***************************************************************** 04/07/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.79 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 US: Las Vegas SUN: Gibbons to work on environment task force 2 US: APP.COM: Underreported news gives government chance to hide the NUCLEAR REACTORS 3 US: [NukeNet] Press Release Addendum: NJPIRG Press Statement on 4 US: [NukeNet] Press Release: NJPIRG Press Statement on NRC Denial 5 US: Spent Fuel Pools At Nuclear Plants in 31 States Said Prone To At 6 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting 7 BBC: China lifts nuclear power target 8 BBC: Bulgaria approves nuclear plant 9 canadaeast.com: N.B. business leaders, feds talk Lepreau refurbishme 10 Hi Pakistan: China offers more help for N-power generation --> 11 US: NRC: Notice of Issuance of Renewed Materials License SNM-2502; 12 US: NRC: Notice of Issuance of Construction Authorization to Duke Co 13 US: NRC: Workshop To Discuss What Is or Is Not Material to the Compl 14 Sofia News Agency: Bulgarian Cabinet to Nod Belene Nuke Building NUCLEAR SECURITY 15 FW: [Zepps_News] #Panel: Agencies 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq WMDs 16 US: [NYTr] Bush Syndrome: Dead Wrong and Proud of It 17 US: [NYTr] Bolton's Nuclear Risk 18 US: Anti-Terror Drill For NJ, Ct. NPPs 19 US: [DU-WATCH] Will US apply Army regs on DU? 20 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Envoy: N. Korea Nukes Went to Libya 21 Guardian Unlimited: We got it wrong on Iraq WMD, intelligence chiefs 22 Daily Yomiuri: Govt takes new 6-way talks plan with grain of salt 23 US: Cape Cod Times: Report: Nuclear fuel poorly protected 24 Guardian Unlimited: Iran: Nuclear Talks With Europe Progress 25 US: Guardian Unlimited: CIA Leak Probe Done, Minus Some Testimony NUCLEAR SAFETY 26 US: FW: Downwinders Be Damned 27 US: New Mexican: A-bomb survivor to speak about Hiroshima NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 28 E-Mails Reveal Fraud in Nuclear Site Study 29 US: DenverPost.com: Nuclear waste near Moab to be moved 30 reviewjournal.com: STEVE SEBELIUS: Fake memos, stolen water, truth 31 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast-fueled bill advances 32 US: SignOnSanDiego.com: Huge toxic pile by river to be moved 33 Las Vegas RJ: Author of e-mails reassigned to DOE 34 Las Vegas SUN: Scientist linked to Yucca e-mails remains on payroll 35 US: palm beach post: Endangered species: Good science 36 US: FPN: Question marks over 'uranium find' 37 US: heraldtribune.com: Tallevast-inspired legislation advances 38 US: LA Times: Toxic Tailings May Be Hauled Off 39 US: St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spent nuclear fuel poses terrorism risk 40 NEWS.com.au: Pacific forum protests nuclear ship 41 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Notice of Meeting 42 US: deseret news: Goshute fight is back at NRC 43 US: Morning Journal: Lorain trying for funds to clean up property 44 US: DECATUR Daily: Panel: Rethink nuclear storage: Report says terro 45 US: PE.com: Perchlorate 'goal' called inadequate 46 asahi.com: Aomori ready to allow MOX fuel rod plant 47 US: Deseret news: Move tailings, DOE says 48 US: CBC Saskatchewan: Deformed fish found near old uranium site 49 US: Guardian Unlimited: Feds to Move 12M Ton Pile of Nuclear Waste PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 50 Las Vegas SUN: DOE wants to move radioactive waste away from Colorad 51 Tri-City Herald: Fluor calls DOE review incorrect ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Las Vegas SUN: Gibbons to work on environment task force Today: April 07, 2005 at 9:46:21 PDT By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., will participate in a House task force looking to improve the National Environmental Policy Act. Since 1970, the law, commonly known as NEPA, requires federal agencies to complete environmental studies on proposed federal projects before they can be approved or receive a permit on public land. "Too often NEPA results in litigation that can last decades," Gibbons said. "This task force will simply go out to the communities around the country affected by NEPA to see how well it is working and what improvements may be needed to meet our nation's goals of protecting the environment in the 21st century." Nevada is suing the Energy Department under NEPA for its plans to build a rail line to bring nuclear waste to the proposed storage site at Yucca Mountain. The state claims the department did not follow the law by failing to do an environmental analysis before selecting a route through Caliente. House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, R-Calif., announced the task force's creation today. The 20-member task force, made up of 11 Republicans and nine Democrats, will hold field hearings throughout the country to hear testimony from people on their experiences with NEPA requirements. The task force will issues a report to Pombo. Gibbons will work to get a field hearing in Nevada, his spokeswoman said. "Our ultimate goal is to improve our environmental laws," Gibbons said. "We need to ensure we protect our environment and assure clean water and clean air in an expeditious manner." House Resources Committee Democrats have not selected their members to the task force yet. ***************************************************************** 2 APP.COM: Underreported news gives government chance to hide the truth Asbury Park Press Underreported news gives government chance to hide the truth Published in the Asbury Park Press 04/7/05 By MARTIN L. HAINES A free press, guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, is an essential ingredient of our liberties. Free speech, perhaps our most important right, includes the right and the obligation to criticize our government. That right is of little value unless we know the facts that only a free and responsible press can provide. Today, saddled as we are with a government more interested in restricting the dissemination of news than the opposite, a free press is crucial. Sometimes news is overreported. Any incident involving sex, however trivial or remote, receives wide publicity. The display of Terri Schiavo's sad picture was not only needlessly repetitious but also became a thoughtless invasion of her privacy. While overreporting is sometimes destructive and always annoying, it is underreporting that dangerously restricts the exercise of our right to free speech. It is the failure of major news sources to report stories critical of our government. It is a form of censorship that permits governments to act in secret. We can learn a lot about underreporting by reading "Censored 2005" and its annual predecessors. "Censorship 2005" is written by Peter Phillips and managed by the Sociology Department of Sonoma State University in California. Its central feature is a report on the 25 most underreported news stories of 2004. Each story is updated by its author, usually with references to more resources. The book also provides information on censorship in general and its use throughout the world. The 25 stories are chosen through an exhausting process of elimination, beginning with the selection of perhaps 1,000 stories, whittled down by various reviews, culminating in the final selections by a panel of judges experienced in the gathering and reporting of news. The stories in "Censored 2005" reveal otherwise hidden government activities — disturbing reflections of our society's drastic unraveling by a conscienceless administration. The No. 1 censored story covers the greatly increasing wealth inequality in our country. In 2003, the top 1 percent of the U.S. population owned about one third of the country's wealth, a result of "legislative policies carefully crafted and lobbied for by corporations and the super-rich over the past 25 years," Phillips wrote. The most shocking story deals with the uranium contamination of our own troops and the civilian populations of Iraq and Afghanistan, caused by U.S. military operations. The contamination results from the post-9/11 use of tons of radioactive depleted and non-depleted uranium munitions. Four million pounds were dropped on Iraq in 2003 alone. Most American weapons contain high amounts of radioactive uranium. When detonated, radioactive dust is released over wide areas and inhaled by troops and civilians. The dust enters the body and stays there, causing cancers, birth defects and other deadly and disabling illnesses, for which there is neither treatment nor cure. Its use continues — without government acknowledgment. Other troublesome U.S. actions have been taken to favor the rich, disfavor the poor and satisfy the demands of the conservative right and big corporate campaign contributors: The giveaway and destruction of our natural resources. Restrictive rules concerning power plant emissions have been greatly relaxed. Projects giving logging companies access to old growth trees are being funded by the government. An energy policy created in secret by self-serving, energy using and selling corporations is being pressed upon Congress. Voting machine use and electoral policies are suspect. Four corporations control the manufacture of machines and all are headed by personnel with strong connections to the current administration — clear conflicts of interest, which are ignored. Software used to control the counting and reporting of votes is withheld from public scrutiny. Judicial appointments, once vetted by the American Bar Association, which rated candidates and kept extremists, liberal or conservative, off the bench, are now passed upon by the Federalist Society. The society is an ultra-conservative organization devoted to "fulfilling the radical right's agenda on race, religion, class, money, morality, abortion and power," Phillips wrote. The administration claims frequently that it is bringing democracy to Iraq. In fact, we have censored its news publications and suppressed its labor unions, serious failures to honor democratic principles. The sciences, as nearly as possible, are explorations of truth. Truth sometimes frustrates government plans. When it does, the sciences, not the plans, have been scrapped by the Bush administration. There is much more valuable information in "Censored 2005." All of it is eye-opening information needed to keep a free society free. Martin L. Haines, of Moorestown, is a retired Superior Court judge and a former State Bar Association president. Copyright © 1997-2005 Asbury Park Press. ***************************************************************** 3 [NukeNet] Press Release Addendum: NJPIRG Press Statement on Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:06:02 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) Addendum to the release: Hope Creek, located in Salem County in southern New Jersey, is the same design as Oyster Creek, located in Ocean County on the Jersey shore. They are both Mark I Boiling Water Reactor. There are 24 reactors of the same design across the country. Reactors of this design are most dangerous because the spent fuel pool is elevated above the reactor. The primary difference in the structure of Oyster Creek and Hope Creek: Oyster Creek's spent fuel pool is covered by a square steel box frame; unlike most Mark I Boiling Water Reactors, Hope Creek's spent fuel pool is covered by a concrete dome. Both structures, but especially Oyster Creek, are inadequate to protect a possible air attack. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: For More Information, Please Contact: April 6, 2005 Suzanne Leta, Energy Associate 609 394 8155 x310 267 879 4285 (cell) sleta@njpirg.org NJPIRG Press Statement: National Academy of Sciences Report on Nuclear Waste Security The declassified NAS report and panel statement, released today, confirms what whistleblowers and public safety advocates have been saying for years: the storage of spent nuclear fuel puts millions of New Jersey's residents at risk. Industry statements belittling the danger of nuclear waste storage is a clear attempt to hoodwink the public with deceiving rhetoric. NJPIRG supports the NAS panel's call for plant-by-plant examinations of fuel storage pools. Oyster Creek, the oldest operating nuclear plant on the Jersey shore, is storing the majority of its spent fuel in a pool above the reactor. This design is the most dangerous in the country. The storage of spent fuel at Oyster Creek in particular is especially dangerous considering that Exelon, the plant's owner, added additional storage racks to the pool to reach a maximum capacity of 3025 fuel assemblies in November 2002. Since then, Exelon has only transferred 61 fuel assemblies to dry cask storage. NJPIRG agrees with NAS recommendation that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission review and upgrade security requirements for protecting spent fuel pools and consider requiring industry to move more of its spent fuel rods from pool storage to dry casks. Finally, the NAS conclusion that an assessment of current security measures should be performed by an independent organization should be a wake up call to New Jersey's leaders. The NRC has a history of putting profits over public safety and siding with the nuclear industry. New Jersey residents cannot rely on the NRC to protect the public interest. The future of New Jersey's nuclear reactors, especially Oyster Creek, is in the hands of the state officials. The National Academy of Sciences Report on "Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel," April 06, 2005: Title page/Content pdf.gif Executive Summary pdf.gif Chapter 1: Introduction and Background pdf.gif Chapter 2: Terrorist Attack on Spent Fuel Storage pdf.gif Chapter 3: Spent Fuel Pool Storage pdf.gif Chapter 4: Dry Cask Storage and Comperative Risks pdf.gif Chapter 5: Implementation Issues pdf.gif References pdf.gif Appendixes pdf.gif Study Finds Vulnerabilities in Pools of Spent Nuclear Fuel By MATTHEW L. WALD spacer25.gif Published: April 7, 2005 New York Times w2.gifASHINGTON, April 6 - Terrorists could plausibly mount a successful attack on the pool of spent fuel at a nuclear power reactor, according to a study done for Congress by the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists said federal regulators should evaluate each plant to determine if some of the fuel should be moved into dry casks to lower the risks. The report contradicts the position of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which says that the pools, maintained at more than 100 reactors, are as safe as casks, which reactor owners have turned to only as their pools have reached capacity. An attack would be difficult but "certainly no more difficult than the Sept. 11 attacks," Kevin Crowley, the study director at the National Academy, said in a conference call with reporters. Louis J. Lanzerotti, the chairman of the committee that issued the report and a professor of physics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the study group "identified several scenarios that could have serious consequences at some plants." The report was finished last summer as a classified document, but release of an unrestricted version was delayed until Wednesday by arguments between the academy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over what could be made public. The public version of the study did not lay out which plants were the most vulnerable, although experts say those are the older boiling-water reactors, where the fuel pool is high above the ground and the building is not designed to withstand strong internal pressures. The pools are made of reinforced concrete with stainless-steel linings. They are meant to withstand natural hazards like earthquakes but were not designed with terrorism in mind. The scientists also questioned the ability of the commission to issue findings that the public would find credible. They called for independent reviewers to assess security measures for spent fuel. They also called for the installation of water-spray systems at the pools to keep fuel from catching fire, even if the water were drained, as feared in an attack. Congress asked for the study in 2003, after a group of experts who are generally critical of the nuclear industry published a paper in a Princeton scientific journal saying that terrorists could attack a pool and that the resulting release of radiation could have consequences "significantly worse than Chernobyl." The academy's recommendations fell far short of what the Princeton group called for, but its report did find that "there were indeed credible concerns about the safety and security of spent nuclear fuel storage in the current threat environment." The academy is an advisory body, but it is more influential than the private organizations that have raised questions about terrorism at nuclear sites; many of those groups have a long history of opposing nuclear power. The scientists said they hoped their findings would prompt the government to provide money for cask storage at sites found vulnerable. Nuclear reactors create vast amounts of radioactive materials as they fission uranium to make heat. Spent fuel in the storage pools contains far more radioactive materials than the reactors do. Most of the plants now operating were designed to store fuel for only a few years, because engineers expected that it would either be recycled or buried. The Energy Department was supposed to begin accepting fuel for burial in 1998 but has not yet done so. As a result, the reactor operators have squeezed spent fuel more tightly into the pools, raising the heat load and, according to some analyses, raising the risk of fire if the pools were ever drained. Building enough casks to keep up with waste creation would cost millions of dollars a year at every reactor. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly said that cask storage and pool storage are equally safe. On March 14, the commission's chairman, Nils J. Diaz, told reporters that the pools "are not easily breached structures." After an attack, they would be very easy to cool, he said. "You get a couple of fire hoses, and spray them, and you have many, many hours," he said, before there could be any radiological release, giving officials time to contain the problem. Suzanne Leta Energy Associate NJPIRG 11 N. Willow St Trenton, NJ 08608 609 394 8155 x310 sleta@njpirg.org _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net Attachment Converted: pdf.gif: 00000001,333108de,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf1.gif: 00000001,333108df,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf2.gif: 00000001,333108e0,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf3.gif: 00000001,333108e1,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf4.gif: 00000001,333108e2,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf5.gif: 00000001,333108e3,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf6.gif: 00000001,333108e4,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf7.gif: 00000001,3108e2c3,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: pdf8.gif: 00000001,3108e2c4,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: spacer251.gif: 00000001,3108e2c5,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: w2.gif: 00000001,3108e2c6,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 4 [NukeNet] Press Release: NJPIRG Press Statement on NRC Denial Date: Thu, 07 Apr 2005 17:06:04 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: For More Information, Contact: April 7, 2005 Suzanne Leta, NJPIRG 609 394 8155 x310 267 879 4285 (cell) Dr. Kymn Harvin 267 312 1252 NJPIRG Press Statement: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Denies Whistleblower Complaint Against PSEG On Tuesday, April 5, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) wrongfully decided against Dr. Kymn Harvin in her whistleblower complaint against PSEG. The NRC dismissed clear evidence that Dr. Harvin, a former senior manager at PSEG's Salem and Hope Creek nuclear plants in southern New Jersey, was fired for raising safety concerns. In September 2003, Dr. Harvin filed allegations with the NRC and provided secretly taped audio recordings of conversations with PSEG management. "Despite audio tapes of executives revealing their own nuclear safety concerns, fears about speaking up, and the Site Vice President saying, 'They are out to get you,' the NRC ruled there was no wrongdoing by the company or its executives," said Dr. Harvin told. "I went to the NRC as a last resort, knowing that becoming a whistleblower would likely end my nuclear career. But I thought the safety issues had to be brought to light. I feel betrayed by the NRC -- and by the people who lied to the NRC during its investigation." Ignoring the facts, the NRC Office of Investigations determined there was "insufficient evidence to prove [Dr. Harvin] was discriminated against," and that PSEG terminated her for "business" reasons. The NRC's decision also contradicts their own determination that PSEG's safety culture at the Salem and Hope Creek reactors represented a serious problem that must be corrected. This is yet another chapter in the plight of nuclear power plant whistleblowers who are blacklisted from the industry for filing complaints with the NRC, even though the NRC has failed, time and time again, to protect them. Despite this loss, Dr. Harvin will continue to stand up for her rights by pursing civil litigation. Unlike the NRC, Dr. Harvin is a true advocate for the health and safety of nuclear plant workers and the safety of millions of residents living in the vicinity of these plants. Suzanne Leta Energy Associate NJPIRG 11 N. Willow St Trenton, NJ 08608 609 394 8155 x310 sleta@njpirg.org _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 5 Spent Fuel Pools At Nuclear Plants in 31 States Said Prone To Attack Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:13:26 -0400 The National Academy of Sciences report can be downloaded and printed here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nuclear/security/ It is URGENT that Local, State and Congressional Representatives get copies of this along with our security concerns. For additional information on nuclear reactor (in)security, see: http://www.nirs.org/reactorwatch/security/securityhome.htm and http://www.tmia.com/security/ Mike Ewall Energy Justice Network 215-743-4884 catalyst@actionpa.org http://www.energyjustice.net Also, our local newspapers need lettters and our local TV and radio stations need phone calls from us. Please act! Our Senators & Reps need to hear from us, too. They can be reached at: 202-224-3121. From Suzanne Leta: The National Academy of Sciences Report on "Safety and Security of Commercial Spent Nuclear Fuel," April 06, 2005: Title page/Content Executive Summary Chapter 1: Introduction and Background Chapter 2: Terrorist Attack on Spent Fuel Storage Chapter 3: Spent Fuel Pool Storage Chapter 4: Dry Cask Storage and Comperative Risks Chapter 5: Implementation Issues References Appendixes http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Nuclear-Fuel.html? Nuclear Plants in 31 States Said Prone By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: April 6, 2005 ARTICLE TOOLS Printer-Friendly Format Most E-Mailed Articles 1. Editorial: The Judges Made Them Do It 2. Op-Ed Columnist: The Passion of the Tom 3. It's a Flat World, After All 4. Op-Ed Columnist: The Pope and Hypocrisy 5. Op-Ed Contributor: The Price of Infallibility Go to Complete List Filed at 11:17 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fuel storage pools at nuclear power plants in 31 states may be vulnerable to terrorist attacks that could unleash raging fires and deadly radiation, scientists advised the government on Wednesday. The group of nuclear experts said neither the government nor the nuclear industry ``adequately understands the vulnerabilities and consequences of such an event.'' They recommended undertaking a plant-by-plant examination of fuel storage security as soon as possible. In the meantime, plant operators promptly should reconfigure used fuel rods in the storage pools to lower decay-heat intensity and install spray devices to reduce the risk of a fire should a storage facility be attacked, the scientists said. Congress sought the study by a National Academy of Science panel because of the heightened concerns that terrorists might seek to target nuclear power plants. The release Wednesday of a declassified version of the report followed months of debate with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over how much of the findings should remain secret, and therefore, unavailable to potential terrorists. At 68 plants, including some already shut down, in 31 states, thousands of used reactor fuel rods are in deep water pools. Dry, concrete casks hold a smaller number of these rods. Much more highly radioactive fuel is stored in pools than is in the more protected reactors -- 103 in total -- at these sites. Some scientists and nuclear watchdog groups long have contended that these pools pose a much greater danger to a catastrophic attack than do the reactors themselves. Some plants where pools are all or partially underground present less of a problem. Others, including a series of boiling-water reactors where pools are more exposed, represent greater concern, said Bob Alvarez, a former Energy Department official who has argued for increased protection of used reactor fuel at nuclear plants. The experts' report ``pretty well legitimizes what we've been saying,'' Alvarez said in an interview. The scientific panel said reinforced concrete storage pools -- 25 feet to 45 feet deep, with water circulating to keep the fuel assemblies from overheating -- could tempt terrorists. The report said an aircraft or high explosive attack could cause water to drain from the pools and expose the fuel rods, unleashing an uncontrollable fire and large amounts of radiation. Nuclear regulators said they would give the report's recommendations ``serious consideration.'' But the NRC has disputed many findings and suggestions from the experts. After the classified document was provided to members of Congress last month, the NRC's chairman told lawmakers in a letter that some of the panel's assessments about plants' vulnerabilities were ``unreasonable'' and that certain conclusions ``lacked sound technical basis.'' ``Today, spent fuel is better protected than ever,'' Nils Diaz wrote. The NRC said it believes the potential for large releases of radiation from such a fire ``to be extremely low.'' Still, the agency has advised reactor operations to consider refiguring the pools' fuel rods -- pairing new ones with older ones to reduce the heat. Kevin Crowley, the scientific panel's staff director, said the classified version of the report includes ``some attack scenarios well within the means of terrorists'' that could result in a catastrophic fire of spent fuel. Nuclear safety advocates said the report recognizes, for the first time, the vulnerability of spent fuel. David Lochbaum, a nuclear industry watchdog for the Union of Concerned Scientists, said the study makes clear that regulators have not acted aggressively enough. ``Three years after 9/11, our hope would have been more of that homework had been done,'' Lochbaum said. The industry says its system of storing the fuel is safe and protected. But in response to the report, the industry said it was ``assessing the potential to augment'' safety systems for spent fuel facilities. Marvin Fertel, a senior executive at the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's trade group, said a computer analysis the industry commissioned in 2002 showed that fuel pool structures would withstand, without a significant loss of water, the impact of an aircraft crash. But the study said the pools vary among plants and reactor designs, and that some are more vulnerable than others. The panel said dry cask storage provides better protection. It also said significant numbers of used fuel rods always will have to be stay in pools for as long as five years before they adequately cool. At least one-quarter of the power plants now have some of their spent fuel in dry casks. The panel said the government should look into more widespread use of dry cask storage as part of its detailed assessment of risks. The academy is a private organization chartered by Congress to advise the government of scientific matters. ^------ On the Net: National Academy of Sciences: http://national-academies.org Nuclear Energy Institute: www.nei.org Nuclear Regulatory Commission: www.nrc.gov List of power plants http://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactor/ http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-security-nuclear.html Study: Nuclear Waste at Plants at Risk of Attack By REUTERS Published: April 6, 2005 Filed at 6:36 p.m. ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nuclear waste at the 103 U.S. reactors is at risk from a terrorist attack that could trigger an inferno and release large quantities of radioactive material, the National Academy of Sciences said on Wednesday. But a new study by the private group said it would be hard to stage such an attack, and terrorists had little chance of stealing enough spent nuclear fuel from a plant to produce a radiological -- or ``dirty'' -- bomb, a concern expressed by Congress, which ordered the report. Advertisement ``Terrorists view nuclear power plant facilities as desirable targets because of the large inventories of radioactivity they contain,'' the study said. ``While it would be difficult to attack such facilities, the committee judges that attacks by knowledgeable terrorists with access to appropriate technical means are possible,'' it said. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, commenting last month on a classified version of the report, said some of the academy's scenarios were ``unreasonable'' and that some recommendations ``lacked a sound technical basis.'' It said spent fuel was better protected today than ever before. The study's release coincided with a major U.S. exercise this week to test the readiness of officials, companies and citizens in case of a terrorist attack. Mock drills include a chemical attack in Connecticut and the release of a biological agent in New Jersey involving some 10,000 participants. Past readiness exercises revealed problems including confusion about actions agencies needed to take and overwhelmed communications capabilities. U.S. officials fear militant groups such as al Qaeda are bent on eclipsing the Sept. 11, 2001, strikes with a nuclear, chemical or biological attack, but acknowledge that more low-tech strikes are more likely. MITIGATING RISKS The National Academy of Sciences report did not look at the overall threat of a terrorist attack on nuclear facilities, but focused exclusively on nuclear waste stored at the sites. It said nuclear plants could reduce the risk of a spent fuel blaze significantly by redistributing the waste kept in storage pools and by installing heavy-duty water sprinklers to cool the pools even if they are damaged. The study said nuclear power plants had made many security improvements since the Sept. 11 attacks, but said the Nuclear Regulatory Commission failed to give the National Academy of Sciences team enough information to assess their effectiveness. More than 90 percent of the United States' nuclear reactors are privately owned and operated. The study also urged the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to share more information with the industry, saying current secrecy requirements were hurting plants' ability to reduce their vulnerabilities to terrorist attacks. The commission said on Wednesday it was giving the study serious consideration and had a plan to address its recommendations. The study said that while it was safer to store the waste in heavily fortified, dry casks, they could only be used after the spent fuel has already cooled off in pools. It called on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and plants to conduct case-by-case vulnerability checks, and urged the commission to ensure operators take prompt and effective measures to mitigate the possible consequences of an attack. The classified version of the study was provided to the government in July 2004. The National Academy of Sciences said the public report contained all of the findings and recommendations of the original, but some had been slightly reworded. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/07/politics/07nuke.html Study Finds Vulnerabilities in Pools of Spent Nuclear Fuel By MATTHEW L. WALD Published: April 7, 2005 ASHINGTON, April 6 - Terrorists could plausibly mount a successful attack on the pool of spent fuel at a nuclear power reactor, according to a study done for Congress by the National Academy of Sciences. The scientists said federal regulators should evaluate each plant to determine if some of the fuel should be moved into dry casks to lower the risks. Advertisement The report contradicts the position of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which says that the pools, maintained at more than 100 reactors, are as safe as casks, which reactor owners have turned to only as their pools have reached capacity. An attack would be difficult but "certainly no more difficult than the Sept. 11 attacks," Kevin Crowley, the study director at the National Academy, said in a conference call with reporters. Louis J. Lanzerotti, the chairman of the committee that issued the report and a professor of physics at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, said the study group "identified several scenarios that could have serious consequences at some plants." The report was finished last summer as a classified document, but release of an unrestricted version was delayed until Wednesday by arguments between the academy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission over what could be made public. The public version of the study did not lay out which plants were the most vulnerable, although experts say those are the older boiling-water reactors, where the fuel pool is high above the ground and the building is not designed to withstand strong internal pressures. The pools are made of reinforced concrete with stainless-steel linings. They are meant to withstand natural hazards like earthquakes but were not designed with terrorism in mind. The scientists also questioned the ability of the commission to issue findings that the public would find credible. They called for independent reviewers to assess security measures for spent fuel. They also called for the installation of water-spray systems at the pools to keep fuel from catching fire, even if the water were drained, as feared in an attack. Congress asked for the study in 2003, after a group of experts who are generally critical of the nuclear industry published a paper in a Princeton scientific journal saying that terrorists could attack a pool and that the resulting release of radiation could have consequences "significantly worse than Chernobyl." The academy's recommendations fell far short of what the Princeton group called for, but its report did find that "there were indeed credible concerns about the safety and security of spent nuclear fuel storage in the current threat environment." The academy is an advisory body, but it is more influential than the private organizations that have raised questions about terrorism at nuclear sites; many of those groups have a long history of opposing nuclear power. The scientists said they hoped their findings would prompt the government to provide money for cask storage at sites found vulnerable. Nuclear reactors create vast amounts of radioactive materials as they fission uranium to make heat. Spent fuel in the storage pools contains far more radioactive materials than the reactors do. Most of the plants now operating were designed to store fuel for only a few years, because engineers expected that it would either be recycled or buried. The Energy Department was supposed to begin accepting fuel for burial in 1998 but has not yet done so. As a result, the reactor operators have squeezed spent fuel more tightly into the pools, raising the heat load and, according to some analyses, raising the risk of fire if the pools were ever drained. Building enough casks to keep up with waste creation would cost millions of dollars a year at every reactor. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has repeatedly said that cask storage and pool storage are equally safe. On March 14, the commission's chairman, Nils J. Diaz, told reporters that the pools "are not easily breached structures." After an attack, they would be very easy to cool, he said. "You get a couple of fire hoses, and spray them, and you have many, many hours," he said, before there could be any radiological release, giving officials time to contain the problem. ***************************************************************** 6 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting FR Doc 05-6995 [Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)] [Notices] [Page 17723-17724] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap05-108] DATE: Week of April 4, 2005. PLACE: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. STATUS: Public and Closed. MATTERS TO BE CONSIDERED: Week of April 4, 2005 Monday, April 4, 2005 12:30 p.m. Discussion of Intergovernmental Issues (Closed--Ex. 9). *The schedule for commission meetings 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. * * * * * ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: By a vote of 5-0 on April 1, the Commission [[Page 17724]] determined pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and Sec. 9.107(a) of the Commission's rules that ``Discussion of Intergovernmental Issues (Closed--Ex. 9)'' be held April 4, and on less than one week's notice to the public. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/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. 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. Dated: April 4, 2005. Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 05-6995 Filed 4-5-05; 9:25 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M ***************************************************************** 7 BBC: China lifts nuclear power target Last Updated: Thursday, 7 April, 2005 By Louisa Lim BBC News, Beijing [Chinese eat lunch at a food stall below power lines in Beijing Monday March 21, 2005] The pressure on China's power resources is currently intense China has announced it will build 40 new nuclear reactors within the next 15 years, a big increase on earlier plans. The move is intended to boost electricity capacity as the country's economic boom has caused serious power shortages. China is likely to be the world's biggest developer of nuclear power stations. This could spark intense competition from foreign makers of nuclear power equipment. Supplying power for its people is one of China's major challenges. Now it is shifting its strategy to build more nuclear power stations. Officials say nuclear power stations will even be the main energy suppliers along the booming eastern coastline. Nuclear power is being promoted as a clean and green source of energy. But it is also a tacit acknowledgement that the country is too dependent on coal, which provides two-thirds of China's energy but causes serious air pollution. The power crisis has put pressure on coal mines to raise production, leading to a series of fatal accidents. China's expansion of its nuclear power sector is attracting frenzied competition from foreign companies. At present no nuclear plants are planned in the US, and in western Europe only Finland and France are building new reactors, so China offers prospects of growth unparalleled anywhere else. ***************************************************************** 8 BBC: Bulgaria approves nuclear plant Last Updated: Thursday, 7 April, 2005 By Nick Thorpe BBC News [Kozloduy plant] The Soviet-built Kozloduy plant is due to close entirely by 2007 The Bulgarian government has approved the construction of the country's second nuclear power plant at Belene on the shore of the river Danube. Two reactors at Bulgaria's Kozloduy nuclear plant have already closed and two more will shut down before the country joins the EU in 2007. Two 1,000 megawatt reactors are planned, continuing a project begun in the 1980s but mothballed 12 years ago. The government has estimated the extra costs to be 2.5bn euros (£1.7bn). The decision was announced by Energy Minister Miroslav Sevlievski. Nuclear exporter Nuclear power has had a controversial history in Bulgaria. The Kozloduy power station, also on the shore of the River Danube, currently supplies more than 40% of the country's electricity. Of its six reactors, two have already been shut down and two more are due to close soon under an agreement with the European Union, which has long expressed fears over their safety. Bulgaria also exports electricity to many countries in south-east Europe. Opponents of the construction of the new plant argue that the site is prone to earthquakes and that Bulgaria should improve its energy efficiency and invest in renewable energy sources instead. Some economists have also questioned the wisdom of such a large investment. A court case launched by environmentalists against the plant is still continuing. According to the plans, a tender will be launched in the next four weeks and construction should be completed by 2010. ***************************************************************** 9 canadaeast.com: N.B. business leaders, feds talk Lepreau refurbishment TT Canada As published on page A7 on April 7, 2005 Representatives from Irving, McCain, UPM stress importance of N.B. nuclear plant upgrade OTTAWA - New Brunswick's most powerful business leaders met with federal politicians yesterday to press for Ottawa's help in the $1.4-billion refurbishment of Atlantic Canada's only nuclear power plant, a Liberal source said. Jim Irving, president of J.D. Irving Ltd., Allison McCain, chairman of McCain Foods and Timo Suutarla, manager of the Miramichi UPM mill, met in private with several federal politicians, said the source. Federal politicians at the meeting included Indian Affairs Minister Andy Scott, regional minister for New Brunswick, Tobique-Mactaquac, MP Andy Savoy, Liberal caucus chairman, and Miramichi MP Charlie Hubbard. It was unclear if there were other cabinet minister present at the meeting. Scott refused to comment on the meeting, saying it was "private." Savoy said it was up to Scott to speak on the Point Lepreau file. Hubbard said Ottawa's involvement on the nuclear power plant's retrofit was urged at the meeting. "They were emphasizing the need we should have a serious look at Lepreau," said Hubbard." They are concerned about energy cost in general." None of the MPs would disclose whether other Liberal politicians were present at the meeting. J.D. Irving Ltd., McCain Foods and UPM could not be reached for comment. Premier Bernard Lord and Prime Minister Paul Martin are expected to meet soon to discuss the project. The business leaders presented their case to federal politicians in part through a glossy booklet spelling out the importance of the retrofit to extend the nuclear facility's life for another two decades. According to the document, the nuclear plant produces one-third of electricity in the second most energy dependent province in the country. Their document also stated New Brunswick was the country's third most dependent province on manufacturing. The Point Lepreau refurbishment would be the first for a CANDU reactor and the project would benefit Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. in the long run, the document said. The refurbishment would give AECL valuable experience which would help it reduce the cost of refurbishment projects for customers worldwide, said the document. "NB Industry needs strong support from the federal government to upgrade Point Lepreau," was the blunt message on the last page of the document. NB Power faces an April 15 deadline to decide on a proposal to run the nuclear plant from Ontario-based company Bruce Power. Bruce Power, which runs a multi-unit nuclear plant in Ontario, could pull its proposal if NB Power blows this latest deadline. The New Brunswick government doubts it can go ahead with the $1.4-billion Point Lepreau refurbishment without federal help. Power rates would go up by roughly $10 a month if the province took on the project alone. Lord has said it would be cheaper for the province to build a coal-fired power plant. It would cost around $450 million to decommission the nuclear power plant. Copyright © 2005 Brunswick News Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Hi Pakistan: China offers more help for N-power generation --> April 07 2005 ISLAMABAD: China has offered Pakistan further assistance in nuclear power generation and proposed five-10 year medium- and long-term development strategies to promote trade, investment and bilateral economic ties. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz, announced some of the details of bilateral cooperation in their addresses at the Pakistan-China Business Cooperation Conference here on Wednesday. "While developing its own nuclear energy resources, China would offer similar cooperation to Pakistan," Wen Jiabao said, reiterating that his country would continue cooperation in the field of nuclear energy after completion of the Chashma-II Nuclear Power Project. Aziz said the unique treaty of friendship and cooperation signed between the two countries provides extended cooperation in the fields of economy, defence and peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Wen said hi-tech nuclear power plants and telecom sectors are some of the areas, where China has comparative advantage. He said China wants to build more nuclear power stations to meet growing domestic energy requirements, and promised to continue cooperation in this field with Pakistan after completion of Chashma-II. "While developing its own resources, China would like to assist Pakistan in the nuclear energy field." He also mentioned strong Chinese industrial base in the manufacturing sector, machinery, machine-tolls, electronics and textile; infrastructure development, like roads, railways and ports; and mining industry, where China has excelled. Wen said he sounded out President Gen Pervez Musharraf about the idea to draw up medium and long-term development plans, with a period of 5 to 10 years respectively, to institutionalise the arrangement of bilateral cooperation. He said his proposals have been accepted. Explaining the strategy, Chinese premier, highlighted five principles. First, he said, there is a need to work for common development following the principle of equality and mutual benefit, promoting complementarities. In this regard, Wen Jiabao said there is a great potential to enhance economic cooperation, narrow down the trade deficit and enhance investment. Secondly, he said increased inter-action between the private sectors of the two countries is very important. "We encourage them to compliment each other," he said, also mentioning the need of reciprocity. Thirdly, Wen Jiabao talked about opening up new fields of cooperation, through joint ventures and setting up of wholly owned companies, to inject fresh vigour in the field of economic cooperation. Fourthly, he emphasised the need to draw medium and long-term plans of economic cooperation. These plans should encompass all areas of bilateral cooperation. Lastly, he underscored the need of joint trade commissions, business bodies and investment conferences. "Let us join hands to open new dimensions of bilateral cooperation to ensure win-win situation for both the countries." Wen Jiabao said he has a profound feeling of love that Pakistanis have for their Chinese friends. "Our friendship and cooperation has continued to grow." He said, however, the bilateral economic development does not match the political relations between China and Pakistan. "We are here in Pakistan for speedy growth in our business relations." Talking about the future prospects, he said China and Pakistan have agreed to expand economic ties to enrich strategic relationships. Wen Jiabao attached importance to Early Harvest Agreement (EHA) between the two sides that would ultimately lead to a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in the coming years. The Chinese premier cited the EHA signed with Thailand about two years ago, which resulted in expansion of Thai exports of fruits and vegetables from $170 million to $470 million. "Pakistan can also enter China in the same way." He maintained that China is not pursuing a policy to have a trade surplus with Pakistan. "We will buy more from Pakistan to achieve a trade balance." He said some of Pakistani products are really what China needs. He promised to facilitate the process to eliminate trade deficit between the two countries. Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz highlighted broad macroeconomic development of the country and offered Chinese businessmen to look at Pakistan as their destination of investment. He also offered China Specialised Industrial Parks, with all the powers to run them as they like, and build infrastructure, as they like. "Use Pakistan, as a manufacturing hub, not just for domestic market, but also for exports to the entire region," Shaukat said. His positive tone immediately impressed Chinese premier, who promptly said that Chinese companies investing in Pakistan should look at the world market. Shaukat also highlighted various success stories where Chinese companies have been highly successful in the country. He said in all the major infrastructure projects, the largest and most aggressive bidders are from China. He urged Chinese companies to take advantage of telecom sector in Pakistan, which is growing at an enormous rate of 100 per cent for last couple of years. Shaukat offered China equal opportunities, at par with domestic investors, in the privatisation process, real estate, construction and housing, tourism, engineering and agro-based industry, urging them to invest in Pakistan. Talking about the EHA, he said Pakistani rice, oranges and mangoes are of very high quality and great taste. "These are very addictive items, once you taste them, all our export problems would be over," Shaukat said on a lighter note about the deal to export Pakistani rice, fruits and vegetables to China. "China has emerged as a global power. China is rising and Pakistan is destined to rise, like its friend China. We will rise together," Shaukat said, while adding that Pakistan would be one of the fastest growing economies of Asia in 2005. He said Pakistan and China are friends forever, promising to work together to make the world a safer place to live. Copyright 1996-2002 . Hi Pakistan. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 NRC: Notice of Issuance of Renewed Materials License SNM-2502; FR Doc E5-1595 [Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)] [Notices] [Page 17721-17722] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap05-105] Progress Energy Carolinas, Incorporated; H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2 Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of issuance of license renewal. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-1179; fax number: (301) 415-8555; e-mail: cmr1@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) has issued renewed Materials License SNM-2502 to Progress Energy Carolinas, Incorporated (PEC) for the receipt, possession, transfer, and storage of spent fuel at the H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2 (HBRSEP), Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), located in Darlington County, South Carolina. The renewed license authorizes operation of the HBRSEP ISFSI in accordance with the provisions of the renewed license and its Technical Specifications. II. Background By application dated February 27, 2004, PEC requested to renew the operating license for the HBRSEP ISFSI. PEC requested the renewal of the original ISFSI license for a renewal period of 20 years, and an exemption for an additional 20 years. III. Finding The application for the renewed license complies with the standards and requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (the Act) , as amended, and the Commission's regulations. The Commission has made appropriate [[Page 17722]] findings as required by the Act and the Commission's rules and regulations in 10 CFR Chapter 1, which are set forth in the license. In addition, in accordance with 10 CFR 72.7, the Commission has determined that the exemption is authorized by law and will not endanger life or property or the common defense and security and is otherwise in the public interest. Public notice of the proposed action and opportunity for hearing regarding the proposed issuance of the renewed license was published in the Federal Register on April 15, 2004 (69 FR 20073). FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Supporting documentation is available for inspection at NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/ADAMS.html. A copy of the license application, dated February 27, 2004, and the staff's Environmental Assessment, dated March 2005, can be found at this site using the Agency Document And Management System (ADAMS) accession numbers ML040690774 and ML050700137. Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of March, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project Manager, Licensing Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-1595 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 12 NRC: Notice of Issuance of Construction Authorization to Duke Cogema FR Doc E5-1596 [Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)] [Notices] [Page 17721] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap05-104] Stone & Webster, Charlotte, NC AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of issuance of construction authorization. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Brown, Sr. Project Manager, Special Projects Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Rockville, MD, 20852. Telephone: (301) 415-5257; fax number: (301) 415-5370; e-mail: . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction Notice is hereby given that, pursuant to 10 CFR 70.23(a)(7) and (b), the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has issued Construction Authorization No. CAMOX-001 to Duke Cogema Stone & Webster (the applicant) for construction of a plutonium processing and fuel fabrication plant. The plant will be located on the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site near Aiken, South Carolina, and will be known as the Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility. The Commission has made appropriate findings as required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), the Commission's rules and regulations, and by the requirements of Section 102(2)(A) and (C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), as set forth in Construction Authorization No. CAMOX-001 (CA). II. Further Information The CA is effective as of its date of issuance. For further details see Construction Authorization No. CAMOX-001 (ADAMS Accession No. ML050660392) and the Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards' Final Safety Evaluation Report (NUREG-1821) dated March 2005 (ADAMS Accession No. ML050660399). The Final Safety Evaluation Report relies, in part, on information provided in the applicant's construction authorization request dated October 31, 2002 (as subsequently revised). The results of the staff's environmental review are contained in NUREG- 1767, ``Environmental Impact Statement on the Construction and Operation of a Proposed Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site, South Carolina,'' dated January 2005 (ML050240233, ML050240250). On October 25, 2004, the NRC suspended public access to the ADAMS online library and some other parts of its Web site to review documents and remove any that could reasonably be expected to aid a potential terrorist. Related to this effort, the NRC is withholding some records which are deemed to contain sensitive information under 10 CFR 2.390. Publicly available records may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agency-wide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room, and on the Internet at the NRC Web site, . Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC Public Document Room Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415- 4737, or by e-mail to . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 1st day of April, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brian W. Smith, Acting Branch Chief, Special Projects Branch, Division of Fuel Cycle Safety and Safeguards, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-1596 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 13 NRC: Workshop To Discuss What Is or Is Not Material to the Completion FR Doc E5-1598 [Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)] [Notices] [Page 17722] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap05-106] of Inspections, Tests, and Acceptance Criteria (ITAAC) AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of public workshop. SUMMARY: The NRC needs to establish the basis for categorizing NRC inspection results during new reactor construction under 10 CFR part 52. In order to meet that goal, the NRC is holding a workshop to explore stakeholder views on what types of NRC inspection results could call into question the completion of the ITAAC for a particular certified reactor design. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Goal of the Workshop The determination of whether a nuclear plant licensed under 10 CFR part 52 has been built in accordance with its design is dependent on the satisfactory completion by the licensee of all the related ITAAC. This workshop is for the NRC to understand stakeholder views on why various NRC inspection results may or may not be material to the successful completion of ITAAC. Being ``material to an ITAAC'' means the satisfactory completion of an ITAAC may be called into question. The labels and groupings previously used to describe NRC construction inspection results may no longer be applicable. The NRC believes it should listen to and understand the views of all stakeholders before reaching a decision on the need for any new groupings and labels to describe NRC construction inspection results. The NRC has made the examples to be discussed during the workshop available electronically at the Commission's Public Document Room in Rockville, Maryland or from the Publicly Available Records (PARS) component Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS) (Accession ML050870507). ADAMS can be accessed via the NRC Web site at (the public electronic reading room). All participants are encouraged to review the examples before the workshop and come prepared to discuss their own points of view. Some of the potential topics for discussion could include the following: Various interpretations of the examples. The groupings of the examples based on materiality to ITAAC completion. The need for additional examples in order to capture all possible groupings. What makes a particular example material to ITAAC. The possible actions of both the NRC and a licensee for each grouping. Workshop Information DATES: May 4, 2005, from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Location: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Two White Flint North Auditorium on Rockville Pike in Rockville, Maryland. All visitors should enter through the Two White Flint main entrance. No parking is available at the NRC headquarters. The NRC is located across from the White Flint Metro Station on the Red Line. Registration: Individuals planning to attend the workshop are asked to pre-register for the workshop at e-mail . Please provide the following information when pre- registering: Name; organization; country; and phone number or e-mail address. Agenda: The workshop activities will consist of an introduction and discussion of anticipated workshop outcomes; assignment of participants into work teams; work team discussion of and deliberation on construction inspection examples for materiality to ITAAC; and group discussion of work team results. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mary Ann M. Ashley, Team Leader, Construction Inspection Program, Inspection Program Branch, Mail Stop O-7H4, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555-0001. Ms. Ashley can be reached at (301) 415-1073 or by e-mail at . Dated in Rockville, Maryland, this 30th day of March, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Stuart A. Richards, Chief, Inspection Program Branch, Division of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-1598 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 14 Sofia News Agency: Bulgarian Cabinet to Nod Belene Nuke Building www.novinite.com Business: 7 April 2005, Thursday. The Parliament is to adopt a decision for building a second Bulgarian nuclear power plant on Thursday. The Parliament's official approval is required by the Nuclear Energy Safety Law. This would guarantee to future investor that cabinet backs the project, according to Energy Minister Miroslav Sevlievski. The project envisages building of a up to 2,000-MW reactor using so called light water technology. The fact that Bulgaria will need about 2,800-MW power capacity in future is the main motive for building a second nuclear power plant in the country, according to government. Bulgaria has revived a controversial plan to build a second nuclear power plant on the Danube River a decade after it was dropped amid protests from environmentalists. In the late 1980s Bulgaria spent USD 1.3 B on infrastructure and foundations at the Danube-located Belene for a 1,000- MW reactor, supplied by then Czechoslovakia. It would cost another USD 3 B to complete the project by 2010, according to energy ministry's estimates.[ width=] novinite.com Forum Google Tourism Business MobileBulgaria All Rights Reserved © Novinite Ltd., 2001-2005 - Copyright Bulgaria news Novinite.com (Sofia News Agency - www.sofianewsagency.com) is unique with being a real time news provider in English that informs its readers about the latest Bulgarian news. The editorial staff also publishes a daily ***************************************************************** 15 FW: [Zepps_News] #Panel: Agencies 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq WMDs Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:12:24 -0500 (CDT) Panel: Agencies 'Dead Wrong' on Iraq WMDs Thursday March 31, 2005 2:16 PM AP Photo IASA116 By KATHERINE SHRADER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - In a scathing report, a presidential commission said Thursday that America's spy agencies were ``dead wrong'' in most of their judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction before the war and that the United States knows ``disturbingly little'' about the weapons programs and threats posed by many of the nation's most dangerous adversaries. The commission called for dramatic change to prevent future failures. It outlined more than 70 recommendations, saying that President Bush must give John Negroponte, the new director of national intelligence, broaders powers for overseeing the nation's 15 spy agencies. It also called for sweeping changes at the FBI to combine the bureau's counterterrorism and counterintelligence resources into a new office. The unclassified version of the report does not go into significant detail on the intelligence community's abilities in Iran and North Korea because commissioners did not want to tip the U.S. hand to its leading adversaries. Those details are included in the classified version. The commission was formed by Bush a year ago to look at why U.S. spy agencies mistakenly concluded that Iraq had stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, one of the administration's main justifications for invading in March 2003. ``We conclude that the intelligence community was dead wrong in almost all of its prewar judgments about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction,'' the commission said in a report to the president. ``This was a major intelligence failure.'' The main cause, the commission said, was the intelligence community's ``inabililty to collect good information about Iraq's WMD programs, serious errors in analyzing what information it could gather and a failure to make clear just how much of its analysis was based on assumptions rather than good evidence. ``On a matter of this importance, we simply cannot afford failures of this magnitude,'' the report said. But the commission also said that it found no indication that spy agencies distorted the evidence they had concerning Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction, a charge raised against the administration during last year's presidential campaign. Looking beyond Iraq, the panel examined the abillity of the intelligence community to accurately assess the risk posed by America's foes. ``The bad news is that we still know disturbingly little about the weapons programs and even less about the intentions of many of our most dangerous adversaries,'' its report said. The commission did not name any country, but appeared to be talking about nations such as North Korea and Iran. -- Election 2004 The Triumph of the Swill "The National Government will regard it as its first and foremost duty to revive in the nation the spirit of unity and cooperation. It will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." Adolph Hitler, My New World Order, Proclamation to the German Nation at Berlin, February 1, 1933 Not dead, in jail, or a slave? Thank a liberal! Pay your taxes so the rich don't have to. http://www.zeppscommentaries.com For news feed, http://yahoogroups/subscribe/zepps_news For essays (please contribute!) http:yahoogroups/subscribe/zepps_essays ***************************************************************** 16 [NYTr] Bush Syndrome: Dead Wrong and Proud of It Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 13:54:48 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Progreso Weekly - Apr 7, 2005 http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek=1112850000 The Bush syndrome: Dead wrong and proud of it By Max J. Castro Dead wrong. Thats what the presidents own hand-picked committee on intelligence gathering said last week about the information concerning Iraqi weapons of mass destruction that the Bush administration used to bamboozle Americans and attempt to browbeat the world into backing war. Dead wrong. Thats what Judge Stanley F. Birch Jr. of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta a conservative judge appointed by the presidents own father just about said last week in a scathing opinion in which he castigated Congress and President Bush for attempting to usurp the authority of the judiciary in the case of Terri Schiavo. The commission on intelligence gathering, which received only a narrow mandate and scant authority from a president who had to be dragged kicking and screaming into appointing it in the first place, failed to look into the crucial question of how top administration officials used and abused the information given them by the intelligence agencies. Despite the commissions timidity, it could not avoid the inevitable conclusion that intelligence about weapons was systematically distorted so as to support a foregone conclusion. The commission only hints at the political pressures that fostered bias in the intelligence gathering and analysis process: It is hard to deny the conclusion that intelligence analysts worked in an environment that did not encourage skepticism about the conventional wisdom. Notwithstanding the commissions oblique language, the report is still a damning indictment. As the president of Spain Josi Luis Rodrmguez Zapatero once said, you dont go to war just in case. Top administration officials had to know the flimsy and contradictory nature of the evidence they sold to the public and the international community as an ironclad case for war indicating a threat so serious as to justify spilling torrents of blood. And, by reporting the fact that today the United States still knows shockingly little about the nuclear programs of potentially hostile countries, the commission undercuts the case for future adventures in regime change. If the commission seemed intent on limiting political damage to the Bush administration, Judge Birch, on the other hand, did not mince words in exposing the blatantly political motives behind the law that gave the Schiavo parents another chance to go before the federal courts: When the fervor of political passions moves the Executive and the Legislative branches to act in ways inimical to basic constitutional principles, it is the duty of the judiciary to intervene. Judge Birch denounced, in no uncertain terms, the overreaching actions of the president and the Republican-led Congress: In resolving the Schiavo controversy, it is my judgment that, despite sincere and altruistic motivation, the Legislative and Executive branches of our government have acted in a manner demonstrably at odds with our Founding Fathers' blueprint for the governance of a free people our Constitution. Noting that intervention in the courts by the executive and legislative branches in the Schiavo case imperils the separation of powers, Birch stated why the judiciary could not passively accept this brazen power grab: If sacrifices to the independence of the judiciary are permitted today, precedent is established for the constitutional transgressions of tomorrow. What links the intelligence fiasco and the Schiavo case is the willingness of this administration and its Republican allies in Congress to argue for and undertake the most extreme and arrogant actions in the absence of credible information and arguments to support them and in the process demonizing anyone who opposes their schemes. Waging an illegal war and trampling all over the bedrock constitutional principle of separation of powers are variations of a single syndrome, the Bush syndrome. Whether the subject is global warming, weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, stem cell research, social security, or the Schiavo case, the Bush syndrome involves ignoring, twisting, and denying facts and reason in the interest of an extreme right ideology. The Bush syndrome also means that those who dare question the illegitimate actions that flow from the administrations Orwellian logic are targeted for punishment. For having said the Iraq war is illegal, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been the object of savage attacks by Republicans led by the moderate Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota. Although for now the administration has decided to give Annan lukewarm support probably because it needs the UN to function smoothly over the next two years so it can help stabilize Iraq and Afghanistan this has not stopped GOP politicians like Coleman from calling for Annans head. Should Annan cease being indispensable to administration efforts to legitimize its interventions, Bush is likely to change his tune. The Schiavo case, for its part, raised the profile of an old target for the Republican right: the federal judiciary. A whole litany of GOP stalwarts, including Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum and House Majority Leader Tom Delay, have skewered the judges involved in the Schiavo case. Some Republicans even have threatened to punish the judicial branch through funding cuts and other means. This time, Bush and his Republican allies were denied. But the Bush administrations preference for believing in and acting upon its own ideologically driven delusions over reality has already produced disastrous consequences in the form of war and massive Iraqi and American casualties. More tragedy is sure to follow if Bush is allowed to implement his domestic and international agenda during the second term. But that outcome is not inevitable. For all of the administrations puissance, the case of Annan and the brave federal judges who in the Schiavo case stood up to demagoguery are only two of many examples of those who have said No! to Bushs multiple abuses of power. The number, courage, and influence of those who resist can only grow with the latest Republican transgression against common sense and common decency. * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 17 [NYTr] Bolton's Nuclear Risk Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 19:51:52 -0500 (CDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit CBS News (republished from The American Prospect) - Apr 7, 2005 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/04/07/opinion/main686274.shtml Bolton's Nuclear Risk By Wade Boese During his four-year tenure as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security, John Bolton prided himself on his frank manner, mistrust of legally binding international agreements, and zealous aversion to any constraints on U.S. freedom of action. But although Bolton can point to a few successes on his watch, his uncompromising mindset prevented some potential nonproliferation breakthroughs. His legacy as he seeks confirmation as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations is largely one of jilted and discarded treaties, offended diplomatic counterparts, and lingering proliferation dangers that the Bush administration refused to confront directly. After assuming his post in May 2001, Bolton wasted little time in stamping his imprint on the administrations arms-control approach. In July, the administration rejected an agreement (then six years in the making) to deter and detect cheating on a treaty banning biological weapons and opposed more stringent worldwide restrictions on small arms. Bolton argued that the measures would have infringed too much on the United States or done little to dissuade and catch cheaters. The administration would return to these arguments in July 2004 for objecting to formal verification provisions for a proposed treaty to ban production of two key ingredients for building nuclear weapons. Bolton delivered the U.S. positions in his characteristically blunt and uncompromising fashion. He shocked U.S. allies with a vehement warning against resurrecting the biological-weapons treaty measures by reportedly pronouncing them as "dead, dead, dead." In the course of spurning the antibiological weapons proposal, Bolton unveiled what would become another hallmark of his approach: "naming names." Departing from past diplomatic practice, Bolton accused countries by name of pursuing biological weapons. Iraq, Iran, Libya, Syria, Sudan, and North Korea were the alleged guilty parties. In Iraq's case, Bolton asserted, "The existence of Iraqs program is beyond dispute." U.S. arms inspectors scouring the country after the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion, however, found no evidence that Iraq had actively pursued biological weapons in the past several years. Bolton's allegations about Libya also have gone unverified following Libya's December 2003 renunciation of its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. The scuttling of biological-weapons and small-arms measures, however, was only a prologue to Boltons and the administration's top arms-control priority: freeing the United States from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, which barred nationwide defenses against strategic ballistic missile attacks. After Bolton spent several months unsuccessfully trying to convince Russia to mutually "move beyond" the treaty, President George W. Bush announced in December 2001 that the United States would withdraw from the treaty in order to pursue missile defenses. To be sure, the worst-case scenarios of a renewed arms race with Russia and China envisioned by opponents of treaty withdrawal have yet come to pass -- but neither has a working missile defense system, despite this administration's expenditure of approximately $35 billion on the effort. Although Moscow criticized the withdrawal as a mistake, its reaction was more muted than predicted because of a U.S. concession to codify its planned nuclear force reductions in an agreement with Russia, the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty (SORT). The Bush administration's preference had been for both sides to carry out reductions without a treaty. Bolton served as the chief U.S. negotiator for the accord, which amounts to little more than a gentlemen's agreement. Although SORT commits Washington and Moscow to reduce their operationally deployed strategic warheads by roughly two-thirds to between 1,700 and 2,200 warheads apiece by the end of 2012, it doesn't require the destruction of a single warhead or delivery vehicle, lacks verification provisions, and contains no progress checkpoints before 2012. Underlying both the ABM treaty withdrawal and the SORT negotiations was Boltons and this administration's guiding precept of avoiding binding obligations on the United States, even at the cost of allowing threats to persist. Maintaining that flexibility also lies at the heart of the administration's fervent opposition to the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which outlaws nuclear testing, and strong support for the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) to intercept WMD and related shipments at sea, on land, and in the air. Bolton, a chief architect of PSI, proudly notes that it is "an activity, not an organization." The initiative is a political arrangement; it doesn't empower countries to do anything that they did not already have the authority to do, nor does it place any requirements on how participants implement the initiative. This has left Bolton free to concentrate on halting arms shipments to Iran, North Korea, and Syria while paying less attention to established nuclear powers such as India and Pakistan, in line with the administrations general approach of caring more about who has the weapons than about the weapons themselves. In the administration's telling, PSI was instrumental in exposing the A.Q. Khan nuclear black market network and Libyas abandonment of its WMD programs. Both ostensibly stemmed from an October 2003 PSI interception of a Khan shipment of nuclear contraband to Libya. Yet this interdiction may well have happened without PSI: The countries involved in the seizure had intercepted dangerous arms shipments before PSI's launch; Tripoli was already engaged in negotiations with London and Washington about coming clean; and the Khan network had been under surveillance for years. The administration's treatment of Pakistan in light of Khans proliferation exploits is particularly notable considering its attitude toward the recipients of Khans wares. Despite the lenient treatment Khan received following his exposure and the Pakistani government's doubtless awareness of and profit from the black market's existence, the Bush administration has responded by rewarding Islamabad with a special ally status, billions in aid, and, most recently the promise of advanced U.S. combat aircraft. Similarly, the administration in the wake of the September 11 attacks has failed to sufficiently boost direct U.S. support for safeguarding the former Soviet Unions vast weapons complex, which is generally viewed as the primary target for proliferators looking to buy or steal arms. While cutting the nuclear supply line at the source is less challenging and more reliable than intercepting it in transit, the Bush administration has only modestly, and often grudgingly, increased funding for the programs aimed at ameliorating this threat from roughly the $1 billion per year level inherited from the Clinton administration, despite a January 2001 bipartisan panel's recommendation to triple this amount. Although most U.S. programs to help Russia eliminate or secure its excess weaponry and materials are run by the Departments of Defense and Energy, Bolton was entrusted with resolving a liability dispute with Moscow holding up a program to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-usable material. His failure to accomplish this task drew the rare fire of a fellow Republican. "If [Bolton] doesn't think it's important enough to solve ... then I submit that you ought to get somebody that can," declared Senator Pete Domenici (R-NM) last June. And on Iran and North Korea, the two most troubling nuclear aspirants, Bolton has achieved no clear successes. He has made no secret of his distaste for negotiating with these two countries or offering them incentives to abandon their nuclear ambitions and capabilities. Although the administration has often been divided between Bolton's camp and those who consider engagement potentially constructive, the hardliners have generally prevailed. Their success, however, has only yielded a mish-mash posture of saber-rattling and tentative engagement while the heavy lifting is left to China or the European Union. Since that approach won out, North Korea has been unfettered in its nuclear pursuits and declared that it now has nuclear weapons. The Europeans have apparently succeeded temporarily in halting Iran's most worrisome nuclear activities, but with talks the United States has largely watched from the sidelines. When it comes to two of the world's leading proliferation dangers, the man and the administration that constantly insist that the United States must command the drivers seat have chosen to stay in the backseat. John Bolton, it seems, would rather risk a world of well-armed enemies than forge agreements to control the worlds most dangerous weapons. [Wade Boese is the research director of the non-profit, non-partisan Arms Control Association.] Reprinted with permission from The American Prospect, 5 Broad Street, Boston, MA 02109. All rights reserved. * Search the NYTr Archives at: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ To subscribe or unsubscribe or change your settings via the web, visit: http://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us 339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org e-mail: nyt@blythe.org ================================================================= ***************************************************************** 18 Anti-Terror Drill For NJ, Ct. NPPs Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2005 13:54:13 -0400 I see no critics of these drills quoted. I.E. POGO [ http://www.pogo.org ] or NIRS. The government has consistently lied and distorted data in the past about such drills which have been a farce. Thank god for the "free press." http://www.tmia.com/sabter.html http://www.mothersalert.org/crac.html http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terror-Drill.html Soldiers to Protect Nuke Complex in Drill By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: April 6, 2005 Filed at 11:34 a.m. ET NEW LONDON, Conn. (AP) -- An anti-terrorism drill designed to evaluate homeland security response is proving effective at making accurate information available quickly, officials said. On the third day of the nation's largest ever such drill, specialized soldiers were to be deployed Wednesday to protect a nuclear power plant complex in Waterford. Advertisement Have our Top 20 Newsletter delivered to your Inbox each week! The Most "WOW!" Travel Deals on the Internet - here's a sampling: Released APR 6, 2005 Pleasant Holidays $299 Hawaii: Air & 3 Nights Hotel AirTran $84-$152 Bahamas from 30+ Cities (each way) Extra Holidays $99 South Florida 2-Bedroom Condo, $100 OFF CruiseDeals.com $290 5-Night Caribbean Cruise on Top-Rated Ship Spirit Airlines $39 & up 2-Day Sale to All Spirit Airlines Destinations Gate 1 Travel $599 Italy 2-City Combo Package, incl. Air Click on any deal and check them out today! *Fares listed may not include all taxes, charges and government fees. More information. © 2005 Travelzoo Inc. The drill, which is being run in New Jersey and Connecticut, is designed to evaluate the National Response Plan, which was developed to close communication gaps exposed by the 2001 terrorist attacks. ``This is not a minor improvement. It is a quantum leap,'' said Coast Guard Rear Adm. David Pekoske, the primary federal official at the scene of a simulated chemical weapons attack in New London on Tuesday. ``You'd be amazed at how good the information sharing is and how robust the discussion is.'' Hundreds of federal agents spent most of Tuesday in New London looking for evidence in a pile of rubble on the city's waterfront. Search and rescue teams looked for dummies representing dead bodies and actors who played victims. Under the new response system, the primary federal official's job is to coordinate all federal agencies and be a single point of contact between Washington and local officials. Gov. M. Jodi Rell praised the state's response but said at times she wanted information faster than she could get it. Officials said some communications problems have occurred but the drill has been a success overall. Officials operating the drill made it look like a mustard gas attack. They confirmed nearly 200 mock deaths, more than 4,600 supposed injuries and some missing people. Three mock arrests were made based on FBI warrants. In Union, N.J., fake victims arrived at hospitals Tuesday to be treated for a mock pneumonic plague attack. Doctors, nurses and the actors all wore white face masks, and each ``patient'' was given a colored toe tag to signify the severity of their condition. ***************************************************************** 19 [DU-WATCH] Will US apply Army regs on DU? Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:31:08 -0500 (CDT) http://www.traprockpeace.org/depleted_uranium_regs.html The US military has recently 'recognized' its own Army regulations on uranium weapons (DU) in two publications. But will it now comply with its environmental and health care mandates? Or will Iraq be left to deal with this radioactive and toxic mess on its own? While the military continues to claim that DU is virtually harmless, its own documents admit to its serious health risks to soldiers and civilians alike. This article cites numerous resources, and asks people to take action. Charles Jenks, attorney at law President of the Core Group Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road Deerfield, MA 01342 413-773-5188; Fax 413-773-7507 charles@mtdata.com http://traprockpeace.org ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Ever feel sad or cry for no reason at all? Depression. Narrated by Kate Hudson. http://us.click.yahoo.com/1visLB/esnJAA/xGEGAA/Sj.0lB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> [Brought to you by HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-watch/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-watch-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 20 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Envoy: N. Korea Nukes Went to Libya From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday April 7, 2005 7:31 PM AP Photo SEL105 By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Stung by the lapses of intelligence on Iraq's weapons programs, a top U.S. diplomat insisted Thursday that Washington has concrete evidence North Korean nuclear material went to Libya's since shuttered atomic arms operation. He warned that North Korea's cash-strapped communist regime could still be a risk for a further spread of atomic arms technology and materials. Christopher Hill, the main U.S. envoy on the North Korea nuclear standoff, told The Associated Press that even though Libya got the nuclear material from a Pakistani black market nuclear network, the North Koreans must have known where their material would end up. Hill, U.S. ambassador to South Korea who leaves next week to become assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said there is ``physical evidence that the material that arrived in Libya had started its journey'' in North Korea. He said the evidence was ``beyond my reasonable doubt.'' It was the strongest on-the-record claim by a U.S. official that such evidence exists. For months, U.S. officials have stopped short of saying publicly they had physical evidence about a North Korea-Libya link. That raised questions about Washington's case, especially after the intelligence failures on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Hill didn't say what the evidence was or where it came from. But Libya agreed with the U.S. and British governments in late 2003 to shut down its programs to develop atomic and chemical weapons and allowed in outside inspectors. Officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency have said that Libya obtained nuclear material from Pakistani scientist A.Q. Khan. The U.N. agency said Thursday its inspectors are still interviewing Libyans about the atomic weapons work, but all Libya's nuclear equipment has been destroyed or dismantled and removed from the country. Asked about Hill's comments linking the material in Libya to North Korea, Melissa Fleming, a spokeswoman for the IAEA in Vienna, Austria, said: ``It's a possibility, but it's difficult for us to verify because we no longer have any inspectors there'' in North Korea. In Washington, a State Department official who tracks dangerous weapons said the Libyans did not necessarily know the origin of the material. Attempts to reach officials in Libya for comment were not successful. Hill wouldn't go so far as to say U.S. intelligence had proof of direct contact or payments between Libya and North Korea. But he said the Pyonyang regime, which claims to have nuclear weapons and has been struggling with years of food shortages, might not be done pitching its atomic wares around the world. ``This is not a regime that gives you a lot of confidence that they know where to draw the line,'' he said. North Korea is widely believed to have shared its missile technology with Pakistan, its diplomats have been implicated in drug trafficking and the communist government has even been linked to counterfeit currency. Hill said there were some signs of movement toward resuming six-nation talks on North Korean nuclear disarmament, referring to this week's visit to China by Kang Sok Ju, the North's first vice foreign minister who has been directly involved in the nuclear issue. However, Hill said that China had not shared details of the visit with Washington and that there were no immediate indications North Korea was ready to return to the negotiations, which include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas. Some of the other countries in the talks have urged the United States to offer something to North Korea to lure it back to the talks. But Hill reaffirmed that Washington had no plan to sweeten its current proposals, which include security guarantees and aid for North Korea in exchange for the complete dismantling of its atomic weapons program. Any change to that offer could come only if the North returns to the talks, he said. ``We're not asking them to come out with their hands up,'' Hill said. ``We're just asking them to come to the table.'' Hill said U.S. officials weren't discussing seeking sanctions against North Korea. But, while not specifying any deadline for the North to return to the talks, he hinted Washington's patience will eventually run out. ``This is not an issue we can walk away from,'' he said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 21 Guardian Unlimited: We got it wrong on Iraq WMD, intelligence chiefs finally admit Richard Norton-Taylor Friday April 8, 2005 Intelligence chiefs have admitted for the first time that claims they made about Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction were wrong and have not been substantiated. The admission is revealed in the annual report of the parliamentary intelligence and security committee which also sharply criticises the lack of communication between ministers and the Secret Intelligence Service, MI6. It discloses that late last year the joint intelligence committee (JIC) reviewed key judgments on Iraq's WMD capability and programmes behind the government's now discredited dossier published in September 2002. · The JIC claimed in 2002: "Iraq is pursuing a nuclear weapons programme." It now admits this "was wrong, in that Iraq was not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme". It says the claim was "correct on Iraq's nuclear ambitions". · The JIC judged in 2002: "Iraq retains up to 20 al-Hussein ballistic missiles." It now admits: "This has not been substantiated." · In 2002, the JIC judged: "Iraq may retain some stocks of chemical agents ... Iraq could produce significant quantities of mustard [gas] within weeks, significant quantities of Sarin and VX within months, and, in the case of VX may already have done so." It now admits: "Although a capability to produce some agents probably existed, this judgment has not been substantiated." It adds that the Iraq Survey Group found that Saddam "intended to resume a CW [chemical weapons] effort once [UN] sanctions were lifted". · The JIC in 2002 said: "Iraq currently has available ... a number of biological agents ... Iraq could produce more of these biological agents within days". It now says that the ISG found Iraq could resume production, "but not within the time frames judged ... and [it] found no evidence that production had been activated". · In 2002, the JIC judged: "Saddam ... might use CBW [chemical and biological weapons] against coalition forces, neighbouring states and his own people. Israel could be the first target." Based on Saddam's past behaviour that "would have remained a reasonable judgment", says the JIC. However, it notes that the Iraqi agent who made the claims was subsequently dropped by MI6. The parliamentary committee notes that three MI6 agents were "withdrawn" after the invasion of Iraq. They included one - mentioned in 2002 to Tony Blair by Sir Richard Dearlove, then MI6 head - who claimed that Iraq was still making chemical and biological weapons. The committee also referred yesterday to the Butler inquiry which described the MI6 agent behind the claim that Iraq could deploy chemical weapons within 45 minutes as open to "serious doubts" and "seriously flawed". The committee says: "We are concerned at the amount of intelligence on Iraqi WMD that has now had to be withdrawn." It says that Mr Blair was not informed until a year later about an MI6 decision to drop an Iraqi agent he had earlier been told was potentially important. It also points out that the ministerial cabinet committee on the intelligence services has not met since December 2003, and that that meeting was the first in more than seven years. That is disappointing, it says, as regular meetings would "enable collective discussion by ministers of intelligence priorities and developments". At the moment, it adds, "ministers discuss intelligence only in the context of crisis or single-issues meetings". Yesterday's report confirms that MI5 is setting up "regional stations" around Britain. The Guardian has learned they will be based in north-west England, the Midlands, Scotland, Wales and the west of England, eastern England and south-east England. It's officers will work closely with the police special branch. The intelligence and security committee, chaired by the former Labour cabinet minister Ann Taylor, raps the knuckles of the intelligence agencies for a three-year delay in installing a secure computer network, called Scope. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 22 Daily Yomiuri: Govt takes new 6-way talks plan with grain of salt The Yomiuri Shimbun Many government officials remain pessimistic about the future of six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear programs, although talks are expected to resume in May. Government officials were monitoring, with expectations of a positive sign, the recent visit to China by North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju, a close aide of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. A government source Wednesday said: "He can directly present opinions to General Secretary Kim. He might hold close talks with the Chinese government over resuming the six-way talks." A senior Foreign Ministry official said: "If the six-way talks remain stalled, it's possible negotiations will be moved to the U.N. Security Council. That change might lead to sanctions on North Korea, which Pyongyang apparently wants to avoid." The government wants to avoid any scenario that gives Pyongyang time to push ahead with its nuclear development. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda told a press conference Wednesday, "It's necessary to reach a conclusion over the nuclear problem at the six-way talks." But many government officials predict that even if talks resume, it would remain touch and go whether any progress could be made in resolving the nuclear problem. On March 31, a North Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman said, "The six-way talks should be a disarmament conference at which participating countries try to resolve problems on an equal footing." A senior Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said: "The purpose (of the talks) is to have North Korea abandon its program to develop nuclear weapons. We shouldn't discuss disarmament on an equal footing. "I doubt North Korea is willing to compromise," he said. The government also wants to raise the abduction issue and have contact with Pyongyang officials during the talks. Japan and North Korea also are locked in a dispute because bones that Pyongyang claimed were the remains of abductee Megumi Yokota in fact were those of other people. Copyright 2005 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 23 Cape Cod Times: Report: Nuclear fuel poorly protected (April 7, 2005) By KEVIN DENNEHY STAFF WRITER Nuclear waste stored in reactors across the nation, including the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth, is vulnerable to terrorist attack, according to a federal report released yesterday. Security has increased at the Pilgrim plant since 9/11. (File photo: VINCENT DeWITT) A successful strike on a nuclear plant, though unlikely, could release "large quantities" of nuclear waste into the environment, the National Academy of Sciences concluded. "Terrorists view nuclear power plant facilities as desirable targets because of the large inventories of radioactivity they contain," the independent academy's report stated. "While it would be difficult to attack such facilities, the committee judges that attacks by knowledgeable terrorists with access to appropriate technical means are possible." To reduce potential risks the panel suggested that plant owners reconfigure where the waste - kept in cooling pools across the nation - is stored, and install backup spray systems to assure that the cooling waste stays cool. They also urged the nuclear industry to transfer spent fuel from pools to dry cask storage, something the Pilgrim plant currently does not do. At Pilgrim, the 670-megawatt plant owned by Entergy Corporation, there are no plans to move spent fuel to dry cask storage, a process that would cost millions of dollars. The Pilgrim station provides electricity for about 670,000 homes in the region, about 20 percent of which are on Cape Cod. A declassified version of the National Academy of Sciences report, which was originally shown to Congress last summer, was made public for the first time yesterday. The review was based on security analyses done by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the nuclear industry and independent experts. Among other things, the report also suggested that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which monitors the nation's 103 reactors, conduct a plant-by-plant analysis of security at each reactor. A spokesman for the NRC said yesterday the federal agency has already urged plant owners to reconfigure spent fuel in cooling pools, a step that would distribute the hotter materials. And while Pilgrim officials say they're following NRC guidance, the plant is already running out of space for its spent fuel. The plant already stores more waste than was allowed in its original license, and would exceed its current license by 2012. National concerns about securing nuclear waste took on added urgency after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. In communities across the United States, residents worry about the implications of an attack on a nuclear plant, particularly if a hijacked airliner plunged into a reactor or a spent fuel pool. Risk of fire Gordon Thompson, a nuclear physicist and member of the Cambridge-based Institute for Resource and Security Studies, warns that if the Pilgrim cooling pool were to spring a leak, the fuel would ignite a fire that would be nearly impossible to extinguish. It would also emit devastating levels of toxic radiation that could be disastrous over a 50-mile radius, including much of Cape Cod, he says. NRC officials insist America's nuclear reactors are protected by the sturdiest protection in the nation. Even still, the agency continues to explore steps that would make plants safer, and they say they've already considered many of the concerns raised by the National Academy of Sciences. "Many of the findings support and reflect a number of the (NRC) actions that are already under way or are in the planning process," said Beth Hayden, a spokeswoman for the regulatory agency. But the NRC has made clear that it finds some of the recommendations "lacked a sound technical basis" and are "unreasonable." The suggestion that plant owners move the spent fuel from pools to dry casks is one such example, according to a March 14 letter sent by Nils J. Diaz, the NRC chairman, to the U.S. Senate subcommittee on Energy and Water Development. Spent fuel is kept in cooling pools at 65 different U.S. sites where nuclear reactors are operating, and at eight sites where reactors have been shut down, according to the report. 45,000 tons of waste The fuel must be kept in water for five years before it can be moved to dry storage. Nationally, there are more than 160,000 spent fuel assemblies - collections of these spent rods - containing about 45,000 tons of waste, according to the NRC. If they were assembled in one location, they'd cover a football field about 51/2 yards deep. At Pilgrim, which opened in the early 1970s, decades worth of spent fuel cools at the bottom of a 40-foot-deep pool of water, adjacent to the reactor on the Plymouth site. Right now it contains more than 2,600 assemblies. The plant is permitted to keep up to 3,800, and will likely run out of space in 2012, said David Tarantino, an Entergy spokesman. That fuel, he said, is protected beneath a wall of concrete and steel that protects the reactor itself. And, he said, other security measures have been added since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. To put the spent fuel in dry storage, he said, "we're talking millions of dollars." Critics insist the plant poses an unacceptable risk for the communities that surround it, and say the federal government should assure it is made as secure as possible. All spent fuel should be stored in dry casks, regardless of the cost, said David Agnew of Chatham, a critic of the nuclear industry and member of the citizen watchdog group Cape Downwinders. "I think it's a question of priorities," Agnew said. "If that plant were attacked and caught fire, and the wind was blowing in the right direction, it would make a nuclear wasteland of all of New England, forever more. "Is that a risk we want to take to assure that Entergy remains profitable?" Tarantino, the Pilgrim plant spokesman, said the Entergy plant will implement the directions of the NRC. But in the end, he said, the federal government should follow through on its promise to move spent fuel to a national repository. For more than a decade federal officials have eyed Yucca Mountain, a volcanic rock ridge about 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, as the eventual site of the repository. While it was supposed to happen by 1998, there is still no sign that it will happen any time soon "Here it is in 2005, seven years after they were federally obligated to move the fuel, and it's still here," Tarantino said. "It shouldn't even be here." (Published: April 7, 2005) www.capecodonline.com Copyright © 2005 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 24 Guardian Unlimited: Iran: Nuclear Talks With Europe Progress From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday April 7, 2005 3:16 AM AP Photo PAR130 By JOHN LEICESTER Associated Press Writer PARIS (AP) - Negotiations with Europe on Iran's nuclear program are ``complicated and difficult'' but are making progress, Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said in a television interview broadcast Wednesday. The United States suspects Iran of using its once-covert nuclear program to produce weapons and wants it shut down. Tehran says its nuclear technology is only to produce electricity. Khatami, speaking through a translator, said politics had hindered a solution. ``If the question was not political, if it was just a legal issue, trust would exist,'' he said in the interview broadcast in France on I-Tele. He said he did not think that there would be a U.S. attack on his country. ``We must always be ready because the threats could become concrete. But pratically, I don't think such an attack can happen because the Americans' experience in Iraq was very bitter,'' Khatami said. The United States fears that Iran's nuclear program has military uses, but Khatami said Iran, too, is worried about the proliferation of nuclear weapons. He said that a Russian-built nuclear reactor in Iran should be working within one year to 18 months ``if everything goes well.'' He reiterated that Iran has ``a legitimate right'' to civilian nuclear power. He also said Iran hopes for a change in U.S. policy, so that ``Americans respect other countries'' and do not impose their views on other nations. ``If these changes occur in American politics, then clearly the Iranians could at that time face up to a completely new situation,'' he said. Earlier, France's foreign minister also said negotiations are ``very fragile but we are progressing.'' France, Britain and Germany have been negotiating with Iran seeking guarantees it won't use its nuclear program to make weapons, as Washington suspects. Tehran insists the program - kept secret for two decades - is only for peaceful purposes. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 25 Guardian Unlimited: CIA Leak Probe Done, Minus Some Testimony From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday April 7, 2005 12:16 AM By MARK SHERMAN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The federal prosecutor investigating the leak of an undercover CIA officer's name says his work is complete except for one large omission: hearing from two reporters who are fighting a court order to answer questions under oath. Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said the refusal of Matthew Cooper of Time magazine and Judith Miller of The New York Times to divulge their sources has stalled his probe. Neither Cooper nor Miller wrote the original story that revealed the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame. Her name was first published in a 2003 column by Robert Novak, who cited two unidentified senior Bush administration officials as his sources. It is unclear whether Novak has cooperated with the investigation or whether the grand jury hearing evidence has returned any indictments. Fitzgerald is trying to determine who leaked the name and whether that was a crime. ``By October 2004, the factual investigation - other than the testimony of Miller and Cooper and any further investigation that might result from such testimony - was for all practical purposes complete,'' Fitzgerald said in two filings asking the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to end its consideration of the case. A three-judge appellate panel in February upheld a lower court ruling ordering Cooper and Miller to talk. They are asking the full appellate court to reverse the order. ``The public's right to have this investigation concluded should be delayed no further,'' Fitzgerald said, opposing the request. The filings, submitted in late March, were first reported by Newsday. Floyd Abrams, who is representing both reporters, said Fitzgerald has not explained why the reporters' testimony is important to his case. ``He doesn't indicate that it's crucial, just that it's unresolved,'' Abrams said Wednesday. ``He's done with everyone else, done with Robert Novak one way or the other and done inquiring of various government officials.'' Novak has refused to say whether he has testified or been subpoenaed. The column appeared after Plame's husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, wrote a newspaper opinion piece criticizing the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. The CIA had asked Wilson to check out the uranium claim. Wilson has said he believes his wife's name was leaked as retaliation for his critical comments. Disclosure of an undercover intelligence officer's identity can be a federal crime if prosecutors can show the leak was intentional and the person who released that information knew of the officer's secret status. Cooper is a White House correspondent for Time who has reported on the Plame controversy. He agreed in August to provide limited testimony about a conversation he had with Lewis ``Scooter'' Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, after Libby released Cooper from his promise of confidentiality. Fitzgerald then issued a second, broader subpoena seeking the names of other sources. Miller gathered material for an article about Plame but never wrote a story. Prosecutors have interviewed President Bush, Cheney, then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and other current or former administration officials in the investigation. Journalists from NBC and The Washington Post also have been subpoenaed. ^--- On the Net: U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: http://www.cadc.uscourts.govinternetinternet.nsf Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 26 FW: Downwinders Be Damned Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:17:11 -0500 (CDT) March 30, 2005 Bush Administration Kills Nuclear Fallout Study Downwinders Be Damned By JEFFREY ST. CLAIR http://www.counterpunch.org/ Just as the Bush administration contemplates ordering up a new generation of nuclear weapons, which may in turn spark a new round of nuclear testing in the high deserts of Nevada, the Center for Disease Control, a federal outpost in Atlanta charged with supervising the nation's physical well-being, pulled the plug on a long-term study into the dire health consequences from nuclear testing in the 1950s and 1960s on people living in the American southwest. The study, which has been underway for seven years, has been tracking the thyroid conditions of 4,000 former students who lived in southwestern Utah and eastern Nevada in 1965, at the height of testing of nuclear weapons at the Nevada Test Site. The lead researcher, Dr. Joseph L. Lyons, a professor at the University of Utah, was informed via a curtly worded letter on March 21 that funding for the study had been inexplicably yanked. The letter terminating the research in midstream was written by Michael A. McGeehin, director of the CDC's Division of Environmental Hazards and Health Effects. McGeehin claimed the study was killed because of financial considerations. "The CDC does not have the resources to extend funding for this study beyond the current budget period," McGeehin wrote. "We recommend that you take measures to close out this study by the end of the current budget period, which will occur on August 31, 2005." The Utah Thyroid Disease Study hardly seems like a financial burden on the federal purse. In seven years, the investigation into thyroid cancers linked to radioactive fallout has cost the federal treasury only $8,049,988, roughly the amount the Pentagon spends every two hours in Iraq. Or consider this: from 1990 to 1995, the federal government spent more than $90 million in legal fees to fight off claims from downwinders and workers at nuclear weapons plants over the health consequences of bomb-making and testing. Lyons believes, with good reason, that the study was axed for political reasons. "The only interpretation I can put on it is that the Bush administration doesn't want to know the health effects of fallout on American citizens," Lyons told the Deseret News. The scientist also said it was an extremely rare occurrence for the CDC to pull funding in the middle of a major study. "I've never know it to happen before," says Lyons, who has been researching the links between cancer and fallout since 1977. Located 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the Nevada Test Site, established in 1951, sprawls over 1,500 square miles of desert basin and range country. Between 1951 and 1992, the Pentagon and Department of Energy conducted at least 925 nuclear blasts at the site, more than 100 of the explosions were above ground, open-air tests, which cast a radioactive pall over much of the American West. Even the underground tests vented plumes of radiation. A 1997 study by the National Cancer Institute reported that the fallout from the blasts deposited large amounts of radioactive iodine across the lower-48 states. The report concluded that the contamination was so severe that it may cause as many as 70,000 cases of thyroid cancer alone. By way of comparison, that's 65,000 more casualties than Saddam Hussein is alleged to have caused in his poison gas attack on the Kurdish village of Halabja in 1988. It was Lyons's groundbreaking study in 1979 for the New England Journal of Medicine which proved that radioactive fallout from the open-air nuclear tests in Nevada had lead to increased incidents of cancer in communities downwind of the blasts. A subsequent study demonstrated that those same downwind communities faced an increased likelihood of leukemia deaths. These two reports prompted Congress to finally enact a fallout compensation measure for downwinders. In 1993, Lyons and his colleagues began studying the thyroid conditions of former school children who lived downwind of the blasts. That research, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, found that the schoolchildren exposed to the highest levels of radiation were 3.4 times more likely to suffer from thyroid tumors than would be expected. These same students had been monitored by federal researchers until 1970, who, unsurprisingly, claimed not to have found any link between exposure to fallout and thyroid tumors. But Lyons and his colleagues began examining those students as adults and found that 58 of the former downwinders had nodules on their thyroids. Of those, 8 were malignant tumors and 11 were benign tumors. This initial study buttressed the theory held by Lyons and many other scientists that there is a lifetime risk to fallout exposure and that thyroid problems in particular develop very slowly across a span of decades. These results prompted Lyons to apply for funding from the CDC for a larger study that would examine the thyroid conditions of all 4,000 former schoolchildren in southwestern Utah and eastern Nevada, who were originally identified in 1965 as being exposed to the most extreme levels of fallout from the blasts. The incidence of thyroid problems in those students was to be compared to a control group in Safford, Arizona. One of the initial problems Lyons ran into was the realization that the radioactive fallout extended farther than he anticipated, meaning that most of the population of Safford had also been exposed to radiation, though in much smaller doses. Fallout has gone global. When it comes to thermonuclear weapons, we all live downwind. By the end of last year, the researchers had tracked down more than 90 percent of the former students, most of whom agreed to be examined for the study. "We've already reported that there's an excess of tumors of the thyroid gland," Lyons said. "And we've got pretty strong indications that there are other disease problems that ought to be looked at." Originally, Lyons planned to have the study completed within five years. But he encountered continual meddling and roadblocks from the CDC that consumed both time and much of the grant money. "The federal government put all kinds of bureaucratic hurdles in our path that were not part of the original agreement," Lyons contends. The agreement called for Lyons research to be overseen by the University of Utah. Then the CDC said that the study needed to be scrutinized by an institutional review board at the CDC, a requirement that delayed the research by two years. Next the CDC informed Lyons that he had to submit the plans for his study to a panel at the National Academy of Sciences, an inquisition that lasted another two years. Then the CDC called for a yet another review of Lyons's methodology by a three-person panel at the Department of Energy. When Lyons and his colleagues finally got out into the field and began to get results, the CDC pulled the plug. "Essentially, they said, 'Tough luck, we don't want your study'," said Lyons. "I've been working on this now since 1977. I'm about to retire and I'd really like to finish up this thyroid study and get some definitive answers." Those answers might prove to be unsettling for the Bush administration as it pursues a new generation of nuclear weapons and grooms the killing grounds of the Nevada Test Site for another go-round of nuclear blasts. People are getting sick and dying the American Southwest and the Bush administration doesn't want them to learn why. Downwinders be damned. For more information on visit: http://www.downwinders.org Jeffrey St. Clair is the author of Been Brown So Long It Looked Like Green to Me: the Politics of Nature. This essay is excerpted from his forthcoming book Grand Theft Pentagon, to be published in July by Common Courage Press. ***************************************************************** 27 New Mexican: A-bomb survivor to speak about Hiroshima Thu Apr 7, 2005 11:33 pm When the mushroom cloud exploded over Hiroshima, Japan, on Aug. 6, 1945, Keijiro Matsushima was contemplating a difficult calculus question in school. He was 16. He heard the blast, ducked under his desk, then emerged covered in blood. The windows in his classroom had broken. He crawled out of the school building, bandaged a friend's cut and took him to the Red Cross Hospital. In the streets, he saw burned, swollen and disfigured faces. Peeling skin hung off bodies. "The road was full of terribly wounded people walking in a procession like ghosts; others were sitting on a cart being pulled by another person and still others were lying or sitting lifelessly on the sidewalks," Matsushima remembers. An estimated 140,000 people died that year. Now 76 and a retired junior-high principal, Matsushima is traveling the world to share his recollections of the first atomic bomb explosion in history. This week, he'll be in Los Alamos -- the birthplace of the atomic bomb -- and Santa Fe. "As a survivor of the atomic bomb, I hope to talk to more people of the world about the horror of what happened in Hiroshima, and to cooperate with all people to eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of our earth," he wrote. Since March 2004, the Hiroshima World Peace Mission has sent Japanese A-bomb survivors, students, activists and journalists to 12 countries to promote nuclear disarmament. The final stop in the tour: the United States. Upon arriving in Santa Fe today, the Japanese delegation will do a radio interview with KSFR's Diego Mulligan. On Friday morning, members of the Hiroshima World Peace Mission will take a van tour of Los Alamos National Laboratory and meet with lab officials at the Bradbury Science Museum. Back in Santa Fe, the group will present Mayor Larry Delgado with sunflowers, an international symbol for nuclear disarmament, at 2 p.m. Friday outside City Hall. In the evening, the public can meet the Japanese delegation at Cloud Cliff Bakery during a presentation. Copyright 2004 Santa Fe New Mexican ***************************************************************** 28 E-Mails Reveal Fraud in Nuclear Site Study Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2005 01:35:18 -0500 (CDT) E-Mails Reveal Fraud in Nuclear Site Study http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/02/politics/02yucca.html?ex=1113109200&en=80f0635311a6244c&ei=5070 By MATTHEW L. WALD Published: April 2, 2005 ASHINGTON, April 1 - Government employees studying whether Yucca Mountain in Nevada would be a suitable place to bury nuclear waste acknowledged in e-mail messages to each other that they had made up details about how they had done their research in order to appear to meet quality standards, according to some of the messages made public on Friday. Some of the frank exchanges included instructions to erase them. The Energy Department, which is trying to open a waste repository at the mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, disclosed the existence of the e-mail messages two weeks ago. On Friday, a subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Reform released dozens of pages of the messages. One analyst wrote that a computer program had generated data he could not explain, so he withheld it from the quality assurance department, known as QA. "Don't look at the last 4 lines. Those are a mystery," wrote the scientist, who the subcommittee said was an employee of the United States Geological Survey, a part of the Interior Department. "I've deleted the lines from the 'official' QA version of the files." "In the end I keep track of 2 sets of files, the ones that will keep QA happy and the ones that were actually used," he wrote. The message was dated November 1999. B. John Garrick, the chairman of the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board, a group of independent experts established by Congress to monitor the Energy Department, said that it was too soon to draw conclusions but that "it is disturbing to see such loosely framed discussions between scientists." Before releasing the messages, the subcommittee removed the names and titles of the senders and the recipients, and deleted other words that made the full context of some of the messages difficult to ascertain. But the theme was that employees were performing work they did not believe would meet standards set by the quality assurance inspectors, and were sometimes falsifying their work in ways that they believed would satisfy the inspectors. In a message dated April 22, 1999, a scientist wrote that he did some calculations by hand and that the computer program he wrote, presumably to do those calculations, "is not in the system." He wrote that he feared he would be "taken to the cleaners" by the inspectors because his work did not refer to an established procedure laid out in a scientific notebook, and he asked if he should create such a notebook "and back-date the whole thing??" The author of another message noted in January 2000 that he could not document the way certain work was done. "I can start making something up, but then the (deleted) projects will need to go on hold," he wrote. In an e-mail message in March 2000, a government worker wrote that he did not know when software he had used had been installed. "So I've made up the dates and names," he wrote. "If they need more proof I will be happy to make up more stuff, as long as its not a video recording of the software being installed." The chairman of the panel that released the messages, Representative Jon Porter, Republican of Nevada, pointed out that the Energy Department and the White House had repeatedly said that their recommendation of the Yucca Mountain site was based on "sound science." "If the project has been based upon science, and the science is not correct, it puts the whole project in jeopardy," said Mr. Porter, a longtime opponent of Yucca Mountain plan. "I believe these e-mails show science is not driving the project; it's expedience to get the job done." In a well-done scientific investigation, he said, the methods used to derive predictions about crucial factors like water infiltration should be transparent and reproducible. A lawyer who represents the State of Nevada, Joseph Egan, said that after reading the messages, "you can't even say it's wrong; you have to say it's not reliable." "You don't know how badly they've fudged this stuff," Mr. Egan said. Some of the correspondents explicitly discuss problems and say they do not believe that they make any material difference to the ability of the mountain, a volcanic structure on the edge of the Nevada Test Site, to hold the waste for thousands of years. But the issue of quality control is crucial to the Energy Department because to open a repository, it must win the approval of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which has scuttled some projects because of quality assurance problems. In one case in the 1980's, the commission forced the owners of a nuclear reactor to abandon their project, after they had spent nearly $2 billion and when the reactor was said to be 98 percent complete, because of questions about whether some welds had been made properly and inspected adequately by qualified inspectors. The subcommittee on the federal work force, which released the e-mail messages, plans to hold a hearing on Yucca Mountain on Tuesday. The witnesses include several prominent opponents, including Gov. Kenny Guinn of Nevada and Senator Harry Reid, also of Nevada, the Democratic leader. 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WHEN SPIDERS UNITE, THEY CAN TIE DOWN A LION -- Ethiopian Proverb ***************************************************************** 29 DenverPost.com: Nuclear waste near Moab to be moved Article Published: Thursday, April 07, 2005 By Kim McGuire Denver Post Staff Writer The Department of Energy on Wednesday announced plans to relocate a 12 million-ton pile of radioactive waste that sits about 750 feet away from the Colorado River in southeastern Utah. The announcement ends decades of concerns about radioactive waste polluting the river, which downstream provides water for about 25 million people in Utah, Arizona, Nevada and California. "After more than 10 years and millions of dollars spent studying this site, we need to move forward and remove this threat from residents of Grand County, and millions of downstream water users," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. The Energy Department said it will recommend that the waste be moved to a closed storage facility about 30 miles to the north, near Crescent Junction. Work could start after the department issues a final decision, probably early this summer, energy officials said Wednesday. The massive pile of tailings near Moab is from the only decommissioned uranium mill overseen by the Energy Department yet to be cleaned up. The waste began piling up near the river in the 1950s as the atomic age ushered in a uranium mining boom across much of the West, including Utah and Colorado. In 2000, legislation was approved transferring control of the site to the Department of Energy after the mill's owner, Atlas Corp. of Denver, declared bankruptcy. Not long after, then-Energy Secretary Bill Richardson stood on a ridge overlooking the uranium tailings and declared that the pile of waste would soon be moved, only to have a legal loophole thwart those plans. In November, the Energy Department outlined four options for the site. Three of them called for moving the waste and burying it anywhere from 17 to 85 miles away. The fourth option, which could have cost only half as much as moving the waste, called for covering the pile with dirt and rocks. Environmentalists, several Western lawmakers and Moab residents opposed that option, fearing that a flood could wash the radioactive waste into the Colorado River and taint drinking water for millions of people. "I am happily optimistic for the first time in a long time that this pile will be moved and the water cleaned up," said Bill Hedden, director of the Grand Canyon Trust, which in 1999 sued to have the tailings removed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Staff writer Kim McGuire can be reached at 303-820-1240 or kmcguire@denverpost.com. All contents Copyright 2005 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 30 reviewjournal.com: STEVE SEBELIUS: Fake memos, stolen water, truth Apr. 07, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Gov. Kenny Guinn, whose 2002 veto of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump was overridden by a Congress controlled by his own Republican Party, was back on Capitol Hill this week in fine dander. Since Guinn's objections were rudely ignored by Congress, a few things have happened on the Yucca front. A federal appeals court has ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency's radiation-protection standard is hopelessly inadequate. Disgruntled former employees have alleged that Yucca engineers intentionally broke equipment to get overtime pay, not to mention stealing Nevada water for use at the project. And -- could you even make this up? -- workers in e-mails discussed how they faked "quality assurance" steps when studying how groundwater will flow through the mountain. That, by the way, is a critical element in deciding whether the dump will be safe. Guinn told a House Government Reform Subcommittee, chaired by our own U.S. Rep. Jon Porter, that the actions at Yucca Mountain are no different than "cooking the books and fabricating information" that took place at Enron and WorldCom. "I see no difference between those scandals and what appears to have occurred in (the Department of Energy's) Yucca Mountain program," Guinn said. Given that, Guinn added, he's going to seek an audience with President Bush to discuss the myriad problems vexing Yucca Mountain. (Bush, you may recall, met with Guinn before deciding to sign off on former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's designation of Yucca as the Official Resting Place of Nuclear Waste in America.) "We will work to get another sit-down discussion with the president, because the facts have changed; there is no doubt about that," Guinn said. Um, the facts? You're going to try arguing with the president using facts? The facts are that Bush signed off on Yucca Mountain when there was still tons of scientific work left for researchers to make up ... er, investigate. And he did that despite a 2000 campaign trail promise to wait for "sound science" before ruling the dump safe. For an administration that's 90 percent faith-based initiative anyway, facts are things that only we members of what one Bush official called "the reality based community" must contend with. The administration makes reality more suitable to its worldview. Which is partly why the Energy Department's public relations campaign in the wake of the e-mail revelations has maintained that the underlying science showing the dump is safe is not in question. Right. And atom-bomb tests are one hell of a way to celebrate the Fourth of July. Hey, why don't we use some of those Iraqi weapons of mass destruction this year? It is the city of Las Vegas's fake "centennial," after all! Before you call that a cheap shot, consider the parallels. The administration contended publicly before our invasion and occupation of Iraq that Saddam Hussein's regime had been developing weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons. Remember Condoleezza Rice's infamous "mushroom cloud" remark, later mimicked by her boss? Sure enough, the intelligence community contended Saddam was armed to the teeth with the deadliest weapons seen since they put Carrot Top in AT&T commercials. And sure enough, when we got to Iraq, we learned the truth: Saddam didn't have squat. A report released last week said our intelligence was "dead wrong," but concluded -- without interviewing President Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney -- that analysts weren't pressured by the administration to cook the books. Sure. Switch back to Yucca Mountain: The nation's energy companies, big contributors to the Bush-Cheney campaign in 2000 and 2004, have said they desperately need a place to store waste. The administration concurred, and prefers Yucca, which can trace its history all the way to U.S. Sen. J. Bennett Johnston and Ronald Reagan. And sure enough, the government's science says it's safe. The only trouble is, the government's science includes such erudite professional terms as "fudge factors" and researchers openly boasting they can provide bull manure by the metric ton, if so demanded. The government's radiation standard is the automotive equivalent of a 10-minute or 10-mile warranty (whichever comes first!). Yet the government persists in pushing Yucca, having already spent billions on the idea. So Guinn is going to argue with the president using facts? Good luck, governor. You'll need it. When it comes to Yucca, we've got them right where they want us. Steve Sebelius is the Review-Journal's political columnist and author of the daily e-mail political newsletter the EARLY LINE. His column runs Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at 383-0283 or . STEVE SEBELIUS ***************************************************************** 31 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast-fueled bill advances | 04/07/2005 | STEPHEN MAJORS Herald Staff Writer TALLAHASSEE - Rep. Bill Galvano's contamination notification bill cleared House and Senate committee hurdles Wednesday in its race to the chamber floors in the final weeks of the legislative session. But one senator's attempt to widen the scope of notification, with the support of an environmental group, has resulted in more committee assignments and a prolonged battle to reach the full Senate. Complaints from residents in the Tallevast community led Galvano, R-Bradenton, to introduce a bill that would require the state Department of Environmental Protection to notify affected parties that contamination had spread into their property within 30 days of receiving that information. It would also require the contaminating property owner performing site cleanup to tell the DEP within 10 days if the owner discovered that contamination had spread off-site into adjacent properties. In Tallevast, residents did not find out they were living in an area contaminated by pollutants from the former American Beryllium Co. until three years after the DEP had the information. The bill would "add a duty for the DEP that does not exist," Galvano said. He said Gov. Jeb Bush told him in a meeting last week that keeping the bill "clean" would increase its chances for success. Fearing that amendments to expand the scope of the bill could hurt the bill's progress, Galvano, with Democratic Rep. Jack Seiler, successfully introduced an amendment in a House committee that they hoped would address other legislators' concerns. The amendment would require contaminating property owners to also notify any tenants or lessees on the source property, if applicable, when they notify the DEP about off-site contamination. "They may feel like if they have to give the notice to the DEP, they don't have to give the notice to tenants," Galvano said about the reason for the amendment. In the Senate Governmental Oversight & Productivity Committee, Galvano and Senate bill sponsor Paula Dockery fended off an amendment by Sen. Al Lawson, D-Tallahassee. Lawson's amendment would have extended the notification of tenants on a contaminated site to "users" of a site including schoolchildren and employees. The amendment was inspired by a school near Tallahassee where children and teachers worked for years amidst petroleum contamination without knowing it. Lawson could not be reached for comment on the amendment. The environmental group Wildlaw, which has worked with Galvano throughout the original bill's life, supported Lawson's measure. Jeanne Zokovitch, Wildlaw's staff attorney, said she was confident after negotiations with Galvano that he would not "leave out people worthy of notification." This was Galvano's Tallevast bill, Zokovitch said, but the measure would not have required notification to American Beryllium Co. employees, who were the most affected by contamination. Zokovitch is in the position of supporting a bill when she doesn't think it goes far enough. "I'm not going to back off amongst political pressure because people need to be held accountable," Zokovitch said. "I have serious questions as to why they're resisting (the amendment). If I find out the motives are political, I will change my opinion." Galvano countered that the duty for property owners to notify employees or schoolchildren on-site is already a part of law, and that the amendments would only codify current interpretations. Requiring notification of all potential parties could cause unnecessary panic, he said. "There is a duty in Florida law for someone in control of property to warn of hazardous conditions," Galvano said. "I don't want her to be upset. She has a great deal of compassion for the people that she represents. My bill is a vehicle that has finally come along." Galvano said the political climate of the bill would make it hard to adopt the amendment. "I've pushed very hard on industry and very hard on the DEP," he said. "There is a balance in this process and if all of the sudden one group or another feels like we've created an impossible bill to comply with," it will fall apart, he said. The Associated Industries of Florida, as well as the Florida Petroleum Council, support Galvano's bill and were against the amendment. Galvano said he will meet with Lawson and Zokovitch to explore a way to get their concerns into the bill. The debate Wednesday in the Senate committee led to more committee referrals from the Senate president's office. The bill will now be heard in the General Government Appropriations Committee, and Ways & Means, the appropriations arm of the Senate. "The bill got recognized as one that will not have perfunctory passage," Galvano said. "It probably raised some eyebrows and that's how that works. Our job just got tougher." Stephen Majors, Tallahassee reporter for The Herald, can be reached at smajors@HeraldToday.com. ***************************************************************** 32 SignOnSanDiego.com: Huge toxic pile by river to be moved Radioactive waste has polluted the Colorado By David Hasemyer UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER April 7, 2005 A 10-million-ton pile of radioactive waste that has been polluting the Colorado River for decades will be moved under a plan announced yesterday by the U.S. Department of Energy. The decision comes after years of heated and emotional debate over what to do with the pile, which sits 750 feet from the river near the tourist town of Moab, Utah. The decision is being hailed as an environmental victory that will safeguard the drinking water of more than 25 million people, including most San Diego County residents. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman notified the department's Office of Environmental Management of his decision yesterday. It won't be official until the final environmental impact statement is issued, though the agency rarely goes against such recommendations. "It's done," said Don Metzler, the Energy Department's longtime project manager at the site. "The secretary has made a very good decision. I can't think of anybody who would oppose it." The waste will be dug up, then shipped by rail and buried on a desolate expanse of open range about 30 miles from the river. Planning will begin immediately, but the task is so immense that the first scoop probably won't be removed until 2007. The job is expected to be completed by 2012. San Diego County draws two-thirds of its water from the Colorado River. The river also supplies drinking water to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and many other cities in the Southwest. "It would be an understatement to say we are anything but ecstatic," said Wes Bannister, chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, one of the largest agencies drawing water from the river. If a natural disaster had pushed the pile "into the water, it would have been one of the most critical issues we have ever seen. It makes us all feel a lot more comfortable." The decision is being praised by everyone from politicians to residents of Moab. Members of Congress and governors from five states had joined with concerned citizens in Escondido, San Diego and Encinitas in calling for the removal of the radioactive waste. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Interior also wanted the pile moved. Associated Press An aerial photograph shows the pile of radioactive waste along the Colorado River in Moab, Utah, that will be moved to another Utah site about 30 miles from the river. "The Colorado is becoming more precious every year and this is the most prudent step to ensuring it remains a healthy water source," said Bill Hedden, executive director of the environmental group Grand Canyon Trust and one of the leading advocates of getting the pile moved. Sam Taylor, co-publisher of the Times-Independent  newspaper in Moab, called the decision a "tremendous victory." "This is absolutely the outcome we were looking for," he said. The Energy Department had considered a number of alternatives, including capping the pile and leaving it at its current site in a scenic valley of red-rock canyons. Moving the pile is expected to cost $329 million to $464 million, while capping it would have cost $166 million. The pile of tailings, or residue, is from one of the nation's largest uranium processing plants, which opened near Moab in 1956. Uranium ore, found in large concentrations in southeastern Utah, was refined for use in atomic weapons during the Cold War. It was later used in nuclear power generators. The toxic leftovers  uranium, arsenic, ammonia and other poisonous substances  continued growing until the mill closed in 1986. The mound is 94 feet high and spreads over 130 acres. One of the biggest fears has been that a catastrophic natural disaster, such as a flood or an earthquake, could dump the whole pile into the river, although scientists disagree on the likelihood of such a scenario. At one point, groundwater contaminated by the waste was leaking into the river at an estimated 28,000 gallons a day, although recent Energy Department cleanup efforts slowed the contamination to 15,000 gallons a day. The pollution is diluted over the river's meandering course to Southern California, and studies have shown that the slightly elevated levels of radiation in the water aren't close to the danger level. Scientists also have pointed out that the Moab pile isn't the only source of pollution to the river. Nevertheless, former Utah Gov. Olene Walker, who lobbied to get the pile moved before she left office in January, sees the Energy Department's decision as crucial to the river's health. "While it does not make the Colorado pure, it does mean that these tailings will no longer be one of the contributing factors to the pollution of the river," Walker said. Rep. Bob Filner, D-San Diego, who has pushed Congress for years to get the pile moved, said the action is long overdue. He's upset that it could take seven years to finish the project. "This is our water and we need to make sure it is safe for now and generations to come," he said. Gordon Hess, director of imported water for the San Diego County Water Authority, applauded the decision. "This is a positive step in recognizing the importance of moving the tailings and not leaving them next to the river," he said. Metzler, the project manager, said the new site offers an ideal natural container of impermeable Mancos shale that is 2,500 feet deep. "It's a big, thick, wonderful substrata for disposal," he said. The site, northeast of U.S. 191 at Interstate 70 near Crescent Junction, will be excavated and a liner will be installed over the shale. The plan also calls for more work at the current site, including cleanup of groundwater that has been contaminated by toxins leaking from the pile. The Moab pile is the only tailings site supervised by the Department of Energy that hasn't been cleaned up. The department has moved 21 smaller and less-toxic tailings piles away from rivers over the last two decades for more than $1 billion. Union-Tribune researcher Merrie Monteagudo contributed to this report. David Hasemyer: (619) 542-4583; david.hasemyer@uniontrib.com About the Union-Tribune | Contact the Union-Tribune © Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 33 Las Vegas RJ: Author of e-mails reassigned to DOE Thursday, April 07, 2005 Move took place despite investigation By KEITH ROGERS and STEVE TETREAULT REVIEW-JOURNAL A principal author of e-mails that discuss falsifying Yucca Mountain documents was reassigned to the Department of Energy last month to help with troubleshooting missing work, federal officials said Wednesday. An Energy Department spokeswoman said the U.S. Geological Survey scientist was reassigned to the nuclear waste project March 15 to find a missing electronic file needed to run computer models of water flow through the proposed repository site. The reassignment came at a time when Yucca Mountain officials were becoming aware of e-mail messages written between 1998 and 2000 in which workers said they had made up dates and names and used "fudge factors" to satisfy quality assurance requirements for their research on climate and water infiltration at the repository site. Some officials at the Energy Department and the U.S. Geological Survey knew the employee was under investigation, but managers decided the computer file was needed, and the assignment would be for no more than 40 hours, sources said. They have changed their mind about the arrangement. Energy Department officials realized the reassignment "was not a good idea," said Barbara Wainman, a USGS spokeswoman. "It was sort of a contracting arrangement. This person would be able to charge up to 40 hours on the account," Wainman said. The worker had left the Yucca Mountain program several years ago and was working elsewhere in USGS. Energy Department spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton said the department sought the scientist's help to find the computer file after searches in Las Vegas and at USGS offices in Denver failed to turn it up. The department ended the assignment Wednesday without any work being performed, she said. "As of today, the individual has not billed any work related to this task or any other work, and as of today, the DOE has asked the USGS not to bill any work to the Yucca Mountain Project related to this going forward," Womack Kolton said. The file remains missing, Kolton said. "The DOE will find a way to accommodate for the lost file," she said. USGS spokeswoman A.B. Wade told the Associated Press that the reassigned worker was the one identified as "USGS Employee 1" in a summary of the e-mails made public Friday by a House subcommittee led by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. According to the subcommittee, "USGS Employee 1" authored provocative messages, including one on March 23, 1999, stating, "Dealing with this QA bullshit is really starting to make me sick." Wainman declined to identify the authors of the e-mails. "We have to protect their privacy at this point still," Wainman said. The e-mails are at the center of an investigation by inspectors general at the Energy Department and the Department of Interior that could lead to criminal charges. A 23-page quality assurance audit report from 2000 lists a half dozen USGS scientists, including hydrologists, climate experts and field testing specialists. Phone calls to two of the scientists at their offices in Sacramento, Calif., were not returned Wednesday. But in a phone call late Wednesday to his home in Sacramento, one of the USGS scientists, Joe A. Hevesi, said his work was among the subjects of the e-mail controversy. Hevesi, whose title is listed as "hydrology and climate" in the audit report, said he worked on Analysis Model Report U0010, "Simulation of Net Infiltration for Modern and Potential Future Climates." Because of the investigations, Hevesi said he has been told to direct calls on the matter to the USGS public affairs office. Asked whether he is returning to Las Vegas, where the Energy Department's Office of Repository Development is, Hevesi said, "I can't answer that right now. I'm waiting to hear word as to what's going to happen." The scope of the audit report covered 11 items, including Analysis Model Report U0010, one the Energy Department has identified as being at issue in the e-mails. The model uses borehole data, precipitation records and data from stream gauges to estimate how surface water infiltrates the mountain under current climate conditions. The model report flunked the inspection, which was conducted Jan. 24 through Jan. 28, 2000. Auditors cited several software and technical deficiencies. The deficiencies would have required corrective actions, but what was done was unclear. Porter's subcommittee has made public 130 pages of redacted e-mails and memos that include workers discussing shortcomings in documenting their work. According to the subcommittee, "USGS Employee One" was the author of a Jan. 6, 2000, e-mail that said auditors had selected the water infiltration report for examination. "Yes this is really happening," the message said. "There is, of course, no scientific notebook for this work. Work is in the form of electronic files. I can show auditors input, output and program files, but it is not clear to me how to show documentation of work in progress. "I can start making something up but then the (redacted) project will need to go on hold," the author wrote, adding later, "I will be ill-prepared for the audit and will likely get hammered." The U.S. Geological Survey notified Congress on Wednesday that the Energy Department had sought the scientist for reassignment. Porter said his subcommittee staff was told the Energy Department sought the reassignment on March 9. "Either (the Energy Department) is extremely incompetent or extremely devious in their effort to make this project work," Porter said. "This is a reflection of a culture of mismanagement that permeates the DOE and the USGS." USGS director Charles Groat testified at a hearing this week that the e-mail authors no longer were with the Yucca Mountain program although they remained employed elsewhere in the agency. Officials said Wednesday that Groat misspoke. "I am angry but not surprised," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "This is especially troubling in light of the answers provided under oath during Tuesday's hearing, in which the Nevada delegation was given assurances that none of those accused in the e-mail flap are still on the payroll." Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., is urging that the information emerging about Yucca Mountain be handled carefully so as not to interfere with criminal investigations, spokeswoman Tessa Hafen said. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 34 Las Vegas SUN: Scientist linked to Yucca e-mails remains on payroll By Suzanne Struglinski <> SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A scientist under investigation for allegedly falsifying documents at the Yucca Mountain project briefly worked on the project again, despite the fact that the Energy Department already had discovered e-mails in which the scientist had written about making up data. The U.S. Geological Survey disclosed the scientist's additional work on the project after USGS Director Charles Groat told Nevada's House members Tuesday that no one involved in writing the e-mails was still working on the project, though some were still working for the government. This infuriated Nevada lawmakers, who wanted the employees in question to stop working at least until the investigations were over. "I can't believe these folks are still on the payroll," said Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. Groat said corrective actions would take place but that he has not spoken to the individuals under investigation. "Why would we want those people still in our employ?" said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Groat said other USGS employees are still working on the Yucca Mountain repository but not those in question. But on Wednesday, USGS contacted the House Federal Workforce and Agency Organization Subcommittee, of which Porter is chairman to clarify Groat's comments. USGS spokeswoman A.B. Wade said the agency found that the department offered the scientist, identified by the subcommittee as "USGS employee 1," a 40-hour contract on March 9 to help recreate computer files. The department was authorized to implement the contract on March 15. Wade refused to identify the employee, who is still under investigation. The department made the e-mails public on March 16, but internal documents show they knew about problems with the data in December 2004 but did not revisit the issue until earlier last month. Wade said the department needed a computer program to run new models on water infiltration, which the employee had worked on in the past. When the scientist did not have the file, the department contracted him to help recreate the file. Once USGS contacted the department about the contract, the contract was immediately halted, Wade said. The scientist will not be recreating the files, but is still on the USGS payroll, Wade said. Two other people whose names appear on the e-mails also are still working on the Yucca project, Wade said. They are not authors of the e-mails but appeared in the "cc" section, meaning they were sent copies of the messages, Wade said. These people do USGS work full time on the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca but are paid by the Energy Department. "USGS employee 1" works for the USGS in California. Criminal investigations by the FBI and the inspectors general at the Energy and Interior departments are under way regarding the e-mails. The Associated Press contributed to this story. ***************************************************************** 35 palm beach post: Endangered species: Good science www.palmbeachpost.com By Jac Wilder VerSteeg Palm Beach Post Editorial Writer Thursday, April 07, 2005 In May 2004, Florida-based biologist Andrew Eller formally complained that his employer, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, routinely used bad science to approve development that could destroy habitat the Florida panther needs to survive in the wild. The service took his complaint under advisement. In November 2004, the day after President Bush's reelection, the Fish and Wildlife Service fired Mr. Eller. Last month, Steve Williams, outgoing director of the Fish and Wildlife Service, sent Mr. Eller a letter admitting that Mr. Eller's complaints were valid. Great news for Mr. Eller, you'd think. After all, he'd worked for Fish and Wildlife for 18 years. Mr. Williams promised that his agency would correct the scientific mistakes it had written into its policies and disseminated to other agencies. But Mr. Williams didn't give Mr. Eller his job back. And the agency didn't promise to stop the development that it green-lighted based on the flawed science. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which joined Mr. Eller in complaining about the science, says there are 30 such projects, including Ave Maria University near Naples, which just got the final construction permits it needs. The private university is a project of Thomas Monaghan, who made his money on Domino's Pizza and now gives lots of it to Republican causes, such as defeating former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and defending Judge William Pryor, one of President Bush's most controversial appointees. Other projects that threaten panther habitat include an expansion of Southwest Florida International Airport near Fort Myers and construction of several gated communities. The Bush administration is known for twisting or ignoring science. But disregard for panther habitat has been bipartisan. In the mid-1990s, Democrats held the balance of power. Then-Sen. Bob Graham and Gov. Lawton Chiles both intervened to squash a finding by Mr. Eller and other scientists that construction of the new Gulf Coast University would damage panther habitat. The university was built on 760 acres donated by Ben Hill Griffin III, described in a 1994 editorial in The St. Petersburg Times as "one of the state's biggest landholders and an influential ally of some of Florida's most powerful Democrats." (Mr. Griffin's niece later became well-known, but as a Republican former Secretary of State, now U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris.) The Times editorial said, "This story, like so many others in the history of Florida's runaway development, has been driven by politics and money." And now, it seems, by bad science. Before developments are approved, scientists are supposed to certify that they won't harm panthers. Mr. Eller's written complaint to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said the science was rigged to hide problems. Studies purporting to show how much and what kind of land panthers needed and therefore where it's OK to bring in the bulldozers looked at panther activity only during the day, when the cats are least active. Relying on that data is the equivalent of studying humans only at night and concluding that they stay in bed 24 hours a day. So if the situation were magically reversed and panthers were planning to develop MegaForest, they could plant a thick woods in your yard and then knock down your living room and kitchen to plant even more trees. Studies used to develop the panther protection rules made another basic mistake assuming that all panthers are part of the breeding population. Some, of course, are too old or too young. Right now, Congress is investigating whether government scientists made up data to show that it would be safe to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. If they did and the e-mails they sent are pretty damning they could face criminal charges. This week also brings news that a former professor at the Vermont College of Medicine could go to prison for five years and be fined $250,000 for making up research data on aging, menopause and hormone supplements to win a $542,000 federal grant. Those scientists are in trouble for lying. Mr. Eller is in trouble for telling the truth. There's a hearing this month to decide whether he should get his job back. It would be good news if he did, for Mr. Eller and for Florida panthers. Copyright © 2005, The Palm Beach Post. All rights reserved. By using PalmBeachPost.com, you accept the terms of our visitor ***************************************************************** 36 FPN: Question marks over 'uranium find' Free Press of Namibia Thursday, April 7, 2005 - Web posted at 8:55:22 GMT JOHN GROBLER THE announcement by an Australian-listed mining company, Reefton Mining NL, that it has made a uranium discovery on the farm Hakskeen outside Usakos, has been greeted with widespread scepticism by analysts and geologists. Rather, it is being suggested, the 'uranium discovery' might well have been the result of alleged sloppy geology, as the specific deposit is well known to be thorium, another radioactive substance that is sometimes used in fluorescent lighting fixtures. "I would be very, very sceptical of any announcement of a major uranium find at Hakskeen," said Cape Town-based geologist Dr Nick Stevens, who has written his doctorate on the geology of the area where Reefton said it made its find. On March 18, Reefton NL announced to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) that it has identified four new radiometric anomalies in close proximity to the Langer Heinrich deposit. The Langer Heinrich deposit is again close to the Roessing deposit, which is the fourth largest uranium mine in the world. In the announcement, titled 'New Uranium Discovery', Reefton NL said: "… the company has discovered a new uranium target at its wholly owned Erongo Polymetallic Project in central Namibia, Africa". "The company has commenced radiometric surveying returning significant readings of up to 94 320 counts per minute, thereby indicating the presence of uranium-bearing mineralisation," the letter to the ASX Company Announcement Office stated. Reefton also said it had found "radiometric anomalies" at three other farms in the area, namely Vergenoeg, Sukses and Hoopverloor. The company said these anomalies "occur within alluvial basins interpreted to have developed on palaeochannels similar to the … Langer Heinrich uranium deposit owned by Paladin Resources Ltd located south of Hakskeen". The Langer Heinrich deposit is a proven uranium-vanadium deposit. BOOMING PRICES Booming uranium prices appear to have created a bull market for new uranium discoveries, and Reefton's stock price shot up in the week after the announcement, made late last month. Its stock increased by another 40 per cent on the London-based Alternative Investment Market, a somewhat speculative venture capital market. According to Reefton, the price of uranium has increased from an annual month-end spot price of US$11,54 per pound (about N$70 per pound) to US$21,75 per pound (about N$130,50 per pound, or N$293,63 per kg). Current world production is estimated at 46 000 tons a year, while the estimated demand is 79 000 tons a year. With especially developing economies like India and Russia opting to build more nuclear power stations to cope with exponential growth in demand for electricity, analysts projected that there would be a massive shortfall in world uranium production. Another Australian company, Paladin Resources, which owns the rights to the Langer Heinrich uranium deposit, recently raised more than US$38,9 million (about N$233 million) on the international market for the development of the new mine. Pending some environmental impact assessments and feasibility studies, construction of a mine at Langer Heinrich is expected to start by the middle of this year. WRONG KIND OF ROCK Professor John Moore of the Rhodes University Geology Department said in a telephonic interview that he would be very surprised if real and viable quantities of uranium were to be found at Hakskeen. While many of the rock formations between Usakos and the coast display levels of radioactivity (the Spitzkoppe are considered to be quite "hot"), Moore said that Hakskeen basically had the wrong kind of rock for a genuine uranium deposit. The Hakskeen area is something of a legend among geology students, and many master's degree students have, over the years, visited this site as part of their training to differentiate between real and false indications of uranium deposits, he explained. "Thorium is a close relative, if you will, of uranium, and in the process of its radioactive decay, produces small quantities of uranium," Moore said. But the deposit at Hakskeen consisted largely of thorium potassium and small quantities of uranium, with most of the radioactivity attributable to the thorium, he noted. The area was part of an extensive, French-sponsored aerial radio-magnetic survey in the early 1990s, and subsequent drilling at the site proved that it was unlikely to contain any uranium. Dr Nick Stevens also pointed out that as a granite-based deposit, it was unlike the Roessing or Langer Heinrich deposits. "It is what we call a monozite, a rare earth phosphate normally associated with heavy beach sands but one that also can give off a radioactive signal," he said. He elaborated that the sophisticated modern Geiger counters used by geologists would be able to show differences in radiation from thorium, potassium or uranium. "Each one gives off a distinct signal, which you can tweak on a computer to see what exactly it is you are looking at," he said. All the granite formations between the Ebony siding, on the way to Swakopmund, and the coast gave off radio-active signals, Stevens said. "A place like Spitzkoppe would also give a strong radioactive signal, but in that kind of granite formation… it is basically geologically implausible," he said. The ASX also appeared to have had its doubts over the likelihood of the new uranium find, and at one point suspended trading in Reefton shares to ask the company to issue further clarifying information. Reefton Mining also has an Exclusive Prospecting Licence along the Skeleton Coast in an area north of Moewe Bay, where for the past four years it has been struggling to prove a viable diamond deposit. So far, it has only been able to produce micro-diamonds - diamonds smaller than 0,20 of a carat - although these have been favourably priced. But Reefton seemed very sure of its uranium find, and announced that the company had retained the services of Dr Christian Schlag, a well-known uranium geologist, to substantiate the find. They also announced that they were to start drilling in the area to prove their find. E-mails to solicit comment from Reefton's offices in Perth had not been answered at the time of writing, and their local geologist, Greg Hemming, could not be traced for reaction to Moore and Stevens' assessments. * John Grobler is a freelance journalist johngrob@iway.na Material on this site copyright The Free Press Of Namibia (Pty) Ltd PO Box 20783 - Windhoek - 42 John Meinert Street Tel: +264 (61) 279600 - Fax: +264 (61) 279602 ***************************************************************** 37 heraldtribune.com: Tallevast-inspired legislation advances The bill would require the state to notify residents who live near a polluted site. By JEREMY WALLACE jeremy.wallace@heraldtribune.com TALLAHASSEE -- A bill requiring the state to notify people who live near polluted sites passed two key committees Wednesday, but was criticized by environmentalists for not going far enough. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, is in response to pollution found at the former American Beryllium Co. plant on Tallevast Road in southern Manatee County. The state Department of Environmental Protection first learned of ground water and soil pollution at the site in January 2000, but didn't tell residents in the area until last year. Under Galvano's proposal, the DEP would have to notify neighboring property owners of potential soil and water contamination within 30 days of a reported pollution problem. Currently, state law doesn't require any notification of neighboring property owners while testing for contamination is being done. Galvano said it is unacceptable for the state to wait years to tell neighboring properties of potential contamination. "This is a good bill," Galvano said. "It confirms a duty that should have existed many, many years ago." But environmental groups say the bill doesn't do enough to protect the public because it doesn't require the DEP to notify employees at a site where contamination is discovered. The groups fought his bill in the House Water &Natural Resources committee and the Senate Governmental Oversight and Productivity committee. Jeanne Zokovitch, an attorney with an environmental group called WildLaw, said that under Galvano's proposal there would be no requirement for the state to tell parents and teachers of a school when contamination is discovered. That's what happened in rural Calhoun County, where petroleum contamination is being investigated at a high school, Zokovitch told both committees. Parents and teachers were never notified by the state or the school district, she said. Zokovitch wanted Galvano's bill to include notification of people who work or go to school at a site being investigated by the DEP. Galvano said there are already laws on the books to demand that companies notify employees. He said requiring the notification of workers and other people who use a property would complicate his bill and create more opposition to it. The bill has the backing of chemical and petroleum industry lobbyists. Adding too many people to the notice list could also result in a panic even though testing to determine how serious the problem is would be incomplete, Galvano said. "There's a fine line between creating a panic and providing initial notice," he said. Galvano got into a spirited debate with Zokovitch just before the Senate Governmental Oversight and Productivity committee met. Fresh from battling Zokovitch in the House committee minutes earlier in the afternoon, a frustrated Galvano told the persistent Zokovitch that her intervention wasn't helping the legislation. After a lengthy debate in the Senate committee meeting, Galvano's bill passed, but as a result of the opposition it was assigned to two new committees. That means Galvano has to go through the debate two more times in Senate committees and two more times in the House before his bill can be heard by the full Senate and House. With just four weeks to go, Galvano said it's a frustrating turn of events for a bill that was moving along. He said he'd just have to push hard for the remaining four weeks of the Legislature's session. "By no means, this isn't any death knell," Galvano said late Wednesday. 1 | 2 | Next >> Serving the Herald-Tribune newspaper and SNN Channel 6 © Sarasota Herald-Tribune. All rights reserved. Starting first ***************************************************************** 38 LA Times: Toxic Tailings May Be Hauled Off [Los Angeles Times - latimes.com] April 7, 2005 E-mail story Print Most E-Mailed + Energy officials plan to move radioactive waste from near the Colorado, easing fears of tainted drinking water for millions downstream. By Janet Wilson, Times Staff Writer Department of Energy officials proposed Wednesday to move an enormous pile of radioactive waste off the banks of the Colorado River in southern Utah  to the great relief of politicians, environmentalists and Southern California water officials. The 12 million tons of residue from an abandoned uranium mill sits in a floodplain of the Colorado, which provides drinking water to an estimated 25 million people downstream in Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix and other cities throughout the Southwest. Last year, energy officials alarmed local residents, members of Congress, the Metropolitan Water District and others by indicating that the federal government might choose to cap the waste pile where it was. Energy officials said that option would be the least costly of several under consideration. But Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told his staff in a memo Wednesday morning that the "preferred alternative" would be to ship it to Crescent Junction  an arid, abandoned quarry site 30 miles to the north. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the Department of Energy last month that the option of leaving tons of radioactive waste next to the river was "environmentally unsatisfactory" and a potential prolonged risk to public health. The EPA comments were part of mounting widespread opposition from Western governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger in California, Republican and Democratic members of Congress, and others who said studies showed the pile could spill into the river during a rainstorm, contaminating drinking water for millions of people. Wednesday's announcement quelled many of those fears, although a final decision would not be made until later this year after a final environmental review. "We are ecstatic…. This really is very, very important to us because of contaminates in the water in the Colorado River," said Wes Bannister, chairman of the Metropolitan Water District. "You're talking about a very well-known carcinogen, uranium … and it's just something we just can't let stay in the water." Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) expressed a similar view in a statement Wednesday. "This is the right action … the only option that offers long-term protection to the citizens of Moab and the 25 million Americans who use the Colorado River water downstream." She added: "This is an important step forward, but the final decision is yet to be made. When the environmental review process is complete, I urge the Department of Energy to commit to off-site disposal of these dangerous toxic wastes." Bill Hedden, a longtime Moab resident who has fought since 1988 to have the pile moved, said he had been reassured by area Energy Department staff. "They called me this morning and said they were going to move it," he said. Hedden, executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust, an environmental group, added: "This is a great day for everybody who cares about the Colorado River. The daily insult of radioactive waste will be removed from the river, and the river will be protected from a catastrophic failure of the entire tailings pile." Larry Svoboda, a regional EPA official, said in a recent interview that the Crescent Junction site and one other possible destination north of Moab had several advantages over capping it in place close to drinking water supply. "The environmental advantage is that they've got all the fill material right at that site that they'd need to build the pit and the lining," he said. In addition, "both of the northern sites are on this very dense, impermeable shale  it's hard for water to get through. It's very dry, and this area gets very little precipitation." Activists said floods this winter across the state on two smaller rivers brought home to officials how dangerous the Moab pile could be. "I think part of it was the terrible floods in St. George, Utah, which made people realize what a river out of control can do…. Two tiny little rivers just ripped the whole community away," Hedden said. "So when people put that together and said, gee, this 12 million tons of radioactive waste are right in the floodplain of the Colorado … then they realized the pile was in dire danger of being washed into the water supply for 26 million people." Under the proposal outlined by energy officials, the waste would be shipped out by rail car and buried in a covered, clay-lined hole, at a cost of as much as $540 million. Energy officials estimated that capping the waste in place would cost about $166 million. But Joette Langianese, a Grand County Council member who represents Moab, said those estimates left out potential long-term costs of cleaning up after a catastrophic flood if the pile, composed of tailings from an abandoned uranium mill, were to wash into the river. Funding for the site has been increasing steadily in recent years. President Bush has requested $28 million for 2006. Langianese has mixed feelings that the pile a mile from her house may finally be moving. "I'm thrilled. I'm just so excited," she said. "It stands out in our environment like a sore thumb." But she and some of her neighbors are nervous about the process of moving the toxic pile out of town. "It's a little different than being in Southern California," Langianese said. "We do have a little bit of anxiety here because we're going to uncover all this waste. I am a little anxious about it, but I feel perfectly confident that the health of our county will not be jeopardized by the Department of Energy." Shipping probably would not begin until 2007, and could take until 2012 to complete. As many as 15,000 gallons of ammonia and other pollutants that currently leach into the water daily are being successfully treated, Energy officials said. If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives at latimes.com/archives. [TMS Reprints] Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 39 St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Spent nuclear fuel poses terrorism risk, report says By Bill Lambrecht Post-Dispatch Washington Bureau 04/06/2005 WASHINGTON - A National Academy of Sciences report kept under wraps since last summer warns that spent-fuel storage pools at nuclear plants could be vulnerable to terrorist attack and release of dangerous radioactivity. Amid a simmering dispute with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, a panel of nuclear experts convened by the academy called for an examination of nuclear plants across the country and new measures to guard against air or ground assaults. The experts said it was unlikely that intruders could steal enough highly radioactive spent fuel from a pool to create a "dirty bomb," an explosive device capable of dispersing radioactivity. But they concluded that a terrorist attack that succeeded in draining water from a spent-fuel pool could trigger a fire that results in the "release of large quantities of radioactive material to the environment." The report, released Wednesday, was a declassified version of a study presented to Congress last July. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission opposed the report's release and disputed its key conclusions. In a letter to Congress last month, commission Chairman Nils Diaz called some of the study's findings lacking in "sound technical basis." The nuclear industry also defended its plants. Officials at AmerenUE's Callaway Nuclear Power Station near Fulton, Mo., said the plant has spent more than $20 million to secure it from terrorist attacks. In a statement Wednesday, the commission asserted that even before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, spent fuel "was already well protected by physical barriers, armed guards, intrusion detection systems, area surveillance systems" and other precautions. The statement added that since the attacks, the commission has issued nine sets of instructions on improving nuclear plant security. Representatives of 15 experts from universities, research labs and consulting groups convened by the National Academy of Sciences stood by their finding at a Washington news conference accompanying release of their report. They said the commission had refused to provide some of the information they needed for their congressionally ordered study. The experts recommended that the commission be more open in sharing information with the public and that an independent group unaffiliated with the commission be established to assess security upgrades at spent-fuel pools. "An independent body would not appear to be beholden to any of the entities that were involved," said panel Chairman Louis Lanzerotti, a physics professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology. Fuel pools have remained at the center of the debate about guarding nuclear plants because they typically are situated less securely than heavily fortified reactors. The pools contain assemblies of bundled fuel rods that are removed from the cores of nuclear reactors. Because of intense radioactivity, they require constant cooling, shielding and remote handling. A nuclear plant generates about 20 metric tons of spent fuel yearly. The nuclear industry and the federal government have been prevented thus far in their quest to build a national repository for spent fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. In lieu of a permanent solution, nearly 50,000 metric tons of used fuel are stored at plants around the country in pools and in dry casks. At the Callaway Nuclear Power Station, a building contains more than 1,200 assemblies of the spent-fuel rods stored in a 40-foot-deep, stainless-steel-lined pool. AmerenUE spokeswoman Susan Gallagher said her company has spent more than $20 million on improving security at Callaway since 9/11, including extended security perimeters and new barriers for more protection against vehicle bombs. "We have more than enough capacity and we find it safe and secure," Gallagher said of Callaway's fuel pool. At the Clinton Nuclear Station in central Illinois, Exelon, the nation's biggest nuclear operator, stores spent fuel in a ground-level pool in an auxiliary building adjacent to the nuclear reactor. Exelon is one of several companies expressing interest in building a new nuclear power plant and has petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for early site approval to build at least one more reactor at Clinton. Among recommendations applicable to both Callaway and Clinton, the panel of experts recommended reconfiguring spent fuel in pools to reduce heat concentration similar to spreading out glowing charcoal on the grill. The Nuclear Energy Institute, which represents nuclear plant operators, argued Wednesday that the best way to protect fuel pools is to place a high priority on preventing attacks by terrorists commandeering aircraft. "It is far more effective, and less costly to the nation, to prevent attacks rather than try to protect the entire critical infrastructure," the institute said in a statement. Reporter Bill Lambrecht E-mail: blambrecht@post-dispatch.com Phone: 202-298-6880 St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ***************************************************************** 40 NEWS.com.au: Pacific forum protests nuclear ship (07-04-2005) By Peter Williams April 07, 2005 THE Pacific Island Forum today protested the passage of a ship carrying nuclear waste through the region this month – a journey which forum member Australia doesn't oppose. According to calculations by the environmental group Greenpeace, the British-operated Pacific Sandpiper should be off New Caledonia today after going through the Tasman Sea this week. The ship is making a return journey to Japan carrying vitrified nuclear waste – a glasslike substance – that has been reprocessed in France, the 10th such trip in the past decade. Forum secretary Greg Urwin said the regional grouping of Pacific states was concerned about the ship travelling through their 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zones. "We welcome the recent assurances from shipping states that they will take all practicable action to assist in the management of any incident in the region, and will co-operate effectively with any state concerned", Mr Urwin said. "At the same time, we have a real worry about possible economic loss in the event of an incident involving a nuclear shipment, whether or not that incident results in a radioactive release. "The fragile economies of Forum Island Countries depend heavily on industries involving our ocean, such as fisheries and tourism." Greenpeace describes the Pacific Sandpiper as a floating "dirty bomb", vulnerable to a marine accident or terrorist act. But Australia does not consider such shipments to be dangerous and accepts they have the right under international law to travel through the exclusive economic zones of coastal states. "The waste is in a form that is difficult to disperse hence unattractive as a terrorist target," a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokeswoman said last week. "The safety record of maritime transport of such material has been excellent with no incidents leading to release of radiation occurring in thousands of shipments," she said. The Pacific forum said today international arrangements for liability and compensation did not adequately address the risks posed by the shipments. "We continue to seek assurances from the shipping states that where there is a demonstrable link between an incident and economic loss, forum members will not be left to carry such a loss unsupported," Mr Urwin said. ***************************************************************** 41 NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Notice of Meeting FR Doc E5-1597 [Federal Register: April 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 66)] [Notices] [Page 17722-17723] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07ap05-107] The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW) will hold its 159th meeting on April 18-19, 2005, Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The date of this meeting was previously published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, December 8, 2004 (69 FR 71084). The schedule for this meeting is as follows: Monday, April 18, 2005 10:30 a.m.-10:40 a.m.: Opening Statement (Open)--The ACNW Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of today's sessions. 10:40 a.m.-12 noon: Preparation of ACNW Reports (Open)--The Committee will discuss potential letter reports on Ground Water Recharge Model Abstraction and Validation, and Time-Period of Compliance for a Proposed High-Level Waste Geologic Repository. Other potential letter reports may be discussed. 1:30 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: NMSS Division Directors' Quarterly Program Update (Open)--The NMSS Division Directors will brief the Committee on recent activities of interest within their respective programs. [[Page 17723]] 3:45 p.m.-4:45 p.m.: ACNW White Paper on Low-Level Radioactive Waste (Open)--The Committee will comment on the draft outline for the proposed White Paper. In addition, the Committee will discuss progress on specific sections of this White Paper, for example Section 1, ``Origins and History.'' 4:45 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Discussion of April 14-15, 2005, Visit to the Center for Nuclear Waste Regulatory Analyses (CNWRA) (Open)--An ACNW Subcommittee will report on the outcome of its recent visit to the CNWRA to review ongoing technical assistance work for NMSS' HLW programs. Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:30 a.m.-8:40 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACNW Chairman (Open)--The ACNW Chairman will begin the meeting with brief opening remarks, outline the topics to be discussed, and indicate items of interest. 8:40 a.m.-9:40 a.m.: National Source Tracking System (Open)--The Committee will receive a briefing by and hold discussions with representatives of the NMSS staff regarding the current rulemaking efforts regarding the National Source Tracking System. 9:40 a.m.-11:40 a.m.: Department of Energy (DOE) Repository Design (Open)--The Committee will be briefed by representatives from the U.S. Department of Energy on the status of the design of the proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. 1 p.m.-2 p.m.: Transportation Aspects of the Yucca Mountain Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Update (Open)--The Committee will hear a briefing by and hold discussions with representatives of DOE regarding the updates to the Yucca Mountain final EIS in light of the Department's specification of preferred transportation method and route for radioactive waste to the Yucca Mountain site. 2 p.m.-3:30 p.m.: Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) Topical Report on Future System States (Open)--The Committee will be briefed on the conclusions and recommendations from EPRI's recently published report on the treatment of future system states in long time-frame performance assessments. 3:45 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: Japan Waste Management Visit (Open)--The ACNW members will discuss final preparation for their May 14-21, 2005, trip to visit nuclear waste facilities and regulators in Japan. 4:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Discussion of Possible Letters (Open)--The Committee will discuss prepared letters and determine whether letters would be written on topics discussed during the meeting. 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.: Miscellaneous (Open)--The Committee will discuss matters related to the conduct of ACNW activities, and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. Discussions may include future Committee Meetings. Wednesday and Thursday, April 20-21, 2005: NRC Decommissioning Workshop The workshop is being held as part of the NRC staff's initiatives to continually improve the licensing process for decommissioning sites and terminating NRC licenses in accordance with 10 CFR part 20, subpart E. The ACNW will attend this workshop as observers. For more information on the workshop or to register on-line, visit: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/conference-symposia/decommissio ning.html . Procedures for the conduct of and participation in ACNW meetings were published in the Federal Register on October 18, 2004 (69 FR 61416). In accordance with these procedures, oral or written statements may be presented by members of the public. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the meeting that are open to the public. Persons desiring to make oral statements should notify Ms. Sharon A. Steele (telephone (301) 415-6805), between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. e.t., as far in advance as practicable so that appropriate arrangements can be made to schedule the necessary time during the meeting for such statements. Use of still, motion picture, and television cameras during this meeting will be limited to selected portions of the meeting as determined by the ACNW Chairman. Information regarding the time to be set aside for taking pictures may be obtained by contacting the ACNW office prior to the meeting. In view of the possibility that the schedule for ACNW meetings may be adjusted by the Chairman as necessary to facilitate the conduct of the meeting, persons planning to attend should notify Ms. Steele as to their particular needs. Further information regarding topics to be discussed, whether the meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, the Chairman's ruling on requests for the opportunity to present oral statements and the time allotted, therefore can be obtained by contacting Ms. Steele. ACNW meeting agenda, meeting transcripts, and letter reports are available through the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) at pdr@nrc.gov, or by calling the PDR at 1-800-397-4209, or from the Publicly Available Records System component of NRC's document system (ADAMS) which is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html or http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/ (ACRS & ACNW Mtg schedules/agendas). Video Teleconferencing service is available for observing open sessions of ACNW meetings. Those wishing to use this service for observing ACNW meetings should contact Mr. Theron Brown, ACNW Audiovisual Technician (301-415-8066), between 7:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m. ET, at least 10 days before the meeting to ensure the availability of this service. Individuals or organizations requesting this service will be responsible for telephone line charges and for providing the equipment and facilities that they use to establish the video teleconferencing link. The availability of video teleconferencing services is not guaranteed. Dated: April 1, 2005. Andrew L. Bates, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E5-1597 Filed 4-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 42 deseret news: Goshute fight is back at NRC [deseretnews.com] Thursday, April 7, 2005 State asks board to reconsider its approval of tribal N-waste facility By Jerry Spangler Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — In golf, a do-over is called a mulligan. But when it comes to the state's efforts to block the storage of spent nuclear fuel rods on Goshute tribal lands in Tooele County, it's called a "Motion for Reconsideration." Deseret Morning News graphic On Wednesday, the state argued its mulligan before the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board, which had earlier ruled 2-1 that a consortium of nuclear power utilities, called Private Fuel Storage, had met the regulatory requirements for a license to store the waste over the objections of the state. It was a hearing filled with technical jargon and talk of "R" factors and Einstein "principle," and more acronyms were being thrown around than in a box of alphabet cereal. Attorneys for Utah argued they should be given a second chance to prove their case that a potential breach of the waste canisters posed public safety risks had not been fully considered by the board. The state's argument is a last-ditch effort to prevail upon the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to deny PFS a license to store up to 40,000 tons of high-level nuclear waste in above-ground canisters in Skull Valley southwest of Salt Lake City. State officials have conceded the appeal is a long shot, and there is not much hope the NRC, which ultimately must sign off on the license, will concede to the state's concerns. Hence, the Utah congressional delegation has been working the Bush administration to block the project through other means. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, has proposed legislation that would designate federal lands around the site as wilderness, thereby blocking the construction of a rail spur needed to transport the waste. And there are efforts to pressure the Department of the Interior to reject the project. The latest appeal centers on what would happen if an aircraft, say one of the thousands of F-16 military jets that fly over the site ever year, were to crash into the canisters. Could the canisters — which consist of waste wrapped in steel and then an overcoat of concrete — be ruptured in such an accident and what would the extent of radiation contamination be? "The state fought tooth and nail" during years of hearings to deal with the issue of radiation exposure in the events the casks were breached, said Denise Chancellor, an assistant Utah attorney general. But the record on that is murky, at best, and the board was clearly skeptical, if not intrigued, by the argument, even pointing out opportunities missed by the state to raise this argument during the hearing process. And there was clearly disagreement as to what certain words meant. And that led to plenty of testy words between board members and C chancellor. Attorneys for PFS were just as adamant that the board had made its ruling and that now was not the time to be reopening the case to hear new arguments. not raised during the hearings. The state had its chance and failed to raise it, PFS attorneys said. And the board was just as skeptical of that claim. Most intriguing was a proposal by board c Chairman Michael Farrar, who pointed out that the licensing process for PFS was originally planned in three phases, later combined into two. At the end of the first phase, the state had prevailed and the PFS proposal was found to be deficient. But the board allowed PFS time to correct the deficiencies in time for the second round of hearings. And PFS prevailed after the second round. But if PFS was given a mulligan after the first round, questioned Farrar, should not the state be given a mulligan after the second round as a matter of fairness?, Farrar questioned. And, he asked, what would be so damaging to the process to allow experts for both sides to submit expert testimony on the actual radiation risk should storage casks be breached? The board is expected to make its ruling on the state's motion for reconsideration within about two weeks. If the ruling goes against the state, the NRC would then review the board's findings and make a final recommendation on whether or not to license the facility. © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 43 Morning Journal: Lorain trying for funds to clean up property News - 04/07/2005 LORAIN -- The city of Lorain has applied for a $717,000 grant from the state to pay for the environmental cleanup at the former sites of the Lorain Pellet Terminal and adjacent Brush Beryllium plant. Beryllium, naphthalene and lead were previously discovered in the ground there, requiring the excavation of the top 10 feet of soil from the contaminated areas, according to Mike McKim of URS Corp., the firm hired by the city to assess the sites. The Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma has already signed a purchase option on 17.7 acres of the terminal site, plus 8.5 acres at the Black River Landing, as part of a proposal to bring casino gambling to Lorain. Terry Casey, a consultant for the Eastern Shawnee, said tribe officials were aware of the contamination while in negotiations with the city. ''It was basically our understanding that mitigation was taking place while we were talking to the city,'' Casey said. ''We are well aware of the history of the site and we were contractually assured that the environmental issues would be taken care of in an orderly and timely manner.'' The tribe has agreed to pay $10.3 million for the pellet terminal land and $2.9 million for the Black River Landing parcel, and will have up to two years to exercise the $285,000 option. The city has until May 1 to sign the option under its current terms. No timetable is available on how long the city will have to wait to learn whether it will receive the clean-up grant from the Clean Ohio Assistance Fund, according to Maria Smith, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Development. The amount of money available for Clean Ohio projects has been halved in the proposed state budget. Once the department receives the application, Smith said, the city will have to meet specific public input requirements based on the size and purpose of the loan. City residents were given an opportunity to express concerns, objections or criticisms of the clean-up plan on Monday, prior to City Council's meeting, according to Don Romancak, chief planner for the city. ''It was the last step we had to take before we could send the application,'' Romancak said. Romancak said the grant money, if approved, would enable the city to start on phase two of the cleanup. Officials wouldn't say whether the city would foot the clean-up bill in the event the state doesn't provide the Clean Ohio grant. Sandy Prudoff, director of the Lorain Community Development Department, yesterday indicated the city doesn't have a backup plan. Romancak said there are a number of other loan programs the city could apply to for clean-up funds, such as a Brownfields Pilot Grant through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or the Brownfields Loan program from the Ohio EPA, but he didn't know the time frame for applying and receiving those kinds of funds. According to the agreement with the Eastern Shawnee, Romancak said, the city has more than a year and a half to eliminate the contaminants. ''If we wouldn't have the site cleaned up by Dec. 31, 2006, that would be an option to be determined in negotiations with the Eastern Shawnee Tribe,'' Romancak said. Romancak said the city began planning the clean-up project shortly after acquiring the pellet terminal from International Steel Group for $3 million in 2002, and URS Corp. was hired to prepare an application for an environment assessment and create a master plan for the site. McKim said the city received $225,000 in state grant money in 2003 to fund phase one, when soil and groundwater samples were taken. The samples were tested and a risk assessment was made to determine the future use of the site. Total cost of the environmental study of the 30-acre site was $260,000. According to Romancak, URS Corp. recommended the city excavate and fill 50- by 50-foot areas about 10 feet deep where the former Brush Beryllium was and on a grassy parcel of the pellet terminal site near East Erie Avenue. McKim said enough of the contaminants would be removed to ensure people wouldn't get sick from being on the sites. Romancak said the city was conducting the cleanup to a high standard to make sure the site didn't become just another brownfield reclamation project. He said when the cleanup is finished the city will deliver a letter to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency that will show the work that was done. If the EPA accepts the letter it will send back a ''no further action letter'' that is the EPA's promise not to sue the city in the future. Morning Journal Writer Mike Sakal contributed to this story. ©The Morning Journal 2005 ***************************************************************** 44 DECATUR Daily: Panel: Rethink nuclear storage: Report says terrorists could attack pools, start fires www.decaturdaily.com THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2005 By Eric Fleischauer DAILY Staff Writer eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435 A report issued Wednesday concluded that the waste from nuclear power plants, stored in on-site storage pools, is vulnerable to terrorist attack. A panel of experts determined that if such an attack caused a significant leak in the pools, a deadly release of radiation is possible. The three Browns Ferry reactors in Limestone County  10 miles from Decatur and 14 miles from Athens  have accumulated 2,260 metric tons of spent fuel rods. All remain in on-site pools. A plant spokesman said they are secure from attack. The 130-page report, issued by the National Academy of Sciences, called for independent inspections of all such storage pools. It said spent fuel rods stored in cooling pools represent a serious terrorist risk if targeted by terrorists with access to an airplane or high explosives. The Tennessee Valley Authority's spokesman for Browns Ferry, Craig Beasley, said he would not answer questions about the consequences of a catastrophic leak of water from the storage pools. "I'm not going to speculate on a hypothetical event like that," Beasley said Wednesday. "We have longstanding emergency plans in place. We test those every year." The NAS report, however, did speculate on the consequences of a leak. "An attack which partially or completely drains a plant's spent fuel pool might be capable of starting a high-temperature fire that could release large quantities of radioactive material to the environment," the NAS panel concluded. The panel recommended reconfiguring spent rods in the storage pools to minimize the risk of radioactive "hot spots," and installing water-spray systems that would operate even if the water in the pools drained out. According to the NAS report, "such measures should be implemented promptly." Beasley said the pools are already secure from attack. "Those pools are concrete structures lined by steel," Beasley said. "We work so we don't have leaks with preventative maintenance. They're designed not to leak." The panel said that neither federal regulators nor the industry has fully determined the vulnerabilities and consequences of such an attack and that specific risks "can only be understood by examining ... spent fuel storage at each plant." The cooling pools at Browns Ferry are 45 feet deep. The water serves as a barrier preventing escape of radiation. The water is circulated to prevent a buildup of heat in the spent rods. In an interview last year, Beasley said TVA had already packed close to the maximum number of spent fuel rods in the pools. "You can pack them together, but you have to be very sure how you do it or it might create a hot spot," he said. A hot spot could melt the metal encasing the rods, creating the risk of a meltdown. "I can say it is safely and securely stored," Beasley said Wednesday. Most of Wednesday's 130-page report is classified. TVA has been hampered by delays in development of a spent-fuel repository in Nevada's Yucca Mountain, an unopened facility that has already cost TVA $650 million. Beasley said each reactor produces 30 metric tons of spent nuclear waste each year. All of that waste  totaling more than 2,260 metric tons  is stored in the pools. TVA is preparing 180-ton aboveground casks to store spent fuel rods accumulated since the first reactor began operation in 1974. TVA is purchasing the casks from Holtec International for $22.5 million. Holtec will deliver a steel shell and an internal steel sleeve. TVA will place the shell and sleeve and pour concrete into the space between them. TVA plans to put the spent fuel rods inside the inner sleeve before capping the casks. Beasley said some of the casks will be ready by fall, but not enough to empty the storage pools. That is just in time for Browns Ferry Unit 3, which will run out of underwater storage space late this year. Storage space in Unit 2's pool will run out in 2009. Spent rods must remain in the pools for five years before they are cool enough for storage in the casks. "The buildings these pools are in are extremely robust. They are several feet thick with concrete and steel. They're designed to withstand an impact," Beasley said. He said security at the plant  which includes TVA security personnel and armed paramilitary forces contracted from Pinkerton Government Services  would prevent a terrorist from entering the plant with explosives. Protecting the pools is "a critical national security issue," according to NAS president Bruce Alberts. Beasley said TVA has implemented numerous additional security measures since terrorists attacked the United States on Sept. 11, 2001. The report noted such improvements in U.S. nuclear facilities, but said "an assessment of current measures should be performed by an independent organization" outside the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Public parts of the report do not specifically mention Browns Ferry. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright 2005 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved. THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala. 35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com www.decaturdaily.com ***************************************************************** 45 PE.com: Perchlorate 'goal' called inadequate Inland Southern California INLAND: Critics say the state's standard of 6 parts per billion is not enough protection. 08:19 AM PDT on Thursday, April 7, 2005 By JIM MILLER / Sacramento Bureau SACRAMENTO - California's drinking-water "health goal" of 6 parts per billion for the rocket-fuel chemical perchlorate came under attack Wednesday by Inland residents and others who complained the guideline falls short. The state instead should set a 1 part per billion standard, critics said, accusing the Schwarzenegger administration of settling on a health goal that wouldn't adequately protect children and infants. "The science that we have tells us that people should not be drinking rocket fuel in their drinking-water," said Penny Newman, executive director of the Inland organization Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice. The state Department of Health Services will set a legal limit for perchlorate in the next few months, department spokesman Robert Miller said. Miller declined to comment on Wednesday's criticism. Bill Magavern, a lobbyist for the Sierra Club, said Massachusetts has adopted a legal perchlorate limit of 1 part per billion. "The 6 parts per billion is not going to result in cleaning contaminated water sources," Magavern said. In sufficient amounts, perchlorate interferes with the thyroid's ability to absorb iodine, a chemical needed to make hormones. Greg Voetsch, a former Azusa resident who moved to Rancho Cordova in 1970, blamed his and his family's health problems on perchlorate contamination. Both Azusa and Rancho Cordova have had trouble with perchlorate contamination. "It has caused so much pain," he said. But the governor's approach on the issue found a defender Wednesday in state Sen. Nell Soto, D-Pomona, who leads the Senate Select Committee on Perchlorate Contamination. "Unlike President George W. Bush, who seems more interested in letting polluters off the hook than protecting people's health, Gov. Schwarzenegger appears to take this issue very seriously, and I encourage the administration to keep the door open to tougher standards before this process is complete," Soto said in a statement. Reach Jim Miller at (916) 445-9973 or jmiller@pe.comMore ***************************************************************** 46 asahi.com: Aomori ready to allow MOX fuel rod plant 04/07/2005 By JUN TABUSHI The Asahi Shimbun Governor to give green light after getting reassurances of tightened safety measures. AOMORI--The prefectural government is set to give the go-ahead to construction of the nation's first plant to manufacture mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel rods, sources said. Doing so will add momentum to central government hopes of providing electrical power with pluthermal energy at light-water reactors that consume MOX as fuel. The move is also bound to trigger protests, especially in light of recent accidents and a spate of cover-ups at nuclear plants, analysts said. The plant is to be built in the village of Rokkasho and operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd., which in December outlined tighter safety measures for the facility. Rokkasho, in a remote part of northern Aomori, is already the site of a reprocessing facility to extract plutonium from spent nuclear fuel rods. The extracted plutonium powder would be mixed with uranium at the plant to produce MOX fuel rods for use in light-water reactors in Japan. Aomori Governor Shingo Mimura is expected to announce his prefecture's approval to build the MOX fuel rod plant later this month. Japan Nuclear Fuel approached the Aomori prefectural government in 2001 about building the fuel rod plant. But discussions stalled following a series of snafus. First came revelations that Tokyo Electric Power Co. had covered up problems at its nuclear power plants. Next were leaks from a storage pool at a reprocessing plant then under construction for spent nuclear fuel rods operated by Japan Nuclear Fuel. Prefectural officials began reconsidering the fuel rod manufacturing plant proposal in December. Japan Nuclear Fuel officials submitted a report to Aomori that outlined heightened safety measures for plant operations. In February, a report by the prefectural panel examining the proposal said safety at the proposed plant site had been guaranteed. In its 2001 proposal, Japan Nuclear Fuel estimated the cost of construction of the fuel rod manufacturing plant to be about 120 billion yen. Initial projections had the plant going online from April 2009. Once Japan Nuclear Fuel receives approval from Aomori, the company will reapply to the central government for approval to start construction. The Federation of Electric Power Companies previously envisioned that between 16 and 18 nuclear reactors in Japan would be pluthermal. But progress stopped on several power plants, including those at Kashiwazaki-Kariwa and Fukushima, because of mounting public distrust of the nuclear power industry following a string of cover-ups.(IHT/Asahi: April 7,2005) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights ***************************************************************** 47 Deseret news: Move tailings, DOE says [deseretnews.com] Thursday, April 7, 2005 Huntsman, Utahns cheer advocacy on Moab waste By Jerry D. Spangler and Lisa Riley Roche Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — Pack 'em up and move 'em out. The Atlas tailings ponds, lower right, are seen next to the Colorado River near Moab. The secretary of energy says they should be moved. Tom Till, Associated Press Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and the Utah congressional delegation were cheering Wednesday at the news that newly appointed Secretary of Energy Sam Bodman had ruled that Atlas radioactive mill tailings should be moved from their current site along the Colorado River outside Moab — something Utah officials have been fighting to see happen for more than a decade. "I have stressed time and time again that science, health and safety, precedent and public law all support remediation of the 12-million-ton pile of radioactive waste away from the river," said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. "After more than 10 years and millions of dollars spent studying the site, we need to move forward and remove this threat from residents of Grand County and millions of downstream water users." The announcement by the Department of Energy does not make moving the tailings a certainty. Rather, the DOE will recommend as its "preferred alternative" a plan to move the tailings to Crescent Junction near the I-70 and U.S. 191 interchange. The biggest fly in the ointment will be whether Congress actually funds the project. It has a price tag of more than $300 million, which is far more expensive than just capping the tailings in place. But those details were lost in Wednesday's celebration as Utahns, as well as those in downriver states of Arizona, Nevada and California, praised the decision to remove the radioactive tailings that scientists say are poisoning the Colorado River and contaminating drinking water for 25 million people downstream. "This is just a wonderful day for Grand County. We've been working very hard on this issue for many years and this decision that has been made is exactly what we wanted," said Grand County Councilwoman Joette Langianese, who also visited Washington, D.C., to lobby DOE officials and Congress. Those lobbying efforts made the difference, she said. "We did what we thought we could do and I truly believe that had an impact." Supporters of moving the uranium mill tailings, Langianese said, "were feeling like the decision was going to be to cap it in place for a while. We recognized we had very little time to really get people riled up and put the political pressure on." Huntsman agreed that the intense lobbying paid off. "This wasn't on their radar screen until recently," the governor said. "I think a lot of people have done some extraordinary work to get it front and center before decision makers at the Department of Energy." Both Huntsman and Langianese singled out Matheson for his efforts. The governor also did his share of lobbying. And Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, who represented the area before the 2000 redistricting, was also a champion when moving the tailings was a low priority on the national radar screen. "This is great news," Cannon said. "If we had the flooding in eastern Utah that we had in the southwestern part of the state, there is a good chance that instead of houses washed downriver, we would have dissolved uranium in the drinking water of 15 million people." In February, members of the Utah congressional delegation sent a letter to Bodman urging him to select an alternative that would move the tailings from the banks of the Colorado River. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, also addressed the issue with Bodman in several meetings over the past few months. Bennett, as a member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water, has also ensured that federal funding was available to continue work on the remediation of the Atlas uranium tailings site while the DOE made decisions about final disposition of the pile. Deseret Morning News graphic "I have always believed that the best action, given the science, was to move the Atlas tailings pile," Bennett said. "I am pleased with the Department of Energy's announcement today and remain committed to securing federal funds to expedite the process." Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, agreed. "The tailings have to go, and I'm glad the DOE finally saw the light and agrees with us." Details of just how the tailings will be relocated aren't likely to surface until midsummer, Langianese said, estimating it could take as long as a decade to move them. "It's a huge pile. It's 12 million tons. It's going to take a long time." Huntsman said he hopes the project is put on a fast track. According to the state Department of Environmental Quality, the price tag for the project is $395 million, all paid for by the federal government. The official timeline for the project is eight years. The relocation site, Crescent Junction, is located just north of where I-70 and U-191 intersect some 30 miles north of Moab and 15 miles east of the Green River. The other site considered, Klondike Flats, was near the area airport and a little closer to Moab. Dianne Nielson, DEQ executive director, said while either location would have been a good choice, the Crescent Junction site won't require construction of a railroad spur. "Now that we have a decision, DOE is as anxious as we are to be able to move forward and accomplish this," she said. The tailings will likely be slurried and moved via the railroad adjacent to the site, although some material may have to be trucked out, Langianese said. That may worry some area residents. "We do need to recognize people are concerned now that we're going to stir up this pile. We need to keep everyone informed and educated," she said. Huntsman stopped short of saying the DOE decision bode well for another waste issue pending before the federal government — a proposed temporary nuclear waste storage site in Tooele County, sought by the Goshute tribe. Huntsman opposes the project. "Certainly, with respect to this particular issue, we were able to get their attention, and that speaks well of our ability to communicate on a host of other issues with the federal government," he said. The Moab tailings pile is one of the last remnants of weapons production for the Cold War and the last of several hazardous tailings piles to be removed from lands in the region. Bill Hedden, a longtime Moab resident and executive director of the Grand Canyon Trust, called it a "huge victory" made possible by the combined efforts of county officials, the governors and congressional delegations of downriver states and water users and fellow conservation groups. "This positive outcome proves that by working together in a collaborative manner, we can solve the environmental problems confronting the region," Hedden said. The Atlas tailings project could have a significant impact on the Grand County economy, and perhaps beyond. Envirocare of Utah announced Wednesday it will bid on the project, said company spokesman Mark Walker. "We would love to bid on any portion of the project they'd like us to bid on," Walker said. "We feel we do a better job than any company in the country when it comes to safely and securely disposing of projects such as the Moab tailings." © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 48 CBC Saskatchewan: Deformed fish found near old uranium site www.cbc.ca Last Updated Apr 7 2005 06:39 PM CDT REGINA – Federal regulators are worried about the high number of deformed fish turning up near a decommissioned uranium operation in northwest Saskatchewan. On Tuesday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission released a report on its approval of a two-year licence for Cameco Corp. to operate the defunct Beaverlodge mine and mill site as a waste facility. The report said Cameco, a Saskatchewan-based uranium mining company, has been investigating after a 2003 environmental study found a potential risk to humans "related to an exceedance of toxicity benchmarks" for selenium and uranium at two lakes  Beaverlodge and Martin. Commission staff said the contaminated lake sediment poses a "generally very low" risk to people and the environment in the short term, but in the long term, risks are harder to gauge. The high levels of non-radioactive selenium in lake sediment in the area was identified as a particular concern with respect to the fish population. "They are believed to have resulted in a relatively high incidence of deformities in fish, specifically the Lake Chub species," the report said. Commission staff believe the selenium levels are high enough "to cause significant reproductive failure" in fish and the problem will remain for several decades. One intervener said she suspected radiation and not selenium was the cause of the deformed fish, but commission staff disagree. Despite its concerns about environmental issues, the commission approved the waste facility operating licence, saying it has confidence Cameco is doing an adequate job protecting the environment at the Beaverlodge site. The decision to approve the licence was made Feb. 24. The site was decommissioned in 1985. Copyright © CBC 2005 ***************************************************************** 49 Guardian Unlimited: Feds to Move 12M Ton Pile of Nuclear Waste From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday April 7, 2005 12:01 PM AP Photo LA801 By TRAVIS REED Associated Press Writer SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Department of Energy wants to move a 12-million ton pile of radioactive waste away from the banks of the Colorado River, a major source of drinking water for about 25 million people in the Southwest. The announcement Wednesday was a victory for environmentalists and Western politicians who fear the debris could poison the drinking water supply for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and other cities. The Energy Department said it will recommend in an environmental impact statement that the waste be moved to a closed storage facility about 30 miles to the north, near Crescent Junction. Now, the mostly open-air heap sits just 750 feet from the river. The department will review all public comment before issuing a final decision, probably early this summer, according to Don Metzler, who manages the site from the department's Grand Junction, Colo., office. After that, it will be up to Congress to come up with the more than $400 million needed to move the waste. ``I certainly hoped for this decision,'' said Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. ``Moving the pile has always been, in my opinion, the right thing to do. Short-term cost considerations, I feared, were driving us to look at keeping the pile in place.'' The site, covering 130 acres near the town of Moab, is the only decommissioned uranium mill overseen by the Energy Department that has yet to be cleaned up. The 94-foot-tall pile contains dirt, toxic chemicals and traces of radioactive substances left behind from decades of uranium ore processing. The immediate concern is that the waste is seeping into the soil and groundwater, and working its way into the Colorado River. Environmentalists say the contamination is already killing fish. The larger, doomsday fear is that a major flood on the Colorado could wash the stuff into the river and poison the water with residual uranium, radon, ammonia and other dangerous material. At the new location, the waste would be covered and buried in a hole, lined with a protective layer to keep the material from seeping into the groundwater. Depending on how the waste got there - by rail, truck or pipeline - the cleanup would cost an estimated $407 million to $472 million. The waste began piling up in the 1950s after the dawn of the atomic age turned sleepy communities in Utah into uranium mining boom towns. The department took control of the site in 2001 after the most recent owner of the mill, Denver-based Atlas Corp., declared bankruptcy in 1998 when it realized it could not afford to deal with the mess. In November, the Energy Department outlined four options for the site. Three of them called for moving the waste and burying it anywhere from 17 to 85 miles away in a hole. Option No. 4, which could cost only half as much, called for leaving the pile in place but covering it over with dirt and rocks. Critics of moving the waste argued that it has been there for decades with little effect. They contended the area is rich in uranium, leading to natural erosion and leaching of radioactive materials into the water, to which the waste added little. But Gov. Jon Huntsman, Utah's congressional delegation, scores of activists and the Environmental Protection Agency warned that waste is too dangerous to leave it so close to the Colorado River. On the Net: http://www.eh.doe.gov/nepa/docs/deis/eis0355d/toc.html Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 50 Las Vegas SUN: DOE wants to move radioactive waste away from Colorado River SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS The Energy Department wants to move a 12-million ton pile of radioactive waste away from the Colorado River, a major source of drinking water for about 25 million people, including Las Vegas. The radioactive waste, more than 100 miles north of Las Vegas, did not pose an immediate acute health threat to the local water supply, but officials are glad it's moving. The Energy Department on Wednesday said it plans to move the radioactive waste on the banks near Moab, Utah, from the old Atlas uranium mining operation, to a closed storage facility about 30 miles to the north, near Crescent Junction, Utah. Although the Southern Nevada Water Authority did not demand the move from 750 feet from the river, the news that something will be done was welcomed. "This is an important step forward, but certainly not the last step," said J.C. Davis, spokesman for the authority, who has monitored the longstanding issue since he came to the agency seven years ago. "Our stand on it has been that we wanted the responsible parties to do the research to determine if removing the pile created a greater problem by stirring it up. We weren't proposing a specific course of action -- we just wanted a course of action to be taken." While Wednesday's announcement was a victory for environmentalists and Western politicians who fear the debris could poison the drinking water supply for Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix and other cities, Davis said there was no immediate, threat to Las Vegas' water supply. The levels of both alpha and beta radiation from the pile and other potential hazards remained "well bellow acceptable health standards for drinking water as set by the Safe Drinking Water Act," Davis said. Davis said government standards allow for 15 picocuries per liter for alpha radiation, but the readings are 3.45 at Lake Mead, into which the Colorado River water winds up. The government standards for beta radiation is 50 picocuries per liter, while Lake Mead is at 1.85, Davis said. Also, Davis said, the government's acceptable uranium level limit is 30 parts per billion, while Lake Mead is at 4 parts per billion. Davis said concerns were that a major flood or earthquake possibly could have dragged the pile into the river and that could have caused environmental problems. "There was a concern downriver and of course within the environmental community, but we do not know how much contamination the tailings could have caused to the Colorado River system," Davis said, noting a more immediate concern was that over the course of time, rainfall could have caused the leaching of contaminants into the river. "As far as we are concerned, it is good to have the descision on how the DOE will handle this so we can get it behind us. We are going to monitor their progress," Davis said. Among the other plans studied was leaving the pile where it was and capping it, Davis said. The Energy Department said it will recommend in an environmental impact statement that the waste be moved. The department will review all public comment before issuing a final decision, probably early this summer, according to Don Metzler, who manages the site from the department's Grand Junction, Colo., office. After that, it will be up to Congress to come up with the more than $400 million needed to move the waste. "I certainly hoped for this decision," Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said. "Moving the pile has always been, in my opinion, the right thing to do. Short-term cost considerations, I feared, were driving us to look at keeping the pile in place." The site, covering 130 acres near the town of Moab, is the only decommissioned uranium mill overseen by the Energy Department that has yet to be cleaned up. The 94-foot-tall pile contains dirt, toxic chemicals and traces of radioactive substances left behind from decades of uranium ore processing. Environmentalists say the contamination is already killing fish. The larger, doomsday fear is that a major flood on the Colorado could wash the stuff into the river and poison the water with residual uranium, radon, ammonia and other dangerous material. At the new location, the waste would be covered and buried in a hole, lined with a protective layer to keep the material from seeping into the groundwater. Depending on how the waste got there -- by rail, truck or pipeline -- the cleanup would cost an estimated $407 million to $472 million. The waste began piling up in the 1950s. The department took control of the site in 2001 after the most recent owner of the mill, Denver-based Atlas Corp., declared bankruptcy in 1998 when it realized it could not afford to deal with the mess. In November, the Energy Department outlined four options for the site. Three of them called for moving the waste and burying it anywhere from 17 to 85 miles away in a hole. Option No. 4, which could cost only half as much, called for leaving the pile in place but covering it over with dirt and rocks. ***************************************************************** 51 Tri-City Herald: Fluor calls DOE review incorrect This story was published Thursday, April 7th, 2005 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer Fluor Closure Co. believes the Department of Energy incorrectly evaluated key aspects of both its proposal and the winning proposal for the $1.9 billion river corridor cleanup contract at Hanford, Fluor Corp. said Wednesday in a prepared statement. On Tuesday, Fluor Closure filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office over the March 23 award of a seven-year contract to Washington Closure to clean up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation along the Columbia River. The transition of the contract from Bechtel Hanford to Washington Closure has been stopped until the GAO makes a decision. Its deadline is July 14. "We believe the combination of factual errors, apparent unequal treatment of the bidders and departures from DOE's announced evaluation criteria warrant a review of the award process," said Fluor's statement. The decision to file what is Fluor's first DOE protest was not made easily, the company said. But it said ensuring that all bidders are given a fair opportunity to compete for the contract is in the region's and the taxpayers' best interest. Fluor said it is not seeking a complete contract rebid, but wants DOE to seek revised proposals from the bidders, then make a new award in accordance with its stated evaluation criteria. Fluor Closure has not released information about the other members of its bidding team. Washington Closure is a limited liability corporation formed by Washington Group International, Bechtel National and CH2M Hill. Bechtel Hanford will continue to lead cleanup work along the river corridor until the matter is resolved. It has held contracts for the work for 11 years. "This is a great disappointment for all of us," said Tom Logan, president of Bechtel Hanford, in a memo to staff announcing the transition had been stopped. "I realize it creates more uncertainty," he said, urging the staff to retain a focus on safety. DOE has faced protests on most of its recent major contract awards at Hanford, including a successful protest of a small-business award for deactivating Hanford's Fast Flux Test Facility. DOE plans to issue a revised request for proposals later this month, but only the three bidders who were contract finalists will be invited to revise their proposals. DOE is continuing to work toward a small-business contract, despite a special report from its inspector general this week saying the protest presents an opportunity to reconsider the contract's scope of work or if a new contract should be awarded. * Reporter Annette Cary can be reached at 582-1533 or via e-mail at acary@tri-cityherald.com. © 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: *****************************************************************