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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran to Go Forward With Nuclear Program
2 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: South's aid to North depends on talks
3 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea's Premier Visits China
4 Xinhua: 6-party talks "a realistic choice" to resolve DPRK issue - P
5 Xinhua: DPRK to join nuclear talks "at any time" given right conditi
6 AFP: North Korea ups stakes in nuclear standoff -
7 AFP: North Korea has not given up on nuclear talks -
8 US: Santa Maria Times: Missile poised for first 2005 lauch
9 US: [southnews] Let Them Eat Yellowcake
10 US: TheNewsTribune.com: MARTIN SCHRAM: Punish government liars
11 [NYTr] Pakistani's Black Market May Offer Secrets of Nuclear
12 [NYTr] New Zealand Greens Want to Give Vanunu Asylum
13 nuke-free world postcard: straightgoods.com
14 inadaily.com: Nuke claim worries Delhi
15 Interfax: U.S. experts will not inspect Russia's nuclear facilities
16 IAEA: Transcript: Director General's CNN Interview -
NUCLEAR REACTORS
17 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear disaster warning
18 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Waterford 3
19 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Pilgrim Nucl
20 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Peach Bottom
21 US: NRC: NRC Signs Agreement with Belgium to Share Nuclear Safety In
22 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
23 Seattle Times: Energy-hungry countries warm up to nuclear power
24 US: The News Journal: Water leak may idle Hope Creek reactor
25 IndiaDaily: Rising Energy Needs Renew Nuclear Interest
26 Bellona: Fuel leak narrowly averted at Chalk River
27 Guardian Unlimited: Iran to Develop Civilian Nuclear Power
28 CTV.ca: Ontario to start idled nuclear reactors - report
29 New Scientist: Cracks may force shutdown of UK reactors
30 US: National Vanguard: Security Breached at Nuclear Power Plant
31 Sofia Daily News: Bulgaria to Lose EUR 4 B from Kozloduy Nuke Closur
32 Guardian Unlimited: British Energy chief in shock exit
NUCLEAR SAFETY
33 DU Horrors Worldwide
34 [NukeNet] Russia Ratifies Wimped Out Nuke Accident Convention
35 [du-list] Widow accepts combat award for spouse's brain-tumour
36 Bellona: 444 families want to leave radioactive village
37 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Ratifies Nuke Accident Convention
38 New Scientist: French nuclear tests may have caused cancers -
39 Japan Times: Nuclear firefighting guide finally drafted
40 Mos News: Russian Navy Refutes Reports of Soviet Nuclear Torpedoes o
41 Mos News: Russia Ratifies Nuclear Accident Convention -
42 US: Newsday.com: Accord near in suit over radioactive emission
43 US: L.A. Daily News: Field lab radiation tests invalid, critics say
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
44 [NukeNet] Yucca Fraud Update, ElBaradei Statement On Nuclear
45 US: Deseret News: N-waste hysteria rampant
46 US: Deseret News: 2 Wyoming firms seek OK to reopen uranium ore mill
47 US: AU ABC: Uranium mine start date may not be far off
48 KOLO: The Yucca Battle Heats Up
49 deseretnews: Nevada seeks united front against Yucca
50 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca project reviewer raiseddoubts about instruments
51 BBC: Radioactive waste plans
52 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Disturbing allegations
53 Las Vegas SUN: State officials: DOE's Yucca woes are 'tip of the ice
54 US: Las Vegas SUN: Rail giant challenges ban on hazardous materials
55 RGJ: Bryan insisting Cheney address Yucca, land sales
56 RGJ: State official says more e-mails suggest faulty nuke dump data
57 Times Argus: Yucca Mountain woes seen having little effect on Vermon
58 US: Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: No regard for Utahns
59 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Yucca threatens Utah
60 Korea Times: Selection of Nuke Dump Site Due by September
61 US: KUTV: Federal Hearing for Utah Appeal On Nuclear Waste Dump
62 US: Washington Daily News: Mayors, OLF attorney to address N.C. lawm
63 KRNV: Richard Bryan hopes VP will address issues other than Social S
64 EMS: U.S. weapons grade plutonium shipment to depart France tonight
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
65 DOE: Memorandum of Understanding Between the Department of the
66 Tri-City Herald: Fluor Hanford to lay off up to 200
OTHER NUCLEAR
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran to Go Forward With Nuclear Program
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday March 22, 2005 9:46 PM
AP Photo PAR101
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - Iran vowed Tuesday to press ahead on the ``tortuous
path'' to developing nuclear power plants to meet its energy
needs, brushing aside U.S. suspicions that the effort masks
plans to build atomic weapons.
At the end of a two-day conference in Paris on the future of
nuclear energy, Iranian envoys again insisted their nuclear
program is peaceful.
``The people and government of Iran are determined to open their
way through the tortuous path of peaceful use of nuclear
technology despite all imposed restrictions and difficulties,''
said Mohammad Saeidi, vice president for planning and
international affairs at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
Ministers and high-level delegates at the conference sought to
find a balance between atomic energy's potential and concerns
that the spread of nuclear power could pose safety risks and
provide new opportunities for terrorists to acquire radioactive
material.
In a final statement, delegates said nations that choose to
pursue civilian nuclear programs should be vigilant to ensure
nuclear material ``not be exported to states that may seek to
use them for nuclear weapons.''
``States must commit themselves to preventing the proliferation
of nuclear weapons, which constitutes a threat to international
peace and security,'' it said.
France, Germany and Britain are leading talks with Iran to
ensure Tehran does not develop nuclear weapons - negotiations
the United States recently decided to support, backing away from
demands the Islamic republic be brought before the U.N. Security
Council.
A new meeting between the Europeans and Iran was set for
Wednesday in Paris, and many observers are eager to hear if
Tehran will agree to extend its suspension of uranium
enrichment-related activities, a process that can be used both
for producing nuclear energy and nuclear weapons.
Iran suspended those activities last year as talks with the
Europeans got underway.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed
ElBaradei, said a global approach is needed to keep Iran from
developing nuclear weapons, and urged Europe and the United
States to normalize ties with Tehran.
Europe and the United States ``must give Iran a sense of
security so that the Iranians don't feel the need to acquire
nuclear arms,'' ElBaradei was quoted as telling the daily Le
Monde in remarks published Tuesday.
``Iran must feel assured that no one is thinking of attacking or
provoking regime change,'' ElBaradei, who spoke at the
conference on Monday, was quoted as saying.
Asked about ElBaradei's remarks, Saeidi declined to comment
Tuesday, but said there was ``nothing'' the United States could
do to encourage Tehran to reach a deal with the Europeans.
The Paris conference on the future of nuclear energy, billed as
the first of its kind in decades, was sponsored by France, the
IAEA and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development.
Some 440 commercial nuclear power plants spread out over 31
countries now supply 16 percent of world's total electricity,
the World Nuclear Association says.
But the International Energy Agency predicts a 60 percent
increase in demand for energy over the next 25 years, and many
delegates from the 74 nations represented at the meeting argued
that nuclear energy is more efficient than wind or hydroelectric
power. They also said nuclear plants are far less polluting than
plants that burn oil, gas or coal.
``A vast majority of participants affirmed that nuclear power
can make a major contribution to meeting energy needs and
sustaining the world's development in the 21st century,'' a
final statement said.
While many delegates touted nuclear energy's potential, some
insisted it will offer no panacea to the booming demands for
electricity expected in the years ahead.
``Without making nuclear energy the only response to all the
century's challenges, the conference recognizes it can
contribute in an effective way to ... stable electricity at a
competitive price,'' French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian
said in closing remarks.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
2 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: South's aid to North depends on talks
March 23, 2005 KST 12:09 (GMT+9)
March 23, 2005 ¤Ñ With direct contact between the two Koreas
almost nonexistent, Chung Dong-young, the South's minister of
unification, said yesterday that North Korea should have no
expectation of receiving fertilizer aid from Seoul unless
Pyeongyang resumes bilateral talks.
In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo, Mr. Chung, who also
heads the National Security Council, said the two Koreas'
governments have always held talks over procedures of the
routine fertilizer aid to the North before shipments were made.
"Unless there are talks between the two Koreas' authorities, it
is difficult to make a decision on giving fertilizer or food
aid," he said.
Mr. Chung has been among the Roh administration's most
conciliatory top officials on North Korea.
Over the last six years, Seoul has sent 1.55 million tons of
fertilizer to the North. North Korea normally requested about
300,000 tons of fertilizer each time, but Pyeongyang asked for
500,000 tons in February.
"This time, they asked for a lot, and it requires a large amount
of money," Mr. Chung said. "We need a national consensus on this
issue. If inter-Korean talks resume, we will have to hear from
the North Koreans why they need so much support this time."
Mr. Chung said if and when the talks reopen, he will also
discuss the issues of holding separated family reunions as a top
priority. North Korea cut off bilateral talks with the South
last August to protest an airlift to Seoul of hundreds of North
Korean defectors.
Addressing the nuclear standoff on the Korean Peninsula, Mr.
Chung took the view that Washington's recent recognition of
North Korea as a "sovereign state" is a meaningful development
to resume stalled six-nation nuclear disarmament talks. During
her visit here on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice used the term to characterize the North.
"The term, sovereign state, is a clear sign that the United
States has no intention of attacking the North," he said.
Mr. Chung also said the leaders of Japan and South Korea will
meet as scheduled despite the high tensions between the two
countries over the Tokto islands territorial dispute and
publication of nationalist history textbooks in Japan.
President Roh Moo-hyun and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of
Japan agreed at a meeting last July on Jeju Island that they
would meet twice a year. A meeting is planned to take place
before the end of June, but speculation in Seoul and Tokyo is
that another summit may be delayed because of the recent
diplomatic rupture over the Tokto islands.
by Lee Young-jong, Seo Seung-wook myoja@joongang.co.kr>
[http://joongangdaily.joins.com/faq.html]
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
3 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea's Premier Visits China
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday March 22, 2005 10:16 AM
AP Photo BEJ203
By JOE McDONALD
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - North Korea's premier began a visit to China on
Tuesday at a time of American calls for Beijing to use its
influence to prod the North back into nuclear talks - and
American hints of possible sanctions if Pyongyang doesn't
cooperate.
Chinese officials say they will discuss the nuclear standoff
with Premier Pak Pong Ju. A foreign ministry spokesman appealed
to participants in the six-nation talks to ``support the
process'' but didn't give any details of what Chinese leaders
will tell Pak.
``The six-party talks are the best and most realistic vehicle to
peacefully resolve this issue through dialogue,'' said spokesman
Liu Jianchao.
Pak was scheduled to meet with President Hu Jintao and other
Chinese leaders.
Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said this month that the
North expressed willingness to return to talks. But he didn't
say whether leader Kim Jong Il's government had attached any
conditions.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, visiting Beijing, suggested
Monday that the North might face sanctions.
``To the degree that a nuclear-free Korean peninsula gets more
difficult to achieve if the North does not (return to the
talks), then of course we'll have to look at other options,''
Rice said.
Rice said she appealed for China to use its status as the
North's main ally and aid donor to draw Pyongyang back to the
talks, which also include South Korea, Japan and Russia.
Beijing insists it has little influence over Kim's isolated
Stalinist regime and has resisted U.S. appeals to pressure its
ally. China is believed to supply the North with up to one-third
of its food and one-quarter of its energy.
Analysts say the North's declaration last month that it has
nuclear weapons might prompt China to force Pyongyang back into
talks. But they say Beijing might be holding out for a U.S.
overture to make the North return willingly.
On Monday, the North announced that it had increased its nuclear
arsenal to counter a possible invasion.
``We have taken a serious measure by increasing (the) nuclear
arms arsenal in preparation for any invasion by enemies,'' said
the North's Korean Central Broadcasting Station, according to
South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
U.S. and Chinese diplomats met last week in Shanghai with their
counterparts from Japan and South Korea to discuss possible
steps to get North Korea back to the bargaining table. The North
wants aid and a peace treaty with the United States in exchange
for a settlement.
China has organized three rounds of six-nation talks since the
dispute flared in late 2002. Washington said Pyongyang admitted
operating a secret nuclear program in violation of a 1994
agreement that gave it oil and other aid for abandoning nuclear
work.
Chinese officials have suggested direct talks between Washington
and Pyongyang to break the impasse - an option that the United
States has rejected.
``It is not a U.S.-North Korean issue,'' Rice said. ``We are
determined that this will be done in a multilateral context.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
4 Xinhua: 6-party talks "a realistic choice" to resolve DPRK issue - Premier Wen
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-22 21:04:32
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
said here Tuesday that the six-party talks offered "a realistic
choice"to peacefully resolve the Korean nuclear issue through
dialogue.
"The talks are in the interests of all parties so it should
continue," Wen told visiting Premier Pak Bong Ju of the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) during their talks.
He urged all sides to show flexibility, sincerity and
patience. Proceeding from objective and fair stance, China will
continue to actively promote the talks and make unremitting
efforts for the realization of a lasting peace in northeast
Asia.
The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is a matter
related with peace and security in northeast Asia. China
advocates a nuclear-weapon-free peninsula and the maintenance of
peace and stability on the peninsula, he said. To that end,
"China is committed to resolving the issue through the six-party
talks," he told Pak.
Pak said the DPRK does not oppose to the six-party talks,
neither will abandon the talks. "Provided conditions are right,
the DPRK will join the talks at any time," he said.
He said the DPRK's stand on the realization of a
nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula and on the settlement of
the nuclear issue through dialogue and by peaceful means
"remains unchanged".
The DPRK appreciates China's efforts for realizing a
nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula, Pak said.
Pak is on his first official visit to China after taking
office.
The six-party talks, already held three rounds in Beijing,
involved China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, the
Republic of Korea and Japan. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
5 Xinhua: DPRK to join nuclear talks "at any time" given right conditions
: Pak
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-03-22 23:30:48
BEIJING, March 22 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) will join the six-party talks on the
nuclear issueon the Korean Peninsular "at any time" provided
conditions are right, DPRK Premier Pak Bong Ju said here on
Tuesday.
During talks with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao, Pak
said that the DPRK does not oppose to the six-party talks,
neither will abandon it. "Provided conditions are right, the
DPRK will join the talks at any time," he said.
Wen told Pak that the six-party talks offered "a realistic
choice" to peacefully resolve the Korean nuclear issue through
dialogue. "The talks are in the interests of all parties so it
should continue."
Wen urged all sides to show flexibility, sincerity and
patience.
Proceeding from objective and fair stance, China will
continue to actively promote the talks and make unremitting
efforts for the realization of a lasting peace in northeast
Asia, Wen said.
The nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula is a matter
related with peace and security in northeast Asia. China
advocates a nuclear-weapon-free peninsula and the maintenance of
peace and stability on the peninsula, he said.
To that end, "China is committed to resolving the issue
through the six-party talks," he told Pak.
Pak said the DPRK's stand on the realization of a
nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula and on the settlement of
the nuclear issue through dialogue and by peaceful means
"remains unchanged".
The DPRK appreciates China's efforts for realizing a
nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula, Pak said.
The six-party talks, already held three rounds in Beijing,
involved China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, the
Republic of Korea and Japan.
On China-DPRK ties, Wen and Pak both vowed to further the
countries' "friendly cooperative ties," including economic
cooperation and coordination on major issues, during talks here
onTuesday.
Relations between China and the Democratic People's Republic
of Korea (DPRK) have seen "sound progress" with the direct care
from the two countries' leaders, Wen told Pak in the Great Hall
ofthe People in Beijing.
China and DPRK "maintained frequent high-level exchange,
expanded economic and trade cooperation along with increasingly
active exchanges in other fields," Wen said.
"In a spirit of inheriting tradition, facing the future,
continuing good neighborliness and enhancing cooperation, China
will further implement the consensus reached by the two
countries'leaders, enhance communication and coordination on
major issues and deepen economic and trade cooperation to push
forward the friendly and cooperation ties between them," Wen
said.
Pak said the DPRK-China relations were growing soundly and
cooperation in all fields vigorous, which served as a vital
basis for their future cooperation.
The Chinese government and people offered sincere help for
promoting DPRK's economic progress and for improving the
people's living standard in terms of both spirit and material,
Pak said. Hesaid the DPRK people "were encouraged by and
appreciated" that.
"To continuously consolidate and develop the friendly ties
between DPRK and China" is the "unswerving policy" of the DPRK,
he said, adding that the DPRK hoped the friendly ties would gain
"much more progress" in the new century.
Pak was here for his first official visit to China as DPRK
premier. He is scheduled to visit Shanghai in east China and
Shenyang and Anshan in northeast China after his visit in
Beijing.Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
6 AFP: North Korea ups stakes in nuclear standoff -
Tuesday March 22, 11:42 AM
SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea raised the stakes in the nuclear
standoff with the United States, saying it had increased its
atomic arsenal as Washington pressed Pyongyang to return to
six-party talks.
Just hours after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called
on North Korea to make a "strategic" choice to drop its nuclear
weapons, Pyongyang said it had already taken measures to boost
its arsenal.
"In the face of the enemy's mounting war provocations, our
armed forces and the people have already been fully prepared for
war mobilizations in order to bust any aggression attempts at
one sweep and taken the decisive measure of increasing our
nuclear arsenal," North Korea said in a radio broadcast
monitored here by Yonhap news agency.
Rice urged Pyongyang to return to six-party talks to resolve
the standoff during her six-nation Asian tour which ended Monday
in Beijing. She visited Japan, South Korea and China, key
players in the standoff.
With the talks in limbo, Rice pushed hard for a new round,
indicating Washington's patience may be running out and other
options were being considered.
"It is true that we need to resolve this issue. It cannot go on
for ever," she said in Seoul on Sunday.
In Beijing, she warned North Korea that Washington was
considering "other options" to talks. Experts noted that hawks
have been pushing for referral of the case to the United Nations.
Backing up Rice's call for North Korea to return to dialogue,
the White House warned diplomatic efforts cannot "drag on
forever."
"Secretary Rice was saying what we've said, the time to come
back to the talks is now. She expressed that this could not drag
on forever; we need to resolve this issue," spokesman Scott
McClellan said.
While Rice applied verbal pressure, she also appeared
conciliatory, saying that through talks, North Korea would
receive what it was asking for in terms of the "respect that
they have desired and ... the assistance that they need."
North Korea has demanded an end to US "hostility" and rewards
for dismantling its nuclear weapons drive. It has also requested
direct talks with the United States to end the standoff.
Rice repeated throughout her trip that Washington had no
intention of attacking North Korea and indicated its energy
needs could be met through six-party talks where direct dialogue
-- though not separate negotiations -- could also take place
with Washington.
She also referred to North Korea as a sovereign nation rather
than an "outpost of tyranny," a term she used in January that
inflamed the North Korean leadership, while refusing Pyongyang's
demand for an apology.
North Korea attended three rounds of inconclusive six-party
talks along with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the
United States but failed to show up for a fourth round in
Beijing last September.
In February, Pyongyang announced it possessed nuclear weapons
and was withdrawing from the negotiations indefinitely.
Several days later, however, North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il
indicated he could return to talks if the conditions were right.
Coinciding with Rice's visit to Seoul on Saturday, South Korea
and the United States launched week-long military drills dubbed
preparations for an invasion by North Korea.
Washington believes North Korea possesses one or two crude
bombs and may have reprocessed enough plutonium for half-a-dozen
more, from spent fuel rods at its Yongbyon nuclear complex.
The nuclear standoff erupted in October 2002 when the United
States accused North Korea of operating a program based on
highly enriched uranium.
Pyongyang denied that charge but restarted a plutonium-based
program frozen under a 1994 arms control agreement.
Copyright © 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
7 AFP: North Korea has not given up on nuclear talks -
Tuesday March 22, 12:16 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - North Korean Premier Pak Pong-Ju has told Chinese
leaders that his country had not given up on nuclear crisis talks
and was ready to resume negotiations when conditions were
favorable, a Chinese official said.
"The North Korea side does not oppose and has not given up on the
six-party talks. In the days coming, if the conditions are ripe,
North Korea is willing to participate in the talks at any time,"
foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao quoted Pak as telling
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday.
"North Korea's position on realizing a nuclear free Korean
peninsula and resolving the nuclear issues through talks has not
changed at all," Pak said in his talks with Wen at the Great Hall
of the People in central Beijing.
Pak's six-day visit to China comes a day after US Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice called on Beijing to put more pressure on
the Stalinist regime to return to the stalled talks as Washington
was considering "other options" if Pyongyang refused to
negotiate.
North Korea responded by saying it had increased its nuclear
arsenal in preparation for a preemptive invasion by the United
States, Yonhap news agency quoted the North Korean Central
Broadcasting Station as saying late Monday.
Copyright © 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
8 Santa Maria Times: Missile poised for first 2005 lauch
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:27:32 -0800
Missile poised for first 2005 lauch
By Janene Scully/Associate Editor
An unarmed Minuteman 3 missile is again poised to be the year's first
launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
The weapon and its dummy warhead are scheduled to blast out of an
underground silo on North Base during a six-hour window that opens at 12:01
a.m. Wednesday.
The missile's single unarmed re-entry vehicle is expected to travel
approximately 4,200 miles in about 30 minutes, hitting a pre-determined
target at the Kwajalein Missile Range in the western chain of the Marshall
Islands.
Weather doesn't appear very favorable for this test, with an 80 percent
likelihood conditions will force a scrub, Air Force officials said. Among
the lengthy list of concerns are clouds, lightning and winds.
If the launch is delayed for 24 hours, there's a 60 percent chance
conditions will prevent liftoff, according to the forecast.
This launch initially was scheduled for early February until a technical
glitch forced a postponement. Air Force officials blamed the delay on a
problem with the missile's guidance system.
The test is part of a program to verify the reliability and accuracy of the
Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile force.
A task force from the 341st Space Wing at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., led by
Capt. Brian Koch, will launch the missile under the direction of the
Vandenberg's 576th Flight Test Squadron. Capt. David Franklin, from the
576th, is the launch director.
The Air Force has some 500 Minuteman 3 weapons on alert in the Great Plains
states. The three-stage weapon, which stands at roughly 60 feet tall, can
travel 15,000 mph and up to 6,000 miles.
Meanwhile, at the opposite end of the base, Lockheed Martin crews
successfully completed "booster on stand" operations with the flight
vehicle that will launch a national security payload next year. This
operation involved vertically stacking the rocket's booster stage, Centaur
upper stage, and connecting segments at the newly refurbished Space Launch
Complex-3 East.
Associate Editor Janene Scully can be reached at 739-2214 or by e-mail at
janscully@pulitzer.net.
March 22,2005
www.santamariatimes.com
*****************************************************************
9 [southnews] Let Them Eat Yellowcake
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2005 23:53:56 -0600 (CST)
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One thing I've always found rather bothersome (among many things in the
Bush administration) is the lack of a serious investigation of the
origins of the forged documents purporting to be about uranium
yellowcake sales from Niger to Iraq. Those documents didn't create
themselves -- someone forged them, and someone had a motive to forge
them. Someone was carrying out a deception operation to try to convince
the U.S. (and the West more broadly) that the Baathist regim! e in Iraq
had restarted its nuclear program. But who? We know that they entered
the pipeline through Italian military intelligence (SISMI) in late 2001,
and echoed around Western intelligence agencies, including the CIA and
MI6, in the months after that...
Let Them Eat Yellowcake
The Gorilla in the Room
Monday, March 21, 2005
One thing I've always found rather bothersome (among many things in the
Bush administration) is the lack of a serious investigation <
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_09_19.ph
p#003490 > of the origins of the forged documents purporting to be about
uranium yellowcake sales from Niger to Iraq. Those documents didn't
create themselves -- someone forged them, and someone had a motive to
forge them. Someone was carrying out a deception operation to try to
convince the U.S. (and the West more broadly) that the Baathist regime
in Iraq had restarted its nuclear program. But who? We know that they
entered the pipeline through Italian military intelligence (SISMI) in
late 2001, and echoed around Western intelligence agencies, including
the CIA and MI6, in the months after that.
Who had a motive? Well, the fact that the Israeli government and Iraqi
exiles both wanted the U.S. to invade Iraq was well known, as with the
American neocons. I don't pretend to know who did it, but given the
standard investigative questions law enforcement agencies usually start
with, American neocons themselves seem the most likely suspects,
especially Michael Ledeen. He visited Rome for the meeting with
Ghorbanifar et al in right around the time the Niger forgeries first
entered the system, and senior officials of SISMI took part in those
meetings with Ledeen. He also knew some of these people quite well, as
he had lived there for a couple of years in the 1970s when he was
writing for the New Republic, and frequently cited "Italian intelligence
sources" in his articles. It's also interesting to note that Ghorbanifar
lives in France, not Italy, why not just meet with him in France? And
why involve officials from SISMI? Does this mean that he was somehow
involved? I don't know. But he does seem to have 1) a motive, 2) have
been at the scene of the crime around the time it happened, and 3) know
some of the other people involved.
Some people have suggested that the Israelis might have done it
themselves. I'm almost certain they didn't. First, while it was clear
that the Israeli govenment would be favorably disposed to the U.S.
taking out Saddam, I don't think they would risk the damage the
U.S.-Israel relationship which could result if such a deception
operation were exposed. Second, if they did it, they wouldn't have done
such an amateurish job of forging the documents themselves.
What I do suspect is that the American neocons did it for them, as the
Ledeen/Rhode/Franklin timeline suggests may have been the case. The
American people deserve a full investigation.
Since Michael Ledeen sometime posts on blogs, like here <
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/000197.php#c426 >
and here < http://www.belgraviadispatch.com/archives/004381.html#11369 >
maybe he can grace us with his presence and explain himself. But I'd
rather have him do it under oath on Capitol Hill. Why are Dems on the
Hill letting this go? Whether my theory is right or not, somebody out
there clearly was running a deception operation against the U.S.
government designed to get us into Iraq. Don't we want to know who?
gorillaintheroom.blogspot.com/2005/03/let-them-eat-yellowcake.html
____________________________________________
Danger nuclear mistakes will be repeated
March 21, 2005
Sydney Morning Herald
Double standards continue to shape policy in Australia and the US, writes
Richard Broinowski.
Pro-nuclear pundits are becoming excited about prospects of new Australian
uranium sales. Under pressure to limit greenhouse gas emissions, Japan,
South Korea, India and China are said to be planning to build nuclear power
reactors. Some European countries are reconsidering their moratoriums
against new nuclear power facilities. The US may augment its ageing
inventory of 105 reactors.
The spot price for uranium has increased sharply in recent months, raising
speculation about the economic bonanza this could bring to Australia.
The Ranger uranium mine in the Northern Territory and Olympic Dam in South
Australia could be augmented by up to 28 other mines across Australia that
are just waiting on escalating prices to open for business, we are told.
Australia could at once correct its trade deficit, realise its role as the
Saudi Arabia of uranium, and help rid the planet of greenhouse gas emissions
from hydrocarbons.
The Coalition is eager to get in on the bonanza, even if it can't seem to
remember the original conditions of export laid down by the Coalition
government under Malcolm Fraser in 1977. While announcing yet another
inquiry into Australia's "non-fossil" resources - read uranium - the
Resources Minister, Ian Macfarlane, said in Canberra last week that he
wanted to maximise uranium sales, but only "to countries who have signed all
the relevant non-proliferation clauses and regulations". Well, no, Minister.
Let's get our terms correct. Surely only to countries which have ratified
the entire nuclear non-proliferation treaty and which have negotiated a
separate bilateral agreement with Australia. In such a dangerous business,
defining the conditions of sale precisely is important.
AdvertisementAdvertisement
As well, the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, says Australia and China
have begun to negotiate a bilateral treaty on uranium. How tight will this
be? Are you going to insist that China must seek our permission to transfer,
enrich beyond 20 per cent or re-process Australian uranium on a case-by-case
basis as the original safeguards stipulated, or allow the commercially more
attractive option of a program approach, as we've done with Japan and South
Korea? Will Australian companies be allowed to negotiate commercial
contracts before a bilateral agreement is in place with the Chinese
Government, as happened with the Japanese, thus weakening our capacity to
insist on a proper safeguards regime?
Political indifference to expanding Australian uranium sales - in the Labor
Party as much as the Coalition - is in sharp contrast with the popular
concern that threatened to divide Australian society in the late 1970s and
'80s. Fraser's conditions of export announced in 1977 were much tighter than
those of today. And in 1982, Labor almost tore itself apart at the party's
national conference. Bob Hawke and the Labor Right prevailed over the Left
by scrapping the party's 1977 blanket moratorium against mining, allowing
contracts negotiated under the Fraser government to run until 1996, and
brokering a new three-mine policy. Ranger and Nabarlek were allowed to
continue to operate in the Northern Territory. Western Mining's gigantic new
copper, gold and uranium mine at Roxby Downs became Australia's third
uranium mine.
Where is the public controversy today? Over possible exports of uranium to
China, and the bilateral treaty that would have to precede it, there has
been little public discussion. In the Labor Party, only the West Australian
Premier, Geoff Gallop, has announced his unequivocal opposition to uranium
mining in his state. Meanwhile, the Opposition spokesman on resources,
Martin Ferguson, enthusiastically favours the export of uranium, including
to China. Failures in the past to isolate our uranium completely from
nuclear weapons programs will apparently not be revisited or reflected on.
The failures look like being repeated, particularly in China.
And Australia looks like being caught out over another nuclear issue. The
next five-year review of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty will be held
at the United Nations in New York from May 2 to 27. Little has appeared in
the Australian media about this crucial conference. But at a Canberra
seminar on March 11, some of Australia's official thinking was revealed. Two
senior Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials maintained that the
Government continues strongly to favour nuclear non-proliferation.
"Practical and realistic" steps must be adhered to. In particular, rogue
states such as North Korea and Iran must be forced to stop their nuclear
weapons programs. Their non-compliance threatens the whole treaty. But
nothing was said about nuclear weapons already held outside the provisions
of the treaty by India, Pakistan and Israel.
The Australians said a team of Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
officials will tour Australia in April, before the treaty review conference,
to ascertain public attitudes to all nuclear issues.
What is troubling about all this is that the Australian presentation could
have been drafted in Washington. No divisions of opinion were discernible
between the Australians and a US policy paper presented to the conference by
a middle-level American diplomat. The nuclear activities of rogue states and
terrorists are the main targets. The successful efforts of India, Pakistan
and Israel to illegally acquire nuclear weapons are no longer an issue.
Significantly, the Australians didn't mention, let alone condemn, nuclear
weapons-related activities of the US sanctioned since 2001 by President
George Bush. But the American diplomat at the conference had no problem
turning most of them into virtues. They include the unilateral abrogation of
the anti-ballistic missile treaty with Russia, refusal to ratify the
comprehensive test ban treaty and research and development of new
miniaturised nuclear weapons. Astonishingly, the US diplomat said she was
not aware of plans by the US Department of Energy to build a new plutonium
facility to rearm ageing nuclear weapons and prime new ones.
Australian diplomats may argue with their American colleagues at the
margins, for example, over the desirability of the US ratifying the
comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty, or interpretation of the Fissile
Materials Cut-Off Treaty. But what really shapes their position is the
unstated but well-understood Australian Government policy that its great
protector - the US - should never forfeit its overwhelming superiority over
all other nations in nuclear weaponry.
Double standards will therefore continue to shape nuclear policy in Canberra
and Washington, and erode the non-proliferation treaty. Do as we say, not as
we do. Australia may consider nuclear weapons an exclusive part of the
defensive armouries of its ally. But other countries outside the Western
alliance will disagree, and increasingly want to develop their own.
Richard Broinowski is a former Australian diplomat and author ofFact or
Fission - the truth about Australia's nuclear ambitions (Scribe
Publications, 2003).
The archives of South News can be found at
http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/
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10 TheNewsTribune.com: MARTIN SCHRAM: Punish government liars
Scripps Howard News Service
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005 11:00 AM (PST)
(SH) - Our focus today is on governments that lie. Which is to
say: Governments.
Also, how journalists who cover governments communicate to
citizens the fact that the government has just told another lie.
Which is to say: Accurately, but usually euphemistically.
Journalists who cover a town hall, city hall, statehouse or
White House have all had the experience of covering a story in
which the government is lying. It makes no difference whether the
halls and houses are controlled by Democrats or Republicans. Lies
happen. Sometimes daily.
We begin with a primer on government lies. There are two ways
government officials lie to us: (1) By telling us things that are
not true; (2) By not telling us things that are true.
So it is that journalists who cover government, like golfers,
are required to play it as it lies, as a matter of course. It has
become so routine that we do it by rote and write it in code.
On Tuesday, March 22, The Washington Post told us about two
instances that fall within Category 2 - lies by willful omission.
But, of course, the Post journalists did not quite call it that,
because we have been trained to use all the euphemisms that are
fit to print.
A front-page story headlined, "New EPA Mercury Rule Omits
Conflicting Data," reported that the Environmental Protection
Agency had contended its modest new limits on mercury emissions
from U.S. power plants controls could not be tougher because the
cost to industry already far exceeded any public health benefit -
but the EPA stripped from the documents the fact that an
EPA-financed study had reached the opposite conclusion. Indeed,
that analysis, peer reviewed by a number of EPA scientists,
estimated health benefits 100 times greater than the EPA said
they were.
A page A3 story headlined, "Justice Redacted Memo on Detainees:
FBI Criticism Of Interrogations Was Deleted," reported: "U.S. law
enforcement agents working at the military prison in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, concluded that controversial interrogation practices
used there by the Defense Department produced intelligence
information that was 'suspect at best,' an FBI agent told a
superior in a memo in May last year."
But the Justice Department, at the urging of the Defense
Department, blacked out that key fact when a federal judge
ordered that the memo had to be released to the American Civil
Liberties Union last December. Officials also redacted the
agent's warning that the practices could undermine future trials
of terrorism suspects. Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., forced Justice
to reveal the blacked-out matters and then released the actual
memo, saying: "As I suspected, the previously withheld
information had nothing to do with protecting intelligence
sources and methods, and everything to do with protecting the DOD
from embarrassment."
This points up a need for another quickie primer. There are two
reasons government officials lie: (1) Because it is easier/more
expedient/less embarrassing to tell untruths and withhold tough
truths; (2) Because officials know that
mayors/governors/presidents rarely, if ever, fire officials who
lie in their behalf. No wonder governments find it convenient to
lie to their own citizens and even lie to the world. Consider two
examples of domestic and global nuclear lies from last Sunday's
news.
On March 20, The New York Times reported about a home-front
government lie: "E-Mail Shows False Claims About Tests at Nevada
Nuclear Site." The article reported that internal Energy
Department e-mails about Bush administration plans to open a
nuclear waste repository within Nevada's Yucca Mountain revealed
that the department made "false claims" in documenting its
assurances that the radioactive material could be safely stored
for eons. For example, equipment was certified as properly
calibrated before it had even been received.
On March 20, The Washington Post reported about a global
government lie: "U.S. Misled Allies About Nuclear Export: North
Korea Sent Material To Pakistan, Not to Libya." The article
reported that "In an effort to increase pressure on North Korea,"
Bush officials had told Asian allies that Pyongyang provided
nuclear material to Libya - but that U.S. intelligence had
reported the material went to Pakistan, which sold it to Libya,
and officials had no evidence North Korea knew of the second
transaction.
So we have four examples with one common trait. They are lies
with footprints. It should be easy to find and fire the
officials who invented - and approved - each plan to tell
untruths and withhold tough truths.
Just give the order, Mr. President.
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy
*****************************************************************
11 [NYTr] Pakistani's Black Market May Offer Secrets of Nuclear
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 16:59:29 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
The New York Times - Mar 21, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/21/international/asia/21nukes.html
Pakistani's Black Market May Offer Secrets to Build Nuclear Weapons
By WILLIAM J. BROAD and DAVID E. SANGER
Nuclear investigators from the United States and other nations now
believe that the black market network run by the Pakistani scientist
A. Q. Khan was selling not only technology for enriching nuclear
fuel and blueprints for nuclear weapons, but also some of the
darkest of the bomb makers' arts: the hard-to-master engineering
secrets needed to fabricate nuclear warheads.
Their suspicions were initially raised by the discovery of
step-by-step instructions, some of which appear to have come from
China and Pakistan, among the documents recovered last year from
Libya. More recently, investigators have found that the Khan network
had offered similar materials to Iran.
The secrets range from how to cast uranium metal into the form
needed at the core of a bomb to how to build the explosive lenses
that compress the core and start the detonation.
The discoveries have set off a debate in the intelligence community
about whether those technological skills made their way to North
Korea and Iran. President Bush has vowed he will not tolerate either
country's obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Iran was a customer of the Khan network, and while it appears to
have turned down the offer of the engineering secrets in 1987, some
intelligence officials are concerned that it picked up the
technology elsewhere. North Korea, which is believed to have two
separate bomb projects under way, also did business with the Khan
network, although precisely what it obtained is not clear.
The weeks leading up to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit
to China this weekend, American officials provided their Chinese
counterparts with a stream of new information about North Korea's
nuclear program, but it is not clear how much detail they went into
about their latest suspicions. The Chinese, for their part, are
skeptical of the quality of the American intelligence.
The inability of intelligence officials to track down the
whereabouts of the bomb-making instructions underscores the fact
that more than a year since Mr. Khan's arrest and pardon by
Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, there are still many
mysteries about what exactly the Khan network was selling, and to whom.
The United States has not been allowed to interview Dr. Khan, and
Ms. Rice raised concerns about cooperation in the nuclear
investigation when she met with General Musharraf last week. But
American officials and the International Atomic Energy Agency are
beginning to extract information from Dr. Khan's chief deputy,
Buhari Sayed Abu Tahir, who is in jail in Malaysia. "It's becoming
clearer to us that Khan was selling a complete package," said a
senior American official involved in the setting of nuclear
strategy. "Not a turnkey operation - that would be overstating it -
but close to it."
To investigators and other experts, the discovery that Dr. Khan was
selling step-by-step directions for making crucial parts of a bomb
was startling.
"The real secrets are in the details of the metallurgy, the
manufacturing and the engineering," said Siegfried S. Hecker,
director of the Los Alamos weapons laboratory from 1986 to 1997 and
now a senior fellow there.
Intelligence officials in the United States and European diplomats
said documents from Libya and Iran showed the Khan network had
offered for sale instructions on such tricky manufacturing steps as
purifying uranium, casting it into a nuclear core and making the
explosives that compress the core and set off a chain reaction.
Unlike bomb designs themselves, these manufacturing secrets can take
years or even decades for a country to learn on its own.
Thomas B. Cochran, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources
Defense Council in Washington, a private group that tracks nuclear
arms, said having the manufacturing instructions was a tremendous
leap beyond rudimentary bomb designs. "I can show you the schematic
of an automobile that has a engine and a transmission, and go to a
book that describes how the pistons work," he said. "But if you
actually want to build a car, you need the details and step-by-step
procedures for everything from casting the components, to machining
them, to assembling them."
Dr. Khan is a metallurgist and an expert at making both centrifuges
that enrich uranium and nuclear warheads. Investigators say that in
the early 1980's, he obtained the detailed blueprints for a Chinese
atomic bomb.
The first public hint that Dr. Khan's network traded in bomb designs
and engineering instruction emerged in 1995 after United Nations
inspectors in Iraq found a set of documents describing an offer made
to Baghdad before the Persian Gulf war of 1991. An internal Iraqi
memorandum, dated June 10, 1990, told of an unidentified middleman
saying that Dr. Khan could help Iraq "establish a project to enrich
uranium and manufacture a nuclear weapon" and that he was "prepared
to give us project designs for a nuclear bomb."
The Iraqis never took up the proposal, which they judged a scam or a
sting operation. Western experts also questioned its authenticity.
But the apparent validity of the offer became clear in late 2003
when Libya showed investigators blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic
bomb that it got from the Khan network. The International Atomic
Energy Agency reported that the documents included information on
both nuclear design and fabrication, calling it of "utmost concern."
The Libya disclosure touched off a global hunt for more Khan
documents. Officials in the United States and Europe said the trail
recently led to Dubai, where Mr. Tahir, the Sri Lankan businessman
who was Dr. Khan's deputy, ran a front company, SMB Computers. They
said reliable network sources had told of seeing bomb documents
there that contained step-by-step instructions on how to fabricate
components for nuclear arms. Intense searches in Dubai, they added,
had so far failed to turn up the documents.
The latest development in the hunt came March 1 with the disclosure
of the network's 1987 offer to Iran of centrifuge machines and
materials, as well as "uranium reconversion and casting
capabilities," according to an I.A.E.A. report.
While investigators have determined that Tehran paid precious hard
currency to the Khan network for nuclear equipment, it appears to
have turned down the offer of the engineering secrets necessary to
build the core of a nuclear weapon.
European and American officials said they considered the 1987
transaction some of the best evidence that Iran sought, starting at
least 18 years ago, to assemble the technologies needed to build a
nuclear arsenal.
"It adds a piece to the puzzle that makes the whole thing more
incriminating," a European official said. "But is this a smoking
gun? No. Does this make people more suspicious? Yes."
*
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12 [NYTr] New Zealand Greens Want to Give Vanunu Asylum
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:02:23 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
BBC News Online - Mar 21, 2005
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/4368269.stm
New Zealand 'should take in Vanunu'
New Zealand's Green Party has called for former Israeli nuclear
technician Mordechai Vanunu to be offered a New Zealand passport.
Party spokesman Keith Locke proposed the offer in recognition of
Vanunu's continued "persecution" in Israel.
Israeli-New Zealand relations have suffered in recent years over the
trial of two alleged Israeli spies.
Vanunu was charged in Israel last week with violating the terms of
his release from jail last year.
Vanunu served 18 years in jail, most of it in solitary confinement,
for disclosing details of Israel's nuclear programme. He was
released in April under strict conditions.
Israeli officials say they are not aware of any plans to take him
into custody. The New Zealand government has not yet commented on
the Green Party request.
Under the terms of his release, Vanunu is not allowed to leave
Israel.
'Deserving of passport'
Mr Locke, Green Party spokesman on foreign affairs said: "We tell
the Israeli authorities we were dead against them getting fraudulent
passports, but Mr Vanunu is one prominent Israeli who does deserve."
In September 2004, two suspected Israeli spies were deported from
New Zealand after they finished jail terms for illegally trying to
obtain a passport.
Uriel Kelman and Eli Cara got six-month sentences in July, but
denied working for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark severed all high-level
diplomatic relations with Israel, demanding an apology before they
could be restored.
The Israeli government has never commented on the men's status.
*
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13 nuke-free world postcard: straightgoods.com
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 15:16:51 -0600 (CST)
from: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewActNote5.cfm?REF=11
No nukes!
Sign this postcard and support the World Court Declaration calling for a
nuclear weapons free world.
Dateline: Sunday, March 20, 2005
from Physicians for Global Survival (Canada)
"I do not accept that nuclear weapons can defend me, my country, or the
values that I stand for. I therefore demand that negotiations be started
leading to the abolition of nuclear weapons under strict and effective
international control. " ..
whole article at: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewActNote5.cfm?REF=11
Penney Kome, author and journalist
http://penneykome.ca
Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com
*****************************************************************
14 inadaily.com: Nuke claim worries Delhi
[International News Alliance]
[http://www.asianage.com] India | Seema Mustafa
New Delhi: Pakistan, which has passed the nuclear minimum
deterrence level with the test-firing of the long-range
Shaheen-II missile, is well on its way to developing missiles
that can hit any target in India.
Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's statement that "we
have crossed the minimum deterrence level" has created a stir in
nuclear and security circles here, with experts pointing out
that "over a period of time Pakistan will be developing missiles
with the necessary range to hit all parts of India."
A nuclear missile buildup by both India and Pakistan, which are
showing no signs of putting a brake on their respective nuclear
programmes, experts warn, could push both to a "hair-trigger
alert" position, with missiles then ranged to be launched on
warning. This could create tremendous instability in the region,
particularly if relations between the two countries deteriorate.
Gen. Musharraf did not mention India specifically, but said: "We
have assessed the threats and quantified the deterrence level in
nuclear and conventional areas," maintaining that the successful
test firing of the Shaheen-II missile was a "big milestone."
Nuclear experts agreed that the President was also addressing
his own domestic constituency which has been suspicious of the
country's nuclear programme falling into US hands. The extremist
parties and sections of the Urdu press in Pakistan have voiced
this fear repeatedly, with President Musharraf's strong
statement also intended to allay these suspicions. The Pakistan
government's refusal to allow nuclear scientist A.Q. Khan to be
questioned by US officials is also a response to the influential
domestic opinion which will view this as a complete surrender to
the US. The assessment here is that the passing reference to Dr
Khan by US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice during her recent
visit to Pakistan has also ensured the statement by Gen.
Musharraf.
Commodore Uday Bhaskar of the Institute of Defence Studies and
Analyses is of the view that India should not take this
development seriously as it was "positive" in that it
established a certain "mutuality" between India and Pakistan. He
said that if Islamabad was assured that it had crossed the
minimum deterrence after test-firing the Shaheen-II missile it
could only "contribute to stability." He was, in fact, more
concerned about Ms Rice's statement about a regional balance
between India and Pakistan, maintaining that once both had
acquired "the necessary level of nuclear mutuality" there should
not be any need to enter into an arms race to establish
conventional equality as well.
Achin Vanaik, of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and
Peace, who has been actively working for nuclear disarmament,
was of the view that the Pakistan position now would lead to the
development of more missiles so that it "can claim that its
deterrence capacity is getting longer." He pointed out that the
subsequent course of events could take both countries into a
situation of "hair-trigger alert" that would encourage one or
the other to launch a missile if given a warning that the other
was about to do the same. As he pointed out, in a nuclear war
the country to first hit another has the advantage. Even today
the US and Russia have missiles ranged against each other on a
hair-trigger alert.
Gen. Musharraf had earlier maintained that Pakistan could cause
considerable damage to targets within range in India and had the
minimum deterrence required to prevent a nuclear confrontation.
The latest development, experts say, would encourage both
countries to develop more missiles and acquire the capability to
destroy each other "a few times over." Commodore Bhaskar did not
agree, maintaining that "mutuality" would bring its own element
of sobriety into the nuclear relations between the two
countries. [http://www.asianage.com/?INA=2:175:175:148499]
© 2005 The Asian Age
Copyright © 2005 The International News Alliance.
*****************************************************************
15 Interfax: U.S. experts will not inspect Russia's nuclear facilities -
Interfax.com [http://www.interfax.com] Text version
Mar 22 2005 4:45PM
Ivanov
ST. PETERSBURG. March 22 (Interfax) - Russian Defense Minister
Sergei Ivanov said that no negotiations are currently being held
on U.S. experts inspecting Russia's nuclear facilities.
"We are not discussing any possible inspections of Russian
nuclear facilities by U.S. experts," Ivanov told journalists in
St. Petersburg on Tuesday.
"More than that, both sides [Russia and the U.S.] have stated
that security at their nuclear facilities is on an appropriate
level," Ivanov said.
© 1991-2004 Interfax
*****************************************************************
16 IAEA: Transcript: Director General's CNN Interview -
17 March 2005
+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace]
AMANPOUR: For the last many decades the NPT, the Nuclear Non
Proliferation Treaty, has been in effect, and it essentially
gives the countries who signed up the rights to explore nuclear
technology for peaceful purposes. Do you agree that there is
problem now that any country including those with suspicious
motives are allowed to use this?
MOHAMED ELBARADEI, DIRECTOR GENERAL, IAEA: There is a problem,
Christiane, the NPT has served us well for the last three
decades to regulate the use of nuclear technology for peaceful
purposes and to make sure it is not being used for military
purposes, things have changed since 1970, we have realized the
technology is spreading, a country that could have access to
highly enriched uranium or plutonium for example is not far away
from a nuclear weapon so we need to look, revaluate the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, not amend it, but build on it, and
that´s what I´ve been saying we need a new framework for using
nuclear technology for the 21st century.
AMANPOUR: What is your solution?
ELBARADEI: My solution that we need better country of the
sensitive part of the fuel cycle that highly enriched uranium,
plutonium, that no one country alone should sit on a factory
that produces highly enriched uranium or plutonium. In fact the
whole debate has been triggered by Iraq, where the international
community have indicated a great deal of concern, that such a
sensitive technology in the region could add to an already
destabilized region, but it is not just Iran specific, I think
we need to look at the big picture, we need to make sure that
every country in the future has an assurance of supply, they
have access to nuclear technology for electricity purposes, for
other application, but try to minimize the risk associated with
that, by having an international consortium for example,
producing the fuel and then take back the fuel again under
international supervision.
AMANPOUR: So in other words, don´t let them enrich their own
uranium?
ELBARADEI: Correct, no one county can enrich its own uranium,
but international group, international consortium, regional
centers when you have a redundancy of oversight, so we have a
better system of controlling that sensitive part. Now we have
seen, after A.Q. Khan, illicit trafficking that if you have the
fissile material you are really months away from a nuclear
weapon and that margin of security is too close for comfort.
AMANPOUR: What is the Bush administration solution; do they have
an alternative to the NPT?
ELBARADEI: No I think they continue to support as everyone the
NPT, I think Bush supports that we have a cut-off as they say,
so those who have that enrichment capability should keep it,
should provide that facility to other countries but no new
countries should acquire that technology. Obviously a lot of
other countries are not happy with that proposal, say it is
discriminatory because why shouldn´t also we have it even if we
are latecomer and this I think Bush, again, I share the same
objective, we need a better system of control. My proposal
however it is not that the early bird eat the worm but we should
a system by which everyone perceives it to be inclusive and
fair, fairness is usually the key to a durable solution and my
proposal is let us have a time out let us stop any new country
developing, let´s stop developing nuclear any nuclear facility
being built for now, let us see how we better control the
facility, let us have a system by which every country is assured
of supply so no country can say I want to have my own
independent enrichment or reprocessing.
I think this is a must in the near term and medium term,
particularly we are going to expect a major expansion in the use
of nuclear technology for electricity and generation if you look
at India and China... even Europe; Finland starts now developing
a nuclear reactor so we are going to see a major expansion with
the use of nuclear technology and with that we need to make sure
that as we go expanding that as we expand that use of technology
for environmental impact etc, we need to make sure that we do
not increase the risk associate with it.
AMANPOUR: You said this is all triggered by the Iran problem,
the Russians have just said that they´ll get back their
spent-fuel for their Busher reactor, is that what you mean?
ELBARADEI: That is basically what I mean, this is a microcosm of
what we should have in future, that we have a consortium of
countries, companies under appropriate control providing the
fuel and then taking back the spent fuel so you get electricity
without the risk associated with the technology.
AMANPOUR: Is Iran agreeing?
ELBARADEI: I think Iran is one player in this whole debate, Iran
obviously would like to have their own independent enrichment, I
think they insist we should not be treated differently from any
other country and that is why I am saying Iran´s solution...
Iran is of course a special case because there is a lot of
concern about Iran because of the undeclared nature of the
program for the last two decades, so there is a lot of
apprehension about it and I think Iran understood that
apprehension by agreeing to suspend its enrichment operation but
Iran is symptomatic of a larger problem that we need to address.
AMANPOUR: Is Iran agreeing to send back their spent fuel to
Russia?
ELBARADEI: Yes Iran agreed to send back the spent fuel to
Russia, so this is a good beginning, in fact Iran is saying we
want electricity but we are ready to use the fuel provided by
Russia and then send it back to Russia.
AMANPOUR: Iran said it should have the right to make its own
enriched uranium, but is it still hell-bent on enriching itself?
ELBARADEI: I think that is what they say and what they are
saying is this is a right we have like any other country and we
should not be treated any differently and this is a right we
want to use for own independent fuel cycle, that we would like
to be an exporter. But however with that they are still
maintaining a full suspension of that enrichment capability.
They are engaged into dialogue with the Europeans right now. You
see what is happening Christiane is two things, we are the IAEA,
we are trying to clarify the past, a lot of activity that has
been concealed for two decades and we are still not there yet
and I have been saying Iran is playing by the book we have
improved cooperation but I still, because of that undeclared
nature of the program, I need much more proactive transparency
to build confidence, so that is a legal obligation Iran has to
comply with, Iran has to comply with its legal obligation under
the NPT to come clean if you like, in parallel with that the
Europeans are saying, well the nuclear issue in Iran is part of
a larger problem, part of strained relationship between Iran and
the rest of the world, particularly Europe and the United
States... is marred by sanctions, boycott, etc. It is a feeling
of insecurity in Iran, so let us look at the nuclear issue in
Iran as part of larger problem, and that´s what is happening in
the negotiation between Europe and Iran, they are putting the
nuclear issue on the table but also security, technology, trade,
and I think that is the way to go.
You need to look at the nuclear issue as part of the broader
relationship between a particular country and the rest of the
world. No different from the North Korean... and I am very happy
now to see the U.S. is joining that effort, I have been saying
for a while that this, in my view, will never succeed unless the
U.S. does the heavy lifting, as Senator Lugar indicated
recently, particularly in the area of security particularly in
the area of technology. And I am now much hopeful than before
that if we endure we will be able to have a solution that assure
Iran that it will have the right to use nuclear technology for
peaceful purposes but also assure the international community
that the Iranian program is exclusively for peaceful purposes.
AMANPOUR: And yet in the last few days and weeks we are seeing
reports they are buying centrifuges, building tunnels, are they
doing that? Are they consciously trying to hide what they are
doing from you still?
ELBARADEI: I am not sure they are trying to hide; they are
trying to protect their activities. There have been talks that
they might be subject to a military strike so they need to build
tunnels to protect their equipment. They are fulfilling their
legal obligation as I said, there is a minor infraction here and
there but much less than in the past when there was a major
concealment of the program but again this is not for me and the
international community this is not enough. Iran needs to
created a confident deficit, they need to rebuild confidence,
and for that they need to go out of their way to be transparent
it is in their own interest and the interest of the
international community.
AMANPOUR: If they don´t give up their centrifuge technology,
they can build a bomb?
ELBARADEI: Well, not necessarily, they will have the capability
to have the nuclear material they can use to build a bomb. I
mean having enriched uranium does not mean automatically that
you can, that you are going to have a bomb. Part of the
difficulty with the nuclear technology is they are dual use,
that you can use it for peaceful purpose or military purpose.
It´s a question of intention and that is why when we discuss
Iran there is a lot you hear about Iran has intention. And
that´s why when we discuss Iran there are a lot of... You hear
Iran has the intentions, has the ambitions... we are
suspicious... it is very difficult to read intentions and that
is why I am saying: we do the facts, we look at the facts on the
ground, we report on capabilities, and of course, as I said
because of the Middle East situation, unstable situation in the
Middle East, because of the Iran concealment over many years,
the suspicion is great and that is why Iran needs to do
everything they can to build confidence I think without
clarifying the past, Christiane, without making sure that the
past is clear we will not be successful in regulating the
future. So the more Iran does to clarify the past, the more they
will be successful, in my view, in their dialogue with the
Europeans and the U.S. and the rest of the world.
AMANPOUR: You have always said the U.S. needs to be on board,
are you satisfied that the U.S. is now on board and doing
enough?
ELBARADEI: I think it is a very good step in the right
direction. I would like hopefully to see the U.S. as things move
forward to be fully engaged, but clearly this is a sea-change
for me because I was not at all optimistic that things could
work without the U.S. engagement, and to have them now engaged,
to see President Bush and Secretary Rice saying that they are
actively supporting the European initiative, I think it is very
a welcome step.
AMANPOUR: What does it mean that they are engaged, why is it so
important if the Europeans are doing an ok job?
ELBARADEI: Well, because if you look at any of the areas where
Iran has grievances or would like to see rewards for its
suspension or possibly at the end agreeing to a comprehensive
framework, you need to the U.S. every step of the way for
example if Iran were to join the WTO you need a U.S. consent, if
Iran wants to modernize its Boeing fleet or buy an Airbus you
need a U.S. consent because of the sanction there, and
particularly if you want to look into regional security and that
is an issue very much on the agenda you need the U.S.
involvement to provide security assurance.
AMANPOUR: But hasn´t the U.S. just raised the possibility of WTO
and other things and the Iranians have laughed at it? They said
they must be hallucinating, what´s going on here?
ELBARADEI: Well, this part of the negotiation, if the U.S. is
saying we are ready to lift the ban on joining the WTO, we are
ready to provide your spare parts, basically the Iranians are
saying this is not enough. Well, we will hear a lot of that from
both sides saying you are offering too much you are offering
less than what we expect but this, we should endure, as I said,
this is part of the negotiations, the Iranians are good in
negotiations, the Europeans are good in negotiations, but we
need to make sure the process continues and it is not derailed,
that to me is the most important, as long as the parties are
talking we are on the right track.
AMANPOUR: There has been a presidential commission has been
looking at intelligence as far as capabilities of certain
countries such as Iran, early leaks have basically called the
nature of American intelligence on Iranian nuclear situation and
the North Korean situation, quote "scandalous"... what do you
think?
ELBARADEI: I am not privy to exactly what they have other than
what they provided us. What I have been saying for a while is
that Iran has been working on an undeclared program for many
years, Iran has developed the capability of enriching uranium
that obviously could be used for peaceful purpose and not
peaceful purpose, this like any other country but we have not
seen a proof that Iran is developing a nuclear weapon, because
we have not seen nuclear materials diverted into a weapon. But
at the same time we have been saying for a while the jury is
still out we can not certify this is a program fully dedicated
for peaceful purpose. That is no different from what I hear now
coming from Washington, Washington saying that because of the
undeclared nature of the program, we are suspicious about the
Iranian ambition, that is no different really from where we are,
but we are still in the middle or examining the Iranian program
but I am not ready to jump the gun and say this is a weapon
program.
AMANPOUR: In general do you and your organization provide more
intelligence on Iran´s situation or does the U.S. provide more
information to you, how does it work?
ELBARADEI: We generate a lot of information by being on the
ground if you see what we have achieved in the last year and a
half, I am proud of our record...
AMANPOUR: And you are the only ones on the ground?
ELBARADEI: We are the only ones on the ground because we have
the legal authority to be there and right now our understanding
of the nature and extent of the Iranian nuclear program is
sea-change from what we knew two years ago when the Iranian
program was almost a black box, so being on the ground is
absolutely important.
AMANPOUR: The United States was lobbying against you being
reappointed you being head of the IAEA, some of the people in
the administration were put off that you didn´t agree with their
analysis of the Iraq situation, turns out yours was closer to
accurate, are they still lobbying against you, or do you think
you will be reappointed?
ELBARADEI: I don´t really know, other than I know I have been
asked by a majority of countries to continue to serve, simply
because we are in the middle of a crisis situation, we talked
about Iran we talked about proliferation of nuclear technology.
So, there is as I was told by the chairman of our board of
governors, which is in charge of that process, that I have
strong and broad support.
AMANPOUR: Is there anybody else who has put a candidacy forth?
ELBARADEI: I am the only candidate, but again I should say this
is a public service, I would like to continue because I have a
job to do but I need to make sure everybody provide me the
necessary support if I do that I would be happy to serve, if not
I would be happy to move on.
AMANPOUR: Is the UK supporting you?
ELBARADEI: I haven´t heard anybody say they are not supporting
me.
AMANPOUR: Senator Nunn, has said at least in the ´94 agreement
between the U.S. and North Korea at least the U.S. knew where
the nunclear material was, it was in the storage place in the
reactor in the Pyongyang area, now does anybody know where it
is?
ELBARADEI: We have no clue and that is why when people sometimes
grumble about our slow pace in Iran, I would like them to
compare that situation with North Korea and Iran we are active
we are generating information and we know what going on more or
less... in Korea it is an absolutely black hole because we are
not there. So in any country an absence of verification... you
have to rely on conjecture and that is what we are doing in
North Korea. We know through satellite that they have processed
the spent fuel and they have now the plutonium ready to be
developed into a bomb. We know they have said they have already
nuclear weapon. I would like to go back to North Korea as early
as possible. I would hope they would invite me to the agency to
resume a dialogue with them. I think this would be very good
step in the right direction. I understand that they have
security concerns but I also understand the international
committee is deeply concerned about their program so we need -
not dissimilar from Iran - again everybody concerned to sit
together to develop a package that assure the country needs and
the international community needs.
AMANPOUR: Could they be making bombs right now?
ELBARADEI: It is not at all excluded because they have that
plutonium they can readily use into nuclear weapon, they have
the industrial infrastructure, but more importantly they said
they are doing it. So based on our technical assessment we see
no technical barrier that they could be able or already have
nuclear weapon.
AMANPOUR: In terms of a nuclear weapons menace, which is more
threatening now, Iran or North Korea?
ELBARADEI: We know North Korea has the plutonium that can go
already into a bomb, we have not seen any such material in Iran
that is why I am saying unless you have the nuclear material you
can not have the weapon, you might have the intention, you might
have the ambition but unless you have the nuclear material for
the bomb, you cannot have the bomb in short span of time. In
North Korea they have the material, in Iran we have not seen
such material so there is a vast difference when we talk about
North Korea we talk about an imminent threat or an imminent
danger, when we talk about Iran we talk about suspicion of a
nuclear program ambition, there is a big difference there.
Copyright 2003-2004, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O.
Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail:
Official.Mail@iaea.org [Official.Mail@iaea.org]
Disclaimer
*****************************************************************
17 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear disaster warning
(23-03-2005)
By Rob Taylor March 23, 2005 From: AAP
AN Indonesian plan to build two full-size nuclear reactors has
outraged green groups and surprised analysts, who warned it would
be a disaster-in-waiting for the volcanic island chain that is
plagued by earthquakes and terrorism. Indonesia's ambassador to
the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, Thomas Aquino
Sriwidjaja, said yesterday Jakarta has revived a plan to have
nuclear power within 10 years.
He told a Paris conference on the future of nuclear power that
the world's most populous Muslim nation needed to expand its
sources of energy, even though it was a member of the OPEC oil
cartel.
He promised the proposed plants would be fully protected against
the threat of terrorist attacks, despite Indonesia having been
rocked by a series of deadly bombings in recent years.
"The introduction of a nuclear power program by the Indonesian
government would not only serve as a solution to the rising
demand for electricity, but is also expected to help save and
prolong fossil energy for other purposes, as well as a part of
global efforts to reduce global warming effects," Mr Sriwidjaja
said.
Indonesia already has three small research reactors located in
Serpong, Yogyakarta and Bandung, operated by its National Nuclear
Energy Agency.
An agency spokesman, Deddy Harsono, said the Government planned
to build two full-size nuclear power plants with a capacity of
600 megawatts by 2016.
One would be in the central Java city of Jepara, while the other
would be on Madura island near east Java.
Mr Sriwidjaja called on developed countries to help Jakarta
develop its nuclear energy program. Australia – a major exporter
of uranium – has previously expressed reservations about the
idea.
Green activists warned of terrorist attacks and said construction
safeguards would be compromised by Indonesia's endemic corruption
problem.
"We are worried about sabotage," Ms Mutmainah, an anti-nuclear
activist, said.
"When it's in irresponsible hands what would happen?"
Indonesia is one of the world's most earthquake prone and
volcanically active nations – a fact tragically highlighted by
the magnitude 9 quake and tsunami that devastated Aceh on Boxing
Day, she said.
"We know the technology will not be safe and we won't master
it," Ms Mutmainah said. Hening Parlan, a nuclear expert formerly
with the Indonesian Environment Forum, said Indonesia had other
energy options, including some of the world's largest natural
gas reserves.
"Why not maximise them instead of using nuclear as an
alternative?" she said.
Mr Sriwidjaja said Indonesia – a signatory to the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty signatory and the IAEA's Additional
Protocol permitting more intrusive, short-notice inspections –
was aware of the threat of terrorists aiming to attack atomic
facilities or acquire nuclear material.
In Paris yesterday, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said
world leaders faced a race against time to keep radioactive
materials away from terrorists as dozens of countries such as
Indonesia consider developing civilian nuclear power programs.
Growing interest in nuclear power presented an increased risk
that terror networks could try to exploit security weaknesses
and steal atomic material, the UN's Mohamed ElBaradei, said
yesterday.
*****************************************************************
18 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Waterford 3 Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region IV - 2005-00
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region IV No. IV-05-008 March
22, 2005 CONTACT: Victor Dricks Phone: 817-860-8128 E-mail:
opa4@nrc.gov [opa4@nrc.gov]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., on
Wednesday, March 30, to discuss the agencys annual assessment of
safety performance at the Waterford 3 nuclear plant for calendar
year 2004. Entergy operates the plant, which is located near
Taft, La.
The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at the St. Charles Parish
Courthouse Council Chambers, 15045 River Road, in Hahnville, La.
Before the session is adjourned, NRC staff will be available to
answer questions from the public on the plants safety
performance, as well as the agencys role in ensuring safe
operation of the facility.
Each year the NRC staff evaluates the performance of each of the
nations commercial nuclear plants, said Region IV Administrator
Bruce S. Mallet. This meeting gives us a chance to discuss our
assessment with the company, local officials and residents near
the plant. We want to make this information available to the
public and answer any questions people may have about the plant.
A letter sent from the NRC Region IV Office in Arlington, Texas,
to plant officials will serve as the basis for the meeting. It
is available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/wat_2004q4.pdf
[PDF Icon] .
Overall, Waterford 3 operated safely during 2004. The NRC uses
color-coded inspection findings and performance indicators to
assess nuclear plant performance. The colors start with green
and increase to white, yellow, and red, according to the safety
significance of the issues involved. Waterford 3 had one white
inspection finding during 2004, but an NRC inspection found that
the companys subsequent actions were adequate to address the
issue. Based on these results and overall performance, Waterford
3 will receive the baseline, or normal level of inspections
during 2005.
Routine inspections are performed by the NRC Resident Inspectors
assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the
Region IV office and the agencys headquarters in Rockville, Md.
Current information for the Waterford 3 nuclear plant is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/WAT3/wat3_chart.html.
Last revised Tuesday, March 22, 2005
*****************************************************************
19 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant
News Release - Region I - 2005-01
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-012
March 16, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A.
Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail:
[opa1@nrc.gov]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., on
Thursday, March 24, to discuss the agencys annual assessment of
safety performance at the Pilgrim nuclear power plant. The
period of performance to be discussed is January 1 to December
31, 2004.
Entergy operates the plant, which is located in Plymouth, Mass.
The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at the John Carver Inn, 25
Summer St. in Plymouth. Before the session is adjourned, NRC
staff will be available to answer questions from the public on
the plants safety performance, as well as the agencys role in
ensuring safe operation of the facility.
The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Pilgrim plant
and the nations other commercial nuclear power facilities, NRC
Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins said. This meeting will
provide an opportunity for a discussion of our annual assessment
of safety performance with the company and with local officials
and residents who live near the plant. Our goal is to explain
the NRC oversight process and make as much information as
possible available to the public regarding our regulation of
these facilities.
A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials
addresses the performance of the plant during the period and
will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pilg_2004q4.pdf.
Overall, the Pilgrim plant operated safely during the period.
The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance
indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors
start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red,
commensurate with the safety significance of the issues
involved. Because all of the inspection findings and performance
indicators for Pilgrim during 2004 were determined to be green,
the plant will receive a baseline level of inspections during
the upcoming assessment period.
However, the NRC is still evaluating an unresolved item
involving a senior control room operator who was found to be
inattentive while on the job on June 29, 2004. Once a decision
is reached on the appropriate response to this issue, the NRC
may revise its assessment, as well as its inspection plans for
the facility.
Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors
assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the
Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., and the agencys
headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant
operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are
emergency response and preparedness, radiological safety and
permanent plant modifications.
Current performance information for the Pilgrim plant is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PILG/pilg_chart.html.
Last revised Tuesday, March 22, 2005
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2004 Performance Assessment for Peach Bottom Nuclear Power Plant
News Release - Region I - 2005-01
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-013
March 22, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A.
Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
[opa1@nrc.gov]
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with
representatives of Exelon Generation Company on Tuesday, March
29, to discuss the agencys annual assessment of safety
performance at the Peach Bottom nuclear power plant. The period
of performance to be discussed is January 1 to December 31,
2004.
Exelon operates the twin-reactor plant, which is located near
Delta, Pa.
The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at the Peach Bottom Inn, 6085
Delta Road in Delta. Before the session is adjourned, NRC staff
will be available to answer questions from the public on the
plants safety performance, as well as the agencys role in
ensuring safe operation of the facility.
The NRC continually reviews the performance of the Peach Bottom
plant and the nations other commercial nuclear power facilities,
NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins said. This meeting
will provide an opportunity for a discussion of our annual
assessment of safety performance with the company and with local
officials and residents who live near the plant. Our goal is to
explain the NRC oversight process and make as much information
as possible available to the public regarding our regulation of
these facilities.
A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials
addresses the performance of the plant during the period and
will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/pb_2004q4.pdf
[PDF Icon] . The meeting notice, with the meeting agenda
attached, is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number
ML050680522. ADAMS is accessible via the agencys web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is
available by contacting the NRCs Public Document Room at
1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail at PDR@nrc.gov .
Overall, the Peach Bottom plant operated safely during the
period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and
performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant
performance. The colors start with green and then increase to
white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance
of the issues involved. Because all of the inspection findings
and performance indicators for Peach Bottom during 2004 were
determined to be green, the plant will receive a baseline level
of inspections during the upcoming assessment period.
However, one of the performance indicators for Peach Bottom Unit
2 the number of scrams, or shutdowns, with loss of normal heat
removal is still being evaluated by the NRC staff. Once that
review is completed, an assessment follow-up letter may be
issued.
The Peach Bottom plant did have one white inspection finding and
one white performance indicator during the first three quarters
of 2004. The inspection finding resulted from an inoperable Unit
2 emergency diesel generator, while the performance indicator
change stemmed from Unit 2 exceeding the number of unplanned
scrams per 7,000 critical hours of reactor operation. The NRC
staff performed supplemental inspections to assess the companys
response to both issues and, after finding satisfactory progress
in addressing them, determined they should be closed out.
In our mid-cycle letter dated Aug. 30, 2004, the NRC advised
Exelon that a substantive cross-cutting issue, a performance
issue touching multiple program areas, still existed in the area
of Problem Identification and Resolution involving inadequate
corrective action for known equipment problems. The NRC staff
has since determined the issue no longer exists due to the
reduction in the frequency of findings related to this area.
Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors
assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the
Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa., and the agencys
headquarters in Rockville, Md. Among the areas of plant
operations to be inspected this year by NRC specialists are
emergency response and preparedness, radiological safety and
problem identification and resolution.
Current performance information for Peach Bottom Unit 2 is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB2/pb2_chart.html.
Current performance information for Peach Bottom Unit 3 is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/PB3/pb3_chart.html.
Last revised Tuesday, March 22, 2005
*****************************************************************
21 NRC: NRC Signs Agreement with Belgium to Share Nuclear Safety Information
News Release - 2005-05
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: [opa@nrc.gov]
No. 05-050 March 22, 2005
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has renewed for an
additional five years an Arrangement for Technical Cooperation
with Belgiums Federal Agency of Nuclear Control (FANC), that
countrys nuclear regulatory body.
Under the agreement, the two countries, through their respective
regulatory agencies, will share nuclear safety information on
topics including probabilistic risk assessment and
decommissioning, as well as information related to waste
management, environmental impacts, emergency preparedness and
incident response.
The agreement is under the auspices of the Agreements for
Peaceful Uses, between the U.S. and the European Union. The
original agreement between the NRC and Belgium was signed in
1978. In all, the NRC has agreements to share nuclear safety
information with 36 countries.
Signing the agreement were NRC Chairman Nils J. Diaz and FANC
Director General Jean-Paul Samain and Dr. Tom Vanden Borre,
chairman of the FANC board of directors. The agreement became
effective on March 10, 2005.
Last revised Tuesday, March 22, 2005
*****************************************************************
22 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
FR Doc 05-5682
[Federal Register: March 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 54)]
[Notices] [Page 14487-14488] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr22mr05-82]
Date: Weeks of March 21, 28, April 4, 11, 18, 25, 2005.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and closed.
Matters to be Considered: Week of March 21, 2005 There are no
meetings scheduled for the Week of March 21, 2005.
Week of March 28, 2005--Tentative Monday, March 28, 2005 9:30
a.m. Discussion of Security Issues (closed-Ex. 1 & 9)
[[Page 14488]] Tuesday, March 29, 2005 9:30 a.m. Briefing on
Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response (NSIR) Programs,
Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Robert
Caldwell, 301-415-1243) This meeting will be webcast live at the
Web address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] 1 p.m. Discussion of
Security Issues (Closed--EX. 1) Week of April 4, 2005--Tentative
Tuesday, April 5, 2005 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Office of Research
(RES) Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact:
Alix Dvorak, 301-415- 6601) This meeting will be webcast live at
the Web address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] Wednesday, April 6,
2005 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Status of New Site and Reactor
Licensing (Public Meeting) (Contact: Steven Bloom, 301-415-1313)
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] Thursday, April 7,
2005 1:30 p.m. Meeting with Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards (ACRS) (Public Meeting) (Contact: John Larkins,
301-415-7360) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] Week of April 11,
2005--Tentative There are no meeting scheduled for the Week of
April 11, 2005.
Week of April 18, 2005--Tentative Wednesday, April 20, 2005 9:30
a.m. Meeting with Advisory Committee on the Medical uses of
Isotopes (ACMUI) (Public Meeting) (Contact: Angela McIntosh,
301-415- 5030) This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] 1:30 p.m. Briefing on
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) Programs, Performance,
and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Laura Gerke, 301-415-4099)
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] Week of April 25,
2005--Tentative Tuesday, April 26, 2005 9:30 a.m. Briefing on
Grid Stability and Offsite Power Issues (Public Meeting)
(Contact: John Lamb, 301-415-1446) This meeting will be webcast
live at the Web address--http://www.nrc.gov
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov] * The schedule for
Commission meeting is subject to change on short notice. To
verify the status of meetings call (recording)--(301) 415- 1292.
Contact person for more information: Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415-
1651.
* * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the
Internet at
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html*
[http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/leaving.cgi?from=leaving
FR.html&log=linklog&to=http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-makin
g/schedule.html*] * * * * The NRC provides reasonable
accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate.
If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in these
public meetings, or need this meeting notice or the transcript or
other information from the public meetings in another format
(e.g., braille, large print), please notify the NRC's Disability
Program Coordinator, August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD:
301-415- 2100, or by e-mail at aks@nrc.gov [aks@nrc.gov] .
Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be
made on a case-by-case basis.
* * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to dkw@nrc.gov [dkw@nrc.gov] . Dated: March 17, 2005.
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05-5682 Filed 3-18-05; 9:30 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
23 Seattle Times: Energy-hungry countries warm up to nuclear power
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m.
By LAURENCE FROST The Associated Press
PARIS Only by building more nuclear-power stations can the
world meet its soaring energy needs while averting environmental
disaster, experts at an international conference said yesterday.
Energy ministers and officials from 74 countries were in Paris
for the two-day meeting on the future of nuclear energy, as
concerns about global warming and fossil-fuel supplies renew
governments' interest in atomic power.
"It's clear that nuclear energy is regaining stature as a
serious option," said Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog,
which organized the conference.
ElBaradei said the entry into force this year of the Kyoto
Protocol, which commits governments to reduce greenhouse-gas
emissions from industrial pollution, was focusing minds once
again on atomic power.
Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA director
Power plants fired by oil, coal and gas are major sources of
carbon dioxide and other gases that cause global warming. The
Kyoto accord, which the United States and Australia did not
sign, will force plant operators to pay for their pollution,
making nuclear-power facilities more competitive by comparison.
"In the past, the virtual absence of restrictions or taxes on
greenhouse-gas emissions has meant that nuclear power's
advantage, low emissions, has had no tangible economic value,"
ElBaradei said. But the Kyoto Protocol "will likely change that
over the longer term."
Soaring fossil-fuel costs, including the historic highs charted
by oil prices during the past year, are a more-immediate worry
for governments and a reminder of the petroleum shocks of the
1970s that persuaded countries to intensify nuclear production.
But accidents at the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania
in 1979 and at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986 later undermined
public confidence in nuclear power. At Three Mile Island, part
of the core of the nuclear reactor melted, leading to a release
of radioactive gas.
The explosion at the Chernobyl plant in then-Soviet Ukraine, the
world's worst civil nuclear accident, spewed a cloud of
radioactivity across Europe and has been blamed for thousands of
deaths from radiation-linked illness. More than 100,000 people
had to be resettled.
Although there is still deep public concern about the risk of
accidents and transportation and storage of radioactive waste,
nuclear advocates say there also is a new awareness that relying
on fossil fuels could lead to an even-greater environmental
catastrophe.
"The climate will probably change no matter what we now do, but
we should, at the very least, make every effort to slow it
down," Donald Johnston, secretary general of the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development, said in a video
statement. "We ignore its importance at our peril."
When Finland begins construction of a new reactor later this
year, it will become the first Western European country to do so
since 1991. France plans to start building a new-generation
reactor in 2007.
Nuclear plants produce one-third of Europe's electricity, saving
greenhouse emissions "equivalent to those of all of Europe's
cars," French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said.
In a message to the conference, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman
cited a University of Chicago study that showed nuclear power
"can become competitive with electricity produced by plants
fueled by coal or gas" because of new technologies delivering
more-efficient reactors.
Echoing recent comments by President Bush, Bodman said: "America
hasn't ordered a new nuclear-power plant since the 1970s, and
it's time to start building again."
Washington state has just one commercial nuclear-power plant:
Energy Northwest's Columbia Generating Station at Hanford, near
Richland. It opened in 1984.
Energy Northwest, then known as the Washington Public Power
Supply System, began construction of five plants in the 1970s
three at Hanford, two at Satsop, Grays Harbor County but
construction was halted on four of them in the early 1980s, and
they have since been officially terminated.
Oregon's only nuclear plant, Portland General Electric's Trojan
plant on the Columbia River downstream from Portland, closed in
1993.
Even in some countries that have been fiercely opposed to
nuclear power, the mood is shifting.
Italians voted against the use of atomic energy in a referendum
the year after Chernobyl, and the government began gradually
decommissioning plants.
"Regarding nuclear power, we perceive a clear change in public
opinion, notably by the young generations," Italian Industry
Minister Antonio Marzano said.
The real boom in nuclear power is expected to focus on
developing countries, particularly in Asia.
China is expected to increase its nuclear-production capacity
from the current 6.5 gigawatts to 36 gigawatts by 2020,
according to figures from the International Atomic Energy
Agency, while India plans to multiply its production capacity
tenfold and Russia is expected to double its capacity to about
45 gigawatts.
A gigawatt equals 1 billion watts.
U.S. nuclear-plant builder Westinghouse Electric is among
contenders for an $8 billion contract for four new Chinese
reactors to be awarded by the end of the year.
Information on Northwest nuclear power from Seattle Times staff
reporter Eric Pryne; background on Chernobyl and Three Mile
Island from Reuters and staff research.
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
24 The News Journal: Water leak may idle Hope Creek reactor
www.delawareonline.com ¦
By JEFF MONTGOMERY / The News Journal 03/22/2005
Owners of the Hope Creek nuclear plant are considering a
maintenance shutdown to investigate a small but growing leak in
the 1,100-megawatt reactor system, company and federal officials
confirmed Monday.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said the
utility has detected an increase in water trickling into a drain
system at Hope Creek, one of three nuclear power plants that
PSEG Nuclear owns on Artificial Island, along the Delaware River
opposite Augustine Beach.
A suspected source of the leak is one of the plant's largest
cooling-water pumps, said David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer
with the Union of Concerned Scientists. The "B" recirculation
pump became the focus of an intense commission investigation
late last year after plant critics said chronic vibration and
maintenance problems justified a federal order to replace the
system.
PSEG spokesman Skip Sindoni said Monday that the B pump - which
moves more than 100 million pounds of radioactive water hourly -
appears to be operating normally. The shutdown will allow
workers to investigate in an area known as the dry well inside
Hope Creek's primary containment shell and under the reactor
core itself.
"It makes sense," Sindoni said. "You want to get all these
things taken care of so that we have a safe, reliable run."
Sheehan said PSEG was considering a plan that would halt
electricity generation and cut reactor power from 100 percent to
as little as 5 percent. At that level, workers could take steps
to safely enter the dry well for investigation and possible
repairs.
"We're still talking about a very small amount of leakage at
this point, even though it has been trending up," Sheehan said.
"This morning, the rate was 0.86 gallons per minute."
NRC officials recently allowed PSEG to restart Hope Creek after
an accident in October and a refueling shutdown. Federal terms
for the restart included installation of extra vibration
monitoring systems and close oversight of the recirculation
pump.
PSEG and Exelon, the nation's largest nuclear power operator,
recently announced a $12 billion merger agreement. Exelon began
operating Hope Creek and Salem last month under a contract that
will remain in effect pending completion of the deal. Contract
terms include extra payments to Exelon for increased production
time at the plants.
The three reactors already are under stepped-up federal
oversight because of chronic maintenance and management problems
at Artificial Island, the nation's second-largest nuclear
generating station.
Contact Jeff Montgomery at 678-4277 or
jmontgomery@delawareonline.com. [jmontgomery@delawareonline.com]
*****************************************************************
25 IndiaDaily: Rising Energy Needs Renew Nuclear Interest
Mar. 21, 2005
Only by building more nuclear power stations can the world meet
its soaring energy needs while averting environmental disaster,
experts at an international conference said Monday. Energy
ministers and officials from 74 countries were in Paris for the
two-day meeting on the future of nuclear energy, as concerns
about global warming and fossil fuel supplies renew governments''
interest in atomic power.
"It's clear that nuclear energy is regaining stature as a serious
option," said Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency — the U.N. nuclear watchdog — which organized the
conference.
ElBaradei said the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol (news -
web sites), which commits governments to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, was focusing minds. Power plants fired by oil, coal
and gas are major sources of carbon dioxide and other gases that
cause global warming.
The Kyoto accord will force plant operators to pay for their
pollution, making nuclear power facilities more competitive by
comparison. "In the past, the virtual absence of restrictions or
taxes on greenhouse gas emissions has meant that nuclear power's
advantage, low emissions, has had no tangible economic value,"
ElBaradei said.
But the Kyoto Protocol "will likely change that over the longer
term." Soaring fossil fuel costs, including the historic highs
charted by oil prices during the past year, are a more immediate
worry for governments — and a reminder of the petroleum shocks of
the 1970s that persuaded countries, including France, to
intensify nuclear production.
But accidents at the Three Mile Island facility in Pennsylvania
in 1979 and at Chernobyl, Ukraine, seven years later undermined
public confidence in nuclear power. Although there is still deep
public concern about the risk of accidents and transportation and
storage of radioactive waste, nuclear advocates say there also is
a new awareness that relying on fossil fuels could lead to an
even greater environmental catastrophe.
"The climate will probably change no matter what we now do, but
we should, at the very least, make every effort to slow it down,"
Donald Johnston, secretary general of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, said in a video statement.
"We ignore its importance at our peril." Environmental groups,
however, insist that nuclear power is not the solution to the
climate problem.
"Today, nuclear energy accounts for 17 percent of electricity
consumption and 3 percent of energy consumption," said Helene
Gassin, who heads Greenpeace's energy campaign in France.
The climate problem "goes far beyond the electricity issue." When
Finland begins construction of a new reactor later this year, it
will become the first Western European country to do so since
1991.
France plans to start building a new-generation reactor in 2007.
Nuclear plants produce one-third of Europe's electricity, saving
greenhouse emissions "equivalent to those of all of Europe's
cars," French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said.
In a message to the conference, U.S. Energy Secretary Sam Bodman
cited a University of Chicago study that showed nuclear power
"can become competitive with electricity produced by plants
fueled by coal or gas" because of new technologies delivering
more efficient reactors. Echoing recent comments by President
Bush, Bodman said: "America hasn''t ordered a new nuclear power
plant since the 1970s and it's time to start building again."
www.indiadaily.com
*****************************************************************
26 Bellona: Fuel leak narrowly averted at Chalk River
In the end of February Canada's oldest working nuclear reactor
has had an accident at Chalk River, and federal nuclear safety
regulators say only an automatic safety system prevented reactor
core meltdown.
2005-03-22 14:32
A defective vaporising valve was named as the reason of the
accident. According to the documentation the valve had not been
tested since 1972. The reactor was launched back in 1957 and its
lifetime can be considered critical at the moment. Earlier the
nuclear safety regulators pointed out to the inappropriate
storage of the radioactive materials at Chalk River, where
cobalt, cesium-137 and mercury was damped to the trenches
without decontamination, ITAR-TASS reported.
Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] ,
President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no]
Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical
contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no]
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
27 Guardian Unlimited: Iran to Develop Civilian Nuclear Power
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday March 22, 2005 12:46 PM
AP Photo PAR102
By JAMEY KEATEN
Associated Press Writer
PARIS (AP) - Iran will press ahead on the ``tortuous path'' to
developing civilian nuclear power, an Iranian official said
Tuesday, despite U.S. suspicions that the effort masks plans to
build nuclear weapons.
Speaking on the final day of a two-day international conference
on the future of nuclear power for civilian uses, Mohammad
Saeidi said the generation of nuclear electricity is the ``prime
priority of Iran's nuclear program.''
``The people and government of Iran are determined to open their
way through the tortuous path of peaceful use of nuclear
technology despite all imposed restrictions and difficulties,''
said Saeidi, the vice president for planning and international
affairs at the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran.
France, Germany and Britain are holding talks with Tehran to
ensure that it does not develop nuclear arms as some fear. A new
meeting was set for Wednesday. The United States recently threw
its support behind the European effort.
Iran is facing new demands for energy and hopes to leave an
increased portion of its sizable oil reserves for export, Saiedi
told the conference.
Meanwhile, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency
said in an interview published Tuesday that a global approach,
including normalizing ties between Tehran and the international
community, is needed to keep Iran from developing nuclear
weapons.
Europe and the United States ``must give Iran a sense of
security so that the Iranians don't feel the need to acquire
nuclear arms,'' Mohamed ElBaradei told Le Monde.
``Iran must feel assured that no one is thinking of attacking or
provoking regime change,'' said ElBaradie, who was present at
the conference.
The IAEA chief said he favors a sweeping approach to Iran and
the nuclear issue.
``Concerning Iran, we must consider the nuclear question as an
element of a global approach,'' he said, ``aimed at normalizing
relations between this country and the international
community.''
If talks with the Europeans should fail, the issue could go
before the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions against
Tehran, something ElBaradei suggested could prove risky.
``I hope we won't reach the U.N. stage and sanctions,'' he was
quoted as saying, ``because no one knows how a confrontation
would end and everyone is the loser.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
28 CTV.ca: Ontario to start idled nuclear reactors - report
[ /] Mon. Mar. 21 2005 11:23 PM ET
Canadian Press
TORONTO — Bruce Power has reached a tentative agreement with a
provincial negotiator for the potential restart of two laid-up
units at its nuclear generating station near Tiverton, Ont., the
company said Monday.
The potential restart of Units 1 and 2 of the Bruce generation
station, which have been shut down since the mid-1990s, would
return another 1,500 million watts of electricity to Ontario -
enough to meet the annual needs of one million homes, or about
10 per cent of the province's market.
The proposed deal is now being considered by Ontario Energy
Minister Dwight Duncan and requires cabinet approval before
being finalized, said Angie Robson, a spokeswoman for the
minister.
The final startup of the reactors would still require approval
from federal regulators.
All financial details of the proposed agreement are confidential
and won't be released until a final deal is reached, Robson
said.
The startup of the two units has been under consideration for 15
months and, if it goes ahead, would mean all eight reactors at
Bruce's nuclear station were operational, Bruce Power CEO Duncan
Hawthorne said in an interview.
"Obviously it's a significant step forward for us," he said.
The company and the province's negotiator have been in talks
since September.
So far, work on the restart has dealt with environmental
assessments, planning and engineering work, Hawthorne said.
Actual reconstruction work could begin quickly upon receipt of
government approval, he added.
"It's a very significant capital investment," Hawthorne said.
For the Liberal government, this is the first tentative deal
with a producer since it revamped the electricity industry in a
bid to get more generation online and began to increase prices
so consumers pay closer to the real cost of electricity.
"The government is considering the deal carefully as we work to
close the gap between electricity supply and demand with a
reliable, sustainable and diverse portfolio of competitively
priced power," Duncan said in a release.
The changes the government made to de-politicize and stabilize
the electricity market, such as creating the Ontario Power
Authority which can sign long-term deals with producers, were a
factor in reaching a deal, Hawthorne said.
"What effectively they're seeking to do is provide some
confidence to allow people to invest, and what we've said before
is we need that as much as anyone and perhaps more than most
because the level of investment we would make is significantly
higher," Hawthorne said.
Stability is required since any power producing agreement would
have to last beyond one government's time in office, he said.
The restart of the two units would replace about 20 per cent of
the province's coal-fired generation, Duncan said.
The province remains committed to shut the province's five
coal-fired electricity plants by 2007, a goal some electricity
experts say will be difficult to accomplish.
Originally placed in service in 1977, Units 1 and 2 were laid up
in the late 1990s by the former Ontario Hydro, which is now
known as Ontario Power Generation. OPG owns the nuclear power
plant and leases it to Bruce Power, which restarted Units 3 and
4 in 2003.
All of Bruce Power's major investors have given approval in
principle for the restart, Hawthorne said.
Bruce Power is currently controlled by Saskatoon-based uranium
producer Cameco Corp., Calgary-based pipeline operator
TransCanada Corp. and BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust, part
of the OMERS public-sector pension plan.
Cameco said in a separate announcement Monday that it has given
the green light to the project, in principle, but added that the
process of reaching a binding agreement isn't complete.
Cameco shares closed at $57.01, down $1.19, while TransCanada
stock closed at $29.85, up 26 cents, on the Toronto Stock
Exchange.
© 2005 Bell Globemedia Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
29 New Scientist: Cracks may force shutdown of UK reactors
[NewScientist.com]
+ 26 March 2005
Rob Edwards
UK reactors are in danger of developing cracks in their graphite
cores, which may force some to close earlier than expected
REACTORS in many UK nuclear power stations are in danger of
developing cracks in their graphite cores. This could force some
plants to close down earlier than expected, dealing a blow to
the idea that nuclear power can become a "green" option in the
fight against global warming.
Documents obtained by New Scientist under the UK's Freedom of
Information Act have revealed unsuspected problems with the
country's ageing advanced gas-cooled reactors (AGRs). Government
nuclear inspectors say they have uncovered weaknesses in the
safety analyses carried out by British Energy, the company that
runs the reactors.
The UK's 14 AGRs provide nearly a fifth of the country's
electricity. The graphite bricks that form part of their core
help sustain the nuclear reaction by slowing down fast-moving
neutrons. They also play a vital part in maintaining the core's
structural integrity.
*****************************************************************
30 National Vanguard: Security Breached at Nuclear Power Plant
Report; Posted on: 2005-03-21 19:58:52
Illegal aliens falsified Social Security numbers; U.S.
politicians refuse to seriously address anti-immigration laws.
By: David Mullenax
Security at the Crystal River nuclear power plant was breached
last week when three Mexican nationals’ falsified Social
Security numbers to obtain employment. The Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) and numerous state and federal agencies are
investigating the issue.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE), a recent
creation of the Department of Homeland Security, arrested the
illegal aliens and charged them with violating U.S. immigration
laws.
Reports claim that the Mexican nationals’ deliberately falsified
Social Security numbers to obtain employment with Texas-based
Brock Specialty Services, a contractor who works for Progress
Energy – owner and operator of the Crystal River power facility
located north of Tampa, FL.
Representative Ginny Browne-Waite (R – FL) expressed concern at
the ease of the security breach, "Of all the places where an
illegal alien should not be, this is like at the top of the
list.”
Spokesmen for Progress Energy and the NRC dismissed concerns,
commenting that employees and residents in the surrounding areas
were never in any danger, even if the illegal immigrants
intentions were malevolent, which they deny.
Progress Energy outsourced basic maintenance and janitorial
work to the contractor that hired the aliens, and attempted to
downplay the issue by stating that security measures for
employees --metal detectors and x-ray screening-- are standard
operating procedures.
According to Progress Energy personnel, driver’s licenses were
used to obtain employment, but the company’s security check on
the Social Security numbers did not warn of any violation or
criminal conduct. It is unknown which database is used by
Progress Energy for verification.
Rick Kimble, a PE spokesman, declared from a remote North
Carolina office that only numbers that have been previously
identified with a criminal record return flagged results.
Deliberately falsified SSN's or numbers of deceased U.S.
citizens are not flagged.
Representative Brown-Waite used the incident to rally support
around the Real ID Act, which would create federal standards for
issuing driver’s licenses. Currently, the bill has not passed
the Senate.
Supporters of anti-immigration legislation noted that elected
U.S. officials removed stringent immigration reform measures
from the 9/11 Intelligence Reform bill last fall at the
encouragement of sometimes Spanish speaking President George W.
Bush.
Congressman Silvestre Reyes, a Vietnam veteran and Member of the
House Armed Services Committee, provocatively commented that
placating to ethnic minorities is a greater concern than
national security. “We also prevented the inclusion of other
provisions that would have discriminated against Latinos and
other immigrants. The security of our nation should never be put
in jeopardy because of a divisive and xenophobic anti-immigrant
agenda.”
Illegal Aliens caught working in Nuclear Plant
Source: Author • Printed from National Vanguard
( http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4716
[http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=4716] )
National Alliance • Box 90 • Hillsboro • WV 24946 • USA
NationalVanguard.org [http://www.nationalvanguard.org/]
*****************************************************************
31 Sofia Daily News: Bulgaria to Lose EUR 4 B from Kozloduy Nuke Closure
[Sofia News Agency]
Politics: 22 March 2005, Tuesday.
Bulgaria will lose more than EUR 3 B from the closure of
Kozloduy nuclear power plant units 3 and 4 until the opening of
the new nuclear power plant in Belene.
Terence Wynn, a staunch opponent of the planned closure of two
more Kozloduy nuke units, said following the visit of a
delegation of members of the European parliament to the plant.
Wynn pointed out the Kozloduy has become a political issue. The
Socialist Group member Terence Wynn has insisted that the
planned move would prompt sharp electricity deficit in the
region as of 2006.
He has called on the European Parliament to pay more attention
to the issue, and suggested a postponed closure of the units in
order to allow Bulgaria build its Belene power plant, making up
for Kozloduy's.[ width=]
Click here to receive realtime news about this topic in the
future.
All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2005 - Copyright
&Disclaimer - Privacy Policy
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*****************************************************************
32 Guardian Unlimited: British Energy chief in shock exit
Mark Milner, industrial editor
Tuesday March 22, 2005
[http://www.guardian.co.uk]
Mike Alexander, architect of British Energy's recently completed
restructuring, has unexpectedly quit the company after just two
years.
His job as chief executive at Britain's biggest electricity
generator has gone to Bill Coley, a 61-year-old non-executive
director of the company who retired from Duke Energy, the
American power group, in 2003.
British Energy gave little indication as to why Mr Alexander had
quit, saying only that he had "decided to seek new challenges
elsewhere".
Mr Alexander's abrupt departure raised some eyebrows in the City.
"It was a surprise. I think there will be a debate about whether
he jumped or was pushed. Either way, to lose the chief executive
so soon after the flotation is not a good thing," said one
analyst.
It is understood that Mr Alexander and British Energy have not
discussed severance terms. The former chief executive had a
one-year rolling contract and received almost £600,000 in pay
and bonuses in the last financial year, according to the
company's annual report.
Mr Alexander joined British Energy, which runs Britain's eight
nuclear power plants, in March 2003. At the time it was reeling
from a slump in energy prices that pushed it to the brink of
insolvency.
After months of painstaking and at times acrimonious
negotiations, shareholders and creditors backed a
debt-for-equity swap, which required approval by the government
and the European commission.
The deal, which in effect handed ownership of the company to the
bondholders, was finally approved in January. The company
relisted on the stock market shortly after.
Yesterday, the British Energy chairman, Adrian Montague, paid
tribute to Mr Alexander's contribution. "Now that he has
relisted the company and laid the groundwork for the operational
and cultural rebuilding of British Energy, he has decided to
seek a new challenge elsewhere."
Though British Energy has successfully completed its financial
restructuring, it has been unable to take full advantage of
higher electricity prices because of plant shutdowns. Last month
it reported it had lost almost £350m in the first nine months of
its financial year. Two plants, Hartlepool and Heysham, were out
of action during the autumn.
One theory on Mr Alexander's departure and the elevation of Mr
Coley is that with the restructuring completed, the focus in the
business is now on producing power and the American has more
experience of running nuclear plants than his predecessor.
Before his retirement from Duke Energy Mr Coley spent 37 years
with the group, including six years as president of its Duke
Power generating, transmission and distribution business, which
runs three nuclear power stations. Duke Energy was touted as a
possible buyer of British Energy ahead of its privatisation.
British Energy said it was "fortunate" that Mr Coley had agreed
to take on the role "as he has outstanding qualities for the
job". In his new role he will divide his time between London and
Scotland.
Mr Coley is the second American to take on a senior role at the
group. Six months ago it appointed Roy Anderson as its chief
nuclear officer. Yesterday British Energy shares were down 3p at
287p.
Special report
The nuclear industry
Graphics
[http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2002/09
/17/nuclear_ship.pdf]
Nuclear map of Britain
US nuclear map
Useful links
[http://www.british-energy.com/]
[http://www.dti.gov.uk/]
[http://www.bnfl.co.uk/website.nsf/default.htm]
[http://www.cnduk.org/]
[http://www.greenpeace.org/homepage/]
[http://www.hse.gov.uk/nsd/ilrwglos.htm]
[http://www.ukaea.org.uk/]
[http://www.nrpb.org.uk/]
[http://www.foe.co.uk/campaigns/climate/press_for_change/dump_nuc
lear/index.html]
[http://www.uilondon.org/]
[http://www.wnti.co.uk]
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
33 DU Horrors Worldwide
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 17:22:18 -0600 (CST)
Forwarded with Compliments of Government of the USA in Exile (GUSAE):
Free Americans Resisting the Fourth Reich on Behalf of All Species.
From: CherielJ@aol.com
Date: March 20, 2005 5:38:40 PM GMT+07:00
Subject: The horror of DU is not limited to Iraq
http://www.caduceus.info/articles/denver.htm
DEMOCRACY BETRAYED
The horror of Depleted Uranium is not limited to Iraq -
it may well be at our doorsteps. The information which
some governments are concealing is presented here.
By James Denver
"I'm horrified. The people out there - the Iraqis, the media and the
troops - risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from
depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy
the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know
how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales
and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your
car."
The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr Chris Busby,
the British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool
in the Faculty of Medicine and UK representative on the European
Committee on Radiation Risk, talking about the best-kept secret of
this war: the fact that, by illegally using hundreds of tons of
depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America have gravely
endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these weapons
have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive
particles in such abundance that - whipped up by sandstorms and
carried on trade winds - there is no corner of the globe they cannot
penetrate - including Britain. For the wind has no boundaries and
time is on their side: the radioactivity persists for over
4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukaemia, brain damage,
kidney failure, and extreme birth defects - killing millions of every
age for centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the
eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time.
These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic,
radioactive particles in such abundance that there is no corner of
the globe they cannot penetrate - including Britain.
Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a
dirty story in which the facts have been concealed from those who
needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of
Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our
troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the
veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used.
A Dirty Tyson
'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. For 'depleted' sounds
weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is
dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb
production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and
DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and
bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so,
and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen
call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger
encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The
children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and
burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared
straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror)
The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it
burns can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even
be so tiny they pass through a gas mask, making protection against
them impossible. Yet, small is not beautiful. For these invisible
killers indiscriminately attack men, women, children and even babies
in the womb - and do the gravest harm of all to children and unborn
babies.
A Terrible Legacy
Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by
2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and
leukaemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in
1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these
sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi
children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to
166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia
more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an
alarming rate'. In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach
cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases
were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1
On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic
Energy Authority sent the Ministry of Defence a special report on the
potential damage to health and the environment. It said that it could
cause half a million additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years.
In that war the authorities only admitted to using 320 tons of DU -
although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates the true figure is closer
to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread across Iraq by this
year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health
and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come,
is beyond imagining.
The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing
millions of every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against
humanity which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time.
We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies.
Nobody knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU
contaminated their world. But it is suggested that troops who were
only exposed to DU for the brief period of the war were still
excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some had 100 times
the so-called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack of
government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is
reflected in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but
informal research has found a high incidence of birth defects in
their children and that the wives of men who served in Iraq have
three times more miscarriages than the wives of servicemen who did
not go there.
Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would
break a heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs,
with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumours
where their eyes should be, or with a single eye - like Cyclops, or
without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads.
Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside
textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the
Pacific.
Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a
boy?' but simply, 'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible
legacy will not end. The genes of their parents may have been damaged
for ever, and the damaging DU dust is ever-present.
Blue on Blue
What the governments of America and Britain have done to the people
of Iraq they have also done to their own soldiers, in both wars. And
they have done it knowingly. For the battlefields have been thick
with DU and soldiers have had to enter areas heavily contaminated by
bombing. Moreover, their bodies have not only been assaulted by DU
but also by a vaccination regime which violated normal protocols,
experimental vaccines, nerve agent pills, and organophosphate
pesticides in their tents. Yet, though the hazards of DU were known,
British and American troops were not warned of its dangers. Nor were
they given thorough medical checks on their return - even though
identifying it quickly might have made it possible to remove some of
it from their body. Then, when a growing number became seriously ill,
and should have been sent to top experts in radiation damage and
neurotoxins, many were sent to a psychiatrist.
Over 200,000 US troops who returned from the 1991 war are now
invalided out with ailments officially attributed to service in Iraq
- that's 1 in 3. In contrast, the British government's failure to
fully assess the health of returning troops, or to monitor their
health, means no one even knows how many have died or become gravely
ill since their return. However, Gulf veterans' associations say
that, of 40,000 or so fighting fit men and women who saw active
service, at least 572 have died prematurely since coming home and
5000 may be ill. An alarming number are thought to have taken their
own lives, unable to bear the torment of the innumerable ailments
which have combined to take away their career, their sexuality, their
ability to have normal children, and even their ability to breathe or
walk normally. As one veteran puts it, they are 'on DU death row,
waiting to die'.
Whatever other factors there may be, some of their illnesses are
strikingly similar to those of Iraqis exposed to DU dust. For
example, soldiers have also fathered children without eyes. And, in a
group of eight servicemen whose babies lack eyes seven are known to
have been directly exposed to DU dust.
They too have fathered children with stunted arms, and rare
abnormalities classically associated with radiation damage. They too
seem prone to cancer and leukaemia. Tellingly, so are EU soldiers who
served as peacekeepers in the Balkans, where DU was also used. Indeed
their leukaemia rate has been so high that several EU governments
have protested at the use of DU.
The Vital Evidence
Despite all that evidence of the harm done by DU, governments on
both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly claimed that as it emits
only 'low level' radiation DU is harmless. Award-winning scientist,
Dr Rosalie Bertell who has led UN medical commissions, has studied
'low-level' radiation for 30 years.2 She has found that uranium oxide
particles have more than enough power to harm cells, and describes
their pulses of radiation as hitting surrounding cells 'like flashes
of lightning' again and again in a single second.2 Like many
scientists worldwide who have studied this type of radiation, she has
found that such 'lightning strikes' can damage DNA and cause cell
mutations which lead to cancer.
Moreover, these particles can be taken up by body fluids and travel
through the body, damaging more than one organ. To compound all that,
Dr Bertell has found that this particular type of radiation can cause
the body's communication systems to break down, leading to
malfunctions in many vital organs of the body and to many medical
problems. A striking fact, since many veterans of the first Gulf war
suffer from innumerable, seemingly unrelated, ailments.
In addition, recent research by Eric Wright, Professor of
Experimental Haematology at Dundee University, and others, have shown
two ways in which such radiation can do far more damage than has been
thought. The first is that a cell which seems unharmed by radiation
can produce cells with diverse mutations several cell generations
later. (And mutations are at the root of cancer and birth defects.)
This 'radiation-induced genomic instability' is compounded by 'the
bystander effect' by which cells mutate in unison with others which
have been damaged by radiation - rather as birds swoop and turn in
unison. Put together, these two mechanisms can greatly increase the
damage done by a single source of radiation, such as a DU particle.
Moreover, it is now clear that there are marked genetic differences
in the way individuals respond to radiation - with some being far
more likely to develop cancer than others. So the fact that some
veterans of the first Gulf war seem relatively unharmed by their
exposure to DU in no way proves that DU did not damage others.
The Price of Truth
That the evidence from Iraq and from our troops, and the research
findings of such experts, have been ignored may be no accident. A US
report, leaked in late 1995, allegedly says, 'The potential for
health effects from DU exposure is real; however it must be viewed in
perspective... the financial implications of long-term disability
payments and healthcare costs would be excessive.'3
Clearly, with hundreds of thousands gravely ill in Iraq and at least
a quarter of a million UK and US troops seriously ill, huge
disability claims might be made not only against the governments of
Britain and America if the harm done by DU were acknowledged. There
might also be huge claims against companies making DU weapons and
some of their directors are said to be extremely close to the White
House. How close they are to Downing Street is a matter for
speculation, but arms sales makes a considerable contribution to
British trade. So the massive whitewashing of DU over the past 12
years, and the way that governments have failed to test returning
troops, seemed to disbelieve them, and washed their hands of them,
may be purely to save money.
The possibility that financial considerations have led the
governments of Britain and America to cynically avoid taking
responsibility for the harm they have done not only to the people of
Iraq but to their own troops may seem outlandish. Yet DU weapons
weren't used by the other side and no other explanation fits the
evidence. For, in the days before Britain and America first used DU
in war its hazards were no secret.4 One American study in 1990 said
DU was 'linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and to]
chemical toxicity - causing kidney damage'. While another openly
warned that exposure to these particles under battlefield conditions
could lead to cancers of the lung and bone, kidney damage,
non-malignant lung disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal
damage and birth defects.5
A Culture of Denial
In 1996 and 1997 UN Human Rights Tribunals condemned DU weapons for
illegally breaking the Geneva Convention and classed them as 'weapons
of mass destruction' 'incompatible with international humanitarian
and human rights law'. Since then, following leukaemia in European
peacekeeping troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan (where DU was also
used), the EU has twice called for DU weapons to be banned.
Yet, far from banning DU, America and Britain stepped up their
denials of the harm from this radioactive dust as more and more
troops from the first Gulf war and from action and peacekeeping in
the Balkans and Afghanistan have become seriously ill. This is no
coincidence. In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which
84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the
lungs, Dr Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear
Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying,
'The [US government's] Veterans Administration asked me to lie about
the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body.' He
concluded, 'uranium
does cause cancer, uranium does cause mutation,
and uranium does kill. If we continue with the irresponsible
contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that human
life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing
disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God
and to all generations who follow.' Not what the authorities wanted
to hear and his research was suddenly blocked.
During 12 years of ever-growing British whitewash the authorities
have abolished military hospitals, where there could have been
specialized research on the effects of DU and where expertise in
treating DU victims could have built up. And, not content with the
insult of suggesting the gravely disabling symptoms of Gulf veterans
are imaginary they have refused full pensions to many. For, despite
all the evidence to the contrary, the current House of Commons
briefing paper on DU hazards says 'it is judged that any radiation
effects from
possible exposures are extremely unlikely to be a
contributory factor to the illnesses currently being experienced by
some Gulf war veterans.' Note how over a quarter of a million sick
and dying US and UK vets are called 'some'.
The Way Ahead
Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they
dramatically increased its use - from a minimum of 320 tons in the
previous war to at minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time
the use of DU wasn't limited to anti-tank weapons - as it had largely
been in the previous Gulf war - but was extended to the guided
missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000-pound bombs used in
Iraq's cities. This means that Iraq's cities have been blanketed in
lethal particles - any one of which can cause cancer or deform a
child. In addition, the use of DU in huge bombs which throw the
deadly particles higher and wider in huge plumes of smoke means that
billions of deadly particles have been carried high into the air -
again and again and again as the bombs rained down - ready to be
swept worldwide by the winds.
The Royal Society has suggested the solution is massive
decontamination in Iraq. That could only scratch the surface. For
decontamination is hugely expensive and, though it may reduce the
risks in some of the worst areas, it cannot fully remove them. For DU
is too widespread on land and water. How do you clean up every nook
and cranny of a city the size of Baghdad? How can they decontaminate
a whole country in which microscopic particles, which cannot be
detected with a normal geiger counter, are spread from border to
border? And how can they clean up all the countries downwind of Iraq
- and, indeed, the world?
So there are only two things we can do to mitigate this crime
against humanity. The first is to provide the best possible medical
care for the people of Iraq, for our returning troops and for those
who served in the last Gulf war and, through that, minimize their
suffering. The second is to relegate war, and the production and sale
of weapons, to the scrap heap of history - along with slavery and
genocide. Then, and only then, will this crime against humanity be
expunged, and the tragic deaths from this war truly bring freedom to
the people of Iraq, and of the world.
Read the full article in issue 60 of Caduceus...
References
1. The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998.
2. Rosalie Bertell's book Planet Earth the Latest Weapon of War was
reviewed in Caduceus issue 51, page 28.
3. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl1. htm#TAB L_Research Report
Summaries
4. www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.01/020117moret.htm The secret
official memorandum to Brigadier General L.R.Groves from Drs Conant,
Compton and Urey of War Department Manhattan district dated October
1943 is available at the website
www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm
5. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_iitab11.htm#tab L_research report summaries
............................................................................
............
Further information
The Low Level Radiation Campaign hopes to be able to arrange a
limited number of private urine tests for those returning from the
latest Gulf war. It can be contacted at: The Knoll, Montpelier Park,
Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LW. 01597 824771. Web: www.llrc.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
James Denver writes and broadcasts internationally on science and
technology.
==========================================================
*****************************************************************
34 [NukeNet] Russia Ratifies Wimped Out Nuke Accident Convention
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:23:39 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
>Officials and senior lawmakers emphasized that
joining the convention, which requires a nuclear
>operator to pay at least $60 million in overall
damages for an accident, would protect Russia from
>possible claims for much larger amounts.
At least $60 million? Why not whatever the
count and amount is? If I run someone over with my
car and paralyze them why should I be responsible
for only footing a minute percentage of what I
really owe? Not only do they need welfare to
start their insane "business" but they are
unwilling [and incapable?] of being accountable
for their actions. Smacks of an industry which
dosen't deserve to exist. Anti-capitalist,
anti-free market and unwilling to be held
accountable for their actions. What a crew.
RENEWABLES. A Manhatan Project for renewables.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Russia-Nuclear-Convention.html?
Russia Ratifies Nuke Accident Convention
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 22, 2005
Filed at 5:18 a.m. ET
MOSCOW (AP) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin
has signed into law a bill ratifying an
international agreement on liability for nuclear
damage, obliging the government to compensate
victims of any future nuclear accident, the
Kremlin said Tuesday.
Russia's two houses of parliament voted this month
to ratify the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability
for Nuclear Damage, which requires a nuclear
operator to pay damages for an accident. Since all
of Russia's nuclear power plants and other atomic
facilities are in state hands, the government
would be liable.
Advertisement
The issue of liability for nuclear accidents has
been a key stumbling block in Moscow's
negotiations with the United States and other
Western nations that have pledged financial
assistance to help secure Russia's nuclear
stockpiles, dismantle atomic submarines and build
storage for radioactive waste.
But the agreement, which is not retroactive, will
not cover the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the
ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine, officials said.
The Soviet Union hasn't paid any compensation for
the April 1986 Chernobyl catastrophe -- the
world's worst commercial nuclear disaster. About
30 people died from the immediate effects of the
explosion, and an estimated 5 million people were
exposed to radiation.
Officials and senior lawmakers emphasized that
joining the convention, which requires a nuclear
operator to pay at least $60 million in overall
damages for an accident, would protect Russia from
possible claims for much larger amounts.
The 1963 Vienna Convention aimed at a worldwide
system but so far has attracted a scattered
membership of only 32 states. Two-thirds of the
members joined in the last 10 years, including
non-nuclear states such as Cameroon, Niger, Peru,
and Trinidad and Tobago.
_______________________________________________________________________
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35 [du-list] Widow accepts combat award for spouse's brain-tumour
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:23:31 -0800
http://www.herald.ns.ca/stories/2005/03/22/f170.raw.html
HALIFAX HERALD (CANADA)
Tuesday, March 22, 2005 Back The Halifax Herald Limited
Widow accepts combat award for spouse's brain-tumour death
By MURRAY BREWSTER / The Canadian Press
An award intended for the families of Canadians killed in combat has
been given to the widow of a peacekeeper who died at home of a brain
tumour five years after serving in the Balkans.
In the eyes of Mary Ann Peace, the award amounts to an admission by
the military that her husband's fatal illness was linked to his service
overseas - something the army has steadfastly denied.
Last fall, Peace was told she would receive the Memorial Cross, a
decoration given to the mother or spouse of a Canadian Forces member who
dies in a war zone, on the way to a war zone, or from "causes directly
attributable to service in a special duty area."
Given that an army board of inquiry found in 2002 that Warrant Officer
Michael Peace's death "cannot be attributed to military service," his
widow was shocked by the letter.
"When I got this in the mail, I was angry," Mary Ann Peace said in an
interview from her home in Fredericton.
"I was hurt. After four years, they award me this Memorial Cross.
Why?"
Although the Defence Department hands out the medal, the officer in
charge of the awards branch of the Canadian Forces said the army has not
changed its position.
"The determination is made by Veterans Affairs Canada," Capt. Carl
Gauthier said in an interview from Ottawa. "They determined his death was
caused by his service in Bosnia and therefore it meets the eligibility
criteria.
"What the actual military board of inquiry's findings were is a
different matter."
But Mary Ann Peace doesn't buy that.
She said the decoration is "a backdoor acknowledgment" of her
husband's claims and her complaints.
"It's their way of saying, 'Go away,' " she said.
In 1995, Michael Peace returned sick from a tour of duty in Visoko.
Five years later, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour - a condition
he blamed on the exposure to chemicals and dust in Bosnia.
His unit of the Royal Canadian Regiment was based in an abandoned
factory when the army brought in technicians to attach additional plating
on 82 armoured personnel carriers.
Peace later told his superiors the cutting and pasting of the ceramic
tiles created dust that made him and other members of his platoon sick.
The 20-year army veteran died in October 2000 just as the army
launched a formal board of inquiry into the allegations.
During the inquiry, 34 other soldiers came forward to say they're
suffering from a variety of unexplained illnesses, such as headaches and
mysterious bleeding, as well as vision and memory trouble.
The investigation eventually concluded there was no link between the
vehicle modifications and soldiers' illnesses.
However, Mary Ann Peace had one of the armour tiles analysed by an
independent laboratory. The lab found that when cut, the tile produced
aluminum oxide dust, a substance that has been linked to cancer.
She presented her findings to the army and asked for the investigation to
be reopened. But her request was denied.
In the summer of 2002, more questions were raised when Veterans
Affairs Canada appeared to contradict the findings of the military
investigation.
It awarded Mary Ann Peace a pension entitlement as though her husband
had been killed in combat.
The agency said it had a "reasonable doubt" that Warrant Officer Peace was
exposed to something that made him sick.
The army explained the incongruity by saying that different burdens of
proof apply to investigations and the awarding of pensions.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
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36 Bellona: 444 families want to leave radioactive village
In the end of February deputy chairman of the Russian liberal
Yabloko party Sergey Mitrokhin discussed with the head of the
Nuclear Federal Agency Alexander Rumyantsev the problem of the
urgent resettlement of the Muslumovo village, which suffered in
the radiation accident after the discharge at the Mayak plant in
1957.
2005-03-22 17:11
Sergey Mitrokhin presented the list of 444 families, which
agreed to move from the polluted territory. Alexander Rumyantsev
promised to meet the head of Ministry of Emergencies Sergey
Shoygu to discuss the problem. Speaking to journalists,
Mitrokhin said the Muslumovo problem had been discussed at the
meeting with the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Alexander
Rumyantsev back in December 2003. At that time Rumyantsev
pledged to find money for the village resettlement. However, the
Russian legislation stipulates that the local authorities, i.e.
Clelyabinsk region administration, should take care of the
resettlement. The problem is still not solved, and people
continue to die on the polluted land. According to Mitrokhin,
the Chelyabinsk administration is not interested in the
development of the resettlement program. The meeting with
Rumyantsev gave a new hope to relocate people from the polluted
village, MK-Novosti reported.
Publisher: Bellona Foundation [bellona@bellona.no] ,
President: Frederic Hauge [frederic@bellona.no]
Information: info@bellona.no [info@bellona.no] , Technical
contact: webmaster@bellona.no [webmaster@bellona.no]
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
37 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Ratifies Nuke Accident Convention
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday March 22, 2005 10:31 AM
MOSCOW (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into
law a bill ratifying an international agreement on liability for
nuclear damage, obliging the government to compensate victims of
any future nuclear accident, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
Russia's two houses of parliament voted this month to ratify the
Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, which
requires a nuclear operator to pay damages for an accident.
Since all of Russia's nuclear power plants and other atomic
facilities are in state hands, the government would be liable.
The issue of liability for nuclear accidents has been a key
stumbling block in Moscow's negotiations with the United States
and other Western nations that have pledged financial assistance
to help secure Russia's nuclear stockpiles, dismantle atomic
submarines and build storage for radioactive waste.
But the agreement, which is not retroactive, will not cover the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine,
officials said.
The Soviet Union hasn't paid any compensation for the April 1986
Chernobyl catastrophe - the world's worst commercial nuclear
disaster. About 30 people died from the immediate effects of the
explosion, and an estimated 5 million people were exposed to
radiation.
Officials and senior lawmakers emphasized that joining the
convention, which requires a nuclear operator to pay at least
$60 million in overall damages for an accident, would protect
Russia from possible claims for much larger amounts.
The 1963 Vienna Convention aimed at a worldwide system but so
far has attracted a scattered membership of only 32 states.
Two-thirds of the members joined in the last 10 years, including
non-nuclear states such as Cameroon, Niger, Peru, and Trinidad
and Tobago.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
38 New Scientist: French nuclear tests may have caused cancers -
[NewScientist.com]
23 March 2005
DID France's nuclear tests in the Polynesian islands of the South
Pacific cause cancer among the islanders? Some of the scientists
who once cast doubt on that notion are now suggesting they might
have been wrong. “These abnormalities in the chromosomes are
a sign of radiation damage”
France exploded 41 nuclear bombs above the Mururoa and
Fangataufa atolls between 1966 and 1974. Islanders in the region
have since suffered high rates of thyroid cancers, and this has
often been blamed on fallout from the explosions. Now Claude
Parmentier of the nuclear medicine department at the Gustave
Roussy Institute in Villejuif, France, and colleagues have
uncovered the first evidence of a link. They found that 30
people in Polynesia with thyroid cancer had three times as many
abnormalities in their chromosomes as people in Europe with the
same disease (European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular
Imaging, vol 32, p 174).
These abnormalities are a sign of radiation damage and are
associated with an increased risk of cancer. "These preliminary
findings are compatible with possible previous environmental
aggression," the researchers write.
"This is a very conservative group of scientists who in the past
have doubted whether the nuclear tests caused thyroid cancers,"
says Sue Roff, an expert on nuclear tests from the University of
Dundee in the UK. "For them to now propose a connection is quite
startling."
*****************************************************************
39 Japan Times: Nuclear firefighting guide finally drafted
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The national government will distribute guidelines explaining
how firefighters should protect themselves during rescue
operations related to nuclear terrorist attacks and other
hazardous situations, officials said.
In addition, the Fire and Disaster Management Agency plans to
stock fire departments nationwide with radiation protection
suits and radiation counters, which are currently distributed
only to municipalities that host nuclear facilities, the
officials said.
The government will distribute the guidelines later this month
to all 47 prefectures and about 850 firefighting headquarters,
the officials said.
The guidelines will also cover transport accidents involving
nuclear waste and fires at medical facilities where radiation
treatments are conducted.
Under the guidelines, firefighters are to don radiation
protection suits -- if they have them -- before going to such
sites, assess the extent of the contamination, and determine
areas to be restricted.
They will then take injured people out of the contaminated
areas, undress them and transport them to hospitals after
removing radioactive material attached to their hair and skin.
The guidelines also instruct firefighters to wash off the
protection suits when leaving a contaminated site.
The Japan Times: March 22, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
40 Mos News: Russian Navy Refutes Reports of Soviet Nuclear Torpedoes off
Italian Coast -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Photo: kitsune.addr.com
Created: 22.03.2005 16:50 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:50 MSK
An official from the Russian navy refuted reports in the Italian
media on Tuesday that a Soviet submarine had left nuclear
torpedoes near the Italian coast in the Naples Gulf in 1970.
“On behalf of the Russian navy’s commander-in-chief, I flatly
refute this information as fully not representing the facts,”
the first aide to naval commander Captain Igor Dygalo was quoted
by Itar-Tass as saying. “This is nothing but a groundless
speculative figment having no reliability and directed to create
tension in the Russian-Italian relationship.”
Dygalo said the Soviet leadership could not mine the Naples Gulf
with nuclear charges even in the Cold War era “understanding
their threat to the Mediterranean states and the whole world”.
The Italian weekly magazine l’Espresso quoted a secret dossier
received by the Italian rescue services in November that stated
that 20 nuclear torpedoes deposited in 1970 by a Russian
submarine on the coast of the Gulf of Naples were still there.
“The torpedoes were used to mine an area where units of the U.S.
marine corps were stationed,” the magazine wrote.
*****************************************************************
41 Mos News: Russia Ratifies Nuclear Accident Convention -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 22.03.2005 15:36 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 15:36 MSK
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law a bill
ratifying an international agreement on liability for nuclear
damage, obliging the government to compensate victims of any
future nuclear accident, Associated Press reported Tuesday
citing the Kremlin press-service.
Russia’s two houses of parliament voted this month to ratify the
Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, which
requires a nuclear operator to pay damages for an accident.
Since all of Russia’s nuclear power plants and other atomic
facilities are in state hands, the government would be liable.
The issue of liability for nuclear accidents has been a key
stumbling block in Moscow’s negotiations with the United States
and other Western nations that have pledged financial assistance
to help secure Russia’s nuclear stockpiles, dismantle atomic
submarines and build storage for radioactive waste.
But the agreement, which is not retroactive, will not cover the
Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the ex-Soviet republic of Ukraine,
officials said.
The Soviet Union hasn’t paid any compensation for the April 1986
Chernobyl catastrophe, the world’s worst commercial nuclear
disaster. About 30 people died from the immediate effects of the
explosion, and an estimated 5 million people were exposed to
radiation.
Officials and senior lawmakers emphasized that joining the
convention, which requires a nuclear operator to pay at least
$60 million in overall damages for an accident, would protect
Russia from possible claims for much larger amounts.
The 1963 Vienna Convention aimed at a worldwide system but so
far has attracted a scattered membership of only 32 states.
Two-thirds of the members joined in the last 10 years, including
non-nuclear states such as Cameroon, Niger, Peru, and Trinidad
and Tobago.
The Chernobyl accident on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl
nuclear power plant in Ukraine (then a part of the Soviet Union)
is widely regarded as the worst in the history of nuclear power
generation. 30 people were killed immediately after the fourth
reactor of the plant suffered a catastrophic steam explosion
that resulted in a fire, a series of additional explosions, and
a nuclear meltdown.
It produced a plume of radioactive debris that drifted over
parts of the western USSR, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia.
Large areas of the Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian republics
of the USSR were contaminated, resulting in the evacuation and
resettlement of roughly 200,000 people. About 60% of the
radioactive fallout landed in Belarus. The accident raised
concerns about the safety of the Soviet nuclear power industry.
Write us: [info@mosnews.com]
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
42 Newsday.com: Accord near in suit over radioactive emission
[March 22, 2005]
Payout in case over former Hicksville plant said to be about $11M
BY MARK HARRINGTON STAFF WRITER
A three-year-old lawsuit claiming operators of a former
nuclear-fuel plant in Hicksville negligently released deadly
radioactive material into the surrounding neighborhood is near to
being settled, according to court papers.
The amount has not been released, but people familiar with the
case said the payout will be about $11 million. A special master
is to be appointed to oversee distribution of the settlement,
which still awaits a judge's final approval, according to the
court documents.
More than 280 plaintiffs, including cancer-stricken residents
and the heirs of those who had lived near the plant, had asked
for $1.6 billion from companies that included Verizon
Communications Inc. Verizon is the successor of Sylvania
Electric Products Inc., which operated the facility between 1952
and 1966.
In pretrial interviews, former employees said they routinely
incinerated uranium shavings in large steel drums, releasing ash
and radioactive particles into the air, according to court
documents. Experts say radioactive airborne particles can lead
to lung and thyroid cancers, among other ailments.
The plant, which abuts Cantiague Park, is surrounded by several
neighborhoods, whose past and current residents charged that the
fuel-making operations were never fully disclosed until decades
after the plant was shuttered in 1967. State environmental
officials have said the site poses no current hazard to
residents, and that the number of cancer cases in the area were
not abnormal, but assessments of its effect on underlying soil
and ground water are ongoing.
The case was fraught with complications. Lawyers for plaintiffs
charged that some 200,000 pages of documents that represented
critical evidence had gone missing in the years before the case
came to federal court in 2002. The documents, some of which were
required to be kept indefinitely or required signatures in
triplicate before they could be destroyed, were never recovered.
The plant was opened by Sylvania in 1952 to produce nuclear fuel
rods for reactors across the country. The company, which was
acquired by GTE, ceased operations in 1967, but residual
radioactive uranium and thorium, among other toxic materials,
remain in the ground. Some equipment from the plant, including
lockers, wound up in Hicksville schools, and were removed last
year after their presence came to light.
GTE in 2000 merged with Bell Atlantic to become Verizon, the
primary defendant in the suit. Verizon funded more than a year
of cleanup work at the site before the federal government
decided to step in earlier this year. Verizon is still
overseeing it until a full assessment of the contamination is
complete.
"A settlement is being negotiated among the parties," said Peter
Thonis, a Verizon spokesman, saying final court approval is
required. "Terms of the pending settlement are confidential."
Attorneys for the plaintiffs also declined to comment or did not
respond to inquiries. David Jaroslawicz, a Manhattan-based
attorney for residents, said complexities and the age of the
case made fighting it challenging.
"In light of the circumstances and the amount of years that
passed, we got very fair settlement," he said, declining to
discuss any amount. "It was not an easy case."
Subscribe to Newsday home delivery
[http://www.newsday.com/about/ny-subscribe.htmlstory]
Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc. [http://www.newsday.com]
*****************************************************************
43 L.A. Daily News: Field lab radiation tests invalid, critics say
Article Published: Monday, March 21, 2005 - 9:46:51
By Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer
Environmental watchdogs said Monday that 15 years of
water-quality testing at the Santa Susana Field Lab should be
thrown out because the samples were filtered before being tested
for radioactivity.
Activists have long warned that the Boeing Company's use of
filtered samples produced artificially low radiation readings
because they were only catching contaminants that made it
through a microscopic filter.
Their concerns were backed up last week by a U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency senior radiation scientist who said examiners
have to look at the water and the material left on the filter to
get a true picture of the radioactivity.
"You have to filter the water to make sure you can run the
test, but then you have to test the filter. You have to do both
things," said Gregg Dempsey, who heads the EPA's Radiological
Emergency Response Team.
Without testing both the water and the filter, he said, "It
could skew it quite a bit."
Prompted by Dempsey's comments, environmental activists called
for a whole new testing policy at Boeing's field lab, including
independent sampling.
"There's 15 years worth of reports and data, and the results
are false because they used the wrong methodology," said Mary
Weisbrock, who has been following the field lab cleanup. "We
know that filtering is lowering the results."
Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board officials said
that, because of community concerns, they have begun a new study
to compare filtered and unfiltered samples.
Under the new study ordered by the water board, Boeing must
test filtered surface water and test the filtered sediment over
the next 10 rains. The study should clarify whether more
radiation is leaving the site than previously thought.
"If you're looking at the total environment, you want to look
at the filter," said John Bishop, director of the water board.
Boeing officials said Monday that they followed state and
federal testing protocols, but added they would comply with the
water board's request to test the sediment.
"The procedure requires them to filter so they are just looking
at the water," said Paul Costa, Boeing director of environmental
protection. "The EPA guidance is to look just at the
groundwater, not the sediment."
Company scientists filter some surface-water samples that have
a lot of sediment, but they've never found radioactive
contaminants above the drinking-water limits in filtered or
unfiltered samples, Costa said.
In the past, water regulators looked at the surface water
leaving the field lab, not the sediment or soil in the storm
water. l=8s=8 Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746
[kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com] TO LEARN MOREThe Department of
Energy and Boeing will hold a public meeting tonight in Simi
Valley to discuss additional environmental tests planned at the
field lab before the cleanup is complete. The meeting will begin
at 6:30 p.m. at the Grand Vista Hotel, 999 Enchanted Way. More
information is available at
">http://apps.em.doe.gov/etec
Copyright © 2005 Los Angeles Daily News
*****************************************************************
44 [NukeNet] Yucca Fraud Update, ElBaradei Statement On Nuclear
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 14:22:23 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
See Item #3 below for the article from which
this quote from Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei "
``Nuclear power emits virtually no greenhouse
gases. The complete nuclear power chain, from
uranium mining to waste disposal, and including
reactor and facility construction, emits only 2-6
grams of carbon per kilowatt hour,'' he said.
``This is about the same as wind and solar power
and one to two orders below coal, oil and even
natural gas.''
1.E-Mail Shows False Claims About Tests at Nevada
Nuclear Site
2. Experts Discuss Nuclear Power As Energy
3. U.N.: Nuclear Energy May Be Back in Vogue
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/20/politics/20yucca.html
E-Mail Shows False Claims About Tests at Nevada
Nuclear Site
By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: March 20, 2005
ASHINGTON, March 18 - Internal Energy Department
e-mail messages written in preparation for seeking
a license to open a nuclear waste repository at
Yucca Mountain in Nevada show that the department
made false claims about how it carried out its
work.
For example, in 2000, James Raleigh, an Energy
Department employee, pointed out in one message
that records showed some instruments that were
apparently used to measure conditions inside the
mountain were certified as having been calibrated
before the procedure was performed, and even
before the equipment was received.
Advertisement
Mr. Raleigh wrote that approving the completion of
a procedure on a piece of equipment not yet in
hand "does not appear appropriate."
Other instruments, according to the messages, were
used for months without calibration.
On Wednesday the energy secretary, Samuel W.
Bodman, said an employee of the United States
Geological Survey had written e-mail messages
indicating that the employee had falsified some of
his work and that others might also have falsified
work. The messages further hinder the project to
develop the repository, 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas.
The Energy Department has not released the
U.S.G.S. e-mail messages or said who wrote them.
But on Friday, Joseph Egan, a lawyer for the State
of Nevada, which opposes the project, provided The
New York Times with copies of the messages
pointing to problems in documents being prepared
for a license application. The problems appear to
involve documents on quality control and quality
assurance required by regulators to back up
studies and conclusions about the suitability of
the repository to contain the wastes for eons.
Mr. Raleigh, who is based in Las Vegas, wrote long
messages to colleagues giving lists of anomalies
and omissions.
One, written on June 15, 2000, pointed out that
for two instruments commonly used in laboratories,
a digital multimeter and a mass flow controller,
calibration was approved before the calibration
occurred or the instrument was delivered. (A
multimeter is used to measure voltage or other
characteristics of electricity, and is often used
to maintain or check the performance of other
equipment. A mass flow controller can monitor the
flow or content of gases or liquids.)
The same e-mail message noted that another
document, a record of procurement of equipment,
"gives the appearance that it was falsified,"
because the first part, identifying the equipment,
was dated in December 1997, but the next three
parts were dated six months earlier.
Mr. Raleigh did not respond to a telephone message
left on Friday. Anne Womack-Kolton, a spokeswoman
at the Energy Department, said that Mr. Raleigh's
e-mails were a positive sign. She said that
looking for errors was "the kind of
quality-assurance procedures one would hope went
on all the time." She added that the department
would look into the specifics of the messages.
Ms. Womack-Kolton said that the investigation into
the messages described by Mr. Bodman on Wednesday
was still at an early stage. Those messages have
not been released.
A consultant for Nevada who found Mr. Raleigh's
messages, Allen L. Messenger, said in a telephone
interview, "This appears to be smoke, and where
there's smoke, there's typically fire."
"You can't calibrate a meter you don't have," he
added.
Joseph Egan, a lawyer representing Nevada, said
the scientific work now thrown into question had
been used in the process of recommending the site
to President Bush. Mr. Bush accepted the
recommendation and sent it on to Congress, which
approved. But the decision may have been based on
fraud, Mr. Egan said.
On Thursday the attorney general of Nevada, Brian
Sandoval, asked the United States attorney
general's office to conduct an independent
investigation and to secure the scientific
database created by the department "to protect it
from further manipulation." A spokesman for his
office said he had not received a response.
At the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Beth Hayden,
a spokeswoman, said that the quality-assurance
documentation was "supposed to give us confidence
in the information." But Ms. Hayden said that her
agency had not started evaluating the information
because the application was not complete.
Even before the announcement Wednesday about the
possible falsifications, the Energy Department was
having trouble assembling the materials needed to
apply for a license.
Under law, the department is supposed to apply to
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will
decide based on rules created by the Environmental
Protection Agency. The department had intended to
apply by the end of 2004, but under regulatory
commission rules it must post supporting materials
on the Internet six months earlier. The department
said in mid-2004 that it had done so, but later in
the year the commission ruled that it had not.
Now the Energy Department says it will finish its
application by the end of this year.
The delay in applying may not make any difference
to the project's timetable, however, because at
the moment the regulatory commission has no
standards to use in judging the application. The
E.P.A. had written standards, but a federal
appeals court threw them out last year and sent
them back to the agency for re-writing.
2.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Nuclear-Talks-Future.html
Experts Discuss Nuclear Power As Energy
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 21, 2005
Filed at 4:16 p.m. ET
PARIS (AP) -- Only by building more nuclear power
stations can the world meet its soaring energy
needs while averting environmental disaster,
experts at an international conference said
Monday.
Energy ministers and officials from 74 countries
were in Paris for the two-day meeting on the
future of nuclear energy, as concerns about global
warming and fossil fuel supplies renew
governments' interest in atomic power.
Advertisement
``It's clear that nuclear energy is regaining
stature as a serious option,'' said Mohamed
ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy
Agency -- the U.N. nuclear watchdog -- which
organized the conference.
ElBaradei said the entry into force of the Kyoto
Protocol, which commits governments to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, was focusing minds.
Power plants fired by oil, coal and gas are major
sources of carbon dioxide and other gases that
cause global warming. The Kyoto accord will force
plant operators to pay for their pollution, making
nuclear power facilities more competitive by
comparison.
``In the past, the virtual absence of restrictions
or taxes on greenhouse gas emissions has meant
that nuclear power's advantage, low emissions, has
had no tangible economic value,'' ElBaradei said.
But the Kyoto Protocol ``will likely change that
over the longer term.''
Soaring fossil fuel costs, including the historic
highs charted by oil prices during the past year,
are a more immediate worry for governments -- and
a reminder of the petroleum shocks of the 1970s
that persuaded countries, including France, to
intensify nuclear production.
But accidents at the Three Mile Island facility in
Pennsylvania in 1979 and at Chernobyl, Ukraine,
seven years later undermined public confidence in
nuclear power.
Although there is still deep public concern about
the risk of accidents and transportation and
storage of radioactive waste, nuclear advocates
say there also is a new awareness that relying on
fossil fuels could lead to an even greater
environmental catastrophe.
``The climate will probably change no matter what
we now do, but we should, at the very least, make
every effort to slow it down,'' Donald Johnston,
secretary general of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, said in a video
statement. ``We ignore its importance at our
peril.''
Environmental groups, however, insist that nuclear
power is not the solution to the climate problem.
``Today, nuclear energy accounts for 17 percent of
electricity consumption and 3 percent of energy
consumption,'' said Helene Gassin, who heads
Greenpeace's energy campaign in France. The
climate problem ``goes far beyond the electricity
issue.''
When Finland begins construction of a new reactor
later this year, it will become the first Western
European country to do so since 1991. France plans
to start building a new-generation reactor in
2007.
Nuclear plants produce one-third of Europe's
electricity, saving greenhouse emissions
``equivalent to those of all of Europe's cars,''
French Industry Minister Patrick Devedjian said.
In a message to the conference, U.S. Energy
Secretary Sam Bodman cited a University of Chicago
study that showed nuclear power ``can become
competitive with electricity produced by plants
fueled by coal or gas'' because of new
technologies delivering more efficient reactors.
Echoing recent comments by President Bush, Bodman
said: ``America hasn't ordered a new nuclear power
plant since the 1970s and it's time to start
building again.''
Even in some countries that have been fiercely
opposed to nuclear power, the mood is shifting.
For example, Italians voted against the use of
atomic energy in a referendum the year after
Chernobyl, and the government began gradually
decommissioning plants.
``Regarding nuclear power, we perceive a clear
change in public opinion, notably by the young
generations,'' Italian Industry Minister Antonio
Marzano said.
The real boom in nuclear power is expected to
focus on developing countries, particularly in
Asia.
China is expected to increase its nuclear
production capacity from the current 6.5 gigawatts
to 36 gigawatts by 2020, according to IAEA
figures, while India plans to multiply its
production capacity tenfold and Russia is expected
to double its capacity to about 45 gigawatts.
A gigawatt equals 1 billion watts.
U.S. nuclear plant builder Westinghouse Electric
Co. is among contenders for an $8 billion contract
for four new Chinese reactors to be awarded by
year's end.
3.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/international/international-energy-nuclear.html
U.N.: Nuclear Energy May Be Back in Vogue
By REUTERS
Published: March 21, 2005
Filed at 6:55 a.m. ET
PARIS (Reuters) - Expectations of a sharp rise in
energy demand and the risk of climate change are
pushing many countries to return to the idea of
nuclear power, the head of the United Nations
nuclear watchdog said Monday.
Even the most conservative estimates predict at
least a doubling of energy usage by mid-century,
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told a
conference on nuclear energy in the 21st century.
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He said any discussion of the energy sector ``must
begin by acknowledging the expected substantial
growth in energy demand in the coming decades.''
It was unclear what role nuclear power would play,
though it appeared to be an increasingly important
one, he said.
``All indicators show that an increased level of
emphasis on subjects such as fast growing energy
demands, security of energy supply, and the risk
of climate change are driving a reconsideration,
in some quarters, of the need for greater
investment in nuclear power,'' ElBaradei said.
``The IAEA's low projection, based on the most
conservative assumptions, predicts 427 gigawatts
of global nuclear energy capacity in 2020, the
equivalent of 127 more 1,000 megawatt nuclear
plants than previous projections,'' he said.
ElBaradei pointed to nuclear energy policy plans
in China, Finland, the United States and possibly
Poland as proof that nuclear power may be
returning to vogue.
But he warned despite an improved atomic energy
industry: ``Nuclear power was dealt a heavy blow
by the tragedy of the 1986 Chernobyl accident, a
blow from which the reputation of the nuclear
industry has never fully recovered.''
The explosion at the Chernobyl plant in
then-Soviet Ukraine, the world's worst civil
nuclear accident, spewed a cloud of radioactivity
across Europe and has been blamed for thousands of
deaths from radiation-linked illness. More than
100,000 people had to be resettled.
On the topic of climate change and the threat
posed by greenhouse gases, ElBaradei said nuclear
energy in combination with renewable sources of
energy represented a safe alternative to fossil
fuels.
``Nuclear power emits virtually no greenhouse
gases. The complete nuclear power chain, from
uranium mining to waste disposal, and including
reactor and facility construction, emits only 2-6
grams of carbon per kilowatt hour,'' he said.
``This is about the same as wind and solar power
and one to two orders below coal, oil and even
natural gas.''
_______________________________________________________________________
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45 Deseret News: N-waste hysteria rampant
[deseretnews.com]
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
I read the article by Lee Benson: "Too much hysteria over nuclear
waste, Utah physicist says" (March 7). I agree completely. I had
eight years experience as a consulting engineer to oversee the
design and construction of the mechanical installations in a
research center in the Netherlands with a "high flux-reactor."
The government of the Netherlands supported the nuclear energy
research in order to get rid of coal and oil, which cause air
pollution. The Netherlands discovered huge supplies of natural
gas, and when there was no longer any need for nuclear energy,
the interest waned.
Dirk Hoogland
West Jordan
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
46 Deseret News: 2 Wyoming firms seek OK to reopen uranium ore mill
[deseretnews.com]
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Associated Press
Two Wyoming mining companies have filed a
request with the state of Utah to reopen a uranium ore
processing mill shuttered since the early 1980s.
The request from U.S. Energy Corp. and its partner,
Crested Corp., comes as uranium prices register higher than
they've been in decades. The mill in question is Shootering
Canyon, about 15 miles north of Lake Powell near Ticaboo,
Garfield County.
The Shootering mill is the last and most modern uranium
mill built in the United States, U.S. Energy spokesman Don
Warfield said. It is one of only four uranium mills left in the
country, and only two of those are now operating.
U.S. Energy, which owns nearby uranium mining acreage,
expects to eventually mine that property to provide feedstock
for the mill. The company, however, estimates it could take up
to two years to secure the necessary permits to reopen the mill,
which operated only a few months after construction was
completed in 1982.
The companies estimate it will cost about $25 million to
make the mill operational. They hope to arrange financing while
the license application is processed by the Division of
Radiation Control, which is part of the Utah Department of
Environmental Quality.
Uranium is selling above $21 per pound. It sold as low as
$7.50 per pound in 2001.
The surge is occurring because some are concerned uranium
supplies for power plants worldwide may be within a decade of
outstripping existing supplies.
U.S. Energy's proposal, though, is not without critics.
"It is just a bad idea to restart a mill to provide more
fuel for existing nuclear powerhouses," said Sarah Fields,
chairwoman of the nuclear Waste Committee of the Utah Sierra
Club's Glen Canyon Group. "We still don't have a solution to the
spent fuel problem, and we're still dealing with the waste from
all the other mills."
Uranium mining boomed in Utah after miner Charles Steen
in 1952 struck a deep bed of ore near Moab.
By 1955, the year the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
announced a cooperative program between the federal government
and the nuclear power industry to develop power plants, there
were approximately 800 mines operating in the region. The
industry collapsed in 1962.
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
47 AU ABC: Uranium mine start date may not be far off
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
[http://abc.net.au/]
Tuesday, 22 March 2005. 15:00 (AEDT)
Production could start on the Honeymoon uranium mine, in
north-western South Australia, in the next two years, given
current world uranium prices.
The project will create 50 to 65 jobs and at least half of those
will be based in Broken Hill.
Mark Wheatley, the chief executive officer of Southern Cross
Resources, says uranium is performing well on world markets.
"Uranium is sitting at just under 22 cents a pound and analysts
are saying it could go to $35 in a year or 18 months...certainly
if we see that outcome you can add another 18 months onto that
and you'd have production at Honeymoon," he said.
[http://www.abc.net.au/privacy.htm] | Information about the use
*****************************************************************
48 KOLO: The Yucca Battle Heats Up
The Commission has been working to defeat the proposed Yucca
Mountain nuclear repository idea for decades.
The emails telling of the falsified scientific research is just
the latest form of ammunition the commission can use against the
project.
According to commissioners, the case in support of Yucca
Mountain has been crumbling over the past few years...and has
seriously deteriorated in the past few weeks.
"It's been a series of unfortunate events for the Department of
Energy, ranging from the standards being thrown out last year to
the director resigning, the budget being cut in half, the
nuclear industry officials now saying they no longer think Yucca
is going to work to this more recent event of the falsified
data," says Bob Loux, the Executive Director of the Agency for
Nuclear Projects.
But for Nevadans against storing waste in their home state, the
Department of Energy's mistakes have been their gain.
"They believe the project--as the chairman said--is on death
row, it just hasn't reached the execution chamber yet. They all
feel the proposal is spinning downhill really quick and we all
believe it's virtually going to be over before too long."
Nevada's lawmakers continue to make their case and complaints
heard on the federal level.
Attorney General Sandoval and both Senators Reid and Ensign have
urged the Department of Justice to not only oversee the
investigation into the recent scandals, but to secure the site
from further manipulation.
"There's a growing loss of confidence both in the utility
industry and in Congress over the Yucca Mountain issue."
Attorney General Brian Sandoval was unable to attend today's
meeting...but, a representative from his offices says that
they're feeling very optimistic that the Yucca Mountain proposal
has reached the end of its tumultuous lifespan.
Gray Television Group, Inc.
Copyright © 2002-2005
*****************************************************************
49 deseretnews: Nevada seeks united front against Yucca
[deseretnews.com]
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Utah's 'thrown us under the bus,' official says
By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News
Western states should stand
together against the Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository
proposed for Nevada, says a Nevada official.
Deseret Morning News graphic
Marta Adams, a senior deputy attorney general, calls the
U.S. Department of Energy "disingenuous" about Yucca Mountain.
The most recent bombshell involving the site is the federal
government's announcement last week that a review to validate
scientific studies about water infiltration and climate may have
been falsified.
While Nevada organized a strong, tenacious fight against
the repository, the Utah congressional delegation sided with the
federal government. Rather than support the neighboring state as
they should have, said Adams, Utah has "thrown us under the
bus." She said Idaho also took that approach.
Utah's senators did not back Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., in
attempting to kill the repository and keep the 40,000 tons of
waste where it is now stored — at nuclear power plants.
Adams cited Deseret Morning News reports that in 2002
Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both R-Utah, voted for the
repository after six Eastern utilities promised not to commit
funds for a temporary storage site in Tooele County.
Today, the Private Fuel Storage facility planned for
Skull Valley, Tooele County, is gathering momentum while Yucca
Mountain is stalled.
"I really would encourage the West to get together here"
in opposing Yucca Mountain, Adams said Monday.
As an example of the DOE's maneuvering, she cited an
agency press release quoted by the Deseret Morning News last
week — a quotation that prompted her to contact the newspaper.
The July 9, 2004, release concerned a U.S. 10th Circuit Court of
Appeals decision on Yucca Mountain. The DOE statement made it
seem as if DOE had won in court.
"I am pleased with today's decisions handed down by the
court," Spencer Abraham, then secretary of the DOE, is quoted in
the release. "The court dismissed all challenges to the site
selection of Yucca Mountain. Our scientific basis for the Yucca
Mountain Project is sound."
The only aspect vacated by the court, indicates the DOE
statement, was a 10,000-year compliance period.
But the compliance standard is a critical aspect of the
repository, Adams indicated. "While Nevada did not prevail in
all of its challenges . . . the key part of the challenge that
Nevada made was to the radiation standard."
The state prevailed on that standard, a safety feature
that is mandated by federal law, she said.
"When the court struck the environmental protection
standard, the radiation standard, it also invalidated the
licensing rule" that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission must
apply.
"There's no going forward until they get a standard that
can withstand challenges."
The recent announcement that U.S. Geological Survey
documents may have been falsified in Yucca Mountain studies is a
somewhat separate issue but pertinent to the quality and
integrity of data used to support the project, she said.
On Thursday, Brian Sandoval, Nevada's attorney general,
wrote to U.S. Attorney Gen. Alberto Gonzales seeking immediate
action on the matter.
Gonzales should "direct that DOE immediately make all
e-mails relevant to this matter available to my office,"
Sandoval wrote. (The alleged falsification was brought to light
in e-mails.)
"Second, I ask that your office move immediately to
secure the entire Yucca Mountain data base at the project site
to protect it from further manipulation. To the extent
fraudulent activity has occurred, no one connected with the
project should be allowed access to the very data being
investigated."
According to Adams, the geology at Yucca Mountain is not
good for a nuclear waste repository.
"Yucca Mountain itself is in one of the most seismically
active zones in the country," she said.
A key issue is groundwater travel time, the rate at which
water flows through the mountain, she said.
If water flows through the mountain relatively swiftly,
in geological terms, it might erode the storage site sooner than
the design standards are supposed to allow.
Adams cited one study carried out in part by Los Alamos
National Laboratory that groundwater can travel through the
mountain in 50 years.
Researchers "found a radioactive isotope from atomic
testing in the Pacific" that suggested a fast travel time
through the mountain. "That study put DOE in a hard position to
move forward on Yucca Mountain," she said.
DOE then asked the USGS to conduct another examination.
It was this testing that was involved with the purportedly
falsified information, she said.
"We believe Yucca Mountain's in its death throes," she
said. Still, "it's a very concerning situation."
Adams said she believes Utah is "finally waking up (to
the fact) that it's not just Nevada's problem."
E-mail: [bau@desnews.com]
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
50 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca project reviewer raiseddoubts about instruments
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Energy Department e-mail messages have raised
questions about the accuracy of certain scientific instruments
used in the evaluation of Yucca Mountain as a site for nuclear
waste.
Records for some pieces of equipment suggest they were
improperly calibrated for periods of days or months when they
were in use, according to e-mail written in May and June 2000 by
James Raleigh, a reviewer on the project.
"During the data verification review, I came across a number of
items that need to be provided, reconciled or explained
further," Raleigh wrote in three e-mails that listed possible
errors.
Mistakes in the use or documentation of instruments used in
Yucca Mountain experiments could complicate or disqualify the
Energy Department's effort to license a nuclear waste repository
at the Southern Nevada site.
Critics of the project at Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest
of Las Vegas, have identified quality assurance as a potential
stumbling block for a repository, and DOE officials have said
they have devoted extra attention and resources to correct
problems.
DOE spokeswoman Anne Womack-Kolton said Monday the e-mails were
a favorable sign because they showed reviewers were catching
mistakes and calling on them to be fixed.
Womack-Kolton said DOE officials are investigating to determine
whether the problems were corrected and whether they affected
work.
"One would expect there are many e-mails like this as part of
the quality-assurance process," Womack-Kolton said. "Work is
reviewed, and if there are holes to be filled, there is
communications back. This is not surprising."
But Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for
Nuclear Projects, said the e-mails illustrate sloppiness within
the project and could provide more ammunition to challenge the
repository.
"This tells me the (quality-assurance) program is a mess," Loux
said. "Even the stuff that got through the system has tons of
errors. We think there is probably more of this."
A Yucca quality-assurance reviewer who examined the e-mail for
the Review-Journal cautioned against reading too much into them.
"These really are a snapshot in time," said the reviewer, who
asked not to be identified. "It doesn't show all the work that
went on afterwards to resolve these issues."
At least one of the e-mails discussed errors that were found in
the Yucca drift scale test, in which segments of rock deep
within the mountain were to be heated for four years to simulate
the conditions that would be created by decaying nuclear waste,
the reviewer said.
The e-mail, reported over the weekend in the New York Times,
appeared unrelated to the announcement last week that at least
one worker for the U.S. Geological Survey might have falsified
documentation of Yucca Mountain research.
That disclosure, which came during a review of e-mail messages
within the project, spurred the Energy and Interior departments
to start inspector general investigations.
The Energy Department also began a review of Yucca Mountain
science that led President Bush in February 2002 to declare the
Nevada site suitable to build a repository for 77,000 tons of
highly radioactive waste.
Nevada Attorney General Brian Sandoval and U.S. Sens. Harry
Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign, R-Nev., have urged U.S. Attorney
General Alberto Gonzales and the FBI to step in to secure
documents for the investigations.
Three e-mails authored by Raleigh raising questions about Yucca
instrumentation were made available by Nevada attorneys. They
were discovered by a consultant searching online for documents
tied to last week's disclosures.
Raleigh is employed in a regulatory office by Bechtel SAIC, the
Yucca project's management contractor. Raleigh's secretary
referred a call to a Bechtel spokeswoman, who said the company
was investigating the matter.
A procurement review for a digital multimeter, which measures
electrical current to other pieces of equipment, indicated it
was certified for calibration on a date before it was delivered,
"which does not appear appropriate," Raleigh said in a June 15,
2000, e-mail.
In the same e-mail, Raleigh said a review raised questions
about calibration for a mass flow controller, which measures and
controls the flow of gases.
The procurement record for another instrument "gives the
appearance that it was falsified" because one part was dated
Dec. 5, 1997, while the remainder was dated May 13, 1997,
Raleigh said.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
51 BBC: Radioactive waste plans
Last Updated: Tuesday, 22 March, 2005
[Windscale is on the site of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing
plant]
The consultation period runs until 30 June.
Plans to reduce radioactive waste from the Sellafield nuclear
reprocessing site are being made public.
The Environment Agency has announced proposals for the UK Atomic
Energy Authority's (UKAEA) Windscale station, which is based at
Sellafield.
It wants to lower Windscale's permitted radioactive discharge,
which it says is already relatively small and well within legal
limits.
Anyone who wishes to view the plans should contact the agency.
The proposed review is intended to strengthen the regulations
with which the UKAEA has to comply, and steadily improve
environmental performance, while it continues to decommission the
Windscale site.
Its main aim is to ensure that the environment and the public
continue to be protected from the potential effects of
radioactive disposal at the site.
The consultation period runs from 24 March until 30 June, after
which the Environment Agency says it will consider all comments
before publishing its final decisions.
*****************************************************************
52 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Disturbing allegations
LAS VEGAS SUN
Last Wednesday the Energy Department acknowledged that
government scientists reviewing research on the Yucca Mountain
project may have falsified documents. The federal government
says that its concerns are rooted in e-mails involving U.S.
Geological Survey scientists working for the Energy Department.
The documents that may have been falsified are part of Yucca
Mountain's "quality assurance" program, which is supposed to
ensure the scientific accuracy of research on the project.
Specifically, the research documents involve computer models of
climate and water infiltration at Yucca Mountain. Nevada
officials have long contended that burying nuclear waste in
Yucca Mountain would threaten public safety and that project
scientists haven't adequately taken into account just how easily
water can move through the mountain, potentially corroding
canisters containi ng nuclear waste. So, if government
scientists have engaged in deception involving this critical
aspect of Yucca Mountain, it very well could spell the project's
demise.
As damaging as that revelation was last week, the Energy
Department's troubles may have only begun. Joe Egan, a lawyer
for the state of Nevada who is in charge of the legal efforts to
stop a nuclear waste dump from being built here, told the Las
Vegas Sun on Friday that the Energy Department may have known as
far back as 2000 about the existence of other "quality
assurance" problems. Lawyers working for Nevada made the
discovery after scouring through a Yucca Mountain database,
where they found an Energy Department audit from 2000 that
revealed problems with documentation by U.S. Geological Survey
scientists.
Egan said the audit discovered that USGS officials had claimed
to have calibrated scientific instruments used for work at the
Yucca Mountain project on a date which, it turns out, was well
before the instruments actually arrived or before the procedures
involving the instruments were performed. The New York Times, in
a follow-up story on Sunday that provided greater detail about
this disturbing allegation involving these important instruments
-- one of which monitors the flow of gases or liquids --
reported that an Energy Department employee said a procurement
document "gives the appearance it was falsified." Allen
Messenger, a consultant for Nevada who discovered the messages
from the Energy Department employee, told the Times: "This
appears to be smoke, and where there's smoke, there's typically
fire."
Yucca Mountain, especially as more secrets are unearthed, is
cementing its status as a synonym for both shoddy science and
deception. The only consolation from years wasted on such a
tainted project, one that has been driven by politics and not by
science, would be for the federal government to cut its losses
and pull the plug. To keep this project going will only invite
disaster.
*****************************************************************
53 Las Vegas SUN: State officials: DOE's Yucca woes are 'tip of the iceberg'
Today: March 22, 2005 at 11:21:49 PST
By Benjamin Grove and Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN
Energy Department officials knew they had quality assurance
problems with Yucca Mountain documents well before it was
disclosed last week, according to internal department documents.
Document review memos from 2000 also suggest that the
department may have more than just documentation problems --
several memos indicate that certain scientific data was
questionable due to problems with faulty equipment.
"We believe that there is so much faulty QA (quality assurance)
stuff in there that we are just seeing the tip of the iceberg,"
Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency director Bob Loux said.
Energy Department officials last week said that they had
unearthed e-mails by U.S. Geological Survey employees working on
Yucca that indicated USGS workers had falsified Yucca documents.
Both Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and USGS director Chip Groat
directed their agency inspectors general to investigate.
Roughly 20 e-mails sent by a USGS geologist to a supervisor
between 1998 and 2000 were discovered by Energy Department
contractors on March 11 that indicated documents had been
falsified. The e-mails were found as part of a massive review of
millions of pages of Yucca documents, as the department prepares
to submit an application to construct Yucca.
Bodman disclosed the alleged falsifications last week, but did
not release the actual e-mails.
Nevada lawyers, seeking to find the e-mails on a Yucca Mountain
document database, uncovered some documents they say are even
more damning.
In May and June of 2000 Energy Department employee James
Raleigh noted lists of document and data problems in three
separate internal reports. He was unavailable for comment.
In several cases, department documents indicate that equipment
was calibrated before the calibration equipment had even been
received. That "does not appear appropriate," Raleigh noted.
The reports catalog numerous examples of sensitive high-tech
equipment not being properly calibrated, which can affect
scientific data results.
In one case, the instrument used to calibrate a
pressure-measuring device called a transducer was itself not
calibrated. "Therefore, the data acquired are not valid," the
report states.
In another case, Raleigh noted that calibration weights called
"Troemner Weights" were themselves out of calibration and that
"no impact evaluation was provided to justify the acceptability
of the data obtained with this equipment."
The three reports authored by Raleigh also document a number of
simple bookkeeping problems, including missing record numbers,
errors in document title fields, even page numbering errors.
Energy Department spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton stressed that
the USGS e-mails and the Raleigh memos were completely separate
sets of documents. In the first set, a federal employee
allegedly willfully falsified documents, she said.
The second set represent a routine "normal back-and-forth" of
information between project managers, she said. It cannot be
immediately known how or whether the issues in the Raleigh
documents were resolved, she said.
"One would expect that there are a number of documents of this
sort, where people are discussing additional questions that need
to be addressed," Womack Kolton said.
Loux said that the documents posted on the Yucca Mountain
Project Web site are the final versions prepared for submitting
a license application to begin building the repository.
"This is the record they intend to submit to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission. This is the final record," Loux said.
Before the Raleigh memos, seven pages listing questionable
data, equipment not calibrated and missing information from five
weather stations used at Yucca Mountain were checked by Energy
Department employee Brian Mitcheltree on June 12, 2000.
The U.S. Geological Survey came under fire for not calibrating
automated weather stations. Instead, a technician applied
"prorated data corrections" to the humidity probes in 1997,
after two years' operation in the field, the report shows.
Rain gauges were not calibrated at any of the five stations,
although "operational checks" were done on Aug. 14 and 15, 1996,
but not in the field before the gauges were removed, the report
indicates.
"Data produced by these rain gauges are useable for licensing
purposes," the report says.
In an earlier May 10, 2000, memo all review documents for the
properties of water are missing as well as all supporting
records for future climate analysis.
Egan said that the scientific work under scrutiny in the USGS
e-mails and in the Raleigh memo was part of the documentation
used to convince President Bush that Yucca Mountain could
contain highly radioactive wastes from commercial nuclear
reactors and federal Defense Department nuclear weapons
development.
Bush recommended the site to Congress, which approved Yucca
Mountain as a repository over the veto of Nevada Gov. Kenny
Guinn in 2002. That decision may have been based on fraudulent
information, said Joe Egan, an attorney for Nevada.
"It may be criminal," under federal and state statutes, Egan
said.
Egan and a team of experts were examining thousands of
documents over the weekend that had been released and posted on
a Yucca database by the Energy Department as part of its license
application preparations.
Ultimately, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be
responsible for reviewing and acting on the Energy Department's
license application, an effort that could take four years.
While the commission has no control over the information the
Energy Department is including in its license application,
commission staffers are monitoring the application data. The
commission staff had questions about missing information,
incomplete scientific field notes and flaws in quality assurance
at the Yucca Mountain project in the 1990s, said former NRC site
representative Bill Belke, who retired in 2001.
*****************************************************************
54 Las Vegas SUN: Rail giant challenges ban on hazardous materials
Ban on rail shipments near Capitol is crux of landmark ruling by
city
By Mimi Hall USA TODAY
WASHINGTON -- The nation's capital will fight the federal
government and the freight-rail industry in court this week over
whether the city can ban freight trains from carrying dangerous
materials just four blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Mayors and local leaders nationwide are watching the case
closely to see whether they can enact similar bans in their
towns. Officials worry that rail cars loaded with chlorine or
other potentially deadly substances offer tempting targets for
terrorists.
In Las Vegas, local officials were alarmed to learn in January
that a "credible terrorism threat" prompted the Federal Railroad
Administration to send an inspector to Las Vegas on Dec. 31,
2003, to investigate potential threats to hazardous materials
cars. Inspectors found no terrorism risk that night, but noted a
lack of rail security precautions at a time when Las Vegas was
on heightened alert.
And local officials are keeping an eye on the Washington case
to monitor its possible implications for the radioactive waste
that might one day be hauled through Clark County if Yucca
Mountain is opened as the nation's nuclear waste repository. The
Energy Department has identified a planned rural Nevada rail
line as its preferred route, but Clark County officials still
worry that the department eventually would also rely on truck
routes through the county.
"The lesson we should all take away from 9/11 is that we need
to reduce risks," said Kathy Patterson, a member of the Council
of the District of Columbia, which passed the
first-in-the-nation ban last month.
But rail giant CSX Transportation and the federal departments
of Justice, Transportation and Homeland Security plan to ask a
federal judge Wednesday to immediately throw out the ban.
They argue that the ban is an unconstitutional violation of the
Constitution's Commerce Clause, which says that only Congress
can regulate interstate commerce. Barring that, they plan to ask
the judge to stop the law from taking effect on April 11 while
the case goes to trial.
CSX moves 11,000 hazardous-material rail cars through
Washington each year. The ban would require CSX to reroute fewer
than 5 percent of them -- only the cars containing certain
particularly dangerous chemicals and gases -- outside a 2.2-mile
radius of the Capitol.
Implications for other railroads that ship hazardous material
could be similar if other cities adopt bans. Officials for Union
Pacific, which operates all rail lines in Nevada, including a
line that runs parallel to and about a half-mile from the Strip,
estimate that roughly 5 percent of the company's shipments
involve hazardous materials. That includes routine chlorine
shipments through Las Vegas.
But CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan says that rerouting 5 percent
of shipments around Washington would amount to 2 million miles
of additional travel a year for rail cars carrying hazardous
materials. "At best, you're transferring the risk, and beyond
that, we think you're actually increasing the risk," he says.
The CSX lawsuit also says the ban "invites other jurisdictions
to enact copycat legislation which could, by crazy-quilt
coverage, bring to a halt the interstate shipment of critically
important materials throughout the United States."
Chuck Hughes, president of the Gary (Ind.) Common Council, says
three dozen city officials discussed the issue at a recent
National League of Cities meeting. All are "watching very
closely to see what transpires," he says.
Hughes says he understands that hazardous materials "have to be
transported somewhere somehow, but we still have to find a
better way than right through the heart of our cities."
In his attempts to block proposed nuclear waste shipments,
Mayor Oscar Goodman once advocated a Las Vegas ordinance that
would ban nuclear waste from entering city limits. Such a
measure was deemed unconstitutional. Goodman also has threatened
to personally arrest the first truck drivers that hauled
high-level waste into the city.
Goodman has lobbied U.S. mayors to oppose Yucca, arguing that
nuclear waste could come through or near their cities. In 2002,
about 200 mayors approved a resolution that asked Congress to
ban high-level waste shipments unless funding, training and
equipment were doled out to cities along the routes.
In Washington, hazardous materials shipments on rail lines
through the city have been halted voluntarily during certain
special events, including the president's annual State of the
Union address, which takes place in the Capitol, and a 2003
National Football League festival on the National Mall that
featured singer Britney Spears.
CSX also has voluntarily rerouted some cars onto tracks that
still go through the city, but not right by the Capitol.
Patterson says she's glad the president and the pop star have
been protected from the potential release of deadly chemicals.
But she wants permanent protection for Washington's 560,000
residents.
Homeland Security Department officials say they are working
with freight-rail companies behind the scenes to tighten
security.
Mark Hatfield, spokesman for the department's Transportation
Security Administration, says the agency has worked with
freight-rail companies to add fences, cameras and other
"perimeter surveillance" around tracks. It also has helped train
employees, conductors and yard workers to guard against
terrorist attacks.
"We work very, very closely with the federal government on the
issue," CSX spokesman Robert Sullivan says. "We are constantly
consulting and conferring."
But allowing rail cars carrying substances as dangerous as
chlorine to rumble through heavily populated areas amounts to
"gambling with people's lives," says Rick Hind of the
environmental group Greenpeace. The U.S. Naval Research
Laboratory has estimated that a major chlorine release could
kill or injure thousands of people within 30 minutes.
Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., says rail companies should be
required to reroute dangerous shipments whenever a safer route
is available. "What we need is a national policy," he says.
The Washington ban was passed Feb. 1, weeks after a train
carrying chlorine derailed in Graniteville, S.C. The accident
released a green cloud of toxic gas that killed nine people,
sent 500 to the hospital and forced the evacuation of 5,000.
After that accident, mayors of 51 cities -- including Las
Vegas, Baltimore, Tallahassee, Providence and Chicago -- sent a
letter to then-Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge asking for
advance notice when shipments containing hazardous materials are
going to be moved through their cities.
"More than 90,000 shipments of chlorine alone are transported
across the country each year," the letter said. "Our citizens
should have a reasonable expectation that hazardous materials
are being shipped in the safest manner possible and that local
first responders are aware of such shipments in advance."
The Homeland Security Department opposes such notification on
the grounds that it would be impractical and could compromise
security. Augusta, Ga., Mayor Bob Young says he doesn't buy that
argument. "Cities handle sensitive information from the
Department of Homeland Security every day without compromise,"
he says. "To me, that's simply not an issue."
Sun Washington Bureau Chief Benjamin Grove contributed to this
story.
*****************************************************************
55 RGJ: Bryan insisting Cheney address Yucca, land sales
+ [Reno Gazette-Journal] [Reno Gazette-Journal] March 22, 2005
Reno, Nevada, USA 775-788-6200 [ BORDER=] Special Offers at
Bryan insisting Cheney address Yucca, land sales
Vice president to speak in Reno today Ray Hagar [rhagar@rgj.com]
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL 3/21/2005 11:56 pm
Democrat Richard Bryan, a former Nevada governor and U.S.
senator, on Monday urged Vice President Dick Cheney not to limit
his speech in Reno today to President Bush’s plan to revamp
Social Security.
Bryan, speaking on behalf of the Nevada State Democratic Party,
urged Cheney to also answer questions about the proposed nuclear
waste dump at Yucca Mountain and Bush’s desire to divert most of
the windfall profits from public land sales in Clark County to
the federal government.
It is especially important for Cheney to address those issues
today, since Bush earned Nevada’s electoral votes on his way to
victory in the 2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns, Bryan said.
“The state has twice given its electoral votes to the Bush-Cheney
ticket, so it would be a real slap in the face if the vice
president did not respond to our questions,” Bryan said.
A representative for Cheney said the vice president is looking
forward to an open dialogue today but would not say if that
included subjects other than Social Security.
Two of Nevada’s leading Republicans, Gov. Kenny Guinn and U.S.
Rep. Jim Gibbons of Reno said Cheney should not address Yucca
Mountain or the sale of land in Southern Nevada just because
Bryan said he should.
“It is the vice president’s town hall meeting, and he has stated
his intent to speak about Social Security,” said Amy Spanbauer,
spokeswoman for Gibbons. “That is his prerogative. There are a
lot of issues that are important to Nevada beside those two and
certainly, Social Security is one of them.”
Cheney should be allowed to say what he wants today without being
challenged by Nevada’s political leaders, said Greg Bortolin,
spokesman for Guinn.
“The governor is not going to call the vice president out on
those issues,” Bortolin said.
Cheney, who visited Nevada six times and Northern Nevada three
times during the 2004 presidential campaign, is scheduled to
speak today at the Neil Road Recreation Center at 9:55 a.m.
Democrats plan to gather on the sidewalk in front of the
community center at 8:30 a.m. to protest Bush’s plan to revamp
Social Security, according to the Washoe County Democratic Party.
Bryan said did not think that Cheney would talk about issues
beyond Social Security, despite his urging.
“I’m not particularly optimistic, based on his prior
performance,” Bryan said.
Last week, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and U.S.
Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., called for the Justice Department to
investigate revelations that data supporting the proposed Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste dump might have been falsified.
Reid and Ensign asked U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and
FBI Director Robert Mueller to protect documents and investigate
how U.S. Geological Survey employees might have falsified data
used in scientific studies at the Yucca Mountain project.
Bryan said Cheney should tell his audience today how the Bush
administration would react to the report.
“The president told us before the 2000 election that he would
make his decision (on Yucca Mountain) based on sound science,”
Bryan said.
“So this question ought to be asked to the vice president: If the
administration said that sound science would be the criteria upon
which they make their decision, how could the sound science they
relied upon apparently be falsified information and data?
“Another question for the vice president would be, after all we
know about the dangers of this site, the fact that that it is
increasingly unlikely that it will ever be constructed, why does
the administration insist on moving forward, recklessly in my
judgment, at full speed ahead?”
Bryan also wants the Bush administration to keep its hands off
the profits generated from the Southern Nevada Public Land
Management Act of 1998. The act directs the BLM to sell excess
federal property in Clark County and keep the profits in the
state.
The sales have generated $2.2 billion since November 1999,
according to BLM figures. Bush officials say the profits have
outstripped Nevada’s needs and should be shared by the nation’s
taxpayers, according to Associated Press reports.
In February, the Bush administration proposed that Congress amend
the law to take 70 percent of the money for U.S. Treasury.
Earlier this month, House and Senate budget committees rejected
the Bush plan, due in large part to Nevada lawmakers who were
adamant about blocking the Bush plan.
Gibbons has said that he would oppose any plan that would send
land profits outside Nevada.
“Why would the administration, who professes to be our friends
here in Nevada, target that money when Democrats, Republicans,
independents, northerners and southerners in our state have
recognized that law as one of the most important pieces of
legislation to come out of Congress in recent years?’ Bryan
asked.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc.
[http://www.gannett.com]
*****************************************************************
56 RGJ: State official says more e-mails suggest faulty nuke dump data
[Reno Gazette-Journal] [Reno Gazette-Journal] March 22, 2005
Reno, Nevada, USA 775-788-6200 [ BORDER=]
[online@rgj.com] ASSOCIATED PRESS
3/21/2005 11:58 pm
LAS VEGAS — A Nevada official fighting a proposed national
nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain said Monday that more
e-mails have been found suggesting that data supporting the
Energy Department’s selection of the site might be tainted.
Messages drawn from a computer database of Energy Department
information on the project note that several instruments were
not calibrated correctly before they were used to take
measurements at the site.
“If you’re using equipment that isn’t calibrated and isn’t
accurate, the data is not accurate,” said Bob Loux, the top
Nevada state official working to stop the Yucca Mountain
project. He said the e-mails cast more doubt on the science
underpinning the project.
An Energy Department spokeswoman said the e-mails showed James
Raleigh, a Las Vegas-based Energy Department subcontractor on
the Yucca project, was doing his job.
“It was the normal quality assurance process at work,” said Anne
Womack Kolton, a department spokeswoman in Washington, D.C. “We
expect there are many e-mails that reflect the back-and-forth
about work product and what was needed to meet quality assurance
standards.”
Raleigh is an employee of J.K. Associates, a contractor with
Bechtel SAIC, the chief contractor on the Yucca project. He did
not respond Monday to messages seeking comment.
Loux said the newly found e-mails bolstered the state’s claim
that the Energy Department shaped science to justify plans to
entomb 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said last week that other e-mails
that were recently discovered indicated a U.S. Geological Survey
worker fabricated documentation from 1998 to 2000 about computer
modeling involving water infiltration and climate at the site.
The U.S. Geological Survey e-mails have not been released.
Loux said a state researcher found the e-mails dealing with
equipment calibration on Thursday on the Licensing Support
Network, the Energy Department’s Internet database of Yucca
project documents. The messages do not specify what the
instruments were being used to test.
[http://www.gannettfoundation.org/] © Copyright Reno
Gazette-Journal, a [http://www.gannett.com] Newspaper.
*****************************************************************
57 Times Argus: Yucca Mountain woes seen having little effect on Vermont Yankee
March 22, 2005
By David Gram Associated Press
MONTPELIER — Leading lawmakers say the latest bad news for the
proposed Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site in Nevada is expected
to have little effect on their deliberations about radioactive
waste storage at Vermont's lone reactor.
Yucca Mountain has been identified as the eventual home for the
highly radioactive spent fuel that Vermont Yankee wants to store
in concrete and steel canisters on its property in Vernon. But
the long-planned Nevada project has seen numerous delays, and
has suffered another blow in recent days with revelations that
U.S. Geological Survey data on water movement around the site,
generated in the late 1990s, may have been falsified.
Yucca Mountain was supposed to open by 1998; more recently
federal officials put its opening at 2010 but in recent months
have been backing away from that date as too optimistic.
Meanwhile, spent fuel pools like Vermont Yankee's have been
filling up around the country. Officials with Entergy Nuclear,
Vermont Yankee's owner, have estimated the Vernon reactor's
spent fuel could fill up be 2007 or 2008 — potentially forcing
the plant to close four or five years short of its currently
scheduled shutdown date of 2012.
Vermont Yankee officials have been pushing dry cask storage as
the solution to the waste storage problem. Last year they tried
and failed and this year they've been trying again to get
lawmakers to extend to Entergy an exemption the plant's previous
owners had from a state law requiring that the Legislature
approve any new plan to store nuclear waste in Vermont.
Chairs of the House and Senate Natural Resources Committee,
which have been taking testimony on the dry cask storage issue,
said they doubt the latest troubles at Yucca Mountain will have
much impact on their deliberations.
"I think there are many Vermonters who have been concerned all
along that Yucca Mountain might never open or might open many
decades from now," said House Speaker Gaye Symington.
"Whatever we do with dry cask storage has the potential to
become essentially permanent storage," she added. "It just makes
it that much more important that we be very thoughtful about how
we go about this."
During legislative hearings lawmakers repeatedly have mused
about the meaning of the word "temporary" when applied to dry
cask storage. The spent fuel storage pool was called a temporary
solution to the nuclear waste disposal problem when it was built
33 years ago.
Both Symington and Senate President Pro Tem Peter Welch said
consensus among key lawmakers appears to be gelling around a
plan that would allow Vermont Yankee to use the multi-layered
concrete and steel casks to store radioactive waste, but would
charge the plant an annual fee for each cask.
Lawmakers said money from the annual fees could be used toward
other energy projects in Vermont, with an eye toward addressing
the state's energy needs a decade from now when Vermont Yankee —
unless it seeks and wins a license extension — will be closed
and the state's power import contracts with Hydro-Quebec will be
phasing out.
In addition, said Rep. Robert Dostis, D-Waterbury and chairman
of the House Natural Resources Committee, "If those casks are on
Vermont soil, paying a fee would be a disincentive for them
(Entergy) keeping them here."
Dostis said lawmakers are facing the prospect that whatever they
decide, Vermont Yankee's property eventually is almost certain
to contain dry casks containing radioactive waste. He noted that
the casks will be used in removing radioactive plant components
when the reactor eventually is dismantled.
But the lawmakers also said they wanted to limit the number of
dry casks to those the plant would need to continue making its
current level of electricity until its current license expires
in 2012. Vermont Yankee would be expected to seek a larger
number of casks if it wins the permission it is currently
seeking to boost its power output by 20 percent and if it is
allowed to extend its license.
Welch said he is sensing among his fellow legislators "a
reluctance and a resistance to allowing dry cask (storage) to be
an open door to uprate and license extension."
© 2005 Times Argus [http://www.timesargus.com/]
*****************************************************************
58 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: No regard for Utahns
Article Last Updated: 03/21/2005 11:50:48 PM
I read with utter amazement U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon's recent
call for renewed nuclear testing. A 2002 study conducted by the
U.S. government revealed that 15,000 Americans died as a direct
result of Cold War-era nuclear testing.
The Atomic Energy Commission performed these tests despite
knowing there were potential risks involved. We are no longer
talking about potential risks. It is thus unconscionable for
Cannon to call for a resumption of tests.
Though future tests would not be conducted in the atmosphere,
there are risks associated even with underground nuclear
detonations. From 1963 to 1992, the Department of Energy has
estimated that in more than 40 underground nuclear tests,
radiation was detected outside the Nevada Test Site.
Cannon believes his own father lost his life partly from past
testing.
For him to promote continued testing despite the risks shows that
he has little regard for the lives of the Utahns who voted him
into office. The United States stands to lose far more in
resuming tests than it stands to gain in the tests' deterrent
value.
Tyler Vanburen Snow
Provo
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
59 Salt Lake Tribune - Opinion: Yucca threatens Utah
Article Last Updated: 03/21/2005 11:50:50 PM
If the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is
ever built, Salt Lake City, by virtue of its location on the
mainline Union Pacific Railroad line and at the intersection of
two main Interstate highways, will be impacted by 80 percent or
more of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste
being shipped to the Yucca site. That amounts to many thousands
of shipments over 30 years or more.
It is difficult to comprehend the position of Utah's two
senators who are urging President Bush on the one hand to stop
the PFS project in Utah and on the other to move ahead with
Yucca Mountain. Of the two projects, Yucca Mountain has the
potential to impact Utah, especially the Salt Lake City area,
much more significantly and over a longer period of time than
PFS. Both of these ill-conceived projects pose significant and
wholly unnecessary risks inherent in transporting deadly
radioactive waste across the country and through major urban
centers and should be stopped.
Utah's senators should be joining with Nevada in opposing the
continuing victimization of Western states as dumping grounds
and nuclear waste shipping corridors. Getting Utah off the hook
with respect to PFS at Nevada's expense will not keep Salt
Lake City and other Utah communities from being dramatically
impacted by Yucca Mountain waste shipments.
Joseph Strolin
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
Carson City, Nev.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
60 Korea Times: Selection of Nuke Dump Site Due by September
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Biz/Finance
By Seo Jee-yeon Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) said
Tuesday it would select a site for low-and mid-level radioactive
waste by the end of September through a bid.
The timetable was set by MOCIE Minister Lee Hee-beom in a media
policy forum, held at the Press Center in downtown Seoul.
``The government will proceed with the site selection fairly to
avoid conflict during the process, and the final decision will
be made after a vote by residents of the candidate site,¡¯¡¯ Lee
said.
Lee repeatedly stressed the urgency of building the nuclear
dumpsite, saying the storage capacity for low-and mid-level
radioactive waste could run out around 2008.
The ministry has temporarily delayed the site selection since
the government¡¯s plan to build a nuclear waste repository in
Wido, an island in the West Sea, was foiled by strong opposition
from residents last February.
It resumed efforts to find a candidate late last year but
decided to build a low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste
site by 2008 first and construct a more risky high-level
radioactive site later.
The ministry also legally guarantees to offer economic benefits
to the region that houses the nuclear dumpsite.
The ministry will make a public notice for the candidate
selection procedure and receive applications by the end of June,
while conducting a poll among those applicants.
``So far, a couple of cities, including Pohang and Kunsan,
expressed their willingness to house the site,¡¯¡¯ a MOCIE
official said.
``If there is no applicant before the deadline, the ministry
will request regions able to house the site conduct a
residential poll over the issue,¡¯¡¯ the official said.
Despite strong resistance from environmentalists, Korea has no
choice but to build a nuclear waste dumpsite as Korea relies on
nuclear power for up to 40 percent of the total supply.
jyseo@koreatimes.co.kr 03-22-2005 17:13
*****************************************************************
61 KUTV: Federal Hearing for Utah Appeal On Nuclear Waste Dump
Tues., Mar. 22
Mar 22, 2005 5:16 pm US/Mountain
A nuclear licensing board has scheduled a hearing for oral
arguments between the state of Utah and backers of a proposed
nuclear waste dump on an American Indian reservation.
The April 6 hearing was announced Tuesday by the Atomic Safety
and Licensing board, which late last month cleared a regulatory
hurdle in approving the dump on Skull Valley Band of Goshute
Land about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
The last issue was whether the risk of a plane from nearby Hill
Air Force Base crashing into the depleted nuclear fuel was high
enough to render the project unsafe.
The ruling would have sent the proposal to the full Nuclear
Regulatory Commission for final approval, but the state--which
has long fought the proposed site--appealed.
The issue has wound its way through the courts since Tribal
Chairman Leon Bear signed a lease in 1997 allowing Private Fuel
Storage to store the fuel on Goshute land. The site is barren
desert, and the storage plan would bring the small impoverished
tribe a fortune--possibly as much as $3 billion.
PFS, a consortium of eight utilities, intends for the site to be
a temporary dump for spent nuclear fuel rods before they end up
permanently in the proposed Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada.
Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press
© MMV, KUTV Holdings, Inc.
*****************************************************************
62 Washington Daily News: Mayors, OLF attorney to address N.C. lawmakers
By BILL SANDIFER Staff Writer
It's the law.
But it may not be for much longer. The foundation underpinning
the now notorious North Carolina General Statute 104-7 appears
to be crumbling.
A grassroots group representing a variety of interests will
converge on the North Carolina General Assembly today, bearing
verbal picks and shovels. Slated for a noon appearance before
the House Environment and Natural Resources Committee, speakers
will lobby the committee to recommend for approval House Bill
236. Such a vote would send the bill to the House floor for
debate.
The House bill and its companion, Senate Bill 335, slowly are
grinding through legislative machinery, following multiple
failures to reach introduction.
Passed by the General Assembly in 1907 to streamline approval of
federal projects in a rapidly developing North Carolina, NCGS
104-7, opponents claim, amounts to a giveaway of state authority
to have any say over control of property either ceded to or
taken by the federal government.
The little-known statute hit the spotlight a couple of years ago
when opponents of a Navy outlying landing field, slated to be
built in Washington and Beaufort counties, found their protests
to the Navy falling on deaf ears. Opponents had sought amendment
of the law in an effort to draw Navy officials to the table for
talks.
The issue, however, became clouded by fears that amending the
law might offend military interests at a time when installations
worldwide are under review for closure.
But the issue has over time attracted support from a broader
range of interests, including the property rights advocate,
Citizens for a Sound Economy, both at the state and national
levels.
Advocates for revision of the law cite the state's close brushes
with other federal projects considered undesirable in most
communities, projects similar to the nuclear waste repository
slated for Nevada's Yucca Mountain. That already controversial
project ground to a halt recently when communications turned up
indicating some of the environmental research supporting the
site selection might have been falsified. That kind of
revelation concerns one of today's speakers, Roper Mayor Bunny
Sanders.
"We are impotent," said Sanders. "The state of North Carolina is
impotent, totally, to do anything about a politician who rises
to a position of power, no matter what the committee is -- it
could have been a committee that oversees the nuclear waste
dump. It could have been a senator who's in Tennessee who says,
'You know what? I think we ought to put this in the (North
Carolina) mountains.' ... And yet we sit impotent to do anything
about it."
As a small town mayor in a region one Navy admiral called "the
middle of nowhere," Sanders said many lawmakers representing
rural areas need to take note.
"No doubt most of them represent areas which ... by the
admiral's definition," said Sanders, "would be called the middle
of nowhere, and it is those communities that are vulnerable
unless they change this law, unless they pass this bill. That
constitutional right that they waived means that, not
necessarily (just) the Navy and any federal agency can impose
its will on us, but any politician that happens to rise to a
position of power as (Virginia Sen. John) Warner has, for
example; he is in (a powerful) position because we waived this
law to impose his will on the citizens of North Carolina.
(Warner, a Republican, is chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed
Services Committee.)
"We do not even have the right to be heard on the issue,"
Sanders continued. "... That's why this is so critical. It's not
only critical to us, but it's critical to every single community
in North Carolina."
Sanders said she fears northeastern North Carolina residents may
not have heard the last from their neighbor to the north.
"This is not the first time that North Carolina has become
victim to overdevelopment in Virginia. So here we go again.
What's going to be the next thing Virginia dumps on us? So I
think we need to have some power someplace to at least compel
negotiations."
Sanders also has a message for lawmakers who may feel such a
revision is tailored to an OLF.
"You know what? We've won our battle, we believe; we think we're
OK. But I do not believe that most North Carolinians are fine; I
believe they are vulnerable, and I think we are vulnerable the
next time this happens. ... Any senator that rises to power in
adjacent states who wants to get rid of a problem ... they'll
send it to North Carolina."
Sanders added that the crux of her message to lawmakers would be
the need to return to a level playing field.
"The U.S. Constitution, oddly enough, did give us that
protection -- at least it gave us all the right -- to say you
can't do this to North Carolinians, but we gave it away. And
Virginia kept theirs. They said, 'We're not stupid.'
"If the leadership of North Carolina is not willing to step up
and protect the lives and property of the citizens of this state
by at least taking back the right to compel communication, then
what does any citizen in the state have in the way of property
rights?"
Also slated to speak at the noon hearing are Plymouth Mayor
Brian Roth and attorney and law professor Tom Earnhardt.
Earnhardt spearheaded the drive to make the term "104-7"
familiar throughout state government.
The House committee will meet in the Legislative Office
Building, room 643, across the street and north of the
legislative building.
Copyright The Washington Daily News unless otherwise noted.
*****************************************************************
63 KRNV: Richard Bryan hopes VP will address issues other than Social Security
March 22, 2005
RENO
Former Nevada governor and US Senator Dick Bryan says he hopes
Vice President Dick Cheney will talk about more than Social
Security on Tuesday.
Bryan says he needs to address the proposed nuclear waste dump
at Yucca Mountain and President Bush's desire to divert most of
the windfall profits from public land sales in Clark County to
the federal government.
Cheney is scheduled to speak at 9:00 AM in Reno.
Speaking on behalf of the state Democratic Party, Bryan said
it's important that Cheney address those issues since Bush
earned Nevada's electoral votes on his way to victory in the
2000 and 2004 presidential campaigns.
A representative for Cheney says the vice president is looking
forward to an open dialogue but isn't saying if that includes
subjects other than Social Security.
(Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
[http://www.worldnow.com] All content © Copyright 2001 -
2005 WorldNow and KRNV. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
64 EMS: U.S. weapons grade plutonium shipment to depart France tonight
http://www.ems.org
[Environmental Media Services - Washington, DC]
Tuesday, 22 March 2005
Source: Greenpeace
Posted by: Greenpeace International [http://www.greenpeace.org]
Cherbourg, March 22 2005 -- A shipment of U.S. weapons grade
plutonium fuel (MOX) will depart from the port of Cherbourg
later tonight. Two British nuclear freighters, Pacific Pintail
and the Pacific Teal, are scheduled to pick up the dangerous
cargo this evening, with departure for the U.S. expected four to
six hours later. The two vessels will transport the plutonium to
the port of Charleston, South Carolina. Greenpeace condemns the
shipment as a major set back to global non-proliferation
efforts.
The plutonium was taken from U.S. nuclear warheads and
transformed into nuclear reactor fuel by the French state
company Areva. The fuel or MOX is to be tested in a nuclear
reactor prior to the start up of a large-scale plutonium fuel
program in the United States.
"The nuclear industry is out of control. In Paris this week the
IAEA called for an expansion of nuclear power, while at the same
time it warned of the danger from proliferation and nuclear
terrorism. Meanwhile, less than a few hours away in Normandy,
one of the most vulnerable plutonium transports is about to take
place," said Shaun Burnie of Greenpeace International. "The IAEA
and their supporters in the government don't want to face the
fact that the nuclear problem exists because they have created
it themselves by promoting nuclear energy. The only solution is
ending the trade in bomb material, a fissile material treaty and
nuclear phase-out."
Last week Greenpeace released a U.S. security assessment, which
concluded that the U.S. transport was highly vulnerable to
terrorist attack. Domestic French plutonium transports, with
even less security protection, were considered at extreme risk.
Greenpeace wants all plutonium to be treated as nuclear waste
not as potential reactor fuel. This approach would be cheaper,
faster, safer, and more secure. It also urges a ban on the
production of all weapons-usable fissile materials.
For further information please contact:
Yannick Rousselet - Greenpeace France, + 33-685 806-559
Shaun Burnie, Greenpeace International, + 31 629 001133
Photos and footage available upon request
Picture Desk: Laura Lombardi + +31 6 290 01 162
Video Desk: Martin Atkin + +31 6 27 00 00 57
See www.stop-plutonium.org for background documentation
(currently being blocked through orchestrated external hacking)
Notes to editors:
1). BNFL currently has over 100 tons of plutonium at its
Sellafield nuclear complex in the UK. It plans to ship 50 tons
to Europe and Japan over the next 10-20 years. Areva, the French
state nuclear company that manufactured the US plutonium, has
between 70-80 tons of plutonium at la Hague in Normandy, all of
which it plans to transport to clients in Europe and Japan
within 10-15 years.
Greenpeace is an independent campaigning organisation that uses
non-violent, creative confrontation to expose global
environmental problems and to force solutions that are essential
to a green and peaceful future.
Environmental Media Services 1320 18th Street NW 5th Floor
Washington, DC 20036 (202) 463-6670 Website comments: Copyright ©
2003 Environmental Media Services
*****************************************************************
65 DOE: Memorandum of Understanding Between the Department of the
FR Doc 05-5597
[Federal Register: March 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 54)]
[Notices] [Page 14452-14457] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr22mr05-31]
Interior and the Department of Energy AGENCIES: Office of
Environmental Management, Department of Energy, and Fish and
Wildlife Service, Department of the Interior.
ACTION: Notice of draft memorandum of understanding.
SUMMARY: The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of the
Interior (DOI) plan to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
(MOU), no later than six months after the publication of this
draft MOU. The purpose of the MOU is to describe how the
Departments will cooperate in transferring administrative
jurisdiction for certain lands within the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site (Rocky Flats) from DOE to DOI and
the transition of Rocky Flats from a defense nuclear facility
into the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge (the Refuge). The
text of the draft MOU is set forth below.
DATES: Comments on the draft MOU are due by May 23, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to: U.S. Department of Energy,
Office of Environmental Management, 1000 Independence Avenue,
SW., Washington, DC 20585.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Duchesne, of the Office
of Environmental Management, at the address in the ADDRESSES
section; telephone (202) 586-6540. This is not a toll-free
number. Authority: The Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act
of 2001, Public Law 107-107, Title XXXI, Subtitle F (December 28,
2001).
Signed at Washington, DC, on March 15, 2005.
Paul M. Golan, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management, Department of Energy.
Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife and
Parks, Department of the Interior.
Implementation of the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of
2001 I. Purpose, Authority, and Scope A. Purpose This Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) is entered into by the U.S. Department of
Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of the Interior (Interior),
hereinafter referred to as the Parties, regarding the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site (Rocky Flats), Colorado.
This MOU describes how the Parties will cooperate in transferring
administrative jurisdiction (the transfer) of certain lands
within Rocky Flats from DOE to Interior and the transition of
Rocky Flats from a former defense nuclear facility to the Rocky
Flats National Wildlife Refuge (Refuge).
B. Authority The authority for this MOU is section 3175 of the
Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act of 2001, Public Law
107-107, sections 3171 to 3182 (Dec. 28, 2001) (the Act), 16
U.S.C. 668dd note. C. Scope The Act requires that the Parties
carry out the transfer of administrative jurisdiction pursuant to
an MOU that: 1. Provides for the division of responsibilities
between the Secretary of Energy and the Secretary of the Interior
necessary to carry out such transfer of lands that will become
the Refuge; 2. Addresses the impacts that any property rights
referred to in section 3179(a) of the Act may have on the
management of the Refuge, and provide strategies for resolving or
mitigating these impacts; 3. Identifies the land the
administrative jurisdiction of which is to be transferred to the
Secretary of the Interior; and 4. Specifies the allocation of the
Federal costs incurred at the Refuge after the date of such
transfer for any site investigations, response actions, and
related activities for covered substances.
II. Background A. The majority of the Rocky Flats site has
generally remained undisturbed since its acquisition by the
Federal Government.
B. The State of Colorado is experiencing increasing growth and
development, especially in the metropolitan Denver Front Range
area in the vicinity of the site. That growth and development
reduces the amount of open space and thereby diminishes for many
metropolitan Denver communities the vistas of the striking Front
Range mountain backdrop.
C. The Act provides that after the cleanup and closure of Rocky
Flats, it shall thereafter be retained by the United States and
managed so as to preserve the value of the site for open space
and wildlife habitat.
D. Rocky Flats provides habitat for many wildlife species,
including a number of threatened and endangered species, and is
marked by the presence of rare xeric tallgrass prairie plant
communities. Establishing the site as a unit of the National
Wildlife Refuge System will promote the preservation and
enhancement of those resources for present and future
generations.
E. The mission of the National Wildlife Refuge System is to
administer a national network of lands and waters for the
conservation, management, and, where appropriate, restoration of
the fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within
the United States for the benefit of present and future
generations of Americans (16 U.S.C. at 68dd(a)(2)).
F. Section 3177 of the Act provides that the Refuge shall be
managed for the purposes of: Restoring and preserving native
ecosystems; providing habitat for, and population management of,
native plants and migratory and resident wildlife; conserving
threatened and endangered species (including species that are
candidates for listing under the Endangered Species Act of 1973
(16 U.S.C. 11531 et seq.)); and providing opportunities for
compatible scientific research. Management of the Refuge shall
ensure that wildlife-dependent recreation and environmental
education and interpretation are the priority public uses of the
Refuge.
[[Page 14453]] G. Section 3175 of the Act provides that the
transfer of administrative jurisdiction will be completed without
cost to Interior.
H. Section 3175 of the Act also provides that the transfer of
administrative jurisdiction will not result in a reduction in
funds available to DOE for cleanup and closure of Rocky Flats.
I. This MOU complies with the foregoing requirements of the Act
and also addresses opportunities for cooperation between the
Parties on issues related to management of natural resources
prior to the transfer of administrative jurisdiction. Further,
this MOU addresses post transfer issues related to oversight,
operation, maintenance, and monitoring of response actions.
J. Nothing in this MOU shall relieve, and no action may be taken
under this MOU to relieve, DOE, Interior, or any other person
from any liability or other obligation at Rocky Flats under
CERCLA, RCRA, or any other Federal or State law.
III. Definitions A. CERCLA The term ``CERCLA'' means the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act of 1980 (42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.). B. Cleanup and Closure The
term ``Cleanup and Closure'' means the response actions for
covered substances carried out at Rocky Flats, as required by any
of the following: 1. The Rocky Flats Cleanup Agreement (RFCA) 2.
CERCLA; 3. The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), 42
U.S.C. 6901 et seq.; and 4. The Colorado Hazardous Waste Act
(CHWA), sections 25-15-101 to 25-15-327, Colorado Revised
Statutes.
C. Consultation In the context of this MOU, the term
``Consultation'' means normal discussion which will occur between
Interior and DOE whenever either Party seeks advice or exchanges
information. As used herein, ``consultation'' does not imply
consultation under provisions of section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act unless explicitly stated as such.
D. Covered Substance The term ``Covered Substance'' means any of
the following: 1. Any hazardous substance, as such term is
defined in paragraph (14) of section 101 of CERCLA (42 U.S.C.
9601(14)). This includes all radioactive substances released at
Rocky Flats by DOE; and 2. Any pollutant or contaminant, as such
term is defined in paragraph (33) of such section 101, (42 U.S.C.
9601 (33)); and 3. Any petroleum, including crude oil or any
fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or
designated as a hazardous substance under subparagraphs (A)
through (F) of paragraph (14) of such section 101 (42 U.S.C. 9601
(14)); and 4. Any other substance, material, or waste the release
of which the Parties jointly agree (or is determined through
dispute resolution) requires a response action to protect human
health and the environment.
E. Land Use Controls The term ``Land Use Controls'' means any
type of physical, legal, or administrative mechanism used to
restrict the use of, or limit access to, real property to ensure
that there are no unacceptable risks to human health, safety, or
the environment. Land use controls consist of Engineering
Controls and/or Institutional Controls. Land use controls may be
either temporary or permanent. The establishment of the Refuge
under the Act does not constitute a land use control for purposes
of this MOU.
F. Institutional Controls The term ``Institutional Controls''
means any non-engineering measure, such as legal or
administrative mechanisms, whether temporary or permanent,
designed to prevent or limit exposure to Covered Substances left
in place at a site or to assure effectiveness of the chosen
remedy.
G. Interior The term ``Interior'' means the United States
Department of the Interior, including the United States Fish and
Wildlife Service (FWS).
H. Overlay Refuge The term ``Overlay Refuge'' means those lands
at Rocky Flats under the jurisdiction, custody, and control of
DOE, but over which FWS exercises natural resource management
activities by agreement with, and permission from, DOE. Subject
to that permission and subject to DOE's continuing jurisdiction,
custody, and control, FWS is authorized to manage fish and
wildlife resources on an Overlay Refuge pursuant to the National
Wildlife Refuge Administration Act, 16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.
I. RCRA The term ``RCRA'' means the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42
U.S.C. 6901 et seq.), popularly known as the Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act.
J. Refuge The term ``Refuge'' means the Rocky Flats National
Wildlife Refuge established under section 3177 of the Act.
K. Response Action The term ``Response Action'' means any of the
following: 1. A response, as such term is defined in paragraph
(25) of section 101 of CERCLA (42 U.S.C. 9601 (25)); 2. A
corrective action or closure under RCRA or CHWA; or 3. Any
requirement for institutional controls imposed by any of the laws
referred to in subparagraph (1) or (2).
L. Retained Property The term ``Retained Property'' means the
real property and facilities at Rocky Flats and identified in
section 3175(d)(1) of the Act.
M. RFCA The term ``RFCA'' means the Rocky Flats Cleanup
Agreement, an intergovernmental agreement, dated July 19, 1996,
among DOE, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and
the Department of Public Health and Environment of the State of
Colorado (CDPHE).
N. Rocky Flats 1. Except as provided in subparagraph (2) of this
paragraph, the term ``Rocky Flats'' means the Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site, Colorado, a former defense nuclear
facility, as depicted on the map entitled, ``Rocky Flats
Environmental Technology Site'' dated October 22, 2001, and
attached to this MOU as Attachment A and available for inspection
in the office of the Regional Director, U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, Division of Realty, 3rd Floor, 134 Union Boulevard,
Lakewood, Colorado. The map is also available at the Rocky Flats
Reading Room located at the Front Range Community College, 3705
W. 112th Avenue, Westminster, Colorado. 2. The term ``Rocky
Flats'' does not include: (i) The land and facilities of DOE's
National Renewable Energy Laboratory, including the acres
retained by the DOE under section 3174(f) of the Act; and (ii)
any land and facilities not within the boundaries depicted on the
map referred to in subparagraph (1) of this paragraph.
[[Page 14454]] O. Transferred Property The term ``Transferred
Property'' shall mean the real property transferred by the
Secretary of the Department of Energy to the administrative
jurisdiction, custody, and control of the Secretary of the
Department of the Interior pursuant to section 3175 of the Act.
IV. Applicable Laws All applicable Federal and State laws
including, but not limited to the following, will be implemented
in accordance with the Parties' responsibilities under the MOU:
1. CERCLA; 2. RCRA; 3. CHWA; 4. The Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16
U.S.C. 703 et seq.); 5. The National Wildlife Refuge System
Administration Act of 1966, as amended (16 U.S.C. 668dd et seq.);
6. The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.);
7. The Economy Act (31 U.S.C. 1535 et seq.); and 8. The Bald and
Golden Eagle Protection Act (16 U.S.C. 668-668d).
V. Relevant Agreements The following Agreements are relevant to
and are not modified by this MOU: 1. RFCA; 2. ``Memorandum of
Agreement for Coordination of Endangered Species Act Compliance
with Activities at Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site''
(March 23, 1999) among FWS, EPA, CDPHE, Colorado Department of
Natural Resources, and DOE. (This Memorandum of Agreement
established a process for the five parties to work together to
achieve compliance with the mandates of the Rocky Flats Cleanup
Agreement, other site closure activities, and the Endangered
Species Act); 3. ``Interagency Agreement, number DE-A134-99 RF
01776, between FWS and DOE, Rocky Flats Field Office for The Rock
Creek Fish and Wildlife Cooperative Management Area at the Rocky
Flats Environmental Technology Site'' (May 17, 1999). (This
interagency agreement identified technical services to be
provided by FWS for the purpose of conserving, protecting,
developing, and managing the habitat on the portion of the Rocky
Flats Buffer Zone designated by Rocky Flats as the Rock Creek
Reserve); and 4. ``Interagency Agreement, number DE-AI34-02 RF
02046, between FWS and DOE, Rocky Flats Field Office for Wildlife
Refuge Transition/ Technical Assistance'' (December 15, 2001)
(IA). (This interagency agreement includes work by FWS necessary
to effect the transfer of certain Rocky Flats lands to Interior
for establishment of the Refuge, including mutually agreed
technical services to facilitate that transfer).
VI. Covered Substances and Response A. Responsibilities of DOE 1.
As between the Parties and subject to section 3180(b) of the Act,
with respect to the Transferred Property and to Retained
Property, DOE shall have sole and exclusive Federal
responsibility to fund and implement any Response Action
(including operation and maintenance and Land Use Controls)
required by applicable law or implementing regulations, including
but not limited to CERCLA, RCRA, and CHWA, to address Covered
Substances resulting from the activities of DOE (including
entities acting with permission or under the authority of or in a
contractual relationship with DOE) or which are present at the
time of transfer by DOE to Interior (including contamination that
is subsequently discovered), except to the extent that Interior
or a third party caused or contributed to such contamination
after the date of transfer.
2. In carrying out Response Actions at Rocky Flats, DOE will
consult with FWS to ensure that Response Actions are carried out
in a manner consistent with refuge purposes as specified in the
Act. Selected Response Actions at Rocky Flats should reflect the
intended future land use as a wildlife refuge for Response Action
decisions where FWS recommendations are not implemented by DOE.
DOE shall provide a written explanation for its decisions to FWS.
3. In administering the property to be retained by DOE under
section 3175(d) of the Act, DOE shall consult with FWS to
minimize any conflict between administration of the retained land
by DOE for purposes relating to Response Actions and
administration of the land transferred under section 3175(a) to
FWS for refuge purposes.
The Parties shall strive to meet the needs of managing the
transferred lands for refuge purposes and managing the retained
lands to meet Response Action objectives. In the case of any
conflict between administering the retained lands for Response
Actions and administering the transferred lands for refuge
purposes which cannot be resolved through dispute resolution,
administration of the retained lands for Response Actions shall
take priority.
4. DOE will complete a risk assessment that will include a
comprehensive ecological risk assessment for Rocky Flats.
5. DOE will evaluate the effects of remedial alternatives on
natural resource restoration and incorporate into Response
Actions restoration of natural resources injured by Covered
Substances or Response Actions, including associated waste
management structures, as appropriate.
6. In consultation with Interior, DOE will conduct periodic
remedy reviews and take any necessary actions in accordance with
CERCLA section 121 (c) and the RFCA for which DOE is responsible
under this MOU and applicable law, to ensure that the selected
remedy is still protective of human health and the environment.
Such reviews may result in DOE conducting additional Response
Actions, including removing or modifying Land Use Controls. DOE
will conduct additional Response Actions as appropriate if the
remedy fails or if new contamination is discovered that is not
addressed by an existing remedy.
7. Pursuant to section 3175(a)(3) of the Act, DOE will request
the Certificate of Completion from EPA.
B. Interior Responsibilities 1. Interior will manage the Refuge
in accordance with applicable law, including but not limited to,
the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act of 1966,
as amended.
2. Interior will provide technical assistance to DOE to help
coordinate Response Actions with the stated purposes of the
Refuge, by reviewing and commenting on the impacts, if any, of
proposed Response Actions on the future use of Rocky Flats as a
unit of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
3. Interior will complete a Level III Contaminants Survey of
Rocky Flats pursuant to Interior Departmental Manual Part 602,
Chapter 2.
4. Interior will prepare the Comprehensive Conservation Plan for
management of the Refuge pursuant to section 3178 of the Act.
5. Interior will be responsible for managing the Refuge for the
purposes specified in the Act and in accordance with the National
Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act. Interior shall not be
responsible for any operations and maintenance related to
Response Actions following the establishment of the Refuge.
6. Interior shall record any Land Use Controls, as documented in
Land Use Control Records, on the FWS's Land Status Map for Rocky
Flats, or other appropriate Interior land status map.
[[Page 14455]] 7. Following the transfer of administrative
jurisdiction, FWS will provide DOE with access to the Refuge as
may be reasonably required to carry out the provisions of this
MOU and DOE's obligations under applicable requirements. Prior to
entry, except in cases of emergency, DOE will provide FWS with
reasonable notice, to allow coordination between Response Actions
and Refuge management activities.
8. Interior will provide information to DOE for the preparation
of the annual report on funding required by section 3182 of the
Act and will submit the report to Congress jointly with DOE.
C. Discovery of Additional Covered Substances 1. If Interior
discovers additional Covered Substances for which DOE is
responsible on the Transferred Property, or otherwise identifies
a previously unidentified condition associated with such Covered
Substances that may require a Response Action, it will notify DOE
of such Covered Substances or condition as soon as reasonably
possible after such discovery.
2. After DOE receives notice from Interior, any regulatory agency
or other third party, of the presence of Covered Substances for
which DOE is responsible, DOE will provide a written status
report to Interior as soon as practical, but in no event later
than 30 days after Interior's notification of additional Covered
Substances in accordance with section VI, paragraph C.1 of this
MOU, for which DOE is responsible.
3. Under certain circumstances, Interior may discover Covered
Substances that require an emergency response because they pose a
risk to human health or the environment. Interior may take
whatever action is necessary to isolate and prevent access to the
contaminated site for purposes of protecting human health or the
environment. Before taking further action, Interior will provide
further notice to DOE, which, in consultation with Interior, will
determine whether further Response Actions are required and how
such Response Actions will be accomplished.
4. If Interior incurs response costs associated with Covered
Substances for which DOE is responsible under this MOU, DOE will
reimburse Interior for reasonable and legally authorized costs
incurred by Interior. Interior requests for reimbursement will be
in writing and will include appropriate receipts or other
documentation. DOE will review such requests and upon approval,
DOE will reimburse Interior subject to availability of
appropriated funds. DOE will use its best efforts to secure
appropriations to fulfill its obligations under this MOU.
VII. Retained DOE Property A. The Parties anticipate that some
contaminated areas of the site over which the Act requires DOE to
retain administrative jurisdiction for a Response Action may have
natural resource values. FWS may decide it wants to manage all or
portions of DOE Retained Property as an Overlay Refuge subject to
DOE's agreement and the continued jurisdiction, custody, and
control of the land by DOE. Any agreement to manage Retained
Property as an Overlay Refuge will be memorialized in a
subsequent agreement.
B. To the extent permitted by law, Retained Property should be
managed for the purposes identified at section 3177(e)(2) of the
Act.
C. In those instances where FWS is managing Retained Property as
an Overlay Refuge, FWS will not take actions contrary to any land
use restrictions pursuant to CERCLA and/or any other Federal or
State environmental law. Prior to engaging in any action that may
disturb the surface soils of or any structure or engineered
facility located on such lands, FWS will seek and obtain DOE
approval prior to implementing any ground disturbing activity.
D. DOE shall retain sole and exclusive authority and
responsibility to fund and maintain all necessary physical
security prior to completion of Response Actions.
E. DOE and FWS will periodically review FWS activities on
Retained Property to ensure that they are consistent with
Response Actions. At a minimum, this review will begin not later
than one year following the establishment of the Overlay Refuge
and will recur annually in the month of the anniversary of the
Overlay Refuge.
VIII. Existing Private Property Rights A. The Act requires that
the final MOU address the impacts that any mineral rights may
have on the management of the Refuge, and provide strategies for
resolving or mitigating these impacts. A substantial portion of
the mineral estate associated with lands at Rocky Flats is
privately owned. The Parties recognize that the exercise of
certain existing privately-owned mineral rights, particularly
surface mining of gravel and other aggregate material, at Rocky
Flats will have an adverse impact on the management of the
Refuge. Interior does not believe it can manage the Refuge for
meeting the purposes of section 3177(e)(2) if those mineral
rights are exercised. Accordingly, Interior will not accept
transfer of administrative jurisdiction for lands subject to the
mining of gravel and other aggregate material at Rocky Flats from
DOE until the DOI determines that the affected mineral rights are
adequately protected from development. The Parties are continuing
to discuss this issue, and recognize that the Final MOU will need
to address strategies for resolving or mitigating the impacts of
surface mining on the Refuge.
B. Water rights, water easements, and utility rights-of-way are
not anticipated to interfere with managing the Refuge for its
intended purposes.
IX. Identification of Lands To Be Transferred A. As of the date
of this MOU, Response Action decisions, land use planning
decisions and title review of the mineral estate have not been
completed. Such decisions and title review must be completed
prior to Interior and DOE determining which lands will be
administratively transferred to Interior. Accordingly, the
Parties intend to modify this MOU in the future to identify the
lands to be transferred as necessary in order to implement
section 3175 of the Act.
B. DOE will retain administrative jurisdiction, authority, and
control over real property and facilities at Rocky Flats used for
or related to a Response Action and subject to Section VII of
this MOU. For purposes of this paragraph, real property and
facilities include caps, barrier walls, fences, and monitoring or
treatment wells and other engineered structures as well as real
property or other facilities that DOE must retain to implement
Response Actions in accordance with appropriate requirements.
C. The Parties anticipate that the administrative jurisdiction
over most of Rocky Flats may be transferred from DOE to Interior.
It is also anticipated that most of the industrial area, as
identified on Attachment B as Retained Property, may not be
transferred to Interior.
D. As required by section 3175(d)(2) of the Act, following
completion of the required Response Action decisions and land use
planning decisions and subject to Section VIII of this MOU, DOE
will consult with FWS, the Administrator of EPA, and the Governor
of the State of Colorado, on the identification of all real
property and facilities to be retained.
E. DOE shall prepare an exact acreage and legal description of
the land that
[[Page 14456]] will become the Refuge, based on a survey that is
mutually satisfactory to the Parties. As part of the transfer,
DOE will notify the General Services Administration (GSA) of the
transfer and revise the DOE Real Property records accordingly and
any other DOE records used for reporting to the GSA. When
reporting to GSA, DOE will maintain the Rocky Flats facility
identification name and numbers as long as needed, and Interior
will apply for its own facility identification name and number
for the Refuge when administrative jurisdiction is transferred to
Interior.
F. DOE will collect all applicable real estate records, maps, and
electronic data associated with the acquisition, land management,
and any disposals of the Refuge real estate and related property.
DOE will transfer this information to Interior.
G. Until the transfer of administrative jurisdiction is
completed, DOE will continue to operate and maintain all U.S.
Government property and facilities at Rocky Flats, unless
otherwise agreed to in writing by the Parties.
X. Buildings and Other Improvements Under section 3175(c) of the
Act, Interior may request the transfer of buildings and other
improvements for the purposes of managing the Refuge. Interior
agrees that DOE's need to retain, demolish, or otherwise dispose
of certain facilities will take priority over requests for
transfer to Interior.
XI. DOE Funded Activities A. DOE will provide funding to Interior
for activities necessary for the transition of Rocky Flats to its
future use as a Refuge.
Those activities include, but are not limited to, the following:
1. Implementation of this MOU. 2. Preparation of the
Comprehensive Conservation Plan for the Refuge.
3. Interior Level III Contaminants Survey and other environmental
monitoring required for the transfer, and ecological
investigations necessary for the transfer.
4. Interior review and comment on cleanup plans and documents and
consultation on remedy selection.
5. Real estate related work necessary to effect the transfer of
jurisdiction pursuant to applicable Federal law and regulations.
6. This MOU shall not be used to obligate or commit funds or as
the basis for the transfer of funds. The details of the levels of
support to be furnished to one organization by the other with
respect to funding will be developed in specific interagency
agreements or other agreements. While reimbursement will be
subject to the availability of funds, DOE agrees that funding
under this MOU will receive priority consideration over other
expenditures because of the importance of this MOU enabling DOE
to complete its accelerated cleanup and closure of Rocky Flats
and agrees to seek funds from Congress to satisfy its
responsibilities under this MOU in the event that funds are
insufficient.
B. Procedures for DOE funding of Interior activities pursuant to
this MOU follow: 1. With respect to Interior activities that DOE
funds in accordance with this MOU, under the Act, Interior will
annually provide an estimate of its funding needs to DOE for the
following fiscal year by October 31 of each year that this MOU
remains in effect.
2. No funds are authorized to be transferred between the Parties
by this MOU. Subject to requirements of the Anti-Deficiency Act,
the Economy Act, and other applicable requirements, transfer of
funds from DOE to Interior will be made on an annual basis as
agreed upon in an annual or multi-year Interagency Agreement or
Cooperative Agreement between DOE and Interior. Interior will
maintain financial records to support periodic DOE audits of
expenses in such detail and as often as deemed necessary by the
DOE.
3. In accordance with section 3175(f) of the Act, the Parties
acknowledge that funds will not be taken from Rocky Flats closure
project funds either to implement the Act or to effect the
transition of the site to National Wildlife Refuge status.
4. The Parties will comply with the requirements of section 3182
of the Act regarding an annual joint report to Congress on costs
incurred to implement the Act in the prior fiscal year, as well
as funds required for implementation in the current and
subsequent fiscal years. The Parties agree to report costs
incurred and future funding needs to the Congressional Committees
responsible for DOE appropriations.
DOE will draft, for joint DOE and Interior submission, annual
reports to Congress on the cost of implementation of the Act
pursuant to section 3182 of the Act.
C. The Parties agree to use their best efforts to work
cooperatively to minimize the overall cost of the transition and
transfer of administrative jurisdiction hereunder. Examples of
these efforts could include use of existing environmental and
ecological data, data that DOE already plans to collect to
support the cleanup and closure of Rocky Flats, coordinated
closure project planning, and the potential to share staff.
XII. Tort Claims DOE shall process and adjudicate all
administrative claims and defend all litigation asserted under
the Federal Tort Claims Act that arise from any activity of DOE
with respect to Rocky Flats or any Covered Substance for which
DOE is responsible under this MOU.
Interior shall process and adjudicate all administrative claims
and defend all litigation asserted under the Federal Tort Claims
Act that are not the responsibility of DOE. Each Party shall
cooperate and assist the other in providing information relating
to any such claims.
XIII. Enforcement Actions As between the Parties, to the extent
authorized by law and consistent with this MOU, DOE is
responsible for responding to any administrative or legal actions
brought to enforce the requirements of applicable laws or
regulations concerning Covered Substances for which DOE has
retained responsibility.
XIV. Delegation of Authority A. Each Party will appoint a Manager
who will be responsible for overseeing the work performed under
this MOU. Managers will have the responsibility to implement this
MOU. Either Manager should be available to meet on site at least
monthly as requested by the other Manager.
B. The Manager for Interior will be the Refuge Project Leader
appointed to oversee the Refuge and will serve as DOE's single
point of contact for all activities at Rocky Flats and
consultation requirements under section 7 of the Endangered
Species Act.
C. The Manager for DOE will be designated in writing by the
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management within 30 days
following execution of this MOU.
D. Any actions of the Managers that involve funding to implement
this MOU will require DOE Headquarters review.
XV. Dispute Resolution A. Interior and DOE Managers shall make a
good faith effort to resolve all disputes concerning the
implementation of this MOU, including planning, management
activities, and the transfer of property and facilities from DOE
to FWS. If any such dispute cannot be resolved informally at the
Manager level, Dispute Resolution may be initiated pursuant to
this section.
B. To initiate Dispute Resolution, the disputing Manager shall
give to the other Manager a written notice of the dispute and the
disputing Party's intent to initiate dispute resolution. The
notice
[[Page 14457]] shall include a detailed explanation of the
dispute. Upon the other Manager's receipt of such notice, that
Manager shall have 15 working days to provide to the disputing
Party a written answer to the notice and explanation. The notice
and answer, including any exhibits thereto, shall be the Record
of Dispute. After such 15-day period has expired, the Managers
shall make their best efforts to resolve the dispute within 20
working days.
C. If the Managers do not resolve the dispute within 20 days, the
dispute will be elevated to FWS's Regional Director and DOE's
Rocky Flats Manager or successor. Within 30 working days of
receiving the Record of Dispute, they shall confer and attempt to
resolve the dispute.
D. If the Parties do not resolve the dispute within 45 working
days, the disputing Party may elevate the dispute to DOE's
Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management and the Director
of FWS.
Within 30 working days of such elevation, the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Environmental Cleanup and Acceleration and the
Director shall confer and resolve the dispute.
XVI. No Third Party Rights This MOU is intended only to establish
the terms and conditions for the transfer of the property
described herein, and is not intended to create any right,
benefit, or trust responsibility, substantive or procedural,
enforceable by any person against the United States, its
agencies, or any other person.
XVII. Cost Recovery, Contribution or Other Actions Nothing in
this MOU is intended to prevent the United States from bringing a
cost recovery, contribution, or other action that would otherwise
be available under Federal or State law.
XVIII. MOU Modification This MOU shall remain in effect for both
Parties, subject to modification by mutual agreement, made in
writing and signed by both Parties.
Department of Energy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------ Paul M. Golan, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for
Environmental Management.
Date:------------------------------------------------------------
------ Department of the Interior.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------ Craig Manson, Assistant Secretary for Fish and Wildlife
and Parks.
Date:------------------------------------------------------------
------ [FR Doc. 05-5597 Filed 3-21-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE
6450-01-P
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66 Tri-City Herald: Fluor Hanford to lay off up to 200
This story was published Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Fluor Hanford told employees Monday that it plans to lay off up
to 200 workers next month.
Fewer workers will be needed because of projects that have been
completed, such as the removal of irradiated nuclear fuel from
the K Basins, and the contractor continuing to work more
efficiently, said Geoff Tyree, spokesman for Fluor Hanford.
In addition, Fluor will receive less money from the Department
of Energy in the current fiscal year than originally expected,
he said.
Earlier this month Fluor sent a memo to workers warning them to
expect near-term layoffs and also more layoffs during the
balance of its contract. Fluor's contract for managing the
Hanford site and performing cleanup ends in September 2006.
Fluor employs 4,039 people, including subcontractor employees.
The layoffs may include not only Fluor employees, but also
employees at Day and Zimmermann Protection Technology Hanford,
Duratek Federal Services of Hanford and Numatec Hanford Corp.
Union and nonunion employees may be included.
Fluor is asking for volunteers through March 30. It's offering
employees who are laid off a week of salary for every year
worked up to 20 years and will pay the company's portion of
medical premium for up to a year.
Help will be offered to employees looking for new jobs,
including coaching on writing resumes and interviewing,
according to Fluor.
Employees picked for layoffs will be notified April 18, and
April 29 will be their last day on the payroll.
The list of types of employees who will be considered for the
job cuts is lengthy, and includes engineers, mechanics,
millwrights, clerks, buyers, instrument technicians and nuclear
waste process operators.
In 2004, Fluor laid off 60 workers in January and 55 in June.
Employees have been worried about larger layoffs since the
proposed Hanford budget for fiscal year 2006 was announced last
month. It proposes cutting the budget for Hanford from nearly
$2.1 billion this year to a little more than $1.8 billion in
fiscal year 2006.
© 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
*****************************************************************