***************************************************************** 06/17/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.139 ***************************************************************** 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 Guardian Unlimited: Democrat Urges Inquiry on Bush, Iraq 2 UN Atomic Watchdog Urges Speedy Iranian Cooperation On Nuclear Progr 3 Hankyoreh: Editorial: We Welcome North Korea's Decision 4 Guardian Unlimited: Key Dates in North Korea Nuclear Crisis 5 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea May Return to Nuke Talks in July 6 Guardian Unlimited Rice: N. Korea Must Talk About Dismantling 7 Korea Herald: N.K. willing to return to talks in July 8 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: N.K. Will Treat U.S. As Friend If Regime 9 Xinhua: China plays indispensable role in solving Korean nuclear 10 Xinhua: DPRK willing to rejoin six-party talks if US shows respect 11 Xinhua: DPRK willing to rejoin six-party nuclear talks 12 Asia Times: Korea News and Korean Business and Economy, Pyongyang 13 AFP: Kim says NKorea willing to rejoin NPT, admit inspectors 14 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korean Leader Meets S. Korean Minister 15 US: sacbee.com: Governor could help pass climate bill 16 US: Washington Post: Finance Panel Approves Energy Tax Breaks 17 US: LA Times: Senate Backs Using Renewable Energy to Generate Electr 18 RIA Novosti: Russia has its own non-proliferation verification techn 19 The Herald: G8 cold shoulder on global warming 20 NewsFromRussia.Com Middle East: nuclear weapons or generating electr 21 SF Chronicle: IAEA to Crack Down on Nuke Proliferators 22 Xinhua: New energy laws must be "prudent": officials, experts NUCLEAR REACTORS 23 US: NRC: NRC Names New Senior Resident Inspector at Diablo Canyon Nu 24 Bellona: Sevmash to start construction of floating nuclear power pla 25 US: Tri-City Herald: Nuclear power plant again shut down 26 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice 27 US: NRC: NRC Issues Safety Evaluation for North Anna Early Site Perm 28 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee Meeti 29 US: NRC: TXU Generation Company, LP; Notice of Withdrawal of Applica 30 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collecti NUCLEAR SECURITY 31 Daily Yomiuri: Revised N-law inadequate to cover all terrorism scena 32 Washington Post: Unchecked Power of KGB Successor Seen in Scientist NUCLEAR SAFETY 33 [du-list] A Nagasaki Report by George Weller: Censored and 34 US: Occupational Hazards: OSHA Official Urges Agency Release Berylli 35 US: NRC: NRC to Meet June 22 with Westinghouse Electric Co. to Discu 36 US: Hawk Eye: Workers eligible for settlement 37 US: NRC: NRC, N.J. Company to Discuss Apparent Violations Involving 38 US: Vermont Guardian: Collateral Risk: DU research gap could impact 39 US: decatur daily: Testing on human subjects isn't new NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 40 Nevada Appeal - Opinion: Generations of on-site storage remain even 41 US: IJ: Decision will step up waste shipments from Western New York 42 US: Las Vegas RJ: Progress made in science of recycling nuclear fuel 43 RIA Novosti: USA, RUSSIA PREPARING EXPERIMENT ON REMOVAL OF NUCLEAR 44 Las Vegas SUN: Experts say recycling won't eliminate need for reposi 45 Las Vegas SUN: Senate panel approves $577 million for Yucca 46 ArriveNet Press: Proposed Alternative to Yucca Mountain Project 47 US: Morgan Hill Times: SCVWD seeks grant to study perchlorate plume 48 UK: Kings Lynn Today: Nuclear waste may be dumped here 49 Enfield Independent: Nuclear Expert Resigns In A Spin 50 Korea Times: Nuclear Dump Site 51 US: Paducah Sun: Radioactive cylinder recycling on pace if funding i 52 Mos News: Russia, U.S. to Remove Nuclear Waste From Uzbek Reactor 53 US: AU ABC: Labor 'does not support' new uranium mines. 54 US: Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Ottawa will chip in for cleanup of uraniu 55 Cumberland News: N-waste burial site list revealed PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 56 Tri-City Herald: Rising Hanford costs may increase pressure to stop 57 Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carlsbad DOE office manager accepts new post 58 Daily Texan: UT, Lockheed agree to bid on Los Alamos - 59 Las Vegas SUN: Air Force Finds No Trace of Lost Nuke ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Guardian Unlimited: Democrat Urges Inquiry on Bush, Iraq From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday June 16, 2005 11:46 PM By PETE YOST Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress should conduct an official inquiry to determine whether President Bush intentionally misled the nation about the reasons for toppling Saddam Hussein, a senior House Democrat suggested Thursday. New York Rep. Charles Rangel was among Democratic House members who participated in a forum to air demands that the White House provide more information about what led to the decision to go to war in Iraq. ``Quite frankly, evidence that appears to be building up points to whether or not the president has deliberately misled Congress to make the most important decision a president has to make, going to war,'' said Rangel, senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. Rep. John Conyers and other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee organized the forum to investigate implications in a British document known as the ``Downing Street memo.'' The memo says the Bush administration believed that war was inevitable and was determined to use intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the ouster of Saddam. Conyers pointed to statements by Bush in the run-up to invasion that war would be a last resort. ``The veracity of those statements has - to put it mildly - come into question,'' he said. In the opening hours of the forum, witnesses spoke mainly about their views on the decision to go to war and not the memo, which the Bush administration has dismissed. ``We are having this discussion today because we failed to have it three years ago when we went to war,'' former Ambassador Joseph Wilson said. ``It used to be said that democracies were difficult to mobilize for war precisely because of the debate required,'' Wilson said, going on to say the lack of debate in this case allowed the war to happen. Wilson wrote a 2003 newspaper opinion piece criticizing the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. After the piece appeared someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, exposing her cover. Wilson has said he believes the leak was retaliation for his critical comments. The Justice Department is investigating. The Downing Street memo states the ``intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy,'' recounting a July 23, 2002, meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his national security team. The meeting took place just after British officials returned from Washington. U.S. officials and Blair deny the assertion about intelligence and facts being ``fixed,'' a comment that the memo attributes to the chief of British intelligence at the time. ``This is simply rehashing old debates that have already been discussed,'' White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday. The London Sunday Times disclosed the contents of the memo May 1. It also reported on an eight-page briefing paper prepared for Blair that concluded the U.S. military had given ``little thought'' to the aftermath of a war in Iraq. The briefing paper of July 21, 2002, said that a postwar occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise and that ``as already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point. Washington could look to us to share a disproportionate share of the burden.'' WASHINGTON (AP) - Congress should conduct an official inquiry to determine whether President Bush intentionally misled the nation about the reasons for toppling Saddam Hussein, a senior House Democrat suggested Thursday. New York Rep. Charles Rangel was among Democratic House members who participated in a forum to air demands that the White House provide more information about what led to the decision to go to war in Iraq. ``Quite frankly, evidence that appears to be building up points to whether or not the president has deliberately misled Congress to make the most important decision a president has to make, going to war,'' said Rangel, senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. Rep. John Conyers and other Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee organized the forum to investigate implications in a British document known as the ``Downing Street memo.'' The memo says the Bush administration believed that war was inevitable and was determined to use intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the ouster of Saddam. Conyers pointed to statements by Bush in the run-up to invasion that war would be a last resort. ``The veracity of those statements has - to put it mildly - come into question,'' he said. In the opening hours of the forum, witnesses spoke mainly about their views on the decision to go to war and not the memo, which the Bush administration has dismissed. ``We are having this discussion today because we failed to have it three years ago when we went to war,'' former Ambassador Joseph Wilson said. ``It used to be said that democracies were difficult to mobilize for war precisely because of the debate required,'' Wilson said, going on to say the lack of debate in this case allowed the war to happen. Wilson wrote a 2003 newspaper opinion piece criticizing the Bush administration's claim that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger. After the piece appeared someone in the Bush administration leaked the identity of Wilson's wife as a CIA operative, exposing her cover. Wilson has said he believes the leak was retaliation for his critical comments. The Justice Department is investigating. The Downing Street memo states the ``intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy,'' recounting a July 23, 2002, meeting of Prime Minister Tony Blair and his national security team. The meeting took place just after British officials returned from Washington. U.S. officials and Blair deny the assertion about intelligence and facts being ``fixed,'' a comment that the memo attributes to the chief of British intelligence at the time. ``This is simply rehashing old debates that have already been discussed,'' White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Thursday. The London Sunday Times disclosed the contents of the memo May 1. It also reported on an eight-page briefing paper prepared for Blair that concluded the U.S. military had given ``little thought'' to the aftermath of a war in Iraq. The briefing paper of July 21, 2002, said that a postwar occupation of Iraq could lead to a protracted and costly nation-building exercise and that ``as already made clear, the U.S. military plans are virtually silent on this point. Washington could look to us to share a disproportionate share of the burden.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 2 UN Atomic Watchdog Urges Speedy Iranian Cooperation On Nuclear Programme Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 17:00:53 -0400 X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-16.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,FROM_ORG, SPF_HELO_PASS,SP_HAM_SUPER,SUBJ_ALL_CAPS,WHITE_PHRASE autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG URGES SPEEDY IRANIAN COOPERATION ON NUCLEAR PROGRAMME New York, Jun 17 2005 5:00PM The head of the United Nations agency entrusted with curbing the spread of nuclear weapons today called for an extra effort and speedier cooperation by Iran to build the necessary confidence that its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes. "We need to talk to some people who have been involved in the illicit trafficking network," International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei said in a <"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Transcripts/2005/transcr17062005.html">press statement at the end of a meeting of the agency's board of governors at its Vienna headquarters. "I expressed hope that some of these issues will have been resolved by September. The ball, as I mentioned before, again is in Iran's court," he added. The <"http://www.iaea.org/index.html">IAEA has previously determined that Iran for almost two decades concealed its nuclear activities in breach of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (<"http://www.un.org/Depts/dda/WMD/treaty/">NPT). Iran has consistently denied it is seeking nuclear weapons, insisting its programme is purely for energy generation, but several countries, including the United States, insist that oil-producing country is seeking nuclear weapons. Today, Mr. ElBaradei called for speedy co-operation from Iran. "Sometimes co-operation is a bit slow, particularly in terms of providing documents and relevant information," he said. "Because of the confidence that was lost in the past, we need an extra effort on the part of Iran to build that confidence and the more transparency they show, the faster confidence could be created." On the positive side, Mr. ElBaradei said Iran had facilitated access to nuclear material and facilities under the <"http://www.iaea.org/Publications/Documents/Board/2004/gov2004-49.pdf">NPT Additional Protocol and the Safeguards agreement and had also maintained in full the suspension of all enrichment related and reprocessing activities, "which is again positive." Enriched uranium can be used for making nuclear weapons. The European Union (EU) is supposed to provide comprehensive proposals to Iran by the end of July or beginning of August for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear issue and Mr. ElBaradei said he was very pleased to see the United States saying today that they are also lending their full support to the European dialogue. "So, I very much hope that the diplomatic solution to the Iran issue will continue and will yield full results," he added. "In the meantime I would like to make sure that in the next few months, we should be able to come to conclusion about the past Iran nuclear programme." 2005-06-17 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 3 Hankyoreh: Editorial: We Welcome North Korea's Decision Updated : Jun.18.2005 08:58 KST North Korea's National Defence Commission Chairman Kim Jong Il has expressed the intention to return to the six-party talks by the middle of next month. He set a condition, that there be "firm intention" by the United States to "recognize and respect" the North, but it does not look like that will be an obstacle, since the US has already said it is willing to treat the North as a sovereign nation. We welcome this decision by North Korea. We hope to see it lead to a complete resolution of the nuclear issue. North and South Korea have agreed to restarting the ministerial talks that have been stalled for so long, and to having a reunion event for separated families around August 15. Intra-Korean relations are becoming fully restored and back on track. The situation is becoming one where you can foresee a second summit. North and South need to combing their strength and make sure the situation continues so that the nuclear issue is resolved, and then so that progress can be made towards permanent peace on the Korean peninsula that leads to reunification. Looking at recent activity you can see that the North is taking steps closer to making the "strategic decision" to abandon its nuclear program. During contact with representatives from the US in New York June 6, the North for the first time said it would return to the six-party talks, without setting a date. After that official Northern news outlets demanded the US withdraw its policy of aggression towards it, but it did not state that demand as a condition. When minister Chung Dong Young met with Presidium of the Supreme PeopleˇŻs Assembly President Kim Yong Nam, he was told that the North would "treat the US as a friendly nation" if the US recognizes the North's system and government, further hinting that the North is leaning more towards returning to the six-party talks. Kim Jong Il's comments come in the same context. "The declaration on a non-nuclear Korean peninsula is still valid and it was the dying wish of President Kim Il Sung," he said, hinting that a decision is not far off. It is significant that Chairman Kim said what he did to Chung while he was visiting Pyongyang in his capacity as the head of the South's governmental delegation to the events marking the fifth anniversary of the summit. Chung ended up acting as President Roh Moo Hyun's special envoy. He verbally conveyed in detail the South's intentions and President Roh's "important proposal," which after the US-Korea summit in Washington Roh said he would pursue should the North return to the six-party talks. President Roh said recently that as directly related parties North and South Korea need to work actively to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, making it clear he intends to make the so-called "national cooperation" the North has long talked about one of the principles applied to resolving the nuclear issue. The hospitality shown to the Southern delegation and the direct meeting between Chung and Chairman Kim are important in that they show how the North is actively supporting what the South is trying to do. That will significantly contribute to the ability of North and South to exercise leadership in resolving the nuclear issue. What needs to be done in the future is to further advance the North's strategic decision and the Korean government needs to deepen consultations with the related nations so as to formulate a more effective plan relating to the North's demand for assurances about its security and economic aid. It will also be important that there is intense cooperation with the US and Japan, so that the hard-line stance that surfaces every time the mood leans toward dialogue does not interfere. In addition to expanding exchange and cooperation in the economic and social area, North and South need to restart military talks, between generals and between defense ministers, who have met only once, so that there can be serious discussion about building peace. The question of whether June 2005 will be a new landmark in the complete resolution of the North Korean nuclear issue and in unprecedented progress in intra-Korean relations depends on how hard North and South endeavor from now on. Each side has to take a leading role in all issues relating to the Korean peninsula. It goes without saying that no matter what, neither side take any action that harms mutual trust or hurts the situation. The Hankyoreh, 18 June 2005. ***************************************************************** 4 Guardian Unlimited: Key Dates in North Korea Nuclear Crisis From the Associated Press [UP] Friday June 17, 2005 7:31 PM By The Associated Press Key dates in the crisis over North Korea's nuclear program: -December 2001: President Bush warns Iraq and North Korea would be ``held accountable'' if they develop weapons of mass destruction. -Jan. 29, 2002: Bush labels North Korea, Iran and Iraq an ``axis of evil'' in his State of the Union address. -Oct. 16: U.S. officials say Pyongyang admits having a secret uranium enrichment program, key to development of nuclear weapons. -Nov. 11: The U.S., Japan and South Korea decide to halt oil supplies to North Korea promised under a 1994 deal. -Dec. 12: North Korea announces it is reactivating nuclear facilities at Yongbyon that were frozen under the 1994 deal with the United States. -Dec. 31: North Korea expels U.N. nuclear weapons inspectors. -Jan. 10, 2003: North Korea says it will withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. -Feb. 6: North Korea says it has reactivated its nuclear facilities. -April 23: U.S. and North Korean envoys begin talks in Beijing to try to resolve standoff. -April 24: North Korea tells U.S officials privately that it has nuclear weapons and may test, export or use them depending on U.S. actions, according a senior American official. The North reportedly offers to give up its nuclear program in return for large amounts of aid. -May 12: North Korea withdraws from a 1992 agreement with South Korea to keep the peninsula free of nuclear weapons. -Aug. 27-29: North Korea joins the first round of six-nation talks on its nuclear program in Beijing, which include China, Japan, Russia, South Korea and the United States. -Feb. 25-28, 2004: Second round of six-nation talks. -June 23-26: Third round of six-nation talks. -September: North Korea refuses to attend a planned fourth round of six-party talks, accusing the United States of ``hostile'' policies toward it. -Jan. 18, 2005: Secretary of State designate Condoleezza Rice refers to North Korea as one of the ``outposts of tyranny'' in the world. -Feb. 2: Bush softens his tone on North Korea, making only one reference to it in his State of the Union address. -Feb. 10: North Korea announces it has nuclear weapons, says it is staying away from six-nation talks. -March 31: North Korea declares it should be treated equally as a nuclear power, demands that nuclear talks address disarmament of all countries involved - including the United States. -May 11: Pyongyang says it has completed removing spent nuclear fuel rods from a reactor at its main nuclear complex, a move that would let it harvest more weapons-grade plutonium. -May 16: The two Koreas resume direct talks for the first time in 10 months. -June 17: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il says his country could return to the six-nation disarmament talks by July if it gets appropriate respect from the United States. The United States dismisses the overture, saying Kim needs to make a more concrete commitment to nuclear negotiations. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 5 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea May Return to Nuke Talks in July From the Associated Press [UP] Friday June 17, 2005 1:31 PM AP Photo SEL203 By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il said Friday the communist nation could return to international nuclear disarmament talks as early as next month, after a yearlong boycott, if it gets appropriate respect from the United States. ``If it is certain that the United States is respecting the North as a partner, North Korea could come to the six-party talks as early as July, but it has to be further negotiated with the United States,'' Kim was quoted as saying by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who returned to Seoul after meeting the North Korean leader in Pyongyang. The North has boycotted six-nation nuclear talks for nearly a year, citing ``hostile'' U.S. policies. The negotiations include China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas. ``North Korea has never given up or refused the six-party talks,'' Chung quoted Kim as saying. Kim added that a 1992 declaration between the two Koreas calling for denuclearization of the peninsula remained valid. Chung was the first top South Korean official to see the reclusive Kim in more than three years. He was leading a South Korean government delegation that has been in Pyongyang since Tuesday for anniversary celebrations of a landmark summit between Kim and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in June 2000 - the first and only such talks between leaders of the Koreas that technically remain at war. During their meeting Friday, Kim and Chung agreed on the need to resume military talks between the sides. They also said family reunions between relatives separated by the heavily fortified inter-Korean border - which have been stalled for 11 months - would be continued Aug. 15 at North Korea's Diamond Mountain tourist resort, the only place in the communist nation that South Koreans can freely visit. North Korea also will send a government delegation to Aug. 15 celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the Korean Peninsula's liberation from Japanese colonial rule. American officials have said repeatedly they have no intention to invade the North, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington recognizes North Korea as a sovereign nation. Rice said Thursday that it wasn't enough for North Korea to return to the disarmament talks, but that Pyongyang should commit to discussing the dismantling of its nuclear program. ``The ball is in the North Koreans' court,'' Rice said in Washington before leaving on a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe. North Korea bragged in February that it had nuclear weapons and have made moves this year that would allow it to harvest more weapons-grade plutonium, adding to a stockpile experts believe is already enough to build about six nuclear bombs. Kim agreed late Thursday to the meeting proposed by the South Koreans, saying he wanted to see officials traveling with Chung who he had previously met. Among the Seoul delegation was Lim Dong-won - a former South Korean intelligence chief who met Kim Jong Il as a presidential envoy in April 2002, the last top South Korean official to meet the North Korean. Chung delivered a message to Kim from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun calling for resolution of the nuclear issue and improved relations between the divided Koreas. A brief report from the North's official Korean Central News Agency about the meeting said Kim ``expressed thanks'' and sent regards to Roh and Kim Dae-jung, characterizing the session as a ``cordial talk.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 6 Guardian Unlimited Rice: N. Korea Must Talk About Dismantling From the Associated Press [UP] Thursday June 16, 2005 9:16 PM AP Photo DCLJ101 By ANNE GEARAN AP Diplomatic Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday it isn't enough for North Korea to return to six-nation disarmament talks and the Koreans should also commit to ``talk about the dismantling'' of their nuclear weapons program. ``The ball is in the North Koreans' court,'' Rice said as she prepared to embark on a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe. Talks between North and South Korea, the United States, China, Russia and Japan have been on hold for a year because Pyongyang has boycotted them, saying Washington's policy toward the communist state is hostile. ``There's a lot of bubbling as you know about whether the North Koreans are ready to return to table or not. And we will see,'' Rice said. North Korean diplomats earlier this month suggested they were willing to return to the six-nation talks - but did not offer a date. ``Until we have a date, we don't have a date,'' Rice said. She said the United States and the other four nations in the talks ``remain consistently committed to a non-nuclear peninsula.'' Turning to Iraq, Rice responded to growing criticism of the war and reconstruction effort as reflected in U.S. public opinion polls. ``We owe it to the American people to say again and again that this is not going to be an enterprise for the long term. It will be Iraqi,'' she said. ``This is hard. Everybody knows the American people have been asked to support a complex and difficult task in trying to help the Iraqis in overthrowing a dictator and then creating a viable, democratically based state,'' she said. Rice called on Americans to ``reach down'' into themselves and ``look for the patience and generosity we have displayed in the past.'' On still another topic, Rice urged the Senate to vote on the stalled nomination of John Bolton to be U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. ``It's time to get an up-and-down vote on John Bolton,'' she said. She said changes were under way ``without the United States having a permanent representative at the United Nations.'' Bolton is needed to ``shepherd this important process,'' she said. Rice's Mideast trip is to include visits to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, two countries that President Bush singled out as nations that could ``show the way toward democracy in the Middle East.'' Her decision to call off a stop in Egypt earlier this year was widely seen as a protest to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's government's crackdown on an opposition leader. However, Mubarak has subsequently opened the way for multiparty elections. In the past, Egypt has had the equivalent of one-party rule. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 7 Korea Herald: N.K. willing to return to talks in July The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper Kim Jong-il tells S. Korean presidential envoy in surprise meeting PYONGYANG - North Korean leader Kim Jong-il told South Korea yesterday that Pyongyang is willing to rejoin international nuclear disarmament negotiations as early as next month but only after the United States shows respect. Kim also said North Korea plans to rejoin the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and accept inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. watchdog, once the nuclear arms issue is resolved in six-party talks involving North Korea, South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia. To help normalize inter-Korean relations, the North's supreme leader said, he will make a return visit to South Korea in an "appropriate time," when the political mood around the Korean Peninsula gets ripe. South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young (left) talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during a luncheon in Pyongyang yesterday. [Unification Ministry] Kim, in the highest-level contact with South Korea in three years, also agreed to several inter-Korea measures - resumption of military talks, another round of family reunions and a North Korean delegation to Seoul in Aug. 15 to jointly celebrate liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The breakthrough on nuclear arms talks came during a surprise meeting between Kim and Chung Dong-young, special envoy of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun. "We have no reason to have any nuclear bomb, if Washington guarantees our political system. The North only wanted to stand against the United States because the United States despises us. But if the United States recognizes or respects us, we are willing to join six-party talks even in July," Chung quoted Kim as saying in a news briefing in Seoul after returning from Pyongyang. However, Kim said he first wanted to consult with the United States. Washington has mounted increasing pressure on North Korea to return to six-party talks. U.S. chief negotiator Christopher Hill said on Thursday that time is running out for Pyongyang. The disarmament talks have been frozen for nearly a year, with the North citing "hostile" U.S. policies. In February, the North announced that it has nuclear weapons and would not rejoin then six-party negotiations. Since then, Pyongyang has said that it is pursuing the creation of more weapons-grade plutonium to add to its nuclear arsenal. However, Kim was quoted as saying yesterday that the 1992 agreement with the South to keep the Korean Peninsula nuclear-free is still valid. The meeting between Kim and Unification Minister Chung began at 11 a.m. and spanned five hours. It included a more than 2-hour lunch followed by what was described as "in-depth" talks on the nuclear issue and inter-Korea issues. Chung delivered a verbal message from Roh, who promised his communist counterpart large-scale economic aid if the North makes a "strategic decision" about its arms program. "We had prepared such a message in anticipation of the Pyongyang meeting," said Suh Ho, director-general in charge of international cooperation at the Unification Ministry. Kim expressed "gratitude" and sent regards to Roh and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said, describing the meeting as a "warm conversation." Analysts said it is remarkable for Kim to specify when he could return to the negotiating table, brightening prospects for the international nuclear talks and stable inter-Korean relations. "The meeting indicated that North Korea does not want to play a war game with the United States, but is willing to disband its nuclear programs as long as Washington discards its ambition to change the regime," Paik Hak-soon, a senior researcher at private Sejong Institute said in a telephone interview. "Kim also needed to overcome its food shortage problems as well as show its people a congratulatory mood," Paik added. On Thursday night, the North's ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam told Chung his country was willing to improve ties with the United States. "North Korea will treat the U.S. as an ally if it acknowledges our system and policies," said Kim Young-nam, the North's deputy leader, told Chung, according to the Pyongyang headquarters for inter-Korean dialogue. Chung and a delegation of 300 South Korean officials and civic leaders arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday for anniversary celebrations of a watershed summit between Kim and then-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung in June 2000. The normally reclusive Kim reportedly agreed to yesterday's meeting proposed by the South Koreans, saying he wanted to see officials he had met in 2000. Yesterday's meeting was the highest level between Kim, 63, and a South Korean government official said April 2002, when he met Lim Dong-won, a former intelligence chief who was acting as a presidential envoy of then-President Kim Dae-jung. Lim was at the luncheon yesterday along with four other South Korean officials, the South's delegation said. Kim was quoted as saying that he does not dislike U.S. President George Bush and regards Bush as negotiable. "Since Clinton administration, I have had good image on the United States, and have no reason to think President Bush negatively. You (Chung) could make public what I think," Chung quoted Kim as saying. (smjoo@heraldm.com) By Joint Press Corpsand Joo Sang-min 2005.06.18 ***************************************************************** 8 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: N.K. Will Treat U.S. As Friend If Regime Acknowledged Home> National/Politics Updated Jun.17,2005 14:25 KST North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is expected to meet South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in Pyongyang sometime on Friday, presumably to discuss the nuclear issue. Seoul's Unification Ministry said Kim wanted a meeting with the South Korean cabinet member later in the day, but an exact time and venue were not immediately known. The announcement came just before the South Korean government delegation was to return to Seoul Friday morning. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the North's Number 2 leader said the Stalinist regime could treat the U.S. as an ally if Washington recognizes its political system. North Korea's second in command said the Stalinist state could treat the U.S. as a friend if Washington acknowledges its regime. The remarks came in a rare one-on-one between Kim Yong-nam and South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young in the North Korean capital on Thursday. It is highly unusual for the North to make such comments since Pyongyang has regarded Washington as its main enemy for more than 50 years. At the same time, U.S. President George W. Bush said in summit talks with South Korea last week that Washington is willing to consider "more normal relations" with the North if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear ambitions. Meanwhile, Minister Chung used the 25-minute closed-door meeting with Pyongyang's Kim Yong-nam to renew Seoul's stance, that peaceful and diplomatic dialogue is the best way to resolve the nuclear row. He also explained the results of last week's Seoul-Washington summit, during which the two sides reaffirmed the need for a diplomatic nuclear settlement. The North's ceremonial head of state reportedly responded by saying he understood the South's position. Also, Kim reportedly openly expressed his gratitude for emergency fertilizer aid recently provided by the South. Minister Chung led a 40-member government delegation to the fifth anniversary celebrations in Pyongyang marking the historic June 15 inter-Korean summit. Arirang TV ***************************************************************** 9 Xinhua: China plays indispensable role in solving Korean nuclear issue: Goh www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-17 20:15:34 BEIJING, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- Goh Kun, former prime minister of the Republic of Korea (ROK), said here Friday that China plays indispensable role in solving the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue. At the 2005 China-ROK Economic Cooperation Forum, Goh said that the early settlement of the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue, as a prerequisite for the common prosperity of the ROK, China, East Asia and the rest of the world, is one of the most important tasksfor cooperation between the ROK and China. The ROK and China share common interests in the Northeast Asia region, Goh said, adding that a nuclear-weapon-free Korean Peninsula will be conducive to safeguarding the interests of the two countries and also beneficial to the regional peace and economic prosperity. "In this sense, both the ROK and China have the obligation to make efforts for achieving denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," he added. The six-party talks, involving China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), the United States, ROK, Russia and Japan, have been regarded as the most effective, peaceful and proper way to solve the nuclear issue through dialogue. China has hosted three rounds of the six-party talks in Beijing from August 2003 to June 2004. Goh expressed his appreciation for China's efforts in promoting the progress of the six-party talks. He said he hoped that China will contribute more to solving the nuclear issue. The fourth round of six-party talks, originally scheduled for last September, was suspended mainly due to mistrust between the United States and the DPRK. "We hope that the talks will be resumed soon under the joint efforts of the ROK, China and other concerned parties," Goh said. China and the ROK will have an in-depth exchange of views on the six-party talks and the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula during ROK Prime Minister Lee Hae-Chan's official visit to China from June 21 to 23, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao here Tuesday. "Both China and the ROK are participants of the six-party talks, and China values the important role the ROK has been playing for the talks as well as its efforts to solve the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula," the spokesman said. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 Xinhua: DPRK willing to rejoin six-party talks if US shows respect : S. Korean www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-17 20:31:16 SEOUL, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is willing to return to the six-party nuclear talks in July, if the United States recognizes and respects Pyongyang, said South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Friday upon his arrival in South Korea from his Pyongyang visit. [South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young (L) poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (R) in Pyongyang June 17.] South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young (L) poses with North Korean leader Kim Jong Il (R) in Pyongyang June 17. Television footage showed, Chung, surrounded by scores of reporters, read a brief statement outside an entrance of the Incheon International Airport. "(National Defense Committee) Chairman Kim Jong Il said the DPRK is willing to return to the six-party talks even in July, if the US recognizes and respects (the DPRK)," Chung said. Chung led a 40-member South Korean government delegation to Pyongyang on Tuesday for joint celebration held in Pyongyang to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the inter-Korean summit between South Korean former President Kim Dae-jung and DPRK top leader KimJong Il in June 2000. During his stay in Pyongyang, Chung held meetings with Kim YongNam, president of the DPRK Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Kim Ki Nam, vice chairman of the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 Xinhua: DPRK willing to rejoin six-party nuclear talks www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-18 02:13:36 By Wang Mian SEOUL, June 17 (Xinhuanet) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is willing to return to the six-party nuclear talks in July, if the United States recognizes and respects Pyongyang, said South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young on Friday. Chung made this remarks in a televised press conference on Friday evening, hours after his returning from a four-day Pyongyang visit where he met with the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Il. The South Korean official and his 40-member government delegation attended a joint celebration held in Pyongyang to commemorate the 5th anniversary of the inter-Korean summit between South Korean former President Kim Dae-jung and the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Il in June 2000. "During the two-and-half-hour meeting with Kim Jong Il, we fully and deeply exchanged views on politics, economy, military and humanitarian issue, especially on the nuclear issue," Chung told reporters at the beginning of the press conference. Besides the meeting, Kim Jong Il also had lunch with Chung and other seven members from the South Korean government and civic delegations who were there to attend the joint celebration. Chung is the first South Korean senior official in the administration of South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun to meet the DPRK top leader. Chung said the atmosphere of the meeting is "very sincere, frank and honest." "On the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula, Kim Jong Il said denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula is the teachings of the deceased Kim Il Sung. The inter-Korean agreement on denuclearizingthe Korean Peninsula remains valid," Chung told reporters. South Korea and the DPRK ratified the Declaration on Denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in February 1992. The South Korean official, who also serves as head of the South Korean National Security Council, quoted Kim Jong Il as saying that the DPRK "has never given up or rejected" the nuclear talks. "Chairman Kim Jong Il said the DPRK is willing to return to the six-party talks even in July, if the US intention of recognizing and respecting the DPRK is clear," Chung said, adding that Kim also said it needs further detailed negotiation between the DPRK and the United States over the resumption of the six-party talks. Kim Jong Il also gave "positive evaluation" to the recent Seoul-Washington summit, and said he will closely monitor the US subsequent attitude, according to Chung. "The DPRK is willing to return to the NPT (Nuclear non-Proliferation Treaty) and receive inspection of the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) after the solution of the nuclear issue. It is unnecessary for the DPRK to have nuclear weapons," Chung quoted Kim Jong Il as saying Chung said when he told Kim a multilateral security safeguard is better than a bilateral one between the DPRK and the United States, Kim replied "It is reasonable, (we) will discuss the proposal carefully in future." The South Korean official said Kim promised to give reply after carefully study of the "important proposal" raised by the South Korean government concerning the solution of the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula. However, Chung did not give detailed explanation to the so-called "important proposal" which was first put forward by South Korean delegation at inter-Korean vice-ministerial talks held in May. "Kim said there is no reason to harbor hard feelings about Mr. Bush...Kim further said he has thought well of the United States since the (former US President Bill) Clinton's administration," briefed Chung. Chung and Kim also made several agreements on improving inter-Korean exchanges. Under the agreements, the DPRK will send influential official to attend a joint celebration to be held in Seoul around Aug. 15 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan's colonial rule. The two also agreed to resume reunions of separated family members, reopen inter-Korean general-level military talks and opena direct flight route between Seoul and Pyongyang. Chung's meeting with Kim has attracted much attention from local and world media as the six-party nuclear talks have been suspended for almost one year. China, the DPRK, the United States, Russia, South Korea and Japan have convened three rounds of six-party nuclear talks in Beijing, making efforts to peacefully resolve the nuclear issue onthe Korean Peninsula. However, the fourth round of the multilateral talks failed to be convened in last September as the DPRK refused to attend the talks, citing US hostile policy. Local media has spoke highly of Chung-Kim's meeting, commenting it boosts the prospect of restarting six-party talks. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 12 Asia Times: Korea News and Korean Business and Economy, Pyongyang At odds over Pyongyang By Bruce Klingner The dichotomy between the positions of the United States and South Korea in their perceptions following the recent summit of presidents Roh Moo-hyun and George W Bush is so broad that Seoul and the populace may well feel betrayed once it becomes apparent that the US has not altered its intention to increase pressure on Pyongyang over its nuclear program. Such a realization will aggravate already tense relations and further impair Washington's ability to achieve policy consensus on bringing Pyongyang back to the six-party negotiations. And South Korean pre-summit efforts to redress contentious bilateral issues were insufficient to bridge the philosophical chasm that continues to separate Seoul and Washington. Veneer of harmony Although both countries were eager to portray the solidarity of their alliance, neither president was willing to compromise on their diametrically opposed convictions regarding the nature of the North Korean regime and the most viable policy to alter its behavior. As a result, each president will continue to pursue his own policy, self-assured in its righteousness but risking misfortune due to an unwillingness or inability to accommodate the other. At the summit, the presidents stressed their common goal of a denuclearized North Korea while downplaying their vastly different approaches, as well as several other bilateral issues that have caused US anger and suspicion toward its ally. Roh downplayed reports of major rifts in the alliance, characterizing them instead as merely "one or two minor issues [which] I don't think will become a major problem". Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon dismissed questions as to whether potential escalatory steps were discussed, stating that such discussion would not be "helping to create a favorable atmosphere for a resumption of six-party talks". Kim Sook, director general for US affairs at the Foreign Ministry, stated that the two sides did not discuss any plans such as referring the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council once diplomacy failed. The Foreign Ministry even sought to prevent future perceptions of a disparity of views by urging North Korea to ignore any hardline US comments that were at odds with Bush's views expressed at the summit. From the US viewpoint, however, immutable issues such as Roh's proposed "balancing role" for South Korea, Seoul's initial rejection of US requests for a Concept of Operations Plan (Conplan 5029), and criticism of Washington's "strategic flexibility" policy are not so easily laid to rest. The two presidents relegated the issues to be discussed by "working-level officials". Divergent perceptions US media reporting was generally dismissive of the presidential summit statements as bromides designed merely to reduce short-term tensions between the two allies and were not reflective of a change in Washington's policy objectives. US perceptions of "papering over differences" were common. Conversely, South Korean media were universally praiseworthy in their coverage of the summit, characterizing it as having attained US agreement to Roh's advocacy of diplomacy and putting sanctions against North Korea in abeyance. The press acclaimed the summit as a success that had "calmed fears that there is friction" in the alliance or that there were differences in approach to North Korea. Even the opposition Grand National Party, which usually never passes up an opportunity to criticize Roh, was laudatory, with party chairwoman Park Geun-hye telling Roh that the summit had eased her concerns over the state of the alliance. The South Korean government and media clearly assimilated the portion of the US message pledging to seek a diplomatic resolution, but were dismissive or in denial of the remainder of Washington's intent of the eventual need to resort to "other measures" once, not if, negotiations failed. As a result, Seoul will continue to pursue its engagement policy, having declared that the summit achieved "breathing room" for continued diplomatic overtures, apparently unaware that the US is not fully on board with the South Korean approach. The summit meeting did not delineate a deadline for moving beyond diplomacy, nor articulate a common strategy for escalatory measures. Next steps North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye-gwan's announcement on the eve of the US-South Korean summit that Pyongyang was building more nuclear weapons undercut Roh's efforts by dispelling international euphoria generated earlier by indications that Pyongyang might return to negotiations. That said, Seoul has shown an inexhaustible ability to absorb North Korean affronts as it pursues its engagement policy. Seoul will attempt to press Pyongyang on the nuclear issue during the June 21-24 inter-Korean Ministerial meetings, but is unlikely to achieve anything other than agreeing to provide an additional largesse of 300,000 tons of fertilizer. Seoul has recently dangled an unspecified "important proposal" to entice North Korea, but only after Pyongyang returns to multilateral negotiations. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill acknowledged before a congressional committee on Wednesday that it would be difficult for the US to impose economic or political sanctions on North Korea without South Korean and Chinese support. As such, the summit may have served to postpone the rumored June deadline for Washington to begin stronger actions against Pyongyang. The onus remains on Pyongyang to respond, despite neither Washington nor Seoul having proffered any new incentives. Bush made clear during the summit that Washington was unwilling to move beyond its June 2004 proposal that would provide assurances only in return for North Korea first beginning to resume compliance with its international obligations. Pyongyang rejected that US proposal and continues to demand additional concessions from Washington. In the absence of movement by either the US or North Korea, the six-party talks will continue to have only a remote potential for resolving the current impasse. The lack of contingency planning at the summit and Ban Ki-moon's assertion that such discussions could occur only when all "relevant nations agree that diplomatic efforts have been completely exhausted" portend contentious bilateral discussions in the future. Bruce Klingner is the Korea analyst for Eurasia Group, the world's largest political risk consultancy firm. His areas of expertise are national security, political and military affairs in Korea, China and Japan. He can be reached at klingner@eurasiagroup.net (Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and republishing.) Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110 ***************************************************************** 13 AFP: Kim says NKorea willing to rejoin NPT, admit inspectors : SKorean official 17/06/2005 22h01 Kim Jong-Il (R) and Chung Dong-Young ©AFP/HO SEOUL (AFP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said the communist country would rejoin the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and open up to international inspectors once the nuclear standoff with the outside world was resolved. "Come and look. We have no reason to hide. We will expose everything (to inspections)," Kim was quoted as saying in talks with South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young in Pyongyang. Kim also said North Korea could return to stalled nuclear disarmament talks in July if the United States "recognizes and respects" his country as a dialogue partner. However, the North Korean leader said Pyongyang needed "further consultations with the United States" before returning to dialogue, Chung told journalists in Seoul after returning from the meeting with Kim. The United States reacted cautiously to the reported comments and said it was checking them with officials in South Korea. "We've seen the reports. We certainly look forward to speaking to our friends and partners from South Korea to get a full readout of the minister's meetings in North Korea," said deputy State Department spokesman Adam Ereli. North Korea became the first country to withdraw from the NPT in January 2003, three months after Washington accused Pyongyang of running a clandestine nuclear weapons programme based on enriched uranium. In December 2002, the Stalinist state kicked out international monitors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We are willing to return to the NPT," Chung quoted Kim as saying. "We are willing to open our facilities to thorough inspections if the nuclear issue is resolved." Kim did not indicate that there was any change in Pyongyang's demand that Washington drop its "hostile" policy towards North Korea as a precondition for a return to six-party talks aimed at ending the nuclear standoff. Washington has urged Pyongyang to return to dialogue without preconditions. North Korea declared on February 10 it possessed nuclear weapons and has maintained that they are needed as a deterrent to US plans to launch a nuclear war against the country. Kim said, however, that if North Korea's security was guaranteed it would have no need for nuclear weapons. "If our demands for a security guarantee are accepted, there is no reason for us to have even one nuclear weapon," he was quoted as saying. Chung Dong-young ©AFP/POOL - Lee Jin-man He was also conciliatory towards US President George W. Bush, referring to him as "his excellency President Bush" in an apparent response to Bush's use of the honorific "mister" in recent references to Kim. Chung had an unexpected face-to-face meeting with Kim for 150 minutes during a visit to Pyongyang in which he headed a South Korean government delegation to celebrate the fifth anniversary of a landmark inter-Korean summit. The meeting came one week after a summit between Bush and South Korean leader Roh Moo-Hyun at the White House at which the two leaders appealed to Pyongyang to end its boycott of dialogue. Chung quoted Kim as denying North Korea had ever said it would abandon the six-party disarmament forum, which has been stalled for a year. North Korea has boycotted the talks with South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States since last June. South Korean officials said earlier that they would make the best use of Chung's visit to Pyongyang to urge the Stalinist country to return to the talks. It was the first time the communist dictator has received a South Korean government official since April 2002 when he held talks with Lim Dong-Won, special envoy of then-president Kim Dae-Jung. Washington has indicated recently time may be running out on North Korea to return to the talks and that it was exploring other options to handle the standoff. However, Christopher Hill, the top US negotiator on North Korea, said Thursday that no deadline had been set for Pyongyang's return to the dialogue. On Thursday, North Korea's number two leader Kim Yong-Nam said Washington had yet to change its policy of hostility. He also complained the United States did not recognize the communist regime when Chung briefed him on the outcome of the recent South Korea-US summit. At the summit last week, Bush once again said Washington had no intention of attacking North Korea and that Pyongyang stood to gain significant economic and diplomatic benefits from ending its nuclear programs. é Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005 ***************************************************************** 14 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korean Leader Meets S. Korean Minister From the Associated Press [UP] Friday June 17, 2005 12:01 PM AP Photo SEL102 By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il met Friday with a top South Korean official for the first time in more than three years, raising hopes of an easing of the international standoff over the North's pursuit of nuclear weapons. South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-young delivered a spoken message to Kim from South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun calling for resolution of the nuclear issue and improved relations between the divided Koreas during 2-hour talks in the North's capital Pyongyang, according to pool reports. Kim ``expressed thanks'' and sent regards to Roh and former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported, characterizing the Friday meeting as a ``cordial talk.'' Kim agreed late Thursday to the meeting proposed by the South Koreans, saying he wanted to see officials traveling with Chung who he had previously met. The South Korean government delegation has been in Pyongyang since Tuesday for anniversary celebrations of a landmark summit between Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae-jung in June 2000 - the first-and-only such talks between leaders of the Koreas that remain technically at war. Also attending Friday's meeting was Lim Dong-won - a former South Korean intelligence chief who met Kim Jong Il as a presidential envoy in April 2002, the last top South Korean official to meet the North Korean leader - and former Unification Minister Park Jae-kyu, pool reports said. When Chung was asked by pool reporters in North Korea if the meeting went well, he said ``yes'' with a smile. Chung was to return later Friday to Seoul where he was to meet Roh and hold a news conference. The reclusive Kim rarely sees visiting officials, and the meeting raised hopes in the South of possible progress in resolving the latest nuclear crisis that erupted in late 2002 after U.S. officials accused Pyongyang of running a secret uranium enrichment program. ``It shows North Korea is making their best efforts,'' South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan told reporters in Seoul. The North has refused to return to nuclear disarmament talks for nearly a year, citing ``hostile'' U.S. policies, and declared it had nuclear weapons in February. It has also in recent months made moves that would allow it to create more weapons-grade plutonium, adding to a stockpile experts believe is already enough to build about six nuclear bombs. On Thursday evening, Chung met in Pyongyang with the North's No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, who said his country could treat the United States as a friendly nation if Washington acknowledges its regime. ``If the United States recognizes North Korea's system, North Korea too will treat them as an ally,'' Kim Yong Nam told Chung, according to the Unification Ministry. Chung relayed Seoul's position that the North Korean nuclear issue should be ``resolved peacefully and diplomatically through dialogue,'' his ministry said. He also told Kim Yong Nam the results of a recent Washington summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Roh, where the two reaffirmed they would solve the North Korean nuclear issue through diplomacy. Kim said in response that he understood the South's position. Kim Yong Nam also met Thursday with members of the South's civilian delegation to the anniversary festivities, where he repeated the North's allegations against Washington. ``The United States' hostile policies have not changed a bit and they are pressuring us in many aspects,'' he said. American officials have repeatedly said they have no intention to invade the North, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said Washington recognizes North Korea as a sovereign nation. Rice said Thursday that it wasn't enough for North Korea to return the disarmament talks - which also include China, Japan, Russia and South Korea - but that Pyongyang should commit to discussing the dismantling of its nuclear program. ``The ball is in the North Koreans' court,'' Rice said in Washington before leaving on a weeklong trip to the Middle East and Europe. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 15 sacbee.com: Governor could help pass climate bill Opinion - Editorial: Hot topics - Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, June 17, 2005 B6--> Even if Californians stopped driving cars and switched completely to alternative energy sources, the state would make only a small dent in the fossil-fuel emissions warming Earth's atmosphere. California, however, can provide global leadership on protecting the climate. That is where Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger could be pivotal. The U.S. Senate is preparing to debate the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act as part of a larger energy bill. The measure, sponsored by Republican John McCain of Arizona and Democrat Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, would require mandatory carbon dioxide reductions in all sectors of the U.S economy by 2010. President Bush, bowing to Exxon-Mobil and other polluters, has called only for voluntary reductions in carbon dioxide, a main cause of global warming. The McCain-Lieberman bill isn't perfect. It includes loan guarantees for certain hand-picked industries, including nuclear power, instead of an approach that lets the market determine the cleanest and most efficient technologies. On the other hand, the bill includes firm mandates, not mushy goals, for industries to reduce their emissions to 2000-year levels by 2010. It includes an innovative trading program that gives business flexibility in meeting this mandate. Schwarzenegger made us proud by declaring two weeks ago that the debate is over on global warming. "We know the science. We see the threat, and we know the time for action is now," the governor said. Schwarzenegger could now put words into action by picking up the phone and urging some of his Republican friends in Congress to support McCain-Lieberman. He also should urge bipartisan support from California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, who are concerned because the bill includes (minor) subsidies for nuclear power. Speaking of bipartisan support, why are Democrats and Republicans sniping about global warming policy here in California? Schwarzenegger recently signed an executive order that sets benchmarks for reducing greenhouse emissions in the state. Democrats called a press conference to say the order doesn't go far enough. Although Democrats are justified in seeking the strongest possible provisions, they should give the governor some slack. Schwarzenegger is one of the few Republicans with the courage to be candid about global warming. If Democrats can't meet him halfway, they have been spending too much time in the sun. [The Sacramento Bee] ***************************************************************** 16 Washington Post: Finance Panel Approves Energy Tax Breaks washingtonpost.com Senate Plan Would Promote Renewable Resources, Costing $14 Billion Over a Decade By Justin BlumWashington Post Staff Writer Friday, June 17, 2005; Page A04 A Senate committee yesterday approved a package of tax breaks for energy production that would cost about $14 billion over 10 years. The Finance Committee measure, which was sent to the full Senate for consideration as part of an energy bill, provides some tax breaks for traditional forms of energy but focuses heavily on incentives for renewable and cleaner burning forms of energy. The measure is far more costly than the White House has requested and is almost entirely different from a package of energy tax breaks approved by the House in April. [Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) proposed an amendment aimed at cutting U.S. dependency on foreign oil by 40 percent in 20 years. It was defeated.] Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) proposed an amendment aimed at cutting U.S. dependency on foreign oil by 40 percent in 20 years. It was defeated. (By Melina Mara -- The Washington Post) ' ---> On the Senate floor, where debate over energy legislation began this week, lawmakers yesterday narrowly approved an amendment by Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) that would require 10 percent of electricity sold to consumers to come from renewable sources by 2020. The Senate also narrowly rejected an amendment by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) that set a goal of reducing U.S. dependency on foreign oil by 40 percent in 20 years. The United States imports about 58 percent of its oil. With soaring energy prices, the Bush administration has made passage of energy legislation a top priority. The tax breaks, approved by voice vote in the Finance Committee, are far different from those in a House energy bill that passed in April, which cost less and focused more on incentives for the oil and natural gas industry. The Senate tax breaks are far more expensive than the $6.7 billion in tax breaks sought by the Bush administration. Before approving the tax breaks, Democrats and Republicans spoke in support of the measure, saying it would help reduce dependency on foreign oil and cut pollution. One dissenter, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), said he was concerned about giving away too much money to encourage energy production that might happen anyway. "It almost seems to me like folks think it's free money," Kyl said. But others on the committee said the measures would encourage more domestic energy production and make the United States less reliant on other countries. "What we're trying to do is get the United States a little more independent of oil," said Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), chairman of the committee. The measure provides production tax credits for several electricity sources, including nuclear, wind, geothermal and biomass. The legislation also provides tax incentives for turning coal into natural gas and for cleaner-burning coal plants. For the oil industry, the legislation includes tax breaks for producers who inject carbon dioxide into wells to increase the amount of oil that can be recovered. It also provides a tax break for drilling onshore for natural gas deeper than 20,000 feet. The legislation also provides tax breaks for energy-efficient commercial buildings, homes and appliances. Also included are tax credits for the purchase of hybrid vehicles. On the Senate floor, the requirement that electric companies provide a percentage of renewable energy -- such as wind or solar power -- passed after debate about its impacts. Some lawmakers argued that it would inflate consumers' electricity bills, while supporters said the requirement would lead to lower energy costs, reduce pollution and make the country less dependent on foreign energy sources. © 2005 The Washington Post Company ***************************************************************** 17 LA Times: Senate Backs Using Renewable Energy to Generate Electricity [The Los Angeles Times - latimes.com] June 17, 2005 latimes.com + By setting a goal of 10% by 2020, senators defy the White House and utilities in a move seen as complicating efforts to remake energy policy. By Richard Simon, Times Staff Writer WASHINGTON  Over the objections of the White House and utility industry, the Senate voted Thursday to require that 10% of the nation's electricity be generated from alternative energy sources  such as solar and wind power  by 2020. The vote complicates efforts to produce the first overhaul of national energy policy in a decade. Though the provision helps solidify Democratic support for the bill in the Senate, it is likely to become an issue during negotiations on a final measure with the House. The House energy bill, approved in April, does not include a similar requirement. The provision was welcomed by environmentalists, who have found little else they like in either version of the energy bills. Each includes measures aimed at promoting conservation and greater use of cleaner energy sources. But environmentalists have complained that the bills are too heavily tilted toward increased production of traditional energy sources, such as oil, natural gas, coal and nuclear power. Most of the nation's electricity is generated using coal, nuclear power or natural gas. Renewable energy accounts for more than 2% of the nation's electricity supply. Opponents of the requirement that more electricity come from alternative sources contended it could drive up utility costs, especially in regions where the climate did not produce strong wind or extensive sunshine. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) complained that utilities that could not meet the 10% standard would have to buy credits from power companies that exceed it  and would pass on that cost to consumers. Alexander questioned the practicality of the amendment, saying, "I'm not anxious to go home to Tennessee and say, 'We are worried … that natural gas prices are high, and our solution: Tens of thousands of windmills.' " The provision, known as the "renewable portfolio standard," passed by a 52-48 vote. Virtually all of the Senate's 44 Democrats supported it, including Californians Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein. But backing from nine Republicans proved crucial to its passage. The amendment's supporters said it would help prevent price spikes that could occur from utilities relying on a single energy source. The supporters also said the provision would reduce emissions from power plants that burned fossil fuels. Such emissions have been blamed for global warming. The amendment's chief sponsor, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), said, "We are trying … to implement a policy to develop an energy future for the nation that will rely on our own resources … that would provide for cleaner air and water." Opposing the provision, the Bush administration said that setting a standard for use of renewable energy sources was "best left to the states." About 18 states have passed "renewable portfolio standard" laws. In California, private utilities are required to generate 20% of their electricity from renewable sources by 2017. Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric Institute, a utility association that opposed the measure, said the close vote underscored "concerns about the costs for electricity customers and the potential for a wealth transfer from regions of the country where renewable energy sources are scarce to regions where they are abundant." The GOP senators who voted for the provision were Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Norman Coleman of Minnesota, John Ensign of Nevada, Gordon Smith of Oregon, Sam Brownback of Kansas and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. Also supporting it was the Senate's lone Independent, James Jeffords of Vermont. The two Democrats opposing the amendment were Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia. The requirement for utilities to generate more electricity from renewable sources is one of several issues that finds the Republican-controlled Senate acting against the wishes of the administration on energy legislation, as well as differing with the House version. For instance, the Senate next week is expected to add $14 billion in tax breaks to the bill, roughly double the amount the White House supports. The Senate tax breaks are geared more toward promoting conservation and the production of more energy from alternatives sources. The $8 billion in tax breaks in the House bill would mainly benefit the oil and gas industries. The Senate energy bill includes a provision opposed by the administration that would direct the president to find ways to reduce, by 2015, the country's projected demand for oil by 1 million barrels a day. The House bill does not contain that provision. The Senate voted 53 to 47 on Thursday to reject an effort to set a goal of cutting projected oil imports for 2025 by 40%. Copyright 2005 Los Angeles Times ***************************************************************** 18 RIA Novosti: Russia has its own non-proliferation verification technologies WASHINGTON, June 17 (RIA Novosti, Arkady Orlov) - Russia has verification technologies for monitoring nuclear non-proliferation, which are widely used in the world, including by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Alexander Rumyantsev, head of the Russian Federal Nuclear Energy Agency (Rosatom), said this to journalists in Washington. He came to the U.S. capital for a session of the Russian-American interdepartmental High Level Group for Nuclear Security. "We supply many devices to the IAEA, including seals and different techniques," the head of Rosatom said. "Being a member of the IAEA, Russia supplies it with technologies for effective control of its non-proliferation activities," he stressed. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 19 The Herald: G8 cold shoulder on global warming Web Issue 2291 June 17 2005 DAMIEN HENDERSON June 17 2005 A briefing on climate change for next month's G8 summit questions whether global warming exists and has scaled down recommendations to tackle the problem. The text has removed plans to fund research and put into question top scientists' warnings that warming is under way. Gleneagles Plan of Action, dated June 14, has been watered down from a previous draft which itself had no specific targets or timetables for action. The new draft also explicitly endorses using "zero-carbon" nuclear power  another development that will dismay environmentalists three weeks before the summit of the world's eight richest nations at Gleneagles, Perthshire. A passage blaming coal power stations for generating the highest greenhouse gas emissions of all power generation options is removed. Instead, it calls for a diversification of supply mix with increased use of renewables. Catherine Pearce, Friends of the Earth International's climate campaigner, said the document showed that negotiations were going backwards. "Every reference to the urgency of action or the need for real cuts in emissions has been deleted or challenged. Nothing in this text recognises the scale or urgency of the crisis of climate change," she said. The document says that member states "take note" of G8 countries that continue to use nuclear power and develop new nuclear technologies. This includes the US-backed Generation IV International Forum, described as "the next generation of cleaner, safer nuclear energy systems". A source close to the negotiations said, on condition of anonymity: "The text is getting weaker and weaker. There are no targets, no timetables, no standards  and even the money is gone. "You are looking at a very, very serious problem for (Tony) Blair." An introductory paragraph has moved the statement "our world is warming" into square brackets and given the same treatment to a statement from the top scientists that climate change is already under way and demands urgent action. All references in a draft dated May 3 to unspecified dollar funds for research and development into clean technology and fuels have been excised from the latest version. References in the May 3 draft to "setting ambitious targets and timetables" for cutting carbon emissions from buildings have disappeared from the June 14 text. A suggestion that the developed world has a duty of leadership in combating global warming is also given square brackets. The prime minister has promised to put climate change at the heart of Britain's year-long presidency of the G8. He visited three G8 leaders in two days this week to drum up support for his priorities. The leaders of the G8 and major developing nations, South Africa, Brazil, India, Mexico and China, are to meet at the Gleneagles hotel from July 6-8. The US, questioning the scientific basis for global warming, refuses to sign up to the Kyoto Protocol, aimed at cutting carbon dioxide emissions. The new draft illustrates the weakening process that has gone on in just six weeks. Copyright © Newsquest (Herald & Times) Limited. All Rights ***************************************************************** 20 NewsFromRussia.Com Middle East: nuclear weapons or generating electricity 10:40 2005-06-17 The US said yesterday it was troubled by new disclosures indicating Iran conducted experiments to create plutonium as late as 1998, five years after it claimed it had abandoned such work. But it said the discoveries would not alter its full support for European efforts to negotiate an end to Iranian efforts to produce nuclear materials. The disclosures about the small-scale plutonium reprocessing experiments conducted in 1995 and 1998 were contained in a report by Pierre Goldschmidt, deputy director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, delivered to the agency's board in Vienna yesterday. The agency concluded from plutonium samples brought back from Iran in 2003 that the country had conducted these later experiments and Iran admitted to them in a letter to the agency last month. Mr Goldschmidt's report also said he was seeking shipping documentation to resolve discrepancies in Iranian statements about when components for enriching uranium arrived in the country in the 1990s. There are signs some parts arrived earlier than Tehran had previously indicated. He also sought more information about the initial contacts by Iranian officials with Abdul-Qadeer Khan, a Pakistani scientist whose network provided substantial help to Iran's efforts to enrich uranium. So far Iran has produced only a single page report of a supposed first meeting in 1987. The US, which accuses Iran of pursuing a clandestine programme to produce nuclear weapons, said that Iran's misreporting about its nuclear programme was too pervasive to be inadvertent. Iran, which asserts its nuclear ambitions are peaceful, denied that the misreporting was significant, reports the Financial Times. Tehran maintains its nuclear program is for generating electricity. The IAEA approved the deal with Saudi Arabia despite serious misgivings about such arrangements in this era of heightened proliferation fears. IAEA officials say there is no reason to doubt the Saudis when they say they have no plans to develop nuclear arms and no facilities or nuclear stocks that warrant inspection. The Saudis qualified for a ``small quantities protocol'' - an agreement that already applies to 75 other nations, including Vatican City and Trinidad and Tobago, and that puts the onus solely on the nation to report its status to the IAEA. The protocol frees countries from reporting the possession of up to 10 tons of natural uranium - enough to make a bomb - or up to 20 tons of depleted uranium, depending on the degree of enrichment, and 2.2 pounds of plutonium, tells the Guardian Unlimited. The timing of the Saudi deal comes amid persistent tensions in the Middle East, concern about Iran's nuclear ambitions and increased fears that countries or terrorists are looking to acquire nuclear arms. It also coincides with an IAEA push to tighten or rescind the protocol because of loopholes that encourage potential proliferators, as suggested in a confidential IAEA document prepared for the 35-nation board and made available to The Associated Press. NR Copyright ©1999 by "Pravda.RU". When reproducing our materials ***************************************************************** 21 SF Chronicle: IAEA to Crack Down on Nuke Proliferators By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press Writer Friday, June 17, 2005 (06-17) 12:44 PDT VIENNA, Austria (AP) -- The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency agreed Friday to U.S. calls for creating a panel to crack down on proliferators but it gave the committee little clout for pressuring rogue nations to give up nuclear arms. Iran, meanwhile, accused the International Atomic Energy Agency of false reporting on its plutonium experiments  a charge rejected by the head of the nuclear monitoring organization. The agency passed a document creating the special committee, as called for by President Bush. But the document laid down a vague mandate, saying the panel would be considering "ways and means to strengthen the safeguards system and to report ... with recommendations to the IAEA board of governors." It lacked U.S. proposals for giving the panel authority to recommend special inspections and U.N. Security Council action against suspected proliferators. The U.S. proposals floated at the five-day IAEA meeting also included barring such nations from committee membership. Still, the U.S. chief delegate to the IAEA board meeting, Jackie Sanders, hailed the move as "an important step" that meets Bush's 2004 proposal for an IAEA special committee that would "focus intensively on safeguards and verification." "The proliferation challenges of today, including ... North Korea and Iran, and the revelation of nuclear procurement networks calls for more evolution," Sanders told reporters. "This new committee should play a key role in helping us meet those challenges." In Washington, Adam Ereli, the State Department's deputy spokesman, acknowledged there was "a lot of work to do" beyond the agreement that was reached to give the committee enforcement powers. But overall, the State Department also praised the decision to create such an IAEA unit. The IAEA document and rejected U.S. proposals were made available to The Associated Press by diplomats who demanded anonymity because they were not authorized to pass on such information to the media. North Korea and Iran are considered the main proliferation threats. North Korea quit the IAEA and kicked out its inspectors after U.S. officials accused it in 2002 of running a secret uranium enrichment program. Pyongyang announced in February that it had nuclear weapons. The claim has not been verified independently, but experts believe the North is capable of building about six bombs. The United States has also accused Iran of trying to make nuclear arms, but Tehran says its nuclear program is geared only toward generating energy. Washington had hoped the IAEA board would approve a committee with tough authority to increase pressure on Tehran to abandon its nuclear program. During this week's meeting, which ended Friday, the board heard a report that Tehran recently acknowledged working with small amounts of plutonium, a possible weapons component, for years longer than it originally had disclosed. The report also said Iran received technology that could be used for uranium enrichment  a possible pathway to nuclear arms  earlier than it previously said. Iran disputed that finding Friday, with senior delegation member Ali Asrar Sultani accusing the IAEA of an "incorrect conclusion or misunderstanding." He suggested the agency was mixing up plutonium separation with post-separation work. But IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei said the report contained "absolutely correct dates" and other information. "Confidence is (only) built when you feel that you are getting full transparency and that stories are not changing," he said, suggesting Tehran was at fault for offering inconsistent versions of what it had done and when. Iran has frozen enrichment and related activities while holding talks with Germany, France and Britain meant to reduce fears about Tehran's nuclear intentions. The European powers want a permanent freeze, while Tehran says it has the right to enrich uranium for power generation. Tehran's nearly 20-year-old atomic program was revealed in 2002. During the five-day meeting, delegates also approved a deal with Saudi Arabia allowing it to escape inspections by declaring it has too little nuclear material and equipment to warrant onsite verification. Such deals, implemented by 75 nations, are increasingly being seen as dangerous loopholes for potential nuclear proliferators. Proposals to either rescind or tighten the deals are being considered. Acknowledging the arrangement's weaknesses, ElBaradei said he would not hesitate to call for inspections of any country suspected of proliferation or other abuses. On the Net: International Atomic Energy Agency: www.iaea.org San Francisco Chronicle ***************************************************************** 22 Xinhua: New energy laws must be "prudent": officials, experts www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-17 09:22:34 BEIJING, June 17 -- Government officials and industry experts are warning policy-makers to be prudent in balancing the interests of different groups within the economy, as laws on renewable energy are introduced. Pertinent government bodies including the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the State Administration of Taxation and the State Environmental Protection Administration are working together on implementing rules for the country's first renewable energy law, which was passed in February and scheduled to take effect from the start of next year. "As part of the new law, a proposed regulation on on-grid prices of renewable-energy-generated electricity will be submitted to the central government for approval by November," said Wang Fengchun, deputy director-general of the Research Department of Environmental Protection & Resources Conservation Committee under the National People's Congress (NPC). Pricing of electricity sold to the country's power grids has been a core issue in the forthcoming law that will be affiliated with a host of major industrial sectors to affect the nation's economy, said Wang Fengchun. "It is still a tough decision to make over who will be able to afford the higher power price generated by the increased cost of using renewable energy to produce electricity," said Ni Weidou, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, on the sidelines of the third advisory board meeting of the Tsinghua-BP clean energy centre. Wang Weicheng, member of NPC's Standing Committee, said it is fairer for the general public to pay for the cost increase when the government starts implementing the law next year, in a move to rationalize economic growth along with the environment and energy concerns. As well as electricity pricing, the law will include compulsory measures for the country's major energy contributors such as Sinopec and PetroChina to take in a certain amount of oil and gas produced using renewable energy. "The question remains as to what extent the companies will submit to the new terms, because that will obviously increase their operation costs," Wang Weicheng said yesterday during an energy conservation forum in Beijing. To meet the surging energy demand in the world's fastest-growing major economy, it is a strategic and secure way to diversify energy sources, including the use of nuclear power and other renewable energies such as wind and solar power, said Guy F Caruso, administrator of the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy. But it will take more time for the renewable energies to play a larger role in fuelling China's economic growth, added Caruso. (Source: China Daily) Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 23 NRC: NRC Names New Senior Resident Inspector at Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant News Release - Region IV - 2005-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region IV No. IV-05-026 June 17, 2005 CONTACT: Victor Dricks Phone: 817-860-8128 E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has promoted Terry Jackson to senior resident inspector at the Diablo Canyon nuclear plant, located in San Luis Obispo, Calif. Terry Jackson has served the agency and the local community well as resident inspector at Diablo Canyon and I am confident that he will continue to do so as our senior inspector at the site, said NRC Regional Administrator Bruce S. Mallet. Jackson, who has been a resident inspector at Diablo Canyon since 2000, will work with Tim McConnell, a resident inspector at the plant. Jackson first joined the NRC in 1993 as a digital instrumentation and control engineer at NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md., and transferred to Region IV in 2000. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in computer engineering at Clemson University in 1993, and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering at Virginia Tech in 1996. He lives with his wife and daughter in Atascadero, Calif. Each of the countrys commercial nuclear plants has resident inspectors who serve as the agencys eyes and ears at the facility, conducting regular inspections, monitoring significant work projects and interacting with plant workers and the public. The resident inspectors at Diablo Canyon can be reached at: (805) 595-2354. Last revised Friday, June 17, 2005 ***************************************************************** 24 Bellona: Sevmash to start construction of floating nuclear power plant Russian Federal Agency on Atomic Energy decided to start constructing floating nuclear power plant at Severodvinsk Sevmash navy plant in 2006. Arkhangelsk authorities vote for nuclear power Parliamentarian hearings regarding floating NPP construction in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, took place at the local council, daily Arkhangelsk reported. 2005-06-17 14:22 The State board of experts recognized the project as economically effective. According to estimates by the experts of the Russian Rosenergatom concern, the project will cover the expenses in eight years. Rosenergatom has got a license to place the plant in Severodvinsk and to build a floating power unit equipped with nuclear reactor installations. The construction schedule should be developed by October 21, 2005. 2004-05-13 Russian NPPs Russian Federation Council discussing Severodvinsk floating NPP today 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 ***************************************************************** 25 Tri-City Herald: Nuclear power plant again shut down This story was published Friday, June 17th, 2005 By Chris Mulick, Herald Olympia bureau The nuclear power plant north of Richland shut itself down earlier this week just days after restarting from a successful refueling outage. The 1,157-megawatt reactor went down Wednesday afternoon because of problems with a digital system that controls valves regulating steam flow from the reactor to the turbines that drive the generator. That system also controls pressure inside the reactor. It's the same system that forced a shutdown last summer. Crews still were working to identify the precise cause of the failure Thursday afternoon, and the plant cannot be restarted until they do. That restart did not appear imminent. "It's unclear how long the plant will be down," said Energy Northwest spokesman Brad Peck. The unplanned outage marks a tough blow to Energy Northwest, which had been receiving kudos for its timely conclusion of a 35-day refueling outage last weekend. The Columbia Generating Station had only returned to full power Monday. "We were feeling pretty confident," Peck said. "It's a complex machine. It's not uncommon to have issues crop up." He said the plant would be restarted as soon as possible without compromising safety. "The sooner the better," said Ed Mosey, a spokesman for the Bonneville Power Administration, which buys all of the plant's power. "It's a big machine, and things do go wrong." The plant also had problems coming out of its most recent refueling outage in 2003 and wasn't running at full power for five weeks. While it is down, Energy Northwest plans to tackle additional maintenance projects it otherwise would not have had the plant been running. © 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 26 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Meeting Notice FR Doc E5-3132 [Federal Register: June 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 116)] [Notices] [Page 35308-35309] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jn05-118] In accordance with the purposes of sections 29 and 182b. of the Atomic Energy Act (42 U.S.C. 2039, 2232b), the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) will hold a meeting on July 6-8, 2005, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The date of this meeting was previously published in the Federal Register on Wednesday, November 24, 2004 (69 FR 68412). Wednesday, July 6, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.-8:35 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open)-- The ACRS--Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting. 8:35 a.m.-10 a.m.: Final Review of the License Renewal Application for Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the Indiana Michigan Power Company and the NRC staff regarding the license renewal application for Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 and the associated final Safety Evaluation Report prepared by the NRC staff. 10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Final Safety Evaluation Report Related to North Anna Early Site Permit Application (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the Dominion North Anna, LLC and the NRC staff regarding the NRC staff's Final Safety Evaluation report related to the North Anna Early Site Permit Application. 1:45 p.m.-3:15 p.m.: Draft Final Regulatory Guide, DG-1137, ``Guidelines for Lightning Protection for Nuclear Power Plants'' (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with [[Page 35309]] representatives of the NRC staff regarding the draft final revision to Regulatory Guide DG-1137, and the NRC staff's resolution of public comments. 3:30 p.m.-5 p.m.: Draft Final Revision 2 to Regulatory Guide 1.152, ``Criteria for Use of Computers in Safety Systems of Nuclear Power Plants'' (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the draft final revision 2 to Regulatory Guide 1.152, and the NRC staff's resolution of public comments. 5:15 p.m.-7 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports on matters considered during this meeting as well as proposed reports on responding to the Commission request in the April 26, 2005 Staff Requirements Memorandum regarding the ACRS assessment of the quality of the NRC research projects, and on the draft Commission paper on policy issues related to new plant licensing, Thursday, July 7, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.-8:35 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACRS Chairman (Open)-- The ACRS Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of the meeting. 8:35 a.m.-9:30 a.m.: Subcommittee Reports (Open)--The Committee will hear a report by the Chairman of the ACRS Subcommittee on Digital Instrumentation and Control (I) Systems regarding the digital I research plan and other related matters that were discussed at the June 14-15, 2005 Subcommittee meeting. Also, the Committee will hear a report by the Chairman of the Joint ACRS Subcommittee on Reliability and Probabilistic Risk Assessment and on Plant Operations regarding the Risk-Management Technical Specifications and related matters that were discussed at the June 15, 2005 Subcommittee meeting. 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.: Status Report/Interim Results of the Quality Assessment of Selected NRC Research Projects (Open)--The Committee will hear reports by the Chairmen of the ACRS Panels regarding the status/ interim results of the quality assessment of the NRC research projects on Standardized Plant Analysis Risk (SPAR) models and on the Steam Generator Tube Integrity Program at the Argonne National Laboratory. 10:45 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Future ACRS Activities/Report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee (Open)--The Committee will discuss the recommendations of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee regarding items proposed for consideration by the full Committee during future meetings. Also, it will hear a report of the Planning and Procedures Subcommittee on matters related to the conduct of ACRS business, including anticipated workload and member assignments. 11:45 a.m.-12 noon: Reconciliation of ACRS Comments and Recommendations (Open)--The Committee will discuss the responses from the NRC Executive Director for Operations (EDO) to comments and recommendations included in recent ACRS reports and letters. 1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will discuss proposed ACRS reports. 4:45 p.m.-6:45 p.m.: Safeguards and Security Matters (Closed), Room T-8E8. The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the NRC staff regarding the safeguards and security matters. (Note: This session will be closed to protect information classified as national security information and safeguards information pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and (3).) Friday, July 8, 2005, Conference Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, Rockville, Maryland 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.: Preparation of ACRS Reports (Open)--The Committee will continue its discussion of proposed ACRS reports. 4 p.m.-4:30 p.m.: Miscellaneous (Open)--The Committee will discuss matters related to the conduct of Committee activities and matters and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. Procedures for the conduct of and participation in ACRS meetings were published in the Federal Register on October 5, 2004 (69 FR 59620). In accordance with those procedures, oral or written views may be presented by members of the public, including representatives of the nuclear industry. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during the open portions of the meeting. Persons desiring to make oral statements should notify the Cognizant ACRS staff named below five days before the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate arrangements can be made to allow necessary time during the meeting for such statements. Use of still, motion picture, and television cameras during the meeting may be limited to selected portions of the meeting as determined by the Chairman. Information regarding the time to be set aside for this purpose may be obtained by contacting the Cognizant ACRS staff prior to the meeting. In view of the possibility that the schedule for ACRS meetings may be adjusted by the Chairman as necessary to facilitate the conduct of the meeting, persons planning to attend should check with the Cognizant ACRS staff if such rescheduling would result in major inconvenience. In accordance with Subsection 10(d) Pub. L. 92-463, I have determined that it is necessary to close a portion of this meeting noted above to discuss and protect information classified as national security information and safeguards information pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(1) and (3). Further information regarding topics to be discussed, whether the meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, as well as the Chairman's ruling on requests for the opportunity to present oral statements and the time allotted therefor can be obtained by contacting Mr. Sam Duraiswamy, Cognizant ACRS staff (301-415-7364), between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., ET. ACRS meeting agenda, meeting transcripts, and letter reports are available through the NRC Public Document Room at pdr@nrc.gov, or by calling the PDR at 1-800-397-4209, or from the Publicly Available Records System (PARS) component of NRC's document system (ADAMS) which is accessible from the NRC Web site at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html or http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/ (ACRS & ACNW Mtg schedules/agendas). Videoteleconferencing service is available for observing open sessions of ACRS meetings. Those wishing to use this service for observing ACRS meetings should contact Mr. Theron Brown, ACRS Audio Visual Technician (301-415-8066), between 7:30 a.m. and 3:45 p.m., ET, at least 10 days before the meeting to ensure the availability of this service. Individuals or organizations requesting this service will be responsible for telephone line charges and for providing the equipment and facilities that they use to establish the videoteleconferencing link. The availability of videoteleconferencing services is not guaranteed. Dated: June 13, 2005. Annette Vietti-Cook, Secretary of the Commission. [FR Doc. E5-3132 Filed 6-16-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 27 NRC: NRC Issues Safety Evaluation for North Anna Early Site Permit Application News Release - 2005-09 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 05-093 June 17, 2005 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff has issued its final safety evaluation report (SER) for a requested Early Site Permit (ESP) at the North Anna site in Louisa County, Va., about 40 miles northwest of Richmond. The ESP process allows an applicant to resolve certain safety and environmental issues related to siting prior to submitting an application to build a new nuclear power plant. An ESP denotes a sites suitability for construction and operation of a nuclear plant. The North Anna application was filed Sep. 25, 2003, by Dominion Nuclear North Anna, LLC. If approved, the permit would allow Dominion to reserve the site for up to 20 years. A future application for a construction permit or combined license at the North Anna site could then reference the ESP. NRC reviewers and inspectors reviewed and verified the information that Dominion provided to resolve issues noted in a draft SER issued in December 2004. The staff noted several issues that must be addressed later in any application to build a new reactor at the site such as shutdown actions for the proposed Unit 3 if the adjacent Lake Annas water level falls below a certain point. The staff has also recommended eight conditions to be imposed on the Early Site Permit if the Commission decides to issue it, including: Requiring use of a dry cooling tower by the proposed Unit 4 during normal operation, and Requiring a design for a radioactive waste facility with features that preclude any accidental radionuclide release into a liquid pathway (e.g., groundwater). A final decision on the ESP application is expected in mid-2006, after receipt of a report from the NRCs independent Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, issuance of the staffs final Environmental Impact Statement, and the conclusion of an NRC Atomic Safety and Licensing Board hearing on the application. NRC staff has reviewed information Dominion provided regarding the ESP site in areas including: site seismology, geology, meteorology and hydrology; risks from potential accidents resulting from operation of a nuclear plant at the site; the sites ability to support adequate physical security for a nuclear plant; and proposed major features of the emergency plan Dominion would implement if a reactor is eventually built at the site. Dominion will have 14 days to review the SER for proprietary information. The report will then be available electronically for public inspection in the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Md. It will also be available on the NRCs Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/new-licensing/esp/north-anna.html. In addition, the Louisa County Library, 881 Davis Highway in Mineral, Va., has agreed to make the SER available for public inspection. Last revised Friday, June 17, 2005 ***************************************************************** 28 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Subcommittee Meeting on FR Doc E5-3133 [Federal Register: June 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 116)] [Notices] [Page 35310] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jn05-119] [[Page 35310]] Planning and Procedures; Notice of Meeting The ACRS Subcommittee on Planning and Procedures will hold a meeting on July 5, 2005, Room T-2B1, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. The entire meeting will be open to public attendance, with the exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss organizational and personnel matters that relate solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of the ACRS, and information the release of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy. The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: Tuesday, July 5, 2005, 3 p.m.-4:30 p.m. The Subcommittee will discuss proposed ACRS activities and related matters. The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze relevant issues and facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions, as appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee. Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official, Mr. Sam Duraiswamy (telephone: (301) 415-7364) between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (ET) five days prior to the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate arrangements can be made. Electronic recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the meeting that are open to the public. Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by contacting the Designated Federal Official between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. (ET). Persons planning to attend this meeting are urged to contact the above named individual at least two working days prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes in the agenda. Dated: June 13, 2005. Michael R. Snodderly, Acting Chief, ACRS/ACNW. [FR Doc. E5-3133 Filed 6-16-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 29 NRC: TXU Generation Company, LP; Notice of Withdrawal of Application FR Doc E5-3134 [Federal Register: June 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 116)] [Notices] [Page 35308] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jn05-117] for Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of TXU Generation Company, LP (the licensee) to withdraw its August 5, 2004, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License No. NPF-87 and Facility Operating License No. NPF-89 for Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, Units 1 and 2, respectively, located in Somervell County, Texas. The proposed amendments would have revised the facility Technical Specifications (TSs) pertaining to control room emergency filtration/ pressurization system (CREFS). The revised TSs would have added a new condition for an inoperable control room boundary with an opening (breach) into the cable spreading room, for an extended period of time (greater than current 24 hours). The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on August 31, 2004 (69 FR 55114). However, by letter dated May 18, 2005, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated August 5, 2004, and the licensee's letter dated May 18, 2005, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 9th day of June 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Mohan C. Thadani, Senior Project Manager, Section 1, Project Directorate IV, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-3134 Filed 6-16-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 30 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; FR Doc E5-3135 [Federal Register: June 17, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 116)] [Notices] [Page 35307-35308] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr17jn05-116] Comment Request AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). ACTION: Notice of pending NRC action to submit an information collection request to OMB and solicitation of public comment. SUMMARY: The NRC is preparing a submittal to OMB for review of continued approval of information collections under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be submitted: [[Page 35308]] 1. The Title of the Information Collection: Voluntary Reporting of Performance Indicators. 2. Current OMB Approval Number: 3150-0195. 3. How Often the Collection Is Required: Quarterly. 4. Who Is Required or Asked To Report: Power reactor licensees. 5. The Number of Annual Respondents: 104 reactors. 6. The Number of Hours Needed Annually To Complete the Requirement or Request: 84,520 (83,200 hours for reporting plus 1,320 recordkeeping hours for 33 recordkeepers). 7. Abstract: As part of a joint industry-NRC initiative, the NRC receives information submitted voluntarily by power reactor licensees regarding selected performance attributes known as performance indicators (PIs). PIs are objective measures of the performance of licensee systems or programs. The NRC's reactor oversight process uses PI information, along with the results of audits and inspections, as the basis for NRC conclusions regarding plant performance and necessary regulatory response. Licensees transmit PIs electronically to reduce burden on themselves and the NRC. Submit, by August 16, 2005, comments that address the following questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden of the information collection be minimized, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology? A copy of the draft supporting statement may be viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide Web site: . The document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days after the signature date of this notice. Comments and questions about the information collection requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Brenda Jo. Shelton (T-5 F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at (301) 415-7233, or by Internet electronic mail to . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 10th day of June 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information Services. [FR Doc. E5-3135 Filed 6-16-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 31 Daily Yomiuri: Revised N-law inadequate to cover all terrorism scenarios Hiroshi Masumitsu / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer The revised Nuclear Reactor Regulation Law was passed amid growing concerns over terrorists targeting nuclear materials, but the toughened law cannot cover all possible scenarios. Nuclear power plants have detailed guidelines on how to handle accidents, but they do not have clear rules on how to protect themselves from terrorism. Under the revised law, which will go into effect this year, the government is required to work out criteria to determine how long nuclear power plants should be able to hold at bay armed terrorists who are trying to destroy facilities or rob them of nuclear materials. The government will periodically inspect whether nuclear power plants have met the requirements, and those that fail to do so will be shut down. In the event of a terrorist attack, plant operators are expected to stall for time until the police arrive. Simulated attacks will be conducted, during which inspectors will time how long it would take terrorists to arrive at a nuclear power plant's core facility. Such inspections already have been conducted at the Japan Nuclear Cycle Development Institute's Tokai Works in Tokaimura, Ibaraki Prefecture. Yoshikazu Aoki, head of the facility's Emergency Planning Section, boasted that as the facility handles plutonium, which can be used to make nuclear weapons, its protective measures were comprehensive and could serve as guidelines for other plants. The facility's first training in 2001, however, brought to light weak points in its plan. In an attempt to overcome these weaknesses, the facility is setting up a communications network, among other actions, but can only provide its security guards with limited means of protection. Training sessions have shown that security guards must have some weapons to protect themselves, so the institute equipped them with batons, knifeproof vests and man catchers, which are two-pronged polearms. But the Ibaraki prefectural police said guards could be held accountable for inflicting bodily injuries suffered in attempts to arrest intruders with man catchers. This advice was based on strict regulations worked out by each prefecture's Public Safety Commission in line with the security business law. The strict regulations were designed to prevent security guards from using excessive force, and thus the guards can only use round batons limited in length and made from specified materials to protect themselves, and they may not use man catchers. The police said facility employees other than security guards could use the weapon, but Aoki said he would not expose employees who were not professional security guards to danger when the facility had employed security professionals. Defenses against aerial attacks are even less effective. The current Aviation Law does not prohibit flying over nuclear power plants, and when small planes ask for permission to do so, the Construction and Transport Ministry only asks them not to fly too near the plants. A ministry official said the ministry had no plan to revise the law. In France, which depends as heavily on nuclear power as Japan, security guards protecting nuclear facilities are armed with guns on permission from local administrators, and flying over such facilities is prohibited. Didier Lallemand, adviser to the French economy, finance and industry minister, said surface-to-air missiles had been deployed against possible invasions of the area around a reprocessing plant twice in the past. The International Atomic Energy Agency guidelines require nuclear facilities to be protected in principle by armed security guards. In Japan, guns are heavily restricted, even for police, but the situation cannot be left unchanged. The government must improve measures to protect nuclear facilities through such actions as reviewing related laws. Copyright 2005 The Yomiuri Shimbun ***************************************************************** 32 Washington Post: Unchecked Power of KGB Successor Seen in Scientist Case washingtonpost.com Unchecked Power of KGB Successor Seen in Scientist Case By Peter FinnWashington Post Foreign Service Friday, June 17, 2005; Page A25 UFA, Russia -- In March 2003, Russian agents swooped down on a South Korean delegation at the airport here, about 750 miles east of Moscow, as the group prepared to leave after a week at a state research institute. A search of the four visitors' bags produced more than 500 pages of technical material and several CD-ROMs from the Institute for Metals Superplasticity Problems, a research facility that was once part of the Soviet Union's military industrial complex. A local mechanical engineer looked over the printed materials, an Ufa court was later told, and said the South Koreans were making off with state secrets. A March 2005 memo written by an officer in the Federal Security Service, or FSB, the KGB's domestic successor, was more explicit: The institute's director, Oscar Kaibyshev, was turning over information that could be used in the manufacture of missiles and other weapons. [Oscar Kaibyshev is accused of exporting dual-use technology to South Korea. Critics say the technology was not classified.] Oscar Kaibyshev is accused of exporting dual-use technology to South Korea. Critics say the technology was not classified. (By Peter Finn -- The Washington Post) This March, prosecutors indicted Kaibyshev, 66, contending that information in the Koreans' baggage on how to strengthen materials was "dual-use" technology that could be used for civilian or military applications and that its export was subject to mandatory state controls. He was also charged with embezzlement, abuse of office and forgery. In interviews at his home here, Kaibyshev denied all the charges. "Only scientifically illiterate people would say we are transferring a military technology," he said. He is the latest of a string of Russian scientists indicted for exporting technology or conducting research for foreign entities. Scientists and human rights analysts say the evidence is flimsy or nonexistent; the technology in question is not classified, they argue. The cases, about 10 of which have attracted wide publicity in Russia, highlight the powers that the FSB continues to exercise, they say, and often proceed without due process. The prosecutions could harm the Russian economy by crimping foreign sales of advanced technology, developed for military use during the Cold War but now in demand by civilian industries. The Ufa institute has lost nearly all of its international contracts, worth about $1 million annually, as a result of the Kaibyshev case and now largely depends on the state for survival. Two special panels at the Russian Academy of Sciences have found that none of the information Kaibyshev gave to the South Koreans was subject to export controls. It had long been in the public domain, they concluded. Moreover, some of the experts the FSB used to justify its prosecution of Kaibyshev either appear to be unqualified to assess the technology or are his business rivals. The probe was also marred by the conviction of an FSB officer on a charge of stealing about $70,000 from the institute's safe. "It became increasingly clear that the FSB was acting in bad faith in these investigations, seeking to have the defendants convicted while ignoring facts that could exonerate them," Human Rights Watch, in an October 2003 report titled "Spy Mania," said of the string of cases against scientists. Russian scientists have said the Kaibyshev case conforms to that pattern. The FSB declined to comment for this article. A Respected Researcher Kaibyshev was once a pillar of the Communist establishment, serving in the Soviet parliament in the 1980s. He was a scientific troubleshooter for the military and the space program, he said, working on metal fatigue in submarine-based nuclear missiles and helping solve metal problems in the Soviet equivalent of the U.S. space shuttle program. In 1985, his growing prestige led to his appointment as head of the IMSP, the first facility in the world exclusively devoted to superplasticity, a physical property, usually of a metal or alloy, that allows it to stretch while holding or increasing strength. He published a book on the subject in the United States this spring and holds several international patents on the technology. The collapse of the Soviet Union devastated the country's research centers, leaving many without funding. "This is the point where a different life begins," Kaibyshev recalled of the period. "The domestic market for high technology collapsed, and we needed to enter the international market." Through the 1990s, his institute secured contracts with international firms, including General Electric Co., for which it worked on strengthening metal in aircraft engine parts. Oscar Kaibyshev is accused of exporting dual-use technology to South Korea. Critics say the technology was not classified. (By Peter Finn -- The Washington Post) "He is a highly respected scientist," said Kuppuswamy A. Padmanabhan, a physics professor at the University of Hyderabad, India, who has known Kaibyshev since 1989. "Even after the collapse of the U.S.S.R., he saved many posts at his institute by hard work and paid his colleagues a decent salary, which was in sharp contrast with . . . other institutes." The institute began to work with the South Korean company ASA Co. in 2001, helping it develop a new manufacturing technique for car wheel frames. The delegation that arrived in Ufa in March 2003 included representatives from the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, according to Nam Sung Kang, a director of ASA. The institute reached agreement with them on details and financing for a new series of research projects, Kaibyshev said. Then the FSB struck, picking up Kaibyshev as he returned home from walking his dog and detaining the Koreans at the airport. "It was a carefully planned interrogation," Kang said. The planning was less than perfect, however. The mechanical engineer who said the Koreans had state secrets in their suitcases does not speak or read English, according to his personnel file, and the documents were in English. The FSB now appears to have dropped the man as a witness, according to Yuri Gervis, Kaibyshev's attorney. At the time the engineer was assisting the FSB, he was suing Kaibyshev for co-authorship of a patent and was also involved in a rival start-up, according to court records. The engineer, Rif Baimurzin, lost the patent case last year. He hung up when called by a reporter. The FSB seized a safe from Kaibyshev's office at the institute that contained three promissory notes, one worth $50,000 and two more worth about 2 million rubles (about $70,000). When Kaibyshev asked for the money back, only the dollar-denominated note was returned. Kaibyshev said an FSB agent warned him not to keep asking about the rest of the money. "We will bury you," he recalled the agent saying. Kaibyshev contacted his bank, which said the ruble notes had been cashed. Initially, the FSB said Kaibyshev had stolen the notes, Kaibyshev said, but an investigation by the prosecutor's office led to an FSB major who eventually drew a five-year suspended sentence for theft. Despite its power, the FSB does at times get in trouble with the courts; the money was eventually returned. "It's personal now," said Gervis, the attorney. "The FSB will do everything to keep up face." Conflicts of Interest As the investigation of the Korean contracts continued, Kaibyshev appealed to the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the summer of 2003, it supported the scientist's claim that the information was not classified. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development also held a hearing, which largely supported Kaibyshev but raised questions about one shipment of titanium alloy objects. A second, larger panel at the Academy of Sciences heard the case in October 2003 and considered the ministry's concerns. It again found no violations of the law. The FSB sought out new experts. In a March 2004 report, a St. Petersburg technical firm it had hired said Kaibyshev should have obtained export licenses. In late 2004, the security agency received an even more damning assessment from Salut, a Moscow company that manufactures aircraft engines. Salut's experts concluded that some of the technology in question could help countries build missiles that might "be used for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction," according to their report. "Missiles?" said Kang, the ASA director, breaking into laughter when asked about that report. "We're not interested. We're just a private business company." Again, there were questions of conflict of interest. Salut had had a troubled business relationship with Kaibyshev. In 2001, Kaibyshev said, he asked the company to pay for the use of one of his patented technologies. "We had business relations, but not for a long time," said Salut's director, Yuri Yeliseyev. Salut is also promoting a conference with a Belgian firm this summer on using superplasticity in the manufacture of aircraft engine parts. "If Belgians can sell superplasticity to Russia, they can just as well sell it to anyone, to South Korea," Kaibyshev said. "If the Belgians are ready to export, it means this is public domain." Kaibyshev is confined to the city of Ufa until his trial and must report to the FSB every day. "They're trying to kill . . . my life's work," he said, "but they'll never succeed. I'll fight them to the end." Special correspondent Joohee Cho in Seoul contributed to this report. ***************************************************************** 33 [du-list] A Nagasaki Report by George Weller: Censored and Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 14:38:19 -0700 Dear all, This is a special report by The Mainichi Newspaper issued, today, June 17, 2005. *** A Nagasaki Report By George Weller American reporter George Weller American George Weller was the first foreign reporter to enter Nagasaki following the U.S. atomic attack on the city on Aug. 9, 1945. Weller wrote a series of stories about what he saw in the city, but censors at the Occupation's General Headquarters refused to allow the material to be printed. Weller's stories, written in September 1945, can be found below. Part I Part II Part III Part IV http://mdn.mainichi.co.jp/specials/0506/0617weller.html 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/ ***************************************************************** 34 Occupational Hazards: OSHA Official Urges Agency Release Beryllium Exposure Data THE AUTHORITY ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY, HEALTH AND LOSS PREVENTION 06/17/2005 More than 2 months after OSHA disclosed that 10 of 271 inspectors tested are now sensitized to the highly toxic metal beryllium, putting them at risk for an incurable and potentially fatal lung disease, the agency is still resisting calls that it release the concentrations of beryllium found at each inspection where a sensitized employee conducted sampling. An OSHA official, whose name was withheld by the agency, explained in a written statement that, "the data available is limited to sampling and inspection history, not exposure in the traditional industrial hygiene sense." In a May 13 letter to the ranking member of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce that is highly critical of OSHA's response to the beryllium issue, OSHA whistleblower Adam Finkel, Sc.D., CIH, wrote that, "it is crucial that OSHA release immediately the exposure histories of the 10 sensitized employees, which it can do using data in its possession with a trivial amount of effort." After settling a whistleblower lawsuit with OSHA, Finkel now teaches at Princeton University; although he is still on the OSHA payroll. Finkel said he does not speak for the agency. OSHA denies Finkel's allegation that it retaliated against him for going public with his demand that OSHA inspectors be offered blood tests for beryllium sensitization. "Ridiculous," is what several other prominent industrial hygienists and physicians called OSHA's argument that its sampling data is not "exposure in the traditional industrial hygiene sense," according to Finkel's letter. The information OSHA declines to release offers a "fantastic scientific opportunity to define the lower levels of exposures and their relationship to beryllium sensitization," according to Peter Lurie, MD, MPH, deputy director of Public Citizen's health research group. Lurie believes, "The data are at a level of detail that exceeds what we usually have in occupational health studies." Marc Kolanz, an industrial hygienist at Brush Wellman, a major supplier of beryllium, disagrees with Lurie and Finkel about the usefulness of the data and doesn't think OSHA should release it. "An OSHA inspector would put samplers on several people, and the inspectors would not be with them the whole time," said Kolanz. "The inspectors might do safety work or paper work so whatever result they got on the worker would not be representative of the inspectors." Although this line of reasoning would suggest the inspector would have even less beryllium exposure than the worker sampling data, rendering beryllium far more toxic than previous consensus estimations, Kolanz disputed this conclusion. "Logically, you would hope it would be less," he said. "But that's assuming they were sampling the right people in the right places, so you can't assume the inspector had more or less exposure to beryllium than the workers sampled." In an e-mail response to Kolanz's assertion, Finkel wrote, "I agree completely with Mr. Kolanz: you can't assume our inspectors necessarily got either less or more exposure than the workers they followed during the shift. That makes the sample result an 'unbiased estimator,' which is what epidemiologists hope they are occasionally lucky enough to have available." Finkel v. OSHA After OSHA disclosed that 10 inspectors tested positive for beryllium sensitivity, Reps. George Miller, D-Calif. and Major Owens, D-N.Y., wrote Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor Jonathan Snare, asking him to explain OSHA's handling of the matter. In his March 24 letter to Miller, Snare confirmed that OSHA has no plans to test retired inspectors who were exposed to beryllium and that the agency is still "in the early stages" of beryllium rulemaking, but he pointed out the agency provided five beryllium information brochures to its current employees and that a medical officer from OSHA's office of occupational medicine has contacted each of the ten OSHA employees who tested positive. "To the best of our knowledge," wrote Snare, "no OSHA personnel have chronic beryllium disease." Finkel's six-page letter came in response to the congressmen's request that Finkel comment on Snare's answers. Finkel's May 13 letter is laced with harsh criticism as well as charges surrounding the beryllium affair. For example, Finkel writes: + A government attorney who investigated Finkel's beryllium whistleblower case told him privately he believed that some or all of the senior OSHA officials interviewed had testified falsely in their depositions; + Finkel and his attorneys obtained e-mails among four senior OSHA officials documenting that, "they knew precisely what Mr. Snare now alleges they did not;" + OSHA is "callous in the extreme," for refusing to test or even inform retired inspectors about their previous exposures to beryllium; + OSHA's continued reluctance to test inspectors and update its 56-year old permissible exposure limit on beryllium are "symptomatic of the agency's cavalier attitude about chronic health exposures." Finkel, a former director of OSHA's health standards directorate, argues that even though more than 90 percent of work-related premature deaths in the U.S. stem from chronic health problems, OSHA continues to devote at least 75 percent of its enforcement, analytical and outreach resources to safety issues. The complete text of Finkel's letter is available here. The text for Snare's March 24 is available here. - James L Nash Quick Links Occupational Hazards | © 2004 ***************************************************************** 35 NRC: NRC to Meet June 22 with Westinghouse Electric Co. to Discuss Apparent Violations at Hematite, Mo., Facility News Release - Region III - 2005-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-05-031 June 16, 2005 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet June 22 with officials of Westinghouse Electric Co. in Lisle, Ill., to discuss apparent violations of NRC requirements at the company's former fuel fabrication facility in Hematite, Mo. The meeting will be at 1:30 p.m. in the NRC's Region III Office, 2443 Warrenville Rd., Suite 210, in Lisle. The meeting is open to public observation. At the conclusion of the business portion of the meeting, NRC officials will be available for questions and comments from members of the public attending the meeting. An NRC inspection at the Hematite facility, conducted January through April, identified three apparent violations of NRC requirements for assuring that uranium used in nuclear fuel processing is properly controlled and stored to preclude any accidental nuclear reaction. The information discussed in the June 22 meeting will be used by the NRC in determining what enforcement action, if any, should be taken. Enforcement actions may include issuance of a Notice of Violation or possible fines against Westinghouse. The Hematite plant processed and fabricated fuel for nuclear power plants from 1974 until operations ceased in 2001. Westinghouse is performing limited decommissioning activities at the site, including surveys and removal of processing equipment and piping, ventilation ducts, and other material contaminated with low-enriched uranium. NRC inspectors found that components containing uranium residues were not properly stored, that equipment and components were not properly analyzed before being stored, and that the plant's procedures did not include necessary controls for handling and storing uranium-contaminated components. "The NRC imposes strict requirements for surveying and storing equipment containing uranium fuel residues," said James Caldwell, NRC Regional Administrator. Although Westinghouse failed to meet these requirements, our inspectors determined there was no possibility of an accidental nuclear reaction at the Hematite facility. Caldwell noted that since these apparent violations were identified, Westinghouse has taken steps to correct the deficiencies and assure that uranium-contaminated equipment is properly evaluated and stored during decommissioning activities. The meeting between the NRC staff and Westinghouse, called a predecisional enforcement conference, is an opportunity for Westinghouse to provide its perspective on the apparent violations and to offer any other information that they believe the NRC should take into consideration in making an enforcement decision. No decision on the apparent violations or any enforcement action will be made at the conference. Those decisions will be made later by NRC officials. The inspection report describing the apparent violations is available from the Region III Office of Public Affairs or from the agency's online document library (known as ADAMS): http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html - use accession number ML051600009 in the search box to locate the report. For assistance in using ADAMS, you may contact the NRC Public Document Room staff at 800/397-4209. Last revised Friday, June 17, 2005 ***************************************************************** 36 Hawk Eye: Workers eligible for settlement Thursday, June 16, 2005 Site updated daily at 11 a.m. CST Long–delayed aid for former ammunition plant employees coming. By AIMEE TABOR atabor@thehawkeye.com Iowa Army Ammunitions Plant nuclear weapons workers sickened by radiation will be eligible for federal funding starting Sunday. Workers from the Middletown plant that have one of 22 specified cancers automatically will be eligible for $150,000 plus medical expenses and will be included in the Special Exposure Cohort. The exact date of when they will receive the funding isn't known. Sen. Tom Harkin, D–Iowa, will be at the Machinist Union Hall, 16452 U.S. 34 at 2:30 p.m. Saturday to mark the final step in the compensation process for IAAP workers. Former IAAP workers and advocates are expected to be at the event. "The workers at IAAP and their families devoted their lives to our national security," Harkin said in a press release. "They are the unsung heroes of the Cold War and it is past time that we recognize their dedication and selfless contribution." Harkin's office will work with the U.S. Department of Labor to get the compensation to the workers as quickly as possible, he said. Workers at a St. Louis plant who went through the same process first and were added to the Special Exposure Cohort, or SEC, have yet to receive any money, although Harkin's office said that the compensation is expected soon. A group of IAAP workers petitioned the government last year to be included in the SEC of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act so they could be eligible for the funding. The employees may have been exposed to high doses of carcinogenic radiation because the Atomic Energy Commission and Department of Energy built and tested nuclear weapons components at the plant from 1949 until 1974. There have been several plant workers who have become sick and died over the past five years. Then in May, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt approved compensation for the IAAP workers. Leavitt's approval then went to Congress which had 30 days to act. If nothing happened within that time period, it's automatically approved, Harkin's office stated. The 30–day period will expire Sunday. Although federal lawmakers can still act on it today, they didn't take any action on the St. Louis plant, which means that was approved. The designation means IAAP workers won't be subjected to a lengthy review to get the financial settlement. The SEC designation includes anyone who worked at least 250 days in the nuclear program between March 1949 and 1975. Compensation also is available for survivors of deceased workers. The Hawk Eye 800 S. Main St., Burlington, Iowa 52601 319-754-8461 · 1-800-397-1708 · FAX 319-754-6824 · ***************************************************************** 37 NRC: NRC, N.J. Company to Discuss Apparent Violations Involving Gauge News Release - Region I - 2005-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-034 June 16, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: Thursday, June 23, to discuss three apparent violations of agency regulations involving the control, security and transportation of a nuclear gauge. Known as a predecisional enforcement conference, the meeting is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the NRC Region I Office, 475 Allendale Road in King of Prussia, Pa. It will be open to the public for observation and NRC staff will be available to answer questions before the session is adjourned. The apparent violations were identified as the result of an NRC special inspection conducted in response to an April 25th incident. On that date, a nuclear gauge owned by Craig Testing Laboratories, Inc., fell out of a truck driven by one of its employees and could not be located. The loss of the gauge, which contains americium-241 and cesium-137 and is used for such purposes as measuring soil density, occurred in Pocopson (Chester County), Pa. The employee had been performing work at a temporary job site in that town. Although the transport case holding the gauge had been chained to the truck, the chain had several feet of slack, the case was not locked and the vehicles tailgate was not closed to a locked position. It was not until four days later that the gauge was recovered. A local citizen who found the device read about the search for the gauge in an area newspaper, contacted the company and arranged for its return. Craig Testing reported to the NRC that the gauge was recovered in good condition, with no visible damage. Subsequent testing indicated there was no leakage and therefore no workers or members of the public were exposed to any radiation due to the event. An NRC special inspection was conducted on April 27 at the companys main office in Mays Landing and at the temporary job site in Pocopson. Based on the results of the inspection, three apparent violations were identified: a failure to control or maintain constant surveillance of licensed nuclear material that is in an unrestricted area and is not in storage; a failure to ensure that a portable nuclear density gauge or its outer container is locked; and a failure to comply with the applicable requirements of U.S. Department of Transportation regulations when transporting a nuclear gauge. The purpose of the June 23rd meeting is to obtain information to enable the NRC to determine what, if any, enforcement action is warranted. For instance, there will be an effort to come to a common understanding of the facts and a discussion of root causes of the event and corrective actions undertaken by the company. No decision will be made by the NRC staff at the session. Rather, NRC management will render a decision sometime in the near future. Last revised Friday, June 17, 2005 ***************************************************************** 38 Vermont Guardian: Collateral Risk: DU research gap could impact Vermont troops [soldiers] By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian By the end of June, more than 600 Vermont National Guard members will be deployed in and around heavy combat areas in Iraq, where battlefield exposure to depleted uranium a highly toxic and radioactive battlefield poison widely used by the United States in combat zones has now become routine, military watchdogs say. During the recent legislative session, Vermont lawmakers and state leaders turned aside a modest proposal to assess the impact of Vermont National Guard members deployed in dangerous and highly stressful war zones. However, other legislatures have been aggressively pursuing measures aimed at safeguarding their troops. Louisiana last week became the first state to require returning troops to be tested for exposure to depleted uranium. And, like both the Louisiana House and Senate, the Connecticut House unanimously passed similar legislation earlier this month. That bill, which has broad bipartisan co-sponsorship, is now before the states Senate. Lawmakers from at least seven other states interested in drafting similar legislation have contacted Rep. Patricia Dillon, D-New Haven, the Connecticut author of the bill. Ninety Vermonters are currently serving in combat zones, including 25 assigned to a military police company based in the Sunni stronghold of Tikrit, the hometown of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein; and 65 are attached to a Mississippi National Guard unit in Najaf, according to Lt. Veronica Saffo, a National Guard spokeswoman in Colchester. Twenty Vermont soldiers are in Iraq working as support staff; 600 are based in Kuwait, where they rotate in and out of combat; and 65 are guarding civilian security contractors in Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, another 400 Vermont troops are scheduled to leave for Iraq as part of a brigade combat team. Their base is not identified ahead of time for security reasons, Saffo said. But they will be in the combat areas, definitely in the villages and working with the Iraqi police as part of a significantly sized brigade combat team, she confirmed. The Department of Defense said depleted uranium use in Iraq is significantly lower than the 320 tons fired during the first Gulf War. Outside watchdogs say up to 150 tons of DU have been fired during the current Iraq conflict. No DU weapons systems have been used in Afghanistan, according to the Pentagon, where six Vermonters are stationed and another 50 are headed later this month. Previous to the Gulf War, no special training was mandated concerning DU, according to Barbara Goodno with the Defense Departments deployment health office. Soon after the Gulf War, awareness training was instituted for service members who may be exposed to DU weapons, specialized teams who may have higher than average exposure receive increased training. But according to a 2000 study by the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, a survey two years earlier by the Armys Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses of more than 1,600 personnel, found that only 65 percent received required DU training. We also found a great deal of disparity among units in that three units had not conducted the required DU training at all, the GAO reported. None of the branches of the military had made sufficient progress in implementing DU training, the study found, concluding that service members were only marginally better prepared to contend with DU hazards than they had been during the Gulf War. Saffo said all Vermont troops participate in annual DU training and get more intensified training prior to their deployment. There is a list of specific core training requirements mandatory for all units in the Army. Every year the commanders of every unit in the state have to make sure the soldiers get the specialized training provided by the Army. But Joyce Riley, a Gulf War National Guard veteran and executive director of the American Gulf War Veterans Association in Versaille, MO, calls the Pentagons claim of better training a lie. They have used hundreds of tons of DU over there, said Riley, who hosts a daily radio talk show. We are overwhelmed with phone calls from people who have just returned from Iraq who are not getting treatment. Just 180 Vermont National Guard members have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan thus far. Although they are given physical and mental health screening, they are not routinely tested for DU exposure, said Anselm Beach, a spokesman for the Veterans Administration Hospital in White River Junction. Returning troops are reporting primarily readjustment issues, noted Beach. Some muscular skeletal problems because you have soldiers wearing 60 pounds of gear, some issues with hearing from explosions the regular things with combat, but nothing out of the ordinary. The hospital would test for DU exposure only if symptoms prompt a doctor to recommend it, Beach said. However, a group of congressional Democrats would like to see DU testing standardized. On May 17, Washington Rep. Jim McDermott, a Vietnam veteran, and 21 other Democrats introduced a bill in Congress that would require the Environmental Protection Agency and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to report to Congress on the health effects of DU exposure, not only on veterans but also on their children born after exposure to DU munitions. There are countless stories of mysterious illnesses, higher rates of serious illnesses and even birth defects, McDermott said on the floor of the House. We do not know what role, if any, DU plays in the medical tragedies in Iraq, but we must find out. In 1997, federal medical researchers at the Naval Health Research Center and the CDC determined that babies born to Gulf War veterans were more likely to suffer from certain birth defects including malformations of the eyes, jaw, and spine. DU danger Depleted uranium, a highly toxic and radioactive byproduct of the uranium enrichment process, is widely used in U.S. weapons systems because of its ability to penetrate steel and its low cost. It is also used to line tanks, and advocates say its strength and efficiency as a weapon is a benefit for U.S. troops. But the term depleted is a misnomer, since DU contains about 60 percent of the radioactivity found in natural uranium, according to Tod Ensign, a veteran and attorney with the veterans advocacy group Citizen Soldier in New York. When a DU shell strikes its target, up to 70 percent of the depleted uranium vaporizes into fine dust, which then settles out in the surrounding soil and water, he wrote. Over half of the aerosolized particles are smaller than 5 microns and anything smaller than 10 microns can be inhaled. Once lodged in the lungs, these particles can emit a steady dose of alpha radiation. Goodno said all service members in the field carry protective masks for use against chemical or biological attack, which could also be used in extreme cases to prevent DU inhalation. Protective equipment is only required as a precaution for those who have repeated, prolonged exposure to DU, she noted. Some veterans of the first Gulf War say DU exposure has led to a battery of debilitating symptoms including headaches, fatigue, joint pain, sleep disturbance, and frequent urination, which they call Gulf War syndrome. Ensign reports that months before the first Gulf War, the Armys Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Command published the following warning: Following combat, the condition of the battlefield and the long term health risks to natives [sic] and combat veterans may become issues in the acceptability of the continued use of DU for military applications. The report added that DU has been linked to cancer when exposures are internal. Iraqi doctors and researchers have reported dramatic increases in cancer and childhood leukemia since the early 1990s. Of the nearly 700,000 troops who fought in the first Gulf War, more than 187,000 had been granted some level of disability status for injury or illness related to their service, according to Veterans Administration statistics for February 2005. More than 10,000 of the returning Gulf War veterans have died. The Defense Department continues to insist that there is no scientific evidence that links exposure to depleted uranium to any of the symptoms, and that no single diagnosis explains the symptoms. Of the 104 soldiers known to have been hit by friendly fire DU munitions during the 1991 war, according to Goodno, 70 participated in a VA follow-up program. All of them had inhalation exposure, and about one third had embedded DU shrapnel. Those veterans with retained DU shrapnel continue to excrete elevated levels of urinary uranium, she noted. To date, none of these individuals have developed kidney abnormalities, leukemia, bone or lung cancer, or any other uranium-related health problems. But McDermott asks, If DU is so safe, why do American soldiers need to wear protective clothing in the first place? He urged Congress, Let the Pentagon prove that it is safe. Send us your news tips, a letter to the editor or general comments. Vermont Guardian PO Box 335 Winooski, VT 05404 ***************************************************************** 39 decatur daily: Testing on human subjects isn't new www.decaturdaily.com FRIDAY, JUNE 17, 2005 By Eric Fleischauer DAILY Staff Writer eric@decaturdaily.com · 340-2435 Medical experimentation on human subjects has a long history. The results have often been bad for the subjects, but on occasion they have benefited public health. The most frightening tests were performed by Japanese and German researchers in the late 1930s and early 1940s. American researchers, however, have also participated. Prison inmates have been the guinea pigs in most U.S. tests. Officials typically rewarded inmate participation by freeing them. Some historical examples: + Between 1932 and 1972, researchers experimented on 399 Tuskegee black men with syphilis. + The federal government gave oatmeal mixed with radioactive substances to subjects and injected infants with radioactive iodine in the 1940s. + In 1963, researchers injected patients in New York with cancer cells to study their immune response. + A professor of tropical medicine at Harvard University injected death-row prisoners in The Philippines with cholera and beriberi in 1906. + A researcher in 1915 induced pellagra, a deadly disease common in the South, in Mississippi prison inmates by restricting them to high-calorie, low-protein diets. + In 1920, a physician at San Quentin Prison grafted animal glands to the testicles of inmates. + During World War II, U.S. scientists injected inmates with cow's blood, exposed them to gonorrhea and malaria, and induced gangrene. Other tests exposed Seventh Day Adventists, who chose to participate rather than serve in the military, with mustard gas. + Also during the war, Ohio researchers locked mentally ill patients in refrigerated boxes for 120 hours to evaluate the impact of low temperatures on mental disorders. + Other researchers exposed 400 inmates in Illinois and 800 inmates in Atlanta to malaria and tested them with various experimental treatments in 1945. + In the 1950s, researchers injected live cancer cells into hundreds of Ohio inmates in an effort to understand the immune system. + In 1998, Dow Chemical administered pesticide pills to paid Nebraska college students. Copyright 2005 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved. AP contributed to this report. --> Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. --> THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala. 35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com www.decaturdaily.com ***************************************************************** 40 Nevada Appeal - Opinion: Generations of on-site storage remain even if Yucca opens June 17, 2005 by Barry Smith Editor A recent article by Los Angeles Times reporter Ralph Vartabedian does a good job of describing the enormity of the problem facing the nation's nuclear-power industry without Yucca Mountain. And, from a Nevadan's point of view, the enormity of the problem even with a waste repository at Yucca. There are roughly 50,000 tons of nuclear waste spread around the country - dangerous, deadly stuff that is in some measure vulnerable to terrorist attack. Yucca Mountain is being designed to hold 77,000 tons of waste. By the time it could be ready to accept waste - 2012 at the earliest - there could be about 60,000 tons of waste waiting in more than 30 states, according to Vartabedian, as power plants generate about 2,000 more tons a year. Do the math. On-site storage is going to be a reality for the next few generations. On the day Yucca Mountain opens, Vartabedian quotes an Energy Department official, it will be too small to handle all the waste. "There is no Plan B," he writes. "Under federal law, the department can pursue only Yucca Mountain." In my mind, I guess, I saw these trains and trucks from all over the country converging on Yucca Mountain with the nation's nuclear waste. I knew it would take a long time, but I'd never really considered how long. Yucca Mountain is designed to process 3,000 tons a year, Vartabedian reports. So if nuclear power plants keep generating about 2,000 tons a year, the best they can do at Yucca is catch up by 1,000 tons a year. With the backlog, that means roughly 60 years. And by then, Yucca Mountain is long since full. To some, that means Yucca Mountain needs to push forward just as soon as possible. The delays have just made the problem worse. To me, that means the plan to store the nation's waste in one place in the Nevada desert needs to be scrapped. And the sooner the better. Vartabedian is right when he says there is no Plan B. That's just one of the consequences of the political scam which targeted Nevada. Congress made a promise to solve the nuclear industry's waste problem - and has been collecting the money from ratepayers for decades - and decided to build one basket that won't hold all the eggs. The logic of the solution seems clear to me, at least for the next 100 years: Keep the waste on site. The casks being designed for Yucca Mountain will work anywhere. The isolated spot in the desert north of Las Vegas was selected because it would act as a "geological barrier," but the research done there the last 10 years shows that's not the case. The act of groundwater eroding the casks, and the possibilities of earthquakes, means Yucca Mountain is no more suitable a site than a whole lot of other places. The other argument often used to justify Yucca Mountain is that having the nuclear waste in a central location makes it easier to guard, less vulnerable to terrorists. But as we can see from the information above, while there would be a whole lot of radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain, there would also be a whole lot of nuclear waste still scattered across the countryside. The nuclear-energy plants are still going to need security. However, by building a central processing and storage site - in a state that produces no nuclear energy, I might add - the federal government creates the need to move all that radioactive waste across the country, thousands of miles, every day. Seems to be we haven't lessened the security risk; we've increased it dramatically. No, I don't want to see nuclear waste shipped to Nevada. No more than the states producing nuclear waste want to keep it. "I want the waste off the shores of Lake Michigan," Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., told Vartabedian. Upton's district includes two nuclear plants built on the lake's eastern boundary. "Ultimately, there is a safety problem." Yes, there is a huge problem. It grows every day. But Yucca Mountain isn't the answer. Until Congress recognizes that fact, it's no closer to a solution. n Barry Smith is editor of the Nevada Appeal. Contact him at bsmith@nevadaappeal.comor 881-1221. All contents © Copyright 2005 nevadaappeal.com Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701 ***************************************************************** 41 IJ: Decision will step up waste shipments from Western New York nuclear site - ithacajournal.com [The Ithaca Journal] Local News - Friday, June 17, 2005 CAROLYN THOMPSON The Associated Press BUFFALO -- Out-of-state shipments of low-level nuclear waste from the West Valley Demonstration Project will be stepped up under a Department of Energy decision that will keep the most dangerous waste on site for several more years. The Energy Department has been weighing how to handle waste generated during cleanup of the site 30 miles south of Buffalo, which once housed the nation's only commercial nuclear fuel reprocessing operation. Under the decision released this week, low-level waste will be removed by truck or train over the next 10 years. The shipments are expected to number about 1,966 if made by truck or 608 if by rail. "We have shipped waste in the past," said Dan Sullivan, a DOE officer at West Valley. " About 300 canisters of high-level waste are eventually destined for Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert, but would remain at West Valley until the permanent dump site is completed. The Yucca Mountain site, the planned repository for 77,000 tons of defense and commercial nuclear waste, has run into setbacks and is not expected to be finished until at least 2012. About 600,000 gallons of high-level radioactive waste has been solidified and is currently stored in specially designed stainless-steel canisters behind thick concrete walls at West Valley. The DOE considered shipping the high-level waste to an interim site while awaiting completion of Yucca Mountain, but ruled against moving the waste twice and potentially doubling the risk of accidents. Authorities also considered storing most low-level waste, along with the high-level waste, on site for the immediate future but determined that removing it more quickly would hasten the cleanup. None of the alternatives would have had an effect on public safety, an environmental impact statement concluded. "Waste management activities under each alternative would result in the limited exposure of workers to small amounts of radiation and contaminated material, and exposure of the public to very small quantities of radioactive materials," the DOE decision said. From 1966 to 1972, spent nuclear fuel from commercial nuclear power plants and DOE sites was chopped, dissolved and its uranium and plutonium extracted at West Valley. The operation shut down for upgrades in 1972 but remained closed after stricter regulatory requirements passed during the closure made the prospect of reopening too expensive. Originally published Friday, June 17, 2005 Copyright ©2005 The Ithaca Journal. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 Las Vegas RJ: Progress made in science of recycling nuclear fuel Friday, June 17, 2005 But experts warn lawmakers not to make decisions on reprocessing technology too soon By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- An Energy Department official said Thursday that new technologies could revive commercial nuclear waste reprocessing in 10 or 20 years, but other experts warned Congress not to embrace the concept too quickly. Reprocessing is far from cost-effective and the most readily available technologies carry nuclear security risks without corresponding benefits, a researcher from Harvard University and a physicist from New Mexico said at a House science subcommittee hearing. "Take the time to get the science right," said Roger Hagengruber, a former senior vice president at Sandia National Laboratory who now teaches at the University of New Mexico. A dozen lawmakers took active part in the hearing, reflecting a growing interest in nuclear fuel recycling as the nuclear industry seeks to build more power plants while the government continues to struggle over management of radioactive waste. Experts agreed that a repository being developed at Yucca Mountain still would be necessary to hold nuclear waste. But reprocessing could wring more energy out of nuclear fuel rods, reduce volumes of fuel waste and its radioactive toxicity, extending the life of the Nevada site, they said. Congress has set a 77,000 ton limit for Yucca Mountain, meaning the repository could be filled almost by the time it is opened, they said. More than 40,000 tons already is being stored at plant sites, in pools and hard shell casks. "I'm supportive of Yucca Mountain, but I don't want us to get to Yucca Two any sooner than we have to," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, a proponent of fuel reprocessing. President Carter in 1977 declared a moratorium on nuclear fuel reprocessing to limit weapons-grade plutonium, a reprocessing byproduct. President Reagan reversed course, but U.S. efforts remained dormant. On Thursday, Robert Shane Johnson, acting director for nuclear science and technology, told the House subcommittee the Energy Department has made "significant progress" in the past several years in researching new fuel treatment technologies. Johnson said an advanced uranium extraction process could reduce nuclear waste mass and chemically separate the components of spent fuel in a way that reduces the risk of creating weapons-grade materials that pose proliferation risks. Another technology, pyroprocessing, looks promising to handle fuel from new generations of nuclear reactors, Johnson said. But challenges loom in moving the technologies out of the laboratory, Johnson said. Retrofitting existing nuclear facilities might not work. Experiments to design new reprocessing plants could begin in about nine years, with commercial operations in about 20 years, he said. Phillip Finck, deputy associate director of the Argonne National Laboratory, agreed reprocessing holds promise. But Hagengruber and a second scientist warned Congress against getting excited too soon. Hagengruber recommended another 10 years of research would allow the government to "make a more enduring and prudent decision. A decision on reprocessing shouldn't outpace the science." Matthew Bunn, a senior research associate at Harvard, said nuclear waste could be safely kept at reactor sites in dry casks for decades while all options are weighed. Even nuclear waste sent to Yucca Mountain will be retrievable for 50 to 100 years. "During that time, technology will develop," Bunn said. "There is no need to make this decision in 2007 or in fact anytime in the next few decades." Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal ***************************************************************** 43 RIA Novosti: USA, RUSSIA PREPARING EXPERIMENT ON REMOVAL OF NUCLEAR FUEL FROM UZBEKISTAN WASHINGTON, June 17. (RIA Novosti's Arkady Orlov) - The USA and Russia will stage a "pilot" experiment on the removal of nuclear fuel waste from the research reactor in Uzbekistan, Rosatom head Alexander Rumyantsev told the press in Washington. He stayed in the US capital in order to take part in the work of the Russian-US bilateral interdepartmental High-Level Group for Cooperation on Nuclear Security. One direction of the group's work is the Russian-US program on the removal of fuel waste from the research reactors built in various countries by the USA and the Soviet Union, however, nuclear fuel waste will be withdrawn from Uzbekistan for the first time, he said. "We are completing a state expert examination of this project and hope that we will return such a batch of irradiated fuel elements to the Russian Federation this year," Rumyantsev said. In his words, the program is being implemented successfully and Russia, together with the USA, has already removed nuclear fuel waste from a number of countries. "The program to return fresh fuel from these reactors, in case they have stopped operating, is being implemented and we have removed fuel from such countries as Yugoslavia, the Chech Republic and Romania", he said. Speaking of the meeting of the interdepartmental High-Level Group in Washington, Rumyantsev said that its main aim was the discussion of the tasks set by the Russian and US presidents at the Bratislava summit in the field of nuclear security, and coordination of the High-Level Group's report. The meeting was successful and confirmed that "our cooperation with the USA in the non-proliferation field is becoming a norm of our interstate relations," Rumyantsev said. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 44 Las Vegas SUN: Experts say recycling won't eliminate need for repository By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Opponents of Yucca Mountain should not pin their hopes on nuclear waste recycling being an alternative to the dump, judging from experts' testimony to a congressional subcommittee Thursday. They testified that there is no rush for the Energy Department to begin recycling nuclear waste. And even if a renewed push results in the department picking a method to recycle waste, recycling the waste may reduce the amount of used fuel but it will not reduce the need for a geologic repository such as nuclear dump set for Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, the experts told the members of Congress. Recycling would work like this: Once nuclear fuel rods can no longer be used inside a reactor, they could be sent to a reprocessing plant so the uranium and plutonium could be separated and removed. A small amount of leftover "fission products" or high-level radioactive waste that remain would still need to go to a permanent storage site, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. Former President Jimmy Carter banned nuclear fuel reprocessing in 1977 based on concerns the plutonium could be stolen and used in nuclear weapons. Former President Ronald Reagan lifted the ban in the 1981, but the reprocessing of commercial spent nuclear fuel was not economically viable at that time because new power plants were being built or even ordered. The government opted instead for storage of used nuclear fuel in the crust in the Earth and has solely been pursing the proposed facility at Yucca Mountain since 1987. But because of delays on the Yucca project, which is now not scheduled to open until 2012 or 2015, Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, included an additional $5.5 million for the administration's Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative in the House version of the 2006 energy and water spending bill. The initiative is a study of how to recycle fuel without creating dangerous by-products said Robert Shane Johnson, acting director of the Energy Department's Nuclear Energy office. "In the longer term future, these technologies, in combination with advanced nuclear reactor technologies hold the promise of deferring, perhaps indefinitely, the need for a second repository, while reducing the inventory of civilian plutonium,"said Johnson, at a House Science Committee's Energy Subcommittee hearing Thursday. Hobson, who heads the House Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, wants the department to select an advanced reprocessing technology and start a competitive process to select one or more sites to develop integrated spent fuel recycling facilities by the end of 2007. But Matthew Bunn, a senior research associate in the Project on Managing the Atom at Harvard University, called a near-term decision to go back to reprocessing "a serious mistake" because it would increase the cost of nuclear waste management, still pose proliferation, safety and terrorism risks and only provide limited relief from future volumes of spent fuel. "Reprocessing by itself does not make any of the nuclear waste go away," Bunn said. "Whatever course we choose, we will still need a nuclear waste repository such as Yucca Mountain." Hobson's main reason for promoting a new look at reprocessing it to avoid getting to "Yucca Mountain 2" as long as possible. Under law, once Yucca opens it can only hold 77,000 tons of nuclear waste. Congress would have to change the law to allow it to hold more, which the department says it can, or the country will need a second repository. Hobson believes getting on a better reprocessing track will reduce the amount of waste that will go into Yucca. Although Bunn pointed out the size of the repository is not determined by the volume of waste, but its temperature. Recycled plutonium is hotter than regular waste and would need a larger repository. "It is a good thing there is no rush, as we simply do not have the information that would be needed to make a decision on reprocessing in 2007," Bunn said. ***************************************************************** 45 Las Vegas SUN: Senate panel approves $577 million for Yucca Today: June 17, 2005 at 11:13:39 PDT Unlike House bill, measure doesn't include funds for temporary storage By Suzanne Struglinski SUN WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Senate Appropriations Committee approved more than $330 million in Nevada projects along with the Yucca Mountain budget Thursday. The committee approved $577 million for the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This is the same amount the project has to work with this year, but $74 million less than the administration's request for fiscal year 2006. Notably absent from the Senate version of the bill is any money set aside for a temporary storage site for nuclear waste because of Yucca's continued delay. The House bill fully funds the Yucca project with $651 million and added $10 million specifically for an unnamed interim storage site. "Whatever we did, they didn't do," said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who heads the House committee that writes the energy spending bill. "This will just be something we have to discuss in a rational fashion at some point." Once the bill is approved on the Senate floor, selected House and Senate negotiators will meet to work out differences between the bill. Earlier this week Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Development Subcommittee, called Hobson's interim storage proposal "half-baked." Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who heads the subcommittee, also opposes the idea, and said he does not want it in this year's bill. Hobson, however, said everything is still open for discussion. "I want something done," Hobson said. "We will sit down and, hopefully, rationally discuss various matters." The bill also includes $12.5 million for Nevada to use for Yucca program oversight, with $3.5 million going to the state, $8.5 million going to the counties and an additional $500,000 for Nye County. State and county officials use the money for watchdog programs and research to evaluate how the repository would affect Nevada and its counties. The bill also rejects the administration's proposal to give oversight money to local governments every 21 months, versus annually. Also included in the bill: ••• $20 million for Security Force and Special Response Team upgrades at the Device Assembly Facility at the Nevada Test Site, a $100 million underground bunker used for nuclear weapons programs. ••• At least 17 projects or partnerships with UNLV, including $7 million for the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative, $6 million for the Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative, $4 million to study the solar production of hydrogen and $4 million to study hydrogen fuel cells. ••• $48,375,000 for U.S. Bureau of Reclamation project in Nevada, including $2,775,000 for the Lake Mead/Las Vegas Wash program and $3,432,000 for Southern Nevada water recycling. ••• $67,276,500 for Army Corps of Engineer projects in Nevada, including $5 million for the Urban Floodwater Initiative and $18 million for Tropicana-Flamingo flood control project. ***************************************************************** 46 ArriveNet Press: Proposed Alternative to Yucca Mountain Project Before Chernobyl, Soviet scientific officials were optimistic about the safety of building a reactor in Moscow"s Red Square. We now know the results of that tragic mistake. Despite this, the U.S. administration continues to support the claim that the ... Distribution Source : PRWeb Date : Thursday - June 16, 2005 (PRWEB) June 16, 2005 -- As a former Ukrainian nuclear physicist, now a naturalized U.S. citizen, I have developed a process (patent pending) to safely convert about 95% of the nuclear waste into a usable fuel source. The process, involving a subcritical power module and a proliferation-resistant fuel cycle, would also eliminate the possibility of fuel meltdown and nuclear reactor explosions (please see some details at The Korea Times > Opinion Haste Can End Up As Another Waste After 19 years of futile attempts, the government Thursday resumed the process to select a site for storing nuclear waste. An interagency committee said it would receive applications through Aug. 31 and pick a site during November to put an end to the government's longest-pending task this year. It will likely have fewer problems this time, as five local autonomous bodies are vying to lure the once-avoided facility to their areas. However, some stumbling blocks may still lie ahead. Changing the local governments' attitudes from ``NIMBY'' (not-in-my-backyard) to ``PIMFY'' (please-in-my-front yard) was a special support law. It calls for, among other things, 300 billion won in subsidies plus yearly storage fees, and the relocation of the main office of Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. to the host area. This would completely change the bottom line of the county or small city. The law also separated spent fuels from mid- to low-level waste, making the facility nearly harmless. The government may even have to console the losers. This is a welcome turnaround from years ago, when residents shunned the facility out of groundless fear and hatred. Korea needs nuclear power plants to meet increasing energy needs in view of soaring oil prices, stricter regulations on greenhouse gases and the lack of commercially viable new and renewable energy sources. The United States has also resumed the construction of atomic plants. Currently, Korea is operating 18 nuclear electricity plants, which account for about 40 percent of the nation's total power generation. The government plans to add 10 plants by 2015 to raise it to the 46-percent level. But the capacity of temporary storage facilities attached to the existing stations will reach their limits in 2008, and the nation needs their replacements by then. This means the government has to choose a site this year, considering construction time and other procedures. Still, no amount of incentives can ease people's concerns completely. So the government was right to make the approval rates of residents the foremost criteria in the site selection. Environmental groups and some residents claim six months is still too short and buying a potentially dangerous facility with money is immoral. The government needs to call on them to present alternatives and explain the reasons for the facility as well as justify the methods and procedures until everyone agrees. Only transparent and democratic proceedings can prevent an unnecessary backlash. Officials should carefully study how their counterparts in France, Sweden and Japan managed similar situations. 06-17-2005 16:38 ***************************************************************** 51 Paducah Sun: Radioactive cylinder recycling on pace if funding is left intact Paducah, Kentucky Radioactive cylinder recycling on pace if funding is left intact The funding must still be approved by the full Senate before differences with the House bill can be worked out in conference. By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656 Friday, June 17, 2005 The recycling of 39,000 cylinders of low-level radioactive waste at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant will stay on pace if Congress doesn't tinker with funding earmarked by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The committee added $15 million to the House version Thursday, pushing funding from $70.8 million to $85.8 million. Recycling plants here and in Piketon, Ohio, would share the funding. "Obviously, senators Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning had a lot to do with that," said Tim Forden, president of recycling contractor Uranium Disposition Services. "That brings us back to the full funding level, so there's no question the project will stay on track." The funding is included in the fiscal 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations bill and must still be approved by the full Senate, then differences with the House bill worked out in conference. McConnell, a senior member of the appropriations committee, said Paducah nuclear projects remain one of his top priorities during the funding process. Other projects approved by the committee: $105 million for cleanup of the plant, which enriches uranium for use in nuclear fuel. The amount is $7 million more than the House version and includes additional funds to speed up characterization and disposal elsewhere of scrap metal and low-level radioactive waste. $465,000 for continued operation of a mobile unit that screens nuclear workers for early signs of lung cancer. The unit visits Paducah, Piketon and Oak Ridge, Tenn. $32 million, compared with $21.75 million in the House, for ongoing work to double the size of Kentucky Lock. The Bush administration budget had no money for the lock project, now 25 percent complete. $85 million for the half-finished new Olmsted Locks and Dam, which started in 1993. House legislation included $90 million. Morsey Inc. of Calvert City, which did site preparation work for the conversion plant, has been awarded two contracts worth $1.3 million to lay a foundation and erect a prefabricated metal warehouse building. Foundation work should begin by the end of June, Forden said. He said the firm expects to award a contract for an administration building in about 45 days. Other contracts this summer will include waste disposal and a railroad spur for the recycling factory, to be build in front of the diffusion plant in west McCracken County. On June 27, UDS will assume operation of the plant cylinder yards from Bechtel Jacobs, lead environmental contractor for the U.S. Department of Energy. That work involves eight to 10 jobs. The factory will convert spent uranium hexafluoride in the cylinders into more stable material from which valuable fluorine will be extracted. Leftover waste will be shipped to Energy Department-approved disposal facilities in the desert Southwest. Once the factory shell is erected by early 2006, employment for mechanical and electrical work will quickly increase to about 200 and remain at that level for about six months. Hiring for 150 long-term operational and support jobs will start about six months before the plant opens, sometime in 2007. The Paducah factory will operate for 25 years with four production lines, each converting about one of the massive 10- and 14-ton cylinders daily. ***************************************************************** 52 Mos News: Russia, U.S. to Remove Nuclear Waste From Uzbek Reactor MOSNEWS.COM Created: 17.06.2005 13:30 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 13:30 MSK The United States and Russia will launch an experiment to remove nuclear fuel waste from a research reactor in Uzbekistan, the head of Russia’s Federal Nuclear Energy Agency Rosatom Alexander Rumyantsev was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying at a news conference in Washington. He said that the withdrawal of nuclear waste from the research reactors built in various countries by the U.S. and the Soviet Union is one of the main tasks of the bilateral interdepartmental High-Level Group for Cooperation on Nuclear Security, and Uzbekistan will be the next area of its work. “We are completing a state expert examination of this project and hope that we will return such a batch of irradiated fuel elements to the Russian Federation this year,” Rumyantsev said. In his words, the program is being implemented successfully and Russia, together with the U.S. has already removed nuclear fuel waste from a number of countries, including the Czech Republic and Romania. Write us: info@mosnews.com Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 53 AU ABC: Labor 'does not support' new uranium mines. 17/06/2005. ABC News Online "Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online"> Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin says a Labor Government will not support any new uranium mines. It is the first time the party has made clear its position about uranium mining, other than ruling out support for a uranium mine at Koongarra in Kakadu National Park. The Mineral Councils says there has been increasing interest from Australian and international companies to investigate uranium mining in the Territory. But Ms Martin says Labor's position is clear. "We're very keen to see other mines, and delighted that mines like Bootu Creek have started up," she said. Ms Martin said she was not aware of the processes involved in her Government's approval of exploration licences for uranium miners in central Australia. "But certainly what I'm saying very clearly: we do not support new uranium mines in the Territory." ***************************************************************** 54 Saskatoon StarPhoenix: Ottawa will chip in for cleanup of uranium mines canada.com network Friday, June 17, 2005 REGINA -- After years of reluctance, Ottawa now says it will chip in for the cleanup of abandoned uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan. The federal government says it has agreed to cost-share the cleanup of the two most dangerous mines -- Gunnar and Lorado -- with the province. The mines were operated in the 1950s and 60s as part of Ottawa's national security effort, but were never properly decommissioned. Negotiations will now begin on a final price tag for the cleanup and how the tab will be split. Saskatchewan Northern Affairs Minister Buckley Belanger says he's thrilled Ottawa is finally on board. Belanger says he estimates the cost will be in the neighbourhood of $24-million, adding that he believes it will be split down the middle. © Broadcast News 2005 Copyright © CanWest Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. CanWest Interactive Inc. is an affiliate of ***************************************************************** 55 Cumberland News: N-waste burial site list revealed 17/06/2005 By Julian Whittle Political editor THE Government once considered burying nuclear waste near Carlisle and at 11 other locations in Cumbria and just over the Scottish border. RAF 14MU at Carlisle, DM Longtown, Dornockbrow near Eastriggs and the old airfield at Anthorn were among 537 places across Britain examined and rejected by the waste agency Nirex in the 1980s. The list has only now been made public under the Freedom of Information Act. Nirex says it did not publish details at the time for fear of “blighting” the areas affected. The agency eventually chose Sellafield, in West Cumbria, as its preferred option, only for the Government to drop the plan in 1997. Nirex says the old list will not be used as a starting point if burial is considered again, as it may be in the near future. The agency’s managing director, Chris Murray, said: “We hope that publication of the list will help move the debate away from past attempts to tackle this issue and on to the new process, in which we would encourage everyone to get involved. “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.” The other Cumbrian sites considered by Nirex were the ammunition depot at Broughton Moor, near Cockermouth; Drigg and Eskmeals in West Cumbria; Spadeadam, near Brampton; Warcop, near Appleby; and a former steel works in Workington. Chapelcross, near Annan, was also on the list. Spadeadam, Chapelcross and Workington were discounted early on because their geology was unsuitable. After more research, Broughton Moor, Longtown, Warcop and Eastriggs were rejected for the same reason. Anthorn and Eskmeals were dropped because of their sensitive locations. Anthorn is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty while Eskmeals is in the Lake District National Park. And 14MU, near Carlisle, was considered too small. Drigg, where BNFL already has a low-level dump, came closest to being chosen but here too there were doubts about its geology and a lack of space. Nirex’s published proposals for underground storage at Sellafield might have seen 82 caverns built immediately to the south of the nuclear reprocessing plant, at a cost of Ł2billion. An alternative scheme would have created 26 larger caverns in harder rocks near Calderbridge, serviced by a two-mile tunnel link from Sellafield, at a total cost of Ł1.7billion. Currently, nuclear waste is being stored above ground at 34 locations around the UK, including Sellafield and Chapelcross. The Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management is considering how best to deal with it and is due to report next year. If it favours burial, the search for a site will begin in 2007. Senior executives at BNFL – including managing director Barry Snelson – are to have their annual performance bonuses slashed because of the Thorp radiation leak. The chief executive of BNFL Mike Parker, chief executive of BNFL’s government services business group, Lawrie Haynes, and Mr Snelson are all reported to be among those losing half of their bonuses. Middle managers are also likely to face a cut in their bonuses, following the leak of thousands of litres of radioactive acid into a containment sump. cumberland news| times and star ***************************************************************** 56 Tri-City Herald: Rising Hanford costs may increase pressure to stop construction This story was published Friday, June 17th, 2005 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer When the Department of Energy releases new cost and schedule estimates for the $5.8 billion vitrification plant at Hanford, there will be pressure to stop construction, said Jay Manning, the new Washington state director of Ecology. "Abandoning it or slowing down significantly would be a great mistake," he said. "The governor and I will push hard to not let that happen." Manning, who was appointed Ecology director three months ago, spent Wednesday and Thursday in the Tri-Cities to tour Hanford, speak at the annual Hanford State of the Site meeting, address the Hanford Advisory Board and meet with the Tri-City Herald editorial board. Taxpayers already have spent $3.3 billion on design and construction at the vitrification plant, which is planned to turn some of Hanford's worst waste into a stable glass form for permanent disposal. The waste is left from more than 40 years of producing plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. Information from a new seismic study shows critical parts of the plant might not withstand a worst-case earthquake. Construction has been slowed as calculations are done to see what changes might be needed in design and construction and to address other difficulties such as delivery of specially produced materials, which are not far enough ahead of construction to avoid delays. The revised cost and budget estimates "are going to be bad," Manning said. "There's going to be real pressure to slow down, to rethink the project," he said. Construction on the plant is about 36 percent complete and engineering is 76 percent complete. "Without that facility, cleanup will stop," Manning said. "We need that facility to be built as expeditiously as possible." Hanford workers are transferring radioactive and chemical waste from leak-prone single-shell tanks to newer double-shell tanks. All are underground. But the newer double-shell tanks cannot hold all of the 53 million gallons of waste waiting to be treated. The double-shell tanks will be full in three years, Manning estimated. Until some of that waste goes to the vitrification plant, no more waste can be removed from the older tanks, some of which date to World War II, he said. That makes the vitrification plant the most critical cleanup project at Hanford, he said. "We will be looking very skeptically at any proposals that slow things down in a big way," he said. DOE headquarters is reviewing an Army Corps of Engineers report on plant costs, said Roy Schepens, manager of the DOE Office of River Protection for Hanford, at the State of the Site meeting. The new estimate will be conservative and will include more piping and other materials, the costs of revising the design to meet new earthquake standards and more contingency money, he said. The state also is concerned about the proposed Hanford budget for fiscal year 2006, Manning said. The president proposed a budget cut of $267 million from this year's budget of just under $2.1 billion. The U.S. House, persuaded by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., restored about $200 million of the cut. But the Senate bill that the full Senate has yet to consider restores only $34 million of the cut. As a conference committee reconciles the difference, state officials will be in Washington, D.C., fighting for the larger amount, Manning said. Manning called himself one of DOE's toughest critics over the last 15 years. But he's impressed with progress that has been made in cleaning up the nuclear reservation since he worked to develop the Tri-Party Agreement, which regulates Hanford, in the late 1980s. When the state began negotiating that agreement with the federal government, he was not certain any waste would be removed from Hanford's underground tanks, he said. But now at least 99 percent of the waste has been removed from two of Hanford's 149 single-shell tanks and work is under way to empty three more. "That is huge," he said. © 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 57 Carlsbad Current-Argus: Carlsbad DOE office manager accepts new post Updated: June 17, 2005 - 02:49:19 By Victoria Parker-Stevens/Current-Argus Staff Writer CARLSBAD — Ines Triay will soon make Washington, D.C., her full-time home again as she takes on responsibilities as No. 3 to the energy secretary in environmental management. The acting manager of the federal Energy Department’s Carlsbad Field Office was recently named chief operating officer for the DOE’s EM program. After 4˝ years as Carlsbad manager, Triay left last year for a post as deputy chief operating officer at DOE headquarters. She returned early this year after the exit of another acting manager. When Triay returned to Carlsbad, she said she would stay only long enough to assist with a couple of major objectives — exercising an option to extend the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant’s management and operations contract and getting an Idaho site ready to take over the role of Rocky Flats, Colo., which sent its last WIPP shipment in April. Mayor Bob Forrest said community leaders are “tickled to death” for her. “I’m very pleased for her that she has a position of such importance with the environmental management component of DOE,” said state Rep. John Heaton, D-Carlsbad. “I think she will be extraordinary in that position in that she is very familiar with the complex and the cleanup process. “I think she’ll be able to bring her extraordinary management skills to that position,” he said, “and I’m sure that as a result, the cleanup process will accelerate and not only will the public be rewarded environmentally, but I think they’ll be rewarded by savings in their tax dollars.” The mayor spoke highly of Triay’s recent stay in Carlsbad, noting when she left last year, “I thought the end of the world was coming.” “She came in and fixed a lot of problems,” said Forrest, who before her return had voiced concerns about a lack of DOE responsiveness. “In the years I’ve been dealing with WIPP, this is the best our relationship has ever been.” This spring, community leaders had been lobbying to see Triay fill the chair of the assistant secretary — No. 2 to the energy secretary — or a similar position dealing with civilian radioactive waste management. “I don’t know of anyone who knows the issues better than she does across the complex,” Heaton said. “She understands the complexities of it, technically and politically.” Forrest said whenever he hears a story about Yucca Mountain, a proposed high-level waste repository in Nevada, he appreciates what Carlsbad has in WIPP. He cited recent support from Gov. Bill Richardson for centralizing some operations in Carlsbad and from appropriations subcommittee chairman Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, for expansion at the site. “These things don’t just happen. I give all the credit to Ines,” Forrest said. “That’s the one thing that got us (support for) this centralized facility, the promise that Ines would be in D.C. or Carlsbad. She has a lot of credibility.” But Forrest noted, “Politics can get in the way of who is most qualified.” “She’s one of the few that really puts the community first,” he said more recently, after hearing of her new position as No. 3. “That might be her shortfall in Washington.” “Whoever is the assistant secretary, she certainly will be their right arm,” Heaton said. “Without question we will miss her at the WIPP site,” he said, noting while she asks a lot of those who work with her, she’s fair. “Her work ethic and ability to get things done will be a great addition to D.C.” Copyright © 2004 Carlsbad Current-Argus, a Gannett Co., Inc. ***************************************************************** 58 Daily Texan: UT, Lockheed agree to bid on Los Alamos - Top Stories | 6/17/2005 University, defense company will submit a joint proposal for lab By 471-3914 The UT System and Lockheed Martin have finalized an agreement to pursue management of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lockheed announced Thursday. In May, the UT System Board of Regents authorized Chancellor Mark Yudof to enter into the agreement and approved spending $1.2 million of the System's administrative budget to finance the bid, which is due to the Department of Energy by July 19. "We decided to enter this competition because our research told us that Lockheed Martin was the only industrial partner that could offer the combination of unerring commitment to facilitating research as well as the capacity and track record of managing the on going security requirements that a laboratory of this scope requires," Yudof said in a written statement. The UT System first announced its interest in bidding on the Los Alamos contract in July 2004. It then voted to take its name out of the running in January 2005, citing safety and security concerns. When Lockheed Martin emerged as a possible manager and changes were made to the DOE's final proposal, the UT System returned to the table. The nuclear weapons lab, established in 1943, has a $2.2 billion budget and the University of California employs about 8,300 individuals on-site. The UT System currently has a memorandum of understanding with Lockheed Martin to provide peer review for research programs at Sandia National Laboratories, a nuclear weapons lab managed by Lockheed. Sandia's former president, C. Paul Robinson, is leading the UT-Lockheed bid team and is positioned to become Los Alamos's director if UC's management team, the only other prominent competitor, fails to win a new contract. UT/Lockheed's bid team also includes international engineering firm Fluor Corp., and CH2M Hill, an "employee-owned" environmental clean-up and restoration firm that has managed the clean-up of the former DOE pit production facility, Rocky Flats. "We have assembled a best-of-the-best team," Robinson said in a written statement. "Simply put, we intend to provide the Los Alamos employees with the quality of leadership and management support they deserve." At an employee meeting at the Laboratory last Friday, National Nuclear Security Administration officials announced that NNSA would be extending UC's management of the lab by eight months, in order to give employees time to explore their options. The number of employees retiring has increased by 50 percent this year, according to official projections. Because of the possible management shift, Los Alamos, where the average employee age is 46.3 years old, is experiencing a "brain drain," said Los Alamos spokesman James Rickman. "Obviously this past year, with the uncertainty associated with the University of California contract to manage the laboratory, we have had a number of employees who are very concerned about what a contract change would mean to their retirement pensions," Rickman said. "A lot of people at the laboratory are exploring their retirement options right now." UC teamed with Bechtel Group, Inc. as its primary bid partner. The UC/Bechtel team includes Washington Group International, BWXT and a consortium of New Mexico Universities. The team is lead by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Director Michael Anastasio. UT System spokesman Michael Warden said UT and Lockheed are working on their proposal in Albequerque, N.M. The NNSA's final request for proposal states that the winning team must create a separate, dedicated corporation to manage Los Alamos for seven years, beginning June 1, 2006. The team will also be paid up to $79 million as a management fee. ***************************************************************** 59 Las Vegas SUN: Air Force Finds No Trace of Lost Nuke Today: June 17, 2005 at 11:43:19 PDT By RUSS BYNUM ASSOCIATED PRESS SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) - The first government search in decades for a nuclear bomb lost off the Georgia coast in 1958 found no trace of the sunken weapon, the Air Force said in a report Friday. The report, released nine months after scientists tested radiation levels off Tybee Island, concluded the 7,600-pound bomb cannot explode and should be left at sea. "We still think it's irretrievably lost. We don't know where to look for it," Dr. Billy Mullins, an Air Force nuclear weapons adviser who led the search, told a news conference. A damaged B-47 bomber jettisoned the Mark-15 nuke into a sound about 15 miles from Savannah after colliding with a fighter jet during a training flight. The military never recovered the bomb and gave up searching until last year, when a retired Air Force pilot claimed his private search team had detected unusually high radiation levels in the sound. Government scientists investigated, taking radiation readings and soil samples Sept. 30 from water in an area the size of four football fields. The report said varying radiation levels were observed, but they were from natural elements in the sediment on the sea floor. "The best course of action in this matter is to not continue to search for it and to leave the property in place," said the report by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency. The Air Force has said the bomb contains uranium and about 400 pounds of conventional explosives, though it lacks the plutonium capsule needed to trigger a nuclear blast. The amount of uranium was undisclosed. In 2001, the Air Force declared the bomb "irretrievably lost" and estimated it lies buried beneath 8 to 40 feet of water and 5 to 15 feet of mud and sand. The report issued Friday by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency said dropping the search and leaving the bomb was "the best course of action." -- ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************