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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Iraq: Niger Uranium Documents were faked in Rome
2 US: [NYTr] Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs
3 [NYTr] Read my lips: Not enough fuel for a bomb
4 US: [NYTr] Powell never believed Iraq posed imminent nuclear threat
5 Script for Iran invasion appears headed for production
6 [NYTr] Iran's Defiance Narrows US Options for Response
7 [NYTr] Iran bars talks on nuclear abilities
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Rebuffs Request to Suspend Enrichment
9 Guardian Unlimited: Rice Urges Iran's Nuclear Compliance
10 Guardian Unlimited: China Envoy to Visit Iran on Nuke Dispute
11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows Not to Back Away From Enrichment
12 Guardian Unlimited: Rice: 'Some Consequences' Needed for Iran
13 New York Times: Iran Details Nuclear Ambitions; Rice Urges 'Strong S
14 New York Times: Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away - 
15 BBC: Iran defiant over nuclear plans
16 Platts: Iran to install 3,000 centrifuges in Natanz pilot plant
17 AFP: Egypt urges diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear crisis -
18 AFP: Iran says nuclear drive unstoppable as ElBaradei starts talks -
19 AFP: Iran rebuffs UN atomic chief, refuses to halt nuclear drive -
20 AFP: Rice highlights 'full range' of weapons open to UN against Iran
21 Guardian Unlimited: Officials: Iran Nuclear Bomb Is Years Away
22 [NYTr] North Korea threatens to boost nuclear arsenal
23 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Still Won't Rejoin Talks
24 AFP: US says North Korea risks losing nuclear deal 
25 AFP: NKorea vows no compromise, threatens military buildup 
26 US: Michael Klare | Reigniting the Arms Race
27 US: [NYTr] Bush's Insane First Strike Policy
28 San Francisco Chronicle: Dangerous brinksmanship
29 AFP: US spies failed to warn of Indian nuclear tests - secret docume
30 AFP: Atomic agency safeguards will speed Indian nuke deal - US senat
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
31 US: Why Nuclea Power Is NOT The Solution To Global Warming
32 Chornobyl +20: Remembrance for the Future Conference Updates
33 Chornobyl +20: Remembrance for the Future Conference Updates
34 US: NRC: NRC to Discuss 2005 Performance Assessment for Vermont Yank
35 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear power is not energy solution, say MPs
36 London Times: Labour has made up its mind to go nuclear, Lib Dems cl
37 US: ŽNRC: NRC to Discuss 2005 Performance Assessment for Limerick Nu
38 iafrica.com: sa news Koeberg 'bolt probe' forges on
39 RIA Novosti: Ex-nuclear minister Adamov's defense team files new rel
40 US: NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet in Rockvill
41 US: NRC: NRC Issues 2005 Hurricane Season “Lessons Learned” Final Re
42 US: APP.COM: Oyster Creek fined for fish kill 
43 US: NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OM
44 ITAR-TASS: Nuclear reactors not to be built if public objects
45 CBC Edmonton: Environment minister cool to nuclear proposal
46 US: KOLD: Salt River Project will write off losses from nuke plant
47 AU Ninemsn: Inside Chernobyl
48 icNorthWales: Sheep farmers want more fall-out money 
49 SABCnews.com: Eskom says Koeberg to run at full capacity in July    
50 FOXNews.com: Twenty Years After Chernobyl - 
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
51 Mos News: Russian Held in Uranium Theft Case - 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
52 US: [NukeNet] Federation of American Scientists website infor on
53 US: [NukeNet] Test blast in Nevada: A nuclear rehearsal
54 US: [NukeNet] Environmental officials halt test site explosion
55 US: reviewjournal.com: Environmental officials halt test site explos
56 US: DesMoinesRegister.com: Agency recommends compensation for Ames L
57 US: Spectrum: Nevada seeking more info on blast
58 US: Democrat & Chronicle: Aid urged for vets exposed to uranium 
59 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada demands blast data 
60 AFP: Bikini Islanders sue US for 560 mln dlrs for nuclear tests -
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
61 reviewjournal.com: Yucca Mountain a must for nation, energy chief sa
62 reviewjournal.com: Reprocessing plans tied to Yucca delays, 
63 US: SHT: Whitfield residents don't like Tallevast pollution district
64 US: BJP: $8M settlement reached in Goodyear airport pollution case -
65 Public Citizen: Public Citizen Condemns Bush Administration 
66 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Energy Secretary to make Yucca announcement
67 KVBC: Energy Secretary promising big changes at Yucca Mountain
68 KLAS-TV: Las Vegas - Secretary Tours Yucca Mountain Repository
69 US: TownOnline.com: Thousands of barrels removed from Starmet site
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
70 DOE: DOE Seeks Industry Proposals for Feasibility Study to 
71 Hanford News: FFTF named national historic landmark
72 Hanford News: Cantwell hears Hanford workers' pension worries
73 Hanford News: Money blamed for cleanup delays
74 lamonitor.com: Richardson engages local townsfolk 
75 KnoxNews: Manhattan Project sites' future debated
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Iraq: Niger Uranium Documents were faked in Rome
 
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 01:28:23 -0500 (CDT)

Sun Apr 9, 4:26 PM ET

Two employees of the Niger embassy in Rome allegedly forged documents
that were later used to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq, a British
newspaper claimed.

Citing unnamed sources at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO),
the Sunday Times said the embassy officials faked papers to show that
former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was seeking uranium ore from the
west African nation.

The documents, which emerged in 2002, were denounced as forgeries by the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

But in the run-up to military action in March 2003, both the White House
and Britain used claims that Saddam had bought or was seeking to buy
significant amounts of uranium for weapons from a west African nation.

According to the newspaper, the papers were forged for money by the Niger
consul and his assistant at the embassy in Rome as western intelligence
agencies sought evidence about reports that Iraq was attempting to buy
uranium ore.

They were said to have copied a real contract to make it look as if Niger
would supply Iraq with 500 tonnes of ore, or "yellowcake", it added.

The documents passed into the hands of the French secret service by way
of a former Italian agent.

The ex-agent passed the documents on to an Italian journalist in late
2002. The journalist then took them to the US embassy, whose officials in
turn informed Washington, the newspaper said.

Former US ambassador Joseph Wilson travelled to Niger and found the
claims about Iraq obtaining uranium to be without substance. He publicly
attacked the White House's assertions on the matter in a critical
newspaper commentary in mid-2003.

But that led to government officials briefing journalists that Wilson's
wife, Valerie Plame, was a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operative.
Naming an undercover agent is illegal in the United States.

Last week, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, a former aide to US Vice-President Dick
Cheney, told an inquiry into the leak that it was Cheney who ordered the
briefings and that President George W. Bush had authorised them.

Copyright ) 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
information contained in the AFP News report may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority
of Agence France Presse.



 

*****************************************************************
 2 [NYTr] Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:33:00 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
AP - Apr 12, 2006
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/B/BUSH_IRAQ?SITE=WYCHE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Report Raises New Questions on Bush, WMDs

By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House faced new questions Wednesday about
President Bush's contention three years ago that weapons of mass destruction
had been found in Iraq.

The Washington Post reported that a Pentagon-sponsored team of experts
determined in May 2003 that two small trailers were not used to make
biological weapons. Yet two days after the team sent its findings to
Washington in a classified report, Bush declared just the opposite.

"We have found the weapons of mass destruction," Bush said in an interview
with a Polish TV station. "We found biological laboratories."

Bush spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday that Bush was relying on
information from the Central Intelligence Agency and the Defense
Intelligence Agency when he said the trailers seized after the 2003 invasion
were mobile biological laboratories. That information was later discredited
by the Iraq Survey Group in its 2004 report.

The CIA and DIA publicly issued an assessment one day after the Pentagon
team's report arrived in Washington that said U.S. officials were confident
that the trailers were used to produce biological weapons. The assessment
said the mobile facilities represented "the strongest evidence to date that
Iraq was hiding a biological warfare program."

McClellan said it was unclear whether officials at the White House were
aware of the contradictory field report when Bush repeated the claim in the
television interview.

"If and when the White House became aware of this particular issue, I'm
looking into that matter," McClellan said. "The White House has asked the
CIA and the DIA to go and look into that issue."

The Post did not say that Bush knew what he was saying was false. But ABC
News did during a report on "Good Morning America," and McClellan demanded
an apology and an on-air retraction. ABC News said later in a clarification
on its Web site that Charles Gibson had erred. McClellan said he had
received an apology.

"This is nothing more than rehashing an old issue that was resolved long
ago," McClellan said. "I cannot count how many times the president has said
the intelligence was wrong."

"The intelligence community makes the assessment," he said. "The White House
is not the intelligence-gathering agency."

Navy Cmdr. Greg Hicks, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a written statement
that the report from the expert team was sent to the DIA on May 27, 2003,
but he said the findings were not vetted until over the summer. The
statement did not say whether the information was immediately shared with
the White House.

"This further analysis led to the conclusion of the ISG that the mobile
units were impractical for biological agent production and almost certainly
designed and built for the generation of hydrogen," Hicks' statement said.

CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Dyck declined to speak specifically about the
classified field report but said in general that producing a finished
intelligence report takes time, coordination, debate and vetting.

"This is not a fast process, especially when dealing with complex issues,"
she said. "It is not typically something that happens in a matter of hours."

The trailers - along with aluminum tubes acquired by Iraq for what was
believed to be a nuclear weapons program - were primary pieces of evidence
offered by the Bush administration before the war to support its contention
that Iraq was making weapons of mass destruction.

Intelligence officials and the White House have repeatedly denied claims
that intelligence was exaggerated or manipulated in the months before the
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The Iraq Survey Group concluded in
2004 that there was no evidence that Iraq produced weapons of mass
destruction after 1991.

       
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*****************************************************************
 3 [NYTr] Read my lips: Not enough fuel for a bomb
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:39:30 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Simon McGuinness

April 13, 2006: The Irish Times News
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0413/1857717773FR13ENRICH.html

Not enough fuel for a bomb

by David Adam

IRAN: The Iranians claim to have produced enriched uranium "to the 3.5
per cent level". That is pure enough to use as nuclear fuel, though
nowhere near what would be needed to make a bomb.

Experts say the bank of 164 centrifuges that the Iranians used is not
enough to churn out significant amounts.

The centrifuges are needed because natural uranium is useless to feed
nuclear reactors or to make bombs. First the ore must be processed to
extract the metal - and 25,000 tonnes of ore yields 50 tonnes of metal.


Less than 1 per cent of that is uranium 235, which can be forcibly split
to release energy. The rest is uranium 238, its less volatile
radioactive cousin.

To make reactor fuel and atomic bombs, the uranium 235 in the metal
needs to be enriched.

This is where the centrifuges come in. Taking advantage of the fact that
uranium 235 is marginally lighter than uranium 238, the Iranians will
have mixed the metal with fluorine, heated the mixture until it formed a
gas (uranium hexafluoride) and spun it at high speed inside a thin metal
cylinder.

Inside this centrifuge, the heavier uranium 238 molecules are flung
towards the outer walls, which allows a stream of gas relatively rich in
uranium 235 to be drawn off.

By feeding this enriched stream into a second centrifuge, then a third
and so on, the amount of uranium 235 in the original sample is
increased.

At the start it is typically less than 1 per cent; the Iranians say they
have increased that to 3.5 per cent. What worries the US is that should
the Iranians add more centrifuges, they may have the potential to enrich
this fuel-grade uranium to weapons-grade uranium, which requires 80-90
per cent uranium 235. Even then, they would need 50kg of this highly
enriched uranium to achieve a viable atomic weapon.

Frank Barnaby, a nuclear physicist at the UK Atomic Weapons
Establishment in the 1950s, said: "If they've enriched some uranium and
measured the enrichment then that's quite a way down the line. But 164
centrifuges is negligible, you'd need thousands to get significant
amounts of weapons grade uranium." - (Guardian service)

© Guardian Service 

       
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*****************************************************************
 4 [NYTr] Powell never believed Iraq posed imminent nuclear threat
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:04:33 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
TruthDig - Apr 12, 2006
http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/20060411_bush_leak_plame_libby_powell

Now Powell Tells Us

By Robert Scheer

The president played the scoundrel — even the best of his minions went along
with the lies — and when a former ambassador dared to tell the truth, the
White House initiated what Special Prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald calls “a
plan to discredit, punish or seek revenge against Mr. Wilson.” That is the
important story line.

If not for the whistle-blower, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, President
Bush’s falsehoods about the Iraq nuclear threat probably would never have
been exposed.

On Monday, former Secretary of State Colin Powell told me that he and his
department’s top experts never believed that Iraq posed an imminent nuclear
threat, but that the president followed the misleading advice of Vice
President Dick Cheney and the CIA in making the claim. Now he tells us.

The harsh truth is that this president cherry-picked the intelligence data
in making his case for invading Iraq and deliberately kept the public in the
dark as to the countervailing analysis at the highest level of the
intelligence community. While the president and his top Cabinet officials
were fear-mongering with stark images of a “mushroom cloud” over American
cities, the leading experts on nuclear weaponry at the Department of Energy
(the agency in charge of the U.S. nuclear-weapons program) and the State
Department thought the claim of a near-term Iraqi nuclear threat was absurd.

“The activities we have detected do not, however, add up to a compelling
case that Iraq is currently pursuing what INR would consider to be an
integrated and comprehensive approach to acquire nuclear weapons,” said a
dissenting analysis from an assistant secretary of state for intelligence
and research (INR) in the now infamous 2002 National Intelligence Estimate
on Iraq, which was cobbled together for the White House before the war.
“Iraq may be doing so but INR considers the available evidence inadequate to
support such a judgment.”

The specter of the Iraqi nuclear threat was primarily based on an
already-discredited claim that Iraq had purchased aluminum tubes for the
purpose of making nuclear weapons. In fact, at the time, the INR wrote in
the National Intelligence Estimate that it “accepts the judgment of
technical experts at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) who have concluded
that the tubes Iraq seeks to acquire are poorly suited for use in gas
centrifuges to be used for uranium enrichment and finds unpersuasive the
arguments advanced by others to make the case that they are intended for
that purpose.”

The other major evidence President Bush gave Americans for a revitalized
Iraq nuclear program, of course, was his 2003 State of the Union claim —
later found to be based on forged documents — that a deal had been made to
obtain uranium from Niger. This deal was exposed within the administration
as bogus before the president’s speech in January by Ambassador Wilson, who
traveled to Niger for the CIA. Wilson only went public with his criticisms
in an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times a half year later in response to
what he charged were the administration’s continued distortions of the
evidence. In excerpts later made available to the public, it is clear that
the Niger claim doesn’t even appear as a key finding in the October 2002
National Intelligence Estimate, while the INR dissent in that document
dismisses it curtly: “[T]he claims of Iraqi pursuit of natural uranium in
Africa are, in INR’s assessment highly dubious.”

I queried Powell at a reception following a talk he gave in Los Angeles on
Monday. Pointing out that the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate
showed that his State Department had gotten it right on the nonexistent Iraq
nuclear threat, I asked why did the president ignore that wisdom in his
stated case for the invasion?

“The CIA was pushing the aluminum tube argument heavily and Cheney went with
that instead of what our guys wrote,” Powell said. And the Niger reference
in Bush’s State of the Union speech? “That was a big mistake,” he said. “It
should never have been in the speech. I didn’t need Wilson to tell me that
there wasn’t a Niger connection. He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t
already know. I never believed it.”

When I pressed further as to why the president played up the Iraq nuclear
threat, Powell said it wasn’t the president: “That was all Cheney.” A
convenient response for a Bush family loyalist, perhaps, but it raises the
question of how the president came to be a captive of his vice president’s
fantasies.

More important: Why was this doubt, on the part of the secretary of state
and others, about the salient facts justifying the invasion of Iraq kept
from the public until we heard the truth from whistle-blower Wilson, whose
credibility the president then sought to destroy?

In matters of national security, when a president leaks, he lies.

By selectively releasing classified information to suit his political
purposes, as President Bush did in this case, he is denying that there was a
valid basis for keeping the intelligence findings secret in the first place.
“We ought to get to the bottom of it, so it can be evaluated by the American
people,” said Sen. Arlen Specter, the Republican chairman of the Senate
Judiciary Committee. I couldn’t have put it any better.

Copyright © 2006 Truthdig, L.L.C.

       
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*****************************************************************
 5 Script for Iran invasion appears headed for production
 
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 00:36:04 -0500 (CDT)

If you listen and read carefully, you will get a sense of dj vu
right now.

Remember Iraq? Its like that.

A quietly rising media jingoism campaign is already beginning to
stoke fear among the American people that Iran is an out-of-control
regime dead set on raining down nuclear fire on innocent children.

So it is no real surprise that investigative journalist Seymour
Hersh recently penned an article for the New Yorker revealing that
the Bush Administration is currently laying the groundwork for an
invasion of the Persian nation.

Iran is at least two and as much as 10 years away from developing
a viable nuclear weapon, according to intelligence experts who spoke
with Narco News. Even then, Iran would have a petty nuke arsenal
that would be more than checkmated by much larger arsenals in India,
Pakistan, Israel, China and the United States, among others.

So why the rush to war?

Well, to explore that subject, Narco News decided to check in with
a trusted source --  a consultant who was recently invited to
Washington, D.C., to bid on a contract to help develop an Iran war
plan for the Pentagon. The source came forward after discovering
that the insanity of the Bush Administrations plan for Iran, as it
was laid out in the contract negotiations, merited exposure.

Now, many folks reading this notebook may immediately conclude that
a writer for Narco News couldnt possibly have the inside skinny on
this insanity. After all, Bill Conroy is no Seymour Hersh.

Still, I feel compelled to convey what I was told and only ask that
you mark the link to this story. Then, six months from now, you can
look back and see if any of it was on the mark. In terms of preventing
this madness from unfolding in the meantime, well, that is something
that cant wait six months.

So, following, in brief, is what the source had to say about what
he was told by Pentagon officials, whom, he claims, were seeking
to hire him to help develop a strategy to get the American people
on board with this Iran plan. (The goal, the source says, is to
educate the American people, not through PR, but by tweaking the
danger factor, to get the people to support the governments
pronouncements about how much of a danger Iran is to us.)

The source claims this Iran plan has been in the works for about
24 months, blowing out of the water any claim by the administration
that it is a contingency plan.

The Pentagon, this consultant adds, plans to spend $1 billion to
refurbish the two existing major bases the U.S. military now operates
in Iraq.

"If we (U.S. troops) are getting out of Iraq in a year or so, they
would not be spending $1 billion to refurbish the bases, the
consultant stresses.

In addition, the Pentagon plans to appropriate, through various
channels, another $2 billion to build a third major base and three
smaller ones, the source says.

Then they will begin moving in aircraft and other equipment within
three to four months, the source says. They are talking about
maintaining 100,000 troops long-term (in Iraq). The plan is for the
bases to be permanent.

Included in the "equipment" shipped into Iraq for the assault on
Iran will be tactical nuclear weapons, for use in targeting deep
underground installations, the consultant claims. The troop preparation
for the invasion of Iran, and the invasion itself, will be staged
from U.S. bases in Iraq, he adds.

They will need ground troops for the invasion of Iran, the consultant
says. A 100,000 troops is not enough, but its better than trying
to bring all of the necessary troops in from far away.

Within six months (prior to the upcoming Congressional elections),
the strategic bombing is slated to begin in Iran, the consultant
claims. However, he says because there are an estimated 100 or more
unknown underground sites that are being used as part of Irans
fledgling nuclear program, strategic bombing (even tactical nuclear
weapons) alone wont do the trick, the consultant says, which is why
the ground troops must be committed to the war effort.

The Bush Administration will launch the invasion with or without
the consent of Congress, the consultant claims. The legal justification
that will be used, according to information supplied to him by
Justice Department attorneys, is that the Iraq war resolution adopted
by Congress also authorizes the action in Iran.

The consultant adds that the rationale for the invasion currently
being packaged for the media and the American public by the Pentagon
(Irans supposed imminent nuclear-weapon threat) is a red herring
-- the bait for the jaws of war.

Weve gone through nine reasons for going into Iraq, the consultant
says. They arent looking for reality here (in the planned Iran
invasion) either. The real reason for this (new war) is to rally
the American people to get the administration out of the horrible
bind theyre in.

Thats right, it is an election year, and the big threat to the Bush
Administration is not really Iran, after all. Rather, its a changing
of the guard in Washington that might put Democrats in the position
of setting up their own congressional committees with subpoena
power.

Like I said, check back at this link in six months to see if I did,
in fact, get an advance copy of the Iran War script.

However, I, for one, hope this Wag the Dog Tale never makes it to
production.



 

*****************************************************************
 6 [NYTr] Iran's Defiance Narrows US Options for Response
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:46:07 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[Actually, the Bush regime has limited its own options. The fools
have painted themselves, yet again, into a very small corner.-NYTr]


The Washington Post - Apr 13, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/12/AR2006041201967_pf.html

Iran's Defiance Narrows U.S. Options for Response

By Peter Baker
Washington Post Staff Writer

As Iran takes a step closer to developing nuclear capacity, President Bush
finds his options ever more constricted. The Iranians seem unfazed by U.N.
statements. The Russians and Chinese won't go along with economic sanctions.
And the generals at the Pentagon hate the idea of a military strike.

The White House declared yesterday that "it is time for action" by the U.N.
Security Council, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on it to
take "strong steps" to force Tehran to abandon uranium enrichment. But even
as Europeans, Russians and Chinese expressed disapproval of Iran's latest
move, there were no signs of consensus on what to do about it.

The central problem for Bush, according to aides and analysts, is that Iran
has proved impervious so far to the diplomatic levers Washington and its
partners have been willing to use. Some administration officials have grown
increasingly skeptical that a solution can be found, raising the prospect
that, like North Korea before it, a second member of the trio of rogue
states Bush once dubbed the "axis of evil" may ultimately develop a nuclear
bomb over U.S. objections.

Bush is especially frustrated with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
who has abandoned negotiations with the Europeans and defied international
pressure while talking of wiping Israel "off the map." Bush's chief
political adviser, Karl Rove, complained during an appearance yesterday in
Houston that it is hard to find a diplomatic resolution because Ahmadinejad
"is not a rational human being."

That has left Bush with few attractive alternatives. "At this point, your
options seem to be not good and scarce," said Ray Takeyh, a senior fellow at
the Council on Foreign Relations. "Your other option is living with it . . .
and I think that's what will happen."

"Their Plan A is to put incremental pressure on Iran so it will cave," said
retired Air Force Col. P.J. Crowley, a National Security Council aide under
President Bill Clinton who now works at the liberal Center for American
Progress. "And there is no Plan B."

Iran escalated the standoff by announcing that it has enriched uranium in a
164-centrifuge network to 3.5 percent. If true, the achievement would be a
milestone but not one that necessarily makes a bomb imminent. Iran has
insisted it wants nuclear energy for civilian purposes. Weapons-grade
uranium would have to be enriched to at least 80 percent and would need
thousands of centrifuges operating in tandem.

Iran reiterated yesterday that it plans to construct 3,000 centrifuges at
its facility in Natanz within a year and declared it would eventually expand
to 54,000. Making so many centrifuges work together is especially tricky,
according to scientists. Acting Assistant Secretary of State Stephen G.
Rademaker told reporters in Moscow yesterday that, once built, a
3,000-centrifuge cascade could produce enough highly enriched uranium to
build a bomb within 271 days. A 50,000-centrifuge cascade, he said, would
need 16 days to yield enough fissile material.

Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy
Agency, headed to Tehran, and his inspectors are expected to report on
whether the Iranian claims are true. But the announcement electrified the
diplomatic circuit and highlighted the challenge to Bush. British, French
and German officials all criticized Iran for "going in precisely the wrong
direction," as German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier put it.
Russia and China also called the development unwelcome but still resisted a
tough U.N. response.

Andrei Denisov, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, counseled
restraint and said "it is not high time" to reach a judgment about Iran's
ultimate nuclear aims. In an interview, Denisov said Moscow is concerned
about reports that the Bush administration is studying military options and
remains skeptical of sanctions. "We don't like sanctions, we don't like
imposing any forceful settlement. It must be political and diplomatic."

The Security Council in a presidential statement last month gave Iran 30
days to suspend uranium enrichment, a deadline that expires April 28, but it
threatened no consequences if Tehran disobeys. Rice said yesterday that the
latest announcement means the council must do more to enforce its will.

"I do think that the Security Council will need to take into consideration
this move by Iran and that it will be time when it reconvenes on this case
for strong steps to make certain we maintain the credibility of the
international community," she said. White House press secretary Scott
McClellan would not discuss those steps, "but you can be assured that it
needs to be more than just a presidential statement at this point."

U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton suggested that the council consider a
resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. charter making its demand legally
binding. "It's clear that by announcing not only the enrichment activity,
but by contending they're prepared to go all the way to . . . 50,000
centrifuges, the Iranians are expressing their disdain for the Security
Council," he said.

Diplomats from the United States, Europe, Russia and China agreed yesterday
to meet about Iran next Tuesday on the sidelines of a scheduled Moscow
meeting of nations in the Group of Eight. In the meantime, U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan urged all sides "to cool down on the rhetoric and not to
escalate."

Analysts said Iranian officials may have made the announcement to respond to
the reports on U.S. military options, in effect saying airstrikes would not
stop their program because they now possess enough knowledge to
reincorporate it.

Bush has dismissed suggestions of airstrikes as "wild speculation" and
emphasized diplomacy. If he cannot persuade Russia and China to toughen U.N.
pressure on Iran, though, he has few options, analysts said. He could
organize economic sanctions with a "coalition of the willing" in tandem with
the Europeans. Or he could offer Iran a more substantive deal.

Richard N. Haass, a former top Bush State Department official, proposed a
package in which Iran would be allowed "very limited enrichment" subject to
inspection and in exchange be given economic benefits and security
guarantees. If Iran violated the terms, he said on the Web site of the
Council on Foreign Relations, where he is president, the deal would spell
out consequences including sanctions and "conceivably military force."

"We've been trying coercive diplomacy and the Iranians have just sent a very
clear message: 'Nice try, it just won't work,' " said Clifford Kupchan, an
analyst at the Eurasia Group. "The only diplomatic option we haven't tried"
is to cut a deal directly. "We might as well try putting everything on the
table."

Staff writer Colum Lynch at the United Nations contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

       
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 7 [NYTr] Iran bars talks on nuclear abilities
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:03:47 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
International Herald Tribune - Apr 13, 2006
http://www.iht.com/bin/print_ipub.php?file=/articles/2006/04/13/news/iran.php

Iran bars talks on nuclear abilities

The Associated Press, The New York Times

TEHRAN President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran vowed Thursday that his country
would not back away from uranium enrichment and said the world must treat
Iran as a nuclear power.

The comments were made as Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for talks aimed at defusing tensions
over the Iranian nuclear program.

"Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the full nuclear
fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: 'Be angry at us and die of this
anger,'" the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as
saying.

"We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian nation" to
enrich uranium, he said.

Ahmadinejad declared Tuesday that Iran had successfully produced enriched
uranium for the first time, a key process in what Iran maintains is a
peaceful energy program.

The Iranian deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, then said Wednesday that
Iran intends to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment involving 54,000
centrifuges, signaling the Iranian resolve to expand a program the United
Nations has demanded it halt.

"Today, our situation has changed completely. We are a nuclear country and
speak to others from the position of a nuclear country," the Iranian news
agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying Thursday.

China, meanwhile, is sending an envoy to Iran and Russia to discuss the
dispute, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, who is in charge of nuclear
nonproliferation issues, will make a "working visit" to Iran and Russia from
April 14 to 18, said a ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao.

At the United Nations on Wednesday, China expressed strong concern over the
Iranian announcement that it had successfully enriched uranium and called on
Tehran to suspend enrichment. However, both China and Russia have repeated
their opposition to any punitive measures against Iran.

By contrast, the United States and Britain have said that if Iran does not
comply with the Security Council's demand to stop enrichment by April 28,
they will seek a Council resolution that would make the demand compulsory.

The United States accuses Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a
cover to produce nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear program is merely to
generate electricity.

The Council has insisted that Iran stop all enrichment activity by April 28.

ElBaradei told reporters after arriving at Tehran airport that he believed
the time was "ripe" for a political solution." He said he would try to
persuade the Iranian authorities to meet international demands for
"confidence-building measures, including suspension of uranium enrichment,
until outstanding issues are clarified."

On Tuesday, Iran announced it had produced enriched uranium on a small scale
for the first time, using 164 centrifuges, at a facility in the central
Iranian city of Natanz.

Saeedi said the planned 54,000 centrifuges will be able to produce enough
enriched uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawatt nuclear power plant
like the one Russia is finishing in southern Iran.

In theory, that many centrifuges could be used to develop the material
needed for hundreds of nuclear warheads if Iran can perfect the techniques
for producing the necessary highly enriched uranium. Iran is still thought
to be years away from a full-scale program.

The U.S. secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, said Wednesday the Council
must consider "strong steps" to induce Tehran to change course. Rice also
telephoned ElBaradei to ask him to reinforce demands that Iran comply with
its nonproliferation requirements when he holds talks in Tehran on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Iranian nuclear chief, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said the
United States had no option but to recognize Iran as a nuclear power. But he
said Iran was prepared to give the West a share in its enrichment facilities
to ease fears that it may seek to make weapons.

"The best way to get out of this issue is for countries that have concern
become our partners in Natanz in management, production and technology. This
is a very important confidence-building measure," he told state-run
television.

Nuclear analysts said the Iranian announcement that it had enriched uranium
using 164 centrifuges meant that it had simply moved one small, but
significant step beyond what it had been ready to do nearly three years ago,
when it agreed to suspend enrichment while negotiating the fate of its
nuclear program.

"They're hyping it," said David Albright, president of the Institute for
Science and International Security in Washington, a private group that
monitors the Iranian nuclear program. "There's still a lot they have to do."

Anthony Cordesman and Khalid al- Rodhan of the Center for Strategic and
International Studies in Washington called the new Iranian claims "little
more than vacuous political posturing" meant to promote Iranian nationalism
and a global sense of atomic inevitability.

The nuclear experts said that the Iranian announcement that it would mass-
produce 54,000 centrifuges echoed boasts that it made years ago. Even so,
they noted, the Islamic state still lacked the parts and materials to make
droves of the highly complex machines, which can spin uranium into fuel that
is rich enough for use in nuclear reactors or weapons.

It took Tehran 21 years of planning and seven years of sporadic experiments,
mostly in secret, to reach its current ability to link 164 spinning
centrifuges in what nuclear experts call a cascade.

© 2006 The International Herald Tribune

       
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 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Rebuffs Request to Suspend Enrichment
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday April 14, 2006 12:01 AM

AP Photo VAH106 

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI 

Associated Press Writer 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran rebuffed a request by the U.N. nuclear 
agency chief in talks Thursday that it suspend uranium 
enrichment, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted his 
country will not retreat ``one iota.'' 

The chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, looked much less optimistic after
the four hours of talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali
Larijani, than he had when he arrived for the one-day visit and
said the time was ``ripe'' for a political solution to the
standoff. 

ElBaradei, who is hoping to head off a confrontation between
Tehran and the Security Council, put forward the U.N. request
for Iran to suspend enrichment until questions over its nuclear
program are resolved. 

But Larijani indicated suspension was not an option. ``Such
proposals are not very important ones,'' he told reporters
matter-of-factly while standing next to ElBaradei at a joint
news conference after the talks. 

Hours earlier, Ahmadinejad said enrichment was a line in the
sand from which the Iranians would not retreat. 

``We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian
nation (to enrich uranium), and no one has the right to retreat,
even one iota,'' Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying by the
official Islamic Republic News Agency. 

``Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the
full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: 'Be angry at
us and die of this anger,''' Ahmadinejad said. 

Iran says its nuclear work is solely for peaceful, civilian
purposes, but the U.S. and a number of its allies believe it is
after a nuclear arsenal. 

ElBaradei said the extent of Iran's nuclear program was
uncertain: ``We have not seen diversion of nuclear material for
weapons purposes, but the picture is still hazy and not very
clear.'' 

During the 20 years of Iran's nuclear program, ``lots of
activities went unreported,'' ElBaradei said. 

Higher-level enrichment makes uranium suitable for a nuclear
bomb, though Western experts familiar with Iran's program say
the country is far from producing weapons-grade uranium. 

ElBaradei said that in their talks, Larijani had renewed Iran's
commitment ``to provide clarity to outstanding issues before I
write my report to the (International Atomic Energy Agency)
board by the end of this month.'' 

The Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to cease
enrichment of uranium. But Iran has rejected the demand and
announced Tuesday that, for the first time, it had enriched
uranium with 164 centrifuges - a step toward large-scale
production. 

Representatives of the five permanent Security Council members -
the United States, Britain, France, China and Russia - discussed
the latest development Thursday morning. The U.S. and Europe are
pressing for sanctions, a step Russia and China have so far
opposed. 

``We want to see what the outcome of the discussions between
ElBaradei and the Iranian government is. And when we get
information on that, we'll consider what to do next,'' U.S.
Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, said after the
meeting. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said there will ``have to be
some consequence'' for Iran's refusal to suspend uranium
enrichment activities. 

``There is no doubt that Iran continues to defy the will of the
international community despite the fact that the international
community very clearly said stop,'' Rice said. 

Undersecretary for Arms Control Robert Joseph rejected Iran's
claims that its nuclear program was for peaceful purposes,
saying its enrichment ``is for a weapons program and that is
what we are trying to deal with.'' 

``If it had nuclear weapons, I am sure (Iran) would be even more
ambitious in its use of terror to undercut the prospects of
peace in the Middle East,'' Joseph told reporters in Cairo,
Egypt. 

China said Thursday it was sending its assistant foreign
minister to Tehran to convey its concerns about Iran's nuclear
program. 

Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, said Wednesday
that Iran intends to move toward large-scale uranium enrichment
involving 3,000 centrifuges by late 2006, and then expand the
program to 54,000 centrifuges. 

Saeedi said the 54,000 centrifuges would produce enough enriched
uranium to fuel a 1,000-megawatt reactor, such as the one Iran
has built with Russian assistance at Bushehr. The reactor is due
to come on stream later this year. 

Iran's nuclear chief, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said Wednesday that
Iran is prepared to give the West a share of Iran's enrichment
facilities to allay fears that the country may divert some
product to build weapons. 

``The best way to get out of this issue is for countries that
have concern to become our partners in Natanz in management,
production and technology,'' he said, referring to the site of
Iran's enrichment plant. 

``This is a very important confidence-building measure,'' he
said. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 9 Guardian Unlimited: Rice Urges Iran's Nuclear Compliance
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 10:31 PM

AP Photo DCMG102 

By ANNE GEARAN 

AP Diplomatic Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Thursday that Iran will have no choice but to comply with
worldwide insistence that it back off its disputed nuclear
activities. 

Rice indicated the next step against Iran will be a resolution
at the United Nations Security Council seeking punitive or
coercive sanctions to stop what the United States says is a
covert drive to acquire nuclear weapons. 

``When the Security Council reconvenes, there will have to be
some consequence for that action and that defiance,'' Rice said
after a meeting with Canada's new foreign minister, Peter
MacKay. ``And we will look at the full range of options
available to the Security Council.'' 

Rice referred to the Security Council's power to ``compel ...
member states of the U.N. to obey the will of the international
system.'' 

``I'm certain that we'll look at measures that could be taken to
ensure that Iran knows that they really have no choice but to
comply,'' Rice said. 

Iran denies it intends to build weapons, and has refused to give
up what it calls a legitimate program to develop nuclear power
for electricity. 

In Tehran, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will
make no concessions in talks this week with the head of the U.N.
nuclear watchdog agency, who is visiting the Iranian capital to
try to defuse Iran's standoff with the West. 

``We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian
nation'' to enrich uranium, as Iran announced this week it has
done, Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying Thursday by the official
Islamic Republic News Agency. ``No one has the right to retreat,
even one iota,'' he said. 

Iran says it is enriching uranium to a low degree to be used as
fuel for generating power in a reactor. Higher-level enrichment
makes uranium suitable for a nuclear bomb, but Western experts
familiar with Iran's program say the country is far from
producing weapons-grade uranium. 

``Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the
full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase: We say, 'Be angry at
us and die of this anger,''' Ahmadinejad said. 

The Security Council has given Iran until April 28 to cease
uranium enrichment activities, a deadline Rice mentioned
Thursday. 

``We are still in a diplomatic phase, but we have set the end of
the month essentially for Iran to respond,'' Rice said. ``At
that point, the Security Council has got to take this back up.'' 

Russia and China, permanent members of the Security Council that
hold veto power, have said they oppose sanctions, but U.S.
officials say it is too soon to tell how the U.N. body might
act. 

MacKay, Canada's foreign minister, said his country would
support sanctions if a graduated campaign of international
pressure on Iran did not work. 

``They appear to be consistently crossing the line step by step
and becoming less and less communicative,'' MacKay said at the
State Department. 

At the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan was asked about
the prospects for a ``peaceful resolution,'' given Iran's stance
and its latest announcement on uranium. 

``Well, you can understand why we are skeptical, given the
regime's history,'' McClellan replied. ``This is a regime that
has a history of hiding their nuclear activities from the
international community and not abiding by their international
obligations.'' 

Earlier Thursday, several top U.S. intelligence officials said
Iran remains years away from obtaining the materials and
technology necessary for a nuclear weapon despite its claims of
progress announced this week. 

--- 

On the Net: 

State Department: http://www.state.gov 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 10 Guardian Unlimited: China Envoy to Visit Iran on Nuke Dispute
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 9:46 AM

BEIJING (AP) - China is sending an envoy to Iran and Russia to
discuss the dispute over Tehran's uranium enrichment program,
the Foreign Ministry said Thursday. 

Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai, who is in charge of
nuclear nonproliferation issues, will make a ``working visit''
to Iran and Russia from April 14 to 18, said spokesman Liu
Jianchao. 

``Recently, there were some developments of the Iranian nuclear
issue,'' Liu said. ``We expressed our concern. We are worried
about these developments. We hope the parties should exercise
restraint and not take any actions that lead to further
escalation so we can solve the question properly through
dialogue and diplomacy.'' 

At the United Nations a day earlier, China expressed strong
concern over Iran's announcement that it had successfully
enriched uranium and called on Tehran to suspend enrichment.
However, both China and Russia have repeated their opposition to
any punitive measures against Iran. 

By contrast, the United States and Britain have said that if
Iran does not comply with the Security Council's demand to stop
enrichment by April 28 they will seek a council resolution that
would make the demand compulsory. 

Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared on
Tuesday that Iran ``has joined the club of nuclear countries''
by successfully producing enriched uranium for the first time.
The process can produce either fuel for a nuclear energy reactor
- as Iran says it seeks - or the material needed for an atomic
warhead. 

China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said the six nations that
have been trying to find a solution to the dispute over Iran's
nuclear ambitions - the United States, Russia, China, Britain,
France and Germany - will meet April 18 in Moscow on the
sidelines of the Group of Eight summit. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Vows Not to Back Away From Enrichment
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 11:31 AM

AP Photo XHS104 

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI 

Associated Press Writer 

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran's hard-line President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that Iran won't back away from
uranium enrichment and said the world must treat Iran as a
nuclear power. 

The comments were made as Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran for talks
aimed at defusing tensions over Iran's nuclear program. 

``Our answer to those who are angry about Iran achieving the
full nuclear fuel cycle is just one phrase. We say: Be angry at
us and die of this anger,'' the official Islamic Republic News
Agency quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. 

``We won't hold talks with anyone about the right of the Iranian
nation (to enrich uranium).'' 

Ahmadinejad declared on Tuesday that Iran had successfully
produced enriched uranium for the first time, a key process in
what Iran maintains is a peaceful energy program. 

Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, then said
Wednesday that Iran intends to move toward large-scale uranium
enrichment involving 54,000 centrifuges, signaling the country's
resolve to expand a program the United Nations has demanded it
halt. 

``Today, our situation has changed completely. We are a nuclear
country and speak to others from the position of a nuclear
country,'' IRNA quoted the president as saying Thursday. 

The United States accuses Tehran of using its civilian nuclear
program as a cover to produce nuclear weapons but Tehran says
its nuclear program is merely to generate electricity. 

The U.N. Security Council has insisted that Iran stop all
enrichment activity by April 28. 

ElBaradei told reporters after arriving at Tehran airport that
he believed the time was ``ripe'' for a political solution.'' He
said he would try to persuade Iranian authorities to meet
international demands for ``confidence-building measures,
including suspension of uranium enrichment, until outstanding
issues are clarified.'' 

Also Thursday, China said it is sending an envoy to Iran and
Russia to discuss the dispute over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Assistant Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai is due to leave on
Friday. 

``Recently, there were some developments of the Iranian nuclear
issue,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao. ``We
expressed our concern. ... We hope the parties should exercise
restraint and not take any actions that lead to further
escalation so we can solve the question properly through
dialogue and diplomacy.'' 

At the United Nations a day earlier, China expressed strong
concern over Iran's announcement that it had successfully
enriched uranium and called on Tehran to suspend enrichment.
However, both China and Russia have repeated their opposition to
any punitive measures against Iran. 

On Tuesday, Iran announced it had produced enriched uranium on a
small scale for the first time, using 164 centrifuges, at a
facility in the central town of Natanz. 

Saeedi said using 54,000 centrifuges will be able to produce
enough enriched uranium to provide fuel for a 1,000-megawatt
nuclear power plant like one Russia is finishing in southern
Iran. 

In theory, that many centrifuges could be used to develop the
material needed for hundreds of nuclear warheads if Iran can
perfect the techniques for producing the highly enriched uranium
needed. Iran is still thought to be years away from a full-scale
program. 

The IAEA is due to report to the Security Council on April 28
whether Iran has met its demand for a full halt to uranium
enrichment. If Tehran has not complied, the council will
consider the next step. The U.S. and Europe are pressing for
sanctions, a step Russia and China have so far opposed. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday the Security
Council must consider ``strong steps'' to induce Tehran to
change course. Rice also telephoned ElBaradei to ask him to
reinforce demands that Iran comply with its nonproliferation
requirements when he holds talks in Tehran on Friday. 

On Wednesday, Iran's nuclear chief, Gholamreza Aghazadeh, said
the United States had no option but to recognize Iran as a
nuclear power. But he said Iran was prepared to give the West a
share in its enrichment facilities to ease fears that it may
seek to make weapons. 

``The best way to get out of this issue is for countries that
have concern become our partners in Natanz in management,
production and technology. This is a very important
confidence-building measure,'' he told state-run television. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 12 Guardian Unlimited: Rice: 'Some Consequences' Needed for Iran

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 8:16 PM

AP Photo XHS102 

By KATHERINE SHRADER 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said
Thursday that the United States would look at the full range of
options available to the U.N. Security Council to respond to
Iran's defiance of council resolutions concerning its nuclear
program. 

Rice told reporters there will ``have to be some consequence''
for Iran's refusal to suspend uranium enrichment activities, as
the Security Council president demanded in a statement two weeks
ago. 

She spoke to reporters following a meeting at the State
Department with Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay. 

``There is no doubt that Iran continues to defy the will of the
international community despite the fact that the international
community very clearly said stop,'' Rice said. 

One option, she said, is the ability to compel Iran through
provisions under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. These provisions
permit measures to ensure that the will of the international
system is carried out. 

Earlier Thursday, several top U.S. intelligence officials said
that Iran remains years away from obtaining the materials and
technology necessary for a nuclear weapon despite its
announcement this week that it has begun enriching uranium. 

Kenneth Brill, the head of the newly created National
Counterproliferation Center, said the U.S. assessment on the
timeframe of Iran's weapons development was sufficiently broad
that it does not need to be modified. 

Senior intelligence officials alternatively say Tehran will have
a nuclear weapon within a decade, or within several years. 

``What the Iranians have announced, is what they've announced,''
said Brill, speaking alongside nine senior intelligence
officials at a discussion of the Office of the National
Intelligence Director's first year. ``They need to let the
(International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors in there to see
it, because they have obligations.'' 

He noted that the regime has blustered before about developments
that did not readily materialize. 

``We really have to see what's happened in Iran,'' Brill said.
``There is still a very significant amount of time that needs to
be worked through by the Iranians to get to where they want to
go.'' 

Defending the quality of intelligence assessments, Brill said
much of what the intelligence agencies have predicted has been
validated by the IAEA and others. 

U.S. intelligence officials are scrubbing their information and
analysis on Iran as tensions increase over its nuclear program.
Tehran insists its work is solely for peaceful, civilian
purposes, but the U.S. and a number of its allies believe it is
after a nuclear arsenal. 

The nation's No. 2 intelligence official, Gen. Michael Hayden,
said the Iran intelligence has benefited from the
lessons-learned exercises on estimates about Iraq's weapons of
mass destruction. 

Based on all the data available to spy agencies, he said
confidently that Iran is intent on developing a nuclear weapon.
Over time, he added, ``We are able to be more clear.'' He
declined to offer specifics about the information - or the gaps
in information. 

The top U.S. intelligence analyst, Thomas Fingar, said changes
have been made in how analysis is done. ``All of us have greater
confidence in the judgments that we are making and bringing
forward on Iran,'' Fingar said. 

He said the various intelligence agencies took to heart the
various reports on the flawed intelligence leading up to Iraq.
``We get it,'' Fingar said. ``We realize we have got to rebuild
confidence.'' 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 13 New York Times: Iran Details Nuclear Ambitions; Rice Urges 'Strong Steps' - 

By NAZILA FATHI and CHRISTINE HAUSER

Published: April 12, 2006                    

TEHRAN, April 12 — A day after Iranannounced that its engineers
had advanced to a new phase in uranium enrichment, a top nuclear
official reaffirmed today that the nation planned to expand its
nuclear program by installing and operating thousands of
centrifuges in the coming years. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge
This Image [ border=] Mehr News Agency, via Associated Press 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamadinejad speaking in Roshtkhar
during his trip to Khorasan Razavi province northeast of Tehran. 
Multimedia
 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said today at the State 
Department that the U.N. Security Council will need to consider 
Iran's new move and take a "strong step." 

Iran's recent declarations about its nuclear program drew
international criticism and concern today from several
countries, including Russia, China, Britain and the United
States. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Ricecalled for "strong steps"
from the United NationsSecurity Council. Asked if Ms. Rice
wanted sanctions, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan,
said the United States was consulting with Security Council
members about a diplomatic course of action.

Following Tuesday's announcement by President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad that Iran had joined the group of nuclear nations,
the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy organization, Muhammad
Saeedi, was quoted today as saying Iran had told the
International Atomic Energy Agency that it will press ahead and
start operating 3,000 centrifuges by late 2006, with further
expansion to 54,000 centrifuges planned.

"We will expand uranium enrichment to industrial scale at
Natanz," Mr. Saeedi said, referring to Iran's main enrichment
plant, according to the ISNA news agency.

 Iran's plans for industrial enrichment facilities of some
50,000 centrifuges have been known for some time, but the timing
of Mr. Saeedi's remarks today, on the heels of the Iranian
president's speech, underscored the country's determination to
pursue its long-term program despite international demands that
it stop.

Ms. Rice said that President Ahmadinejad's announcement would
further isolate Iran and that the Security Council, when it
meets again, will need to consider Iran's new move.

"It will be time when it reconvenes on this case for strong
steps to make certain that we maintain the credibility of the
international community on this issue," she said. "We are
consulting now, and when the Security Council reconvenes, I
think it will be a good time for action. We can't let this
continue."

 "Russia also joined the international criticism of Iran's
announcement, with a Foreign Ministry spokesman calling it "a
step in the wrong direction." The announcement appeared to
scuttle Russia's proposed compromise for settling the
confrontation over Iran's nuclear program: a joint-venture to
enrich uranium outside of Iran, under Russian and international
scrutiny.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergy V. Lavrov, however, later
tempered Moscow's criticism. He advised against a rush to
judgment until after the I.A.E.A director general, Mohamed
ElBaradei, ended his latest round of negotiations in Iran, and
he noted that Iran had "never stated that it is striving to
possess nuclear weapons."

Some of the country's ruling clerics also declared that the
nation would now speed ahead to produce nuclear fuel on an
industrial scale. 

Altogether, Iran's recent remarks appear to be designed to
convince the West that the program will not be suspended,
setting the stage for scheduled talks on Thursday in Iran
between Iranian officials and Dr. ElBaradei. 

Dr. ElBaradei is expected to make another appeal for Iran to
halt its enrichment program and avoid a confrontation with the
West. He is required to report back to the Security Council by
April 28 on whether Iran has agreed to the demand late last
month that it shut down its facilities within 30 days. 

The British foreign secretary, Jack Straw, said today that
President Ahmadinejad's statement was "deeply unhelpful" and
that after Dr. ElBaradei reports back to the Security Council:
"If Iran does not comply, the Security Council will discuss
further diplomatic measures."

China expressed concern today but said it was not convinced the
Security Council needed to take a tougher line on the issue.
China's United Nations ambassador, Wang Guangya, told reporters
at the United Nations that for now the I.A.E.A should remain in
charge of the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions rather than
the Security Council, Reuters reported.

He said the five permanent members of the Security Council, and
Germany, planned to meet again "in a few days to discuss and
take note of the situation.

 "I do hope the Iranians will take note of the reactions and be
more cooperative with the I.A.E.A. and also with the Security
Council," Mr. Wang said, according to Reuters.
  + 1
  + 2Next Page »
Nazila Fathi reported from Tehran for this article, and
Christine Hauser from New York. Reporting was contributed for
this article by Steven Lee Myersfrom Moscow, David E. Sanger
from Washington,and William J. Broad from New York. More

Copyright 2006The New York Times Company
*****************************************************************
 14 New York Times: Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years Away - 

The head of the Atomic Energy Agency, Mohamed ElBaradei, center,
in Tehran with Ali Asghar Soltaniyeh, right, Iran's envoy to the
agency, and Muhammad Saeedi, deputy head of its atomic energy
program. 

By WILLIAM J. BROAD, NAZILA FATHI and JOEL BRINKLEY 

Published: April 13, 2006

Western nuclear analysts said yesterday that Tehran lacked the
skills, materials and equipment to make good on its immediate
nuclear ambitions, even as a senior Iranian official said
Iranwould defy international pressure and rapidly expand its
ability to enrich uranium for fuel. Skip to next paragraph 
Multimedia
 
Graphic: A Long History of Uranium Enrichment 
[ border=] Islamic Republic News Agency, via Reuters 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, who said on Wednesday
that Iranian scientists had enriched uranium to a high level. 

The official, Muhammad Saeedi, the deputy head of Iran's atomic
energy organization, said Iran would push quickly to put 54,000
centrifuges on line — a vast increase from the 164 the Iranians
said Tuesday that they had used to enrich uranium to levels that
could fuel a nuclear reactor. 

Still, nuclear analysts called the claims exaggerated. They said
nothing had changed to alter current estimates of when Iran
might be able to make a single nuclear weapon, assuming that is
its ultimate goal. The United States government has put that at
5 to 10 years, and some analysts have said it could come as late
as 2020. 

Iran's announcement brought criticism from several Western
nations and to a lesser degree from Russia and China. Secretary
of State Condoleezza Ricecalled for "strong steps" against Iran,
using the country's clear statement of defiance to persuade
reluctant countries like Russia and China to support tough
international penalties. But Russian officials said they had not
changed their opposition to such penalties. Nuclear analysts
said Iran's boast that it had enriched uranium using 164
centrifuges meant that it had now moved one small but
significant step beyond what it had been ready to do nearly
three years ago, when it agreed to suspend enrichment while
negotiating the fate of its nuclear program.

 "They're hyping it," said David Albright, president of the
Institute for Science and International Security in Washington,
a private group that monitors the Iranian nuclear program.
Anthony H. Cordesman and Khalid R. al-Rodhan of the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington called the new
Iranian claims "little more than vacuous political posturing"
meant to promote Iranian nationalism and a global sense of
atomic inevitability.

 The nuclear experts said Iran's claim yesterday that it would
mass-produce 54,000 centrifuges echoed boasts that it made years
ago. Even so, they noted, the Islamic state still lacked the
parts and materials to make droves of the highly complex
machines, which can spin uranium into fuel rich enough for use
in nuclear reactors or atom bombs.

It took Tehran 21 years of planning and 7 years of sporadic
experiments, mostly in secret, to reach its current ability to
link 164 spinning centrifuges in what nuclear experts call a
cascade. Now, the analysts said, Tehran has to achieve not only
consistent results around the clock for many months and years
but even higher degrees of precision and mass production. It is
as if Iran, having mastered a difficult musical instrument, now
faces the challenge of making thousands of them and creating a
very large orchestra that always plays in tune and in unison.

 Yesterday, Mr. Saeedi, the Iranian nuclear official, said Iran
was moving rapidly toward its atomic goals. "We will expand
uranium enrichment to industrial scale at Natanz," he was quoted
as saying by the ISNA student news agency in a reference to
Iran's main enrichment facility. Mr. Saeedi said Iran would
start operating the first of 3,000 centrifuges at Natanz by late
2006, with further expansion to 54,000 centrifuges. "We have no
problem in doing that," he told ISNA. "We just need to increase
our production lines."

The news from Iran, which holds 10 percent of the world's oil
reserves, has made oil markets very nervous in recent days and
contributed to a spike in oil prices to nearly $70 a barrel on
Tuesday. Oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange closed
at $68.62 a barrel yesterday, just $2 short of their record
after Hurricane Katrina. 

Since the beginning of the year, the diplomatic crisis has
prompted fears that Iran might be tempted to restrict its oil
sales, provoking a price jump that would cause economic havoc
around the world. Iranian officials have repeatedly said they
might use their country's "oil weapon" in a confrontation with
the West. But, as is often the case in Iranian politics, such
statements were just as rapidly offset by more reassuring
comments from the Oil Ministry that Iran would not use its oil
exports as a bargaining chip with the West.

 More realistically, many traders fear that any international
penalties against Iran might hurt Iran's oil industry, slow
investments, or remove sorely needed barrels from oil-hungry
markets.



The Russian stance against penalties highlighted the obstacles 
Washington faces in its effort to force a halt to Iran's nuclear 
program. A senior aide to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia 
said yesterday that any effort to employ broad penalties against 
Tehran would backfire because "Iran's current president will use 
them for his benefit, and he will use them to consolidate public 
opinion around him."
Skip to next paragraph
Multimedia
Graphic: A Long History of Uranium Enrichment

The United States is urging members of the United Nations 
Security Council to approve travel and financial restrictions on 
Iran's leaders, and administration officials view Russia, which 
has close trade ties to Iran, as the linchpin of those efforts.

Ms. Rice said yesterday that the Security Council must consider 
"strong steps" to induce Iran to change course. "The Security 
Council will need to take into consideration this move by Iran," 
she said about Tuesday's announcement. "It will be time when it 
reconvenes on this case for strong steps to make certain that we 
maintain the credibility of the international community."

In Iran on Tuesday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced in an 
elaborate ceremony that Iranian scientists had enriched uranium 
to 3.5 percent - a level of purity that, if enough could be made, 
might fuel a nuclear reactor. While Iran hailed the step as a 
first, the nuclear experts said Tehran had in fact been doing 
periodic enrichment experiments with centrifuges for seven years, 
since 1999.

Amid the tensions, Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived in Tehran yesterday 
for talks with Iranian nuclear officials. Despite the provocative 
nature of Iran's statements, he still held out hope that the 
government could be persuaded to compromise. "We hope to convince 
Iran to take confidence-building measures including suspension of 
uranium enrichment activities until outstanding issues are 
clarified," Dr. ElBaradei told journalists at the Tehran airport, 
Reuters reported.

Iran's state-run television was dominated by programs about the 
atomic claim in what seemed like an organized effort to mobilize 
public support for the nuclear program. One channel showed a 
reporter stopping people on the street to ask if they had bought 
pastry to celebrate the news. Another showed nuclear sites and 
uranium mines. Television news said schools celebrated the 
success and rebroadcast the announcement of Iran's president 
hailing the enrichment step.

While Iran has sharply raised its atomic claims in the past two 
days, nuclear analysts said it appeared to be roughly where it 
was expected to be on the road to learning how to enrich uranium 
on an industrial scale, and still had years of work ahead of it 
to attain its ambitious goals.

Mr. Albright of the Institute for Science and International 
Security said he was not surprised that the Iranians had got a 
group of 164 centrifuges up and running and had begun to 
introduce uranium gas into them for enrichment.

"There's still a lot they have to do," he said, to perfect the 
operation of the cascade of centrifuges. A report that he and his 
colleagues made public late last month suggested that Iran would 
need 6 to 12 months to master that process, and Mr. Albright said 
in an interview that he stood by that rough estimate as accurate.

His March report said Iran had parts for perhaps 1,000 or 2,000 
centrifuges beyond the ones already in operation, and that Iran 
is not likely to produce enough highly enriched uranium to make a 
nuclear weapon until 2009 at the earliest.

Several Western nations criticized Iran's recent announcements as 
needlessly provocative.

Foreign Minister Jack Straw of Britain said they were "deeply 
unhelpful," and his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 
said Iran was "going in precisely the wrong direction." Russia 
and China joined the chorus, but their criticisms were qualified.

"For China, we are concerned about the events and the way things 
are developing," said Wang Guamgya, China's ambassador to the 
United Nations. But he added, "In spite of this, I believe 
diplomatic efforts are still under way."

In Moscow, a Foreign Ministry spokesman called Iran's push to 
expand uranium enrichment "a step in the wrong direction."

But Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov later tempered that. He 
inveighed against any possible military action against Iran and 
advised against a rush to judgment, saying Iran had "never stated 
that it is striving to possess nuclear weapons."

Jad Mouawad contributed reporting from New York for this article.

Copyright 2006The New York Times Company

*****************************************************************
 15 BBC: Iran defiant over nuclear plans
 
Last Updated: Thursday, 13 April 2006
 
[UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei arrives in Tehran]                              

Mr ElBaradei is holding talks with senior Iranian officials                                                               

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed that Iran will not 
halt work on its controversial nuclear programme. 

He said the country would not back down "even one iota", despite 
mounting international pressure after it announced that it has 
enriched uranium. 

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, Mohamed ElBaradei, is in 
Tehran for talks aimed at defusing the stand-off. 

He said he hoped to convince Iran to suspend its uranium 
enrichment "until outstanding issues are clarified". 

We will not hold talks wi anyone about the Iranian nation's right 
[to enrichment]                 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iranian president       

Western nations suspect Iran of wanting to develop a nuclear 
weapon, but Tehran insists its plans are for a peaceful, civilian 
energy programme only. 

Speaking as Mr ElBaradei arrived in Tehran, Mr Ahmadinejad said: 
"Our answer to those who are angry about Iran obtaining the full 
nuclear cycle is one phrase, we say: Be angry and die of this 
anger." 

"We will not hold talks with anyone about the Iranian nation's 
right [to enrichment] and no one has the right to step back, even 
one iota," he added, the official IRNA news agency reported. 

The BBC's Frances Harrison in Tehran says there is no sign of a 
compromise from Iran - but there is debate within the country 
about whether that is the right direction. 


Reformists argue that having mastered enrichment, Iran is now in 
a strong position and can afford to make concessions to the West. 

The US and Europe are pressing for sanctions against Iran, a step 
UN Security Council members Russia and China have opposed. 

A senior Chinese arms control official, Assistant Foreign 
Minister, Cui Tiankai, is due in Tehran for talks on Friday. 

The BBC's Daniel Griffiths in Beijing says China has so far kept 
a low profile but it is increasingly keen to be seen as a 
responsible, international player, and Iran is a perfect 
opportunity to strengthen those credentials. 

'Strong steps' 

Mr ElBaradei, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency 
(IAEA), is to report back to the UN Security Council at the end 
of this month on whether Tehran is complying with its demand to 
stop all enrichment activity by 28 April, or risk isolation. 

On his arrival in Tehran he said he was seeking "more active 
co-operation" between Iran and the IAEA. 

He said he wanted to discuss "how we can bring Iran in line" with 
demands by the international community that it cease enrichment 
and take "confidence-building measures". 

Iran's rhetoric in recent days has been triumphalist, our 
correspondent reports. Nuclear officials are boasting they will 
now accelerate their work to produce nuclear fuel on an 
industrial scale. 

One newspaper headline said the West was now "checkmated". 
Another said Mr ElBaradei was welcome to join Iran's nuclear 
celebrations. 

If Iran decided to develop highly enriched uranium, it could take 
between three and five years to make enough for a single nuclear 
bomb, assuming that it mastered the technology, the International 
Institute of Strategic Studies reports. 

But the IISS also says it could take as long as 10-15 years, 
depending on Iranian ability and intentions.                                                     
*****************************************************************
 16 Platts: Iran to install 3,000 centrifuges in Natanz pilot plant
 
London (Platts)--13Apr2006
 
Iran plans to install 3,000 centrifuges at its pilot centrifuge 
plant in Natanz by late this year, then expand to 54,000 
centrifuges, Deputy Nuclear Chief Mohammad Saeedi said today, 
according to news reports. 

He did not say when the latter expansion would occur. Saeedi's 
remarks today follow Iran's announcement yesterday that it had 
begun producing enriched uranium from a cascade of 164 
centrifuges. 

In a press briefing today, White House spokesman Scott McClellan 
said "it is time for action" by the UN Security Council to 
address Iran's nuclear program.

For more news, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics Week at 
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/
 

Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       

*****************************************************************
 17 AFP: Egypt urges diplomatic solution to Iran nuclear crisis -

 Thu Apr 13, 11:58 AM ET 		 	 

CAIRO (AFP) - Egypt called for a diplomatic solution to the
crisis over Iran" /> 's nuclear programme, but stressed it
wanted a nuclear-free Middle East. 

"It's important that the Iranian nuclear crisis be resolved
diplomatically," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told
reporters after a meeting in Cairo with US Under Secretary of
State for Arms Control and International Security, Robert
Joseph. 

"Egypt does not accept the emergence of a military nuclear power
in the region, as that will further complicate the regional
security situation in the Middle East," Abul Gheit added. 

He expressed concern over what he said were "loopholes" in the
implementation of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. 

"Israel was sticking to its position of refusing to join the
nuclear non-proliferation treaty or even express its intention
to join," Abul Gheit said. 

But Joseph, who visited Cairo as part of a regional tour to drum
up support against Tehran, said Iran was a much bigger threat to
the region. 

"Iran would, if it had nuclear weapons I am sure, be even more
aggressive, would be even more ambitious in its use of terror to
undercut the prospects for peace in the Middle East,"Joseph
said. 

Iran would further "undercut the legitimate aspirations of the
people of Lebanon, to undercut our determination with regard to
moving forward on democracy and human rights in Iraq" /> and
Afghanistan" /> ," he added. 

"I think that a nuclear-armed Iran is something that we simply
can't tolerate," he told reporters. 

US ally Israel" /> is widely believed to be the only nuclear
power in the Middle East, but has campaigned tirelessly for Iran
to be brought before the UN Security Council and face sanctions
for its nuclear activities. 

Iran announced two days ago that its scientists had successfully
enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel. 

The Islamic republic insists its programme is a peaceful bid to
generate electricity, but the enrichment process can be extended
to make the fissile core of a nuclear warhead. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 18 AFP: Iran says nuclear drive unstoppable as ElBaradei starts talks -
    
 Thu Apr 13, 5:00 AM ET 		 	 

TEHRAN (AFP) - A defiant Iran" /> vowed to expand its nuclear
programme after making a crucial advance in the fuel cycle as
the head of the UN's atomic watchdog Mohamed ElBaradei opened a
round of talks with senior Iranian officials. 

 The International Atomic Energy Agency" /> (IAEA) chief opened
his discussions here with Iran's vice president and Atomic
Energy Organisation chief, Gholam Reza Aghazadeh. 

He also lined up for talks with Ali Larijani, Iran's top
national security official and nuclear negotiator, before
wrapping up the 24-hour visit. 

"We hope to convince Iran to take confidence-building measures
including suspension of uranium enrichment activities until
outstanding issues are clarified," ElBaradei told journalists
upon arrival in Tehran in the early hours of the morning. 

"I would like to see Iran has come to terms with the request of
the international community," adding he was "hopeful the time is
right for political solutions, through negotiations." 

Russian newspapers Thursday said Iran's announcement it had
successfully enriched uranium showed Tehran had chosen to
confront the West and was a cruel rebuff to Moscow. 

Tehran "demonstratively gave its negotiating partners a slap in
the face," the opposition daily Kommersant said. 

Ahmadinejad's declaration "is a continuation of the course of
provocation towards the West which the president has opted for
since the very beginning of his mandate," the paper added. 

With that declaration, the Iranians "took a new step in their
war of nerves" with the international community, the centrist
daily Izvestia said. 

"Tehran's announcement must be particularly painful to Russia.
Indeed the news that it began enrichment on its own in effect
puts an end to Russia's mediation efforts," Kommersant wrote. 

The anouncement "puts an end to recent and seemingly fruitful
negotiations aimed at setting up a Russian-Iranian uranium
enrichment joint venture on Russian soil," the government daily
Rossiiskaya Gazeta agreed. 

Iran was basking in national pride after regime scientists
successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear fuel -- a
milestone in its atomic drive -- and officials pledged to move
rapidly to industrial-scale work. 

The international community united in condemning the move
although differences remain over what should happen next, with
Washington demanding "strong steps" from the UN Security Council
and Russia warning against the use of force. 

Representatives of the five permanent members of the Council
plus Germany are to meet in Moscow next Tuesday to discuss the
crisis, China's UN envoy said. 

ElBaradei must give a report at the end of April on Iran's
nuclear activities to the UN Security Council and the 35 states
of the IAEA's governing council. 

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to secretly build
nuclear weapons, charges denied by OPEC" /> 's number two oil
exporter which insists the drive is aimed purely at electricity
generation. 

The Security Council has set April 28 as a deadline for Tehran
to halt the ultra-sensitive uranium enrichment, a process which
can be extended to make the fissile core of a bomb. 

Iran's armed forces joint chief of staff, General Hassan
Firouzabadi, was in no mood to back down. "When a people master
nuclear technology and nuclear fuel, nothing can be done against
them," he said. 

"The West can do nothing and is obliged to extend to us the hand
of friendship," the ISNA news agency quoted Firouzabadi as
saying. 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" /> called for the
15-member Security Council to take "strong steps." 

"I do think that the Security Council will need to take into
consideration this move by Iran and that it will be time, when
it reconvenes on this case, for strong steps to make certain
that we maintain the credibility of the international community
on this issue," she said. 

The White House said sanctions were now an option. 

Officials from permanent Security Council members Britain,
France and Russia, and Germany, all said Iran had taken a "step
in the wrong direction". 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was however quoted as
strongly opposing the use of force after US reports over the
weekend suggested Washington was considering military action --
even a possible nuclear strike. 

"I am convinced that there can be no resolution of the problem
through use of force... practically all European countries are
in solidarity with Russia," he said. 

Chinese ambassador Wang Guangya, who chairs the Security Council
this month, expressed "concern" at the Iranian announcement but
reiterated Beijing's opposition to sanctions. 

Britain described the latest announcement as "deeply unhelpful". 

"I call upon Iran to suspend its activities, begin the process
of building confidence, and get back into negotiations," said
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. 

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Iran's move
sent "a very unfriendly signal" and repeated the refrain that
Tehran had taken "a step in the wrong direction". 

The French government echoed Germany's stance. 

"These recent declarations are rather a step in the wrong
direction," said government spokesman Jean-Francois Cope. 

Israeli military chief of staff General Dan Halutz described a
nuclear Iran as "a threat to the whole world and not only
Israel". 	 		 			
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Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 19 AFP: Iran rebuffs UN atomic chief, refuses to halt nuclear drive -
     
 Thu Apr 13, 4:25 PM ET 		 	 

TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran" /> 's hardline regime dismissed appeals
from UN's atomic watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei to freeze its
controversial nuclear program and calm suspicions it is seeking
the bomb. 

 Speaking after talks with the head of the International Atomic
Energy Agency" /> (IAEA), top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani
brushed off the UN Security Council's demand for a halt in
uranium enrichment by the end of the month as "not very
important". 

"We are cooperating in a constructive manner... and Mr ElBaradei
is here and the inspectors and cameras are here, so such a
proposal is not very important to solve the problem," Larijani
told reporters. 

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad also vowed there was "no
room for defeat and retreat". 

ElBaradei's 24-hour visit comes two days after Iran announced
its scientists had successfully enriched uranium to make nuclear
fuel. 

The Islamic republic insists its program is a peaceful bid to
generate electricity, but the enrichment process can be extended
to make the fissile core of a nuclear warhead. 

ElBaradei said his inspectors had taken samples to verify Iran's
claim of a breakthrough in enrichment, and added that talks
focusing on the demand for a suspension would continue. 

"To build confidence we agreed that we will continue an
intensive dialogue in the next few weeks with the aim of being
able to move forward on this difficult and important issue," he
said. 

He said the only other result of the talks was an Iranian
promise to "accelerate its efforts to work with us in next
couple of weeks to provide clarity to the issue that we need to
clarify" -- the kind of assurance he has heard before. 

The IAEA chief must give a report at the end of April on Iranian
compliance with the Security Council deadline. After three years
of investigations, the IAEA says it is still not in a position
to say if Iran's ambitions are peaceful. 

ElBaradei said "the picture is still hazy and not very clear". 

In further diplomatic efforts, US Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice" /> said the United Nations" /> should consider adopting a
resolution against Iran's nuclear program under chapter seven of
the UN charter, which could allow military action. 

Chapter seven sets out specific actions that can be taken when
there is a threat to international peace or an act of
aggression. 

"When the Security Council reconvenes, there will have to be
some consequence for that action and that defiance and we will
look at the full range of options available," Rice said in
Washington. 

For its part, China announced that its assistant foreign
minister would travel to Iran and Russia to discuss Iran's
announcement in a bid to calm the growing tensions. 

"We are concerned about the announcement and are also worried
about the possible development of the situation," Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular press
conference. 

Representatives of the five permanent members of the Council
plus Germany are to meet in Moscow next Tuesday to discuss the
crisis, with the long-running stand-off looking set to enter a
period of far more robust diplomacy. 

The United States has been prodding the Security Council to take
a tough stand against the Islamic republic, including possible
sanctions, but it has run into opposition from veto-wielding
members Russia and China. 

But oil-rich Iran has vowed it can weather any sanctions and
face off an attack, and instead of slamming the brakes on
enrichment has vowed to accelerate the process and reach an
industrial-scale fuel production capacity. 

"The enemies think they can stop Iran's development with a
psychological war, propaganda and political pressure. But they
do not know the Iranian nation is standing solid like a mountain
and there is no room for defeat and retreat," state television
quoted Ahmadinejad as saying. 

"Today Iran is a nuclear country and enjoys the position of a
powerful country." 

The breakthrough in making fuel was with 164 centrifuges at a
pilot plant in Natanz, and a senior official said Iran wanted to
install 3,000 centrifuges within the next year. 

Ahmadinejad also said Iran was working on advanced P2
centrifuges -- highly efficient devices that can enrich far more
effectively than the P1 technology currently in use in Iran. 

"Our centrifuges are the P1 type, and the next step is the P2,
which has a capacity four times greater and on which we are
presently conducting research," the president was quoted as
saying by IRNA. 	 		 			
 							 				 					 					 					 					 					 					 					 					
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 20 AFP: Rice highlights 'full range' of weapons open to UN against Iran
    
 Thu Apr 13, 5:22 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" />
said the United Nations" /> must take action against Iran" /> 's
nuclear programme and highlighted part of the UN charter that
allows sanctions to escalate into military action. 

Rice said that faced with Iran's repeated refusal to halt
activities that Washington suspects hides work towards making a
nuclear bomb, the United States "will look at the full range of
options available to the United Nations." 

"There is no doubt that Iran continues to defy the will of the
international community," Rice said, speaking after Iran's
hardline regime dismissed appeals from the UN atomic watchdog
chief Mohamed ElBaradei to freeze its controversial research. 

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency" /> (IAEA)
was in Tehran to appeal for an end to uranium enrichment that is
a major step in any bomb programme. 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed there was "no room
for defeat and retreat" over the nuclear work he insists is
peaceful. 

But Rice declared: "When the Security Council reconvenes, there
will have to be some consequence for that action." 

She suggested chapter seven of the UN Charter which sets out
specific action that can be taken when there is a threat to
international peace or an act of aggression. 

"One thing the Security Council has, and the IAEA does not have,
is the ability to compel, through chapter seven resolutions,
member states of the UN to obey the will of the international
system," Rice said. 

"And I'm certain that we'll look at measures that could be taken
to ensure that Iran knows that they really have no choice but to
comply." 

A statement approved by the UN Security Council last month gives
Iran until April 28 to comply with IAEA demands to suspend its
programme. It will then consider follow-up action. 

The chief US diplomat did not specifically call for any
particular measure. US leaders this week said that reports of
planned military action against Iraq" /> were "wild
speculation". 

But chapter seven allows for a gradual increase of international
pressure, up to military action. 

Several resolutions adopted by the UN Security Council against
Iraq, before the March 2003 US-led invasion, were taken under
chapter seven. 

Article 41 of the chapter allows for sanctions, including
economic and transport measures or the severance of diplomatic
relations. 

Article 42 states that if those measures fail, the UN Security
Council "may take such action by air, sea, or land forces as may
be necessary to maintain or restore international peace and
security". 

Rice condemned the Iranian negotiating ploy which US official
say is to secure concessions and then still refuse to end the
nuclear research. 

"There is no doubt that Iran has continued salami-slicing
tactics -- a little bit here, and then a little bit more, and
then a little bit more -- despite the fact that the
international community has said very clearly, 'Stop'," said the
secretary of state. 

"I want to just note that the Iranian regime is, of course,
isolating itself. It is doing this despite the great desire of
the international community to engage and to reach out to the
Iranian people," said Rice. 	 		 			
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*****************************************************************
 21 Guardian Unlimited: Officials: Iran Nuclear Bomb Is Years Away
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 6:31 PM

AP Photo VAH102 

By KATHERINE SHRADER 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Iran remains years away from obtaining the
materials and technology necessary for a nuclear weapon despite
its announcement this week that it has begun enriching uranium,
several top U.S. intelligence officials said Thursday. 

Kenneth Brill, the head of the newly created National
Counterproliferation Center, said the U.S. assessment on the
timeframe of Iran's weapons development was sufficiently broad
that it does not need to be modified. 

Senior intelligence officials alternatively say Tehran will have
a nuclear weapon within a decade, or within several years. 

``What the Iranians have announced, is what they've announced,''
said Brill, speaking alongside nine senior intelligence
officials at a discussion of the Office of the National
Intelligence Director's first year. ``They need to let the
(International Atomic Energy Agency) inspectors in there to see
it, because they have obligations.'' 

He noted that the regime has blustered before about developments
that did not readily materialize. 

``We really have to see what's happened in Iran,'' Brill said.
``There is still a very significant amount of time that needs to
be worked through by the Iranians to get to where they want to
go.'' 

Defending the quality of intelligence assessments, Brill said
much of what the intelligence agencies have predicted has been
validated by the IAEA and others. 

U.S. intelligence officials are scrubbing their information and
analysis on Iran as tensions increase over its nuclear program.
Tehran insists its work is solely for peaceful, civilian
purposes, but the U.S. and a number of its allies believe it is
after a nuclear arsenal. 

The nation's No. 2 intelligence official, Gen. Michael Hayden,
said the Iran intelligence has benefited from the
lessons-learned exercises on estimates about Iraq's weapons of
mass destruction. 

Based on all the data available to spy agencies, he said
confidently that Iran is intent on developing a nuclear weapon.
Over time, he added, ``We are able to be more clear.'' He
declined to offer specifics about the information - or the gaps
in information. 

The top U.S. intelligence analyst, Thomas Fingar, said changes
have been made in how analysis is done. ``All of us have greater
confidence in the judgments that we are making and bringing
forward on Iran,'' Fingar said. 

He said the various intelligence agencies took to heart the
various reports on the flawed intelligence leading up to Iraq.
``We get it,'' Fingar said. ``We realize we have got to rebuild
confidence.'' 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 22 [NYTr] North Korea threatens to boost nuclear arsenal
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 12:43:22 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Reuters - Apr 13, 2006
http://today.reuters.com/misc/PrinterFriendlyPopup.aspx?type=topNews&storyID=2006-04-13T092228Z_01_SEO330018_RTRUKOC_0_US-KOREA-NORTH.xml

North Korea threatens to boost nuclear arsenal

By Jack Kim

TOKYO (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday it might boost its nuclear
deterrent if six-country talks on ending its atomic programs remained
deadlocked, but said it would return if Washington met a demand to unfreeze
it assets.

Pyongyang's top envoy to the stalled negotiations told a news conference in
Tokyo the United States must lift what the North considers to be financial
sanctions against it.

"I told them the minute we have the funds or I have the funds in my hand I
will be at the talks. But if they continue to come with pressure and
sanctions, we will respond with extremely strong measures," envoy Kim
Kye-gwan said.

"There is nothing wrong with delaying the resumption of the six-party talks.
In the meantime we can make more deterrent. If the United States doesn't
like that, they should create the condition for us to go back to the talks."

In an official media report on Thursday, North Korea reiterated it has been
building a nuclear deterrent to counter what it views as Washington's
hostile policy toward it.

Washington has clamped down on a Macau-based bank it suspects of assisting
Pyongyang in illicit financial activities, including money laundering.

Kim has been in Tokyo, where he attended a security symposium along with
most of the other chief delegates to the six-party talks, including U.S.
envoy Christopher Hill.

At the airport before departing, Kim said it was up to the United States to
seek bilateral discussions.

"I always have patience," he said.

FACE-SAVING COMPROMISE?

An analyst in Seoul said Kim's comments might indicate Pyongyang was fishing
for a compromise, where the United States could say not all of the North's
accounts frozen at the Macau bank were used for illicit activity and then
free up some funds.

"Seoul's preference is for the U.S. to find some gesture that will help
North Korea save face. China's position is not all that different," said Kim
Sung-han, head of North American studies at the Institute of Foreign Affairs
and National Security.

Analysts have said a meeting between the U.S. and Chinese presidents next
week in the United States could also increase the pressure on North Korea to
return to talks.

Beijing is urging flexibility on the financial crackdown. Tokyo says
Pyongyang must appreciate that unless the atomic issue and a separate
standoff with Japan over abductees is resolved the North's already weak
economic position would deteriorate further.

Hill, currently in South Korea, said Pyongyang was boycotting the
discussions, but urged patience for the stalled process.

Washington says the financial issue is separate from the nuclear talks and
has urged Pyongyang to return to the talks.

Hill said the amount of the frozen Macau funds was about $20 million, equal
to approximately one week's worth of energy aid proposed by South Korea for
the North in return for scrapping its nuclear programs.

"The DPRK needs to understand that as long as it is going to be producing
nuclear weapons, we are going to be having a real close look at its
finances," Hill said, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.

Hill, who was in Tokyo until Wednesday, had no substantive discussions with
Kim in the Japanese capital, dimming prospects for renewed progress in the
nuclear talks. Hill said he was ready to meet Kim face-to-face within the
six-party format.

The last round of the talks among the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and
the United States was held in November.

(With additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Seoul, the Tokyo bureau and
Lindsay Beck in Beijing)

© Reuters 2006.

       
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*****************************************************************
 23 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Still Won't Rejoin Talks
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 13, 2006 5:01 AM

By KWANG-TAE KIM 

Associated Press Writer 

TOKYO (AP) - A barrage of diplomatic meetings in Japan have
failed to win a commitment from North Korea to return to stalled
six-party talks on dismantling its nuclear weapons program,
officials said Wednesday. 

Representatives from the six nations - the United States, China,
Russia, Japan and the two Koreas - held a series of meetings on
the sidelines of an academic conference in Tokyo in hopes of
reviving the nuclear negotiations. 

North Korea's top nuclear envoy Kim Kye Gwan said the North
would only be willing to resume talks if the United States lifts
a freeze on disputed North Korean assets in a Macau bank. 

North Korea has refused to restart the talks unless the
financial restrictions - imposed on a Macau bank and North
Korean companies for alleged financial crimes - are lifted, but
Washington has maintained the sanctions are unrelated to the
nuclear talks and will stay in place. 

The assets total about $24 million, which Washington says is
linked to money laundering and counterfeiting. ``I will go to
the negotiating table the moment I seize the assets with my
hands,'' Kim said at a news conference, hours before he was
scheduled to leave Tokyo. 

Chinese chief negotiator Wu Dawei said before returning to
Beijing there was no possibility of resuming talks by the end of
April, saying the sanction issue was the chief stumbling block. 

``We'll continue to make efforts,'' Wu said. ``At the moment,
our prospects are still unclear.'' 

The chief U.S. negotiator on the North Korean nuclear issue,
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, met with
counterparts from Japan and South Korea on Wednesday and said
the five nations urging North Korea back to the talks were
forming a common strategy. 

Hill said the decision was now up to North Korea. 

``I think that the six-party talks are in everybody's interest
including their interest, and I think they ought to make a
decision to come back,'' Hill told reporters upon arrival in
South Korea. 

South Korean chief negotiator Chun Young-woo, who also left
Tokyo on Wednesday, said North Korea's linkage of the U.S.
financial sanctions to the nuclear talks was not in Pyongyang's
best interest. ``North Korea's position has not changed,'' Chun
conceded. 

Speculation had been high that Hill would meet with Kim, but
such an official meeting never materialized. The two had a brief
encounter Tuesday, said Chun, but it was not a full meeting. 

Hill reiterated Wednesday that he was not in Tokyo to meet with
the North Koreans. 

This week's security meetings had raised hopes about the
possibility of restarting talks that have been stalled since
last year on ending North Korea's nuclear program in exchange
for aid. Pyongyang has boycotted the six-party nuclear talks
since November. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 24 AFP: US says North Korea risks losing nuclear deal 

 Thu Apr 13, 9:54 AM ET 		 	 

SEOUL (AFP) - The United States said it would maintain economic
sanctions against North Korea" /> North Koreaand warned the
Stalinist state to return to six-party talks or risk losing "a
very good deal." 

 North Korea has boycotted the nuclear disarmament talks for
five months and insists it will return only when the United
States lifts sanctions imposed in September for alleged
money-laundering. 

US envoy on North Korea Christopher Hill said measures targeting
North Korea would remain and were the price of "life in the big
city." 

"The DPRK (North Korea) needs to understand that as long as it
is producing nuclear weapons we are going to have a real close
look at its finances," he said. 

"It is fair to say that that country, any such country, is going
to have its finances looked at ... that is kind of life in the
big city." 

Hill, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Asian and Pacific
Affairs, arrived here Wednesday from Tokyo where representatives
from the six nations engaged in the nuclear talks gathered
informally. 

He refused to hold talks with North Korean envoy Kim Kye Gwan,
saying there was no point in meeting outside the six-party
format. 

Hill said North Korea had to return to the talks because the
deal on offer may not last. 

"We have a very good deal on the table. It is a deal that serves
everybody's interests," Hill said at a lunch hosted by the
American Chamber of Commerce. 

"North Korea will come to understand that this is a very good
deal that they will not have for ever to consider." 

He said the pretext for North Korea's boycott -- financial
sanctions -- made little sense. 

The US Treasury Department" /> Treasury Departmentin September
banned US financial institutions from dealing with Banco Delta
Asia, a Macau-based bank that it suspects of being a willing
front for laundering money for North Korea. 

A month later the US blacklisted eight North Korean companies
allegedly involved in the spread of weapons of mass destruction. 

The Macau bank has since frozen between 30 and 40 North Korea
accounts holding about 20 million US dollars to allow it to
investigate the money laundering allegations, Hill said. 

He said the amount frozen is insignificant compared to what
North Korea stands to gain from six-party talks. 

In the penultimate round in September, North Korea agreed to
give up its nuclear weapons in return for economic and
diplomatic benefits. 

Under a agreement on the table at the talks, North Korea would
receive more than that each week in energy aid alone, Hill said. 

He suggested North Korea may simply be using the financial
sanctions as an excuse to delay the talks. 

"What I think is concerning or what troubles many people is the
question on how serious the DPRK (North Korea) is in following
up the six-party talks process," said Hill. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 25 AFP: NKorea vows no compromise, threatens military buildup 

 Thu Apr 13, 4:31 AM ET 		 	 

TOKYO (AFP) - North Korea" /> North Koreavowed no compromise on
its conditions for returning to stalled nuclear disarmament
talks and said it would use the delay to strengthen its military
arsenal. 

"There is no room for us to be flexible," North Korean Vice
Foreign Minister Kim Kye-Gwan told reporters in Tokyo at the end
of a private conference that included envoys from the six
nations involved in the stalled talks. 

"It is not bad that the six-way nuclear talks are being delayed.
We will be able to build even more of a deterrent in the
meantime," he said. 

The North declared last year that it had nuclear weapons,
deepening a standoff which began when the United States accused
the communist state in 2002 of secretly enriching uranium. 

North Korea has shunned six-nation talks since November to
protest at US financial sanctions imposed over allegations that
the regime was counterfeiting dollars and laundering money
through a bank in Macau. 

"We consider the position of the United States and its sanctions
to be pressure and very aggressive," Kim said. 

"If the freezing of financial transactions with the Banco Delta
Asia bank in Macau is removed, we will return to six-way talks,"
he said. 

But US envoy Christopher Hill, who refused to meet Kim in Tokyo
due to the North's refusal to rejoin six-way talks, said
Washington also would not back down. 

"The DPRK needs to understand that as long as it is producing
nuclear weapons we are going to have a real close look at its
finances," Hill said in Seoul using the North's official name,
the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. 

Hill said the six-way talks -- which reached a general agreement
in September to give the North security guarantees and aid if it
drops its nuclear drive -- had "a lot in there for everybody." 

"What I think the DPRK needs to do is to take a deep breath,
think this thing through and then come back and let us know when
they are ready to come back to the table," Hill said. 

"It is very clear that what the DPRK needs to do is to get out
of this bomb-making business," he said. 

Kim denied feeling snubbed by Hill in Tokyo, saying it was an
"achievement for us" to meet bilaterally with China, Japan,
Russia and South Korea" /> South Korea-- the other nations in
the nuclear talks that began in 2003. 

"The US delegation came to Japan just to get away from being
held responsible for the stalled six-way talks," Kim charged. 

China, the North's main ally, had hoped to make at least some
progress at the Tokyo conference before President Hu Jintao" />
Hu Jintaovisits Washington next week. 

But Chinese envoy Wu Dawei conceded Wednesday that six-way talks
would not be held immediately, although they would resume "in
due course." 

US President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bushin 2002
labelled North Korea as part of an "axis of evil" with Saddam
Hussein" /> Saddam Hussein's Iraq" /> Iraqand Iran" /> Iran,
enraging Pyongyang. 

The Bush administration later said North Korea was secretly
developing a nuclear program in violation of a 1994 accord that
offered US security guarantees and the construction of
light-water reactors in exchange for Pyongyang halting its
nuclear drive. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 26 Michael Klare | Reigniting the Arms Race
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 21:00:35 -0500 (CDT)

    The Nation

    03 April 2006 Issue

    During the early cold war era, both superpowers provided nuclear
technology to selected Third World countries - the United States to South
Korea and Iran (under the Shah), the Soviet Union to China and North
Korea - as a way of cementing ties with favored allies and shifting the
global balance of power in their favor. Later, as concern over the spread
of nuclear weapons intensified, the superpowers agreed to sign the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and to cease transferring
weapons-related nuclear technology to nonweapons states.

    For thirty-five years nuclear nonproliferation was a major priority
of U.S. foreign policy. But now, in a throwback to early cold war power
politics, President Bush has agreed to supply nuclear technology to India
in blatant violation of the NPT.

    Under the deal with India, announced by Bush on March 2 during a
state visit to New Delhi, the United States will provide technology,
equipment and nuclear fuel to India's civilian nuclear industry, which
will be separated from the military establishment and placed under some
form of international inspection.

    This arrangement was described by Nicholas Burns, the Under Secretary
of State for Political Affairs, as a "major win" for nonproliferation
because it will place approximately 65 percent of India's nuclear
capacity (as measured in megawatts) under inspection. What he failed to
acknowledge is that 35 percent of India's capacity will remain exempt,
and thus usable for making weapons.

    The deal invalidates decades of effort by U.S. policy-makers to
persuade India to abandon its nuclear weapons program and sign the NPT;
it also confers de facto recognition of India as a nuclear weapons state.
But it does far more harm than this: By allowing the sale of nuclear fuel
to India's civilian reactors, it will enable India to divert more of its
own fuel to military use.

    According to Joseph Cirincione of the Carnegie Endowment for
International Peace, this will allow India to manufacture several dozen
bombs a year, compared with six to ten now. India will also be able to
apply technology acquired for civilian use to military purposes.

    Under these circumstances, any U.S. deliveries of nuclear technology
to India will constitute a significant breach of Article 1 of the NPT,
which prohibits participating states from transferring such technology to
another state if the transfers would assist or encourage the recipient's
nuclear weapons endeavors. "If this nuclear deal stands," Cirincione
declared, "the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty is going to fall."

    By undermining the NPT in this way, moreover, the deal provides a
perfect excuse for other countries, including Iran and North Korea, to
defy the treaty as well. "America cannot credibly preach nuclear
temperance from a barstool," said Representative Edward Markey of the
transaction.

    What could inspire Administration officials to undermine U.S.
nonproliferation objectives so severely? One key motive is a desire to
enlist India in a global campaign to contain China, widely viewed as the
most potent future threat to permanent U.S. global supremacy. Although
overshadowed for a time by the exigency of defeating terrorism, this goal
has recently gained renewed vigor.

    Thus, a military alliance with India (which has its own quarrels with
China) makes eminent sense, and establishing a nuclear relationship with
New Delhi is seen as the sine qua non of any such alliance. The other key
motive is a desire to revitalize the moribund U.S. nuclear industry. The
Administration is determined to promote nuclear power, and technology
sales to India will provide cash for the industry and help legitimize its
resurgence at home.

    There are many good and important reasons to oppose this deal. What
all of them share is a recognition that the Indian nuclear arrangement
will invite further proliferation - making nuclear war more, not less,
likely.

    --------

Michael Klare is a professor of peace and world security studies at
Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., and the author of Blood and Oil: The
Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Petroleum Dependency.



 

*****************************************************************
 27 [NYTr] Bush's Insane First Strike Policy
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:47:07 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
CounterPunch - Apr 12, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff04122006.html

If You Don't Want to Get Whacked, You'd Better Get Your Nation a Nuke

Bush's Insane First Strike Policy

By DAVE LINDORFF

By the mere act of contingency planning for the first use of nuclear
weapons, the Bush administration has guaranteed that not just Iran, but
probably many other nations that see themselves as remotely threatened by
the U.S., will seek to obtain either nuclear weapons, or some other
similarly catastrophic weapon for the purpose of resisting such nuclear
blackmail.

The rushed announcement Tuesday by Iran that its scientists and engineers
had succeeded in creating some enriched uranium is almost certainly a direct
result of the administration's nuclear threats.

Most sane observers have calculated that if Iran is really planning on
developing a nuclear weapon, it is years--perhaps even a decade--away from
that goal. That was plenty of time to reassure Iran that it would not need
the bomb, or to use international diplomacy to discourage the country from
embarking on such a wasteful, expensive and dangerous project. Instead, by
threatening to nuke Iran's nuclear research and processing facilities, the
administration has predictably put Iran onto a crash course for developing
the bomb. What alternative did Iran's leaders have after all the
administration's bombast?

In fact, Bush-Cheney rhetoric may well have pushed Iran to seek to obtain
nuclear capability by other faster means, such as obtaining a weapon,
perhaps illegally, from Russia, or perhaps more directly from North Korea.
After all, North Korea has the bomb and is strapped for two things that Iran
has in abundance-oil and cash.

These are dangerous times. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the rest of the neocon
wackos who infest the West Wing, the Pentagon, and various right-wing
"no-think" tanks, have already succeeded in creating a cauldron of anti-U.S.
fury in Iraq that will haunt this country for a generation to come. Now they
appear dead-set on igniting something even worse in Iran. But just as the
attack on Iraq has had repercussions far beyond the boundaries of that
fractured land, the nuclear threat against Iran will have effects that reach
far beyond Persia in both geography and in time.

It is clear from Bush policy over the past five years that nations which
have no nuclear deterrent are considered fair game by these guys, while
those nations that have the bomb are handled with kid gloves. Look at Bush
administration policy towards Pakistan, India, China, and even North Korea.
Iran clearly will make every effort to enter the safety circle in which
those countries find themselves, thanks to this administration's threats.

What makes this doubly treasonous is the undeniable reality that the more
nations there are with nuclear weapons, the more likely it is that nuclear
weapons will ultimately be used.

Instead of working to limit the spread of these ultimate weapons of mass
destruction, the Bush administration is doing the opposite--promoting it.
The administration's plans to begin developing a new generation of smaller
tactical nuclear weapons are having the same effect. By signaling to the
world that the U.S. is getting prepared to use nuclear weapons in its
campaign of endless wars on smaller nations, the Bush administration is
insuring that the potential targets of U.S. malevolence will do their best
to acquire similar weapons. It's only a matter of time, then, before one of
those countries succeeds in slipping one of those small devices into an
American city.

And that's not even to mention the terrorists, like Osama Bin Laden's merry
gang, who will have a wider range of potential sources for acquiring a small
nuclear device of their own as the nuclear club grows apace.

If we Americans want security, we need to start telling our elected
officials they need to put a halt to this madness and treason.

The U.S. needs to declare unequivocally that it will never be the first to
use nuclear weapons in any conflict, and particularly against any nation
that has no nuclear weapons of its own. That is a fundamental act of sanity
and security.

If this Congress won't vote such a resolution, then 2006 is the year we need
to elect a Congress that will. Then we can start examining that article in
the Constitution that declares treason to be an impeachable crime.

[Dave Lindorff is the author of Killing Time: an Investigation into the Death
Row Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal. His new book of CounterPunch columns titled
"This Can't be Happening!" is published by Common Courage Press. Lindorff's
new book, "The Case for Impeachment", co-authored by Barbara Olshansky, is
due out May 1.]

       
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*****************************************************************
 28 San Francisco Chronicle: Dangerous brinksmanship

EDITORIAL 				 
 
Thursday, April 13, 2006

IRAN'S gleeful announcement of advancements in its
uranium-enrichment program was disturbing enough. But it came
just as the Bush administration was elevating its rhetoric and
dropping hints about using military force to knock out Iran's
program before it evolved into a capability of producing nuclear
weapons. 

Tehran's timing was not a coincidence. The brinksmanship is
building, with a decided hype quotient on both sides. 

There may be a temptation to draw parallels with the saber
rattling before the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, but the
differences are at least as profound as the similarities. Tehran
clearly has a nuclear program, which it insists is intended for
energy generation. Iran has deeper economic links to Europe than
Iraq, and strong diplomatic and military ties with Russia and
China. Tehran's backing of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah
has long been an concern. A U.S. attack of a quasi-democracy run
by fundamentalists could create even more of a backlash in the
Muslim world than the toppling of Saddam Hussein. 

In other words, pre-emptive war on Iran could be a disaster for
the western world. 

Perhaps in another era, Americans would be reassured by their
president's dismissal of a report that the United States is
preparing for military strikes on Iran -- including the possible
use of tactical nuclear weapons, Seymour Hersh reported in the
New Yorker -- as "wild speculation." Perhaps there was a time
when Americans could have confidence in their government's
assessment of an emerging threat and sleep well at night knowing
that it would not initiate a war that could have been averted --
or unleash the full fury of its military might without thinking
through the consequences. 

The Iraq experience suggests cause for great concern about the
credibility and judgment of the Bush White House on matters of
national security. 

Before Iraq, most Americans might have assumed that the notion
of using nuclear weapons to keep another nation from developing
a nuclear capability would have been so reckless and
hypocritical as to be unthinkable. Or, in the words of British
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, "completely nuts." 

In Iran, time is on our side, if only sanity will prevail. A
team of inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency,
the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, is expected to visit an
Iranian nuclear site in Natanz this weekend. Most experts are
convinced Iran is several years away from achieving a fuel for
warheads. 

Yes, the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran is chilling, but there
is no evidence to suggest it is imminent. Sometimes vagueness
can be a valuable tool of diplomacy. Washington certainly wants
Tehran to worry about the consequences of defying international
pressure to cease its nuclear program. 

But President Bush should take one option off the table. He
should make it clear that this nation will never use nuclear
weapons in a pre-emptive strike against anyone. 				
Page B - 8 			

The San Francisco Chronicle] 

*****************************************************************
 29 AFP: US spies failed to warn of Indian nuclear tests - secret documents - 

 Thu Apr 13, 4:46 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US intelligence failed to warn of India's
nuclear tests conducted in 1974 and 1998 despite tracking the
Asian giant's atomic weapons potential for nearly half a
century, according to documents declassified. 

 The Indian nuclear activities scrutinized by the US
intelligence agents are at the core of a current controversy
over President George W. Bush" /> President George W.
Bushadministration's landmark civilian nuclear deal with New
Delhi. 

The National Security Archive, in releasing 40 secret documents
covering the 1958-1998 period, said the Central Intelligence
Agency" /> Central Intelligence Agency( CIA" /> CIA) and other
intelligence groups had been monitoring and analyzing Indian
civilian and military nuclear energy programs since the 1950s
and could have provided decision-makers with "far more detailed
assessments." 

But the efforts "did not result in US intelligence analysts
warning US officials of India's nuclear tests, carried out in
May 1974 and May 1998," said the archive, based at George
Washington University in Washington. 

It keeps declassified US documents obtained through the Freedom
of Information Act. 

Following the intelligence community's failure to provide
warning of the Indian tests, the CIA appointed a panel that
investigated and presented a classified report of
recommendations, according to the documents. 

One CIA secret paper in 1981 mentioned that "China -- not
Pakistan -- is perceived as the major long-term threat to Indian
security. 

"This perception has propelled New Delhi to reject the (Nuclear)
Non-Proliferation Treaty and full-scope safeguards in order to
retain the nuclear weapons option," it said. 

Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh clinched a deal on
March 2 that would allow energy-starved India to gain access to
long-denied civilian nuclear technology in return for placing a
majority of its nuclear reactors under international inspection. 

US lawmakers are sceptical about the deal because New Delhi has
refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

The deal can only be effective if Congress amends the US Atomic
Energy Act, which prohibits nuclear sales to non-NPT
signatories. 

Critics argue that the agreement smacks of a double standard and
could embolden nuclear renegades such as Iran" /> Iranand North
Korea" /> North Koreaeven though officials say India's nuclear
non-proliferation record has been exemplary. 

	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 30 AFP: Atomic agency safeguards will speed Indian nuke deal - US senator

 Friday April 14, 04:46 AM 
  
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India should move quickly on international
safeguards for its civilian nuclear program to speed passage of
an atomic energy deal in the US Congress, a US lawmaker said. 

The United States and India agreed the outlines of a landmark
nuclear technology cooperation agreement last month that would
give the energy-starved South Asian country access to nuclear
reactors and fuel for civilian use. 

But in return India has promised to place a majority of its
nuclear reactors under IAEA safeguards. 

"It will help enact it without amendment and more rapidly if
India can negotiate safeguards with the International Atomic
Energy Agency before the Senate acts on the agreement,"
Republican Senator Lamar Alexander told reporters in New Delhi. 

"It has growing support as we consider it and I hope that it can
pass this year," said Alexander, a member of the Senate Foreign
Relations Committee. 

The lawmaker added that if India could "show at least initial
progress on the negotiations that have to do with the United
States being able to be a commercial supplier", it would
accelerate the Senate consideration. 

US President George W. Bush has been engaged in a hard sell to
win Congressional support for the deal. 

Alexander was part of a delegation that included US Education
Secretary Margaret Spellings, the latest wave of US lawmakers
and officials visiting India since the US Congress took up the
nuclear deal on March 16. 

The deal ends three decades of isolation for India that began
after it first tested a nuclear weapon in 1974. 

Critics say that the agreement with India, which has refused to
sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, will complicate
efforts to curb the spread of atomic weapons. 

Last week South Asian affairs envoy Richard Boucher said that he
believed Congress would clear the agreement but that full
implementation might take "maybe a year at best". 


Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
 31 Why Nuclea Power Is NOT The Solution To Global Warming
 
Date: Fri, 14 Apr 2006 00:11:26 -0400


The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER), 
Worldwatch Institute, and Sen. George Mitchell in his book, World 
on Fire have all spoken to the potential scale and cost of Carbon 
Dioxide offset through the use of nuclear.

"Slowing Global Warming: A Worldwide Strategy"

by Christopher Flavin,

World Watch Paper # 91
published by the Worldwatch Institute, October 1989

". .for nuclear power to offset even 5 percent of global carbon 
emissions would require that worldwide nuclear capacity be nearly 
doubled from today's level. That means that nuclear is simply not 
a medium term option for slowing global warming."

World on Fire
by Senator George Mitchell  1991

".If nuclear plants replaced all coal-fired plants in the world, 
global warming could be cut by 20 to 30 percent by the middle of 
the next century (2050).  But it would require bringing a nuclear 
power plant on line somewhere in the world every one to three 
days for the next forty years. The cost would be $9 trillion; the 
pace of construction would be ten times larger (greater?)  than 
any the world has ever seen. Both figures are unthinkable. A 
totally safe reactor, a totally safe place to dispose of its 
deadly
wastes, and a totally safe way to keep the wrong kind of nuclear 
materials from falling into the wrong hands  none of these things 
have been resolved. By the time they are resolved, if they ever 
can be, it will be too late. The projected global warming will be 
full upon us."

Greenhouse Warming: Comparative Analysis of
Nuclear and Efficiency Abatement Strategies
by Bill Keepin and Gregory Katz, Energy Policy,
December 1988

The authors posit a conservative scenario in which one-half of 
non-fossil energy is supplied by nuclear power with a 
construction program beginning in 1988.

".This results in a total nuclear installed capacity of 8,180 GW 
by the year 2025, equivalent to some 8000 large nuclear power 
plants.  This represents a 20-fold increase in world nuclear 
capacity, requiring that nuclear plants be built at an average 
rate of one new 1000 MW plant every 1.61 days for the next 37 
years.  At an assumed cost of $1.0 billion/1000MW installed, this 
results in a total capitol cost of 8.39 trillion (1987) dollars, 
an average of $227 billion each year for 37 years to build the 
required nuclear plants. Total electricity generation cost is 
$31.48 trillion, or an average of $787 billion/year. The required 
capitol investment is economically infeasible for the developing 
world."

The authors point out that even with a massive nuclear 
construction program, the use of fossil fuels will continue to 
grow.

" Thus, in this scenario, even bringing a new nuclear plant on 
line every day and a half for nearly four decades does not 
prevent annual CO2 emissions from steadily increasing to a value 
60% greater than they are today." 



http://www.mothersalert.org/globalwarming2.html

     http://www.nirs.org/climate/climate.htm

*****************************************************************
 32 Chornobyl +20: Remembrance for the Future Conference Updates
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 11:44:08 -0400

International Conference, 23-25 April, 2006, House of the 
Teacher, Volodymyrska 57, Kyiv / Ukraine

Heinrich Böll Foundation

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

World information Service on Energy

Greens/EFA in the european parliament

90/the greens

International physicians for the prevention of nuclear war 
(IPPNW)

Earth Day Network

Ecoclub

www.ch20.org

April 10, 2006

tanyam@nirs.org

More speakers &amp; details announced for the conference 
Chornobyl+20: Remembrance for the Future", April 23-25, 2006 

Organizers of the Chornobyl + 20: Remembrance for the Future 
conference today released new details on the program, confirmed 
speakers and background about this international event to be held 
at the House of the Teacher in Kyiv Ukraine, April 23-25, 2006.

The conference

Besides commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl 
catastrophe, the three-day-event aims at debating four different 
issues that are reflected in the conference agenda: 

Firstly, social and ecological consequences of the accident are 
pointed out and a new independent study will be presented. 
Secondly, fundamental risks connected with nuclear energy 
production, usage and storage will be debated. Thirdly, possible 
future perspectives of energy supply will be discussed, taking 
specifically into account the current political framework in 
Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Finally, Ukrainian public and 
organizations from all over the world will come together and get 
the opportunity to initiate common steps towards a sustainable 
energy future.

For the opening of the conference, a cultural program including 
culturally and socio-politically well-known speakers as well as 
two award-winning photo exhibitions will be presented to a broad 
international and Ukrainian public. 

Among the confirmed speakers announced today 
are:

Yury Bandashevski Belarus
John Large from Large and Associates, United Kingdom
Satu Hassi, Member of the European Parliament Finland
Scott Denman, Co-Director of Collaborations/Comprehensive 
Strategic Communications Services Trainings US
Dr. Abdul Hameed Nayyar, SDPI, Pakistan
Ilya Popov from Social Ecological Union Russia
Hans-Josef Fell, spokesperson on Energy Policy, Alliance 90/The Greens, 
National Parliament, Germany
Prof. Dr. Adam Gula, University of Science and Technology in Krakow Poland

A full list of speakers can be found at the conference website, 
www.ch20.org 

Ways to a sustainable energy future

Despite various efforts to economize the use of energy or 
increase energy efficiency, economic growth, especially in 
developing countries, will lead to rather increasing than 
diminishing demand for energy. Equally foreseeable are both the 
limits of fossil fuels as well as uranium as raw material for the 
production of nuclear energy. While consequences of climate 
change already become clearly noticeable, international treaties 
such as the Kyoto-Protocol or the Agenda 21 try to set the frame 
for sustainable energy policies. Efficiency, security of energy 
supplies and the danger of global warming are cornerstones for 
the way to more responsible energy policies. 

The argument that nuclear energy provides the seminal solution 
for tackling the danger of climate change can be questioned and 
disputed. Rather, international efforts for utilization of 
renewable energy sources deserve much closer consideration, along 
with various best practice examples that are already available in 
different countries. In addition to extending renewable energy 
sources, increasing energy efficiency should play a much more 
emphasized role, as both private and industrial use of energy 
provide huge potential for energy 
conservation.

However, anchoring ambitions towards renewable energy can only 
succeed if current socio-political needs as well as political 
conditions obtain sufficient consideration so that sustainable 
energy strategies can be implemented without losing touch with 
reality. Ukraine, where the recent natural gas dispute with 
Russia is still present, may be a good example that besides 
economic or climate reasons, national security of energy supplies 
must be a critical factor for shaping future energy 
strategies.

Alternatives to nuclear power are multi-faceted and offer not 
only a huge potential for minimizing the risks of further nuclear 
catastrophes and climate-harming Co2-emissions, but open as well 
the scope for energy independence, which is especially important 
for countries in central- and eastern Europe. Energy 
independence, in combination with energy-diversity, add up as 
well to more democracy.

While most countries depend on coal, oil, gas or nuclear fuel and 
import these resources for their energy needs--increased 
utilization of renewable energy provides the opportunity to 
increase energy-independence. 

The Chornobyl catastrophe obviously contributed to the collapse 
of the Soviet Union  and generated a democracy-and 
environmentally-conscious public. 20 years after Chornobyl, the 
opportunity can be seized to tie up to this movement and to 
effectively strengthen the (often still young) democracies in 
central- and eastern Europe through designing a sustainable 
energy future.

*****************************************************************
 33 Chornobyl +20: Remembrance for the Future Conference Updates
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:16:54 -0700

International Conference, 23-25 April, 2006, House of the Teacher, 
Volodymyrska 57, Kyiv / Ukraine

Heinrich Böll Foundation

Nuclear Information and Resource Service

World information Service on Energy

Greens/EFA in the european parliament

alliance 90/the greens


International physicians for the prevention of nuclear war (IPPNW)


Earth Day Network


Ecoclub

<http://www.ch20.org/>www.ch20.org



For immediate release:

April 10, 2006



Contact: Tetyana Murza, Ecoclub

Mobil: +380975952346

Office: +380444832961

<mailto:tanyam@nirs.org>tanyam@nirs.org

More speakers & details announced for the conference Chornobyl+20: 
Remembrance for the Future, April 23-25, 2006

Organizers of the Chornobyl + 20: Remembrance for the Future 
conference today released new details on the program, confirmed 
speakers and background about this international event to be held 
at the House of the Teacher in Kyiv, Ukraine, April 23-25, 2006.

The conference

Besides commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Chornobyl 
catastrophe, the three-day-event aims at debating four different 
issues that are reflected in the conference agenda:

Firstly, social and ecological consequences of the accident are 
pointed out and a new independent study will be presented. 
Secondly, fundamental risks connected with nuclear energy 
production, usage and storage will be debated. Thirdly, possible 
future perspectives of energy supply will be discussed, taking 
specifically into account the current political framework in 
Ukraine and Eastern Europe. Finally, Ukrainian public and 
organizations from all over the world will come together and get 
the opportunity to initiate common steps towards a sustainable 
energy future.

For the opening of the conference, a cultural program including 
culturally and socio-politically well-known speakers as well as 
two award-winning photo exhibitions will be presented to a broad 
international and Ukrainian public.

Among the confirmed speakers announced today are:
    * Dr. Yury Bandashevski, Belarus
    * John Large from Large and Associates, United Kingdom
    * Satu Hassi, Member of the European Parliament, Finland
    * Scott Denman, Co-Director of Collaborations/Comprehensive Strategic 
Communications Services & Trainings, US
    * Dr. Abdul Hameed Nayyar, SDPI, Pakistan
    * Ilya Popov from Social Ecological Union, Russia
    * Hans-Josef Fell, spokesperson on Energy Policy, Alliance 90/The 
Greens, National Parliament, Germany
    * Prof. Dr. Adam Gula, University of Science and Technology in Krakow, 
Poland

A full list of speakers can be found at the conference website, 
www.ch20.org.

Background: Ways to a sustainable energy future

Despite various efforts to economize the use of energy or 
increase energy efficiency, economic growth, especially in 
developing countries, will lead to rather increasing than 
diminishing demand for energy. Equally foreseeable are both the 
limits of fossil fuels as well as uranium as raw material for the 
production of nuclear energy. While consequences of climate 
change already become clearly noticeable, international treaties 
such as the Kyoto-Protocol or the Agenda 21 try to set the frame 
for sustainable energy policies. Efficiency, security of energy 
supplies and the danger of global warming are cornerstones for 
the way to more responsible energy policies.

The argument that nuclear energy provides the seminal solution 
for tackling the danger of climate change can be questioned and 
disputed. Rather, international efforts for utilization of 
renewable energy sources deserve much closer consideration, along 
with various best practice examples that are already available in 
different countries. In addition to extending renewable energy 
sources, increasing energy efficiency should play a much more 
emphasized role, as both private and industrial use of energy 
provide huge potential for energy conservation.

However, anchoring ambitions towards renewable energy can only 
succeed if current socio-political needs as well as political 
conditions obtain sufficient consideration so that sustainable 
energy strategies can be implemented without losing touch with 
reality. Ukraine, where the recent natural gas dispute with 
Russia is still present, may be a good example that besides 
economic or climate reasons, national security of energy supplies 
must be a critical factor for shaping future energy strategies.

Alternatives to nuclear power are multi-faceted and offer not 
only a huge potential for minimizing the risks of further nuclear 
catastrophes and climate-harming Co2-emissions, but open as well 
the scope for energy independence, which is especially important 
for countries in central- and eastern Europe. Energy 
independence, in combination with energy-diversity, add up as 
well to more democracy.

While most countries depend on coal, oil, gas or nuclear fuel and 
import these resources for their energy needs--increased 
utilization of renewable energy provides the opportunity to 
increase energy-independence.

The Chornobyl catastrophe obviously contributed to the collapse 
of the Soviet Union and generated a democracy- and 
environmentally-conscious public. 20 years after Chornobyl, the 
opportunity can be seized to tie up to this movement and to 
effectively strengthen the (often still young) democracies in 
central- and eastern Europe through designing a sustainable 
energy future.
*****************************************************************
 34 NRC: NRC to Discuss 2005 Performance Assessment for Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant
 
News Release - Region I - 2006-02
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region I
  No. I-06-021   		        April 13, 2006   
  CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330
 		Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331   		   E-mail:   
  

representatives of Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc., on
Thursday, April 20, to discuss the agencys annual assessment of
safety performance at the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant.
The period of performance to be discussed is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31,
2005. 

Entergy operates the plant, located in Vernon, Vt. 

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at the Quality Inn & Suites,
1380 Putney Road in Brattleboro, Vt. The NRC staff will present
the results of the assessment and be available to respond to
questions or comments from the public before the close of the
meeting. 

As we do every year, we have carefully reviewed the safety
performance of the Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant during the
previous calendar year, NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J.
Collins said. The meeting on April 20th will afford the public a
chance to learn more about the results of our assessment and to
pose any questions they might have regarding plant performance
or our oversight activities. 

A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials
addresses the performance of the plant during the period and
will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/vy_2005q4.pdf
[PDF Icon] . The meeting notice, with the meeting agenda
attached, is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number
ML06060940190. The NRC slides for the meeting are available in
ADAMS under accession number ML060940209. ADAMS is accessible
via the agencys web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using ADAMS is
available by contacting the NRCs Public Document Room at
1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at . 

Overall, the Vermont Yankee plant operated safely during the
period. The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and
performance indicators to assess nuclear power plant
performance. The colors start with green and then increase to
white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance
of the issues involved. Because all of the inspection findings
and performance indicators for the plant during the last quarter
of 2005 were determined to be green, Vermont Yankee will receive
a baseline (or routine) level of inspections during the upcoming
assessment period. 

Vermont Yankee had a white inspection finding open during the
first three quarters of last year. That finding involved a
failure to provide tone alert radios to a portion of the
populace within the plants 10-mile Emergency Planning Zone.
However, a supplemental inspection conducted in June 2005
determined the root causes for the performance deficiencies were
understood and the completed and planned corrective actions were
appropriate. Based on that information, the finding was closed. 

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors
assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the
Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of plant
operations to be inspected during the next year by NRC
specialists are radiological safety, component design bases and
emergency planning. 

Current performance information for Vermont Yankee is available
on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/VY/vy_chart.html.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, April 13, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 35 Guardian Unlimited: Nuclear power is not energy solution, say MPs
 
Tania Branigan and John Vidal

Friday April 14, 2006
The Guardian 

A new generation of nuclear power stations cannot solve energy
supply problems in the short term and crucial questions of
security, cost and effectiveness remain unanswered, MPs will
warn in a report to be published this weekend.

The findings of the parliamentary environmental audit committee
raise concerns over the risk of terrorist attacks, but also
focus on the full costs of nuclear generation, such as the
disposal of waste and decommissioning.

Its report on nuclear power, renewables and climate change
questions whether new plants would cut carbon emissions as
dramatically as promised and suggests they could crowd out other
energy sources such as windpower. "You cannot claim nuclear is
the answer to problems of supply in the gas market [in the next
few years] ... Nuclear power couldn't appear over that sort of
timescale," said a source who has seen the report.

But the issue is becoming more pressing because of rising demand, 
increasing insecurity in conventional sources of energy and the 
approaching energy gap. It would take upwards of 12 years to gain 
approval for and build new plants.

The government's energy review - given the specific task of
reconsidering nuclear power after it was rejected in the energy
white paper two years ago - finished taking evidence this week
and is expected to report back in July. The source who has read
the report described expert testimony on the risk of attacks as
"impressive and alarming", adding: "If Blair is right that the
world has changed, then it must apply to this area as well."

Professor Keith Barnham, energy security consultant and emeritus
professor of Physics at Imperial College London, told the
committee: "The possible outcome of a terrorist attack is so
terrible that we feel it has to be faced up to before any new
build. Basically, we have so many potential targets as a result
of the waste policy."

Critics of nuclear energy accept that new reactors are safer
than their predecessors. British Nuclear Fuels told the
committee that even existing structures were extremely robust
and that sites had good security arrangements, approved by the
Office for Civil Nuclear Security.

But there are concerns that the reactor models favoured by the
nuclear industry are not the safest available and that
increasing the number of plants and the amount of nuclear
material transported will inevitably increase the risks.

"It's not just about [guarding] installations, but also any
transport involved against theft - not just terrorist attacks.
That tends to be ignored," said the source. Alan Johnson, the
trade and industry secretary, insists that ministers are
open-minded about the case for a renewal of nuclear generation,
but anti-nuclear campaigners are concerned that the prime
minister has already decided new plants are necessary. Critics
say private firms are unlikely to invest in nuclear energy
without powerful incentives, such as long term guarantees of
costs or demand.

Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser,
warned the committee: "I do not believe the utilities are going
to take on the onus of purchasing a new nuclear power station
unless the government has discussed with them what kind of
guarantees can be given over the expected lifetime of such a
power station."

A member of the committee said that closing the energy gap would
require a range of solutions: "There is no silver bullet to meet
the nation's growing energy demands." Earlier this year the
government's Sustainable Development Commission concluded that
there was no justification for bringing forward a new programme
of reactors.

Like the audit committee, it also identified several major
disadvantages to nuclear, including waste, cost, inflexibility
and undermining energy efficiency. Yesterday Jonathan Porritt,
director of the commission, said: "We sought to demonstrate that
Britain is not a country that needs recourse to nuclear to meet
energy security or climate change objectives".

The industry has traditionally ducked the terrorist issue,
saying that an attack is unimaginable. But Tony Juniper, head of
Friends of the Earth, said yesterday that a new programme would
inevitably leave Britain vulnerable. "All it needs is one
accident and the impact is devastating."

FAQ Nuclear options

Why is nuclear energy back on the agenda?

Questions about the security of oil and gas supplies and
concerns about global warming are pushing governments to find
alternatives. Experts fear renewable sources are not efficient
enough to meet future needs.

What is the government doing?

Last November it announced that the energy minister, Malcolm
Wicks, would report on the options in July.

What will happen next?

If nuclear power is approved there will still be questions to
answer, including how to deal with waste and what incentives the
private sector might receive for new reactors.
 
   Useful links  

British Energy
Department of Trade and Industry
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Greenpeace
HSE nuclear glossary
Come Clean WMD awareness programme
UK atomic energy authority
National Radiological Protection Board
Friends of the Earth
World Nuclear Association
World Nuclear Transport Institute

[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 36 London Times: Labour has made up its mind to go nuclear, Lib Dems claim

The Times       April 14, 2006

By Angela Jameson, Industrial Correspondent

THE Government has already "made up its mind to go with the 
nuclear option" and is using the current Energy Review only to 
justify its decision, a senior Liberal Democrat said last night 
as the deadline for submissions on the Government's energy 
shake-up passed.

David Howarth, the Liberal Democrats' energy spokesman, said that 
the Government was going through the motions with its three-month 
public consultation. "Going through a long review process, only 
to come up with whatever answer Tony Blair wants to hear, is no 
use to anyone," he said. "Nuclear power is not renewable. The 
expense of any new programme would risk crowding out all 
development of genuinely renewable technologies."

His comments came as Malcolm Wicks, the Energy Minister, 
proclaimed the Energy Review a great success in triggering debate 
on the subject. He said that the evidence gathered will now be 
analysed by the Department of Trade and Industry and used to 
prepare a report for the Prime Minister by the summer. "In the 
coming months, the decisions we need to take will determine 
energy strategy up to the middle of the 21st century. The 
responses we've received demonstrate the diversity of views on 
all aspects of future energy policy, including renewables, 
nuclear, coal, oil and gas, as well as energy efficiency," Mr 
Wicks said.

The Government has been forced to conduct the Energy Review just 
two years after it published an energy White Paper that focused 
on the role of renewable power. This would provide an increasing 
proportion of our energy needs, because North Sea gas volumes are 
declining faster than expected. There are also more signs that 
climate change is becoming a reality and interruptions to gas 
supplies on the Continent are a concern.

"Climate change, declining domestic production, increased prices 
and an increased reliance on overseas sources have forced the 
issue," Mr Wicks said.

"Our response must be underpinned by our key energy policy goals: 
to cut the UK's CO2 emissions, to maintain reliability of supply, 
to promote competitive markets and to end the cruel correlation 
between being old and being cold."

KEY SUBMISSIONS TO THE REVIEW
# ScottishPower
"No one-generation technology can provide all the answers. We 
must strive for a balanced approach to our future energy mix, one 
that may include new coal, new nuclear, and new renewable 
technologies"

# Also wants: Fiscal incentives to homes and businesses to 
improve energy efficiency and smart metering; maintain and extend 
the current renewables obligation; investment in transmission and 
distribution; separate energy efficiency and fuel poverty 
measures; all policy areas, including planning and environmental, 
should "face in the same direction"

# NPower
"The UK needs to maintain a broad mix of energy generation to 
guarantee secure electricity in the years ahead. We also need to 
dramatically reduce emissions of carbon dioxide to hit 
environmental targets aimed at tackling global warming"

# Also wants: a redefinition of the Energy Efficiency Commitment; 
government support for a 15-year third phase of the EU's 
Emissions Trading Scheme from 2012; to retain the Renewables 
Obligation (which requires suppliers to buy an increasing 
percentage of their energy from renewable sources) as a long-term 
stable framework to continue to stimulate investment in new 
viable renewable energy generation

# Energy Saving Trust
"We don't want the debate to be dominated by generation and 
security of supply.

Energy efficiency and microgeneration are the only solutions that 
can be put into practice now"

# Also wants: tighter product standards to reduce consumption; 
bans on most inefficent products; national roll-out of smart 
metering; council tax rebates for installing energy efficiency 
measures

# Friends of the Earth
"The Government's lack of real action to cut emissions seriously 
undermines its credibility on climate change. The energy review 
could be a chance to make amends. But the Government must start 
promoting real solutions rather than old and discredited 
technologies, such as nuclear power"

# Also wants: Government to introduce a law that would commit it 
to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 3 per cent year-on-year; 
introduce new energy efficiency measures and promote renewable 
sources of electricity and the most efficient technologies for 
burning coal and gas; promote renewable heat sources such as 
biomass, solar thermal and geothermal; tackle transport emissions

*****************************************************************
 37 ŽNRC: NRC to Discuss 2005 Performance Assessment for Limerick Nuclear Power Plant
 
News Release - Region I - 2006-02
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-06-022                          
April 13, 2006 CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. 
Sheehan (610) 337-5331                     E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov  
  

representatives of Exelon Generating Co., LLC, on Thursday,
April 20, to discuss the agencys annual assessment of safety
performance at the Limerick nuclear power plant. The period of
performance to be discussed is Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2005. 

Exelon operates the twin-reactor plant, which is located in
Limerick (Montgomery County), Pa. 

The meeting, which will be open to the public for observation,
is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. at the Limerick Energy
Information Center, 298 Longview Road in Royersford, Pa. The NRC
staff will present the results of the assessment and be
available to respond to questions or comments from the public
before the close of the meeting. 

As we do every year, we have carefully reviewed the safety
performance of the Limerick nuclear power plant during the
previous calendar year, NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J.
Collins said. The meeting on April 20th will afford the public a
chance to learn more about the results of our assessment and to
pose any questions they might have regarding plant performance
or our oversight activities. 

A letter sent from the NRC Region I Office to plant officials
addresses the performance of the plant during the period and
will serve as the basis for the meeting discussion. It is
available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LETTERS/lim_2005q4.pdf
[PDF Icon] . The meeting notice, with the meeting agenda
attached, is available in the NRCs Agencywide Documents Access
and Management System (ADAMS) under accession number
ML060830255. The NRC slides will be available in ADAMS under
accession number ML060950054. ADAMS is accessible via the
agencys web site at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html.
Help in using ADAMS is available by contacting the NRCs Public
Document Room at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at
PDR@NRC.GOV. 

Overall, the Limerick plant operated safely during the period.
The NRC uses color-coded inspection findings and performance
indicators to assess nuclear power plant performance. The colors
start with green and then increase to white, yellow or red,
commensurate with the safety significance of the issues
involved. Because all of the inspection findings and performance
indicators for the plant during 2005 were determined to be
green, Limerick will receive a baseline (or routine) level of
inspections during the upcoming assessment period. 

Routine inspections are performed by two NRC Resident Inspectors
assigned to the plant and by inspection specialists from the
Region I Office in King of Prussia, Pa. Among the areas of plant
operations to be inspected during the next year by NRC
specialists are radioactive waste handling and transportation,
problem identification and resolution, and operator license
initial exams. 

Current performance information for Limerick 1 is available on
the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LIM1/lim1_chart.html. 

Current performance information for Limerick 2 is available on
the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/NRR/OVERSIGHT/ASSESS/LIM2/lim2_chart.html.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, April 13, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 38 iafrica.com: sa news Koeberg 'bolt probe' forges on
 
CAPE TOWN 

Thu, 13 Apr 2006

 The probe into the bolt in the generator incident at Koeberg
Nuclear Power Station is continuing, but the process of bring
the damaged unit one back on line is on track, Public
Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said on Thursday. 

The investigation by the "appropriate agency" was continuing and
it would announce any arrests, Erwin told the media in a
briefing at the plant near Cape Town. 

The ministers concerned would make an announcement in Parliament
when the investigation was concluded. 

Asked on what he had based his February 28 statement that the
bolt in the generator was "not an accident", Erwin maintained
the incident had not been by chance. 

"So what gave me cause for making that statement is the
circumstances around the incident, which are being very
carefully investigated both from a point of view of management's
own operating practice, but also because of the possibility that
this was an untoward act. 

"The position we've stated all along is the nature of the damage
was such that we had to investigate it. 

"This is not on the face of it, given what we now know, some
accident that happened by chance. 

"The circumstances around it is either a serious act of
negligence, or it's deliberate, but whatever it is, we have to
investigate it exceptionally carefully and that's what we're
doing," Erwin said. 

The new rotor to replace the damaged one arrived at Koeberg last
Friday and was being prepared for installation, officials at
Thursday's briefing said. 

The stator, within which the rotor fits, was being reassembled
and tested. 

The expected completion date and synchronisation to the national
grid of unit one was May 15, when unit two would shut down for
refuelling and maintenance during the third week of May. 

Sapa 


iafrica.com, a division of Metropolis* - a Primedia company
*****************************************************************
 39 RIA Novosti: Ex-nuclear minister Adamov's defense team files new release plea
 
13/ 04/ 2006                                  

MOSCOW, April 13 (RIA Novosti) - Lawyers acting for a former
Russian nuclear minister Thursday lodged an appeal with Moscow
City Court to release their client from custody.

 Yevgeny Adamov is facing charges of embezzlement and abuse of
office in a long-running affair that has seen him extradited
from Switzerland.

 "We today lodged an appeal against the Basmanny court ruling,
which we consider illegal and ungrounded," defense lawyer Genri
Reznik said.

 The Basmanny court April 5 ruled that Adamov be remanded in
custody until June 8 following a request from prosecutors who
said a preliminary investigation had not been completed. The
court said Adamov should remain in prison because he stood
accused of being a member of a criminal gang and was facing more
than two years in prison. 

Adamov said the ruling to extend his custody was typical of the
Basmanny Court, which has been accused of ruling in favor of
prosecutors and had earlier remanded him in custody.

 The Prosecutor General's Office officially charged Adamov, 67,
with embezzlement and abuse of office December 31, 2005, in the
presence of his lawyers, after a long battle to secure his
extradition from Switzerland, where he had been arrested at the
request of the United States in May. 

The U.S. accused Adamov, who served as nuclear power minister
1998-2001, of misappropriating $9 million given to Russia for
nuclear safety projects. He would have faced 60 years in prison
if convicted in the U.S. 

On October 3, the Swiss Federal Justice Department announced it
would extradite the former Russian minister to the U.S., but
Adamov's defense team filed an appeal with the Federal Tribunal,
Switzerland's Supreme Court, in Lausanne in November. On
December 22, the Lausanne court upheld the appeal and ruled that
Adamov be extradited to Russia because the country submitted its
extradition request first.

© 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 40 NRC: NRC Advisory Committee on Nuclear Waste to Meet in Rockville, Maryland, April 18-20
 
News Release - 2006-05 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 
20555-0001     E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-052     April 13, 2006   

Nuclear Waste (ACNW) will meet April 18-20 in Rockville, Md., to
receive updates on a number of studies concerning the proposed
geologic repository at Yucca Mountain; scheduled presenters
include representatives from the Department of Energy, the
Electric Power Research Institute and Nye County, Nev. A
presentation is also scheduled on the National Academy of
Sciences 2006 report on the transportation of high-level nuclear
waste. Among other items, the committee will also be briefed on
a proposed rule on NRC regulation of naturally occurring or
accelerator-produced radioactive materials. 

The committee reports to and advises the Commission on all
aspects of nuclear waste management. 

The session on Tuesday will run from 10 a.m. to 6:15 p.m. and
the session on Wednesday will run from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The
session on Thursday will run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The
meeting will be held in Room T-2B3 of the agencys Two White
Flint North Building, at 11545 Rockville Pike. 

Anyone wanting to use video teleconferencing to observe the
meeting should contact Theron Brown, at 301-415-8066 to ensure
availability. 

A complete agenda will be available on the NRCs Web site at this
address:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/acnw/agenda/2006/.
Individuals interested in making statements or those seeking
more information should contact Michael Snodderly, at
301-415-6927.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, April 13, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 41 NRC: NRC Issues 2005 Hurricane Season “Lessons Learned” Final Report
 
News Release - 2006-05 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 
20555-0001     E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-053     April 13, 2006   
  

recommended the agency improve the diversity and reliability of
emergency communications equipment based on the loss of
land-line and most cellular communications during Hurricane
Katrina. The recommendation is one of 13 included in the final
report released today. 

The NRC performed well in response to the challenges of the 2005
hurricane season; however, we wanted to take a critical look at
our actions to continue improving our response activities and be
even better prepared for the upcoming hurricane season, said
Melvyn Leach, the task force team leader and an official in the
NRCs Office of Nuclear Security and Incident Response. Although
satellite phones allowed us to maintain contact with the plants,
alternate means for reliable communications was highlighted as a
particular area where improvements could  and should  be made. 

In addition to a recommendation related to communications
equipment, the task force also assigned a high priority to the
recommendation that the NRC improve its natural disaster
response procedures for nuclear facilities and materials
licensees to clearly define roles and responsibilities, and to
improve dispatching of responders and site staff. 

Several recommendations dealt with materials licensees and
relationships with Agreement States. For example, the report
recommended the NRC assess the benefit of adding latitude and
longitude tracking information to the National Source Tracking
System to enhance response to natural disasters. 

The task force was created in November 2005 by the NRCs
Executive Director for Operations Luis Reyes to assess NRC
actions related to hurricanes Katrina and Rita and their effects
on nuclear power plants in Louisiana and Florida. The task force
reviewed the agencys actions to monitor the storms, interact
with state officials and work with nuclear facility operators
licensed by the NRC. The task force also reviewed actions
related to radioactive material licensees in areas that could
have been, or were, affected by the severe weather. 

The task force based its recommendations on a review of agency
activities and interviews with staff from the NRC and other
federal agencies, nuclear power plants and state and local
officials. The task force was comprised of 10 NRC staff members
from headquarters and region offices. 

None of the nuclear power plants in the storms path sustained
significant damage from Hurricane Katrina, although several,
including Turkey Point and St. Lucie in Florida, made emergency
preparations, and the Waterford nuclear power plant in Louisiana
shut down and relied on emergency back-up generators when
off-site power was lost. 

The full report will be available through the NRCs Agencywide
Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) under accession
number ML060900004. ADAMS is accessible via the agencys web site
at: http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Help in using
ADAMS is available by contacting the NRCs Public Document Room
at 1-800-397-4209 or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at PDR@NRC.GOV. 
 



  


 	Last revised Thursday, April 13, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 42 APP.COM: Oyster Creek fined for fish kill 

| Asbury Park Press Online

Thursday, April 13, 2006
  	 	 
MANAHAWKIN BUREAU

The state has ordered the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant in 
Lacey to pay a $35,000 penalty for killing 80 fish during an 
emergency shutdown in January, according to a copy of the order 
obtained by the Asbury Park Press today.

Officials with the state Department of Environmental Protection
assessed the penalty after finding that the plant had violated a
permit needed to discharge heated cooling water into a man-made
canal that flows into the Oyster Creek.

State officials levied the fine despite several measures taken
by plant operators to prevent the shutdown from killing the fish
due to a drop in water temperature.

Fish are attracted to the canal because it is heated by the
discharge water, making it warmer than Barnegat Bay, especially
in January.

  Copyright © 2006 Asbury Park Press. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 43 NRC: Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
 
                         FR Doc E6-5499 
[Federal Register: April 13, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 71)] 
[Notices] [Page 19213] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr13ap06-123]                         
 
Review; Comment Request AGENCY: U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC). ACTION: Notice of pending NRC action to submit 
an information collection request to OMB and solicitation of 
public comment.
 
SUMMARY: The NRC is preparing a submittal to OMB for review of 
continued approval of information collections under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 
chapter 35). Information pertaining to the requirement to be 
submitted: 1. The title of the information collection: 10 CFR 
part 110, Export and Import of Nuclear Equipment and Material.
 
2. Current OMB approval number: 3150-0036. 3. How often the 
collection is required: On occasion. 4. Who is required or asked 
to report: Any person in the U.S. who wishes to export: (a) 
Nuclear equipment and material subject to the requirements of a 
specific license, (b) radioactive waste subject to the 
requirements of a specific license, and (c) incidental 
radioactive material that is a contaminant of shipments of more 
than 100 kilograms of non-waste material using existing NRC 
general licenses.
 
5. The number of annual respondents: 62. 6. The number of hours 
needed annually to complete the requirement or request: 857 [478 
reporting + 379 recordkeeping (0.66 hours per response)].
 
7. Abstract: 10 CFR part 110 provides application, reporting, and 
recordkeeping requirements for export and imports of nuclear 
material and equipment subject to the requirements of a specific 
license or a general license and exports of incidental 
radioactive material.
 
The information collected and maintained pursuant to 10 CFR part 
110 enables the NRC to authorize only imports and exports which 
are not inimical to U.S. common defense and security and which 
meet applicable statutory, regulatory, and policy requirements.
 
Submit, by June 12, 2006, comments that address the following 
questions: 1. Is the proposed collection of information necessary 
for the NRC to properly perform its functions? Does the 
information have practical utility? 2. Is the burden estimate 
accurate? 3. Is there a way to enhance the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information to be collected? 4. How can the burden 
of the information collection be minimized, including the use of 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology? A copy of the draft supporting statement may be 
viewed free of charge at the NRC Public Document Room, One White 
Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Room O-1 F21, Rockville, MD 
20852. OMB clearance requests are available at the NRC worldwide 
Web site: 
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/doc-comment/omb/index.html. The 
document will be available on the NRC home page site for 60 days 
after the signature date of this notice.
 
Comments and questions about the information collection 
requirements may be directed to the NRC Clearance Officer, Brenda 
Jo. Shelton (T-5F53), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC, 20555-0001, or by telephone 301-415-7233, or by 
Internet electronic mail to INFOCOLLECT@NRC.GOV. Dated at 
Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of April 2006.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Brenda Jo. Shelton, NRC Clearance Officer, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer.
 
[FR Doc. E6-5499 Filed 4-12-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 44 ITAR-TASS: Nuclear reactors not to be built if public objects

13.04.2006, 04.06

VOLGODONSK, April 13 (Itar-Tass) - Russia will not launch the
construction of nuclear reactors in this or that region if its
public is opposed to such projects, director of the Federal
Agency for Atomic Energy Sergei Kiriyenko said during a visit to
the Volgodonskaya nuclear power plant on Wednesday. 

Kiriyenko said he had talked with officials from the Rostov
region administrations and representatives of the public of the
town of Volgodonsk over the construction of the third and fourth
reactors of the local NPP. 

"We are ready for it from the point of view of the demand for
energy in the southern federal district, there is such a demand,
both the RAO UES electric utility and the Ministry of Industry
and Energy have confirmed it. However, the question I asked of
regional authorities and the public today is if they agree with
it, if they support it, and if they do, we'll go ahead. If there
are objections, then we'll finish the second block and take out
the issue of the construction of the third and fourth reactors;
we'll launch it /construction/ in other regions," he said. 

At present, there is rivalry between regions for hosting
projects to build nuclear power plants, because "three billion
dollars are not an easy find." 

"The regions where nuclear power plants have been built
full-cycle, i.e. with four reactors are, as a rule, one of the
largest taxpayers, so from the point of view of revenue and
jobs, it's very advantageous," the Rosatom chief said. 

"For example, the construction of the third and fourth reactors
means thousands of highly paid jobs, it's large taxes," he said. 

He underlined the commitment to the principle "never to go
against a coordinated position of regional authorities and the
public." 

© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved. You undertake not to copy,
*****************************************************************
 45 CBC Edmonton: Environment minister cool to nuclear proposal
 
  Last updated Apr 13 2006 02:48 PM MDT
   
  Alberta's environment minister says he was surprised to hear a
company is interested in starting down the path of applying for
approval to build the province's first nuclear power plant in
the northern oilsands.                                                                           

Guy Boutilier says there is no movement towards nuclear energy 
from the province's standpoint. The company, Energy Alberta 
Corporation, is in preliminary talks with three energy companies 
about building a nuclear plant to produce steam, which is used to 
separate bitumen  or thick crude oil  from sand. The approval 
process could begin next March, with a decision by 2009. If 
approved, the reactor could be in operation by 2014. 

  + FROM JULY 22, 2003:                                                                                  

Boutilier says the company is free to seek approval, but it is 
not likely to get his support.

"In this province we have so much energy  of oil sands and other 
energies  that nuclear, I would suggest, would be at the back of 
the wagon when it comes to the other alternative energies," says 
Boutilier. "Renewable energies are equally, if not more, 
important right now than perhaps something like nuclear."                                                                                

Boutilier says many Albertans still consider the word "nuclear" 
to be scary so he doubts the proposal will get widespread 
support.   
      
© CBC 2006   
*****************************************************************
 46 KOLD: Salt River Project will write off losses from nuke plant

[News 13 KOLD-TV Home]       

PHOENIX Salt River Project's Board of Governors say they won't
ask customers to pay the 40 (m) million dollars in extra costs
it paid because of outages at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating
Station in the past several months.The board of governors voted
today to absorb the cost of replacing power it normally receives
from Palo Verde because of good financial performance at the
utility.Directors also released 55 (m) million dollars set aside
in a rate stabilization fund to help pay for higher priced power
without raising rates.S-R-P's actions differ from Palo Verde
co-owner Arizona Public Service.A-P-S is asking the Arizona
Corporation Commission for permission to raise rates to pay its
costs of lost power from Palo Verde.	 			 			Copyright 2006

Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. 			 		 
  

      All content © Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and KOLD, a
Raycom Media station. All Rights Reserved.

*****************************************************************
 47 AU Ninemsn: Inside Chernobyl

news.ninemsn.com.au                                             
 		     	 
  April 16, 2006  

  Reporter: Richard CarltonProducer: Stephen Rice       
 		     	   
If you're for nuclear power, it will save us from catastrophe.
If you're against it, it is the catastrophe. 

Either way, with fears of global warming and diminishing fossil
fuel supplies, it's certainly back on the international agenda.
But there's one almighty barrier in the way of nuclear
expansion. Chernobyl. 

It's now 20 years since that disaster, the worst nuclear
accident in history, but Chernobyl is still exhibit A in the
case against nuclear power. And with good reason, as you'll see
when Richard Carleton takes you into the very belly of the
beast, into the heart of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor.

Anyone wanting to help the Chernobyl Children's Project should
go to:

www.chernobyl-international.com

 Watch video -->

© 1997- 2006 ninemsn Pty Ltd - All rights reserved 			   		 	
*****************************************************************
 48 icNorthWales: Sheep farmers want more fall-out money 
              
Apr 13 2006
  
By Andrew Forgrave, Daily Post     

NORTH Wales farmers facing years more misery in the Chernobyl
fall-out zone want a rise in compensation. 

Twenty years after the Ukrainian nuclear explosion, 359 farms in
the region are still restricted in moving and selling 180,000
sheep. 

As radioactive Caesium 137 has a half-life of 30 years, the
restrictions could outlast the current generation of sheep
producers. 

It's prompted a call by the Farmers Union of Wales for a new
look at compensation payments, which have remained unchanged at
£1.30 per ewe since 1986. 

"Every time we move an animal we have to get permission," said
FUW vice-president Glyn Roberts, whose farm at Dylasau Uchaf,
Padog, Betws y Coed, is still under Chernobyl curbs. 

"If we want to send stock to market we must get a licence and
the sheep must be scanned with a Geiger counter. "The Assembly
staff are very flexible but it's inconvenient and can affect
market values." 

Around 200 lambs are scanned each year at the 200-acre National
Trust farm once they've been brought down from Mr Roberts'
900-acre upland holding on the Mignaint. 

Breeding stock, mostly pure Welsh ewes, are not scanned but are
marked red before they can be moved. Sheep which fail scanning
tests cannot go for human consumption but they can be put on
less contaminated land until their caesium levels decline. 

Only 31 Welsh farms have had scanning failures over the last
three years - less than 1% of sheep tested. 

Mr Roberts added: "After four weeks the sheep can be
re-monitored, and if levels have fallen below the 1,000
becquerels/kg limit of radio caesium they are ear-tagged and may
then be slaughtered for the food chain. 

"We've not had a failure in four years now. Due to this careful
monitoring, lamb from the North Wales restricted area is now the
safest to eat in the world." 

Three years ago Mr Roberts fell ill and went to see a holistic
therapist in Hay-on-Wye. 

After tests the therapist claimed he had found high levels of
caesium in Mr Roberts' body. 

"At the time he did not know who I was, or my situation," said
Mr Roberts, married to Eleri with five children. 

"He gave me calcium and some pills, and after eight months I was
better again." 

Some farmers feel more has been done to monitor animal health
than that of humans. 

Last week Huw Roberts, NFU Meirionnydd county president,
returned home to Llanuwchllyn after an operation to remove an
intestinal tumour at Wrexham Maelor Hospital. 

He is said to be doing well but, as his farm was also in the
radioactive fall-out zone, questions are being asked about its
link with Chernobyl - and the former nuclear plant at
Trawsfynydd. 

Gwynedd has higher than average rates of breast and rectal
cancer than the rest of Wales. The Local Health Board says this
are more likely due to social deprivation and unhealthy
lifestyles. 

Group stormed Chernobyl meeting 

IN the days after the Chernobyl nuclear explosion, Eryl Roberts
recalls grey dust raining from the skies, coating cars and
people alike. 

He knew there would be repercussions for farmers but had no idea
the affects would be felt 20 years on. 

Mr Roberts, younger brother of FUW vice-president Glyn Roberts,
had only secured the tenancy on his 65-acre National Trust farm
a month earlier. 

"I thought, 'what the hell have I let myself in for?'," said
father-of-nine Mr Roberts, who farms a mile away from his
brother at Ty Mawr Eidda. 

"We weren't allowed to sell anything for four months and we had
no money coming into the farm." 


That August, Welsh Office, officials met farm union leaders at
the Eagles Hotel, Llanrwst. 


As angry farmers gathered outside, word leaked out that the
talks had stalled, and a group stormed the meeting, Eryl Roberts
among them. 


A chair was placed in front of the delegation to signify the
talks should continue. 


After a call to Cardiff, in which the officials declined police
help, the farmers were promised compensation proposals. 


"Until then I don't think the officials realised how desperate
the situation was," said Eryl. 


Compensation payments started the following month.   	
      	
© owned by or licensed to Trinity Mirror Plc 2006
icNorthWalesTM is a trade mark of Trinity Mirror Plc.
*****************************************************************
 49 SABCnews.com: Eskom says Koeberg to run at full capacity in July                                                                      

South African Broadcasting Corporation Copyright ©
2000 - 2005 SABC   				 			

[Eskom warns that the Cape faces a critical three months
due to a rise in demand for electricity]    					
   					
Electricity generators at the Koeberg plant should be running at
full capacity by the end of July 					   					

April 13, 2006, 15:00
 				
Both electricity generators at the Koeberg nuclear power plant
should be running at full capacity by the end of July, but until
then the Western Cape remains at risk of a 400 megawatts
shortfall, Eskom said today.
 
Briefing the media at the power station, about 40km north of
Cape Town, Thulani Gcabashe, the Eskom chief executive, warned
that the region faced a critical three months, as temperatures
dropped with the onset of winter and the demand for electricity
rose. "As temperatures drop, the risk of load shedding increases
- we expect this situation to continue until both units are back
and there is 1 800 megawatts available from Koeberg at the end
of July. The situation will then be back to normal."
 
Gcabashe said a new rotor had arrived for Koeberg's unit one
generator and this was now inside the plant's turbine hall
"being looked at and prepared". The damaged stator, into which
the replacement rotor will be inserted, was being re-assembled.
"The expected completion date and synchronisation to the
national grid remains May 15 as progress has been very good,"
says Gcabashe.
 
Refuelling and maintenance outage

 Unit two would then, during the third week of May, go on "a
refuelling and maintenance outage". If all went as planned, both
units would be running by the end of July, he said. 

Also present at today's briefing was Alec Erwin, the public
enterprises minister, who said the investigation into the cause
of the damage to the generator - which Eskom says was the result
of a loose bolt being left in the unit - was continuing.
 
Asked what had prompted him to declare, on February 28 this
year, that the bolt being in the generator when it was started
up was "not an accident," he maintained this had not been by
chance. "What gave me cause for making that statement is the
circumstances around the incident, which are being very
carefully investigated both from a point of view of management's
own operating practice, but also because of the possibility that
this was an untoward act." The investigation by the "appropriate
agency" was continuing, and it would announce any arrests.
 
Gcabashe said the spray washing of certain Western Cape power
transmission lines and the replacement of insulators - which
were damaged by a combination of fire and fog earlier this year
- was progressing well. Eskom's demand side management programme
was also gaining momentum, including supplying five million
energy-saving compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) to the Cape Town
area. - Sapa 				

*****************************************************************
 50 FOXNews.com: Twenty Years After Chernobyl - 

Thursday, April 13, 2006

By Steven Milloy

April 26 marks the 20th anniversary of the accident at the 
Chernobyl nuclear power plant. Anti-nuclear activists are still 
trying to turn Chernobyl into a bigger disaster than it really 
was.                                                                                                                     

Although the Number Four nuclear reactor at Chernobyl exploded
just before dawn on April 26, 1986, Soviet secrecy prevented the
world from learning about the accident for days. Once details
began to emerge, however, the anti-nuclear scare machine swung
into action. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Three days after the accident Greenpeace scientists predicted
the accident would cause 10,000 people to get cancer over a
20-year period within a 625-mile radius of the plant. Greenpeace
also estimated that 2,000 to 4,000 people in Sweden would
develop cancer over a 30-year period from the radioactive
fallout. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

At the same time, Helen Caldicott, president emeritus of the
anti-nuclear Physicians for Social Responsibility, predicted the
accident would cause almost 300,000 cancers in 5 to 50 years and
cause almost 1 million people either to be rendered sterile or
mentally retarded, or to develop radiation sickness, menstrual
problems and other health problems. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

University of California-Berkeley medical physicist and nuclear
power critic Dr. John Gofman made the most dire forecast. He
predicted at an American Chemical Society meeting that the
Chernobyl accident would cause 1 million cancers worldwide, half
of them fatal. 			 			 				 			 			 				 					 

But the reality of the health consequences of the Chernobyl
accident seems to be quite different than predicted by the
anti-nuke crowd. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

As of mid-2005, fewer than 50 deaths were attributed to
radiation from the accident  thats according to a report,
entitled Chernobyls Legacy: Health Environmental and
Socio-Economic Impacts, produced by an international team of
100 scientists working under the auspices of the United Nations.
Almost all of those 50 deaths were rescue workers who were
highly exposed to radiation and died within months of the
accident. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

So far, there have been about 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer,
mainly in children. But except for nine deaths, all of those
with thyroid cancer have recovered, according to the report. 			
			 				 			 			 				 

Despite the UN report, the anti-nuclear mob hasnt given up on
Chernobyl scaremongering. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

According to a March 25 report in The Guardian (UK), Greenpeace
and others are set to issue a report around the 20th anniversary
of the accident claiming that at least 500,000 people may have
already died as a result of the accident. 			 			 				 			 			
				 

Ukraine's government appears to be on board with the casualty
inflation game, perhaps looking for more international aid for
the economically-struggling former Soviet republic. 			 			 				
			 			 				 

The Guardian article quoted the deputy head of the Ukraine
National Commission for Radiation Protection as touting the
500,000-deaths figure. A spokesman for the Ukraine governments
Scientific Center for Radiation Medicine told The Guardian,
Were overwhelmed by thyroid cancers, leukemias and genetic
mutations that are not recorded in the [UN] data and which were
practically unknown 20 years ago. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Putting aside the anti-nuclear movements track record of making
wild claims and predictions in order advance its political
agenda, I put more credence in the UNs estimates because it
squares with what we know about real-life exposures to high
levels of radiation. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Among the more than 86,000 survivors of the atomic bomb blasts
that ended World War II, for example, only about 500 or so
extra cancers have occurred since 1950. Exposure to
high-levels of radiation does increase cancer risk, but only
slightly. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

There is no doubt that Chernobyl was a disaster, but it was not
one of mythical proportions. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Chernobyl and Three Mile Island  the U.S. nuclear plant that
accidentally released a small amount radiation in 1979  are
examples of how the anti-nuclear lobby takes every available
opportunity to scare the public about nuclear power. 			 			
				 			 			 				 

But no one was harmed by the incident at Three Mile Island. The
Chernobyl accident can be chalked up to deficiencies in its
Soviet-era design and operation. Neither reflect poorly on the
track record of safety demonstrated by nuclear power plants
designed, built and operated in countries like the U.S., U.K.,
France and Japan. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Its quite ironic that while Greenpeace squawks about the need
to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in order to avert the
much-dreaded global warming, the group continues spreading fear
about greenhouse gas-free nuclear power plants  the only
practical alternative to burning fossil fuels for producing
electricity. 			 			 				 			 			 				 

Apparently, Greenpeaces solution to our energy problems is
simply to turn the lights off  for good. 			 			 				 			 			
				 

*****************************************************************
 51 Mos News: Russian Held in Uranium Theft Case - 

NEWS - MOSNEWS.COM

Photo from www.mii.org          
 	 	
Created: 13.04.2006 13:23 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 14:28 MSK 	
 	
MosNews
 	 	 	 	 	 	 		 	
A large amount of a radioactive substance, enough to manufacture
a nuclear bomb was seized from two workers outside Moscow by
local police, a popular Moscow tabloid, Moskovsky Komsomolets,
reported Thursday. 

A 38-year-old foreman was detained earlier this week after he
had reportedly stolen over 20 kilograms of highly radioactive
uranium-235 from the plant where he worked. 

Some time ago the regional police authority in charge of
combating organized crime was tipped off that a local resident
was looking for a buyer for radioactive materials. 

It transpired that the man was a foreman at a local machine
building plant and had access to facilities producing nuclear
fuel for atomic power stations. 

Police officers got in touch with the seller as would-be buyers
and arranged for a meeting. The man arrived at the site
accompanied by his 37-year-old accomplice. 

In the boot of their car police found over 20 kilograms of
radioactive metal. 	 	 	 
	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	     
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
 52 [NukeNet] Federation of American Scientists website infor on
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:08:18 -0700

<x-flowed>
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)

To nukenet readers- It doesn't sound like it contains depleted uranium
More info on excellent website below:
The Nuclear Information Project
Documenting Nuclear Policy and Operations-
a project with the American Federation of Scientists
<http://nukestrat.com/>http://nukestrat.com/

http://nukestrat.com/us/stratcom/gs-divinestrake.htm

Nuclear Brief April 3, 2006

Divine Strake: Global Strike Low-Yield Nuclear Simulation
Update 4/7/06: After DTRA told 
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040601916.html>Washington 
Post that Divine Strake is not a nuclear simulation after all, we're 
waiting for an official explanation from DTRA why it told FAS (and 
Congress) that it is nuclear. More to come...

excerpts below:

"Divine Strake is neither a bomb nor conventional. Instead, the test is a 
detonation of a pile of chemical explosives to simulate a "low-yield 
nuclear weapon ground shock" effect to "improve the warfighter's confidence 
in selecting the smallest proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy 
underground facilities while minimizing collateral damage.""

"The "Weapon"
Contrary to most of the media reports, Divine Strake is not testing a 
conventional bomb but simply detonates a huge pile (700 tons) of Ammonium 
Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFO). For comparison, the largest conventional 
weapon in the U.S. inventory is the MOAB (Massive Ordnance Air Blast) bomb, 
which contains nearly nine tons of explosives with a yield of approximately 
0.12 kt TNT.
The explosive power of Divine Strake will be approximately 593 tons of TNT 
equivalent, or roughly 0.6 kt. This is about double the lowest yield option 
on the non-strategic B61 nuclear gravity bomb, and suggests that Divine 
Strake may be intended to fine-tune use of the B61 bomb. "
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 53 [NukeNet] Test blast in Nevada: A nuclear rehearsal
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:33:10 -0700

<x-flowed>
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)

<http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3678364>http://www.sltrib.com/nationworld/ci_3678364
Test blast in Nevada: A nuclear rehearsal   4/12/06
Pentagon apparently looks for an optimal size of a 'bunker buster'
<mailto:gehrke@sltrib.com>By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
excerpts below:
  " While it will not be a nuclear explosion - no nuclear or radioactive 
material will be used - the Divine Strake blast will be
47955.jpg
47a0d.jpg 47a15.jpg
47a1c.jpg 47a25.jpg
47a2d.jpg
five times larger than the military's largest conventional weapon, the 
Massive Ordinance Air Blast Bomb, or MOAB, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs."

" The nuclear tie-in to Divine Strake test was rooted out by Kristensen and 
Andrew Lichterman, a nuclear weapons opponent and blogger.
    "It's not a step toward nuclear testing. It is nuclear testing. It's 
just nuclear testing the way it's done today," since actual nuclear tests 
are banned by treaties, Kristensen said. "

also see:
<http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/apr/11/566679351.html>http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/apr/11/566679351.html
  Bush's denial of plans for Iran hit wrong chord before Test Site blast
By Launce Rake  Las Vegas Sun 4/11/06
"Hans Kristensen, an analyst with the Federation of American Scientists, a 
group which first raised the alarm over the June 2 test, said the geologic 
conditions at the Test Site resemble those in Iran. He said the blast also 
seems to closely resemble that which the military would achieve with the 
B-61 nuclear weapon, a part of the U.S. nuclear arsenal."
.....
"The Nevada test "is very close to the low yield range of the nuclear 
stockpile," Kristensen said.
That is the type of tactical nuclear weapon that The New Yorker article 
said the administration is considering for use against Iran. "

see entire article:
<http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/apr/11/566679351.html>http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2006/apr/11/566679351.html
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 54 [NukeNet] Environmental officials halt test site explosion
 
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:08:02 -0700

<x-flowed>
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)


From: Anna Maria Caldara <dscape@epix.net>
To: bcarroll@d-scape.com
Subject: Temporarily Unexploded Bombs and Uncorked Champagne
Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 15:44:04 -0400

Dear Friends, Julie Enszer, executive director of NPRI (Nuclear Policy
research Institute) sent me this press release today. PLEASE PROCEED WITH
YOUR PHONE CALLS AND LETTER WRITING. There is no cause for celebration until
this test--and the reason this test is being conducted--are stopped. Thank
you!  Anna Maria Caldara


Apr. 12, 2006
Copyright (c) Las Vegas Review-Journal

Environmental officials halt test site explosion

Massive, non-nuclear blast had been slated for June 2

By KEITH ROGERS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

Nevada environmental officials have halted a massive,
non-nuclear explosion scheduled for June 2 at the
Nevada Test Site until the federal agency hosting the
blast shows it will comply with air quality standards
and that hazardous particles can be tracked, letters
released Tuesday reveal.

The National Nuclear Security Administration "is
prohibited from allowing this test to proceed until
authorization from NDEP (the Nevada Division of
Environmental Protection) has been received," the
state division Administrator Leo Drozdoff wrote in a
letter sent Friday to test site manager Kathleen
Carlson.

The letter refers to an April 28, 2005, request to
Carlson from the state Bureau of Air Pollution
Control.

"To date, the NNSA has not responded to this
information request. NNSA is reminded that no approval
was received. ... In order to conduct this test, NNSA
needs to provide all information and demonstrations
required," Drozdoff wrote.

Kevin Rohrer, a spokesman for the National Nuclear
Security Administration's Nevada Site Office, said his
agency will provide the requested information to the
state "within two weeks."

"What the state wants to see is further analysis and
computer modeling of any plume that might be generated
from this to ensure that any emissions are still
within the threshold established in our air permit,"
Rohrer said.

He said initial calculations based on detonating 900
tons of ammonium nitrate fuel oil solution in a
30-foot pit show the blast will be in compliance with
the test site's air permit that was issued in June
2004.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which wants to
conduct the test above a limestone tunnel, intends to
use a smaller amount of ammonium nitrate fuel oil
solution, 700 tons.

"We believe we're going to be well below the
threshold," Rohrer said.

The state's April 2005 request seeks documentation
that identifies hazardous pollutants that will be
carried by the explosion's mushroom cloud. It also
calls for documentation that demonstrates that state
and federal air quality standards will be met. The
information is required under an existing air quality
permit for operating the government's test site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas.

In a statement issued Tuesday, Steve Robinson, Gov.
Kenny Guinn's deputy chief of staff, said: "The
governor's office expects the NNSA to fully comply
with all applicable state environmental rules and
regulations before any testing is done."

Drozdoff's letter was written the same day that
Citizen Alert, a statewide environmental group, called
for the Defense Department and Energy Department to
halt the Divine Strake blast, claiming it is
unnecessary and could send surface contamination from
previous atomic bomb tests into the air.

When told Tuesday about the state blocking the
explosion until air quality compliance is
demonstrated, Citizen Alert Executive Director Peggy
Maze Johnson said she was delighted. But, she added,
the calculations and modeling should be done by
independent air-quality experts.

"Instead of NNSA hiring their contractors to do what
the state wants, they need to bring in an independent
study group to do that, somebody who isn't on their
payroll and doesn't owe them," she said.

The Divine Strake blast is aimed at developing
technology for weapons to penetrate "hardened and
deeply buried targets," according to the Defense
Threat Reduction Agency.


Terri S. Lodge
Coordinator
Arms Control Advocacy Collaborative
1200 New York Avenue, NW, 4th Floor
Washington, D.C. 20005
202-513-6245 office
202-302-5683 cell
202-289-1060 fax
terrislodgeter@yahoo.com


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 55 reviewjournal.com: Environmental officials halt test site explosion
 
Apr. 12, 2006

Massive, non-nuclear blast had been slated for June 2    

By KEITH ROGERS <br/>REVIEW-JOURNAL

Graphic by Mike Johnson.
 	   
Nevada environmental officials have halted a massive,
non-nuclear explosion scheduled for June 2 at the Nevada Test
Site until the federal agency hosting the blast shows it will
comply with air quality standards and that hazardous particles
can be tracked, letters released Tuesday reveal. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration "is prohibited from
allowing this test to proceed until authorization from NDEP (the
Nevada Division of Environmental Protection) has been received,"
the state division Administrator Leo Drozdoff wrote in a letter
sent Friday to test site manager Kathleen Carlson. 

The letter refers to an April 28, 2005, request to Carlson from
the state Bureau of Air Pollution Control. 

"To date, the NNSA has not responded to this information
request. NNSA is reminded that no approval was received. ... In
order to conduct this test, NNSA needs to provide all
information and demonstrations required," Drozdoff wrote. 

Kevin Rohrer, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration's Nevada Site Office, said his agency will
provide the requested information to the state "within two
weeks." 

"What the state wants to see is further analysis and computer
modeling of any plume that might be generated from this to
ensure that any emissions are still within the threshold
established in our air permit," Rohrer said. 

He said initial calculations based on detonating 900 tons of
ammonium nitrate fuel oil solution in a 30-foot pit show the
blast will be in compliance with the test site's air permit that
was issued in June 2004. 

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, which wants to conduct the
test above a limestone tunnel, intends to use a smaller amount
of ammonium nitrate fuel oil solution, 700 tons. 

"We believe we're going to be well below the threshold," Rohrer
said. 

The state's April 2005 request seeks documentation that
identifies hazardous pollutants that will be carried by the
explosion's mushroom cloud. It also calls for documentation that
demonstrates that state and federal air quality standards will
be met. The information is required under an existing air
quality permit for operating the government's test site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

In a statement issued Tuesday, Steve Robinson, Gov. Kenny
Guinn's deputy chief of staff, said: "The governor's office
expects the NNSA to fully comply with all applicable state
environmental rules and regulations before any testing is done." 

Drozdoff's letter was written the same day that Citizen Alert, a
statewide environmental group, called for the Defense Department
and Energy Department to halt the Divine Strake blast, claiming
it is unnecessary and could send surface contamination from
previous atomic bomb tests into the air. 

When told Tuesday about the state blocking the explosion until
air quality compliance is demonstrated, Citizen Alert Executive
Director Peggy Maze Johnson said she was delighted. But, she
added, the calculations and modeling should be done by
independent air-quality experts. 

"Instead of NNSA hiring their contractors to do what the state
wants, they need to bring in an independent study group to do
that, somebody who isn't on their payroll and doesn't owe them,"
she said. 

The Divine Strake blast is aimed at developing technology for
weapons to penetrate "hardened and deeply buried targets,"
according to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. 	   


Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement
*****************************************************************
 56 DesMoinesRegister.com: Agency recommends compensation for Ames Lab's nuclear workers
 	 	 	 	 
REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU
 
        April 13, 2006 

A federal agency has recommended a plan to speed government
compensation to former nuclear workers at the Ames Laboratory.

The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health has
recommended that people who worked at the Ames Lab at least 250
days between 1942 and 1954 and who have one of 22 types of
cancer receive automatic compensation as part of a special
exposure cohort, said Laurence Fuortes, a University of Iowa
professor of occupational health who coordinates health
screening for the Department of Labor.

"It's absolutely good news for the early workers," he said.

The institute's recommendation must be approved by the Advisory
Board on Radiation and Worker Health, which meets April 25,
Fuortes said.

Under legislation approved by Congress, people found to have
been made ill by their work with nuclear weapon components are
to receive $150,000 and medical care. About 350 former workers
at the Iowa Army Ammunition Plant in Middletown started
receiving compensation last year because of work-related cancers.

The Ames Lab played a key role in the Manhattan Project, a
top-secret government endeavor to create a self-sustaining
nuclear reaction that led to the first atomic bomb.

About 1,000 people worked at the lab from 1942 to 1954, but it
is unknown how many may have cancer, Fuortes said.

A few questions remain about the institute's recommendation,
including whether people who worked at the Ames Lab less than
250 days should be eligible for benefits because of explosions
that might have increased their exposure to uranium, Fuortes
said. People who do not quality for the cohort could still
receive compensation if their individual radiation exposure is
determined to be high enough, he said.
 	 	 			 			 	 	 	         

Copyright © 2006, The Des Moines Register.
*****************************************************************
 57 Spectrum: Nevada seeking more info on blast

St. George UT www.thespectrum.com - 

+ DOE has not yet provided necessary information for state
air-quality permit

 By BRIAN PASSEY bpassey@thespectrum.com

ST. GEORGE - Nevada state officials said the large non-nuclear
blast planned for June 2 at the Nevada Test Site could be
delayed if federal officials do not provide information the
state requested last year.

"They are prohibited from moving forward until they have the
authorization from us," said Dante Pistone, public information
officer for the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection.
"We're just mainly concerned with ensuring the test is done
according to our rules and regulations and that all of those
specifications are met."


Pistone said the state asked the U.S. Department of Energy last
year for additional information required for an air quality
permit. It still has not received that information. On April 7
it sent another letter to the DOE indicating it could not
proceed with the test until the information is received. He said
Nevada does have the power to block the test, code-named "Divine
Strake," until the requirements are satisfied. The length of
time will depend on how long it takes for the Department of
Environmental Protection to receive the information, review it
for compatibility with the state's criteria and give approval.

Steve Robinson, deputy chief of staff for Nevada Gov. Kenny
Guinn, said the DOE has contacted the governor's office and the
department plans to comply with the request. Robinson said the
state is requiring the permit because state agencies have a
responsibility to protect the public.

"We've got a state permitting process that everybody has to
abide by," he said.

Once the state receives the required information, regulators
will make sure there are no adverse effects from the blast. As
long as no problems are identified, the state will allow the
blast to go forward.

A spokeswoman for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the
military division in charge of the test, confirmed that plans
still are moving forward for the June 2 blast.

"It's not halted, it's not been postponed, it's not stopped,"
said Irene Smith, public affairs spokeswoman for DTRA.

Smith said the National Nuclear Security Administration's Nevada
Site Office told the state it expects any emissions from the
blast to meet standards from an air quality permit granted in
2004. Those calculations were originally for an explosion of 940
tons of ammonium nitrate-fuel oil. Since then the size was
reduced to 700 tons.

She said the Nevada Test Site is preparing additional
documentation for the state. Those results should be sent within
two weeks.

Federal officials already planned to track any particles from
the explosion with air monitors. The blast will take place about
150 miles west of St. George above a limestone tunnel on the
site.

The federal government used the site for above-ground nuclear
testing until 1961 and below-ground testing through the early
1990s. The blast site is about 1 1/2 miles from the nearest
tunnel used for underground nuclear testing and possibly as
close as three miles from an above-ground testing location.

Members of Congress from Nevada and Utah and groups like the
Downwinders and the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah have
expressed concerns about the blast, which will reportedly send
up a dust cloud nearly two miles high. Among the concerns is the
possibility that the blast could disrupt radioactive particles
from previous tests, sending them downwind of the test site.

Smith said an environmental assessment of the blast made
predictions about how far the dust cloud would rise and how far
it could travel before falling. She said the paths and
dimensions of the dust cloud are the product of meteorological
conditions. With the height of the cloud likely to only reach
8,500 feet, Smith said it is "very unlikely" for the cloud to
stray off range.

Utah connection

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, has been among the most vocal in
questioning the parameters of the blast. He said Wednesday that
he hopes the federal government will comply with the state of
Nevada's request.

"We want everybody to be held accountable by the rules," he
said. "One would hope that if the state of Nevada was requesting
information, that would be available before a permit was issued."

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said he has concerns for the welfare
of Utahns but this is not a nuclear blast like those of the
1950s. His legislation, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act,
has been instrumental in compensating downwinder victims of
those above-ground atomic tests at the site.

"I always have concerns for the health and well-being of all
Utahns," he said Tuesday. "Hopefully we can watch this very,
very carefully. I have made a commitment to the people of the
state of Utah and the other Western states that I will never
support the resumption of nuclear tests that could harm a human
being."

Vanessa Pierce, program director for the Healthy Environment
Alliance of Utah, said her organization supports the Nevada
Department of Environmental Protection in requiring more
information from the federal government. She said the
downwinders of the past are part of why the government should be
placed under high scrutiny for any major blasts at the Nevada
Test Site.

"We absolutely support the highest level of scrutiny possible,
given that Utahns and Nevadans and literally thousands of
Americans were put in harm's way in past nuclear testing," she
said.

Pierce said HEAL Utah also would like to see a complete
environmental impact statement for the planned blast. The DOE
only completed a less-comprehensive environmental assessment of
the site, which determined there would be no "adverse impact" on
the environment from the blast.

In the assessment, the DOE determined there is no radioactively
contaminated soil near the detonation site. The tunnel itself
has never been used for nuclear testing.

Matheson did not say if he believes a complete EIS is necessary
but only that a determination was made at the beginning of the
project that an environmental assessment would be completed.

Pistone, of Nevada's Department of Environmental Protection,
said a complete EIS would depend on what is in the information
requested from the DOE. If the parameters of the blast go beyond
a certain threshold as far as air pollution, Pistone said the
government may have to go back for more information.

"It really depends on what they come back to us with," he said.

Originally published April 13, 2006

 Copyright ©2006 The Spectrum.
*****************************************************************
 58 Democrat & Chronicle: Aid urged for vets exposed to uranium 

 Rochester DemocratandChronicle.com]

NICK REISMAN Albany bureau 

(April 13, 2006)  ALBANY — While it's unknown how many former
servicemen and -women have been exposed to depleted uranium used
in weaponry, the side effects need to be studied before many
U.S. veterans become seriously ill, say some state lawmakers. 

"Uranium is in a lot of these weapons that a lot of our
servicemen and -women use — it's the junk weaponry that may,
whatever, be the problem," said Sen. Thomas Morahan, R-New City,
Rockland County. "I say 'may' because we're not sure. If it is
(a) developing (problem), we need to make sure the people of New
York state we have that serve in Iraq get the treatment." 

Morahan has sponsored a bill that would require the state
Division of Veterans' Affairs to help veterans who were exposed
to any hazardous chemicals while in combat tap in to federal
aid, including medical services and tests. 

Harvey McCagg, a spokesman for the state Division of Veteran's
Affairs, said that the agency already ensures that former
soldiers get the assistance they need. 

"We've been doing that since 1945. That's the core mission of
the division," he said. "That includes (obtaining) health care,
economic and social benefits." 

The proposal would create a state task force to study the
effects of depleted uranium and other hazardous materials on
soldiers. The task force would also set up a registry of
veterans who may have been exposed since the first Gulf War. 

Co-sponsors, including Assemblyman Jeffery Dinowitz, D-Bronx,
said they weren't sure what the cost of the program would be to
the state but said it wouldn't be high. 

Morahan compared depleted uranium exposure to Agent Orange, a
chemical used during the Vietnam War. The harmful effects of
exposure to the chemical on both soldiers and Vietnamese
civilians weren't studied until years later. That can't happen
again, he said. 

"Our people are going from one climate to another part of the
world without some of the immunizations," Morahan said. "Agent
Orange caused tremendous problems not just for the GI coming
home but the family as well." 

Because it's combat-durable, depleted uranium is used to
manufacture armaments, such as armor for tanks.

While he doesn't know any former service members who have come
forward with the problem specifically, McCagg said that "a
number of former servicemen from New York" have gone through
depleted uranium testing. 

"Certainly in the first Gulf War we had members come back
exposed," said U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs spokesman Jim
Benson. Benson said that some veterans of the war joined a
long-term study spanning the last two decades, which is not
finished. 

"It's not in the federal government's interest for this issue to
be exposed because it (depleted uranium) makes such an
excellent, efficient weapon," said Joan Walker of the No DU
Coalition of the Hudson Valley. 

GANNETT@Albany.net

*****************************************************************
 59 Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada demands blast data 

Updated: 04/13/2006 08:25:24 AM MDT 

Divine Strake: Test won't proceed until Pentagon proves safety 

By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune 

WASHINGTON - Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn and state officials are 
demanding assurances that a massive blast planned at the Nevada 
Test Site won't violate environmental laws, saying the test 
can't proceed until they give the go-ahead. 

The Pentagon says Nevada will get the information it wants, 
and the detonation of 700 tons of explosives will go ahead June 
2 as planned. 

Labeled Divine Strake, the test was billed in Defense 
Department documents as a way to help war planners choose the 
smallest nuclear weapon needed to destroy buried targets, such 
as bunkers or tunnels. The department now says the nuclear 
reference was a mistake and the test is for conventional 
purposes only. 

Nevada Division of Environmental Protection Administrator Leo 
Drozdoff said in a letter to the federal Test Site operator that 
it must provide Nevada with emissions models for the blast and 
assurances the test will not violate state or federal air 
standards. 

"Once that information is received, [the state agency] will 
make a determination as to whether the test complies with" 
Nevada law, Drozdoff wrote to the National Nuclear Security 
Administration. "NNSA is prohibited from allowing this test to 
proceed until authorization from [the state agency] has been 
received." 

Nevada officials review specific tests at the site to ensure 
they comply with general permits. 

"The Governor's Office expects the NNSA to fully comply with 
all applicable state environmental rules and regulations before 
any testing is done," Guinn's deputy chief of staff, Steve 
Robinson, said in a statement. 

Irene Smith, spokeswoman for the Pentagon's Defense Threat 
Reduction Agency, said that, based on modeling done for a 
potential 940-ton blast, emissions from the test are expected to 
be within the limits of the test site's air permit, and the test 
would only be allowed if certain weather conditions are met. 

However, she said, NNSA plans to do additional computer 
modeling to meet Nevada's concerns and will provide that 
information to the state within two weeks. 

"We're still planning on holding the test," Smith said. "It 
has not been postponed or cancelled." 

The Divine Strake test consists of the detonation of 700 tons 
of explosives above a tunnel. Computers will measure the damage 
to the tunnel and ground shaking in the area. 

There is concern that the test could be used to develop a new 
generation of low-yield tactical nuclear weapons, based on the 
Pentagon budget document and the size of the explosion - five 
times larger than the largest existing conventional weapon, but 
many times smaller than the country's smallest nuclear weapon. 

In 2003, the Bush administration convinced Congress to 
partially repeal its ban on development of tactical nuclear 
weapons. 

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, raised concerns about the 
potential for new nuclear development in a letter to the Defense 
Threat Reduction Agency. 

He also asked for additional details on the test and 
assurances that Utahns across the border will not be endangered. 

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid and Rep. Shelly Berkley, had expressed 
concern about the test, but after a briefing with Pentagon 
officials both said they were reassured the test could be 
conducted safely. 

Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 60 AFP: Bikini Islanders sue US for 560 mln dlrs for nuclear tests -
     
 Thu Apr 13, 10:26 AM ET 		 	 

MAJURO (AFP) - Bikini Islanders have filed a lawsuit against the
US government seeking more than 560 million US dollars in
compensation after they were forced from their homes 60 years
ago to make way for nuclear tests. 

Bikini, which is part of the central Pacific nation of the
Marshall Islands, is asking the US Court of Federal Claims to
order the US government to pay a nuclear test compensation award
approved in 2001, but so far unpaid by a Nuclear Claims
Tribunal. 

The tribunal was created by the US government to handle
compensation claims arising from the 67 American nuclear tests
in the Marshall Islands. A total of 23 nuclear tests were held
on Bikini between 1946 and 1958. 

After more than seven years of legal wrangling, the Majuro-based
tribunal awarded the Bikinians 563.3 million dollars in 2001. 

"Due to woefully inadequate funding provided by the United
States -- only 45.75 million dollars -- the tribunal was able to
pay the Bikinians only 2.3 million, or less than one-half of one
percent of their award," said the suit, filed Wednesday. 

The latest suit was filed by Bikini Senator Tomaki Juda, Mayor
Eldon Note and members of the Bikini council. Juda said recently
the suit is aimed at forcing the US government to deliver on
promises that it made to the Bikinians but has not kept. 

The US Navy evacuated the Bikinians in March 1946. At the time
US Navy Commodore Ben Wyatt told the islanders that the US was
trying to learn how to use (nuclear weapons) for the good of
mankind and to "end all world wars". 

According to official navy records, he then asked the Bikini
people to "sacrifice their islands for the welfare of all men". 

The Bikini islanders did not wish to leave but believed they
were powerless to resist the US decision, the suit said. 

The people were moved by the Navy three times. After nearly
starving to death on the first island they were sent to, the
population ended up on Kili Island in 1948, where they have
lived since. 

In the late 1960s, based on the findings of an Atomic Energy
Commission's scientific panel, President Lyndon Johnson
announced that Bikini was safe and the people could return home. 

About 100 people were resettled on Bikini only to be
re-evacuated in 1978 when it was discovered they were absorbing
a huge amount of radioactive cesium from contaminated foods
grown on the atoll. 

Later investigations showed the tests relied on by Johnson in
1968 contained an error which assumed people living on Bikini
would consume just one spoonful of liquid a day. 

Following the second evacuation in 1978, numerous surveys of
Bikini have concluded that the atoll is "still is not safe for
human habitation", the suit said. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 61 reviewjournal.com: Yucca Mountain a must for nation, energy chief says
 
Apr. 13, 2006

Nuclear power use to grow, official predicts     

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, left, ponders a question
Wednesday while Paul Golan, acting civilian radioactive waste
management director, discusses the Yucca Mountain Project in an
editorial board meeting at the Review-Journal.
Photo by Jeff Scheid.
 	   
On his first trip to Las Vegas as energy secretary, Samuel
Bodman admitted Wednesday that there have been flaws with the
quality of the science in the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
project. But he vowed to hold the course for opening a
repository because the nation, he said, increasingly will rely
on nuclear power. 

The 67-year-old chemical engineer from Massachusetts said a bill
to speed the process and clear the way for expanding the planned
repository from holding 77,000 tons to more than 120,000 tons of
deadly nuclear waste and spent fuel assemblies is key to
achieving that goal. 

The Bush administration's nuclear power cost-sharing initiative
to license three or four civilian nuclear reactors by 2010 "is
going pretty well," he said. 

"The problem is we don't need three or four nuclear plants in my
judgment. We need 14 or 24. We need a large number. And that's
the driver behind Yucca Mountain," Bodman said. 

His comments came at a meeting with the Review-Journal's
editorial board on the eve of a trip today to the Nevada Test
Site and Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

Asked whether the concept of disposing nuclear waste inside the
volcanic-rock ridge or any geologic setting where it must be
contained safely for hundreds of thousands or a million years
defies good science, Bodman said: "I can tell you I know about
science. I have training in science. This will be done according
to good science, or it will not be done." 

He bristled at comments by critics of the federal nuclear waste
disposal plan. 

The critics contend that the Energy Department is so intent on
pushing the Yucca Mountain Project through, despite quality
assurance problems, that it will step on state powers to obtain
a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, take water
from the state for the repository and withdraw land for a rail
line to haul waste to it. 

Changing the law to expand the repository "is not a big deal,"
Bodman said. "It is a significant difference, but I do not
consider this a major part of the legislation." 

The Nevada Nuclear Projects Agency, the force behind the state's
official opposition to the project, contends that the new
legislation is "an unconstitutional usurpation of Nevada's
sovereign prerogatives (that) obscenely circumvents Yucca's
scientific flaws." 

Bodman's reaction to that comment was: "It's wrong." 

"I think that's an incorrect assessment," he said. "First of
all, we're not being exonerated from anything. We have had
failings in the past. I've acknowledged that. ... Under this
legislation, we will continue to be subject to the NRC's
licensing effort." 

Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada Nuclear Projects
Agency, said Bodman's remark indicates that he must not be
familiar with case law on state water rights. Western lawmakers,
he said, are unified that federal attempts to commandeer a
state's water are unconstitutional. 

"If he does not think there is a constitutional issue there,
then he is more unaware of federal law than he ought to be,"
Loux said. 

After e-mails among U.S. Geological Survey scientists surfaced
last year and brought into question the quality of scientific
work, Bodman has acknowledged that the Yucca Mountain Project is
"broken." 

On Wednesday, he could not pinpoint when the project became
broken but said his acting civilian waste management director,
Paul Golan, expects to have a license application for Yucca
Mountain ready for review in 2008, four years late. 

Although legislation is a piece of the "fix," he said, a larger
part is a "clean canister" design approach to the management of
Yucca Mountain for which a schedule will be made public this
summer. 

He was vague about his plan to fix what is broken. "As of today
I can't answer the specifics of the question," he said. 

Earlier he said, "I have been disappointed in what I inherited
with respect to management practices that have been used in the
past." 

"The culture of this organization was not what we wish it to
be," he said. "It is reflected in the USGS e-mail. ... It's
clear that we're not dealing with an organization at that point
in time that was ready to go forward with a license
application." 

Golan said he will change the project's culture not by decree
but through transparent leadership "and by the small things you
do, by rewarding people who bring things up. ... It's leading by
example. It's holding people accountable. It's mentoring them." 

Loux was unconvinced. "This is the umpteenth time the project
has been refocused, re-evaluated, re-committed," he said.
"Everything continues along like it did in the past. While they
may be sincere in trying to correct these things, you can't
solve the problems at Yucca Mountain with leadership tools. The
problem is you can't fix bad science." 

Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of Citizen Alert, a
statewide environmental group, waited Wednesday outside the
Review-Journal with two staff members to confront Bodman. 	 

Maze Johnson said they wanted to question him about why the
Silver State is a constant target for proposed federal programs
that would put Nevadans and the state's environment at risk. 

She referred to the Yucca Mountain Project and the planned
Divine Strake non-nuclear explosion. The blast at the test site
is slated for June 2, but it was put on hold by state
environmental officials until they are shown that the explosion
will comply with air quality standards. 

Despite allegations by anti-nuclear activists that the test is
intended to develop a bunker-busting nuclear bomb, Bodman said
Divine Strake is for conventional weapons development. 

Maze Johnson said the Energy Department is trying to move
forward with both proposals by bypassing environmental laws. 

"Nevada seems to be a target these days," she said. "Why is it
that they (federal officials) keep trying to jam these things
down our throats? It's not appropriate. It's not legal." 

Review-Journal writer Antonio Planas contributed to this report.
	   

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 62 reviewjournal.com: Reprocessing plans tied to Yucca delays, 
scientist tells panel
 
Apr. 13, 2006
	 
Official counters that technology for spent fuel recycling still 
needs to be addressed      

By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
	
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration's ambitious plans to 
reprocess nuclear waste may be tied in part to dissatisfaction 
over the lagging repository project at Yucca Mountain, a leading 
scientist and former Energy Department executive said Wednesday. 

The administration is moving too fast to develop unproven 
technology through its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership, or 
GNEP, said Ernest Moniz, a physics professor at the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology. 

"Right or wrong, the program being discussed has created an
impression of being hellbent to reprocess current spent fuel,
perhaps created by Yucca frustration," Moniz said in a
presentation to a National Academies of Science panel. 

Moniz, who was an energy undersecretary during the Clinton
administration, said DOE risks getting locked into a course and
GNEP could prove to be a wasteful "white elephant." 

"Let's take at least 10 years to develop a robust
laboratory-scale research program and in time we will decide
what makes sense," he said. "There is no guarantee that a cycle
of this kind will ever pass muster." 

In a rebuttal, Vic Reis, a senior adviser to Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman, dismissed the idea that Yucca Mountain was a
factor in propelling GNEP. 

"This isn't just about fixing Yucca Mountain," said Reis, who
also served in the Clinton administration. "We have to do that
anyway." The planned used fuel repository is about eight years
behind schedule and faces possible legal and licensing obstacles
ahead. 

Rather, Reis said, the administration wants to seize an
opportunity to partner with other nations that have needs for
nuclear fuel and waste disposal and that share U.S. concerns
about the spread of nuclear material that could be used to make
bombs. 

"This is not going to be an easy task," Reis said. "If we are
just going to go after this in a business-as-usual,
let's-do-research-and-development sense, I don't think we will
get there." 

Moniz, Reis and DOE adviser Burt Richter, a Nobel Prize laureate
and physics professor at Stanford University, delivered GNEP
presentations to the academies' nuclear and radiation studies
board. 

Their interplay illustrated the debate raging this spring among
scientists, policy members, interest groups and members of
Congress about nuclear fuel reprocessing. 

The House and Senate are expected to vote later this year on
whether to spend at least $250 million the Department of Energy
has requested as a down payment on the GNEP effort. 

The Department of Energy wants to have test fuel cycle
facilities and advanced nuclear reactor pilot plants online by
2017, at a cost of about $13 billion. Further development could
cost billions more. 

GNEP envisions developing fuel recycling technology called
Urex-Plus in partnership with France, Japan, Russia, China and
the United Kingdom. 

As far as disposal, Bush officials have advertised that
reprocessing could shrink volumes of spent fuel and reduce its
radiotoxicity to where Yucca Mountain easily could accommodate
waste that would be generated by new nuclear plants that
industry hopes to build. 

Richter said the United States needs to revive its nuclear waste
reprocessing efforts "and GNEP is a very good start. 

"One of the things it is very important for critics to recognize
is that the United States is no longer the big gorilla that
controls what happens in the nuclear energy business," Richter
said. 

"I don't consider it to be an economic catastrophe for us to
spend a few billion dollars to rebuild a totally decayed nuclear
infrastructure in the United States," he said. 	   


Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement
*****************************************************************
 63 SHT: Whitfield residents don't like Tallevast pollution district plan 

Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Meeting details 

WHAT: Planning Commission meeting with public hearing on
Tallevast Overlay District.

WHEN: Today at 9 a.m.

WHERE: Commission Chambers, first floor, Manatee County
Government Administration Center, 1112 Manatee Ave. W. 

Whitfield residents don't like Tallevast pollution district plan 

BY CHRISTOPHER O'DONNELL
 

MANATEE COUNTY -- Lisa Peabody lives almost a mile from the
polluted former weapons plant in Tallevast, and she's got no
reason to believe the water under her home is contaminated.

Yet her home could become permanently linked with the
contaminated site. Manatee County wants to designate an area
around Tallevast where new wells would be prohibited and the
pollution contained.

The boundaries for the Tallevast pollution district stretch far
beyond the known plume of contaminated ground water and include
hundreds of people who live outside the contaminated area. Many
fear their home values will plummet if they are associated with
Tallevast in any way.

"This is going to make my house not worth a plug nickel,"
Peabody said. "I can't afford to lose the value of my home
because some agency decided to connect me to a spill."

The proposed "Tallevast Overlay District" would prohibit new
wells and require more review of construction projects.

Homeowners looking to sell would be required to make potential
buyers aware of the restrictions.

"Any overlay district throws up a red flag for concern and
always affects value," said John Stephens, owner of North
Manatee Realty. "When you have to tell people that it's in a
contaminated overlay, it's going to kill you."

About 131 acres are known to be contaminated around the former
American Beryllium Co. plant, which now operates as Wire-Pro
Inc. The proposed district stretches from Whitfield Avenue on
the north to University Parkway on the south and between U.S.
301 and U.S. 41 on the east and west.

The district will likely be redrawn -- and could shrink back
closer to the boundaries of the contamination -- once the county
gets the results of a ground-water survey by Lockheed Martin
Corp., which owns the former weapons plant.

"We had to advertise it that way because we don't know the
extent of the ground-water plume," said Karen Collins-Fleming,
the county's environmental management director.

Many of the homes in the proposed district are in Whitfield
Estates.

"They're causing problems with the sales of real estate and
causing property value drops," said Whitfield Ballentine Manor
resident Ben Webster.

Manatee County mailed about 1,400 letters advertising a public
meeting on the proposal to owners of properties inside or within
500 feet of the boundary.

County Commissioner Ron Getman, who lives in Whitfield, said the
county should not be proposing a solution that could affect 
property values in an area that probably isn't contaminated.

"The timing for me seems premature because the final survey is 
not in yet," Getman said. "I would not want to have that problem 
fall on the Whitfield residents if it's not necessary."

If approved, the restrictions would remain in force until state 
officials are satisfied the site has been cleaned up. The letter 
mailed by the county warns that may take up to 20 years.

"I'm 47 and disabled; 20 years is a lifetime for me," Peabody 
said. 
*****************************************************************
 64 BJP: $8M settlement reached in Goodyear airport pollution case - 

Business Journal of Phoenix: 

2006-04-13
 
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyand the U.S. Department
of Justicehave reached a settlement requiring parties
potentially responsible for soil and groundwater contamination
at the Phoenix-Goodyear Airport North Superfund Site to pay more
than $8 million and to clean up the site. 

Under the terms of settlement, Unidynamics/Phoenix Inc.and its
parent company, Crane Co.(NYSE: CR), are required to continue
current cleanup at the site, conduct supplemental site
investigation and future cleanup, pay $6.7 million in past costs
and all future oversight costs, and pay $500,000 in penalties. 

» Get the latest business news on the go! Brought to you by
Cingular 

The settlement also requires the companies to spend $1 million
on an environmental project that includes the inventorying and
assessment of up to 25 possible brownfields sites in the city of
Goodyear, complete four more extensive site assessments, and
conduct cleanups at three of those sites. 

From 1963 through 1994, the Unidynamics/Phoenix facility
manufactured defense and aerospace component systems, including
pyrotechnics and explosives. 

The site was listed on the federal Superfund list in 1983 after
the Arizona Department of Health Services discovered hazardous
substances -- including trichloroethylene, also known as TCE --
in local water supply wells. In the late 1990s, perchlorate, a
common component of rocket fuel, was found in area wells, and
was added as a contaminant of concern for the site. 

The federal government said the penalties were the result of the
companies' failure to comply with two EPA orders, issued in 1990
and 2003, requiring specific site cleanup. 

For more: www.epa.gov. 

© 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 65 Public Citizen: Public Citizen Condemns Bush Administration 
Attempts to Weaken Public Health and Safety Laws for Yucca 
Mountain
 
April 13, 2006 

Secretary Bodman Will Visit Site Today to Tout Legislation That
Would Speed Construction of the Controversial Nuclear Dump 

WASHINGTON, D.C.  Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel
Bodman will visit Yucca Mountain in Nevada today to support new
legislation from the Bush administration that would undermine
public health and safety to accelerate the licensing and
operation of a nuclear waste dump there. 

The Nuclear Fuel Management and Disposal Act (S. 2589) was
introduced in the Senate last week by Energy and Natural
Resources Committee Chairman Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) and
Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman James Inhofe
(R-Okla.) and would eliminate health and safety laws and
regulations for licensing and operating the site. It would also
give the DOE unfettered access to utilities ratepayer fees
while removing limits on the amount of nuclear waste to be
buried at the dump. 

The bills most egregious provisions would: 
  + Abolish state, local and tribal government transportation
authority over the shipment of nuclear waste by rail, highway
and barge from around the country to the dump site, and give all
authority to the DOE, in contradiction to a recent National
Academy of Sciences report that advocated a central role for
state and tribal governments; 
  + Exempt the Yucca site, as well as potentially all DOE sites,
from the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, thereby
allowing hundreds of millions of pounds of hazardous heavy
metals from waste containers to contaminate groundwater used for
drinking and irrigation; 
  + Waive state and local air quality laws for the site; 
  + Remove limits on the amount of nuclear waste that can
legally be stored at the Yucca dump, which is currently set at
70,000 metric tons; 
  + Reclassify the Nuclear Waste Fund, which is collected from
electricity ratepayers for nuclear waste disposal, to ensure a
dedicated source of funding for the project despite a long
history of waste, fraud and mismanagement by the DOE and its
contractors; 
  + Codify the Nuclear Regulatory Commissions (NRC) waste
confidence rule into law, stating that there will be a dump for
spent fuel in a timely manner, thereby politicizing what
should be a scientific and technical determination and enabling
the building of new plants; and, 
  + Allow the DOE to change the site design even after the NRC
issues a construction license according to a specific design. 

While the DOE seeks to use this legislation to speed
construction and double the capacity of the dump,
Yucca Mountain is mired in scientific fraud and mismanagement.
In March 2005, U.S. Geologic Survey (USGS) scientists were
accused of falsifying data on the rate of water infiltration and
the climate at the Yucca site. Faster water movement would cause
radioactive waste to enter the groundwater, which is used for
drinking and irrigation. The inspectors general of both the DOE
and USGS are currently investigating, while the Federal Bureau
of Investigation has initiated a criminal inquiry. 

In January 2006, the NRC issued a scathing report of an audit by
Yuccas main contractor, Bechtel SAIC LLC. The NRC found that
researchers overestimated the ability of metals to isolate
nuclear waste in engineered containers, which prompted the DOE
to issue a stop work order on all container research. Despite
other serious problems with quality assurance and design control
practices, the DOE extended Bechtels contract for another year,
with an option for a second year. 

The bill introduced in the Senate is yet another example of the
DOE trying to force a square peg into a round hole. The DOEs
incompetence and mismanagement should not be rewarded by a
loosening of public health and safety laws and regulations or by
ensuring a steady stream of money for the project from the
Nuclear Waste Fund, said Michele Boyd, legislative director
of . Instead, Congress should stop the Yucca Mountain project.
It should also convene an independent investigation of
scientific fraud in research at the site and the waste of
taxpayers money that has plagued this project for 20 years. 
### 
Public Citizens analysis of renewable energy,  

*****************************************************************
 66 Channel 4 KRNV.com: Energy Secretary to make Yucca announcement

LAS VEGAS
 
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is planning to make an
announcement at Yucca Mountain Thursday. 

It will be Bodman's first trip to the planned nuclear waste dump
90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. He'll also tour the Nevada Test
Site. 

Bodman is expected to defend the administration's plans for the
site. 

Last week, the administration said it wants to store tens of
thousands more tons of waste at the site than initially
proposed. 

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)   

  
.gif">    All content © Copyright 2001 - 2006 WorldNow and KRNV.
All Rights Reserved.
  
*****************************************************************
 67 KVBC: Energy Secretary promising big changes at Yucca Mountain

The man now heading up the controversial Yucca Mountain Project
is promising change at the troubled site. Department of Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman made his first visit to the proposed
nuclear waste depository on Thursday morning. 

Bodman says new scientific testing is already being done to make
sure the Yucca Mountain site will be a safe place to store
nuclear waste. The Energy Secretary says he's also cleaning
house to get rid of workers who aren't meeting quality
standards. The secretary said all this after taking a brief tour
inside Yucca Mountain. 

It was his first visit to the site which is located about an
hour and a half north of Las Vegas. The Department of Energy
plans to store more than 100,000 tons of nuclear waste there. 

Critics question the science behind the Yucca Mountain Project
and worry about the safety of Nevadans. Bodman admits there have
been many problems but he says he's confident the project will
move forward. 

"I understand what the term sound science means personally and
we will get an answer to that question. I do not have it now but
this is part of the process. All I can tell the citizens of
Nevada is that I'm here to learn as much as I can. I have an
open mind on this matter and I would ask that they have an open
mind on this matter." 

Just last week the Department of Energy sent a Yucca Mountain
bill to the US Congress. Among other things, they're looking to
expand the capacity of the site and ensure they have enough
water from the state. But critics contend this bill is just an
attempt by the Department of Energy to legislate around the
problems at Yucca Mountain. 

This summer, the Department of Energy plans to lay out an
official schedule and budget for the construction of Yucca
Mountain. They hope to have their license application ready for
review by 2008. 
  
.gif">    All content © Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and KVBC.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 68 KLAS-TV: Las Vegas - Secretary Tours Yucca Mountain Repository

  Edward Lawrence, Reporter

  Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman tours the Yucca Mountain
Repository for the first time.
   
    
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman toured the proposed Yucca
Mountain nuclear waste repository Thursday with some of the top
scientists at the site. Secretary Bodman did not make any public
appearances in Las Vegas. In fact, for Eyewitness News to get
access we had to have a background check and get cleared through
security on the Nevada Test Site. 

The secretary played word games and reminded us that 2000
Nevadans currently work at the site. Secretary of Energy Bodman
emerged from the Yucca Mountain Repository tunnel by train. The
former engineer toured the site where the Department of Energy
wants high-level nuclear waste stored. 

Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said, "How can you assure the
people in this area and the people in Las Vegas that this
project is safe? It will be assured or we will not build it." 

Secretary Bodman traveled 1-3/4 miles into the project. There
are more than five miles of tunnels. In addition to evaluating
it, he says he's gathering information. 

"We will not tolerate the things that have gone on here in the
past. That has been a blight on the good name of the people who
have worked here," Bodman said. 

Last year, scientists associated with the project were found to
have made up quality assurance reports. 

Secretary of Energy Bodman continued, "Can you or anyone trust
the science given the discovery that some of the quality
assurance work was falsified? That is a fair question. We will
get an answer to that question." 

He needs those answers because the information in the falsified
reports is vital to safely storing nuclear waste. 

"Now I'm going to work very hard to earn the trust of the people
in this state and region," Bodman stated. 

Bodman didn't stay long enough to answer all of the questions
Channel 8 Eyewitness News had. For the questions he answered,
Bodman focused on accountability; "We plan to leave nothing to
chance." 

The Secretary of Energy was in Southern Nevada for about two
hours. He answered Eyewitness News questions for about 35
minutes. However, we did not get specifics on assuring the
safety of the project and what exactly makes it sound science. 

This was Bodman's first visit to Las Vegas and Yucca Mountain
and he says it will not be the last time he is here. 

Email reporter Edward Lawrence at elawrence@klastv.com   

  
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and KLAS.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 69 TownOnline.com: Thousands of barrels removed from Starmet site

Concord Journal

 By Casey Lyons/ Staff Writer

 Thursday, April 13, 2006 - Updated: 07:04 AM EST

These were the other kind of drums - more likely to be found in a 
secure storage facility than a basement recording studio. Now, 
instead of sitting at Starmet, about 3,200 barrels and another 
322 tons of material have hauled away.

    According to the Citizens Research &Environmental Watch 
(CREW), a watchdog group that has tracked the process, a 
preliminary step in the facilitys overall remediation has been 
completed.

    "DEP has responded to a hazardous situation and performed a 
valuable service to Concord by removing this stuff, overcoming a 
lot of legal and bureaucratic obstacles in the process" said Rick 
Oleson, CREW president, in a statement.

    Starmet Corp., formerly known as Nuclear Metals, Inc., is 
located at 2229 Main St. in West Concord. The waste has been 
generated over decades of contracts with the Department of 
Defense to produce depleted uranium-tipped shells that carried 
enough weight to puncture tank armor.

    In total, the nearly 6-month operation removed 1,599 drums of 
uranium tetraflouride, 1,107 drums of a concrete and uranium 
mixture, 515 drums of other uranium waste, and 322 tons of 
uranium metal and other miscellaneous waste.

    The material was removed by Energy Solutions, Inc., a Clive, 
Utah-based environmental firm formerly known as Envirocare, Inc. 
Energy Solutions, Inc. was the winning bidder on the 
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protections request. 
Barrels were shipped to a secure storage facility in Clive, Utah.

    The project exceeded its $6.7 million budget, provided by the 
U.S. Army, by $200,000, said Massachusetts Department of 
Environmental Protection Spokesman Joe Fersan, but the $1.3 
million in contingency funds were used to finish the job. The 
remaining $1.1 million has been used to remove 150 to 200 
containers for testing.

    This week, those containers are undergoing testing, Fersan 
said. In the next six weeks, those tests will be analyzed so 
materials can be disposed of properly.

    Prior to the cleanup effort, a DEP spokesman stated that the 
barrels had to be removed in order to give Department of 
Environmental Personnel full access to the site to test under the 
facility itself for further contaminants. 

Now that this early stage is completed, CREW expects Starmet will 
vacate the facility, but Fersan said the Mass. DEP had received 
no indication of Starmet's intention to leave.
   
 Starmet declined to comment on the cleanup or its future 
plans. 


© Copyright of CNC and .
*****************************************************************
 70 DOE: DOE Seeks Industry Proposals for Feasibility Study to 
Produce Greenhouse Gas-Free Hydrogen at Existing Nuclear Power 
Plants
 
  April 13, 2006
 
DOE Seeks Industry Proposals for Feasibility Study to Produce
Greenhouse Gas-Free Hydrogen at Existing Nuclear Power Plants 

WASHINGTON, DC  In support of President Bushs Advanced Energy
Initiative (AEI), Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman today
announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) will allocate
up to $1.6 million this year to fund industry studies on the
best ways to utilize energy from existing commercial nuclear
reactors for production of hydrogen in a safe and
environmentally-sound manner.  DOE is seeking industry proposals
for these Federal Financial Assistance Awards, worth up to 80
percent of the total cost of each study; industry will be
required to share a minimum of 20 percent of the cost.  Using
electricity from todays nuclear reactors shows potential for
production of hydrogen without emitting greenhouse gases,
Secretary Bodman said.  Hydrogen is a key component of our
energy future, and developing this clean source through our
nuclear reactors will help reduce Americas dependence on
foreign sources of energy.   The feasibility studies are
activities within DOEs Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative (NHI),
developed in conjunction with the Energy Policy Act of 2005. 
Beginning in Fiscal Year 2007, the Presidents Fiscal Year (FY)
2007 budget will fund the NHI as a component of the AEI.  The FY
2007 budget requests $19 million for the NHI to perform hydrogen
production research, as well as 2.1 billion for the AEI, which
is a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at DOE to
accelerate breakthroughs in the way we power our cars, homes and
businesses.   The department proposes to partner with industry
on the feasibility studies on hydrogen production using
small-scale equipment at existing commercial nuclear reactors
for up to three years to examine the economic implications of
producing hydrogen in this way, the environmental effects, and
the regulatory requirements.  This activity helps advance the
goals for production of hydrogen using nuclear power, which were
expressed in the Energy Policy Act of 2005.   Applicants must be
U.S. companies who will conduct the feasibility study activities
in the U.S.  The applicants should be the primary
representatives of a project team and must include a nuclear
utility company.  Proposals from the prospective participants
are due June 5, 2006.   The DOE Idaho Operations Office will
administer the solicitation and determine the Federal Financial
Assistance Awards for the cost-shared feasibility studies for
producing hydrogen with existing nuclear power plants.   The
solicitation, entitled Feasibility Study of Hydrogen Production
at Existing Nuclear Power Plants (#DE-PS07-06ID14759), is
posted on the DOE Industry Interactive Procurement System (IIPS)
Web site at: http://e-center.doe.gov/.  Additional information
on the Nuclear Hydrogen Initiative is available at
http://www.nuclear.gov/.   

Media contact(s): Craig Stevens, (202) 586-4940     [ ]   

  U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | 
Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403 | 
  
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 71 Hanford News: FFTF named national historic landmark
 
This story was published Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 

By the Herald staff 

The American Nuclear Society has named Hanford's Fast Flux Test
Facility a National Nuclear Historic Landmark. 

The 400-megawatt reactor will be commemorated at 3:30 p.m.
Monday during a program at the Battelle Auditorium, off Battelle
Boulevard in Richland. 

The reactor was conceived in the late 1960s by Pacific Northwest
National Laboratory nuclear engineers and physicists as a
research facility for irradiation testing of reactor fuels and
materials. It operated for about a decade, starting in the early
1980s. 

Changes in national policy, driven in part by the Three Mile
Island accident and nuclear nonproliferation concerns, limited
its use. But throughout its life it won several significant
awards and greatly contributed to knowledge of nuclear materials
science and technology, according to the American Nuclear
Society.

         
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 72 Hanford News: Cantwell hears Hanford workers' pension worries
 
This story was published Thursday, April 13th, 2006 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

Hanford workers and organized labor leaders asked for equal
pensions for longtime workers Wednesday at the nuclear
reservation during a meeting with Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash.,
in Richland. 

It's an issue she's been looking at for a few years as workers
and organized labor have fought to retain pensions under the
last major contract awarded, the River Corridor Contract, and
when a similar issue came up at the Rocky Flats, Colo., nuclear
site, Cantwell said. 

"We want to make sure the federal employer is a good employer,"
she said after the closed-door meeting with 16 people. 

Cantwell said she plans to discuss benefits for nuclear cleanup
workers with congressional leaders from other states with
cleanup sites, such as New York, New Mexico, South Carolina and
Idaho. 

Good benefits attract good employees, and it's important to
retain the quality of Hanford's work force, she said. 

At issue are new contracts being proposed for work in central
Hanford now done by Fluor Hanford and CH2M Hill Hanford Group.
The contracts expire this fall, but DOE plans to extend them up
to two years until new contracts are in place. 

DOE is proposing that the new contracts include a tiered
retirement system, with current Hanford employees continuing to
accrue benefits under the Hanford pension plan. New employees
would be covered by market-based programs offered by the new
contractors. 

Workers told her that all but short-term employees, who would
not work enough years to be vested, should be covered by the
Hanford pension plan, Cantwell said after the meeting. 

In addition, the workers asked her for help for Hanford
employees who were assigned to "enterprise companies" beginning
in the mid-1990s. Those companies were supposed to develop
non-Hanford business. 

Instead, many workers have continued to do the same Hanford work
they did before the creation of the enterprise companies, but no
longer are building Hanford pension benefits. 

© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 73 Hanford News: Money blamed for cleanup delays
 
This story was published Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

Too much cleanup work is being delayed at the Hanford nuclear
reservation because of lack of money, according to the Hanford
Advisory Board. 

"In the past, Hanford cleanup was not aggressively pursued in
order for DOE to focus on cleanup and closure of smaller DOE
sites," the board said in advice to the Department of Energy. 

But instead of increasing money for Hanford now that cleanup has
been completed on several smaller sites across the nation, DOE
is proposing to cut national cleanup spending, HAB said. 

The board also called the 2007 and 2008 proposed Hanford budgets
inadequate for a wide range of work. 

One of the exceptions was the bulk vitrification pilot plant,
which has no money budgeted for 2007 or 2008. HAB offered little
support for the project in its advice, instead emphasizing that
any funding that is transferred to that project should not
interfere with progress on other cleanup work. 

Part of what the board takes issue with in the budget proposals
is DOE's plan to do some work sequentially, shifting money from
project to project as work is completed. 

DOE is proposing to spend about $80 million per year to guard
weapons-grade plutonium that remains at Hanford, but that could
be shipped to the Savannah River, S.C., nuclear site between
2007 and 2009. Shipment has so far been delayed. 

"Guarding plutonium is not a cleanup activity and should not be
paid for by cleanup dollars," said board chairman Todd Martin in
a statement. "Neither should the bulk of Hanford cleanup rely on
the uncertain shipment of plutonium." 

Once the plutonium is gone, more money would be shifted to
cleaning up Hanford along the Columbia River. When most of that
work is completed, the funding priority would shift to central
Hanford. 

Funding needs to be increased in the 2007 budget to allow the
area along the Columbia River to be cleaned up for unrestricted
use by 2012, the board said in its advice. 

The 2007 budget proposal also does not include money to do the
substantive cleanup work at central Hanford, which could include
work on soil contamination that would significantly reduce risk
to the environment, the advice said. 

The budget also would pay for just one to two underground tanks
to be emptied each year, which would not meet legal requirements
for cleanup under the Tri-Party Agreement, the board said. 

DOE is considering how the tank waste should be treated. The HAB
appears to have more confidence in overcoming the challenges for
a partial start of treatment at the vitrification plant than the
challenges of developing and testing bulk vitrification
technology. 

DOE is building a vitrification plant, with a price tag that's
nearly doubled to an estimated $11 billion since early 2005. The
plant, which will turn waste into high-level and low-activity
glass logs, is not expected to be operating until years past its
2011 legal deadline. 

In addition, DOE is investigating a bulk vitrification
technology that could turn some of the low-activity radioactive
waste now in the tanks into blocks of glass the size of land-sea
containers. 

The board called for a startup of low-activity waste processing
at the plant by the legal deadline of 2011, even though the
plant's pretreatment operation is not expected to be ready. 

Spending to build a bulk vitrification pilot plant should not
interfere with startup of the Low Activity Waste Facility at the
vitrification plant by 2011, the board said. 

Many members of the board consider the bulk vitrification
project "a waste of money," said Gerald Pollet, who represents
Heart of America Northwest on the board. 

They're concerned that the cost of developing and testing the
technology at the pilot plant has increased from an early
projection of $45 million to possibly $160 million. They also
are concerned about whether the glass produced will prove to be
as protective of the environment as that produced at the main
vitrification plant. 

DOE is not realistically in a position to start treating
low-activity waste by 2011 at the plant, said John Eschenberg,
DOE's project manager for the plant. However, he plans no action
that would preclude the Low-Activity Waste Facility from
beginning operations earlier than the rest of the vitrification
plant, he said. 

An earlier start would require that regulatory and technical
issues be overcome. Pretreatment is legally required to remove
some high-activity radioactive constituents from the waste
before it is turned into glass at the vitrification plant. 

It might be possible to develop a smaller pretreatment process
in the Hanford tank farms, Eschenberg said. 

DOE Hanford officials have said they would like to find money to
continue to test bulk vitrification to determine if it could
provide another option for treating tank waste. Construction on
the pilot plant has stopped temporarily, while a more definite
cost and schedule is developed and an independent technical
review is prepared. 

© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 74 lamonitor.com: Richardson engages local townsfolk 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
 

CAROL A. CLARK, , Monitor Senior Reporter

A broad spectrum of community members and some high school
students had an opportunity to interact with Gov. Bill
Richardson during his daylong visit to Los Alamos Tuesday. 
Richardson talked to the more than 60 students gathered in the
high school Speech Theatre.

"The students were mostly from the AP history and social studies
classes," New Mexico Teacher of the Year and LAHS History
Teacher Nancy Schick said. "I thought he did a very nice job of
trying to engage the students rather than lecturing them. He
called on many different students and they did a very good job
on the issues he brought up. I was very proud of them." 

The discussion covered issues from the war in Iraq to looming
nuclear threats from North Korea and Iran to immigration.

After using his engagement techniques to encourage students to
think deeper before answering, Richardson took a couple of
votes. 
The first was on whether to stay the course in Iraq or set a
date for withdrawal.

Students voting were fairly split at 27 for staying the course
and 33 for setting a withdrawal date. 
"I want to teach you guys to take a position," he said.

After an indepth discussion of immigration issues, Richardson
provided students with two options to vote on for handling the
issue.

The first, he told the students, had already passed the House
and was being debated in the Senate.

It would charge the estimated 11 million undocumented Mexicans
as felons, make them pay fines, build a razor wire wall at the
border and ship them all back to Mexico.

Option two is a Senate Bill that says the 11 million illegal
aliens can apply for residency and get green cards and in 11
years they can become permanent.

Option two also includes requirements that they come out of the
shadows, learn English, submit to background checks, and pay
back taxes and fines for coming here.

That vote was 57-3 in favor of option two.

Richardson closed his meeting by telling students "Please,
please, please participate in government. Register to vote -
take a position - take a stand."

During an afternoon town hall meeting at Fuller Lodge,
Richardson fielded questions from townsfolk and at times
promised to look into issues of concern.

Steve Sylvia brought to the governor's attention the need for an
alternate entry/exit from Los Alamos County and suggested a
Buckman Mesa bypass connection from White Rock to Santa Fe 599
at Airport Road.

"An idea that is not new but long overdue and very much to the
advantage of a wide range of northern New Mexico concerns,"
Sylvia said.

Los Alamos Firefighter Jerry Adair told Richardson that the fire
department has been without a contract for nearly a decade and
asked for his help.

Charles Mansfield heads up the Laboratory Retirement Group. He
asked Richardson for help in two areas.


+  Get DOE to formalize that they are responsible for employee
pensions by putting it in writing.


+  Give one of the retirement group's designated representatives
a seat at the table when DOE begins addressing the actuarial
process for retirees.

Richardson promised to help. He also praised Mansfield for his
longtime efforts in helping lab retirees.

Richardson told the group that he was very optimistic about LANS
taking over the LANL contract and said he thought things would
finally stabilize.

Los Alamos resident Ed Grothus asked the governor to address the
issue of bringing peace to the world.

"Ed is a friend who has worked very hard for peace," Richardson
said. "To answer your question, the single most important job
for any leader is not just to provide for people's well being
but to provide for people's safety as well."

Richardson went on to say that he believes too much time and
resources have been spent in Iraq as opposed to handling
homeland including U.S. ports, airways and roadways.

He urged diplomacy in dealing with threats from Iran, North
Korea and other countries.

"I'm someone that likes to talk to bad guys directly,"
Richardson said.

Local attorney George Chandler told the governor that the New
Mexico Sentencing Commission has done a study that shows 2/3 of
inmates are uncharged and have been waiting months because the
Public Defenders Office can't get to them. Chandler suggested
that Richardson consider a two-step solution.


+  Give a major salary increase to public defender employees and
contract attorneys.


+  Separate the Public Defenders Office and the state police
from the governor's office.

Chandler told Richardson that it is a conflict of interest for
his office to run both of those offices.

Richardson said he would look into getting more money for public
defender employees but liked running both offices.

Some 60 residents, business and community leaders attended the
hour-long meeting.   

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
*****************************************************************
 75 KnoxNews: Manhattan Project sites' future debated

National Park Service may not be able to add places to its 
network                          

By BOB FOWLER, fowlerb@knews.com 
                                
April 13, 2006

OAK RIDGE - There's no doubt that Manhattan Project sites in Oak
Ridge and three other locations are of major historical
significance, a National Park Service official said Wednesday. 

What's uncertain, Richard Sussman said, is whether those
landmarks where the world's first atomic bombs were made can be
added to the cash-strapped service's network of parks. 

Faced with a backlog of costly maintenance needed at current 
parks, "there aren't a lot of things being added to the national 
park system,'' Sussman said. 

Sussman's remarks came during the second round of public
hearings on a study of adding Oak Ridge's World War II-vintage
facilities to the national park system. 

Under consideration are the K-25 Gaseous Diffusion Process
Building, the Y-12 Beta-3 Racetrack and the X-10 Graphite
Reactor. 

The first two sites were involved in uranium enrichment, while
the reactor produced the first sizable amounts of plutonium. 

Also eyed in the Park Service study are sites in Hanford, Wash.,
Los Alamos, N.M., and Dayton, Ohio. 

Congress told the park service to do the study, and its
recommendation to lawmakers is due back in 2008. 

Local preservationists say a decision is needed soon because one
Oak Ridge landmark has an upcoming date with a wrecking ball. 

Most of the mile-long K-25 building where uranium enrichment was
first shown to be viable is targeted for takedown by 2008. 

"We better start thinking about how we're going to save these
Manhattan Project relics, or we're going to wake up in two or
three years, and they'll be gone,'' Bill Wilcox warned. 

"We are not dreaming that they'll bring in tons of money,''
Wilcox said. "We're trying to get a congressional agreement that
the Manhattan Project was so important that it deserves to be
preserved and protected.'' 

Wilcox is with the Oak Ridge Heritage and Preservation
Association, which is fighting to save what's left of the Atomic
City's original buildings. 

National Park Service officials said even if they don't end up
recommending the Manhattan Project sites as new national parks,
other options abound. 

They said the park service could form partnerships with local
groups for alternatives ranging from preserving small parts of
buildings to creating visitor centers to building special Web
sites. 

"There's an awful lot of public support here, and we do get
visitors already coming to these sites,'' Oak Ridger Barbara
Walton said. 

Bob Fowler, News Sentinel Anderson County editor, may be reached
at 865-481-3625.

 Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
								
© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
    
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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: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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