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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 US: Guardian Unlimited: Spotlight on Cheney in intelligence leak row
2 Iranmania: Russia-Iran call for political resolution to N-row       
3 AFP: US says Iranian president's comments on Israel confirm nuclear 
4 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Ahead of nuclear talks   
5 Korea Times: Hill Receives Award for Role in Six-Party Talks 
6 Xinhua: Japan, DPRK agree to hold bilateral talks in Beijing   
7 US: Great News - Bunker Buster Cancelled
8 US: BBC: US cancels 'mini-nukes' programme
9 SF Chronicle: Bush team sought to snuff CIA doubts /
10 IPS-English POLITICS:India Abandons Global Nuclear Disarmament
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
11 Nukes put big O in Ontario: Straightgoods.com
12 US: NRC: NRC Schedules Regulatory Conference to Discuss Turkey Point
13 US: newsobserver.com: Panel rejects nuclear energy
14 RIA Novosti: Russian Health Ministry against upping compensation for
15 BBC: Rare glimpse into nuclear reactor
16 US: JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point scrutiny to grow
17 Xinhua: China, US to increase nuclear co-operation   
18 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of NUREG-1833, ``Technical Bases for
19 US: NRC: Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability
20 US: NRC: Notice of License Terminations for University of Virginia 
21 US: Record Online: Same story for Indian Point
22 US: Hudson Valley News: NRC chairman pledges stronger oversight of I
23 US: Arizona Republic: Regulators to examine Palo Verde's safety
24 US: WAVY.COM: Cooling tower added to reactor proposal
25 ottawasun.com: Nuclear power push
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
26 [du-list] Depleted uranium and OLAF, the missing link: EURATOM
27 [du-list] DU researcher, 5 years in Iraq, suffering from cancer
28 [du-list] Beyond Treason: Veterans exposure-
29 Rediff: India, France discuss nuclear safety issues
30 US: Farmington Daily Times: Health effects of uranium considered 
31 Xinhua: Marshall Islands claim more nuclear tests compensation from 
32 Webindia: French nuke delegation discuss nuclear safety with AERB - 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
33 US: Uranium dumping plan decried
34 US: AU ABC: Industry seeks change to yellowcake transport regulation
35 reviewjournal.com: DOE sees 'new path' for nuclear waste    
36 RIA Novosti: Minister warns about radioactive river and ocean pollut
37 Las Vegas SUN: 'Clean' plan for Yucca repackaged 
38 US: Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Study shows potential for rail disaster 
39 US: toledoblade.com: Plum Brook puzzle
40 US: PR: Rialto Residents Call For Clean Water Now - Coalition Calls 
41 US: Lincoln County News: Maine Yankee Secures Storage Facility  
42 AU ABC: Aboriginal leader backs NT nuclear waste facility. 
43 United Press International: Feds unveil Yucca Mountain cleanup plans
44 US: Arizona Republic: Uranium price renews interest in Ariz. mines
45 US: UofW: Project could reduce U.S. inventory of spent nuclear fuel 
46 US: Bradenton Herald: State responds to Tallevast letter
 
                           PEACE
 
47 US: Xinhua: Petition signed against proposed change of US nuclear po
48 US: Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Drops Plan for Nuclear Bunker-Buster
49 US: Reuters: Nuclear bunker-buster funds dropped from US budget
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
50 KIFI: INL Opens Center for Space Nuclear Research
51 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah
52 Paducah Sun: DOE checking presence, impact of cylinder gas - 
53 United Press International: China and the DOE's mega-port initiative
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Guardian Unlimited: Spotlight on Cheney in intelligence leak row
 
ˇ Notes show vice-president knew identity of CIA agent
ˇ Revelations contradict public comments 		
 		
Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday October 26, 2005
 		
      [Dick Cheney] Dick Cheney. Photograph: AP

 Dick Cheney was thrust into the centre of the criminal
investigation of an intelligence leak yesterday after details
were reported of a White House meeting in which the
vice-president discussed a CIA officer whose cover was blown a
few weeks later.

The discussion two years ago between Mr Cheney and his top aide,
Lewis "Scooter" Libby, would not represent a crime in itself, as
both men have top security clearance. But the new revelations
leave Mr Libby vulnerable to indictment for perjury or
obstruction of justice. He is said to have testified to a grand
jury that he heard about the CIA agent's identity from
journalists.

It is not known what Mr Cheney told a federal prosecutor 
investigating the leak, but if he failed to mention the reported 
meeting on June 12 2003, he could also be in danger of perjury or 
obstruction charges. The new report also conflicts with public 
remarks the vice-president made not long after the alleged White 
House meeting.

The 22-month investigation into the leak is expected to conclude
this week, and if the prosecutor, Patrick Fitzgerald, issues
indictments, they could have a devastating impact on the already
embattled Bush administration. Karl Rove, the president's
closest political adviser and architect of his election
victories, has testified four times about his role in the leak.

According to lawyers involved in the case quoted in the New York
Times, details of the 2003 meeting emerged in the form of notes
taken by Mr Libby, the vice-president's chief of staff, and
later handed over to the investigation.

The two men were discussing Joseph Wilson, a former US
ambassador who had travelled to Niger the previous year to check
intelligence reports that Iraq was trying to buy African
uranium. The reports had been based on documents that turned out
to be forged, and by early summer 2003 Mr Wilson began
anonymously telling journalists he had found no evidence to
support claims made by the president about Iraq's nuclear
programme. In early July, Mr Wilson went public with his
allegations in a newspaper article, suggesting that the
administration had twisted the intelligence over weapons of mass
destruction (WMD).

Eight days later, on July 14 2003, a conservative columnist
citing "two senior administration officials", reported that Mr
Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was a CIA operative and claimed
she had suggested he be sent to Niger.

Ms Plame had been a covert agent and the deliberate disclosure
of her identity was a crime. The investigation has been aimed at
discovering which, if any, administration officials had told the
press about her as part of a campaign to discredit Mr Wilson's
African mission.

The 2003 White House notes show that, weeks before Ms Plame's
cover was blown, Mr Cheney knew who she was and that she had had
something to do with the Niger trip. The notes suggest Mr Cheney
had got his information from the CIA director at the time,
George Tenet.

However, three months later, after the Plame row broke out, the
vice-president told a television interviewer: "I don't know Joe
Wilson ... I have no idea who hired him."

Even if the administration escapes indictments this week, the
Plame affair has severely damaged its credibility. The White
House repeatedly insisted that no senior officials had been
involved in the leak. However, after it became clear Mr Rove and
Mr Libby had had contacts with the press on the subject, the
administration refused to discuss the case on the grounds that
it was the subject of a legal inquiry.

Yesterday, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan said only:
"The vice-president is doing a great job as a member of this
administration and the president appreciates all that he is
doing."
 	
[UP] 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 2 Iranmania: Russia-Iran call for political resolution to N-row                                   
				 
Wednesday, October 26, 2005 - Š2005 IranMania.com                                                                
 										   										 [Archived Picture - Russian President
Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
reiterated calls for a political solution to the international
row over Iran's nuclear dossier, AFP reported.]   										

LONDON, October 26 (IranMania) - Russian President Vladimir
Putin and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated
calls for a political solution to the international row over
Iran's nuclear dossier, AFP reported.

In a telephone call made by the Iranian president to Putin, "the
need was underlined for all existing questions to be resolved in
the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) legal sphere
through political methods," a Kremlin statement said.

Putin said he backed cooperation between Iran and the IAEA,
including "in the resumption of the negotiating process."

The leaders' conversation came ahead of a key meeting in a
month's time of the IAEA, a UN body monitoring nuclear
proliferation. 

The IAEA may decide to send Iran before the UN Security Council
if no breakthrough in a standoff between the Islamic state and
Western powers is achieved, diplomats say.

The United States and EU negotiators Britain, France and Germany
fear Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons and want it
brought before the Security Council, which has the power to
impose penalties such as trade sanctions.

But Russia, which has a lucrative contract to build Iran's first
nuclear power reactor, has a veto on the council.

The IAEA's 35-nation board of governors in September found Iran
in non-compliance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
paving the way for the matter to be referred to the council if
Iran does not halt nuclear fuel work and cooperate fully with an
IAEA investigation.
 							 				   				 				 
*****************************************************************
 3 AFP: US says Iranian president's comments on Israel confirm nuclear worries - 

 Wed Oct 26, 5:53 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House said that Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel" /> Israelto be "wiped off
the map" underlined US concerns about Tehran's nuclear
ambitions. 

 "It reconfirms what we've been saying about the regime in Iran"
/> Iran. It underscores the concerns we have about Iran's
nuclear intentions," spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters. 

At a conference in Tehran entitled "The World Without Zionism,"
the hardline Iranian leader declared that "the establishment of
the Zionist regime was a move by the world oppressor against the
Islamic world." 

"As the imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map,"
Ahmadinejad said, referring to a slogan which Iran's
revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini used before his
death in 1989. 

Ahmadinejad's comments marked the first time in years that such
a high-ranking Iranian official has openly called for Israel's
eradication, even though such slogans are still regularly used
at regime rallies. 

Washington has accused Tehran of using a civilian nuclear
program as cover for efforts to develop atomic weapons. Iran has
denied the allegation. 

Britain, France and Germany have held talks with Iran, offering
incentives in exchange for a cessation of work on nuclear fuel,
but the negotiations broke down in August when Tehran rejected
their offer. 

Iran also ended a freeze on fuel cycle work by resuming uranium
conversion -- a first step in making enriched uranium, which can
be fuel for nuclear power reactors but also atom bomb material. 

The 35-nation IAEA board passed a resolution in September
finding Iran to be in non-compliance with the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- paving the way for the matter
to be referred to the UN Security Council. 

	 		 			
  Copyright Š 2005 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 4 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Ahead of nuclear talks   

The Korean Peninsula is becoming a focus of vigorous diplomatic
activities ahead of the six-party talks on the North Korean
nuclear issue which are expected to resume in Beijing probably
in the second week of next month. 

That the fifth round of the six-nation talks would take place
shortly before the annual meeting in Busan of leaders of 21
Asia-Pacific economies adds to its significance. Leaders from
all but North Korea of the six participating countries will come
to the South Korean city for the Nov. 18-19 APEC conference,
where North Korea will be a major agenda item.

 China, the key mediator in the six-party talks, is working most
aggressively to set up the next round of the nuclear talks and
fine-tune the position of each participating country. This
brightens prospects for some progress in the planned talks. 

Li Bin, Beijing's point man on Korean affairs, visited North
Korea last week. He will come to Seoul tomorrow after visiting
Washington. The dates for the forthcoming six-party talks are
expected to be announced upon completion of Li's tour of the
capitals. 

What's further encouraging is that Chinese President Hu Jintao
will travel to Pyongyang tomorrow for talks with North Korean
leader Kim Joing-il. It is hoped that Hu, the first Chinese head
of state to visit North Korea in four years, will persuade Kim
to follow up faithfully on the joint agreement the six nations
made in September. 

South Korea, the United States and Japan are also busy laying
the groundwork for the Beijing talks. Seoul's chief delegate to
the nuclear talks, Song Min-soon, visited the United States last
week. South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon is flying to
Tokyo today to discuss North Korea with his Japanese
counterpart, braving domestic pressure to put off the meeting in
protest over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's recent visit to
the Yasukuni Shrine. 

All these diplomatic activities and discussions point to the
significance of the next round of the six-nation talks in
resolving the North's nuclear problem. After the September
agreement, the United States and North Korea had confronted each
other over the timing of giving the North a light-water reactor
for power generation. 

The North insisted that it be given the reactor before it gives
up its nuclear programs, while the United States said Pyongyang
should act first. The planned talks offer the first negotiation
table for both sides to discuss the issue face-to-face, not
through the media. 

There have been some positive signs from North Korea as
delivered by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who visited
Pyongyang and nuclear facilities recently. He said in Seoul that
North Korean officials showed flexibility on conditions for
obtaining a light-water reactor. He said the North also
indicated it will allow outside inspectors to ensure the spent
fuel from the reactor is not diverted to weapons. The North,
which has often played the participation card, did not employ
the tactic this time. 

Anyone dealing with North Korea should not be overly optimistic,
but we hope that the North will not resort to its usual
brinksmanship, and work sincerely toward working out action
plans for dismantling its nuclear programs. It should bear in
mind that the six-party talks are being held ahead of the APEC
forum, where a derailment of the talks would dampen its hope to
receive international assistance and security guarantees. 

The South Korean government needs to work closely with the other
participating countries, especially the United States, so that
they carry flexibility and patience into the six-party talks.
Richardson said that although there will be measurable progress
that might lead to a future agreement, his view was that we
should not expect an agreement in the next round. 

2005.10.27
 
*****************************************************************
 5 Korea Times: Hill Receives Award for Role in Six-Party Talks 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation   


WASHINGTON (Yonhap) _ Assistant Secretary of StateChristopher
Hill received an award Monday from his alma mater for the
leadership skills he displayed in nuclear negotiations with
North Korea.

 He received the Naval War College's Distinguished Graduate
Leadership Award, becoming the first foreign service officer to
be recognized with the award in the college's 120-year history.

 Previous winners of the award include former chairman of the
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili, incumbent
commandant of the Marine Corps Gen. Michael Hagee and incumbent
commander of the U.S. Pacific Command Adm. William Fallon.

 Vice Adm. Ronald A. Route, in presenting the award, said Hill's
``demonstrated leadership skills and his professional and
personal accomplishments will serve as an inspiration to all
Naval War College students.ĄŻĄŻ 

10-26-2005 19:25         
  

*****************************************************************
 6 Xinhua: Japan, DPRK agree to hold bilateral talks in Beijing   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-26 16:46:44   

    TOKYO, Oct. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Japan and the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea agreed Wednesday to hold bilateral
talks from Nov. 3 in Beijing, Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka
Machimura said. 

    At a news conference in Tokyo, Machimura unveiled the
agreement on the schedule for the talks between the two
governments. 

    According to a Kyodo News report, the talks will last until
Nov. 5. and the two sides are expected to discuss a variety of
issues including the solution on abduction and Korean
Peninsula's nuclear program. 

    The two countries last held bilateral abduction talks in
November last year in Pyongyang. Enditem
   
  Copyright Š2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
 Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is
*****************************************************************
 7 Great News - Bunker Buster Cancelled
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:58:10 -0700

X-Temp-Whitephrase: YES nuclear 
X-Temp-Whitelink: YES http:// washingtonpost
X-Spamprobe: ham-super	*       	0.0000919	OK

<x-flowed>

I am writing with great news. The administration has withdrawn support for 
the nuclear bunker buster, the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. As a 
result, Congress has stopped all funds for the program. The administration 
has said it will concentrate instead on conventional options for attacking 
dangerous WMD sites if necessary.

Your support has been vital in this campaign. Over the past three or four 
years PSR activists have sent close to 100,000 emails to Congress, as well 
as thousands of faxes, appealing for the nuclear madness the bunker 
represents to be stopped. Now we have won. Last year the administration was 
forced to cancel its Advanced Concepts Initiative, an open ended new nukes 
design program. Now its main new nuke program, the RNEP, is gone.

Thank you for your hard work in persuading Congress to change its mind. 
Together, the strength of our arguments has overcome the combined might of 
the labs and the neo-cons who wanted to pursue this hellish vision of 
nuclear war fighting.

Martin Butcher

P.S. If you follow the link below, you'll find the AP story that broke this 
great news.

<http://takeaction.psr.org/ctt.asp?u=2433751&l=109035>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/25/AR2005102501712.html

7c2c1.jpg
7c2ca.jpg We are committed to protecting your privacy, so your email 
address will NEVER be sold or exchanged. If you would like to 
<http://takeaction.psr.org/unsubscribe/index.asp>unsubscribe from this 
newsletter, please reply to this message with "Remove" in the subject line. 
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 8 BBC: US cancels 'mini-nukes' programme
 
Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 October 2005
 
[Bunker]                                

The weapon would have be used against deep bunkers                                                            

The US has abandoned controversial plans to develop a nuclear 
"bunker-buster" warhead, a key Republican senator has said. 

Sen Pete Domenici said funding for the bombs - part of the Energy 
Department's 2006 budget - had been dropped. 

He said research would now focus on conventional penetrating 
weapons. 

The warhead had been the focus of intense debate in Congress, 
with opponents arguing against the US developing new nuclear 
arms. 

An administration official, speaking on condition on anonymity, 
confirmed the move to the Associated Press news agency. 

Fall-out debate 

The Senate had approved $4m in funding for the programme, but it 
was subsequently blocked by the House of Representatives. 

Sen Domenici, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees the 
Department of Energy's budget, said the request for funding had 
been dropped at the request of the department's National Nuclear 
Security Administration, which oversees nuclear weapons 
programmes. 

The proposed nuclear "bunker-busters", also called mini-nukes, 
would have penetrated bunkers deep underground, including those 
tunnelled into solid rock. 

The small nuclear charge would be buried in the explosion, and 
the fall-out contained. 

However, critics doubted whether the weapon could go deep enough 
to contain any fall-out.                                                         



*****************************************************************
 9 SF Chronicle: Bush team sought to snuff CIA doubts /
Differences over Iraq WMD latest attempt to override agency

NEWS ANALYSIS 
 
Jeff Stein, Special to The Chronicle 

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

  CIA Leak Case   
  
Washington -- Whether or not Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald
decides to bring indictments in the outing of Valerie Plame as a
CIA operative -- and whether or not any crimes were actually
committed -- one element of the case is central to an
understanding of what happened and why: At the time of the leak,
administration supporters of the Iraq war were determined to
neutralize the CIA's doubts about the White House case that
Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction, most
notably nuclear weapons. 

It is also not the first time -- and it most likely won't be the
last -- that conflicts over intelligence have had momentous
political consequences. 

As far back as the 1950s, when the Air Force claimed there was a
missile gap between the United States and Russia, the CIA proved
to be a sticking point. Only when the agency sent its new U-2
spy plane soaring over the Soviet Union, taking pictures of air
bases and missiles from 80,000 feet, did U.S. arms-control
advocates have the ammunition they needed to beat back the
furor. 

In the 1970s, when President Richard Nixon's policy of detente
was under attack by some former military officials and
conservative policy intellectuals, Ford administration officials
Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were among those challenging as
too soft the CIA's estimate of Moscow's military power. 

Rumsfeld and Cheney wanted to create a "Team B," which would
have access to the CIA's data on the Soviets and issue its own
conclusions. Cheney, as White House chief of staff, and
Rumsfeld, as secretary of Defense, championed Team B, whose
members included the young defense strategist Paul Wolfowitz,
who a quarter-century later would be one of the chief architects
of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. 

CIA Director William Colby rejected the Team B idea and was
fired. Colby's successor as head of the spy agency, George H.W.
Bush, the current president's father, accepted it. 

Team B's conclusion that the CIA was indeed soft on the Soviets
was leaked to sympathetic journalists and generated public
support for a new round of military spending, particularly on
missiles. Team B's conclusions turned out, years later, to be
false. 

"In retrospect, and with the Team B report and records now
largely declassified, it is possible to see that virtually all
of Team B's criticisms ... proved to be wrong," Raymond
Garthoff, a former U.S. ambassador to Bulgaria, wrote in a paper
for the CIA's Center for the Study of Intelligence three years
ago. "On several important specific points it wrongly criticized
and 'corrected' the official estimates, always in the direction
of enlarging the impression of danger and threat." 

Another run at controlling the CIA was taken when then-President
Ronald Reagan appointed businessman William Casey CIA director
with a mandate to ride herd on supposed agency liberals. Casey
set up the irregular, covert operation led by Marine Corps Col.
Oliver North, which eventually ended in the Iran-Contra
arms-for-hostages scandal. Likewise, when Reagan's Secretary of
State George Schultz wanted to secretly back Saddam Hussein
against the Iranians, Schultz bypassed the CIA and sent
Rumsfeld, then a businessman, to Baghdad to seal the deal. 

The path to Plame's outing also led through Baghdad, this time
via Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi, who had been abandoned by the CIA
in the late 1990s as too troublesome, unreliable and corrupt. 

Among Chalabi's key supporters were Rumsfeld, Cheney and
Wolfowitz. When the three came back into power in January 2001,
the CIA and State Department still refused to back Chalabi. 

Cheney began visiting CIA headquarters to challenge its analysts
over their intelligence on Hussein's weapons. To Richard Kerr,
the former chief of CIA analysis who later studied the agency's
pre-war reporting on Iraq, Cheney displayed no anti-CIA animus
at the time. 

"My experience was to the contrary," Kerr said by e-mail. "He
would not accept all our analysis without skepticism and
believed we were better on some subjects than others. But those
are the characteristics of a good customer." 

Over at the Pentagon, however, Rumsfeld was reprising Team B by
creating his own intelligence shop. The Chalabi organization's
alarmist reports on Hussein's nuclear weapons, which later
proved to be false, bypassed the CIA and went directly to the
White House. 

"That's why they set up an intelligence unit in [Undersecretary
of Defense Douglas] Feith's office," said intelligence historian
James Bamford. "The whole purpose was to get that kind of
information and send it to Cheney." 

In 2002, CIA analysts thought so little of a report that Hussein
had obtained uranium yellow cake from Niger to build a bomb that
they didn't even include it in the president's daily briefing,
Bamford said. 

"The Pentagon got it and flagged it to get Cheney's attention,"
he added, riling the White House further. Then covert CIA
officer Plame, a specialist on weapons of mass destruction,
helped arrange for her husband, career diplomat Joseph Wilson,
to investigate the yellow cake claim in Niger. 

As the world now knows, Wilson reported that there was nothing
to it. And after President Bush offered the Niger intelligence
as fact in his 2003 State of the Union speech, Wilson went
public with his findings in an opinion piece in the New York
Times later that year. 

The fallout may be enough to put someone in jail for a time, and
it may shake up the White House in major ways. But as past
episodes have shown, even that will probably not disarm the
combatants in the long and unending war over who controls
intelligence. 

Jeff Stein is National Security Editor at Congressional
Quarterly where a longer version of this article originally
appeared. 				
Page A - 4 			


The San Francisco Chronicle] 
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 10 IPS-English POLITICS:India Abandons Global Nuclear Disarmament
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:54:47 -0700

X-Temp-Whitefrom: YES ips.org 
X-Temp-Whitephrase: YES Nuclear 
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<x-flowed>
ROMAIPS AP IP DV ML=20
POLITICS:India Abandons Global Nuclear Disarmament
Analysis by Praful Bidwai=20

NEW DELHI, Oct 26 (IPS)- Seven years after blasting its way into the=20
world's 'nuclear club', India has executed a major shift in its policy=20
stance by jettisoning its long-standing advocacy of global nuclear=20
disarmament in favour of nuclear non-proliferation.=20

On Monday, the country's Foreign Secretary, Shyam Saran enunciated a new=20
doctrinal orientation: India will now be ''part of'' a ''new global=20
consensus on non-proliferation''.=20

The new stance is in line with a far-reaching agreement on nuclear=20
weapons and atomic power signed between India and the United States in=20
July.=20

=46rom now on India will pay lip service, if even that, to the goal of=20
fighting for universal nuclear weapons abolition and a nuclear weapons-
free world.=20

This unceremonious burial of the disarmament agenda comes less than 18=20
months after the Manmohan Singh government came to power pledging in its=20
principal programmatic document to assume a 'leadership role' in the=20
struggle for the complete global elimination of nuclear weapons.=20

In his speech, Shyam Saran outlined India's emerging tough posture on=20
Iran's nuclear programme, ahead of another possible vote at the coming=20
meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna a=20
month from now.=20

Last month, India shocked domestic opinion, Iran, and the Non-Aligned=20
Movement by voting for a West-sponsored resolution accusing Iran=20
of ''non-compliance'' with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)=20
and the IAEA's statute, and thus preparing the ground for reporting it=20
to United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.=20

An important element of Saran's speech was the naming of Pakistan as the=20
supplier of Iran's clandestine nuclear programme and demanding an=20
investigation into the role of AQ Khan, 'Father of the Pakistani Bomb'=20
in Iran's imports.=20

Until now, New Delhi had maintained a discreet silence or a low-key=20
approach on the sensational disclosures of Khan's shady nuclear deals.=20

Since January, last year, India has also been carrying out a series=20
of ''composite dialogues'' aimed at restoring normal relations with its=20
nuclear-armed rival and neighbour, Pakistan.=20

''We are clearly seeing in all this the unfolding of the real=20
significance of the India-U.S. nuclear deal of July'', says Kamal Mitra=20
Chenoy, professor at the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal=20
Nehru University in New Delhi.=20

''The deal makes a special, unprecedented, one-time exception for India=20
in the global rules governing civilian nuclear commerce by declaring=20
India a =91responsible' nuclear state and admitting it into the small=20
monopolistic cartel called the Nuclear Club,'' Chenoy told IPS.=20

But the deal faces a tough ratification process in the U.S. Congress and=20
in the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers' Group. India's chanting of the non-
proliferation mantra, which Indian pro-Bomb analysts until recently=20
equated with a form of religious nuclear fanaticism, is designed to=20
facilitate Congressional ratification.=20

''India is paying the price for the deal with the US by sacrificing its=20
own policy independence and its long-standing role as an apostle of=20
peace and nuclear disarmament'', said Chenoy.=20

It is plain from recent Congressional hearings that the U.S. will make=20
the deal's implementation conditional upon India's good or 'responsible'=20
behaviour in collaborating with the U.S. in isolating Iran.=20

Leading Congressmen have warned India that it must choose between ''the=20
Iran of the Ayotollahs'', with its oil and gas, and the ''democratic=20
West'', with its advanced nuclear power technology.=20

India has been negotiating a major agreement with Iran for a gas=20
pipeline through Pakistan, which will give it assured long-term supplies=20
of the fuel at a low price but the U.S. has publicly opposed the deal.=20

After the Indian vote at Vienna, the pipeline seemed to be in jeopardy.=20
After Saran's statement, it may well be dead in the water.=20

Saran signalled that India has gone beyond demanding greater=20
transparency and details about Iran's past nuclear activities, including=20
its crude and primitive efforts to enrich uranium (which can potentially=20
be used both to generate electricity and make weapons). India now says=20
it won't ''accept as legitimate the pursuit of clandestine activities in=20
respect to WMD-related techniques''.=20

This blanket term covers an entire range of activities, including=20
uranium enrichment and research reactors. Most of these are amenable to=20
dual uses.=20

India's shift away from the nuclear disarmament agenda to an exclusive=20
preoccupation with non-proliferation is reflected in Saran's speech. The=20
phrase ''global nuclear disarmament'' does not occur even once in the=20
text. But ''non-proliferation'' occurs 25 times.=20

This shift is not about language alone. It signifies that India has=20
abandoned the pursuit of abolition of nuclear weapons from all=20
countries. It only wants to prevent new states from acquiring such=20
weapons. Those which have them, including itself, can keep them. To do=20
this, India advocates ''global norms that go beyond the NPT''.=20

This too is in keeping with US priorities. Since September 11, 2001,=20
Washington has refused all proposals for limiting, leave alone=20
disarming, its nuclear weapons. It strongly signalled its opposition to=20
nuclear disarmament at a review conference of the NPT this past May.=20

But at the same time, the US has redoubled its efforts at preventing=20
proliferation through aggressive measures like intercepting suspect=20
shipments on the high seas. India is moving towards support for such=20
measures too.=20

''This will be seen as India's betrayal of its own past traditions as a=20
peace campaigner and leader of the Non-Aligned Movement, and its own=20
independent foreign policy'', says Aijaz Ahmad, a distinguished=20
professor of South Asian Studies at the Jamia Millia Islamia university=20
in the capital. ''There will be sharp divisions and no domestic=20
consensus whatever on this disastrous policy shift''.=20

India's new turn on the AQ Khan issue is directed as much at the U.S. as=20
at Pakistan. It wants to highlight the proliferation potential in its=20
neighbourhood to indicate that it will play a leading, pro-active role=20
in preventing the possible spread of nuclear weapons.=20

This is designed to please Washington although it is doubtful that it=20
will lead to much investigation into Khan's activities, given=20
Washington's dependence on Pakistan for the 'war on terror'.=20

India's new position as enunciated by Saran is that clandestine nuclear=20
operations must be scrutinised from both the demand and supply=20
ends. ''We see no reason why there should be an insistence on personal=20
interviews with Iranian scientists but an exception granted to a man who=20
has been accused of running a global =91nuclear Wal-Mart'. ''This refers=20
to Khan, who is believed to have supplied components of uranium=20
enrichment centrifuges to Iran.=20

Such rhetoric may embitter India-Pakistan relations. Already, the=20
composite dialogue process has entered stagnation. The two failed to=20
cooperate in rescue and relief operations across the Line of Control in=20
divided Kashmir after the terrible earthquake there two weeks ago.=20

By moving into the U.S. orbit, and embracing non-proliferation at the=20
expense of disarmament, India may end up sacrificing its interests in=20
peace and cooperation in the immediate neighbourhood.
(END/IPS/AP/IP/DV/ML/PB/RDR/05)

=20
=3D 10260457 ORP002
NNNN

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 11 Nukes put big O in Ontario: Straightgoods.com
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 00:53:50 -0500 (CDT)

X-Fingerprint: owner-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu-127.127

from: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature5.cfm?REF=489
Energy policy puts the big Owe back into Ontario

Nuclear choice, high hydro prices in North mean trouble for consumers and 
taxpayers.

Dateline: Monday, October 24, 2005

by Ish Theilheimer

The Ontario Liberals have made it official. With recent policy 
announcements and the extremely generous terms offered to the private 
company that has taken over the Bruce nuclear reactors, the future is so 
clear it glows. The party that gave us Darlington, its $14 billion cost 
overrun and the debt retirement charges on our power bills, is once again 
setting the province on a nuclear track.

Home and business owners should brace for the next set of rate increases 
that will be required to pay for the nuclear panacea the Liberals seek. 
Regardless of one's opinions on matters nuclear, it is clearly a high-cost 
option once long-term costs are calculated.

36b227c.jpgConservation remains the most affordable option. It is much 
cheaper to take steps that will lead to less power use than it is to build 
new generation of any kind. High-efficiency appliances, better insulation 
everywhere, increased use of cogeneration and district heating and cooling 
these are the cheapest ways to increase our electrical capacity. They do 
not require quantam technological leaps, and they can definitely help 
protect Ontario power consumers from surprises down the road.

Conservation will not replace the aging generation stations on which we 
depend, but they will lessen our need for greater capacity. Replacement is 
another issue and not an easy one. No option is perfectly clean. Dams, 
wind, biomass, ethanol, solar all have their downsides (environmental 
destruction, climate change potential, air pollution, inefficiency of 
production, and climate change potential, respectively).

What is required at this point, and has been for some time, is for the 
government to dedicate serious research and development funding for energy 
alternatives and assessment of the best way to combine those alternatives 
for sustained use. The quick fix the McGuinty government seeks from nuclear 
will inevitably result in regret at leisure and pain at the bank....

whole article at: http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewFeature5.cfm?REF=489

Penney Kome, author and journalist
http://penneykome.ca
Editor, Straight Goods, http://straightgoods.com 

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/octet-stream which had a name of 36b227c.jpg]
*****************************************************************
 12 NRC: NRC Schedules Regulatory Conference to Discuss Turkey Point Nuclear Plant Concern
 
News Release - 2005-04
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region II
  No. II-05-041   		        October 26, 2005   
  CONTACT:     Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417     E-mail:   
  

shutdown cables and related compensatory, non-feasible local
manual operator action. The meeting was requested by FP&L. 

The NRC evaluates regulatory performance at commercial nuclear
power plants with a color-coded system which classifies findings
as either green, white, yellow or red, in increasing order of
safety significance. The NRCs preliminary evaluation determined
that this issue at Turkey Point appears to be a white finding,
which would be considered to be of low to moderate safety
significance. 

The meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. in the NRCs Region II
office, located on the 24th floor of the Atlanta Federal Center
at 61 Forsyth Street SW in Atlanta. The public is invited to
attend to observe and will have one or more opportunities to
communicate with the NRC after the business portion, but before
the meeting is adjourned. 

No decisions on the final safety significance, apparent
violations or possible enforcement action will be made during
the conference. Those decisions will be made by NRC officials at
a later time. 

AUDIO TELECONFERENCE: Interested members of the public can
participate in this meeting via a toll-free audio
teleconference. Please contact Mr. Charles Payne at (404)
562-4669 by Nov. 4 indicating your intent and to obtain a
teleconferencing number.   



  


 	Last revised Wednesday, October 26, 2005 	   
*****************************************************************
 13 newsobserver.com: Panel rejects nuclear energy

Wednesday, October 26, 2005
 
Raleigh ˇ Durham ˇ Cary ˇ Chapel Hill   

Experts promote wind, solar power
 
By WADE RAWLINS, Staff Writer

 North Carolina doesn't have to rely only on building more
coal-fired power plants and new nuclear plants to meet its
future electricity needs, a panel of energy experts said Tuesday.

 Developing alternative sources of renewable power production
such as wind generation and solar power coupled with more
efficient use of existing electricity could reduce the reliance
on fossil fuels, they said.

 The forum, titled "Transitioning to Safe, Economical
Electricity," drew more than 500 people to the Friday Center in
Chapel Hill. It was organized by N.C. WARN, a nonprofit group
that promotes alternatives to nuclear energy.

 Scientists predict that the Earth could warm more quickly in
the 21st century than at any time in the past 10,000 years. If
temperatures continue to rise, North Carolina could face the
loss of coastal areas to the ocean, more severe hurricanes and
failure of traditional crops.

William Schlesinger, dean of Duke University's Nicholas School
of the Environment, said the parallel between rising levels of
carbon dioxide since the Industrial Revolution and rising
temperature is near proof that human activity is negatively
affecting the planet. He said the spike in temperatures in
recent decades is well outside the normal temperature variation.

 Schlesinger said the best computer predictions are that North
Carolina's temperatures will rise between 5 and 9 degrees
Fahrenheit by the end of the century.

 "We'll have a climate reminiscent of central Florida,"
Schlesinger predicted.

 The state's large utilities --Progress Energy and Duke Power --
are proposing additional nuclear plants and coal plants to
handle projected power demand.

 Schlesinger said the cheap price of fossil fuels doesn't
account for the high cost to the climate.

 "You pay roughly 8 cents per kilowatt hour to light your home
with electricity from coal, versus about 25 cents to do the same
with solar power," he said. "Yet solar power generates no costs
to the environment, while burning coal leaves a legacy bill to
be paid over centuries."

 Schlesinger said nuclear energy appears an attractive option
because nuclear plants do not produce the amount of greenhouse
gases that coal plants do. But Schlesinger said nuclear power
would likely not appear as cost effective if the expense of
nuclear waste disposal and protection against terrorism were
added to the equation.

 Amory Lovins, an energy expert, author and co-founder of the
nonprofit research center Rocky Mountain Institute, said
wind-generated power is already part of the energy supply in
some parts of the world such as Europe. A fifth of Denmark's
power now comes from wind, and Germany and Spain are adding as
much power capacity each year through wind generation each year
as the nuclear industry is worldwide during the current decade

 "If the climate is a problem, we ought to be buying the most
solution per dollar," Lovins said.

 Rick Kimble, a spokesman for Progress Energy, said in an
interview that alternative sources of energy would not deliver
the 24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week supply of power the utility
needs.

 "You are never going to have solar used as a base load power
because you don't have solar at night," Kimble said. "You're not
going to be able to produce the megawatts that are needed."

 Progress Energy has estimated that it will need another power
plant by about 2015 and is considering construction of a new
nuclear plant.

 "We're not saying nuclear is the preferred alternative," Kimble
said. "We have not said we're building a nuclear plant. We've
said we plan to go through the licensing process to keep the
option of nuclear available."

Staff writer Wade Rawlins can be reached at 829-4528 or
wrawlins@newsobserver.com. 


Š Copyright 2005, The News &Observer Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
 14 RIA Novosti: Russian Health Ministry against upping compensation for Chernobyl victims
 
26/ 10/ 2005                                  

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Ministry of Health
and Social Development has turned down proposals to
significantly increase the amount of monthly monetary
compensation paid to victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear
disaster.

 	In a report prepared for the Federation Council, the upper
chamber of the Russian parliament, the ministry said the victims
of the world's greatest nuclear accident had already been
receiving up to $891 and various medical benefits.

 	"The proposal to significantly increase the amount of monthly
monetary compensation for disabled by Chernobyl appears to be
ungrounded," the report said. "Besides, such a measure will give
them even more special privileges compared to other categories
of the disabled."

 	Maxim Topilin, Head of the Labor and Employment Service of the
Russian Federation, said the construction of new radiological
centers for treatment of Russian citizens who received excessive
dozes of radiation would be considered in the framework of a
national project called Health.
 
Š 2005 "RIA Novosti"   
*****************************************************************
 15 BBC: Rare glimpse into nuclear reactor
 
Last Updated: Wednesday, 26 October 2005
 
By Gareth Jones BBC Wales' business editor   

[Trawsfynydd reactor]                           

The reactor at Trawsfynydd is being dismantled                                                             

In the vast concrete hulks of Trawsfynydd's old nuclear reactors, 
the air is monitored constantly for radioactivity. 

Only two nuclear power plants were built in Wales - one at Wylfa, 
which is due to close in 2010, and another at Trawsfynydd, now 
being taken slowly apart. 

With the highly radioactive nuclear fuel already removed to 
Sellafield for reprocessing a decade ago, the most dangerous 
material left on site is so-called intermediate waste. 

In Trawsfynydd's case this includes radioactive metal that 
surrounded the fuel rods in the reactors. 

No human can come near it. It is moved around the site in a 
network of tunnels monitored remotely on CCTV. 

It is brought up into a chamber where, protected behind thick 
glass, operators use robotic arms to sort it and place it in 
strong boxes. The process is so laborious it takes weeks to fill 
just one small box. 

Then each one is injected with concrete and, using remotely 
controlled heavy lifting gear, they are put into even bigger 
concrete containers with walls half a metre thick. 

[Robotic arm]                           

Robotic arms are used to sort the radioactive metal                                                               

These 40-tonne concrete 'overpacks' will stay on site in their 
own new building for 40 years, pending a decision on a new UK 
site for intermediate waste. 

Returning Trawsfynydd to a green-field site will cost more than 
Ł1bn, according to Simon Parsons of the British Nuclear Group. 

"It's an expensive business, but we're trying to find ways of 
reducing the cost," he said. 

It is the cost and environmental concerns about waste that had 
all but written off the industry. 

Many experts say the commercial risks involved with nuclear are 
so great, no-one will put money into it. Professor Gordon 
McKerron, of Sussex University, says the problem is no-one has 
built a reactor for so long, no-one knows the cost. 

"The financial risk may be overwhelming, unless you can 
internationalise the building of reactors," he said. 

The industry itself says with some government support, nuclear 
could have a future. 

Reliable energy 

"We aren't looking for a lot of support, because we believe an 
economic case for nuclear can be made," said Philip Dewhurst of 
the Nuclear Industry Association. 

With most of the UK's reactors due to be decommissioned by 2020, 
the prime minister has called for nuclear's future to be debated. 
But this has not gone down well among senior ministers in Wales. 

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain recently spoke out against more 
nuclear plants in Wales, while the Welsh Assembly Government 
(WAG) has been busy promoting other sources of energy including 
wind. WAG said it expects its views to be heard during the 
forthcoming energy review. 

It may not want to see new nuclear stations here, but one major 
employer - Anglesey Aluminium - has linked its future in Wales to 
getting cheap reliable energy and its depending now on the 
nuclear reactor at Wyfla. Much then is at stake in the growing 
energy debate.                                                   



*****************************************************************
 16 JOURNAL NEWS: Indian Point scrutiny to grow

By GREG CLARY gclary@thejournalnews.com

(Original publication: October 26, 2005)

The nation's top nuclear regulator yesterday promised Sen.
Hillary Rodham Clinton to increase oversight of Indian Point
following two months of problems with the plant's emergency
notification system and a slow leak of radioactive water from a
spent fuel pool.

Nils Diaz, chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, met
with Clinton yesterday, and the New York Democrat presented him
with a letter detailing her specific worries since a leak from a
spent fuel pool was discovered in late August at Indian Point 2.

"My greatest concern about the leaks is that they pose a
potential threat to groundwater and drinking water," Clinton's
letter said. "I would like your office to provide me as soon as
possible with a detailed timeline of how the types, rates, and
sources of all of the leaks will be identified, tracked and
mitigated."

Clinton said she was "particularly concerned" that a sufficient
number of wells be drilled to enable a full assessment of the
extent of contamination.

Last week, five wells as far away as 500 yards from Indian Point
2 showed trace elements of tritium during samplings by employees
of Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the plant's owner. The levels of
the relatively weak radioactive element were below those found
in drinking water in all but one sampling.

The company said the wells were not for drinking water, and
there was no threat to the public or workers at the site.

A spokesman for the NRC regional office responsible for Indian
Point reiterated that there were permanent NRC engineers
assigned to the nuclear site and that a special investigation of
the leaking radioactive water was already under way.

NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said Diaz committed to increasing
resources at the plant to work on solving the leaks and the
problems with the 156-siren notification network.

Sheehan said Indian Point had received high marks in recent
routine inspections and would normally be subjected to baseline
level inspections.

"What the chairman said to Sen. Clinton is that even though
that's the case, we will commit additional inspection resources
to the plant until we get to the bottom of these issues,"
Sheehan said.

Entergy announced plans last week to drill about eight more
wells on the site and to begin an underwater inspection of the
400,000-gallon holding tank that contains spent fuel rods. The
company also said it would develop a hydrological survey of the
area and a plan to clean up or contain the leaked water.

Entergy spokesman Jim Steets said the company was working hard
on the sirens and the leak.

"We are aggressively taking actions to ensure the safety of the
Indian Point 2 spent fuel pool and the reliability of a
functioning siren system, including plans to replace the current
one," Steets said. "We welcome additional reviews by the NRC.
We're all on the same side on these issues."

Lisa Rainwater, the Indian Point campaign coordinator for
Riverkeeper, an environmental group fighting to close the plant,
applauded Clinton for "taking a strong approach with the NRC,"
which Rainwater said had failed to keep the public adequately
informed about the plant's problems.

Rainwater cited a three-week delay from when the leak was first
discovered until it was made public by the NRC or Entergy.

The NRC quickly launched a special investigation after a public
outcry about the lack of notification, and the agency has since
dedicated a specific portion of the agency's Web site 
www.nrc.gov/reactors/plant-specific-items/indian-point-issues.htm
l to keep the public informed of developments at Indian Point.

Rainwater said a 1965 geological report showed that it was an
"impossibility for any drainage from the plant to go anywhere
except into the Hudson River," a finding that Riverkeeper said
was a clear call for greater monitoring.

"In addition to addressing the threat to groundwater and
drinking water, the threat to the ecological integrity of the
Hudson River is also a grave concern," Rainwater said.

NRC spokesman Sheehan said a report on the leak investigation
would likely be ready in a few weeks.

Sheehan said no decision had been made on whether Entergy's
effort to replace the emergency notification system with
something more advanced would mitigate the requirement to put a
backup power system in place for the entire system.

County emergency officials met last week with Entergy about a
new network and said plans were advancing for a system that
would use the Internet and cell phones on a more widespread
basis.

Last week, 10 of 16 sirens in Orange County did not work during
a quarterly test of the system, about a month after all 51
sirens in Rockland County failed to sound during a test of the
backup system.

Copyright 2005 The Journal News, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper
serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York.
*****************************************************************
 17 Xinhua: China, US to increase nuclear co-operation   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-26 08:21:59   

    BEIJING, Oct. 26 -- A senior US official yesterday expressed
repeated commitment to transferring nuclear reactor technologies
to China. China has drafted ambitious plans to use nuclear power
to alleviate growing energy shortages. 

    Administrator of the US National Nuclear Security
Administration, Linton Brooks, told China Daily: "There is no
reason why the (reactor) technology should not be transferred to
a country like China." 

    Industry insiders said the commitment from Brooks, who is
also undersecretary of the US Department of Energy, is expected
to boost US nuclear power company Westinghouse's attempts to win
a US$8-billion contract to build four nuclear reactors at Sanmen
in Zhejiang Province and Guangdong Province's Yangjiang. 

    So far, the Chinese Government has been busy reviewing bid
application from the US company, France's Areva and Russia's
AtomStroyExport. 

    Several high-level US officials have expressed interest in
loosening controls over exports of nuclear reactor technologies
to China. The controls have rendered Westinghouse unable to
participate in China's nuclear reactor construction, despite the
company having had a presence here for years. 

    An earlier report said that Westinghouse plans to sell its
new AP1000 reactor, which is to be approved by the US Nuclear
Regulatory Commission by the end of the year. 

    China is considering picking one strong partner to help it
build dozens of new nuclear plants over the coming years, as
part of the plan to raise the country's nuclear power generating
capacity fourfold by 2020 to 36,000 megawatts. 

    Brooks said the US will forge a partnership with China to
enhance nuclear security capacity. 

    He said a week-long demonstration has been organized by his
department and the China Atomic Energy Authority (CAEA) in
Beijing, to prevent nuclear material theft, diversion and
sabotage. 

    "The demonstration, which ends on Friday, is the first one
we have held in China, and in fact the first one we have held
outside the US," said Brooks. 

    CAEA Chairman Sun Qin said the demonstration is to promote
the adoption of modern security practices and technologies at
civilian nuclear facilities in China. 

    Brooks also said that the US does not conduct nuclear
security co-operation with China at military level, despite "the
great potential." 

    
(Source: China Daily)
   
  Copyright Š2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 18 NRC: Notice of Availability of NUREG-1833, ``Technical Bases for 
 
                         FR Doc E5-5947 
[Federal Register: October 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 206)] 
[Notices] [Page 61848] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26oc05-132]                         
 
Revision to the License Renewal Guidance Documents'' AGENCY: 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
ACTION: Notice of availability.
 
SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is issuing 
NUREG- 1833, ``Technical Bases for Revision to the License 
Renewal Guidance Documents.'' This document describes the 
technical bases for the revision of NUREG-1801, ``Generic Aging 
Lessons Learned (GALL) Report'' and NUREG-1800 ``Standard Review 
Plan for the Review of License Renewal Applications for Nuclear 
Power Plants'' (SRP-LR).
 
 
ADDRESSES: Copies are available in the Commission's Public 
Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738. The 
NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management 
System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's 
public documents. This document may be accessed through the NRC's 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under ADAMS accession 
number ML052110003. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or 
who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in 
ADAMS should contact the NRC's PDR Reference staff at 
1-800-397-4209, 301- 415-4737, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Jerry Dozier, License Renewal 
Project Manager, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, Mail Stop 
O- 11F1, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 
20555-0001, telephone 301-415-1014, or by e-mail at jxd@nrc.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Technical Bases for Revision to the 
License Renewal Guidelines Documents The NRC staff has written 
NUREG-1833 to document and justify the technical changes to the 
GALL Report and SRP-LR since the 2001 publication. The changes 
that were made when revising these license renewal guidance 
documents are captured in NUREG-1833, along with the bases for 
technical changes. Changes to the GALL Report and SRP-LR are in 
the following categories: (1) Roll-Up Changes; (2) Incorporation 
of NRC Positions; (3) Operating Experience; and (4) Technical or 
Process Clarifications and Corrections.
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 18th day of October 2005.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Pao-Tsin Kuo, Program Director, License Renewal and Environmental 
Impacts Program, Division of Regulatory Improvement Programs, 
Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E5-5947 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 19 NRC: Final Regulatory Guide: Issuance, Availability
 
                         FR Doc E5-5948 
[Federal Register: October 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 206)] 
[Notices] [Page 61847-61848] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26oc05-131]                         
 
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has issued a 
revision to an existing guide in the agency's Regulatory Guide 
Series.
 
This series has been developed to describe and make available to 
the public such information as methods that are acceptable to the 
NRC staff for implementing specific parts of the NRC's 
regulations, techniques that the staff uses in evaluating 
specific problems or postulated accidents, and data that the 
staff needs in its review of applications for permits and 
licenses.
 
Revision 1 of Regulatory Guide 3.71, entitled ``Nuclear 
Criticality Safety Standards for Fuels and Material Facilities,'' 
describes methods that the NRC staff finds acceptable for 
complying with the NRC's regulations in Title 10, Parts 70 and 
76, of the Code of Federal Regulations. In 10 CFR Part 70, 
``Domestic Licensing of Special Nuclear Material,'' Section 
70.20, ``General License To Own Special Nuclear Material,'' 
states that a specific license is required to acquire, deliver, 
receive, possess, use, transfer, import, or export special 
nuclear material. According to 10 CFR 70.22, ``Contents of 
Applications,'' each application for such a license must contain 
proposed procedures to avoid nuclear criticality accidents. In 10 
CFR Part 76, ``Certification of Gaseous Diffusion Plants,'' 
Section 76.87, ``Technical Safety Requirements,'' states that the 
technical safety requirements should reference procedures and 
equipment that are applicable to criticality prevention.
 
The NRC initially issued Regulatory Guide 3.71 in 1998 to provide 
guidance concerning procedures that the staff considered 
acceptable for complying with these portions of the NRC's 
regulations. Toward that end, the original guide endorsed 
specific nuclear criticality safety standards developed by the 
American Nuclear Society's Standards Subcommittee 8 (ANS-8), 
``Operations with Fissionable Materials Outside Reactors.'' Those 
national standards provide guidance, criteria, and best practices 
for use in preventing and mitigating criticality accidents during 
operations that involve handling, processing, storing, and/or 
transporting special nuclear material at fuel and material 
facilities. The original guide also took exceptions to certain 
portions of individual ANS-8 standards. In addition, the original 
guide consolidated and replaced a number of earlier NRC 
regulatory guides, thereby providing all of the relevant guidance 
in a single document.
 
Since that time, several ANS-8 nuclear criticality safety 
standards have been added, reaffirmed, revised, or withdrawn.
 
Consequently, the NRC staff decided to update this guide to 
clarify which standards the agency endorses and to clearly state 
exceptions to individual standards. Toward that end, the staff 
issued this revised regulatory guide as Draft Regulatory Guide 
DG-3023, with a Federal Register notice (70 FR 25128), dated May 
12, 2005, to solicit stakeholder comments. The public comment 
period closed on June 20, 2005, without the submission of any 
stakeholder comments; however, the NRC staff further revised RG 
3.71 based on review of additional changes to the consensus 
standards in the guide.
 
This revision does not change any of the guidance provided in the 
initial issuance of Regulatory Guide 3.71; rather, it provides 
guidance concerning changes that have occurred since the NRC 
published the original guide in 1998. For completeness, this 
guide restates the endorsements and exceptions stated in 
Regulatory Guide 3.71, as applicable, while identifying 
endorsements of or exceptions to new or modified standards.
 
Since the ANSI/ANS-8 standards are constantly being issued, 
revised, reaffirmed, or withdrawn, the NRC staff plans to revise 
this guide on a regular basis. The NRC staff encourages and 
welcomes comments and suggestions in connection with improvements 
to published regulatory guides, as well as items for inclusion in 
regulatory guides that are currently being developed. Comments 
may be accompanied by relevant information or supporting data. 
Please mention the guide number in the subject line of your 
submission. Comments submitted in writing or in electronic form 
will be made available to the public in their entirety on the 
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS). 
Personal information will not be removed from your comments. You 
may
 
[[Page 61848]] submit comments by any of the following methods.
 
Mail comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001.
 
Hand-deliver comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 11555 
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays.
 
Fax comments to: Rules and Directives Branch, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission at (301) 
415-5144.
 
Requests for technical information about RG 3.71 may be directed 
to H.D. Felsher, at (301) 415-5521 or via e-mail to HDF@nrc.gov. 
Electronic copies of RG 3.71 are available through the NRC's 
public Web site under the Regulatory Guides document collection 
of the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/. Electronic copies 
are also available in the NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and 
Management System (ADAMS) at 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html , under Accession No. 
ML051940351. In addition, regulatory guides are available for 
inspection at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), which is 
located at 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland; the PDR's 
mailing address is USNRC PDR, Washington, DC 20555-0001. The PDR 
can also be reached by telephone at (301) 415-4737 or (800) 
397-4205, by fax at (301) 415-3548, and by email to PDR@nrc.gov. 
Requests for single copies of draft or final guides (which may be 
reproduced) or for placement on an automatic distribution list 
for single copies of future draft guides in specific divisions 
should be made in writing to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Reproduction 
and Distribution Services Section; by e-mail to 
DISTRIBUTION@nrc.gov; or by fax to (301) 415-2289. Telephone 
requests cannot be accommodated. Regulatory guides are not 
copyrighted, and Commission approval is not required to reproduce 
them. (5 U.S.C. 552(a)) Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 17th 
day of October, 2005.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Carl J. Paperiello, Director, Office of Nuclear Regulatory 
Research.
 
[FR Doc. E5-5948 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 20 NRC: Notice of License Terminations for University of Virginia 
 
                         FR Doc E5-5949 
[Federal Register: October 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 206)] 
[Notices] [Page 61846-61847] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26oc05-130]                         
 
Research Reactor (UVAR) and University of Virginia Cooperatively 
Assembled Virginia Low Intensity Educational Reactor (CAVALIER) 
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is noticing the 
termination of Facility Operating License No. R-66 for the UVAR 
and Facility Operating License No. R-123 for the CAVALIER. The 
NRC has terminated the license of the decommissioned UVAR, in the 
reactor facility on the UVA campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, 
and has released the site for unrestricted use. The licensee 
requested termination of the license in a letter to NRC dated 
June 18, 2004. The UVAR was a 2-MW-thermal, 
light-water-moderated, -cooled, and -reflected reactor fueled 
with plate-type fuel. It was licensed and first operated in June 
1960. The reactor was permanently shut down on June 30, 1998. The 
licensee submitted a decommissioning plan to NRC for review and 
approval in a letter dated February 9, 2000, updated by letter 
dated April 26, 2000, and supplemented by letters on December 19, 
2000, and May 4 and May 11, 2001. The NRC approved the UVAR 
decommissioning plan by Amendment No. 26 to the Facility 
Operating License No. R-66 on March 26, 2002.
 
The NRC has also terminated the license of the decommissioned 
CAVALIER, which was in the same reactor facility on the UVA 
campus in Charlottesville, Virginia, and has released the site 
for unrestricted use. The licensee requested termination of the 
license in an April 4, 2003 letter to NRC. The request for 
termination was affirmed by letter dated September 26, 2005. The 
CAVALIER was a 100-MW-thermal, light- water-moderated, -cooled, 
and -reflected reactor fueled with plate-type fuel. It was 
licensed and first operated in October 1974. The licensee 
submitted a decommissioning plan by letter February 26, 1990, and 
supplemented the plan on June 17, 1991. The NRC Commission issued 
an Order Authorizing Dismantling of Facility and Disposition of 
Component Parts for the CAVALIER, Facility Operating License No. 
R-123, on February 3, 1992.
 
A Notice and Solicitation of Comments Pursuant to 10 CFR 20.1405 
and 10 CFR 50.82(b)(5) Concerning Proposed Action To Decommission 
the University of Virginia, University of Virginia Research 
Reactor appeared in the Federal Register on December 6, 2001 (65 
FR 17684). All comments received were considered by the staff 
during the review of the UVAR decommissioning plan for Facility 
Operating License No.
 
R-66.
 
A Notice of Proposed Issuance of Orders Disposition of Component 
Parts and Terminating Facility License appeared in the Federal 
Register on April 22, 1991 (56 FR 16350). No request for a 
hearing or petition for leave to intervene was filed following 
notice of the proposed action concerning Facility Operating 
License No. R-123. The NRC completed its review of the April 2004 
UVAR Final Status Survey Report submitted to NRC by letter dated 
June 18, 2004, and the March 2003 Evaluation of Radiological 
Characterization Results Relative to the Termination of NRC 
License No. R-123 dated, March 2003, submitted by letter dated 
April 4, 2003. Both reports documented the level of residual 
radioactivity remaining at the facility and stated that 
compliance with the criteria in the NRC-approved decommissioning 
plan for both reactors has been demonstrated.
 
Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.82(b)(6), the NRC staff has concluded that 
both reactors have been decommissioned in accordance with the 
approved decommissioning plans and that the terminal radiation 
surveys and
 
[[Page 61847]] associated documentation demonstrate that the 
facilities and sites may be released in accordance with the 
criteria in the NRC-approved decommissioning plans. Further, on 
the basis of the decommissioning activities carried out by UVA, 
the NRC's review of the licensee's final status survey report, 
the results of NRC inspections conducted at the UVAR and 
CAVALIER, and the results of NRC confirmatory surveys, the NRC 
has concluded that the decommissioning process is complete and 
the facilities and sites may be released for unrestricted use.
 
Therefore Facility Operating License Nos. R-66 and R-123 are 
terminated. For further details concerning UVAR see the 
licensee's application for decommissioning dated February 9, 
2000, updated by letter April 26, 2000 and supplemented by 
letters on December 19, 2000, May 4, and May 11, 2001; the NRC 
approval of the UVAR decommissioning plan by Amendment No. 26 to 
Facility Operating License No. R-66 on March 26, 2002; the 
licensee's request for license termination by letter to NRC dated 
June 18, 2004; the April 2004 UVAR Final Status Survey Report 
submitted to NRC by letter dated June 18, 2004; and NRC 
Inspection Report No. 50-62/2002-202, dated September 2, 2005. 
For further details about CAVALIER, see the licensee's February 
26, 1990 application for decommissioning, supplemented on June 
17, 1991; the February 3, 1992, Order Authorizing Dismantling of 
Facility and Disposition of Component Parts for the CAVALIER, 
Facility Operating License No. R-123; licensee's April 4, 2003, 
request for termination of the license; the March 2003 Evaluation 
of Radiological Characterization Results Relative to the 
Termination of NRC License No. R-123, submitted by letter dated 
April 4, 2003; and NRC Inspection Report No. 50-62/2002-202, 
dated September 2, 2005. Documents may be examined, and/or copied 
for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR) at One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland. Publicly available records for UVA dated after January 
30, 2000, will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic 
Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who have problems in accessing the documents 
in ADAMS should call the NRC PDR reference staff at 1-800- 
397-4209 or 301-415-4737 or e-mail pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at 
Rockville, Maryland, this 17th day of October, 2005.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Brian E. Thomas, Section Chief, Research and Test Reactors 
Section, New, Research and Test Reactors Program, Division of 
Regulatory Improvement Programs, Office of Nuclear Reactor 
Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E5-5949 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 21 Record Online: Same story for Indian Point

http://www.recordonline.com

October 26, 2005

   The Indian Point failure story continued last week as 10
emergency sirens in Orange County failed to sound in a test of
the nuclear facility's backup alert system. This was the fourth
successive test in which some sirens failed to sound and is
especially disturbing since the latest test was held to correct
major problems uncovered in Rockland County in a test last month.

   Orange County Executive Ed Diana called the results
unacceptable and said he's asked the Nuclear Regulatory Agency
for another test within 30 days. That's certainly appropriate,
but when a significant number of sirens fail to sound every time
the Hudson River plant tests them, residents living in the
emergency evacuation area have a right to worry.

   Critics of the plant point to the regular failure of sirens
and what they say are unrealistic traffic control plans to argue
that Entergy Nuclear Northeast, the plant owner, cannot conduct
a reliable emergency evacuation and so the plant should be
closed. If those sirens keep failing, Entergy won't be able to
drown out the chorus of people saying the same thing. 
   
Times Herald-Record

   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.
                                 
CopyrightOrange County Publications. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 22 Hudson Valley News: NRC chairman pledges stronger oversight of Indian Point   

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 

Senator Hillary Clinton got assurances from U.S. Nuclear
Regulatory Commission Chairman Nils Diaz that his agency would
implement enhanced oversight of the Indian Point nuclear power
plants with respect to leaks and the emergency notification
system. 

During a meeting, the senator called on the NRC to produce a
comprehensive plan and timeline for dealing with these serious
issues facing the facility. People living around the plant have
a right to know about how this leak happened and what action is
being taken, not only to identify the source of the problem, but
to determine what the impact might be, Clinton said. And Entergy
needs to get the sirens up and going. We deserve to have an
emergency notification system that works. 

During the meeting, Diaz told Clinton that he would soon
announce enhanced oversight of Indian Point with respect to both
the leaks and the emergency notification system.  Diaz also
committed that the NRC would be implementing the provision the
senator inserted in the energy bill by issuing detailed orders
to Entergy in January to require them to back up their emergency
notification system. 

"We (Entergy) are aggressively taking actions to ensure the
safety of the Indian Point 2 spent-fuel pool and the reliability
of a functioning siren system, including plans to replace the
current one, and we welcome additional reviews of those
activities by the NRC, said Entergy spokesman James Streets.
We're all on the same side on these issues." 

 HEAR today's news on , the Hudson Valley's only Internet radio
                          news report. 
*****************************************************************
 23 Arizona Republic: Regulators to examine Palo Verde's safety
 
 October 26, 2005 

azcentral.com

APS wants customers to pay $40 mil because of outages                                              

Ken Alltucker

State regulators will probe the safety, operations and
maintenance of the Palo Verde nuclear plant in the wake of an
outage this month that left all three reactors idle and strained
power supplies throughout the Southwest. 

Arizona Corporation Commissioners want a better idea of what
Arizona Public Service is doing to prevent similar outages at
the nation's largest nuclear power plant.

 It's unclear what action the commission, which sets rates and
monitors utilities, may take as a result of the hearing,
expected to take place in December or January. 

A string of outages at Palo Verde this year have been costly to
the utility and potentially to ratepayers. APS, which owns 19.1
percent of the facility, wants to recover $40 million from
customers because of outages since April, including $14 million
from the outage that began Oct. 11. That amount represents the
utility's estimated cost of purchasing more expensive types of
electricity to replace the cheaper nuclear power. 

The hearing is expected to include a detailed look at the
plant's operations this year, including maintenance and safety
records. In addition to studying information provided by APS,
the commission will invite the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to collect information on safety, inspection and
other procedures at the plant.

 The corporation commission held a similar hearing after the
Westwing substation fire plunged the Valley into a power crisis
during the summer of 2004, but the commission imposed no fines
or other sanctions against APS. 

APS spokesman Jim McDonald said the hearing is an appropriate
response to questions about the plant's performance. 

"It's part of what you accept when you operate one of these
plants," McDonald said.

 Commissioners Bill Mundell and Kris Mayes wanted the hearing to
include the question of whether ratepayers should be liable for
the extra costs. But the group decided to hold separate hearings
on the plant's performance and the financial impact of its
outages on utility bills. 

"We're concerned about the number of outages and the length of
outages this year," said Jeff Hatch-Miller, corporation
commission chairman. "We want to do whatever it takes to get
this plant operating and maximizing its efficiency."

 It's been one of the most difficult years in recent history for
the plant, about 50 miles west of downtown Phoenix. 

A recurring oil-seal leak in Unit 3's coolant pump forced the
reactor's shutdown three times this year. With Unit 1 already
closed for refueling and maintenance, APS shut down the other
two reactors Oct. 11 after federal regulators pointed out a
potential flaw in the design of the plant's emergency cooling
system. The utility ran tests that it says proves the system
would work just fine in the event of an emergency and has since
fired up Units 2 and 3. 

Under a corporation commission-approved rate plan, APS can
recover 90 percent of "prudently incurred" costs for fuel
purchases. The fuel cost "adjuster" permits APS to pass along
the rising costs of natural gas and oil.

 Today, the corporation commission will begin public hearings on
whether to approve an adjuster that would hike the typical
residential bill 2.1 percent to offset rising energy costs. Of
the $150 million in extra fuel costs incurred to date, APS
estimates that $40 million is due to Palo Verde outages. 

Reach the reporter at ken.alltucker@arizonarepublic.comor (602)
444-8285.

Copyright Š 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 24 WAVY.COM: Cooling tower added to reactor proposal

RICHMOND, Va. Dominion Virginia Power says it will add a cooling
tower to a proposed nuclear reactor at the North Anna plant near
Mineral. The company is seeking an early site permit from the
U-S Nuclear Regulatory Commission to possibly build two nuclear
reactors next to its current pair of water-cooled reactors.

The announcement yesterday came in response to concerns from 
several thousand Lake Anna homeowners that the reactor would have 
negative impact on the Louisa County lake. They tell the Richmond 
Times-Dispatch a water-cooled reactor would raise temperatures in 
parts of the lake as much as eight degrees, creating a health 
risk to swimmers. They say water consumption also would have 
dropped lake levels on the "cold" side of the lake by several 
feet while flooding the "warm" side of the lake.

The water-cooling tower would maintain current lake temperature 
while reducing water consumption as much as 75 percent.                                                        

Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights

      All content Š Copyright 2000 - 2005 WorldNow and WAVY. All
*****************************************************************
 25 ottawasun.com: Nuclear power push
               
 October 26 2005 

Nuclear power push Majority of Ontarians OK with nuclear 
generators, poll says

TORONTO -- Most adult Ontarians support the use of nuclear power
to keep the lights on, an exclusive Sun Media/Leger survey
suggests. 																			

 Although 60% of those surveyed said they prefer hydroelectric
power, 54% responded that they back nuclear energy as part of
the mix. 																			

 "The theme you see here is that the public understands that
despite their preference, they can't rely on hydro alone -- at
least at this stage in the game," said Leger Marketing associate
vice-president Craig Worden. 																			

 "It's like a recipe and there needs to be a mix. They support
nuclear being an ingredient in that mix." 																			

 The survey of 1,000 adults comes as debate around the use of
additional nuclear power in Ontario grows louder.
																		 									
 "This is another case of where the loud voices don't represent
the greater public opinion," said Worden, referring to
anti-nuclear activists such as Greenpeace. 																			

 The province recently announced a $4.25-billion deal with Bruce
Power to refurbish two mothballed reactors along the shore of
Lake Huron. 																			

 PUBLIC DIVIDED 																			

 The poll also found a very divided public on whether protecting
the environment, ensuring reliable supply or keeping hydro bills
low should be the most important factor when deciding how to
generate new power. 																			

 Protecting the environment scored slightly above the two, with
36% of people responding that it should receive priority when
managing the province's electricity system. 																			

 Ensuring a stable system was the priority for another 32%,
while 30% said cheap rates are most important.
																			

 The poll was taken between Oct. 12 and 18 and is considered
accurate to within plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times
out of 20. 																																				 																
								 								 								 								
 															 																		 									
Published by Sun Media Corporation, a Quebecor Media
company 
at 6 Antares Dr., Phase 3, Ottawa, Ont., Canada, K1G 5H7 
Publisher Rick Gibbons; Editor-in-chief Mike Therien 


*****************************************************************
 26 [du-list] Depleted uranium and OLAF, the missing link: EURATOM
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:59:57 -0700

<x-flowed>
Depleted uranium and OLAF, the missing link: EURATOM


REGULATION (EC) No 1073/1999 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE
COUNCIL of 25 May 1999 concerning investigations conducted by the
European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF)
http://www.vlada.gov.sk/olaf/dokumenty/nariadenie_1073_1999_en.doc







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 27 [du-list] DU researcher, 5 years in Iraq, suffering from cancer
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:57:50 -0700

<x-flowed>
       Estranged scientist wife of MP suffering from cancer

       http://www.theherald.co.uk/49567.shtml

       The Herald Tue, 25 Oct 2005 6:07 PM PDT
       GEORGE Galloway once said that happiness was "a hilltop in Portugal 
with the Atlantic shining below, a long Havana cigar and a Palestinian 
scientist running her fingers through my hair".

   ----------

No virus found in this outgoing message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.361 / Virus Database: 267.12.5/149 - Release Date: 10/25/05


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]





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 28 [du-list] Beyond Treason: Veterans exposure-
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 17:58:13 -0700

X-Temp-Whitesubject: YES du-list 
X-Spamprobe: ham-super	*       	0.0000134	OK

<x-flowed>
Thanks for that info, Mark.  Cheers, Elaine

Thought for the day:

If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

Mark Gailey <felixcat@iclub.org> wrote:
http://www.beyondtreason.com/

Veterans (and Gulf region) exposure-

Depleted Uranium
Biological and Chemical warfare
Experimental Vaccinations

110 minute DVD - free to military personnel and veterans
2 1/2 minute movie trailer - free .wmv download
documented research on accompanying CD


Mark Gailey
http://www.libertyfelix.net/



SPONSORED LINKS
U s government grant Berea kentucky hotel Berea kentucky Kentucky Berea 
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---------------------------------




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 29 Rediff: India, France discuss nuclear safety issues

October 27, 2005 03:06 IST

Indian scientists are holding talks with their French
counterparts on various issues relating to safety in transport
of radioactive materials, leak tests and flooding hazards at
nuclear power plants.
  + PM at the UN

The discussions, with the visiting delegation from France, are
being held under the agreement between the two countries, signed
in July 1999, to exchange information and cooperate on issues
relating to nuclear safety.

The delegation is having detailed discussions with Indian
scientists on various issues relating to nuclear safety, an
official release said in New Delhi Wednesday.
  + Iran vote: In the national interest?

The five-member delegation Tuesday visited the Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board, it said.

The two countries have also renewed the agreement for exchange
of information and cooperation in the regulation of nuclear
safety and radiation protection, the release said. 
7333: The Latest News on Your Mobile!

  Š Copyright 2005 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or
  
 Copyright Š 2005 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 30 Farmington Daily Times: Health effects of uranium considered 

Town hall meeting addresses health repercussions of uranium 
mining 

By Ryan Hall 

The Daily Times 

Oct 26, 2005, 06:00 am 

SHIPROCK -- Donald Yellowhorse, 62, of Cove, Ariz., worked in a
uranium mine near his home from 1960-1967, beginning at age 17.
At the time, he had no idea of the dangers of radiation and wore
only a helmet for protection. In 1990, he was diagnosed with
cancer of the liver and lungs.

"That's what they said it was, cancer from the uranium,"
Yellowhorse said, recalling the results of an X-ray taken in
Albuquerque. "These miners didn't know there was a danger of
cancer. Everybody that is older like me, they pass away from the
uranium. If I don't work there, I think healthier I be."

Yellowhorse spoke Tuesday outside of a town hall meeting in
Shiprock, held by the Department of Labor and Department of
Justice, to discuss federal compensation programs for former
nuclear weapons industry workers and their survivors.

Careers covered included uranium mining, uranium ore milling and
transportation.

More than $1 billion has been paid out to former uranium
industry workers across the United States since Part B of the
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program
(EEOICP) went into effect in 2001, according to statistics
provided by the U.S. Department of Labor.

"Part B covers a very narrow scope of illnesses," said Larry
Hoss, project manager for the compensation program.

He noted Part E, which has paid out nearly $200 million
nationwide since 2004, has expanded the diseases covered.

"It opened up to a wide array of illnesses," Hoss said, adding
the provision covers any illness caused by any toxic substance.

Despite the high pay-outs, Hoss estimated that there are more
individuals who are eligible for the program that haven't filed
then those who had.

He added that under Part B of EEOICP, a former worker or
survivor can get $150,000 while Part E provides up to $250,000
per individual, depending on circumstances. Medical expenses can
also be paid under certain conditions.

"It helped out a lot with the bills, the house and the truck,"
Yellowhorse, who did not discuss the amount he received due to a
privacy agreement, said.

Hoss noted he couldn't provide an estimate on the total amount
of compensation that will be paid out by EEOICP and the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which has paid out $186
million in Part B claims and $27 million in Part E claims to
date.

Hoss said area residents should be aware of the programs and
study the requirements if they or their parents worked with
uranium.

"There was a lot of uranium mining up in this area. A lot of
that mining was done by Native American workers," Hoss said.
"Our purpose in being here is to provide program information to
as many people as we can."

One of those workers was Earl Saltwater Sr. of Teec Nos Pos,
Ariz., who died in 1991. His son, Earl Saltwater Jr. spoke at
the meeting Tuesday.

"Genocide has been committed. You are supposed to be helping
us," Saltwater said to the Department of Labor and Justice
representatives attending the town hall meeting, which drew a
crowd of more than 200. "The federal government is always hiding
something behind them. Nobody's getting a fair chance. Today we
have disease, we're sick and we die."

His comments were met with shouting and clapping from those in
attendance.

Shelby Hallmark, director of the office of workers compensation
programs for the department of labor, told Saltwater that there
are problems with verifying documentation and that the
compensation programs are governed by restrictions set by
Congress.

"We are aware there are documentation problems where people
don't have original records, but we do want to provide benefits
to the Navajo Nation," Hallmark said.

Following Hallmark's answer to his comments, Saltwater told his
story.

His father was a uranium miner in the 1940s that "dressed like a
construction worker, no protection, no anything," according to
Saltwater.

The younger Saltwater, now 59, remembered his father mining the
ore then transporting it in his dump truck. On days where his
father did not work, Saltwater rode in the back of the truck
while running errands.

"We didn't even know (about the dangers of uranium exposure). We
don't know anything about this until the 70s," Saltwater said.

In 1991, his father died of cancer caused by uranium exposure.

"He died from lung cancers, prostate cancers, too many to name,"
Saltwater said, noting his father's uranium exposure was nearly
300 percent.

His children were given a $150,000 payment under the EEOICP, but
when Saltwater Jr., who worked in a uranium mine for just over
three months between 1968 and 1969, contracted pulmonary
fibrosis, his claim was denied.

According to information provided during the town hall meeting,
workers at the uranium mines that were located near Shiprock are
eligible for compensation if they were diagnosed with, or killed
by, an illness linked to a toxic substance associated with their
work. Additionally, they must have worked at the site sometime
between 1942 and 1971.

For more information on the compensation programs, contact
Energy Employees Compensation Resource Center at 1-866-272-3622.

Ryan Hall: rhall@daily-times.com        
Dave Watson/The Daily Times Earl Saltwater Jr. holds a photo of
his father, Earl Saltwater Sr., who worked in uranium mines near
Teec Nos Pos, Ariz., and died in 1991 of multiple forms of
cancer. 

Shopping: ShopLocal.com [ border=]      Copyright Š 2005 Farmington
Daily Times, a Gannett Co., Inc. newspaper.
*****************************************************************
 31 Xinhua: Marshall Islands claim more nuclear tests compensation from US

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-26 09:48:53   

    PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea, Oct. 26 (Xinhuanet) --
Marshall Islands is requiring another three billion US dollars
compensation from the United States for its nuclear tests half a
century ago which still bring in huge damages to the South
Pacific territory. 

    A Small Islands Summit (SIS) of the three-day 36th Pacific
Islands Forum held here issued a statement reiterating support
for Marshall Islands to seek more compensation. 

    Marshall Islands has received 270 million US dollars in an
agreement which expired in 2001, but it stresses that was far
from enough compared with the actual damage to the territory. 

    The US government performed a series of 67 tests of nuclear
weapons in the Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958. Fallout
from the testing is claimed to have affected some of the
island's near 60,000 inhabitants. 

    The Marshall Islands government said it has found people on
remote islands with higher percentages of cancers than previous
estimation. 

    A report last year from the US National Cancer Institute
also estimated that about 530 total cancers could appear, almost
double the amount currently known. 

    But US government said it disagree over Marshall Islands'
claimand a report to the Congress said the loss of damage
"appears to be significantly overstated because the
methodology." 

    The US government said it will not increase compensation
until the conditions change substantially. 

    The Marshall Islands, consisting of two chains of coral
atolls, together with more than 1,000 islets, were occupied by
the US for several decades after World War II. They are now
sovereign under a Compact of Free Association with the US, with
US controlling the security and defense of the islands, which
receive millions of dollars in aid every year. Their Gross
National Income per capita is 2,370 US dollars. 

    Marshall Islands President Kessai Note, who is expected to
put the issue to the US officials attending the Forum's dialogue
meeting, acknowledged it was no easy matter to get US nod. 

    Note said his government was quite unbalanced in size with
the US', but support from the south pacific states was very
important and helpful for negotiation. 

    Note has obtained SIS Leaders' reiteration of their call on
the US to "live up to its full obligations" on the provision of
adequate and fair compensation and commitment to its
responsibility for the safe resettlement of displaced
populations, including the full and final restoration to
economic productivity of all affected areas. 

    Note said Marshall Islands has few ways but negotiation with
the US government. 

    "We of course can't make US accept our requirement by
sanction or embargo...That's not the method we can take out,"
said Note. 

    But he noted to work "tirelessly" to make certain that the
nuclear issue is settled in a fair and just manner. Enditem    

  Copyright Š2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 32 Webindia: French nuke delegation discuss nuclear safety with AERB - 

Webindia123.com
 
Thursday, October 27, 2005   
      
Mumbai | October 26, 2005 1:46:07 PM IST
 
A five-member delegation of the French Nuclear and Radiation
Regulatory Organisation met the officials of the Atomic Energy
Regulatory Board (AERB) here yesterday to discuss various issues
pertaining to nuclear safety. 

The delegation, led by Director General Dr A C Lacosto, held
discussions on issues like - safety in transport of radioactive
material, safety and leak tests of pre-stressed concrete
containments and flooding hazards at nuclear power plants,
according to an official release here today. 

The AERB and French Nuclear Regulatory Organisation also renewed
an agreement for exchange of information and cooperation in the
regulation of nuclear safety and rediation protection. 

The visit of the French officials was under an agreement between
the two organisations that was signed in July, 1999 on exchange
of information and co-operation in the regulation of nuclear
safety and rediation protection, the release added.

UNI ST GK CD DS1240 
  
 	 
Š 2000-2005 Suni System (P) Ltd. All rights reserved   
*****************************************************************
 33 Uranium dumping plan decried
 
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 2005 11:54:37 -0400

X-Fingerprint: LindaG@nirs.org-127.127

For further information contact: Arjun Makhijani 301-270-5500 <br>

Nuclear Regulatory Commission Deals Blow to Depleted Uranium (DU) 
Disposal Plans

Shallow Burial in Low-Level Waste Dumps Would Far Exceed 
Radiation Dose Limits,

Independent Research Shows

 DU Poses Long-Term Risks Comparable to Plutonium-Contaminated
Wastes

Takoma Park, Maryland, October 24, 2005: 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has handed a stinging 
reversal to advocates of a New Mexico uranium enrichment facility 
by requiring licensers to hear testimony from Dr. Arjun 
Makhijani, an independent expert, on the environmental impacts of 
disposing of depleted uranium (DU), a waste material that will be 
generated by the plant. The Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
(ASLB), the NRC staff, and LES, the corporate consortium that is 
seeking the plant license, had sought to exclude the Dr. 
Makhijani's testimony. Earlier this week the NRC ruled that the 
ASLB had improperly excluded the testimony and that it should be 
considered in license hearings scheduled to begin at the NRC 
headquarters near Washington D.C. on Monday, October 24. 


"The NRC ruling that environmental impacts need to be explicitly 
taken into account in the enrichment plant licensing process 
completely undermines the premise on which the NRC staff prepared 
its Environmental Impact Statement for the LES plant," Dr. 
Makhijani explained. "The staff's position and that of LES had 
been that an environmental impact calculation was unnecessary 
since DU was Class A waste, the least radioactive and risky 
low-level category, which could therefore be disposed of in large 
amounts in shallow burial facilities, such as the one run by 
Envirocare near Clive, Utah." Dr. Makhijani is principal author 
of two reports on DU prepared for interveners in the NRC license 
hearings and president of the Institute for Energy and 
Environmental Research (IEER), in <st1:place Takoma Park 
Maryland. The interveners are the Nuclear Information and 
Resource Service and Public Citizen.<br>

The NRC ruled that its staff and ASLB had been wrong in 
concluding that the present low-level waste regulations allowed 
large amounts of DU, such as those from a commercial enrichment 
plant, to be classified as Class A low-level waste without an 
explicit environmental impact analysis. An IEER analysis showed 
that peak radiation doses from burying LES wastes in shallow 
trenches would produce peak radiation doses at least a hundred 
times higher than the legal limit of 25 millirem per year. IEER 
also concluded that proposed DU disposal sites <st1:place Utah 
and in Andrews County, Texas are unsuitable and should not be 
used for wastes the LES plant would generate.

"Land near Clive Utah, and near the other proposed waste disposal 
facility in Andrews County, Texas, has been used for grazing in 
the past," added Dr. Brice Smith, Senior Scientist at IEER and 
co-author of the DU reports. "Use of the either site for food 
crops or ranching in the future could result in radiation doses 
that are thousands of times larger than the allowable limits." 

The NRC also ordered its staff to examine whether existing 
low-level waste classification regulations need to be amended in 
order to take into account the impact of disposing of large 
amounts of depleted uranium as a generic matter separate from any 
particular licensing process.

"This NRC decision not only throws the LES plant into question, 
it also raises the same issue about wastes from a plant proposed 
by the U.S. Enrichment Corporation for Ohio," Dr. Makhijani said. 
"It creates a large new uncertainty about DU disposal methods and 
costs. The industry will have to go back to the drawing board on 
costs and methods of DU disposal." 

IEER's analysis shows that DU waste disposal would very likely 
not comply with radiation protection rules at shallow land burial 
facility. It also found that Waste Control Specialists, the 
company seeking a license for low-level waste disposal in Texas, 
is not qualified to receive or handle uranium waste because its 
application shows no understanding of some of the basic 
radiological characteristics of uranium. 

Putting DU in a proper chemical form, uranium dioxide, treating 
and encapsulating it for durability, and disposing it of in deep 
geologic repository would cost $2.5 billion or more for the DU 
projected to be generated by the proposed LES plant. IEER's 
reports on depleted uranium disposal risks and costs are 
available on its web site at  
http://www.ieer.org/reports/du/LESrptfeb05.pdf</a>
and 
http://www.ieer.org/reports/du/LESrptupdate.pdf

Linda Gunter is Director of Development and Media Relations
at NIRS. She can be reached at: 202-328-0002 ext. 23.

*****************************************************************
 34 AU ABC: Industry seeks change to yellowcake transport regulations
 
(AEDT)Wednesday, 26 October 2005. 16:41 (AWST)

 Uranium miners say the over-regulation of yellowcake exports
makes it difficult to find freight companies willing to ship the
product. 

Yellowcake, or uranium-oxide concentrate, from the Olympic Dam
and Ranger uranium mines in the Northern Territory is exported
from Port Adelaide and Darwin's East Arm Port. 

The industry-funded Uranium Information Centre (UIC) says
regulators define yellowcake as a hazardous material, leading to
mountains of paperwork for shipping companies. 

UIC manager Ian Hore-Lacey says there is no way uranium-oxide
concentrate could be defined as hazardous. 

"Technically it does contain radioactivity and there is a
distinction between the radioactive exposure you get by handling
it, and the contained quantum of radioactivity, the intrinsic
radioactivity and I think that that's what the shipping
regulations are based on," he said. 

Mr Hore-Lacey says this definition could be dropped without any
health risks. 

"There would certainly be no undue problems in terms of safety
or health, that much would be clear," he said. 

"I mean uranium oxide is no more dangerous than lead oxide and
you don't have the same restrictions on that. 

"There is only the need to make sure that it gets to where it's
going." 

*****************************************************************
 35 reviewjournal.com: DOE sees 'new path' for nuclear waste    

Canister changes proposed 

Oct. 26, 2005

By KEITH ROGERS <br/>REVIEW-JOURNAL

Energy Department officials announced Tuesday they are switching
gears in their effort to haul spent nuclear fuel to Yucca
Mountain and dispose of it. 

They said a design change using standardized containers is
simpler and safer and avoids the need for repetitive handling of
spent fuel assemblies. But critics say the new strategy is part
of a ploy to sidestep the licensing process and eliminate
scrutiny for building above-ground pads where the waste can
cool. 

"To me it's a smokescreen to cover up everything else that's
gone wrong," said Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency chief Bob Loux,
a leading critic of the Yucca Mountain Project. 

The design change was outlined in a letter this month to prime
contractor Bechtel SAIC and was heralded Tuesday by acting
Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Director Paul Golan as a
"new path (that) gives us simplification in design, licensing
and construction, while increasing worker and public safety." 

Under the old method, plans called for shipping spent fuel
assemblies in various types of canisters to the repository,
where workers "would handle 70,000 tons of spent fuel up to four
separate times per fuel assembly," a statement announcing the
new design read. 

In a telephone interview Tuesday, Golan said the "new path" is
different "relative to the one we're on today." 

"We think it offers some advantages today over our current
design," Golan said. 

He said the new strategy "is probably as economical as the path
we're on" but will be safer with more inherent quality controls,
because packaging of the fuel assemblies will take place at the
utilities that generated the fuel and know most about it. 

But Loux said the "new path" is really an old path that a former
energy secretary, retired Navy Adm. James Watkins, proposed in
1992. 

"It now appears that a multiple purpose and standardized
container system for spent fuel receipt, storage, transport and
disposal can be developed to reduce costs (and) minimize
required handling of spent fuel assemblies. ... Such a system
would simplify the design of a storage facility," Watkins wrote
in an attachment to a Dec. 17, 1992, letter to Sen. J. Bennett
Johnston, D-La., then chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee. 

That path was not followed because it would have been too
expensive and too difficult to haul such large containers to the
mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, Loux said. 

Loux cited Monday's special bulletin in a trade publication,
"The International Radioactive Exchange," that claims DOE's new
direction to develop multipurpose canisters is part of a
strategy that includes constructing two above-ground pads, where
much of the 77,000 tons of spent fuel and highly radioactive
defense waste can be aged before entombing it inside a maze of
tunnels in the mountain. 

One of the "aging pads," would be at the Nevada Test Site,
adjacent to the mountain. The Bush administration intends to
propose legislation this fall, according to the trade
publication, to exempt the pads from the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission's licensing process and allow them to be built
without an environmental impact statement. 

Referring to DOE officials, Loux said, "It's clear they can't do
anything to play by the rules. I think this is moreover an
attempt to divert attention from a completely failing program." 

Golan said he had not seen the special bulletin from "The
International Radioactive Exchange" and couldn't comment on it. 

He acknowledged, however, that aging the fuel, or allowing the
heat generated by the decaying spent fuel pellets to cool, has
always been part of the Yucca Mountain plan. 

"There will be fuel that has too much thermal heat, and we'll
have to let that thermal heat dissipate before we put it into
the repository," he said. 

Golan said the project will still need a smaller, inert facility
where damaged or "off-normal" fuel assemblies can be repackaged
for disposal without oxidizing it. Fuel surrounded by damaged,
metal cladding could trigger chemical reactions when exposed to
the air, causing gases to escape and fuel pellets to oxidize
into dispersible powders. 

Powders released would cause high levels of contamination from
the thousands of assemblies expected to arrive at Yucca Mountain
damaged. 

Nevada's senators were not impressed with DOE's new design plan. 

"After 20 years of work, DOE's big announcement is that they
will now start working towards a clean, uncontaminated site. We
have said all along the project is not safe and the science is
bad, but never thought DOE would actually admit it," Sen. Harry
Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said in a joint
statement. "We certainly appreciate the likely decades-long
delay this announcement means. But this proposal is just words
and a made-up scenario with no substance or fact." 	   

[Yucca Mountain] 
 	
Copyright Š Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2005
*****************************************************************
 36 RIA Novosti: Minister warns about radioactive river and ocean pollution 

26/ 10/ 2005                                  

MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's emergency situations
minister has proposed setting up a government commission to deal
with the radioactive dumping in the Techa River in the
Chelyabinsk region, southern Urals, to prevent the pollution of
the Ob River and the Arctic Ocean. 

"This problem has long been overdue," Sergei Shoigu told the
Federation Council, Russia's upper house of parliament,
Wednesday. 

Shoigu said the river's open-air reservoir had accumulated more
than 200,000 curies of radioactivity. 

"I am not talking about evaporation; it is all in the sludge,"
he said. "I am talking about a possible dam breach and pollution
of the entire river, and [radioactive] penetration into the Ob
River and ultimately into the [Arctic] Ocean." 

The problem requires an immediate and thorough solution, Shoigu
said. 

A criminal investigation was launched against the local Mayak
chemical plant in April after breaches of environmental
protection regulations were discovered during an inspection. 

"Radiation background in the area of the Techa River has
deteriorated in the past four years," Yury Zolotov, deputy
prosecutor general in Russia's Urals Federal District, said.
"Radiation levels are far above the norm." 

Zolotov also said inspections had shown Mayak had released more
then 60 million cu m of industrial waste into the river last
year, causing environmental damage worth more than 30 million
rubles ($1.05 million). 

Russia's Criminal Code stipulates up to five years in prison for
this kind of offense. 

A major release of radioactive waste into the Techa occurred
after an accident at Mayak in 1957.

Š 2005 "RIA Novosti"   
*****************************************************************
 37 Las Vegas SUN: 'Clean' plan for Yucca repackaged 

Today: October 26, 2005 at 8:30:52 PDT 

DOE proposal unveiled

 By Suzanne Struglinski <suzanne@lasvegassun.com>
 Sun Washington Bureau

 WASHINGTON -- The Energy Department's plan to make Yucca
Mountain a "clean" nuclear waste dump is just more of the same
old garbage to project critics.

 Energy officials on Tuesday unveiled a plan to make the overdue
and overbudget project "simple, safer and more cost-effective."

 Paul Golan, the project's acting director, said the plans would
simplify the "design, licensing and construction" of the dump.
If that goes as planned, it would presumably speed up the
department's work and ease the burden the department will face
when it goes to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license.

 Under the plan, the department would have waste sealed in
standardized containers at the nuclear power plants. That would
eliminate the need for a one-of-a-kind "multibillion-dollar"
facility at Yucca Mountain to do so, leaving the site "primarily
clean or 'noncontaminated,' " according to the department.

 Golan said he was "personally very excited about this new path
forward."

 Nevada officials called the plan "desperate" and predicted a
long delay in opening a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

 "After 20 years of work, DOE's (the Energy Department's) big
announcement is that they will now start working toward a clean,
uncontaminated site," Sens. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and John Ensign,
R-Nev., said in a statement. "We have said all along the project
is not safe and the science is bad, but never thought DOE would
actually admit it."

 The department's plan, though, may be part of a bigger proposal
to push the project forward.

 According to the energy trade publication International
Radioactive Exchange, Golan wrote a memo Oct. 13 outlining an
ambitious plan to move the project forward with legislation that
would:

 * Make it easier to fund the Yucca Mountain budget by removing
it from the competitive congressional process;

 * Allow building of two "aging pads" -- temporary above-ground
storage facilities -- one on the Nevada Test Site and one at a
site to be named later;

 * Allow the construction of the aging pads without an
environmental impact statement or a permit from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.

 Department officials on Tuesday said they had not sent any
proposed legislation to Congress and said they were
concentrating on Golan's plan to make Yucca "clean." A spokesman
for Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said department officials
disputed the report in the trade publication.

 It probably would be difficult to move those proposals through
Congress. The move to make it easier to fund Yucca Mountain has
been shot down in Congress on previous attempts. And Reid has
been a strong opponent and has deftly slowed Yucca legislation
in the past.

 The department did not have an estimate for how long the new
casks would take to design or how much time this would add to
the project's timeline.

 The Energy Department asked Yucca contractor Bechtel SAIC to
come up with a conceptual design for the new facilities. That
plan will then be taken to an Energy Department advisory board
for approval.

 If that moves forward, the department would design stronger
containers -- essentially double-bagging -- the nuclear waste.
Those new containers would then be put in an extra container for
shipping and a different container for burial at Yucca Mountain.

 The big difference in the plans is that the containers won't be
opened at Yucca Mountain.

 At first glance, adding another cask layer to waste may seem to
diminish some of Nevada's key arguments against the site:
Canister corrosion inside the mountain will lead to radiation
leaks, and waste is dangerous to transport.

 But attorney Joe Egan, who handles Yucca legal issues for
Nevada, said the state's own experiments have found that any
metal inside the mountain will corrode.

 "It's just two layers to corrode instead of one," Egan said.

 He said this plan proves the Energy Department knows the
project "is in deep trouble."

 "They wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't," Egan said. The new
cask idea is "sort of like the Mars program: It's a nice
thought, but there are so many utopian aspects to it, it's hard
to believe it will ever happen."

 The Nuclear Energy Institute, the industry's interest group and
a top Yucca advocate, supports the change in concept,
spokeswoman Trish Conrad said.

 Berkley, however, blasted the Energy Department's proposal.

 "Calling plans to dump radioactive garbage in Nevada 'clean' is
an insult to the intelligence of families in the Silver State
and ignores the fact that nuclear waste is one of the deadliest
substances on Earth," Berkley said in a statement.

 "Regardless of how they repackage this waste, at the end of the
day, it's still going to be dumped in Nevada, and it's still
going to threaten the lives of millions of Americans living
along transportation routes."

 Suzanne Struglinski can be reached at (202) 662-7245 or by at
suzanne@lasvegassun.com.

         All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 38 Las Vegas SUN: Letter: Study shows potential for rail disaster 

Today: October 26, 2005 at 8:3:8 PDT 

Letter: Study shows potential for rail disaster 
Regarding the Las Vegas Sun's Oct. 21 story, "Rail ban could
increase danger":

 Comparing shipments of highly radioactive waste to shipments of
other hazardous materials such as chlorine, Association of
American Railroads President Edward Hamberger told the U.S.
Senate Commerce Committee last week that "If there were to be a
breach, it does not have the same consequence" and "There is no
plume, and the immediate impact is not as great."

 But if the accident or attack that causes the breach involves a
high-temperature, long-duration fire -- all too possible in
real-world train wrecks -- there very well could be a plume of
radioactive smoke and catastrophic and long-term impacts
downwind.

 A state of Nevada-commissioned analysis of a 2001 train tunnel
fire under downtown Baltimore estimated that, if irradiated
nuclear fuel had been aboard, the container would have breached
and large amounts of radioactivity would have escaped in the
smoke.

 Up to 50 people would have been exposed to enough radiation to
doom them to eventual death by cancer. The cleanup would have
cost $14 billion. If the cleanup was not done, 1,400 people
would have eventually died from cancer after living in
contaminated areas for just one year. After 50 years of living
amid such radiation, over 28,000 people would have died of
cancer.

 Each of the thousands of rail casks bound for Yucca would hold
more than 200 times the radioactive cesium -- which remains
hazardous for centuries, is highly volatile in fires and lodges
in human muscle such as the heart -- released by the Hiroshima
atomic bomb.

 Kevin Kamps Washington, D.C. Editor's note: The writer is a
nuclear waste specialist for the Nuclear Information and
Resource Service, a group that opposes the Yucca Mountain
project. 

         All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 39 toledoblade.com: Plum Brook puzzle

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 
 
THE discovery of radioactive contamination in a tiny Lake Erie
tributary in Sandusky is definitely cause for concern but
probably not alarm.

 But to make sure that a one-mile stretch of Plum Brook, between
Pentolite Ditch and Bogart Road, is not an imminent public
health threat, a thorough investigation of the radioactive
sediment found near the old NASA Plum Brook nuclear test reactor
is essential.

NASA officials rushed to reassure the public that the radiation
levels found were barely above those that people encounter daily
from natural sources and, in all likelihood, pose no serious
hazards to humans or the environment.

The creek sediment tested near the NASA gate at Pentolite Ditch
contained isotopes of radioactive Cesium 137 that are reportedly
barely above natural background levels. There were also
microscopic traces of radioactive Cobalt 60.

NASA attributes the contamination to the reactor that operated
between 1961 and 1973 and was mothballed until the government
agency began dismantling it in March, 2002. For years, rumors
have circulated in the surrounding communities that the
fenced-off Plum Brook reactor held secrets of radioactive
contamination.

Now the acting project manager of the site's decommission effort
reveals that nearby, one of the smallest tributaries flowing
into Lake Erie has been radioactive for at least 32 years.

Keith Peecook, a senior NASA engineer, says the facility stopped
discharging radioactive waste into Pentolite Ditch, which flows
into Plum Brook, over 30 years ago when the reactor was shut
down, but it's likely a pinpoint leak was never detected.

Plum Brook flows into Sandusky Bay and while none of the lake
water has radioactive material beyond permitted levels, it
doesn't mean the material is never stirred up. A spokesman for
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said "obviously there has been
some movement over the years."

Still, both the NRC and the Ohio Department of Health concur
with NASA that the public health threat from the Plum Brook
discovery is negligible. The state agency is not even sure the
level of detected contamination spreading off-site is worth
posting public warning signs.

Both the state and NASA have agreed to conduct separate tests of
the contaminated creek and compare results which may or may not
necessitate a cleanup operation by NASA. U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur
may be premature in suggesting a personal visit to the site by
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin and NRC Chairman Nils Diaz.

But Ms. Kaptur, whose district also includes the
troubled-plagued Davis-Besse nuclear reactor, is right to demand
answers and regular public updates about what is no doubt an
unsettling discovery to many living near the 6,000-acre reactor
site in Erie County.

After the scare in Ottawa County, only official assurances based
on ironclad evidence will suffice.

 The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660
, (419) 724-6000 
*****************************************************************
 40 PR: Rialto Residents Call For Clean Water Now - Coalition Calls Upon
Polluters To Immediately Cleanup Rocket Fuel Contamination In
Local Drinking Water Supply  

  For Immediate Release: October 26, 2005     

Contact: Sujatha Jahagirdar, Environment California (213) 
251-3688 ext. 321 Davin Diaz, Center for Community Action & 
Environmental Justice (909) 496 4089 (cell)   

RIALTOCity residents, local community groups and state
environmental organizations united today in submitting an
official petition, supported by one thousand local residents, to
the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board. The petition
calls upon Goodrich Corp. and Black & Decker to immediately
clean up the rocket fuel pollution they leaked into the citys
drinking water supply. Perchlorate, the major ingredient in
rocket fuel, pollutes fourteen drinking water well in the city. 

With the heavy economic burden already placed on the families of
the Inland Valley, it is a true travesty that they get the added
expense on their water bills for paying for the perchlorate
contamination caused by these corporations, exclaimed Penny
Newman, Executive Director of the Center for Community Action
and Environmental Justice, which delivered the petition to the
Regional Water Board in support of strong action against the two
polluters. "It is time for the Regional Water Board to step
forward and make the polluters pay for the mess they've created.

The Rialto community deserves clean water now! 

At very low concentrations perchlorate can disrupt the thyroid
gland, which can lead to attention deficit disorder, learning
disabilities and decreased IQ in children. The chemical leaked
into the citys water supplies through decades of inadequate
storage and disposal practices. 

According to local water officials, both Goodrich Corp. and
Black & Decker are two major sources of perchlorate
contamination in the city. Despite this responsibility, both
companies have to date failed to take meaningful action toward
cleanup. In 2003, Goodrich Corp. donated a small sum of $2
million toward cleanup in the city, which amounted to only 1.3%
of the total $150 million that city officials estimate will be
needed to clean up the contamination. Negotiations between local
water officials and the two companies over the past several
years have yielded no further progress. As a result some water
from local wells polluted by rocket fuel is currently served to
the public and local water rates have been raised to pay to
pursue polluters for cleanup. 

In order to end the polluter delay, residents urged the Regional
Water Board to immediately issue a cleanup order against both
companies that will require them to 1) Clean up their
contamination to the maximum extent that is technologically
feasible; and 2) Provide community members with a safe, rocket
fuel-free water supply until cleanup is completed. 

Black and Decker and Goodrich should be ashamed of themselves.
With a combined net worth in the billions, these companies can
afford to clean up the mess they have made, concluded Sujatha
Jahagirdar, Clean Water Advocate with Environment California
Research & Policy Center. The delay must end now. The community
of Rialto deserves rocket fuel out of its water today. 

CCAEJ is a 25 year old environmental justice organization that
brings people together to improve our social and natural
environment by empowering diverse communities to create safer,
healthier, toxic free places to live, work, learn and play. 

Environment California Research & Policy Center, offers an
independent, articulate voice on behalf of the environment in
California. Drawing upon 30 years of experience, our
professional staff combines independent research and practical
ideas to uncover environmental problems, develop pragmatic
policy solutions, and engage citizens in our work for meaningful
results. 


3435 Wilshire Blvd. #385  Los Angeles, CA 90010 Phone (213) 
251-3688  Fax (213) 251-3699 E-mail: Top Photo Š Mark Hoshovsky, 
California Dept. of Fish and Game   
*****************************************************************
 41 Lincoln County News: Maine Yankee Secures Storage Facility  

October 26, 2005                                            

By Greg Foster                                                                                                                                

Security continues to be an issue for Maine Yankee because of the 
spent nuclear fuel facility on the Bailey Point site in 
Wiscasset, so a new gatehouse is in place and manned now that the 
decommissioning project is virtually complete.

 We are completing the final setup on the remote gate controls
and expect to shortly transition to a normally closed unmanned
gate, said John Niles, installation manager.

 Niles, a presenter for the companys reconstituted Community
Advisory Panel last Thursday at the Chewonki Foundation,
informed the group that it is planning to remove the jersey
barriers near the road this fall.

 In the meantime, Maine Yankee is continuing to work with state
and local response organizations to keep them updated on the
status of the site.

 Niles reported that the primary contents of the dirt and debris
pile amounting to 44 million pounds requiring 225 railcars for
shipment to a low level nuclear waste dump site out of state has
been shipped offsite. 

We still have two cars loaded onsite that contain large
concrete pieces, steel, or other pieces that couldnt be mixed
with the soil cars, he said.

 Currently, Maine Yankee is in the process of surveying and
cleaning up the footprint of the debris pile to be able to
release it from a radiological restricted area, according to
Niles. 

We expect to have two to three more cars of soil from this
cleanup effort, he said. Now that we are essentially done with
the rail shipping we are working with Crooker &Sons to repair
the road at the Rt. 144 rail crossing.

 The presence of the 64 concrete dry cask storage canisters on
the facility continues to be a source of constant attention for
the company, which has been pursuing other options besides the
uncertain prospect of a national repository for high-level
nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. 

State nuclear safety advisor Charles Pray said the Yucca
Mountain Task Force he is serving is pushing for the
construction and operation of a safe and secured federal
facility there for the nations spent nuclear fuel and other
high-level radioactive waste in the most immediate time frame
possible. However, the earliest the facility could begin to take
in waste is 2012, and nuclear industry officials are skeptical
about it. 

The task force is a joint, bi-partisan national initiative of
the Nuclear Waste Strategy Coalition, the U.S. Transport
Council, the Decommissioning Plant Coalition, the U.S. Chamber
of Commerce, and other organizations that collectively represent
state regulatory authorities, nuclear utilities and businesses
with principal operations throughout the United States.

 Pray said the task forces principal goals are to galvanize
national grassroots for the purpose of obtaining a comprehensive
funding solution, facilitating timely development of a final
Yucca Mountain radiation standard, encouraging the U.S. Dept. of
Energy to submit a highquality application to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) in a timely manner, ensuring high
quality, accountability, and integrity of the program and
facilitating a transportation and waste acceptance system that
has public confidence.

 One of the key activities of the task force he listed is
reenergizing the national coalition that achieved approval in
Congress to proceed with the repository program, which developed
the Nuclear Waste Policy Act.

 The task force also is currently attempting to recruit task
force chairs in the 41 states whose ratepayers have paid close
to $25 billion into the Nuclear Waste Fund and to resolve
longstanding impasse between the U.S. House and Senate leaders
over fundamental funding and programmatic project issues, Pray
said.

 It serves as a national clearing-house for other like-minded
state and national organizations and elected officials and
provides a fresh new voice to the critical importance of
expeditious implementation of the Yucca Mountain project given
national economic, energy security, as well as, national
security considerations, he said.

 Pat Dostie, state nuclear safety inspector, gave an update on
the states confirmatory activities in testing the soil and
water at the Bailey Point site, including the debris pile, which
the company has shipped offsite, and has made a final site walk.

 The NRC recently amended the companys operating license to
include only the immediate area of the storage facility and the
facility itself thus releasing the rest of the land at Bailey
Point for unrestricted use. However, the company must maintain
security measures at Bailey Point because of the presence of the
spent fuel as a possible terrorist target.

 Mark Roberts, NRC senior health physicist, gave the CAP a
report of its action releasing the land after inspection of
final waste shipment documentation and activities of the storage
installation, as well as a safety evaluation report. 

The NRC based its final evaluations from remediation and final
surveys conducted under the NRC-approved License Termination
Plan, numerous performance-based inspections of remediation and
final status survey activities, NRC contractor in process and
confirmatory radiological surveys, and review of final status
survey reports, Roberts said.

 Regarding self-assessment, auditing, and correction actions,
Roberts said, Maine Yankee effectively utilized their condition
reporting system to identify, evaluate, and correct identified
deficiencies. Adequate records were maintained to document
corrective actions.

 Roberts reported that the company developed and implemented a
plan to relocate a large quantity of contaminated soil and
debris to clear the site areas for final status surveys and is
implementing an ongoing environmental radiation monitoring
program for the storage facility.

 The transportation of debris despite a problem with leaking of
railcars recently was completed effectively in the NRCs
estimation, according to Roberts.

 Maine Yankee developed and implemented effective corrective
actions to respond to the discovery of water leaking form
gondola railcars, he said.

 Among various items in the final status surveys, Roberts
informed the CAP that the NRC has determined that random gamma
walkover survey measurements were within the natural background
levels.

 In the future, Roberts said that NRC inspections will focus on
operation of the storage facility regarding operations and
maintenance, security, emergency preparedness, training,
radiation protection, and fire protection.

 Because the task of the CAP has been downscaled to focus mainly
on the storage facility at Bailey Point, the meeting schedule
diminished accordingly. The next CAP meeting is scheduled for
sometime in March 2006. 																			   																		
																	
Vol. 130 - No. 43                                                                                             
 					   						
by Lincoln County News Š 2002              
*****************************************************************
 42 AU ABC: Aboriginal leader backs NT nuclear waste facility. 

26/10/2005. ABC News Online

A former chairman of the Northern Land Council (NLC) says a
nuclear waste facility in East Arnhem Land could bring benefits
to Aboriginal people and all Australians.

 Galarrwuy Yunupingu says he would be happy to consider a waste
dump on his tribal land. 

The NLC is calling for the Federal Government to amend its
Radioactive Waste Management Bill so that traditional owners can
nominate alternative sites for the proposed national dump. 
Currently only three Commonwealth-owned sites are being
considered. 

Mr Yunupingu says a dump on Gumatj Land could mean sealed roads,
infrastructure and long-term benefits to Aboriginal people as
well an oncology unit for Darwin's Hospital. 

He says the dump is an issue of national importance, with over
400,000 Australians receiving radioactive medical treatment each
year. 

He says Chief Minister Clare Martin should admit that a dump
could be safely built in the Territory. 

*****************************************************************
 43 United Press International: Feds unveil Yucca Mountain cleanup plans
 	
10/26/2005 4:58:00 PM -0400                             

CARSON CITY, Nev., Oct. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Energy Department
officials have announced plans to make Yucca Mountain a "clean"
nuclear waste dump, but Nevada officials aren't happy. 

Paul Golan, the project's acting director, said the plans would
simplify design, licensing and construction of the dump. The
plans also would presumably ease the burden the department will
face when it goes to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a
license, the Las Vegas Sun reported Wednesday. 

The Energy Department's plan would require nuclear waste to be
sealed in standardized containers at nuclear power plants. That,
said officials, would eliminate the need for a one-of-a-kind
"multibillion-dollar" facility at Yucca Mountain to do so,
leaving the site "primarily clean or non-contaminated." 

Nevada officials told The Sun they view the plan as "desperate"
and predict a long delay in opening a nuclear waste dump at
Yucca Mountain. 

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., issued a statement saying,
"Calling plans to dump radioactive garbage in Nevada 'clean' is
an insult to the intelligence of families in the Silver State
and ignores the fact that nuclear waste is one of the deadliest
substances on Earth." 

Š Copyright 2005 United Press International, Inc. All Rights 
*****************************************************************
 44 Arizona Republic: Uranium price renews interest in Ariz. mines
 
 October 26, 2005 	   	  

azcentral.com           

Max Jarman

With a recent spike in uranium prices, old mines and prospects
in the Arizona Strip area of Mohave County are seeing new
interest. 

Several companies are looking at developing prospects or opening
new mines in the area, known for high-grade uranium ore and
relatively low production costs. 

A joint venture between U.S. Energy Corp. of Wyoming and Uranium
Power Corp. of Vancouver, British Columbia, will begin
exploration work next month on a group of uranium claims in the
area, the companies said Tuesday. 

Earlier this year, International Uranium Corp. of Vancouver said
it was considering reopening its Arizona 1 mine in the Arizona
Strip, a stretch of land along U.S. 89A just south of the Utah
state line. 

International Uranium owns three closed mines in the Arizona
Strip. 

It also owns the closed White Mesa mill in Utah, which employs
100 people when operating.

 The mines and mill closed with others in the area in the late
1980s when uranium prices plunged to $9 per pound from more than
$20. 

After languishing at less than $10 per pound for almost 20
years, the price of uranium has jumped to $33 per pound and some
predict it will reach $40. 

The price is being boosted by a renewed interest in nuclear
power, particularly in India and China, where more than a dozen
new nuclear power plants are planned.

 The U.S. Energy group's exploration work will focus on a number
of breccia pipes that are known to carry uranium ore.

 Breccia pipes are vertical shafts, possibly formed by volcanic
activity, that are conducive to the formation of mineral
deposits. 

Reach the reporter at max.jarman@arizonarepublic.comor (602)
444-7351.
 
 	Copyright Š 2005, azcentral.com. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 45 UofW: Project could reduce U.S. inventory of spent nuclear fuel 

(Oct 26, 2005) 

University of Wisconsin-Madison 

by Renee Meiller

Hoping to reduce the nation's growing inventory of stored spent
nuclear fuel, a group of nuclear engineering faculty, scientists
and students from Big Ten universities, the University of
Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National
Laboratory will develop innovative nuclear fuel cycles that will
recycle and dispose of this high-level radioactive material. 

The group will base its studies in the Center for Advanced
Nuclear Fuel-Cycles (CANF), a new initiative housed at Argonne.
Co-directors at Argonne and UW-Madison will lead the center. The
project also will provide valuable educational experience for
the next generation of scientists and engineers. 

Nuclear fuel used in current reactors has enormous available
energy. As the fuel is used to produce electricity, only a
fraction of this available energy is consumed, generating a
small quantity of high-level radioactive waste within the solid
fuel. 

Currently, most spent nuclear fuel is stored temporarily in
secure, specially designed pools at commercial reactors around
the country, or in leak-tight steel casks housed in above-ground
concrete vaults. When space is full, the fuel could end up at a
commercial temporary-storage facility in Utah, or perhaps at the
proposed Yucca Mountain high-level waste repository. 

But these storage options are short-term approaches to dealing
with the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, says Michael
Corradini, a UW-Madison professor of engineering physicsand the
center's co-director. "We hope to develop a 'sustainable' fuel
cycle-that is, an efficient, cost-effective way to reuse current
spent nuclear fuel and minimize its byproducts," he says.
"Advanced nuclear fuel cycles can be recycled as a source of
available energy as demand for uranium increases." 

Some countries, including Japan and France, currently reprocess
their spent nuclear fuel using a process known as PUREX
(plutonium and uranium recovery by extraction). The CANF team
will seek to improve upon these separation and recycling
processes. "The major difference is that we are looking for ways
to successfully extract specific radioactive species for
separate uses and separate disposal," says Corradini. 

The researchers will tackle the problem in a number of ways. One
initiative will use sophisticated computer models to perform
comprehensive simulations to predict key physics processes. The
group will collaborate with the U.S. Department of Energy Office
of Science to apply those tools to the nuclear fuel cycle. In
addition, scientists will develop flexible fuel forms, unique
materials and advanced chemical separation processes, enabling
them to establish a fuel supply system that minimizes waste and
the risk of proliferation. 

A reduced proliferation risk is just one of the benefits of
advanced nuclear fuel cycles, says Phillip Finck, deputy
associate laboratory director at Argonne and the center's
co-director. "They can significantly shorten the needed
isolation time and reduce the amount of high-level waste housed
in any repository," he says. "Ultimately, this should reduce the
cost of the Yucca Mountain repository and may preclude the need
for additional waste repositories." 

Feedback, questions or accessibility issues:
comments@uc.wisc.edu 
Copyright

Š 2005 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
*****************************************************************
 46 Bradenton Herald: State responds to Tallevast letter

| 10/26/2005 | 

Donna Wright Herald Staff Writer

Gov. Jeb Bush has responded to Tallevast residents' health and
environmental concerns two months after receiving a letter from
community leaders requesting his help. 

Bush's reply came through Deborah A. Getzoff, director of the
Southwest District of the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection. 

Getzoff assured residents the state's role in the clean-up
process, as well as the department's commitment to an ongoing
health risk study, would address all their concerns. 

An underground plume of toxic waste that leaked from an old
beryllium plant extends throughout Tallevast and beyond. Current
data show the plume covers more than 131 acres. 

Tallevast leaders also asked Bush to determine what types of
manufacturing procedures and hazardous waste materials occur at
Wire Pro Inc., the current occupants of the former beryllium
plant. Residents fear industrial waste from Wire Pro plant may
be contributing the toxic plume. 

DEP's inspection found one code violation and outlines labeling
and handling changes requested by DEP to make sure hazardous
wastes are disposed of properly. 

For the full report on this, read The Herald on Thursday.   

*****************************************************************
 47 Xinhua: Petition signed against proposed change of US nuclear policy   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-26 13:15:52   

    LOS ANGELES, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- More than 470 physicists
led by seven Nobel laureates have signed a petition to oppose a
new US Defense Department proposal that allows the United States
to launch nuclear attack against non-nuclear countries. 

    Two initiators on Tuesday criticized the emerging US policy
that will destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

    The two and other prominent physicists will deliver the
petition to members of US Congress, scientific professional
societies and the news media. 

    "The new policy allows the US to use nuclear weapons against
states that do not have nuclear weapons and for a host of new
reasons, including rapid termination of a conflict on US terms
or to ensure success of the US forces," said Jorge Hirsch,
physics professor at the University of California, San Diego,
who started this petition. 

    "The US use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states
will destroy the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and give
strong incentive for other countries to develop and use nuclear
weapons, thus making nuclear war more likely, " said professor
Kim Griest, another initiator of the petition. 

    "This new US policy dramatically increases the risk of
nuclear proliferation and, ultimately, the risk that regional
conflicts will explode into all-out nuclear war, with the
potential to destroy our civilization," he noted. 

    "As physicists we feel we need to bring this to the
attention of policy makers and the public, in order to engender
discussion, debate, and hopefully repudiation of the new
policy." 

    The two physicists began their petition last month following
reports in The New York Times and Washington Post that the US
government was in the final process of adopting a new policy
that would permit the use of nuclear weapons against a
non-nuclear adversary under certain circumstances. 

    Hirsch and Griest said they felt an obligation to speak out
about the nuclear policy change because their profession brought
nuclear weapons into the world 60 years ago. 

    Besides seven Nobel laureates, the petition was also signed
by a past president and the president-elect of the American
Physical Society, a Fields Medal winner and two Wolf Prize
laureates. Hirsch and Griest said they will urge more physicists
to sign on the petition. Enditem   

  Copyright Š2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 48 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Drops Plan for Nuclear Bunker-Buster
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Wednesday October 26, 2005 8:46 AM

By H. JOSEF HEBERT 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP)- The Bush administration is abandoning its push
to develop a ``bunker-buster'' nuclear warhead and instead will
pursue a conventional weapon that can penetrate hardened
underground targets. 

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said Tuesday that lawmakers had
agreed drop funding for the proposed nuclear bunker-buster from
the Energy Department's budget for the 12 months beginning Oct
1. He said the Energy Department had requested the move because
it no longer planned to pursue a nuclear bunker-buster. 

The decision was hailed by opponents of new nuclear weapons. 

Development of such a warhead has been the subject of intense
debate in Congress for several years, although lawmakers have
been cool to the proposal. 

Administration officials had argued they needed a tactical
nuclear warhead that could destroy deeply buried targets
including bunkers tunneled into solid rock. Potential
adversaries increasingly are building hardened retreats deep
beneath the earth, immune to conventional weapons, the officials
said. 

But opponents said developing such a device could spread nuclear
weapons and would signal the world the United States wanted a
new generation of nuclear weapons. They also said such weapons
would cause significant above-ground radiation fallout. 

Domenici, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees DOE's
budget, said the conferees agreed to drop funding for the
program at the request of the department's National Nuclear
Security Administration, the agency that oversees nuclear
weapons. 

``The focus will now be with the Defense Department and its
research into earth-penetrating technology using conventional
weaponry,'' Domenici said in a statement. He said the NNSA
``indicated that this research should evolve around more
conventional weapons rather than tactical nuclear devices.'' 

Last year, Congress refused to fund the nuclear bunker-buster,
so the Energy Department reduced its request to $4 million for
the 2006 fiscal year - for research at Sandia National
Laboratory in New Mexico. Even that was rejected by the House,
although the Senate approved the funding. It was just one of the
issues that House and Senate members were trying to resolve as
part of the DOE budget bill. 

``This is a true victory for a more rational nuclear policy,''
said Stephen Young, a senior analyst for the Union of Concerned
Scientists, a group that advocates curbing the spread of nuclear
weapons. ``The proposed weapon, more than 70 times the size of
the bomb dropped on Hiroshima, would have caused unparalleled
collateral damage.'' 

Last April, a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded that
an earth-penetrating nuclear device would likely cause the same
casualties as a surface burst if the weapons are of the same
size. Such a bomb could cause from several thousand to 1 million
casualties, depending on its yield and location, according to
the report requested by Congress. 

At a congressional hearing earlier this year, NNSA chief Linton
Brooks acknowledged there is no way to avoid significant
radioactive fallout from use of a bunker-buster. 

He said the administration never intended to suggest ``that it
was possible to have a bomb that penetrated far enough to trap
all fallout. I don't believe the laws of physics will ever let
that be true.'' 

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., one of Congress' most vocal
opponents of the bunker-buster, has said the nuclear
bunker-buster ``sends the wrong signals to the rest of the world
by reopening the nuclear door and beginning the testing and
development of a new generation of nuclear weapons.'' 

^--- 

On the Net: 

Energy Department: http://www.doe.gov 

Union of Concerned Scientists: http://www.ucsusa.org/ 

National Nuclear Security Administration:
http://www.nnsa.doe.gov/ 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited Š Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005
*****************************************************************
 49 Reuters: Nuclear bunker-buster funds dropped from US budget

Reuters.com
         
Wed 26 Oct 2005 3:59 PM ET                                      

WASHINGTON, Oct 26 (Reuters) - The Bush administration has 
abandoned for the upcoming year its bid to research "bunker 
buster" nuclear weapons, which Congress struck from the budget 
last year, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

 The Pentagon will instead focus on developing a conventional
deep-earth penetrating bomb, said Sen. Pete Domenici, a New
Mexico Republican who chairs a Senate Appropriations
subcommittee overseeing nuclear weapons.

 Negotiators from the House of Representatives and the Senate
were working this week on a final version of a bill to fund the
Energy Department, which houses nuclear weapons programs. The
House bill did not include the $4 million to study nuclear
bunker-busters, but the Senate's did.

 Domenici said the Senate agreed to drop the funds at the
request of the department's National Nuclear Security
Administration. "The NNSA indicated the research should evolve
around more conventional weapons rather than tactical nuclear
devices," he said.

 In a number of votes, Congress has rebuffed the administration
on its plans to research a nuclear weapon that the Pentagon
argues would be effective against targets buried deep in the
earth in fortified bunkers.

 Critics said researching such weapon would undermine efforts to
stem the spread of nuclear arms among other countries, and said
it would produce hugely destructive fallout.

 Rep. Ellen Tauscher, a California Democrat who has pushed
amendments against the nuclear bunker buster, said she was
"pleased that the administration has apparently decided to
abandon a counterproductive initiative at a time when strong
United States leadership is needed to strengthen global norms
against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction." 

Š Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.                                                                                                    
*****************************************************************
 50 KIFI: INL Opens Center for Space Nuclear Research

www.localnews8.com   
      
 October 25, 2005

 A new center is opening in Idaho Falls that could bring
tourists from around the world. 

Both INL and city leaders welcomed Idaho Fallsâ new center for
space nuclear research. 

Steven Howe, the director of the program, believes the center is
an excellent addition to Idaho Falls. Visiting students,
professionals and researchers will boost the local economy. 

He hopes that it will brand Idaho Falls and INL as the leader in
space and nuclear research. He says that the mission of the
program is two fold.

âMain goals are two fold. One is research, to develop a
program where we actually provide funds to universities to do
research and technology development. Provide opportunities for
interns to go to industry and NASA centers or DOE labs for the
summers. The second path is to develop education programs,
whether it be lesson plans for grade schools or professional
programs for high school physics teachers,â Howe explained.
 
*****************************************************************
 51 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Savannah 
 
                        FR Doc 05-21375 
[Federal Register: October 26, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 206)] 
[Notices] [Page 61791] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26oc05-42]                         
 
River AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EMSSAB), Savannah River. 
The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) 
requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the 
Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Monday, November 14, 2005, 1 p.m.-6 p.m., Tuesday, 
November 15, 2005, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: Embassy Suites, 5055 International Boulevard, North 
Charleston, SC 29418.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gerri Flemming, Closure Project 
Office, Department of Energy Savannah River Operations Office, 
P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC, 29802; Phone: (803) 952-7886.
 
 
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 Monday, November 14, 2005 1 p.m.--Combined 
Committee Session. 5:15 p.m.--Executive Committee Meeting. 6 
p.m.--Adjourn. Tuesday, November 15, 2005 8:30 a.m.--Approval of 
Minutes, Agency Updates. 8:45 a.m.--Public Comment Session. 9 
a.m.--Chair and Facilitator Update. 9:30 a.m.--Waste Management 
Committee Report. 11:30 a.m.--Public Comment Session. 12 
p.m.--Lunch Break. 1 p.m.--Administrative Committee Report Bylaws 
Amendment Proposal.
 
1:45 p.m.--Facility Disposition and Site Remediation, and Nuclear 
Materials Committees Reports.
 
2:15 p.m.--Public Comment Session. 2:30 p.m.--Strategic and 
Legacy Management Committee Report. 3:30 p.m.--Environmental 
Justice Initiatives. 4 p.m.--Adjourn. If needed, time will be 
allotted after public comments for items added to the agenda, and 
administrative details. A final agenda will be available at the 
meeting Monday, November 14, 2005.
 
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 Gerri Flemming's office 
at the address or telephone listed above. Requests must be 
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision 
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The 
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct 
business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be 
provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of 
Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 
4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes 
will also be available by writing to Gerri Flemming, Department 
of Energy Savannah River Operations Office, P.O. Box A, Aiken, SC 
29802, or by calling her at (803) 952-7886.
 
Issued at Washington, DC, on October 19, 2005.
 
Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. 05-21375 Filed 10-25-05; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 52 Paducah Sun: DOE checking presence, impact of cylinder gas - 

Three enrichment plants have total of about 2,500 cylinders that
once contained phosgene. 

By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656 

Wednesday, October 26, 2005 

The Department of Energy is investigating to see if there are
traces of the toxic gas phosgene remaining in old uranium
hexafluoride cylinders at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant. 

A Sept. 30 memo from the DOE Inspector General´s Office said
that based on preliminary findings, phosgene may have been left
in some of the 1,825 cylinders at the plant that DOE acquired
from the Army´s Chemical Warfare Service in the 1940s and ´50s. 

The memo, obtained by The Paducah Sun, was sent to the Paducah
plant, as well as closed uranium enrichment plants in Oak Ridge,
Tenn., and Portsmouth, Ohio. The three plants have a total of
about 2,500 cylinders that once contained phosgene. 

Among the issues cited in the memo are whether enough phosgene
remains to endanger workers or the public; whether the gas will
corrode the tanks and cause a leak; and the possibility of a
harmful reaction during a proposed conversion process. 

Energy Department spokeswoman Laura Schachter said there are
safeguards in place to protect the plant´s 1,200 workers and
those living near the plant, which is about 10 miles west of
Paducah. 

Because of the age of the cylinders, and because of their
purging, cleaning, modification and refilling through the
decades, the likelihood of the presence of residual phosgene in
the cylinders is extremely remote, Schachter said. 

Obviously we take any kind of alert from the Inspector
General´s Office very seriously, but we´re also working to
understand the information. 

Schachter said records are being checked to see how many of the
cylinders have been washed, and how many have been filled and
refilled with uranium hexafluoride. She also said some cylinder
shipments have been temporarily stopped as a precaution during
the probe. 

DOE contractor Uranium Disposition Services is building
factories at Paducah and Portsmouth to stabilize and recycle the
depleted uranium in hopes of selling the fluorine it contains.

The memo  written by Alfred K. Walter, DOE assistant inspector
general for inspections and special inquiries  quotes an
unnamed Nuclear Regulatory Commission safety expert as saying
the unexpected introduction of phosgene into the recycling
process could be catastrophic. 

Walter wrote that the findings may warrant immediate attention.
But he also said DOE had not advised UDS of the problem, even
though the department had known for five years that the
canisters once contained phosgene. 

New, preliminary findings from the Inspector General´s Office
indicated that some of the cylinders may have contained phosgene
that was not purged before they were filled with uranium
hexafluoride, the memo said. 

The memo refers to a 2000 report that some of the cylinders were
very rusty and others may have been breached. The report said
phosgene is highly corrosive. 

Phosgene, still used extensively to make plastics and
pesticides, was used briefly as a weapon by the Germans during
World War I. It can cause skin lesions and burns, and breathing
it causes a person´s lungs to fill with mucous and fluid. 

Bill Cossler, president of the plant nuclear workers´ union,
said as little as .02 parts per million of phosgene can cause
immediate danger to life and health. 

The fact that it´s so terribly poisonous is a concern, he said,
adding that some of the cylinders have valve problems, a couple
are bulging and some may have been damaged in transit 10 years
ago. 

Cossler said he understands that the Inspector General´s office
may now deem the memo to have been premature and not fully
reflecting all the facts. But the union will remain very
cautious until the investigation determines if any of the
cylinders contain phosgene, he said. 

UDS, which handles cylinder maintenance at the plant, will have
to open all the cylinders, test for phosgene and render them
safe, Cossler said. He said breached cylinders could emit
phosgene, hydrofluoric acid, or both. 

Al Puckett, a former worker who lives about a mile from the
Paducah plant and who has been a vocal critic of its pollution
and contamination, said he is concerned by the disclosure about
phosgene. 

I sure would not want those tanks busting, Puckett said. I
guess they would blow the sirens, but would you have time to get
away? Phosgene? I have never even heard of phosgene at that
plant. 

The suspect cylinders are only a fraction of the 37,000
canisters stored at the plant. The memo says there could be as
many as 406 cylinders containing phosgene at Portsmouth and 309
at Oak Ridge. 

Only one of the suspect cylinders at Paducah belongs to plant
operator USEC. The rest are owned by DOE, which leases the
factory to USEC. Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Stuckle said the
single cylinder is in good condition, and the problem will not
alter plant production. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
*****************************************************************
 53 United Press International: China and the DOE's mega-port initiative
 

BEIJING, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- The ongoing visit by Linton Brooks to
China aims to get support for the Department of Energy's
Megaport Initiative, a policy formed after the Sept. 11 attacks. 

The Megaport Initiative is one of five measures adopted by the
Bush administration focused on security in commercial activity.
The DOE program provides radiation equipment and training to
enhance partner nation capabilities in screening cargo for
nuclear or radioactive material that can be used by terrorist
groups. 

Brooks serves concurrently as DOE undersecretary responsible for
nuclear security and as head of the National Nuclear Security
Administration. At a news briefing in Beijing Tuesday he
mentioned mega ports in response to questions about NNSA
activity in China. 

"We have programs that focus on security at places like ports.
The mega-ports program installs detectors at major ports to
detect radioactive material inside containers," he said. Brooks
added the U.S has signed a statement of intent with the
government of China to pursue such technology. 

The undersecretary described mega ports as a global program
technology supplied by the DOE in cooperation with the U.S.
Customs Service and with foreign authorities where the port is
located. 

In response to a question about NNSA activities worldwide Brooks
said the U.S. "cooperates with dozens of countries on export
control and with a large number of countries on improving the
security of radiological material. This is material that can't
cause a nuclear explosion, but could be used in what it often
called a dirty bomb." 

"The mega-ports program involves a number of countries where we
are working and additional countries where we are discussing the
possibility of installing equipment. It's a very important
program, but it's not tied directly to the demonstration that
we're conducting this week," Brooks noted. Copyright 2005 by
United Press International

Copyright ÂŠ 2005. United Press International, Inc. All Rights
    
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