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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 [NYTr] Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
2 AFP: Moscow again offers to process uranium for Iran
3 AFP: Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
4 IRNA: Iran receives no concrete plan from Russia: Asefi
5 IRNA: Specialized nuclear talks to continue in January -
6 Korea Herald: [YEAR-END REVIEW] Two Koreas make substantial progress
7 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Inter-Korean funding cut 5% by committee
8 AFP: NKorean officials in China for talks with Japanese delegates -
9 Japan Times: Japan, N. Korea discuss format for future talks
10 Guardian Unlimited Report: North Korea Criticizes U.S. Envoy
11 US: AFP: Large-scale US domestic spying program reported
12 US: American Daily: A Big Dose of Energy Reality - Alan Caruba
13 [NYTr] Japan Approves Joint Missile Project w/US
14 WorldNetDaily: Nobel peacenik
15 IRNA: US recognizes India as nuclear weapon state - Narayanan
16 PTI: 'Pak seeks IAEA help in quest to be treated at par with India'
17 Expressindia: N-deal: Now, focus on IAEA safeguards
NUCLEAR REACTORS
18 industanTimes.com: No opening up of nuke facility - NSA
19 Independent: Watchdog examines nuclear alert at Torness
20 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 2 power being restored
21 US: St. Petersburg Times Online: Choice delayed on site for nuclear
22 US: cantonrep.com: Cleveland company in running for new plant
NUCLEAR SECURITY
23 US: AFP: US confirms it monitors private sites for nuclear radiation
24 Norway Post: Radioactive materials found among scrap metals
NUCLEAR SAFETY
25 US: Las Vegas SUN: NIH Medical Safety Officer Reinstated
26 US: Deseret News: Preserving fallout data called vital for research
27 US: courier-journal: Nuclear plant cancer study gets review
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
28 US: ContraCostaTimes.com: PG&E faces $96,000 fine over missing fuel
29 Deseret News: Hatch makes sense on Yucca
30 US: Deseret News: Good news on nuke waste
31 US: Platts: Costs swell for MOX faciity, says DOE's IG
32 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Skull Valley alternative
33 US: Rio Rancho Observer: What's up with WIPP?: What the pilot plant
34 News & Star: RADIATION FEARS OVER DUMP PLAN
35 US: RGJ: Process Area samples show contaminant exceedances
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
36 AP Wire: Incinerator to be operated for at least three more years
37 AP Wire: Contractor blamed for accidents at Lawrence Livermore lab
38 Hanford News
39 Tennessean: DOE to keep running incinerator to help with nuclear cl
40 SF Chron: LIVERMORE / Contractor faulted for accidents at lab / U.S.
41 lamonitor.com: County explains its federal suit
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1 [NYTr] Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
Date: Sun, 25 Dec 2005 13:36:32 -0600 (CST)
X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
AFP - Dec 25, 2005
http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/051225093806.91vm2huk.html
Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran rejected an offer from Russia for the Islamic republic
to conduct uranium enrichment activities on its soil, foreign ministry
spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"We have still not received the concrete offer, but it is clear that we will
accept positively the propositions and the plans that recognize the right of
the Islamic republic to carry out enrichment on its own soil," he told
reporters Sunday.
Russia on Saturday had said its proposal to create "on Russian soil a joint
Russo-Iranian undertaking to enrich uranium still stands," despite earlier
indications from Tehran that it was not interested.
The Russian embassy in Tehran put the suggestion put to the Iranian
government on Saturday, the Russian foreign ministry said.
"This proposal represents Russia's contribution to the search for a solution
acceptable to all in the context of the settling of the situation... by
political and diplomatic methods," it said in a statement.
The Europe Union wants Iran to accept the Russian idea that enrichment
operations should take place in Russia without the direct involvement of
Iranian scientists.
EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany restarted talks Wednesday with
Iran over Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear programme and agreed to
meet again in January.
Asefi, however, refused to confirm January 18 as the date for resuming
negotiations.
"It is one date among others. But it is certain that the negotiations will
restart in January," he said.
*
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2 AFP: Moscow again offers to process uranium for Iran
Sat Dec 24, 1:32 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia repeated its offer to process uranium for
Iran" /> Iran's controversial nuclear program, a proposal Tehran
has already rejected.
Moscow's proposal to create "on Russian soil a joint
Russo-Iranian undertaking to enrich uranium still stands," the
Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
It said the suggestion had been put to the Iranian government on
Saturday.
"This proposal represents Russia's contribution to the search
for a solution acceptable to all in the context of the settling
of the situation... by political and diplomatic methods," the
statement said.
The Europe Union wants Iran to accept the Russian idea that
enrichment operations should take place in Russia without the
direct involvement of Iranian scientists.
Tehran has turned down both this offer and a "Libyan-style"
compromise that it should renounce sensitive activities in
exchange for various types of aid.
Russia is building Iran's first nuclear reactor.
EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany restarted talks
Wednesday with Iran over Western concerns that Tehran seeks
nuclear weapons and agreed to meet again in January.
But the two sides acknowledged that wide differences remained,
with Iran insisting on its right to make nuclear fuel, and the
West fearful that this could be used to manufacture an atomic
weapon.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
3 AFP: Iran rejects Russian nuclear offer
25/12/2005 09h41
Hamid Reza Asefi
©AFP/File - Louai Beshara
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran rejected an offer from Russia for the
Islamic republic to conduct uranium enrichment activities on its
soil, foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"We have still not received the concrete offer, but it is clear
that we will accept positively the propositions and the plans
that recognize the right of the Islamic republic to carry out
enrichment on its own soil," he told reporters Sunday.
Russia on Saturday had said its proposal to create "on Russian
soil a joint Russo-Iranian undertaking to enrich uranium still
stands," despite earlier indications from Tehran that it was not
interested.
The Russian embassy in Tehran put the suggestion put to the
Iranian government on Saturday, the Russian foreign ministry
said.
"This proposal represents Russia's contribution to the search
for a solution acceptable to all in the context of the settling
of the situation... by political and diplomatic methods," it
said in a statement.
The Europe Union wants Iran to accept the Russian idea that
enrichment operations should take place in Russia without the
direct involvement of Iranian scientists.
EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany restarted talks
Wednesday with Iran over Western concerns about Tehran's nuclear
programme and agreed to meet again in January.
Asefi, however, refused to confirm January 18 as the date for
resuming negotiations.
"It is one date among others. But it is certain that the
negotiations will restart in January," he said.
+ Ŕđŕáńęčé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005
*****************************************************************
4 IRNA: Iran receives no concrete plan from Russia: Asefi
Tehran, Dec 25, IRNA
Iran-Asefi-Nuclear
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza here Sunday rejected news
that Tehran had received a plan from Moscow to enrich uranium in
Russia.
"Some propositions were put forward but we have received no
concrete plan so far," he told domestic and foreign reporters at
his weekly press conference.
"It is clear that we have a positive view of any plan or
proposal that recognizes Iran's (nuclear) rights and asserts its
right to enrich (uranium) on its own soil."
He said the proposal President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gave in the
last UN General Assembly session was the best solution to the
case.
Ahmadinejad, in his UN address, invited foreign companies to
invest in Iran's nuclear projects to assure the world that
Tehran's nuclear activities are peaceful.
"We will study all proposals that recognize our rights,"
reiterated the spokesman adding, "We are ready for talks." Asefi
assessed as serious, transparent, and explicit the new round of
nuclear talks held between Iran and the European Union trio --
Germany, France, and Britain -- last Wednesday in Vienna.
He said nuclear talks were making progress as both sides had
called for further negotiations.
"The agreement on future talks indicates that previous
negotiations were positive. The talks will progress further if
the European party respects Iran's rights."
*****************************************************************
5 IRNA: Specialized nuclear talks to continue in January -
Tehran, Dec 25, IRNA
Iran-Asefi-Nuclear
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said here Sunday
that specialized nuclear talks will continue in January 2006,
with the first slated for January 18.
Speaking at his weekly briefing, in response to a question
about detention of one German and one French citizen in Iran, he
said that the arrest was due to their illegal entry into the
country and that they are now being interrogated.
"The diplomats of German and French embassies were allowed to
meet the detainees. They are in full health and their files have
been referred to the judicial branch of power.
"Iran's Foreign Ministry is in constant contact with the
judicial branch of power and the two embassies to see to it that
the rights of the two arrested individuals are fully respected,"
he added.
Responding to a question about the leniency of Iran's foreign
policy towards the East, he said that the main purpose is to
establish balance rather than being drawn to a certain direction.
"Given the change in the concept of East and West, today
referral to them does not indicate the geographical aspect of
these two words.
"Iran's long-term policy is based on working with all countries
in accordance with their potentials," added the spokesman.
Asked about the production of centrifuges and whether Iran
welcomes Russia's participation in the nuclear negotiations, he
said that once such a proposal, allegedly brought up by Germany,
becomes definite it will be examined by Iran.
In reply to another question whether production of centrifuges
indicates resumption of nuclear research, he noted that research
in this regard is separate from negotiations and that the issue
of enrichment is quite clear.
"Meanwhile, enrichment is not currently on the agenda and we
wish that such matters would be clarified during the talks and
that we would manage to solve the enrichment issue through
negotiation," he added.
In response to a reporter asking whether the recent visits of
CIA and Zionist officials to Turkey would be a threat to Iran,
he said, "The mischief of the Zionist regime is clear to
everyone. They attempt to divide the regional countries by
creating crises.
"We are confident that the Turks are careful not to let the
Zionist regime abuse them and have meanwhile warned our Turkish
allies to beware of eruption of such hostile atmosphere."
Asefi added that measures taken by the Zionist regime are
mostly a psychological and propaganda movement without having
any practical and serious aspects.
Concerning the most important events of the current Christian
year, he referred to the developments and election in Iraq and
Afghanistan, the Zionists' continuous violations and the silence
of the world community in this respect.
"On the domestic scene, the nuclear issue is still on the top
of agenda. It is considered as one of the most important
challenges faced by the government and we are doing our best to
solve it diplomatically," he added.
*****************************************************************
6 Korea Herald: [YEAR-END REVIEW] Two Koreas make substantial progress
2005.12.26
South and North Korea have seen significant progress in
bilateral relations this year with an agreement to actively
promote lasting peace on the peninsula. But efforts to ease
military tension remain sluggish due to the North's lackluster
response.
Three bilateral ministerial talks and many working-level talks
substantially moved forward inter-Korean ties. South Korea
established its first-ever permanent joint governmental office
for economic cooperation in the North's border town of Gaeseong.
Both sides also adopted a new style for reunion of the separated
families via video and pursued to hold them on a regular basis.
"Compared to 2004, the South-North relations were improved in
almost every aspect except the military part," Cho Han-bum,
senior research fellow at Korea Institute for National
Unification, said. "The North sees the military and security
areas as the ultimate card for it to pull out."
The two sides agreed to hold the military talks early next year
but have yet to fix the date.
Cho expects many working-level talks to be held next year to
resolve pending issues, including specific measures to establish
permanent peace on the peninsula.
Seoul's proposal for a peace regime is expected to include a
peace treaty, which will replace the armistice signed at the end
of the 1950-1953 Korean War. The two Koreas remain technically
at war although they signed a nonaggression treaty in 1992.
Experts say Seoul hopes the two Koreas will take the lead in
forming a peace mechanism.
The South Korean government has consistently pursued progress in
inter-Korean relations in harmony with the resolution of the
North Korean nuclear issue.
In the latest ministerial talks on Jeju Island, the Unification
Minister Chung Dong-young urged the North to return to the
nuclear disarmament talks as soon as possible, stressing the
implementation of the Sept. 19 Joint Statement among six
countries as the "most valuable" way for the South and North to
jointly benefit.
Seoul has praised the six-party agreement at Beijing's talks in
September, where the Stalinist state declared to abandon its
nuclear weapons, as "the triumph of South Korean diplomacy."
Chung has emphasized that Seoul played a leading role throughout
the process of resolving the nuclear crisis.
"Without the South Korean government's creative ideas and
persistent negotiating efforts, reaching the agreement of the
six-party talks would have been very difficult," Chung said in
September, referring to Seoul's offer to provide 2 million
kilowatts of electricity to Pyongyang and efforts to arbitrate
between North Korea and the United States.
Until June, the resumption of inter-Korean ministerial talks
had dimming prospects as the North boycotted them for 10 months
criticizing the South's acceptance of 468 North Korean escapees
into Seoul via Vietnam last year.
Inter-Korean dialogue resumed after Seoul promised to provide
200,000 tons of fertilizer to the North for a humanitarian
standpoint in May during vice-ministerial talks.
This year was also historically meaningful for the Koreans, as
it marked the fifth anniversary of the remarkable inter-Korean
summit in June 2000 and the 60th anniversary of Korea's
liberation from Japanese colonial rule.
When Chung went to Pyongyang to celebrate the historic
inter-Korean summit in June, he met North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il and convinced the North to rejoin the international
nuclear disarmament talks and rejoin the international
community.
During the joint festival to commemorate Korea's liberation in
Seoul in August, North Korean delegates, headed by Kim Ki-nam,
secretary of the Workers' Party's central committee, made
unprecedented visits to the state cemetery and to the National
Assembly.
Following their visits, Pyongyang has called for the removal of
Seoul's National Security Law that bans South Korean tourists or
delegates from visiting politically sensitive places such as the
birthplace of the state's late founder Kim Il-sung.
Despite years of twists and turns, inter-Korean economic
cooperation has made steady progress, marking the highest
quantity and quality for economic cooperation.
Inter-Korean trade has surpassed $1 billion for the first time
as a result of the Gaeseong industrial complex in the North's
border town. According to the Korea International Trade
Association, inter-Korean trade surged 57.7 percent from a year
ago to $978.6 million in the January-November period. A total of
15 South Korean companies currently operate the complex.
(aibang@heraldm.com)
By Annie I. Bang
*****************************************************************
7 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Inter-Korean funding cut 5% by committee
December 26, 2005 KST 17:04 (GMT+9)
December 26, 2005 ¤Ń The National Assembly's budget committee
has agreed on cuts of 150 billion won ($149 million) from the
2.6-trillion-won allocation for inter-Korean cooperation in the
administration's budget proposal. The funds are allocated to the
Unification Ministry for joint projects and foreign aid to North
Korea.
The committee, minus the Grand National Party members, agreed
yesterday to the cuts. The opposition party has been boycotting
the Assembly's work since Dec. 11 out of anger at the passage of
unrelated legislation.
The cut is slightly less than 6 percent of the requested funds.
The redlined funds included 120 billion won for the doomed
light-water nuclear reactor project in North Korea. Another 34
billion won was dropped from programs to promote
person-to-person exchanges.
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
8 AFP: NKorean officials in China for talks with Japanese delegates -
Sat Dec 24, 8:38 AM ET
BEIJING (AFP) - North Korean officials arrived in Beijing for a
two-day meeting with Japanese delegates aimed at normalising
ties between the isolated Stalinist state and the East Asian
economic powerhouse.
The meeting comes on the sidelines of an official visit to
China by North Korea" /> North Korea's vice premier, Ro Tu Chol.
The Tokyo-Pyongyang talks were expected to focus on North
Korea's nuclear programme and its past abductions of Japanese
citizens. North Korea has also in the past demanded compensation
from its 1910-45 occupier Japan.
"There are many issues between Japan and North Korea," said a
Japanese diplomatic official on Saturday, who added that both
sides would discuss the format of future bilateral talks aimed
at normalising ties.
He said the Japanese delegation, led by senior foreign ministry
official Akitaka Saiki, would discuss with the North Koreans
issues including the abductions of Japanese to train North
Korean spies, mostly in the 1970s.
Pyongyang has declared the issue settled after repatriating five
kidnap victims along with their families and saying the other
abducted Japanese are dead.
Japan has insisted the others -- at least eight of them -- are
still alive and being kept under wraps because they know too
many secrets.
Ahead of the talks, Japanese media said that, if an agreement
could be reached, it would pave the way for the first
full-fledged normalisation talks between the two countries since
October 2002.
A similar meeting between Japan and North Korea took place in
November, without yielding an agreement.
Meanwhile, China's state media reported Saturday the arrival of
North Korean vice premier Ro Tu Chol for a four-day visit to
Beijing, during which he was expected to hold talks with China's
top leaders.
"During the visit, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and vice premier
Zeng Peiyan are expected to meet with him," the Xinhua news
agency reported, without elaborating.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang only told a regular
press briefing Thursday that the Chinese leaders and Ro would
discuss bilateral relations and "issues of common interest."
Japan and China have been involved in currently stalled
six-party talks, along with the two Koreas, the United States
and Russia, aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its
nuclear ambitions.
Japan earlier on Saturday approved a plan to develop with the
United States a next-generation ship-borne missile defence
system after six years of joint research.
Japan has been in a hurry to build a missile defense system with
the United States since North Korea stunned the world in 1998 by
firing a missile over the Japanese mainland into the Pacific.
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
9 Japan Times: Japan, N. Korea discuss format for future talks
Sunday, December 25, 2005
BEIJING (Kyodo) Japan and North Korea fell short Saturday of
agreeing on a proposal to set up three working groups to address
outstanding bilateral issues, Japan's chief delegate Akitaka
Saiki said.
[News photo]
Song Il Ho, vice director of the North Korean Foreign
Ministry's Asian Affairs Department, speaks to reporters after
arriving Saturday morning in Beijing.
But as they began two days of talks focused on the format of
future negotiations, the North also acknowledged the "necessity
and importance" of specialized panels, according to Saiki, the
deputy head of the Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs
Bureau.
"We will continue talks tomorrow," he said after a three-hour
session at the Japanese Embassy in Beijing. "We will make
efforts to bring about concrete results tomorrow."
Hopes that an agreement might be reached were raised when North
Korea's chief delegate said in the morning he thinks Japan's
idea to set up separate working groups to deal with the various
issues was a "positive proposal."
"We have considered it in a specific manner," Song Il Ho, vice
director of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's Asian Affairs
Department, told reporters on his arrival in Beijing. "We will
discuss areas that require more discussions, and decide on areas
where decisions can be made.
"If necessary, I think we can reach an agreement on the
schedule" for future bilateral talks, he said.
Japan has proposed that the two countries formally resume
negotiations on normalizing ties, while handling two other
issues -- North Korea's nuclear programs and past abductions of
Japanese -- in parallel through separate working groups.
If an agreement be reached, it would pave the way for the first
full-fledged normalization talks since October 2002.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said he hopes progress will be
made in the Beijing talks.
"It is far better for both sides to forge cooperative
relations, rather than hostile relations, toward developing
peace," Koizumi said.
The bilateral discussions come at a time when the two Koreas,
the United States, China, Japan and Russia have been unable to
set a date for the resumption of six-party talks on the North's
nuclear ambitions.
Relatives rally in D.C. WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Relatives and
supporters of Japanese abducted by North Korea distributed
leaflets in front of the White House on Friday and called for
help from the American people.
"We hope our activities will spread the recognition of the
abduction problem among the American people and move them not as
a political matter but as a human story," said Izumi Asano, a
cousin of one of the Japanese believed to have been abducted and
who leads the Washington-based support group Rescuing Abductees
Center for Hope.
The group hopes these activities may prompt the U.S. and
Japanese governments to step up pressure on North Korea,
including economic sanctions.
Six of the group's members gathered in front of the White House
holding placards reading "Rescue Abductees from North Korea" and
"My Cousin Was Kidnapped by North Korea" while distributing
leaflets and explaining the issue to passersby.
Asano, a certified public accountant who lives in nearby
Maryland, said his cousin is believed to be among the Japanese
kidnapped by North Korea in the 1970s and early 1980s.
The Japan Times: Dec. 25, 2005
(C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
10 Guardian Unlimited Report: North Korea Criticizes U.S. Envoy
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Sunday December 25, 2005 10:47 AM
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea has again criticized the
top U.S. envoy to Seoul for making provocative remarks about the
communist country, calling him a ``tyrant,'' a news report said
Sunday.
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Alexander Vershbow labeled the
North a ``criminal regime'' early this month, citing Pyongyang's
alleged arms dealing, money laundering and counterfeiting.
Since the remarks, North Korea has repeatedly called on South
Korea to expel Vershbow for slandering the North. Pyongyang has
also called Vershbow a ``political rogue'' and his remarks a
``declaration of war.''
``It is clear (Vershbow) is a tyrant wearing the mask of a
diplomat,'' the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said Sunday in a
commentary, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.
Vershbow's comments have also drawn rebukes from South Korean
officials. Kim Won-wung, a lawmaker of the ruling Uri Party,
recently warned he would campaign for the expulsion of Vershbow
unless he moderates his criticism of North Korea.
U.S. allegations of the North's involvement in counterfeiting
have been a major obstacle to resuming talks on Pyongyang's
nuclear arms program. North Korea has dismissed the allegations
as a lie and threatened to boycott the talks with the U.S.,
South Korea, China, Japan and Russia unless Washington lifts the
sanctions.
In a separate report on Saturday, the North urged South Korea to
apologize for Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung's recent remarks
that the North poses a military threat, calling them an
intolerable insult and mockery.
``The military threat on the Korean Peninsula is not coming from
the North but from South Korea where the U.S. troops are
stationed,'' said a spokesman for the Committee for the North's
Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, according to the
North's Korean Central News Agency.
The unidentified spokesman also described the Korean Peninsula
as a touch-and-go situation in which a war may break out any
moment due to war moves of the U.S. and South Korea. It did not
say what it meant by war moves.
About 32,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, a legacy
of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
11 AFP: Large-scale US domestic spying program reported
24/12/2005 20h07
George W. Bush ©AFP - Mandel Ngan
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The US government's domestic spying operation
is much broader than previously disclosed, involving
eavesdropping on vast amounts of telephone and Internet traffic,
according to US media reports.
The government's top-secret National Security Agency (NSA) is
not only monitoring specific conversations of terrorist suspects
but also combing through massive volumes of phone and Internet
communications, according to a New York Times report.
The "data-mining operation" by the NSA -- often in cooperation
with major telecommunications firms -- includes surveillance of
phone calls outside the United States that pass through US-based
telephone "switches" or gateways.
The revelations raise more legal questions about President
George W. Bush's conduct in the "war on terror" and are sure to
fuel a growing debate about civil liberties and national
security in the United States.
US media also reported that the government runs a secret program
to monitor homes, workplaces and mosques of Muslims in six US
cities for signs of possible nuclear radiation.
Both programs involve surveillance without search warrants or
court orders, and agents who questioned the legality of the
practise were allegedly rebuked, according to the news magazine
US News and World Report.
The federal government had previously said it had installed
radiation-detection equipment at ports, subway stations and
other public sites. The reports revealed that surveillance of
private property was also under way. A muslim prays at a US
mosque
©AFP/File - Mike Nelson
Warning that constitutional rights were under threat, the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the
monitoring of the Muslim community without court approval as
illegal and discriminatory.
"All Americans should be concerned about the apparent trend
toward a two-tiered system of justice, with full rights for most
citizens, and another diminished set of rights for Muslims," the
council said in a statement issued Friday.
The disclosures came a week after Bush acknowledged that he had
approved eavesdropping on US citizens without court-ordered
warrants, as the White House came under increasing scrutiny
about the legal limits of its "war on terror."
Bush and his top aides have stressed that the order for
eavesdropping was limited to those suspected of ties to
Al-Qaeda. But the latest reports about vetting vast amounts of
data indicate the spying operation is more far-reaching.
Bush has vehemently defended the spying as a "vital tool" to
fending off another terrorist strike but some of his Republican
allies in Congress have expressed concern about the
eavesdropping. The debate is sure to intensify when the Senate
Judiciary Committee takes up the issue in the new year.
In its effort to track terrorist threats, the Bush
administration has secured groundbreaking cooperation from major
telecommunications companies, which have passed along
information on calling patterns from a large volume of telephone
traffic to the NSA, according to US media reports.
Similar revelations about domestic spying led to legislation in
the 1970s that allows for wiretapping but requires government
agencies to obtain a warrant from a special court.
A federal judge resigned from the secret Foreign Intelligence
Surveillance Act court in Washington this week, apparently in
protest over the Bush-ordered program that sidesteps the court.
The chief judge of the court reportedly has asked for a briefing
from the administration on the spying operations.
+ Ŕđŕáńęčé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005
*****************************************************************
12 American Daily: A Big Dose of Energy Reality - Alan Caruba
By Alan Caruba (12/25/05)
Americans get interested in energy when either gasoline or
heating prices rise. The rest of the time, we assume that,
either there are sufficient energy resources, i.e., coal,
natural gas, and oil, or if we buy into the doom and gloom
“experts”, that we are running out of everything.
Accustomed to affordable energy, Americans, when they do pay any
attention to energy issues, look for someone to blame when
prices spike. They rarely look at Congress, assuming it is in
the pocket of Big Oil. There’s something to be said for this,
given the fact that the oil industry pumped $25.5 million into
the campaigns of federal candidates during the last election
cycle; 80% of which went to Republicans.
Surely, then, Congress is catering to Big Oil and doing what it
can to insure ample energy for the nation. No. In fact,
according to Ed Feulner, the president of The Heritage
Foundation, “before the House of Representatives passed the
federal budget, lawmakers stripped out a provision that would
have allowed companies to drill for oil in the Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge.” The oil from a tiny portion of ANWR “could
generate as many as 16 billion barrels of oil, enough to replace
about 30 years worth of oil imports from Saudi Arabia.” A more
recent effort to authorize the extraction of ANWR reserves also
failed.
Feulner also noted that, “partly because of opposition by
lawmakers from Florida and California, Congress bans oil and
natural gas exploration in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the
outer continental shelf.” These days, too, “federal law
restricts access to resources in the Rocky Mountains and
elsewhere.” Does any of this make any sense to you? If Congress
is in the grip of the giant energy companies, why has it
consistently created obstacles to the extraction of our own
resources of energy?
Representative Richard Pombo, chairman of the House Committee on
Resources, will tell anyone who will listen that “for the
foreseeable future, America has no shortage of oil or other
traditional energy resources. Washington, D.C., has a shortage
of the political will required to let American workers go get
it.”
For example, “The United States has enough non-park federal
resources to supply natural gas to 100 million homes for 157
years. But, despite that massive supply, we cannot deliver even
one year of affordable natural gas to Americans right now.” The
result is that the wholesale price of natural gas is twenty-four
percent higher than it was last April, as most non-park
resources are off-limits, and locked up with more than thirty
regulations.”
Rep. Pombo notes that ANWR contains “a mean estimate of 10.4
billion barrels of oil, according to the most recent United
States Geographical Survey report. This represents a forty-five
percent increase in total U.S. proven reserves, and could create
more than 735,000 U.S. jobs.” The oil trapped in shale rock in
the U.S. could produce two trillion barrels of oil; four times
Saudi Arabia’s resources. For various reasons, while it is far
from providing oil independence, America’s energy security would
surely benefit from developing this source.
The United States of America is literally funding both sides of
the war against the Islamofascists, buying oil from the Middle
Eastern nations that support them and funding our military to
destroy them.
At this point I will be told that I am very naďve about our
current energy problems. After all, the President comes from an
“oil family.” True. And equally true is the fact that he has
been trying to free up the ANWR oil reserves without any success
to date. It would appear that any energy executives who got
together with Vice President Cheney to advise on national policy
haven’t had much luck either except for some tax breaks.
Granted Big Oil took in some significant profits recently, but
without them they cannot invest the billions it costs to search
for and develop new reserves worldwide, nor can they expand
their refinery capacity without profits. Exxon Mobil, however,
has spent $3.3 billion in the past five years expanding and
improving its existing US refineries, adding the equivalent
capacity of three new facilities. To suggest oil companies are
not looking for new sources is nonsense, though industry
insiders debate issues about where they’re looking.
Daniel Yergin, chairman of Cambridge Energy Research Associates,
went on record earlier this year in the Washington Post to
report that his company’s field-by-field analysis of worldwide
oil production capacity suggests that “From 2004 to 2010,
capacity to produce oil (not actual production) could grow by 16
million barrels a day—from 85 million barrels a day to 101
million barrels—a twenty percent increase. Such growth over the
next few years would relieve the pressure on supply and demand.”
As Yergin noted, “This is not the first time that the world has
‘run out of oil.’ It’s more like the fifth. Cycles of shortage
and surplus characterize the history of the oil industry.”
The World Energy Outlook 2005, published by the International
Energy Agency “expects global energy markets to remain robust
through 2030. If policies remain unchanged, world energy demand
is projected to increase by over 50% between now and 2030. World
energy resources are adequate to meet this demand, but
investment of $17 trillion will be needed to bring these
resources to consumers.”
One of the main drags on the search for, extraction, and
transportation of energy resources has been the worldwide
environmental movement. In the U.S. the restrictions imposed on
energy companies are largely the work of legislators in league
with various Green organizations opposed to any use of “fossil
fuel” energy on the grounds that it produces “greenhouse gases”
and thus will lead to a massive, highly theoretical “global
warming.” Since there is very little, if any, proof that
anthropological (human) induced warming exists, it would be a
good idea if we could get on with the business of producing the
energy supplies the U.S. and the world needs.
The world is not running out of oil, natural gas, or coal. The
U.S. has so much coal we export it. If the environmentalists
would just get out of the way, there would be no energy problem
at all. Ironically, nuclear energy, the least polluting of all,
has long been opposed by the Greens. At a recent UN Kyoto
Protocol conference, Patrick Moore, the former founding member
of Greenpeace, long since a critic, said, “It is the
environmental movement itself that is the primary impediment to
the reduction of CO2 emission and fossil fuel consumption
because they refuse to support the obvious alternatives” of
nuclear power and hydro power.
Energy costs are affected, of course, by unpredictable factors
such as Hurricane Katrina that briefly disrupted oil extraction
and refining in the Gulf States area. While gasoline prices did
rise after the hurricane, they fell just as rapidly within
weeks. Other factors involve the political and other objectives
of Middle Eastern and other oil-producing nations such as
Venezuela.
That’s why Saddam Hussein had to be removed. He was a major
threat to the nations of the Middle East. Responsible for an
eight-year war with Iran and an invasion of Kuwait; he also
posed a threat to Saudi Arabia. A stable and a democratic Iraq
with a reliable justice system would prove to be a glaring
example of what every other Middle Eastern nation, with the
exception of Israel, lacks. It also insures that Iraq’s huge oil
reserves will flow again minus the obscenities of Hussein’s vile
regime. Iraq’s oil facilities and pipelines are under constant
attack for this reason.
Meanwhile, in Iran, the extremist Shiite Islamic Revolution is
discovering that foreign direct investment has zeroed-out thanks
to its highly dubious pursuit of a nuclear weapons capacity and
its open threat to destroy Israel. China’s and India’s growing
need for oil, however, has gained Iran some powerful new
friends. Iran sits atop the third largest oil reserves. The more
belligerent its leadership is, the more likely it invites a
“solution” comparable to Iraq’s.
Finally, back home in America, the federal government is
spending billions to research the possibility of hydrogen as a
new “alternative” energy source. At some point, the government
will have to tell the public that it is impractical,
inefficient, and, regrettably, it has wasted a huge waste of
money. This is called a learning curve and, until the money is
down the old research chute, various environmental organizations
and university research centers will continue to insist hydrogen
is the wave of the future; along with solar energy and wind
power.
You want low prices at the gas pump? You want to heat your home
without having to give up one meal a day? You want electricity?
Learn to love Big Oil, Big Gas, and Big Coal.
© Alan Caruba, December 2005
*Ed: Views are those of individual authors and not necessarily
those of American Daily.
Send Feedback To Alan Caruba http://www.anxietycenter.com
Design © 2003-2005 American Daily. Content ©2003-2005
*****************************************************************
13 [NYTr] Japan Approves Joint Missile Project w/US
Date: Sat, 24 Dec 2005 12:26:59 -0600 (CST)
X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com
Joint Japan-US Missile Project Approved
Tokyo, Dec 24 (PL) The Japanese government Saturday approved to produce a
next-generation missile defense system project jointly with the United
States.
The cabinet and the Security Council of Japan agreed nearly 2.5 billion US
dollars for development of the SM-3 missile interceptor in fiscal 2006 and
about 5.96 billion dollars for remaining work of joint research.
The SM-3 is part of an anti-missile shield which also includes the
land-based surface-to-air PAC-3. It intercepts ballistic missiles when it
reaches its highest point outside of the atmosphere and PAC-3 missiles are
used to destroy missiles that evade SM-3 interceptions.
The missile-defense project has been a major part of the strengthened
Japan-US military alliance in recent years.
According to Japanese Kyodo News Agency, Tokyo plans to begin deploying the
surface-to-air Patriot Advanced Capability 3 component of the missile
defense system by March 2007 and the SM-3 interceptors on Aegis-equipped
destroyers by March 2008.
mh/ajs
*
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14 WorldNetDaily: Nobel peacenik
SATURDAY DECEMBER 24 2005
[Supercritical Thoughts] [Gordon Prather]
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com
In October, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that the
Peace Prize for 2005 was to be shared, in two equal parts,
between the International Atomic Energy Agency and its
director-general, Mohamed ElBaradei, "for their efforts to
prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and
to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in
the safest possible way."
According to the IAEA statute, that's their job:
The agency shall seek to accelerate and enlarge the contribution
of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the
world.
It shall ensure, so far as it is able, that assistance provided
by it or at its request or under its supervision or control is
not used in such a way as to further any military purpose.
Hence, the primary objective of the IAEA is to facilitate the
safe and secure transfer – and subsequent peaceful application –
of "atomic energy."
The IAEA statute establishes a mechanism – the IAEA Safeguards
regime – for accomplishing its secondary objective: to ensure
that "special fissionable and other materials" are "not used in
such a way as to further any military purpose."
The three objectives of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons– which entered into force 20 years after the
IAEA establishment – are:
+ to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons
technology,
+ to foster the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and
+ to further the goal of achieving general and complete
disarmament.
The NPT attempts to "freeze" the number of nuclear-weapon states
by requiring all other NPT signatories to forswear nuclear
weapons and to conclude comprehensive Safeguards Agreements with
the IAEA for the "exclusive purpose" of assuring all
NPT-signatories that nuclear materials are not being diverted
from peaceful uses to the production of nuclear weapons.
These IAEA Safeguards agreements remain in force only so long as
the agreement-state remains a signatory to the NPT.
In December 2003, Iran signed an Additional Protocol to its
existing Safeguards Agreement and immediately began to adhere to
it, even though it had not officially entered "into force," then
or now.
Subsequently, Iran has allowed ElBaradei and his IAEA inspectors
to go almost anywhere, see almost anything and interview almost
anyone even remotely connected to Iran's nuclear program. On the
eve of his acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize, ElBaradei had
found no evidence that any "source" or "special nuclear
materials" were being – or had been – used in furtherance of any
military purpose.
However, despite a complete lack of evidence, the neo-crazies –
in and out of government – continue to insist that Iran has (and
that Iraq had) an advanced nuke development program that the
Nobel laureate can't find.
ElBaradei gave the lie to their insistence about Iraq three
years ago, and the Nobel Committee apparently believes he has
given the lie to their insistence, now, about Iran.
However, ElBaradei isn't perfect.
In accepting the Nobel Peace Prize, he had this – inter
alia – to say:
I have no doubt that, if we hope to escape self-destruction,
then nuclear weapons should have no place in our collective
conscience, and no role in our security.
To that end, we must ensure – absolutely – that no more
countries acquire these deadly weapons.
We must see to it that nuclear-weapon states take concrete steps
toward nuclear disarmament.
And we must put in place a security system that does not rely on
nuclear deterrence.
Now, insofar as that's ElBaradei saying "we" on behalf of fellow
peaceniks, that's OK. But, insofar as it's the IAEA
director-general saying "we" on behalf of his Nobel laureate
staff, that's not OK.
In particular, the IAEA is not a disarmament agency. Nor is it a
nuke counter-proliferation agency.
But, ElBaradei does go on to make one proposal that could
perhaps involve the IAEA.
ElBaradei wants international control over operations producing
nuclear material that could be used in weapons.
I am hoping that we can make these operations multinational – so
that no one country can have exclusive control over any such
operation.
My plan is to begin by setting up a reserve fuel bank, under
IAEA control, so that every country will be assured that it will
get the fuel needed for its bona fide peaceful nuclear
activities.
This assurance of supply will remove the incentive – and the
justification – for each country to develop its own fuel cycle.
Oh yeah?
Since 1975, Iran has been a partner in EURODIF, an international
uranium-enrichment consortium, but has yet to receive either
enriched uranium or the return of its billion dollar investment.
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy
implementing official for national security-related technical
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr.
Prather also served as legislative assistant for national
security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National
Laboratory in New Mexico.
[WorldNetDaily.com]
© 2005 WorldNetDaily.com, Inc.
webmaster@worldnetdaily.com
--> news@worldnetdaily.com--> Contact WND
Co-Located at Fiber Internet Center
*****************************************************************
15 IRNA: US recognizes India as nuclear weapon state - Narayanan
New Delhi, Dec 24, IRNA
India-US-Nuclear-Narayanan
Indian National Security Adviser M K Narayanan said Saturday the
US had implicitly recognized India as a nuclear weapon state and
agreed to supply fuel for Tarapore reactors following a series
of commitments by India, including that of separating civilian
and military facilities.
The recognition was made during Manmohan Singh's visit to
Washington in July, he added.
India was hopeful that many of the contentious issues on the
nuclear deal with the US would be resolved before President
George W Bush's visit here early March and an agreement in
principle firmed up on its implementation, he said.
New Delhi is also expecting Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran to
bring a draft legislation which the US will present to the
Congress for its approval of the July 18 understanding reached
between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Bush.
"If both sides are reasonably satisfied with this as also
certain changes and guidelines of Nuclear Suppliers Group, it is
possible to move forward", Narayanan said in an interview with
New Delhi Television (NDTV), a leading Indian English news
channel.
The understanding had signalled a major gain for India which
has been facing difficulties getting external supply of nuclear
fuel ever since the 1998 Pokhran nuclear tests.
*****************************************************************
16 PTI: 'Pak seeks IAEA help in quest to be treated at par with India'
Islamabad, Dec 25 (PTI) Pakistan has sought the support of the
UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in its quest for being treated at par
with India by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) which controls
developing countries' access to nuclear technology, according to
a media report.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was aware of
Pakistan's needs for nuclear technology to meet its growing
demand for energy, local daily 'Dawn' today quoted "informed
sources" as saying.
It claimed that IAEA believes that Pakistan's requirements of
nuclear technology should be met to help it generate more
electricity and eliminate widespread salinity and water-logging.
While Pakistan has taken up the issue of acquiring from the US
nuclear energy for peaceful purpose, it is also asking IAEA to
use its influence with the Bush administration as well as other
members of the NSG to get a fair treatment, the report said.
Pakistan has informed the IAEA that it has launched a Rs 178
million programme to reclaim 25,000 acres of waterlogged and
saline land across the country. "But this programme needs
nuclear technology from the United States and other members of
NSG," a source was quoted as aying by the daily, adding that the
country would also be needing 8,800MW of electricity by 2030.
The sources told the paper that the US and other Western
countries should treat Pakistan at par with India to ensure
equilibrium in the region. PTI
© Copyright PTI 2003-2004
*****************************************************************
17 Expressindia: N-deal: Now, focus on IAEA safeguards
December 25, 2005
India will insist that safeguards should be applicable only to
future activities and kick in along with international
cooperation
C. RAJA MOHAN
NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 24: As India and the United States put the
implementation of their nuclear pact on a fast track, the
government is expected to shortly begin consultations with the
International Atomic Energy Agency on safeguards arrangements for
its civilian nuclear facilities.
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran and his US interlocutors last week
in Washington appear to have concluded that an early closure to
the deal would dramatically change the political setting for
Bush’s India visit in late February or early March.
Accelerating the nuclear pact’s implementation necessarily
involves a formal Indian understanding with the IAEA. The
prospects for such an understanding have been good, thanks to
the immediate support from the Director General of the IAEA,
Mohammad El Baradei for the Indo-U.S. nuclear pact when it was
unveiled last July.
El Baradei, who received the Nobel Peace Prize this year,
strongly defended the US nuclear deal with India in a conclave
of non-proliferation hawks in Washington last month. Under the
nuclear pact signed by President George W. Bush and Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh, the US will resume atomic energy
cooperation with India, once India identifies its civilian
military facilities and puts them under IAEA safeguards.
Saran had a useful exchange of views in Washington on India’s
nuclear separation plan and the language of the nuclear
legislation that the Bush Administration. These discussions,
which reportedly went way beyond Indian expectations, would be
continued at the next round in Delhi in January.
Further clarifications from both sides should help finalise the
separation plan and the legislative language. That would allow
the Bush Administration to approach both the US Congress, which
reconvenes in the third week of January, and the Nuclear
Suppliers Group to change the nuclear rules in favour of India.
It is learnt that Saran also discussed the nature of IAEA
safeguards on India’s civilian facilities. While the safeguards
agreements would have to be negotiated directly between Delhi
and the IAEA, American support would be crucial.
India’s nuclear separation plans are inextricably linked to the
type of IAEA safeguards to be put in place. A unique safeguards
arrangement with Delhi, that fully recognises the reality of a
military nuclear programme in India, would make it easier for
Delhi to put a larger number of facilities on its civilian list.
Analysts say, it would make sense for India to negotiate a
separate agreement with the IAEA—referred to in the IAEA jargon
as Information Circular 66—for every nuclear facility it chooses
to put under international safeguards.
The existence of a weapons-oriented component in the Indian
nuclear programme automatically rules out the possibility of the
comprehensive safeguards arrangement called INFCIRC 153.
Under the July 18 pact, India also agreed to negotiate “an
additional protocol” with the IAEA. The system of additional
protocols, modeled after INFCIRC 540, were developed by the IAEA
in the 1990s to ensure stronger verification of the commitments
of the non-nuclear weapon states.
By definition again, this dimension of the INFCIRC 540 has no
relevance to India. The only provisions of the INFCIRC 540 that
will be applicable to India are the declarations on nuclear
exports, which India as a responsible nuclear weapon state would
be ready to undertake.
One criterion, officials have said over recent weeks, that will
guide India’s decision to place a particular facility under
safeguards, would be the benefit of international cooperation.
India would, however, insist that the application of safeguards
on its nuclear facilities would be “prospective” not
“retrospective”. In other words, IAEA safeguards should be
applicable only to future activities. India would also like to
ensure that safeguards would only kick in along with the
initiation of international cooperation. This would require
total clarity in the language of the proposed new US law on
nuclear cooperation with India and the wording of the IAEA safe
guards agreements.
© 2005: Indian Express Newspapers (Mumbai) Ltd.
*****************************************************************
18 industanTimes.com: No opening up of nuke facility - NSA
Sunday, December 25, 2005|23:30 IST
Indo-Asian News Service
New Delhi, December 24, 2005
National Security Adviser MK Narayanan has expressed confidence
that the India-US nuclear deal will be implemented soon, but
this may not happen before US President George W Bush's visit in
New Delhi in early March.
"I don't think it will happen before Bush comes to India. But by
the time he comes, which hopefully will be in early March, most
of the issues will be sorted out," he told a news channel in an
interview.
He also clarified that India's commitment to put its civilian
facilities under international inspection will not compromise
its strategic programme.
Answering a question, Narayanan also ruled out demilitarisation
along the Line of Control (LoC). "Troop reduction can be
considered if there is a reduction in violence, but the worrying
factor is the increase in infiltration," he said.
But Narayanan, who is a security and foreign policy aide to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, said the government was ready to
look at Pakistan's proposal of self-governance for Kashmir.
During Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran's visit to the US that
concluded on Thursday, India and the US made a "considerable
advance" on civilian nuclear energy cooperation.
"We had a very, very positive exchange of views on civilian
nuclear energy cooperation and we also came to the conclusion
that we should be in a position to make a significant advance on
this initiative before President Bush's visit to India," Saran
told reporters in Washington before returning home.
"This meeting we had produced very positive forward movement on
a whole range of issues. We have exchanged views on the
implementation of our respective commitments as contained in the
July 18 joint statement."
During his discussions with US officials, including his
counterpart and Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, Saran
for the first time unveiled a credible separation plan of the
Indian civilian and military nuclear facilities to Washington.
This is a commitment India is required to honour before the US
Congress changes its tough domestic nuclear non-proliferation
laws in favour of New Delhi.
*****************************************************************
19 Independent: Watchdog examines nuclear alert at Torness
By Michael Harrison, Business Editor
Published: 24 December 2005
An inquiry was under way last night at the Torness nuclear power
station in Scotland after an incident involving fuel rods in one
of its reactors.
Anti-nuclear campaigners said the incident was just the latest
in a series of problems at the British Energy-owned site and
called for the investigation to be wide ranging.
The incident happened on Thursday night when a spent fuel
element failed to position correctly in the station's cooling
pond. Police and the fire service were called to the site. The
Nuclear Installations Inspectorate is now investigating.
Friends of the Earth (FoE) and the Scottish Green MP, Chris
Ballance, said the incident proved once again the dangers of
nuclear power, adding it was further evidence that the
Government should not sanction the building of any new reactors.
FoE Scotland's chief executive Duncan McLaren, said the Health
and Safety Executive had had to deal with 230 separate incidents
at Torness between June 2000 and June this year.
But a spokeswoman for British Energy played down the incident,
saying that both reactors at Torness had continued to operate
safely. "At no time was there any danger to any member of the
public or station staff, and there was no leak of radioactivity
on or off-site as a result of the incident," she added.
John Home Robertson, the East Lothian MSP, said: "Far from this
incident being a sign of the dangers of nuclear power, the
precautions taken ably demonstrate the very high safety
standards to which the nuclear industry conforms."
© 2005 Independent News and Media Limited
*****************************************************************
20 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point 2 power being restored
By MICHAEL RISINIT
(Original publication: December 24, 2005)
BUCHANAN Operators at Indian Point 2 yesterday afternoon were
increasing the reactor's power output after it was shut down
Thursday so repairs could be made to a packing seal on a valve.
The valve regulates the flow of nonradioactive water to one of
the plant's four steam generators.
"They just repacked it. It was nothing of any consequence," said
Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the
plant's owner.
The leak of clean water was discovered several weeks ago during
a routine inspection when steam or water was seen escaping from
the valve. Several attempts were made to repair it without
curtailing the plant's operation.
"It's not problematic. But in order to do a really good job
repairing it, we had to shut it down," he said.
Steets said the reactor produces about 1,000 megawatts of power
and was reduced Thursday morning to about 2 percent of its
operating power. By 11 a.m. yesterday, Steets said, the
reactor's output was slowly being increased and by midafternoon
was approaching 50 percent.
The shutdown Thursday ended the plant's streak of 383 continuous
days of operation, which Steets characterized as one of the
plant's "longest times without a shutdown." Indian Point 3, the
second of two operating reactors at the site, was briefly shut
down for repairs in early October but was up and running during
the latest incident. Both plants will now be operating at full
capacity.
Indian Point 1 was deactivated in 1974.
Copyright 2005 The Journal News,. Inc. newspaper serving
Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York. Use of
this site signifies your agreement to the and , updated June 7,
2005.
*****************************************************************
21 St. Petersburg Times Online: Choice delayed on site for nuclear plant
It's still possible Progress Energy will build its new Florida
plant at the existing Crystal River nuclear site.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published December 24, 2005
Progress Energy initially planned to pick a site for a new
nuclear plant in Florida by the end of this year. But now,
company officials say that decision may not come until March.
Spokesman Rick Kimble said the utility has yet to start
compiling a list of potential sites and is still reviewing
general areas of the state to consider.
In an October briefing for local government officials, Progress
Energy vice president and chief nuclear officer C.S. "Scotty"
Hinnant said the Crystal River complex, where the company
already operates a nuclear reactor, was one of the sites being
considered.
Earlier this month, representatives from the Economic
Development Council and the Citrus County Chamber of Commerce
met in St. Petersburg with Progress Energy Florida president and
chief executive officer Bill Habermeyer to emphasize the
county's support.
"We clearly hope that we make the cut," said EDC president Jack
Reynolds, who attended the meeting.
And even though Progress Energy officials provided few details
at the meeting about the status of the planning process, EDC
executive director Brett Wattles said it seemed the Crystal
River complex was still under consideration.
"I think we all felt like we were still in the hunt," he said.
"We certainly let it be known that we would enjoy having the
project here, and at whatever time was appropriate we would like
to get with them and work with them in that direction."
As Progress Energy officials continue researching their
options, Reynolds said the council is approaching local
government officials to discuss the project's advantages.
County Commission Chairman Gary Bartell said Reynolds contacted
him after meeting with Progress Energy officials and said the
EDC might ask commissioners to write a letter of support.
"I told them if they did I'd be glad to put it on the agenda
for discussion," Bartell said.
Wattles said Progress Energy represents about 28 percent of
Citrus County's tax roll. Last year, the company's total tax
payment was about $32-million, he said. And it provides more
than 1,000 jobs in the area.
At a meeting last month, Progress Energy officials told the
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission that they planned to
select two locations for possible new nuclear plants, one in
Florida and one in the Carolinas, by the end of the year.
They also said they would select a reactor design by the end of
the year and submit applications to the commission in late 2007.
Progress Energy Carolinas already operates three nuclear plants
and has chosen a location for a new nuclear plant, but officials
say they won't publicly announce the new site until the second
or third week of 2006.
In November they told the NRC they were considering four sites
where the company already operates nuclear plants, including the
Crystal River complex in Citrus County along with Shearon Harris
and Brunswick in North Carolina and Robinson in South Carolina.
But they said they were also considering entirely new sites.
The NRC and Progress Energy plan to hold a public meeting to
announce the sites and technology the company has selected.
The Crystal River nuclear power plant, which began operations
in 1977, is one of five nuclear reactors at three sites in
Florida. Its license from the NRC expires in 2016, but Progress
Energy officials have said that they plan to renew the license
at least until 2036.
The 838-megawatt nuclear reactor currently in operation at the
Crystal River complex was a topic of discussion at a recent
County Commission meeting.
Commissioners approved a settlement in a land use lawsuit that
would allow the development of a 50-home waterfront subdivision
in northwest Citrus. Some of that property falls within a 5-mile
radius of the nuclear plant.
The county's comprehensive plan prohibits new development in
that area, but director of Development Services Gary Maidhof
told commissioners the guideline had not been enforced.
Commissioners asked staffers to research the history of the
comprehensive plan's nuclear plant provisions, and they said
they plan to address the issue while revising the plan next year.
Times staff writer Louis Hau contributed to this report.
Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.comor
860-7309. [Last modified December 24, 2005, 01:09:13]
© 2005 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
*****************************************************************
22 cantonrep.com: Cleveland company in running for new plant
Sunday, December 25, 2005
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
CLEVELAND - The Pentagon-pushed comeback of a metal used to
make parts for missiles, satellites and fighter jets means an
Ohio company is in the running for a new beryllium plant.
The Defense Department is helping underwrite plans at
Cleveland-based Brush Wellman Inc. for a plant in either Ohio or
Utah. Earlier this month, the company won a $9 million contract
from the department to help build the plant, which could cost as
much as $60 million.
The end of the Cold War reduced the nation’s need to stockpile
beryllium, used to make nuclear bomb triggers.
Brush Wellman, a unit of Cleveland-based Brush Engineered
Materials Inc., closed its obsolete primary beryllium operation
near Toledo in Elmore about five years ago, after the Defense
Logistics Agency said it would begin selling beryllium from a
national stockpile.
MORE USES
But the metal is finding more uses in advanced military
systems, said Michael Anderson, president of Brush Wellman’s
beryllium products group.
Beryllium is used to make guidance systems for missiles and
targeting systems for jet fighters. Its stiffness reduces
vibration and improves reliability of the fighter’s optical
system for locating and tracking targets.
Brush says that for some uses, there is no substitute. Since
the Elmore operation closed, the nation has lacked a sustainable
domestic supply, the company says.
A Defense Department report to Congress last year forecast that
defense demand for beryllium will grow and the domestic
stockpile will be depleted between 2008 and 2011.
FIVE-YEAR TARGET
As the stockpile declines, Brush will be working on the new
plant, which is expected to operate within five years.
“We expect there will be material to take us through most of
this decade, which will be the period of time it will take us to
build the new plant,” Anderson said.
Besides the Elmore site, Brush is studying whether to put the
plant in Delta, Utah, where it has mining and processing
operations that employ 68 people.
Elmore is considered the company’s flagship plant and employs
about 500 people. It’s Ottawa County’s second-largest employer.
The new plant is expected to add about 25 jobs and create
additional support jobs.
Canton, OH 44702 This page was created December 25, 2005
©2005 The Repository
class=sixth>webmaster@cantonrep.com
*****************************************************************
23 AFP: US confirms it monitors private sites for nuclear radiation
24/12/2005 17h28
A muslim praying at a US mosque
©AFP/File - Mike Nelson
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US officials have reportedly confirmed that
the FBI and Energy Department have conducted thousands of
searches for radioactive materials at private sites nationwide
in the past three years.
The existence of such a search program was disclosed Thursday by
US News and World Report's website. That report said the US
government has a secret program to monitor homes, workplaces and
mosques of Muslims in at least six cities for signs of nuclear
radiation.
Up to 120 Muslim sites in the Washington area, and more in New
York, Chicago, Seattle, Detroit and Las Vegas, have been
regularly monitored for radiation for more than three years over
concerns about nuclear terrorism following the September 11,
2001 attacks, US News reported.
"Government agencies (had) disclosed that they have installed
radiation-detection equipment at ports, subway stations and
other public locations, but extensive surreptitious monitoring
of private property has not been publicly known," the New York
Times noted.
The Times said the US federal government has given thousands of
radiation alarms, worn like cellphones on the belt, to police
and fire departments in major cities.
It quoted a spokesman for the Justice Department, Brian
Roehrkasse, as confirming that law enforcement personnel were
conducting "passive operations in publicly accessible areas to
detect the presence of radiological materials, in a manner that
protects US constitutional rights."
President George W. Bush's administration has been criticized
over revelations that government agencies -- including the
National Security Agency, the Department of Defense, and the FBI
-- spied on US citizens without first obtaining court orders as
mandated by law.
Bush, who authorized the NSA surveillance, maintains that the
spying is legal and that he has the legal authority to permit
such activities.
+ Ŕđŕáńęčé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2005
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24 Norway Post: Radioactive materials found among scrap metals
Mon, 26.12.2005 Path: / The Norway Post / News /
Radioactive materials found among scrap metals Sixteen small
containers with radioactive materials belonging to the military
forces have been found among scrap metals on a salvage depot in
Mo i Rana, in the county of Nordland.
24.12.2005 08:06
The military are still missing another 88 containers, and cannot
yet explain how the containers went missing, according to NRK.
Preliminary investigations show no signs that anybody has been
exposed to dangerous radiation, the National Radiation
Protection Authority states.
(NRK)
Rolleiv Solholm
*****************************************************************
25 Las Vegas SUN: NIH Medical Safety Officer Reinstated
December 24, 2005
By JOHN SOLOMON
ASSOCIATED PRESS
WASHINGTON (AP) -
A medical safety expert whose firing drew national attention to
the lack of whistleblower protections in some areas of federal
research is back on the government payroll.
The National Institutes of Health's reinstatement of Dr.
Jonathan Fishbein settles a two-year battle that prompted
investigations into allegations of scientific misconduct and
sexual harassment in federal AIDS research.
Fishbein alleged he was fired for raising safety concerns in
government experiments. NIH said he was fired for poor
performance even though he had been recommended for a cash
performance bonus just weeks before he was notified of his
termination.
He was among NIH whistleblowers whose plight was highlighted in
Associated Press stories over the last year examining
allegations of safety problems with federal AIDS research in the
United States and Africa, sexual harassment of female NIH
workers and the use of foster children to test AIDS drugs.
Fishbein was formally reinstated Dec. 12 and now is special
assistant to the deputy director of NIH's National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Diseases, but he is unlikely to return
directly to that office.
Fishbein is to look for a new assignment in government but has
been returned to the federal payroll, according to government
officials.
Fishbein's lawyer confirmed the reinstatement Friday.
"The medical community owes a debt to Dr. Fishbein for his
integrity and courageous efforts to ensure that humans are
protected when they participate in drug trials," attorney
Stephen Kohn said.
Numerous members of Congress, Republicans and Democrats alike,
urged NIH not to fire Fishbein, saying he had raised important
issues about the way patients are protected in government
experiments.
Fishbein, an accomplished private-sector safety expert, was
hired by NIH in 2003 to improve the safety of its AIDS research.
He alleged he was fired because he raised concerns about several
studies and filed a formal complaint against one of the
division's managers alleging sexual harassment of subordinates
and a hostile workplace.
An administrative law judge originally ruled that Fishbein and
hundreds of other doctors and medical safety experts like him
had no whistleblower protections, like normal federal workers,
because they were hired outside the civil service system as
special employees at a higher salary.
The government subsequently reversed course and argued that such
workers should have some protections if they blow the whistle.
NIH still proceeded to fire Fishbein.
An internal report to NIH chief Elias A. Zerhouni substantiated
many of Fishbein's allegations, calling the agency's AIDS
research division "a troubled organization" whose managers
engaged in unnecessary feuding, sexually explicit language and
other inappropriate conduct that hampered its global fight
against the disease.
The review also concluded NIH's efforts to fire Fishbein gave
the "appearance of reprisal." The report said no documentation
was ever provided to him suggesting poor performance until after
he complained about the safety in one sensitive AIDS study and
filed a formal complaint alleging that the division's deputy
director was acting unprofessionally with subordinates.
In addition, NIH's chief of AIDS research testified in a
deposition this summer that the agency originally planned to
transfer Fishbein to a different job in transplant and
immunology research but decided instead to fire him when
Fishbein filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
complaint.
In its stories over the last year, the AP reported:
-One of NIH's AIDS study in Africa violated federal safety
regulations.
-Senior NIH managers engaged in sexually explicit pranks and
sent expletive-laced e-mails to subordinates.
-NIH-funded researchers used foster children to test AIDS drugs
since the late 1980s, many times not providing a basic
protection afforded by federal law and required by some states.
A subsequent federal investigation concluded at least one of the
research institutions in those studies failed to comply with
federal safety regulations.
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
26 Deseret News: Preserving fallout data called vital for research
[deseretnews.com]
Sunday, December 25, 2005
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
Peter Rickards is thrilled about Congress' passing a measure that
requires preservation of military records on fallout from nuclear
testing. He says he knows what might happen to the records if the
government is not forced to keep them.
['Image'] Deseret Morning News ArchivesThe explosion from a
37-kiloton atomic bomb mushrooms toward the sky June 24, 1957. A
new law orders test results to remain archived. The
provision, sponsored in the House of Representatives by Rep. Jim
Matheson, D-Utah, became part of the Defense Department
Appropriations Bill that has passed both chambers. Final action
came Thursday.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Rickards experienced the
destruction of valuable fallout records while he served on a
citizens advisory committee for a Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention study seeking to reconstruct radiation doses from
nuclear material that had leaked from the Idaho National
Laboratory.
"We had hundreds of boxes of documents earmarked for
archiving that were destroyed right at the moment . . . right
during their study," he said. "The DOE (U.S. Department of
Energy) took boxes that were earmarked for archiving by the CDC
and destroyed them."
Rickards, a podiatrist in Twin Falls, Idaho, has closely
followed the fallout debate. He believes it's important to save
whatever records still remain.
Although the National Laboratory, based in southwestern
Idaho, did not produce atomic blast fallout, the Department of
Energy facility did leak radiation. And fallout from nuclear
weapons testing during the 1950s and '60s contributed to the
overall radiation exposure in the region.
Winds blowing from the Nevada Test Site did not always
deposit the radioactive dust near the NTS. A 1997 study by the
National Cancer Institute says Montana and Idaho were slammed by
fallout worse than other parts of the country, even harder hit
than southwestern Utah, which is close to the NTS. Four of the
five counties with most fallout are in Idaho and the fifth is in
Montana, according to the institute.
Sorting out the history of radiation exposure is
difficult, with researchers relying on scanty data. That's why
Rickards and others feel it is imperative to preserve whatever
information is available.
"The government does regularly dispose of older
documents," he said, "and in this case they have a vested
interest in destroying all of the great fallout data." That was
data, he hastened to add, "which the CDC refused to use" in its
study.
During many of the nuclear tests, according to Rickards,
Defense Department aircraft tracked the plumes of atomic debris.
They recorded where plumes went, levels of fallout, and where
rain fell, he said.
Rain sometimes caused radioactive dust to fall from the
plume.
Concerned about possible destruction of records, the
National Academy of Sciences addressed the issue in a 2003
report reviewing a draft study by the CDC and the National
Cancer Institute.
The report, "Exposure of the American Population to
Radioactive Fallout from nuclear Weapons Tests: A Review of the
CDC-NCI Draft Report on a Feasibility Study of the Health
Consequences to the American Population from nuclear Weapons
Tests Conducted by the United States and Other Nations." It is
available on the Internet at books.nap.edu/books/0309087139/html.
The committee of the National Academy that reviewed the
draft report recommended that Congress take action to protect
the records.
"Data searches and cataloging will not be possible if the
underlying records and related material are destroyed," the
academy noted. "Recognizing that, DOE (Department of Energy) has
placed a moratorium on the destruction of possibly relevant
records.
"At present, there is no such moratorium on the
destruction of DOD (Department of Defense) fallout-related
records."
The academy recommended that the CDC "urge Congress to
prohibit the destruction of relevant records held by federal
agencies and the permit appropriate access to them."
Rickards said the destruction of DOE records was only for
the duration of the Centers of Disease Control studies, "and
needs to be made permanent."
Matheson's bill, the Department of Defense Historical
Radiation Records Preservation Act, requires the department to
"identify, preserve and publish" information in the records,
says a release from Matheson's office.
"The NAS study found that both the Navy and the Air Force
have important documents that should be archived," says the
release.
Lynn R. Anspaugh, a research professor of radiobiology at
the University of Utah, said preserving the records will help
historians and scientists find answers about fallout.
Fallout is of interest to the country, Anspaugh said. "A
lot of people think they were very much harmed by this activity."
The old records "really ought to be preserved for future
scholarly activities," he said. Knowing the facts is better than
"a lot of conspiracy theories and so forth," he said.
He has not heard about any ongoing effort to destroy the
records and he would be a little surprised to hear of any such
action. Anspaugh added, "I'm more concerned about neglect" of
the information. Without protecting it, someday material "might
get thrown out."
Anspaugh has been working with fallout research most of
his professional life and was part of the first major
reconstruction effort to calculate dosage to people living
downwind.
"It's a difficult problem and I don't think we've seen
the last word yet on what the actual doses were to people," he
said.
F. Owen Hoffman, a Ph.D. environmental scientist who has
worked with University of Utah researchers reconstructing
fallout information, was pleased with the bill.
"I believe that it is imperative that these historic
records be archived and preserved," he said in an e-mail note to
the Deseret Morning News.
"Such monitoring records contain information of relevance
to the scientific community and to those interested in full
accountability of the public health legacy of the Cold War era."
Hoffman, based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., added that fallout
records could be the basis for follow-up studies attempting to
evaluate health risks from nuclear weapons.
Rickards said destruction of the fallout records would
fit an unfortunate pattern, in which "the United States
government is still refusing to take responsibility for the
damage we have done to our own people."
According to Rickards, archiving Defense Department
records could allow future researchers to reconstruct the
impacts of nuclear testing.
"This is extremely important," Rickards said, because
with the information protected, future researchers may be able
to make much more detailed calculations of the harm caused by
fallout.
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
27 courier-journal: Nuclear plant cancer study gets review
Saturday, December 24, 2005
By James Malone jmalone@courier-journal.com
The Courier-Journal
PADUCAH, Ky. -- A federal study used to deny hundreds of former
Paducah nuclear workers payment for cancer claims will be
reviewed for possible flaws, following criticism from advocates.
After the review of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant study,
some of the rejected cases could be reopened and paid, federal
officials said.
The study might be used to review about 1,150 claims, according
to the Department of Labor. Payments of $9.45 million have been
made in 63 cases and 383 have been formally denied. The rest are
pending.
The 2004 study conducted for the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health uses historical records to
estimate how much radiation a worker would have received in
different jobs around the complex, about 10 miles west of
Paducah.
Critics, including nuclear safety advocates, say the study
excluded some of the most dangerous jobs. They also alleged
contractors who worked on the federal report had a conflict
because years earlier they had produced management reports
downplaying radiation risks at Paducah.
Congress enacted the compensation program after disclosures that
thousands of workers in the nation's Cold War weapons complex
had been unknowingly harmed by radiation and hazardous
chemicals. Eligible workers get a $150,000 payment under one
part and can qualify for up to $250,000 more in a related
program.
The news of a review brought hope to some former nuclear
workers.
Greg Lahndorff, 58, of Paducah, worked at the plant for 28 years
until retiring in 2003. He hopes a review of his denied claim
for skin cancer means the government will acknowledge its
mistakes.
"They said their dose reconstruction showed they could not have
caused my skin cancer," said Lahndorff, now a wastewater
treatment operator in Illinois. "I know I was hot (exposed) when
I worked in the feed plant, and I was moved out of my job
because of it."
The institute examined the criticisms in October and said that
the conflict-of-interest policy for radiation contractors was
"unclear" but that it had not been violated. The institute also
concluded that additional records may need to be included if the
report is revised.
Fred Blosser, a spokesman for the national safety institute,
said: "We had done an initial assessment and said the report was
fully accurate."
U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and others raised concerns over the
study and encouraged the fresh look.
McConnell, R-Ky., sent a letter this week noting that the
institute's own oversight team in October had found
"inaccuracies" in the report.
"I want to take this opportunity to reiterate the importance of
the government using unbiased professionals in developing these
technical reports," McConnell wrote to John Howard, the director
of the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.
Blosser said Thursday that the agency has not yet answered
McConnell's letter, but added that "we are taking his concerns
seriously."
James Melius, a physician and administrator of the New York
State Laborers' Health and Safety Fund and a member of the
radiation safety advisory panel that will look at the report,
said he has concerns.
"Clearly, there is an appearance of a conflict of interest
here," he said.
Melius said the government has an obligation to produce a
scientifically sound report.
"The skepticism of people who worked at the site is great. They
have been lied to and misled. There is a need for great care in
assuring who is doing the assessment because it could affect
compensation."
Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, whose agency oversees the worker
compensation program, could not be reached for comment. She is
also McConnell's wife.
Labor Department spokesman David James said that any rejected
claims would be reopened if they are affected by changes to the
federal report.
The Labor Department and the safety institute could not say how
long the review could take.
Under federal law, cancer in former plant workers falls into one
of two categories.
Workers who have any of 22 defined cancers, including leukemia,
are presumed to be victims of radiation exposure.
But the law also will pay for other types of cancer, including
eye, skin, prostate or larynx, if the cancer can be medically
linked to a job at the Paducah plant.
The review of those claims uses the safety institute's radiation
exposure estimates.
Critics of the study, including Washington policy analyst
Richard Miller, say the federal contractors excluded records of
work areas where there was a potent dose of radiation.
"The impact of the error is still unknown," said Miller,
formerly a consultant to the plant's union.
A review by the safety institute of the criticisms says data for
some high-radiation jobs should be looked at again and included
in a revision if applicable.
Reporter James Malone can be reached at (270) 443-1802.
*****************************************************************
28 ContraCostaTimes.com: PG&E faces $96,000 fine over missing fuel rod parts
| 12/24/2005 |
Posted on Sat, Dec. 24, 2005
By Bay City News Service
A 37-year-old slip-up is coming back to haunt the Pacific Gas
and Electric Co. this week, after it was announced on Wednesday
that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is imposing on the
company a $96,000 fine.
In 2004, the NRC asked all nuclear power plants to "essentially
recheck your system for keeping track of the spent fuel from the
reactor," according to the commission's public affairs officer
Scott Burnell.
That same year in July, PG&E reported that spent radioactive
fuel from its Humboldt Bay Unit 3 nuclear power plant near
Eureka had been misplaced, Burnell said.
In its report PG&E indicated that three 18-inch segments of a
fuel rod that were removed from the plant in 1968 could not be
found, according to the commission.
The commission reported that a special investigation into the
three missing segments was conducted between Nov. 2, 2004 and
Aug. 2 to review the circumstances surrounding the missing spent
fuel.
PG&E spokeswoman Sharon Gavin said a robotic device was sent to
the nuclear waste facility and into the "fuel pool" to search
for any segments of fuel rod that might have been dumped there.
Such pools are built with about 5-foot walls of concrete. The
pools are about 20 feet deep and filled with water, which is a
barrier to the radioactive waste, she said. The rods
disintegrate in the water.
The results indicated, but did not prove, that the segments were
probably in the pool, Gavin said.
Burnell said misplacing the segments could have been an
"accounting error," but that in all likelihood the segments were
probably shipped to a landfill licensed to handle low-level
radioactive waste.
Although spent fuel such as the missing segments is a little bit
more radioactive than low-level radioactive waste, Burnell said
the material "would not present a hazard to the general public."
The commission found PG&E had committed three violations, but
reported that it believes the utility company has since taken
the proper steps toward preventing such a mishap from happening
again.
"It is important that licensees maintain an accurate inventory
of the content of their spent fuel pools," NRC Region IV
Administrator Bruce Mallett stated: "Based on our inspections
and review of their response to this incident, we are confident
that PG&E has taken the appropriate corrective actions to ensure
this."
Lewis said PG&E accepts the violations and the civil penalty
handed down by the NRC.
Staff writer Lucinda Ryan contributed to this report. email this
*****************************************************************
29 Deseret News: Hatch makes sense on Yucca
[deseretnews.com]
Sunday, December 25, 2005
After years of keeping a low profile on storage of spent fuel at
Yucca Mountain, Sen. Orrin Hatch has become one of the few
rational voices. His announcement of support for the federal
takeover of the fuel, years overdue, is another message that
needs to be heeded. For too long the federal government has
forced an unfunded mandate on the nuclear electric utilities to
take care of the fuel, while the law actually requires that the
feds take possession of the material. Adding to that insult, the
utilities, and therefore the ratepayers, are footing the bill for
storing the fuel. Sen. Hatch seems to be working toward a
solution to this problem. He deserves our support.
Kevan Crawford
Salt Lake City
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
30 Deseret News: Good news on nuke waste
[deseretnews.com]
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Deseret Morning News editorial
Officials with Private Fuel Storage keep saying the sudden loss
of half the investors in the consortium's plan to store nuclear
waste in Utah is no big deal. Others who have nuclear waste will
step up to fill the void.
But as each day passes and no one comes forward, that line
is beginning to sound more and more like something from "Baghdad
Bob," the unflappable spokesman for Saddam Hussein who insisted
coalition forces were losing the war, even as U.S. troops could
be seen moving through the streets of the capital.
Things don't look good for PFS, nor for the very few
members of the Goshute Indian Tribe who want to store extremely
dangerous waste in above-ground casks just west of the Salt Lake
metro area.
Couple the loss of investors with the decision by Congress
this week to declare 100,000 acres around the proposed waste dump
as federally protected wilderness, and the chances of any spent
fuel rods coming this way are beginning to look slim indeed..
Utah's congressional leaders, past and present, deserve a
lot of credit for this last-second turn of events. Gov. Jon
Huntsman Jr. also deserves credit for lobbying officials in
Washington on behalf of the state.
Until recently, Utah seemed helpless in the wake of
federal regulatory decisions to allow the waste. With the dump
planned for an Indian reservation, the state was helpless to
stand in the way. Now, things are looking up, as if Santa decided
to come a bit early.
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
31 Platts: Costs swell for MOX faciity, says DOE's IG
Washington (Platts)--23Dec2005
The cost estimate for DOE'S mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel plant has
risen significantly since the department reported to Congress in
2002 that the plant would cost about $1-billion to design and
construct, DOE Inspector General Gregory Friedman said in a
report released today.
As of July 2005, the cost estimate was about $3.5-billion,
Friedman said. DOE managers agreed with the report's
recommendations for procedural reforms but disputed some points,
including the way Friedman calculated the cost increase.
The MOX fuel fabrication facility, to be built at the Savannah
River Site in South Carolina, is part of DOE's program to make
reactor fuel out of surplus weapons plutonium. The report is
available on the inspector general's Web site
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
32 Salt Lake Tribune: Skull Valley alternative
Opinion
Article Last Updated: 12/23/2005 10:51:12 PM
I have followed the Goshute proposal to contract with Private
Fuel Storage to store nuclear waste in Skull Valley. I am
pleased to hear recent news that the consortium is falling
apart. I am left to wonder, however, whether the Goshutes'
desire for economic development will ever be satisfied. I have
an idea which might enable the economic growth to take place in
Skull Valley.
As a sovereign nation, the Goshutes are not subject to the
same “red tape” that hampers similar developments on non-Indian
properties. With that in mind, let Utah government encourage the
Goshutes to partner with businesses to build oil refineries in
Skull Valley. There hasn't been a new refinery built in the
United States since 1976. The Goshute Tribe seems to have come to
terms with the environmental impact of nuclear waste on their
tribal lands, and might therefore come to the same terms with
potentially cleaner developments. Private businesses could team
with the tribe to build multiple refineries, perhaps replacing
the Southern Davis County refineries with cleaner, safer and more
modern operations on Indian property. Such a move would likely be
supported by most people who live in Davis County and would like
to clean up these sites.
Christopher Judd
Clearfield
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
33 Rio Rancho Observer: What's up with WIPP?: What the pilot plant is doing to meet
shipping, disposal goals
Second of two parts
The Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in New Mexico is not
achieving the goals set three years ago to accelerate disposal
of nuclear weapons waste at the world's first underground
geologic repository. A new 93-page report, The Waste Isolation
Pilot Plant: How Well is "Accelerated Cleanup" Working? issued
by SRIC, shows that WIPP has disposed of about 75 percent of the
waste planned, or about the same amounts as before the
"accelerated cleanup" program was announced.
The report is the first study of how well WIPP and the sites
with large amounts of nuclear weapons waste are meeting the
performance goals established in 2002 when the U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) issued "Performance Management Plans" (PMP).
The report analyzes the plans and the actual performance at the
major sites that are to send transuranic (TRU or
plutonium-contaminated) waste to WIPP - Hanford, Washington;
Idaho National Laboratory (INL); Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL) in New Mexico; Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR), Tennessee;
and Savannah River Site (SRS), South Carolina, as well as the
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California.
Low-level radioactive nuclear waste has been shipped through New
Mexico and Sandoval County since WIPP shipments began coming
into the state in the mid 1990s.
Basic Findings, TRU waste inventory
At every site there are differences between inventory used in
the site PMP and the WIPP PMP, which are unexplained in the
documents. For example, the WIPP PMP says that Hanford has
16,100 cubic meters of CH waste, while the Hanford PMP puts the
total at 29,780 cubic meters. Moreover, the Hanford Solid Waste
Disposal Final Environmental Impact Statement of 2004 shows
almost 50 percent higher volume of TRU waste than the Hanford
PMP.
The information in several PMPs does not include some of the TRU
wastes actually stored at the site. For example, the LANL PMP
does not include the hundreds of drums of classified material
and the hundreds of cubic meters of sealed sources.
In some cases the PMP inventory estimates are not consistent
with legal or regulatory requirements or agreements. For
example, at INL, there are serious discrepancies about the size
of the TRU inventory between the State of Idaho and DOE,
especially regarding the 25,000 to 36,000 cubic meters of buried
wastes, which is the subject of ongoing litigation.
Basic Findings regarding TRU waste shipments
The number of truck shipments of waste each fiscal year to WIPP
shown in the site PMPs are not consistent with the numbers shown
in the WIPP PMP. These differences are not explained in the
documents. In some cases the differences are large. For example,
the Hanford PMP estimates more than twice as many shipments
(2,465 versus 990) during the period from 2003 to 2015 compared
with the WIPP PMP.
Basic Findings regarding cost savings
None of the PMPs include or reference baseline cost estimates
against which claims of cost savings can be evaluated. For some
sites, there is no actual quantification of savings. For
example, the Hanford PMP states that the savings would be "tens
of millions of dollars in lifecycle costs." The INL PMP includes
no specified amount of cost savings for TRU waste. In addition,
the claimed cost savings are generally not detailed to
particular milestones so that additional or lesser savings
cannot be estimated based on actual performance.
The fact that several sites are not meeting the milestones used
in the PMPs should mean that some of the near-term projected
cost savings will not be realized. Since some sites are behind
schedule, even the pre-"accelerated cleanup" timeline, there
could be increased costs above the baseline.
Basic findings regarding regulatory compliance issues
Each PMP recognizes that each site's regulatory requirements are
unique, and in some cases there is a brief mention of
requirements related to TRU waste. Yet, regulatory requirements
are not well integrated into the site PMPs. For example, the
resolution of regulatory issues regarding the size of the TRU
inventory at INL and whether any "waste incidental to
reprocessing" is reclassified as TRU could have a large effect
on the TRU inventory at that site. The INL PMP does not
adequately address those matters.
Basic findings on other relevant issues
Transportation needs, especially for more and larger shipping
containers, are included in some site and WIPP PMPs. But some
vital transportation issues are not mentioned in the PMPs. For
example, state concerns regarding the "single containment"
TRUPACT-III for large items are not included. State concerns
about routing and inspections are not adequately discussed.
Privatization is a significant issue that is not adequately
discussed in the PMPs. For example, at INL and ORR, major waste
treatment contracts are integral parts of "accelerated cleanup."
The recent termination of the BNFL contract at the INL Advanced
Mixed Waste Treatment Facility is a current example of some of
the dangers of delays, and cost increases, that can occur from
privatization.
The PMPs proposal for eastern and western "hubs" as interim
storage sites before waste is shipped to WIPP did not include
major, foreseeable impacts. For example, shipments from two
sites to Hanford triggered a lawsuit, which has prevented
further shipments, even though they are included in the PMP.
Although using SRS for shipments from the Mound site in Ohio did
not result in litigation, it was a major factor in bringing
additional resources to SRS (rather than to other sites) which
allowed SRS to be the only site to exceed its PMP shipment
estimates.
None of the PMPs address the expanded TRU inventory that will
result from proposed additional plutonium production either at
LANL or at the "Modern Pit Facility" -- DOE's proposed
replacement for Rocky Flats, which created much of the "legacy"
TRU waste.
What should be done?
DOE, Congress, and the public need a comprehensive, integrated
planning and evaluation process for managing TRU wastes. The
site and WIPP PMPs have not provided such a process. Either the
PMPs should be eliminated or they must be dramatically revised.
Any new plans should at a minimum provide the following.
Be updated at least annually to reflect actual experiences and
changing circumstances. The existing PMPs are about three years
old and are outdated.
Include a TRU waste inventory that accurately reflects CH and RH
wastes that are at the sites, regulatory requirements for
storage, shipment or disposal, and waste classification or other
disputes and uncertainties about the inventory.
Provide shipment estimates based on the most current WIPP
shipping schedule, while also including past experience
regarding the amount of waste per shipment and the amount of
waste by volume (in cubic meters) that will be transported or
are included in contracts.
Be consistent with annual DOE Budget Requests to Congress and
the "Corporate Performance Measures." Currently, it is
impossible for the public or Congress to know what are the
performance goals, what the baseline costs of achieving them
are, whether the goals are met or exceeded or not met, and how
they should be revised to reflect changing conditions.
Be subject to public input and be publicly available, both
electronically and in hard copy. Adequate time for public
comment would improve the quality of the plans. Public input
could also increase the credibility and acceptance of the plans.
Clearly explain any discrepancies regarding inventory,
shipments, and schedules, if the WIPP plan and site specific
plans are different.
Straightforwardly discuss the alternatives for waste storage and
disposal, since the highest current estimated volumes for both
CH and RH waste exceed the legal capacity limits at WIPP.
Include projected volumes of TRU waste from proposed future
plutonium pit manufacturing.
Address transportation issues and uncertainties, including
concerns about the single containment TRUPACT-III, as well as
issues related to any "hubs" or "interim storage" sites for TRU
wastes that are not shipped directly to WIPP, and options for
transporting such wastes.
Include regulatory requirements and matters in dispute,
including how such issues are being addressed and any
uncertainties about their resolution.
DOE should develop lifecycle baseline cost estimates for each
site and make the bases and assumptions for those costs publicly
available.
DOE must develop consistent and reliable inventory estimates for
both CH and RH waste on a site-by-site basis. Unless, based on
those estimates, DOE determines that the current legal limits
for the amount of CH- and RH-TRU waste will not be exceeded, it
should publicly discuss its plans to address the projected
overcapacity at WIPP, including options that it could implement.
Article courtesy of Voices from the Earth, published quarterly
by Southwest Research and Information Center.
Reach them at 262-1862.
Copyright © 2005 Rio Rancho Observer
*****************************************************************
34 News & Star: RADIATION FEARS OVER DUMP PLAN
Published on 24/12/2005
By Julian Whittle
RESIDENTS of Drigg fear that plans to extend the life of the
low-level nuclear waste dump there will expose them to higher
levels of radiation.
British Nuclear Fuels wants planning permission to store steel
containers containing radioactive waste above ground at Drigg on
a temporary basis until 2010.
But Drigg and Carleton parish council says that would expose
local residents to a higher radiation dose.
A formal objection from the council says: “Higher stacking,
whether temporary or long term, will increase background
radiation levels to the local community and the environment.
“There can be no justification for exposing members of the
public to increased levels of radiation when alternative
arrangements are available.”
The council quotes an environmental statement from BNFL, which
says radiation levels at the site boundary would rise from 0.15
to 0.25 micro-sieverts per hour.
But Cumbria County Council’s development control committee is
being recommended to grant planning consent when it meets on
January 6.
Head of environment Shaun Gorman says the increased radiation
dose would still be within the national standard of safe
exposure of 0.6 micro-sieverts per hour.
His report says: “On balance I believe that temporary planning
permission should be granted.
“I do not consider these temporary proposals would give rise
to significant harm.”
At present, the 20ft by 8ft by 4ft containers are stored in an
underground vault.
But the vault will be full by 2008, prompting BNFL to seek
planning permission to stack up to 950 containers above the
walls of the vault.
There have been two dozen letters in response to the planning
application, most of them objections.
Other issues raised include the vulnerability of Drigg to
coastal erosion and rising sea levels, the visual impact of
above-ground storage and the effect on house prices.
One letter suggests that the waste units could be an easy target
for terrorists.
Mr Gorman’s main concern is the doubt over where the
containers would go after 2010.
His report says it could be 2012 before they are all removed.
BNFL argues the containers could go to a new vault, be buried
under existing buildings on the site, or be taken back to
Sellafield.
*****************************************************************
35 RGJ: Process Area samples show contaminant exceedances
[Reno Gazette-Journal] [Reno
Process Area samples show contaminant exceedances Area
background constituent levels still unknown. MVN
Posted: 12/23/2005 04:04 pm
Following an extensive soil and water sample collection period
in the Process Area of the old Anaconda Mine west of town,
several results were shared and discussed during last week’s
mine site technical workgroup meeting in Reno.
One of the bigger issues addressed, prior to a detailed look at
the data, included the Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QC/QA)
of some numbers from split samples (two samples taken at the
same location).
The two sampling bodies in question include consulting firm
Brown and Caldwell and the EPA; however, some split samples came
back with widely varying results. Jim Sickles, remedial project
manager for EPA Region 9, said such discrepancies could be
explained via use of different testing techniques including
differing constant values and equipment. Overall, he said such
discrepancies are fairly common in preliminary remediation
stages and when lead agencies are still adapting to changes in
project leadership (the EPA took over as lead in the cleanup in
late 2004 when the mine was listed under Section 106 of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act).
Primarily, said discrepancies were found in the soil split
samples whereas the groundwater split samples have not yet
returned results on the EPA’s side.
Other concerns came from the lack of appropriate background
numbers for various contaminants. For example, if uranium is
found in levels above acceptable federal limits, does it mean it
is high due to the mine or because of natural deposits? Without
background data, this is difficult to determine.
Chuck Zimmerman, engineer with Brown and Caldwell, said this
lack of information is causing current and ongoing investigation
into radionuclides, soil contaminants and water contaminants to
be less than complete. Sickles agreed saying a separate
investigation (including offsite sampling) is warranted in
determining appropriate background numbers in the valley. In the
mean time, another method is for all to agree on a Preliminary
Remediation Goal (PRG) to use for comparison.
A PRG is a set of standards of various substances based on an
overall scale when more site-specific standards are not
available. In Anaconda’s case, an industrial or mine PRGs have
been recommended, as few (including the EPA) believe a
residential PRG (which would require substantially lower
substance levels) would be practical or reachable in the Process
Area. Also, Dietrick McGinnis, of McGinnis and Associates
representing the Yerington Paiute Tribe, said the PRG does not
need to be set too high for this site.
+ Soil
Nearly 1,100 samples from 250 locations were taken in regards to
soil sampling, which then saw a full sweep search for
constituents and their levels. Sampling techniques included
everything from sampling near buildings and in obvious substance
spill areas to drilling sideways under tanks and other
structures to assess any leakages.
Zimmerman provided several maps showing sample locations and
which substances of interest were found at various depth
intervals within each location.
Overall, based on the industrial PRG, many of the locations in
the Process Area saw elevated numbers when it came to diesel,
motor oil, gasoline, copper, arsenic, thorium 232, radium 228
and radium 226. Also, in underground pipeline utilities some
exceedances occurred with trimethylbenzene.
Mostly, exceedances came from diesel, motor oil and radium 226
and 228. Indications are the diesel, motor oil and gasoline
exceedances likely came from truck shop runoff and truck
activity in the process area.
McGinnis questioned as to why the underground pipelines were not
examined via cameras and with better ideas of locations.
Zimmerman said many of the pipeline maps came from Anaconda
records and Sickles added subsequent phases could likely see
cameras run through the pipes. In any case Penny Bassett, also
of Brown and Caldwell, said the pipelines did not appear to be
causing a lot of impact in the Process Area.
Sickles later added, at this point, it is not safe to say the
pipes are having minimal impacts as this is yet unknown. Once
all the old Anaconda documents are more thoroughly researched, a
better picture of the pipeline utility system might be
uncovered, he said.
+ Groundwater
Nearly 27 locations were sampled in relation to groundwater
testing within the Process Area while three of said locations
were kept as monitoring wells. Overall, it was noted the
groundwater in the Process Area appears to be “trashed” in
regards to contaminants; however, as mentioned before, it is
unclear as to what extent each contaminant is naturally present
or elevated.
Some concern arose regarding the monitoring wells’ locations in
a nearly straight line across the area; however, Zimmerman
explained the three were originally in a triangular pattern
before one well failed to produce water. Said well was then
relocated from the southwest corner to the southeast corner.
With this, he said a couple more monitoring wells would give
better understanding of water behavior in the area. So far,
Zimmerman said the information indicates the water flow is
southeast to northwest in much of the Process Area.
Also, it was noted the historic flow in this area might have
been an eastern movement from the Singatse Range to the west.
McGinnis suggested some of this historic flow might not be
completely lost, as evidence of various flooded cellars onsite
could attest to such an easterly flow from neighboring
structures.
Similar to soil results, several maps were presented showing the
areas sampled, sample results for different constituents and,
where applicable, whether the results exceeded maximum
contaminant levels (MCL).
Among some known to have exceeded MCLs in various samples are
beryllium, cadmium, chromium, uranium, arsenic and radium 228.
Other constituents do not have a standard recognized MCL to
which to compare results.
The highest number of exceedances occurred with uranium, which
saw 15 areas reaching beyond the 30 parts per billion (ppb) MCL
drinking standard to between 30.5 and 282 ppb.
Arsenic was another, which exceeded the new federal standard of
10 ug/L (micrograms pre liter) in the southwest corner of the
area where levels included 19-70 ug/L. Zimmerman noted arsenic
is naturally high in Nevada; however, it is unclear why one
tested at 70 ug/L in the southwest corner while the next highest
was only 33 ug/L (also in this corner).
In regards to the corner in question, it was noted the mine’s
crusher was located in this area and it is unknown as to why
several samples returned with high numbers in this area. At
least one suggested the possibility of the latter Arimetco
operation might have contributed to this oddity.
© Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a
Newspaper.
*****************************************************************
36 AP Wire: Incinerator to be operated for at least three more years
12/24/2005 |
Associated Press
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The U.S. Department of Energy will operate
its toxic-waste incinerator for at least three more years and
possibly beyond that.
The incinerator at the East Tennessee Technology Park is the
only facility in the nation licensed to burn waste mixtures
containing polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive elements.
DOE originally planned to shut down the incinerator at the end
of 2003 and then extended the closure date to 2006. Earlier this
year, agency officials confirmed that the incinerator would burn
waste through 2007 and possibly a couple of more years. Now the
department is saying operations will continue as long as needed
to support the nuclear cleanup missions at Oak Ridge and other
DOE sites around the United States.
"We know there's enough (waste) inventory to go through '09,"
said Steve McCracken, in charge of cleanup.
The $26 million incinerator was designed and built during the
1980s. Waste operations began in November 1990. Since then, more
than 30 million pounds of waste have been burned.
"We're not forecasting an end of the operation anymore,"
McCracken told The Knoxville News Sentinel.
Joy Sager, an environmental engineer on the Oak Ridge staff,
said the plan is to burn about 1.4 million pounds of waste -
mostly liquids, such as PCB-laced oils - during 2006. Most of
the waste is coming from DOE's Oak Ridge facility, although
there will be shipments from uranium-enrichment plants in
Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
With plans to operate the incinerator indefinitely, McCracken
said DOE is paying extra attention to upkeep. "We're not running
it to failure," he said.
McCracken said federal officials would budget for necessary
repairs and upgrades in coming years. Sager said DOE has
developed a list of equipment that could be replaced to improve
the incinerator's reliability. Among the items are a new
electrical control system and various pieces of hardware, such
as rollers that rotate the primary kiln and parts for the
solid-waste feeding area.
The incinerator recently underwent major testing. The state
Division of Air Pollution Control is reviewing data from
performance tests done in March. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's
environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said preliminary results
showed the incinerator was complying with new requirements of
the Environmental Protection Agency. email this print this News
*****************************************************************
37 AP Wire: Contractor blamed for accidents at Lawrence Livermore lab
12/24/2005 |
Associated Press
LIVERMORE, Calif. - A U.S. Energy Department report found that
sloppy procedures involving radioactive plutonium worsened a
series of accidents that contaminated employees at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory last year.
Energy Department investigators cited multiple violations by
Livermore contractor Washington TRU Solutions, a firm owned by
Washington Group International that was hired to dispose of the
lab's radioactive waste.
The report released this week found that workers continued
working with plutonium while emergency alarms sounded, warning
of a possible contaminant hazard. Workers also unsuspectingly
brushed plutonium particles off cutting tools, causing particles
to become airborne, where they were inhaled or ingested by three
unidentified workers.
A spokesman for Washington TRW acknowledged the three employees
could face years of special medical scrutiny, but said he
believes their exposure was low enough to make health problems
unlikely.
Their exposure to plutonium radioactivity was "about one-tenth
of what they're legally allowed to get as a nuclear worker,"
spokesman Jack Herrmann of Washington Group International told
the San Francisco Chronicle Friday. "We're determined to make
sure it doesn't happen again. We've improved our procedures."
Energy Department officials announced Thursday that Washington
TRU would be fined $192,500 for the violations that led to the
contamination incidents between April and August 2004. Herrmann
said his company would not contest the fine.
Washington Group is one of the four main partners in a
consortium led by the University of California and Bechtel Corp.
that was chosen by the Energy Department on Wednesday to take
over management of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico
next year.
Lawrence Livermore lab spokeswoman Susan Houghton declined to
discuss the case in detail because it strictly involved the
contractor and its employees, but said Thursday the lab was not
responsible for the incidents in any way. email this print this
*****************************************************************
38 Hanford News
This story was published Thursday, December 22nd, 2005
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Ed Aromi, the president of the Hanford contractor in charge of
the nuclear reservation's tank farms, has taken another job
within the CH2M Hill corporation.
Mark Spears will replace him as president of CH2M Hill Hanford
Group.
Aromi will take a new job as senior vice president for strategic
business development, serving as CH2M Hill's corporate
representative and working to expand the corporation's nuclear
activities related to the Hanford nuclear reservation.
Aromi will continue to be based in the Tri-Cities, where he
holds several community leadership positions, including
immediate past chairman of the Tri-Cities Visitor and Convention
Bureau and vice chairman of commerce and industry for the
Tri-City Industrial Development Council.
Spears joined CH2M Hill in May after working for Kaiser Hill as
chief operating officer at the Rocky Flats, Colo., nuclear site
and leaving there as cleanup was being completed.
He came to Hanford as senior vice president of nuclear
operations technical services. When Dale Allen, deputy general
manager of CH2M Hill Hanford Group, retired this fall, Spears
was promoted to chief operating officer with responsibility for
nuclear operations and supporting organizations.
Aromi joined CH2M Hill Hanford Group in 2001 as chief operating
officer and was named president in 2002. He saw work at the tank
farms through a difficult period as workers questioned the
safety of breathing vapors released in the air from huge
underground tanks holding radioactive and hazardous chemical
waste. State and national studies confirmed that worker safety
could not be assured.
CH2M Hill responded by requiring supplied-air respirators be
worn around tanks that vented into the air, making engineering
changes and launching studies to find out more about the vapors
and their effects on worker health.
Aromi also led CH2M Hill during a time of some unprecedented
accomplishments at the tank farms. The last of 149 leak-prone
single shell tanks were emptied of liquids, and work began to
empty the remaining sludge and salt in those tanks. The first
three of the tanks have been emptied and work is under way on
four more.
Spears will face significant challenges on the technically
complex project.
DOE is concerned about missing a legal deadline to have all 16
underground tanks in an area called C Farm emptied by a legal
deadline of Sept. 2006.
Construction also has been temporarily stopped on a pilot plant
meant to test bulk vitrification as a way to treat some of the
low-activity waste in the tanks, which will likely lead to a
missed legal deadline.
© 2005 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
39 Tennessean: DOE to keep running incinerator to help with nuclear cleanup -
Sunday, 12/25/05
www.tennessean.com"
Associated Press
OAK RIDGE — The U.S. Department of Energy will operate its
toxic-waste incinerator for at least three more years and
possibly beyond that.
The incinerator at the East Tennessee Technology Park is the
only facility in the nation licensed to burn waste mixtures
containing polychlorinated biphenyls and radioactive elements.
DOE originally planned to shut down the incinerator at the end
of 2003 and then extended the closure date to 2006. Earlier this
year, agency officials confirmed that the incinerator would burn
waste through 2007 and possibly a couple more years.
Now the department is saying operations will continue as long as
needed to support the nuclear cleanup missions at Oak Ridge and
other DOE sites in the United States.
"We know there's enough (waste) inventory to go through '09,"
said Steve McCracken, in charge of cleanup.
The $26 million incinerator was designed and built during the
1980s. Waste operations began in November 1990. Since then, more
than 30 million pounds of waste have been burned.
"We're not forecasting an end of the operation anymore,"
McCracken told The Knoxville News Sentinel.
Joy Sager, an environmental engineer on the Oak Ridge staff,
said the plan is to burn about
1.4 million pounds of waste — mostly liquids, such as PCB-laced
oils — during 2006. Most of the waste is coming from DOE's Oak
Ridge facility, although there will be shipments from
uranium-enrichment plants in Paducah, Ky., and Portsmouth, Ohio.
With plans to operate the incinerator indefinitely, McCracken
said DOE is paying extra attention to upkeep.
McCracken said federal officials would budget for necessary
repairs and upgrades in coming years. Sager said DOE has
developed a list of equipment that could be replaced to improve
the incinerator's reliability. Among the items are a new
electrical control system and various pieces of hardware, such
as rollers that rotate the primary kiln and parts for the
solid-waste feeding area.
The incinerator recently underwent major testing. The state
Division of Air Pollution Control is reviewing data from
performance tests done in March. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's
environmental manager in Oak Ridge, said preliminary results
showed the incinerator was complying with new requirements of
the Environmental Protection Agency.
Tennessean
Copyright © 2005, tennessean.com. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
40 SF Chron: LIVERMORE / Contractor faulted for accidents at lab / U.S.
blames workers' contamination on sloppy procedures
[San Francisco Chronicle]
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Sloppy work practices involving deadly radioactive plutonium
stored at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory compounded a
series of accidents last year that contaminated employees, U.S.
Department of Energy investigators say in a report.
As a result, the three contract employees who were contaminated
might face a lifetime of special medical scrutiny, acknowledged
a spokesman for the contractor, which the Energy Department has
fined for the contamination incidents.
Among multiple violations cited by the Energy Department were
workers who blithely continued working with plutonium while
emergency alarms blared around them, warning of a possible
contaminant hazard.
The report also cites workers who unsuspectingly brushed
plutonium particles off cutting tools, causing the radioactive
particles to become airborne, where they were inhaled or
ingested by three unidentified workers.
The medical status of the workers was unavailable Friday. But a
spokesman for the contractor responsible for the accidents says
he believes that they're fine and that their exposure was low
enough to make health problems unlikely.
Their exposure to plutonium radioactivity was "about one-tenth
of what they're legally allowed to get as a nuclear worker,"
spokesman Jack Herrmann of Washington Group International said
Friday. He added, "We're determined to make sure it doesn't
happen again. We've improved our procedures."
The affected workers were employees of Livermore contractor
Washington TRU Solutions, a firm owned by Washington Group
International and hired to dispose of the lab's radioactive
waste.
On Thursday, Energy Department officials announced they were
slapping Washington TRU with a $192,500 fine for the violations
that led to and compounded the accidents, which occurred between
April and August 2004. Herrmann said the firm would not contest
the fine.
Washington Group is one of the four main partners of a
consortium led by UC and Bechtel that, under the leadership of
outgoing Livermore director Mike Anastasio, was named by the
Energy Department on Wednesday to take over Livermore's sister
nuclear weapons lab, Los Alamos National Lab in New Mexico next
year.
The violations cited by the Energy Department during last year's
mishaps occurred while Washington TRU operated a mobile
plutonium packaging and shipment facility at Livermore from
April to August 2004. The company is assigned to package and
transport radioactive waste from the Lawrence Livermore lab to a
salt mine in New Mexico for disposal.
Included in the Energy Department report is a Dec. 22 Energy
Department memo by investigator Stephen M. Sohinki. He charges
Washington TRU with having a "less than adequate level of
understanding" of what it takes to design and operate the kind
of mobile laboratory in which the accidents occurred at
Livermore.
The mobile facility contains a "glove box"-type apparatus in
which workers who are sealed in protective clothes handle
radioactive materials while manipulating glove-shaped flexible
tubes and mechanical arms. The contractor is used by the Energy
Department at other facilities as well.
"Particularly troublesome," Sohinki noted in the memo, was
Washington TRU's "lack of proactive response ... towards
identifying and correcting quality problems" in the facility at
Livermore.
Rules required that the mobile facility's ventilation system be
blowing air with a certain level of intensity while plutonium
operations were underway. If they weren't, an alarm would
automatically sound. The alarm "frequently sounded during
operations," the Energy Department report says, yet "the workers
failed to stop work and take appropriate actions to investigate
this recurring condition."
Susan Houghton, spokeswoman for Lawrence Livermore lab, declined
to discuss the case in detail, stating that it strictly involved
the contractor and its employees. The lab was not responsible
for the incidents in any way, she said late Thursday. However,
the Energy Department report says lab inspectors did investigate
the contamination cases.
News of the plutonium incidents drew a strong reaction from
Marylia Kelley, head of a Livermore-based anti-nuclear group,
Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive Environment. In an
e-mail, she said the Energy Department report seemed to indicate
that the Washington TRU workers "cut some amazingly dangerous
corners."
"To ignore a whole series of 'abnormal events,' including high
levels of contamination found on equipment workers used outside
the glove box area (is) outrageous," she said.
E-mail Keay Davidson at .
Page B - 1
The San Francisco Chronicle]
*****************************************************************
41 lamonitor.com: County explains its federal suit
, , Monitor Staff Writer
This is a follow up story regarding the county's lawsuit against
the Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security
Administration
There is no word yet on a lawsuit filed against the Department
of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration by
Los Alamos County in U.S. District Court.
In its continued legal proceedings, the county is seeking an
injunction that would prohibit the entities from proceeding with
the controversial Security Perimeter Project.
The project - a federal initiative to increase security at Los
Alamos National Laboratory - has drawn concern from county
leaders and members of the public since it was proposed two
years ago.
County Attorney Peter Dwyer said on Friday the county is seeking
equity from the DOE/NNSA in the form of a temporary restraining
order injuncture for lease.
The lawsuit was expected to be filed in Santa Fe, Dwyer said,
and the county will be assigned a judge, as plaintiffs do not
have the opportunity to pursue a case with a particular judge in
federal court.
By unanimously voting Thursday night to sue the DOE/NNSA, the
council contended that the National Environmental Policy Act of
1969 has been violated. The injunction will not be lifted until
the entities comply with the NEPA and prepare an appropriate
environmental analysis of the project.
The county contends that DOE/NNSA did not follow guidelines for
public involvement and research into alternatives or mitigating
measures as set forth in the NEPA.
The lawsuit was expected to be filed Friday in U.S. District
Court, but no update was available by press deadline.
The county has sought outside legal representation with Seth
Kirshenberg of Kutak Rock LLP, based in Washington, D.C.
County's attempts to work with DOE/NNSA
Attempts by the council in the past have included several
requests to meet with DOE/NNSA officials including NNSA
Administrator Linton Brooks.
County officials traveled to Washington, D.C., in November and,
after meeting with Brooks, did not receive any promise or firm
commitments to seriously consider the county's proposed actions
to resolve the concerns.
NNSA has not offered any other meetings or correspondence to
indicate that they have halted their current project plan,
including construction that began last month.
County leaders offered to meet with Brooks earlier this month at
his convenience and were expecting a call to set up a meeting.
Brooks, who was in Los Alamos on Thursday on business related to
the recent LANL contract announcement, did not notify the county
of his visit.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-NM, has been aware of the plight facing
Los Alamos County and announced earlier this year he had secured
funds to build a bypass road to alleviate some concerns among
residents.
Complaints from residents included expressed frustration of the
project being forced upon the community with almost no input
from the public, a county report states.
The route, which is being investigated by the county and hired
consultants Wilson Engineering, would bypass security
checkpoints on LANL property. The proposed road route would be
constructed west of the Los Alamos Canyon Bridge and lead into
the north parking lot of the Research Park.
Construction of the proposed road along the canyon would be
expensive, Council Chair Fran Berting said last month, because
of limited space. The road would follow the former road that was
used to access the ski area.
Domenici freed approximately $4.8 million for the construction
of the road.
Community support
Kevin Holsapple, executive director of the Los Alamos Commerce
and Development Corporation and the Chamber of Commerce, pledged
his support in the council's decision during public comment of
the Thursday night special meeting.
"You have our full support," he said. "We too are interested in
the lab being a very secure place, but there is an alternative
that can be identified that would allow for security there and
not damage the county."
George Lawrence, vice president of the Los Alamos Ski Club, said
that by restricting access to the ski hill, DOE and NNSA are
working against their recruitment efforts, as the ski hill is
one aspect that draws potential employees to the Hill.
"It's one of the most popular activities for people in Los
Alamos and in the area," he said. "We support this council
action and will do anything we can to make this come out in an
acceptable fashion."
In a county release, Baker said that the county will proceed
with its decided course of action.
"We have taken extra steps and spent countless staff hours to
produce viable alternatives - alternatives that rightly should
have been explored very early on in this project by NNSA," he
said. "Our role as a local government is to protect the
interests of our citizens, their safety, and our future, and we
have acted accordingly."
Under the security perimeter proposal, gate-guarded access to
areas on and around the laboratory would be fenced off and any
vehicle traveling beyond the intersection of West Jemez Road at
the Los Alamos Canyon Bridge would be forced through various
clearance checkpoints.
In addition the county claims that the local economy will face a
slump because tourists will be discouraged from visiting the
area and access to the Research Park will be very limited.
Another concern expressed includes road restrictions that will
greatly limit the ability of the public to use West Jemez Road
as an evacuation route out of the county in the event of an
emergency.
NEPA 1969
The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies
to integrate environmental values into their decision making
processes by considering the environmental impacts of their
proposed actions and reasonable alternatives to those actions.
To meet this requirement, federal agencies prepare a detailed
statement known as an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). EPA
reviews and comments on EIS' prepared by other federal agencies,
maintains a national filing system for all EIS' and assures that
its own actions comply with NEPA.
For more information on NEPA, visit the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency online at www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/.
© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
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