***************************************************************** 02/10/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.35 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 Knight Ridder: Brazil poised to join the world's nuclear elite 2 [NYTr] How Bush Cherry-Picked Intel to Wage Iraq War 3 [NYTr] China backs Moscow offer to Iran 4 [NYTr] Iran Nukes: Annan Calls for Caution and Tact 5 IRNA: Over 200 NGOs and parliamentarians appeal for peaceful solutio 6 IRNA: Russian diplomat: West's attempts to prevent Iran's nuclear 7 IRNA: Iran not to give in to pressure on its nuclear program, says 8 IRNA: Annan calls for resumption of talks with Iran 9 IRNA: End BBC bias on Iran, says veteran UK peace group - 10 Guardian Unlimited: Annan Urges Iran to Maintain Nuke Freeze 11 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli Officials Criticize Russia 12 sacbee.com: Nuclear showdown - 13 Interfax: Iran's nuclear dossier should be considered within IAEA - 14 AFP: Britain urges NATO resolve in confronting Iran 15 IRNA: Belgian NGO happy with response on appeal for peaceful solutio 16 UPI: Analysis:N.Korea remains defiant over nuke 17 Deseret News: U.S. losing war on terror, expert says 18 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: What on Earth is going on? 19 US: reviewjournal.com: Attacking 'earmarks' 20 US: Las Vegas City Life: Energy independence? Yeah, right 21 US: REID: CONGRESS MUST COMPLETE FULL INVESTIGATION INTO ADMINISTRAT 22 US: REID: DEMOCRATS URGE PRESIDENT TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON NORTH K 23 HindustanTimes.com: N-deal, more on Bush's mind 24 Bellona: Alexander Nkitin looks over the last decade since his trump 25 CNN.com: Russia takes G8 chair - NUCLEAR REACTORS 26 US: NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Salem Nuclear Plant 27 US: NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Hope Creek Nuclear P 28 US: AP Wire: Two utilities would expand nuclear power operations nea 29 HindustanTimes.com: India's atomic establishment a hurdle to N-deal 30 US: NRC: NRC Cites NASA for Violations of NRC Requirements 31 US: PressofAtlanticCity.com: Oyster Creek liner a near catastrophe,g 32 US: Platts: Cost of Global Nuclear Energy Partnership may hit $62-bi 33 US: APP.COM: Plant officials: Safety vessel OK | 34 US: APP.COM: Corrosion concerns Oyster Creek's critics | 35 US: NRC: NRC Proposes to Amend Licensing, Inspection and Annual Fees 36 US: NRC: Draft Report for Comment: Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulat 37 Anatolia Times: Guler: We Project A Nuclear Energy Investment Of 5,0 38 US: NRC: NRC Requests Additional Information on Application for Nort 39 Japan Times: Toshiba suspected of falsifying more reactor flow meter 40 US: Odessa American Online: UT regents give thumbs up to nuclear rea 41 US: PRN: Westinghouse Again Selected for Nuclear Fleet Expansion 42 Business Day: Koeberg repairs put Namibia in energy crunch  NUCLEAR SECURITY 43 [NYTr] Brit Plant Has Lost Weapons-Grade Uranium 44 US: TheNewsTribune.com: Port officials research shipments of uranium 45 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Classified: The study didn't consider the pos NUCLEAR SAFETY 46 tvnz.co.nz: Moruroa nuke report attacks France 47 US: Battle Creek Enquirer: Documentary focuses on depleted uranium 48 Pacific Magazine: FRENCH POLYNESIA: French National Assembly To Revi NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 49 US: Deseret News: N-waste may move — but take a detour 50 US: Philadelphia Inquirer: Panel: Nuclear waste can be moved safely 51 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast surveying begins 52 reviewjournal.com: Shifting winds 53 US: reviewjournal.com: TRANSPORT OF NUCLEAR WASTE - Panel says shipm 54 reviewjournal.com: Senator who voted for Yucca calls for 'pause' 55 US: Platts: NAS: Spent fuel, high-level waste transport safe 56 US: Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Trial ends in Idaho-DOE waste cleanu 57 US: NRC: NRC Welcomes National Academies Study Conclusion that Trans 58 US: New Scientist: US nuclear waste strategies evaluated 59 US: SF Chronicle: Nuclear safety study denied data / Agency looking 60 RGJ.com: Activists should take one for team 61 US: Nat' Academies Press: Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of 62 US: Kansas City infoZine: Challenges Remain for the Safe Transport 63 US: MSNBC.com: Experts OK nuclear waste shipments - 64 US: cbs2chicago.com: Prosecutors Investigating Radioactive Spills 65 US: NEI Nuclear Notes: NAS Releases Report on Transport of Spent Nuc 66 US: TimesUnion.com: Bush nuclear plan ignores West Valley lesson 67 KVBC: Lawmakers argue over Yucca Mountain project PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 68 DOE: Department of Energy Conducts Energy Saving Assessment at 69 WVEC.com: Federal budget gives boost to Jefferson Lab ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 Knight Ridder: Brazil poised to join the world's nuclear elite Posted on Fri, Feb. 10, 2006 By Jack Chang Knight Ridder Newspapers RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - While the world community scrutinizes Iran's nuclear plans, Latin America's biggest country is weeks away from taking a controversial step and firing up the region's first major uranium enrichment plant. That move will make Brazil the ninth country to produce large amounts of enriched uranium, which can be used to generate nuclear energy and, when highly enriched, to make nuclear weapons. Brazilians, who have long nurtured hopes of becoming a world superpower, are reacting with pride to the new facility in Resende, about 70 miles from Rio de Janeiro. Other countries enriching uranium on an industrial scale are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, China and Japan. The plant initially will produce 60 percent of the nuclear fuel used by the country's two nuclear reactors. A third reactor is in the planning stages. The government hopes to increase production eventually to meet all of the reactors' needs and still have enough to export, Brazilian officials said. "We want to build new power plants and grow our enrichment program to be self-sufficient," said Odair Dias Goncalves, the president of Brazil's National Nuclear Energy Commission. "In the whole world, there's a big reinvestment in this area. Countries are turning back to nuclear energy." The Resende plant's inauguration had been set for Jan. 20, but was delayed because construction wasn't completed, Dias Goncalves said. The plant may begin uranium enrichment without the hoopla later this month, officials said. Unlike Iran, Brazil is considered a good global citizen that isn't seeking nuclear weapons, although its military ran a secret program to develop a nuclear weapon as recently as the early 1990s. Still, some U.S. observers fear Brazil's program will encourage more countries to make nuclear fuel, raising the danger of nuclear weapons proliferation. The United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, earlier this month reported Iran to the U.N. Security Council for failing for three years to disclose all aspects of its nuclear program to agency inspectors. Iran responded by restricting IAEA inspections, a move that stymies efforts to determine whether it's producing fuel for power plants or developing nuclear weapons. Brazil's nuclear fuel needs, more than 120 tons of enriched uranium a year, don't warrant the country launching an industrial facility like Resende, especially with global supplies of the material running high, said Lawrence Scheinman, a former U.S. arms control official. "There really isn't much justification for new enrichment facilities unless countries have a very substantial number of reactors to be serviced and don't want to depend on outside suppliers," he said. "Neither Brazil nor Iran are in those positions." Despite the criticisms, Brazil's program hasn't drawn the outcry that Iran's nuclear plans have. Disagreements between the IAEA and Brazilian officials in 2004 over access to the Resende facility were resolved within months. Like Iran, Brazil has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the global agreement to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. All of Brazil's 20 facilities using nuclear material are under IAEA safeguards. Brazilian officials have worked closely with the IAEA throughout Resende's planning and construction, Dias Goncalves said. IAEA inspectors have visited the facility 32 times. Iranian officials, on the other hand, hid their uranium enrichment work for 18 years and obtained much of their technology from a Pakistani-led smuggling ring. Iran's leaders also have called for the destruction of Israel and are known sponsors of terrorism. "There is no way to doubt the intent of our plans because they are completely open," Dias Goncalves said. "We have to take account of every gram of uranium used." The road to Resende did hit a few bumps in 2004 when Brazil refused to let inspectors view centrifuges used in the enrichment process, saying they had to protect Brazilian-designed innovations vulnerable to industrial espionage. After months of negotiations, the two sides agreed to a confidential inspection regime, which is still in place, an IAEA official said. That agreement allows IAEA inspectors to examine material coming in and out of the centrifuges but not the equipment itself, which is covered by opaque panels, said Edson Kuramoto, president of the non-governmental Brazilian Nuclear Energy Association. Brazilian energy adviser Rogerio Cezar Cerqueira Leite said the Resende plant will allow Brazil to sell to growing markets for enriched uranium and fuel a domestic nuclear program that's bound to expand. "Without enriched uranium, you don't have nuclear technology," Cerqueira Leite said. "It's not just national prestige. If you don't make it yourself, you will always be behind in the nuclear race." Many Brazilians see the eventual opening of Resende as the first step in the country becoming a world leader in nuclear research, said Cerqueira Leite. Brazil has the world's sixth largest deposit of uranium. ***************************************************************** 2 [NYTr] How Bush Cherry-Picked Intel to Wage Iraq War Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:40:38 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit AFP - FEb 10, 2006 http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060210104328.p6gl8687.html Bush waged Iraq war by "cherry-picking" intelligence: former CIA official WASHINGTON (AFP) - A former CIA official who coordinated US intelligence on the Middle East has accused the Bush administration of "cherry-picking" intelligence on Iraq to justify a decision it had already reached to go to war, The Washington Post reports. The newspaper said Paul Pillar, who was the national intelligence officer for the Near East and South Asia from 2000 to 2005, also accused the administration of ignoring warnings that the country could easily fall into violence and chaos after an invasion to overthrow Saddam Hussein. "Official intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs was flawed, but even with its flaws, it was not what led to the war," Pillar wrote in the upcoming issue of the journal Foreign Affairs. Instead, he asserted, the administration "went to war without requesting -- and evidently without being influenced by -- any strategic-level intelligence assessments on any aspect of Iraq." Pillar said mistakes made by US intelligence agencies in concluding that Hussein's government possessed weapons of mass destruction did not drive the administration's decision to invade, according to The Post. "It has become clear that official intelligence was not relied on in making even the most significant national security decisions, that intelligence was misused publicly to justify decisions already made, that damaging ill will developed between policymakers and intelligence officers, and that the intelligence community's own work was politicized," Pillar wrote. The paper said Pillar was an influential behind-the-scenes player and was considered the agency's leading counterterrorism analyst. By the end of his career, he was responsible for coordinating assessments on Iraq from all 15 agencies in the intelligence community. He is now a professor in security studies at Georgetown University. In his article, he said he believes that the "politicization" of intelligence on Iraq occurred "subtly" and in many forms, but almost never resulted from a policymaker directly asking an analyst to reshape his or her results, the report said. Instead, Pillar describes a process in which the White House helped frame intelligence results by repeatedly posing questions aimed at bolstering its arguments about Iraq, The Post said. The Bush administration, Pillar wrote, "repeatedly called on the intelligence community to uncover more material that would contribute to the case for war," including information on the "supposed connection" between Hussein and Al-Qaeda, which analysts had discounted. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 3 [NYTr] China backs Moscow offer to Iran Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:09:04 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit The Irish Times - Feb 10, 2006 http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0210/194945725FR10STEPEHNS.html China backs Moscow offer to Iran by Chris Stephen in Moscow RUSSIA: China yesterday welcomed a Russian plan for talks next week aimed at defusing the rapidly-building crisis over Iran's nuclear programme. Iranian officials travel to Moscow next Thursday to consider a Russian offer to reprocess Tehran's nuclear fuel. "We hope that this Russian invitation to Iran to hold talks on the 16th about participating in an international uranium enrichment centre will help break, or encourage a break, in the current stalemate over the Iranian nuclear issue," said Chinese foreign ministry official Kong Quan. China refused to say whether it would take part in the talks, but the support of Beijing, one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, is seen in Moscow as a major fillip. Moscow officials want Iran to agree to a Kremlin proposal to reprocess Iranian nuclear fuel on Russian territory. Moscow says such an enrichment operation would remove the need for Iran to set up its own reprocessing facilities, something that the US and European nations say can be used to make atomic bombs. Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Lavijani sounded positive about the plan, but stopped short of acceptance. "Our view of this offer is positive," he said. "This plan can be perfected." This plan was already discussed at an earlier meeting in Tehran last month. But it has acquired added urgency after the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), voted last weekend for its chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, to report on Iran's decision to press ahead with reprocessing. It is likely that this report, due on March 6th, will lead to a referral to the UN Security Council, and in turn for pressure to impose sanctions. China and Russia have urged restraint, and Moscow has rebuked US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld for saying that military action was one option. Nevertheless, Russia has also made clear that its patience is limited and that ultimately it will act to stop Iran acquiring nuclear weapons. Defence minister Sergie Ivanov told a security conference in Munich: "We're against any country in the world developing nuclear weapons. We're sticking to that." Moscow has found itself in an awkward position in this crisis, because it is busy building Iran a billion-dollar nuclear power plant at Bushir. ) The Irish Times * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 4 [NYTr] Iran Nukes: Annan Calls for Caution and Tact Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 21:13:52 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Prensa Latina, Havana http://www.plenglish.com Annan Calls for Caution and Tact on Iranian Nuke Programs United Nations, Feb 10 (PL)--UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for caution from the parties involved in Iran's nuclear program dispute. He said that since the International Atomic Energy Organization verdict is due in late February there is still time to explore diplomatic channels and reach an agreement with Iran. Annan considered it important that parties keep up the talks and urged them to continue. He also encouraged them to avoid actions that would escalate the already tense situation and hoped Iran would continue "to freeze its activities and allow the talks to go forward" with Europe and Russia. The IAEA Board of Governors passed a resolution in early February asking its director to remit Iran to the Security Council. But Iran defends its right to enrich uranium and develop its nuclear program for peaceful ends, denying US claims of production of WMD. mh/emw/ir/mf * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 5 IRNA: Over 200 NGOs and parliamentarians appeal for peaceful solution to the Iran nuclear issue - Irna Brussels, Feb 9, IRNA Belgium-Iran-Appeal Over 215 Parliamentarians and Non- Governmental organizations are appealing for a peaceful solution on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. They are headed by Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima, who launched the appeal Tuesday in Hiroshima, and include MEP Angelika Beer, President of the European Parliamentary delegation on Iran, and Gerard Onesta MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament. Non-governmental organizations that have signed the appeal include International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Greenpeace, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF),the Association of World Citizens, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and Abolition-2000, a network of over 2000 NGO's calling for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. The appeal has been organized by Friends of the Earth (Australia and Flanders in Belgium), Citizens Action for nuclear disarmament, and Mayors for Peace. In Belgium the Flemish section of Friends of the Earth was able to get signatures of both nearly 20 MP's and over twenty mayors from the different democratic political parties in Belgium, said a statement issued by the group. ***************************************************************** 6 IRNA: Russian diplomat: West's attempts to prevent Iran's nuclear program surprising - Tehran, Feb 9, IRNA Iran-Nuclear-Russia Russian Ambassador to Tajikistan Ramzan Abdulatipov said on Wednesday that at a time when all countries enjoy equal rights in the International Atomic Energy Agency, the efforts by Western states to prevent Iran's peaceful nuclear program are surprising. Abdulatipov told a group of academics that certain Western states' attempt to prevent Iran's peaceful nuclear program runs counter to international regulations because all countries are entitled to use peaceful nuclear energy. International regulations are today in line with the West's interests, said the diplomat, adding the regulations have mainly been prepared by Westerners and are based on the values and standards of the Catholic states. For the same reason, the East's values such as Islamic ones have not been taken into consideration in the process, he added. ***************************************************************** 7 IRNA: Iran not to give in to pressure on its nuclear program, says Iranian philosopher Rome, Feb 9, IRNA Iran-Nuclear-Beiglu Iran will not give in to pressure on its nuclear program due to its pride, said a Rome-based Iranian philosopher Ramin Jahan Beiglu, in an interview with the Italian daily `La Stampa'. "Iranians will not abandon their (peaceful) nuclear program... Even reformist (former president Mohammad) Khatami did not do so; no Iranian leader will ever think of surrendering," La Stampa quoted Beiglu as saying. Beiglu added: "I, too, believe that Iran is entitled to make use of civilian nuclear technology. When Iran joins the club of nuclear states, Europeans and Americans will get to realize our peaceful intentions and we will no longer feel discriminated." Asked why Iranian officials were campaigning for support from the international community, Beiglu said, "They know quite well that the West does have limited options." He said imposing sanctions on Iran was not something easy because with current oil prices hovering around dlrs 60 per barrel, a ban on Iranian oil exports would only lead to higher oil prices. He said that Washington and Tel Aviv can launch a pre-emptive war against Iran for which they are well prepared, but the move would entail grave consequences with the possibility that American forces would lose the Iraqi Shiites' support which they badly need. "The nuclear program is a national prestige for Iranians," added he philosopher. ***************************************************************** 8 IRNA: Annan calls for resumption of talks with Iran New York, United Nations, Feb 10, IRNA Iran-Kofi Annan United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan on Thursday called all sides involved in Iran's nuclear dossier to show restraint and resume talks. Speaking to reporters in New York, Annan said Iran's file has not yet been completely reported to UN Security Council. He added IAEA's report to UNSC will have completed by the the end of the current month and there is still time for negotiations and diplomatic ways. "In the meantime, it will be important that no steps are taken that will escalate the already tense situation, and I hope Iran will continue to freeze its activities the ways they are now, to allow talks to go forward," he said. "What is important is that both sides have said negotiations are not dead, both sides are prepared to talk. I would urge them to continue," Annan said. ***************************************************************** 9 IRNA: End BBC bias on Iran, says veteran UK peace group - London, Feb 10, IRNA UK BBC-Iran Bias The veteran Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) peace group held a protest demonstration outside the BBC's headquarters Thursday, calling on Britain's state-funded broadcasters to end their media bias in reporting on the Iran nuclear issue. "Regular BBC News items raise Iran's possible violations of the Non-Proliferation Treaty without any mention of the major breach by all the declared nuclear weapon states," CND said. The peace group referred to the five permanent members of the Security Council still deploying over 13,000 nuclear weapons between them in breach of the NPT obliging them to disarm. "Iran may or may not be in breach of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but the UK is," CND said in a statement obtained by IRNA. "The UK is making no efforts to disarm as obliged under the treaty and a recent legal opinion even stated that the UK may in fact be in breach of the NPT if it replaces the UK's nuclear weapons system," it said. The peace group, one of Europe's oldest and largest, said it was handing in another letter to the Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, requesting a meeting to discuss the corporation's plans for fairly covering nuclear issues in the future. It follows CND writing to the BBC on January 31 complaining about its failure to mention the major breach of the NPT by the declared nuclear weapons state in a news item on its radio flagship current affairs programme Today. "If Iran is culpable, so to a much more serious degree is this country. We would like to know as soon as possible if you are willing to run an item making these points," said the letter signed by CND chair Kate Hudson and vice-president Bruce Kent. ***************************************************************** 10 Guardian Unlimited: Annan Urges Iran to Maintain Nuke Freeze From the Associated Press [UP] Friday February 10, 2006 2:31 PM AP Photo NYDK104 By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Iran on Thursday to maintain a freeze on its nuclear activities and pursue talks to shift its uranium enrichment program to Russia. While Iran's nuclear program has been formally reported to the U.N. Security Council, Annan said what's important is that the Iranians and the Europeans who have been trying to resolve the nuclear dispute have said ``negotiations are not dead ... and they are prepared to talk.'' ``And I would urge them to continue,'' the secretary-general told reporters. ``And I hope Iran will continue to freeze its activities, the way they are now, to allow talks to go forward, to allow them to pursue the Russian offer, and to allow negotiations with the European three and the Russians to come back to the table,'' Annan said. Britain, Germany and France have led months of futile talks on behalf of the 25-nation European Union amid suspicions that Iran's civilian nuclear program is aimed at producing nuclear weapons - not electricity as Tehran insists. Tensions started escalating last month after Iran removed U.N. seals and began nuclear research, including small-scale uranium enrichment. On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency's board voted to send Iran's nuclear file to the Security Council, saying it lacked confidence in Tehran's nuclear intentions and accusing Iran of violating the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Iran responded by ending voluntary cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency and announcing it would start uranium enrichment and bar surprise inspections of its facilities. But the Islamic republic left the door open for further negotiations over its nuclear program, saying it was willing to discuss Moscow's proposal to shift large-scale enrichment operations to Russian territory in an effort to allay suspicions. High-level talks on the proposal are scheduled to begin in Moscow on Feb. 16. The proposal is backed by the United States and the European Union as a way to provide additional oversight of Iran's use of atomic fuel. Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton, the current Security Council president, sent a short letter to IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei on Wednesday acknowledging receipt of the Iran file. Bolton's letter, circulated Thursday, noted that the documents include steps required by Iran to ensure the international community it's nuclear program is peaceful. ElBaradei's letter said the steps include suspending all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development, promptly ratifying the IAEA additional protocol which allows unannounced inspections, and reconsidering construction of a heavy water research reactor. After years of opposition, Russia and China backed sending the Iran nuclear file to the Security Council. But in return, Moscow and Beijing demanded that the United States, France and Britain agree to let the Iran issue rest until March when the IAEA board meets to review the agency's investigation of Iran's nuclear program and compliance with board demands that it renounce uranium enrichment. Annan said the IAEA report was expected at the end of the month. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 11 Guardian Unlimited: Israeli Officials Criticize Russia From the Associated Press [UP] Friday February 10, 2006 8:31 PM By JOSEF FEDERMAN Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli Cabinet minister on Friday accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of ``stabbing Israel in the back'' for inviting Hamas militants to Moscow following their decisive victory in Palestinian elections. The invitation - Russia's latest attempt to assert itself in Mideast diplomacy - represented a break with the U.S. and European position of not dealing with Hamas until it renounces violence and recognizes Israel's right to exist. Putin further angered Israel on Thursday by saying he did not consider Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide attacks, to be a terrorist group. In Washington, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Friday to send a clear, strong message in any meetings with Hamas officials that the militant group must stop terror attacks on Israel. Despite the controversy, France expressed hope the Russian overture could help lead Hamas toward acceptance of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But Foreign Ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau reiterated that the Palestinian militant group must renounce violence and recognize Israel. In an interview with The Associated Press, Israeli Cabinet Minister Meir Sheetrit of the centrist Kadima Party called Putin's remarks an ``international scandal'' that amounted to ``stabbing Israel in the back.'' His comments were echoed by several other senior Israeli politicians. Russia is a member of the so-called Quartet of Mideast peace negotiators, along with the U.S., the European Union and the United Nations. The Quartet is the main sponsor of the ``road map'' peace plan, which calls on the Palestinians to disarm militant groups like Hamas as a step toward creating an independent state. Sheetrit said the Russian invitation tainted Moscow's attempts at being a Mideast mediator. ``Russia should be removed from any negotiations in the Middle East,'' said Sheetrit, who is a close ally of acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the front-runner in Israeli elections scheduled for March. Israel has a complex history with Russia. The former Soviet Union supported Israel in its early years, but relations soon deteriorated as Israel increasingly allied itself with the United States. Moscow cut ties with Israel at the time of the 1967 Middle East War, and backed Israel's Arab enemies for decades. The Soviets also barred Jews from leaving the country, jailing many who sought to emigrate to Israel. As the Soviet Union was collapsing in the early 1990s, the two nations restored ties, and relations warmed as Moscow loosened its emigration restrictions. More than a million Russian speakers now live in Israel. In recent years, Israel has quietly moved to upgrade anti-terror cooperation with Moscow in the wake of attacks by Muslim separatists in the breakaway republic of Chechnya. Putin, ``I believe, would feel very bad if Israel would invite the Chechen organizations of terror into Israel and give them legitimacy,'' Sheetrit said. Israeli leaders across the political spectrum voiced similar views. Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the hard-line Likud Party, said he had sent a letter to Putin asking him to cancel the invitation. ``I think such a thing will in general give legitimacy to international terror and, specifically, the rise of Islamic terror,'' Netanyahu said in comments shown on Channel 2 TV. Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader in the Gaza Strip, welcomed the Russian initiative. ``We think countries in power can decide for themselves what kinds of positions and policies they can take,'' Haniyeh said Friday. Haniyeh said Hamas would accept the invitation, though a date for a visit hasn't been set. Hamas has so far rejected calls to moderate its violent ideology, despite threats from Europe and Washington that tens of millions of dollars of vital aid could be in jeopardy. Russian Defense Minister Igor Ivanov said Friday his country was not happy with Hamas' ideology, but the group was elected in a democratic poll. After winning a majority of seats in last month's parliamentary vote, Hamas is poised to form a new Palestinian government in the coming weeks. ``Hamas is in power, this is a fact,'' Ivanov told reporters at a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Taormina, Sicily. ``Sometime in the future, many leading states will start supporting Hamas and have some contacts.'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Russian officials had offered assurances ``they will send this very clear, strong signal'' to Hamas that it must renounce violence. Alexander Kalugin, a Russian Mideast envoy, said Moscow will try to persuade Hamas leaders to acknowledge Israel's right to exist and engage in peace efforts, the Interfax news agency reported. ``We want them to respect all previous agreements in order to prevent terrorist attacks,'' Kalugin said. ``Of course, it is also necessary to embark on the road toward recognition of Israel's right to exist.'' The Hamas invitation affirmed Russia's desire to assert itself as a Mideast power broker. Its attempt to win leverage with Hamas, as well as its opposition to the tough U.S. stance against Iran's nuclear program, reflect Russia's growing ambitions. However, analysts warned that Russia's aspirations could be undermined by instability in Chechnya and are unlikely to bring a resolution to any international crisis. ``Russia wants to play mediator between the West and Islamic world,'' said Alexei Arbatov, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment's Moscow office. ``But that won't bring any good because Russia is more vulnerable to Islam than the West.'' Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 12 sacbee.com: Nuclear showdown - Opinion - Editorial: Iran remains defiant; U.N. faces decision The standoff over Iran's nuclear program shows no sign of ending anytime soon, despite an apparent international united front seeking to persuade Tehran to back down. A 27-3 vote by the International Atomic Energy Agency's governing board to send the issue to the United Nations Security Council is only a tentative step toward resolution. Iran responded to the IAEA vote by saying it will resume its putatively peaceful nuclear program - including uranium enrichment - and will restrict cooperation with U.N. inspectors, stopping just short of violating its obligations under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. The Security Council will not take up Iran's defiance until next month and even then may stop short of imposing sanctions, which China and Russia oppose despite voting to put the issue on the council agenda. This gradual approach is meant to allow time for more diplomacy. But at some point the Security Council must decide whether to act forcefully or, perhaps more likely, to finesse the issue by expressing displeasure that falls short of formal action. In either case, Iran so far shows every sign of remaining defiant, defending its right under the nonproliferation treaty to build nuclear reactors for the generation of electricity. Formally speaking, Tehran has that right. But it lost credibility by engaging in nuclear research for 18 years at two secret sites that became known only in 2002, when an Iranian dissident group produced evidence of Iran's deception. Since then negotiations between Iran and three European countries seemed at one point to be succeeding but have since collapsed. Some analysts - including some in Washington, which has supported the European diplomatic effort - seem resigned to Iran becoming the ninth country known to have nuclear weapons. But neither the Bush administration nor Britain, France and Germany have accepted that. Indeed, some U.S. officials speak in apocalyptic terms of the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran, whose president has said Israel should be wiped off the map and envisions Iran's eventual dominance in the Middle East. Somewhere between ominous nuclear war scenarios and acceptance of Iran as a nuclear weapons power may lie a solution. But so far, no one knows what it might be. Sanctions might succeed, if at all, only if they were extremely harsh, an unlikely scenario given Iran's huge oil reserves. Besides, the Iranian regime's extreme, anti-Western nationalism suggests it might go ahead with its nuclear plans, sanctions or not. If Iran seems to have the whip hand, that doesn't mean the West should adopt a defeatist attitude. Until the regime rejects all possible compromise, diplomacy remains the least bad option. A military strike against Iran, a serious option in the minds of some Washington hawks, could trigger an upheaval throughout the Muslim world that would make the current uproar over cartoons mocking the Prophet Muhammad seem trivial by comparison. [The Sacramento Bee] ***************************************************************** 13 Interfax: Iran's nuclear dossier should be considered within IAEA - Ivanov Interfax.com Text version Site map Feb 10 2006 1:29PM TAORMINA (Sicily). Feb 10 (Interfax) - Russia wants the controversy surrounding Iran's nuclear program to be resolved within the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Russian Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said in Taormina on Friday. "Russia backs the idea of all talks with Iran proceeding within the framework of the IAEA. Russia's suggestion to enrich uranium for Iran on Russian territory remains on the table," he said. © 1991-2006 Interfax All rights reserved News and other data on this web site are provided for information purposes only, and are not intended for republication or redistribution. Republication or redistribution of Interfax content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Interfax. ***************************************************************** 14 AFP: Britain urges NATO resolve in confronting Iran Fri Feb 10, 12:55 PM ET TAORMINA, Italy (AFP) - British Defence Secretary John Reid urged his NATO" /> NATOallies to show resolve in confronting international threats, including the dangers posed by Iran" /> Iran's nuclear program. "If we truly regard, for instance, international terrorism as a great threat to our own people, particularly if the terrorists get their hands on weapons of mass destruction, that requires a massive effort," he told reporters. He said that confronting these challenges would require solidarity across the board, from the strategic use of aid, trade and development through to the unfurling of military power. Reid, speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Taormina, southern Italy, also singled out Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The Iranian leader has vowed to continue sensitive atomic work, which many fear may be used to create a nuclear weapon, and has said that western powers are like "old lions with no hair or mane, incapable of doing anything." Reid said it was important to show there was no truth in his remarks. "We must never ever get into the position where some of the characterizations of people like the president of Iran, who would depict us as so infatuated with our material comforts and comfortable standard of living that we would never be prepared to stand up for what we believe in," he said. "We must never allow that characterisation to have any hint of truth, because it is not true." Britain, France and Germany have led European efforts to encourage Iran to give up uranium enrichment in exchange for trade and political incentives, but the Islamic regime has rejected their overtures. Earlier this month, the UN's atomic watchdog referred Iran to the UN Security Council. Tehran insists it is only trying to develop nuclear energy. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 15 IRNA: Belgian NGO happy with response on appeal for peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue Brussels, Feb 9, IRNA Belgium-Iran-NGO The "Friends of the Earth" NGO in Belgium said Thursday that it will begin lobbying parliamentarians and other NGOs to press for a peaceful solution to Iran's nuclear issue. "We are quite pleased to see how many people are supporting our appeal including Belgian deputies. This is a positive sign," Mr. Pol D'Huyvetter, a spokesman for Friends of the Earth in the Flanders region of Belgium told IRNA Thursday. The group is among 215 Parliamentarians and Non-Governmental organizations which have appealed for a peaceful solution on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. "We will continue to do some active lobbying in the next few days," he said noting that they have a meeting on the issue next Tuesday in the Belgian parliament. D'Huyvetter said his group has also sent letters to many newspapers to support their campaign. "We are very concerned about double standards," he said pointing out to the nuclear arsenal of the US and some European states and Israel. "Why don't they address their own arsenal." "It is not an honest approach," he said in response to IRNA's question on the West's pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program for peaceful use. D'Huyvetter, however, underlined that his group is opposed to nuclear energy and favours research for other energy sources. Over 215 Parliamentarians and non-governmental organizations are appealing for a peaceful solution on the issue of Iran's nuclear program. They are headed by Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima, who launched the appeal Tuesday in Hiroshima, and include MEP Angelika Beer, President of the European Parliamentary delegation on Iran, and Gerard Onesta MEP, Vice-President of the European Parliament. Non-governmental organizations that have signed the appeal include International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Greenpeace, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), the Association of World Citizens, the International Fellowship of Reconciliation and Abolition-2000, a network of over 2000 NGO's calling for a worldwide ban on nuclear weapons. The appeal has been organized by Friends of the Earth (Australia and Flanders in Belgium), Citizens Action for nuclear disarmament, and Mayors for Peace. In Belgium the Flemish section of Friends of the Earth was able to get signatures of both nearly 20 MP's and over twenty mayors from the different democratic political parties in Belgium, said a statement issued by the group. ***************************************************************** 16 UPI: Analysis:N.Korea remains defiant over nuke United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 2/10/2006 1:43:00 PM -0500 By JONG-HEON LEE UPI Correspondent SEOUL, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- A year ago, North Korea stunned the world by declaring itself a nuclear power, posing a major challenge to U.S.-led efforts to curb proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. North Korea's nuclear capability has yet to be scientifically verified, and the country is not known to have ever tested the nuclear weapons it claims to have developed. But Pyongyang's Feb. 10 declaration of nuclear possession has fueled security concerns on the Korean peninsula and northeast Asia where the United States deploys more than 70,000 troops. Surprised by the nuclear declaration, the United States, South Korea and other neighboring countries have consistently urged North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons drive in return for political and economic benefits. But the communist country remains defiant, vowing to keep its nuclear arsenal as a "self-defensive" measure against a possible strike from the United States. Hope was running high hope for the resolution of the nuclear crisis when a six-point statement was reached on Sept. 19, in which Pyongyang agreed to abandon its existing nuclear weapons in return for a U.S.-led pledge to provide light-water reactors. The hope, however, was largely dashed in the wake of U.S. punitive measures against the North's alleged financial illegalities in November, which triggered Pyongyang's furious response and boycott of the six-nation talks aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff in a diplomatic manner. In the face of growing pressures over its illicit activities such as counterfeiting and money-laundering, North Korea has recently stepped back from its earlier hard-line position by promising to join international efforts to fight money-laundering. But chances seem slim for an early resumption of the nuclear talks as the United States vows to deal with the financial crimes separately from the nuclear issue. Even if North Korea returns to the talks, the prospects for a solution appear dim as long as Pyongyang sticks to nuclear programs, citing "hostile" U.S. policy, according to analysts. On Thursday night, North Korea issued a statement denying U.S. allegations that the country has engaged in counterfeiting and money-laundering. In the statement, North Korea's Foreign Ministry also vowed to join an international fight against money-laundering, a move seemingly designed to cope with mounting U.S.-led pressures on its alleged financial illegalities. It was the first time the North has publicly promised to cooperate with international efforts to crack down on such financial illegalities. "The DPRK (North Korea) will, as ever, actively join the international action against money-laundering," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in the statement reported by the North's official central news agency. "The DPRK has perfect legal and institutional mechanisms to combat such illegal acts as counterfeiting notes and money-laundering, and any illegal acts would make the perpetrators liable to severe punishment," it said. But the statement reiterated the North's earlier position that it will not return to the nuclear talks until the United States lifts its financial sanctions to show the dropping of its "hostile" policy towards the North. "The DPRK, which has long-survived U.S. sanctions, attaches so much importance to the lifting of the financial sanctions because it is a touchstone indicating whether Washington is willing to switch policy," it said. "Clear is the U.S. aim. That is to label the DPRK an 'illegal state,' tarnish its prestige and image, isolate and blockade it internationally and thus force it to abandon its nuclear program first," the statement said. "The point at issue is the U.S. attitude." The statement comes after South Korea and Japan have joined U.S. financial sanctions on North Korea. All three of the South Korean banks involved in correspondent banking deals with Banco Delta Asia cut off business transactions last week with the Macau-based bank which was accused by the U.S. Treasury Department of laundering money for North Korea. In a departure from Seoul's earlier soft position, Ambassador to Washington Lee Tae-sik said last week South Korea would not tolerate the North's financial crimes. "As far as these illicit activities by North Korea are concerned, there is no compromise position on our side," Lee told a group of business leaders in Washington. South Korean officials and analysts are increasingly skeptical about the resumption of nuclear talks before late March. They rule out a breakthrough in the nuclear standoff before a resolution of the sanction issue. © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 17 Deseret News: U.S. losing war on terror, expert says [deseretnews.com] Friday, February 10, 2006 By Erin Stewart Deseret Morning News The United States is falling behind in the war on terror as the number of Muslims declaring personal "holy wars" on America continues to grow, terror expert Daniel Benjamin said Thursday during a lecture at Westminster College. "We are losing, and our strategic defense on our most dangerous foe is weakening," said Benjamin, a former White House adviser and a member of the National Security Council. That foe, he continued, is the growing number of individual Muslims declaring vendettas against the United States in a "heroic narrative of struggle against a Western occupier." The invasion of Iraq only further crystallized the predatory U.S. image for Jihadist Muslims, Benjamin said. "They saw it as proof bin Laden was right: The United States seeks to occupy Muslim countries and destroy Muslim faith," said Benjamin, whose recent book, "The Next attack: The Failure of the War on Terror and a Strategy for Getting it Right," examines the evolution of the terrorist threat since 9/11. While many Americans have decided winning the war on terror means not having another 9/11 style attack, Benjamin said the real indicator that America is losing is that more and more people are committed to attacking the United States. "Of course, one man with a nuclear weapon is more powerful than a million people screaming in the street. But if there are growing numbers of them, we're in trouble," he said. The likelihood of another attack on the United States mounts daily, Benjamin added, as new "self-starter" terrorists crop up daily in the Middle East. "Al Qaida is, by no means, the sum total of the Jihadist movement," Benjamin said. "We face not a hierarchical institution, but a social movement." But Benjamin is quick to add he believes there is hope to squelch the terrorist movement if American leaders are willing to change the image of the U.S. "We need to be a benign superpower that seeks to promote the peaceful democratization and enrichment of all nations willing to play by the rules," he said. E-mail: estewart@desnews.com © 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company [ ***************************************************************** 18 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: What on Earth is going on? Today: February 10, 2006 at 7:18:19 PST Claims by NASA scientist that public information is censored are borne out by colleagues An expert in global warming who has been with NASA for nearly 40 years has been going public in recent weeks about censorship within the space agency. In interviews with The New York Times, Dr. James Hansen has been exposing pressure from NASA's public affairs department to either halt the release of scientific information or align it with Bush administration policies. Hansen, a physicist and climatologist, is director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in Manhattan, where global climate trends are simulated and analyzed on computers. In articles published Jan. 29 and Feb. 4 in the Times, Hansen was quoted as saying that public affairs officials "feel their job is to be this censor of information going out to the public," and that warnings about reining in his public remarks were coming from White House appointees in NASA headquarters. In its Feb. 4 follow-up story, the newspaper reported that other NASA scientists, as well as public affairs officials within the agency, came forward to confirm Hansen's conclusion that a concerted effort was under way to "control the flow of scientific information from the agency." The paper reported denials from NASA's public affairs department, but the charges obviously had veracity, given the response by NASA Administrator Michael Griffin. In the Feb. 4 article, Griffin was reported to have written to all 19,000 NASA employees: "It is not the job of public-affairs officers to alter, filter or adjust engineering or scientific material produced by NASA's technical staff." Griffin was right in moving quickly to protect the integrity of scientific information. And Hansen was right to take a stand against partisan political appointees who wanted to distort and block scientific information, particularly information about global warming. Hansen said censorship pressure intensified after a Dec. 6 lecture he gave in San Francisco. The Times reported that in his lecture, Hansen said cuts in emissions that cause global warming "could be achieved with existing technologies, particularly in the case of motor vehicles, and that without leadership by the United States, climate change would eventually leave the Earth a different planet." In a story this week, the Times reported that one of Hansen's public-affairs antagonists, appointed to his position by President Bush, had been forced to resign when it was discovered that he didn't have a college degree, as he had claimed on his resume. Hansen was quoted as saying, "He's only a bit player. The problem (of misinformation) is much broader and much deeper and it goes across agencies. That's what I'm really concerned about." This concern should be shared by everyone, particularly here in Nevada, where Bush's promise that "sound science" would govern the construction of a nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain is still ringing in our ears. We are incensed that lackey political appointees would be put up to censoring the work of honest, eminent scientists whose information is vital to protecting our futures. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 19 reviewjournal.com: Attacking 'earmarks' Opinion - EDITORIAL: Feb. 10, 2006 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal Sen. John McCain announced Thursday the introduction of his Pork-Barrel Reduction Act, intended to curtail the insidious practice known as "earmarking," which allows members of Congress to hide pet expenditures in larger spending bills. Seven Republicans and two Democrats co-sponsored the measure. Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., was among those jumping on board. Sen. McCain, R-Ariz., has long railed against wasteful pork. But the problem has exploded in recent years and has gained more attention as Congress scrambles to address ethics issues. According to the Congressional Research Service, the number of earmarks in spending bills went from 4,126 in 1994 to 15,877 in 2005. The value of those projects doubled to $47.4 billion over the same period. "It's a relatively recent phenomenon that members of Congress have begun to believe that their political support is only or largely determined by a number," said Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H. Among the reforms included in the McCain measure: allowing an objection against any unauthorized earmark; allowing earmarks to be stricken from appropriations bills and conference reports; and banning any conference report that includes spending items that the conference members have not agreed upon. These are all sensible steps, and we're glad to Sen. Ensign agrees. But for the McCain proposal to show results, individual senators must be willing to step forward and point out abuses in the process, therefore risking political retaliation. We'll be interested to see how that plays out. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 20 Las Vegas City Life: Energy independence? Yeah, right Thursday, February 09, 2006 BY GEORGE KNAPP I'd like to believe President Bush when he says he's going to break America's addiction to oil. I really would. I'd also like to believe his State of the Union pledge to authorize a massive national program to develop alternative energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal. But I'm not holding my breath, and you shouldn't either. If this proposal is legit, it would be tremendously important to Nevada, which has almost unlimited potential as a source of non-polluting and renewable energy. But let's be serious here. This lofty initiative sounds a heck of a lot like previous pie-in-the-sky proposals that have been advanced and then quickly forgotten by this administration. (Anyone remember the proposal to reinvigorate the space program with a mission to the moon and then Mars? That one lasted, what, a week?) The Bush folks like to toss these things out, get a few headlines, divert public attention, and then quietly revert back to whatever it was they were doing before. If we have learned one thing during the first five years of this administration, it is this single, incontrovertible truth; Oil is king. Oil rules. Oil calls the shots, on every level and in every debate. We have just begun the sixth year of the Bush administration, and only now has it occurred to them that weaning our nation from its dependence on foreign oil might have some merit? It took five years for the light bulb to pop on? What, did someone stick a Post-It note on the White House bulletin board? Did Robert Novak assure them that no one would question their sexuality? For anyone who's forgotten, this administration launched a major energy initiative just ten days after taking power. An energy task force headed by President Cheney ... I mean Vice President Cheney ... held secret meetings to hammer out an energy blueprint for the future. The task force consisted of executives from Big Oil, Big Coal, and Big Nukes. The public still doesn't know what was discussed since the administration has fought tooth and nail against any disclosure about those oh-so-private palavers. (One thing we do know is that the task force discussed the possibility of occupying and exploiting oil fields in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.) The Cone of Silence notwithstanding, it doesn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out what the rest of the energy strategy was -- and is. Take the idea of energy conservation. It's hardly a radical concept, is it? Improved fuel efficiency standards for autos have saved billions of barrels of oil, and would save billions more if the standards could be tightened. Not in this administration. Not a chance. President Cheney didn't mince words when asked about the possibility of encouraging energy conservation. Basically, he thinks conservation is for weenies. It might be fine for the People's Republic of Yakdung to conserve, and if the island nation of Limpwristia wants to invest in tidal power, let them squander their coconut dollars. But it's unseemly for a superpower to cut back. Ours is a NASCAR nation, home of the Hummer. Hell, our strip mines are big enough to be visible from outer space. Maybe conservation works on Brokeback Mountain, but real cowboys like Dick and W. know that energy is for the taking. Arctic wilderness? Drill it. Fragile offshore shelves? Drill away. Pesky, oil-rich dictatorships? Invade them, drill them, and let their neighbors know that we might just invade and drill them, too. In fact, drill them twice. Brokeback Mountain, indeed. Of all the fairy tales told around spooky Enron campfires, my favorite is the one about the evil environmentalists who won't allow a new refinery to be built in America. The lack of refinery capacity is a primary reason for excessively-high gasoline prices. It seems like every time a hungover pipefitter drops a wrench on his toe, a refinery shuts down and the price at the pump takes a 10-cent jump. Apparently, the sinister and all-powerful environmental movement has totally dominated the sissy-boy oil industry when it comes to refineries. The bullies of Greenpeace have been bitch-slapping the wimps at Shell and Mobil for years. It's a damned miracle that Exxon managed to scrape together enough pennies from the couch to earn a measly $36 billion in profits last year, the largest and most ridiculous profit margin in the history of the world. How could this happen you ask, especially at a time when the president and vice president, both of whom are former oil executives, are so committed to alternative energy sources? Can't this administration do anything to assist the powerless, four-eyed geeks of the hapless oil industry to build new refineries somewhere? Sadly, the answer is no. The Republican-controlled White House, Congress, and Supreme Court are no match for the raw ambition of the Sierra Club and its allies -- the liberal media and the Soros/Bin Laden family. Today, the pinkos control our refineries. Tomorrow, they'll come for our guns and Bibles. As a follow up to the promises of the State of the Union speech, the administration has vowed to add a whopping $5 million to wind power research. Be still, my beating heart. They also promise to double the solar energy budget by pumping $65 million into the effort. Surely, a commitment of this size means that energy independence will be here any day, right? Just for perspective, keep in mind that the Pentagon will see a budget bump to $439 billion, not including a fresh $120 billion to fund our ongoing adventure in Iraq. (At the same time, $36 billion will be cut from that wasteful Medicare program and another $20 billion will be sliced out of silly programs that provide food and health care to our poorest citizens.) Tax cuts for our wealthy elite will add $300 billion to the federal deficit this year, but they can't be touched. Pardon me if I am underwhelmed by a promised infusion of $70 million for alternative energy when Big Oil reaps that much and more in tax benefits every month. What will it take for me to believe the administration is serious about investing in alternative energy? When Halliburton opens a wind and solar subsidiary. Until then, these promises are a bunch of crap. OTHER STUFF Hell hath no fury like a soap buff scorned. This week, local TV stations pre-empted regular programming to cover the memorial services for Sgt. Henry Prendes, the Metro officer who was gunned down last week. The TV stations were flooded with calls from soap opera diehards and game show aficionados who were enraged that the funeral coverage had displaced their shows. One caller remarked that a funeral for a dead cop isn't newsworthy since "it's a cop's job to die." Jeez, lady, get a life. The soap will be back on the air tomorrow. Sgt. Prendes is gone forever. ... We've all heard the rumors about a possible sale of the Sahara Hotel. Here's my suggestion. Station Casinos should buy the Sahara since it would give the company a foothold on the Strip. After the sale, Stations could build a tram or monorail system (one that works) and run the line west on Sahara to the Palace Station property. If you like the idea, please forward my check care of CityLife. GEORGE KNAPP IS A VETERAN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER FOR KLAS CHANNEL 8. HE CAN BE REACHED AT GKNAPP@KLASTV.COM. Copyright © , Las Vegas CityLife ***************************************************************** 21 REID: CONGRESS MUST COMPLETE FULL INVESTIGATION INTO ADMINISTRATION’S PREWAR INTELLIGENCE Senator Harry Reid - Assistant Democratic Leader From Nevada"> Friday, February 10, 2006 Washington, DC – On the eve of the two-year anniversary of the start of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence’s investigation into prewar intelligence, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid released the following statement: “It was reported today that our government’s former top intelligence officer for Middle East issues has described the troubling misuse of intelligence on Iraq by the Bush Administration to take the country to war. On the same day, we learn that Scooter Libby was directed by the Vice President and others to leak sensitive national security secrets to publicly sell the Administration’s case. Evidence that the Bush White House manipulated and selectively declassified intelligence to wage a public relations campaign before, during, and after the invasion of Iraq grows every day. “Now more than ever, it is critical that Congress completes a full and thorough investigation into whether this Administration did mislead the American people into a long and costly war in Iraq. This Sunday marks the two-year anniversary of the launch of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee’s investigation into prewar intelligence. That investigation is still not complete. Our troops and the American people expect and deserve that this investigation be thorough and be completed so that the lessons can finally be learned and these mistakes can never happen again.†***************************************************************** 22 REID: DEMOCRATS URGE PRESIDENT TO RELEASE INFORMATION ON NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR THREAT Friday, February 3, 2006 Washington, DC—Today, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid, Armed Services Ranking Democrat Carl Levin, Foreign Relations Ranking Democrat Joe Biden, and Intelligence Vice Chairman Jay Rockefeller sent a letter to the President questioning why he has ceased discussing the serious threat from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, which has grown substantially on the President’s watch. The letter calls for the President to provide Congress and the American public with a declassified national intelligence estimate (NIE) on North Korea’s nuclear weapons and missile programs so that a full and free debate can occur about the best policy on North Korea going forward. A copy of the letter is below: February 3, 2006 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President: Four years ago, in your 2002 State of the Union address, you focused the world’s attention on concerns about the possible nuclear ambitions of three countries you called an “axis of evil†– Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. Unfortunately, each now poses an even greater challenge to U.S. security than it did four years ago. There were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, but it risks becoming what it was not before the war: a haven for terrorists. Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon than it was four years ago. And North Korea has increased its fissile material stockpile by as much as 400 percent. In particular, we are troubled that the nuclear threat from North Korea, which has grown substantially, was ignored in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, calling into question the credibility of your commitment to addressing this threat. Four years ago, this is how you described your intentions regarding North Korea: We'll be deliberate, yet time is not on our side. I will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons. (2002 State of the Union address) Three years ago, in a May 2003 joint statement with the President of South Korea you reaffirmed that you “will not tolerate nuclear weapons in North Korea.†Two years ago, the Vice President asserted about North Korea’s nuclear activities that “it is important that we make progress in this area. Time is not necessarily on our side.†One year ago, we wrote to you that “the record before us leads us to conclude that no real progress has been made†and that “with respect to the challenge of North Korea, American national security has degraded over the past year.†Today, it is even more clear that time is not on our side, and it appears that your policy still has not resulted in an elimination, freeze, or even a slowing of North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities. Most experts have assessed that from 1992 until sometime in 2002, North Korea had the capability to produce perhaps 1-2 nuclear weapons. North Korea recently has declared that since 2002 they have reprocessed 8,000 plutonium spent fuel rods, and have been engaged in preparing more plutonium for potential weapons use. We are now faced with the real possibility that North Korea may have perhaps as many as a dozen nuclear weapons. We have no guarantee that North Korea will not export fissile material or even finished nuclear weapons. Moreover, many experts believe North Korea has the capability to deploy nuclear warheads on its Nodong missiles, bringing the entire Korean Peninsula and much of Japan under the threat of nuclear attack. We urge you to clearly describe to America and the Congress your policies on North Korea so that we can begin, in a bipartisan effort, to put U.S. policy on a more productive path that reduces the threat to U.S. national security. The Intelligence Community recently has completed, at Senator Levin’s request, a comprehensive National Intelligence Estimate of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and long-range missile development programs. We hereby request that you provide to us a declassified version of that NIE so that Congress can have at hand accurate information about the current threat and engage in a full and free debate about the best policy on North Korea going forward. Thank you. Sincerely, Harry Reid Senate Democratic Leader Carl Levin Ranking Democrat Senate Armed Services Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. Ranking Democrat Senate Foreign Relations Committee John D. Rockefeller IV Vice Chairman Senate Select Committee on Intelligence ### ----------------------------------------------------------------- [ Return to Previous Page ] ***************************************************************** 23 HindustanTimes.com: N-deal, more on Bush's mind Jay Raina New Delhi, February 10, 2006 India is looking forward to US President George W Bush's visit as a "landmark engagement" that's set to deepen friendly ties between the two countries. And unlike popular perception that the civilian nuclear deal will be the dominant subject, enhanced cooperation in science and technology and biotechnology will also be a big part of the scheme of things. As per the President's itinerary, currently being given final touches, he will reach New Delhi on the evening of March 1 and leave on the morning of March 4. Bush will spend all of March 2 in Delhi, where he will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attend a state banquet at Rashtrapati Bhavan in the evening. This may be preceded by lunch hosted by the PM at Hyderabad House. Bush will leave for Hyderabad the next day, where he will visit the Andhra Pradesh Agricultural University, several IT and biotechnology institutions. According to PMO sources, too much is being made of the nuclear deal, as if it were the single agenda during the US President's visit. They say the two leaders have agreed to review progress on the deal but don't envisage clinching of the final agreement during Bush's stay. "If it happens, well and good. But that doesn't take away from the significance of the US President's visit." The sources claim that there could be minor differences over the finality of the deal even as efforts are on to narrow down irritants. Given India's sluggish agricultural growth, New Delhi is keen to seek US support by way of enhanced collaboration to kickstart the PM's vision of ushering in a second green revolution. Hence, the visit to the agriculture university. Similarly, despite India being a huge tech manpower hub, the exchange of professionals in high-tech scientific fields between the two countries is estimated to be low in comparison to US-China exchanges. "President Bush's Hyderabad visit is primarily aimed at showcasing India's advances in bio-technology and agri-technology, which need to be harnessed through advanced inputs from the US," they explain. Bush and Singh are also set to reiterate their commitment to working together to combat terrorism and strengthen global partnership for the creation of an international environment conducive to the promotion of democratic values. A senior PMO official told HT, efforts were also on to focus attention on cultural exchanges. If time permits, the President may be treated to a show on Bollywood. ***************************************************************** 24 Bellona: Alexander Nkitin looks over the last decade since his trumped-up arrest Commentary ST. PETERSBURGEarlier this week, as Bellona St. Petersburg head Alexander Nikitin recalled the morning he was arrested 10 years ago by the Federal Security Service (FSB) on trumped-up charges of espionage, he drank a little toast to his freedom and full acquittal by the Russian supreme court in 2000. It was a bitter-sweet memoryhis represented the first case when an alleged spy had won out against the FSB, the successor organisation to the KGBa true benchmark in Russian legal history. Daniil Granin (left) and Alexander Nikitin during the discussion on what the “state-created fear” is. Rashid Alimov/Bellona Rashid Alimov, 2006-02-10 12:13 But the moment also had an foul after-tastehe knows better than almost anyone that the screws on NGOs are tightening from the top, and no one can predict how far the Russian government is willing to go to put a choke-hold on the country's nascent civil society movement. “If my arrest happened not 10 years ago but now, everything would have ended much worse. Today the judicial branch is not independent anymore,” Nikitin said as he thought over the last decade’s progression of Russia’s freedoms from bad to worse. At a panel meeting Wednesday at the Russia-German Exchange NGO in St Petersburg, the emergence of “state-created fear” and what impact it had on the generations of Soviet people and how it was used and directed by the state was discussed. “This kind of fear influenced everyone, and could not but influence them. It impinged on my literary works as well. In the USSR this fear emerged not at onceit was worked out by party ideologists and the structure of unmotivated mass repressions,” said Daniil Granin, a writer who advocated for Nikitin during the environmentalists trial and author of a book “Fear.” The topic of the 1997 book is how fear “affected the people, distorted them, became a habit and a quality of life,”and why Russian people, so brave during World War II, were trembling before their own authorities after the war was over. “You know, on Monday morning, the phone rang in my flat. And one of my friends askeddo you remember what happened on February, 6th ten years ago?” Nikitin recalled during the discussion at the Russia-German Exchange. “I do not remember any sense of fear at this moment then in 1996. It felt sure that it was a misunderstanding that would be settled in the nearest future. Three months afterward, there was an especially difficult situationit was not clear whether I would have a lawyer independent of the FSB, whether he would be allowed to defend me or not,” because of the alleged state secrets involved, said Nikitin. “During the Yeltsin era, the country was much poorer than now, but it was free. I do not think that if [my arrest] happened now my feelings would be the same. No harsh verdicts on Pasko, Sutyagin, Danilov and the others had been passed down in 1996 yet,” said Nikitin in reference to other scientific experts and journalists who have been imprisoned for their knowledge and alleged connections to espionage. Nikitin soon after he was arrested in 1996. Sergei Grachev/St Petersburg Times On February 6th 1996, the Bellona Foundation issued a press-release: “At 7:00 a.m. this morning, Bellona co-worker Alexander Nikitin was arrested by five FSB agents in his home. He was taken to the local FSB head quarters, where he now is in detention. Nikitin is accused of espionage according to paragraph 64 a of Russian Criminal Law, the minimum penalty of which is 10 years imprisonment. Maximum penalty is execution”. The accusations were made against Nikitin for his contribution to a Bellona report on the environmental dangers posed by the laid up and rusted out nuclear submarines of the Russian Northern Fleet. “The cell where I was put turned out to be for two. Two cots, two bedside tables, a very small window with two rows of fencing. The main thick fence against escape, and the secondwe calling it eyelashesprevented the prisoners from seeing what is going on in the prison yard. Only the sky and the upper floor of one of the neighboring houses was seen through the eyelashes,” Nikitin recalls in a book “Nikitin case,” co-authored by Nikitin and Nina Katerli, which was published in St Petersburg in 2001. “The position of FSB […] was unclear that time. One of my investigators used to say – “what are we? A financial Service or something else?” I remember how they complained about [then St. Petersburg Mayor Anatoly] Sobchak who visited them once, and humiliated their Service absolutely,” said Nikitin. “Now a kind of merging of FSB and business has happened. When driving to our office past the Big House [the FSB department and prison], I always see parked cars of the latest models. And all these changes began in the year 2000.” After Nikitin was arrested, the FSB publicly claimed he was arrested on a train and bearing a ticket to Canada. But Nikitin never planned to leave Russia, and after he was released on agreement not to leave St. Petersburg and was eventually acquitted by the courts, he continued his public environmental activity. Nikitin is now the chairman of the board of the St Petersburg based Environmental Rights Center Bellona. And as the head of this organization, Nikitin faces new displays of the fear returning. In 2003 several scientists from Sosnovy Bor, where the Leningrad Nuclear Power Plant is situated, called Bellona and proposed a joint publication of their longstanding measurements, as their laboratory faced closure. “Within a few days, the verdict on Danilov was proclaimed in Krasnoyarsk, and at our new meeting the scientists refused from any future cooperation,” Nikitin said. Now Bellona is preparing another joint publicationwith other medical scientists, which would be released by the 20th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster in April 2006. But this project also faces fear and counteraction from scientific administrators. “The situation in the country has changed. Now the FSB controls everything, and court decisions are dictated from Kremlin”, says Nikitin. The result of the Nikitin casethe first victory over the uncontrolled FSB machine in such a casecan not be revised. The case, closed in 2000, showed that courts in Russia can be independent, and society can be compassionate. “This is the civil society, the NGOs are striving for, ”Nikitin said. 2006-01-26 Access to enviroinformation Putin: UK spy flap justifies NGO crack-down Publisher: , President: Information: , Technical contact: Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 25 CNN.com: Russia takes G8 chair - Feb 10, 2006 MOSCOW, Russia (AP) -- A resurgent Russia opens its chairmanship of the Group of Eight nations this weekend with finance ministers from the world's wealthiest nations convening for talks that will focus on oil and energy security. Russia, whose economy has been rejuvenated by high oil prices, nevertheless said that diversifying energy sources was a key issue. The finance ministers are also slated to discuss the effect of soaring oil prices on global economic growth. "This is not just a question of supplies of oil or gas, though they of course play a serious role," Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin said Thursday. "We are also talking about the rules of the game in the sphere of energy -- finding alternative sources, be it atomic, hydrogen or wind energy ... Diversification of energy sources is a pressing question on the world agenda today as is increasing the transparency of world energy markets," he said. Russia has selected energy security as the central theme for its July summit in St. Petersburg. This weekend, finance ministers from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States are also expected to discuss the fight against infectious diseases -- including avian flu -- and efforts to stem financing for terror networks. China, Brazil, South Africa and India, which are not members of the G8, will attend a meeting focusing on international trade. World Bank and International Monetary Fund chiefs will also attend as well as a representative of the European Union. While economists fear soaring oil prices could knock the wind out of the world economy, the high price of crude and gas has been largely responsible for Russia's economic turnaround since it defaulted on its debts in 1998. Russia is widely expected to tout a pledge to pay down the bulk of its remaining Soviet-era debt to the Paris Club of creditor nations -- some $12 billion -- this year. Russia also has said it will extend a debt forgiveness deal brokered at last year's G-8 summit and waive $688 million owed mainly by impoverished African nations. Despite Russia's key role as a major energy supplier, it has yet to be admitted as a full member of the group and has been largely kept out of discussions among the finance ministers on big issues such as exchange rates and the U.S. budget deficit. Some U.S. lawmakers and non-governmental organizations have called for Russia to be excluded from the group it was invited to join in the 1990s, saying it does not share the other G8 members' democratic values and fails to measure up economically. Russian President Vladimir Putin vehemently defended Russia's membership last week. The nation was at once able to prevent the group from becoming an "assembly of fat cats" by fighting for poorer nations from the perspective of a developing country, he said, while simultaneously wielding the clout of a former superpower as nuclear security mediator. But despite the energy security buzzword, critics have questioned Russia's reputation as a reliable supplier to energy-hungry Europe -- which presently relies on Russia for a quarter of its gas consumption. They cite an ugly New Year gas price war with Ukraine that saw supplies to Europe temporarily shut off. The dispute was seen to be partly aimed at undermining Ukraine's fledgling Western-leaning government, instead of a simple shift to market-based pricing as Russia's natural gas monopoly, Gazprom, contends. At the same time, Russia's Gazprom gas monopoly is under pressure to ratchet up production by developing new fields, as well as allowing independent producers access to its state-controlled pipelines. Russia has been encouraged to clarify the rules for foreign investment in the country's energy reserves. Despite the supply fears provoked by violence against oil companies in Nigeria and Iran's referral to the U.N. Security Council over its uranium enrichment program, economists said the G-8 discussions would consider the effect of national governments' economic policy as well as the United States' fiscal deficit on commodities prices. "The global imbalance, the soft monetary policy of the G7, has led to greater liquidity in the world and helped encourage world growth, but it has sent oil and other commodity prices higher as well," said Evgeny Gavrilenkov, chief economist for the Troika Dialog investment bank in Moscow. U.S. officials, meanwhile, also said there would be discussions this weekend led by the Italians on the possibility of identifying and stockpiling vaccines for infectious diseases such as bird flu. "But there is no decision on financing yet," said Clay Lowery, assistant treasury secretary for international affairs. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This ***************************************************************** 26 NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Salem Nuclear Plant News Release - Region I - 2006-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-06-005 February 10, 2006 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Commissions new resident inspector at the Salem nuclear power plant in Hancocks Bridge, N.J. He joins NRC Senior Resident Inspector Daniel Orr at the two-unit site. He replaces George Malone, who was promoted to senior resident inspector at the nearby Hope Creek plant. Harry Balians training, education and diverse experience will aid the NRC in its oversight of the company as part of our effort to ensure that the Salem nuclear plant operates in a manner that continues to protect public health and safety," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. Balian joined the NRC in November 2003 as an operations engineer in the Region I office in King of Prussia, Pa. Prior to joining the agency, he was an operations supervisor and maintenance rule engineer at Amergens Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Middletown, Pa. He also was an auditor and financial analyst with GPU Service Corp. He served for six years in the United States Navy and is a Desert Storm veteran. Balian earned a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Villanova University, a masters in business administration from The Pennsylvania State University and a juris doctor from The Widener University School of Law. He was admitted to both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania bar in 1998. Each U.S. commercial nuclear power plant has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the facility, conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects and interacting with plant workers and the public. The Salem resident inspectors can be reached at 856/935-5151. Last revised Friday, February 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 27 NRC: New NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to Hope Creek Nuclear Plant News Release - Region I - 2006-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-06-006 February 10, 2006 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Pa., have selected Ted Wingfield as the new resident inspector at the Hope Creek nuclear power plant in Hancocks Bridge, N.J. He joins NRC Senior Resident Inspector George Malone at the site. Wingfield first joined the NRC as a Reactor Engineer in the Region I Division of Reactor Safety in August 2003. Most recently he was a project engineer in the regional office. Ted Wingfield has the experience and commitment to safety that will help the NRC ensure that Hope Creek conducts operations with the highest safety standards to protect public health and safety," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. Prior to joining the NRC, Wingfield worked at Exelon Nuclears Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in several positions including cycle manager, senior reactor operator and operations coordinator. He also worked as a sales engineer at BOC Gases in Lyle, Ill. He served in the United States Navy for five years. Wingfield earned a bachelors degree in mathematics from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md., and a masters in business administration from the University of Delaware. Each U.S. commercial nuclear power plant has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the facility, conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects and interacting with plant workers and the public. The Hope Creek resident inspectors can be reached at 856/935-5373. Last revised Friday, February 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 28 AP Wire: Two utilities would expand nuclear power operations near Columbia | 02/10/2006 | Associated Press COLUMBIA, S.C. - The state's two largest electric utilities have chosen an existing facility northwest of Columbia as the preferred site for up to two new nuclear power units, if federal regulators approve the proposal. Santee Cooper, the state-owned utility headquartered in Moncks Corner near Charleston, and Columbia-based Scana Corp. say they need the generating capacity to support basic production needs during the next decade. If the Nuclear Regulatory Commission approves a construction and operating license by 2010, the companies would build at least one of the new 1,117 megawatt units at the 1,000 megawatt V.C. Summer Nuclear Station they now jointly operate in Jenkinsville. That plant has been in commercial operation by South Carolina Electric and Gas, a Scana subsidiary, since 1984. The original reactor was first licensed in 1982 for Westinghouse. In 2004, the plant, about 26 miles from Columbia, won a permit extension allowing it to operate until 2042. The existing facility has run with few major problems. In October 2000, workers discovered a cracked coolant pipe that shut down the facility for nearly five months. The nearly 3-inch crack was in a weld seam along a pipe that carries 600-degree water away from the nuclear reactor. The companies have decided they will use a Westinghouse reactor design with fewer valves and pumps if it builds the new units. Each unit is designed to last 60 years, the companies said. SCE&G spokesman Robert Yanity said the companies would seek permits for two units, although it may ultimately decide to build one. Neville Lorick, SCE&G's president, said it makes sense to build the new capacity at the old facility because it already has a skilled work force, security and training space in place. That "would save both time and money, and that would mean a lower overall cost for our customers versus other locations," Lorick said in a prepared statement. The partners had considered building a reactor near the Department of Energy's Savannah River Site, formerly a nuclear weapons plant, near Aiken. A final decision to build the units still could be years away, Lorick said. Santee Cooper serves nearly 800,000 customers statewide either directly or through electric cooperatives. SCE&G has 610,000 customers, mostly in the lower half of the state. ***************************************************************** 29 HindustanTimes.com: India's atomic establishment a hurdle to N-deal - US expert Friday, February 10, 2006|10:51 IST Manish Chand (IANS) A top US expert has termed the Indian nuclear establishment's "set way of doing things" as a "major obstacle" to reaching a civil nuclear energy agreement between the two countries before US President George W Bush's visit here in early March. "The Indian nuclear establishment is not comfortable with the civil nuclear energy deal because it changes things for them," said Dennis Kux, a former US diplomat and an expert on India-US relations. "The separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities poses a big problem for them. They are worried and nervous because it asks them to change their set pattern of working, which they have been used to for the last three decades," Kux said in an interview. He also sought to allay anxieties about the impact the deal will have on India's strategic programme. "The US is not trying to cap India's strategic programme or affect its minimum credible deterrence. Let's be clear about that." Kux was reacting to Atomic Energy Commission chairman Anil Kakodkar's contention that New Delhi was not ready to place its fast breeder reactor programme in the civilian list as it would impinge on its strategic programme. Kux, a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, worked as South Asia specialist with the State Department for over three decades and his views are considered influential in formulating the US policy towards the region. His acclaimed India and the US, 1941-91: Estranged Democracies chronicles the nature of relations between the world's largest democracy and the most powerful during the Cold War period. Alluding to difficult negotiations between the two sides on New Delhi's separation of civilian and military nuclear facilities, Kux stressed on the "seriousness" of the Bush administration in pushing the deal through Congress and the "extra political capital" it was willing to invest to make the deal real. "The administration will push very hard to get the deal through the US Congress. This is the last psychological barrier that is waiting to be dismantled," Kux said. He also took potshots at the Left's criticism of nuclear deal agreed to in principle in July 2005 but still to be negotiated in detail, saying their reservations stem more from their dislike of the US than objective facts. Kux struck an optimistic note on Bush's India visit, which, he said, will give a big push to the transformation of relations between the hitherto estranged democracies. "Even if the nuclear agreement doesn't work out by that time, the very fact of Bush coming here despite all the other big issues on his agenda like Iraq will make a big difference to India-US relations. "The US is trying to help India, and in the big picture this does help India. The US is trying to reach a reasonable agreement. It's trying to accommodate India's civil nuclear energy aspirations," he said while underlining the point that there was broad bipartisan support for the nuclear deal. "The deal, above all, gives India nuclear power status by finding a way to bring India into the international nuclear system," said the veteran South Asia specialist. "Economic reforms brought India firmly into the international economic system. The nuclear deal will bring India into the global civil nuclear energy market," he said. ***************************************************************** 30 NRC: NRC Cites NASA for Violations of NRC Requirements News Release - Region I - 2006-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-06-007 February 10, 2006 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov requirements involving the submission of inaccurate information. The enforcement action against NASA does not entail a fine but does require several corrective actions to prevent recurrence. An August 2005 letter informed NASA that the NRC Office of Investigations had concluded that a NASA contract Radiation Safety Officer (RSO) deliberately failed to report missing licensed material, as required, and provided incomplete and inaccurate information in writing and orally to an NRC inspector during a December 2002 inspection. In response to the OI finding, NASA requested the use of the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). ADR is a process in which a neutral mediator with no decision-making authority assists the NRC and licensees in reaching an agreement resolving any differences regarding an enforcement action. An ADR session between NRC staff and NASA representatives was held on Nov. 4, 2005, at the NASA facility in Greenbelt, Md. As a result of that session, as well as a subsequent session held in King of Prussia, on Dec. 19, a settlement agreement was reached. NASA has agreed that the contract RSO caused NASA to violate NRC requirements when he failed to perform a reasonable and necessary evaluation of information provided to him by a NASA health physics technician to determine whether licensed material reported as missing reached the threshold for reportability under NRC requirements. NASA also agreed that the contract RSO provided inaccurate information to NRC during the inspection. While NASA and the NRC agreed to disagree on the willfulness of the contract RSOs actions, NASA and the NRC agreed that the contract RSOs actions caused NASA to be in violation of NRC requirements, which resulted in this enforcement action. In addition to actions previously taken by NASA to assure that the violations do not recur, NASA agreed to ensure that others at NASA facilities and other NRC licensees learned from these violations. Those included: increasing the frequency of its internal audits; retaining an independent organization to conduct an annual independent review of the radiation safety program for 2006 and 2007, at a minimum; providing a presentation at the NASA Occupational Health Conference in 2006 describing the violations, the circumstances that led to them, lessons learned and corrective actions. NASA must complete all of the actions by December 31, 2007 and notify the NRC in writing that they have been completed. The NRC agreed to issue a Severity Level III Notice of Violation to NASA but to not issue a civil penalty. Four Severity Level IV violations were also issued. The terms of the enforcement action have been confirmed via a Confirmatory Order issued by the NRC to NASA. The contract RSO also took part in the ADR sessions. While the RSO and the NRC also agreed to disagree on the willfulness of his actions, the RSO agreed to take future corrective actions, including providing a lessons learned presentation to NASA Goddard materials-users and also at the 2006 NASA Occupational Health Conference. Those actions were also confirmed in a separate Confirmatory Order to the individual. Both NASA and the contract RSO may respond to the order in writing within 30 days. A copy of the enforcement action will be posted on the NRC web site at: www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement/current.html#materi als . Last revised Friday, February 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 31 PressofAtlanticCity.com: Oyster Creek liner a near catastrophe,group says The group, made up of environmental activists and Ocean County homeowners, cited a Jan. 31 conference call during which technical experts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission named Oyster Creek, in Lacey Township, as one of four nuclear reactors in the country with corrosion problems that need to be examined through ultrasonic testing. The Stop the Renewal of Oyster Creek Coalition also retained its own expert who determined that erosion of the containment liner has left the 90-foot tall nuclear reactor in danger of collapsing. " /> By PETE McALEERStatehouse Bureau, (609) 292-4935 Published: Friday, February 10, 2006 — A coalition formed to fight the renewal of the Oyster Creek Generating Station's license claims that portions of a steel liner designed to prevent radioactivity from contaminating the community have nearly eroded through. The group, made up of environmental activists and Ocean County homeowners, cited a Jan. 31 conference call during which technical experts at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission named Oyster Creek, in Lacey Township, as one of four nuclear reactors in the country with corrosion problems that need to be examined through ultrasonic testing. The Stop the Renewal of Oyster Creek Coalition also retained its own expert who determined that erosion of the containment liner has left the 90-foot tall nuclear reactor in danger of collapsing. They held a Statehouse news conference Thursday to announce their findings, call for a hearing and lobby the support of Gov. Jon Corzine. “I've come to the governor's house to ask the governor to help us,†said Janet Tauro, a Brick Township resident who joined the coalition after she submitted the baby teeth of her two children for testing and high levels of radiation were found. “These ultra-sonic tests need to be done immediately,†Tauro said. “We need to know if this thing is going to collapse. Period.†Oyster Creek has not undergone ultra-sonic testing since 1994. The tests use sound waves to determine the thickness of the containment liner. Exelon, the company that owns the Oyster Creek plant, has told the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, it will conduct one ultrasonic test before its license is up for renewal in 2009. Exelon is seeking a 20-year renewal for Oyster Creek, the oldest nuclear power plant currently operating in the United States. Past tests showed the containment liner of the Oyster Creek reactor had eroded to within an inch of safety standards. Coalition members said the problem has gotten worse and that some parts of the liner are now a fraction of an inch away from failing safety standards with no plan to stop the erosion over the next two decades. “Exelon would like for us to be assured that a sixteenth of an inch of steel is protecting the safety of a half-million people in Monmouth and Ocean County,†Sierra Club Conservation Coordinator Kelly McNicholas said. “We don't think that's acceptable.†The coalition filed an amendment Thursday to its petition for a public hearing that would aim to determine the source of the water leak that has caused the corrosion and the extent of the damage. Corzine spokesman Anthony Coley said the governor encourages the NRC to hold public hearings “as part of an open and transparent dialogue between stakeholders and the NRC.†The state Department of Environmental Protection also filed a petition requesting a hearing. Newly sworn in DEP Commissioner Lisa Jackson wrote the NRC earlier this month and expressed disappointment that the staff of the regulatory body had recommended against holding hearings to examine issues raised by those who oppose Oyster Creek's renewal. “I hope that the (NRC) will conduct an open, public process, with the full participation of the people who live near the plant and in consultation with the state and local governments that have direct knowledge of the plant and the surrounding community,†Jackson wrote. Diane Screnci, northeast region spokeswoman for the NRC, said a ruling on whether a hearing is warranted would be made by the end of the month. She said the information provided by NRC technical experts at the Jan. 31 conference call is still under review. A spokeswoman for the Oyster Creek Power Plant, Rachelle Benson, declined to answer when asked about the coalition's petition and its call for ultrasonic testing of the reactor. “We have a copy of the filing,†Benson said. “We'll provide a response to the NRC in a timely manner.†Rudolf Hausler, the corrosion expert hired by the coalition that wants to close Oyster Creek, said time is crucial and that ultrasonic tests need to be conducted soon. He said the concrete liner could potentially buckle and cause either a collapse or the release of dangerous gases. “Clearly such inspection requires the most sophisticated tool and is a challenge to the industry,†Hausler said. “However, the challenge arising from a collapse of the liner will be an order of greater magnitude.†***************************************************************** 32 Platts: Cost of Global Nuclear Energy Partnership may hit $62-bil - Bodman Washington (Platts)--9Feb2006 The total cost of the Bush administration's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership would likely reach between $20-bil and $40-bil, and possibly as much as $62-bil, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said Thursday. Testifying at a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on the administration's FY-07 budget request, Bodman said GNEP, in which the US and other countries would provide fresh nuclear fuel for power reactors around the world and recover the spent fuel for recycling, would "be very expensive and take a very long time." But he added that the reprocessed waste resulting from the initiative would remain toxic for 1,000 years rather than the one million years envisioned for ordinary spent fuel. Bodman said he hoped GNEP's development costs could be reduced through help from other countries. Senators said after the hearing that nuclear energy ratepayers would also have to help pay for GNEP. Sen Raymond Burr (Republican-North Carolina) told reporters he no longer supports developing the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository in Nevada, and said the US should concentrate instead on reprocessing. Burr said the Yucca Mountain project is being brought to a standstill by legal problems. Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (Republican-New Mexico) said the Nuclear Waste Fund could help pay for GNEP. "Look, I don't think we've figured out who's going to pay for that," Domenici said. "Right now we've got [$18-bil] sitting in a trust fund that's supposed to be for Yucca, but it's really the utilities paying for completing the fuel cycle. I'm not suggesting that they would sit by and let us use it [for GNEP], but this may not be a total government expenditure as we put it together." A DOE spokesman said the department will make a "go, no-go" decision on whether to proceed with GNEP after three years of study. The administration is seeking $250-mil for GNEP in FY-07. 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] ***************************************************************** 33 APP.COM: Plant officials: Safety vessel OK | Asbury Park Press Online Friday, February 10, 2006 Posted by the Asbury Park Presson 02/10/06 BY NICHOLAS CLUNN STAFF WRITER LACEY — A vessel at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant meant to contain a radiation leak during a serious reactor accident is not in danger of collapsing, plant officials said this morning, rebutting an allegation by plant critics. A corrosion expert hired by a coalition group opposed to the plant's bid for a renewed operating license said Thursday that further corrosion of the steel vessel, called the drywell liner, could buckle and cause serious damage. For more about Oyster Creek, read a five-day series, "Relicensing Oyster Creek: Is it worth it?'' The series begins in the Asbury Park Sunday Press. ***************************************************************** 34 APP.COM: Corrosion concerns Oyster Creek's critics | Asbury Park Press Online , February 10, 2006 Posted by the Asbury Park Presson 02/10/06 BY GREGORY J. VOLPE GANNETT STATE BUREAU TRENTON — A corrosion expert hired by activists trying to shut down the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant warned that corrosion of the plant's drywell liner could collapse the vital structure designed to contain a radioactive release during a reactor accident. Members of Stop the Renewal of Oyster Creek, or STROC, said Thursday that ultrasonic testing is the only way to determine the severity of corrosion that occurred in portions of the liner embedded in concrete. Until those tests are conducted, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission should not proceed with the plant's 20-year relicensing application, Oyster Creek opponents said. The plant previously fixed visible corroded sections, but STROC members fear the water that caused those problems has also caused problems underground. "If, in fact, these processes occurred, and this is precisely the subject of much-needed verification, the entire structure is not only in danger of buckling, but indeed of collapse," Rudolf H. Hausler, a corrosion expert hired by STROC, wrote to the group in a memo. "If that doesn't get your attention, you died a couple of days ago," William deCamp Jr., a member of Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch, said at a Thursday news conference. Rachelle Benson, a plant spokeswoman, declined comment until a telephone news conference scheduled for today. The threat of collapse and a recent telephone conference in which NRC staffers said they have corrosion concerns at Oyster Creek and three other nuclear power plants, prompted Richard Webster, STROC's lawyer, on Tuesday to amend a petition filed in November seeking the ultrasonic tests and a public hearing on relicensure of the plant, whose 40-year-old permit expires in 2009. The group also wants Oyster Creek to determine — and fix — what caused the water to corrode the liner. "These corrosion problems are real. They're not going away. Looking the other way, or not measuring, is not going to solve the problem," Webster said. "All that's going to happen is the problem's going to get worse, and it's going to manifest itself in a way that affects safety at some point." Gov. Corzine and his nominee to run the Department of Environmental Protection, Lisa Jackson, support the group's effort to have a public hearing on the license. Citing security, structural and evacuation concerns, Jackson wrote to the NRC on Feb. 1, saying an open hearing "will allow for an open exchange of information, an understanding of bases for the arguments on either side of the issues." If the structure were to collapse, it would cut the plant's coolant lines and other control and power cables, rendering it unable to contain a release if another problem occurred. Even if it doesn't collapse, there's a 74 percent chance of failure if the reactor core melts or fuel is seriously damaged in an accident, according to a risk analysis by AmerGen Energy Co. and NRC staff. AmerGen has said a serious reactor incident is a remote possibility. If a release were to occur, said Donald Warren, a member of the Jersey Shore Nuclear Watch Group, it would be more severe than the Chernobyl accident in 1986. The federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board is expected to decide this month whether STROC's drywell concerns warrant a hearing. It was unknown Thursday whether the amended petition would affect that time frame, said NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci, who declined to comment on the group's latest accusations. Gregory J. Volpe: gvolpe@gannett.com [E-mail] E-mail Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 35 NRC: NRC Proposes to Amend Licensing, Inspection and Annual Fees Rule News Release - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-021 February 10, 2006 charges applicants and licensees for fiscal year (FY) 2006. The agency is required by Congress to recover for the U.S. Treasury nearly all of its annual appropriated budget through two types of fees. One is for specific NRC services, such as licensing and inspection activities, that apply to a specific license; this fee is calculated using an hourly rate reflecting time spent by staff performing the service. The other is an annual fee paid by licensees, which recovers generic regulatory expenses and other costs not recovered through fees for specific services. These fees are contained in NRC regulations 10 CFR Part 170 (fees for licensing and inspection services) and 10 CFR Part 171 (annual fees). These fees are paid to the U.S. Treasury and go into the general fund. By law, the NRC must recover through fees 90 percent of its budget for FY 2006 (Oct. 1, 2005 - Sept. 30, 2006), less the amount appropriated from the Nuclear Waste Fund for high-level waste activities and appropriated from general funds for waste-incidental-to-reprocessing activities. The total amount to be recovered in FY 2006 is approximately $624 million, about $83 million more than in FY 2005. Under the proposed rule, the hourly rates for assessing Part 170 fees would increase from $205 to $217 for the Nuclear Reactor Safety Program, and from $197 to $215 for the Nuclear Materials and Waste Safety Program. The NRC will also begin charging federal agencies Part 170 fees in accordance with its new authority under the Energy Policy Act of 2005, though certain federally owned research and test reactors will remain exempt from these fees. The proposed FY 2006 annual fees include the following: Class/category of licenses FY 2006 Annual fee Operating Power Reactors (including Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning)................................................. ............................................... $3,655,000 Spent Fuel Storage/Reactor Decommissioning.................................................. .............................. $168,000 Test and Research Reactors (Nonpower Reactors)........................................................ ................. $76,300 High Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility......................................................... ........................................ $5,579,000 Low Enriched Uranium Fuel Facility......................................................... ........................................ $1,643,000 UF6 Conversion Facility......................................................... ........................................................... $1,076,000 Rare Earth Mills............................................................ ................................................................. . $97,900 Typical Materials Users: Radiographers.................................................... ................................................................. ... $15,300 Well Loggers.......................................................... ................................................................ $4,700 Gauge Users (Category 3P).............................................................. ...................................... $2,900 The proposed rule was published today in the Federal Register. Written comments on the proposed fee changes should be received by March 13. They should be addressed to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. Comments may also be submitted by e-mail to SECY@nrc.gov, faxed to (301) 415-1011, or submitted online via the NRCs rulemaking Web site at http://ruleforum.llnl.gov. Last revised Friday, February 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 36 NRC: Draft Report for Comment: Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation FR Doc E6-1924 [Federal Register: February 10, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 28)] [Notices] [Page 7079] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr10fe06-118] Standard Review Plan, Section 17.5, ``Quality Assurance Program Description--Design Certification, Early Site Permit and New License Applicants'' AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Notice of availability and request for comments. SUMMARY: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) has issued Section 17.5, Draft Revision 0, ``Quality Assurance Program Description--Design Certification, Early Site Permit and New License Applicants,'' of NUREG-0800, ``Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants, LWR Edition'' for public comment. DATES: Comments on this draft document must be submitted by April 11, 2006. To ensure efficient and complete comment resolution, comments should include references to the section, page, and line numbers of the document to which the comment applies. ADDRESSES: NUREG-0800, including Section 17.5, Draft Revision 0, is available for inspection and copying for a fee at the Commission's Public Document Room, NRC's Headquarters Building, 11555 Rockville Pike (First Floor), Rockville, Maryland. The Public Document Room is open from 7:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on Federal holidays. NUREG-0800, including Section 17.5, Draft Revision 0, is also available electronically on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800 / , and from the ADAMS Electronic Reading Room on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html (ADAMS Accession No. ML060180622). Members of the public are invited and encouraged to submit written comments. Comments may be accompanied by additional relevant information or supporting data. A number of methods may be used to submit comments. Written comments should be mailed to Chief, Rules Review and Directives Branch, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Mail Stop T6-D59, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand-deliver comments to: 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m., Federal workdays. Comments may be submitted electronically to: nrcrep@nrc.gov. Comments also may be submitted electronically through the comment form available on the NRC Web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/staff/sr0800 / . Please specify the report number NUREG-0800, Section 17.5, Draft Revision 0, in your comments, and send your comments by April 11, 2006. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Tingen, Mail Stop O-6F2, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Telephone: (301) 415-1280; Internet: sgt@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This new Standard Review Plan (SRP) section is guidance to the staff reviewers in the Office of NRR for performing safety reviews of quality assurance (QA) programs for design certification, early site permit (ESP) and combined license applications submitted under 10 CFR Part 52, as well as new construction permit and operating license applications submitted under 10 CFR Part 50. The principal purpose of the SRP is to ensure the quality and uniformity of staff safety reviews. It is also the intent of this plan to make information about regulatory matters widely available and to improve communication between the NRC, interested members of the public, and the nuclear power industry, thereby increasing understanding of the review process. SRP Section 17.5 is based on a combination of the following NRC endorsed guidance: ASME Standard NQA-1, ``Quality Assurance Program for Nuclear Facilities'' (1994 Edition); Regulatory Guide (RG) 1.8, ``Qualification and Training of Personnel for Nuclear Power Plants,'' Revision 3; RG 1.28, ``Quality Assurance Program Requirements (Design and Construction),'' Revision 3; RG 1.33, ``Quality Assurance Program Requirements (Operation),'' Revision 2; Review Standard 002, ``Processing Applications for Early Site Permits,'' Revision 0; Nuclear Information and Records Management Association, Inc. (NIRMA) Technical Guide (TG) 11-1998, ``Authentication of Records and Media;'' NIRMA TG 15-1998, ``Management of Electronic Records;'' NIRMA TG 16-1998, ``Software Configuration Management and Quality Assurance;'' NIRMA TG 21-1998, Electronic Records Protection and Restoration;'' Electric Power Research Institute NP-5652, ``Guideline for the Utilization of Commercial--Grade Items in Nuclear Safety-Related Applications (NCIG- 07);'' SRP Section 17.1, ``Quality Assurance During the Design and Construction Phases,'' Draft Revision 3; SRP Section 17.2, ``Quality Assurance During the Operations Phase,'' Draft Revision 3; and SRP Section 17.3, ``Quality Assurance Program,'' Draft Revision 1. The provisions in 10 CFR 50.69, ``Risk-Informed Categorization of Structures, Systems and Components of Nuclear Power Reactors,'' regarding QA controls for nonsafety-related systems, structures, and components that perform safety significant functions are included in SRP Section 17.5. The provisions in 10 CFR Part 21 and 10 CFR 50.55(e) regarding reporting of defects and noncompliance are included in SRP Section 17.5. A number of NRC approved changes to QA programs that were originally based on existing SRP Sections 17.1, 17.2, and 17.3 that are considered by the NRC to be generic in nature are also included in SRP Section 17.5. The independent review criteria in existing SRP Section 13.4, ``Operational Review,'' have been relocated to SRP Section 17.5. SRP Section 17.5 is to be used by the staff for guidance for the review of new QA programs. SRP Section 17.5 does not replace existing SRP Sections 13.4, 17.1, 17.2 and 17.3. These existing SRPs continue to be applicable to QA programs as previously approved by the NRC. Dated at Rockville, MD, this 1st day of February, 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dale F. Thatcher, Chief, Quality & Vendor Branch A, Division of Engineering, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-1924 Filed 2-9-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 37 Anatolia Times: Guler: We Project A Nuclear Energy Investment Of 5,000 Megawatt Published: 2/9/2006 WASHINGTON, D.C. - Turkish Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Hilmi Guler has indicated that Turkey projected a nuclear energy investment of 5,000 megawatt in order to meet Turkey's energy demand in the next 15 years. Guler is in Washington, D.C. upon an invitation from the U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel Wright Bodman. Guler held a press conference after meeting Bodman. Guler told press corps that he paid a visit to the Lake Anna nuclear power plant in Virginia and received information on the technical properties of the plant. Hilmi Guler stressed that Turkey needs nuclear energy. ''We have mentioned Turkey's energy need in our government and party programs. The rise in oil prices and the need for multiple sources of energy make our need for nuclear energy an utmost priority,'' said Guler. Asked if Turkey has a solid plan to meet its energy requirements, Guler responded that ''yes, we do. We studied the supply and demand amounts till 2020 in Turkey. We need an additional investment of 54,000 megawatt of energy. We project a nuclear energy investment of 5,000 megawatt. Turkey must make an investment of 128 billion USD until 2020,'' stressed Guler. Minister Guler has expressed that he offered cooperation with American authorities in exploration of new oil reserves in Iraq. In reference to natural gas, Guler commented that all precautions have been taken and that there is currently no problem in natural gas supplied to Turkey. Minister Guler added that he discussed ways to save energy and joint exploration of oil with American authorities. ***************************************************************** 38 NRC: NRC Requests Additional Information on Application for North Anna Early Site Permit News Release - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-022 February 10, 2006 application for an Early Site Permit (ESP) at the North Anna nuclear power plant site, near Mineral, Va. Dominion submitted its initial application on Sept. 25, 2003, and submitted the revised application on Jan. 13, 2006. The revision reflects a substantial design change to the cooling water system; the proposal now includes a cooling tower rather than lake water to cool discharged water, in order to respond to the state of Virginias concerns about water use. The proposed reactor has also increased in power output, which will require additional staff review. The revision, however, does not address several aspects of the changes, including the new cooling systems impact on both humans and wildlife downstream from the site. Our initial review of Dominions revisions pointed out several areas that require additional detail, said William Beckner, Deputy Director of the Division of New Reactor Licensing in the NRCs Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Once Dominion provides that information, it should take us about nine months to finish our work on the ESP application. The NRC staff plans to meet with Dominion shortly to discuss these issues and the additional information the agency is seeking. The staff will issue a supplement to both its draft environmental impact statement (EIS) and safety evaluation report. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the EIS supplement, and will hold a public meeting on the supplement. The ESP process allows an applicant to address site-related issues, such as environmental impacts, for possible future construction and operation of a nuclear power plant at the site. If a permit is granted, the applicant has up to 20 years to decide whether to build a new nuclear unit on the site and to file an application with the NRC for approval to begin construction. Last revised Friday, February 10, 2006 ***************************************************************** 39 Japan Times: Toshiba suspected of falsifying more reactor flow meter data Electronics maker Toshiba Corp. might have again falsified data on three coolant flow meters for a reactor at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co., in addition to one at the utility firm's Fukushima No. 1 power plant, government nuclear safety inspectors said Friday. The Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, an organization under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, said it received a report from Toshiba that it might have made the fabrication. In late January, Tepco had announced that Toshiba, a key maker of nuclear power facilities in Japan, had falsified coolant flow meter data for the No. 6 reactor at the Fukushima No. 1 plant in Fukushima Prefecture. In a related development Friday, officials from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency inspected Toshiba's Keihin plant in Yokohama's Tsurumi Ward to check details about the data falsification. Tepco said the data fabrication had posed no problem in legal terms or in the safe operation of the reactors. The Toshiba-supplied meters at the Fukushima No. 1 plant were found to have failed to meet accuracy requirements as specified by Tepco. The data on the three meters at the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant might have been fabricated similarly, Japan's largest utility said. Tepco said it confirmed the data fabrication at the Fukushima No. 1 plant after receiving a document from an in-house whistle-blower in September claiming Toshiba supplied the flow meter with fabricated data. The flow meter measures coolant flows at the reactor. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, located in the city of Kashiwazaki and the village of Kariwa, Niigata Prefecture, on the Sea of Japan coast, has seven reactors and is known as the world's largest nuclear plant, with a total power output capacity of 8.2 million kw. New city rejects reactor KYOTO (Kyodo) The city of Kyotango, Kyoto Prefecture, has effectively rejected a plan by Kansai Electric Power Co. to build a nuclear power plant there, city officials said Friday. The Japan Times: Feb. 11, 2006 (C) All rights reserved [ ***************************************************************** 40 Odessa American Online: UT regents give thumbs up to nuclear reactor Serving the Permian Basin of West Texas Friday, February 10, 2006 UTPB ready to move forward with design for Andrews site By David J. Lee Odessa American University of Texas System regents on Thursday threw their support behind a proposed test nuclear reactor in Andrews. "Everything went great today with the regents," UTPB President David Watts said. "It was a great day." The regents approved a teaming agreement between the UT System, UT Permian Basin, UT Austin, UT Arlington, UT Dallas, UT El Paso, the City of Andrews, the City of Odessa, the City of Midland, Sandia National Laboratories, Thorium Power Inc. and General Atomics. "It's moving forward as we had hoped," Andrews City Manager Glen Hackler said. "It's one of the reasons why the parties to the agreement tried to move as quickly as we could - to put it in a position to move forward." The teaming agreement lasts for one year. The agreement is for all the organizations to lend their support to creating a pre-conceptual design for the proposed state-of-the-art facility in Andrews County. "That design is the next step in our process to establish a high temperature test teaching and research reactor in West Texas," Watts said. Hackler echoed that. "The pre-conceptual design is critical toward ultimately getting the test reactor facility funded and built," he said. "Without the pre-conceptual design, it's only an idea. This is a critical next step to making it a reality." Each of the three communities backing the project - Andrews, Odessa and Midland - has committed to spending $500,000 toward a pre-conceptual design for the test nuclear reactor facility. The Odessa Development Corp. and the Midland Development Corp. - both of which are funded by local sales taxes - each committed $500,000 to the pre-conceptual design. The city and county of Andrews have each pledged $250,000 to the design. The University of Texas of the Permian Basin has received pledges for all $3 million needed for a pre-conceptual design for the proposed state-of-the-art test nuclear reactor in Andrews. "We have commitments for all the money - for every penny of the $3 million," Watts said. Half of that money came from Andrews, Odessa and Midland. Thorium Power of McLean, Va., has pledged $1.25 million. The other quarter of a million dollars has come from individual and corporate donations. Meanwhile, the regents noted that the teaming agreement "relates solely to the parties' desire to work collaboratively together to complete the PCD." After the pre-conceptual design, a new teaming agreement would be needed - with approval from the UT Board of Regents - if any of the parties wanted to help with the actual construction of the reactor. "The PCD is going to be a reality," Watts said. "And the next step, of course, is to get regents' approval to proceed with the next phase of the plan." 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. If it goes ahead as planned, the HT3R would be the first nuclear reactor built in the Unites States since 1976. Officials from General Atomics, UTPB, Andrews, Odessa and Midland held two public forums in January. Response from both the Andrews community and those of Odessa and Midland seemed favorable toward the idea. The proposed facility in Andrews 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. According to the UT System Regent's docket item, HT3R represents new nuclear technology that is different from technology used at the nation's estimated 108 existing nuclear reactors. It is helium-cooled instead of water-cooled and, because of that and other technology advances, offers the opportunity to conduct research on a safer, more reliable reactor that produces hydrogen as a waste stream. 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. Watts said General Atomics would be the manager of the pre-conceptual design. UTPB will coordinate all the elements of the study, including academics, technical and business aspects. Watts said all the partners in the teaming agreement are eager to get moving on the project. "I've been in contact with a number of them since regents' action," Watts said. "There's a great excitement. The people at General Atomics are very excited. Our partners at UT institutions are excited. The regents, including the chairman, vice chair and the chancellor, all expressed a great deal of support and interest in the project." American Online: c /o Odessa American 222 E. 4th Street P.O. Box 2952 Odessa, TX 79760 Copyright © 1999-2006 Odessa American. All rights reserved. Refer comments to . ***************************************************************** 41 PRN: Westinghouse Again Selected for Nuclear Fleet Expansion PR Newswire PITTSBURGH, Feb. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Westinghouse Electric Company today lauded South Carolina Electric & Gas (SCE), principal subsidiary of SCANA Corporation (NYSE: SCG), and Santee Cooper for selecting both a site and reactor design for potential new nuclear plant construction. "The announcement today that SCE and Santee Cooper are proactively moving forward to prepare for possible nuclear fleet expansion reflects a forward-looking willingness to plan for rather than react to increases in future energy requirements," said Steve Tritch, Westinghouse President and CEO. "This is a prudent move that will further ensure that both companies will be able to fulfill the needs of growing customer bases." The selection of the AP1000 nuclear power plant for possible deployment at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station near Jenkinsville, S.C., marks the third time in three weeks and the fourth time since October that major utilities or nuclear generating companies have picked Westinghouse. The AP1000 will now be the technology basis for 10 combined construction and operating license (COL) applications. Previously, Duke Power, Progress Energy and the team of Southern Company and Georgia Power had selected the AP1000 for any future expansion of their nuclear capability. In September 2005, NuStart, the nation's largest consortium of nuclear power companies, selected TVA's Bellefonte nuclear plant site for a COL application for the AP1000. Additionally, Westinghouse announced that it will collaborate with The Shaw Group, Inc. (NYSE: SGR), to support the SCE/Santee Cooper COL and possible future construction of a new plant at the V.C. Summer site. Westinghouse and Shaw will also work together in support of other U.S. power companies that have selected the AP1000 technology for COL applications. Westinghouse believes the AP1000 is ideally suited for the worldwide nuclear power marketplace. The AP1000 is: - The safest, most advanced, yet proven nuclear power plant currently available in the worldwide marketplace (conservative probabilistic risk assessment (PRA): core damage frequency potential at negligible 2.5x10- 7 ) - Based on standard Westinghouse pressurized water reactor (PWR) technology that has achieved more than 2,500 reactor years of highly successful operation - An 1100MWe design that is ideal for providing baseload generating capacity - Modular in design, promoting ready standardization and high construction quality - Economical to construct and maintain (less concrete and steel and fewer components and systems mean there is less to install, inspect and maintain) - Designed to promote ease of operation (features most advanced instrumentation and control (I) in the industry) For more information about the Westinghouse AP1000, visit its Web site at http://www.ap1000.westinghousenuclear.com. For images of the AP1000, visit http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/D6.asp. Westinghouse Electric Company is the world's pioneering nuclear power company and is a leading supplier of nuclear plant products and technologies to utilities throughout the world. Westinghouse supplied the world's first PWR in 1957 in Shippingport, Pa. Today, Westinghouse technology is the basis for approximately one-half of the world's operating nuclear plants, including 60 percent of those in the United States. SOURCE Westinghouse Electric Company Web Site: http://www.westinghousenuclear.com http://www.ap1000.westinghousenuclear.com http://www.westinghousenuclear.com/D6.asp Company News On Call: Company News On-Call: http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/127481.html Copyright © 1996- PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 42 Business Day: Koeberg repairs put Namibia in energy crunch  Posted to the web on: 10 February 2006 Christof Maletsky Windhoek Correspondent ESKOMs decision to shut down its Koeberg power plant for maintenance poses a major power threat to Namibia and has steadily pushed up supply costs. I dont want to say we are in a crisis, but theres a major challenge facing us, NamPower MD Leake Hangala says. Namibia could be forced to load-shed in future to deal with the decision to shut down Koeberg. Already unit one has been out of action since the end of last year and the second unit will shut down next month for repairs. This means NamPower will have to alternate the areas that will have to go without power for periods during peak hours. Namibias power demand is about 500MW. In the past month, top officials from the power utility have visited NamPower to discuss the implications of the Koeberg shutdown for Namibia. Problems with Koebergs unit one caused three major blackouts in November, plunging swathes of Western Cape into darkness and forcing NamPower to fire up the Van Eck coal-powered station in Windhoek. Van Eck has been running ever since, pushing up the cost of power supply as a result of having to import coal. The diesel generators at Walvis Bays Paratus Power Station have also had to be turned on intermittently to cope with the power shortage over the past weeks. Hangala said NamPower was faced with having to import high-grade coal  required by the Van Eck plant  at a time when coal prices were sky high. The production costs are higher than the selling price. There is no way we can sustain that, said Hangala. When you see that smoke (from Van Eck), you can see money going into the air. Van Eck is capable of generating a maximum of 120MW. Namibias prevailing drought has left the water levels low, which in turn affects power generation at Ruacana hydropower station. Eskom says repair work on unit one could take up to three months, and up to September on unit two. Western Cape is already braced for more outages as repairs begin at Koebergs second unit next month, which will see the whole station out of operation. In recent years, NamPower has boosted its power supply from Van Eck only in winter at peak when demand surges. The Koeberg power station is the only nuclear power plant in Africa, operating two 900MW reactors. Besides Koeberg, the Cape is also supplied by power stations in the north of SA through its transmission network, which normally carries half the load to the Cape when both the Koeberg units are on line. Hangala said NamPower had prioritised the effort to secure other medium-to long-term power options. BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd disclaims all liability for ***************************************************************** 43 [NYTr] Brit Plant Has Lost Weapons-Grade Uranium Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2006 17:50:44 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Scotsman.com - 9 February 2006 http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id 3132006 Dounreay 'loses' bomb-grade uranium By JAMES KIRKUP THE Dounreay nuclear plant has lost more than half a pound of highly enriched uranium (HEU), the material used to make nuclear weapons. Official government figures show that during an internal audit of UK nuclear sites over the last year, technicians at the Caithness site could not account for some 283g of HEU. Another nuclear plant, Winfrith in Dorset, has also mislaid some HEU, the audit found. The material is at the heart of the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions. Intense diplomatic efforts by western nations and the United Nations are focused on stopping the Iranian government producing HEU in its nuclear power programme. The discrepancies in stores of radioactive material were revealed in the Department of Trade and Industry's annual Nuclear Materials Balance survey. The audit has previously shown even larger gaps in the nuclear balance-sheet. Last year, the Sellafield plant in Cumbria could not account for more than 30kg of plutonium. The government insists that the missing material is not a cause for concern, trying to depict it as "paper losses". "Whenever nuclear material is measured there is an uncertainty associated with the measurement," the DTI said. The losses at Dounreay and other plans "conform to the pattern over previous years and give no rise to concern over either the safety or the security of the operation of the plants". However, as the DTI admits in a briefing document on the findings, the audit process leaves open the possibility that the "lost" material is physically missing. "Theft of small amounts of material cannot be detected by nuclear materials accountancy alone," the document says. Frank Barnaby, a former government nuclear scientist who now works at the Oxford Research Group, a think-tank, said that the uncertainty "should worry us very much". He said: "The fact is that they can't tell whether the material within these 'unaccounted for' margins is missing or has been stolen - there is no certainty at all about where this material is." While the amount of missing uranium would not be enough for a conventional nuclear device, it could be used in a "dirty bomb", in which a conventional explosive blast is used to scatter radioactive particles. Security experts also fear that uncertainties within the nuclear system can complicate intelligence efforts against terrorist groups. Because the government cannot say precisely how much material is in UK plants, intelligence analysts cannot discount claims that some could have fallen into the wrong hands. The latest confirmation of the inherent uncertainty in nuclear power generation comes as ministers consider authorising the building of a new generation of nuclear plants. Yesterday, Nirex, the body in charge of finding a solution for the safe storage of Britain's nuclear waste, said it could take until 2040 before a permanent solution is pushed through. Chris Murray, the chief executive of Nirex, told a committee of Lords that 2025 would be the earliest that the waste could be buried in deep storage depositories and then only if communities volunteered to take it. The Scottish Executive is refusing to back a new generation of reactors until the waste problem is resolved. * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 44 TheNewsTribune.com: Port officials research shipments of uranium | | Tacoma, WA KELLY KEARSLEY; The News Tribune Published: February 10th, 2006 02:30 AM Nuclear fuel could be the newest addition to the Port of Tacomas cargo mix. Representatives from the port, the Tacoma Fire Department and the local Longshore union are headed to the Hanford area today to learn about uranium dioxide, which is used to make the fuel rods that power nuclear reactors. A shipping company has proposed sending the fuel through Tacoma on its way to Japan, Taiwan and Korea. While the material is considered hazardous, its of relatively low risk to people who handle it, according to health experts and the products manufacturer. A decade ago, the Port Commission and Tacoma City Council banned spent nuclear fuel  which is highly radioactive  from being stored or transported through the city and port. That came after the Department of Energy listed Tacoma as one of 10 ports that could receive shipments of nuclear waste. As cargo goes, the uranium dioxide would be a first for Tacoma. The Port of Seattle hasnt handled shipments of uranium in recent years. Todays trip is a fact-finding mission, port officials said. On Thursday, they knew few details of the proposal, the products safety or whether it could be shipped through Tacoma in light of the past ordinances. What is important right now is to gather all the facts and assess the risk, said John Wolfe, the ports deputy director. What is paramount is protecting the environment and the community that we serve. Conrad Spell, president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 23, was concerned about the potential risk, because the union handles cargo moving in and out of the port. Spell joined the group going to Richland. Spell, along with the unions safety director, the ports risk manager and a hazardous materials inspector from the Tacoma Fire Department, will spend today at AREVA, a commercial manufacturing plant that makes uranium dioxide pellets, powder and fuel assemblies, the sets of fuel rods that go into nuclear reactors. AREVA is next to Hanford, but not associated with the government nuclear reservation. Robert Link, the companys environmental, health and safety and licensing manager, said there are two risks in working with uranium dioxide. A person exposed to it would receive a low dose of radiation, less than the amount of radiation emitted by an X-ray machine, he said. And the uranium is toxic if somebody inhales or eats it in a large amount. Anthony James, a radiation biologist and director of the United States Transuranium and Uranium Registry in Richland, said uranium has been used in ceramic glazes and dental enamel. The registry, based at the Washington State University Tri-Cities campus, tracks people who have been exposed to plutonium and uranium and the health effects of the exposure. Uranium itself is not very toxic, James said. AREVA produces 900 metric tons of uranium dioxide at its Richland site. The majority of its products travel by truck to nuclear reactors around the United States, with some of the product shipped overseas. For travel, the uranium is packaged in up to three sealed containers. Kelly Kearsley: 253-597-8573 kelly.kearsley@thenewstribune.com 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742 © Copyright 2006 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company ***************************************************************** 45 Salt Lake Tribune: Classified: The study didn't consider the possibility of a terrorist attack because the info was off-limits Article Last Updated: 02/10/2006 02:40:07 AM By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune WASHINGTON - Nuclear waste can be safely shipped, either to Yucca Mountain in Nevada or to Private Fuel Storage's proposed commercial facility in Utah, a National Academies of Science report said Thursday. The safety of the nuclear waste shipments has been a major issue pressed by Utah officials opposing Private Fuel Storage's plan to house 44,000 tons of reactor fuel on the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation until it can be moved to a permanent repository in Yucca Mountain. "The committee could identify no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States," stated the report by the National Research Council's Committee on Transportation of Radioactive Waste. The committee said the risks of shipping spent nuclear fuel "are well understood and are generally low," and noted that waste has been shipped worldwide for four decades without a significant radiation release. But public perception remains an issue, and steps should be taken to address concerns, such as engaging in an open process and training first responders. It would take roughly 4,000 rail cars to move the nuclear waste to the proposed Utah facility planned by the PFS consortium of nuclear power companies as a temporary storage area. If Yucca Mountain opens, it would take about 9,600 rail shipments and 1,100 trucked shipments to move the 70,000 metric tons of waste to the facility, an estimated 90 percent of which would travel through Utah. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. has expressed concerns about the nuclear shipments to Utah or through Utah en route to Nevada, and his general counsel, Mike Lee, said Thursday that the report doesn't put those fears to rest. "To say that it can be transported safely doesn't mean it's a good idea to ship it through Utah or ship it to an Indian reservation in Utah where it will be stored in the low-altitude flight path on a route to a bombing range," Lee said. "There are still concerns that there are risks associated with this deadly material. We don't like the idea of our state being used to store it or the idea of our state being used as major corridor to store it in another state," he said. The study, which was nearly three years in the works, did not consider the potential for a terrorist attack on the nuclear shipments because it could not review the necessary classified information. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission welcomed the report "that the agency believes validates its efforts to ensure the safe transport of spent fuel and high-level waste." PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin said the company has been confident all along that it can safely move the waste from the reactors, and Thursday's report supports that view. Critics of plans to ship nuclear waste said the report is "a whitewash of the true dangers." "This report seems geared to grease the skids to get large numbers of nuclear waste shipments on the roads and rails and that's very disconcerting," said Kevin Kamps of the Nuclear Information and Resource Service, a Washington, D.C., group that has called the waste shipments "Mobile Chernobyls." © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 46 tvnz.co.nz: Moruroa nuke report attacks France Sat 11 Feb 18:37:03 2006 A new report into the impact of nuclear testing in French Polynesia is expected to open the floodgates for compensation claims against the Paris government. The six month investigation looked at the impact of almost 200 French atomic explosions on Moruroa Atoll. While the French government denies that there is any proven link between its 30 years of nuclear testing and cancer cases, a Tahitian committee of inquiry claims there is. The Tahitian report accuses the French of covering up the effects of its nuclear tests and concludes that even the Tahitian capital of Papeete, 12,000 kilometres from the test site, would have suffered from fallout. "France will never pay enough for what they have done in our country," says the president of Tahiti, Oscar Temaru. French Polynesia has one of the highest thyroid cancer rates in the world, and the inquiry calls for more medical research as the French military continues to refuse access to nuclear test documents and records. "We would certainly hope that the government of French Polynesia and the government of France could work together to do what is necessary to put those concerns to rest," says New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff. The latest Tahiti report is expected to trigger a raft of compensation claims. The head of the Moruroa Cancer Victims Group is due to fly to Paris shortly. The victims are seeking a French government inquiry and an admission of a link between its testing and their suffering. [ border=] Source: One News ***************************************************************** 47 Battle Creek Enquirer: Documentary focuses on depleted uranium www.battlecreekenquirer.com - Battle Creek, Mich. opinions This is an update about the issue of depleted uranium (DU) which is used by the U.S. military in most of its missiles and bombs. I have submitted an hour documentary about depleted uranium (DU) to cable TV AccessVision which will air three times on Channel 12. The documentary is titled "Poison DUst: Depleted Uranium." The air times and dates for the DU documentary are 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10; 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17, and 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 24, (all on Channel 12). It should be remembered that depleted uranium (DU) still gives off radiation, low energy radiation and some high energy level radiation. When the fine particles of DU are breathed into a person's lungs or ingested into the body in water and food, the DU particles begin to destroy the cells in the surrounding tissue. Depleted uranium is also a heavy metal and has toxic chemical properties (like other heavy metals such as lead and mercury) in addition to the radiation problem. According to generally accepted statistics, an astounding number - 500,000 - of Gulf War One veterans are on some sort of disability. This is a huge number considering that there were 8,000 battlefield casualties in Gulf War One. The U.S. military has known of the toxicity and health dangers of DU since at least the early 1990s when it began to use DU in its missiles and bombs. R. Heubel Battle Creek Copyright ©2006 Battle Creek Enquirer. ***************************************************************** 48 Pacific Magazine: FRENCH POLYNESIA: French National Assembly To Review N-Test Report Pacific Islands: PINA and Pacific Friday: February 10, 2006 Tahitipresse reports that the controversial French Polynesia Assembly inquiry committee's report on the consequences of atmospheric French nuclear tests from 1966-1974 will be presented and discussed during a Feb. 21 conference at the French National Assembly in Paris. The conference was announced by the French Documentation and Research Center on Peace and Conflicts (CRDPC). Unatea Hirshon, head of the inquiry committee, and two of her committee members, Jacky Bryant and Nicole Bouteau, will present the main results of the 400-page report based on a six-month study of the nuclear tests conducted on the two remote Tuamotu atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa 1,200 kms (720 miles) southeast of Papeete. The three French Polynesia Assembly members also will invite members of the French Parliament to become involved in the debate so that a dialog can be quickly set up between Tahiti's government and French government officials to try and find the truth and justice in the dispute over the consequences of the nuclear tests, according to a CRDPC communiqué. French National Assembly Deputy Christiane Taubira of Guyana is scheduled to open the conference, which will be divided into three parts. The first part will deal with explaining why the French Polynesia Assembly inquiry committee was created. The second part will deal with the main results of the committee's report, which was presented in public for the first time Thursday during a French Polynesia Assembly session. The third part of the Feb. 21 conference in Paris will involve a round-table discussion involving reactions and propositions from a cross section of political parties represented in the French National Assembly, according to the communiqué. Pacific Magazine: - Sales Manager Florence Betham Tel: (808) 537-9500, Ext. 225 Fax: (808) 538-6041 - Editor Samantha Magick Tel: (61) 2 9571-1595 Cell: (61) 439-485-179 ***************************************************************** 49 Deseret News: N-waste may move — but take a detour [deseretnews.com] Friday, February 10, 2006 Bush aims to reprocess it for worldwide energy By Suzanne Struglinski Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON — Moving nuclear waste can be done safely, according to a National Academies' National Research Council report released Thursday, but there are some issues to be solved before a nationwide shipping program could begin. Thursday's report comes just days after the Bush administration unveiled its $250 million "Global Nuclear Energy Partnership" program in Monday's 2007 budget proposal. After months of speculation that the White House was considering a nuclear waste policy change, the ambitious program not only aims to develop technology to reprocess waste safely but pushes for more nuclear power worldwide and to find ways for new reactors to produce energy from reprocessed nuclear fuel. This is a shift from the government plan since 1987 to only store used nuclear-fuel rods inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. President Jimmy Carter banned reprocessing because it created material that could be used in nuclear weapons. President Reagan lifted the ban, but there was no market for reprocessing technology. The new program, referred to as G-NEP, does not back down from the Yucca project, but a different form of waste may ultimately be stored there if the site is approved. With the administration's continued commitment to nuclear power and desire to open a federal nuclear waste repository in Nevada, the waste transportation situation is one the country will still need to handle. "The reprocessing option still requires moving this material to the reprocessing plant, so you've got to move the material as we have it as well as after the reprocessing takes place, it has to be moved again so you still have fundamentally the same issues," said Thomas B. Deen, former executive director of the National Research Council's Transportation Research Board who helped write the study. John W. Poston Sr., a professor in the department of Nuclear Engineering at Texas A University and also a member of the board that wrote the report, said the transportation study included spent nuclear fuel as well as high-level nuclear waste, which is what could come out of any reprocessing method. "Regardless of whether we put material in Yucca Mountain or we reprocess or whatever, the kinds of recommendations we made in our report pertain to any of those options," Poston said. The progress on the government's Yucca project as well as Private Fuel Storage, a commercial project that wants to ship and store nuclear waste to Skull Valley, Tooele County, prompted the study originally. A bill approved last year blocks the company's preferred place to build a railroad line to ship the waste and the government still needs to approve a right of way on public land to build a facility that would handle waste by truck. Several investor utilities opted to freeze their financial support for PFS last year saying they will wait to see what happens with the Yucca project, but company officials have said other companies may choose to participate at a later date. Energy Department Deputy Secretary Clay Sell said the administration did not go to the utilities with this new program as a reason to change their minds on PFS. He said Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, who heads the House Appropriations subcommittee that writes the energy spending bill, started the conversation on reprocessing and there has been a increase in interest in advancing recycling. He said he did not know of any direct link between the department's new initiative and the utilities' position on PFS, but emphasized the government's support for Yucca. "Yucca Mountain is the right answer and PFS is not," Sell said. Meanwhile, the report found no "technical barriers" to moving used fuel or high-level radioactive waste but called for another study that could look at security aspects more closely. Not all of the members of this report's committee had proper security clearances to look at classified information. The report also recommends that the Energy Department make its transportation plans public so local officials can begin to plan accordingly if the shipments were to come as planned. E-mail: suzanne@desnews.com © 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company [ ***************************************************************** 50 Philadelphia Inquirer: Panel: Nuclear waste can be moved safely 02/10/2006 | Experts said shipments could be conducted, but also raised questions on fires and attacks. By H. Josef Hebert Associated Press WASHINGTON - Thousands of shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste can be conducted safely, a panel of scientists concluded yesterday, although it warned that significant radiation might be released if a shipment were engulfed by intense fire. The report by a panel of the National Academy of Sciences is expected to carry considerable weight as the government moves toward developing a central repository in Nevada for used commercial reactor fuel and defense waste now kept in 39 states. The group examined the risk from possible accidents as nuclear shipments crisscross the country but said it did not assess security risks to such shipments because it could not gain access to classified information. It called for a further examination of security issues, including a shipment's potential vulnerability to attack. It also said that the group doing the investigation should be independent of any governmental or industry conflicts. Such information should be made as public as possible, the scientists said. The Energy Department is preparing a transportation plan to ship about 70,000 tons of nuclear waste from throughout the country to a proposed central repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, if the facility gets a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The department said that would require 4,300 shipments, about three-fourths by rail and the rest by highways, over 24 years. Nevada officials, who oppose the Yucca project, have said there could be as many as 50,000 shipments with wastes going through at least 43 states. The study by a special panel of the Academy's National Research Council concludes there are "no fundamental technical barriers" to safely transporting spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. But it warned that a significant radiation release could occur "in extreme accidents involving very-long duration, fully engulfing fires." ***************************************************************** 51 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast surveying begins | 02/10/2006 | [Many knocks went unanswered Thursday afternoon as senior toxicologist Andrew Pawlisz, left, and senior geologist Ben Foster, both of Blasland, Bouck & Lee, Inc., went door-to-door, asking residents to fill out a questionnaire about their property.] BRIAN BLANCO/The Herald Many knocks went unanswered Thursday afternoon as senior toxicologist Andrew Pawlisz, left, and senior geologist Ben Foster, both of Blasland, Bouck &Lee, Inc., went door-to-door, asking residents to fill out a questionnaire about their property. Tallevast surveying begins Lockheed workers question residents about past issues DONNA WRIGHT HERALD WATCHDOG TALLEVAST - Lockheed Martin Corp. began surveying Tallevast residents Thursday to learn who in the past may have received fill dirt from the former Loral American Beryllium plant, the source of the Tallevast toxic plume. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection, charged with overseeing the Tallevast cleanup, ordered Lockheed to conduct the survey, which includes questions on past property use, as part of the ongoing plume investigation. The plume has been traced back to a broken sump at the former beryllium plant that leaked cancer-causing solvents and hazardous chemicals into the soil and groundwater. As the owner of the plant when the contamination was discovered in 2000, Lockheed has the responsibility to clean up the pollution under the state's supervision. The door-to-door canvas conducted by Blasland, Bouck and Lee Inc., a Tampa engineering firm, is part of the state-ordered investigative process to determine how far the Tallevast plume extends underground. Previous tests of some Tallevast yards have found contaminated soil thought to have come from that fill dirt. Information from the survey will be used to determine what additional soil sampling needs to be done in the community, said Gail Rymer, Lockheed spokeswoman. Rymer expects testing to begin next week. Three samples will be taken from 10 locations in each yard selected for testing, said Tina Armstrong, the Lockheed scientist in charge of the cleanup. Armstrong said testing crews will use a large tulip bulb planter, or a hollow tube of stainless steel about three-feet long attached to a two-foot handle. The tube, or auger, will be pushed into the ground to the water table and then extracted, bringing with it soil that will then be prepared for laboratory tests, Armstrong said. A solution of soap and alcohol is used to clean the auger between samples. Lockheed plans to resample Tallevast yards previously tested as well. Lockheed also will sample the soil of any Tallevast resident who requests tests, Rymer said. While the voluntary testing is above the requirements set by state, the state will oversee all the testing, Rymer said. But some Tallevast leaders predicted that not all residents would welcome the Lockheed survey. Leaders of FOCUS, a Tallevast advocacy group, were annoyed that Lockheed had not given them more advance notice. FOCUS President Laura Ward said she learned of the survey about 10 a.m. Thursday, when she received a phone call from Clovia Russell, a Bradenton resident hired by Lockheed to be the company's liaison with the community. Rymer had sent e-mails at 5:49 p.m. Wednesday to Ward and Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS, but neither read that message prior to receiving Russell's phone call. Ward said the community welcomed the testing, but residents just want the defense giant to be more courteous in the timing of events. "They need to give us a couple of days notice to prepare the community," Ward said. "We can't help them pave the way to get in there if they don't let us know." While the state has not asked for testing in right-of-way areas and ditches, Lockheed is considering taking samples from those locations as well, Rymer said. Results of independent soil tests from some of those areas yielded intriguing data, Rymer said, which may indicate a need for further testing. The independent soil and groundwater tests were conducted by Michael Graves of Environmental Sciences &Technologies Inc., at the request of FOCUS. Lockheed paid the bill for Graves' work. Graves' data indicate the plume may have reached as far east as U.S. 301 and is spreading fast southeast in the vicinity of Sarasota Bradenton International Airport, beyond previous boundaries Lockheed said defined the extent of the contamination. Donna Wright, health and social ***************************************************************** 52 reviewjournal.com: Shifting winds Opinion - LETTERS: Feb. 10, 2006 To the editor: In response to Sherman Frederick's Feb. 5 column, "Cut Miss Nevada a break": Thank goodness for some relief from the media hysteria and anti-nuclear rhetoric when it comes to Yucca Mountain. It gets lost on those new to the valley that years ago our elected officials supported a repository at the Nevada Test Site. But the political winds have turned, and it's OK to detonate weapons, but nuclear waste storage in a multiple-engineered system is bad. Our state has a long and storied history of involvement with federal projects, whether it's Hoover Dam, Nellis Air Force Range, the Top Gun base at the Naval Air Station in Fallon, the army munition depot in Hawthorne and the Nevada Test Site, which has been dedicated to nuclear missions since the early 1950s. We need more common sense and a more responsible approach when it comes to Yucca Mountain. Miss Nevada should be commended and not criticized just because she takes a differing approach. Go ahead and criticize me, because I'm on her side. I believe a repository is inevitable, I just happen to think we should benefit -- and significant benefits should come our way when it does. christi turner LAS VEGAS To the editor: Sen. "Robin Hood" Harry Reid continues to lead his band of merry congressional robbers in their plundering of the funds collected from ratepayers of nuclear-generated electricity. A fund was set in motion by Congress to ensure the safe and scientific development of a facility for storing spent nuclear fuel rods from generating stations across the nation. To date, more than $20 billion has been collected, but much less than half of the amount has reached the project for which it is intended: Yucca Mountain. Yearly, Congress fails to fund the project at the level requested by the Department of Energy. Unfortunately, the project has fallen way behind schedule. Sen. Reid opposes Yucca Mountain and anything nuclear. In his zeal to scuttle the effort, he is denying present and future generations reliable and economically produced electricity. The senator has contaminated the thinking of Nevada citizens about the importance of Yucca Mountain to the nation as a whole. The rising price of oil and gas is putting a strain on our economy, which is causing many utility companies to urge the construction of new nuclear generating facilities. Without the immediate completion of Yucca Mountain, many of the existing nuclear plants may be forced to shut down or reduce production. Let the senator know you want him to disband his merry band of congressional robbers and begin acting responsibly when it comes to using the money earmarked for Yucca Mountain. richard g. telfer LAS VEGAS Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement ***************************************************************** 53 reviewjournal.com: TRANSPORT OF NUCLEAR WASTE - Panel says shipments safe Feb. 10, 2006 Scientists did not evaluate security risks to cargo By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU An empty container used to transport used nuclear fuel lies on its side after a rail car carrying it derailed Sept. 22 in a collision involving two trains at the CXS Frontier Railyard in Buffalo, N.Y. The empty container was not damaged and there was no release of radiation, the Department of Energy said. Photo by The Associated Press WASHINGTON -- Thousands of shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste can be conducted safely, a panel of scientists concluded Thursday, although it said the Department of Energy has challenges to meet in shipping the waste to Yucca Mountain. The report by a panel of the National Academy of Sciences is expected to carry considerable weight as the government moves toward developing a central repository in Nevada for used commercial reactor fuel and defense waste now kept in 39 states. The study appeared to contain no potential showstoppers and few sharp edges, according to transportation analysts who reacted to the report. Officials from the state of Nevada found things to like, as did the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "In general, it reflected a lot of the recommendations the state has had for a number of years," said Bob Loux, executive director of Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Loux noted the academy called for full-scale safety testing for waste casks and a recognition that DOE faces "a huge impediment" because people perceive that nuclear waste will be dangerous as it passes through their communities. On the other hand, Loux said, the scientists appeared to be supportive of a rural Nevada railroad line being considered for Yucca Mountain over the objections of the state and a number of ranchers along the corridor. In one key recommendation, the panel said the Department of Energy should not commence shipments until it finishes building a 319-mile railroad through rural Nevada to the Yucca site. Uncertain whether it can get such a line built in time, DOE has been looking at plans to ship radioactive material by truck through the state as a stopgap. DOE had no comment on that recommendation, spokesman Craig Stevens said. Otherwise, he said the study "validated many of our current practices," including plans to use dedicated trains and to move a majority of nuclear waste by rail and not by truck. The group examined the risk from possible accidents as nuclear shipments crisscross the country, but said it did not assess security risks to such shipments because it could not gain access to classified information. It called for a further examination of security issues, including a shipment's potential vulnerability to terrorist attacks. It also said that the group doing the investigation should be independent of any governmental or industry conflicts. The Energy Department is preparing a transportation plan to ship some 77,000 tons of nuclear waste from around the country to Yucca Mountain, if the facility gets a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The department said that would require 4,300 shipments -- about three-fourths by rail and the rest over highways -- over 24 years. Nevada officials, who strongly oppose the Yucca project, have said there could be as many as 50,000 shipments with waste going through at least 43 states. The study by a special panel of the academy's National Research Council concludes there are "no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States." "The radiological risks ... are well-understood and are generally low," the report continued, noting that during 40 years of making such shipments there has never been a significant release of radioactive material. But the scientists warned of "social and institutional challenges" -- from possible property value decline and loss of tourist business along transport routes to public anxiety over such shipments -- that would have to be overcome as the number of shipments increase. That recommendation was a reflection of the unease expressed by residents of Nevada and other states, said Hank Jenkins-Smith, a public policy professor at Texas A&M University. The Energy Department should "give serious attention to the community and economic impacts of the program," Jenkins-Smith said. "The distrust that has mounted over years between (Nevada) and the government creates a really tough context for building the type of cooperation that really needs to be in place for ensuring safety as far as getting emergency responders up to speed," he said. Associated Press Writer H. Josef Herbert contributed to this report. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 54 reviewjournal.com: Senator who voted for Yucca calls for 'pause' on repository Feb. 10, 2006 WASHINGTON -- A North Carolina senator who voted for Yucca Mountain four years ago said Thursday he now believes the Nevada nuclear waste repository should be put on a back burner while scientists explore new ways to reprocess spent nuclear fuel. Sen. Richard Burr, a Republican, called for a "pause" on the repository. He suggested federal spending on underground nuclear waste disposal be frozen or reduced for the time being, while the government prepares to spend new millions on research into potentially promising alternatives. "Maybe it is time for us to rethink based on what we know today versus what we knew a number of years ago when we made the decision on Yucca Mountain," Burr said. "I believe we should explore whether reprocessing is a better route." In the meantime, Burr said, "we might be able to store sweet potatoes at Yucca Mountain." The Energy Department's bid to license a Yucca Mountain repository has stalled since President Bush and Congress gave the go-ahead in 2002. Technological advances now being promoted by the Bush administration and key lawmakers like Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., are refocusing nuclear waste strategy. Burr's change in position is evidence of this shift taking place in Congress, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said. Doubts about Yucca Mountain that used to be expressed only in cloakrooms now are becoming public, he said. "I think it is significant anytime you have an original supporter of Yucca Mountain now coming and saying there are serious problems and we shouldn't look for more money," Ensign said, predicting more senators will follow suit. As a House member, Burr worked on Yucca bills as a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and voted to designate the Nevada site for nuclear waste in 2002. In 2004 he was elected to the Senate from a state where five nuclear reactors supply 32 percent of electricity. More than 2,700 metric tons of used nuclear fuel is stored in water pools and dry cask vaults at North Carolina plants, according to the Nuclear Energy Institute. But dozens of pending lawsuits against Yucca Mountain promise to "delay indefinitely any decisions on the movement of that waste," Burr said. "I try to be a realist. "I think we need to make a decision whether we are going to go through a different course than Yucca for storage of current fuel," he said. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., "has said for decades that Yucca Mountain is never going to happen and we are very happy to see that other senators are starting to see that fact," spokeswoman Sharyn Stein said. Burr became the second senator to rethink support for Yucca Mountain since September, when Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, announced his position in favor of the project had changed. A majority of senators continue to publicly support the Nevada repository. But with a growing emphasis on reprocessing, a Nevada repository as is presently being designed may not be the Nevada repository that is eventually put into use, Domenici, Senate Energy Committee chairman, said Thursday. "Part of this is assuming that we are not going to be putting that same waste into Yucca," said Domenici. "We have to adjust but how much we would have to adjust I don't know yet." Reprocessed nuclear waste is said to be volumes smaller and less toxic than the highly radioactive fuel rods planned to be buried at Yucca Mountain. France, Germany and Japan are among nations that currently reprocess. Fuel rods now are removed from reactors and set aside after being utilized "once-through." Reprocessing proponents say fuel recycling technologies could wring up to 96 percent more energy. Advanced reprocessing being studied in government laboratories may also be able to shape new fuel without producing plutonium byproducts capable of being used in nuclear weapons, they say. Critics say reprocessing is prohibitively expensive and unproven for nuclear nonproliferation. But President Bush has gotten behind the effort, proposing $250 million to get started on a research and development initiative called the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership. DOE officials have tied Yucca Mountain to the GNEP initiative, but have not explained how the projects would be harmonized. Talking to reporters on Thursday, Domenici also said that much is uncertain about how the two would fit together. The Bush administration may provide more clues when it sends new legislation to Congress. DOE officials have briefed key senators and staffers but have not said when it will be introduced. The Environment and Energy Daily, a Web-based publication, reported this week that industry officials expect the bill will authorize nuclear waste to be moved from reactor sites and stored on an interim basis at federal facilities possibly in Tennessee, Idaho, South Carolina, Washington or the Nevada Test Site. DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said he would not confirm the report. Appearing before the Senate Energy Committee on Thursday, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said GNEP could cost between $20 billion and $40 billion, and might rise to the $62 billion once estimated by the National Academies of Science in a 1996 study. Domenici raised the idea that money the nuclear power industry has been gathering in a government fund to build Yucca Mountain might be redirected to fuel reprocessing research that would achieve the same result. About $20 billion sits in the fund. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 55 Platts: NAS: Spent fuel, high-level waste transport safe Washington (Platts)--9Feb2006 Spent fuel and high-level waste can be transported safely in the U.S., said a study released today by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). "There are no fundamental technical barriers" to safe transport of these materials, but "a number of challenges must be addressed," NAS said today in a press statement accompanying its report, which was requested by Congress. NAS said "a separate, independent study of the security of such shipments against malevolent acts is also needed." The report also provides recommendations on DOE's Yucca Mountain, Nev. repository project. The report is on the NAS Web site at Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 56 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Trial ends in Idaho-DOE waste cleanup contract dispute [seattlepi.com] Friday, February 10, 2006 · Last updated 4:23 p.m. PT By CHRISTOPHER SMITH ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER BOISE, Idaho -- The trial to resolve questions about the state-federal agreement for removing buried radioactive waste at the Idaho National Laboratory ended Friday, but it will be at least two weeks before a federal judge decides what will happen to the toxic trash sitting atop the Snake River aquifer. The state has asked U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge to declare that the 1995 agreement - intended to settle a long-standing legal battle between Idaho and the U.S. Department of Energy - means what state leaders thought it meant: that DOE must remove all "transuranic" waste from the 55-year-old nuclear research compound by 2018. Generated mainly by nuclear weapons production, transuranic waste includes protective clothing, rags, tools, equipment, dirt and sludge that has been contaminated with materials such as plutonium, neptunium and americium. It takes thousands of years for transuranics to decay to safe levels of radioactivity. Before 1970, tons of transuranic waste was put in barrels, crates or cardboard boxes and dumped into pits and trenches dug at the INL. During the weeklong trial, attorneys for DOE argued that the '95 agreement only covered 65,000 cubic meters of transuranic waste that was stored above ground at INL. They contend the buried materials should be dealt with under the 1989 designation of INL as a Superfund cleanup site by the Environmental Protection Agency. In documents filed with the court, DOE says options for dealing with the buried waste include leaving it underground due to the risk of spontaneous combustion when it is exposed to oxygen, as happened in November when a drum of exhumed transuranic waste exploded at INL. [advertising] State leaders and environmental groups oppose allowing DOE to leave tons of decaying radioactive waste above the aquifer, which stretches 200 miles long and 60 miles wide across southern Idaho, providing water for drinking and irrigation. Friday, Lodge gave the state 10 days to file written closing arguments. Federal lawyers are to respond five days after that, and then he will make a ruling. It would be the second time Lodge has decided this question. In 2003, he sided with the state, finding that DOE must remove all transuranics - included buried waste - from INL by 2018. The Bush administration appealed, and in 2004 the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned Lodge, finding he should have heard evidence from both the state and DOE before deciding in favor of the state. On Friday, Justice Department attorney Paul Barker Jr. cited a 1997 letter from state officials to DOE. The government contends the letter makes clear that Idaho leaders knew the buried waste was not covered by the 1995 cleanup agreement. "The retrieval and treatment of those buried wastes will be conducted under CERCLA (the 1980 law that created the Superfund program) and other applicable laws and requirements," wrote Kathleen Trever, who manages the state's INL Oversight and Radiation Control program and now serves as INL policy adviser to Gov. Dirk Kempthorne. Trever testified that the state considered the Superfund process a tool for digging up the waste, but did not see it as absolving DOE of responsibility for removing the waste from INL and shipping it to a New Mexico dump. The next sentence of her 1997 letter to DOE reads: "Retrieved transuranic waste falls under DOE's removal commitment in the settlement agreement." Lawyers for the state have summed up their argument in the dispute as "all means all." They want Lodge to order DOE to remove all the transuranics - stored above and below ground - from the 890-square-mile compound by the 2018 deadline. DOE's lawyers have asked Lodge to find that the 1995 settlement didn't cover buried waste. And if the judge determines that it did cover the transuranics underground, they have asked him to void the 1995 deal under a contract law doctrine known as "mutual misunderstanding." DOE lawyers say that since the two parties had drastically different understandings of what the federal government's legal obligation to Idaho would be, there was not mutual assent and the 1995 contract is invalid. On the Net: DOE's Idaho Cleanup Project http://idahocleanupproject.inel.gov [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com ©1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 57 NRC: NRC Welcomes National Academies Study Conclusion that Transportation of Spent Nuclear Fuel is Safe News Release - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-020 February 9, 2006 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission welcomes todays report by the National Academies on the transportation of spent nuclear fuel, which the agency believes validates its efforts to ensure the safe transport of spent fuel and high-level waste. The report, Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States, was released today by the National Research Council, part of the National Academies. It was compiled by the Councils Committee on Transportation of Radioactive Waste. The reports principal finding is that there are no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States. Shipment of spent fuel by rail or truck is a low-radiological-risk activity with manageable safety, health, and environmental consequences when conducted in strict adherence to existing regulations. The report also concluded that the radiological risks associated with the transportation of spent fuel and high-level waste are well understood and are generally low. It attributed this conclusion in part to rigorous international standards and U.S. regulations for the design, construction, testing, and maintenance of spent fuel packages. The committee recommended that the NRC conduct further research into the health and safety risks of long-duration fires engulfing spent fuel transportation casks. Although the committee took note of the NRCs recent study modeling the effects of the 2001 Baltimore tunnel fire on spent fuel casks, that study was not completed in time to be considered fully by the National Academies in todays report. That NRC study, and a similar one modeling the effects of a long-duration fire on a truck cask, concluded that no spent fuel would likely be released from NRC-certified casks under such fire conditions. The report also recommended that full-scale package testing should continue to be used as part of integrated analytical, computer simulation, scale model, and testing programs to validate package performance. This recommendation is also consistent with the goals of the NRCs Package Performance Study, which is now under development. Although the National Academies panel did not assess security risks of spent fuel transportation, it recommended that an independent assessment of security issues be conducted. The NRC has ordered licensees to implement several security enhancements since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and is in the process of completing a series of security assessments of spent fuel storage and transportation in the post-Sept. 11 threat environment. The National Academies study was sponsored by the NRC, the Department of Energy, the Department of Transportation, the Electric Power Research Institute, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program. Last revised Thursday, February 09, 2006 ***************************************************************** 58 New Scientist: US nuclear waste strategies evaluated [NewScientist.com] 13:57 10 February 2006 Methods planned for transporting radioactive spent fuel from nuclear power reactors are generally safe, but questions remain over the safety of nuclear casks in the event of a sustained, hot fire, a review panel of the US National Academy of Sciences has concluded. The NAS report released in Washington DC on Thursday, found there are "no fundamental technical barriers" to safe transportation, but that a number of "serious challenges" remain. Assuming no new plants are built, disposing of fuel from the US's 112 operating plants will require a two-decade-long programme of daily shipments, and more planning needs to be done for managing this massive operation, the report says. The report assessed the adequacy of planning for every kind of accident scenario, but not the potential for deliberate acts such as terrorist attacks. To evaluate that aspect, it says, would require creation of a new committee with full access to classified materials. Trains versus trucks There are several main scenarios under consideration for moving the 54,000 tonnes of high-level radioactive waste from the US's 103 nuclear power plants, and a similar amount from military weapons-production plants. One is the movement to their ultimate repository, proposed as the Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada. Another is transport to an interim storage spot or possibly to reprocessing facilities. The material could be moved in an estimated 55,000 truckloads, or in 9600 dedicated trainloads and just 1000 truckloads, they say. The multidisciplinary panel "much preferred the rail option", says Neal Lane, its chairman, both because of the greatly reduced number of trips and because the rail lines are less subject to disruptions, such as traffic jams. Research on the strength of the planned containment vessels or casks – which included dropping them from aeroplanes and slamming into them in simulated railroad crossing collisions – assures that they would survive any likely accident or natural disaster, except for the contingency of a very hot fire sustained over a long period, the report says. Structural issues Such fires have occurred, for example, in at least two cases where trains of petroleum-filled tanker cars burned for days before being controlled. The only way to minimise that risk for now, the panel concluded, is to make sure petroleum-carrying trains never get close to nuclear waste trains, but more research should be done on the effects of such fires on the nuclear casks. More research is also needed on other points, such as the best ways of organising and coordinating the shipments, the panel says. "There are significant questions" about the performance of the Department of Energy agency running the programme right now, panel member Seth Tuler told New Scientist. The report concludes that "changing the organisational structure for this programme will improve its chances for success". NewScientist.com ***************************************************************** 59 SF Chronicle: Nuclear safety study denied data / Agency looking at waste transport risks can't address terrorist attacks Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer Friday, February 10, 2006 The risk of terrorist attacks on mega-shipments of deadly, radioactive spent nuclear fuel and waste from across the nation to Nevada could not be properly evaluated because federal officials refused to share classified information with investigators looking into the safety of such shipments. If one ignores the terrorist possibility, the shipments by trains and trucks are probably safe from non-terrorist-related mishaps, such as derailments or traffic accidents, says the long-awaited study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, a 143-year-old, quasi-independent agency chartered to advise the U.S. government on scientific issues. The thick report, released Thursday, bases this claim partly on the results of numerous experiments in which simulated containers of nuclear fuel survived after being rammed into walls or dropped from great heights. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the biggest concern has been terrorist attacks -- and about that danger, the report is silent because its investigators were unable to obtain adequate information from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The decision to issue the report without dealing with terrorism angered activist groups. The Sierra Club's national press secretary, Eric Antebi, issued a statement slamming the report for saying the nuke shipments are "safe only if you ignore any risk of terrorism and if everything else goes right." "Those are some pretty big ifs," Antebi said. "I think Americans are keenly aware that in the real world, whether you are talking about levees, O-rings on the space shuttle, or shipping nuclear waste, the chances of everything going right are extremely small." Within the next few years, the Bush administration hopes to have trains and trucks hauling tens of thousands of tons of spent nuclear fuel rods and waste from the nation's nuclear power plants to a final burial ground in Yucca Mountain, Nev., near the California border. The plan has long been bogged down by lawsuits filed by Nevada officials and has also been plagued by scientists' disagreements over how fast groundwater will move through Yucca Mountain and penetrate the radioactive repository. The regulatory commission, the nation's No. 1 overseer of commercial nuclear power plants, refused to show a majority of the investigators on the academy's panel analyses of ways in which terrorists might attack and destroy the shipments on the grounds they lacked security clearance, academy officials said Thursday. As a result, the panel concluded it didn't have the information it needed to determine whether terrorist attacks pose real dangers, said academy officials speaking at a Washington news conference. The threat of terrorist attacks, "is certainly an area of concern to all the American people, and it needs to be properly addressed," said Neal F. Lane, chairman of the academy panel. Regulatory commission officials responded to the academy's criticisms Thursday, saying the terrorist issue has been studied and its researchers have concluded there's nothing to fear. "We feel that our studies have been very thorough and anything that was identified that needed to be done (to lessen the terrorist risk) has been done," commission spokesman Dave McIntyre said. He declined to discuss specifics, saying only that "we are confident that the transportation of spent nuclear fuel is safe and secure." Anti-nuclear activists criticized the new report, charging that attacks by terrorists armed with anti-tank weapons, explosives that slice through thick metal, or similar portable weaponry could easily penetrate shielding on the radioactive shipments and ignite a shipment into a radioactive bonfire whose wastes could contaminate cities or large regions -- "mobile Chernobyls," as activists call them. The academy's report is "a whitewash of transportation dangers," said Kevin Kamps, a spokesperson for the nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service in Washington. At Thursday's news conference, academy officials called for a new study to explore whether terrorists threaten the shipments, a study staffed solely by investigators with full security clearances and complete access to the regulatory commission's terrorist studies. Their report concluded that non-terrorist-related mishaps are unlikely to spill radioactive materials into the environment, but cautioned that further study is needed on certain aspects of the subject. One possibility in particular that warrants follow-up, the report said, is an out-of-control fire that could burn for days, perhaps spewing radioactive waste into the environment. It said the likelihood of a long, super-hot fire melting the container carrying radioactive material is slight but not totally beyond the bounds of possibility. The report drew a mixed reaction from the Washington lobbying arm of the U.S. nuclear industry, the Nuclear Energy Institute. "Generally speaking, it's a good report," said Steve Kraft, director of used fuel management. However, he criticized two proposals in the report, including one that advises minimizing risks by having the first shipments to Yucca Mountain involve so-called "older, colder" spent fuel. Such fuel is less radioactive and, hence, less hazardous to ship. The risks of any accident are so low in any case that such a shipment poses a negligible safety advantage, so "it isn't worth it" to give the older, colder fuel first dibs on its one-way trip to Nevada, he said. Kraft also criticized the academy's call for further research on the possibility of long-lasting fires. "All I can tell you is that (the fire danger) has been studied and studied and studied," which shows "the risk is very low, very safe," so no further analysis is needed, he said. E-mail Keay Davidson at kdavidson@sfchronicle.com. Page A - 14 The San Francisco Chronicle] ***************************************************************** 60 RGJ.com: Activists should take one for team February 10, 2006 Cory Farley An informal rule in warfare, also applicable to other areas of competition, says that "when your enemy is making a mistake, don't interrupt him." Opponents of the Yucca Mountain nuclear dump should apply that now, while Miss Nevada's remarks on the topic are still stinking in the sun. If you missed the kickoff, Miss Nevada, Crystal Wosik of Las Vegas, recently was asked about locating the nation's nuclear trash heap in the state she represents. Why her opinion matters is unclear. What's clear is that she said it was a dandy idea. Radioactive junk has to go somewhere, she said, and Yucca Mountain is "the best-built facility in the country." For all I know, that's true, though given the government's recent record in disaster anticipation, it may not be much of a recommendation. Still, not everyone found the reassurances of a 23-year-old community college dance student reassuring. "But what if people could die?" an interviewer asked. Wosik's reply will live after her tiara has rusted away: "We just have to take one for the team," she said. There was a predictable flurry of outrage (this just in: Genius not a prerequisite for beauty contestants!). Then, also predictably, the story died down. I figured that was the end of it; nobody's going to build a nuke dump on Miss Nevada's say-so anyway. But now her mother, Lena Wosik, says the family has been "threatened and harassed" because of Crystal's statements. This is why political groups need to muzzle their wackos. Both sides have them, and they'll be useful if the battle moves to the streets. Somebody will have to throw the Molotov cocktails, decoy the snipers, take one for the team. Meanwhile, though, keep 'em under a tarp. Otherwise you have things like this: On one side, wack jobs making anonymous threats, elevating Wosik from cup-of-coffee-in-the-bigs to wronged symbol of all that's decent. On the other "» well, Karl Rove, but he's an anomaly. Let it go. Wosik isn't in this; her opinion doesn't matter; bashing her just makes you look desperate. Which you may be, but this won't help. Cory Farley’s column appears on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. He can be reached at (775) 788-6340 or cfarley@rgj.com. Reno Gazette-Journal ***************************************************************** 61 Nat' Academies Press: Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States (2006) Questions? Call 888-624-8373 Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board (NRSB) CHAPTER SELECTOR: Linked Table of Contents Front Matter, pp. i-xii Summary, pp. 1-4 Summary of Findings and Recommendations, pp. 5-17 1 Introduction, pp. 18-43 2 Transportation Package Safety, pp. 44-91 3 Transportation Risk, pp. 92-153 4 Transport of Research Reactor Spent Fuel to Interim Storag..., pp. 154-177 5 Improving Spent Fuel and High-Level Waste Transportation i..., pp. 178-225 References, pp. 226-239 Appendix A Biographical Sketches of Committee Members, pp. 240-245 Appendix B List of Presentations Received at Committee Meeti..., pp. 246-251 Appendix C Federal Repository Transportation System, pp. 252-267 Appendix D Glossary, pp. 268-281 Appendix E Acronyms, pp. 282-285 The Open Book page image presentation framework is not designed to replace printed books. Rather, it is a free, browsable, nonproprietary, fully and deeply searchable version of the publication which we can inexpensively and quickly produce to make the material available worldwide. For most effective printing, use the "printable PDF page" link available on each OpenBook page's tool block. The 300 x 150 dpi PDF linked to it is printable on your local printer. More information on the Open Book is available. National Academies Home ] Copyright © 2006. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. 500 Fifth St. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20001.
***************************************************************** 62 Kansas City infoZine: Challenges Remain for the Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-level Radioactive Waste - USA Friday, February 10, 2006 infoZine Staff National Academies' National Research Council Report Washington, D.C. - infoZine - There are no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States, but a number of challenges must be addressed, says a new report from a committee of the National Academies' National Research Council. A separate, independent study of the security of such shipments against malevolent acts also is needed, said the committee, which was unable to make this examination because needed information was classified or otherwise restricted. The radiological risks associated with the transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste are well-understood and generally low, the report says, noting that spent fuel has been shipped worldwide for more than four decades without a significant release of radioactive materials during an accident. However, more attention needs to be paid to understanding and managing the "social" risks involved in transporting these materials - risks that have potential impacts such as lower property values or reduced tourism along shipping routes, for example. The Research Council conducted the study to meet the need for an independent examination of the risks and key concerns associated with the transport of spent fuel and high-level waste. Shipments of these materials in the United States will increase dramatically if the Department of Energy opens a proposed repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. Spent fuel and high-level waste would be shipped there from more than 70 sites in 31 states, and most of these shipments would likely pass through or near major metropolitan areas. Shipping may also increase if DOE develops a spent fuel recycling facility at another site, or if the commercial nuclear industry constructs a facility to store spent fuel until Yucca Mountain opens. Responding to a request from Congress, the committee also assessed how DOE currently selects routes for shipping spent fuel from research reactors between its facilities in the United States. DOE's procedures for selecting these routes appear to be adequate and reasonable, the committee concluded, noting that the department has considered risk assessments as well as advice from affected states and tribal nations. Risks Arising From Transport The committee examined two types of radiological risks -- those arising from normal transport and those from accidents during shipping. The main radiological risk during normal transport is from the low levels of radiation emitted from packages loaded with spent fuel or high-level waste, since no shipping package can block radiation entirely. The report presents a number of comparisons between this risk and other common sources of radiation exposure. Releases of radioactive materials from shipping packages during accidents are very unlikely given the packages' robust construction and the strict regulations for transporting them, the committee said. However, recent research suggests that a very small number of extreme accident conditions involving fires of very long duration might compromise the packages. More analysis is needed to understand how packages behave under these conditions and to inform possible regulatory or operational changes. Transportation planners should survey routes in advance of shipments to identify and mitigate hazards that could lead to such accidents. Transportation planners also should establish formal mechanisms for obtaining advice on managing social risks, the report says. For example, DOE should add experts on social risk to one of its existing advisory groups. Operating Large-Quantity Shipping Programs In addition to examining risks, the report provides findings and recommendations on operational issues related to the transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. While the recommendations focus on DOE's Yucca Mountain program, they apply to any program for shipping large amounts of these materials. DOE should identify and make public its preferred routes to Yucca Mountain as soon as possible to support state, tribal, and local planning -- especially efforts to prepare emergency responders. The department should consult with states and tribal nations in selecting these routes. DOE also should immediately begin to execute its responsibilities for preparing emergency responders. The committee strongly endorsed DOE's decision to ship spent fuel and high-level waste to Yucca Mountain using mostly trains rather than trucks, since rail transport would reduce both the overall number of shipments and their interactions with people along routes. It also strongly endorsed the plan to use "dedicated" trains, which would carry only spent fuel or high-level waste and no other freight. To implement its "mostly rail" option, however, DOE must first build a 319-mile rail line in Nevada. If the department fails to complete this step before the repository opens, it should not resort to large-quantity truck shipments as an interim measure, the committee said. Shipping older fuel to Yucca Mountain first would provide an additional margin of safety because it generates less heat and radiation, the report says; it would also allow DOE to gain experience and build confidence. However, the Nuclear Waste Policy Act does not give DOE authority to decide the order in which fuel will be shipped from operating plants. The department should negotiate with commercial spent fuel owners to prioritize the shipment of older fuel, and if negotiations do not succeed, Congress should consider changes to the law. Federal agencies should develop and disclose clear, consistent, and reasonable criteria for protecting sensitive information about shipments, and they should commit to openly sharing information that does not require such protection. For example, before making a shipment, it would be appropriate to share general information such as possible routes, the material to be shipped, and general shipping time frames. More-detailed information -- specific routes, times, and responses to any incidents, for example -- could be disclosed afterward. DOE's Yucca Mountain transportation program might not succeed unless it is restructured to give it more planning authority and flexibility, the committee said. Though it was beyond the scope of the study to recommend a particular organizational structure for the program, the committee suggested that Congress and the secretary of energy evaluate three possible ways to reorganize it: as a quasi-independent organization within DOE, as a quasi-government corporation, or as a fully private organization operated by the commercial nuclear industry. The study was funded by the U.S. departments of Energy and Transportation, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Electric Power Research Institute, National Cooperative Highway Research Program, and the National Academy of Sciences. It was overseen by the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board and Transportation Research Board of the National Research Council, which is the principal operating arm of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. It is a private, nonprofit institution that provides science and technology advice under a congressional charter. Copies of Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States will be available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at www.nap.edu. ISSN 1082-7315 - © 1994-2006 INFOZINE ® A REGISTERED TRADEMARK. infoZine ® is generously hosted by KCServers.com ***************************************************************** 63 MSNBC.com: Experts OK nuclear waste shipments - 'Extreme' fire, radiation unlikely from accident; report urges terror studies WASHINGTON - Thousands of shipments of highly radioactive nuclear waste can be conducted safely, a panel of scientists concluded Thursday, although they warned that significant radiation might be released if a shipment becomes engulfed in a lengthy and intense fire. The report by a panel of the National Academy of Sciences is expected to carry considerable weight as the government moves toward developing a central repository in Nevada for used commercial reactor fuel and defense waste now kept in 39 states. The group examined the risk from possible accidents as nuclear shipments crisscross the country, but said it did not assess security risks to such shipments because it could not gain access to classified information. It called for a further examination of security issues, including a shipment's potential vulnerability to terrorist attacks. It also said that the group doing the investigation should be independent of any governmental or industry conflicts. Such information should be made public to the extent possible, the scientists said. The Energy Department is preparing a transportation plan to ship some 70,000 tons of nuclear waste from around the country to a proposed central repository at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, if the facility gets a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 4,300 shipments, or 50,000? The department said that would require 4,300 shipments - about three-fourths by rail and the rest over highways - over 24 years. Nevada officials, who strongly oppose the Yucca project, have said there could be as many as 50,000 shipments with wastes going through at least 43 states. The study by a special panel of the Academy's National Research Council concludes there are "no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste in the United States." "The radiological risks ... are well understood and are generally low," the report continued, noting that during 40 years of making such shipments there has never been a significant release of radioactive material. But the scientists warned of "social and institutional challenges" - from possible property value decline and loss of tourist business along transport routes to public anxiety over such shipments - that would have to be overcome as the number of shipments increase. The panel concluded the robust canisters in which the waste will be kept have been shown to withstand virtually all conceivable transport accidents. But it warned that a significant radiation release could occur "in extreme accidents involving very-long duration, fully engulfing fires." "While the likelihood of such extreme accidents appears to be very small, their occurrence cannot be ruled out," said the scientists. They called on the NRC to further analyze the impact of such an event on various waste package designs and said any transportation plan should try to minimize the likelihood of such an accident. Rail favored The panel also urged the government to ship as much of the waste by rail on dedicated trains, as opposed to trucks. The Energy Department has said that it prefers rail over highway transport. While some sensitive information such as the times or routes of a specific shipment may have to be kept secret, the panel urged the government to share with the public as much information as possible including general information on possible routes, what material is being shipped and the broad timeframe of shipments. The 16-member Research Council panel was chaired by Neal Lane, a professor of physics at Rice University, and included representatives from academia and various consulting organizations. The government's plan for opening the proposed Yucca Mountain facility has been delayed and the facility now may not open until 2015, or even later. The Energy Department has yet to send an application for a license to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman has said the administration remains committed to building the Nevada facility and last week asked Congress for $544 million for the project for the next fiscal year, including money to develop a transportation plan. But some in Congress, including Sen. Harry Reid, the Senate's Democratic leader from Nevada, has argued that the waste should remain in aboveground storage at current reactor sites to avoid transportation concerns.© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. MSNBC.com ***************************************************************** 64 cbs2chicago.com: Prosecutors Investigating Radioactive Spills Feb 10, 2006 8:57 am US/Central (AP) JOLIET, Ill. The Will County State's Attorney's office has begun an investigation into why a nuclear power company did not disclose until recently a series of radioactive wastewater spills over an eight-year span. The disclosure of the investigation into the leaks at Exelon Corp.'s Braidwood Generating Plant, which occurred between 1996 and 2003, came Thursday during a county board committee meeting discussing the spills. Chicago-based Exelon could face criminal charges if it intentionally discharged tainted water at the plant about 60 miles southwest of Chicago, assistant state's attorney Phil Mock told committee members. News of the previous leaks from an underground pipeline didn't surface until late last year, when Chicago-based Exelon announced that an elevated level of tritium, a radioactive substance commonly found in groundwater, had been discovered at the plant's northern boundary. The company last week said tests for 28 property owners near the pipeline showed tritium levels in all private wells were within federal drinking water limits and posed no health of safety risks. Tritium is more concentrated in water used in nuclear reactors. Public health officials have said the elevation poses no threat to drinking water in the area. Exelon officials have denied that the company ever tried to keep the spills secret. An Exelon executive at Thursday's meeting apologized to committee members for the company's handling of the spills. "We did not handle this well," said Thomas O'Neil, vice president of regulatory affairs. "We need to do a better job of communicating with you all." (© 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material ***************************************************************** 65 NEI Nuclear Notes: NAS Releases Report on Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel News and commentary on the commercial nuclear energy industry. Friday, February 10, 2006 Yesterday the National Academy of Sciences released a report entitled, Going the Distance? The Safe Transport of Spent Nuclear Fuel and High-Level Radioactive Waste in the United States. Here's what NEI's Chief Nuclear Officer, Marv Fertel, had to say about the report: "Overall, the National Academies report is a strong endorsement of the used nuclear fuel transportation program that has operated well and operated safely in the United States for the past four decades. Specifically, the nuclear energy industry agrees with the three major findings of the National Academies report: "“First, that there are no fundamental technical barriers to the safe transport of used nuclear fuel. This conclusion is supported by the fact that more than 3,000 shipments of used nuclear fuel have been made safely in the United States over the past 40 years. Even in the approximately 10 instances where accidents have occurred, no releases of the waste packages'Â’ radioactive contents have resulted, and public health and safety has been protected. "Second, that existing international standards and U.S. regulations ensure the effectiveness of shipping containers over a wide range of transport conditions. In short, there's no need to go back to the regulatory drawing board because a program with strong public health and safety protections already is in place. "And third, that there are opportunities to further implement operational controls and restrictions that will make this program even safer and better than it already is. The use of dedicated trains for rail shipments is a leading example of a safeguard that should be adopted to maximize safety of used fuel shipments. "The industry also concurs with the National Academies'Â’ main conclusions with regard to testing of shipping containers --– namely that full-scale testing of shipping containers is worthwhile as part of an integrated testing program that includes scale models and computer simulation, but that full-scale tests are not necessary for regulatory certification of the containers, and that testing of packages to fail, or to destruction, is not warranted for certification. The ability of containers to serve their protective function during severe conditions can be proven without the excessive testing that would cause their destruction. "There are a few instances where we do not agree with the report. We do not believe there is further value to be gained from additional study of long-duration fire scenarios that the report recommends. Intensive study of long-duration, fully engulfing fires already has been done by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "We also disagree with the report'Â’s call for negotiations or federal legislation to achieve shipment of older used fuel first. Safety measures already are so strong and the risks of harmful impacts already are so low that one cannot justify the burden of additional expenses and potential litigation that this recommendation would cause. "“The concern voiced by the National Academies that it did not have access to classified or otherwise restricted information does not negate the fact that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy have completed research on the physical security of used fuel containers and of transportation. As a result, the agencies have taken additional steps already to enhance physical security in this area. "As the federal government'Â’s nuclear waste management program continues, the industry looks forward to working with Congress, the administration and regulatory bodies and emergency responders at all levels of government to maintain the highest levels of safety in this program."In addition, NPR did a story on the report that aired yesterday evening. Thanks to reader Paul Primavera for the NPR pointer. You can read more at the Deseret Morning News. UPDATE: To get a copy of the four page summary of the report, click here. For a combined copy of the summary and the recommendations contained in the report, click here. Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Environment, Energy, Yucca Mountain posted by Eric McErlain @ 9:17 AM 0 comments *****************************************************************