: Iran ”not concerned” over referral of nuclear case to UN council Posted: 13-03-2005 , 14:08 GMT Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi in Tehran Sunday said his country is not concerned over the possible referral of its nuclear case to the UN Security Council. [asefi src=] Speaking to reporters at his weekly press briefing, Asefi added Iran enjoys great potentials and capabilities to manage itself if its nuclear dossier is sent to the UN Security Council, IRNA reported. He stressed that Iran's talks with the European states have not met the country's expectations yet, saying "We should wait for the upcoming talks to be held on March 23. It is still early to reach a conclusion." Asked about possible sanctions against Iran, he said, "Such sanctions will put the country under pressure for a short time but will help Iran in the long run." In response to a question on US entrance in the nuclear talks, Asefi added, "If the United States enters the talks with its intentions, it will destroy the negotiations. "The United States should first change its policy ... and respect the rights of the Iranian nation. Otherwise, the US presence in the talks will bear no fruit. Talks with the United States is not on our agenda at all." © 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com) ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Determined to Keep Nuclear Program From the Associated Press [UP] Saturday March 12, 2005 7:46 PM AP Photo LCAR105 By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP)- Iran scoffed at U.S. incentives aimed at coaxing the Islamic republic to drop its nuclear ambitions and declared Saturday that Washington's overtures did nothing to change Tehran's plans to push ahead with its nuclear program. An Iranian envoy in Europe, however, acknowledged in guardedly positive terms that there appeared to be a ``new awakening'' in Washington. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said neither threats nor incentives would alter Iran's determination to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Washington insists Tehran's uranium enrichment program is designed to build a nuclear weapon, not merely to provide an alternative energy source. Tehran issued its defiant response a day after the Bush administration softened its stance on how to thwart Iran's nuclear development and agreed to support a European plan that offers economic incentives for Iran to give up any weapons ambitions. The U.S. concessions, announced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, include an end to American opposition to Iran's application for membership in the World Trade Organization and a partial lifting of the ban on sales of some spare parts for Iran's civilian aircraft. Rice signaled that Iran should quickly accept - or face the threat of harsh United Nations Security Council sanctions. Asefi said Rice's offer was no offer at all. ``The restrictions on spare parts that have no military purpose should have not been imposed from the beginning, and lifting them is not an incentive,'' state-run radio quoted Asefi as saying. And, he said, ``joining the WTO is an obvious right of any country in the world.'' Washington previously had insisted Iran deserved no reward for simply abiding by an international arms compact that forbids nuclear weapons development. State Department spokesman Lou Fintor said Saturday the United States remains ``deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear ambitions and the threat to international peace and security that a nuclear-weapons capable Iran would pose.'' ``The burden is on Iran to demonstrate to the entire international community, by eliminating all enrichment activity and other steps, that Iran's nuclear intentions are entirely peaceful,'' he said in Washington. Asefi accused the United States of issuing false and ``hypocritical'' claims about Tehran's nuclear ambitions, and of pushing European Union negotiators closer toward Washington's tougher stance. The Europeans have agreed to support the threat of U.N. sanctions if Iran fails to fulfill its obligations. ``Iran is determined to use peaceful nuclear technology and no pressure, incentive or threat can force Iran to give up its rights,'' Asefi said. But Sirous Nasseri, an Iranian envoy in Geneva, who spoke by telephone with The Associated Press in Vienna, described Rice's announcement Friday as a ``new awakening ... (that) I believe would stand to benefit the United States more than anybody else.'' He warned, however, against what he suggested were unrealistic expectations, saying nothing would result in Iran giving up its right to uranium enrichment. Iran suspended its enrichment activities last year to build confidence for its negotiations with the Europeans and to avoid being referred to the U.N. Security Council for the possible imposition of sanctions. But Tehran says maintaining the voluntary freeze depends on progress in ongoing talks with Britain, Germany and France, who are negotiating on behalf of the European Union. The Europeans want an Iranian commitment to scrap uranium enrichment in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Tehran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. Nasseri, a participant in the Geneva negotiations, also suggested the Europeans were leaning toward a compromise that could include monitored guarantees that the uranium being processed did not go beyond low grades - adequate for fuel purposes - without reaching higher levels that would make usable for making weapons. But European diplomats, who demanded anonymity, told the AP in Vienna on Saturday that France, Germany and Britain continued to demand a dismantling or indefinite freeze. Russia, meanwhile, welcomed the softening of the U.S. stance. Russia hopes U.S. actions will conform with ``the line that both Russia and Western European countries are pursuing in efforts to remove all questions relating to the character of Iran's nuclear program on the basis of cooperation,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said. Russia, which is building a nuclear reactor in Iran under a contract that has caused U.S. concern for years, has expressed support for the EU's diplomatic efforts. --- Associated Press reporters George Jahn in Vienna and Steve Gutterman in Moscow contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 12 BBC NEWS: Iran rejects US nuclear incentive Saturday, 12 March, 2005, 10:41 GMT [Iran nuclear plant] Tehran says it is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons Iran has rejected a new US policy offering economic incentives to the Islamic state to give up its nuclear enrichment programme. "No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give up its legitimate right" to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, said an Iranian spokesman. President George W Bush announced the major change in US policy on Friday. He said the US would back European talks to resolve the stand-off over Iran's nuclear issue. His Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, announced the lifting of a decade-long block on Iran's membership of the World Trade Organization, and objections to Tehran obtaining parts for commercial planes. Washington accuses Iran of using its nuclear enrichment programme as a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters on Saturday that "the remedying of some of the faults and the addressing some of the restrictions that were imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran without any cause will not prevent Iran from getting its legitimate right" to develop a nuclear energy capability. No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give ups its legitimate right Hamid Reza Asefi Iran foreign ministry spokesman "The restrictions regarding [aircraft] spare parts that were of no military use should have not been imposed from the beginning, and lifting them is not an incentive," Mr Asefi said. "Getting into the WTO is the right of all countries of the world," he said. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has suspended uranium enrichment after negotiations with France, Germany and the UK. The US and European Union want that move made permanent, and have threatened to seek United Nations sanctions if Iran does not comply. There have been suggestions that the US is planning to use military force against Iran's suspected nuclear weapons facilities. If the current negotiations fail, and the issue goes to the Security Council, that would represent a hardening of the European position and would be worrying for Iran, says the BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran. 'Stronger hand' US President George W Bush said on Friday: "I'm pleased that we are speaking with one voice with our European friends. [US President George W Bush] "I look forward to working with our European friends to make it abundantly clear to the Iranian regime that the free world will not tolerate them having a nuclear weapon President Bush "I look forward to working with our European friends to make it abundantly clear to the Iranian regime that the free world will not tolerate them having a nuclear weapon." "The decision that the president has taken is that the United States will make an effort to actively support the EU3 negotiations with the Iranians," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said, referring to talks with Iran led by Britain, France and Germany. Previously, the US had refused to offer incentives to Iran. Tehran has agreed to maintain its enrichment suspension while it negotiates trade and security benefits, but maintains that the enrichment issue is not currently up for discussion. ***************************************************************** 13 BBC: Iran demands more US concessions Last Updated: Sunday, 13 March, 2005 [Iran nuclear plant] Tehran says it is not seeking to acquire nuclear weapons Iran has urged the US to offer it further incentives to resolve the dispute over its nuclear programme. The US should unblock frozen Iranian assets, lift sanctions and stop "hostile measures", a senior Iranian negotiator told BBC News. President George W Bush announced a major change in US policy on Friday. He said the US would back European talks to resolve the stand-off and, unlike before, was prepared to extend economic incentives to Tehran. These included the lifting of a decade-long block on Iran's membership of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and objections to Tehran obtaining parts for commercial planes. But Iran rejected the offer as "insignificant" and vowed to exercise its "legitimate right" to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Washington accuses Iran of using its nuclear enrichment programme as a cover for developing nuclear weapons. Tehran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but has suspended uranium enrichment after negotiations with France, Germany and the UK. The US and European Union want that move made permanent, and have threatened to seek United Nations sanctions if Iran does not comply. More confidence-building measures Hossein Mousavian, the secretary of the foreign relations committee of the Supreme National Security Council, told the BBC the US offer to allow Iranian membership of the WTO and sales of aircraft spare parts did not amount to real concessions. Mr Mousavian said, however, that Iran would embrace with open arms confidence-building measures and objective guarantees to prove that it was not seeking weapons of mass destruction. But he added that Iran remained determined to produce at least part of its nuclear fuel for power plants and he said if that was accepted, then the debate over economic and security concessions could become serious ***************************************************************** 14 Daily Star: Editorial - Iran's nuclear power issue could enrich Mideast security Monday, March 14, 2005 Editorial The slightly softer, more flexible tone in dealing with Iran's nuclear program that emanated from Washington over the weekend may be one of the first signs of the recent rethinking in the American-European relationship. Newfound realism and reasonable flexibility on all sides could generate a rare opportunity to achieve a win-win situation for all concerned - Iranians, Americans, Europeans, Arabs, Turks and Israelis. The first step in this direction must be a clear awareness of both the indispensable American role in the Euro-Iranian nuclear negotiations and the hardnosed Iranian negotiating style. The U.S. and its armed forces are not a foreign party to Iran, but its neighbor to the east and west, thanks to the new American doctrine of pre-emptive war to achieve regime change. Iran has reacted to this new reality in a rather calm, nonbelligerent way, even when Americans assaulted fellow Shiites in Iraq. This partly reflects Iran's status as perhaps the only experienced, tough, self-interested, and confident negotiator in a region of nation-states otherwise more often characterized by vulnerability and docility in the face of Western power. Iran speaks tough and negotiates hard. The U.S. uses its armed forces to change regimes it perceives to be threats to world security. Europe prefers the route of reasonable compromise through negotiations. Unilaterally acquiring nuclear weapons - as India and Pakistan have shown - does not in itself get you much beyond the state of a nuclear standoff, while conventional conflicts and threats, e.g. Kashmir, linger on. Iran's hardnosed calculations of its national well-being should allow it to achieve the best of all worlds: to develop its nuclear energy industry, including enriching low-grade uranium, under reasonable and legitimate international monitoring, as specified by the terms of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that it has signed and ratified, while also enjoying economic, trade and technology benefits from a new relationship with Europe and the United States. In return for developing its peaceful nuclear energy industry, Tehran could exploit the possible new American-Iranian-European talking triad to negotiate International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring of all nuclear activities throughout the Middle East - including in Israel and any other country that joins the club. A safer, nuclear-weapons-free Middle East in which the U.S. and Iran have more normal, negotiated relations is an attractive possibility, one that could be within reach if reason and diplomatic courage prevail over narrow fears and unilateral militarism. Privacy Policy | Anti-Spamming Policy | Copyright Policy | Jobs@Daily Star Copyright © 2004, The Daily Star. All rights reserved. Click ***************************************************************** 15 Guardian Unlimited: Adviser: U.S. Not Making Iran Concessions From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday March 13, 2005 8:01 PM WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's national security adviser insisted Sunday the United States is not making concessions to Iran, even though Washington has softened its stance against the nation that Bush recently labeled ``the world's primary state sponsor of terror.'' Stephen Hadley, in his first television appearances since becoming national security adviser last month, said the United States is supporting European allies as they try to negotiate an end to Iran's suspected nuclear weapons ambitions. But he said that if those negotiations fail, the Europeans and the United States have agreed to take the matter to the United Nations Security Council. ``We've now got a strategic agenda with the Europeans, and we've also got agreements from the Europeans that if their negotiations do not succeed, and Iran resumes its effort to move toward a nuclear capability, then we will go together and take it to the United Nations,'' Hadley said during an appearance on CNN's ``Late Edition.'' Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Bush administration believes Iran's nuclear disputes with other countries can be resolved diplomatically. But she repeated the president's statement that he keeps all his options open, suggesting that military strikes might be considered if diplomacy fails. At the request of the Europeans, the United States agreed last week to drop opposition to Iranian membership in the World Trade Organization and to allow some sales of spare parts for civilian aircraft. ``These are not concessions that we are offering to Iran,'' Hadley said on ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``I do not think that the Iranian regime can take much comfort in this because as part of this arrangement, the Europeans now for the first time are talking about Iranian support to terror and the need for this Iranian regime to listen to their people and to give them a greater role in the political process.'' The new U.S. stance is a change from Washington's previous hardline position that Iran deserves no reward for simply abiding by an international arms compact that forbids nuclear weapons development. The United States suspects Iran is using a legitimate program to develop nuclear power plants as cover for illegal weapons development - a charge that Tehran denies. ``We hear what they say,'' Hadley said on CNN. ``But their behavior has been suspicious enough that not only the United States but also the Europeans are concerned and think we need some guarantees that make - that are clear that will prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon capability.'' Iran scoffed at the incentives Saturday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said neither threats nor incentives would alter Iran's determination to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Hadley, who took over Rice's former job as national security adviser when she became secretary of state, said Asefi's remarks aren't surprising during the negotiating process. Hadley also pointed out that Iranian President Mohammad Khatami had said his country is ready to cooperate with the world. ``The negotiation is still going on,'' Hadley told Fox. Rice said the United States and Europe are speaking with one voice on the issue of Iran. ``What we were able to achieve over the last few weeks is a really clear, common purpose and common approach,'' Rice said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.'' ``The Iranians can't have a nuclear weapon and that is what everyone has said.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 16 Xinhua: Iran says to continue nuclear program, dismissing US incentives www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-12 21:56:28 TEHRAN, March 12 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran reiterated determination Saturday to continue building nuclear fuel cycle, saying US incentives can not entice it into abandoning rights to nuclear technology. "The Islamic Republic of Iran is determined to use peaceful nuclear technology, and it will never give up the legitimate right under any pressure, threat or allurement," Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in a statement. "The compensation and correction of some faults and the lifting of some unfair sanctions will never make Iran give up its legitimate right," Asefi said. Asefi was referring to Friday's statement by the US Department of State that Washington had decided to drop its objection to Iran's entry application to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and to consider Iran's access to spare parts for the country's overused civilian aircraft. "The lifting of bans on spare parts of civil aircraft should have not been imposed from the beginning, and the entrance to the WTO is the right of all countries," Asefi said, stressing that the two measures should not be viewed as incentives. The United States, accusing Iran of secretly developing nuclear weapons, has urged to refer the country's nuclear case to the UN Security Council. However, US President George W. Bush indicated last month Washington was willing to cooperate with the European Union (EU) to encourage Iran to stop its sensitive nuclear activities by offering incentives. Tehran has finished four rounds of nuclear talks with the EU,but the two sides failed to reach agreements on many key issues. A report signed by foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany in Brussels Friday threatened to support a referral of Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council if nuclear talks fail. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 17 Xinhua: Iran says nuclear deal with EU possible www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-13 20:47:01 TEHRAN, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran on Sunday denied nuclear negotiations with the European Union (EU) had reached a deadlock, saying it hoped the two sides would reach an agreement, the semi-official Mehr news agency reported. "Nuclear talks will continue although they have lasted more than what we have expected, but we think we can still reach a conclusion," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying. However, Asefi said the results of the talks have fallen far short of Iran's expectations, stressing the talks were "intense and complicated". "An agreement by the two sides to meet again means they don't want the talks to fail," Asefi underlined. Asefi further said Tehran and Europe had come close to a solution proposed by Iran on providing objective guarantees that Iran's nuclear program would not divert from its peaceful course. "Iran's proposal was presented to the EU during chief negotiator Hassan Rowhani's visit to Berlin and Paris in late February," Asefi said, without elaborating. Iran and the EU on Friday wrapped up the fourth round of nuclear negotiations, but the two sides failed to reach agreements on many key issues. The EU asked Tehran to provide "objective guarantees" of its claimed peaceful nature of nuclear activities, a demand commonly defined as a permanent suspension of Tehran's work on uranium enrichment. A report signed by foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany in Brussels on Friday threatened that Europe would support to refer Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council if the talks failed. The United States accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons and urged to refer the country's case to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 18 Xinhua: Iran refutes Israel's allegation on nuclear program www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-14 08:52:49 TEHRAN, March 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Iran on Sunday rejected Israel's recent allegation on Tehran's nuclear program, saying that access to nuclear weapons has no place in Iran's defense policies. "Such moves of the Zionist regime are not new. The problem is the regime's expansionist policies and inhuman measures," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi was quoted as saying. "The Israelis' remarks are aimed at putting a cover on their crimes. The Zionist regime which itself has a vast number of nuclear weapons should not permit itself to decide for other countries," Asefi said. "The world does not regard the Zionist regime's claims asserious," Asefi stressed. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom told Reuters on Friday in Mexico City that Iran was very close to having the knowledge to develop a nuclear bomb, terming it as a "nightmare. "The United States and Israel have accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons secretly, urging to refer Tehran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council and threatening to launch preemptive attacks on the country's nuclear facilities. Iran denied the accusation and vowed to counterattack any aggressive moves. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 19 AFP: Iran says ambiguities persist on crucial issues in nuclear talks Reuters | AFP | Sky News | Photos Saturday March 12, 07:35 AM TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said that "ambiguities" remained on a number of crucial issues after four days of talks with European Union states over Tehran's nuclear activities. "Despite all our efforts we were not able to reach a conclusion, ambiguities still exist in some of the main issues," said the head of the Iranian negotiating team, Sirus Nasseri. "On the nuclear issue, which is the main issue, the topic of objective guarantees is not clear," he told state television. "We have said that we will continue to produce our fuel, it is our right according to international regulations... the only thing we can offer them is assurances that our activity is not going to be of military use," Nasseri said. Nuclear talks between Iran and the EU ended Friday in Geneva apparently still deadlocked over Europe's demand that Tehran give up uranium enrichment, a fuel process which can also make atomic bombs, diplomats said. The EU said the talks had made slower progress than expected and warned Tehran of the risk of being referred to the United Nations if they failed. However, in a new turn of events, the United States said Friday it would drop objections to Iran joining the World Trade Organization even as President George W. Bush warned Tehran it must abandon any quest for nuclear weapons. US Vice President Dick Cheney meanwhile said Iran must end any nuclear weapon ambitions or run the risk of "stronger" US action. Iran and the so-called EU-3 of Britain, France and Germany have held four rounds of negotiations since December, a month after Iran agreed to a temporary suspension of uranium enrichment to back up its claim that its atomic program is strictly peaceful. The Europeans are seeking to persuade the Islamic republic to end its uranium enrichment drive in return for economic, technological and political incentives. Nasseri said experts from both sides would probably meet next week ahead of a new round of talks to be held later this month. "While progress is not as fast as we would wish, we believe we are moving in the right direction ... and that we should have at least preliminary results to show from the negotiations in the period ahead," the EU-3 said in a report. The report said that if Iran continues to suspend enrichment activities and that is verified by the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency, the issue could be resolved by IAEA governors. "If on the other hand, despite our efforts Iran does not do so, then as has been implicit in the agreements reached with Iran and well understood by all concerned, we shall have no choice but to support referring Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council," they said. Copyright © 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 20 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Says Europeans Slow on Nuke Talks From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday March 13, 2005 10:01 PM By TAREK AL-ISSAWI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran described progress on nuclear talks with Europe as unsatisfactory and too slow, with Tehran's chief negotiator warning Sunday that it soon may walk away from the discussion. Iran has made such threats before, accusing Europe of wasting time and not making proposals that conform to the Iranian bottom line - that it will develop peaceful nuclear technology. Europe seeks to ensure it does not use the technology to build bombs. ``If upcoming talks show tangible progress, Iran will be prepared to continue negotiations. Otherwise, the possibility of reconsidering the process of talks with Europeans is serious,'' chief nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian was quoted by the official Islamic Republic News Agency as saying Sunday. Earlier, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said a permanent halt of Iran's nuclear activities was out of the question, but said Tehran was not yet ready to declare the ``complicated and difficult'' talks with Europe a failure. The crux of the negotiations, Asefi said, involves securing European approval for a nuclear program built with guarantees that the technology will not be diverted toward weapons. Washington insists Tehran's uranium enrichment program is aimed at developing a bomb, not merely providing an energy source. ``We announce again that nuclear weapons have no place in our defense and security doctrine,'' Asefi said. Iran has massive oil and natural gas reserves, and hosts a crucial OPEC meeting in Iran on Wednesday. The United States contends Iran's petroleum wealth means it has no need for nuclear power. Talks between Iran and Britain, Germany and France, who negotiate on behalf of the European Union, ended without result last week. The two sides were to meet again March 23. Iran suspended uranium enrichment-related activities last year to create confidence in its negotiations and avoid U.N. Security Council referral for possible sanctions. Asefi said, however, that Iran did not fear the Security Council. ``We have been subject to sanctions in the past. In the short-term, it put us under pressure but in long term, it helped our economy to flourish,'' he said. Tehran says maintaining the voluntary freeze depends on progress in the talks. Asefi said Iran might agree to direct negotiations with the United States if Washington acknowledged Tehran's right to develop nuclear technology. Otherwise, U.S. entry into the negotiations would likely cause them to fail, he said. On Saturday, Asefi rejected U.S. overtures aimed at coaxing Tehran to drop its nuclear ambitions. The policy shifts, announced earlier by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, include dropping opposition to Iran's application for membership in the World Trade Organization and allowing the sale of some spare parts for civilian aircraft. Rice signaled that Iran should quickly accept, or face the threat of sanctions. Also Sunday, Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian told state-run television that Washington should apologize for what he called an insulting offer. ``The U.S. offer is nothing but an insult to the wisdom of the Iranian nation,'' the minister said. But Bush administration national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, said the United States is not making concessions, telling CNN's ``Late Edition'' Sunday that Washington and the Europeans have agreed to refer Iran to the Security Council if the talks fail and Tehran ``resumes its effort to move toward a nuclear capability.'' The Europeans want Iran to permanently halt uranium enrichment activities in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Tehran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. Asefi insisted Iran will never agree to a permanent freeze. He said that in 2003, Iran and the Europeans held long discussions over the words ``suspension'' and ``cessation'' and the Europeans agreed that Iran would suspend, not stop, its nuclear activities. ``Developing peaceful nuclear technology is our legitimate right and we will never give it up,'' he said. ``If Europeans offer us concessions, we will take them but we won't give up our rights.'' --- Associated Press Writer Ali Akbar Dareini contributed to this report from Tehran. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 21 CBC: Despite western opposition, Iran says it will continue nuclear program Iran-Nuclear [http://www.cbc.ca/news/] 10:02 PM EST Mar 13 TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Neither threats nor incentives will alter Iran's pursuit of its nuclear program, the Iranian foreign ministry said Saturday, defying new moves by the European Union and the United States to ensure Tehran never develops a nuclear bomb. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi rejected overtures from the West, saying Iran would not be influenced by external pressure. Iran maintains its nuclear program is solely for the peaceful pursuit of nuclear energy. "Iran is determined to use peaceful nuclear technology and no pressure, incentive or threat can force Iran to give up its rights," state-run radio quoted Asefi as saying. The show of bluster and defiance came a day after the Bush administration softened its stance on how to thwart Iran's suspected nuclear arms program, agreeing to support a European plan that offers economic incentives for the Tehran government to give up any weapons ambitions. Washington also agreed to drop its opposition to Iran's membership of the World Trade Organization and allow some sale of spare parts for civilian aircraft. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signalled that Iran should move quickly or face the threat of harsh United Nations Security Council sanctions. Asefi rejected Washington's move. "Lifting some restrictions against Iran will not stop Iran from pursuing its rights," Asefi said. Washington has accused Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to build a nuclear bomb, and previously had insisted Iran deserves no reward for simply abiding by an international arms compact that forbids nuclear weapons development. Iran suspended its uranium enrichment activities last year to create confidence in its negotiations and avoid Security Council referral. But Tehran says maintaining the voluntary freeze depends on progress in ongoing talks with Britain, Germany and France, who are negotiating on behalf of the European Union. The Europeans want to get an Iranian commitment to scrap enrichment plans in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Tehran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. Russia, meanwhile, welcomed the softening of the U.S. stance. Russia hopes U.S. actions will conform with "the line that both Russia and western European countries are pursuing in efforts to remove all questions relating to the character of Iran's nuclear program on the basis of co-operation," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Yakovenko said. Russia, which is building a nuclear reactor in Iran under a contract that has caused U.S. concern for years, has expressed support for the EU's diplomatic efforts. © The Canadian Press, 2005 ***************************************************************** 22 CBC: Iran agrees to temporarily postpone uranium-enrichment, president says 10:02 PM EST Mar 13 [http://www.cbc.ca/news/] 10:02 PM EST Mar 13 CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Iran has agreed to temporarily postpone uranium-enrichment to show the world it is not trying to create nuclear weapons, the country's president said Saturday. The comments by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami came one day after the U.S. government softened its stance on Iran's nuclear program and agreed to support a European plan that offers economic incentives to Tehran to give up any weapons ambitions. "We have accepted postponing the activities of uranium-enrichment in a voluntary way and only temporarily, even though we have no obligation," Khatami said through an interpreter. "We are ready to co-operate with the world to give more certainty that Iran is not moving toward the creation of nuclear arms," he said. © The Canadian Press, 2005 "> [http://www.cp.org/] ***************************************************************** 23 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [EDITORIALS]No ambiguity on the North [http://joongangdaily.joins.com] March 14, 2005 KST 11:54 (GMT+9) U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Friday that North Korea should return to the six-party talks, instead of throwing up "smoke screens." She also said she won't apologize to the North for calling it an "outpost of tyranny," saying she "doesn't know that one apologizes for speaking the truth." In short, Ms. Rice announced that there will be no changes in U.S. policy on North Korea. Her remarks that "[North Korea] took the carrots and ... started breaking their obligations," and that "You would want to be careful with the North Koreans on front-loading incentives," are also meaningful because they seem to be directed at China and South Korea, the latter in particular. Since North Korea's announcement that it has nuclear weapons, South Korea and the United States have voiced different opinions over what they see as the North's intentions and how to react. Seoul argues that inter-Korean economic cooperation must go on and that refraining from aggravating the North will bring a quicker end to the nuclear situation. On the other hand, U.S. politicians and policymakers have voiced a need for hard-line measures such as referring the matter to the UN Security Council or holding back fertilizer aid to North Korea. Ms. Rice's statement seems to be a message that the U.S. government will not consider the alternatives that South Korea and China want. What's even more worrisome is that Ms. Rice made these statements just before her visit to Seoul. Of course, her remarks could be seen as rhetoric. But why would she make her position so clear right before sitting down with the South Korean government? It could be seen as a message to the South Korean government that Washington will not change its position and that the ball is now in our court. We must make clear our goal in dealing with the North Korean nuclear issue. It is a threat to us as well as a concern for the United States. We must declare our position of not accepting North Korea's nuclear armament and confirm that there is no difference with the United States. The urging by a U.S. politician that South Korea specify its enemy is an indirect expression that many in the United States do not trust the South. Our government must match its words to its deeds to win the trust of the United States. Only after such trust is built will the two countries have frank discussions on diplomatic means. 2005.03.13 [http://joongangdaily.joins.com/faq.html] Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use | ***************************************************************** 24 YWS: Swedish Officials Fly to Pyongyang on N.K. Nuke, Aid YONHAPNEWS WORLD SERVICE::ENGLISH NEWS [http://www.yonhapnews.co.kr/] .. 2005/03/12 21:22 KST SEOUL, March 12 (Yonhap) -- A group of Swedish officials arrived in Pyongyang Saturday to discuss issues of mutual concern, North Korea's official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. The Swedish delegation, led by Eva Walder-Brundin, head f the Asia-Pacific affairs department of the Swedish foreign ministry, will stay in Pyongyang until Tuesday to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue and ways to provide humanitarian aid to the impoverished communist state, diplomatic sources said. ***************************************************************** 25 Korea Times : Russian Embassy Rebuffs Remark on NK's Nuclear Capability Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter The Russian Embassy in Seoul Sunday repudiated a high-ranking Russian official¡¯s remarks that North Korea has no nuclear weapons. Sergei Antipov, deputy director of the Federal Nuclear Power Agency, said in an interview with Itar-Tass in Tokyo on Thursday that Pyongyang has ``no possibilities to produce arms-grade (nuclear) charges.¡¯¡¯ It was the first time for a Russian official to publicly question Pyongyang¡¯s alleged possession of nuclear warheads since North Korea¡¯s Foreign Ministry declared last month that it has nuclear bombs. But the Russian Embassy spokesman called Antipov¡¯s remarks only a personal view. ``It¡¯s not an official position of the Russian government,¡¯¡¯ he told The Korea Times. ``I think it was an expression of his personal opinion.¡¯¡¯ Antipov said reprocessing nuclear fuel rods does not necessarily mean that Pyongyang has successfully developed nuclear warheads because ``the technology of their production is more difficult than the use of atom for peace.¡¯¡¯ He was visiting Tokyo to discuss nuclear cooperation programs with Japan. Even though the Russian Embassy rebuffed Antipov¡¯s remarks, it did not admit Pyongyang¡¯s possession of nuclear warheads either. Instead, the embassy spokesman said Moscow¡¯s official stance has been made public hours after Pyongyang¡¯s Feb. 10 declaration. By issuing a one-page statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation expressed its regret over North Korea¡¯s boycott of the six-nation nuclear talks. But the ministry did not take for granted that Pyongyang has already developed nuclear warheads. ``We cannot but regret the DPRK¡¯s decision on an indefinite suspension of its participation in the six-party talks and the public announcement of an intention to build up its nuclear potential,¡¯¡¯ Alexander Yakovenko, spokesman of Russia¡¯s Foreign Ministry, said in the statement. DPRK is the acronym of Democratic People¡¯s Republic of Korea. Russia considers that North Korea wants to strengthen its bargaining power in the six-party talks by arguing that it is already armed with nuclear bombs, North Korea experts in Seoul said. Participants in the six-nation talks _ South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan _ are urging North Korea to return to the negotiation, which has been suspended since June last year. im@koreatimes.co.kr 03-13-2005 16:09 ***************************************************************** 26 [NYTr] McNamara derides 'illegal' nuclear policies Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:50:03 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit AP via MSNBC - Mar 10, 2005 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7146042/ McNamara derides 'illegal' nuclear policies Former defense secretary: U.S., global powers must reduce arsenals by The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO - Former defense secretary Robert McNamara said Wednesday the United States and global nuclear powers havent adhered to nonproliferation treaties and have done little to reduce nuclear arsenals following the end of the Cold War. Speaking about U.S. and NATO nuclear policies at the World Affairs Council, the Vietnam-era defense secretary said the United States and other nuclear powers like Russia and China have pursued policies that are illegal and immoral. A decade after the Cold War, the basic U.S. nuclear policy has not been changed, said McNamara, 88, adding that he believed every leader of a nuclear power should be present at a detonation. The remarks come as the Bush administration grapples with the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to discuss North Korea during an upcoming trip to South Korea followed by visits to India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. China is heading stalled six-way talks to deter North Korea from building a nuclear weapon. North Korea has refused to return to the talks for now. McNamara said the United States has continued to pursue an aggressive nuclear policy, including plans to update or enhance existing nuclear weapons and construct devices like bunker busters and mini-nukes. He added that Russia still has scores of nuclear weapons pointed at the United States, many with antiquated operating systems. We have absolutely got to get rid of these weapons or reduce them to the degree that there is no chance of destroying nations, he said. McNamara added that the threat of terrorists using a nuclear device could be reduced if the United States in particular tried to understand terrorists anger and motivations. McNamara served as defense secretary in both the Kennedy and Johnson administrations he resigned as Johnsons defense secretary as public opposition rose to the Vietnam War and was also president of the Ford Motor Co. and the World Bank. Recently featured in the film The Fog of War, McNamara was a prominent figure in the foundation of early U.S. nuclear weapons strategy. He was later criticized for his role in Vietnam by both veterans and the anti-war movement. ) 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 27 [smygo] Mock Trident - Press Release Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:22:51 -0600 (CST) PRESS RELEASE 10th March 2005- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Protesters are locked on to a 25 foot mock Trident nuclear submarine outside the Scottish Parliament campaign for nuclear disarmament press office: 020 7700 2350 switchboard: 020 7700 2393 fax 020 7700 2357 mobile 07968 420859 e-mail pressoffice@cnduk.org web www.cnduk.org PHOTO OPPORTUNITY PROTESTERS ARE LOCKED ON TO A 25 FOOT MOCK TRIDENT NUCLEAR SUBMARINE OUTSIDE THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT Anti-Nuclear Protesters from across the country are locked on to a 25 foot mock Trident nuclear Submarine outside the Scottish Parliament today. They are raising awareness of the UK's obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to get rid of Trident. There are 17 people inside the submarine locked on including a member of the Scottish Parliament Rosie Kane MSP. They began their protest at 10.15 this morning. A number of MEPs have come outside the parliament building to show their support. There have been no arrests as yet although the protests will not move until their Trident submarine has been dismantled symbolising the dismantling of the real Trident subs. The protesters are taking their message to the Scottish parliament because Westminster has refused to listen. On the 10th October 2004 the same submarine was outside Downing Street with protesters locked on. The British Government did not dismantle the submarine, just as it refuses to dismantle Trident. In Scotland 70% of people oppose Trident. Mell Harrison who is taking part in the protest said, "We've taken Trident to the Scottish Parliament to show how easy it could be to dismantle Trident. We're staying here till they've dismantled the model of Trident, as long as it takes whether that's days or weeks. Over 70% of Scottish people don't want Trident so we're staying here until they show us that they can dismantle Trident. We want the Scottish parliament to put more pressure on Westminster to say this has got to happen. With the NPT review coming up in May we feel that it is extremely important for the nuclear weapon states to disarm, so that other countries won't feel they have to develop nuclear weapons, because they won't feel threatened by ours. These weapons are illegal and immoral and we will continue to use direct action until our voices are listened to." Rosie Kane MSP (Scottish Socialist Party, Glasgow Region) who is locked on, "70% of the Scottish public say they are opposed to nuclear weapons. As an elected representative I represent more people sitting on the street than I do sitting in a debating chamber. We've raised this issue many times with the Scottish executive. We've asked that they speak out in opposition to Trident. We have asked that they take power from Westminster over these weapons of mass destruction but their ears remain closed. The Scottish Socialist Party, the Scottish Green party and the Scottish National Party as well as independents in the parliament are opposed to Nuclear Weapons. We are all united in asking the executive to take action. You can join us on our protests here and in the future. You can ask Westminster to pass power to the Scottish Parliament. We can refuse to have nuclear weapons moved on our roads so their hands are not tied. If they're not going to do anything then could they explain to the tax payers why we have no money for hospitals, public housing and schools, yet we have money for Weapons of Mass Destruction." Kate Hudson, Chair of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament congratulated protesters, "Trident is an illegal and immoral nuclear weapon of mass destruction and must be scrapped. Despite giving an "unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals" in 2000 the UK government has made no progress towards disarmament. In fact in March 2002, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said that the government reserved the right to use nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear weapon states. Such a policy is a breach of our legal obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty and highlights the nuclear hypocrisy of government policy. This year is the 60th anniversary of the nuclear bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We must abolish these immoral and illegal weapons now." There are members of Trident Ploughshares, Scottish CND, National CND and Theatre of War taking part in the protest. end Notes to Editor: 1. For further interviews and updates on the protest please contact Mel on 07760161755 or Emma 07748447224 For further information on Trident and the NPT please contact Ruth Tanner CND's Press & Communications Officer on 0207 7002350 or 07968 420859 The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference takes place in New York in May 2005. The Non- Proliferation Treaty opened for signature in 1968, and entered into force in 1970. A total of 187 parties have joined the Treaty, including the five declared nuclear- weapon states (US, UK, Russia, China, France). More countries have ratified the NPT than any other arms limitation and disarmament agreement, a testament to the Treaty's significance. At the 2000 NPT Review conference the UK and the four other declared nuclear weapons states signed a final document in which they gave an `unequivocal undertaking to accomplish the total elimination of their nuclear arsenals', one of 13 agreed steps for the systematic and complete elimination of nuclear weapons. The UK must comply with its obligations under the NPT and abolish all nuclear weapons. Under its international treaty obligations treaty obligations the UK government has made no progress towards disarmament in the past five years. In March 2002, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said that the government reserved the right to use nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear weapon states. Such a policy is a breach of our legal obligations and highlights the nuclear hypocrisy of government policy. Link to content of 2000 NPT Conference agreement - http://disarmament.un.org:8080/wmd/npt/2005/index-PC3.html The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is one of Europe's biggest single-issue peace campaigns, with over 32,000 members in the UK. CND campaigns for the abolition of all nuclear weapons everywhere. www.cnduk.org ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/2bSolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/smygo/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: smygo-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 28 US Rep Calls for Nuking Syria Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 11:37:39 -0600 (CST) Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE): Free Americans Resisting the Fourth Reich on Behalf of All Species. NOTE: Thanks to Party for Islamic Renewal for this. -- kl, pp YOU WON'T FIND ON CNN Member of Congress Calls for Nuking Syria By ADC 03/02/05 Washington, DC -- Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) has advocated for attacking Syria with nuclear weapons. Rep. Johnson was quoted telling a recent church gathering, "Syria is the problem. Syria is where those weapons of mass destruction are, in my view. You know, I can fly an F-15, put two nukes on 'em and I'll make one pass. We won't have to worry about Syria anymore." The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is outraged at Rep. Johnson's statement advocating for mass destruction and genocide and views this as a sad day in our country's tradition when an elected member of the United States Congress openly advocates for attacking another country with nuclear weapons. ADC calls upon Rep. Johnson to provide an immediate and public explanation for his remarks. Additionally, ADC calls on the White House to publicly distance itself from such un-American views. In a letter faxed to Rep. Johnson today, former congresswoman Mary Rose Oakar, president of ADC, said, "While we recognize the current differences between the Bush Administration and the Syrian Government, these differences should be addressed in negotiations at the conference table, in coordination with our international partners, rather than confrontation in the battle field by using nuclear weapons," Oakar continued, "Advocating for genocide by nuclear attack against any country is completely unacceptable and contrary to our American values and traditions." Oakar said, "These remarks have no place in the United States Congress." Rep. Johnson can be reached at: District Office- 2929 North Central Expressway Suite 240 Richardson, TX 75080 Phone (972) 470-0892 Fax (972) 470-9937 Washington Office- 1211 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone (202) 225-4201 Fax (202) 225-1485 (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. Information Clearing House has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is Information Clearing House endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) Information Clearing House Daily News Headlines Digest ***************************************************************** 29 BBC: US watches China warily Last Updated: Saturday, 12 March, 2005 By Adam Brookes BBC Pentagon correspondent [Chinese missile] China has missiles that could reach the north-western US By steps big and small, China is changing the balance of power in the world. It is modernising its military and expanding its reach with mobile launchers that could fire missiles into the American north-west and a navy and air force that could operate well beyond its borders. None of this has escaped the notice of the United States which is calculating how to respond to China's emergence as a strategic power. Shifting balance of power In the strange calculus nations use to measure strategic power, individual pieces of equipment can have radical, even world changing, implications. China, for example, has long possessed ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads. But in the last few years China has developed a system to launch those missiles from trucks. The system is called a Transporter-Erector-Launcher, or TEL. The missile it carries is called a Dongfeng-31. "Dongfeng" means East Wind. The TEL not only transports the DF-31. The missile is erected and then launched from the vehicle. The entire system is mobile. "This means in a crisis China can disperse its ballistic missile forces and have a high degree of confidence some of it would survive a pre-emptive strike by a foreign power," says James Mulvenon, who heads a new private think tank in Washington, the Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis (Cira). US analysts believe the DF-31 will be deployed in the next few years. They also believe the missile has the range to hit the north-western United States. "This in a broader sense gives China a true survivable nuclear deterrent and the confidence that goes along with that in terms of its military policy and the conduct of its national security policy abroad," says Mr Mulvenon. For the United States, the advent of such a system begins the shift in the strategic equation. Flashpoint Taiwan And it is not only DF-31s that are reshaping the strategic landscape. China is thought to be close to developing an effective in-flight refuelling capacity. That will give its air force a much longer range. It is investing in submarines, and in command and control systems which it hopes will allow it to compete on a high technology battlefield. [Taiwanese missiles] China is determined not to allow Taiwanese independence China's new confidence will show itself in the coming years. We will probably see the Chinese navy moving to secure sea lanes and oil supplies from the Middle East. We will see its air force roaming much further from home, monitoring other forces in the region. And, maybe, we will see China really gearing up to retake Taiwan by force. The head of the CIA, Porter Goss, told Congress recently that his agency believes China is ready to fight for Taiwan. "China's military build-up threatens the balance of power in the Taiwan Strait," said Mr Goss. If Taiwan, in its efforts to establish a true, independent nationhood, pushed Beijing beyond the limits of its tolerance, "we assess that Beijing will respond with varying degrees of force," he said. The last thing America needs now - with its military already extended in Iraq and Afghanistan - is to be sucked into a conflict with China over Taiwan. When, a week ago, China announced that, for a fifth year in a row, it was increasing its military spending, there was not much surprise in Washington, but a perennial anxiety over China's long-term intentions was reinforced. "The bottom line is what these annual increases tell us about intent," says Cira's James Mulvenon. "[The Chinese] believe the potential for a conflict with the US over Taiwan is a very real scenario. And they have to have real, credible, concrete military options should that occur," he said. China says publicly that it will spend about $30bn this year on its military. Analysts in the US suspect the real figure is perhaps half as much again. Even so, China's military spending is only about one-tenth of what the US is due to spend in the coming year. But in preparing for a "Taiwan scenario", the Chinese have a focussed objective, which allows them to channel their spending towards specific, rather than contingency, plans. Trans-Atlantic friction If America's strategic preoccupations with China are long-term, there exist short-term preoccupations that threaten the equilibrium of this delicate, changing relationship. China has announced a planned "anti-secession law" aimed at preventing a formal statement of independence by Taiwan, and reinforcing the threat of force. [An Airbus A320] The EU is keen to secure Airbus deals in China, US senators say A White house spokesman has called the planned law "unhelpful", and has asked China to "reconsider". And the US considers equally unhelpful a plan by European countries to lift the arms embargo on China, which was imposed in 1989. US analysts say sensitive technology could fall into Chinese hands if European countries recommence selling weapons systems to China. They worry particularly that some European battlefield communication and command and control systems are designed to operate alongside US systems. Purchasing those European systems, they argue, could allow China insight into the way the US military operates. And in Congress, they smell a rat. The Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, told the BBC he believed the Europeans were simply trying to curry favour with Beijing in order to win lucrative business contracts for companies like Airbus. "Folks weren't born yesterday in this country," he said. This has the makings of a major trans-Atlantic row. But it is a measure of China's leverage and its attractiveness as a business opportunity that Europe would risk a diplomatic spat with the United States. ***************************************************************** 30 Guardian Unlimited: AP Review: Gov't Reducing Access to Info From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday March 13, 2005 5:46 PM By MARTHA MENDOZA AP National Writer Since 1998, many federal departments have been reducing the amount of information they release to the public - even as the government fields and answers more requests for information than ever, an Associated Press review has found. The locations of stores and restaurants that have received recalled meat, the names of detainees held by the U.S. overseas and details about Vice President Dick Cheney's 2001 energy policy task force are all among the records that the government isn't sharing with the public. The tightening began even before the Sept. 11 attacks, and now government defenders say the nation needs protection from its enemies in the war on terror. But open government advocates worry that U.S. citizens' freedom is eroding with every file they can't access. ``This is an immensely troubling clampdown,'' said Steve Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Secrecy Project. ``The law itself is unchanged, but it's being interpreted more broadly to withhold more information.'' Under the 38-year-old Freedom of Information Act, the so-called ``sunshine law,'' the federal government is supposed to share its records with the public, though it may withhold material for national security reasons or to protect the privacy of individuals or businesses. In a review of about 130 annual FOIA reports submitted to the Justice Department by the 15 executive departments between 1998 and 2004, the AP found that: -Requests for public records have been on the rise and jumped by another 1 million after the Sept. 11 attacks, topping 3.2 million in 2003. More than half of this increase was due to an unusually large number of requests received by the Social Security Administration, where requests are ordinarily simple, personal and turned around on the same day they are received. The next largest category consisted of queries to the Veterans Administration about personal records. -The total number of requests being granted in full has increased from about 66 percent of all requests in 1998 to 88 percent in 2003. However, a closer look at those figures shows that almost all of the increase came from requests made to the Social Security and Veteran's administrations. -The percentage of requested information that is eventually released in full has been declining since 1998 at the Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Education, Interior, State, Transportation and Treasury departments. The Justice Department began reducing the information it releases in full after the 2001 attacks. -At the CIA, just 12 percent of the FOIA requests processed were granted in total in 2004, down from 44 percent in 1998. The FBI gave people asking for records everything they asked for just 1 percent of the time in 2004, compared to 5 percent in 1998. The AP's review started from 1998 because that's when all federal agencies and departments were required to standardize their annual reports about FOIA requests. After the Sept. 11 attacks, the Bush administration set a higher threshold for disclosure, advising agencies to make sure the information they released would not jeopardize national security. But Charles Davis, executive director of the Freedom of Information Center at the University of Missouri-Columbia, has said that court decisions before 2001 indicated the momentum already was swinging toward closing off information. Edward Whelan, president of the Washington-based Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former Justice Department legal adviser, said it was logical for government officials to reevaluate the information they release after the Sept. 11 attacks. ``In the aggregate, there's good reason that there would be an increased recognition on the government's part that information previously thought to be harmless is, in fact, sensitive,'' he said. In addition to decreasing some types of information released under FOIA, the federal government is increasing the number of documents deemed secret and has pulled thousands of documents and databases off public Web sites. The federal government - not including the CIA - created 14 million new classified documents in fiscal year 2003, a 60 percent increase over 2001, according to the Information Security Oversight Office. At the same time, the agency reports that it cut back on the number of documents that were declassified. ``The Bush administration's attitude is that public information is largely a dangerous thing in the wrong hands. Because there's some people who could use this information improperly, we shouldn't let anybody see it. I just think secrecy of that nature is almost always the exact wrong decision,'' said Harry Hammitt, who publishes Access Reports, a newsletter on Freedom of Information laws. But officials involved in national security note that, in a post 9/11 world, disclosure of some material can put the public at risk. States all have their own public records laws, and have closely followed the federal government's lead. Since Sept. 11, 2001, at least 20 states have proposed new laws to control public records, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. These changes mostly try to prevent terrorists from seeing evacuation, emergency and security plans. But in the process, limits are being placed on everything from birth and death records to architectural and engineering drawings of public buildings, said Davis, at the University of Missouri-Columbia. A new state-by-state study of public records laws by the Better Government Association concluded that the array of legislation is so haphazard that it hampers ``the citizenry's ability to examine even the most fundamental actions of government.'' Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, introduced a bill in February that would significantly reform federal FOIA laws, requiring agencies to give people seeking documents a tracking number that could be checked online. The bill also aims to reduce the kinds of excuses the government can give for refusing to release material. The AP found several excuses are being used much more frequently by the security agencies than in past. For example, the Justice Department has doubled the percentage of rejections because there are ``no records'' from 10 percent to 20 percent since 1998. At the FBI, a Justice Department agency, about 37 percent of all requests were refused in 1998 for that reason - but that number bumped up to about 55 percent last year. FBI officials say this reflects an increase in the percentage of requests they receive for reports they simply don't have, though FOIA does allow agencies in some cases involving criminal law, terrorism and foreign intelligence to say ``no records'' when they do exist. Some advocates, meanwhile, say that agencies aren't looking hard enough for records or are being disingenuous to the public. The FBI is being sued by a Salt Lake City attorney who claims that he was told no records existed in a case when they were, in fact, being held in the agency's files. Another reason for rejecting a citizen's FOIA request - that the documents are internal administrative records that are of no interest to the public or could make it easy to circumvent the agency - also is on the rise at the State, Justice, Defense and Transportation departments and at the FBI and CIA. Former Attorney General John Ashcroft had urged departments to consider using this exemption as a way to prevent release of in-house studies that showed weaknesses in various systems such as dams, nuclear power plants and pipelines. The CIA used this exemption fewer than 10 times a year in 1998, 1999 and 2000. In 2004, the CIA used it 101 times. Leahy, who is calling for a new FOIA ombudsman, said he's concerned that the law is being weakened. ``The Freedom of Information Act is an invigorating mechanism that helps keep our government more open and effective and closer to the American people,'' he said. ``FOIA has had serious setbacks in recent years that endanger its effectiveness.'' --- EDITOR'S NOTE - The week of March 13 has been declared Sunshine Week by media organizations and other groups pressing for government access, contending information is being withheld more often by officials who cite post-Sept. 11 security concerns. This is the last part of a two-part series examining the use of the Freedom of Information Act by U.S. citizens, and the government's willingness to make its records available. --- On the Net: Sunshine Week: http://www.sunshineweek.org/ AP investigative researcher Randy Herschaft and news researcher Monika Mathur contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 31 WorldNetDaily: Another intelligence fiasco? SATURDAY MARCH 12 2005 © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com In announcing the president's decision to nominate John Bolton to be ambassador to the United Nations, Condi Rice noted that, as under-secretary of state for arms control and international security, Bolton "has held primary responsibility" within the Bush-Cheney administration "for stemming the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." Bolton's principal achievement? "John helped build a coalition of more than 60 countries to help combat the spread of WMD through the president's Proliferation Security Initiative." Now, as you probably know, the only true "weapon of mass destruction" is a nuke. But, perversely, our future ambassador to the U.N. has been "point man" in the Bush administration's campaign to undermine the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to discredit and/or supersede the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. organization assigned by the Treaty to verify compliance by all its signatories. In his first State of the Union message, President Bush essentially accused North Korea, Iran and Iraq of having nuke programs, conducted in violation of the NPT, right under the noses and other sensors of the IAEA. In particular, under the Agreed Framework of 1994, all existing North Korean "nuclear" activities had been "frozen" – under IAEA lock and seal – in return for a promise of free nuclear power plants and an interim supply of free fuel oil. Obviously, if Bush was to impose "regime change" on Iraq, Iran and North Korea on the pretext they had nukes, the IAEA nuke proliferation-prevention regime had to be discredited or superseded. So, first Bush unilaterally abrogated the Agreed Framework – whereupon North Korea, predictably, withdrew from the NPT and resumed producing and recovering weapons-grade plutonium. Then, Bush announced in late 2002 his own National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction, from which Bolton developed the aforementioned Proliferation Security Initiative According to Bolton, the PSI was necessary because "proliferators and those facilitating the procurement of deadly capabilities are circumventing existing laws, treaties and controls against WMD proliferation." Presumably, Bolton had in mind Israel, Pakistan and India. But none of them are NPT signatories; none of them are subject to full-scope IAEA-NPT Safeguards. So, how does Bolton expect his PSI to succeed where the IAEA has allegedly failed? In the particular case of North Korea – no longer subject to the NPT and the IAEA Safeguards regime – how did Bolton propose to prevent their turning their weapons-grade plutonium into nukes? Obviously, he couldn't. Well, how about preventing North Korea from transferring their plutonium nukes – or the makings, thereof – to another state or to a terrorist group. Bolton intended to: Take appropriate actions to 1) stop and/or search in their internal waters, territorial seas or contiguous zones (when declared) vessels that are reasonably suspected of carrying such cargoes to or from states or non-state actors of proliferation concern and to seize such cargoes that are identified, and 2) enforce conditions on vessels entering or leaving their ports, internal waters or territorial seas that are reasonably suspected of carrying such cargoes, such as requiring that such vessels be subject to boarding, search and seizure of such cargoes prior to entry. Reasonably suspected? By whom? The U.S. "intelligence community"? The Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities of the U.S. Regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction is due to report to the president by the end of this month. According to the New York Times, the nine-member bipartisan presidential panel, led by Laurence Silberman, a retired federal judge, and Charles S. Robb, a former governor and senator from Virginia, had unrestricted access to the most senior people and the most sensitive documents of the intelligence agencies. As you know, with respect to Iraq, the U.N. inspectors had it right; our "intelligence community" had it all wrong. It's understandable that the panel is expected to be sharply critical of American intelligence with respect to North Korea's nuclear programs. Since Bush provoked North Korea into withdrawing from the NPT, there have been no IAEA inspectors on the ground in North Korea to provide "intelligence." But, according to the New York Times, one person privy to the panel's deliberations and conclusions characterized American intelligence on Iran as "scandalous." How could that be? If our intelligence weenies want to learn everything there is to know about Iran's nuclear programs, surely they learned their lesson in Iraq. All they have to do is go to the IAEA's website, click on "In Focus: IAEA and Iran," and read the IAEA's exhaustive reports. That is, if Ambassador Bolton – or his PSI replacement – will let them. Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr. Prather also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. © 2005 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc. webmaster@worldnetdaily.com --> news@worldnetdaily.com--> Contact WND ***************************************************************** 32 Wired News: Museum Stirs Atomic Age Memories Associated Press [ width=] Page 1 of 2 next » 12:55 PM Mar. 11, 2005 PT LAS VEGAS -- It's chilling to walk by a dented Army helmet with big tinted goggles on the brim, a frayed "atomic cocktail" recipe book and then come face to face with a family of mannequins, frozen in time in a fallout shelter. Baby boomers will recognize the Civil Defense character Bert the Turtle and know by heart the instructions droning in black-and-white on the family's boxy Packard Bell TV: When sirens sound, find shelter. Don't look at the light. Duck and cover. A digital countdown across the way tells when the steel doors of a cement-walled Ground Zero Theater will open. Curators of the new Atomic Testing Museumhope the setting stirs the imaginations of those with no memory of mushroom clouds and the role the Nevada Test Site played in the development of nuclear deterrence. "Nuclear weapons aren't gone," museum director William Johnson says as he leads the way through the $3.5 million facility that opened last month just east of the Las Vegas Strip. "The world is just a different place now." The museum traces a half-century of nuclear weapons testing in a nation that grew to love or hate the bomb. It describes developments that let scientists peer into the first millionth of a second of a nuclear blast before instruments vaporized, and it charts research that continued after earthshaking explosions ended in 1992 at the test site. It also has drawn criticism as revisionist history among advocates who call it a forum for nuclear apologists, and it has reopened wounds for "downwinders" sickened by fallout from atmospheric atomic blasts. "Once you've been a victim of nuclear weapons you're less enthusiastic about it," said Michelle Thomas, 52, a lifelong resident of St. George, Utah. "I don't hate or fear anyone bad enough to want to see happen to them what happened to us." Johnson doesn't deny that testing caused problems. He points to exhibits describing the plight of downwinders and of test site workers sickened by silicosis, and to a reading room and nuclear testing archive containing more than 310,000 documents. "I want people to come here and learn," he says. "But if there's only one message taken away, it's that the Cold War was a war. It was a struggle with the Soviet Union." The story is told with a time line, artifacts, interactive and touch-screen displays and several films, including the 10-minute presentation in the Ground Zero Theater. Visitors sit on varnished wooden seats modeled after the warped, weathered benches still on News Nob, a rocky outcrop overlooking Yucca Flat where journalists observed atmospheric nuclear tests beginning with "Charlie" in April 1952. Light bursts as the big screen shows a nuclear test. The room rumbles with embedded speakers. Air blasts tousle the hair, imitating a shock wave. "It's almost like you're sitting there. That's real stuff to me," says Mike Margalski, 49, a maintenance engineer who wants to experience what his father did as an Army soldier exposed to more than one nuclear test in the early 1950s. Eugene "Geno" Margalski died of prostate cancer in 1996, at age 65. "My dad never ever talked about it until just a few days before he passed away," Margalski says. "He talked about going out and walking in it while they came around with Geiger counters." But this is no theme park. It is as somber as the 230,000 deaths and injuries in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, in August 1945; as sober as the concept of "mutually assured destruction" that shadowed the world for half a century afterward. The entry to the 8,000-square-foot museum resembles a guard gate. Up a gentle ramp is a copy of Albert Einstein's August 1939 letter to President Franklin Roosevelt suggesting that uranium might yield "a new and important source of energy." An inert model of the most common B61 nuclear bomb -- 12 feet long, gray, unimposing -- rests on its side next to displays of the "Little Boy" and "Fat Man" devices dropped on Japan. Story continued on Page 2 » [[Print story]] [[E-mail story]] Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 33 [NYTr] The American Empire: Bossing the World Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:00:45 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by mart Rabble.Ca - March 9, 2005 http://www.rabble.ca/everyones_a_critic.shtml?x=3D37835 The American Empire: Bossing the World Yes, Virginia, WMDs, nuclear and biological, do exist - not in Saddam's secret bunkers, nor those supposed to be in Iran - but in the United States of America. by Jack MacAndrew What does it say about our sense of ourselves as a sovereign nation, that the Prime Minister of this country uses the climactic moment of his party's policy convention to breathlessly inform the citizenry that the President of the United States has returned his telephone call - ten days after the Prime Minister called the White House? Indeed, there are those amongst the chattering classes, who would cite this as a perfect metaphor for the state of the current relationship between our nations, even though Prime Minister Martin burbled on about the real friendly talk he had with President Bush. According to Martin, Bush wasn't annoyed at all that the Liberal Government had decided not to sign up as a partner in the Missile Defence program - that all was tickety-boo between the leaders, and there were no hard feelings at all. This revelation came at the end of a week in which a Montana-based judge, later backed by the U.S. Senate, refused to lift the ban on unfettered access to the border by Canadian beef farmers. And there are those who strongly suggest that the two decisions are linked, that we are being punished because we will not go lockstep with Bush in his God-appointed mission to bring democracy to the world, and defence for his Christian army against ballistic missiles at home. Mind you, Bush has never been able to identify the country, or countries, that have the technological capability and the chutzpah to launch such an attack, those countries knowing that any such paltry effort would be met by a furious retaliation of American might from its arsenal of Weapons of Mass Destruction. (Yes, Virginia, WMDs, nuclear and biological, do exist not in Saddam's - secret bunkers, nor those supposed to be in Iran - but in the United States of America.) In any case, there seems to be this vein of supplication running through the minds of some, that we ignore the Bush agenda at our peril, and that retaliation in the form of trade and other barriers is the inevitable consequence of not knuckling under to the American bully in its quest for the establishment of Imperial America to boss the world order. That agenda is rooted in the peculiarly American vein of political thought beginning with the notion that the gents who got together to frame the American Constitution were divinely inspired in their labours. It is a myth. It is true that some say the Lord does his works in mysterious ways, but were he peering down over the shoulders of these gents at their labours, it would come as news to them. In reality, several were agnostic and some outright atheist. Others were free thinking Christians of one sort or another. The word God never appears. The U.S. Constitution makes no mention of God or Christianity, and the writers took the greatest of pains to ensure the greatest degree of separation between church and state. Bush has unloaded a whopper with his claim that the United States of America was founded on Christian principles. It is fiction, as is the Bush doctrine that he is God's messenger to bring American-style democracy to every nation on earth. The document titled The National Security Strategy of the United States of America, issued in September 2002, sets forth the God-given American agenda: "...the United States will use this moment of opportunity to extend the benefits of freedom across the globe. We will actively work to bring the hope of democracy, development, free markets and free trade to every corner of the world. "Poverty does not make poor people into terrorists and murderers. Yet poverty, weak institutions and corruption can make weak states vulnerable to terrorist networks and drug cartels within their borders." Drug cartels. Oh yes...those! Like in Afghanistan, for instance. In that poor country, the flowering of democracy has brought on the flowering of the opium poppy in numbers of blossoms never before experienced in the opium growing capital of the world. Bush proclaims in speech after speech that democracy has changed everything in Afghanistan. Now, a report commissioned by the president himself says the country "is on the verge of becoming a narcotic state," and "represents an enormous threat to world stability." Cultivation of the opium poppy hit a new record high last year - 206,700 hectares, and three times the amount under cultivation in 2003. That is enough to produce 4,950 tonnes of opium, 17 times more than Myanmar, the second-place country. The Taliban had extinguished the production of the opium poppy during its reign in the country. The Taliban did it by imposing a brutal will. But democracy does not seem to have had the desired effect of creating a society where poor Afghans need not grow opium in order to survive. But then again... "Poverty does not make poor people into terrorists or murderers." Then, there is the unending war in Iraq, where American democracy is supposedly beginning to flourish, and American jails are bursting at the seams with Iraqi prisoners. Of course, keeping large numbers of males in jails is a habit for the U.S. Its own jails house the greatest percentage of young males of any country in the world excepting South Africa. About 9,000 Iraqis are held in jail by the Americans. That's 1,000 more than last year, and it includes Saddam Hussein, who is being held in a facility near the Baghdad airport. Democracy certainly is, however, bringing its benefits to Halliburton, the enormous company once run by Vice President Dick Cheney. Currently, $9.6 billion (U.S.) are flowing its way, as the American casualty count trips over 1,500 dead and nearly 20,000 wounded while the Bush budget sent to Congress tries to cut veterans' benefits. Thomas Friedman, writing in the New York Times declares: "The President's priorities are totally nuts." Friedman is succinct, if somewhat irreverent; he gets to the point. "...we are financing the U.S. Armed Forces with our tax dollars, and through our profligate use of our energy, we are generating huge windfall profits for Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan, where cash is used to insulate regimes from any pressure to open up their economies....and where it ends up...financing madrasses, mosques and militants fundamentally opposed to the progressive, pluralistic agendas America is trying to promote. "Now how smart is that?" About as smart as trying to foist on their country and their neighbours a multi-billion dollar anti-missile defence system that doesn't work and has three times failed in tests that is supposed to protect fortress America from non-existent missiles fired by countries that don't possess them and can't make them - unless they get enough U.S. dollars for their oil to buy the technology they need. In the State of New Hampshire the license plates of automobiles carry the slogan: "Live Free.Or Die." The American Empire is merely tyranny of another kind. [Jack MacAndrew writes for Rabble.Ca from Prince Edward Island.] * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 34 [NYTr] Annan: Nuclear terror a real risk Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 17:06:57 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Simon McGuinness ("It should be clearly stated, by all possible moral and political authorities, that terrorism is unacceptable under any circumstances and in any culture," Mr Annan added." It is not reported if the US ambassador was listening, or if he even bothered to attend. With a budget of $59 million this year alone for measures against Cuba, US-based terrorist organisations have potentially 15 times the maximum annual budget of the IRA. Unlike the IRA, they have the additional benefit of operating with the tacit (at least) approval of the US government. - SMcG) BBC NEWS: - Mar 10, 2005 http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/4336713.stm Annan: Nuclear terror a real risk Terrorists must be denied the means to carry out a devastating nuclear attack, the UN secretary general has told an anti-terror summit in Madrid. Kofi Annan was setting out a global strategy to fight terrorism which calls for preventive and deterrent measures - without sacrificing human rights. Mr Annan said the time had come to outlaw terrorism in all its forms. The summit comes nearly a year after the 11 March bomb attacks on Madrid trains which left 191 dead. About 400 international experts and academics have spent three days discussing ways to combat terrorism while maintaining democracy. Preventive action Mr Annan said priorities included making it difficult for terrorists to travel, receive financial support and obtain nuclear material. He urged UN member states to adopt the international convention on nuclear terrorism. "Nuclear terrorism is still often treated as science fiction - I wish it were. "But unfortunately we live in a world of excess hazardous materials and abundant technological know-how, in which some terrorists clearly state their intention to inflict catastrophic casualties," he said. "Were such an attack to occur, it would not only cause widespread death and destruction, but would stagger the world economy and thrust tens of millions of people into dire poverty," he said. "That such an attack has not yet happened is no excuse for complacency. Rather, it gives us a last chance to take effective preventive action." He set out the five-point strategy as the need to: - dissuade disaffected groups from choosing terrorism as a tactic to achieve their goals, - deny terrorists the means to carry out their attacks, - deter states from supporting terrorists, - Develop state capacity to prevent terrorism, - defend human rights in the struggle against terrorism. "It should be clearly stated, by all possible moral and political authorities, that terrorism is unacceptable under any circumstances and in any culture," Mr Annan added. Spanish King Juan Carlos also addressed the summit on Thursday. 'Immeasurable grief' Among the tasks for delegates at earlier sessions of the International Summit on Democracy, Terrorism and Security, was to decide on a universally acceptable definition of terrorism. The conference was organised by the Club of Madrid - a group of more than 40 former heads of state. The experts are due to issue a Madrid Agenda, with guidelines on how to tackle the terror threat while preserving democratic values and traditions. Organisers planned the conference to coincide with the anniversary of the Madrid attacks to "honour the courageous people of Madrid who have suffered immeasurable grief since the 11 March attacks and set out a way forward". Twenty-two people have been jailed so far in connection with the bombings. The attack was claimed by a Moroccan cell with links to al-Qaeda, and most of the arrested are Moroccan citizens. On Friday, the final day of the event, a minute's silence will be observed to mark the anniversary of the attack, which injured 1,900 people. ) BBC MMV * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 35 Bellona: France plans to create world-wide environmental police France announced an idea to make a “world-wide environmental police”, which will be responsible for implementation of Kyoto protocol control. 2005-03-11 16:59 The French Ministry of Environment in co-operation with Environmental Ministries of other European countries is working out a plan of “environmental forces”. The European Union is expected to initiate this international institution as one of the reformed UN’s structures in September this year, ITAR-TASS reported. Paris aims to get wide commissions for the “world-wide environmental police”. It is supposed to implement monitoring and writing out penalties for countries and enterprises violating international environmental standards. 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 ***************************************************************** 36 BBC: Pakistan 'to submit centrifuges' Last Updated: Monday, 14 March, 2005 [Iranian nuclear plant] Critics ask why fuel-rich Iran needs nuclear energy Pakistan has reportedly agreed to hand uranium-enriching components over to UN inspectors, which could help in an inquiry into Iran's nuclear programme. It earlier admitted the former head of its own programme, Abdul Qadeer Khan, had sold Iran similar centrifuge parts. Diplomats close to the inquiry told reporters that Pakistan would give them to a UN laboratory in Austria. They will then be compared with centrifuges found in Iran with suspicious uranium traces. "These may hold the crucial fingerprints, the DNA, of the uranium traces found on equipment in Iran," a diplomat, who asked not to be named, told Reuters news agency. Diplomats said the parts to be sent to Austria would come from the same group of centrifuges as those sold to Iran. "The components will be secretly flown to Vienna in the middle of the night," one said, without giving further details. 'Contamination' The UN's Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been investigating Iran's nuclear programme for the past two years. While it has found no proof that Iran plans to build nuclear weapons, it has also been unable to confirm that the programme is entirely peaceful, as Iran insists. Washington has accused Iran, a state already rich in gas and oil, of pursuing atomic energy as a screen to develop nuclear weapons. In 2003, the IAEA found traces of uranium in Iran that had been enriched to various levels, some of them close to what would be useable in weapons. Fears then arose that Iran had been secretly seeking to purify uranium for use in weapons. Iran blamed the traces on contaminated centrifuge components it had acquired second-hand from Pakistan. ***************************************************************** 37 Deutsche Welle: German Faces Trial for Nuclear Smuggling [http://dw-world.de/select_html/] 13.03.2005 [The defendant allegedly supported Libya's nuclear program ambitions] Libya's nuclear program ambitions A German businessman suspected of taking part in an international smuggling ring to supply nuclear know-how will face trial in South Africa, according to reports. Gerhard Wisser, 66, was arrested last September in South Africa and charged with four counts of contravening the Nuclear Energy Act and a law banning the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. [The founder of Pakistan's nuclear program, Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan] Wisser is believed to be part of the nuclear smuggling network thought to be linked to Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan (photo), who has admitted to helping Libya and other nations develop their weapons programs. The German national is in particular suspected of organizing production in South Africa of equipment for Libya's covert nuclear program, which the country has since abandoned, German weekly Der Spiegel reports in its Monday issue. The magazine said prosecutors uncovered several pieces of evidence linking Wisser to Khan's network during their investigation: a video cassette of Khan's laboratory in Pakistan, a business card of Khan's chief purchaser, and documents signed by Khan. [German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (left) was one of several western leaders to visit Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi after her renounced weapons of mass destruction] After Libya vowed to dismantle its nuclear program in December 2003, Wisser wrote in an mobile phone text message to a colleague that "they're throwing us to the lions", according to prosecutors. Several other people have also been arrested in South Africa in the affair. Charges A South African court on Thursday charged two German men who live in the country with illegally exporting equipment used to enrich uranium needed to make nuclear weapons. (Sept. 10, 2004) Germans Allegedly Helped Libyan Nuclear Program Libya's nuclear disarmament has provided valuable information on its suppliers: Authorities are now investigating two German businessmen suspected of aiding Libya with nuclear arms in 2001. (Aug. 27, 2004) Germans Allegedly Involved in Pakistan Nuclear Scandal According to the Pakistani Foreign Minister, three Germans acted as middlemen in the illicit transfer of nuclear secrets during the 1980s and 1990s. (Feb. 9, 2004) ***************************************************************** 38 Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 15:39:39 -0600 (CST) March 13, 2005 The Sunday Times (UK) www.timesonline.co.uk Revealed: Israel plans strike on Iranian nuclear plant by Uzi Mahnaimi ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on targets in Iran if diplomacy fails to halt the Iranian nuclear programme. The inner cabinet of Ariel Sharon, the Israeli prime minister, gave initial authorisation for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. Israeli forces have used a mock-up of Irans Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practise destroying it. Their tactics include raids by Israels elite Shaldag (Kingfisher) commando unit and airstrikes by F-15 jets from 69 Squadron, using bunker-busting bombs to penetrate underground facilities. The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israels way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed. Tehran claims that its programme is designed for peaceful purposes but Israeli and American intelligence officials who have met to share information in recent weeks are convinced that it is intended to produce nuclear weapons. The Israeli government responded cautiously yesterday to an announcement by Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its programme. In return, the European countries promised to back Washington in referring Iran to the United Nations security council if the latest round of talks fails to secure agreement. Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, said he believed that diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue. But he warned: The idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world. Dick Cheney, the American vice-president, emphasised on Friday that Iran would face stronger action if it failed to respond. But yesterday Iran rejected the initiative, which provides for entry to the World Trade Organisation and a supply of spare parts for airliners if it co-operates. No pressure, bribe or threat can make Iran give up its legitimate right to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, said an Iranian spokesman. US officials warned last week that a military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities by Israeli or American forces had not been ruled out should the issue become deadlocked at the United Nations. Additional reporting: Tony Allen-Mills, Washington ------------ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1522978,00.html ----------- ***************************************************************** 39 IndiaExpress.Com: India interested in EU's ITER energy project 13.34 IST 13th Mar 2005 By Agencies India has evinced keen interest in joining the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reaction (ITER) project, an ambitious multi-national project of the European Union aimed at producing nuclear energy equivalent to that of Sun. Negotiations have already begun for India's inclusion in the project for building the world's biggest nuclear fusion reactor, a senior EU official told a group of visiting Indian journalists here on condition of anonymity. "Negotiations for India's inclusion are at extremely sensitive stage," the official said. The project, estimated to cost 10 billion Euros, will produce 'star power' plasma. India, which has already joined another ambitious EU programme -- 'Galileo' navigation project -- stands a chance of getting into the multi-lateral ITER project considering its reputation in research and development field. Differences between the EU and Japan over the venue of the reactor has also raised possibility of India's inclusion in the project. The EU wants the reactor to be based at Cadarache in France while Japan's wants it in that country and if the differences persist, EU could consider taking financial help from India, Canada or Switzerland. Other countries participating in the programme are the US, Russia, China and South Korea. ***************************************************************** 40 Sunday Herald: Strathclyde wins £6.5m nuclear grant - By Matthew Magee Strathclyde University has beaten off competition from Oxford and Cambridge universities to win a £6.5 million grant to research the potential of nuclear power. The grant has been won by Professor Jim McDonald and his team who will research energy efficiency and nuclear energy at Strathclydes Institute for Energy and Environment. The grant comes from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Scottish Higher Education Council, though research sources suggest that EPSRC will provide the bulk of the grant. Sources in the research sector said that the £6.5m grant is part of a wider £38m project yet to be announced. McDonald is already the lead researcher in a £3.4m EPSRC funded project into solutions to engineering problems associated with a dependence on renewable energy and even a long-term replacement for electricity itself. That project also involves Scottish and Southern Energy, Corus and ScottishPower. The controversial research topic of nuclear energy comes at a time when carbon emission targets are forcing politicians to reconsider the use of nuclear fuel. The political will is firming up for nuclear said Clackmannanshire MP Martin ONeill. What is being talked about, though, is new plants at the existing licensed sites. Pressure to reduce the carbon emissions produced by fossil fuel has forced campaigners and energy specialists to consider opening nuclear plants. Brian Wilson MP, the former energy secretary said: The targets for 2010 on renewable energy are meetable, but only because we are starting from such a high base with the legacy of hydro power. It is important, though, that renewables dont exaggerate what they can do. The nuclear question will be dealt with after the general election. The big decision people have to answer is are they more worried about nuclear energy or more worried about carbon reduction and climate change. 13 March 2005 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 41 St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Nuclear industry shows signs of revival By Bill Lambrecht stltoday.com [blambrecht@post-dispatch.com] Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau03/13/2005 WASHINGTON - After years of dormancy, the U.S. nuclear industry is stirring again, hoping that a friendly White House and Congress will provide the tax dollars it needs for its first expansion in years to build more plants in places like Clinton, Ill. New construction likely is years away, but as part of its speeded-up permit process, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reached an initial conclusion last week that no environmental problems stand in the way of Exelon Corp. adding new reactors at its plant in Clinton, in central Illinois. A day later, President George W. Bush delivered a strong pitch for the nation to resume building nuclear plants, pronouncing nuclear power "reliable and secure." Now, the industry is pushing Congress for what it really needs: Huge subsidies to minimize the risk in building new plants. "What we're saying to members of Congress is that we need to have an array of stimuli that folks might be able to tap into," said Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington. Sixteen months ago, an energy bill that fell two votes short of final passage had just that sort of stimulus: $6 billion in tax credits; $1 billion more to build a nuclear reactor in Idaho that would attempt to generate hydrogen fuel; and an extension of the taxpayer-funded accident insurance in the half-century old Price Anderson Act. Those same proposals are now under discussion in staff-level negotiations, along with a plan for loan guarantees that was scuttled last time at the 11th hour. Other incentives are being talked about, too. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, floated a new twist on subsidies last week when he suggested that nuclear power be classified with solar and wind generation as a renewable energy source to qualify for tax credits. There's even talk among staff members about the possibility of providing cut-rate fuel for nuclear plants by dipping into the nation's uranium stockpile. "It's 100 percent accurate to say that everything is on the table. Everybody is trying look at this from all angles, and by and large, there isn't a lot of disagreement," said a Senate staff member involved in the discussions. Improved climate For years, the debate over new nuclear power in Washington has been largely theoretical. The near meltdown at Three Mile Island in 1979 stiffened anti-nuclear sentiment in the country. The nuclear waste problem looked unsolvable. Electricity deregulation killed the guaranteed profits for new plants. No new plant has been approved since the late 1970s. But the climate for nuclear power has improved, thanks to the Bush administration's support, soaring natural gas prices and concerns about pollution caused by plants that burn fossil fuels, such as coal. Congress is seriously addressing the issue, with the likelihood that bountiful incentives for the nuclear industry will be part of any energy bill that Congress passes this year. With 17 nuclear reactors in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Exelon is the nation's biggest nuclear operator and about to grow even bigger when it adds three more New Jersey reactors in a merger. Because of its size, Exelon often is viewed as the most likely company to resume nuclear-plant construction. But Marilyn Kray, Exelon's vice president for project development, observed that her company was proceeding cautiously. Whoever leaps first into the nuclear-construction business will face heavy skepticism from lenders, she said. That's why companies need the incentives that Congress is about to consider - along with assurances that the country needs more electricity, she said. "Our decision on generation is going to be made on economics," she said. The industry claims that fewer Americans look warily these days at nuclear power despite a tendency for television and films to portray it as threatening. For instance, Fox Television's popular action series "24" has featured a story line this season in which Muslim terrorists gain control of a nuclear plant, causing a meltdown. Last week, the industry labeled such a scenario implausible because of security at reactors. Noting several such movie and television plots recently, the Nuclear Energy Institute's Kerekes remarked, "I've come to the conclusion that if nuclear plants didn't exist, Hollywood would have to invent them." Speaking in Ohio last week, Bush observed that many people still worried about the safety of nuclear plants. "I know that, and so do you," the president said, adding his view that nuclear plants are safe. "We're taking early steps toward licensing the construction of nuclear power plants, because a secure energy future must include nuclear power," he added. Giving the go-ahead The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is backing up the president. On Feb. 24, the commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected arguments that highly radioactive wastes shouldn't be shipped for storage on Goshute Indian land in Utah. Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of eight companies, has been pushing its storage plan since 1997; the commission might decide soon whether to grant final approval. The tribal storage facility would not serve as a long-term alternative to burying 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel beneath Yucca Mountain in Nevada, a government plan plagued by delays and questions about geological safety. But it would offer a short-term answer to companies such as Exelon in need of a repository for the dangerous wastes from reactor cores. Last week, in declaring that that it found no environmental problems if Exelon decides to add more reactors at its Clinton plant, the commission was moving forward with a streamlined permitting process that could land the company an "early site permit" by the summer of 2006. The Clinton nuclear plant, 22 miles south of Bloomington, Ill., was built on a 460-acre parcel of land big enough for two reactors. But the former owner, Illinois Power, decided not to proceed with a second unit. Commission staff members reached their conclusion after examining hundreds of pages of documents submitted by Exelon. The commission said it had determined that new reactors at Clinton would generally have little impact on the environment. It said drawing more cooling water could have a "moderate" impact on Clinton Lake and its aquatic life in years of little rainfall. The commission defines moderate as "sufficient to alter noticeably, but not to destabilize." Exelon's Kray called the preliminary approval "a very significant milestone." But it was just one step on the path to early site permits that Exelon and two other companies are traveling in order to shorten the process later if they decide to build. Like Exelon, Dominion Corp. of Richmond Va., has asked for a siting permit for expanding a nuclear power at Mineral, Va., 80 miles southwest of the District of Columbia. In Port Gibson, Miss., New Orleans-based Entergy Corp. wants the preliminary go-ahead for expanding generation at its Grand Gulf Nuclear Station. A fourth company, Duke Power, announced last month that it was preparing to submit another kind of application seeking combined approval both for constructing and operating a new nuclear plant. The company has not identified a location other than to say it would build in its service area, which is the Carolinas. "Nuclear relapse" Like the nuclear industry, watchdog organizations also are preparing for debate on the energy bill. Navin Nayak, an energy specialist with the nonprofit U.S. PIRG in Washington, uses the phrase "nuclear relapse" to describe what he says could happen in the country if Congress succumbs to the industry's demands. "The bottom line for the nuclear power industry is that they're not going anywhere until the government steps in with taxpayer handouts," he said. David Lochbaum, a nuclear safety engineer at the nonprofit Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, observed that Exelon generally had a good safety record. "They decided that nuclear power is their business future, and when you make that decision, you do the homework to make that possible," he said. But Lochbaum, like other advocates, worries about the effects of the government's new streamlined procedures, which will decide whether Exelon or the other companies are allowed to resume nuclear construction. Lochbaum argued that sites for nuclear plants are being approved without knowing what kind of reactors might be built there. One impact of the split proceedings, he said, is to make it harder for critics to rally opposition and intervene. "I don't think that was unintentional," he said. Reporter Bill Lambrecht E-mail: blambrecht@post-dispatch.com Phone: 202-298-6880 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. [http://www.stltoday.com/help/copyright] ***************************************************************** 42 Turkish Daily: Nuclear energy not feasible for Turkey [http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr] Sunday, March 13, 2005 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan's recent remarks during a visit to South Africa have restarted a debate on nuclear energy. He then said Ankara is open to the possibility of cooperation in the field of nuclear energy with South Africa. Necdet Pamir said nuclear energy requires technology that is much more dependant on outside sources than other alternatives need. Emphasizing that his opposition to nuclear energy should not be considered as categorical, he said nuclear energy's share is already around 7 percent in the world. Furthermore, projections show that its share will decrease to 5 percent between 2025 and 2030. “Why should Turkey insist on an energy source that is expensive even for countries that are much richer than Turkey? The cost of nuclear energy is the reason for the decrease in utilization projections,” he added. Pamir said current future projections reveal that three fossil fuels would still be basic resources in the future. © 2004 Dogan Daily News Inc. | Rights and Permissions turkishdailynews.com.tr: Contact Us | About turkishdailynews.com.tr | E-mail Newsletters | Archives | Media ***************************************************************** 43 toledoblade: NRC investigating slipup in control room at Perry Sunday, March 13, 2005 toledoblade.com Web Development Article published Saturday, March 12, 2005 Supervisor pushed button meant to be off-limits By [thenry@theblade.com] BLADE STAFF WRITER PERRY, Ohio - A supervisor at FirstEnergy Corp.'s nuclear plant here is being investigated for pushing a control-room button that is supposed to be left alone while the plant is idle. The unidentified employee's error caused one of the Perry nuclear reactor's many control rods to leave its fully inserted position. The event did not come close to causing a nuclear reaction: The rod came out only two of its possible 48 positions and could not have started the reactor on its own even if it had come out all the way, explained Jan Strasma, a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Control rods are filled with boron and keep reactors idle as long as the rods are fully inserted. But Mr. Strasma said the regulatory agency is puzzled by a recurring theme: Why did this happen? The plant has been down for refueling since Feb. 21. The supervisor engaged the one control rod at 2 p.m. Thursday, even though such buttons are supposed to be pushed only by front-line operators. He also should have known better: The supervisor has a higher level of training. He holds an NRC license as a senior reactor operator, Mr. Strasma said. "At this point, we are still looking into the circumstances. It was obviously a personnel error," he said. NRC officials repeatedly have expressed concerns about fundamental performance issues at FirstEnergy plants since 2002, when the utility nearly let Davis-Besse's nuclear reactor head burst open. The company has admitted it failed to do maintenance for years. The massive corrosion, the worst of its kind in U.S. nuclear history, burned through all but a thin liner that's not designed to hold back the reactor's enormous pressure. FirstEnergy recently announced a fleet approach to its plant operations, causing more anxiety among some agency officials. The utility has told the NRC it did not just reduce its work force to save money: It reasoned that a leaner operation would result in cross-trained employees who will better serve the company. Davis-Besse and Perry, both operated by FirstEnergy, are Ohio's only nuclear plants. FirstEnergy also operates the twin-unit Beaver Valley complex west of Pittsburgh and oversees the mothballed Three Mile Island Unit 2 it inherited via merger. "We've taken many steps to ensure this won't happen again," Todd Schneider, a FirstEnergy spokesman, said. "This was a rare incident that we certainly don't want to happen again. We want to be error-free." The Perry plant is scheduled to resume operation in late March. Contact Tom Henry at: thenry@theblade.com or 419-724-6079. [http://www.realcities.com] © 2005 The Blade. By using The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 44 Independent: Nuclear giants team up to bid for UK reactor-building programme [http://www.independent.co.uk] By Tim Webb and Clayton Hirst 13 March 2005 Some of the world's leading nuclear companies are lining up UK partners to prepare bids for an £8bn reactor-building programme, which is expected to be announced after the election. The Government has signalled that it will publish a new energy White Paper which, controversially, is expected to propose the construction of new nuclear reactors to replace those now being taken out of service. Leading nuclear and construction companies, including French nuclear giant Areva, UK construction company Amec and Westinghouse, the US arm of the state-owned BNFL, are already looking for potential partners ahead of any government move. Talks are at a preliminary stage. But the rising levels of corporate activity indicate companies are eager to invest in the UK nuclear industry once the Government signals that nuclear is back on its agenda. The news comes as the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority prepares to take over the UK Government's £48bn of nuclear liabilities - mostly belonging to loss-making BNFL - on 1 April. But a European Commission investigation means that BNFL's liabilities, including its ageing reactors and Sellafield reprocessing site, will remain on its balance sheet until Brussels has decided whether the NDA breaks state-aid rules. The Government last reviewed energy policy two years ago, when it favoured renewable energy sources such as wind over nuclear. This is changing as fears grow of a looming energy shortage. Some environmentalists are also backing nuclear power because it does not emit carbon dioxide, which contributes to global warming. The Government has indicated that it would put out to tender any contract to design, build, finance and operate a nuclear construction programme to competing consortia. Several companies would be needed to carry out the work. Westinghouse, which is close to Whitehall as it is part of BNFL, said that a successful consortium would have to include at least one UK-based company. The winning consortium would be responsible for building as many as 10 reactors, at a cost of around £800m each. A spokesman for Amec said: "We would be stupid if we were not making preparations. We are looking at who are the right people. It will probably be a consortium of three plus." Amec has not yet held formal talks with other companies, but it is understood to be considering linking up with Westinghouse and US construction and engineering companies Bechtel and Kellogg Brown & Root, which is owned by Halliburton. Areva designs and builds reactors, as well as providing services such as fuel manufacturing and reprocessing. Industry sources said that it was also keen to scoop a slice of any new nuclear action. A spokesman for Areva said: "If the UK government decides to build new reactors, Areva will offer our services to UK utilities." A spokesman from the Department of Trade and Industry said: "In formal terms, our position hasn't changed from the Energy White Paper: At present, the economics don't stack up for new nuclear build. In addition, there are the problems of waste." ©2005 Independent News &Media (UK) Ltd. ***************************************************************** 45 York Daily Record: Shutdowns vex plant - [ydr.com] NRC takes issue with some of Peach Bottom’s corrective actions By SEAN ADKINS Daily Record/Sunday News Sunday, March 13, 2005 At bottom: · Why it matters Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station’s Unit 2 has nonpowered its way close to the top of a federal inventory that tracks the number of unscheduled shutdowns among nuclear reactors. Between Jan. 1, 2003, and Dec. 31, 2004, the power station’s Unit 2 reactor unexpectedly shut down five times for various equipment-related issues. Only two other nuclear reactors in the nation reported more unscheduled shutdowns — or scrams — to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission during that same time period. Both Indian Point Unit 2 in New York and Saint Lucie Unit 2 in Florida worked through six unscheduled shutdowns in 2003 and 2004. Each year, utilities such as Exelon Generation, which runs Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, lose money when their plants shut down and then fail to funnel energy to the PJM Interconnection grid. All of York County’s power flows through the PJM power grid. A plant that experiences more than three unscheduled shutdowns in 7,000 critical hours — approximately a one-year period — will face additional NRC oversight in the form of supplemental inspections. In the third quarter of 2003, the power station crossed that NRC threshold for the number of scrams because of an additional shutdown that had occurred in December 2002. Peach Bottom crossed that threshold again in the first quarter of 2004. The NRC monitors scrams on a rolling average in a given year. Based on the scrams, the commission ran a supplemental inspection of the reactor. While the inspection of the power station reported that Exelon had adequately addressed all issues related to the scrams, NRC officials found that the plant’s “root cause evaluations did not always identify the underlying causes (of the shutdowns),” according to a commission report. Aside from the shutdowns of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station’s Unit 2, its Unit 3 reactor scrammed once, in September 2003. Three Mile Island Unit 1 in Dauphin County suffered no unexpected shutdowns within the two-year period. Public not in danger An unscheduled automatic or manual nuclear power reactor shutdown poses no danger to the public and serves as a primary plant safety measure, said Neil Sheehan, an NRC spokesman. A reactor may shut down when something abnormal occurs within the plant that prompts the site’s computer system or human operators to stop the station’s nuclear reaction. Equipment issues such as main generator lockout or a faulty circuit card can trigger the plant’s computer system to insert neutron-absorbing control rods into the site’s reactor and cause a scram. Sheehan said that while five scrams in a two-year period at any nuclear power plant is high, the underlying issues of what caused the shutdowns is the commission’s primary concern. Following the power station’s Unit 2 supplemental inspection, officials with the NRC did not discover a root cause that would link the scrams but did find some occurrences when the plant’s corrective actions were lacking, according to the report. For example, on July 22, 2003, Unit 2 shut down when a piece of broken fan belt entered the reactor’s isophase bus duct cooling system. Exelon found that a design weakness existed and decided to install debris guards that would prevent belt material from entering the fan suction. Despite Exelon’s intention to install fan belt guards within 30 days, the corrective action took two months “with no rationale provided for the delay,” according to the inspection report. On April 12, 2003, Unit 2 unexpectedly shut down when a single main steam isolation valve failed to close, based on a broken air-supply line. Exelon concluded that the valve’s air tubing was vulnerable to a fatigue failure. While the plant did inspect more than 200 pneumatic lines linked to air-operated valves on both Unit 2 and Unit 3, the review did not take into account similar equipment such as instrument lines, according to the report. “When leaks were identified, the leaking fittings were tightened or replaced without determining the causes of the leaks because they were viewed as a minor impact on station equipment,” according to the report. Correcting problems at the plant Amy Donohue of Airville lives within roughly 10 miles of Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station and believes the high number of scrams is a sign the plant should be decommissioned. Donohue’s home is solar powered and does not use any electricity from the PJM grid. “It’s not surprising (about the scrams),” she said. “They have a long history of problems. This is just more of the same.” Pete Resler, an Exelon spokesman, said the plant strives to correct any issue regardless of whether it stems from equipment or a process. “If there are inadequacies in any way we do business,” he said, “we pay close attention to that, and we have modified procedures to meet standards.” Despite the inspection’s critical review, the NRC found that, overall, the plant’s corrective actions in regard to the shutdowns were sufficient to prevent recurrences. The NRC said it is no longer investigating those shutdowns. David Lochbaum said the complicated nature of several of a nuclear plant’s systems may prevent a utility from discovering other problems when repairing current issues. Lochbaum is a nuclear power expert with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit environmental group. For example, on Dec. 21, 2002, a Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station Unit 2 electro-hydrolic control system circuit card failure triggered a scram, according to the NRC’s report. That system controls the wide-range speed control of the turbine, Sheehan said. “In other words,” Sheehan said, “it serves as a sort of high-tech throttle for the plant’s turbine, thereby controlling the plant’s power output.” On Dec. 22, 2004, the NRC report said, another part of that same system malfunctioned, causing a loss of reactor pressure and forcing a scram. “When the same systems fail like that, it does appear troubling,” Lochbaum said. “But to be fair to the company, the EHC system is so complicated that sometimes troubleshooting a bad circuit card is tough. You can find one problem and fix that one, but you find out later that there is another problem.” Lochbaum said that many times a plant will want to fix a problem quickly and get back online, failing to recognize the root cause of the problem. “There is always a struggle there to be thorough and to be fast,” he said. “Nobody is taking shortcuts, but you don’t often have infinite time to research a problem.” The longer a plant is down, the less money it makes sending electricity to the power grid. On average, a scrammed reactor will shut down between one to three days depending on the issue, Lochbaum said. Customers don’t pay Statewide, nuclear power plants such as Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station hold contracts with the PJM Grid to supply power. Coal-fired plants and nuclear power plants, on average, are the largest units that supply electricity to the grid, said Ray Dotter of PJM. When a nuclear power plant goes down, a system of reserves immediately kicks on to help maintain a consistent flow of power across the grid, he said. “This is very much a suspenders-and-belt system,” Dotter said. “I’m sure no one’s lights went out when a nuclear power plant goes down.” To keep current with its contract to supply power to PJM, the operator of a downed plant often turns to outside sources of electricity to make up the difference. A cap on electricity rates prevents residential customers from having to pick up the slack, said Cyndi Page, a spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. “The utility pays for the scram. It’s just the cost of doing business,” Resler said. “Obviously, it’s a business concern. When we are not making power, we are not selling power. So our objective is to minimize our time offline.” While Peach Bottom Unit 2 strives to be efficient, he said, the plant’s focus during a scram is to discover the problem and perform preventative maintenance. The plant uses thermography cameras that can detect hot spots in the reactor’s electrical system and signal equipment that might be in need of repair. Resler said unscheduled shutdowns function as a safety measure and are a sign that the plant is operating as designed. Lochbaum noted that one system failure can cause a plant to shut down. “What you don’t want is to have fewer scrams and more problems to deal with,” he said. Reach Sean Adkins at 771-2001 or sadkins@ydr.com [sadkins@ydr.com] . Why it matters · Each time Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station shuts down unexpectedly, the plant must obtain power from outside sources to maintain its contract with PJM, which operates a series of interconnected power grids that supply power to all or parts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and several other states. Any added charges associated with an unexpected shutdown — also called a scram — is absorbed by the power station and chalked up to the cost of doing business. · Scrams pose no danger to the public. But during a recent supplemental inspection, NRC officials found that the power station’s root cause evaluations did not always identify the underlying causes of the scrams. The commission took issue with the plant’s implementation of some of its corrective actions. Copyright © York Daily Record 2005 122 S. George St., P.O. Box 15122 York, PA 17405, (717) 771-2000 ***************************************************************** 46 Sofia Morning News: IMF Keen on Bulgaria's Belene Nuke Progress www.novinite.com Sofia News Agency IMF mission leader to Bulgaria Hans Flickenshild (R) conferred Saturday with Bulgarian Energy Minister Miroslav Sevlievski over the constrcution of Belene nuke and the privatisation of power utilities. Photo by Kameliya Atanasova (SNA) Business: 12 March 2005, Saturday. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has shown interest in the development of the Belene nuclear plant project, it emerged after the meeting of Bulgarian Energy Minister Miroslav Sevlievski and IMF mission leader for Bulgaria Hans Flickenschild. The project is planned as a public private partnership with state-sponsored guarantees not to exceed the minority state-owned stake in the company, Minister Sevlievski told Flickenshild. Incumbents plan to vote the proposal of construction of two nuclear units at the Belene plant by the end of mandate of the current governmernt, MP from the ruling majority and chief of parliamentary Energy Commission Vesselin Bliznakov said also on Saturday. The international financial watchdog was introduced to the results from the power plants privatisation and pledged to stick to its current policy of financial discipline in Bulgarian energy utilities. Hans Flickenschild has headed IMF's one-week mission to the country since March 9. The current mission is expected to complete the first review of the two-year precautionary agreement between Bulgaria and the Fund signed in August 2004.[ novinite.com Forum Google Tourism Business MobileBulgaria Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily ***************************************************************** 47 STUFF : The 'n' word - nuclear POLITICS : OPINION - STORY : New Zealand's leading news BREAKING NEWS [http://www.stuff.co.nz] 14 March 2005 Like a rabbit coming out of its burrow, you never quite know where that dreaded "n" word is going to crop up again, writes The Press in an editorial. The Government does its best to plug the holes to keep the nuclear power argument in the bunker, but still the uranium-enriched bunny manages to pop its head out somewhere else. The latest surfacing of the nuclear power issue was at the recent National Power New Zealand conference meeting, attended by many of the country's energy decision-makers, nuclear power supporters and new Energy Minister Trevor Mallard and Environment, and Disarmament and Arms Control Minister Marian Hobbs. While Mallard and Hobbs both did their bit to push the glowing bunny back into its burrow, their efforts flew in the face of general opinion that, as New Zealand has to find a source of extra base-load power to cope with rising demand, nuclear power might at least deserve some investigation. Mallard laid his cards on the table early on by telling delegates of his inexperience in the portfolio and said the Government's nuclear-free policy was not up for review and that it included nuclear power stations. But Mallard needs to do his homework better next time, for if he is referring to the New Zealand Nuclear-Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act of 1987, it fails to mention nuclear-generated power at all. Of course, this being an election year, no New Zealand Government in its right mind would touch the issue of nuclear power, not even with lead-lined gloves. But as a nation we need to be mature enough to have the debate and to consider its pros and cons, at the very least for its education value. It may help crystallise our thinking about other forms of power generation and to realise that perhaps the devil we know is better and we will have to dam more rivers, build wind turbines or burn coal to meet demand. The trouble with nuclear power is once you have it, invest billions of dollars in it and accumulate toxic stockpiles of radioactive waste, there really is no turning back. This is the problem facing the British Government at the moment, which has multi-billion pound investments in nuclear infrastructure that Prime Minister Tony Blair cannot turn his back on, even as many of its operational nuclear power stations are now at or beyond their best-by date. One of the biggest considerations has to be whether we want to buy into nuclear power. We have made a mark in the sand and the world knows what our attitude is towards nuclear weapons. The all-powerful, some would say ruthless, global nuclear industry would crow from the cooling tower-tops if little, clean and green, nuclear-free New Zealand capitulated and came on board. For them, it would be a great victory to savour. Could we cope with the loss of face? ***************************************************************** 48 Ynetnews: 'Nuclear reactor safe’ Safe for use? Nuclear reactor in Dimona Photo: AFP DIMONA - Great efforts are being invested to ensure the safety and reliability of the nuclear reactor in Dimona, Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Yuval Shteinitz says. Shteinitz reached his conclusion after touring the facility along with Knesset Members Amram Mitzna and Arieh Eldad Sunday. Meanwhile, Yachad Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On says the visit was too short to justify such confident statements. The tour aimed to provide visiting Knesset members with a closer look at safety, maintenance, and security procedures adopted at the facility. During the visit, the parliamentarians also met with reactor engineers, technicians, and other officials. At the visitors’ request, reactor officials presented the activation mechanisms and backup systems designed for addressing various scenarios, including an earthquake. ‘Safety measures exceed international standards’ “I view the visit at the reactor with great importance,” Shteinitz said following the tour. “It’s important that Israel’s citizens know that parliamentary supervision of the highest standards exists.” “The Knesset members were impressed by the great effort invested in the reactor’s safety and reliability,” the three visitors said in a statement. “(The reactor) is operated in a manner that matches or exceeds acceptable Western standards.” Knesset Member Gal-On, however, slammed the committee for “ruling the reactor was safe after one visit.” “How is it possible that following a visit of several hours, rather than an in-depth, comprehensive investigation, the committee decides that everything is in order with a reactor that is more than 40 years old?” she said. (03.13.05, 19:58) Copyright © Yedioth Internet. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 [du-list] CT Lawmakers want state to track effects of depleted Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:45 -0800 1- CT Lawmakers want state to track effects of depleted uranium 2- CT Veterans exposure to uranium eyed -- CT Lawmakers want state to track effects of depleted uranium By Susan Haigh, Associated Press AP-ES-03-10-05 1819EST http://www.record-journal.com/articles/2005/03/11/news/state/state01.txt HARTFORD — In the 13 years since she cleaned uranium dust off U.S. military tanks and other equipment after Operation Desert Storm ended, Melissa Sterry's health has steadily deteriorated. She had three heart attacks and was diagnosed with a laundry list of other ailments, including chronic respiratory difficulties, muscle aches and spasms, chronic fatigue and a restricted airway, among other things. She takes 30 medications and is unable to work. The 42-year-old veteran from New Haven believes many of her medical problems are from exposure to depleted uranium, a heavy metal used in armor-piercing weapons, and other chemicals she was exposed to while working in Kuwait with an Army logistical support unit. "For me there's been this gradual loss of abilities," she told a legislative committee Thursday. State legislators in Connecticut want to keep track of Sterry and other veterans' health problems as they return from Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. On Thursday, the Select Committee on Veterans Affairs unanimously passed a bill that would establish a commission to study the health effects of depleted uranium and other toxic substances. It would also create a new health registry for Connecticut's returning military personnel and veterans. Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, the committee co-chairman, said if the full General Assembly passes the bill, Connecticut would be the first state to embark on such a study and create a related health registry. "Over the next six months, by having a task force develop a registry and protections for our soldiers, Connecticut is going to lead the nation in taking care of — and insuring the health and well-being of — our servicemen and servicewomen," Slossberg said. The committee also passed a related bill proposed by Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, that would ensure that any Connecticut member of the armed services or any reserve component who has been called up for active duty can be independently screened for possible exposure to depleted uranium when they return home. Both bills await action by the Public Health Committee. Several Connecticut military personnel who recently returned from Iraq told legislators personal stories of being exposed to all sorts of chemicals including depleted uranium, which is left over from the process of enriching uranium for use as nuclear fuel. Capt. Gregory Samuels of Mansfield, former commander of the Connecticut National Guard's 143rd military police unit, spent a year in Baghdad. He told of a vehicle filled with munitions that exploded outside his camp in 150-degree heat. The vehicle remained at the site for about week. "I would say every soldier was exposed to depleted uranium one way or another," he said. Maj. Kevin McMahon of Old Lyme, a member of the 118th medical battalion, said his unit was stationed near an Iraqi trash pit that burned day and night, billowing black smoke. "I have no idea if I'm going to have a hacking cough 10 years from now," he said. "I do know I was exposed to things. What are those things? I don't know." By tracking the soldiers' ailments, the state can collect the data and document what is happening to the veterans, said state Veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz. The information will also help Connecticut determine the needs of its soldiers. "Something happened to them between the time they left and the time they returned," Schwartz said. "We may theorize it could be depleted uranium, but it may be a number of things." Although Sterry receives federal veterans benefits for a leg injury, she still needs medical benefits. Like the Vietnam War veterans exposed to the allegedly toxic defoliant Agent Orange, Sterry said she has had to fight to convince the federal government to recognize there are health risks to uranium exposure. The Pentagon has said depleted uranium is safe and is about 40 percent less radioactive than natural uranium. "People should be assured that this substance, this depleted uranium, does not pose a major risk for their health," Dr. William Winkenwerder, assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, said last year regarding a New York National Guard soldier who claims he fell ill due to exposure to depleted uranium. The Pentagon ultimately determined that the soldier's health problems were not caused by the exposure. ---- CT Veterans exposure to uranium eyed By GREGORY B. HLADKY, Journal Register News Service 03/11/2005 Bristol, CT, Press http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14126998&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=10486&rfi=6 HARTFORD -- Two bills focusing on potentially dangerous health risks faced by Connecticut veterans because of exposure to depleted uranium ammunition won initial approval from a legislative committee Thursday. "It’s a real milestone," said state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who sponsored one of the bills to assure Connecticut soldiers a legal right to screening and follow-up care for exposure to depleted uranium. "I think we’re going to be a real leader on this." The other measure that also won unanimous approval from the legislature’s Veterans’ Affairs Committee would create a state task force to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium exposure and review the best screening methods used to detect it. Both bills now go to the legislature’s Public Health Committee for further action. Dillon said her bill is intended to put into Connecticut law a soldier’s right to be tested and treated for exposure to depleted uranium, which is increasingly being used by the U.S. military to enhance the effectiveness of armor-piercing ammunition. "Theoretically, we’re putting into state law what the Army says it’s already doing," said Dillon. She said many veterans of the first Persian Gulf war and the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have told her the U.S. military isn’t providing the needed screening. The co-chair of the veterans’ affairs panel, state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said, "By having a task force develop a registry and protections for our soldiers, Connecticut is going to lead the nation in taking care of and insuring the health and well being of our servicemen and servicewomen." Veterans like Melissa Sterry of New Haven, a 42-year-old ex-soldier who served during the first Gulf conflict, have testified they believe exposure to depleted uranium is at least partially responsible for a broad range of devastating illnesses. Sterry’s dramatic testimony last month about her long battle to get federal officials to ac-knowledge that exposure to depleted uranium may have contributed to her debilitating problems drew attention to the need for state action. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also testified in support of the legislation at a public hearing Thursday. "Unfortunately, the Defense Department has not fully acknowledged the potential scope of exposure nor has the Department fully tested all veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium," Blumenthal said. Debbi Newton, president-elect of the National Guard Association of Connecticut, submitted testimony calling the proposed task force study "an important first step in understanding what the effects are and how best to treat them and how to fund such treatment." Newton also praised the concept of creating a health registry system for veterans and military personnel so that they could be contacted "years down the road should further study, research or evidence be found that they may be suffering from the effects of exposure and not even know it." -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need a home for your web domain? We recommend our provider, Hosting Direct https://support.hostingdirect.net/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=nucnews ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 50 [du-list] Federal row over role of Australian troops in Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:31:03 -0800 Federal row over role of Australian troops in Muthanna, Iraq The World Today - Tuesday, 8 March, 2005 Australian Broadcasting Reporter: Catherine McGrath http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1318405.htm ELEANOR HALL: But first today to the national capital where the Federal Government has come under question over the role of the new contingent of Australian troops being sent to southern Iraq. The questions from the Labor Party and the Greens have been prompted by comments from a Japanese Commander that contrary to official statements, the Australian troops would not be needed for direct protection of the Japanese in Iraq. The Opposition says this raises questions about exactly what the 450 Australians will be doing and whether they'll have the resources to cope if violence in the region escalates. But the Chief of Australia's Defence Force, General Peter Cosgrove, says there's no confusion about the role of the Australians. He says they won't be the 'bodyguards' for the Japanese, but will be providing a secure environment for them. From Canberra Chief Political Correspondent Catherine McGrath reports. CATHERINE MCGRATH: With Australia's 450 troops preparing for departure for the southern Iraqi province of Methanna, the Japanese commander Kiyohiko Ota has indicated they are not needed for direct protection of the Japanese forces. KIYOHIKO OTA: is not necessary to protect directly our troops by Australian army forces. CATHERINE MCGRATH: And he's expecting a more regional role for them. KIYOHIKO OTA: To keep the good security environment, not direct protection for us. CATHERINE MCGRATH: So what exactly is going on? Australia has said the role of the troops is to protect the Japanese because due to restrictions placed after World War II, they can't protect themselves. And the Prime Minister has ruled out Australian soldiers taking over the entire role played by the Dutch forces in securing that region. But this morning, after the comments form the Japanese commander, Labor's Defence spokesman Robert McClelland said that whatever the full story the Australian soldiers aren't adequately equipped for the role they're about to undertake. ROBERT MCCLELLAND: We think we're guarding the Japanese, the Japanese think they're guarding themselves, but I think the truth is that we're both being guarded by the British, but our concern is that have they got the resources to protect us if things deteriorate? I mean, their helicopters are two hours flight away from where our troops are, so it's all a bit of a mess from our point of view. CATHERINE MCGRATH: Australia has said, the Prime Minister said at the beginning that we wouldn't be guarding the whole region, it doesn't seem to be suggested even from what the Japanese have said that we would be guarding the whole region? ROBERT MCCLELLAND: Yeah, what we're seeing is the start of mission creep, and that happens when the Government hasn't stated what our mission is. And our concern is if this mission creep gets a roll on, that we could be sucked into ever more dangerous duties and the reality is our troops just aren't being equipped for that hot and heavy situation. CATHERINE MCGRATH: Now, if the Australian soldiers are protecting the direct security environment around the Japanese ­ there's 450 of them ­ they probably have the resources for that, don't you think? ROBERT MCCLELLAND: Well I'm not sure that that's the case, I mean they haven't… the Dutch had six Apachi helicopters and indeed those helicopters were responsible for repelling at least two attacks from insurgents. We've got helicopters about two hours flight away, our aslavs aren't going to be online, all of them aren't. About 15 are, I understand, remote firing stations ­ those sort of issues. CATHERINE MCGRATH: And Greens Senator Bob Brown said the Australian public needs more details. BOB BROWN: Well, the Japanese commander says that he doesn't need… they don't need direct protection of their troops, they can protect themselves at close up quarters and it appears that really the Australian troops are going to be part of the security for the province, doing what the Americans do to the north and the British do further south. This isn't a remote area, this is on the main road from Baghdad to Basra, a major crossing of the Euphrates, it saw a major battle during the war where depleted uranium was left there after the Americans went through and the Dutch are withdrawing because of casualties. Two soldiers were killed due to grenade and other attacks on them. I don't think the Prime Minister's being clear with the Australian people here, and it's not up to the Australian people to fill in the dots. The Prime Minister has given the impression that the Australians were going directly to protect the Japanese troops because they weren't able to fight back. CATHERINE MCGRATH: Defence Minister Robert Hill wasn't available for interview on The World Today, but through a spokesman he said he didn't believe there was any issue over the role of the Australian forces. Chief of the Defence forces General Peter Cosgrove has been sent into bat on the Government's behalf. PETER COSGROVE: Our role will be to offer a secure environment for the Japanese engineers. Now, the Japanese Colonel who spoke I think was spot on in terms of direct protection. He's talking about the bloke on duty at the gate of the Japanese camp and people standing right alongside their bulldozers and what have you when they're out working, they'll be Japanese soldiers. That's what our own people do, but in that environment, close by, wherever you see Japanese engineers, not too far away providing that environment will be Australian service men and women providing that support. CATHERINE MCGRATH: It's an issue the Opposition says they will pursue. ELEANOR HALL: Catherine McGrath in Canberra. ---- Heads roll at VA, mushrooming DU scandal blamed By Bob Nichols, March 9, 2005 Tehran Times http://www.sfbayview.com/012605/headsroll012605.shtml http://www.tehrantimes.com/Description.asp?Da=3/6/2005&Cat=14&Num=001 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. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need a home for your web domain? We recommend our provider, Hosting Direct https://support.hostingdirect.net/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=nucnews ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 51 [du-list] First Army caring for soldiers (but not for DU Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:30:58 -0800 First Army caring for soldiers (but not for DU exposure) By Ed Brock, March 4, 2005 Clayton, GA News-Daily http://www.news-daily.com/articles/2005/03/04/news/news1.txt Army Master Sgt. Anthony Kingston was doing physical training in Uzbekistan when he noticed that one of his legs would grow numb when he ran. He endured the discomfort for about three months, but when he returned to Fort Benning he went through a physical and was told his femur head where the thigh bone joins the hip was collapsing. The injury wasn't bad enough for Kingston, a resident of Jonesboro stationed at Army Garrison Fort Gillem in Forest Park, to be discharged from the Army. But it was enough for him to qualify for the Army's Medical Holdover program. Now he's working a job in maintenance similar to what his regular duties are, and he's getting the medical care he needs. "As far as scheduling appointments and getting in to see a doctor, it's good," Kingston said. The First U.S. Army, stationed at Fort Gillem, hosted a panel discussion Thursday on the Medical Holdover and Community-Based Health Care Organization programs at the Sheraton Gateway Hotel. Officers with the First Army addressed a small gathering of soldiers, the reason why these programs exist, the officers said. "There's nothing we do in this Army that's more important than taking care of our soldiers," Army Lt. Col. Richard Steele said. First Army Maj. Gen. John Yingling said the focus of the programs were to fix soldiers and get them back to their military duties or back to their communities. Currently east of the Mississippi there are 2,779 soldiers in the Medical Hold program. According to Lt. Col. Ken Braddock as many as 10,000 soldiers might become Medical Holdovers as a result of the current mobilization of troops, which is the largest since World War II. The Medical Holdover program is a voluntary option for soldiers who, due to their injuries, are not capable of performing their normal duties but who do not want to be discharged from the military. The Community-Based Health Care Organization (CBHCO) allows the soldiers on Medical Holdover to locate near their hometown and family to help in the healing process. The CBHCO program was developed in 2003 and initiated in February and March of 2004. To be eligible for the program, as well as being unable to return to regular duties, the soldier must live in a state that is participating in the program, be unencumbered by legal or administrative action or holds, and must be able to provide their own transportation to regular doctors appointments and live in a residence that accommodates "functional limitations." "If I was in a wheelchair, I couldn't live at home," Braddock said. Also, the soldier's residence must be within commuting distance (50 miles) from the duty station or work site to which they will be assigned while on Medical Holdover. Giving the soldiers work to do also helps in the healing process, Yingling said. As for medical criteria, the preliminary diagnosis and care plan must be supportable by the CBHCO programs and appropriate medical care must be within commuting range of the soldier's residence. Soldiers with multiple or complex diagnosis as determined at the staff at the Army Mobilization Station and those requiring maxillofacial reconstruction or not eligible for the program. Neither are soldiers who suffer from medical problems that are not commonly treated by civilian practitioners, such as exposure to depleted uranium or chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear agents or who have a working diagnosis of leishmaniasis. Leishmaniasis is a parasitic infection spread by sand flies. Steele said the CBHCO program will impact Georgians the most when members of the Army National Guard 48th Infantry Brigade return from active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. "There are a number of medical and health problems that can happen when they're deployed," Steele said. The Medical Holdover and CBHCO programs are available to National Guard and Reserve members. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need a home for your web domain? We recommend our provider, Hosting Direct https://support.hostingdirect.net/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=nucnews ------------------------ 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/ ***************************************************************** 52 [du-list] How dead animals dumped by HP shipyard lead to Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:33 -0800 Tell Mayor Newsom, ‘Clean up the landfill!’ How dead animals dumped in HP Shipyard lead to cancerous human breasts by Bob Nichols Project Censored Award winner The 46-acre Shipyard landfill, where the bodies of animals killed by radiation were dumped, was once a streambed in a beautiful ravine. Across the cove is the current 49ers’ stadium.Photo: Maurice Campbell Marin County residents, go ahead, carefully and completely feel your breasts and those of the one you are with. Do you feel any small lumps that probably aren’t supposed to be there? If so, just think of the potentially cancerous lumps as a gift from America’s thriving nuclear weapons program more than 50 years ago right here on the shore of San Francisco Bay. The Hunters Point Naval Shipyard’s Naval Radiation Defense Laboratory to be exact. Then lift your eyes to gaze upon the sleek buildings clinging to the finest land overlooking America’s best view and glimpse the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory (atomic bomb factory) annex called Lawrence Berkeley National Lab lording it over Berkeley across the bay. Forget that there are colleges and universities in Berkeley. The real business of the company town is bombs - hydrogen and neutron bombs. In 1955, when this picture was taken, the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, Building 815, was the site of nuclear radiation experiments on animals. The six-story windowless structure still stands today. The sociopaths holed up at the nuclear weapons factory looking down on everybody else call the shots. Everyone in the Bay Area dances to the bomb factory’s invisible tunes called “The Boogie Woogie of Cancerous Deaths by the Bay.” Here’s what these totally brilliant dorks have done to all of us. This includes, of course, former and current San Francisco mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom, who made the absolute career-ending move of getting mixed up with the never-ending lies and oozing corruption coming from on high above the bay. More on the Neutron Twins later. Get ready to call Mayor Newsom now! Here’s what the sadistic, death loving “scientists” from our shared legacy of more than 50 years ago did, in a nutshell. Everybody in the Bay Area who has graduated from the 10th grade, and the whole wide world for that matter, knows that atomic radiation is dangerous, bad and kills people. Period. End of discussion. Uranium is an absolute value of death. X-rays and other weird stuff even. Well, in any country of millions of people, I guess, there are always some who will say about something like this, “Wow! This uranium stuff is so cool. I wonder how fast it kills people and animals? Let’s spend billions of dollars to find out and have a really good time!” And, of course, they convinced the United States government to set them up in the long, white, windowless building in the Hunters Point “paradise on earth” Shipyard on the shore of San Francisco Bay so they could slaughter thousands of animals and find out. At the same time, those knowledgeable enough to put one foot in front of the other and walk realized that it was a nuclear radiation death experiment on humans in the area, too. Yes, that would be you and those you love and care for. Next, they proceeded to use nuclear poison to see how much it took to kill animals. Of course, they had already tested the radiation on U.S. Marines in Hiroshima, Nagasaki and the American deserts during above-ground nuclear bomb tests. The destruction in Japan is still regarded as just a test of nuclear devices. They always want ever more “data.” Enough is never enough with these “scientists.” To make this sadistic orgy of death look “scientific” and to extend the slaughter, the killers in lab coats said they were looking for the amount of the deadly radiation that killed 50 percent of the animals. They even published the results, since they were so proud of their handiwork. Long story short, the death dealing “scientists” went on to have fine careers and retire from the United States government-funded nuclear weapons program. We pay their pensions to this day. In the meantime, guess what these human killing machines did with all the dead and rotting animal corpses? Ha! Turns out they had a really convenient gully out back of their Shipyard lab with a little stream in it that led to San Francisco Bay. They simply chucked all the dead or dying animals into the gully out back when they were through with them. Duhh! Out of sight, out of mind! Hallelujah! Done! Once in San Francisco Bay, the radioactive stew from the dead animals mixes with radioactive fallout from the thousand or so atomic bomb tests the government conducted in the mountains. And there is the connection, folks. Yes, dumping the radioactive, rotting-from-the-inside-out animals into the gully with the little stream in it out back of the Hunters Point Shipyard lab leads directly to the breast cancer epidemic for the Marin County humans who have breasts. That would be everybody, dudes, not just the women. Men are included in this radioactive gift to Marin County of cancer and pus and rotting flesh and death. It’s a plague that Mayor Newsom can choose to clean up! The way all this works is through the mechanism of the little stream in the gully out back. The stream is still there. The radiation is still there. There is a landfill over it now, though. For the past 60 years, the stream has deposited its payload of deadly radioactive particles into the bay. From there, the radioactivity is swept up on the Marin County beaches and mud flats. Like clockwork, the tide goes out, the mud or sand dries out, and the wind blows the radioactive breast-corrupting poison inland some 25 or 30 miles. Wait! It gets worse. The so-called “scientists” at Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Laboratory and bomb factory know this. In fact, they have known it for a long time. So, do any of you readers think they told anyone? Do you think they did what any sane person would do and alert people in the Bay Area to the danger and start the work of cleaning it up - immediately? The answer is straightforward, simple, one word: The answer is “No.” But they did put monitoring devices out in the bay to study the radiation so they could correlate the human kill rates. It was just another fun science experiment. That’s why they decided to “study” human exposure to radiation and see if they could duplicate the results they got years ago killing animals smaller than humans. They did not tell anyone that the mess left behind needed to be cleaned up. Next, we will see how Mayors Willie Brown and Gavin Newsom succumb to that ol’ Devil “Temptation” and want to leave the radioactive mark on the breasts of Marin County - all of them - by building over the radioactive mess, now a poisonous landfill with a little stream at the bottom, instead of cleaning it up like they know they should. I’ll give you readers two guesses as to why Mayors Brown and Newsom chose to proceed with doing exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time in the wrong place in this life-or-death situation for thousands. Any day now, just as soon as he can, Mayor Newsom plans to give Lennar Corp. the go-ahead to proceed with building 1,600 homes alongside the landfill - and he may decide to build a new 49ers stadium on top of the landfill - while the little stream at the bottom of the gully continues to carry the contamination out into the bay forever. Never will it be cleaned up and decontaminated, if Newsom has his way. Marin County breasts will just have to take their chances in a rigged game. No breast is as important as this monument to Mayors Brown and Newsom; don’t you agree that’s the way it’s supposed to be? Don’t you? Don’t you? If this article got you up and off your behind, then call, write, email and/or drop by Mayor Newsom’s office, now. Call the mayor now! Just say to Mayor Newsom, politely of course, “Clean up the landfill!” I certainly would not want Mayor Newsom to think I was encouraging anything else other than quiet, polite, respectful conversation about the premature deaths, killings really, of thousands of men, women and children in the past and into the future. Naw, not at all. You know what to do. Go for it! Call Mayor Newsom at (415) 554-6141, fax him at (415) 554-6160, email him at gavin.newsom@sfgov.org or drop by his office in City Hall Room 200. Email the Bay View at editor@sfbayview.com with your results. © 2004 Bob Nichols. Permission to reprint is granted so long as the story is kept intact. Nichols is a 2004 Project Censored Award winner. He encourages people to learn more about the corruption of the American nuclear weapons program. He may be reached at info-radiation-wars@cox.net. Editor’s note: According to a front page story in Monday’s Chronicle, “Seeking toxic causes of breast cancer,” breast cancer rates in San Francisco are about as high as Marin County’s, and together the rates are the second highest in the world. Other reports have noted especially high rates in San Francisco’s Marina District, which, like Marin, is on the bayshore. In Bay View Hunters Point, the bayshore neighborhood surrounding the Shipyard, record rates of breast cancer, asthma and infant mortality have been reported. A Newsom-Pelosi-Lennar connection? Ever since Lennar/BVHP, a subsidiary of the nation’s largest homebuilder, was designated Master Developer for the Hunters Point Shipyard by the San Francisco Redevelopment Commission, they’ve been dying to get started on the extremely profitable project of building 1,600 new homes right next to the Shipyard’s radioactive, toxic Parcel E landfill, one of the most contaminated sites in the country. And Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has been leading the charge to make it happen. When Lennar first got the nod, Willie Brown was mayor, and San Franciscans learned that he had once had a business relationship with Lennar. What about Mayor Gavin Newsom? Triumphantly, Mayor Newsom announced upon his return from a meeting in Washington with Pelosi in late March, “For the first time, we have the Navy’s signature on an agreement that ensures the conveyance will begin shortly,” according to the April 1 Chronicle (“Navy signs binding pact on first parts of shipyard”). Newsom was speaking of the conveyance of Parcel A, the part of the Shipyard where the new homes are planned, from the Navy to the City. To make it happen, Congresswoman Pelosi, the Democratic “whip” in Congress, had had to call in the ranking Democrat on the House minority appropriations subcommittee, described by the Chronicle as “a big gun,” because the Navy had been “having doubts about going ahead” with the transfer. “‘I have been working on this agreement for more than a decade, and I am proud we are near our goal,’ Pelosi said in a statement” made after the Navy signed off, the Chronicle reported. Could Nancy Pelosi and Gavin Newsom have a personal interest in seeing Lennar succeed? Bay View Hunters Point activists noticed recently that a man named Laurence Pelosi was until very recently the senior vice president of Lennar Communities, another Lennar subsidiary and a component of Lennar/BVHP. Laurence Pelosi was the treasurer for Gavin Newsom’s campaign for mayor last year. He is described in the press as Newsom’s cousin, while Nancy Pelosi is related to Newsom through his aunt. Activists are continuing to look into these intriguing relationships and will keep Bay View readers posted. Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 53 [du-list] state task force to investigate the health effects Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:02 -0800 Veterans exposure to uranium eyed http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14126998&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=10486&rfi=6 By GREGORY B. HLADKY, Journal Register News Service 03/11/2005 HARTFORD -- Two bills focusing on potentially dangerous health risks faced by Connecticut veterans because of exposure to depleted uranium ammunition won initial approval from a legislative committee Thursday. "It's a real milestone," said state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who sponsored one of the bills to assure Connecticut soldiers a legal right to screening and follow-up care for exposure to depleted uranium. "I think we're going to be a real leader on this." The other measure that also won unanimous approval from the legislature's Veterans' Affairs Committee would create a state task force to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium exposure and review the best screening methods used to detect it. Both bills now go to the legislature's Public Health Committee for further action. Dillon said her bill is intended to put into Connecticut law a soldier's right to be tested and treated for exposure to depleted uranium, which is increasingly being used by the U.S. military to enhance the effectiveness of armor-piercing ammunition. "Theoretically, we're putting into state law what the Army says it's already doing," said Dillon. She said many veterans of the first Persian Gulf war and the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have told her the U.S. military isn't providing the needed screening. The co-chair of the veterans' affairs panel, state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said, "By having a task force develop a registry and protections for our soldiers, Connecticut is going to lead the nation in taking care of and insuring the health and well being of our servicemen and servicewomen." Veterans like Melissa Sterry of New Haven, a 42-year-old ex-soldier who served during the first Gulf conflict, have testified they believe exposure to depleted uranium is at least partially responsible for a broad range of devastating illnesses. Sterry's dramatic testimony last month about her long battle to get federal officials to ac-knowledge that exposure to depleted uranium may have contributed to her debilitating problems drew attention to the need for state action. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also testified in support of the legislation at a public hearing Thursday. "Unfortunately, the Defense Department has not fully acknowledged the potential scope of exposure nor has the Department fully tested all veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium," Blumenthal said. Debbi Newton, president-elect of the National Guard Association of Connecticut, submitted testimony calling the proposed task force study "an important first step in understanding what the effects are and how best to treat them and how to fund such treatment." Newton also praised the concept of creating a health registry system for veterans and military personnel so that they could be contacted "years down the road should further study, research or evidence be found that they may be suffering from the effects of exposure and not even know it." ©The Bristol Press 2005 ---------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.7.2 - Release Date: 3/11/05 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 54 [DU-WATCH] Aussies feign concern for troops ... do you believe Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:37:12 -0600 (CST) Only a positive pressure mask will prevent the inhalation of ballistic uranium aerosols. Who is spinning the deceipt to make troops and their families believe that battlefield protection is feasible. Cohen-Joppa believes the Pentagon when it says uranium is not used in high explosive munitons ... guess ADF Public Affairs (ie propogands unit) figures it can sell the same type of BS in their homeland. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/0iazvD/5WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 55 [DU-WATCH] Downwind and downstream Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:39:02 -0600 (CST) Pretending you can release radiation at some safe spot on the planet is kind of like pretending there's a corner for peeing in the swimming pool - only worse. ----- Original Message ----- From: DSNurse@aol.com To: undisclosed-recipients: Sent: Saturday, March 12, 2005 5:45 PM Subject: [gulf-chat] Read closely re symptoms radiation bFOR WE ARE ALL DOWNWINDb Hawaii Conference Features Nuclear Survivors Barbara Grace Ripple Light showers fell on Honolulu as survivors of nuclear radiation and their supporters gathered at Harris United Methodist Church on Saturday, March 5. Welcome and blessing was given by the Rev. Gary Barbaree. The all-day event, hosted by the members of Harris UMC, culminated ten days of emotion, tears and anguish, as survivors from as far as Chernobyl (actual Ukrainian spelling bChornobylb) in the Ukraine, Vieques in Puerto Rico, Olongapo City in the Philippines, Okinawa, Guam, New Mexico and Hawaii gathered first on the atoll of Majuro in the Marshall Islands for the 51st commemoration of the Bravo hydrogen bomb test, and then on to Honolulu for an international conference entitled bOur Land is Our Life.b The languages spoken were different, and many needed interpreters to help tell their stories. The stories were also different, but with a common thread: the physical, emotional, and spiritual damage caused by nuclear testing and nuclear accidents. The Conference, co-sponsored by the U.S.-Japan Committee for Racial Justice and ERUB, a grass-roots support group of survivors from the bombed atolls of Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik and Bikini, included a video of the March 1 remembrance of the 15 megaton Bravo detonation, 100 times as powerful as each of the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Because the survivors were not allowed to speak at the official government conference in Majuro, they held their own well-attended conference in front of the office of the Mayor of Rongelap. The stories told at Harris UMC of the devastation caused by exposure to nuclear fall-out and radiation were shocking. Dr. Lyudmyla Porokhnyak, a Ukrainian physician and medical director of the Ukrainian non-profit organization bZhinocha Hromadab (translation: Womenbs Society), who lived five miles downwind of the Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, spoke of 3.5 million people (including 1.5 million children) affected by the fall-out, and said that there are still 1.5 million people living in areas contaminated by the radiation. Chromosome damage increased seven fold and birth defects doubled; there has also been a marked increase in thyroid cancer and other endocrine disorders, infertility, brain function and nervous system disorders since the accident. A respected community leader in Kyiv (Kiev), Dr. Porokhnyak has worked directly with Chornobyl evacuees and survivors. Dr. Porokhnyak also spoke of hope as she addressed the other survivors through her translator. She has served as the president of a support group working to provide treatment for children suffering from thyroid cancer. Her own son is a thyroid cancer survivor. bCelebrate that life does continue! We are one unified fist; we will fight back against these tragedies. We will make every effort to make a difference.b Maza Atarri, former mayor of Utrik atoll in the Marshall Islands, was a seven year old boy when the first of 67 nuclear tests were done on the atolls of these islands in Micronesia. Three days after the first bomb was dropped, the residents of Utrik were moved to Kwajalein atoll, where they were given injections and medications, and told to bathe in the lagoon twice a day to avoid radiation poisoning. Three months later, the Navy returned the people to Utrik, and they were told they could live normally and eat the food, although the leaves had turned yellow. Later they were advised not to eat the local food (chickens, pigs, fruit, taro). Mr. Atarri, his brother and his sister all suffer from thyroid cancer. His children and grandchildren have many strange illnesses. Program 177 which provided health care for those contaminated by the nuclear tests and their families has been discontinued by the United States government. bPlease help us as we give one voice in asking for support,b was the plea of this now elderly gentleman. The people of the Marshall Islands do not have U.S. citizenship and therefore have no voice or vote with the United States government. The unanswered questions about exposure to nuclear radiation were further offered by Charlie Clark, 78, retired submariner and former officer in the U.S. Navy, who told of being onboard the first ship to enter Nagasaki following the U.S. drop of the nuclear bomb on that city. He will never forget the devastation of lives and property that he saw in that once beautiful city which was leveled by the bomb. Even more, his body will not let him forget. Mr. Clark has had more than 150 surgeries on his face for skin cancers and other effects of the radiation to which he was exposed. He continues to have more surgeries, and reconstructions. He lost the vision in his right eye and hearing in both years. One day, his teeth, with no blood or pulling, simply bfell out.b bAsk your doctor about the effects of ionized radiation,b he urged. The federal government has not acknowledged that those on his ship were exposed to radiation. bThe government said, bno radiation,b and therefore no entitlementb to services. Forced to sign an agreement to remain silent for fifty years, Mr. Clark now speaks of the horror and his pain. One daughter has lupus, another daughter was born with internal organs malformed and is sterile, a granddaughter has a rare skin disorder. A question often asked is bWhat do these survivors want?b The answers that came from each group were similar: understanding, respect, integrity. The survivors want people and their governments to understand the tremendous responsibility and the consequences that come with the use of nuclear power. They want to be known as persons who have suffered a great deal and yet are a people with hope and worth and who deserve to be listened to and treated with respect. They want their governments to be honest and fair, and to compensate for medical treatments, loss of homeland, loss of livelihood. Most of all, they want an acknowledgment that damage has been done, and an apology from those responsible. The survivors who attended the international conference, bOur Land is Our Lifeb honoring the 51st anniversary of Nuclear Survivors Day, March 1, prepared and signed a document of Conference Resolutions. In addition to asking that studies continue on long-term effects of exposure to radioactive fallout and sustained exposure to high-level and low-level radiation, and including education and training in assistance for the psychological impact of natural or human-made disasters, the survivors bdemand that public hearings on the Change of Circumstances Petition be held both in Majuro, Republic of the Marshall Islands, and in Washington, DC, and that representatives of the Non-Governmental Organization ERUB (Enewetak, Rongelap, Utrik & Bikini) be allowed to testify.b The day concluded appropriately with prayers, songs and dances from each of the areas represented by survivors. Different cultures, different languages, different experiences...but all sharing a love of their land and a desire to leave the land, the air and the oceans clean and safe for those who will follow. To learn more: Where and what are the Marshall Islands? Www.rmiembassyus.org View the petition for Change of Circumstances: www.rmiembassyus.org Click on bnuclearb then click on bpetitionb Resource on the nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands? See Beverly Deepe Keeverbs new book, News Zero: The New York Times and the Bomb. A preview of this book can be found online at http://www.nuclearfiles.org/kinuclearweapons/25_keever_suffering-secrecy-exile.htm, or Google bBeverly Deepe Keever.b Shebs a professor at the University of Hawaii. What can be done? 1) Contact your senators and representative and ask that the Marshall Islandsb Petition for Change of Circumstances be passed; 2) Demand that our government not continue to bprotect usb from the truth about hazards of nuclear radiation. 3) Work for peace and a nuclear-free Pacific. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/0iazvD/5WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 56 [DU-WATCH] DU "research" by US Govt agencies Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 01:35:44 -0600 (CST) "I HAVE HEARD FROM ENOUGH VETS INCLUDING MYSELF OF TEETH BREAKING OFF AT GUM LINE, MORE RAPID DETERIORIATION THAN SHOULD BE REASONABLY OCCURRING." and "Pentagon officials have rebuffed attempts to give experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and other agencies a bigger role in researching the possible effects of depleted uranium, even though those agencies are more experienced in that work, according to congressional testimony." ------------------ After $247 Million, What Is There to Show? CHAPTER 4: THE BATTLEFIELD AT HOME http://www.dailypress.com/news/specials/dp-du4,0,4816042.story?coll=dp-break ing-news For 20 years and two days, Steve Robinson was a soldier. He jumped from airplanes, trained to fight and prepared to die for his country. He was tough and resourceful enough to win the beret of an Army Ranger. Now he fights in Washington, D.C. Often against the same outfit that trained him. For the past few years, Robinson has been executive director of the Gulf War Resource Center Inc., a small-budget nonprofit group devoted to working on issues important to veterans of the 1991 war and active-duty troops in the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The center operates out of the offices of the Vietnam Veterans of America organization near Washington. Robinson's last assignment in the Army was at the Pentagon, working for the officials in charge of looking out for the veterans of the 1991 war. He says their willingness to put the Pentagon's public-relations ratings ahead of veterans' health prompted his career switch. For the past few years, he's been one of the most public and persistent critics of the Pentagon's insistence that depleted uranium weapons are not a significant health risk to troops on the battlefield. Robinson says he doesn't know whether depleted uranium weapons should be banned. But he says the Pentagon is so enamored with them and so concerned about its image, officials won't pay attention to the mounting evidence that they might be more harm than good. The ultra-effective anti-tank weapons are crucial aspects of the U.S. arsenal, and Pentagon officials say it would be a huge loss if they were deemed too dangerous. Every time that the weapons hit a hard target, they create thousands of particles of mildly radioactive toxic dust, small enough to be inhaled. A growing number of scientists are finding that the dust - even in small quantities - can cause genetic damage that they think might lead to cancer and other problems. Early research also indicates that the dust can migrate to the brain of rats forced to breathe small quantities of the dust, raising the possibility that some veterans' neurological problems are linked to the weapons. Robinson says one of the most important ways that the Pentagon has tried to sweep the issue out of sight involves its handling of millions of dollars used to investigate the cause of the illnesses suffered by Gulf War vets. Instead of pursuing the cause of the veterans' health problems, he says, Pentagon officials have put the bulk of their efforts and money on studies that would discount the problem or show that the illnesses are mental, not physical. Robinson isn't alone in that criticism. AFTER $247 MILLION, A CAUSE HAS YET TO BE FOUND According to Congress' Government Accountability Office, $247 million has been spent in the past 12 years to research the causes and possible cures of Gulf War vets' illnesses. Most was spent on work that would demonstrate or augment the Pentagon's original theory - that stress and people unable to handle it are the problem, not any of the weapons, pills or chemicals that the Pentagon produced, according to congressional testimony in June. The Pentagon has controlled 74 percent of that $247 million, with the Department of Veterans Affairs and other federal agencies spending the rest, says the accountability office, commonly known as the GAO. The military and U.S. government also controls the availability of depleted uranium for use in experiments by outside researchers, though there are chemical substitutes that can be used. Pentagon officials have rebuffed attempts to give experts at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and other agencies a bigger role in researching the possible effects of depleted uranium, even though those agencies are more experienced in that work, according to congressional testimony. Several Nobel Prize winners have told Congress that researchers who might be interested in getting involved have been discouraged by the military's stranglehold over the money to finance the work and the way it controls other information about Gulf War veterans. Some of the $247 million went to explore legitimate theories that proved invalid - a natural and unavoidable result of that kind of work, many researchers say. For instance, government officials in July ended years of research into whether a bacterial infection could be causing the neurological problems the veterans suffer. Other expensive efforts were doomed from the beginning because they were poorly designed or set out to do the impossible, the GAO says. POOR PLANNING, EXECUTION MEANS $13.7 MILLION WASTED One recent example is an investigation into how many troops were possibly exposed to chemical weapons and other dangers as a result of a fire at an Iraqi munitions depot in Khamisiyah in 1991. According to the most recent official government account of the incident, the CIA warned the military before the war that chemical weapons were stored there, but the word never filtered to commanders in the field. Military officials ordered the depot destroyed, and a potentially lethal cloud of debilitating chemicals might have been launched into the air. In 1993, the Pentagon and CIA said no one was exposed. In 1996, after news-media and congressional investigations, they acknowledged that there might be a problem, albeit a small one. At first, the two government agencies said hundreds of troops might be affected and that the amount of chemical poison was so small as to be inconsequential. Then a copy of a classified document was leaked, and the government called a news conference and announced that it was really thousands of troops, congressional testimony said. Finally, in 2000, the government's official estimate was upped to 101,752 troops, the GAO says. But even that number was suspect. So to get a better handle on the facts, the Pentagon paid consultants $13.7 million to develop computer models and do other work. It also spent untold dollars and man-hours on the project with its own staff, so the true cost of this study can't be established, the GAO reported in June. What resulted was a study so poorly conceived and done, it's worthless, the GAO says. Part of the problem is that some of the data necessary to do it right just isn't obtainable because no one was keeping reliable records on weather and wind conditions in Iraq at the time of the explosion. As a result, no one can say how far - or in what direction - the windborne chemicals might have gone. And there's no reliable information on exactly what was in the depot when it was blown up. A similar incident occurred at the Blackhorse Army base in Doha, Kuwait, on July 11, 1991. In that case, more than 7,000 pounds of depleted uranium weapons were destroyed in smoke and flames, along with four Abrams tanks and millions of dollars of other equipment and armaments. The heater for a munitions truck malfunctioned, caught fire and caused a series of explosions and fires in the base motor pool, the Pentagon's report on the incident says. As recently as last year, microscopic bits of depleted uranium could be found in the sand and debris there, other studies found. TROOPS HAD NO WARNING OF DANGER AFTER 1991 FIRE Pentagon records show that within hours of the fire, officers in the chain of command at Doha received the first of several notices about potential health hazards from the burning depleted uranium. The warnings contained specific directions about precautions that should be taken in the cleanup. None of those precautions were taken. The soldiers on the ground weren't told about the problem until 1998. The Army says the commanding officer didn't recall getting the warnings. The Pentagon offered no explanation for why soldiers involved in the four-month cleanup after the fire were allowed to handle materials with their bare hands and no precautions. After 1998, a government-maintained laboratory studied the situation. Despite the lack of adequate data and that "large uncertainties exist," it concluded none of the troops incurred a significant health problem by inhaling the depleted uranium dust created by the fire. That lab used many of the same techniques employed in the Khamisiyah analysis. No GAO examination of Doha has been requested. The Doha base is still used by U.S. troops today, though the site of the fire is a restricted area. Troops from Fort Eustis deployed to the region visit there frequently. Doha is one of the major embarkation points for U.S. troops entering the Iraqi theater of war. It also has an amusement park and post exchange, making it a popular spot for off-duty troops to visit when they have a day off. The Army says the site, which is near a refinery, is safe. BASIC FACT-FINDING WASN'T DONE, EPIDEMIOLOGIST SAYS Critics of the government's efforts to find the cause of Persian Gulf War veterans' health problems say these examples aren't the most important oversights or missteps. Despite all the research spending, the military and government have yet to do a responsible epidemiological study that includes some of the fundamental data necessary to unravel the problem, says Robert Haley, a former CDC official. Haley is now chief of the department of epidemiology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and author of important studies on Gulf War veterans' health problems. A good epidemiological study would give researchers a handle on how many veterans are ill with undiagnosed problems, where they were during the war, what vaccinations they were given, what they did while deployed and other data, Haley says. It should have been done more than a decade ago as one of the first steps after they realized a problem existed, he says. Haley's criticisms are echoed by a number of scientists, but his background in tracking down the causes of high-profile illnesses sets him apart. At the CDC, he helped lead the investigation into toxic shock syndrome in the late 1970s, showing how women were getting critically ill because of the new generation of tampons they were using. He got involved in looking at Gulf War veterans' illnesses in the mid-1990s, after Texas businessman Ross Perot asked the dean of the Dallas medical center how much money it would take to start looking at reasons for the maladies that so many veterans were suffering. Perot said he'd been hiring former military personnel for years and just wasn't buying the Pentagon's line that these men and women were merely weak of body, will or mind, Haley recalls. The first thing that Haley did was look at the available data on the disease. He says he was surprised to find out that the basics of figuring out an epidemiological puzzle hadn't been done, despite all the money and time the government had spent. Instead of starting by spending a lot of money to prove one or two possible theories for the cause, he says, a good epidemiologist will start gathering some basic facts. Those facts would include who's involved (the sick people and people just like them who aren't sick), what they did during the war, where they were and other factors. That way, the epidemiologist can see what's common among the people who are sick and the people who aren't. Usually, he says, there will be only one or two things that the sick people have in common that turn out to be statistically significant and worth pursuing with research money. EPIDEMIOLOGY 101: THE CASE OF SUSPICIOUS POTATO SALAD A classic example is figuring out why some people got sick at a church picnic, he says. A good epidemiologist would interview the people who went to the picnic (those who got sick and those who didn't). She'd find out what games they played, what food they ate and where they were at the picnic. Then all that data would be compared, and you'd typically find a common thread - for instance, all the sick people ate potato salad and none of the well people ate it. Only then would you spend the money to take the potato salad to the lab to examine it, he says. But the government didn't do that - and still hasn't done it - Haley says. Instead, it did three studies that said the vets weren't really sick or, at least, they were no worse off than most people their age. The only difference it found was a slight increase in accidental deaths among the Gulf War vets. "They were so convinced that they would find nothing that they found nothing and published the data," he says. Haley took the numbers the government-sponsored epidemiologists used in those studies to demonstrate just the opposite. He showed where researchers made questionable assumptions and how the same data could point in the opposite direction if other, more logical assumptions were used. A big mistake here, he says, is the government studies assumed that military personnel deployed for the war were just as healthy as anyone else in the military or the general public. So after the war, when they were found to be just as likely to die or get sick as other people, the government concluded that there was no problem. But the deployed soldiers were probably much healthier than those other groups to start with because they had to pass a rigorous physical exam to be considered for deployment overseas, Haley says. In that war, many troops were deemed not deployable because they were HIV-positive, were injured or otherwise in questionable health. Well before the Gulf War, epidemiologists had a stock phrase to describe this phenomenon: the "healthy warrior effect." The government's researchers should have been familiar with it, Haley says. There were other problems, too. Haley and others noted that the data the government used in claiming only normal rates of death, cancer, infant deformities and other problems among Gulf War veterans came solely from military and VA hospitals. That left out most of the people who'd served in the war, Haley says - people who were reservists or got out of the military and weren't eligible for treatment in government hospitals. It wasn't surprising that data collected about active-duty military personnel using military hospitals showed they weren't sick; the sick ones had been forced out of uniform, Haley says. Members of Congress and others have latched onto that work and similar studies to force changes in the way the Defense Department, VA and other government agencies handle research, Haley and others say. SOME NEW FACES, SOME OLD PROBLEMS In 2002, Haley, Robinson and other critics of the government's handling of the research were appointed to a new panel of experts that advises the head of the VA on the research that should be conducted to find the cause of the vets' illnesses. Haley says he's encouraged that the government is slowly turning around to face the problem. In the past couple of years, he says, meaningful research has begun to trickle in, and the research is becoming better focused. A proper epidemiological study is scheduled to begin in January, he notes. There are still problems from within government agencies that have fought an honest approach to the problem, Haley, Robinson and others on the advisory panel say. Some of the bureaucrats who have thwarted progress are gone or shunted aside, they say, but others remain. The GAO reported in June that the advisory panel was having problems getting reliable information from the Pentagon and even from officials within the VA. Panel members aren't consistently being told about research being considered for financing, so they can help ensure that money is directed to the greatest needs, the GAO said. The panel also wasn't even being told about research when it was finished, the agency said. As of Sept. 23, 2003, about 80 percent of the 240 federally financed medical research projects for Gulf War illnesses had been completed, the GAO said in June. Yet the last time the VA reviewed this research to determine whether there were gaps and where there were opportunities that needed to be pursued was in 2001, the report said. The VA's inaction is important because it's responsible for coordinating the government's Gulf War illness research, even though it's not been given the bulk of the money to do that work. The VA has also been slow to act in other ways. In June, VA officials admitted to Congress that they had allocated only $450,000 of the $20 million budgeted for Gulf War illness research for the year. By then, three-fourths of the budget year was over. VA officials acknowledge that they need to do a better job. The government's Gulf War research coordinating group (a separate panel from the advisory committee) hadn't met since August 2003, the GAO said in its June report. The GAO said that when it checked with the coordinating group in April 2004, it found that there were no plans to meet again. Jim Binns, chairman of the VA secretary's Gulf War advisory committee, told Congress in June that he was concerned that the Defense Department had no plans to spend money on new Gulf War illness research in coming years. He said that meant total government research spending on Gulf War illnesses would drop from $35 million a year to $11 million, just as promising developments in research needed to be followed up. Most of the $11 million will have limited scope, too, because VA administrators can't spend money for research that isn't directly related to VA patients. The work on depleted uranium research that many scientists say is necessary thus isn't eligible. Michael E. Kilpatrick, the Pentagon's deputy director for health issues involving deployed forces, says that doesn't mean the Pentagon is putting a halt to all this research. He says the military will continue to pursue the studies that are underway until they're concluded. With money tight, he says, the Pentagon must use more of its healthcare budget to benefit soldiers fighting current and future wars, not those of the past. RESEARCH MONEY BECOMING HARDER TO FIND THESE DAYS That decision was made in 2002, Kilpatrick says, when only one in six vets of the 1991 war was still in uniform. None of the active-duty troops from the 1991 war have the health problems targeted by Gulf War illness research. With a war on, members of Congress pushing veterans' issues say it will be hard to beef up money for research in the VA or other budgets. VA medical centers are starting to feel the effects of caring for troops from the continued fighting overseas. Binns notes that the VA, even in recent years, hasn't been very good about making sure that the money it has for research in this area is well spent. "As recently as 2003, the VA budget in that year - according to the most recent report to Congress - provided for about $4.1 million in Gulf War illness research. Of that amount, 57 percent went to study stress and other psychological causes, 17 percent went to study things like Web-based training for VA physicians and bioterrorism events," he says. Only 17 percent of the money went to things that the advisory committee thinks are directly linked to the soldiers' suffering, Binns says. Alexandra Miller is a government scientist who's carried out some of the most important research into the health effects of depleted uranium. She says Pentagon money for pursuing the results of that work has started to dry up in recent years. "There's not enough money to complete the research," she says, just as science is close to closing the loop on whether depleted uranium is dangerous. She and Vernon Walker - a cancer biologist in New Mexico who's conducted experiments linking inhaled uranium to cellular mutations in rats - say completing the research would take only $5 million if the right projects were financed. That could truly determine whether, once and for all, inhaled depleted uranium is a hazard on the battlefield, they say. "We could be answering these questions, and we wouldn't have to have these kinds of conversations four years from now," Miller says. Richard Albertini, one of the nation's leading cancer researchers, says access to money isn't the only thing that hampers research. He's one of more than a dozen doctors and scientists involved in a continuing medical study assessing the effect of depleted uranium shrapnel in veterans of the 1991 war. The Pentagon has called this study "the gold standard" of whether adverse health can result from exposure to depleted uranium on the battlefield and frequently points to its findings as support for its arguments that the weapons are safe. In the most recently published version of the study, Albertini says, three veterans showed an increased rate of mutations in a gene that doctors think is a "marker" for cancer. A marker for cancer isn't cancer itself but a warning signal that something might be wrong. In this case, the genes were in the white blood cells of the soldiers. Based on that finding, Walker exposed rats to air with very small particles of depleted uranium, to see whether the same kind of mutations would develop. The rats did develop these mutations, which supports the idea that inhaling depleted uranium dust can cause cancer, Albertini and Walker say. The mutations in the marker become less pronounced over time, Albertini says, so it's important to have blood samples from veterans of the more recent war to see whether these mutations continue and to do more research. So far, he says, the military and VA say samples aren't available, even though obtaining them isn't difficult and costs less than $100 apiece, he says. This isn't an idle academic exercise, Albertini says: Researchers might be close to finding a chemical that can halt the mutations, which might mean development of a pill or drug soldiers could take on the battlefield to reverse or arrest the mutations soon after their exposure. Experiments using chickens have been successful in halting the mutations in a test tube, Albertini says. He and Walker say that work could lead to antidotes to "dirty bombs," - explosives made of low-grade nuclear materials such as depleted uranium. Government officials have repeatedly said the nation's urban areas are vulnerable to such attacks if terrorists can obtain a sufficient quantity of the right radioactive materials. A LEGACY OF MISTRUST FROM PREVIOUS WARS Robinson and other veterans' advocates say they're afraid that the Pentagon's attitude toward soldiers' health and the failure to properly address illnesses from the 1991 Gulf War will be equaled in the new war. They say a pattern has developed that will make it difficult for any veteran to believe what the government says. Soldiers, sailors and civilians were often used as guinea pigs in experiments of how nuclear blasts might affect human beings in the years after World War II. The government never told them what was happening, then denied it - then denied that they were at risk until recently. "It took 40 years for them to get treatment and care, " Robinson says. Then came the Vietnam War and Agent Orange, a chemical used to kill acres and acres of jungle foliage, to make it easier for U.S. troops to find and kill the enemy. The government insisted for years that the chemical wasn't a problem, then finally admitted it was. Documents show that U.S. leaders knew the truth in 1972 - maybe earlier - but continued using it anyway, Robinson says. He says the same thing might be happening with depleted uranium and other possible causes of the Gulf War vets' ill health. Part of the problem of getting to the truth of Gulf War veterans' illnesses is that too many people use the issue for ideological purposes, he says. Critics of the weapon on the left use the radiological properties of depleted uranium "to scare people: Depleted uranium is the holocaust," Robinson says. "Then you have the Department of Defense on the right," saying there's no problem and questioning the motives and patriotism of critics, he says. A week before launching Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the Pentagon briefed reporters to reiterate the safety of depleted uranium weapons and note the failure of anyone to conclusively link them to any of the health problems from the Persian Gulf War. Col. James Naughton, then the Army's director of munitions, was brought out to speak. According to a transcript issued by the Pentagon, he talked about how much of a battlefield advantage the weapon is. "So we don't want to give that up," he said, "and that's why we use it." One of the reporters asked him why giving up the weapon was even being raised, if the weapon was so safe. "Well, you need to look at the environment of the context where people are asking us questions - who's asking the question?" Naughton replied. "The Iraqis tell us, 'Terrible things happened to our people because you used it last time.' "Why do they want it to go away? They want it to go away because we kicked the crap out of them - OK?" Later in the briefing, Naughton made it clear he thought that Iraq "and other countries that are not friendly to the United States" were behind criticism of the weapon. With those kinds of extremes, not much has happened in the middle, Robinson says. "In the middle," he says, "is the science that has not been conducted." ------------------------------------- PLEASE POST TO EVERY EMAIL GROUP,LIST, CONGRESSIONAL DISTRIBUTION, SENATORIAL, FEDERAL AND STATE. CALL TO ACTION FROM DENISE NICHOLS, DSNURSE@AOL.COM This is probably the best article that reviews the fight that Gulf War Veterans (90-91) have been in for 14 years. I am asking that all help circulate this post to every EMail List and to ALL Congressmen and Senators Federal and State Level! WE need to have THE RIGHT RESEARCH AND FOR 14 YEARS WE WERE LOSING, I BELIEVE WE HAVE TURNED THE CORNER NOW AND THAT GREAT AND FAST STRIDES CAN BE MADE! SOME THINGS THAT NEED TO BE DONE 1. VA REGULATORY CHANGE -----RESEARCH MONEY GIVEN TO VA FOR GULF WAR VETERANS MUST BE ALLOWED TO BE USED BY SCIENTISTS THAT ARE NOT 5/8 TIME WITH VA-----WE WANT THE REGULATION TO SHOW AN EXEMPTION FOR GULF WAR ILLNESS RESEARCH! THIS CAN BE DONE WITHOUT A NEW LAW----BUT WE NEED ALL US REPS AND SENATORS TO FORCE VA TO MAKE A REGULATORY CHANGE BY PUTTING IN PLACE AN EXEMPTION. I AM ASKING FOR A FULL OUT ASSAULT VETERANS! THIS MEANS EMAIL,FAX,LETTER WRITING TO THE HILL. THE VA HAD 14 YEARS AND THROUGH ALL THE HEARINGS AND RESULTS OF THEIR SPENDING WE HAVE SEEN THAT THE VA HAS NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN GULF WAR RESEARCH. 2. THE PROCESS OF RESEARCH PROPOSALS REVIEWS MUST BE CHANGED NOW. WE WANTED GULF WAR RESEARCH PROPOSALS IN A SEPERATE STACK NOT MIXED IN WITH ALL RESEARCH PROPOSALS. WE WANT THE PEOPLE THAT SIT ON THAT REVIEW PROCESS TO BE THE BEST EDUCATED AND TO INCLUDE MEMBERS OF THE VA-RAC-GWI COMMITTEE ARE AT LEAST TO HAVE A BRIEFING AND SOME OVERSIGHT BY THE VA-RAC-GWI COMMITTEE. THIS AGAIN IS A DOEABLE THING AND I DONT THINK IT WILL TAKE A NEW BILL OR LAW TO DO IT BUT MAYBE A PROPOSED BILL BY LEGISLATORS WILL SHOW WE ARE ALL SERIOUS! AGAIN FULL OUT ASSAULT VETERANS WE NEED TO GET THE FAX MACHINES HUMMING! AND EMAIL BOXES FULL AND PHONES RINGING. THE ONLY THING WE CAN DO IS THE GOOD GRASSROOT RESPONSE WE ARE POWERFUL WHEN WE HAVE ACTIONABLE GOALS AND A MEANS TO GET IT DONE! WE ALSO NEED ALL LEGISLATORS AWARE TO KEEP THE FUNDING GOING AND NOT LET IT DIE AND WE ALSO WANT MONEY AVAILABLE THROUGH THE GOVERNMENT TO GO TO OTHER RESEARCH OPTIONS RE NIH/NAS. WITH THE RIGHT TARGETTED APPROACH WE CAN GET THIS JOB DONE! NEXT WE NEED THE CLAIMS ADJUDICATORS TO DO THEIR JOB AND HAVE THE RIGHT TRAINING. WE NEED VA TO ENFORCE THE FULL EXTEND OF THE LAWS THAT WERE PASSED TO HELP GULF WAR VETERANS! THE SENSE OF CONGRESS IN ALL THE BILLS PASSED WAS TO HELP GULF WAR VETERANS GET THEIR COMPENSATION AND VA HAS NOT FOLLOWED THAT DESIRE INSTEAD HIDING BEHIND THE PAST FAULTY IDEA THAT SCIENCE RESEARCH WAS NOT VALIDATING THE GULF WAR VETERANS CONCERNS. WE ALSO WANT A MEANS THAT GULF WAR VETERANS CAN GET THE TESTING NOW AND THAT MEANS MRI-RS AND ANY OTHER TEST. WE NEED THE VETERANS TO BE ABLE TO GET THE DIAGNOSTIC TESTING THAT WILL ANSWER QUESTIONS NOW AND I AM INFURIATED THAT ONLY A VERY FEW HAVE BEEN ABLE TO GET THIS TEST IN DALLAS OR CALIFORNIA. GULF WAR VETERANS LIVE IN EVERY STATE! MANY VA PHYSICIANS PROBABLY THE MAJORITY HAVE NOT READ THE FINDINGS BY THE VA-RAC-GWI! HOW CAN A DOCTOR HELP US IF THEY ARE NOT INFORMED, EDUCATED, OR BRIEFED...WE ARE IN THE CENTURY THAT DRS CAN CONNECT USING THE TELECONFERENCE ABILITIES THAT THE VA HAS! WE WANT THE RAC-GWI AND THE SCIENTIST NOW INVOLVED TO CONDUCT THIS TRAINING ASAP. AND EVERY VA DR SHOULD BE MANDATED TO VIEW SUCH TELECONFERENCE. AGAIN THIS IS A DOEABLE TASK! VSOS SHOULD DEMAND A FULL AND COMPLETE REVIEW OF ALL GULF WAR VETERAN CLAIMS PAST AND PRESENT. WE KNOW THAT FOR 14 YRS TO GET THE GWVETS COMPENSATED THAT WHEN CLAIMS WERE SUBMITTED IN ORDER TO GET THEM COMPENSATED THAT THE CLAIMS WERE SUBMITTED USING PTSD OR ANYTHING ELSE TO GET THEM RATED. THE TIME HAS COME TO GET THE FACTS STRAIGHT! IF THEY HAD SYMPTOMS AND THEIR CLAIMS WERE NOT SUBMITED UNDER UNDIAGNOSED THEN THE CLAIMS NEED TO BE RECONSIDERED NOW. WE NEED TO HAVE FULL DEATH COUNT OF GULF WAR VETERANS THAT HAVE DIED SINCE THE GULF WAR THIS MEANS A SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER MATCH UP FOR EVERY GULF WAR VETERAN, I AM NOT SURE THAT DOING A DEATH INDICES(SS) STUDY IS GOING TO DO THAT! WE NEED A LISTING OF DEATHS BY CAUSE-UNIT(LOCATION). WE NEED TO HONOR THESE VETERANS WHO DIED THAT MAY BE RELATED TO THEIR EXPOSURES. WE NEED THE VA TO REGULATE THAT GULF WAR VETERANS CAN AT LEAST HAVE EVALUATION EXAMS FOR EYE CLINIC AND DENTAL CLINIC SO THAT WE CAN AT LEAST START A DATA COLLECTION ON WHAT IS HAPPENING WITH OUR EYE SIGHT AND DENTAL DETERIORIATION. RIGHT NOW YOU CAN NOT EVEN GET SEEN IN EYE/DENTAL CLINIC UNLESS YOU ARE RATED 100%! SO THEREFORE THEY HAVE NO DATA ON THAT AREA TO EVEN HELP US WITH RESEARCH BEGINNING POINT. I HAVE HEARD FROM ENOUGH VETS INCLUDING MYSELF OF TEETH BREAKING OFF AT GUM LINE, MORE RAPID DETERIORIATION THAN SHOULD BE REASONABLY OCCURRING. ALSO EYES AND REPORTS OF VISION DIFFICULTIES AND REPORTS OF CATARACTS AND GLAUCOMA FROM THE GULF WAR VETERANS. THE OLD ADAGE OF IF YOU DONT LOOK YOU DONT FIND APPLIES. EYE AND DENTAL CARE IS EXPENSIVE AND SOMEHOW NEGLECTED IN TOTAL BODY HEALTH APPROACH AT VA! BUT THESE RELATE TO NEURO DAMAGE AND IMMUNE SYSTEM DAMAGE. GULF WAR VETERANS ARE HURTING FINANCIALLY AND THESE TWO AREAS CAN NOT BE NEGLECTED! I ALSO ASK ALL VETS TO GET IN TOUCH WITH ME IF YOU ARE HAVING THESE PROBLEMS....CALL ME OR EMAIL ME ASAP. I WILL BE SETTING UP YAHOO GROUPS FOR THESE CONCERNS JUST LIKE WE HAVE WITH GWVETS EXPERIENCING MS! ALSO HEADS UP WILL HAVE MORE INFO ON THIS OUT SHORTLY. WILL ALL I THINK THAT GIVES YOU SOME GUIDANCE. EVENTUALLY WE ARE GOING TO HAVE TO READDRESSED A BILL/LAW TO GIVE SOME KIND OF BLANKET PRESUMED COVERAGE FOR GWVETS! THIS WAS INITIALLY MENTIONED AT THE SENATE VA HEARINGS WHEN STORMIN NORM TESTIFIED. AGENT ORANGE LEGISLATION TOOK 30 YEARS AND HAPPENED IN 91. WILL GWVETS ARE AT 14YRS AND COUNTING! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Help save the life of a child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/0iazvD/5WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 57 [DU-WATCH] Veterans exposure to uranium eyed Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 12:53:46 -0600 (CST) Veterans exposure to uranium eyed http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14126998&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=10486&rfi=6 By GREGORY B. HLADKY, Journal Register News Service 03/11/2005 HARTFORD -- Two bills focusing on potentially dangerous health risks faced by Connecticut veterans because of exposure to depleted uranium ammunition won initial approval from a legislative committee Thursday. "It's a real milestone," said state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who sponsored one of the bills to assure Connecticut soldiers a legal right to screening and follow-up care for exposure to depleted uranium. "I think we're going to be a real leader on this." The other measure that also won unanimous approval from the legislature's Veterans' Affairs Committee would create a state task force to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium exposure and review the best screening methods used to detect it. Both bills now go to the legislature's Public Health Committee for further action. Dillon said her bill is intended to put into Connecticut law a soldier's right to be tested and treated for exposure to depleted uranium, which is increasingly being used by the U.S. military to enhance the effectiveness of armor-piercing ammunition. "Theoretically, we're putting into state law what the Army says it's already doing," said Dillon. She said many veterans of the first Persian Gulf war and the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have told her the U.S. military isn't providing the needed screening. The co-chair of the veterans' affairs panel, state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said, "By having a task force develop a registry and protections for our soldiers, Connecticut is going to lead the nation in taking care of and insuring the health and well being of our servicemen and servicewomen." Veterans like Melissa Sterry of New Haven, a 42-year-old ex-soldier who served during the first Gulf conflict, have testified they believe exposure to depleted uranium is at least partially responsible for a broad range of devastating illnesses. Sterry's dramatic testimony last month about her long battle to get federal officials to ac-knowledge that exposure to depleted uranium may have contributed to her debilitating problems drew attention to the need for state action. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also testified in support of the legislation at a public hearing Thursday. "Unfortunately, the Defense Department has not fully acknowledged the potential scope of exposure nor has the Department fully tested all veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium," Blumenthal said. Debbi Newton, president-elect of the National Guard Association of Connecticut, submitted testimony calling the proposed task force study "an important first step in understanding what the effects are and how best to treat them and how to fund such treatment." Newton also praised the concept of creating a health registry system for veterans and military personnel so that they could be contacted "years down the road should further study, research or evidence be found that they may be suffering from the effects of exposure and not even know it." Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give the gift of life to a sick child. Support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's 'Thanks & Giving.' http://us.click.yahoo.com/3iazvD/6WnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 58 [DU Information List] Veterans exposure to uranium eyed Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:26 -0800 Veterans exposure to uranium eyed http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14126998&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=10486&rfi=6 By GREGORY B. HLADKY, Journal Register News Service 03/11/2005 HARTFORD -- Two bills focusing on potentially dangerous health risks faced by Connecticut veterans because of exposure to depleted uranium ammunition won initial approval from a legislative committee Thursday. "It's a real milestone," said state Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, who sponsored one of the bills to assure Connecticut soldiers a legal right to screening and follow-up care for exposure to depleted uranium. "I think we're going to be a real leader on this." The other measure that also won unanimous approval from the legislature's Veterans' Affairs Committee would create a state task force to investigate the health effects of depleted uranium exposure and review the best screening methods used to detect it. Both bills now go to the legislature's Public Health Committee for further action. Dillon said her bill is intended to put into Connecticut law a soldier's right to be tested and treated for exposure to depleted uranium, which is increasingly being used by the U.S. military to enhance the effectiveness of armor-piercing ammunition. "Theoretically, we're putting into state law what the Army says it's already doing," said Dillon. She said many veterans of the first Persian Gulf war and the current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have told her the U.S. military isn't providing the needed screening. The co-chair of the veterans' affairs panel, state Sen. Gayle Slossberg, D-Milford, said, "By having a task force develop a registry and protections for our soldiers, Connecticut is going to lead the nation in taking care of and insuring the health and well being of our servicemen and servicewomen." Veterans like Melissa Sterry of New Haven, a 42-year-old ex-soldier who served during the first Gulf conflict, have testified they believe exposure to depleted uranium is at least partially responsible for a broad range of devastating illnesses. Sterry's dramatic testimony last month about her long battle to get federal officials to ac-knowledge that exposure to depleted uranium may have contributed to her debilitating problems drew attention to the need for state action. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal also testified in support of the legislation at a public hearing Thursday. "Unfortunately, the Defense Department has not fully acknowledged the potential scope of exposure nor has the Department fully tested all veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium," Blumenthal said. Debbi Newton, president-elect of the National Guard Association of Connecticut, submitted testimony calling the proposed task force study "an important first step in understanding what the effects are and how best to treat them and how to fund such treatment." Newton also praised the concept of creating a health registry system for veterans and military personnel so that they could be contacted "years down the road should further study, research or evidence be found that they may be suffering from the effects of exposure and not even know it." Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ---------- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pandora-project/ * * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: * pandora-project-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com * * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ***************************************************************** 59 [NYTr] DU: Our Tools of War Turned Against Ourselves Date: Sat, 12 Mar 2005 15:48:09 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit sent by Jane Franklin Chronicle of Higher Education - February 18, 2005 http://chronicle.com/weekly/v51/i24/24b00701.htm Our Tools of War, Turned Blindly Against Ourselves By ROB NIXON What is a war casualty? The answer appears painfully obvious. It asserts itself not through argument but, more viscerally, through photographs: a torso shredded by a road-side bomb; a bloodied peasant spread-eagled in a ditch; a soldier (cigarette dangling nonchalantly) smashing his boot into a dead woman's head. Yet such images account only for immediate, visually arresting fatalities. What about those casualties that don't fit the photographic stereotypes, casualties that occur long after major combat has been concluded, casualties whose belatedness and dispersal make them resistant to dramatic packaging? The news media, in thrall to speed and spectacle, lack the attention span to follow war-inflicted catastrophes that take years or generations to exact their toll. Public debate is overdue on war's hidden human and environmental costs, a debate that acknowledges the changes in the ways that contemporary wars kill. We also need more scholarly inquiry into the ways that military euphemisms like "precision" warfare, "surgical" strikes, "smart" wars, and now "depleted" uranium have helped legitimize recent, high-tech conflicts while concealing their long-term toxic impact. The rhetoric of precision has lulled us into regarding the fatalities of war as swift, immediate killings. But, ironically, the increasing reliance of American and British forces on "precision" warfare has coincided with the integration of depleted uranium into their missiles, bullets, and tank armor. Ever since the Persian Gulf war of 1991, a new kind of fatal, environmental imprecision has been built into "precision" warfare. The gulf war was history's first depleted-uranium conflict. Arguably, not since Hiroshima and Nagasaki have humans unleashed a military substance so tenaciously hostile to life itself. Depleted uranium possesses a durability beyond our comprehension -- it has a radioactive half-life of 4.51 billion years. When it enters the environment, it effectively does so for all time. In the age of depleted-uranium warfare, we have an ethical obligation to challenge the military body counts that consistently underestimate (in advance and in retrospect) the true toll of waging high-tech wars. Who is counting the staggered deaths that civilians and soldiers suffer from depleted uranium ingested or blown across the desert? Who is counting the belated fatalities from unexploded cluster bombs that lie in wait for months or years, metastasizing into landmines? Who is counting deaths from chemical residues left behind by so-called "pinpoint" bombing, residues that turn into foreign insurgents, infiltrating native rivers and poisoning the food chain? Who is counting the victims of genetic deterioration -- the stillborn, malformed infants conceived by parents whose DNA has been scrambled by war's toxins? The calculus of any conflict needs to incorporate such environmental casualties. They may suffer slow, invisible deaths that don't fit the news cycle at CNN or Fox, but they are casualties of war nonetheless. The proponents of "smart" wars often market them as humane because they appear to promise not just greater accuracy but greater brevity. The Iraq war has complicated that assumption, exposing the chasm between a hygienically "smart" war and the messy hazards of a drawn-out, urban-guerrilla conflict. Innumerable commentators have made this point. They typically overlook, however, the way technologies that purport to shorten a conflict may delay, disperse, and therefore obscure "precision" warfare's full fatal impact. Such technologies, when they compromise the environment, morph into long-term killers, creating landscapes that inflict lingering, off-camera casualties. Time itself becomes the ultimate cover-up, a dependable ally in camouflaging high-tech warfare's true toll. Clearly, if depleted-uranium-tipped warheads are involved, there is no such thing as a surgical strike. "Surgical" suggests a precise excision in the name of healing, yet such strikes poison the environment, imperiling not just combatants and civilians but their progeny as well. Environmentalists routinely face the quandary of how to communicate urgent issues that unfold too slowly to qualify as breaking news -- issues like climate change and species extinction that threaten in slow motion. Any environmentalist who seeks to tally the delayed-action casualties of "precision" warfare labors under a similar disadvantage. How many years, how many decades, how many generations will she be granted to come up with a final count that includes war's after-dead? Since 1991, depleted-uranium ordnance has been deployed in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Serbia, Somalia, and now -- in unprecedented quantities -- in Iraq. Given depleted uranium's extraordinarily long half-life, at what point do we stop counting casualties? War deaths from environmental toxicity demand patient, elaborate proof. Spikes in renal collapse; infertility; leukemia; testicular, brain, and breast cancers; and clusters of infant malformations are harder to link to war's technologies than is a bullet through the head. The military statistician can simply count corpses within a given place and time, subdivide those columns into combatants and civilians, and draw a line beneath his sums. Such calculations conform tidily to our preconceptions about the time frame within which a war is waged. However, to view war through the prism of ecological time demands a different ethical attention span, one that strives to give the slow, discounted dead their due. Earlier environmental historians have addressed this problem of the relationship between changing military technologies and belated casualties. Harvey Wasserman and Norman Solomon's 1982 book, Killing Our Own: The Disaster of America's Experience With Atomic Radiation, detailed the catastrophic, long-term impact of atmospheric nuclear testing on America's "atomic soldiers." Thomas Whiteside's The Withering Rain: America's Herbicidal Folly and John Lewallen's Ecology of Devastation: Indochina, both published in 1971, began the by now extensive literature on the protracted lethality of Agent Orange. The turn to depleted-uranium warfare demands that we revisit the question of who counts as a casualty. This new development demands that we start counting returning veterans slain or disabled by environmentally transmitted "friendly fire," and that we count, too, the deferred casualties among returning refugees. Both groups harbor the illusion that the war is safely over. Forty years ago, Rachel Carson -- that indefatigable enemy of lethal euphemism -- coined a phrase that best articulates the threat that "precision" warfare poses. Carson spoke of "death by indirection." She was referring not to war casualties but to the scattershot victims of "herbicides" and "pesticides," products she insisted ought to carry the label "biocides" instead. Carson's astute phrasing is as relevant as ever to our depleted-uranium age. From behind a linguistic cloak of bogus precision, today's "smart" warfare operates biocidally, dispensing widespread "death by indirection." It is easy to forget how advocates of the Vietnam War pitched it as the smart war of its day, with boasts of imminent victory via the "electronic battlefield" and of the insurmountable advantages that cluster bombs and chemical weaponry would deliver. Carson died shortly after the United States began to deploy as instruments of war the dioxins she'd condemned as "biocides." Yet her Silent Spring foreshadowed the enduring consequences of those spraying runs: Thirty years after Vietnam received its last "dusting" of Agent Orange, that war's slow chemical slaughter continues, claiming 21st-century victims. A 2002 study recorded dioxin levels in the bloodstreams of Bien Hoa residents 135 times the normal level. The dioxins build up in the fatty tissues of pivotal human foods like duck and fish, gathering concentration as they move up the chain. So an old war's poisons pass from nature and from livestock into the cooking pot and from there into the next generation. Children born long after the war's end are still dying Agent Orange deaths of painful prematurity. The conventional view is that, as an April 2003 New York Times editorial put it, "during our dozen years [in Vietnam], the U.S. killed and helped kill at least 1.5 million people." Yet that "during" shrinks the toll: How many thousands survived the war years only to have their lives (or their children's and grandchildren's lives) foreshortened by Agent Orange? Because depleted uranium carries both a chemical and a radiological threat, its long-term implications are even more severe. Depleted uranium, despite that reassuring adjective in its name, possesses 60 percent of natural uranium's radioactivity. Malcolm Hooper, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Sunderland, in England, has characterized depleted uranium as "a new weapon for indiscriminate, mutually assured destruction." During the gulf war alone, U.S. troops discharged munitions containing 340 tons of depleted uranium. That contributed significantly, in Hooper's view, to making the gulf war "the most toxic war in Western military history." On the eve of the gulf war, the American nuclear scientist Leonard A. Dietz warned of catastrophic consequences if the United States and its allies introduced depleted-uranium weaponry to the battlefield. His prescient appeal was ignored. And the gulf war has left in its wake radioactive landscapes that will continue, for untold years, to wage widespread, random warfare. When Dietz cautioned against integrating depleted uranium into conventional warfare, his alarm was grounded in experience. During the late 1970s, he was employed to monitor depleted-uranium levels outside an Albany, N.Y., factory that produced cannon shells for the Air Force. New York State authorities, on learning that radiation levels near the factory had reached 10 times permissible state standards, shut down the plant. The subsequent cleanup cost more than $100-million. Dietz underscored the hypocrisy of such stringent domestic regulation when the United States was creating, in the Persian Gulf, an infinitely more toxic environment for its troops and for the region's inhabitants. "To protect the health of Americans, we shut down a factory for discharging the equivalent of about two 30-mm. shells into the atmosphere per month," Dietz says. "How can we justify using a million such shells in Iraq and Kuwait, most of it in only four days of war?" What accounts for depleted uranium's sudden surge in military popularity? As a byproduct of nuclear testing and nuclear power, depleted uranium is extremely cheap indeed, better than free. Half a century of nuclear-weapons and nuclear-power production has left the Department of Defense with over a billion pounds of nuclear waste in storage. The department is delighted to offload some of that waste onto arms manufacturers, gratis, in the form of depleted uranium. The result is a seductive kind of alchemy: Weapons manufacturers magically cut their production costs while the Defense Department magically rids itself of a five-alarm waste product that no American wants buried in his backyard. The result is a kind of anti-environmental recycling that converts highly toxic waste into even more deadly explosive forms. By expanding its depleted-uranium arsenal, America is effectively exporting nuclear waste to foreign soil -- nuclear waste that contains plutonium, for which there are no safe levels. This nuclear waste also contains the uranium isotope 236, which does not exist in nature and has caused concern among epidemiologists. Foreign war zones may appear far off; and, yes, foreign civilians bear the brunt of the noxious load. However, they do not bear that load alone: American troops also become victims of depleted uranium's slow-motion slaughter. In 2001 Asaf Durakovic, former chief of nuclear medicine at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Wilmington, Del., published (in the peer-reviewed journal Military Medicine) the results of his research that found depleted uranium and the more radioactive isotope, uranium 236, in the urine and bone tissue of 62 percent of sick gulf-war veterans. Durakovic had taken his samples nine years after the war had ended. Depleted uranium's current military popularity threatens children most directly: Children are 10 to 20 times more sensitive than adults to radiation's cancerous effects. Once depleted uranium passes into the water system, it quickly travels from there into mothers' milk, gathering concentration as it goes, producing the cancer clusters among children that we have witnessed in the gulf war's aftermath, particularly around the heavily bombarded Basra region. The result: sharp increases in stillbirths and congenitally malformed infants -- in some areas by more than 250 percent from 1989 to 1999 -- born in and around Basra. A report on gulf-war veterans from Mississippi noted that an abnormally high proportion who have attempted to start families have produced stillborn or malformed infants. Those veterans, disproportionately minority and disproportionately poor, were never asked whether they were ready to make that other ultimate sacrifice-- sacrificing in perpetuity the integrity of their DNA. The Pentagon loves depleted uranium not just because it's free, but because the metal's density gives it a high penetrative capacity. That means that depleted-uranium munitions can be fired from greater distances, ensuring improved "kill range" and thereby purportedly helping keep U.S. troops out of harm's way. But such reasoning depends on a myopic notion of both "harm's way" and "kill range": Both phrases demand an environmental gloss. We need to measure a weapon's "kill range" not just across battlefield space but across time as well. When a depleted-uranium warhead strikes a metal target, the depleted uranium spontaneously combusts, releasing, in aerosol form, minute glass particles. Ceramic aerosols give off no scent, so troops and civilians alike inhale them unknowingly. Because ceramic aerosols emit radiation in lethal doses, if they enter your lungs, or if you ingest them, or if they seep into a cut, you are at grave risk of developing life-threatening renal carcinoma, leukemia, lymphomas, or any one of multiple cancers. Most cancers take 5 to 30 years to incubate. In a classified acknowledgment of depleted uranium's perils, Britain's Atomic Energy Authority warned that in the gulf war's wake, depleted uranium could enter the food chain and cause half a million premature deaths in Iraq and Kuwait. If the gulf war is any measure, we can anticipate an even more disastrous epidemic of belated deaths following the war in Iraq, given the considerably greater volume of depleted-uranium munitions that American and British troops have deployed this time around. It is timely, in this context, to revisit Elaine Showalter's notoriously controversial reading of gulf-war syndrome in her 1997 book Hystories: Hysterical Epidemics and Modern Media. Showalter, a literary critic and professor emerita of English at Princeton University, lumped the syndrome in with such phenomena as alien abduction, Satanic ritual abuse, multiple-personality syndrome, and the recovered-memory movement. She classified all of them as hysterias virally transmitted through the media in a climate of premillennial panic. "Hysteria not only survives in the 1990s, it is more contagious than in the past," she wrote. "Infectious epidemics of hysteria spread by stories circulated through self-help books, articles in newspapers and magazines, TV talk shows and series, films, the Internet, even literary criticism." For Showalter, gulf-war syndrome was a hysterical "plot line" contracted from the media, a plot line that gave shape and meaning to the war neuroses of returning veterans. "Patients learn about diseases from the media, unconsciously develop the symptoms, and then attract media attention in an endless cycle," she wrote. "The human imagination is not infinite, and we are all bombarded by these plot lines every day. Inevitably, we all live out the social stories of our time." Gulf-war syndrome, in this view, becomes little more than a feedback loop in which "psychogenic symptoms" generate stories, which in turn generate further self-identifying victims. Gulf-war syndrome is a fin de sihcle hysterical script -- like alien abduction and Satanic-ritual-abuse stories, part of, in Showalter's phrase, a media-transmitted "psychological plague." Well, the millennium has come and gone, but the numbers of veterans reporting a spectrum of ailments associated with gulf-war syndrome continues to rise: from Showalter's 1997 figure of 60,000 (out of 697,000 gulf-war veterans) to some 182,000 today. Is gulf-war syndrome really best treated, as Showalter recommends, with psychotherapy and an education in the history of combat neurosis? She sees the syndrome as a variant of Civil War battle fatigue and World War I shell shock. In reaching for psychological and historical generalizations, Showalter ignores the fact that each war has a unique chemical and radiological character. As the technologies of war change, so, too, does war's epidemiological and environmental aftermath. The inhabitants of the Basra region, where depleted-uranium weaponry was used most extensively during the gulf war, share disturbingly similar symptoms to America's ailing veterans. Are we to believe that the Basrans, too, contracted these symptoms from America's millennial media? After NATO planes deployed depleted-uranium-tipped missiles in the Balkan war, returning European troops reported a high incidence of what has come to be known as "peacekeepers' syndrome" or "Balkan syndrome." They show strong epidemiological similarities with America's gulf-war veterans and the Basrans. All three groups have experienced spikes in leukemia, lymphomas, and other cancers, kidney disease, and premature mortality. Showalter's inner literary critic (perhaps overly in love with the power of textuality and plot lines) does not treat with sufficient seriousness the role of radiation poisoning in contemporary depleted-uranium warfare. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights views the matter differently: It has condemned depleted-uranium munitions, classifying them -- along with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons -- as "weapons of indiscriminate effect." Thus we face a grim irony: American and British forces, seeking to cleanse Iraq of elusive weapons of mass destruction, have blasted Iraqi society with their own fatal, long-lasting WMD's. One man's precision-guided missile is another man's weapon of indiscriminate destruction. But with depleted uranium, we're not talking about rogue missiles that accidentally shred a marketplace or a wedding party. We're talking about the triumphant, pinpoint strike that doubles as a chaotic weapon, a weapon that, in time, strikes down innocents who -- whether under some future tyranny or democracy -- just happen to live downwind. At least 17 nations have bought depleted-uranium weapons from the United States since they were first showcased during the gulf war. As these previously unacceptable weapons become enfolded into contemporary warfare, we have an ethical responsibility to redraw the boundary between the war survivor and the war casualty. People may outlast a given conflict, but if thousands then die deferred war deaths, what kind of justice is it to call them survivors? "Smart wars" become wars of ecological folly when we turn soil, air, and water into slow weapons of mass destruction, wielded unremittingly against ourselves. Armies move on, as do our memories, but a deeper memory remains lodged in the earth. Despots may be deposed, but environmental mayhem outlives regime change. Perhaps the greatest challenge we now face is to reinstate a more expansive vision of what it means to be secure. What span of time will we allow to define our national security and our security as a species? At home and across the planet, in wartime and in peace, environmental safeguards must be reasserted, safeguards on which our health, freedoms, and international standing depend. The current fixation on meeting terror with high-tech military terror has shrunk our vision of what constitutes sustainable security. If we improved the fuel efficiency of America's cars and light trucks by a mere 2.7 miles per gallon, we would be liberated from the need to import any oil from Saudi Arabia. Such a bold but feasible move to conserve energy would also help reintegrate a viable environment into our vision of how to protect America in the long term. We cannot afford to shrink the threats to our future to the real but reductive threat of terrorism. If we continue to glorify poisonous weapons of fake precision, belated war deaths will become increasingly widespread, as will the political consequences of the accompanying blow-back rage. We will face an unbounded war, as the planet itself metastasizes into a combatant: the ultimate, toxic hyperpower, a force of random, abiding retribution. Rob Nixon is the Rachel Carson Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He is working on a book on the environmental and epidemiological aftermaths of high-tech wars. http://chronicle.com Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 51, Issue 24, Page B7 * 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 ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 60 [du-list] Australian majority oppose sending more troops Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:41 -0800 Majority oppose sending more troops By Mark Forbes March 12, 2005 The Age http://www.theage.com.au/news/Iraq/Majority-oppose-sending-more-troops/2005/03/11/1110417687988.html?oneclick=true Nearly two out of three Australians oppose the Federal Government's decision to send more troops to Iraq and most want all troops withdrawn, a Morgan Poll shows. In the poll, taken over the past two days, 63 per cent of respondents said that they disagreed with Prime Minister John Howard's decision to deploy an extra 450 troops to southern Iraq. The results were released as the military revealed concerns that the force could be exposed to health risks from depleted uranium ammunition. Army chief Lieutenant-General Peter Leahy confirmed that a reconnaissance team sent to al-Muthanna province had carried out environmental surveys on possible sources of depleted uranium. With claims of positive progress in Iraq, the new Australian deployment was backed by half of those who described themselves as Government supporters. But the vast majority of supporters of the ALP, minor parties and independents opposed the deployment. Mr Howard has argued that Iraq is at "tilting point" and that it was vital for Australian forces to help in the transition to democracy. AdvertisementAdvertisement Just over half of those surveyed said Australia should not have a military presence in Iraq and 45 per cent said some presence should be retained. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need a home for your web domain? We recommend our provider, Hosting Direct https://support.hostingdirect.net/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=nucnews ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 61 [du-list] Connecticut proposal - coverage from Google Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:00 -0800 Lawmakers want state to track health effects of depleted uranium Newsday - 10 Mar 2005 By SUSAN HAIGH. HARTFORD, Conn. -- In the 13 years since she cleaned uranium dust off US military tanks and other equipment after Operation Desert Storm ended, Melissa Sterry's health has steadily deteriorated. ... Lawmakers want state to track health effects of depleted uranium WTNH Veterans exposure to uranium eyed Bristol Press all 8 related » Agent Orange, Depleted Uranium and "Eating Your Own" uruknet.info - 4 Mar 2005 I've been thinking about the article I read about the lawsuit some Vietnamese people < http://blog.zmag.org/index.php/weblog/entry/agent_orange > brought against the US government for the use of Agent Orange during the 10 year American War in Vietnam ... ---------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.7.2 - Release Date: 3/11/05 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/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/ ***************************************************************** 62 Las Vegas RJ: EPA reveals work on new radiation standard Saturday, March 12, 2005 Proposals for Yucca Mountain safety regulation draw criticism By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Environmental Protection Agency has started to pull back the curtains on possible new radiation protection standards for Yucca Mountain. And some activists say they don't like what they see so far. EPA radiation office director Elizabeth Cotsworth on Tuesday briefed representatives of 10 public interest groups as analysts reformulate a safety regulation for the planned Nevada nuclear waste repository. The EPA has said it hopes to announce its proposal sometime this summer. In the meantime speculation on where the agency is heading has become a popular pastime among Yucca Mountain watchers. A new radiation standard is one of the key missing pieces the Department of Energy says it needs to kick-start repository licensing. Yucca managers said they have struggled with uncertainty since a federal court in July voided the previous standard. Geoff Fettus, a Natural Resources Defense Council attorney who attended the briefing, said "the devil will be in the details" on what could be a highly technical safety proposal. Others in the session said the outlines of options that were discussed might not be acceptable to radiation safety advocates or to the judges who ordered the rewrite. EPA scientists are reconsidering the regulation that required the Energy Department to show that nuclear particles escaping from a Yucca repository would not expose a theoretical individual to more than 15 millirem of radiation annually for a period of 10,000 years. An average chest X-ray emits is between 5 and 20 millirem, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in July ruled the EPA should revise its standard to be consistent with a National Academy of Sciences finding that radiation hazards could be at "peak dose" thousands of years later. According to several meeting participants, EPA officials are considering options that include retaining the 10,000-year standard, while justifying to the court why it should be kept. Another possibility is to keep the 15 millirem standard for 10,000 years while setting a higher limit for radiation exposures after that time. A two-part standard was criticized by Michele Boyd, energy legislative director for the Public Citizen watchdog group. "That would put a greater burden on future generations. That is just unacceptable," Boyd said. Rod McCullum, an NEI scientist, said a two-part radiation standard would not be radical and is being considered by Sweden and Canada, among other nations. A third EPA option is an approach that could be based not on radiation exposure limits but on other repository performance measures, participants said. The state of Nevada has proposed extending the 15 millirem standard through the peak dose period, saying that would offer maximum safety protections. There has been no indication the EPA is considering that idea, which many believe could make Yucca Mountain virtually impossible to license. EPA officials are meeting with various stakeholders but "it is premature for the agency to discuss which options under consideration are most likely to be pursued," spokesman John Millett said. "EPA is currently moving ahead to develop an appropriate regulatory response that is fully protective and complies with the court opinion," Millett said. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 63 [du-list] Superfund site cleanup likely to begin this year Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:30:59 -0800 Superfund site cleanup likely to begin this year Depleted uranium barrels to be moved By Davis Bushnell, Boston Globe Correspondent | March 6, 2005 http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2005/03/06/superfund_site_cleanup_likely_to_begin_this_year/ One of the major fronts in the cleanup of the Starmet Corp. Superfund site in West Concord -- the removal of more than 3,700 barrels of depleted uranium -- is expected to get underway by year's end, according to environmental officials. Last Wednesday was the deadline for bids to be submitted to the state Department of Environmental Protection for this work, which could take a year or more to complete. The contractor is expected to be selected March 22 or 23, said Ed Coletta, a department spokesman. In late spring, Coletta said, the contractor will begin evaluating and inventorying the barrels, which contain small amounts of radioactive material. They are being stored in Starmet buildings on the 46-acre property off Route 62. The US Army, one of five parties cited by the US Environmental Protection Agency in 2003 for contaminating the site, has agreed to pay for the disposal of the barrels. Starmet's predecessor company, Nuclear Metals Inc., made uranium-tipped bullets for the Army from 1970 to 1999. An investigation of how to clean up the property is continuing, directed by De Maximis Inc. of Weatogue, Conn., which is conducting its research for the Army and the other culpable parties. Next Wednesday, Bruce Thompson, De Maximis project director, will give highlights of his firm's work so far to two Concord groups, Citizens Research and Environmental Watch and the 2229 Main St. Committee. (The Starmet property is located at 2229 Main St.) James West of Concord, a technical assistance coordinator for Citizens Research and Environmental Watch, said De Maximis has been studying all the appropriate site data, but ''the issue will be what they've found." The citizens research group has a $50,000 technical assistance grant from the EPA, which is holding the Wednesday meeting at Concord town offices. The meeting will not be open to the public. Most of the samples taken late last year of metal debris and remnants of some 60 underground drums have now been analyzed by General Engineering Laboratory of Charleston, S.C., Thompson said in a telephone interview last week. ''We'll present the latest interpretations of those analyses" at this week's meeting, Thompson said, declining to give details before the meeting. ''We'll also discuss potential contaminants other than uranium," he added. Thompson reiterated that monitors installed around the property's perimeter are indicating that no contaminants have been released into the air. Next month, he said, groundwater sampling will be done around the 99 monitoring wells, and near 3 to 4 acres of bogs and a cooling-water pond. A second round of sampling will be conducted six months later, he said. An assessment of risks to human health posed by the site could begin later this year, following the final water sampling, Thompson said. Besides the Army, the other responsible parties are the US Department of Energy; Whittaker Corp. of Simi Valley, Calif. ; Textron Inc. of Providence; and MONY Life Insurance. Co. of New York City. The Starmet site went on the EPA's Superfund list in June 2001. The list designates severely contaminated sites, which are being cleaned up under federal supervision. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Need a home for your web domain? We recommend our provider, Hosting Direct https://support.hostingdirect.net/cgi-bin/affiliates/clickthru.cgi?id=nucnews ------------------------ 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/ ***************************************************************** 64 Las Vegas SUN: Reid considering bill to make Yucca Mountain dump obsolete March 12, 2005 ASSOCIATED PRESS SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The U.S. Senate's minority leader is considering a bill that would make a nuclear waste dump at Nevada's Yucca Mountain - and a temporary holding spot for the waste in Utah - obsolete. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks that would authorize the Energy Department to assume ownership of the spent nuclear waste stored at reactors and store it at the facilities, The Salt Lake Tribune reported Saturday. "This is the right thing to do and I look forward to discussing this option with my colleagues," Reid said. Reid has been working for years to block the Yucca Mountain repository from being built in his state, but the prospects for this plan are uncertain since it runs counter to the stated desires of President Bush, Congress and the nuclear energy industry, all of whom want the Yucca repository built. Reid said on-site storage could mean that Yucca and a proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear power generators, to temporarily store 40,000 tons of waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation in Utah's west desert, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, would not be needed. Joseph Egan, an attorney fighting Yucca Mountain on behalf of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, told The Tribune it is possible that moving ahead with Reid's on-site storage plan would make the PFS facility unnecessary. Utah officials have feared that if the waste would be safe to ship and store in Utah, it should also be safe left where it is. After meeting with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on Wednesday, Utah Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett endorsed the administration's position of building the repository, saying the best way to block the PFS site is to make sure Yucca Mountain is built. "They are committed to a strategy of straight to Yucca. Straight to Yucca means not stopping in Skull Valley," Bennett said Wednesday. Gov. Jon Huntsman will go to Washington this week to meet with Bush administration officials about several issues, including the state's opposition to the nuclear-waste plan. The new effort comes after the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board rejected the state's argument that there was an unacceptable risk that a fighter from Hill Air Force Base could crash into the waste site and release radioactive material. The state has asked the board to reconsider its decision. If that fails, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will decide whether to license the facility. Bush has requested $651 million in the coming year to work on Yucca Mountain, which is about half of what was projected for work on the facility. But Energy Department officials say the administration remains committed to seeing the project completed, even if it is done behind schedule. "We believe it's necessary and we are committed to moving forward with the plan to build the repository" at Yucca Mountain, said Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis. -- ***************************************************************** 65 Nevada Appeal: If Nevadans want more nuclear waste options, start with Congress Opinion Brian O'Connell For the Appeal March 13, 2005 In the Nevada Appeal on March 6, Guy W. Farmer wrote that "Yucca Mountain Nuclear Dump isn't 'Inevitable.'" Let me take a few minutes of your readers' time to share a different perspective. First, can we refer to the nuclear waste disposal facility proposed for Yucca Mountain by its official name? It is a repository and more correctly a geological repository as defined in the law that set the repository project into existence. That law is the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982. It seems that many 'dump' opponents choose not to recognize it as such, but that is the law that sets the policy for how this country will manage all of its federal and commercial high-level nuclear waste. That law set as policy that all such waste would be disposed of in a geologic repository. Therefore, those that do not wish to dispose of the waste in that manner should seek to change the law. Not everyone may like the manner in which Yucca Mountain was chosen from among first nine sites considered and later from three that were finalists, but that is what Congress decided in the amendment to the NWPA in 1987. Once again, if people do not think that is the appropriate site, they should seek to change the law. Quite the opposite took place in 2002 when the secretary of energy drew upon almost 20 years of scientific evaluation of the Yucca Mountain site for suitability for the repository purpose and recommended the site to the President. As was the special entitlement under NWPA, Gov. Kenny Guinn objected to the recommendation and that would have stopped the project had both houses of Congress not voted to override the governor's veto, which they did on a bipartisan vote and the president signed that joint resolution into law. That is where we are today. The next step was to have been to move the question to the independent agency of government, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC is designated by the NWPA to weigh the suitability of the site from a regulatory standpoint using not only its own regulations but applying the crucial radiation standard issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.) As Mr. Farmer noted there has been delay of the Department of Energy in submitting an application for the NRC to consider. The delay is related to the need to meet the NRC requirements for document submission and perhaps more to the need for the EPA to revise the radiation standards to meet a court order. The DOE project managers say that they intend to submit the application by the end of 2005 - about a year past its earlier schedule. Despite the NWPA choosing geologic disposal from a number of disposal methods, the Nevada attorney general says, "I can't think of a more primitive way to deal with this waste." Once again, he should address that policy choice with Congress. Farmer cites a suggestion by a spokesperson of Rep. Gibbons that we should be pursuing 'recycling' (more correctly termed as re-processing) as is done in other countries, such as France and the United Kingdom. There are two major factors to consider in reprocessing: when Congress passed the NWPA it was partly as a result of a presidential order at the time to forego reprocessing in this country - as had been the plan for much of the spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear reactors. Secondly, to the best of my knowledge, even with present types of reprocessing there would remain nuclear waste residue that requires geologic disposal, albeit for less volume of material and for a shorter period of time, but still hundreds or thousands of years. That is, even if we changed the NWPA policy for geologic disposal in favor of reprocessing, there would still be a need for a repository. Mr. Farmer concludes the Yucca Mountain project is "fatally flawed" and somehow suggests that the solution might be to "dump" the waste at Skull Valley in Utah. That would take a change in NWPA, of course, and it seems to infer that Skull Valley promises superior merit to Yucca Mountain for a repository. We don't know that it is or is not; to my knowledge it has never been considered for underground disposal. It has been proposed as a site for a temporary nuclear waste storage facility (up to 40 years) based on an agreement between the Skull Valley Band of the Goshutes and a consortium of private utilities. Other than requiring a license from the NRC to store the materials, the proposed arrangement is a private venture to a) solve a temporary storage problem for the utilities - which were promised in NWPA and in contracts with DOE that the federal government would begin disposal of their spent fuel beginning in 1998 and b) provide an attractive business venture for the Goshutes, who I understand do not have many other attractive economic development alternatives. The NRC is close to issuing a license for the temporary storage. There was never any consideration of using that site for permanent disposal. The utilities have no reason to, since the federal government is responsible for permanent disposal and the Goshutes may have a different view on such a proposal on their land. In conclusion, whether Mr. Farmer and others may like it or not, it is national policy to permanently dispose of high-level waste - at least 70,000 metric tons of it - in a suitable geologic repository. Congress has approved Yucca Mountain as suitable, but the final determination of suitability from a safety standpoint will be done by the technical experts of the NRC once the Department of Energy submits an application that will be rigorously examined in a public proceeding that is open to challenge and could take three or four years. I suppose we can expect further legal challenge on different bases than the 12 out of 13 legal issues that were decided in favor of the government last year. I suppose there will be plenty of time while the license preparation and review are proceeding for evaluation of spent nuclear fuel reprocessing to be considered, as has been suggested in some recent studies and by some leading political figures such as Sen. Pete Domenici, but it must be understood that there are pros and cons of that approach and we still end up with a requirement to dispose of some radioactive waste of lesser amount but still potent toxicity. Step One would be to convince Congress to authorize consideration of reprocessing. n Brian O'Connell P.E. is director of the Nuclear Waste Program Office of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners in Washington, D.C. Its members include the governmental agencies engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers. All contents © Copyright 2005 nevadaappeal.com Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701 ***************************************************************** 66 Bradenton Herald: More testing scheduled for Tallevast soil | 03/12/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer Environmental crews will return to Tallevast on Monday to dig yet more wells to determine how far toxic chemicals from the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant have spread. "We hope to have the final report April 15," Ron Helgerson of Lockheed Martin Corporation told county officials and Tallevast leaders Friday. The company initially expected the final report to be delivered Tuesday. Helgerson made the announcement Friday at a bimonthly progress meeting with county staff members and Tallevast residents at the County Administration Building. Lockheed Martin purchased the Loral plant in a corporate buyout in 1996. Because the contamination was discovered under its watch, the defense giant has assumed responsibility for the costly cleanup. While Lockheed has located the plume's boundaries due north and south of Tallevast Road, the edge of contamination still has not been found to the southwest toward the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport or to the northeast beyond the railroad tracks, Helgerson said. The news of more drilling did not surprise leaders of Family Oriented Community United and Strong, an advocacy group for Tallevast residents. FOCUS leaders have warned that the toxic plume was a much bigger problem than it appeared. "What makes you think you won't have to step out again after you get the data from the next round of wells?" an angry Billy Ward, a native of Tallevast and FOCUS leader, asked Helgerson. Helgerson conceded that more drilling might be necessary. "I don't want to say categorically that we will have it down by April 15," Helgerson said. "One of our problems is putting a drilling rig on airport property. It's an access issue." Ward argued that there is a new revelation every day. "This thing is growing. Each time there is a report shared, the plume gets bigger and bigger," Ward said. Wanda Washington, Helen Heathington and Ward and his wife, Laura, delivered a few surprises of their own at the update meeting. Lockheed Martin turned in preliminary data in October that showed the plume was larger than the original calculation. The state gave Lockheed until Feb. 1 to try to find the new boundaries. But Lockheed met the state's Feb. 1 deadline with just a partial report, because the area of contamination had grown again. FOCUS leaders say those reports don't match up. "We are prepared to bring you information that will blow the Feb. 1 report out of the water," Billy Ward warned county officials. Ward did not offer to reveal the discrepancies found between the two reports. That information, he said, will come to the county by letter from the state Department of Environmental Protection. The Wards and Washington met with FDEP on Wednesday to outline their concerns. Helgerson admitted that he also had questions about discrepancies between the data presented in October and on Feb. 1. "I am concerned about the variations between the reports," Helgerson said. "We are dedicated to doing a good job. If we have made a mistake, we will step up and fix it." FOCUS leaders also revealed that they found private wells that had not yet been tested for contaminants. Those wells, FOCUS said, may be new pathways of exposure. Laura Ward chastised county officials and health department representatives for giving the community an incomplete report on private wells at the Feb. 1 commission meeting. "On Feb. 1 you told us that all wells had been tested, but that was not true," Laura Ward said. The newly reported wells are used for irrigation purposes, the Wards said, but they added that farm hands could be drinking from those wells when they tend cattle. Laura Ward said she was concerned that those untested wells are outside of the drilling area Lockheed Martin has designated to measure the plume, which could mean even more households might be affected. "We want all of our wells retested," Laura Ward said. "We don't want any wells capped before we know what the boundaries of the plume are." In related news: • County staff members agreed to wait until the boundaries of the plume are known before moving ahead with a proposed ordinance that would require a special review process for new construction in the Tallevast area. • Commissioner Donna Hayes, who represents Tallevast, said she will ask the commission to discuss changing the designation of Tallevast Road from a thoroughfare to a county residential road. The change means the stretch of Tallevast Road between U.S. 301 and 15th Street East could be restricted to 25 mph speed limit. • County staff members will seek input from Tallevast residents on road improvement projects. • FOCUS leaders said they will share with Tallevast residents three proposals from the county for the paving of the dirt side roads north and south of Tallevast Road. The three alternatives are designed to minimize the amount of right-of-way needed to meet funding requirements. What's new: Lockheed Martin's report on Tallevast contamination won't be ready as planned Tuesday because it says it needs to dig new wells and study soil samples. What's next: The company says it will dig additional wells Monday and will issue its final report on the scope of the Tallevast contamination April 15. ***************************************************************** 67 The State: Spratt knows his stuff on ra 03/13/2 Democrat from York talks authoritatively on nuclear waste debate By LAUREN MARKOE Staff Writer WASHINGTON  Anyone who has ever heard U.S. Rep. John Spratt speak on budget matters knows that no one can reel off economic statistics like the Democrat from York. But who knew what he could do when the data gets radioactive? Here is Spratt on Monday, describing the contents of tanks of nuclear waste at the Savannah River Site to an audience at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington: Over time, the heavier particles have sunk to the bottom of the tanks, leaving a sludge which contains three million gallons, or 8 percent of the volume but 55 percent of the radioactivity: 226 million curies. The material above the sludge consists of supernatant liquids and salt cake, containing dissolved and suspended radioactive materials. These contents make up 34 million gallons, or 92 percent of the volume, and contain 200 million curies of radioactivity. Why is Spratt talking nuclear physics? The Department of Energy  thanks to a provision pushed through Congress last year by U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.  is now empowered to change the classification of the aforementioned sludge from high-level to low-level nuclear waste. Spratt fought the change, saying the DOE has a conflict of interest in downgrading the waste, in that it would no longer have to be removed from the tanks and transferred to a deep, geologic depository. Its also much cheaper to leave the material in South Carolina. The DOE is effectively making the rules and being the entity to which the rules mainly apply, Spratt said. Though he lost to Graham over reclassification, Spratt was able to secure $1.5 million so that the nonprofit National Academy of Sciences can study the safest way to dispose of the sludge. Spratt on Monday kicked off the first meeting of a panel of scientists who will take six months to complete their study. Graham is fine with this, spokesman Kevin Bishop said. Senator Graham thinks its great to have another set of eyes look at it, Bishop said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board have already completed review and determined the process to be safe. RATINGS WATCH The U.S. Chamber of Commerce last week released its congressional ratings for the 2004 session of the 108th Congress. Those who voted with the Chamber at least 70 percent of the time were considered very pro-business. Among the votes analyzed  medical liability reform, the U.S.-Australia free trade agreement, pension reform and tax relief. On all these topics, an aye won points from the Chamber. Senators were rated on 17 votes considered key by the Chamber, House members on 21. Note: U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-Greenville, last year was a congressman, hence his inclusion in the House delegation. U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D-S.C., had not yet retired from office. • U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, R  100 percent • U.S. Rep. Henry Brown, R  100 percent • U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson, R  100 percent • U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R  92 percent (based on his votes in the House last year) • U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R  88 percent • U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, D  50 percent • U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D  48 percent • U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D  45 percent VERBATIM We dont do Lincoln Day dinners in South Carolina. Its nothing personal, but it takes a while to get over things.  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, speaking at a Lincoln Day dinner in Knoxville, Tenn., last weekend  Joke or not, this is exactly the type of comment that Trent Lott made when he was deposed as leader. It has no place in public discourse.  Jano Cabrera, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, when asked about Grahams comment, referring to remarks the former Republican Senate majority leader made  that the United States would have been better off if then-segregationist candidate Strom Thurmond had won the presidency in 1948  at a 100th birthday/retirement party for Thurmond in 2002 Reach Markoe at (202) 383-6023 or lmarkoe@krwashington.com [lmarkoe@krwashington.com] ***************************************************************** 68 Mainetoday: N-waste inflicts unwanted legacy Nuclear power is not a safe energy option. After the Three Mile Island accident, citizens proclaimed the risks and liabilities too great. No new U.S plant has been authorized since 1979. --> [http://www.mainetoday.com] Saturday, March 12, 2005 Morning Sentinel Nuclear power is not a safe energy option. After the Three Mile Island accident, citizens proclaimed the risks and liabilities too great. No new U.S plant has been authorized since 1979. Following Chernobyl's 1986 catastrophe, vast areas of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus were contaminated; there was a dramatic surge of childhood thyroid cancer; 4,000 "cleanup" crew members died; 70,000 were disabled; and 5 percent of Ukraine's gross national product was consumed by its aftermath. A mammoth steel shell (35 stories high, three football fields long) was designed to slide over the crippled plant to isolate and deconstruct the radioactive ruins. One accident, 18 years ago. Nuclear proponents have shown an unforgivable degree of dishonesty when they label nuclear "clean." While there are no belching smokestacks, radioactive by-products must be isolated for thousands of years. No one disputes this. In the 1970s, lobbyists declared that "some breakthrough" would solve the waste dilemma. That was three decades -- and 45 thousand tons of radioactive waste -- ago. We're now spending enormous amounts on boring tunnels into the Yucca Mountains of Nevada to serve as a waste repository: 77,000 tons over 10,000 years. The waste industry has found it nearly impossible to keep waste from the water table. In this embarrassingly selfish scenario, tomorrow's citizens will pay for electricity consumed yesterday, in risks to their health and budgets. Transporting wastes along thousands of miles of highway and rail lines crisscrossing forty-one states on the way to Yucca Mountain, in this age of terrorism, is exceedingly unwise. Imagine asking your grandchild, "Mind if I leave you to manage and safeguard this lethal poison for the rest of your lifetime?" Hard to imagine? The only difference right now is that we're not asking; we're requiring it of them. Chris Wright Solon Copyright © Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** 69 North County Times: Water officials say nuclear pile threatens water supply [http://www.nctimes.com/news] Saturday, March 12, 2005 10:50 By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer If water officials have their way, this will finally be the year that federal officials decide to move a 12-ton pile of radioactive goo, a nuclear pile they say threatens Southern California's water supply, away from the banks of the Colorado River. But with a summertime deadline for a decision drawing near, federal officials who will decide the pile's fate have refused to endorse the idea of moving it. Federal and state groups, politicians, environmental groups and water agencies from several states have been saying for years that the pile ---- which is located near Moab, Utah ---- must be moved to protect the Colorado River's water supply. Officials from Southern California's main water supplier, the Metropolitan Water District, are expected to repeat that message when they meet with congressional leaders in Washington, D.C., in a special briefing. The radioactive pile is left over from a uranium and heavy-metal mine that operated at the site for 28 years, closing in 1984. Filled with highly radioactive heavy metals such as uranium, radium and radon, and poisonous chemicals such as ammonia and sulfuric acid salts, the 130-acre, 94-foot-tall heap sits just 750 feet from the Colorado River. Water officials said the pile isn't an immediate threat to local drinking water ---- even though it's been leaking millions of gallons of poisons into the river annually for years ---- because the river's massive volume dilutes the contaminants down to harmless levels. But officials said the pile is a looming disaster because a storm, flood or earthquake could dump it into the river. "A huge storm or flood on the river ... could lead to a disaster where you wash (the pile) into the river," said Jeff Kightlinger, an attorney for Metropolitan, San Diego County's main water agency. "That could make it unusable." Despite the potential for problems, U.S. Department of Energy officials have so far refused to commit to removing the pile. Instead, department officials say they're also studying the idea of covering the pile with a liner or burying it. "Moving it, burying it, covering it up, all kinds of options are on the table," Energy Department spokesman Joseph Davis said last week. "But we haven't chosen a preferred option." The Energy Department, which has been studying the Moab pile for five years, is expected to recommend how to deal with its cleanup this summer, when it completes an environmental review. Water officials, meanwhile, say the only safe plan is to remove the pile. Any action short of removing the monstrous mound of contaminants, they say, threatens the river, which is a principal water source for millions of people downstream in Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. San Diego County residents get 36 percent of all their water from the Colorado. Poisoning that supply with substances that could remain dangerously radioactive for hundreds of years could create havoc with the county's supply. "You could have catastrophic consequences; we don't even know (how bad) the consequences would be," said Gordon Hess, the Water Authority's director of imported water. "We've been on record for six years wanting that pile moved." Barry Martin, a San Diego County Water Authority board member and director of the Oceanside Water Utilities District, said he spends several weeks each year vacationing in Moab. He said he had seen the pile many times. "It's huge," he said. "And it's right on the river. It's always bothered me that it sits there on our water supply, and a lot of other people's water supply, and nothing is being done about it." Water experts: Move it Because of the importance of the Colorado River's water supply, Metropolitan and Water Authority officials say the only safe thing to do is to move the Moab pile away from the river. Scads of other agencies and individuals ---- including the Environmental Protection Agency, state and federal politicians, and environmental groups in several states ---- have said they agree. But the Department of Energy has refused to endorse the idea as it moves closer to its decision deadline this summer. Instead, the department is studying the idea of burying the pile where it sits, or "capping" it with a protective layer. The Energy Department inherited responsibility for cleaning up the Moab pile in 2000, after federal legislation aimed at jump-starting a cleanup process took it away from the Nuclear Regulating Commission. The same legislation ordered the Energy Department to come up with a plan to remediate the site. The department finished a draft environmental study to clean up the Moab site in November 2004. But the department disappointed all those who want the pile moved by refusing to identify removing the pile ---- either by truck, train or pipeline ---- as its "preferred solution." And the department is prepared to disappoint those people again this week when it begins work on its final environmental study. The department is required to choose a preferred solution as part of its final study, and many onlookers hoped it would announce removal as that preferred option when it begins its new deliberations this week. But Davis said the department won't make any decision until the final report is finished this summer ---- once again leaving open the question of whether the department will choose another plan such as burying or "capping" the pile. Potential for floods Critics, however, say all other options to moving the Moab pile are bad ones. The Moab site sits in a flood plain. Federal officials say current flooding already "washes over the toe of the pile." And recent studies said flooding would continue in the future. Last month, the Environmental Protection Agency ---- joining the state of Utah, Metropolitan and others ---- told the Energy Department any action short of removing the Moab pile was "environmentally unsatisfactory." A potential hurdle could be the cost. The Energy Department's draft environmental study estimates that it would take up to eight years and cost between $329 million and $418 million to remove the Moab pile. Davis, however, said those were rough numbers and suggested the costs could be higher. The study also said it could take another 80 years, and roughly $80 million, to clean up the groundwater contamination near the Moab site that has been caused by years of leaks from the pile. Water officials, however, said the cost of cleaning up the pile now is nothing compared to what it would cost if a flood, storm or earthquake pushed the pile into the river. "Source protection is a lot cheaper and better than trying to clean up after the accident happens," Kightlinger said. Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com [gconaughton@nctimes.com] . webmaster@nctimes.com [webmaster@nctimes.com] © 1997-2005 North County Times - Lee Enterprises ***************************************************************** 70 Sunday Herald: Radiation device lost or stolen at Dounreay - By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor A DANGEROUS radioactive device that could be made into a dirty bomb has been lost by the Dounreay nuclear plant. Investigators suspect it may have been stolen or sent to a local waste dump. A secret report obtained by the Sunday Herald reveals that safety and security procedures at the Caithness plant were so poor that it was comparatively easy for such devices to go missing. Controls, records and guidance were all inadequate and radiation monitoring equipment was broken. The revelations were described yesterday as horrifying but depressingly typical by anti-nuclear campaigners. But they were dismissed as scare stories from the past by Dounreays operator, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). The device, known as a radiation source, was lost in 1989 but government experts say it would still be radioactive enough today to give people who came into contact with it cancer and skin burns. Combined with a conventional explosive, it would also make an effective terrorist weapon. Consisting of a steel tube and a glass bead of radioactive caesium-137, the device was used by Dounreay to test radiation alarms. According to the National Radiological Protection Board, it could still give people radiation doses a thousand times higher than background levels. The radiation source was first reported missing on October 23, 1989, but it hadnt been seen for a month before that. Last week, in response to a request from the Sunday Herald, Dounreay released a copy of its internal report on the investigation into the loss. The report said that the police were investigating the possibility that the source had been stolen. If the source has been removed illegally for some purpose it could be anywhere on or off site, it warned. The report also highlighted the possibility that the source had been thrown unnoticed into an industrial waste skip at Dounreay and then taken to be dumped at Langlands Quarry, a landfill site near Thurso that was formerly used by the UKAEA. A search of the site, however, found no evidence of the missing source. It is concluded that it is not close to the surface and will not irradiate anyone visiting the tip if the tip is left undisturbed, the report said. The report, dated October 1989 and marked in confidence, was very critical of safety procedures at the time. The control and recording of source use and storage were inadequate, it concluded. Although the lead pot in which the source was kept was checked as present every working day, its contents were not. This was not untypical, the report said. This then makes it comparatively easy for a source to go missing and not be discovered for some time. Intensive efforts were made to locate the radiation source at the time, all without success. Ground, skips and vehicles were surveyed, buildings were searched, staff were questioned and a photograph was sent to the local newspaper. Faltering attempts were made to step up the monitoring of vehicles leaving Dounreays Fuel Cycle Area (FCA) where the loss occurred. The police are supposed to check every tenth vehicle with a neutron and gamma monitor but it transpired that the two neutron monitors had flat batteries and the two gamma monitors were being repaired, the report disclosed. The police were asked to monitor every vehicle exiting the FCA. They initially did not do so since they stated this would require two men and they did not have the resources. Lorraine Mann, from Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping, pointed out that the missing source could now be anywhere. It is extremely dangerous and could have ended up in a landfill site anywhere in the country without people having the slightest idea, she said. Its quite astonishing that this has not been followed up since 1989. The source couldnt be made into a nuclear bomb but, combined with a conventional explosive, terrorists could use it to cause widespread and long-term damage. Mann has no faith that safety standards at Dounreay are any better today than they were 15 years ago. This is horrifying but depressingly typical of the kind of stuff that has gone on at Dounreay and will probably always go on there. According to Dr Michael Clark, a scientist from the governments National Radiological Protection Board, the lost source could cause radiation burns in close contact with the skin. If people are exposed to it in their house or garage it would increase their risk of cancer in later life, he said. In a landfill site, the concern is contaminating groundwater. Dounreay confirmed that, despite extensive searches, the source had never been found. The searches included a comprehensive survey of an authorised waste disposal facility near Thurso using radiation detection equipment, said UKAEA spokesman, Colin Punler. No evidence of the source was detected, providing reassurance that the source had not been sent there for disposal by mistake. UKAEA informed the public in 1989 of the disappearance of the source and publicly appealed for information. It was not right to use scare stories from the past to raise fears about the safety of Dounreay today, Punler insisted. Our records show that new procedures were introduced to improve the control of sources. As the Sunday Herald predicted two years ago, Dounreay is now facing prosecution for leaking hundreds of thousands of radioactive particles into the sea and onto beaches. But it is unlikely to end up in court for losing the radiation source because that occurred while the plant was still protected by Crown immunity. 13 March 2005 © newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved ***************************************************************** 71 reviewjournal.com: Yucca's revenge Opinion - STEVE SEBELIUS: Mar. 13, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal In 2002, U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett made a trip to the White House to talk about Yucca Mountain. If Hatch and Bennett would vote to override Gov. Kenny Guinn's veto of President Bush's designation of a nuclear waste dump at Yucca, the Bush administration would help the senators fight a proposed above-ground temporary dump in their state, then-Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said. "The Bush administration promised to help the Utah senators derail efforts to store nuclear waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation," reporter Steve Tetreault wrote at the time. Hatch and Bennett should have asked their neighbors in the Silver State about Bush administration promises. They didn't. In the end, the senators held up their end of the bargain, helping put Yucca on the fast track. But that Goshute Skull Valley dump is still moving forward. All it needs is a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and the trucks can start rolling. Call it "Screw Utah." So Hatch and Bennett went to the White House once again last week. This time, however, they got to meet only with Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove. The senators used every argument in the book. Skull Valley is just 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. The dump is too close to Hill Air Force Base; what if a jet were to crash? And in post-Sept. 11 America, the dump makes an all-too-tempting target for terrorists. Sound familiar? Yucca Mountain isn't far from a little city called "Las Vegas," or a nearby Air Force based called Nellis. And if a temporary or permanent dump is authorized, terrorists can take their pick of targets: Either the dumps themselves, or the thousands of trucks and trains hauling waste. It seems as if Hatch and Bennett should have been on Las Vegas' side of the issue from the start. But they weren't, having been bought off by what now appears to be a broken promise. "They (the White House) know Yucca Mountain is the ultimate goal here," Hatch told the Salt Lake Tribune. "It's what has to be done under the circumstances and we're going to do everything to help them get there. But we expect them to help us to not have to put up with this kind of treatment." Yes, it is rather shoddy treatment. But it's difficult to work up too much sympathy for Hatch, given that he blanches at a temporary dump for Utah while strongly advocating a permanent one for Nevada. And it's even harder not to smile just a little at the irony: Hatch and Bennett, suckered in by a Bush administration promise, may soon see nuclear waste-laden trucks rolling to a dump in their state, while Nevada, thanks to an aggressive legal and political fight, probably won't see real progress on Yucca for years. Serves you right, senators. Try not to spill any of that nuke waste; it stains in more ways than one. But that's the wrong attitude. It's the Hatch Attitude, in fact, that says, "Better thee than me." We should -- all of us -- oppose temporary or permanent nuclear waste dumps. The more waste piles up at nuclear power plants around the country, the more we hasten the day when our dubious flirtation with nuclear power will yield to serious efforts to find non-lethal alternatives to our energy needs. All that's left for Hatch and Bennett is to hope that day comes before waste is piling up in Utah. But it doesn't look good. Steve Sebelius is the Review-Journal's political columnist and author of the daily e-mail political newsletter the EARLY LINE. His column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at 383-0283 or [SSebelius@reviewjournal.com] . [http://www.lasvegas.com] ***************************************************************** 72 press-citizen.com: Hills ponders water Perchlorate standards don't change issue Saturday, March 12, 2005 By Deidre Bello Iowa City Press-Citizen HILLS -- Results from a national study to find an appropriate level of perchlorate exposure for humans had no effect on households in town that have contaminated wells. Traces of perchlorate were discovered in shallow wells around Hills in 2003. The Environmental Protection Agency conducted quarterly testing in the town while residents waited to see the conclusions from the National Academy of Sciences before fully exploring the possibility of a municipal water system. The NAS recommended allowing humans to be exposed to a level that is equal to about 20 parts per billion in drinking water. That is the level of daily perchlorate exposure a person can have without it causing adverse health effects. "It doesn't really change the situation at all," deputy clerk Teresa Volk said of the reference dose. Perchlorate is the main ingredient in the production of solid rocket fuel. According to EPA officials, levels of about 180 to 200 parts per billion can interfere with iodine intake by the thyroid gland, which can affect metabolism and cause thyroid tumors. The EPA is providing bottled water for 25 Hills households with perchlorate contamination greater than 18 parts per billion. Results from the EPA's July 2004 tests showed the highest levels of perchlorate, at 330 ppb and 272 ppb, were found in a grain field south of Hills Elementary School and City Park. Perchlorate levels greater than 100 ppb were found in 12 groundwater samples in four acres west of the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railroad tracks. Shive Hattery Engineering of Iowa City advised the city to consider buying water from Iowa City or constructing at least two wells into a deep glaciofluvial aquifer, which is a clay-rich confining unit. Preliminary estimates show it could cost about $2.96 million to link the town to Iowa City water, with an additional $100,451 for annual operation cost. If the town started its own water system, it could cost about $2.69 million to construct and $78,154 annually to operate it. Mayor Cathy Fitzmaurice-Hill has been in contact with Sen. Tom Harkin's office to see what steps need to be taken to secure funding, Volk said. "We're trying to find as much funding from outside sources first so we know the actual cost it would be for homeowners (to support a water system)," Volk said, adding that a decision to construct a water system would be voted on by residents. City leaders were not the only ones waiting on results from the NAS study. Developers with Streb &Streb Partnership were waiting for the results as they moved forward with a proposed residential neighborhood that could bring about 100 new homes to Hills. The City Council reviewed and denied a zoning request for the plans last fall. Concerns dealt with the density from the number of proposed zero-lots, compatibility with existing neighborhoods, and the financial impact of a sewer system on the community. Other councilors said they are comfortable with the proposal and councilor Tim Kemp said the development would provide affordable housing and bring more young families to town. Reach Deidre Bello at 339-7360 or at [dbello@press-citizen.com] . Copyright 1999-2004 [http://www.press-citizen.com] Use of this ***************************************************************** 73 Telegraph Online: Size of nuke waste facility scaled back Mar. 13, 2005 MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Entergy Nuclear has scaled back the size of a proposed high-level radioactive waste facility in Vernon, according to draft legislation proposed to the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee. Rep. Robert Dostis, D-Waterbury, chairman of the committee, said Friday that Entergy’s proposal was a first step toward breaking the regulatory and legislative logjam over the controversial waste project. Entergy has asked for legislative approval to build a facility to store spent nuclear fuel in 12 casks, but last month it told the Windham Regional Commission it wanted to build a facility to accommodate 36 casks. Robert Williams, spokesman for Entergy, refused to comment on the apparent scaling back of the project. “I’m not in a position to comment on the language,” Williams said. Dostis said his committee would be seeking an annual payment from Entergy in exchange for the state hosting the high-level radioactive waste facility. Only two states in the country have legally wrangled some kind of oversight on nuclear waste - Vermont and Minnesota - and Minnesota receives an annual payment of $12 million, Dostis said. “It’s very appropriate for us to charge fees,” he said, noting the money would be used for renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation programs. Entergy is running out of storage space for the highly lethal old nuclear fuel and says without legislative approval for the waste facility, it would have to shut down the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant in 2007 or 2008. The nuclear utility’s supporters say that the reactor provides one-third of all the electricity needed in Vermont, and at a relatively low price of just under 4 cents per kilowatt hour. Entergy has maintained that it should be exempt from any legislative oversight. Contact The Telegraph of Nashua Privacy Policy and User Agreement © 2005, Telegraph Publishing Company PO Box 1008, Nashua, NH 03061 (603) 594-6440 All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 74 Salt Lake Tribune: Latest N-waste option: Just stay put [http://www.sltrib.com] Article Last Updated: 03/12/2005 08:01:15 AM Nevada's Reid proposes keeping material where it is By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune WASHINGTON - Nevada Sen. Harry Reid floated a proposal this week that he says could make it unnecessary to build a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain in his state and could eliminate the need for a proposed private facility on Utah's Skull Valley Goshute Indian reservation. Democrat Reid, the senate minority Leader, plans to introduce legislation within the next few weeks that would authorize the Energy Department to assume ownership of the spent nuclear waste stored at reactors and store it at the facilities. "This is the right thing to do and I look forward to discussing this option with my colleagues," Reid said this week. The prospects for Reid's plan are uncertain. He has been working for years to block the Yucca Mountain repository from being built in his state. On-site storage could mean that Yucca and a proposal by Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of nuclear power generators, to temporarily store 40,000 tons of waste in Utah's west desert, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, would not be needed. Joseph Egan, an attorney fighting Yucca Mountain on behalf of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said it is possible that moving ahead with Reid's on-site storage plan would make the PFS facility unnecessary. Utah officials, including former Gov. Mike Leavitt and members of the state's congressional delegation, have said for years that, if the waste would be safe to ship and store in Utah, it should also be safe left where it is. But Reid's proposal runs counter to the stated desires of President Bush, Congress and the nuclear energy industry, all of whom want the Yucca repository built. After meeting with White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card on Wednesday, Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett strongly endorsed the administration's position, saying the best way to block the PFS site is to make sure Yucca Mountain is built. "They are committed to a strategy of straight to Yucca. Straight to Yucca means not stopping in Skull Valley," Bennett said Wednesday. Asked about Reid's proposal, a spokeswoman for Bennett said he continues to believe storage at Yucca is the best solution. Hatch could not be reached for comment. Bush has requested $651 million in the coming year to work on Yucca Mountain, which is about half of what was projected for work on the facility. But Energy Department officials say the administration remains committed to seeing the project completed, even if it is done behind schedule. "We believe it's necessary and we are committed to moving forward with the plan to build the repository" at Yucca Mountain, said Energy Department spokesman Joe Davis. Egan said there is already a movement toward on-site storage and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that storing the waste in casks is safe for at least a century. The NRC has licensed 34 dry cask storage facilities in 25 states and has a goal of licensing 50 or more by 2010. The courts have said the Energy Department can take title to the waste, but Congress would have to act to appropriate the money to maintain the storage sites, Egan said. On-site storage would mean no cross-country waste shipments to Yucca, Utah or both, it would relieve pressure from state regulators that have sought to move the waste or shut down reactors, it would shift the cost and liability of managing the waste away from the utilities and it would resolve dozens of lawsuits the industry has filed against the government, Egan said. There are currently 66 lawsuits against the government, claiming it has failed to live up to its obligation to build a permanent nuclear waste repository with $24 billion in fees collected from the nuclear industry. But Private Fuel Storage and the rest of the nuclear industry are strongly opposed to on-site storage, arguing it would create scattered permanent repositories across the country, each demanding costly security and maintenance. Mitchell Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the nuclear industry organization, says the nuclear waste is safe in the casks at the reactors, but "it was never intended to be a permanent fix. . . . The best solution for nuclear fuel is deep geologic burial." PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said several of the PFS partners have dry cask storage licenses today, but they are meant as temporary fixes, not long-term solutions. Other plants have space constraints that make on-site storage impossible or want to move the waste so they can reuse the property Martez Norris, administrator for the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, which consists of utilities, attorneys general and regulators from 25 states, said the Energy Department made a proposal similar to Reid's several years ago and her group rallied to stop it. "Any proposal to leave the material at plant sites indefinitely, the coalition will definitely oppose again," she said. "We do not agree that these plant sites can become permanent, indefinite repositories." © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 75 Salt Lake Tribune: Spills call the safety of rail into question [http://www.sltrib.com] Last Updated: 03/13/2005 01:08:45 AM By Lisa Rosetta The Salt Lake Tribune Peering through binoculars from 100 yards away, South Salt Lake Fire Chief Steve Foote searched for signs of what was dribbling out of a railroad tanker car before he sent his firefighters closer. A simple cardboard placard on the side of the tank offered a clue: sulfuric acid. While the contents in this case turned out to be a combination of acids, Foote said he depends on the placards to help him plan his attacks. But the federal government worries they make tankers moving targets for terrorists who, with just one bullet, could cause a catastrophe. Since August, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has been considering whether to get rid of the placards, a move that has drawn sharp criticism from railroad workers, chemical companies and firefighters like Foote who rely on them to make important decisions. "This plan will not make terrorist attacks on freight trains less likely, but it probably will make loss of life and injuries more likely when a trail derailment occurs," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., wrote in a March 7 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. The placards use colors, symbols, numbers and text to communicate what is inside a tank car, helping first responders know whether to wear protective clothing or equipment. "We don't want anybody to have access to that information - 'Oh, look, there's a big tank' - but at the same time, I don't want to hamstring our firefighters and not allow them the information they need when they get there," Foote said. In Utah, the public's right to know what is being shipped is an issue not only in the wake of the March 6 spill, but in the debate over plans to ship high-level nuclear waste to the Skull Valley Goshute reservation 50 miles west of Salt Lake City. Chip Ward, co-founder of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said the potential transport of nuclear waste through the state underscores the importance of accessible information. The risks, he said, "approach a whole different scale when you talk about transporting nuclear waste." At a Wednesday rally in Jordan Park, where about 100 people gathered to protest the shipment of hazardous wastes through neighborhoods, he said, "Accidents are inevitable, and they are compounded by a system that doesn't offer protection, or even good information." About 10 million tons of "toxic inhalation hazard [TIH] materials" - gases or liquids that are known to pose a danger to humans in the event of a release - are shipped by rail every year in the United States, according to the Aug. 16 Federal Register. While it is a fraction of the 3.1 billion tons of hazardous materials shipped annually by all modes of transportation, "a terrorist attack against the rail transportation of TIH materials in an urbanized area could endanger significant numbers of people" the Register states. In October 2002, after capturing al-Qaida photos of U.S. railroad engines, cars and crossings and interviewing al-Qaida detainees, the FBI warned law-enforcement agencies that the terrorist group may be targeting the country's rail system. But Foote said the likelihood of an accident is greater than a terrorist attack. Removing the placards is exchanging one risk for another, he said. "We're starting to have more and more of these [accidents], but as far as I know, none of them has actually been sabotaged," he said. Since 1973, 47 people have died in the United States as the result of tank cars either failing or derailing, Federal Railroad Administration statistics show. The most recent accident, on Jan. 6, killed nine people in Graniteville, S.C., when a derailed tank car spewed chlorine. Between 1990 and 2004, there were 504 documented releases from 881 tank cars hauling hazardous materials, prompting the evacuation of a total of 144,497 people. Warren Flatau, spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration, did not believe any of the accidents were the result of sabotage. Yet the Department of Homeland Security has indicated removing the placards may be just the first step toward securing the nation's rail system. Enhanced requirements for temporary storage of hazardous materials and strengthening tank cars are also on its radar screen. Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Federal Railroad Administration has initiated a number of projects assessing rail security, including investigating whether tank cars built before 1989 are at higher risk for failure and should be on the tracks at all. A National Transportation Safety Board report released in March 2004 about a Canadian Pacific Railway accident in Minot, N.D., found that five tank cars built before 1989 "catastrophically ruptured," releasing 146,000 gallons of anhydrous ammonia. One person was killed and more than 300 were injured. Unlike tanks built after 1989, the Canadian Pacific tanks were built with non-normalized steel - which didn't undergo a heat-treating process that lowers the temperature at which steel becomes brittle - making them more susceptible to fractures. In its report, the NTSB made the more alarming finding that as many as half of the 60,000 tank cars in service in the United States do not meet current industry standards, making them more susceptible to rupture. The responsibility for inspecting the tank cars falls on the shoulders of the companies who own and lease them, like Kennecott Utah Copper Corp., which owned the tanker that ruptured in South Salt Lake. But inspection requirements are set by the Federal Railroad Administration, which the NTSB has criticized for not being more stringent. At the Jordan Park rally, Utah state Sen. Fred Fife, D-Salt Lake City, a vocal opponent of shipping hazardous materials through neighborhoods, said, "Clearly the regulations and regulatory oversight were not sufficient to prevent this accident. When it comes to protecting health and safety, our residents should not take a back seat to the industry's bottom line." Flatau said Friday that the railroad administration, a branch of the Department of Transportation, has only 450 inspectors, each of whom has a different area of expertise, such as railroad tracks or tank cars. Because the federal agency can't possibly keep tabs on every rail car, the railroad industry is largely self-regulating. "It obviously is a challenge," he said. "Fortunately, from our point of view, the safety record in general has been good, especially if you consider the amount of materials moving over our nation's rail network and the amount of traffic." Kennecott spokesman Louie Cononelos said the company performs an inspection on its 800 tank cars every time they are used for transport. Every five years, the tank cars are taken out of service and more thoroughly examined. The tank car that leaked 7,000 gallons of a chemical cocktail in South Salt Lake received its last inspection in February 2004. Cononelos said he didn't know what year the tank car was built. lrosetta@sltrib.com © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 76 Japan Times: JNC fails to remove tainted soil, starts paying fine Saturday, March 12, 2005 750,000 YEN A DAY -- FROM TAXPAYERS TO TAXPAYERS TOTTORI (Kyodo) The Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute on Friday started paying residents of Yurihama fines worth 750,000 yen a day over its failure to remove uranium-contaminated soil from the town by a court-ordered deadline, but the money is effectively coming out of taxpayers' pockets. [News photo] Uranium-contaminated soil is covered by sheets at a dump site in Yurihama, Tottori Prefecture, in this photo taken last July. Taxpayers are shouldering the fines because roughly 90 percent of the institute's annual budget of 11.4 billion yen comes from state subsidies. JNC, a state-backed organization that develops technologies for the nuclear fuel cycle, said it is seeking a location to store the tainted soil on a temporary basis, thereby halting the fines. The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry supervises JNC. A court had ordered JNC to remove by Thursday some 290 cu. meters of the roughly 3,000 cu. meters of contaminated soil that has been left in the Katamo district for about 40 years. JNC has put the soil in sacks but has not been able to find a place to store it. Local residents have asked the institute to pay the fines into a bank account under the name of the local district. They said they will give some of the money to the prefectural and municipal governments that have provided financial support for their legal battle with JNC. The prefectural and town governments have furnished residents with legal fees worth some 5.35 million yen since their lawsuit was filed in November 2000. The residents will be able to repay the money with a week's worth of JNC's fines. Last October, the Supreme Court finalized an order issued by the Tottori District Court in 2002 for JNC to remove the contaminated soil. In December, the Tottori District Court decided JNC should pay fines unless it removed the 290 cu. meters of soil already bagged up by March 10. It will take JNC at least 10 days to complete the removal process after it finds a place for the soil. If this process is delayed for a year, the fines will total 270 million yen. JNC had planned to move the soil to a different location within the town. But the prefectural government banned such a transfer because the proposed new site sits within a locally designated nature reserve, prompting JNC to file a lawsuit seeking a court order invalidating the ban. "We demanded the payment of the fines not because we wanted money but because we wanted to achieve an early removal of the contaminated soil. We will discuss how to spend the money," said Masumi Enomoto, a 69-year-old resident. The contaminated soil came from the site of test uranium drilling conducted from 1956 to 1967 by JNC's predecessor, Power Reactor & Nuclear Fuel Development Corp., in an area lying on the border between Tottori and Okayama prefectures. The soil was uncovered in 1988 in the town of Togo, which has since become part of Yurihama. "The current situation proves that JNC does not have the capability to dispose of the nuclear waste it has produced. It should quickly create a mechanism in which it can control nuclear waste in a responsible manner," said Hitoshi Yoshioka, a professor of science history at Kyushu University. Yoshioka added that it is outrageous that the fines will actually be paid by taxpayers, calling the situation a "breach of public trust." The Japan Times: March 12, 2005 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 77 PE.com: Wyle contaminants spread NORCO: The chemicals turn up in groundwater and soil in an area where thyroid cancer cases occurred. 01:16 AM PST on Saturday, March 12, 2005 By PAIGE AUSTIN / The Press-Enterprise State officials have found cancer-causing chemicals in the groundwater and soil beneath the same Norco neighborhood where a string of thyroid disorders and cancers prompted residents to demand an investigation almost two years ago. The underground plume of contamination, which is within a half-mile of Norco High School and Norco Intermediate School, has spread farther into the community and at higher levels than state officials investigating the contaminated Wyle Labs property originally thought. At the time, Wyle and state officials insisted that pollution could not have reached so far away from the hazardous-testing facility, which closed in late 2004. Over the past two years, dozens of Wyle neighbors have blamed the lab's pollution for their health problems, even though regulators have not found a link between the contamination pollution and the cases of cancer and thyroid disease. The report from the state's Department of Toxic Substances Control affirms residents' suspicions that their neighborhood has been contaminated. As recently as 2003, regulators were telling residents that the Wyle contamination posed no health threat to the community because it was limited to the borders of Wyle Labs. State officials found the cancer-causing contaminants in the groundwater and soil at Hillside Avenue and Third Street in northeast Norco at levels between 19 and 2,300 parts per billion -- hundreds of times higher than the state's drinking-water standard of 5 parts per billion. Well Water No one on Third Street or Hillside Avenue is using contaminated water for drinking, said Peter Garcia, the state official overseeing the investigation. However, one man living farther down Hillside Avenue may have been using his private well for drinking water, Garcia said. "We called him up and told him not to drink the water," Garcia said. "If at any time during our investigation, we find that there is any type of significant risk to anybody, we'll take immediate action to make sure they're protected." Excessive levels of trichloroethylene and trace levels of perchlorate, chemicals used in rocket fuels, were found in most of the sites tested in the neighborhood with the highest levels concentrated at the corner of Third and Hillside. Seventeen sites were tested. "How long have they known about the pollution at Wyle, and they're only just now testing there?" said Lee Wardle, who lived on Hillside for 17 years and battled thyroid cancer. "I don't understand why it had to take so long." Widening Testing Arc Up until this point, officials have been testing for groundwater and soil pollution in widening arcs around the facility's border. In several of the past tests, drilling probes hit bedrock without finding much groundwater, leading officials to believe that the contamination had not traveled so far off-site. In the latest round of testing, officials found the most off-site groundwater contamination to date. Wyle officials could not be reached for comment Friday. To date, more than 100 residents have filed lawsuits against Wyle. Over 47 years, the laboratory tested products for the defense industry at its Norco facility as well as electronics and components for space shuttles and rocket engines. A developer bought Wyle's Norco property in 2002 with plans to build more than 300 homes there. Permission to Test State officials went door to door this week counseling residents about the results and seeking permission to test for contamination beneath their properties. On nearby Golden West Avenue, state officials last year found trichloroethylene vapors in a few homes that could increase the risk of cancer over the course of a lifetime. Officials installed ventilation systems in those homes. "It's so sad to think of how many people who have been affected by this," said Wardle, who has moved out of state. She developed thyroid cancer, as did her daughter-in-law, who also lived in the house. And the homeowner who bought the property from her did as well. The home had constant problems with shallow groundwater, including a sinkhole in the driveway, Wardle said. She believes that the pollution is the cause of her health problems and is angry that the state waited so long to test in the neighborhood. "One of the biggest problems we've been having, as far as the community is concerned, is finding where this plume is," said Jeanne Guertin, chairwoman of the Wyle Labs Community Advisory Group, which works with the Department of Toxic Substances Control as a liaison between the state and the residents. High School Football Field The high school campus had previously tested clean, but only limited testing has been done on the school's football field. "The hope has been that we wouldn't find anything," said Cathy Regan, president of the Norco High School PTA. She hopes officials will now test at the elementary- and intermediate-school sites. That way, she said, "we can breath a sigh of relief or deal with it and clean it up." Staff writer Bonnie Stewart contributed to this story. Reach Paige Austin at (951) 893-2106 or paustin@pe.com [paustin@pe.com] Belo Interactive Inc. [http://www.belointeractive.com] ***************************************************************** 78 Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy submits dry cask proposal to Legislature [http://www.reformer.com/] March 13, 2005 Brattleboro, VT By CAROLYN LORIé Reformer Staff BRATTLEBORO -- Entergy officials submitted a proposal Thursday for dry cask storage to the House Committee on Natural Resources and Energy. In the proposed legislation, the company seeks approval to load 12 casks with spent fuel, but stipulates that it could be more if the Public Service Board mandates it. According to Rep. Steve Darrow, D-Putney, Entergy lobbyist Jerry Morris told the committee the company wanted six casks to get through the end of its license in 2012 and the other six in preparation for decommissioning. Darrow questioned why company officials were seeking casks for decommissioning when they have stated their intent to apply for license extension. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission extends the plant's operating licenses, it would not shut down until 2032. "It [Entergy's proposal] doesn't really pass the straight face test," said Darrow. "I think any legislation coming out of my committee will be much more comprehensive and far reaching." Darrow has advocated taxing Entergy for each cask, as is done in Minnesota. The proposal comes after weeks of uncertainty about what process Entergy officials would be required to go through in order to get legislative approval. Petitioning the Legislature, as is currently required by Vermont law to store nuclear fuel, is the lengthier of the two options. While testifying at the Statehouse, however, Jay Thayer, site vice president of Vermont Yankee, claimed there wasn't time to go through the process. It was decided by the Legislature's leadership to address the matter through the standing committee process. Although Entergy's proposed bill states that the company "shall load no more than 12 dry fuel storage containers..." a company official said he didn't think it meant that there could be more than 12 on site. "The point of the language is to make it clear that the number of casks applied for is enough to get us through our current license," said Brian Cosgrove, director of public affairs for Vermont Yankee. Having six casks would allow the plant to operate until 2012, but the additional six are necessary, claimed Cosgrove, in the event that the reactor core had to be completely unloaded to make repairs. In addition to Darrow, opposition to Entergy's proposal was voiced from the anti-nuclear group, the New England Coalition. "The proposed bill is a masterpiece of double-talk," said Peter Alexander, executive director of the coalition, in a press release. "[It] speaks of 'temporary' storage at a time when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is openly claiming the casks are good for more than 100 years." During recent public meetings in Brattleboro, concerned residents asked whether Vermont Yankee could store nuclear waste from other facilities. According to Cosgrove, the plant's license from the NRC specifically forbids the plant from storing nuclear waste that is not generated by Vermont Yankee. Another concern that has been voiced repeatedly is the possibility that dry cask storage would make it easier for Entergy to extend its operating license. Again, Cosgrove dismissed the concern, pointing out that license extenuation will require federal and state approval and that dry cask storage does nothing to change the regulatory process. He also said that, at the moment, company officials are focusing solely on getting enough dry storage to operate the plant until the end of its current license. "That's our horizon -- 2012," he said. Copyright ©1999-2005 New England Newspapers, Inc., ***************************************************************** 79 [NukeNet] Tell the new Sec. of Energy: no more plutonium at Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:31:04 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) March 2005 -- Dear Friends: As you are reading this, the Department of Energy is still considering major expansions of nuclear weapons programs and materials at the Livermore nuclear weapons lab. Even if you have already taken action on this, we are asking that you take action again, NOW, to stop the Department of Energy from more than doubling (!) the plutonium limit at Livermore Lab to 3,300 pounds. *This is enough plutonium to make more than 300 nuclear bombs.* Allowing this large of an amount of plutonium in Livermore presents unstudied risks, such as making the lab a terrorist target, leaving the San Francisco Bay area vulnerable to environmental releases from accidents or routine operations, and provoking other countries to follow suit and increase their stockpiles of nuclear materials. *We need you to take action today to stop the Department of Energy from expanding plutonium activities at Livermore Lab because:* 1. There is a new Secretary of Energy, Samuel Bodman. Let the new head of DOE know that you want him to take action to stop these dangerous plans; and 2. Potential safety problems halted work with plutonium at Lawrence Livermore Lab after a federal nuclear safety board found taped-up cracks in the ventilation system and "hot boxes" without adequate seismic restraints. With your help we have already generated thousands of comments opposing DOE's plans. This is an IMPORTANT new chance you have NOW to demand that the Department of Energy halt these dangerous plans. Thanks for your action -- the how is immediately below -- Tara Dorabji and Marylia Kelley *TAKE ACTION*: send a letter to the Energy Secretary Bodman and others. If the link is "live" on your computer, just click here, and scroll down to the preformatted letter: http://capwiz.com/wagingpeace/mail/oneclick_compose/?alertid=6718276 or, go to our website at www.trivalleycares.org. There is a live link to the preformatted letter on our website's front page. BACKGROUND: The Department of Energy will be releasing the final Site Wide Environmental Impact Statement (SWEIS) for Livermore Lab sometime soon in 2005. This document will contain the final decision about whether Livermore Lab will increase it's plutonium storage and related activities. There is widespread concern about the security of plutonium currently stored at Livermore. A report by the General Accounting Office raised concerns about the vulnerability of plutonium currently stored at Livermore's 1.3 square mile site -- this does not even include additional vulnerabilities associated with the proposed increase in plutonium. Now that the Lab's surroundings are becoming higher density residential, the small site with 10,000 employees is impossible to defend against terrorist attack. Beginning in 2004, then Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham promised to conduct a study on removing all plutonium from Livermore Lab. That's right -- the DOE is currently reviewing plans to double plutonium and, at the same time, the DOE has also agreed to study removing all current plutonium from Livermore Lab for security purposes. Plutonium also poses many severe health and safety risks. It is very difficult to store safely and can spontaneously ignite when reacting with oxygen in the air. A single particle of plutonium, if lodged in the lungs, can cause cancer. Further plutonium-239 remains radioactive for 240,000 years (which is ten half-lives). Livermore's plutonium facility can -- and should -- be shut down permanently. The Department of Energy should be researching long-term storage and immobilization of plutonium, not expanding programs. Currently the DOE is shipping plutonium from site to site across the country, with no real ability to dispose of generated waste. Plutonium work halted at LLNL: http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/living/health/10785839.htm For more information: http://www.trivalleycares.org/ Marylia Kelley Executive Director Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment) 2582 Old First Street Livermore, CA USA 94551 - is our web site address. Please visit us there! (925) 443-7148 - is our phone (925) 443-0177 - is our fax _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 80 ABQjournal: Report on LANL's Failings Made Public the Albuquerque Journal newspaper. Saturday, March 12, 2005 Albuquerque Journal--> By Adam Rankin Journal Staff Writer In January, Los Alamos laboratory managers learned the U.S. Department of Energy was penalizing the nuclear weapons facility for poor operations. This week, the federal report card detailing the laboratory's shortcomings in 2004 was made public. The single largest factor contributing to LANL's poor performance ratings was the unprecedented laboratory work shutdown and resumption process initiated in July by lab director Pete Nanos. Because of the poor ratings, the University of California, which operates LANL, received only $2.9 million out of a possible $8.7 million laboratory management fee for running the nuclear weapons lab in 2004. The $5.8 million fee cut was the largest ever assessed against a national laboratory and was the first time such a fee penalty has been assessed against LANL. The shutdown, despite improving procedures and raising important safety and security issues for review and improvement, forced laboratory divisions to miss crucial deadlines, according to LANL's 2004 Annual Performance Appraisal. Of the projects that missed deadlines, most were in the weapons program at Los Alamos, which is the second-largest production facility in the nuclear weapons complex. "The discussion of operational milestones not met is due to the work suspension," explained LANL spokesman Jim Danneskiold. "High-risk operations are the ones in the weapons program, and those are the ones that were most affected by the work suspension." He said despite the setbacks, LANL managers fully intend to meet the deadlines in 2005. Because of the shutdown, LANL delivered only 50 percent of "surveillance components," 82 percent of required packaging materials, 69 percent of neutron tube targets and 98 percent of dynamic experimentation products, according to the appraisal. Also, "Many key facilities were unavailable for the entire fourth quarter of (fiscal year) 2004 because of the suspension of operations," according to the review. Of the 10 overall criteria that LANL was judged on, the laboratory received three scores of "outstanding" for its national security strategic objectives, preventing proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and community initiatives; four "good" scores for effective business systems, developing the work force, nuclear warhead assessment and certification, and weapon stewardship; two "satisfactory" scores for implementing a balanced weapons program and completing facility projects; and one "unsatisfactory" score for "maintaining a secure, safe, environmentally sound, effective, and efficient operations and infrastructure basis in support of mission objectives." Also considered "unsatisfactory" was LANL's environmental compliance for meeting state regulations and for missing waste shipment deadlines. Despite the poor operations rating, DOE reviewers praised several aspects of LANL's work in financial management and the weapons program, which they noted was hindered by the shutdown. Copyright Albuquerque Journal Steve@abqjournal.com ***************************************************************** 81 [du-list] DU in the news - 14th March 05 Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:34:39 -0800 Reuters.co.uk, Sat, 12 Mar 2005 10:45 PM PST Iraq weapons plants looted after invasion http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=689001§ion=news&src=rss/uk/worldNews NEW YORK (Reuters) - Looters systematically removed tons of equipment from Iraqi weapons facilities, including some with components capable of making parts of nuclear arms, in the weeks after Baghdad fell in 2003, The New York Times has reported. Seattle Times, Sun, 13 Mar 2005 0:26 AM PST Looting "sophisticated" after Saddam's fall http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002206103_looting13.html?syndication=rss The disclosures by the Iraqi ministry added new information about the thefts, detailing the timing, the material that was taken and the apparent skill of the operations. http://www.kaumudi.com/news/031405/world.stm Israel plans attack on Iran if Ndiplomacy fails: Report LONDON: Israel has drawn up secret plans for a combined air and ground attack on Iran to foil its nuclear ambitions if diplomatic pressures fail to deter the Islamic Republic, a media report said here today. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's inner cabinet has given the "initial authorisation" for an attack at a private meeting last month on his ranch in the Negev desert. Israel defence forces "have used a mockup of Iran's Natanz uranium enrichment plant in the desert to practice destroying it". Their tactics include airstrikes by F15 fighter planes and raids by teams from Israel's elite 'Shaldag' commando unit, 'The Sunday Times' reported. The plans have been discussed with American officials who are said to have indicated provisionally that they would not stand in Israel's way if all international efforts to halt Iranian nuclear projects failed, it said.The report came out even as both US and Iran signalled a softening of their stances over Iranian nuclear programme. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday that America would support Britain, France and Germany in offering economic incentives for Tehran to abandon its programme. Israel responded cautiously to the announcement.Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he believed diplomacy was the only way to deal with the issue, but warned, "the idea that this tyranny of Iran will hold a nuclear bomb is a nightmare, not only for us but for the whole world." Meanwhile, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami yesterday said, "We are ready to cooperate with the world to give more certainty that Iran is not moving toward the creation of nuclear arms." ---------- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.7.2 - Release Date: 3/11/05 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ 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! 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