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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Mehr News: Kuwait not concerned about Iran's nuclear program
2 OpEd Iran & Nukes San Diego Union Tribune June 6, 2005
3 AFP: Iranian official discusses nuclear file in UAE
4 Korea Times: ABC to Cover News From Pyongyang
5 Korea Times: Pyongyang Returning to 6-Party Talks
6 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Endorses U.S.-North Korea Meeting
7 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Confident of Korea Nuclear Talks
8 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Woos North Korea Back to Nuke Talks
9 Korea Herald: U.S., N.K. seen moving closer to six-way talks
10 Korea Herald: South Korea, a country possessed by past
11 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Gauging N.K. rationality
12 Korea Herald: U.S., N.K. seen moving closer to six-way talks
13 Korea Herald: N.K. nukes and ROK-U.S. alliance
14 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Alliance and contingency
15 BBC: NK talks to resume 'within weeks'
16 Xinhua: US says DPRK gives no indication to resume nuclear talks
17 Japan Times: North Korea eager to return to talks - Koizumi
18 ITAR-TASS: NKorea demands pullout of US nuclear weapons from South K
19 Guardian Unlimited: Head of IAEA to Fly to D.C. for Meetings
20 US: Deseret News: Huntsman appoints 13 to energy council
21 US: lamonitor.com: Warhead debate shakes stockpile
22 [NukeNet] Huge Shortfall To Dismantle Russian Nukes, Rocky
23 Guardian Unlimited: Aid Sought to Dismantle Russian Nukes
24 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Hydrogen power should be free of nuclear
25 NewsFromRussia.Com: G8 nations should spend more to dismantle Russia
26 Daily Yomiuri: Nuclear fusion energy '50 years away'
27 ITAR-TASS: Russia urges G8 partners to step up aid for submarine uti
NUCLEAR REACTORS
28 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear power debate hits a snag
29 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear power not the answer - Dems
30 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet June 15-17
31 Korea Herald: China pledges billions for nuclear power
32 Xinhua: China to build 30 nuclear power generators
33 People's Daily: China's nuclear power design capability scales new h
34 People's Daily: Nuclear power plants in China open to general public
35 US: NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
36 US: Newsday.com: Hope Creek nuclear plant shut down for third time
37 AU ABC: Renewed call for nuclear power debate.
38 US: PRN: Hope Creek Declares Unusual Event
NUCLEAR SECURITY
39 US: NRC: NRC to Send Team to Review Seabrook Security
40 US: L.A. Daily News: Measure of safety
41 US: Portsmouth Herald News: Nuclear-plant checks begin
42 Xinhua: Spain, US to cooperate in preventing spread of WMD
43 Jakarta Post: Govt to form special body to fight terrorism
NUCLEAR SAFETY
44 US: [DU-WATCH] Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
45 [DU-WATCH] Extraordinary German Film on DU
46 AU ABC: Mayor gets written promise on depleted uranium
47 US: Las Vegas RJ: Wildfire on Nellis range escalates
48 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find
49 Japan Times: Dismantling of nuclear accident site begins
50 US: Paducah Sun: Coverage sought for all children of sick workers -
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
51 US: Nuke Watch: Shipment of Radioactive Waste Leaves Ohio to Texas
52 Las Vegas SUN: NRC staff told data cited in Yucca Mountain
53 US: Nevada Appeal: Use Hawthorne base for nuclear storage
54 US: Bradenton Herald: Final Tallevast toxin map ready
55 US: AU ABC: Mining companies look to NT for uranium
56 Las Vegas RJ: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: DOE: Water flow studies sound
57 Bellona: Tender results for 50 containers for spent nuclear fuel to
58 Platts: DOE investigation says USGS studies of Yucca Mt. are sound
59 Las Vegas SUN: Despite DOE e-mails, Yucca research deemed legitimate
60 Las Vegas SUN: State seeks draft copy of Yucca license application
61 7news: Nuclear dump against state law - Carr
62 US: allAfrica.com: South Africa: Government Yokes Glowing Potential
63 Daily Yomiuri: Looking on bright side of losing ITER
64 US: KYTV: Radioactive waste shipments do not concern emergency respo
65 US: OA Online News: Radioactive waste en route to Andrews
66 US: AU ABC: Environmentalists warn against China uranium exports.
67 AU ABC:: States opposed to national nuclear waste repository
68 US: AU ABC: Federal MP urges WA Govt to lift uranium mining ban.
69 UK: News & Star: We must not lose Sellafield
70 News & Star: Sellafield warned over waste procedures
71 US: Press Herald: Environmental cleanup should be figured in
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
72 Guardian Unlimited: Los Alamos Lab Whistleblower Beaten Up
73 slate: Whistle-Blower at Los Alamos Attacked in Parking Lot in N.M.
74 SF Chronicle: Los Alamos auditor beaten after going to meet tipster
75 KRQE News 13: Los Alamos lab whistleblower severely beaten
76 lamonitor.com: LANL worker attacked
77 Paducah Sun: 2 firms to take over part of cleanup -
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Mehr News: Kuwait not concerned about Iran's nuclear program
MehrNews.com -
TEHRAN, June 7 (MNA) -- The secretary of Iran's Supreme National
Security Council (SNSC), Hassan Rowhani, arrived in Abu Dhabi
Monday night on the second leg of his four-nation Asian tour,
which has already taken him to Kuwait.
Rowhani and his delegation were welcomed by the United Arab
Emirates Interior Minister Saif bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan, Iranian
Ambassador to the UAE Mohammad-Ali Hadi, and several other
officials.
He also visited the mausoleum of former UAE president Sheikh
Zayid bin Sultan Al Nuhayyan and signed the memorial book.
During his two-day visit, Rowhani is scheduled to meet UAE
President Khalifa bin Zayid Al Nuhayyan, and he has already met
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin
Zayed Al-Nahayan.
Holding talks on bilateral and regional issues and briefing
officials on Tehran's progress in nuclear talks are the main
objectives of the Iranian official’s Asian trip.
Rowhani's week-long tour will also take him to Yemen and Saudi
Arabia.
At the end of his official visit to Kuwait, Rowhani attended a
press conference during which he elaborated on Iran’s peaceful
nuclear program.
"I made clear to our Kuwaiti brothers that Iran's peaceful
nuclear programs would eventually be run under the close
supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and
therefore, they should not be the source of any fear for regional
or international circles."
Rowhani said, "I met various Kuwaiti officials, including the
prime minister, the interior minister, and the Ummah Majlis
(parliament) speaker, and conferred with them on the issues of
bilateral ties and regional and international developments.
"During this visit, we also exchanged views on finalizing the
bilateral negotiations on Iran-Kuwait shared off-shore oil and
gas fields, Iran’s water and gas exports to Kuwait, regional
security and arrangements to safeguard it in the future, the
anti-drug campaign, terrorism, and organized crime."
The SNSC secretary expressed satisfaction about the outcome of
his talks with Kuwaiti officials.
On the lingering tension between Tehran and Washington, Rowhani
said, "We have no interest in aggravating tension with the United
States, and furthermore, we do not think Iran's peaceful nuclear
programs would be considered a threat at all to the Americans.
"We do not think Washington truly intends to pose a threat to us
by resorting to such an excuse, and we hope the Americans would
bear in mind the need to secure regional peace and security, as
well as their own interests, when formulating their policies for
this region."
Rowhani advised White House officials that posing security
threats to a strong regional country like the Islamic Republic of
Iran runs contrary to efforts to secure their interests in the
region.
"Our nuclear activities are totally in line with relevant
international rules and regulations, and therefore, if competent
foreign countries would be interested in cooperation with us, the
Islamic Republic of Iran broadly welcomes the idea," he added.
On the Iran-Kuwait negotiations on their shared off-shore gas and
oil fields, he said, "Solving the disputes about such complicated
issues usually takes a long time, but, during the past few
months, the two sides have made noticeable progress, the major
part of which is related to approaching the final stages of
negotiations on our shared off-shore fields."
In response to a question on Al-Qaeda members arrested in Iran,
Rowhani stated, "Iran has been the point player of the campaign
against Al-Qaeda so far, and I do not think any other country can
present a record as active as the Islamic Republic of Iran in
that respect.
"During the past four years, the Iranian security forces have
arrested some 500 Al-Qaeda members of various ranks and
repatriated them to their governments.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has also presented the related list
to the United Nations.
"Some Al-Qaeda agents are being kept in Iranian prisons for the
crimes they have committed in Iran, whose court trials will be
held upon completion of their files."
In response to a question on whether Iran has any conditions for
resumption of ties with the United States, he said, "We expect
U.S. officials to abandon the language of force, repeal the laws
it has passed against the Islamic Republic, and stop creating
obstacles in certain regions against our national interests.
"If the Americans succeed in changing their attitude in their
approach toward us and adopt a unified, solid policy in dealing
with Iran, I suppose we could witness the emergence of a new
era."
On Iran's position toward the newly elected Iraqi government, he
said, "We regard Iraq not only as a neighbor, but also as a
brother nation, and are ready to use our influence to boost
security and stability there.
"The Islamic Republic will also do its best to assist the Iraqi
nation in their efforts to reconstruct their country."
In his meeting with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad
al-Jabir al-Sabah on Monday, Rowhani said that Iran is prepared
to expand cooperation with regional states in the campaign
against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
"Iran has never sought nuclear weapons and will never do so," he
stressed.
The Iran-Kuwait relationship is passing through the stage of
mutual confidence-building, he said, calling their bilateral ties
comprehensive and strategic.
He cited the giant projects to transfer Iran's natural gas and
water to Kuwait as an important starting point for bolstering
strategic economic cooperation.
The SNSC secretary stated that the regular consultations between
Tehran and Kuwait on key regional issues are important and
expressed Iran’s readiness to prepare the ground for the
establishment of regional security among Persian Gulf littoral
states and Yemen within the framework of Resolution 598.
He said serious cooperation between regional states in the
campaigns against weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, illicit
drugs, and organized crime would boost confidence among regional
countries.
For his part, the Kuwaiti premier pointed to Iran's key role in
the Persian Gulf region and called for the consolidation of
relations between the two countries.
Kuwait is determined to establish comprehensive ties with Iran,
he said, and invited Iranian President Mohammad Khatami to pay a
visit to Kuwait in the near future.
Kuwait has never been threatened by Iran over the decades,
al-Sabah said, stressing that his country has always defended
Iran's right to make use of nuclear energy meant for peaceful
purposes.
Iran and Kuwait were victims of former Iraqi president Saddam
Hussein's aggressions, he said at the end of his remarks, adding
that the two countries should pay due attention to efforts to
strengthen relations.
Kuwaiti Parliament Speaker Jassem Muhammad al-Kharafi said on
Monday that Iran's peaceful nuclear program was no source of
concern for his country.
In a meeting with Rowhani, he pointed to Iran's strategic role in
the region, adding that strategic cooperation between the two
countries would be in line with regional interests.
The parliament speaker said that regional countries could settle
their problems through dialogue and such visits could help
eliminate some concerns.
He also called for the expansion of economic relations between
Iran and Kuwait.
For his part, Rowhani noted that Iran's nuclear technology was
meant for peaceful purposes and said Tehran was abiding by
international regulations.
He also pointed to the fact that Iran's activities to produce
nuclear fuel for its power plants were conducted under the
supervision of the IAEA.
Ruling out allegations that Iran was trying to manufacture
nuclear weapons, the SNSC chief said Iran opened its nuclear
centers to IAEA inspectors in a trust-building gesture and they
reported that there were no violations of the rules in Tehran's
nuclear activities.
Rowhani voiced Iran's readiness for economic cooperation, noting
its role in boosting security and prosperity in the region.
He also expressed his satisfaction about the approval of new laws
in Kuwait raising the legal status of Kuwaiti women and said such
moves helped improve the image of Islam in world public opinion.
z Meanwhile, in a meeting with UAE Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al-Nahayan also on
Tuesday, Rowhani said, “The U.S. cannot tolerate Islamic
countries’ nuclear capabilities that are meant for peaceful
purposes.”
The United States is constantly pressuring these countries in
order to deprive them of their legitimate international rights,
he noted.
“The United States’ main goal in the Middle East is helping
Israel dominate the fate of Islamic states.”
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rowhani stressed the need for Tehran
and Abu Dhabi to sign a security agreement on combating
terrorism, organized crime, and drug smuggling.
For his part, Al-Nahayan said that the UAE is keen to maintain
its neighborly ties with Iran.
He also called for bilateral talks on regional issues, including
the future of Iraq.
The minister referred to Iran’s transfer of gas to the UAE as
one of the most strategic economic links between the two states
and expressed his country’s interest in participating in
Iran’s gas transfer projects.
HL/HG End
MNA
Photo © 2003 Mehr News Agency
*****************************************************************
2 OpEd Iran & Nukes San Diego Union Tribune June 6, 2005
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2005 03:33:20 EDT
San Diego Union Tribune
Combating Iran's nuclear ambitions
By Bennett Ramberg
June 6, 2005
Once again, Tehran and its European interlocutors have backed off their
collision course. The May 25 "last chance" talks between the revolutionary regime
and the European Community recessed with little more than agreement to
reconvene after Iran's June elections.
Britain, France and Germany (the EU-3) are now banking that a new Iranian
president will do what President Khatami would nor or could not, namely halt the
country's nuclear fuel cycle ambitions. Unfortunately the EU-3 hope is likely
to be a chimera. Still, there remains an unexplored opportunity that can save
face and enhance the security of all parties.
The Iran-EU-3 negotiations began in the fall of 2003. They sprang from the
European Union's conviction that diplomacy still could move Tehran from suspect
activities despite its evident violation of international safeguards. A
skeptical Washington agreed not to torpedo the EU-3 effort. However, the Bush
administration put the negotiators on notice: failure to halt Iran's nuclear
enrichment efforts would prompt the United States to put the matter before the
Security Council. The administration further declared that it will not exclude any
measure including force to prevent the mullahs from obtabtaining the bomb.
During months of on-and-off talks, the EU-3 offered a reasonable quid pro
quo: Europe would provide Iran with dramatically improved economic and political
relations in return for the cessation of nuclear fuel cycle activities.
Throughout the dialogue, Tehran responded that it would be open to benefits but not
at the cost of restricting peaceful nuclear enterprises, including the
enrichment component.
However, the largesse of the planned venture a fuel production cappacity
able to meet the needs of 10 reactors calls the program's intentioons into
question. Consider: At this time Iran only has one power reactor under
construction. Proposed plants will take a decades to build. Tehran's response that its
excess enrichment capacity could meet a global need makes little ssense in a
glutted market.
A political angle may provide additional insight into the current impasse.
The mullahs already have benefited domestically from the dispute. Despite
significant disenchantment over unemployment, inflation, official corruption and
religious strictures, the nuclear impasse has rallied the public. By refusing to
bend to the demands of the West, the clerics will be in a better position to
generate further political fidelity as the country approaches June elections.
But there is more that underlies the mullahs' position. Hubris sustained by
malignant narcissism feelings of insult, injury shame resulting inn
expressions of anger, hate, contempt and revenge may fuel their coockiness. It appears
to have contributed to Iran's repeated snubbing of International Atomic Energy
Agency safeguards and recent demands that Europe contract with Iran to build
ten reactors, that "coincidentally," would justify the enrichment program.
Conceit also encourages the leadership to believe that it can block Security
Council sanctions.
Impacting malignant narcissists is a difficult challenge. North Korea clearly
marks a failure; Libya a success. In both cases the international community
applied political and economic isolation to bring these countries to heel. But
the results were quite different suggesting that there is no reliable key to
sway countries.
Still, combating Iran's nuclear ambition would benefit from international
solidarity. Unfortunately, neither Russia or China both permanent members of
the Security Council are on board. A combination of important econnomic ties,
skepticism about Tehran's nuclear weapons ambitions and a willingness to let
Washington be the "heavy" explain. Then there is a European Community that
continues to believe that pressing Iran too hard is counterproductive.
One solution: test Iran's "peaceful" representations. An EU-3 offer of an
enrichment partnership on Iranian soil however dubious economicallly would
serve this end. In exchange, Tehran would agree to "permanent" European
operating and monitoring personnel coupled to enforcement of the 1997 additional
protocol which Tehran has yet to ratify allowing Internarnational Atomic Energy
Agency snap inspections of suspect nuclear sites. Violation of safeguards would
result in the prompt application of specified significant penalties.
Such an action plan comports with Tehran's recent declaration that it is "100
percent flexible, open, ready to negotiate, to compromise ..." on any
"mechanism" to prevent the diversion of nuclear fuels for weapons. Rejection of this
partnership a clear "compromise" that meets Iran's nuclear fuel reequirements
while tethering it to peaceful objectives would raise a clear warnning flag.
The result would then serve to justify international action to halt the
program through economic sanction, blockade and/or military action.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ramberg served in the State Department during the administration of George
H.W. Bush. He is the author of three books and editor of three others on
international security.
Find this article at:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20050606/news_mz1e6ramberg.html
*****************************************************************
3 AFP: Iranian official discusses nuclear file in UAE
Reuters | AFP | Sky News | Photos
Tuesday June 7, 07:47 PM
ABU DHABI (AFP) - A top Iranian official reportedly discussed
Tehran's nuclear file with United Arab Emirates (UAE) President
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahayan. Hassan Rowhani, secretary of
Iran's Supreme National Security Council, briefed the Emirati
leader on Tehran's stand in nuclear negotiations and stressed its
"commitment to abide by all relevant international resolutions,"
the UAE news agency WAM reported.
During a visit to neighboring Kuwait on Monday, Rowhani urged the
United States, which accuses Iran of seeking nuclear weapons
under the guise of an energy program, to make a "courageous"
first move for reconciliation with Tehran. WAM quoted Sheikh
Khalifa as assuring Rowhani, Iran's top negotiator in nuclear
talks with the European Union, that Abu Dhabi is keen on
establishing stability and security and "eliminating tensions in
the Middle East, chiefly the Gulf region".
The Emirati leader also underscored the need for "all countries
in the world to commit to eliminating prohibited weapons and
strive to resolve conflicts by peaceful means", the news agency
added.
The UAE and Iran have a longstanding row over three strategic
Gulf islands controlled by Tehran since 1971. Rowhani will fly to
Saudi Arabia on Thursday for a four-day visit at the invitation
of Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz, an official at
the Iranian embassy in Riyadh told AFP.
He will perform umrah, or minor pilgrimage, in the Muslim holy
city of Mecca before heading to the Saudi capital Saturday for
talks on bilateral ties with Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul
Aziz, Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and Prince Nayef, he
said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi had been due to visit
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, but the visit was canceled because he is
feeling unwell, according to a source at the Saudi foreign
ministry. Rowhani's talks in Riyadh Saturday will coincide with a
meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council
(GCC) in the Saudi capital. The GCC, which groups Bahrain,
Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, backs Abu Dhabi in
its dispute with Iran over the islands of Greater Tunb, Lesser
Tunb and Abu Musa.
Iran insists on its sovereignty over the islands, saying only Abu
Musa could be open to any form of discussion. The UAE wants the
issue settled either through direct talks or by referring it to
the International Court of Justice.
Iran took possession of the Greater and Lesser Tunbs after
British forces left the Gulf in 1971, while the only inhabited
island -- Abu Musa -- became subject to joint administration
under a deal with Sharjah, now part of the UAE. But since then,
the UAE says, the Iranians have taken control of all access to
the island, installed an airport and military base there, as well
as encouraged settlers to move in to change its demographic
make-up. Rowhani is also due to visit Yemen on his regional tour.
Copyright 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
4 Korea Times: ABC to Cover News From Pyongyang
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times
By Reuben Staines Staff Reporter
A camera crew from U.S. television network ABC arrived in
Pyongyang yesterday on a news gathering mission at the
invitation of the North Korean government, according to the
broadcaster.
ABCs bureau in Seoul confirmed the team of journalists is
visiting the North but declined to provide further details.
``Its pure news gathering but beyond that I cant comment
until after they come out, an ABC journalist said on
condition of anonymity.
Earlier Park Han-shik, a Korean-American professor at the
University of Georgia, told Seouls Yonhap News Agency that the
U.S. network planned to make a satellite broadcast from inside
the reclusive communist nation.
``I understand a broadcasting team led by Bob Woodruff, a
senior reporter for ABCs New York bureau, is visiting
Pyongyang for a satellite broadcast, he said, adding that
they will stay in North Korea until Sunday.
ABC, however, laughed off the possibility of a live broadcast.
Park was also quoted as saying that North Korea has invited
Arthur Sulzberger Jr., publisher of the New York Times, and
columnist Nicholas Kristof to visit the country this weekend.
The newspaper was considering the schedule for a possible
visit, he said. Sulzberger visited Seoul last week for an
international newspaper conference.
The state-run media in North Korea has often taken issue with
the New York Times for its coverage of the dispute with
Washington over its nuclear weapons programs and human rights
conditions.
It is the second time for an ABC reporting team to visit the
North in two months.
South Korean public broadcaster speculated that ABC planned to
interview North Korean leader Kim Jong-il as part of a
documentary on the communist regimes economic reforms when
news of the first visit broke last month.
Government officials in Seoul also said they are aware of the
visit to North Korea by the ABC journalists but offered no
details.
rjs@koreatimes.co.kr 06-07-2005 18:57
*****************************************************************
5 Korea Times: Pyongyang Returning to 6-Party Talks
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times
By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter
North Korea showed willingness in a meeting with the United
States in New York Monday to return to the six-party talks on
its nuclear programs, but declined to set a date for a new round
of negotiations, officials in Seoul and Washington said
yesterday.
Less than a month after the U.S. delivered its position on the
nuclear issue and urged the North to come back to the
negotiation table, the North called for contact at the same
venue, through what is best known as the ``New York channel.
South Korea and the U.S. will reconfirm their pledge to resolve
the North Korean nuclear issue peacefully through the six-party
talks at an upcoming summit meeting in Washington on Friday, an
aide to President Roh Moo-hyun said.
``The summit meeting will be the venue to reconfirm the two
sides common goal, the aide said, requesting anonymity.
On May 13, officials from Washington flew to New York to meet
the Norths diplomats to the United Nations. The reclusive
North has repeatedly called for such meetings, saying it wants
to check if the U.S. is really ready to accept its demands
before a new round of talks.
Since June last year when it negotiated with the U.S., along
with South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, North Korea has been
boycotting further negotiations demanding the U.S. drop its
``hostile policy and treat it as an ``equal dialogue
partner.
Senior U.S. officials have reiterated that the U.S. sees North
Korea as a ``sovereign state and has ``no intention to
attack the communist country, but the North insisted it
wants to listen to the U.S. ``directly to see if its words
were genuine.
Instead of giving a definite answer to last months contact,
however, the Norths diplomats said at the latest meeting _
this time set at the Norths request _ that their country still
wants to make sure what the U.S. position is, according to the
government sources.
Some news media, including The New York Times, reported the
one-hour meeting in a positive tone, saying American officials
believed it could be the first indications that North Korea is
preparing to return to ``substantive negotiations about its
nuclear program.
But, a senior official in Seoul, deeply involved in the
negotiations, asked reporters to be more ``neutral, saying
the countries are in the middle of a resumption of the talks,
rather than in the final phase.
``Those media reports are somewhat exaggerated, the
official, who had been briefed by U.S. officials, told reporters
on condition of anonymity. ``We expected to listen to the
Norths answer. But, we couldnt this time. Well have to
continue the current diplomatic efforts.
He also denied media speculation that President Roh would bring
with him a ``new set of enticements for North Korea on his
trip to Washington, hoping President George W. Bush would sign
on during their summit there on Friday.
``It is not true that President Roh will suggest a new proposal
and ask President Bush to endorse it, he said. ``I think
there is some misunderstanding that South Korea only sticks to
carrots and does not think of sticks. They will have a
comprehensive and in-depth discussion.
But officials and experts generally rated the latest development
as a positive sign, helpful for the resumption of the stalled
negotiations. ``I think it is well timed before the South
Korea-U.S. summit, another official said. ``Well have to
see the next move after the summit.
In Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda also welcomed
it as ``a step forward for the resumption of six-party
talks. ``Our country hopes the six-party talks will be
resumed, he said in a news conference.
jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 06-07-2005 18:58
*****************************************************************
6 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Endorses U.S.-North Korea Meeting
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 3:46 AM
By CHISAKI WATANABE
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) - The meeting in New York between U.S. and North
Korean officials has increased the chances of a resumption of
six-party talks on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs, a
Japanese official said Tuesday.
The disarmament talks stalled almost a year ago. Since then,
North Korea has declared it has atomic bombs, claiming they were
a deterrent against a possible attack by the U.S.
The United States met Monday with North Korea on halting its
nuclear weapons program, and Washington withdrew a threat to try
to punish the North Koreans soon with U.N. sanctions. The
meeting was requested by North Korea, a U.S. official said.
``Judging from their amount of recent contacts, it is progress,
and we hope it would lead to a resumption of the six-way
talks,'' said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda.
Japanese leaders have voiced optimism that North Korea is
warming to the idea of resuming the talks, which it has been
boycotting. Hosoda, however, said that North Korea has not yet
pledged to return to discussions with the United States, South
Korea, China, Japan and Russia.
The U.S. reiterated its call for a resumption of negotiations.
``We are hopeful that North Korea will be responding soon,''
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Monday. ``We
continue to urge North Korea to return to the six-party talks at
an early date without preconditions.''
At an Asian security conference in Singapore on Saturday, U.S.
and Japanese officials said the issue could be taken to the
United Nations for possible sanctions within weeks - a move
North Korea says would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
But on Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said
sanctions were not the only option and that the international
community should consider using the power of U.N. Security
Council to urge North Korea to return to the negotiation table
if the talks do not resume soon, Kyodo News agency reported.
``A statement by the council president or a resolution,
conveying the voices of international society to North Korea
that they should return to the talks as soon as possible, would
be have significant meaning,'' Machimura was quoted as saying in
a speech in Tokyo on Monday. ``Sanctions are not the only
options.''
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said the United States has
not set a deadline to decide whether to bring the issue of North
Korea's nuclear weapons program to the United Nations.
North Korea has claimed to have atomic bombs, which the
communist country says are a deterrent against a possible attack
by the United States. The North's nuclear claim has not been
verified, but U.S. intelligence and other estimates say it has
as many as six atomic weapons.
President Bush and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said
they have no intention of attacking North Korea.
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Confident of Korea Nuclear Talks
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 3:16 AM
TOKYO (AP) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi believes
North Korea wants to return to stalled six-party talks and
resolve the international standoff over its nuclear weapons
program, according to a report Monday.
``I believe that North Korea really does want to somehow hold
six-party talks and resolve the matter,'' the Kyodo News Agency
quoted Koizumi as telling reporters during a visit to the 2005
World Expo in Aichi.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda also said he believed
North Korea ``was moving'' closer toward returning to nuclear
negotiations.
A Japanese newspaper reported Saturday that North Korea and the
United States had telephone talks and likely discussed resuming
the six-way talks. North Korea's U.N. representative in New York
called the State Department, the Mainichi newspaper reported,
citing officials it did not identify.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan, talking to reporters
Monday, said, ``There is a New York channel that they can
communicate with us if they need to. I'm not aware of any
response from North Korea at this point.
``We are hopeful that North Korea will be responding soon,'' he
said. ``We continue to urge North Korea to return to the
six-party talks at an early date without preconditions.''
With negotiations aimed at eliminating Pyongyang's nuclear
weapons stalled for almost a year, calls have emerged to take
the issue to the United Nations for possible sanctions - a move
North Korea says would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
At an Asian security conference in Singapore on Saturday, both
U.S. and Japanese officials floated such a possibility.
But on Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said
sanctions are not the only options and that the international
community should consider using the power of U.N. Security
Council to urge North Korea to return to the negotiation table
if the talks are not resumed soon, Kyodo News agency reported.
``A statement by the council president or a resolution,
conveying the voices of international society to North Korea
that they should return to the talks as soon as possible, would
be have significant meaning,'' Machimura was quoted as saying in
a speech in Tokyo. ``Sanctions are not the only options.''
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld also downplayed those
comments on Monday, saying the U.S. has not set a deadline to
decide whether to bring the issue of North Korea's nuclear
weapons program to the United Nations.
Since the last round of disarmament talks, North Korea has
declared it has atomic bombs, claiming they were a deterrent
against a possible attack by the United States. The North's
nuclear claim has not been verified, but U.S. intelligence and
other estimates say it has as many as six atomic weapons.
President Bush and other U.S. officials have repeatedly said
they have no intention of attacking North Korea.
The six-party talks include the two Koreas, the United States,
Russia, China and Japan.
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Woos North Korea Back to Nuke Talks
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 10:01 PM
AP Photo WX121
By BARRY SCHWEID
AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - In a diplomatic breakthrough, the Bush
administration said Tuesday it had wooed North Korea back to
negotiations on the Koreans' nuclear weapons program, though a
date had not been set for reopening the long-stalled talks.
In New York, China's United Nations ambassador said six-nation
talks were likely to resume in the next few weeks in Beijing.
Ambassador Wang Guangya told reporters the talks were the best
way to resolve the nuclear standoff and said he was hopeful
progress would be made.
The negotiations, in which the United States and four other
countries want to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program,
have been dormant for a year despite the North's promise to meet
again last September. The turnabout followed a stream of North
Korean invective directed at the Bush administration - but also
came after a Pentagon threat to try to punish North Korea in the
U.N. Security Council was withdrawn.
The threat is not off the table, though. Taking the dispute to
the council ``is an option we always reserve for when we think
it's appropriate,'' Assistant Secretary of State Christopher
Hill told reporters on Capitol Hill.
``This provides the North Koreans, we think, a basic choice, a
pathway forward, in which they would again be able to
potentially realize the respect that they have asked for and to
get the assistance that they potentially need,'' said State
Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
The Bush administration strongly favors the six-nation
negotiations as the only format for dealing with North Korea's
nuclear weapons program, resisting the North's repeated efforts
to bargain solely with the United States.
McCormack said no preconditions were discussed when North Korean
and U.S. officials met Monday at the North Korean mission to the
United Nations in New York. He said the administration had made
no decision on possibly resuming food shipments to North Korea,
which needs them badly.
Prodding North Korea to halt its weapons program, the United
States has long promised not to attack, and Japan and South
Korea have dangled economic incentives.
Responding more than three weeks after a U.S. appeal, North
Korean diplomats told the U.S. on Monday that their government
``would return to the six-party process, but did not give us a
time certain when they would return,'' McCormack said.
Likewise, White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said,
``They expressed their commitment to the six-party talks, but we
did not get any indication that they were yet ready to return to
the talks.''
McCormack credited China, which has far more influence with
Pyongyang than does the United States, with intervening to
reopen the negotiations. ``It is an important development, it is
an important piece of progress,'' he said of the Chinese effort.
The other nations participating in the negotiations are South
Korea, Japan and Russia.
North Korea has confirmed having some nuclear weapons, as
claimed for years by U.S. intelligence analysts. There also have
been indications recently that North Korea might be about to
conduct a weapons test, but some U.S. officials are inclined to
dismiss that as unfounded speculation.
In 1994, North Korea agreed to freeze its nuclear weapons
program in exchange for energy assistance. But that agreement
collapsed in 2002 after U.S. officials accused the North of
running a secret uranium enrichment program.
Soon after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Bush
denounced North Korea as member of an ``axis of evil'' amid
accusations that the North was secretly enriching uranium. Bush
named Iraq and Iran as other members of that axis.
Last month, the State Department said it had not decided whether
to provide food assistance to North Korea this year. There are
other countries that need help, then-spokesman Richard Boucher
said.
Last year's decision was made in late July, and one is likely by
the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, he said.
Administration official did not say whether they felt confident
North Korea would not change its mind about another round of
negotiations, as it did last year.
Last January, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said after leading a
congressional delegation to Pyongyang that North Korea appeared
ready to negotiate ``in a matter of weeks.''
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
9 Korea Herald: U.S., N.K. seen moving closer to six-way talks
The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
Contact buoys hopes on eve of Roh-Bush summit
By Lee Joo-hee
As Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush finalized
preparations for their weekend summit, hopes of the United
States and North Korea coming to terms to revive the stalled
six-party talks hit a higher note yesterday with word they had
made direct contact again through a newly-reopened dialogue
channel in New York.
Details of the Monday meeting between representatives of
Washington and Pyongyang were not immediately disclosed but
analysts expressed optimism that the direct communication
between the two openly hostile opponents would positively
influence efforts to resume the six-party discussions, now
stalled for nearly a year.
A South Korean government official said yesterday the New York
meeting between Washington and Pyongyang representatives
certainly was part of the communication process that could lead
to the resumption of the six-party talks but that no tangible
result has come from the Monday talks.
"The discussion between the two can be said that it is in
mid-way (to seeing an outcome). The talks are likely to
continue," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Another high-rank government official denied a New York Times
report that President Roh may bring up a new proposal at the
Washington summit to bring North Korea back to the negotiation
table.
Peter Beck, director of the North East Asia Project of the
International Crisis Group, told The Korea Herald, "Certainly
that (New York contact) is the only one left right now that can
make progress (on the North Korean nuclear standoff)."
The Foreign Ministry here confirmed that Joseph DeTrani,
Washington's deputy chief negotiator in the six-party talks, and
the State Department's director of Korean affairs, James Foster,
met their North Korean counterparts Pak Gil-yon, chief of the
North's mission in New York, and his deputy, Amb. Han Song-ryol.
It was the second direct use of the North Korean-U.S. direct
channel in less than a month, following up a May 13 meeting when
the United States reportedly asked for an early revival of the
six-party talks and North Korea promised to respond.
The North and the United States have been staying in contact
with each other via telephone, facsimile and e-mail since that
first informal meeting in May, according to published reports.
North Korea requested Monday's meeting and Washington responded
by suggesting each side's representatives make their cases
face-to-face.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refrained on Monday
from overanalyzing the meeting by telling a news conference it
was strictly working-level.
But experts here predicted the New York contact, just four days
before Friday's summit in Washington between Roh and Bush,
provided a positive atmosphere but remained pessimistic on
whether the informal New York contact would produce a tangible
result soon.
"Expectations are low," Beck said in regard to whether the New
York contact made any visible progress, explaining that it is
highly likely the two sides reiterated their initial positions.
But Beck said there are hopes in that maintaining the New York
channel is a last chance for North Korea to diplomatically
resolve the nuclear issue. He described reopening of the channel
as a last effort by the Bush administration to engage North
Korea.
News reports from Japan added another positive note, quoting
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as saying Monday,
"North Korea seems to genuinely want to solve the problem by
opening the six-party talks."
Since Japan is one of the parties at the six-way talks along
with the Koreas, the United States, China and Russia, Koizumi's
comments raised speculation that Tokyo may have received some
kind of hint from the communist state, which remains at odds
with the Japanese over several tangled history issues.
The nuclear standoff has become more tense in recent months
after North Korea declared Feb. 10 it possesses nuclear weapons
and will indefinitely boycott the talks because of Washington's
"hostile" policy.
In exchange for returning to the arms discussions, North Korea
has been demanding Washington apologize for its "outpost of
tyranny" remarks, abandon its "hostile" policy and provide a
guarantee of peaceful security on the peninsula.
Experts say it is highly possible that North Korea relayed these
demands at the New York meeting.
It is also possible, some said, that North Korea may have
reiterated its fresh argument that the six-party talks on
disarmament should focus on arms-reduction as it already
possesses nuclear weapons.
The United States is seen to be taking a carrot-and-stick stance
toward North Korea and its demands, with top government
officials, including Bush, acknowledging it as a sovereign state
amid persistent news reports suggesting Washington may refer the
North Korean case to the U.N. Security Council.
(angiely@heraldm.com)
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
10 Korea Herald: South Korea, a country possessed by past
Editorial
The Straits Times / Asia News Network
Political language can be arbitrary. The terms left- and
right-wing originate from nothing more profound than who sat
where in France's National Assembly - before the revolution. But
"progressive" has a more definite meaning. From the Latin, it
means going forward; whereas "conservatives" wish to conserve,
to keep things the way they are.
Ironically, in today's world, it is capitalism that is
revolutionary while the Left's resistance to globalization looks
conservative. Although universal themes, they look different
depending on where you are. South Korea is especially
distinctive. There, a progressivism brutally suppressed by
decades of military rule has emerged triumphant. But whether it
is doing the right thing is another matter.
In the 2002 presidential election, South Koreans rejected the
favorite candidate, a patrician judge from the old elite, and
chose Roh Moo-hyun, a labor lawyer from a poor farm. Last year,
in a backlash against an attempt to impeach Roh, they also
handed his Uri Party the parliamentary majority it had hitherto
lacked.
Thus today, self-styled progressives wield power for the first
time. Yet this is a peculiar progressivism, more obsessed with
past wrongs than building the future.
Like China, South Korea is furious with Japan over its revised
textbooks that erase its World War II atrocities. Yet Seoul is
also angry with Beijing for claiming Goguryeo, an ancient state
encompassing today's North Korea and part of Manchuria. Goguryeo
ended in A.D. 668, so this seems an eccentric cause for
progressives to be espousing.
Roh and the Uri Party have also set up official probes into the
eras of Japanese colonialism (1910-1945) and military rule
(1961-1987). While both indeed saw crimes that remain occluded,
the aim here is less South African-style reconciliation than
partisan advantage. Many say its apparent target is Park
Geun-hye, who leads the conservative opposition Grand National
Party and is the daughter of Park Chung-hee, an authoritarian
president from 1961 to 1979, and a Japanese officer in his youth.
With challenges ranging from a slowing economy to a possibly
nuclear-armed North Korea, is it rational to sow discord by
reopening old wounds? But reason counts for little against a gut
feeling of ancient resentment. Ritualized emotion has priority;
hurts are nursed, not healed.
For an economy (the world's 10th largest) that grew rich
selling to others, politically South Korea is remarkably
introverted. A country never short of nationalist attitude
believes it is not yet assertive enough. Roh also preaches an
"independent" foreign and defense policy - which sounds oddly
neutralist for a U.S. ally.
Posturing leads to bad policy. At home, an obsession with
inequality - in one of the world's least unequal societies -
drove a silly and costly plan to shift the capital south, now
watered down as a new administrative city.
Prioritizing distribution over growth has distracted from the
real task: how to stay economically competitive against the
Chinese challenge. One answer is more flexible labor; yet that
is apparently not happening. As for business, while chaebol
reform still has a way to go, Roh's mixed signals and
anti-capitalist image deter companies from investing enough to
revive growth and stay ahead internationally.
But it is in foreign policy where perverse progressivism poses
the greatest peril. Bizarrely, an opinion poll last year cited
the United States as the biggest threat to South Korea. More
recently, Japan topped the list. Whatever one's view of U.S.
President George W. Bush, to anyone thinking straight, a
nuclear-equipped and bankrupt North Korea just 50 kilometers
from Seoul - with artillery shells trained on it - must be the
real worry. Also, few others in the region are so unfazed either
by China's rising military clout or fear that its social
tensions might explode. Yet the new Seoul smiles at Beijing and
Pyongyang, while scowling at Tokyo and Washington.
Where does this outlook come from? From the "386 generation" -
people in their 30s who went to college in the 1980s - now run
the country. Rejecting the liberalism of earlier student
protesters, many had embraced Marxism.
In power, older but little wiser, they have retained attitudes
forged while fighting the U.S.-backed Chun Doo-hwan regime
(1980-1988). Now it is payback time.
Yet if these intelligent and highly educated people recall
Marx, they would see that they are stuck in the antithesis stage
of the dialectic - a mirror image of all they fought against. In
being dead against everything the old regime stood for, they
remain - ironically - in thrall to it.
What South Korea needs, urgently, is to move on to the
synthesis stage and achieve closure. In today's Seoul, a truly
progressive outlook would forget the past, look outward and use
cold reason to focus firmly and pragmatically on a difficult
present and an ominous future.
At home, that entails a shift in the economy to services, while
opening these to foreigners to achieve world-class quality.
Abroad, it means thinking hard about where the national interest
truly points.
Head, if not heart, should prescribe continued ties to the U.S.
and Japan, caution towards China, and being ready for anything
with North Korea. As Germany has shown, unification, if it comes
to the two Koreas, will be a vast burden for decades. Real
progressives would prepare for this, not court a tyrant who
mocks their goodwill. If appeasing Dear Leader Kim Jong-il
fails, what is Seoul's plan B?
Aidan Foster-carter is honorary senior research fellow in
sociology and modern Korea at Leeds University in the United
Kingdom. He is also a freelance consultant on Korea, and has
followed Korean affairs for more than 35 years. - Ed.
By Aidan Foster-carter
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
11 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Gauging N.K. rationality
If North Korea returns to the six-party conference table in
Beijing to discuss its nuclear program after a year's absence,
and there are some faint indications it may do so, would it be
because of the U.S. threats to bring the matter to the United
Nations for extensive international sanctions or because
President Bush used the honorific "Mr." in referring to the
North Korean leader? We would rather opt for the latter reason.
Immediately after Bush remarked in a press conference last week
about "continuing to send a message to Mr. Kim Jong-il" in
diplomatic efforts to have the North get rid of its nuclear
weapons program, Pyongyang's Foreign Ministry spokesman praised
the U.S. president for calling him "sonsaeng," a word often used
when translating "Mr." into Korean. The original meaning of
"sonsaeng" is teacher.
The official (North) Korean Central News Agency quoted the
spokesman as saying, "If Bush's remarks put an end to the
scramble between the hawkish group and the moderate group in the
U.S. ...it would help create an atmosphere of the six-party
talks." And, then, representatives from the U.S. and North Korea
met in New York Monday at the request of the North to discuss
Pyongyang's return to the nuclear talks.
During the year-long period since the last six-party talks in
Beijing, Washington and Pyongyang had only exchanged
unflattering words. When Bush called Kim a tyrant, Pyongyang
spokesmen responded by describing U.S. leaders as "human scum"
and "bloodthirsty beasts."
In the opinion of former U.S. president Bill Clinton who had
tried to resolve the North Korean nuclear problem in a more
flexible approach than the present administration, Kim Jong-il
and his men are "irrational to some extent, but not totally
irrational." In an interview with Fox News, he advised the Bush
administration to take the initiative and deal directly with
North Koreans who he said "watch American and European cable
channels ...and keep up more than we know."
Bush's apparent change of pace to focus on using diplomacy in
trying to resolve the nuclear standoff indicates that more in
the present U.S. administration share Clinton's views on North
Korea than before. And it will now be a little easier for Seoul
officials who always believe they know North Korea better than
any others to work together with their American counterparts
while Pyongyang keeps puzzling the outside world by alternating
between rational and crazy acts.
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
12 Korea Herald: U.S., N.K. seen moving closer to six-way talks
The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
Contact buoys hopes on eve of Roh-Bush summit
As Presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W. Bush finalized
preparations for their weekend summit, hopes of the United
States and North Korea coming to terms to revive the stalled
six-party talks hit a higher note yesterday with word they had
made direct contact again through a newly-reopened dialogue
channel in New York.
Details of the Monday meeting between representatives of
Washington and Pyongyang were not immediately disclosed but
analysts expressed optimism that the direct communication
between the two openly hostile opponents would positively
influence efforts to resume the six-party discussions, now
stalled for nearly a year.
A South Korean government official said yesterday the New York
meeting between Washington and Pyongyang representatives
certainly was part of the communication process that could lead
to the resumption of the six-party talks but that no tangible
result has come from the Monday talks.
"The discussion between the two can be said that it is in
mid-way (to seeing an outcome). The talks are likely to
continue," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Another high-rank government official denied a New York Times
report that President Roh may bring up a new proposal at the
Washington summit to bring North Korea back to the negotiation
table.
Peter Beck, director of the North East Asia Project of the
International Crisis Group, told The Korea Herald, "Certainly
that (New York contact) is the only one left right now that can
make progress (on the North Korean nuclear standoff)."
The Foreign Ministry here confirmed that Joseph DeTrani,
Washington's deputy chief negotiator in the six-party talks, and
the State Department's director of Korean affairs, James Foster,
met their North Korean counterparts Pak Gil-yon, chief of the
North's mission in New York, and his deputy, Amb. Han Song-ryol.
It was the second direct use of the North Korean-U.S. direct
channel in less than a month, following up a May 13 meeting when
the United States reportedly asked for an early revival of the
six-party talks and North Korea promised to respond.
The North and the United States have been staying in contact
with each other via telephone, facsimile and e-mail since that
first informal meeting in May, according to published reports.
North Korea requested Monday's meeting and Washington responded
by suggesting each side's representatives make their cases
face-to-face.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice refrained on Monday
from overanalyzing the meeting by telling a news conference it
was strictly working-level.
But experts here predicted the New York contact, just four days
before Friday's summit in Washington between Roh and Bush,
provided a positive atmosphere but remained pessimistic on
whether the informal New York contact would produce a tangible
result soon.
"Expectations are low," Beck said in regard to whether the New
York contact made any visible progress, explaining that it is
highly likely the two sides reiterated their initial positions.
But Beck said there are hopes in that maintaining the New York
channel is a last chance for North Korea to diplomatically
resolve the nuclear issue. He described reopening of the channel
as a last effort by the Bush administration to engage North
Korea.
News reports from Japan added another positive note, quoting
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi as saying Monday,
"North Korea seems to genuinely want to solve the problem by
opening the six-party talks."
Since Japan is one of the parties at the six-way talks along
with the Koreas, the United States, China and Russia, Koizumi's
comments raised speculation that Tokyo may have received some
kind of hint from the communist state, which remains at odds
with the Japanese over several tangled history issues.
The nuclear standoff has become more tense in recent months
after North Korea declared Feb. 10 it possesses nuclear weapons
and will indefinitely boycott the talks because of Washington's
"hostile" policy.
In exchange for returning to the arms discussions, North Korea
has been demanding Washington apologize for its "outpost of
tyranny" remarks, abandon its "hostile" policy and provide a
guarantee of peaceful security on the peninsula.
Experts say it is highly possible that North Korea relayed these
demands at the New York meeting.
It is also possible, some said, that North Korea may have
reiterated its fresh argument that the six-party talks on
disarmament should focus on arms-reduction as it already
possesses nuclear weapons.
The United States is seen to be taking a carrot-and-stick stance
toward North Korea and its demands, with top government
officials, including Bush, acknowledging it as a sovereign state
amid persistent news reports suggesting Washington may refer the
North Korean case to the U.N. Security Council.
(angiely@heraldm.com)
By Lee Joo-hee
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
13 Korea Herald: N.K. nukes and ROK-U.S. alliance
Home > News > Editorial/Op-Ed
The North Korean nuclear crisis represents an intersection of
trends that could dramatically affect the future of the ROK-U.S.
alliance. If negotiations are properly conducted - through close
cooperation with Seoul and others - there could be a positive
spillover for the alliance. It could dampen (although not
eliminate) anti-U.S. sentiment and the damage caused by
differing perceptions of Pyongyang's threat, as well as enhance
prospects for U.S-Chinese cooperation.
On the other hand, if the United States breaks ranks and forms a
coalition of the willing to deal with a recalcitrant North
Korea, it could have the opposite effect, further stressing the
alliance. Of course, North Korea could take drastic action -
such as setting off a nuclear test - that could dramatically
increase the threat perception in Seoul and minimize the stress
on the alliance. In this light, this Friday's South Korea-U.S.
summit meeting will mark a turning point that determines how the
current nuclear stalemate is to be addressed.
Seoul-Washington differences over how to deal with North Korea
are nothing new. During the 1994 nuclear crisis and its
aftermath, Washington seemed more interested than Seoul in
reaching a negotiated settlement. But these differences were
often over tactics and priorities, resolved in large part
because of the glue that bound the alliance together - the
common perception that North Korea represented a serious
security threat.
President Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy" began to change that
perception. In spite of criticisms that he conceded too much,
more than half the South Koreans polled at the end of his term
indicated that North Korea had changed and believed the specter
of war had disappeared. After the June 2000 inter-Korean summit,
as news about the North became increasingly commonplace, what
had historically been an unknown monolith became a more "real"
picture. Combined with joint athletic teams at international
competitions, increased trade, family reunions, and the
reconnection of the railway through the Demilitarized Zone, this
has made Pyongyang appear to be more of a poor relative than a
serious threat.
As long as the United States shared the same policy of
engagement in dealing with Pyongyang, this change appeared to be
manageable. But the election of a new U.S. (Bush 1)
administration skeptical about that approach and even more
focused on the threat posed by North Korea has put the two
allies at odds. That skepticism became fully apparent after
Sept. 11 and President Bush's "axis of evil" speech in January
2002, a pronouncement that hit a raw nerve in Korea. The
disclosure of Pyongyang's secret uranium enrichment program in
October 2002 and the subsequent breakdown of the 1994 Agreed
Framework only served to highlight the growing perception and
policy gap.
From the perspective of President Roh Moo-hyun's government, the
Bush administration's perceived interest in fostering
Pyongyang's collapse or in using military force to resolve the
nuclear issue is unacceptable. Both would threaten the lives of
the South Korean people as well as the economic and political
progress made over the past three decades. Magnified by other
tensions in the relationship - anti-American sentiment and
concerns about the United States acting on its own - this
perception of the Bush approach to North Korea has become the
prism through which South Koreans view the security
relationship. This accounts for the view among many that the
plan to redeploy the 2nd Infantry Division away from the DMZ is
a prelude to a U.S. attack on Pyongyang.
Perceptions have begun to shift. It appears to Americans that
Roh more clearly understands the need to at least have in
reserve the possibility of tougher measures and to Koreans that
Bush is committed to a peaceful resolution. However, differences
remain. And exactly how these differences affect the alliance
will depend on the outcome of current efforts to deal with North
Korea.
Granted, a substantial portion of the South Korean population
still harbors a highly skeptical view of Pyongyang. But even
conservatives are concerned about U.S. policies that have seemed
to emphasize tough measures to the detriment of a peaceful
solution. A well-managed process of negotiation - which will
require shifts on the part of Seoul and Washington - would have
positive benefits for the alliance. On the other hand, the
North's nuclear escalation may become so obvious - for example
through a nuclear test - that threat perceptions and
policiescould converge once again. The worst outcome for the
alliance would be a worsening crisis and the perception that the
United States was at fault.
Against this backdrop, Presidents Bush and Roh should agree at
their summit on how North Korea will be rewarded if it made a
strategic choice and how it will be punished if it continues to
resist. They need to say they have a "blockbuster" ready if
North Korea rejoined the six-party talks and to show some
preview clips to the North.
The Bush administration sees engagement as the best practical
way to build a coalition for punishment in the future. Such a
coalition is critical to putting effective pressure on the
North, but maintaining it will require its members to agree that
every opportunity to resolve the problem in a diplomatic manner
has been exhausted. Allies should be convinced that non-coercive
strategies have already been tried and failed. Only when those
options are exhausted, will North Korea seriously consider
giving up its nukes.
Kim Sung-han is a professor and director-general for American
studies at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National
Security. - Ed.
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
14 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Alliance and contingency
Home > News > Editorial/Op-Ed
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea stipulates that its
territory covers the entire Korean Peninsula. The sovereignty of
the ROK is not exercised in the area north of the "Military
Demarcation Line" which is now under control of the DPRK regime.
In the event North Korea collapses due to internal turmoil, its
entire area will automatically come under the control of the
South Korean government and military and reunification will be
achieved.
The U.S. authorities have a different idea. They are primarily
concerned about the weapons of mass destruction which North
Korea says it has. They should prevent any amount of plutonium
or enriched uranium, or any number of nuclear bombs, from being
diverted out of the country possibly to terrorists during such a
time of confusion. Hence it is imperative that the American
commander-in-chief of the Korea-U.S Combined Forces Command
quickly takes control of the situation in the northern region.
When U.S. officers at the CFC began mapping out a scenario to
prepare for the breakdown of the North Korean regime, the
contingency plan code-named OPLAN 5029-05 essentially involved
how the U.S. commander would assume command of all Korean and
U.S. forces on the entire Korean Peninsula to secure North
Korean WMD and establish public safety.
In April this year, the National Security Council vetoed the
joint military plan which laid out military measures upon
various levels of internal trouble in the North such as mass
defection of refugees or an armed revolt leading to a regime
change. Korean security officials determined that the plan could
infringe upon Korean sovereignty and trigger a full-scale war.
The NSC decision was announced by a Defense Ministry spokesman
apparently without prior consultation with the U.S. side. This
unilateral action in making the sensitive matter public was seen
as yet another sign of strained relations between the two allies
as it came after top Seoul officials objected to the USFK
assuming a new role as a strategic reserve force in this region
and President Roh Moo-hyun envisioned Korea's role of a
"balancer" in Northeast Asia between the continental and Pacific
powers.
As we observe these developments, especially the discord over
OPLAN 5029-05, it is regrettable that the two countries had to
divert their attention to a largely hypothetical document while
the imminent North Korean nuclear issue requires them to take
perfectly concerted steps in trying to bring multilateral
pressure on the northern regime. Fortunately, official dialogues
in the past weeks has led to an agreement not to pursue an
"operation plan" but to "improve and develop" a contingency plan
on a conceptual level in consideration of Korea's objection.
It could still be a hasty "patching up" of differences prior to
the summit between Presidents Roh and Bush later this week in
Washington. An end to the North Korean regime will surely come
some time in the future as a result of economic breakdown, an
armed revolt or political accommodation with the South - and the
two allies need to ensure close consultation on how to take over
the northern territory in an orderly and peaceful way without
allowing possible intervention of China or Russia.
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
15 BBC: NK talks to resume 'within weeks'
Last Updated: Tuesday, 7 June, 2005
[Satellite image of North Korea's Yongbyon Nuclear Centre -
archive picture]
North Korea last took part in six-way talks in 2004
North Korea could resume six-party talks on its nuclear weapons
programme within weeks, according to China's envoy to the United
Nations.
Wang Guangya, whose country is the North's closest ally, said
talks were "the best way" to break the deadlock and would be
hosted by Beijing.
US and North Korean officials held consultations at the UN on
Monday.
Six-party talks, involving both Koreas, the US, Russia, China and
Japan, were suspended last year.
Asked by reporters when the talks might resume, Mr Wang said:
"Soon, in the next few weeks."
He added he was not surprised that the standoff appeared to be
finally ending.
US officials have said the North Koreans expressed willingness to
return to the negotiating table on Monday but would not be drawn
on a date.
'Consistent message'
Six-party talks would send the North a "coherent message... that
their nuclear weapons programme simply has to go", US Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier.
She added there was no imminent plan to refer the dispute with
the North to the UN Security Council.
"I think the idea that within weeks we are going to decide one
way or another is a little forward-leaning," Ms Rice told
reporters.
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he
believed North Korea wanted an end to the standoff.
"I believe that North Korea really does want somehow to hold
six-party talks and resolve the matter," he was quoted as saying
by Kyodo news agency.
*****************************************************************
16 Xinhua: US says DPRK gives no indication to resume nuclear talks
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-07 00:02:17
WASHINGTON, June 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's
Republicof Korea (DPRK) gave no indication in talks with the
United States that it was ready to return to six-party talks,
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on Tuesday.
"We're hopeful they will return to the talks," said
McClellan. However, he said, the DPRK did not indicate in
Monday's meeting that it was ready to resume negotiations.
McClellan also noted that the meeting in New York was a
forum to exchange messages, not to negotiate.
Officials of the United States and the DPRK met in New York
on Monday. The meeting was requested by Pyongyang, a US official
said.
The United States was represented by Joseph DiTrani, the US
special envoy to the six-party talks, and by Jim Foster, the
director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs, the
State Department said.
It has been about a year since the last round of six-party
talks was held in Beijing among the United States, the DPRK, the
Republic of Korea, China, Japan and Russia on Pyongyang's atomic
programs.
The six-party talks was stalled in 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.
*****************************************************************
17 Japan Times: North Korea eager to return to talks - Koizumi
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
PYONGYANG 'IS RESPONDING'
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Monday that he believes
North Korea is eager to return to the stalled six-nation talks
on its nuclear ambitions although it has yet to clearly say so.
"I think it (North Korea) wants in its heart to resolve the
nuclear issue by holding a six-party session by all means,"
Koizumi told reporters in Aichi Prefecture without elaborating.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiroyuki Hosoda said earlier Monday
that North Korea has started to respond to efforts to get it to
return to the six-nation talks on its nuclear weapons program.
North Korea had shown no movement at all since the last talks,
but "we consider that some moves have been seen," Hosoda, the
government's top spokesman, told a news conference.
Hosoda added that "North Korea has been apparently impressed"
by the efforts of the five other parties, which are Japan, South
Korea, China, Russia and the United States.
The talks have stalled since the third round was held a year
ago in Beijing as North Korea has refused to take part, citing
"hostile" U.S. policy toward it.
Hosoda meanwhile said there has been no movement on the issue
of North Korea's past abductions of Japanese citizens. Bilateral
talks on the issue have stalled since November.
Vice Foreign Minister Shotaro Yachi echoed Hosoda's view,
telling a separate news conference, "There have been signs
suggesting it (North Korea) is turning positive" about resuming
the six-party negotiations.
Yachi said among such signs were Pyongyang's positive reactions
last week to U.S. President George W. Bush's use of the
honorific "Mr." to address its leader, Kim Jong Il.
The Japan Times: June 7, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
18 ITAR-TASS: NKorea demands pullout of US nuclear weapons from South Korea
07.06.2005, 11.30
SEOUL, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - North Korea has demanded that the
United States should pull out nuclear weapons from the Korean
peninsula, and reiterated its appeal for talks on nuclear
disarmament that should replace the six- format talks on the
North Korean nuclear problem.
A statement circulated by the Korean Central News Agency on
Tuesday that quoted the Nodon Sinmun newspaper says that since
North Korea has become a nuclear power all the participants in
new format talks should have equal positions and equal status.
Earlier, Washington had declared that it rejected these terms.
Nonetheless, Pyongyang has reaffirmed its demands in connection
with growing pressure from the world community that insists that
North Korea should return to the six- format talks.
In February, North Korea declared it had nuclear weapons and
vowed to boycott the six-format talks until the United States
dropped hostile politics towards North Korea. Usually,
Washington never releases data about its nuclear arsenals at US
military bases abroad. In 1992, when North and South Korea
reached an agreement on the nuclear-free status of the Korean
peninsula US officials indirectly confirmed that the US had
pulled out all the nuclear weapons from South Korea.
ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
19 Guardian Unlimited: Head of IAEA to Fly to D.C. for Meetings
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 11:16 PM
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The head of the U.N. nuclear monitoring
agency will fly to Washington later this week to meet with
senior U.S. officials and was expected to discuss Iran's nuclear
program and his own future at the organization.
Spokesmen for the International Atomic Energy Agency declined
comment on the trip by Mohamed ElBaradei. Diplomats accredited
to the agency said he planned to seek a compromise on his
efforts to seek another term despite American opposition. They
spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because
they were not authorized to divulge the information to
journalists.
ElBaradei's candidacy for a third term is on the agenda when the
IAEA board meets next Monday.
There has been no recent U.S. public comment on what Washington
plans to do regarding ElBaradei. Diplomats familiar with the
issue said that with less than a week to go Washington appeared
alone it its outright opposition to reappointing him - far from
the 12 votes needed to block his chances at the 35-nation
meeting.
The issue of who controls the IAEA is key for Washington, which
wants someone sharing its view of which countries represent
nuclear threats and what to do about them.
ElBaradei has challenged those views - particularly over Iran
and prewar Iraq, both of which President Bush labeled part of an
``axis of evil'' with North Korea.
ElBaradei first disputed U.S. assertions that Saddam Hussein had
an active nuclear weapons program - claims that remain unproven.
He then refused to endorse assertions by Washington that Tehran
was working to make nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear
program is for generating electricity.
---
On the Net:
International Atomic Energy Agency: http://www.iaea.org
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
20 Deseret News: Huntsman appoints 13 to energy council
[deseretnews.com]
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Deseret Morning News
Utah Governor Jon M. Huntsman Jr. has appointed
13 people to the state's new energy advisory council.
The council made up of utility, industry, government
and environmental experts will give advice on Utah's energy
strategy going forward.
Members include:
Keith Rattie, chief executive officer of Questar Corp.,
representing the natural gas industry.
Rich Walje, executive vice president of Utah Power.
Jim Felton, investor relations manager of Bill Barrett
Corp.
Doug Smith, president of Andalex Coal Resources.
Craig Cox, president of Enviroserve Associates.
Phillip Colton, who has experience in private nuclear
fuels manufacturing for the Atomic Energy Agency in Washington,
D.C.
Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price.
Sarah Wright, executive director of Utah Clean Energy.
Scott Gutting, Utah Association of Energy Users.
Dan Johnson for Chevron Texaco.
Rep. Fred Hunsaker, R-Logan.
Carbon County Commissioner Steve Burge.
Irene Rees, representing the Division of Public
Utilities.
2005 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
21 lamonitor.com: Warhead debate shakes stockpile
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, , Monitor Assistant Editor
The nation's top nuclear weapons official's prepared statement
to a subcommittee of the Senate Armed Service Committee, an
opening gambit in the federal appropriations process for the FY
2006 nuclear weapons budget, signaled what may be a profound
transformation in the nuclear weapons complex.
The change, Linton Brooks said, could be enabled by a new
concept called the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW),
"replacements for existing stockpile weapons that could be more
easily manufactured with more readily available and more
environmentally benign materials, and whose safety and
reliability could be assured with the highest confidence,
without nuclear testing, for as long as the United States
requires nuclear forces."
Brooks is administrator of the National Nuclear Security
Administration.
Last year, according to a May 26 report by the non-partisan
Congressional Research Service, the House Appropriations
Committee scratched funding for two controversial nuclear
weapons projects proposed by the Bush administration, but a
conference committee of both houses took a nearly invisible
detour.
The change was influenced by Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman
of the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Subcommittee
that funds NNSA.
Money that had been earmarked for studying weapons modifications
to address perceived military and political limitations of the
current stockpile was transferred without public discussion to a
concept newly created by the bill and described tersely as a
"program to improve the reliability, longevity and certifiability
of existing weapons and their components."
The funds were transferred from research on the Robust Nuclear
Earth Penetrator, otherwise known as the "bunker buster," and
the Advanced Concept Inititiative, which included feasibility of
smaller nuclear bombs, test readiness and other technologies
related to nuclear weapons.
Thus began the potential demise of stockpile stewardship, as it
is currently deployed, and the start of the official career of
the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW), the new, all-purpose,
utility nuclear program meant to solve a number of apparent
problems in what Brooks now calls, "the wrong stockpile."
The CRS report, authored by Jonathan Medalia, identified the RRW
as part of a comprehensive plan, sponsored by Hobson "to
modernize the weapons complex, avoid new weapons and nuclear
testing and permit a reduction" in the current, aging stockpile
of nuclear weapons.
Brooks himself, while emphasizing that stockpile stewardship is
working, went on to disclose how inadequate it really was.
It is the wrong stockpile, he said, because it's wrong
technically, politically, militarily, economically and hard to
secure under terrorist threat. He elaborated on each of these
points by describing a better, cheaper, more versatile, more
militarily useful and longer-lasting nuclear weapons reserve.
In Hobson's committee's report explaining this year's
appropriation bill, other shortcomings of the current program
were made explicit.
The report explained why the panel recommended cutting $160
million from the $761 million budget request for NNSA's Advanced
Simulation and Computing program, shared among Lawrence
Livermore, Sandia National and Los Alamos National laboratories.
The representatives had supported the program in the past, the
committee report said, because it was needed to certify the
nuclear stockpile without testing.
"However, Congressional testimony by NNSA officials is beginning
to erode the confidence of the Committee that the science-based
Stockpile Stewardship is performing as advertised," the
committee report concluded.
As examples, the document called attention to the Energy
Department's justification for shortening the time needed to
test nuclear weapons and its rationale for building a
"responsive infrastructure." Both arguments were based on the
need to respond to "unforeseen" or "unanticipated" problems in
the existing stockpile.
While putting the brakes on one element of the "responsive
infrastructure" project, intended to create the ability to
manufacture any weapons parts that are wearing out, the
appropriations committee commended LANL "for its work restoring
the pit production capability to the nuclear weapons production
complex," but it opposed funding the Modern Pit Facility. MPF
would be a several hundred million dollar investment at a
location yet to be designated. But the committee declined to
move forward until NNSA finishes its experiment on how long the
pits, the plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons, are supposed
to last.
At issue was the question of how many pits would actually be
needed, and whether that need might not be accomodated using
existing facilities at LANL's Plutonium Facility, where small
batches of the triggers are now being made.
Similarly, the committee recommended dropping all of next year's
requested $55 million funding for another of LANL's big ticket
items, the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility
Replacement, until NNSA sorted out what it wanted to do with the
weapons complex as a whole and the Reliable Replacement Warhead
in particular.
Thus the $25 million Reliable Replace Warhead budget item has
become something of an x-factor, largely driving Congressional
debate on the future of the nuclear weapons complex, for which
NNSA is asking a total budget this year of $9.4 billion
According to the CRS report, RRW will be designed for ease of
manufacturing, maintenance, dismantlement and certification
without nuclear testing. At the same time, it would make
possible a significant reduction in the sheer numbers of
deployed and deployable weapons in the stockpile by reducing the
hedge of extra weapons that are needed to guard against the
unpredictable mishaps of the current program.
As Brooks described it in his April 4 testimony, "We must evolve
our strategy from today's 'certify what we build' to tomorrow's
'build what we certify.'"
The House Appropriation Committee bill HR 2419 was approved
416-13 on May 24, approving the RRW initiative.
According to legislative rituals, the Senate Appropriation
Committee chaired by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, has yet to weigh
in.
Domenici has made it clear that he is very skeptical about
NNSA's consolidation plans for the nuclear complex contained in
an unfinished report commissioned by Hobson.
Brooks angered Domenici during his testimony on April 14 by
referring to a $3 billion savings in nuclear weapons
expenditures anticipated over five years that would be contained
in the report.
Domenici objected that the report had not even been finished
yet, much less approved.
Domenici said in his statement after the hearing, "The long term
impacts of the proposed budget will leave the NNSA complex with
a shallow scientific capability, housed in ancient facilities
and paying through the nose for unchecked growth in security
costs."
The CRS report described the struggle now going on over how best
to manage the nuclear stockpile as one between advocates of the
current system of Science-Based Stockpile Stewardship, in which
any deteriorating weapons components are meant to be rebuilt
under a Life Extension Program, and supporters of RRW, which
purports to create a new set of solutions appropriate to the age.
Another set of views, "concerning the larger questions of
retaining U.S. nuclear weapons or the strategic uses and values
of such weapons," were not considered by the report.
2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
22 [NukeNet] Huge Shortfall To Dismantle Russian Nukes, Rocky
Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 14:28:33 -0700
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Videos, Including Space Weaponization,
Nuclearization, More: http://www.envirovideo.com
http://www.envirovideo.com
Aid Sought to Dismantle Russian Nukes
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Japan-Weapons-Conference.html
Aid Sought to Dismantle Russian Nukes
a.. E-Mail This
b.. Printer-Friendly
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 7, 2005
Filed at 5:32 a.m. ET
TOKYO (AP) -- Rich donor nations should offer more
financial aid for Russia to dismantle its
Soviet-era nuclear and chemical weapons stockpiles
and help other countries keep nuclear material
from terrorists, experts said at an international
weapons conference Tuesday.
Weapons specialists from governments and
think-tanks around the world assessed progress in
eliminating weapons of mass destruction and
protecting stored nuclear waste since 2002, when
the Group of Eight wealthiest nations promised at
least $20 billion over 10 years for the effort.
Former Sen. Sam Nunn said the pledges so far of
$17 billion fall short of that goal and stressed
that only a fraction of that amount had actually
been spent. He urged delegates to consider the
risks of inaction.
''Today ... it is possible that a small group of
terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons in one
nation, launch a nuclear attack in another nation
and stagger the security and the economy of every
nation,'' said Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear
Threat Initiative, a charity that co-sponsored the
conference.
He singled out Japan as one of the stingiest
donors, pledging only $200 million compared to
Washington's $10 billion contribution.
Much of the discussions focused on Russia's
weapons stockpiles.
Moscow had amassed a Cold War-era fleet of 250
nuclear-powered submarines, but since the 1980s,
nearly 200 of them have been removed from active
duty. Moscow has promised to dismantle its aging
fleet at ports in its northwest and far east and
safely dispose of their nuclear reactors by 2010,
officials said.
That could cost $4 billion. Reducing Russian
biological and chemical weapons could cost another
$8 billion.
Sergey Antipov, deputy director of Russia's
Federal Atomic Energy Agency, said Moscow couldn't
afford that on its own.
''Over the next 10 to 12 years, we can't achieve
our goals without international help,'' said
Antipov.
But critics said Moscow's reluctance to give
experts greater access to military sites was
hobbling progress.
Russia isn't the only concern. Research facilities
in more than 40 nations possess enough enriched
uranium to build a nuclear bomb, Nunn said.
Enriched uranium can be used in a reactor to
generate electricity, but it can also be used to
produce warheads. Much of the world's enriched
uranium stores aren't protected from the
possibility of theft, he added.
The G8 members are the United States, Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
------
On the Net:
Center for Strategic and International Studies:
http://www.csis.org
Nuclear Threat Initiative: http://www.nti.org
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/07/science/earth/07flat.html?
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b.. Printer-Friendly
c.. Single-Page
d.. Reprints
By HILLARY ROSNER
Published: June 7, 2005
BOULDER, Colo., June 4 - On a tallgrass prairie
mesa that seems to float midway between the Denver
skyline and the craggy Flatiron foothills, the
largest hazardous waste cleanup in American
history is entering its final stages.
Skip to next paragraph
Moon Suits and Earth Movers
Forum: The Environment
For more than three decades the mesa was home to
Rocky Flats, a high-security, top-secret factory
that made plutonium triggers for the government's
nuclear arsenal. The plant was shut down in an
F.B.I. raid in 1989, and the Energy Department's
contractor, Rockwell International, pleaded guilty
to illegal dumping of radioactive waste.
Today there are few remaining visual cues to the
history of Rocky Flats. The site - at 6,266 acres,
nearly half the size of Manhattan - is being
turned into a wildlife refuge. When it opens, in
2008 at the earliest, the breezy meadow, populated
by deer, hawks, jackrabbits, prairie dogs and
coyotes, is to have public space for hiking,
biking and horseback riding.
Decontaminating, demolishing and disposing of
Rocky Flats - a $6.8 billion task expected to be
finished in October - has involved what Steve
Gunderson, coordinator of the cleanup for the
Colorado Department of Public Health and
Environment, calls a series of "unbelievable"
technological feats. More than 39,500 containers
with about 20,000 cubic yards of highly
radioactive transuranic waste have gone to their
final resting place at the Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant in Carlsbad, N.M.
Excavators are razing the last remaining buildings
as huge water jets help contain the dust. On the
site of the building once known as the most
dangerous in America, where liquid plutonium often
leaked from faulty pipes and valves, there is only
a large patch of replanted land covered by coconut
matting to prevent erosion.
Before they could come down, the buildings needed
to be decontaminated, which meant removing and
disposing of massive pieces of highly toxic and
radioactive equipment. The walls of some buildings
were several feet thick, and there were virtually
no blueprints for the miles of piping and
ventilation systems, which had been modified
repeatedly over the years with little
documentation.
One particular challenge was the glove boxes, the
sealed chambers in which workers handled the
plutonium using long rubber gloves that were
extended in through portholes.
There were roughly 1,500 glove boxes at Rocky
Flats, ranging in size from that of a car to a
very large room. Because they were highly
contaminated, they would have to be shipped to New
Mexico. This meant slicing them into chunks to fit
into 55-gallon drums.
In the beginning, moon-suited workers used
electric saws to slice through the stainless
steel. But after a worker cut himself and ended up
with a dangerous dose of plutonium, the cleanup
contractor, the Kaiser-Hill Company of Golden,
Colo., had "to come up with a better, safer way to
do this work," said Howard Gilpin, its director of
safety, engineering and quality programs.
Several innovations seemed promising, but were
ultimately discarded. In Building 771, where
plutonium was processed, workers constructed a
confinement tent where they would wheel the glove
boxes and cut them with a plasma torch. "The big
problem is you're aerosolizing plutonium when you
cut it like that," Mr. Gilpin said. "So we had to
build high-efficiency air filtration systems. But
you still had workers in there physically doing
things with their hands."
Next came a robotics system, which removed the
workers from the cutting process but kept breaking
down, requiring workers to enter the tent and fix
the problem.
The "magical solution," Mr. Gilpin said, came in
the form of cerium nitrate, a chemical that bonds
with plutonium. Cerium lightly etches the metal of
the glove-box walls and draws the plutonium into a
nitric acid solution. Nancy Tuor, Kaiser-Hill's
president and chief executive, compared the
process to "cleaning the bathroom."
"Spray bottles, Scotch-Brite, squeegees, rags,"
she said. "They literally would go in and spray
the cerium nitrate inside the glove boxes and then
just wipe off the contamination." The rags became
transuranic waste, but the glove boxes themselves
were now low-level waste - meaning they could be
shipped in larger containers and did not need to
be cut into bits.
Some of the Rocky Flats cleanup work involved the
same puzzle-piecing skills as packing the trunk of
a car. "You can't just throw all this stuff in
these cargo containers," said Jerry Long,
Kaiser-Hill's vice president for material
stewardship. "You have to know that you won't have
stuff moving around."
Skip to next paragraph
Moon Suits and Earth Movers
Forum: The Environment
Dismantling the buildings was yet another
challenge. To protect themselves from any
plutonium that might be in the air, workers fogged
the rooms with sticky fixatives that captured the
radioactive materials and pinned them to the
walls. Concrete shavers were later used to scrape
off the contaminated layers. The buildings were
then demolished in various ways, depending on
their level of contamination.
In some cases, the buildings were so strongly
reinforced that explosives were used to set off
sound waves that shook the lattices of rebar rods
free of the concrete.
"Some of these buildings were built to withstand a
Russian bomber attack," said David Maloney,
technology director for CH2M Hill, Kaiser-Hill's
parent company. "They were designed not to be
blown up. That really gives the explosives guys
something to think about."
Beyond the physical structures, environmental
contamination in the soil and groundwater must
also be cleaned up. This has proved the biggest
sticking point with community watchdogs, who worry
that the Energy Department did not require
Kaiser-Hill to dig deep enough.
The contract set allowable levels for
radioactivity in the first three feet of soil at
no more than 50 picocuries of plutonium per gram,
a level at which 1 in 500,000 workers at the
wildlife refuge would be at increased risk for
cancer. From three to six feet, radioactivity can
remain at 1,000 picocuries per gram, and below six
feet there are no standard limits. Starting this
month, Blackhawk helicopters outfitted with
radiation monitoring systems will fly 50 feet over
the site, back and forth in 100-foot paths,
looking for hot spots in the soil.
The groundwater, contaminated with uranium and
industrial solvents, eventually enters the creeks
that flow across Rocky Flats. To stop this,
engineers devised a barricade to trap the water at
the bottom of a hill, then built a simple
filtering system that uses iron filings to bind
the contaminants chemically. Filtered water then
flows into the creek, which eventually feeds into
the South Platte River.
Critics of Rocky Flats and the cleanup project
argue that there is just no way to make the site
safe. "There's too much stuff scattered and thrown
away out there," said Wes McKinley, who served as
grand jury foreman in the government's
investigation of Rockwell, Rocky Flats' former
contractor, and is now a member of the Colorado
Legislature. Mr. McKinley said the Energy
Department's past handling of Rocky Flats made it
hard to trust this time around.
Representative Mark Udall, a Democrat who
represents the area in Congress, agreed that "the
history of the facility would remind all of us
that we have to be vigilant," but he said he was
pleased with the cleanup levels. An author of the
bill that established the refuge, he called it "a
hidden reward for having closed off these areas."
Some critics worry that transforming Rocky Flats
into a wildlife refuge buries the truth of the
real Rocky Flats legacy. "The rush to normalize
Rocky Flats, to make it another chunk of open
space, essentially erases the fact that for 37
years nuclear weapons were manufactured there,"
said Len Ackland, director of the Center for
Environmental Journalism at the University of
Colorado and the author of "Making a Real
Killing," a 1999 book about Rocky Flats. But its
past will not be entirely forgotten. The 500-acre
industrial area will remain closed to the public,
under Energy Department control.
"You don't want people to forget, 150 years from
now," said Ms. Tuor, the Kaiser-Hill chief
executive, "and go start digging around down
there."
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Japan-Weapons-Conference.html
Aid Sought to Dismantle Russian Nukes
a.. E-Mail This
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: June 7, 2005
Filed at 5:32 a.m. ET
TOKYO (AP) -- Rich donor nations should offer more
financial aid for Russia to dismantle its
Soviet-era nuclear and chemical weapons stockpiles
and help other countries keep nuclear material
from terrorists, experts said at an international
weapons conference Tuesday.
Weapons specialists from governments and
think-tanks around the world assessed progress in
eliminating weapons of mass destruction and
protecting stored nuclear waste since 2002, when
the Group of Eight wealthiest nations promised at
least $20 billion over 10 years for the effort.
Former Sen. Sam Nunn said the pledges so far of
$17 billion fall short of that goal and stressed
that only a fraction of that amount had actually
been spent. He urged delegates to consider the
risks of inaction.
''Today ... it is possible that a small group of
terrorists could acquire nuclear weapons in one
nation, launch a nuclear attack in another nation
and stagger the security and the economy of every
nation,'' said Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear
Threat Initiative, a charity that co-sponsored the
conference.
He singled out Japan as one of the stingiest
donors, pledging only $200 million compared to
Washington's $10 billion contribution.
Much of the discussions focused on Russia's
weapons stockpiles.
Moscow had amassed a Cold War-era fleet of 250
nuclear-powered submarines, but since the 1980s,
nearly 200 of them have been removed from active
duty. Moscow has promised to dismantle its aging
fleet at ports in its northwest and far east and
safely dispose of their nuclear reactors by 2010,
officials said.
That could cost $4 billion. Reducing Russian
biological and chemical weapons could cost another
$8 billion.
Sergey Antipov, deputy director of Russia's
Federal Atomic Energy Agency, said Moscow couldn't
afford that on its own.
''Over the next 10 to 12 years, we can't achieve
our goals without international help,'' said
Antipov.
But critics said Moscow's reluctance to give
experts greater access to military sites was
hobbling progress.
Russia isn't the only concern. Research facilities
in more than 40 nations possess enough enriched
uranium to build a nuclear bomb, Nunn said.
Enriched uranium can be used in a reactor to
generate electricity, but it can also be used to
produce warheads. Much of the world's enriched
uranium stores aren't protected from the
possibility of theft, he added.
The G8 members are the United States, Britain,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
------
On the Net:
Center for Strategic and International Studies:
http://www.csis.org
Nuclear Threat Initiative: http://www.nti.org
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings or access the archives at:
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*****************************************************************
23 Guardian Unlimited: Aid Sought to Dismantle Russian Nukes
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 10:46 AM
By KENJI HALL
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) - Rich donor nations should offer more financial aid
for Russia to dismantle its Soviet-era nuclear and chemical
weapons stockpiles and help other countries keep nuclear
material from terrorists, experts said at an international
weapons conference Tuesday.
Weapons specialists from governments and think-tanks around the
world assessed progress in eliminating weapons of mass
destruction and protecting stored nuclear waste since 2002, when
the Group of Eight wealthiest nations promised at least $20
billion over 10 years for the effort.
Former Sen. Sam Nunn said the pledges so far of $17 billion fall
short of that goal and stressed that only a fraction of that
amount had actually been spent. He urged delegates to consider
the risks of inaction.
``Today ... it is possible that a small group of terrorists
could acquire nuclear weapons in one nation, launch a nuclear
attack in another nation and stagger the security and the
economy of every nation,'' said Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear
Threat Initiative, a charity that co-sponsored the conference.
He singled out Japan as one of the stingiest donors, pledging
only $200 million compared to Washington's $10 billion
contribution.
Much of the discussions focused on Russia's weapons stockpiles.
Moscow had amassed a Cold War-era fleet of 250 nuclear-powered
submarines, but since the 1980s, nearly 200 of them have been
removed from active duty. Moscow has promised to dismantle its
aging fleet at ports in its northwest and far east and safely
dispose of their nuclear reactors by 2010, officials said.
That could cost $4 billion. Reducing Russian biological and
chemical weapons could cost another $8 billion.
Sergey Antipov, deputy director of Russia's Federal Atomic
Energy Agency, said Moscow couldn't afford that on its own.
``Over the next 10 to 12 years, we can't achieve our goals
without international help,'' said Antipov.
But critics said Moscow's reluctance to give experts greater
access to military sites was hobbling progress.
Russia isn't the only concern. Research facilities in more than
40 nations possess enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear
bomb, Nunn said.
Enriched uranium can be used in a reactor to generate
electricity, but it can also be used to produce warheads. Much
of the world's enriched uranium stores aren't protected from the
possibility of theft, he added.
The G8 members are the United States, Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
---
On the Net:
Center for Strategic and International Studies:
http://www.csis.org
Nuclear Threat Initiative: http://www.nti.org
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
24 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Hydrogen power should be free of nuclear energy
This is in reference to your May 26 editorial, in which you
embraced a hydrogen economy but warned against using nuclear
power to produce that hydrogen. The hydrogen economy holds
promise for nonpolluting automobile fuel and other applications,
but, you are right, it must not be based on nuclear power.
Unfortunately, the Bush administration has proposed a $1.1
billion experimental nuclear reactor targeted for Idaho. The
hydrogen fuel generator would be built, entirely with federal
taxpayer money, as a showcase for Bush's "Freedom Car
Initiative," first announced in his 2003 State of the Union
speech.
Of course, basing the hydrogen economy on nuclear power would
generate vast quantities of high-level radioactive waste, which
would dramatically increase the pressure to build Yucca
Mountain. Fortunately, as you stated, hydrogen can -- and should
-- be generated in genuinely clean and green ways, as through
solar and wind power. Nevada happens to be blessed with an
abundance of both those natural resources.
The Energy Department at one time proposed running the Yucca
dump's ventilation systems with a mountainside of solar panels
and a wind turbine farm. If this were possible, then why
couldn't the electricity have been generated in the first place
by clean, renewable energy sources like wind and solar, rather
than dangerous atomic power with its forever deadly high-level
radioactive wastes? We need to keep nuclear power completely out
of the promising hydrogen future.
KEVIN KAMPS Washington, D.C.
Editor's note: The writer works for the Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, a center for citizens and environmental
organizations concerned about nuclear power and sustainable
energy issues.
*****************************************************************
25 NewsFromRussia.Com: G8 nations should spend more to dismantle Russia's nuclear
arsenals, experts say
12:43 2005-06-07
Rich donor nations should offer more financial aid for Russia
to dismantle its Soviet-era nuclear and chemical weapons
stockpiles and help other countries keep nuclear material from
terrorists, experts said at an international weapons conference
Tuesday.
Weapons specialists from governments and think-tanks around the
world assessed progress in eliminating weapons of mass
destructionand protecting stored nuclear waste since 2002, when
the Group of Eight wealthiest nations promised at least US$20
billion over 10 years for the effort.
But former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn said the pledges so far of US$17
billion fall short of that goal - and stressed that only a
fraction of that amount had actually been spent. He urged
delegates to consider the risks of inaction.
"Today ... it is possible that a small group of terrorists could
acquire nuclear weapons in one nation, launch a nuclear attack
in another nation and stagger the security and the economy of
every nation," said Nunn, co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat
Initiative, a charity that co-sponsored the conference.
He singled out Japan as one of the stingiest donors, pledging
only US$200 million compared to Washington's US$10 billion
contribution.
Much of the discussions focused on Russia's weapons stockpiles.
Moscow had amassed a Cold War-era fleet of 250 nuclear-powered
submarines. But since the 1980s, nearly 200 of them have been
removed from active duty, and Moscow has promised to dismantle
its aging fleet at ports in its Northwest and Far East - and
safely dispose of their nuclear reactors - by 2010, officials
said.
That could cost US$4 billion (3.26 billion) while reducing
Russian biological and chemical weapons could cost another US$8
billion (6.52 billion), they said.
Sergey Antipov, deputy director of Russia's Federal Atomic
Energy Agency, said Moscow couldn't afford that on its own.
"Over the next 10 to 12 years, we can't achieve our goals
without international help," said Antipov.
Russia isn't the only concern. Research facilities in more than
40 nations possess enough enriched uranium to build a nuclear
bomb, Nunn said.
Enriched uranium can be used in a reactor to generate
electricity, but it can also be used to produce warheads. Much
of the world's enriched uranium stores aren't protected from the
possibility of theft, he added.
G8 members are the United States, Britain, Canada, France,
Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia.
KENJI HALL, Associated Press Writer
pravda.ru
Copyright 1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials
*****************************************************************
26 Daily Yomiuri: Nuclear fusion energy '50 years away'
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The planned International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor is
a large-scale nuclear fusion experimental reactor to be built
through an international collaboration, with the aim of using
nuclear fusion for power generation.
The cost of building and operating the main structure of the
ITER is estimated at 570 billion yen, with the total cost,
including related expenses, of 1.3 trillion yen.
Agreement on the project was first reached in the 1985
U.S.-Soviet summit talks between then leaders Ronald Reagan and
Mikhail Gorbachev.
Japan, China, the European Union and South Korea subsequently
joined the project, meaning that it currently is being
undertaken by six parties.
The basic process of a nuclear fusion reaction is to be produced
by confining a mixture of heavy hydrogen, also called deuterium,
and tritium--a radioisotope of hydrogen with atoms three times
the mass of ordinary light hydrogen atoms--in a 20-meter
diameter doughnut-shaped vacuum vessel, which is to be heated to
100 million C or more.
Nuclear fusion is said to be safer than nuclear fission, while
one of the major fuel components, heavy hydrogen, can easily be
obtained from seawater.
Theoretically, one gram of fusion fuel could yield the same
energy of eight tons of kerosene. This has led the ITER to be
dubbed a "sun on Earth."
When fusion is put to practical use, the world will be free of
its reliance on oil, the combustion of which leads to the
emission of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. It even will
become possible to meet sharp rises in energy demand in such
regions with high economic growth as Asia.
But clearing the technological barriers for the confinement of
heavy hydrogen and tritium for a certain period is extremely
difficult. As a result, government experts say it will be at
least 50 years before nuclear fusion energy becomes available
for use.
Copyright 2005 The Yomiuri Shimbun
*****************************************************************
27 ITAR-TASS: Russia urges G8 partners to step up aid for submarine utilization
07.06.2005, 07.12
TOKYO, June 7 (Itar-Tass) - Russia urges its partners in the
Group of Eight Industrialized Nations to step up as much as
possible the allocation of aid for utilizing nuclear submarines
decommissioned by the Navy, Sergei Antipov, the deputy director
of Russias Federal Atomic Energy Agency said at a seminar on
the problems of Global Partnership.
Taking part in the seminar are representatives of all the
countries that undersigned the initiative, put forward in 2002
at the G8 summit in Kananaskis, Canada.
It was partly aimed at giving Russia assistance in disassembling
the nuclear submarines the Navy was writing off in the framework
of nonproliferation.
As Antipov talked to Itar-Tass, he said the utilization of the
submarines decommissioned to date requires 4 billion U.S.
dollars, while donors have pledged the allocation of 2.5 billion
U.S. dollars so far and most of the money is meant for
disassembling submarines in western parts of Russia.
Our goal here is to draw the attention of all the signatory
nations of Global Partnership to the fact that the problem of
decommissioned submarines is no less acute in Russias Far East
than in western regions, while financing for the Far East is far
scantier, Antipov said.
He said an approximately equal number of submarines expect
utilization in the Far East and in the west of Russia 40 in
each case.
The problem is that Japan is the only donor allocating money for
utilizations in the Far East. The Japanese have promised to
allocate a mere 100 million U.S. dollars, but so far the actual
allocation has totaled 6 million U.S. dollars, which was enough
to utilize just one submarine.
Antipov said talks were underway on signing and executive
agreement on Japans aid for utilizing five more submarines.
ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
28 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear power debate hits a snag
(07-06-2005)
By Saffron Howden June 07, 2005
From: AAP
NEW South Wales Premier Bob Carr has been granted his wish for a
debate on the merits of nuclear power, but he insists his state
won't become a dumping ground for waste. As the federal Cabinet
met in Canberra today to discuss the fate of future nuclear waste
in Australia, the Labor Party appeared divided over whether they
supported power sourced from uranium.
Federal Opposition resources spokesman Martin Ferguson was
today quoted as saying he supported a debate on the issue.
"Whether the Labor Party likes it or not, this debate is not
going to be closed down," Mr Ferguson told News Ltd newspapers.
But Labor's environment spokesman Anthony Albanese said the
federal party remained opposed to nuclear power.
Mr Carr last week riled environmentalists by suggesting nuclear
power was a viable alternative to energy sourced from fossil
fuels, and it could bridge the gap between it and renewable
power such as solar and wind energy.
But today, he ruled out NSW as a dumping site for nuclear
waste, saying it was against state laws.
"It's against the law to establish a nuclear industry in NSW
that's what the state law says," Mr Carr said.
"The federal Government has got to look at locations that are
remote, geologically stable and dry.
"The optimal locations are going to be outside NSW."
The federal Government had to take account of all the concerns
about the disposal and transport of nuclear waste raised during
a recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into the issue, Mr Carr said.
As the Northern Territory gears up for an election on June 18,
it too has dismissed suggestions it could become the future site
for a nuclear waste dump.
Meanwhile, the West Australian Government is opposed to any
plans to develop nuclear power.
A spokesman for WA Premier Geoff Gallop said today his position
on the issue had not changed.
"(The) Premier is opposed to uranium mining in WA, opposed to
nuclear power and opposed to Western Australia being chosen as a
medium level nuclear waste dump," the spokesman said.
But the federal Government remains committed to looking into
the option.
Treasurer Peter Costello said it would be in Australia's
interest to develop a uranium industry.
"I think we can move to a conclusion which is the development
of Australia's uranium industry and the use of it for peaceful
purposes would be very much in Australia's interest," he said.
"If domestic production stacks up on economic grounds, of
course I would support it.
"The only point I would make is that we have large deposits of
coal, we can produce electricity from coal extremely
competitively."
A national nuclear waste dump, originally proposed for an
outback South Australian site, was scrapped before last year's
federal election campaign after resistance from the SA
Government.
But The Australian newspaper has reported the Howard
Government is discarding plans to send nuclear waste to an
island because of terrorism and transportation fears.
The Daily Telegraph [Newspaper] Home
*****************************************************************
29 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear power not the answer - Dems
(07-06-2005)
Daily Telegraph
June 07, 2005 From: AAP Advertisement:
ANY push on nuclear energy for Australia was dangerous and
misguided when there were safer options to reduce greenhouse
emissions, the Australian Democrats said today. With federal
Cabinet meeting today in Canberra, the Government is believed to
be considering a reversal of its plan to send nuclear waste
offshore due to security fears and transport difficulties.
Prime Minister John Howard suggested shipping the radioactive
material to a remote offshore post 11 months ago, but is thought
to be considering again the merits of a mainland site.
Options could include disused defence land in the Northern
Territory.
Democrats leader Lyn Allison today said it appeared the
Government had finally realised global warming was not a myth and
was looking for ways to face up to that reality.
"For the Howard Government, this turns out to be expanding
uranium mining, favouring the myth of clean coal and writing off
renewable energy, local small-scale power generation and support
for consumers who want to cut their power bills and move to wind
and solar power," Senator Allison said.
"A nuclear reactor produces 20 to 30 tonnes of long-lived highly
radioactive waste a year.
"The Howard Government is unable to deal with the Commonwealth's
own low-level waste, let alone waste on that scale."
Senator Allison said nuclear power generation peaked in 1988 and
was not expanding as the industry suggested.
"The US has not ordered a new nuclear reactor in over 25 years,
despite the Bush administration's encouragement of nuke power,"
she said.
"It is primarily the nuclear weapons states that are keen to
promote nuclear power and they do so because they need to keep up
their nuclear expertise for military purposes.
"All the evidence suggests the Howard Government should not
entertain nuclear-power technology."
*****************************************************************
30 NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet June 15-17 in Rockville, Maryland
News Release - 2005-08 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office
of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC
20555-0001 E-mail: No. 05-089 June 7, 2005
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Advisory Committee on
Nuclear Waste will hold a public meeting June 15-17, in
Rockville, Md., to discuss, among other items, risk-informing
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards activities, and
the committees draft white papers on high-level radioactive
waste transportation issues and low-level radioactive waste. The
meeting will also include the committees review of the latest
International Commission on Radiation Protection Foundation
Documents, and its review of the Center for Nuclear Waste
Regulatory Analyses research program.
An ACNW working group will meet Wednesday, June 15, to discuss
draft guidance being prepared to implement the License
Termination Rule. The meeting will run from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30
p.m. The Thursday session will run from 10:15 a.m. to 5:40 p.m.,
and the session on Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon. All
sessions are open to the public and will be held in Room T-2B3
of the agencys Two White Flint North Building, at 11545
Rockville Pike.
Video teleconferencing is available for observing open sessions.
Those interested in this service should call Mr. Theron Brown at
301-415-8066 10 days before the meeting to assure availability.
For more information on the meeting, contact Sharon Steele, at
301-415-6805. A complete agenda will be available on the NRCs
Web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acnw/agenda/2005/.
Last revised Tuesday, June 07, 2005
*****************************************************************
31 Korea Herald: China pledges billions for nuclear power
Editorial/Op-Ed
China, the world's second-largest energy consumer after the
United States, will spend some 400 billion yuan (US$48.33
billion) on building new nuclear power plants by 2020.
The energy-hungry country intends to increase the amount of
installed nuclear power capacity from the current 16 gigawatts
to 40 gigawatts - or 4 per cent of the total installed capacity
- within 15 years, Kang Rixin, president of China National
Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), said.
Nuclear power generation is expected to triple to reach 60
gigawatts by that time, or 6 per cent of the country's total
electricity output from the current 2.3 per cent, according to
Kang.
To reach this rather ambitious goal, the country "should build
another 30 or so 1-gigawatt (GW) units in China," according to
the president of the country's largest nuclear reactor builder.
These greenhouse-gas-free power plants will be focused in the
populous south and east provinces such as Fujian and Zhejiang,
which are short on the hydrocarbons that fuel power plants in
the north and west.
Nuclear power plant generation has so far reached 13 per cent of
the total power generation mix in Zhejiang and Guangdong
provinces, Kang said.
The country currently has 19 reactors in operation, under
construction or with the central government's final approval.
Two under-construction reactors in Tianwan, Jiangsu Province,
which use Russian technology, are expected to go on line by the
end of this year and the beginning of next year, said the CNNC
president.
The company will soon make a final decision over a US$8-billion
contract to build four nuclear reactors at Sanmen of Zhejiang
Province and in Yangjiang of Guangdong, said Kang.
Framatome ANP, a venture between France's Areva SA and Germany's
Siemens AG, British Nuclear Fuels Plc's Westinghouse Electric Co
and Russia's AtomStroyExport are bidding for the projects.
"We are still analyzing the bids and have some issues to clarify
including technical levels, technology transfer and pricing,
which are quite sensitive," Kang said. "We hope to make a
decision as soon as possible."
Fu Manchang, secretary-general of the China Nuclear Society,
earlier last month said the final result will be expected as
early as in October.
As well as the four reactors that are still in the bidding
process, another four will start construction in the foreseeable
future as the extension of the current Qinshan and Ling'Ao
nuclear power projects in Zhejiang and Guangdong.
The two 600-megawatt reactors for the extension projects of the
Qinshan phase II will start building infrastructure from March
next year, according to Kang. Another two 1-gigawatt reactors at
Ling'Ao will also soon begin construction.
Yet this ambitious expansion by 2020 may just be a start. There
could be room for further expansion after 2020, Kang said.
"Four per cent is not an ultimate goal, it is a temporary goal,"
he said.
To promote self-reliance in nuclear power technology, CNNC is
currently developing a new form of reactor technology, known as
CNP 1,000, which will be applied to future projects, Kang said.
A design of a prototype for the reactor may be ready by the end
of this year, he said.
2005.06.08
*****************************************************************
32 Xinhua: China to build 30 nuclear power generators
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-07 10:48:34
BEIJING, June 7 -- China is planning to build 30 nuclear
power generators by the year 2020. The General Manager of the
China National Nuclear Corporation, the nation's largest nuclear
power conglomerate, made the announcement on Monday.
Speaking to reporters, Kang Rixin said that the new power
generators will have a total capacity of 40,000 megawatts, which
would account for 4 percent of the country's total power output.
General Manager of China National Nuclear Corp. Kang Rixin
said, "The building of the 30 nuclear power generators requires
an investment of around 400 billion yuan. For their
construction, we are going to introduce the most advanced
technology in the world. Meanwhile, our company will upgrade
research and development capability in nuclear technologies and
create our own brands in the future."
Kang added that the move comes at a time when the country
has decided to speed up development of nuclear power amid
widespread electricity shortages.
Kang said by the end of 2003, nuclear energy accounted for
1.6 percent of the nation's total power generation capacity.
The state has already listed the nuclear power industry as a
priority in its high technology research and development plan.
It is calling for the industry to grow at an annual rate of 15
percent in the coming five years.
(Source: CCTV.com)
Copyright 2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 People's Daily: China's nuclear power design capability scales new height
UPDATED: 18:26, June 07, 2005
Kang Rixin, managering director of China National Nuclear
Corporation (CNNC), said on June 6 that China has made major
progress in the second generation of the self-designed nuclear
power plant.
Following the completion of the initial design of CNP 1000, a
China's self-designed million-kilowatt PWR (pressurized water
reactor) nuclear power plant, by ShanghaiNuclear Engineering
Research and Design Institute, the preliminary design of CNP
1500 taken by BeijingInstitute of Nuclear Engineering is also
nearing completion. So far, China has formed a series of nuclear
power plants such as CNP 300, CNP 600 as well as CNP 1000/CNP
1500 with Chinese intellectual property rights.
In terms of economic efficiency, the power cost could be brought
under five US cents per kilowatt-hour once the CNP 1000 were put
into mass operation. According to the evaluation by experts, CNP
1000 is superior to all the domestic nuclear power plants in
operation, and some of its indexes are even better than those of
the second-generation international nuclear power plants in
terms of performance, economic efficiency as well as safety.
The nuclear power units built and those to be completed stand at
19, with the total installed capacity hitting 16 million kw.
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
34 People's Daily: Nuclear power plants in China open to general public
UPDATED: 16:50, June 07, 2005
While attending a press conference, Kang Rixin, managing
director of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), briefed
the reporters with the latest development and international
exchange and cooperation of nuclear industry in China.
Kang noted that nuclear is a kind of clean and safe energy. CNNC
has taken safety measures that have been stipulated by
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and generally
acknowledged in the international community. Experts with State
environment Protection Administration and other relevant
departments closely examine the construction of nuclear power
plants in accordance to the international standard. CNNC opens
its door to general public, welcoming everyone either to visit
the nuclear power plant or to lend them any constructive
suggestions on safe operation.
"In the past years, CNNC has been taking every opportunity and
occasion to publicize the technique of nuclear power plant in
China. Now the general public has understood the safety of
nuclear power, therefore, all of them support the construction
of nuclear power plants," added Kang.
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
35 NRC: Sunshine Act Meeting
FR Doc 05-11350
[Federal Register: June 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 108)]
[Notices] [Page 33210] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07jn05-91]
Agency Holding the Meetings: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
DATE: Weeks of June 6, 13, 20, 27, July 4, 11, 2005.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and closed.
Matters to be Considered: Week of June 6, 2005 There are no
meetings scheduled for the week of June 6, 2005.
Week of June 13, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the week of June 13, 2005.
Week of June 20, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the week of June 20, 2005.
Week of June 27, 2005--Tentative Tuesday, June 28, 2005.
9:30 a.m. Briefing on Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Program
(Public Meeting) (Contact: Corenthis Kelley, 301-415-7380).
This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
Wednesday, June 29, 2005.
9:30 a.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). Week of
July 4, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the
week of July 4, 2005.
Week of July 11, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled
for the week of July 11, 2005.
* The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call
(recording)--(301) 415-1292. Contact person for more information:
Dave Gamberoni, (301) 415-1651.
* * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the
Internet at:
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. * * *
* * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable
accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need
this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from
the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large
print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator,
August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415- 2100, or by e-mail
at aks@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for reasonable
accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
* * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: June 2, 2005.
Dave Gamberoni, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 05-11350 Filed 6-3-05; 9:41 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
36 Newsday.com: Hope Creek nuclear plant shut down for third time
in less than a year
AP New Jersey
June 7, 2005, 7:47 PM EDT
TRENTON, N.J. -- The operators of the Hope Creek nuclear
power plant have shut it down for the third time in less than a
year, this time because of a leak inside the plant's drywell.
Workers manually closed down the plant at about 2:15 p.m. on
Tuesday after noticing that the leakage exceeded five gallons per
minute, according to PSEG Nuclear, which operates the plant.
There was no release of radiation.
Plant personnel were planning to enter the drywell to determine
the source of the leak.
PSEG spokesman Skip Sindoni said it was too early to estimate
when the plant might go back online.
Until Tuesday, that plant had been running for 57 days. It was
closed earlier this year after a weld in a containment building
failed, causing radioactive steam to leak.
A more-serious steam leak was discovered elsewhere in the plant
in late 2004, causing a 3{-month shutdown.
The Hope Creek plant is one of three nuclear reactors, along
with Salem 1 and 2, that PSEG Nuclear operates at a complex in
Lower Alloways Creek Township in Salem County along the Delaware
River.
The company is part of Newark-based Public Service Enterprise
Group Inc., which is merging with Chicago-based Exelon Corp.
Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
*****************************************************************
37 AU ABC: Renewed call for nuclear power debate.
08/06/2005. ABC News Online
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
Chairman of the Australian Institute of Energy (AIE), Dr Tony
Vassallo says it is important the future use of nuclear power is
debated.
The organisation is hosting a conference on the issue today in
Sydney.
Last week, New South Wales Premier Bob Carr called for a debate
on the merits of nuclear power.
Dr Vassallo says with new power plants being proposed for the
State, the use of nuclear power should be considered.
"There does need to be a discussion about whether coal-fired
power station is the right way to go when you still have issues
with nuclear power that for example have much lower carbon
dioxide emissions than fossil fuel power," he said.
*****************************************************************
38 PRN: Hope Creek Declares Unusual Event
HANCOCKS BRIDGE, N.J., June 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Plant
operators at Hope Creek declared an unusual event at 2:37 pm when
unidentified leakage inside the drywell exceeded 10 gallons per
minute. Earlier, at approximately 2:15 pm plant operators
manually shutdown Hope Creek per procedure when unidentified
leakage inside the drywell began trending up and exceeded five
gallons per minute, a predetermined set point for taking the unit
offline. All systems operated as designed in response to the
shutdown.
There was no increase in release of radiation from the plant
related to the event and the cause of the increased unidentified
leakage inside the drywell is under investigation. The unit was
operating at 100% power at the time of the event and had been on
line for 57 days.
Plant personnel will now plan an entry into the drywell to
conduct a thorough walk down to determine the source of the
leakage and cause. The unit will not be returned to service
until the cause is fully understood and the appropriate actions
taken.
An "unusual event" is the lowest of four classifications used
to identify events at nuclear power stations. All appropriate
federal and state agencies were notified following the unusual
event declaration.
PSEG Nuclear operates Salem Units 1 and 2, two 1,150 megawatt
pressurized water reactors, and Hope Creek, a 1,100-megawatt
boiling water reactor. The three units are located on one site in
Salem County, N.J. Salem Unit 1 and 2 were unaffected by the
event at Hope Creek and continue to operate at full power.
PSEG Nuclear is a subsidiary of PSEG Power, which is a
subsidiary of PSEG (NYSE: ), a diversified energy holding company
with annual revenues of more than $10 billion. PSEG Power, one of
the largest independent power producers in the U.S., owns
approximately 14,000 MW of electric generating capacity. PSEG's
other primary subsidiaries are Public Service Electric and Gas
Company (PSE), New Jersey's oldest and largest energy
distribution utility company, and PSEG Energy Holdings, a holding
company for other non-regulated businesses.
SOURCE PSEG Nuclear
Copyright 1996- PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights
Reserved. A company.
*****************************************************************
39 NRC: NRC to Send Team to Review Seabrook Security
News Release - Region I - 2005-03
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-032
June 6, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A.
Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
team to continue the review of security at Seabrook Station in
Seabrook, N.H. The on-site portion of the inspection began
today. The plant is operated by FPL Energy.
Consisting of five inspectors, the NRC team is tasked with
following up on NRC-identified findings from an inspection
conducted in May. The multi-disciplinary team will look at the
companys root cause analysis and evaluate the long-term
corrective actions planned by the company. Prior to leaving the
site after the May inspection, NRC inspectors reviewed the
companys short-term corrective actions that included on-site
compensatory measures and found them to be appropriate and in
accordance with the companys security plan.
NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins said, "Since
conducting our inspection last month, NRC continued to assure
that the company was addressing the inspection findings. This
special inspection will provide us with an in-depth look at the
companys efforts to correct any problems and prevent
recurrence."
The NRC inspection team includes specialists from the Region I
office in King of Prussia, Pa., and the NRCs headquarters in
Rockville, Md. The team is expected to spend about one week on
site before returning to the regional office, where information
they gather will be analyzed and evaluated.
The NRC routinely conducts inspections of security at the
nations nuclear power plants. The details of those inspections
are not publicly available. The NRC has determined that certain
security information should not be publicly available if it
could reasonably be useful to an adversary.
Last revised Monday, June 06, 2005
*****************************************************************
40 L.A. Daily News: Measure of safety
- Opinion
Article Published: Tuesday, June 07, 2005 -
Radiation detectors will help reduce terror threat With 4 million
cargo containers a year coming through the nation's busiest
harbor complex in Los Angeles and Long Beach, it's unlikely the
ports will ever be 100 percent safe from terrorists.
But the radiation detectors that new Homeland Security Chief
Michael Chertoff said will be installed by the end of the year
should reduce the danger sharply.
The radiation detectors will be able to scan the cargo
containers for emissions of radiation -- a sign that a dirty bomb
or other nuclear material is being shipped into the region.
Although it's worrisome that the local ports have been
vulnerable since the attack on the World Trade Center and
Pentagon in 2001, the detectors are a positive sign that stronger
safeguards are being put in place.
Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Daily News
*****************************************************************
41 Portsmouth Herald News: Nuclear-plant checks begin
Tue. June 7, 2005
By Shir Haberman shaberman@seacoastonline.com
SEABROOK - A Nuclear Regulatory Commission special inspection
team began work Monday to determine if the approach officials at
the Seabrook Station nuclear power plant have taken to fix
security problems is adequate.
However, the public will never know what the five-member NRC
team finds or just how appropriate the actions to address the
problems uncovered during a May NRC inspection are.
"Inspection reports relating to security issues are not made
public," said NRC spokesman Diane Screnci.
On May 24, the Portsmouth Herald reported that a security fence,
intended to prevent outside threats to Seabrook Station, failed
a recent NRC inspection and was declared inoperable.
That information sparked sharp criticism of the plant by
Massachusetts Democratic Reps. Ed Markey and John Tierney, and a
visit to the nuclear plant by Rep. Marty Meehan last week.
Markey and Tierney said they also had information that security
cameras were not operational.
Alan Griffith, spokesperson for the power plant, said federal
law prevented him from commenting on specific issues but said
plant security was never threatened.
"At no time have we lost our ability to protect public health
and safety," he said.
The NRC security inspection team will be at Seabrook Station for
about a week, a press release issued by the agency Monday
indicated.
"The NRC team is tasked with following up on the NRC-identified
findings from an inspection conducted in May," the release
indicated.
NRC Region 1 Administrator Samuel J. Collins said that since the
May inspection the plants primary owner, FPL Energy, a
subsidiary of Florida Power and Light, has been addressing the
inspection findings.
The fence was installed on Oct. 29, 2004. The requirement for
the security upgrade came from NRC following the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
In response to the failure of the security component, Seabrook
Station launched an investigation. Officials identified two
basic causes of the failure, according to the internal
documents.
The first was that the "the Perimeter Intrusion Detection System
design was inadequate," and the second was that "the system
testing performed to commission the system, and subsequent tests
to ensure operability, were deficient, which resulted in failure
to identify the inadequate design," the documents indicated.
Seacoast Online is owned and operated by Seacoast Newspapers.
Copyright 2005 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved. Please
*****************************************************************
42 Xinhua: Spain, US to cooperate in preventing spread of WMD
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-07 11:07:28
MADRID, June 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Spain and the United States
will seek closer cooperation in preventing weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) from falling into the wrong hands, the local
daily El Pais reported Monday.
Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and US
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made the pledge in a joint
statement. They said more than 60 countries, including Spain and
the United States, will collaborate within the framework of the
Proliferation Security Initiative.
"To the terrorist, the acquisition of nuclear, chemical,
biological or radiological devices could mean just one thing:
mass assassination and destruction far worse than the Sept. 11
attacks and Beslan, Madrid, Bali and other attacks -- which
still are fresh in memory -- altogether," said the statement.
Those participants of the initiative must "collaborate to
prevent such nightmares from happening, both here and anywhere
else in the international community," said the statement.
Washington unveiled the initiative in 2003 for preventing
the spread of nuclear weapons. Enditem
Copyright 2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
43 Jakarta Post: Govt to form special body to fight terrorism
The Journal of Indonesia Today
Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The government says it will form a special antiterror agency in
a move that is hoped will overcome the lack of coordination
between authorities and different agencies in trying to prevent
future terrorist attacks.
The agency will be supported by "terror desks" set up at the
provincial level. These desks may be placed under the authority
of governors, Coordinating Minister for Security and Political
Affairs Widodo Adi Sucipto said after a Cabinet meeting at the
State Palace on Tuesday.
The special antiterror agency would be an expansion of the
current antiterror desk managed by the Office of the
Coordinating Minister for Security and Political Affairs,
"The agency is needed to bridge the current lack of coordination
between law enforcement agencies in trying to achieve the early
detection of terror threats. We expect the planned agency will
play a key role in the fight against terrorism," said Widodo.
"The central government cannot handle the fight against
terrorism by itself. Provincial administrations must also play a
role in this in order for the effort to be effective, since
Indonesia is a vast country that needs comprehensive
monitoring," he said.
Widodo said the planned agency would coordinate all of the
agencies related with the fight against terrorism, including the
National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National
Intelligent Agency (BIN).
Intelligence reports from the institutions would be coordinated
by the agency for follow-up action in the field, with the agency
also supervising all counterterrorism operations.
Widodo said the technical details of the agency would be
discussed later with related agencies and ministries. The head
of the agency could be drawn from high-ranking officers in the
police or TNI, and would be directly responsible to the
president.
Asked if the agency would have greater authority to detain or
investigate terrorist suspects, Widodo refused to comment,
saying the government had not yet worked out those details.
This new plan comes after the recent bombing in a market in
Tentena, near Poso, Central Sulawesi. Twenty-one people died in
the attack and dozens of others were injured, making it the
deadliest bombing in the country since the Bali bombings in
2002.
Separately, regarding the progress of informal talks between the
Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in
Helsinki, Finland, Widodo said the talks were progressing.
"There are points in the talks that can be followed up on
further. However, any peace settlement will include the
condition that GAM accepts special autonomy for Aceh and that it
agrees to permanently end the conflict," said Widodo.
Widodo said there were a number of crucial points being
discussed in the talks, but the government refused to
accommodate GAM's demand for the formation of local political
parties and the holding of local elections.
Also discussed at the talks is the possibility of involving
member states of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations
in monitoring any peace settlement in Aceh. Other countries,
including members of the European Union, may also be welcomed to
play a role in monitoring any peace agreement.
All contents copyright of The Jakarta Post.
*****************************************************************
44 [DU-WATCH] Agency For Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 23:48:28 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/clist.html
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
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Anorexia. Narrated by Julianne Moore .
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45 [DU-WATCH] Extraordinary German Film on DU
Date: Mon, 6 Jun 2005 23:58:13 -0500 (CDT)
Award-winning DU Video Now Available in US
Use this German TV documentary to Spur Immediate Action
Co-sponsor a licensed public showing; call 413-773-7427.
Order video on-line for private, home use. http://www.traprockpeace.org
"The Doctor, the Depleted Uranium and the Dying Children"
by Freider Wagner and Valentin Thurn -- Produced by Ochowa-Film for
WDR, 2004
This award-winning, 54-minute, German Public television documentary
exposes uranium contamination on the streets of Baghdad. It documents
and analyzes the use and health effects of uranium weapons in Gulf
Wars I and II.
Filmmakers followed on-the-scene investigations in Iraq by Dr.
Siegwart Horst-Gunther, the German physician who first brought out
hard evidence of the US use of so-called 'depleted' uranium (DU)
weapons during the Gulf War, with Tedd Weyman, head of field
investigations for the Uranium Medical Research Center. Filmmakers
also interviewed the German researcher Axel Gerdes, who found DU
contamination in the New York reservists tested by the NY Daily
News, as reported in April and September, 2004.
This documentary will rouse neighbors to demand mass spectrometry
of urine samples for returning soldiers, as Connecticut legislators
consider House Bill 6008. (Only mass spectrometry establishes the
difference between natural and unnatural exposures, by revealing
the exact ratios of uranium isotopes.)
We are ready with contracts to show this documentary at medical
colleges, churches, temples, schools and town halls.
Your area nurses, doctors, students, soldiers, veterans, military
families, service clubs, need to know.
Help neighbors break free from the headlocks that weapons dealers
try to put on mainstream culture. Contract to show this film.
Organizers will need to collect $2 or more per person present to
cover costs. Trusted colleagues, please call.
Co-sponsors can name their appropriate action steps right after the
film showing.
The power of this vivid story can support your NO-DU campaign, or
support conscientious objectors.
At a preview next week, and at public showings all summer, co-sponsors
can facilitate discussion and name their choice of action steps to
abolish the manufacture and use of uranium weapons. We can supply
support materials and news about what neighbors are doing nationwide.
This video is a tool that will move people.
3You can make a difference!2 Some of these are easy steps:
* Calling the press and TV stations to ask questions, and insist
on coverage;
* Distributing DU warning cards to Iraqi9s, students, recruits, and
US troops; (British troops are are warned.)
* Advocating for the right medical tests-- proposed state by state,
in CT, NY, WA and LA state legislatures;
* Advocating for appropriate research, through Rep. Jim McDermott9s
bill, or independent labs, including in Iraq;
* Demanding labeling with the appropriate 3RADIOACTIVE2 placard for
DU shipments, on roads, rails and water;
* Calling on members of Congress to stop DU manufacture and use;
* Organizing educational programs - with speakers, films and action
planning;
* Creative arts approaches, using poetry, street theater and other
art forms;
* Direct nonviolent action, as when 8 demanded to speak to manufacturers
and were found not guilty of trespass in Hennepin County, MN District
Court, December 10 and 14, 2005;
* Taking non-violent protests to the streets, federal buildings,
recruiters, manufacturers, Congressional offices;
* Legal action to compel the US to stop manufacturing and using
uranium weapons or to defend non-violent protestors;
* Health care and environmental action in Iraq.
___________________________________________________________________________
________
For a contract call, Sunny Miller, Executive Director (413) 773-7427
Expert speakers are available for follow-up events.
Many free resources are available, used by 2000 daily
Traprock Peace Center
Purchase one video at > http://www.traprockpeace.org Pass it
around to friends and family. $25 + 5 shipping and handling
To purchase (for private, home-use only) Traprock Peace Center
send $25 (plus $5 shipping/handling) 103A Keets Road, Deerfield,
MA 01342
Sunny Miller, Executive Director Charlie Jenks, Website Manager;
Past President Traprock Peace Center 103A Keets Road, Deerfield,
MA 01342 413-773-7427 (Traprock office) 413-773-5188, ex. 2 (personal
messages)
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
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*****************************************************************
46 AU ABC: Mayor gets written promise on depleted uranium
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
ABC Queensland | Local News | Story
Tuesday, 7 June 2005. 16:21 (AEST)Tuesday, 7 June 2005. 16:21
The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has given a written
assurance that depleted uranium weapons will not be used at
Shoalwater Bay in central Queensland.
The Mayor of Livingstone Shire, Bill Ludwig, had sought the
assurance ahead of the joint US-Australian Exercise Talisman
Sabre starting this month.
Dr Rachel Darken from the Medical Association for the Prevention
of War says depleted uranium weapons have caused health problems
when used in Iraq.
However, Dr Darken says she has other concerns about Exercise
Talisman Sabre.
"We are still very concerned as a medical organisation that
there will be a nuclear-powered submarine in the area in these
exercises, and possibly other nuclear powered ships and possibly
weapons on board ships," she said.
*****************************************************************
47 Las Vegas RJ: Wildfire on Nellis range escalates
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
REVIEW-JOURNAL
A lightning-sparked wildfire on the Nellis Air Force Range north
of Yucca Mountain and 25 miles east of Beatty grew to 20,000
acres on Monday, authorities said.
A multiagency team of 136 firefighters and support personnel
was battling the blaze, which began Friday. It was not under
control late Monday after being fanned by strong winds over the
weekend, said Forest Service spokeswoman Beth Short.
She said no structures were threatened, but two single-engine
air tankers, three helicopters and six hot shot crews, in
addition to fire engines and water tenders, had been called in
to put out the fast-burning brush fire.
The attack was being led by the Bureau of Land Management, which
has an arrangement with the Department of Defense to suppress
fires on the Air Force range.
No injuries had been reported, Short said.
A spokesman for the Department of Energy's National Nuclear
Security Administration said the fire had spread Monday
afternoon to the west-central edge of the Nevada Test Site,
north of the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository.
Yucca Mountain sits along the test site's southwest boundary,
100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The spokesman, Kevin Rohrer, said the fire at one time was
about one mile west of the north tunnel entrance to the Yucca
Mountain Project.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
48 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding
FR Doc 05-11217
[Federal Register: June 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 108)]
[Notices] [Page 33209-33210] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07jn05-90]
of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for PPD, Inc.'s
(formerly PPD Development and PPD Pharmaco) Facility in Richmond,
VA AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Nicholson, Commercial and R
Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475
Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, 19406, telephone
(610) 337-5236, fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: jjn@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license
amendment to PPD, Inc. for Materials License No. 45-25314-01, to
authorize release of its facility in Richmond, Virginia for
unrestricted use. NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment
(EA) in support of this action in accordance with the
requirements of 10 CFR part 51. Based on the EA, the NRC has
concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is
appropriate. The amendment will be issued following the
publication of this notice.
II. EA Summary
The purpose of the action is to authorize the release of the
licensee's Richmond, Virginia facility for unrestricted use.
PPD, Inc. was authorized by NRC from November 23, 1994, to use
radioactive materials for research and development purposes at
the site. On November 18, 1997, PPD, Inc. requested that NRC
release the facility for unrestricted use. PPD, Inc. has
conducted surveys of the facility and provided information to the
NRC to demonstrate that the site meets the license termination
criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted use.
z The NRC staff has prepared an EA in support of the license
amendment. The facility was remediated and surveyed prior to the
licensee requesting the license amendment. The NRC staff has
reviewed the information and final status survey submitted by
PPD, Inc.
Based on its review, the staff has determined that there are no
additional remediation activities necessary to complete the
proposed action. Therefore, the staff considered the impact of
the residual radioactivity at the facility and concluded that
since the residual radioactivity meets the requirements in
subpart E of 10 CFR part 20, a Finding of No Significant Impact
is appropriate.
III. Finding of No Significant Impact The staff has prepared the
EA (summarized above) in support of the license amendment to
release the facility for unrestricted use.
The NRC staff has evaluated PPD, Inc.'s request and the results
of the surveys and has concluded that the completed action
complies with the criteria in subpart E of 10 CFR part 20. The
staff has found that the radiological environmental impacts from
the action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by NUREG-1496,
Volumes 1-3, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support
of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of
NRC-Licensed Facilities'' (ML042310492, ML042320379, and
ML042330385). The staff also found that the non- radiological
impacts are not significant. On the basis of the EA, the NRC has
concluded that the environmental impacts from the action are
expected to be insignificant and has determined not to prepare an
environmental impact statement for the action.
IV. Further Information
Documents related to this action, including the application for
the license amendment and supporting documentation, are available
electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can
access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System
(ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public
documents. The ADAMS accession numbers for the documents related
to this notice are: The Environmental Assessment [ML051510116],
NRC Inspection Report No. 45- 25314-01/98-01 [ML050450536] and
Final Radiological Survey Report for 2246C Dabney Circle dated
October 1997 prepared by RSO, Inc., for PPD Pharmaco
[ML050450524]. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who
encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS,
should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at (800)
397-4209 or (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov.
Documents related to operations conducted under this license not
specifically referenced in this notice may not be electronically
available and/or may not be publicly available.
[[Page 33210]]
Persons who have an interest in reviewing these documents should
submit a request to NRC under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Instructions for submitting a FOIA request can be found
on the NRC's Web site at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/foia/foia-privacy.html. Dated in
King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 31st day of May, 2005.
z For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
James P. Dwyer, Chief, Commercial and R Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I.
[FR Doc. 05-11217 Filed 6-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
49 Japan Times: Dismantling of nuclear accident site begins
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
MITO, Ibaraki Pref. (Kyodo) JCO Co. began Monday dismantling its
nuclear fuel-processing facilities in Tokai, Ibaraki Prefecture,
where a fatal accident occurred in 1999.
The company plans to complete the operation by March, JCO said,
adding some of the dismantled facilities will be contained in
drums and stored at the site for future possible restoration.
The work began in the morning after 13 workers wearing
protective gear and goggles entered the compound.
The nuclear criticality accident in Tokai on Sept. 30, 1999,
killed two JCO workers and exposed hundreds of other people to
radiation.
Local residents, experts and antinuclear activists had sought
to preserve the facilities to continue studying the causes of
the accident and its effects.
But the Tokai Municipal Government agreed to demolish it in
January, leading the Education, Culture, Sports, Science and
Technology Ministry to examine JCO's demolition plan.
The accident occurred when two JCO workers bypassed safe
operating procedures and used metal buckets to pour an excessive
amount of uranium into a processing tank, triggering a fission
chain reaction. The two employees were exposed to massive
radiation and later died from multiple organ failure.
The Japan Times: June 7, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
50 Paducah Sun: Coverage sought for all children of sick workers -
A Livingston survivor of a Paducah plant casualty organizes a
picket at the center that would pay only minor children.
By Joe Walker
jwalker@paducahsun.com
270.575.8656
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Gena Baker thinks a new law is shortchanging adult survivors of
Paducah nuclear workers who died from job exposure to toxins.
"I just want all the adult survivors to receive what's coming to
them because if the government only pays the minors, there's not
going to be very much money paid," she said.
Baker, 49, of Livingston County, has organized an informational
picket from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. today and Thursday at the Paducah
Energy Employees Compensation Resource Center, 125 Memorial
Drive, next to Milner & Orr Funeral Home off Blandville Road.
Although she was unsure of the exact turnout, some said they
were coming from as far away as Tennessee and Pennsylvania to
participate, Baker said.
"They're all adult survivors, and it's much bigger than I had
anticipated," she said. "There is even talk about a protest in
Washington."
Last fall, Congress passed legislation revamping the badly
backlogged claims program and transferring it from the U.S.
Department of Energy to the U.S. Department of Labor. Final
interim regulations were finished May 27, and the government
will begin paying the bulk of claims this summer.
The new program allows surviving spouses and dependent children
of workers who died from toxic exposure to receive up to
$175,000. Baker and others have complained at past public
meetings that the law limits child survivors to those who were
18 and under at the time of a worker's death; were 23 and
younger but full-time college students; or were otherwise
dependent.
Various adult survivors have said they spent years caring for
sick parents who were exposed to toxins at the Paducah Gaseous
Diffusion Plant, yet have no chance for compensation.
Eugene Charvat, Baker's dad, worked at the plant for 32 years
and died of lung cancer at age 72, long after his children were
grown. He died in December 1996, nine months before their mother
died in September 1997. Many years earlier, Charvat was exposed
to toxic uranium hexafluoride gas when a supervisor changed a
valve, Baker said.
Baker says most surviving children of deceased plant workers are
middle-aged or older because much of the exposure occurred
during the Cold War. She and her four siblings are excluded,
even though they previously received $150,000 under a separate
program that pays claims for cancers related to radiation
exposure.
"Most of these men are in their 80s," Baker said. "So there
aren't many survivors under 18."
Baker said she has been unable to obtain statistics on how many
adult children are ineligible, but estimates they account for 95
percent of the cases.
Baker said she doesn't blame the employees and managers of the
claims center, who have been "tremendous to work with" in
handling cases. She also conceded the Labor Department must
abide by the law.
The problem, Baker said, is that Congress stopped short of
compensating all who deserve it.
Previously, aides of federal lawmakers from Kentucky have said
it was extremely difficult revamping the law because of budget
constraints, more pressing matters in Congress and resistance
from lawmakers in states unaffected by the law. Baker said she
continues to push for improvements.
"I think the government is trying to get out of paying what it
owes," she said. "There's no law that's carved in stone and
can't be changed."
Claims may be filed or reviewed at the Paducah Energy Employees
Compensation Resource Center, 125 Memorial Drive, next to Milner
& Orr Funeral Home off Blandville Road. Phone: 534-0599 or
toll-free 866-534-0599.
*****************************************************************
51 Nuke Watch: Shipment of Radioactive Waste Leaves Ohio to Texas
Date: Tue, 07 Jun 2005 14:31:42 -0700
Nuke Watch: Projects of Peace No War Network
URL: _http://www.PeaceNoWar.net_ (http://www.peacenowar.net/)
June 6, 2005
Shipment of Radioactive Waste Leaves Ohio
By LISA CORNWELL
.c The Associated Press
CINCINNATI (AP) - About 40,000 pounds of radioactive waste from a
long-closed uranium-processing plant were loaded onto a flatbed truck
Monday for a
1,300-mile journey to storage.
It was the first Texas-bound shipment of Cold War-era waste being cleaned up
at the former Fernald plant just outside Cincinnati after neighbors fought
for year to get rid of it and the government struggled to find a place to
take
it.
``I'm glad it's going,'' said Lisa Crawford, president of the Fernald
Residents for Environmental Safety and Health. ``But wherever it goes, it
needs to
stay there.''
In April, Waste Control Specialists of Dallas won a $7.5 million contract to
store the material after earlier plans to take it to Utah and Nevada fell
through because of opposition.
The waste will be transported in 2,000 shipments to Andrews, Texas, near the
New Mexico line, in large, sealed containers.
Shipments of the estimated 45,000 tons of waste should be completed within
nine or 10 months. About 15 truckloads a day will leave Fernald at the
peak of
the shipping process, said Jeff Wagner, a spokesman for Fluor Fernald, the
Energy Department contractor cleaning up the site.
``The material does not pose a great risk to humans, and there are things
coming across the interstates every day that would be higher up on the
security
radar screen than a radioactive concrete block,'' Wagner said.
The Ohio plant processed and purified uranium metal for use in reactors that
produced plutonium for nuclear weapons from the 1950s until 1989.
Eighty-five percent of the site's other wastes are to be permanently stored
at Fernald. The more radioactive silo wastes being shipped to Texas are part
of the 15 percent to be sent elsewhere under the cleanup plan.
06/06/05 19:05 EDT
=============================================================
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52 Las Vegas SUN: NRC staff told data cited in Yucca Mountain
NRC staff told data cited in Yucca Mountain e-mails is sound
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PAHRUMP, Nev. (AP) - The Energy Department has not found that
Yucca Mountain water flow studies were tainted by scientists who
discussed falsifying quality control documents, a project
administrator said.
John Arthur, Yucca Mountain project deputy director, told
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff members in a meeting Monday
in Pahrump that the USGS scientists' findings about how surface
water might infiltrate cracks toward nuclear waste tunnels were
consistent with other research conducted at the mountain.
"The net infiltration estimates are technically defensible,"
Arthur said.
The issue of water infiltration is important because it could
help determine whether the site can safely contain the nation's
most radioactive waste.
Arthur said the data in question will not be used in an upcoming
Energy Department request for an NRC license to open and operate
a nuclear waste repository at the Yucca site. Other information
might be "replaced, redone or remediated" for the license
application, he said.
The application had been expected last December, after Congress
and President Bush in 2002 approved the department plan to
entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive waste at the
site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
The Energy Department wanted to open the Yucca project in 2010.
That timeline has been set back at least two years following a
federal court ruling that an Environmental Protection Agency
radiation standard was insufficient, congressional budget cuts,
and revelations made public in March that scientists exchanged
e-mails discussing falsifying data.
The e-mails, written between 1998 and 2000, show two or three
USGS scientists saying dates and names had been made up and that
"fudge factors" were used to satisfy quality assurance
requirements for their research.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said last month that work would
continue on the Yucca project while he awaited results of a
department scientific inquiry and criminal investigations by the
inspectors general of the Energy and Interior departments. The
probe was being assisted by the FBI.
Nevada officials have called for an independent probe of the
e-mails, and Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., has assigned staff members
from his federal work force subcommittee to investigate the
messages.
---
On the Net:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nrc.gov
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov
--
*****************************************************************
53 Nevada Appeal: Use Hawthorne base for nuclear storage
Opinion
June 7, 2005
Letters to the editor
If in fact the Hawthorne storage depot is closed, it certainly
will be tragic for those who lose their jobs and the town.
Whether the decision to tag the base for closure is unbiased or
is, in fact, a political punishment for Sen. Reid's
obstructionism or the state of Nevada's resistance to the Yucca
Mountain project will never be disclosed by the people who know.
There is a course of action that could be taken to save the
base. Gov. Guinn, with the concurrence of the people in
Hawthorne, could propose to the federal government that the base
be converted to a temporary nuclear waste storage depot.
During World War II, the people in our country demonstrated that
they could work together to achieve a common goal.
Today, environmentalists, the politicians they support, trial
lawyers, bigots and naysayers tend to polarize the population
and contribute to the degradation of our economy and country.
Energy independence should be the present common goal of our
country. The expanded use of nuclear energy should be a major
part of the energy policy.
Natural gas is being depleted by electric power plants, even
though our country has the largest coal reserves in the world.
If you are opposed to coal and nuclear energy, then you should
stop carping about high gasoline and natural gas prices.
DONALD W. CUNNINGHAM
Carson City
All contents Copyright 2005 nevadaappeal.com Nevada Appeal -
580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
54 Bradenton Herald: Final Tallevast toxin map ready
Posted on Tue, Jun. 07, 2005
DONNA WRIGHT
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - In a turnaround that stunned Tallevast residents,
Lockheed Martin Corp. now says it has the final dimensions of a
plume of contamination coursing underneath the historic
community.
Tallevast leaders said they were shocked that Lockheed could
have a final map when the defense giant just received new
requirements for measuring the plume less than two weeks ago
from state regulators.
But Lockheed spokeswoman Meredith Rouse Davis confirmed Monday
that results of recent drilling on airport land and along 15th
Street East have indicated the definitive boundaries of the
toxic plume. The latest drilling reports have been clean, she
said.
That data will be presented to the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection today, Davis said.
William Kutash, DEP's site manager for Tallevast, is expected to
brief the Manatee County Commission on Lockheed's progress and
the state's review process at 3 p.m. today in the commission
chambers.
"I don't know how they can do anything final without doing a
presentation to the community," said Wanda Washington, vice
president of Family Oriented Community United and Strong, a
Tallevast advocacy group.
"They should at least present this to Dr. Tim Varney, our
technical adviser, before making it final," Washington said.
Varney reserved comment on Lockheed's news of having achieved a
"final" map.
"They have had ongoing drilling," Varney said. "We may find out
that additional drilling provided information they didn't have
before."
DEP spokeswoman Pamala Vazquez said that while Lockheed may
consider the most recent map to be the final plume delineation,
state environmental regulators have yet to see, much less study,
the data.
Until Lockheed's drilling data can be fully studied, Vazquez
said, the latest map will be considered only a preliminary
finding.
The plume of underground contamination stems from the former
Loral American Beryllium Co., which was bought by Lockheed in
1996.
While Lockheed never operated the plant, the underground
contamination of potentially cancer-causing solvents was
discovered in 2000, before Lockheed sold the plant to the
current owner, WPI Inc.
Lockheed has assumed responsibility for cleaning up the mess.
Lockheed presented preliminary reports on the size of the plume
in February and April.
In a May 26 letter, DEP gave Lockheed additional work to do in
determining the depth and breadth of the contamination, as well
as data on how fast it is spreading.
Davis said Lockheed has already completed that work.
Over the past few months, Lockheed and DEP have been working
together to address concerns, Davis said. That work is what is
allowing Lockheed to come forward today with what it considers
to be a final plume delineation, Davis said.
Tallevast leaders hope commissioners do not accept the latest
map at face value, as happened on Feb. 1 when they accepted
Lockheed's report that the plume measured 50 acres.
Six weeks later, Lockheed came out with another report, saying
new testing revealed the plume measured more than 131 acres.
Varney told The Herald last week that he thinks the final
dimensions could be even greater than 131 acres.
Varney also believes DEP's requirement of an extensive health
and environmental risk assessment of the plume area will take
much longer than the 60 days the state has given Lockheed to do
the work.
Davis said Lockheed will address DEP's latest concerns in a
response that will be delivered to Kutash Thursday.
A remedial action plan will be presented in 60 days, Davis said.
Lockheed does plan on going ahead with additional soil testing
requested by FOCUS.
But first, FOCUS must spell out exactly what areas they want
sampled, Davis said.
"Tomorrow should be a very interesting meeting," said Laura
Ward, president of FOCUS. "We will just sit and listen and just
go ahead and do what is best for us, because it appears no one
has our interests at heart. We are fighting this battle
ourselves."
*****************************************************************
55 AU ABC: Mining companies look to NT for uranium
Tuesday, 7 June 2005. 18:37 (AEST)Tuesday, 7 June 2005. 18:37
The NT Minerals Council says mining companies are already
looking to the Northern Territory under the Commonwealth's push
to open up more uranium mines.
The council's Kezia Purick says there has been a recent increase
in applications from mining companies to explore areas with
uranium potential.
She says it is a positive indication that a four-year drought in
exploration spending is about to end.
"Exploration money that's being spent in the Territory is about
$48 million per year, which is pretty low," she said.
"We need to get that up because the amount of money we spend on
looking for minerals is proportionate to actually what you find,
so the more money we can spend on he ground the greater chance
of finding that ore body that can be developed."
A Canadian mining company has applied for 11 uranium exploration
licenses in the Territory, mostly in the Coomalie and Katherine
regions.
Brian Richardson from Aldershot Resources Limited says the
projects are grassroots prospects at the moment.
"Quite a few of them will probably fall off the perch after our
first phase of exploration but we're hoping that two or three of
them will carry forward to the second or third years," he said.
"We are very keen to look at all joint-venture opportunities up
there as well."
*****************************************************************
56 Las Vegas RJ: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: DOE: Water flow studies sound
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Accuracy of information called into question by e-mails in which
scientists discussed falsifying documents By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department has tentatively concluded
that Yucca Mountain water flow studies were technically sound,
even though scientists who conducted them had discussed
falsifying quality control documents, a DOE executive said
Monday.
Auditors discovered "the majority -- about 80 percent" of the
problems in 1999 and 2000, shortly after the research was
completed by U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists, according to
John Arthur, Yucca Mountain deputy director.
Further, the USGS scientists' findings about how surface water
might infiltrate cracks toward nuclear waste tunnels were
consistent with other research conducted on the mountain, Arthur
said.
"The net infiltration estimates are technically defensible,"
Arthur said at a Yucca managers' meeting with officials from the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Pahrump. The meeting was
telecast to NRC headquarters outside Washington.
But even though the USGS work may be sound, Arthur told the NRC
that the data will not be used in an upcoming DOE license
request to establish a nuclear waste repository at the Yucca
site.
"While the numbers look good, we also recognize they are only as
good as the integrity of the individuals that prepared them,"
Arthur said. "Our action is to make sure we have other
individuals and organizations look to make sure the information
is either replaced, redone or remediated so it stands up in our
license application."
The water infiltration studies were called into question by a
cache of e-mails that were made public in March.
The messages, written between 1998 and 2000, include two or
three USGS scientists saying that dates and names had been made
up, and that "fudge factors" were used to satisfy quality
assurance requirements for their research.
Investigations by inspectors general into possible criminal
activity were convened. At the same time, DOE has undertaken
multiple internal studies to determine whether project science
was compromised and to dissect its quality assurance program for
Yucca Mountain.
The allegations amounted to another embarrassment for the Yucca
project that had been set back by a court ruling last summer and
by budget shortfalls on Capitol Hill.
A Yucca Mountain critic said he was not surprised that the
Energy Department is finding minimal impact from the e-mail
messages.
"It was going to be a whitewash from square one," said Bob
Loux, director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. "We
predicted how this was going to look when they announced their
investigation."
Nevada officials had called for an independent probe of the
e-mails. Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., has assigned staff members
from his federal work force subcommittee to investigate the
messages, but they have announced little progress.
Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal
*****************************************************************
57 Bellona: Tender results for 50 containers for spent nuclear fuel to be
announced in June
TUK-120 transport packing containers should accommodate
icebreakers spent nuclear fuel stored currently onboard service
ship Lotta.
2005-06-06 19:47
The containers should be further placed at the storage facility
at the nuclear icebreakers base Atomflot in Murmansk.
Atomflots Deputy Director Mustafa Kashka said the results of
the tender and the winner would be announced by the end of June.
Four companies are taking part in the tender: Barrikada from
Volgograd, Sevmash from Severodvinsk, EnergoTEKS from Kurchatov
and Izhora plants from St Petersburg. According to Kashka, they
will look at the following criteria: project cost, licence for
work, time frame, and quality guarantee, Interfax reported.
The UK sponsors the containers construction in the frames of
the Global Partnership program. It was planned originally to
announce tender back in November 2004, but due to the lack of
the agreement with the British partners, the tender was
postponed. At the moment the money issue is solved, Kashka
said.
Thanks to this project Lotta will get place for 14 additional
reactor zones from the laid-up submarines, what should
significantly increase the rate of the nuclear submarines
dismantling.
Publisher: , President:
Information: , Technical contact:
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
58 Platts: DOE investigation says USGS studies of Yucca Mt. are sound
+ U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) water infiltration studies of
Yucca Mountain, Nev. are technically sound, according to
preliminary results of a DOE investigation unveiled today.
Still, John Arthur, deputy director of DOE's Yucca Mountain
repository project, told NRC officials the department would not
use those USGS studies, as is, during repository licensing
proceedings.
Instead, the information will be replaced, redone, or remediated
by outside individuals and/or organizations, Arthur said during a
quarterly NRC-DOE meeting on the repository project.
The scientific integrity of the work was called into question in
March after DOE and USGS revealed some USGS e-mails that
indicated at least one USGS scientist may have falsified quality
assurance documents associated with water infiltration studies at
Yucca Mountain.
If licensed, a Yucca Mountain repository would be used to dispose
of 70,000 metric tons of utility spent fuel and defense
high-level waste.
Washington (Platts)--6Jun2005
Copyright 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
59 Las Vegas SUN: Despite DOE e-mails, Yucca research deemed legitimate
By Mary Manning LAS VEGAS SUN
PAHRUMP -- Investigations by the Energy Department so far have
found that scientific research into how water flows at Yucca
Mountain is solid, despite e-mails by U.S. Geological Survey
workers that suggest they falsified quality assurance documents
designed to support the work's validity.
In the e-mails, which the Energy Department disclosed in March
and were written by "a few" -- likely two or three -- scientists
between 1998 and 2000, the workers suggested that they falsified
quality assurance documents. The scientists were conducting
vital research on how water would infiltrate the proposed
high-level nuclear waste repository. The issue is important
because it could help determine whether the site can safely
isolate waste.
The Energy Department and USGS inspectors general are
investigating, and the department is also conducting an internal
review. But early findings suggest no cause for alarm, Yucca
deputy director John Arthur told Nuclear Regulatory Commission
officials on Monday during a teleconference meeting regarding
the project's status. The commission is responsible for
licensing and regulating Yucca.
"The quality assurance controls provided some assurance that
the USGS technical products substantively complied with program
requirements," according to one slide in Arthur's presentation.
"The net infiltration estimates are technically defensible,
being consistent with independently derived results and
acknowledged as valid by a diverse technical community."
It's possible the department may have to re-do some of the work
conducted by the USGS scientists if it is deemed necessary, but
no decisions about that have been made, Energy Department
spokesman Allen Benson said Monday.
Further, the e-mails offer no "objective technical reason" to
question the fact that the Energy Department recommended Yucca
in 2002 as the safest place to construct a national repository,
according to Arthur's presentation. President Bush approved the
site based on that recommendation.
Also, there is no technical reason to question an application
for a license to construct Yucca, which the department plans to
submit to the NRC early next year, according to Arthur's
presentation. The application includes scientific research
supporting Yucca as a safe repository site, including water flow
data.
Nevada officials say the Energy Department officials have
downplayed a significant problem. They say the integrity of the
whole Yucca quality assurance program has been called into
question, along with the science that the department claims
proves the site safe.
In other Yucca news, Energy Department and Nuclear Regulatory
Commission scientists appeared to disagree Monday about how fast
water would flow through the Mountain.
Budhi Sagar, a hydrologist working for the Center for Nuclear
Waste Regulatory Analysis in San Antonio as a consultant to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said his estimates indicate water
would enter the repository more quickly than Energy Department
estimates.
"We (his company's estimates) are slightly faster," Sagar said,
but noted that the numbers are changing as scientific teams use
different computer models for running water through the mountain.
Nye County Commission consultants also are testing the limits
of barriers other than the mountain itself, such as nuclear
waste containers, shields to protect the buried casks from
dripping water and conditions within the repository, Sagar said.
The issue of "cool" versus "hot" repository designs also
surfaced at Monday's meeting.
Nye County is asking the Energy Department to space nuclear
waste containers in any future repository so that air can
circulate around them and cool them off, rather than bunch them
close together, which would raise the heat level in a
repository, Nye County Commission Candice Trummell said.
The design of a "cool" repository, instead of a "hot"
repository, is one of the issues under debate by the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission before the Energy Department can receive a
license to build a repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas but about 40 miles closer to this Nye
County town.
During a public input session, Jim Petell, an 11-year Pahrump
resident, said he is concerned about safety in the future and
whether casks transporting and containing the spent fuel from
nuclear reactors will last.
"Transportation routes will not only go through Nye County, but
all cities and towns across the country," Petell said.
Walt Kurver, who volunteers to serve on a committee overseeing
a plan for the Southern Nevada Water Authority to tap rural
water resources, said that ground water supplies are a major
concern.
Rural counties such as Nye are not prepared for the influx of
people, he said.
"Whatever happens with the water, there's lots going on on a
regional scale," Kurver said.
Safety is a national issue, 25-year Pahrump resident Kitty
Longhowser said.
Ten years ago Longhowser said she went to work with
Bechtel-SAIC, the company that is managing the Yucca Mountain
Project, as an administrator.
"It's always been about safety for the country," Longhowser
said. "If Nevada has to help the country, then why not help the
country?"
Nuclear power offers cleaner energy without acid rain, an end
product produced by fossil fuels burning, she said.
"You're not afraid of a light bulb, but electricity can kill
you," Longhowser said.
Longhowser said she wishes that state officials would negotiate
for benefits for Nye County.
Dury Thompson, a retired head of an electronics company that
chemically etched circuit boards, favors wind and solar energy,
but sees a Yucca Mountain repository as "our niche" to launch an
energy revolution from Pahrump.
Thompson moved to Pahrump from Minneapolis.
"I listened to Art Bell and thought, 'This must be the promised
land,' " Thompson said of the talk radio personality
broadcasting from Pahrump, who delves into UFOs, secrets at Area
51 and alien abductions.
*****************************************************************
60 Las Vegas SUN: State seeks draft copy of Yucca license application
By Benjamin Grove SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- Nevada lawyers have filed a petition to obtain a
draft copy of the Yucca Mountain license application, which
Energy Department officials have declined to make public.
The document is a massive compilation of research on the
mountain site and seeks permission from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to begin construction of a national high-level
nuclear waste repository.
The draft was delivered to the department by its top Yucca
contractor, Bechtel, in late July 2004. Nevada officials are
eager to begin poring over it as they compile a comprehensive
catalog of what they consider flaws in the proposed project.
The department aims to file the license application early next
year. Nevada officials want an early look at the document
because they plan to mount a massive challenge to the project
during a three- to four-year NRC licensing process.
"It's been sitting now for more than 10 months, and there is no
good reason not to allow Nevada to see it, other than to
obstruct Nevada's ability to prepare for the licensing
proceeding," said Charles Fitzpatrick, one of the lawyers from a
Virginia-based firm hired by the state to manage Yucca legal
work.
But Energy Department officials have refused to make the
document public, denying a Freedom of Information Act request
filed by the state, and brushing aside a February letter from
Gov. Kenny Guinn to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.
On Monday the state tried another approach, requesting the
document in a brief filed with a three-member, pre-licensing
board of the NRC. The department has until June 20 to respond,
and Nevada will have until June 28 to reply in turn. The board
is expected to rule shortly after that whether Nevada has a
right to obtain a draft copy of the license application.
Energy Department spokesman Allen Benson declined to comment on
the brief. The license application is still subject to minor
revisions, he said. It's not appropriate to release the license
application until it is final, Benson said. 6
*****************************************************************
61 7news: Nuclear dump against state law - Carr
Date: 07/06/05
Building a nuclear waste dump in NSW is against the law and does
not make sense, says Premier Bob Carr.
Mr Carr warned the federal government against establishing a
nuclear waste dump in NSW, saying it contravened state
legislation.
The federal government is reportedly considering shelving plans
to send nuclear waste offshore because of fears it could fall
into the hands of terrorists.
Mr Carr said the best possible sites for a nuclear waste dump
were not in his state.
"It's against the law to establish a nuclear industry in NSW -
that's what the state law says," Mr Carr told reporters.
"The federal government has got to look at locations that are
remote, geologically stable and dry.
"The optimal locations are going to be outside NSW."
Mr Carr said the federal government had to take account of all
the concerns about the disposal and transport of nuclear waste
raised during a recent NSW parliamentary inquiry into the issue.
The Northern Territory government, in the midst of an election
campaign, on Monday announced its opposition to a nuclear waste
dump in the territory.
Mr Carr last week called for a new debate on the use of nuclear
energy amid rising problems from global warming caused by the
burning of fossil fuels.
Copyright 2005 AAP
Copyright 2005 Seven Network (Operations) Ltd
*****************************************************************
62 allAfrica.com: South Africa: Government Yokes Glowing Potential of Uranium to SA's Energy Demands
Business Day (Johannesburg)
June 7, 2005
Razina Munshi
Johannesburg
THE minerals and energy department is planning to declare
uranium a "protected mineral resource" to secure supplies for
the local nuclear industry.
The department has cited as a reason for this the recent strong
growth in uranium prices and its intention to use more uranium
to produce power. Currently, most uranium in SA is sourced as a
by-product of gold mining.
The price of the mineral has risen from $10/lb in early 2003 to
the current price of $29/lb.
In a speech to Parliament two weeks ago, Minerals and Energy
Minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka said SA was committed to nuclear
power, and would use its uranium resources to ensure security of
energy supply.
"The price of uranium has more than doubled in the past two
years, with those countries beneficiating uranium benefiting
most. We will announce a special dispensation for licensing
uranium exploration, prospecting and mining," she said.
Tseliso Maqubela, chief director of nuclear energy at the
department, says that the indications are there that the price
will continue to increase.
"This places SA, as a uranium producer, in a unique position,"
says Maqubela. "Not only is the mineral a source of primary
energy, but it has the potential for value in greater exports."
Kelvin Williams, marketing director of AngloGold Ashanti, SA's
only uranium producer, says although the market is booming, this
does not mean it is possible to produce more uranium.
He says that not all gold deposits contain uranium, or grades
may be too low to sell.
Gold and uranium miner Aflease's CE Neal Froneman says he
supports the minister's move. Government wants to establish
nuclear energy as a major supplier of power in SA, and the
country must be able to supply its own energy requirements.
Aflease wants to start mining uranium, and Froneman says
government needs to make it easier for companies to gain access
to mineral rights.
But Earthlife Africa researcher Mashile Phalane calls for
caution. He says the government must first conduct
epidemiological studies to ensure that communities living in the
vicinity of uranium grains will not be affected by expanded
uranium mining. Contamination is likely, he says.
Natural uranium produced in SA is not always suitable for use in
power plants.
Tom Ferreira, communications manager of the pebble bed modular
reactor, says it cannot use raw uranium produced in SA, and the
country does not have enrichment facilities.
Williams says setting up enrichment facilities in SA would not
be economically viable. It will be years before the reactor uses
large quantities of uranium.
Eskom's Koeberg Nuclear Power Station is the only consumer of
natural uranium in SA. Koeberg currently uses 340 000kg a year,
which is only a fraction of the annual local output of 750 tons
of uranium.
Froneman says SA will need a critical mass of uranium to justify
building enrichment facilities in SA. But, uranium is the only
sustainable commercial force of energy today that is viable on a
commercial scale.
Maqubela says that no decision has been taken about establishing
enrichment facilities in SA, saying that this "would depend on
the costs benefits and ensuring the security of supply".
Maqubela says buyers purchase South African uranium and take it
to Europe to be enriched. Other major uranium producers, such as
Australia and Canada, produce raw uranium, which is enriched in
France.
Internationally, analysts have said current global uranium
supplies are insufficient to meet demand. A shortage of
100-million pounds of uranium is predicted over the next decade.
This is happening as countries opt for nuclear energy as a means
of reducing gas emissions to keep in line with the Kyoto
protocol.
Make allAfrica.com your home page
Copyright 2005 Business Day. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
63 Daily Yomiuri: Looking on bright side of losing ITER
Risa Kato and Tetsuro Yamada / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
It looks like Cadarache in southern France has beaten out
Rokkashomura, Aomori Prefecture, for the honor of hosting the
hotly contested International Thermonuclear Experimental
Reactor.
A ministerial meeting of five countries and the European Union
that are jointly developing the ITER project is expected to give
the French site the green light later this month.
The Japanese government has bowed to the inevitable, officials
said. In return for acquiescing, Japan is now placing priority
on ensuring it receives as much as possible in the way of
rewards, they said.
The split on where to build the futuristic facility came at a
ministerial conference in December 2003. Japan, South Korea and
the United States favored Rokkashomura, while China, the EU and
Russia threw their support behind Cadarache.
Japan's bid for the site was led by the Education, Science and
Technology Ministry, which saw hosting the reactor as a way of
ensuring that Japan would become the world's leader in nuclear
fusion energy.
The Finance Ministry, however, was skeptical about the idea,
saying the cost of hosting the project would be huge.
The government was therefore far from being unified on the ITER
issue from the outset.
According to sources close to the Prime Minister's Office, Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi instructed then Education, Science
and Technology Minister Takeo Kawamura in August to settle the
ITER issue "as early as possible," even if it meant abandoning
the idea of building the reactor in Rokkashomura.
Since then, the ministry has switched priorities to ways of
securing rewards for forgoing the honor of hosting the reactor,
the sources said.
During a vice-ministerial conference between Japan and the EU in
September, Japan proposed that the country losing the ITER bid
be granted rights to 20 percent of related contracts in exchange
for bearing 10 percent of the project's cost.
In a Japan-EU ministerial meeting in April, the EU broadly
agreed to the proposal, prompting the ministry to study details
of how Japan would be able to win related contracts, the sources
said.
===
What rewards are likely?
A six-party vice-ministerial meeting on May 5 in Geneva, adopted
a set of accords concerning preferential treatment for the
losing candidate, including that it be:
--Allowed to have a remote-controlled ITER experiment unit, and
one for the development of super heat-resistant materials for
use in constructing an ITER.
--Awarded 20 percent of procurement contracts for building the
main ITER structure, and entitled to provide 20 percent of the
personnel for the planned ITER administration office.
--Entitled to fill the top position of the planned body.
The agreement to allow the losing candidate to have a
remote-control facility is of especially high significance,
according to experts.
The remote-control facility is envisaged as playing a key role
in the ITER project, as it will be able to obtain all the data
from the experimental fusion reactor via fiber-optic
communications.
Given that Japan's supercomputers are among the best in the
world, they would be able to provide a nuclear fusion research
environment as good as France's, a senior science ministry
official said.
The government has also proposed that all participants in the
ITER project study the advisability of using the JT-60 system
used at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute for plasma
experiments, for building an experimental fusion reactor, the
official said.
Copyright 2005 The Yomiuri Shimbun
*****************************************************************
64 KYTV: Radioactive waste shipments do not concern emergency responders
Springfield, MO
['The only problem would be moving the containers if a truck
topples.'] The shipments will travel interstate highways for the
next seven months.
6/7/05
By: Michelle Sherwood, KY3 News
SPRINGFIELD -- Trucks carrying radioactive material will be
a common sight on Interstate 44. The waste is from a closed
uranium processing plant in Fernald, Ohio, near Cincinnati, that
was open during the Cold War to help make nuclear weapons.
Since its closure in 1989, there's been a push to get the
waste out of Ohio and into a permanent, secure storage facility
in Texas. After 13 years of preparation to try to make sure the
waste is stable enough and protected enough to move, the first
truck left the plant on Monday and rolled through Missouri on
Monday night.
It will take thousands of trucks to complete the task. More
than a dozen will be on I-44 every day until December.
The first of the trucks picked up a lot of attention from
people who know little about radioactivity.
"I think, any time you have the word nuclear or radioactivity,
it piques peoples interest but, from a professional viewpoint
and from a public safety perspective, this is not something to
cause great concern," said Lt. Terry Moore of the Missouri
Highway Patrols Troop D in Springfield.
Professionals consider the trucks to be carrying one of the
lowest possible threats of radioactive materials.
Representatives of the Fernald plant say the waste inside the
containers has been diluted so that little radioactive byproduct
is actually on board each tractor-trailer.
Emergency management officials say they're concerned about
such a large shipment being on the road but it has nothing to do
with radioactivity.
"If there is a danger with these vehicles coming through, it's
more from a collision problem," said Greene County Emergency
Management Director Joye McElwee.
McElwee says that concern is only because it would be hard to
lift the heavy containers off the road.
Nationwide, officials have put radioactive carrying containers
through a number of physical tests, including running them into
a concrete wall at 60 to 80mph.
The containers were also dropped from 30 feet in the air and
were even burned in a pool of aviation fuel for an hour and a
half.
The end result -- each time -- showed that the containers made
it out without ruptures or significant damage and remained
totally intact. Officials say there is little chance that
people could get hurt from the contents of the shipments alone.
"There are probably 500 hazardous movements that cross through
the city of Springfield and I-44 everyday," said Moore.
"You'd probably win the lottery before you'd have a
radiological problem evolving out of these transports, said
McElwee.
All of these trucks have a GPS system tracking device so
dispatchers will know where these trucks are at all times.
KY3.COM
*****************************************************************
65 OA Online News: Radioactive waste en route to Andrews
Tuesday, 07 June 2005
American Online
c /o Odessa American 222 E. 4th Street P.O. Box 2952 Odessa, TX
79760
Containers to be shipped through years end
By Laura Dennis and Ginger Pope Odessa American
ANDREWS
Radioactive waste from Ohio that residents there fought for years
to get rid of is headed here this week.
Forty-thousand pounds of Cold War-era radioactive waste was
loaded onto flatbed trucks Monday in Cincinnati for shipment to
Andrews for storage.
The waste, from a long-closed uranium-processing plant, was the
first Texas-bound shipment of waste being cleaned up at the
former Fernald plant. The plant, located just outside Cincinnati,
had been under fire for years as neighbors fought to get rid of
it and the government struggled to find a place to take the
radioactive waste.
Andrews City Manager Glen Hackler said he was told the shipment
is on the way by Waste Control Specialists and by regulatory
agencies. Hackler said as long as all the parties involved are
still aboveboard, then there is nothing to worry about.
A lot more has been made of this waste because of its
source being from Ohio, he said. This is not something that is
liquid or that will ooze. Theyre basically shipping concrete
that has small amounts of radioactive material in it.
Hackler said WCSs experience in handling waste makes the
transport of materials a non-issue for the community. Not
everyone agrees that its a non-issue. Peggy Pryor has been an
Andrews for 50 years and fears that in the next 50 years there
will be some type of clean up for the waste site. Pryor said the
town has been lied to and that the waste was supposed
to be only a low-level medical waste.
At the last hearing I went to we were just supposed to be
getting medical waste and nothing to do with radioactive waste to
store here, she said.
To me it looks like theyre circumventing and the hearings were
only for show. To me theyre telling us lies and now
the state is getting money to take Fernald waste. Were just
getting the risk.
Pryor said her mother still owns land near the WCS site and
that the route, in which the trucks carrying waste will travel,
is by Pryors residence. This was my place before it was
theirs, she said. If I had the money they wouldnt be here. To
me its a travesty.
Ken Kramer, state director of the Sierra Club, said his group
continues to oppose the storage of radioactive waste at the
Andrews facility. We are definitely opposed to what is
happening, Kramer said.
Unfortunately the State Department of Health Services basically
says the license amendment to allow this kind of waste is
considered a minor amendment to the license of a facility that
already accepts other types of waste.
The Sierra Club has contested the amendment and will go before
the board on July 11 almost a month after the waste arrives in
Andrews from Ohio. That July 11 meeting is the date for the
department to hear the Sierra Clubs request for a contested case
hearing on the license amendment. Even if they do grant the
request, there will be lag time between then and the hearing.
Kramer said even if things go the Sierra Clubs way radioactive
waste will already be in storage in Andrews. It will be
difficult to get it sent elsewhere.
Kramer said WCS also has an amendment application pending that
would allow it to dispose of waste at the Andrews facility. That
is a separate action we can still contest that, but once waste
is here for storage its more difficult to challenge disposal.
Kramer said he wasnt surprised that some Andrews residents
appear to support the facility. I think some are against it but
are cowed into silence by the powers that be in terms of economic
and chamber officials, he said.
He said Andrews officials have been concerned for years about
economic stability. So looking to this enterprise to save the
economy isnt surprising, he said.
I am sympathetic, but I think it is the wrong way to go.
Andrews resident Natasha Turnbow has lived in Andrews for 25
years. She said the facility is far out of town and that she
thinks it will be safe. I think it will be safe it better be,
she said.
It will help the economy, but its not what I would prefer to
help our economy. Long after many of these officials are gone,
the waste will still be there and causing problems for the area,
Kramer said.
It is hard for people to speak up against it because of pressure
from the powers that be in the community. The waste is in large,
sealed containers and will be transported in 2,000 shipments
through the end of the year to WCS, located near the New Mexico
line. WCS officials were not available for comment on Monday. In
April, Waste Control Specialists of Dallas won a $7.5 million
contract from Fluor Fernald, the contractor cleaning up the
plant, to store the waste after earlier plans to take it to Utah
and Nevada fell through because of opposition. About 45,000 tons
of waste was to be sent to the Texas site, Fluor
Fernald officials said.
The trip will take between two and four days. The trucks used
will be tracked by global positioning satellites. The Ohio plant
processed and purified uranium metal for use in reactors to
produce plutonium for nuclear weapons from the 1950s until 1989.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
*****************************************************************
66 AU ABC: Environmentalists warn against China uranium exports.
07/06/2005. ABC News Online
Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) says increasing the
nation's uranium exports is not the answer to slowing climate
change.
Federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane says negotiations are
progressing well to provide yellowcake to China's nuclear power
industry, reducing that country's reliance on coal.
ACF nuclear campaigner Dave Sweeney says the Federal Government
has listened to industry lobbyists who have described nuclear
power as the silver bullet for greenhouse gases.
He says China's most ambitious plans for nuclear power suggest
it will supply only 6 per cent of the country's energy needs for
the next two decades.
"When you do the hard figures it just doesn't stack up," he
said.
"The biggest countries that are the real threat to climate
change are the newly-emergent nations, and particularly China,
and China is saying even with its most ambitious pro-nuclear
expansion it will only be able to meet 6 per cent of its power
requirements from atomic power.
"So the big question is, where does the other 94 come from?"
The ACF says the Federal Government's plans to increase
Australia's uranium exports to China are not economically or
environmentally sustainable.
Mr Sweeney says lots of money has been expended lobbying for
more uranium mining but the financial rewards and possible
greenhouse gas reductions do not match the risks.
"We've seen an industry that's plateaued in the developed
nations, that it's one hope of growth is in the developing
world, but it's not the silver bullet to greenhouse," he said.
"There are unresolved security issues, unresolved waste issues
- it's high cost and high risk and it just doesn't deliver
enough."
*****************************************************************
67 AU ABC:: States opposed to national nuclear waste repository
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
The World Today - Tuesday, 7 June , 2005 12:34:00
Reporter: Tanya Nolan
ELEANOR HALL: Back in Canberra, Federal Cabinet is today
expected to make a decision to store the country's nuclear waste
on the mainland, as the nuclear debate continues to gain
momentum.
The decision would override the Prime Minister's earlier
suggestion made less than a year ago, that an offshore site
could be used to dump the low and intermediate level waste. But
fierce resistance remains from the Labor States and Territories,
to any plan to have the waste stored within their borders.
As Tanya Nolan reports.
TANYA NOLAN: Said together, 'nuclear energy' have been
considered dirty words in the public debate, with even filthier
'waste' that no one wants. The waste is still repugnant to every
State and Territory Government, but the issue of nuclear energy
is finding supporters amongst a growing number of politicians.
It's firmly back on the Federal Government's agenda and is being
debated in Cabinet today.
But Treasurer Peter Costello says if the costs add up, why
debate it at all?
PETER COSTELLO: I think we can move it to a conclusion which is
the development of Australia's uranium industry and the use of
it for peaceful purposes would be very much in Australia's
interests.
TANYA NOLAN: The self-avowed green Premier of New South Wales
Bob Carr embraced the prickly issue of nuclear energy as an
alternative to fossil fuels just a week ago, igniting a wave of
support for the debate.
So is it reasonable to expect that a State with increasingly
ravenous energy demands open to the idea of nuclear energy,
would store any radioactive waste it generated? Apparently not.
BOB CARR: Well, it's against the law to establish a nuclear
industry in New South Wales that's what the State law says.
TANYA NOLAN: The Premier could of course change the law, but the
fact is New South Wales doesn't want a nuclear dump. Nor does
the Northern Territory for that matter.
In the throes of an election campaign, politicians across party
lines have rejected any proposal for a nuclear waste dump within
territory borders. But it may not be able to resist the
overtures being made by the Federal Government.
Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane refused to rule out the
Northern Territory where disused defence land could be used as a
possible repository.
Doctor Clarence Hardy from the Australian Nuclear Association
says the Territory is a good site and has a history of being
able to deal with low-level nuclear waste.
CLARENCE HARDY: They've got a fairly major uranium mine and
processing plant at Ranger and that generates low-level waste in
the mining tailings, and there's been a very good history of
treating this in the Northern Territory. For example, the
Nabarlek mine which was in Arnhem Land, a very sensitive area,
has been completely rehabilitated and waste there has been
suitably managed.
TANYA NOLAN: Almost every major hospital in the country
generates its own nuclear waste and with no support for a single
national repository, the Federal Government may be forced to
compel every State and Territory to look after its own waste in
the long-term.
But Lou Vance a Chief Research Scientist with the Australian
Nuclear Science and Technology Association says with a concerted
re-education campaign, local communities could be convinced of
the benefits of housing their own waste.
LOU VANCE: Other countries, I guess, particularly countries like
Sweden perhaps to a lesser extent Finland they've had this
problem for many years, and we're talking for those countries
high level waste, what they've done is spent a lot of time to go
and talk to people in various towns adjacent to likely sites,
and so in fact in those countries, you almost get to the stage
where towns are almost queuing up to get the waste because they
realise that the dangers are nil if the waste is properly dealt
with. It brings employment opportunities and it would be a good
thing for those towns.
ELEANOR HALL: And that's Doctor Lou Vance is a Chief Research
Scientist at the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Association, speaking to reporter Tanya Nolan with a more
positive view on what might be done with Australia's nuclear
waste.
*****************************************************************
68 AU ABC: Federal MP urges WA Govt to lift uranium mining ban.
08/06/2005. ABC News Online
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
A federal Liberal backbencher says Western Australia is missing
out on millions of export dollars because of the State
Government's anti-uranium stance.
Prices for the mineral are at an all-time high and the Federal
Government is on track to sell "yellowcake" to China by the end
of the decade.
The Department of Industry and Resources has confirmed there
are 24 identified deposits of uranium in WA with several in the
Kalgoorlie electorate.
The federal Member for Kalgoorlie, Barry Haase, says the state
Government should simply lift its ban.
"Uranium is a substance that is an energy source just as our
Collie coal resources were an energy source and we ought to be
exploiting those uranium resources for the good of the Western
Australian population," he said.
Mr Haase says the State Government's stance is stifling the
growth of the domestic minerals industry.
He says the negative perceptions surrounding uranium no longer
apply.
"Anyone that's bothered to look at the state in a rational
manner would find that per unit of power generated there has
been more injury caused by coal than there has been caused by
uranium," he said.
*****************************************************************
69 UK: News & Star: We must not lose Sellafield
Published on 07/06/2005
['Thorp at Sellafield: Critics exaggerate its problems, says a
reader' width=] Thorp at Sellafield: Critics exaggerate its
problems, says a reader SELLAFIELD’S critics want to see Thorp
closed for good, but they are over-exaggerating these leaks.
They don’t realise this is our bread and butter and if the
nuclear industry was ever to come to an end, can you imagine
what would happen to West Cumbria?
We have got to have this plant here for the future generations.
All these people who say Sellafield is dangerous and want to
shut it down have never been to the plant, so I don’t know who
they think they are.
Have they ever considered what will happen to Egremont and the
surrounding villages?
This town is well known for the Crab Fair and the greatest
gurning competition, but it could end up a ghost town.
So let’s keep Sellafield open for the future.
A lot of people are blaming radiation for the cancer in Cumbria,
but I think this is rubbish. The claims certainly need more
research by the government.
We have a lovely town in Egremont but if nothing is done in the
near-future, I hate to think what will happen to our generations.
MR D EATON
Smithfield
Egremont
*****************************************************************
70 News & Star: Sellafield warned over waste procedures
Published on07/06/2005
ENVIRONMENT watchdogs have told British Nuclear Group it must
take tougher action to stop radioactive waste from Sellafield
going in to the sea.
It now has until the end of August to review its current
procedures and say how it will improve them.
The Environment Agency issued an enforcement notice yesterday
following an on-site inspection in February.
It revealed that although BNG has not actually breached official
discharge limits, it could do a lot more to reduce radiation
doses.
Problem areas include inconsistencies in the way discharges are
measured and reported, along with the management of liquid waste,
which could be improved.
Inspectors also found that BNG had failed to report that waste
discharged from the on-site lagoon contained a radioactive
substance which had not been previously noted.
BNG is authorised by the Environment Agency to discharge
wastewater containing low levels of radioactivity into the Irish
Sea. But it must comply with strict limits and conditions to
ensure discharges are managed correctly. In October last year the
agency issued a newly revised authorisation, which had a stronger
impact on minimising the production and discharge of radioactive
waste.
Its nuclear regulator, Andy Marshall, said there have been
significant improvements at some parts of the Sellafield site.
“Radioactive discharges from the site are already low -
radiation doses are well within legal limits and any risk to the
public is very small,” he said. “However, BNG’s
authorisation also requires it to do all it can to manage and
minimise all its waste discharges.
BNG must produce an improvement plan by August 31 to be approved
by the Environment Agency. It will then have to carry out the
works in agreed timescale.
A Sellafield spokeswoman stressed no authorised discharge limits
have been breached.
*****************************************************************
71 Press Herald: Environmental cleanup should be figured in
Susan Collins is concerned that base closuresdon't include the
cost of contamination. -->
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
EDITORIAL:
In the process of determining which military bases should be
closed, it doesn't appear that the cost of any environmental
cleanups has been figured into the savings that military
officials are projecting.
That's a legitimate concern, and it's right that U.S. Sen. Susan
Collins, R-Maine, is raising it. As chairman of the Homeland
Security Committee, she's threatening to subpoena the data on
individual cost savings of closing bases.
That's something that should be made public.
The Defense Department has issued a list of 33 bases it wants to
close and another 29 that it wants to downsize. Those include a
closure of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and a
realignment of Brunswick Naval Air Station that could mean the
loss of about 7,000 jobs.
Proponents of keeping the bases open have been seeking more
information from the Defense Department on cost savings and they
should have it. The Defense Department says it has released all
of the documents it's required to release.
Collins said that the information shouldn't be classified, and
she's right. If it takes a subpoena, she should do it. If that
information doesn't include data on environmental cleanup,
that's something the Base Realignment and Closure Commission
should take into account in its final decision.
History has shown that such cleanups are expensive. In Maine,
cleanups following base closures cost almost $130 million
through 2003, and another $104 million in work is remaining.
It's doubtful that a base such as Portsmouth - which has
specialized in constructing nuclear submarines and has been open
for nearly two centuries - is going to escape such costs.
That's not to say those sites wouldn't have to be cleaned up if
the bases stayed open, but closing them will hasten the need for
it, particularly depending on what the land will be used for.
That puts into question whether the claim of savings by the
Defense Department is legitimate.
The full BRAC report is due to President Bush by Sept. 8. The
president can reject the report or accept it and send the list
to Congress. If Congress approves the list, then the Pentagon
can begin closing and changing the bases.
If the Defense Department is using costs to justify its list of
closures, then it should be sure to include all of the present
and future costs associated with such shut-downs. Environmental
cleanups aren't something that should be delayed, so those costs
should be figured into the Defense Department's immediate
expenses.
Copyright Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
*****************************************************************
72 Guardian Unlimited: Los Alamos Lab Whistleblower Beaten Up
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday June 7, 2005 1:16 PM
AP Photo AQ101
By DEBORAH BAKER
Associated Press Writer
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - A Los Alamos lab whistleblower scheduled
to testify before Congress was lured to a bar and then badly
beaten in an attack his wife and lawyer believe was designed to
keep him quiet.
Tommy Hook was in a Santa Fe hospital recovering from a
fractured jaw and other injuries, his wife, Susan Hook, said
Monday. She said the assailants told him during the attack early
Sunday that ``if you know what's good for you, you'll keep your
mouth shut.''
Tommy Hook has a pending lawsuit against the University of
California alleging whistleblower retaliation. He had been
scheduled to testify before the House Energy and Commerce
Committee later this month about alleged financial
irregularities at the nuclear weapons lab.
Police and the FBI said they were investigating.
According to Hook's wife, the 52-year-old lab employee got a
telephone call from someone late Saturday night - after he was
already in bed - wanting to meet with him at a Santa Fe bar
about 45 minutes from their home.
She said her husband told her the man never showed up, but as he
was leaving the topless bar's parking lot, a group of men pulled
him from his car and beat him.
``They left him in the parking lot for dead,'' Hook's lawyer,
Robert Rothstein, said Monday at a news conference where
pictures of Hook's bruised, bloodied and swollen face were
passed around.
His wife, who sobbed when the pictures were distributed, said
the attackers ``beat him up with their feet first, 'cause he has
shoe marks on his face, and then used their fists.''
Rothstein said the assailants didn't take Hook's wallet, other
personal belongings or his car. In the absence of any other
motive, it appears the beating was related to his
whistleblowing, Rothstein contended.
``It is clear to us that this was a message,'' Susan Hook said.
She said her husband had been told last week by a friend about
someone who had information about the lab. A planned meeting
with that informant on Friday never materialized, and Hook
believed that's who he was going to meet on Saturday, she said.
Susan Hook, who was in Albuquerque visiting their grown sons
when the incident happened, said her husband did not frequent
bars and she believed his account of the attack. The assailants
did not specifically mention the lab, she also said.
Lab spokesman Kevin Roark said the beating of Hook - who works
in the Prime Contract Office, an internal oversight group - was
``a senseless and brutal act and should not be tolerated.''
The university and the lab are ``outraged'' about the assault,
according to a statement released by the lab.
Hook and another whistleblower, Chuck Montano, sued the
university in March, alleging that after they uncovered
management failures, university and lab managers tried to make
their jobs miserable so they would quit.
Hook had been voicing complains about lab management for years.
He testified in a 1997 deposition that the chief of the lab's
audit division ``didn't want to see certain things put in
reports,'' including ``unallowable costs'' and ``embarrassment
to the university.''
Guardian Unlimited Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
73 slate: Whistle-Blower at Los Alamos Attacked in Parking Lot in N.M.
Health & Science
In February 1980, an eccentric California tycoon named Robert
Graham announced the opening of the Repository for ...
Whistle-Blower at Los Alamos Attacked in Parking Lot in N.M.
By Bradley Graham and Griff WitteWashington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, June 7, 2005; Page A04
An employee at the Los Alamos National Laboratory who has
alleged fraud at the facility was badly beaten in the parking
lot of a Santa Fe bar over the weekend in what his wife and
lawyer yesterday said was an attempt to silence him.
The employee, Tommy Hook, had been scheduled to testify before a
House committee, elaborating on internal audits that pointed to
procurement fraud and financial waste at the lab, which conducts
classified work on nuclear weapons, among other research.
At a news conference yesterday, Hook's wife, Susan, said Hook had
gone to the Santa Fe bar Cheeks late Saturday evening to meet an
individual who claimed to have corroborating information about
fraud at Los Alamos. But that person never appeared. When Hook
got into his car around midnight to leave, several assailants
pulled him out, then kicked and punched him.
z "If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut,"
Susan Hook quoted the assailants as telling her husband.
A bouncer at Cheeks, Santa Fe's only topless bar, stopped the
attackers, who then fled in cars. Hook's lawyer, Robert
Rothstein, said the bouncer did not know the names of the
assailants but has provided descriptions of the men and some
license plate numbers.
FBI agents have joined the Santa Fe police in investigating the
case, according to Bill Elwell, special agent in the FBI's
Albuquerque office. Elwell said the FBI got involved after
learning that Hook had been due to testify before the House
Energy and Commerce Committee.
"We're trying to determine if there have been any federal
statutes violated here," Elwell said.
Hook was hospitalized with a fractured jaw and herniated disk.
His wife, who was in Albuquerque at the time of the reported
assault, said he had difficulty talking and could only mumble.
Hook had worked as a senior adviser for audits when he and a
colleague, Chuck Montano, produced several reports between 2002
and 2004 that cited a pattern of financial irregularities in the
lab's procurement division. They have since said their reports
were quashed and they were given negative job appraisals, denied
promotion, kept idle and otherwise pressured to quit.
In March, they sued the University of California, which operates
the lab under contract with the Energy Department, alleging
retaliation for their criticisms of management. The two
whistle-blowers appeared in a report on the "CBS Evening News"
that month, saying problems with the lab's purchasing were "worse
than what management was telling the public."
Their case is the latest in a series of management problems that
have plagued the lab since the 1990s and involved reports of many
missing items.
Susan Hook said yesterday that her husband did not normally go to
bars. She said he had been in bed Saturday evening when he
received the phone call to go to Cheeks, and left the house after
10:30 p.m.
She said the fact that the assailants did not bother to steal her
husband's money, wristwatch or car was evidence the assault was
intended as a threat. "It is clear to us this was a message," she
said. But she added that her husband "will not be stopped" and
"will continue to tell the truth."
Montano, who also was present at yesterday's news conference,
voiced similar determination to meet with congressional
investigators and continue to publicize complaints about the lab.
"I will never be intimidated," he said. Permission to Republish
2005 The Washington Post Company
1996- The Washington Post Company
*****************************************************************
74 SF Chronicle: Los Alamos auditor beaten after going to meet tipster
Zachary Coile, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Tuesday, June 7, 2005
Washington -- A Los Alamos National Laboratory auditor who was
scheduled to testify at a congressional hearing about alleged
fraud and mismanagement at the University of California-run
nuclear weapons lab was assaulted early Sunday in what his wife
and lawyer say was an effort to silence him.
Tommy Hook, a 15-year veteran at the lab who conducted financial
audits, was severely beaten outside a topless bar in Santa Fe,
N.M., where he had gone to meet a tipster who offered to show
him evidence of fraud at the lab, his wife, Susan Hook, said
Monday.
The FBI is probing the incident to determine if the assault was
an effort to thwart Congress' inquiry or a separate federal
investigation into alleged theft and fraud by Los Alamos
employees. Santa Fe police are also investigating the attack.
"Based on the information provided to us by his attorney, we
felt that it was important that we looked at this incident to
determine if there are any federal violations," said Bill
Elwell, a special agent in the FBI's Albuquerque office.
Tommy Hook, 52, suffered a fractured jaw, a herniated disk and
other injuries to his face and shoulder, his attorney, Bob
Rothstein, said. He was still being treated at St. Vincent's
Hospital in Santa Fe late Monday under police watch, and he was
reportedly talking to FBI investigators.
Hook told his wife he received a phone call Saturday night from
someone claiming to have information about alleged fraud by
employees and asking him to meet at Cheeks, a topless bar in
Santa Fe. The caller, who claimed to work in the lab's audits
division, contacted him earlier in the week to share information
but failed to show up at a scheduled meeting Friday.
When Hooks showed up at the strip club, he waited an hour, but
the person he was looking for never showed up. When he went
outside to the parking lot to start his car, he was surrounded
by four to six assailants who repeatedly kicked and punched him,
his wife said. A bouncer at the bar broke up the attack, and the
assailants fled.
"When they were beating him up, they kept telling him he needed
to start keeping his mouth shut ... if he knew what was good for
him, he would keep his mouth shut," his wife said at a news
conference Monday. She said the assailants did not take his
wallet, his watch or his car.
Hook appeared on the "CBS Evening News" earlier this year
discussing financial irregularities he found while conducting
audits at the lab between 2002 and 2004. He was scheduled to
testify before a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing
later this month, and investigators from the committee had
scheduled to fly out Tuesday to meet with him.
Hook also filed a whistle-blower retaliation suit in March
against the University of California, alleging that he had been
harassed by superiors, given negative performance evaluations
and stripped of his job responsibilities after he spoke out.
Chuck Montano, a former auditor at the lab who has filed a
similar lawsuit, said he believes some lab employees may have
organized the attack to try to protect the image of the lab and
help UC keep its 60-year contract to manage the facility. He
does not believe UC officials or lab managers were involved but
blamed the lab's leadership for not taking whistle-blower
complaints seriously.
UC and lab officials issued a joint statement Monday expressing
outrage over the attack. Newly appointed lab director Robert W.
Kuckuck said in the statement that he hopes Hook makes a speedy
recovery.
UC spokesman Chris Harrington said, "We are unaware of any UC
employees being involved in this incident and believe that any
sort of violence toward another individual is unacceptable."
E-mail Zachary Coile at zcoile@sfchronicle.com.
Page A - 3
The San Francisco Chronicle]
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75 KRQE News 13: Los Alamos lab whistleblower severely beaten
Posted: 6/6/2005 5:36:00 PM
SANTA FE, N.M. -- A Los Alamos whistleblower scheduled to testify
before congress later this month is now in the hospital. Tommy
Hook was brutally beaten by four to anonymous assailants who
allegedly ordered him to keep quiet.
Hook reportedly went to a bar to meet someone who called him,
claiming to have information about fraud at LANL. That person
never showed up, but when Hook left the Santa Fe bar, attackers
pulled him out of his car and beat him. Hook says the men told
him to keep his mouth shut.
Congressional staff members were set to arrive Tuesday in Los
Alamos to investigate Hook's allegations.
Tommy Hook remains hospitalized with severe trauma to his face
and head, including a fractured jaw and a herniated disk. The
FBI has been called-in to investigate the attack, and Hook is
currently under guard.
Phone: 505.243.2285 | Contact KRQE | EEOC Broadcast Plaza SW
Albuquerque, NM
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76 lamonitor.com: LANL worker attacked
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor
A clandestine meeting at a Santa Fe nightspot late Saturday
ended in violence for a Los Alamos man Sunday morning.
Only days before he was scheduled to meet with a congressional
investigator to prepare testimony for an upcoming oversight
committee hearing, Tommy Hook, a project manager and senior
auditor at Los Alamos National Laboratory, was viciously beaten
by several assailants, his wife and lawyer said Monday.
Susan Hook, and Bob Rothstein, an attorney representing her
husband Tommy Hook in a suit filed against the University of
California in early March, said the incident took place after
midnight Sunday morning in the parking lot of Cheeks, a topless
bar in Santa Fe.
"They left me for dead," Hook told his wife afterward.
The facts of the case are under investigation by the Santa Fe
Police Department and the FBI.
Susan Hook and Rothstein said the assault was intended to
silence Tommy Hook's testimony.
They were joined at a news conference by Chuck Montano, another
laboratory auditor, and co-plaintiff in the civil suit alleging
retaliation by LANL managers and UC.
"I don't think the UC would put out a contract," he said, "but
they are responsible because they allow whistleblowers to become
targets."
Susan Hook said her husband was barely able to speak, audible
only by getting very close and asking him to repeat what he was
saying.
Rothstein said Tommy Hook had been lured from home, after going
to bed Saturday, to meet with an informant who had promised
information related to Hook's investigation.
The contact, made through an intermediary described as a
"friend," had failed to show for a meeting.
Susan Hook was spending the night in Albuquerque visiting the
couple's two sons. She said she had talked to her husband about
9:30 p.m., as he was preparing for bed.
When she saw him next in a secured hospital room at St.
Vincent's hospital in Santa Fe, his face was battered with a
boot mark still visible on his right jaw and temple.
Hook waited at Cheeks for over an hour, Rothstein said, but then
went out to the parking lot to leave.
Based on the victim's description, Rothstein said one attacker
was very large. He said there were between four and six people
involved.
"They kept telling him to start keeping his mouth shot," said
Susan Hook. An employee of the bar was said to have intervened.
Rothstein said the employee had taken down one license plate
number, a partial number on another vehicle and a description of
a third vehicle used by the attackers. Police and an emergency
vehicle were summoned.
Susan Hook said her husband would not have known what kind of
place Cheeks is.
"We just don't go to bars," she said. "It wouldn't have crossed
his mind."
Susan Hook said the couple's 30th wedding anniversary was on
Saturday and they had been saving for a year for a cruise.
Santa Fe Deputy Police Chief Eric Johnson said this morning that
detectives were following the leads in the case and thought they
might have more information available before the end of the day.
He said anybody with information can contact Det. George Ortiz,
the investigative officer at 955-5038, or the dispatcher at
428-3710.
LANL and UC issued a joint statement Monday, expressing outrage
that a laboratory employee had been assaulted.
A statement said, "Director Kuckuck, the University of
California and the laboratory believe that any form of physical
violence toward an individual is unacceptable."
Lab spokesman Kevin Roark said today, "Finding out who did this
and why is a job for law enforcement. The lab is going to
cooperate and participate at any level required, because finding
out who and why is as important for us as anyone. This is a job
for the cops and no one else."
FBI special agent Bill Elwell, media coordinator for the
Albuquerque office, said the bureau had been contacted by
Rothstein in the latter part of Sunday.
"We thought it would be prudent to assign an agent to coordinate
with the Santa Fe Police Department to determine if there might
be something of interest to us," Elwell said, adding that any
evidence of a federal crime would be submitted to the U.S.
Attorney.
2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
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77 Paducah Sun: 2 firms to take over part of cleanup -
Even with the handover of some nuclear cleanup, Bechtel Jacobs
will continue until a successor is settled.
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Bechtel Jacobs will soon hand off part of its nuclear cleanup
work here to two other firms, but will continue most of the work
for at least another three months while the U.S. Department of
Energy ponders what to do about a successor.
On June 27, Swift & Staley of Paducah will assume Bechtel
Jacobs' infrastructure work at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant, and Uranium Disposition Services will take over
maintenance of 37,000 cylinders of spent uranium hexafluoride.
UDS is building a factory in front of the plant to convert the
toxic material to a safer form.
The Energy Department has extended Bechtel Jacobs' cleanup
contract until Aug. 31, marking the latest of about two years of
extensions while a successor is sought. DOE officials say they
are re-evaluating past cleanup bids marred by multiple
protests from competitors to try to make a selection, but they
have not given a time frame.
In an effort to be more cost-efficient, DOE wants to replace
Bechtel Jacobs with smaller firms. Swift & Staley has formed a
government services division and is working with two
subcontractors, Wastren and Washington Group International
(WGI), to carry out its five-year, $39.9 million infrastructure
contract.
Steve Polston, former manager of the Paducah plant, is the new
project manager for Swift & Staley's government services
division. Leon Owens, former president of the plant's nuclear
workers union, is the human resources manager.
Owens said the division will have about 70 union and salaried
employees, most of whom will transfer from Bechtel Jacobs. An
undetermined number of laborers and janitors will be hired
through the union, which has merged with United Steelworkers of
America, Owens said.
"The new union workers will earn about $17 an hour initially,
but with some raises after three months," he said. "The salaried
jobs will be well-paid positions."
Cook said UDS will pick up 10 to 12 Bechtel Jacobs workers for
cylinder maintenance.
Workers transitioning from Bechtel Jacobs include those in
environmental, safety and health; records management; security;
information technology; and administrative assistance, Owens
said.
He said the firm anticipates no problems in negotiating a new
union contract to replace one that expires July 31.
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