***************************************************************** 03/27/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.73 ***************************************************************** 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 AFP: Ahmadinejad vows to pursue nuclear programme despite pressure - 2 AFP: US confirms major powers to meet on Iran in Berlin 3 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Russia Discuss Iran Nukes, Rice Says 4 AFP: Iran nuclear programme aimed at peaceful uses - vice president 5 AFP: US, Russians meeting to end deadlock on Iran 6 Guardian Unlimited: America puts talks with Tehran on hold 7 LewRockwell.com: The Evil Men Do 8 FT.com: UK - Sell-off plan for BNFL arm to be unveiled 9 Xinhua: China to sign energy co-op deal with Australia NUCLEAR REACTORS 10 [NukeNet] Chernobyl: Up To 500, 000 May Have Already Died As 11 [NukeNet] Most EU Leaders Back Reviving Nuclear Power 12 US: [NukeNet] link to nuke industry briefing paper 13 US: [NukeNet] 3 Mile Island Documentry On Tuesday March 28th 14 Chernobyl: Up To 500,000 May Have Already Died As IAEA, WHO Continue 15 US: NRC: NRC Sends Special Inspection Team to Vogtle Nuclear Plant t 16 BBC: Regeneration consortium unveiled 17 Independent: 'Without changing our mindset, I don't see how the envi 18 US: NRC: Attachment 1); EA-06-037] 19 US: NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., Georgia Power 20 US: NRC: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Vermont Yankee Nuclear Po 21 US: NRC: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Pilgrim Nuclear Power Sta 22 US: HeraldNet: New uses for old nuclear plant NUCLEAR SECURITY 23 UN Nuclear Chief Lays Out Plan To UN Proliferation, Terrorist Threat 24 Bellona: Bush White House requests a $43m decrease in CTR funding NUCLEAR SAFETY 25 think twice before moving to europe- radioactive! 26 [du-list] three questions on "Reproductive health of Gulf War NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 27 US: [DU Information List] radioactive tank no 9 comes limping home 28 BBC NEWS: Sellafield awaits nuclear power's rebirth 29 US: Salt Lake Tribune: When pigs fly: Skull Valley nuke dump still 30 US: cbs2chicago.com: Rain Washes Tritium Into Ditch Near Nuclear Pla 31 AFP: Russian nuclear plant chief prosecuted for waste-dumping in riv 32 YUCCA MOUNTAIN REQUIRES STRICTER MANAGEMENT 33 US: Sydney Morning Herald: China to explore for our uranium - 34 Daily Yomiuri: Pluthermal power way of the future 35 Washington Technology: Yucca Mountain battle will be fought in digit PEACE US DEPT. OF ENERGY 36 DOE: Office of International Regimes and Agreements; Proposed 37 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah 38 DOE: Office of Fossil Energy; Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee 39 DOE: Notice of Renewal of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 AFP: Ahmadinejad vows to pursue nuclear programme despite pressure - [Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed again to push ahead with his country's nuclear programme despite international warnings that the Islamic republic should halt sensitive atomic activities, the Iranian state news agency IRNA reported. "Today the Iranian nation is standing firm against the world's bullies and oppressors, and the people will not back down even one step from its right in seeking nuclear technology," Ahmadinejad told crowds in the city of Dehdasht, in the southern province of Kohgiluyeh-Boyerahmad. "With the people's support, the government will do its best to seek the nuclear technology," he added, amid chants of "nuclear technology is our undeniable rights." The United States and its allies charge that Iran's nuclear programme conceals an effort to develop weapons and have urged it to halt sensitive uranium enrichment activities. Iran vehemently denies the charges, saying its research is peaceful and meant to provide fuel for its power plants. On Sunday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, also urged Iranians to resist "the enemy's threats". The UN Security Council is currently deadlocked over Iran's nuclear programme. Discussions, which began last Monday, have been snagged by the refusal of Russia and China, two of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, to consider sanctions against their ally and major trading partner in Tehran. AFP ***************************************************************** 2 AFP: US confirms major powers to meet on Iran in Berlin Mon Mar 27, 1:27 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States confirmed the five permament members of the UN Security Council plus Germany would meet in Berlin on Thursday as efforts continued to hammer out a statement on Iran's nuclear program. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice " /> would sit down with her counterparts from Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany to discuss the deadlocked UN talks on Iran. "I think the focus will be on the medium to long-term issues about how to get Iran ... back into the mainstream of the non-proliferation framework and how to get it to roll back its program," McCormack said. Britain had earlier announced the Berlin meeting of the so-called P-5 plus Germany, to be held at the start of Rice's four-day trip to Europe that will also take her to France and Britain. Washington is seeking to end an impasse over a draft UN Security Council presidential statement that would call Iran to account for its suspected nuclear weapons activities. Russia and China oppose tough language. Russian and US negotiators worked through the weekend to try to thrash out a compromise but McCormack didn't report any progress. "We're continuing to work the language," he said. "We obviously haven't come to a consensus on language yet." Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., Russia Discuss Iran Nukes, Rice Says From the Associated Press [UP] Monday March 27, 2006 1:31 PM AP Photo VAH102 WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S. and Russian officials worked over the weekend on how best to oppose Iran's nuclear program as the Bush administration's efforts for U.N. action against Tehran have bogged down. ``The Iranians are defying the world's will, and the international community needs to speak and speak with one voice,'' Rice told ``Fox News Sunday.'' ``There are some tactical issues about how best to express that.'' Tehran has been referred to the Security Council over fears it may want to use its nuclear program to produce weapons. The council has been at loggerheads over U.S.-led efforts to ratchet up the pressure on Iran. The United States, Britain and France support tough language calling on Tehran to return to a freeze of uranium enrichment. Russia and China, the two other permanent Security Council members, are opposed. ``We have the same view of the problem. The Russians do not want a nuclear weapon in Iran either,'' Rice said on NBC's ``Meet the Press.'' ``It's been very clear in everything that they've tried to do.'' Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday that Iran would stand firm against any action taken to pressure it to abandon its nuclear program, Iran's state-run television reported. Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes. Also Sunday, Rice said the U.S. ambassador in Afghanistan, Ronald Neumann, had met with Iran's ambassador there several months ago to addressed security issues. ``We will see when it is desirable to do so again,'' Rice said on CNN's Late Edition. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 4 AFP: Iran nuclear programme aimed at peaceful uses - vice president - Mon Mar 27, 7:51 AM ET NEW DELHI (AFP) - Visiting Iranian Vice President Rahim Mashaee denied that his country is developing weapons under the cover of its nuclear programme, saying it is aimed at power generation. "We have nuclear technology developed one hundred percent indigenously. How can one attack the nuclear technology? We are not hiding any nuclear bomb," Mashaee was quoted as telling reporters by the Press Trust of India news agency. The United States and its allies charge that Iran " /> 's nuclear programme conceals an effort to develop weapons and have urged it to halt sensitive uranium enrichment activities. Iran vehemently denies the charges. The UN Security Council is deadlocked over Iran's nuclear programme, with Russia and China, two of the five veto-wielding permanent members, refusing to consider sanctions against ally and major trading partner Iran. In New Delhi, Mashaee said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured him of India's support on "certain principles" like Iran's peaceful use of nuclear technology. "The prime minister has said that India is for a peaceful solution of the issue," said Mashaee, who met Singh on Saturday. India, which has nuclear weapons, voted last month to refer Iran to the UN Security Council on the issue. On energy cooperation between India and Iran, Mashaee promised New Delhi "good news" on an agreement which the two countries signed last June for the supply of natural gas to India. The deal worth 22 billion dollars is for Tehran to supply five million tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually over a 25-year period from 2009. Mashaee said Iran's oil minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh would be visiting India soon to finalise details. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 5 AFP: US, Russians meeting to end deadlock on Iran Sun Mar 26, 1:55 PM ET WASHINGTON (AFP) - US and Russian diplomats were meeting in a new bid to end the impasse over a UN response to Iran " /> 's controversial nuclear program, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice " /> said. Rice acknowledged during a round of Sunday television talk shows that differences persisted over the language of a UN Security Council statement seeking to keep Iran from pursuing sensitive nuclear work. She said she spoke Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and they agreed to have their negotiators work through the weekend in an attempt to hammer out language acceptable to both. "I think they're going to meet later today, to try and resolve these differences, because we do need to speak and speak with one voice," the chief US diplomat told the Fox News Sunday program. "But we shouldn't delay," she later told CNN's "Late Edition," adding that "we do need a presidential statement that makes clear to the Iranians what is clear to everyone." No word was available on the progress of efforts to thrash out a Security Council presidential statement on Iran's uranium-enrichment activities that Washington suspects are aimed at building a nuclear bomb. Russia and China, two of the council's five veto-wielding permanent members, have balked at even threatening sanctions against Iran for a nuclear program that Tehran insists is for strictly peaceful purposes. The United States has been pushing for a tough approach, backed by France and Britain -- which are also permanent members of the Security Council -- and Germany. Rice told NBC television that once agreement was reached on a UN statement, the United States might seek a ministerial meeting of the council's permanent members plus Germany "to talk about charting a course forward." Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 6 Guardian Unlimited: America puts talks with Tehran on hold [UP] Jonathan Steele Monday March 27, 2006 The Guardian The promised talks between the US and Iran on the situation in Iraq have been put on hold after Iraq's president and other ministers demanded that no negotiations take place over their heads, American officials in Baghdad have disclosed. The talks had been seen as potentially a major breakthrough after more than 25 years during which the two states had no relations after US diplomats were taken hostage in their embassy in Tehran in 1979. Although both sides said the agenda would be confined to Iraq, there were hopes that the talks could lead to a reduction of tension over other disputes, including Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran is calling for a US withdrawal from Iraq. Washington wants Iran to end its alleged interference in Iraq and the supplies of bomb-making and other material which it says the Iranians are funnelling to insurgents. After protests from Iraqi leaders, the US has accepted Iraq's request that it take part in the talks, but this cannot happen until a new government is formed. There was no truth in speculation that the face-to-face meeting between senior US and Iranian officials could take place as early as this week, a senior US official told the Guardian last night. "The talks will include an Iraqi representative, since the agenda is about Iraq, and it makes little sense if no new Iraqi government exists," the official said. More than three months have passed since Iraqis elected a parliament. Its first task is to approve the choice of a prime minister, but the main Kurdish and Sunni parties are refusing to support the renomination of the prime minister, Ibrahim Jaafari. Britain and Iraq In memoriam: 100 British troops killed in Iraq Special report: UK politics and Iraq Chronology January 1 2005 - present Feb 1 2004 - 31 Dec 2004 July 16 1979 - Jan 31 2004 Interactive guides Saddam's trial More click-through graphics on Iraq Key documents Full text of speeches and documents Audio reports Audio reports on Iraq Links Provisional authority: rebuilding Iraq Iraqi-American chamber of commerce Wikipedia: Iraq [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 7 LewRockwell.com: The Evil Men Do by Robert Klassen Just when I think things can’t be worse, I find out they are. Like a good many people, I’ve gradually become accustomed to the blatant tyranny emanating from the District of Criminals. It’s almost a relief to have the executive tell us point blank that the Constitution, the congress, and the courts don’t matter. Neither do the people, as long as we obediently labor for the state. Wars of aggression? No surprise. Rendition, torture, concentration camps? No surprise. Universal snooping? No surprise. What about depleted uraniumbombs, bullets, and armor? Oh my. I suspect that Americans have little idea of the evil being done in our name. Last week a friend sent me this linkto an essay by Arun Shrivastava, who writes a fair warning on the danger of DU. Ever the skeptic, I started searching for more information. I didn’t like what I found. Naturally DC has been lying about the danger all along, but the unexamined issue is why did they decide to use these weapons at all? Why did we need armor piercing ordinance against "enemies" who had no armor? Were we up against tanks and battleships in the Balkans and Afghanistan? Were Iraqi tanks impervious to conventional weapons? Are mud-brick buildings really that tough? What is the point of seeding a region with radioactive aerosols and dust that will kill for generations to come? Only one comes to mind: Depopulate the region. Is DC capable of such monumental evil? Obviously. They even believe they can garrison this Land of Death. Do they believe there is magic in political boundaries? Apparently. But the dust will spread around the world and radioactive fallout will rain on us again, as it has done since July 1945, after the first atomic detonation in White Sands, New Mexico. Fatal cancerswill increase (sure, blame smoking), and even the elite will fall. Did we Americans ever get over our love affair with nuclear weapons? It doesn’t look like it. Now we have radioactive GIs coming home with the gift of cancer for themselves and their loved ones. Is this evil enough to satisfy the plutocrats who yearn for ever more power? I have only one question for them: If every continent loses three-hundred million people, who wins? The arithmetic is simple. "The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones." Shakespeare sure got that right. March 27, 2006 Copyright © 2006 Robert Klassen ***************************************************************** 8 FT.com: UK - Sell-off plan for BNFL arm to be unveiled By Carola Hoyos and Ben Hall Published: March 27 2006 03:00 | Last updated: March 27 2006 The sale of British Nuclear Group, the clean-up arm of British Nuclear Fuels, is to be announced by the government this week in the latest in a series of privatisations worth up to ÂŁ30bn. The BNG sell-off plan follows the announcement in last week's Budget of the partial disposal of British Energy, the nuclear power generator, which will lead a series of asset sales during the next four years. The sale of BNG, tobe announced on Thursday or Friday, is estimated as likely to fetch as much as $1bn (ÂŁ570m). The nuclear industry is arousing keen interest from investors as the government prepares to decide whether to back a new generation of nuclear power stations under its energy review this summer. Tony Blair is minded to support a renewal of nuclear power, which provides 20 per cent of Britain's electricity - a decision that could increase BNG's prospective value. The BNG sell-off is likely to take 12 to 18 months because of the political sensitivities involved and in order to give more time to the government's recently established Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to set up processes for contracting out to competing operators the clean-up of the UK's 20 nuclear sites. BNFL proposed BNG's sale in September last year, but the deal was held up by objections from unions and from senior figures in the NDA. The government will announce its intention to sell off BNG after receiving the NDA's approval this week. The authority will publish its revised strategy, updating its ÂŁ56bn estimate of the total cost of decommissioning existing facilities and cleaning up the sites. The preferred buyer for BNG would be a large international engineering group, such as Fluor or Bechtel, both of the US, which could give BNG access to the huge international nuclear clean-up industry, nuclear industry insiders said. Amec, the UK company, could also be a contender, though some in the industry say the company is too small to help BNG break out beyond the UK's $50bn nuclear clean-up industry. "BNG is a very experienced bunch of people. But it is quite small and needs to be strengthened and to be given global reach," said an industry insider. BNG's sale would follow that of Westinghouse, BNFL's US nuclear reactor arm, to Japan's Toshiba for ÂŁ2.8bn. The record price achieved by the sale is unlikely to help increase the price the government gets for BNG because they are two different businesses. But each has benefited from a resurgence of interest in nuclear power as natural gas prices rise and reserves in the North Sea dwindle, forcing the UK and others to rely on less stable sources, such as Russia. BNFL is also considering selling its 33 per cent stake in Urenco, the uranium enrichment business. If that sale were to go ahead, BNFL would be left with only Nexia, its research arm. © Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2006. "FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. ***************************************************************** 9 Xinhua: China to sign energy co-op deal with Australia www.xinhuanet.com www.chinaview.cn 2006-03-27 23:02:31 BEIJING, March 27 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese diplomat said here Monday that China will probably sign cooperation agreements with Australia on peaceful use of nuclear energy and uranium mining during Premier Wen Jiabao's upcoming visit to Australia. Liu Jieyi, director of the North American and Oceanian Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a news briefing about Wen's visit to Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Cambodia that the cooperation between China and Australia has seen "good" and "substantial" progress. "The two sides had a consultation on nuclear cooperation not long ago with many positive results. China believes the cooperation is conducive to the interests of the two countries and two peoples, and the building of an eco-friendly society in China," Liu said. The nuclear cooperation will feature peaceful use and will be supervised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said. Liu affirmed that China is not only a big energy consumer but also a big energy producer, and energy imports only play a supplementary role in the national energy supply. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will pay official visits to Australia, Fiji, New Zealand and Cambodia, and attend an economic forum between China and Pacific island countries from April 1 to 8. Wen will also attend the opening ceremony of the first China-Pacific Island Countries Economic Development and Cooperation Forum held in Fiji. During the forum, Liu said China will try to explore new approaches to further ties with Oceanic countries. According to Liu, Wen will deliver a speech at the opening ceremony of the forum, illustrating China's policies toward Oceanian countries and make concrete proposals to develop relations between China and Oceanic countries. Wen will also meet with the leaders of the Oceanic countries and sign guidelines on the economic cooperation between China and Oceania countries, Liu added. In response to a reporter's question, Liu said that all the Oceanic countries, including those with no diplomatic relations with China, are invited to the forum, calling for the countries to establish or resume diplomatic relations with China as soon as possible. Chinese official statistics showed that trade volume between China and the Oceanic countries reached 838 million U.S. dollars in 2005, up 58 percent over the previous year. "China has offered some assistance and made contributions to the economic and social development of the Oceanian countries," Liu said. During his last leg of the four-nation visit, Wen will probably sign a cooperation agreement on the second phase of the protection project of the Angkor Wat historical relics in Cambodia, said Hu Zhengyao, director of the Asian Department of Chinese Foreign Ministry. China and Cambodia will also issue a joint agreement on bilateral relations and future cooperation in various fields during Premier Wen's visit to the country, Hu added. Enditem Editor: Luan Shanglin Copyright ©2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 10 [NukeNet] Chernobyl: Up To 500, 000 May Have Already Died As Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:37:57 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) ----- Original Message ----- From: michel et solange fernex To: Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 7:01 AM Subject: Tr : [chernobyl20] UN accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths De : "antony froggatt" Ŕ : Objet : [chernobyl20] UN accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths Date : Sam, 25. Mär 2006 8:22 Uhr UN accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths · Atomic agency says toll will not exceed 4,000 · Doctors 'overwhelmed' by cancers and mutations John Vidal, environment editor: The Guardian Saturday March 25, 2006 The Guardian < http://www.guardian.co.uk > United Nations nuclear and health watchdogs have ignored evidence of deaths, cancers, mutations and other conditions after the Chernobyl accident, leading scientists and doctors have claimed in the run-up to the nuclear disaster's 20th anniversary next month. In a series of reports about to be published, they will suggest that at least 30,000 people are expected to die of cancers linked directly to severe radiation exposure in 1986 and up to 500,000 people may have already died as a result of the world's worst environmental catastrophe. -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- But the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organisation say that only 50 deaths can be directly attributed to the disaster, and that, at most, 4,000 people may eventually die from the accident on April 26 1986. They say only nine children have died of thyroid cancers in 20 years and that the majority of illnesses among the estimated 5 million people contaminated in the former Soviet Union are attributable to growing poverty and unhealthy lifestyles. An IAEA spokesman said he was confident the UN figures were correct. "We have a wide scientific consensus of 100 leading scientists. When we see or hear of very high mortalities we can only lean back and question the legitimacy of the figures. Do they have qualified people? Are they responsible? If they have data that they think are excluded then they should send it." The new estimates have been collated by researchers commissioned by European parliamentary groups, Greenpeace International and medical foundations in Britain, Germany, Ukraine, Scandinavia and elsewhere. They take into account more than 50 published scientific studies. "At least 500,000 people - perhaps more - have already died out of the 2 million people who were officially classed as victims of Chernobyl in Ukraine," said Nikolai Omelyanets, deputy head of the National Commission for Radiation Protection in Ukraine. "[Studies show] that 34,499 people who took part in the clean-up of Chernobyl have died in the years since the catastrophe. The deaths of these people from cancers was nearly three times as high as in the rest of the population. "We have found that infant mortality increased 20% to 30% because of chronic exposure to radiation after the accident. All this information has been ignored by the IAEA and WHO. We sent it to them in March last year and again in June. They've not said why they haven't accepted it." Evgenia Stepanova, of the Ukrainian government's Scientific Centre for Radiation Medicine, said: "We're overwhelmed by thyroid cancers, leukaemias and genetic mutations that are not recorded in the WHO data and which were practically unknown 20 years ago." The IAEA and WHO, however, say that apart from an increase in thyroid cancer in children there is no evidence of a large-scale impact on public health. "No increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality that could be associated with radiation exposure have been observed," said the agencies' report in September. In the Rivne region of Ukraine, 310 miles west of Chernobyl, doctors say they are coming across an unusual rate of cancers and mutations. "In the 30 hospitals of our region we find that up to 30% of people who were in highly radiated areas have physical disorders, including heart and blood diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases. Nearly one in three of all the newborn babies have deformities, mostly internal," said Alexander Vewremchuk, of the Special Hospital for the Radiological Protection of the Population in Vilne. Figures on the health effects of Chernobyl have always been disputed. Soviet authorities covered up many of the details at the time. The largest radiation doses were received by the 600,000 people involved in the clean-up, many drawn from army conscripts all over the Soviet Union. Backstory The worst nuclear accident in history took place on April 26 1986 when one of the four reactors at the Chernobyl complex 80 miles north of Kiev in Ukraine began to fail. Operators shut down the system, but a large chemical explosion followed a power surge and the 1,000-tonne cover blew off the top of the reactor. Design flaws in the cooling system were blamed for the accident, in which 31 people were killed immediately. The worst-affected area was Belarus, which took the brunt of the 4% of the 190 tonnes of uranium dioxide in the plant that escaped. Ukraine was also contaminated. Some 600,000 workers (mainly volunteers) who took part in recovery and clean-up operations were exposed to high levels of radiation; the Soviet government first suppressed news of the incident, but evacuated local people within a few days. Five million people were exposed to radiation in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, and there was a dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among children living there. _________________________________________________ Antony Froggatt London, UK tel: 00 44 20 79230412 fax: 00 44 20 79237383 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chernobyl120 http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/chernobyl120 _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 11 [NukeNet] Most EU Leaders Back Reviving Nuclear Power Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:39:31 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1739394,00.html Is the URL for the story of possibly 500,000 people already having been killed by Chernobyl posted earlier. These are all weapons of mass destruction both for the fuel that can be used in conventional nuclear weapons and for the radiological effects of a meltdown, boil off due to human eeror or an attack: http://www.guardian.co.uk/nuclear/article/0,,1740454,00.html Most EU leaders back reviving nuclear power David Gow in Brussels Monday March 27, 2006 The Guardian The overwhelming majority of leaders at last week's European Union summit, including Tony Blair, strongly backed a revival of nuclear power as the answer to Europe's growing dependence on overseas supplies and to combat climate change. Only Germany and Austria explicitly rejected the nuclear option in secret summit talks, according to senior German diplomats, who pointed out that Angela Merkel, the chancellor and a trained physicist, favoured it personally but was bound by her Social Democrat coalition partners to reject it. Andris Piebalgs, EU energy commissioner and author of this month's green paper on a common energy policy, made it plain in an interview that a revival of atomic power was not the "silver bullet" for meeting Europe's triple objectives of security of supply, sustainable development and competitiveness. "There are no silver bullets and you cannot believe that, if you build new nuclear power stations, that will solve everything," he told the Guardian. "Countries with expertise are well placed to replace existing plants or build new stations but we should not say that nuclear energy will meet all three objectives cheaply and efficiently. It has huge costs and lots of complications, including the issue of waste and final storage." Mr Piebalgs, a Latvian, said countries pursuing the nuclear option needed to emulate Finland, which is building Europe's first new nuclear plant since the Chernobyl disaster 20 years ago (a French-designed pressurised-water reactor). "Finland's decision was based on a thorough analysis of the nuclear option and a political debate, including about safe final storage, so each citizen knows that he is not condemning his children to a dangerous future," he said, adding: "The only genuine silver bullet is energy efficiency and conservation." Last week's summit endorsed the notion of an EU action plan designed to save 20% of energy consumption by 2020 and plans to raise the 6% of energy provided by renewables to 20% by the same date. But EU leaders rejected Mr Piebalgs' call for a European energy regulator to police the market and provide the framework to invest in common gas and electricity grids that, with new power plants, could cost €1,000bn (ÂŁ700bn) by 2030. By then the EU will import 70% of its energy, mainly gas from Russia, Algeria and Norway, as North Sea reserves run out. Mr Piebalgs, who also favours the use of clean coal, carbon sequestration and biomass, indicated that a critical answer to Europe's long-term supply needs was to increase the market for liquefied natural gas (LNG), which could be imported from several countries. He suggested that LNG should provide 20%-25% of European energy within the next 25 years. _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 12 [NukeNet] link to nuke industry briefing paper Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:36:39 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) Wow- what an overview- though not from an anti-nuclear point of view, at link below: http://www.uic.com.au/nip58.htm US Nuclear Power Industry Briefing Paper # 58 March 2006 "However, new investment has occurred only in states which have liberalised their systems to rely on markets for pricing of electricity. There has been no sale of plants in states with traditional US cost-plus pricing." _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 13 [NukeNet] 3 Mile Island Documentry On Tuesday March 28th Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:36:51 -0800 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) Tuesday March 28, 2006 marks the 27 anniversary of the partial meltdown at TMI. Please forward this to all lists, media outlets and interested journalists: >"Three Mile Island Revisited," directed by Steve Jambeck, will be aired on >Free Speech TV Tuesday at 3 a.m., 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 10 >p.m. Free Speech TV broadcasts via the Dish Satellite Network (Channel >9415) and on 156 cable TV stations in 33 states reaching 25 million homes. For more information visit: www.envirovideo.com The award-winning EnviroVideo documentary "Three Mile Island Revisited" will be aired on Free Speech TV through the day Tuesday, March 28 ---the 27th anniversary of the major accident at the nuclear plant in Pennsylvania. The documentary challenges the claim of the nuclear industry and government that "no one died" as a result of the core meltdown at Three Mile Island. Utilizing the testimony of area residents and scientific findings, it reveals that deaths, especially from cancer, and birth defects in children, were widespread in years following the accident. Indeed, states the documentary's narrator and writer, Karl Grossman, speaking in front of the nuclear facility, the area around it became a "valley of death" following the accident. The plant's owner quietly settled damage cases with persons seriously impacted by the accident, it discloses. "Three Mile Island Revisited," directed by Steve Jambeck, will be aired on Free Speech TV Tuesday at 3 a.m., 6 a.m., 10 a.m., 3 p.m., 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. Free Speech TV broadcasts via the Dish Satellite Network (Channel 9415) and on 156 cable TV stations in 33 states reaching 25 million homes. For more information visit: www.envirovideo.com _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 14 Chernobyl: Up To 500,000 May Have Already Died As IAEA, WHO Continue Big Lie, More To Die As Nuke Power Revival Push Continues Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 13:08:57 -0500 UN accused of ignoring 500,000 Chernobyl deaths · Atomic agency says toll will not exceed 4,000 · Doctors 'overwhelmed' by cancers and mutations John Vidal, environment editor: The Guardian Saturday March 25, 2006 The Guardian http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1739394,00.html < http://www.guardian.co.uk > United Nations nuclear and health watchdogs have ignored evidence of deaths, cancers, mutations and other conditions after the Chernobyl accident, leading scientists and doctors have claimed in the run-up to the nuclear disaster's 20th anniversary next month. In a series of reports about to be published, they will suggest that at least 30,000 people are expected to die of cancers linked directly to severe radiation exposure in 1986 and up to 500,000 people may have already died as a result of the world's worst environmental catastrophe. -------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------- But the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and World Health Organisation say that only 50 deaths can be directly attributed to the disaster, and that, at most, 4,000 people may eventually die from the accident on April 26 1986. They say only nine children have died of thyroid cancers in 20 years and that the majority of illnesses among the estimated 5 million people contaminated in the former Soviet Union are attributable to growing poverty and unhealthy lifestyles. An IAEA spokesman said he was confident the UN figures were correct. "We have a wide scientific consensus of 100 leading scientists. When we see or hear of very high mortalities we can only lean back and question the legitimacy of the figures. Do they have qualified people? Are they responsible? If they have data that they think are excluded then they should send it." The new estimates have been collated by researchers commissioned by European parliamentary groups, Greenpeace International and medical foundations in Britain, Germany, Ukraine, Scandinavia and elsewhere. They take into account more than 50 published scientific studies. "At least 500,000 people - perhaps more - have already died out of the 2 million people who were officially classed as victims of Chernobyl in Ukraine," said Nikolai Omelyanets, deputy head of the National Commission for Radiation Protection in Ukraine. "[Studies show] that 34,499 people who took part in the clean-up of Chernobyl have died in the years since the catastrophe. The deaths of these people from cancers was nearly three times as high as in the rest of the population. "We have found that infant mortality increased 20% to 30% because of chronic exposure to radiation after the accident. All this information has been ignored by the IAEA and WHO. We sent it to them in March last year and again in June. They've not said why they haven't accepted it." Evgenia Stepanova, of the Ukrainian government's Scientific Centre for Radiation Medicine, said: "We're overwhelmed by thyroid cancers, leukaemias and genetic mutations that are not recorded in the WHO data and which were practically unknown 20 years ago." The IAEA and WHO, however, say that apart from an increase in thyroid cancer in children there is no evidence of a large-scale impact on public health. "No increases in overall cancer incidence or mortality that could be associated with radiation exposure have been observed," said the agencies' report in September. In the Rivne region of Ukraine, 310 miles west of Chernobyl, doctors say they are coming across an unusual rate of cancers and mutations. "In the 30 hospitals of our region we find that up to 30% of people who were in highly radiated areas have physical disorders, including heart and blood diseases, cancers and respiratory diseases. Nearly one in three of all the newborn babies have deformities, mostly internal," said Alexander Vewremchuk, of the Special Hospital for the Radiological Protection of the Population in Vilne. Figures on the health effects of Chernobyl have always been disputed. Soviet authorities covered up many of the details at the time. The largest radiation doses were received by the 600,000 people involved in the clean-up, many drawn from army conscripts all over the Soviet Union. Backstory The worst nuclear accident in history took place on April 26 1986 when one of the four reactors at the Chernobyl complex 80 miles north of Kiev in Ukraine began to fail. Operators shut down the system, but a large chemical explosion followed a power surge and the 1,000-tonne cover blew off the top of the reactor. Design flaws in the cooling system were blamed for the accident, in which 31 people were killed immediately. The worst-affected area was Belarus, which took the brunt of the 4% of the 190 tonnes of uranium dioxide in the plant that escaped. Ukraine was also contaminated. Some 600,000 workers (mainly volunteers) who took part in recovery and clean-up operations were exposed to high levels of radiation; the Soviet government first suppressed news of the incident, but evacuated local people within a few days. Five million people were exposed to radiation in Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, and there was a dramatic increase in thyroid cancer among children living there. _________________________________________________ Antony Froggatt London, UK tel: 00 44 20 79230412 fax: 00 44 20 79237383 http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chernobyl120 http://www.groups.yahoo.com/group/chernobyl120 ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: NRC Sends Special Inspection Team to Vogtle Nuclear Plant to Review Cause of Repeat Leakage in Shutdown Cooling System News Release - Region II - 2006-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region II 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303 No. II-06-007 March 24, 2006 CONTACT: Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417 E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II office in Atlanta has sent a special team of inspectors to the Vogtle nuclear power plant, operated by Southern Nuclear Operating Company near Waynesboro, Ga., to look into the cause of repeat weld leakage in a small line which is part of the plants Unit 2 Residual Heat Removal (RHR) system. Dr. William Travers, administrator of the agencys Atlanta office, said the leak posed no threat to the health and safety of plant personnel and resulted in no outside release of radioactive material. It contained small amount of reactor coolant which leaked into the containment building. As a result, the reactor, which experienced similar weld leaks in December of 2005 and February of this year, was shut down March 20 for repair and modification. He said air samples inside the containment building initially indicated the possibility of a small reactor cooling system leak, Also, a camera-equipped robot indicated the presence of a small steam leak on the bypass line of the RHR system suction valve. Dr. Travers said the NRC special inspection team will review circumstances associated with the event and monitor the companys efforts to identify and correct the cause of the problem. Last revised Monday, March 27, 2006 ***************************************************************** 16 BBC: Regeneration consortium unveiled Last Updated: Monday, 27 March 2006 [Chapelcross nuclear plant] Chapelcross nuclear plant is in the process of closing The preferred bidders for a multi-million pound project to help economic regeneration in Dumfries and Galloway have been selected. A consortium of Bank of Scotland Corporate and Kilmartin Property Group will take the project forward. It aims to help Gretna, Lockerbie and Annan recover from the future closure of the Chapelcross nuclear plant. The scheme is part of enterprise company plans to generate more than Ł250m of private investment. The two companies will enter negotiations with Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway (SEDG) to form a public private partnership operating through Katalyst Projects Limited (KPL). 'Excellent record' SEDG has already pledged Ł8m to the project in order to attract higher levels of private investment. The first phase of plans are expected to be announced in May and will focus on industrial units, office accommodation, leisure and retail developments. "Both organisations have an excellent track record in property development and finance and we look forward to entering into negotiations to form a working partnership with them," said SEDG chief executive Colin Williamson. "This is an important regeneration project and we are delighted that Bank of Scotland has been chosen as the preferred partner for this innovative scheme," added Bank of Scotland Corporate Director Gary MacDonald. ***************************************************************** 17 Independent: 'Without changing our mindset, I don't see how the environmental issue can be tackled' Published: 28 March 2006 Alexei Sayle, Writer & broadcaster The concerns for society today are predicated on our consumer culture. It seems we have to buy all this different crap to keep going. If that continues to be the norm, I can't see much changing. Without altering that mindset I do not see how the environment can be tackled seriously. You can't tinker at the edges. This tax and that tax is not going to change much. Caroline Lucas, Green Party MEP The Government still needs to massively invest in renewable energy, energy efficiency and to rewrite building regulations. But individual rationing is the only way to ensure everyone takes action, not just the green-minded few. Climate change is a weapon of mass destruction, greater than a military threat in terms of the numbers affected. We need a shock to wake us up. Dinos Chapman, Artist Change needs to be foisted upon us because we are not going to do it ourselves. I am pessimistic but not a defeatist. The only thing that motivates us is self interest. If we all really thought about it very hard it would be really simple to stop all of this. But that would take sharing first world wealth with the Third World, and nobody is interested in doing that. Tracey Emin , Artist We need more research and development in the things like electronic cars. Research is desperately needed in so many areas in this country but is ignored by the Government. But it is not just governments who have responsibility - it is people like myself, who are aware of what they are doing wrong, yet still do it. Much more needs to be done to let people know what they are doing. Chris Packham, Wildlife broadcaster The most important thing is to change American policy. They use 25 per cent of the world's resources with a fraction of the population. We have to stop flying everywhere for Ł65. Cheap flights have got to go. And we need to invest massively in public transport.I agree that nations have to cap their carbon and those using the most should be targeted. Katherine Hamnett, Designer What concerns me is this myth that the shift to nuclear power will cut carbon emissions. A recent poll by the University of East Anglia and Mori said 54 per cent said they would accept new stations being built for this reason. CND says nuclear power is not carbon-free. The whole nuclear cycle from uranium mining onwards produces more greenhouse gases than most renewable energy sources. Philip Dodd, Broadcaster Climate change can only be addressed by working with other countries and this seems to me to be a profound failure with Britain - our failure to really try to understand how places like China see the world. This is a global issue and I think that Britain is too insular. I'm not against your campaign but it strikes me as a unilateral answer to a global problem. Will Self , Novelist We need an aviation fuel tax if we are to properly address environmental concerns. I think we should see an end to this Ł5-to-Milan malarkey. That is what is turning us to toast. A cap is desirable, if only to make the individual aware that consumption needs to be controlled. The practical difficulties mean it could act as an information campaign more than anything else. A starting point. Joan Bakewell, Writer and social commentator The English aren't as good at recycling as the French, who are very rigorous - they keep to the rules or they get fined. Recycling should be statutory with fines for failing. And the people who distribute glossy junk mail should pay a very high tax to do so. The Chancellor's tax on gas-guzzling cars will be nothing to the rich and should be much higher. Tony Juniper, Friends of the Earth The first step should be establishing the legal framework requiring the Government to reduce our emissions by 3 per cent a year. Then we can talk about caps. A cap system doesn't have to be unfair. If you set up a scheme where people who don't have a big carbon footprint can sell some of their allocation to people who do, that could be fairer than the system in place at the moment. © 2006 Independent News and Media Limited ***************************************************************** 18 NRC: Attachment 1); EA-06-037] FR Doc E6-4371 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15225-15229] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-95] In the Matter of Operating Power Reactor Licensees Identified in Attachment 1; Order Modifying Licenses (Effective Immediately) I. The licensees identified in Attachment 1 to this Order hold licenses issued by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) authorizing operation of nuclear power plants in accordance with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR) part 50. Commission regulations at 10 CFR 50.54(p)(1) require these licensees to maintain safeguards contingency plan procedures in accordance with 10 CFR part 73, Appendix C. Specific safeguards requirements for reactors are contained in 10 CFR 73.55. II. On September 11, 2001, terrorists simultaneously attacked targets in New York, N.Y., and Washington, DC, using large commercial aircraft as weapons. In response to the attacks and intelligence information subsequently obtained, the Commission issued a number of Safeguards and Threat Advisories to its licensees, and eventually Orders to selected licensees, to strengthen licensees' capabilities and readiness to respond to a potential attack on a nuclear facility. On April 29, 2003, the Commission issued an Order to all operating power reactor licensees that enhanced the design basis threat (DBT) specified in 10 CFR 73.1. As a result of the Commission's continued assessment of threat information, the Commission has determined that a revision to one of the [[Page 15226]] specific adversary characteristics set forth in the April 29, 2003, DBT Order needs to be updated and enhanced. The update to the adversary characteristic is set forth in Attachment 2\1\ of this Order. Each licensee must amend its site security plans to address the new adversary characteristic in its protective strategy. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \1\ Attachment 2 contains Safeguards Information and will not be publicly disclosed. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Any needed changes to the physical security plan, safeguards contingency plan, or guard training and qualification plan required by 10 CFR 50.34(c), 50.34(d), and 73.55(b)(4)(ii), respectively, shall be completed and implemented within 60 days of the date of this Order. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202, I find that in the circumstances described above, the public health, safety, and interest and the common defense and security require that this Order be immediately effective. III. Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 103, 104, 161b, 161i, 161o, 182, and 186 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, and the Commission's regulations in 10 CFR 2.202 and 10 CFR parts 50 and 73, it is hereby ordered, effective immediately, that all licenses identified in Attachment 1 to this order are modified as follows: A.1. Each licensee shall revise its physical security plan and safeguards contingency plan, prepared pursuant to 10 CFR 50.34(c) and 50.34(d), to provide protection against the updated adversary characteristic set forth in Attachment 2 to this Order. In addition, each licensee shall revise its training and qualification plan, required by 10 CFR 73.55(b)(4)(ii), to implement the updated adversary characteristic set forth in Attachment 2 to this Order. 2. Each licensee shall implement necessary changes to its physical security plan, safeguards contingency plan, and guard training and qualification plan no later than 60 days from the date of this Order. B.1. Each licensee shall, within twenty-one (21) days of the date of this Order, notify the Commission: (1) If the licensee is unable to comply with any requirement of this Order, (2) if compliance with any requirement of this Order is unnecessary in the licensee's specific circumstances, or (3) if implementation of any requirement of this Order would cause the licensee to be in violation of the provisions of any Commission regulation or the facility license. The notification shall provide the licensee's justification for seeking relief from, or variation of, any specific requirement. 2. Any licensee that considers that implementation of any of the requirements of this Order would adversely impact safe operation of the facility must notify the Commission, within twenty-one (21) days of this Order, of the adverse safety impact, the basis for its determination that the requirement has an adverse safety impact, and either a proposal for achieving the same objectives of this Order, or a schedule for modifying the facilities to address the adverse safety condition. If neither approach is appropriate, the licensee must supplement its response to Condition B.1. of this Order to identify the condition as a requirement with which it cannot comply, with attendant justifications as required in Condition B.1. C. Each licensee shall report to the Commission, in writing, when it has fully implemented this Order. The notification shall be made no later than 60 days from the date of the Order and include substitute security plan pages that reflect any changes made to implement the Order. D. All measures implemented or actions taken in response to this Order shall be maintained until the Commission determines otherwise, except that the licensee may change its revised physical security plans, safeguards contingency plans, and guard training and qualification plans if authorized by 10 CFR 50.54(p). Licensee responses to Conditions A.1, B.1, B.2, and C above, shall be submitted in accordance with 10 CFR 50.4. In addition, licensee submittals that contain safeguards information shall be properly marked and handled in accordance with 10 CFR 73.21. The Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, may, in writing, relax or rescind any of the above conditions upon demonstration by the licensee of good cause. IV. In accordance with 10 CFR 2.202, the licensee must, and any other person adversely affected by this Order may, submit an answer to this Order, and may request a hearing on this Order, within twenty-one (21) days of the date of this Order. Where good cause is shown, consideration will be given to extending the time to request a hearing. A request for an extension of time in which to submit an answer or request a hearing must be made in writing to the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and include a statement of good cause for the extension. The answer may consent to this Order. Unless the answer consents to this Order, the answer shall, in writing and under oath or affirmation, specifically set forth the matters of fact and law on which the licensee or other person adversely affected relies and the reasons as to why the Order should not have been issued. Any answer or request for a hearing shall be submitted to the Secretary, Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ATTN: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Copies also shall be sent to the Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555- 0001; to the Assistant General Counsel for Materials Litigation and Enforcement at the same address; to the Regional Administrator for NRC Region I, II, III, or IV, as appropriate for the specific facility; and to the licensee if the answer or hearing request is by a person other than the licensee. Because of possible delays in delivery of mail to United States Government offices, it is requested that answers and requests for hearing be transmitted to the Secretary of the Commission either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-1101 or by e-mail to hearingdocket@nrc.gov and also to the Office of the General Counsel either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter.gov. If a person other than the licensee requests a hearing, that person shall set forth with particularity the manner in which his or her interest is adversely affected by this Order and shall address the criteria set forth in 10 CFR 2.309(d). If a hearing is requested by the licensee or a person whose interest is adversely affected, the Commission will issue an Order designating the time and place of any hearing. If a hearing is held, the issue to be considered at such hearing shall be whether this Order should be sustained. Pursuant to 10 CFR 2.202(c)(2)(i), the licensee may, in addition to demanding a hearing, at the time the answer is filed or sooner, move the presiding officer to set aside the immediate effectiveness of the Order on the ground that the Order, including the need for immediate effectiveness, is not based on adequate evidence but on mere suspicion, unfounded allegations, or error. In the absence of any request for hearing, or written approval of an extension of time in which to request a hearing, the provisions specified in Section III above shall be final twenty-one (21) days from the date of this Order [[Page 15227]] without further order or proceedings. If an extension of time for requesting a hearing has been approved, the provisions specified in Section III shall be final when the extension expires if a hearing request has not been received. An answer or a request for hearing shall not stay the immediate effectiveness of this order. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Dated this 20th day of March 2006. J.E. Dyer, Director, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. Attachment 1--List of Addressees; Power Plants--Senior Executive/ Security Contacts Mr. William Levis Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC-N09 Salem Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-272 & 50-311 License Nos. DPR-70 & DPR-75 End of Buttonwood Road Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. William Levis Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer PSEG Nuclear LLC-X15 Hope Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-354 License No. NPF-57 End of Buttonwood Road Hancocks Bridge, NJ 08038 Mr. Michael Kansler President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-293 License No. DPR-35 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Michael Kansler President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Docket No. 50-271 License No. DPR-28 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Michael Kansler President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant Docket No. 50-333 License No. DPR-59 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Michael Kansler President Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Indian Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-247 & 50-286 License Nos. DPR-26 & DPR-64 440 Hamilton Avenue White Plains, NY 10601 Mr. Gene St. Pierre Site Vice President FPL Energy Seabrook Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-443 License No. NPF-86 Central Receiving, Lafayette Road Seabrook, NH 03874 Mr. James H. Lash Vice President FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-334 & 50-412 License Nos. DPR-66 & NPF-73 Route 168 Shippingport, PA 15077 Mr. James A. Spina Vice President Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Inc. Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-317 & 50-318 License Nos. DPR-53 & DPR-69 1650 Calvert Cliffs Parkway Lusby, MD 20657-4702 Mrs. Mary G. Korsnick Vice President R. E. Ginna Nuclear Power Plant, LLC Docket No. 50-244 License No. DPR-18 1503 Lake Road Ontario, NY 14519-9364 Mr. Timothy J. O'Connor Vice President Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, LLC Nine Mile Point Nuclear Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-220 & 50-410 License Nos. DPR-63 & NPF-69 348 Lake Road Oswego, NY 13126 Mr. Britt T. McKinney Sr. Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer PPL Susquehanna, LLC Susquehanna Steam Electric Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-387 & 50-388 License Nos. NPF-14 & NPF-22 769 Salem Boulevard, NUCSB3 Berwick, PA 18603-0467 Mr. David A. Christian Sr. Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Nuclear Connecticut, Inc. Millstone Power Station, Units 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-336 & 50-423 License Nos. DPR-65 & NPF-49 Innsbrook Technical Center, 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060 Mr. David A. Christian Sr. Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Virginia Electric and Power Company North Anna Power Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-338 & 50-339 License Nos. NPF-4 & NPF-7 Innsbrook Technical Center, 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060 Mr. David A. Christian Sr. Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Virginia Electric and Power Company Surry Power Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-280 & 50-281 License Nos. DPR-32 & DPR-37 Innsbrook Technical Center, 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060 Mr. David A. Christian Sr. Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Dominion Energy Kewaunee, Inc. Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant Docket No. 50-305 License No. DPR-43 Innsbrook Technical Center 5000 Dominion Boulevard Glen Allen, VA 23060 Mr. Dhiaa M. Jamil Vice President Duke Energy Corporation Catawba Nuclear Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-413 & 50-414 License Nos. NPF-35 & NPF-52 4800 Concord Road York, SC 29745 Mr. L. M. Stinson Vice President--Farley Project Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. Joseph M. Farley Nuclear Plant, Units 1& 2 Docket Nos. 50-348 & 50-364 License Nos. NPF-2 & NPF-8 40 Inverness Center Parkway Birmingham, AL 35242 Mr. H. L. Sumner, Jr. Vice President--Nuclear, Hatch Project Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-321 & 50-366 License Nos. DPR-57 & NPF-5 40 Inverness Center Parkway Birmingham, AL 35242 Mr. G. R. Peterson Vice President Duke Energy Corporation William B. McGuire Nuclear Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-369 & 50-370 License Nos. NPF-9 & NPF-17 12700 Hagers Ferry Road Huntersville, NC 28078 Mr. Bruce H. Hamilton Vice President, Oconee Site Duke Energy Corporation Oconee Nuclear Station, Units 1, 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-269, 50-270 & 50-287 License Nos. DPR-38, DPR-47 & DPR-55 7800 Rochester Highway Seneca, SC 29672 Mr. Don E. Grissette Vice President Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. Vogtle Electric Generating Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-424 & 50-425 License Nos. NPF-68 & NPF-81 40 Inverness Center Parkway Birmingham, AL 35242 Mr. James Scarola Vice President Carolina Power & Light Company Progress Energy, Inc. Brunswick Steam Electric Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-325 & 50-324 License Nos. DPR-71 & DPR-62 Hwy 87, 2.5 Miles North Southport, NC 28461 Mr. C.J. Gannon Vice President Carolina Power & Light Company Shearon Harris Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-400 License No. NPF-63 5413 Shearon Harris Road New Hill, NC 27562-0165 Mr. Dale E. Young Vice President [[Page 15228]] Supervisor, Licensing & Regulatory Programs Florida Power Corporation Crystal River Nuclear Generating Plant, Unit 3 Docket No. 50-302 License No. DPR-72 15760 W. Power Line Street Crystal River, FL 34428-6708 Mr. J. W. Moyer Vice President Carolina Power & Light Company Progress Energy H. B. Robinson Steam Electric Plant, Unit 2 Docket No. 50-261 License No. DPR-23 3581 West Entrance Road Hartsville, SC 29550 Mr. Brian J. O'Grady Site Vice President Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant, Units 1, 2 & 3 Tennessee Valley Authority Docket Nos. 50-259, 50-260 & 50-296 License Nos. DPR-33, DPR-52 & DPR-68 10835 Shaw Rd. Athens, AL 35611 Mr. Michael Skaggs Site Vice President Watts Bar Nuclear Plant, Unit 1 Tennessee Valley Authority Docket No. 50-390 License No. NPF-90 Highway 68 Near Spring City Spring City, TN 37381 Mr. Randy Douet Site Vice President Sequoyah Nuclear Plant, Units 1 & 2 Tennessee Valley Authority Docket Nos. 50-327 & 50-328 License Nos. DPR-77 & DPR-79 2000 Igou Ferry Road Soddy Daisy, TN 37379 Mr. J. A. Stall Senior Vice President, Nuclear & Chief Nuclear Officer Florida Power and Light Company St. Lucie, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-335 & 50-389 License Nos. DPR-67 & NPF-16 700 Universe Boulevard Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420 Mr. J. A. Stall Senior Vice President, Nuclear and Chief Nuclear Officer Florida Power and Light Company Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station, Units 3 and 4 Docket Nos. 50-250 & 50-251 License Nos. DPR-31 & DPR-41 700 Universe Boulevard Juno Beach, FL 33408-0420 Mr. Mano K. Nazar Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Indiana Michigan Power Company Nuclear Generation Group Donald C. Cook Nuclear Plant, Units 1 and 2 Docket Nos. 50-315 & 50-316 License Nos. DPR-58 & DPR-74 One Cook Place Bridgman, MI 49106 Mr. Gary Van Middlesworth Site Vice President FLP Energy Duane Arnold Energy Center Docket No. 50-331 License No. DPR-49 3277 DAEC Road Palo, IA 52324-9785 Mr. Donald K. Cobb Assistant Vice President--Nuclear Generation Detroit Edison Company Fermi, Unit 2 Docket No. 50-341 License No. NPF-43 6400 North Dixie Highway Newport, MI 48166 Mr. John Conway Site Vice President Nuclear Management Company, LLC Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant Docket No. 50-263 License No. DPR-22 2807 West County Road 75 Monticello, MN 55362-9637 Paul A. Harden Site Vice President Nuclear Management Company, LLC Palisades Nuclear Plant Docket No. 50-255 License No.DPR-20 27780 Blue Star Memorial Highway Covert, MI 49043-9530 Mr. Dennis L. Koehl Site Vice President Nuclear Management Company, LLC Point Beach Nuclear Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-266 & 50-301 License Nos. DPR-24 & DPR-27 6590 Nuclear Road Two Rivers, WI 54241-9516 Mr. Thomas J. Palmisano Site Vice President Nuclear Management Company, LLC Prairie Island Nuclear Generating Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-282 & 50-306 License Nos. DPR-42 & DPR-60 1717 Wakonade Drive East Welch, MN 55089 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Braidwood Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-456 & 50-457 License Nos. NPF-72 & NPF-77 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Byron Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-454 & 50-455 License Nos. NPF-37 & NPF-66 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Dresden Nuclear Power Station, Units 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-237 & 50-249 License Nos. DPR-19 & DPR-25 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC LaSalle County Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-373 & 50-374 License Nos. NPF-11 & NPF-18 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Quad Cities Nuclear Power Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-254 & 50-265 License Nos. DPR-29 & DPR-30 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Limerick Generating Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-352 & 50-353 License Nos. NPF-39 & NPF-85 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer Exelon Generation Company, LLC Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, Units 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-277 & 50-278 License Nos. DPR-44 & DPR-56 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station Docket No. 50-219 License No. DPR-16 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Clinton Power Station Docket No. 50-461 License No. NPF-62 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Christopher M. Crane President & Chief Nuclear Officer AmerGen Energy Company, LLC Three Mile Island Nuclear Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-289 License No. DPR-50 4300 Winfield Road Warrenville, IL 60555 Mr. Mark Bezilla Vice President, Davis-Besse FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station Docket No. 50-346 License No. NPF-3 5501 North State Route 2 Oak Harbor, OH 43449-9760 Mr. L.W. Pearce Vice President--Nuclear, Acting FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-440 License No. NPF-58 10 North Center Street Perry, OH 44081 Mr. Jeffrey S. Forbes Site Vice President Entergy Operations, Inc. Arkansas Nuclear One, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-313 & 50-368 [[Page 15229]] License Nos. DPR-51 & NPF-6 1448 S. R. 333 Russellville, AR 72802 M. R. Blevins Senior Vice President and Chief Nuclear Officer TXU Generation Company, LP Comanche Peak Steam Electric Station, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-445 & 50-446 License Nos. NPF-87 & NPF-89 5 Miles North of Glen Rose Glen Rose, TX 76043 Mr. Randall K. Edington Vice President--Nuclear and CNO Nebraska Public Power District Cooper Nuclear Station Docket No. 50-298 License No. DPR-46 1200 Prospect Road Brownville, NE 68321 Mr. George A. Williams GGNS Vice President, Operations Entergy Operations, Inc. Grand Gulf Nuclear Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-416 License No. NPF-29 7003 Bald Hill Road-Waterloo Road Port Gibson, MS 39150 Mr. Paul D. Hinnenkamp Vice President--Operations Entergy Operations, Inc. River Bend Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-458 License No. NPF-47 5485 U.S. Highway 61N St. Francisville, LA 70775 Mr. James J. Sheppard President & Chief Executive Officer South Texas Nuclear Operating Company South Texas Project, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-498 & 50-499 License Nos. NPF-76 & NPF-80 8 Miles West of Wadsworth, on FM 521 Wadsworth, TX 77483 Mr. Joseph E. Venable Vice President Operations Entergy Operations, Inc. Waterford Steam Electric Generating Station, Unit 3 Docket No. 50-382 License No. NPF-38 17265 River Road Killona, LA 70057-3093 Mr. Charles D. Naslund Senior Vice President & Chief Nuclear Officer Union Electric Company Callaway Plant, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-483 License No. NPF-30 Junction Hwy CC & Hwy O: 5 Miles North of Hwy 94 Portland, MO 65067 Mr. John S. Keenan Senior Vice President, Generation and Chief Nuclear Officer Pacific Gas and Electric Company Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, Units 1 & 2 Docket Nos. 50-275 & 50-323 License Nos. DPR-80 & DPR-82 77 Beale Street, Mail Code B32 San Francisco, CA 94105 Mr. R. T. Ridenoure Vice President--Chief Nuclear Officer Omaha Public Power District Fort Calhoun Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-285 License No. DPR-40 Fort Calhoun Station Administration Building 9750 Power Lane Blair, NE 68008 Mr. James M. Levine Executive Vice President, Generation Arizona Public Service Company Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station, Units 1, 2 and 3 Docket Nos. 50-528, 50-529 & 50-530 License Nos. NPF-41, NPF-51 & NPF-74 5801 S. Wintersburg Road Tonopah, AZ 85354-7529 Mr. Richard M. Rosenblum Chief Nuclear Officer Southern California Edison Company San Onofre Nuclear Station, Units 2 & 3 Docket Nos. 50-361 & 50-362 License Nos. NPF-10 & NPF-15 5000 Pacific Coast Highway San Clemente, CA 92674 Mr. J. V. Parrish Chief Executive Officer Energy Northwest Columbia Generating Station Docket No. 50-397 License No. NPF-21 Snake River Warehouse North Power Plant Loop Richland, WA 99352 Mr. Rick A. Muench President & Chief Executive Officer Wolf Creek Nuclear Operating Corporation Wolf Creek Generating Station, Unit 1 Docket No. 50-482 License No. NPF-42 1550 Oxen Lane, NE Burlington, KS 66839 Mr. Jeffrey B. Archie Vice President, Nuclear Operations South Carolina Electric and Gas Company Virgil C. Summer Nuclear Station Docket No. 50-395 License No. NPF-12 Hwy 215N at O.S. Bradham Boulevard Jenkinsville, SC 29065 [FR Doc. E6-4371 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 19 NRC: Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc., Georgia Power FR Doc E6-4372 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15223-15225] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-94] Company,Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; Notice of Consideration of Issuance of Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses, Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is considering issuance of amendments to Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-57 and NPF-5, issued to Southern Nuclear Operating Company, Inc. (SNC, the licensee), for operation of the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, located in Appling County, Georgia. The proposed amendment would add a license condition to Section 2.C of the Edwin I. Hatch Nuclear Plant, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, Operating Licenses. This license condition will authorize the licensee to credit administering potassium iodide (KI) to reduce the 30-day post-accident thyroid radiological dose to the operators in the main control room (MCR) for an interim period of approximately 4 years. In addition, the design-basis accident (DBA) analysis section of the Updated Final Safety Analysis Reports will be updated to reflect crediting of KI. Before issuance of the proposed license amendments, the Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended [[Page 15224]] (the Act), and the Commission's regulations. The Commission has made a proposed determination that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Sec. 50.92, this means that operation of the facility in accordance with the proposed amendments would not (1) involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated; or (2) create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented below: 1. Does the proposed change involve a significant increase in the probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated? This proposed change will authorize SNC to credit KI for an interim period in the DBA radiological consequences analyses to address the impact of MCR unfiltered inleakage. This proposed change does not result in any functional or operational change to any systems, structures, or components and has no impact on any assumed initiator of any analyzed accident. Therefore, the proposed change does not result in an increase in the probability of an accident previously evaluated. This proposed change introduces an additional method of mitigating the thyroid dose to MCR occupants in the event of a loss- of-coolant accident (LOCA). The updated LOCA MCR radiological dose, considering 110 [cubic feet/minute] cfm unfiltered inleakage and crediting KI, continues to meet [General Design Criterion] GDC 19 acceptance limits. In the context of the current licensing basis with MCR unfiltered inleakage considered, LOCA continues to be the limiting event for radiological exposures to the operators in the MCR. Radiological doses to MCR occupants are within the regulatory limits of GDC 19 with MCR unfiltered inleakages of up to 1000 cfm without the crediting of KI for the main steam line break accident (MSLB), control rod drop accident (CRDA), and fuel handling accident (FHA). Therefore, the proposed change does not result in a significant increase in the consequences of an accident previously evaluated. 2. Does the proposed change create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any previously evaluated? This proposed change will authorize SNC to credit KI for an interim period in the [Design Basis Accident] DBA radiological consequences analyses to address the impact of MCR unfiltered inleakage. This proposed change does not result in any functional or operational change to any systems, structures, or components. Therefore, the proposed change does not create the possibility of a new or different kind of accident from any previously evaluated. 3. Does the proposed change involve a significant decrease in the margin of safety? This proposed change will authorize SNC to credit KI for an interim period in the DBA radiological consequences analyses to address the impact of MCR unfiltered inleakage. This proposed change does not result in any functional or operational change to any systems, structures, or components. This proposed change introduces an additional method of mitigating the thyroid dose to MCR occupants in the event of a LOCA. The updated LOCA MCR radiological dose, considering 110 cfm unfiltered inleakage and crediting KI, continues to meet GDC 19 acceptance limits. In the context of the current licensing basis with MCR unfiltered inleakage considered, LOCA continues to be the limiting event for radiological exposures to the operators in the MCR. Radiological doses to MCR occupants are within the regulatory limits of GDC 19 with MCR unfiltered inleakages of up to 1000 cfm without the crediting of KI for the main steam line break accident (MSLB), control rod drop accident (CRDA), and fuel handling accident (FHA). Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant decrease in the margin of safety. The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to determine that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the date of publication of this notice will be considered in making any final determination. Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this notice. The Commission may issue the license amendment before expiration of the 60- day period provided that its final determination is that the amendment involves no significant hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the amendment prior to the expiration of the 30- day comment period should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example in derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need to take this action will occur very infrequently. Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also be delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. 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 O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to intervene is discussed below. Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating license and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, . If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of [[Page 15225]] the petitioner in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requestors/petitioner's interest. The petition must also identify the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The petitioner/requestor must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final determination on the issue of no significant hazards consideration. The final determination will serve to decide when the hearing is held. If the final determination is that the amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration, the Commission may issue the amendment and make it immediately effective, notwithstanding the request for a hearing. Any hearing held would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the final determination is that the amendment request involves a significant hazards consideration, any hearing held would take place before the issuance of any amendment. Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) E-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to . A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to Ernest L. Blake, Jr., Esquire, Shaw, Pittman, Potts and Trowbridge, 2300 N Street, NW., Washington, DC 20037, attorney for the licensee. For further details with respect to this action, see the application for amendment dated March 17, 2006, which is available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, . 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, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to . Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of March, 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Robert E. Martin, Senior Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-1, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-4372 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 20 NRC: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power FR Doc E6-4381 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15220-15222] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-92] Station; Notice of Acceptance for Docketing of the Application and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing Regarding Renewal of Facility Operating License No. DPR-28 for an Additional 20-Year Period The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering an application for the renewal of Operating License No. DPR-28, which authorizes Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., to operate the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station at 1912 megawatts (MWt) thermal. The renewed license would authorize the applicant to operate the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station for an additional 20 years beyond the period specified in the current license. The current operating license for the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station expires on March 21, 2012. The Commission's staff received the application dated January 25, 2006, as supplemented by letter dated March 15, 2006, from Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., pursuant to 10 CFR Part 54, to renew the Operating License No. DPR-28 for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station. A Notice of Receipt and Availability of the license renewal application, ``Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station Facility Operating License No. DPR-28 for an Additional 20-Year Period,'' was published in the Federal Register on February 6, 2006 (71 FR 6102). The Commission's staff has determined that Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. has submitted sufficient information in accordance with 10 CFR 54.19, 54.21, 54.22, 54.23, and 51.53(c), and the application is acceptable for docketing. The current Docket No. 50-271 for Operating License No. DPR-28 will be retained. The docketing of the renewal application does not preclude requesting additional information as the review proceeds, nor does it predict whether the Commission will grant or deny the application. Before issuance of each requested renewed license, the NRC will have made the findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations. In accordance with 10 CFR 54.29, the NRC will issue a renewed license on the basis of its review if it finds that actions have been identified and have been or will be taken with respect to: (1) Managing the effects of aging during the period of extended operation on the functionality of structures and components that have been identified as requiring aging management review, and (2) time-limited aging analyses that have been identified as requiring review, such that there is reasonable assurance that the activities authorized by the renewed license will continue to be conducted in accordance with the current licensing basis (CLB), and that any changes made to the plant?s CLB comply with the Act and the Commission's regulations. Additionally, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.95(c), the NRC will prepare an environmental impact statement that is a supplement to the Commission's NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants,'' dated May 1996. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.26, and as part of the environmental scoping process, the staff intends to hold a public scoping meeting. Detailed information regarding this meeting will be the subject of a separate Federal Register notice. Within 60 days after the date of publication of this Federal Register [[Page 15221]] Notice, the applicant may file a request for a hearing, and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene with respect to the renewal of the license. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852 and is accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at 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's PDR reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. If a request for a hearing/petition for leave to intervene is filed within the 60-day period, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel will rule on the request/petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. In the event that no request for a hearing/petition for leave to intervene is filed within the 60-day period, the NRC may, upon completion of its evaluations and upon making the findings required under 10 CFR Parts 51 and 54, renew the license without further notice. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding, taking into consideration the limited scope of matters that may be considered pursuant to 10 CFR Parts 51 and 54. The petition must specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following factors: (1) The nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (2) the nature and extent of the requestor's/ petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (3) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The petition must also set forth the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the requestor/petitioner shall provide a brief explanation of the bases of each contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or the expert opinion that supports the contention on which the requestor/ petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The requestor/petitioner must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the requestor/petitioner is aware and on which the requestor/petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The requestor/petitioner must provide sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact.\1\ Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the action under consideration. The contention must be one that, if proven, would entitle the requestor/ petitioner to relief. A requestor/petitioner who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \1\ To the extent that the application contains attachments and supporting documents that are not publicly available because they are asserted to contain safeguards or proprietary information, petitioners desiring access to this information should contact the applicant or applicant's counsel to discuss the need for a protective order. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- The Commission requests that each contention be given a separate numeric or alpha designation within one of the following groups: (1) Technical (primarily related to safety concerns); (2) environmental; or (3) miscellaneous. As specified in 10 CFR 2.309, if two or more requestors/petitioners seek to co-sponsor a contention or propose substantially the same contention, the requestors/petitioners will be required to jointly designate a representative who shall have the authority to act for the requestors/petitioners with respect to that contention. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at 301-415-1101, verification number is 301-415-1966.\2\ A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene must also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the attorney for the applicant, Mr. Terrence A. Burke, Entergy Nuclear, 1340 Echelon Parkway, mail stop M-ECN-62, Jackson, MS 39213. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \2\ If the request/petition is filed by e-mail or facsimile, an original and two copies of the document must be mailed within 2 (two) business days thereafter to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001; Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(a)(1)(i)-(viii). Detailed information about the license renewal process can be found under the Nuclear Reactors icon at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html on the NRC's Web site. Copies of the application to renew the operating license for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station, are available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738, and at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati ons.html , the NRC's Web site while the application is under review. The NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public [[Page 15222]] documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under ADAMS Accession Number ML060300085. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS may contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The staff has verified that a copy of the license renewal application is also available to local residents near the Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station at the Vernon Free Library, 567 Governor Hunt Road, Vernon, VT 05354; Brooks Memorial Library, 224 Main Street, Brattleboro, VT 05301; Hinsdale Public Library, 122 Brattleboro Road, Hinsdale, NH 03451; and Dickinson Memorial Library, 115 Main Street, Northfield, MA 01360. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of March, 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Frank P. Gillespie, Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-4381 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 21 NRC: Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station; FR Doc E6-4382 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15222-15223] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-93] Notice of Acceptance for Docketing of the Application and Notice of Opportunity for Hearing Regarding Renewal of Facility Operating License No. DPR-35 for an Additional 20-Year Period The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or the Commission) is considering an application for the renewal of Operating License No. DPR-35, which authorizes Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., to operate the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station at 2028 megawatts (MWt) thermal. The renewed license would authorize the applicant to operate the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station for an additional 20 years beyond the period specified in the current license. The current operating license for the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station expires on June 8, 2012. The Commission's staff received the application dated January 25, 2006, from Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., pursuant to 10 CFR Part 54, to renew the Operating License No. DPR-35 for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. A Notice of Receipt and Availability of the license renewal application, ``Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., Notice of Receipt and Availability of Application for Renewal of Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station Facility Operating License No. PR-35 for an Additional 20-Year Period,'' was published in the Federal Register on February 6, 2006 (71 FR 6101). The Commission's staff has determined that Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., has submitted sufficient information in accordance with 10 CFR 54.19, 54.21, 54.22, 54.23, and 51.53(c) and the application is acceptable for docketing. The current Docket No. 50-293 for Operating License No. DPR-35 will be retained. The docketing of the renewal application does not preclude requesting additional information as the review proceeds, nor does it predict whether the Commission will grant or deny the application. Before issuance of each requested renewed license, the NRC will have made the findings required by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's rules and regulations. In accordance with 10 CFR 54.29, the NRC will issue a renewed license on the basis of its review if it finds that actions have been identified and have been or will be taken with respect to: (1) Managing the effects of aging during the period of extended operation on the functionality of structures and components that have been identified as requiring aging management review, and (2) time-limited aging analyses that have been identified as requiring review, such that there is reasonable assurance that the activities authorized by the renewed license will continue to be conducted in accordance with the current licensing basis (CLB), and that any changes made to the plant's CLB comply with the Act and the Commission's regulations. Additionally, in accordance with 10 CFR 51.95(c), the NRC will prepare an environmental impact statement that is a supplement to the Commission's NUREG-1437, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear Power Plants,'' dated May 1996. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.26, and as part of the environmental scoping process, the staff intends to hold a public scoping meeting. Detailed information regarding this meeting will be the subject of a separate Federal Register notice. Within 60 days after the date of publication of this Federal Register Notice, the applicant may file a request for a hearing, and any person whose interest may be affected by this proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene with respect to the renewal of the license. Requests for a hearing and a petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, first floor, Rockville, Maryland 20852 and is accessible from the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at 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's PDR reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. If a request for a hearing/petition for leave to intervene is filed within the 60-day period, the Commission or a presiding officer designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel will rule on the request/petition; and the Secretary or the Chief Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order. In the event that no request for a hearing/petition for leave to intervene is filed within the 60-day period, the NRC may, upon completion of its evaluations and upon making the findings required under 10 CFR Parts 51 and 54, renew the license without further notice. As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the results of the proceeding, taking into consideration the limited scope of matters that may be considered pursuant to 10 CFR Parts 51 and 54. The petition must specifically explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with particular reference to the following factors: (1) The nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (2) the nature and extent of the requestor's/ petitioner's property, financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (3) the possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in the proceeding on the requestor's/petitioner's interest. The [[Page 15223]] petition must also set forth the specific contentions which the petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding. Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the requestor/petitioner shall provide a brief explanation of the bases of each contention and a concise statement of the alleged facts or the expert opinion that supports the contention on which the requestor/ petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the hearing. The requestor/petitioner must also provide references to those specific sources and documents of which the requestor/petitioner is aware and on which the requestor/petitioner intends to rely to establish those facts or expert opinion. The requestor/petitioner must provide sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with the applicant on a material issue of law or fact.\1\ Contentions shall be limited to matters within the scope of the action under consideration. The contention must be one that, if proven, would entitle the requestor/ petitioner to relief. A requestor/petitioner who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \1\ To the extent that the application contains attachments and supporting documents that are not publicly available because they are asserted to contain safeguards or proprietary information, petitioners desiring access to this information should contact the applicant or applicant's counsel to discuss the need for a protective order. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- The Commission requests that each contention be given a separate numeric or alpha designation within one of the following groups: (1) Technical (primarily related to safety concerns); (2) environmental; or (3) miscellaneous. As specified in 10 CFR 2.309, if two or more requestors/petitioners seek to co-sponsor a contention or propose substantially the same contention, the requestors/petitioners will be required to jointly designate a representative who shall have the authority to act for the requestors/petitioners with respect to that contention. Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the conduct of the hearing. A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff at 301-415-1101, verification number is 301-415-1966.\2\ A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene must also be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. A copy of the request for hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent to the attorney for the applicant, Mr. Terence A. Burke, Entergy Nuclear, 1340 Echelon Parkway, Mail Stop M-ECH-62, Jackson, MS 39213. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- \2\ If the request/petition is filed by e-mail or facsimile, an original and two copies of the document must be mailed within 2 (two) business days thereafter to the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001; Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff. ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Non-timely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be entertained absent a determination by the Commission, the presiding officer, or the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that the petition, request and/or contentions should be granted based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 2.309(a)(1)(i)-(viii). Detailed information about the license renewal process can be found under the Nuclear Reactors icon at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal.html on the NRC's Web site. Copies of the application to renew the operating license for Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, are available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, first floor, Rockville, Maryland 20852-2738, and at http://www.nrc.gov/reactors/operating/licensing/renewal/applicati ons.html , the NRC's Web site while the application is under review. The NRC maintains an Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. These documents may be accessed through the NRC's Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html under ADAMS Accession Number ML060300024. Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS may contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff by telephone at 1-800- 397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. The staff has verified that a copy of the license renewal application is also available to local residents near the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station at the Plymouth Public Library, 132 South Street, Plymouth, MA 02360, and The Duxbury Free Library, 77 Alden Street, Duxbury, MA 02332. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of March, 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Frank P. Gillespie, Director, Division of License Renewal, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-4382 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 22 HeraldNet: New uses for old nuclear plant Published: Monday, March 27, 2006 By Robin Mcginnis The Chronicle ELMA - It's hard to keep quiet in a nuclear-power cooling tower. Stan Ratcliff has given enough tours of the Satsop Development Park near Elma to know the drill. "From preschool students to Army generals, they all do the same thing," Ratcliff said. "They clap or yell." The reverberation within the 500-foot concrete tower gives even a casual conversation a unique twist as sound bounces around the 3-foot-thick walls. But the two cooling towers at Satsop weren't meant for an auditory experiment. They're relics of a failed multibillion-dollar energy project that was never used or completed. And it's the abandoned infrastructure that Barbara Hins-Turner, executive director for the Center of Excellence for Energy Technology at Centralia Community College, wants to use to train future workers for the power generation industry. The energy industry will need as many as 10,000 replacement workers as baby boomers start to retire in the next five to eight years, according to Hins-Turner. "Satsop makes so much sense," she said. High costs and concerns about nuclear safety forced the Washington Public Power Supply System to abandon Satsop in the early 1980s. Ratcliff now works for the Grays Harbor Public Development Authority, the agency the state created to manage the site after its failure because the plant was too expensive to dismantle. Bob Guenther, president of the Thurston-Lewis County Labor Council, brought the idea of converting Satsop into a regional training center to Hins-Turner last fall, she said. For Guenther, who worked as a mechanic at the Centralia Steam-Electric Plant for 34 years, opportunities for training at the Satsop park are limitless. Students would have access to 250-ton overhead cranes, a like-new maintenance repair shop, expensive valves, pumps, electrical breakers, and even 1,800 acres of underground tunnels for safety and confined space rescue training, he said. "You can do distance learning for a year, but you have to pinch your finger, stub your toe and make mistakes," Guenther said. "That's when you really learn." The presentation to the Pacific Mountain Workforce Development Council, which works to promote employment throughout in Lewis, Thurston, Grays Harbor, Mason and Pacific counties, was to help further emphasize the project's region-wide approach. "The real goal is to create a standard, statewide program," Hins-Turner said. The program's curriculum was developed by 10 members from various energy utilities throughout the region, including the Lewis County Public Utility District, TransAlta, Puget Sound Energy and Tacoma Power. The industry-driven model would have use in training workers throughout the Northwest, according to Mike Kennedy, executive director for the five-county work force development council. "It's just good business sense," he said. "It's a mothballed, nonfunctioning power plant, and it would get some practical use." Contact the Herald: 425-339-3000 Email: newstips@heraldnet.com Copyright © 2006 The Daily Herald Co., Everett, Wash. ***************************************************************** 23 UN Nuclear Chief Lays Out Plan To UN Proliferation, Terrorist Threat Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 15:00:20 -0500 UN NUCLEAR CHIEF LAYS OUT PLAN TO COUNTER PROLIFERATION, TERRORIST THREAT New York, Mar 27 2006 3:00PM Faced with the threat of nuclear proliferation and the prospect of such weapons falling into the hands of terrorists, the head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has laid out a five-point plan of action ranging from tighter controls and protection of materials to strengthening the Security Council. International Atomic Energy Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/Statements/2006/ebsp2006n004.html">IAEA) Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei called for placing sensitive nuclear operations such as the enrichment of uranium that can be used for producing both electric energy and an atomic bomb under multinational control. “The five measures I have outlined – tightening controls, protecting materials, supporting verification, reinvigorating disarmament and strengthening the Security Council – are all necessary and urgent steps,” Mr. ElBaradei told a conference of German dentists in Karlsruhe over the weekend, in an address aptly called “Putting Teeth in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Regime.” “But to return to my opening theme, all of these measures affect each other, and all will fail to protect us if the root causes of insecurity are not addressed. The longer we delay in placing sensitive nuclear operations under multinational control, the more new countries will seek to build such facilities. “The longer we take to protect global stocks of nuclear and radioactive material, the higher the risk they will fall into terrorist hands. The longer effective verification authority is not universally in place, the more the potential for clandestine activity,” he added. “As long as disarmament measures are not progressing meaningfully, efforts to strengthen nuclear non-proliferation will be poisoned by cynicism, and more countries will try to ‘join the major leagues.’ And the longer the Security Council is not acting systematically, equitably and effectively, as the guardian of international peace and security, the more its legitimacy will be undermined, and a sense of insecurity will continue to prevail.” Detailing his plan, Mr. ElBaradei stressed the need to tighten controls for access to nuclear fuel cycle technology in an era of globalization which has made the industrial marketplace more complex and fluid than 30 years ago when the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) was drawn up. “At the root of this measure is the concept of making these operations multinational, so that no one country would have exclusive control over the most sensitive parts of the fuel cycle,” he said. “It is urgent that the international community develop a unified approach on this measure and begin moving forward.” On verification, he noted that 118 of the 189 countries that are party to the NPT have not yet adopted an additional protocol allowing more intrusive and announced checks that are considered essential following the discovery of a clandestine nuclear programme in Iraq after the 1991 Gulf War. He called on nuclear-weapons states to lead by example, and that this effort should be extended to the three countries that remain outside the NPT: India, Israel and Pakistan. As for the Security Council, Mr. ElBaradei, who shared last year’s Nobel Peace Prize with his agency, said that too often its engagement had been inadequate, selective, or after the fact. In the Rwanda genocide in 1994, “the Security Council was unable to move much beyond hand wringing, with the result that 800,000 people lost their lives in the span of a few months,” he declared. “In the Second Congo War, the Security Council’s efforts in the interest of diplomacy and peacekeeping were not enough to prevent the deaths of an estimated 3.8 million people. And whatever the lessons learned from these admitted failures, the more recent case of Darfur continues to suffer from the inability of the Security Council to muster sufficient peacekeeping troops and sufficient resources to prevent the continuing atrocities.” With regard to nuclear weapons, he noted among other examples that the Council asked India and Pakistan to stop further nuclear testing and the development of their nuclear weapons programme in 1998 without effect, and its 1981 request to Israel to submit all its nuclear facilities to IAEA safeguards was also not implemented. “The irony is that we know the problems, and we know the solutions,” he concluded. “What is yet to come is the vision and leadership to overcome the hubris that threatens our mutual destruction, and to build a civilization rooted in the unity of the human family, the sanctity of all human life and the core values we all share – a civilization that is humane and just.” 2006-03-27 00:00:00.000 ________________ For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news To change your profile or unsubscribe go to: http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/ ***************************************************************** 24 Bellona: Bush White House requests a $43m decrease in CTR funding The Bush White House has handed down a significantly reduced budget request for fiscal year 2007 for the Department of Defense’s Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) programme for securing nuclear weapons materials in Russia, proposing an overall 10 percent cut in funding. The Bush Administration is asking for a 10 percent cut in CTR funding from Congress. NilsBřhmer/Bellona Charles Digges, 2006-03-27 09:30 The White House request for CTR in fiscal year 2007 is $372.2m versus the $415.5m it requested last year, representing a decrease of $43m. The Budget request has yet to come before US Congress for approval. Analysts have said that the downward spiral in CTR funding will likely continue as many of CTR’s projects near the end of their projected terms. While some projects run by CTR will be receiving a boost in the 2007 budget request, many—like warhead security— are also being drained as their project terms reach expiration. Nonetheless, analysts with the Russian-America Nuclear Security Advisory Council (RANSAC) indicated in their break down of the budget, that: “It is increasingly clear that the CTR budget is likely to decline dramatically in coming years as major projects wrap up, and that Russia will be a decreasing focus of the future of CTR.” CTR expansion outside of Russia Indeed, the past two CTR budgets have included some $40m to $50m for nuclear security projects undertaken outside Russia and the former Soviet republics. Senator Richard Lugar, who with former Senator Sam Nunn, wrote the Nunn-Lugar act, which is the foundation of the CTR programme, has long expressed his desire to translate lessons learned in Russia to other states posing weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats. Some of the budget highlights pointed out in RANSAC’s analysis include a reduction from 2006’s $108m to $42.7m in 2007 in Russian chemical weapons destruction; a $13m increase from 2006’s $74.1m appropriation to improve security at Russia nuclear warhead storage sites; a reduction in Russian strategic arms elimination from $78.9m to $77m and a cut from 2006’s budget of $40.6m to $37.5m toward efforts to improve border security and interdict smuggling of WMD materials along the land and sea borders of selected non-Russian former Soviet republics. Three trends in the CTR budget proposal from Bush The RANSAC analysis identified three trends in the current White House budget proposal for 2007: “The declining centrality of WMD security and elimination in Russia, continuing difficulties in working cooperatively with Russian entities and a potentially significant contraction of the CTR budget in coming years. Of the three primary Russia focused threat reduction programmes, two—chemical weapons destruction and warhead security—will begin to wind down significantly over the next two years as these projects meet their 2008 deadlines, the RANSAC report said. Eliminating Russian Strategic delivery systems—such as missile launchers and silos and ballistic submarines—will continue beyond 2008. But RANSAC said that large-scale, long term and expensive projects, such as the Mayak Fissile Material Storage Facility (FMSF), will cease to be a fixture of further CTR projects in Russia. Indeed, the success of the Mayak FMSF is debatable. Begun in 1993 to house some 200 tonnes of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and 50 tonnes of weapons grade plutonium, the 13-year-old project—which continues to evade deadlines for its completion—will hold only 25 tonnes of plutonium. This decision was taken by Former Minister of Atomic Energy Alexander Rumyantsev who reasoned that Russia could make more money selling the HEU to the US-Russia “Megatons to Megawatts” programme, whereby the US buys down-blended Russian HEU for use in its commercial reactors. Transparency issues Key CTR projects continue to hit brick walls as a result of Russian disorganisation, and a lack of transparency and information, RANSAC found. These problems, said the analysis, range from the small number of qualified Russian subcontractors, incomplete information provided by Russian government officials about the location of CTR purchased equipment, to the absence of formal project implementation agreements. The case of the Mayak FMSF is a case in point illustrating the latter of these factors. To this day, no written agreement between the US and Russian governments exists that stipulated Russia will store any fissile material there at all—an oversight that Rumynatsev was able to exploit. RANSAC said that these obstacles pose risks to timely programme completion and drive CTR to focus its priorities and resources on non-proliferation opportunities in the non-Russian former Soviet repubics. These two trends, said RANSAC, could lead to budget cuts in the CTR programme as large as $100m, depleting its financial resources to the record lows the programme experienced in the 1990s. What is left of the CTR budget would then be spent on projects that do not involve Russia, in RANSAC’s analysis. Questions of how CTR knowledge will be preserved The RANSAC analysis raised the question of how the US government plans to “transition” WMD threat reduction programmes as work in Russia declines, US plans for preserving its accumulated threat reduction expertise, reviewing the lessons it has learned and applying them to future WMD threats. 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 ***************************************************************** 25 think twice before moving to europe- radioactive! Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:37:52 -0800 Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner Saturday, Mar. 25, 2006 at 10:29 AM Bob.bobnichols@gmail.com The average radioactive dose, according to official government index based calculations, was about 23 million radioactive particles for the average adult male in Britain and Europe. 14578b.jpg aldermaston_atomic_bomb_factory.jpgblktx3.jpg, image/jpeg, 200x119 Uranium bombing in Iraq contaminates Europe by Bob Nichols, Project Censored Award Winner Nine days after the start of the American president's 2003 "shock and awe" uranium bombing campaign in Baghdad, an invisible radioactive uranium oxide gas cloud swept through Britain's towns and countryside and throughout Europe. Respected scientists reported on the unrevealed gas cloud after conducting research on specialized high volume air filters in England. Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan stunned Europe in a Sunday Times of London article on Feb. 19, 2006. Their scientific paper, released March 1st, 2006, [1] proved the event. With all the vigor of delusional drunkards, British nuclear and military spokesmen predictably denied the reality of an invisible radioactive cloud. The military claimed that a Chernobyl-like event in the area was probably responsible, but no explosive meltdowns of operating reactor cores have been reported or observed in 2006 anywhere in the world. Evidence of the truth of the gas cloud panicked the military into frantic, irrational, ludicrous denials. The military spin was later refined and the new Chernobyl claim quietly dropped. In America, lightweight wannabe spin doctor Dan Fahey issued the cover up talking points. [2] The "nuke sycophants" will take up these siren call lies as per instructions. Bush's radioactive "shock and awe" gas cloud descended on Britain and Europe like a warm, deadly ticking blanket and stayed throughout the American and British shock and awe bombing campaign in 2003. Bush's radioactive cloud lasted more than five weeks at high radioactive particle concentration levels. There is no gas mask filter fine enough to trap this radioactive gas and protect humans. At Aldermaston, England, where the data was collected and where the British Atomic Weapons Establishment, complete with air monitoring facilities, is located, the deadly uranium oxide gas measured about 48,000 radioactive particles per square meter. The average radioactive dose, according to official government index based calculations, was about 23 million radioactive particles for the average adult male in Britain and Europe. Yes, people breathed this poison gas, absolutely. People throughout England and presumably throughout Europe breathed in large quantities of this radioactive uranium poison gas. What are the effects of the poison gas cloud? After a steady decline for 41 years, the infant death rate has started inching up, many researchers think because of the Central Asian nuclear wars. The infant death rate is the most sensitive measure of the health of the human race. Like the proverbial canaries in a coal mine, the tiniest babies die first. George W. Bush, as the current appointed manager of the senior American political and military establishments, oversees a vast empire that knows exactly what the effect of millions of pounds of deadly weaponized radioactive ceramic uranium oxide gas and tiny aerosols are on the health of people throughout the world. They used uranium munitions in Iraq anyway. The American political and military leaders wanted to use genocidal weapons. You might even say the U.S. military went out of their way to use these radiation-based genocidal weapons in Iraq. Lots of them, too. Indeed, the American permanent war establishment has known the effect of poisonous uranium oxide gas since 1943. A declassified World War II memo to Gen. Leslie Groves, director of the ultra-secretive Manhattan Project to make atomic bombs, listed two reasons to use radioactive gas: One was to kill people, and the other was to contaminate their land. [3] A British newspaper quotes Dr. Busby, a government adviser on radiation, as saying: "This research shows that rather than remaining near the target, as claimed by the military, depleted uranium weapons contaminate both locals and whole populations hundreds to thousands of miles away." [4] There were and are laws in England that require notification of the government when levels of radioactivity are reached around the nuclear weapons complex at Aldermaston. No notification was made. When the records were requested, the clearly labeled "shock and awe" time frame data was omitted. The Defense Procurement Agency in Bristol supplied the missing data to scientists Busby and Morgan. The real British patriots are the ones who provided the deleted incriminating data to Busby and Morgan. Bush and his faithful followers, the neocon fascists, will be remembered as securing their place in history by exposing hundreds of millions of people to high levels of internal radiation poisoning. Make no mistake about it; this is real radioactive uranium gas. The Americans used this genetics changing and killing weapon on men, women and children. It made no difference to the Americans. The citizen opposition liberal groups in America who only stand on the street corners with signs are misdirecting legitimate citizen outrage and protest. These groups are more than just not effective; they contribute to the protection of the multi-national corporations, senior political and military leaders involved in these pre-planned war crimes. About ineffective protests, the famous author Ward Churchill says: "(N)o one really cares a whit that a sector of the beneficiary population (American protesters) has chosen to bear a sort of perpetual 'moral witness' to the crimes committed against the Third World. What they do care about is whether such witnesses translate their 'professions of outrage' into whatever kinds of actions may be necessary to actually put an end to the horror." [14] When will the protesters awaken and take action to put an end to this horror? Never? Sometime? When? A well planned effort The American military is nothing if not well planned. When the decision was made to go nuclear in conventional warfare with the promiscuous use of radiation dispersing uranium weapons, including land mines, bullets, shells, missiles and bombs, the proper and correct Army rules and regulations for radiological clean-up were created as well. These rules have the force of American law throughout the world. However, the same government that adopted these rules is not following them, even in the United States. Army Rules and Regulations on Radiation Poisoning (AR 700-48 and TB 9-1300-278) [15] unambiguously specify that U.S. troops and local civilians exposed to radiation poisoning will be treated. Radiation casualties exist, and provisions are made for their care as best as can be done for a non-curable bystander affliction: radiation poisoning. Clean and treat rules also apply; they are just not obeyed. In short, the regulations say that if the U.S. military is going to use radioactive weapons, then it must clean up the radiological contamination and treat the casualties. It is consistent with the philosophy of some "if you break it, fix it" former U.S. military leaders. The applicable rules and regulations are a common sense approach and the only responsible radiological warfare position for the only superpower on the planet. The rules are not followed even in the United States itself [5] but are buried away in their mountains of paperwork. Why has this approach been rejected by the senior U.S. political leadership? http://tinyurl.com/bk2yn Marion Fulk, a consultant physicist at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, is one of the original Manhattan Project scientists. When asked if the main purpose for using depleted uranium was for destroying things and killing people, Fulk was more specific: "I would say that it is the perfect weapon for killing lots of people." [6] Dr. Rosalie Bertell, a respected scientist who serves on a variety of Pentagon committees, says about 1.3 billion people have already been killed, maimed or diseased since the nuclear age started. [7] Is this the Pentagon's purpose for using uranium munitions and rejecting the legally mandated task to treat and clean? Most reasonable people would agree that racking up 1.3 billion people killed or maimed since the beginning of the nuclear age and the American uranium bombing tragedy spreading the gas cloud to Europe and Britain is not the "treat and clean" approach to radioactive warfare set out in the regulations. On the contrary, the Bush radioactive gas cloud is just the opposite. The plain purpose of exposing hundreds of millions of people would seem to be to kill and sicken more people. As a rare Pentagon admission said, "The properties of uranium do not change." Famed former Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab scientist Leuren Moret has spoken about the dangers of so-called "depleted uranium" in 42 countries. In "Exotic Weapons," the author, radio and film celebrity states, "Since 1991, the continued U.S. military use of dirty bombs, dirty missiles and dirty bullets threatens humanity and all living things ... and is turning Planet Earth into a death star." [8] [12] Massive carpet bombing of whole countries with uranium bombs appears to be the current war fighting plan of the U.S. military. Unfortunately, U.S. troops are the first to be sacrificed on the altar of the neocon warfare plan for total global domination. As former U.S. Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger said, "Military men are dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy." [9] American political and military leaders never asked the "pawns" or troops if that was OK. In the authoritative World Affairs Journal, Moret states: "The Korea Times reported on Dec. 23, 2005, that the U.S. military has 2.7 million depleted uranium bombs [pre-positioned] in South Korea. It is understandable why North Korea wants nuclear weapons." [10] North Korea is just slightly smaller than the American state of Mississippi. Two million seven hundred uranium bombs is enough to carpet bomb with workhorse Air Force B-52s at the rate of 10 bombs per square mile. Some researchers believe that grid bombing with uranium bombs was used in the American war in the former Yugoslavia. There is clear circumstantial evidence that carpet bombing with genocidal weapons is the preferred response of the American military to local resistance efforts. The San Francisco-based humanitarian and war crimes lawyer Karen Parker states unequivocally that the use of depleted uranium in American/U.K. weapons in Iraq, Afghanistan and the former Yugoslavia is a war crime. War crimes are punishable by imprisonment or execution, typically by hanging or a firing squad. America's war criminal class of senior politicians and military leaders has a powerful reason to lie about using genocidal weapons for at least 15 years in Central Asia - their very lives depend on it. In Johnny's Dad's words, the senior leaders are "filthy rotten scum." [16] Upcoming war crimes trial The chief Nuremberg war crimes prosecutor speaks knowingly and directly across more than 50 years to resolutely instruct American citizens on exactly what our duty is today, right now: "Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience … therefore have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring." [11] The statement was affirmed by the Nuremberg Tribunal and is now international law and, by extension, American law. It is our duty as Americans to prevent crimes against peace and humanity. The fascist administration now controlling America and the U.S. military cannot be allowed to continue these crimes. The world and international law holds us all accountable, and the price is dear. It is time to impeach and imprison members of our government for their war crimes commensurate with their degree of complicity and guilt. If the House will not impeach and the Senate will not put them on trial; then we, all 300 million Americans, have a problem. We all are citizens of this country and the world, and, as such, we must acknowledge the incontrovertible evidence of war crimes by the leaders of the American Expeditionary Forces in Iraq with the use of genocidal weapons. Bush and others crossed the line long ago when they lied to get us into the Iraq War. They continue to lie about the damage being done with uranium weapons. One of the comforts history provides us is a road map out of unthinkable situations, to a more or less tenable, workable future. The injured and maimed and families of the dead are due treatment and/or compensation, the cleanup must be initiated and whole countries rebuilt. That is the true legacy of the neocons, the new American Nazis. What people can do Every single day thousands of American military and government workers handle thousands of "sensitive" papers that "prove" the War Crimes of the American Government's senior political and military leaders. These thousands of people could, if they wanted to, create havoc in the fascist administration by providing these incriminating papers and the "smoking guns" of innumerable crimes they hold to the public: A "paper blizzard" to teach a whole new generation that what's right is right. About 40 years ago, it was thousands of pages of the "Pentagon Papers" that did the trick with the illegal Viet Nam War and President Nixon. Thousands more pages are needed now. The neocon or neolib papers like the disgraced New York Times or the conservative phantom Washington Post no longer will do the right thing. The timid NYT took almost a year to publish the proof of illegal NSA government spying on American citizens. Bush then bragged about the illegal spying on network prime time television. We do not need "timid" now. Far less than that forced Nixon to leave the president's office. Do what you think best To follow up on these ideas, the following Speaker's Group and individuals are presented to you for your important events. Speaker's fees are required. Writers & Warriors Speakers Group Contact Bob Nichols at bob.bobnichols@gmail.com for college distinguished lecture series speakers, commencement speakers, people's events and rallies. Available speakers include Leuren Moret, Dr. Doug Rokke, Dennis Kyne, Karen Parker and Bob Nichols. Topics generally include those of interest in building a positive culture in the midst of a militarized society and items of interest in nuclear warfare. A well known video, "The 14 Characteristics of Fascism," from Dr. Lawrence Britt, Ph.D., Mike Malloy and Eric Bumrich is a great, short video. See http://www.bushflash.com/14.html. It is only a few minutes long but goes a long way in telling why American leaders embrace the rampant use of genocidal weapons. The "14 Points" video is a great way to start a meeting. The following documents were consulted in the preparation of this essay. 1. Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan, "Did the use of uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe?" March 1, 2006, "European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics." http://www.llrc.org/du/subtopic/aldermastonrept.htm 2. Dan Fahey's instructions to his secretary, Jack Cohen, for distribution, du-list@yahoogroups, Feb. 26, 2006, 11:52 p.m. 3. Letter to Congessman McDermott, Attachment 2. Declassified memo to general L.R. Groves, director of the Manhattan Project, Oct. 30, 1943. http://tinyurl.com/93eq9 4. The Sunday Times, Britain, Feb. 19, 2006, "UK radiation jump blamed on Iraq shells," quoting Dr. Chris Busby. 5. Bob Nichols, "Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home," San Francisco Bay View newspaper. http://tinyurl.com/bk2yn 6. Marion Fulk quoted in the San Francisco Bay View newspaper by Leuren Moret in "Depleted uranium: Dirty bombs, dirty missiles, dirty bullets - A death sentence here and abroad," Aug 18, 2004. http://www.sfbayview.com/081804/Depleteduranium081804.shtml 7. Rosalie Bertell, Ph.D., "Planet Earth: The Latest Weapon of War." http://tinyurl.com/gf9dj 8. Leuren Moret, "Planet Earth as a Weapon and Target," World Affairs Journal, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter 2005. http://tinyurl.com/e6d8v 9. Kissinger's quote regarding military men comes from Chapter 14, which extensively discusses Al Haig, Kissinger and other Nixon staff advisors' negotiations and differences over national security issues during the 1969-1974 period. The exact, direct quote marks begin with the word 'dumb' and terminate after the word 'used.' Source: Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, "The Final Days," second Touchstone paperback edition (1994), chapter 14, pp. 194-195. 10. Leuren Moret. 11. War Crimes Watch, http://tinyurl.com/k6xb3 12. Documentary "Beyond Treason" with Moret, Rokke and Dennis Kyne. http://www.beyondtreason.com/ Documentary "Blowin' in the Wind" with Moret and Rokke. http://www.bsharp.net.au/ 13. Dissent Voice, Bob Nichols. "There Are No Words: Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki Bombs ...." http://tinyurl.com/yqxoe 14. Ward Churchill, "The Ghosts of 9-1-1: Reflections on History, Justice and Roosting Chickens," Alternative Press Review http://tinyurl.com/fvhzn 15. Army Regulation 700-48 and Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278 can be found easily at the Traprock Peace Site. http://tinyurl.com/erjue and http://tinyurl.com/pzcrm And the regulations themselves, http://tinyurl.com/kl2r2 and http://tinyurl.com/jzha8 Adobe .pdf versions are also available for download from Traprock Peace Center. 16. "Johnny Got a Gun - Protest Song" by Johnny's Dad. Uranium Weapon Anthem. Distribute freely: http://tinyurl.com/k2zze This author won a prized Project Censored Award for an article on depleted uranium munitions in October 2004. The article was titled "There Are No Words." http://tinyurl.com/yqxoe (headlined in the Bay View "Radiation in Iraq equals 250,000 Nagasaki bombs," http://www.sfbayview.com/041404/radiationiniraq041404.shtml. [13] Turns out that story was but Part One, a thing I never suspected would be so. This article is Part Two and serves as an update for the war fighting activities of the senior American political and military leaders. Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award Winner. He is a correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper and a frequent contributor to various on line publications. Nichols is completing a book based on 15 years of nuclear war in Central Asia. Nichols is a former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. Nichols can be reached by email. You are encouraged to write bob.bobnichols@gmail.com. http://www.sfbayview.com/031506/uraniumbombing031506.shtml http://tinyurl.com/lo6pc www.sfbayview.com/031506/uraniumbombing031506.shtml add your comments LATEST COMMENTS ABOUT THIS ARTICLE Listed below are the 10 latest comments of 2 posted about this article. These comments are anonymously submitted by website visitors. TITLE AUTHOR DATE D. U. it's what's for breakfast! Jaye Sunday, Mar. 26, 2006 at 6:49 AM degraded uranium maria Sunday, Mar. 26, 2006 at 4:37 AM ® 2000–2006 San Francisco Bay Area Independent Media Center. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by the SF Bay Area IMC. Disclaimer | Privacy | Contact Attachment Converted: 14578b.jpg: 00000001,2f562230,00000000,00000000 ***************************************************************** 26 [du-list] three questions on "Reproductive health of Gulf War Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:36:40 -0800 Dear Drs. Doyle and Ryan: I read your paper, "Reproductive health of Gulf War veterans," in Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B (2006) 361, 571­584, with interest and concern. On page 574 you state that Kang, H., et al. (2001) in "Pregnancy outcomes among US Gulf war veterans: a population-based survey of 30,000 veterans" Ann. Epidemiol. 11, 504­511, "reported some evidence of a modest increase in risk of birth defect for male veterans' offspring...." In fact, didn't Kang et al. report a near-doubling for birth defect risk in male veterans' offspring and a near-tripling for female veterans' offspring? Why did you omit mention of the female veterans' birth defect rate? Why does Dr. Ryan continue to refuse to release the U.S. data subsequent to 2000? Sincerely, James Salsman To unsubscribe from this groups send a message to du-list-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com. In the body of the message type unsubscribe and send. ***************************************************************** 27 [DU Information List] radioactive tank no 9 comes limping home Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2006 14:39:38 -0800 http://www.sfbayview.com/110905/radioactivetank110905.shtml 3/22/06 Radioactive Tank No. 9 comes limping home by Bob Nichols Across the plains of Kansas, destroyed, radioactive Abrams tanks, perched on railroad flatcars, rolled towards an uncertain future. Only one thing was certain. They would be radioactive forever. This would be their everlasting death mask. The Pentagon deceptively calls it "depleted uranium." The Abrams tanks are constructed with a layer of radioactive uranium metal plates. The big tanks fire a giant uranium dart at 2,100 mph, much faster than an F-16 fighter aircraft, mach III to airplane pilots and very, very fast to the rest of us. American taxpayers paid to ship the tanks to Iraq and to return them for disposal or re-building in the United States. The tanks are 12 feet wide and weigh a stout 70 tons, or 140,000 pounds. The enduring vigorous stupidity of the U.S. military pretends that radiation is one of those things that if you can't see it, it can't hurt you. They are thoroughly delusional, of course. A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level of radiation. Any radiation is bad. From America to Iraq and back, these giant radioactive hulks can only sicken and kill Americans. On top of the sheer, unrelenting stupidity of playing with radiation with unsuspecting soldiers, now the neo-con government is involving everyday Americans in their radiation madness. The Pentagon can't even follow simple radiation hazard mitigation instructions. Their own rules and regulations have the force of law throughout the world. Yet they are ignored in the United States. Dr. Doug Rokke Dr. Doug Rokke is the Pentagon's former director of the U.S. Army Depleted Uranium Project. When contacted on Oct. 22, he viewed Chris Bayruh's photographs and made this statement about the radioactive tanks in Kansas: "The radioactive damaged Abrams tanks that were left unsecured on a Kansas railroad track are a perfect example of exactly how not to ship damaged radioactive equipment and how not to protect our Army's Abrams tanks from possible sabotage and compromise of classified battle systems." On Oct. 10, prior to the discovery of the radioactive tanks, Dr. Rokke made the following statement. It is eerily predictive of what would happen in Kansas three days later. "U.S. Department of Defense officials continue to deny that there are any adverse health and environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing and/or use of uranium munitions to avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material - depleted uranium." Dr. Rokke continued, "They [the U.S. military] arrogantly refuse to comply with their own regulations, orders and directives that require United States Department of Defense officials to provide prompt and effective medical care to all exposed individuals." (See Note 1 below.) "They also refuse to clean up dispersed radioactive contamination of equipment as required by Army regulations." (See Note 2.) "Specifically, they are required (see Note 3) to accomplish four things: 1) Military personnel must 'identify, segregate, isolate, secure and label all RCE' (radiologically contaminated equipment). 2) 'Procedures to minimize the spread of radioactivity will be implemented as soon as possible.' 3) 'Radioactive material and waste will not be locally disposed of through burial, submersion, incineration, destruction in place, or abandonment' and 4) 'All equipment, to include captured or combat RCE, will be surveyed, packaged, retrograded, decontaminated and released.' "The past and current use of uranium weapons, the release of radioactive components in destroyed U.S. and foreign military equipment, and releases of industrial, medical and research facility radioactive materials have resulted in unacceptable exposures." Dr. Rokke added, "Therefore, decontamination must be completed as required by U.S. Army Regulation 700-48 and should include releases of all radioactive materials resulting from military operations. "The extent of adverse health and environmental effects of uranium weapons contamination is not limited to combat zones but includes facilities and sites where uranium weapons were manufactured or tested, including Vieques, Puerto Rico, Colonie, New York, and Jefferson Proving Grounds, Indiana. "Therefore, medical care must be provided by the United States Department of Defense officials to all individuals affected by the manufacturing, testing and/or use of uranium munitions. Thorough environmental remediation also must be completed without further delay. "I am amazed," exclaimed Dr. Rokke, "that 14 years after I was asked to clean up the initial DU mess from Gulf War I and almost 10 years since I finished the depleted uranium project, United States Department of Defense officials and many others still attempt to justify uranium munitions use while ignoring mandatory requirements. "But beyond the ignored mandatory actions, the willful dispersal of tons of solid radioactive and chemically toxic waste in the form of uranium munitions just does not even pass the common sense test. "Finally, continued compliance with the infamous March 1991 Los Alamos Memorandum (see Note 5) that was issued to ensure continued use of uranium munitions cannot be justified. "In conclusion," Dr. Rokke urged, "the president of the United States, George W. Bush, and the prime minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, must acknowledge and accept responsibility for willful use of illegal uranium munitions - their own "dirty bombs" - resulting in adverse health and environmental effects." "President Bush and Prime Minister Blair also should order: 1) medical care for all casualties, 2) thorough environmental remediation, 3) immediate cessation of retaliation against all of us who demand compliance with medical care and environmental remediation requirements, 4) and ban the future use of depleted uranium munitions," Dr. Rokke concluded. A little old lady in tennis shoes Leuren Moret is a world famous scientist and radiation specialist who formerly worked at the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, where she became a whistleblower in 1991. She has spoken out about the danger of uranium munitions to humanity in more than 42 countries. Moret has appeared in four documentaries about uranium munitions (depleted uranium). "Beyond Treason" debuted in August 2005 and won the Grand Festival Award at the Berkeley Film Festival. The newest film, "Blowin' in the Wind," was nominated during its debut the first week of November in Australia for an Academy Award. Moret was an expert witness at the International Criminal Tribunal for Afghanistan and serves as an adviser and expert witness in court cases regarding radiation exposure. Her statement, made Oct. 24, about the dead tanks in Kansas follows: "Sally Devlin, a little old lady in tennis shoes, went to a public meeting several years ago, held by the Air Force in Pahrump, Nevada. Two officers told the citizens of the town that the Air Force would be moving 80 old target practice tanks and tons of old depleted uranium munitions through their town. "The radioactive bullets had been picked up off the Nellis gunnery ranges by order of the state of Nevada and were being transported to the Nevada Test Site [a nuclear weapons test site] to be buried as radioactive waste. "When Mrs. Devlin politely asked them how they would prevent the residents of the town from being contaminated by the radioactive dust on the tanks and bullets, the officers said, 'We're wrapping them in Saran Wrap.' She told them that would be unacceptable and stopped the Air Force dead in their tracks," Moret concluded. Whether it is Saran Wrap in Nevada or nothing at all in Kansas, the Pentagon just doesn't get it when it comes to uranium radiation dispersing weapons. It is way past time to take all their nuclear weapons and uranium munitions away from them and send them home to get real jobs. They are clearly incapable of protecting this country from all dangers, including those created by our own U.S. military. The U.S. military shows so little regard for Americans in Kansas, one wonders what on earth they have done to Iraq. The U.S. military has distributed an estimated 8 million pounds of weaponized ceramic uranium oxide gas, aerosols and dust on a practically defenseless little country of 26 million people (see Note 6), according to an estimate by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. What is this lethal radioactive weapon supposed to do? Why was it used? Ceramic uranium oxide gas is a genocidal weapon, for God's sake. It persists in the environment forever. In Leuren Moret's pithy words, "The Iraqis are uranium meat." The politicians, Pentagon staff, generals, commanding officers and others responsible for this war crime must be arrested, tried, convicted and appropriately punished for their crimes against humanity. There is another explanation Another explanation is that the U.S. Army and other branches of the military are far from stupid. They are, in fact, the most lethal and carefully planned military in the history of the world. The extensive use of weaponized uranium oxide gas, aerosols and dust is not an accident or an oversight. They did it on purpose. If this is true, they purposely used a genocidal weapon over at least a 15-year period. No, this is not a callous mistake of empire; it is a calculated act of genocide to weaken the oil- and gas-rich countries of Central Asia, including Iraq. Take your choice: they are either stupid or genocidal monsters. A British group has estimated the weaponized ceramic uranium oxide will account for an additional 25 million cancers in Iraq in the next several years. There are only 26 million Iraqis to start with, minus the nearly 1.7 million killed by war or sanctions since 1991, plus some live births. A National Academy of Sciences report released June 30, 2005, finds that there is no safe level of radiation. The committee dismissed the idea that any radiation could be harmless or beneficial. The radioactive tanks in Kansas and Iraq are the same. They are placed there at great expense by the senior American political and military leadership, with premeditated malice. The bottom line purpose of a 140,000-pound radioactive tank is to kill people. Uranium munitions a war crime Dennis Kyne, noted speaker and writer, is a former drill instructor (DI) and a 15-year veteran of the Army as well as a Gulf War vet (see www.denniskyne.com). Kyne makes a point of how "hot" or radioactive the tanks in Kansas would be if they were hit by "friendly fire" to get beat up so much. They could be contaminated with as much as 30,000 times background radiation. That is what uranium munitions do to a tank, bunker or building. Karen Parker, a prominent U.S. international human rights lawyer, says there are four rules derived from humanitarian laws and conventions regarding weapons: 1. Weapons may only be used against legal enemy military targets and must not have an adverse effect elsewhere (the territorial rule). 2. Weapons can only be used for the duration of an armed conflict and must not be used or continue to act afterwards (the temporal rule). 3. Weapons may not be unduly inhumane (the "humaneness" rule). The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 speak of "unnecessary suffering" and "superfluous injury" in this regard 4. Weapons may not have an unduly negative effect on the natural environment (the "environmental" rule). "DU weaponry fails all four tests," Parker states. "First, DU cannot be limited to legal military targets. Second, it cannot be 'turned off' when the war is over but keeps killing. "Third, DU can kill through painful conditions such as cancers and organ damage and can also cause birth defects, such as facial deformities and missing limbs. Lastly, DU cannot be used without unduly damaging the natural environment. "In my view, use of DU weaponry violates the grave breach provisions of the Geneva Conventions," Parker concluded, "and so its use constitutes a war crime, or crime against humanity." ------- Notes 1. "Medical Management of Unusual Depleted Uranium Casualties," DOD, Pentagon, 10/14/93, "Medical Management of Army Personnel Exposed to Depleted Uranium (DU)," Headquarters, U.S. Army Medical Command, 4/29/04, and section 2-5 of AR 700-48 . 2. AR 700- 48: "Management of Equipment Contaminated With Depleted Uranium or Radioactive Commodities," Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., September 2002, and U.S. Army Technical Bulletin TB 9-1300-278: "Guidelines For Safe Response To Handling, Storage, and Transportation Accidents Involving Army Tank Munitions or Armor Which Contain Depleted Uranium," Headquarters, Department of the Army, Washington, D.C., July 1996, http://traprockpeace.org/du_pam_700-48.pdf. 3. Section 2-4 of United States Army Regulation 700-48 dated Sept. 16, 2002, specifies these requirements. 4. IAW Technical Bulletin 9-1300-278, DA PAM 700-48. Maximum exposure limits are specified in Appendix F. 5. http://www.tv.cbc.ca/national/pgminfo/du/doc1.html 6. Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark's estimate, http://www.covertactionquarterly.org/demonize.html ============== ___________________________________________________________ Yahoo! Photos ­ NEW, now offering a quality print service from just 8p a photo http://uk.photos.yahoo.com ***************************************************************** 28 BBC NEWS: Sellafield awaits nuclear power's rebirth 27 March 2006, 22:57 GMT 23:57 UK By Jorn Madslien BBC News business reporter at Sellafield If you take the view that the West Lakes in Cumbria is a budding Klondike, then Dawn Marriott is one of the pioneers. [Commuters] Sellafield's workers know that their lives are about to be changed Lounging in the bar at the Ennerdale Country House Hotel - one of the swishest within commuting distance of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant - Ms Marriott has reason to be cheerful. Her company, Capita Resourcing, has just bagged a small piece of the action of what could become one of the fastest-growing industries in the land. From 1 April this year, the Capita Group subsidiary will take over the management and recruitment of temporary workers at Sellafield, under a contract worth Ł150m over the next three years, with an option for an extension. The deal "will bring significant flexibility and efficiency to [the clean-up firm that manages the Sellafield site] British Nuclear Group (BNG)", according to Ms Marriott. Different contracts As one of the hotel's waitresses discreetly asks whether Ms Marriott might be prepared to consider her curriculum vitae, it becomes clear that she is about to become a very popular woman indeed. [BNFL spokesman Neil Stagg] Thorp is a good money earner BNFL spokesman Neil Stagg After all, finding work at Sellafield has never been easy. British Nuclear Fuels Limited (BNFL) - which owns BNG and which is itself 100% owned by the UK government - has traditionally paid its staff more than other employers in the area. Those working here also enjoy better perks and longer holidays than many of their neighbours, a BNFL spokeswoman points out. But as the commuters wind their way along the A595 from Whitehaven and nearby villages, where many Sellafield workers live, they are only too aware that the good times may well lie behind them. Temporary workers are rarely offered the same terms as members of staff, so already there are people doing the same or similar jobs at Sellafield for significantly different returns. No limits At times, such developments get trade unions up in arms. But Peter Kane, the local GMB union representative at Sellafield, is more focused on long-term job creation in the area. "There are plants on this site that have been here since the 1940s, and they need decommissioning," he says, obviously eyeing a hefty chunk of the estimated Ł56bn cash pile that the government is expected to spend on cleaning up Britain's nuclear installations. But in addition, he believes, Sellafield should be getting ready for the rebirth of nuclear power in the UK, a revival that could ensure both power for the British people and jobs for those living near this former Lake District beauty spot for years to come. [Peter Kane, the local GMB union representative at Sellafield] GMB representative Peter Kane has high hopes for the future "There is space here to build one or two reactors," Mr Kane says, stressing that this would have the added advantage of using plutonium recovered from the reprocessing of spent fuel. "The way forward is to make it into fuel, burn it, and make it safe that way," he insists. In the eyes of Mr Kane, it seems there is no limit to what could be done at Sellafield. "We wouldn't be against [a central storage facility] here, depending on the benefits for the local community," Mr Kane says, referring to efforts by Nirex, the recently created independent company in charge of the long-term management of radioactive waste in the UK. Nirex has called for the construction of a deep nuclear waste repository to be constructed half a kilometre underground, though a spokesman says it is too early to discuss where such a facility would be located. Burst pipe Central to Mr Kane's high hopes for the future is BNFL's ability to make money from reprocessing spent fuel that is shipped in from power plants, both in the UK and abroad. "Having the facility to continue with the reprocessing would preserve jobs," says Mr Kane. And not just jobs for nuclear industry workers. There would also be work for builders and contractors, and for outside suppliers. Yet rather than a flurry of activity, there is an eerie silence in the vast building that should have been a showcase of Sellafield's earnings potential - the Thorp thermal oxide reprocessing plant. [Shear cave at Sellafield] Contaminated material is handled by remote controlled equipment "Thorp is a good money earner," insists BNFL spokesman Neil Stagg as he shows off long lines of 100-tonne flasks that are filled with spent nuclear fuel. The flasks' gamma radiation emissions heat the water in the 14-metre-deep cooling pools into which they are submerged for up to five years. "You could have another 20 years or more out of it and generate income," he says, moving on to the cleaning pools, where a regular beeping sound indicates that the radiation levels are at safe levels. The technology on display is awesome, making it easy to accept Mr Stagg's assertion that "this is the best of British technology, this plant". Take the shear cave, where remote-controlled blades stand ready to cut spent fuel rods as if they were slicing cucumbers. Even the remote-controlled tool that is used to change the blades inside the sealed cave is sophisticated. Mr Stagg calls it "a million-pound screwdriver". Accidental leak But there is a problem: following an accident, the lucrative process of solvent extraction of reusable uranium and plutonium ground to a halt last April. [Sealed chambre] Containing the radioactivity is crucial to protect both lives and reputation Essentially, what happened was that a pipe burst and 83 cubic metres of contaminated liquids leaked into a concrete cell lined with stainless steel. The accident was classified as a "level three incident"; one of the worst in Sellafield's history. Yet BNG insists no one was harmed and no radioactivity was released outside the building. Nevertheless, the accident forced the immediate closure of Thorp, which has been closed ever since and is expected to remain so for months. Thorp's closure is bad news for its owner BNFL, and not only because it has interrupted its revenue stream. By extension, it is also bad news for its owner, the UK government, which wants to break up BNFL and sell the BNG-division for Ł1bn or more. Selling BNG while Thorp remains closed is, in itself, tricky. Making matters worse is an investigation into the leak by the Health and Safety Executive's Nuclear Installation Inspectorate, which could be close to bringing legal action against BNG. An unlimited fine could be the outcome. Investor interest These and other headaches have contributed to the postponement of the sale of BNG, which had initially been scheduled for this spring, until the autumn at the earliest. Sellafield is getting ready to move beyond the old nuclear industry's tattered image In pictures The sale would also mark the end of BNFL as we know it. BNFL is already a shadow of its former self, following the sale of its US nuclear power generation subsidiary Westinghouse for Ł2.8bn early this year, and last year's transfer of the Sellafield site, along with its clean-up liabilities, to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA). Once BNG is gone, BNFL would be left only with its tiny nuclear research division Nexia Solutions, which employs just 1,000 people compared with BNG's 14,000. But BNFL's demise will not only be the end of an era; it will also mark the dawn of a new and potentially huge nuclear industry. Great uncertainties remain and the risk is potentially enormous. Still, investors are not deterred. "The City is sniffing around," observes one industry official. This is the first of two features exploring the way the nuclear industry is changing. The second feature will be published on 30 March. ***************************************************************** 29 Salt Lake Tribune: When pigs fly: Skull Valley nuke dump still safety folly Opinion Article Last Updated: 03/27/2006 11:09 AM MST Private Fuel Storage is still trying to wangle a way to park all of the nation's spent nuclear fuel from commercial reactors in huge casks on a giant concrete pad in Skull Valley. But no matter how it tries to apply rouge to this hog, its offer to the federal Energy Department to store the waste temporarily until a permanent site can be prepared still fails the safety test. As the Union of Concerned Scientists has pointed out, “the proposal is imprudent from both a safety and financial perspective because it entails the added risks and costs from transporting spent fuel twice as often as necessary.” In other words, it doesn't make sense to transport the stuff first to Skull Valley for temporary storage and then again to a permanent repository, whether or not that ends up being Yucca Mountain, Nev. It makes more sense to store the spent fuel at the reactor sites until a permanent repository opens, then transport it once to that burial plot. Even if the United States were to decide to reprocess the spent fuel for subsequent re-use, as is currently being discussed, it would be folly to send it all to a central interim storage site in Utah, then pack it off somewhere else for reprocessing. Besides, about 25 reactors out of 70 across the nation already use dry-cask storage on site, the same technology that would be used in Utah, to contain excess spent fuel assemblies. None of this has deterred PFS from making a pitch to a congressional subcommittee to sell space at its Skull Valley parking lot to the federal government for interim storage. A bit of background: Under contracts with electric utilities, the Energy Department was supposed to take the spent nuclear fuel off the utilities' hands in 1998. But the federal government can't because its proposed permanent site - Yucca Mountain - isn't ready, and maybe never will be. That has exposed Uncle Sam to billions of dollars in potential legal damages. But the answer to the dilemma is not PFS. Rather, the Energy Department should take title to the stuff and pay the utilities to store it in dry casks at the reactor sites. Moving it to Skull Valley would only expose millions of Utahns and other Americans to unnecessary transport risks. © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 30 cbs2chicago.com: Rain Washes Tritium Into Ditch Near Nuclear Plant Mar 27, 2006 9:25 am US/Central Plant Faces Multiple Lawsuits For Past Leaks (STNG) Recent heavy rains washed low levels of a radioactive substance into a ditch near the Braidwood nuclear plant in Will County, Exelon said Friday. Tritium levels were recorded up to a maximum of 1,000 picocuries per liter - about 5 percent of the U.S. EPA safe drinking water standard of 20,000 picocuries per liter, according to a statement from Exelon. Exelon said it is seeking access to private land so a pumping system can be installed to prevent a cistern from filling with rainwater, thereby eliminating runoff. The plant has leaked tritium several times dating to 1996. Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow have filed a lawsuit accusing Exelon and its ComEd and Exelon Generation Co. subsidiaries of failing to maintain the underground pipeline that leaked. Local residents also have filed lawsuits. Exelon said the leaks posed no danger to communities. Jan Strasma, spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, said there is no reason to shut down Braidwood. The company recently implemented a bottled-water plan, has been distributing free water to 420 residences surrounding the station and is participating in well testing. (Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) © MMVI, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 AFP: Russian nuclear plant chief prosecuted for waste-dumping in river - Monday March 27, 04:09 PM [A Greenpeace activist wears a gas mask during a protest against Russian nuclear dumping] MOSCOW (AFP) - The head of Russia's main nuclear fuel processing centre is being prosecuted for allegedly dumping atomic waste in a local river. Vitaly Sadovnikov, the boss of the Mayak plant in the Urals region of Chelyabinsk, is accused of violating environmental regulations by allowing the dumping of tens of millions of cubic metres of waste in the Techa river basin between 2001 and 2004. Quoting local prosecutors, the Gazeta newspaper said the level of radioactivity in the river had reached dangerous levels. Sadovnikov, a member of the local parliament, had been deprived of his parliamentary immunity and dismissed from his post last month after being charged, the report said. He was now under house arrest and a court would soon be dealing with his case. Last November regional prosecutor Andrey Potapov alleged that the Mayak plant was pouring nearly 10 million cubic metres (353 million cubic feet) of contaminated water into the Techa every year. In 1957 the same plant caused one of the biggest nuclear disasters in the Soviet Union when an accidental discharge of contaminated effluent affected 260,000 people and forced several towns and villages to be evacuated. Built in 1948, Mayak can process some 400 tonnes of spent nuclear fuel every year, from Russia's atomic submarine fleet, and Soviet-designed domestic and foreign power stations. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved. AFP '); [ src=] ***************************************************************** 32 YUCCA MOUNTAIN REQUIRES STRICTER MANAGEMENT 3/27/2006 The Department of Energy must tighten its quality assurance mechanisms at Yucca Mountain, according to a recent Government Accountability Office investigation. DOE began the Yucca Mountain Project in 1978 to study if and how the nation’s entire spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste could be stored in one place. The Department is currently seeking a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to construct a nuclear waste repository at the Yucca Mountain facility, approximately 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. “Because quality assurance plays a key role in ensuring that the information DOE uses to support its license application is of high quality and fully defensible, problems in this area raise concerns about delays to DOE’s submission and NRC’s review of the license application,” wrote Jim Wells, GAO’s director of Natural Resources and Environment, in a letter to Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev. Porter chairs the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization. Wells specifically cited three areas of concern. Last year, DOE contractors discovered multiple e-mails in which a United States Geological Survey employee at the facility indicated that he had fabricated documentation of his work. DOE is currently engaged in “extensive efforts to restore confidence in scientific documents”, but has approximately 14 million more project e-mails to investigate. DOE also faces quality assurance challenges in resolving design control problems associated with its requirements management processes, which ensure that high-level plans and regulatory requirements are incorporated into specific engineering details. “Significant” personnel and project changes initiated in October of last year have also created a “potential for confusion” over roles and responsibilities, said Wells. In order to ensure that the facility has adequate management control, GAO recommended the Yucca Mountain management: The 59-page letter can be found at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06313.pdf. More information about the Yucca Mountain Project can be found at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/ymp/index.shtml. TABLE OF CONTENTS ***************************************************************** 33 Sydney Morning Herald: China to explore for our uranium - National - smh.com.au www.smh.com.au By Mary-Anne Toy in Beijing and John Garnaut March 28, 2006 CHINA hopes to explore for uranium in Australia under landmark deals that its Premier expects to sign in a four-day visit. Two documents on uranium - one of which concerns "exploration and exploitation" - may be among economic and trade agreements signed by the Premier, Wen Jiabao, who arrives on Saturday. It could mean that energy-hungry China will not only buy Australia's uranium, but come here to look for it. China's top Foreign Ministry official dealing with Australia, Liu Jieyi, told a briefing for foreign journalists yesterday: "It is true that China and Australia will sign some agreements including on uranium and the exploration and exploitation of uranium. These agreements are all for the peaceful use of nuclear energy and for co-operation on uranium & As for the specific contents of these agreements, I am not in a position to share that information." Australia has 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves, and China is keen to have more direct involvement in energy resources wherever possible. China first formally raised its interest in exploring for uranium in February last year, drawing a cautious response from the Prime Minister, John Howard, and his ministers. But they did not rule out the possibility, and in October the Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, compared China to France, a recognised nuclear power already involved in exploring in Australia. Last night a Government source said nothing had been completed but confirmed Australia was working to sign a deal with China as soon as possible. But a safeguards agreement will be crucial to any trade in uranium. And there was confusion in Canberra about what was about to be agreed on exploration. A sources said: "Exploration licences are granted and administered by the Northern Territory and South Australian governments. We don't come into play until they find the stuff." But Mr Liu, the director-general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs, said the two sides had made much progress. "We already have draft texts, and during the visit it is likely that these two documents will be signed." Asked if Falun Gong - banned as a cult in China - would be raised, he said: "The Falun Gong cult is sabotaging the relationship. This is indeed to serve their own evil interests and political agenda. We are confident that with concerted efforts from the two governments we can successfully exclude them from interfering with this visit." Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 34 Daily Yomiuri: Pluthermal power way of the future Editorial The Yomiuri Shimbun The era of full-fledged use of plutonium fuel at nuclear plants in the nation is finally in sight. The Saga prefectural government and the Genkaicho municipal government in the prefecture accepted Kyushu Electric Power Co.'s plutonium-thermal power generation plan for the No. 3 reactor of the Genkai nuclear power plant. All necessary agreements were obtained to move the plan forward. Kyushu Electric will soon start necessary preparations, including ordering fuel processing, with the aim of starting the nation's first pluthermal power generation plant in fiscal 2010. The electric power company must strive to ensure the safe operation of the reactor, while at the same time continuing its efforts to elicit consent and cooperation of the local government and residents by providing detailed information about its precautions. Kansai Electric Power Co. and Tokyo Electric Power Co. were once close to realizing pluthermal power generation, having gained the approval of the central government and acceptance of local governments. But data fabrication at a British company with which Kansai Electric had contracted for fuel processing surfaced in 1999. In 2004, a fatal accident occurred at its Mihama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture and Kansai Electric was forced to freeze its pluthermal plan. === Sidetracked by scandals As for the Tokyo utility firm, fabrication of routine inspection reports at some of its nuclear power plants emerged in 2002, leading the Fukushima and Niigata prefectural governments to withdraw their agreements for the utility company's pluthermal plans. The safety level of pluthermal power generation is the same as that of conventional nuclear power generation. Even in conventional power generation using uranium fuel, plutonium is generated in a reactor, and conditions similar to those created in pluthermal power generation occur in the reactor. Pluthermal power generation has taken root in some foreign countries. France operates 21 pluthermal reactors and Germany has 15 reactors running under pluthermal power generation. There have been no major accidents involving pluthermal power generation reported overseas. But Kyushu Electric should avoid losing the trust of the local people by making errors similar to those of Tokyo Electric and Kansai Electric. If such a situation were to occur, the nation's plutonium recycling plan would fail. === Vital energy plan The government seeks to promote the nuclear fuel cycle as a key national policy. In the cycle, plutonium in spent nuclear fuel is collected at a reprocessing plant and used as nuclear fuel. Under this process, the amount of radioactive waste will be reduced. Spent nuclear fuel will be reused, instead of being stockpiled as waste. The nation's electric power industry used to use overseas reprocessing plants to reclaim plutonium from spent fuel. Japan stores 26 tons of collected plutonium overseas. In Rokkashomura, Aomori Prefecture, the nation's first commercial nuclear fuel recycling plant is soon to carry out test operation. As a condition for accepting the test run, the Aomori prefectural government said collected plutonium should be reused steadily. In the future, fast-breeder reactors, which are able to burn plutonium effectively, will be put into commercial use. But until such time, reprocessed plutonium fuel must be used in pluthermal generation. With the aim of realizing smooth use of plutonium, the government and the electricity industry intend to start pluthermal power generation at 16 to 18 reactors by fiscal 2010. Other electric power companies should follow the lead of Kyushu Electric. (From The Yomiuri Shimbun, March 28) (Mar. 28, 2006) © The Yomiuri Shimbun. ***************************************************************** 35 Washington Technology: Yucca Mountain battle will be fought in digital court Updated 5:02 PM EST March 27 03/27/06; Vol. 21 No. 6 By Doug Beizer Deep bookshelves curve behind the lawyers’ tables in a courtroom at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in Rockville, Md. Crammed onto the shelves are thousands of paper documents generated over the course of complex hearings before the commission. They contain the details of proposals such as licensing a new reactor and building a waste repository. The mounds of paper were expected to grow significantly over the next few years, as adjudication moved forward on the Energy Department’s license application for a commercial nuclear-reactor waste-storage facility at Nevada’s Yucca Mountain. The proceeding, which Congress mandated to last three to four years, likely will be one of the largest and most complex administrative hearings in U.S. history, NRC officials said. To better manage data that would derive from the Yucca hearings as well as the commission’s regular proceedings, NRC officials built two digital courtrooms for the agency’s Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel. “Our hearings typically have three judges and three or more parties,” said Andrew Welkie, Digital Data Management System project manger for NRC. “The documentation was printed for each case and all participants: attorneys, witnesses, NRC staff. It was stacks and stacks of paper.” Nortel Government Solutions Inc. of Fairfax, Va., was the prime contractor and systems integrator for the project. ExhibitOne Corp. and Media Edge Inc. supplied hardware, software and integration services. Media Edge, Linthicum, Md., focused on Internet multimedia solutions, and ExhibitOne of Phoenix provided audiovisual technologies. The NRC’s cases generally are complex and require that administrative law judges, NRC staff and other participants have quick access to volumes of documents. Most cases involve those seeking licenses and those, such as environmental groups and localities, opposing the granting of those licenses. The new digital courtrooms in Rockville and Las Vegas eliminate the headaches of dealing with paper records by providing electronic evidence presentation, digital audio and video transcripts, and electronic capture and display of evidence. “The digital data management system was designed and developed to handle the Yucca Mountain proceeding,” Welkie said. “The Department of Energy wants to build a waste facility there, and we have this three- to four-year congressional mandate to issue a decision.” The Yucca hearings are expected to generate 50,000 documents. Everything introduced in the hearing room, whether computer-based, audio, video or physical, is recorded electronically and goes to a set of servers. Because the hearing room is digital, people off-site can submit documents over the Web or testify via videoconference. A key aspect of the system is its fully searchable audio and visual transcripts. As a hearing is being transcribed, the transcription is married to the video to enable searches to find a specific point in the recording. The system’s Web interface displays the transcript in one window and next to it in another window, the corresponding video. The set-up makes it easy to scan the transcript and find a specific spot to start running the corresponding video. “What makes this system unique is it has taken known technologies and integrated them into one system,” Welkie said. “If you walk into a federal courthouse, you’re going to see video monitors, cameras, microphones and computers. And we have the database, which is also out there in courthouses. But making that database available in the hearing room is something a little different than other courts are doing.” The system is built on Plumtree’s portal technology, which integrates all the other technology, said Paul Gwaltney, digital data management system program manager for Nortel Government Solutions. Plumtree is now part of BEA Systems Inc. of San Jose, Calif. “We used the portal and created custom code to handle a lot of the hearing functions within the hearing room, such as witness management, document management and other things,” Gwaltney said. All authorized participants get a user name and password and can log into the system from anywhere with an Internet connection. In the courtroom, each seat has a workstation. Because all documents and evidence are filed before the hearing, from the moment the hearing begins, the judge as well as the participants can simultaneously pull up any document, annotate it and reintroduce it as a new piece of evidence. “For example, if an expert witness draws arrows on a map, that can be re-entered as evidence,” Gwaltney said. The licensing board panel’s chief administrative law judge since 1999, G. Paul Bollwerk has been with the agency since 1989. While the NRC has been successful in moving cases through its system, slow, antiquated methods are still in use, he said. “We have someone stamping all the paper documents to put them into the record,” Bollwerk said. “With this system, we can do all that electronically and save a lot of time. It may not seem like it, but we can probably save 15 percent to 25 percent of that time doing it electronically.” ***************************************************************** 36 DOE: Office of International Regimes and Agreements; Proposed FR Doc E6-4391 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15181-15182] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-61] Subsequent Arrangement AGENCY: Department of Energy. [[Page 15182]] ACTION: Subsequent arrangement. SUMMARY: Pursuant to Article VIII.C of the Agreement for Cooperation Concerning Civil Uses of Atomic Energy, signed April 4, 1972, as amended, the American Institute in Taiwan and the Tapei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) hereby jointly determine that the provisions in Article XI of the Agreement may be effectively applied with respect to the plan proposed by TECRO in February 2006 for the alteration in form or content of irradiated fuel elements at the hot laboratory of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Lungtan, Taiwan. The facility is hereby found acceptable to both parties pursuant to Article VIII.C of the Agreement for the sole purpose of alteration in form or content of irradiated fuel elements for the period ending December 31, 2010. In accordance with section 131 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended, we have determined that this subsequent arrangement will not be inimical to the common defense and security. This subsequent arrangement will take effect no sooner than fifteen days after the date of publication of this notice. For the Department of Energy. Richard S. Goorevich, Director, Office of International Regimes and Agreements. [FR Doc. E6-4391 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 37 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah FR Doc E6-4392 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15182-15183] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-63] AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE). ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, April 20, 2006, 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m. ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive,Barkley Centre,Paducah, Kentucky 42001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William E. Murphie, Deputy DesignatedFederal Officer, Department of Energy Portsmouth/Paducah Project Office, 1017 Majestic Drive,Suite 200, Lexington, Kentucky 40513, (859) 219-4001. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management and related activities. Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m. Informal Discussion 6 p.m. Call to Order Introductions Review of Agenda Approval of March Minutes 6:15 p.m. Deputy Designated Federal Officer's Comments 6:35 p.m. Federal Coordinator's Comments 6:40 p.m. Ex-officios' Comments 6:50 p.m. Public Comments and Questions 7 p.m. Task Forces/Presentations Kentucky Research Consortium for Energy and the Environment Ecology Summary Water Disposition/Water Quality Task Force--End State Maps 8 p.m. Public Comments and Questions 8:10 p.m. Break 8:20 p.m. Administrative Issues Preparation for May Presentation Budget Review Review of Workplan Review of Next Agenda 8:30 p.m. Review of Action Items 8:35 p.m. Subcommittee Report Executive Committee--Chairs Meeting Preparation 8:50 p.m. Final Comments 9 p.m. Adjourn Public Participation The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact David Dollins at the address listed below or by telephone at (270) 441-6819. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday- Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday [[Page 15183]] through Friday or by writing to David Dollins, Department of Energy, Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or by calling him at (270) 441-6819. Issued at Washington, DC, on March 21, 2006. Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E6-4392 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 38 DOE: Office of Fossil Energy; Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee FR Doc E6-4394 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15183] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-64] AGENCY: Department of Energy. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee. Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat.770) requires that notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Monday, April 24, 2006, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Tuesday, April 25, 2006, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. ADDRESSES: L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, 480 L'Enfant Plaza, SW., Washington, DC 20024. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Edith Allison, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Oil and Natural Gas, Washington, DC 20585. Phone: 202-586-1023. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Committee: The purpose of the Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee is to provide advice on potential applications of methane hydrate to the Secretary of Energy; assist in developing recommendations and priorities for the Department of Energy methane hydrate research and development program. Tentative Agenda Monday, April 24 Welcome and Introductions Joint meeting with the Interagency Coordinating Committee--9 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. Briefings on recent accomplishments, planned activities, issues and concerns by the Department of Energy; U.S. Geological Survey; Minerals Management Service; Bureau of Land Management; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Naval Research Laboratory; and National Science Foundation. Discussion of major interagency issues, including activities in other nations, FY2007 budgets, reauthorization, interagency coordination and Interagency Roadmap Five minutes will be allowed for questions and comments after each presentation BP Project Presentation Chevron Project Presentation Tuesday, April 25 Discussion of Energy Policy Act of 2005 requirements Discussion and Recommendations to DOE regarding planning and future activities Adjourn Public Participation The meeting is open to the public. The Chairman of the Committee will conduct the meeting to facilitate the orderly conduct of business. If you would like to file a written statement with the Committee, you may do so either before or after the meeting. If you would like to make oral statements regarding any of the items on the agenda, you should contact Edith Allison at the address or telephone number listed above. You must make your request for an oral statement at least five business days prior to the meeting, and reasonable provisions will be made to include the presentation on the agenda. Public comment will follow the 10 minute rule. Minutes The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying within 60 days at the Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, Room 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC, between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except federal holidays. Issued at Washington, DC, on March 21, 2006. Carol Matthews, Acting Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E6-4394 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 39 DOE: Notice of Renewal of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board FR Doc E6-4395 [Federal Register: March 27, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 58)] [Notices] [Page 15182] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr27mr06-62] Pursuant to section 14(a)(2)(A) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act and in accordance with title 41 of the Code of Federal Regulations, section 101-6.1015, and following consultation with the Committee Management Secretariat of the General Services Administration, notice is hereby given that the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (the Board) has been renewed for an additional 60 days, beginning March 20, 2006. The Board will provide advice, information, and recommendations to the Secretary of Energy on educational issues, and on any other activities and operations of the Department of Energy as the Secretary may direct. The Board members are selected to assure well-balanced representation in fields of importance to the Department of Energy. Membership of the Board will continue to be determined in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463) and implementing regulations. The extension of the Board has been determined to be in the public interest, important and vital to the conduct of the Department's business in connection with the performance of duties established by statute for the Department of Energy. The Board will operate in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463), the General Services Administration Final Rule on Federal Advisory Committee Management, and other directives and instructions issued in implementation of those acts. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Rachel M. Samuel, U.S. Department of Energy, MA-70, FORS, Washington, DC 20585, Telephone: (202) 586- 3279. Issued in Washington, DC, on March 20, 2006. James N. Solit, Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E6-4395 Filed 3-24-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 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: *****************************************************************