***************************************************************** 08/26/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.198 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 UN Atomic Watchdog Chief Meets With Iranian Official On UN Nuclear P 2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Said Not Worried About U.N. Action 3 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy Says Iran Won't Budge on Uranium 4 Reuters: Iran in talks with U.N. nuclear watchdog 5 Reuters: Iran hopes to present new nuclear plan within month 6 IRNA: Iran's Larijani, IAEA chief start nuclear talks 7 Guardian Unlimited; Iran Seeks Nuclear Talks With More Nations 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiator, IAEA Chief to Meet 9 RIA Novosti UPDATE: Russian, North Korean diplomats discuss six-nati 10 Reuter: China, Japan says N.Korea talks set for next week 11 Guardian Unlimited: 6-Nation Nuke Talks to Restart Next Week 12 US: Concord Monitor: Reprieve aside, future unclear Number of subs p 13 US: Reuters: Pentagon's base-closing plan dealt two setbacks 14 Xinhua: Strategic bombers not nuclear weapons - Russian DM NUCLEAR REACTORS 15 US: NRC: Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800), Chapter 13.0, ``Conduct 16 US: NRC: Portland General Electric Company, Trojan Nuclear Plant, 17 US: NRC: Florida Power Corporation; Notice of Consideration of Issua 18 US: NRC: In the Matter of Joseph Guariglia; Confirmatory Order (Effe 19 US: Hudson Valley News: Riverkeeper to raise Indian Point sirens iss 20 US: Reuters: Ariz. Palo Verde 2 nuke starts to exit outage 21 US: Reutes: SCANA S.C. Summer nuke shut NUCLEAR SECURITY 22 US: Secrecy News -- 08/26/05 NUCLEAR SAFETY 23 [DU Information List] Radioactive Wounds of War 24 US: Herald Leader: Sick nuclear workers still awaiting compensation 25 RIA Novosti: Radiation source removed from Vladivostok fishing port 26 RIA Novosti: Radiation sources confiscated in Vladivostok extremely 27 RIA Novosti: International nuclear safety conference about to open 28 US: NRC: NRC Staff Proposes $16,250 Fine Against Westinghouse for Sa 29 US: Paducah Sun: Frustration grows as sick workers wait for benefits NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 30 US: SVA: Toxins found in drinking water below Rocketdyne test site 31 US: Bradenton Herald: Residents meet with analyst 32 US: AU ABC: Previous explorations to fast-track NT mine project 33 US: Cape Code Online: Army sets in motion plume cleanup 34 US: Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald cleanup company fined $33,000 over 35 US: NRC: Notice of Withdrawal of License Amendment Request From the 36 US: SFBV: EPA says HP Shipyard not fit for human habitation 37 US: lamonitor.com: Navajo president asks for Richardson's help 38 US: CWVNW: Citizens’ Group Sues Department of Energy over Inadequate PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 39 Tri-City Herald: Hanford leak drill came just in time 40 lamonitor.com: Crossing off clean-up sites 41 lamonitor.com: Construction slowdown at Hanford worries insiders 42 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Chairs 43 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridg ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 UN Atomic Watchdog Chief Meets With Iranian Official On UN Nuclear Plans Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 13:01:18 -0400 UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG CHIEF MEETS WITH IRANIAN OFFICIAL ON COUNTRY’S NUCLEAR PLANS New York, Aug 26 2005 1:00PM The head of The United Nations agency entrusted with curbing the spread of nuclear weapons today had a “constructive” meeting with a senior Iranian official on ways to resolve issues over the country’s The talks between International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2005/prn200511.html">IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei and the Secretary of Iran´s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, at IAEA headquarters in Vienna came two week after the agency’s Board of Governors called on Iran to reverse its decision to resume uranium conversion “Dr. ElBaradei said that the two-hour meeting was constructive and that Mr. Larijani expressed his commitment to cooperating closely with the IAEA to resolve outstanding issues about its nuclear Iran voluntarily suspended operations last year of all uranium enrichment-related and reprocessing activities during negotiations with European countries on its nuclear programme, which it insists is for peaceful energy production but which some countries, including the United States, say is part of an effort to produce nuclear But at the beginning of the month it began resuming activities at the Uranium Conversion Facility (UCF) in Isfahan. Enriched uranium can be used for peaceful purposes such as generating energy or Iran's nuclear programme has been a matter of concern since 2003, when the IAEA determined that the country had for almost two decades concealed its nuclear activities in breach of its obligations 2005-08-26 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/news/dh/latest/subscribe.shtml ***************************************************************** 2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Said Not Worried About U.N. Action From the Associated Press [UP] Friday August 26, 2005 3:01 PM AP Photo VIE111 By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran hopes talks with Europe on easing tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions are not dead, but it does not fear U.N. Security Council action if it continues activities linked to uranium enrichment, the country's top negotiator said Friday. Ali Larijani also said South Africa was one of ``several'' countries that has responded positively to his call to expand talks on Iran's nuclear program beyond the three European nations most recently negotiating with Tehran. ``With the power it enjoys in the region, there is no way that Iran can be worried about the threat of the Security Council,'' Larijani said of the possibility of referral at an upcoming board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The envoy, considered a hard-line backer of Iran's right to the full nuclear cycle, said he hoped his country would present new ideas within a month aimed at reducing suspicions about its nuclear agenda. Larijani on Thursday urged other nations besides France, Germany and Britain to open talks with his country on its nuclear program, apparently hoping to bring in more sympathetic negotiators. He said he hoped the talks with the ``European Three'' would continue nonetheless. ``We never close the door on negotiations,'' he said Friday. ``I have not come to the conclusion that the European capacity ... has already been exhausted'' in finding a solution that permits Iran to exercise its right to enrich uranium while dispelling suspicions about what it plans to do with the material produced, he added. Tehran says its program is only aimed at producing electricity and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to build a uranium development program. Uranium is enriched by turning the raw ore into gas, which is then spun in centrifuges. Enriched to a low level, it can be used as fuel for a reactor; at a high level, it can be used for a bomb. The talks suffered a blow earlier this month when Iran rejected the Europeans' central proposal - an offer of economic incentives in return for permanently giving up uranium development. Tehran also resumed uranium conversion at its plant in the central city of Isfahan. Bringing other nations into the negotiations would likely weaken what has been an unusually unified front by Europe and the United States, pressuring Iran to accept limits Larijani spoke after meeting with IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei for discussions focusing on his country's decision to resume uranium conversion despite international pressure not to do so. Diplomats say a report being prepared by ElBaradei for the Sept. 19 meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, will disclose new details on Tehran's experiments with small amounts of plutonium, a key component of nuclear weapons. Larijani acknowledged that ``there are a number of areas where the agency (still) had questions'' relating to its three-year investigation of Iran's nuclear program prompted by the discovery of nearly two decades of illicit activities - including some with possible weapons applications. The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, dismissed Iran's suggestion for more countries to join the talks as a ``typical tactic of the Iranian government designed to change the subject.'' Europe also responded coolly to Larijani's call. Britain's Foreign Office said there was ``no basis for negotiation with Iran until they respond'' to an IAEA resolution adopted earlier this month that calls on Iran to suspend reprocessing activities at the Isfahan plant. The EU countries called off a negotiating session scheduled for Aug. 31 because of the resumption of work there. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France, Britain and Germany were not really alone in the talks with Tehran since they were acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union. Iran's new ultraconservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said this week his government would draw up new proposals for negotiations. Iranian officials have made clear they expect the talks to focus on allowing Tehran to proceed with its program while setting up guarantees to ensure it is not developing weapons. In Vienna, Larijani said he expected Ahmadinejad's initiative to be ready within a month. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy Says Iran Won't Budge on Uranium From the Associated Press [UP] Friday August 26, 2005 11:16 PM AP Photo VIE113 By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Tehran's top nuclear envoy said Friday that Iran will not negotiate away its right to enrich uranium and shrugged off threats of possible U.N. action if Tehran insists on possessing technology that could be used to make the bomb. On his first trip abroad as the nuclear point man for Tehran's ultraconservative government, Ali Larijani delivered an old message: Iran will talk to anybody on reducing suspicions about its agenda but will not budge on its central argument that it is permitted to enrich uranium under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Uranium is enriched by turning the raw ore into gas, which is then spun in centrifuges. Enriched to a low level, it can be used as fuel for a reactor; at a high level, it can be used for a bomb. Larijani spoke to reporters after meeting with Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, for discussions focusing on his country's decision to resume uranium conversion - the precursor to enrichment. Diplomats say a report being prepared by ElBaradei for the Sept. 19 meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, will disclose new details on Tehran's experiments with small amounts of plutonium, a key component of nuclear weapons. Larijani acknowledged that ``there are a number of areas where the agency (still) had questions'' relating to its three-year investigation of Iran's nuclear program prompted by the discovery of nearly two decades of illicit activities - including some with possible weapons applications. But he said his country was interested in putting to rest remaining suspicions quickly. An IAEA statement said ElBaradei had described the two-hour meeting as ``constructive, and that Mr. Larijani expressed his commitment to cooperating closely with the IAEA to resolve outstanding issues about its nuclear program.'' While Iran hopes talks with Europe on easing tensions over Tehran's nuclear ambitions can be revived, it does not fear the possibility of U.N. Security Council action if it continues activities linked to uranium enrichment, he said. ``With the power it enjoys in the region, there is no way that Iran can be worried about the threat of the Security Council,'' Larijani, said. Any Security Council involvement carries the threat of sanctions. Past U.S. attempts for referral have been rebuffed by the majority of the 35 IAEA board nations, but sentiment has recently grown for such a move. Larijani also said South Africa was one of ``several'' countries responding positively to his call to expand talks on his country's nuclear program beyond the three European nations most recently negotiating with Tehran. ``South Africa was actively interested,'' Larijani told reporters. The envoy, considered a hardline backer of his country's right to the full nuclear cycle, said he hoped his country would present new ideas within a month aimed at reducing suspicions about Tehran's agenda. Larijani first called on other nations besides France, Germany and Britain to open talks with his country on its nuclear program. On Friday he said he hoped the negotiations with the ``European Three'' would continue nonetheless. ``We never close the door on negotiations,'' he said. ``I have not come to the conclusion that the European capacity ... has already been exhausted'' in finding a solution that permits Iran to exercise its right to enrich uranium while dispelling suspicions about its plans. Tehran says its program is only aimed at producing electricity and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to build a uranium development program. Larijani's call to broaden his nation's nuclear talks beyond the three European powers appeared to be a bid to bring nations more sympathetic to Tehran's cause on board. The talks suffered a blow earlier this month when Iran rejected the Europeans' central proposal - an offer of economic incentives in return for permanently giving up uranium development. Tehran also resumed uranium conversion at its plant in the central city of Isfahan. Bringing other nations into the negotiations would likely weaken what has been an unusually unified front by Europe and the United States, pressuring Iran to accept limits to its nuclear program. The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, dismissed Iran's suggestion for more countries to join the talks as a ``typical tactic of the Iranian government designed to change the subject.'' Britain's Foreign Office said there was ``no basis for negotiation with Iran until they respond'' to an IAEA resolution adopted earlier this month that calls on Iran to suspend reprocessing activities at the Isfahan plant. The EU countries called off a negotiating session scheduled for Aug. 31 because of the resumption of work there. Iran's new president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said this week his government would draw up new proposals for negotiations. Iranian officials have made clear they expect the talks to focus on allowing Tehran to proceed with its program while setting up guarantees to ensure it is not developing weapons. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 4 Reuters: Iran in talks with U.N. nuclear watchdog Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:22 AM ET By Francois Murphy VIENNA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator met the head of the U.N. atomic watchdog on Friday after announcing a plan to head off European Union preparations to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for possible sanctions. The EU has held two years of talks with Iran to persuade it to abandon sensitive atomic work that both the 25-nation bloc and the United States suspect is aimed at making the Islamic Republic a nuclear-armed power in the volatile Middle East. But the talks appeared close to collapse after Iran resumed uranium conversion work this month, prompting the EU to cancel an Aug. 31 meeting. Frustrated by Iran's refusal to stop its work, the EU is now preparing the road to possible sanctions. The visit by Iran's top negotiator Ali Larijani to International Atomic Energy Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei in Vienna appeared to be an attempt to forestall the EU's efforts. ElBaradei is due to report on Iran's activities on Sept. 3. Larijani said on Thursday Iran was finalising a new plan which would include broadening negotiations to involve nations outside the current trio of Britain, France and Germany which have so far represented the European Union in talks. NEW INITIATIVE Larijani said he regretted the EU3's decision to cancel their Aug. 31 meeting and said the trio should adopt a "logical approach of mutual interest instead of making obstacles". He said questions had been raised inside Iran and by allies on why talks were being carried out solely with the EU trio. Iran's Supreme National Security Council spokesman said broadening the nuclear talks to include other countries was part of a new initiative by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The initiative would also encompass plans for resuming other parts of Iran's nuclear programme, currently suspended under an agreement with the EU3 made in Paris last November. "The activities that we're going to open and how we would do that depends on the plan that will be finalised soon and announced publicly," spokesman Ali Aghamohammadi said. Iran says all it wants to do is build nuclear power stations to satisfy booming domestic demand for electricity. But the United States says Iran's record of hiding its nuclear programme for 18 years and a number of irregularities exposed by IAEA inspectors reveal a desire to build a bomb. The EU says Iran broke its pledge to suspend nuclear work while talks were in progress and the EU3 is now preparing for the IAEA board of governors meeting on Sept. 19, when the trio is expected to urge the entire board to refer Tehran to the U.N. Security Council. The Europeans and Americans had explored the possibility of an emergency board meeting before Sept. 19, but developing countries on the IAEA's 35-nation board, along with China and Russia, opposed the idea, EU diplomats told Reuters. "The Europeans and the Americans were exploring the idea of an early meeting, but there is not broad support for it. It's not going to happen," an EU diplomat told Reuters. ELBARADEI REPORT CRUCIAL What happens at the Sept. 19 IAEA meeting will depend on ElBaradei's report, EU diplomats said. "First we have to see what is in the report, which will formally say that Iran has violated the suspension, we expect," the diplomat said. But there will probably be resistance to a Security Council referral from the non-aligned developing states, which make up around a third of the board, diplomats said. Russia has called on Iran to resume the suspension but has repeatedly expressed its disagreement with a Security Council referral. Moscow is helping Iran build a nuclear power station and said on Thursday it saw no evidence Tehran was breaching the global nuclear non-proliferation regime. (Additional reporting by Paul Hughes in Tehran, Louis Charbonneau in Berlin, Mark John in Brussels and Maria Golovnina in Moscow) © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 Reuters: Iran hopes to present new nuclear plan within month Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:13 AM ET By Francois Murphy VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran hopes to present a new plan to European Union powers within a month to resolve its nuclear stand-off with the West, its chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Friday. Asked if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would present his proposal within a month, Larijani told reporters: "I hope so." Britain, France and Germany have spent two years trying to pursuade Tehran to give up sensitive parts of its nuclear programme. But the talks appeared close to collapse after Iran resumed uranium conversion work this month, prompting the EU to cancel an August 31 meeting. Frustrated by Iran's refusal to stop its work, the EU is now expected to ask the IAEA board of governors to send the case to the United Nations Security Council, which could impose sanctions on Iran. Larijani said Iran was not worried about the threat of possible referral to the U.N. Security Council. "With the power that Iran enjoys in the region, there is no way that Iran can be worried about the threat of the Security Council," he said, speaking through an interpreter. Larijani said on Thursday that Iran was finalising a new plan which would include broadening negotiations to involve nations outside the current trio of EU powers. "The Iranian president has already stated that he would have a new initiative on this issue. I think it is just best that the new president will be able within a reasonable time to elaborate on his proposal and present it." Asked what a reasonable time was, he said, "About a month." © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 6 IRNA: Iran's Larijani, IAEA chief start nuclear talks Vienna, Aug 26, IRNA Larijani-ElBaradei-Nuclear Iran's new Secretary of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Ali Larijani, started negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei on Tehran's nuclear program here on Friday. Talking to IRNA, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the talks would be mainly focused on IAEA inspection of Iran's nuclear activities. The sides are to discuss Iran-Europe nuclear talks, latest views, and Iran's proposals for settling the case. She said IAEA director general's deputy and experts are attending the meeting. Iran's permanent representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, Mohammad-Mehdi Akhoundzadeh, and a ranking delegation accompanying Larijani are also present in the meeting. Larijani, who was appointed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on August 15, arrived here Thursday night on an official one-day visit. Larijani criticized limitation of nuclear talks to three European states (Germany, France, Britain) and said, "The Islamic Republic welcomes negotiations with all 35 member states of the IAEA Board of Governors." Thursday August 25 200 5 ***************************************************************** 7 Guardian Unlimited; Iran Seeks Nuclear Talks With More Nations From the Associated Press [UP] Friday August 26, 2005 5:46 AM AP Photo VM102 By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Thursday called for more countries to join three European states in talks about its nuclear program, apparently hoping to bring in more sympathetic negotiators. The surprise call was part of Tehran's drive to win approval for what it says will be peaceful use of nuclear power. The talks involving France, Germany and Britain suffered a blow earlier this month when Iran rejected the Europeans' central proposal - an offer of economic incentives in return for permanently giving up uranium development. Tehran also resumed uranium conversion at its plant in the central city of Isfahan. Iran's new top nuclear negotiator, hard-liner Ali Larijani, said Thursday that more nations should join the talks. ``There is a serious question in Iran that asks why nuclear negotiations should be limited to just three European countries,'' he told state-run television. In Vienna, diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog agency, told The Associated Press that Larijani was expected in the Austrian capital on Friday for talks with IAEA head Mohamed ElBaradei. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were disclosing confidential information, refused to elaborate. But Larijani was expected to lobby for Iran's decision to resume uranium conversion at Isfahan and discuss a report ElBaradei is preparing for the IAEA's Sept. 19 board of governors' meeting that is expected to disclose new details on Tehran's experiments with small amounts of plutonium, a key component of nuclear weapons. In comments on state-run television, Larijani didn't specify any nations that should join the talks but said his country would welcome negotiations with all 35 members of the board of governors of the IAEA - as well as members of the Non-Aligned Movement, a bloc of 116 mostly developing countries. The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, dismissed the proposal as a ``typical tactic of the Iranian government designed to change the subject.'' In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the current format, involving the three EU nations, was the correct one and that Iran ought ``to take the deal that is on the table.'' Europe also responded coolly to Larijani's call. Britain's Foreign Office said there was ``no basis for negotiation with Iran until they respond'' to an IAEA resolution adopted earlier this month that calls on Iran to suspend reprocessing activities at Isfahan. The EU countries called off a negotiating session scheduled for Aug. 31 because of the resumption of work there. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France, Britain and Germany were not really alone in the talks with Tehran since they were acting on behalf of the 25-nation EU. The three countries ``negotiate in the name of the (other) Europeans and we are fully transparent ... with our partners in the international community,'' he said. He added that the talks also are carried out ``in close liaison'' with the IAEA. IAEA board member Russia did not address the Iranian call. But Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Thursday there was no evidence proving Iran has violated the nuclear non-proliferation regime. ``We have no grounds to believe the presence of such a threat has been proven,'' he said. ``If a real threat to the non-proliferation regime emerges, we will look at it very seriously.'' Russia has helped Iran build its first nuclear reactor, at Bushehr, and China has been increasing its ties with Tehran. Both would likely try to prevent any attempt to refer Iran to the U.N. Security Council for sanctions and use their veto power in the council to block any attempt to impose such punitive measures, Iranian political analyst Davoud Hermidas Bavand said. Tehran says its program is only aimed at producing electricity and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty to build a uranium development program. Uranium is enriched by turning the raw ore into gas, which is then spun in centrifuges. If it is enriched to a low level, it can be used as fuel for a reactor; at a high level, it can be used for a bomb. Bringing other nations into the negotiations would likely weaken what has been an unusually unified front by Europe and the United States, pressuring Iran to accept limits. In an editorial broadcast Thursday, state-run radio said Iran needed new negotiating partners because Britain, Germany and France were not capable of concluding a deal by themselves. Friday's expected meeting between Larijani and the IAEA's ElBaradei appeared to have been decided very recently. ElBaradei had been due to attend a meeting in Copenhagen Thursday but organizers there said he canceled on short notice. IAEA officials declined comment. Others on the IAEA board with their own nuclear programs might be sympathetic to Iran's arguments that it has every right to uranium development. Brazil and Argentina appear hesitant to subject Iran to restrictions on its nuclear program, worrying that they could face the same pressure one day. Iran also previously has courted support for its nuclear program from Arab countries including Yemen, which is both a member of the IAEA board and the Non-Aligned Movement. Iran's new ultraconservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said this week his government would draw up new proposals for negotiations. Iranian officials have made clear they expect the talks to focus on allowing Tehran to proceed with its program while setting up guarantees to ensure it is not developing weapons. --- Associated Press writer George Jahn contributed to this report from Vienna, Austria. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiator, IAEA Chief to Meet From the Associated Press [UP] Friday August 26, 2005 10:01 AM By GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writer VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran is stepping up efforts to win approval for what it says will be peaceful use of nuclear power as its top negotiator focuses on a resumption of uranium conversion with the head of the U.N. atomic monitoring agency. Discussions Friday between hard-liner Ali Larijani and Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, are expected to deal with Iran's conversion efforts as well as a new agency report, diplomats said. That report, being prepared by ElBaradei for the Sept. 19 meeting of the IAEA's board of governors, will disclose new details on Tehran's experiments with small amounts of plutonium, a key component of nuclear weapons, they said. On Thursday, Larijani called for more countries to join three European nations in talks about its nuclear program, apparently hoping to bring in more sympathetic negotiators. The surprise call was part of Tehran's drive to win international approval for its program. The talks involving France, Germany and Britain suffered a blow earlier this month when Iran rejected the Europeans' central proposal - an offer of economic incentives in return for permanently giving up uranium development. Tehran also resumed uranium conversion at its plant in the central city of Isfahan. The United States, which accuses Iran of seeking to develop atomic weapons, dismissed new the proposal as a ``typical tactic of the Iranian government designed to change the subject.'' In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the current format, involving the three EU nations, was the correct one and that Iran ought ``to take the deal that is on the table.'' Europe also responded coolly to Larijani's call. Britain's Foreign Office said there was ``no basis for negotiation with Iran until they respond'' to an IAEA resolution adopted earlier this month that calls on Iran to suspend reprocessing activities at Isfahan. The EU countries called off a negotiating session scheduled for Aug. 31 because of the resumption of work there. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said France, Britain and Germany were not really alone in the talks with Tehran since they were acting on behalf of the 25-nation European Union. Tehran says its program is only aimed at producing electricity and insists it has the right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to build a uranium development program. Uranium is enriched by turning the raw ore into gas, which is then spun in centrifuges. If it is enriched to a low level, it can be used as fuel for a reactor; at a high level, it can be used for a bomb. Bringing other nations into the negotiations would likely weaken what has been an unusually unified front by Europe and the United States. Friday's expected meeting between Larijani and the IAEA's ElBaradei appeared to have been decided very recently. ElBaradei had been due to attend a meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, Thursday. Others on the IAEA board with their own nuclear programs are more sympathetic to Iran's arguments that it has every right to uranium development. Brazil and Argentina appear hesitant to subject Iran to restrictions on its nuclear program, worrying that they could face the same pressure one day. China, which views Iran as a key supplier of oil, and Russia, whose economic interests in the country include development of the Bushehr nuclear reactor, have in the past opposed U.S. calls to haul Tehran before the U.N. Security Council for defying the IAEA board. Iran also has courted support for its nuclear program from Arab countries including Yemen, which is both a member of the IAEA board and the Nonaligned Movement. Iran's new ultraconservative president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said this week his government would draw up new proposals for negotiations. Iranian officials have made clear they expect the talks to focus on allowing Tehran to proceed with its program while setting up guarantees to ensure it is not developing weapons. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 9 RIA Novosti UPDATE: Russian, North Korean diplomats discuss six-nation talks 26/ 08/ 2005 MOSCOW, August 26 (RIA Novosti) - Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alekseyev, the head of the Russian delegation at the six-nation talks on North Korea's nuclear program, met with North Korean Ambassador to Moscow Pak Ui Chun Friday. "The sides discussed the continuation of the fourth round of six-nation talks and developments in the resolution of the Korean nuclear problem," the Foreign Ministry said, giving no further details. The fourth round of six-nation talks involving the United States, South Korea, China, Japan, North Korea, and Russia was launched on July 26 in Beijing. The negotiations have been on recess since August 7. China and Japan say the talks may resume on September 2. A diplomatic source in Moscow said Russia wanted the talks to resume under coordinated terms, which have not yet been fixed. North Korea has agreed to give up a military nuclear program, but the United States should admit Pyongyang's right to a peaceful nuclear program, the source said. The parties demand that North Korea return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and submit to the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the source said. Under those circumstances, North Korea would have the right to peaceful nuclear activities and cooperation with other countries in this sphere. However, the U.S. delegation is opposed to it. If the contradiction is not resolved, the talks will become pointless, the source added. "But we hope the Unites States changes its position." © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 10 Reuter: China, Japan says N.Korea talks set for next week Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:45 AM ET By Nopporn Wong-Anan BEIJING, Aug 26 (Reuters) - China and Japan said on Friday six-party talks aimed at dismantling North Korea's nuclear weapons programme are still on for next week, but no date has been fixed. The status of the talks, which also include the two Koreas, Russia and the United States, had been up in the air with silence from all sides on a firm date to resume after the participants agreed to a three-week recess in the last round. Asked by reporters whether the talks were still on track, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing said: "Of course we have agreed to that. We will resume the second phase of the fourth round of six-party talks from the week starting Aug. 29." Asked if an exact date had been fixed, he said: "We are working on that." North Korea has been playing the nuclear card to win diplomatic and economic benefits since a standoff began in October 2002 after Washington said Pyongyang had admitted to a secret programme to enrich uranium, violating a 1994 accord. Pyongyang has since denied having such a programme beyond its known plutonium plant. Later on Friday, Japanese diplomatic sources in Beijing were quoted by Kyodo news agency as saying Wu Dawei, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister and China's top envoy to the talks, could visit Pyongyang as early as Saturday. After a gap of more than a year, the six sides met in Beijing for nearly two weeks before breaking off earlier this month with an agreement to reconvene during the week of Aug. 29. Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said on Friday the plans had not changed. "We are making preparations towards starting some time next week," he told reporters. While the participants have been working actively to restart the negotiations, North Korea has not toned down its criticism of the United States. On Wednesday, Pyongyang criticised joint military drills by U.S. and South Korean forces, where the two are testing their computer and command systems, as coercion. In a sign that Washington may be softening its stance, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the top U.S. negotiator, said on Tuesday the issue of the North having a civilian nuclear plan would not break a deal. "I think we can come up with something," Hill told reporters. North Korea's insistence on the right to develop peaceful nuclear energy was the key sticking point in the last round of talks where the parties failed to agree to a joint statement. U.S. officials have been sceptical about allowing North Korea to pursue a nuclear programme for energy production out of concern that it might be used for military purposes. Described by U.S. President George W. Bush as part of an "axis of evil" along with Iran and pre-war Iraq, North Korea said for the first time this year it had nuclear weapons, arguing it needed them to deter a hostile United States. (Additional reporting by George Nishiyama in Tokyo) © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: 6-Nation Nuke Talks to Restart Next Week From the Associated Press [UP] Friday August 26, 2005 7:16 AM SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's foreign minister said Friday that international disarmament talks with North Korea would resume next week, but Japan's top diplomat said expressed some doubt. ``The talks will reopen next week, although we've not yet fixed the exact date,'' South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Seoul upon returning from a U.S. trip, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The arms talks were suspended earlier this month after 13 days of meetings where the six negotiating countries failed to agree on a basic statement of principles to guide future negotiations. China, Japan, Russia, the United States and the two Koreas agreed to resume the talks sometime the week of Aug. 29. Among the disputes holding up the talks are North Korea's desire that it still be able to have a ``peaceful'' nuclear program after it abandons its atomic weapons, along with the timing of the rewards Pyongyang will receive as it dismantles its weapons programs. Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura said Friday in Tokyo that nothing had been yet been set for the resumption of arms negotiations. ``After all, peaceful use (of nuclear technology) is a difficult issue,'' Machimura said. ``It seems that we haven't had a breakthrough yet for this difficult issue. Unless we have some idea of that, it appears that it will be difficult to have any prospect on the date for the resumption of talks.'' In Washington, the U.S. State Department said it didn't have any reason to believe the talks won't convene as planned. During the recess, U.S. officials have kept up contacts with North Korean diplomats in New York. ``When the groups recessed ... they all committed to returning back to the talks in this round,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday. ``We haven't heard anything that would contradict that.'' He said the Chinese were having talks with the North Koreans and expected that an exact date would be set ``in the coming days.'' A Chinese envoy in Tokyo on Thursday said the talks could start next Friday. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 12 Concord Monitor: Reprieve aside, future unclear Number of subs produced is down Online - Concord, NH 03301 Copyright 1997-2005 Concord Monitor and New Hampshire Patriot P.O. Box 1177 Concord NH 03302 603-224-5301 Privacy policy Portsmouth Naval Shipyard By BEVERLEY WANG The Associated Press August 26. 2005 8:00AM KITTERY, Maine - For electrician John Royce, the decision wasn't difficult - if federal commissioners had voted on Wednesday to close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, he would have stayed at his job. "I could have drawn retirement as well as work," said Royce, 58, who has logged more than 30 years at the yard. "The younger guys, it would have been harder for them to take this, and I'm glad to see they have work," he said. For years, young men and women who signed on as shipyard apprentices believed they were in a for a lifetime of job security, good wages and benefits. Though the shipyard was saved in this round, there is no certainty that it will not end up on another closure list as the Navy's submarine fleet dwindles - and so does the promise of lifelong employment for its younger workers. "What's going to be difficult is to get the message out that just like jobs in the private sector . . . young people cannot expect to get jobs at the shipyard and have those jobs forever," said Ross Gittell, a University of New Hampshire economist who has studied the shipyard's economic impact on the region. Gittell said the region should develop expertise in growing fields like information technology, especially in the health care field, where providers are looking for applications that will help reduce health care costs. The Department of Defense had hoped to save $48.8 billion over 20 years by closing, downsizing or expanding domestic military installations. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard employs 4,500 people, mostly in Maine and New Hampshire, paying out more than $300 million in wages. It is one of four public shipyards in the country capable of refueling nuclear submarines. Maine and New Hampshire's congressional delegations said the Pentagon underestimated the cost of closing Portsmouth, and ignored data proving the shipyard saves money by routinely completing work under cost and ahead of time. On Wednesday, commissioners agreed with the delegations, voting 7-1 to take the shipyard from the base closure list. But the Navy builds less than one submarine a year, and projects that its fleet will fall from 54 to the 30s in the coming years. That could change, depending on future terrorism threats, said Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, who said China is building subs "at an incredible rate." "The question of the size of the fleet . . . is very much in play. But there will be a robust submarine fleet in the water for the foreseeable future because they're the ultimate stealthy weapon." As for future closure rounds, "I don't see us going through any more in the near future or even the foreseeable future," Gregg said, because of how long it will take the Pentagon to work though this latest set of closures. The key to keeping the shipyard from being targeted is for the workers to continue doing "extraordinary" work, he said. Meanwhile, the delegations will focus on making sure the Navy sends submarine work to Portsmouth, not private yards, said Rep. Jeb Bradley, New Hampshire Republican. "We will continue to watch this like a hawk," he said. By BEVERLEY WANG The Associated Press Guide for details. Concord Monitor Online, P.O. Box 1177, Concord NH 03302 Phone: 603-224-5301 | E-mail: webmaster@concordmonitor.com[ ***************************************************************** 13 Reuters: Pentagon's base-closing plan dealt two setbacks Fri Aug 26, 2005 5:03 PM ET By David Lawder WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A Pentagon plan to cut military bases suffered two setbacks on Friday, when a panel rejected the closure of a politically sensitive air base and a federal court threw out plans to close a Pennsylvania Air National Guard wing. The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted in Washington to keep open South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Base, a decision that spared the state's new Republican senator a major political defeat. In Philadelphia, a federal judge ruled that the Pentagon had broken the law in seeking to close down the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard without first obtaining the governor's approval. The court declared the planned closure null and void. Despite the ruling, the base commission voted to close the Willow Grove Joint Reserve Base where the wing is housed and to shift A-10 attack aircraft from the unit. It struck language from the closure proposal that would deactivate the unit, but the wing would have no aircraft. Both cases reflected intense political wrangling over the Pentagon's plan to save tens of billions of dollars over the next two decades and reshape its forces to face new and emerging threats. The decision to preserve the Ellsworth base for the Cold War-era B-1 bomber was a victory for Sen. John Thune, a freshman Republican who beat former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle last November by claiming that he would be better placed to save the facility. The base is the second-largest employer in the largely rural state of 750,000 residents. "This is a great day for South Dakota, but we think it's a great day for America," Thune told reporters. Thune had told voters last year that his Republican Party connections to President George W. Bush would help protect the base, but he was shocked to learn in May that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had put Ellsworth on the closure list. LOBBYING Thune said he spent more time lobbying base commissioners in the last three months than he had with his family. He had also distanced himself from the White House, which recruited him to seek the Senate set. The Pennsylvania ruling was a victory for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who had filed the court challenge with the state's Republican senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. U.S. District Judge John Padova in Philadelphia said Rumsfeld violated a federal law requiring that a state's governor approve any proposed change to local National Guard units. The case was closely watched by other U.S states because it could set a precedent for other governors unhappy with Washington's base-closing plans. Illinois has also sued the Pentagon over the closure plans and Missouri has threatened similar action, saying Rumsfeld had "run roughshod" over states' Constitutional rights to run militias. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen has sued to stop the closure of Nashville's 118th Airlift Wing, saying the unit is a vital part of the state's disaster-response system. In the Ellsworth decision, the Air Force had wanted to consolidate its 67-plane B-1 fleet at a single airstrip, Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. The supersonic bombers were developed in the 1970s for nuclear strikes, but have been converted to deliver conventional weapons, which they did in Iraq. But the nine-member panel voted 8-1 to keep Ellsworth open, citing a lack of meaningful cost savings if its 24 bombers were moved to Dyess, coupled with a larger-than-estimated economic impact on its home community of Rapid City. "We have no savings and we're essentially moving the airplanes from one very very good base to another very very good base." said commissioner Harold Gehman, a retired Navy Admiral. The commission must submit its changes to Bush by Sept. 8. The president and Congress can accept or reject the list but can make no changes. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 14 Xinhua: Strategic bombers not nuclear weapons - Russian DM www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-08-26 19:40:12 QINGDAO, Aug. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said here Friday the use of long-range strategic bombers inthe first Sino-Russian military exercises did not mean nuclear weapons would be used. "Some people think to use long-range strategic bombers means to use nuclear weapons, this is not right," said Ivanov at a press conference after the military exercises came to conclusion on Thursday. Ivanov make the remarks in response to a question on whether there was any need to use such weaponry as strategic bombers in the exercises aimed at fighting terrorism. "The two militaries of Russia and China both attach great importance to military modernization, therefore, they agreed to use relatively advanced weaponry," said Ivanov. The Tu-95MS and Tu-160 long-range strategic bombers can carry non-nuclear weapons and other sophisticated, high-grade precision weapons, which are quite suitable for fighting terrorism, Ivanov said. The first Sino-Russian joint military exercises, dubbed "Peace Mission 2005", ended on Thursday in east China's Shandong Peninsula, with nearly 10,000 troops involved. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800), Chapter 13.0, ``Conduct of FR Doc E5-4680 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50428-50429] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-158] Operations,'' Sections 13.1.2-13.1-3, ``Operating Organization,'' Revision 5, and Associated NUREG-1791, ``Guidance for Assessing Exemption Requests From The Nuclear Power Plant Licensed Operator Staffing Requirements Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m),'' Dated July, 2005: Availability of NUREG Documents AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability. SUMMARY: The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is announcing the completion and availability of two NUREG documents: (1) NUREG-0800, Standard Review Plan, Chapter 13.0, ``Conduct of Operations,'' Sections 13.1-2, 13.1-3, ``Operating Organization,'' Rev. 5, dated July 2005; and, (2) NUREG-1791, ``Guidance for Assessing Exemption Requests From the Nuclear Power Plant Licensed Operator Staffing Requirements Specified in 10 CFR 50.54(m),'' dated July, 2005. ADDRESSES: Copies of these NUREG documents may be purchased from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, P.O. Box 37082, Washington, DC 20402-9328; http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs; 202-512-1800 or The National Technical Information Service, Springfield, Virginia 22161-0002; http://www.ntis.gov; 1-800-533-6847 or, locally, 703-805-6000. Copies of these documents are also available for inspection and/or copying for a fee in the NRC Public Document Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. As of November 1, 1999, you [[Page 50429]] may also electronically access NUREG-series publications and other NRC records at NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm.html . A free single copy of these NUREG documents, to the extent of supply, may be requested by writing to Office of the Chief Information Officer, Reproduction and Distribution Services Section, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Printing and Graphics Branch, Washington, DC 20555-0001; facsimile: 301-415-2289; e-mail: DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov. Some publications in the NUREG series that are posted at NRC's Web site address http://www.nrc.gov/NRC/NUREGS/indexnum.html are updated regularly and may differ from the last printed version. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James P. Bongarra, Jr., Division of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: 301-415-1046. E-mail: JXB@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 1, 2004 (69 FR 53472-53473), NRC announced the availability of the two NUREG documents, and requested comments on them. The NRC staff considered all of the comments, including constructive suggestions to improve the documents, in the preparation of the revised NUREG documents. The final versions of the two NUREG documents are now available for use by applicants, licensees, NRC reviewers, and other NRC staff. The new revision of the Standard Review Plan supersedes the previous version of that document. Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act In accordance with the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, the NRC has determined that this action is not a major rule and has verified this determination with the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs of the Office of Management and Budget. Note: The Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act statement is not used for draft NUREGs. The law applies only to final agency actions. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of August, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Patrick L. Hiland, Chief, Reactor Operations Branch, Division of Inspection Program Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-4680 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 16 NRC: Portland General Electric Company, Trojan Nuclear Plant, FR Doc E5-4682 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50427-50428] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-157] Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation; Notice of Consideration of Approval of Proposed Corporate Restructuring and Opportunity for a Hearing AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of consideration of approval of proposed corporate restructuring and opportunity for hearing. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project Manager, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555. Telephone: (301) 415-1179; fax number: (301) 415-1179; e-mail: cmr1@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission or NRC) is considering the issuance of an order under 10 CFR 72.50 approving the indirect transfer of Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) License No. SNM-2509 for the Trojan Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI). The indirect transfer has been requested by Portland General Electric Company (PGE) and Stephen Forbes Cooper, LLC. (SFC), as Disbursing Agent on behalf of the Reserve for Disputed Claims (Reserve), to facilitate implementation of the transfer of 100% of PGE's common stock held by the Enron Corporation (Enron) to the creditors of Enron. This is to be done by canceling the existing PGE common stock held by Enron and by authorizing and issuing to Enron's creditors new PGE common stock. The issuance of the new PGE common stock will not change the status as NRC licensee of the Trojan ISFSI, and there will be no direct transfer of the Trojan ISFSI license. Control of the 10 CFR Part 72 license for the Trojan ISFSI, now held by PGE and its co-owners, will remain with PGE and the same co-owners, and will not be affected by the issuance of the new PGE common stock. Issuance of the new PGE common stock will not affect PGE's technical and financial qualifications and its ability to continue funding its share of the costs of operating, maintaining, and ultimately decommissioning the Trojan ISFSI. No physical changes to the Trojan ISFSI or operational changes are being proposed in the application. Pursuant to 10 CFR 72.50, no license, or any part included in the license issued under 10 CFR Part 72 for an ISFSI shall be transferred, assigned, or in any manner disposed of, either voluntarily or involuntarily, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control of the license to any person unless the Commission gives its consent in writing. The Commission will approve an application for the indirect transfer of a license, if the Commission determines that the proposed transferee is qualified to hold the license, and that the transfer is otherwise consistent with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued by the Commission pursuant thereto. The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene, and written comments with regard to the indirect license transfer application, are discussed below. Within 20 days after the date of publication of this notice, the licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to issuance of approval of the indirect transfer for the subject ISFSI operating license and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's rules of practice set forth in Subpart C and Subpart M, ``Hearing Requests and Procedures for Hearings on License Transfer Applications,'' of 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852. Publicly available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http:// www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/. If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed within 20 days after the date of publication of this notice, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the possible [[Page 50428]] effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The petition must also identify the specific contentions which the requestor/petitioner seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the requestor/petitioner shall provide a brief explanation of the bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which the requestor/petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The requestor/petitioner must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the requestor/petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, would entitle the requestor/petitioner to relief. A requestor/ petitioner who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(a)(1)(i)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555- 0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. Requests for a hearing and petitions for leave to intervene should be served upon Mr. Stephen M. Quennoz, Vice President, Power Supply/Generation, Portland General Electric Company, Trojan Nuclear Power Plant, 71760 Columbia River Highway, Rainier, Oregon 97048, Samuel Behrends IV, LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae, L.L.P., 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW., Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20009- 5728, phone: (202) 986-8000, facsimile: (202) 986-8102, and Disputed Claims Reserve, c/o Stephen Forbes Cooper, LLC., 101 Eisenhower Parkway, Roseland, New Jersey 07068. The Commission will issue a notice or order granting or denying a hearing request or intervention petition, designating the issues for any hearing that will be held, and designating the presiding officer. A notice granting a hearing will be published in the Federal Register and served on the parties to the hearing. As an alternative to requests for hearing and petitions to intervene, by September 26, 2005, persons may submit written comments regarding the license transfer application, as provided for in 10 CFR 2.1305. The Commission will consider and, if appropriate, respond to these comments, but such comments will not otherwise constitute part of the decisional record. Comments should be submitted to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. Further Information: For further details with respect to this action, see the application dated July 12, 2005, available for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O-1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (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, (301) 415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland this 16th day of August, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Christopher M. Regan, Senior Project Manager, Licensing Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-4682 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 17 NRC: Florida Power Corporation; Notice of Consideration of Issuance FR Doc E5-4684 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50424-50426] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-155] of Amendment to Facility Operating License, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) is considering issuance of an amendment to Facility Operating License No. 290, issued to Florida Power Corporation (the licensee, also doing business as Progress Energy-Florida,) for operation of the Crystal River Unit 3 (CR-3) Nuclear Generating Plant located in Citrus County, FL. The proposed amendment would allow the licensee to utilize a probabilistic methodology to determine the contribution to main steamline break (MSLB) leakage rates for the once-through steam generator (OTSG) from the tube end crack (TEC) alternate repair criteria (ARC) described in CR-3 Improved Technical Specification (ITS) 5.6.2.10.2.f. This amendment revision involves a change to ITS 5.6.2.10.2.f to incorporate the basis of the proposed probabilistic methodology and the method and technical justification for projecting the TEC leakage that may develop during the next operating cycle following each inservice inspection of the CR-3 OTSGs. This notice supercedes the previous notice dated March 15, 2005 (70 FR 12746). Before issuance of the proposed license amendment, the Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's regulations. The Commission has made a proposed determination that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Section 50.92, this means that operation of the facility in accordance with the proposed amendment would not (1) involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated; or (2) create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented below: 1. Does not involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated. This LAR [license amendment request] proposes to change the method to determine the projected MSLB leakage rates for TEC. Potential leakage from OTSG tubes, including leakage contribution from TEC, is bounded by the MSLB evaluation presented in the CR-3 Final Safety Analysis Report (FSAR) and testing performed during the development of Topical Report BAW-2346P, Revision 0. The inspection required by the ARC will continue to be performed as required by CR- 3 ITS 5.6.2.10. This inspection provides continuous monitoring of tubes with TEC indications remaining in service, and ensures that degradation of new tubes containing TEC indications is detected. The proposed change in method to determine MSLB leakage rates for TEC and the addition of a method to project the TEC leakage that may develop during the next operating cycle do not change any accident initiators. 2. Does not create the possibility of a new or different type of accident from any accident previously evaluated. This LAR proposes to change the method to determine the projected MSLB leakage rates for TEC and the addition of a method to project the TEC leakage that may develop during the next operating cycle. The changes introduce no new failure modes or accident scenarios. The proposed changes do not change the assumptions made in Topical Report BAW-2346P, Revision 0, which demonstrated structural and leakage integrity for all normal operating and accident conditions for CR-3. The addition of a method to project the TEC leakage provides an additional means to monitor the initiation of TEC. The design and operational characteristics of the OTSGs are not impacted by the use of a probabilistic methodology to determine MSLB leakage rates. 3. Does not involve a significant reduction in the margin of safety. This LAR proposes to change the method to determine the projected MSLB leakage rates for TEC and the addition of a method to project the TEC leakage that may develop during the next operating cycle. The resulting leakage estimates will be lower than the estimates from the old method. However, the estimates from the proposed method will be more realistic and do not impact the acceptance criteria. The methodology relies on the same accident analyses described in Topical Report BAW-2346P, Revision 0, and License Amendment Request 249, Revision 0, and utilizes the same leakage test data and leakage limit. The CR-3 FSAR analyzed accident scenarios are not affected by the change and remain bounding. The limits established in CR-3 ITS 3.4.12 and 5.6.2.10.2.f have not been changed. The addition of a method to project the TEC leakage that may develop during the next operating cycle provides an additional means to monitor the initiation of TEC. Therefore, the proposed change does not reduce the margin of safety. The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to determine that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice will be considered in making any final determination. Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this notice. The Commission may issue the license amendment before expiration of the 60- [[Page 50425]] day period provided that its final determination is that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the amendment prior to the expiration of the 30- day comment period should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example in derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need to take this action will occur very infrequently. Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also be delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. 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 O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene is discussed below. Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating license and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's public document room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 01F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr. If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularly the interest of the petitioner/ requestor in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/ petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The petition must also identify the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The petitioner must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, would entitle the petitioner/requestor to relief. A petitioner/ requestor who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(a)(1)(I)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) E-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to (301) 415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to David T. Conley, Associate General Counsel II--Legal Department, Progress Energy Services Company, LLC, Post Office Box 1551, Raleigh, North Carolina 27602, attorney for the licensee. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated August 12, 2005, which is available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room on the [[Page 50426]] 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, (301) 415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of August, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brenda L. Mozafari, Senior Project Manager, Section 2, Project Directorate II, Division of Licensing Project Management, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-4684 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: In the Matter of Joseph Guariglia; Confirmatory Order (Effective FR Doc E5-4686 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50426-50427] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-156] Immediately) I Mr. Joseph Guariglia (Mr. Guariglia) is employed by Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC, at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station. The facility is located in Lycoming, NY. In June 2000, Mr. Guariglia was a fire protection supervisor at the facility. II Following the receipt of information in January 2004, an investigation was initiated by the NRC's Office of Investigations (OI), Region I, on February 3, 2004, at the Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station. This investigation was initiated to determine whether Mr. Guariglia deliberately violated conditions of the Nine Mile Point Unit 2 license by compromising an unannounced fire drill in June 2000. Based on the evidence developed during its investigation, OI substantiated that Mr. Guariglia deliberately compromised the unannounced fire drill in June 2000. Mr. Guariglia was informed of the NRC finding in a letter dated March 18, 2005. III In response to the NRC's March 18, 2005 letter, Mr. Guariglia requested the use of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to resolve this matter. ADR is a process in which a neutral mediator, with no decision-making authority, assisted the NRC and Mr. Guariglia to resolve any disagreements on whether a violation occurred, the appropriate enforcement action, and the appropriate corrective actions. An ADR session was held between Mr. Guariglia and the NRC in Philadelphia, PA, on June 22, 2005, and was mediated by a professional mediator, arranged through Cornell University's Institute of Conflict Management. During that ADR session, a settlement agreement was reached. The elements of the settlement agreement consisted of the following: 1. The NRC determined that a violation occurred when an unannounced fire drill at Nine Mile Point Unit 2 was compromised in June 2000. This was contrary to technical specifications and 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix R, which require that persons planning and authorizing an unannounced fire drill shall ensure that the responding shift fire brigade members are not aware that a fire drill is being planned until it is begun. 2. The NRC maintains that Mr. Guariglia deliberately compromised the fire drill when he called the fire brigade leader to inform him of its time and location. Because Mr. Guariglia's deliberate actions placed Nine Mile Point 2 in violation of NRC requirements, Mr. Guariglia was in violation of 10 CFR 50.5. Mr. Guariglia maintains that he does not recall the specifics associated with this fire drill. However, in light of the evidence available, Mr. Guariglia agreed that the fire drill was compromised and agreed that he was in violation of 10 CFR 50.5. 3. Mr. Guariglia, subsequent to the identification of this violation, will take actions to assure that he learned from this violation and provide the NRC with assurance that it will not recur. These actions include (a) writing an article to share with the Constellation fleet that explains the importance of following procedural requirements, maintaining the integrity of unannounced fire drills, and maintaining a questioning attitude to verify and validate decisions and (b) prior to December 31, 2005, participating in a stand- down meeting with appropriate fire protection staff and describing the lessons learned from the compromised fire drill and the importance of raising concerns when an issue does not comply with requirements. 4. In light of Mr. Guariglia's agreement to Items 1 and 2 and the actions he will take as described in Item 3, the NRC agrees to issue a Notice of Violation without a specified severity level, to Mr. Guariglia. The NRC will place the Notice of Violation, which will be publically available in ADAMS, on the NRC ``Significant Enforcement Actions--Individuals'' website. The Notice of Violation will be placed on the ``Significant Enforcement Actions--Individuals'' Web site no longer than 1 year. 5. Mr. Guariglia agreed to issuance of a Confirmatory Order confirming this agreement. IV Since Mr. Guariglia has agreed to take additional actions to address NRC concerns, as set forth in Section III above, the NRC has concluded that its concerns can be resolved through the NRC's confirmation of the commitments as outlined in this Confirmatory Order. I find that Mr. Guariglia's commitments as set forth in Section III above are acceptable. However, in view of the foregoing, I have determined that these commitments shall be confirmed by this Confirmatory Order. Based on the above and Mr. Guariglia's consent, this Confirmatory Order is immediately effective upon issuance. V Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 103, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and 186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR part 50, It is hereby ordered, that prior to December 31, 2005: 1. Mr. Guariglia shall write an article to share with the Constellation fleet that explains the importance of following procedural requirements, maintaining the integrity of unannounced fire drills, and maintaining a questioning attitude to verify and validate decisions. 2. Mr. Guariglia shall participate in a stand-down meeting with appropriate fire protection staff and describe the lessons learned from the compromised fire drill and the importance of raising concerns when an issue does not comply with requirements. 3. Mr. Guariglia shall notify the NRC, in writing, within 30 days of completion of the actions described in Items 1 and 2 above. The Director, Office of Enforcement, may relax or rescind, in writing, any of the above conditions upon a showing by Mr. Guariglia of good cause. VI Any person adversely affected by this Confirmatory Order, other than Mr. Guariglia, may request a hearing within 20 days of its issuance. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to extending the time to request a hearing. A request for extension of time must be made in writing to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555, and must include a statement of good cause for the extension. Any request for a hearing shall be submitted [[Page 50427]] to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Attn: Chief, Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC 20555. Copies of the hearing request shall also be sent to the Director, Office of Enforcement, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington DC 20555, to the Assistant General Counsel for Materials Litigation and Enforcement, to the Director of the Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs at the same address, and to Mr. Guariglia. Because Mr. Guariglia's home address has been deleted pursuant to 10 CFR 2.390, his copy should be provided to the NRC Office of Enforcement who will forward it to Mr. Guariglia. Because of continuing disruptions in delivery of mail to United States Government offices, it is requested that answers and requests for hearing be transmitted to the Secretary of the Commission either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415- 1101 or by e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and also to the Office of the General Counsel by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. If such a person requests a hearing, that person shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his interest is adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.714(d). If a hearing is requested by a person whose interest is adversely affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered at such hearing shall be whether this Confirmatory Order shall be sustained. An answer or a request for a hearing shall not stay the effectiveness date of this Order. Dated this 18th day of August, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Michael Johnson, Director, Office of Enforcement. [FR Doc. E5-4686 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 19 Hudson Valley News: Riverkeeper to raise Indian Point sirens issue with NRC Friday, August 26, 2005 Copyright © 2005 Mid-Hudson News Network, a division of When the Nuclear Regulatory Commission conducts a public hearing in Rockville, MD next week to discuss issues related to emergency preparedness regulations for nuclear power plants, the Riverkeeper environmental group will be on hand to discuss the Indian Point sirens backup power situation. On two occasions in recent weeks, there were problems with the backup power for the warning sirens, resulting in Indian Points owner, Entergy, saying it would install state-of-the-art battery backups in two years. Anti-Indian Point group Riverkeeper wants swifter action now; however, the groups Lisa Rainwater van Suntum said the NRC rejected two similar requests last spring. She is hopeful, though. With Senator Clintons legislation that was passed in the energy bill last month and then also the repeated problems that they are having with their sirens, I think this is the only thing the NRC can do in terms of protecting public health and safety, she said. Rainwater van Suntum said Riverkeeper will demand that the NRC force Entergy to install backup power to their sirens immediately. today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's ***************************************************************** 20 Reuters: Ariz. Palo Verde 2 nuke starts to exit outage Fri Aug 26, 2005 8:05 AM ET NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - The 1,335-megawatt unit 2 at the Palo Verde nuclear power station in Arizona started to exit an outage and ramped up to 2 percent of capacity by early Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. On Thursday, a spokeswoman for the station said both units 1 and 2 were in start-up and expected to return to service by the weekend. Unit 1 shut on Aug. 12 due to a problem with an emergency diesel generator. The unit was in start-up on Aug. 17 when operators found an oil leak and shut the unit again. Unit 2 shut on Aug. 22 due to a software problem. The 3,875 MW Palo Verde station is located in Wintersburg in Maricopa County, about 50 miles west of Phoenix. There are three units at Palo Verde: the 1,243 MW unit 1, the 1,335 MW unit 2 and the 1,247 MW unit 3. Unit 3, meanwhile, continued to operate at 99 percent. One MW powers about 800 homes, according to North American averages. Phoenix-based energy company Pinnacle West Capital Corp.'s (PNW.N: Quote, Profile, Research) regulated Arizona Public Service subsidiary operates the station for its owners. The owners include APS (29.1 percent), the Salt River Project (17.5 percent), Edison International's (EIX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Southern California Edison Co. subsidiary (15.8 percent), El Paso Electric Co. (EE.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (15.8 percent), PNM Resources Inc.'s (PNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) Public Service Co of New Mexico subsidiary (10.2 percent), Southern California Public Power Authority (5.9 percent) and the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power (5.7 percent). © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 21 Reutes: SCANA S.C. Summer nuke shut Fri Aug 26, 2005 7:48 AM ET NEW YORK, Aug 26 (Reuters) - SCANA Corp.'s (SCG.N: Quote, Profile, Research) 966-megawatt Summer nuclear power station in South Carolina shut by early Friday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in a report. On Thursday, the unit was operating at full power. The Summer station is located in Parr in Fairfield County, about 25 miles northwest of Columbia, South Carolina. One MW powers about 800 homes, according to North American averages. SCANA's regulated South Carolina Electric and Gas subsidiary operates Summer for its owners, SCE&G (66.67 percent) and South Carolina Public Service Authority, known as Santee Cooper, (33.33 percent). SCANA's subsidiaries own and operate more than 5,000 MW of generating capacity, market energy commodities, and transmit and distribute electricity to about 585,000 customers in South Carolina and natural gas to more than 1 million in North and South Carolina and Georgia. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Secrecy News -- 08/26/05 Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 12:26:30 -0400 X-Spam-filter-host: pascal.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com SECRECY NEWS from the FAS Project on Government Secrecy Volume 2005, Issue No. 83 August 26, 2005 ** ARMY WARNS AGAINST PLACING SENSITIVE INFO ONLINE ** INADVERTENT DISCLOSURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS INFO ARMY WARNS AGAINST PLACING SENSITIVE INFO ONLINE In an internal message sent this month to "all Army leaders," U.S. Army Chief of Staff General Peter J. Schoomaker warned that sensitive military information is being posted by Army personnel on the internet and that "the enemy continues to exploit such information for use against our forces." He ordered increased attention to operational security to address the problem. "Some soldiers continue to post sensitive information to internet websites and blogs, e.g. photos depicting weapon system vulnerabilities and tactics, techniques, and procedures," Gen. Schoomaker wrote. "Such OPSEC [operational security] violations needlessly place lives at risk and degrade the effectiveness of our operations." Gen. Schoomaker appended a related February 2005 alert from the Vice Chief of Staff, who elaborated further: "The enemy is actively searching the unclassified networks for information, especially sensitive photos, in order to obtain targeting data, weapons system vulnerabilities, and TTPs [tactics, techniques, and procedures] for use against the Coalition. A more aggressive attitude toward protecting friendly information is vital to mission success. The enemy is a pro at exploiting our OPSEC vulnerabilities." "Remind all personnel that the enemy will exploit sensitive photos showing the results of IED strikes, battle scenes, casualties, destroyed or damaged equipment, and enemy KIAs as propaganda and terrorist training tools.... We cannot afford to have our photos become training and recruitment tools for the enemy," the Vice Chief of Staff stated. "Get the word out and focus on this issue now," Gen. Schoomaker wrote. "I expect to see immediate improvement." A copy of Gen. Schoomaker's August 2005 message was obtained by Secrecy News. See: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/2005/08/usa0805.html INADVERTENT DISCLOSURE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS INFO Upon reviewing 1.3 million pages of declassified records at the National Archives earlier this year, Energy Department officials found 76 pages of classified nuclear weapons-related information that were inadvertently released, according to a new report to Congress. As in similar surveys in the past, most of the inadvertently released classified records concerned historical nuclear weapons storage locations or stockpile quantities -- information that does not represent a current proliferation hazard. However, some of the records also included unspecified weapons design information. See "Seventeenth Report on Inadvertent Releases of Restricted Data and Formerly Restricted Data under Executive Order 12958," DOE Report to Congress, May 2005 (declassified version, August 2005): http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/doe/inadvertent17.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 Secrecy News is archived at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.html Secrecy News has an RSS feed at: http://www.fas.org/sgp/news/secrecy/index.rss 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 ***************************************************************** 23 [DU Information List] Radioactive Wounds of War Date: Fri, 26 Aug 2005 15:16:43 -0700 autolearn=ham version=3.0.4 X-Spam-filter-host: darwin.ctyme.com - http://www.junkemailfilter.com Radioactive Wounds of War Tests on returning troops suggest serious health consequences of depleted uranium use in Iraq By Dave Lindorff http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2298/ Radioactive Wounds of War Tests on returning troops suggest serious health consequences of depleted uranium use in Iraq By Dave Lindorff 4f72c.jpg Gerard Matthew and his daughter Victoria Claudette Matthew. Gerard Matthew thought he was lucky. He returned from his Iraq tour a year and a half ago alive and in one piece. But after the New York State National Guardsman got home, he learned that a bunkmate, Sgt. Ray Ramos, and a group of N.Y. Guard members from another unit had accepted an offer by the New York Daily News and reporter Juan Gonzalez to be tested for depleted uranium (DU) contamination, and had tested positive. Matthew, 31, decided that since he’d spent much of his time in Iraq lugging around DU-damaged equipment, he’d better get tested too. It turned out he was the most contaminated of them all. Matthew immediately urged his wife to get an ultrasound check of their unborn baby. They discovered the fetus had a condition common to those with radioactive exposure: atypical syndactyly. The right hand had only two digits. So far Victoria Claudette, now 13 months old, shows no other genetic disorders and is healthy, but Matthew feels guilty for causing her deformity and angry at a government that never warned him about DU’s dangers. U.S. forces first used DU in the 1991 Gulf War, when some 300 tons of depleted uranium—the waste product of nuclear power plants and weapons facilities—were used in tank shells and shells fired by A-10 jets. A lesser amount was deployed by U.S. and NATO forces during the Balkans conflict. But in the current wars in Afghanistan and, especially, Iraq, DU has become the weapon of choice, with more than 1,000 tons used in Afghanistan and more than 3,000 tons used in Iraq. And while DU was fired mostly in the desert during the Gulf War, in the current war in Iraq, most of DU munitions are exploding in populated urban areas. The Pentagon has expanded DU beyond tank and A-10 shells, for use in bunker-busting bombs, which can spew out more than half a ton of DU in one explosion, in anti-personnel bomblets, and even in M-16 and pistol shells. The military loves DU for its unique penetration capability—it cuts through steel or concrete like they’re butter. The problem is that when DU hits its target, it burns at a high temperature, throwing off clouds of microscopic particles that poison a wide area and remain radioactive for billions of years. If inhaled, these particles can lodge in lungs, other organs or bones, irradiating tissue and causing cancers. Worse yet, uranium is also a highly toxic heavy metal. Indeed, while there is some debate over the risk posed by the element’s radioactive emissions, there is no debate regarding its chemical toxicity. According to Mt. Sinai pathologist Thomas Fasey, who participated in the New York Guard unit testing, the element has an affinity for bonding with DNA, where even trace amounts can cause cancers and fetal abnormalities. Dr. Doug Rokke, a health physicist at the University of Illinois who headed up a Pentagon study of depleted uranium weapons in the mid ’90s after concerns were raised during the Gulf War, concluded there was no safe way to use the weapons. Rokke says the Pentagon responded by denouncing him, after earlier commending his work. No one knows how many U.S. soldiers have been contaminated by DU residue. Despite regulations authorizing tests for any military personnel who suspects exposure, the U.S. military is avoiding doing those tests—or delaying them until they are meaningless. “When we asked to be tested at Ft. Dix, they wrongly told us we didn’t have to worry unless we had DU fragments in our body,” says Matthew. His buddy, Sgt. Ramos, who exhibits symptoms resembling radiation sickness and heavy metal poisoning, adds that at Walter Reed Medical Center he was grilled for hours about why he wanted to be tested and was then branded a troublemaker by his own unit. Matthew says Walter Reed “lost” his sample. At the war’s start, the United States refused to allow U.N. or other environmental inspectors to test DU levels within Iraq. Now the United Nations won’t even go near Iraq because of security concerns. “It doesn’t seem right that we are poisoning the places we are supposed to be liberating,” Ramos says. The Pentagon continues to insist, on the basis of no field evidence, that DU is safe. To date, only some 270 returned troops have been tested for DU contamination by the military and Veterans Affairs. But even those tests, mostly urine samples, are useless 30 days after exposure, because by that time most of the DU has left the body or migrated into bones or organs. Gonzalez and the Daily News paid for costlier tests for nine Guardsmen—tests that could pinpoint uranium inside the body and identify the special isotope signature of man-made DU. Four of the nine tested positive for DU; all had symptoms of uranium poisoning. Even harder evidence may soon arrive. Connecticut State Representative Pat Dillon (D-New Haven), a Yale-trained epidemiologist, has crafted state-level legislation that Connecticut and Louisiana have unanimously passed, authorizing returned National Guard troops to request and receive specialized DU contamination tests at the Pentagon’s expense. This approach bypasses the Pentagon’s feet-dragging because National Guard troops fall under state, rather than federal, jurisdiction. “This was not a Democratic or a Republican issue,” Dillon says. “These are our kids and someone needs to protect them.” She says that since passage of her bill, which takes effect this October, military groups and family organizations, state legislators, and even National Guard unit commanders have contacted her for copies of her bill to promote in their states. Bob Smith, a veteran in Louisiana who got hold of Dillon’s bill and spearheaded a successful effort to pass similar legislation in Louisiana, claims that 14 to 20 other states are considering similar measures. If enough Guard troops avail themselves of the testing—and start testing positive for contamination—it seems likely that reservists and active duty troops and veterans will demand similar access to rigorous tests, which can cost upwards of $1000 per person. One way or another, the Pentagon will pay a price. “DU is a war crime. It’s that simple,” Rokke says. “Once you’ve scattered all this stuff around, and then refuse to clean it up, you’ve committed a war crime.” To help you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! Security Centre. ---------- YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS * Visit your group "pandora-project" on the web. * * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: * pandora-project-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com * * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. ---------- Attachment Converted: 4f72c.jpg: 00000001,4ee40dde,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 24 Herald Leader: Sick nuclear workers still awaiting compensation from government Posted on Fri, Aug. 26, 2005 Associated Press PADUCAH, Ky. - Three months after the federal government said it was ready to start processing toxic-exposure claims, Bill Boucher and other sick former nuclear workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant are still waiting. "I haven't heard a thing," said Boucher, who suffers from asbestosis, chronic lung disease, congestive heart failure and sensitivity to beryllium, a toxic metal once used at the plant. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao said in May when the regulations were finalized that the first to be paid would be sick workers approved for compensation before Congress transferred the backlogged program last fall from the Department of Energy to the Labor Department. Others to receive checks in coming months would be those with established lost wages or impairment from toxic exposure, and people with the clearest links between illness and exposure, Chao said. Although she said claims would be paid as quickly as possible, no goals were set. Labor officials said they intended to issue at least 1,200 checks nationally by Oct. 1, the start of a new fiscal year. "The Department of Labor is committed to getting benefits to eligible workers and their families as quickly as possible," spokesman David James said Thursday. Robert Pierce of Paducah also is frustrated, having been approved nearly 18 months ago for compensation related to larynx cancer that robbed him of his plant job and voice. Speaking in a whisper, Pierce said he is still trying to get reimbursed for more than $2,000 spent traveling to Nashville, Tenn., for 12 throat surgeries since 2001. "I still haven't gotten a penny for travel and lodging," he said. "I feel like if they're having that much trouble just getting that together, Lord knows how they're going to do on paying for impairment and lost earnings." The sickest workers exposed to toxins could receive up to $250,000 for bodily impairment and lost wages. Another provision allows surviving spouses and dependent children of workers who died from toxic exposure to receive up to $175,000. James said many of those claims were paid previously to surviving spouses because that did not require having the new regulations in place. Nuclear workers' union President Bill Cossler said he has talked with many people who are worried about the payment lag. Among them are sick workers awaiting checks long after claims approval by a physicians' panel. Raleigh Struble of Paducah received approval last year, having suffered lead poisoning that caused neuropathy and left him barely able to walk. He said he was told recently that his case was complicated by other factors, such as emphysema and heart disease. "I'm really going downhill and all they can do is think up different ways to postpone things," Struble said. "I talked to someone at the union hall and he said he knew of four or five who have lead poisoning and haven't been paid." Information from: The Paducah Sun, http://www.paducahsun.com ***************************************************************** 25 RIA Novosti: Radiation source removed from Vladivostok fishing port 26/ 08/ 2005 VLADIVOSTOK, August 26 (RIA Novosti, Veronika Perminova) - A radiation source discovered Friday morning at the port of Vladivostok in the Far East has been removed, a radiation control organization said Friday. Primtekhnopolis, which deals with collecting radioactive waste and eliminating radioactive contamination, said the dangerous source was found in scrap metal. When a truck loaded with scrap metal was trying to enter the port, a radiation control system went off. Primtekhnopolis experts put the source into a special container and took it away. The port's background level of radiation is normal. Last week, 89 radioactive sources, which specialists said were spare parts from some equipment, were confiscated in Vladivostok. They were emanating radiation recorded at 1,500 microroentgen per hour. Natural background is 10-15 microroentgen per hour. The radiation sources were detected with the help of the Yantar control system, installed on all vehicle and railroad checkpoints as well as pedestrian checkpoints in Vladivostok. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 26 RIA Novosti: Radiation sources confiscated in Vladivostok extremely dangerous 26/ 08/ 2005 VLADIVOSTOK, August 26 (RIA Novosti, Anatoly Ilyukhov) - The industrial equipment confiscated Friday in the seaport of Vladivostok in the Far East has been found to contain cesium-137, a very strong source of radiation, a radiation control organization official said Friday. Primtekhnopolis radiation and chemical security service head Vitaly Aldanov said eight pieces of lead industrial equipment, six of which were highly radioactive, were confiscated from scrap metal being transported in the port. "If a person holds such a source in their hand for two minutes, the hand will then have to be amputated. Longer contact with such a source is fatal," Aldanov said. The units were produced in the late 1970s and are unmarked. They emanated radiation recorded at 56 milliroentgen per hour. Sources taken out of the units emanate 220 roentgen per hour, which is thousands of times higher than normal background. After a thorough examination, Primtekhnopolis experts will bury the radioactive sources, Aldanov said. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 27 RIA Novosti: International nuclear safety conference about to open in St. Petersburg 26/ 08/ 2005 ST. PETERSBURG, August 26 (RIA Novosti, Olga Vtorova) - The 8th international conference devoted to the safety of nuclear technologies is about to open in this city Friday. The organizers of the event said the conference would bring together officials from the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, the state-run Rosenergoatom, which oversees the operation and construction of nuclear and thermal power plants, and about 300 representatives of Russian and foreign nuclear-sector businesses. The six-day conference will focus on the safe use and production of nuclear power sources in various areas of industry, medicine, agriculture and science. The organizers said this would be a major annual event in Russia's nuclear industry where specialists united by the idea of peaceful nuclear research would share their experience in establishing and using nuclear facilities and scrapping those whose service life ran out. "This meeting is another step towards higher safety of nuclear technologies," said the organizers. The conference will be held on the sidelines of the 9th international forum, The Russian Industrialist. The forum will also feature the 5th international specialized exhibition, Nuclear Industry. © 2005 "RIA Novosti" ***************************************************************** 28 NRC: NRC Staff Proposes $16,250 Fine Against Westinghouse for Safety Violations at Shutdown Fuel Facility in Missouri News Release - Region III - 2005-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-05-037 August 26, 2005 CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov fine against Westinghouse Electric Co. for violations of NRC safety requirements during decommissioning activities at the companys Hematite Fuel Manufacturing Facility in Festus, Mo. The fine is proposed for two violations of requirements for assuring that uranium used in nuclear fuel processing is properly controlled and stored to preclude any accidental nuclear reaction. The violations were identified in an NRC inspection conducted from January through April. The Hematite plant processed and fabricated fuel for nuclear power plants from 1974 until operations ceased in 2001. Westinghouse has been performing limited decommissioning activities at the site, including surveys and removal of processing equipment and piping, ventilation ducts, and other material contaminated with low-enriched uranium. NRC inspectors found that components containing uranium residues were not properly analyzed before being stored and that the plant's procedures did not include necessary controls for handling and storing uranium-contaminated components. "The NRC imposes strict requirements for surveying and storing equipment containing uranium fuel residues," said James Caldwell, NRC Regional Administrator. Although Westinghouse failed to meet these requirements, our inspectors determined the possibility of an accidental nuclear reaction at the Hematite facility was very low. Caldwell noted that since these violations were identified, Westinghouse has taken steps to correct the deficiencies and assure that uranium-contaminated equipment is properly evaluated and stored during decommissioning activities. The company has until Sept. 26 to pay the fine or to protest it. If the fine is protested and subsequently imposed by the NRC staff, Westinghouse may request a hearing. The letter and Notice of Violation issued to the company are available from the NRCs Region III Office of Public Affairs and will be posted on the NRCs web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement/current.html #materials. Last revised Friday, August 26, 2005 ***************************************************************** 29 Paducah Sun: Frustration grows as sick workers wait for benefits Paducah, Kentucky Three months ago, the U.S. Department of Labor said it was ready to process toxic-exposure claims, but the wait for checks continues. By Joe Walker 270.575.8656 Friday, August 26, 2005 Bill Boucher and other sick former Paducah nuclear workers are still waiting, three months after the U.S. Department of Labor announced it was ready to start processing toxic-exposure claims. "I haven't heard a thing," said Boucher, of Paducah. "Secretary Elaine Chao was going to come down here personally and hand out some checks." Chao said May 27 when the regulations were finalized that the first to be paid would be sick workers approved for compensation before Congress transferred the heavily backlogged program last fall from the Department of Energy to the Labor Department. Others to receive checks in coming months would be those with established lost wages or impairment from toxic exposure, and people with the clearest links between illness and exposure, Chao said. Although she said claims would be paid "as quickly as possible," no goals were set. Labor officials said they intended to issue at least 1,200 checks nationally by Oct. 1, the start of a new fiscal year. "The Department of Labor is committed to getting benefits to eligible workers and their families as quickly as possible," spokesman David James said Thursday. Boucher, who received prior approval for compensation, suffers from asbestosis, chronic lung disease, congestive heart failure and sensitivity to beryllium, a highly toxic metal once used at the plant. Paducahan Robert Pierce also is frustrated, having been approved nearly 18 months ago for compensation related to larynx cancer that robbed him of his plant job and voice. Speaking in a whisper, Pierce said he is still trying to get reimbursed for more than $2,000 spent traveling to Nashville, Tenn., for 12 throat surgeries since 2001. "I still haven't gotten a penny for travel and lodging," he said. "I feel like if they're having that much trouble just getting that together, Lord knows how they're going to do on paying for impairment and lost earnings." The sickest workers exposed to toxins could receive up to $250,000 for bodily impairment and lost wages. Pierce said he understands that no one has been paid because the Labor Department is still ironing out procedures. Another provision allows surviving spouses and dependent children of workers who died from toxic exposure to receive up to $175,000. James said many of those claims were paid previously to surviving spouses because that did not require having the new regulations in place. At the time of the worker´s death, an eligible child must have been under 18, a full-time student under 23, or any age and incapable of self-support. Adult children of deceased sick workers picketed the Paducah claims center in June, saying it was unfair to deny them compensation. Nuclear workers' union President Bill Cossler said he has talked with many people who are worried about the payment lag. Among them are sick workers awaiting checks long after claims approval by a physicians' panel. Paducahan Raleigh Struble received approval last year, having suffered lead poisoning that caused neuropathy and left him barely able to walk. He said he was told recently that his case was complicated by other factors, such as emphysema and heart disease. "I'm really going downhill and all they can do is think up different ways to postpone things," Struble said. "I talked to someone at the union hall and he said he knew of four or five who have lead poisoning and haven't been paid." Former plant worker Harold Hargan of Mounds, Ill., has lung disease that caused removal of the upper part of one of his lungs. He said he talks regularly with two other men — one with leukemia and another with various ailments — who also haven't been paid. The three worked in one of the most contaminated buildings at the plant. "They're taking over half my pension for medical insurance," Hargan said. "I left the plant with total and permanent disability. I think I should've gotten some workers' comp." Hargan, Pierce and Paducahan Earl Hobbs each have received $150,000 from the Labor Department under a separate program that pays workers for radiation-induced cancers. Having just undergone another round of chemotherapy, Hobbs was too sick to be interviewed Thursday. But his mother said he has not been paid for toxic exposure, and hasn't heard anything definitive about his claim. Pierce said some delays are understandable because toxic-exposure profiles are complex and time-consuming. But he said he has grown exasperated dealing with various Labor Department offices, one of which handles claims approvals and another that mails checks. Pierce said he complained so much that he now has a new case worker. He said the delays are not the fault of the Paducah claims center, whose managers and staff have been "extraordinarily helpful." Claims may be filed or reviewed at 125 Memorial Drive, next to Milner & Orr Funeral Home off Blandville Road. Phone: 534-0599 or toll-free 866-534-0599. ***************************************************************** 30 SVA: Toxins found in drinking water below Rocketdyne test site [The SimiValley Acorn] August 26, 2005 By Daniel Wolowicz danielw@theacorn.com Part one of two Tucked into the northeast side of Simi Valley, Black Canyon Road winds its way up from the valley floor, weaving through the small enclave of Susana Knolls homes. The large houses lining the road were originally one-bedroom cabins hidden from the rest of the world by tall pine trees and enormous sandstone boulders. Dating back to the 1940s, the area was a safe haven for movie stars, hippies and the occasional cult—all looking for a place to hide from prying eyes. The homeowners weren’t the only ones searching for a quiet place to go about their business. Roughly two miles further into the canyon, an army of engineers, scientists and physicists were quietly working to keep America in the race for space and at the forefront of nuclear weaponry. The secluded tract of land located between the Simi and San Fernando valleys was first used as a test field in 1946 by Rockwell International. During the mid-’50s, Rockwell International established Rocketdyne in Canoga Park as a separate division of North American Aviation. Rocketdyne eventually built a compound bordering the Santa Susana Test Field, and the entire complex in the Santa Susanas came to be known as “The Hill.” For nearly 60 years, Rocketdyne has been associated with nuclear power and the development of rocket engines for many famous space shuttle missions and for the Apollo 11 mission. Until 1989, the Defense Department, NASA and the Energy Department conducted nuclear experiments on the test field. In 1996, Boeing acquired Rocketdyne. Earlier this month, Boeing sold Rocketdyne to United Technologies for $700 million. The sale included Rocketdyne’s headheadquarters in Canoga Park but didn’t include the Santa Susana Test Field. The work being conducted on the 2,668 acres in the Santa Susana hills was under such tight security that even a partial meltdown of a nuclear reactor core in 1959 wasn’t fully disclosed until 20 years later. Some scientists estimate that the accident may have released more radioactivity than the Three Mile Island meltdown. And even though the toxic and radioactive residue left behind by the California-based aerospace company is no longer secret, many Simi Valley residents say that both Rocketdyne’s parent company, Boeing, and the government agencies overseeing the site’s $250-million cleanup effort are too slow in disclosing health information. Moreover, many feel Boeing has not taken full responsibility for the environmental effects that more than 50 years of rocket engine and nuclear testing by Rocketdyne has had on the surrounding area. Most recently, residents were frustrated after the Southern California Water Company announced in late July that for more than a year, trace amounts of perchlorate had been found in well water that’s being blended with residential drinking water. The two wells that tested positive were the Sycamore and Niles wells. Many Simi Valley residents say it’s only reasonable to believe that the perchlorate in the Simi Valley water is a result of runoff from the Rocketdyne site. Although Boeing confirmed in 2002 that there are large quantities of perchlorate on the test field, they contend that multiple geological reports have shown no evidence that perchlorate-tainted water leaked from the groundwater on the Santa Susana site into Simi Valley’s water supply. Boeing officials say the perchlorate found in Simi Valley’s water could have been the byproduct of fertilizer once used by farmers in the area or even a result of the production of road flares. Daniel Hirsch, the head of the environmental watchdog group Committee to Bridge the Gap, says these theories are “ridiculous.” “This is just another example of Rocketdyne trying to throw sand in the eyes of the people,” Hirsch said. “Do you realize there’s only one kind of fertilizer in the entire world that has perchlorate in it? It’s a Chilean fertilizer, and there’s no way it’s responsible for all the perchlorate being found in the valley’s water. And road flares? Come on. It would take a road flare factory making flares for many, many years to even come anywhere close to the amount of chemicals they’re finding.” The city of Simi Valley provides about 60 percent of the water supply in Simi Valley, while the Southern California Water Company supplies the other 40 percent, according to city officials. Both agencies purchase water from the Calleguas Municipal Water District. The city uses only Calleguas water. Southern California Water, however, mixes about one gallon of well water with every nine gallons of Calleguas water, according to company officials. It’s this mixture of well water and Calleguas water that has created the controversy. According to Southern California Water officials, when perchlorate was originally discovered in the wells, the water company notified both the state health department and the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board. Dawn White, a water quality manager with Southern California Water, said the perchlorate levels found in the water wells measured between 1 and 3.5 parts per billion—well below dangerous health levels. Although California doesn’t have a state standard that establishes a safe level of perchlorate in water, most regulatory agencies defer to the 6 parts per billion standard set in 2004 by the Environmental Protection Agency. One part per billion is about a single drop in an Olympic-size pool. White said that because the water company mixture is only about 10 percent well water, the perchlorate levels are actually much lower than those found in the well water alone. “Of course the water is safe to drink,” White said. “It meets the regulations set by the EPA and the State Health Department. . . . Would I drink this water? I would, and I do.” White added that the detection was made possible when the water company began using a testing laboratory that was capable of detecting perchlorate at low levels. The water company will continue to monitor the water wells, and the next quarterly report is due out in October. The dilution of perchlorate in the water brings little comfort to some Simi Valley residents. “Even minute levels of perchlorate in the water are not safe,” said Elizabeth Crawford, a senior environmental specialist with the Physicians for Social Responsibility. “These perchlorate levels are set for a healthy, 150-pound male. What happens to the people who don’t match that demographic? Children are especially susceptible because they drink far more water . . . than most adults, and they are much smaller.” Other states have more stringent perchlorate standards. Massachusetts, for example, sets its perchlorate level at 1 part per billion. Perchlorate is a highly soluble chemical substance used in road flares, fireworks, and rocket propellant. Production of perchlorate began in the 1940s and expanded during the Cold War. Perchlorate causes impaired thyroid function. It affects metabolism, hormone levels, growth and organ development. Exposure to perchlorate can be most dangerous for children and pregnant women. It is easily transferable to infants through breast milk. Continuous exposure to perchlorate could also lead to a higher risk of thyroid cancer. Part two next week will explore the personal story of a Simi Valley man’s mysterious illness, an environmentalist’s fight to get straight answers and the future plans for the nuclear test site. ***************************************************************** 31 Bradenton Herald: Residents meet with analyst | 08/26/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer TALLEVAST - Robert P. DeMott could have the answers Tallevast residents want by year's end. DeMott, of Environ International Corp. in Tampa, is the toxicologist Lockheed Martin Corp. hired to assess the health risks posed by an underground plume of contamination stemming from an old beryllium plant at 1600 Tallevast Road. As the owner of the beryllium plant when the contamination was found in 2000, Lockheed Martin has assumed the responsibility for cleaning up the mess. Over the next few months, DeMott will analyze what toxins are present in the soil and groundwater contaminated by the 131-acre plume. DeMott met with Tallevast leaders and their consultant, Tim Varney, on Thursday afternoon to explain the assessment process. Also in attendance were representatives from Lockheed Martin, the Florida Department of Health and the Manatee County Health Department. U.S. Rep. Katherine Harris, R-Sarasota, and U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., were represented by staff members. A health risk assessment, DeMott said, has two parts: the analysis of what substances might be in the environment, and how residents and workers might interact with that environment to put themselves at risk for exposure. DeMott will take all of the data gathered by Lockheed Martin, residents and health officials and will feed it into a conceptual model of the community based upon Tallevast's history, its population over the years and what industry or businesses have operated in the area. From that analysis, DeMott said he will be able to project the current and future health risks posed by the toxic plume. Leaders of the Tallevast advocacy group Family Oriented Community United and Strong, or FOCUS, said they were impressed with DeMott's credentials and his approach. State health officials will work closely with DeMott, said Randy Merchant, head of the team that has been doing soil, water and air sampling throughout Tallevast for the past year. Merchant outlined how his study differs from DeMott's. While a risk assessment looks at current and future risk, a public health assessment tries to determine whether exposures resulted in any increased cancers, illnesses or birth defects in the community, Merchant said. Varney cautioned that neither the public health assessment or DeMott's risk assessment is designed to address Tallevast residents concerns about past exposure risks. Thomas D. Blackman, Lockheed's director of environmental remediation, said the defense company would consider a proposal to fund that additional study. Michael Graves, a Lakeland environmental consultant Tallevast residents selected to retest the soil and their drinking and irrigation wells, expects to complete work by the end of August. Analysis of Graves' data will take approximately four more weeks and the final report should be ready within eight weeks, Varney said. That data will be used to determine where additional vapor tests should be done, Varney said. Lockheed Martin is paying for those additional tests. DeMott will then feed those results into his conceptual model to project the health risks posed by the plume. Carl Mario Nudi, government reporter covering the islands and Cortez village, can be reached at 745-7027 or at cnudi@HeraldToday.com. ***************************************************************** 32 AU ABC: Previous explorations to fast-track NT mine project Friday, 26 August 2005. 16:48 (AEST)Friday, 26 August 2005. A Perth-based company says exploration done in the 70s will allow it to fast-track a uranium mine near the community of Yuendemu in central Australia. Energy Metals plans to mine uranium from a site called Bigrlyi, 400 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs. The Exploration director, Lindsay Dudfield, says the records left by previous explorers have removed a lot of the guess work. Mr Dudfield says Energy Metals will be pushing to mine the deposit within three to five years, putting it in the running to open the Northern Territory's next uranium mine. "Our grade is certainly very attractive. A lot of the exploration risk has been removed by the exploration that was done by the previous companies and they have outlined a substantial amount of relatively high grade uranium mineralisation," he said. The company believes the uranium deposits found could even be better quality than those at the Ranger mine in the Top End. "For example, the average grade of the mineralisation being mined at Ranger is 2.2 kilograms per tonne so you know it's 50 per cent if you like better grade than that at Ranger. Albeit the resources are smaller." Energy Minerals' claim that they will be the next to open a mine in the Territory has been refuted by a number of other mining companies, however, with each saying they will be the next to open. The Sydney-based Compass Resources initially seemed most likely to open the first uranium mine since the Commonwealth took over the approvals process, forecasting mining near the town of Batchelor within five years. But earlier this week the Perth-based Korab Resources suggested it could have a mine up and running in as few as two years. Now another West Australian company says a deposit near Yuendemu, in central Australia, might be ready in three to five years. But Mr Dudfied says he doubts the validity of the new claims. "I wouldn't like to put a bet on it. We'll be trying very hard to move our project forward as fast as we can and hopefully we'll both get there about the same time," he said. Energy Metals has a major exploratory drilling program planned for next year. ***************************************************************** 33 Cape Code Online: Army sets in motion plume cleanup August 26, 2005 By AMANDA LEHMERT STAFF WRITER CAMP EDWARDS - Army officials are seeking input from the public as they choose the final plan for cleaning up a plume of explosives and perchlorate at Camp Edwards. The long-term cleanup system would be the first operated by the Army at the base. An Air Force cleanup program has been maintaining long-term systems since the 1990s. The plume of explosives - including RDX, HMX, TNT and the explosive additive perchlorate - trails from a natural kettle hole called Demolition Area One. The site was used for destroying munitions and National Guard training in the 1970s and 1980s. The plume is located Northeast of the Otis rotary. RDX is considered a possible human carcinogen by the Environmental Protection Agency. HMX may be harmful to your liver and central nervous system if swallowed or comes in contact with skin, according to the Agency for Toxic Disease and Substances Registry. Perchlorate can affect the function of the thyroid gland if ingested, according to the State Department of Environmental Protection. The tainted soil that caused the plume has been removed, but the Army now must clean the groundwater. Under federal cleanup guidelines, Army officials have presented a half-dozen options for cleaning the 1,400-foot wide and 100-foot thick plume. The Army prefers a plan that would install five extractions wells to take the contaminated water out of the ground and four wells to replace the water after it is cleaned. The system would clean most of the plume in 11 years and would cost an estimated $18.9 million. Local EPA officials, who make the final decision on what cleanup program will be implemented, want the Army plan to include sampling wells past what officials believe to be the toe of the plume. If the contamination moves past the area captured by the five extraction wells, the Army would add a sixth well under the plan, said the EPA's Lynne Jennings. Len Pinaud, of the state DEP, said the sixth well option addresses the state's concerns that plumes may migrate further than currently known. The public can comment on the cleanup plan until Sept. 19. Comments can be sent to the groundwater study program at 1803 West Outer Road, Camp Edwards, MA 02542-5286 or to kristina.curley@ma.ngb.army.mil. There will be a public hearing at the Bourne Best Western at 6 p.m. on Sept. 13. For more information about the plume plans, visit the program's Web site groundwaterprogram.army.mil. Amanda Lehmert can be reached at alehmert@capecodonline.com. (Published: August 26, 2005) Copyright © 2005 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 Cincinnati Enquirer: Fernald cleanup company fined $33,000 over safety "Cincinnati.Com Friday, August 26, 2005 By Dan Klepal Enquirer staff writer CROSBY TWP. - The contractor responsible for the nuclear cleanup at the former Fernald uranium foundry has been hit with a $33,000 fine for violations of the U.S. Department of Energy's nuclear safety requirements. Specifically, contractor Fluor Fernald - a division of the California company Fluor Daniel - did not check workers inside contaminated areas for radiation on their clothing or boots before those workers left, either on breaks or at the end of their shifts. The letter notifying Fluor of the fine also said the company has been lax in oversight of safety programs. The letter says the fine could be waived if problems had been recognized and corrected by Fluor. "Frankly, it appears as if the majority of the radiation protection issues are being identified through DOE oversight activities, rather than your own," the letter says. Fluor has a long history of safety issues during the cleanup, which cost taxpayers $4.4 billion since 1992. The Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, Congress' top watchdog of nuclear cleanups, criticized Fluor in February over its testing of computer operators and procedures. Since 2003, Fluor has been hit with more than $250,000 in fines and received two safety reviews that were critical of the "safety culture" at the site. Jeff Wagner, spokesman for Fluor Fernald, said that despite the problems, the company is running the safest cleanup of any DOE facility. "It's a very complex operation with a lot of activity across a large site," Wagner said. "There are a lot of opportunities where mistakes can be made. But 99 percent of the time, we do it right." E-mail dklepal@enquirer.com [Cincinnati.Com] Copyright1995-2005. The Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. ***************************************************************** 35 NRC: Notice of Withdrawal of License Amendment Request From the FR Doc E5-4685 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50423-50424] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-154] Department of the Army, U.S. Army Garrison, Rock Island Arsenal, Rock Island, IL AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of withdrawal of license amendment request by the Department of the Army (Army or licensee) for its Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) site. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom McLaughlin, Project Manager, Decommissioning Directorate, Division of Waste Management and Environmental Protection, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555- 0001; Telephone: (301) 415-5869; fax number: (301) 415-5398; e-mail: . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction On September 22, 2003, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Staff received a request from the Army for a license amendment that would create a 5-year renewable possession-only license (5-year POLA) for its JPG site. On October 28, 2003, the NRC Staff published a Notice of Consideration of Amendment Request for the Jefferson Proving Ground Site and Opportunity for a Hearing in the Federal Register. On May 25, 2005, the Army submitted a superseding license amendment request for an alternate schedule (alternate schedule request) for decommissioning JPG. On June 16, 2005, the Staff accepted the alternate schedule request for review. On June 27, 2005, the Staff published A Notice of Consideration of Amendment Request for an Alternate Decommissioning Schedule and Opportunity to Request a Hearing in the Federal Register. On July 19, 2005, the Army formally withdrew its request for a 5-year POLA for JPG. Thus, the Staff has discontinued its review of the 5-year POLA. [[Page 50424]] II. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the withdrawal letter for the 5-year POLA and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at . From this site, you can access the NRC's Agency wide 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: ML032731017 for the September 2003 request from the Army; ML032930189 for the NRC Federal Register notice for this action; ML051520319 for the Army's May 2005 request for an alternate decommissioning schedule; ML051640102 for the Staff's June 2005 acceptance of the Army's request for review; ML051660038 for the June 2005 NRC Federal Register notice; and ML052130480 for the July 2005 withdrawal letter from the Army. If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 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, located in O-1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 19th day of August, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Daniel M. Gillen, Deputy Director Division of Waste Management and Environment, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. [FR Doc. E5-4685 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 36 SFBV: EPA says HP Shipyard not fit for human habitation San Francisco Bay View - National Black Newspaper of the Year 8/24/05 Keep the RAB community controlled Everybody out for the RAB meeting Thursday, 6pm, Alex Pitcher Room Editorial by Willie Ratcliff In a story in Monday’s Chronicle, an EPA spokesman admits what we’ve long contended, that the Hunters Point Shipyard is not fit for human habitation. The Shipyard is still one of the nation’s most contaminated Superfund sites, and the threat that it poses to residents’ health is the reason the community MUST retain control of the HP Shipyard RAB (Restoration Advisory Board), the federally mandated Navy-community collaborative that monitors Shipyard cleanup. We must continue to elect our strongest advocates as community co-chairs until all contamination has been removed. Last month the Navy attempted a coup, rigging an election to make its hand-picked candidate the new community co-chair of the RAB. Neither that candidate nor most of the board members who voted for her were eligible to vote or run – they’d missed too many meetings or had formally resigned and hadn’t re-applied. Joining the Navy in this power grab, no doubt, are the City and the notoriously corrupt Lennar Corp., the nation’s largest homebuilder and the City’s chosen “Master Developer” for Shipyard redevelopment. Drooling in anticipation of the profits they’ll rake in from the sale of the 1,600 homes they’re eager to build, they want to sweep out of their way all our strong, knowledgeable community advocates who refuse to sell out their community. The Chronicle, on the front page of the Bay Area section tells the sad story of the impending eviction of the 300-400 artists with studios at the Shipyard and the other tenants – the Golden Gate Railroad, several small businesses, including at least two that are Black-owned, and even the SFPD’s crime lab and SWAT team. All the tenants have just been given six months to move so the Navy can excavate and test the sewer and storm drains around and under their buildings. Illustrating the story is a big photo of a dejected-looking artist with her dog, and the officials the story quotes sound sympathetic and eager to reassure the artists. “I understand the artists’ feelings of uncertainty and am committed to ensuring that the work is carried out with the least possible disruption to the shipyard artist community and their health and safety are protected,” Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is quoted as saying. I know what you’re muttering right now as you read this. You’re saying: “Nancy Pelosi never uttered a sympathetic word about us, the people who live here. She even tried to tell us that the toxic soup we live in couldn’t contribute to causing the breast cancer that’s killing our young mothers … not to mention our asthma, infant mortality, other cancers, heart disease, skin problems and so on.” Near the end of the story, Michael Work, project manager with the EPA, the federal Environmental Protection Agency, is quoted voicing his concern for the artists’ plight – distinguishing between people like the artists who merely work at the Shipyard and people who may one day live there or who live nearby today. Here’s that part of the story: “Michael Work, project manager with the EPA, said there would be no significant health risks for people who may move back after the cleanup. “‘What we’ve found is some low-level radioactive waste or spills that would only pose an unacceptable risk if somebody was living with it on a day-to-day basis for a lifetime,’ he said. “The Navy handed over the first 75 acres of shipyard land to the city, which plans to turn the valuable real estate into commercial and retail space, parks, open space and housing, much of it for low-income families, in January.” After reading this, how can the Navy, the City and Lennar have the nerve to proceed with construction of 1,600 or more new homes for families to live in “on a day-to-day basis for a lifetime”? They can and they will unless we stop them and hold them accountable. Putting our strongest advocates in charge of the RAB is essential. EVERYBODY OUT for the HP Shipyard RAB meeting this Thursday, Aug. 25, 6-8 p.m., in the Alex Pitcher Community Room, Southeast College, 1800 Oakdale Ave., Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco. Media coverage welcome. Alert your contacts. Bring family and friends. Let’s show up in force – a force to be reckoned with. We’re up against some powerful adversaries, but there’s no power like the power of the people! No coups in the hood! This land is our land! The Hunters Point Shipyard belongs to the Hunters Point community! Email Bay View publisher Willie Ratcliff at publisher@sfbayview.com. San Francisco Bay View National Black Newspaper 4917 Third Street San Francisco California 94124 Phone: (415) 671-0789 Fax: (415) 671-0316 Email: editor@sfbayview.com ***************************************************************** 37 lamonitor.com: Navajo president asks for Richardson's help The Online News Source for Los Alamos SANTA FE (AP) - Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr. has asked for Gov. Bill Richardson's help in stopping a Canadian company from getting permission to mine uranium on tribal land in northwestern New Mexico. Shirley met with Richardson this week to talk about the plans of Strathmore Minerals Corp., which has opened an office in Santa Fe and plans to pursue permits to mine uranium at two sites in McKinley County, including an area near Church Rock on the Navajo Nation. Shirley signed legislation in April that bans uranium mining and processing on the tribe's land, which spans parts of New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. "The Navajo Nation as a government and a people has said we're not going to have uranium mining on Navajoland or in Navajo Country," Shirley said. "We'd like to see that law stick." There is currently no uranium mining on the reservation, which covers 27,000 square miles in the Four Corners area and holds one of the world's largest deposits of uranium ore. Mining companies began blasting holes on Navajo land in the 1940s and operations continued for nearly 40 years until decreased demand closed the mines. By then, the Navajos were left with radiation sickness, contaminated tailings and abandoned mines. To avoid repeating the past, Navajo leaders and grassroots organizations have been working for years to keep mining from starting again. Strathmore officials have met with the governor's office in hopes of gaining state approval to reopen the Church Rock and Roca Honda mines it purchased from Kerr McGee Nuclear and Rio Algom. Shirley said in a statement issued Thursday that Richardson assured him he would not take action without consulting with the Navajo Nation. "Because of exposure to uranium, many of my medicine people have died, many of my elderly have died," Shirley said. "I'd sure hate to go back there. Too many of my people have died." Strathmore, in a news release issued earlier this month, said it was seeking the permits to mine in New Mexico based on the extensive drilling that has already been done in the area and the favorable feasibility studies done by previous owners. The company also said the historical production from adjacent properties was promising. The company said it was preparing documents needed for permitting, including an archaeological and cultural resources clearance, hydrological evaluations, spill prevention and a reclamation plan. Studies of the mine sites are scheduled to begin next spring, the company said. On the Net: Navajo Nation: http://www.navajo.org Strathmore Minerals Corp.: http://www.strathmoreminerals.com © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 CWVNW: Citizens’ Group Sues Department of Energy over Inadequate Clean up of West Valley Nuclear Site FOR RELEASE on August 26, 2005 Press Contact: Seth Wochensky, Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes 716-592-0151 cell 716-479-4159 info@digitup.org Citizens´ Group Sues Department of Energy over Inadequate Clean up of West Valley Nuclear Site BUFFALO (August 26, 2005) The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes filed a complaint against the United States Department of Energy over failure to fully clean up the unstable West Valley Nuclear Site located 30 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The Department of Energy (DOE) is laying the legal groundwork now to abandon the site and leave wastes in the ground that will be dangerous for over 100,000 years. In a Record of Decision (ROD) issued in June, the DOE stated that they will be able to rename dangerous High-Level Radioactive Wastes as “Waste Incidental to Reprocessingwhich will allow them to bypass decades of nuclear regulatory safety standards. This declassification is not supported in the accompanying Environmental Impact Statement. It is not in the Demonstration Project Act, which governs the cleanup, and it is not allowable under US law. As part of a campaign by the current administration to promote nuclear power and reprocessing, The Department of Energy is forcing less costly, but indefinite storage of High-Level Reprocessing Wastes on unsafe sites across the country. The complaint asks the courts to strike the latest (decision) ROD and enforce a 1987 agreement between the two parties in which the DOE agreed to complete an Environmental Impact Study. A draft version of that study, released in 1996, calculated high erosion and exposure rates from the West Valley Site. The public called for exhumation of the wastes as the only safe course. The DOE has since abandoned that study and they have begun an illegal split EIS Process. The following is a statement from Seth Wochensky, Spokesperson for The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes: “For the health and safety of Western New York and Canada, the Coalition is forced to challenge the DOE decision because it sets the stage for abandoning nuclear weapons and power wastes in ground that is destined to erode into the Great Lakes. DOE has done great cleanup work at the site thus far but must not stop. “The Department of Energy is cutting jobs at the site, jeopardizing the public´s safety now and threatening the drinking water supply for millions of Canadians and Americans for hundreds of generations. The site is in the Great Lakes Watershed and is directly upstream from the Seneca Nation of Indians. The Coalition´s complaint has support from the Natural Resources Defense Council. PO Box 603 • Springville, New York 14141 • 716-592-0151 • www.digitup.org WEST VALLEY NUCLEAR SITE BACKGROUND The West Valley Nuclear Site reprocessed irradiated nuclear weapons and power fuel from 1966-1972 and operated two burial grounds totaling 27 acres. In 1980, the West Valley Demonstration Project Act directed the Department of Energy to solidify 600,000 gallons of liquid waste left over from reprocessing and decontaminate the site. Two high level tanks partially emptied, the burial grounds, an underground plume of radioactivity, the process building and the solidified High-Level waste still remain on site. The Coalition on West Valley Nuclear Wastes is a grassroots volunteer group dedicated to a safe cleanup of the West Valley Nuclear Site. Officially formed in 1974 they successfully lobbied congress to pass the 1980 West Valley Demonstration Project Act, blocked new shipments of waste to the site in the 80´s and forced the DOE to review environmental impacts in a 1987 lawsuit. More at www.digitup.org PO Box 603 • Springville, New York 14141 • 716-592-0151 • www.digitup.org ***************************************************************** 39 Tri-City Herald: Hanford leak drill came just in time This story was published Friday, August 26th, 2005 By Mary Hopkin, Herald staff writer Hanford workers handling a metal drum that leaked some brown absorbent material Wednesday had completed a drill simulating the same scenario the day before, so they knew what to do. "They did exactly what they were supposed to," said Dale McKenney, Fluor Hanford's vice president for the waste stabilization and disposition project. McKenney said the incident is one the trench workers were prepared for and trained to handle. The 55-gallon waste drums in the trench contain various radioactive wastes that are being moved. Doug Greenwell, director of solid waste storage and disposal, said no radioactive material was released during the Wednesday morning incident and none of the 11 workers in the area was contaminated. "The workers were just beginning the process of tilting it when the bottom gave way," he said. "Once they saw the condition, a radiation technician did a quick scan of the brown material and they had an orderly evacuation." Technicians monitored the area to make sure there was no radiation in the air, and the three workers who had been handling the drum were evaluated and given nasal smears to make sure they didn't pick up or inhale radiation, Greenwell said. About half of the drums in that particular trench are corroded to some extent. A total of 32,000 waste drums are stored in six trenches in the 200 West Area, Fluor Hanford workers are evaluating each to determine what's inside and where it will go next. The drums were placed in the trench from 1970 to 1988 and many contain transuranic wastes, which will be shipped to Carlsbad, N. Mex., Greenwell said. Because the drums have been in the ground for up 35 years, many have corroded, McKenney said. "This is not the first degraded drum that we have encountered," he said. But it was the first of 16,000 drums moved so far that was found to have leaked an unidentified substance, he said, which is why the area was evacuated and a "take cover" order -- which directed about 1,800 workers in the 200 West Area to remain indoors -- was issued. "We have already pulled 2,700 cubic meters out of the ground and we have been operating on this project for a year and a half now," Greenwell said. Most of the waste inside the drums is packed in thick plastic bags to prevent leaks, and many of the drums also are lined with thick plastic, Greenwell said. Containers that have corroded are patched and placed inside an 85-gallon drum, repacked and relabeled, he said. © 2005 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 40 lamonitor.com: Crossing off clean-up sites The Online News Source for Los Alamos ROGER SNODGRASS, , Monitor Assistant Editor Pojoaque - A 10-year journey begins with an informational meeting. The court-ordered consent agreement between Los Alamos National Laboratory and the New Mexico Environment Department took a few steps forward Thursday night at the Cities of Gold Hotel. Laboratory staff explained a proposed change in its hazardous waste permit and announced that three small pieces of cleanup had been accomplished. If there are no public objections, they may be taken off the to-do list. The consent order that went into effect in March spells out procedures and schedules under which the laboratory will conduct corrective actions in identified sites contaminated by hazardous releases. One of the procedural requirements is that changes defined as important require a public notification and information process in advance of a public input deadline. These are called Class III permit modifications. The consent order schedule calls for the laboratory's clean-up work to be accomplished before Dec. 29, 2015, although some portions of the corrective action will require continued monitoring into the future. In 1989, the N.M. Environmental Improvement Division, the precursor to NMED issued a solid waste permit, which was expanded by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1990 with the addition of the Hazardous and Solid Waste Act Amendments that established protocols for reporting and scheduling corrective actions. Giann Bachaglupa, of the lab's solid waste regulatory compliance group, explained that the consent order with the state required that certain changes be made to the current permit, pending a permit renewal that the state expects to be prepared sometime next spring. This will enable the lab and the state to bring the existing permit into line with new requirements under the consent order. Luciana Vigil-Holterman, of the same group, gave a brief explanation of the sites that have been formally proposed for "no further action" (NFA). One included piles of soil and construction-related debris from the DP site, Technical Area 21. In 1995, the debris was removed and the soil was eventually monitored to the satisfaction of NMED, which approved an NFA earlier this year. The other was an old thousand-gallon septic system, also at TA-21 that had received wastewater from a sink and a toilet from a safety training building from 1947 to 1954. Later, the building became a part of a waste studies laboratory that investigated recovering of valuable and scarce materials, such as plutonium and uranium. The restroom was converted into a waste research room with a sink and a drain line that led to the septic tank. In a series of activities that began in 1992 and finally approved by NMED in June 2004, the site was surveyed, the structures and septic tank were removed and the health and environmental risks were monitored, leading to a conclusion of NFA. Interested citizens who missed the meeting will have another chance. The informational session will be repeated on Sept. 13 in Los Alamos, due to procedural error in posting notice for this meeting. The public will have another opportunity to obtain information before comments are due on Oct. 28, an extension from the previous deadline of Aug. 29. A representative from NMED will attend the next meeting, according to the LANL and DOE staff at the meeting. © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 41 lamonitor.com: Construction slowdown at Hanford worries insiders The Online News Source for Los Alamos RICHLAND, Wash. (AP) - Amid blowing dust and miles of sagebrush, giant construction cranes sat still one recent day at the Hanford nuclear reservation - silent sentinels over the government's largest construction project. The goal is to build a plant to treat highly radioactive waste left from Cold War-era nuclear weapons production. Achievement is a long way off. The U.S. Department of Energy, which manages the south-central Washington site, has encountered an endless stream of problems with the project since the contract was first awarded in 1998. Billions of taxpayer dollars already have been spent, yet the project is only about 30 percent complete. Now, the U.S. Department of Energy plans to slow construction following a new seismic study that found the federal government had underestimated the impact a severe earthquake could have on the plant. Agency officials have repeatedly refused to say how much the price tag - already at $5.8 billion - will rise or when the plant may open as a result. Regardless, industry insiders contend problems with the Hanford plant come with repercussions far beyond rural Washington state. "This plant is the world's largest and most expensive environmental remediation project, and there's a lot of focus and attention in Congress on DOE's ability to manage this project," said Tom Carpenter, nuclear oversight program director for the Government Accountability Project, a nonprofit whistleblower group that has been critical of the Energy Department. "If this project were to fail, I think Congress would finally recognize this is the wrong agency to manage these types of projects," Carpenter said. "There's just too much at stake to continue on a failure path." The waste treatment plant has long been considered the cornerstone of cleanup at the highly contaminated Hanford site, which was created in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Using a process called vitrification, the plant will turn decades-old radioactive waste into glasslike logs for permanent disposal in a nuclear waste repository. The waste, about 53 million gallons, is brewing in 177 aging underground tanks at Hanford. Nearly 150 of the tanks have a single-wall construction, some of which are known to have leaked into the aquifer, threatening groundwater and the Columbia River less than 10 miles away. Many tanks have outlived their design life, which makes retrieval of the waste a top priority. "Without the vit plant, we don't clean up Hanford," said Jay Manning, director of the state Department of Ecology. "The problem is going to get worse. It's not going to get better. The plant is the critical step that has to happen." The one-of-a-kind plant is massive: Once completed it will stand 12 stories tall and be the size of four football fields. Its problems have been large, as well. The operating deadline already has been pushed back three times from the original deadline of 1999, with another delay likely. The Energy Department has levied fines against and withheld part of the fee for contractor Bechtel National over safety concerns. A watchdog group released a report last year concluding that the plant has a 50 percent chance of a chemical or radiological accident - a report the Energy Department disputed. Critics argue the current slowdown could have been avoided if the federal government had conducted a more thorough seismic review. Three years ago, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board raised concerns that the agency's seismic review was inadequate. In addition the plant is being designed as it is being built - the design is about 75 percent complete - a method that has proven costly. The price tag on the plant has grown from $4.3 billion to the current $5.8 billion, and Energy Department officials have said the cost will grow at least an additional 10 percent due to the seismic issue and other construction problems. Congress has estimated the new cost could be as high as $10 billion - a number closer to the $15.2 billion estimate former contractor BNFL Inc. proposed in 2000. The Energy Department fired the company shortly thereafter, pushing the operating deadline from 2007 to the current 2011. The latest slowdown leaves state officials believing the problem is more about money than safety. This is the fourth try for the plant, Manning said, and every time the cost goes up, the federal government decides to go back to the drawing board and revisit the approach. Manning said he understands that new Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman does not want to have to go to Congress twice to explain the rising cost of the plant. But giving elected officials another chance to question the viability of the project is dangerous, he said. "What we really have heartburn with is stopping construction or even significantly slowing it down," Manning said. "This would be a colossal waste of taxpayer money if we were to change course dramatically or abandon this plant entirely. It would be the absolute worst thing we could do." Abandoning the waste treatment plant is not an option, said Joonhong Ahn, associate professor of nuclear engineering at the University of California at Berkeley. The waste needs to be removed and treated for long-term storage, and the process needs to happen at Hanford because of the large volume and high radioactivity of the waste, he said. "DOE's hand is full," he said. Energy Department officials have said they remain committed to the plant. Mistakes may have been made, but only a review can determine that, and a slowdown will allow the design process to get further ahead of construction, Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said in an interview with The Associated Press during a recent visit to Hanford. "Stopping the construction is only going to cost money, so I don't think that's a credible criticism of what's going on," Sell said. "The dollars matter, but we are not going to build an unsafe plant." And he understands the heightened scrutiny. With nuclear waste cleanup remaining a hot topic in environmental communities - and the Bush administration seeking additional nuclear plants to diversify the nation's power supply - the Hanford plant's role in national policy becomes even more dear. "This project is central to our success in environmental cleanup, not just here at Hanford, but around the country. It is central to the success of this department in demonstrating that we can build major nuclear facilities at a reasonable cost and a reasonable schedule. That is something we have not historically done well," Sell said. On the Net: Hanford nuclear site: www.hanford.gov Washington state Department of Ecology: www.ecy.wa.gov Government Accountability Project: www.whistleblower.org © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board Chairs FR Doc 05-16998 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50303-50304] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-58] Meeting AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. [[Page 50304]] SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB) Chairs. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, September 22, 2005--8:15 a.m.--5:15 p.m. Friday, September 23, 2005--8:30 a.m.--12 p.m. ADDRESSES: Ameritel Inns, 645 Lindsay Boulevard, Idaho Falls, ID 83402, (208) 523-1400. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jay Vivari, Program Management Specialist (EM-30.1), Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-5143. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the EMSSAB is to make recommendations to DOE and its regulators in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related activities. Tentative Agenda: Thursday, September 22, 2005. 8:15 a.m. Welcome and Overview. David Kipping, Idaho National Laboratory (INL) CAB Chair, and Richard Provencher, Idaho Operations Assistant Manager for EM, to welcome participants; Melissa Nielson, Director of Internal/External Coordination and Doug Frost, Designated Federal Officer, to open meeting; and Wendy Green Lowe, Facilitator, to review meeting objectives, agenda, and ground rules. 8:45 a.m. Round Robin 1: Top Waste Disposition Issues for Each Site-Specific Advisory Board (SSAB). Each Board has five minutes, followed by 30 minutes for questions and answers, and discussion. 10 a.m. Break. 10:15 a.m. Low-Level Waste (LLW) and Mixed Low-Level Waste (MLLW). Disposition Strategies. Briefing by Christine Gelles, Director of Commercial Disposition Options, on EM's complex-wide LLW and MLLW disposition strategies, followed by a discussion with the Chairs. 11:45 a.m. Public Comment Period. 12 p.m. Lunch. 1 p.m. Transuranic (TRU) and High-Level Waste (HLW) Issues. Briefing by Frank Marcinowski, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Logistics and Waste Disposition, on TRU and HLW disposition issues, including planned documents and schedules, followed by a discussion with the Chairs. 2:30 p.m. Break. 2:45 p.m. Communications Protocol for Waste Disposition Information. Brief overview of protocol for communications between DOE- Headquarters, Boards and sites. 3 p.m. Waste Disposition Issues. Facilitated discussion among the Chairs related to waste disposition presentations and their reactions and concerns. Facilitated discussion regarding the potential for developing a joint product related to this topic. 4:45 p.m. Public Comment Period. 5 p.m. Review of Day One Discussions; Overview of Day Two. Facilitated discussion of reactions to the information presented and an overview of the second day's activities. Friday, September 23, 2005. 8:30 a.m. Opening. Welcome and Overview of Day Two Discussions. 8:45 a.m. Round Robin 2: Top Three Issues for Each SSAB. Each Board has five minutes, followed by 15 minutes for questions and answers, and discussion. 9:45 a.m. Break. 10 a.m. Waste Disposition Issues (continued). Facilitated follow-up discussions related to joint SSAB product (if necessary and appropriate). 10:30 a.m. Stewardship Activities at INL. A presentation by members of the INL CAB on Stewardship Activities at INL, followed by a discussion with the Chairs. 11 a.m. SSAB Organizational Issues. A discussion regarding the timing and location of the next Chairs meeting and whether the SSAB will pursue holding a possible workshop. 11:15 a.m. DOE Organizational Update. Brief overview of recent developments in the budget and organization at Headquarters. 11:30 a.m. Public Comment Period. 11:45 a.m. Meeting Wrap-Up. David Kipping, INL CAB Chair, Closing Remarks. 12 p.m. Adjourn. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Jay Vivari at the address above or by telephone at (202) 586-5143. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available by calling Jay Vivari at (202) 586-5143. Issued at Washington, DC, on August 22, 2005. Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Officer. [FR Doc. 05-16998 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 43 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Oak Ridge FR Doc 05-16999 [Federal Register: August 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 165)] [Notices] [Page 50304-50305] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26au05-59] Reservation AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Oak Ridge Reservation. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Wednesday, September 14, 2005, 6 p.m. ADDRESSES: DOE Information Center, 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pat Halsey, Federal Coordinator, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, PO Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831. Phone (865) 576-4025; Fax (865) 576-5333 or e- mail: or check the Web site at . SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management, and related activities. Tentative Agenda: Overview of Risk Assessment Process. Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals [[Page 50305]] who wish to make oral statements pertaining to the agenda item should contact Pat Halsey at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the Department of Energy's Information Center at 475 Oak Ridge Turnpike, Oak Ridge, TN between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or by writing to Pat Halsey, Department of Energy Oak Ridge Operations Office, PO Box 2001, EM-90, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, or by calling her at (865) 576-4025. Issued at Washington, DC on August 22, 2005. Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Officer. [FR Doc. 05-16999 Filed 8-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************