***************************************************************** 04/29/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.98 ***************************************************************** 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 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA TO DELIVER UP TO 80 TONS OF NUCLEAR FUEL TO IRAN 2 BBC: Iran 'may resume' uranium project 3 Mos News: Russia to Start Nuclear Fuel Supplies to Iran in 2005 - 4 US: ICT: Newcomb: On matriotism and patriotism 5 Deutsche Welle: Germans Question US Nuclear Weapons 6 Xinhua: New authority to oversee energy sector NUCLEAR REACTORS 7 [NukeNet] Chernobyl Sarcophagus Decay May Cause Another 8 US: FW: TMI Slashes Workers, Community Giving, But Seeks Relicense 9 SABCnews.com: Mbeki 100% correct: nuclear regulator 10 US: AP Wire: Fuel made from plutonium arrives at Catawba Nuclear Sta 11 PRAVDA.Ru: Nuclear power to save the world from ecological disaster 12 RIA Novosti: NEW NUCLEAR DISASTER MAY OCCUR IN CHERNOBYL 13 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR AGENCY TO CONTRIBUTE 30MLN RUBLES 14 US: Platts: Final deactivation of FFTF to begin 15 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point has unsafe fire insulation, feds warn 16 US: NRC: Notice of Issuance of Amendment to Materials License No. SN 17 US: NRC: Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; Noti 18 US: Wiscasset Newspaper: Empty Rail Cars Apparently No Threat 19 US: Wiscasset Newspaper: Maine Yankee Resumes Shipment Of Nuclear Wa 20 US: Portland Press Herald: Nuclear power plants vital to U.S. energy NUCLEAR SECURITY 21 t r u t h o u t: N. Korea Nuclear Capability "Troubling 22 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., S. Korea Discuss N. Korea's Nukes 23 Guardian Unlimited DIA: N. Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuke 24 Guardian Unlimited Iran Diplomat: Nuclear Agreement Is Near 25 Guardian Unlimited: Iranian Nuclear Talks With Europe Deadlock 26 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Others Haggle Over Nuclear Agenda 27 Guardian Unlimited: Top U.S. Envoy Warns N.Korea on Nuke Tests 28 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA AND U.S. SEEK REDUCING THREAT OF NUCLEAR TERRORI 29 Xinhua: US keeps eye on Russian nuclear facilities NUCLEAR SAFETY 30 US: [FOODIRRADIATIONCA] Model School Wellness Policy 31 Depleted Uranium From Iraq Threatens World 32 [DU List] Horror of DU not limited to Iraq 33 [DU List] Iraqi doctors warn of increasing deformities in Date: 34 US: Deseret News: Reactions to nuclear report are mixed 35 US: Dseret news: Few would be compensated if fallout advice is follo 36 US: Guardian Unlimited: Scan Shows Nev. Radiation Didn't Hit Town 37 KUAM.COM: Nuclear testing report determines no significant health ri 38 Vive le Canada: Horror of USA's depleted Uranium 39 Harvard Crimson: Hiroshima Survivors Speak About Past 40 US: Idaho Statesman: Report calls for scientific approach to Radiati 41 US: Idaho Statesman: Study: No automatic compensation for Idaho down 42 US: Idaho Statesman: Report doesn't support compensation for Idaho d 43 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Report: Downwinder radius should expand 44 US: Times-News: Local cancer victim: Decision is 'a beginning' 45 US: Idaho PTV: Downwinders 46 US: IEER: Depleted Uranium Costs and Risks from LES 47 US: PISJ: Fallout report encourages Idahoans seeking compensation 48 2theadvocate.com: Depleted-uranium test proposed 49 i-Newswire.com: Bush Pleased With Progress in Iraq, Explains N. Kore NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 50 US: ENN: DOE announces changes in Radioactive Waste and Environmenta 51 US: DallasNews.com: Nuclear waste is headed to W. Texas 52 Las Vegas SUN: Severe weather prompts Test Site emergency call 53 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Legal twist over Yucca 54 US: Idaho Statesman: Skippen views report with hope, praises Crapo's 55 Pahrump Valley Times: LETTER: PETTing zoo (Yucca) 56 US: OA Online: DOE awards contract to Waste Control 57 Pahrump Valley Times: PETT funds not the answer to county's future 58 Pahrump Valley Times: Lawyer: E-mails prove Yucca project 'flunked' 59 Forbes.com: The Big Dig - (Yucca) PEACE 60 Review Conference At UN Chance To Restore Confidence In Non-prolifer 61 US: Salt Lake Tribune: No new nukes 62 US: KAALtv.com: Mayors work to abolish nuclear weapons US DEPT. OF ENERGY 63 DOE: Office of Science; Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee 64 DOE: Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued 65 ENQUIRER: Fernald waste on its way out 66 lamonitor.com: UT takes another look at LANL bid ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA TO DELIVER UP TO 80 TONS OF NUCLEAR FUEL TO IRAN MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia will supply up to 80 tons of nuclear fuel to the Iranian nuclear power plant in Bushehr, a source in Rosatom told RIA Novosti. "The amount of fuel will be about 80 tons of low-enriched uranium," the source noted. According to him, "fuel will be supplied to Iran when it will be technologically necessary." "The time has been agreed upon with the Iranian side, no problems with the forthcoming supplies are foreseen," the source stressed. Vice-president of TVEL corporation Konstantin Sokolov earlier said that OAO TVEL plans in 2005 or early 2006 to start supplying nuclear fuel for the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Iran. Russia is completing the construction of the first power-generating unit with a capacity of 1,000 megawatt of the Bushehr nuclear power plant. The plant is slated to be put into service in 2006. The necessary equipment is now being installed at the nuclear power plant. © 2005 "RIAN Novosti" ***************************************************************** 2 BBC: Iran 'may resume' uranium project Last Updated: Saturday, 30 April, 2005 [Iran nuclear plant] Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful Iran has threatened to restart its uranium enrichment activity after talks with EU negotiators over its nuclear programme ended in deadlock. Iranian negotiator Cyrus Nasseri said Tehran may be "forced to resume part of its enrichment programme", after meeting EU counterparts in London. Both sides are expected to meet again on the sidelines of a nuclear arms control summit in New York on 2 May. Iran denies US allegations it is aiming to secretly develop nuclear weapons. "In the absence of an agreement in London, Iran will perhaps be forced to resume part of its enrichment programme," Iranian negotiator Cyrus Nasseri told Iran's official IRNA news agency. Suspension Iran has temporarily suspended nuclear enrichment as a confidence-building measure. France, the UK and Germany - known as the EU Three - have been trying to persuade Iran to abandon enrichment permanently. But Tehran is reported to want to retain a phased, monitored uranium enrichment programme. In November Iran agreed to suspend uranium enrichment for the duration of negotiations, which began in December. The EU Three want Iran to abandon its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities, offering a package of political, economic and technological incentives. A previous round of talks in March ended with no agreement. The BBC's Pam O'Toole in London says Tehran suspects the Europeans are trying to transform a temporary halt into a de facto permanent suspension by dragging out the talks. The Europeans have warned they would back US moves to take Tehran to the UN Security Council if Iran breaches agreements or resumes uranium enrichment during the talks. Iran maintains its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful, but Washington suspects it of secretly trying to build a nuclear weapon. ***************************************************************** 3 Mos News: Russia to Start Nuclear Fuel Supplies to Iran in 2005 - MOSNEWS.COM Created: 29.04.2005 16:00 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:00 MSK The Russian nuclear fuel trader TVEL announced on Friday that fuel shipments for a Russian built nuclear reactor in Iran will start in the middle of 2005, six months before the plant becomes operational in early 2006. TVEL’s vice president Anton Badenkov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti as saying that the construction of the Bushehr nuclear power plant was progressing and that the nuclear fuel should be shipped to the site half a year before the unit is launched. “The unit should become operational at the beginning of 2006,” said Budenkov, who also heads the board of directors of Atomstroiexport, the firm constructing the Bushehr reactor. Russia and Iran signed a fuel supply deal in February 2004. A key part of the deal obliges Tehran to return all spent nuclear fuel to Siberian storage units, a move which Russia hopes will allay U.S. worries that Iran may use the spent fuel, which could be reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium. “We have already signed the deal to take back the spent fuel from the plant, on which the international agencies were insisting, and all obstacles are removed,” Budenkov said. “We are now awaiting a license from the Russian authorities for nuclear fuel exports,” he said. Iran’s nuclear energy program aims to produce 7,000 megawatts at 20 nuclear power plants by 2025, according to a decision taken by the Iranian Atomic Energy Council in August 2004. Such a large-scale program would require huge investment and is hardly feasible without reaching an agreement with the EU and the United States. Russia is for maintaining its cooperation with Iran in the nuclear field, with China and Japan showing interest, too. Write us: info@mosnews.com Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 4 ICT: Newcomb: On matriotism and patriotism [2005/04/28] Posted: April 28, 2005 by: Steven Newcomb / Indigenous Law Institute After the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11, 2001, millions of Americans became more fervent in their patriotism toward the United States. In this era of the Patriot Act, those who dare to question ''patriotism'' are made to feel that they may be ''treading on thin ice.'' One American Indian leader even suggested that you can tell who a ''real'' Indian is because a ''real'' Indian is patriotic toward the United States. This made me wonder about my own thoughts on patriotism. After considerable reflection, I have decided that because of my spiritual beliefs, and because of all that our Native ancestors have suffered at the hands of the United States, I consider myself to be a ''matriot.'' A matriot is someone who loves, is loyal to, and promotes the interests of Mother Earth. I consider myself deeply matriotic. Matriotism is based on an appreciation of the fact that the source of life, air, food, and water and our very existence is Mother Earth, not the political construct known as the United States. When people talk about ''a country'' in relation to ''patriotism,'' they are talking about a political entity, not the Earth. Matriotism and patriotism are worlds apart, as revealed by etymology. Mater (from which ''matriotism'' is derived) is the Latin word for ''mother,'' a term that means ''a woman who has given birth to a child.'' Matriotism, like motherhood, suggests nurturing, warmth, affection, closeness or ''one to whom a filial affection and respect are due.'' A mother is also ''one that has produced or nurtured something; source.'' The word ''patriot,'' by contrast, is an extension of the Latin term pater, meaning ''father.'' Patriot refers to ''one's father; of or characteristic of one's forefathers,'' but it is also defined in terms of ''a person who loves his country and loves and promotes its interests.'' These meanings are, of course, patriarchal and full of testosterone, with none of the counterbalancing feminine influence so vitally important and essential to a meaningful existence. As a result of those who had a patriotic dedication to promoting the patriarchal interests of the American empire, entire Indian nations no longer exist: their ancestral lands that made their way of life viable were taken over by an imperial country. Look east of the Mississippi River, where highly intelligent and vibrant Indian civilizations once thrived on hundreds of millions of acres of land, with their own languages, cultures, economies and spiritual traditions. How many of those Native civilizations still exist there? Thanks to U.S. patriotism and the Indian Removal Act, relatively few Indian nations exist east of the Mississippi, on extremely small areas of their once-vast ancestral lands. Almost all Indian nations west of the Mississippi have been squeezed into smaller areas of land, the vast majority of their ancestral lands stripped from them. Look at all the lands where my matrilineal and matriotic Delaware ancestors once lived, in what is now known as Manhattan Island, Delaware, New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. With patriotic fervor, first European colonists and later the United States took over our lands, thereby destroying our traditional world and spiritual way of life. Think of the many thousands of years in which our respective indigenous languages evolved, accumulating knowledge and wisdom over eons. And think of all the patriotic effort that U.S. government officials and Christian missionaries dedicated to destroying our respective Native languages, right down to their cognitive roots. In their patriotic fervor, such people had no regard for our rich heritage, only contempt for our cultural and spiritual knowledge. Their patriotic work involved an ardent and greed-laden desire to destroy us in order to fatten and enrich themselves, as ''God's chosen people,'' on our lands and resources, to which they felt eminently entitled based on the ''promised land'' narrative of their ''good book.'' Because our indigenous languages reflect our own indigenous conceptual systems, which are rooted in our brains, the systematic abuse of American Indian children by the United States in an effort to destroy our Indian languages affected those Indian children to their core. Those children were our ancestors, our aunts and uncles, our mothers and fathers, our sisters and brothers - relatives of all the members of our respective nations. One of the things U.S. boarding schools beat into American Indian children was patriotism toward the American flag and devotion to the Bible, in part by working to make Indian children ashamed of their own Native spirituality. As a spiritual matter and as a matter of conscience, how can I feel patriotic toward a political entity that worked so hard to destroy us as distinct nations and peoples that have existed in this hemisphere for thousands and thousands of years? However, I am extremely matriotic toward Mother Earth. Matriotism is entirely consistent with our traditional cultural and spiritual way of life. I believe that a society dedicated to the values of matriotism would honor and respect motherhood and ''the motherland.'' It would acknowledge women as a source of life. It would support women and help them to thrive and excel by powerfully nurturing their innate intelligence. It would not abuse them emotionally, physically or sexually. A matriotic society would not regard women, or men, as a kind of property. A society dedicated to matriotism - a sacred regard for the Earth and all living things - also would not allow poisons, such as pesticides, petroleum and toxic nuclear wastes, to leach into the veins of Mother Earth. One example of Mother Earth being poisoned is found in the town of Moab, Utah, on the edge of the Colorado River where, according to a recent report in the San Diego Union-Tribune, some 58,000 gallons of radioactive liquid leach each and every day into sacred waters upon which animals, fish and millions of people rely. Another such example is the Columbia River. For generations, highly radioactive liquid has been leaching from decomposing steel drums at the Hanford nuclear facility into the groundwater that runs into the Columbia River and the fish that live there. Now the U.S. government plans to bury 77,000 tons of radioactive waste in Yucca Mountain in the Western Shoshone territory. Given such patriarchal desecrations, I am content to be matriotic like my Shawnee and Delaware ancestors. As they and all our indigenous ancestors knew, we only have one Mother Earth, and we are all her children. Steven Newcomb is the indigenous law research coordinator at Kumeyaay Community College on the Sycuan Indian Reservation, co-founder and co-director of the Indigenous Law Institute, and a columnist for Indian Country Today. . © 1998 - 2005 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved  ***************************************************************** 5 Deutsche Welle: Germans Question US Nuclear Weapons 29.04.2005 [Liberal leader Westerwelle wants US nukes out of Germany] German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called Thursday for progress to be made on strengthening disarmament measures -- but an opposition demand that the US pull its nuclear weapons from Germany has fallen on deaf ears. Ahead of next week's five-yearly review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Teaty (NPT) in New York, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder called Thursday for progress on strengthening disarmament measures. "We have two expectations from the talks," Schröder said in a press conference with visiting New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark. "The first is that we reinforce the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as it is now and we need to put all our efforts into that," he said. "The second is that there is a credible disarmament mechanism and we hope we will see movement from countries on this point." Clark (photo, with Joschka Fischer) said she hoped the meeting would focus on "striking a balance and ensuring that a country's right to produce nuclear energy does not provide cover for developing nuclear weapons." She pointed out that Germany, Britain and France should be congratulated for their efforts on attempting to obtain guarantees from Iran that it will not use its nuclear program to build weapons. Focus on North Korea Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer will lead the German delegation at the conference in New York which begins Monday and lasts until May 27. Attended by diplomats from some 190 countries, it will re-examine the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was first introduced in 1970. The US is expected to push for discussions on tightening NPT rules that have been either bent or broken by, for example, Iran and North Korea. North Korea is set to be a major talking point at the conference. The communist state said this month it had shut down a nuclear power plant and was preparing to re-process the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to six more nuclear bombs. US in the hotseat But the US may well come in for some criticism itself. President George Bush's track record of tinkering with international anti-nuclear rules has prompted critics to say Washington is top among those undermining the authority of the NPT. Bush has refused to support a test-ban treaty, threw out the anti-ballistic missile treaty with Russia, and is still dragging his feet on negotiating a global treaty to end the production of fissile material for bombs. To many, Washington's perceived double standards set a bad example when it comes to negotiations with countries such as North Korea and Iran. The US Energy Department, meanwhile, is keen to promote plans to make stockpiled warheads less sensitive to ageing, thereby saving on weapons maintenance and cutting back its stores. FDP gets tough on nuclear weapons It's a matter with particular relevance in Germany, where the nuclear question unexpectedly reared its head again this week. In the Bundestag, the opposition Liberal Democrats (FDP), with backing from the Green Party, called for an immediate withdrawal of some 150 land-based US nuclear weapons still housed on German soil -- a surprise move from a party generally known for its staunchly pro-American stance. But party leader Guido Westerwelle described the weapons as a relic of the Cold War, and pointed out that the credibility of the NPT depended on states coming through on their pledge to disarm. According to Article II of the NPT, ratified by the US in 1970 and Germany in 1975, " Each non-nuclear-weapon State Party to the Treaty undertakes not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly." "It's time to reconsider whether their presence still serves a relevant purpose," Liberal Democrat MP Werner Hoyer told German weekly Der Spiegel. Harking back to the days of the Iron Curtain, most of the 480 US nuclear weapons stored in Europe are located in Germany, strategically closest to eastern Europe. The German delegation in New York, however, is not expected to raise the issue. For the time being, it's reluctant to rock the boat of transatlantic relations.DW staff (jp) [de:mehr] --> [Info] Iran Rejects UN Nuclear Demands Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani referred to demands from the International Atomic Energy Agency to freeze all work on uranium enrichment as "illegal". (Sept. 20, 2004) German Conservatives Urge Nuke Energy Rethink Germany's conservative Christian Social Union party defends nuclear energy in the face of high oil and coal prices and demands that the government abandon its plan to close all German nuclear power plants. (June 4, 2004) A Bad Year for Disarmament U.S. policy toward conflict resolution and increased military spending is making the world more dangerous rather than safer, a recent study out of Bonn says. (May 15, 2003) ***************************************************************** 6 Xinhua: New authority to oversee energy sector www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-30 08:21:53 BEIJING, April 30 -- In response to the country's burgeoning energy crisis, China is expected to create a vice-ministry-level office in the next few days to strengthen management of the fragmented energy sector. The photo shows the tanks of the 230,000-ton Fengluwan oil reserve base in Liu'an£¬East China's Anhui Province April 4, 2005. (newsphoto/file) The new office will replace the Energy Bureau of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) - China's top economic planning body, to become the industry's top authority. The office will work to secure overseas oil and gas reserves, resolve the chronic electricity shortage, stabilize the supply of coal, enforce industrial energy efficiency, and promote nuclear power and other renewable energy resources. The setting-up of the office is a fresh move by the government which is seeking to restructure the energy industry following its dismantling of the Ministry of Energy in 1993, and the setting up of the Energy Bureau in 2003. Critics say the current Energy Bureau, which has less than 30 staff, is too weak to oversee the industry. The bureau has been blamed for failing to control runaway oil imports, the over-expansion of new power projects and inefficient energy consumption. The bureau also failed to resolve disputes between the coal production and power generation sectors that have contributed to wide-spread blackouts in recent years. Critics say the bureau is crippled because much of the administrative power for the energy industry is scattered between different government organs. As an improvement, the new office will directly report to the State Council, China's cabinet. Though it is still placed under the NDRC, the move gives the office a stronger say in decision making. Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday that Ma Kai, minister of the NDRC, will head the office. Ma Fucai, the former general manager of China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) - China's biggest oil company, is also expected to be named as one of the deputy-ministers. Ma Fucai has secured a positive reputation in the industry after turning the governments once-lumbering oil company into China's most profitable State-owned enterprise. He resigned from the CNPC after a gas field accident in 2003 killed 243 people in Chongqing. China set up the Ministry of Energy in 1988 but it was dismissed five years later because its administrative function overlapped with other departments such as the then State Development Planning Commission. (Source: China Daily) Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 [NukeNet] Chernobyl Sarcophagus Decay May Cause Another Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:31:54 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/042805E.shtml http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=633671 Cracks in Decaying Shell of Chernobyl Reactor Threaten Second Disaster By Andrew Osborn The Independent UK Thursday 28 April 2005 A leading Russian scientist has claimed that the sarcophagus entombing Chernobyl's broken nuclear reactor is dangerously degraded and he warned that its collapse could cause a catastrophe on the same scale as the original accident almost 20 years ago. Professor Alexei Yablokov, President of the Centre for Russian Environmental Policy, said the concrete and metal sarcophagus was riven with cracks, already leaking radiation and at risk of collapse unless repairs were undertaken and work on a replacement urgently begun. "If it collapses, there will be no explosion, as this is not a bomb, but a pillar of dust containing irradiated particles will shoot 1.5 kilometres into the air and will be spread by the wind." Depending on how the wind is blowing, Russia or Belarus would bear the brunt of such a dust cloud. Ukraine, where Chernobyl is located, would also be affected. The sarcophagus is designed to keep a lid on what is left of the nuclear reactor that exploded with such dire consequences during an unauthorised test in April 1986 and is supposed to stop the mass of unspent nuclear fuel that lies beneath from entering the atmosphere. It is estimated that only between 3 and 15 per cent of that fuel actually escaped during the explosion meaning that most of it is still trapped inside. Dr Yablokov, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a one-time adviser to former president Boris Yeltsin, said nuclear reactions were actually taking place - spontaneously - inside the sarcophagus as rain and snow fell on the unspent fuel through cracks in the decaying shell. He said experts had "seen a luminescence characteristic of chain reactions inside the giant building". adding: "Who could predict what might happen if hundreds of thousands of tons of concrete, which was hastily poured 19 years ago, tumbled down on the ruined nuclear reactor?" His gloomy assessment corroborates that of the Ukrainian officials who manage the decommissioned power plant. Earlier this year Julia Marusych, the head of information at Chernobyl, admitted on Russian TV that the sarcophagus was in appalling condition: "The construction is unstable, unsafe, and does not meet any safety requirements." The sarcophagus was hastily thrown together after the explosion as a desperate attempt to contain the world's worst nuclear accident. Many of the workers who toiled on it have since died of cancer and the sarcophagus itself began showing signs of serious stress in the early 1990s. Built to last 50 years,experts were forced to reduce its recommended lifespan to just 20 years meaning a replacement is due in 2006. Some repair work was carried out earlier this year but progress is slow due to the fact that construction workers can only be in its vicinity for short periods because of radiation levels. Sceptics claim that warnings about its deterioration are designed to persuade Western donors to stump up the $1bn bill. A donors' conference takes place in London on 12 May and the Ukrainian government hopes to raise $300m. That task has been complicated, however, by recent revelations that private firms have embezzled some $185m of Chernobyl money, some of which was earmarked for a new shelter. The First Catastrophe 26 APRIL 1986: 1.23am: Reactor number four at Chernobyl nuclear power plant begins to fail. Explosion blows 1,000-ton cover off the reactor and 31 people die immediately. 5am: Fire caused by explosion is put out by firefighters who are not warned of radiation. Many later die. Evening: Officials arrive at site and order evacuation of nearby town of Pripyat. 27 April: Disaster is hidden until workers at Forsmark nuclear plant in Sweden are found to have radioactive particles on clothes. Swedish search for the source of radioactivity leads to the USSR. 28 April: Soviet leadersadmit accident happened but full scale is not explained. First Soviet media reports: Chernobyl is fourth item in Moscow Radio's evening bulletin. 1 May: Despite clouds of radiation overhead, authorities encourage locals to turn out for May Day parade in nearby Kiev. June-November: Large sarcophagus made of steel and concrete is hastily constructed. _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 8 FW: TMI Slashes Workers, Community Giving, But Seeks Relicense Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:33:28 -0700 Subject: TMI Slashes Workers, Community Giving, But Seeks Relicense April 29, 2005 Three Mile Island-Unit1, 1998-2004* A History of High Rates & Poor Performance All data in this release supplied by AmerGen or Exelon Historically Exelon has maintained the highest electric rates in Pennsylvania and delivered the high-levels of customer dissatisfaction. Exelon Nuclear has also slashed their labor force and contested property valuations. This is what an Exelon Nuclear ³synergy² looks like for the Three Mile Island community: Year AmerGen + Contractor = Total Number of Employees 1998 804 1999 704 2000 579 65 644 2001 517 81 598-618 2002: 532-540 103 643 2003: 550 2005 520 Since 1999 when deregulation shifted power plants back to the local tax rolls, under the assumption that utilities would pay at least the same amount had they been subject to real estate taxes, Exelon has created revenue shock for local communities. From 1998 through 2003, according to AmerGen, TMI¹s tax payments have steadily decreased The figures from 2000-2003 reflect an Interim Settlement Agreement amount. Year Dauphin County 1998 $506,956 1999 $206,397 2000 $129, 171 2000 - 2001 $146,940 (Two years) 2002 -2003 $146,940 (Two years) Nuclear News Update provided by: Three Mile Island Alert , Inc., a safe-energy organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and founded in 1977. TMIA monitors Peach Bottom, Susquehanna, and Three Mile Island nuclear generating stations. For more information contact: tmia.com or ericepstein@comcast.net ***************************************************************** 9 SABCnews.com: Mbeki 100% correct: nuclear regulator - south_africa/general South African Broadcasting Corporation Copyright © April 29, 2005, 12:15 President Thabo Mbeki was "100% percent correct" in denying that the Pelindaba nuclear facility near Pretoria was dumping nuclear waste, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) said today. "The president's statement is 100% correct," Phil Nkhwashu, the NNR spokesman, said. Mbeki yesterday rejected as "reckless", "without foundation" and "totally impermissible" Earthlife Africa's allegations that the nuclear facility at Pelindaba had been dumping radioactive waste on the site. The statements were made by the NGO in order to promote its own interests, Mbeki said. The site is about 10km from the Atteridgeville and Saulsville townships and their surrounding squatter camps, which are home to more than one million people. Nkhwashu said the "waste" identified by Earthlife Africa were in fact a number of "concrete calibration pads" used for instrument calibration purposes and that no nuclear waste had been dumped. The NNR would issue a statement later today concerning its investigation into the site. - Sapa ***************************************************************** 10 AP Wire: Fuel made from plutonium arrives at Catawba Nuclear Station | 04/29/2005 | JULIE HALENAR Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. - A shipment of nuclear power plant fuel made from weapons-grade plutonium has completed its long journey to the Catawba Nuclear Station for testing, Duke Energy said Friday. The company and the U.S. Energy Department would not say when the mixed-oxide fuel arrived at the nuclear station on Lake Wylie, which is about 20 miles south of Charlotte, N.C. The MOX fuel, a mixture of plutonium oxide and uranium oxide, had been converted at a nuclear plant in France and then shipped back to the Charleston Naval Weapons Station earlier this month. Now, it will be tested at Catawba as part of a U.S.-Russian agreement to convert 34 metric tons of surplus plutonium. "We're going to use this and actually look at how it performs," said Duke Energy spokeswoman Rita Sipe. It will be tested to demonstrate the safe and efficient performance of the fuel made from surplus plutonium that has been used safely for decades in European reactors, she said. Despite protests from activists who said the shipment posed environmental and terrorist threats, Sipe said the nuclear station has implemented measures to meet all Nuclear Regulatory Commission security requirements. Tom Clements of Greenpeace International said he was worried about the security of the fuel shipment because Duke Power took "quite awhile" to agree to raise its standards. "They really drug their feet in upgrading the security conditions," he said. "But I would hope they fully complied with the order by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission." Clements, who believes plutonium should be managed as nuclear waste, also was concerned with transporting the nuclear fuel across great distances. "It is the handling and processing and shipment of the material that is the most vulnerable to theft and attack," he said. "This shipment and others, which will increase if the program goes forward, are what really presents the risk to the public." The Energy Department shipped the batch of plutonium to France for conversion into MOX because there isn't a plant in the United States that can do it. Officials want to build a conversion facility at the Savannah River Site near Aiken, but construction has been delayed. Sipe said Duke Energy was confident it could handle the testing program. "It's an opportunity for us to help out not only our country, but the world," Sipe said. "We feel good that we are making a contribution to ridding the world of this surplus plutonium for weapons." ***************************************************************** 11 PRAVDA.Ru: Nuclear power to save the world from ecological disaster - 04/29/2005 13:11 The closing of all nuclear stations in the world would result in additional emission of 600 million tons of carbonic acid in the atmosphere a year Peaceful atom has been brought into fashion again. Scientists have recently marked the 50th anniversary of using atoms in peaceful purposes: the commercial use of scientific developments in the field of atom splitting started a 50 years ago. Experts of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in their report that nuclear reactors currently produce about one-sixth of all electric power generated on the globe. There are about 400 nuclear reactors in the world today, situated in over 30 countries. Twenty-four reactors installed on ten nuclear power plants operate in Russia. A lot of people perceive nuclear power as something exotic or dangerous. However, there are states, in which the use of atomic energy has become the central and vital source of electric power. China's share of nuclear power makes up only 2.3 percent of the country's electricity, whereas the situation is absolutely different in the USA, Russia and France: 20, 16 and 78 percent respectively. The history of peaceful atom has had its ups and downs. The Chernobyl disaster of 1986 became the most tragic page at this point. The explosion of the nuclear reactor of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant made a lot of countries shut down their projects in the field of atomic energy. Ecological activists still impede the development of the industry in the majority of EU states. Furthermore, they make would-be members of the European Union close their nuclear enterprises: it has already happened so with Lithuania and Bulgaria. Nevertheless, the attitude to the peaceful atom has been changing in the world lately. The nuclear industry has become less dangerous with the help of the technological progress. In addition, the nuclear production is more ecologically friendly in comparison with the traditional heating production, which involves the burning of organic fuel (oil, gas, coal) and the emission of harmful gases in the atmosphere. IAEA experts said that the closing of all nuclear stations in the world would result in additional emission of 600 million tons of carbonic acid in the atmosphere every year. It is noteworthy that the international right has taken the side of the nuclear industry too. The now-effective Kyoto Protocol virtually restricts the burning of hydrocarbon fuel. The most important argument in defense of the nuclear power is purely economical. Needless to say that a lot of countries cannot afford spending up to a billion dollars to build a nuclear power plant. The exploitation of nuclear reactors, however, turns out to be much more profitable than burning gas and black oil at thermoelectric power stations. The difference becomes more and more considerable as oil prices continue growing in the world. If the price on nuclear fuel doubles, the cost of the nuclear electricity will gain only 2-4 percent. If natural gas or oil prices rise, the price of the thermal electricity will eventually become 70 percent as expensive. One should also bear in mind the fact that planet Earth is running out of its oil reserves. Specialists do not know when current oil fields become exhausted. However, such a perspective implies the continuing rise in oil prices all over the world. The situation with natural gas is a lot better so far: the reserves are high, prices are stable. On the other hand, it is about time scientists should look for a cheaper and more ecological alternative too. It is worth mentioning that up to 90 percent of global uranium extraction falls on only seven countries of the world. Canada and Australia enjoy the largest developments of uranium, with Kazakhstan, Niger and Russia following. In spite of the 5th position on the list, Russia is the world leader on the export of nuclear fuel (40% on the world market). However, experts believe that Russia will suffer from the lack of fuel in about 20 years if the speed of uranium extraction is preserved (it goes about the depletion of developed uranium reserves). In addition, people can do without any fuel at all. The so-called alternative energy uses the power of wind, the sun, rivers and tides, including the hydrogenous technology. This field of power engineering is at a very early stage of its development to make a real competition for hydrocarbons and atoms. However, governments in many countries of the world, not to mention ecological movements, stand up for the development of the no-fuel power industry. On the whole, specialists believe that no energy will be able to take the decisive advantage: hydrocarbon fuels will give way to nuclear and renewable sources of energy. IAEA experts are certain that the peaceful atom share in the world output of electric power will be growing: it is supposed to make up not less than 25 percent by 2030. Russian and Western nuclear enterprises are currently launching the fight for China. The Chinese government has recently announced an intention to build 40 power-generating units within 15 years. A sudden increase of the number of nuclear reactors does not add more safety to the word. On the other hand, it is inevitable. The future of the nuclear power is quite prosperous indeed. One should not brush negative aspects aside, though. Just one nuclear power plant was enough to wipe a whole city off the geographical map - Chernobyl. The utilization of spent nuclear fuel poses a very important problem too. Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Dmitry Sudakov) Pravda.Ru L1999-2002 "PRAVDA.Ru". When reproducing our materials in ***************************************************************** 12 RIA Novosti: NEW NUCLEAR DISASTER MAY OCCUR IN CHERNOBYL 30/04/2005 MOSCOW, April 29. (RIA Novosti) - Experts are sounding the alarm. The Chernobyl nuclear power station's sarcophagus, which encased the nuclear reactor after an accident at the plant in 1986, has many cracks and its concrete roof could collapse, spelling a disaster, writes the Trud daily. Scientists say rainwater and snow that has penetrated the shell to reach the entombed reactor has generated sporadic nuclear chain reactions. The sarcophagus walls are always warm and glowing is noticeable inside. If the roof collapses, tons of radioactive dust will fly two kilometers into the sky and cover not only Ukraine but also neighboring Russia and Belarus. In April last year, Valentin Kupny, a renowned nuclear energy expert and a former deputy general director of the power station, said the reactor's shell could collapse at any time. Academician Dmitry Grodzinsky, who has been studying Chernobyl for 16 years, says fuel masses are warming up inside the reactor, while an increase in neutron flows and radioactive dust has been registered. The sarcophagus, which was made quickly and was filled with concrete without reinforcement bars, has 170 tons of nuclear fuel inside it and more than a kilometer of holes and cracks. According to the scientist's data, there are over 800 radioactive material storage facilities containing hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of radioactive materials within the area. They were built immediately after the accident and were designed to last for five to six years. Now americium, an extremely dangerous element with radioactive isotopes, is leaking from them. The river Pripyat has turned into a spontaneous radioactive waste storage area. The Dnieper has also suffered, as it contains another dangerous element, strontium. However, water from the river is still used for irrigation. The number of mutations is rapidly increasing in the area. Blind and two-headed piglets have been born, as have seriously deformed chicken. Children with Down syndrome are born ever more frequently. Children are 1,000 times more likely to develop cancer than they were before the disaster. "The radiation is not as strong as before but genetic instability is continuing," Grodzinsky says. Today, the Ukrainian authorities have drawn up a project for a second sarcophagus to be placed over the first one to cover the energy unit for another 100 years. However, the high background radiation and a lack of money for its construction, which is expected to cost $750 million, mean the idea has not yet been implemented. ***************************************************************** 13 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA'S NUCLEAR AGENCY TO CONTRIBUTE 30MLN RUBLES TO AN IAEA PROGRAM MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Cabinet of Ministers has instructed the Federal Agency for Atomic Energy, known by its Russian acronym, Rosatom, to contribute 30 million rubles ($1 equals 27.79 rubles) to an international program on innovative nuclear reactors and fuel cycles. The money for the program, run by the International Atomic Energy Agency, is to be disbursed by installments over a period of one year. A decree to the effect has been signed by the Prime Minister, Mikhail Fradkov, the Cabinet's press office reports. Russia's contribution to the IAEA program will be coming from the funds earmarked in the federal budget for international cooperation. The first installment, 26 million rubles, is to be submitted to the IAEA's extra-budgetary fund. Rosatom is also going to allocate an additional 4.2 million rubles for research projects conducted in Russia as part of this particular IAEA program, as well as for supporting Russian representation on its governing committee. Russia's Federal Agency for Atomic Energy was founded on March 9, 2004, to replace the Atomic Energy Ministry. This government body administers the use of atomic energy in Russia, and is responsible for nuclear and radiation security. It also reports to the UN nuclear watchdog and other international organizations on Russia's implementation of commitments to ensure the safety of the nuclear material it holds. Rosatom spokespeople have specified in a RIA Novosti interview that the project at hand is known as INPRO. Its goal is to develop criteria for creating a nuclear power industry of the 21st century. Specifically, it will need to identify optimal characteristics for nuclear reactors and nuclear fuel cycle. The INPRO program was launched in 2000 at Russia's initiative and under the auspices of the IAEA. It is aimed at developing innovative technologies for nuclear power engineering, taking due account of specific national and regional features of the participants. Twenty-one countries are now taking part in the INPRO program, including India, Pakistan and China. Russia is one of the program's main donors. Some of the funding comes from the IAEA coffers. © 2005 "RIAN Novosti" ***************************************************************** 14 Platts: Final deactivation of FFTF to begin [The McGraw-Hill Companies] + Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) supporters denounced DOE's plans to start draining tomorrow the last of the sodium coolant from the FFTF. The final deactivation of the reactor will prevent it from future operations. FFTF supporters had wanted to privatize the FFTF for production of medical isotopes and possibly other uses. The reactor was in standby condition from 1992 until April 2003, when liquid sodium was removed from the secondary loops. FFTF boosters blamed DOE for putting the reactor on "death row" for 15 years because of "cost-benefit market economics." Supporters said the government found there was no "mission" because the U.S. "did not have an advanced nuclear program or fusion program, whose materials and fuels the reactor was designed to test." Washington (Platts)--28Apr2005 Copyright © 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 15 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point has unsafe fire insulation, feds warn By MICHAEL RISINIT About Hemyc Hemyc mats used in nuclear power plants consist of Kaowool insulation inside a high-temperature-resistant fabric. Kaowool is an asbestos replacement material made from a mix of ceramic fibers and other kinds of fibers. (Original publication: April 29, 2005) Insulation protecting electrical cables from fire at 14 nuclear reactors around the country, including at the two Indian Point plants in Buchanan, is unsafe and may have to be replaced. Federal regulators and plant owners will meet today to discuss findings by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission showing that the material, sold as Hemyc, shrinks during a fire and could expose the cables to excessive heat. The NRC sent a notice April 1 to the nuclear facilities using the insulation. Yesterday, an NRC spokesman said the matter was generally "not very high on the risk scale" because the insulation is used in areas replete with fire detection and suppression systems. "We're asking the plants to survey their individual situations and report to us how they plan to solve the problem," said Neil Sheehan of the NRC. Hemyc is made by Promatec, a fireproofing company based in Houston. The insulation comes in two versions — one that is preshrunk and one that is not. The insulation that is not already shrunk is the source of the possible problem. Sheehan said plant owners today will have to make "compelling arguments" as to why their handling of the situation should allow them to keep their plants operating until the problem is fixed. In Buchanan, the material covers 50 feet of cables inside the containment dome of Indian Point 2 and 250 feet of cables inside the dome of Indian Point 3. The cables carry electricity to such equipment as coolant pumps and valve motors inside the domes, said Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, which owns Indian Point. "As soon as the NRC notified us, we began fire watches," Steets said. "These are basically surveillance patrols on an hourly basis to make sure there is no sign of fire or smoke in areas where Hemyc is used." The NRC's test found that the material was incapable of withstanding a fire that burns at 800 degrees for an hour. During the fire testing, according to the NRC's notice, the outer layer of insulation "showed thermal shrinkage." This created gaps in the insulation, exposing cables to high levels of heat, Sheehan said. Lisa Rainwater of the environmental group Riverkeeper, a major critic of Indian Point, said the insulation situation comes on top of Indian Point's problems with its emergency notification sirens. The environmental group has faulted Entergy for the failure of two of its 156 emergency sirens to rotate as planned during a test and criticized the company for not providing backup power for the emergency notification system. "This is a disaster waiting to happen," Rainwater said. "They should shut the plants down immediately and address this issue and move forward." Steets said Entergy can replace the material with other insulation that meets the NRC's standards or double up the existing insulation. Entergy also uses about 50 feet of Hemyc at each of its three other Northeast plants: the James A. FitzPatrick unit upstate near Oswego, the Pilgrim Nuclear Station in Plymouth, Mass., and the Vermont Yankee plant in Vernon, Vt. - - - - - - - -914-694-9300 - - - - - Copyright 2005 The Journal News, . Inc. newspaper serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York. ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: Notice of Issuance of Amendment to Materials License No. SNM- FR Doc E5-2051 [Federal Register: April 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 82)] [Notices] [Page 22377-22378] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29ap05-91] 2510; Sacramento Municipal Utility District; Rancho SECO Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: License Amendment. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) has issued Amendment 2 to Materials License SNM-2510 held by Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) for the receipt, possession, transfer, and storage of spent fuel at the Rancho Seco Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI), located on the site of the Rancho Seco Nuclear Generating Station located in Sacramento County, California. The amendment is effective as of the date of issuance. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James R. Hall, Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-1336; fax number: (301) 415-8555; email: jrh@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: By application dated July 29, 2004, SMUD submitted a request to the NRC, in accordance with Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) 72.56, ``Application for amendment of license,'' to amend the License for the Rancho Seco ISFSI to allow for the storage of Greater than Class C (GTCC) waste. This requested change does not affect the design, operation, or surveillance of the ISFSI. This amendment complies with the requirements of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations. The Commission has made appropriate findings as required by the Act and the Commission's rules and regulations in [[Page 22378]] 10 CFR Chapter I, which are set forth in the license amendment. In accordance with 10 CFR 72.46(b)(2), a determination has been made that the amendment does not present a genuine issue as to whether public health and safety will be significantly affected. Therefore, the publication of a notice of proposed action and an opportunity for hearing or a notice of hearing is not warranted. Notice is hereby given of the right of interested persons to request a hearing on whether the action should be rescinded or modified. The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action will not have a significant impact on the environment. For this action, an Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact was prepared and published in the Federal Register (70 FR 16881, April 1, 2005). The request for amendment was docketed under 10 CFR Part 72, Docket 72-11. For further details with respect to this action, see the amendment request dated July 29, 2004, and December 2, 2004, supplement. The NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Copies of the referenced documents will also be available for review at the NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. PDR reference staff can be contacted at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of April, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. James R. Hall, Senior Project Manager Licensing Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-2051 Filed 4-28-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 17 NRC: Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; Notice of FR Doc E5-2052 [Federal Register: April 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 82)] [Notices] [Page 22377] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29ap05-90] Withdrawal of Application for Amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc. (the licensee) to withdraw its June 7, 2004, application for proposed amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-53 and No. DPR-69, for the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, located in Lusby, MD. The proposed amendment would have revised Technical Specification 3.9.4, ``Shutdown Cooling and Coolant Circulation-High Water Level,'' to incorporate the use of an alternate cooling method to function as a path for decay heat removal when in Mode 6 with the refueling pool fully flooded. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on November 29, 2004 (69 FR 69417). However, by letter dated March 30, 2005, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated June 7, 2004, and the licensee's letter dated March 30, 2005, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 25th day of April 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Richard V. Guzman, Project Manager, Section 1,Project Directorate I, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-2052 Filed 4-28-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 18 Wiscasset Newspaper: Empty Rail Cars Apparently No Threat Apr 28, 2005 "Serving Alna, Dresden, Edgecomb, Westport, Wiscasset and Woolwich" Vol. 36-No. 17 Charlotte Boynton These Covered Rail These covered rail cars on a siding in Woolwich behind the Taste of Maine restaurant are empty, Maine Yankee says. (Photo Paula Gibbs) Concern about leaking rail cars filled with soil from Wiscassets closed nuclear power plant put Woolwich Health officer John Albis Sr. on alert last week. Newspaper reports had surfaced about rail cars from Maine Yankee, on their way to a landfill in Utah, which were reportedly leaking. As of now, it has been determined that only one of the rail cars leaked. Nevertheless, Albis was worried about covered rail cars that had been parked on a siding in Woolwich for several weeks. However, a call to Maine Yankee spokesman Eric Howes on Tuesday revealed that the rail cars in Woolwich are empty. At Monday nights selectmens meeting, there was a discussion about Albis requesting permission from the Maine Eastern Railroad to take radiation readings with a meter borrowed from Sagadahoc County. His request was turned down in a letter from Jonathan Shute, General Manager of the Maine Eastern Railroad, who said a reading taken by an untrained person would not be useful. However, Shute wrote that the company would be pleased to entertain such requests by yourself or others when duly qualified, have a specific need and are authorized. Fire Chief Kenneth Desmond told the selectmen that arrangements were being made to have Albis certified in monitoring equipment to measure radioactivity. According to Shutes letter, the local fire chief would be notified immediately if there were any concerns about public safety with any commodity on the rails in the town of Woolwich, or any other town. Shute suggested any questions or technical concerns should be referred to the Department of Human Services, Maine Yankee or the Federal Railroad Administration in Cambridge. There was some concern at the selectmens meeting that the rail cars in Woolwich were some of the 48 cars loaded with low level radioactive soil that are being returned to Maine Yankee, due to the stop shipment notice issued to the company from Envirocare of Utah. The railcars located by the Taste of Maine Restaurant in Woolwich are empty, Howes said. They are waiting to come onsite to be loaded. Asked if Maine Yankee would check out the radioactivity level in the railcars to settle the concerns of the townspeople, Howes said, We would encourage anyone with any concerns to contact us, and we certainly would be willing to work with them. [MaineStreet Communications, Inc.] Wiscasset Newspaper P.O. Box 429, Wiscasset, ME 04578 Tel: 207.882.6355 ***************************************************************** 19 Wiscasset Newspaper: Maine Yankee Resumes Shipment Of Nuclear Waste Apr 28, 2005 "Serving Alna, Dresden, Edgecomb, Westport, Wiscasset and Woolwich" Vol. 36-No. 17 Charlotte Boynton Maine Yankee can resume shipment of rail cars to Utah, after Envirocare, a landfill owner in Utah, issued a stop shipment order last week because of moisture condensation and deteriorating sealant in the railcars. In the meantime, 48 rail cars, which were enroute to Utah, carrying soil from the closed nuclear plant, are being returned from various locations over the next few weeks. Contrary to reports published last week, Envirocare did not order that any rail cars that had arrived at the site be returned. The company did, however, issue a stop shipment notice when moisture was found in one of the railcars. The soil accepted at Envirocare must be dry to avoid draining that could cause radioactivity to concentrate in one area. Sometimes the facility will stop shipments that are wet because it runs out of area used for drying the soil. Envirocare requires a particular dryness, said Eric Howes, spokesman for Maine Yankee. Howes said when the rail cars arrive back at Maine Yankee they will inspect the cars for signs of moisture and signs of any leakage through the sealant. We recognized in March that some of the loaded cars were leaking, and we corrected the problem. Forty-seven of the cars being returned have been resealed; only one of the cars had not been resealed. We dont know if that car is leaking or not, Howes said, and we wont know until it arrives. Until the cars arrive, we wont know the impact to the schedule, The low-level radioactive soil in the railcars is not considered a significant environmental threat, according to Howes. The cause of the moisture in the cars was created from condensation from frozen soil being loaded in the cars during the winter months. All winter we had been loading frozen soil into these rail cars. Its hard to judge moisture content of frozen soil and when it sits in black cars with the spring sun, moisture occurs, Howes said. Maine Yankee had hoped to complete the cleanup of the site by February. However, there have been several unrelated delays, including finding traces of radioactivity in the soil. Until you start digging you dont know how deep it goes, Howes said. All the buildings have been demolished at Maine Yankee and the company is now focusing on the removal of soil that was under the buildings. Shipments resumed April 21 to Envirocare, with five railcars on their way to Utah from Maine Yankee. MaineStreet Communications, Inc. Wiscasset Newspaper P.O. Box 429, Wiscasset, ME 04578 Tel: 207.882.6355 ***************************************************************** 20 Portland Press Herald: Nuclear power plants vital to U.S. energy plan Reducing reliance on fossil fuels can only be achieved in a few ways, and this is the chief one. --> Friday, April 29, 2005 EDITORIAL: Today some 440 civil nuclear reactors, in 30 countries comprising two-thirds of the world's population, produce 16 percent of the world's electricity. If current plans hold, these nations will construct several hundred more reactors by 2030, with China and India set to build the most new facilities. Those statistics, cited this week in a column by John Ritch, director general of the World Nuclear Association and former U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency, show that nuclear power generation is undergoing a worldwide resurgence. Once considered a declining industry after the disaster of Chernobyl and the near-disaster at Three Mile Island, nuclear power is regaining status in the face of concerns over greenhouse gas emissions from fossil-fuel plants. Nuclear power was one of several sources of energy listed by President Bush in a speech this week about lessening U.S. reliance on foreign fossil fuels. Like all energy sources, nuclear power has its drawbacks. The plants are more expensive to build than generating facilities fueled by coal, oil, hydro or natural gas, and the issue of disposing of their highly hazardous waste has yet to be completely settled. Outweighing those concerns, however, is the fact that the plants produce no greenhouse gas emissions of any sort, and the world has enough radioactive material to fuel a large number of plants for many generations. While some place their hopes in solar or wind power, and those options deserve exploration, they hold little chance of ever supplying a major portion of the world's power. Hydro, meanwhile, is increasingly being criticized for blocking the free flow of rivers. Using one standardized design will lower construction costs, and making a firm commitment to Yucca Mountain in Nevada as a national waste repository will resolve waste disposal questions. The United States, which currently imports 58 percent of its fuel needs, should not be left behind the rest of the world in the race for cleaner skies. Copyright© Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. ***************************************************************** 21 t r u t h o u t: N. Korea Nuclear Capability "Troubling Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:33:23 -0700 Agency Says North Korea Able to Mount Warheads on Missiles By David S. Cloud and David E. Sanger Friday 28 April 2005 Washington - The head of the Defense Intelligence Agency said today that American intelligence agencies believe North Korea has mastered the technology for mounting a nuclear warhead on its missiles, an assessment that, if correct, means the country could build weapons to threaten Japan and perhaps the western United States. The conclusion was part of a total reassessment of North Korea's capabilities that the D.I.A.'s chief, Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, said was still under way. While Admiral Jacoby said North Korea was judged to have the capability to put a nuclear weapon atop its missiles, he stopped well short of saying they have already done so, or even that they had assembled warheads small enough for the purpose. Nor did he give any evidence to back up his view during the public session of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But he appeared to be putting a final conclusion on a study the intelligence community has had under way for at least two years. In 2003, the United States warned South Korea and Japan that satellite imagery had identified an advanced nuclear testing site in a remote corner of North Korea where equipment had been set up to test conventional explosives that, when detonated, could compress a plutonium core and set off a compact nuclear explosion. Since then, American investigators have been pressing Pakistan for details of what kind of technology North Korean engineers might have been given in visits they made to Pakistani nuclear sites. North Korea supplied Pakistan with many of the missiles Pakistan uses for its own nuclear arsenal. North Korea is considered one of the most opaque intelligence targets for American analysts, and the absence of reliable human spies had made it all the more difficult to understand the progress of its program. But when asked by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in a hearing today whether "North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device," Admiral Jacoby responded, "The assessment is that they have the capability to do that, yes ma'am." If President Bush accepts that judgment, it could significantly complicate choices he must make in the next several months. North Korea declared publicly for the first time in February that it had nuclear weapons. Earlier this month, American spy satellites detected that the country had shut down its nuclear power plant at Yongbyon and could be preparing to reprocess the plant's spent fuel, a move that could result in the production of enough plutonium to build up to two or three more nuclear bombs. Admiral Jacoby said that the United States had increased its assessment of the current North Korean arsenal's size, but he gave no numbers. Six-nation talks the United States is backing in an effort persuade Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear program have been stalled since last June. China, a neighbor and ally of communist North Korea, has been host to three inconclusive rounds of the negotiations, which involved the United States, North and South Korea, China, Japan and Russia. Senator Clinton called Admiral Jacoby's testimony "troubling beyond words." She added: "We have been locked into this six-party idea now for a number of years and all the while we've seen North Korea going about the business of acquiring nuclear weapons and the missile capacity to deliver those to the shores of the United States." Admiral Jacoby also confirmed the assessment that North Korea has the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental missile that could reach portions of the continental United States, in addition to Hawaii and Alaska. He added that a formal assessment under way by United States intelligence agencies of North Korea's nuclear program would be completed next month. ------- Jump to today's TO Features: Today's TO Features -------------- FOCUS: William Rivers Pitt | The Crawling King Snake Returns N. Korea Nuclear Capability "Troubling Beyond Words" -------------- Will Pitt: FYI t r u t h o u t Home (In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. t r u t h o u t has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is t r u t h o u t endorsed or sponsored by the originator.) "Go to Original" links are provided as a convenience to our readers and allow for verification of authenticity. However, as originating pages are often updated by their originating host sites, the versions posted on TO may not match the versions our readers view when clicking the "Go to Original" links. 1813f5.jpg Print This Story181400.jpg18140b.jpg E-mail This Story181415.jpg 18141f.jpg | t r u t h o u t | FYI | issues | environment | labor | women | health | voter rights | multimedia | donate | contact | subscribe | Attachment Converted: 1813f5.jpg: 00000001,18fb05b3,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 181400.jpg: 00000001,18fb05b4,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 18140b.jpg: 00000001,18fb05b5,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 181415.jpg: 00000001,18fb05b6,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 18141f.jpg: 00000001,18fb05b7,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 22 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., S. Korea Discuss N. Korea's Nukes From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 3:46 AM AP Photo TOK101 By BO-MI LIM Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - U.S. and South Korean officials focused on ways to convince North Korea to end its nuclear program Friday as an American intelligence official warned that the communist state could now arm a missile with a nuclear weapon. Both Seoul and Washington are urging the North to return to six-nation talks on halting its nuclear program, and South Korea on Thursday strongly warned the North against conducting a nuclear test, following reports that it may be preparing its first such trial. South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, responsible for Seoul's relations with the communist North, met Friday with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, Washington's top envoy on the nuclear issue. Chung said that a nuclear test would ``shake the fundamentals of the framework'' of the six-nation talks, and that the North ``should judge and act prudently.'' Hill told reporters after arriving in Seoul that the six-way talks are still the best way to resolve the nuclear dispute. ``I don't want to discuss (other) options right now because I think that further undermines the chances for success of six-party talks,'' he said. The talks have been stalled since last June after three inconclusive rounds. ``We continue to have a situation where North Koreans don't seem to want to come back to the talks, and that's obviously a problem for the future of the talks,'' Hill said. ``We still consider the six-party process is the best process to deal with this.'' In Washington, Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a Senate committee Thursday that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear weapon, a potentially significant advance for the communist state. But two defense officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. intelligence assessments maintain Pyongyang is several years away from developing a nuclear-armed missile that could reach the United States. President Bush, at a White House news conference Thursday night, said he wanted to reach a diplomatic solution on the North's nuclear program. He said that what he wants to do is ``work with our allies on this issue and develop a consensus, a common approach, to the consequences of (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il.'' Resuming the six-nation talks - among the two Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia - gained urgency in February when the North claimed it already has produced nuclear weapons and would boycott further talks. It has since threatened to increase its nuclear arsenal, and has asked to be treated as an equal partner in the nuclear talks. --- AP writer John J. Lumpkin in Washington contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 23 Guardian Unlimited DIA: N. Korea Can Arm Missile With Nuke From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 8:16 AM By JOHN J. LUMPKIN Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The Defense Intelligence Agency chief says North Korea is able to arm a missile with a nuclear weapon, but hasn't said whether it has done so or if such a missile could reach the United States. Still, the assessment presented by Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby to a Senate panel Thursday would mark a significant step forward in the communist state's capabilities. The DIA, however, said in a statement later that Jacoby was only reiterating a statement he made to the panel on March 17 that North Korea's missiles were capable of carrying a nuclear warhead - but not that they had actually developed such a warhead. The March statement, however, did not address whether North Korea could actually mount a nuclear warhead on its missile: Jacoby only said that North Korea's Taepo Dong 2 missile might be ready for testing and ``could deliver a nuclear warhead to parts of the United States.'' North Korea is believed to have made at least one nuclear weapon, according to public intelligence estimates. But combining that weapon with the Taepo Dong 2 into a nuclear missile is a greater technical challenge, defense officials said. After Jacoby spoke, two defense officials said U.S. intelligence analysts believe North Korea is several years from being able to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile that is capable of reaching the United States from Korea. The defense officials, discussing intelligence assessments on the condition of anonymity, said analysts believe North Korea has not solved all the problems of turning a nuclear device into a small warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile, so the meaning of Jacoby's statement remained somewhat ambiguous. Jacoby discussed North Korea's capabilities during questioning by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. Clinton asked if ``North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device?'' Jacoby answered, ``My assessment is that they have the capability to do that.'' Clinton then asked, ``And do you assess that North Korea has the ability to deploy a two-stage intercontinental nuclear missile that could successfully hit U.S. territory?'' Jacoby responded, ``Yes, the assessment on a two-stage missile would give capability to reach portions of U.S. territory and the projection on a three-stage missile would be that it would be able to reach most of the continental United States. That still is a theoretical capability in a sense that those missiles have not been tested.'' U.S. intelligence believes a two-stage Taepo Dong 2 could hit Alaska, Hawaii and perhaps parts of the West Coast. North Korea also has shorter-range missiles which, some officials have said, may be able to carry a nuclear warhead as far as Japan. Clinton said Jacoby's testimony was ``troubling beyond words.'' Later Thursday, Clinton and Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the panel, sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that read, ``Admiral Jacoby's assessment that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear device is, we believe, the first such public assessment by an Administration official.'' They called on the Bush administration to pursue direct talks with Pyongyong, something the administration has declined to do in favor of six-party talks that also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea. But President Bush, at a White House news conference Thursday night, said that ``the best way to deal with this issue diplomatically is to have four other nations beside ourself dealing with him. And we'll continue to do so.'' Bush also said the threat from North Korea was a chief reason for his insistence on going ahead with development of a missile defense system. ``Perhaps (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il has got the capacity to launch a weapon; wouldn't it be nice to be able to shoot it down?'' Bush said. The six-nation nuclear talks have been stalled since June. Washington's top envoy on the issue, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, said Thursday in South Korea that the North's refusal to talk is a problem but they are the best way to resolve matters. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 24 Guardian Unlimited Iran Diplomat: Nuclear Agreement Is Near From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 9:16 PM By ED JOHNSON Associated Press Writer LONDON (AP) - An Iranian diplomat suggested Friday that an agreement over Tehran's nuclear program was within reach as he began a meeting with European negotiators in London. France, Britain and Germany, acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, were seeking guarantees that Iran will not use its nuclear program to make weapons, as Washington suspects. Tehran insists the program - kept secret for two decades - is only for peaceful energy purposes and is reserving the right to restart uranium enrichment activities, which it froze in November. Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors to generate electricity, but further enrichment makes it suitable for a nuclear bomb. Iranian envoy Sirous Nasseri said he believed the private talks with the Europeans could produce an agreement. ``The way I describe the situation is that we have covered all the elements to lay the basis for an agreement,'' he told The Associated Press by telephone in London. ``Tonight I think we have the opportunity to go through the remaining elements and therefore beyond this it would be reasonable to expect that we move to a decision and a stage-by-stage implementation.'' The European countries want Tehran to abandon its enrichment activities permanently in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Iran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. Britain's Foreign Office said Friday that Europe was still seeking ``objective guarantees'' that Iran's nuclear program would not result in a nuclear weapon. Asked if he anticipated a breakthrough, Nasseri responded: ``I am expecting that we would be able to put the final touches for a foundation for agreement.'' The clerical regime in Tehran agreed in November to suspend its uranium enrichment activities temporarily, to build confidence in the international community and avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council. Yet Iranian officials insist their country has the right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - like other signatory nations - to enrich uranium for use in civilian power production. Speaking during Friday prayers at Tehran University, Iran's powerful former president Hashemi Rafsanjani said his country will continue ``prolonged and fruitless sessions'' with the Europeans ``with patience and firmness'' to convince them that Iran doesn't want to make nuclear weapons. He added that Iran wanted to have all kinds of nuclear technology for the good of the country, and it would do so ``at whatever price it takes.'' Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi said Thursday that if the London talks were not successful, ``negotiations will collapse and we will have no choice but to restart the uranium enrichment program.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 25 Guardian Unlimited: Iranian Nuclear Talks With Europe Deadlock From the Associated Press [UP] Saturday April 30, 2005 1:01 AM AP Photo AMS802 By ED JOHNSON Associated Press Writer LONDON (AP) - High-level European and Iranian talks aimed at convincing the Mideast nation to scrap its nuclear program ended in a deadlock Friday, officials said. Closed-door sessions between Iran and senior British, French, German officials failed to resolve Western demands that Iran end efforts to enrich uranium, the key element in building nuclear weapons. ``No conclusions were reached, either positive or negative,'' a senior British Foreign Office official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. ``Both sides have gone away and agreed to reflect on what was discussed. Talks will continue.'' All parties will attend talks in New York on May 2 on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, where informal discussions are likely to continue in the sidelines. Iranian officials who participated in Friday's talks could not immediately be reached for comment. The clerical regime in Tehran agreed in November to suspend its uranium enrichment activities temporarily, to build confidence in the international community and avoid referral to the U.N. Security Council. But Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi warned Thursday that if talks were not successful, ``negotiations will collapse and we will have no choice but to restart the uranium enrichment program.'' The three European nations, acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union, are seeking guarantees that Iran will not use its nuclear program to make weapons, as Washington suspects. Tehran insists the program - kept secret for two decades - is only for peaceful energy purposes and is reserving the right to restart uranium enrichment activities, which it froze in November. Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors to generate electricity, but further enrichment makes it suitable for a nuclear bomb. The European countries want Tehran to abandon its enrichment activities permanently in exchange for economic aid, technical support and backing for Iran's efforts to join mainstream international organizations. The United States last month agreed to support the EU diplomatic effort, ending its opposition to Iran's application for membership in the World Trade Organization and a partial lifting of the ban on sales of some spare parts for Iran's civilian aircraft. But at the same time, Washington signaled that Iran should quickly accept the offer - or face the threat of harsh United Nations Security Council sanctions. Iranian officials insist their country has the right under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - like other signatory nations - to enrich uranium for use in civilian power production. Speaking during Friday prayers at Tehran University, Iran's powerful former president Hashemi Rafsanjani said his country will continue ``prolonged and fruitless sessions'' with the Europeans ``with patience and firmness'' to convince them that Iran doesn't want to make nuclear weapons. He added that Iran wanted to have all kinds of nuclear technology for the good of the country, and it would do so ``at whatever price it takes.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 26 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Others Haggle Over Nuclear Agenda From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 9:46 PM By CHARLES J. HANLEY AP Special Correspondent UNITED NATIONS (AP) - With just three days to go, nuclear-armed and non-nuclear states were still searching for agreement Friday on an agenda for a critical conference to reassess the ``eroding'' Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The United States has sought to make Iran's alleged weapons plans the focus of the monthlong treaty review. But others want an equal emphasis on what they see as the softening commitment by Washington and other nuclear powers to eventually scrap their weapons, as the treaty requires. Conference president Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, mediating the dispute, told reporters Friday many delegates ``keep their cards close to their chest until they have to take a decision. I expect in the next couple of days there will be movement.'' If not, and the sessions begin Monday with an incomplete agenda, ``it would be an unfortunate situation,'' the Brazilian diplomat said. He said he would steer the conference to ``noncontentious points'' while backroom talks continue. The contentious points are piling up: -North Korea's withdrawal from the treaty and declaration it has built nuclear weapons. -Iran's secretive, yearslong program to enrich uranium, a potential step toward a bomb. -U.S. interest in developing new nuclear arms, and rejection of some arms-control pacts. -The threat of nuclear terrorism. Because of such developments, ``parties are concerned about the erosion of confidence in the treaty,'' Duarte said. The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which is formally reviewed every five years, is essentially a global bargain: States without nuclear weapons pledge not to pursue them, and five with the weapons - the United States, Russia, Britain, France and China - pledge to move toward eliminating them. A third keystone of the 188-nation treaty is a guarantee that countries without atom bombs will have access to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. Iran says its uranium enrichment is meant solely for civilian energy. Although India, Pakistan and Israel, treaty nonmembers, have developed atomic weapons, the treaty is credited with having prevented a wider nuclear free-for-all. But the treaty's flaws, such as North Korea's 2003 withdrawal without sanction, have become more apparent in recent years. Duarte indicated the conference may not focus heavily on North Korea itself, so that on-and-off six-party negotiations have time to draw the North Koreans back into the treaty. But he said treaty members might discuss the subject of withdrawal; some propose procedural changes to subject future North Koreas to possible penalties. Participants generally agree the ``nuclear fuel cycle'' issue - as seen in the Iran case - must be confronted. But the questions of restricting nations' access to such dual-use technology are too complex to be settled by the time the conference ends May 27, experts say. The agenda dispute might foreshadow an eventual failure by the conference to adopt a consensus document taking positions on major issues, Canadian arms control advocate Douglas Roche said. The former disarmament negotiator said that instead delegates might seek agreement on an individual item or two. He suggested, for example, they endorse negotiation of a treaty ending production of fissile material for nuclear bombs, while agreeing to a new U.S. stipulation that it not include inspections or other verification. Verification could then be negotiated separately, he said. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 27 Guardian Unlimited: Top U.S. Envoy Warns N.Korea on Nuke Tests From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 12:31 PM By BO-MI LIM Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A top U.S. diplomat on Friday joined South Korea in warning the communist North against conducting a nuclear test, following reports that it may be preparing its first such trial. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. envoy to North Korean disarmament talks, was in Seoul after trips to Beijing and Tokyo to coordinate efforts aimed at persuading the North to return to the negotiating table. ``Often when a country announces its membership in the nuclear arms club, the next step would be a test,'' Hill told reporters. ``To go ahead and have a nuclear test ... would be truly troubling for the talks.'' On Friday, Hill met South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, responsible for Seoul's relations with the North, who a day earlier had warned the North to carefully consider before detonating an atomic bomb. Chung said Thursday that a nuclear test would ``shake the fundamentals of the framework'' of the six-nation talks, and that the North ``should judge and act prudently.'' Chung said there is no evidence the North is preparing for a test. But his warning came after U.S. media reported over the weekend that Pyongyang might be preparing for its first nuclear test. At Friday's news conference, Hill said that six-way talks between North Korea, its neighbors, Japan and the United States, are still the best way to resolve the nuclear dispute. ``What I don't want to do is get into discussing other options because that would undermine the six-party talks,'' Hill said. ``All those options are not as good as the six-party talks.'' The talks have been stalled since last June after three inconclusive rounds. ``We are still in a situation where one of the parties is refusing to come to the table, and that of course, is North Korea,'' Hill said. ``They have not made a strategic decision to do away with their nuclear weapons.'' Hill's comments came a day after Vice Adm. Lowell Jacoby, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, told a Senate committee in Washington that North Korea has the ability to arm a missile with a nuclear weapon, a potentially significant advance for the isolated communist state. But two U.S. defense officials, speaking in Washington on the condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence assessments maintain Pyongyang is several years away from developing a nuclear-armed missile powerful enough to reach the United States. North Korea has not solved all the problems of turning a nuclear device into a small warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile, they said, citing analysts' assessments. President Bush, at a White House news conference Thursday night, said he wanted to reach a diplomatic solution on the North's nuclear program. He said that what he wants to do is ``work with our allies on this issue and develop a consensus, a common approach, to the consequences of (North Korean leader) Kim Jong Il.'' Resuming the six-nation talks gained urgency in February when the North claimed it already has produced nuclear weapons and would boycott further talks. The North has since threatened to increase its nuclear arsenal, and has demanded that the United States halt what the North calls a hostile police toward Pyongyang. --- Editors: AP writer John J. Lumpkin in Washington contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 28 RIA Novosti: RUSSIA AND U.S. SEEK REDUCING THREAT OF NUCLEAR TERRORISM MOSCOW, April 29 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the United States seek reduction of the threat of nuclear terrorism. This goal is pursued in the agreement on further cooperation concluded between Russia's Federal Customs Service and the National Nuclear Security Administration under the American Energy Department, says the FCS press service in the communique, on Friday. The document was signed within the framework of the program Second Line of Protection. This program has been on since 1998 and seeks minimizing risk from the illegal movement of nuclear and other radioactive materials across state borders. Among the guidelines of interaction is equipping border checkpoints with radiation control equipment and their unification into single reaction systems, as well as the training of specialists for them at branches of the Russian Customs Academy. The document, signed on Thursday, is the basis for new long-term cooperation, maintenance of all the radiation control equipment at the checkpoints, the FTS press release says. "The joint efforts taken within the framework of cooperation between the Russian FTS and the United States Energy Department have great importance for reducing the threat of nuclear and radiological terrorism", said the FTS deputy chief Tatyana Golendeeva. ***************************************************************** 29 Xinhua: US keeps eye on Russian nuclear facilities www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-04-29 22:46:46 MOSCOW, April 29 (Xinhuanet) -- The United States wants to keep an eye on its funded program aiming to make nuclear weapons and materials more secure in Russia, rather than demand unlimited access to all Russian nuclear sites, a US Embassy source said Friday. The United States simply wants to see how its money is being spent on the facilities, the Interfax news agency quoted an unidentified US diplomat in Moscow as saying. "The program involves scores of nuclear facilities in Russia and the degree of American involvement in their operations varies.In some cases we are only conducting routine work to raise the safety of the zone where the facility is located, in others, we are directly involved in the elimination of nuclear materials," the diplomat told the Interfax. He also said Washington "is not trying to get unlimited access to Russian nuclear facilities, that is a misunderstanding of the situation." The statement came after US Secretary of State Condoleezza Ricepressed for inspections of Russian nuclear facilities during her recent visit to Moscow. Speculation followed that Washington wanted to be better acquainted with Russia's nuclear activities. The US-funded Nunn-Lugar Threat Reduction program has allocated690 million US dollars for nuclear safety projects in the former Soviet Union in 2004. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 30 [FOODIRRADIATIONCA] Model School Wellness Policy Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 21:01:51 -0700 Friends and fellow school lunch activists: Public Citizen has created language for a Model Wellness Policy on the issue of irradiated food in school meals. Please forward this to folks who may be interested in this topic. It will also be available on our website www.safelunch.org If you have questions or would like more information, please follow up with Audrey Hill. -Tracy Lerman ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracy Lerman Senior Organizer Public Citizen, California Office 1615 Broadway, 9th Floor Oakland, CA 94612 ph: 510-663-0888 x 103 f: 510-663-8569 tlerman@citizen.org http://www.citizen.org/california ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >>> Audrey Hill 04/29/05 02:27PM >>> Hello Healthy Lunch Activists! The Reauthorization of the Child Nutrition Act in 2004 requires every school district that participates in federal school meals programs to pass a Local Wellness Policy (LWP) by the beginning of the 2006-2007 school year (Public Law 108-265 Section 204). The Local Wellness Policy is a significant development in education and health policy because it requires schools to address nutrition and physical activity, as well as creates an opportunity for greater public input into health in the school environment. The Local Wellness Policy is an excellent opportunity to address the issue of serving irradiated food in school meals. Attached is a document with some information on the Local Wellness Policy and ideas in regards to irradiated food, as well as resources for broader policies. Sincerely, Audrey Hill *** Audrey Hill Organizer Public Citizen 215 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE www.safelunch.org Washington, DC 20003 (202) 454-5185 ********** If you do not wish to recieve these emails in the future, please send a email to tlerman@citizen.org with "unsubscribe foodirradiationca" in the subject line. Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\Model Local Wellness Policy- FINAL.doc" ***************************************************************** 31 Depleted Uranium From Iraq Threatens World Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 06:38:45 -0400 Horror Of Depleted Uranium Not Limited To Iraq By James Denver http://www.coastalpost.com/05/04/09.htm "I'm horrified. The people out there - the Iraqis, the media and the troops - risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car." The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr. Chris Busby, the British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk, talking about the best-kept secret of this war: the fact that, by illegally using hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that-whipped up by sandstorms and carried on trade winds - there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate-including Britain. For the wind has no boundaries and time is on their side: the radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukemia, brain damage, kidney failure, and extreme birth defects - killing millions of every age for centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time. These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate - including Britain. Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a dirty story in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used. A Dirty Tyson 'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. For 'depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror) The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it burns can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even be so tiny they pass through a gas mask, making protection against them impossible. Yet, small is not beautiful. For these invisible killers indiscriminately attack men, women, children and even babies in the womb-and do the gravest harm of all to children and unborn babies. A Terrible Legacy Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukaemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate'. In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1 On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent the Ministry of Defense a special report on the potential damage to health and the environment. It said that it could cause half a million additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years. In that war the authorities only admitted to using 320 tons of DU-although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates the true figure is closer to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread across Iraq by this year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come, is beyond imagining. The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions of every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against humanity which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time. We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies. Nobody knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU contaminated their world. But it is suggested that troops who were only exposed to DU for the brief period of the war were still excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some had 100 times the so-called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack of government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is reflected in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but informal research has found a high incidence of birth defects in their children and that the wives of men who served in Iraq have three times more miscarriages than the wives of servicemen who did not go there. Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would break a heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific. Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a boy?' but simply, 'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible legacy will not end. The genes of their parents may have been damaged for ever, and the damaging DU dust is ever-present. Blue on Blue What the governments of America and Britain have done to the people of Iraq they have also done to their own soldiers, in both wars. And they have done it knowingly. For the battlefields have been thick with DU and soldiers have had to enter areas heavily contaminated by bombing. Moreover, their bodies have not only been assaulted by DU but also by a vaccination regime which violated normal protocols, experimental vaccines, nerve agent pills, and organophosphate pesticides in their tents. Yet, though the hazards of DU were known, British and American troops were not warned of its dangers. Nor were they given thorough medical checks on their return-even though identifying it quickly might have made it possible to remove some of it from their body. Then, when a growing number became seriously ill, and should have been sent to top experts in radiation damage and neurotoxins, many were sent to a psychiatrist. Over 200,000 US troops who returned from the 1991 war are now invalided out with ailments officially attributed to service in Iraq-that's 1 in 3. In contrast, the British government's failure to fully assess the health of returning troops, or to monitor their health, means no one even knows how many have died or become gravely ill since their return. However, Gulf veterans' associations say that, of 40,000 or so fighting fit men and women who saw active service, at least 572 have died prematurely since coming home and 5000 may be ill. An alarming number are thought to have taken their own lives, unable to bear the torment of the innumerable ailments which have combined to take away their career, their sexuality, their ability to have normal children, and even their ability to breathe or walk normally. As one veteran puts it, they are 'on DU death row, waiting to die'. Whatever other factors there may be, some of their illnesses are strikingly similar to those of Iraqis exposed to DU dust. For example, soldiers have also fathered children without eyes. And, in a group of eight servicemen whose babies lack eyes seven are known to have been directly exposed to DU dust. They too have fathered children with stunted arms, and rare abnormalities classically associated with radiation damage. They too seem prone to cancer and leukemia. Tellingly, so are EU soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans, where DU was also used. Indeed their leukemia rate has been so high that several EU governments have protested at the use of DU. The Vital Evidence Despite all that evidence of the harm done by DU, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly claimed that as it emits only 'low level' radiation DU is harmless. Award-winning scientist, Dr. Rosalie Bertell who has led UN medical commissions, has studied 'low-level' radiation for 30 years. 2 She has found that uranium oxide particles have more than enough power to harm cells, and describes their pulses of radiation as hitting surrounding cells 'like flashes of lightning' again and again in a single second.2 Like many scientists worldwide who have studied this type of radiation, she has found that such 'lightning strikes' can damage DNA and cause cell mutations which lead to cancer. Moreover, these particles can be taken up by body fluids and travel through the body, damaging more than one organ. To compound all that, Dr. Bertell has found that this particular type of radiation can cause the body's communication systems to break down, leading to malfunctions in many vital organs of the body and to many medical problems. A striking fact, since many veterans of the first Gulf war suffer from innumerable, seemingly unrelated, ailments. In addition, recent research by Eric Wright, Professor of Experimental Haematology at Dundee University, and others, have shown two ways in which such radiation can do far more damage than has been thought. The first is that a cell which seems unharmed by radiation can produce cells with diverse mutations several cell generations later. (And mutations are at the root of cancer and birth defects.) This 'radiation-induced genomic instability' is compounded by 'the bystander effect' by which cells mutate in unison with others which have been damaged by radiation-rather as birds swoop and turn in unison. Put together, these two mechanisms can greatly increase the damage done by a single source of radiation, such as a DU particle. Moreover, it is now clear that there are marked genetic differences in the way individuals respond to radiation-with some being far more likely to develop cancer than others. So the fact that some veterans of the first Gulf war seem relatively unharmed by their exposure to DU in no way proves that DU did not damage others. The Price of Truth That the evidence from Iraq and from our troops, and the research findings of such experts, have been ignored may be no accident. A US report, leaked in late 1995, allegedly says, 'The potential for health effects from DU exposure is real; however it must be viewed in perspective... the financial implications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would be excessive.'3 Clearly, with hundreds of thousands gravely ill in Iraq and at least a quarter of a million UK and US troops seriously ill, huge disability claims might be made not only against the governments of Britain and America if the harm done by DU were acknowledged. There might also be huge claims against companies making DU weapons and some of their directors are said to be extremely close to the White House. How close they are to Downing Street is a matter for speculation, but arms sales makes a considerable contribution to British trade. So the massive whitewashing of DU over the past 12 years, and the way that governments have failed to test returning troops, seemed to disbelieve them, and washed their hands of them, may be purely to save money. The possibility that financial considerations have led the governments of Britain and America to cynically avoid taking responsibility for the harm they have done not only to the people of Iraq but to their own troops may seem outlandish. Yet DU weapons weren't used by the other side and no other explanation fits the evidence. For, in the days before Britain and America first used DU in war its hazards were no secret.4 One American study in 1990 said DU was 'linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and to] chemical toxicity-causing kidney damage'. While another openly warned that exposure to these particles under battlefield conditions could lead to cancers of the lung and bone, kidney damage, non-malignant lung disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal damage and birth defects.5 A Culture of Denial In 1996 and 1997 UN Human Rights Tribunals condemned DU weapons for illegally breaking the Geneva Convention and classed them as 'weapons of mass destruction' 'incompatible with international humanitarian and human rights law'. Since then, following leukemia in European peacekeeping troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan (where DU was also used), the EU has twice called for DU weapons to be banned. Yet, far from banning DU, America and Britain stepped up their denials of the harm from this radioactive dust as more and more troops from the first Gulf war and from action and peacekeeping in the Balkans and Afghanistan have become seriously ill. This is no coincidence. In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying, 'The [US government's] Veterans Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body.' He concluded, 'uranium does cause cancer, uranium does cause mutation, and uranium does kill. If we continue with the irresponsible contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that human life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God and to all generations who follow.' Not what the authorities wanted to hear and his research was suddenly blocked. During 12 years of ever-growing British whitewash the authorities have abolished military hospitals, where there could have been specialized research on the effects of DU and where expertise in treating DU victims could have built up. And, not content with the insult of suggesting the gravely disabling symptoms of Gulf veterans are imaginary they have refused full pensions to many. For, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the current House of Commons briefing paper on DU hazards says 'it is judged that any radiation effects from possible exposures are extremely unlikely to be a contributory factor to the illnesses currently being experienced by some Gulf war veterans.' Note how over a quarter of a million sick and dying US and UK vets are called 'some'. The Way Ahead Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they dramatically increased its use-from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war to at minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn't limited to anti-tank weapons-as it had largely been in the previous Gulf war-but was extended to the guided missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000-pound bombs used in Iraq's cities. This means that Iraq's cities have been blanketed in lethal particles-any one of which can cause cancer or deform a child. In addition, the use of DU in huge bombs which throw the deadly particles higher and wider in huge plumes of smoke means that billions of deadly particles have been carried high into the air-again and again and again as the bombs rained down-ready to be swept worldwide by the winds. The Royal Society has suggested the solution is massive decontamination in Iraq. That could only scratch the surface. For decontamination is hugely expensive and, though it may reduce the risks in some of the worst areas, it cannot fully remove them. For DU is too widespread on land and water. How do you clean up every nook and cranny of a city the size of Baghdad? How can they decontaminate a whole country in which microscopic particles, which cannot be detected with a normal geiger counter, are spread from border to border? And how can they clean up all the countries downwind of Iraq-and, indeed, the world? So there are only two things we can do to mitigate this crime against humanity. The first is to provide the best possible medical care for the people of Iraq, for our returning troops and for those who served in the last Gulf war and, through that, minimize their suffering. The second is to relegate war, and the production and sale of weapons, to the scrap heap of history-along with slavery and genocide. Then, and only then, will this crime against humanity be expunged, and the tragic deaths from this war truly bring freedom to the people of Iraq, and of the world. References 1. The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998. 2. Rosalie Bertell's book Planet Earth the Latest Weapon of War was reviewed in Caduceus issue 51, page 28. 3. http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl1. htm#TAB L_Research Report Summaries 4. www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.01/020117moret.htm The secret official memorandum to Brigadier General L.R.Groves from Drs Conant, Compton and Urey of War Department Manhattan district dated October 1943 is available at the website www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Grove s21feb03.htm 5. http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_iitab11.htm#tab L_research report summaries .................................................. ........................................ Further information The Low Level Radiation Campaign hopes to be able to arrange a limited number of private urine tests for those returning from the latest Gulf war. It can be contacted at: The Knoll, Montpelier Park, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LW. 01597 824771. Web: www.llrc.org -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- James Denver writes and broadcasts internationally on science and technology. ================================================= Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ***************************************************************** 32 [DU List] Horror of DU not limited to Iraq Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 14:32:44 -0700 177878.jpg My Groups | pandora-project Main Page Horror Of Depleted Uranium Not Limited To Iraq By James Denver http://www.coastalpost.com/05/04/09.htm "I'm horrified. The people out there - the Iraqis, the media and the troops - risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car." The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr. Chris Busby, the British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk, talking about the best-kept secret of this war: the fact that, by illegally using hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that-whipped up by sandstorms and carried on trade winds - there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate-including Britain. For the wind has no boundaries and time is on their side: the radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukemia, brain damage, kidney failure, and extreme birth defects - killing millions of every age for centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time. These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate - including Britain. Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a dirty story in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used. A Dirty Tyson 'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. For 'depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror) The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it burns can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even be so tiny they pass through a gas mask, making protection against them impossible. Yet, small is not beautiful. For these invisible killers indiscriminately attack men, women, children and even babies in the womb-and do the gravest harm of all to children and unborn babies. A Terrible Legacy Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukaemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate'. In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1 On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent the Ministry of Defense a special report on the potential damage to health and the environment. It said that it could cause half a million additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years. In that war the authorities only admitted to using 320 tons of DU-although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates the true figure is closer to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread across Iraq by this year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come, is beyond imagining. The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions of every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against humanity which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time. We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies. Nobody knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU contaminated their world. But it is suggested that troops who were only exposed to DU for the brief period of the war were still excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some had 100 times the so-called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack of government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is reflected in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but informal research has found a high incidence of birth defects in their children and that the wives of men who served in Iraq have three times more miscarriages than the wives of servicemen who did not go there. Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would break a heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific. Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a boy?' but simply, 'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible legacy will not end. The genes of their parents may have been damaged for ever, and the damaging DU dust is ever-present. Blue on Blue What the governments of America and Britain have done to the people of Iraq they have also done to their own soldiers, in both wars. And they have done it knowingly. For the battlefields have been thick with DU and soldiers have had to enter areas heavily contaminated by bombing. Moreover, their bodies have not only been assaulted by DU but also by a vaccination regime which violated normal protocols, experimental vaccines, nerve agent pills, and organophosphate pesticides in their tents. Yet, though the hazards of DU were known, British and American troops were not warned of its dangers. Nor were they given thorough medical checks on their return-even though identifying it quickly might have made it possible to remove some of it from their body. Then, when a growing number became seriously ill, and should have been sent to top experts in radiation damage and neurotoxins, many were sent to a psychiatrist. Over 200,000 US troops who returned from the 1991 war are now invalided out with ailments officially attributed to service in Iraq-that's 1 in 3. In contrast, the British government's failure to fully assess the health of returning troops, or to monitor their health, means no one even knows how many have died or become gravely ill since their return. However, Gulf veterans' associations say that, of 40,000 or so fighting fit men and women who saw active service, at least 572 have died prematurely since coming home and 5000 may be ill. An alarming number are thought to have taken their own lives, unable to bear the torment of the innumerable ailments which have combined to take away their career, their sexuality, their ability to have normal children, and even their ability to breathe or walk normally. As one veteran puts it, they are 'on DU death row, waiting to die'. Whatever other factors there may be, some of their illnesses are strikingly similar to those of Iraqis exposed to DU dust. For example, soldiers have also fathered children without eyes. And, in a group of eight servicemen whose babies lack eyes seven are known to have been directly exposed to DU dust. They too have fathered children with stunted arms, and rare abnormalities classically associated with radiation damage. They too seem prone to cancer and leukemia. Tellingly, so are EU soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans, where DU was also used. Indeed their leukemia rate has been so high that several EU governments have protested at the use of DU. The Vital Evidence Despite all that evidence of the harm done by DU, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly claimed that as it emits only 'low level' radiation DU is harmless. Award-winning scientist, Dr. Rosalie Bertell who has led UN medical commissions, has studied 'low-level' radiation for 30 years. 2 She has found that uranium oxide particles have more than enough power to harm cells, and describes their pulses of radiation as hitting surrounding cells 'like flashes of lightning' again and again in a single second.2 Like many scientists worldwide who have studied this type of radiation, she has found that such 'lightning strikes' can damage DNA and cause cell mutations which lead to cancer. Moreover, these particles can be taken up by body fluids and travel through the body, damaging more than one organ. To compound all that, Dr. Bertell has found that this particular type of radiation can cause the body's communication systems to break down, leading to malfunctions in many vital organs of the body and to many medical problems. A striking fact, since many veterans of the first Gulf war suffer from innumerable, seemingly unrelated, ailments. In addition, recent research by Eric Wright, Professor of Experimental Haematology at Dundee University, and others, have shown two ways in which such radiation can do far more damage than has been thought. The first is that a cell which seems unharmed by radiation can produce cells with diverse mutations several cell generations later. (And mutations are at the root of cancer and birth defects.) This 'radiation-induced genomic instability' is compounded by 'the bystander effect' by which cells mutate in unison with others which have been damaged by radiation-rather as birds swoop and turn in unison. Put together, these two mechanisms can greatly increase the damage done by a single source of radiation, such as a DU particle. Moreover, it is now clear that there are marked genetic differences in the way individuals respond to radiation-with some being far more likely to develop cancer than others. So the fact that some veterans of the first Gulf war seem relatively unharmed by their exposure to DU in no way proves that DU did not damage others. The Price of Truth That the evidence from Iraq and from our troops, and the research findings of such experts, have been ignored may be no accident. A US report, leaked in late 1995, allegedly says, 'The potential for health effects from DU exposure is real; however it must be viewed in perspective... the financial implications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would be excessive.'3 Clearly, with hundreds of thousands gravely ill in Iraq and at least a quarter of a million UK and US troops seriously ill, huge disability claims might be made not only against the governments of Britain and America if the harm done by DU were acknowledged. There might also be huge claims against companies making DU weapons and some of their directors are said to be extremely close to the White House. How close they are to Downing Street is a matter for speculation, but arms sales makes a considerable contribution to British trade. So the massive whitewashing of DU over the past 12 years, and the way that governments have failed to test returning troops, seemed to disbelieve them, and washed their hands of them, may be purely to save money. The possibility that financial considerations have led the governments of Britain and America to cynically avoid taking responsibility for the harm they have done not only to the people of Iraq but to their own troops may seem outlandish. Yet DU weapons weren't used by the other side and no other explanation fits the evidence. For, in the days before Britain and America first used DU in war its hazards were no secret.4 One American study in 1990 said DU was 'linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and to] chemical toxicity-causing kidney damage'. While another openly warned that exposure to these particles under battlefield conditions could lead to cancers of the lung and bone, kidney damage, non-malignant lung disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal damage and birth defects.5 A Culture of Denial In 1996 and 1997 UN Human Rights Tribunals condemned DU weapons for illegally breaking the Geneva Convention and classed them as 'weapons of mass destruction' 'incompatible with international humanitarian and human rights law'. Since then, following leukemia in European peacekeeping troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan (where DU was also used), the EU has twice called for DU weapons to be banned. Yet, far from banning DU, America and Britain stepped up their denials of the harm from this radioactive dust as more and more troops from the first Gulf war and from action and peacekeeping in the Balkans and Afghanistan have become seriously ill. This is no coincidence. In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying, 'The [US government's] Veterans Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body.' He concluded, 'uranium does cause cancer, uranium does cause mutation, and uranium does kill. If we continue with the irresponsible contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that human life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God and to all generations who follow.' Not what the authorities wanted to hear and his research was suddenly blocked. During 12 years of ever-growing British whitewash the authorities have abolished military hospitals, where there could have been specialized research on the effects of DU and where expertise in treating DU victims could have built up. And, not content with the insult of suggesting the gravely disabling symptoms of Gulf veterans are imaginary they have refused full pensions to many. For, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the current House of Commons briefing paper on DU hazards says 'it is judged that any radiation effects from possible exposures are extremely unlikely to be a contributory factor to the illnesses currently being experienced by some Gulf war veterans.' Note how over a quarter of a million sick and dying US and UK vets are called 'some'. The Way Ahead Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they dramatically increased its use-from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war to at minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn't limited to anti-tank weapons-as it had largely been in the previous Gulf war-but was extended to the guided missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000-pound bombs used in Iraq's cities. This means that Iraq's cities have been blanketed in lethal particles-any one of which can cause cancer or deform a child. In addition, the use of DU in huge bombs which throw the deadly particles higher and wider in huge plumes of smoke means that billions of deadly particles have been carried high into the air-again and again and again as the bombs rained down-ready to be swept worldwide by the winds. The Royal Society has suggested the solution is massive decontamination in Iraq. That could only scratch the surface. For decontamination is hugely expensive and, though it may reduce the risks in some of the worst areas, it cannot fully remove them. For DU is too widespread on land and water. How do you clean up every nook and cranny of a city the size of Baghdad? How can they decontaminate a whole country in which microscopic particles, which cannot be detected with a normal geiger counter, are spread from border to border? And how can they clean up all the countries downwind of Iraq-and, indeed, the world? So there are only two things we can do to mitigate this crime against humanity. The first is to provide the best possible medical care for the people of Iraq, for our returning troops and for those who served in the last Gulf war and, through that, minimize their suffering. The second is to relegate war, and the production and sale of weapons, to the scrap heap of history-along with slavery and genocide. Then, and only then, will this crime against humanity be expunged, and the tragic deaths from this war truly bring freedom to the people of Iraq, and of the world. References 1. The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998. 2. Rosalie Bertell's book Planet Earth the Latest Weapon of War was reviewed in Caduceus issue 51, page 28. 3. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl1. htm#TAB L_Research Report Summaries 4. www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.01/020117moret.htm The secret official memorandum to Brigadier General L.R.Groves from Drs Conant, Compton and Urey of War Department Manhattan district dated October 1943 is available at the website www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm 5. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_iitab11.htm#tab L_research report summaries .......................................................................................... Further information The Low Level Radiation Campaign hopes to be able to arrange a limited number of private urine tests for those returning from the latest Gulf war. It can be contacted at: The Knoll, Montpelier Park, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LW. 01597 824771. Web: www.llrc.org ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ James Denver writes and broadcasts internationally on science and technology. ================================================= Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com ---------- Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: * http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pandora-project/ * * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: * pandora-project-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com * * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. Attachment Converted: 177878.jpg: 00000001,64c620f8,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 33 [DU List] Iraqi doctors warn of increasing deformities in Date: Thu, 28 Apr 2005 15:07:49 -0700 e682e.jpg My Groups | pandora-project Main Page Ihttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IRIN/bad5cdd6e59942ed1a 0bb28fa28163fa.htm IRAQ: Doctors warn of increasing deformities in newborn babies. 27 Apr 2005 16:36:27 GMT Source: IRIN BAGHDAD, 27 April (IRIN) - Doctors in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, have reported a significant increase in deformities among newborn babies. Health officials and scientists said this could be due to radiation passed through mothers following years of conflict in the country. The most affected regions are in the south of the country, particularly Basra and Najaf, according to experts. Weaponry used during the Gulf war in 1991 contained depleted uranium, which could be a primary source for the increase, scientists in Baghdad said. "In my experiments we have found some cases where the mother or father were suffering from pollution from weapons used in the south and we believe that it is affecting newborn babies in the country," Dr Ibraheem al-Jabouri, a scientist at Baghdad University, told IRIN. According to Dr Nawar Ali, at the University of Baghdad, who works in the newborn babies research department, a significant number of cases of deformed babies had been reported since 2003. "There have been 650 cases in total since August 2003 reported in government hospitals - that is a 20 percent increase from the previous regime. Private hospitals were not included in the study, so the number could be higher," Ali warned. The health expert said polluted water, which could contain radiation from weapons used in previous conflicts, was the main factor behind the increase. The type of deformities found in newborn babies are characterised by multiple fingers, unusually large heads, unilateral lips or no arms or legs. In addition, Dr Lamia'a Amran, a pediatrician at the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS) hospital in the capital, told IRIN that inter-marriages were also to blame and that most of cases of deformed babies were from poor families in the southern region. "Most of the women who have deformed babies in our hospital are married to relatives and have no idea that a common blood factor can also cause such problems," Amran added. The IRCS hospital registers at least four cases of deformities every week. During April this year, 15 cases were reported, according to the hospital spokesman, a number considered high for a short period of time. However, Amran added that 60 percent of the cases were not related to blood factors, but due to other causes. She explained that after studying family history of couples with deformed babies, they concluded that radiation and pollution were the main causes of the deformity. But most of the cases reported don't survive for more than a week, doctors said. Nearly 90 percent of such cases at the Central Teaching Hospital for Pediatrics in Baghdad do not survive, according to Wathiq Ibrahim, director of the hospital. "We have asked for help from the government to make a more profound study on such cases as it is affecting thousands of families," he told IRIN. "My two children were born with deformities and today I had my third one with the same problem. The doctors say pollution is the cause and now my husband wants to divorce me claiming that I am not capable of bringing healthy children into the world," Fatima Hussein, a 34-year-old patient at the hospital, told IRIN. The Ministry of Health (MoH) is working on developing a programme to alert mothers to the problem. A MoH senior official told IRIN that studies had been undertaken to discover reasons for deformities occurring and to find solutions fast. Officials at the World Heath Organization (WHO) have not yet developed any kind of research on the subject, but said they would assist the MoH if requested. "The Iraqi government should take a lead on this issue and if we are asked to assist we will do it," Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the WHO in Cairo, told IRIN. "It is a very delicate problem, I have heard about cancer caused by pollution, but deformities in newborn babies is something new and as a result of security issues in the country our staff are outside Iraq, which makes surveying more complicated," she added. "Our children have started to suffer the effect of years of war and disasters inside Iraq. The wars happened but no one cared about the result it was going to have and today innocent lives are being lost due to pollution and poor information," Firdous al-Abadi, a spokeswomen for the IRCS, told IRIN. ***************************************************************** 34 Deseret News: Reactions to nuclear report are mixed [deseretnews.com] Friday, April 29, 2005 By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News Mixed reactions greeted the National Academy of Sciences recommendations on changing the fallout compensation law. Utah's senators expressed support for expanding the coverage to make the whole country eligible, although one warned against reducing present coverage. A member of the House was more concerned about the report's effects. Downwinders were split on the report, while the chairman of the committee that drafted the study insisted that science was its basis. Sen. Orrin Hatch, who authored the 1990 law awarding compensation, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, welcomed the addition of scientific criteria to use in deciding how to award compensation. He said the report is significant for Utah's downwinders and those who worked in the weapons-based uranium industry, including miners, millers and others. "It resolves unanswered questions about whether we got it right when we developed the list of compensable illnesses," Hatch added. The report concluded that the list should not be added to. "And it holds forth the possibility that program expansions could be considered by Congress." Hatch was adamant about one point, that Utahns now eligible should not be cut off from compensation. His office noted that he "vehemently rejected" any reduction in current coverage. "I want to make perfectly clear that Congress should never undercut compensation for those currently eligible under RECA," Hatch said. Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said he agrees with the report's recommendations for expanding RECA coverage to include uranium millers and transporters. "I'm also pleased with the findings to expand the geographic limits included in the RECA determinations," he said in a note e-mailed to the Deseret Morning News. "This report is a useful tool as Congress determines the best way to proceed with the program." However, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, worries that the recommendations may not adequately address the health problems of Utah downwinders. The report acknowledges that only a "very small number" of monitoring stations around the country recorded fallout during the period of testing in the 1950s and '60s, according to a Matheson press release. "Other than monitoring at the Nevada Test Site and neighboring sites, only 95 monitoring stations were in operation across the entire country" at the time, he said. "That makes any risk calculation a difficult task at best." The congressman pointed out that a recently released report by the National Cancer Institute says 530 cancers were caused among the residents of the Marshall Islands in the mid-Pacific Ocean, where 66 nuclear bombs were detonated from 1946 to 1958. He praised the recommendation that the Centers for Disease Control and National Cancer Institute should complete dose estimates for all significant radioactive isotopes in fallout. "To date, only one radioactive isotope — iodine-131 — has been extensively studied," he said. "The fact that the report cites a lack of data comes as no surprise, but it does underline the need for more information for people who were told over and over again, 'There is no danger.' " According to his communications director, Alyson Heyrend, Matheson has introduced a bill to make a significant investment in studies of the health effects of radiation exposure. "What's changed?" said Jay Truman, a long-time activist with the group Downwinders, responding to the report. "We're still treated like we are all just trying to scam the government. . . ." While the report, in a way, admits national guilt and responsibility for harm, he wrote, "for the victims themselves these endless new recommendations mean little more than being delayed and studied to death!" According to Truman, while the buck is being passed back to Congress, time is running out for many fallout victims. Mary Dickson, a Salt Lake woman who has survived thyroid cancer, said the report is a mixed bag. "It admits that fallout affected the entire country," she said. "But it is not possible for many victims to produce hard scientific evidence of their exposure because studies were not done at that time. At this point, all the government has to do is wait for the victims to die." A group of environmental groups, including the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, reacted to the report by calling on Congress to act swiftly to help others harmed by fallout. Their press release, which also included Dickson's statement, expressed support for expanding coverage to people living outside the counties now under RECA. "The National Cancer Institute has shown that there were hot spot areas all over the country where milk was contaminated. People with a high risk of thyroid cancer should be compensated without delay wherever they lived without having to jump through hoops," said Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, one of the groups. In a Deseret Morning News phone interview, Julian Preston, the scientist who chaired the National Academy of Sciences committee that wrote the report, said the document does not discuss any changes in the areas presently covered. The area includes 10 southern Utah counties. "We stuck to the science, so we provided an approach for a go-forward position," he told the Deseret Morning News. Any discussion of potential changes in the counties that are eligible today for compensation would amount to a policy decision, he said. The member of an Environmental Protection Agency research lab at Research Park, N.C., Preston emphasized that he was not speaking for the EPA but as the chairman of the NAS committee. "As far as those regions are concerned, we remain silent," Preston said of the counties eligible for compensation. The question of coverage there is an important one, he added, but it is a policy matter. E-mail: bau@desnews.com © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 35 Dseret news: Few would be compensated if fallout advice is followed [deseretnews.com] Friday, April 29, 2005 By Joe Bauman Deseret Morning News Without calling for an end to the present system of radiation fallout compensation, a new blue-ribbon study says a future method should be both more broadly applied and less geographically specific — as well as more scientifically restrictive. Radiation actually is not a particularly potent cancer-causer, according to the report released Thursday by the National Academy of Sciences. And if based more on scientific principles, new compensation standards would likely "result in few successful claims." The 372-page report, "Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program," recommends widening the pool of potential claimants throughout the nation and to include people in uranium-related jobs and professions not currently covered by the federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act. Even then, the risks "for radiation-induced disease are generally low at the exposure levels of concern" in those populations addressed by the act, the study says. The report immediately drew both criticism and support. "I am frequently approached by constituents who believe that they should be eligible for RECA but who are not," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a written statement. "It is impossible for Congress to evaluate those requests without a solid scientific analysis, which is what the NAS report was intended to provide." However, Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, is concerned the recommendations may not address health issues facing Utah's downwinders. "I'm worried that moving away from geography as a basis for expanding RECA may result in thousands of downwinders falling through the cracks." The report's executive summary says that the number of cancers observed in Japanese atomic bomb survivors that are attributable to radiation "is relatively small, even though many in this population received doses much higher than doses received by most of downwinders." RECA, passed in 1990, allows compensation for people with diseases tied to radiation who lived in certain counties downwind from the Nevada Test Site. These are Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington and Wayne counties, Utah; five entire counties and part of another in Nevada; and five Arizona counties plus the section of that state between the Utah border and the Grand Canyon. Also, workers at the Nevada Test Site are covered. In 2000, Congress extended coverage to uranium workers. Compensation for those who qualify is $100,000 for those exposed in the weapons-related uranium mining industry, $75,000 for on-site workers and $50,000 for downwinders. The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit organization of scientists that provides advice to the federal government. It prepared the report under a contract with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to Hatch's office, it was commissioned by Congress. Main recommendations in the report, according to its executive summary, are: • Pre-assessment. The National Cancer Institute or other agencies should carry out a pre-assessment survey of diseases related to radiation to provide guidance about how likely a person is to be compensated. It would be nationwide, including Alaska, Hawaii and also study populations of U.S. overseas territories. It would include factors like residence at time of exposure and age. • Computing compensation. Present law gives compensation payments to residents of certain counties who lived downwind of the Nevada Test Site during open-air testing of the 1950s and early '60s and who contracted specific types of cancer. The report says Congress should establish a new method of awarding compensation, based not on residency in particular counties but on on figuring the probability of causation and assigned share of the risk (shortened to PC/AS). The PC part is based on a formula developed in 2003 by the National Centers for Disease Control to assess the likelihood of a particular cancer developing from exposure to a dose of radiation. The assigned share involves the amount of exposure an individual had. Julian Preston, the chairman of the committee that prepared the report, told the Deseret Morning News that the group does not make any judgments on whether the present system should be eliminated. That would be a policy decision not up to the academy, he said. But the report does recommend that all Americans be eligible if they meet the scientific criteria, since the whole country was exposed and sometimes hot spots showed up where fallout was deposited thousands of miles from the Nevada Test Site. Subjects covered by the report include: • Coverage of others in the uranium industry. RECA should be expanded to include certain uranium millers and ore transporters not presently covered because of geographic restrictions. • Geologists and core drillers. "The committee concludes that core drillers and geologists who worked in the underground mines should be considered in the same category as uranium miners." • Criteria. Compensation rules should be drawn carefully because of the uncertainties in estimating exposure. "The challenge Congress faces would be to decide if it is best to define criteria that avoid rewarding compensation in cases in which there is very low risk, but the uncertainties associated with its PC/AS is very large, because the connection of these cancers with radiation is not well-established or the estimated doses are not well known." • Completing dose estimates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute or other agencies should complete estimates for all significant radionuclides in fallout from American weapons tests, not just the radioactive iodine that has received most attention so far. • Dosage. An updated dose calculator should be developed for figuring how much radiation particular parts of a person's body may have received. • Diseases covered. No additional diseases should be added to those already cited for compensation: some leukemias; lymphomas other than Hodgkin's disease; lung, thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreatic, bile ducts, gall bladder and liver cancers. Also, some nonmalignant diseases are covered. Many have provisos, such as that the person could not be a heavy smoker or heavy drinker. • Tailings. An agency should review data on radioactive radon in areas near piles of uranium mill tailings from the U.S. nuclear program, determining if people nearby should be compensated. Homes built with uranium mine or mill tailings should be examined to determine if residents should be eligible for compensation. • Health checks. Medical screening should be carried out on people not showing symptoms only if there is "robust scientific evidence that such screening improves health outcomes and that its benefits outweigh its risks." But uranium miners, millers and ore transporters should be screened for diseases affecting others in mining settings. Also, uranium millers and ore transporters should be screened for chronic renal disease. Once a person is shown to be eligible for compensation, medical screenings should be offered such as those used for the population at large. Any screening "should be preceded by detailed counseling and informed consent that reflects an understanding and sensitivity to the culture of the potential screenee." The report adds that screeners may wish to check the person for depression. © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 36 Guardian Unlimited: Scan Shows Nev. Radiation Didn't Hit Town From the Associated Press [UP] Friday April 29, 2005 2:16 AM AP Photo NVDR801 By SCOTT SONNER Associated Press Writer YERINGTON, Nev. (AP) - Federal environmental officials examining uranium contamination at a closed copper mine near this northern Nevada town say an initial screening of homes and roads in the area has turned up nothing unusual. Officials who spent 10 days measuring radiation levels confirmed that the former Anaconda copper mine just east of Yerington has unusually high amounts of radiation, but they found only normal radiation levels outside the six-square-mile mine property. Some residents are concerned that radiation from the mine could be making them sick, especially since building foundations and road beds in and near town have been built with dirt and rocks from the mine for the past three decades. Jim Sickles, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency specialist in charge of cleaning up the mine, said Wednesday the readings show that the materials used for construction are safe, although other concerns remain. ``We still have a lot of work to do, but this allows us to allay some community concerns about the kind of rocks their houses were built on,'' Sickles said. ``Two weeks ago I couldn't tell somebody for certain whether they should be concerned if their house had mine tailings under it. Now I can tell them I would not expect any problem,'' he said. The mine operated for about 30 years until 1978. The acid used to leach the copper from rocks apparently left concentrated uranium in processing ponds, federal regulators learned in the past year. Many of the 3,000 residents of Yerington, about 60 miles southeast of Reno, fear the poisons spread off the site in wind-blown dust or leaked through unlined evaporation ponds into groundwater supplies. Peggy Pauly, organizer of a community group concerned about possible health effects of the mine, said she was pleased the EPA scanned the community. ``But it is just a screening tool. It doesn't mean there isn't anything to worry about,'' she said. Atlantic Richfield, a former owner of the mine site, is responsible for the cleanup because the most recent owner, Arimetco Inc. of Tucson, Ariz., filed for bankruptcy in 1997 and abandoned the site in 2000. The company, under order from the EPA, plans more air and water tests. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 37 KUAM.COM: Nuclear testing report determines no significant health risks from radiation exposure by Sabrina Salas Matanane, KUAM News Friday, April 29, 2005 An entire appendix on the question of radiation exposure in Guam as included in a congressional committee report that was released today. The report, "Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure and Education Program", found that while Guam did receive nuclear fallout from United States nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific, this exposure has not constituted a significant health risk to the people of Guam. The report further found that the nuclear testing in the Pacific has not had a significant impact on the cancer rate of the people of Guam, which it noted is actually lower than the U.S. as a whole. The report did recommend that Congress should establish new scientific criteria for decisions about awarding federal compensation to people who developed certain cancers or other specific diseases as a result of exposure to radioactive fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests and that the new approach should consider people in all parts of the United States, including Guam. KUAM.COM | Copyright © 2000-2005 by Pacific Telestations, Inc. ***************************************************************** 38 Vive le Canada: Horror of USA's depleted Uranium + The Daily - April 29, 2005 Contributed by: Diogenes Views: 79 Uranium In Iraq Threatens World American Use Of DU is "A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time." US Iraq Military Vets "are on DU death row, waiting to die." By James Denver "I'm horrified. The people out there - the Iraqis, the media and the troops - risk the most appalling ill health. And the radiation from depleted uranium can travel literally anywhere. It's going to destroy the lives of thousands of children, all over the world. We all know how far radiation can travel. Radiation from Chernobyl reached Wales and in Britain you sometimes get red dust from the Sahara on your car." The speaker is not some alarmist doom-sayer. He is Dr. Chris Busby, the British radiation expert, Fellow of the University of Liverpool in the Faculty of Medicine and UK representative on the European Committee on Radiation Risk, talking about the best-kept secret of this war: the fact that, by illegally using hundreds of tons of depleted uranium (DU) against Iraq, Britain and America have gravely endangered not only the Iraqis but the whole world. For these weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that-whipped up by sandstorms and carried on trade winds - there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate-including Britain. For the wind has no boundaries and time is on their side: the radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years and can cause cancer, leukemia, brain damage, kidney failure, and extreme birth defects - killing millions of every age for centuries to come. A crime against humanity which may, in the eyes of historians, rank with the worst atrocities of all time. These weapons have released deadly, carcinogenic and mutagenic, radioactive particles in such abundance that there is no corner of the globe they cannot penetrate - including Britain. Yet, officially, no crime has been committed. For this story is a dirty story in which the facts have been concealed from those who needed them most. It is also a story we need to know if the people of Iraq are to get the medical care they desperately need, and if our troops, returning from Iraq, are not to suffer as terribly as the veterans of other conflicts in which depleted uranium was used. A Dirty Tyson 'Depleted' uranium is in many ways a misnomer. For 'depleted' sounds weak. The only weak thing about depleted uranium is its price. It is dirt cheap, toxic, waste from nuclear power plants and bomb production. However, uranium is one of earth's heaviest elements and DU packs a Tyson's punch, smashing through tanks, buildings and bunkers with equal ease, spontaneously catching fire as it does so, and burning people alive. 'Crispy critters' is what US servicemen call those unfortunate enough to be close. And, when John Pilger encountered children killed at a greater distance he wrote: "The children's skin had folded back, like parchment, revealing veins and burnt flesh that seeped blood, while the eyes, intact, stared straight ahead. I vomited." (Daily Mirror) The millions of radioactive uranium oxide particles released when it burns can kill just as surely, but far more terribly. They can even be so tiny they pass through a gas mask, making protection against them impossible. Yet, small is not beautiful. For these invisible killers indiscriminately attack men, women, children and even babies in the womb-and do the gravest harm of all to children and unborn babies. A Terrible Legacy Doctors in Iraq have estimated that birth defects have increased by 2-6 times, and 3-12 times as many children have developed cancer and leukaemia since 1991. Moreover, a report published in The Lancet in 1998 said that as many as 500 children a day are dying from these sequels to war and sanctions and that the death rate for Iraqi children under 5 years of age increased from 23 per 1000 in 1989 to 166 per thousand in 1993. Overall, cases of lymphoblastic leukemia more than quadrupled with other cancers also increasing 'at an alarming rate'. In men, lung, bladder, bronchus, skin, and stomach cancers showed the highest increase. In women, the highest increases were in breast and bladder cancer, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma.1 On hearing that DU had been used in the Gulf in 1991, the UK Atomic Energy Authority sent the Ministry of Defense a special report on the potential damage to health and the environment. It said that it could cause half a million additional cancer deaths in Iraq over 10 years. In that war the authorities only admitted to using 320 tons of DU-although the Dutch charity LAKA estimates the true figure is closer to 800 tons. Many times that may have been spread across Iraq by this year's war. The devastating damage all this DU will do to the health and fertility of the people of Iraq now, and for generations to come, is beyond imagining. The radioactivity persists for over 4,500,000,000 years killing millions of every age for centuries to come. This is a crime against humanity which may rank with the worst atrocities of all time. We must also count the numberless thousands of miscarried babies. Nobody knows how many Iraqis have died in the womb since DU contaminated their world. But it is suggested that troops who were only exposed to DU for the brief period of the war were still excreting uranium in their semen 8 years later and some had 100 times the so-called 'safe limit' of uranium in their urine. The lack of government interest in the plight of veterans of the 1991 war is reflected in a lack of academic research on the impact of DU but informal research has found a high incidence of birth defects in their children and that the wives of men who served in Iraq have three times more miscarriages than the wives of servicemen who did not go there. Since DU darkened the land Iraq has seen birth defects which would break a heart of stone: babies with terribly foreshortened limbs, with their intestines outside their bodies, with huge bulging tumors where their eyes should be, or with a single eye-like Cyclops, or without eyes, or without limbs, and even without heads. Significantly, some of the defects are almost unknown outside textbooks showing the babies born near A-bomb test sites in the Pacific. Doctors report that many women no longer say 'Is it a girl or a boy?' but simply, 'Is it normal, doctor?' Moreover this terrible legacy will not end. The genes of their parents may have been damaged for ever, and the damaging DU dust is ever-present. Blue on Blue What the governments of America and Britain have done to the people of Iraq they have also done to their own soldiers, in both wars. And they have done it knowingly. For the battlefields have been thick with DU and soldiers have had to enter areas heavily contaminated by bombing. Moreover, their bodies have not only been assaulted by DU but also by a vaccination regime which violated normal protocols, experimental vaccines, nerve agent pills, and organophosphate pesticides in their tents. Yet, though the hazards of DU were known, British and American troops were not warned of its dangers. Nor were they given thorough medical checks on their return-even though identifying it quickly might have made it possible to remove some of it from their body. Then, when a growing number became seriously ill, and should have been sent to top experts in radiation damage and neurotoxins, many were sent to a psychiatrist. Over 200,000 US troops who returned from the 1991 war are now invalided out with ailments officially attributed to service in Iraq-that's 1 in 3. In contrast, the British government's failure to fully assess the health of returning troops, or to monitor their health, means no one even knows how many have died or become gravely ill since their return. However, Gulf veterans' associations say that, of 40,000 or so fighting fit men and women who saw active service, at least 572 have died prematurely since coming home and 5000 may be ill. An alarming number are thought to have taken their own lives, unable to bear the torment of the innumerable ailments which have combined to take away their career, their sexuality, their ability to have normal children, and even their ability to breathe or walk normally. As one veteran puts it, they are 'on DU death row, waiting to die'. Whatever other factors there may be, some of their illnesses are strikingly similar to those of Iraqis exposed to DU dust. For example, soldiers have also fathered children without eyes. And, in a group of eight servicemen whose babies lack eyes seven are known to have been directly exposed to DU dust. They too have fathered children with stunted arms, and rare abnormalities classically associated with radiation damage. They too seem prone to cancer and leukemia. Tellingly, so are EU soldiers who served as peacekeepers in the Balkans, where DU was also used. Indeed their leukemia rate has been so high that several EU governments have protested at the use of DU. The Vital Evidence Despite all that evidence of the harm done by DU, governments on both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly claimed that as it emits only 'low level' radiation DU is harmless. Award-winning scientist, Dr. Rosalie Bertell who has led UN medical commissions, has studied 'low-level' radiation for 30 years. 2 She has found that uranium oxide particles have more than enough power to harm cells, and describes their pulses of radiation as hitting surrounding cells 'like flashes of lightning' again and again in a single second.2 Like many scientists worldwide who have studied this type of radiation, she has found that such 'lightning strikes' can damage DNA and cause cell mutations which lead to cancer. Moreover, these particles can be taken up by body fluids and travel through the body, damaging more than one organ. To compound all that, Dr. Bertell has found that this particular type of radiation can cause the body's communication systems to break down, leading to malfunctions in many vital organs of the body and to many medical problems. A striking fact, since many veterans of the first Gulf war suffer from innumerable, seemingly unrelated, ailments. In addition, recent research by Eric Wright, Professor of Experimental Haematology at Dundee University, and others, have shown two ways in which such radiation can do far more damage than has been thought. The first is that a cell which seems unharmed by radiation can produce cells with diverse mutations several cell generations later. (And mutations are at the root of cancer and birth defects.) This 'radiation-induced genomic instability' is compounded by 'the bystander effect' by which cells mutate in unison with others which have been damaged by radiation-rather as birds swoop and turn in unison. Put together, these two mechanisms can greatly increase the damage done by a single source of radiation, such as a DU particle. Moreover, it is now clear that there are marked genetic differences in the way individuals respond to radiation-with some being far more likely to develop cancer than others. So the fact that some veterans of the first Gulf war seem relatively unharmed by their exposure to DU in no way proves that DU did not damage others. The Price of Truth That the evidence from Iraq and from our troops, and the research findings of such experts, have been ignored may be no accident. A US report, leaked in late 1995, allegedly says, 'The potential for health effects from DU exposure is real; however it must be viewed in perspective... the financial implications of long-term disability payments and healthcare costs would be excessive.'3 Clearly, with hundreds of thousands gravely ill in Iraq and at least a quarter of a million UK and US troops seriously ill, huge disability claims might be made not only against the governments of Britain and America if the harm done by DU were acknowledged. There might also be huge claims against companies making DU weapons and some of their directors are said to be extremely close to the White House. How close they are to Downing Street is a matter for speculation, but arms sales makes a considerable contribution to British trade. So the massive whitewashing of DU over the past 12 years, and the way that governments have failed to test returning troops, seemed to disbelieve them, and washed their hands of them, may be purely to save money. The possibility that financial considerations have led the governments of Britain and America to cynically avoid taking responsibility for the harm they have done not only to the people of Iraq but to their own troops may seem outlandish. Yet DU weapons weren't used by the other side and no other explanation fits the evidence. For, in the days before Britain and America first used DU in war its hazards were no secret.4 One American study in 1990 said DU was 'linked to cancer when exposures are internal, [and to] chemical toxicity-causing kidney damage'. While another openly warned that exposure to these particles under battlefield conditions could lead to cancers of the lung and bone, kidney damage, non-malignant lung disease, neuro-cognitive disorders, chromosomal damage and birth defects.5 A Culture of Denial In 1996 and 1997 UN Human Rights Tribunals condemned DU weapons for illegally breaking the Geneva Convention and classed them as 'weapons of mass destruction' 'incompatible with international humanitarian and human rights law'. Since then, following leukemia in European peacekeeping troops in the Balkans and Afghanistan (where DU was also used), the EU has twice called for DU weapons to be banned. Yet, far from banning DU, America and Britain stepped up their denials of the harm from this radioactive dust as more and more troops from the first Gulf war and from action and peacekeeping in the Balkans and Afghanistan have become seriously ill. This is no coincidence. In 1997, while citing experiments, by others, in which 84 percent of dogs exposed to inhaled uranium died of cancer of the lungs, Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then Professor of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at Georgetown University in Washington was quoted as saying, 'The [US government's] Veterans Administration asked me to lie about the risks of incorporating depleted uranium in the human body.' He concluded, 'uranium does cause cancer, uranium does cause mutation, and uranium does kill. If we continue with the irresponsible contamination of the biosphere, and denial of the fact that human life is endangered by the deadly isotope uranium, then we are doing disservice to ourselves, disservice to the truth, disservice to God and to all generations who follow.' Not what the authorities wanted to hear and his research was suddenly blocked. During 12 years of ever-growing British whitewash the authorities have abolished military hospitals, where there could have been specialized research on the effects of DU and where expertise in treating DU victims could have built up. And, not content with the insult of suggesting the gravely disabling symptoms of Gulf veterans are imaginary they have refused full pensions to many. For, despite all the evidence to the contrary, the current House of Commons briefing paper on DU hazards says 'it is judged that any radiation effects from possible exposures are extremely unlikely to be a contributory factor to the illnesses currently being experienced by some Gulf war veterans.' Note how over a quarter of a million sick and dying US and UK vets are called 'some'. The Way Ahead Britain and America not only used DU in this year's Iraq war, they dramatically increased its use-from a minimum of 320 tons in the previous war to at minimum of 1500 tons in this one. And this time the use of DU wasn't limited to anti-tank weapons-as it had largely been in the previous Gulf war-but was extended to the guided missiles, large bunker busters and big 2000-pound bombs used in Iraq's cities. This means that Iraq's cities have been blanketed in lethal particles-any one of which can cause cancer or deform a child. In addition, the use of DU in huge bombs which throw the deadly particles higher and wider in huge plumes of smoke means that billions of deadly particles have been carried high into the air-again and again and again as the bombs rained down-ready to be swept worldwide by the winds. The Royal Society has suggested the solution is massive decontamination in Iraq. That could only scratch the surface. For decontamination is hugely expensive and, though it may reduce the risks in some of the worst areas, it cannot fully remove them. For DU is too widespread on land and water. How do you clean up every nook and cranny of a city the size of Baghdad? How can they decontaminate a whole country in which microscopic particles, which cannot be detected with a normal geiger counter, are spread from border to border? And how can they clean up all the countries downwind of Iraq-and, indeed, the world? So there are only two things we can do to mitigate this crime against humanity. The first is to provide the best possible medical care for the people of Iraq, for our returning troops and for those who served in the last Gulf war and, through that, minimize their suffering. The second is to relegate war, and the production and sale of weapons, to the scrap heap of history-along with slavery and genocide. Then, and only then, will this crime against humanity be expunged, and the tragic deaths from this war truly bring freedom to the people of Iraq, and of the world. References 1. The Lancet volume 351, issue 9103, 28 February 1998. 2. Rosalie Bertell's book Planet Earth the Latest Weapon of War was reviewed in Caduceus issue 51, page 28. 3. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_ii/du_ii_tabl1 . htm#TAB L_Research Report Summaries 4. www.wagingpeace.org/articles/02.01/020117moret.htm The secret official memorandum to Brigadier General L.R.Groves from Drs Conant, Compton and Urey of War Department Manhattan district dated October 1943 is available at the website www.mindfully.org/Nucs/2003/Leuren-Moret-Gen-Groves21feb03.htm 5. www.gulflink.osd.mil/du_iitab11. htm#tab L_research report summaries Further information The Low Level Radiation Campaign hopes to be able to arrange a limited number of private urine tests for those returning from the latest Gulf war. It can be contacted at: The Knoll, Montpelier Park, Llandrindod Wells, LD1 5LW. 01597 824771. Web: www.llrc.org James Denver writes and broadcasts internationally on science and technology. ***************************************************************** 39 Harvard Crimson: Hiroshima Survivors Speak About Past thecrimson.com Published on Friday, April 29, 2005 By EMILY T. SABO Contributing Writer Four survivors of the Hiroshima bombing share their experiences with students and faculty yesterday in the Yenching Common Room as part of “Hiroshima/Nagasaki 2005: Memories and Visions,” which marks the 60th anniversary of the atomic bombings. ARIELLE A. FRIDSON Yesterday afternoon, four hibakusha—survivors—of the Hiroshima bombing spoke to the packed Common Room at 2 Divinity Ave, focusing on their personal experiences as children and adolescents during the atomic attack, the gruesome aftermath, and the complicated guilt of being a survivor. The group was part of the “Hiroshima/Nagasaki 2005: Memories and Visions” conference and film festival organized this past weekend at Tufts University. The speakers, Miyoji Kawasaki, Junko Kayashige, Tadahiko Murata, and Miyako Yado, all spoke through a translator to the crowd. Murata was five years old when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. “I’m just going to talk about my family tree,” he said. His eldest brother, Hirohiko, 18, a fighter pilot, had been killed the previous year. Murata himself was playing “soldier in the street” when the bomb hit. “Miraculously, when the bomb dropped, I only received a little burn just above my knee,” he said. “Six months after, I was in critical condition in the hospital. By February, I was completely bedridden.” Immediately after the attack, his eldest sister, Sachiko, 20, was pinned under their collapsed home. He and his sister Setsuko, eight, tried to free her but were unsuccessful as fire spread to their building. Murata’s older sister, Sadako, 13, was working near the epicenter of the attack, and there were no remains of her body. “There were no bones, nothing,” he said. As Murata’s mother hurried home to Hiroshima after hearing news of the attack, she was shot and killed by enemy fire while on the train, Murata recalled. “My mother did not die in the bombing, but to me it is the same thing.” Setsuko had been so badly burned that maggots infested her skin and continually returned. She died on September 10, 1945. Yado, then a 14-year-old schoolgirl, had a stomachache and didn’t go to work with her classmates in the center of the city on August 6. “I was at my home, four kilometers away,” she said. “My family was very lucky, most survived. All my classmates were 500 meters from the epicenter; they all immediately died.” Yado reiterated the group’s message: the need for universal nuclear disarmament. “Human beings and nuclear weapons cannot coexist, that is what I am here to tell you,” she said. “While I’ve seen pictures of children who were victims of Hiroshima, but to hear these people talk was extremely graphic and sad,” said Ko Yada ’07. Yada said that members of his family fought on both the Japanese and American sides of World War II. Visiting Professor of Anthropology Yasuko Takezawa, who is on leave from Kyoto University, attended the presentation with her husband and young daughter. “I have great respect for the speakers,” she said. “The desire [of the hibakusha] to be the last people to experience nuclear attack, that keeps me coming back.” Tufts Professor Hosea Hirata, who organized the conference, said its goals were to heighten awareness of issues surrounding nuclear arms and to prompt teaching and learning on the subject. The conference is also timed to coincide with the United Nations’ Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty review session on May 2. “Bush has been saying that it was a mistake to sign the treaty,” Hirata said. Copyright © 2005, The Harvard Crimson Inc. | Privacy Policy | ***************************************************************** 40 Idaho Statesman: Report calls for scientific approach to Radiation Exposure Compensation Act Edition Date: 04-28-2005 WASHINGTON -- Congress should establish new scientific criteria for decisions about awarding federal compensation to people who developed certain cancers or other specific diseases as a result of exposure to radioactive fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests, says a new report from the National Academies' National Research Council. Because fallout from the tests covered a wide geographic area, the new approach should consider people in all parts of the United States and its territories. However, the changes that Congress may make in eligibility criteria based on this report would probably result in few additional successful claims, said the committee that wrote the report. Currently, only "downwinders" who lived in certain counties of Arizona, Nevada, and Utah at the times of the tests -- along with civilian test-site participants and some workers who mined and milled uranium for the nuclear weapons program -- are eligible for compensation under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act; military personnel are covered under a separate program. But the committee found that residents in other counties and states, even some far from the Nevada Test Site, may have been exposed to higher amounts of radiation than those in the currently eligible areas. Other factors -- age at the time of exposure, consumption of contaminated milk or food, and age when a disease is diagnosed -- are also important when determining whether someone's illness was likely caused by radiation, the committee said. "To be equitable, any compensation program needs to be based on scientific criteria and similar cases must be treated alike," said committee chair R. Julian Preston, director, Environmental Carcinogenesis Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, N.C. "The current geographic limitations are not based on the latest science." Available data that map radioactive material from nuclear fallout throughout the United States during weapons testing indicate that radiation doses to sensitive human tissues generally were small. With the exception of radiation exposure of the thyroid, the amount of radiation received from radioactive fallout was of the same magnitude or less than that received from natural background radiation over the same time period. Even in communities presently eligible for compensation, the risk of radiation-induced diseases is generally low. This and other scientific evidence led the committee to conclude that in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout is a substantial contributing cause of cancer in downwinders. Nevertheless, Congress should establish a new process for reviewing individual claims, the committee recommended. Any new claim should be based on "probability of causation," otherwise known as "assigned share" -- a method that is now widely used in the courts and in other radiation compensation programs. The PC/AS method employs a formula to determine whether radiation exposure is likely the cause of an individual's cancer. If the estimated PC/AS for that individual meets or exceeds the criteria established by Congress, then compensation is awarded. Establishing those criteria is a public policy decision that should be addressed by Congress, which needs to take into account scientific issues and uncertainties. And since it may seem unfair, because of the uncertainties involved, for a person not to get compensation when the PC/AS is just below the threshold, Congress may decide that a range of compensation amounts is more appropriate. The committee also recommended that the costs of screening, follow-up, diagnosis, and treatment for compensable diseases be covered for awardees. Before the revised process is implemented, the National Cancer Institute or other appropriate agency should first conduct a population-based assessment using PC/AS methodology to determine the likelihood that any individuals in a given population -- such as a group of people with certain diseases who lived in particular places and consumed similar amounts of potentially contaminated milk or food -- might meet the new eligibility criteria set by Congress. The results of this pre-assessment, which should be communicated to the public, will provide guidance to individuals and government agencies on who may qualify for compensation. Federal medical-screening programs should offer cancer-detection and other medical tests to individuals only after they have been shown to be eligible for compensation and should follow screening guidelines developed by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the committee added. The committee also considered issues related to uranium workers who were employed in geographic areas not currently covered in the compensation program. Noting that states not covered now are allowed to apply for inclusion if uranium mining took place there, the committee recommended that the compensation program be expanded to include uranium milling and ore transportation. Uranium miners, millers, and ore transporters should be screened for diseases generally recommended for screening in other mining populations, and the millers and transporters also should be screened for chronic renal disease. No additions should be made to the list of cancers and other diseases covered under the compensation program, the committee concluded, based on a thorough review of the most recent scientific literature. The study was sponsored by the Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Research Council is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science and technology advice under a congressional charter. A committee roster follows. Copies of ASSESSMENT OF THE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION FOR THE RADIATION SCREENING AND EDUCATION PROGRAM will be available this summer from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at . NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL Division on Earth and Life Studies Board on Radiation Effects Research COMMITTEE TO ASSESS THE SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION FOR THE RADIATION EXPOSURE SCREENING AND EDUCATION PROGRAM R. JULIAN PRESTON, PH.D. (CHAIR) Director Environmental Carcinogenesis Division U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Research Triangle Park, N.C. THOMAS B. BORAK, PH.D. Professor Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences Colorado State University Fort Collins CATHERINE BORBAS, PH.D. Executive Director Healthcare Education and Research Foundation St. Paul, Minn. A. BERTRAND BRILL, M.D., PH.D. Research Professor Departments of Radiology and Physics Vanderbilt University Nashville, Tenn. THOMAS E. BUHL, PH.D. Chief Scientist Health, Safety, and Radiation Protection Division Los Alamos National Laboratory Santa Fe, N.M. PATRICIA A. FLEMING, PH.D. Senior Associate Dean College of Arts and Sciences, and Associate Professor Department of Philosophy Creighton University Omaha, Neb. SHIRLEY A. FRY, M.D., M.P.H. Independent Consultant Indianapolis RICHARD HORNUNGM DR.P.H. Senior Biostatistician University of Cincinnati Cincinnati KATHLEEN N. LOHR, M. PHIL., M.D. Chief Scientist for Health, Social, and Economics Research Research Triangle Institute, and Co-Director RTI-UNC Evidence-Based Practice Center and Clinical Prevention Center Research Triangle Park, N.C. STEPHEN G. PAUKER, M.D. Vice Chairman for Clinical Affairs New England Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine Tufts University Boston RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF ISAF AL-NABULSI, PH.D Study Director Bill Kearney Director of Media Relations The National Academies 2101 Constitution Ave. NW Washington, DC 20418 202 334-2138 ***************************************************************** 41 Idaho Statesman: Study: No automatic compensation for Idaho downwinders Statesman staff Edition Date: 04-28-2005 The Committee to Assess the Scientific Information for the Radiation Exposure Screening and Education Program includes: R. Julian Preston, Ph.D., Committee Chairman. Preston is currently the Director of the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Previous to this position, he served as the Senior Scientific Advisor at the Chemical Industry Institute of Technology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. He also serves as Adjunct Professor in the Integrated Toxicology Program at Duke University and in the Department of Toxicology at North Carolina State University. Dr. Preston received his Ph.D. from Reading University, England. His research has focused on the mechanism of formation of chromosome alterations and mutations by radiation and chemical agents and the utility of such information in the risk assessment processes. Thomas B. Borak, Ph.D. Borak is a professor in the faculty of the Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences at Colorado State University. His research interests are in radiation physics and dosimetry. He is certified by the American Board of Health Physics. Previously he has had staff appointments at Fermilab, CERN, and Argonne National Laboratory. He is a member of the American Physical Society, Radiation Research Society and Health Physics Society where he recently served on the Board of Directors. He has also been a consultant to the Governor of Colorado concerning issues relating to low-level radioactive waste management and nuclear criticality safety. Dr. Borak also served on BRER's Committee on Risk Assessment of Exposure to Radon in Drinking Water (1999). Catherine Borbas, Ph.D. Borbas is Executive Director of the Healthcare Education and Research Foundation in St. Paul, Minnesota is an expert in the area of managed care and practice guidelines. Prior committee membership includes the Committee on Methods for Setting Priorities for Guidelines for the Division of Health Care Services of the Institute of Medicine and the Committee to Review the NCI report on the Exposure of the American People to Iodine-131. Dr. Borbas has published in the areas of clinical guidelines methodology, assessment, and implementation. Dr. Borbas earned her Ph.D. in social work and masters in public health from the University of Minnesota. A. Bertrand Brill, M.D., Ph.D. Brill is a Research Professor in the Departments of Radiology and Physics at Vanderbilt University. Dr. Brill earned his M.D. at the University of Utah and his Ph.D. in Biophysics at the University of California, Berkeley. He served in the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) in Japan at the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) in the Statistics and Medicine Departments (1957-59), and as the PHS representative to ABCC until 1964. Dr. Brill's specialty is nuclear medicine and his major research areas include cancer imaging, radiation leukemogenesis, effects of radiation on thyroid function, and effects of diagnostic radioisotope studies, particularly exposures from I-131. Dr. Brill is currently a member of the NCI Task Group studying effects of the Chernobyl Accident on thyroid cancer induction in children. He was a former Medical Director, Division of Radiological Health, U.S. Public Health Service, and a former Professor of Radiology, State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is a member of the Society of Nuclear Medicine Radiation Effects Committee, which he chaired for 10 years, the Medical Internal Radiation Dose Committee (MIRD), and the American Thyroid Association. Dr. Brill is currently a member of the Committee on Assessment of Centers of Disease Control and Prevention Radiation Studies from DOE Contractor Sites. Thomas Buhl, Ph.D. Buhl has been with Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) since 1980. He currently serves as Chief Scientist for the Health, Safety, and Radiation Protection Division, which involves managing the division's science and technology development program and providing scientific guidance and review for the division's technical programs. Before this he had been Section Leader/Health Physicist in many of LANL's radiation protection programs, including radiation instrumentation development, in vivo bioassay measurements, environmental surveillance, dose assessment, and nuclear accident dosimetry. This work led to his involvement in ANSI working groups on bioassay measurements and remedial action criteria for transuranics in soil sponsored by the Health Physics Society. Many assignments have been in emergency response, and he participated in the radiation protection launch support of the Galileo, Ulysses, and Cassini satellites, which carried kilo-Curie amounts of Pu-238 in electric power sources. In addition to his work at LANL, he has been an adjunct professor in nuclear engineering at the University of New Mexico since 1994. His background includes approximately 30 publications, presentations, and reports. He has been active in professional societies involved in radiation protection. He was recently elected president of the American Academy of Health Physics, and will serve as president-elect in 2003, President in 2004, and Past-President in 2005. He was Treasurer of the AAHP in 1999-2000. From 1992 - 1996 he served on the American Board of Health Physics, and he was Board Chair in 1996. He is a member of the Health Physics Society and the American Physical Society. He worked for the New Mexico Radiation Protection Program from 1977 to 1980, and again as program director in 1983-1984 during a one-year leave of absence from LANL. In 1984, this included directing the response to the discovery in New Mexico of Co-60 contamination in steel reinforcement for concrete, and interacting with American, Mexican, international, and neighboring state agencies. His early work in health physics involved designing and operating an environmental radiation-monitoring program in the uranium mining area around Grants, NM. From 1971-1976, he taught physics at the undergraduate and graduate level in several universities in Latin America. Buhl received a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the University of Notre Dame in 1965, a Master of Science degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1970, and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1971. He received certification in health physics from the American Board of Health Physics in 1981. Patricia A. Fleming, Ph.D. Fleming is Senior Associate Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. She received her master's and doctorate from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. While there she served as the Assistant Editor of the Philosophy of Science Journal under the editorship of Richard S. Rudner. She is an editor for the international journal ESEP (Ethics in Science and Environmental Politics). She is currently serving as an external observer (thematic rapporteur) for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Forum On Stakeholder Conference. She teaches courses in applied ethics, particularly ethics and public policy, medical ethics, environmental ethics, and the philosophy of science at Creighton University. She publishes and speaks on the epistemological and ethical issues surrounding nuclear waste disposal. Her most current work is on the role of values in scientific methodologies used in site characterization of nuclear waste facilities (notable, expert judgment method). Shirley Fry, M.D., M.P.H. Fry was the assistant director of the Medical Sciences Division (MSD) of Oak Ridge Associated Universities (OARU) from 1980 until she retired in 1995. She joined the MSD's Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site (REAC/TS) in 1978 as a clinician and continued as a member of the REAC/TS teaching faculty and response team through 1995. She was named Director of OARU's Center for Epidemiologic Research (CER) in 1984, after having served as acting director for the program since 1982. In this program she directed a component of D.O.E's health and mortality study of atomic workers. She also continued as director of CER until 1991. In her capacity as assistant director of MSD, she oversaw the direction of REAC/TS, CER, the Radiation Internal Dose Information Center, the Center for Human Reliability Studies, the Cytogenetics program, and the occupational medicine program. Dr. Fry is the author or co-author of a number of scientific publications on the acute and long-term health effects of radiation. She has served on national and international groups interested in these areas, including the NAS/IOM's committee on Battlefield Exposure Criteria, the US/USSR Joint Commission on Chernobyl Nuclear Reactor Safety (JCCNRS) - Health Studies Group and the International Agency for Research on Cancer's (IARC) International Study of Cancer Risk Among Nuclear Workers. She is currently a member of the Health Physics Society-National Society, the Hoosier Chapter of the Health Physics Society, the Radiation Research Society, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. In 1995, Dr. Fry received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the East Tennessee Chapters of the HPS and of the Association for Women in Science for her life-long commitment and contributions to science. Previous to joining OARU, Dr. Fry was a research associate/clinician at the Center for Human Radiobiology at Argonne National Laboratory. She earned her medical degree from the University of Dublin, Ireland, in 1957. In 1984, she received her master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina's Department of Epidemiology. Richard Hornung, Dr. P.H. Hornung received his doctorate in Biostatistics from the University of North Carolina School of Public Health in 1985. His areas of expertise include survival analysis models, logistic regression, risk assessment, epidemiologic methods, and statistical methods in exposure assessment. He has over 25 years experience in a wide variety of research areas, including radiation epidemiology, exposure prediction models, experimental design, environmental studies of lead and allergens, and occupational health. Dr. Hornung joined the IHPHSR in 1997 after a 24-year career at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He was Chief of the Health-related Energy Research Branch at NIOSH during his last 6 years there (1991-1996). The mission was to conduct epidemiological studies of DOE workers involved in the nuclear weapons program. He has also done extensive research involving the estimation of lung cancer risk to uranium miners exposed to radon decay products. He is currently a member of the EPA Science Advisory Board as a member of the Radiation Advisory Committee and has also served as a member of the White House Committee which helped to develop risk standards to be used for the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), and as a consultant to the BRER's BEIR IV committee and a reviewer for the BEIR VI report. Kathleen N. Lohr, M.Phil., Ph.D. is a Distinguished Fellow at RTI International and the founding codirector of the RTI-University of North Carolina Evidence-Based Practice Center. From 1996 to 2000 at RTI, she directed a program of research in health services and health policy involving more than 40 researchers in quality of care, evidence-based practice, Medicare and Medicaid evaluations, health communication, and similar fields; from 2000 to 2003, she was an RTI Chief Scientist. She also holds the rank of research professor in health policy and administration at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Public Health and is a senior research fellow at the UNC Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. At UNC, she is a coinvestigator in the Center for Education and Research in Therapeutics and the PROMIS (Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System) cooperative agreements. Before working at RTI, Dr. Lohr spent 9 years at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) where she was director of the Division of Health Care Services; she later served on the IOM committee to design a health-outcomes study for veterans of the Gulf War. From 1974 to 1987, she was an analyst with the RAND Corporation, chiefly on the RAND Health Insurance Experiment and in a variety of quality-of-care studies. She is a Fellow of Academy Health (formerly the Association for Health Services Research) and chairs its Distinguished Investigator Committee; she is also a member of advisory boards on quality-of-care measures and organ transplantation and other federally sponsored studies and a member of the advisory board for the North Carolina Partnership to Improve Math and Science education. Dr. Lohr serves as associate editor of Quality of Life Research and as a member of planning committees for the fourth (Sydney, Australia, 2001), fifth (Washington, DC, 2003), and sixth (Toronto, Canada 2005) International Conferences on the Scientific Basis of Health Services. She has published in quality of care, clinical practice guidelines, evidencebased practice, and health status assessment. She earned a BA in sociology and an MA in education from Stanford University and an MPhil and PhD in public policy analysis from the Rand Graduate School. She was recently awarded the 2005 International Society of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR) Avedis Donabedian Outcomes Research Lifetime Achievement Award. Stephen G. Pauker, M.D. Pauker is Vice Chairman for Clinical Affairs, New England Medical Center, and Professor of Medicine, Tufts University is an expert on clinical decision making and evidence-based medicine. Dr. Pauker is a member of the Institute of Medicine. Previously, he has served on the Committee to Evaluate the Artificial Heart Program of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, the Workshops on the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Process and the Use of Drugs in the Elderly, and the Committee on Thyroid Cancer Screening. His publications and research have addressed decisions about screening for cancer and other conditions. Dr. Pauker earned his medical degree at Harvard University in 1968 and trained in internal medicine and cardiology at Boston City and Massachusetts General Hospitals and the New England Medical Center, all in Boston. ***************************************************************** 42 Idaho Statesman: Report doesn't support compensation for Idaho downwinders 04-29-2005 Crapo says he will introduce legislation to offer aid Idaho victims now Joe Jaszewski / The Idaho Statesman Tona Henderson receives a call from Sen. Mike Crapo’s office at the Rumor Mill in Emmett where cancer survivors and family members gathered to view and discuss the National Academies of Science's report. Related Media Gloria Bryngelson, left, and Charlie Smith, right, look over the summary of the report at the Rumor Mill in Emmett Thursday after it was released. Smith was interested in the findings because her son, Trevor, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2002 while living in Valley County. Photos by Joe Jazsewski / The Idaho Statesman From right, Doris Drooger, Millie Garmon, Gayle Stroud and Donna Rynearson listen as Tona Henderson reads from the summary of the National Academies of Science’s 372-page report at the Rumor Mill in Emmett. All four women have either had cancer themselves, had a family member with cancer, or both. Additional Information What's next? Sen. Mike Crapo vowed Thursday to introduce a bill expanding federal payments to downwinders across Idaho. "I would hope we would be able to do it within a matter of weeks," Crapo said. Crapo immediately got support from Sen. Larry Craig, but Rep. Mike Simpson withheld judgment and Rep. Butch Otter declined comment on whether he would back such a bill. The delegation will work together on a longer-term fix, expanding the Radiation Exposure CompensationAct to cancer victims across the nation. Congress commissioned a $1 million report on downwinders in 2002. The report was prepared by The Board on Radiation Effects Research (BRER), an arm of the National Academy of Sciences. NAS is a private, non-profit society of scholars chartered by Congress in 1863. It is required to advise the federal government on science and technology. NAS was hired by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration to complete the report. HRSA is a branch of the Department of Health and Human Services. BRER's committee of scientists first met in November 2002 and subsequently met 13 more times. Public meetings were held in St. George, Utah, Window Rock, Ariz., Salt Lake City and Boise.Compensation program The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act provides $50,000 to victims and their survivors presumed to have been injured by nuclear-bomb testing in Nevada, principally by above-ground blasts between 1951 and 1962. People in 21 southwestern counties who contract one of 19 diseases are covered: leukemia (other than chronic lymphocytic leukemia), multiple myeloma, lymphomas (other than Hodgkin«s disease), and primary cancer of the thyroid, male or female breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx, small intestine, pancreas, bile ducts, gall bladder, salivary gland, urinary bladder, brain, colon, ovary, or liver (except if cirrhosis or hepatitis B is indicated), or lung. The 21 covered counties are: Utah: Beaver, Garfield, Iron, Kane, Millard, Piute, San Juan, Sevier, Washington, Wayne. (Nineteen Utah counties, including Salt Lake, are not covered, but the Utah Legislature voted unanimously to ask Congress to extend compensation to the rest of the state.) Nevada: Clark (rural portion), Eureka, Lander, Lincoln, Nye, White Pine. (Eleven Nevada counties are not covered.) Arizona: Apache, Coconino, Gila, Navajo, Yavapai. (Nine Arizona counties are not covered.)The NAS committee's recommendations include: •No additions should be made to the list of diseases covered by RECA. •Establish a "probability of causation" standard to determine eligibility for new claims. Probability of causation also is known as "assigned share," and widely used in courts and other compensation programs. The "PC/AS" method employs a formula to determine whether radiation exposure is the likely cause of a person's cancer. •Before implementing the new process, the National Cancer Institute or other agency should use PC/AS to determine the likelihood any individuals in a given population might meet the new eligibility criteria. That would include populations like those in Idaho. Results of this "pre-assessment" should guide the public and government agencies on who may qualify for compensation. Only those eligible should receive medical-screening for cancer. •NCI and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or other agencies should complete dose estimates for "all significant radionuclides" in weapons fallout to at-risk population groups, not just i-131. Global fallout from tests by the U.S. and other nations also should be included in RECA. •An updated dose calculator similar to NCI's i-131 calculator should be developed to determine doses to the thyroid and other key organs. •Radon concentrations should be reviewed near tailings piles from uranium mining — some of which occurred in Idaho — for an assessment of whether RECA ought to cover exposed populations. •Exposure from underground tests that resulted in atmospheric releases but are not covered by RECA, should be included in determining possible eligibility for compensation under the new scientific standard. •The Health Resources and Services Administration at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services should improve education and communication about the risks of fallout. The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 04-29-2005 A long-awaited report on compensation for downwinders says there is no scientific reason to add Idaho or any specific region to a federal program that pays $50,000 to cancer victims of Cold War bomb testing. Instead, the report proposes that Congress reform the program to allow every American to apply for aid if they can prove a high probability of radiation, regardless of where they lived. The report released Thursday is a blow to Sen. Mike Crapo's promise to add Idaho downwinders to the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA). The law provides $50,000 compensation to people from 21 counties in the Southwest who suffer from any of 19 types of cancer. But Crapo vowed to pursue a major rewrite of RECA and quickly move to add all of Idaho. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he would co-sponsor Crapo's bill to add Idaho. The report prompted a mixed response in Emmett, where hundreds of people mobilized to press for compensation there and in other Idaho counties hit by radiation. "I'm stunned," said Tona Henderson, who gathered friends and cancer survivors at The Rumor Mill, a bakery she owns in Emmett, to review the report online. "I feel sorry for all the people who had hope." But Shari Garmon, who grew up in Gem County and prompted a statewide push to add Idaho to RECA, said she sees promise in the report. "Idahoans and our delegation are not ready to give up," Garmon said. "The justification is there  not just because this boy got a marble and I want one, too  but because Idaho was hit heavily. They're going to see a great many of the cases in Idaho qualify." R. Julian Preston, chairman of the committee that prepared the report for the NAS's Board on Radiation Effects Research, said, "To be equitable, any compensation program needs to be based on scientific criteria, and similar cases must be treated alike." Report uses Custer County as model for study The 372-page report was prepared for Congress by the private nonprofit National Academies of Science. The NAS committee considered arguments to expand RECA in Idaho, Utah, Montana, New York and other states so people there might be compensated based on a 1997 National Cancer Institute study that showed they had higher doses of radioactive iodine-131 to the thyroid than those in the counties where compensation already has been paid. NAS says RECA's compensation scheme is outdated. It suggests a new standard covering all 50 states and overseas territories. The report extensively considers the case of thyroid cancer in Custer County, the second-hardest-hit county in the country with iodine-131 radiation. NAS uses the Custer County example based on how old people were when they were exposed, radiation dose, consumption of store-bought milk and a cancer diagnosis in 2000. The U.S. government tested nuclear bombs in the Nevada desert during the Cold War. Most of the radioactive fallout occurred during 90 above-ground tests between 1951 and 1962. Wind blew radioactive clouds north and east, and iodine-131 fell on pastures and alfalfa that fed cows and goats. Children under 5 were hit hardest, with doses three to seven times higher than average because they drink more milk and have small thyroids. In the NAS hypothetical case, cancer sufferers born in Custer County between 1946 and 1952 would be eligible for compensation. Under a probability model used in legal claims that sets the standard at a 50 percent probability, only they would qualify for compensation because their disease was "as likely as not" caused by fallout. Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, said Congress might decide to adopt a looser standard than 50 percent probability. "Congress could make it whatever exposure range it wanted," he said. "Maybe we'd put it at 30 percent." At 30 percent, victims from Custer County would also qualify if they were born between 1941 and 1945, under the example. Report: Risk of radiation was generally low NAS found that bomb-test radiation doses to sensitive tissues generally were small. "With the exception of radiation exposure of the thyroid, the amount of radiation received from radioactive fallout was of the same magnitude or less than that received from natural background radiation over the same time period," according to a NAS press release. "Even in communities presently eligible for compensation, the risk of radiation-induced diseases is generally low. "This and other scientific evidence led the committee to conclude that in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout is a substantial contributing cause of cancer in downwinders," said NAS. Even in the case of radiation to the thyroid, the study suggests compensation based on geography is a slippery slope leading to arguments about justice across the nation, not just in Idaho. Criteria needed to establish compensation The report says people who lived in areas currently ineligible for compensation, including Idaho, Utah, Montana, Arizona, Nebraska, Indiana, Tennessee, New York and Vermont, would have a claim to compensation under the current RECA exposure standard. An imaginary male born Jan. 1, 1948, would have received doses exceeding radiation in some RECA-eligible counties. But recommending expansion based on geography "might well include counties throughout much of the United States," said the NAS. That "would not be equitable" because it would fail to compensate high-risk people in ineligible areas, such as newborns, but pay low-risk people, such as those exposed at an advanced age. Risk of radiation-induced cancer depends on diet, age at exposure and age at diagnosis in addition to dose. Therefore, the committee recommended a risk assessment applied across the country to determine if "an identified cancer was caused by radiation rather than by other agents." The report bluntly downplays prospects of widespread compensation, saying, "...it is unlikely that a very large number of individuals with cancer, even thyroid cancer, would be newly eligible for compensation. The actual number will depend on the threshold criteria established by Congress." Idaho lawmakers have not reached consensus Crapo acknowledged the need for Congress to consider amending RECA to reflect current science and said the report "does not offer the immediate relief sought by Idahoans." But because RECA is based on geography, Crapo plans to introduce legislation in the next few weeks expanding compensation to all of Idaho. "We have the current paradigm which is in the law. The question is whether Idaho should be included or not. And I think the answer is yes." Crapo, Craig and Reps. Simpson and C.L. "Butch" Otter were briefed Wednesday by study chairman Preston, director of the Environmental Carcinogenesis Division at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Four other members of the 10-member committee that wrote the report, Thomas Borak of Colorado State University, Dr. A. Bertrand Brill of Vanderbilt University, Thomas Buhl of the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Patricia Fleming of Creighton University, attended the private briefing. "We recommended expanding the program in an equitable way," Preston told The Idaho Statesman. "Fallout doesn't follow geographical boundaries. I would tell people in Idaho they are indeed included. We don't just address their concerns, we address the concerns of all people who may have been exposed." Craig praised the report. "The report affirms my contention that winds know no political boundaries," he said in a statement. "Limiting eligibility to certain counties is unwise  Idahoans deserve an opportunity to be considered for compensation. So I will support Sen. Crapo in an effort to assist Idahoans who were harmed by the fallout from nuclear weapons testing." Simpson said the model Congress adopted in 1990 is outmoded and that he's inclined to adopt the report's strategy for a national compensation plan. "How do you justify going forward with an unfair program?" Simpson said in an interview. "We need a science-based approach to this and it ought to be nationwide." He said practical politics mean Crapo's plan to add Idaho probably can't pass Congress. "The report makes it very unlikely that Congress would expand the program to include Idaho or (parts of) Utah or any other area based on geography." Simpson said the delegation discussed the issue after the briefing but has not reached a consensus on what to do next. He didn't rule out supporting Crapo's bill to add Idaho to RECA but said he fears giving Idahoans "false hope." Otter said in a statement that government must account for any damages to citizens, but that the "report provides some hard scientific realities about the basis for compensation in Idaho and nationwide." "While those realities may be difficult for Idahoans to accept, I'm grateful for the work that's been done to establish the facts and give voice to the concerns of our people," he said. "Idahoans who believe they were hurt as a result of our government's actions continue to deserve our advocacy in this process, and I appreciate Sen. Crapo's leadership in that regard." Otter's spokesman declined to say whether Otter would support Crapo's bill adding Idaho. The history of how we got here RECA was co-authored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, in 1990 and expanded with Hatch's leadership in 2000. Hatch, responding to calls to further expand RECA, helped secure funding in 2002 for the $1 million NAS study released Thursday. He has urged expansion to at least four more counties in Utah. In enacting RECA, Congress apologized to victims and provided for "compassionate payments" because they were "involuntarily subjected to increased risk of injury and disease to serve the national security interests of the United States." Payments of more than $444 million have been authorized to 8,900 cancer victims and their survivors who lived in 21 counties in Nevada, Utah and Arizona downwind from the Nevada test site. To get $50,000, they must have been there between 1951 and 1962. NAS recommends scuttling RECA's eligibility rules and requiring any new claim meet a probability test linking cancer to radiation. The report also rejects the standard adopted by Congress in 2000 when it expanded RECA to add counties and more types of cancer. President Clinton objected to adding counties and cancers because science didn't justify it. But Congress was persuaded by the emotional stories of victims. "To ignore the written and personal testimonies of the hundreds of victims themselves or survivors concerning their illnesses is unwarranted," wrote the House Judiciary Committee. "The strong evidence they have supplied is sufficient to provide relief." Hundreds of Idahoans have spoken out with stories Since the downwinders story exploded in Idaho in August 2004, more than 500 Idahoans have written NAS to detail their stories. Their names appear in the report. Pressured by the Idaho congressional delegation, NAS agreed to hold a hearing in November in Boise. Hundreds showed up at Boise State's Taco Bell Arena, and 75 people testified, many of them wracked by cancer. The NAS committee took pains in the report to say it sympathized with those stories. But the report says: "The scientific evidence indicates that in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radiation from fallout was a substantial contributing cause to developing cancer." "Moreover, scientifically based changes that Congress may make in the eligibility criteria for compensation in response to this report are likely to result in few successful claims. The committee is aware that such conclusions will be disappointing, but they have been reached in accordance with the committee's charge to base its conclusions on the results of best available scientific information." Screening will speed the claims process The report acknowledges that establishing new criteria will take time, but it says pre-screening populations for diseases, geographic areas and population groups in those areas would help "ensure that claims are processed efficiently and rapidly." The report says screening would discourage claims unlikely to succeed. "Citizens' concern to achieve equity occupied much of the committee's deliberations," says the report. But the panel said its charge was to follow science and defer to congressional policy questions about whom to compensate. "The decision rests with Congress," wrote the panel. Any change requires an act of Congress. ***************************************************************** 43 Salt Lake Tribune: Report: Downwinder radius should expand Article Last Updated: 04/29/2005 12:41:19 AM Science: Should be the main factor in settling compensation for fallout exposure, not geography Compensation: A report proposes opening door to all states for cancer claims based on N-testing in '50s with graphics By Greg Lavine The Salt Lake Tribune People from certain parts of Utah, Nevada and Arizona may no longer be the only ones eligible for federal compensation for exposure to radioactive fallout from aboveground nuclear testing. A National Academy of Sciences report to Congress, released Thursday, says the existing compensation boundaries established by Congress 15 years ago are inadequate and should be expanded to include the entire United States and U.S. territories. But part of the report acknowledges that proving a link under the potential new system could be difficult due to gaps in the scientific data. People from 21 counties, including 10 counties in southern Utah, now are eligible for compensation for sicknesses related to fallout from testing in Nevada in the 1950s and early 1960s. Critics of the report question whether the recommended changes, most notably a new formula for determining the link between fallout exposure and disease, will make it easier for people in other areas, such as northern Utah and Idaho, to receive compensation. "To me, it's still a little ambiguous," said Mary Dickson, of Salt Lake City, a downnwinder activist and manager and writer at KUED-TV. Dickson said she was pleased the report tells Congress that compensation boundaries are inadequate, but is concerned about any eligibility formula that requires a scientific link between certain cancer types and fallout. Because of a lack of studies, it may be tough for people making a claim to prove fallout in other parts of the country caused specific cancers, besides thyroid, she said. So far, nearly 9,000 claims have been approved for $447 million in compensation. Those approved had to meet geographical and illness requirements, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The National Research Council, part of the National Academy of Sciences, examined the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 (RECA) at the request of Congress, which now must decide if any action is needed. "New information since RECA was enacted in 1990 reveals a wider geographic distribution of dose from [radioactive iodine] than was generally recognized when Congress identified selected counties as affected areas for downwinder eligibility," according to the report. R. Julian Preston, a researcher with the Environmental Protection Agency who chaired the committee that issued the report, said the government should create a map that shows the maximum possible fallout exposure a person could have in any given area. People in areas that score high on this formula could then determine how likely they are to receive compensation. The maps would not be intended to exclude people from areas that score low, since there may be special circumstances, he said. A separate set of standards, including a scientific link, would have to be met to be eligible for compensation, the reports said. "We wanted a science-based criteria for compensation," PresÂton said, "rather than a geographic-based criteria." Under the existing program, people who lived in the covered counties only have to show they contracted medical problems, such as breast, stomach, thyroid or pancreatic cancer or leukemia for eligibility. The report also recommends that uranium millers and ore transporters with certain diseases living in areas not previously covered under the compensation program also be eligible. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said in a statement that he hopes any congressional changes to the program do not undercut any persons who are currently eligible for compensation. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the report shows the need for more data to determine the health effects from exposure to fallout from nuclear weapons testing. The number of monitoring stations available at the time of the testing did not provide enough details about how widespread exposure was. "There is still a lot we don't know," he said. Hatch, one of the authors of the existing program, said this report offers hope that the compensation program could be expanded. "I am frequently approached by constituents who believe that they should be eligible for RECA but who are not," Hatch said. "It is impossible for Congress to evaluate those requests without a solid scientific analysis, which is what the NAS report was intended to provide." Sen. Bob Bennett called the report "a useful tool as Congress determines the best way to proceed with this program." Preston said the report suggests that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, along with the National Cancer Institute, finish gathering data on some 30 other radioactive fallout components besides iodine. Other elements may play a role in health problems. Matheson said those studies could provide a more accurate picture of all elements of fallout from nuclear weapons testing. Preston Truman, head of Downwinders, an activist group based in Idaho, said he is skeptical about the impact of the report. But at least the report indicates that people from other areas are in need of compensation, he said. "It's nice to see them find that we need justice," he said. Joseph Lyon, a University of Utah researcher who has studied fallout-related thyroid problems, said many downwinders in southern Utah, for example, were exposed due to radioactive fallout landing on grassy fields. Cows ate the contaminated grass, which in turn led to contaminated milk. People who drank locally produced milk every day at the time of testing may have been exposed to risk of developing thyroid problems, including cancer. He said the problem was not limited to Utah, Nevada and Arizona. "There's no question the contamination was more widespread," he said. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently ended funding of Lyon's multiyear study examining fallout and thyroid problems before all participants could be examined. glavine@sltrib.com © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 44 Times-News: Local cancer victim: Decision is 'a beginning' Online -- Twin Falls, Idaho www.magicvalley.com The Times-News | AG Weekly | published Friday, April 29, 2005By Michelle Dunlop Times-News writer RUPERT -- On Thursday afternoon, one Idaho downwinder bustles into a local cafe -- her arms filled with reports on everything nuclear. A sense of urgency clings to JoEtta Abo's movements. It's a pointed immediacy that surpasses the typical noontime rush. Abo comes prepared to talk about a recent trip to Washington D.C. as an anti-nuclear lobbyist for the Snake River Alliance. However, the day brings its own urgent topic: the announcement of a newly released report suggesting that Congress should expand the geographical boundaries on a compensation program for cancer victims who claim nuclear weapons testing caused their illnesses. "It's a beginning," Abo says. "I should be excited." As a downwinder of the nuclear testing, Abo could make a strong claim for compensation as thyroid cancer survivor. Yet, in a recent 24-hour span of time, Abo has learned that three friends have been diagnosed with cancer. Two grew up in Idaho during the 1950s and 1960s when wind sprinkled radioactive iodine from Nevada Test Site bombs across much of the country. "Yeah, the money is nice," Abo says. "It's a way for the government to say, 'we're sorry.'" However, apologies are just words. And, Abo wants to see the government act. "A mistake was made in the past -- let's not make it again," she said. "And, let's try to change the conditions that caused the last round." Abo views the recommendation to Congress as just one step in a long battle to curb nuclear weapons testing and development -- an opinion shared by Jeremy Maxand, executive director of the Snake River Alliance. "The Bush administration and Congress should focus on making the [compensation] program work effectively rather than pursuing the dangerous resumption of nuclear weapons tests," Maxand said of the report. As Abo watched friends and family fall victim to various types of cancer, she wondered what had gone wrong in her little corner of the world. It wasn't until she attended a Snake River Alliance meeting last fall that Abo realized she wasn't alone in suspecting the illness may have be caused by nuclear weapons testing. That knowledge quickly propelled her from a position of concerned citizen to a role as advocate. "I don't see that I have a choice," Abo said. "If you know something, how can you walk away from it?" Times-News reporter Michelle Dunlop can be reached at 735-3237 or by e-mail at mdunlop@magicvalley.com. Copyright © 2005, Lee Publications Inc. Magicvalley.com is an on-line division of The Times-News, published daily at 132 W. Fairfield St., Twin Falls, Idaho 83301 by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises. ***************************************************************** 45 Idaho PTV: Downwinders Hosts Joan Cartan-Hansen & Marcia Franklin April 28 & May 1 On this week's "Dialogue," host Marcia Franklin talks with Idaho "downwinders" and their advocates, who are seeking compensation for exposure to nuclear testing fallout. More than 40 years ago, winds blew radiation from nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site into Idaho. Several counties in Idaho, including Gem County, were hard hit. Today, residents of that area who are suffering from cancer and other diseases have asked the government to include them in the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which compensates radiation victims $50,000 for their exposure to testing fallout. A National Academy of Sciences hearing on the the subject last November 6 in Boise drew dozens of cancer survivors. The NAS report is expected shortly. Franklin and her guests talk about that report and take questions from the viewing audience on a toll-free line: 1-800-973-9800. Stream: Guests: Preston J Truman of Malad, the founder of "Downwinders," an advocacy group for fallout victims Sheri Garmon, a cancer survivor Rep. Kathy Skippen (R-Emmett) Tona Henderson of Emmett ***************************************************************** 46 IEER: Depleted Uranium Costs and Risks from LES Institute for Energy and Environmental Research * Snake River Alliance * Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah * Physicians for Social Responsibility * Alliance for Nuclear Accountability For immediate release April 28, 2005 For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani (IEER) (301) 509-6843 Jeremy Maxand (SRA) (208) 850-9334 Vanessa Pierce (HEAL) (801) 652-5151 Kimberly Roberts (PSR) (202) 667-4260 ext. 212 P R E S S R E L E A S E ADVOCATES WELCOME NAT'L SCIENCES ACADEMY STUDY RECOMMENDING EXPANDED COMPENSATION FOR THOSE HURT BY U.S. NUCLEAR TESTS; GROUPS CALL ON CONGRESS TO MOVE QUCKLY TO HELP VICTIMS Groups concerned about the health effects of radioactive fallout welcomed today's release of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) reportrecommending that eligibility for the federal compensation program for people suffering from cancer connected to U.S. nuclear weapons tests not be limited to its current geographic boundaries and urged Congress to move quickly to assist sick downwinders. The NAS study said that Congress should implement science-based changes that, in effect, would extend coverage of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA), which is now limited to residents of parts of Nevada, southern Utah and Arizona as well as workers who handled uranium. "The National Cancer Institute has shown that there were hot spot areas all over the country where milk was contaminated. People with a high risk of thyroid cancer should be compensated without delay wherever they lived without having to jump through hoops," said Arjun Makhijani, Ph.D., president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), referring to a 1997 National Cancer Institute (NCI) reporton radioactive iodine doses from fallout. "The cancer risks from fallout other than thyroid cancer still need to be determined by careful study. The available science on other cancer risks from testing is inadequate because scientists have not talked to the downwinders carefully enough to determine all the pathways by which they were exposed. For example, radioactive ash deposited after test blasts on laundry as it dried outside could have led to higher exposures than what has been accounted for." "The NAS report is a mixed bag," said Mary Dickson, lifetime resident of Salt Lake City and survivor of thyroid cancer. "It admits that fallout affected the entire country. But it is not possible for many victims to produce hard scientific evidence of their exposure because studies were not done at that time. At this point, all the government has to do is wait for the victims to die." Susan Gordon of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability welcomed NAS's recognition of the need to include additional geographic areas under RECA. "However," Ms. Gordon qualified, "under no circumstances should benefits be taken away from the 22 currently eligible RECA counties. Current RECA benefits should not be changed." Kimberly Roberts of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR) welcomed the NAS recommendation for a broad federal education and communication program about fallout risks. "Patients must have access to information to make informed decisions about their exposures. Congress should include physician education and outreach as part of any new RECA legislation," Ms. Roberts added. "RECA funding should not subject to the whims of annual appropriators, so that those who are sick and dying receive a check to pay for their chemotherapy rather than a government IOU," said Vanessa Pierce of the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah. "Also, those who were harmed by fallout should receive awards for health damages comparable to the $150,000 payments received by nuclear weapons workers who contracted similar diseases. The public was deliberately misinformed by the government about the health risks of nuclear testing and deserve as much." "It's time for the federal government to make good on its obligation to help all people sickened by U.S. nuclear weapons testing," Jeremy Maxand, Executive Director of Idaho's Snake River Alliance, concluded. "The Bush Administration and Congress should focus on making the RECA program work effectively rather than pursuing the dangerous resumption of nuclear weapons tests." RECA was originally passed by Congress in 1990 and amended in 2000. The legislation was historic because it was the first time the government publicly acknowledged that downwinders and uranium workers had been hurt and deserved compensation. In the 1950s and early-1960s, the U.S. conducted nearly 100 aboveground nuclear weapons tests. A National Cancer Institute (NCI) study on the health impacts of fallout released in 1997 found that millions of people in the U.S. received significant doses of radioactive iodine and that hot spots occurred thousands of miles from the test sites. The NAS investigation began in 2002 to assess recent scientific evidence, including the NCI data, to determine whether other groups of people should be covered under the RECA program. - - 3 0 - - Attached: NCI map showing areas with radioactive iodine fallout from U.S. nuclear weapons tests. Attachment Per capita thyroid doses from NTS tests Source: NCI 1997 www.cancer.gov/cancer_information/doc.aspx?viewid=556f5603-23e3-4 171-aa5e-77f79d46b27c Institute for Energy and Environmental ResearchComments to Outreach Coordinator: ieer at ieer.org Takoma Park, Maryland, USA Posted April 28, 2005 ***************************************************************** 47 PISJ: Fallout report encourages Idahoans seeking compensation Pocatello Idaho State Journal: By Dan Boyd- Journal Writer POCATELLO - A much-anticipated report released Thursday says nuclear fallout likely affected more of the country than previously thought. The news comes as little surprise to Idaho downwinders, a generation of Gem State natives who believe the diseases they've contracted stem directly from exposure to dangerous radiation from atomic weapons testing blown into Idaho in the 1950s. Local thyroid cancer survivor Linda Thompson said it's time to move definitively forward to address the situation. "We just need to get with it and get it done," she said. "Some have been compensated - all should be compensated." The three-year long study by the National Academy of Sciences, which included public forums last fall in Idaho and Utah, puts the next move in Congress' hands, a fact that concerns some Idaho activists. "Congress can finally help or they can set a standard of proof so high no one will receive any help," said Peter Rickards, a Twin Falls podiatrist. A summary of the 372-page study called on the program to be more "scientifically based" and Rickards and others worry that could be used to exclude people who can't prove their disease is linked to radiation exposure. U.S. Sen. Mike Crapo has vowed to introduce legislation concerning at least four Idaho counties - Gem, Blaine, Custer and Lemhi - but said two weeks ago the study was "pivotal" to determine if a larger area would be included. Southeast Idaho counties show high, but not astronomical radiation exposure levels, although some small communities like Mink Creek have been ravaged by suspiciously high cancer rates. "It's time for the federal government to make good on its obligation to help all people sickened by U.S. nuclear weapons testing," said Jeremy Maxand, executive director of the Boise-based Snake River Alliance. "For Idaho, the bottom line is our congressional delegates have a lot of work to do." Maxand said he was surprised more diseases weren't linked to nuclear fallout in the study, but said the report represented a small victory by validating the plight of the downwinders and saying all states could be considered for inclusion. Currently, only 22 counties in Utah, Arizona and New Mexico are listed on the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which pays individuals or families subjected to harmful radiation $50,000. "This is definitely a good step," Maxand said. "But the work is not over." Dan Boyd - Journal Writer'> The news comes as little surprise to Idaho downwinders, a generation of Gem State natives who believe the diseases they've contracted stem directly from exposure to dangerous radiation from atomic weapons testing blown into Idaho in the 1950s."> This document was originally published online on Friday, April 29, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Pocatello Idaho State Journal P O Box 431 Pocatello, ID 83204-0431 ***************************************************************** 48 2theadvocate.com: Depleted-uranium test proposed Panel supports testing veterans 042905 politics 1 5 2theadvocate.comA House panel endorsed legislation Thursday that would require Louisiana veterans returning from Iraq to be tested for depleted uranium exposure, which some experts say they think is a primary cause of Gulf War syndrome.--> By MARK BALLARD Capitol news bureau A House panel endorsed legislation Thursday that would require Louisiana veterans returning from Iraq to be tested for depleted uranium exposure, which some experts say they think is a primary cause of Gulf War syndrome. House Bill 570 would allow any Louisiana soldier who believes he or she was exposed to depleted uranium in a combat zone to get a more aggressive test than is offered by the military, said Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, the measure's sponsor. The wording of the proposed law does not specifically spell out who would give or pay for the test. But LaFonta said the measure would give Louisiana soldiers more leverage to demand the tests from the federal Veterans Administration. After the hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, LaFonta acknowledged that a state law would have little effect on the federal agency. But the legislation's chief witness, Robert Smith of New Orleans, said the legislation would allow Gov. Kathleen Blanco to order the state's military department chief, Maj. Gen. Bennett Landreneau, to include the more-expansive testing as part of its annual funding request to the U.S. Department of Defense. Landreneau's press aides did not return three calls seeking comment. Depleted uranium is used nuclear power plant fuel. Because the metal is very dense, the military uses it in bullets, bombs and missiles to help penetrate armor protection. It also is used as counter-weights in fighter jets and as protective armor on Abrams tanks. The United Nations World Health Organization found that very low radiation can still harm people who inhale dust, drink water or eat food that had been contaminated. "It looks more and more like what's causing Gulf War syndrome, primarily, is depleted uranium exposure," said Smith, a retired Green Beret who has worked helping injured veterans rejoin civilian society. Gulf War syndrome is a constellation of symptoms, such as weak joints, headaches, fatigue, shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, muscle pain, sleep disturbances and unusually frequent urination. "You don't get those symptoms in 20-year-olds," said Joyce Riley of Versailles, Mo. The former Air Force captain is spokeswoman for the American Gulf War Veterans Association. "I'm getting calls all day long from parents who are asking me, 'Why is my child sick?' " Riley said Wednesday. "Depleted uranium is one of the reasons these troops are coming home sick." Riley said that, while the U.S. Department of Defense screens for depleted uranium, it refuses to do adequate tests. Telephone inquiries for comment to the Department of Defense were not returned. A spokesman with the Veterans Administration said the agency does not comment on pending legislation. Members of the Louisiana House Committee on Judiciary asked few questions of Smith and LaFonta. One member, Rep. Mike Powell, R-Shreveport, gave a short speech commending veterans and asked for the privilege of making the motion to refer the bill favorably. But before that motion could be made, LaFonta was asked to explain why the bill's financial note indicates that the state would pay for those tests if the Veterans Administration finds that a test is not warranted. LaFonta said that was a mistake. The legislation would not cost the state anything because the Veterans Administration would handle the testing, he said. The state's Military Department estimated the cost of the tests at $170 each. LaFonta said at least four other states are considering filing a similar bill. Legislative committees of the Connecticut General Assembly approved similar legislation earlier this month. The Louisiana bill now goes to the full House for consideration. Copyright © 1992-2005, 2theadvocate.com, WBRZ, Louisiana Broadcasting LLC and The Advocate, Capital City Press LLC, All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 i-Newswire.com: Bush Pleased With Progress in Iraq, Explains N. Korea Steps President Bush said the Iraqi people are making good progress in creating a democracy in the nation and said that as the democracy takes root, more people will see the benefits. i-Newswire, 2005-04-29 - He spoke during a White House press conference April 28. The president also spoke about North Korea. "There are still some in Iraq who aren't happy with democracy," Bush said. "They want to go back to the old days of tyranny and darkness, torture chambers and mass graves. I believe we're making really good progress in Iraq, because the Iraqi people are beginning to see the benefits of a free society." The president said he was pleased with Iraqi officials' announcing their cabinet. He also praised the training effort coalition forces have undertaken to form the Iraqi army and Iraqi police. "The Iraqi military is being trained by our military, and they're performing much better than the past," Bush said. "The more secure Iraq becomes, as a result of the hard work of Iraqi security forces, the more confidence the people will have in the process, and the more isolated the terrorists will become." But Iraq still has problems and still has terrorists willing to kill vast numbers of people to intimidate the population and bring back the excesses of the former regime. "We will work with the Iraqis to secure their future," the president said. "A free Iraq in the midst of the Middle East is an important part of spreading peace. It's a region of the world where a lot of folks in the past never thought democracy could take hold. Democracy is taking hold. And as democracy takes hold, peace will more likely be the norm." Bush said he would not lay out a timetable for pulling troops from Iraq. "All that will do is cause an enemy to adjust," he said. "So my answer is, 'As soon as possible.' And as soon as possible depends upon the Iraqis being able to fight and do the job." The president said the number of U.S. troops in Iraq - now under 140,000 - is not limiting his options elsewhere in the world. In Korea, for example, the U.S. troop levels have dropped. But the U.S. has made up for that by increasing other capabilities in the nation. "( North Korean leader ) Kim Jong-il is a dangerous person," Bush said. "He's a man who starves his people. He's got huge concentration camps. And ... there is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don't know if he can or not, but I think it's best when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-il to assume he can." The president said the best way to deal with North Korea is via diplomacy. He said the United States tried a bilateral approach, and it didn't work. "I felt a better approach would be to include people in the neighborhood, into a consortium to deal with him," Bush said. "It's particularly important to have China involved. China has got a lot of influence in North Korea." Still the president isn't relying solely on diplomacy. He said the missile defense system could offer at least limited protection from a North Korean strike. "We've got a comprehensive strategy in dealing with him," Bush said, referring to Kim Jong-il. By Jim Garamone American Forces Press Service Press Release Date 2005-04-29 ***************************************************************** 50 ENN: DOE announces changes in Radioactive Waste and Environmental Management Offices [Environmental News Link] WASHINGTON (04/28/05) -- The Department of Energy (DOE) has announced several personnel changes in the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management and the Office of Environmental Management. Theodore (Ted) Garrish, Deputy Director for Strategy and Program Development in the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (RW), is retiring May 13, 2005. Garrish has worked in RW since July, 2003. Previously, he served as the department’s General Counsel from 1983 – 1985; as Assistant Secretary of Energy for Congressional, Intergovernmental and Public Affairs from 1985-1987; and as Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy from 1987 – 1989. Paul Golan, currently serving as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management, will assume the position currently held by Theodore Garrish on May 8, 2005. Charles Anderson, who currently serves as deputy director of DOE’s Savannah River Site, will replace Paul Golan as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Office of Environmental Management on May 8, 2005. Anderson has worked in the department’s environmental management program, nuclear weapons facilities, and at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). 3450 Palmer Dr. #4-264 Cameron Park, California 95682 Telephone: (530) 676-9334 FAX: (530) 676-9387 Email: capitol@caprep.com Copyright © 2005 Capitol Reports. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 51 DallasNews.com: Nuclear waste is headed to W. Texas border="0" />Subscribe| Archives Shipments are start of big expansion; U.S. says state oversight lax 07:10 AM CDT on Friday, April 29, 2005 By RANDY LEE LOFTIS / The Dallas Morning News West Texas on Thursday became the destination for some of the nation's most troublesome Cold War-era nuclear waste. But the announcement that 3,500 truckloads of uranium waste will head to Texas from a closed nuclear bomb materials plant in Ohio is just the start of a dramatic expansion of Texas' importation of radioactive leftovers. The decision to send the waste to Dallas-based Waste Control Specialists' facility in Andrews County came just one day after federal officials threatened to put the state's radiation control program on probation. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, meanwhile, is expected within two weeks to approve a Northeastern utility's request to send Waste Control Specialists 84 million pounds of radioactive demolition debris from a closed nuclear power plant in Massachusetts. Texas environmental officials strongly objected this week, challenging the NRC's authority to allow the shipments. But even more shipments of nuclear plant debris are possible. The owner of another closed nuclear power plant in Connecticut has asked the NRC to let it ship 100 million pounds of similar material to the West Texas facility. And as more of the nation's first-generation nuclear plants from the 1950s and 1960s close, they also could be dismantled and shipped to the facility if the NRC prevails. Other types of radioactive shipments to Waste Control Specialists are likely as nuclear operations open and existing waste facilities stop accepting shipments. Nebraska, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Kansas have asked about shipping some of their radioactive waste to Texas. Any of those shipments could travel through Dallas and Fort Worth on Interstate 20, a designated hazardous materials route. 'Heightened oversight' As the state's role in taking nuclear materials grows, however, a recent federal review found that Texas radiation regulators couldn't handle many of the tasks they have now. Many inspections were overdue, staff experts had quit and vacancies went unfilled for months, NRC officials found after a check of Texas Department of State Health Services files in March. In addition, they said many incidents involving radioactive materials weren't reported until long after notification deadlines. As a result, the NRC notified Texas on Wednesday that the state is "in jeopardy of not being able to fulfill its responsibility to protect public health and safety." In a letter to the state obtained by The Dallas Morning News, the NRC placed the state program on "heightened oversight," a step the commission said could lead to probation or suspension of the state's authority to regulate radiation. Still, Waste Control Specialists president George E. Dials promised that the company's facility, Texas' only radioactive waste site, would protect the public from risk. "WCS has an excellent safety record and experience in handling and storing similar types of materials at its Andrews County facility," Mr. Dials said. But state Rep. Pete Gallego, D-Alpine, said the state needs to consider its nuclear future more carefully. He has filed a resolution to create a legislative study committee to weigh the risks of an expanded radioactive waste industry in Texas. "In light of all these changes, it's pretty irresponsible to move forward at this point," Mr. Gallego said Thursday. Legislative debate The House Energy Resources Committee heard testimony on the resolution Wednesday but took no action. Environmental group lobbyists backed the measure, but Waste Control Specialists lawyer Michael Woodward testified that another study would only postpone action needed to manage waste safely. "It is a reality in our country, and we can't just bury our heads in the sand and expect this material to take care of itself," Mr. Woodward said. However, Tom "Smitty" Smith, Texas director of Public Citizen, said the state is headed down a dangerous path paved by politics. "The Pandora's box has been opened, just as we all feared," he said. The Fernald, Ohio, waste is expected to start heading to Texas in late May. The material, which Nevada and Utah rejected, was left after the plant processed high-grade uranium ore into fuel for reactors that made plutonium for bombs. A contractor, Fluor Fernald, is dismantling and decontaminating the plant for the U.S. Energy Department. The $7.5 million contract announced Thursday lets Waste Control Specialists treat the waste and store it until the company gets a state health department license to dispose of it at the Andrews County site. Health department regulators say that license could come in October. If that happens, Waste Control Specialists would earn more money for disposing of the waste. Without a disposal license, the facility could keep the waste for only two years. The company is also seeking a license to dispose of low-level radioactive waste  mostly contaminated tools, equipment, clothing and other items from nuclear power plants, oil companies, hospitals and other sources. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is processing that application, with a decision expected in 2007. Needed change? The split of radiation oversight duties between the health department and the environmental agency reflects one of the numerous shifts the Legislature has made. Now a bill filed by Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, would move all oversight to the environmental agency. Mr. Duncan maintains that the recent NRC review of the health department's performance, which occurred since he filed his bill, reinforces the need to change. That bill, which also would put new taxes on radioactive waste, is due for debate in the full Senate today. Alice Rogers, inspections unit manager with the state health department, said the problems that the NRC found resulted from budget shortfalls, noncompetitive salaries and a 2003 legislative reorganization of the department. She said the department hopes the 2005 Legislature will fix those problems. High-priority inspections of facilities such as Waste Control Specialists site haven't been delayed, she added. None of those factors directly affects the efforts of the two Northeastern power companies to ship their dismantled and demolished nuclear power plants to Texas. That's because the NRC is exempting such debris from regulation as radioactive waste, meaning it could be disposed of in Waste Control Specialists' already approved hazardous waste disposal landfill. The NRC expects to approve the request for the Yankee Rowe plant in Massachusetts within two weeks, commission spokesman David McIntyre said. The other request, for the Connecticut Yankee plant in Connecticut, is pending, but the commission has approved an alternative plan to let Connecticut Yankee ship its debris to a facility in Idaho. Both plants still have extremely hazardous spent nuclear fuel on their sites, but no spent fuel would be sent to the Waste Control Specialists site. Also, the most highly contaminated debris would go to other facilities. Texas objects In a three-page letter dated Tuesday, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality told the NRC that nothing in Texas law or in Waste Control Specialists' permits would allow the disposal of nuclear plant demolition debris without state approval. Among the state agency's questions: If the material is just routine hazardous waste, why ship it 2,000 miles to West Texas, passing hundreds of other facilities approved to take it? The NRC has not yet responded. Neither plant owner has made a final decision to send its debris to Texas, said Kelley Smith, a spokeswoman for both plants. A separate company owns each plant, but the companies have several investor-owners in common. "Both companies are looking at all possible options," Ms. Smith said. Email rloftis@dallasnews.com ***************************************************************** 52 Las Vegas SUN: Severe weather prompts Test Site emergency call Today: April 29, 2005 at 9:41:55 PDT By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN The end of April brought showers to the Las Vegas Valley and severe weather, including hail and funnel clouds to the Nevada Test Site and to Yucca Mountain, site of a proposed high-level nuclear waste repository. The National Nuclear Security Administration declared an operational emergency at the Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, about 2:30 p.m. Thursday, NNSA spokeswoman Lee Ann Inadomi said. A total of 1,200 Test Site workers sought shelter from funnel clouds, hail and severe lightning at the Test Site, she said. Two buses containing 70 children visiting the Test Site for "Take Your Daughters and Sons to Work Day" had to be sheltered inside a security guard building operated by Wackenhut Services, Inc., Inadomi said. Wackenhut is contracted by the National Nuclear Security Administration to guard the site. No injuries were reported among the children or the workers, she said. The children and workers were sheltered in place until the storm moved north and northeast of the Test Site, she said. Declaring an operational emergency at the Test Site is a rare event, Inadomi said. "I can't recall another declaration," she said. Inadomi did not have a child with her for the special day, but a co-worker said her son told her he was afraid he would be bored going on Thursday's trip to the Test Site where above- and below-ground nuclear weapons experiments were conducted from 1951 until 1992. "Not anymore," Inadomi said. Two funnel clouds were spotted, one hovering over Mercury, the base camp at the Test Site where workers slept and ate during nuclear weapons testing, and the other over Yucca Mountain, the proposed site of a national high-level nuclear waste repository. The funnel clouds did not become tornados, because they did not reach the ground, National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Adair said. It was "definitely" rare to see tornados in Southern Nevada, especially at the Test Site, Adair said. "We got a report of the storm after the funnel lifted back into the cloud," Adair said of the swirling formation that appeared near Yucca Mountain. The Weather Service issued an advisory about the severe storm at 2:19 p.m. "We watched the storm, but did not see any further cyclonic activity," Adair said. Those storm clouds scooted over Mesquite and into southern Utah and northwestern Arizona. In a Test Site environmental impact statement, scientists said that tornados are not considered a "significant event" for the area and the chance of a tornado striking a point on the Test Site is "extremely low," an estimated three twisters in 10 million years. There have been recorded tornados in the Las Vegas Valley. In March 1993 the Weather Service reported five active tornados swirling in the Las Vegas Valley in an unusually vigorous spring storm. No one was killed at that time, but a Henderson man was injured when the roof blew off his house. However, on Sept. 17, 1961, nine people were killed when a massive storm swept the Las Vegas Valley. Although electricity was knocked out throughout the area, weather forecasters believed the storm included a tornado. Four Nevada Power Company repairmen and five Boy Scouts camping in Zion National Park in Utah were killed in the storm. While no funnel clouds were reported over Las Vegas on Thursday, rainfall reached 0.03 of an inch at McCarran International Airport, the National Weather Service official site for record-keeping. That brings the 2005 rainfall total to 5.05 inches, Adair said Thursday. The total rainfall between Jan. 1 and Wednesday measured 5.02 inches. Normal rainfall in Southern Nevada for an entire year is 4.45 inches. The weather will continue to be unsettled. Temperatures are expected to warm into the 70s over the weekend with another chance of rain late Sunday into Monday. ***************************************************************** 53 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Legal twist over Yucca Today: April 29, 2005 at 9:02:22 PDT LAS VEGAS SUN It's been clear to us that the federal government has been neglecting safety standards while feverishly trying to get a nuclear waste dump built at Yucca Mountain. Recently discovered e-mails from scientists working on the Yucca Mountain project, for example, acknowledge that data was fabricated at a time when the Energy Department was trying to meet a hasty schedule to determine Yucca Mountain's suitability. Nevadans are disgusted with this whole project, and the state has taken the Energy Department to court. And we're not alone. Utilities are disgusted, too, and have also taken the federal government to court -- but for a very different reason. In 1982 Congress passed a law that required the government to take possession of the nuclear waste by 1998, but since that hasn't happened, utilities have filed lawsuits against the Energy Department, alleging breach of contract. While the utilities are seeking monetary damages, they also are hoping to put pressure on the federal government to accelerate the project. But there has been an unanticipated development. A U.S. Court of Federal Claims judge says she is willing to cancel the Energy Department's contract with a Sacramento utility -- unless she can be persuaded that the federal government didn't renege on its agreement to have the nuclear waste out of the utilities' hands by 1998. Ironically, the Sacramento utility's lawsuit to recover $78 million in damages from the federal government actually could have the unintended effect of boosting Nevada's case. Judge Susan Braden, in her declaration seeking more information from the parties involved in the lawsuit, said that "there is no evidence" that the federal government had reason to believe that "Yucca Mountain ever will be licensed." That statement is the kind of thunderclap that gives even more ammunition and hope to Nevadans that plans to bury nuclear waste here, just 90 miles away from Las Vegas, are faltering. If Braden were to rule that the contracts should be voided, and the utility awarded tens of millions of dollars, the net effect could be to have the waste at Sacramento -- and possibly other utilities -- safely stay where it is located instead of being shipped to Nevada. Nevada scored a huge legal victory last year when a federal appeals court ruled that a federal radiation standard for a dump at Yucca Mountain wasn't stringent enough to meet federal law. The ruling very well could doom Yucca Mountain. We're also closely following a lawsuit by the Western Shoshone Indian tribe that claims building a dump there would violate federal law and break a treaty between the tribe and federal government. In short, a successful legal strategy by Nevada and the scandal developing over the fabricating of scientific work at Yucca Mountain add even more weight to taking the most sensible course: Leave the waste at the reactors until a safe way of disposing of man's deadliest waste can be found. ***************************************************************** 54 Idaho Statesman: Skippen views report with hope, praises Crapo's work 04-29-2005 By Dan Popkey The Idaho Statesman | Edition Date: 04-29-2005 Rep. Kathy Skippen, the Emmett Republican who helped push Idaho's downwinders from the pages of her local weekly newspaper to The New York Times and Readers Digest, said she sees pluses and minuses in the NAS report. "Their conclusions are going to in some ways tick everybody off, regardless of where you stood," she said. But she said she sees the report as a step toward winning compensation for Idahoans. "I'm hopeful and I think the position Sen. (Mike) Crapo has taken is absolutely right. We move forward. I applaud our delegation and I commend Crapo for his leadership." Crapo said Thursday he will soon introduce a bill adding all of Idaho to a federal compensation plan for cancer victims. Skippen said Idahoans, who appear prominently in the report, made themselves heard. "We know they paid attention and I think we've got a stronger position than downwinders in other states," Skippen said. The woman who brought the issue to Skippen's attention, her high school classmate Shari Garmon, also was upbeat. "Idahoans should be proud for accomplishing something to help the rest of the country," said Garmon, who is fighting cancer. "NAS has said we need a useful criteria and Idahoans need to be compensated. Maybe we don't get everything we want under the Christmas tree, but we got a lot." But Gary Riggs, who lived in two hard-hit counties, Gem and Custer, and is undergoing experimental cancer treatment, said he fears compensation will not be expanded. "If they started to compensate everybody who deserved it, it would break the government," he said. "I'm disappointed they hid this for so long. They should have come forward years ago.'' Christine Welch Galvan, who grew up in Emmett and now lives in Meridian, is another cancer survivor. She's glad to hear about Crapo's initiative but isn't counting on collecting a $50,000 government check after the report failed to specifically identify Idaho as deserving. "It would have been nice," she said. "If it happens, that's great. If it doesn't, then we'll deal." The anti-nuclear Snake River Alliance said all U.S. thyroid cancer victims should immediately be compensated. "It's time for the federal government to make good on its obligation to help all people sickened by U.S. nuclear weapons testing," said Jeremy Maxand, executive director of the Boise-based group. "The Bush administration and Congress should focus on making the RECA program work effectively rather than pursuing the dangerous resumption of nuclear weapons tests." Gloria Bryngelson, left, and Charlie Smith, right, look over the summary of the report at the Rumor Mill in Emmett Thursday after it was released. Smith was interested in the findings because her son, Trevor, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2002 while living in Valley County. Photos by Joe Jazsewski / The Idaho Statesman From right, Doris Drooger, Millie Garmon, Gayle Stroud and Donna Rynearson listen as Tona Henderson reads from the summary of the National Academies of Science's 372-page report at the Rumor Mill in Emmett. All four women have either had cancer themselves, had a family member with cancer, or both. ***************************************************************** 55 Pahrump Valley Times: LETTER: PETTing zoo (Yucca) April 29, 2005 In the past few weeks I have read several articles about the alleged "shortfalls" in the county budget and the process for "weaning" us off of PETT funds. (PETT is an acronym for Payments Equal to Taxes, funds Nye County receives from the federal government's Energy Department for its study and use of Yucca Mountain). These articles include numerous threats of freezing positions that are not filled, cutting back some of those that are and possibly laying off people in the process. All of these articles have pushed and prodded me to respond and hopefully band with other citizens that feel as I do. I know there is at least one person out there ... I read her letter in the paper. I have to give her credit for having the intestinal fortitude to write it while being employed by the county. I have been the recipient of a two-hour lag time with a call for service from the Nye County Sheriff's Office. I called them and it was low priority so I had to wait for two hours. Did this wait make me angry? If it did I would be angry with the right people. The Nye County Sheriff's Office was not to blame. They are seriously understaffed. So who is to blame you ask? Where do I begin? I have to put the blame solely with the Nye County Commission, both past and present. They are the ones that have squandered resources and funding. They are the ones that fall short and then place the blame on other areas. I have lived in Nye County for many years now and I have seen examples of their spending. The idea of a comptroller position is a prime example. Cry poverty and then create a new position. Does that make sense to anyone outside the commission itself? I also think I should bring up the "purchasing department," which is a department created with the idea of saving money and ending frivolous spending. What is the budget for that department and how much money has been saved? No reflection on the employees of that department, I am sure they work very hard as well. I could go on and on with decisions made by the Board of Commissioners that, in my opinion, were anything but cost effective. Going back to Nye Regional Medical Center, Rachel Nicholson, Larry Beller and Associates, Pahrump Medical Center and the "Taj Mahal" (a $13 million blunder), not to mention the countless number of consultants hired by the county, under the guise of saving money in some way, shape or form. I have relatives that work for the county and I know that, for the most part, Nye County employees are hard working citizens who actually care about our communities. They are paid less than employees of Clark County but choose to stay here, based on the many attributes of Nye County. I have faith that our county commission will come around. It's not necessarily a "bad thing" to spend PETT money on badly needed county services if monies are not being spent elsewhere with complete disregard. We all need to support our county government and show them the direction that we want to take. B. MULLINS For comment or questions, please e-mail Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005 ***************************************************************** 56 OA Online: DOE awards contract to Waste Control Friday, 29 April 2005 American Online c /o Odessa American 222 E. 4th Street P.O. Box 2952 Odessa, TX 79760 700 railcar loads of waste concerns Andrews rancher By Ruth Campbell Odessa American ANDREWS COUNTY Waste Control Specialists was awarded a two-year $7.5 million contract Thursday to temporarily store tons of waste from a defunct nuclear weapons processing plant in Fernald, Ohio. Waste to be stored at the WCS site in western Andrews County would come from Silos 1 and 2 at Fernald, according to Jeff Wagner, public affairs officer for Fluor Fernald, the company charged with cleaning up the Fernald site. Byproduct from Silo 3 went to Envirocare of Utah. Shipments will start at the end of May and last until December, Wagner said. Waste Control President and Chief Operating Officer George Dials said he was pleased with DOE’s selection. The company employs 108 people in Andrews County and 10 at its Dallas headquarters. He said he appreciates the support from Andrews County residents. “The site is a good site to store this material. It creates economic opportunity for us and derives economic benefit for Andrews, Texas,” Dials said, adding that a “few more” people would probably be hired as a result of the contract. Not everyone is happy about the contract though. “I understand they’re going to ship 700 railcar loads of radioactive waste in. I think the fact that the site is over at least three aquifers — one of them a potable aquifer — is a very short-sighted thing to do because an earthquake could cause fissures in the red bed creating a pathway for radioactivity to enter the water zone,” longtime Andrews County rancher John Post said. Post, who has lived since 1934 in an area 11 miles south of what is now Waste Control’s site, said that he had heard some experts say the radioactive waste being shipped in is higher level than is being stated. “I don’t like it,” he said. After treatment and packaging, the waste must meet all applicable Department of Transportation requirements. Driving teams will call in at pre-established intervals and each trailer will be tracked with GPS technology, the release said. Cyrus Reed, a lobbyist for the Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club in Austin, said the contract award doesn’t surprise him, especially considering no other state would take the waste. “Waste Control Specialists was the only game in town for DOE and Fernald. It’s disappointing they would make this decision before the process is complete,” Reed said. Reed is referring to a contested case hearing Sierra Club has requested before the State Department of Health Services protesting the agency granting a license amendment to WCS so it could take more low-level radioactive waste. The uranium byproduct will be mixed with fly ash and concrete and housed in half-inch thick carbon steel containers. The containers will be shipped on specially designed flatbed trucks, Wagner said. “In all, we expect we’ll need about 5,000 canisters to complete the shipping campaign,” he said. Silos 1 and 2 contain about 8,900 cubic yards of silty clay-like material from processing ore from the Belgian Congo in the early 1950s. Silo 3 contains 5,100 cubic yards of powder-like residues from the processing of Canadian and U.S. ores from the 1950s. The material has been burned to reduce volume. The Department of Energy will still own the waste. Waste Control Specialists stores low-level radioactive waste at its site in Andrews County near the New Mexico border. The amendment, granted by the state Department of Health Services Feb. 23, allows WCS to temporarily house more than 1 million cubic feet of uranium radioactive waste. The company has also applied for a license to dispose of low-level radioactive waste through the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. If the company gets the disposal license, it could dispose of the Fernald waste. ***************************************************************** 57 Pahrump Valley Times: PETT funds not the answer to county's future April 29, 2005 By PHILLIP GOMEZ PVT Nye County contracted with TischlerBise of Bethesda, Md., last week to ascertain the nature of future growth in the Pahrump Valley and to develop a strategic plan to meet its demands. The county, through its Capital Improvements Planning Committee, adopted in February certain land-use assumptions that project an additional population of 22,000 persons and 4,300 new jobs in the valley within 10 years. Paul Tischler, principal in the firm, noted that the county has relied on the Payments Equal To Taxes - funding the county gets from the government for the Yucca Mountain project - to pay for much of county government services. As a fixed annual payment, PETT is not going to be able to continue to take up as much of the slack in the county budget, as it has in the recent past (and present). "If you have another 10,000 people and you are relying on serving them from PETT, it is a losing proposition," Tischler told the county commissioners last week. Nye County has already faced deteriorating levels of services for existing residents over the past decade, a condition that will only get worse without more active government management of Pahrump's development. With overall increasing demands for county services from new growth in Pahrump, Nye County planners must now face the implications of that growth. Tischler identified the two basic questions as: "Do different types of residential and nonresidential land uses generate net revenues or net costs to the county or to the town? Do the adopted land-use assumptions create fiscal surpluses or deficits under different rates of growth?" By answering these questions through analysis of population growth and development, the consultant believes a strategic plan can be developed to encourage the right development patterns for generating positive fiscal impacts on county budgets and giving county commissioners the tools for making informed decisions about growth and capital improvements needs. Some of these improvements might be school construction, installing intersection signal lights and additional traffic lanes, beefing up fire and police protection and providing for more parks for organized recreational activities for children. Tischler plans to study the "cost of land use" as a projection of future residential and non-residential development. He secondarily plans to evaluate "the total fiscal impact of growth scenarios over time in which the pace of growth is modified." The objective is "to better understand the relationship between growth, different types of land use, demands for services, rates of growth and levels and costs of service." After the completion of the studies - and not included in the present contract - Tischler recommends addressing policy issues through another study, "a report on possible implementation mechanisms and revenue opportunities." Tischler calls this study "a toolbox approach" for the county planning department and Pahrump Regional Planning Commission. Also recommended is another "product": an economic development strategy, or an analysis of the types of incentives that might be offered to developers to attract certain types of nonresidential land uses, i.e., business and industry. TischlerBise has prepared more than 500 impact fees for regulation of community growth. It has conducted more than 400 fiscal impact evaluations around the country. The consulting firm leads the nation in both. Ten years out is the target date for Tischler's study. By 2015 Pahrump is expected to grow to 54,879, a 66-percent increase from today's population. Jobs are expected to grow by 4,294, a 73-percent increase in the local economy over the same period. But the dramatic rate of growth is complicated by the expected demands from citizens settling in Pahrump. Among the disadvantages of growth Tischler discerned in meetings with elected officials were: • Lack of infrastructure • Increased pressure on wages • Increased pressure on natural resources • Potential shortage of water • Increase in crime and the need for police protection • Loss of rural character • More rules and regulations • More congestion • More demands for change from newer residents • Increased demands for levels of service in both quantity and quality Among the advantages of growth: • Larger tax base from which to draw revenue • Greater level of services • Greater level of economic and employment opportunities • More social and political opportunities • Greater political clout • Greater retail and shopping opportunities • Greater variety of available amenities • Increased range of housing possibilities Tischler had some pessimistic news for elected officials at the town and county levels: "Based on our experience and given the current revenue structure of the county, it is highly likely that many types of new development will generate fiscal deficits to the county." The effects of growth on the Nye County School District are especially far-reaching. "It is highly likely that all types of non-residential land uses may generate net revenues to the school district while many residential land uses may generate net deficits," he writes. "It is possible that the effects of a high rate of growth might be so overwhelming that the school system will be unable to keep pace, both from a fiscal and design and construction perspective. The effect of new housing unit characteristics, such as sale prices and student yields, are also important for the school district and county to understand." The land-use study is expected to answer the major question of whether each of 10 different types of land use would generate a surplus or a deficit. "This knowledge would allow decision makers to better understand the magnitude of the deficit or surplus by type of land use, and therefore, what type of land uses should be focused upon to help offset the negative results," says Tischler. Prototypical land-use categories for residential and non-residential uses - ranging from single-family, large-lot houses to manufactured houses and townhouses, from warehouse to retail to industrial - are to be included in the 10 categories of land use studied. Three different scenarios or paces of development will be looked at in the study: slow growth; a base, or average, growth rate; and high growth. Slow growth would generate a population total of 44,000 people by 2015; base growth would generate 55,000 people; high growth would generate a population of 66,000, for a net increase of 11,000, 22,000 and 33,000, people respectively. The different rates of growth could lead to different rates of revenue collection. "Faster growth could lead to more revenue, but the county might not be able to provide services fast enough. On the other hand, slow growth could force new capital facilities to open and be temporarily oversized, due to the slower pace of development," Tischler writes. The cost of land-use study will also answer a long-standing question on fiscal equity in the county: whether the average resident in Pahrump is a net receiver or net donor to Nye County government. "To several participants the question is basically whether the northern part of the county is subsidizing the south," Tischler says. For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005 ***************************************************************** 58 Pahrump Valley Times: Lawyer: E-mails prove Yucca project 'flunked' April 29, 2005 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS - A new set of e-mails written by Yucca Mountain employees shows the Energy Department knew the project "flunked" because the volcanic rock formation couldn't live up to its scientific billing, an attorney for Nevada said. E-mails found on a public database of documents supporting the Energy Department's plan to request a license to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain show how scientists concluded the mountain couldn't block moisture as planned. A 1997 message from department scientist Larry Rickertsen, titled "Real Trouble Ahead," says: "The answer is clearer than ever. Engineering has to do the job." Joe Egan, a Washington attorney representing the state in its fight against Yucca Mountain, said the messages provide details about how program managers and scientists decided to change the rules in the late 1990s, shifting the program away from what Congress had directed them to find - a repository reliant on natural rock barriers to keep water away from nuclear waste - to one that relied heavily on engineered barriers, such as high-tech metal waste containers. "They (the e-mails) show the site not only flunked but it flunked spectacularly and there is nothing they can do to stop it," said Egan. "As part of the license application that DOE is developing and will submit to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, we will thoroughly outline the safety basis for Yucca Mountain," department spokeswoman Anne Womack Kolton said. Egan said his staff discovered the e-mails by searching the Energy Department's database using the word "falsification" since the department announced last month it discovered U.S. Geological Survey employees might have fabricated scientific data. While the new e-mails are different from those written by USGS employees and now under investigation by the Energy and Interior Departments and the FBI, Egan said they are just as important and provide ammunition to the state's fight against the proposed repository. In September 1997, one scientist urged another to stop clinging to the notion that Yucca's rock tunnel walls could isolate waste, telling him that Yucca Mountain itself "cannot do the job." "I know you are trying to dodge the geologic disposal problem, and steering clear of fatal flaw type concerns," the scientist wrote. "But the simple fact is that the only purpose of the natural system now is to provide a benign environment for the engineering." If the project moves into a Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensing hearing, Egan said Nevada officials will use the e-mails to resurrect arguments challenging the basis for selecting Yucca Mountain, in Nye County 50 miles northwest of Pahrump and 20 miles east and north of Beatty and Amargosa Valley, respectively. For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005 ***************************************************************** 59 Forbes.com: The Big Dig - (Yucca) Forbes Magazine Christopher Helman, 05.09.05 Forget Yucca Mountain. It's time to drill a new grave for America's worst radioactive waste. This is as good as it's going to get. If they need more proof, I'll be happy to make up more stuff." So wrote a government scientist, effectively penning the epitaph for Yucca Mountain, Nev. That's where the Department of Energy has spent two decades and $9 billion fighting to build a permanent depository for 70,000 tons of used fuel rods from the nation's nuclear reactors. Not anymore. The revelation that the case for Yucca may've been built on fraudulent science has brought on an FBI investigation and put the kibosh on the project indefinitely. Funny thing is, for the last 20 years, there's been a pretty good solution for burying nuclear waste: deep borehole disposal. Monster drills would cut a hole a yard or so in diameter down 2.5 miles into the Earth's crust, past the deepest groundwater into granite rock formations that have sat undisturbed for billions of years. To the bottom would be lowered waste-bearing metal canisters a foot across and 15 feet long. Every hole could fit some 400 canisters, each containing a half ton of spent fuel, and would be topped with hundreds of feet of absorbent clays and concrete. Borehole disposal was proposed in the 1980s but rejected because the technology didn't exist to dig that deep. Some geologists falsely believed heat from the waste could melt surrounding rock and form a radioactive volcano. Since then scientists at Los Alamos National Labs and MIT have concluded that, with more study, it could be a very safe disposal method. Already Finnish nuclear utility Posiva is test-drilling the rock beneath Olkiluoto island with the idea of interring waste one-third of a mile down. Sweden is considering its own plan. Granite underlies much of the U.S., allowing for regional depositories that could cut the costs and risks of transportation. The worst of the nation's waste could fit in 300 boreholes. It still wouldn't be cheap; figuring at least $10 million to drill, case and load each hole would bring a total of $3 billion, before engineering and permit costs. Like Yucca, which Uncle Sam estimates would cost another $50 billion to make usable, the depositories would be funded by both taxpayers and the electric utilities that own power plants. The chief hang-up is political: the need to scrap a federal mandate that nuclear waste stowed anywhere must be retrievable for 100 years in case anything goes awry. © 2005 Forbes.com Inc.™ All Rights ***************************************************************** 60 Review Conference At UN Chance To Restore Confidence In Non-proliferation Treaty, Officials Say Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 17:00:35 -0400 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.3 (2005-04-27) on pascal.ctyme.com X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-16.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FROM_ORG, SPF_HELO_PASS,SP_HAM_SUPER,SUBJ_ALL_CAPS,WHITE_PHRASE autolearn=ham version=3.0.3 X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com REVIEW CONFERENCE AT UN CHANCE TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE IN NON-PROLIFERATION TREATY, OFFICIALS SAY New York, Apr 29 2005 5:00PM With the 2005 review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) set to kick off Monday at United Nations Headquarters in New York, senior officials today stressed the importance of restoring confidence in the landmark accord, some 35 years after it came into force. Although concerned about an “erosion of confidence” in the NPT – a sentiment expressed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan in his recent report “In Larger Freedom” – the States parties to the Treaty believed it was an important instrument, which must fulfil its objectives and purposes, said Brazilian Ambassador Sergio de Queiroz Duarte. Briefing correspondents in his capacity as President of the 2005 Review Conference of the State parties to the NPT, which will run through 27 May, Mr. Duarte said he was positive that all parties would work together to increase confidence in the Treaty and increase its capacity to respond to the challenges of the day. Considered a landmark agreement, the 1968 Treaty seeks to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons technology, foster the peaceful use of nuclear energy and further the goal of general and complete disarmament. Adherence to the NPT by 188 States, including the five nuclear-weapon States, renders the accord the most widely adhered to multilateral disarmament instrument. Joining Mr. Duarte was UN Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs Nobuyasu Abe. To a question on how important the Conference was to the success of the Secretary-General’s reform agenda, Mr. Abe said the Conference was a key occasion to discuss some of the points presented in the “In Larger Freedom” report, and that he hoped a positive result would emerge. Many of the nuclear-related proposals of that report were in the hands of the Review Conference or the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he noted. Therefore, it was an important opportunity to implement the report’s proposals. Asked how important a successful outcome of the review was to the Treaty’s future, Mr. Duarte said he felt it was very essential to reach a successful, consensus outcome on ways and means to reinforce the Treaty, which would help fulfil its objectives in a manner that was seen as useful. “Personally, I feel that not reaching a consensus outcome…could be very negative for the Treaty itself,” he said, adding that all parties had a genuine desire to make the Treaty effective in the cause of disarmament, non-proliferation and the peaceful use of nuclear technology. As for how the Conference intended to deal with the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and Iran, Mr. Duarte recalled that the former had withdrawn from the Treaty [in January 2003] and so was not a party to it. Some parties, however, believed that the status of the DPRK should not be the subject of discussion right now, so as not to prejudice the ongoing consultations known as the “six-party talks.” In previous conferences, it was agreed not to consider the status of the DPRK in order not to prejudice those talks. While that idea still prevailed, it would not prevent the parties from discussing the issue of Article 10, which dealt with withdrawal. He added that the results of the deliberations by the IAEA on Iran, which was a party to the Treaty, would be examined by the Conference. Asked what was being done to draw in the three nuclear powers not party to the Treaty – India, Israel and Pakistan – Mr. Duarte recalled that past review conferences had called on those States to joint the Treaty as non-nuclear powers, a call he expected the 2005 Conference to renew. 2005-04-29 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 61 Salt Lake Tribune: No new nukes Opinion Article Last Updated: 04/28/2005 11:13:31 PM The last thing we need is more nuclear weapons. Stockpiled for decades now, there are still enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on Earth many times over. We must convince our political leaders that the only way to safeguard our national security, as well as the future of our planet, is through political negotiation, not threats based on mutual annihilation. Utah Sen. Bob Bennett should use his position on the Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee to vote against developing any new nuclear weapons. Thomas Dickman Salt Lake City © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 62 KAALtv.com: Mayors work to abolish nuclear weapons 6 News First Online Updated: 04-28-2005 07:41:51 PM (KAAL) -- Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede will travel to New York to show his support for abolishing nuclear weapons. Twenty-two mayors from the United States will join more than 100 city leaders from around the world at the mayors for peace conference. Mayors for peace was started by the mayors of the two Japanese cities that were bombed to end world war two, Nagasaki and Hiroshima. They have called on city leaders from around the world to press national governments to end nuclear weapons programs. Junko Maruta-Ihara emigrated from Japan and now works as an interpreter for Mayo Clinic patients.  She says the world should never have to experience another Hiroshima or Nagasaki, where two bombs killed more than 200,000 people. "Whether it's 60-year history or 600 year history, it's good for us to reflect back and learn from what we did," says Rochester Mayor Ardell Brede. Mayor Brede and mayors from around the world will encourage world leaders to re-sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. "To be able to be at the United Nations and hear this discussed and debated on a personal side.  It's something I believe in." This year's conference and treaty review coincides with the 60th anniversary of the bombings in 1945. "It is a very important mission to eliminate all of the nuclear weapons we still have in this world," says Maruta-Ihara. Every summer, peace advocates float lanterns on Silver Lake in Rochester to remember those who died in Japan. This year's ceremony will be on the exact date, august 6th, 60-years after the U.S. struck Hiroshima. Will the mayor have any official obligations in New York? The mayors for peace will have a mostly symbolic presence.  The U.S. will have the largest delegation. According to the mayors for peace website, every continent will have representation except for South America. - Tom Murray ©2005 KAAL-TV LLC. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 63 DOE: Office of Science; Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee FR Doc 05-8588 [Federal Register: April 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 82)] [Notices] [Page 22304] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29ap05-35] AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Basic Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (BESAC). Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92- 463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Monday, June 6, 2005, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday, June 7, 2005, 8:30 a.m.-12 p.m. ADDRESSES: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert Street, NW., Washington, DC 20008. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Talamini; Office of Basic Energy Sciences; U. S. Department of Energy; Germantown Building, Independence Avenue, Washington, DC 20585; Telephone: (301) 903-4563 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Meeting: The purpose of this meeting is to provide advice and guidance with respect to the basic energy sciences research program. Tentative Agenda: Agenda will include discussions of the following: News from the Office of Science News from the Office of Basic Energy Sciences Report of the Committee of Visitors for the Division of Chemical Sciences, Geosciences, and Biosciences Update from Nanoscale Science Centers Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. If you would like to file a written statement with the Committee, you may do so either before or after the meeting. If you would like to make oral statements regarding any of the items on the agenda, you should contact Karen Talamini at 301-903-6594 (fax) or karen.talamini@science.doe.gov (e-mail). You must make your request for an oral statement at least 5 business days prior to the meeting. Reasonable provision will be made to include the scheduled oral statements on the agenda. The Chairperson of the Committee will conduct the meeting to facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Public comment will follow the 10-minute rule. Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying within 30 days at the Freedom of Information Public Reading Room; 1E-190, Forrestal Building; 1000 Independence Avenue, SW.; Washington, DC 20585; between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except holidays. Issued in Washington, DC on April 22, 2005. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 05-8588 Filed 4-28-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 64 DOE: Final Site-Wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued FR Doc 05-8600 [Federal Register: April 29, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 82)] [Notices] [Page 22306-22307] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr29ap05-37] Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Supplemental Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement AGENCY: National Nuclear Security Administration, Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: The Livermore Site Office of the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) announces the availability of the Final Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for Continued Operation of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (DOE/EIS- 0348) and Supplemental Stockpile Stewardship and Management Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DOE/EIS-0236-S3) (LLNL SW/ SPEIS). The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS was prepared in accordance with the Council on Environmental Quality's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations (40 CFR Parts 1500-1508) and the DOE's NEPA Implementing Procedures (10 CFR Part 1021). The Final LLNL SW/ SPEIS analyzes the potential environmental impacts associated with continuing current Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) operations and foreseeable new or modified operations and facilities. The LLNL SW/SWPEIS also evaluates the potential environmental impacts of experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) using plutonium, other fissile materials, fissionable materials, and lithium hydride. The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS analyses a Proposed Action and two alternatives, the No Action Alternative and a Reduced Operation Alternative. The No Action Alternative would continue operation of current LLNL programs in support of assigned missions. The Proposed Action includes operations discussed under the No Action Alternative and new or expanded operations in support of reasonably foreseeable mission requirements. The Reduced Operation Alternative consists of a reduction of activities compared to the No Action Alternative. The NNSA has identified the Proposed Action as the preferred alternative in the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS. DATES: The NNSA intends to issue a Record of Decision on the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS no sooner than 30 days after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes a notice of filing of the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS in the Federal Register. ADDRESSES: The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS is available on the LLNL Environmental Community Relations Web site http://www-envirinfo.llnl.gov/. For additional information or a copy of the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS or its Summary contact: Mr. Thomas Grim, Document Manager, National Nuclear Security Administration, Livermore Site Office, L-293, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550-9234; phone (925) 422-0704 or toll free 1-877-388-4930; or by e-mail tom.grim@doeal.gov). The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS is also available at the following locations: the DOE Public Reading Room in Room 1E-190, 1000 Independence Ave, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-3142; the LLNL Public Reading Room in the LLNL Visitors Center in Building 6525 located at the East Gate Entrance off of Greenville Road, Livermore, California, (925) 424-4026; the Livermore Public Library at 1000 South Livermore Avenue, Livermore California, (925) 373-5500; and the Tracy Public Library at 20 East Eaton Avenue, Tracy, CA, (209) 831-4250. For general information on the DOE NEPA process, please contact: Ms. Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance, EH-42, U.S. DOE, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, telephone 202-586-4600, or leave a message at 1-800-472-2756. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The continued operation of LLNL is critical to NNSA's Stockpile Stewardship Program and to preventing the spread and use of nuclear weapons worldwide. LLNL maintains core competencies in activities associated with research and development, design, and surveillance of nuclear weapons, as well as the assessment and certification of their safety and reliability. LLNL also supports other DOE programs and Federal agencies such as the Department of Defense, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, EPA, and the Department of Homeland Security. The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS analyzes the environmental impacts of these operations. LLNL was founded in 1952 as the second nuclear weapons design laboratory in order to promote innovation in the design of our nation's nuclear stockpile. LLNL consists of two sites: the Livermore Site located in Livermore, California (Alameda County); and Site 300, an experimental test site located near Tracy, California, [[Page 22307]] (San Joaquin and Alameda counties). The Livermore Site is the primary site and is located approximately 40 miles east of San Francisco in the Livermore Valley on the east side of the city of Livermore. Site 300 is located 15 miles southeast of the city of Livermore between Livermore and Tracy. The alternatives evaluated in the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS represent a range of operation from the minimum level that maintains core capabilities (Reduced Operation Alternative) to the highest reasonable activity levels that could be supported by current facilities, and the potential expansion and construction of new facilities for identified future actions (Proposed Action). The No Action Alternative would continue operation of current LLNL programs in support of assigned missions and includes approved interim actions; facility construction, expansion, or modification; and decontamination and decommissioning projects for which NEPA analysis and documentation already exist. The Proposed Action includes operations discussed under the No Action Alternative and the construction of new facilities and expanded operations in support of future mission requirements. Specifically, the Proposed Action includes increasing the administrative and material-at- risk limits for plutonium and tritium, and the use of nuclear materials (plutonium, other fissile materials, fissionable materials, and lithium hydride) at the National Ignition Facility. The Reduced Operation Alternative represents a thirty percent reduction of the Stockpile Stewardship Program compared to the No Action Alternative. The Reduced Operation Alternative maintains full operational readiness for NNSA facilities and operations, but does not represent the level of operation required to fulfill the missions of the Stockpile Stewardship Program assigned to LLNL. The NNSA has identified the Proposed Action as its preferred alternative in the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS. The Final LLNL SW/SPEIS contains responses to comments received during the public comment period, as well as changes that were made to the Draft LLNL SW/SPEIS in response to these comments. The NNSA will consider the analyses in the Final LLNL SW/SPEIS, along with other information, in making its decision regarding future operations at LLNL. Issued in Washington, DC, this 10th day of March 2005. Linton F. Brooks, Administrator, National Nuclear Security Administration. [FR Doc. 05-8600 Filed 4-28-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 65 ENQUIRER: Fernald waste on its way out CINCINNATI.COM Friday, April 29, 2005 Nuclear leftovers to go to dump site in Texas By Dan Klepal Enquirer staff writer FERNALD HISTORY 1951: Fernald opens. Early 1950s: Silos constructed. 1952-1957: Silos filled with residue left over from uranium extraction. 1989: Uranium production halted. 1993: U.S. Department of Energy decides to encase the waste in glass, a process known as vitrification. 1997: A General Accounting Office investigation finds lax oversight by the DOE led to $65 million in cost overruns at the failed vitrification plant. Another $30 million, spent on research and study, was lost when the project was scrapped. 2003: Utah citizens protest a plan to send silo waste to Envirocare near Salt Lake City. Officials there eventually bow to public pressure and refuse the waste. April 2004: Just weeks before waste is to be removed from one silo, the Nevada Attorney General threatens a federal lawsuit to stop the planned shipments of silo waste to the Nevada Test Site, 65 miles outside Las Vegas, leaving Fernald project officials with nowhere to ship the waste and an approaching 2006 deadline to complete the job. April 28, 2005: DOE officials award a $7.5 million contract to Waste Control Specialists of Andrews, Texas, to store the silo waste. Waste Control Specialists is pursuing a license that would allow it to permanently dispose of the material at its site in West Texas. May 2005: Shipments are scheduled to begin. CROSBY TWP. - The most dangerous nuclear waste at the $4.4 billion Fernald uranium foundry should be gone by the end of the year - more than 16 years after cleanup of the Cold War relic began and after tens of millions of taxpayer dollars were wasted on the project that has been fraught with delays and safety concerns from the beginning. Removal of the waste will represent the biggest step forward in the cleanup so far - and one of the last hurdles that the government has had to clear - because it is the one project at the 1,050-acre site that has faced the most uncertain future. That's because three previous plans for dealing with the waste have fallen through, most recently last April. The U.S. Department of Energy awarded a $7.5 million contract Thursday to Waste Control Specialists, of Andrews, Texas, for the temporary storage of more than 10,000 tons of the radioactive waste with a consistency of peanut brittle. The material has been stored in concrete silos at the long-closed Fernald uranium foundry since the early 1950s and has been the major source of safety concerns for nearby residents since the cleanup began in 1989. Waste Control Specialists has applied for a license that would allow it to permanently dispose of the material at its site in west Texas. However, a decision on that won't be made for about a year. Regardless, federal rules governing the cleanup say the waste cannot come back to Ohio after it's moved. "That's the important thing: Once it's gone, it ain't comin' back," said Lisa Crawford, who lives near the plant and sits on two citizen advisory boards that oversee the cleanup. "I don't want to play Chinese checkers with this stuff, but it's got to go somewhere," she said. The material already has been removed from the silos and placed in four, 750,000-gallon metal storage tanks, which are housed in a concrete building at the site. The process of removing the waste from those tanks, mixing it with ash and concrete and pouring the mixture into concrete moving crates should begin May 9, project manager Dennis Carr said. "The first shipment should go out the last week of May," Carr said. "This gives us the last piece of the puzzle, and allows us to have a clear path for completion of the project." The 5,000 storage containers will be shipped on flatbed trucks to Texas, two at a time. In its day, Fernald was a top-secret operation that produced about 500 million pounds of high-quality uranium for the country's nuclear weapons program. The uranium was extracted from raw ore by placing it in a series of acid baths, shedding 10 pounds of metallic waste for every pound of uranium it produced. Much of that waste ended up in the silos. And that waste has been a vexing issue for the government since the cleanup began. The original plan was to encase the waste in glass - a process known as vitrification. That plan was abandoned as not technically feasible after more than $69 million of taxpayer cash was spent. The plan then switched to removing the waste and encasing it in concrete - and the problems switched from technical to geographical. A facility in Utah was to receive the silos' waste, until that plan was abandoned because of citizen protest. The government then wanted to ship the material by rail to the Nevada desert, until the governor there threatened a federal lawsuit last April. That has left the silos waste with no place to go for the past year - until Thursday. In Texas, the Sierra Club has objected to the material being stored in Andrews, but a series of public hearings have been held on the subject with no other opposition. Also, the facility is licensed to store the material, which would make a legal challenge difficult. "Issuing the contract, in and of itself, is not the holy grail," said Tom Schneider, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency representative at Fernald. "But getting the silos waste off site is considered that. We'll all be relieved when we get that stuff out, and this is an essential step to achieve that." E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com Copyright1995-2005. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. ***************************************************************** 66 lamonitor.com: UT takes another look at LANL bid The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor The University of Texas System mulled over the pros and cons of joining Lockheed Martin to bid on the management contract for Los Alamos National Laboratory. Chancellor Mark G. Yudof told a special meeting of the board of regents on Thursday that he had been asked by the board chairman to reopen the issue and reconsider the recommendation he had made in February not to pursue a bid for the laboratory. Yudof cited the substantial changes made by the Department of Energy in a draft request for a proposal and the announced intention of Lockheed Martin to re-enter the competition. Vice Chancellor for Research and Technology Transfer Bob Barnhill said the new circumstances called for a re-evaluation of the information gathered during the system's yearlong preparation for the bid. Barnhill said the new circumstances included revised provisions in the request for proposal, including, the call for a separate corporate entity to oversee lab management, the provision for a stand-alone pension plan for laboratory employees, apart from the pension plan of its managers, and the increased manager's fee. According to white papers drafted by the procurement board in charge of the competition, potential annual fee awards for the LANL contract could reach as much as $60 million. In reviewing its position the board heard first from a prominent scientist with close ties to LANL. Neal Lane, science advisor in the Clinton White House, former head of the National Science Foundation, and a Senior Fellow in the Department of Astronomy and Physics at Rice University in Houston, has had a 30-year relationship with the laboratory, including his current position as chairman of the Theoretical Division Review Committee. Lane said he had a favorable bias toward the lab and its people. His statement dealt with why he thinks LANL is important and why its relationship to a major university like UT is important for the laboratory's future. "Let me say as an aside that I have never seen a single instance where a scientist was taking security lightly," he said. "Sometimes the publicity doesn't reflect this properly." In follow-up questioning Lane said his involvement had been with the non-weapons part of the laboratory. He described some of the scientific activities he had heard about in his work with the Theoretical Division, including modeling cosmographic and galactic structures. "Astrophysics is one of the most exciting growing areas of the lab," he said, noting that it was connected to the weapons work because both explored high energy and high temperature physics. He also cited work in biophysics, biochemistry, network analysis and algorithm development. The most rapidly growing piece of the laboratory's budget, he said, was in homeland security, threat reduction, counter-terrorism and counter-intelligence. Phil Wilson, chief of staff to Texas Gov. Rick Perry, urged the board to visit Sandia National Laboratory and Los Alamos to "plant the flag." He emphasized economic opportunities for the state through commercialization of technology, particularly in the area of the energy opportunities. UT Austin President Larry Faulkner advised the board think of its role more "in terms of national service, not in terms of opportunity." Several representatives of anti-nuclear groups were also heard during the meeting. State representative Lon Burnham asked, "How far in bed are we going to get with manufacturing nuclear weapons?" Austin Van Zant, formerly of UT Watch, gave the board a partial list of the laboratory's recent security and safety failures, by way of warning the regents not to get more involved. "It makes no sense to put the university's reputation on the line," he said. The board of regents will meet again in two weeks. Yudof, in concluding the meeting, said, "This is probably the largest procurement contract in the entire history of that agency, and the most significant and important issue the University of Texas board voted on in the last 50 years." An audio version of the meeting is available on the Net: http://www.utsystem.edu/news/2005/BORMtg-Presentations04-28-05.ht m © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************