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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [NYTr] Ritter: What Happened to Iraq's WMD?
2 RIA Novosti: IAEA head hails Russia's proposal to supply nuclear fue
3 Op Ed News: The Case for a Nuclear Iran
4 Interfax: IAEA potential in tackling Iran's nuclear problem not exha
5 RIA Novosti: URGENT: IAEA potential on Iran far from exhausted - Put
6 AFP: NKorea threatens to boycott six-way talks over US sanctions -
7 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Demands U.S. Lift Sanctions
8 UPI: N.Korea threatens to boycott nuke talks
9 UPI: Analysis: N. Korea nuke talks uncertain
10 US: Dayton Beach News-Journal: Making too little of plutonium load 
11 US: Washington Post: Most Sources Refuse to Let Post Writer Testify 
12 Indian Express: You may count on us for n-energy, Putin assures PM
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
13 RIA Novosti: Russia to cooperate with India on nuclear projects - Pu
14 Indiadaily.com: India looks for Russian nuclear reactors 
15 WP: Iran Plans to Build Two More Reactors
16 US: NRC: Sunshine Act; Notice of Meeting
17 US: Detroit News: Michigan nuclear plant goes on the block-Consumers
18 US: Rutland Herald: Protest targets Entergy
19 Globe and Mail: Plant required to vent tritium emissions higher into
20 BusinessWeek:  Wen vaunts French nuclear cooperation
21 US: NRC: Virginia Electric and Power Company, Surry Power Station, U
22 Asia Times: Key China nuclear decision delayed 
23 Globe and Mail: Everyone goes fission as memories of Chernobyl, Thre
24 US: Morris Daily Herald: NRC is tracking tritium remedy
25 UPI: Russia may build nuke reactor in India
26 Guardian Unlimited: Fuel Unloaded From Chernobyl Reactor
27 US: AP Wire: Group: Doyle 'about-face' on nuclear sale followed dona
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
28 US: [du-list] Fw:  New Hampshire article
29 US: [du-list] Armor-piercing incendiary projectile, United States
30 US: UNION TELLS NASA HALT WORK ON PLUTONIUM PROBE
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
31 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Railroad crossings at risk 
32 Las Vegas SUN: Guest columnist Jim Gibbons: A different take on mini
33 US: BYU NewsNet: Court denies to hear waste case
34 US: Platts: US Supreme Court won't review ruling on Utah nuke waste 
35 US: Pasadena Star-News: NASA agrees to pay for groundwater cleanup a
36 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Utah nuke case gets dumped by court 
37 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Documents Regarding Spent Fuel 
38 US: Deseret News: Utah loses nuclear waste round
39 US: Morning Sun: Legal action could leave S.L. cleanup tab for feds,
40 Telegraph: BNFL five years from extinction, says chief
41 AU ABC: SA Govt rejects using Vic waste dump. 
42 US: Bradenton Herald: Motion filed on Tallevast court venue
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
43 LA Daily News: Grand jury probing field lab
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [NYTr] Ritter: What Happened to Iraq's WMD?
 
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 12:51:16 -0600 (CST)


Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
San Francisco Chronicle via Info Clearing House - Dec 4, 2005
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info//article11211.htm

What Happened to Iraq's WMD

How politics corrupts intelligence

By Scott Ritter

12/04/05 "SFC"--The recent exchange of vitriol between Republican and
Democratic lawmakers over the issue of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq,
and more specifically the disconnect between the intelligence data cited by
the Bush administration as justification for invading Iraq and the resultant
conclusion by the CIA that all Iraqi WMD had already been eliminated as
early as 1991, has once again thrust the issue of the use of intelligence
for political purposes front and center.

Democrats accuse the president and his supporters of deliberately misleading
them and the American people about the nature of the Iraqi threat.
Republicans respond that the Democrats are rewriting history, that all
parties involved had access to the same intelligence data and had drawn the
same conclusions. Typical of the Republican-led rebuttal are statements made
by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who noted that "every intelligence agency in
the world, including the Russian, French, including the Israeli, all had
reached the same conclusion, and that was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of
mass destruction."

But this is disingenuous. The intelligence services of everyone else were
not proclaiming Iraq to be in possession of WMD. Rather, the intelligence
services of France, Russia, Germany, Great Britain and Israel were noting
that Iraq had failed to properly account for the totality of its past
proscribed weapons programs, and in doing so left open the possibility that
Iraq might retain an undetermined amount of WMD. There is a huge difference
in substance and nuance between such assessments and the hyped-up assertions
by the Bush administration concerning active programs dedicated to the
reconstitution of WMD, as well as the existence of massive stockpiles of
forbidden weaponry.

The actions and rhetoric of the Bush administration were aided by the
tendency by most involved to accept at face value any negative information
pertaining to Hussein and his regime, regardless of the source's
reliability. This trend was especially evident in Congress, responsible for
oversight on matters pertaining to foreign policy, intelligence and national
security.

One might be inclined to excuse lesser members of the legislative branch for
such actions, given their lack of access to sensitive intelligence, but not
so senior figures who sit on oversight committees, such as California
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who occupied a seat on the Senate Select
Intelligence Committee. Today, Feinstein all-too conveniently "regrets" her
vote in favor of war on Iraq, but defends her yes vote in 2002 by noting
that "the intelligence was very conclusive: Saddam possessed biological and
chemical weapons." This is a far different from the statement Feinstein made
to me in the summer of 2002, when she acknowledged that the Bush
administration had not provided any convincing intelligence to back up its
claims about Iraqi WMD.

In contrast to Feinstein's actions, Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat who
also sat on the Senate Select Intelligence Committee, noted in September
2002 that the Bush administration's decisions regarding Iraq had been made
in the absence of a National Intelligence Estimate from the CIA. The CIA
hastily rushed to produce such a document, but the resulting report appeared
as much to be an example of intelligence being fixed around policy, as
opposed to policy being derived from intelligence. Graham, his eyes opened
by the seemingly baseless rush toward conflict in Iraq, voted no on the war.
Feinstein and others, their eyes wide shut, voted yes.

The crux of the problem of this Iraqi WMD intelligence "failure" lies in the
fact that the U.S. intelligence community and the products it produces are
increasingly influenced by the corrupting influences of politics. The
politicization of the intelligence community allows the process of fixing
intelligence around policy to become pervasive, and the increasingly
polarized political climate in America prevents any real checks and balances
through effective oversight, leaving Americans at the mercy of politicians
who have placed partisan politics above the common good. The recent overhaul
of the U.S. intelligence community, which resulted in the creation of the
national intelligence chief, only reinforces this politicization, because
the new director reports directly to the president and is beyond the reach
of congressional oversight.

The only true fix to the problems of intelligence that manifested themselves
in the Iraqi WMD debacle is to depoliticize the process. The position of
national intelligence chief should be a 10-year appointment, like that of
the director of the FBI, and subject to the consent of Congress. Likewise,
all intelligence made available to the president to make national security
policy should be shared with select members of Congress, from both parties,
so that America will never again find itself at war based upon politically
driven intelligence. Finally, and perhaps most important, the American
people should start exercising effective accountability regarding their
elected officials, so that those who voted yes for a war based on false and
misleading information never again have the honor and privilege of serving
in high office. Learn more

[Scott Ritter is a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-98) and the
author of "Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence
Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein" (Nation Books,
2005).]

)2005 San Francisco Chronicle
       
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*****************************************************************
 2 RIA Novosti: IAEA head hails Russia's proposal to supply nuclear fuel to Iran
 
06/ 12/ 2005                                  

LONDON, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - IAEA Director General Mohamed
ElBaradei said Tuesday that he welcomed Russia's proposal to
supply nuclear fuel to Iran if the latter stopped uranium
enrichment activities on its territory. 

Elbaradei, who will soon be awarded the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize
in Stockholm, said Russia and Iran could establish a joint
venture on uranium enrichment in Russia. 

Elbaradei also praised Russia's striving to find a solution to
the Iranian nuclear problem. 

He said the international community should make final decisions
on the nature of Iran's nuclear program in 2006. 

ElBaradei compared the program to a jigsaw puzzle with many
important pieces still missing, given that Iran had been a
closed state for 20 years and could purchase nuclear
technologies and materials on the black market. 

Therefore, the IAEA has insisted on Tehran's cooperation with
international representatives to alleviate existing concerns. 

		© 2005 "RIA Novosti"   
*****************************************************************
 3 Op Ed News: The Case for a Nuclear Iran

December 6, 2005

by Mike Whitney   

Is there a case to be made for allowing Iran to develop nuclear
weapons in the interests of peace? Or has all the air been
sucked out of the debate by American and Israeli demagogues who
dominate the airwaves? 

The case for a nuclear Iran doesn’t emerge from fear-mongering
or saber-rattling, like the alternate view, but from reason and
respect for widely accepted facts; both of which are sadly
missing from the analysis appearing in the western media. Any
reasonable person can compile the evidence, weigh the facts, and
draw the very same conclusions as myself. Regrettably, they will
have to swim against a torrent of misinformation broadcast daily
by an entire industry devoted exclusively to deception and
propaganda.
 
The problems in the Middle East are clear and indisputable
despite 30 years of obfuscation designed to promote the
continued occupation of Palestine. Just this week, the UN
General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on 6 separate items which
reinforced resolutions 242 and the 1967 borders of the
Palestinian state.
 
Predictably, Israel and the US voted in the minority obstructing
the application of international law and sticking with decades
of willful “rejectionist” policies. John Bolton, the US
“mad-hatter” who now presides over Israel’s interests in the UN,
ludicrously called the balloting “irrelevant” because it fell
short of the expansionistic ambitions of Israel and jeopardized
the further colonization of the region by the US.
 
No one expected anything different. 

Never the less, the media smokescreen has not obscured the
brutal realities of life under occupation nor has it concealed
where the blame ultimately lies. The language of state-terror,;
carefully crafted in Israeli think-tanks (“the generous offer”,
“partner in peace”, “infrastructure of terrorism” and “targeted
assassinations”) has done little to disguise 30 years of
imperial politics supported by a rotating list of toadies
operating from the Oval Office.
 
Do we agree, so far?
 
Now, Washington has joined the Middle East tussle, flaunting its
public relations campaign; “The War on Terror”, to justify
another century of exploitation, resource-theft, and jack-boot
subjugation of the native people. 

So, how does this relate to Iran?
 
Clearly, if things had gone smoothly in Iraq, Dick Cheney would
be unfurling the Stars and Stripes in Tehran right now. No
serious critic of the Bush administration’s Defense Policy
Strategy for preemptive warfare would dispute this. 

No one.
 
So, how does one discourage American and Israeli aggression and
occupation?
 
Both Bush and Sharon have made it painfully clear that nothing
short of nuclear weapons will stop their regional ambitions. The
war on terror is just a smokescreen intended to mask the real
goals of disarming the world and seizing its resources. 

So, how bad would it be to put nukes in the hands of the
Mullahs? 

Well, first of all we need to establish whether or not Iran has
a history of territorial aggression. 

Have the Ayatollahs followed a policy of ignoring the UN for 30
years while they occupy an area that (according to the vast
majority of sovereign countries) belongs to the indigenous
people?
 
No.
 
Do the Mullahs have a record of preemptive war on 6 continents,
massive, regionally-destabilizing covert activities, coup
d’etats, and an archipelago of concentration camps spread across
the globe? 

No.
 
Has Iran done anything that would indicate that it would use a
nuclear weapon against a civilian population like the United
States did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
 
No.
 
The real issue with Iran is that its leaders have shown the
temerity to control their own resources, which the corporate
globalists and Washington plutocrats claim as their own.
 
Isn’t that true?
 
So, if we are serious about peace in the region, and do not want
to see Iran degenerate into the dark-winter of American genocide
that we see in Iraq; it should be provided with the weaponry to
defend itself from foreign aggression. 

After all, the policy of “Deterrents” worked for the US and
Soviet Union for nearly 40 years, preventing the probability of
nuclear holocaust. 

Perhaps, it will work again.

 

Mike lives in Washington State with his charming wife Joan and
two spoiled and overfed dogs, Cocoa and Pat-Fergie. 

Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2005     
*****************************************************************
 4 Interfax: IAEA potential in tackling Iran's nuclear problem not exhausted
- Putin

Dec 6 2005 3:48PM
 
MOSCOW. Dec 6 (Interfax) - President Vladimir Putin has said
that Iran's nuclear problem should be settled in the framework
of the IAEA. 

"We believe that the capability of the IAEA to resolve all
problems related to the Iranian nuclear dossier is far from
exhausted," he said in the Kremlin after talks with the Indian
prime minister on Tuesday. 

Putin hoped that "our Iranian partners will stand by their
commitments, including unilateral ones." 

        
© 1991-2005 Interfax
 All rights reserved
 
News and other data on this web site are provided for
information purposes only, and are not intended for
republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution
of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is
*****************************************************************
 5 RIA Novosti: URGENT: IAEA potential on Iran far from exhausted - Putin
 
06/ 12/ 2005                                  

MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti)-Vladimir Putin said Tuesday
that the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear
watchdog, could still make a great contribution toward solving
the situation around Iran's nuclear programs. 

The Russian president said: "We hope that our Iranian partners
will honor all the commitments they have undertaken, including
those they have undertaken unilaterally, and believe that the
potential of the IAEA in solving all the problems of the Iranian
nuclear file is far from exhausted."
 

© 2005 "RIA Novosti"   






*****************************************************************
 6 AFP: NKorea threatens to boycott six-way talks over US sanctions -
                           
 Tue Dec 6, 2:52 AM ET 		 	 

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea" /> is threatening to boycott six-way
nuclear disarmament talks unless the United States lifts its
financial sanctions on the impoverished Stalinist state. 

Rodong Sinmun, the North's communist party newspaper, which
serves as Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, accused Washington of
shunning negotiations to address the sanctions issue. 

"It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such
provocative sanctions applied by the US upon the DPRK (North
Korea)," Rodong said in a commentary carried by the Korean
Central News Agency. 

Rodong said the United States must "take practical measures to
lift the financial sanctions against DPRK" to get the six-way
nuclear talks going. 

The row over US sanctions imposed on North Korea over alleged
money laundering and counterfeiting has emerged as a stumbling
block to the six-nation talks, which also include South Korea"
/> , China, Japan and Russia. 

After more than two years of negotiations, North Korea agreed in
September to dismantle its nuclear weapons program in return for
economic and diplomatic benefits. 

But the latest round of talks ended in stalemate three weeks ago
with Pyongyang accusing Washington of breaching the September
agreement by imposing sanctions on its firms. 

Operations at a bank in Macau have recently been closed down for
doing business with North Korean companies, after a US
investigator raised concerns about counterfeiting and money
laundering. 

In October, the United States blacklisted eight North Korean
companies allegedly involved in the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction. 

  Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 7 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Demands U.S. Lift Sanctions
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Tuesday December 6, 2005 4:01 AM

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Tuesday demanded the
United States lift sanctions imposed over alleged counterfeiting
and money laundering, saying multinational talks on its nuclear
weapons program could not resume otherwise. 

Washington in October imposed sanctions on eight North Korean
companies it said acted as fronts for the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction. The United States said it also
suspects North Korea of counterfeiting and money-laundering. 

North Korea denies the allegations. 

``It is our position that the six-way talks cannot be resumed
amid challenging U.S. sanctions,'' the North's official Rodong
Sinmun said in a Korean-language commentary carried by the
official Korean Central News Agency. 

North Korea says Washington agreed in the latest round of
six-nation nuclear talks in Beijing to hold negotiations on the
sanctions issue. The United States has denied that, saying
instead it would provide a ``briefing.'' 

The nuclear talks - launched in 2003 - involve China, the United
States, the two Koreas, Japan and Russia. Their fifth and latest
session took a recess in November with no signs of progress on
how the North would disarm and what it would get in return. 

At the fourth session in September, the communist state agreed
to abandon its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security
assurances, but it quickly backpedaled by demanding a civilian
nuclear reactor before disarming.	 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 8 UPI: N.Korea threatens to boycott nuke talks
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 
		 		 			 			 			 			 			 			 			 					--> 		 
12/6/2005 2:25:00 PM -0500                              
										Newstrack:						Former Chilean dictator Augusto
PYONGYANG, North Korea, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- North Korea Tuesday
threatened to boycott nuclear disarmament talks unless the
United States lifts its financial sanctions on the communist
state. 

The U.S. Treasury Department in September suspended transactions
between its financial institutions and Macau-based Banco Delta
Asia after it was named as North Korea's money laundering
instrument, forcing the bank to cut off transactions with North
Korea. 

The U.S. administration also has frozen the assets of entities
linked to the spread of weapons of mass destruction, including
those connected to North Korea. 

U.S. nuclear negotiators said that the issue is not relevant to
the nuclear talks but a matter to be handled by law-enforcement
authorities. 

But North Korea said it is "nonsense both logically and
diplomatically to argue that the financial sanctions are
unrelated with the six-way talks." 

"It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such
provocative sanctions applied by the United States upon the DPRK
(North Korea)," said Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's state-run
newspaper. 

"The United States should respect its dialogue partner to comply
with the spirit of the agreement and it should not take any
action to create obstacles that impede the progress of the
six-party talks," said the newspaper carried by the North's
official Korean Central News Agency.

© Copyright 2005 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 9 UPI: Analysis: N. Korea nuke talks uncertain

 United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

12/6/2005 2:17:00 PM -0500                              
										Newstrack:						Former Chilean dictator Augusto
By JONG-HEON LEE UPI Correspondent

SEOUL, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Crisis talks on ending North Korea's
nuclear arms programs have come under a cloud of uncertainty
with deepening disputes between Pyongyang and Washington over
financial sanctions and human rights. 

North Korea has threatened to boycott nuclear disarmament talks
unless the United States lifts financial sanctions. But the Bush
administration is stepping up pressure, voicing growing
impatience with slow progress in the nuclear talks. 

Embarrassed by the poor prospects for future talks, South Korea
has strived to keep the dialogue momentum afloat, proposing an
informal gathering of chief nuclear negotiators from the six
nations involved the multilateral talks. 

On Tuesday, North Korea said it would not return to the
six-nation discussions until the United States lifts its
financial sanctions against the communist state. 

"It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such
provocative sanctions applied by the United States upon the DPRK
(North Korea)," said Rodong Sinmun, North Korea's state-run
newspaper. 

The U.S. Treasury Department in September suspended transactions
between U.S. financial institutions and Macau-based Banco Delta
Asia after the bank was named as North Korea's money-laundering
instrument. U.S. officials said the bank was also deeply
involved in distributing fake currency from North Korea. 

Banco Delta Asia has denied the allegations, saying its
relationships with North Korean clients were legitimate and
purely commercial, but it suspended transactions with the
communist state. North Korea has denied the U.S. allegation. 

The U.S. administration has also frozen the U.S.-based assets of
eight North Korean companies suspected of being implicated in
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. 

U.S. officials suspect the illegal activities have helped
finance Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programs, saying the
sanction issue is not relevant to the nuclear talks but a matter
to be handled by law-enforcement authorities. They also ruled
out the possibility of a one-on-one meeting with North Koreans
over the financial issue. 

In an angry response, North Korea turned down Washington's offer
of a briefing to explain the reason behind the financial
sanctions it implemented against the reclusive regime. 

North Korea said Tuesday it is "nonsense both logically and
diplomatically to argue that the financial sanctions are
unrelated to the six-way talks." 

"The United States should respect its dialogue partner to comply
with the spirit of the agreement and it should not take any
action to create obstacles that impede the progress of the
six-party talks," said Rodong Sinmun said. 

If Washington genuinely wants to see the talks progress, it
should take substantial measures to lift the financial sanctions
against Pyongyang as early as possible, Rodong said. "This would
brighten the prospects of resuming the six-way talks," it said.
South Korean officials downplayed North Korea's threat to
boycott the talks, describing it as a routine tactic employed to
increase its negotiation leverage, but expressed concerned about
stalled nuclear negotiations. 

With no date set for the resumption of the six-nation nuclear
talks, South Korean officials said the sanction issue should not
hurt the disarmament talks. 

South Korea's top nuclear negotiator, Deputy Foreign Minister
Song Min-Soon said tension over U.S. sanctions on North Korea
must be quickly addressed to allow six-nation talks to go ahead. 

"The six-way talks and the issue of financing in Macau are not
directly related, but they are indirectly affecting each other,"
Song told a local radio program. 

Song compared the dispute to "a traffic accident on the road"
for the six-way talks. "We have to quickly address the situation
to secure the passage on the 'six-way talks' road," he said. "It
should be handled based on facts and in line with international
regulations." 

Song visited Beijing over the weekend to find ways to break the
nuclear impasse. China, which hosted the previous round of
six-nation talks, is believed to have influence with North
Korea. 

Song proposed a gathering of chief nuclear negotiators in a
South Korean southern resort island of Jeju before the end of
the year to discuss ways to resume the six-nation talks, which
involve South and North Korea, the United States, China, Russia
and Japan. 

"We are saying 'let's talk freely without any specific topic' by
gathering unofficially before the next part of the six-party
talks," Song said. 

Song left for Malaysia on Tuesday for the ASEAN+3 Meeting and
the East Asia Summit. He plans to meet his Japanese counterpart
on the sidelines of the meeting to discuss the nuclear standoff. 

Seoul's top security policymaker, Chung Dong-young, urged the
United States to hold direct talks with the North to resolve
non-nuclear concerns. "As the six-party talks focus on resolving
the nuclear issue, other matters should be separated from the
six-party issue," he told a Seoul forum. 

South Korea also plans to use high-level inter-Korean talks
slated for next week in Jeju to persuade North Korea to return
to the nuclear talks. 

But prospect seems dim because Pyongyang and Washington are also
tackling over human rights and other issues, such as food aid
and Iran's nuclear drive.

© Copyright 2005 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 10 Dayton Beach News-Journal: Making too little of plutonium load 
 
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:50:07 -0800

<x-flowed>

Making too little of plutonium load

By KARL GROSSMAN
Special to The Daytona Beach News-Journal

December 04, 2005

Editor's note: Grossman, professor of journalism at the State University of 
New York/College at Old Westbury, is author of "The Wrong Stuff: The Space 
Program's Nuclear Threat To Our Planet."

NASA is again rolling dice with the lives of the people of Florida.

The space agency intends to launch an Atlas rocket carrying a space probe 
with 24 pounds of plutonium fuel in January. Once it separates from the 
rocket, the probe, on what NASA calls its New Horizons mission, would move 
on through space powered by conventional chemical fuel. The plutonium is 
contained in a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG, that is to 
provide on-board electricity for the probe's instruments -- a mere 180 
watts when it gets to its destination of Pluto.

But if the Atlas rocket with the space probe and RTG it is to loft 
undergoes a catastrophic accident at launch, some of that plutonium could 
be dispersed -- affecting life in Florida.

NASA calculates the chances of a successful mission at 94 percent. As to 
the release of plutonium -- long-considered the most deadly radioactive 
substance known -- NASA puts the odds at 1-in-300. These figures are 
contained -- and repeated -- in NASA's "Final Environmental Impact 
Statement for the New Horizons Mission." If people knew they had a 1-in-300 
chance of winning the Florida lottery, there would be lines miles long at 
every store selling lottery tickets from Daytona Beach to Key West.

Of course, the payoff with the 1-in-300 New Horizons odds wouldn't be cold 
cash but hot plutonium.

The plutonium could spread far and wide -- up to 62 miles from the launch 
site at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, according to the NASA impact 
statement.

"Should a release of radioactive material occur in the launch area," states 
the impact statement, "the state of Florida, Brevard County and local 
governments would determine an appropriate course of action for any 
off-site plans -- such as sheltering in place, evacuation, exclusion of 
people from contaminated land areas, or no action required."

You think Hurricane Wilma was a problem.

And if this storm is radioactive, it wouldn't be a matter of people with 
chain saws, roofers and carpenters cleaning up the mess. The impact 
statement says the cost to decontaminate land on which the plutonium falls 
would range from "about $241 million to $1.3 billion per square mile."

In "addition," says NASA, "costs may include: temporary or longer term 
relocation of residents; temporary or longer term loss of employment; 
destruction or quarantine of agricultural products including citrus crops; 
land use restrictions which could affect real estate values, tourism and 
recreational activities; restrictions or bans on commercial fishing; and 
public health effects and medical care."

As to the death toll, NASA projects that the dispersed plutonium could 
result in 100 people dying from cancer.

This is regarded as "totally ridiculous" by Dr. Ernest Sternglass, 
professor emeritus of radiological physics at the University of Pittsburgh 
School of Medicine.

Plutonium is considered the most lethal radioactive substance because a 
millionth of a gram of plutonium dust lodged in the lung can be a fatal 
dose. "The problem is that it takes just a tiny amount of plutonium to 
cause cancer," says Dr. Sternglass.

"I suppose if immediately everybody in the direction to which the wind is 
blowing was evacuated, that could hold the numbers down but that's 
impossible. It's totally unrealistic," he says. "If there's an explosion, 
that stuff will come down within minutes. How do you prevent people from 
inhaling it -- even while evacuating."

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator of the Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear 
Power in Space, says "one thing we know is that space technology can and 
does fail and when you mix deadly plutonium into the equation, you are 
asking for catastrophe."

The last time NASA launched a space probe with plutonium onboard from 
Florida was 1997 on a mission called Cassini.

At that time, Gagnon was asked to speak to the Cape Canaveral City Council 
whose members told him, he recounts, that officials of NASA and the Air 
Force had assured them "that Cassini was the last plutonium mission."

Now moving ahead with New Horizons, NASA is "playing nuclear Russian 
roulette with the public," charges Gagnon. (The Global Network's Web site: 
<http://www.space4peace.org>www.space4peace.org)

Indeed, NASA is planning a series of additional launches of 
plutonium-fueled space probes and other shots involving nuclear material. 
Under its $3 billion Project Prometheus program, the agency is working on 
nuclear reactors to be carried up by rockets for placement on the moon and 
building and launching actual atomic-propelled rockets.

Even if disaster doesn't strike on the New Horizons mission, sooner or 
later nuclear space tragedy will occur.

Indeed, accidents have already happened. Of the 25 U.S. space missions 
using plutonium fuel, three have undergone accidents, admits the NASA 
impact statement on New Horizons. That's a 1-in-8 record. The worst 
occurred in 1964 and involved, notes the impact statement, the SNAP-9A RTG 
with 2.1 pounds of plutonium fuel. A satellite it was to provide 
electricity to failed to achieve orbit and dropped to Earth. The RTG 
disintegrated in the fall, spreading plutonium widely. Release of that 
plutonium caused an increase in global lung cancer rates, says Dr. John 
Gofman, professor emeritus of medical physics at the University of 
California at Berkeley.

After the SNAP-9A accident, NASA pioneered the development of solar energy 
in space. Now all satellites -- and the International Space Station -- are 
solar powered.

But NASA keeps insisting on plutonium power for space probes -- even as the 
Rosetta space probe, launched by NASA's counterpart, the European Space 
Agency, with solar power providing all on-board electricity, heads today 
for a rendezvous with a comet near Jupiter.

And, along with the U.S. military, which for decades has been planning for 
the deployment of nuclear-energized weapons in space, NASA seeks wider uses 
of atomic power above our heads.

In its New Horizons impact statement, NASA maintains the risks to people 
from the mission aren't so bad in view of a chart it presents titled 
"Calculated Individual Risk and Probability of Fatality by Various Causes 
in the United States." The chart lists the probability of getting killed by 
lightning or in a flood or by a tornado as higher than someone dying of 
cancer because of plutonium dispersed in New Horizons.

But we can't control lightning or floods or tornadoes. These are 
involuntary assaults.

NASA's game of space-borne Russian roulette is being carried out by choice 
-- with the people of Florida on the front lines in this reckless, mindless 
NASA adventure using our tax dollars. (The taxpayer cost of New Horizons: 
$650 million, not counting data analysis.)

A hurricane can't be stopped, but we can -- and should -- stop NASA's 
deadly dangerous nuclear space operations.


</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 11 Washington Post: Most Sources Refuse to Let Post Writer Testify on Lee

By Christopher LeeWashington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, December 6, 2005; Page A12

A Washington Post reporter held in contempt of court last month
for refusing to identify anonymous government sources told a
federal judge yesterday that all but one of them had declined to
waive confidentiality pledges he made.

U.S. District Judge Rosemary M. Collyer found Walter Pincus in
contempt for refusing to name his government sources as demanded
by Wen Ho Lee, the former nuclear weapons scientist who is suing
the government for allegedly leaking damaging information about
him to the press.

[The government leaked information about him, Wen Ho Lee
alleges.] The government leaked information about him, Wen Ho
Lee alleges. (Lloyd Francis Jr - AP)   

On Nov. 16, Collyer ordered Pincus fined $500 a day , but
suspended the penalty pending an appeal. The judge ordered
Pincus to contact his sources and determine whether they would
consent to the disclosure of their names.

In an affidavit filed with the court yesterday, Pincus said he
had contacted his government sources and all had declined to
release him from his pledge of confidentiality. Pincus also said
he contacted one person "who may or may not be regarded as a
government source," and that person had agreed to release him
from his promise.

"I am prepared to answer questions identifying the source who
released me from my pledge of confidentiality," Pincus said in
the affidavit. He declined to comment yesterday.

Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. said,
"Walter has done what the court asked, and now we're going to
pursue the appeal."

Collyer has ruled that Lee is entitled to know who Pincus's
sources are because his lawsuit against the government for
alleged violations of privacy law cannot go forward otherwise,
and because he has exhausted all other possibilities for getting
the information. Her order last month carried no threat of jail
time for Pincus.

Lee and his lawyers have said the scientist needs to know who
Pincus's sources were because Lee is trying to hold them
accountable for allegedly leaking damaging private information
about him to the media.

Pincus has said that he could not do his job as a national
security affairs reporter if he were not able to promise sources
confidentiality.

The federal government pursued a case against Lee for allegedly
smuggling weapon-design secrets to China. He was held in
solitary confinement for nine months, but most of the charges --
which were widely reported by the media -- eventually were
dropped. Lee pleaded guilty to a single count of mishandling
computer files in 2000 and was freed with an apology from a
federal judge.

Four other journalists have been held in contempt in the case,
including James Risen of the New York Times, H. Josef Hebert of
the Associated Press, Bob Drogin of the Los Angeles Times and
ABC News's Pierre Thomas, who was then at CNN. Their contempt
citations were upheld by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C.
Circuit.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company 
*****************************************************************
 12 Indian Express: You may count on us for n-energy, Putin assures PM

Wednesday, December 07, 2005

  Moscow Atomic energy chiefs in meeting after talks between
leaders  
   	 
PRANAB DHAL SAMANTA                               

Posted online: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 at 0211

'Vladimir Putin with Manmohan Singh in Moscow on Tuesday'

  MOSCOW, DECEMBER 6: Backed by Russian President Vladimir 
Putin’s assurance that Moscow will help India in building its 
civilian nuclear energy capabilities, experts on both sides sat 
across the table soon after Putin and Prime Minister Manmohan 
Singh held a lengthy meeting to discuss India’s future 
requirements, including fuel for Tarapur. 

It’s learnt that Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar
and head of Russia’s Federal Atomic Energy Agency Sergei
Kiriyenko held long talks separately this evening after Putin
and Singh agreed to look at expanding the scope of civilian
nuclear cooperation. 

India said it was open to look at more reactors in future from
Russia and was keen on cooperation that went beyond Koodankulam.
The efforts being made on the Indian side to separate its
civilian and military reactors also came up and it was pointed
out that obtaining fuel for Tarapur was not contingent on India
separating its facilities. 

The Russian President took note of India’s efforts to ‘‘build
relations’’ with the members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) and expressed hope that it would be able to ‘‘participate
and contribute’’ to India’s ‘‘huge and ambitious plans’’ in this
sector. 

‘‘We will work to ensure that India could cope with the tasks
and goals it has set in the use of peaceful nuclear energy,’’
said Putin after his talks with Singh. 

This is important also because Russia will be taking over as
chair of the NSG in July and its cooperation will be vital when
the group looks at easing norms for India. The US, according to
the July 18 joint statement, is committed to working with NSG
partners to enable full civilian nuclear cooperation with India. 

Given the current momentum, sources said, India asked Russia to
take the lead in expanding cooperation in this crucial sector.
The point was stressed by the PM in his 75-minute meeting with
Putin where the two leaders discussed prospects of taking this
cooperation forward as India would be needing more reactors in
future given its plans to increase nuclear energy production. 

This links up with Russia’s own plans to streamline its nuclear
energy sector. Kiriyenko was, in fact, recently appointed for
the purpose of initiating reforms. He has been entrusted with
the task to ensure a systematic separation of civilian and
military nuclear reactors and then build up Russian potential
for nuclear exports. 

Russia itself has been under pressure after the joining the NSG
to carry out proper separation of its reactors. In this
backdrop, the Kakodkar-Kiriyenko meeting today is important to
understand where both countries stand now to take matters
forward. But it is clear that Moscow does not want to lose the
opportunity of supplying reactors to India though at the same
time it is careful not to annoy the NSG. 

Much of the discussions on the subject, sources said, are being
kept under wraps precisely to ensure that there is no undue
pressure on both sides, particularly in the case of fuel for
Tarapur. Though this is not linked to fulfilling other
obligations made in the Indo-US nuclear deal, Washington feels
any concrete movement on the issue may not be ideal before it
approaches the US Congress with legislation. On the Iran nuclear
issue, both sides noted their similarity of views on the subject 
which is to resolve it within the aegis of the IAEA. Putin made 
it clear that possibilities within the IAEA had ‘‘not been 
exhausted’’, but at the same time felt Iran must comply with all 
its obligations including those made voluntarily. 

India to join Russia’s answer to GPS 

MOSCOW: An agreement on Indian participation in the Russian
Global Navigational Satellite System, an alternative to the US
Global Positioning System was signed today. Currently, the two
sides have only framed the ground rules for the technology and
equipment that may be shared for the project. More contentious
issues like joint control are still to be finalized.

© 2005: Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 13 RIA Novosti: Russia to cooperate with India on nuclear projects - Putin
 
06/ 12/ 2005                                  

MOSCOW, December 6 (RIA Novosti) - President Vladimir Putin of
Russia said Tuesday that the country was willing to cooperate
with India on nuclear power projects. 

Speaking to reporters after talks with visiting Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, Putin said: "Russia will be
contributing to the implementation of our Indian partners'
large, ambitious plans...in the area of peaceful nuclear power
engineering."
 

  		© 2005 "RIA Novosti"   







*****************************************************************
 14 Indiadaily.com: India looks for Russian nuclear reactors 

Monica Narain 

Dec. 6, 2005 

India is happy with Russian reactors. India needs may of these
reactors for the upcoming energy needs of the country.

 According to media reports, following the success of the
Kudankulam project in Tamil Nadu, Prime Minister on Monday
conveyed New Delhi's willingness to consider construction of
additional nuclear reactors by Russia in view of India's growing
energy demand.

 "The Prime Minister conveyed India's willingness to consider
positively construction of additional reactors by Russia in view
of our growing energy needs," External Affairs Ministry
Spokesman Navtej Sarna told reporters after the meeting Singh
had with Russia's Energy and Industry Minister Viktor
Khristenko. 

Both sides also agreed to promote commercial cooperation among
each other's oil companies through various measures including
floating of joint ventures and equity participation. 

The Russian minister welcomed India's interest to invest in
Sakhalin III oil and gas project and other areas. 

They also discussed ways and means to increase investment in
aluminium and steel industries and hydro-electric and thermal
power stations. 

The Prime Minister said India and Russia must develop long-term
energy partnership and expressed India's keenness to join Russia
in exploration and production of oil and gas in third countries
specially those in Central Asia, Sarna said. 

Earlier, speaking at a joint meeting of Indian and Russian
businessmen, Singh said both nations should expand joint
operations in the energy sector to third countries, adding that
talks between Indian and Russian oil companies would soon yield
concrete results. 

www.indiadaily.com   
*****************************************************************
 15 WP: Iran Plans to Build Two More Reactors

By Karl VickWashington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, December 6, 2005; Page A22


ISTANBUL, Dec. 5 -- Iran plans to build two nuclear power plants
in addition to the reactor expected to go online next year,
officials and government news services said Monday.

The announcement, emphasizing the country's long-standing claim
that its nuclear program is meant only for generating
electricity, signaled the government's determination to proceed
with a program that skeptics say might also produce atomic
weapons.

"We plan to construct two more nuclear power plants," said Ali
Larijani, Iran's chief negotiator on nuclear issues. "We will do
it through an international tender. It is part of meeting our
electricity needs. It is not a secret issue."

Larijani spoke with reporters after state television reported
that the Iranian cabinet had approved the construction of a
1,000-kilowatt plant in southwestern Khuzestan province, the
site of the country's richest oil fields. Reports carried by
state-controlled media emphasized that the plant would be built
"using local technology," language apparently intended to dampen
Western hopes of persuading Iran to outsource the most sensitive
elements of a nuclear program -- uranium enrichment -- to Russia.

Russia already is building an Iranian nuclear plant that is
nearing completion at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf. Iran plans to
begin work on a second plant at the same site later this year,
and its parliament has called for the eventual construction of
as many as 20 plants.

In Moscow, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov told reporters that
Russia would sell an air defense missile system to Iran, the
Reuters news agency reported. The mobile Tor-M1 system can
target aircraft and guided missiles operating at low and medium
altitudes, perhaps including unmanned U.S. intelligence aircraft
sent into Iranian airspace from neighboring Iraq. Russian news
reports said Iran would pay $700 million for 29 vehicle-based
systems, each armed with tracking radar and eight missiles.

U.S. officials were sharply critical of the purchase. "We
certainly do not feel that this is a sale that would serve the
interests of us or the region," State Department spokesman J.
Adam Ereli said Monday.

The board of the International Atomic Energy Agency is
considering a U.S. request to refer Iran to the U.N. Security
Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program.

In an attempt to break an impasse in Iran's negotiations with
Europe, Russia has proposed enriching uranium for Iran's nuclear
energy program, thereby denying Iran the ability to
independently produce weapons-grade material.

Iran has been cool to the suggestion. Larijani said the next
round of talks with Britain, France and Germany would be
"win-win. Having enrichment on our soil in Iran and assuring
Europe that there will be no diversion in Iran's nuclear
program."

Abbas Milani, an Iran analyst at the Hoover Institution at
Stanford University, said Iran's hard-line press has been
gloating over the agreement by European negotiators to resume
talks, even though Iran broke an earlier agreement by resuming
uranium conversion, a prelude to enrichment.

"Basically the underlying tone is: 'We told you so. If you stand
up to the West, they'll buckle,' " Abbas said.

Meanwhile, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, seeking to break an
impasse with parliament over the appointment of an oil minister,
nominated the acting head of the ministry to the position on
Sunday. Conservative lawmakers had rejected three previous
nominations to the post, responsible for overseeing production
that accounts for 80 percent of Iran's export revenue.

Some Iranian lawmakers said the acting minister, Kazem Vaziri
Hamaneh, has a reputation as a credible insider who knows the
bureaucracy. Others, however, complained that Ahmadinejad, in
his three months in office, has polarized conservatives who
control Iran's government and failed to consult with lawmakers
who must approve his choice.

Staff writer Dafna Linzer in Washington contributed to this
report.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
*****************************************************************
 16 NRC: Sunshine Act; Notice of Meeting
 
                        FR Doc 05-23706 

[Federal Register: December 6, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 233)] 
[Notices] [Page 72666-72667] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06de05-68]                         
 
Agency Holding the Meetings: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Date: Weeks of December 5, 12, 19, 26, 2005, January 2, 9, 2006.
 
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
 
Status: Public and Closed.
 
Matters To Be Considered Week of December 5, 2005 Thursday, 
December 8, 2005.
 
 
[[Page 72667]] 1 p.m.--Meeting with the Advisory Committee on 
Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), (Contact: John Larkins, 301-415-7360).
 
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address: 
http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Week of December 12, 2005--Tentative Monday, December 12, 2005.
 
8:50 a.m.--Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative), a. 
Exelon Generation Company, LLC (Early Site Permit for Clinton 
Site). (Tentative).
 
9 a.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). Wednesday, 
December 14, 2005.
 
1:30 p.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1). 
Thursday, December 15, 2005.
 
1:30 p.m.--Briefing on Threat Environment Assessment (Closed--Ex. 
1).
 
Week of December 19, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of December 19, 2005.
 
Week of December 26, 2005--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of December 26, 2005.
 
Week of January 2, 2006--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of January 2, 2006.
 
Week of January 9, 2006--Tentative Tuesday, January 10, 2006.
 
9:30 a.m.--Briefing on International Research and Bilateral 
Agreements, (Contact: Roman Schaffer, 301-415-7606).
 
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address: 
http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Wednesday, January 11, 2006.
 
9:30 a.m.--Meeting with Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste 
(ACNW), (Contact: John Larkins, 301-415-7360).
 
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address: 
http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Thursday, January 12, 2006.
 
9:30 a.m.--Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 & 2). 
*The schedule for commission meetings is subject to change on 
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call 
(recording)--(301) 415- 1292. contact person for more 
information: Michelle Schroll, (301) 415- 1662.
 
The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet 
at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. 
Additional Information The Affirmation Session tentatively 
scheduled on November 30, 2005, at 9:25 a.m. has been rescheduled 
tentatively on December 12, 2005, at 8:50 a.m. The NRC provides 
reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where 
appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation to 
participate in these public meetings, or need this meeting notice 
or the transcript or other information from the public meetings 
in another format (e.g., braille, large print), please notify the 
NRC's Disability Program Coordinator, August Spector, at 
301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415- 2100, or by e-mail at aks@nrc.gov. 
Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be 
made on a case-by-case basis.
 
This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred 
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like 
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the 
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition, 
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is 
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission 
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic 
message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: December 1, 2005.
 
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
 
[FR Doc. 05-23706 Filed 12-2-05; 11:00 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M

 
*****************************************************************
 17 Detroit News: Michigan nuclear plant goes on the block-Consumers Energy's
parent plans to sell Palisades facility in likely consolidation.
 	 	 
[Detnews.com]  	 					 					 					 					 					 

Tuesday, December 06, 2005 	 	 	 	

Associated Press / 			 			 			 			

JACKSON-- One of Michigan's three operational nuclear power
plants is up for sale.

CMS Energy Corp. on Monday announced its intention to solicit
bids to sell the Palisades plant. The Jackson-based parent of
utility Consumers Energy said it expects to close on a sale by
2007.

The plant's next owner will have at least one major customer
right away: CMS Energy. The company said it will enter into a
long-term power-purchasing agreement with the buyer.

David Joos, the company's president and chief executive officer,
said the decision to sell the plant -- which is in Van Buren
County's Covert Township about five miles south of South Haven
-- reflects market realities.

"Ownership of nuclear power plants is consolidating as companies
with multiple nuclear units are able to share operating
practices, experience and resources and benefit from economies
of scale," Joos said in a written statement.

CMS Energy has seen improvements made at the Palisades plant
since turning over its operations to Nuclear Management Co. LLC
in 2000, but the Hudson, Wis.-based management company has
shrunk as other utilities have divested their plants, Joos said.

He said the plant would be sold only if the company receives a
satisfactory bid. Federal and state regulators would have to
approve any sale.

Palisades' lone reactor produces up to 798 megawatts, or about
18 percent of Consumers Energy's electricity generating capacity.

The plant has been generating electricity since 1971 and is
licensed to operate until 2011. The company has asked the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission to renew the license for another
20 years.

Michigan's other operational nuclear power plants are the
single-reactor Fermi 2 plant near Newport in Monroe County and
the Cook plant, which has two reactors, near Bridgman in Berrien
County. 

© Copyright 2005 The Detroit News. All rights reserved. [ /]
*****************************************************************
 18 Rutland Herald: Protest targets Entergy

Rutland Vermont News & Information
 	 	 	 	 	 
December 6, 2005 


By Susan Smallheer Herald Staff   
                   
  Nuclear activist Josh Dostis of New Salem, Mass., protests at
a rally in front of the Entergy offices in Brattleboro Monday
morning.

 Photo: JON OLENDER / RUTLAND HERALD                                                                                             
			   				
BRATTLEBORO — Eighty-six-year-old Frances Crowe tried to put a
padlock on the front door of the corporate headquarters of
Entergy Nuclear Monday morning, but she didn’t have much luck.

Crowe of Northhampton, Mass., and four other women who are
“downwinders” — people living downwind from Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant — linked arms and walked across the snowy
lawn of Entergy, but the police stopped them before they got
very far.

The five women were cited on trespassing charges and released
after about 45 minutes in a Brattleboro Police trailer parked
behind Entergy’s corporate offices. The women vowed to return in
a month as part of their strategy to build public opposition to
the nuclear power plant’s plans to boost power production and
extend its license by 20 years.

Crowe, a woman so petite she wore a child-sized ski parka, said
she had been arrested for civil disobedience many times, and at
other nuclear power plants in New England.

The last time she was arrested, she said, was in September in
Washington, D.C., with Cindy Sherman, the California mother who
has spearheaded demonstrations against the war in Iraq.
“This is my first Vermont arrest,” Crowe said, after the
Brattleboro police had escorted Crowe and the four other women
back across the road to where about 50 other anti-nuclear
protesters were waiting.

Five people from the Leverett, Mass., Peace Center, a Buddhist
retreat outside nearby Greenfield, Mass., banged Buddhist peace
drums for the entire time the women were in the trailer, getting
fingerprinted and receiving their police citations.

Crowe said she had turned to civil disobedience because she is
completely frustrated with the government handling of Entergy’s
plans to boost power, build a high-level radioactive waste
facility on the grounds of the reactor, and its most recent
plans — to keep operating beyond its original license, which
expires in seven years.

“I’ve exhausted administrative remedies,” said Crowe. “The truth
is not prevailing. If thousands of people came and were
arrested, it would begin to make a difference.”

Crowe said the massive anti-nuclear protests at the Seabrook
nuclear plant in New Hampshire in the late 1970s and early 1980s
started out small and ended up big, with more than 1,800 people
arrested at one time.

“Nuclear power is not a solution. It’s too dangerous, it’s too
expensive. We need to work on sustainable energy,” said Crowe,
whose late husband was a radiologist and one of the founders of
Physicians for Social Responsibility.

Citizens Awareness Network, an anti-nuclear group based in
Shelburne Falls, Mass., just over the Vermont border, organized
Monday’s demonstration, and an identical demonstration a month
ago in early November.

Deb Katz, the group’s executive director, promised the
demonstrations would become a regular monthly event since many
people believe that state and federal regulators haven’t
addressed the serious safety issues associated with an aging
nuclear reactor.
Entergy Nuclear spokesman Robert Williams said the company tried
to be accommodating to the protesters — to a limit.
But Williams said that it was clear the company and the
protesters would never “find common ground.”

“There will always be people who don’t agree with us,” Williams
said.
In past years, Entergy has even served hot chocolate to the
protesters, but there was no cozy drinks Monday. Instead there
was a barrage of private security, Brattleboro police, and a
squad of Vermont State Police troopers, waiting for something to
happen.
Brattleboro Police Chief John Martin said his department’s job
was to make sure there were enough officers on hand in case the
peaceful nature of the demonstration changed.

“You don’t plan for the best case,” said Vermont State Police
Trooper Michael Sorensen, “you plan for the worst.”

The five women, who are all from Massachusetts, praised the
officers for their kindness. “They were great,” Crowe said.
“They’re not the enemy.”

The five protesters were Marcia Gagliardi of Athol, Mass., Paki
Wieland, 62, of Northampton, Claire Chang of Sunderland and a
woman named Dorothee, of Wendell, Mass., who would not give her
last name.

Contact Susan Smallheer at susan.smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
   
            	© 2005 Rutland Herald
*****************************************************************
 19 Globe and Mail: Plant required to vent tritium emissions higher into air
 	
 By MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT 						 		

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 Page          

ENVIRONMENT REPORTER                                    

The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission is trying to limit
radioactivity around a Pembroke, Ont., company that makes
glow-in-the-dark signs, by spreading any radioactive tritium
emissions from the plant over a wider area of the Ottawa River
Valley community. 

The CNSC last week issued a one-year operating licence to the
company, SRB Technologies (Canada) Inc., which included a
controversial requirement that emissions from the plant be
pumped up its smokestacks with sufficient velocity to blow them
27.8 metres into the air. 

Patsy Thompson, director of CNSC's environmental compliance
division, said the height requirement will ensure that the
company's discharges will be picked up by winds, cutting the
radioactive exposures to those near the plant. 

"It increases dilution by the wind considerably so it's not only
reducing doses to people close to the facility, but it would
reduce doses overall," Ms. Thompson said. 

The requirement is a key component of the new licence, which
says the company will have to "immediately cease the processing
of tritium" and report to regulators if it is unable to get the
emissions high enough into the air above its plant, located in a
Pembroke strip mall. 

The condition prompted outrage by some environmentalists, who
say that the regulatory agency shouldn't be allowing a company
to dilute its emissions as a form of radiation control. 

"It's just such an 18th- or 19th-century approach to dealing
with pollution," said Gordon Edwards, president of the Canadian
Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, a Montreal-based group.
"It just seems like a very discredited approach to pollution
generally, you just shove it higher up into the atmosphere." 

Ms. Thompson also said the company can operate from 7 a.m. to 7
p.m. only, because winds in Pembroke often die down at night,
compromising efforts to dilute the pollution. 

She said the commission estimates that no one living near the
plant has received a radiation dose above Canada's regulatory
limit. 

The plant's licence renewal has been controversial. SRB, which
is owned by a Dutch holding company, voluntarily shut operations
last week, while it develops better emission controls. 

The company did not return a call yesterday seeking comment. Ms.
Thompson said SRB has not resumed operating. 

The company's action came after a regulatory filing indicated
that well water 1.1 kilometres from the plant was contaminated
with tritium. In addition, the company had told regulators that
a measurement error had caused it to underestimate its releases
by 90 per cent, and that it wasn't sure its equipment was
providing accurate emission readings. 

CNSC staff were so concerned by these findings that, late last
month, they recommended against renewing the facility's licence.
It was believed to be the first time the commission had made
such a call against a company regulated to process large amounts
of radioactive material. 

The staff then reversed their position after developing the new
operating licence that included the stack-height restriction. 

SRB makes signs, such as emergency exit markers, that glow
without electricity, using radioactive tritium removed as a
waste product from Ontario's nuclear power plants. 	 	 		

Globeandmail.com
                        

  + © Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Reserved.                       
*****************************************************************
 20 BusinessWeek:  Wen vaunts French nuclear cooperation


DEC. 6 6:54 A.M. ET China's prime minister called for broad
nuclear power cooperation with France on Tuesday but urged
improvements to French bids to supply a new generation of
Chinese reactors and services.

 On the third day of an official visit to France, Wen Jiabao
said China is seeking "all-around cooperation" with France in
nuclear fuel, power, safety and waste disposal.

 But he added that he hopes to see improvements to French
proposals in the form of lower prices and greater transfer of
technology to Chinese partners.
 
			 			 
France's Areva Group is up against Westinghouse Electric Co.,
the U.S. unit of British Nuclear Fuels PLC, for contracts to
build and maintain China's next generation of nuclear power
plants.

 The Chinese premier was speaking during a question-and-answer
session with students at the Ecole Polytechnique, one of
France's oldest and most prestigious university-level schools
for science and engineering.

 China sees France as a "friend and partner," Wen said during a
lengthy speech in which he also stressed that China's breakneck
economic development is not a threat to world peace.

 Later Tuesday, Wen was due to visit helicopter maker Eurocopter
and the site of ITER, the international experimental fusion
reactor project, in Cadarache, southern France.

 Eurocopter, a division of the European Aeronautic Defence and
Space Co. consortium, signed a deal with China's Avic II Monday
to jointly develop and manufacture a new nonmilitary helicopter.

 [Associate Press] Copyright 2005, by The Associated Press. All

| | | [McGraw-Hill Cos.] 

*****************************************************************
 21 NRC: Virginia Electric and Power Company, Surry Power Station, Unit 
 
                         FR Doc E5-6893 
[Federal Register: December 6, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 233)] 
[Notices] [Page 72666] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06de05-67] [[Page 72666]]
 
Nos. 1 and 2; Environmental Assessment And Finding of No 
Significant Impact The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) 
is considering issuance of an exemption from Title 10 of the Code 
of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix E, Section 
IV.F.2.b and c for Renewed Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-32 
and DPR-37, issued to Virginia Electric and Power Company (the 
licensee), for operation of the Surry Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 
and 2 (Surry 1 and 2), located in Surry County, Virginia. 
Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this 
environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact.
 
Environmental Assessment Identification of the Proposed Action 
The proposed action, as described in the licensee's application 
for a one-time exemption from the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, 
Appendix E, dated September 15, 2005, would allow the licensee to 
postpone the offsite full-participation emergency exercise from 
December 6, 2005, to February 7, 2006. The proposed action is in 
accordance with the licensee's application dated September 15, 
2005, that requested an exemption from Section IV.F.2.b and c of 
Appendix E to 10 CFR part 50 regarding the full participation by 
each offsite authority having a role under the plan. The NRC 
staff has determined that the requirements of Appendix E to 10 
CFR part 50, Sections IV.F.2.b and c are applicable to the 
circumstances of the licensee's request and that an exemption 
from those requirements is appropriate. The licensee also stated 
in its letter dated September 15, 2005, that Surry 1 and 2 will 
resume its normal biennial exercise cycle in 2007.
 
The Need for the Proposed Action The proposed exemption from 10 
CFR Part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.b and c is needed because 
the Virginia Department of Emergency Management (DEM) has 
requested to delay the full participation exercise from December 
6, 2005, to February 7, 2006. The Virginia DEM had requested this 
delay in order to utilize the new Emergency Operations Center, 
which is currently under construction and will not become fully 
operational until January 2, 2006. In its letter to the licensee 
on May 20, 2005, the Federal Emergency Management Agency approved 
Virginia DEM's request to delay the full-participation exercise 
until February 7, 2006.
 
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC has 
completed its safety evaluation (SE) of the proposed action and 
concludes that the proposed exemption will not present an undue 
risk to the public health and safety. The details of the NRC 
staff's SE will be provided in the exemption that will be issued 
as part of the letter to the licensee approving the exemption to 
the regulation. The action relates to the exercising of the 
emergency response plan, which has no effect on the operation of 
the facility.
 
The proposed action will not significantly increase the 
probability or consequences of accidents. No changes are being 
made in the types of effluents that may be released off site. 
There is no significant increase in the amount of any effluent 
released off site. There is no significant increase in 
occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are 
no significant radiological environmental impacts associated with 
the proposed action.
 
With regard to potential non-radiological impacts, the proposed 
action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites.
 
It does not affect non-radiological plant effluents and has no 
other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant 
non- radiological environmental impacts associated with the 
proposed action.
 
Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant 
environmental impacts associated with the proposed action.
 
Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action 
As an alternative to the proposed action, the NRC staff 
considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' 
alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change 
in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of 
the proposed action and the alternative action are similar.
 
Alternative Use of Resources The action does not involve the use 
of any different resources than those previously considered in 
the Final Environmental Statement related to the operation of 
Surry 1 and 2, May and June 1972, respectively.
 
Agencies and Persons Consulted In accordance with its stated 
policy, on October 26, 2005, the NRC staff consulted with Mr. Les 
Foldesi, Director of the Bureau of Radiological Health, 
Department of Health, Commonwealth of Virginia, regarding the 
environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official 
had no comments.
 
Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of the 
environmental assessment, the NRC concludes that the proposed 
action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the 
human environment. Accordingly, the NRC has determined not to 
prepare an environmental impact statement for the proposed 
action.
 
For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the 
licensee's letter dated September 15, 2005. Documents may be 
examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document 
Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 
Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available 
records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic 
Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference 
staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or send an 
e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 29th 
day of November 2005.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Stephen R. Monarque, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch 
II-1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E5-6893 Filed 12-5-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 22 Asia Times: Key China nuclear decision delayed 

BEIJING - A final decision on which foreign company will be
invited to build four third-generation nuclear reactors in
Zhejiang and Guangdong provinces might be postponed until the
first half of next year. 

According to insiders, the delay is because of a disagreement
about the technology to be used and the price. "It is unlikely
that the talks will be finalized by the end of this year as
originally planned," Chen Hua, a director from the China
National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), told China Daily December
1. 

The Chinese government has approved the building of two nuclear
plants in Sanmen in East China's Zhejiang province, and in
Yangjiang, in South China's Guangdong province. Each will have
two 1,000-megawatt (MW) reactors and use advanced 
third-generation technology. 

Up to now, bidders involved in the talks include Paris-based
Areva, Pittsburgh-based but United Kingdom-owned Westinghouse
Electric Company and Russia's AtomStroyExport. 

None of these had been able to reach an agreement with CNNC,
which is behind the building of the plants, said Chen. "These
companies haven't given us satisfactory proposals on many key
technical details, such as engineering and plant security," the
CNNC director said. 

"Their price offers are still much higher than what we have
budgeted for." The final decision will be delayed, he said,
refusing to disclose the bid prices from these companies. "It is
hard to say exactly when [the talks will be completed], but we
hope to finalize them in the first half of next year," he said. 

Because of the prolonged negotiations, the construction schedule
will also suffer delays, the director told China Daily. "It now
seems improbable that construction [of the two nuclear plants]
will start at the end of 2007 as we originally planned," he
said. The company most likely to win the bid at the moment is
Areva or Westinghouse, Chen said. "We haven't talked much with
the Russians." 

An official from the preparatory office of the State Power
Technology Corporation of China (SNPTC), who refused to be
named, echoed Chen's comments on December 1. He said the talks
were proceeding much slower than previously expected, with
problems over "price and technology". 

SNPTC has been authorized to hold talks with Areva, Westinghouse
and AtomStroyExport. Both Areva and Westinghouse declined to
comment. CNNC's Chen also denied a recent media report that the
French and US-based companies would be awarded one project each.
"We will not use different technologies at the two plants," he
said. 

China has used nuclear technologies from France, Canada and
Russia in building its nuclear plants in Guangdong and Zhejiang.
If Westinghouse wins the contract, the project will be the first
in the Chinese nuclear power sector for the US unit of
state-owned British Nuclear Fuels Plc, which designs half the
world's nuclear reactors. 

The country plans to spend 400 billion yuan (US$48.33 billion)
building new nuclear power plants by 2020. This will increase
the amount of installed nuclear power capacity from the current
16 gigawatts (GW) to 40 GW, or 4% of the total installed
capacity, within 15 years, Kang Rixin, president of CNNC, said
in June. 

This ambitious goal will translate into another 30 or so
1,000-MW units in China by 2020. The country currently has 19
reactors in operation, under construction or having received
central government approval. 

Hau Fook Mansion, No. 8 Hau Fook St., Kowloon, Hong
Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110 											  
*****************************************************************
 23 Globe and Mail: Everyone goes fission as memories of Chernobyl, Three Mile Island fade
 	
WORLD: NUCLEAR POWER
 	 		
 By BARRIE MCKENNA 						 		

Tuesday, December 6, 2005 Page B17                                                      

WASHINGTON -- The year was 1973, and the future seemed limitless
for nuclear power as work began on the Watts Bar 1 reactor in
rural Tennessee.

There was, of course, to be a Watts Bar 2, maybe even a third
some day. 

It never happened. The Tennessee Valley Authority halted
construction on the second reactor in 1988, two years after the
Chernobyl reactor meltdown. Watts Bar 1 and its 1,100-megawatt
reactor opened for business in 1996. 

No one knew it at the time, but it was to be the last nuclear
reactor built in the United States in nearly a generation as
high costs, environmental opposition and tumbling energy prices
sent the industry into a long, cold winter. 

Now, just as quietly, nukes are making a comeback. At least
eight U.S. utilities are taking a serious look at building new
nuclear reactors. It's assumed that at least a handful of
reactors will get approval in time to break ground in 2009 or
2010. There are bold predictions of as many as 500 U.S. new
reactors this century. There are now 103. 

Even without new reactors, the industry was clearly coming back.
More than 4,000 megawatts -- the equivalent of four to six new
reactors -- have been added in the past decades as utilities
have upgraded capacity. Nuclear supplies roughly 20 per cent of
the U.S. electricity supply, up from just 11 per cent at the
time of the Three Mile Island disaster in Pennsylvania in 1979. 

The renaissance isn't confined to the United States. Finland has
just broken ground on the first European reactor in 14 years.
Last week, British Prime Minister Tony Blair launched a review
that could see the first nuclear reactor built there in decades.
Several other countries are looking at going nuclear for the
first time, including Italy, Poland, Turkey, Vietnam, Indonesia
and Chile. Even in Germany, there is talk of reversing a
decision that would have seen all reactors shut down by 2020. In
all, 25 reactors are now under construction in 10 countries.
China and India are both in the throes of quadrupling their
nuclear capacity by 2020. 

"The battle for nuclear is won," argues John Ritch, director
general of the London-based World Nuclear Association. "The only
question is the pace of development." 

The factors that made nuclear a pariah in the 1980s are now
working in its favour. The newest reactors are cheaper, safer
and produce less waste. And for a world struggling to fight
climate change, nuclear is starting to look like the only
realistic alternative. 

Even a few committed environmentalists are apparently ready to
embrace a nuclear future. At the United Nations Climate Change
Conference in Montreal, Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore
chastised fellow environmentalists for continuing to demand a
phase-out of nuclear power, which he called the "only
non-greenhouse-gas-emitting power source that can effectively
replace fossil fuels and satisfy global demand." 

Mr. Moore, who split with Greenpeace 15 years ago and now runs a
Vancouver-based consulting business, argues that if the choice
is between coal and nuclear -- the most readily available
alternatives to oil and gas -- nuclear wins hands down because
it does not produce carbon dioxide or other pollutants. 

"We need 10,000 nuclear plants in this century to stabilize the
biosphere," Mr. Ritch says. "It's a simple matter of
arithmetic." 

The business case for nuclear is equally compelling. The World
Nuclear Association has just produced a report that should sway
even its most sharp-pencilled foes. It concluded that the cost
of building and operating a nuclear plant is about 4 cents a
kilowatt-hour, compared to 4.7 cents for coal and 5.1 cents for
natural gas. And that was before this year's run-up in oil and
gas prices, which would widen the gap in nuclear's favour. 

"All these things have accumulated to put nuclear over the cost
threshold," Mr. Ritch says. 

The nuclear scenario is also predicated on an eventual emergence
of the hydrogen economy. Making hydrogen requires vast amounts
of electricity and fresh water. Proponents argue that nuclear
power is the only viable option for producing enough power to
run desalination plants and convert all that water to hydrogen. 

This is, of course, the industry's view of the world. And there
are some pretty big question marks. Natural gas prices must not
decline to where they were just three years ago, or roughly
one-fifth of current levels. There can't be an anti-nuclear
backlash, as there was in the 1980s. Regulators will have to
gear up for an onslaught of applications. And perhaps most
importantly, nuclear countries will have deal with their
radioactive waste. 

Like it or not, the debate has begun -- a debate that would have
seemed absurd just a decade ago. 

bmckenna@globeandmail.ca	 	 		 						Search
globeandmail.com

Globeandmail.com
 			 				
  + © Copyright 2005 Bell Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights
Globeandmail.com:
*****************************************************************
 24 Morris Daily Herald: NRC is tracking tritium remedy
 	 		 	
  12/5/2005 6:59:00 PM     Email this article • Print this

Concurs levels of no danger
 
Herald Writer

 BRACEVILLE – Braidwood Station was making good today on its
pledge to remedy the tritium situation in groundwater near the
plant, a spokesman said.

“In fact, the site has already begun remediation efforts, which
include drilling of remediation wells,” Braidwood Communications
Director Neal Miller noted. 

The work will include pumping from the ground the water with the
highest concentrations of tritium, and will create a cone for
collecting any water containing tritium, which may have drifted
from the site.

Several million gallons of water containing tritium leaked from
an underground pipe inside the plant’s northern boundary during
the incident, which was reported Friday.

Tritium emits a very low level of radiation, and is a natural
part of water. Miller said tritium moves in groundwater at about
50 feet per year. He said it will, however, be at least two
years before the ground where the tritium was found can recover
to its previous state.

Miller, though, emphasized there was no threat to the health nor
safety of residents in the area.

Region 3 spokesman Jan Strasma, of the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission in Lisle, said today the levels of tritium found in
the water, while elevated, are still low, and do not represent a
health and safety issue.

He said Braidwood Station owner Exelon Generating is collecting
additional samples of water, and also is looking into what
caused the incident.

“We’ve had specialists at the plant to gather additional
information as well,” Strasma said. “At this point, the low
levels of radioactive groundwater are at the plant site and in
the pond just to the north of the plant site.

“All affected property owners, including the three residences
within the area, have been informed of the situation, and the
utility has also talked to the Illinois Division of Nuclear
Safety about the issue.”

Strasma said, at this point, the bottom line is there is no
evidence of a health and safety issue connected with the
incident.

“They believe they know what caused it,” he said of Exelon.
“They are now developing plans of what to do about it, and
whether there’s a means of reversing the flow of groundwater.”

Strasma said the levels were very low and the initial
measurements in the pond were well below the standards for
tritium in drinking water. The residents had no measurable
amount of tritium in their water.

“This far, it appears the drinking water supplies are not
threatened,” he said.

Strasma said the several million gallons that leaked from the
pipe has soaked into the ground. Because tritium is a part of
water molecules, it has moved through the soil with the
groundwater, he said.

“There’s no evidence of any people ingesting the water, but
tritium passes right through — it does not remain in the body,”
Strasma added.

He said the NRC is looking into the situation to make sure
Exelon addresses the issue.

 			   			   		 		 		
   Morris Daily Herald 

• 1804 N. Division St. • Morris, Illinois
60450 
(815) 942-3221 • (800) 215-9778 
 Software © 1998-2005 , All Rights Reserved

   	

   


*****************************************************************
 25 UPI: Russia may build nuke reactor in India

United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

12/6/2005 2:41:00 PM -0500                              
										Newstrack:						Former Chilean dictator Augusto
NEW DELHI, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- India has said it may allow Russia to
build an additional reactor for its Kudankulam nuclear facility. 

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh informed Russian energy and
trade minister Viktor Khristenko of the possible change. 

"The prime minister told the Russian minister that India could
consider positively the construction of an additional reactor in
view of India's growing energy needs," said Navtej Sarna, the
spokesman of the Indian foreign ministry. 

The Hindustan Times newspaper Tuesday said Khristenko, on his
part, welcomed India's willingness to invest in Sakhalin III
oilfields. India has already invested in the Sakhalin I oil
project. 

"India is looking to step up cooperation with Russia on energy
issues and it is one of the major thrusts of the prime
minister's visit," Sarna said. He said Singh will meet Russian
president Vladimir Putin to hold delegation-level talk. 

Sarna said Singh met with the Russian energy minister and
businessmen from Russia and India. "At the meeting with the
minister the two countries spoke of greater cooperation in
energy, including working together in a third country," Sarna
said. 

He said the two countries are looking forward to working in
tandem in Central Asia. Sarna said increased cooperation would
include joint ventures and equity participation. 

The spokesman said Russia wants to explore options in the power
sector in India -- both hydroelectric and thermal. 

"They told the prime minister there are mainly four for
roadblocks like lack of enough information on business
opportunities, difficulty in obtaining business visas, weak
financial base and lack of direct flights," Sarna said.

© Copyright 2005 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 26 Guardian Unlimited: Fuel Unloaded From Chernobyl Reactor
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Tuesday December 6, 2005 9:31 PM

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Experts have begun unloading radioactive
fuel from one of the closed reactors at Ukraine's Chernobyl
nuclear power plant, the plant said Tuesday. 

Reactor No 3. - the last to continue operating - was closed for
good in 2000, but it was never emptied of fuel. 

The remaining fuel in reactor No. 3 and reactor No. 1 made it
impossible to start construction of a new shelter over the
fourth reactor, destroyed in the 1986 explosion and fire that
spewed radiation over much of northern Europe. 

In an effort to prevent further radiation release, engineers
hastily erected a concrete-and-steel shelter over the damaged
reactor, but parts of it are crumbling, and a new shelter is
needed. 

Originally officials had planned to unload the remaining fuel
into a new storage depot, but plans for its construction were
suspended until 2010. 

The plant's spokesman, speaking on customary condition of
anonymity, said the fuel will instead be unloaded into a
Soviet-era used fuel depot. Unloading the fuel, which began
Monday, is necessary to make the plant entirely inoperative,
Chernobyl staff said. 

Reactors - even those that are closed - are considered
potentially dangerous as long as fuel remains inside. 

The plant spokesman said the disposal work meets all
international safety requirements. He could not say how long the
process would take. It was not clear when they would start
removing fuel from reactor No. 1. 

Ukraine has asked for additional international aid since the
cost of building a new sarcophagus over the reactor is estimated
at more than $1 billion, far more than the previous figure of
$758 million. 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 27 AP Wire: Group: Doyle 'about-face' on nuclear sale followed donations

12/06/2005

RYAN NAKASHIMA

 Associated Press

MILWAUKEE - A campaign finance watchdog group is questioning
whether donations from utility executives to Gov. Jim Doyle's
re-election campaign helped reverse the state's rejection of the
sale of a nuclear power plant to an out-of-state bidder. 

The Wisconsin Democracy Campaign says Doyle's campaign accepted
$41,550 from executives of Wisconsin Public Service Corp. and
Alliant Energy Corp. in the six months after the state Public
Service Commission on Nov. 19, 2004, rejected their sale of the
Kewaunee nuclear plant to Dominion Resources Inc. of Richmond,
Va. 

The three-member commission, which included two Doyle
appointees, reversed its decision on March 17 and allowed the
sale to go through. 

"A state commission controlled by the governor made one decision
and then they did an about-face and reversed that decision,"
said Mike McCabe, the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign's executive
director. "That change of heart corresponded with some very
large campaign donations flowing into the Doyle campaign. That
alone raises major new questions." 

McCabe said former commission chairwoman Burnie Bridge and
commissioner Mark Meyer were Doyle appointees who could have
been influenced by the governor to change their minds. 

"If Jim Doyle wanted this plant sale, he had a friend on the PSC
that he could obviously talk to," he said. 

The governor's spokeswoman, Melanie Fonder, called the
allegation "ridiculous." 

"The Public Service Commission is an independent regulatory
agency and it has no connection to this report," she said. 

Commission members are appointed by the governor and then
confirmed by the state Senate. 

Meyer said in a statement the accusation was "baseless and
absurd." 

"We base our decisions solely on the information in the record
that is developed during a contested case proceeding," he said.
"It includes information from the utilities, advocacy groups and
the public. No one else, not even the governor, can influence
that process." 

A message left with an assistant to Bridge by The Associated
Press was not immediately returned. 

The commission rejected the first sale request 2-1 with Bridge
and Meyer voting against the deal, saying the terms "exempted it
(the plant) from state regulation." 

The commission reversed its decision March 17, approving the
sale unanimously after Dominion promised to give the panel a say
in a future sale of the plant, agreed to return unused fees to
dismantle it at the end of its life and to increase its payments
to WPS and Alliant if it failed to supply them power. 

A group of utility watchdogs challenged the sale approval in
Dane County Circuit Court on May 20, but Judge William Foust
dismissed the case Monday, court records showed. 

The utilities denied accusations of decision-buying. "We're not
going to dignify this with a comment," said spokesman Richard
Zuercher of Dominion, which bought the plant for $191.5 million
in July. 

Dominion gave $2,000 to the Doyle campaign on Jan. 31, 2004,
while WPS and Alliant executives gave $25,650 to his campaign on
Nov. 29, 2004, shortly after the initial rejection. Employees,
executives and directors of WPS and Alliant gave another $15,900
from March 9 to April 8, 2005. 

Wisconsin Public Service spokesman Tom Meinz said company
employees and executives donated to Doyle because he is
"pro-business." 

"We want to support people that are pro-business, doesn't make
any difference what side of the aisle they're on," Meinz said. 

Spokesmen for the Republican gubernatorial campaigns of U.S.
Rep. Mark Green and Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker said
the allegation was the latest in a string of campaign finance
questions surrounding Doyle. 

"You'd think that as Wisconsin's former top cop (attorney
general) and now governor, that he'd do more to protect the
reputation of Wisconsin's clean government," said Walker
campaign manager Bruce Pfaff. 

Local, state and federal authorities are reviewing $20,000 in
donations made by an Adelman Travel executive and board member
to Doyle's campaign before and after the company was awarded a
state contract worth up to $750,000 to provide airline tickets
for state employees. 

The attorney general's office and the U.S. attorney's office
would not say whether an investigation into the donations
surrounding the Kewaunee decision was under way.   

*****************************************************************
 28 [du-list] Fw:  New Hampshire article
 
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:48:47 -0800

<x-flowed>
Atomic Radiation Kills Kids:  It's happening around Millstone in New London 
County. Children are sick and dying from radiation-related diseases.
Guy Chichester, mentioned below, was one of the leaders of the old 
Clamshell Alliance that fought to stop the constuction of Seabrook and 
stopped the building of a 2nd one there.  If we had stopped them both, many 
lives would have been saved.
Mitzi Bowman
----- Original Message -----
From: Sidney Goodman
To: Nukes - Dolph Honicker ; Nukes Bill Smirnow ; Nukes CAN ; Nukes 
Catalyst ; Nukes Center for media and democracy ; Nukes Dianne D'Arrigo ; 
Nukes Edith Gbur ; Nukes Frieda Berryhill ; Nukes Friends of the Earth ; 
Nukes Helen Caldicott ; Nukes Janette Sherman ; Nukes Jim Bell ; Nukes Jim 
Bell ; Nukes Joe Mangano ; Nukes Judith Johnsrud ; Nukes Judith Johnsrud ; 
Nukes Lisa Rainwater van Suntum ; Nukes Margo Frances ; Nukes Margo 
Schepart ; Nukes Marilyn Elie ; Nukes Marilyn Elie ; Nukes Mark Jacobs ; 
Nukes Marv Lewis ; Nukes Mitzi ; Nukes New Jersey Peace Action ; Nukes 
Norman Cohen ; Nukes Paul Gunter - NIRS ; Nukes Paul Michael ; Nukes 
Raymond Shadis ; Nukes Rosalie Bertell ; Nukes Russell Hoffman ; Nukes Sara 
Shannon ; Nukes- UCS
Cc: ASME Lisa Laplante ; ASME Ramesh Gulrajani ; Emil Auslander ; Family 
Jerry and Phylis Frank ; Family Paula Goodman ; Jack Albalah ; Larry 
Averick ; NJPIRG Executive Director Dena Mottola ; ORV Lenny Berger ; ORV 
Sheldon Penn
Sent: Monday, December 05, 2005 7:33 PM
Subject: New Hampshire article







     This is an article that appeared in the Hampton Union on Friday Dec. 
2.  The paper is located in Hampton Beach NH, near the Seabrook nuclear 
power plant.




     Study: children's cancer up ... 12/02/2005
     Hampton Union
     Date: 12/02/2005    Section: news    Page: a1
     Word Count: 633 word


     Study: children's cancer up
     N-plant, CDC say they have no knowledge of report
     By Susan Morse   smorse@seacoastonline.com
     SEABROOK - Childhood cancer deaths in the last two decades increased 
by 19 percent in communities surrounding Seabrook Station, according to the 
group awarding the nuclear power plant a Dirty Dozen award on Tuesday.
        In a released statement, Paul Schramski of the Toxics Action Center 
in Massachusetts said the information came from a study by the Center for 
Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta.
        However, neither CDC spokeswoman Susan Asher nor Seabrook Station 
spokesman Al Griffith had any knowledge of such a study, they said.
        Further information released by Schramski said the research was 
done by Joseph Mangano, an epidemiologist with a master's degree in public 
health who is the national coordinator for the Radiation and Public Health 
Project.
        Its Web site says the project is "a nonprofit educational and 
scientific organization, established by scientists and physicians dedic 
ated to understanding the relationships between low-level, nuclear 
radiation and public health."
        Mangano, reached at his office in Norristown, Pa.,  on Wednesday, 
said he used CDC statistics in his study. Anyone can access the same 
information at wonder.cdc.gov, he said.
        Infant death rates in four counties surrounding Seabrook Station 
increased by 4 percent from the two years prior to the plant going on line 
in 1989, to two years after, he said.
        The childhood cancer death rate increased by 19 percent between 
1981 and 2002, he said.
        The CDC's Asher said on Wednesday that the federal center does 
release statistics on race, gender, age, and how people died.
        She could not confirm the results obtained by Mangano.
        The CDC does look into the veracity of any study, she said, when it 
gets a request to do so.
        "The CDC gets involved when it gets a petition to get involved," 
she said. "We just don't go out on our own. It can come from anyone."
        "We've never had a request to go out to the Seabrook place," Asher 
said.
        Mangano said the impetus for his research came from Guy Chichester, 
a Rye resident who co-founded the Clamshell Alliance. The alliance  opposed 
the building of the Seabrook plant.
        Mangano and Chichester are also working on a study to determine the 
level of strontium 90 found in baby teeth. Strontium 90 is one component of 
ionized radiation and is like calcium in that it heads for teeth and bone, 
said Mangano.
        So far Mangano has gathered 4,500 teeth nationwide. He expects to 
release his results  in 2006.
        Of his cancer study, Mangano admits factors other than the nuclear 
power plant may play a role in the increased statistics.
        Similar studies of cancer rates in areas surrounding other nuclear 
power plants have yielded similar results, he said.
        "Seabrook should be put in a list of factors," he said. "The 
general trend is, open a plant, the rate goes up, close a plant the rate 
goes down."
        Mangano looked at infant death rates for the years 1987 to 1988, 
and after the plant started operating, from 1989 to 1990, in four counties 
near Seabrook Station: Essex County in Massachusetts; Rockingham County; 
Strafford County; and York County in Maine.
        "In the four-county area it went up by 4 percent," he said. "In the 
rest of the three-state area - Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine - it 
was down 7 percent. In the rest of the U.S. it was down by 5 percent."
        He then looked at long-term changes in the childhood cancer death 
rate, of children  dying before the age of 15 in the same four counties.
        Mangano compared the CDC statistics for the years 1981 through 1989 
and 1990 through 2002.
        "The change in the rates increased by 19 percent," he said. 
"Elsewhere in the three states it was down by 23 percent and in the U.S., 
down 26 percent."
        The Radiation and Public Health Project is not an advocate 
organization, he said.



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 29 [du-list] Armor-piercing incendiary projectile, United States
 
Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:48:42 -0800

<x-flowed>

"Parent Case Data:This is a continuation-in-part of  . [see in full below].
. abandoned U.S. pat. application, Ser. No. 360,554, filed Apr. 16, 1954,
now abandoned."

and

"Foreign Patent References:671,171Apr., 1952GB75/10."  [GB => Great
Britain?]

Hi folks,

Apropos of  D. Fahey's history of DU:  The above quotes came from a link in
a recent post on DU-watch.

Text from the link is pasted below. I assume that related patents are
"threaded" and thus provide a chain of inquiry, if not evidence. The text
below is more valuable (it seems to me) in principle and in general, than in
detail.  Uranium is not an essential component of the projectile described,
but its "advantages" are very briefly detailed, as well as implied
generally.

Robert

  http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4112846.html

Armor-piercing incendiary projectile , United States Patent 4112846

Abstract:There is provided an improved armor-piercing incendiary projectile
having within the nosepiece thereof an incendiary comprising a matrix of a
first metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium,
thorium, hafnium, uranium, and mixtures thereof; and an intermetallic
compound formed between the matrix and a second metal selected from the
group consisting of tin, lead, and mixtures thereof. Upon impact with armor,
the incendiary burns at temperatures heretofore unattainable, as well as
providing cushioning and lubrication for the penetrator.

Inventors:Gilbert, Henry L.; Van Ordstrand, Cayrl W.;
Application Number:602852
Filing Date:1966-12-19
Publication Date:1978-09-12

View Patent Images:View TIFF Images or View PDF Images
Related Patents:View patents that cite this patent
Export Citation:Click for automatic bibliography generation

Assignee:Martin Marietta Aluminum Inc. (Torrance, CA)
Current Classes:102/364, 102/517
International Classes:F42B 011/14
Field of Search:75/177,10 FR 102/52 X,66 X,90 X
US Patent References:841753Jan., 1907Wheeler et al.102/52.
1562540Nov., 1925Cooper75/177.
2490570Dec., 1949Anicetti75/177.
2490571Dec., 1949Anicetti75/177.
2775514Dec., 1956Wainer75/177.
2975710Mar., 1961Read102/90.
3028808Apr., 1962Porter et al.102/52.
3096715Jul., 1963Dufour102/52.
3302570Feb., 1967Marquardt102/52.

Foreign Patent References:671,171Apr., 1952GB75/10.

Primary Examiner:Tudor; Harold
Attorney, Agent or Firm:Millen & White
Parent Case Data:This is a continuation-in-part of copending U.S. pat.
application, Ser. No. 477,077, filed June 11, 1966, now abandoned, which is
a continuation-in-part of abandoned U.S. pat. application, Ser. No. 360,554,
filed Apr. 16, 1954, now abandoned.

Claims:
What we claim is:

1. In an armor-piercing incendiary projectile having a penetrator and an
incendiary, the improvement which comprises: an incendiary having a matrix
of a first metal selected from the group consisting of zirconium, titanium,
thorium, hafium, uranium, and mixtures thereof; and interdispersed therein
an intermetallic compound formed between said first metal and a second metal
selected from the group consisting of tin, lead, and mixtures thereof.

2. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein the first metal
constitutes, based upon the total weight of incendiary, from about 70 to
98.5% by weight, and the second metal constitutes from about 1.5 to 30% by
weight.

3. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein the first metal
constitutes, based upon the total weight of incendiary, from about 85 to 90%
by weight, and the second metal constitutes from about 10 to 15% by weight.

4. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein the incendiary comprises a
matrix of zirconium having dispersed therein an intermetallic compound of
zirconium-tin.

5. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein the incendiary and
penetrator are in juxtaposition.

6. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein the incendiary lies in
contact with the penetrator.

7. The projectile as defined by claim 1, wherein a sufficient amount of
incendiary is used about an ogival-shaped nose of the penetrator to provide
cushioning and lubrication therefor.

8. The projectile as defined by claim 7, wherein said incendiary is
contained within a hollow nosepiece.

9. The projectile as defined by claim 8, wheren the hollow nosepiece is in
coupled locking engagement with one end of the penetrator.

10. The projectile as defined by claim 9, wherein a tubular adapter couples
the penetrator and nosepiece in locking engagement.

11. The projectile as defined by claim 10, wherein the incendiary is held by
the adapter against one end of the penetrator.

12. The projectile as defined by claim 11, wherein a radial flange
projecting from the incendiary is in locking engagement with the nosepiece,
thereby being pressed rearwardly against the penetrator.

13. The projectile as defined by claim 12, wherein said radial flange
presses a deflectible extension of the nosepiece outwardly into locking
engagement with the adapter.

14. The projectile as defined by claim 7, wherein one face of the incendiary
is provided with a recess, the walls of which correspond to the contour of
the penetrator nose in contact therewith.

Description:
In the conventional armor-piercing incendiary projectiles, an admixture of
particulate incendiary material, such as, magnesium/aluminum alloy, barium
nitrate, ammonium perchlorate, etc. is carried in the hollow nosepiece
thereof (See U.S. Pat. No. 3,028,808). Such incendiary materials are
extremely hazardous to handle and great care must therefore be exercised in
normal loading operations. The incendiary is usually compacted and
partitioned from the penetrator by a retaining disc or ballistic cap.
Because the pointed nose of the steel penetrator tends upon impact to shear
or rupture, and thus retard penetration, the ballistic cap is conventionally
constructed from a material which also cushions the initial impact and
prevents deformation of the penetrator nose. Materials from which the cap
can be fabricated to provide satisfactory cushioning are, for example,
aluminum, lead, and the alloys thereof.

The ballistic cap fabricated from these materials also acts as a lubricant
between the steel penetrator and the armor plate, such lubrication being
necessary if relatively thick armor is to be penetrated. The incendiary
compositions utilized heretofore do not, however, provide lubrication
between the penetrator and armor, and the use of such lubricating caps is
necessary.

Further, high speed photographs taken on the firing range reveal that upon
striking an armored target, the thin-walled nosepiece of the conventional
projectile ruptures releasing a major portion of the incendiary on the entry
side of the armor. Under normal conditions, the released incendiary ignites
and is completely consumed before traversing the armor. In a series of
firing tests, where armor plate is completely breached, the penetrator
passes therethrough carrying little or no unreacted incendiary into the true
target zone. Consequently, when these projectiles strike targets, such as,
aircraft, or petroleum storage facilities, the incendiary effect within the
target zone is minimal because ignition, and almost complete consumption of
incendiary, occurs at the instant of impact on the entry side instead of
during and after penetration of the armor.

It is, therefore, a principal object of the invention to provide an improved
armor-piercing projectile having a delayed action incendiary charge which
ignites during penetration and continues to burn after breaching the armor;

Another object is to provide in an armor-piercing projectile an improved
incendiary charge which can be handled without fear of ignition and is
capable of generating within the target zone temperatures heretofore
unattainable;

Yet another object is to provide an improved armor-piercing incendiary
projectile for use against petroleum storage vessels which will cause
internal ignition of petroleum products stored therein;

Still another object is to provide for an armor-piercing projectile an
incendiary charge which also serves as a cushion and lubricant for the
penetrator.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon
reference to the following description, drawings, and claims appended
hereto.

To attain these objects, there is provided within the nosepiece of an
otherwise conventional armor-piercing projectile a solid incendiary
comprising a matrix of a first metal selected from the group consisting of
zirconium, titanium, thorium, hafnium, uranium, and mixtures thereof; and an
intermetallic compound formed between the matrix and a second metal selected
from the group consisting of tin, lead, and mixtures thereof.

By utilizing this incendiary in the projectile, preferably adjacent the
solid penetrator, it was surprisingly discovered that the matrix not only
ignites during and after penetration of the armor, but also provides the
desired cushioning and lubrication for the penetrator.

The aluminum ballistic cap employed in conventional armor-piercing
incendiary projectiles is believed to deform plastically and flow upon
impact, thereby cushioning the nose of the penetrator and providing
lubrication therefor. It was therefore believed necessary to fabricate the
cap from a metal having a hardness and ductility similar to aluminum. As
compared with aluminum, the zirconium-tin composition is, however, about
three times harder (measured by Brinell Hardness No.). Unlike the aluminum
cap, the matrix of the present invention is frangible and tends to rupture
into a multiplicity of particles upon impact at high velocity. It was
therefore unexpected to find that a hard and frangible zirconium-tin matrix
provides the desired cushioning for the penetrator and also acts as a
lubricant therefor.

Without being bound by an explanation of the properties or characteristics
of the zirconium-tin composition, which accounts for its unexpected
lubricating qualities under the conditions of use, it is believed, for
example, that the steel armor in contact with burning matrix is
instantaneously liquified, resulting in the formation of a low melting
eutectic alloy of zirconium-steel. The solid penetrator and unreacted matrix
are then believed to be wet by this liquid alloy, friction between the
projectile and armor through which it is passing thus being reduced to a
minimum.

In the incendiary compositions suitable for use herein, the first matrix
metal comprises, based upon the total weight of incendiary, of from about 70
to 98.5, preferably 80 to 95, more preferably 85 to 90% by weight; and the
second metal which forms the intermetallic compound in the matrix comprises
from about 1.5 to 30, preferably 5 to 20, more preferably 10 to 15% by
weight of the incendiary.

According to the present invention, the incendiary composition can be
produced, for example, by compacting into a bar a mixture comprising about
85% by weight sponge zirconium and about 15% by weight of 80 mesh tin
powder. Two or more such bars are then positioned end-to-end and arc-welded
together under an inert atmosphere to form a single electrode. The resultant
electrode is then melted by conventional arc methods under vacuum to form an
ingot, which is again utilized as an electrode and remelted by an electric
arc under vacuum to form an ingot. The resultant ingot can then optionally
be encased in an iron jacket, heated to about 1,720.degree. F., and extruded
while in the jacket into the desired cross-sectional area. If desired, any
other method can be used to form the solid incendiary into an advantageous
shape. The extruded incendiary can then be further shaped into the desired
configuration by conventional methods.

In this so-called double melt process, the first metal, such as, zirconium,
forms a matrix having dispersed therein an intermetallic compound, such as,
zirconium-tin. This intermetallic compound is believed to be present in the
matrix in the form of crystals or particles, the size of which can be
governed by the rate at which the remelted ingot is cooled. For example, by
holding the incendiary composition during its synthesis at or above the
melting temperature over a prolonged period, the crystals and/or particles
of intermetallic compound tend to coalesce and grow. The preferred
composition, however, desirably contains relatively small particles of the
intermetallic compound more or less uniformly and ubiquitously distributed
within the matrix.

The incendiary composition produced in the foregoing manner can be shaped
without danger of ignition by conventional methods, such as, abrading,
sawing, filing, machining, and cutting, etc. Although the exact mechanism
required in triggering ignition is unknown, experience has demonstrated that
the composition can be handled and loaded with safety, ignition occurring
only when it is impacted at extremely high velocities. In tests, for
example, with a 120 grain incendiary composition produced according to the
present invention, impact velocities of approximately 1,700 to 2,000 feet
per second are required for ignition. However, in the fabrication and
shaping of this same composition, there is surprisingly no danger whatever
of auto-ignition, even when the composition is machined or accidentally
dropped onto a hard surface.

Within limits, the incendiary composition can be varied to suit the
condition of use. For example, armor-piercing incendiary projectiles for use
against tank armor are advantageously heavier and it may be desirable to
utilize in forming the matrix a metal having a greater density, such as,
hafnium or uranium. Where the projectile is to be fired from an aircraft and
weight considerations are of prime importance, it is desirable to employ a
lower density matrix material, such as, titanium.

Upon application of an impact force sufficient to shatter the
above-described solid incendiary, ignition occurs at or on the freshly
exposed surfaces. The combusting surfaces then appear to peel off
explosively, creating additional combusting particles. As a result, any and
all underlying pyrophoric intermetallic compound is exposed and ignited in a
somewhat cascading fashion, i.e., the violence of burning is explosive
causing fragments of matrix and/or pyrophoric intermetallic compound to
spray outwardly. Because the incendiary generates extremely high flame
temperatures, on the order of about 4,000.degree. F. to 9,000.degree. F.,
the burning incendiary itself can also melt holes in thin armor plate, such
as, the skin of aircraft.

The invention is illustrated further in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along the longitudinal axis of
an armor-piercing incendiary projectile according to the present invention,
particularly illustrating a preferred form of the incendiary cooperatively
assembled therein.

FIG. 2 shows the destructive effect on the projectile nosepiece of FIG. 1 as
it strikes armor; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detailed perspective view of a preferred form of the
incendiary element for use herein.

Referring now to the drawings, an armor-piercing incendiary projectile shown
generally at A comprises a steel penetrator 11 having a base or butt end 14
normal to the longitudinal axis, and a conical or ogival-shaped nose which
terminates at point 15 (FIG. 1). A rotating band 16 girdles penetrator 11 at
about the midpoint thereof and cooperates during firing with rifling in the
weapon's barrel to produce spin. About the penetrator nose, and in
juxtaposition therewith, is a cylindrical incendiary element X having a flat
front face 18 and a rear face 19 having a recess or cavity 20 therein. A
major portion of the internal surface of recess 20 is preferably in contact
with the penetrator, although for ease of manufacturing, the base of recess
20 in the assembled projectile is spaced from the point 15 of the
penetrator.

The incendiary X shown in FIG. 1 is illustrative only, and any other desired
shape of incendiary charge can be used. For example, when it is desired to
maintain incendiary in contact with the entire surface of the penetrator
nose, a recess 20 in the incendiary is formed with its walls corresponding
in contour to those of the penetrator nose. Further, the front end 18 of
incendiary element X can, if desired, be conical shaped to facilitate
penetration thereof through armor. Where a relatively long delay in ignition
of incendiary is desired, a conventional lubricating cap of aluminum can
advantageously be used over the front end of the incendiary.

Forward of the penetrator is a hollow thin-walled nosepiece 13 which can
optionally be coupled to penetrator 11 via a tubular adapter 12. Although
any conventional nosepiece which locks directly onto the penetrator can be
used, it is preferred to employ an adapter which can be mounted onto the
penetrator nose and wastened thereon by means of serrations. To assist in
interlocking all elements, the cylindrical walls 24 of the incendiary flare
outwardly forming an arcuate surface 25 and a radially projected flange 26
(FIGS. 1 and 3). The tubular rear portion 23 of the nosepiece has an outside
diameter equal to the inside diameter of the inwardly projecting portion 22
of the adapter.

In assembling the projectile, incendiary element X is inserted into the
adapter after it is affixed to the penetrator. When the incendiary is
properly situated on the penetrator nose, the end 23 of the nosepiece is
pressed rearwardly to wedge the same between incendiary surface 24 and the
inwardly projecting adapter surface 22. Upon further rearward axial
movement, against the outwardly flared surface 25, the end of the nosepiece
is bent or deflected outwardly and locked against the inside surface of the
adapter.

The adapter sleeve 12 and nosepiece 13 can, if desired, be replaced by a
one-piece adapter-nosepiece combination. Also, the foregoing prefered means
used to encapsule and lock the incendiary into the projectile can
advantageously be replaced by any other of the conventional nosepieces.

Upon impact with armor, the nosepiece of the above-described projectile
tends to break up as in FIG. 2, leaving the burning incendiary directly in
contact with target plate. At the same time, the penetrator 11 pushes the
incendiary forward against armor, crushing and simultaneously igniting
during travel. Because the nosepiece is believed to be destroyed before
incendiary is ignited, it is desirable in some applications to omit the
nosepiece entirely and use instead an incendiary element having a ballistic
conical nose.

EXAMPLE I

A series of tests are made on the firing range with 20mm armor-piercing
incendiary projectiles containing the above-described zirconium-tin
incendiary composition in the nosepiece thereof. One hundred rounds each are
fired at 1/4 inch thick aluminum target plates stationed a distance of 300
and 1,000 meters, respectively, from the firing site. In all cases, the
projectiles pass through the plates, the incendiary is ignited during
penetration, and combustion continues thereafter. Photographs of these tests
reveal that continuous ignition of incendiary occurs during and after
penetration, as well as after the projectile passes from about 1 to 50 feet
beyond the target.

In a series of comparative firings with 200 rounds of conventional 20mm
armor-piercing incendiary projectiles, continued ignition of incendiary
after passage of the projectile through the aluminum target plate occurs
only randomly in less than thirty percent of the firings.

These tests thus demonstrate that the projectiles of the present invention
not only penetrate an armored target with the same effectiveness as
conventional armor-piercing projectiles, but surprisingly continue to burn
with cascading thermal fragmentation after penetration to achieve maximum
incendiary effect in the primary target zone.

EXAMPLE II

In this example, a series of tests are made on the firing range at two
open-topped storage vessels fabricated from 1/4 inch thick steel plate, each
containing one hundred gallons of gasoline. These vessels are stationed at
300 and 1,000 meters, respectively, from the firing site and one hundred
rounds of 20mm armor-piercing incendiary projectiles containing the
zirconium-tin incendiary are fired at each vessel.

A series of firing tests are then conducted under similar conditions using
two hundred rounds of conventional 20mm armor-piercing incendiary
projectiles. A photographic comparison of these firings shows that the
projectiles of the present invention provide over a 200 percent improvement
in the internal ignition of gasoline in the vessels as evidenced by the
eruption of flames from the upper surface thereof.

These foregoing tests demonstrate that the incendiary projectiles of the
present invention penetrate the wall of normal petroleum storage vessels and
quite unexpectedly generate sufficient heat after penetration to raise the
temperature of immediately surrounding petroleum products above their flash
point, causing them to erupt into flames.

EXAMPLE III

Three series of firing tests are made on the test range using 1 inch thick
steel target plates stationed 300 meters from the firing site. One hundred
rounds each of conventional armor-piercing incendiary projectiles, with and
without aluminum lubricating caps, are fired at the target plates. Upon
examination of the target, all conventional projectiles with aluminum caps
are found to penetrate the armor, whereas only about 82 percent of those
projectiles lacking the aluminum cap completely penetrate and pass through
the plate.

In comparative firing tests, one hundred rounds of the projectiles
containing a zirconium-tin incendiary are fired at the same steel plate.
Examination of the target plate thereafter reveals that all rounds
completely breach the plate.

 >From the results of the preceding tests, it can be seen that the projectiles
containing the zirconium-tin incendiary and lacking the aluminum lubricating
cap penetrate armor as effectively as projectiles with the cap. It is
therefore apparent that the incendiary in the nosepiece of the projectile
provides the desired lubrication and cushioning for the penetrator.

The preceding tests can be repeated with similar success by substituting the
generically and specifically described incendiary compositions and firing
conditions of this invention for those used in preceding examples.

 >From the foregoing description, one skilled in the art can easily ascertain
the essential characteristics of this invention and, without departing from
the spirit and scope thereof, can make various changes and modifications of
the invention to adapt it to various usages and conditions. Consequently,
such changes and modifications are properly, equitably, and intended to be,
within the full range of equivalence of the following claims.





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Message: 1
Date: Sat, 26 Nov 2005 05:05:44 -0000
From: "upsilquitch" <upsilquitch@yahoo.com>
Subject: Mr Joppa ... your have your answer

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4112846.html





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 30 UNION TELLS NASA HALT WORK ON PLUTONIUM PROBE
 
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2005 12:07:59 -0600 (CST)


December 6, 2005
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051206/NEWS02/512060
330

Union tells NASA to halt work on Pluto spacecraft

Boeing workers fret about safety

BY TODD HALVORSON FLORIDA TODAY The union representing striking
Boeing machinists asked NASA on Monday to halt work on a plutonium-powered
spacecraft, claiming it is irresponsible to allow five replacement
workers to complete the job.

NASA said the managers and supervisors have the skills needed to
complete the work safely, and the agency intends to press ahead
with plans to launch its Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft next
month.

The replacement workers "are certified, have extensive previous
experience and have met the safety criteria," NASA launch services
manager Steve Francois said. "No exceptions to either safety or
quality assurance have been made and none are planned."

The New Horizons mission must be launched during a time-critical
35-day window that opens Jan. 11. A delay past Feb. 14 would force
NASA to postpone the launch until early 2007, the next time the
planets are aligned properly for the trip.

The mission is one of four that Delta rocket machinists were working
on before they went on strike Nov. 2. Work on the other missions
ceased then.

The grounded missions include launch of an advanced weather satellite
for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station.

On hold at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California are a NASA
atmospheric science mission and a classified flight for the National
Reconnaissance Office.

"If it's not safe to work on all the other projects with replacement
workers, it's irresponsible to continue with New Horizons," said
Robert Wood, a spokesman for the International Association of
Machinists and Aerospace Workers.

NASA officials noted that only five replacement workers are needed
to finish the job that strikers otherwise would be doing on the New
Horizons mission.

More than 200 people are required to finish work on the Delta rockets
that were being readied for the other launches.

"That's the difference," Kennedy Space Center spokesman George
Diller said.

The union represents 288 local strikers, including the five involved
in the third stage of the Horizons mission. In total, the union
represents 1,500 workers who went out on strike in Florida, California
and Alabama. Most work on the Boeing Delta rocket program.

The New Horizons craft is set for launch on a Lockheed Martin Atlas
5 rocket at Cape Canaveral. The probe is to be outfitted with a
Boeing upper-stage rocket motor later this week.

At issue are plans to use replacement workers to mate the upper-stage
motor with the spacecraft. The union claims the managers and
supervisors are not properly trained and certified to perform the
work.

"They are cutting corners," Wood said. "This is a special spacecraft.
It's one of a kind. With this mission, you want your first-stringers
on the job."

NASA said a crane to be used on the job would be operated by fully
trained and certified workers from Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory, which built the spacecraft. Replacement workers
will make the necessary mechanical and electrical connections.

Boeing says the managers and supervisors have an average of 16 years
of experience on the Delta rocket program, including an average of
nine years doing hands-on work with similar upper-stage motors.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 729-0517 (207) 319-2017 (Cell phone)
globalnet@mindspring.com http://www.space4peace.org
http://space4peace.blogspot.com (Our blog)



 

*****************************************************************
 31 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Railroad crossings at risk 

Today: December 06, 2005 at 9:40:55 PST 

Editorial: Railroad crossings at risk Report says federal 
government investigating less than 1 percent of collisions at 
crossings 

Las Vegas Sun

 We are outraged by a report documenting that of 3,045 train
crashes last year at railroad crossings around the country, only
nine were investigated by the Federal Railroad Administration.
The report was released by the inspector general's office of the
Transportation Department.

 Every single accident at a railroad crossing should be
investigated by the Railroad Administration, just as the
National Transportation Safety Board investigates all plane
crashes. Local investigators will document the time of the
crash, the extent of the damage and the number of injuries. But
it takes a federal investigation to determine why the accident
took place and what safety measures need to be taken to ensure
against a recurrence.

 Hazardous materials are aboard trains every day, which means
there is the potential for whole communities to be affected by
crossing accidents. It is unconscionable for the federal
government to be neglecting this critical responsibility.

 The report brings to mind Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of
Las Vegas, where the federal government wants to bury high-level
nuclear waste -- and ship most of it there by rail. Federal
neglect of the railroads is just one reason -- among dozens --
to shut the Yucca project down.

 
         All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 32 Las Vegas SUN: Guest columnist Jim Gibbons: A different take on mining bill 

 Photo: Cable shovel 

Today: December 06, 2005 at 9:10:21 PST 

Guest columnist Jim Gibbons: A different take on mining bill 
Jim Gibbons, a Republican, represents Nevada's 2nd Congressional
District. He is a member of the House Committee on Resources.

                               •••


 Unfortunately, the Las Vegas Sun's Nov. 30 editorial entitled
"Public lands up for grabs?" does not accurately portray the
reasons for or the consequences of the mining provisions which I
authored with House Committee on Resources Chairman Richard
Pombo, R-Calif.

 As the Las Vegas Sun may be aware, there is limited opportunity
for economic growth in rural Nevada. This is largely due to the
fact that the federal government owns and regulates seven of
every eight acres in Nevada.

 Mining operations bring economic opportunity to rural
communities, and these provisions will allow that economic
opportunity to continue beyond mine closure while upholding all
current environmental laws and regulations.

 Nevada's mining industry -- our state's second largest --
provides tax revenue to communities to fund schools, emergency
services, roads and other vital infrastructure. Current
provisions in America's mining law are insufficient in allowing
for the sustainable development projects that can keep
communities economically viable long after a mineral resource is
depleted.

 This is what motivated me to pass responsible mining reform
legislation in Congress. Unfortunately, these provisions have
become the subject of gross and willful misinterpretation by
opponents of mining. Ironically, the same people who oppose the
provisions rely on the products of mining every day -- from
shampoo and computers to the roof over their heads.

 The charge that the provisions will make unlimited amounts of
public land available for purchase regardless of mineral
potential is completely false. The provisions specifically
require that any land made available for purchase must contain a
mineral deposit.

 Further, my proposal requires would-be buyers to prove the
existence of a profitable mineral deposit by performing
extensive mineral development work.

 The Sun further, and falsely, claims that the bill offers "no
protection to millions of acres of other sensitive public
lands." The provisions in this bill do not apply to areas
withdrawn from mineral entry. Areas withdrawn from mineral entry
include lands already identified in Clark County for disposal,
as well as national parks, monuments, wilderness and other
special areas. Additionally, the proposed provisions still
mandate compliance with all provisions of the Endangered Species
Act.

 Your readers should also know that my proposal will not
interfere with land sales under the Southern Nevada Public Land
Management Act (SNPLMA). This area has been off limits to new
mining claims since 1998. Consequently, these mining law
provisions do not apply to any lands inside the disposal
boundary.

 Simply put, my proposal allows miners to purchase mine sites so
they can be mined. Later, these mine sites may be redeveloped
for secondary productive uses after the mining is completed.

 Currently, when a mine shuts down in Nevada, not only do all
the jobs leave, but companies must remove all valuable
infrastructure -- such as roads, power lines, water lines,
substations and buildings. All of these facilities could -- and
most certainly should -- be used for future economic
sustainability.

 These responsible reforms will generate significant revenue for
the U.S. Treasury. Mining companies will now pay $1,000 per acre
or fair market value -- whichever is higher -- for lands they
wish to purchase.

 This is certainly a whopping increase over the $2.50 to $5 per
acre provided for under current law. You can buy a cup of coffee
today for that price; certainly our public lands are worth more.

 Increases in other fees in the bill will generate $158 million
to the federal treasury in the next five years and will yield
even more to states and local governments in payroll and other
tax revenues as mines come into operation.

 Radical environmental groups -- most of which are headquartered
outside Nevada -- seek the complete outsourcing of Nevada's
mining industry ... and the jobs and revenue they provide our
state. I prefer to keep these high-paying jobs in Nevada.

 These groups also cherish the fact that the federal government
controls more than 85 percent of Nevada. Such federal control
over Nevada is harmful to our state and our citizens (Yucca
Mountain comes to mind as a prime example).

 This boils down to the major philosophical dispute seen all
over the West ... that the federal government -- based 2,600
miles from Nevada -- knows best how to manage our lands better
than we do. I disagree. I always have and I always will.

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 33 BYU NewsNet: Court denies to hear waste case
 
The Daily Universe

By Bonnie Boyd  Daily Universe Staff Reporter - 6 Dec 2005
 		   	 	
The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear Utah's petition Monday,
leaving in tact the lower court's decision that the state does
not have the authority to make laws regulating nuclear waste in
Utah. 

The state of Utah appealed to reinstate laws to block the
nuclear waste facility out of the Skull Valley Goshute Indian
Reservation. 

The state's battle against some members of Skull Valley Band of
Goshute and other private companies has been going on for more
than a year now.

 In February, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that
Utah didn't have authority to regulate nuclear waste. Utah then
appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, but without comment the
court refused to hear the case.

 The Supreme Court usually agrees to take cases that are of
enormous public importance, said John Fee, associate law
professor at BYU.

 "I'm sure they didn't reject it lightly," Fee said. "But they
get so many cases these days the presumption is that they won't
take it unless someone can present a very good reason why they
should."

 Out of the thousands of requests the court receives, they only
hear 70 or 80 cases over the course of a year, Fee said.

After The Nuclear Regulatory Commission granted the license for
the proposed waste site to Private Fuel Storage, state attorneys
and other of the members of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes
argued in courts that the NRC did not have the authority to
grant the license because of the state law.

 The state wrote a law from 1998 to 2001 prohibiting the
transportation or storage of spent fuel rods in Utah.

 "The bill I sign today represents our commitment to block the
storage of high-level nuclear waste in Utah," said previous Utah
Governor Mike Leavitt in March 2001 to The Associated Press. The
bill banned high-level nuclear waste from coming into Utah.

 A month later, some members of Skull Valley Band of Goshutes
and other private companies interested in the storage site asked
a federal court to declare the Utah law unconstitutional. They
argued the law targeted Skull Valley directly and that the state
didn't want economic development in that area. Attorneys for
Utah said executives of Private Fuel Storage could not challenge
Utah's laws because it was not even entitled to the license
under federal law.

 However, the 10th Circuit upheld the lower courts' ruling. In a
3-0 decision, they said the Utah law was an infringement on
federal authority and deemed it unconstitutional.

 After the decision, Utah attorneys told The AP that if the
state lost in the 10th D.C. Circuit their only hope was to prove
the high risk of a plane or missile striking the site and
releasing radiation.

 The nearby Hill Air Force Base is the largest special use
airspace overland within the U.S. and the Utah Test and Training
Range provides the larges overland facility for aircrew training
and weapons testing. Stray missiles have hit near the proposed
site in the past.

 
Copyright, BYU NewsNet                                                           
*****************************************************************
 34 Platts: US Supreme Court won't review ruling on Utah nuke waste laws
 
http://nucweek.platts.com. 


Washington (Platts)--5Dec2005
 
The US Supreme Court Monday denied Utah's request to hear an 
appeal of a lower court ruling on a series of state statutes 
aimed at blocking the transportation and storage of spent nuclear 
fuel at a planned private storage facility about 50 miles outside 
of Salt Lake City. 

     The US 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the state 
laws in August 2004, saying the statutes were preempted by the 
Atomic Energy Act. Utah enacted the statutes between 1998 and 
2001 in response to the proposal to build a spent fuel storage 
facility by a consortium of utilities, Private Fuel Storage LLC 
(PFS). 

     Jay Silberg, a Washington attorney representing PFS, called 
the Supreme Court's rejection of Utah's petition for a writ of 
certiorari "big news" and said PFS was "obviously very pleased." 
For more information, take a trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at 
http://nucweek.platts.com.
 
Copyright © 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill 
Companies]   
*****************************************************************
 35 Pasadena Star-News: NASA agrees to pay for groundwater cleanup at JPL site

Article Launched: 12/06/2005 12:00:00 AM                                                        
		
  By Gary Scott Staff Writer   

  PASADENA - NASA, which operates the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
in La Ca ada Flintridge, has agreed to build a water treatment
plant to remove the toxic chemical perchlorate from four
Pasadena-owned wells. 

The City Council approved the agreement Monday night, setting
the stage for construction to begin sometime in 2007. 

"We are finally at the point where we can pop open the champagne
cork," said Councilwoman Joyce Streator, whose district includes
the wells. 

The agreement comes eight years after perchlorate was first
detected in the Monk Hill aquifer, and follows several years of
intensive negotiations in which city officials pressed NASA to
take responsibility for the contamination and pay to treat the
local groundwater. 

Pasadena has had to close nine wells in all because of
perchlorate contamination. 

City officials hope Monday's agreement signals a willingness on
NASA's part to pay for cleanup perchlorate contamination at a
second site, the Sunset basin, where five additional wells have
been taken out of service. 

"We are taking responsibility in an area where we know we've had
an impact," said Steve Slaten, remediation manager for NASA. He
noted that NASA continues to run tests to determine whether the
Sunset contamination is linked to the perchlorate dumped on the
Jet Propulsion Laboratory property decades ago. 

NASA recently started treating a perchlorate plume measuring 8
acres and 100 feet deep in the aquifer underlying JPL. The
chemical leached into the groundwater from disposal pits near
where rocket booster testing took place between the 1940s and
1960s. 

Perchlorate is an oxidizing agent used in solid rocket 
propellent. The chemical has been shown to disrupt normal thyroid 
function, with the greatest concern for pregnant women. 

City officials have been frustrated at the slow pace of
negotiations with NASA, and expressed dismay that NASA would
imply the perchlorate at the Sunset wells might come from
another source. 

"Who else keeps rocket fuel around here?" asked Councilman
Victor Gordo. 

According to the agreement, NASA will spend up to $4.9 million
to design and build a water treatment facility over the Monk
Hill basin, where the four wells are located. 

As recompense to the city for losing access to its groundwater
rights, NASA has agreed to pay $2 million to rehabilitate the
wells and another $400,000 a year for six years to help
subsidize the cost of pumping the water. 

Additionally, the agreement calls for NASA to pay up to $2
million a year to operate the treatment plant and reimburse the
city up to $900,000 a year to lease the plant. 

"This is a significant step forward," said Phyllis Currie,
general manager of Pasadena Water and Power, which operates the
wells. However, Currie said the slow progress on an agreement
has let the perchlorate plume continue to spread. 

gary.scott@sgvn.com

(626) 578-6300, EXT. 4458   
                  
Copyright Â© 2005 Pasadena Star-News 
Los Angeles Newspaper Group
*****************************************************************
 36 Salt Lake Tribune: Utah nuke case gets dumped by court 

Article Last Updated: 12/06/2005 12:40:22 AM 

By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune 

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court has declined to review a lower 
court's ruling striking down a series of Utah laws aimed at 
blocking a private high-level nuclear waste storage site in the 
state. 

The justices met Friday to consider Utah's appeal and 
announced Monday, without comment, that they would not hear 
arguments in the case. 

State officials said they had expected as much, even while 
hoping for a different outcome. 

"We had concluded our odds were fairly low on this," said 
Mike Lee, counsel to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. "The governor is 
disappointed by that, but not terribly surprised." 

Huntsman was in Washington on Monday, pressing the fight on 
another front - helping with last-minute lobbying on a provision 
seeking to block rail access to the proposed waste storage site. 
Leaders of House and Senate armed services committees are 
expected to decide the issue soon and the provision's fate 
remains uncertain. 

Sue Martin, spokeswoman for Private Fuel Storage, a group of 
electric utilities that wants to store 44,000 tons of spent 
nuclear fuel on the Skull Valley Indian reservation in Utah's 
west desert, said the company was relieved by the Supreme 
Court's announcement Monday. 

"We're very pleased," Martin said. "Hopefully this lays to 
rest this particular strategy that the state has tried over and 
over again, and we're glad that we don't have the specter of 
those punitive laws hanging over our heads." 

The case involves a series of changes to state law passed by 
the Utah Legislature between 1998 and 2001, aimed at blocking 
the PFS project. 

Among the provisions, the state laws required a spent 
nuclear fuel facility to clear a series of health and safety 
hurdles to be licensed by the state and imposed substantial 
licensing fees on such a facility - $5 million upfront, plus 
posting a bond of at least $2 billion. 

They also stripped Tooele County of ownership of the only 
road leading to the reservation, and required counties to either 
ban storage and transportation of spent nuclear fuel or adopt a 
comprehensive plan for land use and mitigation of any health 
effects. 

The laws were initially struck down by U.S. District Judge 
Tena Campbell in July 2002. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of 
Appeals upheld Campbell's ruling in April 2004, agreeing that 
Utah lawmakers overstepped their legal bounds by pre-empting the 
role of Congress and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 
regulating nuclear material under the Atomic Energy Act. 

Utah asked the Supreme Court to reconsider, arguing that the 
appeals court shouldn't have struck down the laws before they 
had been applied to a nuclear facility seeking a license. 

The Bush administration's solicitor general, Paul Clement, 
filed a brief in the case in September, arguing the court should 
not hear the case. That brief was a serious blow to Utah's case. 

The Supreme Court gets about 7,500 petitions to hear cases 
each year, but generally accepts about 100. It takes four of the 
nine justices voting to hear the case for the court to grant it 
a full review. 

What's ahead in the state's fight against PFS: 

The Interior Department must grant PFS permission to build a 
rail line across federal land to deliver waste to the 
reservation. Before that can happen, the Air Force is required 
to complete a study on the impacts of the waste dump on the Air 
Force's nearby Utah Test and Training Range. 

Congress is considering a provision that would create a 
wilderness area near the reservation and take other steps to 
prohibit the rail line to the reservation. PFS has said it would 
force them to truck waste to the site. 

The state and members of the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes 
filed a lawsuit last month in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit challenging the Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission's decision to approve the PFS license. 

The Interior Department, in its role as trustee for American 
Indians, must give final approval to the lease agreement between 
PFS and the Skull Valley Band. 

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid has proposed a plan to 
keep waste at the nuclear reactors that produced it until it can 
be reprocessed. It has the support of Utah's governor and 
congressional delegation, with the exception of Sen. Orrin 
Hatch. 

Â© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 37 NRC: Notice of Availability of Documents Regarding Spent Fuel 
 
                         FR Doc E5-6892 
[Federal Register: December 6, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 233)] 
[Notices] [Page 72681-72682] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr06de05-70]                         
 
Transportation Package Response to the Baltimore Tunnel Fire 
Scenario AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Notice of availability.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Allen Hansen, Thermal Engineer, 
Criticality, Shielding and Heat Transfer Section, Spent Fuel 
Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, 
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20005-0001. 
Telephone: (301) 415- 1390; fax number: (301) 415-8555; e-mail: 
agh@nrc.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction Under contract with 
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), the Pacific Northwest 
National Laboratory prepared the draft NUREG/CR-6886 report, 
``Spent Fuel Transportation Package Response to the Baltimore 
Tunnel Fire (BTF) Scenario.'' The BTF was chosen for the study 
because it represents a severe historical accident, even though 
it is a very low frequency event. This NUREG/CR documents the 
thermal analyses of three different spent fuel transportation 
packages exposed to the BTF scenario: Transnuclear's TN-68, 
Holtec's HI-STAR 100 and the NAC's LWT.
 
To date comments have been received from the State of Nevada, 
Office of the Governor, Agency For Nuclear Projects and the 
Western Interstate Energy Board. These comments do not need to be 
re-submitted.
 
The format of this NUREG/CR has been modified since original 
posting on the NRC Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html in September 2005. The 
modified draft NUREG/CR is now posted on the NRC Web site at the 
following URLs: 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/docs4comment 
.html. 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/contract/cr6 
886/.
 
These links include access to the formal comment template.
 
The results of this study strongly indicate that neither spent 
nuclear fuel (SNF) particles nor fission products would be 
released from a spent fuel shipping cask involved in a severe 
tunnel fire such as the Baltimore Tunnel Fire. None of the three 
cask designs analyzed for the Baltimore Tunnel fire scenario 
experienced internal temperatures that would result in rupture of 
the fuel cladding. Therefore, the radioactive material (i.e., SNF 
particles or fission products) would be retained within the fuel 
rods.
 
For two of the casks, the TN-68 and the NAC-LWT, the maximum 
temperatures experienced in the regions of the lid, vent and 
drain ports exceeded the seals' rated service temperatures, 
making it possible to get a small release from the CRUD \1\ that 
might spall off of the surfaces of the fuel rods. However, any 
release is expected to be very small due to a number of factors. 
These include: (1) The tight clearances maintained between the 
lid and cask body; (2) the low pressure differential between the 
cask interior and the outside; (3) the tendency of the small 
clearances to plug; and (4) the tendency of CRUD particles to 
settle or plate out. The potential releases calculated in Chapter 
8 for the TN-68 rail cask and the NAC-LWT truck cask indicate 
that the release of CRUD from either cask, if any, would be very 
small. There would be no release from the HI-STAR 100 because the 
inner welded canister remains leak tight.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \1\ CRUD is an abbreviation of Chalk River Unknown 
Deposit, a generic term for various residues deposited on fuel 
rod surfaces, originally coined by Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. 
to describe deposits observed on fuel removed from the test 
reactor at Chalk River.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- II. Summary The purpose of this notice is to provide 
the public an opportunity to review and comment on the Draft 
NUREG/CR-6886 thermal analyses, the consequence analyses and the 
conclusions.
 
III. Further Information The draft NUREG/CR can also be viewed at 
the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site you can 
access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System 
(ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public 
documents. The ADAMS accession number for the edited (format 
only) NUREG is ML053200024. This file is in ``black and white.'' 
The original draft is in color and can be accessed at the 
following accession numbers: 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
------- NUREG/CR Files                    ADAMS accession No.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
------- Spent Fuel Transportation Package          ML052500391 
Response to the Baltimore Tunnel Fire Scenario.
 
Appendix A--Material Properties for COBRA- ML052490246 SFS Model 
of TN-68 Package.
 
Appendix B--Material Properties for ANSYS  ML052490258 Model of 
HI-STAR 100 Package.
 
Appendix C--Material Properties for ANSYS  ML052490264 Model of 
Legal Weight Truck Package.
 
Appendix D--Blackbody View Factors for     ML052490268 COBRA-SFS 
Model of TN-68 Package.
 
Appendix E--HOLTEC HI-STAR 100 Component   ML052490270 
Temperature Distributions.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
-------
 
[[Page 72682]] If you do not have access to ADAMS or if there are 
problems in accessing the document, you may contact the NRC 
Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 
301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. This document may also 
be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the 
NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy 
documents for a fee. Comments and questions on draft 
NUREG/CR-6886 should be entered in the comment box (see URLs 
above) or directed to the NRC contact listed below by December 
30, 2005. Comments received after this date will be considered if 
it is practical to do so, but assurance of consideration cannot 
be given to comments received after this date.
 
Contact: Allen Hansen, Thermal Engineer, Criticality, Shielding 
and Heat Transfer Section, Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of 
Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20005-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-1390; 
fax number: (301) 415-8555; e-mail: agh@nrc.gov. Dated at 
Rockville, Maryland this 30th day of November, 2005.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
M. Wayne Hodges, Deputy Director, Technical Review Directorate, 
Spent Fuel Project Office, Office of Nuclear Material Safety and 
Safeguards.
 
[FR Doc. E5-6892 Filed 12-5-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 38 Deseret News: Utah loses nuclear waste round
 
[deseretnews.com] 

Tuesday, December 6, 2005                                

Justices won't hear case aimed at blocking PFS 	 		 		 By

Suzanne Struglinski

Deseret Morning News                          

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied Utah's 
request to hear its case involving state laws designed to 
regulate and tax the proposed Private Fuel Storage nuclear waste 
storage site.

       This was the state's last chance in this portion of its
fight against the site. The state's laws may not be able to
block it, but Denise Chancellor, an assistant attorney general,
said there are "still a number of avenues" the state can take to
attempt to block the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies
from storing its spent nuclear fuel on the Goshutes' Skull
Valley land in Tooele County.

       Between 1998 and 2001, in an attempt to discourage the
project, the state passed several laws to regulate and tax the
40,000 tons of used nuclear fuel slated to go to the PFS site.

       But a federal judge in Salt Lake City struck down the
laws, ruling that federal law pre-empts state laws in matters of
nuclear safety. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the
ruling, and Monday's decision by the Supreme Court not to hear
the case keeps the laws unenforceable.

       Chancellor said the high court doesn't explain why it
won't hear cases, and the denial does not mean the court sided
with Utah or the federal government, which strongly urged the
court to deny the state's request. Chancellor said the court
gets thousands of requests a year to hear cases but only accepts
less than 100.

       "It was a long shot," she said.

       PFS spokesman Sue Martin said the decision was important
for the company. "It wasn't a comfortable situation to have
those laws hanging over our heads."

       There are still other challenges to PFS's plans, however,
including the issuing of a license from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to the company. Although the license has been
approved, the state has asked the federal Circuit Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia to review that decision.

       That license approval was much more important because
"that was where the state could ask us all of the tough
questions, and we had to prove that the facility could be
operated safely," Martin said. "This (Supreme Court refusal to
hear the case) is another hurdle we're glad to have behind us,
because it cost us and the people of Utah a lot of money."

       Other so-called hurdles include approval by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs of the lease for the land on the Goshute
Reservation and approval from the Bureau of Land Management for
a land withdrawal to build a railroad line that would bring
canisters of nuclear waste to the site.

       Chancellor said these options still keep the legal fight
alive for the state.

       Congressional action may also help.

       Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Utah, is still working to keep
language in the defense authorization bill that would designate
100,000 acres of land as wilderness and effectively block the
nuclear waste storage site.

       The Senate is in recess, but staff members can still work
on details for the bill. It was not clear Monday when the final
version of the bill would be complete.

Contributing: Josh Loftin

 E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com      			  		 		   

© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company 	 		 			 		 	 [ /] 
*****************************************************************
 39 Morning Sun: Legal action could leave S.L. cleanup tab for feds, state
to pick up

PUBLISHED: Tuesday, December 6, 2005                            

By MSun Staff Writer

Hopes that American International Group Inc. would provide some 
timely cleanup dollars for sites in and around St. Louis were 
dealt a blow.

The Pine River Superfund Task Force expected AIG to provide
partial funding for not only the river cleanup but also the
chemical plant site and an area known as Breckenridge site,
where radioactive material was buried by the chemical operators.

 "This is the big money we've all been waiting for,“ task force
chairwoman Jane Keon said Monday.

 Without AIG's money, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality are
expected to pickup the tab. This could jeopardize a remediation
plan, in the process of being drafted, to tackle the plant site.

 An AIG subsidiary known as American International Specialty
Lines Insurance Co. has filed suit in Chicago federal court to
block a $100 million payout from a pollution liability policy to
cover cleanup costs at Velsicol Chemical Co. sites in New
Jersey, Illinois, Tennessee, and the costliest one, the St.
Louis project.

 DEQ has been scrambling to meet an AIG deadline.

 For the last two years, EPA and DEQ officials have collected
data that identified substances buried at the plant site and a
burn pit area across the river. Their goal was to issue a
detailed remediation plan in time to satisfy AIG.

 Negotiations with AIG and the custodial trust that holds title
to the seven sites and oversees cleanup activities, Keon said.
One of the trustees would not comment for this story due to
pending litigation.

 Late last week Keon and task force members Murray Borrello,
director of environmental studies, and Melissa Strait, chemistry
professor, both at Alma College, met with officials of the
trust, environmental engineers hired by AIG, EPA and DEQ
officials. The entourage toured the contaminated areas.

 "I told them that they were using up our trust money to fight
this lawsuit,“ Keon said. "I told them that it's time for the
insurance settlement to be paid. They owe us this money and it's
time to pay out.“

 Keon asked that AIG pay to replace two water wells in St. Louis
where low levels of the contaminant pCBSA was present, pay to
finish the cleanup of the Breckenridge site and pay whatever
money was left to the plant site.

 According to the Crain report, AISLIC contends that the Pine
River is not part of the insured St. Louis plant site and is not
covered. That a bankruptcy plan creating the trust neglected to
notify AISLIC of any environmental agreements.

 The article went on to point out that Velsicol has been
embroiled since 1997 in litigation with numerous insurers in an
Illinois state court over coverage of various properties. 					
				 				 
| © 2005 Morning Sun 
*****************************************************************
 40 Telegraph: BNFL five years from extinction, says chief
 
Gordon Campbell said BNFL was weeks away from agreeing outline
terms for the £1billion sale of its US-subsidiary Westinghouse,
after whittling down the number of bidders from 15 to four. 

Mr Campbell also said he hoped that opposition from unions in
the UK would not provide an obstacle to the sale of its UK
business, British Nuclear Group (BNG). 

Asked if BNFL would be here in a year's time, he said:

"Regulatory authorities will still be clearing Westinghouse this
time next year. But in five years time - not." 

Four companies are in the running to buy Westinghouse:

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Toshiba, General Electric and Shaw
Group. One will be awarded "preferred bidder status" next month
with a sale to be agreed some time in the following 12 months. 

Westinghouse, which was bought by BNFL for $1.1billion in 1999,
made profits before interest and tax of £43m on total sales of
£1.1billion in last year. The business, which has its
headquarters in Pittsburgh, employs 8,000 staff worldwide. 

BNFL is also "minded" to pursue a sale of BNG, which maintains
the safety of Britain's nuclear stations, although a final
decision is unlikely until the new year. "BNG will not be until
the new year," Mr Campbell said. BNG's future is at stake
because the Government wants to award up to 20 contracts to
clean up nuclear sites around the UK. Bidding is due to begin on
half of them by 2008. 

BNFL believes that BNG has more of a chance of winning these
contracts as part of a bigger group rather than having to
competing on its own. 

He said: "Most of these big contracts are bidding in consortia.

It is because very few companies have the skills required to
compete successfully." Mr Campbell favours an outright sale,
rather than a public-private partnership or allowing the
Governnment to keep hold of a stake. 

He said: "I don't see there is much point in it when it will
probably ultimately lead to a total sale. It is only a halfway
house." Any sale of BNG relies on approvals from the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, which has announced its own strategic
review and is consulting on the sale, and the Nuclear
Inspectorate. 

The final call will be taken by Alan Johnson, the trade and
industry secretary on advice from the Government's "shareholder
executive". Mr Johnson is understood to be keen for BNFL to get
the unions representing BNG's 12,000-strong workforce to sign up
to any sale first. 

Mr Campbell said he was confident of unions' support: "I don't
expect massive union opposition. They are concerned about the
pensions and employment issues." 

The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency is trying to set up an
"industry wide" pension scheme and transfer existing BNG workers
from Government and Central Electricity Generating Board
schemes. 

Those talks are unlikely to be resolved until the middle of next
year. "It will take some time. It will have to be a private
sector scheme and will transfer to which ever bidder wins the
contract," he said. 

6 December 2005: Comment  

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005. Terms &Conditions
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 41 AU ABC: SA Govt rejects using Vic waste dump. 

06/12/2005. ABC News Online

The South Australian Government has ruled out the possibility of
using a proposed toxic waste dump in Victoria to store its own
waste.

 Democrats' candidate for the SA Riverland seat of Chaffey,
Graham McNaughton, yesterday called on the Government and
Opposition to guarantee they would not use the facility.

 He claimed the dump, planned for Nowingi near Mildura in
north-west Victoria, could be an attractive and cost-effective
alternative for the Government.

 But Environment Minister John Hill says the Government has
never considered using the dump.

 "If a Nowingi dump is built, we won't use it, but we will work
with the local community to make sure that any threat to the
River Murray is fought and any concerns about the Nowingi dump
will be faced by us in a vigorous way in the same way that we
were able to fight the Commonwealth Government over the nuclear
waste dump in South Australia," he said. 


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 42 Bradenton Herald: Motion filed on Tallevast court venue

| 12/06/2005 | 

Lockheed Martin pushes for case to go to federal court

 DONNA WRIGHT

 Herald Staff Writer

Lockheed Martin Corp. has submitted to state environmental
regulators its design for the first phase of cleaning up
groundwater contamination stemming from the former Loral
American Beryllium Co. plant at 1600 Tallevast Road. 

The design calls for four extraction wells on the company site.
Those wells will pump contaminated water out of the ground. 

A modular treatment unit will cleanse the water of chlorinated
contaminates and 1,4 dioxane present in the groundwater. The
treated water would then be discharged into the Manatee County
sewer system. 

The plan calls for extensive monitoring and reporting. 

The proposed array of extraction wells will provide on-site
hydraulic containment over the majority of the site, as well as
some degree of plume control off-site in the general directions
north and east of the source area along Tallevast Road and 17th
Street Court East, the Lockheed letter states. 

Two extraction wells will be centered within the zone of highest
contaminant concentration to promote source area mass removal,
according to the plan design. 

These remedial activities are not the final remedy, Lockheed
says in its letter to DEP. Instead the remedial plan will be
implemented in parallel with ongoing site assessment necessary
to develop the final remedial plan to clean up the plume. 

Lockheed expects to submit the complete interim remedial plan to
DEP on Dec. 16. 

Visit HeraldToday.com to see the map of the extraction wells. 

- Donna Wright 

TALLEVAST - In the latest legal volley over alleged damages from
underground pollution in south Manatee County, attorneys for
Lockheed Martin Corp. filed a counter motion to keep Tallevast
residents' lawsuit against the company in federal court. 

The defense giant's attorneys cite 56 examples of case law, two
federal statutes, three Florida statutes, two treatises and the
Federal Register to back up their claims to be heard in the
Tampa federal court. 

Now Judge Elizabeth A. Kovachevich of the U.S. Middle District
Court, Tampa division, must decide whether the suit stays there
or returns to the 12th Judicial Court in Manatee County, where
it was filed Sept. 1. 

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of 254 Tallevast residents, claims
a toxic plume of underground pollution stemming from a broken
sump at the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant has
damaged their property and caused emotional stress and injury. 

Lockheed filed a motion to move the case to federal court on
Oct. 6, and reiterated that with another filing Friday. The
defense giant argues that Tallevast attorney Bruce H. Denson of
St. Petersburg included WPI Sarasota Division Inc. among the
defendants - which had nothing to do with the contamination -
just to qualify the suit for state court. 

The other defendants - Loral Corp., WirePro Inc. and BECSD LLC,
a limited holding company that now owns the former beryllium
plant - are located outside of Florida. Therefore, Lockheed
attorneys argue, the case should be heard in federal court. 

Lockheed also argues that Loral American Beryllium Co.
effectively worked as an agent of the federal government because
it had contracts with the departments of Defense and Energy, as
well as the U.S. military. 

The latest motion describes in detail the work performed at the
beryllium plant, citing testimony from George Allen, the former
president, and Ferdinand Thompson, another Loral official. 

Allen said Loral supplied components for use in the guidance
systems of the Minuteman and MX Peacekeeper missiles for the
U.S. Air Force and the Poseidon, Trident and Polaris
sub-machined launched missiles for the Navy. 

Loral also supplied beryllium components for the federal
government's nuclear reactors and weapons, the motion states,
including components for a nuclear reactor design and testing
facility in Idaho. Loral's role as a supplier was so crucial to
the U.S. government, that it developed a separate facility on
the Tallevast site for the military's highly classified "Q"
work. 

State court argument 

In a counter motion filed Nov. 10, Denson and Tallevast's legal
team asked the federal judge to send the case back to state
court, claiming that Lockheed's arguments did not meet the test
of case law. Denson argued that WPI Sarasota Division, as the
current operator of the site, is a Florida entity. 

Moreover, the hazardous chemicals and substances historically
used and disposed of at the site continue to spread, studies
have found. 

Denson also takes issue with Lockheed's claim that it has a
right to have the case heard in federal court because the
beryllium plant did contract work for the federal government. 

Those government contracts, Denson argues, did not direct
Lockheed to engage in improper handling of hazardous waste or to
fail to timely inform residents of that their properties were
polluted. 

Although Lockheed never operated the Tallevast plant, the
defense giant owned the facility in 2000, when it discovered the
toxic spill during preparations to sell the property to WPI. 

Although Lockheed informed Manatee County government officials
and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection,
residents did not learn of the pollution until October 2003,
when they questioned the presence of drilling rigs and
inspectors in their community. 

Federal court argument 

In the latest motion filed by Lockheed on Friday, Lockheed
attorneys argue that WPI has no standing as a defendant because
the company is simply the tenant of record currently operating
the site. 

Because WPI had no part in the operations of the beryllium plant
and no part in producing the toxic spill, it cannot be
considered the Florida entity that would keep the case in state
court, the motion says. 

Lockheed attorneys reassert their claim that the defense giant
has standing in federal court because the beryllium plant did
work as a contractor and subcontractor for the federal
government, citing testimony from two former Loral officials. 

"LABC (Loral American Beryllium Co.) was required by the U.S.
government to use and handle beryllium, and to clean parts by
using degreasing solvents, including the solvents identified in
the complaint," the motion states. "The U.S. government, through
its officials who inspected and oversaw LABC's activities, was
aware of LABC's methods of use and handling of degreasing
solvents and approved of them." 

The work, Lockheed attorneys contend, was done under the
watchful eye of federal agencies that dictated how materials
were to be used, handled and disposed. 

That role, Lockheed attorneys say, creates the link between the
company and federal government that qualifies the case to be
heard in federal court. 

But Denson dismissed Lockheed's latest motion as without merit. 

"I don't think it says much that we didn't anticipate it
saying," Denson said Monday in a phone interview. "We have
alleged claims under Florida statutes, and we think we are
entitled to be heard in a Florida court. We have claims against
a Florida defendant and those should be allowed to be heard in a
federal court." 

Denson said Lockheed's claim of federal immunity holds no water. 

The advantage of a state court venue, Denson said, is that the
case will be heard in the clients' backyard. 

"That would mean it would be heard in the county where the
contamination occurred," said Denson. "That would be much more
convenient for our clients if they want to appear in court or to
follow the litigation rather than going all of the way to
Tampa." 

Venue pros, cons 

Meredith Rouse Davis, Lockheed spokeswoman, said the defense
giant's lead attorney was out of the country and could not be
reached for comment. 

Denson said Tallevast attorneys would most likely wait for the
judge's ruling rather than filing any answer to Lockheed's
latest motion. 

"If we have to go to Tampa to try the case, we will go to
Tampa," Denson said. "Either way, we have a good case, but it
would be to our advantage to have it heard where it occurred." 

Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be
reached at 745-7049 or at . -->   

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 43 LA Daily News: Grand jury probing field lab

Article Launched: 12/06/2005 12:00:00 AM                                                        
               
  By Kerry Cavanaugh, Staff Writer   

  Boeing Co. officials revealed Monday that a federal grand jury
is investigating the Santa Susana Field Lab and has subpoenaed
records monitoring storm-water pollution leaving the site. 

Company officials did not provide details, but said a grand jury
had demanded documents relating to the locations where storm
water and wastewater are discharged from the former nuclear and
rocket-testing laboratory, owned by Boeing. 

The company monitors the creeks and waterways that drain water
from the property in order to detect contamination and prevent
it from flowing into the Los Angeles River and Arroyo Simi. 

Boeing is cooperating with authorities, spokeswoman Inger
Hodgson said. 

"In 55 years of operation at the Santa Susana Field Lab, the
company has made every effort to comply with existing
regulations and has made every effort to cooperate with
regulators." 

Officials with the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Federal Bureau
of Investigation would not confirm or deny whether they are the
source of the federal inquiry. 

The field laboratory has been operating since the 1950s, when it
contracted with the U.S. Department of Defense to conduct
nuclear research. The company also contracted with NASA and the
Department of Defense for research and rocket-engine testing. 

The site is now under a federally ordered environmental cleanup,
with the U.S. Department of Energy overseeing the nuclear
decontamination and the California Department of Toxic
Substances Control supervising the chemical cleanup. 

Contaminants found in the lab soil and in wastewater ponds on
the property include highly toxic dioxins, heavy metals and
mercury. 

In the past seven years, Boeing has racked up nearly 100
regulation violations for tainted water leaving the site, and
the company paid a $39,000 fine in 2002. 

Earlier this year, Boeing settled a lawsuit filed by residents
of the San Fernando and Simi valleys who say they were sickened
by toxics released at Santa Susana - though Boeing denied any
harm. 

News of the grand jury investigation came as California water
regulators crack down on the lab for some 40 violations of its
storm-water permit since July 2004. 

Last week, the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board 
ordered Boeing to prevent pollutants from getting into the 
waterways, and the board is preparing another order this week. 

Executive Director Jonathan Bishop said the water-quality board
gave Boeing two notices of violations this year detailing toxins
and heavy metals flowing from the property, but that the company
hasn't done enough to fix the problems. 

"They are not a normal, run-of-the-mill site, and they are
expected to have a very stringent monitoring program," Bishop
said. 

Boeing received a new water permit in 2004, and company
officials have complained that limits are extremely strict and
sometimes penalize the lab for chemicals found at levels below
background concentrations in the area. They also have said
wildfires in 2003 dropped ash on the property, and that caused
some violations. In addition, Hodgson said, this past winter
brought record rainfall and more erosion. 

"Generally, our permit exceedances since 2004 have been below
drinking-water standards and do not pose a risk to surrounding
communities," Hodgson said. 

Environmental watchdogs said they were glad that water
regulators were finally enforcing state law, but were frustrated
that Boeing has not been fined or penalized for violating laws
meant to protect fish and wildlife along the region's waterways. 

"I keep waiting for teeth," said Dan Hirsch of the Committee to
Bridge the Gap. 

"This is a multibillion-dollar company for whom it is much
cheaper to violate pollution laws than comply. I'm waiting for
regulators to make this significantly more costly so that Boeing
will stop polluting its neighbors." 

Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746 

Los Angeles Newspaper Group 
    
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
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have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
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