***************************************************************** 06/10/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.133 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Al Jazeera: Initial tests of Pakistan’s nuclear parts back Iran - 2 Guardian Unlimited Official: Probe Backs Iran on Nuke Claims 3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: 'N.Korea Plans Second Industrial Complex' 4 Japan Times: Alliance lacks solidarity in handling North Korean nucl 5 Korea Times: NK Urged to Scrap Nuclear Program 6 Korea Times: Toward a ¡®Balanced¡¯ View of North Korean Nuclear Issu 7 US: Recent Success: Bolton and New Nukes 8 US: IPS-English POLITICS: Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms 9 US: Las Vegas SUN: Feds may not get cash from state land sales 10 RIA Novosti: Adamov's lawyers hope Russia will not demand his extrad 11 RIA Novosti: Swiss court finds Russian ex minister's arrest illegal 12 Daily Ittefaq: Guarding nukes 13 Deutsche Welle: NATO Discusses Nuclear Future | Europe | 14 Guardian Unlimited AP: Saudis Pressured on Nuclear Openness NUCLEAR REACTORS 15 US: [NukeNet] Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power 16 [NukeNet] New nuclear energy data just released 17 Bellona: Unit no.2 of Leningrad NPP to shut down for repairs 18 US: Newsday.com: Leak of non-radioactive water forces shutdown of IP 19 US: [NukeNet] Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power NUCLEAR SECURITY 20 US: B. Ramberg, "The Future of Nuclear Terror" 21 RIA Novosti: Russia ratifies agreement with Italy on disposal of 22 US: Platts: Documents returning to on-line library after NRC securit NUCLEAR SAFETY 23 [du-list] Ausralian Mayor seeks depleted uranium reassurance 24 US: [du-list] Bill to study effects of uranium on soldiers moves 25 US: [du-list] Are soldiers told the truth about ammo risks? 26 [du-list] UN Environment Programme train Iraqis in measuring 27 [du-list] Postwar Iraq Paying Heavy Environmental Price 28 US: [du-list] New Mexico's Exposure to Uranium Enrichment 29 US: Journal Gazette: Plant faces uranium contamination test 30 Bellona: Sweden taking part in radiation safety program at navy ship 31 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 32 US: MSNBC.com: Plan to drill near nuclear blast is hot potato - 33 US: Las Vegas SUN: Nevada Test Site building sealed after containmen NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 34 US: [du-list] Department of Transportation Rules Against Secret 35 US: L.A. Daily News: Perchlorate levels drop 36 Guardian Unlimited: Secret list of possible N-waste sites revealed 37 US: Bradenton Herald: Fearsome unknown 38 albawaba.com: Radioactive container sent back to Morocco 39 Las Vegas RJ: U.S. Geological Survey chief resigns position 40 BBC: Tory nuclear waste sites revealed 41 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Geological Suvey chief Groat resigns 42 Las Vegas SUN: DOE official: Yucca plans advancing 43 US: Casper Star Tribune: Sundance folks seek assurances of nuclear o 44 New Scientist: Secret nuclear waste disposal sites revealed 45 US: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Escape from Tallevast? Lockheed Martin 46 Independent: Secret radioactive waste dump sites disclosed 47 US: Kenora Daily Miner: Keep nuclear waste in the east says concerne 48 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Cleanup foundation invitesgrant applicants on 49 AFP: Nuclear industry under pressure after dumping sites revealed - 50 US: KSDK: Nuclear Waste On Trucks Get Headlines; Dirt Gets Moved 51 edie news centre: Sellafield rapped by EA over radioactive waste 52 US: Feinstein: Questions about EPA Perchlorate process 53 US: AU ABC: Consider effects of uranium mine, Brown urges voters. 54 US: TownOnline.com: Column: Shpack cleanup work begins 55 Las Vegas SUN: Chief of U.S. Geological Survey resigning PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 56 DOE: Office of Science; Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee 57 Cincinnati Enquirer: Meth found in Paducah uranium worker ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Al Jazeera: Initial tests of Pakistan’s nuclear parts back Iran - Aljazeera.com 6/10/2005 1:00:00 PM GMT A helicopter lands in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, south of Tehran Iranian assertions that it didn’t produce weapons-grade uranium were backed by preliminary examination of Pakistani nuclear equipment identical to that used by Tehran, said a diplomat, accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The diplomat said that testing of traces of weapons-grade uranium on centrifuge components provided by Pakistan appear to match the uranium found on centrifuges bought by Iran on the nuclear black market. This would support Iran’s assertions that the contaminated equipment came from imported machinery and not from enrichment activities in its nuclear facilities. A top official who is familiar with the investigations didn’t deny such a conclusion, but said that it was too early to issue a final judgment on the origin of the traces, which were discovered by IAEA experts in 2003 in the Natanz uranium enrichment facility, 250 km south of Tehran. Since then, IAEA investigators have been demanding Pakistan to hand over centrifuges parts to compare the traces with machinery sold to Iran by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb program. Islamabad finally provided the components last month. The senior official also said the final results of the testing at agency laboratories would take another two weeks to a month. He added that if the final results confirm the initial ones, "they will partially support the Iranians" and hurt the U.S. in its drive to prove Iran's nuclear program is meant to make weapons. The Islamic republic maintains that it is only interested in processing low-enriched uranium for the peaceful generation of electricity. But the United States claims that the components prove that Iran was experimenting in producing highly enriched uranium used only for making the core of nuclear arms. Iran has been under investigation for more than two years by the UN nuclear watchdog. So far, the IAEA didn’t find any evidence that substantiate the U.S. claims that Tehran is secretly developing atomic weapons. Aljazeera.com ***************************************************************** 2 Guardian Unlimited Official: Probe Backs Iran on Nuke Claims From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday June 9, 2005 10:46 PM By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iranian claims that weapons-grade uranium entered the country from outside, instead of being produced by Tehran as alleged by Washington, appears to be strengthened by initial results of the latest investigation, a diplomat said Thursday. Traces of weapons-grade uranium on centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan appear to match the uranium found on centrifuges bought by Iran on the nuclear black market, said the diplomat, accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency. That would strengthen arguments that the suspect traces might have arrived in Iran together with the equipment itself, as the Iranians claim. In Washington, a State Department official withheld judgment on any preliminary results. ``The bottom line is that we are looking for an IAEA report from the director general on the status of his investigation,'' said the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. Another diplomat, a senior official close to the agency who is familiar with the investigations, did not discount such a conclusion, but said it was too early to issue a definite judgment on the origin of the traces, which agency experts found on the equipment in Iran two years ago. Since then, IAEA experts have been urging Pakistan to provide centrifuge components to compare the traces and assess Iran's claims of innocence. The parts were finally provided by Islamabad last month. The senior diplomat said final results of the testing at agency laboratories would take another two weeks to a month. Still the accredited diplomat noted that even final analysis of the parts provided last month by nuclear-weapons-state Pakistan will not definitely clear up the origin of all enriched uranium on centrifuges on Iranian soil because they are of different levels and compositions, indicating various - including possibly domestic - origins. Both diplomats demanded anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss confidential information with reporters about the investigations into Iran's nuclear program. Ever since the traces were found on centrifuges in the city of Natanz, in 2003, Iran has insisted they came in on the equipment from abroad. It says it is only interested in processing low-enriched uranium for power generation. But the United States, which insists Iran's clandestine nuclear activities discovered three years ago were geared toward making arms, asserts the particles are likely evidence Iran was experimenting in producing highly enriched uranium used only for making the core of nuclear weapons. The Americans and their allies also point to experiments with plutonium, imports of equipment that can be used for nuclear weapons program and other long-hidden Iranian activities to back their claims. Natanz has been under agency purview since suspicions about Iran's activities prompted IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei to tour its nuclear facilities in February 2002, including the incomplete plant in that city about 300 miles south of Tehran. Diplomats said he was taken aback by the advanced stage of a project using hundreds of centrifuges to enrich uranium. Since then, the Iranians have informed the agency of ambitious plans that included running tens of thousands of centrifuges at the facility - although that project and others linked to enrichment are on hold during Iran-European Union talks aimed at convincing Tehran to give up all enrichment ambitions. An IAEA team arrived Thursday in Natanz to monitor the enrichment suspension, the senior diplomat said, adding he was unaware of new developments at the facility beyond routine construction work known to the agency. IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky declined to comment on preliminary results, saying only that ``testing and analysis is under way.'' The diplomat with accreditation to the agency, who has a record of accuracy on issues before the IAEA, said that if final results confirm the preliminary ones, ``they will partially support the Iranians'' - and hurt the Americans in their drive to prove Iran's nuclear program is meant to make weapons. --- On the Web: www.iaea.org Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 3 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: 'N.Korea Plans Second Industrial Complex' Home> National/Politics Updated Jun.10,2005 18:41 KST (englishnews@chosun.com ) North Korea wants to build a second industrial complex near the joint North-South Kaesong Industrial Complex by attracting foreign investment from China and Hong Kong, a former unification minister said Friday. At a breakfast meeting hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Lotte Hotel in Seoul, Kyungnam University president Park Jae-kyu said North Korea wanted to attract foreign funds to build several more special economic complexes and also planned to develop the Shinuiju Economic Zone. The Stalinist country is considering bringing in an overseas business management expert who would be in charge of the plan, said Park, who served as unification minister in the Kim Dae-jung administration. Turning to the North¡¯s nuclear program, Park said Pyongyang seemed to have three to four nuclear weapons but it was not clear how destructive they are. But he added that considering its poor economy and food shortages, the reclusive country would not be able to survive if it cuts itself off from the rest of the world completely. (englishnews@chosun.com ) ***************************************************************** 4 Japan Times: Alliance lacks solidarity in handling North Korean nuclear crisis Friday, June 10, 2005 ASIAN SECURITY SYMPOSIUM By TAKASHI KITAZUME Staff writer North Korea's nuclear weapons program has reached a critical phase that calls for a fresh set of responses backed by a solid alliance of the United States, Japan and South Korea, said American and Japanese experts who took part in a recent symposium in Tokyo. [News photo] Panelists discuss North Korea's nuclear weapons program and regional security at a symposium at Keidanren Kaikan on June 1: (from left) Masashi Nishihara, Don Oberdofer and Kent Calder. However, the triangular alliance today appears to be on shaky grounds more than ever in dealing with the reclusive regime that has now declared itself to be a "full-fledged nuclear weapons state," the experts said during the June 1 symposium at Keidanren Kaikan, organized by Keizai Koho Center. The panelists discussed the need for a U.S.-Japan-South Korean alliance in the face of of the latest developments in North Korea's nuclear program. They also explored possible stumbling blocks to that alliance. "The situation that exists today is fundamentally different from that which existed up until very recently," said Don Oberdorfer, distinguished journalist-in-residence and adjunct professor with the School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in Washington D.C.. "North Korea has crossed the threshold to becoming . . . a nuclear weapons state," said the veteran journalist, who has covered U.S. policy in Northeast Asia since the 1960s. Oberdorfer explained how North Korea's nuclear ambitions date back to the 1950-51 Korean War, when it came under the threat of a nuclear attack by U.S. forces. When China succeeded in its first nuclear weapons test in 1964, North Korea's then leader, Kim Il Sung, asked Chinese Communist chief Mao Zedong in vain to share the technology with its ally. During the 1970s, North Korea repeated the same request to China when it was revealed that South Korea was engaging in a secret nuclear weapons program, which was later frozen after the U.S. warned Seoul that it would otherwise terminate their alliance, he said. North Korea then pursued its own nuclear scheme until the situation generated a crisis in 1993 and 1994 over its program to produce plutonium. The crisis was averted in 1994 when Pyongyang, under an agreement with the United States, consented to freeze the program in return for construction of light-water nuclear reactors by an international consortium. Then came a U.S. intelligence revelation in 2002 that North Korea appeared to have been engaged in a highly-enriched uranium program -- another way of producing nuclear weapon materials. This time, the U.S. administration of President George W. Bush -- having labeled North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" and at that time busy preparing for a war on Iraq -- made it clear that it would not negotiate with Pyongyang to have its nuclear program halted, Oberdorfer recalled. When then assistant U.S. secretary of state James Kelly visited Pyongyang in October 2002 with the U.S. intelligence on the enriched uranium program, he was under instruction by Bush not to negotiate -- even though North Korean officials made it clear to him that Pyongyang wanted to negotiate with the U.S. over the program. So instead of offering any new carrot to have North Korea give up the enriched uranium program, the Bush administration cut off the shipment of fuel oil that it had been supplying under the 1994 agreement and began talking about the possibility of sanctions, he said. This, he added, led North Korea to reopen its frozen program to produce plutonium. Nuclear success North Korea has since proceeded to rapidly produce as much nuclear materials as possible, "and I think to a considerable degree they have succeeded in that," Oberdorfer said. "It was the judgment of the U.S. intelligence earlier that North Korea possibly had amassed enough material before the 1994 agreement for one or maybe two nuclear weapons," he told the audience. But after Pyongyang broke out of the 1994 agreement and began rapidly creating nuclear materials in 2003 and 2004, the U.S. intelligence now believes -- although they do not say it aloud -- that North Korea has produced enough material for five or six additional nuclear weapons, he said. Then came a series of statements from North Korea this year, including one in February that the country now has nuclear weapons and would not be returning to the six-party talks, which also involved the U.S., Japan, China, South Korea, Russia. In March, North Korea said it had become a "full-fledged nuclear weapons state." "I believe this represents not only the opinion of North Korea; I think it represents reality," he said. "None of us outside of North Korea knows the details of exactly what they are doing and what they have. But there's plenty of evidence that they are not bluffing about this -- that they actually do have nuclear materials." So what should be done about it? "The best answer is of course negotiations to persuade them to give it up. . . . It's hard for me to believe that they would give it up, having already created these materials which are so powerful and dangerous," Oberdorfer said. None of the other options are promising either, he noted. One of them is to "live with North Korea as a nuclear weapons power" -- a scenario that Pyongyang itself would like to see, he said. He then asked, would this prompt South Korea, with its nuclear industry and talented scientists in the field, to try to match the capability of the North? And what about Japan and Taiwan, despite the nuclear umbrella provided by the United States? "These things can get out of control," he warned. Another is to exert further pressure -- such as through economic sanctions -- on North Korea to have it give up the nuclear program, or at least to limit production of nuclear materials, he said. But this option could have "extremely dangerous" consequences of leaving North Korea with "no option except to sell nuclear materials to the highest bidder -- to foreign countries," Oberdorfer warned. More dangerous would be the third option -- to try to bring down the North Korean regime through pressure or military action, he added. "I think the situation is ripe for some kind of an important new initiative," Oberdorfer told the audience. "It probably has to come initially from the U.S. government, but with the assistance and understanding of the partners in Northeast Asia -- Japan and South Korea -- and to a great degree China. "I don't see that kind of initiative anywhere on the horizon, but unless something is done, I'm afraid we'll be dealing with a nuclear North Korea in a way that's going to be difficult for all of our countries in the months to come," he said. But just as close cooperation among the U.S., Japan and South Korea is needed more than ever, the trilateral ties are becoming increasingly shaky, said Masashi Nishihara, president of the National Defense Academy. "Cooperation among Japan, the U.S. and South Korea (in dealing with North Korea) is becoming extremely difficult," Nishihara told the audience. Nishihara attributed the changing landscape of the trilateral relationship mainly to "fundamental changes" in South Korean policy vis-a-vis the North. South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has begun to emphasize harmony with North Korea while saying that his country wants to become a "balancer" in Northeast Asia -- an indication that Seoul would keep some distance from the Japan-U.S. alliance in the region, he remarked. "South Korea does oppose North Korea's nuclear weapons development, but rather than trying to stop the program at all cost, Seoul places priority on maintaining dialogue with and the stability of the North," Nishihara charged. In recent months, Japan's relations with Seoul have been marred by the resurgence of tensions over a territorial row centered on a group of disputed islets in the Sea of Japan -- called Takeshima in Japan and Tok-do in Korea -- as well as South Korean protests over Japan's approval of a history textbook that critics say whitewashes the country's wartime aggression and colonial rule of its neighbors. Japan and the United States are not necessarily united either, Nishihara noted. Domestically, Tokyo considers past abductions of Japanese nationals as its No. 1 concern in dealing with North Korea, and with its talks with Pyongyang on the issue stalemated, it is not clear how far Japan can go along with the U.S. once the Bush administration starts taking a more hardline approach, he said. Such discord among the three parties, Nishihara went on, benefits North Korea "because it sees no reason to return to the six-party talks in haste or make concessions on the nuclear issue" as long as those countries remain divided. Kent Calder, director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies, an affiliate of SAIS at Johns Hopkins University, said Northeast Asia today is a "significantly different" region than it was a decade ago, or even five years ago. One of the major changes is the fundamental transformation of South Korean politics, which he said is altering the country's triangular relationship with the U.S. and Japan. The South Korean political system has undergone a series of changes since the late 1980s -- first with the introduction of competitive presidential elections, local government reform, and ultimately the election of President Kim Dae Jung -- then an opposition candidate -- in 1998. But the biggest changes are taking place in South Korea's civil society, Calder said, citing the rising importance of populism. Populist changes Groups outside the bureaucracy and the mainstream business community are playing a greater role in the political process, with nongovernmental organizations playing a key role in the election of Kim Dae Jung and his successor Roh Moo Hyun, he noted. There also is the generational change in South Korean society, he said. This process has been aided by the Internet, but South Korea's tremendous success in co-hosting the 2002 FIFA World Cup also created a group consciousness and sense of unity among the country's younger generation. Growing political activism among the South Korean youths demonstrated itself in the form of coordinated protest movements against the U.S. bases in the country, and also played a key role in Roh's election campaign, Calder said. Such changes, he said, are having a major impact on -- and causing problems to -- South Korea's relations with the U.S. and Japan. Furthermore, there is the changing geopolitics in the region, particularly the economic rise of China, he added. Oberdorfer said other countries must realize that many in South Korea's younger generation see North Korea as a part of their own nation that had been united for centuries until they were divided at the end of World War II. "It's a very different concept than (the one) that motivated and guided South Korea under its military rulers and anticommunist viewpoints" until the 1980s, he added. Calder pointed to the need to "think more proactively about where the region is going and to think about some new approaches to the region." One step would be to strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance -- a move which should be done with care so as not to stir up "paranoid" reactions from other countries in the region that tend to focus on the military aspect of Tokyo-Washington ties, he said. There also is a need for the U.S., Japan and South Korea to have a more cooperative agenda -- particularly on energy issues, because it relates to North Korea's nuclear issue, he stressed. The United States can also play a mediating role in preventing tensions between Japan and South Korea from escalating -- just as it did when the two countries were in negotiations over the 1965 normalization of ties and after their relationship was strained following the 1974 attempted assassination of then South Korean President Park Chun Hee, Calder said. In that incident, the assassin shot the president's wife to death with a gun stolen from a Japanese police station. With the possibility of a North Korean nuclear weapons test on the horizon, Japan, the U.S. and South Korea should work together to clearly warn Pyongyang about the consequences of such an action, said Nishihara of the National Defense Academy. At the same time, the U.S. should improve its ways of communication with North Korea to ease the current tension, he noted, adding that one option would be to think about establishing formal ties with Pyongyang. Oberdorfer noted that prior to the Bush administration, the U.S. government "certainly recognized Kim Jong Il," with President Bill Clinton exchanging letters with the North Korean leader. It is not a "good idea" for President Bush to speak in "condemnatory personal terms" about Kim, he said. While the late President Ronald Reagan called the Soviet Union an "evil empire" in 1983, he used that phrase only once and he never personally attacked any of the Soviet leaders. And Reagan was able to negotiate with Moscow, he recalled. The Japan Times: June 10, 2005 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 5 Korea Times: NK Urged to Scrap Nuclear Program Hankooki.com > The Korea Times By Jung Sung-ki Staff Reporter CHEJU ISLAND _ Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said Friday that South Korea will give ``full support¡¯¡¯ to North Korea in economic aid and security assurance once Pyongyang gives up its nuclear weapons program. In a keynote speech at the third Jeju (Cheju) Peace Forum at the Shilla Jeju Hotel here, Lee urged the North to return to the stalled six-party talks to end the international standoff over its nuclear program. ``If North Korea makes a strategic decision to scrap its nuclear weapons program, South Korea will not spare any efforts in helping North Korea improve the living standard of its people and receive security assurance in cooperation with the international community,¡¯¡¯ he said. Lee stressed it is the ``right time¡¯¡¯ to resolve the 32-month-long nuclear standoff and called for Pyongyang¡¯s return to the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. ``The resumption of the six-party talks is important. But achieving substantial progress in the talks is more important,¡¯¡¯ Lee said, adding the international community and participants of the negotiations should not make a hasty push for the talks. The premier said, ``Peace on the Korean Peninsula is the most crucial condition for the peace and prosperity of Northeast Asia, which will be attained by building mutual trust among the countries in the region.¡¯¡¯ At the World Leadership Session of the forum, Qian Qichen, former vice premier of China, called for creation of a regional environment of mutual respect and harmonious coexistence, casting away the Cold War mentality. Participants in the session included Han Seung-soo, former president of the United Nations General Assembly, and Murayama Tomiichi, former prime minister of Japan. Qian emphasized that historical issues should be handled with sincerity, while differences should be resolved with tolerance. ``We should seek cooperation rather than provoke confrontation, and dispel misgivings rather than inflame tensions to achieve win-win cooperation.¡¯¡¯ As for the North Korean nuclear issue, Qian said it should be resolved with a peaceful solution in mind, calling for the establishment of a regional security framework. He praised the inter-Korean summit between former President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in June 2000, saying the event ``opened a new chapter in inter-Korean reconciliation and cooperation.¡¯¡¯ In a speech at the forum, Lim Dong-won, chairman of the Sejong Institute, a private think tank in South Korea, called on the two Koreas to exchange special envoys as part of efforts to build mutual trust and maintain communication channels. Lim, who was a special envoy to Pyongyang during the Kim Dae-jung administration, also said the inter-Korean summit should take place on a regular basis. ``The 2000 inter-Korean summit proved that only by sitting face-to-face and engaging in direct dialogue, can changes from above be made possible,¡¯¡¯ he said. ``Such a summit provides a shortcut to solving problems.¡¯¡¯ Lim said the U.S. should use an engagement policy that induces change in the reclusive North Korea rather than trying to solve problems by sticking to a ``hard-line¡¯¡¯ policy. He stressed the importance of the U.S. role not only as a key player in resolving the North¡¯s nuclear issue, but also as a ``balancer and stabilizer¡¯¡¯ in Northeast Asia. More than 200 people, including scholars, former and incumbent government officials around the world and business leaders, gathered at the biennial international conference on Cheju Island. Since its inauguration in 2001, the world forum has served as a venue for world leaders to jointly promote peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia, as well as to review the political and economic developments in and around the Korean Peninsula. Under the theme of ``Building a Northeast Asian Community: Toward Peace and Prosperity,¡¯¡¯ the forum ends today. Cheju was designated as the ``Island of World Peace¡¯¡¯ by the government last January. The forum is jointly hosted by the Cheju provincial government, Yonsei University, Cheju National University and the East Asia Foundation. It is co-organized by five research institutes. They are the Jeju Development Institute, Keio University in Japan, China People's University, the Institute of World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences and Johns Hopkins University in the United States. gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr 06-10-2005 18:00 ***************************************************************** 6 Korea Times: Toward a ¡®Balanced¡¯ View of North Korean Nuclear Issue Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Arts &Living By Ryu Jin Staff Reporter In less than a decade since North Korea and the United States struck a deal in 1994 to end their first nuclear showdown, they have found themselves in another standoff. Seen above are the chief delegates to the third round of six-party talks, which also involves South Korea, China, Japan and Russia, held in Beijing in June 2004. Korea Times File There are two ways to learn about the North Korean nuclear weapons program. The first is to lend an ear to past and present negotiators. The second is to look at the problem from a purely technical perspective. While the nuclear problem grabs the headlines everyday, ordinary readers still have a lack of understanding of the situation. Even for those studying the issue, it is not an issue that could be understood with ease as it involves the North _ one of the world¡¯s most secretive nations. What¡¯s the origin of its nuclear ambition? When did the ongoing standoff start? What¡¯s the main stumbling block of the stalemate? Does it really possess atomic bombs? Can the diplomatic impasse be resolved peacefully? All these difficult questions build up what we call the ``nuclear conundrum.¡¯¡¯ Many of the books on North Korea and its showdown with the U.S., especially the latest one over its nuclear drive, have so far been published. However, few seem to give useful clues as to the real nature of the confrontation between the two sides. Two latest books may attract readers¡¯ attention as they suggest some different methods to approach the issue. ``Reading North Korean Nuclear Program Though Science and Technology (Kwahakkisullo Ingnun Pukhan Haek)¡¯¡¯ excludes political and diplomatic logic, instead, focusing on technical points. Lee Chun-gun, who graduated from Seoul National University with a PhD in engineering, explores the origin of North Korea¡¯s nuclear program, its current status and future based on his expertise in scientific and technological aspects of nuclear power. ``The national discord surrounding the nuclear issue stems largely from limited information, subjective understanding and public ignorance about the specialized technology,¡¯¡¯ he says in the preface. ``A scientific approach could help dispel this widespread misunderstanding.¡¯¡¯ A North Korea expert in that field, Lee also authored such books as ``Science and Technology of North Korea (Pukhanui Kwahakkisul).¡¯¡¯ In his new book, he provides basic knowledge of nuclear technology as well as the complicated nuclear facilities of the North. The other recommended book ``Going Critical: The First North Korean Nuclear Crisis (Pukhaek Wigiui Chonmal)¡¯¡¯ draws attention by the co-authors¡¯ promises to present a comprehensive insiders¡¯ guide to the first nuclear crisis. First published in English in 2004, the book was written by those who played important roles in negotiations between the U.S. and the North and in the course of implementing the Agreed Framework signed in Geneva in 1994. Joel S. Wit, for example, served for 15 years in the State Department and was coordinator for the 1994 accord. Robert L. Gallucci, who also served in many posts in the State Department for over 20 years, led the U.S. negotiation team at that time. Translated in March by Professor Kim Tae-hyun of Chung-Ang University in Seoul, Pukhaek Wigiui Chonmal follows the path of the former U.S. officials to describe the lesson learned from the first nuclear crisis, which Kim says would be helpful in gaining a better understanding of the current standoff. The two books mentioned above would guarantee a balanced understanding of North Korea¡¯s nuclear problem by allowing readers to look into both the diplomatic backgrounds in the aspects of international politics and the scientific and technological facts on the issue. Those who are more interested or who want a combination of the two approaches are advised to read ``Pukhan Haek: Saeroun Kaeimui Popchik¡¯¡¯ (North Korea¡¯s Nuclear Program: A New Rule of Game) authored in 2004 by Lee Yong-joon, a South Korean diplomat who was involved in the first nuclear crisis. jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 06-10-2005 21:36 ***************************************************************** 7 Recent Success: Bolton and New Nukes Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:05 -0700 c48c6.jpg c48d0.jpg c48da.jpg c48e4.jpg c48ee.jpg c48fa.jpg Recent Success: Bolton and New Nukes Dear Roger, Thanks to your support and hard work, we've made significant progress over the last few months towards stopping both the nomination of John Bolton as U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. and the development of new nuclear weapons. John Bolton: Your Calls Helped Change Sen. Feinstein's Mind Before Memorial Day, we sent an emergency email asking you to call Senator Feinstein about the Bolton nomination. A news article had reported that she planned to vote with Bolton's Republican supporters. Thanks to your quick action, she reversed her position, and voted against ending debate on his nomination. As of this week, the Senate still has not approved his nomination, 3 months after he was first proposed for the position. Together, we've convinced Senators that this nomination deserves a full debate in Congress, and they shouldn't give a free pass to the Bush administration. Click here to send a thank you letter to Sen. Feinstein for her vote New Nukes: The House Says "No" to the Bunker Buster This year, California Peace Action has been leading the grassroots charge against the development of new nuclear weapons. With your help, we've run ads in local newspapers and public transit systems, gathered thousands of letters and placed hundreds of calls to key members of Congress, and educated the community about the dangers of these weapons. That work has paid off: Three critical House committees have eliminated all funds for the bunker buster. Now we must focus on the Senate and ensure these funds are gone for good. Click here to find out more about new nuclear weapons Thanks, Erin Sikorsky State Political Director California Peace Action ---------- This is a message from the California Peace Action Alert Program. To subscribe to this list visit here. To unsubscribe from this list visit this link To update your preferences and contact information visit this link c490d.jpg c4917.jpg c493b.jpg c4952.jpg Attachment Converted: c48c6.jpg: 00000001,3ce0daf5,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c48d0.jpg: 00000001,3ce0daf6,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c48da.jpg: 00000001,3ce0daf7,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c48e4.jpg: 00000001,3ce0daf8,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c48ee.jpg: 00000001,3ce0daf9,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c48fa.jpg: 00000001,3ce0dafa,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c490d.jpg: 00000001,3ce0dafb,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c4917.jpg: 00000001,3ce0dafc,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c493b.jpg: 00000001,3ce0dafd,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: c4952.jpg: 00000001,3ce0dafe,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 8 IPS-English POLITICS: Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:44:09 -0700 ROMAIPS NA IP BW POLITICS: Nuclear Warrior Replaces Bolton as Arms Control Chief Tom Barry* SILVER CITY, New Mexico, Jun 10 (IPS) - The top U.S. government official in charge of arms control advocates the offensive use of nuclear weapons and has deep roots in the militarist political camp. Moving into the old job of John Bolton, the administration's hard-core unilateralist nominee to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Robert G. Joseph is the right-wing's advance man for counter-proliferation as the conceptual core of a new U.S. military policy. Within the administration, he leads a band of counter-proliferationists who -- working closely with such militarist policy institutes as the National Institute for Public Policy (NIPP) and the Center for Security Policy (CSP) -- have placed preemptive attacks and weapons of mass destruction at the center of U.S. national security strategy. Joseph replaced John Bolton at the State Department as the new undersecretary of state for arms control and international security affairs. U.S. security strategy, according to the new arms control chief, should "not include signing up for arms control for the sake of arms control. At best that would be a needless diversion of effort when the real threat requires all of our attention. At worst, as we discovered in the draft BWC (Biological Weapons Convention) Protocol that we inherited, an arms control approach would actually harm our ability to deal with the WMD threat." Before the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks, proponents of national missile defence and a more "flexible" nuclear defense strategy focused almost exclusively on the WMD threat from "competitor" states such as Russia and especially China, and from "rogue" states such as Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria, and North Korea. Joseph and other hard-line strategists advocated large increases in military spending to counter these threats while paying little or no attention to the warnings that the most likely attack on the United States and its armed forces abroad would come from non-state terrorist networks. Instead of advocating improved intelligence on such terrorist networks like al-Qaeda, which had an established record of attacking the United States, militarist policy institutes such as NIPP and CSP focused almost exclusively on proposals for high-tech, high-priced items such as space weapons, missile defence, and nuclear weapons development. After 9/11 Joseph and other administration militarists quickly placed the threat from terrorism at the centre of their threat assessments without changing their recommendations for U.S. security strategy. Joseph points to Iran and North Korea, as well as China, as the leading post-Cold War missile threats to the U.S. homeland. Typical of strategists who identify with the neoconservative political camp, Joseph continually raises the alarm about China, alleging that China is the "country that has been most prone to ballistic missile attacks on the United States." Joseph participated as a team member in crafting the influential 2001 report by the National Institute for Public Policy titled "Rationale and Requirements for U.S. Nuclear Forces and Arms Control." The report recommended that the U.S. government develop a new generation of "usable" lower-yield nuclear arms. The NIPP study served as the blueprint for George W. Bush's controversial Nuclear Posture Review. Joseph was instrumental in inserting the concept of counter-proliferation into the centre of the Bush administration's national security strategy. Counter-proliferation is the first of the three pillars of the administration's WMD defence strategy, as outlined in the National Strategy to Combat Weapons of Mass Destruction -- a document that Joseph helped draft -- and in the White House's National Security Strategy. In 1999, Joseph told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the country was unprepared to defend the homeland against new WMD threats. He recommended that the "United States acquire the capabilities to deny an enemy the benefits of these weapons. These capabilities -- including passive and active defences as well as improved counterforce means such as the ability to destroy mobile missiles -- offer the best chance to strengthen deterrence, and provide the best hedge against deterrence failure." Joseph, the founder and director of the Counterproliferation Centre at the National Defense University, told the Senate committee: "We are making progress in improving our ability to strike deep underground targets, as well as in protecting the release of agents [meaning radioactive fallout]. We are revising joint doctrine for the conduct of military operations in an NBC environment [meaning one in which nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are the weapons of choice], based on the assumption that chemical and biological use will be a likely condition of future warfare." "In the new world we have entered, the only path to peace and security is the path of action," concludes Joseph -- and that action includes the U.S. preemptive use of WMDs. Not a high-profile hardliner like John Bolton or former undersecretary of defence for policy Douglas Feith, Joseph successfully avoided the public limelight -- that is until the scandal of the 16 words in Bush's 2003 State of the Union Address about Iraq's alleged nuclear weapons development programme. Press reports and congressional testimony by Central Intelligence Agency officials later revealed that the CIA had vigorously protested the inclusion of any assertion that Iraq was developing nuclear weapons since their intelligence would not support such a conclusion. Alan Foley, the CIA's top expert on weapons of mass destruction, told Congress that Robert Joseph repeatedly pressed the CIA to back the inclusion in Bush's speech of a statement about Iraq's attempts to buy uranium from Niger. The new undersecretary of state for arms control has said that his "starting point and first conclusion" in formulating national security strategy is the fact that "nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons are a permanent feature of the international environment." As his second conclusion, Joseph asserted that nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons "have substantial utility," adding as a corollary that a versatile U.S. WMD capability is essential "to deny an enemy of these weapons" since "the threat of retaliation or punishment that formed the basis for our deterrent policy in the Cold War is not likely to be sufficient." Arms control chief Joseph is a new breed of militarist who believes that in a world where weapons of mass destruction may be proliferating, it behooves the United States to bolster its own WMD arsenal and then use it against other proliferators. *Tom Barry is policy director of the International Relations Center (IRC), online at: www.irc-online.org. ***** (END/IPS/NA/IP/BW/TB/KS/05) = 06102020 ORP015 NNNN ***************************************************************** 9 Las Vegas SUN: Feds may not get cash from state land sales Today: June 10, 2005 at 11:17:40 PDT By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The chance that the federal government will start getting more than half of the money earned from sales of public land in Nevada grew slimmer Thursday when the Senate Appropriations passed the Interior Department spending bill. The bill made no mention of the administration's proposal to shift 70 percent of the proceeds from those sales to the national treasury while leaving only 30 percent in Nevada. "We're going to leave it just like it is," said Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., who heads the Senate Appropriations Interior Subcommittee that wrote the bill. Under the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, all the money from public land auctions in Nevada must be spent within the state and different percentages go to the education fund, water treatment efforts and federal land conservation projects. The auctions have generated about $1.6 billion, with $1 billion has been earmarked for spending on projects statewide, including $445 million for local parks, trails and other projects in Clark County. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., had gotten a prior commitment from Burns that Burns would not include in the bill the Bush administration's proposal that the federal government take most of the future proceeds from the land sales, Ensign spokesman Jack Finn said. Ensign also worked to keep the proposal out of the overall budget bill. The House version of the Interior Department spending bill orders the department to detail how the government has spent money earned through Bureau of Land Management land auctions in Clark County for 2003 and 2004. Nevada's house members view this as a placeholder for the administration's proposal, which they opposed. They want the money to stay in Nevada. The bill also did not include anything related to the Bureau of Land Management's new program to sell wild horses. Burns created a program through an amendment passed last year that allows the BLM to sell horses that are 10 years old or older as well as those that had not been taken by anyone in three adoption rounds. But House members voted on May 19 to ban the bureau from using any federal money for the horse sales, prompted by the discovery that some BLM horses had been bought and then resold to a slaughter house. Burns said he will work to take the ban out. "I'll fight it to the ground," he said. "What we did last year is working. We have got to get our numbers (of wild horses) down and this is the most efficient way to do it. Let the plan work." The Senate version of the Interior Department spending bill still needs to be approved on the Senate floor and then members of the House and Senate will iron out differences between the bills before finalizing the bill for another vote in each chamber. ***************************************************************** 10 RIA Novosti: Adamov's lawyers hope Russia will not demand his extradition 11/06/2005 GENEVA, JUNE 10, (RIA Novosti's Yekaterina Andrianova) - The lawyers of former Russian nuclear-energy minister Yevgeny Adamov hope that the Russian Government will not press for his extradition, an anonymous member of Adamov's US defense team said. "Dr. Adamov made it clear that he will go to Russia as a free man after his release," the lawyer said over the phone from Washington. "I hope the Russian Government will admit that there is no need to extradite him because Adamov is determined to return to Russia. We hope the Russian Government will make this decision," he added. On June 9 the Swiss Federal Criminal Court in Bellinzona ruled that Adamov's arrest was unlawful, and that he be released. The court upheld an appeal by Adamov's lawyers as regards the actions of the Federal Justice Department that authorized his arrest in Berne. "We are quite satisfied with the decision that Adamov's arrest in line with a US request was unlawful," the lawyer said. "Dr. Adamov still wants to leave Switzerland, to go to Russia as a free man and to fight unjustified charges," he stressed. The Federal Justice Department asked the Federal Criminal Court to delay Adamov's release pending an appeal to the Swiss Federal Court in Lausanne. The Federal Justice Department has 30 days to appeal this decision in Lausanne. The Federal Court's decisions cannot be appealed. The lawyers contested the legality of Adamov's first, May 2, arrest in line with a US request. On June 9 it has become known that Adamov was arrested once again but this time in accordance with a Russian request. On June 7 the Federal Justice Department issued another warrant for Adamov's arrest in line with the Russian extradition request. Adamov's lawyers may file a claim with the Federal Criminal Court. Adamov, who served as Russia's nuclear-energy minister in 1998-2001, was arrested May 2 in Berne at the request of the US Justice Department. The US side may submit an official extradition request by June 30. Switzerland received the Russian extradition request on May 17. Moscow's Basmanny court issued a warrant for Adamov's arrest on May 14. And the Russian Prosecutor-General's Office charged Adamov with fraud and malfeasance. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 11 RIA Novosti: Swiss court finds Russian ex minister's arrest illegal 11/06/2005 GENEVA, June 10. (RIA Novosti's Yekaterina Andrianova) - Yesterday the Swiss federal criminal court found the arrest of Russian atomic energy ex-minister illegal and ruled to release him. Yevgeny Adamov's Swiss lawyer Stefan Wehrenberg told RIA Novosti on Thursday that the court in Bellinzona had found that the arrest violated international law and ruled to pay Mr. Adamov a compensation for the injury. The court made choice in favor of international law, which guarantees immunity of foreign witnesses, not Switzerland's obligations to extradite persons that are being wanted. Mr. Adamov came to investigators of his own accord to testify in the case of his daughter, Irina Adamova, who is accused of money laundering in Switzerland. On Thursday the federal criminal court upheld the complaint of Mr. Adamov's lawyers of May 17 about the actions of the Swiss federal justice department, which had sanctioned the ex-minister's arrest in Bern. Nevertheless Mr. Adamov will remain in custody, as the justice department has already asked the court to postpone his release till it lodges an appeal to a higher instance, the federal court in Lausanne. In court, the lawyers contested the legitimacy of Mr. Adamov's first arrest on May 2 on the request from the United States, but on Thursday he was arrested again, this time on Russia's request. Upon this request, the justice department issued a warrant for his arrest on June 7. Mr. Adamov's lawyers do not rule out appealing this arrest in the federal criminal court. If both arrests are found illegal, he will be released. The Moscow city court in its turn on Thursday found the warrant for the ex-minister's arrest, issued by the Moscow Basmanny court, legal, overruling the complaint of his Russian lawyer Timofei Gridnev. Mr. Adamov, who was Russian atomic energy minister in 1998-2001, was arrested in Bern on May 2 upon request of the U.S. Department of Justice. The United States has not sent a formal request for his extradition yet, but may do it before June 30. Russia's extradition request was received on May 17. It was based on an arrest warrant issued on May 14 by the Basmanny court. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office charged Mr. Adamov with fraud and excess of powers. The American authorities accuse the ex-minister and his business partner, U.S. citizen Mark Kaushansky, of embezzling $9 million, the American government hadallocated for Russian nuclear safety projects. If extradited, Mr. Adamov faces up to 60 years of imprisonment and a $1.75 million fine. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 12 Daily Ittefaq: Guarding nukes Last Updated: Jun 10th, 2005 - 12:17:29 nation.ittefaq.com Editorial Page By Shahid Saleem Afzal Jun 10, 2005, 12:17 Pakistan gets wide coverage in the international media when it comes to her nuclear programme. While many reports depict the correct picture, there are segments of the media including certain websites originating from Pakistan’s neighbourhood, dedicated to churn out anti-Pakistan agenda. Pakistan’s nuclear programme and anti-proliferation measures instituted by the government are infallible. The nuclear weapons are very closely guarded and are under strict control. Pakistan’s bombs are known to be in a disassembled state i.e. the fission core is kept separately from the non-nuclear components, but the bombs can be assembled very quickly. Safe control of nuclear weapons is guaranteed by a “3-men rule”, namely any procedure involving nuclear weapons requires the concurrent decision by 3 persons. This is contrasted to the 2 men rule that apparently exists in various US nuclear operations. In the US though, multiple devices to prevent unauthorised use are ubiquitous and most of them quite sophisticated. In February 2000 the Strategic Planning Division (SPD) was established in Pakistan in order to improve the control of nuclear operations. The SPD acts as a Secretariat for the National Command Authority (NCA) headed by the head of the government that deals with all aspects of nuclear weapons. More precisely the NCA is a ‘military-political-scientific forum’, assisting the head of government in all nuclear matters. The NCA is divided into two committees; the Employment Control Committee (that supervises the employment policy and the possible actual use of nuclear weapons) whose deputy chair is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Development Control Committee that supervises the nuclear development programme, whose Deputy Chair is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC). In both Committees it is understood that the Chairman is the head of the government. Besides the Chairman and the deputy chair, the members of the Employment Control Committee are the Minister of Defence, the Minister of Interior, the CJCSC, the Services Chiefs and the Director of SPD who has the role of Secretary of the Committee. Other people can be invited according to specific needs. Practically 99 percent of nuclear decisions pertain to the head of government and there is no delegation of authority. After 1998, the management of nuclear weapons with the establishment of NCA and SPD became a ‘transparent institutionalised capability.’ This has also the purpose of ‘reassuring the world that everything is under control.’ A delicate question in any organisation dealing with nuclear weapons and fissile material concerns the reliability and the trustworthiness of scientists, technicians and military people that have the responsibility of handling such equipment. Before 1998, Pakistan’s nuclear programme was initiated and handled by few people at the top level. After Pakistan’s nuclear capability was made public in 1998, the need of creating a controlled, transparent, structure became apparent. After 1998 key personnel are screened and controlled by various security agencies. This screening was non-existent prior to 1998. Top-level people (including scientists) are controlled by their organisations and not psychologically screened. In this sense there is no such a thing in Pakistan as an American PRP (Personal Reliability Program). Since the year 2000, establishment of the NCA has ensured institution of additional measures to ensure that no proliferation takes place. Since then the security of the nuclear programme has become impregnable. The admission by Dr A.Q. Khan, the Father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme, of being involved in proliferation, has shocked the nation. But this happened prior to 1998 when Pakistan did not have an efficient mechanism to avoid proliferation, as at that time the nuclear programme was in developmental stage with few checks and balances. Each and every country pursuing an active developmental nuclear programme is closely linked to the underworld for supply of critical parts. Pakistan, India, the US and a host of European countries are investigating the underworld, in their individual countries, to put an end to nuclear proliferation. Pakistan is committed to all international nuclear non-proliferation regimes. Pakistan is unilaterally and irrevocably committed not to transfer sensitive technology, material and equipment to any third country. Pakistan is not complacent and is engaged in detailed discussions with the US, the European Union, Japan and a host of other countries to further strengthen export control procedures and plug loopholes, if any. Pakistan has gone a step further to ensure tighter non-proliferation controls by joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). It is a 44-nation alliance that oversees global exports of materials and equipment. A team of the NSG will visit Pakistan in April 2005. The NSG represents the world’s top nuclear exporters. The team will assist Pakistan to improve upon the non proliferation measures taken by the government. The NSG is a regulatory organisation which deals only with civilian nuclear facilities and the members cooperate with each other in regulating trade in nuclear technology. It is amply clear to the world community that the Pakistan government was never involved in nuclear proliferation. It was only Dr Khan who committed the blunder which became possible due to the unlimited powers he enjoyed. Dr Khan received full support for his actions without any questions asked as he was looked upon in Pakistan as a sacred figure. Hence, no one in the government collaborated with him, but some people may have helped him in view of his stature as father of Pakistan’s nuclear programme. The US has reposed confidence in the Pakistani government, saying the US believed that the government was not involved in the AQ Khan network, and the network was brought to light by the Pakistanis. A State Department spokesman told reporters on 17 March 2005, “We have a good understanding about how that network came about, how it operated and we certainly don’t see any connection with the government of Pakistan.” It is well understood by all that Pakistan’s nuclear programme is there to stay. Mistakes have been committed in the past when the programme was in the developmental stage, but since the establishment of the NCA, the possibility of proliferation has become impossible. No lapse has ever been reported in proliferation matters since the NCA was established and this fact is acknowledged by all responsible nations. © Copyright 2003 by The New Nation ***************************************************************** 13 Deutsche Welle: NATO Discusses Nuclear Future | Europe | Press Reviews &Opinion 09.06.2005 [Struck questions the relevance of US nuclear weapons in Germany?] Struck questions the relevance of US nuclear weapons in Germany? NATO defense ministers, who are meeting in Brussles Thursday, have responded to a call by German Defense Minister, Peter Struck, to review the "status of nuclear forces" in Europe. Last month, Struck said he wanted to bring up the issue of US nuclear weapons stationed in Germany with his partners at the military alliance. When asked if one Germany would raise the issue of US nuclear arms on its territory, one NATO official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "the meeting will address the status of nuclear forces." "I'm not going to talk about details of what the discussions will be, but we are not expecting radical changes," the NATO official added. In Berlin, a spokesman for the defense ministry declined to say if Struck would raise the issue but did say "I can imagine this subject will be talked about." Confidential debate Although a meeting of NATO's nuclear planning committee is not unusual, it has not met for 18 months. The committee brings together all NATO states except France, since Paris left the alliance's integrated command structure in 1966. The committee members hold highly confidential debates about nuclear questions, generally consisting of presentations by the United States or Britain, the only NATO members on the committee with nuclear weapons. About 95 percent of the nuclear weapons stationed in Europe have been withdrawn since the collapse of the Iron Curtain. DW staff / AFP (tkw) [de:mehr] --> [Info] Tough Talking Behind the Smiles President George W. Bush continued his hectic schedule in Brussels on Tuesday when he met with European Union officials to tackle a number of thorny issues. (Feb. 22, 2005) US, Europe Still Split on NATO's Role At the NATO Summit on Tuesday, Europe and the US will discuss the direction the alliance will take. Behind all the talk of harmony are some major differences on how much political power the organization should have. (Feb. 22, 2005) Schröder Slammed Over NATO Reform Idea German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was heavily criticized on Monday for urging an overhaul of NATO, with some observers saying his remarks could damage ties with the United States. (Feb. 16, 2005) [Feedback] Should Germany continue to house US nuclear weapons? Please include your full name and country of residence in your reply. ***************************************************************** 14 Guardian Unlimited AP: Saudis Pressured on Nuclear Openness From the Associated Press [UP] Friday June 10, 2005 8:01 PM By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The United States, Europe and Australia are joining forces in an unusually stark reflection of concern in urging Saudi Arabia to allow in nuclear inspectors before a key meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, officials said Friday. Diplomats accredited to the agency and European officials told The Associated Press that both the European Union and Australia will send formal diplomatic notes to the Saudi government this weekend asking it to consider allowing in the IAEA inspectors. Washington already has done so, but its chief delegate to Monday's IAEA board meeting, Jackie Sanders, will renew the request at a weekend meeting in Vienna with her Saudi counterpart, said the diplomats and officials, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to speak to the media on such issues. State Department press officer Tom Casey confirmed that U.S. diplomatic note had been delivered to the Saudis, saying Washington hoped that the country will agree to independent verification of its nuclear status ``on a voluntary basis.'' The joint diplomatic push is being sparked by concerns the Saudis could be exempt from any outside policing of their nuclear agenda under an agreement they have negotiated with the IAEA, and by past Saudi nuclear ambiguities, including reported interest in a weapons program. Senior Saudi foreign policy adviser Adel al-Jubeir sought to deflect such concerns Wednesday, telling the AP in Washington that his country has ``no desire to acquire any type of weapon of mass destruction, period.'' He also said reports, some based on U.S. intelligence, that Saudi Arabia has sought possible nuclear weapons help from Pakistan are ``not correct.'' The diplomats said the Australian and EU diplomatic notes will urge the Saudis to go beyond the letter of the arrangement and commit to allow IAEA inspectors into the country, at least to take stock of what nuclear equipment and materials the Saudis might have. The IAEA's most senior officials regard agreements such as the one reached with Saudi Arabia - and about 70 other countries - as outmoded because they contain loopholes that can potentially encourage would-be proliferators. But until the IAEA changes its procedures, countries can continue to request such deals. The Saudis deny any plans to develop nuclear arms, and diplomats close to the IAEA say the agency has no firm evidence to the contrary. But the Saudi push to formalize minimal monitoring for the country comes amid increased nuclear-generated tensions in the region, fed by suspicions that rival Iran might want to develop the bomb. While the Saudi government insists it has no interest in going nuclear, in the past two decades it has been linked to prewar Iraq's nuclear program, to Pakistan and to the Pakistani nuclear black marketeer A.Q. Khan. It also has expressed interest in Pakistani missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, and credible reports say Saudi officials have discussed taking the nuclear option as a deterrent in the volatile Middle East. There was no comment Friday from the Saudi mission dealing with the IAEA. But an Arab diplomat, who demanded he not be identified, said ``there was some communication on the issue'' between the Saudis, the Europeans, the Americans and Australia. The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors routinely approves the so-called ``small quantities protocols'' which free countries from reporting the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium - or up to 20 tons of depleted uranium, depending on the degree of enrichment - and 2.2 pounds of plutonium. Such agreements also allow countries to keep silent about work on nuclear facilities until six months before they are ready for operation. And once a protocol is signed, the country's word is normally not questioned. With precedents well in place, diplomats say the board will likely approve the arrangement, albeit reluctantly, on Monday. IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozdecky declined to comment on the Saudi case. But he said the board meeting will review ``a report by the director general ... which identifies possible solutions'' to the verification loopholes made possible by such agreements. The protocols were aimed at freeing up IAEA resources to focus on superpower nuclear rivalries. But the climate has changed since revelations of other loopholes that allowed prewar Iraq, Iran, Libya and others to work secretly on known or suspected weapons programs. Experts say 10 tons of natural uranium can be processed into the material for up to two nuclear warheads. Iran and South Korea both used substantially less uranium or plutonium in laboratory-scale experiments with suspected links to arms programs. --- On the Net: www.iaea.org Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 15 [NukeNet] Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:02 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) >From the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) recent action bulletin: ***Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power Subsidies*** A spate of new nuclear reactors are being proposed - the first to be built in America in the 25-plus years since the tragic Three Mile Island meltdown in Pennsylvania. They are only the tip of the iceberg, according to the Bush Administration's energy bill now moving through Congress. Closest to approval are two new nuclear reactors being proposed by Dominion (parent company of Dominion Virginia Power) at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Virginia. At Dominion's annual shareholder's meeting, on April 23rd, CEO Thomas F. Farrell II announced that the company will not move forward with the new reactors at North Anna without federal subsidies. The estimated cost of constructing the new reactors is $1.3 billion, and Dominion wants about half of that amount to come from DOE funds earmarked to develop and build new nuclear reactors. Farrell's statement underscores the fact that nuclear power is not only environmentally unsustainable but economically unsustainable as well, without heavy government tax breaks and subsidies to help make it profitable. ----------- NOTE FROM MIKE: Please contact your senators and urge them to filibuster the energy bill!! It'll will be coming to the floor in the next two weeks. See http://www.energyjustice.net/energybill/ for links and background info. ----------- _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 16 [NukeNet] New nuclear energy data just released Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 18:18:13 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) [Thanks to http://nucnews.net for finding this...] New nuclear energy data just released PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ Paris, 3 June 2005 Nuclear Energy Agency, France http://www.nea.fr/html/general/press/2005/2005-03.html The latest official figures released today by the NEA reveal that, at the start of 2005, there were 352 nuclear units in operation in 17 OECD member countries, seven less than the year before. However, despite this reduction, nuclear generating capacity in the OECD increased by almost 1% and nuclear-generated electricity increased by over 4% over the previous year. In all, nuclear power plants produced 23.5% of the electricity generated in OECD member countries during 2004 and in Belgium, France, the Slovak Republic and Sweden it was over 50%. Improved performances compared to 2003 allowed nuclear power's share of electricity generation to increase in six OECD member countries (Canada, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan and Sweden). These numbers are from the just-published 2005 edition of Nuclear Energy Data, more commonly known as the "Brown Book", which gives an overview of the status of and trends in nuclear electricity generation and the fuel cycle up to 2025 in OECD member countries. The official statistics include data and projections complemented by short country reports. The Brown Book is considered as a standard reference for nuclear energy data. At the end of 2004, eight nuclear units representing a total capacity of 6.6 GWe were under construction in OECD countries, with firm commitments for 19 more representing a total capacity of 24.1 GWe. All but one of these are destined for the OECD Pacific region. However, one new reactor, an EPR (European Pressurised Water Reactor), has been firmly committed in OECD Europe in Finland, marking the first new unit in this region in many years. In France, the construction of a new EPR is under consideration, subject to the outcome of a national public debate to take place in 2005. At the same time, 11 reactors representing a total capacity of 3.1 GWe are expected to be shut down over the next five years, six of which are in the United Kingdom. Additionally, not reflected in the preceding figures, additional reactors in Germany are expected to be shut down in line with the governmental decision to phase out nuclear energy. Natural uranium production in OECD countries is projected to be lower than requirements in 2005. The remaining requirements will be met by secondary sources including imports, stockpiles, spent fuel reprocessing and re-enrichment of depleted uranium. For conversion, the capacity is also lower than requirements and the needs are again being matched by imports and stockpiles complementing the supply from OECD production facilities. OECD enrichment and fuel fabrication capacities remain higher than requirements. Thirty-four units use mixed-oxide fuel. All of these units are in OECD Europe, with all but four in France and Germany. #### NUCLEAR ENERGY DATA OECD, Paris, 2005 ­ ISBN 92-64-01100-5 € 24, £ 16, US$ 29, ¥ 3 200. Please quote the title and reference in any review. Commercial orders may be directed to Extenza-Turpin Stratton Business Park, Pegasus Drive, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 8QB, United Kingdom OECD Customer Service: +44 (0)1767 604960 Main Switchboard: +44 (0)1767 604800, Fax number: +44 (0)1767 601640 E-mail: oecdrow@extenza-turpin.com ­ Website: www.extenza-turpin.com Online ordering: www.oecd.org/bookshop (secure payment with credit card) Please quote the title and reference in any review. Commercial orders may be directed to Extenza-Turpin Stratton Business Park, Pegasus Drive, Biggleswade, Bedfordshire, SG18 8QB, United Kingdom OECD Customer Service: +44 (0)1767 604960 Main Switchboard: +44 (0)1767 604800, Fax number: +44 (0)1767 601640 E-mail: oecdrow@extenza-turpin.com ­ Website: www.extenza-turpin.com _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 17 Bellona: Unit no.2 of Leningrad NPP to shut down for repairs The repair works are needed to get the permission to operate reactor no.2 over 30 years. 2005-06-10 19:05 The design lifetime of the unit is 30 years. On July 12, unit no.2 is to be shut down, as it will reach the design lifetime’s limit. An upgrade and reconstruction of the unit is necessary to operate the reactor further. Leningrad NPP launched the reactor upgrade program back in 1989. The main direction of the program is nuclear, technical, radiation, fire and physical safety of the plant. The upgrade works’ estimated cost is $220m. The Leningrad NPP covers most of the expenses from the own resources. So, unit no.1 was shut down in 2003 as it reached 30-years limit and then after modernisation continued operation in September 2004. Unit no.3 is being overhauled since February 12 and should be put in operation on July 25. Unit no.4 should be stopped for scheduled 45-days maintenance works on August 6. From June 4 to June 7, the second reactor suffered capacity reduction down to 500 MW due to the turbogenerator repairs. Leningrad NPP generated 10.502 million kWh this year and takes third place after Balakovo and Kursk NPP. The plant could produce more electricity than needed, however, the electricity low demand limits electricity generation at the plant. The Leningrad NPP operates the oldest reactor units of “Chernobyl type” RBMK-1000 with 4GW total capacity. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 18 Newsday.com: Leak of non-radioactive water forces shutdown of IP3 [Newsday.com] June 10, 2005, 1:42 PM EDT BUCHANAN, N.Y. (AP) _ A leaking gasket forced the shutdown Friday of the Indian Point 3 nuclear power plant, its owner said. No radioactivity was released, no workers were injured and there was no danger to the public, said Jim Steets, spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast. The plant went down as a hot and muggy weekend loomed, but D. Joy Faber, a Con Edison spokeswoman, said the outage "should not have any impact on Con Edison operations. Load levels are typically reduced on the weekend." Steets said the problem should be fixed before the weekend is out. Indian Point 2, which adjoins Indian Point 3 on the Hudson River in Buchanan, was running at full power, Steets said. He said operators shut down the IP3 reactor manually at about 9:30 a.m. after a worker noticed water on the floor near a heat exchanger that cools the plant's exciter. The exciter provides the electrical current for the main electrical generator, Steets said. A closer look revealed water spraying from the gasket that attaches piping to the exchanger. "It's a simple repair," Steets said. "We shut the plant simply because you have to shut it down to repair it." Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 [NukeNet] Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2005 09:53:29 -0700 From the Center for Health, Environment and Justice (CHEJ) recent action bulletin: ***Dominion CEO Holds Out for Government Nuclear Power Subsidies*** A spate of new nuclear reactors are being proposed - the first to be built in America in the 25-plus years since the tragic Three Mile Island meltdown in Pennsylvania. They are only the tip of the iceberg, according to the Bush Administration's energy bill now moving through Congress. Closest to approval are two new nuclear reactors being proposed by Dominion (parent company of Dominion Virginia Power) at the North Anna Power Station in Louisa County, Virginia. At Dominion's annual shareholder's meeting, on April 23rd, CEO Thomas F. Farrell II announced that the company will not move forward with the new reactors at North Anna without federal subsidies. The estimated cost of constructing the new reactors is $1.3 billion, and Dominion wants about half of that amount to come from DOE funds earmarked to develop and build new nuclear reactors. Farrell's statement underscores the fact that nuclear power is not only environmentally unsustainable but economically unsustainable as well, without heavy government tax breaks and subsidies to help make it profitable. ----------- NOTE FROM MIKE: Please contact your senators and urge them to filibuster the energy bill!! It'll will be coming to the floor in the next two weeks. See http://www.energyjustice.net/energybill/ for links and background info. ***************************************************************** 20 B. Ramberg, "The Future of Nuclear Terror" Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:16 -0700 -------------------------------------------- Nuclear Reactor Security - an important overview by Bennett Ramberg served in the Dept State's Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs under President George H.W. Bush United Press International April 28, 2005 Outside view: The future of nuclear terror By Bennett Ramberg Outside View Commentator Los Angeles, CA, Apr. 28 (UPI) -- This month marks Chernobyl's 19th anniversary. It comes at a time of continuing concern about the motivation and ability of terrorists to inflict an intentional Chernobyl upon the United States. Despite Washington's recognition of the risk, 31/2 years after the attack on the World Trade Center, it is still attempting to sort out what to do. The dithering ill serves national security. Testifying before the Senate Senate's Select Committee on Intelligence on Feb. 16, FBI Director Robert Mueller succinctly laid out problem. Commenting that 9/11 "al-Qaida planner Khalid Sheik Mohamed had nuclear power plants as part of his target set," Mueller ominously warned, "... (W)e have no reason to believe that al-Qaida has reconsidered." Indeed, the director placed nuclear power plants at the top of the hit list of infrastructure targets that terrorists would be tempted to attack. The FBI's conclusion begs the question: Has the United States done all it can to prevent or reduce the consequences of nuclear sabotage since Sept. 11, 2001? The answer: Not really. In fairness, the country's nuclear infrastructure is more secure today. Utilities have bolstered defenses against ground assaults. Intelligence is more focused. Airport security better protects against airplane hijacking. Yet, the National Academy of Science's April 6 report on the vulnerability of nuclear spent fuel pools belies the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's persistent mantra that our nuclear plants are effectively immune. Prompted by nongovernmental scientists' claims that terrorist ground or air assaults could drain the pools and ignite the highly radioactive spent fuel assemblies resulting in consequences exceeding Chernobyl, Congress asked the academy for an evaluation. The NAS conclusion: "A terrorist attack that partially or completed drained a spent fuel pool could lead to ... the release large quantities of radioactive material to the environment." The academy added that NRC's efforts to belittle the risk are "not prudent." As an immediate remedy, the NAS called upon utilities to modify the spent fuel configuration and density to allow better cooling and water-spray systems to douse any terrorist ignition. It further recommended a plant-by-plant survey of unique vulnerabilities. The NRC will require further political prodding to implement recommendations since the academy is only an advisory group. Unfortunately, the terrorists' calendar to do us harm may not comply with the commission's labored pace. The commission must also do a better job in protecting power reactors, a matter the academy addressed marginally. It remains unclear whether the NCR's post-9/11 "Orders" requiring beefed up plant security meets the challenge. Guards repeatedly have complained they neither have the training, armament or sufficient personnel to foil a sophisticated ground assault. The commission has not provided the public with ample information to judge the results of mock attack exercises intended to test defenses. Furthermore, the NRC still clings to the mistaken belief that intelligence will provide timely warning of an increasing attack risk environment to bolster security. However, one fact remains clear: nuclear power plants are naked against a Sept. 11, 2001-like air attack. Plaintively, the commission argues that the "defense in depth" engineering built into reactors to prevent serious accidents should suffice although it continues to "study" the matter. It contends that the first line of defense ought to be airport security; if that fails, military aircraft could intercept suspicious airplanes. Unfortunately, this "action plan" is flawed. Engineers did not design reactor containments to withstand an intentional, high-speed impact by a large commercial airliner. Then there is the risk that such an attack could disrupt "soft" vital lifelines outside the containment that could prompt a meltdown. Airport security already has failed to prevent general aviation "buzzing" of reactors. Other defensive measures could be deployed. However, the commission opposes antiaircraft guns or missiles at reactor sites fearing that they could shoot down innocent planes. The fact that other countries pursued this path without mishap has not made an impression. There yet remains passive defenses. Utilities could put in place large World War II-like barrage balloons to entwine light aircraft in their tether. Another option, heavy steel I-beams can be placed over reactor sites to fragment incoming aircraft dramatically reducing their ability to penetrate sensitive structures. The beams also could anchor defensive steel cabling and netting to further deflect impact. The NRC has before it a formal petition for rulemaking to accomplish this option. Unfortunately, the commission is not likely to implement such insurance as long as it clings to the view that attacks are improbable and plants are well protected. This year's Chernobyl commemoration should serve as a useful reminder of what can happen if the presumptions prove wrong. -- (Bennett Ramberg is the author of three books, and editor of three others on nuclear security issues. He served in the Department of State's Bureau of Politico-Military Affairs in the administration of President George H.W. Bush.) -- (United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of United Press International. In the interests of creating an open forum, original submissions are invited.) ***************************************************************** 21 RIA Novosti: Russia ratifies agreement with Italy on disposal of Russian nuclear submarines 11/06/2005 MOSCOW, June 10 (RIA Novosti) - On Friday, the State Duma (lower chamber of the Russian Parliament) ratified an agreement between the governments of Russia and Italy on disposal of decommissioned Russian nuclear submarines, and on safety of the treatment of nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. Four hundred and seventeen deputies voted "Yes," and one deputy abstained from voting. Nobody voted "No." The document was signed in Rome in 2003. In accordance with the agreement, the Italian side promises to provide Russia with gratuitous financial assistance in the amount of up to 360 million euros in the course of 10 years for implementation of projects on disposal of nuclear submarines, nuclear-powered surface ships and vessels for technical support of nuclear-powered ships. In addition, the funds will be allocated for processing, transport, storage and conservation of nuclear waste materials and spent nuclear fuel. It is also planned to finance the creation and maintenance of the security system around nuclear facilities, the creation and maintenance of infrastructure for disposal of nuclear submarines, and the treatment of nuclear waste and spent nuclear fuel. In its turn, the Russian side promises to free the financial assistance provided by Italy from custom duties, taxes on profits and other duties and levies. The document envisions the creation of a managing committee consisting of two representatives from each side in order to ensure cooperation and control over the proper implementation of the agreement. According to Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak, the Russian government's official representative on this issue, the ratification of the agreement is a priority in the sphere of spent nuclear fuel disposal. Similar agreements have been signed earlier with the U.S., Britain, Canada, Japan and Norway, Kislyak said. In the last three years, Russia disposed of 31 decommissioned nuclear submarines. Kislyak also said that Russia was currently conducting negotiations on important agreements in the sphere of mutual cooperation with other countries on the utilization of nuclear submarines with spent nuclear fuel. In particular, an agreement with Canada is being prepared, and the Canadian side promises to allocate up to 1 billion Canadian dollars for a period of 10 years. Part of this sum (about 300 million Canadian dollars) will be spent on the development of analytical programs on strengthening safety measures during utilization of nuclear fuel. Kislyak also believes the number of countries cooperating with Russia on this issue will grow steadily. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 22 Platts: Documents returning to on-line library after NRC security review + NRC said today it is restoring 70,000 documents to its on-line library, Adams. The agency said the documents, which were removed last October, have cleared a security review to ensure they do not contain sensitive information that could potentially aid a terrorist. NRC said the documents are administrative, contractual, and research papers that are not connected to a specific licensee. The agency said it is still reviewing documents dealing with nuclear materials. NRC expects to re-post several thousand documents per day to limit the impact on its electronic records system. The process is anticipated to be completed by June 20. Washington (Platts)--9Jun2005 Copyright © 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 23 [du-list] Ausralian Mayor seeks depleted uranium reassurance Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:23 -0700 1- Mayor seeks depleted uranium reassurance 2- Australian Mayor gets written promise on depleted uranium 3- Australian protesters may target military exercise -- Mayor seeks depleted uranium reassurance Monday, 6 June 2005. 10:58 (AEST) Australia Broadcasting http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200506/1385164.htm?queensland Residents have raised concerns about the use of depleted uranium ammunition.Reuters A central Queensland Mayor says verbal assurances that depleted uranium weapons will not be used in the joint US-Australian military exercise later this month do not go far enough. He says written confirmation of the Australian Defence Force's position would reinforce community support for military exercises. The ADF has held a series of public meetings about Operation Talisman Sabre, which will centre on Shoalwater Bay, north of Rockhampton. Livingstone Shire Mayor Bill Ludwig says residents asked many questions about the possible use of depleted uranium weapons, but he says there are still some lingering concerns. "The exercises are a very positive economic driver for the area, it's also an excellent opportunity for cultural exchange with both US forces and the Singaporeans who come here on an annual basis, so there certainly are some positives," he said. "Our issue effectively has been to make sure the area is managed from an environmental point of view." The ADF estimates that the exercise will inject about $5 million into the local communities. About 11,000 US and 6,000 Australian defence personnel are expected to take part. Talisman Sabre starts on June 12 and involves four weeks of intensive training. Defence says the exercise's main aim is to practise inter-operability between Australian and US forces. "Based on fictional scenarios, the exercise includes combined Special Forces operations, parachute drops, amphibious landings at Shoalwater Bay, artillery and infantry manoeuvres, air combat training and advanced maritime operations," the ADF says on its web site. Other sites involved in Queensland are Cowley Beach, Townsville, Port Alma, Galdstone, Amberley and Brisbane. Darwin's port and the Dalamere bombing range, Sydney's port and the Timor, Tasman and Coral seas will also be used in the exercise. --- Australian Mayor gets written promise on depleted uranium Tuesday, June 7, 2005 Australia Broadcasting http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200506/s1386717.htm 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. ---- Australian protesters may target military exercise 13:46 AEST Fri Jun 10 2005 AAP http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=52176 A nuclear lobby group spokeswoman has said protesters may attempt to enter the Shoalwater Bay Training Area in central Queensland in an effort to stop a major military exercise starting on Sunday. Three busloads of people were on Friday travelling to the central Queensland city of Rockhampton where they will gather outside the Australian Army barracks for a vigil, said protest organiser and spokeswoman for Everyone for a Nuclear-Free Future, Robin Taubenfeld. Others were coming from the local area and interstate and some may enter the Shoalwater Bay Training Area where 17,000 Australian and United States troops will be conducting exercise Talisman Sabre 2005 (TS05) which runs from June 12-30. "It is a possibility that people do attempt to enter the site or take arrestable, non violent direct action," Ms Taubenfeld said. "But it has not been planned in our regular schedule of events." Featuring in the Rockhampton protest will be a six metre-long replica of an anti-nuclear missile. The weekend protest includes protests in and around the Rockhampton area and a concert and forum on the beach at nearby Yeppoon on Sunday afternoon. Other protests were due to be held in other cities around Australia over the coming week, Ms Taubenfeld said. "Our major concern is these exercises are sabre-rattling in our region," Ms Taubenfeld said. "We want to work with the community to raise awareness to voice opposition and to stand up for peace." Environmentalists were also concerned depleted uranium munitions will be used and the exercise will damage the fragile environment of Shoalwater Bay and the adjacent Coral Sea. The Australian Defence Force has denied both accusations. ADF spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dick Filewood said it would be "dangerous" if protesters entered the Shoalwater Bay training area where live firing exercises will be carried out. "If people wish to protest peacefully it's their democratic right...we are happy to let them do that," he told ABC Radio. "If they step over the mark of military requirements we'd expect civil police to take appropriate action." -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 24 [du-list] Bill to study effects of uranium on soldiers moves Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:27 -0700 Bill to study effects of uranium on soldiers moves to Connecticut state Senate By STEVE COLLINS, The Bristol Press (CT) 06/03/2005 http://www.bristolpress.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14635261&BRD=1643&PAG=461&dept_id=10486&rfi=6 HARTFORD -- A measure aimed at studying the health effects on Connecticut National Guard members of depleted uranium, a heavy metal used in armor-piercing weapons, got the unanimous backing of the state House Thursday. "This is the Agent Orange of today," said state Rep. Roger Michele, a Bristol Democrat who co-chairs the Select Committee on Veterans Affairs. Advertisement "We have to make sure the members of the Armed Services we have jurisdiction over get the best treatment possible," Michele said. The bill, which heads to the state Senate next, would establish criteria for testing members of the National Guard and veterans who have served since the Gulf War for exposure to the potentially hazardous material. The bill would also create a task force to begin establishing a health registry for veterans and military personnel returning from Afghanistan, Iraq or other countries where depleted uranium or other hazardous materials have been used. It would also develop a plan to reach out to military personnel and report to service members about precautions they can take. "We want to catch it as quick as we can, diagnose it and treat it," Michele said. There is substantial debate in health circles about the hazards of depleted uranium, with some circles warning it can cripple and kill while others dismiss it as more or less harmless. State Veterans Commissioner Linda Schwartz told the veterans panel this spring the data the state collects can help document what is happening to veterans. "Something happened to them between the time they left and the time they returned," Schwartz told the committee. "We may theorize it could be depleted uranimum, but it may be a number of things." Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said that "exposure occurred during both the 1991 war and the current Iraqi war." "Unfortunately, the Defense Department has not fully acknowledged the potential scope of exposure, nor has the department fully tested all veterans who may have been exposed to depleted uranium," the attorney general said. "Regrettably, the Defense Department's response to depleted uranium exposure approximates its approach to anthrax vaccine," he said. "Rather than fully study the problem and provide transparency, the department attempts to minimize the problem and delay or discourage testing." Blumenthal said that "Connecticut can provide leadership on this issue by assuring that our veterans have access to the best testing and information." After fiscal experts warned a first draft of the bill could be costly, lawmakers rewrote it to clarify that the testing itself would be a federal government responsibility. Michele said he's concerned that the depleted uranium weapons the military is using so freely today could be used against American troops before long. He said that in Iraq, the military has used nearly 10,000 tank shells made of the material and expended more than 850,000 rounds from aircraft. With so much use, he said, it's important to understand the health impact, particularly since enemies are likely to fire depleted uranium shells at U.S. troops someday. "It doesn't take long for the other side to catch up" with technological advances, Michele said. Depleted uranium is the material left over when enriched uranium used for nuclear power plant fuel or bombs is separated from uranium. The U.S. government has immense amounts of it so its use is so cheap that weapons makers are given the metal, Michele said. It is used to make armor and armor-piercing shells more effective. State Sen. Gayle Slossberg, a Milford Democrat who is a co-chair of the veterans panel, said the state "is going to lead the nation in taking care of -- and insuring the health and well being of -- our servicemen and servicewomen. We're keeping our promise to them." -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 25 [du-list] Are soldiers told the truth about ammo risks? Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:30 -0700 Are soldiers told the truth about ammo risks? Tuesday, June 07, 2005 Muskegon Chronicle http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-0/111824191095790.xml The magazine Vanity Fair scooped The Washington Post when it revealed the identity of "Deep Throat." Mark Felt, then the No. 2 man at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, led Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein to the truth about the Watergate scandal that took down the corrupt presidency of Richard M. Nixon. Vanity Fair had a bigger scoop than that, though it's not clear at all whether anyone's paying much attention -- most of all, the Pentagon. But it's important, because the ones possibly at risk are our soldiers who fight on the front lines in the war against terrorism. An unknown number have been exposed to "D.U." -- depleted uranium -- a major component of today's artillery shells and cannon rounds. Depleted uranium is used in the manufacture of casings in ammo fired by the military's major weapons systems in every service branch. Both the beauty and the danger of D.U. is its density, which allows shells to penetrate the toughest hides of enemy defenses. Yet when it hits its target, depleted uranium literally catches fire and disintegrates into what journalist David Rose described as "a shower of uranium-oxide fragments and dust, some in the form of aerosolized particles." When this deadly dust is inhaled, wrote Rose, "such particles lodge in the lungs and bathe the surrounding tissue with alpha radiation, known to be highly dangerous internally, and smaller amounts of beta and gamma radiation." It may not be just the bad guys who are getting this nasty stuff into their systems. Iraq and Afghanistan, where the winds blow the sand around in great quantity, seem to be the perfect place for problematic issues with radioactive dust. Not surprisingly, the Vanity Fair report detailed numerous cases of mysterious illnesses plaguing otherwise fit, normal, young soldiers that could well be caused by exposure to D.U.-tainted dust and fragments. More ominously, the Veterans Administration is reporting big numbers of returning troops claiming to be suffering from "undiagnosed illness" that includes muscular and skeletal ailments, respiratory problems and "ill-defined conditions" not fitting any typical medical categories. All of these reports, 27,571 as of last December, when the Vanity Fair story appeared, are non-combat related. More than 150 cases of cancer have also been reported. The military's trustworthiness track record on these kinds of issues is suspect. In Vietnam, the Agent Orange fiasco was covered up. In the Persian Gulf War, claims of exposure to neurotoxins were pooh-poohed by the military's higher-ups until it became recognized as an epidemic. D.U. exposure, by the way, was also hitting those veterans. The Pentagon, for its part, refuses to acknowledge that depleted uranium is a serious problem. But D.U.'s value to the military raises the question of whether it can fairly evaluate a potential threat to our own forces since it is so valuable to the ordnance with which we pound our enemies. The Vanity Fair article raises many troubling issues, not the least of which is whether the truth is being told to our soldiers about the possible dangers of depleted uranium. They put it all on the line for America. Is America putting it all on the line for them? The answer is disturbingly unclear. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 26 [du-list] UN Environment Programme train Iraqis in measuring Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:25 -0700 UN Environment Programme train Iraqis in measuring depleted uranium Source: United Nations News Service Date: 31 May 2005 http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/EVOD-6CXH7N?OpenDocument http://www.portaliraq.com/shownews.php?id=1111231 With depleted uranium being a contaminant in Iraq, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) said today it will train Iraqi scientists and other nuclear experts in measuring the material and try to answer questions left hanging after it conducted studies in the post-conflict Balkans and in Kuwait. "UNEP believes an assessment in Iraq would add to our understanding of how depleted uranium (DU) behaves in the environment and the possible associated health risks," it said. UNEP, together with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency (WHO), held a one-day seminar on DU today in Amman, Jordan, for representatives of UN agencies, donor governments and senior employees from Iraqi and Jordanian ministries and will conduct technical training on measuring it tomorrow and the next day. DU is twice as dense as lead and is used for munitions and defensive military armour plate, as well as for aircraft counterweights, medical radiation shields and containers for transporting radioactive materials. It can be found in great localized concentrations in countries that have suffered recent high-technological warfare. "Depleted uranium has been used in medical and industrial applications for decades but only since its use in military conflicts in the Gulf and the Balkans has public concern been raised about potential health consequences from exposure to it," especially for peacekeeping forces, humanitarian workers and local populations living and working in contaminated areas, WHO said in a 2001 report. In the Balkans, levels were generally so low that they did not constitute a health or environmental hazard, while localized DU sites could be detected and precautions taken, UNEP said. Areas needing further study in Iraq included whether DU on the ground could filter through the soil and contaminate groundwater and whether DU dust could be suspended in the air by wind and human activity, with the risk that it could be breathed in, it said. On another Iraqi environmental matter, UNEP said it was assessing the environment of the Iraqi Marshlands, also known as the Mesopotamian Marshlands, and building local capacity, as well as managing for now the re-flooding of the area. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Has someone you know been affected by illness or disease? Network for Good is THE place to support health awareness efforts! http://us.click.yahoo.com/RzSHvD/UOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 27 [du-list] Postwar Iraq Paying Heavy Environmental Price Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:28 -0700 Postwar Iraq Paying Heavy Environmental Price Story by Khaled Yacoub Oweis REUTERS JORDAN: June 3, 2005 http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/31090/story.htm http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L02225727.htm AMMAN - Iraq's environmental problems - among world's worst - range from a looted nuclear site which needs cleaning up to sabotaged oil pipelines, a UN official said on Thursday. "An improvement is almost impossible in these security conditions. Chemicals are seeping into groundwater and the situation is becoming worse and creating additional health problems," said Pekka Haavisto, Iraq task force chairman at the United Nations Environmental Programme. "Iraq is the worst case we have assessed and is difficult to compare. After the Balkan War we could immediately intervene for protection, such as the river Danube, but not in Iraq," Haavisto, a former Finnish environment minister, said on a visit to Jordan to meet with Iraqi officials. Lack of spare parts and Iraq's inability to maintain pollution standards during two previous wars and more than a decade of crushing sanctions have damaged the environment, including the Tigris and Euphrates rivers where most of Iraq's sewage flows untreated. The situation became worse after the 2003 US-led invasion, in which depleted uranium munitions were used against Iraq for the second time and postwar looting and burning of the once formidable infrastructure caused massive spills and toxic plumes, Haavisto said. "The bombing and war carried a cost but the looting cost the environment more, such as in the Dora refinery or Tuwaitha nuclear storage," Haavisto said. "There has not been proper cleanup and only assessment work at some of these sites. Very little has changed and Iraqi teams are in the process of getting in some of these locations." The UN official was referring to the 56 square km (22 sq mile) Tuwaitha complex south of Baghdad where 3,000 barrels that stored nuclear compounds were looted. In the Dora depot on the edge of Baghdad, 5,000 barrels of chemicals, including tetra ethylene lead, were spilt burnt or stolen, a UN survey showed. Contaminated sites near the water supply also include a 200 square km (77 sq mile) military industrial complex, torched or looted cement factories and fertiliser plants, of which Iraq was one of the world's largest producers, and oil spills. "Iraq was a modern industrial society in many ways. The chemicals are very risky on its future. The more time passes the more consequences on health," Haavisto said. He said postwar assessment of the environmental damage was proceeding despite threats to the 1,000 staff of an Iraqi environment ministry, set up as an independent unit after the American invasion. The field studies will eventually include depleted uranium, a toxic, heavy metal used to make bombs more lethal, of which the United States used an estimated 300 tonnes in 1991 Gulf War and an unknown quantity during the last invasion. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> In low income neighborhoods, 84% do not own computers. At Network for Good, help bridge the Digital Divide! http://us.click.yahoo.com/EA3HyD/3MnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 28 [du-list] New Mexico's Exposure to Uranium Enrichment Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:35 -0700 New Mexico's Exposure to Uranium Enrichment Byproduct Limited SANTA FE, New Mexico, June 6, 2005 (ENS) http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2005/2005-06-06-06.asp New Mexico officials have crafted an agreement with Louisiana Energy Services (LES) that requires the consortium to limit the storage and disposal of radioactive byproduct from a proposed uranium enrichment plant. The facility is planned for construction near Eunice, New Mexico in the southeast corner of the state, close to the Texas border. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Attorney General Patricia Madrid announced Friday that the agreement between the state and the consortium will be submitted to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Atomic Safety and Licensing Board for federal approval. If approved, the agreement settles the state's legal objections to LES's application pending before the Commission. The proposed billion dollar National Enrichment Facility would process uranium so it can be used in nuclear power plant fuel. Enrichment processes generate a product of up to five percent U-235 for use as nuclear fuel and a byproduct of depleted uranium. The agreement requires LES to limit its storage to about 5,000 cylinders of depleted uranium, equivalent to eight to 10 years of enrichment at full capacity. This is a 67 percent reduction from the amount of storage requested by the consortium in its license application to the NRC. Under the terms of the agreement, if storage exceeds this amount, the facility must cease all operations that generate new byproducts. No single container may be stored more than 15 years in total. All byproduct must be converted or disposed of outside of New Mexico. The agreement contains specific measures that will assure that the state has full funding available to clean up the plant in the event of a default. Richardson and Madrid expressed support for the agreement, which they say protects New Mexico citizens and the environment. "When the LES project was announced nearly two years ago, I insisted on strong conditions limiting the storage and disposal of its byproducts. We can't afford to allow radioactive byproducts to build up in New Mexico as they have in other states," said Richardson, who served as energy secretary in the Clinton administration. The state does not have the opportunity to provide input during the NRC licensing process, but Richardson said the agreement goes "far beyond" what the state could have achieved through the federal licensing process. "By working directly with LES we have created binding license conditions that protect New Mexico citizens and the environment," said the governor. "The facility will have less than one-third as much storage space as it was designed to have, the company will quickly and safely transport and dispose of its byproducts out of state, and the facility faces $5,000 a day fines and will shut down if the company fails to comply with these conditions," he said, urging federal officials to adopt the agreement. "Now LES will have a strong financial incentive to prevent accumulating storage in New Mexico and LES will provide sufficient funds to ensure that the State of New Mexico will not have to bear the responsibility for any disposal of the radioactive byproduct," said Madrid. "The state is guaranteed a meaningful role in enforcing LES' responsibilities to the citizens of New Mexico." The agreement limits conditions under which LES could transfer byproduct to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), which has other sites in the state, such as the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant facility in Carlsbad, 60 miles east of Eunice, which accepts radioactive transuranic waste. Depleted uranium has some commercial applications in counterweights and antitank armaments, but commercial demand for depleted uranium is much less than the amounts generated. The DOE has about 750,000 metric tons of depleted uranium in storage at three sites around the country. The LES partnership consists of the European consortium Urenco, Exelon, Duke Power, Entergy, and Westinghouse, a wholly owned subsidiary of British Nuclear Fuels Ltd. The partnership intends to use Urenco's sixth generation gas centrifuge technology that is currently being used in Europe. Urenco has a capacity of about 15 percent of the world's uranium enrichment market. Richardson also expressed concern about international nuclear proliferation issues related to uranium enrichmen directly to the NRC. He says the agreement contains "basic requirements regarding LES compliance with standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency." Environmental groups that oppose the LES enrichment plant in New Mexico say depleted uranium is more hazardous to human health than previously believed. Research findings in a February report from the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research and the Nuclear Information and Resource Service (NIRS) indicate that depleted uranium may be mutagenic, tumorigenic, teratogenic, cytotoxic, and neurotoxic. It may also cross the placenta and harm the fetus in the womb, the groups warn. "There is also research that indicates that the chemical and radiological toxicities of uranium may, in some cases, be acting in a synergistic manner." Federal regulations limit uranium inhalation based on cancer risk and drinking water intake based mainly on kidney toxicity. The groups warn that shipping the radioactive byproduct out of New Mexico does not eliminate it as a hazard. "LES may consider shallow land disposal as option; sites in Utah or in Texas just across the border from LES site in New Mexico may be considered," they suggest. In July 2004, an Atomic Safety and Licensing Board ruled that seven of eight contentions brought by NIRS and the nonprofit organization Public Citizen would be heard in formal hearings over the next two years. These issues include radioactive waste disposal, decommissioning cost estimates, and water use. LES has proposed similar uranium enrichment projects in Louisiana and Tennessee that were abandoned because of community opposition. s For more information on uranium enrichment, go to: http://www.nrc.gov/materials/fuel-cycle-fac/faq.html For more about the concerns of environmental groups, visit: http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/lesanduraniumenrichment.htm -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? Here on Earth: http://prop1.org/prop1/ And in space: http://www.peaceinspace.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 29 Journal Gazette: Plant faces uranium contamination test | 06/10/2005 | FortWayne.com Journal Gazette News-Sentinel By Dan Stockman The Journal Gazette The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is examining the former Slater Steels site to look for contamination left over from when the plant made uranium fuel rods in the 1940s and early 1950s. A study by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in 1976 showed the site was safe, but guidelines have been toughened since then and the tests for measuring contamination have become more accurate and sophisticated. The steel mill is now owned by Valbruna Slater Stainless, a subsidiary of Italy-based Acciaierie Valbruna SpA, which bought the plant at 2400 Taylor St. in February 2004. Army Corps spokesman Patrick Jones said there is no imminent threat to human health or the environment, and the analysis will only be to ensure the site will not be a risk in the future. Jones said that oftentimes when contamination is found, it is in areas of the building that are inaccessible, such as under concrete floors. Previously, that contamination would have been left alone, but under the Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program, known as FUSRAP, it is removed to make sure it can never be a threat. In the future, if somebody knocks a wall down, (contamination) could be accessible, Jones said. From 1943 to 1952, Joslyn Manufacturing and Supply Co. used the facility to turn chunks of radioactive uranium into fuel rods for atomic power plants. A 1952 study by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission showed many workers were exposed to levels of uranium dust during the milling process far above what was allowed. The uranium milling might have left radioactive contamination behind. Several of the buildings used in the machining of uranium billets still exist and have been refurbished, project manager David Romano said in a written statement. Initial scans indicate there might be residual impacts in some inaccessible areas, such as under cement floors or between walls. Uranium, a radioactive element used in nuclear power plants and nuclear bombs, remains dangerous for millions of years, but the 1976 study showed the site was in compliance with the health and safety guidelines applicable at the time, Jones said. Its been evaluated, it met the requirements at the time, Jones said. Somebody did some kind of testing and said, Well, we think theres something still there. If contamination is found  a process Jones said could take months or years  the site would be included in the FUSRAP program and be cleaned up. Right now, it is being evaluated only to see whether it should be included. We will clean up any contamination for which the government was responsible, Jones said. Tom Carlson, plant manager at Valbruna, said the company has done its own testing and found no problems, but welcomes the federal testing. We not only want it done correctly but have expended funds to ensure its done correctly, Carlson said. Were cooperating entirely. The facility has been made accessible to them and anything they want to test. Carlson said the property has deed restrictions because it has been used as an industrial site to ensure it can never be used for, say, playgrounds or homes. Theres no issue with this becoming exposed to Mr. Public at all, Carlson said. Greg McMullen, who worked at the plant for 20 years before it was closed and sold, said there has never been anything to make him worry about working there. It was never a concern at all, McMullen said. To be kept apprised of the project, call 1-800-833-3390 or write to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District; Attn. FUSRAP Joslyn Manufacturing Site; 1776 Niagara St.; Buffalo, NY 14207. ***************************************************************** 30 Bellona: Sweden taking part in radiation safety program at navy shipyards Sweden will take part in creation of physical protection at the shipyards Nerpa in Murmansk region and Zvezdochka in Arkhangelsk region. 2005-06-09 19:00 The physical protection issue was discussed in Stockholm on May 16 with participation of Sweden, Norway, Canada, EBRD and IAEA. The participants came to the conclusion that it is needed $12m and $10m for Nerpa and Zvezdochka accordingly. In 2005-2006 period Sweden pledged to allocate $1m to each shipyard. Sweden also hopes to get more donor-countries through the EBRD. At the moment the Nerpa shipyard is implementing projects with Germany on construction of the reactor compartments storage facility. Besides, the shipyard signed contracts with the UK and Norway on dismantling two nuclear submarine of Victor-III class. Total the Nerpa shipyard scrapped 37 nuclear submarines, including six sponsored by the USA, ten by Germany and two by Norway. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 31 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc 05-11496 [Federal Register: June 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 111)] [Notices] [Page 33929-33930] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10jn05-111] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment for Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, Inc's Facility in Virginia Beach, VA AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kathy Modes, Materials Security & Industrial Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania 19406, telephone (610) 337-5251, fax (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: kad@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing a license amendment to Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, Inc. for Materials License No. 45-25198-01, to authorize release of its facility in Virginia Beach, 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 Virginia Beach, Virginia facility for unrestricted use. Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, Inc. was authorized by NRC from June 16, 1992, [[Page 33930]] to use radioactive materials for environmental sample analysis purposes at the site. On November 9, 2004, Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, Inc. requested that NRC release the facility for unrestricted use. Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, 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. 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 Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, 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 Central Virginia Laboratories & Consultants, 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: Environmental Assessment [ML051530427], letter dated November 9, 2004 [ADAMS Accession No. ML043380167], screening procedure information contained in letter dated January 17, 2005 [ADAMS Accession No. ML050340504], and survey data sent via electronic mail on February 14, 2005 [ADAMS Accession No. ML050450563]. 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 email 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. 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 at King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 3rd day of June, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. James P. Dwyer, Chief, Commercial and R Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety Region I. [FR Doc. 05-11496 Filed 6-9-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 32 MSNBC.com: Plan to drill near nuclear blast is hot potato - The Associated PressUpdated: 3:54 p.m. ET June 10, 2005 DENVER - A company says it plans to drill for natural gas near the site of an underground nuclear blast nearly four decades ago, despite opposition from local residents and the concerns of Energy Department officials. Presco Inc., based in the Houston area, had received permission from county commissioners to drill one well inside a state-imposed buffer zone around Project Rulison in western Colorado. Project Rulison was part of a federal project to explore peaceful uses for nuclear devices. The Atomic Energy Commission detonated a 43-kiloton bomb at the site in 1969 to free gas below the surface. But local officials withdrew their support of Presco’s drilling project after learning that Presco planned to drill four wells inside the buffer zone. That decision prompted the state agency that issues drilling permits to cancel plans to consider a rule change that would have allowed the company to drill inside the buffer zone if the bottom of the well is outside the prohibited area. Tresi Haupt, the only commissioner who opposed allowing the company one well in the buffer zone, said she believes there should be no drilling inside the zone until the Department of Energy determines it is safe. “I don’t understand why they feel the need to drill in this location until everyone has cleared it,†she said. The state has asked Presco to revise its application or submit a new one because of the county’s concerns, Beaver said. The commission then will schedule a hearing on the concerns of officials and residents. “Our intent is to develop the area to the extent that it’s safe and reasonable to do so,†said Dave Wheeler, Presco executive vice president. The DOE expects to complete a study by the fall of 2007 examining whether radioactive gas or other material is spreading underground. Pete Sanders, the agency’s manager of the site, said that while the DOE can provide that data, the state decides whether or not to permit drilling. Still, “we would be more comfortable if drilling didn’t take place until we’re done with our study,†he said. After the 1969 nuclear blast, the gas was considered too radioactive to be sold commercially. The Department of Energy — the Atomic Energy Commission’s successor — began deactivating and cleaning the surface of the site in the 1970s, finishing in 1998. Monitoring has not found any increase in radioactivity in surface or groundwater above normally occurring levels, a DOE report released in January found. Sanders, the site manager, said officials must determine whether radioactivity is spreading underground. Garfield County, which is experiencing a boom in natural gas drilling, projected that allowing Presco to operate the one well inside the buffer zone would have provided some of that information. “No one realized they were talking about four wells,†said county administrator Ed Green.© 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. About MSNBC.com | ***************************************************************** 33 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada Test Site building sealed after containment chamber fire ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) - A building at the Nevada Test Site remained sealed Friday and an investigation was under way after a gray powder burst into flames while being handled in a radioactivity containment chamber. Four workers in protective gear were inspecting and sorting mixed transuranic waste by remote devices inside a clear protective "glove box" when the powder caught fire Thursday, said National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman Darwin Morgan. The workers were not injured or exposed to radioactivity, Morgan said. A carbon dioxide fire suppression system snuffed out the flames while the building was evacuated. "Everything tells us the radioactivity was contained within the glove box within the building," Morgan said Friday. "It's going to be a very slow process re-entering the building." Officials could not immediately identify the powder, which was in a 55-gallon drum from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. It was being sorted at the Nevada Test Site for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M. Transuranic waste typically includes clothing, equipment and pipes contaminated with plutonium and hazardous chemicals during nuclear weapons production. --- On the Net: Nevada Test Site: http://www.nv.doe.gov/nts/ -- ***************************************************************** 34 [du-list] Department of Transportation Rules Against Secret Date: Fri, 10 Jun 2005 14:52:33 -0700 Department of Transportation Rules Against Secret Shipments of Radioactive Munitions by the Department of Defense FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE JUNE 8, 2005 1:22 PM CONTACT: Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action Sunny Miller (413) 773-7427 (Deerfield, Massachusetts) Glen Milner (206) 365-7865 (Seattle, Washington) http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0608-26.htm SEATTLE - June 8 - The Department of Transportation (DOT) recently announced its intent to end a special exemption, DOT-E 9649, which allows for the secret shipment of radioactive or "depleted uranium" munitions by the Department of Defense. The DOT Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (HMS) announced plans to phase out the exemption in the next year for new radioactive munitions and in the next two years for munitions already manufactured before transitioning to full compliance with hazardous materials regulations. The special exemption was created in 1986 and has been renewed every two years since. The highly toxic, radioactive ammunition, also known as "depleted uranium" or DU, has been used in recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The shipments occur on a daily basis throughout the U.S., on our highways, railways, and waterways. Depleted uranium munitions are a uniquely hazardous material, consisting of a radioactive penetrator which breaks down into small particles when burned, and an explosive charge or combustible propellant in the shell of the cartridge. A fire involving depleted uranium munitions would spread radioactive material around the area of the accident. Under the terms of DOT-E 9649, first responders would not know they were addressing a fire involving radioactive material. In a May 18, 2005 Information Memorandum to the Chief of Staff, the DOT noted that over 200 comments had been received against the renewal of the exemption from national and local government offices, first responder organization members, interest groups and citizens. The comments specifically addressed: 1. the absence of hazard communications that would aid emergency response personnel; 2. Accuracy and completeness of the recent DOD request which falsely stated the exemption had not been used in the previous two years; and 3. the lack of DOD compliance with the terms of the exemption. Sunny Miller, of Traprock Peace Center, one of the organizations opposed to the renewal of the exemption, said, "The ruling against the Department of Defense shows that political activists in the U.S. can educate themselves and others on important technical issues and organize to petition governmental agencies to enforce the law." Miller said, "Moms, dads, teachers and ordinary people are speaking up about safety in our communities." Glen Milner, of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action said, "Activists involved presented overwhelming evidence that depleted uranium shipments, occurring daily throughout the United States, are a hazard and a danger to the public." Milner added, "The DOT and specifically, Mr. Billings and his staff of the Office of Hazardous Materials, had the honesty and courage to require that the Department of Defense label radioactive munitions accordingly." The Department of Transportation concluded the following: 1. Radiation levels allowed by the exemption for depleted uranium munitions are significantly higher than allowed in hazardous materials regulations (HMR) and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safety regulations; 2. In some cases, transport workers can receive inappropriate radiation exposures by being in the vicinity of the material for just 100 hours per year. 3. The U.S. Navy has not had a required safety plan in place for a number of years for handling radioactive munitions; and 4. The DOD has been using DOT-E 9649 internationally, in violation of a specific requirement that the exemption is for domestic use only, shipments in foreign nations have been in violation of IAEA regulations. A letter dated May 19, 2005 from Patricia Young, of the Department of the Army, to the DOT stated, ".DOT-E 9649, (governing the shipment of DU ammunition) is one of the few documents on which our two agencies have not been able to reach an agreement." The letter continued, "We believe that failure to renew the exemption may possibly interrupt the movement of these critical munitions to our forces in Afghanistan and Iraq.The cost of our compliance with the currently exempted standards may reach as high as $50 million; it may be cost prohibitive given our current fiscal restraints." A May 20, 2005 e-mail message from the Army to the DOT suggested a mid-July meeting between the Army and "others from the DOT to discuss issues of importance to both groups." One of the results of the canceled DOT shipping exemption is that depleted uranium munitions shipments will be required to be labeled with both "Radioactive" and "Explosives" placards. Organizations involved in ending the exemption for unmarked, unlabeled radioactive ammunition will continue to ask for an immediate end of these secret shipments. The effort to stop the renewal of DOT-E 9649 had been initiated by four organizations, Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, Poulsbo, Washington; Traprock Peace Center, Deerfield, Massachusetts; Military Toxics Project, Lewiston, Maine; and Nukewatch, Luck, Wisconsin. Numerous other groups and individuals joined in an 18 month lobbying campaign against the exemption which allowed shipment of radioactive munitions without a "Radioactive" placard. The Depleted Uranium Munitions Action Plan first appeared on the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action website in November 2003. Documents regarding DOT-E 9649, may be viewed on the Department of Transportation Docket Management System website at http://dms.dot.gov. To access DOT-E 9649 statements, go to the bottom left side of the webpage, then link to Simple Search and enter 18576 for the Docket Number. 279 documents are currently posted on the website, intended for public viewing. The DOT decision not to renew DOT-E 9649 is document No. 276. -- Posted for educational and research purposes only, ~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~ NucNews Links and Expanded Archives - http://nucnews.net Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater? Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good! http://us.click.yahoo.com/TzSHvD/SOnJAA/79vVAA/FGYolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/du-list/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ ***************************************************************** 35 L.A. Daily News: Perchlorate levels drop Santa Clarita Article Published: Friday, June 10, 2005 - 12:00:00 Cut in toxics may be result of winter rain By Susan Abram, Staff Writer SANTA CLARITA-- Levels of perchlorate in groundwater just outside the Whittaker-Bermite site appear to be decreasing, which may be attributed to the heavy rainfall earlier this year, state officials said this week. Two testing areas on Soledad Canyon Road near Bouquet Canyon Road, on the outer edges of the Bermite site, show that perchlorate levels have decreased from 20 parts per billion to 10 ppb in a three-month span. The state recommends no more than 6 ppb. But geologists with the state Department of Toxic Substance Control said Wednesday during a monthly Citizens Advisory Group meeting in Santa Clarita that while it's probable the heavy rainfall of this winter may have diluted the perchlorate, further testing must be conducted to determine the validity of the results. More than 50 inches of rain have been measured in Santa Clarita since Oct. 1, according to the Los Angeles County Public Works Department. "It could be due to the rains, but we don't know yet," said the DTSC's John Naginis. "We often see variations there, but that's a lot of variation." State officials believe the pollution in Santa Clarita stems from federal defense manufacturing and testing at the former Bermite explosives factory near the Santa Clarita Metrolink Station. For nearly 50 years, the 996 acres off Soledad Canyon Road were used by defense contractors to build and test dynamite, Sidewinder missiles and small rockets used in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and in readiness during the Cold War. The site has sat dormant since, and Santa Clarita officials have said the city's best chance of quickly cleaning up Bermite and the water supply is if a developer specializing in contaminated properties would acquire it to build a mix of homes and commercial developments. Four companies have either filed or will file a motion of interest in an Arizona bankruptcy court to purchase the land. Bids to file a motion of interest will close in August and a decision is expected by a bankruptcy court judge on Sept. 12, Lisa Hardy, planning manager for the city of Santa Clarita, said during Wednesday's meeting. "The city is very engaged with the process and will be present in Phoenix," she said. Meanwhile, Connie Worden-Roberts, chairwoman for the advisory group, hopes to begin a series of sessions to find ideas for use of the land, in anticipation of the site's cleanup. "It's a big piece of land," she said. "What we do with that is extremely important." Susan Abram, (661) 257-5255 susan.abram@dailynews.com Copyright © 2005 Los Angeles Newspaper Group ***************************************************************** 36 Guardian Unlimited: Secret list of possible N-waste sites revealed 537 locations named as candidates for storage John Vidal, environment editor Saturday June 11, 2005 The Guardian A secret list of 537 sites deemed suitable to store up to 250,000 cubic metres of nuclear waste for up to 100,000 years was published for the first time yesterday under freedom of information legislation. The list, drawn up in the 1980s by a team of government geologists and other specialists, includes national parks, existing nuclear power stations, military bases, offshore sites and remote Scottish islands. Technically, the list became redundant with the end of the Tory government in 1997. But it identifies for the first time the exact places regarded as suitable for the long-term storage of nuclear material - a problem the government is currently wrestling with as it develops plans for disposing of a growing mountain of waste. Yesterday the government's independent nuclear waste agency, Nirex, whose preferred solution to the problem is a deep waste repository which remains accessible for several generations, said that no place on the list should be ruled in or out of future plans. "The geology has not changed," said a spokesman. "But it is the government and not Nirex who will decide where the repository will go. The criteria for the selection of a site has not been decided." Environment groups warned that all 537 places listed would be considered suitable in future searches. "Nirex has made it clear that all of the sites considered geologically suitable in the past could just as easily be considered suitable in the future. We urge every community on the list to begin taking steps to halt plans to expand nuclear power in the UK," said Tony Juniper, director of Friends of the Earth. Jean McSorley, nuclear campaigner at Greenpeace, said: "The public has a right to know where dangerous radioactive waste is going to be dumped, but after years of procrastination Nirex still will not tell the public the truth. A massive nuclear blight hangs over hundreds of communities across Britain." All previous attempts to provide a long-term repository for the 100,000 tonnes of existing nuclear waste have ended in failure. The material is currently being stored above ground at 34 locations around the UK, awaiting a long-term plan. The most recent attempt to choose a site collapsed in 1997 when John Gummer, then environment secretary, turned down plans drawn up in the 1980s for a huge underground repository close to the Sellafield works in Cumbria. The list's publication took observers by surprise yesterday, with five of the 10 shortlisted sites not previously suspected. While it was widely known that the nuclear reactor sites at Sellafield in Cumbria and Dounreay in Caithness were being seriously considered, there had been no previous indication that sites in Essex had been identified as potential candidates. One site was at the former Ministry of Defence base at Potton Island, just a few kilometres from the centre of Southend. The other was at the former nuclear power station at Bradwell. The shortlist also includes sites off the east or west coasts of Britain served by the ports of Redcar and Hunterston. Most of the longlist sites are in areas of geological stability in Britain's highlands and islands. They include protected forests, mountains and moorland in Cornwall, Durham and Devon, 16 sites on Shetland, 21 in the Western Isles and 45 in the Highland region. Bizarrely, the list also includes Chepstow College in Gloucestershire as well as areas in Wigan, Salford and Hartlepool. The list, said to have been guided mainly by concerns for geology and hydrology, was clearly drawn up in consultation with the Ministry of Defence, underlining the historic links between the nuclear industry and the military. Porton Down, the government's chemical weapons centre, and Gruinard, the Scottish island deliberately contaminated with anthrax during the second world war, are both listed, as are several US air bases. In a briefing paper released yesterday, Nirex said that decades of secrecy had been necessary "to prevent blight affecting any of the areas that had been considered as having possible sites". It promised that the new selection process would be open and transparent, and would involve the public and local communities. "The lesson we have learned is that we cannot continue to be secret. The search for new sites must be conducted openly," said its spokesman, David Wild. The nuclear industry Graphics The Mox ships' journey around the world (pdf) Useful links British Energy Department of Trade and Industry British Nuclear Fuels Ltd Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Greenpeace HSE nuclear glossary UK atomic energy authority National Radiological Protection Board Friends of the Earth World Nuclear Association World Nuclear Transport Institute [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 37 Bradenton Herald: Fearsome unknown Posted on Fri, Jun. 10, 2005 Moving Tallevast: radical but justifiable Can you justify moving an entire community to get away from a health threat whose extent is unknown? That question looms large following Tuesday's dramatic confrontation between Manatee County commissioners and Lockheed Martin Corp. officials over the plume of toxic chemicals underneath the south Manatee community of Tallevast. ". . .Step up to (your) corporate responsibility and move these people out of the community," an emotional Commissioner Amy Stein demanded of Lockheed's project manager. "Anything short of that is totally irresponsible. Tick-tock, Lockheed Martin, wake up." Fellow commissioners echoed Stein's sentiments, giving a needed morale boost to Tallevast residents disheartened by a perception of repeated betrayal and deceit on the part of almost everyone connected with this project: Manatee County Government, the state Department of Environmental Protection and Lockheed Martin. "They really heard us. They took our concerns to heart," said a grateful Tallevast resident Wanda Washington afterward. In reply to the question above, we would ask readers and Lockheed Martin officials: How many of you would want to continue living atop a potential ticking time bomb of toxic poisons while experts whom you didn't much trust anyway tried to figure out how dangerous it is? That's the situation Tallevast residents face, and the fact that some are willing to leave their beloved community makes a strong case for relocation first, validation second. Certainly not everybody will feel as Washington does. But for those who do, the opportunity to leave should be provided. As Washington told a Herald reporter Wednesday, "It has to be a serious fear for us to consider relocation. We have a deep love, a deep commitment to stay here, but we had to make a decision. What is more important: my devotion to the soil or my devotion to my family to keep them safe? I chose to keep my family." More data needed Lockheed Martin officials appear to be digging in their heels, denying any obligation to relocate the Tallevast residents. The company didn't create the problem but inherited it when it purchased the old American Beryllium Co. plant in 1996. Under existing law, it is required to pay for cleaning up the pollution but contends that obligation doesn't extend to moving the community to a new location. It would be an easy decision if there were exact data on the threat the plume poses. But there is not. Besides its precise dimensions - now put at 131 acres, up from an earlier estimate of just 50 acres - Lockheed needs to measure the degree and extent of contamination and provide a scientific assessment of the risk to residents. At the end of May the company was given 60 days to complete a detailed human health risk assessment that includes the type and extent of the contaminants, the threat each chemical could pose, as well as a plan to remedy the pollution. This data can't be collected in 60 days. Even the residents' own scientific expert says that's an unrealistic time frame to complete all that's demanded. And then there's the unknown factor of damage already done. Commissioner Joe McClash posed a very good question at Tuesday's meeting: "How's their health?" Assessing the health status of those living above the known boundaries of the plume is one of many demands made of Lockheed by DEP. And it is such a major data collection and assessment task the Manatee Health Department can't handle it single-handedly without jeopardizing the rest of its mission. An independent assessment needs to be conducted, financed by Lockheed Martin, to get detailed family histories and compare the rate of cancers, birth defects, respiratory ailments and related health issues with national norms. Chance the focus Instead of asking residents to wait until all the scientific data is collected, we suggest Lockheed Martin and state regulatory officials follow the example of Manatee County commissioners and put the human element first. What is the worst-case scenario for those living atop the plume? That more could develop cancers from contact with contaminated soil? That more babies could be stillborn or begin life with birth defects? That would change the focus from trying to limit corporate liability to trying to protect human health. Certainly, one can have sympathy for Lockheed as an innocent victim of its predecessor's mistakes. But don't forget this same company, abetted by the DEP, allowed residents to continue drinking potentially contaminated well water for almost four years before revealing the existence of the pollution plume. And in almost every stage of the case since then its threat has been minimized and information about it reluctantly dribbled out to worried residents and Herald reporters. The County Commission's relocation demand came as a shock to observers who don't live with the threat of an environmental disaster in their back yards. To those who do, it was long overdue recognition of a frustrating, stressful problem that won't go away with platitudes and promises. ***************************************************************** 38 albawaba.com: Radioactive container sent back to Morocco middle east news information: Posted: 10-06-2005 , 10:01 GMT A Moroccan container of metals and scrap was sent back from Italy to Morocco, last week, after the radioactivity alarm system at the Italian seaport of Aspzia was activated. Bladi.Net reports that the suspected container, which was sent back to Casablanca on board of the Zagora ship which brought it to Italy, will be examined in Morocco by a special team from the Moroccan national center for radioactivity and a team from the Moroccan Ministry of Health. It should be noted that this container, belonging to Idry David Kenitra Company, was the fifth Moroccan container, which was sent back to Morocco in recent years, from Aspzia seaport in Italy, due to such reasons. © 2005 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com) ***************************************************************** 39 Las Vegas RJ: U.S. Geological Survey chief resigns position Friday, June 10, 2005 Yucca Mountain e-mail scandal put agency director in spotlight, but spokesman says departure unrelated to controversy By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The director of the U.S. Geological Survey, put on the hot seat this spring when it was disclosed that several agency scientists might have falsified Yucca Mountain documents, has resigned the post, it was announced Thursday. Charles G. Groat has accepted several academic appointments at the University of Texas at Austin, Interior Department officials said. His resignation is effective June 17. Groat has headed the USGS since November 1998. The low-profile federal science agency was pushed into a spotlight in March when it was disclosed that hydrologists had written e-mails raising questions about scientific findings at the designated Nevada nuclear waste site. Groat's departure "has nothing to do with Yucca Mountain," USGS spokeswoman A.B. Wade said. "Positions were offered to him at the University of Texas," Wade said. "They've been courting Dr. Groat for a number of years, and they have apparently sweetened the pot enough where he found it hard to say no." Along with Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Groat in March announced the discovery of a cache of e-mail messages written by USGS hydrologists between 1998 and 2000 discussing possible falsification of quality assurance documents on water infiltration research they had conducted. The disclosures rocked the Yucca program and sparked investigations, still ongoing, by Energy Department and Interior Department inspectors general, DOE managers and a U.S. House subcommittee headed by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. At an April 5 House hearing, Groat and an Energy Department witness were grilled by Nevada lawmakers about the e-mail messages. Groat was criticized for not taking immediate disciplinary action against the hydrologists, who remain employed at the agency. Groat expressed support for investigations to clear the reputation of the USGS, which he said had "a 125-year reputation for sound, unbiased science." Porter said Thursday that the USGS under Groat's leadership "has not been cooperative" in supplying documents he requested concerning the e-mails and three USGS hydrologists who have been linked to the messages. "We have gotten very little from USGS," Porter said. "Personally (Groat) offered cooperation, but right now we have not received everything we have requested. I'm looking forward to working with a new director." Neither Porter nor USGS spokeswoman Wade could give a full accounting late Thursday of which documents the agency had and had not supplied. Similarly, Porter said, the Energy Department also has not been forthcoming with requested documents. Nevada lawmakers and Bodman met last month but could not agree on a timetable for the paperwork to be supplied. "There is definitely a concern that Charles Groat will take with him important knowledge regarding work at Yucca Mountain that appears to have been falsified," Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in a prepared statement. John Arthur, deputy director of the Yucca Mountain Project, reported this week that the DOE tentatively has concluded that repository science was not compromised by the USGS scientists, who in the e-mails discussed using "fudge factors" in preparing quality assurance documents. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said the USGS scientists were working under Energy Department supervision when they wrote the controversial e-mails. "Very much to his credit as a scientist and public servant, Dr. Groat called for an independent commission to help uncover the extent of the damage that was done," Reid said. Groat has accepted appointment at the University of Texas as the Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources in the School of Geosciences. He also will be the founding director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 40 BBC: Tory nuclear waste sites revealed Last Updated: Friday, 10 June, 2005 [Sellafield] Many believe a storage site at Sellafield is the most likely option A list of 12 sites considered for storing nuclear waste by the last Tory government has been released under the Freedom of Information Act. The list included uninhabited Hebridean islands Fuday and Sandray, and offshore sites near Hunterston and Redcar. Other sites were in Essex - at Bradwell and near Southend - Stanford, in Norfolk, and at Sellafield and Dounreay nuclear power stations. The body handling waste says any future sites will be chosen from scratch. The list was released by Nirex, who are responsible for dealing with Britain's intermediate-level nuclear waste. It was drawn up in the 1980s, but the plan to bury waste at the sites was abandoned following the landslide defeat of John Major's government in 1997. Waste is currently stored at more than 30 sites around the country. TORY POTENTIAL SITES Bradwell, Essex Potto Island, Essex Two sites at Sellafield, Cumbria Dounreay, Caithness Altnabreac, Caithness Fuday, Hebrides Sandray, Hebrides Killingholme, South Humberside Stanford, Norfolk Offshore site near Redcar Offshore site near Hunterston Nirex is emphasising that the released list is purely historical and when a decision is made on where to store nuclear waste, the Tory list would not become the starting point of a new exercise. The issue is sensitive with some energy experts beginning to say that Britain can meet pollution targets only if it builds a new generation of nuclear plants. Sellafield favourite One of the Tory list sites in Essex, at the former Ministry of Defence facility at Potton island, is just a few kilometres from the centre of Southend. The other is at the former nuclear power station at Bradwell. Sellafield remains a favourite, with much nuclear material already there, and the local population seen to be supportive. Two sites at the Cumbrian plant are on the list. If you are on the old list, y stand a very good chance of being on any new list Rob Edwards Journalist A site at Dounreay nuclear power station presents another obvious option. Also in Caithness, a site at Altnabreac was discussed. And there has been speculation about Stanford in Norfolk, where the MoD owns land, which is also on the Tory list. Their list also contains some new suggestions, including the sites on the Hebridean islands. It also considers sites off the east or west coasts of Britain served by the ports of Redcar and Hunterston. The current government is looking for a definite solution to nuclear waste storage, and will start from scratch. Its Committee on Radioactive Waste Management will report next year but will only give technical specifications, such as whether nuclear waste will be below or above ground and how it will be monitored. Site selection will follow later. The offshore sites are understood not to be an option now because of changes in the law. Transparency vow Chris Murray, managing director of Nirex, said: "Radioactive waste exists and needs to be dealt with whether or not there is any programme of new build in the UK. "Openness and transparency must underpin everything that is done in this area." Nirex spokesman David Wild said it would have broken the law to release the list during the election. "Our legal advice was very clear. We had to try our best not to damage the future process." But Rob Edwards, a journalist for the New Scientist and Sunday Herald, said: "It's just a sign of the inherent characteristic secrecy of the whole nuclear operation in the past. "Nirex wanted to keep it out of the general election but they have now agreed and government ministers have agreed." He said it was likely that the same sites would feature in any future discussions. "If you are on the old list, you stand a very good chance of being on any new list." Friends of the Earth's Chief Executive, Duncan McLaren, said: "The government needs to learn that the best way to begin dealing with the UK's nuclear waste legacy starts with halting the production of any more waste." ***************************************************************** 41 Las Vegas SUN: U.S. Geological Suvey chief Groat resigns Today: June 10, 2005 at 9:53:20 PDT Decision not linked to Yucca e-mails By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Geological Survey chief resigned Thursday, but a spokeswoman said his departure has nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into e-mails that indicate his agency's employees may have falsified data on the Yucca Mountain project. Charles Groat, who has been in charge of the agency since November 1998, will leave the federal government post on June 17 to go work for the University of Texas at Austin. Carolyn Bell, a USGS spokeswoman said the university has been courting him for some time and probably finally "sweetened the pot' enough for him to take a position there. Bell said Groat had worked in Texas before and most people assumed he would go back there. The U.S. Geological Survey, as part of the Interior Department, does mapping and scientific research on the country's land and water. Scientists from the agency did research work for the Energy Department's proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The Energy Department announced it March that it discovered e-mails sent between May 1998 and March 2000 that indicate a U.S. Geological Survey employee fabricated documentation of his work. The announcement sparked investigations by the Interior and Energy Department inspector generals, the FBI and U.S. Attorneys office and an internal investigation by the Energy Department into the scientific work itself. Groat in April testified in front of the House Government Reform subcommittee that is investigating the Yucca e-mails and allegations of document falsification at the direction of panel chairman Jon Porter, R-Nev. Porter called for an independent commission to review the case, rather the agencies themselves. Groat agreed to such a review, but Ted Garrish, who headed the Yucca project at the time but has since retired, said he did not see a difference between an independent commission doing the review and the department putting together its own panel. "Very much to his credit as a scientist and public servant, Dr. Groat called for an independent commission to help uncover the extent of the damage that was done," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "Unfortunately DOE (the Energy Department) continues to find excuses, misinform the public and stonewall Congress in a desperate effort to jam through the project." Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said Groat "actually appeared to be concerned about the e-mails" but was not sure Groat's departure will affect the investigations. "I would hope that in the meantime, the White House, DOE and USGS would do more than just pay lip service to Nevada's concerns," Berkley said in a statement. "Without an independent investigation, we may never get to the truth about this shameful episode and its ramifications on the Yucca Mountain Project." At the hearing, Groat declined to discuss the e-mails in detail pending inspector general investigations. 'We have a 125-year reputation for sound, unbiased science," Groat said in written testimony submitted to the panel. "Anything that casts aspersions on that reputation disturbs us greatly. We, as do you, look forward the to completion of the ongoing investigations to fully determine the impacts and appropriate responses." Groat plans to accept appointments as the Jackson Chairman in energy and mineral resources in the School of Geosciences and the founding director of the Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Texas at Austin, according to the Interior Department. Before his appointment as USGS Director, Groat was associate vice president for research and sponsored projects at the University of Texas at El Paso, following three years as director of the Center for Environmental Resource management. He was also director of the university's Environmental Science and Engineering Ph.D. Program and a Professor of Geological Sciences. ***************************************************************** 42 Las Vegas SUN: DOE official: Yucca plans advancing Today: June 10, 2005 at 11:17:40 PDT 2015 eyed as opening date for nuke dump By Stephen Curran LAS VEGAS SUN PAHRUMP -- An Energy Department official pledged Thursday that the planned nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain is moving "full steam ahead," although a representative of an energy company said he was eyeing 2015 for a potential opening. "We're moving full steam ahead with this thing," J. Gary Lanthrum, director of the Energy Department's Office of National Transportation, told the Central Nevada Community Protection Working Group. "But I don't want to get everybody energized and then have to pull back." Delays and now the question of falsified work on the project have clouded the future of the project 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Former Yucca Mountain Project head Margaret Chu said in March that engineers were looking for a 2012 opening date, two years later than expected, but engineer David Jones, who spoke to the working group on behalf of nuclear power plant owner Exelon Energy, said company officials were now eyeing 2015 as a possible target. Whether either date is a possibility will likely hinge on the outcome of a delayed license application engineers are now scrambling to complete before the end of the year, Lanthrum said. Even then, the department will face a lengthy Nuclear Regulatory Commission review before it receives the final go-ahead to begin building the repository. Despite congressional and internal investigations into a batch of e-mails that have raised concerns about the falsification of some of the science being used to support Yucca Mountain, project managers are pushing forward. Lanthrum said the department hopes later this year to begin the conceptual design of rail cars that would carry high-level nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. Meanwhile the Energy Department is standing behind the scientific review of the site, said W. John Arthur, deputy director of the department's Office of Repository Development, as he discussed e-mails between U.S. Geological Survey and Energy Department scientists that brought the science into question. "It really is the worst thing, when individuals have an absolute disrespect for quality assurance, at least allegedly," Arthur said during the working group's public meeting at the Pahrump campus of the Community College of Southern Nevada. "The onus is on us to show this is limited to two out of the thousands of scientists working on the project. ... We have absolute confidence in the people working for us." The widely controversial project has been the source of tension between state leaders leaders and those in the rural counties where the 319-mile rail line would run. Rural leaders, who largely see the nuclear waste dump as inevitable, have publicly stated they intend to negotiate with federal officials for financial benefits from the project while state leaders have mostly been outspoken in bipartisan criticism of the federal government. The working group has been a forum for rural leaders to work with the Energy Department and others on Yucca Mountain issues. The state attorney general last year found the working group may have knowingly violated the state open meeting law when it closed doors of meetings to residents and media. The meetings were later ordered to be open after a complaint filed by the Sun and joined by the Nevada Press Association. Nye County Commission Chairwoman Candice Trummell, a long-time proponent of the project and member of the working group, estimated the rail line could bring "thousands" of jobs during a construction process likely to last years. Karen Leigh Kimball, a vice president for engineering firm Parsons, said no definitive studies on the economic impact on how the line could help the rural counties have been conducted but that it could likely bring about 1,000 construction-related jobs. How many of those would be recruited locally would depend on what percentage of those workers were management-level employees, who would likely be brought in from elsewhere, she said. Nye County, where Pahrump sits, has already seen more than $100 million in economic benefits from the Nuclear Waste Policy Act signed in the late 1980s. That legislation -- which has paid Nye County about $10.5 million a year since -- has allowed the growing county to pay for much-needed infrastructure improvements, Trummell said. In that time commissioners have approved improvements to parks and recreation facilities, including a new community center in Beatty and numerous public safety improvements, she said. If the Yucca project were to fail, the flow of money would stop, Trummell said. "That money is being used and has been used," she said. "There's a lot of things we've done." The board, on which she has sat since 2003, has been careful not to earmark the funds for necessary operating expenses, a move that will allow a county perhaps best known outside Nevada for its legalized brothels to keep running even without the windfall, Trummell said. So, even if the project goes belly-up, "it isn't like Nye County's going to go bankrupt," she said. ***************************************************************** 43 Casper Star Tribune: Sundance folks seek assurances of nuclear oversight Casper, Wyoming - Friday, June 10, 2005 By DUSTIN BLEIZEFFER Star-Tribune staff writer Friday, June 10, 2005 GILLETTE -- With the potential closure of Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, residents across the border in Crook County want to know who would continue monitoring nuclear waste at the old Warren Peak radar station north of Sundance. "I don't want Wyoming to be stuck with the cleaning bill," said longtime Sundance resident Genevieve Redfield. Ellsworth officials say it's too soon to say for certain who will take over monitoring responsibilities at the site. However, the Air Force is committed to continuing monitoring the site until 2040. "There will be an orderly handoff of all these activities if it (the pending base closure) occurs," said Tim Pavek, environmental engineer at Ellsworth who manages the Warren Peak program. Ellsworth Air Force Base operated a nuclear-powered radar station at Warren Peak north of Sundance in the 1950s and 1960s to detect missiles that might have come over the North Pole from the Soviet Union. Redfield said her late husband was stationed at Warren Peak. She said some 47 people worked at the nuclear power plant itself, and more than 200 people were based at the entire radar facility at one time. It was decommissioned in the late 1960s, and in the process of closing the facility the Air Force learned there had been a leak from a tank holding contaminated water, washing cesium-137 downhill from the nuclear power plant that powered the operations. The reactor and tank were removed in 1968, and testing at the site indicated there were no life-threatening levels of radiation. Exposure to cesium-137 can result in malignant tumors, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Redfield said she dreads the thought of Ellsworth being closed, because its environmental team has done a good job taking care of the Warren Peak nuclear waste. "These people are well qualified," Redfield said. "They've been very good. If there's a problem, they tell us. They are honest with us." In 1969, the Air Force committed to a 75-year monitoring program of the site. Pavek said if Ellsworth is closed, the Department of Defense will continue monitoring the site. "The programs under (the Restoration Advisory Board), and any other environmental program to which the Air Force is committed, will be accomplished by someone. But who has not been determined. Neither has the closure of Ellsworth," Pavek said. In 2000, Ellsworth began reassessing its program at Warren Peak and installed eight monitoring wells on-site and two wells off-site to detect any potential movement of contaminated material. Pavek said a team of environmental technicians is gathering information from those installations and will issue a report of its findings sometime in September. Crook County Commissioner Steve Lenz said he doesn't believe the Department of Defense will shirk its commitment to Warren Peak. "It's not something we're taking lightly," Lenz said. "We're convinced the Department of Defense or Nuclear Regulatory Commission will continue to monitor that." News Tracker * Last we knew: Ellsworth Air Force Base in western South Dakota is among several bases the Pentagon proposes to close in a realignment of Department of Defense facilities. * The latest: Sundance residents want to know who would take over environmental monitoring of the abandoned nuclear power plant at Warren Peak in northeast Wyoming. * What's next: A Base Realignment and Closure Commission hearing will take place Tuesday at the Rushmore Plaza Civic Center in Rapid City, S.D. Reporter Dustin Bleizeffer can be reached at (307) 682-3388 or dzeffer@trib.com. Copyright © 2005 by the Casper Star-Tribune published by Lee Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Lee Enterprises, ***************************************************************** 44 New Scientist: Secret nuclear waste disposal sites revealed [NewScientist.com] 06:00 10 June 2005 The highly sensitive shortlist of 12 sites where the UK nuclear industry wanted to dispose of its dangerous radioactive waste has been unveiled after being kept a closely guarded state secret for more than 15 years. New Scientist can reveal that the nuclear waste agency, Nirex, identified five sites in Scotland and seven in England as geologically suitable for a deep underground repository. The UK government was forced to reverse its prolonged refusal to publish the list by requests in January from New Scientist and others under the new Freedom of Information Act. Although the list was drawn up in the late 1980s, some of the sites are likely to become candidates for waste disposal again in the future. For this reason, the release of the list is likely to reignite the ferocious debate over nuclear waste disposal. "The geology in the UK has not changed," says Nirex. "So sites that were considered to be potentially suitable previously on geological grounds could be considered suitable in a future site-selection process." Hot and high-level Geologists agree that another attempt to find waste sites would be likely to end up with a similar list. "There will be overlaps," says Dave Holmes, director of environment and hazards at the British Geological Survey in Keyworth, Nottingham. "But it is unlikely that a new site-selection exercise would produce exactly the same shortlist of sites." Nirex says that any new site-selection process would not begin with the old list, and points out that scientists' understanding of geology is now different. The waste to be disposed of now also includes hot, high-level waste, which could require different rock properties. And new concerns about sea level rises in response to climate change could rule out some coastal sites. "But what has not changed,” says Chris Murray, Nirex's managing director, “is that the waste still exists and needs to be dealt with in a safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable way for the long-term. Responsibility lies with this generation to ensure this is done." Weapons waste More than 50 years ago, the UK was one of the first countries in the world to develop nuclear fission technology into bombs and power sources. But it is now one of the last to work out what to do with the large amounts of waste created, and has fallen behind other European countries and the US. The US government already operates the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) for weapons waste in a salt formation 655 metres under the Chihuahuan Desert near Carlsbad in New Mexico. It has also chosen Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert as a potential repository for irradiated fuel from reactors. Deep underground repositories are also under active investigation at sites in Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium and France. The consensus of scientists internationally is that burial in stable geological formations below 300 metres is likely to be the safest method of disposal in the long term. Tiny islands This is the option that has always been favoured by Nirex, but it has not yet been adopted by the UK government. Ministers are awaiting advice in a year's time from the Committee on Radioactive Waste Management on whether waste should be stored at the surface or buried. The plan then is to work out how to select suitable locations. But that process has now been rudely interrupted by the release of the site shortlist. The list of sites (in full below) includes two tiny, uninhabited Scottish islands, military land, areas by nuclear power stations and even sites under the sea. One of the sites, near the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria, was eventually chosen by Nirex, but it was rejected by the government in 1997 after a public inquiry suggested Nirex's case was scientifically flawed. Sites shortlisted by Nirex as potential nuclear waste dumps in the late 1980s: Adjacent to Bradwell nuclear power station in Essex Ministry of Defence land on Potton Island, 8 km from Southend on Sea. Essex Under the North Sea, accessed from the port at Redcar, Yorkshire Under the sea between the Inner Hebrides and Northern Ireland, accessed from the port at Hunterston in North Ayrshire Killingholme, South Humberside Ministry of Defence training area, Stanford, Norfolk Adjacent to Dounreay nuclear plant in Caithness Two sites near the Sellafield nuclear plant in Cumbria Altnabreac in Caithness 18 km south of Dounreay Fuday, small, uninhabited island north of Barra in the Western Isles Sandray, small, uninhabited island south of Barra in the Western Isles NewScientist.com ***************************************************************** 45 Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Escape from Tallevast? Lockheed Martin should consider relocating residents More than five years into the pollution crisis in Tallevast, there is still no thorough assessment of the health problems or risks faced by residents. Nor is there a complete picture of how extensive the contamination is. That information has been missing for quite a while, but frustration and anger over the situation finally bubbled to the surface this week at a Manatee County Commission meeting. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, not known for taking a hard-nosed approach toward polluters, outlined for the commission a long list of shortcomings in Lockheed Martin's analysis of contamination in the neighborhood off U.S. 301 near the Manatee-Sarasota county line. Lockheed has assumed responsibility for cleaning up the site of a beryllium plant that operated in Tallevast from the early 1960s to the mid-1990s. The plant made nuclear-weapons components and other military parts for the U.S. government. Inadequate testing The DEP and the county were told of the pollution in 2000, but residents weren't told until several years later. Since then, Lockheed consultants have conducted numerous tests in preparation for a cleanup. But DEP officials say the defense-industry giant still hasn't provided, among other things, an adequate evaluation of "the current exposure and potential risk of exposure to humans and the environment." An underground plume of contamination, originally said to cover five acres, is now believed to encompass more than 130 acres. The contaminants in the neighborhood include potential carcinogens, including a chemical known as 1,4-dioxane, which has shown up in surface water. News of Lockheed's failure to conduct sufficient tests drew the ire of the County Commission. Several commissioners said Lockheed should relocate the people of Tallevast. "I don't think anyone in this room would feel comfortable living there," Commissioner Donna Hayes said. The most vocal critic was Commissioner Amy Stein, who threatened to take the issue to a Lockheed stockholders meeting and push for relocating residents. She described Lockheed's response to the crisis as "deplorable" and "irresponsible." Explore relocation Although we have reservations about breaking up the historic, tightly knit community, it is time for residents and Lockheed officials to begin exploring relocation. Both the company and the local health department say the residents face no imminent risks because everyone has now been switched from well water to public water. But too much remains unknown. And too much that has been stated as fact in this crisis has later turned out to be wrong. The primary goals remain what they've been for several years now: Document the health problems encountered by residents through the years. Assess current and future risks. Complete testing in the community, including a thorough check of the Floridan aquifer, a vast underground reservoir that provides potable water in much of Florida. Until this long-awaited work is done, residents of Tallevast and the County Commission should continue to press for answers. If this crisis has proven anything, it's that the DEP and Lockheed can't be relied upon to look out for the community's interests. Heraldtribune.com ***************************************************************** 46 Independent: Secret radioactive waste dump sites disclosed By Amanda Brown, PA 10 June 2005 A secret list of sites earmarked for the dumping of radioactive waste in the 1980s is disclosed today. Nirex, set up to manage the UK's intermediate level radioactive wastes, said the proposed programme of waste burial was abandoned in 1997. It also confirmed that no alternative sites are currently being sought in the UK. Sites previously considered as dumping areas were: Bradwell, in Essex; Potton Island, in Essex; Dounreay, in Caithness; Altnabreac in Caithness; Fuday in Western Isles; Sandray in Western Isles; Killingholme in South Humberside; Stanford, in Norfolk; and two sites at Sellafield, in Cumbria. Two offshore sites, one close to Redcar Port and another close to Hunterston Port, were also considered. Details of the sites have finally been disclosed today under Freedom of Information Act provisions. Nirex said that if any new selection of dumping sites is made in the future, the previous lists will not form the starting point of such a process. Chris Murray, managing director of Nirex, said: "Radioactive waste exists and needs to be dealt with whether or not there is any programme of new build in the UK. "Dealing with the waste is as much an ethical and social issue as a scientific and technical one. This is the key lesson we have learned from the past. "Openness and transparency must underpin everything that is done in this area." He said he hoped that by publishing the list, Nirex could help focus attention on the new debate on disposal of intermediate-level waste. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) is due to report next July with recommendations for waste management. "Many things have changed since this old list was drawn up, but what has not changed is that the waste still exists and needs to be dealt with in a safe, environmentally sound and publicly acceptable way for the long term," said Mr Murray. "Responsibility lies with this generation to ensure this is done." The CoRWM is charged with determining the best option or combination of options for managing the Uk's long-term radioactive waste. If it recommends using deep geological repository to deal with intermediate and low-level wastes, a new site selection would not begin until 2007 or 2008. Radioactive waste has been created in significant quantities in the UK since the 1940s and the nation has significant amounts which will remain potentially hazardous for thousands of years. Previous attempts to provide a long term waste management facility for these wastes have ended in failure. Most recently that occurred in 1997, when the government blocked the development of an underground rock characterisation facility at Sellafield. The waste is currently being stored at 34 locations around the UK awaiting a long-term waste management facility. Nirex said the sites considered in the selection process, other than Dounreay and Sellafield, had not been published prior to the introduction of information freedom laws as a result of earlier Government policy to keep the details confidential. ©2005 Independent News &Media (UK) Ltd. ***************************************************************** 47 Kenora Daily Miner: Keep nuclear waste in the east says concerned Kenora residents June 10, 2005 Kenora, ON P9N 3X7 Phone: (807) 468-5555 Fax: (807) 468-4318 A draft of a report on what to do with Canada’s nuclear waste is not sitting well with some Kenora residents. By Dan Gauthier Miner and News Thursday June 09, 2005A draft of a report on what to do with Canada’s nuclear waste is not sitting well with some Kenora residents. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization issued its first report since holding community discussion sessions across Canada last winter. The group was in Kenora twice, once in November and once in December, to discuss options on how Canada’s nuclear waste should be stored. The document, called Choosing a Way Forward, a draft report of the organization’s recommendations, touts an “adaptive phased management approach” that would see nuclear waste moved from the storage facilities at nuclear power plants where it is currently being stored, and put in deep geologic repositories in the Canadian Shield within the next 60-90 years. Under this recommendation, the nuclear waste could be stored anywhere in the shield, but it is most prominent in northern Ontario, including the Kenora District, as well as northern Quebec. Kenora resident Don Hakli, who was one of only about a dozen who attended the discussion sessions in the city last winter, admitted something needs to be done with Canada’s nuclear waste. However, he doesn’t think it should be stored here and would prefer to see it remain in eastern Ontario where most of Canada’s nuclear power plants are located. He even suggested the nation’s capital. “The Canadian Shield does go down to Ottawa and it’s just as deep there,” said Hakli. “I think under Ottawa would be a great place to put it.” Fellow Kenora resident Valerie Ryan also said the waste should stay right where it is produced and wants no part of it in Northwestern Ontario. “We’re not responsible for what goes on there. Don’t try to come into my area and bury your garbage,” Ryan warned, adding she has children and grandchildren who she wants to have a safe and healthy future. “No way is somebody going to kill them before their time.” Ryan, who also attended the discussion sessions in Kenora, scoffed at the recommendations by the Nuclear Waste Management Organization, comparing its representatives to salesmen in a used car lot. She said people should “get informed” and find out the truth about nuclear waste. “They are going to ram it down your throats and sugar-coat it completely,” said Ryan of the recommendations of the organization. “This stuff doesn’t go away and accidents – oh yeah – they happen.” Hakli said while the deep geological storage option is probably the safest choice, the fact that it is closed off and not monitored after it is filled up is a frightening prospect. He said all rocks have cracks and eventually water will reach and breach the storage containers with the nuclear waste. “I don’t believe in just closing it off and burying it because once that happens you forget about it,” said Hakli. “It sounds good, but in the end, once it is sealed, so is the fate of that stuff.” The organization has identified areas of Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan as the most suitable to host the deep geological repository. The draft of the organization’s final recommendations says the emphasis should be on finding a ‘’willing community’’ to play host to the repository, which would consist of caverns excavated up to a kilometre below ground. The Nuclear Waste Management Organization was established in 2002 and must provide it’s recommendations to the Government of Canada by Nov. 15, 2005. Email: kcfh@voyager.ca Category: Miscellaneous © 2005 Kenora Daily Miner and News ***************************************************************** 48 Salt Lake Tribune: Cleanup foundation invitesgrant applicants on the Web Article Last Updated: 06/10/2005 02:15:35 AM The Enviocare of Utah environmental foundation is headed by Salt Lake City businessman Fraser Bullock, who served as chief financial officer for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Envirocare executives established the foundation in February, when Steve Creamer and investor partners purchased the hazardous and radioactive landfill from former owner Khosrow Semnani. The original $1 million fund recently swelled to $3 million when Envirocare decided it ought to be bigger, Bullock said. The decision didn't involve any outside fund raising, he said. The company's Web site, http://www.envllc.com, includes a printable application for grants but no criteria for applicants. But Bullock said he hopes to focus largesse on cleaning up environmental damage, "particularly in areas the public likes to enjoy - parks, something like that, where it's encroaching on naturally beautiful areas." Envirocare hopes to team up with sponsoring organizations that can provide volunteers. Foundation money could go toward renting equipment or paying for fuel, he said. Bullock said running the environmental foundation fulfills a dream. "To be able to clean up mistakes from the past is one of the ambitions I've had," he said. "This foundation now exists, and people have a source to enhance the state." © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 49 AFP: Nuclear industry under pressure after dumping sites revealed - Friday June 10, 06:09 PM LONDON (AFP) - Calls by environmentalists for an end to Britain's nuclear industry rose after a sensitive shortlist of 12 sites earmarked as potential dumping grounds for dangerous radioactive waste was made public. Consultancy firm Nirex finally released the list, which was drawn up in the 1980s, following requests made under freedom of information laws. It identified seven sites in England and another five in Scotland that were considered as part of a programme for waste burial that was abandoned in 1997. Nirex insisted that any new selection process of suitable sites to dispose of nuclear waste would not use the old list as a starting point. But environmentalists and the New Scientist magazine, which demanded the publication of the list, warned that such a threat still hung over the named locations. "It is an absolute disgrace that the location of these sites has been kept from the public for so long," said Tony Juniper, director of the environmental action group Friends of the Earth. "Despite what ministers might say, Nirex has made it quite clear that each of the sites considered geologically suitable in the past could be considered suitable in the future," he said. "Every community named on this list should take steps to help halt plans to expand nuclear power in the UK." Juniper said the best way to start tackling a long legacy of nuclear waste in Britain would be to halt further production immediately. "The UK's energy future must lie in energy efficiency, the production of safe, renewable energy and the cleaner use of fossil fuels, not in trying to breathe new life into the discredited, dangerous and expensive disaster of nuclear power," he said. The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, a group charged with finding the best option to manage Britain's long-term radioactive rubbish, is due to report next July with recommendations for waste management -- a matter that urgently needs to be resolved, said Nirex's managing director Chris Murray. "Radioactive waste exists and needs to be dealt with whether or not there is any programme of new build in the UK," he said. "Dealing with the waste is as much an ethical and social issue as a scientific and technical one. This is the key lesson we have learned from the past," he said, adding that it was also important to be open and transparent in the process. Green Party members of the Scottish parliament in Edinburgh noted that the earmarked sites were all in uninhabited or low population areas, which underlined the sense of danger around long-term nuclear waste disposal. "Nuclear power should be unequivocally ruled out as a possible energy option," said South of Scotland lawmaker Chris Ballance. "Until then, communities up and down the country, especially those on the final list of 12 sites, will be living with the prospect that their environment will become a nuclear waste dumping ground," he said, uring the Scottish executive and British government to replace nucelar power with cleaner sources of renewable energy. "Only then can we be certain that public health and safety and the future of the Scottish environment is safe. Nuclear power and weapons are completely unacceptable." Radioactive waste has been created in significant quantities in Britain since the 1940s and the nation has significant amounts which will remain potentially hazardous for thousands of years. Previous attempts to provide a long-term waste management facility for this rubbish have ended in failure. The waste is currently being stored at 34 locations around Britain awaiting disposal. Copyright © 2005 AFP AFP. All rights reserved. y ***************************************************************** 50 KSDK: Nuclear Waste On Trucks Get Headlines; Dirt Gets Moved NewsChannel 5 - Where The News Comes First 6/9/2005 5:58:40 PM By Mike Owens Investigative Reporter (KSDK) - Monday, trucks loaded with nuclear waste began moving from Ohio to Texas, right through St. Louis. The shipments got a lot of headlines because the waste was generated in St. Louis during and after World War II. The material was left over from nuclear bomb making, a process that began at Mallinckrodt Chemical in north St. Louis. The waste was taken to a 22-acre site near the airport, considered the country in 1946. Twenty years later, a company bought the waste, and dried it, and used it to make other nuclear material. However, the waste had sat for 20 years, and over time, with wind, rain and man, the ground became contaminated. Now, Uncle Sam, in the form of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, is spending $50 million a year to clean up the site and others around the airport. The dirt is picked up, and hauled away to a dump in Idaho. Six hundred thousand cubic yards of dirt have been hauled away so far, with tens of thousands more to go. The material is put into rail cars, inside huge bags, which are sealed up and shipped. While federal officials downplay the seriousness and danger of the contaminated dirt, long time nuclear activist, Kay Drey, has another view. She thinks there are so-called "hot spots" in the contaminated area, and they are hotter than they should be, creating real danger to the community. All Material Property of KSDK-TV ©2005 ***************************************************************** 51 edie news centre: Sellafield rapped by EA over radioactive waste published on 10-Jun-2005) More must be done Sellafield by managers to show radioactive waste water pumped into the Irish Sea is kept to a minimum. On Monday June 6 the Environment Agency (EA), which regulates the disposal of nuclear waste in the UK, served an enforcement notice on the facility requiring improved management of the radioactive water. British Nuclear Group Sellafield Ltd (BNGSL) has permission to discharge limited amounts of wastewater with low levels of radioactivity into the sea. In October last year the EA issued a revised authorisation to BNGSL with stronger emphasis on minimising production and discharge of radioactive waste. The new agreement also requires BNGSL to show its management systems are sufficient to do this. "In recent years we've seen significant improvements in some areas at Sellafield," said EA nuclear regulator Andy Mayall. "Radioactive discharges from the site, including the facilities to which this notice relates, are already low - radiation doses to the public are well within legal limits and any risk to the public is very small. "However, BNGSL's authorisation also requires it to do all it can to manage and minimise all its waste discharges. Being in compliance with limits does not mean that the company should not be committed to continuous improvement. Our inspection of parts of the site in February 2005 indicated that BNGSL needs to address certain issues if it is to demonstrate this." The enforcement order calls for improvements in several areas. These include arrangements for minimising the build-up of solid material in the lagoon, an area designed to hold surface water run-off from the site before it is discharged into the Irish Sea, inconsistencies in the way some discharges and disposals are measured and reported and failure to report to the Agency, that liquid waste discharged from the on-site lagoon contained a radioactive substance which had not been noted before. BNGSL will now have to produce a plan for addressing these requirements by the end of August. Once this has happened, the company will have to carry out the improvement works that the plan outlines within a timescale agreed by the Environment Agency. This latest development in the ongoing Sellafield saga will spark renewed calls from environmentalists and Britain's European neighbours to close down the facility (see related story ). By Sam Bond © Faversham House Group Ltd 2005. ***************************************************************** 52 Feinstein: Questions about EPA Perchlorate process Senator Feinstein Raises Questions about EPAs Process to Establish Perchlorate Reference Dose [U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein] June 8, 2005 Washington, DC U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) today asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson a series of questions about the process the agency used to establish the reference dose for perchlorate ingestion. In January 2005, the National Academy of Sciences recommended a reference dose for perchlorate exposure (the amount that is believed to be safe to consume per individual at a given body weight per day). In February 2005, EPA issued a reference dose, without any comment from the general public or the scientific community. Following is Senator Feinsteins letter to Administrator Johnson: I am writing you regarding the process that led the EPA to adopt the perchlorate reference dose (RfD) that was recommended by the National Academy of Science in the report on the Health Implications of Perchlorate Ingestion released in January 2005. Concerns have been raised in a recently published article in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives titled The NAS Perchlorate Review: Questions Remain about the Perchlorate RfD and in an article by the RiversidePress-Enterprise regarding how the results of a perchlorate study on human subjects were interpreted and whether the uncertainties in the data from that study were appropriately treated. This study, known as the Greer study, became in part the basis for the RfD that the NAS ultimately recommended in their report. In February 2005 the EPA announced that it was adopting the NAS recommended RfD. This value was adopted and placed on the EPAs Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database rather quickly with no further public review. I am always delighted when a government agency moves quickly, however I have a few questions regarding how the process to establish the reference dose proceeded: How did the EPA come to the decision to endorse the NAS-derived RfD? How did the EPA determine that this level would protect public health with a reasonable margin of safety? Why did the EPA decide not to allow for public comment on this decision? Will the EPA be re-evaluating this reference dose in light of the concerns regarding the Greer perchlorate study? As you may know, in California over 350 water sources have been contaminated by perchlorate. Perchlorate has been found in the drinking water sources of at least 34 states and it has been found in lettuce, dairy milk and even women's breast milk. With such widespread contamination in my state and across the country, I have serious concerns over the health and well-being of the most vulnerable among the population - infants, toddlers, pregnant women and their unborn children, and those with compromised immune systems. This is a national problem that requires federal leadership. While I believe the EPA should move forward as soon as practicable to establish a national drinking water standard for perchlorate that provides guidance to states that are faced with perchlorate contamination in their water supplies, my hope is that the EPA will do so with a reference dose that appropriately characterizes the risk of perchlorate for the most vulnerable. I appreciate your immediate attention to this issue and look forward to your response. ***************************************************************** 53 AU ABC: Consider effects of uranium mine, Brown urges voters. 10/06/2005. ABC News Online Australian Greens Senator Bob Brown has described as crazy the suggestion that a uranium mine be approved in central Australia. Mining company Arafura Resources has confirmed it has applied for an exploration licence for a 1,500 square kilometre site in central Australia which is thought to contain significant amounts of uranium. Senator Brown is in Alice Springs to support Greens candidates in the Northern Territory election. He says if people choose to support uranium mining in central Australia, then they must accept the likelihood of a nuclear waste dump in the region. "Those who are advocating nuclear and uranium mining have got to advocate a nuclear waste dump," he said. "It's got to go somewhere at the end of that cycle and we have a Federal Government which will override the Territory, because it cannot do that to South Australia and Western Australia, to have a nuclear waste dump here." ***************************************************************** 54 TownOnline.com: Column: Shpack cleanup work begins Norton Mirror - Opinion &Letters By Heather Graf/ Guest Column Friday, June 10, 2005 There will be a meeting to update the public on plans and progress for cleanup of the Shpack FUSRAP Superfund site, Norton/Attleboro. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are sponsoring the session, which will be held at the J.C. Solmonese School, 315 West Main St., Norton, on Tuesday, June 21 at 7 p.m. A staff meeting was held May 12 at the Norton Public Library with representatives from the Army Corps and their consultants, to discuss and review plans for remedial action at the site. Present from Norton were: Town Manager Jim Purcell, Police Chief Bruce Finch, Deputy Fire Cheif Benton Keene III, Conservation Director Jennifer Carlino, Health Agent Gary Covino, Highway Superintendent Keith Silver, and Citizens Advisory Shpack Team Coordinator Heather Graf. The following week in May, crews began clearing the approximately 10-acre parcel of land on Union Road in Norton, of trees, brush and vegetation, which would interfere with cleanup activities. Some additional sampling was also done by the Corps to fill in data gaps, and surveyors began setting out a series of grids, to transfer the work plan information from paper to the ground. Discussion at the May 12 meeting centered on how the radioactive waste would be taken from the Shpack Site, including the packaging and loading of materials, the type of vehicles used for transport, and the truck haul routes being considered to get the waste out of Norton. This element was of particular interest to the Corps and their consultants, as they sought input from Norton attendees at the meeting on the preferred alternative for the trucks. The ACE plan is to safely transport the radioactive waste (and any chemical contaminants which may be mixed in) from Shpack to the interstate highway, where it will travel to a rail yard in Worcester, and finally end up at an Enviro-Care facility in Utah. The Corps' remedial action team for removal of radioactive waste is expected to mobilize at Shpack in July 2005, with their work continuing into February 2006. During this period an ACE construction engineer will be living on site. ACE Project Manager Tim Beauchemin will be leading the discussion at the June 21 meeting, with a power-point presentation by representatives of the consultant groups retained by the Corps. Additionally, the newly appointed project manager for the U.S. Environmental protection Agency Melissa Taylor will provide an update on that agency's anticipated schedule. The EPA is responsible for removal of all remaining chemical contaminants at Shpack, restoring wetlands disturbed in the cleanup process, and for final closure of the site. It is hoped EPA's activities can begin when the Army Corps has completed their task, but EPA designated work will depend upon negotiations between that agency and the PRP (Potential Responsible Party) Group. Heather Graf is coordinator of the Citizens Advisory Shpack Team. © Copyright of CNC and Herald Interactive Advertising Systems, Inc. No portion of townonline.com or its content may be reproduced ***************************************************************** 55 Las Vegas SUN: Chief of U.S. Geological Survey resigning Today: June 10, 2005 at 11:50:23 PDT ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS (AP) - The U.S. Geological Survey director criticized since the disclosure that several agency scientists might have falsified documents about a planned Nevada nuclear waste repository is stepping down. Charles G. Groat's resignation, announced Thursday in Washington, D.C., was not connected with the Yucca Mountain project, survey spokeswoman A.B. Wade said. Groat will return effective June 17 to the University of Texas at Austin, where he once served as an associate geology professor and acting director of the Bureau of Economic Geology. Interior Gale A. Norton praised Groat, who has headed the USGS since November 1998, for applying USGS science "to supporting important decisions regarding resource and environmental management and policy." Groat has been under fire since he and Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman announced in March the discovery of e-mail messages written by USGS hydrologists between 1998 and 2000 discussing possible falsification of quality assurance documents on water infiltration research they did for the Yucca Mountain project. The disclosures sparked ongoing investigations by Energy Department and Interior Department inspectors general, aided by the FBI, and by a U.S. House subcommittee headed by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. Nevada lawmakers have criticized Groat for not taking immediate disciplinary action against the hydrologists, who remain at the agency, and for not turning over requested documents. Groat expressed support for investigations to clear the USGS, which he said had a 125-year reputation for sound, unbiased science. The Energy Department plans to seek a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to entomb 77,000 tons of the nation's most radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain. Congress in 2002 approved putting the repository at the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. A date for opening the repository has been pushed back from 2010 to 2012 or later following a federal court ruling that an Environmental Protection Agency radiation standard was insufficient, congressional budget cuts and the e-mail revelations. John Arthur, a top Yucca Mountain project official, reported this week that the Energy Department has tentatively concluded that repository science was not compromised by the USGS scientists. Groat will be the Jackson Chair in Energy and Mineral Resources in the School of Geosciences at the University of Texas, the Interior Department said. He also will direct the school's new Center for International Energy and Environmental Policy. --- On the Net: Yucca Mountain project: U.S. Geological Survey: --- Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, -- ***************************************************************** 56 DOE: Office of Science; Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee FR Doc 05-11519 [Federal Register: June 10, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 111)] [Notices] [Page 33887] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10jn05-36] AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Tuesday, July 19, 2005, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, July 20, 2005, 8 a.m.-12 noon. ADDRESSES: The Marriott Hotel, 9751 Washingtonian Boulevard, Gaithersburg, MD 20878. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Albert L. Opdenaker, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences; U.S. Department of Energy;1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585-1290; Telephone: (301) 903-4927. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Meeting: The major purpose of the meeting is for the full Committee to respond to the report from its panel on fusion facilities. Tentative Agenda Tuesday, July 19, 2005-- Office of Science Perspective. Office of Fusion Energy Sciences Perspective. Presentation by the Fusion Facilities Panel on its findings and recommendations. Public Comments. Wednesday, July 20, 2005-- Prepare letter to DOE transmitting the facilities panel report. Adjourn. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. If you would like to file a written statement with the Committee, you may do so either before or after the meeting. If you would like to make oral statements regarding any of the items on the agenda, you should contact Albert L. Opdenaker at 301-903-8584 (fax) or (e-mail). You must make your request for an oral statement at least 5 business days before the meeting. Reasonable provision will be made to include the scheduled oral statements on the agenda. The Chairperson of the Committee will conduct the meeting to facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Public comment will follow the 10-minute rule. Minutes: We will make the minutes of this meeting available for public review and copying within 30 days at the Freedom of Information Public Reading Room; IE-190; Forrestal Building; 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Issued at Washington, DC, on June 6, 2005. Rachel Samuel, Deputy Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. 05-11519 Filed 6-9-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 57 Cincinnati Enquirer: Meth found in Paducah uranium worker Cincinnati.Com Friday, June 10, 2005 The Associated Press PADUCAH - An employee at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant tested positive for methamphetamine and has been barred from the plant, a plant spokeswoman said. Tests were done on 23 employees who work near an area of the plant where a small case containing drug paraphernalia and meth residue was found last month. None of the other employees tested positive for the drug, communications director Elizabeth Stuckle said. Stuckle said disciplinary action will be taken against the employee, but she declined to be more specific or name the employee, citing personnel policy. McCracken County Sheriff's Capt. Jon Hayden, head of the sheriff's drug unit, said traces of drugs in a person's body are not enough to bring charges. Instead, a link would have to be established between the kit and the employee who tested positive to make a case for possession of drug paraphernalia, Hayden said. "There are so many people (1,270) who work out there, it's possible the person that dropped these items may not have tested positive," Hayden said. Stuckle said it is the first time meth has been found at the factory, which enriches uranium for use in nuclear fuel. [Cincinnati.Com] Copyright1995-2005. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc.newspaper. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************