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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 [NYTr] EU warns Iran against its nuclear project
2 [NYTr] Nuclear Iran: A matter of time
3 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Resumes Work at Nuclear Facilities
4 Guardian Unlimited: Germany Raises Doubts on Iran Negotiations
5 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Other Nations Rebuke Iran Over Seals
6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Defiantly Resumes Nuclear Research
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran risks international confrontation by
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's Nuclear History
9 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Unseals Nuclear Enrichment Facility
10 BBC: Iran nuclear stand-off escalates
11 Platts: MARKET UPDATE: Crude oil rises on Iran nuclear concern
12 AFP: Iran wants to enrich uranium on small scale, says ElBaradei
13 AFP: Britain 'profoundly concerned' by Iran nuclear move - Straw -
14 AFP: Defiant Iran restarts nuclear work, sparks West's condemnation
15 AFP: Bush has no plans to attack Iran: White House
16 AFP: Iran has built 5,000 centrifuges, says opposition
17 AFP: Iran prompts international outrage over resumed nuclear activit
18 Guardian Unlimited: The Iranian nuclear spectre
19 Guardian Unlimited: Report: N. Korean Leader Visiting China
20 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: North Korean leader believed to be visiting C
21 Reuters: China says North Korea talks facing tough times
22 IBNLive: 'Pak is still the nuclear blackmarket'
NUCLEAR REACTORS
23 US: Another Exelon plant gets additional NRC oversight
24 US: [NukeNet] Lobbying Needed Now Re Nuke Power/Global Warming
25 US: NRC: NRC Finalizes “White” Finding for Oyster Creek Nuclear Plan
26 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Topical talk
27 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Board weighs Yankee question
28 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Welch makes nice with nuke groups
29 US: NRC: NRC Begins Special Inspection at Quad Cities Nuclear Plant
30 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: NRC not taking threat seriously
31 US: AP Wire: Officials pitch idea for West Texas nuclear reactor
32 US: NRC: NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Elects New
33 RIA Novosti: Russia sets up group to tackle Urals nuclear plant's pr
34 BBC: Lithuania plea for nuclear plant
35 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
36 US: Platts: Oyster Creek to get additional NRC oversight
37 US: Platts: Progress addresses US NRC inspection of security at Harr
38 Platts: Swiss Axpo delays nuclear plans for gas
39 US: www.mineweb.net: energy S: Nuclear Power Carries High Business R
40 US: Hampton Union: Reactor plan reaction
41 Platts: Three Canadian parties oppose nuclear revamp, Liberals neutr
42 China Daily: More sectors to benefit from nuclear tech
43 US: Rutland Herald: Advisory panel's letter backs Yankee power boost
44 Reuters: German govt remains divided on ending nuclear power
45 US: WVEC.com: NRC orders utilities to come up with power plan
46 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Joint Meeting of
47 IPS: EUROPE: Gas Crisis Rekindles Nuclear Option
48 US: MyWestTexas.com: Big things, good news going on in Andrews (new
49 US: MyWestTexas.com: Andrews residents positive about reactor |
50 US: Odessa American Online: Andrews reactor reaction
51 US: St. Petersburg Times: Progress to cooperate in N.C. nuclear insp
52 UPI: Lithuania clings to nuclear power plant
NUCLEAR SECURITY
NUCLEAR SAFETY
53 US: Deseret News: Small part of cancers is linked to fallout
54 US: Dispatch: MH Waiting to Pin Perchlorate Plume on Olin
55 US: Middletown Press: Radiation evaluation to end this month
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
56 US: theage.com.au: China's bid to beat nuclear rule
57 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: Still no answers to question of waste
58 Herald: Clean up the nuclear beach at Dounreay? £70bn please
59 Platts: Bradwell station defueled early, BNG says
60 RGJ.com: Report Yucca stop-work violation
61 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Lawyer says suit against tribe isn't ripe
62 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Canadians stake claim to Utah's uranium
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
63 Daily Nexus: UC To Remain in Control of Lab -
64 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: U.S., state settle suit over Hanford was
65 DOE: Secretary Bodman Visits National Energy Technology Lab
66 DOE: Energy Secretary Bodman Statement on Hanford Solid Waste
67 DOE: Energy Department Announces 2007 Solar Decathlon Teams
68 Hanford News: Board OKs new Hanford timeline
69 Watching The Watchers: Company with fraud history is investigating
70 www.ascribe.org: AS-scientific-fraud
71 KTVB.COM: Workers laid off from nuclear cleanup effort
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 [NYTr] EU warns Iran against its nuclear project
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 15:37:51 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
EU Observer - Jan 10, 2006
http://euobserver.com/?aid 644&rk=1
EU warns Iran against its nuclear project
By Lucia Kubosova
Europe has called on Iran to step back from its plan to resume the
country's nuclear programme, but the Iranian leader says Tehran will not
back down even if faced with international sanctions.
Britain and France have joined the US, Russia and China, their partners
in the five-strong club of the UN's permanent Security Council members
and delivered on Monday (9 January) diplomatic objections to Irans
mission in Vienna.
They urged Tehran to step back from its threat to restart the nuclear
research programme which, after a two-year suspension, could also
involve the enrichment of uranium.
While Iran claims it needs the project to boost a peaceful production of
energy, a growing number of international players fear it could be used
for developing nuclear weapons.
But Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei argues that his
country will not bow down to pressure, hinting that even UN sanctions
would not deter the will of the people.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not give up its undeniable rights to
peaceful nuclear technology, which has been achieved by the talented
youth of the country," Khamenei said to thousands gathered in the
religious city of Qom, the AFP agency reported.
What exactly is to be resumed
All eyes are now set on the concrete activities to be resumed within the
Iranian nuclear project, as they will influence the reaction of the
international forum.
The foreign ministers from France, the UK and Germany, the trio
representing the whole EU in the talks with Iran that started in 2003,
might meet this week to agree on further common action, FT Europe
reported.
German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday that Iran
would "face consequences" if it removed UN seals on nuclear
installations.
The EU might consequently cancel the meeting with the Iranian officials
scheduled on 18 January, while the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the UN's nuclear watchdog, could trigger an initiative to refer Tehran
to the Security Council.
"We are at a stage where what is happening this week could turn into a
major crisis," the IAEA director-general Mohamed El Baradei said in a
BBC programme last night, adding "My own patience as head of the agency
is running out."
Meanwhile, Russia is carrying on in its own negotiations with Iran,
concerning its offer to enrich Iranian nuclear fuel on Russian
territory, a compromise in principle supported also by the EU and US.
According to diplomats, the Europeans are reluctant to move on with the
UN sanctions against Tehran without Moscow's support.
Austrian chancellor Wolfgang Schussel, the current EU president, said on
Monday that while he was "very concerned" about the recent developments,
the time for international sanctions "has not yet arrived".
*
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2 [NYTr] Nuclear Iran: A matter of time
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 16:26:57 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Al Jazeera - Dec 27, 2006
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/06F048EE-2F16-4836-8AE1-8DEDD43C9923.htm
Nuclear Iran: A matter of time
by Joseph J Kurr
It is not a matter of if Iran will have the bomb - it is a matter of when.
With that in mind, the US needs to re-examine its current policy towards
Iran.
Iran's motive for becoming a nuclear power is not purely political. Its
desire to become the next nuclear power stems from a strong sense of
nationalism and an equally strong distrust of US intentions.
Since Iran's revolution, the US has predicted that secular Iranians would
eventually reclaim their country from the mullahs.
Well, we are still waiting and the latest election actually brought an even
more radical leader to Iran's presidency.
Even more telling is that secular Iranians are as adamant as radicals about
their country having every right to nuclear technology. This same
nationalistic pride is also fuelling Iran's ambition to become a regional
power.
Now place yourself in Iran's shoes. The US is occupying Iraq to your west,
rebuilding Afghanistan to your east, and headquarters its Fifth Naval Fleet
to your south.
This is the same US government that harshly criticises your foreign and
domestic policies at every chance, continues to freeze your assets since the
1979 Revolution, and is currently leveraging its UN Security Council
position to put the kibosh on your nuclear ambitions. In effect, the US is
undermining any chance of significant foreign investment coming your way. Is
it any small wonder you distrust and dislike the US?
If Iran is clever, they will play nice and come into lock step with IAEA
demands while insisting on rights to develop nuclear technology under strict
international monitoring and safeguards.
Meanwhile, they will continue to gradually acquire the expertise,
technology, and material necessary to produce nuclear weapons albeit on a
much longer timetable.
Distrust of US
If the US is clever, we will anticipate this strategy and address the
dangerous half of Iran's nuclear equation: Distrust of the US. Only by
assuaging Iran's fear can the US hope to bring stability to that region of
the world.
Naysayers will point to Iran's hardline government and demand the status
quo. But the status quo painted the US into the corner in which we now find
ourselves. Dealing with a hardline government is nothing new for the US, a
prime example of which is China.
Each passing day strengthens the trade relationship between our two
countries while the chances of armed conflict simultaneously decrease.
China's phenomenal growth is traceable to globalisation and its increasing
connectivity with the world economy. In 1990, one year removed from the
Tiananmen Square incident, any prediction of China becoming an economic
powerhouse would have been laughable.
Today, Beijing is exploring ways to slow its economic growth. Foreign
investment and open trade is fuelling this remarkable growth.
This foreign investment is noteworthy, especially when one remembers
hardliners in China are still running the show and that investors are wary
of anything resembling risk.
Can we expect the same bright future for Iran? Not with the current US
policy which essentially mirrors Iran's distrust.
Policy shift needed
US policy over the past 26-plus years, including unilateral sanctions,
denouncements and other forms of coercion, is proving to be impotent. This
same policy is arresting Iran's economic development and affirms its
mistrust of the US.
The US needs a seismic shift in its Iranian policy and to make it perfectly
clear that if Iran stops aggressively pursuing nuclear weapon technologies
and threatening its neighbours (including Israel), the US will meet it
halfway.
Meeting Iran halfway includes supporting Iran's ambition to become an
advanced technological state and a regional power.
This can be accomplished by eliminating sanctions against non-US entities
investing in Iran's oil and gas sectors, encouraging technological
collaborative endeavours, and giving serious thought about releasing
still-frozen Iranian financial assets.
Such a move signals to Iran that the US is an honest broker and will steer
Iran down the path leading towards connectivity with the rest of the world.
In time, new foreign investment and trade will usher in a re-birth of Iran's
economy, compelling it to adopt international rule-sets and mitigating any
risk a nuclear Iran may pose. In short, Iran will avoid actions that may
lead towards isolation.
It would be nice if we could prevent Iran from getting the bomb, but we need
to think more about how to live with a nuclear Iran. When that day finally
arrives, do we want to deal with an angry and fearful Iran with nothing to
lose, or with an Iran connected to the world economy?
Joseph J Kurr is an attorney living in the United States.
The opinions expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily reflect
the editorial position or have the endorsement of Aljazeera.
*
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. Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us .
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3 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Resumes Work at Nuclear Facilities
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 11:47 AM
AP Photo VAH101
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran removed seals on its nuclear facilities
Tuesday, allowing work to resume despite warnings from the
United States and other countries concerned about its nuclear
ambitions.
The United States rebuked Iran for the move, calling it a step
toward creating the material for nuclear bombs. The United
States is among nations that have called on Tehran to cease
nuclear activities until an agreement has been reached on the
scope of its nuclear program.
Iran announced plans last week to resume research on the
production of nuclear fuel, heightening concerns that Tehran was
moving toward building atomic weapons. Iran says the research is
aimed at generating electricity.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy
Organization, said Tuesday that Iran was not resuming the
production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium
enrichment.
``What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more
than that,'' he said at a news conference. ``We make a
difference between research on nuclear fuel technology and
production of nuclear fuel.
``Production of nuclear fuel remains suspended.''
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency affixed
the seals more than two years ago after Iran agreed to the
measure in an effort to dampen suspicions about its nuclear
ambitions.
IAEA inspectors were present Tuesday as Iranian officials began
removing the seals, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said from
Vienna, Austria, where the agency is based. She declined to say
whether the Iranians planned to start enriching uranium or would
be satisfied with testing the equipment used in the process.
In Vienna, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, Gregory L.
Schulte, said that by cutting the seals, Iran had shown ``its
disdain for international concerns and its rejection of
international diplomacy.''
``The regime continues to choose confrontation over cooperation,
a choice that deepens the isolation of Iran and harms the
interests of the Iranian people,'' he said.
The United States has threatened to bring Iran before the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions if it doesn't cooperate
with international mediators.
Russia, Iran's ally, also expressed concern about Tehran's
intention to renew uranium enrichment activities and called on
Iran to maintain its moratorium on enrichment pending
negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.
Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said
that a Russian delegation had confirmed to Iranian officials
that Moscow's offer to jointly enrich Iranian uranium on Russian
territory still stands, the Interfax news agency reported.
The proposal, backed by the European Union and the United
States, was designed to ease concerns that Iran would use the
fuel to build a bomb. Lavrov said Moscow was coordinating its
actions with Germany, Britain and France, Interfax reported.
Iran has insisted it would not agree to moving enrichment
abroad.
In a foreign policy address Tuesday, French President Jacques
Chirac warned Iran it would be committing a ``grave error'' if
it ignored the international community's repeated warnings and
pressed ahead with its nuclear program.
In Berlin on Monday, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter
Steinmeier said Iran was sending ``very, very disastrous
signals'' on its nuclear program, and indicated that the
country's latest moves would have consequences for Tehran's
talks with European negotiators.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
4 Guardian Unlimited: Germany Raises Doubts on Iran Negotiations
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 12:47 PM
BERLIN (AP) - Germany's foreign minister raised doubts Tuesday
over the future of European-led negotiations on Iran's nuclear
program, saying he planned to consult with his French and
British colleagues on whether there is any basis for more talks.
Speaking after Iran removed seals on its nuclear research
facilities, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Tehran had ``crossed
lines which it knew would not remain without consequences.''
Steinmeier said he had asked the head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, to quickly draw up an
evaluation of ``what threatens in terms of Iranian activities.''
``On the basis of this evaluation, I will try this week to
coordinate our position with my British and French colleagues -
above all, of course, to see whether our negotiations of the EU
3 still have a basis.''
Britain, France and Germany have been negotiating on behalf of
the European Union to try to persuade Iran to give up parts of
its nuclear program. The negotiations are meant to ease
international concerns that Iran might be aiming to produce
nuclear weapons. Tehran insists its program is meant only for
power generation.
The talks have been complicated recently by the Europeans'
exasperation over a series of anti-Israeli outbursts by the
Iranian president and have made little progress, but were set to
continue later this month.
Iran said its actions Tuesday were to prepare for research into
nuclear fuel technology only and that it was not resuming work
to produce nuclear fuel.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
5 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Other Nations Rebuke Iran Over Seals
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 1:02 PM
AP Photo VAH102
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran removed seals on its nuclear facilities
Tuesday, ending a two-year freeze on work there despite warnings
from the United States and other countries concerned about
Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The United States rebuked Iran for the move, calling it a step
toward creating the material for nuclear bombs. British Prime
Minister Tony Blair's official spokesman said the international
community was ``running out of patience'' with Tehran.
Both countries, along with France and Germany, have called on
Tehran to cease nuclear activities until an agreement has been
reached on the scope of its nuclear program.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tehran was again in breach of
resolutions passed by the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog and said steps
to restart uranium enrichment could not be justified.
``We are profoundly concerned that Iran has decided to restart
research and development activities related to uranium
enrichment,'' Straw said in a statement.
``There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step
if its intentions are truly peaceful and it wanted to resolve
long standing international concerns,'' he added.
Iran announced plans last week to resume research on the
production of nuclear fuel, heightening concerns that Tehran was
moving toward building atomic weapons. Iran says the research is
aimed at generating electricity.
Mohammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy
Organization, said Tuesday that Iran was not resuming the
production of nuclear fuel, a process that would involve uranium
enrichment.
``What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more
than that,'' he said at a news conference. ``We make a
difference between research on nuclear fuel technology and
production of nuclear fuel.
``Production of nuclear fuel remains suspended.''
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency affixed
the seals more than two years ago after Iran agreed to the
measure in an effort to dampen suspicions about its nuclear
ambitions.
IAEA inspectors were present Tuesday as Iranian officials began
removing the seals, spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said from
Vienna, Austria, where the agency is based. She declined to say
whether the Iranians planned to start enriching uranium or would
be satisfied with testing the equipment used in the process.
In Vienna, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, Gregory L.
Schulte, said that by cutting the seals, Iran had shown ``its
disdain for international concerns and its rejection of
international diplomacy.''
``The regime continues to choose confrontation over cooperation,
a choice that deepens the isolation of Iran and harms the
interests of the Iranian people,'' he said.
The United States has threatened to bring Iran before the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions if it doesn't cooperate
with international mediators.
Whether or not Iran should be referred to the Security Council
depends on the outcome of discussions within the IAEA, Blair's
spokesman said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he
was not authorized to have his name published.
``We are concerned by the reports from the International Atomic
Energy Agency,'' the spokesman said. ``Everyone needs to be
clear that this does amount to yet another breach of IAEA
resolutions.''
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said
Tehran had ``crossed lines which it knew would not remain
without consequences,'' adding that he planned to consult with
his French and British colleagues on whether there is any basis
for more talks with Iran.
Russia, Iran's close ally, also expressed concern that Tehran
had removed seals on its nuclear research facilities and called
on Iran to maintain its moratorium on enrichment pending
negotiations, Russian news agencies reported.
Earlier Tuesday, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak said
that a Russian delegation had confirmed to Iranian officials
that Moscow's offer to jointly enrich Iranian uranium on Russian
territory still stands, the Interfax news agency reported.
The proposal, backed by the European Union and the United
States, was designed to ease concerns that Iran would use the
fuel to build a bomb. Lavrov said Moscow was coordinating its
actions with Germany, Britain and France, Interfax reported.
Iran has insisted it would not agree to moving enrichment
abroad.
In a foreign policy address Tuesday, French President Jacques
Chirac warned Iran it would be committing a ``grave error'' if
it ignored the international community's repeated warnings and
pressed ahead with its nuclear program.
---
Associated Press writers Angela Doland in Paris, Judith Ingram
in Moscow, Ed Johnson in London and George Jahn in Vienna,
Austria, contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Defiantly Resumes Nuclear Research
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 6:47 PM
AP Photo VAH104
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran removed U.N. seals on uranium
enrichment equipment and resumed nuclear research Tuesday,
defying demands it maintain a two-year freeze on its nuclear
program and sparking an outcry from the United States and
Europe.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran plans to enrich
uranium as part of its experiments with the nuclear fuel cycle.
An IAEA statement issued in Vienna, Austria, said Iran told the
agency the scale of its enrichment work would be limited.
U.S. officials denounced Iran's move, calling it a step toward
creating material for nuclear bombs.
``If the regime in Iran continues on the current course and
fails to abide by its international obligations, there is no
other choice but to refer the matter to the Security Council,''
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
The U.N. council could impose sanctions on Tehran.
Germany's foreign minister raised doubts over the future of
European-led negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, questioning
whether there remains any basis for more talks.
Britain warned that the international community was ``running
out of patience'' with Tehran, and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw
said Iran had breached IAEA resolutions. Straw said he planned
to meet his French and German counterparts Thursday to discuss
whether to refer Iran to the Security Council.
``There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step
if its intentions are truly peaceful and it wanted to resolve
long-standing international concerns,'' Straw said.
The latest move came as Iran has been taking a more
confrontational line with the West, with hard-line President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad recently calling for Israel to be ``wiped
off the map'' and denying the Holocaust.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop nuclear
weapons, a charge denied by Iran, which contends its program
aims only to produce energy. France, Germany and Britain have
been leading long-troubled negotiations with Iran aimed at
ensuring its program is peaceful.
The seals were removed Tuesday from equipment at the nuclear
plant at Natanz, the center of Iran's uranium enrichment
program.
However, Iran stressed it was not resuming enrichment, a key
process that can produce either material for a nuclear weapon or
fuel for a reactor. Instead, it said it was restarting research
activities at the plant.
``What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more
than that,'' the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization
of Iran, Mohammad Saeedi, told a news conference. ``Production
of nuclear fuel'' - which would involve enrichment - ``remains
suspended,'' he said.
But the IAEA statement said uranium hexafluoride - a gaseous
form of uranium - will ``be fed into cascades'' of centrifuges
as part of Iran's activities. That can produce low-level nuclear
fuel or weapons-grade material.
Iranian nuclear workers removed the seals in the presence of
IAEA inspectors, then researchers resumed their work, he said.
Saeedi did not specify the equipment that had been unsealed,
saying that was ``a confidential issue between us and the
IAEA.''
IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming said the agency's 35-nation
board of governors would be informed later Tuesday about what
the Iranians planned to do with the unsealed equipment.
Iran's decision to freeze some nuclear activities was voluntary,
so the IAEA had no option but to remove the seals at Iran's
request.
The move further erodes the suspension of nuclear activities
that has been the centerpiece of Iran's negotiations with the
West. Tehran agreed to the freeze in October 2003 as a
confidence-building measure and to avoid being referred to the
council.
In August, Iran removed seals at another nuclear plant outside
Isfahan and resumed uranium reprocessing - a step before
enrichment. That prompted Europe to break off its negotiations
temporarily. The talks resumed in December, and a new round was
scheduled for later this month.
French President Jacques Chirac warned Iran it would commit a
serious mistake if it ignored the international community on its
nuclear program.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Iran was sending ``worrying
signals'' on the nuclear issue.
In Vienna, the chief U.S. representative to the IAEA, Gregory L.
Schulte, said Iran had shown ``its disdain for international
concerns and its rejection of international diplomacy.''
``The regime continues to choose confrontation over cooperation,
a choice that deepens the isolation of Iran and harms the
interests of the Iranian people. Iran is taking another
deliberate step toward enrichment, which creates the material
for nuclear bombs,'' Schulte said.
The West has long pushed for Iran to abandon uranium enrichment,
which Tehran has refused to do, insisting it has a right to
develop the entire nuclear fuel cycle. The Europeans have been
pressing a compromise proposal under which Iran's enrichment
activities would be conducted in Russia to ensure no material is
diverted toward weapons.
The European Union, Japan and Russia all expressed concern.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said his country - a
longtime ally of Iran - was working to ensure that Tehran
maintains its freeze on enriching uranium until talks can be
held between Moscow and Tehran over the proposal to move
enrichment to Russia.
In September, the IAEA board of governors passed a resolution
telling Iran to return to ``full and sustained suspension of all
enrichment-related activity'' until questions had been answered
about the scope of its nuclear program.
That resolution brought Iran to the verge of Security Council
referral.
However, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei repeatedly has said his
agency's nearly three-year investigation of Iran's nuclear
activities has turned up no conclusive evidence of nuclear
weapons activities.
At the same time, he has also said the IAEA cannot give Iran a
clean bill of health and has criticized the country for the
delays and providing conflicting information.
Iran hid its activities for decades - and turned to the same
black market Libya shopped from in assembling basic elements of
its now-dismantled nuclear weapons program. At the same time, it
separated plutonium and did other work that could be used to
develop nuclear arms.
---
Associated Press reporter George Jahn in Vienna, Austria,
contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran risks international confrontation by
restarting nuclear fuel operations
Ian Traynor and Patrick Wintour
Wednesday January 11, 2006
The Guardian
Iran's breach of its nuclear research moratorium will top the
agenda when Britain, France and Germany meet tomorrow, with Jack
Straw, the foreign secretary, signalling a referral to the UN
security council and possible sanctions.
After confirmation yesterday that Iran had restarted nuclear fuel
operations at its underground complex in Natanz last week, Mr
Straw said referral to the security council - which can impose
sanctions - would be "top of the agenda" when he meets his French
and German counterparts to discuss the latest crisis.
"I don't want to make a decision unilaterally but I think it is
clear the direction which we are taking," he said yesterday.
Mr Straw told MPs in Westminster: "The issue of whether we
formally propose a referral to the security council will be the
key subject for discussion."
Referring to Iran's decision, he said: "It would destabilise the
whole of the region and, in doing so, threaten international
peace and security as a whole."
Mr Straw's remarks echoed a warning by Jacques Chirac, France's
president, that Iran had made a "serious error". Frank-Walter
Steinmeier, Germany's foreign minister, said Tehran had "crossed
lines which it knew would not remain without consequences".
Iran has managed to shift the long-running nuclear dispute with
the west from diplomacy to confrontation with Germany conceding
it could end more than two years of negotiations between Tehran
and the EU troika.
British officials said an emergency meeting of the board of the
International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna could be summoned
to decide on the international response. Iran's stance
challenges Brussels and Washington to force the dispute on to
the agenda of the UN security council.
As threatened last week, Iran removed IAEA seals from uranium
enrichment equipment at Natanz complex. Iran plans to construct
50,000 centrifuges for enriching uranium, which they say they
need to produce fuel for a civil nuclear programme. The same
equipment can produce fissile material for nuclear warheads.
While the Iranians remain a long way from either goal, the
decision to reopen operations marks an escalation of the dispute.
"Iran's nuclear research centres have restarted their
activities," Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's atomic
energy organisation, announced. This breached an IAEA board
resolution ordering a freeze on all uranium enrichment-related
activities while Iran's nuclear programmes are investigated.
Iran maintains actual enrichment remains suspended. But the
IAEA's director general, Mohamed ElBaradei, informed the board
member states in Vienna that Tehran had told the agency it
intended to introduce uranium hexafluoride gas into "centrifuge
cascades for research".
Enriched uranium - for power stations or warheads, depending on
the degree of enrichment - is produced by spinning the gas
through the centrifuge rigs at supersonic speeds. The Natanz
operation would provide valuable know-how and leave Tehran able
to move more quickly into full enrichment. Europe's strategy,
backed by the US, is to ensure that Iran does not enrichuranium
since that is the most common route to a nuclear bomb.
Unusually, the Iranian move resulted in a protests from Russia,
which has been trying to work out a compromise with Iran. China,
too, voiced muted criticism. China and Russia are the west's
biggest problems in getting the 35-strong IAEA board to take the
dispute to the security council. They can also veto action on
the council.
Britain is convinced the Iranian claim that the seals have been
lifted purely for research purposes is bogus and that enrichment
is now under way. "The regime continues to choose confrontation
over cooperation," said Gregory Schulte, the US ambassador to
the IAEA.
Germany, signalling a tougher approach since Angela Merkel
replaced Gerhard Schröder as chancellor, suggested there was
little point in seeking to revive negotiations. The harder line
is in part due to the outrage stirred by denials of the
Holocaust by the Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran's Nuclear History
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 7:02 PM
By The Associated Press
Key dates in the West's standoff with Iran over its suspect
nuclear program:
- February-May 2003: International Atomic Energy Agency
inspectors examine nuclear facilities in Iran, which the United
States accuses of running a covert weapons program.
- June 2003: IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei says Iran kept certain
nuclear materials and activities secret.
- November 2003: The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency says Iran
acknowledged it produced weapons-grade uranium but there is no
evidence a weapon was built.
- December 2003: Iran formally signs the Additional Protocol to
the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to allow more intrusive
inspections.
- February 2004: Media reports say Pakistani nuclear scientist
Abdul Qadeer Khan delivered atomic weapons technology to Iran.
- March 2004: The IAEA praises Iran's cooperation but criticizes
past efforts to mislead the U.N. and urges Tehran to disclose
all information concerning its nuclear program by June.
- September 2004: Then-Secretary of State Colin Powell says
Iran's nuclear program is a growing threat and calls for
international sanctions.
- November 2004: Iran announces the suspension of uranium
enrichment and related activities amid fragile negotiations with
European nations.
- August 2005: Iran rejects a European Union offer of incentives
in exchange for guarantees it will not pursue nuclear weaponry.
Tehran announces it has resumed uranium conversion at Isfahan,
and the IAEA calls an emergency meeting to deal with the crisis.
- Sept. 17, 2005: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad tells U.N.
Security Council it is Iran's ``inalienable right'' to produce
nuclear fuel and rejects European offer of economic incentives
to halt enrichment program.
- Sept. 24, 2005: IAEA passes resolution calling Iran's nuclear
program ``illegal and illogical'' and puts Tehran one step away
from Security Council action on sanctions.
- Nov. 11, 2005: Plans emerge for Russian offer to enrich
uranium for Iran on Russian soil.
- Nov. 24, 2005: The European Union accuses Iran of possessing
documents used solely for the production of nuclear arms, warns
of possible referral to Security Council.
- Jan. 8, 2006: Iran removes U.N. seals from nuclear enrichment
facility at Natanz, effectively ending a freeze on the process
that can produce fuel for nuclear weapons.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Unseals Nuclear Enrichment Facility
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Wednesday January 11, 2006 12:02 AM
AP Photo VAH104
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI
Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran broke U.N. seals on its nuclear
enrichment facility Tuesday, pledging only to conduct research,
but the international nuclear watchdog said Tehran also planned
small-scale enrichment of uranium - a process that can produce
fuel for nuclear weapons.
The reopening of the Natanz facility drew an outcry from the
U.S., Europe and Japan as the move was seen as defiance of
demands that Iran maintain a freeze on its nuclear program and
could provide justification for it to be hauled before the U.N.
Security Council for possible sanctions.
``If the regime in Iran continues on the current course and
fails to abide by its international obligations there is no
other choice but to refer the matter to the Security Council,''
said White House press secretary Scott McClellan said.
While U.S. and European criticism of Iran's nuclear moves is
common, Russia and China - which have blocked past efforts to
have Iran referred to Security Council - have indicated growing
frustration with Tehran as well. International Atomic Energy
Agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei also voiced exasperation, telling
Britain's Sky News: ``I am running out of patience.
All that leaves the prospect of referral to the Security Council
more likely now than at any point in the more than three-year
IAEA probe of Iran - a process marked by deepening suspicions
that Iran is using what it claims is a peaceful nuclear program
as a cover for atomic weapons.
Enriched uranium can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors in
electricity generation or for nuclear bombs, depending on the
level of processing.
In announcing it would reopen its Natanz enrichment center last
week and as the seals were broken Tuesday, Tehran claimed
enrichment was not planned.
``What we resume is merely in the field of research, not more
than that,'' the deputy head of the Atomic Energy Organization
of Iran, Mohammad Saeedi, said at a press conference.
``Production of nuclear fuel'' - which would involve enrichment
- ``remains suspended,'' he said.
Saeedi said the nature of the equipment unsealed was ``a
confidential issue between us and the IAEA.''
But the Vienna, Austria-based International Atomic Energy Agency
said in a statement later Tuesday that uranium hexafluoride - a
gaseous form of uranium - would ``be fed into cascades'' of
centrifuges as part of Iran's activities.
Uranium hexafluoride gas is spun in centrifuges to separate out
fissile isotopes in the process of enrichment that can produce
low-level nuclear fuel or weapons-grade material.
Iran claims its contentious nuclear program is for electricity
generation, but Washington accuses Iran of seeking nuclear
weapons.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier questioned
whether European-led negotiations had any future and said Iran
had ``crossed lines which it knew would not remain without
consequences.'' He said he had asked ElBaradei to quickly
evaluate the dangers of Iran's move.
Britain warned the international community was ``running out of
patience,'' and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Tehran had
breached IAEA resolutions. ``There was no good reason why Iran
should have taken this step if its intentions are truly
peaceful,'' Straw said.
Japan said the decision was ``a matter of deep regret'' and the
Foreign Ministry called on Iran ``to immediately cease the
resumption of the research and development activities.''
Iran's decision to freeze some nuclear activities in October
2003 was voluntary, so the IAEA said it had no option but to
remove the seals at Iran's request.
The move further erodes the suspension of nuclear activities
that has been the centerpiece of Iran's negotiations with the
West since the freeze was put in place as a confidence-building
measure.
In August, Iran removed seals at another nuclear plant outside
the city of Isfahan and resumed uranium reprocessing - a step
before enrichment in the nuclear fuel process.
That move prompted Europe to break off its negotiations
temporarily. The talks that resumed in December made no progress
but were to continue later this month.
French President Jacques Chirac on Tuesday warned Iran it would
commit a serious mistake if it ignored the international
community.
Iran insists it has the right to develop the entire nuclear fuel
cycle under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.
The Europeans have been pressing a compromise under which Iran
would enrich uranium on Russian soil to safeguard against its
diversion for weapons.
Iran says it will not accept proposal if it excludes enrichment
in Iran as well. Russian has been deeply involved in Iran's
civilian nuclear program and is a longtime Tehran ally.
But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday his
country was ``expressing concern'' over Iran's resumption of
research ``in spite of the moratorium that was agreed between
Iran and the European countries.''
---
Associated Press Writer George Jahn in Vienna, Austria,
contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
10 BBC: Iran nuclear stand-off escalates
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
[Iranian helicopter flies over an anti-aircraft gun at the Natanz
facility]
Iran has broken the international seals at the Natanz plant
Iran's dispute with the UN and Western countries has deepened
after Tehran resumed nuclear research.
As Iran removed UN seals from equipment at Natanz facility, UN
nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Tehran would start
small-scale nuclear enrichment.
The move was condemned by the US and European countries, which
fear Iran is seeking to produce atomic bombs.
Tehran denies the accusation, saying it wants to produce nuclear
energy only.
In a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency's
(IAEA) headquarters in Vienna, Mr ElBaradei said that as well as
breaking the international seals on its atomic research centre in
Natanz, Iran would before Wednesday remove seals on two other
connected sites.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Vienna says Iran's latest move is
expected to trigger an emergency meeting of the IAEA's board of
governors.
The board will consider whether to report Iran to the United
Nations Security Council. It has refrained from taking that step,
but now a referral looks increasingly likely, our correspondent
says.
Our correspondent says that although the Iranian enrichment
experiments are small scale and just for research purposes, there
are fears they could lead to Iranian scientists mastering the art
of uranium enrichment.
Depending on the level of enrichment, the uranium enrichment
process results in either nuclear fuel or weapons grade uranium
which can be used in nuclear warheads.
'Slap in the face'
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Iran was risking a
"serious escalation" in the international dispute.
IRAN'S NUCLEAR STANDOFF
September 2002: Wor begins on Iran's first nuclear reactor at
Bushehr
December 2002: Satellite photographs reveal nuclear sites at Arak
and Natanz; Iran agrees to an IAEA inspection
September 2003: IAEA gives Iran weeks to prove it is not pursuing
atomic weapons
November 2003: Iran suspends uranium enrichment and allows
tougher inspections; IAEA says no proof of any weapons programme
June 2004: IAEA rebukes Iran for not fully co-operating with
nuclear inquiry
November 2004: Iran suspends uranium enrichment as part of deal
with EU
August 2005: Iran rejects EU proposals and resumes work at
Isfahan nuclear plant
January 2006: Iran removes seals at Natanz facility In depth:
Nuclear fuel cycle In quotes: World reaction
Mr McClellan said the international community would have no other
choice but to refer Tehran to the UN Security Council for
possible sanctions.
UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also issued a statement
condemning Iran's decision.
However, Mr Straw insisted that the problem must be resolved by
diplomatic not military means - and he was to meet his French and
German counterparts, along with EU foreign policy chief Javier
Solana, in Berlin on Thursday to decide their response.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also said his country was
taking "active measures together with the Iranian side in order
to keep this [Iranian] moratorium effective".
The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera says that Iran's
decision to restart nuclear enrichment is a "real slap in the
face to the international community".
He said that it was an indication of just how confrontational the
country's new regime, led by hardline conservative President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is.
The IAEA reported in 2003 that Iran had hidden a uranium
enrichment programme for 18 years.
Iran insists its programme is entirely peaceful, and devoted
solely to providing nuclear fuel, but Western countries are
convinced that Iran, which has huge natural oil and gas reserves,
is pursuing nuclear weapons.
*****************************************************************
11 Platts: MARKET UPDATE: Crude oil rises on Iran nuclear concern
London (Platts)--10Jan2006
Crude oil rose on Tuesday, trading above $63/bbl in New York, as
Iran, OPEC's second-largest oil producer, resumed nuclear
research work after a two-year suspension, raising the stakes in
its row with the West.
Iran's move, which the US said it viewed with "serious
concern," heightens the risk of Tehran being brought before the
UN Security Council for possible sanctions. The UK and Russia
also expressed unease.
"Iran has the potential to get quite serious," said Mike
Wittner, global head of energy market research at Calyon. "The
overriding factor since we've come back from the new year is new
financial money coming into commodities."
February crude on the New York Mercantile Exchange was up 50
cts at $64.00/bbl as of 1515 GMT, after earlier gains in
electronic trade. Brent crude in London was 37 cts higher at
$62.38.
Iran Tuesday said it had removed seals at its nuclear
research centers, paving the way for the resumption of work. The
country says its nuclear program is peaceful, but the US accuses
Tehran of seeking nuclear bombs.
The White House said Tuesday that Iran was risking a "serious
escalation" in the dispute. "Any resumption of enrichment and
reprocessing activities would be a further violation of Iran's
agreements with the Europeans," said White House spokesman Scott
McClellan.
'MONEY COMING IN'
NYMEX crude has gained about 5% so far in 2006 as investors
pour money into oil and other commodities such as base metals,
seeking to beat the returns available in sectors such as
equities.
"There's a lot of money coming in and a lot of money
searching for a home," Wittner said. "Commodities are still
viewed as an attractive asset class compared to other asset
classes."
Tuesday's rally followed a drop in crude prices on Monday,
when traders focused on warmer-than-usual weather in the US, the
world's biggest oil market, that would dent heating fuel demand.
The concern about Iran comes on top of an expected drop in
output of benchmark North Sea Brent crude that traders said
helped support prices, and a spell of cold weather in Japan, the
world's third-largest oil consumer.
Daily output of Brent is likely to fall almost 6% next month
to 214,285 bbl, the loading program showed Tuesday. Total
production is scheduled at 6,000,000 bbl over the 28-day month.
"With the weather still cold in other key consuming
countries, notably Japan, plus strong transport-driven demand and
a number of problems that are contributing to lower crude oil
supplies, price risk looks skewed to the upside for now," Kevin
Norrish, analyst at Barclays Capital, said in a report.
--Alex Lawler, alex_lawler@platts.com
For more information, take a trial to Platts Global Alert at
http://globalalert.platts.com.
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
12 AFP: Iran wants to enrich uranium on small scale, says ElBaradei
10/01/2006 19h07
Iranian nuclear power plant of Natanz
©AFP/File - Henghameh Fahimi
VIENNA (AFP) - Iran has told the IAEA it wants to enrich uranium
on a "small scale" at its nuclear research plant in Natanz and
reopen two other sites, IAEA Director Mohamed ElBaradei said in
a statement.
ElBaradei, who called for "full and prompt transparency" on
Iran's part, confirmed to the Board of Governors of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the removal Tuesday morning
of seals at the Natanz plant, an IAEA spokesperson said.
The report to the 35-member board, the IAEA's executive branch,
was based on information by UN inspectors in Iran and
distributed electronically. No meeting was called and none was
planned as of late Tuesday, the spokesperson said.
ElBaradei said Iran planned to use centrifuges to enrich
uranium, despite opposition from the West, which sees this step
as a reason to refer Tehran to the Security Council.
In the statement, ElBaradei "expressed his serious concern about
Iran's decision to unravel the suspension of enrichment-related
activities... before the Agency has clarified the nature of
Irans nuclear programme."
The board had called on Iran not to resume nuclear research,
which was voluntarily suspended in 2003.
Seals will be removed by Wednesday not only from the Natanz
Pilot Fuel Enrichment Plant (PFEP) but from two other connected
sites, Pars Trash and Farayand Technique.
The seals covered P-1 centrifuge components and two cylinders of
UF6 gas (uranium hydrochloride), which is essential to the
process of enrichment by centrifuge. An Iranian helicopter flies
over a nuclear power plant in Natanz
©AFP - Henghameh Fahimi
Iran said research and development work would be carried out at
Natanz, where it plans "to install small-scale gas
ultracentrifuge cascades at PFEP" and "UF6 gas would be fed into
these cascades for research purposes," according to the IAEA
statement.
"Activities may include the manufacturing of a limited number of
new components," it also said.
ElBaradei said after three years of investigations, questions
remained about the scope and nature of Irans programme, due to
the country's lack of transparency.
Tehran still argues the resumption of its nuclear programme is
for "peaceful purposes."
Referring to talks between European countries and Tehran, he
called on Iran to resume "the dialogue with all concerned
parties."
+ Àðàáñêèé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2006
*****************************************************************
13 AFP: Britain 'profoundly concerned' by Iran nuclear move - Straw -
Tue Jan 10, 7:54 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Britain is "profoundly concerned" by Iran" />
Iran's resumption of nuclear research, Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw said before adding there was "no good reason" for it to do
so if its nuclear intentions were indeed peaceful.
"We are profoundly concerned that Iran has decided to restart
research and development activities related to uranium
enrichment," Straw said in a statement that was issued on
Tuesday.
"There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step
if its intentions are truly peaceful and it wanted to resolve
longstanding international concerns."
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
14 AFP: Defiant Iran restarts nuclear work, sparks West's condemnation
10/01/2006 12h19
Mohammad Saidi
©AFP
TEHRAN (AFP) - A defiant Iran resumed sensitive nuclear research
after a two-year suspension, triggering fierce Western
condemnation and heightening the risk of Tehran being hauled
before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
"Today, with the authorisation given by the IAEA to its
inspectors (to supervise the action) ... seals from a number of
research centres were removed," said Mohammad Saidi, deputy head
of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency, referring to the International
Atomic Energy Agency on Tuesday.
"As of today these centres resume their activities," Saidi told
reporters. "The research will be carried out in all the centres
that we told the IAEA about, and we will restart our work."
In Vienna, the IAEA confirmed that Iran removed seals at its
Natanz atomic research facility under the supervision of its
inspectors.
"The production of nuclear fuel is still in suspension and we
hope to reach a conclusion over it in the near future, and also
reach a clear agreement with the Europeans in this regard,"
Saidi said.
Tehran announced last week it would restart research into the
nuclear fuel cycle despite international calls to keep the
voluntary suspension of such work in place.
Iran's move sparked swift condemnation from the US ambassador to
the IAEA, who slammed the Islamic republic's "disdain for
international concern".
"Today Iran is taking another deliberate step towards uranium
enrichment, the process for creating nuclear bomb material,"
Gregory Schulte said in a statement.
"By cutting the seals, the Iranian leadership shows its disdain
for international concern and its rejection of international
diplomacy."
London said it was in close contact with fellow EU negotiators
France and Germany and that their foreign ministers would meet
"to discuss next steps soon".
"This is a very negative development that will seriously
jeopardise the negotiating process," a spokesman for the Foreign
Office in London told AFP.
French President Jacques Chirac said Iran -- along with fellow
nuclear suspect North Korea -- "would be committing a serious
mistake if they did not take the hand that we are holding out to
them". An Iranian helicopter flies over a nuclear power plant in
Natanz
©AFP - Henghameh Fahimi
The United States, which accuses Tehran of seeking to build
nuclear weapons, reiterated Monday that Iran may be referred to
the Security Council over its action. Russia voiced concern but
said dialogue was still the only way forward.
"It is cause for concern that Iran has announced an intention to
restart work connected to enrichment of uranium in spite of a
moratorium agreed between Iran and European countries," Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Russia "will make an effort to ensure that during the period of
negotiations the moratorium (on enrichment itself) is
maintained," he added.
Moscow also said its offer to enrich uranium jointly with Iran
at a site on Russian territory remained valid. Talks on the
compromise proposal are due to resume next month after breaking
off at the weekend without agreement.
"We confirmed our proposal, it remains on the negotiating table,
and if our Iranian colleagues are interested we are ready to
develop a joint plan to resolve the entire Iranian energy
issue," Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak told Interfax.
IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Monday he was "losing
patience" with what he called Iran's lack of transparency.
Iranian technicians remove a container of radioactive uranium
©AFP/File - Behrouz Mehri
The international community has already warned that "the next
step would be a referral to the Security Council" if Tehran
failed to keep its international obligations, the White House
said Monday.
Spokesman Scott McClellan told reporters that Iran must maintain
a total suspension of activities linked to uranium enrichment,
which produces fuel for nuclear power reactors but can also be
used to make atomic bombs.
"The international community has growing concerns about the
regime's pursuit of nuclear weapons under the guise of a
civilian nuclear programme," said McClellan.
Iran has been trying to draw a distinction between research into
the fuel cycle and actual production of enriched uranium, which
can be used as fuel in civil reactors or, in highly enriched
form, as the explosive core of an atom bomb.
+ Àðàáñêèé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2006
*****************************************************************
15 AFP: Bush has no plans to attack Iran: White House
Tue Jan 10, 2:23 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush" /> President George
W. Bushhas no plans to attack Iran" /> Iranand remains committed
to diplomacy over the Islamic republic's controversial nuclear
program, but the military option remains on the table, the White
House spokesman said.
"The president made it pretty clear, he said previously that
Iran is not Iraq" /> Iraq," spokesman Scott McClellan told
reporters when asked if Washington might use force against Iran.
"We're working with the international community to solve this in
a peaceful and diplomatic manner, that's what we've been doing
and continue to do," McClellan said after Iran announced it had
resumed sensitive atomic research.
But, he added, "in terms of options ... he (Bush) never takes
options off the table."
Earlier, McClellan warned that resuming uranium enrichment and
reprocessing activities "would be a serious escalation of the
nuclear issue."
McClellan said the US administration was pursuing talks with
Britain, France and Germany, the so-called EU-3 which are trying
to negotiate a solution to the nuclear standoff.
But he added that if Iran breaches its international
obligations, "there's no other choice but to refer the matter"
to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
The United States fears Iran's civil nuclear program is a cover
for developing a nuclear bomb. Tehran denies it, insisting the
program is designed solely to meet its electricity needs.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
16 AFP: Iran has built 5,000 centrifuges, says opposition
Tue Jan 10, 4:11 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Iran" /> Iranhas secretly built thousands of
centrifuge machines for its nuclear plant at Natanz, an exiled
opposition figure alleged.
The claims by opposition figure Alireza Jafarzadeh could not be
independently verified, but if confirmed, they would likely
enflame the worsening standoff over Iran's nuclear program.
The new allegations came hours after Iran resumed sensitive
nuclear research after a two-year suspension, triggering fierce
Western condemnation and risking censure by the UN Security
Council.
Jafarzadeh, citing what he said was intelligence from the
Iranian opposition and sources within the Iranian nuclear
program, said Tehran had already committed serious violations
before Tuesday.
"Iran has already manufactured as many as 5,000 centrifuge
machines ready to be installed in Natanz, which is a clear
breach of its agreements with the IAEA and the EU," Jafarzadeh,
former spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran,
said at a press conference here.
He said Iran had been continually building underground
centrifuge cascade installation platforms at Natanz which could
be used in the process of enriching uranium on a large scale
suitable for a nuclear bomb.
Jafarzadeh released information in 2002 which amounted to the
first outside glimpse into the Iranian nuclear program and which
triggered International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International
Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) scrutiny.
He said that work at Natanz was now so advanced that
construction could be finished by the middle of this year,
though it was unclear when installation of enrichment facilities
would be complete.
"The 5,000 centrifuge machines are going to be installed in
underground cascade halls. ... All of this has been going on
while supposedly the program has been under freeze," he said.
Iran said Tuesday it was removing the seals on several nuclear
operations, including a small 164-centrifuge cascade at Natanz
-- which in itself would not be able to produce enough highly
enriched uranium for a weapon.
But it said enrichment remained frozen. Tehran denies that it is
seeking a nuclear weapon, and it has been trying to draw a
distinction between research into the fuel cycle and actual
production of enriched uranium.
Paul Leventhal, president of the independent Nuclear Control
Institute research group, appeared alongside Jafarzadeh at the
press conference and called on the IAEA to act to see if his
claims were true.
"If the information obtained by the Iranian opposition can be
verified, ... then we have a major crisis on our hands," he
said.
"Can such a remarkable allegation be true? There is only one way
to find out. IAEA inspectors now standing at the Natanz site
should demand immediate access to the areas where these secret
activities allegedly are taking place."
Robert Einhorn, an independent expert at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies who was not linked to the
press conference, said Jafarzadeh had a mixed accuracy record on
Iran's nuclear program.
"His organisation was on target in the summer of 2002. Without
information from his organisation, we would largely be in the
dark today on Iran's nuclear program.
"Having said that, his organisation's batting average over the
last three years or so has not been very good," said Einhorn,
who served as assistant secretary of state for non-proliferation
between 1999 and August 2001.
"There is no way to evaluate the credibility of this information
unless it is backed up by specific information on the
whereabouts of the manufacture of these 5,000 centrifuge
machines, and so on."
Einhorn did say, however, that the existence of such equipment
would "be a large-scale violation of Iran's commitment to the
Europeans and the IAEA board to suspend all manufacture of these
centrifuge machines."
Jafarzadeh said military companies linked with the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard had built most of the alleged centrifuge
parts but could not exactly pinpoint their location.
"The 5,000 centrifuges, I don't know exactly where they are. It
is conceivable that some or all of them are already in Natanz,"
he said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
17 AFP: Iran prompts international outrage over resumed nuclear activity
10/01/2006 23h10
Mohammad Saidi
©AFP
VIENNA (AFP) - Iran triggered a furious reaction from the West
by announcing it had resumed sensitive nuclear research work
after a two-year suspension, heightening the risk of being
hauled before the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
Tehran defied international calls to maintain the suspension as
it announced that it removed seals of the Vienna-based
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from its Natanz
research facility in central Iran.
IAEA director Mohamed ElBaradei confirmed the move and said that
seals at two "related storage and testing locations" were due to
be removed by Wednesday.
The UN nuclear watchdog's chief also confirmed that Iran planned
to use centrifuges to enrich uranium "on a small scale."
In Tehran, Mohammad Saidi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic
Energy Agency, announced that "as of today these centres resume
their activities."
"The research will be carried out in all the centres that we
told the IAEA about, and we will restart our work," Saidi said.
Western nations fear that Iran will use its civilian nuclear
programme to build an atomic bomb, a charge that Tehran
vehemently denies.
Angry over Iran's resumption of sensitive nuclear activities,
the United States and European Union warned that the Islamic
republic could be referred to the UN Security Council for
possible sanctions.
"We view this as a serious escalation on the part of Iran on the
nuclear issue," said US State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack.
"What you see here is the international community coming out and
sending a very clear message to Iran that their behavior is
unacceptable," McCormack said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President George W.
Bush had no plans to strike Iran, although the US leader "never
takes options off the table."
McClellan said that "If the regime in Iran continues on the
current course ... there is no other choice but to refer the
matter to the Security Council." Iranian technicians remove a
container of radioactive uranium
©AFP/File - Behrouz Mehri
US officials also signaled mounting frustration with stalled
European efforts to persuade Tehran to renounce its suspected
nuclear arms ambitions.
The United States has long pushed for UN action against Iran,
but last March came out in support of efforts by Britain,
Germany and France to negotiate a solution to the nuclear
standoff.
Iran had agreed to suspend uranium enrichment pending
negotiations with the EU-3 on economic and other incentives to
renounce any nuclear weapons ambitions.
The European Union, which described Iran's latest move as
"serious and regrettable," has been trying to reopen talks
suspended in August after Iran rejected an initial set of
incentives to abandon uranium enrichment, which produces fuel
for nuclear power reactors but can also be used to make atomic
bombs. Mohamed ElBaradei
©AFP/PRESSENSBILD/File
In a statement, the EU said Iran had eroded "international
confidence in the peaceful nature of its nuclear programme."
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called for a meeting with
his French and German counterparts on Thursday and said referral
of Iran to the UN Security Council would top the agenda.
"Military action is not on our agenda, and I don't believe it's
on anyone else's agenda," he said, pre-empting speculation that
Israel or the United States might attempt a military strike.
Iran insists that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes
only, but many nations question that claim, and Straw argued
that Middle East peace and stability, and global security, would
be compromised by an Iranian bomb.
"There was no good reason why Iran should have taken this step
if its intentions are truly peaceful and it wanted to resolve
longstanding international concerns," Straw said.
In Germany, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned that
Tehran had "crossed a line where the Iranians knew that it would
not remain without consequences." Iranian nuclear power plant of
Natanz
©AFP/File - Henghameh Fahimi
French President Jacques Chirac said Iran -- along with fellow
nuclear suspect North Korea -- "would be committing a serious
mistake if they did not take the hand that we are holding out to
them".
Russia, which has offered to conduct Iran's enrichment work on
its own soil as a confidence-building measure, voiced concern
over Tehran's decision to resume sensitive research. Iran has
yet to take up Russia's offer.
"We call on Iran to return actively to a condition of moratorium
and to full cooperation with the IAEA," Russia's foreign
ministry said in a written statement.
Negotiations on Russia's offer are due to continue in February
in Moscow, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said, adding
that the idea had been "endorsed by all interested parties --
Europe, the United States, China and other states."
In recent weeks, Iranian officials have blown hot and cold about
the possible compromise, first suggesting that they might
consider it and then insisting that they would do so only if any
deal explicitly recognized its right to carry out enrichment on
Iranian soil.
Àðàáñêèé Copyright Disclaimer ©AFP 2006
*****************************************************************
18 Guardian Unlimited: The Iranian nuclear spectre
The west is facing a Catch-22 situation over Tehran's nuclear
ambitions, write Tom Harper and Mohammed Bazazi
Tuesday January 10, 2006
Mohamed ElBaradei is the arbiter of arguably the most combustible
topic in world affairs today.
As head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, ElBaradei's
ultimate goal is to achieve global consensus on nuclear energy,
and the consequences of its production.
A staunch advocate of diplomacy, his actions were rewarded last
year with the Nobel peace prize. Thus, one should take more than
a keen interest when one hears ElBaradei, usually so keen on
restraint, warn yesterday that "the world is running out of
patience with Iran".
Since the turn of the year, Tehran has been "ratcheting up the
rhetoric" with regard to its nuclear ambitions.
Yesterday Iran said it had resumed research into the development
of nuclear fuel. Hamid Reza Asefi, a spokesman for the foreign
ministry, said it was Iran's "right" to do so as a signatory to
the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
The problem is that this contravenes several IAEA resolutions -
instigated by the west but passed with Iranian consent - that
were initiated to control a country whose nuclear ambitions are
unclear.
The IAEA inspectors are concerned that Iran is again intent on
uranium enrichment, a process it halted two years ago that is
closely linked to the development of nuclear weapons.
Tehran says this new move is solely for the production of energy
but ElBaradei warned that Iran's actions were lacking in
"transparency".
The announcement that Iran was to resume research and
development, followed by a failure to attend a meeting with IAEA
inspectors last Thursday to explain what they were actually
doing, has left the international community with the jitters.
The recently installed President Ahmadinejad has made no
shortage of inflammatory statements since coming to power in
June last year.
He has stated, on different occasions, that Israel should either
be "wiped off the face of the map" or moved en masse to Austria
and that the Holocaust was a "big, historical lie".
Last week Ahmadinejad launched a fresh tirade against the west
saying there was little point negotiating with them over Iran's
nuclear development. Such a weapon in his possession would
appear to be a clear threat to global stability. So what can be
done?
Talks between the E3 (Britain, France and Germany are the
countries leading the negotiations with Tehran) and Iran broke
down last month and the Foreign Office indicated yesterday that
there was "no agreement on a framework for future negotiations".
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the
latest move "marks a breach of Tehran's commitments... it cannot
remain without consequence".
The problem is exacerbated by denials from Iran that there is a
problem.
"Iran's stance on the resumption of nuclear research had been
completely outlined for the agency's inspectors," a spokesman
from the embassy said yesterday. "Our activities will be on a
legal basis."
The Iranians have cited the non-proliferation treaty as a legal
basis to resume research. But the same treaty also specifies
that one cannot develop enriched uranium for the production of
nuclear weapons.
The Foreign Office believes that Iran's past honesty over this
issue is weak and its current caginess is "a serious concern".
"We have seen 18 years of deception, concealment and obfuscation
from Iran over uranium enrichment," a spokesman said. "What they
are doing breaches successive IAEA resolutions and is part of a
very confrontational game."
"We will continue to seek a patient and diplomatic solution."
Olivia Bosch is a specialist in Iranian affairs at Chatham House
- the leading British thinktank on foreign policy.
She stresses that what we actually know about Iran's actions
does not extend beyond the bounds of legality, but that recent
history teaches us to be wary.
"Research on nuclear fuel is a permissible activity if carried
out in isolation," Ms Bosch said.
"However, the Iranians haven't been totally forthcoming in the
past on their nuclear fuel production activities. Concerns
remain over their intent."
Dr Ali Ansari, a lecturer in modern Iranian history at the
University of Saint Andrews, takes an even bleaker view. "In
light of what Iran has been saying over the last six weeks, the
whole situation is made much more difficult."
Dr Ansari believes that Iran will not stop until it has the
means to produce nuclear power.
He feels that for the last two years Tehran has been
"accommodating" towards inspections but that "it has got them
nowhere. Now they have decided to be bullish."
What can the west do in response? Iran's belligerence seems
based, in part, on the hesitancy of the US and Europe to
consider military action.
By openly defying international concerns, the Iranians are in
effect saying, "put up or shut up" - the removal of the seals on
their research facilities is testament to their intentions.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, still seems to
think that the UN security council is a viable option.
"There is a resolution sitting there for referral. We'll vote
it," she said.
"That's not saber-rattling, that's diplomacy ... and diplomacy
includes what you do in the security council."
But Russia is also involved, and this muddies the waters still
further. "Positive" talks were held between Tehran and Moscow
yesterday to discuss the possibility of Iran ceding its
uranium-enrichment processes to Russia, who will then monitor
the products to ensure global peace of mind.
Russia's very presence in the debate lessens the threat to the
Iranians from the UN security council as Moscow has, in the
past, provided a welcome veto protecting Iranian interests.
This is augmented by Russia's use of Iran as a market to support
her ageing defence industry.
Even if a security council resolution is passed, the likelihood
of military action is minimal.
Ministry of Defence figures estimate 30% of all available troops
are either in, or recovering from operations in Iraq. Another
4,000 are to be deployed to Afghanistan in May.
The US army has also devoted a sizeable amount of resources to
Iraq - some 200,000 troops - and cannot afford further strain.
Furthermore, security forces are worried that attacking
Shia-dominated Iran would lose the "hearts and minds" of the
Shia militias whom the coalition relies upon to provide a
semblance of stability in southern Iraq.
And does the British public have the political will for military
action against Iran? Disaffection over the Iraq war and
questions over the intelligence that preceded it would surely
hinder any further deployments in the Middle East.
Couple this with domestic energy issues. Tony Blair has
responded to the impending global energy crisis by considering
the use of nuclear energy for British consumption. The Iranians
could easily curry favour in the Islamic world by citing this as
a prime example of Western "double standards".
The Iranian embassy suggests they are fully justified in
continuing their research, under article II of the NPT.
"Research is common in other countries. It is not logical to
seek double standards towards research as it plays an effective
role in promoting science and sustainable fuels. No country
should be deprived of it."
"As long as a country is observing international rules and
regulations there is no justification for referring Iran to the
UN security council."
It seems that politically and diplomatically, this hand goes to
the Iranians.
There is very little that can be done - the right of a sovereign
state to develop a peaceful nuclear energy programme is
difficult to dispute until there is proof of something more
sinister.
And this proof can only be gathered by the IAEA, whom Iran is
openly defying until military action ensues. This Catch-22
situation for western diplomacy promises to be the global issue
of 2006.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
19 Guardian Unlimited: Report: N. Korean Leader Visiting China
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday January 10, 2006 3:47 AM
AP Photo XIN202
By KWANG-TAE KIM
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has
traveled to China on a rare trip outside his country, a South
Korean military intelligence official said Tuesday.
The official told The Associated Press he received the
information from intelligence inside China. The official spoke
on condition his name not be used because of the sensitivity of
the information.
``We confirmed he went to China,'' the official said. ``We don't
know why.''
China's foreign ministry said it could not confirm the report
and had no immediate comment.
Kim, who seldom travels abroad, last visited China in April 2004
for a summit with Chinese leaders. North Korea and China, both
communist countries, have traditionally had close ties.
Chinese President Hu Jintao visited North Korea in October.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier in a dispatch
out of Beijing that the reclusive North Korean leader's train
had crossed the border into northeastern China amid tight
security. The agency did not say where it got its information.
The visit comes at a sensitive time for North Korea, which
remains at odds with the United States over stalled
international talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to abandon its
nuclear weapons program.
China is under pressure from the United States and other
governments to use its leverage as North Korea's main ally and
aid donor to push Pyongyang for concessions.
North Korea on Monday sent its highest-level signal yet that the
nuclear talks are unlikely to resume soon, repeating its demand
that the U.S. drop sanctions to end the impasse.
``Under the present situation it is illogical to discuss with
the U.S., the assailant, the issue of dismantling the nuclear
deterrent built up by the DPRK for self-defense,'' an unnamed
Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement carried by the
official Korean Central News Agency.
DPRK refers to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the
communist state's official name.
North Korea and the United States have been engaged since 2003
in multi-party talks aimed at persuading Pyongyang to abandon
its nuclear programs. Though the talks also involve China,
Japan, South Korea and Russia, their progress is usually
determined by the existing level of tension between North Korea
and Washington.
In September, the United States imposed sanctions on a bank in
the Chinese territory of Macau, alleging it helped the North
distribute counterfeit currency and engage in other illicit
activities.
The next month, Washington sanctioned eight North Korean
companies it claimed were fronts for proliferating weapons of
mass destruction.
North Korea's increasing anger comes as U.S. officials have been
taking a harder verbal line. Alexander Vershbow, the new U.S.
ambassador to Seoul, last month called North Korea's government
a ``criminal regime.'' On Thursday, his boss, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice, called it a ``dangerous regime.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
20 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: North Korean leader believed to be visiting China
January 11, 2006 KST 15:04 (GMT+9)
January 11, 2006 ¤Ñ BEIJING ¡ª The reclusive North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il is on a visit to China according to sources
here who cited unusual security activity in the Chinese border
town of Dandong through which the train carrying the North's
leader allegedly passed.
Security activity on Monday around the Dandong train station
pointed heavily to a visit by Mr. Kim. Armed Chinese security
forces occupied the area in and around the train station from 5
p.m. Monday while blocking public access to the station until
the early hours of yesterday. Sources in Beijing said that Mr.
Kim's train entered the train station around 6 a.m. yesterday
and stayed there for half an hour. Station officials said the
North's leader was greeted in accordance with diplomatic
protocol for about 15 minutes.
Blue House spokesman Kim Man-soo said yesterday that Seoul was
trying to confirm the visit but has not been able to.
Nevertheless, a senior government official said yesterday that
several signs pointed to the likelihood of a visit. "The Chinese
Foreign Ministry has not confirmed the visit to us but it seems
that confirmation is coming from the Chinese Communist Party,"
said the official, who added that in past cases of visits by Mr.
Kim to China, Beijing confirmed the trip only after the North's
leader had returned home.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Kong Quan refused to comment
yesterday.
Since 2000, three confirmed visits to China have been made by
Mr. Kim, the last in April of 2004.
Sources said yesterday that Mr. Kim's visit to China may be
aimed at examining the northeastern region of China and cities
such as Shenyang that have prospered under the booming Chinese
economy.
In addition, Mr. Kim is expected to ask for support from Beijing
over the issue of economic sanctions imposed by Washington on
North Korean companies suspected of engaging in illicit
activities, as the issue has become another stumbling block in
the six-party nuclear negotiations.
Meanwhile, an official with the U.S. State Department said
yesterday that Christopher Hill, Washington's top envoy to the
six-party talks, will embark on a two-day trip to nations
involved in the nuclear negotiations today. Mr. Hill is
scheduled to visit Japan today and then will visit Seoul and
Beijing tomorrow.
by Yoo Kwang-jong africanu@joongang.co.kr>
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc. Terms of Use |
*****************************************************************
21 Reuters: China says North Korea talks facing tough times
Reuters.com
Tue 10 Jan 2006 4:15 AM ET
BEIJING, Jan 10 (Reuters) - China said on Tuesday North Korean
nuclear talks were facing a "difficult situation", a day after
Pyongyang declared it saw no point in returning to six-party
negotiations because of U.S. sanctions.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan made the comments
as China was thought to be hosting North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il, who has an unusually close relationship with Beijing,
one of the North's few diplomatic allies.
China has also been playing host to the six-party talks, which
group the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia, and
which last met in November.
The six were meant to meet again early this year to try to make
progress on North Korea's agreement in principle to dismantle
its nuclear weapons in exchange for aid and security guarantees,
but that now looks unlikely due to Pyongyang's anger over
Washington's crackdown on its finances.
"My view is that we are facing a difficult situation now but
all parties should make efforts so as to resume the next round
of talks as soon as possible," Kong told a regular news
conference.
Kong declined to say whether China felt the U.S. sanctions
against North Korea should be linked with the six-party talks,
saying only that the sanctions and North Korea's objections to
them were "a new, complicating factor".
"The Chinese government attaches importance to the combat of
money laundering and other financial crimes," he said.
The United States has clamped down on companies it suspects of
helping North Korea in counterfeiting, money laundering and the
drug trade, and says the sanctions are a separate matter from
six-party talks.
Kong said China was staying in touch with all of the parties
concerned, with its chief negotiator Wu Dawei having recently
met his Japanese and South Korean counterparts.
The American embassy in Beijing also confirmed that U.S. chief
negotiator Christopher Hill would visit China on Thursday,
following visits to Tokyo and Seoul, to discuss the fate of the
nuclear talks.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. [ border=]
*****************************************************************
22 IBNLive: 'Pak is still the nuclear blackmarket'
The Washington Times, in a report, has said that elements of
the A Q Khan nuclear black-market may still exist in Pakistan."
CNN-IBN News
Updated 1357 hrs IST (+GMT 5:30), 10.01.06
[Email] Email [Print] Print
New Delhi: US daily The Washington Times, in a report, has
suggested that elements of the A Q Khan nuclear blackmarket may
still exist in Pakistan.
Quoting several European intelligence sources, the report says
Pakistan is still using the network to procure nuclear equipment
in Europe.
The Khan network may not have been completely put out of action,
an unnamed administration official was quoted as saying.
"It is possible that elements still exist and the US government
is certainly aware and looking at this possibility," the
official said in an assessment.
The report also suggests that while A Q Khan has been sidelined,
younger people have taken over.
"Khan has been pushed aside, but other, younger people have
taken over," David Albright, a nuclear analyst tracking the A Q
Khan network at the Institute of Science and International
Security, told the daily.
The report claims that as many as 20 government offices,
laboratories and trading houses are buying nuclear equipment and
materials
Administration Officials point out that since Pakistan is not a
signatory to the NPT, or subject to inspections of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, it is difficult to ascertain
if what Islamabad is buying remains in the country.
"When Khan was caught, it did not mean that Pakistan's uranium
enrichment programme had ended. Pakistan still needs its raw
materials and equipment. And so when Khan was exposed, it turned
to other sources," Washington Times quoted a senior official
engaged in the Khan investigation as saying.
Copyright © IBNLive.com. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
23 Another Exelon plant gets additional NRC oversight
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:50:47 -0800
Subject: Another Exelon plant gets additional NRC oversight
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/news/2006/06-002i.html
NRC FINALIZES "WHITE" FINDING FOR OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR PLANT
OVER CLASSIFICATION OF EMERGENCY
The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant will receive additional oversight from
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission based on an inspection finding involving
the classification of an emergency. The finding, which has now been
finalized, stems from a failure by plant operators to properly use the
plant's emergency action level matrix during an event in August.
Oyster Creek is located in Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J., and operated
by AmerGen.
The NRC uses a color-coded system to categorize inspection findings. It
ranges from "green," for a very low safety issue, to "red," for a high
safety issue. In this case, the Oyster Creek finding has been determined by
the NRC staff to be "white," or a safety issue of low to moderate safety
significance.
Because this was the second "white" inspection finding in the Emergency
Preparedness cornerstone for the plant during the last year, Oyster Creek
moved from the Regulatory Response Column to the Degraded Cornerstone Column
of the NRC's Action Matrix for the third quarter of 2005, resulting in a
higher level of scrutiny in the emergency preparedness area. The matrix is
available on the agency's web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/actionmatrix_summary.html.
During an event at the plant on Aug. 6, a large amount of sea grass built up
on screens on the north side of the plant's water intake structure, which is
used to draw water from a canal and pump it into the plant for cooling
purposes. The clogging caused by the grass led to decreases in the amount of
water taken into the structure between 2:35 and 3:40 a.m., meeting the
values for the declaration of an Unusual Event and subsequently an Alert.
(The NRC uses four levels of emergency classification: Unusual Event, Alert,
Site Area Emergency and General Emergency.) While an Unusual Event was
declared at 4:03 a.m. - even though conditions had returned to normal - an
Alert was never declared.
"Since an Alert was not declared, AmerGen personnel did not activate their
emergency response organization to assist (control room) operators in
mitigating the event," NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins wrote to
AmerGen in a letter regarding the enforcement action. "Additionally, had the
event degraded further, state and local agencies, who rely on information
provided by the facility licensee, might not have been able to take initial
offsite response measures in as timely a manner."
AmerGen responded to the NRC's finding in writing on Dec. 9. In that reply,
the company said an analysis of the event had identified two root causes:
1.) A shift manager's assessment of the emergency plan's applicability was
incorrect and the classification of the event was not based solely on
emergency action level threshold values; and 2.) the operating crew did not
implement all applicable steps of the procedure relevant to this type of
event.
In addition, AmerGen listed numerous corrective actions that had either
already been implemented or were planned. These include enhanced training
for control room operators and emergency response organization personnel,
the assignment of a manager as a full-time human performance manager for
operations and staffing improvements throughout the site.
The NRC will conduct a supplemental inspection at a future date to evaluate
the company's corrective actions.
*****************************************************************
24 [NukeNet] Lobbying Needed Now Re Nuke Power/Global Warming
Date: Tue, 10 Jan 2006 17:40:22 -0800
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
http://www.nirs.org/mononline/nukesclimatechangereport.pdf
[NIRS Study of February 2005]
Dear All,
In the January 8th, 2006 NY Times, columnist
Nicholas Kristoff wrote about the need for nuclear
power to combat global warming. He's written about
this before. Kristoff needs the facts layed out
for him by a bunch of people especially when there
is so much renewable energy potential [both
environmentally & economically]. One economic
analysis after the other has shown that renewable
energy is far and away the best jobs program on
earth.
Kristoff can be reached through the NY Times
switchboard at: 212-556-1234 during business
hours. They can also
provide a fax#. Please call and ask him to look at
the NIRS [Nuclear Information Resource Service
http://www.nirs.org ] study listed at the top and
again at the bottom of this post.
nicholas@nytimes.com
http://www.nirs.org
NY Times web site: http://www.nytimes.com
NIRS Study Of February 2005 On Nuke Power As
Not Being Solution To Global Warming:
http://www.nirs.org/mononline/nukesclimatechangereport.pdf
Thanks,
Bill Smirnow
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings or access the archives at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net
*****************************************************************
25 NRC: NRC Finalizes “White” Finding for Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant Over
Classification of Emergency
Region I - 2006-006 -
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public
Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pa. 19406
www.nrc.gov
No. I- January 9, 2006 CONTACT:
Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331
E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov
NRC FINALIZES WHITE FINDING FOR OYSTER CREEK NUCLEAR PLANT
OVER CLASSIFICATION OF EMERGENCY
The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant will receive additional
oversight from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission based on an
inspection finding involving the classification of an emergency.
The finding, which has now been finalized, stems from a failure
by plant operators to properly use the plants emergency action
level matrix during an event in August.
Oyster Creek is located in Lacey Township (Ocean County), N.J.,
and operated by AmerGen.
The NRC uses a color-coded system to categorize inspection
findings. It ranges from green, for a very low safety issue, to
red, for a high safety issue. In this case, the Oyster Creek
finding has been determined by the NRC staff to be white, or a
safety issue of low to moderate safety significance.
Because this was the second white inspection finding in the
Emergency Preparedness cornerstone for the plant during the last
year, Oyster Creek moved from the Regulatory Response Column to
the Degraded Cornerstone Column of the NRCs Action Matrix for
the third quarter of 2005, resulting in a higher level of
scrutiny in the emergency preparedness area. The matrix is
available on the agencys web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/actionmatrix_summary.html
.
During an event at the plant on Aug. 6, a large amount of sea
grass built up on screens on the north side of the plants water
intake structure, which is used to draw water from a canal and
pump it into the plant for cooling purposes. The clogging caused
by the grass led to decreases in the amount of water taken into
the structure between 2:35 and 3:40 a.m., meeting the values for
the declaration of an Unusual Event and subsequently an Alert.
(The NRC uses four levels of emergency classification: Unusual
Event, Alert, Site Area Emergency and General Emergency.) While
an Unusual Event was declared at 4:03 a.m. even though
conditions had returned to normal an Alert was never declared.
Since an Alert was not declared, AmerGen personnel did not
activate their emergency response organization to assist
(control room) operators in mitigating the event, NRC Region I
Administrator Samuel J. Collins wrote to AmerGen in a letter
regarding the enforcement action. Additionally, had the event
degraded further, state and local agencies, who rely on
information provided by the facility licensee, might not have
been able to take initial offsite response measures in as timely
a manner.
AmerGen responded to the NRCs finding in writing on Dec. 9. In
that reply, the company said an analysis of the event had
identified two root causes: 1.) A shift managers assessment of
the emergency plans applicability was incorrect and the
classification of the event was not based solely on emergency
action level threshold values; and 2.) the operating crew did
not implement all applicable steps of the procedure relevant to
this type of event.
In addition, AmerGen listed numerous corrective actions that had
either already been implemented or were planned. These include
enhanced training for control room operators and emergency
response organization personnel, the assignment of a manager as
a full-time human performance manager for operations and
staffing improvements throughout the site.
The NRC will conduct a supplemental inspection at a future date
to evaluate the companys corrective actions.
Last revised Tuesday, January 10, 2006
*****************************************************************
26 Brattleboro Reformer: Topical talk
January 10, 2006 Brattleboro, VT
By ANDY ROSEN
Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- In one of the first appearances in his campaign
for U.S. Senate, Congressman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., heard the
concerns of dozens of local residents, Saturday.
Sanders shared a podium in the auditorium of Brattleboro Union
High School with Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis. They took turns
responding to questions about a number of issues, some local,
others national.
Feingold is a prospective candidate for President in 2008.
A crowd of at least 200 filled the auditorium's seats and lined
the back of the room. They gave Sanders and Feingold a warm
welcome, at times standing and cheering.
A recurring theme was the influence of money in politics, a
subject on which both Sanders and Feingold have been outspoken.
Issues like energy, foreign policy, civil liberties and tax
policy came up as well.
In an interview before the event, Feingold said he expected the
crowd to be interested in talking about lobby reform.
He held a number of similar "listening sessions" with his
constituents in Wisconsin last week as details came out about
Jack Abramoff's influence-peddling suit.
"I'm not sure if people know the scope of this," he said. "This
scandal may be off the charts."
Sanders and Feingold made short speeches, as did a number of
local state legislators who flanked the two on either side of
the stage.
Still, most of the event was reserved for public comments.
When people complained about the confusing aspects of the new
Medicare prescription drug benefit, Sanders related it back to
the problem of lobbying.
He said the legislation dictating the change was largely
produced by pharmaceutical companies. It is not possible under
the new law for the government to negotiate lower prices, he
said.
"What goes on down there [in Washington] is sometimes beyond
belief," Sanders said.
Many asked about pork barrel spending, and both Sanders and
Feingold expressed their disapproval of the behavior of
"conference committees."
In the conference process, members of both houses of Congress
get together to make bills consistent, but they often add
spending measures.
Feingold said it's part of a wider problem of deficit spending.
"Balancing the budget doesn't have anything to do with
ideology," he said. "It's simply running an organization
properly."
Some people, concerned about President Bush's domestic
wiretapping practices, asked if impeachment was an option.
In a reply, Feingold did not use the word "impeach," but also
said he wasn't taking anything off the table.
"It's almost inconceivable that this was legally defensible."
Sanders said it's possible for the U.S. to defend itself
without eliminating civil liberties.
"I'll do everything to protect the American people" he said,
"but we can do this without undermining our constitutional
rights."
Several speakers also mentioned trade policy, and Sanders said
he did not support free trade agreements recently proposed by
the Bush administration.
Both Sanders and Feingold spoke in favor of Peter Welch, a
State Senate Democrat who will seek Sanders' seat in the U.S.
House of Representatives.
Welch attended the event, but he was not as well received as
the others. Many in the crowd chided him for his support of
Entergy Vermont Yankee's efforts to store nuclear waste on the
banks of the Connecticut River.
For his part, Welch said he would meet with concerned area
residents, and pledged not to accept any contributions from
Entergy in his upcoming campaign.
Feingold said he thought it was important to come support
Sanders.
"He'll be valuable as a member of the U.S. Senate," he said.
"He has a reputation as independent and also effective, working
with members of both parties."
After the event, Sanders and Feingold were scheduled to attend
a private fundraiser in Brattleboro.
Andy Rosen can be reached at arosen@reformer.comor (802)
254-2311, ext 275.
Copyright ©1999-2005 New England Newspapers, Inc., a
member of MediaNews Group, Inc.
*****************************************************************
27 Brattleboro Reformer: Board weighs Yankee question
January 10, 2006 Brattleboro, VT
By CATE LECUYER Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- The selectboard may join four other towns in
putting an article calling for improved evacuation plans for
Vermont Yankee on their town meeting warrants.
The selectboards in Guilford, Halifax, Marlboro and Dummerston
have all agreed to the nonbinding referendum at the prodding of
a group called Nuclear Free Vermont by 2012. Vernon is still
considering the measure.
The watchdog group wants Entergy, owner of the Vernon nuclear
plant, to provide a wider range of emergency assistance, a phone
warning system and more evacuation drills.
The referendum asks selectboards to petition their legislators
to increase local funding for emergency planning, which is paid
for by Vermont Yankee.
It's not the first time Nuclear Free Vermont has gone before
voters, but it's a first for the organization to ask
selectboards to take action, rather than submit a petition.
The Brattleboro Selectboard takes up the matter tonight at
6:15.
Although members have not had trouble gathering signatures in
the past, this method is easier, said Gary Anthes, of Nuclear
Free Vermont. "We've been working with the Selectboard on an
evacuation plan for the last five years," Anthes said.
He said the board has supported Nuclear Free Vermont in the
past, and it would make sense for it to endorse the referendum.
Nuclear Free Vermont has also asked other selectboards in towns
within the emergency planning zone, which lie within a 10-mile
radius of Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee.
"We'd like it to be on every town in the evacuation zone,"
Anthes said.
The referendum in Brattleboro also calls for wider planning,
said Town Manager Jerry Remillard, also the town's emergency
management director.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency requires assistance for
20 percent of the population in the 10-mile radius.
"Our plans are for everyone, for 100 percent of the
population," Remillard said. "We've never operated locally on a
20 percent figure."
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Brattleboro increased
efforts for emergency planning, Remillard has said. A $300,000
grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has helped
local towns to launch a campaign, with the slogan "1, 2, Know
What To Do," designed to raise public awareness about emergency
procedures.
He said a phone warning system should be up and running by
March, and future evacuations are planned for child care
facilities, hospitals, and nursing homes.
But Anthes said he wants to be sure it gets done sooner rather
than later.
"It's all been in the works for a very long time," he said. "We
need this done now rather than letting the deadlines keep
slipping."
Cate Lecuyer can be reached at clecuyer@reformer.comor (802)
254-2311, ext. 271.
Copyright ©1999-2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.,
*****************************************************************
28 Brattleboro Reformer: Welch makes nice with nuke groups
January 10, 2006 Brattleboro, VT
By KRISTI CECCAROSSI
Reformer Staff
BRATTLEBORO -- It's been a while since Peter Welch got a warm
welcome in Windham County.
But after a fence-mending session with local nuclear activists
Monday, things might be looking better for the state Senate
president and Congressional hopeful.
In a private meeting at the School for International Training,
Welch talked with members of Nuclear Free Vermont and New
England Coalition about how the Legislature might address
concerns about Vermont Yankee during its current session.
The meeting was also a chance for Welch, who plans to run for
U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders' seat, to fix fractured relations.
Last year, Welch, a Democrat from Hartland, was at the center
of a bitter debate over a proposal to put dry cask waste storage
outside Vermont Yankee. Welch was heavily censured for his role
in crafting a bill that ultimately approved the waste site.
This summer, after the bill was passed, he paid Windham County
Democrats a visit; more than 100 people stormed the meeting to
express their dismay over the bill, and his private negotiations
with Entergy, owners of the plant.
And just this weekend, at Saturday's campaign rally for
Sanders' U.S. Senate bid, Welch was confronted by another group
of protesters, who said they felt betrayed by his actions last
session. They asked Welch to promise he wouldn't take any money
from Entergy in his Congressional race; he consented.
But, on Monday, Welch walked into the lion's den and survived.
Although the meeting was described by Scott Ainslie, a board
member for the New England Coalition, as "no holds barred," both
Welch and activists came out of it with positive attitudes.
Ed Anthes, of Nuclear Free Vermont, said Welch "clearly heard
why we felt the needs of Windham County were not taken into
account adequately."
And even though Welch still stands behind his work on the dry
cask bill, Anthes said activists are ready to put their
criticism to rest and move forward.
"We want to work in a positive way," Anthes said. "We have to
work together if we want to make the rest of the state
understand the health and safety issues around the plant."
For his part, Welch said he was glad to have "a quiet meeting"
with Windham County residents.
"Outside the heat of battle, it was good to be exposed to the
depth of knowledge [activists] have on safety issues and clean
energy."
Windham County Sens. Jeanette White and Rod Gander, and Reps.
Steve Darrow, D-Dummerston, and Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro,
also attended Monday's meeting.
Welch said the group discussed bills pending in the current
legislative session, such as one that would give nonprofit,
non-governmental organizations funding to intervene in legal
cases involving Vermont Yankee. Another bill calls for an
alternative energy study, to look at ways to replace Vermont
Yankee's power supply if the plant shuts down.
"It was so helpful to sit down and try to figure out how we can
enhance safety, going forward," Welch said.
Activists are counting on Welch to help them push Vermont
Yankee issues this year. As Ainslie, of New England Coalition,
said, "All legislators, once you get north of Windham County,
don't think about these issues. ... It's not on the radar for
them."
The test of Monday's progress, Ainslie said, will be the next
few months in Montpelier.
Copyright ©1999-2005 New England Newspapers, Inc.,
*****************************************************************
29 NRC: NRC Begins Special Inspection at Quad Cities Nuclear Plant
News Release - Region III - 2006-06-002 -
U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
Office of Public Affairs, Region III
801 Warrenville Road, Lisle IL 60532
www.nrc.gov
No. III-06-002 January 10, 2006
CONTACT: Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663
Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 829-9662 E-mail:
NRC BEGINS SPECIAL INSPECTION AT QUAD CITIES NUCLEAR PLANT
[PDF Icon]
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Monday began a special
inspection into the root causes of the damage to steam line
relief valves at the Quad Cities Nuclear Plant located near
Cordova, Ill. The two-unit reactor is operated by Exelon
Generation Co.
In Dec. 2005 an electrical problem occurred with one of the four
Unit-2 electromatic relief valves. These valves release steam
and depressurize the reactor in case of an accident.
The company examined the valve and found that the valve actuator
was damaged and the valve was inoperable. The company
subsequently shut down Unit-2 to examine the other three valves.
The valves showed similar degradation but remained operable. The
company replaced the actuators on all four valves.
Exelon also shut down Unit-1 on Jan. 6 to examine the condition
of this units four relief valves. All the valves showed signs of
wear and degradation; one of the four valves was found to be
inoperable. Two of the remaining three are still being
evaluated. The company replaced the actuators on all four valves
on this unit as well.
The companys preliminary analysis indicates that the valve
actuator damage may be attributed to higher vibrations caused by
extended power uprate which started in 2002. Both units are
currently operating at 85 percent power, the level of power
before the uprate. The units will continue to operate at the
lower level until the root cause of the valve actuator damage is
identified.
The NRC resident inspectors monitored site activities starting
Jan. 6. The four-person inspection team will follow the companys
root cause investigation, analysis and corrective actions.
An inspection report will be issued about 45 days following the
completion of the NRC inspection. The report will be publically
available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access and Management
System, or ADAMS, at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Use Docket Number 05000254 or 05000265 to locate the report.
Help in using ADAMS is available from the NRC Public Document
Room at 1-800-397-4209.
Last revised Tuesday, January 10, 2006
*****************************************************************
30 San Luis Obispo Tribune: NRC not taking threat seriously
| 01/10/2006 |
Posted on Tue, Jan. 10, 2006
Viewpoint
David Weisman The Tribune
In his Dec. 28 Viewpoint, Victor Dricks of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission prints a "response" to my question at the
NRC's public forum: Does the NRC have a "Plan B" for the
high-level radioactive waste situation, given the volatile
politics behind solutions as varied as burial and reprocessing?
Printing the NRC's non- response no more answers my question
than did the spoken-word version given to me that evening. It is
clear it does not have an answer and will work on it for 20 to
40 years -- at which time the storage canisters may or may not
be intact, as none has a 40-year track record to date.
The proposed legislation to make radioactive waste permanent at
reactor sites is serious. The attorney general of Connecticut,
home of the Millstone reactor, is taking it seriously and
contemplating action if any location in his state should become
a permanent repository.
Someone believes the threat is real; sadly, not the agency in
charge of regulating it.
Also, please note the correct spelling of my name, as Mr. Dricks
could have if he'd bothered to read the sign-in sheets the NRC
asks the public to complete before entering their meetings.
David Weisman
President, Alliance For Nuclear Responsibility
*****************************************************************
31 AP Wire: Officials pitch idea for West Texas nuclear reactor
| 01/10/2006 |
[Texas News]
Associated Press
ANDREWS, Texas - The University of Texas-Permian Basin and a
California nuclear technology company on Monday sought to win
public support for a proposed nuclear reactor in West Texas.
Officials said the project would include a high-temperature test
nuclear reactor and high-temperature labs for testing other
methods of producing fuels, hydrogen and electricity.
Texas-Permian Basin President David Watts said the university
supports the project as a research facility. He told a crowd of
about 150 people at an informational meeting that he became a
proponent of the project after being convinced that it would be
safe.
"This reactor promises to take Texas, and more particularly West
Texas, into a new frontier of energy production," Watts said.
Mike Campbell, vice president of energy for San Diego-based
General Atomics, also stressed the reactor's safety. Nuclear
materials would be held in containers that can withstand
temperatures up to 2,000 degrees Celsius, or more than 3,600
degrees Fahrenheit, he said.
Officials said their first step will be to develop a $3 million
conceptual design and business plan for the project. Then they
would start trying to raise the estimated $400 million needed to
build the project. If built, the reactor would probably last
about 60 years.
A nuclear reactor hasn't been built in the United States for
more than 25 years, and the project's supporters said the
Andrews facility would be a magnet for scientists, researchers
and industry. They touted the reactor's potential benefit to the
regional economy.
Brian Gordon, a 42-year resident of Andrews, said he supports
the reactor's construction.
"A lot of people recognize us as an energy producer," he said,
referring to the area's history as an oil-and-gas region.
Andrews County is already home to a nuclear waste disposal site,
where federal uranium byproduct waste is held.
Andrews, with a population of about 10,000 people, is located
about 30 miles east of the New Mexico border and 95 miles
southwest of Lubbock.
Information from: Odessa American & Midland Reporter-Telegram, &
*****************************************************************
32 NRC: NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Elects New
Chairman, Vice Chairman and Member-at-Large
News Release - 2006-005 -
NRC NEWS U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public
Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001
E-mail: www.nrc.gov
No. 06-005 January 9, 2006
NRCS ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON REACTOR SAFEGUARDS ELECTS NEW
CHAIRMAN, VICE CHAIRMAN AND MEMBER-AT-LARGE
The Nuclear Regulatory Commissions Advisory Committee on
Reactor Safeguards (ACRS) has re-elected Dr. Graham B. Wallis as
Chairman, Dr. William J. Shack as Vice-Chairman, and John D.
Sieber as Member-at-Large. The ACRS advises the Commission
independently from the NRC staff on the safety and safeguards
aspects of nuclear facilities and the adequacy of safety
standards.
Dr. Wallis was appointed to the ACRS in 1998. He received his
bachelors degree in 1957 in mechanical sciences from Cambridge
University. He received his master of science degree from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and later earned M.A. and
Ph.D. degrees at Cambridge University. Dr. Wallis is the
emeritus Sherman Fairchild Professor of Engineering, Thayer
School of Engineering, Dartmouth College. Previously, hed served
in a variety of academic positions in the United States and
abroad, including several positions at Dartmouth, where he also
served as interim dean of engineering from 1994-1995. His
consulting experience includes Creare, Inc. and Hypertherm, Inc.
Dr. Shack was appointed to the ACRS in 1993. He received a
bachelors degree in civil engineering from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied
mechanics from the University of California-Berkeley.
Previously, Dr. Shack was an assistant professor in the
Mechanical Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and later joined the Argonne National Laboratory,
where he is currently associate director of the Energy
Technology Division. His work has included measurement and
modeling of residual stresses, fracture mechanics analyses of
stress corrosion crack growth, assessment of leak-before-break
behavior in piping systems, and fatigue of reactor materials.
Sieber was appointed to the ACRS in 1999. He received his B.S.
M.E. degree from Carnegie Mellon University. He also attended
Purdue University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
He has served as a member or director of: the Electric Power
Research Institute, Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited, Nuclear
Energy Institute, Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, and the Westinghouse Owners Group. He was senior vice
president and chief nuclear officer at Duquesne Light Co. prior
to retirement. Sieber has been the president of Northmont
Consulting, Inc., since 1994. His primary activities include
nuclear plant assessments, management oversight, event analysis,
root cause determinations, and operational and human performance
analysis.
The other members of the ACRS are:
Dr. George E. Apostolakis, professor, Nuclear Engineering
Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
Mass.;
Dr. Mario V. Bonaca, retired director, Nuclear Engineering
Department, Northeast Utilities, Waterford, Conn.;
Dr. Richard S. Denning, senior research leader and adjunct
professor, Battelle Memorial Institute and The Ohio State
University, Columbus, Ohio;
Dr. Thomas S. Kress, retired head of Applied Systems Technology
Section, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.;
Dr. Dana A. Powers, senior scientist, Nuclear Facilities Safety
Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M.; and
Dr. Victor H. Ransom, professor emeritus, Purdue School of
Nuclear Engineering, West Lafayette, Ind.
Last revised Tuesday, January 10, 2006
*****************************************************************
33 RIA Novosti: Russia sets up group to tackle Urals nuclear plant's problems
14:46 10/ 01/ 2006
MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's Agency for Nuclear
Power said Tuesday that it had set up a working group to address
environmental problems at a nuclear processing plant in the
southern Urals and raise awareness of people living near the
plant.
A criminal investigation was opened against the plant, Mayak,
in April 2005 after breaches of environmental protection
regulations were found during an inspection that revealed the
plant had released more than 10 million cubic meters of
radioactive waste into the nearby Techa River.
The working group, which comprises Mayak executives and members
of local environmental organizations, as well as others, will
involve companies and foreign experts in the search for
solutions to the problem.
Agency head Sergei Kiriyenko said in late 2005 that the
problems with Mayak had accumulated over decades. A major
accident happened in 1957 when an explosion of radioactive
sludge produced a toxic plume that contaminated people in nearby
towns and villages.
Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu said in November
2005 that the river's open-air reservoir had accumulated more
than 200,000 curies of radioactivity.
Russian environmentalists have called for the plant to be shut
down.
The Nuclear Power Agency maintains that the plant is important
for the country's economic development, and Kiriyenko has said
the agency will allocate 250 million rubles ($8.7 million) in
2006, or more 2.5 times more than in 2005, to improve
environmental protection at Mayak.
However, experts have suggested that this will not be enough to
address all the problems.
© 2005 "RIA Novosti"
*****************************************************************
34 BBC: Lithuania plea for nuclear plant
Last Updated: Tuesday, 10 January 2006
By Laura Sheeter BBC Baltic correspondent, Riga
[Ignalina nuclear reactor]
Ignalina started generating power in 1983
Lithuania says it wants the closure of a nuclear power station,
scheduled for 2009, to be delayed until it can find another
secure energy source.
Closure of the Soviet-era Ignalina power plant was a condition
for Lithuania's entry into the EU in 2004.
Now Lithuania says it wants to renegotiate the timetable for
closure.
With few natural resources of its own, Lithuania's leaders fear
the country will find itself isolated if Ignalina is closed in
2009.
Half of the Chernobyl-style Ignalina plant has already been
closed and the second unit is due to be shut down in 2009.
The Lithuanian government now says that will leave them without
a secure source of power and they want to keep the plant open
until they have something to replace it with.
Lithuanian Economy Minister Kestutis Dauksys said the country
needed to decide now whether to build another nuclear plant to
replace Ignalina.
Mr Dauksys said that a new plant could be completed by 2013 -
but he added that he thought it would be very difficult for the
country to persuade the EU that Ignalina should remain open
beyond 2009.
Lithuania's prime minister and president have both expressed
concerns about the country's energy security in recent days.
Lithuania has few natural resources and imports all of its gas
and most of its oil from Russia.
Talks with Poland that would have given it access to the EU's
electricity grid broke down a few days ago.
*****************************************************************
35 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
FR Doc 06-239
[Federal Register: January 10, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 6)]
[Notices] [Page 1563-1564] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10ja06-59]
Dates: Weeks of January 9, 16, 23, 30, February 6, 13, 2006.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and closed.
Matters to Be Considered: Week of January 9, 2006 Tuesday,
January 10, 2006 9:30 a.m.: Briefing on International Research
and Bilateral Agreements (Public Meeting). (Contact: Roman
Shaffer, 301-415-7606). This meeting will be webcast live at the
Web address-- Wednesday, January 11, 2006 1:55 p.m.: Affirmation
Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative) a. Hydro Resources, Inc.
(Crownpoint, New Mexico) Petition for Review of LBP-05- 17
(Groundwater Issues) (Tentative) 2 p.m.: Meeting with Advisory
Committee on Nuclear Waste (ACNW) (Public Meeting) (Contact: John
Larkins, 301-415-7360) This meeting will be webcast live at the
Web address-- Thursday, January 12, 2006 9:30 a.m.: Discussion of
Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 2 & 3). Week of January 16,
2006--Tentative Tuesday, January 17, 2006 1:30 p.m.: Discussion
of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 & 3). Week of January 23,
2006--Tentative There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of
January 23, 2006.
Week of January 30, 2006--Tentative Tuesday, January 31, 2006
9:30 a.m.: Briefing on Strategic Workforce Planning and Human
Capital Initiatives (Closed--Ex. 2). Wednesday, February 1, 2006
9:30 a.m.: Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 & 3) Week
of February 6, 2006--Tentative Monday, February 6, 2006 9:30
a.m.: Briefing on Materials Degradation Issues and Fuel
Reliability (Public Meeting). (Contact: Jennifer Uhle,
301-415-6200). This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address-- p.m.: Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 &
3). Wednesday, February 8, 2006 9:30 a.m.: Briefing on Office of
Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards (NMSS). Programs,
Performance, and
[[Page 1564]] Plans--Materials Safety (Public Meeting). (Contact:
Teresa Mixon, 301- 415-7474; Derek Widmayer, 301-415-6677). This
meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- p.m.: Briefing
on Office of Research (RES) Programs, Performance and Plans
(Public Meeting). (Contact: Gene Carpenter, 301-415-7333). This
meeting will be webcast live at the Web address-- Week of
February 13, 2006--Tentative Tuesday, February 14, 2006 2 p.m.:
Briefing on Office of Nuclear Materials Safety and Safeguards
(NMSS). Programs, Performance, and Plans--Waste Safety (Public
Meeting). (Contact: Teresa Mixon, 301-415-7474; Derek Widmayer,
301- 415-6677). This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address-- Wednesday, February 15, 2006 9:30 a.m.: Briefing on
Status of OCFO Programs, Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting).
(Contact: Edward New, 301-415-5646). This meeting will be webcast
live at the Web address-- *The schedule for Commission meetings
is subject to change on short notice. To verify the status of
meetings call (recording)--301-415- 1292. Contact person for more
information: Michelle Schroll, 301-415- 1662.
The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet
at: The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable
accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need
this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from
the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large
print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator,
August Spector, at 301-415-7080, TDD: 301-415- 2100, or by e-mail
at . Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will
be made on a case-by-case basis.
This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please sent an electronic
message to .
January 5, 2006.
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-239 Filed 1-6-06; 11:53 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M
*****************************************************************
36 Platts: Oyster Creek to get additional NRC oversight
Washington (Platts)--9Jan2006
Oyster Creek will get additional NRC oversight after receiving
its second "white finding," the agency said today. White is the
second lowest level in NRC's four-level hierarchy, indicating low
to moderate safety significance.
The finding "stems from a failure by plant operators" to declare
an alert when the plant's coolant intake was reduced by sea grass
accumulation last August, NRC said. Oyster Creek, operated by
Exelon subsidiary AmerGen, is therefore now subject to additional
inspections due to its placement in the "degraded cornerstone
column" of NRC's reactor oversight process, the agency said.
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
37 Platts: Progress addresses US NRC inspection of security at Harris plant
Washington (Platts)--9Jan2006
Progress Energy Monday said it is launching its own internal
investigation of security at its Harris nuclear generating plant
after the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission last week said it is
sending inspectors to the plant near Raleigh, North Carolina.
NRC said its inspectors, one from NRC headquarters and two
from Region 2, will look into security concerns raised by the
North Carolina Waste Awareness & Reduction Network and the Union
of Concerned Scientists. The groups said last month that armed
guards at the facility alleged that security "is pervasively
undermined by the plant owner and its security contractor, with
the acquiescence of the US NRC and that the plant currently has a
number of particular vulnerabilities that must be corrected
immediately."
Progress Energy Chairman and CEO Bob McGehee issued a
statement Monday saying that when the allegations were made "we
launched an immediate internal investigation. While we continue
to look at a few of the specific allegations, we have confirmed
that the plant is secure and protected." Progress will cooperate
with the NRC inspection and is encouraging "any employee who has
information or concerns about security at the Harris plant to
bring those concerns directly to the NRC team."
The guards alleged, among other things, that Progress Energy
and security contractor Securitas tried to "force" guards to
cheat on state certification tests and that company managers have
tried to prevent guards from searching trucks entering the plant
protected area, according to the two groups.
For more information, take a trial to Platts Electricity
Alert at http://electricityalert.platts.com.
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
38 Platts: Swiss Axpo delays nuclear plans for gas
Freiburg (Platts)--9Jan2006
Switzerland's Axpo has for the moment shelved plans to build a
new nuclear power plant in favor of a CCGT unit, a spokesman for
the company said Monday.
"We will keep our hands off nuclear at the moment because it
doesn't make sense, but are now looking into building a combined
heat and power plant," said the spokesman.
Axpo, one of the big power generators in Switzerland, is
carrying out a feasibility study on two 400MW blocks, which would
initially serve as an intermediate solution to cover an expected
shortage of power from 2012.
"From 2012, we urgently need capacity, and because a nuclear
unit would need about 20 years to be built--15 years of political
debate and five for building work--we are looking at gas," said
the spokesman.
Axpo would only consider building a new nuclear unit if
parliament gave long-term planning security, including the
possibility to dispose of nuclear waste in Switzerland. That
decision is to be made by the government this year.
The Swiss nuclear forum meanwhile said a new reactor of
1.2-1.6GW capacity would cost about SFr3.6-bil to SFr4.8-bil
(about $3.3-bil) and that that was a competitive figure compared
with other source of energy generation.
The Swiss nuclear watchdog HSK meanwhile said Monday Swiss
nuclear units were in top condition in 2005, having ben safely
and correctly operated in the period under review. Switzerland
generates about 40% of its demand with nuclear units and 60% from
hydro plants.
For more information, take a trial to Platts Electricity
Alert at http://electricityalert.platts.com.
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
39 www.mineweb.net: energy S: Nuclear Power Carries High Business Risk
Canada
By: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: '10-JAN-06 04:00' GMT © Mineweb 1997-2004
RENO--(Mineweb.com) While junior uranium explorationists and
newsletter writers proclaim the second coming of nuclear power,
the reality of permitting, financing and building nuclear power
plants might prove daunting.
In the research report, "Credit Aspects of North American and
European Nuclear Power," issued Monday, Standard &Poors credit
analysts suggested that nuclear generation generally carries
"the highest overall business risk compared with other types of
[power] generation." In fact, the decommissioning risk is
probably one of the most critical obstacles facing the nuclear
power industry, according to S.
To put off dealing with the issue of decommissioning, many plant
owners are seeking license extensions and are refurbishing
existing units, according to S Credit Analysts John Kennedy in
New York, Andreas Zsiga in Stockholm, Laurie Conheady in Toronto
and Paul Lund in London.
TRENDS
While no new nuclear plants have been built in the U.S. since
the mid-1980s, utility companies and the federal government have
tried to encourage new construction. "Still, this support may
not be enough to mitigate the risks associated with operating
issues and high capital costs that could hinder credit quality,"
noted S. Even if U.S. application processes are streamlined, "a
new license would probably not be issued before 2010."
The Energy Policy of Act of 2005 has tried to help reduce costs
associated with nuclear investment and provided tax credits.
However, S explained that the credits can only be applied to the
first eight years of plant operation and are limited to a total
of $125 million per 1,000 megawatts of capacity. The act also
extends the Price-Anderson Act limiting operator liability for
nuclear accidents, and modifies the tax treatment of trusts used
to decommission nuclear plants that are not in a rate base.
While S noted "these events create some sort of supportive
platform for a nuclear renaissance in the U.S., it may not
provide sufficient incentive to pursue new construction. From a
credit perspective, these legislative measures may not be
substantial enough to sustain credit quality and make this a
practical strategy."
Canada's need to meet rising power demand and close coal-fired
power plants in the province of Ontario, and replace aging nuke
plants in Ontario and New Brunswick, could mean the nation will
undertake new nuclear power projects, according to the report. S
predicts that "the province most likely to build new nuclear
generation is Ontario. ...However, whether or not new plants
will be built depends on the advice provided by the province's
long-term electricity-planning body, the Ontario Power
Authority."
"If nuclear power is the answer, an issue for the sector is that
decisions will be required to be made in the next few years to
allow adequate time to replace or refurbish a number of existing
nuclear assets that are due to reach the end of their useful
lives in the early to middle part of the next decade," the
analysts suggested.
In the meantime, S called the outlook for European nuclear power
"bright."
"Since it is driven by high gas and carbon dioxide emissions
allowance prices, nuclear operating margins have increased
substantially. The increase in nuclear fuel prices seen in
recent years has only marginally tempered enthusiasm," said the
analysts. "Furthermore, political sentiments have become more
positive toward nuclear generation because of high oil prices,
the raising abatement costs for reducing carbon dioxide
emissions, and the concerns over security of supply resulting
from the dependence on gas imports from non-EU countries."
"But the question is, if a change in political sentiments and
improved profitability will be enough to result in a nuclear
renaissance?" the analysts asked. "Developing new nuclear
generation in the deregulated European market environment is a
high-risk venture, given the long construction times and high
capital costs. Siting issues are likely to be more sensitive
today than in the 1970s and 1980s when most reactors were built.
Furthermore, political support will remain fragile to nuclear
safety performance worldwide."
S warned that "another Chernobyl-like accident can rapidly cool
the current cordial sentiments. Fundamental issues, such as the
final storage of nuclear waste and far-reaching social
consensus, are still likely to be required before a potential
large-scale renaissance can happen."
However, a new nuclear reactor is being built in Finland while
one in France is in the advanced planning stages. Nevertheless,
S believes that investments in new nuclear generation in Western
Europe will be limited and, instead, directed toward lifetime
extension and increased capacity. Slovakia and Bulgaria are
among the Eastern European governments now trying to promote new
nuclear power capacity.
CONSOLIDATION
Since 1999, U.S. nuclear plant ownership has consolidated,
mainly among six large utilities, Exelon, PSEG Energy Holdings,
FPL Group, Dominion Resources, and Constellation Energy Group.
S's analysts asserted that "there is a strong probability that
more nuclear plants could be sold and good chance that ownership
could become more concentrated."
In Canada, nuclear power ownership is concentrated in
province-owned utilities. The Canadian nuke power group has
three owners and four operators with Ontario Power Generation
owning about 90% of the nation's nuclear capacity. The fourth
major player is Bruce Power, a consortium comprised of Canada's
largest uranium miner, Cameco, TransCanada Pipelines, and the
BPC Generation Infrastructure Trust.
In Europe, nuclear power assets are also concentrated. In France
and Belgium and all Eastern European countries, all nuclear
assets are owned by a single company, according to S. The
analysts believe that nuclear power plant projects in Eastern
Europe "could attract interest from Western European utilities
aiming at increasing their nuclear know-how, and invest in
nuclear without stirring controversy in their core markets."
REGULATION
S analysts found the decommissioning risk greater in the U.S.
"because underfunding cannot be recovered through a regulatory
process."
Meanwhile, Canadian nuclear generators benefit from regulated
prices or price support mechanisms, according to the report.
In Europe, nuclear operators are not offered any regulatory
protection as a consequence of the deregulation of European
power markets. "This implies uncertainty about the ability to
recover costs, including decommissioning costs," the analysts
said. "In addition, operating risks is high, and has a political
dimension in jurisdictions where the attitude toward nuclear is
negative (as demonstrated by very high safety requirements and
prolonged regulatory related outages for some German nuclear
plants)."
For more information concerning purchasing the report, "Credit
Aspects of North American and European Nuclear Power," send an
e-mail to research_request@standardandpoors.com.
© Mineweb, a division of Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2004.
*****************************************************************
40 Hampton Union: Reactor plan reaction
Tue. January 10, 2006
Security officer Cliff Bullock stands guard outside the
containment building at Seabrook Station.
Photo by Rich Beauchesne
By Susan Morse smorse@seacoastonline.com
SEABROOK - The threat of litigation from anti-nuclear groups
would be a major block to building a second reactor at Seabrook
Station, according to a plant spokesman.
Investors who would pony up the money for a second reactor would
likely be deterred by the type of litigation that kept the first
reactor from going online for four years, said Seabrook Station
spokesman Al Griffith.
There are no plans to build a second reactor at Seabrook,
Griffith said. Litigation is not the only factor.
"There would be siting issues, it’s a very comprehensive
process," he said. "They talk the final cost overruns, much of
that was because of litigation by anti-nuclear groups, that’s
still something that could occur."
Investors would want guarantees the second reactor would
actually run, he said.
Griffith was responding to comments made last week by state
Senate Majority Leader Bob Clegg that Seabrook’s second reactor
should have been built and still could be constructed, since the
infrastructure is in place for two reactors.
"This was just Sen. Clegg’s personal feelings," Griffith said.
"He wasn’t suggesting he was involved with any discussions with
the company. We want to applaud Sen. Clegg for his support on
energy issues. He’s raising some very important issues."
Power companies around the state are raising their rates or
proposing to raise them, Clegg said. It may affect companies
that want to start their businesses in the region, he said.
Ensuring an adequate power supply for the region will also
potentially affect power rates.
New England will be deficient in electrical power within three
years, according to Ken McDonnell, a spokesman for ISO New
England, which operates the six-state electric grid.
"For several years, as part of our annual planning process for
the entire region, (we’ve been saying) within a couple, three
years, we will be in a deficiency standpoint," McDonnell said.
"We’re encouraging additional investment in power plant
construction."
The decision on what fuel source and where and when is a matter
of investment and individual communities, McDonnell said.
ISO New England, which stands for Independent System Operator,
is a nonprofit company with no financial connection to any
entity in the electric industry, he said.
McDonnell agrees with Clegg that electric rates and supply can
have a "meaningful impact on employers coming in."
But whether additional supply will affect the price is "hard to
say," he said. "It certainly would help with the long-term
reliability of the electric system."
The second Seabrook Station reactor was never completed because
of cost overruns from a four-year delay in getting the first
reactor online. Operations were held up by lawsuits over the
plant’s evacuation plans.
The second dome, dubbed "old rusty" was removed from the site
two to three years ago when FPL Energy took ownership of
Seabrook Station.
The plant began operations in 1990. It is among the newest
nuclear power plants in the country.
It’s more likely another reactor will be built in another part
of the country than the Northeast, Griffith said.
"In the South, they absolutely rely on the nuclear power plant
for jobs and economic expansion," he said. "It’s looked at
favorably in other parts of the country."
Consortiums are involved in looking at streamlining the process
to license and build new nuclear power plants, Griffith said.
FPL Energy belongs to a consortium.
"The way it’s set up now, litigation would stop it in its
tracks," he said. "The first consortium that comes through with
a new design and a new site that federal and state agencies
support, once that occurs, I think you’ll see others to follow
that."
The Seabrook nuclear plant has expressed the possibility of
another type of energy facility at the site, such as natural
gas, Griffith said.
Plant officials intend to apply at a future date for a 20-year
extension of the operating license, which now expires in March
2030.
Asked if a license extension would make a second reactor more
likely, Griffith said, "We can’t be more clear there are no
plans or discussions to have another nuclear unit at this site."
"I think it’s reckless to even start talking about building
another reactor without first having the discussion on all
options first," said Catherine Corkery of the New Hampshire
Sierra Club. "There’s no technology to deal with the waste. In
this new age we live in 2006, that threatens the safety and
health of our communities. We are smart enough to come up with
other options."
-Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.
Seacoast Online is owned and operated by Seacoast Media Group.
Copyright © 2005 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved. Please
*****************************************************************
41 Platts: Three Canadian parties oppose nuclear revamp, Liberals neutral
Washington (Platts)--10Jan2006
The Ontario Clean Air Alliance, citing a new survey, said that
most of Canada's political parties oppose having its federal
government subsidize the rehabilitation of Ontario's older
nuclear reactors.
The Toronto-based OCAA said that its "federal election
questionnaire" also found that most of Canada's parties support
the development of new east-west transmission lines to facilitate
the delivery of hydroelectric power from province to province.
The environmental group, which opposes nuclear power, said
that Canada's NDP, which was formerly known as the New Democratic
Party, Bloc Quebecois and Green Party oppose federal subsidies
for nuclear power projects in Ontario.
The ruling Liberal Party took a more neutral stance in its
response, stating that it "stands ready to work with Ontario in
addressing the province's energy needs," but that it "is the
prerogative of Ontario...to determine what energy supply mix it
will rely upon." The Conservative Party took no position on the
issue.
The OCAA said that the NDP and the Liberal, Conservative and
Green parties all support the expansion of Canada's east-west
transmission grid to permit Ontario to increase its imports of
hydro power from Manitoba, Quebec and/or Labrador.
The Bloc Quebecois said it should be up to each province
whether to build new interprovincial lines.
Federal elections in Canada will be held on Jan 23.
Meanwhile, Ontario is grappling with how best to boost its
supply of electricity. An Ontario Power Authority report issued
in December urged the province to rehabilitate existing nuclear
plants, and build new nuclear and natural-gas-fired plants and
wind farms.
The Ontario government also has been working toward
expanding the province's interconnections with Manitoba and
Quebec. For more nuclear stories, request a free trial to
Nucleonics Week at
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
42 China Daily: More sectors to benefit from nuclear tech
Bizchina
By Wang Ying (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-11 06:05
The country's flagship nuclear reactor builder, China National
Nuclear Corp (CNNC), is applying its advanced technology to
areas such as agriculture and medical treatment to improve
production and efficiency.
By doing so, the builder expects annual sales to hit 5 billion
yuan (US$616.5 million) by 2010.
The company also plans to list two of its subsidiaries involved
in the nuclear technology application field on the stock
exchange, said Fan Jihong, a director in charge of new
technology industrialization at China Nuclear, in an interview
yesterday in Beijing.
"We aim to float the two companies on the domestic stock market,
and raise less than 1 billion yuan (US$123 million)," Fan said.
The Beijing-based nuclear reactor builder now has more than 30
subsidiaries operating in the technology application business,
most of which were transformed from previous research institutes.
By the end of last year, China Nuclear recorded total assets of
about 2 billion yuan (US$246.6 million) in the nuclear
technology application business, and its total revenue reached
1.55 billion yuan (US$191 million), with profits reaching 80
million yuan (US$9.9 million).
New technologies in the nuclear industry, if successfully
adopted in agricultural fields, environmental protection and
security inspection, will greatly enhance their efficiency.
For example, nuclear radiation can be used to increase food
freshness without applying special chemicals.
"We foresee huge market potential for the business in China, and
the domestic market scale is expected to increase by an annual
18 per cent and to reach 100 billion yuan (US$12.3 billion) by
2010," said Fan.
Beijing Atom Hightech Co Ltd, which was established by the
reactor builder in 2001, is one of the two companies that CNNC
plans to list on the stock exchange.
Beijing Atom's sales revenue last year reached 187 million yuan
(US$23 million), and its profit was around 20 million yuan
(US$2.5 million).
The other to-be-floated firm will be set up through
consolidation of CNNC's existing subsidiaries operating in the
technology application business, but the size of the new company
has yet to be determined, said Fan.
China Nuclear is not the only market player for the business in
the country. China now has more than 300 such companies across
the nation, most of which are privately owned, according to Fan.
"Private business owners are moving fast into the sector, as the
market foresees a robust demand for the technology to be applied
in such a wide range of industries," said Shu Weiguo, chairman
of Beijing Atom, yesterday in a press conference.
The private firms are hiring technology professionals to start
the business, with capital size smaller than those of CNNC, said
Li Chaoshun, general manager of CNNC HuaKang Radiation
Technology Co.
China Nuclear will scale up investment to further explore the
business, and the company is also open to private firms and even
foreign counterparts for partnership, said Fan.
"Our current business scale is far from what we expect to
reach," he said.
Compared with foreign companies such as GE and Siemens, the
domestic market players still lag behind in terms of technology
and equipment manufacturing. The country still has to import
some high-end petrochemical materials produced with nuclear
technology.
"There is much room for further growth, and of course that needs
more investment," said Fan.
(China Daily 01/11/2006 page9)
*****************************************************************
43 Rutland Herald: Advisory panel's letter backs Yankee power boost
Rutland Vermont News & Information
January 10, 2006
By Susan SmallheerHerald Staff
BRATTLEBORO — A national advisory committee has without reserve
endorsed Entergy Nuclear's plans to boost energy production at
Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant, adding that an independent
inspection of the aging reactor was not warranted.
The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards, a group of nuclear
experts from across the country that reviews technical aspects
of power uprates, said the proposed changes in Vermont Yankee's
operating license should be approved.
The group had raised critical questions about Entergy's plan
last fall, but late last year changed gears after Entergy
submitted additional information in a series of public meetings.
It voted 9-0 to support the plan.
The letter released Monday detailed the committee's thinking on
the power boost for the first time.
"The Entergy application for the extended power uprate at the
Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station should be approved," the
letter said.
"An additional expanded inspection is not warranted," the group
added, referring to the biggest concerns raised by local
residents who testified before the group in November during two
days of hearings.
Entergy wants to generate an additional 110 megawatts , an
increase of about 20 percent, at the Vernon reactor.
The advisory committee rejected concerns raised by the Douglas
administration, which said it believed the plant's operating
safety margins could be compromised by Entergy's new operating
plan.
Sarah Hofmann, director of public advocacy for the state
Department of Public Service, declined to comment on the letter,
saying that the department was studying it.
The state was concerned that emergency core cooling pumps
wouldn't function properly under the uprate conditions. The
committee said the requested change sought by Entergy should be
approved.
"The overall risk associated with the extended power uprate is
small and the change in risk resulting from allowing the
requested containment overpressure credit is also small," the
committee wrote.
Entergy spokesman Robert Williams declined any detailed comment
about the letter's impact on the uprate, repeating earlier
comments that Entergy had high confidence in the plant and the
NRC review.
"Our uprate team is still reviewing and discussing the letter,"
he said. "As we have said, our uprate application is grounded in
NRC regulations and it has received very thorough scrutiny in a
very open process."
The advisory committee has received dozens of power increases
nationwide and has approved all of them.
But the concerns raised by the Douglas administration and the
anti-nuclear watchdog group, New England Coalition, was the
first time there was an extended public review.
Raymond Shadis, senior technical advisor for the New England
Coalition, said that there was only a small remaining window for
public comment on the project before the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission gives its final approval.
The NRC last fall gave its conditional approval last fall, and
that decision will be published in the Federal Register in the
coming days, setting off a 30-day public comment period.
"They heard volumes of contravailing information, but they
provided no consideration of it," he said.
"The assurances that were made years ago to communities and
state governments are no longer in force," Shadis said. "The NRC
has willy-nilly changed the rules of the game to make life
easier and operation of the plants cheaper."
Contact Susan Smallheer at susan. smallheer@rutlandherald.com.
© 2005 Rutland Herald
*****************************************************************
44 Reuters: German govt remains divided on ending nuclear power
Reuters.com
Tue 10 Jan 2006 4:15 AM ET
GENSHAGEN, Germany, Jan 10 (Reuters) - German government leaders
remained at odds over whether to reverse a 2000 law phasing out
nuclear power on Tuesday, the second day of a cabinet retreat
that is focusing on several divisive issues.
After approving a 25 billion euro ($30 billion) spending
programme on Monday, Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet planned
to discuss health care reform, ideas on giving extra state
support for low-paying jobs, and energy policy.
Economy Minister Michael Glos renewed demands by some leaders
in the conservative Christian Democrats to scrap a law written
by the previous Social Democrat-Greens government that calls for
the gradual elimination of nuclear power in Germany.
But Glos was quickly rebuffed by Finance Minister Peer
Steinbrueck, a leader of the SPD in Merkel's right-left "grand
coalition", who said there was no chance the government would
even consider reversing plans to end nuclear power.
"We need a reasonable mix of energy sources and energy that is
affordable so that consumers and industry aren't further
burdened by higher prices," Glos told German television outside
a conclave in the Genshagen villa south of Berlin.
"Especially when it's cold and others can turn off their
natural gas supplies," he added, referring to the recent dispute
between Russia and Ukraine over natural gas supplies.
"We have to talk about the issue of whether we should be
arbitrarily turning off nuclear power. We have to talk about
whether it is reasonable to turn off nuclear plants in perfect
technical condition and import expensive energy from abroad."
But Merkel, who campaigned to extend the use of nuclear power
in Germany, has already said she will stand by a coalition
agreement signed after the election which clearly states that
plans to shut down nuclear plants will not be changed.
Steinbrueck told German television no SPD ministers were
wavering on the issue of ending nuclear power in Germany.
"This is clearly defined in the coalition agreement and the
coalition agreement is the foundation for the activities of this
coalition," Steinbrueck said. "Ending the phase-out of nuclear
energy is not up for discussion."
Glos and Steinbrueck also disagreed in their separate
interviews on whether the government should offer state
subsidies for low-income jobs to help low-skilled and long-term
unemployed people find work.
Steinbrueck said he opposed any measures that would place new
burdens on the budget while Glos said the subsidies for such
jobs would come -- it was only a question of what form they took.
Merkel and other cabinet leaders put a strong emphasis on
stimulating economic growth on Monday, at the start of the
conclave in rural Brandenburg.
© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. [ border=]
*****************************************************************
45 WVEC.com: NRC orders utilities to come up with power plan
News for Hampton Roads, Virginia | Virginia News
01/10/2006
Associated Press
Federal regulators have ordered electricity suppliers in the D-C
area to come up with a plan to ensure the long-term reliability
of the regional power grid -- in the absence of the Mirant power
plant in Alexandria.
Virginia environmental officials say the plant is an
environmental threat, but D-C officials say it's needed to
prevent a blackout in much of the District if there's a failure
of two key transmission lines that supply the city.
The plant's five coal-fired genarators were shut down in August
and one of them reopened in September. Last month, Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman ordered the plant to maintain all the
units at peak readiness and fire all of them up if they're
needed to prevent a blackout.
Now the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has ordered Pepco and
P-J-M, the group that coordinates moving electricity through the
region, to make sure the area has a steady, reliable power
supply in the absence of the Mirant plant.
© 2006 WVEC Television, Inc.
*****************************************************************
46 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Joint Meeting of the
FR Doc E6-122
[Federal Register: January 10, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 6)]
[Notices] [Page 1563] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10ja06-58]
Subcommittees on Regulatory Policies and Practices and on
Thermal- Hydraulic Phenomena; Notice of Meeting The ACRS
Subcommittees on Regulatory Policies and Practices and on
Thermal-Hydraulic Phenomena will hold a joint meeting on January
25, 2006, Room T-2B3, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland.
The entire meeting will be open to public attendance.
The agenda for the subject meeting shall be as follows:
Wednesday, January 25, 2006--1:30 p.m. until 5:30 p.m. The
Subcommittees will review the staff's draft proposed Regulatory
Guide in support of risk-informed changes to loss-of-coolant
accident technical requirements. The Subcommittees will hear
presentations by and hold discussions with representatives of the
NRC staff, and other interested persons regarding this matter.
The Subcommittee will gather information, analyze relevant issues
and facts, and formulate proposed positions and actions, as
appropriate, for deliberation by the full Committee.
Members of the public desiring to provide oral statements and/or
written comments should notify the Designated Federal Official,
Mr. Michael R. Snodderly (telephone 301/415-6927), five days
prior to the meeting, if possible, so that appropriate
arrangements can be made. Electronic recordings will be
permitted.
Further information regarding this meeting can be obtained by
contacting the Designated Federal Official between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. (ET). Persons planning to attend this meeting are urged
to contact the above named individual at least two working days
prior to the meeting to be advised of any potential changes to
the agenda.
Dated: January 4, 2006.
Michael L. Scott, Branch Chief, ACRS/ACNW.
[FR Doc. E6-122 Filed 1-9-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
47 IPS: EUROPE: Gas Crisis Rekindles Nuclear Option
Inter Press Service News Agency
Wednesday, January 11, 2006 06:09 GMT
Julio Godoy
PARIS, Jan 10 (IPS) - Environmentalists are warning against the
new push towards nuclear energy in Europe following the gas
dispute between Russia and Ukraine.
Environmental activists are warning of the dangers from
production of nuclear energy, particularly disposal of
radioactive waste, security at reactors, and availability of
uranium.
"Nuclear generators leave behind 95 percent of fissionable
energy in their fuel," Stephane Lhomme, spokesperson for the
French environmental organisation Sortir du nucléaire (Get rid
of nuclear power) told IPS.
"These voluminous wastes will be highly radioactive for
thousands of years, representing an incalculable health and
environmental risk, and nobody has yet found an adequate place
for disposing of such extreme hazardous waste in total
security," Lhomme said.
Besides, developments in the uranium market are leading nuclear
policy into a cul-de-sac, he said. Uranium availability will be
unable to meet demand by 2020, he said.
But conservative leaders are calling for a renewal of nuclear
reactors.
In Germany, Roland Koch, prime minister of the federal state of
Hesse and a leading figure of the new ruling Christian
Democratic Union (CDU) party, has demanded that the government
reconsider the decision of the former government of the Social
Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens to discontinue use of
nuclear power by 2030.
The former SPD-Green government launched instead a big
investment plan in wind and solar energy.
Koch told German media Monday that the nuclear phase-out would
be "an economic disaster". He said Germany "must answer the
question (of how to meet its energy demands). This is a
technological and an economic question, not an ideological one."
Nuclear power provides roughly a third of Germany's energy
needs.
According to the European Energy Agency, Germany is now the
world leader in renewable energy, with more than 15,000
megawatts of wind energy. It also has the largest surface for
collecting solar energy, with some six million square metres of
solar cells in use.
But now with the Greens out of government and the SPD the junior
partner in the ruling coalition, these achievements might be at
risk.
The present government has agreed to stick to a phase-out of
nuclear power stations as decided by the earlier government, but
the gas crisis is leading influential leaders such as Koch to
challenge this policy.
The SPD is resisting any moves to revive nuclear power.
Minister for the environment, Sigmar Gabriel who is from the SPD
is urging people to save energy by consuming less and by
improving insulation in their houses.
"If all Germans would switch off all their domestic electrical
equipment and not leave them in stand-by mode, we could shut
down one nuclear power station," Gabriel told journalists Jan.
7. "Environmentally, the most efficient kilowatt is the one
which we did not consume."
In Paris, French President Jacques Chirac announced last week
that his government would approve a new generation of nuclear
power stations which should be in use by 2020.
"France should preserve advance in nuclear power. Numerous
countries are already working on the new generation of nuclear
reactors that should be functional in 2030-2040, and which
should produce less nuclear waste, and optimise the use of
fissile materials," he said.
Nuclear energy provides more than 80 percent of French energy
needs. Use of renewable sources such as wind energy is
negligible.
The state agency for the environment and the management of
energy (ADEME, after its French name), says France has an
installed capacity of 632 megawatts in wind turbines,
representing barely 0.15 percent of the total energy production.
An official report released last December urged the government
to launch a substantial wind energy programme, but Chirac
prefers to increase investment in nuclear power.
The government commissioned a new third generation nuclear
plant in October that is due to begin production in 2012. France
also won the bid last year to build the International
Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) by substantially
increasing its financial contribution to the project.
The ITER is expected to reproduce fusion using more fissile
materials to deliver enormous amounts of energy. The reactor is
being built at a cost of 12 billion dollars, with France and the
EU together paying half.
But many scientists consider this investment too risky, given
the technological difficulties the ITER will have to surmount,
especially over use of tritium, a highly radioactive, and
unstable material.
As it is, French inspectors admitted last month that 34 of the
58 nuclear stations in France suffer from a design defect in the
cooling pumps that are meant to be activated in case of an
accident..
"We have asked the French nuclear security agency to shut down
the 34 reactors," Lhomme said. The demand has been ignored.
(END/2006)
Copyright © 2006 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
48 MyWestTexas.com: Big things, good news going on in Andrews (new nuke)
Editorial & Opinion -
01/10/2006 - Tuesday
Midland Reporter-Telegram
If you haven't noticed, big things are under way in Andrews as
the West Texas oil town is showing signs of vibrant life.
Andrews County officials held a meeting this week to determine
public sentiment on a very high-temperature test reactor,
considered the next generation of nuclear reactors. This meeting
was an effort to test the water so to speak before the community
leadership weighs in on the project.
The University of Texas of the Permian Basin, city and county of
Andrews and General Atomics of San Diego, Calif., are working on
the project. The future ramifications of such an undertaking
have many excited about the economic impact that could possibly
result.
Andrews has already established a nuclear waste storage site and
would like to build on that new industry with the addition of
the high-temperature test reactor. Such a direction will
undoubtedly bring added jobs to the area and many of those jobs
could be considered of the higher paying variety.
If developed, the facility would bring more than $400 million in
direct investment to the state to be provided by the U.S.
Department of Energy. Officials expect that the test reactor
project would need $40 million a year in operating funds from
the government until at least 2040 and with that money coming
in, visiting scientists would do research on site.
The permitting process could cost $60 million and the whole
project including engineering and construction would take six
years.
Also this month, one of Andrews' top projects comes to life with
the opening of the Andrews Business and Technology Center, a
$2.7-million building that is a cooperative venture between the
city of Andrews, Odessa College and UTPB.
The center took almost three years to become a reality. The city
will provide the budget, operating costs and maintenance and the
schools will pay the instructors' salaries. The center will
provide job training in a myriad of areas.
Like Midland and Odessa, Andrews is seeking to diversify its
economic base, providing more community stability and steady
growth. Many cities near the size of Andrews in West Texas have
seen marked drops in population and have struggled to maintain
the same type of community services.
Andrews is fighting that trend and appears to be headed on the
right track.
©MyWestTexas.com 2006
*****************************************************************
49 MyWestTexas.com: Andrews residents positive about reactor |
Local News - 01/10/2006 -
Ruth Campbell Staff Writer Midland Reporter-Telegram
ANDREWS -- Questions about economic impact and safety were asked
Monday at a forum here on a proposed high-temperature teaching
and test reactor.
The product of a partnership of the University of Texas and
General Atomics of San Diego, Calif., the test reactor is
supposed to be economical to operate, safer than current reactor
technology, minimize waste, be proliferation resistant and
produce less activity the hotter it gets.
The technology developed also would provide an alternative
source of energy without increased "greenhouse gasses." The
reactor also would be mostly underground and "inherently safe."
General Atomics Vice President Mike Campbell said there is
nothing you can do to the reactor to cause the fuel to be
compromised.
Along with representatives from UTPB, officials from General
Atomics, Andrews, Midland and Odessa attended Monday's forum at
Andrews High School's Little Theater. More than 150 people
attended.
The plan was to determine the support level for the venture.
Another forum hosted by the Midland and Odessa chambers of
commerce is set for 7 p.m. today at the Center for Energy and
Economic Diversification (CEED) Building on State Highway 191
and Farm-to-Market Road 1788.
The prospective site for the reactor is Andrews County, site of
Waste Control Specialists, a low-level radioactive waste storage
facility, near the proposed site of a Louisiana Energy Services
uranium enrichment facility in Lea County, N.M.
"This reactor promises to take Texas, and more particularly West
Texas, into a new frontier of energy production," UTPB President
David Watts said. Though there are other high-temperature
reactors in the world, there are currently none in the United
States, he said.
"We are in a position to be on the cutting edge of a major new
application of energy," he added.
Also working on the project are UT Dallas, UT Arlington, UT El
Paso and General Atomics. The UT system is in partnership with
Lockheed Martin to manage Sandia National Laboratories in
Albuquerque, N.M. Sandia Labs has agreed to consult as well,
said UT General Counsel Barry Burgdorf.
Officials currently are trying to raise $3 million for a
preconceptual design for the project.
"Right now the only thing this reactor is, is an idea. There are
no engineering designs, there's no siting of it, it's an idea.
To proceed, we need a preconceptual design" to demonstrate the
project's feasibility, Watts said.
General Atomics Vice President Mike Campbell said the
preconceptual design would include a business plan, technical
aspects of the project and its economic impact.
According to The Perryman Group, an economic and financial
analysis firm, the construction phase total would be $1.48
billion, result in $776.6 million in gross state product, $525.6
million in personal income and $200.4 million in retail sales.
No new reactors have been built in the United States for 25
years, Burgdorf said, adding this prototype would be a "magnet"
for scientists and researchers.
Burgdorf said the UT Board of Regents also will look at the
project. "There are going to be lots of people scrutinizing this
from many angles," he said.
Reception from residents was mostly positive.
Edward Vasquez, a local civil engineer with a science
background, said the project is exciting because of the business
opportunities it would provide.
"I'm very supportive of this project," resident Mack Williams
said.
In response to a question Williams asked, Mark Haynes, vice
president for energy development from the Washington office,
said the prototype reactor probably would last 60 years.
Midland Chamber of Commerce President John Breier was in Andrews
scouting for today's meeting.
"These are exactly the type of questions I expected. What makes
this possible is all the evalaution Andrews has done over the
years on nuclear issues. We're excited about looking at this
opportunity," Breier said.
Andrews City Manager Glen Hackler said the information presented
Monday will be given to the Andrews City Council at its Thursday
meeting as a discussion item.
©MyWestTexas.com 2006
*****************************************************************
50 Odessa American Online: Andrews reactor reaction
Serving the Permian Basin of West Texas
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
University of Texas of the Permian Basin President David Watts
answers questions of Andrews residents Monday night at a meeting
about a proposed Very High Temperature Test Nuclear Reactor as
Odessan Kirk Edwards, General Atomics Vice President of Energy
Mike Campbell and UT System General Counsel Barry Burgdorf listen
on. The two-hour meeting was held at Andrews High School.
Crowd seems receptive to building nuclear plant
By David J. Lee
Photo by Cindeka Nealy Odessa American
ANDREWS At a meeting Monday night, Andrews residents seemed to
favor the idea of building a test nuclear reactor in their
county.
More than 130 people gathered in Andrews High School for an
hour-long presentation from University of Texas system officials
and people from General Atomics on the idea of building a Very
High Temperature Test Nuclear Reactor.
After the presentation, a handful of residents questioned the
officials.
Edward Vasquez, a local civil engineer, asked what economic
opportunities would be available for Andrews' businesses and
engineers.
"I'm excited about this," he said. "A lot of people want to know,
though, how local businesses would benefit."
Barry Burgdorf, general counsel for the UT system, said he
anticipates a lot of economic opportunity for Andrews, as well as
Odessa and Midland.
"If this project comes to fruition, it'll be a magnet," he said.
"It'll spin off lots of opportunities. The plan is to share the
fruit of this project with local businesses."
Dr. Brian Gordon, who has lived in Andrews for 42 years, said
he's thrilled with the idea of a next generation test reactor
being built in his county.
"A lot of people recognize us as an energy producer," he said.
"It'd be nice if the country could recognize our community as the
forerunner of the energy that powers your dryer."
Acquiring funding for the engineering, licensing and construction
of the proposed High Temperature Test Teaching Reactor - dubbed
HT3R (pronounced heater) - facility is a joint project between
UTPB and General Atomics of San Diego, Calif.
In October, General Atomics met with officials, community leaders
and residents in the Permian Basin to discuss the possibility of
locating a very high-temperature nuclear reactor in Andrews. It
would be the first such facility built in the Unites States since
1976.
On Monday, officials from five branches of the UT system met with
representatives of General Atomics to discuss the benefits the
reactor.
UTPB President David Watts said the construction has the backing
of the University of Texas because its primary purpose would be
research into an advanced technology.
The proposed facility would include three components - a
high-temperature, gas-cooled teaching and test reactor; a
high-temperature process laboratory to develop and test other
methods of the economical production of synthetic fuels and
hydrogen; and a Brayton Cycle Laboratory for development of new
methods to develop electricity with increased efficiencies.
Meanwhile, during a presentation Monday night of what the reactor
is, UTPB President David Watts told the assembled crowd his
thoughts on the program.
"When I first heard that they wanted UTPB to be part of nuclear
reactor, my initial response was, `You've got to be kidding,' "
he said. "In my simple mind, I'm thinking a nuclear reactor is
going to be a problem. I was concerned it wouldn't be safe. I
thought back to a time when I was living in Ohio, and they were
having some trouble at Three-Mile Island."
However, Watts assured the crowd that as he learned more about
the reactor, he became a big proponent.
"This is a different kind of reactor - it's inherently safe," he
said. "If your response is like mine, I urge you to listen and
open your mind tonight."
General Atomics Vice President of Energy Mike Campbell went
through a detailed explanation of how the core would work. He
also reiterated that there is no way for the core to meltdown.
"If something was to happen, if something blew up all the
coolant, and it got no coolant, there still wouldn't a problem,"
he said, adding that the nuclear materials are contained in
ceramics that can withstand temperatures up to 2,000 degrees
Celsius.
UTPB has said if the residents of Andrews agree, the university
would proceed with developing a non-federally funded $3 million
pre-conceptual design. That design would be used to try to raise
about $400 million to engineer, license and construct the
facility beginning as soon as spring of 2007.
That design would also determine what the reactor would look
like, where it would be located, how large it would be, and what
it would end up costing.
Campbell said if Andrews supports it, the money is raised for the
pre-conceptual design, and the nuclear power plant is approved,
it would be a boon for West Texas.
"There is a finite supply of oil," he said. "There's plenty of
coal, but we're all hesitant about the amount of carbon we put
into the atmosphere. We need wind energy. We need solar energy.
We need conservation. We need all these things - there's no one
answer. But, I believe nuclear power will play into our energy
needs."
Kirk Edwards, who handles legislative affairs for the Odessa
Chamber of Commerce, gave a layman's explanation of how the plant
would work, complimenting Campbell's presentation. Beforehand,
Edwards expressed his admiration for the project.
"I believe in my heart of hearts that's really where we are in
the oil and gas business, we're peaking," he said. "For me, this
is my heart. We do this, and we do this for all of West Texas."
American Online: c /o Odessa American 222 E. 4th Street P.O.
Box 2952 Odessa, TX 79760 Copyright © 1999-2006 Odessa American.
*****************************************************************
51 St. Petersburg Times: Progress to cooperate in N.C. nuclear inspection
By Times Staff
Published January 10, 2006
Progress Energy chairman and chief executive Bob McGehee said
Monday that the Raleigh, N.C., utility will cooperate fully with
a Nuclear Regulatory Commission inspection looking into alleged
lax security at the company's Shearon Harris nuclear plant near
Raleigh.
"When these allegations were brought forth, we launched an
immediate internal investigation," McGehee said in a statement.
"While we continue to look at a few of the specific allegations,
we have confirmed that the plant is secure and protected."
Progress also operates three other nuclear plants, including an
838-megawatt nuclear reactor at its Crystal River power complex.
Saks has new chief, may sell Parisian stores
Retailer Saks Inc. said Monday it was considering selling its
Parisian department store chain and announced the replacement of
longtime chief executive Brad Martin with chief operating
officer Stephen I. Sadove.
Saks also said Sadove would assume the responsibilities of Fred
Wilson, chairman and chief executive officer of Saks Fifth
Avenue Enterprises. The company said Wilson quit after directors
decided to eliminate the position.
Shares of Saks rose almost 5 percent on the news.
Parisian, which operates 40 stores in nine states, had projected
revenue of $700-million last year. But Saks of Birmingham, Ala.,
said it was considering alternatives that include the sale of
the stores.
State considers changes to tree-removal law
A state law requiring the removal of trees within 1,900 feet of
one infected with citrus canker is being reviewed by the Florida
Department of Agriculture in the aftermath of four damaging
hurricanes last summer.
The storms that struck Florida last year, which caused an
estimated $2.2-billion in damage to the state's crops and
farming infrastructure, are also thought to have spread the
diseases that threaten the state's $9-billion citrus industry.
Agriculture officials estimated Wilma and Katrina could be
responsible for spreading canker to 183,000 acres, or a quarter
of the state's commercial citrus groves.
As the agriculture department tries to determine how far canker
was spread by the hurricanes, growers have sought a less
restrictive approach than the 1,900-foot law. They are trying to
limit tree removals after already losing valuable trees to the
hurricanes, especially Katrina and Wilma.
Any change would have to be done by the Legislature.
United: $3-billion loan will end bankruptcy
United Airlines' parent company said Monday it has launched its
bankruptcy exit financing loan of up to $3-billion, effectively
starting the countdown toward the conclusion of its three-plus
years in bankruptcy.
UAL Corp. said it intends to leave bankruptcy "on or about" Feb.
1, as planned for months. A bankruptcy judge must first sign off
on the company's exit plan following a Jan. 18 hearing.
The company obtained an agreement for the six-year exit loan
last fall from JPMorgan Chase &Co. and Citigroup Inc., with GE
Capital to act as syndication agent.
AmeriDebt founder reaches suit settlement
The founder of the credit counseling firm AmeriDebt on Monday
agreed to pay $35-million to settle suits filed by regulators
and former customers over $172-million in allegedly hidden fees
the company collected from financially strapped debtors.
The money that Andris Pukke pays would go to a fund that will be
used to reimburse the roughly 300,000 customers the Federal
Trade Commission says AmeriDebt Inc. deceived.
Pukke, who made a fortune off businesses that catered to
customers in debt, is also barred from working in credit
counseling, debt management or telemarketing as part of the
settlement. [Last modified January 10, 2006, 18:52:50]
© 2006 All Rights Reserved St. Petersburg Times
*****************************************************************
52 UPI: Lithuania clings to nuclear power plant
United Press International - NewsTrack -
1/10/2006 7:03:00 AM -0500
VILNIUS, Lithuania, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Lithuania says it wants to
delay shutting down a Soviet-era nuclear power plant until it
can find another secure energy source.
Closing the Chernobyl-style Ignalina plant was a condition for
Lithuania's entry into the European Union in 2004. Half of the
plant already has been closed, and the second unit is scheduled
to be shut down in 2009.
However, Lithuania fears being isolated if the plant is closed
as scheduled, as the former Soviet republic on the Baltic Sea
has few natural resources and imports all of its gas and most of
its oil from Russia, the BBC reported Tuesday.
Lithuanian Economy Minister Kestutis Dauksys said the country
needed to decide now whether to build another nuclear plant to
replace Ignalina.
A new plant could be completed by 2013, Dauksys said, but added
that he thought it would be very difficult for the country to
persuade the EU that Ignalina should remain open beyond 2009.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
53 Deseret News: Small part of cancers is linked to fallout
[deseretnews.com]
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
By Joe Bauman
Deseret Morning News
Somewhere between about 13,695 and 16,390 Americans have died or
are yet to die as a result of fallout from nuclear weapons
testing by this country and other nations, based on a report by
three experts from the National Cancer Institute.
['Photo'] Deseret Morning News graphic
The report does not present a total tally, but the general
numbers given add up to that range.
Around 49,000 cases of thyroid cancer — possibly 5
percent to 10 percent of which may prove fatal — can be
attributed to ingesting radioactive iodine particles released by
atomic bomb tests of the 1950s and '60s at the Nevada Test Site.
A main route for this internal exposure would be iodine picked
up by grazing cattle, which went into milk.
The report, "Fallout from nuclear Weapons Tests and
Cancer Risks," printed in American Scientist magazine, says
almost all these thyroid cases would be in people who were under
age 20 for at least part of the period 1951-57. That is because
age at exposure plays a role in cancer.
About 4,900 additional U.S. cases of thyroid cancer may
be due to global nuclear testing, bombs set off by the former
Soviet Union, France, England and China, says the report in the
magazine's January-February issue. (If the 5 to 10 percent
fatality rate holds true for these, deaths would be 245 to 490.)
By comparison, without fallout, about 400,000 thyroid
cancers could have been expected among Americans alive at that
time, it adds.
For external radiation exposure, which does not count
cancer caused by radioactive iodine in milk, 22,000 cancers are
expected, about half of them fatal. These were attributed both
to NTS fallout and global fallout.
An estimated 1,800 leukemia deaths caused by external
exposure, from both domestic and foreign fallout, are part of
the tally.
For perspective, the numbers of fallout cancers and
deaths are small compared with the huge toll that cancer takes
anyway. About 1.5 million leukemia deaths might be expected
among Americans who were alive in 1952, compared with the 1,800
deaths caused by fallout.
Cancer is so common that 42 percent of Americans will
have the affliction sometime in their lives, which would amount
to about 60 million people among America's population in 1952
(when bombs were going off above ground at the NTS), it adds.
Around 25 percent of the cancers are expected to be fatal,
according to the report.
The report also cites research by University of Utah
scientists into the relationship between fallout and cancer.
Authors of the article are Steven L. Simon, Andre
Bouville and Charles E. Land, all of the National Cancer
Institute, which is based at Bethesda, Md. The NCI is part of
the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
The report draws upon decades of research on the physics
of fallout, so it is not completely new, Simon said. But he
added that it does offer relatively new material, including
distribution of fallout across the United States and cancer
risks. That information was not widely known and resulted from
the institute's research.
Among facts cited by the report are that while fallout
exposures happened 50 to 60 years ago, so far only about half
the number of expected cancers have shown up. That's because
some cancers have lengthy dormancy periods before they are
detected.
The number of fallout-caused cancer deaths in a
low-population region, such as Washington County, may seem
relatively few because not many people lived there then,
according to Simon.
But the report shows how fallout spread throughout the
country. The report says fallout decreased with distance from
the NTS, and the prevailing wind was from west to east.
One map shows four different wind patterns for the
43-kiloton SIMON nuclear bomb test of April 25, 1953.
The lowest winds tracked, at 10,000 feet, swept through
Nevada, over the Great Salt Lake and then east, crossing the
Delmarva Peninsula and heading over the Atlantic Ocean on April
28. The highest-level wind, at 40,000 feet, went through
northern Texas and veered northeast, traveling through many
Eastern states before drifting into Canada.
Another factor involved rainstorms as global fallout was
more likely to descend from clouds if rain fell. For one period
studied, early 1951, deposition of Cesium-137 from global
fallout was higher in northwestern Utah than in most of the
southern part of the state.
It also shows the deposition of global fallout in several
Western and Midwestern states and the entire country east of the
Mississippi.
However, maps of distribution of fallout from the Nevada
Test Site display different patterns.
One showing total doses to the red bone marrow of people
born on Jan. 1, 1951, from all NTS tests, has highest levels in
west-central Nevada, southeastern Utah, part of northern Utah, a
section of Colorado and two spots in central Idaho.
Another map, showing total external and internal doses to
the thyroid glands of adults in 1951 caused by fallout from all
Nevada tests, shows the hottest spot in Nevada, with the next
hottest splashed across the country and covering most of Nevada,
all of Utah, most of Colorado, and parts of Wyoming, Idaho,
Montana and states in the Midwest. Other relatively hot spots
show up on the Gulf Coast, New England and the area where
Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia meet.
Internal doses from global fallout were "considerably
smaller" for the thyroid but greater for red bone marrow than
those from NTS fallout, the report says. Exposure to the thyroid
could cause thyroid cancer, while red bone marrow exposure could
cause leukemia.
In addition, the report mentions the "extremely high-dose
fallout exposures experienced by 82 residents of the Marshall
Islands" following one American test dubbed BRAVO, which
happened in 1954.
Understanding the risks and patterns of fallout in the
past could help Americans in the future, should they be called
upon to face nuclear terrorism, the authors say.
The report "really synthesized many years of work and
many people's findings and efforts," Simon told the Deseret
Morning News in a telephone interview. (He also discussed the
matter by e-mail.)
"This is not an alarmist paper in any way," he added. In
addition, he emphasized that the numbers are "very approximate .
. . ."
"It can be said that this represents our best
understanding to date."
Simon added, "The bottom line was not the number of
cancers that will occur. The bottom line was communicating . . .
an understanding about fallout."
E-mail: bau@desnews.com
© 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company [ /]
*****************************************************************
54 Dispatch: MH Waiting to Pin Perchlorate Plume on Olin
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
By Matt King
Morgan Hill - Another meeting, another cajoling letter, another
set of data, and still no satisfaction for Morgan Hill on the
northeast perchlorate plume.
Despite evidence that Morgan Hill officials are sure finger the
Olin Corp. as the polluter of the city's groundwater, the
Central Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board continues to
resist calls to hold the company responsible.
The board ordered Olin to clean up the 10-mile southern plume
through San Martin and east of Gilroy a year ago. But in a
recent letter with a "don't call us, we'll call you" tone, water
board executive officer Roger Briggs told Morgan Hill City
Manager Ed Tewes that it will be another six months before the
board revisits the contamination north of Olin's former Railroad
Avenue road-flare factory.
"We are not reluctant to determine if Olin is or is not
responsible, but that decision must be based on substantive
technical evidence," Briggs wrote. "Unfortunately, sufficient
technical data review is not yet available."
The water board has ordered Olin to collect substantial amounts
of information in the northeast flow that travels from the
factory site to the city's Nordstrom supply well near E. Dunne
Avenue. David Athey, who oversees the perchlorate cleanup for
the water board, said that, in many ways, the investigation of
the northeast flow is well ahead of the southern plume.
"In terms of the number of (monitoring) wells in the ground and
an investigation, it's farther along," Athey said. "In terms of
sentry wells to protect the supply wells in Gilroy, it looks as
though they've been shooting in the dark. We've devoted a lot of
time to the northeast flow, and we need to continue to devote
time to the main part of the plume."
Tewes doesn't dispute that there has been more scientific study
of the northeast flow, but believes only a cleanup order
constitutes real progress.
"We are at a much earlier stage because the responsible party
has not been declared the discharger," he said. "From a
regulatory perspective, we are at ground zero."
Olin has consistently maintained that the northeast flow is from
another source, perhaps the former United Technologies Corp.
plant in Coyote. But last fall, the company admitted that new
data revealed the possibility that perchlorate had traveled
north of the site that Olin operated from 1955 to 1987.
Tewes said that data, which showed northerly migration of
perchlorate at previously unstudied depths, disproves Olin's
contention that it is not responsible for Morgan Hill's
perchlorate plume. A finding that Olin polluted Morgan Hill's
water likely wouldn't have much effect on the groundwater
because it tests at levels wells below the state's public health
goal for perchlorate of 6 parts per billion. But Tewes wants
Olin to pay the costs of treating the water, a burden that now
falls to the city's rate payers.
"Olin's own work debunks the conclusions" that it is not
responsible, Tewes said. "I'm dismayed that it may take another
six months to reach this conclusion. I understand the
challenges, but this is a very critical issue for the 36,000
people of Morgan Hill."
Briggs said there's a "very distinct difference between the
weight of evidence" that requires the collection of significant
amounts of additional data. As Olin continues its testing, the
Santa Clara Valley Water District will conduct so-called
forensic tests to determine if the perchlorate levels in the
groundwater basin changed after the factory opened and if that
perchlorate can be pinned to Olin.
"There's no way to dispute the southern plume," Briggs said. "If
there wasn't any doubt about perchlorate to the north, we
wouldn't be doing all of this extra testing. There's a very
different set of facts and the data is spotty."
Water board staff ordered Olin to clean the southern plume last
February, giving the company until June 30, 2006 to complete a
cleanup strategy. Briggs said that an order on the northeast
flow will likely be made by water board directors at a public
hearing.
Matt King covers Santa Clara County for The Dispatch. He can be
reached at 847-7240 or mking@gilroydispatch.com.
*****************************************************************
55 Middletown Press: Radiation evaluation to end this month
News - 01/10/2006
By JOSH MROZINSKI, Middletown Press Staff01/10/2006
HADDAM -- The level of radiation in soil taken from the
Connecticut Yankee Nuclear Power Plant will be determined by the
end of January.
Soils samples were taken by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
after Connecticut Yankee employees in November discovered
elevated levels of radioactive isotopes in a four-foot by
four-foot near the spent-fuel pool.
"We have the raw data back but we have to evaluate the
information," said Neil Sheehan, NRC spokesman. "By the end of
the month we’ll have something more definitive on this."
Officials, who notified the NRC and the state Department of
Environmental Protection, think the radioactive isotopes had
seeped through hair-line cracks that were found in the
spent-fuel pool’s outer wall.
The radiological material, officials say, did not reach the
ground water and did not travel beyond Connecticut Yankee’s
property. The isotopes have been identified as Cesium 137,
cobalt 60, strontium-90 and tritium.
Stainless steel and six-foot thick walls line the spent-fuel
pool. Boron, a nonmetallic element that had been placed in the
spent-fuel pool to prevent nuclear fission, was found on the
cracks, indicating that there had been a leak.
Excavation of the soil around the spent-fuel pool was one part
of the plant’s decommissioning, which began in 1998.
Fuel rods had been stored in the pool until 2005, when
Connecticut Yankee transported them to a storage pad
three-quarters of a mile away from the plant site.
"We’re in the process of draining the spent-fuel pool," said
Kelly Smith, Connecticut Yankee spokeswoman.
Smith said the ground water in the plant’s 40 monitoring wells
meets federal standards.
"We will continue to monitor the ground water for the next two
to four years," said Smith.
To contact Josh Mrozinski, call (860) 347-3331, ext. 222 or
e-mail jmrozinski@middletownpress.com
©The Middletown Press 2006
*****************************************************************
56 theage.com.au: China's bid to beat nuclear rule
By Richard Baker
January 11, 2006
CHINA wanted to avoid scrutiny of it used Australian-supplied
uranium by buying its own uranium mines in this country.
The Chinese request about evading Australia's strict export
control measures for uranium was made to a Department of
Industry, Tourism and Resources delegation in Beijing in August
last year.
It followed a similar request at another Beijing meeting last
February, where China inquired about conducting its own uranium
exploration and mining in this country. It was told that there
would be no restrictions at a federal level, but that
Australia's state and territory governments opposed further
uranium mining and exploration.
Australia requires international inspections of nuclear plants
in China to ensure that uranium supplied by this country is used
for peaceful purposes.
Australia and China are working on an agreement that would allow
uranium to be exported for China's nuclear power industry. Under
the deal, the uranium will be covered by International Atomic
Energy Agency safeguards — and forbidden from being put to
military use.
China's request to avoid export controls is revealed in
Government answers to parliamentary questions lodged by Greens
senator Christine Milne.
Prepared by the office of Industry and Resources Minister Ian
Macfarlane, they show that officials said the controls would not
be relaxed.
"Chinese representatives questioned whether they could
circumvent export control measures on the use of
Australian-supplied uranium if China owned some Australian
uranium assets," the answer states. "DITR officials informed
China that this was not possible."
Senator Milne said yesterday that China's interest in evading
controls undermined its pledge to put uranium to peaceful uses.
"I have no confidence in the Federal Government's capacity to
stop the Chinese from using Australian uranium for non-peaceful
purposes," she said.
A spokeswoman for Mr Macfarlane said the minister would discuss
uranium with his Chinese counterpart at the Asia-Pacific
Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, which begins today
in Sydney, and remind him of Australia's strict export criteria.
The documents also show that senior Chinese officials asked how
the Federal Government was "addressing the issue of state
government reluctance to develop uranium resources".
They were told that the Government was working with the states
to "highlight the benefits of uranium mining".
Federal Labor and the Labor state governments do not support
additional uranium mines being developed in Australia.
There are already three — two in South Australia and one in the
Northern Territory. Some senior Labor Party figures, including
energy and resources spokesman Martin Ferguson, have questioned
the policy.
In August, the Federal Government used its constitutional powers
to assume control of mining rights in the NT, which is estimated
to have $12 billion worth of uranium deposits.
Copyright © 2006. The Age Company Ltd. ![]()
If the Yucca Mountain nuclear repository site is busy, despite a
work stoppage and design corrections that were ordered, there is
reason for skepticism that the nuclear waste buried there will
be stored as securely as federal officials promise.
Opponents in the state who are continuing to fight the
repository should register alarm with energy, safety and nuclear
regulatory officials and demand that the orders be observed
until all the problems have been addressed.
Recent communications cite problems with the design control
process. It also said that no further engineering or safety work
would be approved until the Energy Department validates new
requirements and the contractor shows that they've been
followed. In fact, radiation safety rules are being rewritten
after a federal court decision. However, federal officials have
a long history of ignoring their own agencies' policies
regarding Yucca Mountain. So work that is continuing even after
whistle-blowers report new problems offers little hope that
project supervisors will observe precautions now.
People who understand the project are encouraged to call
attention to problems so they can be addressed as quickly as
possible. We can only hope.
Reno Gazette-Journal network:
*****************************************************************
61 Salt Lake Tribune: Lawyer says suit against tribe isn't ripe
Article Last Updated: 01/08/2006 01:15:12 AM
By Patty Henetz The Salt Lake Tribune
A lawsuit asking a federal court to intervene in the Skull
Valley Band of Goshutes tribal leadership dispute and a
contested lease that would allow private utilities to store
44,000 tons of nuclear waste on the Goshute reservation ought to
be dismissed, an assistant U.S. attorney argued Friday.
Jeannette Swent, who represented the federal Interior
Department, its secretary, Gale Norton, and two Bureau of Indian
Affairs officials, said the lawsuit isn't ripe for court action
and argued federal court wasn't the proper place for the
complaints to be heard.
The lawsuit was brought by six members of the Skull Valley
Band and an organization called Ohngo Guadedeh Devia. Their
attorney, Paul Echohawk, argued that the BIA, as the federal
agent for all Indian tribes, needed to intervene in the
sovereign band's affairs because those who argue the current
tribal leader holds the office illegally don't have any other
recourse.
U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball did not immediately rule.
At issue is Leon Bear's hold on the tribe and the secrecy
surrounding a 1997 agreement that would allow Private Fuel
Storage, a consortium of nuclear power companies, to store 4,000
concrete and steel casks on an open-air concrete slab on 100
acres of reservation land 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City.
On Sept. 9, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Agency ruled it
would issue PFS a license to build and operate its storage
compound, billed as a way station for spent nuclear fuel rods on
their way to a federal waste repository in Nevada. The plan
still needs to satisfy other federal regulatory requirements.
Tribal members Abby Bullcreek, Lisa Bullcreek, Margene
Bullcreek, Lena Knight, Daniel Moon, Delford Moon and Ongho
Guadedeh Devia sued in March after exhausting BIA administrative
routes to kill the PFS proposal.
They argue Bear wasn't the legitimate tribal leader when he
and two others signed the PFS agreement, and that the agreement
never was properly approved by the 80 or so voting tribal
members. Bear refuses to release it for tribal scrutiny.
The lawsuit claims BIA superintendents who conditionally
approved the lease agreement acted beyond their authority because
they did not first make sure the lease had received proper tribal
support. The Interior Board of Indian Appeals intensified the
dispute when it dismissed several appeals without settling the
leadership questions, the plaintiffs say.
Because the Skull Valley Band has no court of its own, and
because Interior has declined to sort out the disputes, the
federal court is the plaintiff's last resort, Echohawk said.
The crux of the government's request to dismiss the case was
that BIA approval of the lease agreement was conditional, and
that any harm is therefore conjectural. "There is nothing
concrete about a facility that may never be built," Swent said.
The plaintiffs, however, say they already have been harmed by
Bear's refusal to respond to their requests for dispute
resolution. They also allege he hands out PFS money and federal
allotments unequally, depending on whether tribal members
support him and the PFS deal.
Bear, not named in lawsuit, denied that claim Friday.
Federal funds are administered according to contracts with the
government, he said. "The PFS money goes into a general fund.
Once it goes into the general fund, the tribe breaks it down
into a tribal budget," he said.
Annual profits then are allocated according to a formula set
by the General Council, which is made up of all adult Goshutes.
Some tribal members who owe the tribe money may receive less
than others, Bear said.
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
62 Salt Lake Tribune: Canadians stake claim to Utah's uranium
Article Last Updated: 01/09/2006 11:08:35 PM
Hot commodity: The price of the material has many looking for
deposits of the metal
By Steven Oberbeck The Salt Lake Tribune
A tiny Canadian minerals exploration company hopes to strike
it rich in the uranium mining business in Utah.
The Vancouver-based Max Resource Corp. has received
permission from the Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining to
begin exploratory drilling on 3,900 acres of land it holds 20
miles northwest of Delta.
"We've been lining this project up for months now," Max
Resource spokesman Leonard MacMillan said. "And if everything
goes as planned - if the rig is available and the weather holds
- we hope to begin drilling the first of six holes by the end of
the month."
Max Resources is a junior mining company. Its financial
resources are limited but it hopes to establish that there is
enough uranium on its property to attract the attention of a
larger company that would be interested in developing a mine.
Max then could share in any proceeds in return for contributing
its property to the project.
MacMillan maintains there is a good chance the company will
find uranium. Its 196 claims initially were explored during the
early 1980s by Phillips Uranium, but that effort was terminated
because of continuing fallout from the accident at the Three
Mile Island nuclear power plant in 1979.
"We need to get in there and further delineate what we
have," McMillan said, noting that Clancy J. Wendt, Max
Resource's vice president of exploration, was with Phillips
Uranium in the 1980s and supervised its drilling program on the
claims.
Over the past several years, a looming shortage of uranium
to fuel the nation's power plants has pushed up the price of the
radioactive metal. Selling for well under $10 a pound a decade
ago, the price is above $36 and projected to go higher.
The higher price has sparked a rush back to the mountains
and deserts of Utah by prospectors who hope their Geiger
counters will again start clicking and pointing the way to rich
ore deposits.
There are six companies, including Max Resource, that have
exploration projects in various stages of completion and
permitting on state lands, said Jim Springer, spokesman for the
Utah Division of Oil, Gas and Mining.
There is a similar rush to explore federal lands in the
state. "We've seen a half dozen projects out of this office
alone," said Frank Bain, a geologist with the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management's office in Moab, which covers Utah's Grand and
San Juan counties. "There hasn't been activity like that since
at least the early 1980s."
Resource analyst Kevin Bambrough at Sprott Asset Management
in Vancouver said uranium shortages loom for U.S. utilities that
need to fuel their reactors. And that is especially true for
those utilities that want to build new nuclear power plants.
"The supply is just not there," he said.
Bambrough said for utilities that want to bring on new
plants, many probably will have a hard time contracting for the
uranium they'll need. "It's difficult to do that. You'd have to
go to mines that are not even there yet in order to try and
contract for your supply."
For some junior mining companies, such conditions could
present an opportunity, he said.
"But you have to realize the majority of those (junior
mining) companies aren't going to be successful. And they should
be looked upon with a lot of caution."
steve@sltrib.com
© Copyright 2005, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
63 Daily Nexus: UC To Remain in Control of Lab -
Stressing a new beginning for the Los Alamos National Laboratory
(LANL), the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) announced that the
University of California and its team will continue to manage the
facility.
The Los Alamos National Security Limited Liability Company (LANS)
- comprised of the University of California, the Bechtel
Corporation, BWX Technologies Inc. and the Washington Group
International - was awarded the new contract on Dec. 21 by the
DOE. The seven-year contract begins on June 1 and is worth $512
million, and also includes the possibility of a 13-year
extension.
In a DOE press release, Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman said
he is confident in the UCs ability to continue its stewardship
of the lab,
I cannot stress enough & that this is a new contract with a new
team marking a new approach to management at Los Alamos, Bodman
said.
UC has managed LANL since the labs opening in 1943. The lab
began as a program named Project Y, created with the sole
purpose of designing and building an atomic bomb.
The DOE, however, placed the LANL contract up for bids in 2003,
alleging the UC had mismanaged the lab by misallocating $15
million in government funds and allowing periodic breaches of
nuclear security policy. The University of Texas and its
corporate sponsor Lockheed Martin were the only other team to bid
against UC for the LANL contract.
In a UC press release, President Robert C. Dynes said the UC
chose to compete for the lab in order to continue its public
service to the nation.
We believed we could make a vital contribution to the country
by applying scientific excellence to national security, Dynes
said.
In the DOE press release, Bodman said a Source Evaluation Board
(SEB), consisting of career civil servants, chose the
competition winner.
It was decided that the requisite fact-finding, evaluation and
the final selection would be carried out by career - and not
political - personnel, Bodman said. I strongly endorse that
decision; there can be no hint of politics in a decision of such
national significance.
LANS team spokeswoman B. Sue Kuntz said new employees will be
hired during the transition phase between contracts, but that
the lab will not dismiss any of its current employees.
Every employee at UC at the lab will be given a job offer,
Kuntz said.
In the UC press release, Dynes said the LANS team will also
attempt to minimize disruption during the transition phase
between contracts.
The transition plans of both the new LANS team, as well as the
Universitys efforts to close out the current contract, are
designed to minimize disruption for our employees as well as the
important work of the laboratory, Dynes said.
Kuntz stressed that the UC will no longer bear the sole
responsibility of managing the lab.
[The LANS team] is a brand new management team, its an
integrated entity, Kuntz said. We are going to emphasize
safety, security and efficiency.
2000-2006 Daily Nexus. All rights reserved. No part of this
*****************************************************************
64 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: U.S., state settle suit over Hanford waste shipments
[seattlepi.com]
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
Energy Dept. won't send any material until new impact statement
is done
By SHANNON DININNY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YAKIMA -- Washington state and the U.S. Energy Department have
agreed to settle a lawsuit challenging out-of-state shipments of
radioactive and hazardous waste to the Hanford Nuclear
Reservation, the two sides announced Monday.
The agreement appears to end a two-year court battle between the
state and federal government over proposed waste shipments to
the site.
As part of the agreement, the Energy Department will prepare a
new environmental impact statement that evaluates the potential
effects of storing, treating and disposing of certain types of
waste at Hanford. In exchange, the state agreed to drop its
lawsuit challenging the current environmental impact statement
and will play a greater role in developing the new document.
The new impact statement is to be completed by 2008. The Energy
Department will not ship waste to the site until the document is
completed, with the exception of some waste the state had
already agreed to accept at Hanford.
"With this agreement, both parties will be able to shift their
focus and resources away from litigation and toward partnership
and our shared cleanup goals," Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman
said in a statement. "The settlement of this lawsuit signals a
new day in our cleanup efforts, where both the federal
government and the state jointly address Hanford's cleanup
challenges and seek common ground and quality solutions."
The Energy Department manages cleanup at the 586-square-mile
reservation, which is the nation's most contaminated nuclear
site after 40 years of plutonium production for the nation's
nuclear weapons arsenal. Cleanup costs are expected to total $50
billion to $60 billion.
"Although I'm disappointed we had to file a lawsuit to get this
result, this is a great outcome for a long and contentious
case," state Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a statement.
"I'm very pleased the Department of Energy has agreed to
re-examine the impacts of waste disposal at Hanford so we have
greater confidence that future waste disposal will not increase
the threat to the Columbia River."
Washington sued the Energy Department in 2003 to bar shipments
of offsite waste to the Hanford site on the banks of the
Columbia River. The state expanded its lawsuit in 2004,
challenging the adequacy of the current environmental impact
statement, released that year.
A judge issued a preliminary injunction barring waste shipments
to the site. Then, as part of the discovery phase in that
lawsuit last year, the Energy Department discovered that the
current document was based on inconsistent data about the effect
of waste disposal on groundwater.
[advertising] At the time, the department did not immediately
withdraw the document but delayed plans for shipping waste to
Hanford.
Under the agreement, the Energy Department will prepare a new,
expanded document that includes updated, sitewide groundwater
analysis. Until it is completed, no low-level, mixed low-level,
transuranic or mixed transuranic waste will be shipped to the
site.
Low-level waste is considered mildly radioactive, and mixed
waste is radioactive waste laced with hazardous chemicals.
Transuranic waste, which is highly radioactive, is typically
debris, such as clothing, equipment or pipes left over from
nuclear weapons production.
The Energy Department had planned to ship to Hanford the
equivalent of about 410,000 55-gallons drums of low level and
mixed low-level waste, and at least 185 drums of transuranic and
mixed transuranic waste.
[Seattle Post-Intelligencer]
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
©1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
*****************************************************************
65 DOE: Secretary Bodman Visits National Energy Technology Lab
January 6, 2006
On Friday, January 6, Secretary Bodman visited the National
Energy Technology Lab (NETL)in Pittsburgh, PA, to tour the
research facility and hold an all-hands meeting with NETL
employees. The Secretary was joined by Assistant Secretary for
Fossil Energy Jeff Jarrett and Congressman Tim Murphy (R-PA).
During the visit, Secretary Bodman toured exhibits on NETLs
research and development projects and received demonstrations
from scientists and researchers on the latest energy and
environmental technologies developed by the lab.
Prior to his visit to NETL, Secretary Bodman joined Reps.
Melissa Hart and Tim Murphy for the Pittsburgh Energy Summit
2006. During the summit, Secretary Bodman discussed
Pittsburghs growing economy and how the Energy Policy Act of
2005 can help promote job growth and the economy of
Pennsylvania.
Media contact(s):
Craig Stevens, 202-586-4940 [ ]
U.S. Energy Secretary Bodman Highlights the Economic
Incentives of Energy Efficiency at the Pittsburgh Energy Summit
2006
Energy Department Announces 2007 Solar Decathlon Teams
Department of Energy Assistant Secretary and Rep. Blackburn in
Nashville, Tenn. Highlight the Economic Incentives of Energy
Efficiency
U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW |
Washington, DC 20585
1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 |
*****************************************************************
66 DOE: Energy Secretary Bodman Statement on Hanford Solid Waste
Settlement Agreement
January 9, 2006
Richland, WA U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman today
announced that the Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of
Washington have entered into a settlement agreement that will
lead to a final order and the dismissal of the challenge to
Hanfords Solid Waste Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in
the lawsuit Washington v. Bodman. DOE, with Washington State as
a cooperating agency, will prepare a new EIS that will include
updated, site-wide groundwater analysis.
With this agreement, both parties will be able to shift their
focus and resources away from litigation and toward partnership
and our shared cleanup goals, said Secretary Samuel Bodman.
The settlement of this lawsuit signals a new day in our cleanup
efforts, where both the Federal government and the State jointly
address Hanfords cleanup challenges and seek common ground and
quality solutions.
Historical Overview In 2003, the State of Washington initiated
litigation on issues related to the importation, treatment and
disposal of radioactive and hazardous waste generated off-site as
a result of nuclear defense and research activities.
In 2004, DOE issued the Hanford Solid Waste EIS, which evaluated
potential environmental impacts of the storage, treatment and
disposal of low-level, mixed-low level and transuranic waste at
the Hanford Site. The State of Washington amended its lawsuit to
challenge the adequacy of this EIS.
In July 2005, as part of the discovery process related to the
2003 lawsuit, DOE was informed by its support contractor,
Battelle Memorial Institute, of discrepancies in the EIS data
related to the impacts of waste disposal on Hanfords
groundwater. DOE immediately notified the Federal Court, the
State of Washington, and Congress of the discrepancies in the
data, and initiated a review to identify additional quality
assurance issues. DOEs review is complete and a report publicly
available.
The settlement agreement, negotiated with the assistance of the
Department of Justices Environment and Natural Resources
Division, outlines DOEs plans for resolving the data quality
issues identified.
The Settlement Agreement
Under the agreement announced today, DOE and the State of
Washington agree that: As a first step in implementing the
Settlement Agreement, DOE, in consultation with the State, will
hold public meetings and seek public input to finalize the scope
of the new, comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement.
+ DOE will prepare a new, expanded, comprehensive EIS that
will combine the scope of the 2004 Solid Waste EIS and the
ongoing Tank Closure EIS;
+ The State of Washington will have a significant role in
establishing key analytic parameters for the new EIS, resolving
issues, participating in reviews, and giving overall input as a
cooperating agency;
+ DOE will not import waste from other sites pending the
completion of the new, comprehensive EIS, except in certain
limited instances to which the State has previously agreed. The
exceptions are listed in the Settlement Agreement;
+ The current Solid Waste EIS will remain in place to ensure
that ongoing cleanup operations continue. When completed, the
new EIS will replace the existing Solid Waste EIS. Both the
Settlement Agreement and the results of the EIS Quality
Assurance Review are available at http://www.em.doe.gov/.
Media contact(s):
Mike Waldron, 202/586-4940 [ ]
U.S. Department of Energy Awards Paducah Remediation Contract
U.S. Energy Officials to Hold Press Conference Call to Discuss
Actions Relating to the Mirant Power Plant in Alexandria, Va.
DOE Orders Mirant Power Plant to Operate Under Limited
Circumstances
U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW |
Washington, DC 20585
1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 |
*****************************************************************
67 DOE: Energy Department Announces 2007 Solar Decathlon Teams
January 10, 2006
Each of the 20 Schools to Receive $100,000 in Funding
WASHINGTON, DC The U.S. Department of Energy today announced
that 20 teams have been selected to compete in the 2007 Solar
Decathlon. The 20 teams selected for the competition will be
awarded $100,000 over two years to support the Solar Decathlons
research goal of reducing the cost of solar-powered homes and
advancing solar technology. The next generation of leaders
will have an opportunity to shine as they compete in the 2007
Solar Decathlon, said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.
Supplying enough clean, affordable energy to fuel the worlds
growing economies is one of the great challenges we will face
over the coming years. By helping expand the use of solar
energy technologies, the participants will help meet that
challenge.
The following teams have been selected to compete through a
proposal system:
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA Cornell University,
Ithaca, NY Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA Kansas
State University, Manhattan, KS Lawrence Technological
University, Southfield, MI Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Cambridge, MA New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury, NY
Team Montreal (École de Technologie Supérieure, Université de
Montréal, McGill University), Montreal, CANADA Technische
Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, GERMANY Texas A&M University,
College Station, TX
The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Río Piedras and Mayagüez, PR
Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, SPAIN
University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH University of Colorado,
Boulder, CO (Winner 2005)
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL University
of Maryland, College Park, MD University of Missouri-Rolla,
Rolla, MO University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
The Solar Decathlon is an international competition that brings
student teams from universities across the United States, Europe
and Canada to compete in designing, building and operating highly
energy-efficient, completely solar-powered houses. The teams will
assemble their homes on the Mall and will be open to the public.
Contest rules require that each house generate enough energy from
the sun to operate a household, a home-based business and related
transportation needs. Teams are judged in ten different
categories, seven of which focus on energy efficiency; others
include design and comfort of the house. The team with the most
points the most energy-efficient and innovatively designed
house wins. The Solar Decathlon takes place every other
year; the 2005 winner was the University of Colorado. For more
information please visit http://www.solardecathlon.org/.
Media contact(s):
Tom Welch, 202/586-5806 [ ]
U.S. Energy Secretary Bodman Highlights the Economic
Incentives of Energy Efficiency at the Pittsburgh Energy Summit
2006
Secretary Bodman Visits National Energy Technology Lab
Department of Energy Assistant Secretary and Rep. Blackburn in
Nashville, Tenn. Highlight the Economic Incentives of Energy
Efficiency
U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW |
Washington, DC 20585
1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 |
*****************************************************************
68 Hanford News: Board OKs new Hanford timeline
This story was published Monday, January 9th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
A Hanford oversight board has accepted a new plan that allows
more time to clean up the radioactive sludge in the K Basins,
but remains concerned about the project.
"Difficulties with design, engineering and project management
may continue to delay the project," wrote A.J. Eggenberger,
chairman of the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, in a
letter to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman late last week.
"Although a number of corrective actions have been taken in the
past year to address these problematic areas, little substantial
evidence exists to indicate that the project is now healthy in
these areas," he wrote.
The board plans to continue its close observation of the
project, he said.
The new timeline, the third on the project in recent years,
replaces a plan that called for radioactive sludge in the K East
Basin to be vacuumed into underwater containers by the end of
2004. The newest commitment to the board calls for the K East
sludge to be in containers by the end of October 2006.
As the time needed for that difficult work has expanded from an
estimated two months to an estimated 23 months, the schedule for
the rest of the project to empty and remove K East and also K
West Basins has been pushed back.
The new commitment to the safety board calls for all the sludge
to be removed from the underwater containers and packaged for
disposal by November 2009. The legally binding Tri-Party
Agreement, which based deadlines on the previous plan, calls not
only for the sludge to be out of the basins, but also the walls
and floors of the basins to be removed from the ground by the
end of March 2009.
The Department of Energy is discussing changing the Tri-Party
Agreement deadlines on the project with the Environmental
Protection Agency, the regulator on the project.
The K Basins, each holding more than 1 million gallons of water,
were built in the 1950s to hold irradiated reactor fuel until it
was processed to remove plutonium for use in producing nuclear
weapons.
After the last Hanford processing plant shut down, leftover
irradiated fuel remained in the pools for more than a decade. It
corroded and particles mixed with dirt and concrete that
sloughed off the sides of the basins to form the radioactive
sludge. The sludge has proved far more difficult to remove than
anticipated.
Unlike previous plans submitted to the safety board, the new one
includes a detailed project risk assessment to provide more
confidence in the cost, schedule and implementation of the plan
to clean up and remove the leak-prone basins. The safety board
believes the setbacks in the project have been caused in part by
poor management of project risks.
However, the new risk assessment cannot be finished until the
final design for the system to treat and package radioactive
sludge removed from the basins is completed this fall.
The board is looking forward to an adjustment of the project
schedule once the risk assessment is completed, said
Eggenberger, safety board chairman. To address unknown factors
in treatment and packaging, a delay of 282 days was built into
the schedule and that delay could be shortened.
The board also is concerned that the risk assessment is based on
more than 20 assumptions that themselves present significant
risks, the letter said.
Those include assumptions that layoffs at Hanford will not
significantly affect the skills and qualifications of available
workers at the K Basins, that the amount of sludge in K West has
been accurately estimated and that less than 25 percent of the
debris removed from the basins will be radioactive enough to
require that it be mixed with grout before it is taken to a
central Hanford landfill.
The board will be closely watching the planned transfer of
sludge from the more contaminated K East Basin to the K West
Basin, where sludge will be consolidated before treatment. The
start up of the transfer system "should serve as an indicator of
the health of the design, engineering and readiness preparations
processes within the project," Eggenberger wrote.
Contractor Fluor Hanford has the major equipment in place for
the transfer system and is expected to begin moving sludge late
this year.
The safety board also is calling on DOE to "do more to demand
from the contractor quality products and services that will lead
to timely risk reduction at the K Basins," the letter said. It
has asked for a briefing within three months that should include
any additional steps DOE plans to take, such as more oversight,
to ensure the startup of the sludge transfer system and
completion of the K Basins project.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
69 Watching The Watchers: Company with fraud history is investigating
Los Alamos chromium pollution
[Republicons]
By Lee Russ, Section News
Posted on Tue Jan 10, 2006 at 04:52:38 PM EST
A report from the AScribe Newswiretoday carries the claim of the
Environmental Working Group (EWG) that "The consulting firm in
charge of investigating how toxic chromium from Los Alamos
National Laboratory (LANL) contaminated a regional aquifer" is
the very same company that previously planted a fraudulent
article in a scientific journal which claimed to refute the
findings of an earlier study that linked chromium to cancer."
I don't know about you, but I'm reassured that the U.S.
Department of Energy and the Centers for Disease Control seem to
be carrying on the fine tradition of FEMA. Not to mention the
crack federal legislators who just gave us the Medicare
Prescription Drug program that has so far has kept many seniors
from getting those prescription drugs, and has cost many others
considerably more than they would have had to spend before that
great program took effect.
Does anyone know the date that the United states ceased to be
able to do anything competently and above board?
Excerpt:
The consultants are ChemRisk, based in San Francisco, who have a
multimillion-dollar contract with the U.S. Department of Energy
and Centers for Disease Control to examine all chemical and
radioactive releases from the lab (LANL), which develops nuclear
weapons and is managed by the University of California and
Bechtel Corp. ChemRisk's job is to find and catalog historical
documents on chemical and radioactive leaks and discharges, but
also to prioritize the health risks of the chemicals detected.
In December, extraordinarily high levels of chromium were found
in test wells just north of LANL.
....
The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 23 that in 1997 ChemRisk
distorted the data from a Chinese study linking a form of
chromium to stomach cancer to publish an article under the
original author's byline that reversed the earlier findings.
ChemRisk was working for Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on the
infamous "Erin Brockovich" case, in which residents of Hinkley,
Calif., sued PG&E for polluting their drinking water with
chromium-6. PG&E paid $333 million to settle the case.
[end excerpt]
Gee, do you think that Los Alamos would have been held
responsible for the pollution if good old ChemRisk had completed
the investigation before this story broke?
< Investigate legality of Bush's eavesdropping
program? "Not my job, man" (0 comments)
© 2005 The Management
*****************************************************************
70 www.ascribe.org: AS-scientific-fraud
Tue Jan 10 14:21:41 2006 Pacific Time
Los Alamos Lab Contractor Caught in Scientific Fraud: Work
on Chromium Contamination Conflicts With Ties to Polluters
OAKLAND, Calif., Jan. 10 (AScribe Newswire) -- The
consulting firm in charge of investigating how toxic chromium
from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) contaminated a
regional aquifer fraudulently planted an article in a scientific
journal reversing the findings of an earlier study linking the
chemical to cancer, according to documents obtained by
Environmental Working Group (EWG).
The consultants are ChemRisk, based in San Francisco, who
have a multimillion-dollar contract with the U.S. Department of
Energy and Centers for Disease Control to examine all chemical
and radioactive releases from the lab (LANL), which develops
nuclear weapons and is managed by the University of California
and Bechtel Corp. ChemRisk's job is to find and catalog
historical documents on chemical and radioactive leaks and
discharges, but also to prioritize the health risks of the
chemicals detected.
In December, extraordinarily high levels of chromium were
found in test wells just north of LANL. Today, the Albuquerque
Journal reported that Tom Widner of ChemRisk, director for the
Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment (LAHDRA)
project, confirmed that his team is investigating the chromium
contamination. The Journal said chromium levels in a monitoring
well in Mortandad Canyon were more than four times federal
drinking water standards and eight times the state ground-water
quality standard.
The Wall Street Journal reported Dec. 23 that in 1997
ChemRisk distorted the data from a Chinese study linking a form
of chromium to stomach cancer to publish an article under the
original author's byline that reversed the earlier findings.
ChemRisk was working for Pacific Gas &Electric Co. on the
infamous "Erin Brockovich" case, in which residents of Hinkley,
Calif., sued PG for polluting their drinking water with
chromium-6. PG paid $333 million to settle the case.
From California health officials and court records, EWG
has obtained the documents outlining the fraud, and posted them
at www.ewg.org/ reports/chromium.
The fraudulent article has influenced chromium
regulations by state and federal agencies, including the
Environmental Protection Agency. ChemRisk, perpetrator of the
deception, continues to work for corporate and government
clients including the Department of Energy and the Centers for
Disease Control, who last year renewed ChemRisk's LAHDRA
contract for another five years and a reported $5 million.
EWG has written the Centers for Disease Control, urging
the agency to take action against the company. "ChemRisk's
current contract must be cancelled and the firm barred from
seeking future contracts from the CDC or other government
agencies," EWG Senior Vice President Richard Wiles wrote Dec.
23.
On Monday, Wiles wrote again to the CDC saying: "As if
ChemRisk's unethical work for chromium polluters wasn't enough
reason to disqualify them from any taxpayer-paid contract, now
it comes out that at Los Alamos they have direct responsibility
for investigating a chemical they're known to have been
dishonest about."
"A company that's willing to commit scientific fraud to
help a corporate client win a lawsuit has no business getting
taxpayer money for a public health investigation," wrote Wiles.
"Now we see that there is a direct conflict of interest, because
ChemRisk is paid by PG and other polluters to downplay the risk
of chromium in drinking water." (The letter is available at
www.ewg.org.)
The ChemRisk article was published in the peer-reviewed
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. EWG has
written the journal's editors urging them to set the record
straight and bar the scientists who were involved from its
pages.
The documents obtained by EWG show that ChemRisk
employees - with the knowledge of PG's attorneys - hired one of
the original study's authors as a "consultant," and conducted a
new analysis of his data that deliberately ignored evidence of
an association between stomach cancer and chromium-6 in drinking
water.
They then wrote and submitted the article for publication
without disclosing that they worked for ChemRisk or that PG had
paid for the new "study." Nowhere in the published article are
the names of the ChemRisk employees who worked on it, or any
indication that it was part of PG's legal defense strategy.
The founder and president of ChemRisk is Dennis
Paustenbach, who has made a career of consulting for big
polluters including PG, ExxonMobil and Dow Chemical. In 2002,
his appointment to a federal committee on the health effects of
chemicals was blasted by independent scientists as part of a
Bush Administration pattern of packing environmental panels with
industry-friendly experts.
- - - -
CONTACT: Bill Walker or Renee Sharp, EWG Media Relations,
510-444-0973
Media Contact: Bill Walker or Renee Sharp, 510-444-0973
AScribe Newswire distributes news from nonprofit and public
sector organizations. We provide direct, immediate access to
mainstream national media for 600 colleges, universities,
medical centers, public-policy groups and other leading
nonprofit organizations.
AScribe Newswire / www.ascribe.org / 510-653-9400
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71 KTVB.COM: Workers laid off from nuclear cleanup effort
Boise Idaho News,
09:10 PM MST on Monday, January 9, 2006
Associated Press
IDAHO FALLS -- Nearly 340 workers are being laid off from the
nuclear waste cleanup effort at the Idaho National Laboratory.
The project contractor is CWI, and officials there say their new
contract with the Department of Energy requires a smaller work
force.
There are more than 2,300 people now employed with CWI.
The laid-off workers were given a buyout of $25,000 plus a
week's salary for every year they worked.
©2006 KTVB MEDIA GROUP
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