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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 RITTER: WHAT HAPPENED TO IRAQ'S WMD
2 ElBaradei: No 'smoking gun' in Iran
3 IRNA: MP terms West's outlook on Iran's nuclear dossier as biased -
4 IRNA: Completion of Bushehr powerplant is a priority for Russia
5 AFP: US wants 'informal' six-nation NKorea talks Dec 19
6 AFP: US stands firm as North Korea threatens boycott of nuclear talk
7 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Rebukes N. Korea's Boycott Threats
8 US: Public Citizen: Federal Government Withholds Information About N
9 Times of India: 'India must make its N-plan transparent'-
10 AFP: US Congress threatens to throw out any 'opaque' nuclear deal wi
11 UK: News & Star: Ł20M boost to nuclear training
12 Guardian Unlimited: Bright idea
NUCLEAR REACTORS
13 [NukeNet] Fuel Unloaded From Chernobyl Reactor
14 US: NRC: NRC Assigns New Senior Resident Inspector to Hope Creek Nu
15 US: Platts: Calvert Cliffs using air in cask drying
16 Energy Business Review: Nuclear power: a return to planning? -
17 SA Sunday Times: PBMR signs deal with Mitsubishi
18 Xinhua: IAEA launches first cooperation center in Hangzhou
19 US: NRC: Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability
20 US: NRC: Final Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
21 AU ABC: Sydney nuclear reactor consultation nears end.
22 The Australian: Nuke watchdog dreaming
23 Sydney Morning Herald: Doctors warn against nuclear industry
NUCLEAR SECURITY
NUCLEAR SAFETY
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
24 US: [NukeNet] HLW Reprocessing
25 US: ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Process may kill radiation threat
26 AU ABC: Senate vote won't end dump fight
27 US: Deseret News: Goshute group's attorney must pay bank $11,000
28 US: RIA Novosti: Greenpeace activists attempt to stop Russian uraniu
29 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: DOE doubles rural rail cost estim
30 US: Salt Lake Tribune: A.F. boss backs plan to block Utah N-dump
31 AU ABC: Senate to vote on NT waste dump
32 US: Deseret News: Nuclear waste attack may work
33 Las Vegas SUN: Estimated cost of Yucca Mountain railroad raised to $
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
34 Seattle Times: U.S. unveils report on problems at Hanford
35 Cincinnati ENQUIRER: Worker to go inside waste silo at Fernald
36 lamonitor.com: Sandia security incident revisited
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 RITTER: WHAT HAPPENED TO IRAQ'S WMD
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 12:57:59 -0600 (CST)
X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=15&ItemID=9271
WHAT HAPPENED TO IRAQ'S WMD
HOW POLITICS CORRUPTS INTELLIGENCE
San Francisco Chronicle December 06, 2005
BY SCOTT RITTER
Scott Ritter is a former U.N. weapons inspector in Iraq (1991-98) and is
the author of Iraq Confidential: The Untold Story of the Intelligence
Conspiracy to Undermine the UN and Overthrow Saddam Hussein, with an
introduction by Seymour Hersh (Nation Books, 2005).
=====================
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.
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2 ElBaradei: No 'smoking gun' in Iran
Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2005 08:00:08 -0600 (CST)
X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127
Dec. 6, 2005
Updated Dec. 7, 2005
The Jerusalem Post
www.jpost.com
ElBaradei: No 'smoking gun' in Iran
By
DAVID HOROVITZ
LONDON
The International Atomic Energy Agency has found no "smoking gun" in Iran
that would indicate a nuclear weapons program, Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei, the
director-general of the IAEA, told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. At the
same time, however, he acknowledged that, until three years ago, Teheran
maintained an undeclared nuclear program for 18 years, which the IAEA failed
to detect.
ElBaradei said there was now "lots of speculation" about an Iranian drive to
nuclear weapons capability. But "we try to work on the basis of facts," he
said. And the facts, he said in response to a question from the Post, were
that "we haven't seen a smoking gun in Iran. We haven't seen an underground
production enrichment facility. We haven't seen enough materials in Iran,
other than gram quantities, to put into a weapon."
Asked about Israel's concerns over a nuclear-armed Iran, and the issue of
whether Israel might have to resort to force as a last resort to thwart Iran
going nuclear, ElBaradei made no direct comment about the use of force. He
stressed, however, that the IAEA sought to continue "to work through our
verification [process], through our diplomacy."
Elbaradei was answering questions after giving a speech entitled
"Reflections on Nuclear Challenges Today" at the International Institute for
Strategic Studies in London. In that address, he said he hoped his agency
would be able to reach definitive conclusions about the nature of Iran's
nuclear program within a year.
ElBaradei, who along with the IAEA received this year's Nobel peace prize,
said his agency had spent the past three years filling in the "puzzle" of
Iran's long-concealed program. "We have done a lot of the work," and found
"most of the pieces" of the puzzle, he said, but there were still "a number
of open questions" about that program, which had relied heavily on black
market supplies.
More transparency and pro-active cooperation was required from Teheran to
"clear" its past. For instance, he said, the IAEA needed access to military
sites, the right to interview key people, and to see certain vital
documents.
In a talk in which he set out a phased program which could reduce the global
nuclear threat if there were sufficient international support, he
nonetheless presented a stark reality of widening proliferation of nuclear
weapons and technology, clandestine procurement networks and "sluggishness"
in nuclear disarmament. Given the scale of the threats and the deficient
international will to counter them effectively, he said, "One may
legitimately ask whether we are a world in denial."
Having acknowledged the IAEA's failure to detect Iran's nuclear energy
program more rapidly, he noted that the agency was immensely hampered by a
tiny budget of just $120 million per year. With these "shoestring"
resources, it was nevertheless expected to "oversee approximately 900
nuclear facilities in 71 countries. We are only as effective as we are
allowed to be," he said.
In answering the Post's questions, he said "Iran might have the capacity to
enrich uranium if it starts the enrichment facilities there. But that's
where the international community asks Iran to reconsider, or at least to
continue to suspend enrichment, because that brings Iran close [to a nuclear
weapons capability]." There was no urgent reason for Iran to lift that
suspension of the enrichment process, he said, and so long as the suspension
remained in force there would be an opportunity for a negotiated solution.
-----------
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1132475695339&pagename=JPost%2FJP
Article%2FShowFull
======
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3 IRNA: MP terms West's outlook on Iran's nuclear dossier as biased -
Dec 7, IRNA
Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Chairman
Alaeddin Boroujerdi said here Wednesday that the outlook of West
on Iran's nuclear dossier is political and biased.
Speaking at the nuclear conference held at Tehran Azad
University, he added that the West can hardly accept Iran's
potential for access to indigenous nuclear technology accounting
for the national independence.
"The West has launched an extensive psychological warfare
against Iran in the field of nuclear issue to attract the
attention of the world public opinion. Conscious resistance
aiming to protect the country's legal and international rights
is the only way to abort such attempts.
"Given the limited oil reserves, access to and promotion of
nuclear know-how as a reliable substitute for the future is
quite vital. We should proceed in such a way that we would not
be ashamed of the future generation," he added.
Boroujerdi noted that under the present conditions, there is no
need to make rush decisions rather any relevant activities
should continue within the framework of the Safeguard Agreement
and the UN nuclear watchdog regulations.
"At present, fulfillment of nuclear goals is the most important
duty, which should be proceeded consciously and through unity,"
he added.
Saying that no official proposal on transferring the nuclear
fuel cycle to any other country has so far been received, he
noted Iran's prerequisite for completing the nuclear cycle in
Iran and other countries simultaneously under international
supervision.
In response to a question about the approach of the former
Iranian nuclear negotiating team, he said that at that time if
leniency in policies did not take place, confidence building on
the international scene would have been impossible.
Concerning the propaganda against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
in the international community and its impact on the country's
nuclear dossier, Boroujerdi said that Iran's nuclear activities
is a national issue and beyond the governments.
"As a consulting body, the National Security Council is
involved in drawing up the policy governing the nuclear strategy
and members from various state organizations are included in it.
"Despite the great volume of propaganda raised against the new
government by the major Western media, the approach of world
countries to the issue is gradually being revised after getting
acquainted with the actual structure of the government.
*****************************************************************
4 IRNA: Completion of Bushehr powerplant is a priority for Russia
Moscow, Dec 7, IRNA
Iran-Russia-Nuclear
The new head of Russia Atomic Agency Sergei Kirienko said here
Wednesday the speedy completion of Bushehr nuclear powerplant is
a priority in Moscow's relations with Tehran.
Kirienko, also the head of Iran-Moscow Economic and Technical
Cooperation Commission, in a meeting with several Iranian
officials including, Ambassador to Russia Qolamreza Ansari as
well as Deputy heads of Iran Atomic Energy Agency Mohammad
Saeedi and Assadollah Sabouri stressed on cooperation with Iran
in oil, gas, aerospace, north-south corridor and notably nuclear
energy for peaceful use.
"The primary aim of Moscow is to establish the underpinnings of
a long-term and principled ties with Tehran," he added.
The Iranian ambassador congratulated Kirienko on his
appointment as the new head of Russia Atomic Energy Agency and
head of Iran-Russia Economic and Technical Cooperation
Commission.
He further pointed to the need for cooperation in oil and gas
via participation in joint projects, gas swaps and laying of
pipelines, north-south corridor by activation of Caspian Sea
ports and joint projects in third countries in all areas
including electricity generating powerplants.
Ansari also reviewed the current bilateral political and
economic relations and reiterated the need for using the two
nations' ample potentials to forge long-term plans.
Saeedi also said that Iran is keen for Russia to follow in
earnest the issues relating to the nuclear energy issues.
He also thanked Russia for its efforts in advancing the issue
of Iran's nuclear activities in the international arenas.
Saeedi also expressed confidence that Iran will continue on its
logical and prudent path.
Saeedi alluded to the September report of the head of
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saying Iran strives
to incorporate the concerns of the nuclear watchdog agency and
is ready to give assurances on the issue to preserve its right
to enrich uranium on its soil.
Sabouri also touched on the work in progress at the Bushehr
nuclear powerplant's various sections.
He further called on the Russia Atomic Energy Agency to exert
more supervision and control over the activities of the main
contractors of the powerplant in order to complete the project
on schedule.
Kirienko also said that Moscow is ready to participate in the
Tehran-Moscow Economic and Technical Commission sessions.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Iranian
nuclear case should be resolved within the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA).
He told reporters after meeting Indian Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh in Moscow that he believes that IAEA is capable of
resolving all the issues concerning Iranian nuclear program.
President Putin said in the meantime that he expects Iranian
officials to remain committed to their undertakings with the UN
nuclear watchdog.
He said that Russia would do its best to facilitate
negotiations on Iranian nuclear program with the participation
of more countries.
Russian president said that he and Indian prime minister
exchanged views about Iranian nuclear program.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India holds similar
stance as Russia about Iranian nuclear program.
"We hope that Iranian nuclear standoff to be settled within the
IAEA," Indian prime minister said.
*****************************************************************
5 AFP: US wants 'informal' six-nation NKorea talks Dec 19
Wed Dec 7, 1:13 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - The United States wants an "informal" meeting this
month in South Korea" /> South Koreaof the six nations
negotiating on North Korea" /> North Korea's nuclear program in
the wake of Pyongyang's threat to boycott talks.
North Korea has yet to respond to the proposal for the December
19 meeting of chief delegates on the South Korean resort island
of Jeju, Japan's main opposition leader Seiji Maehara was quoted
as saying in Washington.
Maehara said he was told of the proposal Tuesday by Jim Foster,
the director of the State Department's Office of Korean Affairs,
Kyodo News and Jiji Press said.
North Korea warned Tuesday it would stay away from the six-party
nuclear negotiations if the United States failed to lift
sanctions imposed on the country for circulating fake US
dollars.
But the US State Department said the legal action "isn't a
matter for negotiation" and should not be linked to the nuclear
issue.
The Japanese government also rejected the threat.
"It is unconstructive for North Korea to bring up an issue
outside the framework of the six-way negotiations and to try to
set up a precondition," said Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe,
the government spokesman.
The latest round of the six-nation talks ended three weeks ago
in Beijing in stalemate with North Korea accusing Washington of
breaching an agreement in which it agreed to dismantle its
nuclear weapons program in return for economic and diplomatic
benefits.
The negotiators agreed to resume the talks soon. "We want to
hold the next six nation talks in January," said Foster, the US
official, as quoted by Jiji Press.
"The setting of the six-way talks is important and continuing
communication is necessary," he said.
The six-way talks, launched after Washington in 2002 charged the
communist state was running a secret uranium-enrichment program,
include China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United
States.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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6 AFP: US stands firm as North Korea threatens boycott of nuclear talks
Wed Dec 7, 7:17 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - The United States branded North Korea" /> a
"criminal regime" and said it would maintain its crackdown on
the Stalinist state despite fears that US sanctions would derail
six-party nuclear disarmament talks.
US ambassador to South Korea" /> Alexander Vershbow on
Wednesday rejected North Korea's threat to boycott the talks and
said sanctions were imposed under US law because Pyongyang was
guilty of illicit activities ranging from weapons proliferation
and drug dealing to money laundering and counterfeiting.
"The United States is not going to negotiate over economic
sanctions that have been imposed in accordance with US law,"
Vershbow said in a speech to journalists. "This is a criminal
regime."
North Korea says the sanctions breach the spirit of a September
accord under which it agreed in principle to disband its nuclear
weapons program in return for economic and diplomatic benefits.
The North has threatened to boycott six-nation talks with the
United States, China, Japan, Russia and South Korea unless they
are lifted.
Vershbow, who replaced Christopher Hill -- now the chief US
nuclear negotiator with North Korea -- as ambassador seven weeks
ago, said North Korea's reaction showed that the sanctions were
hitting home.
He accused it of throwing up a hurdle to the six-way talks, in
stalemate after more than two years of on-off meetings.
"We are ready to negotiate the nuclear issue but right now it's
North Korea creating the artificial obstacle to the progress,"
he said. "Our enforcement of US law should not be used to hold
up the six-party talks."
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon insisted Wedneaday
that the sanctions issue should not affect the nuclear talks,
while urging the United States and North Korea to calm down.
"The countries concerned need to have the wisdom of showing
restraint in expressions about each other," Ban said on
returning home from his European tour.
The US Treasury Department" /> in September told US financial
institutions to stop dealing with Banco Delta Asia in Macau,
which it accused of being a willing front for North Korean
counterfeiting.
A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies
allegedly involved in the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction.
Pyongyang's alleged production and distribution of large amounts
of high-quality fake US bills is likely funding weapons
proliferation, the US Treasury says.
The US State Department offered to hold a briefing for Pyongyang
officials to explain the financial sanctions but North Korea
said it wanted negotiations on the matter instead, a request
Washington has refused.
Rodong Sinmun, the North's communist party newspaper which
serves as Pyongyang's official mouthpiece, said Tuesday
Washington's rejection of negotiations on the sanctions was
intended to disrupt the six-way talks.
"It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such
provocative sanctions applied by the US upon the DPRK (North
Korea)," it said in a commentary.
The latest nuclear standoff began in 2002 when the United States
accused North Korea of running a secret uranium-enrichment
programme.
The North responded by throwing out UN International Atomic
Energy Agency" /> weapons inspectors and abandoning the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The sanctions dispute illustrates differences in the US
administration which is operating two tracks on North Korea,
according to Charles Pritchard, a former US envoy on the North
Korean nuclear issue.
He said that while Hill was negotiating in good faith with North
Korea at six-party talks, a second track operated by US
undersecretary of state for arms control Robert Joseph was
imposing sanctions.
"What is unclear is whether or not the two tracks are well
coordinated," he said.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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7 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Rebukes N. Korea's Boycott Threats
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Wednesday December 7, 2005 4:31 AM
AP Photo SEL801
By KELLY OLSEN
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The United States delivered a stern
public rebuke to North Korea on Wednesday, ruling out any
negotiations over financial sanctions imposed on the communist
state.
The tough talk came one day after North Korea threatened to
boycott six-nation talks on eliminating its nuclear weapons
programs unless Washington lifts the sanctions imposed in
October.
Washington ``is not going to negotiate over economic sanctions
that have been imposed in accordance with U.S. law.,'' U.S.
Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow said in a speech.
``It's up to North Korea to end the behavior that led to those
sanctions.''
The United States targeted eight North Korean companies it said
acted as fronts for the proliferation of weapons of mass
destruction. The United States also suspects North Korea of
counterfeiting and money-laundering.
North Korea vehemently denies the allegations.
Sanctions were imposed because the North engaged in the ``export
of dangerous military technology, narcotics trafficking, money
laundering, the counterfeiting of U.S. currency and many other
illicit activities,'' Vershbow said.
``Our enforcement of U.S. law should not be used to hold up the
six-party talks.''
The North's official Rodong Sinmun newspaper made the threat to
suspend participation in the six-party talks in a commentary
carried Tuesday by the official Korean Central News Agency.
``It is impossible to resume the six-party talks under such
provocative sanctions applied by the U.S.'' on North Korea, the
commentary said.
A top Japanese government official said the threat was ``not
constructive.''
Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said North Korea's complaints
about U.S. financial sanctions on the communist country have
nothing to do with the broader nuclear talks and should not be
used to obstruct them.
``The North Korean position is bringing up a problem that is
outside the framework of the six-party talks and is not
constructive,'' Abe told reporters.
The 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
persuading the North to disarm. The parties agreed at the end of
the fifth session to meet again at an early, though unspecified,
date.
North Korea says Washington agreed in the last round of talks in
Beijing to hold negotiations on the sanctions. The U.S. denies
making such an offer.
The Rodong Sinmun commentary also called on the U.S. to respect
the North and not take any actions that would impede the
progress of the six-way nuclear talks. In an earlier
Korean-language version, it called the sanctions a U.S.
conspiracy to win concessions from the North on the nuclear
issue.
``North Korea has tremendous economic and social problems, none
of which will be solved by the pursuit of nuclear weapons,''
Vershbow said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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8 Public Citizen: Federal Government Withholds Information About Nearly One Million
Workers – Close to Half the Total Civilian Workforce
Dec. 6, 2005
Withholding Violates Both Law and Longstanding Practice
No Explanation Provided for Secrecy
WASHINGTON, D.C. The federal government is unlawfully
withholding information it normally provides the public about
approximately 900,000 of its civilian employees, including
employees working for such agencies as the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) and the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), according to a suit filed yesterday in the U.S.
District Court for the Northern District of New York.
The lawsuit, brought by the co-directors of the Transactional
Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) against the Office of
Personnel Management (OPM), charges that the agency violated the
Freedom of Information Act by failing to provide requested
information. Further, the agency didnt even explain the grounds
under which it is withholding information about employees
working in more than 250 federal agencies.
The government first began providing the American people
detailed information about all its employees in a register
published almost 200 years ago. The first name in the first
register, authorized by Congress in 1816, was President James
Madison.
The current massive and unexplained withholding of personnel
information came after a routine request made by TRAC under the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in October 2004 for the names
and work stations of most civilian employees working for the
government in the second quarter of 2004. This information,
which had been regularly provided to TRAC for many years, is an
essential component of a university-based project that since
1989 has been providing the American people, reporters, public
interest groups and others with comprehensive information about
the operations of the federal government. In this case, however,
after a lengthy delay, the government withheld information about
40 percent of its civilian employees.
Secret governors are incompatible with a free government, said
David Burnham and Susan Long, co-directors of TRAC, in a
February 2 letter to OPM. Basic information about the employees
who carry out the day-to-day actions of government is critical
for meaningful public oversight.
Names of government employees and information about their
worksites are frequently used by reporters and government
watchdog groups to ferret out fraud, waste and other problems.
For instance, the Union of Concerned Scientists and Public
Employees for Environmental Responsibility recently used names
from TRACs database to conduct a survey of U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service employees that found many of the scientists
believed political intervention in their research was pervasive.
Similarly, a Rhode Island reporter some years ago compared a
list of bus drivers in Providence against court records to find
out which drivers had been convicted of drunk driving. Recently,
reporters covering the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina needed
employee names and their worksites to learn which FEMA officials
were assigned to Louisiana and Mississippi.
In response to the October 2004 records request, OPM told TRAC
it was reviewing its policy on disclosure of information about
employees. Silence ensued. On Feb. 2, TRAC submitted a records
request for documents relating to the policy review. In a Feb. 3
e-mail, OPM responded that TRACs outstanding FOIA requests were
being processed and would be fulfilled according to a newly
implemented data release policy. The next day, TRAC asked for a
copy of that policy but still hasnt received it. Also on Feb.
4, TRAC submitted a records request for additional quarterly
personnel files.
Finally, on April 15, OPM released some of the requested
information but excluded all information about civilian
employees of the Department of Defense and the names and work
stations of employees with about 250 different agencies. OPM
also has not yet provided information about the review that it
said led to its decision to reverse the longstanding policy of
releasing this personnel information.
Adina Rosenbaum, the Public Citizen attorney who is representing
Burnham and Long, said, Citizens have a right to know who is
working for the government. The fact that the government is
refusing to release this data and refusing to tell us why is
untenable.
To read a copy of the lawsuit,
Public Citizen
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9 Times of India: 'India must make its N-plan transparent'-
WASHINTON: India "must" make transparent and credible its
civilian and military separation plan as part of the landmark
Indo-US deal on nuclear co-operation, the head of US Senate
foreign relations committee has said, warning that an "opaque"
plan would raise questions in the Congress about New Delhi's
intentions.
"To win over the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) partners and the
Congress, it is my view that the Indian side must be willing to
share a transparent separation plan. Why do I say that? Because
an opaque or incomprehensible Indian separation plan would only
raise more questions, particularly in the Congress, about
India's intentions", Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Aspen Strategy
Group partipating in the US-India strategic dialogue on Tuesday.
He said the debate on the Indo-US Joint Statement regarding
nuclear co-operation "has not progressed very far on Capitol
Hill." "While the Bush Administration has... been very clear in
discussions with the Indian government about its expectations,
let me emphasise that any Indian plan will have to pass muster
with the US Congress... That should not be viewed as a threat,
but rather as a political challenge that must be met," the
Republican senator from Indiana said.
"The Committee understands that the Indian side is working hard
on the elements of a plan to separate civil and military
facilities and programs. The point that I want to emphasize is
that this plan, firstly, must be credible; secondly, it must be
transparent; and, lastly, it must be defensible from a
non-proliferation standpoint" he said...
Copyright © 2005 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
10 AFP: US Congress threatens to throw out any 'opaque' nuclear deal with India
Wed Dec 7,12:17 AM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee" /> Senate Foreign Relations Committeehas warned that
Congress would throw out any "opaque" plan by the Bush
administration to forge unprecedented civilian nuclear
cooperation with India.
President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bushagreed to
give India, which is not a member of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), access to civil nuclear energy
technology under a deal he signed with Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh in July.
But India has to first separate its civilian and military
nuclear programs and place its nuclear reactors under
International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic
Energy Agency(IAEA) inspections.
Under US law, the deal also has to be approved by the US
Congress.
"While the Bush Administration has, I think, been very clear in
discussions with the Indian government about its expectations,
let me emphasize that any Indian plan will have to pass muster
with the United States Congress," Republican Senator Dick Lugar
said on Tuesday.
"That should not be viewed as a threat, but rather as a
political challenge that must be met," he told senior Indian
policy makers and business leaders gathered in Washington for a
US-India Strategic Dialogue.
Under the July deal, the United States also agreed to lobby
allies in the Nuclear Suppliers Group for full civil nuclear
energy cooperation and trade with India.
India is seen by Washington at present to be not in compliance
with key non-proliferation practices and conventions.
New Delhi is at present working on a plan to separate civil and
military facilities and programs.
Lugar said an "opaque or incomprehensible" Indian separation
plan would only raise more questions, particularly in the
Congress, about India's intentions.
"More generally, as a politician in the United States Senate
charged with guiding this agreement through the legislative
branch, I would urge the Indian side to think in maximalist
terms and include as many facilities as possible within the
scope of the civilian declaration," he said.
"Conversely, a minimalist approach will likely only delay
consideration of this initiative in the US Congress and in the
Nuclear Suppliers Group. Or, at worst, it could result in
unfavorable action by one or both bodies," he said.
Lugar wanted the plan to be "credible, transparent and
defensible from a non-proliferation standpoint."
In addition, he said, it should be based on safeguards focusing
on tracking nuclear material exported to and used in India
subject to IAEA safeguards.
"The separation plan must ensure, and the safeguards must
confirm, that US-India civil nuclear cooperation does not in any
way assist India in manufacturing nuclear weapons," he said.
"This is consistent with US obligations under the NPT and with
US law."
The United States had placed sanctions on India after its second
round of nuclear tests in May 1998, but agreed after the
September 11, 2001 terror attacks to waive those and other
sanctions in return for support in the war on terrorism.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
11 UK: News & Star: Ł20M boost to nuclear training
Published on 07/12/2005
TWENTY million pounds is to be pumped into west Cumbria to turn
it into a world class centre of excellence for nuclear skills.
The announcement was made today WEDS by the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority which is investing the cash over the
next three years to provide a Nuclear Institute based at the
West Lakes Science and Technology Park in Whitehaven, a national
Nuclear Skills Academy, and a new academic position of Chair of
Epidemiology, which will help pave the way for a potential
teaching hospital in the area.
The NDA says the initiatives will begin to equip both the
present workforce in the nuclear industry and generations to
follow, with the right mix of skills to grow and sustain an
industrial base capable of being a world leader in the field of
nuclear decommissioning both at home and abroad.
Copeland MP Jamie Reed welcomed today’s news, saying that it
is only the start of investment in west Cumbria.
“The potential of these developments is extremely exciting.
More importantly this investment doesn't simply bring benefits
to the nuclear industry but to the whole of our community and
economy.
“Copeland and west Cumbria has an extremely bright future and
by building on successes like this we can realise our
aspirations as a community. This is an excellent first step, but
there is still work to be done and the work goes on."
He said the Ł20m underpins much of the work of the West Cumbria
Strategic Forum and the discussions he has had with the NDA,
NWDA and others.
“The Chair of Epidemiology will help to create a critical mass
around a potential teaching hospital and the nuclear skills
academy and nuclear institute will be of both significant
national value and international importance.”
Copeland council leader Elaine Woodburn added: “We more than
welcome this Ł20m funding for the area. The NDA has followed
through with one of their commitments; that they would invest in
west Cumbria and hopefully this is just the start.
“We fought hard to get the NDA headquarters here and argued
very vocally for the skills we have now and ensure that when
Government decides there is going to be new nuclear build we
have the people with the skills to pass down generation to
generation.”
The NDA is working with the University of Central Lancashire
(UCLan), the University of Manchester, GENII, Lakes College West
Cumbria, the Learning and Skills Council, Cogent, the North West
Development Agency, Nexia Solutions, Copeland and Allerdale
councils to deliver its west Cumbria skills and nuclear cluster
strategy.’
It says a nuclear institute West Lakes will bring world class
scientific research to the area and link to a technology centre
at Sellafield. Half of the Ł20m capital cost is being funded by
the NDA as a result of savings made to the Sellafield
decommissioning programme by contractor British Nuclear Group.
The rest is coming from the University of Manchester in
partnership with the NDA to establish a facility for the Dalton
Nuclear Institute based in the North West.
This new technology research facility will enhance the strategic
development of the science park as a nuclear cluster of
international standing.
'Nucleus,' part of the proposed National Nuclear Skills Academy
will receive Ł5 million from the NDA towards an estimated total
cost of Ł15-Ł17m.
The new academic position of Chair of Epidemiology will be
established in partnership with the UCLan to development of a
greater understanding of the long term impact of radiation dose.
It will provide a unique pool of expertise and assure the future
of a world-leading research team in west Cumbria, as well as
underpinning the sustainability of the decommissioning industry
in the north west. The NDA is providing Ł5 million funding for
the project.
NDA chief executive Dr Ian Roxburgh said: “We have been given
the task of the safe clean up of Britain's nuclear legacy by
Government. A central element of that task is to understand the
impact of decommissioning on our communities and to work with
partners to develop the initiatives and skills that will enable
those communities to take advantage of the multi-billion pound
decommissioning programme, and thereby offset some of the
socio-economic impacts of plant closure.
“These projects are an example of our response but the funding
would not have been possible were it not for the work of our
contractors British Nuclear Group and UKAEA. They have been able
to develop better and more cost-effective ways of progressing
with their decommissioning programmes, so releasing money to
fund these initiatives.”
*****************************************************************
12 Guardian Unlimited: Bright idea
Could a tax on lightbulbs avoid the need for new power stations?
One minister and many campaigners think so
Oliver Tickell
Wednesday December 7, 2005
The Guardian
Here is Ben Bradshaw, environment minister, talking recently
about the role of environmental levies, or taxes, on products:
"Where a good environmental case can be made for a product levy,
that should be considered. One example with an obviously
clear-cut benefit is incandescent light bulbs. This is something
we are thinking about as part of our climate change review which
is looking at ways to meet our carbon dioxide targets, and we are
actively in discussion with other departments."
Bradshaw then clammed shut, perhaps realising he had spoken out
of turn - after all, climate change is the responsibility of his
colleague Elliot Morley. But when when you check the figures, the
economics and the likely impact, the case for a tax on
inefficient lightbulbs is compelling.
Choice of technologies
For a start, lighting is a big energy user, responsible for
about 15% of all the electricity used in the average UK
household and business. Every year we consume some 18,000 GWh on
domestic lighting alone - over 5% of the UK's annual electricity
consumption. Moreover, there is a choice of technologies to
greatly reduce energy use in lighting. The difficulty is getting
people to use them.
First, some figures. A standard "incandescent" lightbulb gives
8-15 lumens (a measure of the amount of light) per watt (W) of
electricity. Fluorescent tubes produce 55-100 lumens/W, and the
"compact fluorescent" lightbulbs (CFLs) which fit into ordinary
light fittings give 50-75 lumens/W. Also promising are
light-emitting diodes (LEDs), which are used in digital displays
and cycle lights. These last for 50,000 hours or more and can
achieve 40 lumens/W. Experts expect their efficiency to rise to
150 lumens/W within a few years.
Then look at the economics: if you replace an ordinary 100W
lightbulb with a high quality 20W CFL costing Ł3-5, you get
about the same amount of light for about a fifth of the
electricity. Over its 15,000-hour life - 15 times longer than
incandescents - one CFL will save 1,200 KWh of electricity,
worth Ł100 at current prices.
Third, look at the potential for efficient lightbulbs to get
Britain out of its well documented future energy gap, to meet
its future carbon emission targets and to contribute to the
debate about nuclear power. If the government, by one means or
another, was able to double the efficiency of the UK's domestic
lighting, it could save the need for two 1GW power stations, and
close a sixth of Britain's impending energy gap.
The reality, however, is that CFLs have only reached a small
part of their potential market - 10%, says the Energy Savings
Trust, while Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
(Defra) statistics show that incandescents outsell CFLs by 27 to
one. The limiting factor is that as long as supermarkets can
sell six-packs of 60/100W lightbulbs for just 99p, most people
will go for them rather than spend Ł20-Ł30 for the same number
of CFLs. Of course, the long-term cost of incandescents is far
higher - but spread invisibly over several years' electricity
bills.
In fact, the government already has policies in place to
increase CFL uptake. Under the Energy Efficiency Commitment
(EEC) scheme, energy retailers must generate carbon dioxide
savings, for example by selling cut-price CFLs. In the first
round of EEC, which ran from 2002 to April 2005, an estimated
26m CFLs were distributed. Also, building regulations now
require that new dwellings and extensions must include some
special light fittings that only take efficient bulbs producing
more than 40 lumens/W - such as fluorescent lights and CFLs.
But these measures, as Bradshaw recognises, are not enough.
Hence the need, he thinks, for a levy on inefficient lightbulbs
to shock consumers into buying CFLs or other more efficient
lighting systems. Defra's Market Transformation Programme
reported in July that, with a 50p charge, "CFLs would then
become a cost-effective alternative to [incandescent] lamps on
purchase price alone".
The Energy Savings Trust also supports an "inefficiency charge"
on incandescent bulbs of at least 50p, and has advised the
government to cut VAT on efficient lightbulbs to 5%. "We think
these incentives would be enough to start moving the market",
says the trust's trade partnerships manager, Richard Bawden.
Others think the charge should be higher. The banthebulb.org
website, which campaigns for bulb taxes, argues for a levy of 1p
per watt, or Ł1 per inefficient bulb. It also argues that the
money raised should be "recycled" into providing free CFLs for
low-income households.
Budget process
But before a lightbulb tax can be adopted, Bradshaw will have to
win over the Department of Trade and Industry, which is
responsible for energy policy, and the Treasury. "Tax is a
matter for the chancellor and any decision would be taken as
part of the budget process", says a Treasury spokesman. Other
sources say that while the Treasury recognises there is an
environmental gain to be had from a lightbulb tax, it is
essential to consider wider social and economic consequences -
and in particular to avoid adverse consequences for people on
low incomes.
Although the DTI has declined to comment, a lightbulb tax - and
similar energy savings measures - are up for consideration in
its energy review, expected to be complete in summer 2006.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
13 [NukeNet] Fuel Unloaded From Chernobyl Reactor
Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 14:28:03 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Mothersalert Home: http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Ukraine-Chernobyl.html
Fuel Unloaded From Chernobyl Reactor
a.. E-Mail This
b.. Printer-Friendly
c.. Save Article
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 6, 2005
Filed at 4:58 p.m. ET
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.
_______________________________________________________________________
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14 NRC: NRC Assigns New Senior Resident Inspector to Hope Creek Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region I - 2005-06
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-05-064
December 6, 2005 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil
A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail:
opa1@nrc.gov
in King of Prussia have selected George J. Malone as the senior
resident inspector at the Hope Creek nuclear power plant. Hope
Creek is in Hancocks Bridge, N.J.
For the past two years, Malone has been a resident inspector at
Salem Units 1 and 2. He joined the NRC in March 2002 as an
operations engineer in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety.
Prior to joining the agency, he worked as an engineer at
Bechtel-Bettis, Inc., in Charleston, S.C. He has a masters and a
bachelors degree in nuclear engineering from the University of
Illinois.
George Malone has the experience and commitment to safety that
will help the NRC ensure that Hope Creek conducts operations
with the highest safety standards to protect public health and
safety," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins.
Each U.S. commercial nuclear power plant has at least two NRC
resident inspectors. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at
the facility, conducting regular inspections, monitoring
significant work projects and interacting with plant workers and
the public.
The Hope Creek residents can be reached at 856/935-5373.
Last revised Tuesday, December 06, 2005
*****************************************************************
15 Platts: Calvert Cliffs using air in cask drying
Nuclear Fuel at http://nuclearfuel.platts.com.
New York (Platts)--6Dec2005
In spite of a recently issued draft interim staff guidance
discouraging the use of air to assist in drying loaded spent fuel
storage casks, Constellation Energy officials convinced NRC that
using air during "blow down" at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power
plant (CCNPP) would not be a problem because they can prove the
fuel has no cracks or pinhole leaks. Those discussions occurred
during a Sept. 14 teleconference, according to the official
record of the conversation, which was dated Nov. 8 and released
on NRC's Adams database late last month.
NRC staff called plant officials to discuss operating procedures
for the upcoming loading campaign and to alert Calvert Cliffs to
its concerns about oxidation that could occur during an air blow
down?a process allowed under Calvert Cliffs' procedures for
loading the Nuhoms spent fuel storage system.
Constellation uses the system under a site-specific license. The
teleconference occurred while NRC was preparing a draft guidance,
issued Nov. 15, that says an oxidizing atmosphere could cause
fuel pellets to swell if there were a cladding breach such as a
pinhole. NRC said in the draft that oxidization of the fuel could
occur rapidly and could result in "gross fuel cladding breaches."
After NRC identified the issue this summer, the agency required
Transnuclear Inc. to change its technical specifications in
Nuhoms amendment 8. Those tech specs now require use of an inert
gas, rather than air.
But Constellation officials told NRC staff during the phone call
that plant records could show there was no fuel leakage during
the operating cycle and that the fuel is tested via vacuum
sipping prior to being loaded into casks.
"The staff stated that if CCNPP could demonstrate that the fuel
was in pristine condition, then the use of air to blow down the
casks should not be a problem," according to the NRC record.
In the draft ISG, NRC offers three possible approaches:
maintaining the fuel in an environment to prevent oxidation,
assuring there are no cladding breaches in the fuel pin sections
that would be exposed to air, or determining that the
"time-at-temperature" profiles of the rods while they are exposed
to air and calculating the expected oxidation to determine
whether a gross breach would occur.
NRC is taking comments on the draft guidance through Dec. 30. For
more information, take a trial to Platts Nuclear Fuel at
Copyright © 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
16 Energy Business Review: Nuclear power: a return to planning? -
A new-build nuclear program in the UK is back on the agenda.
6 Dec 2005, 15:45 GMT - A new nuclear power program in the UK
will require ten or so plants for economies of scale. However,
this may require government intervention and will crowd out
investment in other forms of generation to the detriment of
customers and plant operators. There is a tension between
planned investment and a liberal market and the government does
not have the best record of balancing these issues.
An energy crisis is looming and we need new nuclear power
stations to avert it, they say. Around ten stations, in fact,
because only by building that many can the full economies of
scale be milked. Since no design has been chosen, their capacity
is not known, but it could total in the order of 15GW, against
the 12GW that exists presently. And this is before including
stations like Sizewell B that might still be around when the new
ones are built. For comparison, the UK has a total installed
capacity of 80GW - it has been mooted that up to one-third of our
power could come from nuclear.
Installing that much nuclear capacity would not be a problem in
a totally liberal market: nuclear power would compete with coal
and gas-based capacity in the wholesale market and the most
efficient producer would win.
However, it seems likely that the government would need to
intervene as it has with the Renewable Obligation to support
such a large investment program. This would close off one-third
of the power generation market to market forces.
Customers could then suffer because the market would be unable
to find the most cost-effective power supply at an acceptable
environmental cost, and non-nuclear generators would also suffer
because their potential market would have shrunk. Furthermore,
such a huge investment in nuclear power would crowd out
investment in other types of generation: if investors had a
risk-free investment in nuclear, the cost of capital for other
generators would rise.
This highlights the tension between the liberal market and the
planned approach to energy investment. A planned nuclear program
will bring down costs but is inimical to competition; a liberal
market avoids the risk of picking the wrong winner, but could
decide on ten different plant designs and therefore higher
costs. The government's task is to ensure security of supply
while minimizing market distortions - and it does not have an
unblemished record in this regard.
Source: Datamonitor
© Business Review Ltd 2005
*****************************************************************
17 SA Sunday Times: PBMR signs deal with Mitsubishi
Wednesday December 07, 2005 11:35 - (SA)
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) company announces that it
has signed two contracts with Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
(MHI) worth about 100 million rand.
The contracts relate to work to be concluded on the Core Barrel
Assembly (CBA), an integral component within the reactor pressure
vessel.
The first contract for the provision of the forgings and the
procurement of long-lead items for the core barrel assembly was
worth about 65 million rand, with the second agreement
contracting MHI for professional services for the core barrel
assembly design for the demonstration power plant to be
constructed at Koeberg in the Western Cape.
The value of the services contract was about 36 million rand.
"In signing the core barrel design and long lead items for the
core, PBMR has entered a new phase in the development of the PBMR
technology. This is the first of many contracts to order hardware
for the Demonstration Power Plant (DPP)."
"MHI has been a trusted and reliable strategic supplier to PBMR
and we thank them for their ongoing support," said PBMR Chief
Executive Officer Jaco Kriek.
A third contract was anticipated during 2006 for the manufacture
of the core barrel assembly, the value and exact timing of which
has not yet been finalised.
In contracting MHI, the requirement for an American Society of
Mechanical Engineers (ASME-N) certification would be fulfilled
as required by South Africa's Nuclear Regulatory Authority, the
PBMR said.
In South Africa no companies are currently ASME-N stamp holders,
although MHI is in negotiations with a local manufacturer to
localise the building of future core barrel assemblies.
PBMR has done the concept design for the core barrel assembly
and will remain responsible for form, fit and function.
MHI is responsible for the structural integrity; the
manufacturing of which is 22 months.
The PBMR distinguishes itself from existing reactors through its
design based on inherent safety together with a number of
additional features like the proliferation resistant qualities
of its fuel; its passive cooling system; inert heat transfer
medium and negative coefficient.
I-Net Bridge
© Johnnic Media Investments Limited 1996-2005. All Rights
*****************************************************************
18 Xinhua: IAEA launches first cooperation center in Hangzhou
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-07 16:45:58
HANGZHOU, Dec. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- The first cooperation center
sponsored by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA, in
China, has recently been established in this capital city of
eastern Zhejiang Province.
It is also the first to start among 10 IAEA cooperation
centers planned worldwide for the peaceful utilization of
nuclear energy.
China's IAEA cooperation center is located at the Research
Institute of Nuclear Agriculture under the Zhejiang University
based in Hangzhou. Itis devoted to plant breeding by induced
mutation and related research and development, sources with the
research institute said.
Under the partnership of IAEA and Zhejiang University, the
center will also undertake the agency's training programs and
collect information related to plant idioplasm innovation.
Nuclear technology has been widely used for plant breeding
by radiation-induced mutation. With the help of such technology,
the nuclear agriculture institute has bred more than 20 new
plant species, including rice, maize and wheat. Enditem
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
19 NRC: Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability
FR Doc E5-6981
[Federal Register: December 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 234)]
[Notices] [Page 72862-72863] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07de05-126]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a new
guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide Series. This series has
been developed to describe and make available to the public such
information as methods that are acceptable to the NRC staff for
implementing specific parts of the NRC's regulations, techniques
that the staff uses in evaluating specific problems or postulated
accidents, and data that the staff needs in its review of
applications for permits and licenses.
Regulatory Guide 1.204, ``Guidelines for Lightning Protection of
Nuclear Power Plants,'' provides guidance for NRC licensees and
applicants to use in developing and implementing practices that
the staff finds acceptable for complying with the agency's
regulatory requirements in Criterion 2, ``Design Bases for
Protection Against Natural Phenomena,'' as it appears in Appendix
A, ``General Design Criteria for Nuclear Power Plants,'' to Title
10, part 50, of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR part 50).
Specifically, Criterion 2 requires, in part, that nuclear power
plant (NPP) structures, systems, and components (SSCs) that are
important to safety must be designed to withstand the effects of
natural phenomena without losing their capability to perform
their respective safety functions.
While the regulations address lightning protection for safety-
related electrical equipment, they do not explicitly provide
guidance concerning the design and installation of lightning
protection systems (LPSs) to ensure that electrical transients
resulting from lightning phenomena do not cause spurious
operation safety-related systems or render them inoperable.
Toward that end, Regulatory Guide 1.204 augments the regulations
by establishing explicit guidance that is consistent with LPS
design and installation practices that are currently applied
throughout the commercial power industry.
The scope of the guidance includes protection of (1) the power
plant and relevant ancillary facilities, with the boundary
beginning at the service entrance of buildings; (2) the plant
switchyard; (3) the electrical distribution system,
safety-related instrumentation and control (I) systems,
communications, and personnel within the power plant; and (4)
other important equipment in remote ancillary facilities that
could impact safety. The scope includes signal lines,
communication lines, and power lines, as well as testing and
maintenance. The scope does not cover testing and design
practices that are specifically intended to protect
safety-related I systems against the secondary effects of
lightning discharges [i.e., low-level power surges and
electromagnetic and radio-frequency interference (EMI/RFI)].
These practices are covered in Regulatory Guide 1.180,
``Guidelines for Evaluating Electromagnetic and Radio-Frequency
Interference in Safety- Related Instrumentation and Control
Systems.'' Regulatory Guide 1.180, which the NRC issued in
January 2000 and revised in October 2003, addresses design,
installation, and testing practices for dealing with the effects
of EMI/RFI and power surges on safety-related I systems.
In Regulatory Guide 1.204, the NRC staff has selected for
endorsement a total of four standards issued by the Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), which taken
together, provide comprehensive lightning protection guidance for
nuclear power plants. Specifically, the four standards are IEEE
Std. 665-1995 (reaffirmed 2001), IEEE Guide for Generating
Station Grounding, IEEE Std. 666-1991 (reaffirmed 1996), IEEE
Design Guide for Electrical Power Service Systems for Generating
Stations, IEEE Std. 1050-1996, IEEE Guide for Instrumentation and
Control Equipment Grounding in Generating Stations, and IEEE Std.
C62.23-1995 (reaffirmed 2001), IEEE Application Guide for Surge
Protection of Electric Generating Plants.
In February 2005, the NRC staff published a draft of this guide
as Draft Regulatory Guide DG-1137. Following the closure of the
public comment period on April 20, 2005, the staff resolved all
stakeholder comments in the course of preparing the new
Regulatory Guide 1.204. The NRC staff encourages and welcomes
comments and suggestions in connection with improvements to
published regulatory guides, as well as items for inclusion in
regulatory guides that are currently being developed. You may
submit comments by any of the following methods.
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, at (301)
415-5144.
Requests for technical information about Regulatory Guide 1.204
may be directed to Christina E. Antonescu at (301) 415-6792 or
via e-mail to CEA1@nrc.gov. Regulatory guides are available for
inspection or downloading through the NRC's public Web site in
the Regulatory
[[Page 72863]] Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic
Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections.
Electronic copies of Regulatory Guide 1.204 are also available in
the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System
(ADAMS) at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html , under
Accession No. ML052290422. In addition, regulatory guides are
available for inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR),
which is located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland;
the PDR's mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC
20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached by telephone at (301)
415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by e-
mail to PDR@nrc.gov. Requests for single copies of draft or final
guides (which may be reproduced) or for placement on an automatic
distribution list for single copies of future draft guides in
specific divisions should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention:
Reproduction and Distribution Services Section; by e-mail to
DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone
requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory guides are not
copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce
them.
(Authority: (5 U.S.C. 552(a)). Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this
30th day of November, 2005.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Carl J. Paperiello,
Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E5-6981 Filed 12-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: Final Regulatory Guide; Issuance, Availability
FR Doc E5-6984
[Federal Register: December 7, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 234)]
[Notices] [Page 72863-72864] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr07de05-127]
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a
revision to an existing guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide
Series.
This series has been developed to describe and make available to
the public such information as methods that are acceptable to the
NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's
regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating
specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the
staff needs in its review of applications for permits and
licenses.
Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 8.7, entitled ``Instructions for
Recording and Reporting Occupational Radiation Dose Data,''
describes an acceptable program for the preparation, retention,
and reporting of records of occupational radiation doses in
accordance with Title 10, part 20, of the Code of Federal
Regulations (10 CFR part 20), ``Standards for Protection Against
Radiation.'' Section 20.1502 establishes ``Conditions Requiring
Individual Monitoring of External and Internal Occupational
Dose.'' Specifically, 10 CFR 20.1502 requires licensees to
provide radiation monitoring for all occupationally exposed
individuals who might receive a dose in excess of the specified
percentage of the limits defined in 10 CFR 20.1201, 1207, or
1208. To augment that provision, 10 CFR 20.2106, ``Records of
Individual Monitoring Results,'' requires licensees to maintain
records of the radiation exposures of all individuals for whom
personnel monitoring is required pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1502.
Also, according to 10 CFR 20.2104, ``Determination of Prior
Occupational Dose,'' licensees shall determine the dose in the
current monitoring year for all persons who must be monitored,
and attempt to obtain the records of cumulative occupational
radiation dose. In addition, 10 CFR 20.2104(b) requires that,
prior to permitting an individual to participate in a planned
special exposure, licensees shall determine the internal and
external doses from all previous planned special exposures, and
record all previous doses in excess of the limits received during
the lifetime of the individual. Licensees are required to
maintain prior dose records on NRC Form 4 or its equivalent.
Further, 10 CFR 20.2206, ``Reports of Individual Monitoring,''
requires certain licensees to submit to the NRC an annual report
of the results of individual monitoring. Licensees are required
to record these annual reports on NRC Form 5 or its equivalent.
The NRC is issuing this revision to make the guide consistent
with a recent change to 10 CFR 20.2206, which allows electronic
submittal of licensees' annual occupational radiation dose data
via the NRC's Radiation Exposure Information and Reporting System
(REIRS) for Radiation Workers (a secure Web site) at
http://www.reirs.com. Other changes include updating NRC Forms 4
and 5, and clarifying and improving the guide to reflect
licensees' input and experience since the NRC issued Revision 1
of Regulatory Guide 8.7 in 1992. The NRC previously solicited
public comment on this revised guide by publishing a Federal
Register notice (70 FR 25865) concerning Draft Regulatory Guide
DG-8029 on May 16, 2005. Following the closure of the public
comment period on July 12, 2005, the staff considered all
stakeholder comments in the course of preparing Revision 2 of
Regulatory Guide 8.7. In particular, the Nuclear Energy Institute
(NEI) suggested that the NRC consider deferring this revision
until the completion of an anticipated rulemaking related to
collection, reporting, and posting of information (as specified
in 10 CFR parts 19, 20, and 50). However, since Regulatory Guide
8.7 is already out of date (in relation to 10 CFR 20.2206) and is
used by materials licensees as well as reactor licensees, the
staff decided to proceed with the current revision. When the
agency completes the aforementioned rulemaking, the staff will
once again update Regulatory Guide 8.7, as appropriate. The
staff's responses to all comments received are available in the
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS)
at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under Accession
ML053320145.
The NRC staff encourages and welcomes comments and suggestions in
connection with improvements to published regulatory guides, as
well as items for inclusion in regulatory guides that are
currently being developed. You may submit comments by any of the
following methods.
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington,
DC 20555-0001.
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301)
415-5144.
Requests for technical information about Revision 2 of Regulatory
Guide 8.7 may be directed to Sheryl A. Burrows at (301) 415-6086
or by e-mail to SAB2@nrc.gov. Regulatory guides are available for
inspection or downloading through the NRC's public Web site in
the Regulatory Guides document collection of the NRC's Electronic
Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/.
Electronic copies of Revision 2 of Regulatory Guide 8.7 are also
available in the NRC's Agencywide
[[Page 72864]] http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html, under
Accession ML052970092.
In addition, regulatory guides are available for inspection at
the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is located at 11555
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's mailing address is
USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR can also be reached
by telephone at (301) 415-4737 or (800) 397-4205, by fax at (301)
415-3548, and by e- mail to PDR@nrc.gov. Requests for single
copies of draft or final guides (which may be reproduced) or for
placement on an automatic distribution list for single copies of
future draft guides in specific divisions should be made in
writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction and Distribution Services
Section; by e-mail to DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax to (301)
415-2289. Telephone requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory
guides are not copyrighted, and Commission approval is not
required to reproduce them.
(Authority: (5 U.S.C. 552(a)). Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this
30th day of November, 2005.
For the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Carl J. Paperiello,
Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research.
[FR Doc. E5-6984 Filed 12-6-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
21 AU ABC: Sydney nuclear reactor consultation nears end.
Last Update: Thursday, December 8, 2005. 12:01pm (AEDT)
The final round of public consultation on plans to start up
Australia's new nuclear reactor will be held in Sydney today.
The Opal research reactor is expected to replace the current
reactor, which has been operating in southern Sydney since 1958.
The $360 million reactor and science facility is close to
completion and testing without nuclear fuel may begin early next
year.
That testing and conclusions from today's hearings will feed
into the Australian Radiation Protection Authority's decision on
granting an operation licence.
That will allow the reactor to start operating with nuclear
fuel by mid-2006.
The Australian Nuclear Association says research reactors have
a good safety record and the new Opal reactor would pose little
danger to staff or local residents, even in the event of an
accident.
Opponents will express concerns about the safe transport of
nuclear waste through Sydney and regional areas.
High level waste may go to the United States, low and medium
level waste is meant to go to a federal dump in the Northern
Territory.
However, many submissions point out it is neither selected nor
operational.
Greenpeace has outlined its opposition to the nuclear reactor.
Greenpeace campaigner James Courtney told the forum the
organisation opposed the reactor because it was concerned about
security and how the radioactive waste would be stored.
"There is no proven safe method for storing the radioactive
waste that a second reactor will produce and for keeping that
waste safe for the length of time that it will be dangerous," he
said.
"Greenpeace opposes the granting of an operating licence for
the reactor because we firmly believe that the proliferation of
nuclear technology poses risks to the health, safety and
security of the people of this planet."
*****************************************************************
22 The Australian: Nuke watchdog dreaming
[December 08, 2005]
Bronwen Maddox, London
YOU cannot fault Mohamed ElBaradei - for caring about world
peace, at least.
The winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize, who runs the UN's
nuclear watchdog, is full of dreams of beating the threat of
proliferation - and getting the world's nuclear powers to give up
their weapons too.
This week, at the International Institute for Strategic Studies
in London, he laid out his answer.
He is right, in theory. But the plan - which he has been pushing
for some years - is so divorced from reality that it is hard to
take seriously.
His speech on Tuesday, entitled Reflections, was like a
45-minute rendition of John Lennon's Imagine, albeit one written
by a UN bureaucrat.
There was a hard kernel to his talk, which itself raises
questions about his realism.
As director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency,
his most urgent task is to determine whether Iran's nuclear work
is a front for getting weapons, as the US believes.
He said there were "still important pieces missing" in Iran's
account, but added: "You cannot continue (investigations)
forever. I would hope within a year we should be able to come to
a conclusion (about the scope of Iran's work)."
Why a year? And even if so, why tell Iran now? The new hardline
Iranian Government has done nothing but ramp up the rhetoric
against the West. It has also restarted preparation of uranium
at one facility.
True, in recent weeks it has hinted that it might talk again to
Britain, France and Germany. It might consider Russia's offer to
supply it with nuclear fuel, and to take away spent fuel.
That would allay concerns about Iran mastering the technology of
uranium enrichment or of reprocessing fuel, which could enable
it to make bombs.
But Iran's gesture hardly answers the worries. It seems
self-defeating for ElBaradei to suggest ending an inquiry, with
such good reason still to suspect Iran of wanting weapons.
The Iran case illustrates the weaknesses of ElBaradei's big
idea: creating an international facility for enriching uranium.
This would allow any country that wanted nuclear power to
acquire fuel, but would stop them mastering weapons technology.
That is fine, in theory. It is convenient for ElBaradei, as it
happens, because it squares the two notoriously ill-fitting
parts of the IAEA's remit: to promote the spread of civil
nuclear power and to inhibit the spread of weapons.
But who would own this site and where would it be? The big
drawback is that no declared nuclear power is treating the
notion as practical: not Britain, the US, France or China, and
probably not Russia.
There seemed little enthusiasm for his ideas at the UN's review
of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty this northern summer,
which ended in disarray.
ElBaradei said his ideas had been prompted by the world's
"dismal" record in stopping proliferation. But he threw into his
wishlist other huge dreams, including one for a "universal"
program of disarmament.
His ideas are infused with the spirit of the UN's early days,
when the world warmed to huge pacts. However, until he can
demonstrate government support, his is a song that gains little
from repetition.
The Times
© The Australian
*****************************************************************
23 Sydney Morning Herald: Doctors warn against nuclear industry
www.smh.com.au
December 7, 2005 - 12:04PM
Radioactive waste from nuclear power plants cannot be dealt with
in a safe and effective way, a group of eminent doctors has
warned.
As debate over the government's plans to force a nuclear waste
dump on the Northern Territory continued in the Senate on
Wednesday, the 18 doctors released a statement warning against
the expansion of the nuclear industry.
Citing concerns that any expansion of nuclear power would
increase the proliferation of nuclear weapons, increase the risk
of nuclear terrorism and increase the risk of nuclear accidents,
the doctors said the industry should not be encouraged.
"Calls for Australians to consider nuclear power for domestic
use are unnecessary and counterproductive," they said.
"Jumping out of the climate change frying pan into the fire of
increased nuclear risk would at best be swapping one set of
serious problems for another, while setting back the work of
implementing real, sustainable solutions to climate change."
Science Minister Brendan Nelson also has proposed a $1 million
research study into a nuclear power industry for Australia.
The doctors said the issue of radioactive waste was
insurmountable.
"The problem of nuclear waste is intractable, a burden
irresponsibly imposed on countless future generations.
"No nation has in place a satisfactory plan to deal with the
tens of tonnes of high-level radioactive waste produced by each
nuclear power plant each year.
"No human institution has survived for the length of time
necessary to safeguard this waste."
The Senate is debating two bills that will give the federal
government power to override a range of laws, including any
passed by the NT government, that might frustrate a nuclear
waste dump there.
The move came after the government last year abandoned plans for
a dump in South Australia following community protest.
The government will now canvass three sites on commonwealth land
in the NT - Mount Everard and Harts Range near Alice Springs and
Fishers Ridge, near Katherine.
The Australian Greens have suggested a number of amendments to
the legislation, including preventing overseas nuclear waste
making its way to Australia, reinstating the right of indigenous
communities to veto a dump on sacred sites, and removing
absolute ministerial power over where the dump will be.
The doctors, from a range of backgrounds at various universities
across the country, released their statement through the Medical
Association for Prevention of War (MAPW)
© 2005 AAP
| | Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
24 [NukeNet] HLW Reprocessing
Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 14:30:54 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Dear All,
Are any of you working specifically on reprocessing?
Jeannine Honicker
Hi Jeannine -- I am, and my coworkers Diane D and Kevin Kamps are too. My
piece is to begin the awareness in the SE of the transport impacts that
would happen if SRS (the front runner) is selected for reprocessing. I am
going to paste a really rough graphic into this message below (if the list
clips it out, individuals are welcome to request it by emailing me directly
at nirs@main.nc.us) that shows the concept of all
the nation's high-level waste coming to South Carolina. It is important to
note that this would in the DOE's current planning be "on the way to" Yucca
Mountain, not instead of it. I am working on more materials... NIRS has a
fact sheet posted on our web site -- see
http://www.nirs.org/factsheets/rwreprocessfactsheet.htm
Good news is that there are a number of groups who are getting active on
this issue -- but we all need all the help that people can offer!
-- Mary Olson
Nuclear Information & Resource Service
Southeast Office PO Box 7586 Asheville, NC 28802
828-675-1792 nirs@main.nc.us
www.nirs.org
Nuclear Information & Resource Service (NIRS) / World Information Service
on Energy (WISE)
1424 16th St. NW Suite 404 Washington, DC 20036
202-328-0002 fax
202-462-2183 nirsnet@nirs.org
NIRS affiliated with WISE in 2000 -- 13 offices on 5 continents serving
grassroots activists
repro all and target routes from yellow triangle reactors.gif
It is hard to see the "target" destination in this map -- but it is the
Savannah River Site, located in South Carolina, across the Savannah River
from Augusta, Georgia. There is a big cluster of yellow triangles near the
west end of South Carolina, and SRS is in the middle of that. The transport
lines would, of course likely extend all the way to the Western reactors as
well... and this only shows the existing nuclear power reactors, not those
additional new ones being planned...
_______________________________________________________________________
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Attachment Converted: repro all and target routes from yellow triangle reactors1.gif: 00000001,7dd5397b,00000000,00000000
*****************************************************************
25 ARIZONA REPUBLIC: Process may kill radiation threat
Date: Wed, 07 Dec 2005 14:32:45 -0800
THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC
Sunday, November 4, 1979
Process may kill radiation threat
By CLARENCE W. BAILEY
Copyright, 1979. The Arizona Republic
TEMPE -- An internationally recognized Arizona State University physicist
disclosed Saturday that he has discovered a method for treating nuclear
reactor and other highly dangerous radioactive wastes so they will be
harmless.
The procedure was conceived by Dr. Radha R. Roy professor of nuclear
physics who is the designer and former director of nuclear-physics research
facilities at the University of Brussels In Belgium. and at Pennsylvania
State University.
Roy said the process “very roughly can be described in part as a reversal
of phenomena that occur during a nuclear fission chain reactions.
The scientist said the process is the culmination of many years research
“Theoretical analysis and mathematical calculations confirm the process is
highly effective and that any level of radio activity, from weak to strong.
Can be reduced to harmless state in a short period of time,” Roy said.
The thing that is so encouraging is that the method can cancel
radioactivity rapidly enough for it to be of r real practical value
in disposing of dangerous wastes in storage and as they are being
produced, Roy said.
One treatment-plant design which Roy has devised could reduce the
radioactivity of even the most dangerous wastes with half-lives or 15,000
to 40,000 years to a level where they would be essentially harmless in
about 20 days.
A half-life is the time required for a quantity of radioactive material to
lose one half of its radioactive strength.
Roy, who left his native Calcutta, India. to do advanced nuclear- physics
research at the University of London during World War II, said all the
necessary theoretical and quantum electrodynamical work on the process has
been completed.
“There remains perhaps as much as a years work in calculating parameters
and preparing data that will he needed for the engineering design of a
pilot radioactive waste-treatment plant’ he said.
Roy is known internationally among scientists for his many advanced
research contributions in the field of nuclear fission fragments and as the
author of definitive graduate and post-doctoral textbooks used in
universities all over the world. “During the 37 years since the first
fission chain reaction there has been no progress whatever toward the
development of a method of deactivating radioactive waste or even for
storing it safely,” he said.
“The collections of dangerous nuclear wastes in this country alone have now
reached a total of at least 75 million gallons, and it is growing daily.”
He estimated an operational nuclear waste-treatment plant could cost $40
million or more. By contrast, he noted, Congress last summer appropriated
$80 million just to build more concrete storage bunkers to hold only a part
of the growing accumulation of nuclear wastes.
“Since it is so very dangerous to ship strongly radioactive materials it
would certainly be sensible to build a treatment plant for each reactor so
radioactivity could be killed out before the waste is
transported anywhere" the scientist said.
Roy said that the national danger from nuclear waste is "extremely serious"
and urged the federal government to build treatment plants near established
nuclear waste storage areas. Other treatment plants should be constructed
to kill out the radioactivity in the wastes from the nation's weapons
programs and from its educational, industrial, medical and experimental
research facilities he said.
Roy warned that waste containing plutonium 239 is "critically dangerous"
because of its extremely high radioactivity and also because it is the
essential ingredient in an atomic bomb.
The treatment process not only will render plutonium 239 harmless in a
remarkably short time, he said, but also will keep deactivated plutonium
from ever being reprocessed to make an illegal atomic weapon.
Roy further warned that the United States not only is exporting nuclear
energy when it sells reactor technology to foreign nations, but also is
sending overseas the potential for making illegal bombs out of plutonium
from reprocessed nuclear wastes.
The treatment method will guarantee to foreign countries that use nuclear
fission energy that they can maintain an environment free from
radioactivity, and it also could guarantee to the world that there will be
no reuse of plutonium in an unauthorized weapon, he said. Careful
theoretical and mathematical analysis have assured him that the nuclear
waste- treatment process will function reliably and with rapidity and high
efficiency, he said.
"But the existence of this promising nuclear waste-treatment procedure
should not be construed in any sense to mean that nuclear fission power
reactors are safe" Roy said. The contractor who built Three Mile Island's
reactor-like those who built the other 71 reactors now operational in the
United States -- expected that plant to function normally for 30 years in
total safety without event .But the fact is that it went out of control and
nearly created a meltdown which could have destroyed a large part of the
human habitat of east-central Pennsylvania,'' Roy said.
Neutralize & Eliminate Nuclear Waste For Good
The Roy Process Brief Description
from the web site:
http://members.cox.net/theroyprocess
Is there a safe process to get rid of nuclear waste? One possible solution
is a process invented by Dr. Radha R. Roy, former professor of Physics at
Arizona State University, and designer and former director of the nuclear
physics research facilities at the University of Brussels in Belgium and at
Pennsylvania State University.
Dr. Roy is an internationally known nuclear physicist, consultant, and the
author of over 60 articles and several books. He is also a contributing
author of many invited articles in a prestigious encyclopedia. He is cited
in American Men and Women of Science, Who`s Who in America, Who`s Who in
the World and the International Biographical Centre, England. He has spent
52 years in European and American universities researching and writing
recognized books on nuclear physics. He has supervised many doctoral students.
Roy invented a process for transmuting radioactive nuclear isotopes to
harmless, stable isotopes. This process is viable not only for nuclear
waste from reactors but also for low-level radioactive waste products.
In 1979, Roy announced his transmutation process and received international
attention. The Roy process does not require storage of radioactive
materials. No new equipment is required. In fact, all of the equipment and
the chemical separation processes needed are well known.
What`s the basis for the Roy Process? If you examine radioactive elements
such as strontium 90, cesium 137 and plutonium 239, you will see that they
all have too many neutrons. To put it very simply, the Roy process
transmutes these unstable isotopes to stable ones by knocking out the extra
neutrons. When a neutron is removed, the resulting isotope has a
considerably shorter half-life which then decays to a stable form in a
reasonable amount of time.
How do we knock out neutrons? By bombarding them with photons (produced as
x-rays) in a high- powered electron linear accelerator. Before this
process, the isotopes must be separated by a well-known chemical process.
It is feasible that portable units could be built and transported to
hazardous sites for on-site transmutation of nuclear wastes and radioactive
wastes.
To give an example, cesium 137 with a half-life of 30.17 years is
transformed into cesium 136 with a half-life of 13 days. Plutonium 239 with
a half-life of 24,300 years is transformed into plutonium 237 with a
half-life of 45.6 days. Subsequent radioactive elements which will be
produced from the decay of plutonium 237 can be treated in the same way as
above until the stable element is formed.
From the Patent application
claim:
http://members.cox.net/theroyprocess/additional-uses-royprocess.html
Dr. Roy released his Roy Process to the press in 1979.
Scientists of a large company saw the Patent application under non-
disclosure agreements and said the Roy Process was "entirely feasible".
Dr. Roy was offered millions of dollars for the patent rights.
NOT to develop it...but to shelve it. Dr. Roy refused. Then Ronald Reagan
signed
the 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act which made "geologic isolation" (burial)
of nuclear waste, federal policy, putting viable alternatives in scientific
limbo.
Now after wasting hundreds of billions of tax payers money on junk science,
nuclear waste has leaked into our precious ground water.
Dr. Roy was right. There IS only one way to totally eliminate high level
nuclear waste and that is to transmute and denature it for good.
Dennis F. Nester
Patent Examiner Comments on the Roy Process Invention
http://fredtalk.fredericksburg.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=604817&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=2&fpart=1
Re: Yucca Mt. Is Not The Answer for Nuclear Waste
As a patent examiner, the explanation as to why the Roy process was not
patented makes perfect sense and is not paranoid at all. There is no reason
to get a patent unless you have the money to defend it in court. Large
corporations are notorious for stealing them. Also, patent applications in
1979 were held confidential until they were issued as patents. The inventor
requiring a non-disclosure agreement of a corporation to view the
application is also perfectly reasonable. It is niave to believe that
Reagan was not encouraged by large corporations to change the law regarding
acceptable nuclear waste disposal methods to benefit them in order to
squash any new method like the Roy process. These kinds of things happen
all the time.
As to the merits of the Roy process, it seems to me on it's face to have
potential to change nuclear waste into something less dangerous. I don't
know enough about nuclear physics to really give an detailed response, but
I do know that nuclear accelerators do change atomic structure and that
bombarding nuclear waste would certainly change it into something else.
(excerpt by Russell Hoffman)
At each step, an "inconsequential" (so they say) loss occurs, which ends up
in our air and water, and then in our lungs and in our guts and
brains. You are a filter for your environment. If your environment is
polluted, YOU will be polluted. Do you feel clean? You aren't.
Your body is already poisoned with billions of radioactive atoms, courtesy
of a corrupt and arrogant government and industry. Each individual atomic
decay event is always much, much stronger than your own body's chemical and
molecular bonds. Each radioactive decay can lead to cancer, leukemia,
heart disease, deformities in your children, and a thousand other
ailments. Do you feel victimized, or has the odorless, colorless,
tasteless, microscopic (and, often, delayed) nature of the assault fooled
you? If so, you are not alone.
POISON FIRE USA: An animated history of major nuclear activities in the
continental United States:
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/poifu/poifu.swf
Learn about The Effects of Nuclear War here (written with Pamela
Blockey-O'Brien):
http://www.animatedsoftware.com/environm/no_nukes/tenw/nuke_war.htm
-------------
WHAT TO DO IN CASE OF NUCLEAR ATTACK!
PDF VERSION FOR BEST PRINTED COPY -
http://www.ki4u.com/guide.pdf
E-MAIL THIS LINK TO YOUR LISTS -
http://ki4u.com/guide.htm
(Posted for educational and research purposes only, in accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. section 107).
*****************************************************************
26 AU ABC: Senate vote won't end dump fight
Wednesday, 7 December 2005. 14:34 (AEDT)Wednesday, 7 December
Those opposed to the dumping of radioactive waste in the
Northern Territory have vowed to fight on, even if legislation
allowing for a storage facility is passed in the Senate today.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin says the
Commonwealth should not expect any cooperation from her
Government.
"I'm going to continue to argue with the Federal Government," Ms
Martin said.
The Environment Centre's Gary Scott has hinted at civil
disobedience similar to that seen during the anti-uranium mining
protests at Jabiluka.
"I don't think Territorians are going to take this lying down
unless that is in front of bulldozers," Mr Scott said.
The South Australian Government says tenacity staved off a dump
on its land.
That state's Environment Minister, John Hill, says there could
be a federal election before the facility's finally built.
"It will take them some time to construct this facility and that
gives you some opportunities," he said.
Mr Hill says waste should be stored closer to Lucas Heights in
Sydney where it is generated.
A handful of protesters have gathered in the Darwin mall to
express their opposition to the dump.
Justin Tutty, from the Darwin No Waste Alliance, was dressed in
a white chemical suit and gas mask as he handed out pamphlets.
He says the small turnout is not representative of the level of
resistance to the dump.
"It's not a mobilisation it's a demonstration," he said.
"I guess we didn't build this as a large mobilisation, we just
came along to demonstrate."
He also says the passing of the legislation will not be the end
of the issue.
"It's not the end of the road for this campaign," he said.
"From now on of course our energies are going to diversify,
we're going to employ a broad range of traditional tactics
against the nuclear industry."
*****************************************************************
27 Deseret News: Goshute group's attorney must pay bank $11,000
deseretnews.com]
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Goshute group's attorney must pay bank $11,000
2 other defendants in case also ordered to make restitution
By Josh Loftin Deseret Morning News
The attorney for a group of Goshutes who took funds illegally
from a tribal bank account has been ordered to repay a portion of
the funds.
Duncan Steadman will be required to repay $11,000 to
Zions Bank as part of the sentence issued Monday by U.S.
District Judge Tena Campbell. He will also serve one year of
probation.
The sentence was the third of four sentences handed down
in the case. The other three defendants are all members of the
Skull Valley Band of Goshutes who were represented by Steadman
when they used a fictitious court order to withdraw the money.
Steadman's attorney, Deirdre Gorman, told Campbell prior
to the sentencing that while Steadman did accompany the group to
the bank when they accessed the account, he did not take any of
the money when they withdrew it. Instead, money withdrawn
illegally from the account was used to pay him attorney fees.
Along with Steadman, all three tribal members have
pleaded guilty to the charges and settled on the restitution to
Zions Bank, and two of them have been given similar sentences.
Marlinda Moon was ordered to pay back $13,825 when she
was sentenced in November by Campbell, while Sammy Blackbear was
ordered to return $17,300 to the bank in August. Both were given
one year probation.
The third member, Miranda Wash, is expected to be ordered
to pay back $8,000. Her sentence was postponed in November,
however, so that she could resolve several warrants in South
Salt Lake and Murray justice courts. If the warrants cannot be
resolved by Jan. 3, Campbell has said she will sentence her to
federal prison.
Federal prosecutors say that the group used a fake court
order that declared them elected officials of the tribe's Skull
Valley Band and gave them access to the tribal account. Although
the group did use some of the money for official tribal
business, there are indications that they also paid themselves
stipends and Steadman's attorney fees.
The three members say they took the money because federal
dividends owed to them by the tribe were being withheld by Leon
Bear, band chairman, because of political differences. The
stipends were intended to reimburse that lost money.
Bear has pushed for the storage of high-level nuclear
waste on the band's reservation, a proposal that has divided the
small band. Elections for a new tribal chairman have been
postponed four times by Bear, whose term expired last year.
The chairman has also been sentenced in federal court,
when he was ordered to pay the Internal Revenue Service $13,101
for unpaid taxes and the Skull Valley Band $31,500 for duplicate
stipends he billed the tribe. That restitution order, as well as
three years probation, were issued in June.
E-mail: jloftin@desnews.com
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
28 RIA Novosti: Greenpeace activists attempt to stop Russian uranium-loaded ship
07/ 12/ 2005
ST. PETERSBURG, December 7 (RIA Novosti) - Greenpeace activists
attempted to stop a Russian ship carrying depleted uranium on
its approach to St. Petersburg, the press service of
Greenpeace's office in the city said Wednesday.
The attempt to block the Kapitan Kuroptev, loaded with 450
metric tons of depleted uranium from France, was made at 3.15
p.m. GMT near Kronstadt.
"Three boats with 11 activists on board tried to stand in the
ship's way, burning signal lights and putting buoys warning of a
floating radiation hazard. However, the ship picked up speed and
used water cannons, and is now on its way to the port," a
spokesman for the press service said.
Greenpeace's office in St. Petersburg is not planning any
action after the ship arrives at the port. "Nevertheless, we
intend to continue to attract the public's attention to the
problem in the future," the source said.
On Thursday, French police detained some 20 Greenpeace
activists from France, Austria and Russia attempting to prevent
the loading of the French cargo onto the Kapitan Kuroptev, a
French radio station reported.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
29 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN: DOE doubles rural rail cost estimate
Dec. 07, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Projected price tag of line now $2 billion
By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON -- The Depart-ment of Energy has doubled its estimate
of what it would cost to build a railroad across rural Nevada to
transfer nuclear waste to the proposed Yucca Mountain
repository, officials confirmed on Tuesday.
The projected price tag of a 319-mile line now stands at $2
billion. A DOE spokesman said the updated estimate also includes
construction of rail yards and other maintenance features along
the route.
The DOE in a 2002 environmental impact study estimated it could
build a 300-mile railroad at a cost of $880 million in 2001
dollars. The figure was greeted with skepticism at the time by
repository critics.
Robert Halstead, a Wisconsin-based consultant for the state of
Nevada, said the new estimate is probably more realistic, and
still may prove to be low for what he said was a challenging
route that crosses several mountain ranges and high desert
terrain.
"I've been saying at least a billion and a half dollars and up
to 2 billion based on engineering analyses we did back in 1996,
when we knew less about the problems of that route than we do
now," Halstead said.
The revised costs also underscores the growing costs facing the
repository project, which has been repeatedly delayed since its
original opening date of 1998. The most recent official cost
estimate for the overall repository was calculated in 2001 at
$58.5 billion, a DOE spokesman said.
An official familiar with the project said DOE managers "had a
big gulp about six months ago" when they projected new costs for
the Nevada railroad. The department is preparing an
environmental impact study of its preferred rail corridor that
has included public meetings in rural Nevada and meetings with
ranchers along the route.
The DOE has proposed to build a rail line from the outskirts of
Caliente west and north to Warm Springs, then curling around the
northwest boundary of the Nevada Test and Training Range managed
by the Air Force. The railroad would follow the western border
of the test range south to the Yucca site.
Companies that expect to bid for shipping contracts plan to seek
more details of the cost figures, said David Blee, a spokesman
for the U.S. Transport Council, their trade group.
"Clearly we are interested in knowing the cost basis," Blee
said. "We are always concerned about cost escalation in the
program, particularly in the vital transportation component."
The new cost projection also gave fresh ammunition to Yucca
Mountain critics, who contend that burying nuclear waste in
Nevada is a boondoggle at any price.
"It would be cheaper to build a road paved with gold," Rep.
Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said of the railroad. "Yucca Mountain
is already slated to be the most expensive public works project
ever undertaken by the government, and just like this ridiculous
railroad boondoggle, its price tag continues to spiral out of
control."
The Nevada railroad will provide "another funding challenge with
Congress," said Christopher Kouts, a Yucca project manager.
Halstead said growing costs may cause the Energy Department to
think again whether it wants to ship nuclear waste to Yucca
Mountain by rail. The department also has considered shipping
waste canisters by rail to Caliente, than transferring them to
trucks for transport to the repository.
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2005
*****************************************************************
30 Salt Lake Tribune: A.F. boss backs plan to block Utah N-dump
Article Last Updated: 12/07/2005 09:44:46 AM
By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne backs a plan
proposed by Utah's congressional delegation aimed at blocking a
nuclear waste dump near the Utah Test and Training Range by
restricting access to the Indian reservation where the storage
site would be built.
Wynne signed a letter Tuesday expressing support for Utah's
push to create a wilderness area in the Cedar Mountains and
other land-use restrictions near the Skull Valley Goshutes
Indian reservation.
The secretary said the provision would address encroachment
concerns raised by the proposal from Private Fuel Storage, a
group of electric utilities that has received approval by the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to store 44,000 tons
of spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors on Goshute land.
In the one-page letter, Wynne also said that the Air Force
was comfortable that the creation of the wilderness area would
not impair the Air Force's ability to use the range.
"It's always a good sign when you have the secretary of the
Air Force saying we're aware of this provision and we like it,"
said Mike Lee, counsel to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., who was in
Washington this week lobbying members of Congress to adopt the
wilderness language.
The restrictions would prevent a rail line from being built
to deliver waste to the Skull Valley Reservation. If the
provision becomes law, PFS has said it would have to truck the
waste to the reservation.
At the same time, Utah's delegation argues, the wilderness
designation would protect access to the Air Force's adjacent
Utah Test and Training Range. That military component of the
bill makes the Air Force endorsement significant.
The fate of the Cedar Mountain provision remains uncertain,
however, and has been changing by the hour.
It was included in the House-passed version of a major
defense bill earlier this year, but not the Senate version.
The leaders of the House Armed Services Committee continue to
support the measure, but it is not clear whether their Senate
counterparts will agree to include it in the final version.
The Utah delegation declined to release the Wynne letter,
but copies were sent to Sen. John Warner, R-Va., chairman of the
Senate Armed Services Committee, and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich.,
the ranking Democrat on the committee.
---
Tribune reporter Thomas Burr contributed to this story.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
31 AU ABC: Senate to vote on NT waste dump
AM - Thursday, 8 December , 2005 08:10:00
Reporter: Anne Barker
TONY EASTLEY: The Northern Territory's Labor Government says a
nuclear waste repository would expose Territorians to a new
security threat.
Territory law looks like being overridden today when the Senate
votes on legislation to establish a nuclear waste dump in the
Top End.
Northern Territory legislation currently prevents the transfer
or disposal of radioactive waste on Territory soil.
But the Commonwealth's bill, which looks like being passed when
debate resumes this morning, will set up a national waste
facility, storing low to medium-level radioactive material.
Anne Barker filed this report.
TRISH CROSSIN: If this bill is passed, then you may as well do
this …
ANNE BARKER: It was a theatrical gesture that Labor Senator
Trish Crossin employed to protest against a nuclear waste dump
in the Northern Territory.
TRISH CROSSIN: …You may as well rip it up.
ANNE BARKER: On the floor of the chamber, she tore to shreds the
Northern Territory (Self-Government) Act, to symbolise what she
described as the Federal Government's abusive power.
TRISH CROSSIN: Because that's exactly what this bill does. It
makes this Act irrelevant.
ANNE BARKER: Commonwealth legislation set to pass through the
Senate today will override Northern Territory law that
effectively bans a nuclear waste dump.
Like every other State, the Territory has vigorously opposed
moves for a national waste facility, but lacks the
constitutional power to stop it.
If the Commonwealth gets its way, the Territory will soon house
low to medium-level radioactive waste, including spent fuel rods
from Sydney's Lucas Heights Reactor.
TRISH CROSSIN: The whole purpose of this bill is to exploit the
Northern Territory because it has fewer rights than a state.
ANNE BARKER: The Federal Government has shortlisted three
possible sites in the Territory near Alice Springs and
Catherine, all of them on Commonwealth land.
But Territory Chief Minister Clare Martin says any site, no
matter how remote, could expose the Territory to a security
threat.
CLARE MARTIN: We've currently got anti-terrorism legislation
because the world has changed, because circumstances have
changed. And you have to face the fact that, you know, nuclear
waste can be used to make things like dirty bombs, and that
would create real terror.
ANNE BARKER: Once this legislation's passed, though,
realistically, what can you do?
CLARE MARTIN: On behalf of Territorians, I'll continue to fight.
Because when you look at the significance of building a nuclear
waste facility – and we need one – but you need to build with
the best technology, the best environmental standards. And
increasingly in a world like ours, you've got to make sure that
its security is at the highest level.
Now, this is not something to do on a political basis. You must
do it on a scientific, proper basis, and that has to be done.
And I'll be pursuing that with the Prime Minister and Federal
Government,
CLARE MARTIN: One man could still thwart the Commonwealth's plan
– the Northern Territory's Coalition Senator Nigel Scullion.
Labor calculates it would take him just 10 steps across the
Chamber to stand up for Territorians and vote down the bill.
But Senator Scullion has made it clear he won't be walking
anywhere.
NIGEL SCULLION: The Chief Minister knows full well that a waste
facility may be safely built in some parts of the Northern
Territory, but carefully says nothing else about the issue.
This is an act of bastardry against the Australian people. And
I'm proud to be a part of a Government that will not shy away
from our responsibilities, and I commend the bills to the Senate.
TONY EASTLEY: Northern Territory Senator Nigel Scullion ending
Anne Barker's report.
*****************************************************************
32 Deseret News: Nuclear waste attack may work
[deseretnews.com]
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Huntsman optimistic his D.C. visit has helped bar material from
Utah
By Suzanne Struglinski
Deseret Morning News
WASHINGTON — Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. left the nation's capital
Tuesday "hopeful and optimistic" that the legislative attempt to
block nuclear waste from coming to Utah will move forward, his
general counsel Mike Lee said.
['Photo'] Deseret Morning News graphic
Huntsman spent two days in Washington, D.C., meeting with
senators and House members working on the National Defense
Authorization Bill and the state's own congressional delegation.
The bill contains a provision by Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Utah, that
would create 100,000 acres of wilderness area that would block a
potential railroad route to the proposed Private Fuel Storage
nuclear waste site on the Goshute Indian Reservation.
Lee said the matter is still in play right now, but he
would likely know more by the end of the week. He did not want
to speculate on the overall status of the language after
Huntsman's visit but said the governor is an effective lobbyist
for the state.
"It's uncertain who the real enemies of the proposal
are," Lee said. "Over the next 48 hours it will become clearer
of what will happen. The lobbying effort has not stopped."
Lee said the Air Force told lawmakers Tuesday that it
supported the provision. If passed, the wilderness area
designation would protect Cedar Mountains, near the Utah Test
and Training Range, the Defense Department's largest training
range used by pilots at Hill Air Force Base.
Former Utah Rep. Jim Hansen, a Republican, tried to get
the language passed before he left office but failed to do so.
Lee said this time is different because of the Air Force's
support, along with a flip in position by Senate Minority Leader
Harry Reid, D-Nev., and environmental groups, who opposed the
idea in the past.
Private Fuel Storage spokeswoman Sue Martin said the
final language of the wilderness area designation would need to
be examined before its exact impact would be known.
Martin said the site's license application, which the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission has approved, allowed for a rail
route to be built as well as using heavy-haul trucks to bring
waste in from the road versus building a rail line.
If approved, the designated wilderness area would block a
rail line from being built but may not have much effect on a
truck shipping plan because the road already exists.
"That's my impression," Martin said. "We'd have to look
at it more closely."
E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
33 Las Vegas SUN: Estimated cost of Yucca Mountain railroad raised to $2 billion
Today: December 07, 2005 at 16:33:43 PST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Estimated cost of Yucca Mountain railroad raised to $2 billion
LAS VEGAS (AP) - The estimated cost of building a railroad line
to ship nuclear waste across Nevada to the proposed Yucca
Mountain repository has more than doubled, to about $2 billion,
an Energy Department official said Wednesday.
The revised figure includes construction of rail yards,
maintenance and support facilities that weren't part of a 2002
estimate for the 319-mile line, said Allen Benson, spokesman for
the Energy Department and the Yucca Mountain program in Las
Vegas.
Critics of the repository, who had derided the original estimate
as far too low, said the new estimate showed the Yucca plan was
becoming too expensive.
"It would be cheaper to build a road paved with gold," said Rep.
Shelley Berkley, D-Nev. "Yucca Mountain is already slated to be
the most expensive public works project ever undertaken by the
government, and just like this ridiculous railroad boondoggle,
its price tag continues to spiral out of control."
Robert Halstead, a Wisconsin-based consultant for the state of
Nevada, which opposes the repository plan, said the new estimate
may still be too low for what he said was a challenging route
across high desert and several mountain ranges.
"I've been saying at least a billion and a half dollars and up
to 2 billion based on engineering analyses we did back in 1996,
when we knew less about the problems of that route than we do
now," Halstead said.
The Energy Department announced in April 2004 that it planned to
ship most of the waste to Yucca Mountain by train. The
department said it would build the new rail line from Caliente,
a small town 150 miles northeast of Las Vegas, to the Yucca
Mountain site, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
No railroad currently runs to Yucca Mountain, and project
planners also have considered shipping waste canisters by rail
to Caliente, than transferring them to trucks for transport to
the repository.
The 2002 railroad cost estimate was included an environmental
study prepared before Congress and President Bush approved the
Yucca site for the repository.
Benson said Wednesday that a total project estimate was still
being calculated.
The Energy Department in 2001 projected the cost of building and
operating the national nuclear repository at about $58 billion.
Plans have called for the Yucca site to entomb 77,000 tons of
highly radioactive used reactor fuel from commercial nuclear
power plants and military installations in 39 states.
The project has in recent months gotten less congressional
funding than project planners sought, and project officials have
facing questions about e-mails suggesting that scientific
findings about the plan were falsified.
The projected opening date has been pushed back from 2010 to
2012 or later.
On the Net:
Nevada's Agency for Nuclear Projects:
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste
Yucca Mountain project: http://www.ymp.gov
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
34 Seattle Times: U.S. unveils report on problems at Hanford
Wednesday, December 7, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
By Warren Cornwall Seattle Times staff reporter
Amid pressure from Washington state political leaders, the U.S.
Department of Energy on Tuesday released a closely held report
that is critical of some work at a plant being built to clean up
some of the worst contamination at Hanford's former
nuclear-weapons factories.
But in the version released to the public, the department
blacked out portions related to criticism of spending by Bechtel
National, the contractor building the plant, and to contract
disputes between the department and Bechtel, according to a
complete copy of the report previously leaked to The Seattle
Times.
The redacted sections detail disagreements between Bechtel and
the Department of Energy (DOE) over responsibility for higher
costs to deal with fire-proofing of buildings and the buildup of
explosive hydrogen gas, among other things. The department also
removed sections saying the current contract may be ineffective.
Bechtel was offered money to hold down costs or meet production
quotas. Cost increases have largely killed Bechtel's chance to
win some of those bonuses, the report warned.
The department also blacked out a section that said inspectors
"saw little evidence that BNI [Bechtel National Inc.] has taken
steps to minimize and control project costs and project growth."
Bechtel has disputed that, saying it is committed to controlling
costs.
Demands for the report escalated last week after The Times
published an article about the leaked report, which was
completed in May by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The report said the cost of building the plant could rise from
$5.8 billion to as high as $9.65 billion and could take four
years longer than promised.
Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat who had
demanded that the department release the report, said a redacted
version was unacceptable.
"It's time to end the political maneuvering so we can get the
job at Hanford done right," she said in a statement.
But reaction from U.S. Rep. Doc Hastings, a Republican whose 4th
District includes Hanford, and U.S. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
was less sharp. While both had called on DOE to be more open and
release the report, neither was demanding a full version.
Jay Manning, head of the state Department of Ecology, chided the
DOE for what he called "an excessive amount of secrecy." But he
stressed the most important thing was for the DOE to move
forward with the construction project.
In a letter accompanying the report yesterday, the DOE said it
had blacked out sections that involved sensitive business
information and which the government decided should be kept
secret as the department decides what to do with the project.
"The redactions are minimal, and those redactions specifically
deal with business and procurement-sensitive information," said
DOE spokesman Mike Waldron.
The department has worked to provide accurate information to
state and congressional leaders and others, he said. The
report's authors have warned that some cost estimates couldn't
be verified, he noted.
The plant is designed to help clean up 53 million gallons of
radioactive and chemical waste stored in underground tanks at
Hanford, where plutonium for nuclear weapons was made for
decades. But the work has been delayed for years by technical
problems, cost overruns and other problems.
Warren Cornwall: 206-464-2311 or
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
35 Cincinnati ENQUIRER: Worker to go inside waste silo at Fernald
Wednesday, December 7, 2005
Solid layer at bottom requires change in plan
By Dan Klepal
Enquirer staff writer
MORGAN TWP. - Cleaning the last standing concrete storage silo
at the long-closed Fernald uranium plant will require the
unexpected - a person entering the domed building in a Bobcat
and breaking up the material so it can be hauled away.
Crews performing the $4.4 billion nuclear cleanup already have
emptied two of the three silos that stored the most dangerous
radioactive material at Fernald since the 1950s. The third was
filled with a radioactive powder with the consistency of talcum.
Workers have been using sophisticated vacuum cleaners to suck
out the powder, and a remote-controlled jackhammer to break up
parts that were compressed over the decades.
But as they got to the bottom, workers found that the material
had mixed with liquid, forming a hard layer like concrete. With
1,500 bags already removed and an estimated 350 left, the
project manager will have to change tactics next week and send a
live worker into the silo for the first time.
"There was about 18 inches of water in the bottom of the silo
when they started blowing the material in," during the 1950s,
said project manager Dennis Carr. "So we'll have to go in with a
manned vehicle."
The worker will be wearing full protective clothing and a
respirator. In addition, he'll be inside an enclosed cab. Still,
it's a situation no one had counted on, and will likely delay
the project by a month or two as crews get trained and practice
doing the job.
Overall, the Fernald cleanup - a 10-year operation that has
included hauling away mountains of contaminated soil, destroying
hundreds of buildings, cleaning an underground aquifer and
removing the waste in the silos - is on track to be finished by
June.
Johnny Reising, director of the overall cleanup for the U.S.
Department of Energy, said 75 percent of the 1,050-acre site has
been certified as clean by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. Eventually, about 900 of the acres will be returned to
wilderness and wildlife, with an education center so the public
can learn about how the site was contaminated and cleaned.
[Cincinnati.Com]
*****************************************************************
36 lamonitor.com: Sandia security incident revisited
The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, , Monitor Assistant Editor
In the final lap of competition for the management contract of
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a batch of documents has
surfaced reviving questions about "alleged security breaches,
misconduct and sham discipline involving some 15 Sandia
officials," including the former director of Sandia National
Laboratories Paul C. Robinson.
The description comes from a letter, dated Dec. 16, 2004,
written by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, to Department of
Energy Inspector General Gregory H. Friedman. Grassley expressed
dissatisfaction with the official's response to a yearlong
effort to get to the bottom of misconduct at Sandia National
Laboratories, dating back to 2001.
The material emerged Sunday on the web blog, LANL, the Real
Story. The blog has been devoted to issues related to past and
future management at the laboratory.
An anonymous writer included Grassley's letters to officials of
the Department of Energy as reference material to a submission
that was critical of Lockheed Martin's management.
Lockheed Martin, the manager of SNL, leads one group of
competitors along with the University of Texas, against the
current LANL manager the University of California, now allied
with industrial partners led by Bechtel.
Robinson would become the director of LANL, should the Lockheed
Martin team win the contract.
Rod Geer, a spokesperson for the Los Alamos Alliance, the name
of the Lockheed-UT partnership, said today that the issues
occurred a number of years ago and that DOE has been fully aware
of them over that time.
"DOE has given Sandia good marks for its management of the lab,"
he said, adding, "Everyone is entitled to their opinion."
The correspondence attached to the blog article related
Grassley's efforts to pursue charges contained in an Inspector
General report and an independent review known as the Bay
Report, neither of which have been made public.
The Bay Report concluded that a high level security official at
Sandia, David Nokes had interfered with an investigation and
ordered a computer to be destroyed that was considered to be
potential evidence related to allegations of improper conduct in
a highly sensitive area, according to Grassley's summary.
Further, Grassley wrote, quoting from the IG report, Nokes, had
refused to fully cooperate in an internal investigation, had
directed the destruction of evidence and otherwise "made it
impossible for ... the laboratories to prove the absence of
espionage or other serious issues."
Although Nokes was fired on June 25, 2003, in the wake of the
Bay investigation, he was given a one-year consulting contract
two weeks later and his security clearance was reactivated on
Feb. 23, 2004, before it was terminated again on July 9, 2004.
In a letter, dated Oct. 5, 2004, Grassley wrote to Linton
Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration and
Robinson's boss, acknowledging that Brooks justified the actions
as necessary, because Sandia "might need access to information
that Mr. Nokes developed over his employment in order to fulfill
its ongoing mission."
Grassley went on to request a fuller investigation into
allegations of a wider pattern of "sham discipline."
"It was alleged that all those who received disciplinary action
as a result of the Bay Report, starting with Mr. Nokes, were
also receiving a wide range of rewards and benefits, including
'golden parachutes,' consulting contracts promotions, ad hoc
raises, excellent performance ratings, 'non-base awards,' cash
bonuses and the like," Grassley wrote to Brooks.
While the IG report "substantiates the allegation," he noted, it
failed to address the issues of improper conduct, because they
were the subject of an ongoing FBI report and were to be covered
later.
Grassley's office confirmed the letters originated with him. A
press aide said the senator was still looking into the matter.
Grassley, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, has a
reputation for defending taxpayers' dollars. He pursued the
Nokes issue over the course of 2004 with letters to then-Energy
Secretary Spencer Abraham and to NNSA Administrator Brooks,
before complaining again to Friedman that his response had been
"totally unacceptable."
SNL officials declined to discuss the personnel issue, as a
matter of policy.
"However, some employees who had been disciplined resulting from
the Bay Report were given compensation increases to their pay,"
Michael Padilla of the public affairs office related in a
prepared statement. "Annual increases are given for reasons
consistent with Sandia's compensation system."
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
*****************************************************************