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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Guardian Unlimited: Group May Have Give Iran Nuclear Info
2 AFP: US urges Iran to reconsider Russia nuclear proposal
3 AFP: UN watchdog agency finalizing nuclear report on Iran -
4 AFP: Iran should explain uranium documents - US
5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Received Black Market Nuclear Designs
6 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Unity on North Korea
7 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [EDITORIALS]Stop whining, take action
8 Korea Times: UN Resolution on Rights in North
9 AFP: SKorea, China call for flexibility in dealing with NKorea
10 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Energy secret coming out
11 US: Globe and Mail: Pressbusters: Who ya gonna call?
12 [NYTr] Israel: Vanunu Arrested, Again
13 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear Whistleblower Arrested in Israel
14 BBC: Vanunu held after West Bank visit
NUCLEAR REACTORS
15 US: A4NR November 2005 Newsletter
16 US: Kids Left Out of Nuke EP Plans; Delay Sought for Exelon Merger
17 US: SLO Tribune: State approves rate increase for PG customers to pa
18 Bellona: Prosecutors contradict the Kola NPP
19 US: NRC: NRC Approves Power Uprates for Palo Verde Nuclear Plant, U
20 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Subcommittee on Power Uprates to Meet Nov. 29-
21 US: Times Argus: Vermont Yankee power boost is vital for the state
22 Slovak news: Slovakia to get more money for Bohunice shut down
23 US: Times Herald-Record: Indian Point sirens to be replaced
24 PR Newswire: KazAtomProm to Create Joint Ventures with Japanese
25 CNIC: Rokkasho uranium trials fail the test
26 UPI: Security &Terrorism - Lax security at nuke reactor site
NUCLEAR SECURITY
27 US: HoustonChronicle.com: Public asked to help locate radioactive vi
28 US: WCBSTV.com: CBS 2 Exclusive: Radioactive Material Lost At JFK
29 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear site exposed at the back door -
NUCLEAR SAFETY
30 US: [du-list] DU Kinetic penetrators development financed through
31 [du-list] Radioactive tank no 9 comes limping home
32 US: Capitol Notes: Collecting teeth for public health, help for
33 US: RGJ.com: Study implicates Fallon metal firm in cancer
34 US: Science Daily: Tracking Down Possible Leukemia Culprit: Air In N
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
35 US: NRC: NRC Issues License for Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Nucle
36 US: The State: Group to appeal ruling on nuke
37 US: BYU NewsNet: Huntsman lobbies against waste
38 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Guv in D.C. for strategy session on nuclear s
39 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Did guv nuke money men?
40 Pahrump Valley Times: More incriminating Yucca e-mails found
41 US: Deseret News: Nuclear waste battle is looming in D.C.
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
42 Santa Fe New Mexican: Subcontractors wait in limbo for LANL decision
43 Santa Fe New Mexican: Group protests deletions from lab reports
44 Santa Fe New Mexican: LANL subcontractors
45 news tribune: Panel to review benefits of former Hanford workers
46 news tribune: Energy Department in for rematch with Gregoire |
47 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Emotional testimony in Hanford trial
48 UCLA Bruin: Early lab bid decision unlikely
49 Oakland Tribune: State delegation supports UC-Bechtel bid to run lab
50 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
51 DOE: Office of Science; Biological and Environmental Research
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Guardian Unlimited: Group May Have Give Iran Nuclear Info
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday November 18, 2005 1:31 PM
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran obtained detailed instructions on
how to set up the complicated process of enriching uranium -
which can used to make nuclear arms - from the black market
network of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan, the U.N.
atomic monitoring agency revealed Friday.
In a report, the International Atomic Energy Agency praised Iran
for increased cooperation with IAEA experts probing its nuclear
program for signs it might have been used to develop weapons.
But it also said more transparency was ``indispensable and
overdue'' on the part of Tehran, as agency inspectors try to
determine if the military secretly ran its own nuclear program
parallel to a civilian one. For that, said the document IAEA
inspectors had to have access both to more details on Iran's
enrichment activities and a site where it is believed to be
storing equipment that could be used in a weapons program.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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2 AFP: US urges Iran to reconsider Russia nuclear proposal
Fri Nov 18, 7:52 AM ET
BUSAN, South Korea (AFP) - The United States urged Iran
" /> Iranto reconsider a compromise, floated by Moscow, aimed at
defusing the standoff over the Islamic Republic's atomic program
and easing fears that it seeks nuclear arms.
US President George W. Bush embraced the plan during talks with
Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of an
Asia-Pacific summit here, said White House National Security
Adviser Stephen Hadley.
The Russian compromise has the support of Britain, France and
Germany, which have led negotiations with Iran, and Bush
considers it "a good idea and potential avenue out" of the
standoff, Hadley told reporters.
Iran has rejected Putin's offer to allow one of the most
controversial aspects of its nuclear program -- uranium
enrichment, which can be a critical step in weapons development
-- to be carried out on Russian territory.
"We think that (rebuff) doesn't end it, we think that this will
be an issue we will return to with the Iranians," said Hadley.
"We hope that over time Iran will see the virtue of this
approach, and it may provide a way out."
While Bush embraced Putin's proposal, there was no sign that the
Russian leader had softened his opposition to a US push to refer
Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
There was "no specific talk of a Security Council referral"
during their wide-ranging meeting, senior Bush adviser Dan
Bartlett told reporters on the margins of the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation ( APEC
" /> APEC) forum summit.
Bush and Putin showed no sign of strains in their relationship
as they opened the meeting, which Hadley said covered Syria,
North Korea, terrorism, bird flu and Iraq.
"Hey, Vladimir, how are you?" Bush said, setting a casual tone
from the start of their fifth meeting this year. "We've got a
very important relationship. We value your advice and we value
the strategic relationship we've built."
"It's very agreeable that we have virtually permanent contacts on
both bilateral relations and the international agenda," said
Putin, who came to APEC hoping to convert Russia's wealth in
natural resources into regional influence.
Washington charges -- and Tehran denies -- that Iran has been
trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian
energy program. Russia has rejected the US push for a UN Security
Council referral.
Bush touched on concerns about Putin's moves to centralize
political power in the Kremlin and Moscow's push to close down
foreign-funded non-governmental organizations, said Bartlett and
Hadley.
"The issue did come up," Bartlett said, refusing to provide
further details.
"I'm confident it will continue to be a subject of discussion
with the Russian government," said Hadley.
Putin's foreign policy adviser Sergei Prikhodko confirmed that
the talks had centered on the nuclear programs in Iran and North
Korea and also touched on developments in Iraq and "the situation
around Syria."
The two leaders also discussed their efforts to fight terrorism,
with the Russian leader stressing the importance of "joint steps"
in this area.
Putin told Bush that violence in the breakaway province of
Chechnya " /> Chechnya, which Russian troops stormed in October
1999 to try to re-establish control, had recently declined, said
Bartlett.
On global trade relations, Prikhodko said Putin thanked Bush for
US support for Russia's campaign to accede to the World Trade
Organization " /> World Trade Organization(WTO) but noted
Washington has not yet endorsed Russia's immediate entry into the
body. "A few practical problems remain" on that issue, he said,
without elaborating. Bartlett mentioned enforcement of
intellectual property rights as one of the issues still being
discussed. Russia and Vietnam are the only two economies in the
21-member APEC forum that have yet to join the WTO.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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3 AFP: UN watchdog agency finalizing nuclear report on Iran -
Fri Nov 18, 7:49 AM ET
VIENNA (AFP) - UN atomic inspectors were set to release a key
report on Iran's nuclear program, diplomats told AFP, as Tehran
confirmed it had resumed converting quantities of uranium.
A week before the UN atomic energy watchdog is to consider
action against Iran, the country's top nuclear negotiator Ali
Larijani confirmed media reports of work at the uranium
conversion plant in Isfahan, 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of
Tehran.
"We have done it and the facilities are continuing to work," he
said Friday. "This isn't new stuff."
Larijani added that the International Atomic Energy Agency
" /> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) had been informed.
The report is expected to be released Friday and then presented
to a meeting in Vienna next week of the 35-nation IAEA board of
governors, which will consider whether to refer Iran to the UN
Security Council for possible sanctions.
The board is stymied as Russia, Iran's ally and supplier of
nuclear technology, opposes the push by the United States and
the European Union
" /> European Unionto bring Tehran before the Security Council.
In Washington, a State Department spokesman said Undersecretary
of State Nicholas Burns would meet in London Friday with EU
negotiators Britain, France and Germany as well as Russia and
China to discuss what he called Iran's "unwelcome move" in
resuming uranium conversion.
The move is viewed "with concern," said spokesman Adam Ereli.
Iran on Wednesday started a new round of converting uranium ore
into the gas that is the precursor for making enriched uranium.
Enriched uranium can be fuel for civilian power reactors or the
raw material for nuclear bombs.
In South Korea
" /> South Korea, US President George W. Bush
" /> President George W. Bushtold Russian President Vladimir
Putin
" /> Vladimir PutinFriday that a proposed compromise by Moscow
on Iran was "helpful," the White House said.
Putin has offered to allow Iran to enrich uranium on Russian
territory but Iran insists on its right at home to the full
nuclear fuel cycle.
Bush said the Russian offer "was one that is helpful to the
process," senior Bush adviser Dan Bartlett told reporters.
Iran has insisted it has a right to develop nuclear fuel for a
civilian program designed to produce electricity but the United
States and the EU fear Tehran is pursuing a clandestine atomic
weapons program.
The London meeting comes after the trio of EU negotiators
rejected a Russian proposal to host a meeting with Iran in
Moscow early next week.
Talks with the EU aimed at securing guarantees that Iran's
program is peaceful collapsed last August when Iran broke a
suspension of uranium conversion it had undertaken as a
confidence-building measure.
In September, the IAEA board passed a resolution calling on Iran
to cease all nuclear fuel work, to return to talks with the EU
and to cooperate fully in the IAEA's investigation into its
atomic program.
The report expected Friday from IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei
will be the latest in an investigation that began in February
2003.
Diplomats said IAEA inspectors have found two cases of equipment
that raises suspicions of nuclear weapons work but it was not
clear if this would be in the report.
The first relates to an offer made by black marketeers to Iran
in 1987 of equipment for uranium re-conversion and casting
capabilities, a diplomat said.
Iran claims it did not take up this offer but IAEA inspectors
have found a document that describes in detail uranium metal
casting procedures, including how to make hemispheric shapes
that would be essential in shaping a bomb.
The diplomat said IAEA inspectors want to know why Iran never
told them this was part of the 1987 offer.
The second disturbing finding is a high-speed electronic streak
camera IAEA inspectors saw at Iran's Parchin military facility
and which could document the implosion explosion that sets off
an atomic bomb.
Initial results from an IAEA inspection of Parchin earlier this
month showed no sign of nuclear activity, diplomats said, in an
apparent strengthening of Iran's case, although final results
are not yet in.
Washington charges that Iran is doing nuclear weapons work at
the explosives testing center, although this could be in
non-nuclear "dry" tests of how such a weapon would function and
that would leave no radioactive trace.
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
4 AFP: Iran should explain uranium documents - US
Fri Nov 18,11:39 AM ET
VIENNA (AFP) - The United States said that Iran " /> Iranowes UN
inspectors an explanation about its possession of documents that
could be related to making an atom bomb.
US ambassador Gregory Schulte told reporters the United States
"was very concerned about the large cache of documents
uncovered" by the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency
" /> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), which is
investigating Iran's nuclear program.
Iran has handed over a document which describes how to make what
could be the explosive core of an atom bomb, the IAEA said
Friday in a confidential report filed to its board of governors
and obtained by AFP.
The IAEA said Iran had obtained the document when it received an
international black market offer in 1987 for nuclear materials
and technology.
The document is on "procedural requirements for . . . the
casting and machining of enriched, natural and depleted uranium
metal into hemispherical forms," the IAEA said.
"Such a shaping capability has clear nuclear weapons
applications," a Western diplomat told AFP, as this would be for
holding a bomb's explosive material.
Schulte said "Iran owes the board an explanation of why it had
these documents, what it has done with them and why it didn't
disclose them in the past."
He said the "documents open new concern about weaponization that
Iran has failed to address."
"Iran also still owes the agency an explanation of what it did
with the more advanced P-2 centrifuge technology that it
received," Schulte said about information on sophisticated
machines for enriching uranium, which can be nuclear reactor
fuel or atom bomb material.
"The report shows that Iran's cooperation has been grudging,
forced and incomplete.
"It also demonstrates Iran's disregard for the board's calls to
re-suspend conversion of uranium . . . and to stop work on a
heavy water reactor" which would produce plutonium, which is
also potential atom bomb material, Schulte said.
Iran, which claims its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to
generate electricity, is building the reactor in Araq despite
IAEA calls for it to stop construction.
Schulte said the IAEA report shows "why the board has no
confidence in the peaceful nature of Iran's activities."
Copyright © 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
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5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Received Black Market Nuclear Designs
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday November 18, 2005 9:01 PM
AP Photo VAH107
By GEORGE JAHN
Associated Press Writer
VIENNA, Austria (AP) - The U.N. atomic watchdog agency revealed
Friday that Iran received black market nuclear designs that
diplomats say appear to be blueprints for the core of a nuclear
warhead - a finding expected to used by Washington and its
allies in their push to have Tehran referred to the U.N.
Security Council.
A senior U.S. diplomat called the development disturbing, and
other diplomats accredited to the International Atomic Energy
Agency said they expected it to be used against Iran at the
IAEA's 35-nation meeting next week.
The revelations also came as Iran said it had begun converting a
second batch of uranium into gas, a step that brings it closer
to producing the enriched uranium used to either generate
electricity or build bombs.
The State Department denounced Iran's actions. ``You've given
the world cause for concern,'' spokesman Adam Ereli said. ``The
international community doesn't like what it sees, and it
doesn't like the kind of behavior that you've been exhibiting
over the last several years.''
He urged Iran to be more forthcoming with the IAEA, saying that
if Tehran chooses to remain silent, it increases chances of
becoming more isolated from the rest of the world.
``If a nation thinks that it's in their interest to tell the
rest of the world to go take a leap, they can do that,'' Ereli
said. ``But that would certainly be unusual and ill-advised.''
Undersecretary of State Nicholas R. Burns flew to London on
Thursday night for talks with European and Russian ministers.
The European Union, with U.S. support, has been calling on Iran
to reimpose a freeze on conversion since August. But the
nation's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, told state TV the
country had started converting the second batch of uranium.
``This job is done and the plant is continuing its activity,''
Larijani said in an interview broadcast Friday.
One idea under consideration is to permit Iran to convert
uranium but to move the enrichment process to Russia, thereby
hopefully denying Iran the capacity to produce weapons-grade
uranium for nuclear weapons. President Bush confirmed reports of
U.S. approval of the compromise in a meeting Friday in South
Korea with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The IAEA said Iran received the detailed designs from the
network run by Abdul Qadeer Khan, the father of Pakistan's
nuclear program. His network supplied Libya with information for
its now-dismantled nuclear weapons program that included an
engineer's drawing of an atomic bomb.
The document given to Iran in 1987 showed how to cast
``enriched, natural and depleted uranium metal into
hemispherical forms,'' said a confidential IAEA report. IAEA
officials refused to comment on the implications of the finding.
But diplomats close to the agency said it appeared to be a
design for the core of a nuclear warhead. The report said Iran
insisted it had not asked for the designs but was given them
anyway by members of the black market nuclear network -
something a senior official close to the agency said the IAEA
was still investigating.
The diplomats requested anonymity in exchange for discussing the
confidential report obtained by The Associated Press. The
document was prepared for Thursday's meeting of the IAEA's
35-nation board, which could decide to refer Tehran to the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions for violating a nuclear
arms control treaty.
Most board nations are concerned that Iran has resumed uranium
conversion - a precursor to enrichment - and has refused to meet
all IAEA requests about a nuclear program that was clandestine
for nearly 20 years until discovered three years ago.
The United States insists Iran is trying to make nuclear
weapons, while Iran maintains its program is strictly for
generating electricity.
The chief U.S. delegate to the IAEA, Gregory L. Schulte, said
Washington was ``very concerned'' about the design, along with
the ``large cache of documents uncovered by the agency'' showing
detailed instructions on how to set up uranium enrichment
facilities.
``This opens new concerns about weaponization that Iran has
failed to address,'' he said.
Former nuclear inspector David Albright said the design is
``part of what you need ... to build a nuclear weapon.''
Although it's not a ``smoking gun'' proving Iran was developing
nuclear weapons, the find casts doubt on previous Iranian
assertions it had no documents on making such arms, said
Albright, now the head of the Institute for Science and
International Security in Washington.
The report said Iran had handed over black market documents
revealing detailed instructions on setting up the complicated
process of uranium enrichment. Khan has acknowledged selling
secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.
The report also suggested Iran had something to hide, saying it
continues to refuse access to a where it could be storing
equipment that could help investigators determine whether the
military is running a secret nuclear program.
It said more transparency by Tehran was ``indispensable and
overdue'' as agency inspectors try to determine if Iran's
military secretly ran its own nuclear program parallel to a
civilian one.
``There still remain issues to be resolved'' in connection with
whether the military was supplied with centrifuge technology in
the mid-1990s and then conducted secret enrichment activities
between 1995 and 2002, the report said.
It said the key outstanding issues include whether Iran's
military was involved in enrichment, access to the military site
where ``dual use'' equipment was believed held and greater
access to individuals involved in the enrichment program.
---
On the Net:
www.iaea.org
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
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6 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Unity on North Korea
2003-11-18
It is reassuring that the leaders of South Korea, the United
States and Japan have agreed on a unified stand on North Korea's
nuclear development programs. The key element of their agreement
was that their governments would make sure the North gives up
its nuclear programs and that they would do so through peaceful
and diplomatic means.
In line with the agreement, the leaders, whose governments are
key players in the six-party talks aimed at resolving the
nuclear issue, endorsed the accord the North signed on Sept. 19,
which calls for Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear programs in
return for energy aid and security guarantee.
The series of summit talks among the leaders, which will be
capped by President Roh's meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin today, followed the latest round of the six-way
talks in Beijing last week. The leaders' unflagging commitment
to the six-party talks is welcome all the more because the
latest session did not produce any tangible progress because of
the confrontation between Washington and Pyongyang.
In this regard, Roh and Chinese President Hu Jintao were right
to urge the two main antagonists to make concessions to move the
two-year-long process forward. Roh and Hu said that "both
parties shared the view that each party to the talks should show
sincere flexibility on its position." One can easily guess to
which parties they were referring.
The main point of the U.S.-North Korea standoff is who should
act first. The U.S. side demands that Pyongyang dismantle its
nuclear-related programs and activities before it gets new light
water reactors, while the North insists the opposite.
President George W. Bush, after meeting Roh, made it clear that
the light water reactor will be considered only after "they have
verifiably given up their nuclear weapons and, or, programs." We
hope this should not be the precondition for conducting
behind-the-scenes negotiations with the North before the
resumption expected early next year of the six-party talks.
On the North's human rights and economic conditions, the
Roh-Bush joint statement opted such watered-down expressions as
the "situation for the people of the North" and a "common hope
for a better future." That Bush refrained from his usually harsh
criticism of the Pyongyang regime and its leader Kim Jong-il
should be conducive to the six-party process.
Such a softened stand, however, should not allow the North to be
complacent about its human rights violations, already an
international concern as evidenced by the U.N. General
Assembly's adoption of a resolution on the issue. This should
awaken Kim Jong-il to the reality that he would get little from
the outside without resolving the nuclear issue and improving
human rights in his country.
2005.11.19
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7 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: [EDITORIALS]Stop whining, take action
November 19, 2005 KST 16:44 (GMT+9)
2005.11.18
The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution
expressing concerns over North Korea's rights abuses. While
similar measures have been approved by the Human Rights
Commission in past years, this is the first time such an action
was taken by the UN General Assembly.
This resolution was drafted by the European Union ¡ª not the
United States ¡ª and 84 countries voted for it. The
international community's serious concerns are demonstrated by
this resolution.
The South Korean government, however, abstained, saying "Our
efforts to improve rights conditions in North Korea must be
harmonized with other priorities within Seoul's North Korea
policy."
Seoul has been trying to resolve the peninsula's nuclear crisis
as its top priority, simultaneously seeking inter-Korean
cooperation and reconciliation.
We understand Seoul's position of refraining from voting on the
resolution.
At the same time, we are also concerned that the South Korean
government's decision may be misunderstood as an attempt to
please the North Korean regime and abused as a means to extend
Pyongyang's rights infringements.
South Koreans are alarmed and concerned by the North Korean
regime's rights abuses. They also believe that the matter must
see immediate and actual improvement. They also understand that
raising the rights issue must not hinder efforts to resolve the
nuclear crisis.
South Korea's position may be ambiguous, but North Korea must
not misunderstand Seoul's abstention as an act of silence. Seoul
must deliver a clear message to Pyongyang about its stance.
Today, the extremely severe rights abuses in the North have been
made public by North Korean defectors and a wide range of
information collected through advanced technology, including
satellite surveillance.
In the digital era, it is impossible to hide rights
infringements, and North Korea must be aware of that change.
North Korea must see clearly that the outside world is highly
concerned about its people's human rights. The North must
clearly face the reality that its efforts for regime security
are in vain when it has failed to feed its people.
Seoul should stop whining and act to make tangible improvements.
Without such efforts, Seoul can never be free from criticism
that it fears the North Korean regime's anger and is trying to
save face.
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
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8 Korea Times: UN Resolution on Rights in North
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Opinion
Silent Policy Likely to Encourage Pyongyang to Hike Suppression
The nation has once again abstained from the voting on the
European Union-initiated resolution on human rights in North
Korea, conducted by the United Nations¡¯ General Assembly on
Thursday. The resolution, which expresses concern over the
North¡¯s flagrant abuse of rights, was passed as 84 members of
the U.N. voted for it, while 22 rejected it and 62 abstained.
When the EU submitted the resolution bill to the U.N.
headquarters early this month, the nation¡¯s abstention from the
voting was anticipated in light of the government¡¯s concern
over the nuclear confrontation between Pyongyang and Washington,
and inter-Korean relations. Needless to say, the abstention
hurts the nation¡¯s image in the global community and triggered
severe denunciations at home, especially from conservatives. The
silent policy on the rights issue in the communist regime is
unconvincing not only to many people in the country but also to
the nation¡¯s close allies. It is quite contrary to the Roh
Moo-hyun administration¡¯s image, now substantially tainted, of
championing the cause of human rights. Besides its action this
year, the nation was absent or abstained from voting on similar
resolutions the EU has submitted to the U.N. Human Rights
Commission based in Geneva, Switzerland, every year since 2003.
Before the vote took place, the North Korean ambassador to the
U.N. severely criticized the resolution, claiming it proves that
the United States is attempting to interfere in the North¡¯s
internal affairs and overthrow the Pyongyang regime. However,
his protest is utterly groundless as the North is counted as one
of the most notorious violators of human rights in the world. It
is reported that the North is now holding as many as 200,000
political prisoners in isolated camps, subject to torture and
other inhumane treatment. And a U.S. congressional report said
that more than two million North Koreans might have died of
starvation and huger-related diseases between 1995 and 1998.
Northern defectors to the South have also corroborated dire
human rights conditions in the North.
Even though the resolution has no binding force, the North
ought to stop its severe abuse of rights as demonstrated by
widespread torture and public executions to fulfill its minimum
requirement as a member of the U.N. In this regard, the North
needs to permit U.N. workers to regularly monitor its rights
situation, as recommended in the resolution. In the meantime,
the government ought to change its silent policy on the rights
issue in the North for humanitarian reasons. Otherwise, it is
feared that the North will persist on or step up suppressing its
people, taking advantage of the nuclear crisis and the South¡¯s
desire for the expansion of inter-Korean exchanges.
11-18-2005 16:53
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9 AFP: SKorea, China call for flexibility in dealing with NKorea
nuclear issue found
Wednesday November 16, 11:16 AM
SEOUL (AFX) - Chinese President Hu Jintao and his South Korean
counterpart Roh Mo-Hyun today called for more flexibility in
dealing with North Korea's nuclear weapons drive at a summit
meeting here.
The two leaders, who will attend a meeting of 21 Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum leaders in Busan on Friday and
Saturday, said a statement signed at six-party talks in Beijing
in September was a 'foundation' for ending the standoff.
'Both sides shared the view that each party to the talks should
show sincere flexibility on its position, and implement the
statement in order to ensure continued progress in the six-party
talks,' they said in a joint statement released after the
90-minute summit.
In Beijing in September North Korea agreed to dismantle its
nuclear weapons and related programs in return for a security
guarantee and economic benefits. The other participants agreed
to consider North Korea's request for light-water nuclear
reactors at an 'appropriate' time.
However, North Korea later said it would not scrap its nuclear
programs until it received the light-water reactor in advance.
No progress was made at a fifth round of six-way talks held in
November.
In the joint statement, Roh and Hu praised the September
statement of principle as having 'laid the foundation for the
denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.'
Hu also briefed Roh on his recent visit to North Korea,
undertaken before the latest round of six-way talks.
'President Hu told me about his dialogue with Chairman Kim
(Jong-Il),' Roh told a joint press conference after the summit.
'(At talks with Hu) Chairman Kim clearly confirmed the
principle of denuclearizing the Korean peninsula and seeking a
peaceful settlement through dialogue. He said the joint
statement announced at the fourth round of six-way talks has a
very positive meaning and the outcome was not an easily-achieved
one,' Roh said.
'In addition, Kim clarified his position to continue to make
efforts to denuclearize the Korean peninsula.'
Copyright © 2005 AFP AFX. All rights reserved. Republication or
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10 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Energy secret coming out
Today: November 18, 2005 at 7:44:53 PST
This year's energy bill favored traditional energy companies, and
why it did is becoming clear as details emerge about Vice
President Dick Cheney's task force
Shortly after President Bush took office in January 2001, he
appointed Vice President Dick Cheney to head a task force charged
with making recommendations for a national energy policy.
Naturally, the task force drew the interest of environmental
groups and consumer advocates. They wanted to meet with the task
force and place their views about energy on the record.
Cheney rebuffed their entreaties. Furthermore, he conducted all
of the task force's meetings in secret. Not surprisingly, when
the task force finished its work in May 2001, it had concluded
that the best energy policy was one that continued the tradition
of almost total reliance on fossil fuels and nuclear power.
We wondered then, as now, about the influence wielded by the
executives of nuclear power plants. Nevada's Yucca Mountain has
long been singled out by the federal government as the planned
site for containing the plants' high-level nuclear waste.
Nevadans -- and all Americans who would be affected by
transportation of the waste -- have a right to know.
Nevadans, along with millions of other Americans, also wanted
to know how much weight the opinions of conventional energy
producers carried, and if any serious consideration had been
given to alternative forms of energy. But Cheney steadfastly
refused to reveal whom his task force had met with.
Members of Congress tried, but even they couldn't find out who
attended the meetings. Following lawsuits by two nonprofit
groups, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to order that the records
be made public, and sent the case back to a federal appeals
court for review. That court decided the issue in Cheney's favor.
But that was no guarantee that the names of those who
influenced the task force would remain secret forever. This week
The Washington Post reported on a White House document it
obtained showing that among those the task force met with were
officials from Exxon Mobil Corp., Conoco (before the oil company
merged with Phillips), Shell Oil Co. and BP America Inc. The
newspaper also reported that the Government Accountability
Office (which argued on behalf of Congress to open the meetings)
has found that Chevron Corp. "gave detailed energy policy
recommendations" to the task force.
Even though the full story is not yet known, it is clear that
Cheney's task force met almost exclusively with conventional
energy companies. Based on what is already known, it's no
surprise that the energy bill Bush signed in June was laden with
subsidies for the nuclear, oil, natural gas and coal companies.
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
11 Globe and Mail: Pressbusters: Who ya gonna call?
Friday, November 18, 2005 Page A19[Key]
On Wednesday, we discovered that Bob Woodward of The Washington
Post knew about CIA agent Valerie Plame before Robert Novak
disclosed her identity.
And this fact was revealed by . . . full-time reporters inside
The Washington Post! That might be the biggest scandal of all.
Now that the Post and other news organizations have become such
big parts of the CIA leak story, they need to refrain from
reporting on their own behaviour. Why? For the same reason that
the White House appointed special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald
to handle its own investigation in the case. You simply can't
expect people who work inside an institution to report
impartially about mistakes and malfeasance by their friends and
co-workers.
Take The New York Times (please!). At first, Times brass rallied
around reporter Judith Miller for refusing to testify about who
might have leaked Ms. Plame's name to her. But after Ms. Miller
served 85 days in jail -- and after new allegations drew her own
story into question -- the paper shifted gears. Executive editor
Bill Keller accused Ms. Miller of conducting an inappropriate
"entanglement" (whatever that means) with recently indicted
vice-presidential aide Lewis "Scooter" Libby. Columnist Maureen
Dowd called Ms. Miller a "woman of mass destruction," a spoiled
diva with a weakness for powerful men.
But why were regular Times editors and reporters investigating
Ms. Miller in the first place? And why do other news
organizations continue to report on their own? At NBC News, the
very journalist who is implicated in the CIA leak is still
covering it. "Inside the CIA-leak indictments, including the
role of journalists, including yours truly," declared Meet the
Press host Tim Russert several Sundays ago, before a commercial
break in the program.
Mr. Russert would be a crucial witness at trial against Mr.
Libby, who maintains that he discovered Valerie Plame's identity
from Mr. Russert himself. Mr. Russert says he learned about Ms.
Plame the way most of us did, from a Robert Novak column. And
now Bob Woodward's testimony suggests that someone else might
have leaked Ms. Plame's name to him, a month before Mr. Novak's
piece appeared.
Yet Mr. Russert and his bosses think it's fine for him to keep
reporting on the story. "We have tried to be as open as
possible," said NBC News acting president Steve Capus, defending
Mr. Russert's role. "I'm very comfortable with how Tim has
handled himself."
How's that for arrogance? If President George W. Bush had
refused to appoint a special prosecutor in the CIA case,
promising to remain "as open as possible" to an internal
investigation, news organizations would have howled. Conflict of
interest! You can't investigate your own! Why should we believe
what you tell us?
Why, indeed? If news agencies want us to believe them, they
should start playing by the same rules as everyone else. When an
American news organization becomes the focus of a story, it
should bring in a neutral outsider -- perhaps a Canadian (gasp!)
-- to report on its own activities.
Canada and the U.S. are full of talented, experienced
journalists who don't work for NBC News, The Washington Post, or
The New York Times. Now is the time to call them.
Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York
University. He is the author of Whose America? Culture Wars in
the Public Schools.
Search globeandmail.com Search Site More
Friday, November 18, 2005
Globeandmail.com:
*****************************************************************
12 [NYTr] Israel: Vanunu Arrested, Again
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:34:56 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Gush Shalom - Nov 18, 2005
http://www.gush-shalom.org
International release, Nov. 18, 2005
MORDECHAI VANUNU ARRESTED AT JERUSALEM CHECKPOINT
We ask Labor's Pines Paz for a generous last act as minister
Forgotten maybe by the big world, but not by the Israeli authorities
Mordechai Vanunu was arrested today at a Jerusalem checkpoint.
He had apparently visited somebody in the Jerusalem suburb Al-Ram, which
is divided in two by the Wall. It was argued by the police that Vanunu
had left Jerusalem in violation of the restrictions imposed on him ever
since he was released from 18 years imprisonment.
see the English-language news updates from the Israeli press
Ynet:
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/647281.html
and Ha'aretz:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3171301,00.html
NOW THAT LABOR IS GOING TO LEAVE THE GOVERNMENT - MAYBE WE CAN CONVINCE
LABOR INTERIOR MINISTER PINES PAZ TO FREE VANUNU FROM THESE RIDICULOUS
RESTRICTIONS - AS HIS LAST MINISTERIAL ACT
Please transmit this message by phone + fax + email to:
Minister of the Interior, Pines Paz
2 Kaplan St., Qiryat Ben-Gurion
P.O. Box 6158, 91061 Jerusalem
Tel. (02) 6701411/02
Fax (02) 02-6701628 / 02-6496171
email: sar@moin.gov.il / pniot@moin.gov.il
VISIT VANUNU'S OWN WEBSITE:
http://www.serve.com/vanunu/
NB: At Vanunu's request the US and UK "Free Vanunu" campaigns closed.
Vanunu manages now his own
campaign - online donations possibility for legal expenses etc.
For access to a lot of interesting material:
-The brochure Truth Against Truth (available in many languages)
-Boycott list of settlement products
-video footage of hot spots
-Archive of articles and documents
Go to:
w w w . g u s h - s h a l o m . o r g
(NB: In order to avoid the some server's 'dislike' of our website, you have
manually to remove the double spaces in between. And, when there are still
problems: replace www with zope - this is only temporary. )
If you want to support our activities you can
send a cheque or cash, wrapped well in an extra piece
of paper to:
G u s h S h a l o m
pob 3322
Tel-Aviv 61033
Israel
or ask us for charities in your country which receive
donations on behalf of Gush Shalom
Please, add your email address where to send our
confirmation of receipt. More official receipts at
request only.
(Un)subscribe requests to: otherisr@actcom.co.il
*
================================================================
.NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems
. Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us .
.339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org
.List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/
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================================================================
*****************************************************************
13 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear Whistleblower Arrested in Israel
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday November 18, 2005 5:46 PM
JERUSALEM (AP) - Nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu was
arrested by Israeli police Friday after visiting the West Bank,
authorities said.
The former technician at Israel's main nuclear reactor last year
completed an 18-year prison sentence for revealing Israel's
nuclear capability to a British newspaper in 1986.
Based on Vanunu's evidence, including photos, experts said at
the time Israel had the world's sixth largest stockpile of
nuclear weapons. Israel neither acknowledges nor denies having a
nuclear weapons' program, following a policy of nuclear
ambiguity.
An Israeli court had ruled in May that an earlier visit by
Vanunu to the Palestinian areas did not constitute a violation
of his conditions of release, which forbid him from visiting
foreign countries.
On Friday, Vanunu was arrested at a West Bank crossing into
Jerusalem as he rode on a Palestinian bus, said police spokesman
Shmuel Ben-Ruby.
``I was arrested because they don't want to let me enjoy
freedom,'' Vanunu told reporters as he was led to a police van
at a Jerusalem police station.
Vanunu was arrested because Israelis have been forbidden from
entering Palestinian-controlled areas since fighting broke out
between the sides in 2000, Ben-Ruby said.
Police were questioning Vanunu to find out what he was doing,
Ben-Ruby said.
Vanunu has been barred from leaving the country and must remain
in Israel until at least April 19, 2006.
Vanunu has repeatedly said he has no more secrets to divulge. A
convert to Christianity, he has said he wants to move to the
United States.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
14 BBC: Vanunu held after West Bank visit
Last Updated: Friday, 18 November 2005
[Former nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu. File photo]
Mordechai Vanunu says he has averted a nuclear holocaust in the
region
Israeli ex-nuclear technician Mordechai Vanunu has been held for
allegedly violating restrictions imposed after his release from
prison in 2004.
Police said he was held at the al-Ram checkpoint north of
Jerusalem as he was returning by bus from the West Bank.
The former nuclear scientist is barred from leaving Israel and is
not allowed to visit the Palestinian territories.
He was jailed in 1986 for 18 years after discussing his work at
the Dimona nuclear reactor with a UK newspaper.
"He (Mr Vanunu) has been taken to our International Crimes Unit
for questioning," Israeli police spokesman Mickey Rosenfeld was
quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Mr Vanunu flashed a victory sign before being taken away in a
police vehicle.
Asked what he had done to prompt the arrest, he said: "Nothing.
They just want to arrest me again. They don't want me to enjoy
freedom."
Christianity convert
Mr Vanunu served most of his jail term in solitary confinement.
He was released in April 2004 under strict conditions.
Mr Vanunu has not been allowed to have a passport, is forbidden
to approach ports and airports, and is banned from talking to
foreigners without permission.
Israel insists Mr Vanunu - who has converted to Christianity -
still poses a security threat.
In March, he was charged with violating the terms of his release
from jail by giving interviews to the foreign media.
Mr Vanunu says his action in revealing Israel's nuclear secrets
aimed to avert a nuclear holocaust in the region.
Many Israelis view him as a traitor.
*****************************************************************
15 A4NR November 2005 Newsletter
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:30:21 -0800
1004cf.jpg
Click
to open in your Browser
A4NR November 2005 Newsletter
Support the California Energy Commission's recommendation to fully analyze
the costs/benefits and risks of the state's continued reliance on nuclear
generation and to ask state legislators to prohibit the filing of
applications for license renewals until the analysis is complete.
A Message from Rochelle
Each day high-level radioactive waste is produced and stored on
California's earthquake active coast and the state's elected
representatives remain silent. Republican and Democratic lawmakers in
Nevada and Utah recently joined forces to protect their citizens from
high-radioactive waste storage in their states. Are California's economy
and citizens less valuable than Nevada and Utah?
The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility asks you to join us in supporting
the California Energy Commission's recommendation to fully analyze the
costs/benefits and risks of the state's continued reliance on nuclear
generation and to ask state legislators to prohibit the filing of
applications for license renewals until the analysis is complete. For a
sample letter go to:
http://a4nr.org/actionLetters/11.17.2005-cecltr/view
CEC's 2005 Report states: "The state should evaluate the long-term
implications associated with the continuing accumulation of spent fuel at
California's operating plants, including a case-by-case evaluation of
public safety and ratepayer costs of on-site interim storage [and
transport] of spent nuclear fuel vs transporting spent fuel offsite for
interim storage."
For a copy of the complete report
CEC 2005
Draft Integrated Energy Report
The mission of the Alliance is to introduce and pass legislation that fully
phases-out production of high-level radioactive waste stored on
California's earthquake active coast by end of current licenses (2020-2025)
Please join us and share this information with others who may be concerned,
Rochelle Becker, Executive Director Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
www.a4nr.org (858) 337 2703
10053b.jpg
Launching our Supporters' Program
This month we officially launch our Supporters' Program. We encourage
individuals and organizations to make a contribution and receive a public
acknowledgment on our site. Supporters receive a public recognition and a
web page where they can explain their position on Nuclear Relicensing. If
you, your organization, or people you know are candidates for supporting
us, please read this.
Upcoming Events
Important events for the Alliance
* NRC TOWN HALL MEETING
* The NRC will hold a town hall style meeting to discuss the
Independent Spent Fuel Storage Facility at Diablo Canyon. They will also
have an expert on hand to answer questions about emergency planning. We
encourage everyone to attend.
* Read more
* SLO Democratic Club
* Rochelle Becker, nationally recognized anti-nuclear activist, local
resident and Executive Director of the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility
will be the guest speaker. The ANR is a non-profit organization that works
to educate and protect the citizens of the State of California and future
generations from the dangers of radioactive contamination. Ms. Becker will
address the impact of the ANR on the future of nuclear power in the United
States, the serious facts of nuclear waste in America, and what you can do
to make a difference.
* Read more
* Alliance Requests County's Support for Nuclear Study
* The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility will ask the SLO Board of
Supervisors for a letter supporting the California Energy Commission's
recommendation for a cost/benefit/risk analysis addressing dependence and
reliability of aging nuclear plants in California. For a sample letter
follow the link -
* Read more
Breaking News
Here's the latest news
* U.S. reactors remain vulnerable to air attack
* More than four years after Sept. 11, 2001, the 103 civilian nuclear
reactors in the United States are still defenseless against direct air
attack, and their minimum requirement for ground security has only been
upgraded by a single security guard each.
* Read more
* Juice: Corrosive Investments
* Additional steam generator costs which should have been considered by
the CPUC.
* Read more
* Nuclear waste battle is looming in D.C.
* Huntsman heading east to fight proposal by PFS
* Read more
* Bennett thwarts funding for federal lawyers
* Democratic and Republican representatives in Utah and Nevada joined
forces to oppose permanent high-level radioactive storage in their states
and to support leaving the radioactive waste at reactor sites.
* Read more
* BLM blocks nuclear waste project in Utah
* The Bureau of Land Management is refusing to give its approval for a
rail spur to a proposed nuclear waste storage site in Utah's west desert.
* Read more
What you can do to help:
* How To Become a Supporter
* Quick, easy, effective, impressive. A contribution to the alliance
will be a lasting and visible benefit to all. And it's simple to do.
* Read more
* 10 Things You Can Do To Help
* Read more
* How To Help
* To help the Alliance, come to a4nr.org and make a donation, join our
mailing lists, or become a Supporter.
* Read more
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16 Kids Left Out of Nuke EP Plans; Delay Sought for Exelon Merger
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:31:07 -0800
PRESS RELEASE
November 18, 2005
Contact:
(717)-541-1101
Eric J.
Epstein ericepstein@comcast.net
Delay in Exelon-PSEG Merger
Sought
Nuclear Emergency Plans Fail to Account for Children
November 18, 2005
Harrisburg, Pa. - Pursuant to §2.206 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, Eric Joseph Epstein petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission (NRC) today to take enforcement action against AmerGen, the
licensee for Three Mile Island -1, and Exelon Generation Company (Exelon)
the licensee of Peach Bottom 2 and 3.
Mr. Epstein argued that, ³The Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station
and the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station are violating two NRC conditions
for operation of a nuclear power plant and can not adequately ensure the
health and safety of area residents.²(1)
Mr. Epstein asked for enforcement actions in the form of a Demand for
Information (DFI) that would require AmerGen and Exelon to provide the NRC
with verifiable data that establishes that both organizations are in
compliance with their operating license in terms of providing adequate
emergency planning for children.
Mr. Epstein stated, ³At a minimum, the proposed Indirect and Direct License
transfers proposed as part of the Exelon-PSEG merger must be held in
abeyance unit Three Mile Island and Peach Bottom can demonstrate compliance
with the operating licenses in regard to emergency planning.²
_____
1 Three Mile Island Unit-1 and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station 2 & 3
are in violation of 10 CFR § 50.47 (a) (1) regarding ³reasonable assurance
that adequate protective measures can and will be taken in the event of a
radiological emergency,² and 10 CFR § 50.54 Conditions for licenses.
Information Requested
1. Mr. Epstein requested that the NRC issue a Demand for Information to
AmerGen and Exelon asking the companies to demonstrate that they are in
compliance with the regulations for day care and nursery school children
within the EPZ.
2. Mr. Epstein also asked that the NRC issue a Demand for Information to
AmerGen and Exelon requiring both licensees to ³demonstrate to the
Commission's satisfaction,² that emergency preparedness planning for day
care and nursery school populations are ³adequate² or that ³adequate
interim compensating actions have been or will be taken promptly.²
3. Due to the unique and traumatizing histories surrounding Three Mile
Island and Peach Bottom, Mr. Epstein implored the Commission to go beyond a
³finding of adequate protection², and ensure that both reactor communities
are prepared to safely evacuate all residents living within 10 (ten) miles
of either nuclear power plant.
Remedies
1. Until the Demand for Information sought by Eric Joseph Epstein in the
2.206 Petition is addressed, the Direct License and Indirect License
Transfers of Facility Operating Licenses at Peach Bottom Atomic Power
Station and Three Mile Island Nuclear Station must be held in abeyance; and,
2. While Three Mile Island Unit-1 and Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station 2
& 3 remain in violation of 10 CFR § 50.47 (a) (1) regarding ³reasonable
assurance that adequate protective measures can and will be taken in the
event of a radiological emergency,² and 10 CFR § 50.54 Conditions for
licenses, the Direct License and Indirect License Transfers of Facility
Operating Licenses a can not be transferred per Nuclear Regulatory
Commission¹s statutory obligations and federally mandated regulations.
2
*****************************************************************
17 SLO Tribune: State approves rate increase for PG customers to pay for Diablo
Canyon upgrade
Posted on Fri, Nov. 18, 2005
David Sneed The Tribune
State utility regulators Friday have allowed Pacific Gas and
Electric Co. to raise customer electricity rates by two percent
to pay for replacing a key component at Diablo Canyon nuclear
power plant.
The rate increase will begin in 2010 and will generate as much
as $815 million to install eight new steam generators into the
plant. The five-person state Public Utilities Commission
unanimously approved the project Friday.
Replacing the steam generators will allow the plant to operate
at least through 2025. It will also allow PG to apply to extend
the life of the plant to 2045.
Without the replacements, the plant would be forced to shut down
in 2014. The project is necessary because the generators are
deteriorating faster than anticipated.
Environmentalists and the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace
oppose the project because the commission did not look at the
long-term health and safety implications of extending the life
of the plant. PG estimates that replacing Diablo Canyon’s
electricity with other sources would cost an additional $1.2
billion.
The steam generators are huge bundles of tubes that transfer
heat from the nuclear reactors to the steam-powered electrical
generators. County planners and the state Coastal Commission
must approve construction aspects of the project early next
year.
The new steam generators are scheduled to be installed during
refueling shutdowns in 2008 and 2009.
Weigh in on an online discussion about whether extending the
life of Diablo Canyon is worth raising rates for at
--David Sneed,
*****************************************************************
18 Bellona: Prosecutors contradict the Kola NPP
Comment
ST. PETERSBURG—The Kola NPP has pitted its word against
prosecutors by saying the Murmansk prosecutor has no further
questions for the plant regarding an apparently illegal
extension it received to extend the operational life-spans of
its Nos. 1 and 2 reactors.
Activists at a recent protest against extending the
operational life-span of Kola NPP reactor Nos. 1 and 2 hold a
banner reading “open the truth—close the reactor.
Rashid Alimov/Bellona
Rashid Alimov, 2005-11-18 10:04
On the contrary, Murmansk prosecutors confirm they have sent
documents regarding the illegality of the reactor extension to
the Prosecutor General’s office in Moscow, meaning the questions
are just beginning.
“The topic is exhausted, and the Prosecutors’ office does not
have any more questions to Kola NPP”, reads a statement
published at the plant’s web site. But the prosecutors refute
such allegations.
“Documents on Kola NPP have already been sent to the General
Prosecutors’ Office”, chief assistant of the Murmansk regional
prosecutors’ office public relations department Olga Vasileyeva
told Bellona Web.
The public and the prosecutors’ office against illegal
operation extensions for Kola NPP reactors
A protest was staged earlier this week against the
government’s plans to extend the engineered life-span of two
reactors at the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, an extension the
Murmansk area Prosecutors’ Office considers illegal and against
which it is preparing documentation for the Prosecutor General
in Moscow.
Specifically, Murmansk prosecutors sent to Moscow their rulings
on illegality of life extension of the 1 and 2 blocks without
carrying out environmental impact studies. After General
Prosecutors Office takes action about the documents, it’s
possible that prosecutors will bring Kola NPP or the licensing
body to court for neglecting these rulings.
The Nos. 1 and 2 reactor at the KNPP went online in 1973 and
1974 respectively and are part of Russia’s first generation of
reactors—the VVER 440/230 type. They were designed to work for
30 years. Correspondingly, they should have been shut down in
2003 and 2004.
Kola Nuclear Plant Operating Illegally
The Murmansk Region’s Prosecutor has declared the granting of
an operating licence for the Kola Nuclear Power Plant's No. 1
and 2 reactors to be illegal.
But this did not happen. Instead, their operational life-spans,
with a few upgrades, were issued. The license for the their
five-year operation extensions—granted by Russia’s civilian
nuclear regulator Gosatomnadzor, the Federal Service for Energy,
Technological and Atomic Oversight (FSETAN) predecessor—were
issued without conducting an obligatory state environmental
impact study. Conducting such federal level studies is mandated
by the law “On environmental impact studies” in article 11,
because the initial project has been changed, and also because
KNPP activities may impact environment of the neighbouring
regions and, ecological problems are not hindered by borders.
In April 2005, the Murmansk Regional Prosecutor issued a ruling
to annul the violations surrounding the reactor life-span
extensions and force the regulatory body Rostekhnadzor and
Rosenergoatom, Russian’s nuclear power plant operations
conglomerate, to carry out the environmental impact studies. But
they weren’t ready to fulfill the rulings by the prosecutors,
saying coolly that the plant doesn’t need any state
environmental study because it is already built. But according
to the legislation, any change in the project—the initial
project was designed for only 30 years of operation—requires a
new environmental study, which includes public hearings. The
Murmansk Prosecutors again ordered the Rostekhnadzor and
Rosenergoatom to fulfill the earlier order, but again got
nothing but curt, formal replies in response.
Public environmental organizations continue to monitor the
activities of the prosecutors’ office.
‘Kola NPP and other environmentalists of the region’
The Kola NPP press-service evidently tries to turn environmental
organisations in the area against one another.
Specifically, Nature and Youth, which staged a recent protest
against operational life-span extensions was singled out and
accused by the Kola NPP’s press service of stirring up conflict
in an area where none exists. Meanwhile, the Kola NPP’s
press-service said “the Kola NPP and other environmentalists in
the region” advocate “a mutual exchange of views in a calm and
friendly atmosphere.”
The press service gave as an examlple of a “calm and friendly
atmosphere” the visits of several environmental organisations to
the plant in June 2005.
Nontheless, the fact remains that the position of Nature and
Youth is supported by powerful environmental organisations such
as Ecodefence! and Bellona, among others including Russia’s top
environmentalist, Alexei Yablokov, ex-President Boris Yeltsin’s
for ecological advisor.
“If the measures taken for life-span extensions for [the Kola
NPP’s] reactors no.1 and 2 are enough, and all the documentation
needed is prepared in a good quality, why can’t [the Kola NPP
administration] call it design documentation and carry out all
the procedures needed, including the state environmental impact
study and public hearings,” Sergei Zhavoronkin, head of Bellona
Murmansk, told Bellona Web after the June visit of
environmentalists to the plant.
After the June visit to the plant, the participating
organisatons—including Nature and Youth, Bellona Murmansk and
Geya—did indeed thank the Kola NPP administration for organizing
their trip. But according to legislation, the tour for
environmentalists was not the result of the plant’s good will,
but rather their duty. Furthermore interpreting the assessments
of the groups who visited the plant as a ”positive estimation of
safety increasing efforts of the KNPP,” as the Kola NPP press
service did, is a gross exaggeration. This is especially so
given that all their efforts amount to nothing in the face of
the reactor life-span extensions.
Yes, constructive dialog with the plant is welcome, but this
does not mean that environmentalists will abandon their position
in order to keep the dialog afloat.
The Kola NPP’s representatives last June also deliberately
deceived the public by saying the United Kingdom, Japan, and
France prolong the operational life-spans of their reactors by
60 years, where Russia only prolongs them for 15. The figures
were broadcast by the journalists and taken as received wisdom,
but in fact, the concept of an operational 90-year-old reactor
is a utterly ridiculous.
Furthermore, Russian nuclear regulators grant extension licenses
for five year—not a day more—so the Kola NPP was, at best,
confused on the legal terms of extensions, or at worst feeding a
credulous public absolute nonsense about the letter of the law.
Decisions affecting millions of people were made without the
obligatory state environmental impact study or any public
participation whatsover. This is an overwhelming violation of
the rights of those who are subjected to great risk, both those
living in the area surrounding the Kola NPP, but also the
populations of Finland, Norway and all of European Russia. The
decision was made, but the state environmental impact study and
the public hearings were cast aside.
In such circumstances, the manner in which people protest—be it
by “creating a conflict,” or in a “calm and friendly
atmosphere"—is their choice, and not a thing to be decided by
the administration of the Kola NPP. It is clear though, that
however people protest, the Kola NPP press service is on the
spot to distort the meaning of their words.
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
*****************************************************************
19 NRC: NRC Approves Power Uprates for Palo Verde Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 3
News Release - 2005-15
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail:
opa@nrc.gov No. 05-157 November 18, 2005
by the Arizona Public Service Company to increase the generating
capacity of Units 1 and 3 at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station by 2.9 percent. The NRC staff determined that the
licensee could safely increase the power output of the reactors
primarily through replacing the plants steam generators.
The power uprates at each unit, located near Phoenix, Arizona,
increases the net generating capacity of the reactors from 1270
to 1313 and 1317 megawatts electric, respectively, for Units 1
and 3. The licensee intends to implement the uprate by the end
of December for Unit 1, and by the end of 2007 for Unit 3.
The NRC previously published a notice about the power uprate
application in the Federal Register providing the public an
opportunity to comment or request a hearing. No comments or
hearing requests were received by the NRC.
The NRC's safety evaluation of the requested power uprate for
the plant focused on several areas, including nuclear steam
supply systems, instrumentation and control systems, electrical
systems, accident evaluations, radiological consequences,
operations, and technical specification changes.
Last revised Friday, November 18, 2005
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: NRC Advisory Subcommittee on Power Uprates to Meet Nov. 29-30 in Rockville, Maryland
News Release - 2005-15
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov
No. 05-158 November 18, 2005
Committee on Reactor Safeguards will hold a public meeting Nov.
29-30 in Rockville, Md., to review the application Entergy filed
to increase power output by approximately 20 percent at the
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant. The subcommittee will hear
from Entergy Nuclear representatives, NRC staff members and
interested members of the public.
The subcommittee will then formulate proposed positions or
actions for deliberation by the full committee. The Committee is
an advisory board to the five-member Commission and independent
from the NRC staff.
Entergy submitted a request in September 2003 to increase, or
"uprate," the maximum authorized power level at the Vermont
Yankee facility from 1,593 megawatts thermal to 1,912 megawatts
thermal. This would represent an increase of approximately 100
megawatts electric.
The meeting, portions of which may be closed to discuss
proprietary information, will begin at 8:30 a.m. both days and
will run until the conclusion of business. The meeting will be
held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two White Flint North
building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. A teleconference line will be
available. Members of the public needing more information or
interested in offering oral or written statements should contact
Ralph Caruso, at 301-415-8065. Electronic recordings of this
meeting will be permitted. Signs will not be permitted in the
meeting room.
Last revised Friday, November 18, 2005
*****************************************************************
21 Times Argus: Vermont Yankee power boost is vital for the state
Vermont News & Information
November 18, 2005
By Doug Griswold
While it is no secret that consumers and businesses are bracing
for high-priced fuel this winter, an even more distressing
question is arising: Will we have enough and will the lights
stay on?
Vermont utilities have warned of possible rolling blackouts
this winter. Going forward, prospects are even more distressing.
Joseph Kelliher, chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, recently said, "I am concerned that the situation in
New England bears an uncomfortable resemblance to the situation
facing California in the late 1990s."
Gordon van Welie, president and CEO of ISO New England, the
nonprofit operator of the regional electrical grid, is similarly
blunt: "Without new investment, New England could face an energy
future much like California's recent past, including frequent
power emergencies."
One factor driving concern is a feared disruption of natural gas
supplies, as occurred after Hurricane Katrina. With New England
at the end of the natural gas pipeline, we are the ones most
vulnerable to a shortage or supply disruption.
Drastic measures are now being contemplated. On Oct. 19, The
Boston Globe reported that Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney
was considering "easing air-pollution restrictions on oil-fueled
power plants to allow them to produce more electricity to stave
off potential catastrophic blackouts and natural gas shortages
this winter." Some of that pollution, undoubtedly, will make its
way to Vermont.
Fortunately, Vermont is not yet a place where blackouts, and the
disruptions they create for businesses, homeowners - and even
life threatening situations for the frail and elderly - are
inevitable.
What can be done to make sure we do not go down this path? First
and foremost, federal and state officials should approve the
proposed power increase, or uprate, at the Vermont Yankee
nuclear power plant, which supplies one-third of Vermont's
electricity. The uprate will provide 100 additional megawatts of
electricity, enough to power more than 100,000 homes. This will
provide an important margin of safety and stability to the New
England power grid.
Entergy, the owner of Vermont Yankee, has been providing
officials for three years with information about the safety and
viability of the project, and subjecting itself to rigorous
scrutiny from all levels of government and the general public
through the regulatory process. That's how it should be. But the
time for a final decision is at hand.
To be sure, an "uprate" is not a novel concept at a nuclear
plant. More than 20 uprates have been approved across the
country. Entergy, one of the largest nuclear plant operators in
the United States, made it clear when it purchased Vermont
Yankee in 2002 that it intended to seek a power increase, having
assessed the plant as an excellent candidate for this expansion.
Since then, the company has invested millions of dollars to
improve and upgrade the facility, on the expectation that the
uprate would be approved.
Given the company's expertise, resources, and thorough
discussions with regulators, and the process by which the
government has considered the proposal, the safety issues should
certainly be able to be addressed. In fact, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission has given conditional approval to the
uprate, as has the Vermont Public Service Board.
The uprate power will help to strengthen our regional economy,
by ensuring that we have reliable electricity, and low-cost
nuclear electricity at that, which businesses and consumers
need. In addition, while the power is initially expected to be
used outside Vermont, many jobs and a lot of additional business
activity will be created in Windham County and the state as the
plant continues its expansion. Furthermore, the availability of
this additional generation in the grid will put some downward
pressure on electricity prices.
On the environmental front the emission-free nuclear power
reduces the need for Massachusetts to burn high-polluting
oil-based fuels. It also helps Vermont to maintain its track
record of having low-polluting power sources, an important
factor in maintaining the pristine character of the state.
Longer term, the expanded power at Vermont Yankee provides an
important, additional power source that the state's utilities
can bid on, assuming the plant is re-licensed in 2012. Locally
generated base load power is important for the state's energy
infrastructure. Considering that a major new power plant has not
been built in the state in 20 years, and that our electrical
needs continue to rise every year, the uprate power will no
doubt be a vital resource for Vermont in the years ahead.
It's time to approve the uprate.
Doug Griswold is president of S.T. Griswold &Co. Inc. and the
representative of the Vermont Business Roundtable to the Vermont
Energy Partnership.
© 2005 Times Argus
*****************************************************************
22 Slovak news: Slovakia to get more money for Bohunice shut down
November 14 - November 20, 2005, Volume 11, Number 44
THE EUROPEAN Parliament (EP) approved an increased amount to
Slovakia for the decommissioning of the V1 nuclear power plant
in Jaslovské Bohunice.
The contribution will be Sk7 billion (€180 million) higher than
originally proposed by the European Commission and should reach
€400 million (Sk15.6 billion), the daily SME reported.
The EP decision must still be approved by the EU member states.
The total expenditures for the decommissioning of Bohunice are
estimated at Sk70 billion (€1.8 billion).
Compiled by Martina Jurinová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the
information presented in its Flash News postings.
[11/18/2005 1:49:45 PM]
Copyright © 1998-2003 The Rock spol. s r.o. All rights
*****************************************************************
23 Times Herald-Record: Indian Point sirens to be replaced
November 18, 2005
By Greg Bruno gbruno@th-record.com
Peekskill – Following months of political pressure that wound
its way to Washington, the owners of Indian Point have made a
commitment to replace their nuclear plant's troubled siren
system by 2007.
The timeline has yet to be established, but Entergy Nuclear
Northeast, which owns and operates the twin reactors in northern
Westchester County, offered details into what they hope to do
during a public meeting here Wednesday.
Mike Slobodien, emergency programs director for Entergy, said
plans call for multi-directional sirens that would likely be
louder than the current Cold War-era rotating horns that dot the
region.
In addition, electronic gadgetry – possibly military-grade –
will give greater information and feedback to local officials;
backup batteries would enable the system to function during
blackouts; and the elimination of moving parts would reduce
breakage.
Currently, 156 sirens in four counties – Orange, Putnam,
Rockland and Westchester – surround the Buchanan plant. In the
event of a radiological emergency, officials in each county
trigger the sirens with telephone lines or radio frequencies.
But months of poor test results have eroded public confidence
in the system, federal regulators say.
"It's more than hardware," Sam Collins, the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission's top reactor safety official, told
Entergy managers.
"We're up here for a reason, and that's clearly because
people are concerned."
So are elected officials. Earlier this year, New York Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton added a provision into an energy bill
that required Entergy to make improvements.
On Wednesday, Entergy said they've gotten the message.
"We intend to use tested, proven technology," Slobodien said.
"We want to use something that's tried and true."
Whether Entergy is able to meet its schedule is a matter of
some debate.
No vendor has been selected for the multimillion dollar
project, and the company has only begun the arduous task of
gaining local, state and federal approval.
"We're committed to this aggressive schedule, but this is a
very large system," Entergy's emergency director said.
"The implementation of a new system will take time."
Plant critics who attended the Wednesday forum – officially
advertised as a meeting between the NRC, the Federal Emergency
Management Agency, and Entergy – interpreted that to mean delays
are inevitable.
"It is your job to not let them spin the numbers," Mark
Jacobs, of the anti-plant Indian Point Safe Energy Coalition,
told NRC officials during a heated-public comment period.
"And I don't think you're taking that job too seriously."
? Contact THR Managing Editor Meg McGuire at or call 346-3041.
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.
*****************************************************************
24 PR Newswire: KazAtomProm to Create Joint Ventures with Japanese
Firms
ASTANA, Kazakhstan, November 18 /PRNewswire/ --
- In its plans to become uranium production world leader by 2010,
KazAtomProm, Kazakhstan's National Nuclear Company, intends to
establish ties with Japanese companies to facilitate access to
their markets and technologies.
Mukhtar Jakishev, Head of KazAtomProm, confirmed that the company
intends to become the uranium production world leader by 2010. To
attain that goal, the company plans to increase its production
over the coming five years to reach 15.000 tons and surpass
Canadian uranium producer Cameco which is currently the world
leader.
Mr. Jakishev said that in order to achieve the leading position,
the company plans to invest USD 600 million into the construction
of new mines and the development of existing ones, but there are
no plans to privatize the company in the future.
According to M. Jakishev, the company is to create joint-ventures
with Japanese companies Sumitomo Corp. and Kansai Electric Power
Co., to extract and process uranium ore in Kazakhstan. This
collaboration would provide KazAtomProm with access to Japanese
technologies and the country's market. "Japan doesn't even
purchase fuel from America as it has its own production. But they
will open the doors for Kazakhstan" affirmed Mr. Jakishev.
KazAtomProm is also negotiating such projects with the China
National Nuclear Corp. and has plans to establish a joint venture
with South Korean companies Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co. and
Korea Resources Corp.
KazAtomProm's major markets are: China, Japan, South Korea and
the USA. Currently the company is at the threshold of entering
the TOP 3 leading uranium producers with an annual production of
4.000 tons.
Contact:
Ivan Pandev
Telephone number: +33-(1)-42-96-46-00
E-mail: i.pandev@group-ibc.com
SOURCE Government of Kazakhstan
*****************************************************************
25 CNIC: Rokkasho uranium trials fail the test
(Citizens' Nuclear Information Center)
17 November 2005
Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd. (JNFL) has failed to provide evidence to
support its claims that uranium trials at the Rokkasho
Reprocessing Plant are proceeding smoothly, according to the
Tokyo based Citizens' Nuclear Information Center (CNIC).
CNIC Co-Director, Hideyuki Ban, said today, "JNFL's latest
uranium trial progress report (9 November 2005) shows us that
there is no way it is ready to enter the active trial phase,
using spent fuel."
"Of greatest concern, there is no indication that JNFL plans to
undertake a true test of the whole process. Unless a full test
is carried out, running uranium through the whole plant from
beginning to end and comparing input and output, it will be
impossible to judge whether it is safe to proceed to active
trials."
Active trials were scheduled to commence this year, but it is
now inconceivable that this schedule will be met. One major hold
up is modifications to the vitrified high level waste storage
building. It was discovered that due to a design error the
cooling system of these buildings was inadequate. The governor
of Aomori Prefecture has indicated that he won't give his
approval for active trials until this problem is fixed.
Hideyuki Ban added, "In addition to the general problem of
testing the whole plant, we are also unsatisfied with the
information that has been released. While we recognize that
nuclear safeguards requirements impose limits on what can be
made public, in this case essential information is being
withheld simply for commercial confidentiality reasons. On the
basis of the information released, it is impossible to ascertain
how much progress has really been made with the uranium trials."
"It is simply not good enough for JNFL to say 'trust us' and
expect to be allowed to proceed to active trials. Active trials
entail far greater dangers than the uranium trials. They involve
much higher levels of radioactivity and they carry the risk of a
criticality accident. These are not things to be treated lightly
for the sake of meeting arbitrary schedules."
Concerned about the way JNFL and the government are rushing
ahead towards active trials at Rokkasho, citizens are holding
demonstrations and public meetings in Tokyo from 16 - 19
November.
In Tokyo sit-ins, demonstrations and public meetings are being
held. At the public meetings Martin Forwood (Cumbrians Opposed
to Radioactive Environment) will speak about problems at the
THORP reprocessing plant in the UK and Professor Hong Seong Tae
(People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy) will give a
South Korean perspective on Rokkasho. Martin Forwood will also
speak in Morioka on the 20th and Aomori on the 21st.
Contacts:
Philip White, International Liaison Officer
Hideyuki Ban, Co-Director
Citizens' Nuclear Information Center
TEL.03-5330-9520 FAX.03-5330-9530 http://cnic.jp/english/ Email
*****************************************************************
26 UPI: Security &Terrorism - Lax security at nuke reactor site
United Press International -
11/18/2005 3:17:00 PM -0500
SYDNEY, Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Lax security at an Australian nuclear
reactor site allowed a van to be parked outside the back gate
for a half hour without being challenged.
The Weekend Australian, which parked the van as a test of
security at the nuclear research site in southern Sydney, said
only a padlock and a warning sign guarded that entrance to the
Lucas Heights reactor site and its cooling towers, less than
1,000 yards distant.
A similar test of the main entrance, however, was quickly met by
armed Australian Protective Services officers.
The publication's test came as Australian Federal Police
Commissioner Mick Keelty said authorities were establishing a
chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear data center to
help identify and overcome any security gaps and vulnerabilities
at relevant facilities in the country.
Three members of an alleged terrorist cell arrested in police
sweeps in Australia last week had apparently been stopped last
December outside Lucas Heights and questioned by police.
The three reportedly said they were in the area to ride trail
bikes, the newspaper said.
© Copyright 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
*****************************************************************
27 HoustonChronicle.com: Public asked to help locate radioactive vials
Nov. 17, 2005, 11:33PM
Officials believe they were stolen en route to Kilgore
Associated Press
AUSTIN - Texas officials are seeking two vials of radioactive
material that disappeared earlier this month from a shipment out
of New Mexico.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said the vials,
packed in a World War II era, green, metal ammunition box, were
supposed to be delivered to Kilgore from Pro Technics of
Albuquerque.
The vials, which contain antimony-124, a radioactive material
used in the oil and gas industry, were labeled "radioactive,"
but the ammunition box wasn't, officials said.
Authorities have said they believe the vials were stolen in
Texas, where the shipment was first moved from its tractor
trailer in Abilene. Other Texas stops included Austin, Dallas
and Tyler.
The state health department is seeking the public's help in
finding the missing vials, but warned of the dangers associated
with radioactive material.
"Do not touch the box or the vials, and stay at least 10 feet
away from them," said Robert Free of the department's radiation
control program.
Anyone with information is asked to call 512-458-7460.
*****************************************************************
28 WCBSTV.com: CBS 2 Exclusive: Radioactive Material Lost At JFK
Nov 18, 2005 12:23 am US/Eastern
Somehow Ends Up In Secured Drum At Postal Facility In Jersey
City
Marcia Kramer
Reporting
(CBS) JERSEY CITY You've all heard stories about airlines losing
luggage, but how do you lose a 200-pound drum containing
dangerous radioactive material?
"I'm still in awe I can't believe it happened," Phil Piccuirro, a
plant safety specialist at the U.S. Postal facility in Jersey
City, N.J., told CBS2.
It's a good thing Piccuirro works for the post office. And that
he's not a terrorist.
Because what he found when he opened what was expected to be an
empty air freight container could have wreaked havoc.
"It was prominently labeled," Piccuirro said. "It was labeled
cesium 137 there was no mistaking what it was."
What it was, was a 20-gallon drum clearly labeled "radioactive"
that had 200 pounds of lead encasing the cesium 137.
Dr. Edwin Lyman of the Union of Concerned Scientists explained
that, "cesium 137 is a highly penetrating radioactive isotope,
it can be used in medical and commercial applications but it
could also be used for a dirty bomb."
Experts say the package contained enough cesium 137 to
contaminate several city blocks, potentially causing cancer and
radiation sickness.
Being the security specialist at the postal facility in Jersey
City, Piccuirro called in customs officials who determined,
according to this report obtained by CBS 2 Investigates, that
the cesium 137 arrived in Jersey City, "in error from JFK "
The cesium 137 had been shipped from Germany to Iceland to
Kennedy Airport aboard Iceland Air.
Iceland Air was transporting the drum for a Massachusetts
company, QSA Technology, with two other similar shipments.
But what's scary is that the cesium arrived on a tractor trailer
with other air freight containers. It was apparently driven on
city highways and across several bridges including the George
Washington.
"What if the trailer got into an accident and the container
broke open?" Piccuirro asked. "And we had first-responders
responding to a scene not realizing it was a high source of
radiation."
"This is a very disturbing incident," Dr. Lyman said.
Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY) faults the Department of Homeland
Security and the Nuclear Regulatory Commisison.
"When it comes to protecting against a dirty bomb, we are years
behind the eight ball and the fact that this shipment was so
undetected and went through so many dangerous areas -- bridges
tunnels, heavily populated areas -- shows you both the danger
and the need to fix the system," Schumer said.
He wants an investigation.
"There hasn't been the focus on keeping our homeland safe and
the longer we get from 9/11 the more lax things seem to get,"
Schumer said.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission says its not its job to police
radioactive material at JFK. Homeland security passed the ball
to the Transportation Safety Administration, which said it is
looking into the package tracking system.
Meanwhile, another radioactive package, a minitron, lost for
five weeks, remains missing.
(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
*****************************************************************
29 NEWS.com.au: Nuclear site exposed at the back door -
By Jonathan Porter
November 19, 2005
THE back door to one of the nation's prime terrorist targets is
protected by a cheap padlock and a stern warning against
trespassing or blocking the driveway. When The Weekend Australian
visited the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor site in southern Sydney
this week, a reporter and a photographer were able to park a
one-tonne white van outside the back gate for more than half an
hour, much more time than would be required to use a pair of
bolt-cutters to snap the padlock and drive the 800m or so to the
reactor or the more vulnerable cooling towers.
However, Lucas Heights security managed a quicker response when
the van was left close to the facility's gate on the New
Illawarra Road.
Within two minutes, two heavily armed Australian Protective
Services officers approached the van in a marked
four-wheel-drive utility, and the reporting team were quickly
reminded of the gravity of the current terror situation.
"We are currently on a heightened state of alert. I would not
advise you to try this at night," one APS officer said.
There was a new initiative in the war against terrorism
yesterday when the Australian Federal Police announced it would
join a new, regional anti-terrorism group to share intelligence
and track cross-border movements.
AFP commissioner Mick Keelty said the AFP would also establish a
Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Data Centre to
overcome gaps and vulnerabilities.
The centre will give technical and intelligence support to
Australian governments and eventually give help to regional
countries.
In Sydney, The Weekend Australian sought to test the security
arrangements at Lucas Heights after it was revealed as a
potential terrorist target during court proceedings on Monday
when seven Sydney men faced terror-related offences.
The police statement of facts revealed that three of the men
belonging to an alleged Sydney terror cell, Mazen Touma, Mohamed
Ali Elomar and Abdul Rakib Hasan, were stopped by police near
the Lucas Heights reactor in December last year.
They claimed they were in the area to ride a trail bike, but
offered differing accounts of their activities that day when
separately questioned.
Police also said a lock for a gate to a reservoir near the
reactor had recently been broken.
APS security officers took details of The Weekend Australian's
reporting team and ordered digital photographs of the van to be
deleted. The images were later recovered by technicians.
Counter-terror expert Adam Cobb, head of War Fighting at the US
Air Force College in Montgomery, Alabama, has previously
identified the reactor's cooling towers as their weakest point,
saying that an attack there could have "cascading consequences"
by robbing the core of its vital coolant.
Lucas Heights is a water-cooled research reactor rather than a
nuclear power station, meaning the volume of uranium on site is
minimal.
ANSTO's chief executive, Ian Smith, has said the facility is
secure.
*****************************************************************
30 [du-list] DU Kinetic penetrators development financed through
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:31:54 -0800
DU Kinetic penetrators development financed through Operation Orwell
See:
THE CUTOLO AFFIDAVIT
http://www.copi.com/articles/guyatt/affidavit.html
Excerpts:
" I was notified by Edwin Wilson that the information forwarded to
Wash. D.C., was disseminated to private corporations who were
developing weapons for the Dept. of Defense. Those private
corporations were encouraged to use the sensitive information
gathered from surveillance on U.S. Senators and Representatives as
leverage to manipulate those Congressmen into approving whatever
costs the weapons systems incurred. Edwin Wilson named three weapons
systems when he spoke of private corporations receiving information
from Operation Orwell. (1) An armored vehicle. (2) An aircraft that
is invisible to radar. (3) A weapons system that utilizes kinetic
energy. I got the impression this weapon was being developed either
for use by Nasa or for CBR purposes. I wrote down what I recalled at
the time and it is attached"
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31 [du-list] Radioactive tank no 9 comes limping home
Date: Fri, 18 Nov 2005 17:31:57 -0800
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Bob Nichols
bob.bobnichols@gmail.com
Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home
Bob Nichols
Project Censored Award Winner
Correspondent, San Francisco Bay View newspaper
Across the plains of Kansas, destroyed, radioactive Abrams tanks,
perched on railroad flatcars, rolled towards an uncertain future. Only one
thing was certain. They would be radioactive forever. RADIOACTIVE is
stenciled on them. This would be their everlasting death mask. The Pentagon
deceptively calls it "depleted uranium."
The Abrams tanks are constructed with a layer of radioactive uranium
metal plates. The big tanks fire a giant uranium dart at 2,100 mph, much
faster than an F-16 fighter aircraft, mach III to airplane pilots and very,
very fast to the rest of us.
American taxpayers paid to ship the tanks to Iraq and to return them for
disposal or re-building in the United States. The tanks are 12 feet wide
and weigh a stout 70 tons, or 140,000 pounds.
The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that
radiation is one of those things that if you can't see it, it can't hurt
you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National Academy of
Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level
of radiation. Any radiation is bad....
More...
Photography by Chris Bays
http://www.sfbayview.com/110905/radioactivetank110905.shtml
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32 Capitol Notes: Collecting teeth for public health, help for
at-risk seniors and help with energy costs
Friday, November 18, 2005 By Tracie Mauriello and Tom Barnes,
Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau
THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM
Joseph Mangano is no tooth fairy, but he's collecting molars
and incisors just the same.
His organization, the Radiation and Public Health Project, is
using baby teeth from children in Dauphin County to measure
levels of Strontium-90, a radioactive chemical found in nuclear
weapons and reactors. The goal is to explore the effects of the
1979 accident at Three Mile Island nuclear plant.
"For the first time we can understand how much radioactivity
Three Mile Island has added to people's bodies," said Mr.
Mangano, the project's national coordinator.
Infants and children in Dauphin County have higher rates of
cancer, infant death and low-birth rate than the national
average, he said.
Since 1998, Mr. Mangano's organization has tested 4,500 teeth
from areas near seven U.S. nuclear plants. Levels of the
chemical Strontium-90 are consistently higher near nuclear
plants, Mr. Mangano said.
The chemical is released from nuclear reactors. It enters the
body through air, food and water and attaches to bone.
For more information, visit www.radiation.org.
(Tracie Mauriello can be reached at
tmauriello@post-gazette.comor 717-787-2141. Harrisburg Bureau
chief Tom Barnes can be reached at tbarnes@post-gazette.comor
1-717-787-4254.)
Copyright ©1997-2005 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 RGJ.com: Study implicates Fallon metal firm in cancer
cluster-Officials at tungsten plant say company has 'zero
emissions'
Reno, Nevada, USA 775-788-6200 November 18, 2005 RGJ.com
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL -->
Posted: 11/18/2005
A study by University of Arizona scientists indicates that a
Fallon heavy metals firm is the source of the high
concentrations of tungsten and cobalt in the air of the
community, which is linked to a leukemia cluster that has killed
three of 17 children.
Officials of Kennametal, which operates a tungsten smelter 10
miles north of Fallon and a tungsten-carbide manufacturing plant
in Fallon, said Thursday their plant doesn't discharge tungsten,
cobalt or any dust. They said their operations meet or exceed
environmental regulations and have nothing to do with the cancer
cluster.
Previous studies by government scientists released in 2004
showed high levels of the metal tungsten in Fallon residents'
urine and water supplies. Air studies by Arizona scientists last
year also showed that Fallon has 13 times more tungsten in its
dust than other Nevada cities and towns tested and has high
levels of the metal in tree rings.
Tungsten hasn't been shown to cause leukemia, but scientists
have linked the metal to mutations in human cells and to tumors
in rats when tungsten is combined with cobalt. Tungsten is
naturally occurring in Nevada, so scientists couldn't tell if
the source of the metal in Fallon was natural or industrial.
The peer-reviewed study scheduled to be published next week in
the journal Applied Geochemistry concludes the tungsten and
cobalt found in Fallon's air is probably coming from a "point
source" in town which uses both metals. Air samples taken a year
ago showed that the amount of tungsten-cobalt in the air
markedly decreased with distance from the Kennametal plant on
Taylor Street that uses tungsten and carbide, according to the
study.
"This study has established something different from what the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the other
agencies found," said Jeff Braccini, whose son, Jeremy, 7, is in
remission from leukemia. "The federal and state studies were
inconclusive, but this study shows that Fallon is different from
everywhere else."
The researchers wrote if the tungsten came from a natural source
outside Fallon, high winds would kick up tungsten-laden dust,
increasing the amount of tungsten found in the air. But the
report says, "results in Fallon were exactly the opposite this:
high winds resulted in lower tungsten loading in Fallon dust,
suggesting that the source is within Fallon."
That makes Fallon unique, the study said.
"There are more metals in the air in Fallon than in other towns
around Fallon. These metals are tungsten and cobalt," said lead
researcher Paul R. Sheppard, an assistant professor of
dendrochronology at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "... In
Fallon, we got high amounts of tungsten with no wind and low
amounts with high wind. There's no variability in (Fernley,
Lovelock or Yerington). These data indicate that Fallon is
environmentally distinctive."
Kennametal officials said the smelter 10 miles north of Fallon
has reduced metals emissions by up to 98 percent since 1994.
Prior to that, the smelter had no pollution controls because
Nevada environmental officials allowed Kennametal to operate
outside the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act, public
records show.
They said that their in-town plant has had "zero emissions"
after high-grade HEPA air filters were installed in 2001.
"That means we have no point sources going into the atmosphere,"
said Gary Peterson, Kennametal plant manager in Fallon. "We're
not emitting anything. I can't draw any conclusions (about the
study) not having read it, but it doesn't sound much different
from what (federal agencies) reported in 2004."
He said the plant is using the best available technology to keep
the plant safe for employees, the environment and for the public.
"Everything we've done has been done in public," Peterson said.
"We've complied fully with state regulators and we will continue
to do so. We are also interested in finding out what happened
and will support any credible science."
Sheppard and his coauthors Dr. Gary Ridenour of Fallon, Robert
J. Speakman of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Mark L.
Witten, a University of Arizona research professor of
pediatrics, said their study went much further than federal air
testing conduced in Fallon before 2004.
They said finding that Fallon's air differs from nearby towns
might have implications in the cluster. Since 1997, 17 cases of
childhood leukemia have been diagnosed in children who lived in
the Fallon area prior to diagnosis.
Calvin R.X. Dunlap, a Reno lawyer representing the families of
Adam Jernee, 10, and Stephanie Sands, 21, former Fallon
residents who died of leukemia, said "it's a sad state of
affairs when the only real, significant and meaningful research"
into the epidemic comes from independent scientists from
Arizona. He said state and federal agencies who previously
investigated the cluster have not examined potential polluters.
State environmental officials, he said, have "refused to provide
vital information" about tungsten industry practices to the
families of victims and their attorneys.
"The recent study could have been done and should have been done
by the Nevada and federal agencies, long ago, when the cluster
first appeared," Dunlap said. "Instead, nothing was done to
examine the environmental records and practices of the few
possible and obvious sources of toxins in Fallon."
Officials of the Nevada Department of Environmental Protection
did not return calls for comment Thursday.
Because heavy metals had been suggested as one possible
environmental cause of cancers, Sheppard's research team tested
for metals in the air of Fallon, Fernley, Yerington and Lovelock
in the spring and fall of 2004. The researchers placed portable
air samplers at various sites in the towns.
Dust from the air was captured on filters and analyzed at the
University of Missouri-Columbia for 19 different metals. The
team also analyzed wind speed and direction data, because wind
speed and direction can affect the amount of dust in the air.
The team found that compared with the other towns, Fallon's air
had significantly more tungsten, and sometimes also cobalt. All
four towns were similar for the amounts of other metals in the
air.
The finding suggests the source is not a natural deposit outside
of Fallon, the researchers said, because all the towns likely
would have been similarly affected by a natural source.
They wrote that the similarity of airborne tungsten and cobalt
"suggests a single source for these two metals" with the
Kennametal "hard metals plant" a likely candidate. They noted
that cobalt is not abundant naturally in west-central Nevada,
and no specific deposits of both tungsten and cobalt are known
near Fallon.
Sheppard and Witten are scheduled to give a scientific
presentation about the team's findings at 3 p.m. today at the
University of Arizona. The Gerber Foundation and the Cancer
Research and Prevention Foundation funded the team's research.
Reno Gazette-Journal network: | | |
*****************************************************************
34 Science Daily: Tracking Down Possible Leukemia Culprit: Air In Nevada Town Has
Elevated Levels Of Tungsten And Cobalt
The air in Fallon, Nev. has significantly higher levels of
tungsten and cobalt than does the air in neighboring towns,
according to a new research report. The research suggests that
the metals in the air come from a point source within Fallon, a
community of about 8,000 located in Churchill County about 60
miles east of Reno, Nev.
The finding that Fallon's air differs from nearby towns might
have medical implications. Since 1997, 16 cases of childhood
leukemia have been diagnosed in children who lived in the Fallon
area for some time prior to diagnosis. In a 2003 U.S. Health and
Human Services report
(http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/fallonair/finalair.pdf)
investigating possible causes for the leukemia cases in Fallon,
tungsten was mentioned as "a contaminant of concern because it
was elevated in urine samples" collected from Fallon-area
residents as part of the investigation.
The metal, a component of tungsten steel and tungsten carbide,
is used in tools exposed to high temperatures, such as drill
bits and the filaments of incandescent light bulbs. Tungsten is
naturally present in soils and rocks in Churchill County and
other parts of Nevada. The metal was mined in the region around
Fallon at various sites, including Churchill Butte.
"There are more metals in the air in Fallon than in other towns
around Fallon. These metals are tungsten and cobalt," said lead
researcher Paul R. Sheppard, an assistant professor of
dendrochronology at The University of Arizona in Tucson. "The
biomedical ramifications of tungsten are not really all that
well known." He added that occupational exposure to cobalt has
been implicated in lung and other cancers.
The February 2004 final report of an expert panel
(http://health2k.state.nv.us/healthofficer/leukemia/FALLONexpertp
anel022304.pdf) concluded that "the cause(s) of childhood
leukemia, including those from Churchill County, Nevada, remain
unknown," and recommended further research. The National
Toxicology Program is planning studies to examine the effects of
exposure to tungsten
(http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/clusters/fallon/ntp_update.htm).
Sheppard and his coauthors Dr. Gary Ridenour of Fallon, Robert
J. Speakman of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Mark L.
Witten, a UA research professor of pediatrics, will publish
their article, "Elevated tungsten and cobalt in airborne
particulates in Fallon, Nevada: Possible implications for the
childhood leukemia cluster," in the journal Applied
Geochemistry. The Gerber Foundation and the Cancer Research and
Prevention Foundation funded the team's research.
Sheppard and Witten will give a scientific presentation about
the team's findings at 3 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 18, in room 218 of
the Henry Koffler building on the UA campus.
Because heavy metals had been suggested as one possible
environmental cause of cancers, the multidisciplinary research
team tested for metals in the air of Fallon and the four nearby
Nevada towns of Reno, Fernley, Yerington and Lovelock in the
spring and fall of 2004.
The researchers placed portable air samplers at various sites in
the towns. The samplers took in a known volume of air. Dust from
the air was captured on filters and analyzed at the University
of Missouri-Columbia for 19 different metals using a technique
called acid-dissolution, inductively coupled plasma mass
spectrometry. The team also analyzed wind speed and direction
data from a weather station in Fallon, because wind speed and
direction can affect the amount of dust in the air.
The team found that compared with the other towns, Fallon's air
had significantly more tungsten, and sometimes also cobalt. All
five towns were similar for the amounts of other metals in the
air.
The finding suggests the source is not a natural source outside
of Fallon, write the researchers, because all the towns would
likely have been similarly affected by a natural source.
Moreover, "the temporal similarity of airborne tungsten and
cobalt suggests a single source for these two metals," the
researchers wrote in their article. "However, cobalt is not
abundant naturally in west-central Nevada, and no specific
deposits of both tungsten and cobalt are known near Fallon."
Moreover, the researchers wrote, if the tungsten came from a
natural source outside Fallon, high winds would kick up
tungsten-laden dust, increasing the amount of tungsten found in
the air. "However," states their research report, "results in
Fallon were exactly the opposite this: high winds resulted in
lower tungsten loading in Fallon dust, suggesting that the
source is within Fallon."
Sheppard said, "In Fallon, we got high amounts of tungsten with
no wind and low amounts with high wind." He added, "There's no
variability in the other towns. These data indicate that Fallon
is environmentally distinctive."
Because the air samplers were placed at various sites throughout
Fallon, the researchers could see if wind affected where
tungsten was found in Fallon's air. The research team found that
the amount of tungsten and cobalt in the air was highest near
north-central Fallon and tapered off further away. According to
a February 2003 U.S. Health and Human Services report
(http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/HAC/PHA/fallonair/finalair.pdf),
Fallon has a facility that "houses offices, a laboratory, and a
tungsten carbide processing operation."
Sheppard said, "Our research found elevated levels of tungsten
within a three-kilometer radius of the hard-metal facility."
Witten said, "There needs to be more research done to examine
the relationship between these metals and the development of
leukemia. We're doing that in my lab. It's another step to try
and identify a possible environmental cause of leukemia."
Sheppard said, "We also need to learn more information about the
biomedical consequences of airborne tungsten."
Sheppard is now looking at tree-ring cores from the area to see
if the trees can reveal anything about the history of tungsten
and cobalt in the air in Fallon. He said, "Trees incorporate
metals from the environment and those metals show up in the tree
rings. By analyzing the chemicals in tree rings, we can look
back in time years, and even decades, to learn about metals in
Fallon's environment."
###
Related Web sites:
Paul Sheppard http://www.ltrr.arizona.edu/~sheppard/
Mark Witten
http://www.peds.arizona.edu/
Centers for Disease Control/National Center for Environmental
Health, Churchill County (Fallon)
http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/clusters/fallon/default.htm
National Toxicology Program
http://ntp-server.niehs.nih.gov/
Churchill County (Fallon) Childhood Leukemia, Nevada State
Health Division
http://health2k.state.nv.us/healthofficer/leukemia/fallon.htm
sciencedaily.com
*****************************************************************
35 NRC: NRC Issues License for Humboldt Bay Independent Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Installation
News Release - 2005-15
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200
Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail:
No. 05-156 November 18, 2005
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) to operate an independent
spent nuclear fuel storage installation at its Humboldt Bay
power plant site in Humboldt County, California. The license is
effective for 20 years and may be renewed, subject to additional
NRC review and approval.
PG&E intends to transfer all the remaining used nuclear reactor
fuel from the Humboldt Bay Unit 3 spent fuel pool into dry
casks. The new spent fuel storage installation will provide
sufficient interim spent fuel storage capacity to support the
continued decommissioning and dismantlement of the Humboldt Bay
Unit 3 reactor, which has been permanently shut down since 1976.
The installation will employ a customized version of the HI-STAR
100 dry cask storage system, designed by Holtec International,
Inc., and previously approved by the NRC. The specific system to
be used at Humboldt Bay consists of a steel canister that can
hold up to 80 spent fuel assemblies and a steel overpack or
cask, which holds the canister and provides additional shielding
against radiation during transfer and storage at the site. The
Humboldt Bay installation can accommodate five spent fuel
storage casks containing up to 400 spent fuel assemblies, and
one additional cask to store other radioactive material. The six
loaded casks will be placed in an in-ground concrete vault.
The agency has also issued a Safety Evaluation Report for the
proposed spent fuel storage installation, which summarizes the
NRC staffs extensive safety review of PG&Es detailed analyses of
the facility. These analyses include the evaluation of potential
effects on the installation from a wide range of natural and
man-made hazards, such as flooding, lightning, fire,
earthquakes, and explosions. The report describes the NRC staffs
conclusions that the storage installation proposed by PG&E
conforms with statutory and regulatory requirements and will
provide adequate protection of public health and safety, and the
environment.
PG&E applied for the license in December 2003. In addition to
the safety review and an environmental assessment by the NRC
staff, the agency offered an opportunity for interested persons
to request a formal adjudicatory hearing on the application;
however, a hearing was not requested. The Humboldt Bay
independent spent fuel storage installation license, technical
specifications, and Safety Evaluation Report will be available
through the NRCs ADAMS document management system on the Web at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html (see
accession number ML053140041). For assistance in using ADAMS,
contact the agencys Public Document Room at 301-415-4737 or
1-800-397-4209.
Dry cask storage is a proven technology, first used for
commercial spent fuel in the U.S. in 1986. It is currently in
use at 36 sites around the country. Dry cask storage systems
incorporate passive design features so that safe operation does
not rely on moving parts or active components. For more
information about dry-cask storage of spent nuclear fuel, see
the NRCs fact sheet, at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dry-cas
k-storage.html.
Last revised Friday, November 18, 2005
*****************************************************************
36 The State: Group to appeal ruling on nuke
11/18/2
Sierra Club says Barnwell County landfill isnt using latest
technology to prevent leaks
By SAMMY FRETWELL
Staff Writer
A decision to let one of the nations few atomic waste dumps
continue operating has been upheld by a judge in Columbia.
The Sierra Club says it will appeal the ruling to the Department
of Health and Environmental Control board. The club argues the
34-year-old Barnwell County landfill isnt using the latest
technology to prevent nuclear waste leaks.
Whatever decision the DHEC board reaches, further appeals are
expected that could delay final resolution of the dispute for
months or even years. The agencys staff signed off on a new
license for the landfill in 2004.
The 235-acre landfill, which accepts the nations low-level
atomic waste, has for decades been a source of intense debate in
the legislature and at the states environmental agency. It
generates millions of dollars for the states treasury, but
critics say it poses environmental threats to groundwater.
It is scheduled to close to the nation in 2008 but will continue
operating for low-level waste from South Carolina, New Jersey
and Connecticut.
Low-level nuclear waste ranges from lightly contaminated medical
equipment to more radioactive pieces of atomic power plants. The
Barnwell County dump opened in 1971. It is operated by
Chem-Nuclear Systems LLC, a subsidiary of Duratek Inc.
In his ruling last month, Administrative Law Judge John Geathers
agreed with environmentalists that tighter pollution controls
are available, but he didnt receive competent evidence that
existing burial practices are inadequate.
Geathers said Chem-Nuclear has taken action in the past decade
to improve technology at the landfill following a tritium leak.
Tritium, a potentially deadly radioactive material, was found in
groundwater beneath the site in 1978. It since has been found
off the site, but at lower levels.
It is not enough to merely show that DHEC has not required, and
Chem-Nuclear has not employed, the most protective or most
isolating methods of radioactive waste disposal currently
available, Geathers wrote in his October ruling.
The dispute centers on how tightly sealed nuclear waste is for
burial. It currently is buried in concrete casks, but those
casks have holes in them to let water drain out.
Environmentalists want sealed vaults for the waste and better
methods to keep rainwater from getting into burial trenches.
Jimmy Chandler, an attorney for the Sierra Club in South
Carolina, said his groups appeal makes sense. It is the first
appeal of a DHEC permit for the Barnwell landfill in state
history.
Most people, when they hear about this place burying it in
concrete vaults, think its pretty safe ... but all the vaults
have holes in the bottom, and the sides are not grouted to keep
them waterproof, Chandler said.
Chem-Nuclear spokeswoman Deborah Ogilvie said her company was
pleased with Geathers ruling. Company officials say the burial
practices are safe.
The Associated Press contributed to this story. Reach Fretwell
at (803) 771-8537 or .
TheStateOnline
*****************************************************************
37 BYU NewsNet: Huntsman lobbies against waste
By Bonnie Boyd Daily Universe Staff Reporter - 18 Nov 2005
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. traveled to Washington, D.C., on
Wednesday, continuing his efforts to lobby members of Congress
to vote against the Private Fuel Storage nuclear facility.
He traveled to the nation's capital to ask for support from
Congress to pass the Cedar Mountain Wilderness legislation,
which, if passed, would make it increasingly difficult to build
a nuclear-storage facility in Tooele County. The proposed
facility would hold up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel rods.
The Cedar Mountain Wilderness bill, reintroduced by Rep. Rob
Bishop, R-Utah, on April 6, would create 100,000 acres of
wilderness, protect the military test and training base and stop
the nuclear waste facility, said Scott Parker, chief of staff
for Bishop.
"Gov. Huntsman and Rep. Bishop will be meeting tomorrow to
strategize a bit and figure out where go from here," Parker
said. "It's a good team that's working on this, our delegation
and the governor are working well together and basically doing
all we can to stop this [nuclear waste] proposal."
This year, two different versions of a military spending bill
came before Congress and the House. However, one did not include
the Cedar Mountain Wilderness bill and now Congress will
negotiate whether or not to include it. Building the nuclear
waste facility could depend on which final version of the bill
the two legislative bodies decide to pass.
"That's essentially the point where we're at, where they're
going to begin those negotiations, so it's especially
important," said Peter Downing, legislative director for
Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Congress could take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months
to decide if the Cedar Mountain Wilderness bill will be included
in the military spending bill, Downing said.
If passed, the bill would set up a wilderness area in Tooele
County, making it almost impossible for Private Fuel Storage to
build a rail line needed to deliver nuclear fuel roods to the
facility. Many hope Huntsman's efforts in Washington D.C. will
result in enough support to pass the bill.
"I'm hopeful because we've got more people actively working on
this than ever before," Downing said.
Those working to pass the bill include the governor, Bishop,
the house delegation, the senate delegation, conservation
groups, and people who care about the Hill Air Force Base,
Downing said.
Copyright, BYU NewsNet
*****************************************************************
38 Salt Lake Tribune: Guv in D.C. for strategy session on nuclear site
Article Last Updated: 11/18/2005 07:40:49 AM
Wilderness buffer: The fight is to persuade senators to keep the
provision in the defense bill
By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune
WASHINGTON - Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. met with members of Utah's
congressional delegation Thursday to plot strategy for a
provision that would block rail shipments of highly radioactive
material to a nuclear waste storage site in Utah.
The Utah proposal, which seeks to create a wilderness area as
a barrier to the rail shipments, is entering a crucial final
stage as members of the House and Senate prepare to negotiate
the final version of the defense package that could include the
provision.
Utah lawmakers are hopeful that blocking the rail shipments
will doom the nuclear waste site and keep it from impeding the
Air Force's use of the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range.
Several electric utilities formed a group called Private Fuel
Storage to store 44,000 tons of nuclear fuel from commercial
reactors in steel casks on the Skull Valley reservation until a
permanent repository can be built, presumably at Yucca Mountain,
Nev.
The House approved the Cedar Mountain Wilderness designation
in the version of the defense bill it passed earlier this year,
but it was not in the Senate bill completed this week.
The fight now is to persuade senators to keep the wilderness
area in the final version. Twice before, similar efforts
crumbled in the House-Senate conference committee.
Huntsman met mostly with Utah members Thursday to discuss
strategy, but he also spoke with House Armed Services Committee
Chairman Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., about how to keep the Cedar
Mountain Wilderness language in the defense bill.
He plans to meet today with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid gave the wilderness bill a major boost last week as he
agreed to drop his long-standing opposition to the plan. Reid's
change came after talks with Huntsman and Sen. Bob Bennett,
R-Utah.
Bennett also laid the groundwork for Reid's shift by his
September announcement that he was abandoning his support for
the Yucca Mountain waste dump.
Mike Lee, general counsel to Huntsman, said he is optimistic
the state will get the Cedar Mountain Wilderness through
Congress.
“The governor is an extremely effective spokesperson for the
state and extremely effective in communicating the need to
protect Utah's Test and Training Range, and our meetings today
have gone well,” Lee said.
The leading opponents of the Cedar Mountain proposal are Sen.
John Ensign, R-Nev., and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, whose former
staffer is the lead lobbyist for PFS.
Also on Thursday, Huntsman met with Commerce Secretary Carlos
Guiterrez and Undersecretary for International Trade Frank Lavin
to discuss a cement shortage and the potential for improving
imports from Mexico “while maintaining fair trading standards,”
Huntsman said in a statement.
Huntsman also plans to discuss immigration during his
meetings with McCain and Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
39 Salt Lake Tribune: Did guv nuke money men?
Article Last Updated: 11/18/2005 07:38:12 AM
It's out, right after taking a lobbying job for Envirocare
By Rebecca Walsh The Salt Lake Tribune
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s fundraisers have resigned.
Farbman Hopkins and Associates abandoned its contract with
the governor Nov. 9, the same day The Salt Lake Tribune reported
that the company had been hired to lobby on behalf of
Envirocare, a low-level radioactive waste landfill.
"Just to be sure there will be no appearance of anything
questionable, they resigned," Farbman and Hopkins public
relations consultant John Becker said Thursday. "They just
thought it was the right thing to do."
Greg Hopkins and Max Farbman offered their resignation in a
phone conversation with Huntsman attorney Mike Lee. In a letter
two days later, they formally severed their ties to Huntsman's
Special Initiatives Office - his political action committee -
and the Utah Policy Partnership, his think tank. The
professional breakup didn't become public until Thursday.
Farbman and Hopkins are high-powered consultants to Utah
Republicans. They have raised money for several former governors
and recently were hired to do the same for the state GOP. At the
same time, the firm developed a wide-ranging lobbying business
with clientele including the Economic Development Corporation of
Utah (EDCU), Suitter Axland and Dave Checketts' Cable Sports
Network. But their decision to take on a new, controversial
client apparently was enough to rupture their relationship with
Huntsman.
"They offered their resignation. It was not forced," said
Huntsman spokesman Mike Mower. "This was their professional
decision and we accepted it when it was offered."
Mower said the governor and his former fundraisers will
remain friends.
Farbman made his reputation in Utah as a Republican
fundraiser and strategist. Hopkins is a longtime adviser to U.S.
Sen. Bob Bennett and former executive director of the state
Republican Party. Their relationships with Huntsman go back
years. Both men advised on the governor's 2004 campaign. And
Huntsman appointed Hopkins to oversee his transition once
elected.
After Huntsman took office, Farbman and Hopkins were put in
charge of fundraising for the new governor's special projects,
including the Partnership, a nonprofit organization meant to
introduce private-sector efficiency standards to state
government. By this summer, they had raised $75,000 from a
handful of corporations, including Micron Technology, Workers
Compensation Fund, America First Credit Union and Jazz owner
Larry Miller. Farbman and Hopkins donated office space for the
think tank.
In addition to their jobs as fundraisers and advisers to
Utah's governor and lobbyists for Envirocare, Farbman and
Hopkins have other business contacts that could have created
more questions for the governor. In a Nov. 17, 2004, letter to
the University of Utah, the Washington-based lobby firm Dutko
Group called Farbman Hopkins and Associates their "Utah-based
partner firm." Soon after taking office, Huntsman closed Utah's
Washington office and hired Dutko to lobby Congress and the Bush
administration to keep high-level nuclear waste out of the state.
In a separate Sept. 3, 2004, letter to the U., Farbman and
Hopkins listed EDCU as one of their clients. The governor's
senior adviser for economic development, Chris Roybal, was in
charge of EDCU while advising Huntsman during the gubernatorial
campaign. Farbman had been a founder of EDCU. Huntsman has since
shut down the Division of Business and Economic Development and
awarded the approximately $500,000 contract to handle state
business recruiting to EDCU.
Government watchdog Claire Geddes said Farbman and Hopkins'
connections show the problem with lobbyists having multiple
clients with potentially competing interests.
"That's what's troubling with these lobbying firms. A lot of
times they'll be working for two different groups and sometimes
they have conflicting interests," Geddes said. "I'm glad there
isn't a connection [between Huntsman and Farbman and Hopkins]
anymore."
Huntsman chafes at the suggestion that he is influenced in
any way by his political connections. "Only the paper is trying
to make the connection," he said.
The governor has rejected any suggestion of links between
the Nov. 9 revelation about Farbman and Hopkins' Envirocare
contract and his announcement a day later that he had decided to
block the radioactive waste disposal firm's expansion plans. At
the same time, he was clearly troubled by the potential conflict
of interest his fundraisers' new client posed. Earlier this
week, he confirmed the consultants' fundraising contract was in
jeopardy, but did not disclose until Thursday that their nearly
week-old resignation letter had been accepted.
"Anyone can be a friend," the governor said. "But
professional relationships are important to evaluate as you go
forward."
Attorney Jim McConkie, a member of Citizens Against
Radioactive Waste, credits the governor for cutting the tie.
"There are all sorts of people who cuddle up to politicians.
You never know what their motives are," said McConkie, a
Democrat. "When the governor has been faced with these kinds of
ethical questions, he seems to be sensitive, recognizing the
conflict of interest and distancing himself from it."
walsh@sltrib.com
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
40 Pahrump Valley Times: More incriminating Yucca e-mails found
November 18, 2005
'OUR BEST GUESS. SCREW 'EM' READS ONE AUDITED EXCERPT
By STEVE TETREAULT
PVT WASHINGTON BUREAU
WASHINGTON - Government inspectors said in a report Wednesday
they discovered more e-mails that raise questions about work
performed at Yucca Mountain, including one message that
suggested backdating notebooks and another that recommended to
"make up something."
The report prepared by the Energy Department inspector general
refocused attention on Yucca Mountain quality assurance, an area
in which DOE has been regularly criticized despite efforts at
reform.
DOE spokesman Craig Stevens characterized the e-mails as a
"blip in the cosmos of Yucca Mountain." Critics said the audit
gave fresh evidence of management shortcomings on the proposed
nuclear waste repository, located in Nye County roughly 50 miles
northeast of Pahrump and 20 miles north and east of Amargosa
Valley and Beatty, respectively.
"This report reinforces the complete lack of confidence I have
in the ability of the DOE to honestly evaluate the safety of
Yucca Mountain and to truly enforce any type of quality
assurance program," said Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev.
In March, the Yucca program was tossed into turmoil with the
release of a cache of e-mail messages in which authors later
identified as U.S. Geological Survey hydrologists discussed
possible quality assurance document falsification of water
infiltration research.
The 16-page report issued Wednesday was part of an ongoing
criminal investigation of those messages, which also are the
topic of a probe by a U.S. House subcommittee. Auditors said
they reviewed e-mails written by or associated with workers
being investigated.
Auditors said the latest review "identified a number of e-mails
containing language that could indicate possible conditions
adverse to quality."
Investigators did not say how many questionable messages were
found and whether they referred to the same matters uncovered in
March or represented evidence of possible shortcomings elsewhere
on the project. Five e-mails were excerpted in the report.
In one excerpt, an author referred to a report that concerned
rainfall. "Our best guess. Screw 'em. It's a lovely, 85, sunny,
warm breeze. It's nice to be disconnected and not caring whether
it's QA or not. If you can't give them QA, that's fine."
Another said "... we may want to backdate the notebook to when
we started putting things together."
Quality assurance requires scientists and engineers to
meticulously record and document their research, computer
modeling and field reports so they can be verified and confirmed
as part of repository safety licensing.
The e-mail cache disclosed in March, and the latest messages
disclosed by auditors, indicated some workers held the QA
process in low regard.
Additionally, auditors said that the Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management in DOE fell short in how it
reviewed internal messages to ensure that possible quality
control problems were being identified and investigated.
Out of 10 million e-mails that accumulated over years, DOE
deemed nine million irrelevant for repository licensing. But
inspectors said they found e-mails among the rejects that should
have raised flags.
"We believe that OCRWM should expand its quality
assurance-related search effort," auditors said in their report.
DOE spokesman Stevens said the department is responding by
preparing a new review of the 10 million e-mails, plus another 4
million, using statistical sampling to examine a more
comprehensive set of messages than before.
Yucca Mountain acting director Paul Golan has issued a
corrective action plan that will guide the reviews, and
personnel who examine e-mails for hints of problems are being
retrained, Stevens said.
"The issue of the e-mails is something that has been looked at
ad nauseum by people in this department," Stevens said. "When
this came to the knowledge of the front office, they worked
quickly to get on top of this.
"In the universe of the Yucca Mountain Project, this report
isn't even a twinkle from the most distant star," Stevens said.
The audit prompted repository critics to renew calls for an
independent investigation of the nuclear waste project.
"What is clear from this report is that allowing the DOE to
review its own quality assurance records is like giving
prisoners the keys to their own jail cells," said Rep. Shelley
Berkley, D-Nev.
Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., heads the House subcommittee that has
been conducting an examination of the e-mails and related
issues. He said Wednesday the audit "highlights what I think is
a culture of mismanagement at DOE. They left out nine million
e-mails and that troubles me."
DOE officials were not certain how long it would take to
perform the new examination, which could uncover further issues
that Stevens said would be investigated fully. DOE plans to
spend more than a year and more than $1 million to put to rest
questions about Yucca Mountain science that were raised by the
e-mails disclosed in March.
Some officials have cautioned against reading much into e-mails
that are offered without background or context.
Joseph Hevesi, a USGS hydrologist identified as one of the
e-mail authors, told Porter's subcommittee at a hearing in June
that provocative messages he wrote were merely "water cooler
talk" and he did not falsify documents on the project.
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2005
*****************************************************************
41 Deseret News: Nuclear waste battle is looming in D.C.
[deseretnews.com]
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Huntsman heading east to fight proposal by PFS
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
A high-powered lobbyist from Utah is heading to Washington, D.C.,
this evening to jawbone members of Congress against the Private
Fuel Storage nuclear repository — none other than Gov. Jon
Huntsman Jr.
['Image'] Jon Huntsman Jr. "The Cedar Mountain wilderness
legislation is moving along," and he's going to Washington to
ensure it keeps moving along, Huntsman said during an interview
in his office Tuesday.
He was referring to a provision inserted in the military
spending bill before Congress that would set up the Cedar
Mountain Wilderness Area in Tooele County.
The purpose of that action is to block construction of
the proposed Private Fuel Storage high-level nuclear waste
storage repository on the Skull Valley Goshutes Reservation,
about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
If a wilderness area is established, a railroad spur
could not be built where planners envision it to carry spent
nuclear fuel rods from power plants to the PFS site. Other
than some special exceptions, the Wilderness Act bars motor
vehicles in wilderness areas and prevents building roads and
other projects — such as railroads — that would mar the natural
landscape.
Huntsman said he is encouraged that Sen. Harry Reid,
D-Nev., now supports the wilderness proposal.
For years, Reid has been at odds with some members of the
Utah congressional delegation who did not back him in his drive
to ban shipment of the same sort of waste to the government's
proposed permanent repository at Yucca Mountain, Nev.
Huntsman has opposed Yucca Mountain, and recently Sen.
Bob Bennett, R-Utah, announced he was reversing his stance and
opposes the Nevada repository. Bennett said he now is against
shipments of the spent fuel rods, preferring they remain at the
power plants where they are stored until reprocessing becomes
feasible.
Seven weeks after Bennett's reversal on Yucca, Reid came
out against PFS and in favor of the wilderness provision.
Huntsman said he will spend Thursday and Friday meeting
with conferees who will meet to reconcile the House and Senate
versions of the military spending bill.
He wants to "make sure we've got critical mass to move
this forward successfully," Huntsman said. "We want to make sure
that we get it done, not wait any longer."
According to the governor, the conference committee
should be meeting soon to finalize the legislation.
"It looks like we're in good shape with Sen. Reid
supporting us, as opposed to his previous position," Huntsman
said. "So I think we've got a good, fighting chance to get this
thing through — which spells the end of PFS."
He plans to meet with all five members of the Utah
congressional delegation and with as many of the conferees as he
can.
With Reid opposing PFS, Huntsman added, "This is a new
day."
Mike Lee, the governor's general counsel, said Huntsman
will be meeting with "key members of Congress" but he did not
have a final list of those he will meet with other than the
Utahns.
Wilderness designation, he added, would "create a
significant impediment to PFS' plans to store spent nuclear fuel
on the reservation."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
© 2005 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
42 Santa Fe New Mexican: Subcontractors wait in limbo for LANL decision
Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:20 pm
By | The New Mexican
A lot of people confide in Rio Arriba County Commissioner
Elias Coriz about the upcoming announcement of the Los Alamos
National Laboratory management and operations contract. They
talk to him about their hopes, fears and expectations.
And since Coriz has worked for 20 years as a security guard for
laboratory subcontractor Protection Technology Los Alamos, he
hears from a lot people who also work for subcontractors -- a
large group of employees at the laboratory who hold their
positions a bit more tenuously than their University of
California counterparts.
Subcontractors, who represent 25 percent of the lab's 13,593
employees, usually find their contracts up for bid every few
years, and no one knows exactly what to expect from the lab's
new management team, even if the team led by the University of
California and Bechtel Corp. wins the contract.
The university has run the laboratory since it started during
World War II, and this is the first time the contract has gone
out to bid. The team's main competition is a team led by
Lockheed Martin and the University of Texas.
Coriz said some people say they plan to retire if the
University of California loses the contract, while others say
they will wait and see what happens. If a large number decide to
retire, the laboratory could lose a lot of talent, he said.
But others have an open mind about the contract, and Coriz
offered the Rio Arriba County Commission as an example.
"Regardless of who gets the contract, the Rio Arriba County
Commission is going to be open to it, and we're going to be
agreeable," Coriz said. "We want to be a team player."
Coriz counts himself among those open to change. "People are
always afraid of change, but sometimes change is good," he said.
And that's the track many of the lab's subcontractors are taking
as the deadline approaches.
There is always a degree of uncertainty with changes like this,
but Dan Carlson, senior vice president for Los Alamos Technical
Associates Inc., an environmental cleanup company, said he
believes the change will be a positive one for business in Los
Alamos. "No doubt the change has been blowing in the wind for
years now, and the fact that this is finally here is
exhilarating," Carlson said.
No matter who wins the contract, there is a lot of talent with
all the teams, Carlson said, and that is likely to improve the
situation for small businesses. "We welcome whatever happens,"
he said.
Los Alamos Technical Associates got its start that way in Los
Alamos about 30 years ago, Carlson said, and the company now
does work all over the United States, Europe and the Middle East.
Randy Bohachek, program manager for Washington Group
International, said he looks forward to the contract
announcement because it will remove subcontractors' uncertainty.
Washington Group, which employs about 35 people at Los Alamos
but is a multinational company that employs about 25,000
worldwide, is a partner with Bechtel for the laboratory
contract. No matter who wins, however, the changes will be
significant, Bohachek said. He said he believes more small
businesses will set up shop in Los Alamos.
People are nervous about the change because it has never
happened before in Los Alamos, Bohachek said. There is a
combination of curiosity and trepidation, and some people think
it will be a positive change while others are fearful, he said.
Liddie Martinez, director of PTLA's Community and Economic
Development Division, said, "All we're feeling is anxious to
hear who it is. We haven't heard anything."
Martinez said it would be "pure speculation" to try and predict
any changes that might happen at the laboratory. "We have no
idea what will happen," she said.
Hugo Hinojosa, executive director of the Regional Development
Corp., an economic-development organization that helps run a
consortium of subcontractors, said he believes the larger
subcontractors have a good relationship with the lab and are
confident it will continue. "There doesn't seem to be a lot of
nervousness on their part," he said.
Privacy Policy | ©2005, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights
reserved.
*****************************************************************
43 Santa Fe New Mexican: Group protests deletions from lab reports
Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:20 pm
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOS ALAMOS -- A nuclear-watchdog group that filed a Freedom of
Information request for Los Alamos National Laboratory's report
on its future plans estimates 40 percent of the report it
received was blacked out.
Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico said current information
on the lab was intact in the copy of the lab's 2004 Ten-Year
Comprehensive Site Plan, but details about future planning was
blacked out.
The National Nuclear Security Administration did not explain why
some material was blacked out. Certain things, including
national-defense and national-security matters, are exempt from
the Freedom of Information Act.
Al Stotts, an NNSA spokesman in Albuquerque, said he did not
know what exemptions applied to Nuclear Watch's request.
Coghlan is appealing and is asking that his group get an
unedited version of the plan. He said it will go to federal
court if the appeal fails.
Santa Fe New Mexican.
*****************************************************************
44 Santa Fe New Mexican: LANL subcontractors
Fri Nov 18, 2005 11:20 pm
By THE NEW MEXICAN
As of January 2004, there were 8,047 University of California
employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory and 3,424 contract
employees, according to an overview published by LANL. There
were a total of 13,593 employees, and that number includes
students, post doctorates and "other" employees not counted
above. Here's an incomplete list of LANL subcontractors:
" Burns & Roe Enterprises offers energy, nuclear and
construction services and has 1,600 employees worldwide. The
local office didn't return a phone call concerning its number of
local employees.
" BWXT provides nuclear-security and technical-support services
at LANL and has 11,180 employees throughout the country. It
won't disclose its Los Alamos employment number.
" DMJMH&N, an architectural and engineering company, has 14
employees in Los Alamos and 100 in Albuquerque that help support
the Los Alamos office.
" Hensel Phelps Construction Co. provides construction services
at LANL and employs more than 2,600 people nationwide, including
45 in Los Alamos.
" Innovative Technical Solutions Inc. is an international
engineering and construction company with more than 280 staff
members total. The company won't disclose its number of
employees in Los Alamos.
" Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. is an international firm that
provides services in all aspects of engineering, construction,
operations and maintenance. The company employs 38,000 people
worldwide, but headquarters wouldn't disclose the number of
employees at Los Alamos. The local office didn't return a phone
call.
" KSL is a partnership between Kellogg, Brown & Root Inc.; The
Shaw Group Inc.; and Los Alamos Technical Associates Inc.; which
provides maintenance services to the lab. The company has about
1,800 employees in Los Alamos and a five-year contract worth
$785 million, LANL spokesman James E. Rickman said. The contract
expires in January 2008.
" Los Alamos Technical Associates Inc. provides
environmental-cleanup services and employs between 30 and 40
people in Los Alamos.
" Protection Technologies Los Alamos provides security services
to LANL and employs about 600 people. The company's nine-year
contract, which is worth $558 million, expires in September
2007, according to Rickman.
" The Shaw Group Inc. conducts environmental restoration at LANL
and employs 18,000 people worldwide and 51 at Los Alamos.
" Washington Group International conducts environmental cleanup
at LANL and employs 25,000 people worldwide, including 30 in Los
Privacy Policy | ©2005, Santa Fe New Mexican, all rights
reserved.
*****************************************************************
45 news tribune: Panel to review benefits of former Hanford workers
TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA
SHANNON DININNY; The Associated Press
Published: November 18th, 2005 02:30 AM
YAKIMA A federal institute has agreed to review workers
compensation benefits available to former weapons workers at the
Hanford nuclear reservation.
U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Edmonds) requested the review last
month, citing a recent audit at the south-central Washington
site that found insufficient data about workers radiation
exposure between 1944 and 1968.
The lack of data could lead federal officials to underestimate
workers exposure, thereby making them ineligible for workers
compensation benefits, Cantwell said.
In a letter to Cantwell dated Nov. 4, the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health said its advisory board is
expected to discuss the audits findings and evaluate benefits
available to former Hanford workers at its January meeting.
This is the right decision, Cantwell said in a statement
Thursday. Right now, we dont know the full extent of workers
exposure to toxins. We need to review the situation to make sure
all former Hanford employees get the help they need.
The occupational safety institute has been struggling for months
to gather data on the amount of radiation that Cold War-era
workers in nuclear weapons plants might have been exposed to at
Energy Department sites nationwide.
Under a 2000 law, the agency must determine possible radiation
exposure levels for each workers compensation claim. Thousands
of claims have been filed nationally, but worker records are
missing at some sites and incomplete at others.
In 2004, the institute credited the Hanford site for providing
information needed to begin estimating worker exposure.
However, the audit released June 10 noted several problems in
data collection at the site, including use of inappropriate,
incomplete or insufficient data that undercut claims.
Cantwell said the findings raise the possibility that former
workers could be automatically eligible for workers
compensation, as has been the case at nuclear sites in Ohio,
Kentucky, Tennessee and Alaska. In many of those cases, workers
contracted certain kinds of cancer. Copyright 2005 Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy
Company
*****************************************************************
46 news tribune: Energy Department in for rematch with Gregoire |
TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA
THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Published: November 18th, 2005 02:30 AM
The federal government knows better than to try to shirk its
responsibility to clean up the mess it made at the Hanford
nuclear reservation, especially on Gov. Christine Gregoires
watch.
Gregoire has spent her career holding the federal government to
the promise it made 16 years ago to remove the environmental
threat posed by Hanfords Cold War legacy of nuclear production.
As the Department of Energys commitment to the sites most
significant project appears to falter and Congress debates
deeper spending cuts to the Hanford budget, Gregoires
announcement this week that she is considering suing the feds
should come as no surprise.
A congressional conference committee has sliced $164 million
from the proposed 2006 budget for the vitrification plant, a
facility that would solidify the nastiest radioactive wastes at
Hanford into glass for safe long-term storage.
Those cuts would come on top of a proposed $100 million raid by
the Bush administration, which is on the hunt for money to pay
for hurricane relief in the Gulf.
Gregoire offered a troubling perspective Monday. In all the
years since 1989, I have never been more discouraged about the
federal governments commitment to Hanford cleanup than today,
she said.
Thats saying a lot. No other state elected official has been so
integral in the fight to clean up the most polluted place in the
country. Gregoire helped author the Tri-Party Agreement that
governs Hanford cleanup as Department of Ecology director in
1989. Later, she worked to enforce the agreement as state
attorney general.
Now, as governor, she is telling the feds, enough is enough.
Shes got the backing of both of the states U.S. senators and
Doc Hastings, the Republican congressman who represents the
Hanford area.
Originally, the Department of Energy agreed to have the
glassification plant operating in 1999. That deadline has been
moved back to 2011 a date the feds look less and less likely
to meet.
The funding cuts alone could mean a seven-year delay to the
project, which is already imperiled by cost overruns resulting
from heightened earthquake standards. The Energy Department
refuses to release an updated pricetag for the plant previously
pegged at $5.8 billion. But it has told Congress to expect costs
to increase more than 25 percent and a delayed completion.
The entire Northwest has a stake in this fight. Aging
underground tanks at Hanford hold 53 million gallons of
radioactive and chemical waste just 12 miles from the Columbia
River. Although workers have been moving the waste from
single-shell tanks that are leaking into double-shell tanks,
they are due to run out of room by 2008.
Congress, tiring of throwing billions at the project, is
demanding answers from the Energy Department, as it should. What
it should not do is further undermine the project by
underfunding it. Even more troubling is the attitude of U.S.
Sen. Pete Domenici, the chairman of the Senate Energy and
Natural Resources Committee. He wants to abandon the Tri-Party
Agreement. He calls the pact inflexible and says it has hindered
actual cleanup.
Here are a few numbers for the gentleman from New Mexico: 420
and 700. The first is the number of changes to the agreement the
state has agreed to over the years; the second is how many of
the agreements milestones have been met. The pact can hardly be
called inflexible or an obstacle to progress.
But the pact is certainly inconvenient for a federal government
looking to dodge its commitment to clean up Hanford. Gregoire
and the states congressional delegation are right to ensure it
stays that way.
1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742
© Copyright 2005 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy
*****************************************************************
47 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Emotional testimony in Hanford trial
[seattlepi.com]
Friday, November 18, 2005 · Last updated 11:30 a.m. PT
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SPOKANE, Wash. -- A woman who is blaming emissions from the
Hanford nuclear reservation for the thyroid cancer that is
killing her brought many in a federal courtroom to tears as she
described her pending death.
Shannon Rhodes, 64, on Thursday testified that tests earlier
this year found two aggressive new tumors growing inside her.
One is around her trachea and the other in her lungs.
She also has an undiagnosed growth at the back of her skull. The
Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, woman coughs frequently, and her family
says her strength is failing.
"I can feel these tumors now. It scares me. This is the
beginning of the end," Rhodes told the 12-person jury as her two
grown daughters and her husband held each other and wept.
Many other observers in U.S. District Judge William F. Nielsen's
courtroom also began to cry as Rhodes, responding to questions
from her attorney Richard Eymann, described her emotions.
"I'm not afraid of death I believe the soul goes on and God will
greet me on the other side but the pain, the suffocation ..."
Rhodes said.
[advertising] This is the second trial for Rhodes, who is suing
the private companies that for decades operated Hanford for the
federal government. The site made plutonium for nuclear weapons.
Earlier this week, her doctors said her life will probably end
within a few years at most.
Dr. Vernon Holbert, the Spokane surgeon who operated on her lung
mass in 2002, said the tumor "could choke her to death. It will
paralyze the nerves to her voice box. Her esophagus, the food
tube, will be squashed. She'll get weaker and weaker."
Other experts said her end-of-life care will cost between
$110,268 and $171,476 for the next one to three years. They said
she'd have an estimated 20.2 more years to live if she hadn't
gotten terminal cancer, and they estimated economic damages for
her shortened life at $218,000 to $278,000.
Defense attorneys for E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. and General
Electric Co., the corporations that operated Hanford for the
government during World War II and the Cold War, on Thursday
asked only a few questions in cross-examination and did not
challenge Rhodes in front of the jury.
The defense began presenting its case Thursday.
Dr. Arthur B. Schneider, a thyroid disease expert at the
University of Illinois College of Medicine, discussed a major,
recent "pooled analysis" of external radiation studies.
That analysis concluded that the risk of thyroid cancer is
greatest for children under 16. But the study didn't show a
thyroid cancer risk below 10 rads, a dose lower than Rhodes'
estimated dose, Schneider said.
"We can't demonstrate a risk below 10 rads, and if there is
risk, it's small," he said.
In other cross-examination since the trial started on Nov. 7,
attorneys for DuPont and GE have vigorously challenged the
plaintiffs' scientific experts. They contend Rhodes can't show
that her estimated thyroid dose of 6.9 rads of radioactive
iodine-131 from Hanford's plutonium plants "more likely than
not" caused her thyroid cancer, the legal yardstick being used
in the trial.
Eymann showed the jury a series of photos depicting Rhodes'
early life in Colfax and on her family's 1869 farm homestead
near Dusty, 17 miles west of Colfax, where her family grew wheat
and barley and kept horses and dairy cows.
The photos showed Rhodes, born Shannon Caldwell, drinking from a
large bottle of milk.
According to her lawyers, 95 percent of Rhodes' radiation dose
from Hanford was between 1944 and 1947, when huge clouds of
radioactive I-131 were pumped out of Hanford plants during
production of the world's first plutonium bombs. The invisible
gas settled on pastures, where it was ingested by cows and
transferred to the thyroid glands of children when they drank
milk. That "milk pathway" is the primary way that people were
exposed to the Hanford emissions, studies show.
A portion of Rhodes' thyroid gland was removed in 1978 and her
parathyroid gland was removed in 2001. The rest of her thyroid
was removed in 2003.
In April, Rhodes was a plaintiff in the first trial of six
Hanford downwinders. Those "bellwether" cases were thought to be
representative of more than 2,000 people who sued the Hanford
contractors starting in 1990.
Two other plaintiffs with thyroid cancer won and were awarded
more than $500,000. The jury rejected the claims of three
plaintiffs with autoimmune thyroid disease. Rhodes' case ended
in a 10-2 hung jury; Nielsen declared a mistrial, setting the
stage for Rhodes' current trial.
---
Information from: The Spokesman-Review,
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA
98119 (206) 448-8000
Send comments to
©1996-2005 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*****************************************************************
48 UCLA Bruin: Early lab bid decision unlikely
Friday, November 18, 2005
Despite problems at Los Alamos, UC confident it will retain
management
By Jennifer Mishory DAILY BRUIN CONTRIBUTOR
jmishory@media.ucla.edu
The long process to determine who will manage the Los Alamos
National Laboratory will conclude in the coming weeks.
The University of California has bid for continued management of
the New Mexico lab in consortium with Bechtel National, BWXT and
Washington Group International.
Their chief rival for the contract is a group led by
Lockheed-Martin and the University of Texas.
Though there have been rumors that a decision would be announced
today or in the coming days, UC Vice President Robert Foley said
Thursday an imminent decision is unlikely.
Al Stotts, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration in Albuquerque, which is conducting the bid
competition, said the announcement would not come until on or
around Dec. 1, as scheduled.
A series of mishaps at the lab led the Department of Energy to
put the contract for management up for bid.
UC officials have repeatedly said they have taken steps to
ensure such occurrences do not happen again, but even since the
UC Board of Regents voted on May 26 to bid for continued
management, problems have continued to plague the lab.
In May, there were two injuries when a beaker exploded. In June,
two employees inhaled toxic fumes that resulted in the
hospitalization of one, but lab management was not informed of
the incident until August.
The NNSA acts as a semi-autonomous agency of the Department of
Energy, and its service center in Albuquerque has become the
headquarters of the source evaluation board, which has conducted
the competition of the lab's management.
The board has been putting together an evaluation report
analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of the bids and sent its
recommendations to the selecting official, acting deputy
administrator for defense programs Tom D'Agostino, said Stotts.
The criteria in evaluation involves "federal procurement
requirements," but this information is not available to the
public, Stotts said.
Despite the continued problems, there is optimism on the side of
the UC regarding the strength of its bid.
Los Alamos National Security, LLC, the group composed of the UC
and its consortium bidding for the lab, feels it is "able to
meet the Department of Energy's mission for the lab," said
spokesman Jeff Berger.
The conglomerate addresses the relevant security, business and
safety issues in its proposal, but because of the continued
competition, it cannot reveal specifics, Berger said.
The upcoming decision was discussed at the regents' meeting
Thursday in Berkeley.
"We believe the federal government will agree with our
assessment of the scientific achievement of these labs," Foley
said.
UC Board of Regents Chairman Gerald Parsky expressed confidence
in the UC's bid, saying that if the thrust of competition is
still what it has been represented as – for science and research
– "then we have the opportunity to win the bid."
Thursday's meeting also drew the presence of a number of groups
protesting UC involvement in the nuclear laboratory.
With reports from Nancy Su, Bruin reporter.
Copyright 2005 ASUCLA Student Media
*****************************************************************
49 Oakland Tribune: State delegation supports UC-Bechtel bid to run lab
Article Last Updated: 11/18/2005 03:20:42 AM
Legislators concede 'there have been some management lapses' in
the past at Los Alamos
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Almost all of California's congressional delegation has thrown
its support behind a University of California-Bechtel team to run
Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, as well as 51 of
California's 53 representatives in the House, conceded in a
letter Wednesday to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman that "there
have been some management lapses at LANL in the past." But they
say the new UC-Bechtel team, known as Los Alamos National
Security LLC, now has things well in hand. "We believe the LANS
LLC team will give the Department the intellectual power across a
broad range of disciplines from our nation's premier public
research institution coupled with the business expertise and
experience you will need to address the Department's most
important challenges," California's federal lawmakers said in the
letter.
The U.S. Energy Department has set a Dec. 1 deadline for choosing
a new management team at the New Mexico lab after both Congress
and former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham decided management
failings there by the University of California warranted opening
the contract up for bidding for the first time since 1943.
A team of corporations and universities led by Lockheed Martin
Corp., the world's largest defense contractor, is challenging UC.
Energy Department officials have said the competition will be
apolitical, but representatives for California's delegation said
weighing in seemed worthwhile.
Student disarmament activists say the university, which runs both
Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore labs and holds a monopoly on
U.S. nuclear explosive design, should get out of the bomb
business.
"Blindly doing the bidding of those who would have us resume the
nuclear arms race is unacceptable," Darwin Bond-Graham, a
sociology graduate student at UC Santa Barbara, said in a
statement Wednesday.
Under the contract bid, the Lockheed and UC-Bechtel teams commit
to design new nuclear weapons as required by the Energy
Department and to operate a moderate-sized production line for
plutonium pits, the fission cores of H-bombs. Disarmament
activists won't be pleased if either team wins. Tora Dorabji,
head of outreach for Tri-Valley Citizens Against a Radioactive
Environment, said the contract calls for "a nuclear weapons lab
on steroids."
"No matter the outcome of this competition, it will be a loss for
security, democracy and the nation," she said. California's
congressional delegation said the focus on nuclear weapons
science favors the University of California.
"Few question the quality of science performed at these labs in
certifying the safety, security and reliability our nation's
nuclear weapons stockpile," they said in the letter to Bodman.
© 2005 ANG Newspapers
*****************************************************************
50 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Rocky
FR Doc 05-22885
[Federal Register: November 18, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 222)]
[Notices] [Page 69965] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18no05-46]
Flats AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Rocky Flats.
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat.
770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in
the Federal Register.
DATES: Thursday, December 1, 2005. 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
ADDRESSES: College Hill Library, Room L-268, Front Range
Community College, 3705 W. 112th Avenue, Westminster, Colorado.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ken Korkia, Executive Director,
Rocky Flats Citizens Advisory Board, 12101 Airport Way, Unit B,
Broomfield, CO, 80021; telephone (303) 966-7855; fax (303)
966-7856.
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. Discussion of the Rocky Flats Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study document.
2. Discussion of long-term surveillance and maintenance needs for
Rocky Flats.
3. Other Board business may be conducted as necessary. 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 Ken Korkia at the
address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be
received at least five days prior to the meeting and reasonable
provisions 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. This notice is being published less than 15 days before
the date of the meeting due to programmatic issues.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying at the office of the Rocky Flats Citizens
Advisory Board, 12101 Airport Way, Unit B, Broomfield, CO, 80021;
telephone (303) 966-7855. Hours of operations are 7:30 a.m. to 4
p.m., Monday through Friday. Minutes will also be made available
by writing or calling Ken Korkia at the address or telephone
number listed above. Board meeting minutes are posted on RFCAB's
Web site within one month following each meeting at:
http://www.rfcab.org/Minutes.html. Issued at Washington, DC, on
November 14, 2005.
Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-22885 Filed 11-17-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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51 DOE: Office of Science; Biological and Environmental Research
FR Doc 05-22886
[Federal Register: November 18, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 222)]
[Notices] [Page 69964-69965] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18no05-45]
Advisory Committee AGENCY: Department of Energy.
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Biological and
Environmental Research Advisory Committee. Federal Advisory
Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public
notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.
DATES: Monday, December 5, 2005, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday,
December 6, 2005, 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
ADDRESSES: American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Avenue, NW.,
Washington, DC 20009.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. David Thomassen
(301-903-9817; david.thomassen@science.doe.gov) Designated
Federal Officer, Biological and Environmental Research Advisory
Committee, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office
of Biological and Environmental Research, SC-23/Germantown
Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC
20585-1290. The most current information concerning this meeting
can be found on the Web site:
http://www.science.doe.gov/ober/berac/announce.html .
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Meeting: To provide
advice on a continuing basis to the Director, Office of Science
of the Department of Energy, on the many complex scientific and
technical issues that arise in the development and implementation
of the Biological and Environmental Research Program.
Tentative Agenda:
[[Page 69965]] Monday, December 5, and Tuesday, December 6, 2005:
Comments from Dr. Raymond Orbach, Director, Office of Science.
Report of Subcommittee on Life Sciences COV.
Status Reports on BER needed by BERAC to review BER's progress
toward meeting its long-term performance goals.
Discussion of BERAC's review of BER's progress toward meeting its
long-term performance goals.
Report by Dr. Ari Patrinos, Associate Director of Science for
Biological and Environmental Research.
Science talk.
New business.
Public comment (10 minute rule).
Public Participation: The day and a half meeting is open to the
public. If you would like to file a written statement with the
Committee, you may do so either before or after the meeting. If
you would like to make oral statements regarding any of the items
on the agenda, you should contact David Thomassen at the address
or telephone number listed above. You must make your request for
an oral statement at least five business days before the meeting.
Reasonable provision will be made to include the scheduled oral
statements on the agenda. The Chairperson of the Committee will
conduct the meeting to facilitate the orderly conduct of
business. Public comment will follow the 10- minute rule.
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public
review and copying within 30 days at the Freedom of Information
Public Reading Room, IE-190, Forrestal Building, 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 4
p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
Issued in Washington, DC on November 14, 2005.
Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. 05-22886 Filed 11-17-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more
information go to:
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