***************************************************************** 03/20/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.67 ***************************************************************** 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 [du-list] Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs against Iran: Madness 2 Guardian Unlimited: Iranian President Wants West to Apologize 3 Guardian Unlimited: Diplomats to Discuss Iran Nuke Standoff 4 Guardian Unlimited: Diplomats to Discuss Iran Nuclear Issue 5 Guardian Unlimited: Britain Calls for New Talks With Iran 6 AFP: Iran nuclear work progresses as UN debates action - 7 AFP: Iran celebrates New Year under nuclear cloud 8 AFP: Bush warns Iran on Israel 9 AFP: Six major powers hold UN meeting on Iran - 10 IRNA: EU is committed to diplomatic solution on Iran's nuclear issue 11 IRNA: Swiss daily hails Iranians' response to nuclear issue 12 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Assails 'Axis of Evil' Comment 13 US: [NukeNet] 60 Minutes TV : Rewriting the Science 3/19/06 14 [NYTr] Zero Nuclear Proliferation: Only in Latin America 15 [NukeNet] Scotland: Cycle lanes hit by 30% cut in funding 16 AFP: Both India, America stand to gain from nuclear pact - Kissinger NUCLEAR REACTORS 17 US: saukvalley.com: Documents show Exelon took steps to keep leak hi 18 US: Executive Intelligence Review: The Neo-Cons, Not Carter, Killed 19 US: NRC: NRC Invites the Public to Submit Nominations for the Adviso 20 Platts: The UK taxpayers faces a "large and uncertain liability" 21 UPI: UPI Energy Watch: Russia's floating nuclear plants poses risks 22 Independent: Hain breaks ranks to oppose nuclear power 23 US: NRC: Florida Power and Light Company; Notice of Withdrawal of 24 ITAR-TASS: Russia nuke agency chief to inspect NPP construction in C 25 US: NorthJersey.com: Nuclear plant foes see bias in regulators 26 US: PRWeb: Bush Administration Nuclear Energy Initiative Hampered 27 US: Tillsonburg News: Nuclear power an expensive red herring 28 US: HometownAnnapolis.com: Nuclear power could be dominant source of 29 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice 30 US: WebWire: Nortel Government Solutions Delivers E-Government NUCLEAR SECURITY 31 US: UPI: Insurers say risk of WMD terror is low NUCLEAR SAFETY 32 US: [du-list] Scott Ritter on depleted uranium (the schmuck) 33 Bellona: Alaska experiences worst oil pipeline leak in its history—f 34 US: AlterNet: Being Like Brockovich 35 US: Morris Daily Herald: Just tip of the tritium iceberg? 36 US: lamonitor.com: Udall: Save medical records 37 US: MetroWestDailyNews.com: More radiation in Holliston NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 38 US: [NukeNet] Utilities Offer Energy Dept. Site for Waste 39 US: [NukeNet] India plans to step up uranium mining 40 [NukeNet] Scotland: Dounreay nuclear store is leaking 41 US: Deseret News: More N-storage is needed 42 RIA Novosti: Estonia, Lithuania deny nuclear waste storage rumors 43 News & Star: Prosecution threat over nuclear leak 44 US: Knox News: Early phase of processing nuclear waste rolls along PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 45 Dayton Daily News: Manhattan Project worker to discuss bomb 46 KnoxNews: New imaging technique at ORNL may speed detection of melan 47 Knox News: Oak Ridge Report: $615M in sick-worker benefits could hav ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 [du-list] Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs against Iran: Madness Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:50:29 -0800 Nuclear Bunker Buster Bombs against Iran: Madness http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0603/S00348.htm Scoop.co.nz Fri, 17 Mar 2006 8:23 PM PST The latest information I have had from the followers of Busch is that he has demanded and received permission to use nuclear "bunker busters" in Iran in a preemptive strike. As a nuclear veteran (Operation Redwing, Bikini, 1956) I can affirm that this is absolute madness. -- ---------------------------------------- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 17 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Try www.SPAMfighter.com for free now! [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. ***************************************************************** 2 Guardian Unlimited: Iranian President Wants West to Apologize From the Associated Press [UP] Tuesday March 21, 2006 1:01 AM AP Photo NYRD104 By NASSER KARIMI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday said the West should apologize to Iran for accusing it of trying to develop a nuclear weapons program and said his country would continue to resist international pressure to halt its nuclear energy program. ``Today they tell our nation that nuclear energy is a bad thing and it is not necessary for our people to have it. But the nation of Iran has stood (for its right),'' he said in a televised speech to mark the Iranian New Year, which begins Tuesday. ``Those who head war and crimes accused the Iranian nation of war seeking. They insulted our nation. I do advise them to apologize.'' Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes but Western countries who believe otherwise have pushed for United Nations action - including possible sanctions - against the country. Ahmadinejad stressed that Iran would not give up its nuclear rights. ``Today we announce with pride that the peaceful knowledge and technology are at our disposal in order to be used for different purposes, including electricity generation, and we have not borrowed it from anybody that can take it away from us,'' he said. Ahmadinejad reiterated that Iran should be compensated for a two and a half year suspension of its nuclear activities. Under heavy pressure from the West, Iran suspended its enrichment of uranium and related activities in 2003 and began negotiating with Germany, Britain and France to reach an agreed framework for its nuclear development. It resumed nuclear research earlier this year when talks failed. The United States and its European allies want Iran to permanently abandon uranium enrichment and all related activities, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for reactors or materials for a nuclear bomb. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Diplomats to Discuss Iran Nuke Standoff From the Associated Press [UP] Monday March 20, 2006 12:16 PM By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Senior diplomats from six key nations that have been struggling to find a way to deal with Iran's suspect nuclear program will try to take a longer, strategic view of the standoff in discussions Monday, U.N. ambassadors said. Representatives from the five veto-wielding U.N. Security Council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - as well as Germany will be holding talks as the council tries to overcome differences on a statement demanding a quick report on Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the meeting Monday ``will basically consider the longer-range issues, although obviously in the capitals in Moscow and Beijing, certainly, they will now have a look'' at the latest text of the Security Council statement, and hopefully the senior diplomats will have instructions ``that will allow us to make progress.'' Bolton said he would like to see agreement on the statement when the Security Council meets again on Tuesday afternoon. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry also said he hoped the high-level diplomats meeting Monday would ``look at the wider strategy of how we develop our relations with Iran.'' He added: ``But let's be clear that negotiation of the (statement) will be done in the council.'' The six countries agree that Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, but they differ on the best way to get Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used either in a civilian nuclear program to generate electricity or to produce nuclear arms. Russia and China, which are Iran's allies, have said tough council action could spark an Iranian withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and eventually lead to tougher measures, such as sanctions. They want the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to remain in the lead in dealing with Iran. The United States, Britain and France want a statement listing demands already made by the IAEA - including the suspension of uranium enrichment and steps toward greater transparency and more cooperation. They also want IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei to report to the council on Iran's progress in meeting the demands in two weeks, which Russia and China say is much too soon. A U.N. diplomat in Vienna, Austria, said Saturday that Britain may float a plan at Monday's meeting to draw the United States into new talks with Tehran by having the five permanent Security Council members sit at the same table with the Iranians. The members would offer Tehran a new but unspecified package of incentives in exchange for a negotiated settlement on uranium enrichment, the diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the strategy was confidential. Negotiations between Iran and France, Germany and Britain, acting on behalf of the European Union, collapsed in August after Tehran rejected an incentives package offered in return for a permanent end to uranium enrichment. Its subsequent moves to develop full-blown enrichment capabilities led the IAEA's 35-nation board to ask for Security Council involvement earlier this year. --- Associated Press Writer George Jahn contributed to this report in Vienna. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 4 Guardian Unlimited: Diplomats to Discuss Iran Nuclear Issue From the Associated Press [UP] Monday March 20, 2006 7:31 PM By EDITH M. LEDERER Associated Press Writer UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Senior diplomats from six key nations that have been struggling to find a way to deal with Iran's suspect nuclear program will try to take a longer, strategic view of the standoff in discussions Monday, U.N. ambassadors said. Representatives from the five veto-wielding U.N. Security Council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - as well as Germany will be holding talks as the council tries to overcome differences on a statement demanding a quick report on Iran's nuclear program. Senior diplomats from the four Western countries were expected to meet ahead of the six-nation meeting. Late Monday afternoon, they will be joined by the U.N. ambassadors from the six countries, U.N. diplomats said. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the meeting Monday ``will basically consider the longer-range issues, although obviously in the capitals in Moscow and Beijing, certainly, they will now have a look'' at the latest text of the Security Council statement, and hopefully the senior diplomats will have instructions ``that will allow us to make progress.'' Bolton said he would like to see agreement on the statement when the Security Council meets again on Tuesday afternoon. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry also said he hoped the high-level diplomats meeting Monday would ``look at the wider strategy of how we develop our relations with Iran.'' He added: ``But let's be clear that negotiation of the (statement) will be done in the council.'' Two diplomats told The Associated Press in Vienna, Austria, that Britain plans to call for new talks with Iran about its suspect nuclear program at Monday's meeting in an effort to get support from Russia and Chinese, who are allies of Tehran. In return for the West's willingness to resume talks with Tehran, the Russians and Chinese would be expected to agree to tougher Security Council action should that be needed, the diplomats said on condition of anonymity because the strategy was confidential. Moscow has offered to enrich Iran's uranium but is insisting that Iran must freeze its own uranium enrichment program - a possible pathway to nuclear arms. Moscow and Beijing also want the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to assume the main role in cajoling Iran on enrichment and its refusal to fully cooperate with an IAEA probe. One of the diplomats said pressure might be exerted on the United States to join in. He quoted from what he said was a British proposal saying: ``We are not going to bring the Russians and Chinese to accept sanctions in the following months - certainly not without further effort to bring the Iranians around.'' In return for the Russians and Chinese agreeing to tougher action should Iran remain defiant in the coming months, ``we would then want to put together a package, which then could be presented to the Iranians as a new proposal,'' he said, quoting from the British paper. Neither diplomat had details on what the new incentives would look like. But any talks with U.S. involvement likely would need to focus on economic and security guarantees meant to reassure Tehran that Washington has no plans to force a regime change. Critics of U.S. policy have maintained for years that Tehran was unlikely to compromise on its nuclear program without such a direct guarantee. In Washington, German lawmaker Ruprecht Polenz said ``we would really love it'' if the United States participated in the process. The six countries agree that Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, but they differ on the best way to get Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used either in a civilian nuclear program to generate electricity or to produce nuclear arms. Russia and China have said tough council action could spark an Iranian withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and eventually lead to tougher measures, such as sanctions. The United States, Britain and France want a statement listing demands already made by the IAEA - including the suspension of uranium enrichment and steps toward greater transparency and more cooperation. They also want IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report to the council on Iran's progress in meeting those demands in two weeks, which Russia and China say is much too soon. Negotiations between Iran and France, Germany and Britain, acting on behalf of the European Union, collapsed in August after Tehran rejected an incentives package offered in return for a permanent end to uranium enrichment. Its subsequent moves to develop full-blown enrichment capabilities led the IAEA's 35-nation board to ask for Security Council involvement earlier this year. --- Associated Press reporters George Jahn in Vienna, Austria, and Barry Schweid in Washington contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 5 Guardian Unlimited: Britain Calls for New Talks With Iran From the Associated Press [UP] Monday March 20, 2006 9:01 PM AP Photo NYET748 By EDITH M. LEDERER and GEORGE JAHN Associated Press Writers UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Britain is calling for new talks with Iran about its suspect nuclear program but will push for militarily enforceable U.N. Security Council sanctions if those talks do not make progress, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. The proposal is angled toward Russia and China, allies of Tehran who staunchly oppose firm Security Council action. Senior diplomats from six key nations that have been struggling to find a way to deal with Iran's suspect nuclear program met Monday at U.N. headquarters. Representatives from the five veto-wielding council nations - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - and Germany will try to overcome differences on a statement demanding a quick report on Iran's nuclear program. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said earlier that Monday's meeting ``will basically consider the longer-range issues, although obviously in the capitals in Moscow and Beijing, certainly, they will now have a look'' at the latest text of the Security Council statement, and hopefully the senior diplomats will have instructions ``that will allow us to make progress.'' Bolton said he would like to see agreement on the statement when the Security Council meets again on Tuesday afternoon. Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry also said he hoped the high-level diplomats meeting Monday would ``look at the wider strategy of how we develop our relations with Iran.'' He added: ``But let's be clear that negotiation of the (statement) will be done in the council.'' The British hoped the Russians and Chinese would agree to tougher council action on Iran should that be needed in exchange for Western willingness to engage in new negotiations. Moscow has offered to enrich Iran's uranium but is insisting that Iran must freeze its own uranium enrichment program - a possible pathway to nuclear arms. Moscow and Beijing also want the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency, to assume the main role in cajoling Iran on enrichment and its refusal to fully cooperate with an IAEA probe. The March 16 letter, which is marked ``confidential'' and displays the seal of the British Foreign Office, is from John Sawers, a top British negotiator. ``We are not going to bring the Russians and Chinese to accept significant sanctions over the coming months, certainly not without further efforts to bring the Iranians around,'' the letter said. ``The Iranians ... will need to know that more serious measures are likely. This means putting the Iran dossier onto a Chapter VII basis'' - shorthand for binding Security Council resolutions, including sanctions, that can be enforced by military means. The letter was addressed to U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns, German Foreign Office Political Director Michael Schaefer and French Foreign Ministry Political Director Stanislas de Laboulaye. It suggests making suspension of all uranium enrichment by Iran ``a mandatory requirement of the Security Council, in a resolution we would aim to adopt, I say, early May.'' ``In return for the Russians and Chinese agreeing to this, we would then want to put together a package that could be presented to the Iranians as a new proposal,'' the letter said. ``Ideally this would have the explicit backing of Russia, China and the United States as well as the EU-3'' - France, Britain and Germany. Neither diplomat had details on what the new incentives would look like. But any talks with U.S. involvement likely would need to focus on economic and security guarantees meant to reassure Tehran that Washington has no plans to force a regime change. Critics of U.S. policy have maintained for years that Tehran was unlikely to compromise on its nuclear program without such a direct guarantee. In Washington, German lawmaker Ruprecht Polenz said ``we would really love it'' if the United States participated in the process. The six countries agree that Iran should not develop nuclear weapons, but they differ on the best way to get Tehran to halt uranium enrichment, which can be used either in a civilian nuclear program to generate electricity or to produce nuclear arms. Russia and China have said tough council action could spark an Iranian withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and eventually lead to tougher measures, such as sanctions. The United States, Britain and France want a statement listing demands already made by the IAEA - including the suspension of uranium enrichment and steps toward greater transparency and more cooperation. They also want IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei to report to the council on Iran's progress in meeting those demands in two weeks, which Russia and China say is much too soon. Negotiations between Iran and France, Germany and Britain, acting on behalf of the European Union, collapsed in August after Tehran rejected an incentives package offered in return for a permanent end to uranium enrichment. Its subsequent moves to develop full-blown enrichment capabilities led the IAEA's 35-nation board to ask for Security Council involvement earlier this year. --- AP Diplomatic Writer Barry Schweid in Washington contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: Iran nuclear work progresses as UN debates action - Monday March 20, 06:03 PM [Iranian soldiers gather around an anti-aircraft machinegun inside the uranium enrichment facility in Natanz] VIENNA (AFP) - Iran is about to run a 164-centrifuge cascade to enrich uranium, a step that would increase pressure for UN action on Tehran's nuclear program, diplomats told AFP. "Iran is on the verge of operating a 164-centrifuge cascade with UF6 (uranium hexafluoride gas)," a Western diplomat said, referring to machines arrayed in series, known as cascades, used to produce fuel for nuclear power reactors or material for the explosive core of an atom bomb. The diplomat said Iran's rapid [ src=] progress in uranium enrichment might come up when the five permanent members of the UN Security Council (P5) plus Germany meet in New York on Monday. The 15-member Council is considering issuing a statement calling on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment over fears the Islamic Republic is secretly developing nuclear weapons. A second diplomat, who like others asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, said Iran was set to go ahead with the cascade work and was doing some last-minute "piping connections." Iran in mid-February reversed its earlier suspension of enrichment work -- a hiatus meant to serve as a confidence-building measure to show it did not seek nuclear weapons -- by putting the feedstock UF6 gas into single centrifuges at a facility in Natanz and has moved on to running a 10-centrifuge and now a 20-centrifuge cascade. The next step would be a 164-centrifuge cascade, a research-level operation to learn about techniques used in running thousands of centrifuges. The first diplomat said Iran's move towards operating its 164-centrifuge cascade was "further evidence of the need for urgent UN Security Council action." "Iran is making faster progress at Natanz than expected," the diplomat said. Iran is seeking to run more than 50,000 centrifuges in Natanz, an operation that could potentially produce enough highly enriched uranium for up to a dozen atom bombs a year. A third diplomat said Iran could run the 164-cascade "whenever they want," adding: "Don't underestimate the Iranians." The Western diplomat said the British were already looking at steps to be taken if a Security Council presidential statement fails to persuade Iran to heed calls from the Vienna-based UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency to immediately halt enrichment work and to cooperate with a now three-year-old IAEA investigation into Iran's nuclear program. British foreign ministry political director John Sawers was to present to the meeting of the P5 plus Germany in New York "some ideas for a possible timely intervention" by this group if Iran fails to comply. A Security Council resolution would then invoke the UN Charter's Chapter 7, which requires compliance. "At that point, the Iranian government will be feeling intense pressure which is, according to British thinking, the right time for the EU-3 (Britain, France and Germany) plus Russia and China" to offer a package of incentives to Iran in return for compliance, the diplomat said. This would involve the five nations relaunching an EU-3 initiative that foundered when Iran started nuclear fuel work last August. The diplomat denied reports that the United States was ready to get involved at this point. Washington will consider joining the process only after Iran has taken "serious steps towards cooperation," the diplomat said. In New York on Monday, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns is to meet with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak and foreign ministry political directors Sawers, Stanislas de Laboulaye of France, Zhang Yan of China and Michael Schaefer of Germany. The gathering comes after the Security Council reported some headway in its bid to agree a revised Franco-British draft urging Iran to comply with IAEA demands. France and Britain hope their draft can be adopted by the full Council this week. AFP ***************************************************************** 7 AFP: Iran celebrates New Year under nuclear cloud Mon Mar 20, 1:29 AM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - As the UN Security Council moved closer to acting against Tehran over its nuclear program, Iranians were trying to forget the crisis as they busily prepared for two weeks of New Year celebrations. Iran marks Noruz on Monday, the same day as the five permanent members of the Security Council plus Germany are to work on reaching agreement on a long-term strategy aimed at convincing Iran to abandon sensitive uranium enrichment. Although Iranians admit some concern about the future under possible UN sanctions, most are burying their worries in traditional customs -- purchasing fruits, cakes and new clothes, cleaning their homes and decorating eggs. "For the moment, we must prepare for Noruz," said Mahin, a janitor in his 50s who was waiting in a pastry shop to purchase sweets. "But I am very worried about the Security Council deciding on sanctions," he said. "I am expecting a very hard year," added Ahmed, a young doctor. Noruz, traditionally a pagan festival but which continues to be the biggest holiday in the conservative Islamic republic, begins with a festival of fire. Marking the ceremonial end of winter, people build large bonfires and then jump over the blazes to cleanse themselves. Families clean house and prepare "Haft-Sin" by collecting seven objects that begin with the letter "S" in the Persian alphabet and which symbolize a particular good luck charm relating to the family's well-being over the coming year. Often these items will include apples, pieces of gold, homegrown herbs, colored eggs, red fish, mirrors, candles, the Koran and a book of poetry by the Iranian poet Hafez -- all of which are placed on a table in the house. Dressed in new clothes, families then gather around this table to mark the official passing of the New Year at exactly 9:55 pm and 36 seconds. The country largely grinds to a halt for two weeks, the duration of the festivities. All daily newspapers stop publishing, with the exception of the government daily Iran which puts out four issues. Corresponding with Noruz this year, largely Shiite Iran will also mark the holy festival of Arbayeen commemorating the 40th day of mourning after the death of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Mohammed's grandson, 14 centuries ago. The New Year holiday ends with the festival of nature, "Sizda-Bedar," on April 1 when Iranians take picnic lunches outdoors to reunite with nature. And by that time, the Security Council is likely to have decided on measures aimed at containing the Iran's nuclear drive which the West believes is a cover for weapons development. Iran has insisted that its program exists for civilian energy purposes and has vowed not to give up sensitive uranium enrichment activities. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 8 AFP: Bush warns Iran on Israel Mon Mar 20, 3:05 PM ET CLEVELAND, United States (AFP) - US President George W. Bush said he hoped to resolve the nuclear dispute with Iran with diplomacy, but warned Tehran he would "use military might" if necessary to defend Israel. "The threat from Iran is, of course, their stated objective to destroy our strong ally Israel. That's a threat, a serious threat. It's a threat to world peace," the US president said after a speech defending the war in Iraq " /> Iraq. "I made it clear, and I'll make it clear again, that we will use military might to protect our ally Israel," said Bush, who was apparently referring to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for the destruction of Israel. On the atomic dispute, Bush said he hoped "to solve this issue diplomatically" with a "united message" to Tehran from Washington, London, Paris, Berlin as well as Russia "hopefully" and China. The message would be that "your desire to having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable," he said. Bush also touched on Iran's agreement to discuss Iraq with the United States, saying that "it's very important, however, for the Iranians to understand that the discussion is limited to Iraq. "We're using this as an opportunity to make it clear about our concerns of interference within a democratic process that is evolving," he said, saying that the talks will not decide Iran's relations with a sovereign Iraq. "Ultimately, Iraq-Iranian relations will be negotiated between the Iraqi government and the Iranian government," he said. ***************************************************************** 9 AFP: Six major powers hold UN meeting on Iran - Tuesday March 21, 03:29 AM NEW YORK (AFP) - Top officials of the five veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council and Germany were to meet to plot a long-term strategy against Iran's nuclear program. While the UN Security Council seeks to refine a draft motion urging Iran to suspend the uranium enrichment -- a key stage in nuclear weapon development -- the meeting of the six major powers will take a broader look at the international confrontation with Iran. US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns was to huddle with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak and foreign ministry political directors John Sawers of Britain, Stanislas de Laboulaye of France, Zhang Yan of China and Michael Schaefer of Germany at Britain's UN mission from 2000 GMT, diplomats said. Germany, France and Britain have pursued three years of inconclusive negotiations to coax Tehran off its nuclear program in exchange for economic incentives. A Western diplomat told AFP that the ambassadors of the five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- would join in at the end of the session. The gathering comes as the 15-member Security Council is reporting some headway in its bid to agree a revised Franco-British draft urging Iran to comply with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) demands that it restore international confidence in its atomic program, which Iran insists is peaceful. The text aims to reinforce the IAEA demands, including immediate suspension of all uranium enrichment activities and resumption of implementation of a nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) protocol that allows for wider inspections of its nuclear facilities. Tehran insists it has a right as a signatory to the NPT to conduct uranium enrichment. France and Britain hope their draft can be adopted by the full Council this week. "Let's be patient. Let's hope that they will find a solution," Greece's UN envoy Adamantios Vassilakis told reporters Monday. "We need to go step by step to see how we can reach some kind of agreement. If we have unanimity, that would be even better." In announcing the six-nation meeting, a US State Department official said last week that the participants would discuss the Franco-Britsh draft, but added: "I wouldn't be surprised if they talked about the broader issue of Iran's nuclear program." US Ambassador to the UN John Bolton said Friday that the New York meeting "will basically look at the longer range", a reference to future steps the international community might take if Iran continues to defy the IAEA. His Chinese counterpart Wang Guangya said that the meeting aimed to "consider the next step of activities by the IAEA". Western powers see adoption of the Franco-British non-binding statement as the first step in a graduated response from the Security Council that could ultimately lead to sanctions, if Tehran refuses to cooperate. But Russia and China, which have close economic and energy ties with Tehran, are cool to sanctions and insist on the IAEA retaining the lead role in handling the issue. Wang said Friday that Tehran should be given up to six weeks to comply with the IAEA demands rather than the 14 days proposed by France and Britain in their draft. Meanwhile Iran's largest reformist party called on Sunday for dialogue with Washington and a freeze on sensitive nuclear work to head off an escalating crisis with the international community. "In order to break the international consensus, we are proposing a return to previous policies and the voluntary suspension of all nuclear fuel cycle work to resolve this crisis and reestablish confidence," said the Participation Front, which is headed by Mohammad Reza Khatami, the brother of Iran's former reformist president Mohammad Khatami. Tehran said Thursday it was willing to hold talks with the United States on the worsening situation in neighbouring Iraq, but Washington has so far insisted there would be no negotiations on other issues. In recent weeks, former presidents Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani have criticised hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ahmadinejad's foreign policies and warned against the country's increasing isolation. Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 10 IRNA: EU is committed to diplomatic solution on Iran's nuclear issue - Brussels, March 20, IRNA EU-Iran The EU Council of foreign ministers Monday said the 25-member European bloc "continues to be committed to a diplomatic solution" to resolve Iran's nuclear issue but reiterated its calls on the Islamic Republic for a full suspension of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. "The Council believes that the "Security Council should act to reinforce the authority of the IAEA,'' said the ministers in a statement referring to a decision by the Board of Governors of the UN nuclear watchdog on 4 February to report Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council. Iran, Iraq and Palestine are among the issues discussed by the EU foreign ministers in their meeting in Brussels Monday. ***************************************************************** 11 IRNA: Swiss daily hails Iranians' response to nuclear issue Vienna, March 20, IRNA Iran-Nuclear-Paper The Iranian nation's response to the current nuclear standoff shows their concern for their national interests, according to a Swiss paper. The weekly `Facts' noted that the country's nuclear program has the support of Iranians, whether poor or rich, old or young, clergy or technocrat, educated or illiterate. It quoted Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as telling Friday prayers worshipers that Iran had the right to nuclear energy. ***************************************************************** 12 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Assails 'Axis of Evil' Comment From the Associated Press [UP] Monday March 20, 2006 5:16 AM AP Photo DCGH105 By JAE-SOON CHANG Associated Press Writer SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea berated President Bush on Monday for repeating his earlier description of the communist state as part of an ``axis of evil,'' saying it shows the United States intends to attack it. In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush lumped North Korea with Iran and Saddam Hussein's Iraq in an ``axis of evil'' that was seeking weapons of mass destruction. On March 10, Bush brought up the description again. ``I said in an early speech there was an axis of evil, and it included Iran and North Korea. I did that because I'm concerned about totalitarian governments that are not transparent, that have stated their intentions to develop nuclear weapons,'' he said. North Korea's communist party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, responded on Monday by calling the United States the ``ringleader of evil,'' saying its war on terror had resulted in massacres of people. The newspaper, in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency, called Bush's comment ``the greatest, intolerable insult to us and a vicious political provocation.'' ``Bush repeating the axis of evil remarks is nothing but an open proclamation that the U.S. imperialists consider us a target of military attack, not a dialogue partner,'' it said. North Korea often uses harsh language to vilify the U.S. and its leaders, but doesn't tolerate criticism from Washington. The North strongly protested when U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice labeled the communist nation an ``outpost of tyranny'' in her confirmation hearing last year. North Korea says those descriptions by top U.S. officials show Washington's ``hostility,'' which it calls the main obstacle to resolving a standoff over its nuclear programs. Six countries - China, Japan, the two Koreas, Russia and the United States - have held five rounds of talks to try to settle the dispute. The meetings produced an interim breakthrough in September, when the North agreed in principle to abandon its nuclear programs. But talks on implementing that agreement have stalled. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 13 [NukeNet] 60 Minutes TV : Rewriting the Science 3/19/06 Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:51:51 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) 139e0a.jpg ---------- http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/17/60minutes/main1415985.shtml Rewriting The Science March 19, 2006 ---------- (CBS) As a government scientist, James Hansen is taking a risk. He says there are things the White House doesn't want you to hear but he's going to say them anyway. Hansen is arguably the world's leading researcher on global warming. He's the head of NASA's top institute studying the climate. But this imminent scientist tells correspondent Scott Pelley that the Bush administration is restricting who he can talk to and editing what he can say. Politicians, he says, are rewriting the science. But he didn't hold back speaking to Pelley, telling 60 Minutes what he knows. ---------- Asked if he believes the administration is censoring what he can say to the public, Hansen says: "Or they're censoring whether or not I can say it. I mean, I say what I believe if I'm allowed to say it." What James Hansen believes is that global warming is accelerating. He points to the melting arctic and to Antarctica, where new data show massive losses of ice to the sea. Is it fair to say at this point that humans control the climate? Is that possible? "There's no doubt about that, says Hansen. "The natural changes, the speed of the natural changes is now dwarfed by the changes that humans are making to the atmosphere and to the surface." Those human changes, he says, are driven by burning fossil fuels that pump out greenhouse gases like CO2, carbon dioxide. Hansen says his research shows that man has just 10 years to reduce greenhouse gases before global warming reaches what he calls a tipping point and becomes unstoppable. He says the White House is blocking that message. "In my more than three decades in the government I've never witnessed such restrictions on the ability of scientists to communicate with the public," says Hansen. Restrictions like this e-mail Hansen's institute received from NASA in 2004. "… there is a new review process … ," the e-mail read. "The White House (is) now reviewing all climate related press releases," it continued. Why the scrutiny of Hansen's work? Well, his Goddard Institute for Space Studies is the source of respected but sobering research on warming. It recently announced 2005 was the warmest year on record. Hansen started at NASA more than 30 years ago, spending nearly all that time studying the earth. How important is his work? 60 Minutes asked someone at the top, Ralph Cicerone, president of the nation’s leading institute of science, the National Academy of Sciences. "I can't think of anybody who I would say is better than Hansen. You might argue that there's two or three others as good, but nobody better," says Cicerone. And Cicerone, who’s an atmospheric chemist, said the same thing every leading scientist told 60 Minutes. "Climate change is really happening," says Cicerone. Asked what is causing the changes, Cicernone says it's greenhouse gases: "Carbon dioxide and methane, and chlorofluorocarbons and a couple of others, which are all — the increases in their concentrations in the air are due to human activities. It's that simple." But if it is that simple, why do some climate science reports look like they have been heavily edited at the White House? With science labeled "not sufficiently reliable." It’s a tone of scientific uncertainty the president set in his first months in office after he pulled out of a global treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. "We do not know how much our climate could, or will change in the future," President Bush said in 2001, speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House. "We do not know how fast change will occur, or even how some of our actions could impact it." Annoyed by the ambiguity, Hansen went public a year and a half ago, saying this about the Bush administration in a talk at the University of Iowa: "I find a willingness to listen only to those portions of scientific results that fit predetermined inflexible positions. This, I believe, is a recipe for environmental disaster." Since then, NASA has been keeping an eye on Hansen. NASA let Pelley sit down with him but only with a NASA representative taping the interview. Other interviews have been denied. "I object to the fact that I’m not able to freely communicate via the media," says Hansen. "National Public Radio wanted to interview me and they were told they would need to interview someone at NASA headquarters and the comment was made that they didn’t want Jim Hansen going on the most liberal media in America. So I don’t think that kind of decision should be made on that kind of basis. I think we should be able to communicate the science." Politically, Hansen calls himself an independent and he’s had trouble with both parties. He says, from time to time, the Clinton administration wanted to hear warming was worse that it was. But Hansen refused to spin the science that way. "Should we be simply doing our science and reporting it rigorously, or to what degree the administration in power has the right to assume that you should be a spokesman for the administration?" asks Hansen. "I've tried to be a straight scientist doing the science and reporting it as best I can." Dozens of federal agencies report science but much of it is edited at the White House before it is sent to Congress and the public. It appears climate science is edited with a heavy hand. Drafts of climate reports were co-written by Rick Piltz for the federal Climate Change Science Program. But Piltz says his work was edited by the White House to make global warming seem less threatening. "The strategy of people with a political agenda to avoid this issue is to say there is so much to study way upstream here that we can’t even being to discuss impacts and response strategies," says Piltz. "There’s too much uncertainty. It's not the climate scientists that are saying that, its lawyers and politicians." Piltz worked under the Clinton and Bush administrations. Each year, he helped write a report to Congress called "Our Changing Planet." Piltz says he is responsible for editing the report and sending a review draft to the White House. Asked what happens, Piltz says: "It comes back with a large number of edits, handwritten on the hard copy by the chief-of-staff of the Council on Environmental Quality." Asked who the chief of staff is, Piltz says, "Phil Cooney." Piltz says Cooney is not a scientist. "He's a lawyer. He was a lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, before going into the White House," he says. Cooney, the former oil industry lobbyist, became chief-of-staff at the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Piltz says Cooney edited climate reports in his own hand. In one report, a line that said earth is undergoing rapid change becomes “may be undergoing change.” “Uncertainty” becomes “significant remaining uncertainty.” One line that says energy production contributes to warming was just crossed out. "He was obviously passing it through a political screen," says Piltz. "He would put in the word potential or may or weaken or delete text that had to do with the likely consequence of climate change, pump up uncertainty language throughout." In a report, Piltz says Cooney added this line “… the uncertainties remain so great as to preclude meaningfully informed decision making. …” References to human health are marked out. 60 Minutes obtained the drafts from the Government Accountability Project. This edit made it into the final report: the phrase “earth may be” undergoing change made it into the report to Congress. Piltz says there wasn’t room at the White House for those who disagreed, so he resigned. "Even to raise issues internally is immediately career limiting," says Piltz. "That’s why you will find not too many people in the federal agencies who will speak freely about all the things they know, unless they’re retired or unless they’re ready to resign." Jim Hansen isn't retiring or resigning because he believes earth is nearing a point of no return. He urged 60 Minutes to look north to the arctic, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the world. When 60 Minutes visited Greenland this past August, we saw for ourselves the accelerating melt of the largest ice sheet in the north. "Here in Greenland about 15 years ago the ice sheet extended to right about where I'm standing now, but today, its back there, between those two hills in the shaded area. Glaciologists call this a melt stream but, these days, its a more like a melt river," Pelley said, standing at the edge of Greenland's ice sheet. The Bush administration doesn’t deny global warming or that man plays a role. The administration is spending billions of dollars on climate research. Hansen gives the White House credit for research but says what’s urgent now is action. "We have to, in the next 10 years, get off this exponential curve and begin to decrease the rate of growth of CO2 emissions," Hansen explains. "And then flatten it out. And before we get to the middle of the century, we’ve got to be on a declining curve. "If that doesn't happen in 10 years, then I don’t think we can keep global warming under one degree Celsius and that means we’re going to, that there’s a great danger of passing some of these tipping points. If the ice sheets begin to disintegrate, what can you do about it? You can’t tie a rope around the ice sheet. You can’t build a wall around the ice sheets. It will be a situation that is out of our control." But that's not a situation you'll find in one federal report submitted for review. Government scientists wanted to tell you about the ice sheets, but before a draft of the report left the White House, the paragraph on glacial melt and flooding was crossed out and this was added: "straying from research strategy into speculative findings and musings here." Hansen says his words were edited once during a presentation when a top official scolded him for using the word danger. "I think we know a lot more about the tipping points," says Hansen. "I think we know about the dangers of even a moderate degree of additional global warming about the potential effects in the arctic about the potential effects on the ice sheets." "You just used that word again that you’re not supposed to use — danger," Pelley remarks. "Yeah. It’s a danger," Hansen says. For months, 60 Minutes had been trying to talk with the president’s science advisor. 60 Minutes was finally told he would never be available. Phil Cooney, the editor at the Council on Environmental Quality didn’t return 60 Minutes' calls. In June, he left the White House and went to work for Exxon Mobil. Produced By Catherine Herrick/Bill Owens ©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. ---------- 139e16.jpg Feedback 139e1d.jpg Terms of Service 139e24.jpg Privacy Statement _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net Attachment Converted: 139e0a.jpg: 00000001,03c56d22,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 139e16.jpg: 00000001,03c56d23,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 139e1d.jpg: 00000001,03c56d24,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: 139e24.jpg: 00000001,03c56d25,00000000,00000000 Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\logo_cbsnews_small.gif" Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\misc_arrow_single.gif" ***************************************************************** 14 [NYTr] Zero Nuclear Proliferation: Only in Latin America Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:19:27 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Radio Havana Cuba Viewpoint - March 20, 2006 http://www.radiohc.cu Nuclear Proliferation: Zero Option There exist more than 30,000 atom bombs in the world today; none of them in Latin America. That is the real zero option. Though Brazil, Argentina and Mexico have the technology and economic capacity to possess nuclear weapons, fortunately such arms are not part of their national security doctrines or development programs. The reasons behind such rational behavior are to be found in economic and cultural development and geopolitical factors, derived from US dominance in the region. The Latin American nation with the most precocious economy was Argentina which, without important oil, coal or gas deposits, has always been more pressured by lack of energy sources. Both need and illusions motivated its early interest in nuclear energy. In 1946, Argentinean physicist Enrique Gaviola, announced that he was ready to begin work on atomic energy for industrial use and said he knew how to build an atom bomb. At his insistence, the International Atomic Energy Commission was constituted in Argentina in l950. An important page in this history began when in l951, President Juan Domingo Peron announced that an Argentinean pilot plan had produced thermo-nuclear reactions on a significant scale. The Argentinean president was referring to the work of Ronald Richter, a Austrian-born scientist, who had done early research in the area. Everything indicates that Richter managed to approximate a theoretical solution to what could be controlled atomic fusion, something that up till that time had been absolutely impracticable, even for the most advanced countries, some of which had not even researched the matter. Peron gave Richter the necessary laboratories, money and power to mount the most audacious projects ever in the area of nuclear energy. On its own, Argentina came to dominate the production of electricity through atomic energy, it enriched uranium and produced plutonium in the laboratory. In fact in the l970's, during the dictatorship of Leopoldo Galtieri, and in the Malvinas conflict, thought was given to arming the South America country with nuclear weapons. When the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan in 1945, Brazil was already exporting monazite, a radioactive mineral, which allowed it to consider the idea of a Brazilian atomic bomb, a plan was revived in the l970's when the dictatorship toyed with the idea of taking advantage of the introduction of technology used for nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. The return to democracy moderated those desires. Recently, Brazil renewed nuclear talk by declaring itself ready to enrich uranium on a commercial scale, since it possess the world's sixth largest uranium reserves and is able to refine enough to cover both domestic needs and export. The announcement set off alarms at the International Atomic Energy Commission, invoking the safeguards of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It sent in inspectors, which Brazil accepted, but it refused to allow them access to its technology which is considered an "industrial secret". Mexico, which had never expressed special interest in nuclear energy, much less in atomic weapons, was represented by Mexican diplomat, Alfonso Garcia Robles, Nobel Peace Laureate, who was instrumental in drafting the UN Tlatelolco Treaty, which was signed by all the countries of the region and establishes a total ban on nuclear weapons in Latin America. Fortunately, although tempted, Brazil and Argentina have not allowed geopolitical competition to turn them into rivals, nor do they found their foreign policy on the absurd idea that international influence and national security are associated with atomic weapons. And, though the suspicion persists that the United States has nuclear armed ships and planes patrolling the Caribbean and atomic weapons likely stockpiled in Guantanamo and Puerto Rico, Latin America reaffirms the only truly valid criteria: the only real security: that atomic weapons will never be used. * ================================================================ .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 ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 15 [NukeNet] Scotland: Cycle lanes hit by 30% cut in funding Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:51:00 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.sundayherald.com/54711 Sunday Herald - 19 March 2006 Cycle lanes hit by 30% cut in funding By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor ---------- MINISTERS are slashing spending on cycling at the same time as promoting it as a healthy way to help save the planet, the Sunday Herald can reveal. LibDem transport minister, Tavish Scott, has been condemned for a “scandalous” 30% cut in funding for cycle lanes and other facilities designed to encourage people to get on their bikes. In 2004, the Scottish Executive promised to favour cycling as one of the most environmentally-friendly and health-giving forms of transport. It has a target to double cycle use between 2002 and 2012. But a new analysis of spending on cycling in Scotland discloses that public funding is due to fall from Ł11.9 million in 2004-05 to Ł8.3m in 2006-07. Over the same period, cycle spending as a proportion of the whole transport budget will drop from 1.4% to just 0.6%. This was described as an “impending disaster” by Dave du Feu from Spokes, the Lothian cycling group that compiled the figures. He feared cycleways will not be built, upgraded or lengthened, and road junctions won’t be altered to accommodate bikes. “In the light of the public health and environmental problems now facing Britain and the world – let alone the Scottish Executive’s own targets to increase cycle use – the decline in cycle spending is truly scandalous,” he said. The Executive’s vision for encouraging cycling was now “discredited”, du Feu claimed. And it was Tavish Scott as transport minister who had to take the blame, he argued. Scott recently turned down a bid from the sustainable transport group, Sustrans, for an ambitious Ł11.6m programme for new cycle projects across Scotland over two years. Instead, he gave the group just Ł2m for one year. This was regarded by Spokes as Scott’s first big test on cycling policy since he took charge of transport last June. “The LibDems pride themselves on their environmental credentials, yet the decline in cycle project spending is accelerating due to the personal decisions of a LibDem transport minister,” commented du Feu. Scott’s apparent lack of enthusiasm for cycling contrasts with the attitude of his predecessor as transport minister, LibDem Scottish leader Nicol Stephen. Stephen had praised Sustrans, and invited its Ł11.6m bid. The Scottish Executive defended its support for cycling, insisting that it was committed to encouraging people to get on their bikes. It had given Sustrans Ł9.5m since 2002-03, and annual grants to local authorities for “cycling, walking and safer streets” would top Ł9m in 2007-08. “Cycling and walking continue to be important in the context of the Executive’s priorities for transport in Scotland,” said a spokesman. John Lauder, the director of Sustrans Scotland, said he was “really pleased” with the Ł2m grant this year. Transport campaigners, however, were scornful of the Executive’s approach. It was wasting hundreds of millions of pounds on increasingly expensive roads, alleged Colin Howden from TRANSform Scotland. “Just devoting to cycling the cost overruns on the ill-conceived motorway building programme would transform the conditions for cycling in Scotland,” he said. “It seems that Scottish ministers are only prepared to spend money on transport when there is an industry lobby to be bought off – something that cycling doesn’t have.” ---------- Copyright © 2006 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088 Back to previous page _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 16 AFP: Both India, America stand to gain from nuclear pact - Kissinger - Mon Mar 20, 11:23 AM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in a newspaper opinion piece hailed this month's nuclear deal between the United States and India, which "promises to make a seminal contribution to international peace and prosperity." and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during a visit by the US leader to New Delhi, gives energy-starved India access to long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing a majority of its nuclear reactors under international inspection. The nuclear agreement, which also places 14 of India's 22 nuclear power reactors under international safeguards, was the cornerstone of Bush's three-day trip to India. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 17 saukvalley.com: Documents show Exelon took steps to keep leak hidden Serving Dixon, Sterling, Rock Falls and Northern Illinois Monday, March 20, 2006 BRAIDWOOD (AP) — Public documents show that Exelon Corp. officials tried to keep the public in the dark about radioactive tritium spills at a nuclear power plant near the Kankakee River, according to a published report. Tritium spills dating back to 1996 at the company's Braidwood Generating Station were disclosed after the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency pressured Exelon Nuclear to test for contamination at the request of the plant's neighbors. Documents obtained by the Chicago Tribune show that Exelon Nuclear officials expressed opposition to public discussion of tritium and the release of information about the leaks, the newspaper reported in its Sunday editions. The company also successfully opposed Illinois legislation in 2001 that would have required it to monitor the groundwater at its nuclear facilities for radioactive releases. "The likelihood of groundwater contamination from ComEd/Exelon facilities is nil; the likelihood does not justify the millions of dollars of cost," an Exelon lobbying document from the time states, according to the newspaper. The company contends that the leaks do not pose a danger to the public. Craig Nesbit, a spokesman for Exelon's nuclear operations, last week also said the company was not legally required to report some of the leaks. Thomas O'Neill, Exelon Nuclear's vice president of regulatory and legal affairs, disputed the notion that the company was trying to hide something. "When you are talking about extending the life of your plant and possibly building new nuclear plants and looking at the whole environment, it absolutely makes no sense why anyone in this company, the company as a whole, would do anything but be open, honest, candid, forthright and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations," O'Neill said. Exelon officials pointed to a Web site detailing developments, testing of private wells and meetings with homeowners as signs of openness since the tritium contamination was detected last year. The spills resulted from malfunctioning valves on an underground pipe, also known as a blowdown line, that carries water with tritium to the Kankakee River, where it is legally dumped. In 2000, officials from the nearby town of Godley requested an IEPA hearing on the Braidwood plant by objecting to the state's renewal of the permit that allows Exelon to discharge its radiated water into the river. The Tribune reported that Exelon Nuclear senior environmental analyst John Petro warned colleagues in an e-mail that questions could arise during the public hearing about one of the leaks. "It is most important to stay away from these issues. I am confident that the Village of Godley knows little if anything about the blowdown line rupture," Petro wrote, according to the newspaper. Critics say that documents show that the company tried to keep the public in the dark. "It's apparent that this all points to obfuscation of radioactive material releases at the Braidwood plant," said Paul Gunter, director of the Reactor Watchdog Project at the Nuclear Information and Resource Service. Tritium is a radioactive substance commonly found in small concentrations in most surface water. Studies have shown long-term exposure — through drinking or bathing — can increase the risk of cancer and birth defects. State health and regulatory agency officials say public health is not threatened by the contamination near Braidwood. © Copyright 2005 Associated Press. All rights © Copyright 2006 Sauk Valley Newspapers - ***************************************************************** 18 Executive Intelligence Review: The Neo-Cons, Not Carter, Killed Nuclear Energy This article appears in the March 24, 2006 issue of Executive Intelligence Review. Albert Wohlstetter's Legacy by Marjorie Mazel Hecht The conventional wisdom in the nuclear community and in general is that President Jimmy Carter drove the nail in the civilian nuclear coffin when he stopped the reprocessing of nuclear fuel in 1976. But this is wrong. The dishonor does not belong to Carter. The policy that ended nuclear reprocessing was first promoted under the Ford Presidency, in a 1975 policy paper written under Ford's chief of staff Dick Cheney. And long before the Ford Administration, the idea that civilian nuclear power was bad, and that reprocessing should be stopped, was extensively argued by Albert Wohlstetter, one of the most ghoulish, secretive, and influential of U.S. nuclear strategists, from the late 1950s to his death in 1997. Wohlstetter was a University of Chicago mathematician-logician and a RAND consultant, who kept himself in the shadows as he mentored some of the most public of today's neo-cons—Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and Zalmay Khalilzad, to name a few. In Wohlstetter's circle of influence were also Ahmed Chalabi (whom Wohlstetter championed), Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson (D-Wash.), Sen. Robert Dole (R-Kan.), and Margaret Thatcher. Wohlstetter himself was a follower of Bertrand Russell, not only in mathematics, but in world outlook. The pseudo-peacenik Russell had called for a preemptive strike against the Soviet Union, after World War II and before the Soviets developed the bomb, as a prelude to his plan for bullying nations into a one-world government. Russell, a raving Malthusian, opposed economic development, especially in the Third World. Admirer Jude Wanniski wrote of Wohlstetter in an obituary, "[I]t is no exaggeration, I think, to say that Wohlstetter was the most influential unknown man in the world for the past half century, and easily in the top ten in importance of all men." "Albert's decisions were not automatically made official policy at the White House," Wanniski wrote, "but Albert's genius and his following were such in the places where it counted in the Establishment that if his views were resisted for more than a few months, it was an oddity." Wanniski also noted that "every editorial on America's geopolitical strategy that appeared in the Wall Street Journal during the last 25 years was the product of Albert's genius." Like Bertrand Russell, Wohlstetter saw the world in terms of a bounded chessboard of U.S. and Soviet nuclear missiles, where his clever gaming strategies would ensure that more of "them" were killed than of "us." His strategic policies were madder than MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), which he found too juvenile in concept. Instead, he supported flexibility—the preemptive strike, high-precision weaponry with precision targetting, and "nimble" military units. This is precisely the thinking behind Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's revamping of the U.S. military, which was designed by longtime Pentagon consultant Andrew Marshall, another Wohlstetterite. Wohlstetter rated his scenarios in terms of their death tolls, with the aim of allowing America to come out with the least damage. And, like Russell, while he loved playing with nuclear weapons, Wohlstetter hated civilian nuclear energy: He saw that it had the potential to allow unlimited population growth, which was impermissible in his worldview. Unlike other nuclear strategists and Dr. Strangeloves, Wohlstetter writes relatively clearly, though tediously and exhaustively logically, often using statistical arguments to "prove" his points. He has no understanding of physical economy or of development, just crude cost-benefit analyses. His view of human beings in all this is that of a grade-B cowboy film—good guys versus bad guys, where everything possible must be done to keep control in the hands of his good guys: the financial oligarchy or, as President Eisenhower labelled it, the "military-industrial complex." It is no surprise, therefore, that his prize student, Paul Wolfowitz, wrote his doctoral dissertation under Wohlstetter (published in 1972) arguing at length that nuclear desalination for the Mideast was a very bad idea—costly, unnecessary, and dangerous. A Delicate Balance of Insanity Wohlstetter's first acclaimed paper, published in 1958, was "The Delicate Balance of Terror," which reportedly so enthralled Richard Perle, then a high school chum of Wohlstetter's daughter, that it got Perle started on his "Prince of Darkness" career as a Wohlstetterite. While Wohlstetter was working on Pentagon contracts, calculating kill-ratios of missiles and chessboard missile moves, he developed the argument that civilian nuclear power was no good in itself, that it would only lead to the ability to make nuclear bombs, and that nonproliferation had to be enforced to make sure that bad guys didn't get any nuclear bombs. To put this policy across, he used his mathematical skills to scare people, in classified briefings with military and other government officials, as well as Congressmen, which trickled down to the general public. One of Wohlstetter's last public articles, published on April 4, 1995, by his longtime neo-con friend Robert Bartley, editor of the Wall Street Journal, argued that the Non-Proliferation Treaty was bad, because it makes it easier for nations without nuclear weapons to gain access to them—using plutonium produced in civilian nuclear reactors. "It has long been plain that plutonium for electric power has a large negative value. The civilian benefits are a myth. The military dangers are real and immediate." This is the essence of what Wohlstetter promoted in the 1960s and 1970s. He created the myth that civilian benefits of nuclear energy "are a myth." As the Wall Street Journal identification of Wohlstetter stated in the 1995 op-ed, he "headed the 1975 study that led the U.S. to abandon the use of plutonium fuel for civilain power reactors." Atoms for War In the 1960s, when the civilian nuclear program was still moving forward under the philosophy of Atoms for Peace, launched by President Eisenhower in his famous 1953 speech at the United Nations, Wohlstetter pushed his "atoms for war" policy. While FDR Democrats and Republicans were elaborating visions of what the atom could do for peace in the world, providing energy, desalinated water, and process heat for industry, Wohlstetter marshalled his math to stop civilian atoms. In 1967, Wohlstetter was the invited luncheon speaker at a Manhattan Project 25th anniversary event at the University of Chicago. He told the assembled nuclear scientists that there were no short-term civilian benefits to nuclear energy. The scientists who created the bomb, he said, wanted to find compensatory benefits for humankind for their wartime creation of destruction. But, he said, "Some of these civilian uses have a large war potential.... [T]here is a massive overlap between the technology of civilian nuclear energy and that of weapons production. The good military atom therefore doesn't displace the bad military one. Expanding civilian use in general makes it easier, quicker, and cheaper to get bombs.... An essential trouble with nuclear plowshares, therefore, is that they can be beaten into nuclear swords...." Wohlstetter noted that the nuclear energy forecast in 1967 envisioned that by 1980, nuclear would supply 25% of U.S. electricity, with large reactors at costs competitive with electricity from fossil fuels. And then this "genius" informed the nuclear scientists: "Nonetheless it has been clear that such important benefits fall short of ushering in the golden age. They will not abolish want and are unlikely to reduce the great inequalities between rich and poor countries." As to why this was the case, Wohlstetter noted that energy costs are just a small percentage of the gross national product, and "cheap energy can help, but is not the key to economic progress." Wohlstetter was particularly concerned that the Middle East remain free of nuclear power plants to desalt water, and to convey to his scientist audience that poor countries would not be able to gain from capital-intensive power reactors. As for breeder reactors, Wohlstetter's view was only negative. Instead of seeing the benefit of a reactor that produced more fuel than it consumed, he said that if breeder reactors came into operation as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission expected by 2000, "there may be a million bombs worth of civilian plutonium in the world, doubling every ten years." Incessantly Negative As negative as was this 1967 speech, it was short, and at least mentioned that in the long-range future, nuclear energy might have some benefit. In Wohlstetter's 1975 report, "Moving Toward Life in a Nuclear Armed Crowd?" the message is incessantly negative—for 286 pages. This report was prepared for the U.S. Arms Control and Disarmament Agency "to provide a clear definition of trends in the spread of nuclear technology, and a precise analysis of the problems (political, military, and economic) that these trends pose for policy." Wohlstetter and his co-authors presented a statistical Mickey Mouse economic analysis of nuclear energy, which was designed to prove that civilian nuclear power is too costly, that reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is not essential and a money loser, that breeder reactors are too dangerous even to be seriously considered, and that nuclear energy retards development in the developing sector. In these pages is everything the anti-nuclear environmentalists and lawmakers could draw on to make sure that Wohlstetter got his anti-nuclear way. The overriding argument for Wohlstetter was that civilian nuclear energy can only be meaningfully measured in bomb-production capacity. The report particularly targetted the Less Developed Countries (LDCs). "Investment in nuclear energy is a poor choice among alternatives for the economic development for the LDCs," the report stated. "It diverts capital from more productive uses.... [I]nstead of speeding economic development and slowing the spread of military technology, as we had hoped for decades, the subsidized transfer of nuclear technology has slowed development and may speed the spread." For Wohlstetter et al., the benefits of nuclear energy were "exaggerated" because of the emotions connected to the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "In fact," the report stated, "if we could have detached ourselves" from these emotions, "we might have more easily questioned that subsidizing civilian nuclear energy was the way to stop the spread of the military technology. Since civilian and miltary nuclear energy programs overlap so extensively, a more plausible course might have been to subsidize research and development on the improvement of fossil fuels or of more exotic non-nuclear alternatives such as solar electric or geothermal power." Taking note of the nuclear optimism still in operation, the Wohlstetter report listed the projections for civilian nuclear plants in the 1990s, and then offered suggestions of how such growth could be derailed—exactly what occurred. "This large growth is not inevitable," the report stated. "It presumes the carrying through of plans, negotiations, and constructions not yet committed and of varying degrees of firmness; some have had setbacks. The growth, moreover, is open to influence, a subject for the elaboration of policy of supplier as well as recipient governments." Wohlstetter's pessimism was unflagging. The report reiterated in every section how "nuclear power promises very limited economic benefits to less developed countries." "In all likelihood," the report wishfully stated, "history will reveal that once again the nuclear optimists have greatly overestimated the future growth of nuclear power." And another favorite theme: "Every time a new country obtains a nuclear power reactor, it is moving significantly closer to a nuclear weapon development capability, since the plutonium produced by all nuclear reactors can be made into nuclear weapons." Like Wohlstetter's tediously exhaustive strategic analyses, this report reviewed every aspect of how every country might be able to make bombs with their civilian nuclear reactors, and what might be done to constrain this. The main constraints from the Wohlstetter point of view were simple: stop nuclear technology, stop reprocessing, don't even think about breeder reactors, load on the statistics equating power plants with bombs, and don't mention any new technology development. His constraints worked. From this evil-minded Russellite neo-con, who remained in the shadows, came the antinuclear policies that have kept nuclear technology suppressed for 30 or more years. ***************************************************************** 19 NRC: NRC Invites the Public to Submit Nominations for the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards News Release - 2006-03 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001 E-mail: No. 06-036 March 20, 2006 The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking qualified candidates for its Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (ACRS), which provides the Commission with independent expert advice on the safety of existing and proposed nuclear facilities, and the adequacy of proposed reactor safety standards. The ACRS also provides advice related to the integration of safety and security at commercial reactors. At present, the committee is focusing on risk-informed and performance-based regulations; license renewal applications; power uprates; and the use of mixed oxide and high burn-up fuels. The committee is also increasing its emphasis on new reactor designs and technologies. ACRS members are drawn from a variety of engineering and scientific disciplines, and serve a four-year term with the possibility of reappointment for an additional two terms. At this time, the NRC is seeking individuals with at least 10 years of experience in such areas as: thermal hydraulics, materials and metallurgy, plant operations, severe accident analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, design engineering, digital instrumentation and control, or nuclear analysis. Candidates should have a demonstrated record of accomplishments in nuclear reactor safety; those with pertinent graduate-level education will receive additional consideration. It is the NRCs policy to select the best qualified applicant for the job, regardless of race, gender, age, religion, or any other non-merit factor. Consistent with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act, the NRC seeks candidates with varying views and diverse backgrounds so that ACRS membership is balanced. Conflict-of-interest regulations restrict the participation of members actively involved in regulated aspects of the nuclear industry, so the degree and nature of any such involvement will be weighed. Each qualified candidates financial interests must be reconciled with federal and NRC rules and regulations prior to final appointment. This might require divestiture of securities issued by nuclear industry entities, or the discontinuance of industry-funded research contracts or grants. A security background investigation for a Q clearance (or the transfer of an up-to-date Q clearance) is also required. Candidates must be citizens of the United States and be able to devote from 80 to 100 days per year to ACRS business. Applicants should send a resumé describing their educational and professional background including any special accomplishments; professional references, current address and telephone number should also be included. Resumés are being accepted on an ongoing basis throughout 2006. They should be sent to: Sherry Meador, ACRS/ACNW, Mail Stop T2E-26, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 or by e-mail to . Last revised Monday, March 20, 2006 ***************************************************************** 20 Platts: The UK taxpayers faces a "large and uncertain liability" London (Platts)--20Mar2006 The UK taxpayers faces a "large and uncertain liability" due to the government's 2002 bailout of British Energy, the National Audit Office said today. The government's Department of Trade and Industry took over responsibility for meeting some of British Energy's nuclear liabilities, re- estimated last month at almost 5.3 billion pounds (US$9.3 billion). The department set up a system whereby British Energy contributes about two-thirds of its cash flow each year to pay off these liabilities, which means more money for the fund when the company is doing well. If the current high UK wholesale electricity price persists, said the audit office, the liabilities' fund will benefit "at a level higher than the most optimistic scenarios considered by the department" during British Energy's restructuring between 2002 and 2005. However, much depends on the company's future financial performance, the audit office warned. Such uncertainty "places a significant risk in the hands of the taxpayer," it said. The report is at For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 21 UPI: UPI Energy Watch: Russia's floating nuclear plants poses risks (+3) United Press International - Energy - 3/20/2006 1:51:00 PM -0500 By ANDREA R. MIHAILESCU UPI Energy Correspondent Rosenergoatom, which runs Russia's 10 nuclear power stations, has drafted a plan to construct six or seven floating nuclear reactors to provide electricity to distant Arctic areas, despite safety ongoing. The state-owned nuclear-power generation monopoly plans to launch the first such reactor in three years, Stanislav Antipov, head of Rosenergoatom, said. The Sevmash plant is under construction in the Arkhangelsk region in the northwestern part of Russia, Antipov said. While the cost to build the plant is over $200 million, the financing issue has yet to be determined. Russia hopes to attract state financing to cover some of the costs. But such plans have stirred fear of nuclear contamination to the people and marine life of Arctic regions, say environmentalists who also cite increased terrorism risk. Greenpeace Russia and Norway-based Bellona Foundation say accidents are likely, and would cause contamination, while sending a radioactive cloud into the air. "Any accident would lead to the pollution of sea as well as air, affect very fragile marine eco-systems, and the indigenous population, whose lifeblood is fishing," Bellona's Charles Digges told Edie, an environmental news agency. "The weather in these areas is extraordinarily unpredictable, in the winters waves can go up to 10 or 20 meters." Antipov dismissed environmentalists' concerns, saying high safety standards would be enforced at the floating reactors. Russia intends to build two new reactors annually until 2030 to increase the share of nuclear energy in Russia's electricity generation from 16 percent to 25 percent. Russia also wants to sell floating nuclear reactors to Southeast Asian countries. -0- Canadian firm to drill in South China Sea Canadian company Husky Energy said it plans to drill an oil well in the South China Sea at the end of April, local reports said. Husky and the China National Offshore Oil Corp. agreed in 2002 that exploration would be divided into three phases in deepwater blocks. Under the agreement, CNOOC will hold a 51 percent stake in the project, while Husky will drill one well in each phase and finance expenditures during the exploration period. The two sides hope to complete drilling in 45 days; drilling was supposed to begin last December but was delayed due to a lack of deepwater drilling machines. "We hope to find oil here. And if we do, more companies would come to the region," China's Xinhua cited a Husky official as saying. The South China Sea has seen a growth in deepwater oil exploration projects over the past several years. As the largest offshore oil company, CNOOC Ltd. President Zhou Shouwei said the company has listed deepwater exploration as a major strategy in the next five years. CNOOC has already signed several other deepwater cooperation agreements with foreign investors and hopes to sign more soon, Zhou said. -0- Shell to increase presence in Russia Royal Dutch/Shell looks to broaden its presence in Russia with the development of a third project in Russia after its Sakhalin-2 liquefied natural gas development investment. "I would like to significantly increase our business in Russia, both on Sakhalin and in Western Siberia, as well as on a potential third platform," said Chris Finlayson, president of Shell in Russia. "I think that this will be a platform located in a remote area and requiring a good technological base, probably in the Arctic area," Finlayson said. Shell has expressed an interest in developing gas production and liquefaction projects on the Arctic seabed, despite the doubling of expenditures on the Sakhalin-2 project to $20 billion. "There are many undiscovered fields in Russia and the time when it is necessary to transit from the exploration phase to the development phase is rapidly approaching," he said. Current licenses, however, on the Arctic seabed belong mostly to Russian gas giant Gazprom. Shell may be eligible to participate in one of the Arctic projects. "Government officials have announced that offshore projects will be developed with participation of international investors," Valery Nesterov, an official of the Troika Dialog investment company, was quoted as saying. "Gazprom may become the most likely partner of Shell because the companies are going to cooperate on Sakhalin." -0- Gazprom, Indian firms to cooperate on gas projects Russian gas giant Gazprom and India's GAIL and ONGC plan to hold talks to discuss joint efforts on the exploration, development, transportation, processing and sale of oil and gas in India and Russia, Gazprom said in a statement Friday. Gazprom's Deputy CEO Alexander Medvedev and India's Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dinsha Patel held preliminary talks and agreed to establish a working group that would meet soon. The two officials also discussed possible supplying Russian gas to India and agreed to continue dialogue, Gazprom said. India said it is interested in Russia's participation in the construction of the pipeline carrying Iranian gas to India, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said after talks with his Russian counterpart, Mikhail Fradkov. "I hope Russia will be able to find a place in this project," Singh said. India imports natural gas from Iran and Bangladesh, while Qatar meets much of India's liquefied natural gas needs. India has proven natural gas reserves of 920 billion cubic meters as of January 2005, making it the fifth-largest country in the Asia-Pacific region in terms of the amount of gas reserves. -- Closing oil prices, March 20, 3 p.m. London Brent crude oil: $64.66 West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $64.98-- (Please send comments to AMihailescu@upi.com) © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 22 Independent: Hain breaks ranks to oppose nuclear power By Ben Russell, Political Correspondent Published: 20 March 2006 Peter Hain has warned of his concerns about a new generation of nuclear power stations, insisting that it would be "significantly preferable" to move toward renewable power. He became the first cabinet opponent of nuclear power to break ranks in public, arguing that new nuclear power stations would have "vast" implications for security and unknown costs. His comments contradict Tony Blair, who signalled his support for nuclear energy at the Labour Party conference, singling out nuclear power as an alternative to Britain's reliance on "unstable" regimes for its energy supplies. Mr Hain makes his views clear in an article for the Socialist Environment Resources Association (Sera), a green group affiliated to the Labour Party which boasts support from nearly 60 MPs. The article for the association's magazine New Ground argues the nuclear energy "must be on the table" but expresses deep concerns about security and costs. He writes that renewable energy "is significantly preferable to the widely advocated 'nuclear option'. While everything must be on the table during the review, serious concerns must remain about nuclear: the financial costs are impossible to estimate, security implications are vast, its label as 'clean' is unwarranted as uranium enrichment is carbon-emitting and we rely on other nations for its supply." "Our failure to take the tough decisions on alternative sources of energy in the past has left us now facing this option. If we are faced with no choice but to go down this route, then we must at the same time make a similar commitment to renewables that ensures future generations do not face the same dilemma." The Government's energy review, due to be published in June, is widely expected to announce a new nuclear programme. Mr Blair is facing growing opposition in Labour ranks with an influential Labour green group that counts dozens of MPs among its members, warning ministers not to press ahead with the nuclear option when they publish the results of the Government's energy review. Alan Johnson, the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, and Malcolm Wicks, the Energy minister, will brief MPs on the review today. But they will face scepticism from Labour MPs, many of whom believe Mr Blair has already decided to commission a new generation of nuclear power stations. Opposition to such a move was also fuelled by the government's Sustainable Development Commission which said new nuclear power stations were not the answer to climate change or problems with the security of supply. A submission to the review by Sera, whose members also include the cabinet ministers Margaret Beckett, Charles Clarke, Ian McCartney and David Miliband, argues strongly against any new nuclear building programme, saying such a policy "cannot be part of a progressive energy policy". Further criticism of the proposal will come from a study by Labour MPs opposed to new nuclear power stations due to be published later this month. One of its authors, Colin Challen, the MP for Morley and Rothwell, said: "On the Labour benches there are more against it than for it. My view is that nuclear energy poses a great threat to our ability to deal with climate change. It would almost inevitably force out alternatives." Alan Simpson, a member of the Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, said: "Nuclear is likely to turn out to be the last of Blair's catastrophic misjudgements." Meanwhile, the Conservatives called on the Government to press ahead with replacing Britain's ageing nuclear deterrent. Liam Fox, the shadow defence secretary, said Trident must be replaced when it comes to the end of its life. © 2006 Independent News and Media Limited ***************************************************************** 23 NRC: Florida Power and Light Company; Notice of Withdrawal of FR Doc E6-3978 [Federal Register: March 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 53)] [Notices] [Page 14017] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20mr06-54] Application for Amendment to Facility Operating License The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) has granted the request of Florida Power and Light Company (the licensee) to withdraw its March 22, 2005, application for proposed amendment to Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-31 and DPR-41 for the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 3 and 4, located in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The proposed amendment would have revised the Technical Specifications pertaining to the Reactor Protection System functional units. Specifically, the steam/feedwater flow mismatch coincident with steam generator water level--low reactor trip would be deleted, the reactor trip on turbine trip interlock would be changed from P-7 to P- 8, and the value of the P-8 interlock setpoint would be changed from 45 percent rated thermal power (RTP) to 40 percent RTP. The Commission had previously issued a Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendment published in the Federal Register on May 10, 2005 (70 FR 24651). However, by letter dated January 25, 2006, the licensee withdrew the proposed change. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated March 22, 2005, and the licensee's letter dated January 25, 2006, which withdrew the application for license amendment. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible electronically from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management Systems (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/html. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or 301-415-4737 or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of February 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Brendan T. Moroney, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-2, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-3978 Filed 3-17-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 24 ITAR-TASS: Russia nuke agency chief to inspect NPP construction in China 20.03.2006, 01.40 LIANYUNGANG, China, March 18 (Itar-Tass) - The head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency (Rosatom), Sergei Kiriyenko, will discuss prospects of cooperation in the field of nuclear power engineering with Chinese officials during his Monday’s visit to the construction site of the Tianwan nuclear power plant. According to his press secretary Sergei Novokov, Kiriyenko is also scheduled to meet with the leadership of China’s JNP Corp. The Tianwan nuclear power plant is being built with technical assistance of Russia. This facility in the Lianyungang city in the east of the country is the largest object of economic cooperation between China and Russia and the largest among all NPPs that are currently under construction in China. Russian specialists are building two power-generating units equipped with Russia-made VVER-1000 reactors. The first one is planned to be put into operation this summer, the second – in December 2006. Russia intends to take part in the tenders for building the third and the fourth units of the NPP. © ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy, ***************************************************************** 25 NorthJersey.com: Nuclear plant foes see bias in regulators North Jersey Media Group Monday, March 20, 2006 By BOB IVRY STAFF WRITER Critics of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant say the license renewal process is rigged. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that rules on re-licensing, has allied itself with the utility that owns the plant in opposing petitions by the state and a citizens group for public hearings on safety and security issues at Oyster Creek. The regulatory agency shouldn't take sides, the critics say. The NRC insists its review process is thorough. "NRC lawyers have fought tooth and nail to stop our petition," said Richard Webster of the Rutgers Environmental Law Clinic, which represents the citizen group. "The NRC's basic mind-set is they're already dealing with everything that needs to be dealt with during the plant's operations -- the regulations are perfect -- so there's nothing left to talk about when you get to re-licensing." A renewal of the license would extend the operation of the nation's oldest commercial reactor to 2029. Opponents also charge that the NRC's criteria for granting the license to Exelon, the company that operates Oyster Creek, are too narrow. The NRC considers two factors: The environmental impact of the plant and the utility's ability to manage the aging of plant components. The same rules apply to all nuclear plants. "We need to expand the scope of the NRC license review," said Brick Township Mayor Joseph Scarpelli. "They don't discuss a possible terrorist attack or evacuation procedures with an expanding population surrounding the plant." Scarpelli has petitioned the NRC to change re-licensing rules to include those factors, among others. So has Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano, whose constituency includes the two Indian Point nuclear reactors, located 15 miles north of the New Jersey border. "Life has changed in Westchester County since Indian Point came in," said Susan Tolchin, senior adviser to Spano. "Would you license this plant in this place knowing about the increased population and how the evacuation plan can't protect the citizens of this county? We want the NRC to look at those factors, which they don't normally look at." The chance of the NRC changing its re-licensing procedure based on those petitions is near zero, experts say. So the next step for both Scarpelli and Spano: Complain to Congress. "We want Congress to take a more hands-on approach," Scarpelli said. "Twenty-one of the 33 municipalities in Ocean County have passed resolutions against license renewal. The entire freeholder board as well as the congressmen who represent the county have signed on as well. So we're all on board in Ocean County. We just have to get Washington on board." The NRC has approved all 39 license renewal applications that utilities have submitted, said NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan. Another 12, including Oyster Creek, are under review, he said. Those statistics obscure the complex and interactive nature of the license renewal process, Sheehan said. "It's not as if every application has sailed through the process," he said. "Utilities have to do a lot of homework before they submit a re-licensing application, and once they do, there's a lot of back and forth between them and the NRC staff. We're always asking them to tell us more, so by the time they get to the end of the process, many of the issues have been resolved." That's also the reasoning behind the NRC taking the side of the utilities when third parties, like citizen groups and the state of New Jersey, challenge their renewal applications, Sheehan said. "It's not unusual for the NRC staff to oppose interveners' contentions because once a license renewal application is accepted by the NRC for review, the company typically has dealt with most of the key technical issues," Sheehan said in an e-mail message. If that's the case, it's the duty of the NRC staff to intervene if the petitioners' contentions don't meet the legal requirements for a public hearing, Sheehan said. Utilities typically spend two years or more to complete their re-licensing applications, and it's not cheap. Costs can climb to $25 million for all the research, testing and communication with the NRC, said Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, an industry group. Even with the expense, Kerekes said, from the viewpoint of the nuclear industry, "the re-licensing process is a thorough and reasonable one." Jim Steets, a spokesman for Entergy, which runs Indian Point, said security issues are addressed on an ongoing basis and need not be part of re-licensing criteria. "We don't wait until re-licensing to update security at the plant and our emergency response capabilities," Steets said. "Those things are examined and updated continuously. We have to demonstrate every year that our plans are current." As for Spano's charge that Indian Point would never be built today at its current Westchester location, so the NRC shouldn't grant a license extension, Steets said that's a "political argument." "There's no merit to that argument on safety grounds or from a regulatory viewpoint," Steets said. "His implication is it would be unsafe there. I'm saying I wouldn't try to build one there, but not because it's unsafe. It's because it wouldn't be politically possible. From a safety standpoint, there's no reason not to build it there." Steets said Entergy is "strongly leaning toward" applying for 20-year license renewals for Indian Point 2 and 3, whose current licenses expire in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Utilities can apply for extensions anytime, but they usually begin the process at least five years before a plant's license expires. A three-judge panel of the Atomic Safety Licensing Board ruled last month in favor of a citizen group's petition for a public hearing on an alleged weakness in a critical metal barrier in the Oyster Creek facility. Both the NRC and Exelon are appealing that decision. At the same time, the judges rejected three challenges by the state Department of Environmental Protection. The state said it would file an appeal. The deadline to do so is March 28. "It's no fun to be on the [plaintiff's] side," said David Lochbaum of the watchdog group Union of Concerned Scientists. "I've done it several times, and it's daunting. You're up against the high-powered D.C. lawyers who work for the company and the entire 86-lawyer entourage of the NRC. It's tough when they're both always against you. It would be nice to have it one-on-one instead of two-on-one." E-mail: ivry@northjersey.com Copyright © 2006 North Jersey Media Group Inc. Copyright Infringement Notice User Agreement &Privacy Policy ***************************************************************** 26 PRWeb: Bush Administration Nuclear Energy Initiative Hampered 2006-03-20 Labor and equipment turmoil in uranium mining sector could slow down nuclear power plant expansion. Sarasota, FL (PRWEB) March 20, 2006 -- Over 18 months ago, Russian physicist Dr. Dzhakishev warned the World Nuclear Association at an annual symposium, One day nuclear power plants will face a natural uranium shortage and it is not necessary to be a prophet to foresee this. He advised action, saying, The key to the solution of the major problems of the uranium market lies with the development of the potential of the uranium producers. The shortage has arrived with uranium spot prices now trading at levels last seen when Jimmy Carter was President. Instead of celebrating, uranium exploration, development and production companies are now hampered by widespread labor and equipment shortages through the sector. Industry insider, Wyoming legislator and president of Strathmore Minerals (TSX: STM; Other OTC: STHJF), a uranium development company, David Miller told StockInterview.com, A very small number of professionals continued in the uranium industry, during the twenty-year bear market. Now that the number of uranium companies has skyrocketed to more than 420, there is a potentially catastrophic shortage of uranium expertise. The overheated commodities bull market since 2001 is causing a crisis throughout the mining industry. For example, the Baker Hughes North American rotary rig stood at 1546 on March 17th, up 316 percent from its nadir seven years ago and nearly twenty percent higher than a year ago. Ed Calvert, who runs Nucor Drilling Inc in Wyoming, told StockInterview.com, There just arent any rigs available in the U.S. You may find one, but its a problem finding the right rig at the right time. David Michaud, president of TheJobPit.com, told StockInterview.com, Headhunters who have been around for twenty years say theyve never seen a market like this. For the past ten years, the mining industry fed mining graduates to the wolves. Now they need them. He added, Mining companies have to expect the demand for professionals, such as production geologists, will go up with the price of metals. To read the entire feature, entitled, Rising Commodity Prices Causing New Turmoil through the Mining Sector, please visit the Internet news website, StockInterview.com, For More Information, Contact: Julie Ickes Editor, StockInterview.com Tel: 1-941-929-1640 (SOURCE: StockInterview.com) © Copyright 1997-2005, PRWeb™. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 27 Tillsonburg News: Nuclear power an expensive red herring Tillsonburg, ON March 20, 2006 Tillsonburg, ON, N4G 4H6 Phone: (519) 688-6397 Fax: (519) 842-3511 Science Matters By David Suzuki The Tillsonburg News — Wouldn't it be great if there were an easy answer to the problem of climate change? And wouldn't it be great if we could solve our electricity needs at the same time? Yes, it would be, but wishful thinking won't solve these complex problems. And neither will nuclear power. Last week, the UK's Sustainable Development Commission urged British Prime Minister Tony Blair to reject building new nuclear reactors as an option to meet electricity demand and slow climate change. Instead, the commission recommended an aggressive expansion of energy efficiency programs and renewable energy. The commission based its decision on eight new research papers. Together, these papers led commission members to conclude that although nuclear power is a low-carbon technology with a good safety record in the UK, the benefits are outweighed by serious disadvantages. These include: the "disposal" of radioactive waste; the high cost of reactors; the inflexibility of depending on a few large-scale power plants; the issue of relying on constantly increasing energy supply, rather than reducing demand and concerns over security. This conclusion stands in stark contrast to one provided to the Province of Ontario by the Ontario Power Authority, which recommends that the province spend $35 billion of taxpayers' money to subsidize new nuclear reactors. Why such different takes on a similar problem? Unlike the UK analysis, the Ontario Power report both overestimates growth of electricity demand and underestimates the potential for efficiency and conservation. It also underestimates the potential of renewable power sources, and overstates the reliability of nuclear power while downplaying the associated costs. In short, it fails to actually analyze what caused the current electricity crisis in Ontario. Without that analysis, the province is setting itself up to repeat the same mistakes again. In the 1970s, Ontario based its energy future on nuclear power. However, those reactors suffered from serious and lengthy breakdowns leading to billion-dollar repair bills, not to mention an electricity gap that necessitate stoking up the smog-producing furnaces of the province's coal-fired power plants - fueled by coal brought in from the U.S. And then there was the cost. Escalating construction costs, over-runs and reliability problems took the shine off nuclear reactors by the late 1970s. Still, Ontario Hydro pressed on through the 1980s - and built the western world's largest nuclear plant at Darlington. They even managed to exempt it from the province's environmental assessment act. Yet when the electrons were finally flowing, this plant, budgeted at $3.4 billion, had cost nearly $15 billion. Proponents of nuclear power portray it as a climate saviour - an easy, shrink-wrapped, turn-key solution to global warming. But we've been down this road before and we have Ontario Hydro's nearly $40 billion debt to show for it. Nuclear power may be low-carbon, but it has far too many other costs to justify investing our future in it. What Ontario needs is an electrical system that minimizes the risk of power shortages, unreliable delivery, spiking power prices, financial debt and environmental debt - including a radioactive legacy, smog and greenhouse gases. The cheapest, most effective way to start building that system is to invest in maximizing energy efficiency. Right now, Ontario currently uses 60 per cent more electricity per capita than New York State, so we have a long way to go. But the best part about energy efficiency and conservation is that you don't have to wait a decade or more for it - you can get started now. Contrary to what its proponents would have you believe, nuclear power isn't easy, fast or cheap. You can't pop by Wal-Mart for a discount nuclear reactor and even if you could - would you really want one? Take the Nature Challenge and learn more at www.davidsuzuki.org Proprietor and published by Bowes Publishers Limited at P.O. Box 190, 25 Townline Road, Tillsonburg, Ontario, Canada N4G 4H6 © 2006 Tillsonburg News ***************************************************************** 28 HometownAnnapolis.com: Nuclear power could be dominant source of energy By ELIZABETH LEIS, Staff Writer In the eyes of nuclear power advocates, consumers face a choice in the next few decades -- get over the abiding fear of nuclear power and accept the sight of 500-foot cooling towers as part of the landscape of Maryland, or else. Or else they'll pay nearly triple today's electric bill. Or else they'll choke on increasing emissions from coal-fired power plants. David Alley sees nuclear energy as clearly the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective solution to meet demand for electricity. "I think commercial nuclear power is the environmental choice for the next decade," said Mr. Alley, president of ANNA, a nuclear power consulting firm based in Annapolis. "We are killing animals and plant life through the burning of fossil fuels." "If we don't do anything, the standard of living will decline." But to others, the problems with nuclear energy are just plain scary. Jeff Gilbert saw the building of a nuclear power plant when he worked as a mechanical engineer for Virginia Power. "It's too complex," he said. "We haven't found any safe way to store nuclear waste. That makes us vulnerable to terrorist activities." The ultimate decision could be the answer to the burning question of the day - what can we do about the prospect of an alarming rise in the price of electricity? For the immediate future, Calvert Cliffs is the only nuclear power plant in Maryland. Visited by President Bush last year, the plant in Lusby is owned by Constellation Energy and produces about 25 percent of the state's business and residential electricity needs, compared to 58 percent for coal. That puts Maryland's nuclear production above the 20 percent the U.S. plants produce as a whole, according to the "Power Plant Research Program's Electricity Fact Book." Mr. Alley, whose company provides architectural and engineering services for the federal government's Idaho Laboratory Reactor Technology Complex, said in the next 30 years, nuclear power production could double to 40 percent nationwide. But residents have to be convinced that the plants are safe. "That fear is the one thing that prevents plants from being built," he said. After spending a lengthy amount of time in and around plants, he said he considers the public to be "inappropriately fearful." Memories of disasters at Three Mile Island and Chernobyl are easy to conjure, but nuclear advocates see the sterling safety record at plants such as Calvert Cliffs as a key to changing public opinion. That's one goal of UniStar Nuclear, an Annapolis-based company that's a joint venture between Constellation Energy and Areva Inc. The company's mission is to build a fleet of nuclear power plants that are more reliable, economic and safer. Co-CEO Michael J. Wallace, an executive vice president of Constellation Energy, said the federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 was a "watershed event." It takes about 10 years for a plant to come online, and the act was the first step in giving incentives for companies to tackle the sticky issue of building the first new plants in 25 years. "The first ones have additional risks," he said. But "nuclear is going to play a significant role in the next two decades." At UniStar, Areva will provide the nuclear reactor and all support systems, the instrumentation and control system and the initial load of nuclear fuel. Areva's U.S. Evolutionary Power Reactor, a 1,600-megawatt plant, is already being built in Finland. One of the reactor's selling points is that it creates a 17 percent savings on uranium consumption for every megawatt produced. If Constellation decides to add this reactor design to Calvert Cliffs, it would nearly double its capacity, Mr. Wallace said. "A nuclear plant is more than just the economic price for uranium," he said. "The plants coming will be able to generate power at a greater capacity." He said he does not anticipate the FPL Group Inc. and Constellation merger to have any impact on UniStar's plans. FPL has its own significant nuclear presence. As for the question of nuclear waste, Mr. Wallace believes Congress and the Bush administration will make dealing with the waste a priority. Charles Acquard, executive director of the National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates, is more skeptical. "Nuclear waste is hot for about 10,000 years," he said. "We have to take care of the waste issue. When I mention this to our members, the waste issue comes up real quick." Mr. Alley agreed high-level waste does need to be securely stored. "There is no question the federal government has to be deeply involved," he said. Joseph Coates, a consulting futurist, said he thinks nuclear energy is key because of economics - after all, nothing will make people change their attitude more than a massive electricity bill. "I see nuclear and solar dancing hand in hand," he said. "The opposition to nuclear is largely in the minds of people after World War II, because of nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Where are those people now? Walking to their graves. The opposition to nuclear power is literally dying off." Tomorrow: The focus on electricity doesn't mean that the future of gasoline prices is settled. Published March 20, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2006 The Capital, Annapolis, Md. Copyright © 2006 The Capital ***************************************************************** 29 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice FR Doc 06-2714 [Federal Register: March 20, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 53)] [Notices] [Page 14017-14018] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr20mr06-55] Date: Week of March 13, 2006. Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland. Status: Public and Closed. Additional Matters to be Considered Week of March 13, 2006 Friday, March 17, 2006 9 a.m.--Briefing by Executive Branch (closed--ex. 1). * * * * * *The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on short notice. To verify the status of meetings call (recording)--(301) 415- 1292. Contact person for more information: Michelle Schroll, (301) 415- 1662. * * * * * Addition Information: By a vote of 5-0 on March 13 and 14, 2006, the Commission determined pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and 9.107(a) of the Commission's rules that ``Briefing by Executive Branch (closed--ex. 1)'' be held March 17, 2006, and on less than one week's notice to the public. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the Internet at: http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. * * * * * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator, Deborah Chan, at 301-415-7041, TDD: 301-415-2100, or be e-mail at DLC@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis. * * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like to be added to the distribution, please [[Page 14018]] contact the Office of the Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415- 1969). In addition, distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: March 14, 2006. R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary. [FR Doc. 06-2714 Filed 3-16-06; 2:27 pm] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M ***************************************************************** 30 WebWire: Nortel Government Solutions Delivers E-Government Digital Courtrooms to Nuclear Regulatory Commission March 21, 2006 Nortel Networks MARCH 20, 2006, Nortel Government Solutions has delivered two state-of-the art e-government digital courtrooms to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to help its Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel (ASLBP) simplify conduct of complex adjudicatory proceedings. NRC cases are often exceptionally complex and require ASLBP administrative judges, staff representing the NRC, and other parties to have quick access to a large number of documents. The new digital courtrooms, located in Rockville, Md. and Las Vegas, address this by providing electronic evidence presentation, digital audio and video transcripts, and electronic capture and display of evidence. This enables immediate electronic access to documents, and live video and audio feeds to ensure the widest possible public access to NRC proceedings. Due for introduction in upcoming cases as judges and attorneys are trained, the digital courtrooms from Nortel Government Solutions are designed to aid the ASLBP with routine cases as well as more complicated proceedings like anticipated hearings on new reactor licenses. They are also expected to help with a potential adjudication regarding a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) license application for a commercial nuclear reactor waste storage facility at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain, located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. This proceeding - over three to four years as called for by Congress - could become one of the largest and most complex administrative hearings in U.S. history. The digital database available to these two courtrooms is capable of storing and providing electronic access to the millions of pages of evidence and thousands of hours of testimony that may accumulate. E-government digital courtroom technology from Nortel Government Solutions has applications for court systems throughout the country in addition to the NRC. "The NRC’s digital courtrooms will serve as a showcase for courtrooms at all levels of government," said Chuck Saffell, chief executive officer, Nortel Government Solutions. "Earlier electronic courtrooms helped organize materials, while others linked audio and video streams. This is the only one to integrate everything into one multimedia system with real-time access to information for all participants." Nortel Government Solutions served as the prime contractor and systems integrator for the NRC, with Media Edge and ExhibitOne providing hardware, software and integration services to the project. Media Edge, a division of Exceptional Software, focuses on the rapidly evolving Internet multimedia market. ExhibitOne is the nation’s leading provider of audiovisual technologies, serving clients around the country in federal, state and enterprise markets. About Nortel Government Solutions Nortel Government Solutions is a network-centric integrator, providing the services expertise, mission-critical systems and secure communications that empower government to ensure the security, livelihood, and well being of its citizens. Headquartered in Fairfax, Va., Nortel Government Solutions offers a one-stop shop for solutions designed to improve workforce productivity, reduce operating costs, and streamline inter-agency communications. Nortel Government Solutions is a U.S. company wholly-owned by Nortel. For more information, visit www.nortelgov.com. About Nortel Nortel is a recognized leader in delivering communications capabilities that enhance the human experience, ignite and power global commerce, and secure and protect the world’s most critical information. Our next-generation technologies, for both service providers and enterprises, span access and core networks, support multimedia and business-critical applications, and help eliminate today’s barriers to efficiency, speed and performance by simplifying networks and connecting people with information. Nortel does business in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit Nortel on the Web at www.nortel.com. For the latest Nortel news, visit www.nortel.com/news. *Nortel, the Nortel logo and the Globemark are trademarks of Nortel Networks. Nortel Government Solutions and the Nortel Government Solutions logo are trademarks of Nortel Government Solutions Incorporated. Nortel Networks www.nortel.com ***************************************************************** 31 UPI: Insurers say risk of WMD terror is low United Press International - Security &Terrorism - 3/20/2006 9:57:00 AM -0500 WASHINGTON, March 20 (UPI) -- The risk of a successful attack by jihadi terrorists with weapons of mass destruction remains low, according to an insurance industry analysis. "The risk is low that terrorists currently have the capability to carry out a devastating attack," says the latest client bulletin from Risk Management Solutions, a firm that provides terrorism risk assessments for major insurance companies. The risk management bulletin says there has been a great increase in the number of jihadi Web postings about chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weaponry -- CBRN for short -- and its use against the United States and other Western nations. More worryingly, the technical accuracy of these discussions -- measured by researchers at the Monterey Institute for International Studies -- has grown over the past year. "However, the main obstacle to conducting destructive CBRN attacks is the difficulty that Islamist militants face in procuring, manufacturing or otherwise acquiring significant CBRN weaponry," says the bulletin. While "instructions, plans or technical knowledge" might be more available, even rudimentary CBRN weapons require resources "well beyond the capabilities" of the current "fragmented and self-organizing" jihadi networks, the analysis says. © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 32 [du-list] Scott Ritter on depleted uranium (the schmuck) Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:50:56 -0800 I'm a great admirer of Scott Ritter's courage in speaking the truth about Iraq's non-existent weapons of mass destruction, and his fury that the US invaded Iraq on false pretenses. But he loses my sympathy when it comes to DU weapons. I believe the following is a true quote, because he said something much the same to me when I asked him about DU in Washington DC at a recent book-signing. If anyone knows how to write to Scott Ritter, please tell me? Ellen Thomas From "Think Beyond Impeachment, Says Former U.N. Weapons Inspector", 3/13/06 - http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=530522 >When asked about the dangers of depleted uranium radiation from U.S. weapons, Ritter, a U.S. Marine who served 12 years, unapologetically answered that he looked at the issue from the standpoint of a Marine in the heat of battle. “You put me in charge of a couple hundred Marines, and we’re dug in and a T80 Battle Tank comes over. I don’t want to fight an equal fight. I don’t want him anywhere close to me. I’m going to open up a 120 millimeter Battle Tank gun with continued depleted uranium rounds that will carve up that tank like a hot knife through butter and kill everyone inside before they can even come close to me,” said Ritter, who served as a ballistic missile advisor to Gen. Norman Schwartzkopf during the first Gulf War. “I love DU!” he added. “I want to be able to use it on my 20 millimeter Bushmaster, on my LAB25, so it’ll cut through T62 tanks. Why? I don’t want an equal fight, ladies and gentlemen. You send me to war, and I’ll kill the enemy. I’m going to slaughter them! I’m going to eviscerate them! I’m going to annihilate them! And I’m going to do it in a way that brings all my Marines home or at least as many of them as I can. THAT’S—MY—JOB! My job is to wage war, not make the world lovey dovey. You click on the “on” switch on, it’s going on, and I’m going to them, and you better give me the weapons to do the job. “And you better understand that when you give me those weapons, and I use those weapons, there are repercussions. When I pull that trigger on a DU weapon I’m creating conditions that are harmful to American service members. I’m creating conditions that are harmful to innocent civilians that have to live in that area. If you don’t want that, don’t send me to war.”< To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. ***************************************************************** 33 Bellona: Alaska experiences worst oil pipeline leak in its history—final damage still not tallied MURMANSK—A rusty and corroded oil pipeline along Alaska’s northern coast near Prudhoe Bay sprung a leak earlier this month, constituting Alaska’s largest oil pipeline accident on record, and dumping some million litres of crude oil into the north Arctic Ocean. The oil spill near Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. AP Anna Kireeva, 2006-03-20 12:32 Translated by Charles Digges Oily spots where noticed in early March, but the scale of the accident is only recently being ascertained and could grow considerable by the time the final figures are in. ”There have been two spills recently due to corrosion of the feeder pipelines on Alaska's North Slope. The larger spill was more than 200,000 gallons [760,000 litres]. We still don't know the size of the smaller spill,” said John Devens, executive director the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council. Devens was previously the mayor of Valdez, in southern Alaska when the infamous Exxon Valdez set sail from the Valdez oil terminal and collided with a reef in 1989, leading to the most serious oil spill and ecological catastrophe at sea on record. According to researchers, the consequences of the Exxon Valdez spill sharply reduced the population of native fish life, including humpback salmon, and the restoration of a range of sensitive ecosystem will take at least 30 years. A court decision forced Exxon to pay $4.5 billion in compensation. John Devins, executive director of the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council. Rashid Alimov/Bellona Devens noted that, at the time, the foot-dragging response to the accident by Exxon led Valdez residents to think they had been cheated by the oil-giant. But literate societal action and pressure on the city administration force the oil company to make a number of concessions. Directly following the Valdez accident, the Citizens’ Advisory Council was created, which directed the actions of the oil companies. The Council is financed by money earmarked for the purpose by oil companies operating in Alaska. Devins said that the pipeline on which this most recent accident occurred is already 30 years old. “The lines are 30 years old and cause us concern about what else is going wrong with the system,” he said. The Citizen’s Advisory Council of Prince William Sound The Citizens’ Advisory Council has 18 member organisations, representing groups affected by the Exxon Valdez catastrophe, including environmentalists, cultural groups, as well as fishermen and tourism groups. The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council The Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council has 18 members consisting of groups impacted by the 1989 Exxon Valdez catastrophe, and includes among its number environmentalists, cultural organisations, as well as fishermen and tourist agencies. Many observers say that the pipeline spill and the Exxon Valdez crisis, the two worst oil accidents to happen in the Arctic Region, cast a very poor light on the Bush Administration’s plans to expand pipelines in Alaska and to drill the Alaskan National Wildlife Preservation. The reasons behind the accident According to local officials, the source of the current pipeline leak was a tear caused by internal corrosion in the pipeline, which is operated by the Alaskan office of British Petroleum (BP). The pipeline has a series of special leak detectors. But despite the elaborate system, no one can as yet pin-point the time that the spill began. It was only discovered on March 2nd, after which the pipeline was shut down and the leak repaired. BP will carry out an investigation during which it will determine if the leak detection system was working properly when the leak arose. “We still have a lot of work ahead of us,” said Dan Larson of BP to American news agencies. The scale of the leak According to environmentalists’ calculations, crude oil is covering a hectare of snowy tundra. “I can confirm that this is the largest spill of crude oil on the northern slope [of Alaska] of all that we have recorded,” Linda Giguere of Alaska’s Environmental Department told the associated press. Her calculations on the scale of the spill are based on measurements taken only a few days after the accident around the spot of the rupture on the pipeline, she said. As the region where the spill took place is thinly populated, there is little risk to residents. The accident took place along the Northern coast of Alaska, some 1,040 kilometres north of Anchorage, Alaska’s most populous city. The main problem caused by the accident is the damage done to an enormous feeding territory for birds and other animals that will now have to migrate from the accident site. Cleaning up the accident Accident liquidators are currently working on the site of the spill, but the clean-up is dependent on weather conditions. Strong chills and ice make the oil thicker, which spreads its diffusion over an even larger area. The liquidators have a set goal of gathering at least 90 percent of the spilled crude, according to BP’s Larson. Publisher: Bellona Foundation, President: Frederic Hauge Information: info@bellona.no, Technical contact: webmaster@bellona.no Telephone: +47 23 23 46 00 Telefax: +47 22 38 38 62 * P.O.Box 2141 Grunerlokka, 0505 Oslo, Norway ***************************************************************** 34 AlterNet: Being Like Brockovich By Marina Krakovsky, . Posted March 20, 2006. A campaign to save open space pitted an inexperienced community activist against an aerospace giant, local government, and even some of her former allies. "I've always preferred the freedom of riding alone," Elizabeth Crawford says, taking long, purposeful strides as she shows me where she likes to bring her horse. We're on Ahmanson Ranch, a vast tract of rolling, oak-studded hills bordering Los Angeles and Ventura counties that Crawford helped to preserve. Although the 2,983-acre ranch appears tranquil, the battle over who would control it was nothing short of ferocious. The land had always attracted nature lovers and filmmakers; parts of Gone with the Wind were shot here. More recently, a developer had a different vision: a mini-city of 3,050 luxury homes, two golf courses, retail and office space, schools, and a hotel. Predictably, these plans sparked a fight between the developer--Ahmanson Land Company, owned by the Seattle-based banking giant Washington Mutual--and environmentalists, who wanted to save the wildlife. Like many such conflicts around the country, this one dragged on for years. But when Crawford joined the movement to save the ranch, she learned these acres hid a far more troubling story than anything she'd expected. Before long, Crawford--a third-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do--found herself pitted against formidable opponents, including an aerospace giant, government officials, nearby residents, and even some of the environmentalists who'd once been on her side. In 2001 Crawford was a stay-at-home mother. Always health conscious and outdoorsy, she had rekindled her girlhood passion for horses and taught her three sons to ride at the ranch, which was owned by Washington Mutual but afforded some public access. "I saw a chance to recapture a part of my childhood," she says. She had grown up in Hacienda Heights, about an hour east of Los Angeles, when that area was orchards, fields, and running creeks. "We had endless gallops through the hills," she says. "But in 1971, the bulldozers came, and my friends and I watched, horrified, as they plowed everything down." So when she learned about the plans for the new development, she thought, I couldn't save Hacienda Heights, but I can try to do something about this. She joined the , a well-funded coalition that included several Hollywood activists, one of whom was her husband's boss, HBO president Chris Albrecht. At her second meeting, one word stopped her in her tracks: Rocketdyne. During the Cold War, Rocketdyne (a military contractor that was once a division of North American Aviation and later became part of Rockwell International and then Boeing) had done several groundbreaking government-backed projects, including work on an early nuclear reactor. The then remote location of Rocketdyne's Santa Susana Field Laboratory (SSFL), about two miles from Ahmanson Ranch, must have seemed perfect for such top-secret work. But by the 1990s, L.A.'s sprawl pushed many homes into the shadow of the plant on the hill, Crawford's among them. Before moving to the tonier suburb of Encino in 1996, she'd lived within earshot of Rocketdyne and had often been awakened by mysterious 2am explosions that rattled her windows and sent plumes of bright red smoke into the air. "I knew those detonations weren't kosher, but it was beyond me to find out what, who, why, and so on," she says. Now was her chance. Crawford's assignment from the Rally was to find out whether toxins from Rocketdyne might have contaminated soil and groundwater on the ranch, which would make it unattractive to the developer. Rocketdyne had a frightful safety record--a partial nuclear meltdown in 1959 that experts estimate was on a scale rivaling Three Mile Island's and a 1994 explosion that killed two scientists, for which the company pleaded guilty to illegal storing and dumping of hazardous waste and was fined $6.5 million. Dozens of former employees and local residents have blamed Rocketdyne for their cancers and other illnesses. "I had no experience, so I was just a pair of hands the Rally could assign a small responsibility," Crawford says. "My orders were to assemble a file in case they needed it." The Rally introduced her to Mary Wiesbrock, the activist who'd spearheaded the fight against the development since 1989. Wiesbrock led her to the law offices of Masry &Vititoe, the firm made famous by Erin Brockovich; they had once filed suit against Rocketdyne for offsite toxic contamination and continued to track SSFL's effect on the area. They thought Crawford might be helped by reading their documents. She was ill prepared to understand them. "I'm a mom, I ride horses, and I'm trying to save some trees so my kids have a place to go riding when they grow up," she says. "Next thing I know, I'm looking at groundwater reports, maps, and flowcharts, and I have no idea what they mean." But with help from her friend Daniel Hirsch, the president of a nuclear watchdog group, she made sense of a key document, a report Ahmanson Land Company had commissioned on six shallow samples of soil. "They found radioactivity, but they never put that into the public record," Crawford says. She thought this damaging evidence would soon halt the development. Wishful thinking. When Crawford first testified before Ventura County's planning board in early 2002, she was ridiculed with "Now a mom from Encino is an expert." Undeterred, she started interviewing former Rocketdyne employees. "It was horrific what these people told me," she says. For instance, one ex-worker recalled toxic waste rotting in barrels under the sun. "But the more evidence I found, the less anybody wanted to hear," Crawford says. "I was astonished at who was opposing me." Some nearby residents, though at first concerned about their own health risks, turned against her because they worried about property values. Most shocking were the handful of local environmentalists who asked her to back off. They had hoped to persuade the state to buy back the ranch--but they feared that wouldn't happen if it turned out to be seriously contaminated. During the worst of the struggle, Crawford wavered between public bravado and private despair, often crying herself to sleep. "But I just kept remembering those nights living right next door to Rocketdyne," she says. "I grew my babies inside me while those people were burning their hazardous waste illegally. I breathed that air. I grew 'organic' vegetables in the cloud of their smoke and ate them. I kept thinking of the people living there now, and what they were possibly breathing right at this moment, and how everyone else had an agenda or could walk away from the fight, but my children have this stuff in their bones, in their tissues, and it may be another 25 years before we know how it will affect them. All I knew was that there were plenty of young mothers around Rocketdyne who didn't know about the contamination, and after I knew it, how could I shut up?" Crawford began to relish her transformation from a self-described trembly-voiced mom to gadfly to the corporate giants. The second time she presented parts of the contamination report at a public hearing, "Washington Mutual brought in the author to refute my claims, but he couldn't dispute the data," she says. "The third time, they brought in new scientists. And the fourth time, they brought in Rocketdyne. I thought, All I had to do was blow up a couple of pages of your report and you're probably spending tens of thousands of dollars. Look at you run so scared!" Pressured relentlessly by Crawford, Wiesbrock and a few others, Ventura County agreed to do more testing, this time examining the groundwater deep beneath the soil. They found perchlorate, the rocket fuel oxidizer that can cause thyroid problems and might lead to developmental disorders. (Boeing has denied the possibility of contamination from its site, claiming the test yielded a false positive.) Although most of the environmentalists had been focusing on sprawl, dust and endangered species, they now realized that the question of toxins was the one issue Washington Mutual couldn't ignore. And so near the end of 2002, they changed tactics and asked for all her evidence so that their hired consultant, former EPA head Carol Browner, could testify in an 11th-hour effort to sway the county supervisors. "One of the proudest moments of my life was to hear my data come out of her mouth," Crawford says. Within weeks, Crawford would begin a new job; she'd been invited to be an environmental aid to newly elected Ventura County supervisor Linda Parks. "Once you align yourself with the forces of truth, of public protection--of good--things will start rolling toward you in a way that you couldn't have anticipated," Crawford says. But before Parks could take office, the county greenlighted the development. Even that blow didn't stop Crawford. She approached Washington Mutual and told them that if they wanted to sue the owners of SSFL, she'd hand over her evidence. "Within months of that conversation, Washington Mutual was talking about selling Ahmanson Ranch in the New York Times," she says. In October 2003, days before the recall election that would oust Governor Gray Davis, he announced that the state would buy the vast parcel for $150 million, just a fraction of the estimated value of the land. Probably no one factor caused the about-face, but opponents of the project now believe that the perchlorate issue was crucial. With the possibility of contaminated groundwater out in the open, no one would want to build a house there. As long as the groundwater remains deeply buried, however, perchlorate does not pose a threat to hikers, cyclists and horseback riders. SSFL is now in the midst of a federally funded cleanup. Crawford recently left her public post to work as an environmental specialist for Physicians for Social Responsibility, focusing mainly on Rocketdyne. She still thinks there's more contamination to uncover. But walking through the ancient oaks, she's more optimistic than ever about the power of one person to stand up for what she believes. Marina Krakovsky is a writer in Northern California. © 2006 Independent Media Institute. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 35 Morris Daily Herald: Just tip of the tritium iceberg? The Greater Grundy County Area news@morrisdailyherald.com 3/20/2006 3:13:00 Lawsuit Review: n What: Public discussion with area attorneys about class-action lawsuit filed against Exelon over tritium releases n When: 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 22 n Where: Reed-Custer High School, 249 Comet Dri. NIRS calls for checks at all plants By Jo Ann Hustis Herald Writer Obviously, the Nuclear Information Resource Service is concerned with tritium spills at all the nation’s nuclear generating plants, including Braid-wood Station at Braceville, NIRS spokesman Paul Gunter said today. “We represent the public interest, rather than allowing the utility to trivialize this issue,” said Gunter on behalf of the policy organization, which is based in Takoma Park., Md. “We’re very concerned for public health and safety. Central to the issue is the utility didn’t publicly disclose these accidents when they occurred. Prompt notification in such an accident is necessary, and is an old issue, which continues to occur.” Gunter cited the malfunction at Three-Mile Island Nuclear Station on March 28, 1979, saying the public was in the dark for three days before any emergency action was taken. “In this case, Exelon Nuclear waited 10 years,” he said. “Where has Exelon and the Nuclear Regulatory Commis-sion learned its lesson? That’s not evident.” His reference is to a series of tritium-laced water leaks over a 10-year span at Braidwood Station, but not made public until December of last year. Tritium is a radioactive hydrogen isotope in the form of water — a reactor fission product that emits beta particles. Tritium has a half-life of 12.2 years. The incidents during which tritium-laced water leaked into the groundwater at and near Braidwood Station began in 1996. Eight such leaks were listed in a second lawsuit filed last Thursday in federal court in Chicago. NRC officials have gone on record saying the tritium-laced leaks at Braidwood are not a public health and safety hazard. Tritium pollution and a class-action lawsuit naming Exelon Nuclear will be discussed by area attorneys during a community meeting in Braidwood on Wednesday, March 22. The session will be in the auditorium at Reed-Custer High School, 249 Comet Dr., starting at 6 p.m. The NRC and Nuclear Energy Institute will also be meeting on Wednesday, March 22, at the federal agency’s headquarters in Rockville, Md., to discuss Exelon’s action plan regarding the tritium spills, Gunter said. The meeting is specific to the tritium spills at Braidwood, Byron Generating Station near Rockford, and Dresden Station at Morris, he noted. Kenneth Grey, of McKeown Law Firm in Joliet, filed the first civil case against Exelon last Monday in federal court in Chicago. The second lawsuit was filed three days later by Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow and Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The McKeown case is on behalf of 14,000 residents in the area of Braidwood Generating Station at Braceville, and seeks property damages, bottled water services, and future medical testing. The Madigan/Glasgow complaint notes the utility’s blow down pipe released tritiated water on seven separate occasions at the Braidwood site, at least one in each of 1996, 1998, and 2000. The eighth release is not associated with the blow down pipe, but occurred Monday, March 13, near where the utility temporarily stores tritiated water. The Madigan/Glasgow lawsuit seeks an injunction stopping Braidwood Station from using the blow down pipe to discharge tritiated water, and to prevent further migration of any contaminants released into the groundwater at or near the facility. “The lawsuit by the state of Illinois and Will County reveals just the tip of a tritium iceberg now emerging as a hazard nationwide,” Gunter said. “The revelations in Illinois confirms what we have long known — that nuclear power stations are far from benign, but generate and release the most dangerous emissions on earth — radiation.” Gunter noted the incidents were unplanned releases of radioactive water. “We can debate until the cows come home how much harm has been done. What we know is, and what the National Academy of Science stands by, is there’s no safe dose of radiation,” he said. “Every bit of radiation you get adds more to the risk. Exelon, as a good neighbor, should have reported those spills. Where was their common courtesy about notifying the public about the spills (at least one of which) left the site and filled the public right-of-way and on into people’s yards.” Gunter said he could go on and on about the incidents. “We have a petition before the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to examine all the nuclear sites in the nation,” he said. “Essentially, we’re way ahead of Exelon, and I think they saw the writing on the wall. The NRC accepted our petition March 1.” The petition requires all the nation’s nuclear generating plants respond to an NRC demand for information regarding the potential of past, present, and future for tritium spills, Gunter noted. In a prepared release, he said those living near all nuclear reactor sites should demand to have their drinking water independently and fully tested. “We expect this (McKeown) lawsuit to spark similar discoveries of hidden radioactive spills from other nuclear stations across the country,” he added. “This is a welcome turn of events. It is long past time to pull back the veil that has economically protected the nuclear industry from public health scrutiny.” Morris Daily Herald • 1804 N. Division St. • Morris, Illinois 60450 (815) 942-3221 • (800) 215-9778 Software © 1998-2006 1up! Software, All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 36 lamonitor.com: Udall: Save medical records The Online News Source for Los Alamos CAROL A. CLARK, , Monitor Staff Writer After a tour of several Los Alamos facilities jammed with filthy and decaying medical records slated for destruction, Rep. Tom Udall, D-NM, wrote urgent letters to the DOE Office of Environment, Safety and Health and the Office of Compensation, Analysis and Support at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. "I am requesting immediate assistance from your office on behalf of the many current and former employees of Los Alamos National Laboratory located in my congressional district," Udall wrote. Udall said he had the opportunity to visit several records repositories at LANL, its subcontractors and the Los Alamos Medical Center on March 6. He wanted to learn more about the process in which personnel, exposure, and medical records are stored at Los Alamos, particularly the records pertaining to his constituents who have filed a claim under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Program Act, he said. "During my visit, I learned that there are thousands of old medical records being stored in the basement of the Los Alamos Medical Center, and at a nearby warehouse owned by Los Alamos County," Udall said. "These medical records are currently in disarray, deteriorating and slated for destruction." Udall emphasized that LAMC has been extremely open and cooperative in discussing the status of these medical records with him and his staff. "Hospital officials have explained that their intention to destroy these records is based on the rationale that the current owner of LAMC, Life Point Hospitals, inherited this sizable medical record archive from its predecessor, Province Health Care," Udall said. "Since acquiring the facility, I understand that LAMC requested the Department of Energy take custodianship of these records, but the DOE never followed up on their request." "Most importantly, LAMC has explained they can no longer afford to pay monthly rental fees for storage of these records, nor do they have the necessary resources to assess, catalogue and preserve them in such a manner that the records may be useful," Udall said. "They explained that even if they could find the resources to pay their file clerks to accomplish this daunting task, the current condition of the files may pose a health risk to their workers as the warehouse files are covered in dust, mold and potentially hantavirus-infected mouse droppings." Because LAMC and its physicians have historically served the entire community of Los Alamos, Udall said the medical records in question include patient files for LANL employees, their families and other local residents. He said he has been told that some of these records date back several decades to the hospital's early years of operation. "LAMC has always had a unique relationship with LANL since the era of the Manhattan Project and its inception as a government hospital in the 1950's," Udall explained. "The Atomic Energy Commission sold the facility to Lutheran Hospitals of America in 1964 and its ownership has since changed several times. It is my understanding that some of the information housed in the these medical files may be of value to present and future EEOICPA claimants in terms of documenting compensable conditions (e.g., cases involving pre-1993 beryllium disease in which x-rays taken at the LAMC are described in the medical record; e.g., diagnosed cancer pre-1970 which was not the ultimate cause of death)." Udall also explained that the records might find application if health studies of the community surrounding the lab were to be undertaken. "I understand that NIOSH may be able to provide resources to assess the value of the epidemiologically relevant records in question and preserve these records if they are found to be useful," he said. "I respectfully request that your office make arrangements to fully evaluate and assess these records to determine if they have epidemiological value and/or may be useful in EEOICPA claims. LAMC CEO Gary Nicholds said the hospital is committed to handling the situation in the best possible manner. "We will follow all required state laws and if an agency requests the records, we will be more than happy to let them have them," Nicholds said. Udall also requested the records be considered worthy of protection under the 1990 Moratorium issued by then-Secretary of Energy James Watkins and renewed in 2000 due to the unique historical relationship between LAMC, LANL, the Atomic Energy Commission and DOE. "I am submitting this request on behalf of the many sick, cold-war workers who are my constituents and are dying while awaiting a determination on their claims," Udall said. "I am quite concerned that if these medical records are destroyed without a comprehensive and objective assessment, it may further erode what little public confidence is left in the EEOICPA program as it relates to LANL claimants." © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 37 MetroWestDailyNews.com: More radiation in Holliston By John Hilliard/ Daily News staff Monday, March 20, 2006 - Updated: 05:00 PM EST HOLLISTON - Radioactive material was found earlier today at Casellas Washington Street trash transfer station, according to Board of Health Chairman Richard Maccagnano. Maccagnano said company officials reported the incident to the town at about 3 p.m. Town Compliance Officer John Lavin is investigating the station. Radioactive material disposable diapers from adult cancer patients -- was discovered at Casella earlier this month and in late January. For a full report, read tomorrows Daily News. © Copyright of CNC and . ***************************************************************** 38 [NukeNet] Utilities Offer Energy Dept. Site for Waste Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:17:43 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.mothersalert.org http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/20/politics/20waste.html?_r=1&oref=slogin Utilities Offer Energy Dept. Site for Waste a.. E-Mail This b.. Printer-Friendly c.. Reprints d.. Save Article By MATTHEW L. WALD Published: March 20, 2006 WASHINGTON, March 19 - A group of nuclear utilities that is planning to build a private nuclear waste dump on an Indian reservation in Utah has offered to sell space there to the federal government. The move could help the government avoid billions of dollars in potential legal damages over its failure to build its own repository. This month the utilities, eight companies from around the country, won a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to open a repository at Skull Valley, on land leased on a Goshute Indian reservation, about 60 miles west of Salt Lake City. The utility consortium, called Private Fuel Storage, does not have the permits it needs to transport waste to the site, however, and the State of Utah is trying to block those. The Energy Department signed contracts in the 1980's with each of the nuclear operators, promising to accept their spent fuel beginning in January 1998, in exchange for a payment of a tenth of a cent for each kilowatt-hour they generated. The project now appears to be at least 20 years behind schedule, and the department faces approximately $50 billion in damage claims from the utilities, many of which have resorted to building giant casks adjacent to their reactors to store the old fuel. In a letter to the chairmen and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate Energy Committees, Private Fuel Storage said it could begin taking fuel within three years, at a cost of about $61 million a year. In the letter, which was sent in December but released last week, the company estimated the Energy Department's costs to maintain the fuel at the reactor sites at about $500 million a year. The fuel is currently kept at 72 sites whose storage costs vary widely. At some sites, the reactors have been retired and torn down, and maintenance and security personnel remain in place simply for the fuel. At others, while construction of the casks was expensive, the cost to maintain them is small. Of the eight utility partners, three have announced that they have no immediate need for off-site waste storage. The consortium proposed either that the Energy Department take title to the fuel and pay for storage, or let the utilities continue to own the fuel but reimburse them for the storage costs. It suggested legislation to reassure Utah that even if the government's proposed repository, at Yucca Mountain in Nevada, never opened, the Goshute site would not become permanent. Representative David L. Hobson, the Ohio Republican who is chairman of the energy and water subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, has been pushing for dry-cask storage, possibly as a prelude to chemical processing of the wastes to extract useful material before burial. And last month, the Bush administration endorsed such chemical processing, through a partnership. But the cask idea has not gone far with the Energy Committees. "The view right now on Capitol Hill is that this is a free-market project, and let's see if the market sends business their way," said Marnie Funk, a spokeswoman for the Senate Energy Committee. _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 39 [NukeNet] India plans to step up uranium mining Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:50:31 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1651125,000900020004.htm India plans to step up uranium mining Press Trust of India Hyderabad, March 16, 2006 Giant machines will soon begin exploratory drilling for uranium in Chitrial area of Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh. Noise from the drilling rigs will drown the voices of those who for years have opposed uranium mining in the district fearing it might poison nearby Nagarjunasagar reservoir, a major source of drinking water. The Atomic Minerals Division (AMD), a unit of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), located in Hyderabad, has invited tenders for exploratory drilling estimated to cost Rs 25 million. The tenders will be opened on March 29 and work could begin from April and be completed in eight months, according to officials of AMD. The new drilling area, approximately 130 km southeast of Hyderabad, is at the heart of Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Sanctuary. Chitrial, is an important place (in Nalgonda district) where radioactivity is spread over an area of 50 square kilometres, according to AMD which says the area "is expected to add significantly to the uranium resource of the country." The Indo-US deal may have cleared the way for uranium import but a cautious DAE has stepped up uranium exploration everywhere in the country. To speed up uranium search, AMD has introduced contract drilling and is also planning to outsource geophysical exploration, says Sinha. Besides the Chitrial area in Andhra Pradesh, AMD plans to take up exploratory drilling in several promising sites. These include Deshnur in Belgaum district of Karnataka at Prodattur in Cuddapah, Baskati in Mahakoshal-Vindhyan, Silekjhodi fault in Indravati, Chirwa in Aravalli-Delhi, and Sakra fracture zone in Bijawar-Vindhyan basins. Bhima basin in Karnataka and Khandela area of North Delhi fold belt are potential sources of uranium, says AMD. Rohil deposit of Rajasthan and Raghunathpura, Haryana are also said to be "promising". AMD says "reconnaitory" drilling will continue at Maira and its adjoining areas in Kangra and Una districts of Himachal Pradesh, and will be started at Sayamba and Taladih in Koira basin in Sundergarh district of Orissa. Sinha says "I am sure India will emerge as a uranium surplus country within a decade and become a world leader in this field. _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 40 [NukeNet] Scotland: Dounreay nuclear store is leaking Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2006 14:50:59 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.sundayherald.com/54715 Sunday Herald - 19 March 2006 Dounreay nuclear store is leaking By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor ---------- AN old nuclear waste store at Dounreay has sprung a leak and contaminated the ground with radioactivity, sparking an investigation by a government watchdog. A 35-foot deep concrete silo at the Caithness site has been used to dispose of solids and sludges from reactors and processing plants for 27 years. It now contains 650 cubic metres of radioactive waste under water. But the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has found evidence of a defect in a manhole used when monitoring a loop of water that runs around the silo. The water in the loop has become contaminated with radioactivity and some has escaped into the ground. The UKAEA was unable to rule out “historical leakage” of radioactivity from the silo to the surrounding loop. The loop has been emptied and monitoring stepped up. The problem was reported to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. The UKAEA said the silo, built in the 1960s, failed to meet modern standards for storing medium-level waste. Under the site’s decommissioning programme it was due to start being emptied in 2019, though this could be brought forward. Dounreay’s spokesman Colin Punler said the level of radioactivity in the surrounding loop was a million times lower than in the silo. “The measures now in place provide additional reassurance about the safe containment of the wastes, pending its retrieval,” he said. But environmentalists highlighted the difficulties of dealing with the radioactive waste left by more than half a century of nuclear power and weapons. “This illustrates the dilemmas we are bound to be faced with in future,” said Pete Roche, a consultant to Greenpeace. The UKAEA has had difficulty convincing local residents of the need for a new waste store at Dounreay, Roche said. “The idea that we should now consider creating yet more waste by building new reactors is complete lunacy.” The Scottish Executive, along with Westminster, last month launched a consultation on its proposals for dealing with the nuclear industry’s low-level waste. A massive 20 million cubic metres of contaminated soil and rubble is expected to be produced by the decommissioning of 30 civil and military nuclear sites across the UK . Among the options are burying the waste where it arose or disposing of it in newly-constructed facilities at existing nuclear sites. This means Dounreay, Hunterston, Torness, Chapelcross, Faslane and Rosyth in Scotland. Gordon MacKerron, chairman of the government’s advisory Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, said it was possible that low-level waste would be disposed of locally because of the “enormous aversion” to transporting it around the country. The committee is currently finalising its recommendations to ministers on how to get rid of an additional 400,000 cubic metres of high and medium-level nuclear waste. ---------- Copyright © 2006 smg sunday newspapers ltd. no.176088 Back to previous page _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 41 Deseret News: More N-storage is needed Monday, March 20, 2006 The Deseret Morning News editorial position (March 12) is wrong on its two points. Of course jet fighters with "live" bombs flying near the Goshutes' above-ground storage of spent nuclear fuel sounds like a disaster in the making — until one checks the details. The bombs are not armed or fused until their intended target is approached. And one could always fortify the containers until they are strong enough to withstand any attack with conventional weapons. The country needs more SNF storage to accommodate hundreds of new nuclear power plants, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, slowing global warming, reducing air pollution and generating fuel for a clean hydrogen economy. Utah should not work diligently to prevent any nuclear waste storage in the state. Rather we should educate the public and our politicians about the existing safety precautions. Steven C. Barrowes Ogden © 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 42 RIA Novosti: Estonia, Lithuania deny nuclear waste storage rumors 20/ 03/ 2006 TALLINN, March 20 (RIA Novosti, Nikolai Adashkevich) - A Lithuanian official and an Estonian energy company Monday dismissed media reports that the Baltic states would build a joint storage facility for nuclear waste in Estonia. "I have no idea who could come up with this idea," said Donaldas Jasultaitis, head of the Lithuanin economics ministry's nuclear energy department. "It contradicts global practice. The producer buys the waste and handles it. Nobody else can do it." Local media cited Estonian MEP Andres Tarand as saying that his Lithuanian counterparts had repeatedly suggested that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania would share responsibility for storing nuclear waste. The three Baltic states agreed February 27 to build a nuclear power plant in Lithuania by 2015. The countries' prime ministers concluded that construction of an NPP would be the easiest way to resolve an energy crisis expected in 2009, when Lithuania's Ignalina nuclear power plant will be shut down in line with European Union nuclear safety requirements. The Ignalina plant uses RBMK-1000 reactors, which were also used at the ill-fated Chernobyl plant. Three energy companies - Latvenergo, Eesti Energa and Lietuvos energia AB - will work on the project, which will cost an estimated $3-4 billion. © 2005 RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 43 News & Star: Prosecution threat over nuclear leak Published on 20/03/2006 By Andrea Thompson BRITISH Nuclear Group could be prosecuted over a massive radioactive leak which has closed down the Thorp plant. The Ł1.8bn reprocessing plant is still shut following the leak last April when 83 cubic metres of radioactive liquid escaped into a contained cell. BNG has to complete 49 recommendations and actions before the plant can be re-opened. The company has now been told it could face legal action over the incident in the Feed Clarification Cell – described at the time by shadow trade secretary David Willets as a failure “worthy of Homer Simpson” – the inept cartoon nuclear plant worker from The Simpsons. The Nuclear Installation Inspectorate (NII) has produced and approved a prosecution report and this is now with the Health and Safety Executive. A BNG spokeswoman said: “At this stage we understand that no decision has been made to prosecute and that a case will only be brought if the HSE lawyer is satisfied there is sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction and it passes the public interest test. “The company has co-operated fully with the NII throughout its investigation and continues to make good progress against its measures needed to enable the Thorp facility to become operational again, subject to regulatory and NDA approval.” BNG completed its own board of inquiry and published a report last June highlighting the root causes of the incident and making 18 recommendations to prevent a reoccurrence. It says it is confident the facility will reopen in the summer – even though none of the recommendations have been signed off yet. Two senior managers in charge of operations at Thorp were suspended but have since returned to work following separate disciplinary hearings. All of the leaked liquid was recovered by June. ***************************************************************** 44 Knox News: Early phase of processing nuclear waste rolls along Foster Wheeler's 18-month project to transport solid debris incident-free so far By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com March 20, 2006 OAK RIDGE - So far, so good. That's the word out of Foster Wheeler's nuclear-waste camp. Workers have successfully processed more than 240 drums of high-hazard radioactive waste at the company's Oak Ridge plant, completing an early phase of a project that's expected to take about 18 months to complete. Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp. is sorting, characterizing and repackaging a variety of nuclear wastes from the U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge facilities and other sources. Most of the radioactive stuff will be shipped west for disposal, either to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico or the government's Nevada Test Site. Foster Wheeler spent millions of dollars building the Oak Ridge waste-processing plant a few years ago, and the company recoups the money from DOE after reaching certain milestones. The facilities include sealed glove boxes and shielded hot cells, where the radioactive materials are handled. In October 2004, Foster Wheeler completed its first waste-processing project, which included about 400,000 gallons of highly radioactive liquid waste called supernate. The current campaign involves solid debris contaminated with long-lived radioactive products called transuranics or other wastes with elements that emit alpha radiation. Anthony Buhl, executive vice president and general manager, said the solid wastes processed so far originated at the Nuclear Fuel Services plant at Erwin, Tenn. Foster Wheeler began work on those wastes Dec. 19, and so far has repackaged 140 drums of contact-handled transuranic waste and 104 drums of low-level radioactive waste. Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's environmental manager in Oak Ridge, stores the nuclear waste until Foster Wheeler is ready to begin processing activities. After the wastes have been evaluated and repackaged, they are returned to Bechtel Jacobs for storage until they are transported to the disposal sites in Nevada or New Mexico. Asked if there had been any surprises, Buhl said, "Nothing extraordinary. However, three containers did not meet the project requirements due to small amounts of liquid found in the containers." Those containers were segregated from the others and will be processed later, he said. Buhl touted his company's safety record on the Oak Ridge nuclear work. Plant employees have worked more than 1,400 consecutive days without a lost-time accident or illness, he said. Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. © 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel ***************************************************************** 45 Dayton Daily News: Manhattan Project worker to discuss bomb Worked in Dayton developing trigger for weapon DAYTON | John Birden, 87, can recall all the uncertainty and fear during the early days of the Manhattan Project in Dayton, when he was among a dozen researchers at the old Bonebrake Seminary building trying to harness polonium for use in the first atomic bomb. As they worked in laboratories with only rubber gloves and ventilators to protect them from radiation, contamination was always a risk, not only to themselves but also to the unwary residents surrounding the building at First and Euclid streets. A pinhead of polonium can irradiate most of Dayton. A thimbleful can contaminate the entire state. And yet those committed to what was then called the Dayton Project forged ahead, quitting only when they became "too hot" with radiation and returning again to the laboratory when their bodies cooled down. "We were struggling in the dark, doing it any way we possibly could," said Birden, a longtime employee of Mound Laboratory, where much of the nation's vital nuclear research continued after the war. "Tolerances back then (for exposure) were much higher than what they allow now" because the health effects of radiation were not well-understood. In recent months, National Park Service officials have come to acknowledge the important role that Dayton played in the development of the polonium triggers for the first atomic bombs. Dayton is among just four sites along with Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Los Alamos, N.M.; and Hanford, Wash. being considered as part of a National Park system devoted to the Manhattan Project. The $2 billion, top-secret program scattered across hundreds of sites in nearly every state was a crash effort during World War II to design and build the first atomic bomb. In May, the National Park Service will hold meetings in Dayton to gauge public interest in preserving the three remaining sites in the city involved in the project. They are the original Monsanto Central Research Department labs, 1515 Nicholas Road; the former Bonebrake Theological Seminary, 1601 W. First St.; and the General Electric Supply Warehouse, 601 E. Third St. The fourth site, the former Runnymede Playhouse at the northwest intersection of Runnymede Road and Dixon Avenue in Oakwood, was removed soon after the war. Birden, now a resident of Otterbein Retirement Community outside Lebanon, said that assuming the risks of radiation exposure was simply part of fighting the war. "We thought, 'After all, those boys are taking chances in the field. We'll take chances here if necessary.' " Contact Jim DeBrosse at 225-2437. DaytonDailyNews.com: Contact Us | Advertise | | RSS | Customer Service | Copyright ©2006 Cox Ohio Publishing, Dayton, Ohio, USA. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 46 KnoxNews: New imaging technique at ORNL may speed detection of melanoma Munger: Light joins the fight By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com March 20, 2006 An imaging technique under development at Oak Ridge National Laboratory reportedly shows promise as a quick, noninvasive detector of melanoma. Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer, responsible for thousands of deaths each year in the United States. Justin Baba, a 34-year-old biomedical engineer at ORNL, said the hope is that some day the technique will speed the evaluation of moles and lesions in medical offices and eliminate the need for tissue biopsies. The optical sensing tool uses multiple wavelengths of polarized light to take images of the suspect skin growth. A prototype was used in a test with nine consenting patients at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, affiliated with the University of Texas, and Baba said the results were encouraging. Although still waiting on the final results, Baba said the images showed the kind of depth that's essential in evaluating the presence of cancer. "Keep in mind this was a preliminary study," said Baba, a native of Nigeria who earned his doctoral degree at Texas A University. "But the detail I could see on the image has us really encouraged and excited." Traditionally, physicians have evaluated possible melanomas by visual signs and symptoms, such as changes in the size, shape, color or feel of an existing mole. This technique is sometimes referred to as the ABCDs of cancer checks: asymmetry (the shape of one half doesn't match the other); border (the edges are blurred, ragged or irregular; color (uneven with the possible presence of white, grey or shades of black and brown); and diameter (usually increasing in size). "Ours is able to detect more information than what you can see with the eye," Baba said. A much larger study will be needed to truly evaluate the accuracy of the ORNL imaging technique, and the research team has applied for a grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering. The optical technique under development at Oak Ridge differs from other imaging tools, such as magnetic resonance imaging, or MRI, Baba said. "Because we're using polarized light, it picks up primarily tissue information that pertains to polarization," he said. "For instance, collagen -- it's located in the dermal layer of the skin. Collagen has polarization properties, so if there's a disruption in the collagen layer, you would pick it up." If such a disruption were noted in a mole, showing depth all the way to the dermal layer, it would be almost a sure sign of cancer, Baba said. The multi-spectral imaging technique also uses certain light colors to pick up other information, such as the "profusion" of blood flow in the area. That could be indicative of cancer as well because cancer cells need nourishment, Baba said. "If it's cancerous, it's going to be growing a lot more rapidly than surrounding tissue," he said. Baba came to the United States in the summer of 1990 and plans to become a naturalized citizen. He joined the ORNL staff in September 2003. His research focus is noninvasive diagnostics. "That's a passion of mine," he said, "to help people diagnose diseases early. Lives can be prolonged, and quality of life can be improved. If we don't have to cut you open to tell whether you have a disease, that's a positive." Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329 or . OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY Justin Baba, a biomedical engineer at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, uses an optical sensing instrument to evaluate moles or lesions and detect the presence of melanoma— the deadliest form of skin cancer. The prototype instrument in his research lab uses multiple wavelengths of polarized lights to help distinguish between cancerous and noncancerous lesions. OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY These research images indicate subsurface features of a melanoma lesion on a pig. ORNL researcher Justin Baba and his team use a mathematical representation, known as the Mueller matrix, to determine the properties of a given sample based on light intensities. Each color and polarization of light reveals different features, and the images collectively allow physicians to determine whether a mole is cancerous. © 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel ***************************************************************** 47 Knox News: Oak Ridge Report: $615M in sick-worker benefits could have $1B+ impact By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com March 20, 2006 More than 4,000 Oak Ridge workers or their families have benefited directly from a five-year-old federal fund set up to compensate workers made sick during the government's Cold War nuclear operations. The entire region has benefited economically. According to the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Labor, Oak Ridge workers had collected more than $615 million - about a third of what's been paid nationally since the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program went into effect in mid-2001. "That's a huge amount of money," said Matt Murray, professor of economics at the University of Tennessee. "As with any injection of outside purchasing power, that will have a significant impact on spending." Many of those families received checks for $150,000. That was the payout for workers who developed cancer or chronic beryllium disease and qualified under the "Part B" section of the federal program. The payments are tax-free, and that means additional spending power. "You don't have to shave off 20 or 30 percent," Murray said. The UT professor said you can assume that the impact of the incoming money will be greater than the $600 million and likely will be turned over at least by half and possibly by one. "The new income is probably going to support another $400 million in new income," he said. "You're looking at least at a billion dollars in total effect across the local economy. I don't know what else to say, but that's a huge impact." Murray noted that a lot of money eventually leaves the area, even if a car or major appliance is purchased locally, but the overall effect is still beneficial - supporting retail sales and commercial activities and sales tax revenues. Thousands of compensation applications are still pending for Oak Ridge workers, so the influx of money could continue for years to come. DOE's new procurement director Judith Stone Wilson, the new contracts and procurement director at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge field office, inherits a job with almost mind-boggling responsibility. According to DOE information, Wilson will oversee or administer procurement and "financial assistance awards" valued at more than $3.7 billion and another $4 billion in federal and contractor personal property. She also manages real estate activities on DOE's 33,000-acre Oak Ridge reservation and oversees the Oak Ridge office's Small Business Program. It sounds overwhelming, and Wilson noted, "I view it that way as well." But the DOE executive has a staff of 40, whom she characterized as talented and hard-working, and she said the Oak Ridge procurement program has a tremendous reputation within the department. The native Oak Ridger holds business degrees from the University of Tennessee and Bristol University, which had campuses in Bristol, Tenn., Knoxville and Indianapolis before closing its doors in 1994. She began her government career more than 30 years ago. She initially worked at DOE's Oak Ridge training center and later at the federal Office of Scientific and Technical Information. She joined the Procurement and Contracts Division in 1994 and worked as a contract specialist in the environmental acquisitions branch and the acquisition services branch. DOE uses lots of different types of contracts and set asides to manage the Oak Ridge facilities and procure goods and services. "There's not exactly one shoe that fits all situations," Wilson said. Wilson said the local office has to meet the needs of changing political administrations in Washington while maintaining objectivity and high ethical standards in its contracting practices. Contract officers also must be vigilant in ferreting out contractors who would try to defraud the government, she said. "There are sufficient checks and balances to catch, I would think, 99 percent of any with ill intent," Wilson said. Interpreting Y-12's budget When the Bush administration released its proposed budget for fiscal 2007, the news focus in Oak Ridge was on the boost in science funding. That was obviously good - at least generally - for Oak Ridge National Laboratory, a multipurpose research lab. There wasn't a lot said about the budget at the Y-12 National Security Complex, and that's because folks at the Oak Ridge weapons plant weren't talking. Steven Wyatt, a federal spokesman at Y-12, basically said no comment. The same was true with BWXT, the government's managing contractor. Federal budget documents show a decline in funding at Y-12, from about $813 million in 2006 to $790 million in '07, but those numbers can be misleading. First off, they're proposed spending levels, not congressional appropriations, and sometimes the two vary dramatically. Also, the budget documents don't always include the total spending, especially when you've got multiple modernization projects under way at Y-12 - some of which are being privately financed. Budget documents indicated a decline in security spending as Y-12 meets previously directed upgrades to protect the nuclear facility against terrorist threats. The 2007 overview has funding for safeguards and security dropping from $161 million to $137 million. Security budgets, however, often change mid-year to address emerging threats, based on the latest intelligence, and so it's difficult to put much confidence in these projections. Perhaps the good news for Y-12 is that budget projections through fiscal year 2011 show stability in the plant's funding, with the overall budget dipping slightly in 2008 before rising gradually to $867 million in 2011. Again, take all these numbers with a grain of salt - or two. Hoping for more tenants DOE has transferred ownership of two more buildings at the former K-25 uranium-enrichment plant to the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee. CROET is a not-for-profit corporation established to help utilize surplus federal facilities and promote private economic development at the Cold War nuclear sites. The latest transfer involved K-1036 and K-1400, with a total of 93,000 square feet of available space, DOE said in a press statement. K-1036 was built in 1945, during the World War II Manhattan Project, and it served as a warehouse until it was leased to CROET in 1997. K-1400 was built in 1953 for use as administrative offices at the government plant. Lawrence Young, the chief executive of CROET, said these are the fifth and sixth buildings that DOE has transferred to private hands. "The buildings will enable us to retain extremely valuable private sector tenants at Heritage Center (the private industrial park) and will provide opportunities for attracting other future tenants to the region," Young said in a prepared statement. Bechtel Jacobs weighs Duratek contract DOE honored Duratek Inc. for "outstanding safe work performance" for its disposal of low-level radioactive wastes on the government's Oak Ridge reservation. A ceremony was held Feb. 8. The company operates DOE's nuclear landfill on Bear Creek Road. The site is used for the disposal of radioactive and hazardous materials generated during cleanup operations in Oak Ridge. Duratek also manages other DOE landfills that receive sanitary waste and construction rubble. The company manages the nuclear landfill - known officially as the Environmental Management Waste Management Facility - under a subcontract to Bechtel Jacobs Co., DOE's cleanup contractor in Oak Ridge. It's not clear, however, if that contract will be extended. Dennis Hill, a spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs, said Duratek's original contract called for construction and operation of the first two disposal cells at the landfill. "The capacity of those two cells is 400,000 cubic yards, and that capacity has not been reached," he said. Duratek is expected to reach that milestone sometime this summer, Hill said. After that, the contractor could be Duratek or somebody else. "BJC is evaluating various options and will make a decision after the evaluation process has been completed," Hill said. Two other cells already have been constructed at the site, bringing the landfill's capacity to 1.2 million cubic yards. Ultimately, the landfill could receive more than 2 million cubic yards if needed to support the Oak Ridge cleanup program and if environmental regulators approve the expansion plans. Education's only bidder Some observers questioned why there was only one bid on the $1.6 billion contract to manage DOE's Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education. The short answer: economics. Oak Ridge Associated Universities, which has managed the federal programs for decades, won a new 10-year contract (five years with another five-year option) in December. But if you look at the fee structure it's easy to see why companies or other consortia - ORAU is a consortium of more than 90 research universities - opted not to compete. The contract is performance-based, with a maximum annual fee between 2006 and 2015 that ranges from $3.1 million to $3.8 million, according to a document released by DOE. That sounds OK until you consider that it would cost an estimated $1 million or more to prepare a proposal for this type of DOE management contract. Given that ORAU, as a longtime incumbent, was the prohibitive favorite to retain the contract, no wonder nobody wanted to tip-toe into those waters and likely waste the investment. The reward wasn't nearly big enough for the risk. Senior writer Frank Munger covers the U.S. Department of Energy and its contractors. He may be reached at 865-342-6329. Frank Munger ['' border='0'] © 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************