*****************************************************************
12/08/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.285
*****************************************************************
RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE
*****************************************************************
Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject
line and first line of body
NUCLEAR POLICY
1 DAILY YOMIURI: Govt to reform special energy accounts
2 AFP: EU should offer Iran more for nuclear deal - ex-IAEA chief -
3 AFP: Britain complains Iran undermining nuclear diplomacy -
4 AFP: US stands firm as North Korea threatens boycott of nuclear talk
5 Daily Yomiuri: Can U.S. defend nuclear deal with India?
6 US: NewStandard: Hundreds of Whistleblower Cases Dismissed Improperl
7 US: UPI: UPI Energy Watch
8 The Hindu: Norway to help India meet its energy needs
9 CNEWS World: Israel expands arsenal to prepare for possible nuclear
10 Xinhua: Russian plan could end impasse: IAEA chief
11 AFP: ElBaradei arrives in Oslo to receive Nobel Peace Prize -
NUCLEAR REACTORS
12 US: TMI Deserts Guard Stations
13 [NukeNet] Australian Nuclear Reactor Targeted by Terrorists,
14 US: NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with Southern Nuclear Officials In Atlant
15 Interfax: Yushchenko visits Chernobyl nuclear power plant
16 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear plants increase output by 3.8% in 11M05
17 RIA Novosti: Ukrainian president legalizes squatters near Chernobyl
18 BBC: Nuclear reactor towers downsized
19 Platts: New nukes question raises concerns for UK power market - S&P
20 US: Vermont Guardian: Nuclear advisors appear divided on Vermont Yan
21 US: Tuscaloosa News: NRC finds minor safety violations at Browns Fer
22 Globe and Mail: Opposition cries foul over lobbying post
23 Japan Times: Delayed by glitch, Aomori fires up first reactor
24 US: decatur daily: NRC panel gets update on Browns Ferry Unit 1
25 US: Hawaii Reporter: A Nuclear Future?
26 US: Whitehaven News: £20m nuke boost for learning
NUCLEAR SECURITY
27 AU ABC: Martin outlines dirty bomb fears
28 US: Casper Star-Tribune: WMD trainees prepare for emergencies
29 US: The Circle: Kyne explains dangerous effects of uranium weapon -
NUCLEAR SAFETY
30 US: Radium 226 flowing from the Piketon/Portsmouth, Ohio Plant
31 US: Las Vegas SUN: Former Nevada Test Site workers, kin call for ben
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
32 Sydney Morning Herald: Senate approves NT nuclear waste dump -
33 Sydney Morning Herald: France rules against Aussie nuke waste -
34 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear waste site now in minister's grip -
35 US: Bradenton Herald: Public meeting tonight on Tallevast
36 AU ABC: NT set for nuclear waste dump
37 AU ABC: Land councils at odds over nuclear dump
38 AU ABC: Little Indigenous support for nuclear dump, group says
39 RIA Novosti: Yushchenko addresses burying foreign nuclear waste in U
40 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet in Rockvill
41 reviewjournal.com: Yucca managers relay 'path forward' plan to regul
42 Las Vegas SUN: California wants Yucca refund
43 US: LA Daily News: Residents question perchlorate cleanup
44 US: Chicago Sun-Times: Nuclear waste a nearly limitless source of el
45 Mos News: Ship With French Nuclear Waste Docks in St. Petersburg Des
46 US: Deseret News: Goshute group's attorney must pay bank $11,000
47 ABC News: France bans Aust nuclear waste storage.
48 ABC News: Farmers threaten legal action over nuclear dump.
49 AU ABC: Govt makes way for NT nuclear waste plans
50 AFP: Ukraine considers storing foreign nuclear waste at Chernobyl -
51 US: Guardian Unlimited: Energy Dept. Completes Nuke Site Cleanup
52 Whitehaven News: Sellafield sets sights on strike
53 US: Rocky Mountain News: AG angles for funds to sue over arsenal
54 Australian: Nuclear agency fears France will return spent rods too s
55 Inyo Register: Yucca project continues to lose support
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
56 DOE doubles plutonium/TVC in the news
57 Santa Fe New Mexican: Wishing for a new contract
58 LA Daily News: Grand jury probe might have better luck than fines at
59 Denver Business Journal: Rocky Flats cleanup called complete -
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
1 DAILY YOMIURI: Govt to reform special energy accounts
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai said
Thursday that he aimed to integrate the government's two special
accounts for electric power source development and controlling
oil supply and demand.
Nikai said he would integrate the accounts as part of the
government and ruling coalition's reforms on special accounts
and as "the finishing touches to the reform drive" of Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
He also said the government would change the way cash from the
special account for electric power source development is
allocated. At the moment, revenues from a tax for promoting
electric power source development paid by power and other firms
are directly deposited in the special account.
Nikai said he wanted to change the system so revenue would be
deposited in the government's general account and only the
amount needed for development costs transferred to the special
account.
The special account has had an annual surplus of nearly 100
billion yen in recent years because fewer nuclear power plants
have been built than planned. (Dec. 9, 2005)
THE DAILY YOMIURI
+ THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
+ THE DAILY YOMIURI
© The Yomiuri Shimbun.
*****************************************************************
2 AFP: EU should offer Iran more for nuclear deal - ex-IAEA chief -
Thu Dec 8, 1:26 PM ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - The European Union" /> European Unionhas scope
to offer Iran" /> Iranmore incentives in exchange for guarantees
that Tehran will not build nuclear bombs, former head of the
IAEA nuclear watchdog Hans Blix said.
Blix, who has also been the UN's chief weapons inspector in
Iraq" /> Iraq, said North Korea" /> North Koreahad obtained more
concessions than Iran from Europe.
"I am not convinced that the EU has offered sufficiently
interesting things to the Iranians," Blix told AFP on the
sidelines of a seminar on nuclear policy in Stockholm.
Iran had been told that it "could expect World Trade
Organization" /> World Trade Organizationmembership, access to
spare parts for Boeings, and a fuel supply guarantee", Blix
said.
"But when you compare these things that have been offered to
Iran with what has been offered to North Korea, I am not sure
that one is at the negotiations' end," Blix said.
Negotiations between EU diplomats and Iran were halted in August
but are due to resume soon.
The EU is hoping to obtain a promise from Tehran that it will
not develop nuclear bombs under the mantle of its civil nuclear
energy programme.
Britain, France and Germany, backed by the United States, have
argued that a watertight agreement would require Iran foregoing
any capacity to enrich uranium.
Blix said the EU could do more to soften the Iranian position,
including security guarantees.
"I think so, but I think that they are also restrained by the
backseat driver whom they have in the car, the Americans," he
said.
Either way, a military solution to the Iranian deadlock was not
an option, despite perceived threats from the United States and
Israel" /> Israel, Blix said.
"I cannot imagine that anyone would like to launch cruise
missiles or other missiles against Iran," he said.
Blix, a retired Swedish diplomat, headed the IAEA from 1981 to
1997 before he became the chief UN weapons inspector in the
run-up to the war in Iraq.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
3 AFP: Britain complains Iran undermining nuclear diplomacy -
Thu Dec 8, 6:36 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Britain warned that efforts to resume difficult
nuclear negotiations with Iran" /> Iranon its disputed nuclear
programme were being endangered by a series of tough warnings
from the Islamic republic.
The bleak statement from the British embassy in Tehran comes
amid increasing pessimism among European Union" /> European
Uniondiplomats, who are trying to secure guarantees the clerical
regime will not use an atomic energy drive as a cover for
nuclear weapons developments.
"The UK regrets recent comments by Dr Larijani, suggesting that
Iran would shortly resume centrifuge activity," the embassy
said, referring to Iran's top nuclear negotiator and hardliner
Ali Larijani.
Larijani told AFP last week that Iran could soon resume making
centrifuges and their parts and conducting "research". He argued
such activities were perfectly legal and outside the scope of
any future talks with Britain, France and Germany.
Centrifuges are spun at supersonic speed to enrich uranium gas
-- which Iran is already producing in large quantities -- to
make reactor fuel, but the enrichment process can be extended to
make the core of a nuclear bomb.
"The European side made clear in Vienna that any resumption of
enrichment or enrichment related activity would seriously
aggravate the situation," Britain said, pointing to "urgent
proliferation-related concerns given Iran's history of
concealment and involvement with clandestine proliferation
networks."
With the two sides scheduled to meet in the coming weeks,
Britain complained that Larijani's comments "seem to be aimed at
prejudging these discussions and preventing the possibility of
finding a basis for negotiations".
Similar worries were voiced by France on Wednesday.
"Through their statements and the conditions they are setting,
the Iranian authorities risk jeopardising the possibility of
finding a basis to resume negotiations," French foreign ministry
spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei said.
Britain, France and Germany -- backed by the United States --
argue that the only guarantee Iran will not use its atomic
energy drive as a means to acquire the bomb is for the country
to totally abandon uranium enrichment activities.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is merely designed to
meet domestic energy needs, while the United States charges it
is cover for a programme to develop an atomic bomb.
In the forthcoming meeting with Iran -- which EU diplomats say
could take place before the end of the month -- the Europeans
are set to press a proposal from Moscow under which Iran's
uranium would be enriched only on Russian soil.
But Iran has already spurned this compromise plan, insisting it
will make its own enriched uranium. This could lead to the
country being referred to the UN Security Council and a sharp
escalation of the crisis.
"It doesn't look very positive," commented a senior European
diplomat close to the talks. "Iran is sending out a very clear
signal of no compromise. We're trying to be flexible, but it
seems Iran doesn't want a deal."
Iran accuses the West of "double-standards", and insists fuel
cycle work for peaceful use is an "inalienable right" enshrined
by the nuclear Non-Prolferation Treaty.
*****************************************************************
4 AFP: US stands firm as North Korea threatens boycott of nuclear talks
07/12/2005 19h11
A North Korean soldier stands guard at the border village of
Panmunjom
©AFP/File - Jung Yeon-Je
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. North
Korean soldiers march at the border village of Panmunjom
©AFP/File - Jung Yeon-Je
"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. This DigitalGlobe satellite image shows
a nuclear reactor site in Yongbyon, North Korea
©AFP/DigitalGlobe/File
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.
+ Àðàáñêèé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005
*****************************************************************
5 Daily Yomiuri: Can U.S. defend nuclear deal with India?
William C. Potter Special to The Daily Yomiuri
The decision by the administration of U.S. President George W.
Bush in mid-July to embrace India as a partner in nuclear-energy
cooperation has been characterized as bold or reckless depending
upon the relative importance one attaches to containing China or
restraining the spread of nuclear weapons. What both critics and
proponents of the new initiative tend to agree on is that the
U.S.-India nuclear deal signals a major departure from prior
U.S. nonproliferation behavior.
Although the policy shift appears to have been conceived and
adopted in a top-down fashion that entailed minimal interagency
review and gave little weight to arms control considerations,
the reorientation is consistent with the following four
principles that gradually have come to govern Washington's
approach to nonproliferation.
-- Nuclear proliferation is inevitable; at best it can be
managed not prevented. According to this perspective, although
the pace of nuclear weapons has been much slower than predicted,
we are approaching a new tipping point in which a number of
states may "go nuclear." U.S. policy to counter proliferation
must be selective. In those instances in which the United States
cannot prevent nuclear weapons spread, it can and should seek to
influence the development of responsible nuclear policies on the
part of new nuclear nations. This principle applies to the
Indian subcontinent, the nuclearization of which should have
been anticipated and cannot be reversed.
-- There are good proliferators and bad proliferators.
Throughout most of the post-World War II era U.S. declaratory
policy opposed the spread of nuclear weapons without regard to
the political orientation of the state in question. In recent
years, however, it has been replaced by a more differentiated
policy that distinguishes between U.S. friends and foes. This
policy change has meant applying higher standards for
nonproliferation compliance to selected states and discounting
the proliferation risks posed by others. In addition, it has had
the effect of recasting the nature of the proliferation
challenge from "dangerous weapons" to "evil regimes." India is
an example of a "good proliferator" that subscribes to
democratic norms. It also has demonstrated responsible nuclear
export policies.
-- Multilateral mechanisms to prevent the spread of nuclear
weapons are ineffectual. The Bush administration consistently
has exhibited a strong preference for foreign and military tools
that are unconstrained by the need to seek approval from
international organizations or multilateral bodies be they the
U.N. Security Council or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
This general orientation applies with equal force to the
nonproliferation sphere and was in evidence at the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference in May and the U.N.
Summit in September, neither of which produced a single
recommendation relating to nonproliferation or disarmament.
Although Washington had attached greater importance to the
45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group as a means to curtail the
spread of uranium enrichment technology, it is prepared to
weaken that body in pursuit of a strategic partnership with
India.
-- Regional security considerations trump those of global
nonproliferation. Diplomats have long struggled with the problem
of how best to enhance nuclear stability in South Asia without
appearing to reward those few states not party to the NPT. The
U.S.-India nuclear deal essentially resolves the dilemma by
ignoring how other states may interpret the repudiation by the
United States of existing domestic law and international
political obligations regarding nuclear trade with a non-NPT
state that also possesses nuclear weapons. It does so because of
a determination by the architects of the new India policy that
international political objectives take precedence over
nonproliferation considerations. A central premise of this
policy is that a substantial Indian nuclear arsenal will serve
U.S. interests in Asia in the future vis-a-vis a more assertive
and powerful China.
It is premature to render a verdict on the longer-term impact of
the U.S.-India nuclear deal on regional stability in Asia or
global nonproliferation. Most observers agree, however, that the
potential benefits for U.S. national security, as well as the
possible negative repercussions, will depend heavily on two
factors: the extent to which the July expression of common
values and practices represents an enduring convergence of
national interests between Washington and New Delhi, and the
ability of the international community to sustain support for
universal nonproliferation principles while applying them
selectively. Early indications are not encouraging on either
count.
Much to Washington's chagrin, New Delhi has had to be pulled
kicking and screaming into the Western-oriented coalition that
has condemned Iran's nuclear policies and has advocated referral
of the matter to the U.N. Security Council. At the last moment,
for example, India joined the U.S.-led resolution on Iran at the
September meeting of the Board of Governors of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, but only after the United States warned
its new strategic partner that its abstention would jeopardize
congressional support for U.S.-Indian nuclear cooperation. India
also has balked at committing to a halt in the production of
fissile material for military purposes. Even on the issue of
shaping the rise of Chinese military power--the core factor
driving the change in U.S. policy toward India--it is by no
means clear that there is a convergence of perceptions of the
Chinese threat or the preferred strategies for coping with the
perceived challenge.
In principle, it may be possible to maintain support for
universal nonproliferation goals while seeking exceptions in
very special cases. In practice, however, there is little reason
to believe that one can reconcile these positions. Already
Iranian nuclear negotiators have exploited the inconsistency of
U.S. efforts to deny enrichment technology to a nonnuclear
weapon state party to the NPT while supporting nuclear trade
with a non-NPT state that has an overt nuclear weapons program.
The tenuous logic of the new U.S. position also has not been
lost on those members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group such as
Russia and France, who have long advocated loosening nuclear
export guidelines, and eagerly have endorsed the Bush proposal.
Today they advocate a special exception for India. Will the
United States be as comfortable with the exceptions based on
that precedent they propose tomorrow?
The outcome of the new U.S.-India deal may be less momentous
than either the critics or proponents of the shift in policy
allege. However, the most likely outcome also may be the worst.
By its nuclear energy embrace of India, the United States
already has devalued the benefits of NPT membership and
demonstrated that it regards proliferation to be not necessarily
a bad thing. Meanwhile, the domestic repercussions of forcing an
unnatural alignment of Indian and U.S. policies on Iran actually
may undercut prospects for an enduring strategic partnership
between a leader of the nonaligned movement and the one
remaining superpower.
Potter is institute professor and director of the Center for
Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of
International Studies in California. He contributed this article
in response to Ramesh Thakur's article "U.S.-India nuclear
accord a win-win outcome for all" (Nov. 27, Commentary). (Dec.
9, 2005)
+ THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN
+ THE DAILY YOMIURI
© The Yomiuri Shimbun.
*****************************************************************
6 NewStandard: Hundreds of Whistleblower Cases Dismissed Improperly, Group Charges
Dec 6 -
Amid growing charges that various federal agencies are acting
illegally, the office responsible for investigating many such
allegations made by government employees released its 2004 report
a year late and with no public announcement.
According to the 2004 report of the United States Office of
Special Counsel, only a handful of the nearly 1,200 employee
reports of waste, fraud and abuse on the Office’s schedule at
the start of 2004 were deemed worthy of further investigation. Of
those investigated, the office found only eight to have merit.
The Office received almost 2,000 new complaints during 2004
and referred 244 for investigation, closing 1,799 within 240
days of receiving them, the report noted. There were 653
complaints carried over from 2003.
In a statement released yesterday, Public Employees for
Environmental Responsibility (PEER) alleged that Scott Bloch,
the office’s head and a political appointee of the Bush
administration, has been sweeping serious complaints under the
rug at the behest of White House officials. For more than a
year, PEER has been attacking Bloch over similar concerns,
including charges that he conducted a purge of Special Counsel
workers for whistle-blowing activities of their own.
"With Scott Bloch at the helm, the Office of Special Counsel is
acting as a plumber’s unit for the Bush administration,
plugging leaks, blocking investigations and discrediting
sources," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said in the
statement. "Under Bloch, political appointees, not civil
servants, decide which cases go forward and which cases are
round filed."
The OSC report begins with two pages of Bloch’s biography and
a laundry list of his accomplishments at the helm of the Office.
It does not include information about the controversy
surrounding his management of the office. As reported by The
NewStandard in April 2004, Bloch first made waves when he
decreed that sexual orientation would no longer be considered
"protected conduct" for government employees. The move was
condemned by lawmakers and, eventually, President Bush. A year
later, critics charge, Bloch attempted to orchestrate a virtual
purge of the Washington, DC office by forcing senior staffers to
transfer to regional branches purportedly created for just that
purpose. That move is now under investigation by a separate
agency, the Office of Personnel Management.
Of most concern to PEER and the whistleblowers whose complaints
went uninvestigated is the fact that Bloch cleared out a huge
backlog of complaints, mostly by dismissing investigations
without seeking further information from the whistleblower who
filed the claim in question, a fact he cited as evidence of the
good work the Office of Special Counsel was doing under his
command in a letter to Representative Henry Waxman
(D-California) earlier this year. PEER obtained and released the
letter in February.
© 2005 The NewStandard. See our .
*****************************************************************
7 UPI: UPI Energy Watch
United Press International -
12/8/2005 12:32:00 PM -0500
Newstrack: NATO foreign ministers voted Thursday
By ANDREA R. MIHAILESCU
UPI Energy Correspondent
Merkel to hold 2006 German Energy Summit
Angela Merkel, Germany's new chancellor, plans to convene a
national energy summit in 2006 to examine the country's energy
sector.
Merkel will likely concentrate on topics such as long-term gas
deals between importers and distributors, Germany's renewable
energy law, emissions trading, climate control and power-plant
modernization. Gas reserves in Europe and security of supply may
also be brought up at the summit, Wulf Bernotat, the head of
Germany's energy group E.ON, said.
Merkel promised to boost funding for energy research and
development to diversify Germany's supplies.
One subject likely to come up is the way Germany phases out the
use of coal in power generation to meet its obligations under
the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. It is also
considering plans to phase out nuclear plants.
The country's energy regulator sought to bring down end-user
energy prices by limiting the length of gas purchasing contracts
between importers and redistributors, while also seeking to open
up the German gas market to third-party access.
--
Oil sands earnings expected to soar
Many oil sands projects are paying off their construction costs
with Alberta getting more cash flow within the next five years,
industry forecasts report.
"We're reaching a tipping point because a lot of projects are
starting to shift from 1 percent to 25 percent (royalty regime
schedule)," Mike Glennon, executive director of the Athabasca
Regional Issues Working Group, told Alberta's Today.
The provincial treasury's annual oil sands earnings is expected
to reach $2.6 billion by 2010, even with a 30 percent price drop
to $40 per barrel, according to the working group.
But if oil averages $50 per barrel, annual oil sands revenues
could hit $3.9 billion in 2010.
Experts project oil sands production to triple to 3 million
barrels per day by 2020.
--
Philippines oil firm eyes wind power projects
State-owned Philippine National Oil Co. aims to increase the
country's wind-power sector.
The Philippines plans on becoming the first wind energy producer
in Southeast Asia, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla told
participants of the "Wind Energy Development in the Philippines"
Forum Tuesday.
"Private sector interests have been increasing ... Our very own
PNOC is also looking at several potential wind areas of the
country, particularly in Ilocos and Mindoro in Luzon, Antique in
the Visayas and Surigao in Mindanao," Lotilla said.
PNOC-Energy Development Corp. expressed interest in five
projects, during the first contract bidding held in March.
Nine firms showed significant interest in 16 wind power sites,
during the second wind contracting round.
Investments in the second round could reach $11 million.
"Coastal Power has signified its interest to develop Carranglan
in Nueva Ecija and some areas in the Bicol region," Lotilla
said. Origen is looking at Maconacon and other municipalities in
Isabela."
--
Indonesia to simplify tender procedure for power tenders
Indonesia said the government will soon issue a regulation to
simplify the tender procedure to expedite the construction of
power generating projects.
The government plans to cut the process to one year from the
current two, and wants to annul all regulations standing in the
way of speeding up the process, Chief Economics Minister
Aburizal Bakrie said Monday.
Under the regulation, investors will receive a legal protection
in power generating projects, Aburizal said.
Contractors are expected to be named without tender to speed up
the construction of power generating projects in some 13 regions
frequently suffer power supply shortages.
Coal producers will have to dedicate 13.5 percent of their
production for domestic consumption.
Increasing crude prices prompted Indonesia to expedite the
process of replacing oil with coal or gas to fuel power plants.
--
Closing oil prices, December 8, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $57.58
West Texas intermediate crude oil: $59.45
--
(Please send comments to AMihailescu@upi.com)
© Copyright 2005 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
8 The Hindu: Norway to help India meet its energy needs
Thursday, December 8, 2005 : 1535 Hrs
New Delhi, Dec. 8 (PTI): Norway today offered its expertise and
cooperation to help India meet its energy needs even as its
Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, said New Delhi would have to
sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to gain membership of
the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
On a three-day visit here to "deepen and broaden" bilateral
relations, Stoltenberg said he looked forward to negotiating a
Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and explore possibilities
for enhancing business with one of the world's fastest growing
economies.
"Norway is a leading energy producer... Our companies have
expertise in exploration of oil and gas, especially off-shore.
India is looking into potential of developing oil and gas
resources off-shore," he told a select group of reporters here.
"We have world leading companies, both in government and
private, in electricity generation, and transportation and
transmission facilities. We have world leading companies in
supply and engineering in energy sector," he said adding in all
these areas, there is potential for cooperation.
The Norwegian Prime Minister said he would be looking for
"mutually commercial beneficial agreements" between the
companies of the two countries and the governments' role would
be to facilitate those.
On the nuclear issue, he said his country was open for dialogue
"but we are very much in favour of Non-Proliferation Treaty and
according to the treaty, you can be a member of the NSG only if
you have signed the treaty."
He said since Norway was in favour of strengthening the NPT, "we
can't see there is any room for membership or basis for dialogue
(with India)."
Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of
*****************************************************************
9 CNEWS World: Israel expands arsenal to prepare for possible nuclear war with Iran
CANOE --
December 8, 2005
By STEVEN GUTKIN
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is expanding its military arsenal to
deal with what it views as the greatest threat to its existence:
a nuclear attack by Iran. It has acquired dozens of planes with
long-range fuel tanks to allow them to reach Iran and signed a
deal with Germany for two submarines reported capable of firing
nuclear missiles.
Though Israeli security officials said a strike against Iran is
not on the horizon, senior Israeli politicians have begun openly
discussing the possibility of a military option - either alone
or with other countries.
Such a mission would be far more complicated than the 1981
Israeli raid that destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor.
It would require heavy precision bombs that can blast through
underground bunkers, manned aircraft to bombard multiple targets
and possibly ground troops to make sure weapons materials are
destroyed, experts said.
"It's not a target that you can find on the map, send two F15s
and solve it," said Itamar Yaar, deputy head of Israel's
National Security Council.
Both the United States and Israel refuse to say whether a strike
plan is in the works.
Hard feelings between Israel and Iran date to just before the
1979 Islamic Revolution when the Israelis joined the United
States in siding with the Shah before he was deposed.
Partly because of that, the founder of the Islamic revolution,
the Ayatollah Khomeini, called Israel the Little Satan, saving
the term Great Satan for the United States, Israel's patron.
The Iranian brand of Islam allows no place for a Jewish state in
the Middle East and Israel points out often Iran is the only
member of the United Nations that publicly calls for destruction
of another member. Israel's animosity toward Iran stems not only
from the Iranian leadership's anti-Israel statements but also
its support of armed groups like Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad.
Tension between the countries has mounted recently amid growing
concern about Iran's atomic program.
Tehran said its nuclear program is to generate electricity, not
make bombs. But plans announced this week to build more nuclear
power plants and to purchase 30 Tor-M1 surface-to-air missiles
from Russia have raised fears.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be
"wiped off the map" in October also set off alarms. On Thursday,
the Iranian leader said the Jewish state should be moved to
Europe and questioned whether the Holocaust took place.
Both Israel and the United States said diplomatic options should
be exhausted before any military action is contemplated.
But this week, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said the
ability to take out Iran's nuclear program by force "of course
exists." His political rival, Benjamin Netanyahu, went farther,
saying he would support a pre-emptive raid.
Israel's military chief, Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz, said Sunday he
does not believe diplomatic pressure will be enough to keep
Tehran from developing the bomb and a military solution may be
necessary.
"Who is the one to implement it? That is another question that
I'm not going to answer."
"'When?' is another question that I'm not going to answer. But
there are options worldwide," he said.
U.S. officials have refrained from calling for military action,
favouring diplomacy, inspections and trade sanctions. Still,
President George W. Bush has said the United States will not let
Iran have the bomb.
Some experts argue a military strike would not be feasible
because of a lack of good intelligence on targets, the existence
of multiple atomic installations scattered throughout Iran, some
underground or bored into mountains and the country's
increasingly sophisticated defence systems.
But others said the capability is there: a combination of
precision missiles, bunker-buster bombs, airpower and elite
ground forces to penetrate the most difficult sites.
The United States - with cruise missiles that can deliver
high-explosive bombs to precise locations and B-2 bombers
capable of dropping 85 225-kilogram bombs in a single run -
could take on the task, several experts said.
Whether Israel could is an unanswered question. However, the
country already has received about one-half of 102 U.S.-built
F-16I planes it ordered, with extra fuel tanks to let them reach
Iran.
Israel signed a deal with Germany to build two more Dolphin
submarines capable of firing atomic missiles at Iran. Israel
already has three Dolphins, a key deterrent to any future
nuclear confrontation.
Israel is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it
refuses to confirm or deny it.
Last week, Israel successfully tested its Arrow missile-defence
system against a missile similar to Iran's Shahab-3, which can
be equipped with a nuclear warhead to reach Israel or several
U.S. military installations in the Middle East.
Experts said possible targets in Iran include the Bushehr
nuclear facility and a uranium-conversion centre at Esfahan.
David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and
International Security in Washington, said any strike would be
fraught with pitfalls. But a successful one would have to be a
"bolt out of the blue" to prevent Iran from moving its uranium
centrifuges, a key component for enriching uranium used to make
nuclear bombs.
He also said ground commando raids would likely be necessary to
ensure hidden tools used for atomic purposes are destroyed.
Israeli analyst Gerald Steinberg said it wouldn't be necessary
to destroy "100 per cent of the targets" to set back Iran's
nuclear program. A limited operation to disrupt power supplies,
block access to sites or remove key components could be enough.
He noted Iran has learned lessons from Israel's 1981 strike
against the Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad, dispersing
nuclear sites, putting facilities underground and improving
defence.
"But 25 years have passed since then and the offensive
capabilities of the armies involved have also advanced," he
added.
Albright warned any strike, especially one that leaves some
nuclear capabilities intact, would likely strengthen Iran's
resolve to aggressively pursue atomic weapons.
He said Iran would most likely retaliate by making "life
miserable for the United States in Iraq" and launch attacks
against Israel through proxies such as Lebanon's Hezbollah
guerrillas.
*****************************************************************
10 Xinhua: Russian plan could end impasse: IAEA chief
www.xinhuanet.com
www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-08 14:11:47
BEIJING, Dec. 8 -- The head of the United Nations nuclear
watchdog says a Russian proposal for a joint venture with Iran
is a good way to try and bring Tehran to the negotiating table
over its disputed atomic program. Meanwhile, Russian President
Vladimir Putin said the UN watchdog should continue dealing with
the crisis over Iran's nuclear program.
Chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed
ElBaradei called on Tuesday for accelerated cooperation and
greater transparency from the Iranian government, in dealing
with the country's nuclear program.
He said: "You cannot continue with a verification process
for ever. After three years of engaging fully in Iran, we need
to bring that issue to a closure, and I would hope within
maximum one year we should be able to come to a conclusion about
the nature of their (nuclear) programme."
The IAEA chief said the Russian plan appeared to offer Iran
what it would need to boost power generation. In addition, the
involvement of Moscow, which is helping Iran build a nuclear
power plant, would reassure the international community about
Tehran's activities.
Also on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin insisted
that the Iranian nuclear disputed be resolved through the IAEA
and urged Tehran to stick to its obligations.
Iran froze its uranium enrichment program under
international pressure, but restarted uranium conversion - a
step towards enrichment - in August.
In an effort to end the standoff, Russia -- which opposes
Western threats to refer Iran to the UN Security Council -- has
offered to enrich Iranian uranium and return it.
(Source: cctv.com)
Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
11 AFP: ElBaradei arrives in Oslo to receive Nobel Peace Prize -
Thu Dec 8,11:59 AM ET
OSLO (AFP) - The Egyptian director general of the International
Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy
Agency(IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, arrived in Oslo where he is set
to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, amid a continued dispute over
Iran" /> Iran's nuclear program.
ElBaradei flew to the Norwegian capital on a commercial flight
from Vienna, where the IAEA is based, for the ceremony on
Saturday when he will formally accept the prestigious prize,
consisting of a gold medal and a cheque worth 1.3 million
dollars.
In October, the Nobel Committee announced that the 2005 Peace
Prize would go jointly to the United Nations" /> United
Nationsnuclear watchdog and ElBaradei "for their efforts to
prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes."
The distinction comes just over 60 years after the United States
dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on
August 6 and 9, 1945, the world's only nuclear attacks to date.
The IAEA was founded in 1957 to promote civilian use of nuclear
energy and at the same time work to eliminate the proliferation
of nuclear weapons.
The agency and its director have been instrumental in thorny
nuclear negotiations with Iran, threatening to take the country
before the UN Security Council for violating nuclear
non-proliferation rules.
Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is merely designed to
meet domestic energy needs, while the United States charges it
is a cover for a programme to develop an atomic bomb.
International reactions have been divided over this year's Peace
Prize choice, with some saying the IAEA has not done enough to
banish the nuclear threat.
After congratulating the Nobel Committee last year for awarding
the prestigious prize to an environmentalist, Kenyan Wangari
Maathai, for the first time, environmental activists this year
were far from pleased.
"The IAEA has been 'proliferating' the very technology and
nuclear materials that are at the heart of nuclear weapons
development, including to India, Israel" /> Israel, Pakistan,
North Korea" /> North Koreaand Iran," international
environmental group Greenpeace said in a statement on Thursday
entitled "Wrong Choice".
"Greenpeace calls for amending the IAEA statute to strenghten
its role in containing the dangers of radioactive materials and
end its promotion of nuclear power," it said.
Greenpeace said it planned to hold several demonstrations in
Oslo during ElBaradei's five-day stay in the capital.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
12 TMI Deserts Guard Stations
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:54:59 -0800
Three Mile Island Alert, Inc.
315 Peffer Street
Harrisburg, PA 17102
Contact:
(717)-541-1101
Eric Joseph
Epstein
eepstein@igc.apc.org
PRESS RELEASE
December 8, 2003
TMI Deserts Guard Stations
(Harrisburg, Pa.) - Exelon¹s decision to abandon guarding the North
and South gates of Three MIle Island (TMI) drew sharp criticism from Three
Mile Island Alert, Inc. (TMIA), a safe-energy group formed in 1977.
³This is an irresponsible decision based solely on financial
considerations. Exelon is blatantly disregarding the public¹s health and
safety as the enjoy record profits,² stated Eric Epstein, TMI-Alert¹s
chairman
³Since Exelon purchased TMI, they cut staffing, taxes and corners,² Epstein
added. According to Exelon, the Company has eliminated 200 jobs since 1999.
Last December, the National Nuclear Accrediting Board placed the company on
probation because of problems with its training program for control room
operators.
Epstein pointed out, ³Furthermore, this is premature and irresponsible
based on our Petition pending before the NRC requesting the posting of
armed guards at each plan¹st entrance² (For more in formation on TMIA¹s
Petition visit tmia.com)
Epstein also noted that Exelon is still unable to provide emergency
evacuation for day care and nursery school children.
Epstein lamented, ³This is a new low for TMI and calls into question the
NRC¹s ability to regulate nuclear power.²
Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\TMIA petition entrance guards"
*****************************************************************
13 [NukeNet] Australian Nuclear Reactor Targeted by Terrorists,
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 20:18:03 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Mothersalert Home: http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html
http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/resources/sunflower/2005/12_sunflower.htm#9a
Australian Nuclear Reactor Targeted by Terrorists,
Plot Foiled | Top
Australian Federal Police arrested three men near
Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in December
2004. A lengthy police report released 14 November
2005 made public for the first time that the
arrested men, with support of a larger Australian
network of terrorists, were plotting an attack on
the Lucas Heights reactor complex. A large
counterterrorism exercise conducted by Australian
police in early November 2005 swept up nearly 20
others who are suspected of aiding in the plot to
attack the nuclear complex and other potential
attacks in Australia. The Lucas Heights reactor is
used for research and medical purposes, not for
generating electricity.
The 14 November police report outlines how the
Australian terror network purchased the same
chemicals used in the 7 July 2005 bombings in
London, possessed bomb-making instructions,
extremist Islamic literature, as well as
instructional videos tied to Al-Qaeda. According
to police the men purchased hundreds of liters of
chemical ingredients for peroxide-based
explosives, and stockpiled steel drums, batteries,
plastic piping, circuit kits, stopwatches, and
ammunition. The report says the three men arrested
near Lucas Heights are part of an extremist
subgroup of the Ahel al Sunna wal Jammah
Association, a Sunni Islamic group that follows a
jihadist ideology.
The men are being held under various charges at a
maximum security facility. The defense lawyers
representing the men say there isn't any evidence
their clients were planning an attack and claim
the arrests are a political stunt orchestrated to
display the power of new anti-terror laws recently
passed by the Australian government. The defense
attorney's argument appears weak since members of
the arrested group are on record urging martyrdom,
and inflicting maximum damage on Western
interests.
Sources: Perry, Michael, Sydney nuclear reactor
terror plot target," Reuters, 14 November 2005;
"Australia: Nuclear Reactor Believed Target,"
adnkronosinternational, 14 November 2005; King,
David, "Nuclear attack in jihad plot," The
Australian, 15 November 2005.
Michigan Trucker Transporting Radioactive Material
Chokes on Beef Jerky, Crashes | Top
On 26 November 2005, a truck driver carrying
low-level radioactive material choked on beef
jerky and drove the truck into a ditch. The man
was transporting the radioactive material from
Ontario to Blanding, Utah on behalf of Cameco, an
industrial uranium mining company. The crash did
not release any hazardous materials, according to
Michigan State Police.
Source: Damron, Gina, "Michigan Trucker Goes Off
Road, But Hazardous Powder Stays Put," Detroit
News, 26 November 2005.
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings or access the archives at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net
*****************************************************************
14 NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with Southern Nuclear Officials In Atlanta to Discuss Hatch
Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region II - 2005-04
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-05-045
December 7, 2005 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D.
Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov
Thursday, Dec. 15 to discuss several issues at the Hatch nuclear
plant in southern Ga.
The meeting, which is open to the public, will be held in the
NRC Region II Office, located on the 24th floor of the Sam Nunn
Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street. NRC officials will be
available after the business portion of the meeting to answer
questions from interested observers.
The meetings discussions will include plant staffing and planned
equipment upgrades. The meeting will also cover a recent Unusual
Event due to a transformer fire, and the current status of
nuclear material inventory issues at the plant.
Interested members of the public who are unable to attend the
meeting can participate via a toll-free audio teleconference.
Anyone interested in participating by phone should contact
Gordon Williams at 404-562-4516 or e-mail him at grw2@nrc.gov.
Last revised Wednesday, December 07, 2005
*****************************************************************
15 Interfax: Yushchenko visits Chernobyl nuclear power plant
Dec 8 2005 4:21PM
KYIV. Dec 8 (Interfax) - Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko
arrived at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant on Thursday to
control the unloading of spent nuclear fuel from the reactor of
the third block.
The unloading began last Monday for the first time in five
years, Ukrainian presidential press service told Interfax.
Yushchenko also met with Igor Gramotkin, the director of the
plant.
The third block of the Chernobyl nuclear power station was shut
down on December 15, 2000.
© 1991-2005 Interfax
All rights reserved
News and other data on this web site are provided for
information purposes only, and are not intended for
republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution
of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of
Interfax.
*****************************************************************
16 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear plants increase output by 3.8% in 11M05
08/ 12/ 2005
MOSCOW, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - Russian nuclear power plants
(NPP) increased their power output in January-November 2005 by
3.8% year-on-year to more than 133.5 billion kwh, a statement
from state-owned nuclear power generating company Rosenergoatom
said Thursday.
"The background radiation at nuclear power plants and
surrounding areas complies with energy units usage regulations
and do not exceed environmental figures," the statement said.
In all, Russia operates 31 energy units at 10 nuclear power
plants.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
17 RIA Novosti: Ukrainian president legalizes squatters near Chernobyl
08/ 12/ 2005
KIEV, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - Ukrainian President Viktor
Yushchenko instructed the head of the Kiev Region administration
to begin legalizing the houses of squatters who settled near the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant, the presidential press service
said Thursday.
The press service said Yushchenko had toured the Chernobyl area
and ordered four churches be transferred to the site.
"In the opinion of the Ukrainian president, the revival of the
Chernobyl area will thus begin with the revival of the
churches," the press service said.
Some international experts estimate that around 4,000 people
have died since the explosion that all but destroyed the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant in April 1986 and released
radioactive emissions that badly contaminated large areas of the
western Soviet Union.
However, a UN Development Program report released in September
2005 said the consequences of the accident had been presented as
rather dramatic in scale but thorough research had shown that
the fallout was not as detrimental to human health as previously
reported.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
18 BBC: Nuclear reactor towers downsized
Last Updated: Thursday, 8 December 2005
[Trawsfynydd reactor]
The process to downsize the two reactors will take two years
The reactor towers at a former nuclear power station in Snowdonia
are set to be partly demolished using ground-breaking technology.
The two 170ft towers at Trawsfynydd will be downsized following
calls from a public inquiry in 2002.
The aim is to lessen the visual impact of the power station while
the decommissioning process continues.
The location is set to return to being a green-field site by
2098.
The nuclear reactors at Trawsfynydd were shut down in 1991 and
the power station closed two years later.
Since then, the decommissioning process has seen all the highly
radioactive nuclear fuel removed and sent to Sellafield for
reprocessing.
The most dangerous material now left on site - so-called
intermediate waste - includes radioactive metal that surrounded
the fuel rods in the reactors.
This is due to be moved into "safe stores" which are being built
on the site, until it too can be taken away.
It's an historic day for u It's the culmination of four years of
effort and preparation [ src=] Simon Parsons, Site
manager
Following a public inquiry into the future of the site in 2002,
the two 170ft reactor buildings are being reduced in height by
about a third to lessen to visual impact of the site.
The two reactors each house six boilers, each weighing 1,000
tons.
They are made of solid steel and are 130ft high, 18ft in
diameter, and up to 7ins thick in places.
Before the reactors can be cut the boilers need to be broken down
and moved to a lower level of the building.
A massive lifting rig has been designed specifically for the
process of cutting the boilers into smaller 100 ton pieces.
[Trawsfynydd site in Snowdonia ]
The waste will be stored on site until it is safe to be moved
Simon Parsons, the site manager at Trawsfynydd, said the project
was "a monumental challenge".
"It's an historic day for us. It's the culmination of four years
of effort and preparation," he said.
Many of the 500 workers at the site, almost half of whom are from
the local area, have been trained specifically for this project.
Mr Parsons said he hoped the technology, and the skills of the
workforce would be used at other sites around the world.
Gwynedd councillor Tom Ellis also welcomed the move.
"I wholeheartedly welcome it because when you have a lump sum in
the region of £1m its bound to some good in the area."
The remaining radioactive material on the site is set to be
stored on site until 2088 when it will finally be removed.
The station is set to return to a green-field site and re-open
for public use in 2098 at a total cost of around £1bn.
*****************************************************************
19 Platts: New nukes question raises concerns for UK power market - S&P
London (Platts)--8Dec2005
Building new nuclear power plants in the UK could "significantly
affect the future structure of the country's liberalized
generating industry," Standard & Poors, the ratings agency owned
by Platts parent company McGraw-Hill said Thursday.
In a new report, "UK security of supply fears spark renewed
interest in nuclear energy," S&P said concerns over high energy
commodity costs and security of supply, as well as the long term
impact of climate change abatement programs, meant that nuclear
was back on the agenda.
"If new construction of nuclear power is to become a reality
in the UK, we have significant concerns over the future structure
of the generating industry," said S&P's credit analyst Paul Lund.
S&P said that of particular concern were the potential for
increased regulation of the liberalized generating industry, a
higher level of political interference in the market structure,
and the ongoing prospects for nuclear power in a competitive
power market.
"We expect that investment in nuclear power will rely on the
long-term sustainability of high electricity prices in the UK
energy market," said Lund.
S&P warned that the biggest obstacle to the long-term
profitability of nuclear power stations was the uncertainty about
the future costs of storing radioactive waste, decommissioning
power stations, and processing spent fuel. The ratings agency
warned that these costs were not easily factored into the cost of
nuclear power and could be much higher than estimated.
"The bulk of nuclear liabilities and asset-retirement
obligations in Europe are on balance sheet, but are unfunded. The
obligations usually have no impact on day-to-day cash flows, and
are very long-dated. Nevertheless, the legal obligation to
finance decommissioning costs creates significant future
liabilities, the ultimate cost of which can be higher than that
provided for," the ratings agency warned.
It added that the liberalized nature of the UK generation
market could deter private companies from investing in new
nuclear: "Ultimately, investor-owned utilities will not get
involved in investing in any form of infrastructure unless
risk-adjusted returns on capital meet internally set hurdles.
This becomes even more of an issue where the investment is
exposed to a fully competitive wholesale power market,
particularly where predictability is an issue."
For more news about the UK power market, request a free trial to
Platts Power
UK at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/
Copyright © 2005 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
20 Vermont Guardian: Nuclear advisors appear divided on Vermont Yankee uprate
By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian
Posted December 8, 2005
ROCKVILLE, MD A key advisory panel of experts may be unusually
divided on the proposed 20 percent power increase at Vermont
Yankee, nuclear experts hinted briefly Thursday.
In a meeting with the five commissioners of the U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, Graham Wallis, chairman of the high-level
Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, said it will be clear
tomorrow if we agree on a recommendation about the 20 percent
uprate.
Wallis was responding to a question from NRC Commissioner
Jeffrey Merryfield, a New Hampshire resident, who expressed an
interest in the experts opinion on the proposed uprate at VY, a
530-megawatt reactor at the southeastern corner of Vermont, a
stones throw across the Connecticut River from his home state.
Merryfield raised the question outside the agenda of the
two-hour meeting of the NRC and their advisory panel.
An ACRS subcommittee met for more than four full days over the
past month, including two days in Brattleboro, to consider the
safety implications of VYs proposal, which is the largest
allowed. The subcommittee began reporting to the full committee
on Wednesday, in preparation for recommendation to the
commissioners that is expected to be released next week. The
ACRS meeting continues through Saturday morning at NRC
headquarters in Maryland.
Signaling that there was still no consensus on the VY proposal,
ACRS member Richard Denning told the commissioners the VY
recommendation will be clear tomorrow.
To which Wallis added, It will be clear tomorrow if we agree.
The VY proposal has been snagged on several major questions,
including a bid by VY operators to take credit for containment
overpressure, an issue the advisors discussed in general terms
with the commission during Thursdays meeting.
If for any reason equipment or operator failure, or a terrorist
attack, for example a loss of cooling accident occurs at a
boiling water reactor like Vermont Yankee, water must be pumped
into the core from the torus, a donut-shaped tank below the
reactor. Without coolant, the core can be exposed, resulting in
a release of radiation
However the water in the torus will be hotter as a result of the
uprates increased power production and more highly enriched fuel
in the reactor. The increased temperature could cause steam
bubbles to form at the inlet of the pumps, making the pumps less
efficient and potentially damaging them.
Vermont Yankee officials say they can increase power and still
meet safety regulations by taking credit for pressure in the
torus that should prevent bubbles from forming, something like a
pressure cooker in which water boils at a higher temperature.
They point out that the credit has been granted in at least 25
other reactors.
Critics say containment overpressure violates a basic NRC
regulation and in VYs case will push the reactor beyond
reasonable limits.
What's unique about Vermont Yankee is that the amount of
pressure is much higher than in the previous cases and the time
period that the pressure has to be there is much longer than in
the prior cases, David Lochbaum, a nuclear engineer with the
Union of Concern Scientists, told Vermont Public Radio last
year. So those two factors make it less likely that there'll be
success at the end. It's a pretty big departure from precedent.
The NRC allows containment over pressure under some conditions,
and reviews applications on a case-by-case basis.
The ACRS believes that containment over pressure credit should
only be authorized on a case-by-case basis, Denning told the
commissioners Thursday. NRC staff is in the process of
developing criteria to determine whether such exemptions should
be granted, he said.
ACRS members earlier in the meeting indicated that open
disagreement on the committee was relatively uncommon. In a
discussion on the licensing of new reactors, committee member
Thomas Kress referred to a rare occasion in which not only did
we disagree with [NRC] staff, but we disagreed amongst ourselves
which is rare.
Lochbaum said the committee members sometimes include a minority
opinion on an issue when there is disagreement among committee
members.
Most of the time theyre able to reach a consensus, but since
there are 11 or 12 of them on the panel and they come from
different backgrounds Id be surprised if they always reached
consensus, he said.
Although the NRC commissioners are not bound by an ACRS opinion,
Lochbaum said the commission takes their recommendations very
seriously. If the ACRS recommends something and you ignore it
and it goes wrong, its going to be real tough to say you didnt
know about it. So they try real hard not to go against ACRS
recommendations.
Send us your news tips, a letter to the editor or general
comments.
Vermont Guardian
PO Box 335
Winooski, VT 05404
Southern Vermont: 139 Main Street, Suite 702, Brattleboro, VT
05301 Contact: 802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) |
877.231.5382 (toll-free)
©2005 Vermont Guardian |
Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com
This document can be located online:
www.vermontguardian.com/local/122005/ACRSMeeting.shtml
*****************************************************************
21 Tuscaloosa News: NRC finds minor safety violations at Browns Ferry
The Associated Press
December 08. 2005 11:05AM
A Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection of the Unit 1 reactor
at the Tennessee Valley Authority's Browns Ferry Nuclear Power
Plant found only low safety violations, officials said.
A paperwork problem was cited in one case and improper
installation of four cable splices in another.
The inspection findings were discussed Wednesday at the first
public meeting between TVA and the NRC's Unit 1 Oversight Panel.
TVA is spending $1.8 billion to restart Unit 1, which it shut
down in 1985 amid safety concerns. The restart process is 73
percent complete and startup is slated for May 2007.
The NRC inspection found that workers failed to remove some
thermal overloads. The plant's licensing manager, Bill Crouch,
said those overloads keep motors, which constantly open and
close valves, from overheating.
Crouch said some valves didn't need to open and close
continuously, so a work order asked workers to remove those
thermal overloads.
"The paperwork was misplaced, and we failed to remove them,"
Crouch told The Decatur Daily, which reported the NRC inspection
Thursday. "The NRC found it, and that was the only occurrence."
As for the cable problem, engineers were retrained about the
installation. NRC plans follow-up inspections on this issue.
---
Information from: The Decatur Daily,
About The Tuscaloosa News | Contact Us | Help | Advertise |
Copyright © 2002 The Tuscaloosa News
*****************************************************************
22 Globe and Mail: Opposition cries foul over lobbying post
theglobeandmail.com
By KAREN HOWLETT
Thursday, December 8, 2005 Page A18
A former senior member in Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty's
office signed on as a lobbyist for Bruce Power shortly after the
company signed a tentative deal with the government to refurbish
idled nuclear reactors.
Opposition members said the involvement of Bob Lopinski, a
long-serving adviser to Mr. McGuinty, raises further questions
about the province's conflict-of-interest rules governing
lobbyists.
Mr. Lopinski left Queen's Park last December and joined public
relations firm Hill & Knowlton Canada Ltd. a month later.
According to the Ontario Lobbyists Registration Office, Bruce
Power became a client of Mr. Lopinski's on March 28. That was
about a week after the government struck a tentative accord to
restart mothballed reactors at the privately run Bruce Nuclear
Station on Lake Huron. A final deal, worth at least $3-billion,
was unveiled last October after months of negotiations.
Steve Cannon, a spokesman for Bruce Power, said yesterday that
Mr. Lopinski had no involvement in the negotiations to refurbish
the reactors. He said Bruce Power hired Mr. Lopinski to monitor
issues at Queen's Park and to give it a heads-up on any
energy-related matters.
"It's ridiculous to suggest he had any relationship at all with
[the mothballed reactors]," he said.
New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton, who raised the matter during
Question Period yesterday, said this is the second case where a
former official in the Premier's office has ended up as a
lobbyist.
"He's not the only Dalton McGuinty crony who's at the trough,"
Mr. Hampton said. He called for changes to the province's
conflict-of-interest guidelines to ban former staff in the
Premier's office from lobbying any government ministry or agency
for one year.
Under the existing rules, Mr. Lopinski cannot lobby anyone in
the Premier's office but he is free to lobby ministers and their
staff.
Earlier this week, Mr. Hampton raised questions about Mr.
McGuinty's former right-hand man. David MacNaughton, the
Premier's former principal secretary, took on Atomic Energy of
Canada Ltd. as a client last September.
Mr. McGuinty is considering whether to give the go-ahead to new
nuclear reactors. AECL would be a logical choice for a
multibillion-dollar contract because it builds the CANDU
reactors.
Mr. Hampton asked in the legislature whether it was a
coincidence that just before the government is expected to make
a major electricity-supply policy decision, two of the Premier's
former advisers are now acting as lobbyists for nuclear power
companies.
Mr. McGuinty responded that, "we will consider nothing more and
nothing less than what serves the greater public interest."
Globeandmail.com
*****************************************************************
23 Japan Times: Delayed by glitch, Aomori fires up first reactor
Friday, December 9, 2005
AOMORI (Kyodo) Delayed initially by a glitch, Aomori
Prefecture's first nuclear reactor began commercial operations
Thursday in the village of Higashidori following a final
inspection by the state.
It is the first opening of a commercial nuclear plant since
January, when Chubu Electric Power Co. opened the No. 5 reactor
of the Hamaoka nuclear power plant in Shizuoka Prefecture.
The Higashidori plant, which was tested by Tohoku Electric
Power Co., brings the number of commercial nuclear plants
nationwide to 54.
The 1,100-mw boiling-water reactor is also the first commercial
reactor to start up in Aomori, which has a number of nuclear
facilities, including a spent-fuel reprocessing plant and a
high-level radioactive waste storage facility.
The No. 1 reactor in Higashidori had problems with its main
steam isolation valve during a test run in June, which delayed
the startup.
The Japan Times: Dec. 9, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
24 decatur daily: NRC panel gets update on Browns Ferry Unit 1
www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/graphics/gallery.jp
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2005
By Holly Hollman DAILY Staff Writer hhollman@decaturdaily.com ·
340-2445
ATHENS TVA officials have dubbed Unit 1's pressure vessel "the
most inspected vessel in the country."
The vessel is where water boils to create steam for power
generation.
Inspections throughout the unit's restart have revealed only low
safety violations, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said
Wednesday. This was the first public meeting between Tennessee
Valley Authority and the NRC's Unit 1 Oversight Panel.
TVA is spending $1.8 billion to restart Browns Ferry Nuclear
Plant's Unit 1, which it shut down in 1985. It expects the unit
to generate enough power for 650,000 homes. The restart process
is 73 percent complete and startup is slated for May 2007.
On Wednesday, TVA and Browns Ferry officials addressed the two
most recent violations the NRC found.
The first was that workers failed to remove thermal overloads.
Browns Ferry licensing manager Bill Crouch said those overloads
keep motors, which constantly open and close valves, from
overheating. Crouch said some valves didn't need to open and
close continuously, so a work order asked workers to remove
those thermal overloads.
"The paperwork was misplaced, and we failed to remove them,"
Crouch said. "The NRC found it, and that was the only
occurrence."
He said the staff corrected procedures and checked for other
communication issues.
The second concern was improper installation of four cable
splices.
Browns Ferry Site Vice President Brian O'Grady said the staff
retrained the engineers about installation. NRC plans follow-up
inspections on this issue.
Notification
The Browns Ferry staff notified NRC officials they have found
scratches, dings or other marks on welds in the vessel. The
welds hold together cylinders. Crouch said the staff inspected
each weld and determined that the marks had not weakened the
welds.
Mark Lesser, chief of the Engineering Branch 3 Division of
Reactor Safety for the NRC, said inspectors have been watching
Unit 1's recovery since 2003. Lesser said inspectors have only
found Level 3 and 4 safety violations. The scale is from 1 to 4
with 1 being a very high safety violation.
Joe Shea, chairman of the NRC panel, said in addition to typical
inspections, the commission plans to closely monitor Browns
Ferry's handling of iron deposits found on the vessel's bottom.
Due to control rods across working vessels, workers cannot see
into the bottom. Because TVA is replacing many systems in Unit
1, the staff was able to send a camera to the vessel's bottom to
discover the iron deposits.
Removal
Crouch said workers used a high-pressure washer and grinding
tool to remove some of the debris and then vacuumed.
"Some adhered and would not come off, so we left it," Crouch
said.
He said the pressure from the water and grinding tool would be
more than pressure from the vessel's operation and that the
deposits won't flake off during operation.
When operational, the vessel is half full of water, Crouch said,
and has nuclear fuel. Nuclear fission causes the water to boil,
sending steam to the turbines to make them spin and generate
electricity.
The byproduct of this power production is a concern for Jackie
Tipper of Town Creek, a member of the Shoals Environmental
Alliance. She told NRC officials after the meeting that she's
concerned about nuclear waste storage.
Tipper said she thinks about the "worst case scenario," such as
a terrorist attack.
"It's not like the Twin Towers where those were hit and just
disappeared," Tipper said, referring to 9-11. "If terrorists
attack a nuclear plant, think about how long the impact will go
on."
Browns Ferry spokesman Craig Beasley said the plant has
above-ground casks to store spent fuel. Loading began in July
and ended in September.
Beasley said there are three loaded containers on the pad, and
the plant can add more as necessary. Each container is 20 feet
tall and has 30-inch thick walls of concrete and steel.
"They meet the regulatory requirements for manmade and natural
disasters," Beasley said.
TVA also works with federal, state and local emergency personnel
who monitor air traffic around the plant.
Browns Ferry had to install the aboveground casks to store
nuclear waste because of delays in the opening of a planned
repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada.
Copyright 2005 THE DECATUR DAILY. All rights reserved.
THE DECATUR DAILY 201 1st Ave. SE P.O. Box 2213 Decatur, Ala.
35609 (256) 353-4612 webmaster@decaturdaily.com
www.decaturdaily.com
*****************************************************************
25 Hawaii Reporter: A Nuclear Future?
Hawaii Reporter Bulletin Board
By Mike Fox, PhD., 12/8/2005 2:06:13 PM
It's a testimonial to just how far nuclear power has come back
politically in the United States that when former President
Jimmy Carter recently visited a nuclear power plant in Michigan,
he declared that the future holds "great opportunity for
nuclear." This view came from a president that once described
nuclear power as "a last resort." The impact of his statement
was so great locally that there was immediate "buzz" in the
press about the possibility of building a new nuclear plant in
Michigan.
Carter's endorsement of nuclear power was the second by a
former or current resident of the White House within one week.
Earlier President Bush visited a nuclear plant in Maryland,
calling for an expansion of nuclear power to improve the
nation's energy security. But Carter's visit was the more
striking of the two - it was of profound interest to those of us
who have watched nuclear power slide for years in the United
States, despite its unique benefits.
Carter was last at a nuclear plant in 1979, when he visited
Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania shortly after the reactor
underwent a partial core meltdown, the most serious nuclear
accident in U.S. history.
That accident cast a pall over nuclear power in this country,
and there hasn't been an order for a nuclear plant since then.
Never mind that the Three Mile Island reactor's containment
worked as designed and that no member of the public was injured
as a result of the accident. Leave aside the fact that U.S.
nuclear power plants overall have a stellar safety record, which
is no less impressive than that of the U.S. nuclear submarine
fleet.
The fact is, the 103 U.S. nuclear power plants generate 20
percent of the nation's electricity, safely and reliably,
without polluting the air or emitting greenhouse gases. Even a
number of environmental leaders now recognize nuclear power's
importance in battling what they view as the greatest threat
facing humankind: global climate change.
Just as important, nuclear power is not tied to any foreign
country or cartel; it is produced by energy companies and
technologies homegrown, here in the United States. Nuclear power
plants are located in 32 states. Hawaii, of course, is not one
of them, and it's very unlikely that a large "baseload" nuclear
plant will ever be built here. But we need to remember that our
country needs a mix of energy sources, and nuclear power must
continue to be part of the mix. Quite simply, nuclear power is
crucial for our energy security.
What's been missing from nuclear power's list of assets is
access to the same government economic incentives that have been
available to oil, natural gas, coal, and even renewable sources
such as ethanol, solar and wind energy. While the oil industry
has received a depletion allowance for drilling and other energy
sources continue to get production tax credits and allowances
worth billions of dollars, nuclear power has largely functioned
on its own, at least since the first round of plants was built
in the 1960s and 1970s. For example, nuclear power does not
receive anything comparable to the 1.8-cent per kilowatt-hour
production tax credit that has been bestowed on wind turbines.
What's more, nuclear power has been subject to vicious
political attacks, cumbersome federal regulations, and long
delays in completing the Yucca Mountain waste repository in
Nevada,.. It often seems that rather than helping nuclear power,
the federal bureaucracy has been its greatest obstacle.
Today, at least eight electric utilities are seriously
considering building new nuclear power plants, but they are
having a hard time assuring that governmental policies and
regulation won't hamstring them again.
These uncertainties make it difficult to get the investment
capital that a new nuclear plant would need. For one thing, Wall
Street is understandably concerned that a nuclear plant - which
would require over a billion dollars and five years or more to
build - could wind up with no customers if a natural-gas cartel
suddenly lowered the world price of gas. Another risk is that
anti-nuclear groups might find a way to stretch out or even
block the federal licensing process, as they did in the 1970s
and 1980s, causing long delays in completing a nuclear plant and
thus driving up its cost. Wall Street needs to see more
certainty, at least in the first few plants that are ordered.
To overcome these concerns, the Senate has passed a
comprehensive energy bill that provides a number of incentives,
including loan guarantees and risk insurance, for construction
of the first few nuclear power plants with advanced technologies
and new licensing procedures. Once the first four to six nuclear
plants are built, others that follow will be competitive with
power plants fueled by oil, natural gas, and coal - or else they
won't get built.
Some "free-market" advocates say that nuclear power should be
required to stand on its own - and it will, over the long term.
But no other energy source has ever had to make it "on its own."
Certainly not oil - a recent study by the National Defense
Council Foundation estimates that the United States spends more
than $300 billion a year on federal "subsidies" for domestic oil
exploration and production, shoring up the regimes of
oil-producing countries in the Middle East and other volatile
regions, protecting the shipping lanes of ocean-going oil
tankers, and in consumer purchases of foreign oil. And today,
when we desperately need new technologies that are under our
control and that don't emit greenhouse gases, no new energy
source - certainly not renewables like solar or wind power or
new "clean coal" technology -- would ever be developed without
government support.
For something as vital as energy production, there needs to be
a level playing field. If we want to be ideologically pure and
set all energy sources free from government involvement, we need
to end all tax credits to wind turbines and solar power - and
even to energy efficiency technologies - and all tax allowances
for the drilling of oil and gas, and the vast amount of money we
spend protecting our oil supply and cleaning up the environment
from air emissions from fossil fuels.
Otherwise we must recognize that having abundant, secure and
environmentally friendly energy is a basic national need that
must be fostered by the federal government - and near the top of
the list must be nuclear power. With support from Congress,
nuclear power can help meet our national security and
environmental aspirations. That's a goal worth pursuing - one
envisioned by both President Bush and Jimmy Carter.
Michael R. Fox, Ph.D., is retired and living in Kaneohe. He has
nearly 40 years experience in the energy field. He has also
taught chemistry and energy at the University level. His
interest in the communications of science has led to several
communications awards, hundreds of speeches, and many
appearances on television and talk shows. He can be reached via
email at mailto:foxm011@hawaii.rr.com
HawaiiReporter.com reports the real news, and prints all
editorials submitted, even if they do not represent the
viewpoint of the editors, as long as they are written clearly.
Send editorials to mailto:Malia@HawaiiReporter.com
Hawaii Reporter 111 Hekili Street, Suite A, #240 Kailua, Hawaii
96734 U.S.A.
Information and Subscription Phone: 808-524-4500 Fax:
808-524-4594 Subscribe@HawaiiReporter.com
City Desk Phone: 808-306-3161 Fax: 808-263-8181
Tips@HawaiiReporter.com
www.HawaiiReporter.com
© 2005 Hawaii Reporter, Inc.
*****************************************************************
26 Whitehaven News: £20m nuke boost for learning
Published on 08/12/2005
By Alan Irving
SELLAFIELD’s decommissioning has won the area a £20 million
windfall to provide new nuclear skills and boost the local
economy over the next three years.
The money promised by Sellafield’s new owners, the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA), will help offset predicted job
losses of around 10,000 over the next 15 years as the site is
dismantled and cleaned up.
It will fund three new initiatives, all to be based in West
Cumbria.
These are a Nuclear Institute, a National Skills Academy and a
new academic position of Chair of Epidemiology.
Says the NDA: “They 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 at home and abroad.â€
But Copeland’s MP Jamie Reed, a former Sellafield employee,
forecast: “This 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, It is an excellent first step but
there’s still work to be done and the work goes on.â€
A Nuclear Institute based at Westlakes Science Park between
Whitehaven and Egremont is aimed at “bringing world-class
scientific research to West Cumbria and link to a technology
centre at Sellafieldâ€.
Half of the capital cost is being funded by the NDA as a result
of savings made towards the Sellafield decommissioning by
British Nuclear Group, now a contractor.
The skills academy is described “as a dynamic new initiative
for the nuclear sector providing vocational training including
Foundation degrees and apprenticeships to meet changing employer
needsâ€.
It is being provided in partnership with the Lakes College at
Lillyhall, GEN 11 and the University of Central Lancashire
(UCLan).
The academic position of chair of epidemiology is in partnership
with the University of Central Lancashire. It will develop a
greater understanding of the long-term impact of radiation dose
as well as being a key to assuring the health and safety of the
workforce.
Says the NDA: “It will also provide a unique pool of expertise
and assure the future of a world-leading research team in West
Cumbria and help underpin the sustainability of the
decommissioning industry in the north west. The NDA will provide
£5 million funding for the project.â€
NDA chief executive Ian Roxburgh said: “A central element of
the task of safely cleaning up Britain’s nuclear legacy 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, thereby
offsetting some of its socio-economic impacts of plant
closure.â€
Lakes College principal Pat Glenday said: “The need for people
with the right skills to support the nuclear industry is
paramount. The nuclear skills academy as part of the Nucleus
initiative, in which the college is a key partner, holds the
promise of bringing state of the art skills training to local
people and those from further afield, bringing tangible benefits
to the industry, the economy and the community.â€
For GEN 11, managing director Mike Smith said: “This is a
much-needed investment in skills for the population of West
Cumbria.â€
*****************************************************************
27 AU ABC: Martin outlines dirty bomb fears
Thursday, 8 December 2005. 12:45 (AEDT)Thursday, 8 December
The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Clare Martin, has
defended her suggestion that transporting nuclear waste to the
Top End would make it vulnerable to terrorists looking to make a
dirty bomb.
Ms Martin says experts on the issue have raised concerns about
security at a national nuclear waste facility.
She says scientific debate played no part in the Federal
Government's decision to build a dump in the Territory and
nuclear waste could be a target while it is being moved to the
Territory.
"You'd have to look at how far around a country you're going to
be transporting things like intermediate nuclear level waste,"
she said.
"And if you're going to put such a nuclear facility in the
middle of central Australia you've got to get the waste there by
road and that's thousands of kilometres."
But the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's
Craig Pierce says there would be no point trying to use low
level waste to make a dirty bomb because the waste is mostly
gloves and labcoats.
"It simply would make no sense to get this material and want to
blow it up," he said.
"It would have no impact at all. On the intermediate level, that
will have a high level of security when it is transported. It
won't be transported for very far on road, on land, and it will
have an appropriate level of security."
*****************************************************************
28 Casper Star-Tribune: WMD trainees prepare for emergencies
Casper, Wyoming -
Thursday, December 08, 2005
By ANTHONY LANE
Star-Tribune staff writer Thursday, December 08, 2005
Fluids leaking from the patient saturated the examination table
and then dripped to the floor.
Tom Waters, a Wyoming Medical Center paramedic who coordinates
the hospital's Life Flight dispatch center, pronounced an early
diagnosis.
"Possible organophosphate poisoning," he said as others working
on the patient set up a heart monitor and attempted to measure
the patient's blood pressure.
The team administered various drugs in the moments that followed
before the patient -- a $250,000 simulator equipped with
functioning lungs, eyes that react to light and a bladder --
showed signs of recovery.
The scenario ended, and a group of students gathered in Casper
for a training course about responding to terrorism and weapons
of mass destruction discussed what would happen in the event of
an attack or an accident that released dangerous chemicals in
the community.
Most people who are exposed to dangerous substances in such
situations make their own way to hospitals and clinics, one
participant remarked. Many bystanders are contaminated in the
process, and others end up believing they have been exposed.
"And you still have to treat heart attacks and everything else,"
said Marty Thone, spokesman for the Casper-Natrona County Health
Department.
Thone was one of about 24 people enrolled in the federally
funded three-day training course run by the Texas Engineering
Extension Service. Thone said the health department's decision
to host the course and involve people from a number of different
agencies is part of an effort to be prepared for terrorist
attacks, chemical spills or even disease outbreaks.
"In any kind of emergency, we're all going to have to work
together," Thone said.
Tuesday's discussion focused on chemicals ranging from
blistering agents to organophosphates, or nerve agents. The
latter type of compound is present in various insecticides and
has also been used in chemical warfare and in terrorist attacks.
People exposed to them tend to salivate, sweat and leak other
fluids, both internally and externally.
Biological, nuclear and other types of threats filled out the
curriculum.
Several students experienced the simulator for the first time on
Wednesday morning. A recorded emergency call started a scenario
for a group that included Tom Waters, Marty Thone and Lt.
Stewart Anderson, Natrona County's emergency management
coordinator.
The caller sounded short of breath as he reported that a
passenger train had stopped outside of town. Screams could be
heard in the background.
"Are you going to help me?" the simulator asked as an instructor
nearby spoke through a microphone.
The group worked on the patient and then afterward spoke about
the scenario and real life attacks. Thone said this type of
communication is crucial.
"It gets us all talking about what we'd do," Thone said.
Reporter Anthony Lane can be reached at (307) 266-0593 or at
anthony.lane@casperstartribune.net.
Casper Star-Tribune!"
*****************************************************************
29 The Circle: Kyne explains dangerous effects of uranium weapon -
By Stephanie Bushman
Published: Thursday, December 8, 2005
A small yet impassioned group of students gathered in the Henry
Hudson Room on November 15 to hear Dennis Kyne, an active member
in the US Army from 1987-2003, speak on his experiences and
current illness.
Before the speech, Kyne pushed the podium aside; he wanted the
audience to truly understand his plea, that his presentation was
personal.
As part of the many Operations in the Middle East, Kyne was
exposed to Depleted Uranium, commonly called DU. The effects of
this weapon have been researched since WWII, and yet the Army
still puts this harmful substance into use. Thousands of
soldiers, like Kyne, and civilians have become sick from the
airborne metals DU releases, and the numbers are growing.
According to the United States government, 340 tons of DU was
dropped in Southern Iraq and Kwait in 1991. Unfortunately, the
100,000 confirmed dead civilians will not be the only casualties
of this attack. DU has a 45 Billion-year half-life, meaning its
harmful radiation will continue to be released for a longer
amount of time than humanity has walked the earth. The particles
released are smaller than viruses, thus allowing them to slip
through the filters given to our soldiers. The effects of this
radiation lead to "abnormally high levels of cancer and birth
defects" in soldiers' families. There are currently "more than
518,000 Gulf War veterans on medical disability", while only
"7,039 were injured in battle."
In arid regions such as the Middle East, where sand storms are
common, the particles are carried over thousands of miles,
affecting people near and far.
The World Health Organization announced that "global cancer will
increase 50 percent by 2020". In the Cradle of Civilization,
where cancer was almost unheard of until recently, that number
is staggering.
As the use of this dangerous weapon continues, more civilians
and soldiers are being exposed to harmful radiation. Soldiers
returning home are plagued by cancer, and their children are
born with defects caused by exposure to DU. Innocent families
living in Iraq are becoming sick, while their children suffer
without proper hospitals to help them.
What are we, as citizens and students, to do? In the words of
Kyne, "it's time to raise some hell."
Kyne has written a book "Support the Truth" detailing his
experiences, and there is a CD available as well.
Service Provided by College Publisher, Inc.
*****************************************************************
30 Radium 226 flowing from the Piketon/Portsmouth, Ohio Plant
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:55:04 -0800
"Radium-226 in Creek Foam / Water from the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion
Plant," a new report by The RadioActivist Campaign (TRAC), is now available
at www.radioactivist.org/new.html.
Citizen activists collected foam and water flowing from the Portsmouth, Ohio
Gaseous Diffusion Plant in November 2003. They identified radioactivity in
the sample at 100 times the normal background level, using simple Geiger
counter methods. That elevated radioactivity was confirmed by the
Department of Energy's site operator, the United States Enrichment
Corporation.
TRAC has identified the radioactive source as radium-226. The new report
provides TRAC's review methods, conclusions, and implications, including
possible explanations for the elevated radium-226.
Please feel free to re-distribute this e-mail. To unsubscribe, send an
e-mail to
radioactivist@radioactivist.org
with unsubscribe in the subject
line.
Moon Callison
Outreach
The RadioActivist Campaign
360.275.1351
www.radioactivist.org
***************
Support The RadioActivist Campaign
with a secure on-line donation
at
www.radioactivist.org/support.html.
*****************************************************************
31 Las Vegas SUN: Former Nevada Test Site workers, kin call for benefits
Today: December 08, 2005 at 18:3:15 PST
ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAS VEGAS (AP) - More than 60 former Nevada Test Site employees
and survivors of dead co-workers called for the federal
government to grant them special status to get $150,000 payments
for work-related illnesses.
Led by John Funk, a former test site carpenter who said he was
sickened working in tunnels where nuclear warheads were
detonated, the group signed a petition Wednesday seeking
"special exposure cohort" status under the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program.
They want Secretary of Health and Human Services Michael Leavitt
and Congress to grant them the same payments and benefits as
workers at six other nuclear weapons complexes.
"We get a lot of promises made and there's a lot of speculation
going around, and we're going to put a stop to that," said Funk,
who said he has been denied compensation despite a diagnosis of
three types of cancer including a bone cancer that could be
linked to radiation exposure or benzene.
Bonnie Mattick of Phoenix signed the petition and said she was
seeking benefits after her husband, John Mattick, died in 2001
at age 53. She said he worked as an industrial hygienist and
environmental engineer at the test site for two contractors from
1974 to 1981 and from 1989 to 1996, and suffered from three
types of cancer including bone cancer.
The compensation program requires a more than 50 percent rating
that workplace factors probably caused workers' specific
illnesses.
With special status, former test site workers or their survivors
seeking compensation would need only to show that they worked at
the site for a certain period and were diagnosed with at least
one of 22 types of cancer covered under the program.
Funk accompanied Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., last week as Reid
announced that he wanted President Bush to add the former Nevada
Test Site workers to the special list.
---
Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
32 Sydney Morning Herald: Senate approves NT nuclear waste dump -
www.smh.com.au
December 8, 2005 - 2:44PM
Environmentalists have warned of escalating protests after the
federal parliament voted to allow a national nuclear waste dump
in the Northern Territory.
Laws enabling the contentious dump to go ahead cleared their
last political hurdle when government NT senator Nigel Scullion,
along with other coalition colleagues, secured late amendments
and voted for the dump.
The dump will go ahead after a detailed study of three potential
Defence sites - Fishers Ridge, 43km south-east of Katherine,
Harts Range, 100km north-east of Alice Springs, and Mount
Everard, 27km north-west of Alice Springs - is done next year.
The federal government chose the NT, where it can override
territory laws, after it abandoned an outback South Australian
site last year in the face of state government opposition.
Australian Conservation Foundation nuclear campaigner Dave
Sweeney said NT residents were angry at the choice after the
federal government last year gave them an assurance there would
be no dump in the territory.
"Today they have broken this promise and bulldozed through bad
law in an attempt to gag community concern," he said.
Mr Sweeney said the law would not silence opposition to the dump.
"People in the NT, along the waste transport route from Sydney
and right around Australia, are angry and determined to stop
this unwanted and unnecessary radioactive rubbish tip," he said.
"Communities in Sydney, regional NSW and the territory should be
alert and alarmed."
Mr Sweeney said that, under the government's proposal, 130
truckloads of radioactive waste would be driven from Sydney's
Lucas Heights reactor through NSW to the as-yet unnamed NT site
in the first year alone, with dumping to continue for decades.
Labor's research spokeswoman Jenny Macklin accused the
coalition's federal NT members Senator Scullion and David
Tollner of failing to speak up for NT residents.
"This government is so out of touch with the views of territory
residents that it is prepared to trash community consultation
and override legal protections for the community and the
environment, including the Native Title Act 1993 and the
Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999,"
she said.
Senator Scullion later told ABC Radio he did not wish to gain
cheap popularity as an "overnight hero" on such a serious issue
as the waste dump.
"A number of Australians can remember very well when the
commonwealth overrode the (Tasmanian) Franklin Dam issue," he
said.
"There didn't seem to be quite the same focus on states' rights
at that time, because it was all a pretty sexy issue to support.
"A radioactive waste facility mightn't be so sexy to support but
it's fundamentally still important to this nation."
The Senate endorsement exposed different views, even within
parties.
Australian Democrats senator Natasha Stott Despoja said the
legislation removed Northern Territorians' rights, not only in
relation the dump but potentially other future federal decisions.
"This is bad law," she said, and voted against.
Democrats senator Andrew Murray said the government had no
option to override the NT government's wishes, but had
mismanaged the way it had done so.
As a result, he ultimately abstained from voting, believing
further amendments should have been made.
Greens senator Rachel Siewert targeted Senator Scullion for
allowing the dump to go ahead.
"Not only has he voted for a bill that proposes a commonwealth
waste dump in the NT, he didn't take the opportunity to ensure
that we don't become an international trash heap for radioactive
waste," she said.
Meanwhile, AFP reported that France's top appeals court ruled
that storage of spent nuclear fuel from Australia at the French
Channel town of La Hague by the Cogema company is illegal.
The Cour de Cassation upheld a ruling last April by the Caen
court of appeal that Cogema's treatment plant was illegally
storing Australian nuclear waste that had not been given the
necessary authorisation for treatment.
© 2005 AAP
*****************************************************************
33 Sydney Morning Herald: France rules against Aussie nuke waste -
www.smh.com.au
December 8, 2005 - 7:54PM
Australia will no longer be able to send its high level nuclear
waste to France after a French court declared it illegal.
The Cour de Cassation has upheld a ruling last April by the Caen
court of appeal that a treatment plant owned by Cogema was
illegally storing Australian nuclear waste.
The Caen court declared the spent fuel being held by the company
in the French Channel town of La Hague was radioactive nuclear
waste, which Cogema denied.
It said they had been stored for four years "in conditions
unjustified in regard to the applicable legislation".
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
(ANSTO) said the waste would not be shipped back to Australia.
It said Cogema was given permission to process the waste earlier
this year and it would be completed within the next few weeks.
ANSTO said there would be no further shipments of waste to
France until the replacement reactor at Lucas Heights in
Sydney's south begins operation in about 2024.
"Before future shipments are sent to France, Cogema will obtain
authorisations to receive, store and reprocess the fuel," ANSTO
said in a statement.
"Possessions of these authorisations will mean that the court's
decision today will have no practical effect."
Greenpeace campaigner James Courtney said the ruling
demonstrated the government's "reckless plans for nuclear
expansion include no credible solution to deal with the
insolvable problem of nuclear waste".
He also said it bolstered the argument against building a second
reactor at Lucas Heights.
The Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency
today began hearing submissions on the granting of an
operational licence for the second reactor.
Mr Courtney told the forum that a new reactor, which will
replace the current reactor, posed a security risk and concerns
about the storage of its waste.
The federal government, International Atomic Energy Agency and
Friends of the Earth also will make submissions during the
two-day forum.
Activists opposed to the replacement reactor and dressed as
barrels of nuclear waste protested outside the centre before the
forum began.
Meanwhile, the Senate today passed two bills to establish a
nuclear waste dump in the Northern Territory.
© 2005 AAP
| | Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
34 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear waste site now in minister's grip -
National - smh.com.au
By Stephanie Peatling and Richard Macey
December 9, 2005
THE Northern Territory will have a nuclear waste dump by 2011
after the Federal Government yesterday pushed through
legislation overriding opposition to the site of the dump.
The Minister for Science, Brendan Nelson, will have the
authority to choose one of three sites, regardless of concerns
of the local government, traditional owners or environmental
groups.
Environmental groups and one land council have promised to fight
the dump, which will store low- and medium-level nuclear waste
from facilities such as Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor.
Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Dave Sweeney said
communities should be "alert and alarmed".
Under the Government's proposal, 130 truckloads of radioactive
waste would be driven from Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor to an
as-yet unnamed site in the Northern Territory in the first year
alone, with dumping to continue for decades, he said.
The head of the Central Land Council, David Ross, said it was
"scurrilous".
Two of the sites are on Central Land Council land but the other
lies on land within the boundaries of the Northern Land Council,
which supports a dump if it is done with the co-operation of
traditional owners and does not clash with environmental or
sacred site considerations.
Greenpeace claimed a moral victory yesterday when a French court
ruled that a company reprocessing spent nuclear fuel rods from
the Lucas Heights reactor had acted illegally.
The court upheld an April ruling that the company, Cogema, had
been illegally storing 360 spent Australian fuel rods because it
had not obtained authorisation to do the work. It ordered Cogema
to pay Greenpeace ¬10,000 ($15,700) in compensation.
Australia's nuclear authority said the decision would have no
impact because, following the April finding, the company had
obtained the required permits.
"Our fuel rods will still be reprocessed," Sharon Kelly, a
spokeswoman for the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology
Organisation, said yesterday.
Waste retrieved from the reprocessing would be returned to
Australia in about 2011.
Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
35 Bradenton Herald: Public meeting tonight on Tallevast
12/08/2005 |
DONNA WRIGHT
Herald Staff Writer
TALLEVAST - Lockheed Martin Corp. will host a community meeting
tonight at 6 p.m. at Mount Tabor Missionary Baptist Church to
review upcoming projects to clean up the underground plume of
toxic waste that has been traced back to the former Loral
American Beryllium Co. plant.
The agenda includes the next steps for additional groundwater
and soil sampling, contamination cleanup plans and the upcoming
work schedule, said Lockheed spokeswoman Meredith Rouse Davis.
Tallevast leaders have invited school board members to the
meeting, said Wanda Washington, vice president of residents'
advocacy group known as FOCUS, or Family Oriented Community
United and Strong.
"Parents and school board members should be concerned with
what's going on," said Washington, who warns that the plume, now
measuring more than 131 acres, may affect Able and Kinnan
elementary schools in the future.
"They probably need to sample the schools, then place monitoring
devices around to ensure the safety of the children and staff,"
Washington said. "They need to know if and when it starts to
move in the direction of the schools."
Harry Kinnan said he plans to attend as vice chairman of the
board to learn more about the situation. A senior staff member
will also attend, Kinnan said.
"I will be there as a bystander to monitor the situation and to
answer any questions that I can," said Kinnan.
School board member Larry Simmons also plans to attend
Thursday's meeting.
In other developments, the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection informed Lockheed officials in a letter dated Dec. 6
that the deadline for the next site assessment of the Tallevast
plume has been pushed back to March 13.
As the former owner of the beryllium plant when the
contamination was found, Lockheed has assumed the responsibility
for cleaning up the pollution.
*****************************************************************
36 AU ABC: NT set for nuclear waste dump
2005. 14:03 (ACST)Thursday, 8 December 2005. 14:03
NT law overridden... Senate has passed legislation which will
see NT house a nuclear waste dumpLateline
The Federal Government can now officially build a nuclear waste
repository in the Northern Territory after the legislation for
the waste dump passed the Senate today.
The new laws will overrule Northern Territory legislation
banning the disposal of radioactive waste on Territory soil.
Federal Labor MP Warren Snowdon says it is the first time since
1978 that Territory law has been overridden.
"It's an absolute disaster and it shows contempt for the
Northern Territory community, it shows absolute contempt for
land use planning in the Northern Territory," he said.
The Territory Labor Government has also been a staunch opponent
of the plan, saying a nuclear dump will expose residents to a
new security threat.
The Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Clare Martin, has
defended her suggestion that transporting nuclear waste to the
Territory would make it vulnerable to terrorists looking to make
a dirty bomb.
Ms Martin says experts on the issue have raised concerns about
security at a national nuclear waste facility.
She says scientific debate played no part in the Federal
Government's decision to build a dump in the Territory and
nuclear waste could be a target while it is being moved to the
Territory.
"You'd have to look at how far around a country you're going to
be transporting things like intermediate nuclear level waste,"
she said.
"And if you're going to put such a nuclear facility in the
middle of central Australia you've got to get the waste there by
road and that's thousands of kilometres."
But the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation's
Craig Pierce says there would be no point trying to use low
level waste to make a dirty bomb because the waste is mostly
gloves and labcoats.
"It simply would make no sense to get this material and want to
blow it up," he said.
"It would have no impact at all. On the intermediate level, that
will have a high level of security when it is transported. It
won't be transported for very far on road, on land, and it will
have an appropriate level of security."
The Greens say the legislation could be manipulated to allow
waste from other countries to be stored in the Northern
Territory.
The party is angry that amendments they proposed were not
considered when the bill was passed.
Greens Senator Rachel Siewert says the legislation is not strong
enough.
"In the bill, there were some provisions to supposedly keep out
international waste," she said.
"We don't think they go far enough and that they are open to
manipulation and interpretation.
"So what we were trying to do is absolutely positively ensure
that international waste will not be brought into this
facility."
CLP Senator Nigel Scullion says he is pleased that the
legislation has passed through the Senate.
Senator Scullion consistently resisted calls to cross the floor
and vote against the Radioactive Waste Management Bill.
He says today's vote shows that crossing the floor would not
have made a difference anyway, because Family First Senator
Steve Fielding voted for the bill.
Senator Scullion says he had no qualms about his vote, despite
previously promising the dump would not happen on his watch.
"As I said at the time, I was reflecting information that I had
from this Government, from a minister, that said it is not going
on the mainland absolutely," he said.
"And as I understood it at the time that's what he believed.
"Now I've effectively taken consideration of that and I've said
'oh well it's obviously not going to happen and that's what I
believed at the time'."
Related Audio
Climate change report shows energy sector pumping out its fair
share of greenhouse gases
The latest climate change report has been released by the
Federal Government today showing how the energy sector is
continuing to pump out more than its fair share of greenhouse
gases - 30 per cent more.
*****************************************************************
37 AU ABC: Land councils at odds over nuclear dump
"Australian Broadcasting Corporation Online">
Thursday, 8 December 2005. 20:14 (AEDT)Thursday, 8 December
At odds ... the bill allows a national nuclear waste dump to be
built in the NT
The Federal Government's Radioactive Waste Management Bill has
polarised the Northern Territory's two major Aboriginal Land
Councils.
The bill, which allows a national nuclear waste dump to be built
in the Northern Territory, has passed the Senate.
The legislation includes an amendment allowing Aboriginal Land
Councils to nominate a dump site, providing traditional owners
agree and the site meets certain conditions.
The Northern Land Council proposed the amendment, and its chief
executive Norman Fry says it is a responsible position if none
of the earmarked Commonwealth sites proves suitable.
"Our position has always been 'Well, if they're going to come
somewhere else they're going to go onto Aboriginal land'," he
said.
The Central Land Council strongly opposes the dump, and its
director David Ross suggests his northern counterpart identify a
site.
"They shouldn't go putting amendments forward if they don't have
alternative sites within their region," he said.
The Northern Land Council says it does not have a site in mind.
Related Video
Waste dump to go ahead
The Northern Teritory is getting a nuclear waste dump, like it
or not. MPEG2Real BroadbandReal DialupWin BroadbandWin Dialup
Related Audio
Senate passes waste legislation
Legislation has passed the Senate to override a law that
prevents the transfer or disposal of radioactive waste on
Northern Territory soil. MP3RealMedia 28k+WinMedia 28k+
*****************************************************************
38 AU ABC: Little Indigenous support for nuclear dump, group says
Friday, 9 December 2005. 08:31 (AEDT)Friday, 9 December 2005.
Opposition ... Legislation passed yesterday allowing the dump to
be built at one of three sites in the NTLateline
The organisation representing traditional owners near a proposed
nuclear waste dump site in the Northern Territory says most
Indigenous Territorians do not want the facility.
Legislation passed the Senate yesterday allowing the dump to be
built at one of three sites in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Land Council (NLC) backed amendments allowing for
an alternative dump site to be proposed by Aboriginal land
owners.
But the Jawoyn Association's acting director, John Ah Kit, a
former Labor government minister, says the NLC should not be
speaking for others.
"I haven't heard of any other traditional owners that have been
consulted yet," he said.
"The concern the Jawoyn people have with the Northern Land
Council ... supporting a resolution, there was no consultation
with the Jawoyn Association nor the traditional owners."
He says the proposed sites need to be scientifically assessed
and the results made public.
"If they could prove that it's safe and secure there at Fishers
Ridge they would be looking towards the Jawoyn traditional
owners providing their blessings, but you know we need to wait
and see whether that is something that the Commonwealth can
convince the Jawoyn people that it is a safe and secure site,"
he said.
Mr Ah Kit says now the legislation allowing the facility has
passed the Senate, the focus must be on finding the best site.
"I understand the Territory Government is now willing to
cooperate with the Commonwealth and find a suitable site in the
Northern Territory and that may not be Fishers Ridge, it may be
somewhere else and personally I would certainly like to see that
if it is in the Territory as the Commonwealth's stated, then it
should be in the most secure and safest location in the
Territory," he said.
The operators of the replacement nuclear reactor in Sydney have
welcomed the news that a nuclear waste dump can now be built in
the Northern Territory.
Dr Ron Cameron from the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation says it is good news for the future of
Sydney's Lucas Heights reactor.
"There's approximately 3,500 cubic metres of waste that's stored
in about 30 different sites around Australia for low level
waste," he said.
"About 50 per cent of that's at Lucas Heights. Then there's
another about 400 cubic metres of intermediate level waste.
About 80 per cent of that will be from Lucas Heights."
*****************************************************************
39 RIA Novosti: Yushchenko addresses burying foreign nuclear waste in Ukraine
08/ 12/ 2005
KIEV, December 8 (RIA Novosti) - A decision on burying foreign
nuclear waste in Ukraine will be made with account for public
opinion and expert viewpoints, President Viktor Yushchenko said
Thursday.
"This is a long-term prospect that should be approved by
society, first of all," Yushchenko said during his tour of the
area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was
completely destroyed after an explosion in April 1986 that
released radioactive emissions, badly contaminating large areas
of the western Soviet Union.
Yushchenko said the proposal to bury nuclear waste in Ukraine
needed a detailed discussion at all levels.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
40 NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet in Rockville, Maryland, Dec. 13-15
News Release - 2005-16
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail:
opa@nrc.gov No. 05-166 December 8, 2005
Nuclear Waste (ACNW) will meet Dec. 13-15 in Rockville, Md., to
continue to discuss, among other items, the NRCs plans for the
implementation of the Environmental Protection Agencys (EPA)
dose standard for the proposed geologic repository at Yucca
Mountain after 10,000 years. The committee will continue its
discussions with NRC staff from the Office of Nuclear Materials
Safety and Safeguards and be briefed on the subjects of
radionuclide inventory, and the effects of climate change and
dosimetry, which are addressed in the EPA dose standard.
The committee reports to and advises the Commission on all
aspects of nuclear waste management.
The sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday will run from 8:30 a.m. to
5:30 p.m. The session on Thursday will run from 10 a.m. to 12:45
p.m. The meeting will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two
White Flint North Building, at 11545 Rockville Pike.
Anyone wanting to use video teleconferencing to observe the
meeting should contact Theron Brown, at 301-415-8066 at least
five days before the meeting to ensure availability.
A complete agenda will be available on the NRCs Web site at this
address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acnw/agenda/2005/.
Individuals interesting in making statements or those seeking
more information should contact Sharon Steele, at 301-415-6805.
Last revised Thursday, December 08, 2005
*****************************************************************
41 reviewjournal.com: Yucca managers relay 'path forward' plan to regulatory staff
Dec. 08, 2005
Managers of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste project outlined
their new "path forward" plan for the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission staff Wednesday.
But one critic at the meeting, Steve Frishman, a full-time
consultant for Nevada's Nuclear Projects Agency, said the plan
amounts to a path backward that puts the beleaguered project
"back to square one after 20 years."
"They made it very clear they have no schedule at all for
certification or a license application," Frishman said during a
break in the meeting.
The new plan announced in October by the Department of Energy
differs from the course that DOE had been pursuing because it
relies on spent fuel assemblies to be sealed in standardized
waste canisters and shipped in transportation casks to a surface
facility near Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Instead of taking the spent fuel assemblies out and repackaging
them for disposal in a maze of tunnels in the mountain, the
sealed canisters will be sorted for "aging," or a cooling down
of their thermal heat, before they are put in a steel and
nickel-alloy package for disposal.
Each transportation cask will be checked for leaks by sampling
gases inside the casks when they arrive, said Paul Harrington,
acting director of DOE's Office of Project Management and
Engineering.
The new strategy requires dramatic changes in the design of
above-ground facilities, he said.
Frishman said the "path forward" plan will take years before it
passes reviews and a new design is in place.
And, with news this week that a special rail line to haul waste
casks to the mountain would cost $2 billion, or more than twice
DOE's first estimate, Frishman said he doubts that the line ever
will be built.
"And it's going to be really hard to get those big containers
here without the railroad," he said. "It's really amazing
they're having this conversation now."
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2005
*****************************************************************
42 Las Vegas SUN: California wants Yucca refund
Today: December 08, 2005 at 8:23:27 PST
Frustration boils over regarding glacial progress of nuclear
waste management project
By Benjamin Grove Sun Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- California may ask the federal government to
refund money that it has paid for Yucca Mountain, a request
based on "uncertainty" surrounding the proposed nuclear waste
repository.
Yucca supporters said the development could give federal
officials fresh incentive to move to open it as soon as
possible, while critics said the action was further evidence
that Yucca is viewed as a waste of money.
"I don't blame California -- they should have their money
back," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said. "And I think every other
state should, too. This is just one more example that the
foundation that has been supporting Yucca Mountain is starting
to crumble."
California's action reflects the long-simmering frustration of
nuclear power utilities nationwide -- and the states where they
are located -- over Congress' broken promise to construct a
national nuclear waste repository by 1998. The Yucca repository
has suffered numerous setbacks for years, and some critics
suggest that it may even be losing support in Congress.
While waiting for a storage site to open, utilities have paid
to store their highly radioactive waste at their plants. The
utilities have filed dozens of lawsuits, most of them still
pending, to force the government to pay for the on-site storage.
Federal law requires that nuclear power ratepayers pay part of
the cost of developing Yucca. So ratepayers since 1982 have paid
a special tax collected in a national nuclear waste fund. The
fund currently has about $17.9 billion, according to the Energy
Department. About $8 billion has been spent on Yucca to date.
California ratepayers have contributed more than $1.1 billion
to the fund. Last month the California Energy Commission
recommended that "some portion" of that money be returned to the
state to help pay for the "long-term on-site" waste storage.
"The federal waste disposal program remains plagued with
licensing delays, increasing costs, technical challenges and
managerial problems," a commission report noted.
It is not clear, however, how California could obtain a refund.
It would be illegal for a state to stop making its payments to
the fund, and it would take an act of Congress to approve
refunds.
"The law is pretty clear about what is required of states,"
Energy Department spokesman Craig Stevens said. "We remain
committed to Yucca Mountain and to opening the repository based
on sound science."
Obtaining a refund for now is "more of a goal" than a specific
plan, said Barbara Byron, nuclear waste policy administrator at
the California Energy Commission.
The proposal, first pitched by a consultant to the state in
August, is being sent this month to the California Legislature
and governor's office, she said.
Byron made the case often repeated by officials in other
states: Ratepayers are essentially paying twice for nuclear
waste storage -- into the waste fund for Yucca, and for the
current on-site storage at the plants.
"It's sort of a fairness issue," she said.
California may be the first state to consider requesting a
Yucca refund, said Brian O'Connell, director of the nuclear
waste program for the National Association of Regulatory Utility
Commissioners. Other state utility boards may take notice, he
said.
"Anytime the biggest state in the union does something, the
other states pay attention," O'Connell said.
He added: "It has come up from time to time: 'If the money is
going down a rat hole, why don't you stop paying?' "
While utilities generally have agreed that it is not in their
best interest to stop paying, they also believe they eventually
will prevail in their lawsuits, O'Connell said.
The California action is consistent with the frustration felt
by nuclear power companies and the states, said Michael Bauser,
a lawyer for the Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's
leading trade group. It likely would grab the attention of
Congress if other states start asking for their money back, he
said.
"It would draw their attention to the importance of the
Department of Energy meeting its contractual obligation, so
those enormous liabilities that have been piling up don't get
any further out of hand," he said.
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
43 LA Daily News: Residents question perchlorate cleanup
Article Launched: 12/08/2005 12:00:00 AM
By Kerry Cavanaugh, Staff Writer
West Hills residents expressed concern Wednesday night that
state officials are rushing the decontamination of a planned
luxury home development downhill from the Santa Susana Field
Laboratory.
State Department of Toxic Substances Control officials unveiled
plans at a public meeting to immediately begin digging up soil
with high levels of perchlorate before the rainy season.
"The winter is coming, the storms are coming. We need to do
something to prevent the perchlorate from going off the property
or going deeper into the ground," said Jose Diaz, project
manager with DTSC.
Perchlorate is an ingredient in rocket fuel that dissolves
easily and moves with water. When found in drinking water the
chemical is linked to thyroid problems and birth defects. But it
does not pose an immediate risk to neighbors in West Hills
because the perchlorate is on the surface and groundwater in the
area isn't used.
Residents were concerned that they still don't know how much
perchlorate is on the property. And activists worry that
removing the chemical before the investigation is complete could
make it difficult to tell whether the perchlorate is linked to
rocket-testing contamination at the field lab.
"They're giving people 12 hours to comment on the removal plan.
As I read the plan, it looks like a plan to cover up, literally,
the perchlorate," said Dan Hirsch with the watchdog group
Committee to Bridge the Gap.
The plan calls for Centex consultant Allwest Remediation to
immediately dig up 1,000 cubic yards of tainted soil from Dayton
Canyon Creek. In January, Allwest is supposed to complete the
full investigation of the perchlorate contamination - including
whether the chemical came from the field lab.
The 151-home Centex development is located at the corner of
Roscoe and Valley Circle boulevards. It's 1.3 miles east of the
field lab, where the Boeing Co. conducted rocket-engine tests.
In May the Daily News reported that the project was approved by
the city in 2001 without requiring soil or water tests, and the
original developer sold the site to Centex.
Under political and community pressure, Centex tested the soil
and found perchlorate up to 62,000 parts per million. That's 850
times more potent than perchlorate found at the field lab and
nearly 8,000 times the level allowed for a residential
development - raising suspicions that the chemical may have been
dumped on the site.
Kerry Cavanaugh, (818) 713-3746
kerry.cavanaugh@dailynews.com
Los Angeles Newspaper Group
*****************************************************************
44 Chicago Sun-Times: Nuclear waste a nearly limitless source of electricity
December 8, 2005
BY TOM RANDALL
The Chicago area economy runs on an aging nuclear-power
infrastructure that must be updated if it is to provide economic
growth and jobs.
Illinois produces more electricity with nuclear energy than any
other state, just over 50 percent of its needs. In the 1970s and
'80s, 14 nuclear plants were built, eight of them primarily to
service Chicago and northern Illinois. But today three of those
plants -- two in Zion and one in Grundy County -- have been
retired. The two remaining Dresden plants are up for relicensing
in 2009 and 2011 -- a likely renewal, but not a sure thing.
Complicating matters is the 13 million pounds of "waste"
nuclear fuel that these plants are sitting on.
Replacing aging nuclear facilities with gas-fired plants is an
unsatisfactory option considering that high demand and limited
supply of natural gas are already pushing the price of natural
gas through the roof. Although coal is plentiful, constructing
coal-fire plants would involve too much environmental resistance
because of its noxious emissions. So-called renewables and
alternatives such as wind and solar are little more than pipe
dreams. Using either of them would require covering most of the
Illinois landscape with production facilities just to supply
Chicago.
It would be wrong to blame the folks at Exelon for this
quandary. They inherited an aging power infrastructure that was
born out of a morass of environmental and regulatory rules that
make building any kind of electricity-generation plant nearly
impossible.
But there is a solution. It involves that so-called "waste" or
spent nuclear fuel, and a new generation of nuclear plants known
as Integral Fast Reactors (IFR).
Using existing technology, reactors can extract less than 1
percent of the energy from nuclear fuel. But the new IFRs can
extract 99 percent of the energy from that same fuel by
integrating a new fuel recycling process with "fast" reactors
that are capable of using it. This relatively straightforward
process is described in detail by physicists William Hannum,
Gerald Marsh and George Stanford in the December issue of
Scientific American.
Therefore, simply building IFRs next to existing nuclear plants
in Illinois would enable us to use waste fuel over and over
again, providing virtually limitless electricity for Chicago and
northern Illinois. At the same time, we would dramatically
reduce the problems of storing and transporting waste fuel, a
concern for some in this age of terrorism.
But three hurdles stand in the way of developing this solution.
*First, President Jimmy Carter banned all recycling of nuclear
fuel in 1977 based on the fear that it would produce
bomb-quality plutonium.
*That led Hazel O'Leary, energy secretary under Bill Clinton, to
kill research on IFRs in 1994, just as the work was nearing
completion at Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago, because
it involved reprocessing.
*The third hurdle that stands in the way of building any kind of
nuclear generating facility is the long and uncertain permitting
process that drives away potential investors.
These hurdles could be overcome.
A simple executive order to lift the ban on the specific type
of recycling used by the IFRs, pyroprocessing, would take care
of the first hurdle. This would not represent a threat of
nuclear proliferation since this type of recycling does not
produce plutonium that can be used for making weapons.
The second hurdle, restarting the IFR project would require an
appropriation of $300 million and an order by Congress for
Argonne to finish its work.
While that work is in progress, Congress and the administration
must tackle the much higher hurdle of streamlining the arduous
and uncertain permitting process at the federal level. With the
obvious energy shortages and price spikes caused by limited
production in this country, such reform should be a top
priority.
It is time for Illinois' congressional delegation, Republicans
and Democrats alike, to lead a push in Washington to secure the
state's economic future with the only practical source of
electricity produced by a new generation of safe, pollution-free
nuclear power plants.
Tom Randall is a senior partner of the public policy consulting
firm Winningreen LLC, Chicago. He can be reached at
trandall@winningreen.com
Copyright 2005, Digital Chicago Inc.
*****************************************************************
45 Mos News: Ship With French Nuclear Waste Docks in St. Petersburg Despite Greenpeace
Protest -
NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 08.12.2005 11:18 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 11:18 MSK
Greenpeace activists in St. Petersburg have tried to stop the
ship Captain Kuroptev carrying spent nuclear fuel from entering
the city’s port, following a similar initiative by their French
counterparts, who attempted to stop it from loading waste bound
for a dump site in Siberia a week ago, the Ekho Moskvy radio
station reported.
The ship was surrounded by three small boats with 11 people on
board, dressed in Greenpeace T-shirts. They lit flares and
mounted buoys with radio-active hazard signs. Although the port
authorities asked the ship’s crew not to use force, they fired
water jets at the activists. The ship eventually anchored in St.
Petersburg harbor.
450 tonnes of uranium waste from an Electricite de France plant
in Pierralatte is now to be transferred by train to Tomsk in
Siberia. Russian authorities claim that the waste does not pose
any danger.
Write us: info@mosnews.com
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
46 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 [ /]
*****************************************************************
47 ABC News: France bans Aust nuclear waste storage.
08/12/2005.
Australia will no longer be able to send its high level nuclear
waste to France before there is approval for dealing with it
there.
A French appeals court has declared that the storage of high
level waste from Australia in France is illegal.
Dr Ron Cameron from the Australian Nuclear Science and
Technology Organisation says the decision does not mean waste
that was shipped there recently has to be returned, because the
French nuclear re-processing plant, COGEMA, was given permission
to process it earlier this year.
"It means in future though that COGEMA will seek an
authorisation to reprocess at the same time as they agree to
take fuel from overseas," he said.
"So the technical issue was that they brought the fuel in and
then they applied for reprocessing and there was a time delay
between them."
copy; 2005 ABC| Privacy Policy
This service may include material from Agence France-Presse
(AFP), APTN, Reuters, CNN and
the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be
*****************************************************************
48 ABC News: Farmers threaten legal action over nuclear dump.
08/12/2005.
A group of farmers in the Northern Territory is threatening to
take class action if a site near their farms is selected for the
national nuclear waste dump.
Legislation allowing the facility to be built in the Northern
Territory has passed the Senate.
Fishers Ridge, south of Katherine, is one of three Commonwealth
sites earmarked for the facility.
Sharon Shaw is one of a group of 11 horticulturalists whose
farms are 12 kilometres from the Fishers Ridge site.
She says, among other things, they are worried about the impact
of the dump on their property values.
"The thing that worries us the most, it's on top of a Tindal
Aquifer which really concerns us in the fact that there's many
sink holes that turn up every wet as the ground is always
shifting," she said.
"Any normal person without an environmental degree or anything
would realise that this ground is unstable."
*****************************************************************
49 AU ABC: Govt makes way for NT nuclear waste plans
PM - Thursday, 8 December , 2005 18:14:00
Reporter: Peta Donald
MARK COLVIN: The Federal Government's plan to build a nuclear
waste dump in the Northern Territory took another big step
towards reality today.
Legislation passed the Senate to override Northern Territory law
that prevents the transfer or disposal of radioactive waste on
Northern Territory soil.
There have been howls of protest from Labor Senators and the NT
Government. They argue that the Northern Territory has only been
chosen for political expediency, because the Commonwealth has
the power to override Territory law.
There was heavy pressure on the Northern Territory's Country
Liberal Party Senator, Nigel Scullion, to cross the floor and
vote against the legislation.
But in the end, he voted for it.
Senator Scullion spoke to Peta Donald.
NIGEL SCULLION: If I had have crossed the floor, it would have
meant that my amendments that had been asked by the Northern
Land Council to put forward, and many other Territoreans would
not have been a part of this bill.
The bill may have been defeated, but in two years time, after
we'd gone through a judicial process that this bill effectively
prevents, as part of it, it would have still been there. And we
would not have had the amendments, and it would have been in one
of three places, that a) is not based on good science, and b)
people didn't want it to go.
This creates much better outcomes.
PETA DONALD: But if you had crossed the floor, you could have
stopped this dump being built in the Northern Territory,
couldn't you?
NIGEL SCULLION: No, not at all, because the Family First
supported the legislation, and one of the Democrats abstained.
So the numbers of the bill would have been supported whether I'd
been on the other side of the floor or not.
PETA DONALD: What about the principle, though, that this bill
overrides Northern Territory law, and Labor and the Northern
Territory Government say this makes a mockery of self-government
in the Northern Territory?
NIGEL SCULLION: Well look, I have to say a number of Australians
can remember very well when Commonwealth law overrode the
Franklin Dam issue, and there didn't seem to be quite the same
focus on state rights at that time, because it was all a pretty
sexy issue to support.
Now, a radioactive waste facility mightn't be as sexy, but it is
fundamentally still important to this nation. And it's all about
leadership and deciding that you've got to have a practical
outcome on these matters, and the practical outcome was that the
Northern Land Council actually said we would like you to include
amendments that allow us to have this on our land.
And so do I ignore them? Well I didn't. I said, well listen, if
we can have an outcome where people… it goes where somebody
wants it, and Australians can still enjoy access to
radiopharmaceutical and the other benefits of nuclear medicine,
then let's go and do it this way.
And that did not involved crossing the floor, that involved
something far more sophisticated than symbolism and becoming
just an overnight hero… and all that does is get you more votes.
PETA DONALD: So you would have got more votes if you had been
prepared to cross the floor?
NIGEL SCULLION: Well, I'm not sure whether I'd have got more
votes or not, but it's continued to be put to me that if somehow
if you cross the floor and take on Government you're an
overnight hero and everybody supports you.
But as I said, this circumstance was far more sophisticated than
that, and needed a far more sophisticated answer, and our
amendments to these both in the House of Representatives and
today in the Senate demonstrate that that's the case.
We got a far better outcome than we would have done by some sort
of act of symbolism, and this is supported by the landowners -
26 per cent of the Northern Territory. They are the first
Australians in the Northern Territory. Do you think we should
ignore them, from symbolism?
PETA DONALD: Nonetheless, it's not supported by very many people
in the Northern Territory who you are here to represent, are you
not?
NIGEL SCULLION: Indeed I am, but I don't believe it's going to
go on their land, and I don't believe they should tell the
Northern Land Council and Aboriginals from the northern end of
north Australia how they should run their business, and how they
should use their land.
PETA DONALD: Where does this go from here? When will the
Northern Territory get its nuclear waste dump?
NIGEL SCULLION: Well, obviously now the process of nomination.
The Northern Territory Government actually now have the
capacity, thanks to our amendments, to nominate sites, and
Bloods Range and Tanami were one of the original sites on the
recommended list, they could nominate them.
The Northern Land Council have indicated that they will be
nominating some sites, and I'm not actually sure how long this
will take, I'm quite sure the nomination process will be as
swift as the Government can make it.
PETA DONALD: So when will the dump be built?
NIGEL SCULLION: This is not a dump. This isn't somewhere where
you throw leaking cans of radioactive material. This is a
radioactive storage facility where solid waste is stored under
the most stringent scientific and international conditions.
When will it be built? It won't be built until probably 2010,
because the environmental considerations over that period of
time take about five years, and they're the most stringent in
the world, and that's how long it takes, and so it'll start
being constructed in about 2010.
MARK COLVIN: Northern Territory's Country Liberal Party Senator
Nigel Scullion, with Peta Donald.
*****************************************************************
50 AFP: Ukraine considers storing foreign nuclear waste at Chernobyl -
Thu Dec 8, 1:22 PM ET
KIEV (AFP) - Ukraine will consider storing nuclear waste from
abroad at the Chernobyl nuclear plant, the site of the world's
worst civilian nuclear disaster, President Viktor Yushchenko
said.
"Politically, we have to study this question," Yushchenko was
quoted as saying after visiting the plant in the north of the
country.
"Undoubtedly, there can be economic feasibility... so we have to
think hard before making a political decision," Interfax quoted
him as saying.
Chernobyl's number-four reactor, in what was then the Soviet
Union and is now Ukraine, exploded on April 26, 1986, sending a
radioactive cloud across Europe.
Following the disaster, a concrete sarcophagus was built over
the stricken reactor and a new 20,000-tonne steel case to cover
the whole plant is planned on being constructed between 2008 and
2009.
The power station was eventually shut down on December 15, 2000.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
51 Guardian Unlimited: Energy Dept. Completes Nuke Site Cleanup
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday December 9, 2005 1:01 AM
By ROBERT WELLER
Associated Press Writer
DENVER (AP) - The Energy Department declared the cleanup of
Rocky Flats completed Thursday, the first former nuclear weapons
site to be totally remediated.
State and federal health regulators still must verify the
cleanup of the area where virtually all the plutonium triggers
for the nation's nuclear arsenal were made. But Deputy Energy
Secretary Clay Sell said contractor Kaiser-Hill had finished its
work.
``It's huge. ... When you think of all the material inside, and
the difficulty of the cleanup, and quite frankly the difficulty
of finding other places to take the material, from New Mexico,
to Idaho, to South California. This is an achievement of a
massive scale,'' he said in a telephone interview.
A decade ago a report estimated it would take 70 years and $36
billion to clean the site.
``We cleaned it up in 10 years for $7 billion,'' said spokesman
John Corsi of Kaiser-Hill. He said that because of the project's
success, Kaiser-Hill's parent company CH2M Hill won contracts in
Idaho, Washington, Ohio and South Carolina.
The Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments, which monitored
the work, hopes the cleanup will be approved, said the group's
executive director David Abelson
The plant, which opened in 1951 in a then-lightly populated area
10 miles northwest of Denver, had a troubled history before it
was shut down in 1991, including several fires.
The FBI raided the plant in 1989, investigating claims that
operator Rockwell International had knowingly discharged
chemicals into creeks that flowed into municipal water supplies,
burned toxic waste and failed to adequately monitor groundwater.
The company was fined $18.5 million after it pleaded guilty to
10 hazardous waste and clean water violations.
Most of the 6,200 acres occupied by the former plant - whose
buildings have all been removed - will become a national
wildlife refuge. However, several areas, including the most
contaminated core site, will remain closed to the public.
---
On the Net:
http://www.fws.gov/rockyflats/
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
52 Whitehaven News: Sellafield sets sights on strike
Published on 08/12/2005
Exclusive By Alan Irving
EIGHT thousand Sellafield workers could be set to take
industrial action early next year.
A walkout is on the cards due to workforce concerns over a new
pensions deal if they have to transfer from British Nuclear
Group to a new employer.
Industrial action could affect the likely sale of BNG and also
hold up decommissioning just as the NDA announces a £20 million
investment into West Cumbria’s nuclear skills training.
But feelings are running high at Sellafield and at the other BNG
sites over whether workers will get the same pensions deal if
they have to move over to an even bigger company, possibly
American.
A possible strike would hit not only Sellafield but the rest of
the BNG plants involving about 13,000 workers all told.
The threat emerged at a meeting in Penrith on Monday when
nuclear union bosses were told about the strength of feeling
among the respective workforces. Peter Kane, convenor of
Sellafield’s biggest union (GMB) said yesterday: “No
decisions or resolutions were made but the strength of feeling
came over loud and clear. This was that industrial action cannot
be ruled out.â€
The Whitehaven News understands there is already strong support
for a ballot early in the New Year.
*****************************************************************
53 Rocky Mountain News: AG angles for funds to sue over arsenal
December 8, 2005
Ducks that landed on the ponds burned their feathers on the
toxins. Poisons from chemical weapons seeped into the
groundwater, damaging crops and ruining wells for drinking water.
Sarin nerve-gas bomblets turned up in the dirt and rubble. Fish
from the lakes could not be eaten because their mercury levels
were so high.
That's the kind of damage that occurred at at the Rocky Mountain
Arsenal, where the Army made nerve gas until 1957, napalm until
1968, and deactivated such weapons until 1984 - all just eight
miles northeast of downtown Denver.
On top of that, Shell used the site to make pesticides, some so
lethal they were later banned.
Now, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers wants to reopen a
22-year-old lawsuit seeking cash compensation from the Army and
Shell for natural resource damages.
At a legislative hearing on the topic Wednesday, Suthers was
asked if the amount of the damages could reach $100 million.
His reply: "That's certainly moderate."
Since collecting such a sum may be difficult, said Suthers'
spokeswoman, Kristin Hubbell, the state is in negotiations,
hoping to settle out of court.
Nevertheless, Suthers asked the legislature on Wednesday for $1
million to pay the state's legal expenses in pursuing the case
and warned that he may be back asking for similar amounts for up
to 10 more years.
Even if it costs $10 million to win the lawsuit, Suthers said,
it would be a good investment for the state.
The 27-square-mile arsenal, a Superfund site north of the old
Stapleton Airport, has seen 5,000 of its least-contaminated
acres converted to a wildlife refuge. But more than 10,000 acres
still are being cleaned up as part of a $2.2 billion job
expected to continue to 2011.
In comparison, the notorious Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant
on the northwest side of Denver, torn down at a cost of more
than $6 billion, "did not make anywhere near the mess" as the
chemicals at the arsenal, said Senior Assistant Attorney General
Vicky Peters.
The arsenal, she said, dumped chemicals on the ground and into
lake-sized unlined basins that leaked into the groundwater.
"Contaminated soils blew all over the place," she said.
This toxic stew began brewing in 1942 when the arsenal was
created to manufacture mustard gas, which causes blistering,
blindness and respiratory problems.
Later, the arsenal grew into a sprawling plant making far more
lethal sarin nerve gas. That gas, never used by the United
States, causes victims to stagger and jerk as their muscles
convulse. They die of respiratory arrest.
As late as 1984, sarin was drained from munitions on the site
and chemically deactivated. But six sarin bomblets were found in
rubble on the site just five years ago.
Much of the contamination is being buried in a landfill on the
site that is in part triple-lined, Peters said.
"The worst of the worst is going in there," she said.
Some 750 million gallons of groundwater are treated every year
at the arsenal, according to its Web site. Owners of nearby
contaminated wells had to be provided with alternative sources
of water, Peters said. site mapSubscribe | E-mail
2005 © The E.W. Scripps Co.
*****************************************************************
54 Australian: Nuclear agency fears France will return spent rods too soon
[December 09, 2005]
Amanda Hodge
THE nation's nuclear agency wants assurances from France that it
will not return spent fuel rods to Australia until the federal
Government has built its nuclear waste dump.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, which
operates the Lucas Heights research reactor in southern Sydney,
is concerned that a French court ruling this week means the
country will be able to send 1500 spent fuel rods to Australia.
The decision yesterday by France's highest court, the Cour de
Cassation, came just hours before the federal Senate passed two
bills overriding Northern Territory law to force a nuclear waste
dump within its borders.
The commonwealth hopes to have the dump for low-level and
intermediate waste - including spent fuel rods and parts from
Lucas Heights - operational by 2011. That is the date the
Government expects to get the first shipment of Lucas Heights
fuel rods back from the Dounreay reprocessing facility in
Scotland.
A separate batch of fuel rods, currently being reprocessed at
French company Cogema's La Hague facility in France, is not due
to be returned until 2015.
But ANSTO conceded yesterday it would have to seek clarification
that the court ruling did not mean the waste would be sent back
before then.
"We have no reason to believe it will affect the material that's
been reprocessed, but we can't rule anything out," ANSTO's chief
of operations Ron Cameron said.
The French court's judgment ends a four-year legal battle
between Greenpeace France and Cogema. It found Cogema had acted
illegally by accepting and holding Australia's nuclear waste
without obtaining permission to reprocess it.
However, Cogema was granted a permit in May.
© The Australian
*****************************************************************
55 Inyo Register: Yucca project continues to lose support
Published on Tuesday, December 6, 2005 12:50 PM PST
Even one-time advocates now critics of proposed nuke waste dump
By Benjamin Grove Las Vegas Sun
WASHINGTON - A key senator who was once a strong advocate of
Yucca Mountain offered some of his harshest words yet about the
proposed nuclear waste repository.
"As most of you know, it was not a good solution either on
straight science, or surely, on economic grounds," Senate Energy
Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) said Tuesday in a
speech to a group of U.S. and Japanese nuclear power leaders.
"So clearly, we have to move in another direction."
Domenici has long been a supporter of the nation's policy on
dealing with the radioactive spent fuel from nuclear plants and
U.S. defense sites: burying it in underground tunnels at Yucca
Mountain.
But Domenici, a vocal advocate of nuclear power and considered
the Senate leader on nuclear issues, has distanced himself from
Yucca in recent public comments.
"For years Yucca Mountain was the answer, and we ran around
talking about it as if it were the singular answer," Domenici
said Tuesday. "But we all know that it was a creature of
nineteen-hundred and eighty-two.
"While Yucca was created as the final resting place, there can
be no doubt that it is not the final answer."
Domenici's comments came as the Energy Department is preparing a
new national nuclear waste policy that is likely to embrace
recycling. While the department is now pushing for a simpler
plan for Yucca, it will not abandon the project.
"Our administration is committed to successfully establishing
Yucca Mountain as the nation's permanent repository for spent
nuclear fuel," Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell said in a
speech Monday. "Solving the problem of how to store spent fuel
will reap tremendous benefits for America's future and will
greatly facilitate the expansion of nuclear power."
Industry observers and interested lawmakers have eagerly awaited
the department's new policy for months, but it is not likely to
be unveiled this year, department spokesman Craig Stevens said.
Domenici said he has heard enough about the developing policy
"to know it's exciting, but I've not heard enough about it to
say I'm clamoring for it."
Domenici has not publicly advocated that long-delayed Yucca
program be scrapped. He has said he envisions a new, broader
national nuclear waste policy in which Yucca Mountain plays some
role.
"In this environment, the current U.S. policy regarding Yucca
Mountain clearly won't do," Domenici said. "And it won't do all
by itself. I believe we must completely re-evaluate our policy
on spent nuclear fuel."
Domenici is quietly discussing waste policy with the Energy
Department. He also has discussed it with strident Yucca foe
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).
Domenici has not embraced a proposal advocated by Reid and the
rest of the Nevada congressional delegation - leaving waste
where it now sits on site at the nation's nuclear power plants.
Domenici has expressed interest in storing waste at government
interim sites.
"Interim storage is a very good solution," Domenici said Tuesday.
Domenici also said the nation should pour its "scientific
passion and creativity" into developing new waste-handling
technology in the next 20 years.
Domenici also advocates a policy that includes plans to recycle
spent fuel, which ultimately could reduce the toxicity of the
waste bound for Yucca.
President Jimmy Carter banned recycling because of fears that
the process, which separates plutonium from waste, could enable
terrorists to obtain the bomb-making material. Domenici said
those fears are unfounded.
Domenici is not the first lawmaker to soften his stance on
Yucca. Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, in September scrapped his
support for it, and others are re-thinking their positions, Sen.
John Ensign (R-Nev.) has said.
Domenici's speech fell just two weeks after he and Reid led an
effort to slash this year's Yucca budget from a Bush
administration request of $651 million to $450 million. Domenici
is chairman of an appropriations panel that also allocated $50
million for waste recycling technology.
"I am convinced that our great nation cannot be self-reliant,
prosperous and green without more nuclear energy," Domenici said.
(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service)
©2005
*****************************************************************
56 DOE doubles plutonium/TVC in the news
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 15:55:06 -0800
You have been sent this message from marylia@earthlink.net as a courtesy of
washingtonpost.com
DOE to Allow More Plutonium at Calif. Lab
By H. JOSEF HEBERT
WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department gave clearance Tuesday to doubling
the amount of plutonium that can be kept at the Livermore National
Laboratory in California despite protests by some local activists that the
weapons material poses a threat to adjacent residential communities.
The department issued the new plutonium levels as part of an environmental
review for operating the laboratory, including its defense nuclear
programs, for the next decade. It said the review showed no adverse
environmental impacts associated with the weapons research even if more
plutonium is made available.
The announcement said the maximum amount of plutonium that can be kept at
the laboratory 40 miles from downtown San Francisco can be increased from
the current 1,540 pounds to 3,080 pounds. It also increased the maximum
amount of plutonium that can be used in a specific operation from 44 pounds
to 88 pounds, thereby expanding the kinds of research activities that are
possible.
Plutonium, a radioactive material deadly if inhaled or ingested, is used
to make so-called pits for nuclear weapons. At Livermore, it is used for
research into weapons components and the reliability of existing warheads.
The amount of plutonium kept at Livermore's "Superblock" facility _ where
nuclear weapons research is conducted _ is classified. It doesn't
necessarily mean the maximum amount of plutonium authorized will be used,
or is even on site, said John Belluardo, a Livermore spokesman.
Belluardo said the plutonium is needed "to continue our work at the
laboratory."
The announcement brought a sharp response from local activists who have
been fighting for years to force the Energy Department to remove all
plutonium from the Livermore facility, not add to the stockpile. They argue
the material is too dangerous and could become a target of terrorists.
"Today's decision puts the entire San Francisco Bay area at risk," said
Loulena Miles, an attorney for Tri-Valley CAREs, a Livermore-based activist
group.
Marylia Kelley, the group's executive director, said 7 million people live
within a 50-mile radius of the laboratory, which once was in open
countryside but now rests in the heart of San Francisco's suburbia.
"One microscopic particle of plutonium, if lodged in the lungs, can cause
cancer and other diseases," Kelley said.
The Energy Department's environmental assessment concluded that the
increased plutonium can be kept safely and out of the environment.
"The lab has been conducting experiments using plutonium and highly
enriched uranium for many years, and we have an excellent safety record and
safety continues to be of paramount importance," said Belluardo, the
Livermore spokesman, in a telephone interview. He said Tri-Valley CAREs'
objections are addressed point by point in the DOE decision.
The Energy Department has been considering whether to consolidate
plutonium kept at various weapons-related facilities so that they can be
better secured from potential terrorist attacks. Plutonium at Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico, for example, is being moved to the
Nevada Test Site.
Whether Livermore's plutonium may one day be consolidated elsewhere
remains an open question that likely will not be answered under the Energy
Department decides how to revamp the entire weapons complex.
Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration, who
signed the Livermore record of decision issued Tuesday, has opposed
removing plutonium from the California laboratory. Lab officials worry that
if the plutonium, which is used in weapons research, is taken elsewhere,
its weapons programs will be forced to shut down.
Kelley, the local activist, said she worries that the increase in
plutonium means expanded weapons work. Doubling the amount of plutonium
workers can use in a single process "is largely to enable Livermore lab to
produce prototype plutonium bomb cores, or pits," she maintains.
The DOE also said that Livermore can expand its supply of tritium, a
radioactive gas used in weapons production, and increase by nearly tenfold
the amount of tritium that can be used in single experiments, from 3.5
grams to 30 grams.
___
Would you like to send this article to a friend? Go to
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/emailafriend?contentId=AR2005112901352&
sent=no&referrer=emailarticle
Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94551
- is our web site address. Please visit us
there!
(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax
*****************************************************************
57 Santa Fe New Mexican: Wishing for a new contract
Thu Dec 8, 2005 5:21 pm
By Andy Lenderman The New Mexican |
LOS ALAMOS This Christmas season, kids in Los Alamos wait for
presents, and their parents wait for a decision.
The National Nuclear Security Administration is expected to end
the anxiety and apprehension soon by announcing who will manage
Los Alamos National Laboratory. Experts at the National Nuclear
Security Administration have yet to finish a report and make a
decision. An announcement date, initially expected Dec. 1, has
been delayed. No decision has been made, NNSA spokesman Al
Stotts said Wednesday. At least some take the pending change
about what company will sign their paychecks, and dominate the
areas economy, with humor. Were running at neutral, said
Michael Wismer, a Los Alamos County councilor and lab employee.
In general, what that means is theres anxiousness and
hesitancy to make big, long-term decisions until the future of
the lab is determined.
County spokeswoman Julie Habiger passed along this joke: All I
want for Christmas is a lab-contract announcement .
Whether that will happen is unclear.
Like those who work at Los Alamos and live in the community,
I am eager to learn which team has been selected by (the
Department of Energy) to run the lab, U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici,
R-N .M., said through a spokesman. While I know this is an
uncertain time, I am impressed with both proposals , and I have
confidence that the future of the lab is bright and that the
employees will be well treated.
So life goes on in Los Alamos, where real-estate sales are a
little slower this year and where small businesses report a
mixed bag.
I think everybody is kind of worn out and resigned to the
process, whatever that may be, said Kevin Holsapple, director
of the Los Alamos Commerce and Development Corp.
The head of the Los Alamos Association of Realtors said the town
is on edge. People are generally anxious about the decision at
the lab, Realtor Tracy Langford said. Retirees vested in the
University of Californias pension system are especially
anxious, she said.
The university has managed the lab since its creation in 1943.
Sixty years later, in 2003, Congress decided to put the labs
management contract up for a competitive bid.
Now two teams the University of California and Bechtel
National, and the University of Texas and Lockheed Martin Corp.
are competing to win the contract .
I think our town has been spoiled that the University of
California has managed this as long as it has, Langford added.
I think change is good for everybody. Its hard. But I think
once you work through it, its beneficial.
Small businessman Dave Fox said many of the customers at his
downtown department store have come to terms with the change.
The concern is gone, Fox said. Its past; its history. Weve
seen a marked increase in morale and spending since the early
fall.
Fox said hes close to his customers , and his store felt a
pinch earlier this year. But something changed. A comfort
level had been reached, with the inevitability of something, he
said. Although the process of a new contractor is still
unfolding, many other things are steady in Los Alamos . Homes
for sale are on the market longer this year, Langford said.
Homes were on the market an average of 143 days this year,
compared to 101 days in 2004.
But the median price is steady. So far this year, she said, the
median home price was $307,261. In 2004, it was $305,066. This
year, 323 homes have sold. In 2004, 304 houses sold.
And earlier this fall, Domenici reported that the overall lab
budget was going up, not down. Although nuclear-weapons programs
took a cut from Congress, other missions, like homelandsecurity
work, have increased at the lab.
And new census data shows that in 2003 Los Alamos County had the
highest median household income of any county in the United
States, at $93,089,
The head of Los Alamos Public Schools said he doesnt expect any
major enrollment changes with the pending decision. But
Superintendent Jim Anderson also echoed the desire for a
decision, which was expected by now. It needs to get settled, I
think, for everybody, Anderson said. Contact Andy Lenderman at
995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican .com.
At a glance
What: The contract to manage Los Alamos National Laboratory
When: A Dec. 1 announcement date was delayed indefinitely,
although the delay was described as brief.
Who: Two teams are competing to manage the lab. Lockheed Martin
Corp. has joined the University of Texas and other institutions
to compete. Bechtel National has partnered with the University
of California and others to form a separate coalition . UC
currently manages the lab.
Date contractor is scheduled to take over: June 1
Who evaluates the proposals: The eight member Source Evaluation
Board, a panel of experts from the National Nuclear Security
Administration
Who makes the decision: Thomas DAgostino , a deputy
administrator with the NNSA and a Naval Academy graduate
The chairman: U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N .M., chairs a Senate
appropriations subcommittee that funds the Department of Energy.
*****************************************************************
58 LA Daily News: Grand jury probe might have better luck than fines at lab site
Opinions
Article Launched: 12/08/2005 12:00:00 AM
Full disclosure
It's about time we got to the bottom of what is going on at
the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.
Nearly 20 years after the Daily News disclosed there was
contamination at the former nuclear and rocket-testing
laboratory, there are still too many lingering questions about
problems at the site.
Large housing developments have been built nearby without anyone
knowing for sure if the groundwater or storm runoff from the
former lab is safe - or full of harmful toxins.
Now Boeing officials confirm that a federal grand jury has
subpoenaed records relating to the monitoring of contamination
from the lab and to the locations of runoff on the property.
It's unclear exactly what the grand jury is looking into, but
it's sure to find rich reading material.
The site has long been known to have extremely toxic dioxins,
mercury and other heavy metals, and there is a history of
violations of rules to keep the contaminants out of the
environment.
Boeing officials, who are charged with monitoring the site to
make sure the contaminants don't seep into the Los Angeles River
or Arroyo Simi, have continued to receive violation notices for
tainted water - almost 100 in the last seven years.
That's after the former owner of the site, Rockwell Corp., was
fined $6.5 million nine years ago when an FBI investigation
revealed that two workers were killed trying to dispose of toxic
waste by burning it up.
The grand jury scrutiny could be helpful to the community. It's
time that there is full exposure of contamination at the Santa
Susana lab. Let us hope the grand jury investigation will have
better luck at forcing cleanup than the years of fines have had
so far.
Los Angeles Newspaper Group
*****************************************************************
59 Denver Business Journal: Rocky Flats cleanup called complete -
2005-12-08
bizjournals.com
The federal government has certified the cleanup of a former
nuclear weapons plant outside of Denver as complete.
The certification by the U.S. Department of Energy marks the
final step in the government's effort to cleanup the Rocky Flats
site and transform it into a national wildlife refuge. Rocky
Flats produced the trigger weapon for every nuclear weapon built
in the United States between 1951 and 1989. The plant was
contaminated by radioactive waste.
"With today's announcement, the cleanup chapter of Rocky Flats'
history is closed, while another equally important chapter is
just being opened," Clay Sell, deputy secretary of energy, said
in a statement. "This successful cleanup represents a triumph of
determination and spirit of cooperation that stands as an
example for the other similar projects around the country."
The cleanup project was estimated in the early 1990s to take at
least 70 years and cost more than $37 billion. The final price
tag was $7 billion and it was finished 56 years ahead of
schedule.
Over the next year, the Energy Department will transfer about
5,200 acres of Rocky Flats for a wildlife refuge. The Energy
Department will keep about 1,000 acres in the center of the site
for long-term surveillance and maintenance.
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc. Add RSS Headlines
*****************************************************************
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:
*****************************************************************