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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 [NYTr] US Won't Let UN's Facts Deter Its Attacks on Iran
2 BBC: US dismisses Iran nuclear report
3 BBC: Diplomats in disarray over Iran
4 Asia Times Online: Nuclear modernity and identity in Iran
5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set to Offer New Nuclear Proposals
6 Reuters: U.S. says IAEA report won't end concerns over Iran
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set to Offer New Nuclear Proposals
8 N. Korea & US: Declassified Docs from Reagan to Clinton
9 Daily Times: ‘Khan provided centrifuges to North Korea’
10 ITAR-TASS: Six-party talks over NKorea's nuclear program to resume n
11 Reuters: China envoy: NKorea nuclear talks likely as planned
12 Reuters: China envoy: NKorea nuclear talks likely as planned
13 AFP: Musharraf says scientist gave centrifuges to North Korea -
14 US: NRC: NRC Announces New Head of State and Tribal Programs
15 RIA Novosti: U.S. Senator to inspect U.S.-funded decommissioning
16 US: Las Vegas SUN: Base closing commission votes to save Hawthorne A
17 US: PRN: Approval Ratings for President and Congressional Leaders
18 GTR: Russian-US uranium export programme reaches half-way mark -
19 YaleGlobal Online: How to Be Weapon-Ready NPT Members
20 AFP: Ahmadinejad promises 'innovations' to solve nuclear row
NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 Aftenposten Norway: Not ready for disaster
22 US: Fairfield County Weekly: Connecticut Lights the Way for Clean En
23 US: NRC: Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc.; Notice of Withdrawal of
24 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collecti
25 US: NRC: Notice of Termination of Release of Kerr McGee Corporation,
26 Mos News: Russia, Finland to Build Underwater Power Line Worth 300M
27 US: Reuters: Scana, Santee Cooper to consider new nuclear plant
28 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy cuts deal with utilities over VY f
29 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: PUC set to OK Diablo plant work
30 US: AP Wire Commission: Oconee Nuclear must fix problem or shut down
NUCLEAR SECURITY
31 US: Secrecy News -- 08/24/05
NUCLEAR SAFETY
32 US: Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Employees safe, Lockheed says -
33 US: BoiseWeekly: Lesson One: Don't Say "Fallout Shmallout"
34 Yokwe: Traditional Leaders Request Support for Environmental Assessm
35 US: PISJ: Health screening offered to current, former INL workers
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
36 CEN News: Ely Edition: Waste trial put on hold
37 US: PE.com: Fears aired at Wyle meeting
38 US: AU ABC: Miner keen for WA uranium search.
39 KLAS: EPA Public Meetings on Yucca Mountain
40 Pahrump Valley Times: Reid, Ensign want answers on nuke train
41 US: HeraldToday.com: Tallevast residents say Gov. Bush must help the
PEACE
42 US: The Olympian: Council OKs nuclear-free zone
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
43 Tri-City Herald: Hanford alert issued after drum leak
44 Las Vegas SUN: Feds Evacuate Hanford Nuclear Workers
45 Reuters: Workers evacuated at Hanford after container leak
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 [NYTr] US Won't Let UN's Facts Deter Its Attacks on Iran
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 10:42:21 -0500 (CDT)
WHITE_PHRASE autolearn=ham version=3.0.4
X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Reuters - Aug 24, 2005
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2005-08-24T105139Z_01_DIT439055_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-IRAN-NUCLEAR-USA-DC.XML
U.S. says IAEA report won't end concerns over Iran
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains concerned about
Iran's nuclear program despite reported findings by scientists that
bomb-grade uranium traces found in Iran came from contaminated
Pakistani equipment, the State Department said.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday the contamination issue was
"one part of this overall set of questions that not just the United
States has, but the rest of the world has about Iran's nuclear
program."
A report by a panel of scientists from the United States, Russia,
France, Japan and Britain, convened by the U.N. International Atomic
Energy Agency, will be shared with IAEA board members early next
month, the Washington Post reported.
The Post said on Tuesday the report would support Iran's claim that
the traces of highly enriched uranium came from contaminated
centrifuges imported from Pakistan.
The Bush administration had pointed to the material as evidence that
Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients, the paper said.
McCormack said the United States had other "unresolved concerns
outside of the issue of the contaminated centrifuges," including
Iran's dealings with "clandestine nuclear procurement networks."
European powers on Tuesday called off talks set for August 31 with
Iran over its nuclear program after Iran resumed some nuclear work in
breach of a promise to freeze it while talks lasted.
McCormack voiced U.S. support for the European nations' decision.
"We believe that Iran should abide by its Paris commitments. It has
broken those commitments," he said.
Under the Paris Agreement, reached in November 2004, Iran voluntarily
suspended all work related to atomic fuel production while negotiating
a permanent deal with the European Union.
The United States and the EU say Iran broke the agreement when it
resumed uranium conversion at its Isfahan plant on August 8.
) Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
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2 BBC: US dismisses Iran nuclear report
Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 August 2005
[Iranians burn a US flag at demonstration in front of the British
embassy in Tehran]
Iranians have responded angrily to US pressure
The US has criticised an independent investigation which found no
evidence that Iran was working on a secret nuclear weapons
programme.
The report said traces of bomb-grade uranium in Iran's nuclear
facilities came from contaminated Pakistani equipment, not
Iranian activities.
But the US said there were other ways Iran could be building
nuclear weapons.
Iran has always maintained the traces of enriched uranium found
two years ago came from contaminated equipment.
The BBC's Pam O'Toole in Tehran says Iran will see the report's
findings as a vindication of its position.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and that US
pressure over its nuclear programme is part of a wider effort to
change the regime in Tehran.
However, a US state department spokesman said the report did
nothing to reduce their concern at Iran's nuclear programme.
He listed a series of what he called "unresolved concerns", which
included Iran's alleged dealings with clandestine nuclear
procurement networks and the Bush administration's strong belief
that Iran was developing and pursuing a nuclear weapon.
Talks scrapped
The independent report, published on Tuesday by the International
Atomic Energy Agency, concluded that traces of uranium found in
Iran two years ago came from contaminated equipment imported from
Pakistan.
The discovery of the uranium had angered the Bush administration,
which accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons in secret.
But the report backed Iran's long-standing claim that the uranium
traces came from equipment bought several years ago from
Pakistan.
France, Britain and Germany have called off talks with Iran that
had been scheduled for 31 August after Tehran resumed uranium
conversion.
The French foreign ministry said Iran's decision was in breach of
a 2004 agreement to suspend nuclear activity.
If the stand-off continues, the US and the EU might bring the
case before the UN Security Council to seek sanctions.
Offer rebuffed
Earlier this month, the EU offered a wide-ranging deal to Iran,
including economic, political and technological incentives, in
return for the complete suspension of research related to nuclear
fuel production.
[Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Moussavian] Iran's chief
negotiator says the EU offer was not good enough
But Iran, which insists it has the right to a civilian atomic
energy programme, rejected the offer.
French foreign ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said the
decision to call off the meeting did not mean "that there will
not be any contacts with the Iranians".
But senior Iranian negotiator Hossein Moussavian criticised the
move, saying the EU that had failed to recognise Iran's right to
peaceful atomic research.
"In Geneva we told the three European ministers clearly that if
Europe's proposal did not contain Iran's right to uranium
enrichment, it would be rejected and Isfahan (plant) would be
restarted," Iran's Mehr news agency quoted him as saying.
The US voiced its support for the European countries' decision to
cancel the talks.
*****************************************************************
3 BBC: Diplomats in disarray over Iran
Last Updated: Wednesday, 24 August 2005
By Jonathan Marcus BBC diplomatic correspondent
[Two technicians carry a box containing yellowcake at the Iranian
nuclear facility at Isfahan]
Iran says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes
It looks increasingly clear that traces of enriched uranium found
by IAEA inspectors on centrifuge parts in Iran were contamination
from their supplier.
The parts were purchased second-hand from Pakistan.
This news destroys what might have been a powerful line of
evidence suggesting Iran was pressing ahead with a secret uranium
enrichment programme.
So where do these latest revelations leave US and European
efforts to halt Iran's enrichment activities?
Western governments hoped the traces of highly enriched uranium
found in Iran would be positive proof that the Iranians had
already embarked upon a secret enrichment programme.
Diplomatic scramble
While the full details of the scientific investigation have not
been made public, all the indications are that this material was
already on the centrifuge parts when they were imported from
Pakistan.
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
Mined urani ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form
known as yellowcake Yellowcake is converted into a gas by heating
it to about 64C (147F) Gas is fed through centrifuges, where its
isotopes separate and process is repeated until uranium is
enriched Low-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel
Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons In
depth: Nuclear fuel cycle Profile: The IAEA
Iran has seized on the news as justification of its denials that
it was up to no good.
Western diplomats have been thrown into some disarray - the news
greatly complicating their efforts to persuade Iran to give up
its enrichment activities altogether.
The next round of planned talks between the Europeans and Iran
that were to have taken place at the end of this month have been
abandoned.
A Foreign Office spokesman in London noted that "there is no
basis for negotiations until Iran responds to the IAEA board's
last resolution".
The resolution urged the country to halt its recently resumed
uranium conversion activities - a process that provides the seed
material for enrichment.
No smoking gun
Iran shows no sign of complying with the IAEA's demand.
IAEA head, Mohammed ElBaradei, will receive the full scientific
report on Iran's activities early next month.
A further board meeting will be held once the findings have been
digested.
But the absence of any "smoking gun" may make it much harder to
convince the board's members to refer the matter to the UN
Security Council.
That said, the board may well urge Iran to do more to explain
some of its past nuclear activities and some may want to give it
more time to do so, thereby delaying a full-scale crisis.
*****************************************************************
4 Asia Times Online: Nuclear modernity and identity in Iran
Middle East News, Iraq, Iran current affairs
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
The battle lines are being drawn, with Europe canceling scheduled
nuclear talks with Tehran, Washington pressuring for United
Nations action and Iran remaining adamant about its new
willingness to defy the West and press ahead with its nuclear
program.
But as we await the next chapter in this unfolding drama – and
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief's report on
Iran, due September 3, will likely prove critical – it is
important to take stock of the intersubjective dimension touching
on the identities of the key players involved.
Identity is a rather murky concept that is often invoked to
question given realities, particularly on the individual level,
touching on such questions as "who am I?" and "what are my
loyalties and allegiances?" Identity, in its contemporary form,
is a product of modernity, and as philosopher Charles Taylor has
correctly pointed out, modernity has produced a "revolution of
self-expression". But it would be a theoretical error to limit
identity to individuals and to overlook or to simplify its
connection to the larger units, namely, communities, groups,
nations and nation-states, all of which are bound up in one way
or another with normative dimensions in the (international)
public sphere, or to use a popular German word, Volksgeist
(popular spirit).
The intention here is not to engage in an academic discourse and
to rehash the burgeoning literature on identity, rather to
utilize insights from literature as a guide to analyze the
present and clear danger to world peace of the looming
confrontation between the West and Iran over nuclear issues. It
is a confrontation already played out in the press interviews of
presidents and their policy-makers, media experts and chanting
crowds in the streets of Tehran, many of them carrying placards
that read "nuclear fuel is our right."
Earlier this month, the European Union (EU)offered a wide-ranging
package to Iran, including economic, political and technological
incentives, in return for the complete suspension of activities
related to nuclear fuel production. But Iran, which insists it
has the right to a civilian atomic energy program, rejected the
offer. As a result, the EU-3 (Germany, Britain and France) called
off talks with Iran scheduled for August 31 as Tehran has resumed
uranium conversion.
Certainly, the Iranian hardliners are aptly playing the
nationalist card with the nuclear issue, with the new man in
charge of nuclear negotiations with the EU-3, Ali Larijani,
comparing it to Iran's struggle to nationalize its oil industry
during the 1950s. This is, indeed, a tid-bit removed from
Larijani's earlier discourse on theory of the Islamic revolution
of 1979, aiming to make Iran into the "motherland" (umm-al ghara)
of the abode of Islam, yet there is ample evidence of a "return
to authenticity" zeal and crusade on the part of the new
politicians in charge, playing up the themes of recognition and
exaltation of the original ethos of the Islamic revolution.
The new "ethics of authenticity" in Iran is indisputably a modern
phenomenon, directed to the subjectivity of the Iranian Muslim
population, yearning for the acceptance of their nuclear rights
by the world community. And if there has been hardening of the
Iranian position on this issue recently, it is precisely because
more and more, or to put it differently, deeper and deeper, the
nuclear matter has been bound up with national identity. This is
in light of its prestige-enhancing effect in empowering ordinary
citizens with a new sense of pride – and the fact that Iran is
only one of 10 countries in the world in possession of nuclear
fuel technology.
"The world has to accept that Iran has joined the nuclear club,"
said Iran's Foreign Minister Kemal Kharrazi in New York last May,
and other high officials of the Iranian government have similarly
prided Iran for having turned into a "nuclear fuel technology
holder". Indeed, a matter of pride not just for Iran but also for
the whole Muslim World and the Third World, notwithstanding the
growing North-South technology gap. It is where the ideology of
progress meets nuclear populism.
Simultaneously, this technological modernization is connected to
an explicit moral judgment about nuclear weapons, with Iranian
leaders going out of their way to denounce as un-Islamic and
immoral, and that Iran has complied with intrusive inspections by
the UN's atomic agency, the IAEA.
Of course, this is not to jump to the conclusion that all
Iranians are on one mind over the nuclear question, and some
environmentalists have expressed serious concerns about nuclear
waste management and other similar issues. Also, there are
dissident groups, some abroad, who oppose Iran's nuclear
"ambition" as a tissue of theocracy not in line with Iran's
national interests.
Yet, consistently, these groups overlook that Iran's nuclear
program preceded the Islamic regime and that, in fact, during the
1970s the US Department of State itself concluded that Iran's
growing population and energy needs called for alternative,
non-oil, energy sources, thus giving the green light to Iran's
planned purchase of several nuclear plants from the US. There is
little doubt in this author's mind that most Iranians do not
approve of any dissident group acting as the US's fifth column
exposing Iran's "nuclear secrets", and by so doing these groups
only augment their own legitimacy deficits.
Presently, the issue of Iran's right to exercise its "inalienable
right" to nuclear technology, per Article IV of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, merges with the notion of national
autonomy and freedom. As philosopher Georg Hegel once put it,
human essence lies in self-consciousness, and in his 1844
manuscripts, Karl Marx observed that any alienation of human
consciousness is alienation of self-consciousness. In the Iranian
context, this is just another way of saying that the current
Western attempt to alienate Iran from its nuclear rights affects
Iranian identity and, if successful, would throw this identity
into a crisis, in the light of the valorization of nuclear
identity in every-day Iranian life. There is, after all, an
Iranian public sphere where the issue of Iran's nuclear rights is
intimately tied to the recognition of the indistinction of rights
on the world scale, instead of the present bifurcation between
the nuclear haves and have-nots.
In Iran's new ideological climate, featuring a political
restructuring going hand-in-hand with a certain re-radicalization
of the state, nuclear identity is consistent with both the
internal and external identification of Iran's right of passage
from technological adolescence, gaining symbolic value and
significance built partly around the on-going bout with the West,
the "hostile other".
Doubtless, this is a dangerous proposition, or rather
development, as well since the crisis could well get out of hand
and set back Iran's economy and technology by light years. An
over-identification of public "collective consciousness", to
borrow a term from sociologist Emile Durkheim, with nuclear
autonomy is rife with unwanted side effects, such as holding the
policy-makers to the exigencies of a neo-populism from below and
above. What is required is an Augustinian "reflexive
consciousness" that does not turn the popular nuclear identity
into a policy trap, boxing officials at the negotiation table to
predetermined positions partly dictated by the crowds in the
streets. Said otherwise, the limits of nuclear populism, if not
recognized early, can easily turn into a monumental headache
later.
(Copyright 2005 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved.
Please contact us for information on sales, syndication and
republishing.)
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New
Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and
co-authored "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", The Brown
Journal of World Affairs, Volume X11, issue 2, Summer 2005, with
Mustafa Kibaroglu.
Office: Rm 202, Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon,
Hong Kong Thailand Bureau: 11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin,
Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
*****************************************************************
5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set to Offer New Nuclear Proposals
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Wednesday August 24, 2005 8:01 PM
AP Photo XHS103
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran will soon offer new proposals for
negotiations with Europe over its controversial nuclear program,
the country's ultraconservative president said Wednesday. The
Bush administration responded by saying the European diplomatic
process ``still has legs.''
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he instructed the Supreme
National Security Council to draw up a new set of proposals over
Iran's uranium enrichment program.
``Iran will soon offer proposals about the cycle of nuclear fuel
for peaceful use of nuclear energy,'' he said on state-run
television.
``We want to continue talks with all. We will continue
dialogue,'' he said, but he didn't elaborate if that included
the United States. Iran has so far said it doesn't see any role
for the United States to play as long as it continues to
maintain its hostile approach toward Iran.
The comments by Ahmadinejad suggest he wants to launch a new
process of dialogue in the hope of persuading Europe to
recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium. Europe has been trying
to persuade Iran in the talks to give up its uranium enrichment
program in return for economic incentives, a proposal Iran has
rejected.
Enrichment is one of the final stages in the nuclear fuel
process. It can produce either the fuel needed for a power
reactor or material used in creating a nuclear bomb. Iran says
its program is entirely peaceful, aiming only to produce
electricity. The United States accuses Tehran of secretly
pursuing a weapons program.
Iran suspended enrichment activities and other parts of its
nuclear program as a gesture in negotiations last year. But
earlier this month, Iran ended the freeze on a preliminary part
of the nuclear cycle, uranium reprocessing.
France's foreign minister said Wednesday that the European Union
still believes negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program
are possible, despite the EU's canceling an Aug. 31 meeting in
response to the resumption of reprocessing.
``We think it is still possible to talk to them,'' Philippe
Douste-Blazy said on France Inter radio. ``We want to write a
new page in relations between the European Union and Iran.''
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said
the European diplomatic process ``still has legs.''
``We would encourage the Iranian government to engage with the
EU-3 negotiators in a serious and constructive way,'' McCormack
said Wednesday. ``And we would encourage them to take an offer
that is on the table. I think that the EU-3 offer is
comprehensive, it's constructive and it addresses the issue.''
Iran claimed victory Tuesday after the U.N. nuclear agency tests
concluded that traces of highly enriched uranium found on
centrifuge parts at two sites in Iran were from imported
equipment - rather than any enrichment activities by Iran.
The findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency support
Iran's claims that the material entered the country together
with centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan.
The discovery of the traces was touted by the United States as
evidence Iran was experimenting with producing highly enriched
uranium, which is used only in nuclear weapons.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
6 Reuters: U.S. says IAEA report won't end concerns over Iran
Wed Aug 24, 2005 6:50 AM ET
WASHINGTON, Aug 24 (Reuters) - The United States remains
concerned about Iran's nuclear program despite reported findings
by scientists that bomb-grade uranium traces found in Iran came
from contaminated Pakistani equipment, the State Department said.
Spokesman Sean McCormack said on Tuesday the contamination issue
was "one part of this overall set of questions that not just the
United States has, but the rest of the world has about Iran's
nuclear program".
A report by a panel of scientists from the United States,
Russia, France, Japan and Britain, convened by the U.N.
International Atomic Energy Agency, will be shared with IAEA
board members early next month, the Washington Post reported.
The Post said on Tuesday the report would support Iran's claim
that the traces of highly enriched uranium came from contaminated
centrifuges imported from Pakistan.
The Bush administration had pointed to the material as evidence
that Iran was making bomb-grade ingredients, the paper said.
McCormack said the United States had other "unresolved concerns
outside of the issue of the contaminated centrifuges", including
Iran's dealings with "clandestine nuclear procurement networks".
European powers on Tuesday called off talks set for Aug. 31 with
Iran over its nuclear program after Iran resumed some nuclear
work in breach of a promise to freeze it while talks lasted.
McCormack voiced U.S. support for the European nations'
decision.
"We believe that Iran should abide by its Paris commitments. It
has broken those commitments," he said.
Under the Paris Agreement, reached in November 2004, Iran
voluntarily suspended all work related to atomic fuel production
while negotiating a permanent deal with the European Union.
The United States and the EU say Iran broke the agreement when
it resumed uranium conversion at its Isfahan plant on Aug. 8.
© Reuters 2005.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Set to Offer New Nuclear Proposals
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Wednesday August 24, 2005 5:31 PM
AP Photo XHS103
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran will soon offer new proposals for
negotiations with Europe over its controversial nuclear program,
the country's ultraconservative president said Wednesday.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he instructed the Supreme
National Security Council to draw up a new set of proposals over
Iran's uranium enrichment program.
``Iran will soon offer proposals about the cycle of nuclear fuel
for peaceful use of nuclear energy,'' he said on state-run
television.
``We want to continue talks with all. We will continue
dialogue,'' he said, but he didn't elaborate if that included
the United States. Iran has so far said it doesn't see any role
for the United States to play as long as it continues to
maintain its hostile approach toward Iran.
The comments by Ahmadinejad suggest he wants to launch a new
process of dialogue in the hope of persuading Europe to
recognize Iran's right to enrich uranium. Europe has been trying
to persuade Iran in the talks to give up its uranium enrichment
program in return for economic incentives, a proposal Iran has
rejected.
Enrichment is one of the final stages in the nuclear fuel
process. It can produce either the fuel needed for a power
reactor or material used in creating a nuclear bomb. Iran says
its program is entirely peaceful, aiming only to produce
electricity. The United States accuses Tehran of secretly
pursuing a weapons program.
Iran suspended enrichment activities and other parts of its
nuclear program as a gesture in negotiations last year. But
earlier this month, Iran ended the freeze on a preliminary part
of the nuclear cycle, uranium reprocessing.
France's foreign minister said Wednesday that the European Union
still believes negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program
are possible, despite the EU's canceling an Aug. 31 meeting in
response to the resumption of reprocessing.
``We think it is still possible to talk to them,'' Philippe
Douste-Blazy said on France Inter radio. ``We want to write a
new page in relations between the European Union and Iran.''
Iran claimed victory Tuesday after the U.N. nuclear agency tests
concluded that traces of highly enriched uranium found on
centrifuge parts at two sites in Iran were from imported
equipment - rather than any enrichment activities by Iran.
The findings by the International Atomic Energy Agency support
Iran's claims that the material entered the country together
with centrifuge parts provided by Pakistan.
The discovery of the traces was touted by the United States as
evidence Iran was experimenting with producing highly enriched
uranium, which is used only in nuclear weapons.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
8 N. Korea & US: Declassified Docs from Reagan to Clinton
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 14:28:24 -0500 (CDT)
X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com
North Korea and the United States:
Declassified Documents from Reagan to Clinton
National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 164
Edited by Robert A. Wampler - 202/994-7000
August 23, 2005
Today, in anticipation of the planned resumption of the Six-Power talks between
the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, Russia and host nation China next week - talks
which grew out of the October 2002 accusation by the U.S. that North Korea had
in fact been secretly pursuing its nuclear weapons program in violation of the
1994 Framework Agreement - the National Security Archive is posting on its
website a collection of recently declassified documents that shed new light on
the ups and downs of U.S. efforts to deal with the security threat posed by
North Korea's nuclear program. Compiled by Dr. Robert A. Wampler, director of
the Archive's Korea Project, these documents, dating from the first Bush and
Clinton administrations, underscore the cycles of optimism and pessimism that
have marked U.S.-North Korean relations since the end of the first Bush
administration. They trace the trajectory of relations between 1992 and 2000,
including:
* The cautious optimism expressed in the State Department in mid-July 1992 over
the future prospects for productive talks with North Korea to
* The efforts to understand Pyongyang's reversion to a hard-line stance with the
IAEA over its nuclear program by early 1993, and
* The subsequent decline of relations to crisis proportions until the 1994
Framework Agreement established a new basis for constraining North Korea's
nuclear weapons aspirations.
* The efforts to determine the extent of North Korea's dire economic situation,
the surprising lack of impact these problems had on the loyalty of the North
Korean people to the regime, and the way in which concerns for stability on the
peninsula could lead the U.S. and its allies to help Pyongyang avoid total
economic collapse, rather than seek regime change.
* The period of renewed optimism, marked by both the Framework Agreement, the
start of peace talks in 1996, and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's
historic trip to Pyongyang in October 2000 to meet with North Korean leader Kim
Jong Il.
The optimism that North Korea could be dealt with diplomatically perhaps found
its most remarkable expression in the assessment of Kim Jong Il provided to
Albright by Stapleton Roy in mid-2000 on the occasion of the summit meeting
between the two Korean leaders. Roy painted a picture of North Korea and its
leaders, including the late Kim Il Song, that accented not the ideologically
rigid or paranoid, but the ability to respond flexibly and rationally to changes
on the Korean peninsula, an ability Roy said was at the root of the remarkable
longevity of the North Korean regime, "independent and prickly" though it might
be.
For more information, please visit our website at http://www.nsarchive.org
*****************************************************************
9 Daily Times: ‘Khan provided centrifuges to North Korea’
| Thursday, August 25, 2005
TOKYO: President Pervez Musharraf confirmed that nuclear
scientist Dr AQ Khan provided North Korea with centrifuges and
their designs.
Talking to Japan’s Kyodo news agency, Musharraf, however, said
the high-technology equipment handed over by Dr Khan did not
play a major role in giving Pyongyang a nuclear weapons
capability.
“Yes, he passed centrifuges — parts and complete. I do not
exactly remember the number,” Musharraf was quoted as saying
when asked to comment on reports that Islamabad told Tokyo that
Dr Khan gave about 20 centrifuges to North Korea..
Musharraf said that Dr Khan’s help would not have been decisive
to North Korea’s efforts to become a nuclear power because he
was not involved in other crucial areas of technology, such as a
trigger system. “So if North Korea has made a bomb... Dr AQ
Khan’s part is only enriching the uranium to weapons grade,”
Musharraf told Kyodo. agencies
Daily Times - All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
10 ITAR-TASS: Six-party talks over NKorea's nuclear program to resume next week
24.08.2005, 14.37
TOKYO, August 24 (Itar-Tass) - The six party talks over North
Korea's nuclear program will resume in Beijing next week, deputy
Chinese Foreign Minister Wu Dawei said on Wednesday.
Wu arrived in Tokyo for bilateral political consultations with
Japanese Foreign Ministry officials.
The plans to resume talks involving North Korea, South Korea,
the USA, China, Japan and Russia remain unchanged; the meeting
is due to begin in the Chinese capital in the week starting
August 29, the Chinese diplomat said.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
11 Reuters: China envoy: NKorea nuclear talks likely as planned
Wed Aug 24, 2005 7:12 AM ET
By George Nishiyama
TOKYO, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Six-party talks aimed at dismantling
North Korea's nuclear weapons programmes are likely to resume
next week as planned, China's top envoy to the discussions said
on Wednesday.
In Seoul, a senior South Korean official said he was optimistic
about the prospects for a deal by which the North would abandon
its nuclear weapons ambitions because Pyongyang has been
presented with Washington's best-ever offer.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, visiting Japan for talks
with Japanese officials, told reporters the starting date would
be decided after consultations with the other parties.
"As planned," Wu said when asked about the timing of the
upcoming talks, following a meeting with Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's
chief negotiator to the forum which includes the two Koreas, the
United States, Japan, China and Russia.
Following a gap of more than a year, the six countries met in
Beijing for nearly two weeks before breaking off earlier this
month with a decision to reconvene during the week of Aug. 29.
There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the interim,
including contacts between U.S. and North Korean officials.
Lee Jong-Seok, deputy head of South Korea's National Security
Council, was also in Tokyo and held talks with Japanese
officials, including Sasae, later on Wednesday.
The two sides agreed to make efforts to ensure that all six
parties could agree this time on a joint statement, something
they failed to do in early August.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon discussed the six-party talks during
a meeting on Tuesday in Washington.
Sasae is set to fly to Washington on Thursday for a meeting with
Rice and his U.S. counterpart in the nuclear discussions.
Washington has offered security guarantees and economic aid,
backed by a plan from South Korea to supply the North with
electricity equal to its current output, in exchange for North
Korea dismantling its nuclear weapons programmes.
BEST U.S. OFFER
"There has never been a more positive signal in 50 years than
what the United States has offered the North," South Korean Vice
Foreign Minister Lee Tae-sik told a forum in Seoul.
"It has everything the North wants. The North must look at the
pros and cons of passing on all of that and sticking to its
nuclear programmes," Lee said.
"The United States has promised normalisation of relations in
return for North Korea giving up all its nuclear programmes. I
think there will be some good result soon," he said.
In a sign that the U.S. position is softening ahead of the
planned talks resumption, the top U.S. negotiator said the issue
of the North having a civilian nuclear plan was a "theoretical,
downstream" issue that would not break a deal.
"If you ask me, it's not exactly a showstopper issue -- the real
issue is getting rid of all their nuclear programmes," Assistant
Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in Washington.
U.S. officials have been sceptical about allowing North Korea to
pursue a civilian nuclear programme out of concern that such a
programme actually would be used for military purposes.
On Wednesday North Korea denounced joint military drills by U.S.
and South Korean forces, where the two are testing their computer
and command systems, as coercion.
The exercises are aimed to "pressurise the DPRK by force of arms
to meet the unreasonable demands (the United States) raised at
the six-party talks," the North's official Rodong Sinmun
newspaper said in a commentary carried by the KCNA news agency.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea. (Additional reporting by Jack Kim in
Seoul)
© Reuters 2005.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
12 Reuters: China envoy: NKorea nuclear talks likely as planned
Wed Aug 24, 2005 3:13 AM ET
TOKYO (Reuters) - Six-party talks aimed at dismantling North
Korea's nuclear weapons programme are likely to resume next week
as planned, China's top envoy to the discussions said on
Wednesday.
In Seoul, a senior South Korean official said he was optimistic
about the prospects for a deal where North will abandon its
nuclear weapons programmes because Pyongyang has been presented
with Washington's best-ever offer.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, visiting Japan for talks
with Japanese officials, told reporters the starting date would
be decided after consultations with the other parties.
"As planned," Wu said when asked about the timing of the
upcoming talks, following a meeting with Kenichiro Sasae, Japan's
chief negotiator to the forum which includes the two Koreas, the
United States, Japan, China and Russia.
Following a gap of more than a year, the six countries met in
Beijing for nearly two weeks before they broke earlier this month
with a decision to reconvene during the week of August 29.
There has been a flurry of diplomatic activity in the interim,
including contacts between U.S. and North Korean officials.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon discussed the six-party talks during
a meeting on Tuesday evening in Washington.
Sasae is set to fly to Washington on Thursday for a meeting with
Rice and his U.S. counterpart in the nuclear discussions.
Washington has offered security guarantees and economic aid --
backed by a plan from South Korea to supply the North with
electricity equal to its current output -- in exchange for North
Korea dismantling its nuclear weapons programmes.
BEST U.S. OFFER
"There has never been a more positive signal in 50 years than
what the United States has offered the North," Vice Foreign
Minister Lee Tae-sik told a forum in Seoul.
"It has everything the North wants. The North must look at the
pros and cons of passing on all of that and sticking to its
nuclear programmes," Lee said.
"The United States has promised normalisation of relations in
return for North Korea giving up all its nuclear programmes. I
think there will be some good result soon," he said.
In a sign of softening U.S. position ahead of the planned
resumption of the talks, the top U.S. negotiator said the issue
of a civilian nuclear plan was a "theoretical, downstream" issue
that would not break a deal.
"If you ask me, it's not exactly a showstopper issue -- the real
issue is getting rid of all their nuclear programmes," Assistant
U.S. Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters in
Washington.
U.S. officials have been sceptical about allowing North Korea to
pursue a civilian nuclear programme out of concern such a
programme actually would be used for military purposes.
North Korea on Wednesday criticised joint military drills by
U.S. and South Korean forces, where the two are testing their
computer and command systems, as coercion.
The exercises are aimed to "pressurise the DPRK by force of arms
to meet the unreasonable demands (the United States) raised at
the six-party talks," the North's official Rodong Sinmun
newspaper said in a commentary carried by KCNA news agency.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
© Reuters 2005.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
13 AFP: Musharraf says scientist gave centrifuges to North Korea -
Thursday August 25, 12:30 AM
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has
confirmed that the country's disgraced nuclear scientist Abdul
Qadeer Khan provided North Korea with centrifuges for uranium
enrichment, his spokesman said.
But military ruler Musharraf, who made the statement to Japan's
Kyodo news agency, insisted that the equipment handed over by
Khan did not in itself give the Stalinist state a nuclear
weapons capability.
"Yes, he passed centrifuges -- parts and complete. I do not
exactly remember the number," Musharraf said on Wednesday when
asked about reports that Islamabad had told Tokyo that Khan
provided North Korea with about 20 centrifuges.
Musharraf's chief spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan,
confirmed the president had made the comments.
In February 2004 Khan, the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb,
admitted selling atomic secrets to North Korea, Libya and Iran.
He said he acted without government or military support.
Khan is already known to have supplied Tehran and Tripoli with
centrifuge parts. Centrifuges are used for producing enriched
uranium, which can be fuel for civilian nuclear power reactors
or the raw material for nuclear bombs.
North Korea is locked in a stand-off with the international
community over its atomic programme and it declared in June that
it has a stockpile of nuclear weapons and is producing more.
Musharraf said Khan's help would not have been decisive for
North Korea's efforts to become a nuclear power, because he was
not involved in other crucial areas of technology.
"So if North Korea has made a bomb... Dr. A.Q. Khan's part is
only enriching the uranium to weapons grade," Musharraf told
Kyodo. "He does not know about making the bomb, he does not know
about the trigger mechanism, he does not know about the delivery
system."
To obtain those things, the North Koreans "must have got it
themselves or somewhere else -- not from Pakistan," he added.
Pakistan has consistently refused to let international
investigators question Khan. The scientist has been officially
pardoned by Musharraf but he has remained under virtual house
arrest since late 2003.
However Musharraf's spokesman said Pakistan had already informed
the UN nuclear agency and other "affected" countries about the
centrifuges, and he too played down the importance of the
equipment.
"Saying that someone made a bomb because Khan passed on a couple
of centrifuges to them, maybe a dozen of them, this does not
mean they can make a bomb," he told AFP.
"There are so many other things involved in making a bomb.
Whether they have got a bomb yet we don't know."
Six-party nuclear talks on denuclearizing the Korean peninsula,
also involving the United States, South Korea, Russia, China and
Japan, are due to resume in the week of August 29.
On Monday the International Atomic Energy Agency said that
enriched uranium particles found in Iran were from smuggled
Pakistani centrifuges, backing Iran's claims that it is not
involved in enrichment work.
The United States says such activity would show that Tehran is
secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons.
Musharraf says on his personal website
(www.presidentofpakistan.gov.pk) that the discovery of Khan's
nuclear black market was the most embarrassing point of his
career.
Copyright © 2005 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
14 NRC: NRC Announces New Head of State and Tribal Programs
News Release - 2005-11
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
No. 05-114 August 23, 2005
Office of State and Tribal Programs. She will succeed Paul H.
Lohaus, who is retiring in October. In this position, she will
be responsible for managing the programs that establish and
maintain effective communications and working relationships
between the NRC and states, local government, other federal
agencies and Native American tribal governments.
Schlueter joined the NRC in 1989 as a health physicist in the
Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards (NMSS). In
1996, she became a technical assistant and executive assistant
to then Commissioner Edward McGaffigan. She was appointed to the
Senior Executive Service in 2002, serving as the head of the
High-Level Waste Branch of NMSS. Previously, she'd also served
as a technical assistant in the Office of the Executive Director
for Operations and was acting deputy director for the Office of
State and Tribal Programs. In 2004, she became executive
assistant to NRC Chairman Nils J. Diaz.
Prior to joining the NRC, Schlueter worked in the medical field
and then as a health physicist, radiation safety consultant and
trainer.
Schlueter holds a bachelor's degree in Radiation Sciences and
Administration from George Washington University in Washington,
D.C., and an associate degree in Radiation Sciences from the
Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University,
in Richmond, Va.
Last revised Wednesday, August 24, 2005
*****************************************************************
15 RIA Novosti: U.S. Senator to inspect U.S.-funded decommissioning
program in Russia
24/ 08/ 2005
MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - U.S. Senator Richard Lugar
(R-IN) will visit Russia from August 26 to 28 to inspect
progress of the U.S-funded Nunn-Lugar weapons decommissioning
program, the U.S Embassy in Moscow said Wednesday.
During his visit, Lugar will meet several Russian officials and
visit sites scheduled to receive financing through the
Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) Program for
destroying nuclear weapons and materials.
Lugar, who chairs the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
will leave Moscow for Kiev on August 28.
In October 1992, a law was passed in the U.S. through which
programs were created aimed at supporting the free market and
democratic reform in Russia and other CIS countries. As an
amendment to this law, the Nunn-Lugar program for helping Russia
to decommission its nuclear weapons and materials in accordance
with Russia's obligations under international agreements was
established.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
16 Las Vegas SUN: Base closing commission votes to save Hawthorne Army Depot
Today: August 24, 2005 at 15:41:28 PDT
By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) - The commission determining military base
closures nationwide voted Wednesday to keep open the Hawthorne
Army Depot 130 miles southeast of Reno.
The vote was 7-0, with two recusals, to overturn Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recommendation to shut down the
base.
Rumsfeld had wanted to relocate the base's mission and jobs to
Tooele Army Depot in Utah.
But commissioners said the Pentagon overstated savings and
military value, and understated economic impact to the region in
Mineral County.
"This is a site with high military value for its mission, the
cost savings have been overstated," said Commissioner Philip
Coyle.
Commissioners also noted that troops used the depot to train in
desert-like conditions similar to those found in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
"There is an important amount of training going on at this
site," Coyle said.
The Pentagon had projected that 199 jobs would be directly lost
through closure of the ammunition depot in the small desert town
of Hawthorne. But local officials said the closure would
actually cost about 1,200 jobs at the depot and elsewhere in the
community - two-thirds of all jobs in Mineral County.
After touring the ammunition depot in July, Defense Base Closure
and Realignment Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said that
closure "would be devastating to the town of Hawthorne."
Some 300,000 tons of bombs and other munition are stored at
Hawthorne. Commission staff members said the depot is filled to
about 56 percent capacity, and said the extra space might be
needed for surplus munitions being returned from Korea and
Southwest Asia - another consideration the Pentagon didn't
sufficiently weigh, they said.
Nevada officials praised the decision.
"Hawthorne Army Depot has unique qualities that are vital to our
national security," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. "They do work
in Hawthorne that cant be done at any other base. I'm thrilled
the BRAC commissioners saw the importance of keeping Hawthorne
open."
Base closing staff members also said the depot in Tooele doesn't
have enough capacity to take the additional munitions if
Hawthorne were closed.
Word of the vote traveled fast in Hawthorne.
"We are elated. It's great news for Hawthorne," said Ron Going,
director of munitions and logistics for Day &Zimmerman Hawthorne
Corp., which operates the depot under contract from the Army.
Going and several others at the base watched the commission vote
live on C-SPAN.
"We thought it should go that way because of all the facts. We
are pleased the commission agreed. It looks like they got the
message loud and clear," he said.
"Everybody is quite cheerful in town, of course," he said.
Going said visits to the base by Coyle and Commission Chairman
Anthony Principi were "absolutely essential" in the outcome of
the vote. He noted the vote does not seal Hawthorne's fate
because President Bush or Congress could decide otherwise, but
"it is a very strong step in the right direction."
--
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
17 PRN: Approval Ratings for President and Congressional Leaders
Continue to Drop, According to Latest Harris Poll
The War Jumps to the Top of the List as the Most Important
Issue for the Government to Address
ROCHESTER, N.Y., Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- President Bush's job
approval ratings are at their lowest point of his presidency as
only 40 percent of U.S. adults have a favorable opinion of his
job performance, while 58 percent have a negative opinion. This
is a decline from just two months ago in June when the
president's ratings were 45 percent positive and 55 percent
negative. Much of this decline can be tied to the public's
opinion on important issues. The war has climbed to the top of
the most important issues list and the economy is now the second
most important issue.
These are some of the results of a new Harris Poll of 1,217
U.S. adults
surveyed by telephone by Harris Interactive(R) between August 9
and 16, 2005.
Ratings of Other Cabinet Members
The Harris Poll(R) also examined the ratings of others in
the Bush
administration and with one exception; their ratings have also
dropped in the
past two months. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is the only
cabinet
member who has seen a rise in her ratings. She is now at 57
percent positive
and 37 percent negative, a rise from June when she was at 52
percent positive
and 41 percent negative. Her ratings clearly top those of the
political
figures measured.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has a 40 percent
positive, 58 percent
negative rating while Vice President Dick Cheney has a 35
percent positive, 60
percent negative rating.
Congress and Congressional Leaders
Looking at the parties in Congress, both Republicans and
Democrats see
drops in their ratings, with the Republicans taking the larger
fall. Slightly
under one-third (31%) of adults give a positive rating to
Democrats in
Congress and 65 percent give them a negative rating, down from
their 33
percent positive, 61 percent negative ratings in June.
Currently, Republicans
fare only slightly better with a 32 percent positive and a 64
percent negative
rating, down from a 37 percent positive and a 58 percent
negative rating in
June.
In looking at the ratings of individual leaders in Congress,
they hold
pretty steady from June. Both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist
and House
Majority Leader Tom DeLay have positive ratings of 28 percent,
but more than
half of adults (54%) give a negative rating to DeLay as compared
to the 49
percent negative rating for Frist. The Speaker of the House,
Dennis Hastert,
has a 26 percent positive rating and 46 percent negative rating,
and Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid is at 24 percent positive and 47
percent negative.
Right Direction or Wrong Track
As the attitudes toward the president, his cabinet and
Congress continue
to decline, Americans are also less satisfied with the way
things are going in
the country now as compared to in June. A majority (59%) of
adults say things
in the country have gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong
track and 37
percent believe things are moving in the right direction. In
June, those
numbers were 38 percent who said things were moving in the right
direction and
55 percent who said things had headed off on the wrong track.
The War is the Most Important Issue
The main reason why these percentages may be as low as they
are probably
has to do with the most important issues Americans want to see
addressed. The
war has taken a large jump as 41 percent say that it is the most
important
issue for the government to address, up from 24 percent in June.
Following the
war, the economy remains near the top of the list as 19 percent
believe it is
the most important issue. We also see that the rising gas prices
has moved to
the top five issues of importance as 10 percent of adults think
it is the most
important issue for the government to address.
The fact that neither the war nor the economy may be
perceived as going
well and people are constantly being reminded of the gas prices
every time
they fill their tanks has perhaps left the public looking for
someone to
blame. Right now, it looks like they may be placing that blame
on the
president, members of his administration and Congress.
TABLE 1
CURRENT RATINGS OF PRESIDENT, SENIOR CABINET MEMBERS AND
PARTIES IN CONGRESS
"How would you rate the job (READ ITEM) are/is doing --
excellent, pretty
good, only fair, or poor?"
Base: All Adults
Excellent Pretty Only Poor Not
Positive* Negative*
Good Fair Sure
% % % % % %
%
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice 21 36 22 15 6 57
37
President George
W. Bush 13 27 24 34 2 40
58
Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld 12 27 27 30 2 40
58
Vice President
Dick Cheney 8 26 26 34 5 35
60
Democrats in Congress 5 26 40 25 4 31
65
Republicans in
Congress 4 29 34 31 3 32
64
Senate Minority
Leader Harry Reid 4 20 30 16 29 24
47
Senate Majority
Leader Bill Frist 3 24 34 16 23 28
49
House Speaker
Dennis Hastert 3 23 33 13 28 26
46
House Majority
Leader Tom DeLay 3 24 33 21 18 28
54
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor
TABLE 2
POSITIVE RATINGS TRENDS SINCE 9/11/01: SUMMARY
Base: All Adults
POSITIVE RATINGS Soon
After Feb. April Aug. Dec. Feb.
April June
9/11 2003 2003 2003 2003 2004
2004 2004
President George
W. Bush % 88 52 70 57 50 51
48 50
Vice President
Dick Cheney % 69 45 55 42 42 41
36 42
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice % ** ** ** ** ** **
** **
Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld % 78 56 71 55 57 50
45 47
POSITIVE RATINGS Sept. Oct. Nov. Feb. April June
2004 2004 2004 2005 2005 2005
Now
President George
W. Bush % 45 51 50 48 44 45
40
Vice President
Dick Cheney % 40 47 48 45 37 38
35
Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice % ** ** ** 52 54 52
57
Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld % 43 46 47 42 42 42
40
** N/A
TABLE 3
PRESIDENT BUSH'S OVERALL JOB RATING
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"How would you rate the job President George W. Bush is doing
as president -
excellent, pretty good, only fair, or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 40 58
June % 45 55
April % 44 56
February % 48 51
2004 November % 50 49
October % 51 49
September % 45 54
August % 48 51
June % 50 49
April % 48 51
February % 51 48
2003 December % 50 49
October % 59 40
August % 57 41
June % 61 36
April % 70 29
February % 52 46
2002 December % 64 35
November % 65 33
October % 64 35
September % 68 30
August % 63 37
July % 62 37
June % 70 28
May % 74 25
April % 75 23
March % 77 22
February % 79 20
January % 79 19
2001 December % 82 17
November % 86 12
October % 88 11
August % 52 43
July % 56 39
June % 50 46
May % 59 35
March % 49 38
February % 56 26
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 4
RATINGS OF VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Vice President Cheney is doing
- excellent,
pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 35 60
June % 38 56
April % 37 60
February % 45 52
2004 November % 48 50
October % 47 51
September % 40 54
August % 40 54
June % 42 49
April % 36 52
February % 41 48
2003 December % 42 47
October % 42 44
August % 42 45
June % 49 40
April % 55 36
February % 45 44
2002 December % 50 37
November % 52 39
October % 54 37
September % 52 37
August % 45 43
July % 46 41
June % 55 34
May % 55 33
April % 55 31
March % 59 29
February % 57 31
January % 55 31
2001 October % 69 20
July % 39 52
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 5
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CONDOLEEZZA RICE
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 57 37
June % 52 41
April % 54 39
February % 52 40
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 6
RATINGS OF SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Secretary of Defense Donald
Rumsfeld is doing
- excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 40 58
June % 42 53
April % 42 56
February % 42 56
2004 November % 47 50
October % 46 50
September % 43 50
August % 45 49
June % 47 47
April % 45 47
February % 50 43
2003 December % 57 38
October % 47 44
August % 55 36
June % 60 32
April % 71 22
February % 56 35
2002 December % 59 30
November % 59 30
October % 60 30
September % 61 27
August % 60 29
July % 56 33
June % 65 24
May % 67 22
April % 70 18
March % 71 18
February % 70 17
January % 77 16
2001 December % 75 14
October % 78 12
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 7
RATINGS OF HOUSE SPEAKER DENNIS HASTERT
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job House Speaker Dennis Hastert
is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive*
Negative**
2005 August % 26
46
June % 28
44
April % 30
50
2004 September % 29
33
August % 29
33
June % 29
32
April % 25
35
February % 26
35
2003 December % 24
30
October % 29
35
August % 29
36
June % 34
31
April % 41
29
February % 33
34
2002 December % 26
33
November % 30
31
October % 30
29
September % 35
29
August % 29
35
July % 28
36
June % 34
31
May % 33
25
April % 32
26
March % 33
25
February % 37
25
January % 40
24
2001 October (high) % 52
16
August (low) % 27
29
2000 August (high) % 29
28
July (low) % 23
31
1999 October (low) % 25
34
April (high) % 36
39
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 8
RATINGS OF SENATE MAJORITY LEADER BILL FRIST
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Senate Majority Leader Bill
Frist is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 28 49
June % 28 47
April % 32 51
2004 September % 27 40
August % 28 38
June % 30 36
April % 26 36
February % 31 36
2003 December % 27 38
October % 29 34
August % 32 35
June % 38 32
April % 39 29
February % 37 30
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor
TABLE 9
RATINGS OF HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER TOM DELAY
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job House Majority Leader Tom
DeLay is doing -
excellent, pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive* Negative**
2005 August % 28 54
June % 28 55
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 10
RATINGS OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Republicans in Congress are
doing - excellent,
pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive*
Negative**
2005 August % 32 64
June % 37 58
April % 36 61
2004 September % 38 56
August % 40 54
June % 39 53
April % 35 55
February % 40 52
2003 December % 37 51
October % 40 50
August % 41 51
June % 45 47
April % 52 41
February % 43 49
2002 December % 47 47
November % 47 45
October % 46 45
September % 47 42
August % 41 49
July % 39 52
June % 46 45
May % 48 44
April % 49 39
March % 50 41
February % 50 40
January % 58 34
2001 October (high) % 67 24
August (low) % 37 52
2000 May (low) % 33 60
February (high) % 38 55
1999 October (low) % 32 58
September (high) % 39 55
1998 June (low) % 31 62
February (high) % 44 53
1997 June (low) % 31 67
February (high) % 38 58
1996 May (low) % 29 69
January (high) % 33 66
1995 November (low) % 35 63
April (high) % 42 56
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 11
RATINGS OF DEMOCRATS IN CONGRESS
(Not Sure's Excluded)
"And how would you rate the job Democrats in Congress are doing
- excellent,
pretty good, only fair or poor?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Positive*
Negative**
2005 August % 31 65
June % 33 61
April % 34 64
2004 September % 34 60
August % 35 58
June % 31 59
April % 32 57
February % 33 58
2003 December % 28 61
October % 34 56
August % 30 60
June % 41 51
April % 39 52
February % 38 54
2002 December % 36 55
November % 40 52
October % 40 52
September % 42 49
August` % 38 54
July % 41 49
June % 45 46
May % 45 45
April % 47 42
March % 48 43
February % 49 41
January % 52 40
2001 October (high) % 68 24
May (low) % 40 51
2000 September (high) % 48 44
June (low) % 38 52
1999 October (low) % 42 50
January (high) % 50 47
1998 September (high) % 49 47
June (low) % 41 53
1997 June (low) % 36 60
February (high) % 43 54
1996 May (high) % 36 62
January (low) % 31 68
1995 November (high) % 34 64
July (low) % 30 66
1994 December % 28 70
* Positive = excellent or pretty good.
** Negative = only fair or poor.
TABLE 12
RIGHT DIRECTION OR WRONG TRACK
(No Opinion's, Not Sure's and Decline to Answer's
Excluded)
"Generally speaking, would you say things in the country are
going in the
right direction or have they pretty seriously gotten off on the
wrong track?"
Base: All Adults
TREND Right Direction
Wrong Track
2005 August % 37
59
June % 38
55
January % 46
48
2004 September % 38
57
June % 35
59
2003 December % 35
57
June % 44
51
2002 December % 36
57
June % 46
48
2001 December % 65
32
June % 43
52
January % 46
39
2000 October % 50
41
June % 40
51
January % 50
38
1999 June % 37
55
March % 47
45
1998 December % 43
51
June % 48
44
1997 December % 39
56
April % 36
55
1996 December % 38
50
June % 29
64
1995 December % 26
62
June % 24
65
1994 December % 29
63
June % 28
65
TABLE 13
MOST IMPORTANT ISSUES FOR GOVERNMENT to address
(Spontaneous, Unprompted Replies)
"What do you think are the two most important issues for the
government to
address?"
Base: All Adults
'94 '95 '96 '97 '98 '99
'00 '01 '02
Feb Feb April May Jan Feb
Aug Dec Dec
% % % % % %
% % %
(The) war X X X X X X
X 12 18
The economy (non-specific) 12 7 14 8 9 7
5 32 34
Healthcare (not Medicare) 45 25 16 10 11 12
15 5 10
Gas and oil prices X X X X X X
X X X
Social security X X X 6 6 24
16 3 2
Education 6 10 14 15 14 21
25 12 11
Terrorism X X X X X X
X 22 17
Iraq/(Saddam Hussein) * * * * * 1
- - 11
Taxes 6 12 11 14 16 12
13 6 5
Energy X X X X X X
X X X
(Programs for) the
poor/poverty 8 10 2 3 2 2
3 1 2
Employment/jobs 14 10 9 5 3 4
4 7 8
Immigration * 2 2 2 1 *
1 1 1
Welfare 7 16 13 14 8 4
2 1 1
Environment 1 1 1 3 2 3
3 1 3
Crime/violence 36 21 16 19 13 8
10 1 2
Abortion 3 3 4 2 2 2
6 1 1
National security X X X X X 2
2 6 3
Federal budget
surplus/deficit 8 22 22 20 12 5
4 1 1
Homeland/domestic
security/public safety X X X X X X
X 8 9
Domestic/social issues
(non-specific) 4 4 4 2 3 2
2 2 2
Judicial/Legal Issues X X X X X X
X X X
Drugs 6 3 4 8 6 2
5 2 3
Honesty/Integrity
/Moral Values X X X X X X
X X X
Medicare X X 3 4 5 5
6 1 1
Foreign policy (non-specific) 4 2 3 3 5 4
3 2 4
Military/defense 2 1 1 2 2 2
4 4 1
Inflation X X X X X X
X X X
Same sex marriage/rights X X X X X X
X X X
Peace/world peace
/nuclear arms 1 1 3 1 3 3
1 2 2
Middle East peace process
between Palestinians
and Israel X X X X X X
X 2 2
Ethics in government * * * * * *
* 1 1
Human/civil/women's rights 1 1 2 2 1 *
1 1 1
Homelessness - - 3 4 4 3
3 2 2
Family values (decline of) * 2 2 2 1 2
1 * *
Medical research X X X X X X
X X X
School safety X X X X X X
X X X
Election/Voter reform X X X X X X
X X 1
Religion (decline of) * 1 * * 1 *
1 2 1
Air travel safety - - - - - -
- 1 *
Anthrax/Biological attack - - - - - -
- 1 1
Race relations X X X X 2 *
1 1 *
Downsizing government X X X X X X
1 * X
Prescription drug prices X X X X X X
X X 1
AIDS 2 1 1 * 1 -
* * *
Other (1) 8 7 7 8 19 2
19 3 8
Not sure/refused/no issue 8 7 7 9 12 16
18 11 10
'03 '04 '04 '04 '05
'05 '05 '05
Jun Feb Aug Oct Feb
April Jun Aug
% % % % % %
% %
(The) war 8 13 24 35 30 23
24 41
The economy (non-specific) 25 31 32 28 11 13
18 19
Healthcare (not Medicare) 14 16 17 18 14 14
10 11
Gas and oil prices 1 * * 1 1 9
6 10
Social security 4 2 5 4 37 31
19 10
Education 13 11 9 7 7 9
7 8
Terrorism 11 4 11 7 4 4
6 7
Iraq/(Saddam Hussein) 3 6 6 9 11 6
7 6
Taxes 11 5 4 8 5 6
5 5
Energy 1 * 1 1 1 1
1 4
(Programs for) the
poor/poverty 3 2 1 * 2 2
3 4
Employment/jobs 8 16 10 10 6 6
5 3
Immigration 2 1 1 2 2 4
4 3
Welfare 3 2 1 * 1 2
1 3
Environment 2 4 2 1 1 1
2 3
Crime/violence 3 3 1 1 * 2
2 3
Abortion 1 3 3 4 2 2
4 2
National Security 6 4 6 5 4 4
3 2
Federal budget
surplus/deficit 4 5 2 2 10 6
4 2
Homeland/domestic security
/public safety 3 8 5 6 3 3
3 2
Domestic/social issues
(non-specific) 1 4 2 2 2 3
3 2
Judicial/Legal Issues X X X * * *
* 2
Drugs 3 3 2 * * *
* 2
Honesty/Integrity
/Moral Values X X X 2 1 1
* 2
Medicare 4 2 3 3 3 3
2 2
Foreign policy
(non-specific) 2 6 2 3 3 3
2 2
Military/defense 5 5 4 3 3 1
2 1
Inflation X X X X X X
X 1
Same sex marriage/rights X 1 2 1 1 2
* 1
Peace/world peace
/nuclear arms 3 1 2 * 1 1
2 1
Middle East peace process
between Palestinians
and Israel 2 * 1 * * *
* 1
Ethics in government 1 1 * 1 * -
1 1
Human/civil/women's rights * * * 1 1 1
1 1
Homelessness 1 1 2 * 1 1
1 1
Family values (decline of) 1 2 1 1 - *
1 1
Medical research 2 * 1 2 1 *
1 1
School safety 2 * 2 * - *
1 1
Election/Voter reform 1 1 2 * X *
* 1
Religion (decline of) 1 * * 1 * *
1 *
Air travel safety * * - X - -
1 *
Anthrax/Biological attack 1 * 1 X - *
1 *
Race relations * * * X * *
1 *
Downsizing government X 1 * 1 * 1
1 *
Prescription drug prices 1 1 1 1 1 1
* *
AIDS 2 1 * X * *
2 *
Other (1) 8 3 5 8 21 4
2 1
Not sure/refused/no issue 12 15 12 9 7 1
14 8
* = Less than 0.5%.
X = Not mentioned as specific issue.
(1) Including government/politics (nonspecific), housing,
gun control,
issues involving children, corporate scandals/fraud, and
programs for
the elderly (not Medicare/Social Security)
Methodology
The Harris Poll(R) was conducted by telephone within the
United States between August 9 and 16, 2005 among a nationwide
cross section of 1,217 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for
age, sex, race, education, number of adults, number of
voice/telephone lines in the household, region and size of place
were weighted where necessary to align them with their actual
proportions in the population.
In theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can
say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a sampling
error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be
if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete
accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources
of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious
than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include
refusals to be interviewed (nonresponse), question wording and
question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic
control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is
impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these
factors.
These statements conform to the principles of disclosure of
the National Council on Public Polls.
J25035
Q410, Q417, Q426, Q430
The Harris Poll(R) #66, August 24, 2005
By Regina Corso, research director, Harris Interactive
About Harris Interactive(R)
Harris Interactive Inc. (), the 13th largest market research
firm in the world, is a Rochester, NY-based global research
company that blends premier strategic consulting with innovative
and efficient methods of investigation, analysis and application.
Known for The Harris Poll(R) and for pioneering Internet-based
research methods, Harris Interactive conducts proprietary and
public research to help its clients achieve clear, material and
enduring results.
Harris Interactive combines its intellectual capital,
databases and
technology to advance market leadership through its U.S. offices
and wholly
owned subsidiaries, HI Europe in London (), Novatris in
Paris (), and through an independent global network of
affiliate market research companies. EOE M/F/D/V.
To become a member of the Harris Poll Online(SM) and be
invited to
participate in future online surveys, .
Press Contacts:
Nancy Wong
Harris Interactive
585-214-7316
Kelly Gullo
Harris Interactive
585-214-7172
SOURCE Harris Interactive Inc.
Web Site:
Issuers of news releases and not PR Newswire are solely
responsible for the accuracy of the content. Terms and
conditions, including restrictions on redistribution, apply.
Copyright © 1996- PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights
Reserved. A company.
*****************************************************************
18 GTR: Russian-US uranium export programme reaches half-way mark -
Gateway To Russia - News From Russia
The latest cargo, 42 tonnes of low-enriched uranium, has left
the port of St Petersburg for Baltimore under the Russian-US
HEU-LEU [high-enriched uranium - low-enriched uranium]
agreement, known as the Megatons to Megawatts programme.
According to the press release issued by the Tekhsnabeksport
joint stock company, "the departure of this latest cargo signals
an important milestone in the implementation of this unique
programme of cooperation between the Russian Federation and the
USA in the area of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation".
[Passage omitted]
From the time the first cargo of low-enriched uranium was
dispatched on 31 May 1995, around 7,350 tonnes of this material,
produced from the processing of 250 tonnes of high-enriched
uranium, have been sent to the USA [figures as received]. This
is half the total quantity [of high-enriched uranium] of 500
tonnes cited in the HEU-LEU agreement.
In this way, the press release notes, the Megatons to Megawatts
programme, "has crossed the half-way mark and reached its
concluding stage". "In terms of nuclear disarmament, this means
approximately 10,000 nuclear warheads have been dismantled once
and for all. The energy produced by the USA from this [which
uses the low-enriched uranium in its nuclear power stations] is
in the region of 3,000bn kilowatt hours, which is equivalent to
burning approximately 750bn cubic metres of natural gas or 650m
tonnes of oil."
The sum received by Russia for the delivery of the material is
more than 5.3bn dollars. "All revenue from the implementation of
the HEU-LEU agreement goes into the Russian federal budget. In
2004 this revenue equalled about 10 per cent of all planned
non-tax receipts," the press release says.
The revenue generated is used in financial programmes for
improving the safety of Russian nuclear power stations,
converting military plants and cleaning up contaminated areas.
Source: Interfax news agency, Moscow
BBC Monitoring
[BBC Monitoring]
© Copyright Gateway to Russia 2003
*****************************************************************
19 YaleGlobal Online: How to Be Weapon-Ready NPT Members
The simmering trouble with the North Korean and Iranian nuclear
programs has come to a head, raising serious questions about the
future of nonproliferation. These two countries' – one former
and one current signatory of the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty
(NPT) – new demands that bend, but do not explicitly break,
the NPT rules have resulted in a dangerous standoff.
Nonproliferation expert Leonard S. Spector analyzes the
unraveling of negotiations on both fronts. Iran's defiant
resumption of uranium enrichment activities, breaking its own
promise of a freeze, has presented the nonproliferation regime
with a new challenge. While as a NPT signatory, Iran does have
the right to peaceful use of uranium, its past clandestine
efforts make its peaceful intent dubious. Yet, thanks to
division among its board members, the IAEA has issued nothing
more than a mild censure of Iran. Meanwhile, North Korea, no
longer an NPT member, has benefited from dissent among
negotiators at the Six-Party Talks. South Korea, a key
participant, undermined the US stance, declaring that its
northern neighbor did, indeed, have the right to explore
peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Washington had opposed North
Korea's construction of new nuclear reactors out of fear that
they would be used to develop weapons material. In this
environment of conflicting agendas on the one hand, and
determined drive by Pyongyang and Tehran to develop weapons
capability on the other, Spector concludes, the future for
nonproliferation efforts seems grim. Will North Korea and Iran,
as he writes, "have their NPT cake and eat it too"? –
YaleGlobal
How to Be Weapon-Ready NPT Members Thanks to divisions in the
international community, North Korea and Iran want to have their
NPT cake and eat it too
Leonard S. Spector YaleGlobal, 16 August 2005
An axis of NPT delinquents? Iranian President Mahmud
Ahmadinejad and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il want the
benefits of NPT membership and also the bomb
WASHINGTON: Iran's and North Korea's clever manipulation of
their rights to exploit nuclear energy under the nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), to which Iran is a party and
which North Korea may rejoin, together with deep difference
among the Western powers and their partners, have put new
obstacles in the path of efforts to rein in the nuclear weapons
capabilities of the two states. If the United States and other
parties cannot find greater unity in curbing the nuclear
ambitions of the two countries, which President George W. Bush
termed members of the "axis of evil," the nuclear weapon
potential of both may grow unchecked.
Whether coordinated or not, both North Korea and Iran have
resisted the effort to end their weapons-relevant nuclear
activities by claiming the right of peaceful use of nuclear
energy granted to NPT members. This, despite the fact that Iran
an NPT member carried on clandestine efforts to enrich uranium,
and North Korea having withdrawn from the NPT now processes
enough plutonium to make six to eight bombs. Faced with these
tactics, the international efforts to obtain nuclear constraints
appeared to be losing cohesion.
The most disturbing setback was Iran's decision to restart
certain uranium enrichment activities, which it had previously
agreed to freeze for the duration of negotiations with Britain,
France, and Germany. Iran claims to be developing a uranium
enrichment capability to provide fuel for future nuclear power
plants an acceptable practice for NPT members. But the claim
sounds dubious, as at present, it has no power plants on order
and only one under construction: the Russian-built Bushehr
nuclear reactor, which will receive the necessary fuel from
Russia.
Because the same technology needed to produce low-enriched
uranium for nuclear power plants can also produce highly
enriched uranium for nuclear weapons, the West believes that
Iran intends to use this capability to stockpile weapons-usable
nuclear materials. Iran might then suddenly withdraw from the
NPT and be within months of having a nuclear arsenal. Indeed, a
leading hard-line Iranian newspaper last week called for Tehran
to leave the pact. Underlying Western concerns is the fact that
Iran pursued its uranium enrichment work in secret for some 18
years, failing both to declare this to the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) and to submit key activities for IAEA
monitoring, per NPT requirements.
As part of an IAEA-endorsed understanding with the Europeans,
Iran had agreed in November 2004 to freeze all
uranium-enrichment related activities, including the conversion
of uranium oxide powder into uranium hexafluoride gas, the
feedstock for the enrichment process. In early August, however,
Iran announced its plan to restart uranium conversion at its
plant in Isfahan, and, on August 8, it did so, while permitting
IAEA inspections to continue.
The move, at the direction of the country's newly elected,
hard-line president Mahmoud Ahmadinejed, appeared to be a gambit
by Iran to pressure the British, French, and German negotiating
team to improve the economic and diplomatic incentives they have
offered Iran, if it agrees to end its uranium enrichment plans
and parallel efforts to develop the ability to produce plutonium
(the second material that can be used for nuclear weapons). On
August 7, Iran dismissed the latest European proposal as having
"no value," because it failed to recognize Iran's legal right to
enrich uranium.
Ahmadinejed may also be testing the resolve of the Europeans and
the United States. The Europeans had made clear to Iran in
November that they would immediately urge referral of Iran's
years of noncompliance with the NPT to the UN Security Council
if Iran deviated in any way from the freeze agreement. However,
when the IAEA Board of Governors convened in special session on
August 11, it gave Iran only the mildest slap on the wrist,
"urging" it to restore the suspension of uranium conversion
activities.
Developing countries members, in particular, balked at taking
the matter to the Security Council, apparently sympathizing with
Iran's invocation of its "inalienable right" under the NPT to
exploit nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The recent
revelation about a US Intelligence estimate that Iran was likely
to be unable to produce nuclear weapons for 10 years has further
diluted the sense of urgency about its nuclear ambitions.
In the North Korean talks, Pyongyang's right to pursue the
peaceful uses of nuclear energy also emerged, unexpectedly, as a
new issue and also became a source of division among those
pressing for nuclear restraint. The surprising development came
after the second-term Bush foreign policy team revised the US
hard-line approach to the negotiations. On the eve of the July
round of Six-Party Talks, apparently with Washington's blessing,
South Korea offered a significant new inducement to Pyongyang in
return for its elimination of its nuclear weapons program: 2,000
megawatts of desperately needed electricity, to be produced in
the South and sent north through the interconnection of the two
countries' electric power grids.
During the talks, however, North Korea declared that the South
Korean electricity assistance offer was inadequate. Instead, it
demanded that its right to use nuclear energy for peaceful
purposes be included in the meeting's final communiqué a stance
the United States rejected. As a result, no final statement was
issued.
The demand appeared to hint that North Korea sought to restart
construction of two nuclear power plants in Sinpo, North Korea.
This construction, previously allowed as part of a 1994 US-North
Korea accord, was cancelled in 2003, following the revelation
that North Korea, while freezing its activities related to
plutonium production, had secretly launched a program to produce
highly enriched uranium. Thereafter, in late 2002, North Korea
withdrew from the NPT, restarted plutonium production, and
increased its presumed nuclear arsenal from two to as many as
eight weapons. Despite this history and to Washington's
consternation a senior South Korean official declared on August
11 that North Korea did indeed have the right to exploit
peaceful nuclear energy once it rejoined the NPT and eliminated
its nuclear weapons program the very position the US had
publicly rejected only a day earlier.
The seeming split between South Korea and the United States,
coupled with long-standing differences in the approaches favored
by China, Japan, and Russia, suggest that, when the talks resume
in late August, disarray among North Korea's negotiating
partners will give that country new bargaining leverage. Seen
with Tehran's new assertiveness and the associated divisions
within the IAEA Board of Governors, prospects for restraining
dangerous nuclear activities in Iran and North Korea may be more
distant today than when the summer began. Meanwhile,
Washington's lifting of a 25-year prohibition on transfers of
civilian nuclear equipment and materials to India, a declared
nuclear weapon state, is unlikely to encourage restraint on the
part of Iran or North Korea.
Not surprising that in this international context of disarray
and confusion, Iran and North Korea want to have their NPT cake
and eat it too, complying with the letter of the pact, but
keeping their options open.
Leonard S. Spector is Deputy Director of the Monterey Institute
Center for Nonproliferation Studies and a former senior official
at the US Department of Energy.
Rights:
© 2005 Yale Center for the Study of Globalization
[YaleGlobal Forums]
YaleGlobal Online © 2005
*****************************************************************
20 AFP: Ahmadinejad promises 'innovations' to solve nuclear row
Thursday August 25, 03:21 AM
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran wants negotiations over its nuclear
programme to continue and is finalising "innovations" to resolve
the dispute, the Islamic republic's new hardline President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced.
However, he told reporters that Iran would also defend its
"lawful rights" in the nuclear domain -- a reference to the
country's demand to hold on to sensitive atomic energy fuel
cycle technology that the West fears could be diverted to
weapons use.
"Our policy is transparent and clear: we are after the nation's
lawful rights within the framework of international law and we
will defend these rights seriously," he said Wednesday on the
sidelines of a parliamentary confidence vote on his proposed
cabinet.
But he added that "we want the negotiations to continue", even
though talks with Britain, France and Germany have broken off
due to Iran's decision to partially end its suspension of
uranium enrichment-related work.
"I have some innovations concerning the fuel cycle which are
being finalised by the experts and the details will be known,"
he said, but did not elaborate.
At the end of July, the EU-3 formally asked Iran to abandon
uranium enrichment-related work in exchange for a package of
trade incentives, access to nuclear fuel produced overseas and
help with Tehran's regional security concerns.
Iran reacted by resuming uranium conversion work at a facility
at Isfahan on August 8, but has so far held off on enrichment.
The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), called on Iran earlier this month to return to a full
suspension of nuclear fuel activities.
The IAEA is due to report on the crisis September 3, and a
refusal by the Islamic republic to comply could lead to Iran's
referral to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Copyright © 2005 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
21 Aftenposten Norway: Not ready for disaster
[Aftenposten Nettutgaven]
First published: 24 Aug 2005, 13:16
Norway is not properly prepared in the event of a nuclear
incident according to a special crisis committee.
The Crisis Committee for Nuclear Accidents (KU) has concluded
that equipment is outdated and that a new type of threat
requires better preparation, NRK (Norwegian Broadcasting)
reports.
The KU first pointed out these problems in 2002, but authorities
have nevertheless only allocated half of the funds necessary to
modernize equipment and improve readiness to the extent that the
Committee deems proper.
The Chernobyl nuclear reactor accident in 1986 led to the
formation of the KU.
The lacking funds would be used to pay for a new warning system,
mobile measurement laboratories and generally improved readiness
to nuclear terror.
Director Per Strand at the Norwegian Radiation Protection
Authority (NRPA) said that not only are means implemented in the
80s showing their age, the danger of nuclear terrorism is
becoming steadily more relevant, NRK reports.
(Aftenposten English Web Desk)
Publisher: Aftenposten Multimedia A/S, Oslo, Norway.
Telephone: +47 - 22 86 30 00.
All rights, including copyright and database right, are owned by
or licensed to Aftenposten Multimedia. © Aftenposten Multimedia.
*****************************************************************
22 Fairfield County Weekly: Connecticut Lights the Way for Clean Energy
Clean power options are available to almost all homeowners and
businesses in Connecticut, but only a few thousand households
and companies have signed up. Now, there's a push to get
residents to switch from using environmentally unsustainable
energy
by Starre Vartan - August 25, 2005
It's a relief when you hear that the town of Westport is
installing solar panels on the roof of its sewage plant. Why?
With the rising incidence of blackouts, critical functions like
sewage treatment can get backed up. It always seems to take a
crisis to get people to change their routines. And, we're in the
middle of one. Every year, Americans use more energy to power
their gadgets, run their homes and cool off as the summers get
hotter. Meanwhile, the cost of producing this energy continues
to rise. Though it might be tough for some of us to invest in
putting solar panels on our roofs, we can participate in the
burgeoning clean-energy movement to ensure that we're not held
"energy hostage" by foreign oil prices, questionable safety at
nuclear plants, and smoggy air.
While "green" innovations like the Toyota Prius gas-electric
hybrid car and the hippie-turned-hip organic food movement have
taken the country by billion-dollar storm, the less-visible, but
just as important, idea of clean energy is gaining acceptance.
Derek Shapiro, Green Party candidate for mayor in Stamford,
says, "We can both painlessly conserve energy and generate our
own. After conservation, one of the best ways the average person
can help is by purchasing clean energy, which will stimulate
production of more clean energy and reduce ozone and other air
and water pollutants that right now are necessary byproducts of
electricity."
"In the minds of regular people, clean energy means a windmill
in their yard and solar panels on their roofs," says Brian F.
Keane, president of Hartford-based Smartpower, a nonprofit
marketing campaign for clean energy. And for many, the start-up
costs associated with these technologies are formidable, even
though they do pay for themselves eventually.
The good news is that now you can run your ceiling fans,
toasters and computers on clean energy that comes to your house
just the way your power always has--except instead of
electricity generated by a nuclear or coal plant it comes from a
wind farm or from the burning of landfill gas. (It's a lot
cleaner than it sounds!) And you can do this through your
existing electricity provider, so you still get the same bill
from the same company.
Signing up is easy. This past April and this coming September,
bill inserts will be included in all Connecticut Light and Power
(CL) and United Illuminating (UI) bills giving consumers the
option to switch to 100 percent or 50 percent clean energy. You
can also call your utility company and ask to sign up for clean
energy, or go to
www.ctcleanenergyoptions.com. The website and
the phone operators will then refer you to the two companies
that supply clean energy in Connecticut--Community Energy, whose
power is a mix of 50 percent wind and 50 percent landfill gas,
or Sterling Planet, whose power is 33 percent wind, 33 percent
small hydro, and 34 percent landfill gas.
Clean power options are available to 98.5 percent of homeowners
and businesses in Connecticut, and though just a few thousand
households and businesses have signed up since April 1, movement
away from environmentally unsustainable, unhealthy--not to
mention increasingly expensive--oil, gas and nuclear power has
begun in earnest with the newest campaign to get Connecticut
residents to sign up for clean energy.
"Given the increased cost of oil, now more than ever we have got
to look at reliable forms of energy use," says Diane Farrell,
first selectwoman of Westport and candidate for U.S. Congress in
2006. "While it's been an environmental issue for some time, now
it's also a pocketbook issue."
How Does It Work?
People are downright confused when confronted by the idea of
clean power, and for good reason. How power gets to your house
and where it comes from is complicated, because, thanks to
deregulation, your power may come from the coal-fired plant in
nearby Bridgeport Harbor, or the nuclear plant in another state.
Jason Leopold, former bureau chief at Dow Jones Newswires and
the journalist who broke the Enron story, says, "The whole idea
is that you can choose where you get your power from. That's
what deregulation means. You'd think that a catastrophe like the
2003 blackout would prompt people to ask about new forms of
electricity, but we've yet to see much of that--especially at
higher levels of government."
While some deregulation is to blame for the rising incidences of
blackouts, there is an upside as well. Just because there aren't
yet any wind farms in Connecticut (they're mostly in
Pennsylvania, with plans to put some on Long Island, as well),
doesn't mean that you can't run your home on wind or other clean
energy, since a giant grid supplies power to the whole
mid-Atlantic region. New England Regional Director for
Smartpower and Fairfield resident Bob Wall explains, "The grid
is like a giant bathtub with many faucets feeding water in.
These faucets are like the power plants, nuclear plants, wind
farms, or solar panels, so the power flowing into the grid can
be clean or dirty. We want to make the mix cleaner."
Using the bathtub analogy then, our local utilities, CL and UI,
buy power from the overall grid, and we pay them. By choosing
clean power, we are supporting more of those wind farms, solar
panels or bio-fuel producers to feed power into the grid instead
of coal or nuclear energy. Clean power is just as reliable
because it's using the same system as the rest of the power.
Here's how it works: You pay your utility, just like you always
did, for however much power you use. You can designate that 100
percent (or 50 percent if you choose) comes from clean sources.
The utility then pays a clean-energy provider (like Community
Energy or Sterling Power in Connecticut) to put more clean
energy into the grid. Then Community Energy and Sterling Power
work with their various providers to get that much energy out
onto the mid-Atlantic grid, from which all of New England draws
its power.
While the clean energy might come from far away, so does most
power (sometimes coming from as far away as those plants in the
midwest), and so does the air you're breathing right now. The
reason Fairfield County has some of the country's worst air is
because of the dirty smokestacks in Pennsylvania and the
midwest, whose pollution drifts right up the coast and over our
area before heading out to sea.
There is a small surcharge for choosing clean energy over dirty.
For every 500 kilowatt (kw) hours used, it costs about $5.50
more (if 100 percent of your energy comes from clean sources). A
typical family uses between 500 kw and 800 kw hours every month,
though if you have a very large house it will be more. The
reason it costs more: the gas, coal and nuclear industries are
subsidized with billions per year in tax dollars. Clean-energy
creators don't yet have as much help from the government; they
don't get the tax breaks and incentives for new sites and
buildings that the dirty guys do. To offset the extra charge,
you could try saving energy the old-fashioned way: conservation.
(See sidebar.)
Connecticut Leads The Charge
New England, and in particular Connecticut, has been a leader in
the charge for clean energy. Westport was the first town in New
England to sign up for clean energy under the new program
(windpower and other clean-energy options have been available
before, but those programs required people to leave their
utility providers, which most were unwilling to do). The new
Connecticut Clean Energy Communities project is two-fold:
individuals and businesses can sign up for it, and special
programs are available to towns as well.
In Fairfield County, the towns of Stamford, Westport, Trumbull
and Fairfield have signed up for the "20% by 2010 campaign,"
which debuted in February 2004 when New Haven signed on. It
means that 20 percent of New Haven's energy (for municipal
buildings and municipal services like sewage treatment) will
come from clean power sources by 2010. Long-term contracts are
important, says Keane, because "that sends a signal to the
clean-energy supplier that they will have a given income over a
long period of time, which means they will have the capital to
create more wind farms, solar arrays, or bio-fuel plants."
In addition to the 2010 campaign, as part of the Connecticut
Clean Energy Communities Program, for every 100 residential or
business customers who commit to buying clean energy, a 1 kw
solar panel will be given to the town to put on any building it
wants. Stamford wants to put its panel on its recycling center
where the city already has existing solar panels.
"We wanted to do this to set an example for our residents,"
Farrell says of Westport's commitment to the campaign.
"Hopefully, this will incentivize residents to sign up and then
the town would actually receive a PV cell [a photovoltaic cell,
a.k.a., solar panel] as a bonus for getting people to sign up."
The idea is to create a healthy competition among towns. Already
there's a rivalry heating up between West Hartford and New
Haven; each have already qualified for their first solar panel.
And so has Westport. Farrell says plans are to put a panel atop
the sewage plant and now they are working on their second.
Outside the county, New Haven, West Hartford, Orange, Portland,
Canton, Middletown, Milford, New Britain, Cheshire, East
Hartford, Hamden and Mansfield have all signed onto the
campaign. Forty more towns in the state are lined up and ready
to join. This puts Connecticut on the forefront of the
clean-power revolution.
So far, so good.
In just four months, 4,000 people made the switch to clean power
in Connecticut, but there's room for improvement. "Fairfield
County, whose residents are better educated and more affluent,
have disappointingly low signups," says Wall.
Stamford, with close to 50,000 households, has only about 70
signed on, and other towns are not doing much better.
Businesses like Pitney Bowes in Stamford, and schools like the
Yale School of Forestry, Wesleyan in Middletown, and the
Connecticut College in New London (which is getting a whopping
44 percent of the school's power for wind with a
student-supported fee of $25/student) are jumping on the
clean-power bandwagon, but it's not happening quickly enough.
Oil prices continue to skyrocket and the Bush administration
recently passed a national energy policy that gives huge breaks
and incentives to the dirtiest energy producers. Oil companies
were given $974 million in subsidies to explore for new drilling
sites and $406 million to expand refineries, while several
billion was given to existing and future nuclear plants, and
low-rate federal loan guarantees were made for 16 new coal-fired
power plants. Almost no money in the latest energy policy was
aimed at renewable energy or clean power, so it's up to state
and local governments (and us) to promote and guarantee the
future for truly renewable, clean energy.
Saving Energy the Old-Fashioned Way
Want to save up to 25 percent on your energy bill? Try these
simple tips:
1. Switch your light bulbs from incandescent to compact
fluorescent. They screw into your lamps and light fixtures the
same way, and come in various sizes and shapes. They cost a
little more up front, but last 10 to 15 times as long and use up
to one-third the electricity, meaning big savings for you. Using
dimmers means even more savings (and romantic light). For those
sensitive to fluorescent light, you can find bulbs with
different colorings or try different lamp shades to alter the
light. Find them at Ikea.com or buylighting.com or your local
hardware store.
2. Most home electronics today function on “standby” mode. This
means they are sucking electricity all day and night, and they
can use up to 10 percent of the electricity in your home. If you
plug your home entertainment center into a surge protector with
an on/off switch, you can press one switch when you’re done and
shut off the whole setup.
3. Turn off lights, computers and TVs when you’re not using
them.
4. Use a timer on your thermostat, so you’ll never forget to
turn down the heat or AC when you leave the house.
5. Hot water heaters are the homes third-largest energy user
(after heating and cooling). Turn yours down to 120 degrees or
even a bit lower. With just two adults in my home, I didn’t
notice any difference at all after lowering mine to about 110.
6. If you’re buying a new appliance, be sure it’s got a high
EnergyStar rating, meaning it’s been rated by the Environmental
Protection Agency as being energy efficient. Go to
energystar.gov for more information.
Copyright © 1995-2005 New Mass Media. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
23 NRC: Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc.; Notice of Withdrawal of
FR Doc E5-4617
[Federal Register: August 24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 163)]
[Notices] [Page 49686] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24au05-104]
Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the
request of Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc., (the licensee) to
withdraw its June 1, 2004, application for proposed amendment to
Facility Operating License No. DPR-43 for the Kewaunee Nuclear
Plant, located in Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.
The proposed amendment would have modified the Technical
Specifications (TS) to revise TS 1.0, ``Definitions,'' Table
3.5-2, ``Instrument Operation Conditions for Reactor Trip,'' and
Table 4.1-1, ``Minimum Frequencies for Checks, Calibrations, and
Test of Instrument Channels,'' proposed to change the requirement
to perform the channel test and channel calibration ``once per
operating cycle.'' The proposed changes would have added a
definition for ``staggered test basis,'' increase surveillance
test intervals for the analog channels and logic cabinets of the
reactor protection system and engineered safety featured
actuation system, and would have added a completion time for the
reactor trip breakers. Subsequently, by letter date August 4,
2005, you withdrew the amendment request. The Commission had
previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of
Amendment published in the Federal Register on July 6, 2004 (69
FR 40676). However, by letter dated August 4, 2005, the licensee
withdrew the proposed amendment.
For further details with respect to this action, see the
application for amendment dated June 1, 2004, and the licensee's
letter dated August 4, 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 01 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 11th day of
August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
L. Raghavan, Chief, Section 1, Project Directorate III, Division
of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor
Regulation.
[FR Doc. E5-4617 Filed 8-23-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
24 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection:
FR Doc E5-4618 [Federal Register: August
24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 163)] [Notices] [Page 49685-49686]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24au05-103]
Comment Request AGENCY: 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: 1. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR
Part 30--Rules of General Applicability to Domestic Licensing of
Byproduct Material.
2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0017. 3. How often the
collection is required: Required reports are collected and
evaluated on a continuing basis as events occur.
There is a one-time submittal of information to receive a
license.
Renewal applications are submitted every 10 years. Information
submitted in previous applications may be referenced without
being resubmitted. In addition, recordkeeping must be performed
on an on-going basis.
4. Who is required or asked to report: All persons applying for
or holding a license to manufacture, produce, transfer, receive,
acquire, own, possess, or use radioactive byproduct material.
5. The estimated number of annual respondents: 20,631 (4,485 NRC
licensees and 16,146 Agreement State licensees).
6. The number of hours needed annually to complete the
requirement or request: 248,034 (NRC licensees 53,948 hours
[25,983 reporting + 27,965 recordkeeping] and Agreement State
licensees 194,086 hours [93,431 reporting + 100,655
recordkeeping] or 8.2 hours per response and 6.2 hours her
recordkeeper). 7. Abstract: 10 CFR part 30 establishes
requirements that are applicable to all persons in the United
States governing domestic licensing of radioactive byproduct
material. The application, reporting and recordkeeping
requirements are necessary to permit the NRC to make a
determination whether the possession, use, and transfer of
byproduct material is in conformance with the Commission's
regulations for protection of the public health and safety.
[[Page 49686]] Submit, by October 24, 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 World Wide Web site:
http://www.nrc.gov/publicinvolve/doc-comment/omb/index.html. 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, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, T-5 F52,
Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at 301-415-7233, or by
Internet electronic mail to INFOCOLLECTS@NRC.GOV. Dated at
Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of Information
Services.
[FR Doc. E5-4618 Filed 8-23-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
25 NRC: Notice of Termination of Release of Kerr McGee Corporation,
FR Doc E5-4619
[Federal Register: August 24, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 163)]
[Notices] [Page 49686-49687] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr24au05-105]
Technical Center, in Oklahoma City, OK for Unrestricted Use
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of license termination and site release for
unrestricted use.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rachel S. Browder, M.S., Health
Physicist, Nuclear Materials Licensing Branch, Division of
Nuclear Materials Safety, Region IV, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, 611 Ryan Plaza Drive, Suite 400, Arlington, Texas
76011; Telephone: (817) 276-6552; fax number: (817) 860-8122;
e-mail: .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction Pursuant to 10 CFR
Part 2.106, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is
providing notice of termination of Source Material License No.
SUB-986, and authorizing the release of Kerr McGee Corporation
Technical Center (Licensee) located at 3301 NW 150th Street,
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, for unrestricted use. The Licensee's
request for an amendment to authorize decommissioning of its
Technical Center was previously noticed in the Federal Register
on July 12, 2001 (66 FR 36605) with an opportunity for hearing.
Kerr McGee Corporation provided a final radiological status
survey and performed an indoor and outdoor dose analysis to
demonstrate the site meets the license termination criteria in
Subpart E of 10 CFR Part 20. In addition, NRC staff conducted
independent measurements of soils and surfaces at the site. The
NRC staff has evaluated Kerr McGee Corporation's request,
reviewed the results of the final radiological survey, and
determined that the site meets the unrestricted use dose criteria
in 10 CFR 20.1402. The Commission has concluded that the site is
suitable for release for unrestricted use and has terminated the
license for Kerr McGee Corporation Technical Center, Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma, property. The NRC staff issued a Final Safety
Evaluation Report (SER) on August 1, 2005, to support the
proposed action.
II. Further Information The NRC has prepared a Final SER that
documents the information that was
[[Page 49687]] reviewed and NRC's conclusion. In accordance with
10 CFR 2.390 of the NRC's ``Rules of Practice,'' details with
respect to this action, including the Final SER and accompanying
documentation included in the license amendment package are
available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at
. From this site, you may access the NRC's Agencywide Document
Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and
image files of NRC's public documents. The ADAMS accession
numbers for the documents related to this notice are: Kerr McGee
Technical Center (KMTC) ``Revised Decommissioning Plan,'' April
5, 2001, ML011840119 and ML011840269; KMTC Response to NRC
Request for Information, March 6, 2002, ML020670216; KMTC
Clarification and Modification to DCGLs, October 16, 2002,
ML022940089; KMTC Final Status Survey Report Outdoor Survey
Units, September 2003, ML033020108; KMTC Final Status Survey
Report Indoor Survey Units, April 2004, ML041100784; KMTC
Supplement to Indoor Final Status Survey Report, December 2004,
ML043520247; Final Safety Evaluation Report, August 1, 2005,
ML052130413. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are
problems with accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact
the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at (800)
397-4203, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to .
These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public
computers located at the NRC's PDR, O1 F21, One White Flint
North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR
reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee.
Dated at Arlington, Texas, this 15th day of August, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
D. Blair Spitzberg, Chief, Fuel Cycle Decommissioning Branch,
Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region IV.
[FR Doc. E5-4619 Filed 8-23-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
26 Mos News: Russia, Finland to Build Underwater Power Line Worth 300M Euros
-
MONEY - MOSNEWS.COM
Photo from www.epa.gov
Created: 24.08.2005 11:35 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:45 MSK
MosNews
Russia and Finland will build an underwater power line along the
floor of the Gulf of Finland (Baltic Sea). This information was
announced by the Russian Industry and Energy Ministry on Friday,
Aug. 19. The ministry said a special project group was organized
to work out the details of the venture.
On Tuesday, Aug. 23, Dmitry Mashkovstev, the general director of
Baltenergo, a Russian energy company that will oversee the
construction, presented details of the project during a meeting
of the working group. Mashkovtsev said that the project’s cost
is estimated at 300 million euros.
A total of 150 kilometers of high-voltage power cable will be
laid along the floor of the Gulf of Finland, supplying up to 8.7
billion kWh of electric power with an output of 1,000 MW
annually. The electricity exported to Finland will be produced
at the Leningrad nuclear power station. The cable will start
near the village of Kernovo in the northwestern Leningrad region
and end in the Mussalo peninsula near Kotka in Finland. The
project also envisions the construction of two coastline
converter stations to be connected to high-voltage mainlines.
Depending on various scenarios of use, the recoupment period for
the project is estimated at six to nine years. The revenues
received from the export of electricity will be invested in the
construction of replacement capacity facilities at the Leningrad
nuclear power station.
At the present time Finland imports about 70 percent of its
electric power. Russia has been a traditional supplier since
1961. Today Finland accounts for over 50 percent of Russia’s
total electric power exports.
Write us: info@mosnews.com
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
27 Reuters: Scana, Santee Cooper to consider new nuclear plant
Wed Aug 24, 2005 9:54 AM ET
NEW YORK, Aug 24 (Reuters) - Utility company Scana Corp. (SCG.N:
Quote, Profile, Research) on Wednesday said it and Santee Cooper
will consider extending a nuclear generation joint ownership
agreement to study construction of a new nuclear generation
facility.
Scana said it needed to begin the planning process now since it
can take eight to 10 years to get permits for and then build a
new major generation facility.
Scana's SCE&G unit already works with Santee Cooper on nuclear
generation at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville,
South Carolina.
© Reuters 2005.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
28 Brattleboro Reformer: Entergy cuts deal with utilities over VY fire
August 24, 2005 Brattleboro, VT
By K. CECCAROSSI
Reformer Staff
MONTPELIER -- Was the fire at Vermont Yankee one year ago
related to a power boost at the plant? The public might never
know for sure.
Utility officials, nuclear watchdogs and state advocates for
ratepayers have all said the fire was the result of plant owners
pursuing a 20 percent increase in the reactor's output. This
fall, they were all set to go before the state's Public Service
Board to try to prove it, and hold plant owners Entergy Nuclear
responsible for the nearly $1 million the fire cost the state's
utilities.
But this month Entergy announced it cut a deal with utilities
Central Vermont Public Service and Green Mountain Power. If the
agreement checks out, the Public Service Board will call off
hearings on the issue.
While that could be good news for ratepayers -- as it's a
guaranteed payoff to utility companies -- it doesn't answer
questions about whether the so-called "uprate" work is safe at
the plant.
Entergy already has permission from the state to pursue the
power increase. The OK came in March 2004 with conditions; one
being that if the plant was forced to shut down because of
uprate-related modifications, Entergy would have to reimburse
utilities for power purchased while it is off line. That is to
say, any financial risks associated with the uprate would not be
incurred by ratepayers.
The state Department of Public Service, which advocates for
Vermonters in energy issues, supports Entergy's offer this month
to utilities. Sarah Hoffman, attorney for the department, says a
settlement is the best scenario, in terms of its impact on
electricity bills.
The fire caused a 17-day outage at the plant. During that time,
utilities had to buy power on the open market. Central Vermont
Public Service spent $860,000, Green Mountain Power spent
$525,000.
The main goal for the Department of Public Service is to see
that none of those extra costs are passed on to ratepayers.
"There are always litigation risks," Hoffman said Tuesday. "We
do believe the fire was uprate related ... but this way assures
us of what ratepayers are going to get."
Spokesmen for Vermont Yankee and the utilities were mum
Tuesday, declining to comment until the agreement is sealed.
There is one group that isn't happy about the agreement. New
England Coalition, a nuclear watchdog, says this is not an issue
where the state should allow Entergy to make a deal, and limit
public discussion.
"People have a right to know whether Entergy is doing the best
possible job," said Ray Shadis, technical adviser for the
coalition. "People have reason to be concerned about this."
The fire started on June 18, 2004, when a piece of metal broke
off into cooling ducts. Plant officials say the piece broke
because air flow in the ducts was increased for the uprate, but
they argue the piece would have eventually broken either way.
It's on that last point the utilities and the New England
Coalition don't agree with Entergy.
Shadis, of the coalition, says plant officials were negligent
with regular maintenance because they were focused on uprate
improvements.
"The only way to find out if we're correct or not, is through
an evidentiary process," Shadis said.
Hoffman, of the Department of Public Service, said the
coalition's question of plant safety is an important one, but
not one that falls within the department's main objectives.
Those concerns belong to the federal Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, she said.
In Aug. 2004, Entergy submitted a report to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, saying the fire was caused by "inadequate
preventative maintenance," and that it was separate from any
uprate work.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission agreed. However, it has not,
as of yet, granted Entergy permission to boost power at the
plant. While Entergy can do work on the plant to prepare it for
an uprate, it can't actually increase output until the
Regulatory Commission signs off. That approval has been held up
in review for months.
Although the state's Public Service Board has issued a stay in
hearings over the cause of the fire, the delay is pending review
of Entergy's agreement with utilities. Other parties to the
case, namely the New England Coalition, may also review the
agreement and then ask the Public Service Board to hold hearings
anyway.
Rob Williams, of Vermont Yankee, said the agreement should be
submitted to the board within a few days.
Copyright ©1999-2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.,
*****************************************************************
29 San Luis Obispo Tribune: PUC set to OK Diablo plant work
| 08/24/2005 |
Replacement of the power plant's steam generators will cost more
than $700 million; critics not satisfied with environmental
report
By David Sneed
The Tribune
The California Public Utilities Commission is poised to approve
plans to replace crucial components at Diablo Canyon nuclear
power plant.
The agency has issued its final environmental review of a
proposal by Pacific Gas and Electric Co. to replace the nuclear
plant's steam generators. These large structures transfer heat
from the reactors to the electrical generators.
The replacements will allow the plant to operate through its
current license period, ending in 2025. They also allow the
utility to renew the licenses for another 20 years.
The commission is expected to give final approval for the
project in September or October. The work will cost more than
$700 million and is scheduled to take place during refueling
shutdowns in 2008 and 2009.
PG&E officials are satisfied with the environmental review and
will move ahead with the project as planned, said plant
spokesman Jeff Lewis. Nuclear power critics, however, are not
satisfied.
Their main criticism is that the documents do not consider the
environmental impacts of extended operation of the plant,
particularly if its operating licenses are renewed.
"PG&E has stated that it plans to spend $19 million of the
ratepayers' money on a feasibility study for license renewal,"
said Jane Swanson, spokeswoman for the Mothers for Peace. "But
the final version, like the draft, does not consider the
additional costs of replacing other aging parts of the plant nor
the additional years of accumulated radioactive wastes, seismic
risk or terrorist threat."
The agency did not study these impacts because it considers them
to be "speculative and not a reasonably foreseeable outcome of
the proposed project."
The replacement project is necessary because the steam
generators are deteriorating faster than anticipated. Critics of
nuclear power urged the commission to deny the project, forcing
the plant to shut down by 2014.
Shutting the plant down early would have environmental benefits
but would force the state to replace the nearly 2,200 megawatts
of power the plant generates. PG&E estimates this would cost the
state $1.2 billion.
The project calls for eight 360-ton steam generators to be
shipped on barges to the plant. Plant managers have not decided
whether the generators will be shipped directly to the plant and
offloaded using temporary docks or whether they will be
offloaded at Port San Luis and trucked the final seven miles to
the plant.
The old generators will remain radioactive and will be stored in
an 18,000-square-foot concrete building located near the plant's
electrical switchyard. The old generators will stay onsite until
the plant is decommissioned.
PG&E will recover the cost of replacing the steam generators by
raising electricity rates by 2 percent. The increase will start
by 2010.
*****************************************************************
30 AP Wire Commission: Oconee Nuclear must fix problem or shut down
| 08/24/2005 |
Associated Press
SENECA, S.C. - Oconee Nuclear Station must fix an unknown
problem with one of its backup sources of electricity or the
plant could be shut down, according to the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission.
During a test at the Keowee hydroelectric station, one of its
two units locked out Saturday, which means a protective feature
was enacted that prevents the unit from generating electricity,
spokeswoman Dayle Stewart said. The two Keowee hydro units are
primary backup sources of electricity, Stewart said.
If the problem isn't fixed, all three nuclear units could be
shut down, Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman Roger Hannah
said.
Duke Power, which owns and operates Oconee, has asked for a
four-day extension until Saturday to fix the problem. Shannon
said it's unlikely the nuclear station would shut down if
experts can't find the problem by Saturday. He said the
commission would likely continue to work with the company to
locate the problem.
However, if the plant has to shut down, Duke can still meet
customer demand, Stewart said. Oconee produces less than 15
percent of the total power on Duke's system.
"Our other generating systems are operational and available to
meet our customers demand," Stewart said. "We also have the
option of purchasing power from neighboring utilities if that
would become necessary."
Information from: The Greenville News,
http://www.greenvillenews.com
*****************************************************************
31 Secrecy News -- 08/24/05
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2005 15:33:53 -0400
version=3.0.4
X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com
SECRECY NEWS
from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy
Volume 2005, Issue No. 81
August 24, 2005
** NSPD 43: DOMESTIC NUCLEAR DETECTION
** NETHERLANDS: ANNUAL REPORT ON INTELLIGENCE
** SELECTED CRS REPORTS
NSPD 43: DOMESTIC NUCLEAR DETECTION
In a characteristically unilateral action, the Bush Administration
last April used a National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD) to
establish the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office (DNDO) within the
Department of Homeland Security, the purpose of which is to
coordinate the detection of nuclear materials for illicit use.
But Congress, expressing dissatisfaction with the President's
unilateral move, sharply reduced proposed funding for the new
Office.
"On April 15, 2005, the President signed a joint presidential
directive establishing the office, NSPD-43 / HSPD-14, 'Domestic
Nuclear Detection'," said DNDO Acting Director Vayl Oxford in
testimony before the House Homeland Security Committee on June 21.
This was the first public acknowledgment that the DNDO had been
established by means of a national security presidential directive.
(Noted by Jeffrey Lewis of ArmsControlWonk.com.)
The full text of NSPD 43 has not been publicly disclosed, but a copy
of the associated fact sheet may be found here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/nspd/nspd-43fs.html
Both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees criticized the
way in which the DNDO had been established and both cut $100 million
from the Office's proposed $227 million budget for 2006.
Creation of the DNDO is an example "of action being taken before
thoughtful planning despite the seriousness of the problems being
addressed," the Senate Appropriations Committee averred (Sen. Report
109-83). "Hasty solutions are fostering an apparent false sense of
security."
"The Committee strongly agrees with the importance of improving
nuclear detection capabilities and coordination, but is troubled by
the manner in which this initiative has been handled."
Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT) complained about the "lack of
consultation on the proposed reorganization," and itemized his
specific concerns in a 9 page letter to the Department of Homeland
Security on June 10. See:
http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2005_cr/lieberman061005.pdf
The White House largely dismissed the congressional criticism and
complained in a July 11 statement that "making a large portion of
DNDO funds contingent upon further congressional review may delay
improvements in the Nation's capability to defend against
catastrophic threats."
"This initiative is a top priority of the Administration," the White
House said.
NETHERLANDS: ANNUAL REPORT ON INTELLIGENCE
The General Intelligence and Security Service (AIVD) of the
Netherlands has just released an English translation of its 2004
annual report, providing a Dutch perspective on national and
international security matters.
"In 2004 the Netherlands was hit by a terrorist attack: the murder of
film-director Theo van Gogh," the report begins. "The possibility
of an attack had been anticipated for some time, in view of the
threat emanating from radical Islamist terrorism. The fact that an
attack indeed took place has underlined the vulnerability of our
society."
The report provides a parallax view on issues of international
concern and presents an interesting complement to the assessments of
U.S. intelligence agencies.
The AIVD, which appears relatively free of the indiscriminate secrecy
that has tended to erode the performance of U.S. intelligence,
reports matter-of-factly on its annual budget expenditures (p. 69).
The vestigial Central Intelligence Agency, by contrast, still argues
that even 50 year old budget figures are too sensitive to be
disclosed.
A copy of the 2004 annual report of the AIVD, published in English
translation on August 21, may be found here:
http://www.fas.org/irp/world/netherlands/aivd2004-eng.pdf
SELECTED CRS REPORTS
New or newly acquired reports of the Congressional Research Service,
obtained by Secrecy News, include the following:
"Nuclear Arms Control: The U.S.-Russian Agenda," updated August 8,
2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/IB98030.pdf
"Postal Reform Bills: A Side-by-Side Comparison of H.R. 22 and S.
662," updated August 4, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL32903.pdf
"The Vietnam-U.S. Normalization Process," updated June 17, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/IB98033.pdf
"Public Safety Communications: Policy, Proposals, Legislation and
Progress," updated June 8, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/RL32594.pdf
"POWs and MIAs: Status and Accounting Issues," updated June 8, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/IB92101.pdf
"Tactical Aircraft Modernization: Issues for Congress," updated June
3, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/weapons/IB92115.pdf
"North Korea's Nuclear Weapons Program," updated June 3, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/nuke/IB91141.pdf
"Exemptions from Environmental Law for the Department of Defense: An
Overview of Congressional Action," June 2, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RS22149.pdf
"Cuba: Issues for the 109th Congress," updated May 25, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RL32730.pdf
"Foreign Aid: Understanding Data Used to Compare Donors," updated May
23, 2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/row/RS22032.pdf
"Flag Protection: A Brief History and Summary of Recent Supreme Court
Decisions and Proposed Constitutional Amendment," updated May 19,
2005:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/95-709.pdf
_______________________________________________
Secrecy News is written by Steven Aftergood and published by the
Federation of American Scientists.
To SUBSCRIBE to Secrecy News, send email to
secrecy_news-request@lists.fas.org
with "subscribe" in the body of the message.
To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a blank email message to
secrecy_news-remove@lists.fas.org
OR email your request to saftergood@fas.org
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SUPPORT Secrecy News with a donation here:
http://www.fas.org/static/contrib_sec.jsp
_______________________
Steven Aftergood
Project on Government Secrecy
Federation of American Scientists
web: www.fas.org/sgp/index.html
email: saftergood@fas.org
voice: (202) 454-4691
*****************************************************************
32 Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Employees safe, Lockheed says -
Kathleen Cullinan
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
TALLEVAST -- From paved roads to permanent water pipes,
sidewalks to a day-care center, residents here want to perk up
their neighborhood.
But even projects that have Manatee County approval and federal
dollars set aside just for them are being held up.
They're stuck in the crossfire between residents, county
officials and defense industry giant Lockheed Martin as they all
inch toward cleaning up the polluted neighborhood.
"Naive as it may be, I didn't expect this to take as long,"
said Tim Parks, the county's community development manager. "And
it looks like it could take a whole lot longer."
Each project has a different reason for being stalled. But
collectively they provide a glimpse of the halting effort to
clean and improve Tallevast.
Manatee County wants to pave and build sidewalks on several
side streets off Tallevast Road. It got about $180,000 in
federal funds for the side streets in 2003, Parks said, but none
of it has been spent.
That's partly because it's unclear whether Lockheed Martin,
which in 1996 purchased the former American Beryllium Co. site
and is responsible for its cleanup, will pay for the streets in
addition to the permanent water lines it already promised, he
said.
The county also wants to widen Tallevast Road and connect
beneath it a pair of water mains that run north from the
Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport and south from
Whitfield Avenue.
Those projects are on hold in part because they would require
digging in contaminated soil, Parks said.
So a combination of county and residents' environmental
concerns, confusion about project funding and an abundance of
caution about breaking contaminated ground has meant years-old
plans have not been completed, he said.
And while Parks said the federal funds aren't going anywhere,
some residents worry the money will disappear if it isn't used
now.
"We wanted to build our community up to code and look like we
fit in" with the ever-wealthier neighborhoods around Tallevast,
resident Wanda Washington said.
Instead, she said, Tallevast is "caught in this contamination
trap."
Employees safe, Lockheed says
Aerospace firm says owners of the former beryllium plant not at
risk
BY KATHLEEN CULLINAN
TALLEVAST -- When Lockheed Martin sold the old American
Beryllium Co. plant on Tallevast Road, the defense giant scoured
the inside of the building and hauled away tons of toxic soil.
Lockheed told Wire-Pro Inc., the company that bought the old
beryllium plant, that the site was clean and safe.
But Lockheed has since taken on a cleanup of the whole area
around the plant, east of the Sarasota-Bradenton International
Airport. In a report on the factory site issued this month, the
company said it found excessive levels of at least seven toxic
chemicals in the soil, including arsenic, beryllium and lead.
Lockheed plans to get the plant property permanently zoned for
industrial and commercial use, so that homes can never be built
on it.
Company officials said that since most of the tainted soil has
been paved over, it doesn't present a health risk to the 120 or
so employees who work at Wire-Pro.
"There's asphalt, there's a parking lot, there's no direct
contact with the contamination," said Lockheed spokeswoman
Meredith Rouse Davis.
Douglas Koenig, general manager of Wire-Pro in Sarasota, said
Lockheed's word is good enough for him.
"Our employees have been kept well-informed of what Lockheed is
doing," Koenig said. "Everyone is satisfied that it's safe.
The county also agrees with Lockheed. While the contaminants
found at Wire-Pro exceed federal environmental standards, it's
safe for workers, said county health department spokesman
Charles Henry.
"Based on all the environmental data that we evaluated so far,
no, we don't believe there's a current health risk in exposure
to those employees," he said.
A state Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman said
the agency hadn't finished reviewing Lockheed's report. Pamala
Vazquez said she couldn't comment on whether the agency deems
the contamination levels safe.
At Wire-Pro, where a Lockheed Martin poster hangs in a hallway
and rock music plays on the indoor/outdoor speaker system,
several employees deflected questions about Tallevast to Koenig.
He said he would send staff members a general message asking
them to contact the Herald-Tribune for this story. None did.
But Koenig said Lockheed has "gone the extra mile" in its
efforts to clean up the pollution at a property it has owned for
only about four years.
And while Wire-Pro employees keep up with the Tallevast
pollution saga -- some live in the neighborhood
1 | 2 | Next >>
Last modified: August 24. 2005 4:19AM
*****************************************************************
33 BoiseWeekly: Lesson One: Don't Say "Fallout Shmallout"
[BoiseWeekly]
AUGUST 24, 2005
BY NICHOLAS COLLIAS
Last year, Idaho leapt to the forefront of the debate over
whether the federal government should compensate former victims
of nuclear fallout from radioactive tests and emissions (BW,
"The Low Use Segment," November 17, 2004). And while the
government has still not accepted full responsibility-at least
by way of compensation-in heavily effected states like Idaho,
Wyoming and Washington, at least it's trying to help doctors
deal with its mess.
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry,
part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has just
released a new video instructing doctors on how to combat the
mental, as well as physical, ailments expressed by nuclear
downwinders. Titled Hanford: The Psychological Dimensions of
Radiation Exposure, the 30-minute video concedes that large
radioactive releases did occur throughout the US-and that
patients and doctors alike struggle against the vagueness of
what, exactly, resulted from that exposure.
"Both the doctor and the patient are grappling with the unknown
here," says Dr. Pam Tucker of the, ATSDR in the video. "You have
an exposure that may lead to a health effect, and may not lead
to a health effect."
Recent studies at Chernobyl and the Marshall Islands have shown
that exposure to radioactive iodine leads to an increased risk
of developing thyroid diseases. Idaho has a unique history of
being double-dosed with radiation, both from Hanford and from
nuclear test explosions at the Nevada Test Site, making the
video essential viewing for doctors and downwinders statewide.
To watch it, visit http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov
© Copyright 2005, BoiseWeekly
*****************************************************************
34 Yokwe: Traditional Leaders Request Support for Environmental Assessment
on Kwajalein
Everything Marshall Islands :: http://www.yokwe.net
8-23-5
While the US Missile Defense Agency prepares this week to once
again send a missile's dummy warhead into a catcher's mitt known
as Kwajalein Atoll, Marshallese leaders of that island remain
unconvinced that decades of military activities and missile
operations have left Kwajalein and its people "free of all
dangers and risks" and "safe at all levels."
In a recent letters, the four reigning paramount Iroijlaplaps
(chiefs) of the Ralik Chain of the Marshall Islands expressed
gratitude to the NGO's, institutions, and individuals that showed
their support earlier this year in several letters to Congress
asking that the US adopt the same measures for Marshall Islands
radiation victims as it did for American downwinders. The
traditional leadership also asked for support of the Kwajalein
people's efforts to get assistance from an appropriate NGO or
agency with environmental expertise to assess the environmental
impact of the ongoing US military activities on the land, lagoon
and ocean areas surrounding their atoll.
"We most anxious that the proposition be set in motion at the
earliest to that we will be put in a position to know the loss or
damage and to identify appropriate solutions for rectification.
Our hope is that these steps will be accomplished well ahead of
2014 when discussions on the return of Kwajalein Atoll to us in
2016 will begin," states the letter signed by Iroij Imata Kabua
for Jeimata's Mojen, Leroij Neimata Nakamura for Laelan's Mojen,
Iroij Anjua Loeak for Loeak's Mojen, and Leroij Likwor Litokwa
for Litokwa's Mojen.
This is the first time that the four paramount chiefs of
Kwajalein Atoll and the Ralik Chain have made a public statement
and took a stand on the Kwajalein Land Use Agreement (LUA) issue.
The letter states that they "have ruled out any future
possibility of a renewal of the LUA."
On April 7, 2004, a delegation of Kwajalein landowners presented
acting RMI president Wilfred Kendall with a proclamation signed
by 4000 Kwajalein landowners declaring that they honor the
existing land use agreement (LUA) with the US, but would not
accept, under the terms presented, the new agreement which
extends the American presence at Kwajalein an additional fifty
years.
Kwajalein Atoll is presently under a Land Use Agreement (LUA)
between (landowners) and the Government of the Republic of the
Marshall Islands (RMIG). This agreement expires in 2016. A
separate agreement called Military Use Operating Right Agreement
(MUORA) between the US and RMIG spells out the rights of US to
use Kwajalein Atoll.
The site known as the US Army Kwajalein Atoll/Kwajalein Missile
Range, or USAKA/KMR, has become America's premier strategic
missile test range.
The Leaders maintain that the rights are only valid to the extent
that there is a valid LUA - "since RMIG cannot give, to the US or
any one else, land which it does not own."
During the negotiations between the US and the RMIG on the
amended Compact of Free Association which concluded two years
ago, both governments signed an agreement extending the use of
Kwajalein Atoll by the US to 2066 "without the consent of
landowners."
"Our objections to this unconscionable act have been met with
indifference with the US insisting on the binding authority of
its agreement with the RMIG in accordance with international law.
The right of ownership of landowners to Kwajalein Atoll, their
cultural home, has been ignored as irrelevant,"
they said.
"To the extent that we could, our concern in this matter has been
made clear to several representatives of the US government," said
the Leaders.
While the testing is important, it cannot be carried out at the
expense of personal and community security, the security of
future generations, and "the security of our fragile island
environment," they said.
"Our fear in Kwajalein Atoll has now taken a turn into a
nightmare for our people are not only living in close proximity
to some very powerful tracking radars, but the missiles fired
into our lagoon will create conditions that will make it
impossible for untold future generations to derive any form of
sustenance in this God given natural resources - a resource that
has been their main source of livelihood for centuries," the
letter states.
The Kwajalein traditional leaders and landowners proposed that a
third independent scientific party, "that is unbiased, and
familiar with issues similar to our case, undertake assessment
and evaluation of the impact of past and present US military
activities in Kwajalein Atoll."
A determination of whether existing equipment, practices, as well
as future programs of the US military in Kwajalein Atoll carry
the potential of creating risks and damages to the lives of the
inhabitants and the environment, now and in the future, was
included in the proposal, as well as monitoring and assessment
based on the outcome of the investigation.
The Leaders said that in times past they have retreated into
their voiceless community, but this time, they have decided to
make a stand against what they believe to be unjust and unfair,
and they hope that others' influence will make the difference
they need.
--compiled by Aenet Rowa, Yokwe Online, August 23, 2005
DOWNLOAD and READ LETTERS (pdf format):
June 27, 2005: Letter to NGO's from Mojen Ko an Iroijlaplap
Jeimata im Iroijlaplap Loeak
June 30, 2005: Letter to NGO's from Ralik Chain (Mojen eo an
Jeimata, Mojen eo an Laelan, Mojen eo an Litokwa, Mojen eo an
Loeak)
YokweOnline | Tuesday, August 23, 2005 | 158 Reads
Related links
ú More about Reports
ú News by YokweOnline
Most-read story in Reports:
REPORTS: Marshalls Responds to Washington Post's Article
Dedicated to the people of the Marshall Islands!
©Aenet Rowa, webmaster - yokwenet@aol.com
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*****************************************************************
35 PISJ: Health screening offered to current, former INL workers
Pocatello Idaho State Journal:
By Dan Boyd- Journal Writer
POCATELLO - Fred Conner started working at what is now the Idaho
National Laboratory in 1950 and plied his craft for years at the
remote desert site near Arco.
"Every time they built a reactor, I was probably there," he
said.
A former welder, the 82-year-old Conner now has Parkinson's
disease and walks haltingly, but on Tuesday he joined about 30
others at the Pocatello Labor Temple for the announcement of a
long-awaited new program.
Titled the Idaho Outreach Medical Screening Program, the project
will coordinate free health checkups for former workers like
Conner who might have been exposed to asbestos, beryllium,
cadmium, mercury, lead, silica and other hazardous materials.
"We have established very clearly these workers were at
significant risk," said Knut Ringen, program director for the
Washington-based Center to Protect Workers Rights. "It's taken a
long time to get this program out here."
Indeed, while other Department of Energy sites such as Hanford
in Washington and Oak Ridge in Tennessee have already set up
such screenings, extending the program to the INL has not been
easy.
Ringen said the internal culture of many DOE sites during Cold
War years shielded many workers from learning about workplace
risks and said that attitude has been slow to change.
But starting this morning, the estimated 25,000 current and
former INL workers will have somewhere to turn to find out if
they're eligible for federal compensation programs, thanks to a
grant from the DOE.
Due to the nature of many of the hazardous materials, many
workers don't know they've been impacted until the final stages
of often-fatal diseases.
If previous experience holds, Ringen said 67 percent of former
site workers will have some sort of illness, though not all are
covered by the compensation programs administered by the
Department of Labor.
"This is the way they're making up for (exposing workers)," he
said. "It's an entitlement program, not a welfare program."
Dan Obray, himself a former INL construction worker, will run
the program out of a Pocatello office and set up screenings for
former site workers after compiling individual work histories.
Already, 125 people are lined up for interviews, with another
300 or so waiting in the wings.
"It doesn't matter where people are in the world," Obray said,
indicating he can set up health screenings over the phone.
"We've learned from our mistakes and we won't make these
mistakes again."
For the construction workers who toiled in confined spaces -
building reactors, demolishing old facilities and performing
maintenance work, that means the past can't be erased, but it
can be a source of learning.
Thousands in Southeast Idaho know a family member or friend who
contracted an illness at the site, but Conner has another
explanation for what happened to his generation of laborers.
"We all got old," he said with a smile.
Who to call:
To reach Dan Obray, local manager of the Idaho Outreach Medical
Screening Program, call 233-4611 or 241-7398.
Dan Boyd - Journal Writer'>
"Every time they built a reactor, I was probably there," he
said.">
This document was originally published online on Wednesday,
August 24, 2005
Copyright © 2005 Pocatello Idaho State Journal
P O Box 431 Pocatello, ID 83204-0431
*****************************************************************
36 CEN News: Ely Edition: Waste trial put on hold
A COURT case involving Cambridge University and the disposal of
radioactive waste at a centre for people with brain injuries has
been adjourned.
The university faces eight charges from the Environment Agency
over disposal at The Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre, at
Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge.
Two accuse the university of having exceeded the prescribed
daily disposal limit for Oxygen- 15 and Fluorine-18.
The offences allegedly took place between July- October 2003.
The case was adjourned at Ely Magistrates Court to September 20.
24 August 2005
[First appeared in the Cambridge Evening News]
*****************************************************************
37 PE.com: Fears aired at Wyle meeting
| Inland Southern California | Inland News
CONTAMINANTS: Parents grill investigators about the chemicals
detected at three Norco campuses.
12:22 AM PDT on Wednesday, August 24, 2005
By PAIGE AUSTIN / The Press-Enterprise
School contamination
State officials recently found TCE, PCE and vinyl-chloride
contamination at Norco High, Intermediate and Elementary
schools. The substances are cancer-causing chemicals that were
once used in industrial solvents at nearby Wyle Labs.
However, the levels are so low they pose no immediate health
risks, state officials say.
Most sample results were below the state's threshold for a
long-term health impact. However, the 0.17 cubic micrograms of
vinyl chloride per liter of air detected inside the Norco High
School science building exceeds the state's threshold of 0.003
cubic micrograms per liter, which could pose a long-term health
threat to teachers or others exposed for decades.
NORCO - About 70 residents, mostly parents, gathered to question
state officials about the health of 4,200 students at local
schools where traces of hazardous waste from Wyle Labs were
found last week.
Though cancer-causing chemicals were found in the ground and in
the air at Norco Elementary, Intermediate and High School, they
were found at such low levels they posed no risks to the
students said Dr. Bill Bosan, a toxicologist with the Department
of Toxic Substances Control.
However, one sample of indoor air was higher than the state's
threshold for long-term health risks. Someone such as a teacher,
who spends decades in the classroom, could face a very slight
increased risk of cancer, he said. Such exposure could cause one
person in a million to get cancer.
"I have a problem with there being any risk to children at that
school, and I think the community would too," said Fran Ena,
whose daughter is a sophomore at Norco High School.
"Who's to say the risk is OK?" she asked. "What if we're not
comfortable sending our children there? Are we just stuck?"
There is no reason to panic, said Peter Garcia, the department's
branch chief.
"The schools are safe," he said.
The state is working with the school district to conduct more
tests at the school and to make sure parents are notified about
the contamination.
Concerns expressed throughout the meeting included school
drinking water, the swimming pool and the health of students
with compromised immune systems.
On Friday, state officials found low levels of TCE, PCE and
vinyl chloride in the ground and in the air in some of the
classrooms.
Groundwater near the high school's baseball field also tested
positive for perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel that
inhibits thyroid function if ingested.
The chemicals likely made their way into the classrooms as
contaminated groundwater evaporated.
"You wouldn't expect to find vinyl chloride inside the
building," Bosen said. The chemical evaporates and dissipates
very quickly, he said, "so it is a concern to us."
"The vinyl chloride is a real issue assuming it came from Wyle,
and I don't feel comfortable as a school board member without
all of the classrooms tested for vinyl chloride," said Bill
Hedrick, a Corona-Norco Unified School District trustee. "On
behalf of the board, I believe you have to test the rest of
those schools."
Officials had tested for contamination at the Norco High
football field in the past, and their failure to find any led
them to conclude that the pollution didn't pose a risk to the
students.
However, after contamination was found in the ground to the
north and south of the high school, residents spent months
lobbying state officials to test more extensively at the schools
to rule out the danger.
Soil and groundwater pollution at Wyle Laboratories in Norco is
serious enough to be ranked on the federal Superfund list of the
nation's worst toxic sites, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
has said.
The laboratory tested products for the defense industry as well
as electronics and components for space shuttles and rocket
engines for a half-century. The three schools and dozens of
homes are nestled into the hills around the Wyle property.
In 2002, a developer submitted plans for 372 homes on the
company's land, but the project was stymied after nearby
residents protested and tests began to reveal contamination.
Attorneys for about 100 neighbors of Wyle Labs in Norco filed a
lawsuit against the testing laboratory, alleging that the
company knowingly polluted the neighborhood for decades with
cancer-causing chemicals and misled the community about the
danger.
The neighbors allege that Wyle and its parent companies'
negligence led to four wrongful deaths.
They also allege that the pollution caused some residents to
develop cancer, thyroid disease, genetic damage, kidney damage,
neurological disorders, learning disabilities and respiratory
illnesses.
The residents suing Wyle are seeking damages for current and
future medical costs and compensation for emotional distress and
damaged property values.
However, Wyle officials and state health regulators say there is
no link between the community's health problems and the
pollution.
Officials are studying fractures in the bedrock below Wyle's
neighborhood to determine how the pollution is flowing into the
community.
The state's Wyle investigation is ongoing, and the cleanup is
expected to begin in 2007. More headlines...
*****************************************************************
38 AU ABC: Miner keen for WA uranium search.
24/08/2005. ABC News Online
A mid-west Western Australian mining company says it would look
for uranium in the mid-west if the State Government allowed it.
A WA Labor MP has called for renewed debate on uranium mining
in the state, but Premier Geoff Gallop has dismissed the idea.
WA company Batavia Mining has recently acquired uranium
tenements in the Northern Territory as well as a database of
uranium exploration information for three states, including WA.
Managing director Greg Durack says the company would be open to
exploring for and mining uranium in WA if it could.
"Uranium power generation is not new, it's been around for 50
years now and there's over 440 reactors operating in the world,
so I mean we're not reinventing the wheel here, it's quite a
well-established power industry," he said.
*****************************************************************
39 KLAS: EPA Public Meetings on Yucca Mountain
August 24, 2005
The Environmental Protection Agency has anounced its plans to
hold public information sessions about the future of Yucca
Mountain.
In October, the EPA will hold four hearings in Nevada and in
Washington, D.C.
The information sessions will provide the public an informal
opportunity to learn about the proposed standards for Yucca
Mountain and talk with EPA staff.
The EPA will welcome public commetns on the rule for 60 days.
Comments must be received on or before Oct. 21, 2005.
+ Monday, October 3, late afternoon and evening at the
Amargosa Valley Community Center in Amargosa Valley.
+ Tuesday, October 4, late afternoon and evening in Las Vegas.
+ Tuesday, October 5, late morning, if necessary, in Las
Vegas.
+ Tuesday, October 11, afternoon, in Washington, DC.
The Federal Register notice of the rulemaking is posted on EPA's
Internet website along with additional information on the rule.
Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and KLAS. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
40 Pahrump Valley Times: Reid, Ensign want answers on nuke train
August 24, 2005
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS - Nevada's senators are demanding the Energy
Department more fully explain its plan to use dedicated freight
trains to haul spent nuclear fuel to a national radioactive
waste dump at Yucca Mountain in Nye County.
In a letter last week to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, Senate
Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign,
R-Nev., complain of "gaps and inconsistencies" in a recently
announced plan to have trains haul just one kind of cargo:
highly radioactive waste.
"Like all things Yucca, the conclusions in this policy statement
are seemingly pulled from thin air," the senators said in a
joint statement released Thursday. Reid and Ensign oppose the
Yucca Mountain project.
The Energy Department had not received the letter, and spokesman
Craig Stevens declined to answer questions it raised.
"We remain committed to opening Yucca Mountain using the best
science and technology available to ensure the safety and health
of all citizens," he said.
The Energy Department has said it would rely more on trains than
trucks to haul 77,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel from sites in
39 states to a proposed underground nuclear dump at Yucca
Mountain, 20 miles north and east of Amargosa Valley and Beatty,
respectively, and 50 miles northeast of Pahrump.
The Energy Department announced July 18 it would use dedicated
trains instead of linking cars carrying nuclear waste with cars
containing other freight.
Nevada officials have long advocated dedicated trains. But Reid
and Ensign said the plan was incomplete.
Among other questions, they asked how the Department plans to
move waste from 24 reactor sites that have no train tracks; how
long waste would sit in rail yards and whether rail employees
would be exposed to radiation; how the public risk of radiation
was evaluated; and when the Department would release a
comprehensive shipping plan and cost assessment.
They sought answers by Sept. 1.
In another development, the nuclear power industry's chief
lobbyist said in Washington, D.C., that reprocessing technology
could make retrieval of spent fuel from the Yucca Mountain
project more likely.
"A lot of people have the image that the idea is to put this
stuff in, close the door, walk away, and that's the end of it,"
said Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, president of the Nuclear Energy
Institute. "Not true. That would be irresponsible, and it never
has been the plan."
The Energy Department requires the DOE to be able to retrieve
highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel from Yucca Mountain for at
least 100 years and possibly for as long as 300 years, Bowman
said.
Bowman acknowledged that the United States has not reprocessed
spent nuclear fuel since 1977.
Bob Loux, chief of Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency, called it
unlikely that radioactive material could safely be retrieved
from tunnels where internal temperatures will be above the
boiling point of water.
The Energy Department plans to submit a license application for
the Yucca repository to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission next
year. Recent setbacks have pushed back the target date for
receiving waste from 2010 to 2012 or later.
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005
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41 HeraldToday.com: Tallevast residents say Gov. Bush must help them
08/24/2005 |
DONNA WRIGHT
Herald Staff Writer
Tallevast residents are asking for Gov. Jeb Bush to personally
intervene to help them get their neighborhood relocated.
An advocacy group for the neighborhood sent out a letter to the
media Wednesday unintentionally prior to sending it to the
governor.
The letter to Bush blames county and state officials for
ignoring the health risks posed by an underground plume of
toxins stemming from an old beryllium plant.
Leaders of Family Oriented Community United and Strong, an
advocacy group representing residents, want Bush to intervene by
visiting Tallevast to discuss the relocation issue.
"Come and see first hand the injustice being served on our
community," the letter states. "Restore our faith in the
statement that liberty and justice is for all, without thought
of race, creed, or color."
Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS, said the letter will
be sent to Gov. Bush today.
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42 The Olympian: Council OKs nuclear-free zone
Olympia, Washington
Wednesday August 24, 2005
BY KATHERINE TAM THE OLYMPIAN
OLYMPIA -- The capital city now is a nuclear-free zone.
The City Council decision Tuesday was quick and no surprise. The
5-2 decision, with Mayor Mark Foutch and Councilman Doug Mah
dissenting, mirrored the vote one week ago when officials gave
their initial approval.
The ordinance bans anything related to nuclear weapons from the
city limits. The city also will try not to do business with
companies involved in making nuclear weapons or their components.
Officials who voted to pass the ordinance said it reflects the
community's values, makes a statement against nuclear weapons and
ties the city's buying power to that goal.
But Foutch and Mah worried the law opens the city up to possible
lawsuits and is hard to enforce.
A late change to the ordinance -- the result of an executive
session held earlier that night -- will protect Olympia from the
most significant legal threat, said Bob Sterbank, city attorney.
Under that change, the federal government and use of national
roadways -- which locally means Interstate 5 and U.S. Highway 101
-- for transporting nuclear weapons or their components is exempt
from the law. That same exemption also might cover Plum Street,
which officials say might be considered part of the national
highway system. City staff was asked to check on the Plum
Street's status.
Mah, who has questioned the merits of passing a law that is tough
to enforce, asked, "So we're exempting what is likely to be the
most likely source of any transportation, use, development,
production, processing and disposal of nuclear weapons."
The law does not exempt contractors of the federal government,
Sterbank said.
Tuesday's decision brings to a close two weeks of council debate
on the level of community support behind the ordinance, the
possibility of getting sued and the staff costs of enforcing it.
Nearly all of the dozens of e-mails that reached the council in
late July and early August were in favor of the proposed law. But
more opposition surfaced after the council gave initial approval
last Tuesday, with some vowing to vote officials out of office or
stop shopping downtown.
"I can't believe you voted to make the city a nuclear-free zone,"
wrote Steve Franklin. "Let's stick to local issues and leave the
geo-political agenda to those with much more expertise than you."
Those in support of the ordinance applauded the council. Resident
Diana Moore wrote: "Kudos on your brave stand on making Olympia a
nuclear-free zone. As a 30-year resident and voter, I am so proud
of the Council."
Combined there were probably about 100 e-mails, far fewer than
what council members received last May when it decided to hold a
public hearing against a planned visit by the nuclear-powered USS
Olympia.
The new law, which takes effect in 30 days, means:
+ The city will try not to do business with companies that don't
sign the affidavit unless there's no reasonable alternative.
Officials would say the company's name at a public council
meeting and write a letter asking the company to stop producing
nuclear weapons or their components.
+ The city will trust companies aren't lying when they sign the
affidavit, unless watchdog groups provide evidence. Violators
would be fined $25 a day for the first offense, with the penalty
rising to $100 a day for the third.
+ The USS Olympia would not be affected if the Navy breaks from
its policy of neither confirming nor denying the presence of
nuclear weapons and instead certifies the sub isn't carrying such
weapons. Under some council members' interpretation of the
ordinance, the sub would be excluded from the new law if the Navy
won't say for federal security reasons.
Capital Lakefair Festival invited the sub for a visit next July,
but the vessel is going into the shipyard for two years of
maintenance and won't make visits during that time, the Navy
said.
+ Nuclear medicine would not be affected, nor would fissionable
materials used in smoke detectors, light-emitting watches and
clocks.
+ Depleted uranium, which some activists worry is included in
military equipment being shipped into the Port of Olympia, is not
addressed in the ordinance.
+ The city manager has one year to see whether investment
practices can be changed to meet the nuclear-free goal. That
includes looking at whether the city should buy federal bonds or
invest with banks that do business with companies involved with
the weapons.
Katherine Tam covers the city of Olympia for The Olympian. She
can be reached at 360-704-6869 or at
kathetam@olympia.gannett.com. Web Links:
TheOlympian.com
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43 Tri-City Herald: Hanford alert issued after drum leak
This story was published Wednesday, August 24th, 2005
By the Herald staff
An alert was declared at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation on
Wednesday morning after a 55-gallon drum filled with unknown
material began leaking brown absorbent material inside a burial
trench.
The drum, containing an inner drum that actually held the
contents being disposed of, was being moved at about 10:35 a.m.
so its contents could be determined when part of its under side
gave way.
No radioactive contamination has been detected and no injuries
reported.
Hanford's Emergency Operations Center was activated an hour
later and authorities, including Gov. Christine Gregoire, were
notified.
Eleven workers were evacuated from the area and tested for
contamination, including two who were closest to the drum. They
received nasal swabs.
Another 1,800 workers in Hanford's 200 West Area were ordered
indoors, though that has since been lifted.
The drum was stabilized inside a secondary containment structure
this afternoon.
© 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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44 Las Vegas SUN: Feds Evacuate Hanford Nuclear Workers
Today: August 24, 2005 at 13:57:44 PDT
ASSOCIATED PRESS
RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - The U.S. Energy Department evacuated some
workers at the Hanford nuclear reservation Wednesday because of
a suspected container leak.
The incident occurred in an area where workers have been
unearthing containers of waste that had been buried for years.
The site is also near a landfill where some waste is being
permanently buried.
No known contamination or injuries were detected in initial
radiological surveys of the scene, said Calvin Dudney, a member
of the joint information center at Hanford.
No other information was immediately available. Dudney did not
know how many workers were in the area at the time.
--
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
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45 Reuters: Workers evacuated at Hanford after container leak
Wed Aug 24, 2005 8:03 PM ET
SEATTLE (Reuters) - Some workers at the largest nuclear waste
dump in the United States were evacuated Wednesday after a
container filled with radioactive material was breached as it was
being removed from storage, the U.S. Department of Energy said.
No radioactive or toxic contamination was found after
technicians determined that the inner drum of the container had
not been breached. The two workers who were evacuated were also
found to be safe from contamination.
The 586-square-mile nuclear waste facility is located in
south-central Washington state, about 150 miles southwest of
Spokane, the state's second-largest city.
Donna Somers, operations manager at Hanford's Joint Information
Center, said that the contaminants were contained and that normal
operations had resumed.
"As it turned out there wasn't anything serious about it,"
Somers said, "We have standard (safety) procedures that we take
that are conservative."
Hanford was started in 1943 to produce plutonium for the
Manhattan Project and the U.S. nuclear arsenal. The clean-up of
its radioactive wastes and toxic chemicals has become a
contentious issue between environmental groups and the
government.
© Reuters 2005.
All Rights Reserved.
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