***************************************************************** 12/09/05 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 13.286 ***************************************************************** 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 BBC: World 'losing patience with Iran' 2 AFP: IAEA chief warns against military strike on Iran in nuclear row 3 IRNA: Kashani: Iran entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy - 4 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: ElBaradei Optimistic on North Korea Nucle 5 Reuters: U.S. envoy on N.Korean rights paints bleak picture 6 [sm] UK 'covered up' Israeli nuke deal (BBC) 7 TCS: Tech Central Station: Nuclear Explosion at Montreal 8 BBC: UK 'covered up' Israeli nuke deal 9 AFP: Britain admits it knew 1950s nuclear ingredient was Israel-boun 10 CJAD 800: Report urges $70 billion for new nuclear and other power i 11 Asian Tribune: Norway - Honest Broker held meaningful talks in New D 12 Rediff: Russia endorses N-cooperation with India 13 Guardian Unlimited: Papers reveal UK's nuclear aid to Israel NUCLEAR REACTORS 14 US: NRC: NRC Meeting with Southern Nuclear Cancelled 15 Ottawa Business Journal: Report calls for more nukes, more renewable 16 US: toledoblade.com: Michigan marketplace: Nuclear power plant, anyo 17 US: NRC: Entergy Operations, Inc., Waterford Steam Electric Station, 18 US: NRC: General Electric Company; Notice of Acceptance of Applicati 19 Japan Times: Delayed by glitch, Aomori fires up first reactor 20 US: Hudson Valley News: Kelly keeps the heat on the NRC over Indian 21 US: The Day: NRC Extends Millstone License: Nuclear power plants 22 AU ABC: Regulator queries safety provisions at Lucas Heights nuclear 23 asahi.com: Reactor starts in tax-minded village NUCLEAR SECURITY 24 Jane's: Averting radiation terrorism NUCLEAR SAFETY 25 US: The Spectrum: Parowan resident asks council to protect children NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 26 US: Las Vegas SUN: PFS loses two support of two members for nuke dum 27 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents: Lockheed's approach will 28 AU ABC: Cattlemen's group neutral on nuclear dump debate 29 US: Herald Tribune: Tallevast residents stay polite until they hear 30 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nuke waste coalition partner drops out 31 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Revised 32 Japan Times: Over decade after accident, Monju may be reborn 33 US: KUTV: PFS Loses Two Support Of Two Members For Nuke Dump 34 US: Deseret news: Utah N-storage takes 2 hits PEACE 35 Xinhua: Haiti ratifies nuclear test ban treaty US DEPT. OF ENERGY 36 DOE: Office of Nonproliferation Policy; Proposed Subsequent 37 DenverPost.com: Flats cleanup is complete, DOE agrees 38 Colorado Daily News: DOE says Flats cleanup complete 39 Rocky Mountain News: Rocky Flats before and after the cleanup ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 BBC: World 'losing patience with Iran' Last Updated: Friday, 9 December 2005 [Mohamed ElBaradei and Yukiya Amano, chairman of IAEA board] Mohamed ElBaradei (L) urged Iran to be transparent The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said the world is losing patience with Iran over its nuclear programme. Mohamed ElBaradei, who is in Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, said outstanding nuclear issues with Iran would be clarified next year. The US and EU suspect Iran of pursuing nuclear weapons but Tehran says its programme is for civilian energy use. The IAEA has repeatedly expressed concern about Tehran's activities. Transparency call Mr ElBaradei said European negotiators should continue talking to Iran. "The parties need to sit together, discuss their grievances and reach a solution," he said. "If we can do that without escalating the problem, all the much better." The talks, with the UK, France and Germany, were suspended in August after Tehran restarted uranium conversion, a precursor to enrichment. No date has been set for their resumption. The IAEA head urged Iran to be "as transparent as possible", adding that important pieces of its programme were still missing. Mr ElBaradei, who shares the award with the IAEA, described it as a recognition of the agency's efforts to make the world a safer place. ***************************************************************** 2 AFP: IAEA chief warns against military strike on Iran in nuclear row 09/12/2005 17h41 Mohamed ElBaradei ©AFP/SCANPIX OSLO (AFP) - The head of the UN nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, said the international community was losing patience with Iran over its nuclear program but cautioned against using military action. "The international community after three years is losing patience" with Iran, ElBaradei told reporters in Oslo, where he is to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on Saturday. He insisted however that "I don't believe there is a military solution to the issue." "I think that a military solution would be completely counter-productive," he said, pointing out that diplomacy and cooperation tend to yield "better results than the stick". The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director, who will share the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize and an accompanying cheque worth 1.3 million dollars (1.1 million euros), have been instrumental in thorny nuclear negotiations with Iran. The agency has threatened to take the country before the United Nations Security Council for violating nuclear non-proliferation rules. Iran has meanwhile insisted that its nuclear program is merely designed to meet domestic energy needs, while the United States, Israel and others have charged it is a cover for a program to develop an atom bomb. Washington has said no option is off the table in dealing with Iran's nuclear ambitions, and Israel has made it clear it will not allow its neighbour in the Middle East to obtain a nuclear weapon. Mohamed ElBaradei ©AFP/SCANPIX Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz stated Friday that while diplomatic channels remained the best way to deal with the Iran issue, "it is necessary to also prepare the other means." On Friday, ElBaradei insisted that there was still a chance to find a diplomatic solution. "But this window of opportunity is not forever," he said, adding that "the next couple of months are going to be very crucial." By next March, he said he hoped "things will have moved in the right direction and that we're not talking about the Security Council". The European Union, with Britain, France and Germany in the lead and with US backing, has argued that the only way to ensure that Tehran does not develop nuclear bombs under the mantle of its civil nuclear energy program is for Iran to forego the ability to enrich uranium. "As long as we are moving forward, as long as we haven't seen an imminent threat, a smoking gun," it should not be necessary to use "the stick", ElBaradei said, adding however that "I'm not excluding any option in the future." "The ball is in Iran's court. It is up to Iran to show the kind of transparency they need to show." The IAEA and ElBaradei will receive the Nobel Prize at a ceremony in Oslo's city hall on Saturday, just over 60 years after the US dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan on August 6 and 9, 1945, the world's only nuclear attacks to date. International reactions have been divided over this year's peace prize choice. Environmental activists, who congratulated the Nobel Committee last year for awarding the prestigious prize to an environmentalist, Kenyan Wangari Maathai, for the first time, were far from pleased this year. Criticizing the IAEA for promoting the civilian use of nuclear energy at the same time as it works to eliminate the spread of nuclear weapons, about a dozen demonstrators dressed as bright yellow missiles stood outside the Nobel Institute holding banners reading "Nuclear power = Nuclear bombs." Some critics have also bashed the IAEA for not doing enough to banish the nuclear threat. On Friday, ElBaradei admitted that "we need to do more" to rid the world of the nuclear threat and criticized the US and other nuclear powers for not working harder to address the problem. "If you really want to stop the threat of nuclear weapons, the nuclear weapons states should lead by example," he said, insisting that the eight or nine countries known to have nuclear arms "are eight or nine countries too many". "We continue to rely on the so-called 'mutual assured destruction.' The time has come for us to start working on 'mutual assured security.' Humanity I think, in my view, deserves no less," he insisted. + Àðàáñêèé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005 ***************************************************************** 3 IRNA: Kashani: Iran entitled to peaceful use of nuclear energy - Dec 9, IRNA Access to peaceful nuclear energy is the inalienable right of Iran and all the officials and nation are unanimous on materialization of the right and enrichment inside the country, said a top cleric here on Friday. "The arrogance should know that it is facing the 70 million Iranian nation and can by no means be able to meet its objective," said the substitute Friday prayers leader of Tehran Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani in his address to large groups of worshipers at this week's Friday prayers congregation at Tehran University campus. Ayatollah Kashani said that arrogance should speak wisely and based on the legal standards, knowing that its adverse publicity and tricks will have no result. The prayers leader criticized the extraordinary summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for remaining silent towards the legal right of countries, including Iran, to attain peaceful nuclear energy. "Unfortunately in this meeting they kept mum against the legal rights of countries, including Iran, because enemies do not wish the world of Islam get powerful and they do not like our country be in such a scientific position," said Ayatollah Kashani. "Enemies are bent on undermining our national unity," said the Ayatollah, adding that despite all the endeavors, inspections and the solid guarantees the Islamic Republic of Iran has given, they are opposing our legal and absolute right, trying to deprive the country from the valuable knowledge," added the cleric. Elsewhere in his address, Ayatollah Kashani blasted western media for refusing to cover the OIC summit, giving it a press boycott. "During the highly important meeting, the western media broadcast less important reports .... and a deadly silence dominated the media," he added. Ayatollah Kashani said president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had delivered "very important" speech at the OIC summit regarding unity and solidarity in the world of Islam but since it did not meet westerners' interests, the speech was not reflected by the western media. Enemies are scaring unity among Muslims and in the world of Islam, said Ayatollah Kashani, adding that the extraordinary meeting had been held by the OIC to forge unity in the world of Islam -- something the arrogance and western colonialism displease. He said the arrogance wants meetings and speeches thus raised be a protocol so that their interests would not be at stake. The Iranian official said Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei had raised "important" notes at the former OIC summit in Tehran, calling for giving Muslim states a veto right in the United Nations. He said Iran's president Ahmadinejad had over the past few days echoed the same call in the OIC meeting in Mecca, urging unity among Muslim states. The world arrogance and colonialism are after materialization of their own colonialist objectives worldwide, warned Ayatollah Kashani, hoping that the OIC meeting would awaken Muslim states and get the world of Islam united, cautioning Muslims against their enemies. To the end of his second sermon, Ayatollah Kashani said officials of the country are aware and wise enough to run the country and the president and the new government too will spare no efforts to meet people's problems and promote the country and the society to a high level. While in his first sermon, Ayatollah Kashani condoled Iranian nation on the tragic December 6th C130 plane crash south of Tehran, which resulted in the death or injury of more than 100 citizens, mostly journalists. News sent: 15:11 Friday December 09, 2005 Print ***************************************************************** 4 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: ElBaradei Optimistic on North Korea Nuclear Row Home> National/Politics Updated Dec.9,2005 19:37 KST The head of the UN nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, said he is optimistic about resolving the nuclear disputes with North Korea and Iran to ensure "peaceful use of atomic power." Speaking on arrival in Oslo, where he and the IAEA will formally receive the Nobel Peace Prize this Saturday, ElBaradei said he felt progress is being made in both cases. He said things in Korea are much better than a year ago as the framework for a settlement has been established and everyone knows what needs to be done. He said the IAEA is hoping that North Korea will disarm in return for security guarantees and economic assistance. ElBaradei also expressed hope that Iran will resume talks with the European Union on its nuclear program after breaking them off in August. Arirang News ***************************************************************** 5 Reuters: U.S. envoy on N.Korean rights paints bleak picture Reuters.com Fri 9 Dec 2005 12:44 AM ET By Jon Herskovitz and Jack Kim SEOUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. special envoy for human rights in North Korea called the state "a hidden world of hopelessness and terror" on Friday and said Pyongyang's treatment of its citizens was a global concern. Jay Lefkowitz, who earlier this year took up the new post of Washington's point man on North Korean human rights, said the only way for Pyongyang to claim legitimacy was for it to ensure human rights for its citizens. Lefkowitz, speaking at a rights conference in Seoul, noted North and South Korea were under authoritarian rule after the 1950-1953 Korean War. As South Korea embraced democracy, free markets and human rights, its economy grew to become one of the strongest in the world, he said. "The contrast could not be more stark. While South Korea has grown fully into a proud democracy with the rule of law, North Korea is a deeply repressive nation," Lefkowitz said. He also described a trip he took to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), a heavily fortified frontier that divides the two Koreas. "Only a short distance from here, beyond the thicket of barbed wire, which I saw yesterday when I travelled up to the DMZ, lies a hidden world of hopelessness and terror," he said. Human rights groups describe North Korea as one of the world's worst abusers, with prison camps, guilt by association and public executions meant to intimidate its citizens. South Korea's government argues it does work to improve human rights but prefers not to make it a high-profile topic for fear of aggravating Pyongyang. "I am aware that many in South Korea are wary that calling for greater human rights for North Korea is proxy for other aims, or an excuse to isolate and antagonise North Korea's sovereignty," Lefkowitz said. QUIET DIPLOMACY North Korea has criticised the appointment of Lefkowitz, saying his work casts a shadow over six-party talks aimed at ending its nuclear weapons programmes. North Korea typically brands criticism of its human rights record as part of a U.S. conspiracy to topple its government. "The U.S. has become loud in trumpeting that there exists a 'human rights issue' in the DPRK," a state-run newspaper said in a commentary on Friday. "This is, however, a product of its strategy to realise a regime change in it to serve its purpose of tarnishing the image of the dignified DPRK," the Minju Joson said in a commentary carried on the official KCNA news agency. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Alexander Vershbow, told the conference Washington had no hidden agenda. "We simply want to improve the living conditions of the people of North Korea," he said. Some at the conference pointed out the conspicuous absence of of any speeches by officials from President Roh Moo-hyun's administration. A former interpreter for the United States, who has been in the room for many diplomatic meetings over the years between officials from Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington, said South Korea was trying to use quiet diplomacy on the rights issue. "Everybody agrees on the (human rights) policy objectives. It is just a matter of how we get there. This is where Washington and Seoul do not agree," said Tong Kim, who is now a research professor at Korea University. But a prominent member of parliament from South Korea's main opposition Grand National Party said quick action was needed. "While South Korea engages in quiet diplomacy, the people of North Korea and the refugees (in China) are dying quietly," said Kim Min-soo. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. [ border=] ***************************************************************** 6 [sm] UK 'covered up' Israeli nuke deal (BBC) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 2005 02:20:54 -0600 (CST) X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/4515708.stm BBC NEWS Saturday, 10 December 2005, 00:01 GMT UK 'covered up' Israeli nuke deal The government has been accused of covering up the sale of 20 tonnes of heavy water to Israel for its nuclear programme in the early 1950s. The BBC's Newsnight says fresh evidence shows the UK knew the ingredient it sold to Norway would be subsequently sold on to Israel for nuclear weapons. Government officials insist they knew nothing of Israel's nuclear ambitions or Norway's intentions. The Foreign Office has declined to comment, amid calls for an inquiry. 'Cover-up' Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell is asking Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for clarification. He said: "The trouble with this cover-up is that this is not a cover-up, it simply flies in the face of the known facts, now that we have access to previously classified documents." Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn wants the Commons' foreign affairs select committee to investigate. "We had no idea at that stage, nobody suspected ... that the Israelis hoped to manufacture nuclear weapons" Donald Cape He said: "Right back to the late 1950s we were a party to the transfer of nuclear technology to Israel. "We were party to the development of a nuclear facility in Israel that could and has been used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Norway was always a smokescreen." New claims In August, Newsnight uncovered papers which revealed details of the deal. But Foreign Office minister Kim Howells insisted Britain had simply negotiated the sale of surplus heavy water to Norway. He said the UK knew nothing of Norway's intentions or Israel's desire to start a nuclear weapons programme. But Newsnight says it has new evidence that casts doubt on these claims. It says the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) had written to Foreign Office official Donald Cape, who approved the sale. In the letter, the energy authority said too much heavy water had been bought from a Norwegian firm and another company from the country wanted to buy it back and sell it on to Israel. 'Sham' denied Newsnight also has a copy of the company's contract with Israel, which stated it would provide heavy water from the UKAE. Mr Cape denied the sale back to Norway was a "sham". But Newsnight says confidential letters he wrote suggest the Foreign Office knew Israel had been trying to buy uranium from South Africa. One letter quotes CIA reports from 1957 and 1958 that say Israel will try and establish a nuclear programme when it has the means. Other secret government documents apparently say: "It has been, and remains our opinion, that Israel wanted an independent supply of plutonium so as to be in a position to make a nuclear weapon if she wished." Mr Cape told Newsnight: "We had no idea at that stage, nobody suspected - not only in Britain but in the US - that the Israelis hoped to manufacture nuclear weapons." ***************************************************************** 7 TCS: Tech Central Station: Nuclear Explosion at Montreal TCS COP 11 Coverage: Science Correspondent, Reason magazine By Ronald Bailey Published 12/09/2005 MONTREAL -- "This is a dirty filthy industry," screeched Elizabeth May, head of the Sierra Club of Canada. Her outburst occurred during a panel discussion devoted to nuclear energy and climate change at the United Nations Climate Change Conference at Montreal. The panel was sponsored by the Heinrich Böll Foundation which is a think tank affiliated with the German Green Party. The panel was convened for the release of the Foundation's new Nuclear Energy and Climate Change. The study was done by Felix Christian Matthes, a policy analyst from the Institute for Applied Ecology in Berlin. What provoked May's eruption was that the report's findings were being vigorously challenged from the floor by a phalanx of representatives of the nuclear power industry. First, what did Matthes conclude? Matthes started by suggesting that the emissions of greenhouse gases will have to be cut by up to 60 percent by 2050 in order to prevent an increase in the earth's average temperatures of more than 2 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial temperature levels. Accounting for projected increases in the demand for power, this means that between 25 and 40 gigatons of the chief greenhouse gas carbon dioxide (GtCO2) would have to be cut by the middle of this century. At a previous United Nations Climate Change conference at The Hague, negotiators d nuclear power from receiving greenhouse gas emissions reduction credits under the Kyoto Protocol. The goal of Matthes' study was to find out whether or not increases in the production of electricity by nuclear energy are necessary to achieve the deep cuts in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050. Unsurprisingly, the Böll Foundation study found that nuclear power was not necessary -- that deep emissions cuts could be achieved through increasing the energy efficiency of buildings (4 GtCO2), industrial plants (5 GtCO2), and transport (7 GtCO2) combined with new renewable energy sources (15 GtCO2), carbon capture and sequestration (4 to 10 GtCO2), fuel switching from coal to natural gas (3.6 GtCO2) and co-generation (GtCO2). Matthes asserted that it would take tripling the size of the nuclear power industry to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 5 gigatons (5 GtCO2). To achieve this would mean that 25 gigawatts (25 GW) of new nuclear power plants would have to be built each year for the next 50 years. A gigawatt is enough energy to supply about 400,000 homes each year. Another panelist Michael Mariotte from the anti-nuclear group, Nuclear Information and Resource Services (NIRS), noted that it would mean that a new nuclear plant would have to be built every two weeks in order to achieve the goal of generating 25 GW more power each year. Matthes argued that nuclear power has failed the "market test" because the industry depends on government subsidies in the form of caps on liability and funding for long term waste disposal of high level radioactive wastes. It was these claims that the industry representatives in the audience were keen to try to refute. However, it was clear that the anti-nuclear panelists did not believe that subsidies were per se bad., just that they did not want nuclear power to enjoy them. For example, panelist Oswaldo Lucon, an environmental activist from Brazil, claimed that tens of billions go to subsidize fossil fuels and nuclear power each year, but that industrialized countries spent only a total of $2.8 billion on renewable sources of energy. First, Colin Hunt from the Canadian Nuclear Association dismissed the activist implication that the number of power plants needed to offset 5 GtCO2 of emissions cannot be built fast enough. "Building enough nuclear facilities to produce 25 GWs of additional power each year is equal to the construction worldwide in the 1970s and 1980s," he said. So what about the subsidy claims made by Matthes and other anti-nuclear activists? for nuclear power plants is governed by the Price-Anderson Act in the United States. Sama Bilbao y Leon, a nuclear safety analyst with the U.S. electric utility Dominion Power and a representative the American Nuclear Society, explained the two-tier insurance scheme that operates in the United States. First, each nuclear power plant is required to purchase $300 million in private liability insurance from American Nuclear Insurers (ANI). ANI is a syndicate of stock property and casualty companies formed to write material damage and liability insurance on industry-operated nuclear reactors and related operations. If that turns out not to be enough to cover a loss, then the second tier kicks in. In such a case, each nuclear plant must pay a proportionate share of the loss, up to a maximum of $100.6 million per reactor per accident. Since there are 104 operating plants in the United States this amounts to a pool of $10 billion dollars in insurance. The anti-nuclear activists scoff at this, suggesting that $10 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the . On the panel they repeatedly cited the damage caused by the 1986 Chernobyl reactor fire in the old Soviet Union which spread radioactive fallout across northern Europe. Make no mistake about it, Chernobyl was a huge disaster, but fortunately its consequences, bad as they are, are than had originally been feared. Nuclear supporters were quick to point out the many serious flaws in the Chernobyl reactor design, not the least of which was that it was not surrounded by a containment facility. Thus when it exploded, it belched radioactive material directly into the atmosphere. Such containment is required for nuclear power plants in the United States and most of the rest of the world. Pro-nuclear activists point to the 1979 Three Mile Island (TMI) reactor meltdown in Pennsylvania. A tiny amount of radioactive gases escaped the containment. Epidemiologists estimate that perhaps one person over the course of his lifetime might get a from exposure to TMI accident radiation. Eventually, the private insurance pool paid out in claims and litigation costs for the TMI accident, well within the private liability limits set at that time. Pro-nuclear activists argue that current insurance scheme is not any different than other schemes in which the government acts as insurer of the last resort for activities that are socially beneficial but whose risks are hard to accurately quantify. For example, they point to the national which is a no-fault insurance scheme that is designed to compensate people who have been harmed by bad reactions to childhood vaccines. Nevertheless, Matthes and his fellow panelists may have a point. Would private insurers offer policies for higher liabilities if the federally imposed caps were removed? What about the claim that the government subsidizes the disposal of nuclear wastes? Here the activists are wrong. The nuclear industry people point out that taxpayers do not subsidize nuclear waste disposal; ratepayers do. The 1982 Nuclear Waste Policy Act requires electricity consumers to pay into the a fee of one-tenth of a cent for every nuclear-generated kilowatt-hour of electricity consumed. That fund now totals $24 billion. It may be government mandated, but it is not government financed. The current plan is to bury high level nuclear wastes at an underground facility at , Nevada. So far about $6 billion dollars have been spent on the facility and some estimates suggest that the ultimate cost might reach $58 billion. Nevertheless, the Nuclear Waste Fund mechanism seems adequate for covering the waste disposal costs. Finally, it certainly should not be the case that nuclear power is pre-judged and excluded by international treaties dealing with climate change. If the activists are so sure that they are right that nuclear power will fail the market test, then they ought to give the market a chance to prove them right. is Reason's science correspondent. His book is now available from Prometheus Books. His email is . ***************************************************************** 8 BBC: UK 'covered up' Israeli nuke deal Last Updated: Saturday, 10 December 2005 [nuclear explosion] The UK denies knowledge of Israel's nuclear plans The government has been accused of covering up the sale of 20 tonnes of heavy water to Israel for its nuclear programme in the early 1950s. The BBC's Newsnight says fresh evidence shows the UK knew the ingredient it sold to Norway would be subsequently sold on to Israel for nuclear weapons. Government officials insist they knew nothing of Israel's nuclear ambitions or Norway's intentions. The Foreign Office has declined to comment, amid calls for an inquiry. 'Cover-up' Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesman Sir Menzies Campbell is asking Foreign Secretary Jack Straw for clarification. He said: "The trouble with this cover-up is that this is not a cover-up, it simply flies in the face of the known facts, now that we have access to previously classified documents." Labour MP Jeremy Corbyn wants the Commons' foreign affairs select committee to investigate. We had no idea at that stag nobody suspected ... that the Israelis hoped to manufacture nuclear weapons Donald Cape He said: "Right back to the late 1950s we were a party to the transfer of nuclear technology to Israel. "We were party to the development of a nuclear facility in Israel that could and has been used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Norway was always a smokescreen." New claims In August, Newsnight uncovered papers which revealed details of the deal. But Foreign Office minister Kim Howells insisted Britain had simply negotiated the sale of surplus heavy water to Norway. He said the UK knew nothing of Norway's intentions or Israel's desire to start a nuclear weapons programme. But Newsnight says it has new evidence that casts doubt on these claims. It says the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) had written to Foreign Office official Donald Cape, who approved the sale. In the letter, the energy authority said too much heavy water had been bought from a Norwegian firm and another company from the country wanted to buy it back and sell it on to Israel. 'Sham' denied Newsnight also has a copy of the company's contract with Israel, which stated it would provide heavy water from the UKAE. Mr Cape denied the sale back to Norway was a "sham". But Newsnight says confidential letters he wrote suggest the Foreign Office knew Israel had been trying to buy uranium from South Africa. One letter quotes CIA reports from 1957 and 1958 that say Israel will try and establish a nuclear programme when it has the means. Other secret government documents apparently say: "It has been, and remains our opinion, that Israel wanted an independent supply of plutonium so as to be in a position to make a nuclear weapon if she wished." Mr Cape told Newsnight: "We had no idea at that stage, nobody suspected - not only in Britain but in the US - that the Israelis hoped to manufacture nuclear weapons." ***************************************************************** 9 AFP: Britain admits it knew 1950s nuclear ingredient was Israel-bound Fri Dec 9, 7:25 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - Britain admitted that it knew that heavy water it sold in the 1950s, a key ingredient in making nuclear weapons, was bound for Israel" /> Israel. An investigation by BBC television's "Newsnight" programme unearthed papers showing a deal was done to export heavy water. Britain's Foreign Office minister Kim Howells has insisted that Britain had merely negotiated the sale back to Norway of surplus heavy water. That surplus was then sold on to Israel. Officials had added that they were unaware that Israel might have wanted to use the material to make nuclear weapons. However, a Foreign Office spokesman, while maintaining the line that it was purely a deal between Britain and Norway, admitted Britain knew the heavy water's final destination. "The papers show that we agreed to transfer back to Norway control of 25 tons of heavy water," the spokesman told the BBC. "We were aware at the time that Norway planned to sell the heavy water to the Israeli Atomic Energy organisation," he said. The BBC said new documents had emerged which cast doubt on claims that British officials had no idea of Israel's intentions. In 1958 the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) wrote to Foreign Office official Donald Cape, who gave the ministry's approval for the deal. Britain had seemingly bought too much heavy water from a Norwegian company and wanted to sell the surplus. According to the documents, UKAEA said another Norwegian company, Noratom, wanted to purchase it to sell it on to Israel. "The new customer is the Israeli atomic energy organisation," the letter said, according to the BBC. This put Britain in a tricky position as, "it could be argued that the Israelis will receive the heavy water by reason of our reselling it to Noratom; that therefore we are parties to the supply to Israel". "Newsnight" also said it had a copy of Israel's contract with the Norwegian firm which said it would provide heavy water from the UKAEA for Israel. The programme said it had seen a letter written by Cape quoting secret US Central Intelligence Agency" /> Central Intelligence Agencyreports from 1957 and 1958, which took the view "that the Israelis must be expected to try and establish a nuclear weapons programme as soon as the means were available to them". The documents also apparently show that the Foreign Office knew Israel was secretly trying to buy uranium from South Africa. The programme alleged that Britain took the heavy water out of its military stockpile and loaded it onto Israeli ships at a British port in June 1959 and June 1960. Jeremy Corbyn, a left-wing MP from Prime Minister Tony Blair" /> Tony Blair's governing Labour Party, has called for a parliamentary committee to investigate. "Right back to the late 1950s we were a party to the transfer of nuclear technology to Israel," he said. "We were party to the development of a nuclear facility in Israel that could and has been used for the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Norway was always a smokescreen." ***************************************************************** 10 CJAD 800: Report urges $70 billion for new nuclear and other power in Ontario Updated at 13:47 on December 9, 2005, EST. TORONTO (CP) - It will cost up to $70 billion to ensure Ontario has enough electricity to power the province over the next 20 years, with more than half that money spent on nuclear power and consumers footing much of the bill, says a controversial report issued to the government Friday. The report by the Ontario Power Authority recommends building new nuclear stations, and refurbishing existing ones, while constructing new natural gas plants and rewewable sources such as wind and solar to ensure the province has enough electricity through 2025. It warns that if quick action isn't taken, the province's power system will be overwhelmed by 2013 due to increasing demand and lost nuclear and coal-fired production. The report says nuclear power should continue to make up about half the province's electricity supply through 2025. However, maintaining that level of nuclear power will require new reactors and refurbishments of existing ones - projects which would cost about $40 billion and take years to complete. The report also advocates more power from renewable sources, such as wind and sunlight as well as from natural gas, which reached record highs Friday trading on world markets, to replace coal-fired electricity. The government has promised to close the four remaining coal plants by 2009. Opposition critics say nuclear and natural gas expansions will send hydro rates skyward. OPA official Amir Shalaby said hydro users will have to pay between $1.5 billion and $2 billion to cover the cost of building new supply annually over the next 20 years. The report specifically states that new nuclear power plants will be necessary to ensure a stable electricity supply in the province. Ontario has already approved an expansion of Bruce Power's nuclear station near Kincardine and sources say it's ready to begin environmental assessments for an expansion at the Darlington nuclear plant east of Toronto. Premier Dalton McGuinty said this summer the province would proceed with nuclear expansion if the report called for it. Energy Minister Donna Cansfield said the 1,100-page report needed further study before she could comment on its recommendations. "It will require careful consideration and scrutiny," Cansfield said. The report will be available on her ministry's website for 60 days to attract public input before decisions are taken, she said. Past nuclear projects went billions of dollars over budget and left the province with a massive hydro debt that electricity users are still paying off. Conservative energy critic John Yakabuski said the government wants to gauge public opinion before deciding on whether to build new nuclear plants. Yakabuski also criticized the government for directing the power authority - which is supposed to be independent - against recommending that Ontario's coal plants stay open. There's evidence of government involvement in the report. It includes a May 2 letter by former energy minister Dwight Duncan that issues "directives" to the independent body to prepare a report that "conforms closely" to government policy. That includes "the phasing out of coal-fired generation facilities," Duncan wrote. "This is a very one-sided report," said New Democrat Leader Howard Hampton. "It's all about expensive nuclear and very expensive natural gas." The Canadian Press, 2005 ***************************************************************** 11 Asian Tribune: Norway - Honest Broker held meaningful talks in New Delhi Vol. 5 No. 229 Date : 2005-12-09 By M Rama Rao – Reporting from New Delhi On the bilateral front, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Norwegian guest Jens Stoltenberg discussed ways of further enhancing bilateral relations, particularly in the field of trade and energy cooperation. New Delhi, 9 December, (Asiantribune.com): The visiting Norwegian Prime Minister, Jens Stoltenberg, who has wound up his visit to India and left for Kabul marking the end of his visit to South Asia, held wide ranging discussions with Indian leaders on bilateral ties and the Lanka questions. His message to New Delhi is that, his country is an honest broker on the Island at the request of the parties concerned, namely LTTE and the government in Colombo. Jens Stoltenberg did not endear himself to Indians by his NPT speak. At a time when the US is ready and willing to do business with India and accept it as a nuclear power, he stuck to the old school that India should sign NPT to become a full-member of the Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG). His comment may not mean much since India has just been accepted as the partner in ITER project but highlights the difficulties India has to contend with in winning friends in the Scandinavian countries, according to diplomatic observers here. Official sources said while on the Lankan issue, Indian side conveyed to the visiting Prime Minister just as it did his former peace envoy who was here a couple of days earlier that it stands for the territorial integrity of the island nation. It is not clear whether New Delhi voiced its reservations vis-à-vis the LTTE and the unpredictability of the Tigers disposition. Indications are that it did. Stoltenberg called on President A P J Abdul Kalam and met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Though these visits are described as courtesy calls, the Lankan issue is understood to have figured in an informal way given the interest both leaders have in the subject. On the bilateral front, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Norwegian guest discussed ways of further enhancing bilateral relations, particularly in the field of trade and energy cooperation. Oslo is keen to participate in the gas pipeline India is going to lay to Iran through Pakistan. It is also interested in participating in a big way in India’s ambitious wind energy programme. Stoltenberg said he was here to "deepen and broaden" bilateral relations and looked forward to negotiating a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India which he described as one of the world's fastest growing economies. Norway is a leading energy producer and can help in meeting its growing energy requirements of India, he told reporters. On the Stoltenberg visit, Indian Foreign Office said, "This visit to South Asia would be the first outside Europe since Prime Minister Stoltenberg assumed office in October 2005. He also visited India in April 2001 during his earlier tenure as Prime Minister. The decisions taken that visit have triggered a paradigm shift in bilateral relations. An Indo-Norwegian Joint Commission has been set up at Foreign Minister level and had its first meeting in Oslo on June 2005. Both countries are actively discussing cooperation in areas such as exploitation of hydro-carbon resources and science and technology. Norway with Iceland has shown interest in participating in India’s proposed International Centre for Precursor Studies which would enable prediction of earthquakes and develop early warning systems for the management of natural disasters." "India and Norway enjoy cordial relations rooted in shared values, commitments and understanding. Bilateral ties have been progressively gaining substance. Bilateral trade stood at US$ 305 million in 2004 having gone up over three fold in last decade. There has also been considerable increase in bilateral economic activity involving the hydro-electric infrastructure, hydrocarbons, joint ventures, ship-procurement and IT." "Potential areas for mutually beneficial cooperation include deep offshore technology, fisheries, BPOs and biotechnology. India could emerge as a competitive source for Norwegian imports, particularly those of light engineering items, consumer goods, textiles and commodities. Norway, the world's third largest oil exporter, is also a major exporter of capital." "Following recent registration of "Norges Bank" as a Foreign Institutional Investor with SEBI, Norwegian investments in Indian capital markets have also begun and the figure currently stands at US $ 96 million" "Nearly 7,000 people of Indian origin currently living in Norway act as a useful bridge between the two countries." - Asian Tribune - ***************************************************************** 12 Rediff: Russia endorses N-cooperation with India Home > News > PTI Russian nuclear chief endorses N-cooperation with India Vinay Shukla in Moscow | December 09, 2005 22:56 IST Chief of Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency on Friday endorsed expansion of nuclear cooperation with New Delhi, including in the development of new generation reactors. "We highly value India's impeccable track record in non-proliferation, as well as its intention to extend IAEA safeguards on nuclear fuel cycle," Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom) chief Sergei Kiriyenko said. "In this context we will back any constructive proposal of the Nuclear Suppliers Group vis-à-vis India, with the view to strengthen nuclear non-proliferation regime on the whole," Kiriyenko said, calling for the transformation of international legal base regarding New Delhi. A Rosatom press release issued after this week's meeting of Kiriyenko and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, Anil Kakodkar, within the framework of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Moscow visit, said, 'The Head of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency proposed to expand nuclear cooperation with India, which should not be limited to the construction of two units of Kudankulam nuclear power plant." The two sides also discussed the prospects of scientific-technical cooperation of the two nations in the field of peaceful use of nuclear energy, including in the framework of ITERproject and future cooperation in the development of fourth and fifth generation nuclear reactors. + Aiming for the sun: India joins the world During his Kremlin talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday Russian President Vladimir Putin had assured India of Russia's backing for lifting curbs and help in meeting the challenge of energy security, including in the civilian nuclear energy. © Copyright 2005 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or Copyright © 2005 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 13 Guardian Unlimited: Papers reveal UK's nuclear aid to Israel David Leigh Saturday December 10, 2005 The Guardian Fresh and apparently incriminating documents have come to light under the Freedom of Information Act on the way Britain helped Israel obtain its nuclear bomb 40 years ago, by selling it 20 tonnes of heavy water. The Whitehall files not only confirm that Britain was a knowing party to the deal, but also contain subsequent intelligence assessments confirming that the sale of heavy water, which is used to produce plutonium, was crucial to Israel's nuclear weapons programme. It was first revealed earlier this year by BBC Newsnight that sales of heavy water to Israel had secretly taken place in 1958. But Kim Howells, a Foreign Office minister, subsequently claimed that "the UK was not in fact a party to the sale of heavy water to Israel". He sought to blame Norway, saying Britain had merely negotiated "the sale back to Norway of surplus heavy water". But Mr Howells' claims were undermined last night when Newsnight produced documents from the National Archives. A Joint Intelligence Bureau report to spy chiefs on March 27 1961 says: "The main Israeli achievement in the importing line relates to 20 tonnes of heavy water ... which the UK Atomic Energy Authority had contracted to buy from Norway and later found to be surplus to their requirements ... negotiations were undertaken whereby the water ultimately passed into Israeli hands." Contrary to Mr Howells' claim that Britain could not impose safeguards, the papers also show that Britain deliberately agreed not to demand safeguards over the Israeli sale, and officials said it would be "over-zealous" to do so. [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005 ***************************************************************** 14 NRC: NRC Meeting with Southern Nuclear Cancelled News Release - Region II - 2005-05-046 - Electronic Reading Room > Document Collections > News Releases > 2005 > II-05-046 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 www.nrc.gov No. II-05-046 December 9, 2005 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov NRC MEETING WITH SOUTHERN NUCLEAR CANCELLED Printable Version[PDF Icon] Nuclear Regulatory Commission and Southern Nuclear Operating Co. officials have agreed to cancel a meeting scheduled in Atlanta for 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 15 to discuss several issues at the Hatch nuclear plant in southern Ga. The details of that meeting were announced in NRC News Release II-05-045 issued on Dec. 7. Among the issues on the meetings agenda had been the current status of nuclear material inventory issues at the plant. The NRC continues to closely monitor Southern Nuclears review of the disposition of pieces of spent nuclear fuel which cannot be accounted for in the spent fuel storage pools at the Hatch plant. Once the NRC staff completes its evaluation of the issue, it is likely that the agency will schedule a meeting with the company to discuss it. Any future meeting will be announced in a news release and on the NRCs web site at www.nrc.gov/public-involve/public-meetings/index.cfm. Last revised Friday, December 09, 2005 ***************************************************************** 15 Ottawa Business Journal: Report calls for more nukes, more renewables in Ontario's energy future By Ottawa Business Journal Staff Fri, Dec 9, 2005 11:00 AM EST Ontario will need more nuclear generators, more alternate energy sources and a greater emphasis on conservation to ensure a reliable supply of electricity over the next 20 years. A report from the Ontario Power Authority says the amount of energy from renewable sources should increase dramatically, while nuclear's share remains the same as it is today. But as power demand increases, that will mean new nuclear plants. The OPA suggests the government initiate approvals and permitting for up to 3,000 megawatts of new nuclear power, in addition to replacing the current fleet of nuclear reactors, for a total capacity of up to 15,900 megawatts by 2025. The government should "define a process that enables new nuclear development as early as possible, with scope to include proponent, site, technology and environmental assessment." The report recommends the amount of electricity supplied from renewable resources should increase dramatically. It says the province should acquire up to 5,000 MW of wind generation, especially for winter needs, and up to 1,500 MW of waterpower. Natural gas-fired generation is expected to be the major source of power to replace the coal-fired stations the government plans to close by 2009, and will then play a more targeted role in meeting future demand. Conservation also plays an important role in the future energy picture. "The opportunities are considerable for conservation, but we do not know exactly how much we can bank on," says Amir Shalaby, OPA's vice-president of power system planning. Conservation and renewables are expected to meet the entire growth in demand for the next 20 years. "We must now turn our focus to implementation," Mr. Shalaby says. "Ontario must invest now to make choices and options available to it several years from now." ***************************************************************** 16 toledoblade.com: Michigan marketplace: Nuclear power plant, anyone? > Opinion » "> Op-Ed Columns » Article published Friday, December 9, 2005 ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Ever thought about buying your own nuclear power plant? There's one for sale near Kalamazoo. CMS Energy, the parent firm of Consumers Energy, put their Palisades Nuclear Power plant on the market this week. How much will it cost? Hard to say, says Greg White, who is legislative liaison for the Michigan Public Service commission. He's spent many years monitoring nuclear issues. Perhaps in the range of $300 million, he said. But the sale doesn't represent a lack of confidence in nuclear power. Industry analysts speculated that CMS Energy merely needs more cash on hand - and the company itself indicated it thought another firm might be able to operate the plant more efficiently. Consumers also said it expected to sign an agreement to buy electricity from Palisades from whomever eventually buys it. Indeed, there are clear signs that not only will Palisades sell for more than it would have a few years ago - but that nuclear power may be on the verge of making a comeback. Nuclear power looked like a long-term loser for years after the Three Mile Island reactor accident in 1979. No new nuclear plants have been built since then, and a number have been closed. Those include the Big Rock nuclear plant near Charlevoix, which has been inactive since 1997 and is now being dismantled. Besides Palisades, Michigan has only two other functioning nuclear plants: The Cook Nuclear plant on Lake Michigan in Bridgman, near the Indiana border, and Fermi II in Monroe. Detroit Edison, which operates Fermi, has indicated it plans to decommission the plant when its current license expires in 2025. But there is a flurry of interest in new plants elsewhere in the nation, said Steve Kerekes, a spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, a policy-making organization for the nuclear industry. "We're seeing interest in North Carolina, Illinois, Virginia, other states," he said. In some towns people really want a plant, seeing it as a source of cheap and clean energy and jobs. Yet the problem still remains: Disposing of the spent fuel. For years, Washington has been debating a plan to permanently store the highly radioactive fuel rods in Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Those plans have been stalled, however. Mr. White said he wasn't even sure whether the United States will open Yucca Mountain - or any other long-term nuclear waste facility - in our lifetimes. Meanwhile, the spent fuel rods pile up, kept either in carefully monitored pools of water, or buried in what is called dry cask storage. Palisades has come in for particular criticism because its spent fuel is buried close to Lake Michigan. David Lochbaum, a former nuclear safety engineer, is now with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a group which has been critical of the nuclear industry. He concedes that we're reaching the point at which new plants will need to be built, but he is concerned. "We still haven't solved the waste disposal problem." Interestingly, all the experts agree that when new plants are eventually built - in Michigan or elsewhere - the most likely locations will be … next to existing nuclear reactors. "Those communities have already accepted nuclear power," Mr. Lochbaum said. That, he added, gets around the NIMBY (not in my backyard) problem. One hitch that could hold up the Palisades sale: Concern that the containment vessel surrounding the reactor is becoming brittle and could possibly crack, with horrific consequences. In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was so concerned about this that it shut the aging facility down for a time in 1982. Now CMS Energy says the problem is fixed, but some protesters aren't so sure. They want the NRC to deny Palisades a 20-year-renewal of its license, when the current one expires in 2011. Does that mean Palisades' license may not be renewed? Mr. White, who serves on a national public utility panel, doubts it. "I've never seen one (a renewal application) turned down yet." Jack Lessenberry, a member of the journalism faculty at Wayne State University in Detroit and The Blade's ombudsman, writes on issues and people in Michigan. Contact him at: omblade@aol.com The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 17 NRC: Entergy Operations, Inc., Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit FR Doc E5-7116 [Federal Register: December 9, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 236)] [Notices] [Page 73311-73312] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09de05-127] 3; Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering issuance of an exemption from Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.c for Facility Operating License No. NPF-38, issued to Entergy Operations, Inc. (EOI or the licensee), for operation of the Waterford Steam Electric Station, Unit 3 (Waterford 3), located in St. Charles Parish, Louisiana. Therefore, as required by 10 CFR 51.21, the NRC is issuing this environmental assessment and finding of no significant impact. Environmental Assessment Identification of the Proposed Action The proposed action, as described in the licensee's application for a one-time exemption to the requirements of 10 CFR part 50, appendix E, section IV.F.2.c, dated October 24, 2005, would allow the licensee to reschedule the planned offsite full-participation emergency exercise from December 7, 2005 to June 28, 2006. Subsequent exercises would be scheduled in accordance with the original biennial schedule from the year 2005. The Need for the Proposed Action The proposed exemption from 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix E, Section IV.F.2.c is needed because the licensee anticipates not being able to perform the planned full-participation exercise scheduled for December 7, 2005, due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the ongoing [[Page 73312]] restoration efforts at Waterford 3, at the surrounding parishes, and the State. In this particular circumstance, it would impose a hardship to perform the required emergency preparedness exercise with full participation on December 7, 2005. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC has completed its evaluation of the proposed action and concludes that the proposed exemption will not present an undue risk to public health and safety. The details of the staff's Safety Evaluation will be provided in the exemption that will be issued as part of the letter to the licensee approving the exemption to the regulation. The action relates to the exercising of the emergency response plan which has no effect on the operation of the facility. The proposed action will not significantly increase the probability or consequences of accidents, no changes are being made in the types, or amounts of effluents that may be released off site, and there is no significant increase in occupational or public radiation exposure. Therefore, there are no significant radiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. In regard to potential nonradiological impacts, the proposed action does not have a potential to affect any historic sites. It does not affect nonradiological plant effluents and has no other environmental impact. Therefore, there are no significant nonradiological environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. Accordingly, the NRC concludes that there are no significant environmental impacts associated with the proposed action. Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action As an alternative to the proposed action, the staff considered denial of the proposed action (i.e., the ``no-action'' alternative). Denial of the application would result in no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action and the alternative action are similar. Alternative Use of Resources The action does not involve the use of any different resources than those previously considered in the Final Environmental Statement (FES) for the Waterford 3 dated September 1981 (NUREG-0779). Agencies and Persons Consulted On October 26, 2005, the staff consulted with the Louisiana State official, Nan Calhoun of the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Radiological Emergency Planning & Response, regarding the environmental impact of the proposed action. The State official had no comments. Finding of No Significant Impact For further details with respect to the proposed action, see the following: (1) The FES, dated September 1981 (NUREG-0779), and (2) the Exemption application dated October 24, 2005, (Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Accession No. ML052990303). Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room on the internet at the NRC Web site, . Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or send an e-mail to . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: N. Kalyanam, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop O-7D1, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, by telephone at (301) 415-1480, or by e-mail at . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 2nd day of December 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. David Terao, Chief, Plant Licensing Branch G, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-7116 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: General Electric Company; Notice of Acceptance of Application FR Doc E5-7118 [Federal Register: December 9, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 236)] [Notices] [Page 73311] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09de05-126] for Final Design Approval and Standard Design Certification of the ESBWR Standard Plant Design Notice is hereby given that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) has received an application from General Electric Company (GE) dated August 24, 2005, filed pursuant to section 103 of the Atomic Energy Act and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) Part 52, for the final design approval and standard design certification of the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) Standard Plant Design. GE supplemented its application by letters dated September 19 and 20, 2005, and October 6, 12, 17, 20, 22 (2 letters), 24 (5 letters), and 28, 2005. The application, as revised and supplemented, is considered sufficiently complete to be accepted formally as a docketed application for design certification. The docket number established for this application is 52-010. A notice relating to the rulemaking pursuant to 10 CFR 52.51 for design certification, including provisions for participation of the public and other parties, will be published in the future. The ESBWR design is an approximately 1550 megawatt electric boiling water reactor plant design in which passive safety systems are used for the ultimate safety protection of the plant. All of the safety systems are designed to be passive, where natural forces, such as gravity, natural circulation, and stored energy (in the form of pressurized accumulators and batteries), are used as the motive forces of these systems. The ESBWR application includes the entire power generation complex, except those elements and features considered site-specific, and is not a modular design in which major components are shared. A copy of the application is available on CD-ROM for public inspection at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records are accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, . The accession number for the application is ML052450245. Future publicly available documents related to the application will also be posted in ADAMS. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC Public Document Room Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, December 1, 2005. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. William D. Beckner, Deputy Director, Division of New Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E5-7118 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P b ***************************************************************** 19 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 ***************************************************************** 20 Hudson Valley News: Kelly keeps the heat on the NRC over Indian Point Friday, December 9, 2005 Congresswoman Sue Kelly yesterday continued pressing her concerns about the current leak investigation at one of the spent fuel pools at the Indian Point nuclear power plants as well as concerns she has raised about possible flaws in the separation of cables at the plant as she met with Nuclear Regulatory Commission Chairman Nils Diaz. Kelly told Diaz that his agency must intensify its efforts in several areas of regulation at Indian Point in order to better guarantee the utmost safety in operations at the plant. I want actions and I want results, not just verbal assurances in this leak investigation, Kelly said after the meeting. She said Diaz promised her an improved effort. Kelly and other officials in the Hudson Valley have been pressuring the NRC to improve its handling of the leak investigation, especially after allowing nearly three weeks to lapse before informing the public of the leak discovery in September. The lawmaker urged Diaz to provide a more definitive timeline and better details to the public about the next steps in the leak investigation. HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's ***************************************************************** 21 The Day: NRC Extends Millstone License: Nuclear power plants allowed to operate another 20 years By Julie Wernau Published on 12/9/2005 Waterford - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced last week license renewals for Millstone Units 2 and 3, ending a nearly two-year process earlier than expected, despite activists' repeated attempts to intervene. Each plant is now permitted to operate for an additional 20 years, extending the license for Unit 2 to July 31, 2035, and Unit 3 to Nov. 25, 2045. Millstone Unit 1 no longer operates. The folks who did the license renewal did a really extraordinary job of getting things done, said Peter Hyde, spokesperson for Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc., owner of Millstone Power Station. Of the 104 nuclear power plants the NRC oversees in the United States, none has ever been denied operating license renewal. For the duration of the process, Millstone had an entire roomful of people set aside to work on the renewal process, poring through tons of paperwork and hours of inspections for every aspect of the plant's operation and impact. Dominion has come to realize that when you operate the plant safely, it runs economically, Hyde said. Waterford First Selectman Daniel Steward, himself a former supervisor at Millstone, said he was pleased by the NRC's decision to renew the power station's operating licenses. If they were to stop, where would Connecticut get 50 percent of its energy? Steward said, calling the plant safe, reliable and a good neighbor. Both the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone and Suffolk County, N.Y.  situated across Long Island Sound, 11 miles from Millstone  tried to stall the process because of safety concerns. CCAM has repeatedly argued that Millstone has created cancer clusters in southeastern Connecticut and that environmental problems at the plant's water intake site, among other concerns, should shut the plant down. Steward said last week that he didn't believe the cancer clusters were caused by Millstone and that it was the NRC's responsibility to regulate nuclear power. In January, officials in Suffolk County crashed a public comment session the NRC held at Waterford Town Hall to vet the NRC's review of Millstone's environmental impact on the region. In a protracted statement, Southold's chief executive, Joshua Horton, scolded the NRC for leaving Southold out of the relicensing process. Southold is one mile beyond the 10-mile limit the NRC sets for towns considered to be directly affected by Millstone's re-licensing and officials are concerned that they do not have a proper evacuation plan in place. "Your generic environmental impact statement is flawed. Direly flawed. Gravely flawed," Horton said in January, accusing the NRC of promoting rather than regulating nuclear power. "...You put more effort into studying the effects of winter flounder than you did on me." Nancy Burton from the Connecticut Coalition Against Millstone did not return calls seeking comment, but the coalition's Web site registered disappointment. NRC Approves Millstone Relicensing: Governor Rell, Attorney General Blumenthal and Commissioner McCarthy: Where were you? Your silence was a betrayal of the public trust! the coalition posted on the front page of its site above a photograph of three monkeys posing as See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Hyde said Millstone doesn't plan to celebrate the renewal, but rather, continue operations as usual. Planning in the nuclear industry generally takes place decades in advance and Millstone is looking into the future at new projects, Hyde said. We never really breathe a sigh of relief, he said. We're really always focused on the plant. After nearly a year of hearings on the matter, the Connecticut Siting Council granted Dominion permission last spring to store 49 garage-sized nuclear waste modules in the town of Waterford, enough to store waste through 2025. Dominion must apply for more modules on an as-needed basis, Hyde said. In addition, an expired DEP permit for a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System has been awaiting DEP approval since 1997. The DEP asked Dominion to study fish larvae entrainment at its intake area. Dominion submitted its findings in 2001 and is still waiting for word back about renewing its 1999 permit for the system. In the meantime, the company operates under its 1999 permit. We're hopeful that we'll have a resolution to that soon, Hyde said. by TheDay.com ***************************************************************** 22 AU ABC: Regulator queries safety provisions at Lucas Heights nuclear reactor PM - Friday, 9 December , 2005 18:38:00 Reporter: Jennifer Macey KAREN PERCY: Australia's nuclear regulator is seeking more information on how the operators of the new nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights and local authorities would deal with a terrorist or other attack. The $360 million reactor is close to completion but still needs approval for its operating licence. The final round of public submissions for the licence ended in Sydney today. Environment and community groups say the threat of a terrorist attack at Lucas Heights outweighs the scientific benefits of building a new facility. But the reactor's operators say security at the new site will be among the best in the world. Jennifer Macey reports. JENNIFER MACEY: The new Opal nuclear reactor at Lucas Heights will replace the current research facility that's been operating since 1958. It needs a new licence to run and its operators - the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation or ANSTO - must prove that it can withstand a terrorist attack. Dr Bill Williams is the Vice President for the Medical Association for the Prevention of War. He says the risks outweigh the benefits. BILL WILLIAMS: We don’t believe that the reactor at Lucas Heights is essential for nuclear medical purposes and so we’ve looked at the risks associated with the reactor and we feel that there are significant radiation issues for the people living in that area, particularly in the event of potential accidents and sabotage. JENNIFER MACEY: Dr Jim Green from Friends of the Earth is also concerned about the threat of a dirty bomb. He says terrorists could steal radioactive material from the Lucas Heights site or target the convoy of trucks transporting nuclear waste to the proposed dump in the Northern Territory. JIM GREEN: Use any sort of radioactive material and just disperse it with conventional explosives, and that's essentially what a dirty bomb is. And they've been described by ANSTO as weapons of mass disruption, and they may not have a significant radiological direct health impact, but they would cause chaos and panic. You can imagine what would happen here in the centre of Sydney if there was word going out of a dirty bomb having been exploded. JENNIFER MACEY: But the operators say thwarting a terrorist attack has been calculated into the design of the new building. Dr Ron Cameron is ANSTO's Chief of Operations. RON CAMERON: Yes, we have had all the agencies involved right from the design of the reactor to ensure that security measures are put in place from the initial point. Now, that's a big advantage to us. We have responded to the threat assessments that were done by ASIO and others, and made sure that all our measures in place will protect against those threats. JENNIFER MACEY: The security arrangements have also satisfied the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office, or ASNO. Andrew Leask, the Assistant Secretary of ASNO, told a public inquiry today that the new reactor meets world best practice safety standards. ANDREW LEASK: We do have a layered approach. That means that there are boundaries, fences, layered fences, access control to buildings, access control within buildings to parts of the building, security checks on staff, surveillance equipment, and guards. JENNIFER MACEY: Grills have been put on top of the building to prevent damage from a plane crash and the core of the reactor has been shielded with very thick concrete that is designed to withstand such an impact. But opponents to the reactor are still not convinced. Friends of the Earth, Dr Green: JIM GREEN: And the design of the reactor is not half as safe as it's made out to be. It's essentially a pool in a concrete lining. Now the problem you get there is explosives being forced downwards into the reactor pool could essentially come back upwards and outwards with the same force because it's got this strong concrete containment, which in some respects is a definite advantage, but in other respects could be highly problematic in terms of dispersal of radioactive materials. JENNIFER MACEY: But safety measures at the new reactor are still of concern to the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency. It's calling for new submissions into the emergency response mechanisms in the event of an attack or accident. KAREN PERCY: Jennifer Macey reporting there. ***************************************************************** 23 asahi.com: Reactor starts in tax-minded village 12/09/2005 The Asahi Shimbun HIGASHIDORI, Aomori Prefecture--The No. 1 reactor of the Higashidori nuclear plant started operations Thursday, a long-awaited first step in the municipality's shaky plan to become financially independent. The boiling-water reactor, operated by Tohoku Electric Power Co., is the first at a new site since 1993, when the Shiga nuclear power plant started running in Ishikawa Prefecture. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency approved the start of the Higashidori reactor following final safety checks conducted from Monday. The start of operations could not have come soon enough for the village of Higashidori. Construction for the reactor, capable of generating 1.1 million kilowatts, started in 1998. It was initially scheduled for a trial run in December last year and the launch of commercial operations in October. But the schedule was delayed after a control valve on a steam pipe was jammed in June. Higashidori, located at the northeastern end of the Shimokita Peninsula, is a fishing village of about 8,000 people. The municipal government in 2003 decided to rely on four nuclear reactors for revenue. After the four reactors start commercial operations, the village would receive an annual average of 4.4 billion yen in property taxes for 30 years, according to the plan. Higashidori, in fact, decided against merging with the city of Mutsu and three other municipalities in March this year because Mayor Yasuo Echizen said the village could remain independent with the four reactors. But the schedules for the three other reactors have been postponed several times due to compensation issues involving the village's fishing industry, as well as slumping demand for electricity. Construction has yet to begin for the three other nuclear reactors--the No. 2 reactor at the Higashidori nuclear power plant, and the No. 1 and No. 2 reactors at a facility managed by Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO). "We hope that construction will begin as soon as possible," Echizen said. TEPCO is currently scheduled to start building its No. 1 reactor in fiscal 2007, and start commercial operations in fiscal 2013. But the construction schedules of the two other reactors remain unclear. With the No. 1 reactor at the Higashidori plant now running, the village is expected to earn about 4.9 billion yen in property tax in fiscal 2006, enabling the municipality to turn down tax grants from the central government for the first time. But property tax revenues will decrease as the power plant gets older. If the village ends up with just two reactors, it would gain an annual average of 1.7 billion yen in property tax in 16 years. The lower revenues would force Higashidori to rely on central government tax grants again. In addition, the village still has to repay about 12 billion yen it borrowed to construct welfare facilities.(IHT/Asahi: December 9,2005) [Copyright Asahi Shimbun. All rights ***************************************************************** 24 Jane's: Averting radiation terrorism [Homeland Security and Resilience Monitor] 09 December 2005 By Andy Oppenheimer In September 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported a dramatic rise in the level of smuggling of radioactive sources, most notably in 2003/2004, including one case involving weapons-grade material. The IAEA figures are indicative of the continuing inadequate security of radioactive materials, particularly in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union. However, the IAEA reported that more than 100 countries around the world have inadequate security for their radioactive sources. Radioactive materials include military-grade plutonium-239 and uranium enriched to 90 per cent used in nuclear weapons. Terrorists do not have the vast resources needed to manufacture the highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium-239 needed for a bomb; therefore stealing or buying it is their only option. Other more common sources include spent uranium fuel and other highly radioactive by-products of civilian nuclear power plants (NPPs) and thousands of civilian-use radioisotope sources used in medicine, mining and industry, such as cesium-137, cobalt-60 and americium-141. Nuclear smuggling of any of these materials enhances the threat of terrorists deploying radiological dispersal devices (RDDs) - conventional explosive devices combined with a radioactive element as well as non-explosive means of dispersing radioactivity. From 1993 to 2004, the IAEA recorded 300 confirmed cases of which 215 were recorded in a five-year period from 1999. Compared to just eight incidents in 1996, there were 77 incidents reported in 2003. Since 1993, the IAEA has tracked 196 incidents, including weapons materials, (plutonium, uranium, and thorium) 18 of which involved HEU or plutonium. 251 of 1,685 words In September 2005, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported a dramatic rise in the level of smuggling of radioactive sources, most notably in 2003/2004, including one case involving weapons-grade material. The IAEA figures are indicative of the continuing inadequate security of radioactive materials, particularly in Russia and countries of the former Soviet Union. However, the IAEA reported that more than 100 countries around the world have inadequate security for their radioactive sources. --> [End of non-subscriber extract.] © 2005 Jane's Information Group. All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 25 The Spectrum: Parowan resident asks council to protect children from fallout, disburse iodide pills St. George - www.thespectrum.com - St. George, UT Customer + 'Parowan Prophet' anticipates nuclear attack in near future By JENNIFER WEAVER jweaver@thespectrum.com PAROWAN - The Parowan City Council meeting addressed two public hearings and 18 agenda items in 90 minutes Thursday, including a plea by resident Leland Freeborn to protect the town's children from nuclear fallout by permitting the disbursement of potassium iodide pills. Freeborn, who refers to himself as "The Parowan Prophet," initially approached the City Council at its meeting two weeks ago requesting the governing body purchase the medicine before Utah is the victim of fallout from a nuclear blast targeted in Nevada and California. He said the explosion will hit Dec. 21, which he saw in a vision. "I encourage you to open up your Bibles and read where Daniel is thrown into the lion's den because he broke the law of the land," Freeborn said to the council. "I hope you have enough courage to break the law of the land to protect the children and this community." Freeborn was in a plane crash 29 years ago and lay comatose for three weeks. When he awoke, he said he had a new calling in life directly given to him by God. Shortly after, he began having visions of the future, he said. "We're going to get nuked in the next few weeks," Freeborn said. "December 21 is the winter solstice, and in my vision that day will be a short day and a long night ... the power will go off and there will be flashes of light coming from Nellis Air Force Base ... It is then we'll have nuclear fallout." Parowan city attorney Justin Wayment said Freeborn's inquiry was denied because Title 10 of Utah Code stipulates the set duties of municipality power. The disbursement of drugs is not within the town's authority, Wayment said. Freeborn requested to be put on Thursday's meeting agenda but was rejected because the request had already been denied, Wayment said. Thus, Freeborn took five minutes during the public comment portion of the meeting to reiterate the urgency that something be done before it is too late. "About 75 percent of any people exposed will get cancer in 10 years," Freeborn said in a letter he sent to various media outlets. "And I don't want to have our young Parowan kids getting cancer in a decade." Freeborn has spent hundreds of dollars of his own money toward 175,000 doses of the iodide to protect individuals from radioactive fallout that attacks the thyroid and causes cancer, he said. He intends to implore Governor Jon Huntsman Jr. and Southwest Utah Public Health Department Director Dr. David Blodgett to administer the medicine, he added. Originally published December 9, 2005 Print this article Copyright ©2005 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 26 Las Vegas SUN: PFS loses two support of two members for nuke dump December 08, 2005 JENNIFER TALHELM ASSOCIATED PRESS WASHINGTON (AP) - Two members of a company seeking to build a temporary nuclear waste facility in Skull Valley, Utah, say they are suspending their financial support, causing some to question the future of the project. Southern Nuclear Operating Co. and Xcel Energy say they are committed to a permanent waste repository planned for Nevada's Yucca Mountain and that the Utah site no longer meets their needs. The companies are two of the eight members of Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities that applied for a license to build the nuclear waste dump on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Both said in letters released Thursday by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch that while Yucca is a viable option, they will not support PFS. "It's become clear PFS will not be open in time to allow Southern Nuclear to be able to use the facility," Steve Higginbottom, spokesman for Alabama-based Southern Nuclear, said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Making Yucca Mountain a success will require our full attention and resources, and that's where we're going to focus our resources." Hatch said their decision means the plan is all but dead. In 2002, six companies - including Southern Nuclear - pledged in a letter to Hatch and Utah Sen. Bob Bennett they would not fund the PFS facility past the licensing phase. "This marks the first nail in the coffin for PFS," Hatch said in a statement. "The PFS plan has been on life support for some time, and we're removing the feeding tubes." But John Parkin, chairman of the PFS board and the company's chief executive officer, said Hatch's assessment is inaccurate. Parkin said neither letter indicates that Xcel or Southern will never bring waste to Utah once the PFS site opens, just that present time the timetable for opening does not meet their needs. Even if Xcel and Southern ultimately opt out of the Utah site, Parkin said, "there are still a lot of other utilities out there that have pressing needs." In September PFS won federal approval for a license to build the storage site, despite objections from the state of Utah. Private Fuel Storage wants to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel aboveground in 4,000 steel casks. The company has more regulatory hurdles to jump through before construction can begin, and Utah officials are trying to prevent PFS from getting any further. Parkin said that PFS stands by it's promise of being a temporary facility and says PFS agrees that a permanent site must be built whether at Yucca Mountain or elsewhere. "There's no way we will keep (waste) in Utah," he said. --- Staff Writer Jennifer Dobner contributed to this report from Salt Lake City. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast residents: Lockheed's approach will take too long 12/09/2005 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer TALLEVAST - Admitting to past mistakes, compliant Lockheed Martin Corp. officials sought to gain Tallevast residents' trust Thursday night by announcing a new approach to cleaning up a toxic plume underneath the historic community. Their long presentation - complete with charts, handouts and refreshments - failed when residents learned it would take 20 years to clean up the plume that Lockheed once again said presents no health risk to the community. "That's totally unacceptable," said Patricia Simmons as the audience erupted in yells and complaints. "We have been living with this for two years now," said an angry Verna Pinkney. "You say we are not at risk, but I don't believe that. If you don't test everybody's property front to back and side to side, you are not going to know." A stoic Gail Rymer, Lockheed's director of communication, tried to reassure residents. "We have made mistakes in the past," said Rymer. "We realize how hard it is to gain credibility when we aren't here. We want to turn it around and do it right this time." Rymer announced Lockheed has hired a new team to conduct and oversee testing and clean-up operations, as well as community relations. Bradenton resident Clovia Russell is now Lockheed's local point person for community contact, working out of an office at 8501 N. Tamiami Trail. Open to the public, the office will provide access to all Lockheed data, maps and plans. Rymer has taken over responsibilities once held by Meredith Rouse Davis as Lockheed's chief spokeswoman on the Tallevast plume. And the engineering firm of Blasland, Bouck &Lee, which has an office in Sarasota, has taken over the technical contract once held by Tetra Tech Inc. of Tampa. Tina Armstrong of Lockheed is the new senior project manager. Rymer said the new team will bring a fresh perspective to the puzzles posed by the Tallevast plume. Lowell McBurney, Blasland's program manager, said one of those unanswered questions is puzzling data that indicate there may be free-standing pockets of contamination that that have not yet broken down to the point where they would be dispersed in water or soil. But past tests have found no evidence that is the case, McBurney said. Under heavy questioning by Laura Ward, president FOCUS, an advocacy group for residents, McBurney conceded there are not enough wells throughout the community to say that those free pockets don't exist. "Then how can you say we are not at risk?" Ward asked. Tallevast leaders reminded Rymer that their own independent tests showed the plume had spread faster and deeper than Lockheed's data show. The pollution stems from a broken sump at the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant at 1600 Tallevast Road. Lockheed acquired the facility in 1996. While preparing it for sale in 2000, Lockheed discovered a toxic plume. Although Lockheed informed state and local officials, Tallevast residents did not learn of the pollution until three years later. One year ago Lockheed said the plume was contained at the factory site, covering less than five acres, but recent tests now put the plume at 131 acres and the boundaries have yet to be found. Lockheed has submitted to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection an interim remediation plan for cleaning up the contaminated water at the plume's source. The pump and treat system will run up to 60 gallons per minute and will be housed in a building that will be constructed to blend with the site. Four extraction wells will pull up the contaminated water, which will then be passed through a filtering system that will expose it to light and chemicals. Once purified to county standards, the treated water will be flushed down the county's sewer system. Lockheed also will begin Monday to install 50 more monitoring wells throughout Tallevast and beyond, in cluster formations, to test for the outer edge of the plume. Although Rymer sought to reassure families and school officials that nearby Able and Kinnan elementary schools are not at risk, she did say Lockheed will work with the community and the school board to develop a plan to monitor the schools. Manatee school board members Harry Kinnan and Larry Simmons were in attendance, along with Forrest Branscomb, the school district's risk management director. "Our hope is that everything can be worked in such a way that the confidence of the community can be returned," said Kinnan. But by the end of the meeting, Lockheed had made no progress toward that goal. "You have said nothing this evening to reassure me or ease my apprehension," said Tallevast resident Linda Bryant. "Lockheed has done nothing tonight to gain my trust or good faith in what you are planning to do now or in the future." When asked how much Lockheed had spent to date on the Tallevast problem, Rymer said it was in the millions but less than $100 million. "Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy the residents' property and move them to another location?" one man asked. Rymer refused comment because of pending lawsuits filed against the company by residents. Nor would Rymer answer questions about health issues. "My dad worked at American Beryllium for 30 years and he died of throat cancer," said Joyce Poole. "Now I have a sore throat that won't go away. I don't have 20 years to wait. I am 52 years young. I don't have 20 years for you to clean this up." ***************************************************************** 28 AU ABC: Cattlemen's group neutral on nuclear dump debate Friday, 9 December 2005. 13:18 (AEDT)Friday, 9 December 2005. There has been a mixed reaction to the passing of legislation allowing for a nuclear waste dump to be built in the Northern Territory. Horticulturalists near one of the proposed sites are threatening to take class action if the dump is built locally. But the Territory's main rural lobby group, the Cattlemen's Association, remains neutral. President John Armstrong says nuclear waste sites have already been established in agricultural regions overseas. "The low level waste that they are talking about, really, the radiation coming out of that low level stuff would amount to significantly less than your very average bedside alarm clock with alumina sands on it," he said. "That's not an issue at all. And the storage facilities that they put up and build are just so secure that radiation can't possibly be allowed to penetrate outwards into the local areas." ***************************************************************** 29 Herald Tribune: Tallevast residents stay polite until they hear cleanup details heraldtribune.com STAFF PHOTO / ARMANDO SOLARES Al Thomas asks representatives from Lockheed Martin how much they will spend to fix the pollution problems in Tallevast Tallevast residents stay polite until they hear cleanup details By SCOTT CARROLL scott.carroll@heraldtribune.com TALLEVAST -- You wouldn't expect folks here to put out the welcome mat to representatives from Lockheed Martin. After all, more than 240 of them are embroiled in a bitter lawsuit with the defense industry giant, claiming pollution from a weapons plant in their neighborhood is making them ill. And residents are convinced Lockheed misled them when it first said a plume of contaminated ground water from the former plant covered only 5 acres. Lockheed later adjusted the size to 50 acres before finally acknowledging that it covers more than 130 acres. Despite that, more than 75 residents were initially courteous and cordial at a community forum Thursday evening with Lockheed Martin officials. Residents sat quietly as Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Gail Rymer presented a slide show full of snappy phrases such as "New faces, fresh perspectives -- committed to working with you to find the best solution for this community." And there were only a few whispers when Rymer said Lockheed hired Bradenton community activist Clovia Russell to act as a liaison. Rymer also announced that Lockheed is opening a Tallevast office for public information, and is bringing in a new team of scientists. Fifty more ground-water test wells will be installed. But the niceties quickly dissolved when Rymer told the group it could take 20 years or more to clean up the tainted ground water. Lockheed plans to do that by sucking up the poisoned water, treating it and then discharging it into the county sewer system. "If I wasn't stressed before, I'm truly stressed now," said resident Shirley Thomas. "A lot of people here don't have 20 years to live." Brenda Pinkney said she was so afraid of ground water and soil contamination in her yard that she no longer allows her children to plant carrots and greens. "When I feel OK to plant a garden in my yard, then I'm safe," Pinkney said. "We have people here who have lost hair, who have cancer, people whose health has been affected. We live out here, we sleep out here. And you're telling us in 20 years this will be cleaned up?" The pollution was left behind by the former American Beryllium Co. plant, which for nearly 40 years built parts for nuclear warheads under contract with the federal government. Lockheed Martin purchased the Tallevast Road plant in 1996, and closed it soon afterwards. In 2000, Lockheed notified county and state officials that the soil and ground water at the site were polluted. But residents, many of whom were not hooked up to county water lines and relied on well water, were not told of the problem until nearly four years later. Prodded by state Department of Environmental Protection officials, Lockheed has installed dozens of monitoring wells throughout the community to determine the extent of the pollution. The DEP is also concerned the contamination may have infiltrated the Floridan Aquifer, which provides drinking and irrigation water for most of Florida. Lockheed has said that tests done on water from a nearby golf course that is drawn from the Floridan Aquifer have come up negative. The DEP has required Lockheed to dig a test well more than 400 feet deep to test the aquifer. Rymer said she didn't think the Floridan has been contaminated, but that she couldn't be sure. She also said Lockheed has spent millions of dollars so far on the testing and will spend whatever it takes to clean up the community. Buying the community out, as residents and several politicians have proposed, "is not an option," Rymer said. "There is no reason anyone should have to move. There are no health concerns," she told the audience, many of whom voiced their disapproval. 1 | 2 | Next >> Last modified: December 09. 2005 7:38AM ***************************************************************** 30 Salt Lake Tribune: Nuke waste coalition partner drops out Article Last Updated: 12/09/2005 12:45:12 AM Tough stance: The company insists the slew of disengagements are not going to be major setbacks By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune WASHINGTON - Another partner in the coalition trying to bring nuclear waste to a Utah Indian reservation is dropping out of the group, and a second formalized a decision not to provide any more money to the project. The announcements marked a continued unraveling of the coalition - a defection of partners that became apparent in early September when six of the eight members of Private Fuel Storage said they no longer needed the planned Utah facility and were pursing their own storage options. In the latest development, Southern Company, an Alabama-based nuclear utility, said in a letter to Sen. Orrin Hatch released Thursday that it was withdrawing entirely from Private Fuel Storage. The largest partner in the consortium, Xcel Energy, based in Minnesota, affirmed in a separate letter it no longer needed the storage and would halt is financial support. "After a great deal of consideration and internal review, Southern Company has determined that Private Fuel Storage, LLC (PFS) cannot be successfully developed as a spent fuel repository in a time frame to meet Southern's needs. Therefore, Southern will no longer support PFS," wrote company chairman, J. Barnie Beasley Jr. "This is a sure sign that the PFS partnership is crumbling," Hatch said. "PFS has just one small company with a minority shareholder. At least someone will be there to turn out the lights." Hatch had pressured the partners to abandon PFS, and said he was working with the Bush administration to address their storage concerns. The PFS consortium had consisted of eight companies that sought to store 44,000 tons of radioactive material from nuclear reactors on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City, until a permanent waste dump can be built at Yucca Mountain, Nev. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission voted to issue PFS a license in September. Sue Martin, spokeswoman for PFS, said the companies' announcements are not major setbacks. "Individual utilities' needs change over time and they have to make a business decision based on what their needs are at the time," she said. The industry has changed since the project petitioned for a license in 1997, she said, but other reactor operators could still want to contract with PFS for waste storage. The company is required to have commitments for the cost of constructing and decommissioning the site before work can begin. If there is not adequate support for opening the facility, it won't open. "This project is going to be market driven," she said. She would not say if PFS has any signed contracts yet. "I will say that we're optimistic that there is an existing, immediate need for safe economic, temporary storage and that that need is going to increase in the future," she said. Charles Bomberger, general manager of nuclear asset management at Xcel, indicated to The Tribune three months ago his company's interest was lagging, since Xcel had "plenty of our own on-site storage." Bomberger on Thursday said when it became clear PFS wouldn't be opened before Xcel had to renew its license on a Minnesota reactor, it opted to pursue state and NRC approval of interim on-site storage. "From a financial standpoint we couldn't really support both initiatives," Bomberger said. "There's recognition, through the opposition of Utah and others, there are still significant hurdles to go through in order to be successful with PFS." © Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 31 NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Revised FR Doc E5-7117 [Federal Register: December 9, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 236)] [Notices] [Page 73312-73313] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09de05-128] The 166th Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW) meeting scheduled for December 13-15, 2005, Room T-2B3, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland has been revised as noted below. This notice was previously published on Thursday, December 1, 2005 (70 FR 72127). Tuesday, December 13, 2005 8:30 a.m.-8:45 a.m.: Opening Statement (Open)--The ACNW Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of today's sessions. 8:45 a.m.-10:15 a.m.: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC's) Plans for the Implementation of a Dose Standard After 10,000 Years (Open)--NRC is proposing to amend its regulations at 10 CFR Part 63 that govern the disposal of high-level radioactive wastes in a proposed geologic repository at Yucca Mountain. The proposed rule would implement EPA's proposed standards for doses that could occur after 10,000 years but within the period of geologic stability. The Committee will continue its discussions with representatives from NRC's Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards on those proposed revisions. The NRC staff briefing will include the topics of radionuclide inventory, effects of climate change, and dosimetry. 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.: Reasonableness of NRC Infiltration Assumption in the Proposed Part 63 (Open)--NRC's proposed rule change at Part 63 specifies a value to be used to represent climate change after 10,000 years, as called for by EPA. The Committee will hear presentations from and hold discussions with knowledgeable subject matter experts on the reasonableness of NRC's proposed infiltration assumption. 1 p.m.-4 p.m.: White Paper on Low-Level Radioactive Waste (Open)-- The Committee will discuss a proposed white paper on low-level radioactive waste (LLW). NRC staff and stakeholders will provide perspectives on the subject. 4:15 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Preparation of ACNW Reports/Letters (Open)-- The Committee will discuss proposed ACNW reports on matters considered during this and/or previous meetings. Wednesday, December 14, 2005 8:30 a.m.-8:45 a.m.: Opening Statement (Open)--The ACNW Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of today's sessions. 8:45 a.m.-10:15 a.m.: Combined Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS) and Division Directors Briefing (Open)--The NMSS Office and Division Directors will brief the Committee on recent activities of interest within their respective programs. [[Page 73313]] 10:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.: Generalized Composite Modeling (Open)--The Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the United States Geological Survey and the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research regarding demonstrations of the generalized composite approach to the modeling of reactive transport phenomena. 1 p.m.-3 p.m.: Preparation for Commission Briefing (Open)--The Committee will review the final presentations in preparation for the Commission briefing on January 11, 2006. 3:15 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Preparation of ACNW Reports/Letters, Continued (Open) Thursday, December 15, 2005 10 a.m.-10:15 a.m.: Opening Remarks by the ACNW Chairman (Open)-- The ACNW Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of today's sessions. 10:15 a.m.-11:45 a.m.: Discussion of ACNW Reports/Letters (Open)-- The Committee will discuss prepared draft letters and determine whether letters would be written on topics discussed during the meeting. 11:45 a.m.-12:45 p.m.: Miscellaneous (Open)--The Committee will discuss matters related to the conduct of ACNW activities, and specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, as time and availability of information permit. Discussions may include future Committee Meetings. Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by contacting Ms. Sharon A. Steele, ACNW (Telephone: 301-415-6805) between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET. Dated: December 5, 2005. Andrew L. Bates, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E5-7117 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 32 Japan Times: Over decade after accident, Monju may be reborn Friday, December 9, 2005 SAFETY CONCERNS REMAIN By ERIC JOHNSTON Staff writer TSURUGA, Fukui Pref. -- Ten years after a sodium leak and fire shut down the Monju prototype fast-breeder reactor, plans are moving forward to have it operational by 2008. [News photo] The Monju experimental fast-breeder reactor in Tsuruga, Fukui Prefecture, has been closed for a decade after it suffered a sodium leak and fire that officials tried to conceal. On Dec. 8, 1995, liquid sodium coolant leaked from a pipe inside the reactor plant, which had begun supplying power in August of that year. Dramatic video footage that was first covered up and later released by Monju officials showed the leak led to a fire that caused extensive damage. Sodium burns when it comes into contact with air. Revelations of negligence and the coverup by Monju officials led to a strong public outcry, which forced a partial reorganization of the atomic power industry and prompted Tokyo to pass laws to strengthen quality control and safety steps for nuclear plants. At the time, Monju was being operated by the now defunct Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. One of the main problems the accident exposed was a lack of timely communication between Monju officials and Tsuruga, Fukui and central government officials. Today, a new system has been development whereby officials from all three levels of government along with nuclear power experts and Monju representatives would analyze information about an accident and coordinate a response through a Tsuruga-based center. Tsuruga city officials have said they are prepared to respond to a major disaster at Monju, which sits on the Sea of Japan coast, about 10 km northwest of the city center. "About 98 percent of Tsuruga's roughly 70,000 residents have an emergency cable TV channel in their homes that broadcasts information related to nuclear power plants," said Toshiyuki Mukaiyama, a city spokesman. "No matter how small the incident, residents can tune to emergency channel 9, which is operated by the city, and learn what happened." The city also has evacuation plans in case of a disaster at the reactor. "Tsuruga households have been given information on 32 refugee centers where they should go if there is an accident. They can get this information both on (CATV) channel 9 and through 26 public address towers set up inside the city limits," said Fumiyoshi Kato, an official in the municipal nuclear power safety section. The evacuation areas are mostly elementary schools and public halls. However, Kato said they do not contain much in the way of emergency supplies. But one pressing issue is how to deal with residents who try to flee the area after an accident. Antinuclear activists have long claimed that large steel gates on several roads leading into Tsuruga would be closed to keep people who might have been exposed to radiation from leaving. Both Kato and Tatsuji Wada, an official in the city's disaster prevention section, deny the charge. "Those gates were built in order to control traffic flow in the event of a heavy rainstorm or snowfall," Wada claimed. However, the gates are not controlled by the city but by the prefecture, and Kato said it would be up to Fukui to decide if they should be lowered. Local officials expressed confidence that a Monju disaster could be dealt with effectively. Meanwhile, the road is clear for the reactor to be restarted. The Supreme Court handed down a decision in May upholding the government's decision to build the reactor, turning down a two-decade lawsuit by local residents who claim Monju has basic design flaws. However, questions remain about the plant's safety. "What the Supreme Court didn't say was that Monju was safe to operate. The decision failed to address serious doubts about whether safety systems will actually work as designed," the Tokyo-based Citizens' Nuclear Information Center said in a statement following the court's decision. There are also some fears that the material used at the reactor might be used for weapons production. If Monju begins operating and burns either plutonium or, more likely, uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, which has plutonium as a byproduct, it raises the possibility that the plutonium could be stolen or diverted to make weapons. Counterterrorism training at nuclear-power facilities involving police, nuclear-power officials and the affected municipalities will be held nationwide beginning next year. But international concern is mounting over what operation of a nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori Prefecture, might mean for controlling weapons-grade nuclear material. The plant is now scheduled to go into operation in 2007. Japan finds itself under international pressure over Monju as well. At a meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency meeting in September in Vienna, Alain Bugat, chairman of the French Atomic Energy Commission, proposed to Akira Shichijo, senior vice minister of the Cabinet Office, that France and Japan jointly use Monju once it begins operation. Some segments of the nonproliferation community have welcomed the French proposal, saying it is a way for Japan to show the international community it is serious about strengthening its nonproliferation commitments. Meanwhile, Japan's nuclear-power industry continues to see Monju as a cornerstone of the nation's energy policy. "Monju's operation will restart Japan's fast-breeder program, which forms an important part of Japan's overall nuclear energy strategy for the 21st century," said Shunsuke Kondo, who heads the Atomic Energy Commission. "With a fast-breeder reactor program, we can reduce dependency on fossil fuels and provide clean energy that is much cheaper than other forms, such as solar or wind." The government in 1983 approved the construction of the Monju reactor by the government-affiliated Power Reactor and Nuclear Fuel Development Corp. Its successor, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, created in October 2005 by integrating two government-backed nuclear-related institutions, has taken over the Monju project. After two decades of unsuccessfully trying to get Monju up and running, and 10 years after the accident forced the plant to shut down, people opposed to Monju say that, beyond the safety and proliferation concerns, Japan's fast-breeder reactor program is nothing more than another failed government public works project. Monju, which is supposed to be the first of many fast-breeder reactors, was built at a cost of 600 billion yen and will require billions more before it goes fully online. "The fast breeder program is a white elephant. After 45 years in development, it doesn't light a single light bulb. We must end this program and move on to better things," said Aileen Mioko Smith, of the antinuclear group Green Action Japan. The Japan Times: Dec. 9, 2005 (C) All rights reserved ***************************************************************** 33 KUTV: PFS Loses Two Support Of Two Members For Nuke Dump [clock] Dec 8, 2005 11:51 pm US/Mountain WASHINGTON, D.C. Two members of a company seeking to build a temporary nuclear waste facility in Skull Valley, Utah, say they are suspending their financial support, causing some to question the future of the project. Southern Nuclear Operating Co. and Xcel Energy say they are committed to a permanent waste repository planned for Nevada's Yucca Mountain and that the Utah site no longer meets their needs. The companies are two of the eight members of Private Fuel Storage, a group of utilities that applied for a license to build the nuclear waste dump on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Both said in letters released Thursday by Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch that while Yucca is a viable option, they will not support PFS. ``It's become clear PFS will not be open in time to allow Southern Nuclear to be able to use the facility,'' Steve Higginbottom, spokesman for Alabama-based Southern Nuclear, said in an interview with The Associated Press. ``Making Yucca Mountain a success will require our full attention and resources, and that's where we're going to focus our resources.'' Hatch said their decision means the plan is all but dead. In 2002, six companies – including Southern Nuclear – pledged in a letter to Hatch and Utah Sen. Bob Bennett they would not fund the PFS facility past the licensing phase. ``This marks the first nail in the coffin for PFS,'' Hatch said in a statement. ``The PFS plan has been on life support for some time, and we're removing the feeding tubes.'' But John Parkin, chairman of the PFS board and the company's chief executive officer, said Hatch's assessment is inaccurate. Parkin said neither letter indicates that Xcel or Southern will never bring waste to Utah once the PFS site opens, just that present time the timetable for opening does not meet their needs. Even if Xcel and Southern ultimately opt out of the Utah site, Parkin said, ``there are still a lot of other utilities out there that have pressing needs.'' In September PFS won federal approval for a license to build the storage site, despite objections from the state of Utah. Private Fuel Storage wants to store 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel aboveground in 4,000 steel casks. The company has more regulatory hurdles to jump through before construction can begin, and Utah officials are trying to prevent PFS from getting any further. Parkin said that PFS stands by it's promise of being a temporary facility and says PFS agrees that a permanent site must be built whether at Yucca Mountain or elsewhere. ``There's no way we will keep (waste) in Utah,'' he said. (© 2005 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material ***************************************************************** 34 Deseret news: Utah N-storage takes 2 hits [deseretnews.com] Friday, December 9, 2005 Utilities back away from PFS Skull Valley project By Suzanne Struglinski Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — Xcel Energy has put a hold on its investments into Private Fuel Storage, the company announced Thursday, edging Utah closer to victory in its fight against storing high-level nuclear waste in the state. Xcel was responsible for about 34 percent of Private Fuel Storage's budget. Also Thursday, one of six other utilities in the PFS consortium that had placed a hold on its investments in 2002 —Southern Co. — completely pulled its contributions to PFS. That leaves the other five still with a hold on their investments in the proposed storage facility for Tooele County's Skull Valley, but Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said without Xcel's chunk of the funding, there is little left to support the proposed site. "The viability of the PFS proposal is seriously threatened," Hatch said. "Skull Valley is never going to happen." Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s office was pleased with Hatch's announcement but less certain that the battle has been won. "It certainly doesn't sound the immediate death knell for PFS," said Mike Lee, the governor's general counsel. "This is an early Christmas gift, but it doesn't mean that it's over." Jason Groenewold, director of the anti-nuclear group Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said he's encouraged by the Xcel development but isn't sure it means the dissolution of PFS. "This is an important development, the significance of which will play out in time," he said. "We're not ready to break out the party hats yet." He said the pullout of Southern Co. is encouraging, but he's not sure what Excel's moratorium on funding really means. "Does it mean they will not fund legal fights? . . . It feels a little bit like semantics. We'd be wise to pay very close attention to the semantics of the next move the utility companies of PFS make." Huntsman has pushed hard to stop the waste facility for up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods proposed for land owned by the Skull Valley band of the Goshute Indian Tribe. The proposal has long divided the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, which has about 121 members. Chairman Leon Bear could not be reached for comment Thursday but in the past has said the project had the support of the majority of the tribe. In a letter sent to Hatch from its President J. Barnie Beasley Jr., he wrote: "Southern Company has determined that Private Fuel Storage, LLC (PFS) cannot be successfully developed as a spent fuel repository in a time frame to meet Southern's needs." Now only the Dairyland Power Cooperative will continue to fund the program. That utility only had less than a 12 percent share in PFS, according to Hatch's office. "At least someone will be there to turn out the lights," Hatch said at a press conference in his Senate office. Rep. Bob Bishop, R-Utah, called the announcements a "major step that it (PFS) will not be a reality." But PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said these announcements will hopefully not be as dire as the lawmakers said. She said financial support for the project is not limited, and any utility that would need a storage option can come forward and invest. She said the utilities have always been signed up to invest in one phase at a time. Now that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has recommended a license for the site, it will be up to the involved utilities to make a "business decision" on whether to stay on for the construction phase. Other utilities can come in, too. "The next phase is a whole new ball game," she said. Margene Bullcreek, who organized Goshute opposition in Utah through her group Ohngo Gaudadeh Devia Awareness, said she's still ready to fight the NRC's decision based on environmental justice. She calls the proposal "environmental racism" because, she said, her tribe was targeted by a large corporation "because we're supposed to be in poverty . . . "It's good to know that this is happening," she said of the Xcel and Southern Co. actions. "They don't have as many utilities behind them now. . . . Now we've got five more to go." ['Photo'] Deseret Morning News graphic Charles Bomberger, Xcel's general manager of nuclear assets, said that at the time the company got involved with PFS, it was facing a waste storage shortage for its Minnesota nuclear plants. State law limited how much extra storage space could be built, so the company had to find an interim storage solution because the national nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev., would not open by the time it ran out of space. But in 2003, the state overturned the law, relieving pressure on Xcel to find another storage option. That change, on top of Utah's continued opposition against the Skull Valley facility and a potential resolution on Yucca Mountain were all part of Xcel's reasoning in deciding to put a hold on its PFS funding, according to Bomberger. "I think there will be a new solution coming forward, but I have no idea what it is," Bomberger said. Hatch said his cooperation with the administration and reluctance to go against Yucca Mountain and align with Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., allowed him to negotiate with the utilities. Hatch would not go into detail on who in the administration helped with the negotiations or what exactly was brought to the table. He said he brought up Bishop's position on the House Rules Committee, his future chairmanship of the Senate Finance Committee and the litigation options the state still can put into play. News of the financial changes came as a surprise to many on Thursday, but it was unclear why progress on Yucca Mountain seemed to be the main reason the companies changed. The project has its own set of problems, and Nevada is fighting Yucca as much as Utah is fighting PFS. "Southern and Xcel have clearly seen the writing on the wall for interim storage in Utah, but they mistakenly continue to look to the unsafe and unsuitable site at Yucca Mountain to solve their waste problem," said Michele Boyd, legislative director at Public Citizen, a nonprofit that opposes the Yucca repository. Meanwhile, Hatch and Bishop insisted that this blow to the PFS project will not cause them to back down at all from Bishop's attempt to create 100,000 acres of wilderness in Utah's western desert. The proposed wilderness designation would block PFS from building a railroad to move waste through Utah. Bishop and Hatch expect a decision on the wilderness language today. Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche, Deborah Bulkeley E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com © 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /] ***************************************************************** 35 Xinhua: Haiti ratifies nuclear test ban treaty www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2005-12-09 18:56:54 VIENNA, Dec. 9 (Xinhuanet) -- Haiti has ratified the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), bringing the total number of ratifications to 126, the Vienna-based organization that administers the accord said on Friday. The Caribbean nation became the 22nd nation in the region to ratify the treaty, which bans all test explosions or any other nuclear explosions, the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization(CTBTO) said. The CTBT, which opened for signature in 1996, still has not entered into force since it must be signed and ratified by 44 states listed in an annex to the treaty. To date, only 33 of them have done so, the CTBTO said. These 44 states formally participated in the 1996 disarmament conference and possessed nuclear power or research reactors at thetime. They include the United States, which has signed but not ratified the treaty. Enditem Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 36 DOE: Office of Nonproliferation Policy; Proposed Subsequent FR Doc 05-23912 [Federal Register: December 9, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 236)] [Notices] [Page 73214] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr09de05-45] Arrangement AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice; subsequent arrangement. SUMMARY: This notice has been issued under the authority of section 131 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (42 U.S.C. 2160). The Department is providing notice of a proposed subsequent arrangement under the Agreement for Cooperation in the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy between the United States and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the Agreement for Cooperation Between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco Concerning Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. This subsequent arrangement concerns the retransfer of 106 TRIGA fuel elements containing 20,433.47 g of U.S.-origin natural uranium, 4,058.73 g of U-235, from CERCA, F-92084 Paris La Defense, France to the la Maamora Nuclear Research Center of the Center of National Energy, Sciences, and Nuclear Techniques (CNESTEN), Morocco. The material, which is now located at CERCA facilities in Romans, France, will be transferred to Morocco for use in the CNESTEN TRIGA Research Reactor in la Maamora Research Center near Rabat, Morocco. The transferred fuel will be used in the first core of the TRIGA Mark II Research Reactor at La Maamora. CERCA originally obtained the material from General Atomics under NRC Export License Number XSNM02644, Amendment No. 2. In accordance with Section 131 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, we have determined that this subsequent arrangement is not inimical to the common defense and security. This subsequent arrangement will take effect no sooner than fifteen days after the date of publication of this notice. Dated: December 2, 2005. For the Department of Energy. Richard Goorevich, Director, Office of International Regimes and Agreements. [FR Doc. 05-23912 Filed 12-8-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 37 DenverPost.com: Flats cleanup is complete, DOE agrees Article Launched: 12/09/2005 01:00:00 AM EPA, state must verify the work, which was under budget and ahead of schedule By Ann Schrader Denver Post Staff Writer Golden - Paperwork stating that the cleanup of Rocky Flats - the nuclear-weapons facility once considered the country's most-toxic site - is complete has been accepted by the U.S. Department of Energy. Thursday's announcement brings Rocky Flats a major step closer to a new life as a wildlife refuge. The Environmental Protection Agency and the state health department still must verify whether Superfund requirements have been met, a process that may take about a year. It will be at least five years before the public is given access to the land, south of Boulder. Once the regulators finish their work, all but about 1,000 acres will be turned over to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The agency will do improvements - the first being a half-mile trail to the Lindsey Ranch area - as the budget allows. U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard declared the cleanup "a resounding success." Teamwork with cleanup contractor Kaiser-Hill Co. "has made the impossible possible," the Colorado Republican said in a ceremony that featured huge before and after aerial photos of Rocky Flats behind the podium. U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, who with Allard sponsored the 2001 legislation to convert about 5,000 acres of the facility into a wildlife refuge, praised workers in a statement and called the cleanup "a history moment." The facility, which is 16 miles northwest of Denver, manufactured plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons from 1952 to 1989. Clay Sell, deputy secretary of the Department of Energy, which operates Rocky Flats, noted the cleanup came in under budget and ahead of schedule. A 1994 DOE report estimated cleanup would take $36 billion. The eventual cost was $7 billion. "Success has been tremendous and should be applauded," said David Abelson, director of the Rocky Flats Coalition of Governments. "But until the regulators find (the cleanup) meets requirements, we should pause and hold our breaths a little bit. ... I'm confident they will." State Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, foreman of the 1992 grand jury that voted to indict officials over the facility's contamination, said: "The only thing that got cleaned up at Rocky Flats was the Colorado taxpayer. Rocky Flats maintains its position as the No. 1 money generator for corrupt corporations." McKinley said he will carry a bill in the upcoming session that "will make the public aware of the true facts surrounding the Rocky Flats cleanup," including "50 years of hazardous contamination" and safety concerns. Kaiser-Hill, which will receive a $355 million bonus for ending work before the December 2006 deadline, hosted a closure celebration Thursday night at the Colorado Convention Center. DOE employees, because of federal ethics rules, had to pay $275 to attend, while the public paid $75. Udall decried the price difference for what he called "akin to a retirement dinner," calling the higher requirement "particularly unfair when other high-level DOE officials ... will not be required to pay anything to attend." Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or . Copyright 2005 The Denver Post or other copyright ***************************************************************** 38 Colorado Daily News: DOE says Flats cleanup complete By RICHARD VALENTY Colorado Daily Staff Writer Thursday, December 8, 2005 11:21 PM MST The U.S. Department of Energy announced Thursday its certification of a massive cleanup effort at Rocky Flats ahead of time and under budget. But federal and state regulators will spend the next year checking the work before issuing a final determination that the cleanup satisfied safety standards. The very definition of a "before-and-after" pair of pictures greeted U.S. Sen. W ayne Allard, R-Colo., as he entered a conference room at the Nat ional Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden Thursday to speak before media and those involved in the cleanup. On one easel sat a picture of acres of buildings used between 1951 and 1989 for the production of plutonium triggers used in nearly every nuclear weapon built in the United States. On the other stand rested a recent snapshot showing the same site without the facilities - mountain peaks in the backdrop along with thousands of acres of green space. Allard and U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, D-Eldorado Springs, co-sponsored the Rocky Flats National Wildlife Refuge Act in 2001, written, as the name suggests, to direct transformation of the toxic turf into a site safe for wildlife and possible eventual human recreat ion. Udall didn't atten d Thursday's ceremony, but Allard did and he was pleased. "It's been an arduous road, but one that's been very rewarding at the end," said Allard. "It's been a team effort, and together we have made the impossible possible." Allard and DOE officials, including Deputy Secretary of Energy Clay Sell and Director of the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site Frazer Lockhart, emphasized that estimates in th e early 1990s said cleanup would cost mo re than $37 billion and would take at least 70 years. Instead, site contractor Kaiser-Hill Company began cleanup efforts in 1995 along with federal and state regulatory agencies, and the team completed the cleanup to DOE's satisfaction in about 10 years at a cost of about $7 billion. Also, recent estimates predicted a Dec. 2006 completion date, but Kaiser-Hill and friends finished one year before then. The cleanup period, in a condensed description, involved the demolition of heavily contaminated Flats buildings, removal of the debris or building components from the site to waste storage facilities, removal of contaminated surface soils and extensive sampling of site soils along with ground and surface water. About 5,000 acres at the Flats site will be turned over to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) for management as a Refuge, but not until regulatory agencies including the EPA issue final approval. DOE will retain roughly 1,000 acres in the f or mer industrial center of the site for "long-term surveillance and maintenance," according to a DOE press release. Lockhart said the regulatory process could take about a year, and said the process would basically be "one last double-check" in part to make sure the site is safe to hand over to F&S. "It's a fairly long process with lots of paperwork and lots of analyses," said Lockhart. Lockhart said it would be "unlikely" that the regulatory process would include a great deal of new soil testing, despite the fact that several areas of elevated radiation were discovered during soil testing as recently as the summer of 2005. He said water monitoring will continue and said officials will conduct tests on Flats-area plants and animals. Also, Lockhart said it's "extremely unlikely" regulators will find additional areas of radiation testing higher than regulatory s tandards during the next year. Lockhart said crews flew over the site this summer in a helicopter with sophisticated equipment used to detect radiation. He said the equipment did suggest "six or seven" sites had possible elevated levels, but closer testing determined only background radiation levels. Former Boulder County Commissioner Paul Danish, on the other hand, is not convinced that DOE's announcement means citizens have heard the last report of new radiation di scoveries at Rocky Flats. "Really, what they're proclaiming is the end of spending federal money on the cleanup," said Danish. "But don't confuse that with the fact that everything's out of there. I believe what you heard is ‘It's good enough for government work.'" Danish served for Boulder County on the Rocky Flats Coalition of Local Governments (RFCLOG), an organization of elected officials from the Rocky Flats area c harged in part with discussing cleanup standards with DOE and other entities. Danish said he is concerned that radioactive substances including tritium could remain buried in Flats landfills, and that material remaining beneath the surface could be problematic years down the road after the memory of Rocky Flats fades. Plutonium has a half-life of roughly 24,000 years. But RFCLOG executive director David Abelson called the effort a "tremendous success" that "exceeded expectations." "One key thing they funded a cleanup project. They didn't do a cleanup based on funding," said Abelson. "That's an important distinction, and my hat goes off to the workers." Colorado Rep. Wes McKinley, D-Walsh, served on a Rocky Flats special grand jury after the plant was closed following a 1989 FBI raid on the facility. He released a statement Thursday saying that future visitors to the site should know what they're walking into. "Next year, I wil l be carrying legisl ation that will make the public aware of the true facts surrounding the Rocky Flats cleanup: the harmful effects of 50 years of hazardous contamination, and the safety concerns it causes for the general public," wrote McKinley. Udall released a statement Thursday bemoaning the fact that DOE employees would be charged $275 to attend a Thursday evening celebration in Denver while the public would be charged $75 for the same event. But Udall praised the efforts leading to Thursday's announcement. "The cleanup of Rocky Flats is a historic moment," wrote Udall. "It makes it official that the hard work of thousands of employees, supported by a united congressional delegation, has resulted in a successful end to the old Rocky Flats and sets the stage for a new Rocky Flats wildlife refuge." Contact Richard Valenty about this story at (303) 443-6272 ext. 126 or