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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [NYTr] Exposing the Dems' Hypocrisy re: Libby & WMD Lies
2 Guardian Unlimited: Italians Deny Role in Iraq Uranium Dossier
3 Guardian Unlimited: UK: World Won't Tolerate Iranian Defiance
4 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Talks to resume Wednesday
5 AFP: Korean nuclear talks next week may be short, fruitful - US offi
6 Guardian Unlimited: China: Korean Nuke Talks Will Start Nov. 9
7 Bellona: Russian nuke Whistleblower files for asylum in Finland
8 Xinhua: China, Russia set for future cooperation   
9 Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: IAEA Board Closes Safe
10 Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: IAEA Reports Increase 
11 India Monitor: 'US can't afford to break India N-deal'   
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
12 Libby & Nuclear Secrets to China
13 US: NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with Dominion Generation Co. Officials to
14 US: AU ABC: BHP not backing nuclear power industry
15 US: JS Online: Reactor stopped for 1 hour 
16 US: Burlington Free Press: MY TURN: Don’t be so quick to say no to w
17 US: Times Herald-Record: More inspections set for Indian Point plant
18 US: Chicago Sun-Times: Energy leaders discuss nuclear, coal options 
19 US: NRC: NRC Publishes Redacted Safety Evaluation for Proposed Vermo
20 Mos News: Russia Ready to Build All of China’s Nuclear and Thermal P
21 US: The Advocate: NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from 
22 US: courant.com: Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Leaked 
23 US: Newsday.com: Camera may have found source of radioactive leak at
24 US: North Jersey Media Group: Teaneck laboratory is fined for losing
25 US: Daily Texan: UT System may house nuclear reactor in 2012 - 
26 UPI: Indian official wants bigger nuke industry
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
27 AFP: Britain cannot rule out nuclear attack by terrorists 
28 UPI: Security & Terrorism - Britain may face WMD terror
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
29 [NYTr] UK: Former soldier wins landmark Gulf War Syndrome case
30 US: Foodconsumer.org: Any dose of radiation is too high
31 US: PISJ: Downwinders looking for action on compensation: Crapo want
32 Xinhua: Radioactive metal bar kills woman   
33 Xinhua: Radiation case at standstill   
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
34 Castor-Alarm in Germany: Mass Resistance against nuclear
35 London Times: Plan to sell nuclear clean-up group hits opposition - 
36 US: Sydney Morning Herald: Uranium industry needs to 'open up' 
37 US: KRT Wire: Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy
38 US: Bellona: Russia proposes joint uranium fuel production with Iran
39 US: NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting Nov. 10 in Gaithersburg, Marylan
40 US: Chemical & Engineering News: Spent Nuclear Fuel Recycling Studie
41 Reuters: Historic S.Korean city votes to host nuclear dump
42 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Notice of Meeting
43 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Meeting on Planning and
44 La Canada Valley Sun: JPL Water Cleanup Efforts to Increase 
45 US: Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: Czech Uranium Remo
46 CBC Saskatchewan: Sask. should be considered for nuclear waste, repo
47 CBC Saskatchewan: Calvert says no to nuclear waste
48 AU ABC: Traditional owners urge rejection of nuclear dump law.
49 Whitehaven News: Sellafieldâ€™s video nasty aids clean-up
50 US: Guardian Unlimited: Italy 'warned Saddam intelligence was bogus'
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
51 Las Vegas SUN: Weapons-Grade Nukes Moved From Los Alamos 
52 Santa Fe New Mexican: Domenici: N.M. lab budgets going up      
53 lamonitor.com: TA-18 said clean at last 
54 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern
55 Scripps Howard News Service: Enriched uranium removed from vulnerabl
56 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [NYTr] Exposing the Dems' Hypocrisy re: Libby & WMD Lies
 
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 15:11:02 -0600 (CST)

X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Andy Pollack

[It's a sad commentary that we had to wait for conservative 
columnist David Brooks to expose the Democrats' hypocrisy around 
Libby and his superiors. Their feigned horror and shock ignores 
the record of the Clinton years detailed below, when they were 
the main purveyors of WMD lies (and used it a la Madeline 
Albright to justify starving children).

Of course more recently, post-9/11 and pre-"shock and awe," they 
helped Bush spread his own version of these Clinton-era lies.

Everyone opposed to the war knew BEFORE the war started that the 
WMD and other excuses were all lies -- and knew (but might not 
have admitted) that the Dems were helping to spread them.]

The New York Times - Nov 3, 2005 
http://select.nytimes.com/2005/11/03/opinion/03brooks.html?hp=&pagewanted=print
 
The Harry da Reid Code 

By DAVID BROOKS

Harry Reid sits alone at his kitchen table at 4 a.m., writing 
important notes in crayon on the outside of envelopes. It's been 
four weeks since he launched his personal investigation into the 
Republican plot to manipulate intelligence to trick the American 
people into believing Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass 
destruction.

Reid had heard of the secret G.O.P. cabal bent on global empire, 
but he had no idea that he would find a conspiracy so immense.

Reid now knows that as far back as 1998, Karl Rove was beaming 
microwaves into Bill Clinton's fillings to get him to exaggerate 
the intelligence on Iraq. In that year, Clinton argued, "Iraq 
still has stockpiles of chemical and biological munitions ... and 
the capacity to restart quickly its production program and build 
many, many more weapons."

These comments were part of the Republican plot to manipulate 
intelligence on Iraq.

Reid now knows that in the late 1990's, Dick Cheney and other 
Republican officials used fluoridated water in the State 
Department and other government agencies to brainwash Clinton 
administration officials into exaggerating the threat posed by 
Saddam Hussein.

In 1997 Clinton's defense secretary, William Cohen, went on 
national television and informed the American people that if 
Saddam has "as much VX in storage as the U.N. suspects" he would 
"be able to kill every human being on the face of the planet."

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright compared Saddam to Hitler 
and warned that he could "use his weapons of mass destruction" or 
"become the salesman for weapons of mass destruction."

Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, warned that 
"Saddam's history of aggression, and his recent record of 
deception and defiance, leave no doubt that he would resume his 
drive for regional domination if he had the chance. Year after 
year, in conflict after conflict, Saddam has proven that he seeks 
weapons, including weapons of mass destruction, in order to use 
them." These comments were also part of the Republican conspiracy 
to exaggerate and manipulate intelligence.

Harry Reid sits alone at his kitchen table at 4 a.m., writing 
important notes in crayon on the outside of envelopes. It has 
been four weeks since he began investigating this conspiracy and 
three weeks since he sealed his windows with aluminum foil to 
ward off the Illuminati. Odd patterns now leap into his brain. 
Scooter Libby was born near a book depository but was indicted 
while at a theater. Karl Rove reads books from book depositories 
but rarely has time for the theater. What is the ratio of Bush 
tax cuts to the number of squares on a frozen waffle? It is none 
other than the Divine Proportion. This proves that Leonardo da 
Vinci manipulated intelligence on Iraq and that the Holy Grail is 
a woman!

Harry Reid sits alone at his kitchen table at 4 a.m. He knows now 
that seven centuries ago at a secret meeting of the Bilderberg 
Society-Trilateral Commission-American Enterprise Institute, the 
six High Lords of the Secret Order of the Neocons decided to 
implant alien life forms into potential Democratic officials that 
could be activated in case there was a need to manipulate 
intelligence on Iraq.

This is why in 2002 Al Gore declared that Saddam Hussein "has 
stored secret supplies of biological and chemical weapons 
throughout his country." This is why in 2001, a Clinton assistant 
secretary of state, Robert Einhorn, said at a Congressional 
hearing, "Today, or at most within a few months, Iraq could 
launch missile attacks with chemical or biological weapons 
against its neighbors."

This is why the Clinton National Security Council staffer Kenneth 
Pollack has written, "The U.S. Intelligence Community's belief 
toward the end of the Clinton administration [was] that Iraq had 
reconstituted its nuclear weapons program and was close to 
acquiring nuclear weapons."

These assertions were all part of an elaborate Republican 
conspiracy to manipulate and exaggerate intelligence on Iraq.

Harry Reid sits alone at his kitchen table at 4 a.m. Odd thoughts 
rush through his brain. He cannot trust the letter "r," so he 
must change his name to Hawwy Weed. Brian Lamb secretly rules the 
world by manipulating the serial numbers on milk cartons.

Reid realizes there is only one solution: "Must call a secret 
session of the Senate. Must expose global conspiracy to sap vital 
juices! Must expose Republican plot to manipulate intelligence!"

Harry Reid sits alone at his kitchen table at 4 a.m.

Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
       
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 2 Guardian Unlimited: Italians Deny Role in Iraq Uranium Dossier
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 
 	 
Thursday November 3, 2005 11:31 PM
 	
AP Photo PPC102 
By ARIEL DAVID Associated Press Writer 

ROME (AP) - Italy's spy chief denied on Thursday that Italian
intelligence had any hand distributing a dossier that claimed
Saddam Hussein tried to buy uranium in Niger, Italian lawmakers
said. 

Enzo Bianco, chairman of an oversight committee on secret
services, told reporters that the intelligence chief, Nicolo
Pollari, and Gianni Letta, a top aide to Premier Silvio
Berlusconi, briefed a dozen top lawmakers after a newspaper
report alleging Italy had passed the dossier to Britain and the
United States knowing that it was a fake. 

Bianco said the officials denied that SISMI, Italy's secret
service, ``ever had a role in the dossier that was supposed to
have demonstrated that Iraq was in an advanced phase of
possession of enriched uranium.'' 

The United States and Britain used the claim that Saddam Hussein
was seeking uranium in Africa to bolster their case for the war.

The intelligence supporting the claim was later deemed
unreliable. 

Commission member Sen. Massimo Brutti told reporters after the
closed-door session that that the commission was told that the
Italian secret services warned the United States in January 2003
that the dossier was fake. 

But later, the senator called The Associated Press to retract
that statement. He said that the commission was not told that
the Italians had warned the Americans. 

Brutti said he was confused by the barrage of reporters'
questions when the lawmakers emerged from the briefing. He said
when he had the opportunity later to check his briefing notes,
he realized he had misspoke. 

Brutti said what he meant to say was that the commission was
told that a SISMI official, contacted by the International
Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Austria, about the dossier, told
the U.N. agency that ``those documents didn't come from Sismi,
they weren't produced nor supplied by Sismi.'' 

``Our (intelligence services) were not involved,'' Brutti said
the briefing was told. 
The Italian news agency ANSA quoted Brutti as saying that the
commission was told that the U.N. agency queried Sismi about the
dossier in January 2003. 

President Bush included the allegation about Iraq seeking the
uranium in his January 2003 State of the Union address, accusing
Iraq of pursuing banned weapons of mass destruction programs. 

SISMI chief Pollari had requested the hearing after Rome daily
La Repubblica alleged last week that Italy had given the United
States and Britain documents it knew were forged detailing a
purported Iraqi deal to buy 500 tons of uranium concentrate from
Niger. The uranium, known as yellowcake, can be used to make
nuclear weapons. 

La Repubblica, a strong Berlusconi opponent, has alleged that
after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, Pollari was under pressure
from Berlusconi - a firm U.S. ally - to make a strong
contribution to the hunt for weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq. 

Berlusconi's government has denied any wrongdoing and the
premier has personally defended Pollari in the face of calls for
his resignation. 

Italy's alleged role in the case first became known when an
Italian journalist from the Panorama newsweekly revealed she had
received a copy of the Niger dossier in October 2002 from a man
she knew as a security consultant. 

Elisabetta Burba has said she turned over a copy of the
documents to the U.S. Embassy in Rome in hopes of receiving an
assessment of their authenticity. 

She never heard back from U.S. officials and, following an
unfruitful trip to Niger, the magazine never published the
documents, deeming them unreliable. 

Brutti said that the commission was told that the documents were
forged by an information peddler whom he described as a former
Sismi collaborator. 

In an interview with conservative daily Libero published on
Thursday, Berlusconi said Italy hadn't passed any documents on
the Niger affair to the United States. He added that La
Repubblica's allegations were dangerous for Italy because ``if
they were believed, we would be considered the instigator'' of
the war in Iraq. 	 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 3 Guardian Unlimited: UK: World Won't Tolerate Iranian Defiance
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday November 3, 2005 4:16 AM
 	
AP Photo LJRM107 

LONDON (AP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that
military action against Iran is not being considered, but said
the international community won't stand for continued breaches
of Tehran's obligations. 

At a European Union summit last week, Blair made comments
interpreted as threatening military action. At that time he said
regarding Iran's leaders: ``If they carry on like this, the
question people are going to be asking us is, 'When are you
going to do something about this?''' 
But he told the House of Commons Wednesday military force was
not being considrered. 

``Nobody is talking about military threats or invasion of Iran
or any of the rest of it,'' Blair said. 

``What we are however saying is that the Iranian government has
got to understand that the international community simply will
not put up with their continued breach of the proper and normal
standards of behavior that we expected from a member of the
United Nations.'' 

Blair last week joined other leaders in condemning Iranian
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for the destruction of
Israel. He also said Iran needed to do more to meet
international demands meant to ease concerns over its suspect
nuclear program. 

``Iran has to realize that the international community cannot
tolerate continuing conduct that is supporting terrorism around
the world, frankly; that is supporting terrorism not just in the
Middle East but elsewhere; that is in breach of its nuclear
weapons responsibilities and obligations under the Atomic Energy
Authority,'' Blair said Wednesday. 

``And I I do make it clear again now, the statements by the
Iranian president in respect of Israel are completely and
totally unacceptable.'' 
		 	 	   

      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 4 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: Talks to resume Wednesday

November 4, 2005 KST 14:34 (GMT+9)

  November 04, 2005 ¤Ñ The next round of nuclear negotiations
aimed to see through the dismantlement of North Korean nuclear
programs and weapons will continue on Wednesday, the Chinese
Foreign Ministry announced yesterday, after which a senior Seoul
official confirmed the news. At the last meeting in September in
Beijing that involved both Koreas, the United States, China,
Japan and Russia, Pyongyang committed to an international accord
under which it agreed to scrap its nuclear programs in return
for economic and energy aid and multilateral security
assurances. With a joint statement in place that lays out the
principles of the accord, negotiators then agreed to meet again
this month and focus on sequencing and implementation. 

Due to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where
leaders of the nations involved are expected to meet and which
is scheduled to begin next week, government officials have said
that the nuclear talks would likely go into a recess for the
duration of the meeting. 

Pyongyang's demand, which came less than a day after the
agreement was reached, that it wouldn't dismantle its nuclear
programs unless provided with a light water reactor and
Washington's counter demand that the North first needs to
declare its existing nuclear programs are expected to dominate
the next round of talks. 

A government official said yesterday the most likely scenario
for the coming months would be a series of continuing talks that
are all part of the fifth round of talks. "Next week, countries
will state their positions and the work begins from there," he
said.

by Brian Lee africanu@joongang.co.kr>   
	  
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
 5 AFP: Korean nuclear talks next week may be short, fruitful - US official - 

 Thu Nov 3, 4:34 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The next round of multilateral talks aimed at
ending North Korea" /> 's nuclear weapons program could be short
and fruitful, a senior US official hinted. 

summit in the South Korean city of Busan three days later, he
said, speaking on condition of anonymity. 

"I think that's everybody's going-in intention," the official
said. 

Aside from host China, the six-party talks involve the United
States, two Koreas, Japan and Russia. 

Some of the officials at the nuclear talks in the Chinese
capital are involved in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum senior officials' meeting on November 12-13 ahead
of the summit on Nov 18-19 to be attended by US President George
W. Bush" /> and leaders of 20 other economies. 

If resolution is difficult, China has proposed a break in the
six-party talks next week to enable officials to attend the APEC
meetings. 

At the last round of the six-party talks in September, a joint
statement was adopted in which North Korea pledged to abandon
its nuclear weapons program. 

But the North later warned it would not dismantle its nuclear
arsenal until the United States supplied it with a light-water
atomic reactor to generate electricity. 

The United States insists the five parties negotiating with
North Korea had agreed that Pyongyang must first disarm before
any civilian nuclear program was discussed. 

Joseph DeTrani, the special US envoy to the six-party talks,
told reporters on Wednesday in Washington that a mechanism was
being considered for implementation of the complex accord with
North Korea. 

It could comprise "working groups" looking into details on how
Pyongyang could dismantle its nuclear weapons arsenal in return
for security guarantees, diplomatic recognition and energy and
economic aid, he said, giving an upbeat note to the talks. 

The anonymous US official on Thursday indicated that North Korea
could submit a plan to dismantle its nuclear weapons arsenal at
the six-party talks. 

"Look, if the North Korean government arrives at the table and
says here is our plan for dismantling our nuclear programs, and
our plan for a nuclear free peninsula, and that is on its face
acceptable to all the other governments, then clearly that would
merit further and intensive discussions," he said. 

"We will see if it happens," he added. 

The nuclear crisis flared up in October 2002 after the United
States accused North Korea of running a secret
uranium-enrichment program. 

*****************************************************************
 6 Guardian Unlimited: China: Korean Nuke Talks Will Start Nov. 9
 
From the Associated Press        
	 
[UP] 

Thursday November 3, 2005 9:16 AM
 	
BEIJING (AP) - The next round of six-nation talks on the dispute
over North Korea's nuclear program will begin Nov. 9 in Beijing,
China's foreign ministry announced Thursday. 

The date was announced by ministry spokesman Kong Quan at a
regular news briefing. 

The talks include the two Koreas, host China, the United States,
Japan and Russia. 

The last round ended in September with a pledge by North Korea
to give up its nuclear programs in exchange for aid and security
guarantees. 

However, less than a day later the North cast doubts on its
promise, demanding a civilian nuclear reactor for power
generation before it disarms. 

But North Korean leader Kim Jong Il promised visiting Chinese
President Hu Jintao last weekend that the North would go ahead
with the fifth round of talks scheduled for this month. 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
 		 		 		 	 	 		 		 		 	 	 		 	 	 		 	 	 	 		 	 	 	 		 		 		 	 	 
*****************************************************************
 7 Bellona: Russian nuke Whistleblower files for asylum in Finland
 
ST. PETERSBURG - Sergei Kharitonov, who worked at the Leningrad
Nuclear power plant (LNPP) for 27 years and was sacked for
whistleblowing after exposing numerous hazards at the power
station and a long legal battle to have his firing declared
illegal, has applied for asylum in Finland.

  Sergei Kharitonov. Bellona   

Rashid Alimov, Vera Ponomareva, 2005-11-03 09:18

Kharitonov is one of Russia's most famous environmentalists. He
worked as an operator at the spent nuclear fuel storage facility
at the LNPP in Sosnovy Bor before getting the sack for more than
a decade’s worth of environmental activities to draw attention
to the plant’s problems. The scathing information he provided to
journalists and environmental organisations at home and abroad
made him a pariah in Russia, where he said he now can no longer
find employment. 

“I understand this step, although I cannot accept it,” Oleg
Bodrov of the Sosnovy Bor organisation Green World told Bellona
Web about Kharitonov’s petition for asylum. Green World came to
Kharitonov's assistance when Kharitonov blew the whistle on
violations at the LNPP. 

“I think that his application for political asylum is a
desperate step. In my opinion, regardless of all the obstacles,
the environmental movement in Russia can fight.” 

Kharitonov told Interfax news agency that the decision to
emigrate was “brought on by disillusionment with the
possibilities of stopping the environmental anarchy in Russia,”
as well as a “lack in the country of a genuinely strong and
effective environmental defence.” 

In 1986, Kharitonov was part of the team that cleaned up after
the Chernobyl disaster. For his environmental activities,
Kharitonov was threatened by LNPP brass with firing five ties,
fined seven times, and often denied his salary. 

For more than two years beginning in November 1997, Kharitonov
was forced to spend his working hours in a cloakroom of less
than 4 square meters. This work station was revenge from the
LNPP management for the conflict, he said at the time.

Management was unable to sack him, so they stopped allowing this
worker who trumpeted infringements in print any further than the
locker room. 

The LNPP management first tried to fire Kharitonov in 1998, in
an attempt ruled illegal by the courts. He was fired for a
second time in 2000, when documents against him were prepared
more thoroughly by management. With the help of lawyers from
Bellona Environmental Rights Centre (ERC), Kharitonov tried to
protest against this management decision. However, the Sosnovy
Bor and Leningrad Region courts turned down his appeal.
 
  Kharitonov's Report on the LNPP   

  Read Kharitonov's “The Leningrad NPP as a Mirror of the
Russian Atomic Energy Industry.”
   
In 2004, Bellona published Kharitonov's report “The Leningrad
NPP as a Mirror of the Russian Atomic Energy Industry,” in which
he set out in detail many cases in which safety regulations had
been breached at the LNPP. In addition to this report,
Kharitonov undertook an independent investigation of corruption
at the plant. 

“The collapse of Bellona's 'Sergei Kharitonov case', and Green
World's ineffective PR campaign lead to the collapse of the
whole defence of whistleblowers at Russian nuclear facilities,”
Interfax quoted Kharitonov as saying. 

Alexei Pavlov, Bellona’s lawyer for Kharitonov, cited the
difficulties of succeeding in such cases. 

“Such court cases are very difficult, because, as a rule, they
are based on evidence presented by the employer, ” Pavlov said.
“Firms can fire people at will, especially as LNPP's desire to
get rid of Kharitonov was very great.” 

According to Pavlov, whistleblower cases in Russia are extremely
varied, making it difficult to talk about general defence
techniques. 

In the United States whistleblowers are protected by two federal
laws and a number of articles in the Corporate Reform Act. There
is also an NGO that defends the rights of those willing to step
forward with damning information about their workplaces—the
Government Accountability Project. In Britain, the similar
Public Interest Disclosure Act came into force in 1999 in the
wake of a scandal that engulfed the nation's health service and
led to the deaths of dozens of people. 

Russia has no such laws to date. Therefore, in each case, a
whistleblower's fate depends on the particular circumstances. In
particular, Bellona ERC President Alexander Nikitin said that
international scrutiny can play a large role. Nikitin himself,
who blew the whistle on the nuclear threat presented by the
Northern Fleet, was accused by the Federal Security Service
(FSB) of espionage and cleared only after a five year legal
battle by the Presidium of Russia’s Supreme Court in 2000. 

“In my case, international opinion and public support played a
very important role,” Nikitin said. “In the case of [Grigory]
Pasko—who worked at the Pacific Fleet’s newspaper and blew the
whistle on dumping of radioactive waste by the fleet—it did as
well, although the support was less strong in this case. There
was even less interest in Kharitonov's labour dispute. But
although we were unable to show that the management had fired
him after falsifying the results of inspections, we are certain
that his firing was illegal.” 

Carrying out inspections is regulated by internal bureaucratic
rules. 

“Our organisation also runs into infringements of workers rights
at the Mayak nuclear facility,” said Nadezhda Kutepova of the
Ozersk-based organisation Planet of Hopes. 

“Workers are often, for example, forced to sign declarations
that they are familiar with documents that in fact they have not
seen,” Kutepova said. “Those who are unhappy are threatened with
getting the sack. Now, with a criminal case launched against the
[Mayak] plant regarding dumping of nuclear waste, [these
workers] are forbidden from communicating with my organisation.” 

Andrei Ozharovsky of the Russian environmental NGO Ekozashchita!
said that: “In recent years, environmentalists have been able to
halt imports of radioactive waste from Hungary to Mayak, and to
close or at least block the appearance of several dangerous
facilities,” 

“Despite the difficulties,” Ozharovsky said, ”we consider that
environmental action in Russia can be effective. Nevertheless, I
hope that the Finns will take Kharitonov's arguments into
account, as he has made outspoken comments about criminality at
the LNPP.” 

In 2002, Green World's Bodrov was attacked. He was hospitalised
in the local hospital and diagnosed with concussion. Unknown
attackers dealt Bodrov several blows to the head from behind.   

  Publisher: , President: 
Information: , Technical contact: 
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62  * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
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 8 Xinhua: China, Russia set for future cooperation   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-04 04:21:15   
    
  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (L) holds a ceremony to welcome his
Russian counterpart Mikhail Fradkov before their meeting at the
Great Hall of the People in Beijing Nov. 3, 2005. (Xinhua photo)
 

BEIJING, Nov. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese and Russian prime
ministers drew up a blueprint of goals for future bilateral
cooperation Thursday, highlighting the results already achieved. 

    Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and visiting Russian Prime
Minister Mikhail Yefimovich Fradkov held the 10th regular prime
ministers' meeting amidst Fradkov's on-going China visit. 

    Wen described the bilateral ties as in "the best development
period in history." 

    "The formation of the Sino-Russian strategic and cooperative
partnership and the signing of the Good-neighborly Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation demonstrate the aspiration of the two
sides to hold bilateral ties with strategic and long-term
viewpoints," he said. 

    He particularly mentioned the lay-out for implementing the
Sino-Russian Good-Neighborly Treaty of Friendship and
Cooperation,approved by the heads of state of the two countries
last year. 

    The document planned the direction for future development of
bilateral ties, he stressed, adding that the two governments
were satisfied with the implementation of the lay-out. 

    The expansion of economic cooperation was high on the agenda
of the meeting. According to Wen, the two sides have already
inked 79 agreements. Dual-track trade soared from 5.46 billion
US dollars in the first regular meeting to 21.2 billion US
dollars last year."The figure is expected to hit 28 billion
dollars this year," Wen said. 

  Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) shakes hands with his Russian
counterpart Mikhail Fradkov at the Great Hall of the People in
Beijing Nov. 3, 2005. (Xinhua photo)  

To boost the cooperation, Wen proposed improving commodity
structure and regular trade order; signing the agreement for the
construction of the oil pipeline at an early date while
enhancing power and nuclear power cooperation; signing a pact to
protect and expand mutual investment; strengthening exchanges of
scientific personnel and the transfer of scientific results;
supporting cooperation along border regions; advancing
educational, cultural,health, sports and tourist communication
between the two countries;and holding China Year in Russia and
Russia Year in China. 

    Fradkov also commended the "important role" played by the
regular prime ministers' meeting. Through the joint military
exercise and the approval of the complementary agreement on the
demarcation of borders in the eastern section, Fradkov said, the
two countries enhanced mutual trust and showed the aspiration of
coping with new challenges and threats, protecting fundamental
interests and territorial integrity and establishing a just and
rational international order. 

    "Tasks ahead are still heavy," he said. He called on the two
sides to enhance cooperation on major issues and major projects,
particularly in the fields of investment, energy, space, science
and technology and telecom. 

    The two prime ministers reiterated that they would have good
neighborliness and political trust. 

    In an efficient and pragmatic attitude, the two sides agreed
to well handle the demarcation work in the remaining section
along the eastern border in an effort to build up a friendly
nexus for the two peoples along the border areas. 

    The two prime ministers also voiced support to relevant
departments of respective countries on signing a pact for the
construction of the oil pipeline and promptly implementing the
decision for oil and natural gas exploitation and development. 

    China and Russia have issued a joint statement on
international order in the 21st century. The two prime ministers
stressed the statement is of great significance for pushing
forward multi-polarization and promoting democratization in
international relations and in the formation of a just and
rational international order. 

    After the meeting, the two countries signed cooperation
documents on language teaching, economic and trade cooperation
andbanking. 

    This is Fradkov's first China trip since he assumed the
premiership. He is scheduled to meet other Chinese leaders
Friday.Enditem   

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 9 Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: IAEA Board Closes Safeguards Loophole
 
Paul Kerr

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Board of Governors
Sept. 20 approved changes to strengthen the agencys Small
Quantities Protocol, an agreement the IAEA viewed as a weak
point in its overall ability to detect clandestine nuclear
activity. 

State-parties to the nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)are
required to conclude an IAEA safeguards agreement, which allows
the agency to monitor certain declared nuclear activities and
facilities to ensure that they are used solely for peaceful
purposes. However, some NPT state-parties with small quantities
of fissionable materials, such as highly enriched uranium (HEU)
or plutonium, have also been able to conclude a small quantities
protocol to their safeguards agreements. Certain IAEA
verification requirements are suspended for such states. 

After reviewing a report from IAEA Director-General Mohamed
ElBaradeiduring its June meeting, the board agreed that the
protocol constituted a weakness of the safeguards system. The
board considered two solutions described in the report and opted
to adopt modifications to the protocols standard text. (See
<span style="font-style: italic">ACT</span>, July/August 2005.) 

NPT members may still conclude small quantities protocols, but
the revised text establishes more rigorous criteria for states
wishing to conclude such agreements. Additionally, the text
places further obligations on all present and future states with
such protocols. 

Previously, a non-nuclear-weapon NPT state could conclude a
small quantities protocol as long as the state did not possess
more than 1 kilogram of special fissionable material, which
consists of 1 kilogram of plutonium or progressively larger
amounts of enriched, natural, or depleted uranium. Additionally,
the state could not have any such material in a nuclear
facility, such as a reactor, a nuclear fuel production plant, or
any other location where nuclear material in amounts greater
than 1 effective kilogram is customarily used. These states were
also not obligated to disclose their nuclear material inventory
to the IAEA. 

The modified text, however, requires states to provide the
agency with initial reports of all relevant nuclear material and
to allow the agency to verify those reports via inspections. It
also effectively allows the IAEA to monitor nuclear facilities
in all NPT states regardless of whether the facilities contain
nuclear material. States with either planned or existing nuclear
facilities that have not yet concluded a protocol will
henceforth not be permitted to do so. Similarly, states with a
small quantities protocol that have planned or existing
facilities will be called on to rescind their agreements.
However, only a few countries are in this situation, an IAEA
official told Arms Control Today Oct. 25. Seventy-six states
currently have small quantities protocols in force. 

The IAEA previously could not require states with a protocol
either to provide early design information about planned nuclear
facilities or allow the agency to determine the status of such
facilities. In fact, such states were only required to give the
agency six months notice before introducing nuclear material
into a facility. 

According to the IAEA official, the final standard text suspends
two more requirements for countries with small quantities
protocols than ElBaradeis report had initially suggested. This
was done to avoid creating the impression that the IAEA was
adding unintended obligations to states with small quantities
protocols, the official said, adding that keeping the
requirements would not have added anything substantial. 

ElBaradeis report argued that eliminating the Small Quantities
Protocol altogether was a superior alternative. According to
that proposal, no more states would be able to conclude such
protocols, and the states with existing protocols would be
called on to rescind them. These states would then have been
required to provide regular accounting reports of their nuclear
activities to the IAEA and allow the agency to conduct routine
inspections. 

Although the revised text does not include these requirements,
it nevertheless eliminates the current protocols key
limitations, an IAEA official told Arms Control Today in June. 

According to the IAEA, the agency will be contacting states that
have concluded the protocol to discuss the necessary changes.
The IAEA General Conference adopted a resolution Sept. 30
encouraging states with such protocols to comply with the new
modifications as soon as possible. 

The Arms Control Association is a non-profit, membership-based 
organization. If you find our resources useful, please consider 
joining or making a contribution. Arms Control Today encourages 
reprint of its articles with permission of the Editor.
 
© 2005 Arms Control Association, 1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 
Suite 620 Washington, DC 20036 Tel: (202) 463-8270 | Fax: (202) 
463-8273
   


*****************************************************************
 10 Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: IAEA Reports Increase in Nuclear Trafficking 

Scott Morrissey 

According to a Sept. 27 International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) report, incidents of nuclear and radioactive trafficking
rose significantly in 2004. Trafficking of nuclear materials has
increased for the first time since 2000, and trafficking of
radioactive materials has more than doubled over the past two
years. 

The IAEAs Illicit Trafficking Database (ITDB) works with 81
participating states that voluntarily provide information
regarding unauthorized acquisitions and transfers of nuclear and
radioactive materials. The ITDB has confirmed 662 incidents of
nuclear and radioactive trafficking since 1993, with 2004
marking the highest rate of incidents with 93 reported. 

Trafficking of nuclear materialssubstances containing uranium,
plutonium, or thoriumis up slightly but significantly from the
previous three years. There were 11 such incidents in 2004,
compared to 6 in 2003 and 9 in 2002. The ITDB reports a total of
196 nuclear material incidents since 1993, 178 of which involved
low-grade materials such as low-enriched, natural, and depleted
uranium, as well as roughly two-dozen incidents involving trace
amounts of plutonium-239. None of these items are in themselves
suitable for making nuclear weapons, but the incidents
demonstrate the insecurity of these materials and their storage
facilities. 

None of the 2004 incidents involved weapons-grade material.
Since 1993, there have been only 18 confirmed incidents of
highly enriched uranium (HEU) or plutonium trafficking, all of
which occurred in Europe or the former Soviet Union and mostly
concerned amounts of less than 1 kilogram. The latest reported
incident of this type occurred in 2003, when an individual was
arrested trying to smuggle 170 grams of HEU across the border of
the former Soviet republic of Georgia. 

Trafficking of radioactive materials, mainly radioactive
isotopes of cesium, americium, strontium, cobalt, and iridium,
have increased, according to the report. The ITDB confirmed 77
incidents of radioactive material trafficking in 2004, an
increase from 64 in 2003, which together comprise one-third of
the 400 reports submitted since 1993. These radioactive
materials have legitimate applications in industry and medicine,
and most instances of their trafficking involved substances that
are not thought to pose a serious radiological risk if used in
malicious acts. However, about 50 of the reported incidents
involved sources that are radioactive enough to be considered
dangerous if used for destructive purposes, such as in a
radioactive dispersal device, or dirty bomb. Of these high-risk
incidents, the overwhelming majority were reported in the last
six years. 

Although the ITDB report states that this increase in
trafficking is partially explained by better reporting from its
states-parties, it also says it is indicative of a black market
demand for these materials. 

The Arms Control Association is a non-profit, membership-based 
organization. If you find our resources useful, please consider 
joining or making a contribution. Arms Control Today encourages 
reprint of its articles with permission of the Editor.
 
© 2005 Arms Control Association, 1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW, 
Suite 620 Washington, DC 20036 Tel: (202) 463-8270 | Fax: (202) 
463-8273
   


*****************************************************************
 11 India Monitor: 'US can't afford to break India N-deal'   
  
Alternative & Independent Source of Indian Subcontinent News
 
  Thursday, Nov. 03, 2005,Washington: The Bush administration on
Wednesday warned against efforts to impose new conditions on a
controversial civilian nuclear power agreement with India,
saying such amendments would be "deal breakers".   
  The landmark US-India accord reached on July 18 would grant
New Delhi access to nuclear technology it has been denied for
more than two decades, but prominent critics complain it
undermines non-proliferation goals and should be tightened up. 

"We would urge both Congress and our international partners to
avoid the temptation to renegotiate the deal," said
Undersecretary of State Robert Joseph, the top US
non-proliferation official. 

"Based on our interaction with the Indian government, we believe
such additional conditions would likely prove to be
dealbreakers," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

For 25 years the United States led the global fight to deny
India access to nuclear technology because it developed nuclear
weapons and tested them. 

But President George W Bush, aiming to improve ties with the
world's largest democracy, jettisoned this approach in the July
18 agreement permitting civilian US-India nuclear cooperation. 

He wants changes in US law - which must be enacted by the US
Congress - and international regulations - decided by the
44-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group - to let India get restricted
items, including nuclear fuel. 

But many congressmen and experts worry the accord benefits India
excessively and should be amended to place other requirements on
New Delhi, like halting production of fissile material, which
can be used in nuclear weapons. 

"This is a case, where the perfect is the enemy of the good and
we must resist the temptation to pile on conditions," Joseph
said. 

He argued it is better to lock India into the agreement as
written and then work to achieve additional non-proliferation
objectives over time as US-India ties continue to improve. 

Joseph said the deal advances US goals to halt the spread of
nuclear weapons because it commits India to international
non-proliferation standards for the first time, 

This includes a commitment to full-scope safeguards, meaning
India will submit to inspections of its civilian nuclear
facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency. 

While the agreement in effect recognises India as the sixth
nuclear weapon state, Joseph said India will not have the same
freedom as the five official nuclear weapons states to
designate, which nuclear facilities must face inspections. 

The nuclear weapons states are the United States, China, Russia,
France and Britain. 

Separating Facilities 

A centrepiece of the deal would have India separate its military
and civilian nuclear facilities so the United States and other
countries can be sure that nuclear cooperation with the civilian
energy sector does not also benefit India's weapons programs. 

Undersecretary of State R Nicholas Burns, chief negotiator of
the burgeoning US relationship with India, said his visit to New
Delhi two weeks ago confirmed it will take time for India to
fulfill its commitments, including developing a plan for
separating its nuclear facilities. 

Hence Bush will not ask Congress to approve legislative changes
needed to implement the US side of the deal until perhaps as
late as April, after India takes further concrete steps, he
said. 

Committee Chairman Richard Lugar of Indiana, a Republican, and
the panel's senior Democrat, Joseph Biden of Delaware, raised
many questions about the deal but were not nearly as critical as
their counterparts in the US House of Representatives
International Relations Committee. 

Lugar called India's nuclear record "unsatisfying" while Biden
said, "I wonder how good the July 18 deal really is."   
  (Source : Indian Express)   

  © 2003-Copyrights World News Exchange. Site maintained and

*****************************************************************
 12 Libby & Nuclear Secrets to China
 
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 22:08:28 -0600 (CST)


Lewis Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's indicted ex-aide, gained
insights into how intelligence can be manipulated for political
gain as a key adviser to a 1999 investigation into the loss of U.S.
nuclear secrets to China. Although the evidence pointed to security
breaches during the Reagan-Bush years, the probe focused blame on
Democrats Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

For the full story of how a slanted report on "Chinagate" -- with
Libby's assistance -- helped George W. Bush gain the White House,
go to Consortiumnews.com at http://www.consortiumnews.com .

Consortiumnews.com is a free Web site that has been producing
hard-hitting investigative journalism for a decade. For us to
continue, we need your help. Please make a tax-deductible donation
either by credit card at the Web site or by sending a check to
Consortium for Independent Journalism (CIJ), Suite 102-231, 2200
Wilson Blvd., Arlington, VA 22201.

(Another way you can help. Please forward this e-mail to friends
who may be interested. Thanks.)



 

*****************************************************************
 13 NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with Dominion Generation Co. Officials to Discuss Possible
Equipment Flooding Issues at Kewaunee Plant

News Release - Region III - 2005-04 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 801 Warrenville 
Road, Lisle IL 60532 No. III-05-042           November 3, 2005 
CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 
829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov  
  

  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet Nov. 8 in
Lisle, Ill., with representatives of Dominion Generation Co. to
discussion the safety significance of possible flooding issues
at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant. The facility is located at
Kewaunee, Wis. 
The meeting will be at 1 p.m. in the NRC Region III Office,
Suite 210, 2443 Warrenville Rd., Lisle. The meeting is open to
public observation. At the conclusion of the business portion of
the meeting, members of the public may make comments and ask
questions of the NRC staff.
 
An NRC inspection in Sept. 2004, found that under certain
circumstances, the turbine building could flood and cause a
malfunction of safety equipment needed for safe shutdown of the
plant. The preliminary safety significance of the issue was
determined to be greater than greenwhich means more than very
low safety significance.
 
The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at nuclear power plants
with a color-coded system which classifies findings as green,
white, yellow, and red, in increasing order of significance. 

The utility entered a forced outage in Feb. 2005 to make
extensive system and structural modifications to address the
problem.
 
This apparent violation is of concern to us because the utility
missed an earlier opportunity to discover and correct this issue
in 2003, when minor flooding in the turbine building challenged
the function of certain safety equipment, said James Caldwell,
NRC Regional Administrator. We will continue to monitor the
plants ability to effectively identify and solve problems.
 
Following the regulatory conference, Kewaunee performance
improvement initiatives will be discussed.
 
No decision on the final safety significance, apparent
violations or possible enforcement action will be made during
the conference. Those decisions will be made by NRC officials at
a later time.
 
NRC Inspection Report 050011, issued Oct. 6, covering the
flooding issues, is available in the NRCs online document
library, known as ADAMS:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. Use
accession number ML052800430 to locate the report. 
  



  


 	Last revised Thursday, November 03, 2005 	
*****************************************************************
 14 AU ABC: BHP not backing nuclear power industry

November 2005. 08:41 (ACDT)Friday, 4 November 2005. 05:41 (AWST)

 Mining giant BHP Billiton says it has no plans to push for a
nuclear power industry in Australia. 

South Australian Premier Mike Rann is touring the company's
Olympic Dam uranium mine in the state's north, which may be
expanded by its new owner. 

Despite a potential four-fold increase in uranium production at
the mine, BHP Billiton's base metals chief, Roger Higgins, says
nuclear power is not on his agenda. 

"Without the copper and the other products, the gold and silver,
there wouldn't be a mine here," he said. 

"So the uranium is a very important by-product that's the part
of the nuclear energy cycle that we're in and there is no policy
in Australia for nuclear power and we're not interested in
seeing that change, and if it does then we'll react to that at
the time." 
Related Audio
 
BHP considers Olympic Dam expansion
 

BHP Billiton is planning to dig a massive crater, one kilometre
deep and three kilometres wide, in the middle of the outback. 



*****************************************************************
 15 JS Online: Reactor stopped for 1 hour 

Journal Sentinel

Point Beach plant discovers problem with paint quality

 By THOMAS CONTENT
tcontent@journalsentinel.com Posted: Nov. 2, 2005 

The Point Beach Nuclear Plant began - and then called off - a 
shutdown of its Unit 2 reactor early Wednesday while workers 
scraped problematic paint from a pipe inside the reactor. 

The shutdown was called off after just over an hour, and the
plant resumed operating at full power, said Jim McCarthy, site
director of operations at Point Beach for Nuclear Management
Co., Hudson. 

The event was classified as a non-emergency under Nuclear
Regulatory Commission criteria, according to a report Nuclear
Management filed with the NRC on Wednesday. 

Point Beach, owned by Milwaukee-based Wisconsin Energy Corp.,
has two reactors and is located in Two Creeks, in Manitowoc
County. 

The problem concerned the quality of coatings inside the reactor
area. Reactors across the country are required to keep paint in
a condition that will not permit it to flake or peel, said Jan
Strasma, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesman. Flaking or
peeling paint can result in paint chips clogging a drain in the
event of an accident at a reactor, Strasma said. 

Nuclear Management Co. discovered coating issues with the Unit 1
reactor, which is in a refueling shutdown, McCarthy said. The
company then decided to analyze Unit 2 more closely. 

During an inspection late Tuesday night, plant workers found an
11-square-foot area of paint on a pipe that didn't meet plant
standards. 

"The best way to characterize it is, it needed a little bit of
work," McCarthy said. 

Plant workers decided the best course of action would be to
remove the paint, and the company began the process of shutting
down the plant. 
Pipe will be monitored


The pipe will be monitored and then evaluated again at the time
of the next Unit 2 refueling shutdown, scheduled for late next
year. 

Reactor refueling shutdowns, which occur roughly every 18
months, are periods when nuclear plant operators make repairs
and conduct other evaluations of plant equipment. 

Point Beach is in the midst of its second shutdown this year.
The Unit 2 reactor was shut earlier for several months for
refueling, repairs and the replacement of the reactor's vessel
head, or cover. During the current shutdown at Point Beach Unit
1, crews have already replaced the vessel cover. 

Wisconsin Energy is spending $52 million this year to replace
the vessel covers to prevent Point Beach from facing an
aggressive and costly set of inspections relating to potential
leaks of boric acid. Boric acid ate a football-size hole into
the cover of the Davis-Besse nuclear plant in Ohio several years
ago, resulting in the plant being shut down for two years. 

    From the Nov. 3, 2005, editions of the Milwaukee Journal
Sentinel 

Journal Sentinel Inc. is a subsidiary of Journal Communications.
*****************************************************************
 16 Burlington Free Press: MY TURN: Don’t be so quick to say no to wind power

Opinion 

burlingtonfreepress.com  |  Burlington, Vermont 
       
Published: Thursday, November 3, 2005
 
By Hilary Terrell Roberts
 
Mountains are gorgeous. They aren’t real tall around Vermont,
but they’re still beautiful. Some people desperately want to
“preserve” them by keeping wind power away from Vermont,
turbines off our ridge lines, and renewable resources from being
used. But before you throw out my opinion, allow me a moment of
your morning to explain why wind should be running your lights
and the fridge over there, humming away. Let me give you another
perspective while you’re riding the bus or waiting for the
carpool. 

Before jumping to any conclusions, let’s think about this
rationally. Oil, gas, and coal aren’t going to last forever, and
the statistics are pretty grim. Nuclear energy is quite clean,
but the uranium half-life and other radioactive wastes are
problematic. Solar panels are of course an option, but the
monetary cost is prohibitive, and the Earth impact is not the
best either. We could dam up all our rivers in Vermont and
generate electricity that way. We could burn wood in greater
quantities. Or we could promote the use of turbines on wind
farms for the production of a cleaner, renewable energy. 

Turbines are efficient. The Danish Wind Industry website,
windpower.org, says that one turbine on a good location can
cover 2,000 families’ electricity consumption for a year. Given
that this is the US, it might be a little less than 2,000
families. Let’s take a guess at how many people that is supposed
to be: four to a family? The Vermont population is estimated at
621,000 for 2004. That’s approximately 155,000 households. So it
works out that the number of turbines in optimum running
condition and location would be about 76. Not all our turbines
will be at peak capacity all the time, some will be broken, and
sometimes it won’t be windy. That doesn’t factor in commercial
buildings and other electrical needs, but the estimate of about
100 turbines is a phenomenally low number when we consider that
it could power every household in the state. In California, you
can drive by fields of turbines 50 across and 100 deep that only
power a tiny segment of their population. And we can get it done
with 100. 
	
Another handful of facts may make the deal even sweeter.
Consider that wind power will help reduce CO2 emissions, and
“during its lifetime a wind turbine delivers 80 times more
energy than is used in its production, maintenance and
scrapping” (see: www.windpower.org/en/didyouknow).The sound
level of a turbine is that of the sound level of normal speech,
and the birds that are flying around up there are smarter than
you think (ie. they fly right by the propellers). 
	
Now, not every turbine will be on the same mountain ridge. Don’t
worry. Mount Mansfield won’t be home to all 100 windmills!
Truly, the aesthetic impact will be a small price to pay for
cleaner, renewable energy. And I completely understand that
mountains are sacred places to many people. It’s just that if we
want to keep living the way we live, even including the guy who
likes the television on all day and night, we have to sacrifice
perfection. Unless your home is “off the grid,” just because you
don’t own a TV and prefer to read by candlelight doesn’t mean
that you are exempt from electricity consumption. Face it; we
all consume. 

And remember those ancient cultures that revered mountains? They
built pyramids to get closer to the sky for their religious
practices when they were stuck with flat terrain. Well, take the
ones in the Americas, for example. They needed energy to bake
the bricks with which to build those pyramids. They didn’t have
natural gas to fire their kilns. Instead, they cut down every
last one of their trees. And people wondered why their powerful
cultures died out! 

It is apparently human nature to overlook the chief means by
which to save ourselves. We can either succumb to our aesthetic
principles or acknowledge the reality of our current situation.
Let’s not cut down all our trees or wait until every last drop
of oil from the Middle East, Russia and Alaska is gone. Wind
power might be putting our values to the test, but let’s not
wait until our great-grandkids are scratching their heads and
wondering how we could have possibly blown it so bad. 

Hilary Terrell Roberts is Vermonter and a student at the
University of Vermont. She is studying for her bachelor’s degree
with a double major in the fields of English and Communication
Sciences. She lives in South Burlington. 

Copyright ©2005 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 17 Times Herald-Record: More inspections set for Indian Point plant

November 3, 2005

 Buchanan 

    The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will conduct additional
inspections at Indian Point to address a spent-fuel pool leak
and monitor improvements to the nuclear plant's emergency alert
sirens, officials said.

    In announcing the decision, Samuel J. Collins, the agency's
regional administrator, called extra eyes "prudent." 

   "In the case of Indian Point, the staff considers it prudent
to apply additional inspection focus to specific areas," Collins
said, "even though licensee performance in these areas has not
crossed any specific thresholds mandating additional regulatory
oversight."

    Last week, NRC Chairman Nils Diaz told Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton, D-N.Y., he would boost oversight at the plant. The
promise came after the discovery of a fuel-pool leak in
September and repeated failures in the sirens used to alert
residents about an emergency. 

Greg Bruno 
			 
   Record Online is brought to you by the Times Herald-Record,
       serving New York's Hudson Valley and the Catskills.
                                 
     40 Mulberry Street * PO Box 2046 * Middletown, NY 10940
  Telephone 845-341-1100 or 800-295-2181 outside the Middletown,
                           N.Y., area.
                                 
        Orange County Publications. All rights reserved. 

*****************************************************************
 18 Chicago Sun-Times: Energy leaders discuss nuclear, coal options 

November 3, 2005
 
Global warming and the future roles of nuclear power and coal in
America's energy portfolio will be on the agenda Nov. 17 at the
Executives' Club of Chicago lunch at the Chicago Hilton.

 "Kilowatts & Carbon: Investing in an Affordable Low-carbon
Energy Future" is the topic to be discussed by Ralph Cavanagh,
director of the energy program at the Natural Resources Defense
Council; John Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon Corp., and Clay
Sell, deputy U.S. secretary of energy. 

Dan Miller, business editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and former
chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, will moderate the
panel.

 Rowe, whose company runs the nation's largest fleet of nuclear
power plants, favors increased reliance on clean-burning nuclear
power, a position that Cavanagh generally opposes in favor of
increased use of coal that can be modified to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions.

 Both men assert that global warming poses a threat to the
environment and favor reductions in emissions in line with the
Kyoto Protocol. The Bush administration recognizes the danger of
increased C02 emissions, but has repudiated the Kyoto Protocol.

 A reception begins at 11:15 a.m. with lunch at noon at the
Hilton, 720 S. Michigan Ave.

 Cost is $55 for members and $75 for nonmembers. 

Copyright 2005, Digital Chicago Inc.   

*****************************************************************
 19 NRC: NRC Publishes Redacted Safety Evaluation for Proposed Vermont Yankee Power Increase
 
News Release - 2005-14
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov No. 05-149     November 3, 2005   
  

  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a public version
of its draft safety evaluation (SE) for Entergy Nuclears request
to increase Vermont Yankees power output by 20 percent. 
Since Entergy applied for the power increase, or uprate, in
September 2003, the NRC staff has spent more than 9,000 hours
reviewing the request, and the SE represents the results of that
work to date. The evaluation was provided to Entergy on Oct. 21
in order for the utility to review the document to remove
proprietary information. The draft SEs preliminary conclusion is
that Vermont Yankee can safely operate at the uprated power
level, with certain conditions.
 
Were focused on ensuring Vermont Yankee operates safely, and the
work that went into this report shows how thoroughly were
reviewing the uprate request, said Jim Dyer, Director of the
NRCs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. All the parties
involved, including the staff, Entergy, the state of Vermont,
the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, and the Atomic
Safety and Licensing Board, still have a lot of work to do
before we come to a conclusion about the uprate.
 
The NRC will not approve the Vermont Yankee uprate, or any
proposed changes to a reactors license, unless the agency can
conclude the changes can be implemented safely. The redacted
draft SE is available from the NRCs electronic documents
database, ADAMS, by entering ML053010167 at this address:
http://adamswebsearch.nrc.gov/dologin.htm. The letter notifying
Entergy of the redacted document is available by entering
ML053010145 at the same address.
   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, November 03, 2005 	
*****************************************************************
 20 Mos News: Russia Ready to Build All of China’s Nuclear and Thermal Power
Stations — Prime Minister - 

MOSNEWS.COM
 
 	Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov (left) and Chinese
Premier Wen Jiabao / Photo: AP 	 	
 	 	
Created: 03.11.2005 17:00 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 17:00 MSK 	
 	
Russia is ready to build all the nuclear and thermal power
stations that may be needed by China, said on Thursday, Nov. 3,
Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov.

“For example, we are ready to build here all of the nuclear
power stations and thermal ones as well,” said Fradkov at a
press conference following negotiations with chairman of China’s
State Council Wen Jiabao. “We can do this,” Fradkov stressed. 

Fradkov is in China for a two-day meeting with his counterpart
to discuss issues of economic cooperation. 	 	 	 	 	 	     
	

MosNews 

  Write us: <b>info@mosnews.com</b>
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 21 The Advocate: NRC says gallons of radioactive water leaked from plant
 	 	 	
Connecticut News                                        
     		
Associated Press
 
Published November 3 2005
 	
HADDAM, Conn. --         

Several gallons of radioactive water per day leaked for a time 
from the former Connecticut Yankee nuclear plant, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission reported Wednesday.

 The leak was discovered by workers digging near the building 
housing the spent fuel pool, and the contaminated water never 
made it beyond the plant's property line, Connecticut Yankee 
officials told the NRC.

The company and the NRC said the leak did not pose a danger to
health or safety.

 It has not been determined when or for how long the leak
occurred. Connecticut Yankee stated that a review of data
indicates the it was "on the order of a few gallons per day."

 NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci said groundwater monitoring
revealed that no hazardous material left the property. She said
the NRC would inspect the site before signing off on the plant's
decommissioning.

 The contamination "is confined to a very small area onsite,"
said Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith. "We are still
investigating."

 The water apparently seeped through seams in pool building's
concrete into a small area of soil, the company reported.

 The spent fuel pool housed the nuclear plant's uranium pellets.
The rods and radioactive metals have been removed from the pool
as part of the plant's decommissioning.

 Connecticut Yankee opened in 1968 and operated for 28 years. It
was closed in 1996 and decommissioning is expected to be
completed next year.

 Haddam First Selectman Tony Bondi said neither Connecticut
Yankee nor the NRC had informed him of the leak.

 "My God, it really surprises me something this egregious can
happen," Bondi told The Hartford Courant. "We need to determine
the extent of the leakage and the consequences of it."


 Information from: The Hartford Courant, http://www.courant.com

 	Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press 	 
        
© 2005, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 22 courant.com: Spent Nuclear Fuel Pool Leaked 

 November 3, 2005 

By GARY LIBOW, Courant Staff Writer   


HADDAM --        

Radioactive water from the decommissioned Connecticut Yankee 
nuclear plant's spent fuel pool once leaked into the surrounding 
soil, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission reported Wednesday.

The contamination appears to have remained on-site, and public 
health and safety is not endangered, both the NRC and Connecticut 
Yankee stress.

Workers decommissioning the plant Monday discovered hairline
cracks in the 6-foot thick concrete walls containing the spent
fuel pool, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.

 But those cracks may not have been the reason for the
contamination. Instead, it appears an unknown quantity of
contaminated water seeped through seams in the concrete into a
small area of soil, according to Connecticut Yankee officials.

"[Contamination] is confined to a very small area on-site,"
Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman Kelley Smith said. "We are still
investigating."

The spent fuel pool housed the nuclear plant's highly
radioactive uranium pellets for decades. The rods and
radioactive metals have been removed from the pool, but the
water remains.

 The Haddam Neck plant, which permanently shut down in 1996,
produced 110 billion kilowatt hours of electricity over 28 years.

In reporting the discovery to the NRC, Connecticut Yankee stated
that while the quantity of water leaked is unknown, a review of
historic data indicates the it was "on the order of a few
gallons per day."

Connecticut Yankee informed the NRC the leakage was discovered
when workers removed soil east of the spent fuel building.

Based on readings from monitoring wells, there was no travel of
tainted water beyond the plant's property line, the company told
the federal agency. Connecticut Yankee also notified the state
Department of Environmental Protection there appeared to be no
contamination beyond the company's property line.

The NRC's Sheehan said evidence of the leakage consisted of the
hairline cracks and the accumulation of a white powder around
the cracks.

Sheehan said the spent fuel pool contains a stainless steel
liner with a leak-detection system, and Connecticut Yankee has
stated that the system has detected no significant leaks during
the plant's operation or since. 

Smith said the company, in the midst of decommissioning, does
not think the hairline cracks traverse through the thick
concrete walls.

"It does not appear that any water seeped through the hairline
cracks. It may possibly have seeped through the concrete
construction seams," Smith said.

"[Contamination] is confined to a very small area on-site,"
Smith said, noting it may be impossible to determine when the
leak occurred.

Connecticut Yankee's investigation, to date, includes excavation
of a 10- by 30-foot area as part of its investigation.

Smith states that cesium, a by-product of nuclear plant
operation, has been found underground in a 4- by 4-foot area of
soil east of the spent fuel pool building. That localized
contamination has been remediated, she said.

First Selectman Tony Bondi said neither Connecticut Yankee nor
the NRC had informed him of the discovery.

"My God, it really surprises me something this egregious can
happen," Bondi said. "We need to determine the extent of the
leakage and the consequences of it."

Local resident Sal Mangiagli, an anti-nuclear activist, also
wants assurances Connecticut Yankee will test extensively to
determine the scope of contamination.

"It's really disheartening to think they had a leaking spent
fuel pool," said Mangiagli, a member of Citizens Awareness
Network.

 "A couple of gallons, if it was really radioactive, is a lot.
And if it was going on day after day, it's disturbing," he said.
	 

  To comment on this story, or to request a correction click
here to send a message to Karen Hunter, The Courant's reader
representative.  <b>Click here </b>to read Karen's daily Weblog.
  Subscribe to the Hartford Courant today and receive up to 50%
off!   
  If you want other stories on this topic, search the Archives
at courant.com/go/archives/.   

courant.com is Copyright © 2005 by The Hartford Courant   
*****************************************************************
 23 Newsday.com: Camera may have found source of radioactive leak at Indian Point
 
AP New York             
 	
By JIM FITZGERALD Associated Press Writer
 	 	
 	November 3, 2005, 5:28 PM EST

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. --    A remote-controlled underwater camera 
may have found the source of a leak of radioactive water from the 
spent-fuel pool at the Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant, the 
plant's owner said Thursday. 

The video camera found what could be rust spots near a joint in 
the steel lining of the pool, said Jim Steets, a spokesman for 
Entergy Nuclear Northeast. The discoloration was seen at depths 
ranging from 16 to 22 feet. 

In August, during an excavation project, the company discovered 
slightly radioactive water on the outside of the underground wall 
of the spent fuel pool. The 40-foot-deep pool holds the highly 
radioactive fuel assemblies that have been used in the nuclear 
reactor in Buchanan. 

Concern grew last month after low levels of tritium, a
radioactive isotope, were found in water at the bottom of six
sampling wells on the Indian Point property. The Nuclear
Regulatory Commission tightened its oversight of Indian Point. 

At the time, Entergy said it could not be sure that the water on
the outside of the pool was from a new leak or had remained in
the ground after the repair of a previous leak. The new video
findings, however, show "a potential fault very suggestive of
being the source of the leak," Steets said. He said the location
is consistent with where the water is seen on the outside part
of the wall. 

Steets said a diver _ protected from the radioactivity in the
pool _ would slip into the pool next week to place a "vacuum
box" on the discolored area. The box would suck water from the
area and would draw in material from outside the pool if there
is a leak, Steets said. 

Repairs might entail a new coating or new welding, Steets said.
Meanwhile, the inspection undertaken to find any leak is only
one-third complete, he said. 

Earlier Thursday, representatives of several political leaders,
including Sen. Hillary Clinton and Westchester County Executive
Andrew Spano, were given a tour of Indian Point to see how the
company was working on the leak. Several politicians had
criticized Entergy for not reporting the leak sooner. 

Rep. Nita Lowey said afterward that the visit "could be an
indication of a more open dialogue between the plant operators
and the community but I remain concerned about how this
situation was handled from the beginning." 

	 
 Copyright 2005 Newsday Inc.
*****************************************************************
 24 North Jersey Media Group: Teaneck laboratory is fined for losing uranium shipment 

[NorthJersey.com]     

Thursday, November 3, 2005 

By ALEX NUSSBAUM STAFF WRITER 

A Teaneck laboratory must pay a $3,250 federal fine for losing a
tiny shipment of enriched uranium last spring, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission said on Wednesday. 

The fine against Ledoux &Co. comes after the lab accidentally
tossed 3.3 ounces of nuclear material in the trash, setting off
a federal and state search that stretched to landfills around
the mid-Atlantic. 

"NRC considers the failure to secure and/or maintain control of
radioactive material a serious matter," the agency's regional
director, Samuel J. Collins, wrote to Ledoux this week. 

The Alfred Avenue lab reported the uranium-235 missing in
mid-April, after receiving a drum filled with seven canisters of
the nuclear fuel bound for a university reactor. Ledoux had been
hired to test the material's purity. 

An NRC investigation found a lab worker had left one canister in
the drum, which was tossed into trash eventually taken to a
landfill. 

The NRC was never able to find the material, which may have gone
to any of seven dumps in |the region. In any event, the shipment
was too small to pose any threat, said agency spokesman Neil
Sheehan. 

The $3,250 penalty was the smallest the commission could levy.
It took into account the lab's good record prior to the loss,
along with steps it's taken since April, Sheehan said. 

Ledoux now requires two workers to oversee incoming shipments,
as well as more paperwork to track such deliveries, said Charles
Avalone, the lab's manager of nuclear services. 

"We abide by their decision," he said of the NRC. "We have no
problem with it. We've worked with them in incorporating extra
safeguards, so there'll be no repeat of this." 

E-mail: nussbaum@northjersey.com   

Copyright © 2005 North Jersey Media Group Inc.
*****************************************************************
 25 Daily Texan: UT System may house nuclear reactor in 2012 - 

| 11/3/2005 
 
Site could reprocess waste from plants, perform research

 By Yashoda Sampath 

The University of Texas System will host the first
high-temperature nuclear reactor in the country by 2012.
 
UT-Permian Basin in Odessa is working with the nuclear
consulting company General Atomics to build the test reactor in
Andrews County in West Texas. Andrews County recently became
home to all of the nation's low-level radioactive waste.
 
"That helps us because we already have facilities for waste
storage treatment and disposal," said Jim Wright, project
coordinator at UT-Permian Basin
 
Generation IV, a consortium of international governments, power
companies and researchers formed by the U.S. Department of
Energy, made a rule that the United States must update all
nuclear reactors by 2030. The proposed reactor would be the
first in the United States. 

The Andrews reactor would be used to test and conduct research
for a proposed commercial reactor in Idaho. 

"We believe that this country is in a position where all the
nuclear technology is being developed in other places," said
Wright. 

Japan and China have already constructed reactors with the new
high-temperature technology, which would go up to 1,000 degrees
Celsius.
 
The new reactor will have three primary experimental uses:
nuclear research on the fuel cycle, which follows uranium usage
from start until finish; hydrogen production; and
high-temperature research.
 
Until now, waste was not reprocessed, as the reprocessing
produces plutonium, and the United States didn't want plutonium
to proliferate during the Cold War, Wright said. Now, the
plutonium and uranium would be used together to fuel the
reactor. Experiments will also be conducted with an element
called thorium, which is self-generating - when burned it
creates more fuel to use. This decreases the initial amount
needed for a reaction. Wright added that thorium is a much more
abundant mineral than uranium.
 
The facility will also research hydrogen fuel production. The
high temperatures of the test reactor can convert water directly
to hydrogen without using a catalyst, said Wright. This won't
create any waste product and will be the most efficient way to
get hydro-powered cars and houses on the market, he said. 

Karen Hadden, co-director of the environmental advocacy group
SEED Coalition, said that the idea of using a nuclear reactor to
create clean energy is a contradiction.
 
"I don't think it's a good idea for UT to be involved in this,"
she said. "We already are bidding for Los Alamos and already
manage Sandia, in addition to the reactor at the Pickle Campus.
I would characterize this as nuclear madness."
 
The reactor will not be involved in weapons production, but will
be used to research the best methods of recycling disused
nuclear weapon elements from the Cold War.
 
To counteract any attempts at theft, the reactor will be fully
underground. Additionally, the fuel for the reactor will be
deeply encased within three layers of ceramic, making up spheres
.8 millimeters in diameter. The ceramic spheres are then encased
in blocks of graphite.
 
"Terrorists would have to separate literally millions of the
spheres in order to get enough fuel," Wright said. 

Wright said the reactor shuts itself down automatically when it
reaches 1,500 degrees Celsius. The ceramic coating withstands
temperatures up to 2,000 degrees. Together, these safety
measures would eliminate the possibility of nuclear meltdowns,
Wright said. The ceramic coatings would also function as safe
storage.
 
The disasters of Chernobyl in Russia and Three Mile Island in
Pennsylvania were caused by using water coolant, which
overflowed and led to overheating and meltdown. The test reactor
would instead use gas coolant.
 
The Lone Star Chapter of the Sierra Club questions using nuclear
research, regardless of the benefits. Spokeswoman Donna Hoffman
cited nuclear waste as a pressing issue.
 
"Los Alamos radioactivity is already migrating underground to
the Rio Grande River," she said. "We should have learned our
lesson by now."
 
Wright said with the new technology, waste would be reduced by
half. Efficiency, currently estimated at 33 percent, will
increase to more than 50 percent.
 
Researchers from the UT System and Sandia and Los Alamos
National Laboratories will collaborate with UTPB's project. 

Estimates put the reactor's final price tag at around $400
million, Wright said. The federal government will pay for 90
percent, and UTPB would look for private sources for the
remainder. Already, $3 million has been raised to fund
preliminary designs, which will be shown to potential investors.
	   	 
	 
*****************************************************************
 26 UPI: Indian official wants bigger nuke industry
     
 United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/3/2005 2:50:00 PM -0500                              
										Newstrack:						The Israeli inner cabinet has voted to

NEW DELHI, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The head of India's Atomic Energy
Commission wants less reliance on imported nuclear fuel while
expanding India's nuclear program. 

The UNI news agency reported Thursday AEC Chairman Anil Kakodkar
believes India will need to increase the number of nuclear power
stations in the country to meet surging demand for electricity. 

Kakodkar, who is also India's Atomic Energy chief, said for the
nation to implement an expanded nuclear energy policy, it would
have to develop a number of advanced technologies. 

						    						     						  © Copyright 2005 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Want to email or reprint this story? Click here for options. 
									
*****************************************************************
 27 AFP: Britain cannot rule out nuclear attack by terrorists 

 Thu Nov 3, 1:47 AM ET 
		 	 
LONDON (AFP) - A chemical and biological terrorist attack is a
possibility in Britain and a nuclear attack could not be ruled
out, a former head of British intelligence said. 

 Sir Richard Dearlove, who retired last year as head of the
Secret Intelligence Service, said the July 7 bombings that
killed 52 London commuters did not amount to a "strategic
terrorist event," the Daily Telegraph reported.
 
Dearlove, who was taking part in a debate on terrorism arranged
by the London law firm Ashurst, said the July attacks on three
subway trains and a bus "bore the characteristic of a locally
planned and carried-out event".
 
However British officials probably had to conclude that "the
clock is running on some much more dreadful events that could
occur," the former MI6 chief said.
 
In the medium to long term, terrorists would have access through
the Internet to "some quite frightening dual-use technologies,"
he said.
 
These had not yet been used in the context of terrorism, but Sir
Richard thought that they would probably eventually be used.
 
"There is no question that bits of al-Qaeda would have been
extremely interested in biological weapons technology, chemical
weapons technology, radiological devices and, ultimately,
nuclear devices," he said.
 
Dearlove expressed "some sympathy" for the government's approach
to fighting terrorism through legislation, adding that there was
"extensive complacency" in Britain about the nature of the
terrorist threat.
 
Meanwhile, the Daily Mirror reported that all four July 7
suicide bombers were tracked by security services a year before
they attacked London.
 
But the surveillance operation was ditched after intelligence
officers decided there was nothing suspicious about their
behaviour, according to sources quoted by the newspaper.
 
Copyright © 2005 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 28 UPI: Security & Terrorism - Britain may face WMD terror

United Press International - 

11/3/2005 4:29:00 PM -0500                              
										Newstrack:						The Israeli inner cabinet has voted to
LONDON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The former head of Britain's secret
service has warned that nuclear, biological and even genetic
terror attacks are coming. 

Sir Richard Dearlove, who retired last year as head of MI-6,
Britain's Secret Intelligence Service, told a debate in London
that chemical, biological and genetic terrorism were all now
feasible and could occur in the coming years. He even warned
that a nuclear attack could not be ruled out. 

Dearlove was participating in a debate on terrorism organized by
the City of London legal firm Ashurst. He said, "The clock is
running on some much more dreadful events that could occur". 

Terrorists would eventually have access through the Internet to
"some quite frightening dual-use technologies," Dearlove said. 

"There is no question that bits of al-Qaida would have been
extremely interested in biological weapons technology, chemical
weapons technology, radiological devices and, ultimately,
nuclear devices," he said. 

Dearlove warned that even after the four suicide bomb attacks on
London's transportation system on July 7 that killed 52 people
and wounded another 700, there was still "extensive complacency"
in the country about the dangers ahead, the Independent
newspaper reported. 

International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 29 [NYTr] UK: Former soldier wins landmark Gulf War Syndrome case
 
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 15:08:41 -0600 (CST)

X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Simon McGuinness

[The cost of waging war has escalated for Britain.-SMcG]

The Independent - 01 November 2005
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/legal/article323846.ece

Former soldier wins landmark case over Gulf War Syndrome 

By Genevihve Roberts 

A former guardsman suffering from Gulf War Syndrome has won a landmark
legal case against the Ministry of Defence. 

Daniel Martin, 35, who has suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome,
memory loss and impaired concentration since the 1991 conflict, will
receive a disability award under the "umbrella term" of Gulf War
Syndrome.

He is one of 1,500 soldiers who made a claim for a disablement pension
because of the syndrome, which, for the past 14 years, the MoD has said
does not exist.

A war pensions tribunal in London yesterday ruled "the term Gulf War
Syndrome is the appropriate medical label to be attached" to Mr Martin's
condition. The ruling will enable the other servicemen to claim their
disablement pensions.

Charles Plumridge, Co-ordinator for the National Gulf Veterans and
Families Association, said: "Hundreds of veterans have applied to have
the diagnostic label of Gulf War Syndrome recognised. While the Ministry
of Defence has said in the House of Commons that they do not recognise
the syndrome, the Pensions Appeal Tribunal has ruled that there is
enough evidence to warrant the term."

Mr Plumridge, an army reservist called up at the age of 50 to serve in
the first Gulf War, has been waiting five years to be granted a
disablement pension from the MoD. "A precedent has now been set," he
said. "I would expect, at last, the Veterans Agency to accept what
everyone else already knows, and grant pensions to the 1,500 veterans
who have claimed them due to Gulf War Syndrome."

The veterans claim the syndrome was caused by the many vaccinations they
received before combat, including the Anthrax vaccine, combined with
exposure to depleted uranium and the pesticides used on the servicemen's
tents while serving in the Gulf during the Allied action. 
       
                                *
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*****************************************************************
 30 Foodconsumer.org: Any dose of radiation is too high

Updated: Nov 3rd, 2005 -

 By Sarah Todd Davidson

 Any exposure to radiation may cause cell damage that could lead
to cancer, according to a June 2005 report from the National
Research Council. The risk noted by the report, though small, is
a third higher than the risk of 8.46 cancers per 10,000 people
exposed to 1 rem (or 10 millisieverts [mSv]) currently used by
U.S. regulators. The report contradicts critics who believe
there is a threshold below which radiation is harmless; it also
fails to support those who say low doses of radiation cause
greater health damage per unit dose than high levels.
 
The seventh Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation (BEIR)
report, sponsored by several federal agencies, assessed and
updated the health risks from low linear energy transfer
(low-LET) radiation, which deposits little energy in a cell and
thus tends to cause little damage.The last BEIR report that
addressed these health risks was published in 1990.
 
Richard Monson, a professor of epidemiology at the Harvard
School of Public Health and chair of the group that conducted
the study, says, "We judged that the most reasonable shape is a
line through the origin." Simply put, this means any low-LET
ionizing radiation may increase the risk of a cell becoming
cancerous--there is no threshold below which there is no
risk--and as exposure increases, so does the health risk.
Researchers refer to this straight line as the
linear-no-threshold model.
 
Less than 20% of people's low-level radiation exposure comes
from anthropogenic sources. The Earth and cosmic sources emit
the remainder. Nearly 80% of human-induced exposure comes from
medical procedures, about 15% from products like tobacco and
building materials, and around 5% from exposure at work.
 
For the purpose of the BEIR VII report, the authoring committee
defined low-LET radiation as levels up to about 100 mSv. For
comparison, a chest X ray averages around 0.1 mSv. The committee
concluded it's likely that about 1 out of 100 people would
develop a tumor or leukemia from exposure to 100 mSv above
background. Of that same 100 people, experts would expect 42 to
develop cancers for other reasons, but at the press conference
marking the release of the report, the committee said it did not
fully exclude the possibility of some radiation exposure being a
factor in those cases.
 
The BEIR VII report employed statistical data to draw its
conclusions and reviewed studies of people exposed at work and
in medical settings. It also relied heavily on data from the
Japanese atomic bomb survivors.
 
As these survivors age, more is revealed about the relationship
between radiation exposure and eventual health outcomes.
Investigators have also improved their estimate of the levels of
exposure this population received. But critics question the
heavy reliance on the Japanese survivors because of the "healthy
survivor" effect--those who survived the bombing might have been
hardier than those who died early on, potentially skewing the
results.
 
Many researchers say the latest report helps reaffirm the
general accuracy of federal standards in place for limiting
health risks from low-level radiation. "We believe the data are
more convincing than fifteen years ago and show that the
radiation protection standards we use are reasonable," says
Monson.
 
Mike Boyd, a health physicist who works on setting and updating
those standards for the Environmental Protection Agency,
concurs. "I don't think we'll be changing any federal
standards," he says. "I'm not willing to say there will be no
impact. This report will go into our estimation of risk and
could lead to refinements, but generally standards should stay
the same."
 
Although most scientists agree the report incorporated the
majority of pertinent data up through 2003, information about
low-LET radiation continues to emerge. One hypothesis under
investigation, says biologist Andrew Wyrobek of Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, is the possible adaptive response
cells developed over eons of natural exposure. Other hypotheses
include genetic instability (the idea that some cells already
have genetic mutations and are thus more prone to becoming
cancerous, given the incentive) and the "bystander effect" (in
which cells respond adversely to nearby irradiation although
they themselves weren't hit directly). These concepts were among
those reviewed for the BEIR VII report but were not incorporated
into the risk estimates.
 
Most experts agree that the BEIR VII report won't be the last in
the series. "Right now there is just a lot we don't know about
how cells react to very low doses of radiation," says Wyrobek.
"But with multiple exposures from more and more people
undergoing medical diagnostics in the low-dose range, and
increased amounts of radioactive waste, it's important to
understand these ranges better." Says Boyd, "I will be excited
to see some future academy report after we find out more about
how radiation affects cells at very low doses."
 
Republished from Environmental Health Perspectives Volume 113,
Number 11, November 2005 

© 2004-2005 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified 
*****************************************************************
 31 PISJ: Downwinders looking for action on compensation: Crapo wants to 
include new provisions

Pocatello Idaho State Journal: 

dboyd@journalnet.comD an Boyd Journal Writer

POCATELLO 

It's been nearly a year since some 400 downwinders gathered in 
Boise to share stories and urge government leaders to address the 
health impact of atomic bomb testing in Nevada during the 1950s.

Yet much to the chagrin of downwinders, a generation of 
afflicted Idahoans who believe exposure to radioactive iodine 
caused their health problems, progress has been slow when it 
comes to compensa tion.

&#8220It's kind of sad you've got a 
difference in outlook between the newer downwinders and the older 
ones who are a bit more cynical," said Preston Truman, an 
Idahoan who runs a national downwinders Web site.

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo introduced a bill in May, Senate Bill 998, 
which would have included all Idaho in the Radiation Exposure 
Compensation Act. Currently, no Idaho counties are part of RECA, 
which pays eligible p ersons $50,000. 

In a 1997 National Cancer Institute study, however, four Idaho 
counties  Gem, Blaine, Custer and Lemhi were identified as being 
among the five hardest hit nationwide in terms of radioactive 
fallout levels.

An April report released by the National Academy of Sciences 
found nuclear fallout likely affected more of the country than 
previously thought, but called for a redesign of RECA th at some 
fear could make it more difficult to prove the cause of 
illnesses. 

Crapo is altering his bill to include RECA reform, but reaffirmed 
that Idahoans deserving assistance would still be included under 
the legislation.

"Those affected are not asking for special treatment, they are 
simply asking for fairness," he said. 

Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Penn., chairman of the Senate Judiciary 
Committee, has been included in the discussion and both senators 
said they'll include the White House in further talks.

But the fact the bill has been held for nearly six months could 
indicate a lack of widespread support, which some worry could 
evolve into a state vs. state competition. 

Other members of the Idaho congressional delegation have 
indicated they favor reforming RECA before adding new states to 
the list, a concept Truman strongly disagrees with.

"The latency period (for many types of cancer) is beginning to 
kick in," he said. "What's most frustrating is there are people 
out there who need the help.

"The science reform is going to take years."

While the debate continues in Washington, local downwinders are 
hoping for a breakthrough.

"We need to keep it in the public eye so they just don't sweep it 
under the rug," said Marea Kettler, a former Pocatello resident 
who is still dealing with the aftermath of thyroid cancer.

2005 Pocatello Idaho State Journal</b><br> P O Box 431 Pocatello, 
ID 83204-0431
*****************************************************************
 32 Xinhua: Radioactive metal bar kills woman   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-03 11:24:56   
  
    BEIJING, Nov. 3 -- An elderly woman was killed and her
13-year-old granddaughter was seriously injured in Harbin on
Tuesday after being exposed to radiation from a metal bar a
neighbor had picked up as scrap. 

    Over a hundred other people living nearby were found to be
suffering from the effects of the radiation. Bai Yuhai, the man
who picked up the metal bar, and his 9-year-old son have been
treated for radiation poisoning, along with three others who
were seriously affected. 

    Police are investigating how the radioactive metal bar came
to be thrown away without being properly processed. 

    The girl, Xu Hong, and her grandmother, surnamed Cui, lived
in an apartment complex in Daoli District while Xu¡¯s parents
were decorating their new home. 

    Xu is now recovering in hospital, but doctors said that even
if Xu recovers now, it is likely that she will develop problems
in the future. Enditem
 
(Source: Shenzhen Daily/Agencies) 

  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 33 Xinhua: Radiation case at standstill   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-04 09:00:47   

    BEIJING, Nov. 4 -- A mother and two children have been
diagnosed with acute myeloid radiation sickness, but the police
investigation into the exposure incident has reached a
stalemate. 

    After a month of treatment in the General Hospital of the
People's Liberation Army Second Artillery Forces in Beijing, the
youngsters Bai Lingjin and Xu Hong are in a stable condition and
high spirits, their parents told Beijing News on Wednesday. 

    But Bai's mother Yang Shuangqin fell unconscious on Tuesday
suffering from anaemia, the newspaper reported. 

    Their doctor is not optimistic about the condition of the
three patients from Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang
Province. 

    "We cannot reach a conclusion yet because this disease is
very complicated, and the rate of relapse is very high,"
Professor Ai Huisheng said. 

    The radiation exposure was first detected in July at an
apartment complex in Jianguo, Daoli District when two residents
Xu Hong, a 13-year-old girl, and her grandmother were found to
be suffering from radiation sickness. 

    Their white blood cell and platelet counts were much lower
than normal. The grandmother died on October 20. 

    The radiation source was identified as a metal bar
containing iridium-192 that was found in the home of Bai Yuhai,
the father of Bai Lingjin. 

    Five other residents that gave blood samples in Harbin were
found to have abnormal levels of blood constituents, and will
undergo further checks soon, resident Ge Lebin said. A further
100 residents were found to be healthy after tests. 

    Bai Yuhai told police investigators he picked up the
radioactive metal bar from a coal heap in a boiler room. 

    "There are no promising clues," Geng Zhandong, director of
the community, told China Daily. 

    The metal bar at the centre of the investigation would
ordinarily be used in the detection of flaws inside industrial
equipment. 

    But all 40 factories in Harbin that use such metal bars say
they can account for them.Enditem 

(Source: China Daily)
   
  Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 34 Castor-Alarm in Germany: Mass Resistance against nuclear
 
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2005 04:28:37 -0600 (CST)

http://castor.de/english/2005/1019.html

19.10.2005
Castor train postponed, L|neburg demo
Translated by  Diet Simon 

Gorleben, northern Germany, 19 October - - Opponents of nuclear 
energy say they have information that the next train of 12 
caskets of highly radioactive waste will leave a plutonium 
factory in France on 19 November and arrive at a storage hall 
near this village on 21 or 22 November. 

The transport was originally scheduled for 6 and 7 November, 
according to the B|rgerinitiative Umweltschutz L|chow Dannenberg 
(BI, Civic Action Initiative for Environmental Protection).

Nothing is certain, says a BI spokesman, so were also making 
preparations for the train starting the run already on the 5th of 
November. Weve experienced such tricks and manoeuvres by the 
police in connection with Castor transports to Ahaus.

(Ahaus is the location of a similar light-construction hall to 
Gorlebens for storing nuclear waste. Ahaus is near M|nster in 
northwest Germany, close to the Netherlands, where the nearest 
larger town is Enschede.)

Their spokesman, Francis Althoff, says the two-week postponement 
was made to avoid the affront of doing the transport on the 
anniversary of the death of a French protester, 21-year-old 
Sibastien Briat, who was run over on 7 November in France by last 
years waste train. At many railway stations throughout Germany, 
mourning memorial functions are being prepared for 6 p.m. on 7 
November. 

A broad alliance of 30 environmental action groups, renewable 
energy proponents and anti-nuclear initiatives is calling for a 
nationwide demonstration in nearby L|neburg on 5 November. 

The BI says in a media release that the train is now likely to 
leave the loading station in Valogne, Normandy, on 19 November. 
It will be returning waste originally from German power stations, 
which has been processed at a plutonium factory in La Hague. 
(http://www.iop.org/EJ/abstract/0952-4746/21/3/603) 

The BI accuses those responsible in industry of purely financial 
interests and the politicians of planless failure. 

The ninth controversial transport of highly radioactive waste to 
Gorleben is again to be rammed through with deployment of 
five-digit police numbers, against the will of the population, 
although it has been known since the early 80s that the final 
repository planned for Gorleben cannot stop radioactive material 
entering the biosphere, says Althoff. 

Further transports to the hall would make it ever more likely 
that Gorleben would become the final atomic toilet. 

The fury of nuclear opponents is additionally stoked by the 
federal environment ministrys recently confirming in a letter to 
the countys atomic installations committee that the overburden on 
the Gorleben salt dome does not act as a protective barrier, the 
spokesman sums up. 

On the transport days the BI again expects demonstration ban 
zones between L|neburg and Gorleben along 70 kilometres and up to 
a kilometre wide. The BI has filed a complaint against this at 
the highest German court, the Federal Constitutional Court. 

For previous coverage see 
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/09/128758.shtml

For more on the resistance to last years Castor train go to 
http://germany.indymedia.org/ and at the SUCHE spot in the left 
column enter Briat or Gorleben in the first window, then click 
Suche starten. The coverage will be in English and German. 
Mehr/weiter (bottom right-hand corner) takes you to following 
pages, Zur|ck takes you back. Google turns up images of Castor 
caskets and trains at its Images search function.

Contact: 

Francis Althoff +49 5843 986789 
B|rgerinitiative Umweltschutz L|chow Dannenberg 
Drawehner Str. 3 
29439 L|chow 

Tel: +49 5841-4684 Fax: 3197 

bi-presse@t-online.de

---------------------------------

Meanwhile an appellate court in L|neburg has ruled that building 
barricades on forest paths is only an administrative offence that 
does not automatically empower police to arrest anyone for any 
longer period. The court ruled in favour of three demonstrators 
seized by police last November as they erected a barricade of 
logs and kept in detention for 24 hours. 

Earlier an administrative court in L|neburg had ruled as illegal 
the closing off of an entire village by hundreds of police 
vehicles one night in November 2003. A woman teacher on her way 
home was not allowed to pass nor was a soldier trying to return 
to his barracks. 

Observers doubt that the judgments will have any influence on 
police actions in the coming transport situation. 

Because of a recent fire in containers used to house police, 
which destroyed hundreds of sleeping places, its expected that 
2,000 more police than usual are to be brought in this time. 

A leading Social Democrat, Wolfgang J|ttner, the partys head in 
Lower Saxony, where Gorleben is located, says he doesnt think the 
new Conservative-led government will reverse the exit from 
nuclear power. 

I think the issue is a very easy one for the Social Democrats to 
win in the coalition negotiations. The Conservatives demand to 
keep stations running longer would be defeated because the power 
companies werent really interested in that, J|ttner was quoted as 
saying. 

He added that the nomination of Social Democrat Sigmar Gabriel as 
environment minister gave rise to hope that renewable energy 
sources would continue to be promoted as previously by the 
federal government. 

J|ttner also expects that exploration of the Gorleben salt 
deposit will stay suspended and that other possible sites be 
sought. The laws for this were ready to go. 

Renate Backhaus, nuclear expert in the BUND environment alliance, 
suggests that The aim of the big power companies is to continue 
using nuclear generation over the long them. That would increase 
the atomic risk further. We need a genuine atomic exit and no 
extension of running times. 

Jvrg M|hlenhoff of EUROSOLAR, the European association for 
renewable energies, comments that Renewable energies make the 
further operation of atomic power stations in German superfluous. 
In contrast to atomic power, they contribute to climate 
protection and have created 150,000 jobs. This path must not be 
closed. 

The GLOBAL 2000/Friends of the Earth organisation in neighbouring 
Austria has warned that letting German nukes producer power 
longer would also raise the risks for the Austrian population. 

Although the Conservatives had failed to win a majority in the 
recent German election, the extension plans were not off the 
table, which increases the risk of the Austrian population 
falling victim to an atomic catastrophe, said the anti-nuclear 
spokesperson of GLOBAL 2000. 

 

She noted that theres no safe final storage anywhere in the world 
for the thousands of tonnes of depleted fuel rods that have 
accumulated. 

Austria has a law prohibiting the operation of nuclear power 
stations for the production of electricity, thus abandoning the 
use of nuclear energy and setting itself the task of creating a 
nuclear energy free zone in central Europe. 
http://www.euractiv.com/Article?tcmuri=tcm:29-145003-16&type=News

A Eurobarometer survey conducted in February and March 2005 
analysing EU public opinion on nuclear energy has revealed an 
underlying lack of knowledge concerning nuclear power, alongside 
a growing distrust of governments and the media on radioactive 
waste management issues. 

Despite being the nation that proved most informed on the issue 
and one of its biggest supporters, Sweden has proposed abandoning 
the nuclear route within the next forty years. Along with 
Belgium, Germany and Spain, the Swedish government has decided to 
phase out nuclear power altogether and rely purely on hydro and 
bio-energy. Conversely, the Czech Republic is planning to build 
two new reactors. Nuclear energy was least popular in Austria 
where 88% of interviewees stated that they were opposed to this 
type of energy.

http://castor.de/english/2005/0923.html

23.09.2005
Gorleben train on protester's death day 
Translated by  Diet Simon 

Gorleben, northern Germany, 23 September - - Opponents of nuclear 
energy say they have information that the next train of 12 
caskets of highly radioactive waste will leave a plutonium 
factory in France on 6 November for a storage hall near this 
village.

Francis Althoff, a spokesman for the B|rgerinitiative 
Umweltschutz L|chow Dannenberg (BI, Civic Action Initiative for 
Environmental Protection), says they are especially incensed that 
the 7th of November is the anniversary of the death of a French 
nuclear opponent who tried stop a similar train in France last 
year.

Air turbulence caused by the train travelling at 98 km/h sucked 
21-year-old Sebastian Briat under and he was run over. The French 
state attorney is still investigating the precise circumstances.

It has long been known that on the anniversary of Briats death 
memorial functions are to be held near the railway lines in 
Germany and France.

Althoff accuses those responsible for the transport of 
mind-boggling indifference. He says its the worst imaginable 
affront to speed Castor transports with police guards through 
these mourning gatherings.

The BI sees confirmation of the transport planning in police 
offering free passage chits on application for the 7th and 8th of 
November.

The protest group says this indicates that along the last 70 kms 
of the casket run gatherings are again to be banned in a wide 
area between L|neburg and Gorleben.

Lawsuits against these general decrees and for preserving the 
basic right to demonstrate are still to be ruled on by courts, 
including the federal constitutional court, the countrys highest. 
They were filed after previous waste deliveries to Gorleben.

Although it has been known since the early 80s that the planned 
final storage [a salt mine built for the purpose] cannot prevent 
radioactive materials from entering the biosphere, continuing 
transportation of atomic waste products to the above-ground 
interim storage hall in Gorleben makes Gorleben ever more likely 
to become the final nuclear waste toilet, comments the BI 
spokesman.

Anger has been additionally stoked, he says, by the federal 
environment ministry recently confirming to the L|chow-Dannenberg 
county authorities that the overburden on the Gorleben salt dome 
does not act as a protective barrier.

In another development, state security police in the Gorleben 
area had to return things they had taken away in a big police 
raid in August on the homes of two journalists and office of 
"anti atom aktuell, a resistance newspaper. A court in L|neburg 
had ruled the police action to be illegal. A report in German is 
at http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/09/128592.shtml.

For more on the resistance to last years Castor train go to 
http://germany.indymedia.org/ and at the SUCHE spot in the left 
column enter Briat or Gorleben in the first window, then click 
Suche starten. The coverage will be in English and German. 
Mehr/weiter (bottom right-hand corner) takes you to following 
pages, Zur|ck takes you back. 

Google turns up images of Castor caskets and trains at its Images 
search function.

Francis Althoff +49 5843 986789 

http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/10/130508.shtml
 
Demo against coming nuclear waste transport 
von Diet Simon - 23.10.2005 23:20 
 
Bewteen 200 and 250 demonstrators protested in Uelzen, northern Germany, on Saturday against the imminent rail and truck transport of nuclear waste from France to an interim storage hall in nearby Gorleben. 

Several activist groups said they would mount further actions 
against the transport, expected from 19 to 21 November. Opponents 
first thought the transport was due to begin on 6 November and 
wont rule out that it still might happen then, because poklice 
had used tricklery with dates in the past. At the protest in 
Uelzen speakers of anti-nuclear groups voiced their worries over 
proposed longer running times for power stations, which might be 
agreed in the imminent coalition talks between Social Democrats 
and Conservatives. The groups demand consistent exit from nuclear 
power production and faster expansion of clean enerrgy sources. 

New location for burnt police container quarters 

Police have found a new location for containers where 500 can 
sleep while on duty for waste transports. A local paper says its 
in the grounds of a salt mine being explored as a possible 
permanent waste repository. 

The old container cluster was burnt down, presumably by arsonists 
who have not been caught. 

For another report on Uelzen see  
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/10/130438.shtml. 

For a report on a demo in L|neburg see  
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/10/130432.shtml. 

For previous coverage on IndyMedia see  
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/10/130296.shtml. For coverage 
in German by the North German Broadcasting Corporation go here: 
Uelzen protest .  
http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID664822,00.html 

7 Previous waste transports to Gorleben.  http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID647136_REF_SPC664822,00.html 

7 The nuclear interim storage hall in Gorleben.  http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID651526_REF_SPC664822,00.html 

7 The Castor casket.  http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID651200_REF_SPC664822,00.html 

7 The glass packaging.  http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID651922_REF_SPC664822,00.html 

7 Archive of reports.  http://www1.ndr.de/ndr_pages_std/0,2570,OID1852002_REF_SPC664822,00.html

http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/09/126642.shtml

Gorleben salt 'not safe' for nuclear waste 
von Diet Simon - 03.09.2005 00:00 

The German nuclear safety ministry says theres not enough cover 
over a salt dome to keep it safe as a waste dump for a million 
years. 

An exploratory mine has been driven into the salt deposit at 
Gorleben, a village in northern Germany, to test whether it could 
safely hold highly radioactive waste for that length of time. 

The trials were suspended years ago over scientists safety 
concerns, but the Conservatives expected to win power in a 
September 18 election brush those concerns aside and insist on 
Gorleben being made the national dump. 

The environment and reactor safety ministry in Berlin, controlled 
by The Greens, has written to the committee for nuclear 
installations, civil and disaster protection of the local county 
that there is no dense overburden on the salt deposit that could 
act as a second geological barrier for long-term protection 
against the possible release into the environment of highly 
radioactive atomic waste from a final repository. 

The seal rock does indeed have a small barrier effect, says the 
communication from the ministry, which came to public notice in 
an open session of the committee of the county of 
L|chow-Dannenberg on 7 July. 

The local opponents of the dump argue in a media release that the 
ministry thereby confirms the findings of sample drillings done 
in 1983 that were already then undisputed among scientists  that 
the structure of the overburden cannot fulfil a barrier function. 

Only the Gorleben salt dome itself, the ministry cites the drill 
findings, has large, undisturbed salt sections that could fulfil 
the barrier function demanded. 

The opponents also point out that there has been no examination 
of whether salt could at all be a suitable repository for nuclear 
waste. The ministry said such tests, though requested, were not 
carried out because of cost considerations. 

The present government has launched a search for alternative 
waste sites, but hasnt ruled Gorleben out. The opponents allege 
that the Red-Green coalition has not been serious about the 
search. And it should have filled in the Gorleben mine and other 
underground dumps long ago. 

Francis Althoff, spokesman for the B|rgerinitiative Umweltschutz 
L|chow-Dannenberg, says the senseless waste of money for the 
exploration of the Gorleben salt dome, that has already devoured 
1.5 billion euros, has to be stopped immediately and permanently. 

It had been scientifically proven for decades that Gorleben is 
not suitable to keep people and the environment safe from the 
highly radioactive waste. The working group set up to examine 
possible sites says 50,000 generations would be in danger from 
irradiation. 

We wont put up with the radiating waste simply being scratched 
into the salt and forgotten about, says Althoff. He criticises 
opposition leader Angela Merkels recruiting to her team of top 
advisers the Siemens CEO, Heinrich von Pierer, whom he lambastes 
as a nuclear fanatic who wants to keep flawed nuclear power 
stations running for another 60 years. 

The population, a majority of whom reject the use of atomic 
energy, should wake up fast and think hard about how to vote. 

Worldwide there is no safe final repository, no real disposal of 
atomic waste is possible. 

The Gorleben soap bubble has burst at last. The only consequence 
can be to stop the further production of waste by shutting down 
nuclear plants. 

Two Hanover-based geologists and former members of the working 
party for investigating possible sites, J|rgen Kreusch, 53, and 
Detlef Appel, 62, will be addressing a public meeting in 
Dannenberg, near Gorleben, next Tuesday. 

Kreusch, a specialist in hydrogeology, has written: Since the 
overburden is practically useless as an effective barrier against 
the diffusion of long-life radio nuclides, the salt dome alone 
would have to carry the entire long-term safety burden. That is 
not acceptable for a final repository. The lacking insulation 
capability of the overburden cannot be compensated for by the 
salt dome. 

A 2003 paper by the Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural 
Resources, The Distribution of Fresh Water and Saline Water in 
the Cover Rock above the Gorleben Salt Dome, states: Nuclide 
transport in the salt water can be predicted on the basis of the 
present fresh water/salt water distribution. 
http://www.bgr.de/b1hydro/index.html?/b1hydro/fachbeitraege/c200301/suesssalz.htm
 
See also Voting on money worries will boost nukes  
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/08/125035.shtml 

Contact: 
Francis Althoff +49 5843 986789 
 BI-Presse@t-online.de 

http://www.de.indymedia.org/2005/10/130544.shtml
 
Bums against nukes 
von Diet Simon - 24.10.2005 18:50 
 
North German farmers resisting nuclear waste transports have 
posed nude for a pin-up calendar to raise money for legal costs. 
A sample can be viewed at  
http://www.wendlaendischer-bauernkalender.de/. 

When farmers resist nuclear waste being transported into their 
picturesque Gorleben area once a year, it usually means moving 
out with their tractors, blocking rails and roads with them and 
being booked by police. 

Now 13 of them have teamed up in a protest action to bring in 
money instead of bookings. Under the motto, This is where we 
stand theyve posed nude for photographs in their stables or on 
their fields that have gone into a pin-up calendar. 

The money raised is to be used for fighting legal cases connected 
with the 28-year-old resistance to nuclear dumps in the Wendland, 
as the district around Gorleben in Lower Saxony is called. 

Local photographer Nils M. Rehfeldt, from the village of Nemitz, 
took the pictures of 11 men and two women. The Wendldndischer 
Bauernkalender was published by Nieswand Verlag in Kiel. 

Susanne Kamien of the Wendland Farmers Emergency Group says the 
calendar premiered at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the worlds 
biggest, on 22 October. Its available from bookshops for 19,80 or 
can be ordered by email from  susannekamien@freenet.de. 

The returns from the sale of the calendar are to help check the 
Castor and one day perhaps even checkmate it, says the trext with 
the 12 pictures. Were not going to give up even under black-red 
regency, a reference to the coalition planned between 
Conservatives and Social Democrats in Berlin. 

The Gorleben nuclear opponents are busy preparing for another 
rail and truck transport of 12 caskets of nuclear waste to come 
soon  either on the 7th or 21st of November. 

Previous coverage at  
http://germany.indymedia.org/2005/10/130508.shtml

Press Release 

BDUERLICHE NOTGEMEINSCHAFT L\CHOW-DANNENBERG 

Po  Motion 
 
In June this year, the CDU Chairman and candidate for 
chancellorship, Angela Merkel, announced to step back from the 
getting-out of atomic power and to cancel the moratorium for the 
further exploration of the scheduled final repository for nuclear 
waste at Gorleben. And in some weeks the next Castor cask 
transport with highly-active nuclear waste from the French 
reprocessing plant at La Hague will be on its way to the 
intermediate storage facility at Gorleben. Po- Motion is the 
motto of a Wendland farmer calendar. 13 resistance models (10 
men, one woman and one couple) have posed in the nude at typical 
situations at work at locations selected by themselves. It is a 
fund-raising action initiated by members of the Bduerliche 
Notgemeinschaft in favour of the Rechtshilfe Gorleben (Assistance 
for Lawsuits in connection with the Gorleben plants). 

The text accompanying the calendar reads: In order to support 
this action, but  above all  to maintain the Rechtshilfe Gorleben 
assisting plaintiffs against the Gorleben nuclear plants for 28 
years now, 13 freedom-seeking farmer resistance models now drop 
their rough clothes. Po-Motion for the atomization of the German 
nuclear fantasies, because the proceeds from the sale of this 
calendar shall help to hold in check and to possibly checkmate 
the Castor one day. 

The idea is not a new one, however, that people drop their 
clothes for a good purpose and have photos made of them. But this 
is not a pure fund-raising campaign for the members of the 
Bduerliche Notgemeinschaft but it is a political action. 

Po-Motion shows that the farmers from the Wendland have always 
stood up to their motto Never give up. That they know to resist 
fighting and with fantasy even after 28 years of disputes over 
the Gorleben plants. And everlasting as the calendar is their 
resistance against the Gorleben plants. 

The proceeds from the sale of the calendar will help to throw 
dust into the machinery of the atomic industry and the 
non-decision-making governments. Gorleben is a symbol for the 
failure of the German politics regarding nuclear power and does 
not only have an impact on people from the region of 
L|chow-Dannenberg. 

The first, still moist copies of the Wendland Farmer Calendar 
will be presented to the public for the first time on occasion of 
the Frankfurt Book Fair on October 22, 12 oclock. The 
P(r)o-Motion action takes place in front of the Frankfurt 
Festival Hall together with some of the models. 

The photo-shooting has been documented by the film director and 
cameraman Max Rheinldnder. Digi beta material from the making off 
is available from Messrs. P&R Productions, phone: ++49 221 
9874710, e-mail  max.rheinlaender@purprod.de. Printers copies may 
be ordered from Susanne Kamien, e-mail:  
susannekamien@freenet.de. 

The Wendland Farmer Calendar with the photos of Nils M. Rehfeldt 
is available in A3 broadside format at a price of  19,80 from 
October 24 under the ISBN no. 3-89567-025-1 from the Nieswand 
Publishing House Kiel 

L|chow, October 14, 2005 Contact: Susanne Kamien, Lange Str. 47, 
29439 L|chow, Phone: +49 5841-1829, mobile: 0175-429 25 09, 
e-mail.  susannekamien@freenet.de, 
www.wendlaendischer-bauernkalender.de 
--

B|rgerinitiative L|chow-Dannenberg e.V. 

 
Drawehnerstr. 3
29439    L\CHOW
Tel. +49 (58 41) 46 84
Fax +49 (5841)  31 97B|rozeiten:
Mo., Mi., Fr. & Sa. von 9-12 Uhr
Di. &  Do.   15-18 Uhr   
E-mail f|r  die Presse:
Mails an diese Adresse bitte
nur f|r Presseleute, andere kvnnen 
wegen Zeitmangel nicht beantwortet werden.BI-Presse@t-online.deE-mail:BI-Luechow@t-online.de

*****************************************************************
 35 London Times: Plan to sell nuclear clean-up group hits opposition - 

Angela Jameson


The NDA, the job of which is to oversee the clean-up of
Britain’s toxic civil nuclear sites and to promote competition
in nuclear decommissioning, is worried that a sale of BNG could
delay the implementation of its strategy for tackling the civil
nuclear legacy. The first contracts from the NDA, to clean up
Drigg, in Cumbria, and Dounreay, in northern Scotland, are
supposed to be awarded next April. 

Consultation on the NDA’s strategy ends next week and the
authority, which will have a budget of £2 billion a year, should
put its final strategy to ministers by mid-December. 

Observers believe that the NDA is divided over what position to
adopt, with Sir Anthony against any sale and Ian Roxburgh, his
chief executive, in favour. 

People familiar with the nuclear industry have also suggested
that Bechtel, the US contractor that has advised the Government
on the setting up of the NDA, is against a sale. Bechtel cannot
compete for clean-up contracts until 2008 but the inside
knowledge it has aquired through helping to set up the authority
will give it a significant advantage in future contract
competitions. 

The final decision on whether BNG is sold will rest with Alan
Johnson, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, but he
is expected to take into account the NDA’s view, as well as
consult with the unions, the BNG holding company’s board and
other stakeholders. 

Government sources said that change of control rights in NDA
contracts would allow the NDA to help set the criteria for
suitable buyers of BNG. 

A spokesman for the NDA said: “We are neither for or against a
sale but we need to understand the impact it would have on our
forthcoming progamme. We are reserving our position until we
fully understand it.” 

A spokesman for BNFL, the holding company of BNG, said: “We find
the NDA’s reservations disappointing because we think a sale is
in the best interest of all our stakeholders as it will give BNG
the extra resources to compete for contracts and accelerate the
clean-up programme.” 

BNG, which made a profit of £101 million last year, is expected
to attract bids from groups including Fluor and Jacobs of the US
and the UK’s Amec and Serco.
   	 		
Copyright 2005          Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 36 Sydney Morning Herald: Uranium industry needs to 'open up' 

www.smh.com.au
 	 		 
  + Large font November 3, 2005 - 4:29PM
 	 	
Australia needs to open up its uranium industry on environmental
and economic grounds, a parliamentary inquiry has heard.
 
Summit Resources managing director Alan Eggers told the standing
committee on industry and resources that exporting uranium to
developing countries for power production would help ease the
impact of global warming.
 
Mr Eggers said it was now scientifically acknowledged that
global warming was real, and that sea levels would rise by at
least five metres over the next century unless something was
done.
 
He said China, where nuclear energy production is expected to
quadruple by 2020, was a potential key market for Australian
uranium, with 40 new nuclear power plants expected to be built
over the next 20 years.
 
Australia is currently negotiating to sell uranium to China, as
long as it is guaranteed to be used for peaceful purposes only.
 
"What we have to face is this: In China - their economy is
growing and they want to improve their standard of living," Mr
Eggers told the inquiry.
 
"The biggest thing that they are going to consume is not KFC,
it's not Coca Cola - it's energy.
 
"And if we sit here and just keep letting them build more
coal-fired power stations, we're all going to suffer."
 
Summit Resources, which owns an estimated $3 billion worth of
mineable uranium deposits near Mt Isa, is currently hamstrung by
Australia's no new mines policy, which extends across all
current state and territory governments.
 
Mr Eggers said this policy, instigated by Labor when in
government, was the single biggest impediment to progress for
Australia's nuclear industry.
 
Nuclear power now generates 16 per cent of the world's
electricity from 439 stations in 31 countries.
 
In doing so, the complete nuclear process emits 2-6 grams of
carbon equivalent per kilowatt-hour, while coal, oil and natural
gas emit 100-360 grams of carbon per kilowatt-hour.
 
While at face value this would appear to paint a favourable
picture for the nuclear industry, the process creates extremely
hazardous waste which can take thousands, or even hundreds of
thousands, of years to break down.
 
Australia has only three operating uranium mines, which are
owned by BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and General Atomics of the
United States.
 
The local industry already accounts for 19 per cent of global
uranium production - earning roughly $475 million a year.
 
The federal government took control of future mining rights in
the NT in April this year and 25 mining companies have since
purchased exploration licences there.
 
But committee member Liberal MP Jackie Kelly said that with
polls indicating up to 10 per cent of voters could change their
vote in line with major party policy shifts, uranium remained a
political hot potato.
 
Independent MP Bob Katter said it was incumbent on the industry
to find ways to turn around its poor public profile.
 
© 2005 AAP

Copyright © 2005. The Sydney Morning Herald. 	 	 		 	 	 	 
*****************************************************************
 37 KRT Wire: Decades of dumping chemical arms leave a risky legacy

| 11/03/2005 | 

BY JOHN M.R. BULL

 Daily Press (Newport News, Va.)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. - In the summer of 2004, a clam-dredging
operation off New Jersey pulled up an old artillery shell. 

The long-submerged World War I-era explosive was filled with a
black tarlike substance. 

Bomb disposal technicians from Dover Air Force Base, Del., were
brought in to dismantle it. Three of them were injured - one
hospitalized with large pus-filled blisters on an arm and hand. 

The shell was filled with mustard gas in solid form. 

What was long feared by the few military officials in the know
had come to pass: Chemical weapons that the Army dumped at sea
decades ago finally ended up on shore in the United States. 

It's long been known that some chemical weapons went into the
ocean, but records obtained by the Daily Press show that the
previously classified weapons-dumping program was far more
extensive than ever suspected. 

The Army now admits that it secretly dumped 64 million pounds of
nerve and mustard agents into the sea, along with 400,000
chemical-filled bombs, land mines and rockets and more than 500
tons of radioactive waste - either tossed overboard or packed
into the holds of scuttled vessels. 

A Daily Press investigation also found: 

These weapons of mass destruction virtually ring the country,
concealed off at least 11 states - six on the East Coast, two on
the Gulf Coast, California, Hawaii and Alaska. Few, if any,
state officials have been informed of their existence. 

The chemical agents could pose a hazard for generations. The
Army has examined only a few of its 26 dump zones and none in
the past 30 years. 

The Army can't say exactly where all the weapons were dumped
from World War II to 1970. Army records are sketchy, missing or
were destroyed. 

More dumpsites likely exist. The Army hasn't reviewed World War
I-era records, when ocean dumping of chemical weapons was
common. 

"We do not claim to know where they all are," said William
Brankowitz, a deputy project manager in the Army Chemical
Materials Agency and a leading authority on the Army's chemical
weapons dumping. 

"We don't want to be cavalier at all and say this stuff was
exposed to water and is OK. It can last for a very, very long
time." 

A drop of nerve agent can kill within a minute. When released in
the ocean, it lasts up to six weeks, killing every organism it
touches before breaking down into its nonlethal chemical
components. 

Mustard gas can be fatal. When exposed to seawater, it forms a
concentrated, encrusted gel that lasts for at least five years,
rolling around on the ocean floor, killing or contaminating sea
life. 

Sea-dumped chemical weapons might be slowly leaking from decades
of saltwater corrosion, resulting in a time-delayed release of
deadly chemicals over the next 100 years and an unforeseeable
environmental effect. Steel corrodes at different rates,
depending on the water depth, ocean temperature and thickness of
the shells. 

That was the conclusion of Norwegian scientists who in 2002
examined chemical weapons dumped off Norway after World War II
by the U.S. and British militaries. 

Overseas, more than 200 fishermen over the years have been
burned by mustard gas pulled on deck. A fisherman in Hawaii was
burned in 1976, when he brought up an Army-dumped mortar round
full of mustard gas. 

It seems unlikely that the weapons will begin to wash up on
shore, but last year's discovery that a mustard-gas-filled
artillery shell was dumped off New Jersey was ominous for
several reasons: 

It was the first ocean-dumped chemical weapon to somehow make
its way to U.S. shores. 

It was pulled up with clams in relatively shallow water only 20
miles off Atlantic City. The Army had no idea that chemical
weapons were dumped in the area. 

Most alarming: It was found intact in a residential driveway in
Delaware. 

It had survived, intact, after being dredged up and put through
a crusher to create cheap clamshell driveway fill sold
throughout the Delmarva Peninsula. 

The Army's secret ocean-dumping program spanned decades, from
1944 to 1970. 

The dumped weapons were deemed to be unneeded surplus. They were
hazardous to transport, expensive to store, too dangerous to
bury and difficult to destroy. 

In the early 1970s, the Army publicly admitted it dumped some
chemical weapons off the U.S. coast. Congress banned the
practice in 1972. Three years later, the United States signed an
international treaty prohibiting ocean disposal of chemical
weapons. 

Only now have Army reports come to light that show how much was
dumped, what kind of chemical weapons they were, when they were
thrown overboard and rough nautical coordinates of where some
are. 

The reports contain bits and pieces of information on the Army's
long-running dumping program. The reports were released to the
Daily Press - which cross-indexed them to obtain the most
comprehensive, detailed picture yet of what was dumped, where
and when. 

To put the information in context, the newspaper also examined
nautical charts, National Archive records, scientific studies
and interviewed dozens of experts on unexploded ordnance and
chemical warfare in the United States and overseas. 

The Army's Brankowitz created the seminal report on ocean
dumping. He examined classified Army records and in 1987 wrote a
long report on chemical weapons movements over the decades. It
included the revelation that more than a dozen shipments ended
up in the ocean. The report wasn't widely disseminated. 

His follow-up report in 1989 uncovered - through review of other
previously classified documents - the rough nautical coordinates
of some dumpsites and the existence of more dump zones. In 2001,
a computer database was created to include additional dump zones
that the Army found and more details on some of the dumping
operations. 

The database summary and the 1989 report had never been released
publicly before. 

"I know I didn't find everything," said Brankowitz, who's worked
for more than 30 years on chemical weapons issues for the Army.
"I'm very much convinced there are records at the National
Archives that have been misfiled. Short of a major research
effort that would cost a lot of money, we've done the best we
can." 

The reports reveal that the Army created at least 26 chemical
weapons dumpsites off the coast of at least 11 states - but
knows the rough nautical coordinates of only half. 

At least 64 million pounds of liquid mustard gas and nerve agent
in 1-ton steel canisters were dumped into the sea, along with a
minimum of 400,000 chemical-filled bombs, grenades, landmines
and rockets - as well as radioactive waste, the reports
indicate. 

The Army's documents are incomplete or vague. Years of records
are missing or were destroyed to clear office space at the
Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, a longtime chemical weapon
research and testing base. 

And the Army hasn't reviewed its records of chemical weapons
dumping before World War II, when it was common to just throw
the weapons into the ocean in relatively shallow water,
Brankowitz said. 

As a result, more dumpsites likely exist, he conceded. 

The environmental effect of chemical weapons dumpsites is
unknown but potentially disastrous. 

Ocean depth varies widely off the East Coast. As a rule, it
gradually deepens to 600 feet before hitting the outer
continental shelf, which drops into very deep water. The shelf's
location can be as close as 60 miles, or as far as 200 miles,
from shore. 

"The perception at the time was the ocean is vast - it would
absorb it," said Craig Williams, director of the Chemical
Weapons Working Group in Kentucky, a grass-roots citizens group.
"Certainly, it is insane in retrospect they would do it." 

"It would be inevitable, I assume, all of this will be released
into the ocean at some point or another," said Williams, who has
fought Army plans to incinerate some of the 44 million pounds of
chemical weapons the country still has stockpiled. "I don't
think anyone knows for sure the true danger. It's just a matter
of opinion. You can say, 'It's going to kill everyone,' or you
can say, 'It's not a problem.' The truth is somewhere in
between." 

Based on the information available, the Army presumes that most
of the weapons are in very deep water and are unlikely to
jeopardize divers or commercial fishing operations that dredge
the ocean bottom. 

John Chatterton doesn't believe that. 

"I don't think it all is where they say it is," said Chatterton,
a 25-year veteran diver who searches for undiscovered shipwrecks
as host of The History Channel's "Deep Sea Detectives." "I've
found a lot of stuff where it's not supposed to be. Absolutely,
positively, it is not a guarantee it is there (in deep water)." 

Chemical weapons were dumped long before electronic navigation
systems were invented. Their nautical locations are based on the
words of ship captains, who surely wanted to ditch their cargo
quickly and, Chatterton suspects, likely cut corners. 

"The guys who were doing this were scared of this stuff. They
were well motivated to get rid of this stuff as fast as they
could," he said. "So they could take it all the way out there or
else they could say, 'This is good enough,' and be back in port
in three hours. I know what they did. It's mariner nature." 

One of the first of the now-identified dump zones created at the
end of World War II was also one of the largest. The Army dubbed
it Disposal Site Baker. 

The Army has only the vaguest idea where it is on the ocean
floor - somewhere off the coast of Charleston, S.C., the most
specific surviving records indicate. 

"I have never had any information to suggest this was done,"
said Charles Farmer, a marine biologist who's worked for South
Carolina's Department of Natural Resources for almost 40 years. 

"I would say this is not well known to us at all. This is
something that is new, at least to me. It's incredible some of
the things we've managed to do." 

The first documented dump near that state was in March 1946,
when four railroad cars full of mustard gas bombs and mines were
tossed over the side of the USS Diamond Head, an ammunition
ship. 

Several months later, an estimated 23 barges full of
German-produced nerve gas bombs and U.S.-made Lewisite bombs
were dumped in the same location. Lewisite is a blister agent
akin to mustard gas. A single barge carried up to 350 tons. 

"If we don't have any idea of depths of water or location, hell,
they could be anywhere," Farmer said. "As we have more and more
activity and more and more development off the coast, I hope
this was buried in 6,000 feet of water ... or a lot of this
stuff is going to come back to haunt us." 

There's one indication that those weapons were dumped in
relatively shallow water: Army records show many of those 23
slow-moving barges were unloaded in one-day, out-and-back
operations. 

The records leave no doubt that other chemical weapons were
dumped close to shore: 

In 1944, at least 16,000 mustard-filled 100-pound bombs were
unloaded off Hawaii in deep water only five miles from shore. 

Several mustard gas bombs fell into the Mississippi River near
Braithwaite, La., in 1945 and have never been found. 

A reported 124 leaking German mustard gas bombs were tossed in
the Gulf of Mexico off Horn Island in Mississippi in 1946 from a
barge that returned to port a few hours later. The island is now
part of Gulf Islands National Seashore, a popular vacation and
fishing destination. 

A 1947 dumpsite in Alaska's Aleutian Islands is only 12 miles
from a harbor. 

By the 1950s, the Army shifted much of its chemical dump
operations north to the Virginia-Maryland state line and into
deeper water. 

In 1957, the Army dumped 48 tons of Lewisite off Virginia Beach,
in 12,600 feet of water. 

Four more dump zones were created more than 100 miles off the
coast between Chincoteague, Va., and Assateague, Md. - tourist
spots known for their unsullied beaches and populations of wild
horses. 

Dumped there in about 2,000 feet of water were at least 77,000
mustard-filled mortar shells, 5,000 white phosphorous munitions,
1,500 1-ton canisters of Lewisite and 800 55-gallon barrels of
military radioactive waste. 

It couldn't be determined what kind of radioactive waste was
dumped. But there's one indication that it could be highly
dangerous waste with a half-life of thousands of years. 

National Archive records of the Army's secretive chemical
weapons escort unit, reviewed by the Daily Press, show several
shipments in the 1950s between a laboratory in Oak Ridge, Tenn.;
other Army bases with chemical weapons slated for sea disposal;
and the Yuma Testing Station in Arizona. 

Oak Ridge was where thermonuclear weapons were being developed
at the time. Yuma was a military test ground for weapons in
development. Records show a shipment on March 7, 1953, contained
35,000 pounds of unidentified "classified materials." 

The Army apparently stopped dumping radioactive waste in the
late 1960s, the records show, when chemical weapons disposal
operations again headed north in the Atlantic Ocean. 

Two ships full of the most potent of all nerve gases, known as
VX, were scuttled in 6,000 feet of water - miles off the coast
of Atlantic City, N.J., as part of Operation CHASE. "CHASE" was
Pentagon shorthand for "Cut Holes and Sink 'Em." 

The nerve gas was in rockets encased in concrete before the
ships were scuttled. The Army desperately wanted to get rid of
these particular weapons. They also contained jet fuel to propel
the rockets. The fuel had a tendency to "auto-ignite," or
spontaneously explode. 

The ships - the S.S. Corporal Eric G. Gibson and S.S. Mormactern
- remain a potential danger. Although the rockets were encased
in concrete, scientists don't know how quickly concrete breaks
down from water pressure at such depths. 

A third ship scuttled nearby is no longer a hazard: It blew up
on its way to the ocean floor Aug. 7, 1968. 

That ship, the S.S. Richardson, was filled with conventional
high-explosive weapons and 3,500 1-ton containers of mustard
agent mixed with water. It was on its way to the 7,800-foot
bottom when a chain-reaction explosion went off, presumably
caused by water pressure on one of the weapons that set off the
rest. 

"This is really quite disturbing," said U.S. Rep. Robert
Andrews, D-N.J., who's been fighting Army plans to dump
chemically neutralized nerve gas in the Delaware River. "I did
not know of any of this. It's a very serious problem that state
officials haven't been told." 

Boaters, divers, fishermen and commercial seafood trawlers have
no way to steer clear of the dumpsites. 

That's because the Army has put only one of its 26 known
chemical weapons dumps on nautical charts, according to records
kept by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration. 

The federal agency in charge of undersea cable-laying
operations, as well as gas and oil ventures, has only a vague
idea of where chemical weapons were thrown into the ocean,
spokesman Gary Strasburg said. 

That agency, the Minerals Management Service, knows only what
the Army has revealed to that agency: that chemical weapons were
dumped at sea and that some are in the Gulf of Mexico and off
South Carolina, agency records show. 

The effect of the dumping operations has never been studied. Few
scientists knew that it was done, so studies of the decline in
sea life over the years has never focused on the possibility of
leaking chemical weapons. 

Commercial fishing operations, as well as scallop and clam
trawlers, have been forced to go farther and farther from shore
over the past 25 years because sea life has thinned for unknown
reasons. Some scallopers now dredge in up to 400 feet of water,
which is more than 100 miles from the shore in some East Coast
locations. 

The bottom-dwelling cod population in the Northern Atlantic has
been decimated. 

Hundreds of bottlenose dolphins mysteriously washed up on
Virginia and New Jersey shores in 1987. They died with large,
never-explained skin blisters that resembled mustard gas burns
on humans. 

Federal marine scientists ultimately attributed the
unprecedented number of dolphin deaths to a combination of
morbillivirus - related to distemper in dogs - and potent vibrio
bacteria from industrial pollutants. 

That combination has killed other marine mammals over the years.
But none has ever been found with its skin partly peeling off. 

One marine mammal specialist who suspects that leaking chemical
weapons killed the dolphins met Army officials and was told
dumping had been done. But he was assured the weapons were
unloaded too deep to harm the coastal-living creatures. 

"You'd see the photos and you'd say, 'Man, this animal was
burned by something,'" said Bob Schoelkopf, director of the
Marine Mammal Stranding Center in Brigantine, N.J. He said "it
is a very good possibility" that leaking chemical weapons killed
the dolphins. 

"It'd be nice to see the Army go down there and investigate, but
nobody wants to open that book, it seems," Schoelkopf said.
"You'd think they'd want to go look at those sites and say once
and for all this isn't a problem. The amazing thing is they are
not being monitored." 

The Army also wondered whether its chemical weapons were
responsible for the dolphin deaths and was preparing to
investigate some dump zones. The project was scrapped when the
deaths were attributed to the virus and bacteria, the Army's
Brankowitz said. 

Over the decades, the Army has conducted environmental tests on
only four of its dumpsites - and none since 1975. 

Some of the last tests the Army conducted were on the
nerve-gas-filled ships off New Jersey. They found no evidence
the weapons had leaked, Brankowitz said. 

He said that led the Army to presume the pressure on the weapons
as they sank to the bottom crushed the shells and made them
squirt their deadly contents onto the seabed, where they long
ago broke down into their non-lethal chemical components. 

That might be wishful thinking, some scientists said. 

Shells filled with chemical weapons are more likely to slowly
leak over time than to be crushed while sinking, said Peter
Brewer, a marine scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research
Institute in California. 

Regardless, he said, he considers the dangers of leaking
chemical weapons in deep-water sites to be low. 

He noted that the only Army chemical weapons dumpsite on
nautical charts - the wreck of the S.S. William Ralston,
scuttled 117 miles off San Francisco in the 1950s - hasn't been
found to be leaking, though he said scientists have monitored it
only "from a distance." 

Not far from that wreck, scientists have determined that drums
of radioactive waste dumped by industry in the 1950s have so
corroded, they're now paper-thin - with holes in some of them,
said Richard Charter, a California-based environmentalist with
Environmental Defense. 

He said he feared that recent congressional approval for
offshore gas and oil exploration off the East and West coasts -
permitted through this summer's lifting of a 22-year-old
moratorium on the activity - could release the chemical agents
from their containers. 

"It certainly is within the realm of possibility," he said.
"This is an invasive activity." 

Seismic exploration is conducted by setting off huge airguns on
the ocean surface and measuring the blasts when they bounce off
the ocean floor. Such exploration and drilling operations have
been conducted for decades in the Gulf of Mexico without
releasing chemical warfare agents dumped by the Army in that
body of water. 

Overseas, scientists who monitor chemical weapons dumpsites off
other countries have identified an unmistakable problem in the
Skagerrak Strait, a narrow but deep body of water that separates
Norway and Denmark. 

In 2002, Norwegian scientists sent a remote-controlled vehicle
to investigate four ships full of captured German chemical
weapons. The U.S. and British militaries scuttled them after
World War II in about 2,000 feet of water. 

The Norwegians found that the sunken ships remained intact. Some
of the shells had leaked. Others were slowly corroding. That
reveals a problem that could last hundreds of years, the
scientists concluded. 

Soil sediment showed high levels of arsenic, a component of some
of the chemical weapons. Arsenic is bioaccumulative. This means
bottom-feeding shellfish are likely to be contaminated and pass
arsenic up the food chain to accumulate in humans who eat them,
the scientists learned. 

Also worrisome: Nets from fishing trawlers were found tangled on
some of the weapons-filled wrecks. 

"It might be possible to get chemical ammunition in the nets,
which could then be brought up to the surface and poison
fishermen," the scientists wrote in a report on the expedition. 

"It is also a possibility that fishing equipment could damage
the wrecks and expose the chemical ammunition to the water,
increasing the release of the agents to the environment." 

The Army is obliged to at least assess the danger that the
dumpsites pose today, said Lenny Siegel, director of the Center
for Public Environmental Oversight who specializes in chemical
weapons issues. 

"If no one does a study looking for three-legged fish, how do
they know it's not a problem?" he wondered. 

"My guess is the risks are remote in most cases, but I think you
have to at least evaluate the risk. They have to take continuing
responsibility. 

"They need to see if there is an impact on the food chain. If
there is, you have to warn people. If so, they have to do
something with them."   

*****************************************************************
 38 Bellona: Russia proposes joint uranium fuel production with Iran 

Russia proposes joint uranium fuel production with Iran 
Iran will process a new batch of uranium at its Isfahan atomic
plant beginning next week with Russia’s help, despite pressure
from the United States and European Union to halt all sensitive
nuclear work, diplomats told Reuters on Wednesday.

2005-11-03 11:25

As Tehran prepared to take steps Washington said would "further
isolate Iran from the international community," Russia suggested
a face-saving plan that would allow Tehran to conduct less
sensitive atomic activities in a joint venture with Moscow. 
Accused by Western nations of running a covert atomic weapons
program, Iran had frozen all work at Isfahan late last year
under a deal with France, Britain and Germany. But it resumed
work at the plant in August, prompting the EU's three biggest
powers to suspend talks with the Islamic republic. 

Iran says its nuclear program is only for generating electricity
and has resisted pressure from Europe to halt all sensitive
activities, including at Isfahan, to avoid being reported to the
UN Security Council for possible sanctions. A western diplomat
said the Iranian UN Mission sent the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) notification that the islamic republic would
produce 150 drums of raw yellowcake uranium staring next week,
Reuters reported. Once converted into uranium hexafluoride (UF6)
gas and then enriched, this would theoretically be enough to
create fuel for one nuclear bomb. 

However, diplomats close to the IAEA say the quality of the UF6
produced at Isfahan so far is so poor as to be unusable, casting
doubt on Tehran's threats to begin work on uranium enrichment,
the most sensitive part of the nuclear fuel cycle, Reuters
reported. 

In an attempt to avoid an escalating international row, Russia
has proposed it host a uranium conversion and enrichment joint
venture with Iran, diplomats said. This would allow Iran to
produce uranium tetrafluoride (UF4) at Isfahan, which would then
be shipped to Russia for conversion into UF6 and enrichment.

Tehran is not opposed to the Russian-conceived idea, but wants
the joint venture to be located in Iran, he said. Diplomats say
the Russian plan would be supported by the Europeans and by IAEA
head Mohamed ElBaradei, provided Tehran agreed to a full
suspension of all other sensitive nuclear activities. 

US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack described the plan
to convert more uranium as "yet another step that takes Iran in
the wrong direction and serves only to further isolate Iran from
the international community," Reuters reported. 
  
  Publisher: , President: 
Information: , Technical contact: 
Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62  * P.O.Box
2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway
*****************************************************************
 39 NRC: NRC to Hold Public Meeting Nov. 10 in Gaithersburg, Maryland, on Standard Review Plan for
Nuclear Waste Determinations

News Release - 2005-14 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 
20555-0001     E-mail: No. 05-148     November 3, 2005   
  

Nov. 10 in Gaithersburg, Md., to receive public input on the
scope of a Standard Review Plan to be developed for conducting
its consultation and monitoring activities regarding non-high
level waste determinations by the Department of Energy at DOE
facilities. 
Last year, the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year
2005 (NDAA) gave the NRC new responsibilities regarding DOEs
efforts to remediate certain waste at the Savannah River Site in
South Carolina and the Idaho National Laboratory. Initial
reviews are underway.
 
To promote consistency and transparency in these reviews, the
NRC staff is developing a Standard Review Plan for non-high
level waste determinations. The plan will describe the types of
information the agency will assess during its technical
consultation and monitoring activities. The Standard Review Plan
will include approaches for the two sites covered by the NDAA as
well as West Valley, N.Y., and Hanford, Wash., where NRC may
possibly perform similar reviews.
 
The Nov. 10 meeting will be held at the Hilton Hotel, 620 Perry
Parkway, Gaithersburg, Md., from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Registration
will begin at 12:30 p.m., but those wishing to attend are urged
to pre-register by calling Michele OShaughnessy, project
manager, at (301) 415-6659. More information about the meeting,
including the agenda, is available on the NRC Web page at ,
under Public Meetings.
   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, November 03, 2005 	
*****************************************************************
 40 Chemical & Engineering News: Spent Nuclear Fuel Recycling Studied
 
November 3, 2005
 
+ Volume 83, Number 45 
+ 
GOVERNMENT &POLICY
 
Argonne project to develop cycle for reusing spent nuclear fuel
and minimizing by-products
 
Glenn Hess
 
A to examine new approaches to reducing the nations growing
inventory of stored spent nuclear fuel is under way at the
University of Wisconsin and the Department of Energys .
 
The project will be based at the Center for Advanced Nuclear
Fuel-Cycles, an initiative funded by the University of Chicago
and housed at Argonne.
 
Most spent nuclear fuel is now stored temporarily in secure
pools at commercial reactors around the country or in leak-tight
steel casks housed in aboveground concrete vaults. The fuel
could end up at a planned commercial temporary storage facility
in Utah or at the proposed Yucca Mountain high-level waste
repository.
 
But these storage options are short-term approaches to dealing
with the backend of the nuclear fuel cycle, says , a UW Madison
professor of engineering physics and the centers codirector.
 
We hope to develop a sustainable fuel cycle—that is, an
efficient, cost-effective way to reuse current spent nuclear
fuel and minimize its by-products, he says. Advanced nuclear
fuel cycles can be recycled as a source of available energy as
demand for uranium increases.
 Chemical & Engineering News 
+ ISSN 0009-2347 

+ Copyright © 2005 
*****************************************************************
 41 Reuters: Historic S.Korean city votes to host nuclear dump

Reuters.com
 	 	
Thu 3 Nov 2005 3:04 AM ET                                       

By Jon Herskovitz and Lee Jin-joo

 SEOUL, Nov 3 (Reuters) - The historic South Korean city of
Kyongju, popular with tourists for its ancient temples and
tombs, has won a vote to host the country's first permanent
storage site for nuclear waste.

 The southeastern city beat out three other cities vying to host
the dump. Several residents said they were more interested in
the economic development and sweeteners that will come with the
storage site than its impact on tourism.

 "The government has restricted the development of the Kyongju
region for nearly 40 years due to the Cultural Properties
Protection Law, and this was the chance for the residents to see
the light of development," resident Lim Sang-tae said by
telephone on Thursday after the results became official.

 About 90 percent of Kyongju's residents, the highest among the
four cities, said "yes" in a vote on Wednesday to having tonnes
of nuclear waste stored in their backyard.

 Some 70 percent of eligible voters in the city took part.

 In exchange for accepting the nuclear dump, the city will
receive government subsidies worth about 300 billion won ($288.2
million) as well as about 5 billion to 10 billion won a year in
storage fees, South Korean media reported.

 In addition, several thousand jobs will likely result from the
storage site and the opening of an office of the state-run Korea
Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.

 The commerce ministry said it has not decided whether the dump
will be above or below ground and would need to study the site
further.

 TOURISM AND WASTE

 City officials say they can balance the city's existing role as
a tourist spot with its new one.

 "The nuclear waste storage facility will be about 30 km (19
miles) away from many of our cultural treasures, so we do not
see the facility as presenting a threat," said Kim Jae-woo, a
Kyongju tourism official.

 Environmental activists and civic groups said the nuclear dump
presented a host of possible dangers and would tarnish the
tourist brochure image of Kyongju as an ancient area that is
home to tranquil temples in the hills.

 "The nuclear waste dump has been selected without proper
consideration and without a properly funded study," said Lee
Sang-hoon, an activist who campaigned against the facility.

 Tourists also flock to Kyongju for its burial grounds.

 The region is dotted with large-mound tombs holding the remains
of royal family members and noblemen from the Silla Dynasty,
which lasted from 57 B.C to A.D. 926.

 The city's majestic Pulguksa Temple was built in 528 and has
been recognised as a World Cultural Asset by UNESCO.

 With few energy resources of its own, South Korea relies on
nuclear power to produce about 40 percent of its electric power
at 20 nuclear plants, ranking sixth in output in the world.

 The government, which has said the new site will store only low
to medium level radioactive waste, has been looking for a
permanent nuclear storage site for about 20 years.

 Attempts to build the storage facility in the southeast port
city of Pusan failed amid violent clashes between protesters
opposed to the plan and police. ($1=1041 Won) (Additional
reporting by Park Sung-woo) 

© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                    
*****************************************************************
 42 NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste; Notice of Meeting
 
                         FR Doc E5-6087 
[Federal Register: November 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 212)] 
[Notices] [Page 66864-66865] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03no05-85]                         
 
The Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW) will hold its 
165th meeting on November 14-16, 2005, Room T-2B3, Two White 
Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
 
The schedule for this meeting is as follows: Monday, November 14, 
2005 8:30 a.m.-8:45 a.m.: Opening Statement (Open)--The ACNW 
Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the conduct of 
today's sessions.
 
8:45 a.m.-9:15 a.m.: Observations from the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency's (EPA's) October 2005 Public Meeting on its 
Proposed Revisions to 40 CFR Part 197 (Open)--EPA recently held 
public hearings on its proposed amendments to the public health 
and environmental radiation protection standards for Yucca 
Mountain, Nevada, found at 40 CFR Part 197. The Committee will 
receive a report from one of its Members who observed one of the 
public hearings.
 
9:15 a.m.-10 a.m.: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC's) 
Plans
 
[[Page 66865]] for the Implementation of a Dose Standard After 
10,000 Years (Open)-- NRC is proposing to amend its regulations 
at 10 CFR Part 63 that govern the disposal of high-level 
radioactive wastes in a proposed geologic repository at Yucca 
Mountain. The proposed rule would implement EPA's proposed 
standards for doses that could occur after 10,000 years but 
within the period of geologic stability. The Committee will hear 
a presentation from and hold discussions with a representative 
from NRC's Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards on 
the proposed revisions.
 
10:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Reasonableness of the NRC Infiltration 
Assumption (Tentative) (Open)--NRC's proposed rule change at Part 
63 also specifies a value to be used to represent climate change 
after 10,000 years, as called for by EPA. The Committee will hear 
presentations from and hold discussions with knowledgeable 
subject matter experts on the reasonableness of NRC's proposed 
infiltration assumption.
 
1:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Public Comment Session (Open)--The Committee 
will hear presentations from and hold discussions with interested 
stakeholders on the issues discussed during the earlier sessions. 
Scheduled presenters include: Dr. Dade Moeller, Chairman of the 
Board, Dade Moeller and Associates; Dr. Thomas Tenforde, 
President, National Council on Radiation Protection; Dr. John 
Kessler, Manager, Electric Power Research Institute High-Level 
Waste and Spent Nuclear Fuel Program; and Mr. Martin Malsh, Esq. 
State of Nevada. 5:30 p.m.-6 p.m.: ACNW Roundtable Discussion 
(Open)--The Committee will review the matters discussed from the 
previous pubic sessions and decide whether it intends to provide 
advice to the Commission.
 
Tuesday, November 15, 2005 8:30 a.m.-8:45 a.m.: Opening Statement 
(Open)--The ACNW Chairman will make opening remarks regarding the 
conduct of today's sessions.
 
8:45 a.m.-10:45 a.m.: Reactive Transport Research (Open)--The 
Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with 
representatives of the NRC Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research 
staff and its contractors and the U.S. Geological Survey 
regarding work being performed by Sandia National Laboratories on 
radionuclide sorption in soils.
 
11 a.m.-12 noon: Preparation for Commission Briefing on January 
11, 2006 (Open)--The Committee will review draft vu-graphs in 
preparation for the Commission Briefing on January 11, 2006.
 
1:30 p.m.-3 p.m.: Generalized Composite Modeling (Open)--The 
Committee will hear presentations by and hold discussions with 
representatives of the U.S. Geological Survey and the NRC Office 
of Nuclear Regulatory Research regarding demonstrations of the 
generalized composite approach to the modeling of reactive 
transport and insights from the Organization for Economic 
Cooperation and Development Nuclear Energy Agency Sorption 
Project Phase 2.
 
3 p.m.-4 p.m.: White Paper on Low-Level Radioactive Waste 
(Open)-- The Committee will discuss preparation of a White Paper 
on Low-Level Radioactive Waste.
 
4:15 p.m.-5:30 p.m.: Preparation of ACNW Reports/Letters (Open)-- 
The Committee will discuss proposed ACNW reports on matters 
considered during this meeting.
 
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 10 a.m.-10:15 a.m.: Opening Remarks 
by the ACNW Chairman (Open)-- The ACNW Chairman will make opening 
remarks regarding the conduct of today's sessions.
 
10:15 a.m.-11:30 a.m.: Discussion of Possible Letters (Open)--The 
Committee will discuss prepared draft letters and determine 
whether letters would be written on topics discussed during the 
meeting.
 
11:30 a.m.-12 noon: Miscellaneous (Open)--The Committee will 
discuss matters related to the conduct of ACNW activities, and 
specific issues that were not completed during previous meetings, 
as time and availability of information permit. Discussions may 
include future Committee Meetings.
 
Procedures for the conduct of and participation in ACNW meetings 
were published in the Federal Register on October 11, 2005 (70 FR 
59081). In accordance with these procedures, oral or written 
statements may be presented by members of the public. Electronic 
recordings will be permitted only during those portions of the 
meeting that are open to the public. Persons desiring to make 
oral statements should notify Ms. Sharon A. Steele, (Telephone 
301-415-6805), between 7:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. ET, as far in advance 
as practicable so that appropriate arrangements can be made to 
schedule the necessary time during the meeting for such 
statements. Use of still, motion picture, and television cameras 
during this meeting will be limited to selected portions of the 
meeting as determined by the ACNW Chairman.
 
Information regarding the time to be set aside for taking 
pictures may be obtained by contacting the ACNW office prior to 
the meeting. In view of the possibility that the schedule for 
ACNW meetings may be adjusted by the Chairman as necessary to 
facilitate the conduct of the meeting, persons planning to attend 
should notify Ms. Steele as to their particular needs.
 
Further information regarding topics to be discussed, whether the 
meeting has been canceled or rescheduled, the Chairman's ruling 
on requests for the opportunity to present oral statements and 
the time allotted, therefore can be obtained by contacting Ms. 
Steele. ACNW meeting agenda, meeting transcripts, and letter 
reports are available through the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) 
at , or by calling the PDR at 1-800-397-4209, or from the 
Publicly Available Records System component of NRC's document 
system (ADAMS) which is accessible from the NRC Web site at  or  
(ACRS & collections/ (ACRS & ACNW Mtg schedules/agendas).
 
Video Teleconferencing service is available for observing open 
sessions of ACNW meetings. Those wishing to use this service for 
observing ACNW meetings should contact Mr. Theron Brown, ACNW 
Audiovisual Technician (301-415-8066), between 7:30 a.m. and 3:45 
p.m. ET, at least 10 days before the meeting to ensure the 
availability of this service. Individuals or organizations 
requesting this service will be responsible for telephone line 
charges and for providing the equipment and facilities that they 
use to establish the video teleconferencing link. The 
availability of video teleconferencing services is not 
guaranteed.
 
Dated: October 28, 2005.
 
Andrew L. Bates, Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. E5-6087 Filed 11-2-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 43 NRC: Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste Meeting on Planning and 
 
                         FR Doc E5-6088 
[Federal Register: November 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 212)] 
[Notices] [Page 66865-66866] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03no05-86]                         
 
Procedures; Notice of Meeting The Advisory Committee on Nuclear 
Waste (ACNW) will hold a Planning and Procedures meeting on 
November 16, 2005, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, 
Maryland. The entire meeting will be open to public attendance, 
with the exception of a portion that may be closed pursuant to 5 
U.S.C. 552b(c)(2) and (6) to discuss
 
[[Page 66866]] organizational and personnel matters that relate 
solely to internal personnel rules and practices of ACNW, and 
information the release of which would constitute a clearly 
unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.
 
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows: 
Wednesday, November 16, 2005--8 a.m.-9:30 a.m. The Committee will 
discuss proposed ACNW activities and related matters. The purpose 
of this meeting is to gather information, analyze relevant issues 
and facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions, as 
appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
 
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or 
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official, 
Ms. Sharon A. Steele (Telephone: 301/415-6805) between 8 a.m. and 
5:15 p.m. (ET) five days prior to the meeting, if possible, so 
that appropriate arrangements can be made. Electronic recordings 
will be permitted only during those portions of the meeting that 
are open to the public.
 
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by 
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 8:30 a.m. and 
5:15 p.m. (ET). Persons planning to attend this meeting are urged 
to contact the above named individual at least two working days 
prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes in 
the agenda.
 
Dated: October 26, 2005.
 
Michael L. Scott, Branch Chief, ACRS/ACNW.
 
[FR Doc. E5-6088 Filed 11-2-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 44 La Canada Valley Sun: JPL Water Cleanup Efforts to Increase 

La Canada Flintridge, California http://www.w3.org

NASA's ongoing effort to clean up contaminated water under the 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada will be ramped up, under a 
plan just released.

The plan, available on-line and at local libraries, will be 
discussed at a community meeting Nov. 16 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the 
Altadena Community Center, 730 E. Altadena. The website is 
jplwater.nasa.gov.

The cleanup effort has been underway for a number of years, and 
reflects problems caused during early days at the lab, from about 
1945-60. The site has been declared a Superfund cleanup project, 
and NASA has promised to follow through with a full remediation.

The plan being discussed at the Nov. 16 meeting is to accelerate 
the cleanup of the groundwater adjacent to the lab by adding two 
new wells, one for extraction of water and one to inject 
processed water, to the treatment facility on the JPL campus.

The water flows to wells serving Altadena and Pasadena, and is 
not par t of any wells serving La Cañada, according to officials.

The cleanup effort was launched in 1992, and first dealt with 
volatile organic chemicals. Since then, emphasis has shifted to 
the issue of perchlorate contamination. Perchlorate is a 
suspected hazard to the human thyroid system. 

Estimated cost of the upgraded system is about $1 million, and 
the cleanup process could continue for another ten years, 
according to project manager Steve Slaten.

A separate plan will be developed to deal with issues raised by 
the city of Pasadena over perchlorate problems in many of its 
wells.

Pasadena closed as many as nine of its wells because of 
perchlorate issues, and has bought Me tropolitan Water District 
importe d water to make up for its shortages.

Slaten said NASA is continuing its discussions on the issue with 
Pasadena, which filed a claim for added costs, and will develop a 
plan next year for wells beyond the immediate vicinity of JPL.

He said NASA has been working successfully with Lincoln Avenue 
Water, a small company that serves Altadena, to remediate its 
water supply.

*****************************************************************
 45 Arms Control Association: Arms Control Today: Czech Uranium Removed 

William Huntington 

The Department of Energys Global Threat Reduction Initiative
(GTRI) program repatriated 14 kilograms of Soviet-supplied
highly enriched uranium (HEU) from a Prague research reactor to
a secure facility in Russia without incident on Sept. 27. The
operation was part of an ongoing U.S.-Russian effort to remove
weapons-grade fuel from vulnerable Soviet-era research reactors
around the world. 

The secret, two-day mission secured unused HEU fuel assemblies
from the VR-1 Sparrow reactor on the campus of Czech Technical
University. An International Atomic Energy Agency team measured
the mass and enrichment level of the fuel and placed special
security seals over the large steel transfer casks. Under the
cover of darkness, a Czech security team escorted the shipment
to the airport where the HEU was officially handed over to
Russian authorities. 

The HEU was flown to Dimitrovgrad, Russia, where it will be
blended down to low-enriched uranium (LEU) suitable for use in
reactors but not nuclear weapons. 

The VR-1 Sparrow reactor has recently come back online following
its conversion to the use of LEU fuel, marking the first full
conversion under a joint U.S.-Russian program to convert
HEU-fueled research reactors to LEU use. 

According to a National Nuclear Security Administration press
release, the GTRI program has repatriated 122 kilograms of fresh
HEU to Russia in eight shipments. With the Sept. 27 transfer,
the second from the Czech Republic, all of that countrys HEU
designated for repatriation has been removed. 

In Kazakhstan, state-owned uranium producer Kazatomprom and the
nonprofit organization Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) completed
the blenddown of 2,900 kilograms of uranium reactor fuel. The
fresh fuel, enriched up to 26 percent, was created for use in
the BN-350 fast-breeder reactor at Aktau, Kazakhstan. 

The Arms Control Association is a non-profit, membership-based 
organization. If you find our resources useful, please consider 
joining or making a contribution. Arms Control Today encourages 
reprint of its articles with permission of the Editor.
 
© 2005 Arms Control Association,
 1150 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 620
 Washington, DC 20036
 Tel: (202) 463-8270 | Fax: (202) 463-8273
*****************************************************************
 46 CBC Saskatchewan: Sask. should be considered for nuclear waste, report says
 
  Last Updated Nov 3 2005 04:38 PM CST
   
  A study on the future of nuclear waste in Canada says
Saskatchewan is one of four provinces that should be considered
as a site for storage. In its final report, released on
Thursday, the Nuclear Waste Management Organization said Canada
is running out of storage room at its nuclear power stations and
should make plans to store nuclear waste deep underground. 

  + NUCLEAR WASTE MANAGEMENT ORGANIZATION: (215kb .pdf)
[External site] A location for nuclear waste disposal hasn't
been selected, but the report says site selection should focus
on the four provinces which are involved in producing nuclear
fuel: Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan. Unlike
the other three provinces, Saskatchewan doesn't have a nuclear
power plant but is a big exporter of uranium used in the
stations. However, the Premier is now ruling out storing
radioactive waste here and one of his cabinet ministers,
Corrections and Public Safety Minister Peter Prebble, said if
that ever changed, he would quit. "I would have to step down
from cabinet & in the theoretical event that cabinet was to
endorse a reactor or a nuclear waste disposal facility," Prebble
said. "Neither is on the horizon and I don't see that event
occurring & but yes, that is where I would draw the line."

Prebble says the government should not allow a nuclear reactor
or its waste in this province as long as members of the New
Democratic Party are opposed to the ideas.   
      
  Copyright © CBC 2005   
*****************************************************************
 47 CBC Saskatchewan: Calvert says no to nuclear waste
 
  Last Updated Nov 3 2005 10:08 AM CST

  Premier Lorne Calvert says he would reject any proposal to
store nuclear waste in Saskatchewan. Calvert made the comment
Wednesday, a day after he said the world shared a responsibility
to find a safe way to store nuclear waste. Calvert recently
returned from a trip to Asia where he was looking for new
markets for Saskatchewan's uranium. On Tuesday, he said that if
a proposal were made to store nuclear waste in Saskatchewan, it
would be subject to intense scrutiny and public debate. The next
day, he said even if such a proposal crossed his desk, he would
have to reject it. "Then let me say today, definitively, the
answer is no," he said. "The people of Saskatchewan, I believe,
have said to me in my conversations with them & it's not
something they want to pursue, it's not something my government
wants to pursue. And so under my leadership there will not be."
One of Calvert's cabinet ministers said he's pleased the premier
would not allow nuclear waste to be stored in this province.
Corrections and Public Safety Minister Peter Prebble said if the
government allowed a nuclear power plant, or waste from one, in
Saskatchewan, he would have to resign from cabinet.   
      
  Copyright © CBC 2005   

*****************************************************************
 48 AU ABC: Traditional owners urge rejection of nuclear dump law.
                   
03/11/2005. ABC News Online

Last Update: Thursday, November 3, 2005. 3:07pm (AEDT) 	 
 
Traditional owners from two central Australian regions earmarked
for a nuclear waste dump have voiced their disgust about having
the facility forced on them.

 Seven senior men and women from the Harts Range and Mount
Everard areas near Alice Springs fronted the media this morning
to make their opposition to a dump known. 

Legislation has passed the House of Representatives, allowing
the Federal Government to force the facility on the Territory. 

Two of the proposed sites are in central Australia. 

The traditional owners at today's press conference called on the
Territory's CLP Senator Nigel Scullion to cross the floor and
vote against the dump legislation in the Senate. 



*****************************************************************
 49 Whitehaven News: Sellafieldâ€™s video nasty aids clean-up

Published on 03/11/2005                                                                                                                                              
                                                        

OVER 5,000 hours of underwater filming has been carried out in a 
vast nuclear pond the size of several swimming baths at 
Sellafield.The contaminated area (B30) is nicknamed Dirty Thirty 
at the nuclear complex because of the high radiation levels.
 
And the filming will provide vital help for future waste
retrieval solutions from the Magnox storage pond.
 
An extensive and illuminating survey of the pond was completed
on September 14 following many months of painstaking survey
operations.
 
Numerous plant experts analysed the footage, comparing visible
items with plant drawings and databases, to create an impressive
reality map of the pond. The finished survey was performed using
a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) supplied and operated by Rumic
Ltd, on target.
 
The purpose of the survey was to gain a better understanding of
the highly radioactive spent fuel rods, and other objects and
the quantity of sludge in the pond.
 
Every inch of the pond was captured by the ROVs video camera,
while its on-board instrumentation measured radiation levels
throughout the pond. The opportunity was also taken to survey
the reinforced concrete pond structure itself, providing
valuable information on its internal condition. Eleven Skip
Transfer (ST) Bays, the routes for moving skips between the pond
and the old Inlet and Decanning Buildings, were also examined in
detail.
 
Dorothy Gradden, Head of Delivery, B30 projects said: â€œThe
results of this survey have positive and far-reaching
consequences. We now have a more detailed understanding of the
problem we are dealing with, and a solid foundation that we can
build retrievals solutions upon. The analysis has already
highlighted that pond retrievals need to be significantly
different to previous assumptions. We have calculated that this
fresh knowledge, combined with our new tactical plan for pond
management, will have a dramatic effect on future plans to
remediate this historic legacy pond, and our breakthrough
thinking will generate environmental advantages while
accelerating retrievals at reduced technical risk and cost.â€
 
Reconciliation between the survey output and existing pond and
materials accountancy databases is ongoing. It is anticipated
that the results of the survey will facilitate future Physical
Inventory Verifications (PIVs) by the safeguards regulator
Euratom, who performed a successful PIV at the facility in early
October.
 
*****************************************************************
 50 Guardian Unlimited: Italy 'warned Saddam intelligence was bogus'
 
[UP] 

John Hooper in Rome
Friday November 4, 2005
The Guardian 		
 		
Italian intelligence warned the United States about bogus
information on Saddam Hussein's nuclear ambitions at about the
time President Bush cited them as a crucial reason for invading
Iraq, an Italian parliamentarian said yesterday.

Massimo Brutti of the opposition Left Democrats made his claim
to reporters after listening to evidence from Italy's chief
spymaster, General Nicolo Pollari, in the latest episode to
undermine the motivations for the Iraq war.

The Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi was and remains a
key ally of the Bush administration. Italian intelligence has
been linked to a dossier alleged to have been forged by an
Italian that purported to show that Iraq had been seeking to buy
uranium from Niger to make nuclear weapons.

In his State of the Union address in January 2003 President Bush
repeated a similar claim to bolster his case for war. "At about
the same as the State of the Union address," Senator Brutti told
reporters after listening to Gen Pollari's evidence, the Italian
intelligence services "said that the dossier didn't correspond
to the truth".

Gen Pollari was testifying to parliament's intelligence
oversight committee about the alleged involvement in the dossier
of the Sismi secret services that he leads.

Asked about Mr Brutti's claim at a press conference later, the
chairman of the committee, Enzo Bianco, initially confirmed it
but then said he was unable to comment for reasons of national
security.

Senator Brutti and other members of the committee said Gen
Pollari had vigorously denied any involvement with the forgery
or distribution of the bogus documents. He said Italy had shared
intelligence about alleged Iraqi attempts to acquire uranium
since the 1990s. But he added: "Intelligence was always
accompanied by reservations."

At the time he cited the claims President Bush said the
intelligence originated not with Italy but with Britain.

Yesterday's closed-door session lasted for almost five hours. It
was called after an Italian newspaper suggested Sismi had
allowed the forged papers to be given to the US because it was
keen to back the case for war.

However a rightwing member of the committee, Maurizio Gasparri,
said Gen Pollari had insisted the "behaviour of Sismi had been
absolutely consistent and correct in this affair". He said the
forged dossier "was never endorsed by Sismi".

However, the hearing left questions unanswered. Mr Berlusconi's
government has denied allegations in La Repubblica that it
brought pressure to bear on Gen Pollari, and it has defended
calls for his resignation. In an interview published yesterday,
Mr Berlusconi denied his government had passed on documents
relating to Niger to the US.
 	
[UP] 

      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 51 Las Vegas SUN: Weapons-Grade Nukes Moved From Los Alamos 

Today: November 03, 2005 at 13:25:25 PST 

By MATT MYGATT ASSOCIATED PRESS 

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - The federal government has finished
moving its most sensitive weapons-grade nuclear material from a
Los Alamos National Laboratory technical area to more secure
sites, a lab spokesman said Thursday. 

The weapons-grade plutonium and highly enriched uranium are no
longer within the lab's Technical Area 18, a site at the bottom
of a steep canyon that critics said was vulnerable to a
terrorist attack. The first shipment was moved a little over a
year ago. 

The transfers were driven by changing threats following the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and cost-saving efforts, lab
spokesman Kevin Roark said. 

Officials at Los Alamos, which has been rocked by fiscal and
security lapses, have said they could keep nuclear material
secure at Technical Area 18, but at a high cost. 

The material was moved to the Nevada Test Site, the Y-12
National Security Complex at Oak Ridge, Tenn., and the lab's
Technical Area 55, the National Nuclear Security Administration
said. 

The Project on Government Oversight - a nonprofit, nonpartisan
government watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. - praised
the material transfer but said it should have been completed
sooner. 

The T-18 area dates back to World War II efforts to develop the
atomic bomb and originally was used to conduct criticality
experiments - figuring out how much nuclear material was needed
to produce a nuclear explosion, Roark said. 
The NNSA plans to move all nuclear materials out of T-18 by
2008. 

--- 
On the Net: 
Los Alamos National Laboratory: http://www.lanl.gov 
National Nuclear Security Administration:
http://www.nnsa.doe.gov 
Project on Government Oversight: http://www.pogo.org 
-- 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 52 Santa Fe New Mexican: Domenici: N.M. lab budgets going up      

 Thu Nov 3, 2005 5:49 pm                                                                                                        
 					   					     				 			
                      
By Andy Lenderman The New Mexican |             
 		
Enormous pressure on the federal budget and a leading critic of
how the national labs are managed have collided in Washington
with U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N .M. 

Domenici has been long regarded as the unbeatable protector of
lab funding  and jobs  in New Mexico. 

He faces an Ohio congressman who argues that the glory days of
nuclear-weapons spending are over. 

U.S. Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio , has questioned how much to
spend on the countrys nuclear-weapons complex. Now, urgent
needs like the war in Iraq and hurricane devastation are
competing with money for the labs. 

But Domenici said last week that the overall budgets for both
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Sandia National Laboratories
are going up in the 2006 fiscal year. He didnt provide further
details on nuclear- weapons funding because a final deal hasnt
been reached on next years budget. 

The laboratory is not going down, Domenici said in a telephone
interview about the budget . The overall Los Alamos National
Laboratory is going up. 

		Domenici has been negotiating with House and Senate leaders on
the 2006 Energy and Water Appropriations Act, which funds the
Department of Energy, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Army
Corps of Engineers. No final compromise has been announced. 

But the budget discussion highlights another debate about the
future role of the labs. Budget pressure 

Hobson has said the country needs a smaller nuclear stockpile
and leadership, and fresh thinking about nuclear security. 

The policy debate strikes home in Northern New Mexico, where
about 9,500 employees and a $2.2 billion budget at Los Alamos
National Laboratory fuel a huge chunk of the states economy. 

As chairman of a House subcommittee which oversees funding of
energy and water issues, Hobson faces Domenici, who chairs a
similar committee in the Senate. 

Hobsons committee wants less money for weapons programs than
last years budget. Domenicis wants more. 

Hobsons office declined to talk with The New Mexican but
pointed to several speeches that outline his views on lab
funding. Last year, in a speech to the the National Academy of
Sciences, he said, Never again will the federal agencies and
national labs have the discretion or the budget that was allowed
during the Cold War to pursue any type of nuclear-weapon
research no matter what the cost. 

Domenici earlier this year said he looked forward to a
productive conference committee to reconcile two very different
Senate and House bills. It will be a challenge, but it is
important that we reach an accord that suits our security and
scientific priorities. 

As part of these negotiations, the House Appropriations
Committee has suggested funding nuclear-weapons programs
nationwide at $6.2 billion for the 2006 fiscal year. Thats $296
million below last year and $449 million below the presidents
request. 

The Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired
by Domenici, proposed funding weapons programs at $6.57 billion
for the 2006 fiscal year. Thats about $238 million above last
years weapons budget and $77 million below the presidents
request. 

House and Senate leaders must work out a compromise and pass a
final budget before places like LANL have a final spending plan
for the coming year. A final budget is expected yet this fell. 

Tight budget projections, in part, have prompted LANL director
Robert Kuckuck to form a committee that will review all lab
hiring. The lab needs to constrain its hiring now, Kuckuck told
employees recently. 

Domenici has said there wont be layoffs at Los Alamos or Sandia
as a result of a temporary funding measure, called a continuing
resolution, that is keeping funding flowing to the lab. 

Both subcommittees headed by Hobson and Domenici also oversee
the Army Corps of Engineers. The corps typically undertakes
large flood-control projects that have been highlighted by
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. 

Future mission 

Hobson has also questioned the countrys nuclear strategy. 

In summary, we are fighting too much of the last war on the
nuclear weapons front and not paying enough attention to the
developing front of nuclear terrorism , Hobson told the Arms
Control Association in a speech earlier this year. Its time we
take a comprehensive and reasoned look at our nuclear security
strategy and decide what we want, what we need and what we can
afford for the future. 

Other New Mexico Congressional leaders say the labs can continue
to receive funding through a broad, science and research-based
mission in addition to weapons work. 

I do not see hard times for Los Alamos and Sandia in the near
future, Rep. Tom Udall, D-N .M., said. I hope that we can
orient them to doing the research on the big challenges that
face us as a country. He mentioned energy issues, climate
change and homeland security as examples of nonweapons work that
could continue to be handled by the lab. 

U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N .M., said Hobson is not the only
member of Congress concerned about how to fund nuclear-weapons
programs. 

However, Bingaman disagreed with Hobson over funding issues. 

I think it comes down to a question of how the country and the
Congress and the administration choose to define the mission of
the labs, Bingaman said. If we can agree, as I believe, that
the missions of the labs should be broad and the labs should be
defined as national laboratories that are available to help the
country meet a variety of challenges, then I think that, while
you might not see the kind of increased funding for the
nuclear-weapons programs that weve seen in the past, the lab
could receive high levels of funding for many missions. 

Domenici said: Cutbacks are the order of the day in terms of
nuclear weapons. And even though its a high priority, its
quite obvious theyre not going to have large increases in the
future, unless the mission changes. 

Homeland security, nonproliferation and energy work could
increase at the labs, he said. 

So Im not as pessimistic ... or worried as some, Domenici
said. 

But a leading critic of Los Alamos National Laboratory is not
impressed with the non-nuclear weapons work at the lab. 

In general, they do a bad job, Greg Mello of the Los Alamos
Study Group said. Los Alamos has a high overhead, an
unaccountable culture and is geographically and intellectually
isolated, he said. 

Mello, whose group advocates nuclear disarmament, says the
government has better things to pay for, like fixing ports
damaged by hurricanes and protecting oil refineries. 

If we want to be secure, we actually have to invest in real
things which will bring real security, Mello said, and not
just some nuclear pacifier. 

And change is coming to Los Alamos soon. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration is scheduled to
announce a new lab manager on Dec. 1. A coalition including the
University of California and Bechtel are competing with Lockheed
Martin Corp. and the University of Texas for the job. 

I believe that with a new contractor, whomever gets it, theres
going to be some new life breathed into this lab, Domenici
said. ... And Im kind of upbeat about the future. 

Contact Andy 

Lenderman at 995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican .com. 		
 	   	 	 	 			
 		   			 		   	 		 							
 						   		 
*****************************************************************
 53 lamonitor.com: TA-18 said clean at last 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
 
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor

The federal nuclear weapons agency announced it has completed
removal of weapons-grade nuclear material from Technical Area 18
at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 
The plutonium and enriched uranium stored and utilized at TA-18
have been a security concern since before the 9/11 terrorist
attacks raised the stakes on exposed nuclear material.

The top official of the National Nuclear Security Administration
announced Wednesday that the material has been transferred to
the Nevada Test, the Y-12 National Security Complex near Oak
Ridge, Tenn., and to Los Alamos' high security Plutonium
Facility. 


"This material transfer would not have happened without the
cooperative efforts by a number of DOE and NNSA sites, including
our Los Alamos Site Office and the lab itself, and the Nevada
Site Office and its contractors," said NNSA Administrator Linton
F. Brooks in Wednesday's announcement. "I am proud of the hard
work and cooperation that went into sending this material to
more secure locations."

TA-18's location at the bottom of several sheer cliffs was
considered a radiation-shielding advantage during its early
days, beginning in 1948, but the site's tactical vulnerabilities
raised concerns during Bill Richardson's tenure as secretary of
energy. 
In 1997, a Special Forces unit playing a mock adversary, used a
garden cart from Home Depot to haul off an atom-bomb's-worth of
nuclear material, after overpowering the protective forces at
TA-18.

The story appeared in the Wall Street Journal and was retold
frequently by the Project on Government Oversight, a public
interest group that continued to maintain pressure on DOE since
then. LANL officials responded by defending the principle of
"testing to failure," without which, they said, the degree of
security could not be established. 
At the time of the Cerro Grande Fire, in May 2000, DOE was just
beginning a scooping process for an environmental impact
statement covering the relocation of the facility.

In April 2004, Ambassador Brooks announced that the shipments
would begin in September that year. In July, the laboratory
ceased most critical operations for at least seven months,
delaying the work at TA-18.

Despite that setback, NNSA noted, "the relocation was completed
less than a month after the originally forecast completion date
of Sept. 30, 2005."

In March, Brooks renewed his promise to relocate the special
nuclear materials by the end of the year, although a $26 million
emergency supplemental appropriation was not approved for the
work until April, when Sen. Pete Dominica, R-NM, included it in
an $80.4 billion supplemental appropriation for the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan and Tsunami relief.

An Inspector General audit last month continued to question
NNSA's management of the security upgrades throughout the
complex known as the Design Basis Threat (DBT).

"NNSA will not meet its original FY 2005 target of completing 25
percent of its planned upgrades to meet the 2003 DBT," wrote the
IG, criticizing the "slower than expected progress" and "greater
than expected emphasis of increasing protective force numbers."

NNSA plans to have the remainder of the nuclear materials, in
the less sensitive categories III and IV, out of TA-18 by 2008. 
 
  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 54 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Northern 
 
                        FR Doc 05-21946 
[Federal Register: November 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 212)] 
[Notices] [Page 66822-66823] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03no05-29]                         
 
New Mexico AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Northern New 
Mexico. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 
Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be 
announced in the Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Wednesday, November 30, 2005, 1 p.m.-8:30 p.m.
 
[[Page 66823]]
 
ADDRESSES: Jemez Complex, Santa Fe Community College, 6401 
Richards Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Menice Santistevan, Northern New 
Mexico Citizens' Advisory Board, 1660 Old Pecos Trail, Suite B, 
Santa Fe, NM 87505. Phone (505) 995-0393; Fax (505) 989-1752 or 
E-mail: msantistevan@doeal.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda 1 p.m. Call to Order by Deputy Designated 
Federal Officer (DDFO), Christina Houston Establishment of a 
Quorum Welcome and Introductions by Chair, J. D. Campbell 
Approval of Agenda Approval of Minutes of September 28, 2005 1:15 
p.m. Board Business A. Report from Chair, J. D. Campbell B. 
Report from Department of Energy, DDFO, Christina Houston C. 
Consideration and Action on Fiscal Year 2006 Northern New Mexico 
Citizens' Advisory Board Budget D. New Business 2:45 p.m. Break 3 
p.m. Reports A. Community Involvement Committee, Grace Perez B. 
Waste Management Committee C. Environmental Monitoring, 
Surveillance and Remediation Committee, Chris Timm D. Reports 
from Ex-Officio Members U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA)--Rich Mayer U.S. Department of Energy--Mat Johansen 
University of California/Los Alamos National Laboratory--Ken 
Hargis New Mexico Environment Department--James Bearzi 5 p.m. 
Dinner Break 6 p.m. Public Comment 6:15 p.m. Consideration of 
Recommendations 6:30 p.m. Presentation from EPA, Region 
6--Impacts of Well Construction Practices at Los Alamos National 
Laboratory 8 p.m. Comments from Board and Ex-Officio Members 8:20 
p.m. Recap of Meeting: Issuance of Press Releases, Editorials, 
etc.
 
8:30 p.m. Adjourn This agenda is subject to change at least one 
day in advance of the meeting.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements 
pertaining to agenda items should contact Menice Santistevan at 
the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be 
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision 
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The 
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of 
business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be 
provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments.
 
Minutes: Minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of 
Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 
4 p.m., Monday-Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also 
be available at the Public Reading Room located at the Board's 
office at 1660 Old Pecos Trail, Suite B, Santa Fe, NM. Hours of 
operation for the Public Reading Room are 9 a.m.-4 p.m. on Monday 
through Friday. Minutes will also be made available by writing or 
calling Menice Santistevan at the Board's office address or 
telephone number listed above. Minutes and other Board documents 
are on the Internet at: http://www.nnmcab.org .
 
Issued at Washington, DC on October 27, 2005.
 
Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 05-21946 Filed 11-2-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6405-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 55 Scripps Howard News Service: Enriched uranium removed from vulnerable site

 By JAMES W. BROSNAN
 
 November 03, 2005

 WASHINGTON - 	The government said Thursday all weapons-grade
plutonium and highly enriched uranium is now out of an area of
Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico that was vulnerable
to terrorist attacks.

	The National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the
last of the special nuclear material that could be used for
nuclear bombs has been removed from the lab's Technical Area 18
five years after the move was ordered by then-Energy Secretary
Bill Richardson.

	"I'm glad it finally happened, as I directed," said Richardson,
now the governor of New Mexico.

	Mock terrorist attacks in 1997 and 2000 showed the
vulnerability of TA-18, according to Energy Department documents
obtained by the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a
watchdog group. 

	In the first mock assault, Army Special Forces used an ordinary
garden cart to steal more than 200 pounds of nuclear materials,
according to POGO. In October 2000, mock terrorists again gained
access to nuclear weapons-grade material, the group said. 

	"The Department of Energy should be congratulated for finally
getting the job done at TA-18, five years after it was first
ordered," said POGO spokeswoman Beth Daley. She added the
department should now move quickly to consolidate all the
weapons-grade material at one site, as several reports have
recommended.

	More than half the material went to the department's Nevada
Test Site. Some also went to the Y-12 complex at Oak Ridge
National Laboratory and the more secure TA-55 facility at Los
Alamos, but eventually the TA-55 material will go to Nevada too,
according to the government. 

	The first nuclear material was shipped out of the lab in
September 2004. 

	National Nuclear Security Administrator Linton Brooks said the
relocation was completed less than a month after the original
completion date despite a seven-month stand-down at Los Alamos
over security and safety problems. 

(Contact James W. Brosnan at BrosnanJ(at)shns.com)
*****************************************************************
 56 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah
 
                        FR Doc 05-21947 
[Federal Register: November 3, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 212)] 
[Notices] [Page 66823-66824] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr03no05-30]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE).
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Paducah. The 
Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Thursday, November 17, 2005; 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 
42001.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy 
Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy 
Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive, Suite 
200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m.--Informal Discussion. 6 p.m.--Call to 
Order. Introductions.
 
Review of Agenda.
 
Approval of October Minutes.
 
6:15 p.m.--Deputy Designated Federal Officer's Comments. 6:35 
p.m.--Federal Coordinator's Comments. 6:40 p.m.--Ex-officios' 
Comments. 6:50 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions. 7 p.m.--Task 
Forces/Presentations. Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and 
the Environment.
 
--Update on Projects.
 
Waste Disposition Task Force.
 
Water Quality Task Force.
 
Long Range Strategy/Stewardship Task Force.
 
--Site Management Update Plan.
 
Community Outreach Task Force.
 
8 p.m.--Public Comments and Questions. 8:10 p.m.--Break. 8:20 
p.m.--Administrative Issues. Budget Review.
 
Review of Workplan.
 
Review of Next Agenda.
 
8:30 p.m.--Review of Action Items. 8:35 p.m.--Subcommittee 
Reports. Executive Committee.
 
8:50 p.m.--Final Comments. 9 p.m.--Adjourn. Public Participation: 
The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements 
pertaining to agenda items should contact David Dollins at the 
address listed below or by telephone at (270) 441-6819. Requests 
must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable 
provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. 
The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of 
business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be 
provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and
 
[[Page 66824]] copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom 
of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 
a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday- Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes 
will also be available at the Department of Energy's 
Environmental Information Center and Reading Room at 115 Memorial 
Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 
p.m., on Monday thru Friday or by writing to David Dollins, 
Department of Energy, Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, 
MS- 103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or by calling him at (270) 
441-6819.
 
Issued at Washington, DC on October 28, 2005.
 
Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 05-21947 Filed 11-2-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
    
*****************************************************************

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have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
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information go to: 
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