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Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Xinhua: Iranian FM says nuclear agreement with EU possible
2 AFP: Iran just days away from deciding next nuclear step
3 Guardian Unlimited Politics: Defiant Iran plans nuclear revival
4 Xinhua: S.Korea: No signs detected of DPRK preparing nuclear test
5 Xinhua: China would be pleased if US, DPRK have direct contact
6 Independent: North Korea has plutonium 'to make six nuclear bombs'
7 asahi.com: Mysteries surround N. Korea nuclear test
8 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea Dismisses Nuclear Test Reports
9 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Offers Diplomatic Carrots to N. Korea
10 US: Las Vegas SUN: Appeals Court Sides With Cheney in Lawsuit
11 Guardian Unlimited: Blix: U.S. Not Committed to Nuke 'Bargain'
12 BBC: DTI falls to the rebranding sword
13 Irish Examiner: Blix accuses US of diluting nuclear treaty
14 Mos News: Soviet Radiation Rockets on Sale in Moldova’s Breakaway Re
NUCLEAR REACTORS
15 Guardian Unlimited: Rapid return to nuclear power ruled out
16 Rediff: Russia may build more N-reactors in India
17 BBC: Call for rational nuclear debate
18 US: Times Argus: NRC awaits more data on Vermont Yankee plant power
19 US: Times Herald-Record: NRC to discuss report on Indian Point react
20 Xinhua: Germany to shut down nuclear power plant
21 Mos News: Russia May Build New Nuclear Power Stations in India — Put
22 US: TomPaine.com: Nuclear Waste Of Time
23 Sofia Morning News: New N-Plant Candidate Contractors Submit Bids by
NUCLEAR SECURITY
24 Times of India: 5 months on, cops close to cracking uranium mystery
25 BBC: N Korea 'may test nuclear device'
26 Japan Times: Nixed Indian visas linked to nukes
27 AFP: Nuclear India moves to outlaw proliferation, missile technology
NUCLEAR SAFETY
28 [du-list] Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in
29 US: Summit Daily News: Garfield commissioners endorse plan to drill
30 US: guampdn: Group seeks compensation for Guam radiation victims
31 US: Spectrum: Report provides 'mixed victory' for downwinders
32 Iraq Occupation Watch: Soaring birth deformities and child cancer ra
33 CBC: Exposed to nuclear materials at Argentia: vet
34 NEWS.com.au: Minister ordered poison cover-up
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
35 [NYTr] Stop Enrichment, Blix Urges Israel and Iran
36 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca e-mails used to make case
37 Las Vegas SUN: More e-mail messages on Yucca revealed
38 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jeff German: Chance to KO Yucca not taken
39 US: Tri-City Herald: State OKs limited shipments of waste
40 RGJ: Nevada resolution urges feds to reject Yucca plan
41 US: WLBZ 2: MAINE YANKEE SAYS RAIL CARS WON'T COME BACK
42 Xinhua: France urges Iran not to resume uranium enrichment
43 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada says Yucca Mountain e-mails it found point to
44 Scotsman.com: Plan to ship Dounreay waste south is blocked
45 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada lawmakers emerge disappointed from Bodman meet
46 Belfast Telegraph: Radioactive leak closes Sellafield processing pla
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
47 Rocky Mountain News: Senator critical of state security funding
48 The New Mexican: Former lab worker dies before LANL battle ends
49 ABQJOURNAL: Former LANL Scientist Fired in Security Scandal Dies
50 Daily Texan: DOE studies environmental impact of Los Alamos
51 KTVB.COM: INL cleanup contractor takes first step toward eventual la
52 lamonitor.com: State cites lab waste violations
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Xinhua: Iranian FM says nuclear agreement with EU possible
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-11 06:24:44
TEHRAN, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal
Kharazi said on Tuesday that an agreement with the European
Unionon Iran's nuclear program could be reached through
negotiations,the official IRNA news agency reported.
"We do believe that a mutual consent could be reached
throughthe talks," Kharazi was quoted as saying.
Kharazi's comments came one day after the EU and the
UnitedStates warned of serious consequences if Iran resumed
uranium enrichment, which was suspended last November.
Meanwhile, Kharazi reiterated Iran would never give up work
onbuilding nuclear reactors.
"The European party has asked for permanent suspension of
Iran'snuclear activities, but Tehran rejects it as an
illegitimaterequest. No one can deprive Iran of its legitimate
rights," hesaid.
The United States accuses Iran of developing nuclear
weapons,but Tehran categorically rejects the charge, saying its
nuclear program is for pure civilian use.
Iran is holding nuclear talks with the EU, which wants to
talkIran out of its work on uranium enrichment in return for
economicand technical incentives. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
2 AFP: Iran just days away from deciding next nuclear step
Tuesday May 10, 09:13 PM
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran said it will decide within days whether to
resume some sensitive nuclear activities, despite the risk of
bringing talks with the European Union to an end and possible UN
sanctions.
"It (the decision) will come at the end of the week (Friday) at
the latest," Ali Agha Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Islamic
republic's Supreme National Security Council, said Tuesday.
He said officials -- including Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi
and members of the hardline-controlled parliament -- would meet
the national security body to settle the question on Tuesday and
Wednesday.
An Iranian official negotiating with the EU said that a decision
on breaking the nuclear freeze had already been taken, and that
"we will relaunch in the next few days uranium conversion
installations at Isfahan."
"It concerns activities that we suspended," said Mohammad Saidi,
the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation.
The plant at Isfahan is used to convert mined uranium
"yellowcake" into a feed gas for centifuges that carry out the
enrichment process. Enriched uranium can be used for peaceful
power generation but also as the explosive core of a nuclear
bomb.
Diplomats from Britain, France and Germany have made it clear
that any resumption by Iran of fuel cycle work -- the focus of
international fears the country may be seeking to develop
nuclear weapons -- would be considered a violation of a November
2004 suspension agreement that opened the negotiations with
Tehran.
In such a case, the Europeans could side with the United States
and seek Iran's referral to the UN Security Council, which could
choose to impose sanctions.
The United States also warned Iran on Monday that a resumption
of its suspended nuclear fuel activities would have what it
termed "consequences".
Acting US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said any move by
Iran to resume activities such as preparation of uranium for
enrichment "would be in clear violation of its suspension pledge
and its agreement with the EU-3."
"We'd have to look very carefully at what the next steps would
be," he said.
But the clerical regime has voiced frustration over the progress
of the talks with the EU-3, in which the EU are offering a
package of incentives in return for "objective guarantees" that
Iran it will not develop weapons.
The sticking point is Iran's ambition to master the full nuclear
fuel cycle, and European demands that Iran abandon such work
because it would also deliver a capacity to make a bomb -- even
if Iran says it only wants to make fuel for power reactors.
While Iran has made clear it wishes to kick-start operations at
Isfahan, it remains unclear how far they will go in challenging
the suspension agreement.
At Isfahan, yellowcake is first converted into uranium
tetrafluoride (UF4) and then into uranium hexafluoride (UF6).
This gas can then be sent to a nearby facility at Natanz, where
the enrichment process itself is carried out.
Iran has so far insisted that it does not intend to immediately
restart activities there, but its diplomats have been coming
under increasing pressure from hardline deputies who want a
total resumption of enrichment, Mohammadi explained.
Iran has been subject to over two years of investigations by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN's nuclear
watchdog, after it emerged the country had been covering up its
activities for 18 years.
Since then, the IAEA has uncovered plenty of activity deemed
suspicious -- including black market acquisitions of sensitive
dual-use technology.
As a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),
the country has the right to peaceful nuclear technology. The
United States says Iran is merely "cynically" exploiting a
loophole in the treaty.
Copyright © 2005 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
3 Guardian Unlimited Politics: Defiant Iran plans nuclear revival
Ewen MacAskill and Robert Tait in Tehran
Wednesday May 11, 2005
The Guardian
The Iranian government threatened to provoke a full-blown
international crisis yesterday by confirming that it is to resume
its suspended nuclear programme.
A British Foreign Office spokesman said such a move would
automatically halt two years of negotiations between Tehran and
the European trio - Britain, France and Germany - and see
immediate referral to the United Nations security council.
Sanctions could follow and bring a dangerous standoff between the
US, backed by Israel, and Iran.
The US, in a view shared by Europe and Israel, suspects Iran is
covertly trying to secure a nuclear weapon. Iran claims it only
wants nuclear power for civil purposes.
Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy
Organisation, said yesterday: "The decision to resume some
activities has been taken and now we are discussing the timing
for resuming. But this decision is imminent as well."
Twenty-four hours earlier, he said a decision would be made
"within days".
While still expressing hope that this was brinkmanship, a
western diplomat said he feared that this time the Iranians were
not bluffing. Another western diplomat, based in Tehran, said
Iran was in danger of miscalculating international resolve.
Talks in London between Iranian officials and their European
counterparts broke up last month without progress. A western
diplomat close to the London negotiations said they had been
"far from wonderful".
Mr Saeedi, who attended the London negotiations, replied in the
affirmative yesterday when asked if Iran would break seals
placed by the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), the
UN watchdog, at the uranium conversion facility in Isfahan.
The facility converts uranium into a gas which can then be used
for uranium enrichment, a necessary requirement for a bomb.
The Iranian government is working on an assumption that
conversion of uranium to gas does not amount to enrichment and,
therefore, will not be in breach of its Paris agreement with the
Europeans in the autumn.
But a Foreign Office spokesman said yesterday: "We have said
that if the Iranians do resume activity on their uranium
conversion facility at Isfahan, that would breach the Paris
agreement.
"Our position has been absolutely clear from the beginning that
we would have no other option but to refer it to the security
council."
When Washington expressed suspicion two years ago that Iran may
have covertly engaged in a nuclear weapons programme, the US and
Israel urged instant referral to the security council and was
sceptical when the Europeans opted for negotiation.
George Bush softened his position in February, signalling
support for talks, though warning that if these failed, the
matter would have to go to the security council.
Mr Bush's power to tackle nuclear proliferation is also being
challenged by North Korea, where an official was reported by the
Wall Street Journal yesterday to have hinted that the country
could test an atomic bomb shortly.
The western diplomat in Tehran said that if Iran does resume the
conversion process, Iran could be hauled "very swiftly" before
the security council. "It's important from our point of view
that they know what the results of implementing the threats in
this instance would be."
The next stage would be for Iran to notify formally the IAEA
that it intended to resume the conversion process.
The renewed tension comes after a period of increasingly hostile
anti-western rhetoric from senior Iranian figures. Last week,
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Iran's
nuclear programme was not the business of the western powers.
At the same time, in a move intended to placate western opinion,
officials said they were preparing to bring a bill before the
Majlis, the Iranian parliament, to ratify an additional protocol
to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The protocol would
allow stiffer international monitoring of Iran's nuclear
activities.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited ¿ Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
4 Xinhua: S.Korea: No signs detected of DPRK preparing nuclear test
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-10 16:54:11
SEOUL, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- South Korea has neither
detected signs nor received intelligence from the United States
that the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is
preparing a nuclear test, said a high-level official Tuesday.
"So far, we have not detected specific signs North Korea is
preparations for a nuclear test," the official, speaking on
condition of anonymity, was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news
agency.
He also dismissed reports that the United States had given
intelligence that the DPRK was preparing a nuclear test.
A series of news reports have raised the possibility of a
DPRK nuclear test. Most of the reports cited satellite images
and other intelligence assessments, but contained little
detailed evidence.
The latest report came on Friday from the New York Times.
The newspaper quoted some US intelligence officials as saying
that they believe the DPRK was building a reviewing stand and
filling in a tunnel in Kilju in northeastern DPRK and the moves
may mean it was working on a nuclear test.
But the official said the activities in Kilju cannot be
linked directly to a nuclear test. "Since a few years ago, there
have been similar movements in Kilju, such as dump trucks
moving," he said. "For instance, in the case of Kumchangni,
nothing (suspicious) was turned up after inspection," he added.
Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
5 Xinhua: China would be pleased if US, DPRK have direct contact
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-10 20:39:04
BEIJING, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese foreign ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao said Tuesday that China will be "pleased"
if the United States and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea (DPRK)have direct contact in any form.
"China is in support of any proposals, measures and steps
that are conducive to achieving a nuclear-weapon-free Korean
Peninsula,to easing the tension there and to the early
resumption of the six-party talks," Liu told a routine press
conference.
However, he added, the conditions required for the direct
contact between DPRK and the US depend on the two parties
themselves instead of the Chinese side.
"Whether they are within the framework of the six-party
talks or not and, provided the U.S. and the DPRK, as main
parties concerned, are able to exchanges views on some issues,
it would be helpful to resolving the nuclear issue on the Korean
Peninsula," he said.
Liu said that any party in the six-party talks should only
say or do things conducive to continuing the six-party talks or
easingthe situation. China hopes all relevant parties should
show flexibility, pragmatic spirit and sincerity and push for
the resumption of the six-party talks, he noted.
"We stand for resolving the issue through dialogue and
consultation on an equal footing. We are not in favor of
exerting pressure or imposing sanctions," Liu said. "We believe
that such measures are not necessarily effective."
The US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday that
the United States is willing to have direct talks with DPRK only
within the framework of six-party talks.
"As we've done in the past, our practice has been to meet
directly with all parties, including the North Koreans, in the
context of the six-party talks," he said.
Casey made the remarks after the DPRK Foreign Ministry said
Sunday that Pyongyang has no intention to hold bilateral talks
with Washington, which would be separate from the framework of
thesix-party talks.
Three rounds of the six-party talks, involving the Republic
of Korea, China, Japan and Russia in addition to the United
States and the DPRK have been held to try to resolve the nuclear
confrontation between the United States and the DPRK.
The six-party talks have been stalled since June last year
as the DPRK accused the United States of adopting a hostile
policy towards Pyongyang. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
6 Independent: North Korea has plutonium 'to make six nuclear bombs'
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
10 May 2005
The head of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog has issued a
new warning about North Korea's nuclear potential, at a time
when the reclusive communist state is reported to be preparing
its first known test of an atomic weapon.
Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy
Agency, said the IAEA inspectors believed North Korea may have
enough weapons-grade plutonium to make up to six nuclear
weapons.
His comments to CNN on Sunday evening came as recent satellite
imagery has suggested that North Korea may be digging an
underground test site.
US intelligence agencies believe that North Korea has one or
more nuclear weapons and are said to have warned allies that a
test could take place as early as next month.
Mr ElBaradei, who has warned of the disastrous effects
internationally of a North Korean nuclear test, described the
latest developments as a "cry for help" on Pyongyang's part.
"North Korea, I think, has been seeking a dialogue with the
United States, with the rest of the international community ...
through their usual policy of nuclear blackmail, nuclear
brinkmanship, to force the other parties to engage them," he
said.
"We know that they had the industrial infrastructure to
weaponise this plutonium. We have read also that they have the
delivery system. I do hope that the North Koreans would
absolutely reconsider such a reckless, reckless step."
In the absence of the UN inspectors, who were expelled from
North Korea in 2002, it is impossible to know the extent of its
nuclear capability. Britain and the rest of the international
community have been urging North Korea to continue negotiations
within the framework of six-party talks, involving North and
South Korea, the US, China, Japan and Russia.
But North Korea has boycotted the talks since June, and repeated
at the end of last week that it would stay away unless the
United States dropped what it called hostile policy toward the
communist regime.
The latest developments come at a time when the 35-year-old
Non-Proliferation Treaty is being reviewed at UN headquarters in
New York. North Korea has pulled out of the NPT and is not
attending the conference which, after a full week of
negotiations, still had no agenda yesterday as a result of
deadlock between the five recognised nuclear powers and the
nuclear "have-nots".
The latter want to focus on steps the big five should have taken
towards global disarmament, while Washington and the other
nuclear powers are more concerned about the risks of nuclear
proliferation.
©2005 Independent News &Media (UK) Ltd.
*****************************************************************
7 asahi.com: Mysteries surround N. Korea nuclear test
05/10/2005 By NOBUYOSHI SAKAJIRI0, The Asahi Shimbun
WASHINGTON-Although North Korea is showing increasing signs that
it is preparing for a nuclear test, doubts have emerged over
whether Pyongyang will actually go through with the potentially
destructive move.
Some say North Korea might simply be putting on a show to obtain
U.S. concessions over the reclusive country's nuclear
development programs.
Others say the United States is even manipulating information
about North Korea obtained through spy satellites to heighten
pressure on China to bring Pyongyang back to the six-party
talks.
Last week, The New York Times said Washington had confirmed
suspicious movements in a mountainous area in Kilju,
northeastern North Korea.
The report said concrete was poured into a tunnel in an apparent
step toward testing a nuclear device. In addition, the report
said viewing stands were set up near the tunnel, much like the
ones for North Korea's test-launch of a Taepodong missile in
1998.
The tunnel is similar to the one used in a Pakistani nuclear
test in 1998, according to the report.
A U.S. government official in charge of monitoring North Korea's
nuclear development programs told The Asahi Shimbun that the
large tunnel appears to have been recently filled in to contain
a powerful blast and radioactivity from a nuclear device.
But the official noted that Pyongyang has been quite blatant
about its supposed preparations for a nuclear test. North Korea
could have hidden its activities from satellites by maneuvering
at night or on cloudy days, but the country made no effort to
conceal its actions, the official said.
Therefore, the official said, there is a possibility that the
activities in Kilju are a ruse to obtain concessions from the
United States.
The official even said the suspicious movements could simply be
part of construction work at a coal mine.
Some observers are now saying the United States began leaking
information on the activities in North Korea so the world would
pay more attention to that country's nuclear programs. As a
result, China would feel increasing pressure to act against its
neighbor.
That speculation followed a story in The Washington Post on
Saturday that said Christopher Hill, U.S. assistant secretary of
state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, had asked Beijing
during a visit to China in April to press North Korea back to
the six-party talks on its nuclear programs.
Hill proposed that China suspend its fuel supply to North Korea
as a form of persuasion. China, however, rejected the request.
Pyongyang is known for its brinkmanship and has already declared
it possesses nuclear weapons. Satellite images indicate that
nuclear reactor operations have been suspended in the country,
raising suspicions that plutonium is being extracted for nuclear
weapons.
Although many nations, including Japan, have expressed concerns
about these moves, a nuclear test by North Korea would certainly
prompt a stronger reaction from the international community,
including calls for sanctions at the U.N. Security Council.
North Korea has said sanctions would be tantamount to a
declaration of war.(IHT/Asahi: May 10,2005)
Asahi Shimbun. All rights
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea Dismisses Nuclear Test Reports
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday May 10, 2005 10:46 AM
By IN-YOUNG BANG
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea accused the United States
on Tuesday of making a fuss by notifying allies of the communist
nation's possible preparations for a nuclear test, and
maintained it would stay away from international disarmament
talks.
``The United States is making a fuss saying that it was
notifying the International Atomic Energy Agency, Japan and
other related countries of its own opinion that our republic may
conduct an underground nuclear test in June,'' the North's main
state-run Rodong Sinmun daily wrote in a commentary, according
to the country's official Korean Central News Agency.
However, the North didn't confirm or deny it was planning such a
test.
The newspaper said Washington was branding North Korea as a
``nuclear criminal'' in order to stifle the country. It also
said the Bush administration wasn't behaving normally and that
the North ``cannot deal with'' Washington.
U.S. officials said last week that spy satellites show possible
preparations for North Korea's first-ever nuclear weapons test,
including the digging and refilling of a large hole at a
suspected test site in northeastern Kilju along with the
apparent construction of a reviewing stand being erected some
distance away.
North Korea claimed in February to have nuclear weapons, and
international experts believe it has enough plutonium to build
about six bombs. The North also recently shut down a nuclear
reactor, a move that could allow it to harvest yet more
plutonium.
Pyongyang has refused to return to six-nation disarmament talks
since last June, after three rounds ended without any
breakthroughs. U.S. officials have said the deadlock can't go on
forever and that other moves might be required - believed to
include seeking sanctions in the U.N. Security Council.
On Tuesday, the North claimed Washington was to blame for the
stalemate in the talks, which also include China, Japan, Russia
and South Korea.
``Our country did everything (that) we could do to solve the
problems with the highest flexibility and tolerance through the
previous six-party talks,'' Rodong Sinmun wrote.
Over the weekend, the North appeared to soften its position on
returning to talks by saying it wasn't demanding direct meetings
with Washington outside the six-nation negotiations.
In Washington on Monday, State Department spokesman Tom Casey
noted the United States had previously spoken directly with
North Korean officials within the context of the six-party talks
and said ``we would certainly continue that practice'' if
Pyongyang returns to the table.
Meanwhile, China on Tuesday rejected the use of sanctions to
prod North Korea to return to six-nation talks, saying Beijing's
political and trade relations with its neighbor should be kept
separate.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said Beijing had
``official and normal state-to-state relations'' with Pyongyang
that ``should not be linked to nuclear issues.''
``We stand for resolving the issue through dialogue. We are not
in favor of exerting pressure or imposing sanctions,'' Liu said.
The Washington Post reported last week that China had turned
down a U.S. request to pressure North Korea to return to nuclear
disarmament talks by cutting off oil supplies. Chinese officials
said such a cutoff would damage the oil pipeline that links
China's northeast with North Korea because of the high paraffin
content in the oil, which can clog pipelines, the Post reported.
China is the North's last major ally and is believed to supply
the isolated Stalinist regime with up to one-third of its food
and one-quarter of its energy.
---
Associated Press writer Audra Ang contributed to this report
from Beijing.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Offers Diplomatic Carrots to N. Korea
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday May 10, 2005 2:16 AM
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - With negotiations sidetracked for nearly a
year, the Bush administration offered a couple of carrots Monday
to North Korea - direct talks and recognition of its sovereignty
- in a bid to derail its nuclear weapons program.
The twin offers go to the heart of North Korea's quest for
international acceptance, but neither is brand new and the
impact on the often erratic leadership in Pyongyang is anyone's
guess.
Meanwhile, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed
ElBaradei said Sunday that North Korea had plutonium that could
be converted into five or six nuclear weapons.
Trying to stop a process that U.S. intelligence is convinced
already has produced one or two bombs, a State Department
spokesman offered direct U.S. talks if North Korea ends its
boycott of six-party negotiations.
In the past, the United States has held discussions with North
Korean officials against the backdrop of the six-party talks,
department spokesman Tom Casey said. ``And if the North Koreans
were to return to the talks,'' he said, ``we would certainly
continue that practice.''
The statement came in response to one by a North Korean foreign
ministry spokesman that seemed to soften Pyongyang's demand for
direct dealings with the Bush administration.
According to the North's official Korean Central News Agency,
the spokesman said North Korea had not called for those talks
separately from the six-party negotiations.
And Casey's response was receptive to that formula.
On Sunday, Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the senior Democrat on the
Senate Armed Services Committee, said ``there was no harm in
having direct talks in addition to the six-party talks,'' which
include China, South Korea, Japan and Russia.
``We have direct talks with a lot of other places that we have
totally disagreed with,'' he said. ``We had direct talks with
the Soviet Union.''
North Korea has boycotted the six-party talks since last June,
retracting a promise to return to the table last September.
The negotiations are over ending its nuclear program in exchange
for economic incentives and assurances from the United States
that its security would not be jeopardized.
The second U.S. gesture was a firm assertion that North Korea is
a sovereign nation.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in a CNN interview, said
``the United States, of course, recognizes that North Korea is
sovereign. It's obvious. They are a member of the United
Nations.''
She also reiterated the administration's assurance that ``we
have no intention to attack or invade North Korea.''
Summing up the two gestures, spokesman Casey said, ``Clearly,
the United States recognizes that North Korea is a sovereign
nation. We've certainly talked with them in the context of the
six-party talks.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
10 Las Vegas SUN: Appeals Court Sides With Cheney in Lawsuit
Today: May 10, 2005 at 13:15:15 PDT
By PETE YOST ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - A lawsuit seeking to force Vice President Dick
Cheney to reveal details about the energy policy task force he
headed and the pro-industry recommendations it made was scuttled
Tuesday by a federal appeals court.
The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
unanimously found that two private groups that sued Cheney
failed to establish that the federal government had a legal duty
to produce documents detailing the White House's contacts with
business executives and lobbyists.
The lawsuit, filed by the Sierra Club and Judicial Watch,
alleged that energy industry officials effectively became
members of the task force, while environmental groups and others
were shut out of the meetings. It also argued that the task
force was a federal advisory committee with an obligation to
publicly disclose its operations.
The appeals court disagreed. "There is nothing to indicate that
nonfederal employees had a right to vote on committee matters or
exercise a veto over committee proposals," it said. The court
ordered a lower court to dismiss the case.
Cheney's energy task force was not an advisory committee and "it
follows that the government owed the plaintiffs no duty, let
alone a clear and indisputable or compelling one," said the
opinion by Judge A. Raymond Randolph.
Cheney's task force met for several months in 2001 and issued a
report that favored opening more public lands to oil and gas
drilling and proposed a range of other steps supported by
industry. The recommendations formed the basis of the energy
legislation now before Congress.
The Bush administration has succeeded in keeping secret the
influence that the energy industry had in crafting the
government's energy policy, David Bookbinder, a senior attorney
at the Sierra Club, said.
"The decision is not going to be helpful in assuring open and
accountable government," Bookbinder said.
The court's decision will help preserve the confidentiality of
internal deliberations among the president and his senior
advisers that the Constitution protects as essential and wise to
informed decision-making, Cheney's office said.
In January arguments before the appeals court, Justice
Department lawyer Paul Clement argued that forcing the White
House to produce any documents about the task force would be an
"unconstitutional and unwarranted intrusion on the executive
branch and its internal functions."
Clement said task force members may have sought information from
industry officials, but private parties had no official
policymaking role. As long as the official makeup of the task
force was limited to government officials, he said, federal open
government laws cannot require that records be made public.
The appeals judges agreed with his reasoning, saying
participation by outsiders in meetings - "even influential
participation" - would not be enough to make someone a member of
the committee.
"When congressional committees hold hearings, it is commonplace
for the Senate or House members of the committee to bring aides
with them," the court said. "The same is true when high-ranking
executive branch officials serving on committees attend
committee meetings. They, too, commonly bring aides with them.
An aide might exert great influence, but no one would say that
the aide was, therefore, a member of the committee."
Last year, Democrats hoped the Supreme Court would uphold an
earlier ruling by the appeals court and force the administration
to reveal potentially embarrassing details about its
relationship with energy company executives - including former
Enron Corp. chief executive Ken Lay - ahead of the November
election.
But the high court sent the case back on a 7-2 vote, saying
there was a "paramount necessity of protecting the executive
branch from vexatious litigation."
The appeals court returned the case to U.S. District Judge Emmet
Sullivan for dismissal.
---
On the Net:
Appeals court ruling:
http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/docs/common/opinions/200505/02-535
4b.pdf
--
*****************************************************************
11 Guardian Unlimited: Blix: U.S. Not Committed to Nuke 'Bargain'
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday May 10, 2005 7:16 AM
By CHARLES J. HANLEY
AP Special Correspondent
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Washington isn't taking ``the common
bargain'' of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as seriously as
it once did, and that's dimming global support for the U.S.
campaign to shut down the North Korean and Iranian nuclear
programs, the former chief U.N. weapons inspector said.
Undersecretary of State John R. Bolton, by questioning the value
of treaties and international law, has also damaged the U.S.
position, Hans Blix said.
``There is a feeling the common edifice of the international
community is being dismantled,'' the Swedish arms expert said.
Blix, now chairman of the Swedish government-sponsored Weapons
of Mass Destruction Commission, spoke with reporters in the
second week of a monthlong conference to review the 1970
nonproliferation treaty.
Under the 188-nation pact, nations without nuclear weapons
pledge not to pursue them, in exchange for a commitment by five
nuclear-weapons states - the United States, Russia, Britain,
France and China - to negotiate toward nuclear disarmament.
The review conference has been stalled, without an agenda,
because of a dispute over agenda language dealing with the very
dissatisfaction Blix spoke of: the complaints by some that the
nuclear-weapons states are moving too slowly toward disarmament.
A last-minute objection by Egypt last Friday scuttled an
apparent agreement on the agenda. The Egyptians wanted language
that focused more on assessing how well the nuclear powers have
done in taking specific steps toward disarmament, under
commitments they made in 2000 at the last of these
twice-a-decade conferences.
Nuclear ``have-nots'' complain that the Bush administration, in
particular, has acted contrary to those commitments, by
rejecting the nuclear test-ban treaty, for example.
Washington, for its part, wants the conference to focus on what
it alleges are Iran's plans to build nuclear arms in violation
of the treaty, and on North Korea's withdrawal from the treaty
and claim to have nuclear bombs.
Blix told reporters there is ``a great deal of concern'' about
North Korea and Iran among states without nuclear weapons.
But ``that feeling of concern is somewhat muted by the feeling
that the United States in particular, and perhaps some other
nuclear weapons states, are not taking the common bargain as
seriously as they had committed themselves to do in the past,''
he said.
He cited Bush administration proposals to build new nuclear
weapons and talk in Washington even of testing weapons, ending a
13-year-old U.S. moratorium on nuclear tests. He also referred
to statements by Bolton, President Bush's embattled nominee to
be U.N. ambassador, devaluing treaties and the authority of
international law.
``Why are you complaining about (North Korea) breaching the
treaty if treaties are not binding?'' Blix, an international
lawyer, asked rhetorically.
In 2002-03, Blix led U.N. teams that found no evidence of
weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 700 inspections,
undermining Bush administration claims that such weapons
existed. Despite these findings, Bush ordered the invasion of
Iraq, and U.S. inspectors have since similarly found no such
weapons programs.
At the treaty conference Monday, private consultations appeared
to make progress toward agreement on an agenda, without which
the sessions might be unable to address such pressing issues as
North Korea and Iran.
The conference president, Sergio de Queiroz Duarte, met with key
parties over the weekend to try to bridge the diplomatic gap. On
Monday, without confirming that agreement was in hand, the
Brazilian diplomat said, ``It seems we are continuing the
consultations in a favorable mood.'' He said he hoped an agenda
could be adopted as early as Tuesday.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
12 BBC: DTI falls to the rebranding sword
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 May, 2005
By Will Smale BBC News business reporter
[The outgoing DTI name]
Some critics wanted to abolish the department altogether
As Shakespeare's Juliet once innocently asked: "What's in a
name?"
Well, quite a lot if you were a fan of the government department
formerly known as the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
To mark the start of Labour's third term in power, the DTI is no
more, replaced by the Department for Productivity, Energy and
Industry, or DPEI for short.
The name change, which is to be followed by an accompanying new
logo, has not gone down too well with either business leaders or
brand experts.
'Utterly pointless'
Peter Matthews, managing director of brand experience consultancy
Nucleus, describes the new DPEI name as "about as awkward as it
gets".
The new name is such tongue-twister, it makes the new department
seem like a bit of a dumping ground Brand expert Peter Matthews
While Richard Wilson, head of business policy at the Institute of
Directors, says the name change is "utterly pointless".
The Federation of Small Businesses is a little more conciliatory,
saying the old name had probably run its course, but hoped that
"there won't be too much money expended on the rebranding
exercise".
At the CBI, director general Sir Digby Jones said he wanted to
see action to cut red tape more than a name change.
For some, such as the Liberal Democrat party, the best decision
would have been to eliminate the department entirely.
Productive times
But why exactly has the government done away with the old DTI?
The argument coming out of Whitehall is that the new name better
reflects the department's aims and new responsibilities as the
department is now responsible for the energy portfolio.
Darker commentators say the new department has been given the
"energy" name, as it has been tasked with forcing through a new
generation of nuclear power stations in order to reduce the UK's
greenhouse gas emissions.
The inclusion of the word "productivity" is also seen as central,
as the department, under its new Secretary of State Alan Johnson,
seeks to help businesses to be as efficient as possible to best
compete in the new global marketplace.
Simply commerce
Yet Nucleus' Mr Matthews is far from convinced by either the new
name or the way the process has been carried out.
"At present, it is just a name change rather than a brand change,
as I haven't yet seen any new logos, and the website address
remains the same," he says.
"The DTI was very well known to business, but the new name is
such a tongue-twister, it makes the new department seem like a
bit of a dumping ground.
"Something like the Department for Business would have been much
more straightforward.
"And the way the government has introduced the new name without
thinking of the overall brand smacks of political expediency
rather than good practice."
Stephen Alambritis, spokesman for the Federation of Small
Businesses, said he hoped the inclusion of the word
'productivity' in the new name would be taken seriously.
"It is a rather long title though," he says.
"We would have preferred the name of the same department in the
US - the Department of Commerce.
"That is much more simple and says it all."
*****************************************************************
13 Irish Examiner: Blix accuses US of diluting nuclear treaty
11/05/05
Blix accuses US of diluting nuclear treaty FORMER chief UN
weapons inspector Hans Blix has accused Washington of not taking
“the common bargain” of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty as
seriously as it once did.
He added that this is dimming global support for the US campaign
to shut down the North Korean and Iranian nuclear programmes.
“There is a feeling the common edifice of the international
community is being dismantled,” the Swedish arms expert said.
Mr Blix, now chairman of the Swedish government-sponsored
Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission, spoke with reporters in
the second week of a month-long conference to review the 1970
non-proliferation treaty.
Under the 188-nation pact, nations without nuclear weapons
pledge not to pursue them, in exchange for a commitment by five
nuclear-weapons states - the United States, Russia, Britain,
France and China - to negotiate toward nuclear disarmament.
The review conference has been stalled, without an agenda,
because of a dispute over agenda language dealing with the very
dissatisfaction Mr Blix spoke of: the complaints by some that
the nuclear-weapons states are moving too slowly toward
disarmament.
Nuclear “have-nots” complain that the Bush administration, in
particular, has acted contrary to those commitments, by
rejecting the nuclear test-ban treaty, for example.
Washington, for its part, wants the conference to focus on what
it alleges are Iran’s plans to build nuclear arms in violation
of the treaty, and on North Korea’s withdrawal from the treaty
and claim to have nuclear bombs.
Mr Blix said there is “a great deal of concern” about North
Korea and Iran. But “that feeling of concern is somewhat muted
by the feeling that the United States in particular, and perhaps
some other nuclear weapons states, are not taking the common
bargain as seriously as they had committed themselves to do in
the past,” he said.
He cited US proposals to build new nuclear weapons and talk in
Washington even of testing weapons, ending a 13-year-old US
moratorium on nuclear tests.
© Irish Examiner, 2005, Thomas Crosbie Media, TCH
*****************************************************************
14 Mos News: Soviet Radiation Rockets on Sale in Moldova’s Breakaway Region
— Paper -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 10.05.2005 13:29 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:02 MSK
MosNews
Soviet Cold War Alazan radiation rockets are being offered for
sale in the eastern European republic of Transdniester, The
Sunday Times reports.
A reporter posing as a middleman for an Algerian Islamic group
managed to approach a senior officer in Transdniester’s secret
police who helped him to get in touch with a local arms dealer.
The man offered the journalist three rockets capable of
contaminating a city centre for $500,000.
The correspondent met the dealer twice — on a bridge in
Transdniester and later at a hotel in neighboring Moldova. At
first the man asked for $200,000 for a single rocket. He said
that $2,000 would have to be transferred to a bank account in
Cyprus before the inspection of a rocket with a Geiger counter
to verify that its warhead contained radioactive strontium and
cesium. The buyers would then pay $8,000 for forged
documentation that would enable the rocket to be smuggled across
Transdniester’s border with Ukraine. It could be collected at an
airfield in southwestern Ukraine once the rest of the asking
price had been handed over.
Last week the dealer said that the terms had changed. “My people
want to sell three Alazans for a total sum of $500,000,” he told
the reporter. The newspaper withdrew from the negotiations once
the availability of the weapons had been confirmed.
The Alazan rockets, which have a range of eight miles, were
among 50,000 tons of weapons left behind at an arms dump in the
breakaway eastern European republic of Transdniester when the
Russian army withdrew after the Cold War.
The rockets that were originally intended for use in Soviet
weather experiments can spread radiation for more than 20 miles
from their point of impact. It would not cause a high death
toll, but would probably spark fear and disruption. Large areas
would have to be evacuated for a costly clean-up operation.
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
15 Guardian Unlimited: Rapid return to nuclear power ruled out
Paul Brown, environment correspondent
Wednesday May 11, 2005
The government's main scientific adviser on energy policy
yesterday ruled out an immediate return to nuclear power.
Sir David King, the government's chief scientist in charge of
energy research and development, said speculation that nuclear
power would make a comeback was premature.
"The British government viewpoint is that we must focus on
renewables and energy efficiency, both clear winners in
increasing the security of supply."
Sir David is advising the prime minister and the chancellor,
Gordon Brown, on options for energy supply and how to avoid
climate change.
"With the North Sea resource dwindling and the cost of energy
rising, the security of supply is an important issue," he said.
"We do not want the lighting and the heating to go out in the
middle of the winter."
The government's 2003 white paper on energy had left the issue of
returning to the nuclear option open.
"This is an issue we will have to re-examine but not yet," he
said.
Nuclear power has been floated as a possible solution to climate
change because it releases no greenhouse gases such as carbon
dioxide. But it is expensive and the problems of nuclear waste
remain.
The UK's nuclear power stations, which produce about 20% of the
country's electricity, are closing at the rate of about one a
year and will disappear by 2023.
A Labour pledge to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20% by 2010
is not likely to be met; the Department for Environment is
reviewing policies to reach the target - but even if Britain
decided to go down the nuclear route, they could not be planned
and built in less than 10 years.
Sir David, who is known to be a fan of nuclear power, was talking
on the eve of a meeting of the world's big economies in Oxford
today to discuss the world's coming energy crisis. Nuclear power
will not be on the agenda.
Sir David and teams from the G8 group of industrialised
countries, plus China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico,
will be discussing research development and cooperation in wind,
wave, solar, tidal, bio-mass, carbon sequestration and energy
efficiency.
It had been the wish of the other countries involved not to
discuss nuclear power because it was felt that enough was known
about it already, and countries interested in the nuclear issue
were in close contact.
Knowledge about renewables was not available in the same way and
the countries involved wanted to share research and development
expertise.
Over the next 25 years, Sir David said, $16 trillion was going to
be spent on building new power stations and since many of them
would be expected to last 50 to 60 years it was important to get
the programme right.
He said if the industrial world burned all the coal and gas
reserves without capturing the carbon produced, there would be
massive climate change and "by 2100 major problems".
He said he was talking to the chief executives of Shell and BP
about the problem and was encouraged. He conceded that solar
power remained inefficient but he hoped for a technical
breakthrough that would transform the technology.
The conference at St Anne's College, Oxford, is expected to put
proposals about future cooperation to the G8 summit in
Gleneagles, Scotland, on July 7.
The UK has already decided to go into a collaborative venture
with Portugal on wave and tidal power and with Spain to develop
solar power.
John Loughhead, executive director of the newly established
Energy Research Centre in London, said the UK was spending around
£300m on energy research outside the nuclear area. A further £16m
was being spent on nuclear fusion, which was to increase to £20m.
One of the problems of building new nuclear power stations was
that the UK did not have designs of its own or sufficient trained
people to put them together.
"We would be both buying in the designs and the expertise from
abroad," Mr Loughhead said.
"The question would then be whether we had enough home-grown
people to control the process so we knew what was going on."
In the field of renewables the centre was investigating the new
breed of household combined heat and power generators, and how
home-produced solar and wind power could be fed back into the
grid by householders.
"We have the technology for people to produce electricity in
their own homes but the problem is getting the regulatory and
technical issues right so that they get a fair price and the grid
continues to function properly," he said.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited ¿ Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
16 Rediff: Russia may build more N-reactors in India
PTI > Report
May 10, 2005 18:50 IST
Russia on Tuesday said it may build more nuclear power reactors
in India, although there were international curbs on the scale
of nuclear cooperation between the two countries, official
sources said.
Kremlin's foreign policy aide Sergei Prikhodko was briefing
reporters in Moscow on Monday's meeting between Russian
President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
He noted that India's growing energy requirements for its
sustained economic development and Delhi's interest in Russian
involvement in the development of nuclear projects as part of
Indian energy security efforts.
Russia is currently helping build 2000MW Kudankulam nuclear
power plant in Tamil Nadu, which is scheduled to be commissioned
in 2007.
The final agreement on Kudankulam was signed in June 1998.
Russia is supplying two 1000VVER-type light water reactors under
the Kudankulam deal inked in 1985 by former prime minister Rajiv
Gandhi and former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.
After the Soviet collapse the deal was revived despite strong US
opposition when Moscow insisted that it's joining Nuclear
Suppliers Group in early 1990s has no retrospective
implications.
Prikhodko conceded that 'there are certain issues involving
Russia's commitments to NSG' and the scale of cooperation
depends on the NSG guidelines.
"There are opportunities for further progress, though," he
added.
7333: The Latest News on Your Mobile!
© Copyright 2005 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or
Copyright © 2005 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
17 BBC: Call for rational nuclear debate
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 May, 2005
[View of Sellafield]
Nuclear power provides 25% of Britain's electricity
A former energy minister has called for "intelligent and rational
debate" of sticking with nuclear power to help cut carbon
emissions.
Brian Wilson told BBC Radio 4's Today programme there had to be a
shift from the polarised views of the 60s and 70s.
There are reports Environment Secretary Margaret Beckett is
blocking attempts to put the issue back on the agenda.
The UK's 14 nuclear stations supply 25% of its electricity, but
all but one will have shut by 2023.
The Sunday Telegraph reported a leaked briefing to new minister
for energy Alan Johnson, suggesting civil servants want him to
look at the "nuclear issue" shortly - but are being blocked by
Mrs Beckett.
'No done deal'
But Mr Wilson told the BBC he did not believe there was any "done
deal" on nuclear power.
"Hopefully what there is, is an intelligent debate which takes us
away from the polarised pro and anti nuclear plans that were
formed in many minds in the 60s and 70s," he told BBC Radio 4's
Today programme.
"There's a completely different context for the debate now and
let's have it on an intelligent and rational basis".
Supporters say nuclear can help meet UK climate change targets,
because it does not produce carbon emissions, and it would mean
the UK does not have to rely on imported gas for its power.
But its cost, toxic waste and the risk of accidents or the danger
of nuclear material falling into terrorist hands mean it remains
strongly opposed by many.
Instead of flogging the de horse of nuclear power, the government
should change the failing policies that are causing carbon
dioxide levels to soar [ src=] Tony Juniper
Friends of the Earth Analysis: Do we need nuclear?
Prime Minister Tony Blair has not ruled out building a new
generation of nuclear power stations.
But he said it would be difficult to get the public's consent
without first dealing with concerns about waste as well as the
high costs involved.
Mr Wilson said the government had to create the right conditions
to allow the private sector to decide whether it can invest in
nuclear power. It would need some guarantee of electricity prices
to ensure it was economically viable, he said.
"If we don't do that, then our targets on carbon reduction are
out the window," he said.
But Friends of the Earth say nuclear power is "unsafe,
uneconomic, unpopular and largely irrelevant" to climate change.
"Even doubling nuclear capacity would only reduce greenhouse gas
emissions by at most eight per cent," said director Tony Juniper.
"Instead of flogging the dead horse of nuclear power, the
government should change the failing policies that are causing
carbon dioxide levels to soar."
It should instead concentrate on emissions from coal-fired power
stations and transport, energy efficiency, and promoting
renewable sources of energy, he said.
*****************************************************************
18 Times Argus: NRC awaits more data on Vermont Yankee plant power increase
May 10, 2005
By Susan Smallheer Rutland Herald
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says it still doesn't have
enough information from Entergy Nuclear about its plans to
generate 20 percent more power at Vermont Yankee nuclear power
plant.
Despite a two-hour meeting with Entergy officials Monday at NRC
headquarters in Rockville, Md., federal regulators are reluctant
to move forward with its approval schedule, said Neil Sheehan,
NRC spokesman.
"We're still looking at all their submittals; we still have
questions," he added.
Entergy first started talking to the NRC about an amendment to
its operating licensing more than two years ago. In early 2004,
the federal agency said Entergy's voluminous application was
complete. But the NRC has repeatedly asked company engineers for
more study and analysis on various aspects of the so-called
uprate plan.
While Entergy said it needed a decision by September, the NRC
isn't willing to make a commitment to that timeframe, Sheehan
said.
"We still don't have a firm timeframe or schedule. We're not
comfortable setting a schedule," he said.
Entergy has claimed that one of the biggest issues in the
nuclear industry surrounding power production increases, the
effect on the steam dryers, doesn't apply to them, Sheehan said.
"They've done modeling and came to the conclusion that their
steam dryers would hold up fine," Sheehan said, noting that the
NRC still reserved comment on that issue.
Much of the additional information that the NRC has requested in
the past several months involve the effects of the additional
steam and pressure on the steam dryers.
Steam dryers in two other nuclear reactors that have adopted
similar power increases developed serious problems with the
dryers, which cracked under the increased vibration.
Entergy Nuclear spokesman Laurence Smith, meanwhile, said
company engineers reported to him from the airport on their way
back to Vermont that they had had "an excellent meeting."
"We did request this meeting with the NRC, to the give NRC staff
an overview. It was an excellent meeting and good exchange of
information," Smith said.
Entergy officials told NRC staff that they would accept license
conditions to closely monitor the vibration of the steam dryer,
including shutting down if they exceeded any of the allowable
levels, Sheehan said.
"You tend to see the vibration issues when the plant is first
starting," he said.
Entergy, which wants to increase power production by 20 percent,
or 110 megawatts, would initially boost power production by 15
percent, until it could install additional electrical equipment
to handle the added power, said Sheehan.
Vermont Yankee plans on shutting down this fall for its regular
refueling and maintenance outage, which occurs about every 18
months. In the spring of 2004, Entergy performed the majority of
$60 million in renovations at the reactor needed to accommodate
the power increase, in anticipation of federal and state
approval.
The state Public Service Board conditionally approved the power
boost last March, but it hasn't issued final approval yet.
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
© 2005 Times Argus
*****************************************************************
19 Times Herald-Record: NRC to discuss report on Indian Point reactors
May 10, 2005
Buchanan
Opponents of the Indian Point nuclear power plant say
there's plenty to talk about at tonight's annual U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission report card meeting on the reactors'
performance.
The 6 p.m. meeting is open to the public.
The NRC, which said recently that the plants are operating
safely, will also discuss the steps involved in any extension of
the plant's operating licenses. Groups against relicensing have
begun a high-profile campaign.
Plant owner Entergy says it may apply for at least one
license extension.
Tonight's meeting is at Charles Point Marina, 5 John Walsh
Blvd., Peekskill.
Record Online is brought to you by the Times Herald-Record,
serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills.
40 Mulberry Street * PO Box 2046 * Middletown, NY 10940
Telephone 845-341-1100 or 800-295-2181 outside the Middletown,
N.Y., area.
Orange County Publications. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
20 Xinhua: Germany to shut down nuclear power plant
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-10 21:19:09
BERLIN, May 10 (Xinhuanet)-- The German government announced
Tuesday that it is shutting down a nuclear power plant this week
as part of the government's plan to close all such stations by
the year 2020.
In a brief statement, the German Environment Ministry
announced that the Obrigheim nuclear power plant in southern
Germany will beshut down on Wednesday after 36 years of
operation.
In 2000, the German government reached an agreement with
energy companies for the gradual closing down of the country's
19 nuclearpower stations after their lifespan of 32 years.
Under the deal, the generating industry will be allowed to
produce about 2,500 terawatt hours before the shut-down.
Germany has become the first leading economic power
officially to announce it would phase out the use of nuclear
energy. About 433 nuclear power stations operate worldwide.
After the September 11 assaults in New York and Washington
in 2001, nuclear security has been on the top of the Environment
Ministry's agenda.
The German government is investing more in wind and solar
power.Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
21 Mos News: Russia May Build New Nuclear Power Stations in India — Putin Aide -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 10.05.2005 16:07 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:07 MSK
MosNews
Russia may build new nuclear power stations in India, a Russian
presidential aide said on Tuesday.
Sergei Prikhodko quoted by ITAR-TASS news agency after talks
between the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh said “India is interested in Russia’s
participation in increasing the (atomic energy) capacity.”
However, “there are some issues connected with Russia’s
commitments to a group of nuclear suppliers, and the scale of
cooperation depends on this group. But there is a possibility
for further serious progress.”
Currently, Russia is building the Kudankulam nuclear station in
the south of India.
“Russia is above all concerned that the trade and economic
sphere is developing slower than the level of political
dialogue; the trade turnover is only slightly over $3 billion
and its structure cannot satisfy us,” Prikhodko said. He added
that Putin and Singh “discussed military and technical
cooperation and expanding cooperation in the peaceful use of
nuclear energy in full detail.”
Singh suggested that a separate Russian-Indian group should be
set up which will look into problems of intensifying trade and
economic links and prepare a relevant new agreement. He is
expected to visit Moscow at the end of October. Indian President
Abdul Kalam is due to visit Moscow in late May. “The president
of Russia has renewed his invitation to the Indian prime
minister, and the dates of the visit are to be agreed,”
Prikhodko said.
Putin and Singh have agreed at the talks that India’s
outstanding debt to Russia in rupees can be used for developing
cooperation in the sphere of high technologies. “It is a
separate topic — how to use the outstanding rupees debt to
develop corporation in high technologies,” Prikhodko said. “This
debt was used in the past to purchase Indian goods, but now it
is expected that the money will be used on cooperation in
telecommunications, information technology and outer space.”
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
22 TomPaine.com: Nuclear Waste Of Time
[A Project of the Institute for America's Future]
Beyond the slimy but pedestrian observation that the Washington
Post is further over to industry shills, today's piece by
Ambassador John Ritch, " ," is just short-sighted and wrong.
Ritch wants us to believe that the only path to reducing carbon
emissions is one where nuclear power generation is increased 10
times:
To avert climate catastrophe, greenhouse emissions must be
reduced over the next 50 years by 60 percent -- even as
population growth and economic development are combining to
double or triple world energy consumption.
Every authoritative energy analysis points to an inescapable
imperative: Humankind cannot conceivably achieve a global
clean-energy revolution without a rapid expansion of nuclear
power to generate electricity, produce hydrogen for tomorrow's
vehicles and drive seawater-desalination plants to meet a
fast-emerging world water crisis.
This reality requires a tenfold increase in nuclear energy
during the 21st century...
The good ambassador apparently thinks there is a conceivable
future in which energy consumption doubles or triples. There is
none. On top of that false foundation, he then proposes a
brute-force approach to our energy problems: If you don't have
enough, you need to build more.
Let's unravel. Climate change is only one of facing the planet.
If the only issue we were worried about was climate change,
maybe it would be worth considering nuclear power. But the
problem is much bigger. The problem is embedded in the
inefficiency and overconsumption built into the American
economy, and by extension, the rest of the developed world. The
pathway toward a sustainable future lies in the developed world
becoming more energy efficient, while the developing world
leapfrogs over the excesses of our present economic order.
Investing heavily in nuclear energy will actually slow down the
process of transitioning the American economy. Nuclear power is
inherently a centralized energy source, and much of the
inefficiency within the American energy grid is from
transmission losses. Instead of nuclear, we need to invest in
clean micro-generation of renewable energy distributed
throughout well-deisgned communities that encourage light rail
over cars. Reducing losses to transmission and reducing vehicle
miles travelled during commuting times will save more energy
than nuclear power generates today. It will also create a lot
more jobs as America eliminates unhealthy sprawl and replaces it
with attractive, friendly and safe communities.
Or, we can just build a nuclear plant next to a poor minority
suburb, sit in longer and longer traffic jams, pay higher and
higher costs for distant housing, drive up the price of auto
fuel, and encourage nuclear proliferation. All paid for with
more industry subsidies financed by China.
Thanks, but I'll pass. --Patrick Doherty | Tuesday
TomPaine.com.] [ /]
*****************************************************************
23 Sofia Morning News: New N-Plant Candidate Contractors Submit Bids by June 27
[Sofia News Agency]
Top news: 10 May 2005, Tuesday.
Candidates for a construction contractor of a nuclear power
plant at the Danube river town of Belene may submit their bids
to the National Electricity Transmission Company by June 27.
Talking at a press conference on Tuesday, Energy Minister
Miroslav Sevlievski said the selected bidder will draft,
construct and put into operations Units 1 and 2 of Belene
nuclear power plant.
The public procurement announcement will be published within
days in the Financial Times, Bulgarian national dailies and the
State Gazette.
Ten international majors are expected to be among the candidates
to submit competitive offers, according to Sevlievski. The
offers will be evaluated by July 17.
The contract with the selected bidder is scheduled to be signed
on January 23, 2006. The contractor is put into operation the
first nuke unit five years after the signing ceremony.
Bulgaria has decided against a CANDU heavy water reactor,
proposed by the Atomic Energy of Canada. The other two
contenders are a group between France's Framatome, Russia's
Atomexportstroy and, in a separate group, Czech Skoda, Citibank,
Italy's Unicredito and Czech Komercni Banka.
In the late 1980s Bulgaria spent USD 1.3 B on infrastructure and
foundations at the Danube-located Belene for a 1,000- MW
reactor, supplied by then Czechoslovakia.
The government gave the final go-ahead for Belene construction
at the beginning of April this year, reviving the controversial
plan that was mothballed amid environmentalists' protests.
It would cost another USD 3 B to complete the project for
building a new plant of maximum capacity of 2000 megawatts, with
two VVER-type reactors.
Sevlievski, who took over the ministry in February after a
government reshuffle, favours the establishment of a new company
to own and run the plant.[ width=]
novinite.com Foru
*****************************************************************
24 Times of India: 5 months on, cops close to cracking uranium mystery
TUESDAY, MAY 10, 2005
LALIT KUMAR
BAREILLY: Five months after two persons were arrested for
possessing a 400-gram uranium bar and 25 kg of an opioid
substance, police have finally booked them under the Explosives
Act and the Atomic Energy Act. They were earlier booked under
the milder Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
Bareilly police took this step "after considering all aspects
and seeking expert legal opinion", police spokes-man Subhash
Tiwari said on Tuesday.
Police are still in the dark about from where the duo Aslam
Khan and Khurshid Harun procured the weapons- grade uranium or
to whom they intended to sell it. Since they were booked for
possessing drugs, they were never in police custody and the cops
didnt get a chance to question them properly. Now, a court may
send them to police remand, facilitating tough grilling.
The latest police action puts in an entirely new light the
earlier claim of atomic regulatory authorities that the
recovered uranium bar "contained very little fissile material,"
and that it was highly "depleted uranium" used mainly for
purposes like medical investigations and lining aircraft with
ballast.
A Bareilly police officer had even claimed that the uranium
could be further enriched. They had also written to the Bhaba
Atomic Research Centre (BARC) that the bar was "emitting
radiation".
Copyright © 2005 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
25 BBC: N Korea 'may test nuclear device'
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 May, 2005
[Satellite image of North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Centre -
archive picture]
N Korea's nuclear capabilities have long been a point of
contention
A senior North Korean official has told a visiting Japanese
academic that the country may soon test a nuclear device,
according to media reports.
Pak Hyon-jae, deputy head of the Institute for Disarmament and
Peace, told Japanese academic Yasuhiko Yoshida that a test was
"unavoidable".
But South Korea cast doubt on the claim, saying it had detected
no signs of preparations for a test.
North Korea accused the US of "making a fuss" by talking about a
possible test.
The long-running row over North Korea's nuclear capabilities has
escalated in recent weeks, amid speculation that Pyongyang might
be preparing to test a nuclear device.
North Korea said it had nuclear weapons in February, but the
claim has not been verified.
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Mohammed
ElBaradei, said on Sunday that Pyongyang may already have six
nuclear weapons.
'Indispensable' test
Yasuhiko Yoshida, a North Korean specialist at Osaka University
in Japan, said he was told by Pak Hyon-jae that "a
plutonium-based test is unavoidable" - an "indispensable" measure
to prove North Korea's nuclear capabilities.
The world would "soon know about a nuclear test," he quoted Mr
Pak as saying.
Mr Yoshida was speaking to various media sources on Tuesday,
about comments Mr Pak made to him during an unarranged telephone
call earlier this month.
But also on Tuesday, a South Korean official told Yonhap news
agency that Seoul had detected no signs that North Korea was
preparing a nuclear test, nor had it received any US intelligence
to that effect.
In North Korea itself, the state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said
that Washington had branded North Korea a "nuclear criminal" so
as to "stifle" the country.
"The US is making a fuss saying it was notifying the
International Atomic Energy Agency, Japan and other related
countries of its own opinion that our republic may conduct an
underground nuclear test in June," the newspaper said, according
to the official KCNA news agency.
It neither confirmed nor denied that the North was planning such
a test.
The international community is currently trying to persuade
Pyongyang to return to six-party negotiations over its nuclear
ambitions.
The talks have been stalled since last June, with North Korea and
the US involved in an escalating war of words.
North Korea said it wanted to clarify the United States position
before making a final decision on returning to the talks.
*****************************************************************
26 Japan Times: Nixed Indian visas linked to nukes
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
The Foreign Ministry has refused to issue visas to 11 Indian
scientists since 1998, the year India conducted a nuclear
weapons test, according to informed sources.
While the ministry declined to disclose the reasons, saying the
issue is "a matter of national sovereignty," some believe it is
because India has not yet signed the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty, the sources said.
According to a Kyodo News tally, the visa rejections began in
1998, when India conducted an underground nuclear weapons test.
That year, the Foreign Ministry refused to issue a visa to an
Indian scientist. There were three rejections in 2003, six in
2004 and one so far this year.
The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, an
association of physicists, is considering a protest to the
Japanese government and may block Japan from hosting
international conferences backed by the union.
A scientist at a Japanese research institution, who had invited
an Indian scientist to Japan, quoted a ministry official as
saying the visa "will never be granted because the Indian
scientist belongs to an institution that has some connection to
nuclear weapons."
However, the research fields of the Indian scientists are basic
sciences, irrelevant to nuclear weapons development, and those
in Japan inviting them said the refusal to issue visas is
"unreasonable."
Nine of the 11 work for research institutes under India's
Department of Atomic Energy, and the remaining two are
researchers at universities. They intended to come to Japan to
work on X-ray telescope development at the Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency, study at graduate schools as
government-sponsored students and attend international
conferences, the sources said.
The Japan Times: May 10, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
27 AFP: Nuclear India moves to outlaw proliferation, missile technology transfers
Tuesday May 10, 08:48 PM
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India, which conducted a series of nuclear
tests in May 1998, introduced a bill in parliament to ban
proliferation and the transfer of missile technology to
non-nuclear states.
Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee introduced the Weapons of Mass
Destruction and their Delivery Systems bill on the eve of the
seventh anniversary of the tests India carried with a series of
weapons, including a 45-megaton thermonuclear device.
The bill, which becomes law if endorsed by parliament's two
houses, would "provide an integrated legislative basis to
India's commitment to prevent proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction," Mukherjee said on Tuesday.
"The provisions of the act apply to export, transfer,
re-transfer, transit and transshipment of material, equipment or
technology relating to weapons of mass destruction or their
means of delivery," Mukherjee added.
India has refused to sign two hallmark agreements on
proliferation, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and
Non-Proliferation Treaty, saying they are discriminatory because
they allow the five permanent members of the UN Security Council
to keep their nuclear weapons.
After the 1998 tests, which were matched by rival Pakistan the
same month, India announced a moratorium on future tests and
called for a time-frame for global disarmament.
"In view of India's status as a nuclear weapon state and its
international commitments it was felt necessary to introduce
this legislation," a statement accompanying the draft
legislation said.
In April, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice offered New
Delhi greater access to high technology sales, including
civilian nuclear power plants and fuel to meet its growing
energy needs.
India is currently barred from buying such equipment because it
is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty that forbids
such sales to countries that do not agree to international
inspection of nuclear plants and facilities.
Copyright © 2005 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
28 [du-list] Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 14:44:55 -0700
http://www.occupationwatch.org/headlines/archives/2005/05/soaring_birth_d.html
item begins....
Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in Iraq
By James Cogan
WSWS
10 May 2005
Iraqi doctors are making renewed efforts to bring to the world's attention
the growth in birth deformities and cancer rates among the country's
children. The medical crisis is being directly blamed on the widespread use
of depleted uranium (DU) munitions by the US and British forces in southern
Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, and the even greater use of DU during the
2003 invasion.
The rate of birth defects, after increasing ten-fold
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29 Summit Daily News: Garfield commissioners endorse plan to drill in old nuclear test
site
for Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper and Frisco Colorado - News
May 10, 2005
The Associated Press
GLENWOOD SPRINGS — The Garfield County Commissioners have
endorsed a request by an energy company to drill near the site
of an underground nuclear explosion detonated in 1969.
Presco Inc. wants to drill within a half-mile buffer zone
established around the Project Rulison site. Only the surface
area could be disturbed inside the zone, and the well bottom
would be outside the zone.
Presco has asked the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation
Commission for a waiver of a rule prohibiting natural gas
drilling within the buffer zone.
The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission ruled in February 2004
that Presco could not drill within the zone without approval
from the U.S. Department of Energy because of concerns about
potential radioactive contamination.
Project Rulison was designed to free natural gas from oil shale,
but it was too radioactive to be sold commercially.
On Monday, the county commissioners signed a letter to the oil
and gas commission supporting Presco’s request.
County Commissioner Tresi Houpt said she opposed the plan but
signed the letter because it was a majority decision of the
three-member board.
County Commissioner John Martin said none of the three
commissioners wants to see drilling in the buffer zone, but
endorsing the plan “is one way to sit down at the table and talk
to them about what would be the safeguards.”
All contents © Copyright 2005 summitdaily.com
Summit Daily - 40 West Main Street - Frisco, CO 80443
*****************************************************************
30 guampdn: Group seeks compensation for Guam radiation victims
www.guampdn.com
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
By Katie Worth Pacific Daily News
+ The Guam Legislature will hold a public hearing on a
resolution requesting an amendment to the federal Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act of 1990 to include Guam. The hearing
starts at 4 p.m. on May 17 in the Session Hall of the
legislative building in Hagåtña.
+ A town-hall meeting on the 1990 Act will be held in the
Mangilao Seniors Center at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow. The meeting is to
inform the public of the latest developments in the Act and to
solicit oral and written testimony in support of an amendment.
ON THE NET
+ Learn more about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act at
const/reca/.
ABOUT THE PROGRAM
+ The federal Radiation Exposure Compensation Act was passed by
the U.S. Congress in 1990. It provides between $50,000 and
$100,000 to people who became sick after being exposed to
radiation.
+ Currently, "downwinders" of the Nevada nuclear tests receive a
payment of $50,000 if they were physically present in one of the
affected areas downwind of the site during a period of testing,
and later contracted a particular cancer or disease. Some of the
diseases that qualify are leukemia, multiple myeloma, lymphomas,
and cancers of the thyroid, breast, esophagus, stomach, pharynx,
small intestine, colon, ovary, brain or lung.
Since 1990, the federal government has paid out about $750
million to people who got sick after being exposed to radiation.
Among the recipients of that money are people described as
"downwinders," who lived in certain counties downwind of the
Nevada Test Site during nuclear tests in the 1950s and '60s.
A group of policy-makers and local health advocates would like
Guam residents who were on island while the U.S. military was
testing nuclear weapons in the Pacific to also be designated as
"downwinders," and therefore be eligible to apply for federal
money.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, passed by the U.S.
Congress in 1990, provides compensation to people who contracted
certain cancers and other diseases after being exposed to
radiation, either during above-ground nuclear tests or during
employment in uranium mines. Individuals can receive between
$50,000 and $100,000, depending on their exposure, according to
the program's Web site.
The Act has been amended twice since it was created. Each
amendment redefined who was eligible to receive funds.
For years, local activists have advocated amending the act to
include Guam and other Pacific territories among those eligible
for compensation.
For more than a decade after World War II, the U.S. used the
Marshall Islands as nuclear testing sites. Among the dozens of
nuclear tests in the islands between 1946 and 1958 was the
famous "Bravo" shot, which pulverized the Bikini atoll with a
bomb the strength of 1,000 Hiroshima bombs.
Local activists and lawmakers have frequently argued that
because Guam was downwind of those tests, the outfall affected
the health of island residents. It would be only fair for people
who resided on Guam during the period of the tests to be
included among "downwinders," said Robert Celestial, president
of the Pacific Association of Radiation Survivors.
The Guam Legislature is considering passing a resolution
petitioning the Congress to amend the 1990 Act to include Guam,
Celestial said.
Originally published May 11, 2005
Copyright ©2005 guampdn. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
31 Spectrum: Report provides 'mixed victory' for downwinders
St. George - www.thespectrum.com
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
By PATRICE ST. GERMAIN patrices@thespectrum.com
+ To access information on the National Academies of Science
Assessment of the Scientific Information for the Radiation
Exposure Screening and Education Program and other information
about downwinders, go to the Downwinders Web site
atwww.downwinders.org.
+ To learn more about the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act,
go to www.thespectrum.com/news/extras/RECA.htmlon the Internet.
+ To learn more about the Nevada Test Site, go to
www.thespectrum.com/news/extras/testsite.htmlon the Internet.
A report released last week by the National Academies of Science
assessing health risks associated with radioactive fallout from
nuclear testing in Nevada provided a mixed victory for
downwinder Mary Dickson.
Dickson, a Salt Lake City resident and a thyroid cancer
survivor, said the victory is that the report concludes fallout
reached across the United States. The report is a loss because
it shows that Iodine 131 is the only radionuclide isotope that
was studied extensively, and because of that, proving that
cancer was caused by fallout exposure may be virtually
impossible.
"It's already hard enough to prove residency and provide
medical records to get compensation from RECA (Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act) now," Dickson said. "Now the report
said there needs to be more studies to see if other cancers are
related to fallout, and I don't have much faith it will happen.
Basically, I think Congress will wait for the evidence to die."
Ivins resident Kent Prisbrey, 69, knows the problems associated
with filing for compensation under RECA. Since he filed last
year, Prisbrey, who spent most of his life in Washington County
and as a kitchen worker at the Nevada Test Site during nuclear
testing, is still battling to obtain necessary records for his
compensation. Even then, he may not receive any money.
Compensation can only be paid in cases where an individual
contracts a specified compensatory disease. Prisbrey has not
been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus, stomach or gall
bladder - all of which are covered under RECA.
But in 1989, Prisbrey had surgery to remove part of his
esophagus, stomach and gall bladder.
"The doctor told my daughter it was cancerous, but all the
records have been destroyed because it's been too long,"
Prisbrey said.
Since filing a RECA claim, Prisbrey received a letter in
September 2004 asking for more documentation and again last
March stating that he needs to submit medical documentation to
show he was diagnosed with a compensable disease.
"I don't know if I will ever get compensation," Prisbrey said.
"There's this bottleneck getting medical records."
Mike Empey, Southern Utah field representative for Rep. Jim
Matheson, D-Utah, said proving residency is an issue people
battle all the time when filing for compensation.
"It's a challenge," Empey said of filing a RECA claim. "The
regulation is there for a purpose, yet it's hard for some people
to prove residency or provide the needed medical record."
Not only is the process and documentation a struggle, it gets
more difficult as time goes by.
Claimants have difficulty establishing that they lived in the
area during the nuclear testing because a home was rented rather
than owned, providing no record of residency. Their employers
may no longer be in business, so there are no employment
records. Or the claimant may have been a young child, so
official documentation to prove they were in the area is
difficult to obtain.
Medical documentation verifying a claimant had a qualifying
disease is hampered by doctors no longer practicing medicine or
who are deceased, closure of hospitals or the destruction of
medical records after a certain period of time.
Matheson said the NAS study shows more testing for different
isotopes need to be conducted.
"Part of my legislation calls for more study, and this
validates that," Matheson said. "But it will never be proven 100
percent what caused the cancer. We need to try and use the best
available data and make reasonable justice, but there is always
going to be a gray area."
Originally published May 10, 2005
Copyright ©2004 The Spectrum. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
32 Iraq Occupation Watch: Soaring birth deformities and child cancer rates in Iraq
May 10, 2005
By James Cogan
10 May 2005
Iraqi doctors are making renewed efforts to bring to the world's
attention the growth in birth deformities and cancer rates among
the country's children. The medical crisis is being directly
blamed on the widespread use of depleted uranium (DU) munitions
by the US and British forces in southern Iraq during the 1991
Gulf War, and the even greater use of DU during the 2003
invasion.
The rate of birth defects, after increasing ten-fold from 11 per
100,000 births in 1989 to 116 per 100,000 in 2001, is soaring
further. Dr Nawar Ali, a medical researcher into birth
deformities at Baghdad University, told the UN's Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN) last month: "There have
been 650 cases [birth deformities] 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."
His colleague, Dr Ibrahim al-Jabouri, reported: "In my
experiments we have found some cases where the mother and father
were suffering from pollution from weapons used in the south and
we believe that it is affecting newborn babies in the country."
The director of the Central Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Wathiq
Ibrahim, said: "We have asked for help from the government to
make a more profound study on such cases as it is affecting
thousands of families."
The rise in birth defects is matched by a continuing increase in
the incidence of childhood cancers.
Six years ago, the College of Medicine at Basra University
carried out a study into the rate of cancer among children under
the age of 15 in southern Iraq from 1976 to 1999. It revealed a
horrific change between 1990 and 1999. In the province of Basra,
the incidence of cancer of all types rose by 242 percent, while
the rate of leukaemia among children rose 100 percent. Children
living in the area were falling ill with cancer at the rate of
10.1 per 100,000. In districts where the use of DU had been the
most concentrated, the rate rose to 13.2 per 100,000.
The results were cited at the time in campaigns to end the
UN-imposed and US-enforced sanctions against Iraq, which were
held responsible for the death of as many as 500,000 Iraqi
children from malnutrition and inadequate medical treatment.
The study noted: "Most doctors and scientists agree that even
mild radiation is dangerous and increases the risk of cancer.
The health risk becomes much greater once the [DU] projectile
has been fired. After they have been fired, the broken shells
release uranium particles. The airborne particles enter the body
easily. The uranium then deposits itself in bones, organs and
cells. Children are especially vulnerable because their cells
divide rapidly as they grow. In pregnant women, absorbed uranium
can cross the placenta into the bloodstream of the foetus.
"In addition to its radioactive dangers, uranium is chemically
toxic, like lead, and can damage the kidneys and lungs. Perhaps,
the fatal epidemic of swollen abdomens among Iraqi children is
caused by kidney failure resulting from uranium poisoning.
Whatever the effect of the DU shells, it is made worse by
malnutrition and poor health conditions....
"Iraq holds the United States and Britain legally and morally
responsible for the grave health and environmental impact of the
use of DU ..." (A version of the report is available at:
http://www.iacenter.org/depleted/du_iraq.htm).
Terrible as these results were, the last six years have
witnessed a further rise in the number of children under 15
falling ill with cancer in Iraq. The rate has now reached 22.4
per 100,000—more than five times the 1990 rate of 3.98 per
100,000.
Dr Janan Hassan of the Basra Maternity and Childrens Hospital
told IRIN in November 2004 that as many as 56 percent of all
cancer patients in Iraq were now children under 5, compared with
just 13 percent 15 years earlier. "Also," he said, "it is
notable that the number of babies born with defects is rising
astonishingly. In 1990, there were seven cases of babies born
with multiple congenital anomalies. This has gone up to as high
as 224 cases in the past three years."
The statistics point to the long-term consequences of depleted
uranium contamination. Munitions containing an estimated 300
tonnes of DU were unleashed by coalition forces in southern Iraq
in 1991. A decade after the war, DU shell holes are still 1,000
times more radioactive than the normal level of background
radiation. The surrounding areas are still 100 times more
radioactive. Experts surmise that fine uranium dust has been
spread by the wind, contaminating swathes of the surrounding
region, including Basra, which is some 200 kilometres away from
sites where large numbers of DU shells were fired.
A 1997 study into the cancer rate among Iraqi soldiers who
fought in the Basra area during the 1991 Gulf War found a
statistically significant increase in the rate at which they
were stricken with lymphomas, leukaemia, and lung, brain,
gastrointestinal, bone and liver cancers, as compared to
personnel who had not fought in the south. One in four of the
American personnel who fought in first Iraq war—more than
150,000 people—are also suffering a range of medical
disorders collectively described as "Gulf War Syndrome". While
the US military denies there is any relationship, exposure to
depleted uranium is one of the factors blamed by veterans and
medical researchers.
Somewhere between 1,000 and 3,000 tonnes of DU was expended
during the three-week war in 2003. Unlike 1991, however, where
most of the fighting took place outside major population
centres, the 2003 invasion witnessed the wholesale bombardment
of targets inside densely-populated cities with DU shells.
Christian Science Monitor journalist Scott Peterson registered
radiation on a simple Geiger counter at levels some 1,900 times
the normal background rate in parts of Baghdad in May 2003. The
city has a population of six million.
Given that it was two to four years after the 1991 war before
cancer and birth defect rates began to rise dramatically, the
fear among medical specialists is that Iraq will face an
epidemic of cancers by the end of the decade, under conditions
where the medical system, devastated by years of sanctions and
war, is unable to cope with the existing crisis.
Dr Amar, the deputy head of the Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in
Basra, one of the main hospitals treating Iraqi cancer patients,
told the Sydney Morning Herald on April 29: “We don’t
have drugs to treat tumours. I have a patient with tumours who
is unconscious and I don’t have drugs or a bed in which to
treat him. I have two women with advanced ovarian cancer but I
can give them only minimum doses of only some of the drugs they
need.
"Two or three days ago we had to cancel all surgery because we
had no gauze and no anaesthetics. Our wards are like stables for
horses, not humans. We can't properly isolate patients or manage
their diets. We don’t have proper laboratory facilities....
"If you are sick don't come to this hospital for treatment. It
is collapsing around us. We’re going down in a heap."
*****************************************************************
33 CBC: Exposed to nuclear materials at Argentia: vet
Newfoundland &Labrador
WebPosted May 10 2005 07:44 AM NDT
ST. JOHN'S —
An American veteran who says he guarded a secret stash of nuclear
weapons in Newfoundland claims his government would rather see
him dead than admit to violations of international law.
Almon Scott, who worked as a guard at the Argentia military base
in the early 1960s, claims that years before Ottawa allowed
nuclear weapons on Canadian soil, he was guarding them at a
secret weapons lab in Placentia Bay. Scott, who is now dying,
blames the cancer in his blood and bones on his duties four
decades ago. He claims the U.S. government is not only refusing
to help him, but will not give the veteran his own service
records.
Scott, now 65, says when he was a young marine and assigned to
duties at the military base in Argentia, he did what he was told.
"It was a different time. We did our duty, and we didn't ask
questions," he says.
With top-secret clearance, Scott was says he was assigned to
guard duty at a heavily barricaded weapons laboratory. It was
there, he claims, he was exposed to nuclear weapons, weapons that
were not even supposed to be on Canadian soil. The U.S.
government says there is no proof Scott was exposed to nuclear
material at Argentia.
"I was exposed to ionizing radiation. I have the disease," he
says.
"But my records are sealed because those weapons were not
supposed to be in Canada at that time."
The Department of Foreign Affairs told CBC any questions about
nuclear weapons at Argentia would have to go through the Access
to Information Act.
Like other American military facilities in Newfoundland and
Labrador, the U.S. naval base and air station at Argentia was
built during the Second World War. Strategically important to
North Atlantic activities during the war, the base was also key
during the Cold War, with many of its activities which included
surveillance secret. The base was closed in 1994.
*****************************************************************
34 NEWS.com.au: Minister ordered poison cover-up
(11-05-2005)
BUMBLING Veterans Affairs Minister De-Anne Kelly has ordered the
navy to cover up a scandal involving the possible poisoning of
thousands of sailors. Up to 3000 navy personnel were exposed to
potentially deadly beryllium dust between the 1950s and 1985
when its was finally outlawed.
The Daily Telegraph last year revealed a scandal involving
beryllium on board former navy ships HMAS Supply and HMAS
Melbourne.
It was used in machines called jason pistols which remove paint
and rust from ships' hulls.
Beryllium is a heavy metal and produces a dust that can cause
serious illness and even death. There is no cure for beryllium
poisoning which causes lung disease and symptoms similar to
asbestosis and pneumonia.
A secret navy memo revealed in today's Bulletin refers to Mrs
Kelly's orders about the beryllium scandal.
In the document marked "Sensitivity: High" a senior officer,
Commodore Geoff Gerahty, outlines the navy's response to Mrs
Kelly's order that, "communications with individuals or groups
potentially exposed to beryllium" must be approved by the
minister's office.
Meanwhile an internal minute from Defence Chief General Peter
Cosgrove and Defence Secretary Ric Smith orders the department
not to destroy any records relating to the scandal.
It says an embargo has been applied to all records related to
possible Defence personnel exposure to beryllium.
"Given the likelihood of claims or litigation, there is value in
retaining all records for a specified period of time ... no
disposal of any kind is to be undertaken," it says.
It is clear from the memo that potential victims would be told
nothing that was not already on the public record.
"If requested furnish information related to beryllium,
including use, application on items and health impact, provided
that this information is already in the public domain and has
been cleared," it says. [bigger text] [smaller
*****************************************************************
35 [NYTr] Stop Enrichment, Blix Urges Israel and Iran
Date: Tue, 10 May 2005 16:54:25 -0500 (CDT)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Reuters via al Jazeera - May 10, 2005
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/B4F07A8A-B9A4-4670-BF7F-3107375A9B7D.htm
Stop enrichment, Blix tells Israel, Iran
Former UN chief arms inspector Hans Blix has urged Iran and Israel to
support a ban on nuclear enrichment across the Middle East as a
possible compromise on curbing Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Making the Middle East an enrichment-free zone would be in the
interests of both Iran and Israel, Blix said on Monday on the
sidelines of a month-long meeting of the 188 signatories of the 1970
nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
"Israel is extremely interested in having Iran refrain from moving on"
to resuming enrichment activities, Blix said.
"I'm surprised the idea has not come up before."
Such a move would also reassure Iran without affecting any existing
Israeli nuclear weapons, he said.
While Israel neither admits nor denies having atomic arms, it is
estimated to have about 200 nuclear warheads.
But to help seal the deal, Blix also encouraged Washington to offer
security guarantees to Tehran as a further incentive for it to give up
its nuclear ambitions.
Reuters
*
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36 Las Vegas RJ: Yucca e-mails used to make case
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Web site will present messages in chronology format,
highlighting doubts By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- On Oct. 2, 1997, top Yucca Mountain managers in
Las Vegas gathered to make a presentation to Lake Barrett, then
acting director the nuclear repository project.
Performance assessments were indicating that the only way to
show low radiation doses from the deep-mountain nuclear waste
site was to factor in drip shields, corrosion-resistant
canisters and other man-made safety protections, according to
one account of the meeting.
"Consequently, we should give attention to engineered
barriers," project employee Larry Rickertsen said in notes he
e-mailed the next day.
But others disagreed.
A few days earlier, earth scientist Bob Levich wrote in an
e-mail: "We CANNOT and CAN NEVER rely completely (or even
mostly) on engineering barriers for protection of public health
and safety in a geologic repository system. If we try to do so,
this program is dead! Just build concrete pads on Jackass Flats
and shove the waste inside concrete bunkers."
The contrasting e-mail messages provide snapshots of the debate
that took place during the mid- to late 1990s as the Energy
Department wrestled with safety designs to bury 77,000 tons of
highly radioactive spent fuel at the site, 100 miles northwest
of Las Vegas.
But repository opponents said the e-mails also shed new light
on long-held criticism. They have said that DOE struggled to
reshape the project, "changing the rules" to incorporate
man-made features after discovering that mountain rock alone
would not contain decaying waste for tens of thousands of years.
"The e-mails give an inside picture of the project that is
quite different from the one that DOE presented in public," said
Victor Gilinsky, a former member of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission who now works for the state in opposing the
repository.
"While the project senior staff maintained a confident public
face about the suitability of Yucca Mountain, they were in fact
shaken by these discoveries," he said.
Nevada officials said they hope the criticism will be given new
life when they unveil a Web site today that highlights more than
100 internal DOE e-mails in a chronology format. The e-mails,
selected by the state, focus on uncertainties that scientists
and managers expressed in writing about Yucca Mountain at key
points.
The state Web site incorporates e-mails that are at the center
of ongoing federal investigations into whether some quality
assurance documents for hydrology research were falsified.
"Its first purpose is to continue to cast doubt on the ability
of the site to meet any health and safety standards in the
future, and to get a sense of the debate that took place on the
project," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency
for Nuclear Projects.
"It primarily is more for public purposes to continue the view
that the project is in turmoil and screwed up and not going
forward," Loux said.
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said it was misleading
to try to draw conclusions about the complex Yucca program from
a sampling of e-mails.
"Number one, we don't represent or outline our safety case in
e-mails," Benson said. "Our safety case is going to be outlined
in a license application and in all of the supporting documents
that have been peer-reviewed."
Benson said the messages "mean we have an open debate in this
program about the best way to operate. If it means changing
designs, we will do that in a scientific process, not in
e-mails."
Nevada leaders argued unsuccessfully in a federal lawsuit that
DOE's "abandoning" of Yucca geology should disqualify the site.
A U.S. Court of Appeals panel ruled in July the issue was moot
because Congress passed 2002 legislation ratifying the site and
President Bush signed it into law.
Attorneys for the state say they are laying groundwork to focus
new attention on the argument during repository license hearings
that would be held before the NRC.
Loux said the state might call e-mail authors as witnesses
during the hearings, challenging them to explain their views, as
a strategy to cast doubt on DOE efforts.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
37 Las Vegas SUN: More e-mail messages on Yucca revealed
Today: May 10, 2005 at 9:24:05 PDT
By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON
BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- More e-mail messages support Nevada's position
that the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump will not work, the state
said today.
Nevada released additional e-mails it has discovered through
the Licensing Support Network, a database of Energy Department
documents related to the Yucca Mountain project.
The "Chronology of Selected Yucca Mountain Project Emails"
includes excerpts from selected messages from 1996 through 2000.
"The e-mails give an inside picture of the project that is
quite different from the one that DOE (the Energy Department)
presented to the public," according to the state.
The state has been compiling e-mails from the Agency for
Nuclear Project's Web site for months. The e-mails contain long
conversations between Energy Department employees or contractors
peppered with acronyms and scientific jargon, but Nevada
believes they hold the key to what can finally stop the project.
Nevada has fought the department's plan to build a nuclear
waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas,
for decades.
One of the state's main arguments is that the mountain itself
cannot provide a suitable barrier to isolate the radiation that
the waste will emit. The document lists multiple messages that
discuss the rock's makeup and the design of the man-made
barriers.
A federal appeals court ruled last year that neither the law
nor the Nuclear Regulatory Commission rules assigned a
percentage to how much the rock needs to contribute to isolating
the waste.
But the state still argues that once the containers holding the
waste corrode over time, the rock will provide no barrier to
radiation, which should be reason enough not to use the mountain
as a nuclear dump.
Meanwhile, the department and the nuclear industry believe the
dump, as planned, will be safe and want it to move forward.
Among the e-mails posted by the state on its Web site is one
attributed to department employee Larry Rickertsen that was sent
to Robert Andrews, Jean Younker and Thomas Statton in 1996.
"We have been able to get by NWTRB (Nuclear Waste Technical
Review Board) reviews and other similar situations, but... we
will have severe difficulties when we get into the real arenas,"
the e-mail notes. "I am convinced that the data we have been
using are not only uncertain, they are not even representative
of the ranges that we will be able to defend when we get into
those arenas."
In a 1997 e-mail to Jan Docka, Rickertsen wrote, "I think it is
impossible to show the doses will be less than 10 rem/year even
for drip shield."
The EPA set a 15 milirem per year standard for 10,000 years,
but a court subsequently ruled against that standard.
Another 1997 e-mail from Bob Levich to Paul Dixon says: "We
CANNOT and CAN NEVER rely completely (or even mostly) on
engineering barriers for protection of the public health and
safety in a geologic repository system. If we try to do so, this
program is dead! Just build concrete pads on Jackass Flats and
shove the waste inside concrete bunkers... It is ridiculous to
completely rely on engineered barriers, the lifespan of which
has never been tests for even 10s or 100s of years."
The Energy Department has ongoing investigations into messages
written by U.S. Geological Survey employees that suggest they
made up scientific information while working on the project.
It has also maintained that as part of its license application,
it will outline the safety basis for Yucca Mountain. The e-mails
are "part of the back-and-forth that is reflective of any
collaborative scientific process," according to the department.
The industry has maintained that radiation decays over time so
by the time the waste packages would fail, the radiation levels
the mountain itself would have to contain would be lower than
when the waste was place inside.
Steve Kraft, director of waste management of the Nuclear Energy
Institute, the industry's lobbying arm and a top Yucca
supporter, said "no system man devises or nature devises is
perfect." The main goal is to keep radiation away from human
beings. Kraft said the department's Total System Performance
Assessment plan, which measures how the mountain works with its
plans for man-made barriers, has modeled numerous scenarios.
The state lost its fight in Congress, when Congress voted for
the project to move forward in 2002. That was followed by
President Bush's approval of Yucca Mountain as the nation's
nuclear dump site.
The state won one of its six court cases argued more than a
year ago that threw out the radiation protection standard, which
delayed that program until the Environmental Protection Agency
can write a new one.
Now lawyers working for the state are collecting the e-mails to
use for the anticipated licensing hearings once the departments
submits a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, if it still chooses to do so.
*****************************************************************
38 Las Vegas SUN: Columnist Jeff German: Chance to KO Yucca not taken
Columnist Jeff German: Chance to KO Yucca not taken
Jeff German's column appears Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and
Sundays in the Sun. Reach him at german@lasvegassun.comor (702)
259-4067.
Nevada has waged a spirited underdog fight against Yucca
Mountain over the years.
The state's persistence has turned the tide and backed the
federal government into the ropes in recent months.
But with a knockout in sight, state lawmakers last week
surprisingly let their guard down.
Legislative money committees, meeting in a joint session, voted
to slash the anti-Yucca Mountain legal fund from $2 million to
$1 million over the next two years.
And we heard no protests from the governor and his top Yucca
Mountain watchdog, Bob Loux.
The vote has potential to raise the spirits of the Energy
Department and its influential allies on Capitol Hill at a time
when their confidence in the multibillion-dollar project can't
be high.
It suggests that Nevada, after all of these years, doesn't have
the heart to go for the knockout in the ring.
Loux, it turns out, may have inadvertently steered state
lawmakers onto this dangerous course. He told the two panels, as
he has been telling others for months, that the battle with the
government is all but over.
That was an invitation for the fiscal conservatives to find
other uses for the nuclear waste money -- to the delight of the
staggered Energy Department.
Yucca Mountain is indeed in trouble.
A federal appeals court has tossed out the government's
inadequate safety standards for storing the deadly waste 90
miles outside Las Vegas.
And recently discovered e-mails have suggested that scientific
research was rigged to move the project along.
But in the face of this adversity the Energy Department has
shown no signs of throwing in the towel. This is the department
that has covered up past misdeeds and danced around a host of
obstacles to send the nation's radioactive waste our way.
So why should Nevada give its archenemy the impression that
it's lightening up?
"Although things at the Energy Department are in a state of
administrative chaos, we don't want to count our chickens before
they're hatched," says former Sen. Richard Bryan, a longtime
leader in the Yucca Mountain fight.
"There's no question that it looks better than it has ever
looked for us, but I personally would feel more comfortable if
we had the $2 million."
I'll bet the Nevada congressional delegation feels the same way
heading into an important meeting this afternoon with energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman. The delegation is looking to persuade
Bodman to put Yucca Mountain out of its misery.
But once again Nevada forces aren't on the same page.
Loux says he's confident he'll be able to get more money from
lawmakers if he needs it down the road.
"They've been pretty generous in the past in helping us," he
says. "So I don't see a big problem there."
What is a problem, however, is giving a cunning opponent an
opening in the ring to turn the tables on you.
*****************************************************************
39 Tri-City Herald: State OKs limited shipments of waste
This story was published Tuesday, May 10th, 2005
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
The state of Washington opened the door Monday to allowing some
radioactive waste to be sent to Hanford.
State attorneys told U.S. District Court Judge Alan McDonald
that Washington would be willing to accept a small amount of
waste contaminated with plutonium at Hanford in exchange for
other protections. Those would include extending a ban on
importing some radioactive wastes and setting strict deadlines
on when the waste would have to leave Hanford.
The proposal to the judge is consistent with the state's policy
of pushing for "enforceable deadlines to make sure the cleanup
problem isn't allowed to get worse," said Sheryl Hutchison,
spokeswoman for the Washington State Department of Ecology.
The state filed suit in 2003 to keep the Department of Energy
from sending plutonium-contaminated waste to Hanford and later
expanded the suit to cover other types of radioactive waste. It
believes the site already has enough contamination and waste
disposal problems to solve after more than 40 years of producing
plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program.
In a victory for Washington, McDonald already has ruled the
state has authority to bar shipments of waste contaminated with
plutonium if it is also mixed with hazardous chemicals.
But at a hearing last month to consider extending a temporary
ban on DOE importing other types of waste, McDonald asked the
state if it would be willing to accept a small amount of
plutonium-contaminated waste, including some mixed with
hazardous chemicals that the state could legally bar.
DOE has 37 cubic meters of plutonium-contaminated waste left at
its Battelle Columbus Laboratory in Ohio that must be removed
before the site can be cleaned up and closed.
It has told the state that continuing to store the relatively
small amount of waste there would require building a new
shielded facility that would need state and federal licenses.
The building would add to cleanup costs and soon would need to
be decontaminated and torn down, DOE said.
Instead, DOE would like to send the waste to Hanford to be
inspected and certified for disposal at the Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant federal depository in the New Mexico desert.
But the state is concerned that some of the waste is more
radioactive than New Mexico will allow at the repository and
that it could become stranded at Hanford. DOE is working to get
approval to send the more radioactive waste, called
remote-handled, to the federal repository.
The state also has been concerned that allowing the Battelle
waste at Hanford could encourage DOE to try to send more waste,
or, in McDonald's words, to allow the camel's nose under the
tent flap.
DOE said in a decision last year that it would like to use
Hanford to store, process and certify up to 1,550 cubic meters
of imported plutonium-contaminated waste.
The state would be willing to remove its objection to accepting
the 37 cubic meters of waste from the Battelle site if the court
extends its temporary ban on imports of other
plutonium-contaminated waste until a ruling is made on its
lawsuit, it told the judge.
Without an extension, the temporary ban on imports of
plutonium-contaminated waste and low-level radioactive waste
could expire this week.
The state also is asking that the less-radioactive of the
Battelle waste, which totals 13.9 cubic meters, be shipped to
New Mexico for disposal within a year of its arrival at Hanford.
The rest of the waste would have to be shipped to New Mexico
within six months of the repository being approved to accept
remote-handled waste.
The state is asking that those deadlines be included in the
Tri-Party Agreement, which regulates the Hanford cleanup.
"The state believes that these conditions will protect the
state's interest, while addressing the concern raised by the
court by allowing closure of the (Battelle) site," the state
said in a court document.
In November, state voters approved an initiative that would
prevent DOE from sending more waste to Hanford until waste
already there is cleaned up.
In a separate court action, the federal government is asking
that the initiative be ruled unconstitutional. The state has
agreed to take no action to enforce the initiative until the
issue is decided in both state and federal courts.
© 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
40 RGJ: Nevada resolution urges feds to reject Yucca plan
[Reno Gazette-Journal] May 10, 2005
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) — A Nevada legislative panel voted Monday
to back a resolution that urges federal lawmakers to oppose
plans for storing nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain, about 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The vote by the Senate Natural Resources Committee sends AJR4 to
the Senate floor for a final legislative vote. The Assembly
approved the measure earlier.
There was no discussion among panel members, although at a
previous hearing the chairman, Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora,
said it’s apparent that the high-level radioactive waste dump
planned by the federal Department of Energy could hurt tourism
in this tourism-dependent state.
The resolution, already approved by the state Assembly, asks
federal decision-makers to give up on Yucca Mountain because it
is “an ill-advised project based on bad science, bad law and bad
public policy, a choice that ignores better, less expensive and
safer alternatives, a choice which hinders, not helps, national
security.”
Despite delays and spending cut, Energy Department officials
have said recently that the Yucca Mountain plan is alive and
well, and that support from the Bush administration remains
strong.
However, Bob Loux, head of the state Nuclear Projects Office
which opposes the dump, said the project “is failing rapidly.”
Recent problems with the government’s plans for the dump include
criminal investigations to determine whether workers on the
project falsified data.
Also, a court decision has forced a rewrite of radiation safety
standards for the site — and the DOE has scrapped a planned 2010
completion date without setting a new one.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a
*****************************************************************
41 WLBZ 2: MAINE YANKEE SAYS RAIL CARS WON'T COME BACK
WLBZ2.com
The rail cars containing soil from the old Maine Yankee
nuclear plant are no longer sitting behind a Topsham
neighborhood. But some people who live along the Central Maine
Railroad track still have concerns about why the cars were there
in the first place and whether they're coming back. Maine Yankee
officials met with them Monday night.
Maine Yankee continued to reassure people that none of the
material in those rail cars is dangerous and its president said
they don't plan on parking any more cars behind houses.
Neighbors got worried last week when they discovered the cars,
especially when they found out the cars were carrying waste from
the former nuclear power plant.
Maine Yankee has been shipping soil and other debris from its
old plant to a facility in Utah for a couple of years now. But
Utah rejected some of the most recent cars because the soil
inside them was too wet.
Maine Yankee didn't have enough room to store all the cars and
check their moisture content, so some of them had been stored on
rail lines like those in Topsham.
Neighbors said they're glad Maine Yankee moved the cars so
quickly, but they wanted to make sure that the cars aren't
coming back and that no radioactive material seeped into their
soil.
Maine Yankee has been checking the cars over to make sure
they're dry enough and plans to send them back to Utah as soon
as the persistent rain lets up.
WLBZ 2 - Bangor, Maine WCSH 6
- Portland, Maine
*****************************************************************
42 Xinhua: France urges Iran not to resume uranium enrichment
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-05-11 07:14:49
PARIS, May 10 (Xinhuanet) -- French Foreign Ministry on
Tuesday urged Iran not to resume uranium enrichment.
"We hope that Iran will not do such a decision," said French
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.
"We hope that Iran will remain within the November 2004
accord that stipulates the suspension of the activities related
to the enrichment and reprocessing, including the conversion,"
he added.
Iran agreed on November 2004 to suspend all its enrichment
activities.
Uranium conversion involves turning raw uranium into UF6
gas. This gas can be fed into centrifuges that refine out
enriched uranium, which can be directed towards making fuel for
atomic reactors or the core of a nuclear weapon. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
43 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada says Yucca Mountain e-mails it found point to fatal flaws
By KEN RITTER
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Excerpts of Energy Department and contractor
e-mails posted Tuesday on a Nevada Web site show fatal flaws in
planning for a national nuclear waste repository, a state
official said.
An Energy Department spokesman dismissed the Yucca Mountain
project e-mails as "a form of water cooler chatter."
The e-mails displayed by the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
highlight doubts that scientists and managers expressed about
the project from 1996 to March.
"It will let a lot of people see how shaky the science program
is at the Yucca Mountain program," said Bob Loux, agency chief
and the top state administrator opposing the project.
"It tells a story different from what DOE was telling the
public, he said. "It was clear that DOE came to realize the site
they had been saying was an ideal site was no good."
Some of the e-mails already had been made public during ongoing
federal investigations into whether quality assurance studies
about water seeping through the mountain were falsified.
Others focus on discussions in 1997-98 about corrosion of metal
containment casks that planners added to initial plans to rely
on mountain rock to prevent radioactivity from escaping.
"It's great that (Performance Assessment) finally admits 'that
everything is hinging on the corrosion-resistant waste package
barrier,'" project employee Larry Rickertsen wrote to a
colleague in November 1998. "The next step is to realize that
the (corrosion) resistance is not all that certain."
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson said the messages show
snippets of open debate. He called it misleading to draw
conclusions about the Yucca program from some 100 of the
millions of e-mails scientists and researchers exchanged during
20 years of study.
"E-mail is a form of water cooler chatter," Benson said. "We do
not outline our safety case in e-mails. Our safety case is
outlined in a license application and in all of the supporting
documents that have been peer-reviewed."
The Energy Department has missed several self-imposed project
deadlines, but officials say they intend by the end of the year
to submit a license application to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to build the repository 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas. The repository would entomb 77,000 tons of highly
radioactive spent nuclear fuel now stored at reactor sites and
military facilities in 39 states.
State officials contend the project is on the verge of collapse
because of legal and budgetary setbacks and the e-mail
revelations.
---
On the Net:
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov
*****************************************************************
44 Scotsman.com: Plan to ship Dounreay waste south is blocked
Wednesday, 11th May 2005
JOHN ROSS
THE Scottish Executive has blocked plans to ship low-level
radioactive waste the length of Scotland to a store in the north
of England.
Ministers have directed the Scottish Environment Protection
Agency (SEPA) to refuse an application for permission to
transport solid waste from Dounreay to the national low-level
waste (LLW) facility at Drigg in Cumbria.
With existing storage space due to reach capacity next year, the
rejection means managers at the Caithness plant will build new
facilities there for waste.
The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) had applied for
permission to dispose of LLW at Drigg to comply with a report
from SEPA and the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate in 1998,
pending a long-term strategy on waste management. The UKAEA had
budgeted about £2.3 million over the next two years to send the
material to Drigg.
But since then, concerns have been raised about transportation
of waste from Dounreay, the LLW policy is being reviewed and a
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has been set up.
SEPA had intended to grant the application but Ross Finnie, the
environment minister, announced the refusal yesterday. He said:
"This decision reflects a widespread view that the best
practicable environmental option for this low-level waste is
that it should be dealt with at Dounreay, where it is produced.
"We are currently reviewing LLW policy and Dounreay’s own LLW
strategy document sets out the intention to develop a facility
on site. Ministers support this aim and believe that it is
essential that all involved now proceed to develop this
proposal."
About 33,000 cubic metres of solid LLW - equivalent in volume to
240 double-decker buses - has been disposed of in a series of
shallow pits at Dounreay, which are nearly full.
The decommissioning of Dounreay is expected to generate
64,000-109,000 cubic metres of new solid LLW.
The UKAEA plans to build a new disposal facility, at a cost of
about £60 million, but it will not be ready until 2011. In the
meantime, it is seeking permission to build an extension to its
existing store at a cost of £1.5 million.
The authority obtained planning permission in 2001 for a store
extension but the project was shelved while it pursued the
option of disposing of waste at Drigg.
Norman Harrison, Dounreay’s director, said: "The option of
opening up a disposal route to Drigg dates back to the 1998
Safety Audit carried out by regulators, when the climate
surrounding Dounreay was very different.
"There was an understandable desire at that time to avoid any
unnecessary accumulation of radioactive waste, particularly in
the absence of a long-term strategy.
"Dounreay today is a very different place. Major investment
means the site is in a much stronger position.
"We have worked tirelessly to rebuild the confidence of
stakeholders, and we now have in place a strategy for low-level
waste that follows extensive public participation in the
options."
Lorraine Mann, convener of Scotland Against Nuclear Dumping,
said: "This is what everyone except SEPA has been saying all
along. Dounreay should be keeping its own waste - it should not
be trawled the length and breadth of the country to be imposed
on another community elsewhere."
©2005 Scotsman.com |
*****************************************************************
45 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada lawmakers emerge disappointed from Bodman meeting
By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Tuesday
that Yucca Mountain is moving forward despite a controversy over
document falsification on the nuclear waste dump project.
"It has been my judgment that until I see something that
indicates to me that the science of this project has been
compromised, we're going to continue to go forward as planned,"
Bodman told reporters after meeting with Nevada's congressional
delegation for the first time since announcing the existence in
mid-March of e-mails suggesting workers on the project might
have falsified documents.
Bodman said he was awaiting results of a scientific inquiry by
the Department of Energy and criminal investigations by the
inspectors general of the Energy and Interior departments, who
are being assisted by the FBI.
But meantime, Bodman said: "We're continuing to do our work, and
I do not consider Yucca Mountain to be dead."
Frustrated Nevada lawmakers said the energy secretary delivered
the same message to them during the half-hour meeting in the
office of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
"He just brushed it off like it's really no big deal," said Sen.
John Ensign, R-Nev. "We think it is a big deal and there are
serious concerns that should be taken seriously, even if they
turn out the way he believes they'll turn out. I don't think he
should go into it with such a biased view."
Bodman, who took office earlier this year, could not say when
the investigations would be complete, though he said there was
"a sense of urgency" in gathering information.
Portions of the e-mails released by a congressional panel
chaired by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. show workers discussed making
up data and keeping two sets of figures related to water
infiltration at the dump site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The e-mails were written from 1998 to 2000, mainly by two U.S.
Geological Survey employees in Las Vegas.
While Bodman has said he was troubled over the release of the
e-mails, Porter said Bodman has not cooperated with his
subcommittee's investigation.
"We called for cooperation; the secretary refused," Porter said.
"Was I surprised? Absolutely not. Was I disappointed?
Absolutely," Porter said.
Subcommittee staffers, who said the Energy Department has not
released all the documents being sought, are preparing for a
second hearing on the issue and trying to interview the workers
at the center of the controversy.
The Energy Department plans to seek a license to bury 77,000
tons of highly radioactive waste from 39 states at Yucca
Mountain.
--
*****************************************************************
46 Belfast Telegraph: Radioactive leak closes Sellafield processing plant
www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk
10 May 2005
A nuclear reprocessing plant at Sellafield has closed after a
radioactive leak, prompting renewed calls for it to be shut down
permanently.
The Thorp reprocessing plant - one of two on the Cumbrian site -
was forced to close after a split pipe leaked enough
contaminated liquid to fill a large swimming pool.
The spill of a highly dangerous mix of nuclear fuel is not a
danger to the public. But experts may have to build special
robots to recover the 20 tonnes of liquid contaminated with
uranium and plutonium.
The Republic's Environment Minister Dick Roche stressed last
night he had been aware of the April 18 leak and had informed
the public at the time via a press release.
Mr Roche added: "I am firmly resolved to continue to press for
the safe closure of Sellafield in the interests of the health
and safety of the Irish people and our environment."
Emmet Stagg, Irish Labour party spokesman on Nuclear Safety,
said: "This is the latest in a long list of incidents at
Sellafield that again raises questions about the safety of the
plant and the honesty of those who operate it."
Green Party spokesman Ciaran Cuffe added: "At a time when
Britain's Labour government is trailing proposals to build new
plants, another leak at Sellafield only underlines the
transnational consequences of such decisions."
Fergus O'Dowd (FG) said the safest course of action would be for
Sellafield to be shut down once and for all. Back | Return
to top | Printable Story
© 2005 Independent News and Media (NI)
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47 Rocky Mountain News: Senator critical of state security funding
Money running low, sites go unprotected, Grossman charges
By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News
May 10, 2005
Colorado's homeland security grant funding has dropped 34
percent since 2003 and is likely to fall further as money is
shifted to more likely terrorist targets such as New York and
Washington, D.C.
At the same time, Sen. Dan Grossman, D-Denver, told the
legislature's executive committee Monday that Colorado's
homeland security spending is "a-- backwards" because the state
has spent $130 million in federal grants before deciding what's
most critically needed.
Gov. Bill Owens' administration strongly disagrees.
Cabinet member Michael Beasley defends the current system of
providing some grant money to each region in the state as fair.
Grossman called it "pork barrel."
Grossman, who chairs the state Senate Homeland Security
Committee, has heard that the state's 2006 grants could drop to
as little as half of this year's $33 million under the
president's proposal to shift even more money to the
highest-risk areas.
Officials in the Bush administration and Congress say they can't
estimate yet how much Colorado would get.
The homeland security committee, which includes Republicans, is
concerned that the state has spent its $130 million, three-year
windfall on items that are useful, but not the most important.
"We still don't have a complete evaluation of what our needs and
vulnerabilities are," Grossman told the legislature's
leadership.
His homeland security committee, which has held three months of
hearings, fears that the state's most tempting targets are
unprotected - and now the federal money may be running low, he
said.
Much of the $130 million has gone to radios, command posts and
gear for first responders.
Grossman said it's great that Colorado now has this equipment.
"But if you're doing that instead of protecting the power grid
or the computer system," that may be a problem, he said.
According to the state's homeland security strategy, Colorado is
94 percent short of the cameras and other equipment it needs to
protect critical infrastructure, such as water supplies and
industrial plants.
Currently, each of nine regions in Colorado applies for grants
to fill its most pressing needs in anti-terrorism.
Then, an Owens administration committee decides - in secret -
which projects will be funded.
The secrecy law has restricted debate over how the state is
spending its federal homeland security grants, preventing
legislators, first responders and the public from knowing which
projects are getting the money.
The legislature has passed a bill opening up grant records, but
the measure has not been acted on by the governor.
Even if it becomes law, however, legislators still won't be able
to find out the state's most significant unfixed and unfunded
problems.
As for federal grants, Colorado is expected to lose out if the
government adopts a risk-based formula for state grants.
That's what has happened with city grants already calculated
that way.
Denver has bounced from 9th most likely to be attacked in 2003,
to 39th in 2004, and back up to 17th this year, according to a
federal evaluation.
Its grant dropped from $15.6 million to $8.6 million when the
risk dropped; then funding remained flat at $8.7 million even
though the city's risk ranking climbed.
That's because the threat is considered far greater in such
places as New York, said Mark Short of the federal Department of
Homeland Security.
Just why Denver's risk changed is secret.
Short said it's based on population density, amount of critical
infrastructure, threats to the area and law enforcement data
such as ongoing FBI investigations into terrorism.
Colorado's fall in risk from 2003 to 2004 coincided with the
removal from the state of a key terrorist target: tons of
weapons-grade pluton-ium then stored at the Rocky Flats nuclear
bomb plant.
Colorado anti-terrorism grants
34%: Amount Colorado federal homeland security funds have
dropped since 2003. That number includes individual city grants.
• How much will Colorado get? Officials can't say how much is
set aside for the state in President Bush's 2006 budget.
• Who's getting the money? Higher risk areas, such as New York
and Washington, D.C.
• 2003 $50.2 million
• 2004 $45.5 million
• 2005 $33 million
Source: Colorado Department of Local Affairs, U.S. DHS Office
for Domestic Preparedness.
imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5438
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48 The New Mexican: Former lab worker dies before LANL battle ends
Tue May 10, 2005 5:06 pm
In a restaurant on Friday, Todd Kauppila celebrated the news of
Pete Nanos resignation as director of Los Alamos National
Laboratory . Every table is packed, and the beer is flowing,
he told The Associated Press.
Kauppila had more to rejoice about than any average lab worker.
He was fired in September over a pair of computer disks
mistakenly thought to be missing this past summer, and he was in
the process of legal action for what he had said was a wrongful
termination. He considered himself a scapegoat.
The worst of his situation looked like it was over, lab
employee Douglas Roberts said in an interview Monday.
Over the weekend, however, Kauppila fell sick, with what he
thought was the flu. On Sunday , his wife, Sarah, found him
passed out in the house and called 911. Kauppila died at 11 p.m.
Sunday. He was 41.
John Sarracino, a neighbor whose son is best friends with
Kauppilas son, heard the ambulance sirens wailing down the
street around dusk Sunday. He figured Kauppilas son had hurt
himself, or maybe Kauppila had chopped his finger off while
gourmet cooking. But when he stopped by the house, he learned
Kauppila might have had a heart attack.
Sarracino, a fellow soccer coach, described Kauppila as a
talented soccer player who enjoyed cooking, golf and astronomy.
He added that once Kauppila had built a telescope out of spare
parts.
Both men also worked at the nuclear-weapons lab. Sarracino said
Kauppila wasnt one of those lab workers with a host of degrees
behind his name.
To rise to the position he did as a staff member with the
responsibility he had, in my mind, was quite an undertaking,
Sarracino said. He worked hard, and he was intelligent.
In his management post in the DX-3 division, Kauppila helped
execute hydrodynamic experiments. He was on a family vacation in
Washington , D.C., in July 2004 when he received a call from his
boss about an inventory discrepancy involving two computer disks
thought to contain secret information. Kauppila was one of a
dozen people authorized to access the safe where the disks were
stored.
A frantic search for the disks triggered an FBI investigation
and a shutdown of all classified work, which the Energy
Department extended to all of laboratories to make sure proper
protocols were in place everywhere. Then, the lab fired Kauppila
on Sept. 23, 2004.
The FBI eventually determined the disks never existed; a
clerical error was at the root of the mix-up . However, Kauppila
did not win back his job, despite having received a
distinguished-performance award shortly before he was fired.
In recent months, though, Kauppila seemed to be rebounding. He
had found another job in Los Alamos as a contractor with Bechtel
Nevada Corp. He was very happy about that and had been very
up, lab retiree Betty Gunther said.
Roberts, founder of a Web site called LANL: The Real Story, said
he met Kauppila through the events of last July. Kauppilas
personal account of the accounting discrepancy and his firing
were posted on the blog. He was a very nice guy, and it was sad
what happened to him, Roberts said.
Co-worker John Horne paid tribute to his mentor Monday. Todd
dedicated his life to his family, whom he loved dearly, and to
his science on behalf of the nation. He rose to be a
world-renowned leader in his chosen field. He served with pride
and distinction knowing that the data that he collected was
critical to the security of the nation that he loved, Horne
wrote in a posting on the blog.
Kauppila is survived by his wife, Sarah; son, John; daughter ,
Tia; his parents, John and Marie; sister, Diana, and brother,
David.
Copyright 2004 Santa Fe New Mexican
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49 ABQJOURNAL: Former LANL Scientist Fired in Security Scandal Dies
the Albuquerque Journal newspaper.
Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Albuquerque Journal-->
Associated Press
LOS ALAMOS — A former Los Alamos nuclear lab scientist,
fired last year in a security scandal that shut the lab down for
several weeks, has died.
Todd Kauppila, 41, died Sunday, according to friends, two
days after publicly rejoicing over news that the lab's director
was leaving.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
"Every table is packed and the beer is flowing,'' he told
The Associated Press on Friday as he celebrated with fellow
scientists at a Los Alamos eatery.
Kauppila, who had 21 years of experience, was fired by
Director Pete Nanos on Sept. 23. Along with his last paycheck
and termination letter, Kauppila said last year that the lab
sent him a distinguished service award for experiments
certifying the nuclear weapons stockpile.
Kauppila said he was fired because he didn't immediately
return from a family vacation during a lab investigation into
two classified computer disks, which were thought to be missing.
The apparent security breach forced Nanos to shut the lab
down for several weeks.
Kauppila claimed he was made a scapegoat over the disks,
which, it turned out, never actually existed — a clerical error
was ultimately blamed.
In a March interview, Kauppila described frustration that
the University of California was dragging its feet in dealing
with his contesting his firing. He also described being worried
about his family's finances and health insurance coverage.
In recent months, Kauppila had gotten a job as a contractor
at Bechtel Nevada Corp.
UC spokesman Chris Harrington said he could not comment on
personnel issues at the lab, but expressed his "deepest
sympathies'' to Kauppila's family.
Doug Roberts, a computer scientist at the lab, said though
he only knew him a short time, he "considered him to be a fine
person.''
Kauppila is survived by his wife, Sarah; son, John;
daughter, Tia; his parents John and Marie; sister, Diana; and
brother, David.
Copyright Albuquerque Journal
Steve@abqjournal.com
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50 Daily Texan: DOE studies environmental impact of Los Alamos
University | 5/10/2005
Analysis undertaken in light of proposed production increase
By Zachary Warmbrodt
The U.S. Department of Energy is conducting an environmental
impact analysis of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in
preparation for the intended doubling of maximum plutonium pit
production.
News of the planned production increase comes as the usefulness
of the lab was called into question on the floor of the U.S.
House of Representatives Thursday, and former Laboratory
Director Peter Nanos announced his resignation Friday.
Plutonium pits serve as triggers in modern thermonuclear
weapons.
Elizabeth Withers, environmental compliance manager at the
laboratory for the DOE, said the analysis was being undertaken
so that the yearly maximum allowable production could be
increased from 20 pits to 40. The 20-pit quota was set after a
1999 environmental impact analysis. In reality, the lab has only
been producing one to two pits a year, she said.
The federal government has been trying to increase production of
plutonium pits since the Rocky Flats facility outside Denver
shut down in 1989. In the mid-'90s, Los Alamos National
Laboratory resumed pit production for the first time since Rocky
Flats construction in the '50s.
Los Alamos National Laboratory has taken on the responsibility
of developing the pits since Congress cut funding for a proposed
stand-alone pit production facility in 2004.
"We're looking at providing an interim capability here at Los
Alamos," Withers said. "Of course all of these things take time.
A new facility would not be operational for about another 20
years. So in that interim time period, we need to make some
provisions within the department to make pits as needed."
The University of California currently manages lab operations at
Los Alamos, and the UT System is considering a bid to take over
control.
"My guess is that if, and this is a big if, the University of
Texas participates in the bid for Los Alamos, it will be to
oversee primarily the quality and integrity of the science that
is done rather than managing the specific operations within the
lab," said Juan Sanchez, vice president for research and member
of the UT task force on Los Alamos.
University and nuclear watch groups oppose the increase in
nuclear bomb materials.
Greg Mello, executive director and secretary of the Los Alamos
Study Group, a private nuclear proliferation research
organization, said pit production is harmful to the environment
and that the laboratory is "opening a very big can of worms" by
increasing it.
"This is analogous to the American revolution when the Red Coats
actually appear," Mello said. "This is the Paul Revere moment
for Los Alamos, as far as its future identity ... What is Los
Alamos? That's the question that is being asked anew, and it's
hard to know how long the process will go on, but it's being
asked with earnestness we haven't seen before."
John Pruett, spokesman for UT Watch, said that if the University
bid for and won the Los Alamos contract, the University would be
associated with weapons production.
"Nuclear war is increased by production of nuclear weapons,"
said Pruett, a history senior. "If UT was going to get involved
with that, we'd be at the front of a new nuclear arms race."
Last Thursday, on the eve of Nanos' resignation announcement,
U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Michigan, openly questioned the
performance and usefulness of the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in a congressional hearing, according to The Associated Press.
"We have a lab here that is a constant problem," Stupak said,
according to the AP. "Is there any really unique science that
can only be done there? Why do we need Los Alamos?"
Referring to the representative's comments, Sanchez said, "My
opinion is as long as we are going to keep a nuclear weapons
program, we need Los Alamos."
When asked about the pit production and Stupak's comments, the
UT System declined to comment.
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51 KTVB.COM: INL cleanup contractor takes first step toward eventual layoffs
10:34 AM MDT on Tuesday, May 10, 2005
Associated Press
IDAHO FALLS -- The company in charge of cleaning up radioactive
wastes and equipment at the Idaho National Laboratory is taking
the first step toward eventual layoffs.
CH2MWG Idaho will submit a workforce-restructuring plan to the
U.S. Department of Energy this week.
Company spokeswoman Amy Lientz says layoff numbers won't be
released until the overall plan is approved.
A federal contract requires that the company submit a layoff
plan and notify employees if more than 100 people will be laid
off within a year. About 6,200 people are on the cleanup crew.
The company took over the $2.9 billion INL cleanup contract
about a week ago. The contract is set to last through 2012.
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52 lamonitor.com: State cites lab waste violations
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, , Monitor Assistant Editor
New Mexico Environment Department has notified Los Alamos
National Laboratory of eight environmental violations for the
2004-2005 period, proposing fines totaling $63,578. The state
enforces hazardous waste violations under the federal Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act, as well as the New Mexico
Hazardous Waste Management Regulations.
The penalties are based on two wall-to-wall inspections at the
laboratory that began on March 22, 2004, and Feb. 28, 2005, for
problems ranging from neglecting to label a container of used
oil to failing to obtain permits for hazardous waste in a
"flammable storage cabinet" in Technical Area 15 "along the
R-Site Road." and in a glove box at the Chemistry and Metallurgy
Building in Technical Area 3.
NMED Hazardous Waste Bureau Chief James Bearzi sent a formal
notice of violation on April 20 to LANL and the National Nuclear
Security Administration site office.
In its response to NMED, dated May 5, LANL admitted not labeling
the used oil barrel, adding, "A 'used oil' label was applied to
the container at the time of the inspection in the presence of
the NMED inspector.
"All these regulations are put in place to protect people's
health, especially people who are handling these materials, "
said Jon Goldstein, NMED communications director Tuesday,
"Labels, for example are required so a worker or handler knows
what he's dealing with and if there's a spill, he knows how to
clean it up."
With respect to the hazardous waste permits, which accounted for
$48,360, the bulk of the proposed fine, LANL admitted to the
hazardous waste at the CMR building and agreed to transfer the
waste into a permitted interim storage area in the building.
LANL cited mitigating circumstances in the case of the flammable
cabinet at TA-15, where a small amount of waste generated from a
burned out building during the Cerro Grande fire had been kept
in what the lab's response said was a properly identified
accumulation area.
These and the six other violations will be the subject of a
settlement conference yet to be scheduled. Of the remaining
violations, the laboratory admitted to all or parts of three of
the citations and described corrective actions that have been
taken.
The lab's environmental solid waste regulatory compliance group
within the Environmental Stewardship Division is responsible for
implementing RCRA and state hazardous waste regulations. The
group leader Tony Grieggs said the size and number of violations
showed improvement.
"The laboratory, including all the waste generators and waste
managers, have worked very hard with the environmental
division," he said. "And we have demonstrated that we can
perform well. I think the mission before us is to sustain that
improvement."
The state has conducted hazardous inspections and issued
compliance orders since 1993.
The inspections are conducted without warning.
In the state's most recent visit, about six state inspectors
spent nearly three weeks combing through 600 buildings.
Last February, while the laboratory and its institutional
managers were in court disputing NMED's effort to establish a
comprehensive clean-up plan, NMED fined the lab $1.4 million for
21 violations identified during 2003.
"The goal is zero penalties," said Goldstein, "That's what we're
constantly striving toward."
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
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