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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [progchat_action] Iran to speed up atomic programme if hit by
2 [NYTr] Iran: USA Spreading Nuclear Madness
3 IRNA: Iran capable to become int'l superpower: President
4 IRNA: No proof Iran is deviating from civilian nuclear program -
5 Guardian Unlimited: IAEA: Iran Defying Call to Stop Enrichment
6 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Official: No Force Against Iran
7 Guardian Unlimited: Next Steps in Attempts to Pressure Iran
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Standoff Looms Over Europe Talks
9 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Lobbies U.N. Nuclear Agency
10 Guardian Unlimited: Q: Iran's nuclear programme
11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran hangs tough as it fails to meet nuclear dea
12 Reuters: Bush: common aim to convince Iran on nuclear issue
13 Reuters: Excerpts from UN report on Iran nuclear program
14 IRIB PERSIAN: IRI warns West of making a mistake 
15 AFP: Britain wants UN to up the pressure on Iran 
16 AFP: Chinese envoy opposes resorting to Chapter 7 resolution on Iran
17 AFP: Iran has failed to stop enriching uranium - IAEA 
18 AFP: Bush says Iran nuclear ambitions 'dangerous' but diplomacy firs
19 AFP: UN nuclear report expected to knock Iran 
20 AFP: Iran's Ahmadinejad vows to defy UN nuclear demands 
21 AFP: Uranium enrichment at heart of Iran nuclear dispute
22 IRNA: Nuclear energy, 1st step towards climax of progress - Presiden
23 IRNA: ElBaradei to present report on Iran within few hours
24 IRNA: Iran, Russia discuss bilateral, regional cooperation
25 Korea Times: Korea Breaks Ground for 2 Nuclear Power Plants 
26 US: [NYTr] Pentagon end-run around nuke test ban
27 [NYTr] How Nixon Allowed Israel to Cross the Nuclear Threshhold
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
28 As UN Assembly Marks 20 Years Since Chernobyl, Officials Urge Contin
29 hvg.hu: Why are the Chernobil files still closed?
30 RIA Novosti: Moscow hopes Russian cos. will win NPP tenders in Bulga
31 RIA Novosti: Probe into Russian ex-nuclear minister's case concluded
32 US: NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Begins Special Inspection at 
33 US: Rutland Herald: House to streamline Vermont Yankee process
34 US: NRC: NRC Special Inspection Team to Hold Public Meeting May 3 to
35 EBR: Specter of nuclear hangs over UK energy sector - 
36 Sheboygan Press: Repairs, investigation follow nuclear plant alert
37 Sofia Echo: BULGARIA'S NUCLEAR SECTOR POSES THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIE
38 Vermont Guardian: Nuked: Could Chernobyl happen here?
39 US: Brattleboro Reformer: House passes VY license renewal bill
40 Xinhua: China's 1st self-designed nuclear power station starts
41 TheStar.com: Why take a risk on nuclear power?
42 US: NRC: Virginia Electric and Power Company; Notice of Consideratio
43 US: Boston Globe: Vermont Yankee power boost stopped again - 
44 IRNA: G8 summit to focus on major increase in number of nuclear reac
45 US: PRN: Davis-Besse Returns to Service After Refueling, Increasing
46 UPI: Russia: G8 to focus on energy
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
47 GIs, Beware Radioactive Showers!
48 US: [NYTr] Simulated Nuclear Test Blast Scheduled in US
49 US: Las Vegas SUN: Utah officials not confident public informed abou
50 US: Deseret News: Huntsman opposes blast test 
51 US: Deseret News: GOP delegates boot Tooele incumbents 
52 US: Las Vegas SUN: Test blast linked to nuke weapons 
53 US: reviewjournal.com: Utah legislator remains opposed to blast at t
54 Sheboygan Press: 'All went well' in county's response to alert
55 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Guv says Nevada blast is a bad idea 
56 US: ICT: Western Shoshone and others file suit to halt detonation
57 US: NRC: NRC Plans for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic; Holds Workshop t
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
58 NEWS.com.au: Station owners court N-waste facility - 
59 US: Las Vegas SUN: Utah leaders rally against proposed nuclear waste
60 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast plume 50 percent larger
61 US: The State: Proposed fuel plant at SRS in jeopardy
62 BBC: Villagers' fears of nuclear waste
63 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: No crimes at Yucca?
64 reviewjournal.com: LETTERS: Yucca Mountain's science not broken
65 reviewjournal.com: NRC: Nominee backs repository
66 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Company accused of targeting 2 officials 
67 US: kutv.com: Hunstman, Hatch Rally Opposition To Waste Site
68 US: KRNV.com: EPA conducting emergency clean up of contaminated Neva
69 News & Star: Sellafield a key site
70 News & Star: Call to bury nuclear waste underground
71 Pahrump Valley Times: Nye/Yucca audit 'glowing'; Hammermeister resig
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
72 Rocky Mountain News: Board delays Flats decision
73 the news tribune : No way out of Hanford but through cleanup 
74 Hanford News: Gregoire pushes for Hanford funding
75 Hanford News: PNNL names associate lab chief
76 Hanford News: Last liquid dump site cleaned up
77 Hanford News: Gregoire makes case for vit plant
78 cbs4denver.com: Rocky Flats Workers Encouraged By Panel Decision
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [progchat_action] Iran to speed up atomic programme if hit by
 
Date: Sat, 29 Apr 2006 01:58:35 -0500 (CDT)

Iran to speed up atomic programme if hit by embargo

27 April 2006

Reuters

TEHRAN: Iran said it would freeze ties with the UN nuclear watchdog and
speed up its atomic programme if it were hit by international sanctions.

"If you impose sanctions, Iran will suspend its relations with the (IAEA)
agency," chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told a conference on nuclear
issues in Tehran.

"Suspension means we will accelerate our activities."

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who like other Western leaders
accuses Iran of having a secret programme to build nuclear weapons, said in
Greece: "I suppose the Iranians can threaten, but they are deepening their
own isolation."

The verbal sparring preceded an influential report on Iran that
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) head Mohamed ElBaradei is to
deliver to the UN Security Council on Friday.

Rice, visiting Greece and fellow Nato allies Turkey and Bulgaria,
highlighted Iran's readiness to export nuclear technology to reinforce the
message tough action was needed.

"It seems logical that we should consider a Chapter 7 resolution under the
Security Council's mandate," Rice said.

Invoking Chapter 7 makes a resolution binding under international law.
Chapter 7 also allows for sanctions or even war, but a resolution would be
required to specify either step.

The United States, Britain and France favour sanctions unless Iran backs
down soon. The council's other veto-holders, Russia and China, oppose
punitive measures.

"It has always been China's position that this Iranian nuclear issue has to
be solved diplomatically," China's ambassador to the United Nations, Wang
Guangya, told reporters.

"Therefore I think any resolution based on Chapter 7 will not serve the
purpose in this regard," he said in New York.

France said it had provisionally scheduled a meeting on May 2 of political
directors of the council's five permanent members plus Germany to discuss
the next moves on Iran.

Larijani said Iran "cannot be expected to act transparently" in its nuclear
activities if it was attacked militarily - a last-resort option the United
States has declined to rule out.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered to share Iran's nuclear
technology with other countries, a statement Rice said should be a cause for
concern.

Iran says its atomic programme is only for power generation.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to transfer the experience, science
and technology of its scientists," he said.

NEGATIVE REPORT

The US ambassador to the IAEA, Gregory Schulte, predicted ElBaradei would
report that Iran had failed to comply with a March 29 Security Council
demand that it stop enriching uranium.

Iran said this month it had for the first time purified uranium to the level
used to fuel nuclear power stations and that its next goal was
industrial-scale production.

In Vienna, a diplomat familiar with IAEA operations said ElBaradei would
"lay out the facts", not pass judgement on Iran.

The nuclear watchdog has previously said it cannot confirm that Iran's
atomic activities are purely civilian, but that it has found no hard proof
of a secret military programme.

The diplomat said Larijani's threat to cold-shoulder the IAEA suggested Iran
might quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has refused since
February to answer questions about or grant visits to sites where undeclared
activity is suspected.

"We don't know what they mean. But relations are already down to the
minimum. It's just basic safeguards," the diplomat said, referring to IAEA
access to declared nuclear sites.

"The only meaningful thing they could do now is kick out inspectors and
withdraw from the NPT, as North Korea did."

Schulte said Iran was stonewalling IAEA queries about P-2 centrifuges,
designs for which it received from a nuclear black market run by disgraced
Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan. P-2s can enrich uranium faster than
the P-1s Iran now operates.

Iran has rejected demands to restore confidence in its nuclear intentions by
indefinitely halting enrichment.

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said there should be no talk
of unilateral military action.

China urged restraint and a peaceful solution, in comments echoed by
visiting Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov, but Foreign Secretary Jack
Straw said Iran should not take those countries' opposition to sanctions for
granted.

"The Iranians, in my judgement, would miscalculate if they believed that
Russia or China would block appropriate and effective sanctions, which
targeted the regime, not the ordinary population," he told parliament in
London.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3649022a12,00.html

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*****************************************************************
 2 [NYTr] Iran: USA Spreading Nuclear Madness
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:34:31 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Asia Times Online 
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HD25Ak02.html

Tehran insider tells of US black ops

By an Asia Times Online Special Correspondent 

TEHRAN - A former Iranian ambassador and Islamic Republic insider has
provided intriguing details to Asia Times Online about US covert operations
inside Iran aimed at destabilizing the country and toppling the regime - or
preparing for an American attack.

"The Iranian government knows and is aware of such infiltration. It means
that the Iranian government has identified them [the covert operatives] but
for some reason does not want to show [this]," said the former diplomat on
condition of anonymity.

Speaking in Tehran, the ex-Foreign Ministry official said the agents being
used by the US "were originally Iranians and not Americans" possibly
recruited in the United States or through US embassies in Dubai and Ankara.
He also warned that such actions will engender "some reactions".

"Both sides will certainly do something," he said in a reference to Iran's
capability to stir trouble up in neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan for the
occupying US troops there.

Veteran US journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a much-discussed recent
article in The New Yorker magazine that the administration of President
George W Bush has increased clandestine activities inside Iran and
intensified planning for a possible major air attack as the crisis with Iran
over its nuclear program escalates.

Hersh wrote that "teams of American combat troops have been ordered into
Iran, under cover, to collect targeting data and to establish contact with
anti-government ethnic-minority groups". The template seems identical to the
period that preceded US air strikes against the Taliban regime in
Afghanistan during which a covert Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) campaign
distributed millions of dollars to tribal allies.

"The Iranian accusations are true," said Richard Sale, intelligence
correspondent for United Press International, referring to charges that the
US is using the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) organization and other groups to
carry out cross-border operations. "But it is being done on such a small
scale - a series of pinpricks - it would seem to have no strategic value at
all."

There has been a marked spike in unrest in Kurdistan, Khuzestan and
Balochistan, three of Iran's provinces with a high concentration of ethnic
Kurdish, Arab and Balochi minorities respectively. With the exception of the
immediate post-revolutionary period, when the Kurds rebelled against the
central government and were suppressed violently, ethnic minorities have
received better treatment, more autonomy and less ethnic discrimination than
under the shah.

"The president hasn't notified the Congress that American troops are
operating inside Iran," said Sam Gardiner, a retired US Army colonel who
specializes in war-game scenarios. "So it's a very serious question about
the constitutional framework under which we are now conducting military
operations in Iran."

Camp Warhorse is the major US military base in the strategic Iraqi province
of Diyala that borders Iran. Last month, Asia Times Online asked the US
official in charge of all overt and covert operations emanating from there
whether the military and the MEK colluded on an operational level. He denied
any such knowledge.

"They have a gated community up there," came the genial reply. "Not really
guarded - it's more gated. They bake really good bread," he added, smiling.

But that is contrary to what Hersh was told by his sources, According to
him, US combat troops are already inside Iran and, in the event of air
strikes, would be in position to mark critical targets with laser beams to
ensure bombing accuracy and excite sectarian tensions between the population
and the central government. As of early winter, Hersh's source claims that
the units were also working with minority groups in Iran, including the
Azeris in the north, the Balochis in the southeast, and the Kurds in the
northwest.

Last week, speaking on the sidelines of a Palestinian solidarity
conference, Major-General Yehyia Rahim Safavi, the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps (IRGC) commander, sent a warning to the US and British
intelligence services he accuses of using Iraq and Kuwait to infiltrate
Iran. "I tell them that their agents can be our agents too, and they should
not waste their money so casually."

On April 9, Iran claimed to have shot down an unmanned surveillance plane
in the southwestern province of Khuzestan, according to a report in the
semi-official Jumhuri Eslami newspaper. US media have also reported that the
US military has been secretly flying surveillance drones over Iran since
2004, using radar, video, still photography and air filters to monitor
Iranian military formations and track Iran's air-defense system. The US
denied having lost a drone.

This new mission for the combat troops is a product of Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld's long-standing interest in expanding the role of the
military in covert operations, which was made official policy in the
Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review, published in February. Such
activities, if conducted by CIA operatives, would need a Presidential
Finding and would have to be reported to key members of Congress.

The confirmation that the US is carrying out covert activities inside Iran
makes more sense out of a series of suspicious events that have occurred
along Iran's borders this year. In early January, a military airplane
belonging to Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards went down close to the Iraqi
border. The plane was carrying 11 of the Guard's top commanders, including
General Ahmad Kazemi, the commander of the IRGC's ground forces, and
Brigadier-General Nabiollah Shahmoradi, who was deputy commander for
intelligence.

Although a spokesman blamed bad weather and dilapidated engines for the
crash, the private intelligence company Stratfor noted that there are
several reasons to suspect foul play, not least of which was that any
aircraft carrying so many of Iran's elite military luminaries would undergo
"thorough tests for technical issues before flight". Later, Iran's defense
minister accused Britain and the US of bringing the plane down through
"electronic jamming".

"Given all intelligence information that we have gathered, we can say that
agents of the United States, Britain and Israel are seeking to destabilize
Iran through a coordinated plan," Minister of Interior Mustafa
Pour-Mohammadi said. This sentiment was echoed on websites such as
AmericanIntelligence.us, where one reader commented, "We couldn't have made
a better hit on the IRGC's leadership if planned
. sure it was just an accident?"

Then, in late January, a previously unknown Sunni Muslim group called
Jundallah (Soldier of Allah) captured nine Iranian soldiers in the remote
badlands of Sistan-Balochistan province that borders Afghanistan and
Pakistan. And in mid-February, another airplane crashed just inside Iraq
after taking off from Azerbaijan and transiting Iranian airspace. The
Iranian Mehr news agency reported that the "passengers on board were
possibly of Israeli origin". It added that US troops have restricted access
to the site to Iraqi Kurdish officials and that Western media were reporting
the passengers aboard as having been German.

The Iranian government has not sat idly by and just taken these breaches of
sovereignty. Early this month, an unidentified source in the Interior
Ministry was quoted by the hardline Kayhan newspaper as saying that the
leader and 11 members of the Jundallah group had been killed by Iranian
troops. Then last Friday, Iranian missile batteries shelled Iranian Kurdish
rebel positions inside Iraqi territory. They were targeting a militant group
called PJAK that seeks more autonomy for Iran's Kurdish population and has
been operating out of Iraq since 1999.

The former Iranian ambassador argues that in the event that US pressure on
Iran continues, "the end of the tunnel" for President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's
administration is "weaponization of the [nuclear] technology ... and a
military strike".

"The Americans are pushing Iran to become a nuclear state. Iran just wants
to be a supplier of nuclear fuel. But [with their threats] they are pushing
it further."

       
                                *
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 3 IRNA: Iran capable to become int'l superpower: President

Zanjan, April 28, IRNA                                                                                                           

Iran-Zanjan-President 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Thursday night that Iran
has potentials to become an international superpower speedily.

 Ahmadinejad, who arrived in the northwestern city of Zanjan for
his 12th visit to various provinces of the country Thursday
morning, made the remark in a meeting with representatives of
women, laborers, university students, farmers, artists and
guilds of Zanjan province.

 He said access to peaceful nuclear energy was a major step
towards the country's development, adding, "Today, all
international equations have been changed after 27 years of
propaganda against the Iranian people and new conditions have
emerged.

 "There are many countries which produce nuclear fuel and use
atomic energy without causing any sensitivity and having any
impact on the international equations.

 "Access of the Iranian people to peaceful nuclear energy has
been so much important that reversed the international
equations." Head of Supreme National Security Council (SNSC)
stated, "We have no need to weapons and military build-up
because our position will be upgraded in the world speedily. Our
words have currently influenced all the international equations."
 "We cannot become an international power if we have 500 nuclear
power plants. We should believe in ourselves and identify our
potentials."
 The president said promotion of self-reliance is the biggest
cultural task, adding, "Establishment of peaceful nuclear
facilities at Natanz is the result of self-confidence of the
Iranian youth." Elsewhere in his address, Ahmadinejad lauded
huge potential of Zanjan province and said, "Construction of a
petrochemical factory and five power plants in Zanjan are on the
government's agenda." The president and his cabinet will hold a
session in the capital city, Zanjan, to discuss the province's
problems and requirements before concluding their two-day visit.

 Ahmadinejad and his entourage had already visited the provinces
of South Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Ilam, Qom, Hormuzgan,
Bushehr, Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Golestan,
Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad and Khorassan Razavi.

*****************************************************************
 4 IRNA: No proof Iran is deviating from civilian nuclear program -
Ex-German chancellor 

Berlin, April 28, IRNA                                                                                                           

Germany-Iran-Schmidt 

Former German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt on Friday stressed no
evidence has been presented yet that Iran is deviating from its
civilian nuclear program to produce atomic weapons.

 Writing for the weekly Die Zeit newspaper, Schmidt said while
the West is concerned that Tehran's nuclear enrichment program
could be used for military purposes, "no proof has been
presented so far".

 "Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has issued a Fatwa in
August of 2005 which prohibits the production and use of nuclear
weapons," the ex-German leader pointed out.

 Schmidt who was Germany's chancellor from 1974 until 1982,
called on the United States to start direct talks with Iran over
its nuclear dispute.

 "Washington should pursue negotiations (with Iran) instead of
threatening again with a `coalition of the willing'," he added.

*****************************************************************
 5 Guardian Unlimited: IAEA: Iran Defying Call to Stop Enrichment

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday April 28, 2006 10:01 PM

AP Photo NYR111 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran has defied a U.N. Security Council
call to freeze uranium enrichment and is stonewalling efforts to
determine if it is developing nuclear arms, the International
Atomic Energy Agency said Friday in a report that strengthened
Western calls for sanctions. 

The United States and its allies reacted quickly, with Britain
pledging to introduce a resolution next week for the council to
issue a mandatory order for Iran to abandon uranium enrichment.
Russia and China, however, have sought to avoid a showdown and
opposed escalating pressures on Tehran. 

President Bush said ``the world is united and concerned'' about
what he called Iran's ``desire to have not only a nuclear weapon
but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to
make a nuclear weapon.'' 

But, reflecting the lack of consensus on punishing Iran, he
added, ``I think the diplomatic options are just beginning.'' 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was defiant, saying that
whatever resolution the Security Council adopts, it cannot make
Iran give up its nuclear program. ``The Iranian nation won't
give a damn about such useless resolutions,'' he told a cheering
crowd in northwestern Iran. 

The eight-page report, drawn up by IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei
for the Security Council and obtained by The Associated Press,
contained few new revelations. 

But it is larded with phrases reflecting Iran's refusal to
cooperate with the Vienna-based agency, stymieing IAEA efforts
to determine whether Tehran has made any efforts to build atomic
weapons during 25 years of nuclear activity - most of it
clandestine. 

``Iran declined to discuss these matters,'' the report said of
the IAEA's questions about Tehran's enrichment program. ``Iran
continues to decline the agency's request for a copy of the
document,'' it says about plans showing how to mold highly
enriched uranium into the shape needed for a nuclear bomb. 

``After more than three years of agency efforts to seek clarity
about all aspects of Iran's nuclear program, the existing gaps
in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern,'' the report
said. ``Any progress in that regard requires full transparency
and active cooperation by Iran.'' 

The report's primary importance was to serve formal notice that
Iran ignored an informal 30-day deadline set by the council for
suspending by Friday all activities linked to uranium
enrichment. 

Iran, which insists its program has only the peaceful purpose of
producing fuel for nuclear reactors to generate electricity,
played down the report - and the unanswered questions. 

``From our point of view, these few questions are not important.
The main questions have been settled,'' Mohammed Saeedi, deputy
head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, told Iranian state
television. 

Contending the report ``does not contain negative points,'' he
said it shows the IAEA has the capacity to investigate Iran's
nuclear program and called the effort by some nations to have
the Security Council take up the matter ``completely wrong and
misleading.'' 

But with the report in, the council will now debate further
steps, including the potential threat of sanctions and military
action if Iran continues to defy the international community. 

``We are concerned about the continued work that Iran is doing
to acquire nuclear weapons capability,'' U.S. Ambassador John
Bolton told reporters at U.N. headquarters. ``We do think
there's a sense of urgency here and we hope that we can get
council action just as soon as possible.'' 

Other world leaders expressed concern and underlined the need
for international unity in dealing with Iran, although the
common message appeared to be a reluctance to pursue coercion
rather than diplomacy. 

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said that while
the report was worrisome, ``we continue, nevertheless, to say to
Iran that the door to negotiation is not closed.'' 

Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, echoed that
sentiment. ``We maintain that the only solution is a diplomatic
one,'' he said. 

Russia and China, which have important business dealings with
Iran, have strongly opposed taking harsh steps against the
Tehran regime, arguing that would worsen the dispute. As two of
the five permanent members on the Security Council, they have
the power to veto its actions. 

Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak described
ElBaradei's report as a ``very serious document,'' telling the
Interfax news agency that the Kremlin would study it ``very
carefully.'' 

The Chinese government indicated it had not changed its mind
about opposing tough action. 

``All we want is to work for a diplomatic solution because this
region is already complicated, there are a lot of problems in
the region, and we should not do anything that would cause the
situation (to be) more complicated,'' said China's U.N.
ambassador, Wang Guangya. 

Bolton suggested the council was not likely to soon issue a
resolution backed by the threat of sanctions or even military
force. 

``The first resolution would be simple and straightforward,
'making mandatory' last month's council requests on suspension
of enrichment and full cooperation with IAEA inspectors,''
Bolton told The Associated Press in a phone call to Vienna. 

``We would give Iran a short time to come into compliance. Then,
if Iran doesn't come into compliance, we would consider what the
next steps would be ... likely targeted sanctions.'' 

While Bolton did not elaborate, sanctions would not likely be
directed at Iran's oil industry, which has a crucial role in
meeting the world's energy needs. They could include such
measures as freezing Iranian assets and banning overseas travel
by its top officials. 

The report said Iran's claim to have enriched small amounts of
uranium to a level of 3.6 percent purity - fuel grade as opposed
to the 90 percent-plus for weapons grade - appeared to be true
according to initial analysis of samples taken by IAEA
inspectors. 

Uranium conversion - an activity linked to enrichment - ``is
still ongoing,'' the report added, saying that more than 120
tons had been converted the past eight months. Were it used for
weapons, that amount would be enough for more than 15 crude
nuclear bombs, experts say. 

In one of the few new developments, the report concluded the
Iranians may have used undeclared plutonium in conducting
small-scale separation experiments. 

``The agency cannot exclude the possibility ... that the
plutonium analyzed by the agency was derived from source(s)
other than declared by Iran,'' it said. Plutonium separation is
one of several suspect Iranian ``dual use'' activities - those
that have peaceful uses but also could be used in a weapons
program. 

--- 

On the Net: 

International Atomic Energy Agency: http://www.iaea.org 	 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 6 Guardian Unlimited: Pakistan Official: No Force Against Iran
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Thursday April 27, 2006 10:46 PM

By BARRY SCHWEID 

AP Diplomatic Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pakistan notified the Bush administration on
Thursday it would not support the use of force to halt Iran's
nuclear programs. 

``We are against any resort to force,'' Foreign Secretary Riaz
Khan said after a meeting with Undersecretary of State Nicholas
Burns. 

``We want this issue resolved diplomatically,'' Khan said. 

Pakistan is a close ally of the United States in trying to
counter terror and in promoting postwar stability in
Afghanistan. 

It is also a neighbor of Iran. ``We want friendly relations with
Iran. Pakistan has had a long-standing relationship with Iran,''
Khan said. ``We wish them well, and all of our neighbors.'' 

The U.S.-Pakistan meeting was designed to strengthen ties
between the two countries in the wake of a U.S. decision to
provide India with nuclear technology. 

Burns said the Bush administration has good relations with both
countries. 

Responding at a joint news conference to Khan's statements on
Iran, Burns said, ``We have not given up hope there can be a
diplomatic solution.'' 

The Bush administration accuses Iran of trying to develop
nuclear weapons. While President Bush has emphasized his
preference for a diplomatic solution, he has also said the
military option has not been taken off the table. 

Meanwhile, Burns announced that Congress would be informed
shortly that the United States intends to proceed with the sale
of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan. Congressional approval is
required. 

Khan said he did not know how many planes Pakistan would
purchase. But he said due to strained resources following a
devastating earthquake last year, Pakistan had scaled down its
request and that used planes would be substituted for some of
the new ones. 

India, which depends on aging Russian planes for its air force,
has expressed disappointment with the long-brewing weapons sale
to Pakistan. 

The two nuclear-armed neighbor countries have been rivals for
decades, and have fought three wars since their independence
from Britain in 1947. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 7 Guardian Unlimited: Next Steps in Attempts to Pressure Iran
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday April 28, 2006 10:46 AM

By The Associated Press 

A look at the next steps in international efforts to pressure
Iran over its nuclear program: 

Tuesday, May 2 - Officials from the United States, Russia,
China, Britain, France and Germany - who report directly to
their foreign ministers - meet in Paris to discuss strategy on
Iran. 

Wednesday, May 3 - The Security Council is expected to meet
informally on the report. 

Tuesday, May 9 - The foreign ministers of the Security Council's
five permanent members plus Germany meet at U.N. headquarters in
New York. The council will meet on Iran formally after those
talks. 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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 8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Standoff Looms Over Europe Talks
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday April 28, 2006 10:01 AM

AP Photo VM121 

By ANNE GEARAN 

AP Diplomatic Writer 

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) - Iran's nuclear standoff with the West
loomed over talks between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
and European diplomats on the eve of a U.N. deadline for Tehran
to halt uranium enrichment. 

Several thousand Bulgarians joined an ultra-nationalist
demonstration Thursday against an agreement Rice was to sign
Friday with the Bulgarian government that grants U.S. troops
access to military facilities in the country. 

The deal is part of a strategy of shifting troops based in
Europe farther east and will deploy up to 2,500 U.S. troops to
Bulgaria. It has raised suspicions in Bulgaria that the United
States could one day use European soil to launch a military
strike on Iran if it refuses to rein in its disputed nuclear
program. 

Tehran faces a Friday deadline from the Security Council to stop
enriching uranium, a process that can lead either to nuclear
power for electricity or to development of weapons. Iran says it
only wants to generate electric power 

``It's pretty clear Iran is not going to meet those
requirements,'' Rice said. ``When that happens the international
community, represented by the Security Council, is going to have
a choice.'' 

``Is the Security Council going to be credible?'' Rice said
after meetings with NATO foreign ministers. 

Quick action by the council to impose economic or punitive
sanctions seems remote because of splits among its members. The
United States is pressing for a strong response, and Rice wants
such steps to remain an option. 

The United States and European allies accuse Iran of hiding
ambitions to build a bomb behind a legitimate energy program.
Iran denies it but says it must retain control of sensitive
nuclear technology, including uranium enrichment. 

The United States has long sought the Security Council review
now under way, but the powerful U.N. body is divided over what
to do next. 

The basing agreement with Bulgaria concludes five days of
diplomatic meetings in Europe and Iraq, where Rice and Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld made an unannounced visit to
support the country's newly selected leadership. 

The United States will have wider use of four military
facilities in Bulgaria, giving American forces a jumping-off
point closer to potential hotspots in the Middle East. 

``We look forward to continued work with Bulgaria and with all
of our colleagues to meet the tremendous challenges that we all
face around the world, from terrorism, from proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction,'' Rice said. ``These are common
threats.'' 

American officials want to deploy troops on rotational training
tours as part of a broader U.S. strategy of shifting troops
based in Europe further east. The U.S. is interested in small,
flexible bases, different from those set up to house large
numbers of troops during the Cold War. 

Bulgaria, a Balkan country of 7.8 million people, joined NATO in
2004 and hopes to join the European Union next year. Bulgarian
officials have said the agreement would help improve Bulgaria's
armed forces, boost its economy and enhance security. 

--- 

On the Net: 

CIA World Factbook site on Bulgaria:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bu.html 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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 9 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Lobbies U.N. Nuclear Agency
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday April 28, 2006 11:01 AM

AP Photo VIE129 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - A top Iranian official handed over
material on his country's nuclear program in an effort to stave
off U.N. sanctions, but it may be a case of too little too late. 

Diplomats said they expect U.N. nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei
to find that Iran failed to meet Friday's deadline for complying
with council requests to suspend uranium enrichment, setting the
stage for a confrontation at the Security Council. 

If Iran does not comply, the council is likely to consider
punitive measures against the Islamic republic. While Russia and
China have been reluctant to endorse sanctions, the council's
three other veto-wielding members say a strong response is in
order. 

The United States, France and Britain say if Tehran does not
meet the deadline, they will make the enrichment demand and
other conditions compulsory and they want punitive measures to
stay on the table. 

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said it was time for the
Security Council to act if the world body wished to remain
credible. 

``The Security Council is the primary and most important
institution for the maintenance of peace and stability and
security and it cannot have its word and its will simply ignored
by a member state,'' Rice told reporters at a NATO foreign
ministers' meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria. 

Iran's deputy nuclear chief, Mohammad Saeedi, met Thursday with
Olli Heinonen, the IAEA's deputy director general in charge of
Iran's nuclear file. 

Diplomats, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of
anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss
confidential details of the IAEA's Iran probe, said they had no
details of what Saeedi had brought to the table. 

Still, they characterized the meeting between Saeedi and Olli
Heinonen, the IAEA's deputy director general in charge of Iran's
nuclear file, as unlikely to blunt the report's main finding -
that Tehran has ignored council requests to suspend uranium
enrichment. 

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton already has said he plans to
introduce a resolution requiring Tehran to comply with the
council's demand to stop its enrichment program. The resolution
would not call for sanctions now, but it would be introduced
under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which allows for sanctions
and is militarily enforceable. 

Iran's U.N. ambassador, Javad Zarif, said Tehran will refuse to
comply with such a resolution because its activities are legal
and peaceful. Enrichment can be used to generate fuel or make
the fissile core of nuclear weapons. 

``If the Security Council decides to take decisions that are not
within its competence, then Iran does not feel obliged to
obey,'' he said. 

He also said Tehran was prepared to return to discussions of the
offer it made in negotiations with the Europeans last year if
the international community agrees to ``stop this nonsense,
pressure tactic.'' 

A Russian proposal to move Tehran's uranium enrichment to
Russian territory ``is still alive,'' he said, ``and Iran is
prepared to consider any proposal that will guarantee Iran's
rights.'' 

Iran's hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, also vowed that
``no one'' could make his country give up nuclear technology. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin, meanwhile, insisted the U.N.
nuclear watchdog should continue to play a central role in the
dispute. ``It mustn't shrug this role from its shoulders and
pass it on to the U.N. Security Council,'' Putin said. 

But a top French diplomat laid out a starkly contrasting
position reflecting U.S. and British views: The Security Council
should not only have primacy in dealing with Iran but also
should start considering how to increase the pressure. But, the
diplomat said, a U.N. resolution would not automatically mean
resorting to military action. 

The Security Council adopted a statement a month ago giving Iran
until Friday to suspend all activities linked to enrichment
because it can be used to make the highly enriched uranium used
in the core of nuclear warheads. 

Instead of complying, Iran - which says it seeks the technology
only to generate electric power - has upped the ante in recent
weeks, announcing it had for the first time successfully
enriched uranium and was doing research on advanced centrifuges
that would let it produce more of the material in less time. 

Western concern has grown since 2002 when Iran was found to be
working on large-scale plans to enrich uranium. 

While the IAEA has found no ``smoking gun'' proving Iran wants
nuclear arms, a series of reports have revealed worrying
clandestine activities - like plutonium processing - and
documents, including drawings of how to mold weapons-grade
uranium metal into the shape of a warhead. 

--- 

Associated Press writers Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations
and Anne Gearan in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed to this story. 

--- 

On the Net: 

www.iaea.org 
		 	 	   
      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
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 10 Guardian Unlimited: Q: Iran's nuclear programme
 
As the International Atomic Energy Agency makes a critical
report on Iran's enrichment activities, Simon Jeffery looks at
the growing international tension over the country's nuclear
aspirations 

	 	 Friday April 28, 2006 		 

Where is the programme at now? Iran's president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, has proclaimed his country's membership of the
"club of nuclear countries". In a televised speech earlier this
month, he announced Iran had mastered the entire nuclear fuel
cycle and was now able to manufacture enriched uranium for power
stations.

Foreign governments who fear Iran's claimed civilian nuclear
activities are a cover for a bomb-making programme expressed
displeasure at the boast. A 30-day period for Iran to convince
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that it had
suspended all enrichment activities today expired, and the UN's
nuclear watchdog passed its negative verdict to the security
council.

What is wrong with enrichment? The problem as far as the US and 
EU are concerned - and increasingly, Russia and China - is that 
if Iran can master enrichment to fuel grade, it can also master 
enrichment to weapons grade. There is a difference in strength 
between fuel- and weapons-grade uranium (Mr Ahmadinejad boasted 
of a 3.5% level of enrichment, a bomb or warhead needs around 
90%) but the processes would be the same - provided Iran can get 
its hands on significantly more centrifuges than the 164 it now 
claims to have in operation. Its main plant has space for 54,000.

Then there is Iran's track record. As a signatory to the nuclear
non-proliferation treaty, it is allowed enrich uranium for
civilian fuel programmes. But its previous concealment of
enrichment activities from IAEA inspectors (a secret 18-year
programme was revealed in 2002) has convinced the US and EU that
it cannot be trusted. Comments from Mr Ahmadinejad that Israel
should be "wiped off the map" have also done little to reassure
them. If Iran is not actively working on a bomb at present, it
is putting itself in reach of being able to make one in the
future. A lot of this hangs on the international community's
trust in Iran.

How are the US and EU dealing with Iran? The US has not ruled
out military action but said it prefers diplomatic means to
resolve the standoff. Initially, these were handled through
Britain, France and Germany negotiating on behalf of the EU. In
talks beginning in October 2003, Iran agreed to freeze all
enrichment-related activities while a deal was thrashed out.

The agreement was always shaky, but following Mr Ahmadinejad's
election as Iranian president last summer, it quickly fell
apart. In September 2005, Iran announced it was turning uranium
ore into a precursor gas at its Isfahan plant. In January 2006,
it declared it was to remove IAEA seals from its enrichment
facilities at Natanz and resume work there. The EU three replied
that talks with Iran were therefore at a "dead end".

France, Britain, Germany and the US then lobbied the IAEA's
35-nation board to refer Iran to the UN security council.
Diplomatic procedures designed to keep Russia, China and others
on board saw the IAEA submit one report to the security council,
and the security council ask the IAEA to file another. The
upshot was that the security council, which has the power to
impose sanctions, is now involved in Iran's case.

So is it making a bomb? The first IAEA report to the security
council said that it was unable to verify that Iran's nuclear
intentions were peaceful, as its leadership repeatedly claims.
Certainly, it has rejected all compromise proposals - including
a face-saving Russian plan for it to enrich its uranium for it.
Iranian negotiators have insisted that they retain their
enrichment capabilities.

But intelligence on weapons work at Natanz - or a parallel
programme elsewhere - is scarce. The US intelligence that
informed the security council's decision to get involved in
Iran's programme came from a laptop purportedly belonging to an
engineer.

As before, it is Iran's less-than-dovish demeanour that is
feeding suspicions. In recent weeks it has testfired new
rockets, conducted naval exercises and, when Mr Ahmadinejad made
his announcement, the speech was punctuated by chants of "Death
to America" and "Death to Israel". It has also admitted
receiving a black market document on the construction of a
nuclear device from the rogue Pakistani scientist AQ Khan.

Estimates on how long it would take Iran to manufacture a
nuclear bomb range from a couple of years to a decade. The
London-based International Institute of Strategic Studies
believes it is on course to produce enough nuclear material
within three years.

Would the US attack to stop Iran getting a nuclear bomb? A
number of news reports have claimed the Pentagon is making
contingency plans for a military attack. George Bush has
dismissed them as "wild speculation" and Jack Straw, the foreign
secretary, insisted such suggestions are "completely nuts". In a
question and answer session at John Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Mr Bush said his "doctrine of prevention" did not
"mean force, necessarily. In this case, it means diplomacy."

The most talked of the recent reports was veteran investigative
journalist Seymour Hersh's piece for the New Yorker. Press
reports concentrated on the eyecatching claim the US was
prepared to fire tactical nuclear missiles at the Natanz plant
but, at the very least , Hersh gave a credible account of how
seriously the US is taking its concerns over the Iranian nuclear
programme. His principal source, a "Pentagon adviser on the war
on terror", told him that the view in Washington was that
"allowing Iran to have the bomb is not on the table [...] The
whole internal debate is on which way to go". The problem, he
said, was that while the "bottom line is that Iran cannot become
a nuclear-weapons state [...] the Iranians realise that only by
becoming a nuclear state can they defend themselves against the
US." Another Hersh source, a "government consultant with close
ties to the civilian leadership in the Pentagon", said Mr Bush
was determined Iran was not going to get the bomb, and that
"saving" the country "was going to be his legacy", an echo of
Iraq-style regime change.

Would bombing work? The Isfahan plant is above ground, but
Natanz is more than 50ft below and would require either a
tactical nuclear missile or a conventional bunker-buster bomb to
destroy it. What is not known is where else Iran could be
carrying out enrichment work. To target all suspected sites
could conceivably require hundreds of bombing missions.

While the US military is capable of such a devastating attack in
one night, the consequences could stretch years down the line if
it triggered all-out war. Iran could retaliate against US and
British forces in Iraq or use its Lebanon-based allies in
Hizbullah to agitate against Israel. On the topic of Hizbullah,
Hersh's Pentagon adviser told him that the "best terror network
in the world has remained neutral in the terror war for the past
several years" but that could all change if the US moved against
Iran. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has vowed to
harm US interests "anywhere in the world that is possible" if
Iran is attacked.

A block on oil shipping through the Strait of Hormuz or a fresh
wave of al-Qaida-style attacks on western targets following
another attack on a Muslim country could also follow a bombing
raid.

What will happen next? The crisis is strictly in the diplomatic
realm at present. Full economic sanctions are not expected at
present (Iran exports too much oil to veto-wielding China) but
some lesser form of punishment such as travel bans or bars on
the sale of some technologies could follow the IAEA report. One
optimistic scenario sees Iran willing to compromise now it has
proved it can enrich uranium, and could so again in the future.
The consequences of Iran's enrichment programme will, however,
ricochet through international affairs for a while to come.
 
[UP] 

      Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran hangs tough as it fails to meet nuclear deadline
 
Ewen MacAskill in Washington

Friday April 28, 2006 The Guardian             

The confrontation between Iran and the west will intensify today
when Mohammed ElBaradei, head of the UN nuclear watchdog,
delivers a negative verdict on Tehran's nuclear programme.

Dr ElBaradei, who leads the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), will rule that Iran has failed to comply with a 30-day
deadline set by the UN security council.

Officials from the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - the
five permanent members of the security council - and Germany
will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss sanctions, though
Moscow and Beijing reiterated yesterday they remain opposed to
punitive measures.

On the eve of Dr ElBaradei's report, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's 
hardline president, showed no willingness to compromise. 
Addressing a rally of thousands broadcast live on state 
television, he warned the US and its European allies they would 
regret any decision to "violate the rights of the Iranian 
nation".

He said Iran had no intention of giving up its uranium
enrichment programme. "The Iranian nation has acquired nuclear
fuel production technology. It didn't get assistance from
anybody and nobody can take it back," he said.

Iran denies it is seeking to build a nuclear weapon, but the US,
Europe and Israel are sceptical.

Iran has received a first batch of surface-to-surface missiles
that put Europe within range for the first time, according to
reports in the Israeli daily Haaretz quoting Israeli security
officials. Israel launched a satellite on Tuesday to spy on
Iran's nuclear facilities. The US, based on its own intelligence
reports, has told the IAEA that Iran has acquired missiles
capable of carrying a nuclear warhead.

Dr ElBaradei is scheduled to deliver his report this afternoon
to the security council and the IAEA board of governors. The
security council last month called on Iran to end its enrichment
programme and asked Dr ElBaradei to establish whether Tehran has
complied. Although it has failed to comply, the security council
is divided over what action to take. The US, Britain, France and
Germany favour declaring Iran to be a threat to international
security, opening the way for sanctions and, in theory, military
action.

But Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, yesterday made it
clear Moscow opposes this approach. Speaking after a meeting
with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, he said the IAEA
should be taking the lead on the issue and "mustn't shrug this
role from its shoulders and pass it on to the UN security
council".

Qin Gang, the Chinese foreign minister, said yesterday: "We hope
the relevant parties can keep calm and exercise restraint to
avoid moves that would further escalate the situation."

The Russian and Chinese comments suggest the security council
will have difficulty in reaching a consensus. If it fails, the
US will look instead at sanctions being imposed by a "coalition
of the willing: - the US, the Europeans and anyone else it can
persuade to impose sanctions.

The US is due to hold direct talks with Iran for the first time
since 1979 but only on Iraq. Washington insists these will not
be expanded to discuss Iran's nuclear programme, as Tehran would
like.

But Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said
yesterday: "If there are talks with Iran anyway on the situation
in Iraq, then nobody would understand if the current central
issue in world politics would not come up."
 
[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited � Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 12 Reuters: Bush: common aim to convince Iran on nuclear issue
         
Fri 28 Apr 2006 12:22 PM ET                                     

 WASHINGTON, April 28 (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush 
said on Friday the international community wants to peacefully 
persuade Tehran to give up its nuclear ambitions, but added 
Iran's intransigence is unacceptable.

 He spoke after a report circulated by the U.N.'s International
Atomic Energy Agency said Tehran had ignored a U.N. Security
Council call to suspend all nuclear fuel enrichment and had
accelerated the program.

 "The Iranian government's intransigence is not acceptable,"
Bush said to reporters at the White House.

 But Bush, who in the past has not ruled out military options,
said "the diplomatic options are just beginning" and added
Washington would continue to consult with its allies on the
issue.

 "It's very important for the Iranians to understand there is a
common desire by a lot of nations in this world to convince
them, peacefully convince them, that they ought to give up their
weapons ambitions," Bush said.

 At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said it was
clear from the IAEA report that Iran had done nothing to comply
with Security Council demands that it suspend its nuclear
activities. He added Washington was prepared to seek council
approval of a resolution making those demands mandatory under
international law.

� Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.                                              [ border=] 
*****************************************************************
 13 Reuters: Excerpts from UN report on Iran nuclear program
         
Fri 28 Apr 2006 2:34 PM ET                                      

UNITED NATIONS, April 28 (Reuters) - Following are excerpts from 
a report by Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the 
International Atomic Energy Agency to the U.N. Security Council 
and the Vienna-based IAEA Board of Governors on Iran's nuclear 
programs.

 SUSPENSION

 In a letter dated 3 January 2006, Iran informed the Agency that
it had decided to resume, as from 9 January 2006, "those R&D on
the peaceful nuclear energy program which had been suspended as
part of its expanded voluntary and non-legally binding
suspension"

 In February 2006, Iran started enrichment tests at PFEP (Pilot
Fuel Enrichment Plant) by feeding UF6 gas into a single P-1
machine, and later into 10-machine and 20-machine cascades.
During March 2006, a 164-machine cascade was completed, and
tests of the cascade using UF6 were begun.

 On 13 April 2006, Iran declared to the Agency that an
enrichment level of 3.6% had been achieved. On 18 April 2006,
the Agency took samples at PFEP, the results of which tend to
confirm as of that date the enrichment level declared by Iran.
On that day, UF6 gas was again being fed into the 164-machine
cascade, and two additional 164-machine cascades were under
construction. The enrichment process at PFEP, including the feed
and withdrawal stations, is covered by Agency safeguards
containment and surveillance measures.

The current uranium conversion campaign at UCF (URANIUM
CONVERSION FACILITY), which was initiated in November 2005, is
still ongoing and is expected to be finished in April 2006.
Since September 2005, approximately 110 tons of UF6 has been
produced at UCF, all of which remains under Agency containment
and surveillance.

 CURRENT OVERALL ASSESSMENT

 All the nuclear material declared by Iran to the Agency is
accounted for. Apart from the small quantities previously
reported to the Board, the Agency has found no other undeclared
nuclear material in Iran.

 However, gaps remain in the Agency's knowledge with respect to
the scope and content of Iran's centrifuge program. Because of
this, and other gaps in the Agency's knowledge, including the
role of the military in Iran's nuclear program, the Agency is
unable to make progress in its efforts to provide assurance
about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities
in Iran.

 After more than three years of Agency efforts to seek clarity
about all aspects of Iran's nuclear program, the existing gaps
in knowledge continue to be a matter of concern. Any progress in
that regard requires full transparency and active cooperation by
Iran -- transparency that goes beyond the measures prescribed in
the Safeguards Agreement and Additional Protocol (eds: allows
unannounced inspections) -- if the Agency is to be able to
understand fully the 20 years of undeclared nuclear activities
by Iran.

 Iran continues to facilitate the implementation of the
Safeguards Agreement and had, until February 2006, acted on a
voluntary basis as if the Additional Protocol were in force.
Until February 2006, Iran had also agreed to some transparency
measures requested by the Agency, including access to certain
military sites.

 Additional transparency measures, including access to
documentation, dual use equipment and relevant individuals, are,
however, still needed for the Agency to be able to verify the
scope and nature of Iran's enrichment program, the purpose and
use of the dual use equipment and materials purchased by the
PHRC (Physics Research Center), and the alleged studies which
could have a military nuclear dimension.

 Regrettably, these transparency measures are not yet
forthcoming. With Iran's decision to cease implementing the
provisions of the Additional Protocol, and to confine Agency
verification to the implementation of the Safeguards Agreement,
the Agency's ability to make progress in clarifying these
issues, and to confirm the absence of undeclared nuclear
material and activities, will be further limited, and Agency
access to activities not involving nuclear material (such as
research into laser isotope separation and the production of
sensitive components of the nuclear fuel cycle) will be
restricted.

 While the results of Agency safeguards activities may influence
the nature and scope of the confidence building measures that
the Board requests Iran to take, it is important to note that
safeguards obligations and confidence building measures are
different, distinct and not interchangeable. The implementation
of confidence building measures is no substitute for the full
implementation at all times of safeguards obligations. In this
context, it is also important to note that the Agency's
safeguards judgments and conclusions in the case of Iran, as in
all other cases, are based on verifiable information available
to the Agency, and are therefore, of necessity, limited to past
and present nuclear activities. The Agency cannot make a
judgment about, or reach a conclusion on, future compliance or
intentions.

 The Agency will pursue its investigation of all remaining
outstanding issues relevant to Iran's nuclear activities, and
the Director General will continue to report as appropriate.

� Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.                                              [ border=] 
  			   				
*****************************************************************
 14 IRIB PERSIAN: IRI warns West of making a mistake 

2006/04/28   
  
Tehran, April 28 - Head of the Expediency Council and Tehran's
Friday Prayers Leader warned the Western countries against
making a big historical mistake regarding Iran's nuclear
technology issue. 

In his Friday Prayers sermon, Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani pointed
to an IAEA report to be announced in few hours and said, "This
report will be the base for decisions to be made in future." 

Rafsanjani stressed, "The West must be cautious about
repercussions of their conduct." 

"It's a historical mistake for the Westerners to issue an order
to hault a scientific process in Iran." 

"No one can put an end to the process of gaining domestic
science acquired by thousands of people," he added. 

Referring to 25 years of efforts for gaining peaceful nuclear
technology and the day by day increase in the number of Iranian
experts in the field, Rafsanjani asked, "Is it possible to stop
the development of a technology which has passed through such a
long way?" 

"Even if you issue an order to stop the process in Iran,
something impossible, the technology remains to exist,"
Rafsanjani noted.
 
Hashemi-Rafsanjani stressed on Iran's decision to continue its
peacefull nuclear program and said, "Do not put yourself and us
in trouble."
 
The Friday Prayers Leader pointed to Iran's will for
trust-making regarding its peaceful nuclear activities and
recommended, "It's better for you to sit negotiation." 

He asserted Iran's willingness to share its domestic nuclear
technology with the whole world.   

  Copyright 2004, 
All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
News Network 
Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
*****************************************************************
 15 AFP: Britain wants UN to up the pressure on Iran 

 Fri Apr 28, 2:35 PM ET 		 	 

LONDON (AFP) - Britain will ask the UN Security Council to
increase the pressure on Iran" /> Iranover its nuclear
programme, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said. 

Straw's statement came after International Atomic Energy Agency"
/> International Atomic Energy Agencychief Mohamed ElBaradei
delivered his report on Iran, which said Tehran had failed to
comply with Friday's UN deadline to end uranium enrichment
activities. 

Prime Minister Tony Blair" /> Tony Blair's office said that
Britain would now discuss "further diplomatic measures" against
Iran with its international partners. 

Straw said: "It is very serious that the Iranian regime has
failed fully to co-operate with the IAEA and the United Nations"
/> United NationsSecurity Council. 

"Iran should instead have moved to restore international
confidence in its nuclear intentions by resuming full suspension
of its enrichment related and reprocessing activities and
implementing the Additional Protocol. 

"Doctor ElBaradei's report will inform our discussions with
international partners in the coming days. 

"We will now be asking the Security Council to increase the
pressure on Iran, so that the international community can be
assured that its nuclear programme is not a threat to peace and
security." 

UN nuclear chief ElBaradei's crunch report opens the door to
possible international sanctions. 

It clears the way to a new phase of diplomacy, with the United
States now ready to seek a Security Council resolution legally
obliging Iran to meet IAEA demands. 

Blair's office said that ElBaradei's report on the nuclear
activities of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's regime was
worrying. 

"It's clear that Iran is not complying at all with the UN
Security Council or with the IAEA and we will obviously study
Doctor ElBaradei's report closely," a spokesman said. 

"We will be discussing further diplomatic measures with our
partners ahead of the next UN Security Council discussion. 

"People should focus on what Iran has failed to do and the
international community will be seriously concerned by this
report." 

Blair reiterated his stock line on Monday, saying that while
military action was not on the agenda, a signal of strength was
right. 

"People do however want to send a very strong signal to Iran as
some of the comments by the president of Iran are totally
unjustifiable," he said at his monthly press conference. 

"Iran is supporting terrorism in the region to the detriment of
democratic governments, it is in breach of its nuclear
obligations and people want it to comply. 

"It's not advisable at this moment in time to send a signal of
weakness. We want to show a signal of strength." 

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 16 AFP: Chinese envoy opposes resorting to Chapter 7 resolution on Iran
    
 Fri Apr 28, 2:23 PM ET 		 	 

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - China's UN envoy Wang Guangya restated 
Beijing's opposition to Western plans to invoke Chapter 7 of the 
UN charter to legally bind Iran" /> to halt its uranium 
enrichment activities. 

 Wang, who presides over the 15-member Security Council for this
month, said the standoff with Iran over fears that it may be
seeking to develop nuclear weapons, should be resolved through
diplomacy. 

International Atomic Energy Agency" /> chief Mohamed ElBaradei,
in a report sent to the Council Friday, said Iran has failed to
comply with a UN deadline to halt uranium enrichment. 

Western diplomats here said they would introduce a Chapter 7
draft resolution in the council next week. 

"All we want is to work for a diplomatic issue, because this
region is already complicated," Wang said. "I believe that
invoking Chapter 7 will (make things) more complicated, and the
implications will lead events to a direction that is uncertain." 

"We all know what Chapter 7 is... Clearly this would not be the
end of the resolutions, this would be the beginning of a series
of resolutions. Whatever we do we should promote diplomacy," he
added. 

A Chapter 7 resolution is invoked to deal with "threats to
peace, breaches of the peace, or acts of aggression" and is
binding on all UN member states. 

It can authorize sanctions or even military action. 

Several Security Council resolutions against Iraq" /> were taken
under Chapter 7, before the March 2003 US-led invasion. 

This was also the basis for UN armed action during the 1950-53
Korean War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in
1991. 

Western diplomats here cautioned not to expect a call for
immediate sanctions, saying this would require another
resolution. 

Russia and China, which have significant economic interests in
Iran, oppose such drastic measures and instead urge patient
diplomacy spearheaded by the IAEA. 

Iran rejects Western allegations that its civilian nuclear
program is a cover for developing nuclear weapons and said that
as a signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty it has
the right to enrich uranium. 

Enrichment can be used to produce nuclear reactor fuel but also
fuel for bomb-making. 

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 17 AFP: Iran has failed to stop enriching uranium - IAEA 

 Fri Apr 28, 1:04 PM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - Iran" /> has failed to comply with a UN deadline
to halt uranium enrichment, UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei
said in a report Friday that opens the door to possible
international sanctions. 

In an immediate reaction, US President George W. Bush" /> said
Tehran's nuclear ambitions were "dangerous," but that Washington
wanted to resolve the dispute "diplomatically and peacefully". 

Iran for its part reacted sharply, hardline President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad insisting it was being denied its right to atomic
energy and issuing a veiled threat to cut off ties with
ElBaradei's watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency" />
(IAEA). 

ElBaradei's assessment was issued as a 30-day UN Security
Council deadline expired for Tehran to comply with UN demands to
halt enrichment, which makes the fuel for civilian nuclear
reactors but what can also be the explosive core of atom bombs. 

The report said the IAEA had taken samples on April 13 at Iran's
enrichment facility in Natanz "which tend to confirm as of that
date the enrichment level (of 3.6 percent) declared by Iran." 

It said that during March, Iran completed a 164-machine cascade,
referring to centrifuges arranged in series in order to enrich
uranium, and that another two similar cascades were under
construction at Natanz. 

The confidential report, obtained by AFP, was also circulated to
Security Council members in New York. 

Iran says its program is part of a peaceful civilian nuclear
energy drive. The United States and Europe fears, however, that
it is hiding secret atomic weapons development. 

Bush said "Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon is dangerous"
but that diplomatic efforts would be made to find a peaceful
solution. 

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said London would ask the
UN Security Council "to increase the pressure on Iran, so that
the international community can be assured its nuclear programme
is not a threat to peace and security." 

ElBaradei's report clears the way for a new phase of diplomacy,
with the United States now ready to seek at the Security Council
a resolution legally obliging Iran to meet IAEA and Security
Council demands. 

In New York, US, British and French diplomats said they expected
to present some time next week a Chapter 7 resolution to that
effect. 

"We believe the next step is a Chapter 7 resolution making
mandatory the existing IAEA resolutions," US Ambassador John
Bolton said, making it clear this would not be a sanctions
resolution. 

Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, invoked in case of threats to
international peace and security, can open the door to sanctions
or even military action. 

If Iran still refuses, such a resolution could lead to punishing
economic sanctions and even military action, although Tehran's
allies and major trading partners Russia and China oppose any
such move. 

Iran has rejected suspending enrichment, Ahmadinejad vowing
Thursday that his country "will not bow to injustice and
pressure." 

Ahmadinejad said Friday: "We still want to work within the
framework of the agency and we are committed to its
regulations." 

"But if these regulations that guarantee our rights are used
against us, we will totally change our way of dealing with the
organisations," he was quoted as saying by the official IRNA
agency. 

ElBaradei's report said Iran had offered a timetable for
cooperation with nuclear inspectors if the IAEA, rather than the
Security Council, oversaw its compliance. 

"Iran will provide a timetable within the next three weeks" if
"the Iran nuclear dossier will remain, in full, in the framework
of the IAEA and under its safeguards," the IAEA said. 

Diplomats described this as the sort of stalling tactics Iran
has employed in the past but also a veiled threat that Iran
could pull out of the nuclear non-proliferation regime if its
atomic ambitions are challenged. 

ElBaradei's report also said there had been little progress
since a previous assessment and "gaps remain in the agency's
knowledge with respect to the scope and content of Iran's
centrifuge program." 

The report said: "Because of this and other gaps in the agency's
knowledge including the role of the military in Iran's nuclear
program, the agency is unable to make progress in its efforts to
provide assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear
material and activities in Iran." 

ElBaradei also noted that his agency was was unable to rule out
that Iran may have received plutonium, which is an atomic
weapons material, from abroad. 	 		 			

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 18 AFP: Bush says Iran nuclear ambitions 'dangerous' but diplomacy first
     
 Fri Apr 28, 6:59 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush" /> President 
George W. Bushsaid that "Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon 
is dangerous" but promised intense diplomatic efforts to find a 
peaceful solution. 

The US leader stressed the international "common front" against
Iran" /> Iran's nuclear ambitions after the International Atomic
Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA)
reported that Iran had failed to meet a UN deadline to stop
uranium enrichment. 

"Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon is dangerous, in my
judgment, and the diplomatic process is just starting," Bush
told reporters at the White House. 

The United States has called for a UN Security Council
resolution against Iran under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter, which
could impose economic sanctions and military action. 

The US ambassador to the United Nations" /> United Nations, John
Bolton, said Friday he would press for the quick adoption of a
resolution that would legally bind Iran to freeze its uranium
enrichment. 

Bush said "today's IAEA report should remind us all that the
Iranian government's intransigence is not acceptable." But he
did not mention sanctions in his comments. 

Russia and China have spoken against UN sanctions for Iran case
and the US leader highlighted the need for a "common voice" to
put pressure on Tehran. 

"The world wasn't always of like mind that the Iranians were
headed for a weapon and that that would be a dangerous course of
action," he said. 

"And now we are of like mind. And so we are in the stage now of
formulating a strategy to achieve a diplomatic solution to this
problem." 

Questioned about Iran's repeated refusal to comply with the UN
demands, Bush said: "I think the diplomatic options are just
beginning." 

He added: "It's very important for the Iranians to understand
there's a common desire by a lot of nations of this world to
convince them -- peacefully convince them -- that they ought to
give up their weapons ambitions." 

He said the US administration had worked closely with Britain,
France and Germany and that consultations would be pursued when
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Washington next week. 

"We will continue discussions about how we can continue to
maintain a united front." 

Washington and its allies believe that Iran's uranium enrichment
and other research hides an effort to build a nuclear bomb.
Tehran insists its programme is peaceful. 

Bush called the IAEA report an "important statement" because it
"should remind the Iranians that the world is united and
concerned about their desire to have not only a nuclear weapon,
but the capacity to make a nuclear weapon or the knowledge to
make a nuclear weapon; all of which we're working hard to
convince them not to try to achieve." 

Chapter 7 was used to press the case against Iraq" /> Iraqbefore
the US-led invasion in March 2003, but the US leader insisted
there were major differences between the two cases. 

"Iraq went through 16 different Security Council resolutions.
There was resolution after resolution after resolution. Iraq had
invaded its neighbours. Iraq was shooting at US aircraft. Iraq
had actually used weapons of mass destruction on its people
before. 

"There's a difference between the two countries." He emphasised
that no formal resolution has yet been passed by the UN Security
Council on Iran. 

"The diplomatic process is just beginning. We're forming a
strong coalition of like-minded countries that believe that the
Iranians should not have a nuclear weapon. 

"I've told the American people that diplomacy is my first
choice, and it should be the first choice of every American
president in order to solve a very difficult problem." 	 		 			

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 19 AFP: UN nuclear report expected to knock Iran 

 Fri Apr 28, 6:25 AM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - UN nuclear watchdog chief Mohamed ElBaradei was 
expected to report that Iran" /> has failed to meet a UN deadline 
to stop enriching uranium, paving the way to possible sanctions 
against a defiant Tehran. 

Iran has strongly rejected suspending the enrichment process and
says it is pushing ahead with developing its ability to make
what can be nuclear fuel but also the raw material for atom
bombs. 

Diplomats say that is enough for ElBaradei to report that Iran
has not met the 30-day deadline set by the UN Security Council,
running out Friday, even if some Western experts are sceptical
about Tehran's claimed success in mastering the difficult
process of enriching uranium with centrifuges. 

The run-up to the report being issued by ElBaradei's
International Atomic Energy Agency" /> (IAEA) has been marked by
strong rhetoric from Iran and calls by the West for UN action. 

Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad vowed Thursday that Iran
"will not bow to injustice and pressure," and was quoted Friday
by media there as saying that mastering "peaceful nuclear
energy" could make it into a superpower. 

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" /> said the Security
Council "has to act" in response to Iran's failure to allay the
West's fears that the Islamic republic is using its allegedly
peaceful program to secretly develop nuclear weapons. 

"I would certainly hope that the Security Council is prepared to
take some action," she said on the sidelines of a NATO" />
meeting in Bulgaria. 

Her German opposite number Frank-Walter Steinmeier, also in
Sofia, said the international community had to put on a united
front. 

"The reactions from Tehran are cause for concern," he said. 

"All NATO states agree that this is the only way to make the
consquences of its self-isolation sufficiently clear to Iran." 

Iran announced April 11 that it had enriched uranium using a
164-centrifuge cascade, or series of the machines, to 3.5
percent, enough for nuclear fuel but not for a weapon. 

It is working on upping the number of centrifuges to 3,000 with
an ultimate goal of running over 50,000 centrifuges -- capable
of producing enough uranium to make several atom bombs a year. 

The Security Council also requires Iran to cooperate with an
IAEA inspection that has now lasted more than three years, but
which has not yet been able to conclude that Iran's nuclear
activities are peaceful. 

"It is not going to be a good report. That is quite clear. What
is there positive to report?" a senior European diplomat, who
requested anonymity, said of ElBaradei's assessment. 

Washington wants the Security Council to adopt a resolution
legally obliging Iran to meet the IAEA's demands. 

If Iran still refuses to comply, such a resolution could lead to
punishing economic sanctions and even military action, although
Tehran's allies and major trading partners Russia and China
oppose any such move. 

A Western diplomat said the United States and European Union" />
were confident they could find wording for a Chapter 7
resolution that would allay the Russian and Chinese concerns,
but added that this might involve negotiations lasting through
May. 

In Paris, a senior French diplomat told AFP that the Council
should take action under Chapter 7 as "it is essential to show
Iran that it has crossed a red line." 

Iran's nuclear chief, Vice President Gholam Reza Aghazadeh, did
not present any new proposals in an 11th hour meeting Wednesday
with ElBaradei in Vienna, diplomats said. 

Tehran has proposed holding off on expanding its enrichment
capabilities at a facility in Natanz if it is allowed to
continue the work it has started, but the West has roundly
rejected this, one diplomat said. 

ElBaradei's report will be released early Friday simultaneously
to member countries on the IAEA board of governors and the UN
Security Council in New York, IAEA spokeswoman Melissa Fleming
said. 

There was speculation Russia or China could call for an
emergency meeting of the IAEA board of governors to review
ElBaradei's report. 

Any of the IAEA's 35 board member nations could call for a
special meeting but US ambassador to the IAEA Gregory Schulte
has already told several key states that the United States would
not support such a move. 

Washington does not want the board doing "anything that could
prejudice or constrain Security Council action in May," a
Western diplomat said. 	 		 			

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 20 AFP: Iran's Ahmadinejad vows to defy UN nuclear demands 

 Fri Apr 28, 3:57 PM ET 		 	 

TEHRAN (AFP) - Hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fired off a 
fresh barrage of warnings to the United Nations" /> on Friday, 
saying Iran" /> did "not give a damn" about demands to freeze 
sensitive nuclear work. 

The firebrand president also told supporters the Islamic
republic could soon become a "superpower", and issued a veiled
threat to cut off ties with the UN's International Atomic Energy
Agency" /> (IAEA). 

His comments coincided with an IAEA report saying Iran had
failed to respect a Security Council deadline to freeze uranium
enrichment -- which can make weapons material -- and that its
hardline leadership had failed to cooperate with the agency. 

"Iran does not give a damn about such resolutions," the
firebrand president told a rally in the northern province of
Zanjan. 

"The bullies of the world should know that nuclear energy is a
national demand, and thank God our nation is a nuclear nation
today," the official news agency IRNA quoted him as saying. 

"The Islamic republic of Iran has the capacity to quickly become
a world superpower," Ahmadinejad said. "If we believe in
ourselves... no other power can be compared to us. 

Iran argues that it only wants to make reactor fuel and not the
core of a nuclear bomb, and accuses Western powers of seeking to
deprive it of a "legitimate right" enshrined by the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty. 

But the stinging IAEA report paves the way for possible
sanctions, while the United States has also not ruled out taking
military action. 

"We still want to work within the framework of the agency and we
are committed to its regulations," Ahmadinejad said. 

"But if these regulations that guarantee our rights are used
against us, we will totally change our way of dealing with the
organisations," he added, repeating a threat to put an end to UN
inspections. 

According to the ISNA news agency, the president also promised
that Iran would "soon have more good news" on its nuclear drive. 

The last time Ahmadinejad promised "good news" was earlier this
month, when he went on to announce that Iranian scientists and
successfully enriched uranium to make reactor fuel and declared
the Islamic republic had "joined the nuclear club". 

Meanwhile, Mohammad Saidi, the deputy head of Iran's Atomic
Energy Organisation, put on a brave face concerning the
strongly-worded IAEA report. 

"The entire report contains no negative points," Saidi said. 

He insisted that Iran was only ready to work with the agency to
resolve suspicions of an illicit weapons drive on the condition
that the Security Council did not step up the pressure. 

"Iran is ready to work with the (IAEA) inspectors over the next
three weeks to fix a calendar to resolve the problems, on the
condition that the case stays at the IAEA," he said. 

At the regime's weekly Friday prayer sermon at Tehran
University, influential former president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani --
a rival of Ahmadinejad -- warned Western powers but offered more
conciliatory words. 

"They should be cautious and careful and think about the
consequences of this," Rafsanjani, a moderate conservative
figure, said of the UN atomic watchdog. 

"I want to tell them if they order to stop Iranian science, it
will be a historic mistake. No one can stop a localised
knowledge. 

"So don't put yourself, us and the region in trouble," he said
in comments directed at the UN and IAEA. "Sit and negotiate.
Rest assured that Iranians want to build confidence. They want
to honestly show their scientific work to the world in a clear
atmosphere. They do not think about military action." 	 		 			

Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 21 AFP: Uranium enrichment at heart of Iran nuclear dispute

 Fri Apr 28, 2:16 AM ET 		 	 

TEHRAN (AFP) - Enrichment, the sensitive process the United 
Nations" /> United Nationsgave Iran" /> Iranuntil Friday to stop, 
takes low-grade uranium and refines it, turning it into a 
material that can power reactors -- or a nuclear bomb. 

The key difference is that reactor fuel only needs uranium that
has been enriched to a low level, but an atom bomb requires a
much more highly enriched version. 

When uranium ore is dug out of the ground, more than 99 percent
of it comprises the stable U-238 "heavyweight" isotope, and just
0.7 percent is the "lightweight" isotope, U-235. 

It is the U-235 that interests scientists because it is fissile.
Its nucleus can release energy by splitting into smaller
fragments, which then smash into other atoms and so on. 

The goal, therefore, is to beef up the percentage of U-235 so
that there is enough of it to induce a chain reaction. 

The first step is to mill the ore into a concentrate called
yellowcake. This is converted into uranium hexafluoride gas
(UF6) ahead of enrichment. 

One of the two methods of enrichment is that chosen by Iran,
which is gas centrifuge. 

The UF6 is piped in a cylinder that is then spun at high speed.
The rotation causes a centrifugal force that pushes the heavier
U-238 isotopes towards the outside of the cylinder, while the
lighter ones U-235 isotopes congregate at the centre. 

The stream that is slightly enriched in U-235 is then drawn off
and fed into the next enrichment stage. 

When around five percent of the UF6 comprises U-235, the
material is enriched enough to be turned into fuel for a
civilian nuclear plant. The gas is allowed to cool and solidify
before it is turned into fuel assemblies to be placed in
reactors. 

Iran says it has only enriched to 3.5 percent -- the purity it
requires for its planned nuclear plants -- and on a limited
scale. 

To reach weapons-grade material, the enrichment level has to
reach more than 90 percent and large quantities are also needed. 

Little Boy, the Hiroshima bomb, used 64.1 kilos (141 pounds) of
enriched uranium, although a device can also be built from
between 15 and 25 kilos (33-55 pounds) of material, according to
experts. 

A bomb can also be made from as little as six kilos (13.2
pounds) of plutonium, a by-product from burning uranium. 

Enrichment using the centrifugal method is half a century old.
But it requires thousands of centrifuges, interconnected to form
"cascades", to concentrate the level of U-235 to military
standards. 

These machines and their components are highly specialised. 

When a country starts to buy large numbers of them on the black
market -- as Iran was reported to have done several years ago --
that is widely viewed as a telltale of its ambitions to develop
a nuclear weapon. 

Iran has installed 164 centrifuges at a pilot plant in Natanz,
and a senior official has said Tehran wants to install 3,000
centrifuges within the next year. 

Iran is also now seeking to use advanced P2 centrifuges --
devices that are capable of making weapons-grade uranium more
efficiently than the P1 technology currently in use. 

In 2004, Iran told the International Atomic Energy Agency" />
International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) it planned to convert
37 tons of yellowcake into UF6 for a civilian enrichment
programme. That, experts said, was enough to make one to several
atomic bombs. 

The country now says it has 110 tonnes of UF6. 

Enrichment is only one of several other important hurdles to
overcome before a country is considered nuclear-weapons capable. 

One is the electronic trigger, whose split-second timing is
essential for unleashing the chain reaction. Another is
weaponisation -- putting the device into a missile or bomb that
can be delivered to a target. 

Iran is a major exporter of oil and has vast reserves of natural
gas. It contends it needs nuclear power to provide power for its
citizens when its fossil-fuel reserves run out, and to free up
its reserves for export. 	 		 			
					 						Recommend It: 						Not at All 						Somewhat
Copyright � 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 22 IRNA: Nuclear energy, 1st step towards climax of progress - President -

Zanjan, April 28, IRNA                                                                                                           

Iran-President-Nuclear 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Friday that access to
peaceful nuclear energy was the first step taken by the Iranian
people to conquer peaks of progress.

 Ahmadinejad, who arrived in the northwestern city of Zanjan for
his 12th visit to various provinces of the country Thursday
morning, made the remark in a meeting with local residents of
Khorramdareh city.

 "The Iranian youth and scientists will conquer peaks of science
and technology in all fields step by step and will stand at the
peak of international progress," the president said.

 He added, "Certain powers fill their arsenals with chemical,
biological and nuclear weapons but stand against national move
of the Iranian people.

 "These powers intend to monopolize nuclear technology and put
the world's wealth and power in their own pockets therefore they
can rule the world based on this technology. But they are
mistaken on the Iranian nation."
 He said nuclear energy is an inalienable right and national
demand of the Iranian people, adding, "Enemies think they can
make the Iranians give up their honorable path through
propaganda, false publicity, political threats and imposition of
sanctions.

 "Iran is a nuclear country. This slogan that nuclear energy is
our inalienable right is the outcry of the people and a national
demand."
 He addressed those who are against Iran's progress, saying, "If
nuclear technology is bad, you should not use it...We believe it
is good and all peoples should enjoy it."
 Pointing to political games and conspiracies of the enemies
against Iran's access to peaceful nuclear energy, head of
Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) added the Iranian
nation would pay no heed to such resolutions.

 He said Iran is the center of peace and tranquility, stressing,
"We call for peace and tranquility for all states. We have not
attacked any country and are not regarded as a threat to the
world.

 The Iranian nation is independent."
 He stated that all Iranians are duty-bound to take steps
towards development of Iran, adding, "Iran should become the
most advanced and powerful country in the world."
 With a population of more than 53,000 people, Khorramdareh is
located at 85km southeast of provincial capital city of Zanjan.

 Ahmadinejad and his entourage had already visited the provinces
of South Khorasan, Sistan-Baluchestan, Ilam, Qom, Hormuzgan,
Bushehr, Chahar Mahal and Bakhtiari, Lorestan, Golestan,
Kohgilouyeh and Boyer Ahmad and Razavi Khorassan.		 				 		 			

*****************************************************************
 23 IRNA: ElBaradei to present report on Iran within few hours

Vienna, April 28, IRNA                                                                                                           

Iran-ElBaradei-Nuclear 

Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed 
ElBaradei, will present his report on Iran's nuclear activities 
to the United Nations Secretariat in New York Friday evening.

 A copy of the report will be presented to the Security Council 
and another one to the IAEA Board of Governors.

 The UN Security Council, in a statement on March 29, had given a 
30-day deadline to ElBaradei to present a report on Iran's 
compliance with ratifications of the Board of Governors.






			 		 				
*****************************************************************
 24 IRNA: Iran, Russia discuss bilateral, regional cooperation

Moscow, April 28, IRNA                                                                                                           

Iran-Russia-Ties 

Iran and Russia here Thursday discussed avenues for bolstering
bilateral and regional cooperation.

 An Iranian parliamentary delegation, headed by Iran's
Vice-Speaker Mohammad-Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, met with Russian
State Duma Vice-Speaker Sergei Baburin, Deputy Speaker of
Russia's Lower House of Parliament Vladimir Zhirinovsky and
Duma's Deputy Artur Chilingarov.

 The Iranian delegation, including a Majlis deputy Hossein
Sheikholeslam and deputy ambassador to Russia Qorban Seifi,
invited Duma officials to attend the 7th session of the
Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace, slated to be held in
Tehran.

 The delegation, which is currently in Russia to attend the
100th anniversary of establishment of Russian State Duma, which
was held at Tavricheski Palace in Saint Petersburg, also met
with Chairman of Duma for Security Affairs Vladimir Vasilyev and
Chairman of the Committee on Defense Viktor Zavarzin.

 During the meeting, the sides stressed the importance of
bolstering cooperation between commissions of the two
parliaments.

 Russian State Duma was founded on April 27, 1906, upon an order
by Nicholas II, last Tsar of Russia.

*****************************************************************
 25 Korea Times: Korea Breaks Ground for 2 Nuclear Power Plants 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Biz/Finance   

By Kim Yon-se Staff Reporter

 South Korea on Friday broke ground on two commercial nuclear
reactors near Kyongju City in North Kyongsang Province as part
of plans to build six more nuclear power plants by 2015.

 The construction of plants, dubbed unit 1 and unit 2 of New
Wolsong Nuclear Reactor, will start this July and be completed
by October 2011 and October 2012, respectively.

 Korea Hydro &Nuclear Power (KHNP) said a total of 4.71 trillion
won ($4.95 billion), involving foreign investments worth 800
billion won, will be spent for the project.

 The nation has already set up four reactor units around Wolsong
County between 1983 and 1999. Those were located at Yangnam
district and the planned two units will be built in Ponggil
district. 

The first one million-kilowatt reactor is scheduled to be built
by October 2011, with the second one set to launch one year
later.

 The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy expects the new
plants to become the nation��s nuclear power Mecca. Last year,
the government selected Kyongju as the first dumpsite for
radioactive waste.

 ``Nuclear power operation means performances to secure safety
and reliability within its lifetime,���� a spokesman of the
state-run KHNP said.

 He said the performances are divided into five sectors _
operation; maintenance; operational test and check; nuclear fuel
reload; and scheduled repair and technical operation management.

 The KHNP is operating 20 nuclear power plants nationwide, with
total generation capacity of 17,716 megawatts of electricity, in
areas such as Yonggwang in South Cholla Province and Ulchin in
North Kyongsang Province.

 South Korea is one of the six big nuclear power generators in
the world. South Korea currently operates 20 commercial nuclear
reactors, with 10 more to be built or designed in the next 10
years. About 40 percent of the country's electric power is
generated by nuclear reactors.

 Soaring crude oil prices prod governments to seek alternative
energy sources other than petroleum, particularly in nuclear
power.

 The United States now looks to license novel nuclear plants,
putting an end to the nation��s quarter-century moratorium on
new nuclear facilities after the 1979 Three Mile Island debacle.

 Other countries like France, Finland and China also follow suit
of the U.S. and in related measures some nations, including the
Netherlands and Switzerland, watered down their original plans
for scrapping nuclear power plants.

 The Netherlands reversed its plan of closing down Borssele
reactors and Switzerland voted down the draft of expelling
nuclear plants on a phased basis. 

kys@koreatimes.co.kr 04-28-2006 18:11         
  
*****************************************************************
 26 [NYTr] Pentagon end-run around nuke test ban
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 10:34:41 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Workers World - May 4, 2006 issue
http://www.workers.org/2006/us/nuke-test-0504/

Pentagon end-run around nuke test ban

By Leslie Feinberg

"Divine Strake"--the strange name for a scheduled test blast of 700
tons of explosives on Western Shoshone land on June 2--is nothing but
a Pentagon end-run around the ban on nuclear weapons testing. It is
scheduled at a time when a wing of the U.S. military and political
establishment is considering the use of a new generation of tactical
nuclear "bunker-bus ters" that they hope can drill far deeper
underground into case-hardened facilities.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported in the April 17
edition of the New Yorker magazine that the Pentagon brass are arguing
about whether or not to drop such a "bunker-buster" bomb on Iran's
main centrifuge plant at Natanz, some 200 miles south of Tehran.

The Federation of American Scientists announced on April 3 that Divine
Strake "was designed to simulate the effects of just such a bomb."

This use of conventional explosives to test capabilities for a
tactical nuclear strike is a mighty rattling of Pentagon sabers.
Washington proved its willingness to do the unthinkable when it
dropped atomic bombs on the civilian population of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki--the only country to ever detonate these powerful weapons--in
an attempt to exert the military, economic and political hegemony of
U.S. finance capital over the planet.

Today, as resistance to the imperialist empire mounts--from Baghdad to
Caracas, from Pyongyang to Tehran--Washington is seeking to develop
even more weapons of mass destruction.

The National Strategic Gaming Center of the National Defense
University (NDU) at Fort McNair--which trains senior Pentagon
officers--is planning an "exercise" targeting Iran's nuclear energy
capabilities on July 18, six weeks after Divine Strake.

The Divine Strake test blast "could be a move to threaten Iran, North
Korea or any other regimes that the United States is not pleased
with," concluded Anatoly Tsi ganok, head of Russia's Center for
Military Forecasting. He added that Divine Strake test could also be
regarded as an attempt to demonstrate U.S. military superiority over
Russia and China. (Novosti, March 31)

Quarrel over tactics, not strategy

Federal officials and the U.S. corporate media continue to repeat
Washington's assertions that the humongous explosion scheduled for
June 2 is not another step towards what would be an illegal renewal of
nuclear weapons testing. That's a hard promise to swallow.

"The test is aimed at determining how well a massive conventional bomb
would perform against fortified underground targets," stated the March
31 Washington Post.

But according to the April 11 Las Vegas Sun, "Critics are scoffing at
the Bush administration's claims" that Divine Strake "is unrelated to
the effort to build a nuclear bunker-buster."

Divine Strake would detonate 700 tons of heavy ammonium nitrate
saturated with fuel oil emulsion--the equivalent explosive power of
593 tons of TNT. The test would be the largest controlled conventional
blast in military history and the biggest overall weapons test since
the Cold War. Its explosion would create a 10,000-foot mushroom cloud
and shake the surrounding earth at roughly 3.1 to 3.4 on the Richter
scale while gouging a 36-foot-deep crater.

To grasp its sheer destructive capabilities, the resulting explosion
would be some 280 times bigger than the one that gutted the Federal
Building in Oklahoma City in 1995.

Divine Strake is not a step towards a new conventional weapon. The
most gigantic and powerful conventional wea pon in the Pentagon
arsenal is MOAB--short for "Massive Ordnance Air Blast"--which weighs
in at 21,000 pounds, far less than the 700 tons of explosive material
to be gathered together and blown up on June 2. The B-2, with its
immense bomb bay, can only carry a weapon of some 40 tons.

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)--a euphemistically named
Penta gon combat support agency--openly stated in its budget for the
fiscal year 2007 that Divine Strake would "develop a planning tool
that will improve the war fighter's confidence in selecting the
smaller proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground
facilities while minimizing collateral damage."

Then on April 10, DTRA officials did an about-face, claiming that the
description about the "smaller proper nuclear yield" has changed.
Divine Strake is now only a test for conventional weapons, they
maintained.

The disagreement in the Pentagon over what has been characterized as
the "Rumsfeld" hard-line strategy is not a dispute between doves and
hawks. Both wings of this buzzard are in a dispute over which tactics
will be most effective to maintain world hegemony.

Western Shoshone call for resistance

Divine Strake also shows utter contempt and disregard for the Western
Shoshone.

The DTRA claims that "No adverse impact on the environment or health
of exercise participants or local residents is anticipated."

The Western Shoshone vehemently disagree. At stake is the land, water
and air that sustains them, as well as their sovereignty,
self-determination and treaty rights.

Official figures released by the Centers for Disease Control show that
at least 15,000 people died as a result of nuclear testing at the same
U.S. military site between 1945 and 1992.

With the Pentagon pressing for the June 2 test, the Nevada
environmental group Citizen Alert has sent a letter to the departments
of Defense and Energy charging that the 700-ton explosion risks
spewing surface radioactive contamination from past bomb tests into
the air. The blast site is also less than 90 miles northwest of urban
Las Vegas.

The U.S. military has conducted 1,050 tests of nuclear weapons in the
Marshall Islands and in Nevada, Utah, Mississippi and other states
since 1945. The last underground test was in 1992; the last
atmospheric detonation was in 1963.

Sounding like a Dr. Strangelove, DTRA head James Tegnelia boasted to
the French Press Agency March 30, "I don't want to sound glib here but
it is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over
Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons." He said that
"Divine Strake" would be the "largest single explosive that we could
imagine."

A Western Shoshone delegation traveled to Geneva in March to win
support from the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial
Discrimination (CERD). On March 10, CERD officials publicly called on
Washington to "freeze," "desist" and "stop" the threat to carry out
its weapons testing on Western Shoshone land and its attempts to build
a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain.

"Our people were forcibly removed from their homes at the Nevada Test
Site where the Western Shoshone had lived for thousands of years,
without being told that our lands would be used for testing of nuclear
weapons," stated Thomas Was son, chair of the Winnemucca Indian
Colony. "After destroying our lands and causing untold death and human
misery with their radiation, the U.S. government now wants to do the
same thing again. They must be stopped, for the good of the Western
Shoshone and all people." (desertnews.ocm, April 23)

This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
Email: ww@workers.org
Subscribe wwnews-subscribe@workersworld.net
       
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 27 [NYTr] How Nixon Allowed Israel to Cross the Nuclear Threshhold
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 17:28:57 -0400 (EDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
National Security Archive Update- April 28, 2006
http://www.nsarchive.org

ISRAEL CROSSES THE NUCLEAR THRESHOLD

Senior Nixon Administration Officials Considered Confronting Israel
over Nuclear Weapons in 1969 but President Nixon Declined, Deciding
that Washington Could Live with an Undeclared Israeli Bomb, According
to Newly Declassified Documents and a Study in the Bulletin of the
Atomic Scientists Posted Today

For more information contact:
Avner Cohen, 202/489-6282 or National Security Archive, 202/994-7000

Washington D.C., April 28, 2006 - Today the National Security Archive
publishes for the first time 30 recently declassified U.S. government
documents disclosing the existence of a highly secret policy debate,
during the first year of the Nixon administration, over the Israeli
nuclear weapons program. Broadly speaking, the debate was over
whether it was feasible--either politically or technically--for the
Nixon administration to try to prevent Israel from crossing the
nuclear threshold, or whether the U.S. should find some "ground
rules" which would allow it to live with a nuclear Israel.

The documents published by the Archive are the primary sources for
an article by Avner Cohen and William Burr, "Israel crosses the
threshold," that appears in the May-June 2006 issue of the Bulletin
of the Atomic Scientists. The article is now available on-line at
the Bulletin's Web site. An edited version of the article will also
appear in The Washington Post's Sunday "Outlook" section on April
30, 2006.

Among the key findings in the article:

* 1969 was a turning point in the U.S.-Israeli nuclear relationship.
Israel already had a nuclear device by 1967, but it was not until
1968-1969 that U.S. officials concluded that an Israeli bomb was
about to become a physical and political reality. U.S. government
officials believed that Israel was reaching a state "whereby all
the components for a weapon are at hand, awaiting only final assembly
and testing."

* In the first months of the Nixon administration, senior officials
such as Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird believed it was important
that Washington try to check Israeli nuclear progress for the sake
of stability in the Middle East.

* In April 1969 national security adviser Henry Kissinger issued
National Security Study Memorandum (NSSM) 40 requesting the national
security bureaucracy to develop options for dealing with the Israeli
nuclear problem. A Senior Review Group (SRG), chaired by Henry
Kissinger, was formed to deliberate and propose avenues for action
to the President.

* The SRG outlined policy objectives to President Nixon and proposed
initiating a probe with Israeli Ambassador Rabin designed to achieve
those objectives. Nixon approved the SRG's proposal for action but
declined to use deliveries of advanced F-4 Phantom jets as leverage
for the probe. This decision was fateful for the entire exercise.

* On July 29, 1969 Ambassador Rabin was summoned by Acting Secretary
of State Elliott Richardson and Deputy Secretary of Defense David
Packard as the first step in the probe. The two officials pressed
Rabin on three issues: (1) the meaning of Israel's "non-introduction"
pledge; (2) Israel's signature on the NPT; (3) Israel's intentions
on the missile issue. Rabin provided no replies and subsequently
proposed to leave the whole issue for the meeting between President
Nixon and Prime Minister Meir in late September.

* On the eve of Meir's visit the State Department prepared a
background paper for the President concluding that "Israel might
very well now have a nuclear bomb" and certainly "had the technical
ability and material resources to produce weapons grade uranium for
a number of weapons."

* No written record of the meeting between President Nixon and Prime
Minister Meir on September 26 is available, but it was a key event
in the emergence of the 1969 US-Israeli nuclear understanding.
Subsequent documents suggest that Meir pledged to maintain nuclear
restraint-no test, no declaration, no visibility-and after the
meeting the Nixon White House decided to "stand down" on pressure
on Israel.

* On October 7, 1969 Ambassador Rabin formally provided his belated
answers to the US questions: Israel will not become a nuclear power;
Israel will decide on the NPT after its election in November; Israel
will not deploy strategic missiles until 1972.

* On February 23, 1970 Ambassador Rabin informed Kissinger that,
in light of President Nixon's conversation with Meir in September
1969, Israel "has no intention to sign the NPT."

* Subsequently, the White House decided to end the secret annual
U.S. visits to the Israeli nuclear facility at Dimona. Lower-level
officials were not told of the decision and as late as May 1970
they were under the impression that the visits could be revived.

* By 1975, in keeping with the understanding with Israel, the State
Department refused to tell Congress that it was certain that Israel
had the bomb, even though U.S. intelligence was convinced that it
did.

The newly declassified documents are from State Department records
and Nixon Presidential Materials at the National Archives, College
Park. They represent, however, only a small fraction of a large
body of documents on NSSM 40 that remain classified. To elucidate
the U.S. government debate over the issue of the Israeli bomb the
National Security Archive has filed declassification requests for
those key documents.

Follow the link below to view the source documents for the article:
http://www.nsarchive.org

The full article, "Israel crosses the threshold," is now available
on the Web site of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists:

http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=mj06cohen


THE NATIONAL SECURITY ARCHIVE is an independent non-governmental
research institute and library located at The George Washington
University in Washington, D.C. The Archive collects and publishes
declassified documents acquired through the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA). A tax-exempt public charity, the Archive receives no
U.S. government funding; its budget is supported by publication
royalties and donations from foundations and individuals.
       
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 28 As UN Assembly Marks 20 Years Since Chernobyl, Officials Urge Continued Action
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 20:00:20 -0400


 
AS UN ASSEMBLY MARKS 20 YEARS SINCE CHERNOBYL, OFFICIALS URGE CONTINUED 
ACTION
New York, Apr 28 2006  8:00PM
The United Nations General Assembly today marked 20 years since the 
Chernobyl nuclear accident, the most severe in the history of 
the nuclear power industry, with officials calling for more action 
to address the health and other challenges faced by Belarus, the 
Ukraine and the Russian Federation, the countries most affected 
by the catastrophe.

	The Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), Kemal 
Dervis, hailed progress in addressing the problems caused by the 
1986 accident, which led to a huge release of radionuclides, but 
said more needed to be done for the communities still dealing with 
its aftermath.

"The biggest challenge now facing affected territories is being the 
need to create new jobs, promote investment and growth, restore 
a sense of community self-reliance, and improve local living standards," 
he said.

Mr. Dervis also highlighted that UNDP's mandate is "to work together 
with the three governments, the affected communities, as well 
as with other UN agencies and international organizations, to find 
the right solutions to the development challenges posed by Chernobyl."

	Emphasizing the health fallout from the disaster, the head of the 
UN children's agency (UNICEF) told the gathered delegates that 
the most dramatic health impact was the increased incidence of childhood 
thyroid cancer caused by radioactive iodine fallout.

	"In a cruel irony, just as iodine deficiency in the affected area 
made children more vulnerable 20 years ago to the radioactive iodine 
fallout even now it continues to affect thousands of children," 
stressed Executive Director Ann M. Veneman, noting that iodine 
deficiency is the world's leading cause of mental retardation.

In areas like those affected by the Chernobyl catastrophe, where 
iodine deficiency is endemic, it has been shown to lower the IQ level 
of children by an average of about 13 points, according to UNICEF, 
which advocates universal iodization of sal
from the protection of iodine. Today, only about 55 percent of households 
in Belarus consume iodized salt and in Russia and Ukraine, 
that figure is about 30 percent.

Ms. Veneman said this means that every year, an estimated 41,000 
children in Belarus, 274,000 children in Ukraine, and 1 million children 
in the Russian Federation are born iodine-deficient. "What 
is needed is a commitment to action from the leaders of Belarus, 
the Russian Federation and Ukraine and the international community 
stands ready to help," she said.

The representative of Belarus, Andrei Dapkiunas, said the Assembly 
meeting was an encouraging sign that the international community 
had not forgotten the many people affected by the tragic 1986 accident. 
Citing UN experts, he said the overall damage had cost some 
$235 billion.  Belarus had spent more than $17 billion to address 
post-Chernobyl issues, and had relocated approximately 140,000 
people.  Those achievements had been accompanied by much-needed 
assistance from foreign partners, he said.

Igor Shcherbak of Russia said after the disaster, more than 59,000 
square kilometers of the country had been contaminated -- an area 
that was home to 3 million Russian people.  He praised the "catalytic 
and coordinating role" of the UN, as the international community 
worked to provided assistance in the field of health, help 
rehabilitate agriculture and promote the information exchange network. 

Volodymyr Kholosha, Deputy Minister of Emergency for Ukraine, noted 
that 10 per cent of Ukraine's land was affected by radiation, 
as 164,000 people had been forced to move out of 170 towns and leave 
their homes to go live elsewhere.  For some years, Ukraine had 
been compelled to spend 12 per cent of its State budget for measures, 
such as improved medical services and environmental clean-up 
and thanked the international community for its support.


 2006-04-28 00:00:00.000 


________________

For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
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*****************************************************************
 29 hvg.hu: Why are the Chernobil files still closed?

2006. április 28. 16:35                                                                                            
							 						   						   							 							[Nyomtatható verzió] 
Moral regime change cannot be completed until all the Chernobil 
files have been released. Unfortunately, many of the people 
referred to in them are still with us. The files should be opened 
up: Hungarians have the right to know who was responsible for the 
way in which the world's worst ever nuclear catastrophe was dealt 
with here in Hungary.                                                             

It may seem strange and somewhat morbid that the
environmentalist group Vedegylet is seeking to name a street in
Paks after Chernobil.

But it is far more grotesque that the Health Ministry's records
concerning the accident in 1986 are still inaccessible. The
historical review Rubicon has also revealed that the state
security archives have similar inaccessible material. It seems
that people in charge think Hungarian society has no right to
know about government lies and deceptions that followed the
Chernobil disaster.

But the people mentioned in those documents are not long-dead
Communist officials or Rakosi-era activists, nor senile retired
security services officers. Many of them continue to play a role
in public life, as ministers and senior civil servants.Some of
them are senior party officials who have ordered the media into
silence. Others edit sections of newspapers and have, with some
notable exceptions, bowed down before this censorship. There are
some who work in health and radiation biology centres, who have
violated their oaths by keeping silent about the real levels of
danger.

Research indicates that there will be a huge jump in the number
of cancer cases by the end of this decade as a direct result of
Chernobil. Those who failed to tell us what was going on
continue to enjoy a sense of moral invulnerability, even the
ones who happily sent workers into the vicinity of the active
zone. They had people wash down lorries heading towards Austria
without wearing protective clothing. During the crisis, the
security services and their informers went into overdrive.
Anyone who spoke honestly about the growing danger was risking
their job and their freedom. Yet a secret central committee
report stated: "The level of radiation in the air is many times
higher than normal, the radiation level of surface water is five
times higher than normal, and that of drinking water twice as
high."

Milk was also dangerously radioactive.

With breathtaking cynicism, Janos Berecz, secretary of the
Central Committee continues to say: "We were seen with greater
respect in the West. They could trust us. We kept our word,
keeping them informed, regardless of the differences between our
two systems." It is true that for weeks the foreign ministry
received no information worth taking seriously from its Soviet
sister-state, so it had no information to pass on. Gyula Horn
was state secretary at the Foreign Minister. The Central
Committee's state secretary for foreign affairs was Matyas
Szuros. When he was greeted with rapturous applause at Fidesz's
party conference recently, not one of the party's professional
anti-communists asked him if he was even slightly ashamed of the
role he played back then.

Regime change cannot be said to have been completed until the
Chernobil files have been released. We know the accident caused
enormous damage. It may also have had at least one positive

consequence: it made it clear that dictatorships should not have
access to nuclear power stations, heavy water plants, and
uranium-enriching reactors. Because dictatorships have no feel
for industrial safety or environmental protection. Political
success and megalomaniac plans are always more important to a
dictatorship than human lifes.


Tamás Papp László	 		 					 		 		 			 		
 		 			
*****************************************************************
 30 RIA Novosti: Moscow hopes Russian cos. will win NPP tenders in Bulgaria - Lavrov
 
28/ 04/ 2006                                  

SOFIA, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's foreign minister said
Friday that Moscow hoped Russian companies would win tenders to
build a new nuclear power plant in Bulgaria and modernize the
country's only currently operating plant. 

The Balkan state wants to build a second nuclear power plant in
Belene, 250 kilometers (about 150 miles) from Sofia, the
capital, and modernize the Kozloduy NPP in the north of the
country. 

"Commodity turnover between our countries is growing, but we
also want to develop investment cooperation," Sergei Lavrov said
following talks with Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov. 

Russian nuclear power equipment and service export monopoly
Atomstroiexport is bidding for the project, as is Czech company
Skoda. 

The Belene plant was being developed jointly with the Soviet
Union until Bulgaria suspended work on the project in 1992. 

The Kozloduy NPP was built in 1974. Its four reactors generate
about 40% of the country's power output, part of which goes to
Turkey. Two more reactors were shut down in 2002. Russia
supplies nuclear fuel for the four reactors. 

Modernizing the ageing Kozloduy plant is crucial for Bulgaria,
which is seeking to join the European Union and has no oil or
gas reserves. The EU says the facility, located two miles from
the Danube River, does not meet modern environmental safety
requirements. 

Earlier this month, Bulgarian Economy and Energy Minister Rumen
Ovcharov said Bulgaria was in talks with Gazprombank, a
subsidiary of Russian energy giant Gazprom, on the bank's
possible contribution to the share capital of the new NPP. 

"We want the state to hold a 50% stake in the Belene NPP, while
the remaining shares will be offered to investors," Ovcharov
said. "We are in talks with Russian and European companies,
including Gazprombank, on their participation in the NPP's share
capital." 

� 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 31 RIA Novosti: Probe into Russian ex-nuclear minister's case concluded
 
28/ 04/ 2006                                  

MOSCOW, April 28 (RIA Novosti) - An investigation into the case
of a former Russian nuclear power minister accused of
embezzlement and abuse of power has been completed, Russian
prosecutors said Friday.

 "The Prosecutor General's office has completed an investigation
into the case of Yevgeny Adamov and other persons involved,"
they said.

 The Prosecutor General's Office officially charged Adamov, 67,
with embezzlement and abuse of office December 31, 2005, after a
long battle to secure his extradition from Switzerland, where he
had been arrested at the request of the United States in May. He
has been held in custody since his return to Russia.

 Vyacheslav Pismenny, a former director of the Troitsk Institute
of Innovation and Fusion Research is also facing charges of
fraud and being a member of a criminal gang. The same charges
were laid against Revmir Fraishtut, general director of nuclear
materials exporter Tekhsnabexport, and Alexander Chernov,
president of Russian-U.S. company Globe Nuclear Service and
Supply Limited, who is currently on the international wanted
list.

 "These people inflicted damage worth over 3 billion rubles
[almost $110 million] on the Russian budget, enterprises and
organizations," the Prosecutor General's Office said.

 The defense has started studying the case materials.

 The U.S. accused Adamov, who served as nuclear power minister
in 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   
*****************************************************************
 32 NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission Begins Special Inspection at Kewaunee Nuclear Plant
Following Shutdown 

News Release - Region III - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region III No. III-06-020           
April 27, 2006 CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria 
Mitlyng (630) 829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov  


The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has begun a special inspection
at the Kewaunee Nuclear Power Plant following the shutdown of
the facility late Wednesday (April 26) which involved problems
with several non-nuclear components. The plant, located at
Kewaunee, Wis., is operated by Dominion Generation Co. 

The plant was shut down safely, and there was no hazard to plant
workers or the general public. 

Operators were preparing to shut the plant down to repair a leak
in the cooling system piping for one of the emergency diesel
generators when the problems occurred. 

During the gradual shutdown, a pump in the secondary cooling
system stopped unexpectedly while the plant was at about 35
percent power. The pump stoppage should have caused the main
steam turbine to shut down, which, in turn, would have led to an
automatic reactor shutdown. 

When the main steam turbine failed to shut down, plant operators
manually shut down the turbine and the reactor promptly. All
reactor safety systems then functioned as designed. 

The utility declared an Alert under its emergency plan because
the turbine and reactor did not shut down automatically and led
to operator action for the manual shutdown. Had the operators
not taken manual action, other safety circuits would have
subsequently triggered an automatic shutdown. 

An Alert is the second lowest of NRCs four emergency
classifications. The NRC initially monitored the event from its
headquarters Operations Center in Rockville, Md. The NRC senior
resident inspector was dispatched to the plant to directly
monitor plant activities, and the agency staffed its incident
response center at its Lisle, Ill., regional office. 

The NRC inspectors will review the equipment problems associated
with the shutdown and the actions taken by plant operators to
shut down the reactor and maintain it in a safe condition. The
agency will also monitor the repairs being made to the piping
for the emergency diesel generator cooling system. 

The NRC special inspection team will issue its report about 30
days after the completion of the inspection. The report will be
available from the Region III Office of Public Affairs or in the
agencys online document library at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. (Use Docket
Number 05000305).   



  


 	Last revised Friday, April 28, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 33 Rutland Herald: House to streamline Vermont Yankee process

Rutland Vermont News & Information
 	 	 	 	 	 
April 28, 2006 

By Vermont Press Bureau   

MONTPELIER � The owners of the Vermont Yankee nuclear plant will
have to return to the Statehouse before operating past 2012
under a bill passed by the House Thursday.

But the good news for Louisiana-based energy giant Entergy
Nuclear is that they may only have to make one trip back under
the golden dome.

Last year's bill allowing the company to store spent fuel in dry
casks in addition to its wet "fuel pool" required that Entergy
return to the Legislature for permission to continue doing so
past 2012, when its federal operating license expires.

However a bill passed by the Senate earlier this year also
required the company return for permission to operate at all.

Entergy does not object to coming before lawmakers again before
gaining permission to keep running, but the company does not
want to make more than one trip to Montpelier, Spokesman Brian
Cosgrove said.

"We agreed we will come back for dry fuel storage past 2012.
That's basically an up-and-down vote on Vermont Yankee's ability
to go forward past 2012," he said. "Our preference would be to
come back one time."

The House bill, which gained preliminary approval by a roll call
vote of 130-0 Thursday and is expected to gain final approval
today, would combine both appearances before lawmakers. The
House bill also interferes less with the Public Service Board
process than the Senate bill, supporters said.

The Public Service Board is the quasi-judicial state board which
will also rule on whether Vermont Yankee can operate past 2012.
Federal regulators will also have their say, focusing in part on
the safety of the plant.

The bill confirms that lawmakers have control and oversight over
nuclear plant operation and construction in Vermont, said Rep.
Tony Klein, D-East Montpelier, who reported the bill for the
House Natural Resources Committee. It also establishes a process
of public involvement before that decision is made, Klein said.

Although the schedule included in the House bill will allow the
Public Service Board to begin its work before the Legislature
acts, it still preserves lawmakers' say in the matter, he said.

"They can't issue a certificate of public good for operation or
storage of waste past 2012 until the General Assembly acts,"
Klein said.

"It doesn't matter if you are in favor of nuclear power or not
in favor of nuclear power, I think everyone can agree this is a
smart process going forward," Klein said.

Soon he will get to find out if the Senate agrees.

"I think the House Natural Resources Committee did some very
constructive work on whole issue of Vermont's energy future,"
Cosgrove said. However, as he pointed out, a compromise with the
Senate must be reached before the bill goes on to Gov. James
Douglas and perhaps becomes law. "The bill is still in progress
in the Legislature."

Those concerned about the plant's continued operation said it
was important that lawmakers keep a hand in the decisions about
the facility.

"Vermont Yankee is one of the oldest nuclear plants in the
country. This unanimous vote was important to make sure a
decision about any future operation of this plant here in
Vermont is made by Vermonters and our elected officials," said
James Moore, energy advocate for the Vermont Public Interest
Research Group. "This plant was made to be shut down in 2012."

*****************************************************************
 34 NRC: NRC Special Inspection Team to Hold Public Meeting May 3 to Review Honeywell
Fuel Plant Leak

News Release - Region II - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region II No. II-06-027                         
April 27, 2006 CONTACT:     Ken Clark (404) 562-4416 Roger D. 
Hannah (404) 562-4417     E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov  
 

will hold a public meeting on Wednesday, May 3 in Metropolis,
Ill., by a special NRC inspection team at the Honeywell
International nuclear fuel processing plant to discuss
circumstances surrounding an inadvertent leak of UF6 (uranium
hexafluoride) in a building at the plant on April 4. There was
no release of material outside the building. 

NRC officials said the release was small, and radiological
exposure to workers was minimal. One worker did sustain a slight
reddening of skin on the arm due to chemical exposure to the UF6
gas. 

The Honeywell special inspection was led by Jay Henson from the
NRCs Region II office in Atlanta, and the rest of the team
included two additional Region II inspectors and one resident
inspector from the USEC fuel facility in nearby Paducah, Ky. 

The inspection team reviewed the event and its overall safety
significance. The inspectors also assessed the plant operators
performance as well as any corrective actions that were being
implemented as a result of previous events at the facility. In
addition, the team also looked at Honeywells procedures, the
companys response to the events and any investigations or
reviews by the company. 

The meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. in the Metropolis
Community Center, at 516 Superman Square. The NRC team will
announce the preliminary results of the inspection and a final
publicly-available report will be issued within 30 days.   



  


 	Last revised Thursday, April 27, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 35 EBR: Specter of nuclear hangs over UK energy sector - 

Energy Business Review

 27th April 2006 By EBR Staff Writer 

Soaring gas prices have prevented the 'free market' from 
providing the certainty in energy planning. Datamonitor has 
interviewed 600 UK industry stakeholders and results suggested 
that nuclear build has some future role. Yet the market's real 
problem has been policy makers not facing up to the decision on 
nuclear build, be it a yes or no.
 
The UK energy sector is awaiting the government's energy review. 
Soaring gas prices have prevented the 'free market' from 
providing the certainty in energy planning, while the closure of 
nuclear stations has become embroiled in security of supply, 
energy prices and carbon emissions. That the government has 
reserved the right on nuclear build has prevented the market from 
effectively providing certainty in energy supply, acting as a 
specter over the market. 

Uncertainty on gas supplies, coupled by the need to replace coal
and nuclear stations, has created talk of an 'energy gap'. There
is doubt in replacing the 11GW of nuclear and coal-fired
capacity (not opted into the Large Combustion Plant Directive)
that is to close. Policy was to fill the gap by using the free
market to build gas fired and renewable stations. 

However, the increase in gas prices and issues over the security
of pipeline and LNG imports has led many to question the
reliance on gas. The government's policy of 'reserving the
right' to build nuclear stations has led to uncertainty over
private investment.

In conducting its research, Datamonitor interviewed three
industry stakeholder groups: industrial energy buyers (MEUs)
[516], industry employees [61] and third party
intermediaries/brokers (TPIs) [50]. All were asked to rank in
terms of importance: security of power and gas supply; meeting
CO2 reduction targets; and ensuring free and competitive energy
markets.

Datamonitor's survey indicates that security of supply is the
greatest challenge: 51% of MEU buyers ranked it first, (36%
picked ensuring competitive and free markets and 14% picked
carbon emissions). Even 48% of industry employees thought
security of supply was the most pressing issue, although 30%
thought that CO2 targets were more important. TPIs were most
concerned by security of supply with 64% ranking it first, with
only 4% thinking CO2 emissions were more important.

When asked what would solve these problems, stakeholders thought
nuclear build would be most suitable. Nuclear build was rated at
3.6 on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being most suitable) by MEUs and
industry employees. TPIs rated nuclear at 3.9, which was the
most favorable. When weighted by consumption, MEUs rated nuclear
at 4 out of 5 and additional gas infrastructure at 3.9 out of 5.
Results indicate that resolving security of supply issues may
involve new nuclear build and that stakeholders want to rule
nuclear build in, not out.

Stakeholders' concerns centered on a lack of clarity regarding
security of supply, questioning the concept of the free market
ensuring supply. Respondents thought there was no clear policy
to ensure private investment, although this opposes the policy
of using the 'market' to ensure security of supply. A 'chicken
and egg' situation has led to private finance not responding to
existing policies. The market needs a yes or no on new nuclear
power.

�2006 Business Review Ltd 				 			 		 			 				 			 		 
*****************************************************************
 36 Sheboygan Press: Repairs, investigation follow nuclear plant alert
 
  Alert system
 
Nuclear plants have a four-tier warning system:

+  In an "unusual event," a minor problem has taken place. No
release of radioactive matter is expected. Federal, state and
county representatives are notified.

+  In an "alert," a minor problem has occurred. Small amounts of
radioactive material could be released inside the station.
Officials are informed and asked to stand by. Public response is
unlikely. In Wednesday's alert, emergency-response teams in
Kewaunee and Manitowoc counties were activated.

+  A "site area emergency" indicates a more serious problem.
Small amounts of radioactive matter could be released into the
area near the station. If the public needs to be alerted, sirens
will sound. Emergency alert radio and television stations will
provide more information. Officials will be notified.

+  A "general emergency" indicates the most serious kind of
problem. Radioactive matter could be released in a wide area.
Officials will be notified. The public may need protection.
Sirens will sound. Radio and television stations will provide
information about actions, such as evacuation, that might need
to be taken.   

  
Posted April 28, 2006 

Repairs, investigation follow nuclear plant alert 

Tests verify no danger to residents; county officials pleased
with emergency response 

By Richard Ryman Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers 

CARLTON � Crews worked to repair a small cooling system leak 
Thursday at the Kewaunee Power Station after the nuclear plant 
initiated an alert Wednesday night. 

Meanwhile, plant operators and federal regulators began 
investigating the situation that prompted plant owner Dominion 
Resources to initiate an alert, which activated emergency 
response teams in surrounding counties. 

Operators were reducing power so they could repair a small hole 
in cooling system piping that supplies water to one of the 
emergency diesel generators. A pump in the secondary cooling 
system stopped unexpectedly when the plant was at about 35 
percent power, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said. The pump 
stoppage should have caused the main steam turbine to shut down, 
which, in turn, would have led to an automatic reactor shutdown. 

"Things were not automatically shutting down like we wanted them 
to, so we decided to take them down manually," said Joe Reid, a 
spokesman for Dominion at Kewaunee. 

The NRC said that if manual shutdown had not occurred, other 
safety circuits would have triggered an automatic shutdown. 

The affected equipment was not part of the nuclear side of the 
operation. Air samples taken Thursday up to four miles downwind 
from the plant verified no offsite release of radioactivity, 
according to the Manitowoc County Emergency Management 
Department. 

Lori Hucek, Kewaunee County emergency management director, said 
emergency response in Kewaunee County worked as planned. 

"We were notified about 9:20 p.m. Half an hour to 45 minutes 
later, I had my emergency operations center activated fully," 
Hucek said. "This shows our planning and exercises were not 
wasted. The adrenaline starts pumping, and you do what you have 
to do." 

The alert was cancelled at 12:24 a.m. 

NRC inspectors will review the equipment problems associated with 
the shutdown and actions taken by plant operators. The agency 
will also monitor repairs. 

"We are working on the feedwater pump now," Reid said. "We 
believe this is going to be a short outage." 

The Kewaunee plant supplies electricity to its former owners, 
Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Alliant Energy of 
Madison. The plant being off line will not effect service to 
Wisconsin Public Service customers, said Charlie Severance, 
manager of supply and wholesale services. 

"It is being replaced by Dominion as part of their contract," 
Severance said. 

Richard Ryman writes for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. The
Associated Press contributed to this report. 
  
  Contact us at 920-457-7711.        sheboygan-press.com is a
Gannett Companywebsite.
   
*****************************************************************
 37 Sofia Echo: BULGARIA'S NUCLEAR SECTOR POSES THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES -
                          
Business news
 
Fri 28 Apr 2006 

The incident that occurred in Kozlodui nuclear power (NPP) plant
on March 1 could have produced serious damages under critical
circumstances, Greenpeace representative Jan Haverkamp said. 

International media published an interview with Bulgarian
nuclear physicist Georgi Kaschiev who said a serious security
system failure occurred on March 1. Economy Minister Roumen
Ovcharov said a slight technical problem, rather than a major
failure occurred. 

Nuclear energy production poses only problems in the long-run,
Haverkamp said. 

Bulgaria has many alternative energy sources it can develop,
said he. The production costs for the country would be much
lower compared to the NPP expenses, said Haverkamp. 

At the same time French nuclear experts said Bulgaria is among
the countries that should use nuclear power plants to meet the
national energy needs. 

The closure of NPPs would lead to economic difficulties for the
country, according to the experts. 

Substituting NPPs with alternative energy sources will be
difficult and costly. Petroleum is becoming increasingly
expensive and its quantity is limited.

www.sofiaecho.com   

*****************************************************************
 38 Vermont Guardian: Nuked: Could Chernobyl happen here?

[chernobyl] 

By Kathryn Casa | Vermont Guardian

 photo by Artur Korneev, courtesy of the U.S. Department of
Energy 

posted April 28, 2006 

On April 26, 1986, just after 1:23 a.m., the Chernobyl-4 nuclear
reactor exploded into the Ukrainian night, spewing hundreds of
times more radiation than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki. 

The trauma of that event  disease throughout the region and
nuclear pollution that spanned a continent  soured much of the
world on new nuclear power for the better part of two decades.
But as the specter of global warming intensifies, so does talk
of nuclear expansion. 

In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
has approved more than 100 power uprates at the nations aging
fleet of reactors. Most have been in the single digits, but
some, like Vermont Yankee (VY) have been allowed to increase by
as much as 20 percent, and all 104 U.S. reactors are expected to
extend their licenses. The result so far is nearly 5,000
megawatts of additional power, the equivalent of a half dozen
new reactors, without the financing, delay, or bureaucracy of a
siting and licensing process. 

Leery watchdogs say that combination  older plants running
hotter  only increases the risk and potential magnitude of an
accident. At Vermont Yankee alone, the radioactive content in
the spent fuel pool well exceeds that of the Hiroshima bomb. 

But federal regulators say Chernobyl couldnt happen here. A U.S.
reactor would tend to shut itself down, said David Lew, NRC
Region I deputy division director, after an April 20 meeting in
Brattleboro. As a result, what you have is an issue of just
trying to manage the decay heat that comes out of the reactor. 

Lew said the core design of U.S. reactors is inherently safer
than Chernobyl, with its graphite core and no containment
mechanism. We have large structures that are part of our defense
in depth, he noted. 

At the same time, Lew admitted, the NRC had a lot of lessons to
learn from a near-miss at Davis Besse, the Ohio reactor where
inspectors in 2002 found a rusted out football-sized cavity in
the cap, which was within a fraction of an inch of bursting,
endangering some 300,000 surrounding residents. 

We are changing many things in our reactor oversight process to
address issues from Davis Besse, Lew said. We are now bringing a
safety culture into our reactor oversight process  expanding
that from what we used to have, which was a safety-conscious
work environment. There is a slight difference between the two. 

Residents say thats one of the problems  the NRC and the
industry seem to speak a private language that doesnt translate
well at community meetings, where concerns often harken to Davis
Besse, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island, the Pennsylvania
reactor where in 1979 a confluence of equipment malfunctions,
design problems, and worker errors led to a partial meltdown. 

Meanwhile, the NRC continues to raise the bar, making it
increasingly more difficult for citizens groups to gain formal
standing in their licensing and uprate procedures. A
Brattleboro-based nonprofit group, the New England Coalition,
and the state of Vermont are the only two outside parties to
have achieved such standing in the country on an uprate
application. Although Vermont Yankees power increase has been
approved by the NRC and is being implemented, hearings on the
safety contentions before a quasi-independent board this summer
and fall will determine if the uprate can continue. 

When the public is shut out of licensing processes, which is
increasingly the case, then the industry and the regulator sit
down together in a room without the public having an opportunity
to observe them.  This goes on for a period of years, and they
start to identify with each other, said Gordon Thompson, a
nuclear physicist and executive director of the Institute for
Resource and Security Studies. 

He added, On paper, the NRC has an elaborate regulatory
structure. There is a lot of paperwork to do with licensing,
there are a large number of regulators  more per reactor than
some other regulatory systems. So if you take a superficial
look, then you could say, Indeed we have a very busy regulator.
But in practice its extremely rare for the NRC to rule against
the industry. 

In its Chernobyl fact sheet, the Nuclear Energy Industry (NEI),
the industrys primary trade group, says all U.S. reactors have
extensive safety features to prevent accidents like the one at
Chernobyl, which had no such features. Messages left by the
Vermont Guardian at the groups press office were not returned. 

Chernobyl vs. Vermont 

A fateful combination of human error and imperfect technology
are seen as the causes of the Chernobyl accident, which occurred
as operators were attempting to test the reactors cooling
systems. 

Thirty seconds after the start of the test, there was a sudden
and unexpected power surge, according to Chernobylinfo.com, a
website created by the Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation. Within fractions of a second, the power level and
temperature rose many times over. The reactor went out of
control. There was a violent explosion. The 1,000-ton sealing
cap on the reactor building was blown off. At temperatures of
over 2,000�C (3,632�F), the fuel rods melted. The graphite
covering of the reactor then ignited. In the ensuing inferno,
the radioactive fission products released during the core
meltdown were sucked up into the atmosphere. 

Its estimated that half of the reactors radioactive iodine and
cesium, and at least 5 percent of the remaining radioactive
material in the Chernobyl core, was released in the accident.
Most was deposited close by, but the lighter material was
carried over the Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and as far as
Scandinavia and elsewhere in Europe. 

The number of casualties remains controversial. Regional
officials say at least 1,800 children and adolescents in the
most severely contaminated areas of Belarus have developed
thyroid cancer. The number of cases of breast cancer in one of
the worst contaminated areas of Belarus has doubled, and
scientists predict an increase in urogenital tumors and lung and
stomach cancer, according to the Swiss website. 

By mid-2005, according to a UN report, only about 50 people had
died as a direct consequence of Chernobyl, and Chernobyl-related
cancer deaths ultimately would range from 4,000 to 9,000  far
less than what some had predicted. A tendency to attribute all
health problems to exposure to radiation have led local
residents to assume that Chernobyl-related fatalities were much
higher, the document states. 

Greenpeace says thats vastly underestimated, and puts the number
at closer to 100,000; other illnesses could double that number,
the group predicts. 

The NRCs Anderson says one reason Chernobyls impact was so
widespread was because some 45,000 residents within the
10-kilometer radius around Chernobyl were not evacuated until
almost a week after the accident, followed two days later by the
evacuation of 116,000 people from a 30-kilometer radius. 

They did not recommend sheltering [in place]  and they did not
take proper control of the food. In this country, from 10 miles
out to 50, you have to protect that pathway, he said. 

Even with the Chernobyl reactors poor design, officials could
have averted many radioactive exposures to the population with
an effective emergency response, according to NEI. Key personnel
at all U.S. power reactors work with surrounding populations on
an ongoing basis to prepare for an orderly and speedy evacuation
in the unlikely event of an accident. 

In the United States, NEI points out, nuclear power plant
operators are required to alert local authorities and make
recommendations for protecting the public within 15 minutes of
identifying conditions that might lead to a significant release 
even if such a release has not occurred. 

Approximately 34,685 people live in the 10-mile emergency
planning zone (EPZ) around Vermont Yankee, a figure that grows
to 1.4 million in a 50-mile radius, according to the most recent
evacuation time-estimate study, completed last year by an
independent contractor for Vermont Yankee. 

A worst-case scenario evacuation of everyone within the 10-mile
EPZ  midwinter, midweek, at midday, with snow on the ground 
would take five hours, according to the time study. But
watchdogs like the group Nuclear Free Vermont question that
figure, noting that sirens are audible only within a fraction of
the zone, and during a snow storm, or mud season, or when people
are outdoors and out of earshot, many would be uninformed for
hours. 

If the plume moved 50 miles north northwest, toward Vermont
population centers like Rutland, it could affect more than
21,000 additional Vermonters, but by far the greatest density
would be a plume moving 50 miles due south from Vernon, putting
another 479,000 people in harms way, the study indicates. 

Thompson said security upgrades at U.S. reactors since 9/11 have
done nothing to protect the plants against attacks from the air.
He said an aircraft laden with explosives and used as a guided
missile could penetrate a target like VY, where the highly
radioactive spent fuel pool is elevated approximately seven
stories atop the reactor. 

The collapse of the spent fuel pool and fuel fire following
uprated core discharge would do the trick, said Ray Shadis,
technical advisor for the New England Coalition, which opposes
nuclear power. Without the burning graphite [specific to the
Chernobyl design], the radioactive particulates would not be
lofted high into the air and dispersed over six countries;
instead, they could be dispersed close to the ground in a
smoldering zirconium fire, spread thick and heavy over a few
hundred square miles. 

The Citizens Awareness Network in Shelburne Falls, MA, maintains
that a terrorist attack on Vermont Yankee would contaminate
25,000 square miles within a 90-mile radius, just short of
Montpelier, which is 100 miles north, and the plume could extend
as far as 125 miles north to Burlington, or 150 miles southeast
to New York City. 

Internal state memos uncovered by the Vermont Guardian in
December 2004 indicated that Vermonts radiological emergency
planning has for years been in such disarray that state
officials would be unable to monitor radiation fallout, nor
could the decontamination center in Bellows Falls adequately
protect thousands of southern Vermont residents evacuated there. 

The 32-year-old reactor poses the single greatest event threat
to Vermont, according to a May 2004 e-mail from Larry Crist,
director of the Health Departments Health Protection Division,
to Albie Lewis, then head of Vermont Emergency Management. He
said the state had been unable to find enough people to staff a
plume team, state personnel that would track fallout after a
release, and he cited aging, inadequate equipment for the job. 

Barbara Farr, Vermont Emergency Managements new director, said
earlier this month that the problems have been fixed, and a
hazmat team based in central Vermont would step in as plume
team. 

When a Vermont Yankee worker at the April 20 meeting told area
residents yesterdays fears of nuclear power are outdated,
however, the NRC resident inspector at VY, David Pelton,
responded: Your concerns are not outdated  you need to be loud,
vocal, and continuous. It helps us to ensure and remember public
health and safety. 

Interview with Gordon Thompson
 

Excerpts from the Vermont Guardians interview with Gordon
Thompson, who holds a PhD in nuclear physics and is executive
director of the Institute for Resource and Security Studies. 

VG: Regulators say an accident like the one at Chernobyl could
not happen here. Do you agree? 

Thompson: Most of the nuclear power plants in the United States
are two or three decades in service, and therefore their designs
predate Chernobyl. The detail design of the Chernobyl reactor is
different than the design of U.S. nuclear power plants. But it
is incorrect to say there was no containment. In fact, the
containment was somewhat similar to that like plants like
Vermont Yankee. The precise sequence of events could not occur
at a U.S. nuclear plant, but there are similar sequences of
events that could lead to an equivalent outcome. 

VG: What do you mean by an equivalent outcome? 

Thompson: All nuclear power plants contain very large amounts of
radioactive material in their reactor core. If the coolant is
water, and the flow is interrupted or the water escapes from the
reactor vessel, then very quickly the reactor core will melt,
and radioactive material will then start to be released by
evaporation from the molten material of the reactor core. If
there is a breach in the containment, this material will be
released to the atmosphere as a cloud of tiny particles that
will drift downwind. 

There are safety systems meant to prevent this sort of scenario
from occurring, however, there is a history of failure of
engineered systems of this kind and it is recognized by everyone
who has studied these plants. The dispute is about the
probability of the event, not the fact that it is possible. 

VG: What about the need breed of nuclear reactors? Would the new
ones be better? 

Thompson: Conceptually, it is possible to develop a much safer
design. These reactors such as VY date back in their design
conception to around 1960 or so, and since then the engineering
community in the world has learned many things. Other areas of
technology have advanced quite dramatically in that period. Weve
seen fairly major design advances in this period of five decades
since the current crop of nuclear reactors was conceived. 

Back around 1980, a man called Alvin Weinberg recommended that
the industry develop designs that were inherently safe and much
more resistant to attack than the current set of designs.
Weinberg was one of the pioneers of the nuclear industry and was
for many head of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In 1980 and
years around that time he urged the industry to rethink its
designs, go back to basics and try and come up with reactors
that were substantially safer. 

That call was almost entirely neglected and the designs that the
industry is offering for new construction today differ only in
detail from the reactors that are currently in operation. There
are some efforts to develop genuinely new reactor types. If
those are taken forward through the R&D phase they could
potentially be available for commercial application around 2030. 

VG: Both the industry and the NRC say there have been
significant security upgrades since 9/11. The details are
classified, but do you have a sense of whether the upgrades
would be effective? 

Thompson: The general outlines of the security upgrades are
apparent from publicly disclosed information, and they have
reduced risk but only by a small amount. There are substantive
risks of attack that have not been addressed, and there is no
defense at any plant against air attack. 

VG: Could an air attack create a release of the magnitude as
Chernobyl? 

Thompson: Potentially. Remember that the attackers achieved
their objectives on 9/11 by attacking relatively large
structures that could be struck effectively with large,
soft-bodied aircraft. Were dealing with a smart adversary and it
would have undoubtedly occurred to them that in attacking a
smaller, harder target such as a nuclear power plant they would
use something analogous to an aircraft bomb  namely, an aircraft
laden with explosives and used as a guided missile. 

VG: Would the emergency response plans in place around plants be
effective in getting people out of harms way? 

Thompson: Offsite emergency response at U.S. nuclear power
plants follows a set of regulations that were promulgated in the
1980s. Those regulations should, in my view, be upgraded. If the
plans currently in place are implemented effectively, then there
would be some reduction in the number of casualties, but you
could not expect casualties to be eliminated. 

In addition, emergency response can do nothing to prevent the
contamination of land areas, which would require permanent
evacuation. In a case like VY, the contaminated area could be
much greater than in the Chernobyl case because of the very
large amount of radioactive material stored in the spent fuel
pool. The release could be an order of magnitude greater than
that at Chernobyl, and the contaminated area requiring permanent
evacuation depends very much on the weather patterns, but could
be an order of magnitude great than Chernobyl. 
 
Vermont: PO Box 335, Winooski, VT 05404 Southern Vermont: 139 
Main Street, Suite 702, Brattleboro, VT 05301 Contact: 
802.861.4880 (ph) | 802.861.6388 (fax) | 877.231.5382 (toll-free)

 �2005 Vermont Guardian | 

Visit us: www.vermontguardian.com
 This document can be located online:
www.vermontguardian.com/national/042006/Chernobyl.shtml 
*****************************************************************
 39 Brattleboro Reformer: House passes VY license renewal bill

By ANDY ROSEN, Reformer Staff  

 Friday, April 28 BRATTLEBORO -- A bill that would require
Vermont Yankee to bring its license renewal before the
Legislature passed unanimously in the House of Representatives
on Thursday. 

The bill would give the Legislature until July 2008 to decide
whether the state's Public Service Board can approve a
relicensing application for Vermont Yankee. 

It would also allow the Legislature to decide, with public
input, whether it believes nuclear power should be a part of the
state's energy mix in the future. 

That decision process would involve studies by both regulators
and legislators, including at least three public meetings in
different parts of the state. 

The bill will have to get through one more vote in the House,
and then be reconciled with a similar bill that passed the
Senate before it could become law. 

A final vote is expected in the House today. 

Reps. Sarah Edwards, P-Brattleboro, and Steve Darrow, D-Putney,
who sat on the committee that drafted the bill, said they
expected the bill to make it out of the House easily. 

"I don't know when I've last seen a unanimous vote," Edwards
said, referring to the 130-0 decision which gave the bill
preliminary approval. 

"Many people understand that the Legislature has a right and a
responsibility to determine whether Vermont Yankee should
continue to operate," he said. "Their deal with the state is to
cease operating after 2012." 

Darrow and Edwards would not speculate on how the Senate would
respond to the House bill. If the chambers do not agree,
differences will have to be worked out in negotiation. 

The main difference between the two versions, they said, is that
the Senate version would allow the PSB to review the renewal
before the legislature made a decision, or at the same time. 

The House version calls for the Legislature to make a decision
first. The committee made the change, Darrow said, because it
decided this was more a policy question than a regulatory one. 

Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said Entergy, the company
that owns the plant, agreed to bring a license renewal before
the Public Service Board when it bought the plant in 2003. 

He said the company does not have a position on the legislation
at this point. 

"We're still in a wait and see attitude," Williams said. "But
obviously it's in everyone's best interest that the process not
be unnecessarily complicated." 

He said the bill does provide a framework for considering
nuclear energy as part of the state's energy mix. 

The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission has said that it alone
holds the authority to grant a new license for the plant, but
the state can determine its own policy on nuclear power. 

Darrow said he's hoping there will be no last-minute amendments
to the bill. 

Only one representative spoke about the bill before it passed. 

Rep. Stephen Green, D-Berlin, discussed his desire to have the
Legislature consider emergency planning as it makes its
decision. 

Though emergency planning is already mentioned in the bill,
Green brought up some specific questions he had. 

In an interview Thursday, he said he'd like to see a
confidential survey of people who would provide evacuation
transportation in case of a nuclear accident, to determine
whether they'd be willing to go into hazardous areas. 

Green also said the state should make sure that Massachusetts
and New Hampshire are equally prepared. 

He said he wouldn't offer any amendments to the bill, but hopes
his comments will inform the decision making process. 

"(The bill) already provides for studies," he said. "I just put
hands and feet on them." 

Andy Rosen can be reached at arosen@reformer.comor (802) 
254-2311, ext. 275. 

New England Newspapers, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 40 Xinhua: China's 1st self-designed nuclear power station starts
expansion   

  www.xinhuanet.com

  www.chinaview.cn 2006-04-28 23:02:43   

    HANGZHOU, April 28 (Xinhua) -- China's first self-designed
and self-made nuclear power station began another round of
expansion on Friday. 

    A ceremony was held Friday in Haiyan County of east China's
Zhejiang Province to mark Qinshan Nuclear Power Station second
phase's passing of state technical assessment and the
commencement of the expansion project. 

    Top Chinese leaders, including Wu Bangguo, Chairman of the
National People's Congress Standing Committee, Premier Wen
Jiabao and Vice-President Zeng Qinghong, sent respective letters
of congratulation on the occasion. 

    The key to China's nuclear power development lies in raising
its innovation capabilities and the training of high-tech
management personnel, Wu said in a letter of congratulation. 

    Wen Jiabao called on the station staffs to sum up experience
and redouble their efforts to make new contribution to China's
nuclear power development. 

    Zeng Qinghong congratulated the staffs on sticking to
innovation in construction. 

    Addressing Friday's ceremony, Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said
China will continue to develop its second-generation of nuclear
power stations and promote construction of new-generation ones.
The country will gradually increase the proportion of nuclear
power in its electricity supply. 

    China plans to increase its nuclear power generating
capacity to 40 million kw by 2020, aiming to account for 4
percent of the country's total installed capacity at that time.
Currently less than 2 percent of its electric power come from
nuclear generation. 

    "Safety and quality should be placed above all in nuclear
power station construction and operation," Zeng said, urging on
the sector to build the most strict nuclear power safety system
in the world. Enditem   

Editor: Luan Shanglin   

  Copyright �2003 Xinhua News Agency. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 41 TheStar.com: Why take a risk on nuclear power?
 
Fri. Apr. 28, 2006. | Updated at 04:40 PM 

Nuclear power is safe

Letter, April 25.

Mark Winfield's letter (Worst of all possible worlds, April 21)
is not nearly as misleading as the advertising campaign
propagating nuclear energy as "clean, clear," reliable and safe. 

Nor is it as deceptive as Canadian Nuclear Association Director
Colin Hunt's disingenuous claim that it is impossible for an
accident similar to that which happened at Chornobyl to occur in
any reactor in Canada.

The Pickering nuclear station is closer to more people than any
other nuclear plant in the world. It is Canada's oldest nuclear
station and is the only nuclear plant in the Western world
without a secondary shutdown system.

While I don't doubt that Pickering's CANDU nuclear reactor may
be safer than Chornobyl's Russian-made RBNK reactor, I think it
is irresponsible to claim that a nuclear accident cannot happen
here.

The relevant question is why are we taking an unnecessary risk
when we have the opportunity to invest in cleaner, safer
alternatives? 

Germany, Spain and Belgium are all phasing out their nuclear
stations.

Given it is the taxpayers' money and health at stake, shouldn't
the McGuinty government let Ontarians decide on which method of
generating electricity to spend their money on? It's a safe bet
that Ontarians wouldn't choose nuclear.


 Talia Wooldridge, Toronto

Legal Notice: Copyright Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
rights reserved. Distribution, transmission or republication of
any material from www.thestar.comi
*****************************************************************
 42 NRC: Virginia Electric and Power Company; Notice of Consideration of 
 
                         FR Doc E6-6427 
[Federal Register: April 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 82)] 
[Notices] [Page 25249-25251] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr28ap06-113]                         
 
Issuance of Amendments to Facility Operating Licenses, Proposed 
No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and 
Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(the Commission) is considering issuance of amendments to 
Facility Operating License Nos. DPR-32 and DPR-37 issued to 
Virginia Electric and Power Company (the licensee) for operation 
of the Surry Power Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2, located in Surry 
County, Virginia.
 
The proposed amendments would reinstate previous reactor coolant 
system (RCS) pressure and temperature (P/T) limits, low 
temperature overpressure protection system (LTOPS) setpoint, and 
LTOPS enable temperature basis.
 
Before issuance of the proposed license amendments, the 
Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's 
regulations.
 
The Commission has made a proposed determination that the 
requested amendments involve no significant hazards 
consideration. Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), section 50.92, this 
means that operation of the facility in accordance with the 
proposed amendments would not (1) involve a significant increase 
in the probability or consequences of an accident previously 
evaluated; or (2) create the possibility of a new or different 
kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) 
involve a significant reduction in a margin of safety. As 
required by 10 CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its 
analysis of the issue of no significant hazards consideration, 
which is presented below: 1. Does the change involve a 
significant increase in the probability or consequences of an 
accident previously evaluated? The proposed change does not 
impact the condition or performance of any plant structure, 
system or component. The proposed change does not affect the 
initiators of any previously analyzed event or the assumed 
mitigation of accident or transient events since the plant will 
be operated in the same manner and within the same operating 
limits that are currently in place. The proposed change merely 
restores the RCS P/T limit curves and LTOPS setpoint that were 
approved by the NRC prior to the issue of License Amendments 
245/244, and which are currently in effect. As a result, the 
proposed change to the Surry TS [Technical Specifications] does 
not involve any increase in the probability or the consequences 
of any accident or malfunction of equipment important to safety 
previously evaluated since neither accident probabilities nor 
consequences are being affected by this proposed change.
 
2. Does the change create the possibility of a new or different 
kind of accident from any accident previously evaluated? The 
proposed change does not involve any changes in station operation 
or physical modifications to the plant. In addition, no changes 
are being made in the methods used to respond to plant transients 
that have been previously analyzed. No changes are being made to 
plant parameters within which the plant is normally operated or 
in the setpoints, which initiate protective or mitigative 
actions, since the plant will be operated in the same manner and 
within the same operating limits that are currently in place.
 
Since plant operation will not be affected by this change, no new 
failure modes are being introduced. Therefore, the proposed 
change to the Surry TS does not create the possibility of a new 
or different kind of accident or malfunction of equipment 
important to safety from any previously evaluated.
 
3. Does the change involve a significant reduction in the margin 
of safety? The return to the previously approved RCS P/T 
operating limit curves and LTOPS
 
[[Page 25250]] setpoint does not involve a significant reduction 
in the margin of safety. The proposed change does not impact 
station operation or any plant structure, system or component 
that is relied upon for accident mitigation. Furthermore, the 
margin of safety assumed in the plant safety analysis is not 
affected in any way by the proposed change since the plant will 
be operated in the same manner and within the same operating 
limits and setpoints that are currently in place. Therefore, the 
proposed change to the Surry [TSs] does not involve any reduction 
in a margin of safety.
 
The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on 
this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 
50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to 
determine that the requested amendments involve no significant 
hazards consideration.
 
The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed 
determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the 
date of publication of this notice will be considered in making 
any final determination.
 
Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendments until the 
expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this 
notice. The Commission may issue the license amendments before 
expiration of the 60-day period provided that its final 
determination is that the amendments involve no significant 
hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the 
amendments prior to the expiration of the 30-day comment period 
should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such 
that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example in 
derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take 
action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or 
the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a 
notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No 
Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will 
take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need 
to take this action will occur very infrequently.
 
Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, Rules and 
Directives Branch, Division of Administrative Services, Office of 
Administration, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001, and should cite the publication date and page 
number of this Federal Register notice. Written comments may also 
be delivered to Room 6D59, Two White Flint North, 11545 Rockville 
Pike, Rockville, Maryland, from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Federal 
workdays. Documents may be examined, and/or copied for a fee, at 
the NRC's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint 
North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland.
 
The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to 
intervene is discussed below.
 
Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the 
licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to 
issuance of the amendments to the subject facility operating 
license and any person whose interest may be affected by this 
proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the 
proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with 
the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing 
Proceedings'' in 10 CFR part 2. Interested persons should consult 
a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the 
Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File 
Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland.
 
Publicly available records will be accessible from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, .
 
If a request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is 
filed by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer 
designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge 
of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the 
request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief 
Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order.
 
As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene 
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner 
in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the 
results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically 
explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with 
particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) 
The name, address, and telephone number of the requestor or 
petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right 
under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the 
nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property, 
financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the 
possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in 
the proceeding on the requestors/petitioner's interest. The 
petition must also identify the specific contentions which the 
petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding.
 
Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue 
of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the 
petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the 
bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged 
facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which 
the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the 
hearing. The petitioner/requestor must also provide references to 
those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is 
aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish 
those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include 
sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with 
the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions 
shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment 
under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, 
would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor 
who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least 
one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
 
Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to 
intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the 
conduct of the hearing.
 
If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final 
determination on the issue of no significant hazards 
consideration. The final determination will serve to decide when 
the hearing is held. If the final determination is that the 
requested amendments involve no significant hazards 
consideration, the Commission may issue the amendments and make 
it immediately effective, notwithstanding the request for a 
hearing. Any hearing held would take place after issuance of the 
amendments. If the final determination is that the requested 
amendments involve a significant hazards consideration, any 
hearing held would take place before the issuance of these 
amendments.
 
Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the 
presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that 
the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted 
based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii).
 
[[Page 25251]] A request for a hearing or a petition for leave to 
intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail addressed to the 
Office of the Secretary of the Commission, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, Attention: 
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, 
and expedited delivery services: Office of the Secretary, 
Sixteenth Floor, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland, 20852, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff; (3) E-mail addressed to the Office of the 
Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ; or (4) facsimile 
transmission addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: 
Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, 
verification number is (301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for 
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent 
to the Office of the General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that 
copies be transmitted either by means of facsimile transmission 
to 301-415-3725 or by e-mail to . A copy of the request for 
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent 
to Ms. Lillian M. Cuoco, Dominion Resources Services, Inc., 
Building 475, 5th Floor, Rope Ferry Road, Waterford, Connecticut 
06385, attorney for the licensee.
 
For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for amendments dated April 20, 2006, which is 
available for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located 
at One White Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 
Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly 
available records will be accessible from the Agencywide 
Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public 
Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web site, .
 
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems 
in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the 
NRC PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1- 800-397-4209, 
301-415-4737, or by e-mail to .
 
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 21st day of April 2006.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Stephen Monarque, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch II-1, 
Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E6-6427 Filed 4-27-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 43 Boston Globe: Vermont Yankee power boost stopped again - 

Boston.com
 
Associated Press

The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had to stop short of its goal
of increasing its power by 20 percent when two new problems
cropped up at the plant Friday. 

By David Gram, Associated Press Writer  |  April 28, 2006 

MONTPELIER, Vt. --The Vermont Yankee nuclear plant had to stop
short of its goal of increasing its power by 20 percent when two
new problems cropped up at the plant Friday.

Plant spokesman Robert Williams said the 34-year-old Vernon
reactor was running into a problem that twice before in recent
weeks has prompted it to halt the "power ascension" process. The
problems are acoustic signals from gauges that are picking up
what may be new strains on the plant's steam dryer.

"We came up another 2.5 percent this morning to the 117.5
percent (of original power) level," Williams said. "We are on a
hold (due to) the comprehensive computer analysis of steam line
acoustic data and to communicate with the NRC" -- the federal
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The NRC said later that a second problem possibly involving the
steam dryer also showed up Friday. The steam dryer has been a
source of problems at other nuclear plants around the country
that have increased their power output. It is a large component
at the top of the reactor that removes moisture from steam made
by the reactor before it is sent to the turbines that spin to
generate electricity.

NRC spokeswoman Neil Sheehan said the plant determined on Friday
that too much moisture was being allowed to go to the turbines.
"An administrative limit related to the amount of moisture in
the steam flowing to the turbine was exceeded," Sheehan said in
an e-mail.

Diane Screnci, who works with Sheehan as a spokeswoman in the
NRC's regional office for the Northeast, said in a later
interview, "You want the steam to be as dry as possible so that
there's not moisture in the turbine, because that can affect the
performance of the turbine."

Screnci said the cause of the excessive moisture would not be
known until after engineering studies are done that likely won't
be completed until at least the middle of next week.

Both she and Sheehan said the measures that caused the pause in
the power ascension were set conservatively, meaning that they
were designed to halt the process before any major problems
develop.

Raymond Shadis, technical adviser with the New England
Coalition, a group critical of the nuclear industry, said gauge
readings that exceeded preset limits at 105 percent, 112.5
percent and now 117.5 percent of Vermont Yankee's original power
level should not be cause for confidence.

"Apparently, (Vermont Yankee owner Entergy Nuclear) doesn't like
to call this an 'experiment.' Well, it sure has the look and
feel of an experiment," Shadis said. "And, if they manage to
inch their way to 120%, does that mean it is safe to do it day
in and day out, on a routine basis from that point forward? I
think not."

Vermont Yankee won final federal and state approvals for the
power boost -- known in the industry as an uprate -- in late
February and early March, respectively. The plant's aim is to
boost its capacity from 540 to 650 megawatts, or 20 percent.

Originally, it was to pause for engineering studies at 105, 110
and 115 percent of original power. It now has had two
unscheduled pauses at 112.5 and 117.5 percent. Screnci said the
pauses should not be cause for worry.

"A slow, deliberate power ascension is what we wanted the put
those license conditions (the scheduled pauses) in," she said,
"so that they would stop and evaluate data as it came in."[ /] 

� Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This

*****************************************************************
 44 IRNA: G8 summit to focus on major increase in number of nuclear reactors - 

Berlin, April 27, IRNA                                                                                                           

Germany-Russia-G8 Summit 

A focus of the upcoming G8 summit in Russia will be a major 
increase in the number of nuclear reactors and providing safe 
nuclear technology over the coming years, the German-edition of 
Financial Times (FTD) quoted a top Russian official as saying in 
Berlin on Thursday.

 According to the report, Russia will be campaigning among
fellow G8 members for plans to massively expand the nuclear
power sector.

 "Between 200-300 nuclear reactors will be needed over the next
two decades," said Igor Shuvalov who is the personal G8
representative of Russian Vladimir Putin.

 The Russian move will create a difficult situation for Germany
which will shut down its 18 nuclear power plants by the year
2020.

 Meanwhile other G8 states like the US, Britain, France, Canada
and Japan do not support Berlin's plan to eventually phase out
nuclear energy.


*****************************************************************
 45 PRN: Davis-Besse Returns to Service After Refueling, Increasing
Capacity 

PR Newswire 

ALT="http://www.firstenergycorp.com/" 

OAK HARBOR, Ohio, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FirstEnergy 
Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) announced today that the 
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, located near Oak Harbor, Ohio, 
returned to service yesterday after refueling the reactor and 
modifying the plant to generate more electricity. The outage 
began March 6, 2006. 

Assisted by about 1,500 contractors, plant and other FENOC 
personnel replaced 76 of the 177 fuel assemblies in the reactor, 
refurbished the plant's turbine -- which is expected to increase 
generating capacity by approximately 11 megawatts -- and rebuilt 
two of the four Reactor Coolant Pumps. The additional megawatts 
are expected to increase the plant's gross output to about 946 
megawatts, or about enough electricity to power 11,000 additional 
homes. 

Davis-Besse operated safely and reliably in 2005, completing the 
year with the best record for U.S. plants in its class for 
controlling radiation exposure to workers. The plant also ranked 
in the industry top quartile for industrial safety. After 
returning to service last spring from a maintenance outage, 
Davis-Besse finished the second half of the year with a Capacity 
Factor of 98.45 percent. 

FENOC is a subsidiary of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE: FE), a 
diversified energy company headquartered in Akron, Ohio. FENOC 
operates Davis-Besse, as well as the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in 
Perry, Ohio, and the Beaver Valley Power Plant in Shippingport, 
Pennsylvania. 

Forward-Looking Statement: This news release includes 
forward-looking statements based on information currently 
available to management. Such statements are subject to certain 
risks and uncertainties. These statements typically contain, but 
are not limited to, the terms "anticipate," "potential," 
"expect," "believe," "estimate" and similar words. 

Actual results may differ materially due to the speed and nature 
of increased competition and deregulation in the electric utility 
industry, economic or weather conditions affecting future sales 
and margins, changes in markets for energy services, changing 
energy and commodity market prices, replacement power costs being 
higher than anticipated or inadequately hedged, the continued 
ability of our regulated utilities to collect transition and 
other charges or to recover increased transmission costs, 
maintenance costs being higher than anticipated, legislative and 
regulatory changes (including revised environmental 
requirements), and the legal and regulatory changes resulting 
from the implementation of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 
(including, but not limited to, the repeal of the Public Utility 
Holding Company Act of 1935), the uncertainty of the timing and 
amounts of the capital expenditures (including that such amounts 
could be higher than anticipated) or levels of emission 
reductions related to the Consent Decree resolving the New Source 
Review litigation, adverse regulatory or legal decisions and 
outcomes (including, but not limited to, the revocation of 
necessary licenses or operating permits, fines or other 
enforcement actions and remedies) of governmental investigations 
and oversight, including by the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, the United States Attorney's Office, the Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission and the various state public utility 
commissions as disclosed in our Securities and Exchange 
Commission filings, generally, and with respect to the 
Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station outage and heightened scrutiny 
at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant in particular, the timing and 
outcome of various proceedings before the Pennsylvania Public 
Utility Commission, including the transition rate plan filings 
for Met-Ed and Penelec, the continuing availability and operation 
of generating units, the ability of our generating units to 
continue to operate at, or near full capacity, our inability to 
accomplish or realize anticipated benefits from strategic goals 
(including employee workforce initiatives), the anticipated 
benefits from our voluntary pension plan contributions, our 
ability to improve electric commodity margins and to experience 
growth in the distribution business, our ability to access the 
public securities and other capital markets and the cost of such 
capital, the outcome, cost and other effects of present and 
potential legal and administrative proceedings and claims related 
to the August 14, 2003 regional power outage, circumstances which 
may lead management to seek, or the Board of Directors to grant, 
in each case in its sole discretion, authority for the 
implementation of a share repurchase program in the future, the 
risks and other factors discussed from time to time in our 
Securities and Exchange Commission filings, and other similar 
factors. We expressly disclaim any current intention to update 
any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of 
new information, future events, or otherwise. 

	 SOURCE FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company 

Web Site: http://www.firstenergycorp.com/ 

Copyright � 1996- PR Newswire Association LLC. All Rights 
Reserved. A United Business Mediacompany. 
*****************************************************************
 46 UPI: Russia: G8 to focus on energy
     
  United Press International - Energy - 

4/28/2006 9:17:00 AM -0400                              

MOSCOW, April 28 (UPI) -- Energy safety and global warming will
be high on the agenda of the Group of Eight nations meeting this
summer in Russia, a top official said Friday. 

"We assume that G8 partners should propose new approaches to
energy safety as compared to traditional ones coming from OPEC
or OECD countries," said Igor Shuvalov, a top aide to Russian
President Vladimir Putin. "In terms of energy safety, we shall
stress the importance of new technology, including the
development of new and safer nuclear technology. 

"We shall also debate climate warming and ways to contribute to
resolving the problem by introducing methods of energy
efficiency and saving." 

OPEC refers to the oil cartel Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries and OECD to Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, the club of the world's
most-developed countries. 

The comments, which were made in Rome, were reported by RTR
Russia TV. 

The G8 summit this year will be held in St. Petersburg, Russia. 

Worries over energy are high amid rising costs and supply
concerns.

� Copyright 2006 United Press
International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 47 GIs, Beware Radioactive Showers!
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 20:17:12 -0700


<x-flowed>
Dear Colleague:
             Introducing the newest in our web series on depleted uranium's 
disastrous toll on our troops.  This article drew 500 new visitors and 
22,000 hits in 24 hours!
     Topics:
                         If They Admit It's Killing Our Troops, They Can't 
Use It
                             What's Going To Happen To All These Sick Vets?
                                 Soldier Says Bush Worse Than Bin Laden
             We need your help!  We want to publicize:
             (1) Antiwar candidates willing to vote to eliminate depleted 
uranium.
             (2) State and local anti-depleted uranium legislation.
                 (Click "Follow the Yellow Brick Road.")
             We are translating the depleted uranium series into Spanish to 
reach young citizens and visitors particularly susceptible to military 
recruiters.  We are looking for financial angels for this project.
     Irving Wesley Hall
         We're Not in Kansas Anymore
         www.notinkansas.us

To remove your name from this mailing list reply to this email with 
"unsubscribe-DU" in the subject box.  

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 48 [NYTr] Simulated Nuclear Test Blast Scheduled in US
 
Date: Fri, 28 Apr 2006 07:49:24 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Radio Havana Cuba
http://www.radiohc.cu

Simulated Nuclear Test Blast Scheduled in United States

Salt Lake City, April 27 (RHC)-- A powerful, simulated nuclear blast
has reportedly been scheduled at the Nevada Test Site in the United
States in early June. According to a story in the Salt Lake City
Tribune, the test is designed to help war planners figure out the
smallest nuclear weapon able to destroy underground targets. And
observers say it has caused a concern that it signals a renewed push
toward tactical nuclear weapons.

The Salt Lake City Tribune newspaper article claims that the
detonation, called "Divine Strike," is intended to "develop a planning
tool to improve the warfighter's confidence in selecting the smallest
proper nuclear yield necessary to destroy underground facilities while
minimizing collateral damage."

According to Defense Department budget documents, while it will not be
a nuclear explosion -- and no nuclear or radioactive material will be
used -- the Divine Strike blast will be fifty times larger than the
military's largest conventional weapon: the Massive Ordinance Air
Blast Bomb, or MOAB, nicknamed the Mother of All Bombs. It will still
be many times less powerful than the smallest weapon in the U.S.
nuclear stockpile.

Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weapons expert with the Federation of
American Scientists, told reporters: "What it apparently does is
envision the use of the nuke on the surface, and that is a very dirty
business, because it sucks up the material and throws it into the
atmosphere."

"We certainly have reason for concern," said Vanessa Pierce, a project
director with Health Environment Alliance of Utah. "I think this test
shows that the weapons designers are so obsessed with creating new
nuclear weapons like mini-nukes that they'll do whatever it takes to
get their fix."

The Salt Lake City Tribune says that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid
has expressed concern about the mushroom cloud the test will produce,
and asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for a classified briefing
on Divine Strike.

The June 2nd test will reportedly entail piling 700 tons of ammonium
nitrate and fuel oil atop a buried limestone tunnel on the Nevada Test
Site, then detonating it to measure the damage that would be done to
the chambers.

The mixture that will be used is similar to the bomb that Timothy
McVeigh used to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in
Oklahoma City in 1995, only the Nevada bomb will use 280 times as much
material.
       
                                *
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*****************************************************************
 49 Las Vegas SUN: Utah officials not confident public informed about Nevada test 

April 27, 2006 

By JENNIFER TALHELM ASSOCIATED PRESS 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Members of Utah's congressional delegation
said they're not satisfied that the government has provided
enough information about the safety of its plans to detonate a
700-ton explosive in the Nevada desert. 

Congressional aides on Wednesday toured the site where the
non-nuclear explosion - called "Divine Strake" - will take
place, and they grilled federal officials about plans for the
June 2 test. 

Utah residents and officials are concerned that the resulting
mushroom cloud will shake loose radioactive soil from past
nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site, about 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas. 

Utah officials said Thursday they want the government to do more
to convince them that the test should go forward. 

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, asked for the Defense Threat Reduction
Agency and the Energy Department to hold a public briefing for
southern Utah residents. 

"I'm not confident the public has enough information about
this," Hatch said in a statement Thursday. "My staff learned
safety details from test officials that could have helped the
public if they had been released long ago, and the good people
downwind of the site need to hear them." 

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, still is waiting for information
about whether Divine Strake is an indication that the government
might again build new nuclear weapons and test them in Nevada. 

Matheson said Pentagon budget documents, other materials and
even recent interviews with officials mention plans for new
nuclear weapons. He and others are concerned that the June 2
test is in preparation for a low-yield nuclear bomb. 

A letter he sent to the agency on April 7 asking about its
nuclear plans and other concerns is still unanswered, he said. 

"The information from yesterday's briefing is not reassuring,"
he said in a statement Thursday. 

While Sen. Robert Bennett, R-Utah, believes every precaution is
being taken to ensure the test is done safely, he wants a
personal briefing from the National Nuclear Security
Administration, his spokeswoman MaryJane Collipriest said. 

"This personal briefing will help him determine whether the test
should proceed," she said. 

Cheri Abdelnour, a spokeswoman for the Defense Threat Reduction
Agency, said she could not immediately respond to specific
questions about the Utah officials' concerns. 

She said the test will help the agency design a more effective
conventional weapon to penetrate hard and deeply buried targets. 

The agency has said its environmental assessment determined the
explosion should not disturb surface contamination at the Test
Site. 

But Hatch and others have said officials have done a poor job
communicating that to Utah residents downwind of the site, who
are still suffering illnesses resulting from their exposure to
Cold War-era nuclear tests. 

Hatch also still wants more information about the underground
effects of the explosion, his spokesman Peter Carr said. 

His office has raised concerns about inconsistencies in
information from the government about the distance between the
Divine Strake explosion site and where previous underground
nuclear weapons tests took place. 

"I don't want any testing to harm Utahns again, and I'm still
concerned about a bomb test so near to past nuclear test sites,"
Hatch said. "I'm skeptical about taking the word of test
officials, given what happened during the last nuclear tests.
We'll also take a look at some outside data and expertise, too,
before deciding if this test can be conducted safely." 
-- 
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 50 Deseret News: Huntsman opposes blast test 

[deseretnews.com] 

Friday, April 28, 2006 

Governor worries it will stir up past radioactive dust 

By Lisa Riley Roche 

Deseret Morning News 

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Thursday he opposes a massive 
non-nuclear explosion scheduled at the Nevada Test Site because 
Utahns living downwind of past testing have suffered enough. 

"I don't think it's a very good idea," Huntsman said 
during the taping of his monthly news conference for KUED 
Channel 7. "I think we have a very unfortunate history that many 
families are still living with in this state." 

Huntsman noted the possibility the conventional blast 
could stir up radioactive dust from previous nuclear tests, 
warning that "doing this kind of testing that might disturb the 
earth, which has brought so much in the way of tragedy and tears 
to our state, is not a good idea." 

Cancer in southern Utahns has been blamed on nuclear 
weapons tests done at the site between 1951 and 1992. 

The explosion of 700 tons of ammonium nitrate set for 
June 2, code-named "Divine Strake," is already raising concerns 
among members of Utah's congressional delegation, especially 
Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah. 

Matheson said he welcomed the governor's stand. "I think 
it's important that he speaks out on the issue as I think all 
Utahns should," the congressman said. 

He said a briefing Wednesday by an arm of the Department 
of Defense validated his fear that the blast will lead to the 
development � and testing � of new nuclear weapons at the site. 

"Officials who say they are using this Divine Strake test 
in planning for new nuclear weapons seem to be ignoring 
congressional intent about no new nuclear weapons, and that 
concerns me," Matheson said. 

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said even though he'd received 
"good answers" about the safety of the upcoming test from 
government officials, he doesn't "want any testing to harm 
Utahns again, and I'm still concerned about a bomb test so near 
to past nuclear test sites." 

Hatch said he is asking the Department of Defense and the 
Department of Energy to provide a public briefing in southern 
Utah "so they have full knowledge of what will take place should 
this test go forward." 

Steve Erickson, one of two Utah anti-nuclear activists 
who, along with a Nevada Indian tribe, have filed a federal suit 
to try to stop the test, applauded the governor's "joining the 
opposition." 

The plaintiffs claim the test will create a 10,000-foot 
mushroom cloud that could threaten the health of anyone downwind 
and to the east of the site. Federal officials have said the 
blast won't disturb any surface contamination. 

Also during Thursday's news conference, the governor: 

� Reiterated his support for tax reform, not just a tax 
cut. He said he hopes "to take another run at tax reform" before 
the end of the year. Huntsman had canceledcancelled plans for a 
special session of the Legislature next month after an error in 
calculating the price tag for his proposal boosted the $70 
million price tag by 50 percent. 

The governor did not, however, offer any specifics about 
how he'll adjust his tax reform plan, other than to suggest 
there might not be support for a more expensive plan. "The 
numbers went north and I don't know whether the market will 
accept that," he said. 

� Proposed bringing the experts behind Massachusetts' new 
universal health care plan to Utah "to see if we can't learn 
from some of that which they've done," including working with 
insurance companies to get policies that are more affordable and 
allowing small business to tap into the public insurance pool. 

Huntsman also said he didn't know that there are 
improprieties taking place in the health care industry in Utah, 
despite a recent call for an investigation by lawmakers. "Our 
health-care costs are significantly lower here than you find in 
other states," the governor said. 

� Encouraged students to remain in the classroom on 
Monday, the day set for the next immigration protest, even 
though "speaking out on issues that are important to them is an 
important American tradition." School hours, he said, are 
"probably not the right time to be demonstrating politically." 

E-mail: lisa@desnews.com			 		 		 

� 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company 	 		 		 	 		 		 		 		 		 
*****************************************************************
 51 Deseret News: GOP delegates boot Tooele incumbents 

[deseretnews.com] 

Friday, April 28, 2006 

One ousted official blames N-waste, sex change, nepotism 

By Doug Smeath 

Deseret Morning News 

GOP delegates booted every incumbent facing a challenger for 
county office at last week's Tooele County Republican convention,
and at least one ousted commissioner believes it boils down to 
three things: nepotism, nuclear waste and a sex-change operation.

Both commission members facing re-election and the county 
attorney were defeated � all by at least 2-to-1 margins. 

Commissioner Matthew Lawrence, who won only 30 percent of 
the delegates' support to challenger Jerry Hurst's 70 percent, 
pins his loss largely on party vice chairwoman Joyce Hogan. She 
works for nuclear-waste management company EnergySolutions as a 
public-relations director in Tooele. Her son, Douglas Hogan, 
defeated incumbent county attorney Douglas Ahlstrom 73 percent 
to 27 percent at the convention. 

Lawrence this week said he believes that "basically what 
we've got is a Republican Party that was taken over by the 
EnergySolutions company." 

EnergySolutions has been at the center of a debate over 
whether nuclear waste should be stored in the Tooele County 
desert. Most recently, the company announced its support of a 
Bush administration plan to develop recycling facilities for 
spent nuclear fuel. 

Lawrence worries EnergySolutions wants to do some of that 
recycling in Tooele County, a move he said the current 
commission would not support. A recent EnergySolutions news 
release said the company "is working with parties in several 
locations outside of Utah who have an interest in a recycling 
facility." 

Mark Walker, a spokesman for EnergySolutions, said 
Thursday that the company is "not seeking to reprocess in the 
state of Utah." Regarding Lawrence's accusation that the company 
had influenced the county-office races, Walker said, "It's not 
the practice of EnergySolutions to get involved in the internal 
matters of governmental entities." 

Neither Ahlstrom nor commission chairman Dennis Rockwell, 
who was beaten 85-15 percent by Bruce Clegg, could be reached 
for comment on Lawrence's claims. 

The party's leadership denies nepotism or a concerted 
anti-incumbent effort by Joyce Hogan. "At every conversation 
we've had, she has agreed with me that we need to make sure 
there are no fingerprints of the party leadership being involved 
in the outcome" of any of the races, party chairman Gregory 
Copeland said. 

Joyce Hogan opted to respond to the accusations in a 
written statement Thursday rather than in a telephone interview. 
"It would be inappropriate for me to campaign for or against any 
candidate," she wrote. "I did not campaign against Commissioners 
Lawrence or Rockwell or any other candidate." 

Copeland said county Republicans should "abso- lutely 
not" worry that Hogan's ties to EnergySolutions would be a 
conflict of interest. He said it is no different from any other 
party operative working for any other Tooele County business. 

Candidates' financial disclosures have not yet been filed 
with the county clerk's office, so it is unclear whether 
EnergySolutions donated to any of the GOP candidates. 

Lawrence also said Joyce Hogan expressed concerns about 
county planning and economic development adviser Nicole Cline, a 
transgender woman who was hired as a man but more than a decade 
ago had a sex-change operation. 

"The discussion was (Cline) should not be the face of 
Tooele County, should never be quoted in the newspaper, should 
basically be in her office and have limited public contact," 
Lawrence said. He said Hogan told him "if I didn't make some 
changes in the personnel in the county, in the next election I 
would be going down. That was the exact words: 'You will be 
going down.' 

"I don't ask any other employees of the county what they 
do in their personal time," he said. "I can't stifle a person's 
career because of some bigoted attitudes that exist in the 
community. It's funny that I had never heard a complaint against 
this employee before." 

Cline is out of town this week and could not be reached 
for comment. 

Joyce Hogan denied the accusations. "I have never 
threatened any candidate to work toward their defeat in an 
election if they did not take my advice," she wrote. "Several 
months ago I had a conversation with Commissioner Lawrence. He 
asked me how I felt about Nicole Cline becoming the voice of 
economic development for Tooele County. I gave it as my opinion 
that it is the role of the County Commission. 

"My comments were about the role of the County 
Commission, not Ms. Cline, and in no way intended to disparage 
Ms. Cline. I've always enjoyed a strong professional working 
relationship with all the commissioners and Ms. Cline and look 
forward to working with them in the future." 

Copeland also scoffs at Lawrence's accusations. 

"I'd like to have the opportunity to remind Matt Lawrence 
that the Republican Party was founded on the emancipation of 
slavery and has had as its cornerstone since its inception 
individual rights and the opportunity for those most 
disadvantaged in our society to be afforded equal rights," 
Copeland said. "I have a lot of respect for Nicole. She is a 
great county planner, if not the best then one of the best in 
the state. Her performance is in no way shaped by her particular 
gender selection." 

Instead, he figures the upsets in the county convention 
were due to the energy of the challengers and the appeal of new 
faces. 

"If I can point to anything, those challenging the 
incumbents outworked them," Copeland said. "They were out 
talking to the delegates early on, and I don't think the 
incumbents really did that." 

E-mail: dsmeath@desnews.com			 		 		 

� 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company 	 		 		 	 		 		 		 		 		 
*****************************************************************
 52 Las Vegas SUN: Test blast linked to nuke weapons 

 Photo: Test site 

Today: April 28, 2006 at 7:49:53 PDT 

By Launce Rake <> Las Vegas Sun

Contrary to the Pentagon's earlier denials, a government
official overseeing a test explosion at the Nevada Test Site in
June says the blast could help with the development of nuclear
weapons. 

The detonation could simulate "a number of weapon concepts,"
said Doug Bruder, director of the counter-weapons of mass
destruction program for the Defense Department's Defense Threat
Reduction Agency. 

"It could be nuclear or advanced conventional," he said. "A
charge of this size would be more related to a nuclear weapon." 

Bruder made his remarks during a tour of the Test Site with
reporters this week. 

The purpose of the test remains an issue in Washington and
Nevada as the Defense Department continues to prepare the site
for a June 2 blast of 700 tons of conventional explosives. 

The Pentagon has denied that the test is intended to aid
research into "bunker buster" nuclear weapons - essentially
smaller-scale weapons designed to penetrate and destroy
facilities built deep below ground. 

In keeping with those earlier denials, Bruder said the blast,
known as Divine Strake, was not specifically designed to produce
a nuclear weapon and "does not replicate any existing or planned
nuclear weapon." 

As part of the test, researchers plan to measure the damage the
blast does to a tunnel dug beneath the explosion site. Those
results will help the Pentagon determine the effectiveness of an
explosion of that magnitude, whether produced by a conventional
or a nuclear weapon. 

Last year, Congress forbade any testing intended to advance
nuclear weapons. Lawmakers cut funding from the Energy
Departments budget for a 700-ton explosion at the Test Site for
use in developing a nuclear bunker buster. 

Money for the test is now in the Defense Department budget for a
conventional weapons program. 

Scientists and others opposed to nuclear proliferation have said
that the new test is simply an attempt to defy the congressional
ban and advance Defense Department research into nuclear
weapons. 

The blast itself would be with a mixture of ammonium nitrate and
fuel oil, the same material that brought down the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. The amount
that destroyed the office building was 2.5 tons. 

The size of the June 2 bomb is among the evidence scientists
cite in arguing that the test could only serve to advance
nuclear weapons research. The U.S. military has no way to
deliver a 700-ton conventional bomb to a target, other than to
truck it into place. 

Officials have emphasized that no nuclear materials would be
involved in the test, although a group including the Western
Shoshone and residents downwind of past nuclear explosions at
the Test Site are suing, arguing that the test could kick up
radioactive dust. Government officials insist there is no
possibility that radioactive materials would be disturbed by the
blast. 

But Bruder's comments fanned the debate anew. 

After watching a CNN tape of remarks by Bruder, Rep. Jim
Matheson, a Democrat who represents southwestern Utah, issued a
statement Thursday saying: "Officials who say they are using
this Divine Strake test in planning for new nuclear weapons seem
to be ignoring congressional intent about no new nuclear
weapons, and that concerns me." 

On the CNN tape, Bruder said: "There are some very hard targets
out there and right now it would be extremely difficult if not
impossible to defeat with current conventional weapons.
Therefore there are some that would probably require nuclear
weapons." 

Matheson said that he su­pports development of conventional
bunker-busting bombs, but not a nuclear program. "We need to
build something that actually defeats the threat without harming
our soldiers and innocent civilians," he said. 

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid has said in the past that he
does not oppose the test. The Nevada Democrat said he reached
that conclusion after he and others in the state's congressional
delegation were assured by James Tegnelia, director of the
Defense Threat Reduction Agency, that the test had nothing to do
with development of a nuclear device. 

On Thursday, Reid spokeswoman Sharyn Stein said the senator
continues to support the test as a prelude to a conventional
weapon. Reid supports development of a conventional bunker
buster as an important tool for national security, she said. 

"I realize his (Tegnelia's) people seem to be dancing around
that right now, and we're not thrilled about that," Stein said.
But Tegnelia personally promised Reid that the test will not
lead to resumed nuclear testing, she said. 

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., received similar assurances.
Berkley spokesman David Cherry said the congresswoman is
watching the situation. 

In a statement, Berkley noted that the Defense Threat Reduction
Agency had yet to satisfy the state of Nevada's demand for more
information on the environmental impacts before the test can
proceed. 

"As a Nevadan who lived through the nuclear testing era, I have
a healthy skepticism for federal officials who say there is
nothing to worry about when it comes to protecting public safety
or the environment," she said Thursday. 

"Nevadans are not alone in their opposition to both nuclear
testing and the development of new nuclear weapons, and I will
continue to work with other members of Congress to ensure that
our current policy against these twin pursuits remains in
place." Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at
lrake@lasvegassun.com. 
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Return to the referring page.
 Photo: Test site 



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         All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
                                 

*****************************************************************
 53 reviewjournal.com: Utah legislator remains opposed to blast at test site
 
Apr. 28, 2006

Democrat suspects link to nuclear plans          

By TONY BATT <br/>STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU
	
WASHINGTON -- After a briefing this week at the Nevada Test Site 
for congressional staff, a Utah lawmaker on Thursday said he 
still has concerns about a 700-ton explosion scheduled June 2. 

Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said he still thinks the Divine Strake 
bunker-buster test is linked to development of a new nuclear 
weapon. 

"Officials who say they are using this Divine Strake test in 
planning for new nuclear weapons seem to be ignoring 
congressional intent about no nuclear weapons, and that concerns 
me," Matheson said. 

The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a branch of the Department
of Defense, will conduct the test and presented tours on
Wednesday for the media and for congressional aides. 

Matheson cited news reports quoting an agency official as saying
some bunkers storing terrorist weapons might have to be
destroyed by nuclear weapons. 

He said he supports the development of conventional bombs to
destroy terrorist bunkers but not nuclear weapons. He said
budget documents showed the government plans to develop new
nuclear weapons. 

Matheson listed his concerns in an April 7 letter to DTRA chief
James Tegnelia, but Matheson said he still has not received a
response. 

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., continues to support the blast, which
will occur at the test site, about 100 miles northwest of Las
Vegas. 

Seven hundred tons of ammonium nitrate fuel oil solution is
scheduled to be detonated in a 30-foot pit dug above one of the
test site's tunnels. 

"Dr. Tegnelia gave Senator Reid his personal assurance that the
test will be safe, non-nuclear and not linked in any way to the
resumption of nuclear testing," Reid spokeswoman Sharyn Stein
said. 

The Nevada Division of Environmental Protection has not issued
an air quality permit for the June 2 test. 

"We have not received all of the information we need and
probably will take a couple of weeks before we make a final
decision," said Dante Pistone, spokesman for the division. 

Rep. Shelly Berkley, D-Nev., will not support the June 2
detonation until DTRA proves the experiment will comply with the
laws of Nevada, spokesman David Cherry said. 	   

Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 54 Sheboygan Press: 'All went well' in county's response to alert
 
Posted April 28, 2006 

From staff reports 

MANITOWOC � Every emergency, whether it is weather-related, a
hazardous material spill or a power plant malfunction, tests
local government's ability to respond and maintain the safety of
residents. 

When an alert was issued for the Kewaunee Power Station on
Wednesday night, "it all went well," according to Nancy Crowley,
director of the Manitowoc County Emergency Management
Department. 

Representatives from agencies that implement the county's
emergency response plan gathered in the basement of the
sheriff's department after the alert was issued at 8:49 p.m.,
Crowley said. 

She has the responsibility of verifying an incident, which
requires calling the power plant and confirming the details. By
the time she hangs up, she is relatively certain of the
seriousness of the incident, including whether any radioactive
materials have been released. 

Incidents at nuclear power plants are rated within four 
classifications set by the federal government. The Kewaunee event 
officially was an alert, the second-lowest rating. But it still 
was the highest-level incident in Crowley's 25 years in her 
emergency management role. 

Throughout the evening, nothing indicated a release of 
radioactivity had occurred or that the incident would escalate, 
she said. 

"There was never any off-site involvement at all," she said. 

She said plant officials called back around 12:20 a.m. to report 
"the event has been terminated." 

"They explain why and what's happening, the shutdown is 
continuing as it had been prior to this event being declared," 
Crowley said. "They continued shutting the reactor down, but 
there was no longer any instability or any risk." 

The local response team included representatives from volunteer 
and paid municipal fire departments, the hazardous materials 
team, the county Sheriff's, Highway, Human Services and Public 
Health departments, the Red Cross, a radiological expert from 
Lakeshore Technical College, a member of the staff from the 
nuclear power station, amateur radio operators, central dispatch 
and Crowley's department, along with new County Executive Bob 
Ziegelbauer, Crowley said. 

"We've been saying every year � and every time I get an 
opportunity to talk to a group of people � that we have a plan, 
it's a good plan and we have an extremely well-trained staff that 
knows their jobs and they demonstrated it again last night," she 
said. 

"If needed, they know what to do and they do it very well. 
There's no one person or agency who could do this. It's got to be 
a team effort. We've got a really solid team here. We're able to 
respond to any kind of hazard." 
  
  Contact us at 920-457-7711.        sheboygan-press.com is a
Gannett Companywebsite.
*****************************************************************
 55 Salt Lake Tribune: Guv says Nevada blast is a bad idea 

Article Last Updated: 04/28/2006 08:54:51 PM MDT 

United front: Huntsman wants the test relocated; Matheson, 
Bennett and Hatch demand more data 

By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune 

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. wants the government to scrap an upcoming 
explosion at the Nevada Test Site. 

Speaking Thursday at his monthly news conference, the 
Republican governor echoed concerns voiced this week by members 
of Congress, saying Utahns need better proof the "Divine Strake" 
blast won't harm them or spread nuclear contamination from 
previous tests in the environment. 

"We are downwind," said Huntsman. "I believe that, 
obviously, we need a strong national security position, a strong 
defense position, and capabilities to protect us abroad. But do 
the testing somewhere else, where citizens aren't downwind." 

The remarks came the same day U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson and 
U.S. Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett demanded, once again, 
that more basic safety data be made public. The mounting 
information requests also signal the possibility of a delay in 
the controversial experiment, an explosion of conventional 
explosives, not nuclear ones. 

A 700-ton blast aimed at fine-tuning the government's skill 
at destroying underground bunkers, Divine Strake is set to take 
place in just five weeks. Before that time, the Pentagon and the 
Energy Department may need to follow up on information the 
Utahns requested, but they also must get an air-quality permit 
from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection, which also 
wants details. 

"Until we have a chance to review [the additional data], 
it's probably premature to comment," said Dante Pistone, a 
spokesman for the Nevada environmental agency. 

The three Utah lawmakers dispatched aides to the desert test 
site Wednesday. Afterward, they agreed federal scientists should 
share the scientific data that validate their assertion the test 
won't kick up contaminated dust from past atomic tests nearby 
and won't be a precursor to a resumption of nuclear testing. 

In addition, Hatch has called for a public information 
meeting in St. George, and both Republican senators have 
requested private briefings with the agencies behind the test, 
the Nevada Test Site and the National Nuclear Security Agency, 
both controlled by the Energy Department, and the Defense Threat 
Reduction Agency (DTRA), a Pentagon office. 

"The information from yesterday's briefing is not 
reassuring," Matheson said in a news release. The Democratic 
congressman added that DTRA still has not responded to his April 
7 letter requesting information about possible new nuclear 
weapons. 

Meanwhile, Hatch and Bennett indicated the Divine Strake 
agencies have bumbled public relations for the test. While aides 
learned that the federal agencies already have some of the 
details they have requested, that information was not included in
the draft environmental assessment released in November, and the 
final, official version has not been published. "After our 
briefing, I'm not confident the public has enough information 
about this," Hatch said in a news release. 

"My staff learned safety details from test officials [during 
the tour] that could have helped the public if they had been 
released long ago." 

Bennett said in a statement that the agencies are evidently 
taking precautions to ensure the test is safe. But he still 
wants a briefing before deciding whether the test should 
proceed. 

Darwin J. Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear 
Security Administration, said his agency already has begun to 
provide some of the requested data. He said he also expects 
Divine Strake to go forward on time. 

"I don't want the people of Utah to take this personally," 
said Irene M. Smith, a DTRA spokeswoman. "It would not be 
happening if it was a danger." 

The explosion involves putting ammonium nitrate and fuel oil 
- the makings of a conventional bomb, like the one used in the 
Oklahoma City federal building bombing - in a 37-foot-deep pit 
that is being dug into a mountaintop about 90 miles north of Las 
Vegas. The pit lies about 100 feet above a 1,000-foot-long 
tunnel, which has been used for 45 past tests. Detonation will 
cause a blast comparable to a 3.1- to 3.4-magnitude earthquake, 
based on the Richter scale, said Matheson's office. The debris 
cloud is expected to shoot 10,000 feet into the air, but 
environmental reviewers say the debris won't cross the Nevada 
Test Site boundary eight to 10 miles away. 

Thousands of Utahns are among the downwinders - Westerners 
who blame cancer and other illnesses on fallout from atomic 
tests conducted at the Nevada site in the 1950s and '60s. Two 
downwinders have joined with members of the Western Shoshone 
Indian tribe in trying to have a court block the test. 

--- 

Reporters Rebecca Walsh and Robert Gehrke contributed to 
this article. 

© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 56 ICT: Western Shoshone and others file suit to halt detonation

[2006/04/27]  

  Posted: April 27, 2006   								 								 	 									
									 										 										 											
  by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today   												
									 								 								 								 								 								 								
  LAS VEGAS - A tribe of Western Shoshone has joined with
non-Indian plaintiffs from Utah and filed suit in federal court
in Las Vegas to stop the United States from detonating 700 tons
of explosives at the Nevada Test Site, which is on ancestral
Western Shoshone land.

	Western Shoshone and ''downwinders'' from Utah are seeking an
immediate restraining order to prevent the planned ''Divine
Strake'' blast, which would release radioactive dust from
previous nuclear tests into the environment.

	Further, Western Shoshone seeks to recover damages for the
previous damage caused by 100 above-ground and 828 underground
nuclear bombs detonated at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 to
1993.

	Thomas Wasson, chairman of the Winnemucca Indian Colony, said
Divine Strake must be stopped.

	''Our people were forcibly removed from their homes at the
Nevada Test Site where the Western Shoshone had lived for
thousands of years, without being told that our lands would be
used for testing of nuclear weapons,'' Wasson said in a
statement.

	''After destroying our lands and causing untold death and human
misery with their radiation, the U.S. government now wants to do
the same thing again. They must be stopped, for the good of the
Western Shoshone and all people.''

	The U.S. Department of Defense scheduled the explosion for July
2. Defendants in the case include the United States of America;
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; and James Tegnelia,
director of the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

	Attorney Robert Hager, of Reno, who spoke on behalf of the
Western Shoshone at the United Nations in Geneva in March, said
the United States is violating international law and the 1863
Western Shoshone Treaty of Ruby Valley.

	''Divine Strake is a violation by the United States government
of international human rights treaties and conventions to which
the United States is a party,'' Hager said.

	''The government's decision to conduct this atmospheric test
was made in violation of federal law, and the radioactive dust
which would be disseminated as a result of this huge blast is a
threat to every person who lives downwind of the planned blast.
This is a human rights issue and a public health issue, and this
blast must be stopped.''

	The Winnemucca Indian Colony, which was among the Western
Shoshone parties that won a decision in the United Nations in
Geneva on March 10, said the lands within the Nevada Test Site
are ancestral Western Shoshone lands.

	The United Nations and the Organization of American States have
made findings and decisions that recognize the Shoshone title to
those lands.

	The Western Shoshone plaintiffs in the Divine Strake lawsuit
claim that the $145 million settlement approved by Congress in
2004, and previous decisions by U.S. courts approving that
settlement, have no application to the Nevada Test Site, since
those lands were not included in that process.

	The lawsuit claims that the decision to conduct the
aboveground, open-air detonation violated federal law, including
the requirement of public notice and an opportunity for public
comment. Further, it asserts that the United States violated the
requirement of consultation with affected Indian tribes.

	The lawsuit also alleges that the U.S. government and
responsible officials intentionally concealed the planned blast
in order to circumvent the law and conceal obvious health
hazards that could result from the ''mushroom cloud.''

	The lawsuit points out that the government admitted the cloud
will rise 10,000 feet. The lawsuit claims this cloud will
contain deadly radioactive debris contained in the soil as a
result of prior nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site.

	The Western Shoshone Defense Project, International Indian
Treaty Council, Indigenous Environmental Network, Shundahai
Network and other organizations have organized an International
Day of Action for Sunday, May 28, at the Nevada Test Site Peace
Camp on Highway 95 across from the Nevada Test Site. The rally
includes indigenous speakers and nonviolent action training.

	Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, has joined other congressmen in
voicing concerns about Divine Strake. Hatch expressed his
concerns in a letter to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

	''The more I look into this, the more upset I become,'' Hatch
said in a statement.

	''The good people who live downwind from this test site have
already been through enough, and I've given them my word that
I'll never allow any nuclear testing that could harm them again.
I have directed my staff to check into this very closely, and if
I'm not satisfied that this will be safe, I'm going to do
everything I can to put a stop to it.''

� 1998 - 2006 Indian Country Today. All Rights Reserved�
*****************************************************************
 57 NRC: NRC Plans for Possible Avian Flu Pandemic; Holds Workshop to Discuss Issues
 
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. 06-059     April 28, 2006   

operations and held a workshop yesterday to discuss relevant
issues. The NRC is focusing on those critical functions that
must be maintained in the event of high absenteeism caused by an
avian flu pandemic and the regulatory relief or other actions
that may be necessary to maintain the safe operation of nuclear
power plants facing similar staff shortages. 

Based on federal government planning assumptions, the NRC is
determining how to maintain mission-critical functions with
absenteeism as high as 40 percent for periods of weeks in the
course of a 12- to 18-month period. Other federal government
agencies are conducting similar assessments. The nuclear power
industry is creating its own business continuity planning and
site-specific options, and is discussing its efforts and
potential needs with the NRC. 

We need to think creatively and strategically and work together
to address this potentially serious issue, said NRC Commissioner
Jeffrey Merrifield, who was asked by Chairman Nils J. Diaz to
assume a lead role in the review of the planning effort. Such a
pandemic, should it occur, will be a serious issue for this
country, and maintaining the electrical grid while continuing to
provide for the safety and security of our communities will be
one of the most important tasks this country faces. 

The workshop, closed to the public due to the sensitive nature
of much of the discussions, included several panels and drew
attendees from other federal agencies, state government and
power companies. Discussions included a status of the flu and
the availability of vaccines and antiviral medication; steps
that might minimize the spread of the disease, including
sequestering employees; the status of resident inspectors; the
possibility of and process for granting regulatory relief from
minimum staffing or work hour requirements; and the possibility
of deferring certain activities, such as exercises. 

The NRC anticipates continuing discussions with the industry and
the possibility of issuing generic guidance or other information
in upcoming months. 

The agency formed an internal working group in March that is
preparing a report, to be finalized in the next few months,
outlining what key mission-critical activities the NRC must
maintain and how to use teleworking, recent retirees, deferring
activities, and other strategies to maintain critical functions.
After the report is approved by the Commission, appropriate
portions will be made public.   



  


 	Last revised Friday, April 28, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 58 NEWS.com.au: Station owners court N-waste facility - 

NT - Breaking News 24/7

By Emma Gumbleton

 April 29, 2006                                                  

TRADITIONAL owners from near Tennant Creek are believed to be 
considering allowing the storage of the nation's nuclear waste on 
their land. The Federal Government last year announced it wanted 
to build a nuclear waste facility at one of three potential sites 
in the Territory. 

They are Fisher's Ridge south of Katherine, and Harts Range and 
Mount Everard in Central Australia. 

But alternative sites on Aboriginal land can be proposed by the
Northern Land Council (NLC), under legislative amendments
demanded by the Territory CLP Senator Nigel Scullion. 

It is understood the group from Muckaty Station are considering
offering their land, 120km north of Tennant Creek, for the
national nuclear waste dump. 

The group is believed to be travelling to Sydney next week to
inspect the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor. 

Justin Tutty from the No Nuclear Waste Alliance said there was 
speculation the traditional owners have already signed an 
in-principal agreement that would allow the dump to go ahead. 

"We know they haven't spoken to the Northern Territory
Government, to environment groups or other Aboriginal groups,"
he said. 

He said Muckaty Station was prone to earthquakes and a dump
there would pose an environmental hazard. 

A spokesman for the NLC said a number of Aboriginal groups from
across the Top End have inquired about the safety of having
radioactive waste stored on their land. 

He said requests were not formal proposals and the NLC was not
yet ready to put forward any individual sites. 

The Territory Government has opposed the construction of a
low-level nuclear waste repository, saying the decision had been
made for political rather than scientific reasons. 		  		 		 		

| | | | Copyright 2006 News Limited. All times AEST (GMT + 10). 
*****************************************************************
 59 Las Vegas SUN: Utah leaders rally against proposed nuclear waste
storage site 

Today: April 28, 2006 at 16:18:9 PDT 

By JIM GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS 

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Sen. Orrin
Hatch on Friday rallied public opposition to a proposed storage
site for spent nuclear fuel on the Goshute Indian reservation,
urging Utah residents to submit their comments to the U.S.
Bureau of Land Management before the May 8 deadline. 

Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of power utilities, wants to
store up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel above ground on
the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, about 45 miles
southwest of Salt Lake City. 

"We have an opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin of
PFS," Huntsman told about 100 people at the State Capitol
Complex. 

Congress created a federal wilderness area near the proposed
storage site that opponents hope will block movement of nuclear
waste there by rail. Opponents are now focused on fighting plans
for a transfer station at the site, which could handle shipments
arriving by truck. 

So far, more than 10,000 people have weighed in during the BLM's
90-day comment period, officials said. Opponents would like to
see at least 110,000 comments before May 8, when the 90-day
period ends. Huntsman noted that about the same number of people
have already expressed their preference for one of three designs
for a state quarter. 

The state also launched an Internet campaign, with about 20 Web
sites promoting the letter-writing campaign against the PFS
plan. 

"The more we get, the better chance we have of getting the BLM
to back off," said Hatch, R-Utah. 

Hatch and Huntsman were joined at the "No Way Day" rally by U.S.
Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, state and
local leaders, business associations and environmental groups.
U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, both Utah
Republicans, were not at the event, but also oppose the plan. 

Opponents contend it is too dangerous to transport nuclear waste
to the site, with rail lines and roads passing close to hundreds
of thousands of Utah residents. The site is also near a military
bombing range for jet fighters. 

"Storing high-level nuclear waste in an aboveground facility
next to a bombing range doesn't make sense, and it can't and
won't be a solution," Bishop said in statement. 

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin also encouraged people to write the
BLM - in support of the project. She said the company spent
eight years crafting its application for the proposal, and that
the plans meet federal and state safety requirements. 

"We also encourage people to educate themselves and make sure
they're up to speed on both sides of the issue," Martin said. 

PFS won a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier
this year to build the temporary storage facility. But the
license was granted just as several of the utilities that make
up PFS pulled out of the project. 

The facility is planned to be an interim storage site until the
federal government opens a national repository for nuclear waste
at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Political opposition, money
shortages and other problems have delayed the project, and
Energy Department managers now can't say when the site will
open. 

On the Net: 

Private Fuel Storage: http://www.privatefuelstorage.com . 

Utah Department of Environmental Quality:
http://www.deq.utah.gov/Issues/no-high-level-waste/index.htm 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 60 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast plume 50 percent larger

| 04/28/2006 | 

 DUANE MARSTELLER Herald Staff Writer 

TALLEVAST - The plume of underground contamination in this
community has jumped in size - again. 

The contamination now covers a 200-acre area shaped like an
artists' palette surrounding the former Loral American Beryllium
Co. plant, Lockheed Martin Corp. said in a report submitted to
state environmental regulators Thursday. That's more than 50
percent larger than a year ago, when the company said the plume
measured 131 acres. 

But the company, which initially thought the pollution was
limited to the 5-acre plant site at 1600 Tallevast Road, said
the latest measurement should be the last. 

"It's not a growing plume," Lockheed spokeswoman Gail Rymer
said. "It's that, as we were able to install more monitoring
wells, we were better able to delineate the plume. We feel
confident that we've reached the edge of the plume." 

The report also said the pollution has not reached the Floridan
Aquifer, a major source of drinking water, and had not reached
close to U.S. 301. That disputed the findings of a
resident-hired geologist, who said his test results indicated
contamination from the plant may be deeper and wider than
previously reported. 

Lockheed's report also asks the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection's approval to start preparing a
comprehensive cleanup plan. The company said the cleanup
process, which could take 20 years, could start as early as
July. 

DEP earlier this week tentatively approved Lockheed's interim
cleanup plan, which calls for using a large machine to clean
tainted groundwater extracted from directly beneath the plant.
Final approval could come as early as June. 

"It's a major step in the cleanup of the groundwater
contamination," Rymer said. 

Final DEP approval would allow Lockheed to begin cleaning the
contamination at the source while still assessing how far it has
spread into the Tallevast community. Lockheed previously said
the plume of contamination covers 131 acres, but a geologist who
conducted independent tests on behalf of residents has said the
pollution may have spread as far east as U.S. 301. 

Lockheed's consultant disputed that in the voluminous report
that was hand-delivered to DEP Thursday. The engineering firm of
Blasland, Bouck &Lee. Inc. said elevated levels of contaminants
found in Heidi Boothe's cattle watering well and others near it
didn't originate from the former beryllium plant. 

"Given that these locations are near other industrialized areas,
and considering their distance from the former ABC facility's
defined groundwater impact area, these detections are not
considered to be site-related," the report said. 

The report said plant-related contamination extends no farther
than 1,200 feet north, 2,800 feet east, 1,600 feet south and 800
feet west of the plant. It also said the contamination is no
deeper than 200 feet underground, well above the Floridan
Aquifer. 

Boothe's well, originally thought to be 500 feet deep, actually
was only 130 feet deep, Rymer said. 

Also, the report said: 

� The most common contaminant found was 1,4-dioxane, a
stabilizer used in industrial degreasers. The report raised the
possibility that nearby boat manufacturers might be a source. 

� There was no substantive evidence backing reports that some
neighboring residents used contaminated fill dirt from the
plant. Testing did find elevated levels of arsenic and another
contaminants in some residents' yards, which the consultant said
were "characteristic of the region and what would be expected in
a developed area such as this." 

The report's groundwater results were based on samples collected
from 245 wells, including more than 100 installed for the latest
round of testing. 

The contamination has been traced to a broken sump at the old
beryllium plant, which Lockheed assumed ownership of as part of
a corporate buyout in 1996. Lockheed never used the facility but
owned it when the contamination was discovered in 2000, making
the company liable for cleanup. 

For the interim cleanup at the plant, Lockheed plans to employ a
Canadian company's system that uses chemicals and light to treat
contaminated groundwater. 

Ten wells around the plant site will extract groundwater and
store it in a 21,000-gallon tank. The water will be piped
through the machine, which will add titanium dioxide and expose
the mixture to intense ultraviolet light, Lockheed said. 

The company said the process is effective in destroying
1,4-dioxane and trichloroethylene (TCE), an industrial solvent
linked to cancer, neurological problems and lower birth weights
in humans. 

The treated water then will be polished with activated carbon
before being piped to Manatee County's sewer system. The
treatment system will be housed in a 45-foot-by-45-foot building
being constructed at the plant, now being used by a cable
manufacturer. 

The DEP notified Lockheed of the system's preliminary approval
in a letter dated Tuesday. 

"It is a treatment system that we have dealt with before," said
Pam Vazquez, a DEP spokeswoman. "If we didn't think it would be
successful, we wouldn't have approved it." 

A group representing residents had little to say about the
treatment system's initial approval. 

"We don't know that much about it," said Laura Ward, president
of Family Oriented Community United and Strong (FOCUS), a
resident advocacy group. 

Ward and Wanda Washington, FOCUS' vice president, did not
immediately return later calls for comment on the Lockheed
report. 

*****************************************************************
 61 The State: Proposed fuel plant at SRS in jeopardy

04/28/2006 

Hundreds of millions of dollars for facility frozen, cut; it
could have created 1,000 jobs

 By LAUREN MARKOE Special to The State 

A congressional panel this week slashed or froze hundreds of
millions of dollars for a proposed mixed-oxide fuel plant at
Savannah River Site, raising renewed doubts about the future of
the planned facility. 

The so-called MOX project at the nuclear campus outside Aiken
has been touted as both a powerful S.C. job engine and a means
to rid the world of tons of weapons-grade plutonium. 

On top of those cuts, SRS is facing a $200 million budget
shortfall in fiscal 2007. 

South Carolinians in Congress say the federal government
promised the money, and that without it, an unspecified number
of jobs could be lost and other cleanup missions could stagnate
at the nuclear waste storage site. 

Still, theres reason for hope, these same politicians say 
both for the MOX plant and the SRS budget. 

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett,
R-S.C., on Wednesday met with Linton Brooks, head of the
National Nuclear Security Administration. Brooks is committed
to building a MOX plant in South Carolina, said Graham, who
said construction could begin in the fall. 

Thats whether or not, Graham continued, the Russians build a
MOX plant of their own. 

For years the Russian and American MOX plants developed  and
stalled  as a joint project. 

And Graham, who represented the Aiken area as a congressman,
said he is optimistic the Senate will restore the $200 million
SRS budget shortfall. 

But Barrett, who succeeded Graham in the House, worried the
money might not materialize. The Bush administration, he said,
hasnt pushed hard enough to ensure SRS, which once supplied
much of the fuel for the nations nuclear arsenal, gets what it
needs. 

Weve have had a lot of promises and a lot of commitments from
the Department of Energy, said Barrett. Unfortunately, many
times the money doesnt meet the mouth. 

Department of Energy spokesman Jim Giusti cautioned against
drawing conclusions about the funding gap and possible
consequences. 

It is too early in the budget process to discuss specific
actions that could be taken at SRS, he said. 

It will be months until the full House and Senate agree on how
much to send to the site. 

As for MOX, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., who supports the
project, sits on the House Armed Services Committee panel that
cut that Bush administrations $600 million request for the S.C.
plant. Spratt didnt support the cuts and wants to see the
project succeed. 

But realistically, he said, its future now appears unclear. 

Boosters say the plant could generate 1,000 jobs in South
Carolina. International politics has so far stood in its way. 

Russia, with help from the United States, had agreed to build a
MOX plant like the one proposed for SRS. The idea was for the
S.C. and Russian plants to anchor an international effort to
transform weapons-grade plutonium into commercial grade fuel in
both countries. Several other U.S. allies pledged money to the
Russian project to help secure some of the most dangerous
nuclear material in Europe. 

Russia, however, has not moved forward on MOX. 

The time is past that we want to bring the Russians along in a
parallel fashion, said Barrett. Today is the day that if they
dont comply, were going to forge ahead. 

But Congress is wary about MOX in South Carolina and wants to
see a clear plan before it allocates more money. 

On Thursday, the panel of the House Armed Services Committee
that cut $150 million and froze another $450 million for MOX
said the money should not be used until the Bush administration
shows either that the Russians are committed to the project or
that the S.C. plant is by itself worthy of funding. 

Spratt is particularly concerned about the 34 metric tons of
weapons-grade plutonium slated for a MOX plant at SRS. Some of
it is already at the site. 

In 2001, he supported former Gov. Jim Hodges, a Democrat, in a
lawsuit that sought to stop the federal government from shipping
high-grade nuclear waste to SRS. They argued there was no clear
plan to dispose of the material, and worried it would languish
in South Carolina indefinitely. 

Upon taking office in 2003, Republican Gov. Mark Sanford dropped
the suit. 

In South Carolina, a consortium including Duke Energy would
build the MOX plant and use the fuel in the companys Catawba
reactor, in York County, and McGuire reactor, north of
Charlotte. 

Duke and consortium spokesmen referred all questions on MOX to
the Department of Energy. But Duke spokesman Tim Pettit added
those reactors are not dependent on MOX fuel to provide power. 

*****************************************************************
 62 BBC: Villagers' fears of nuclear waste
 
Last Updated: Friday, 28 April 2006
 
By Nadeem Saeed BBC News, northern Pakistan   

[View of toxic dump site near Baghalchur, northern Pakistan]                               

Baghalchur's uranium mines are now being used as a dump                                                          

Residents of a remote Punjab village in northern Pakistan say 
their lives are in danger from nuclear waste being dumped in 
their area. 

"We are being slow-poisoned," said Nazir Ahmed Buzdar, a resident 
of the tribal village of Baghalchur some 400km (248 miles) north 
of Karachi. 

He is part of a group in a legal battle with Pakistan's nuclear 
authorities over the dumping of toxic waste. 

Baghalchur is the site of abandoned uranium mines now being used 
as a dump. 

"Our land played an important role in making Pakistan a nuclear 
power but all we have got in return is poverty and poison," said 
Mr Buzdar. 

The relevant authorities say nuclear waste material has been 
stored deep down in underground caves and poses no danger to the 
environment. 

'Child deaths' 

But Mr Buzdar and his colleagues cite one of the Pakistan Atomic 
Energy Commission's (PAEC) own reports which said that the waste 
material being dumped at Baghalchur was "active". 

Pakistan's nuclear authorities were mining the area around 
Baghalchur between 1978 and 2000. Locals say it was the first 
location in the country to produce uranium for Pakistan's nuclear 
weapons programme. 

[Toxic effluent]                                

Villagers claim there are piles of "yellow cake" lying around                                                           

The mining was stopped in 2000 but the underground tunnels were 
earmarked for storing nuclear waste. 

Former chairman of the PAEC, Pervez Butt, told the BBC that the 
storage was perfectly safe. 

"It is being done in keeping with the international standards for 
storing nuclear waste," he said. 

In October last year, four residents of Baghalchur petitioned the 
local courts on the matter. The case was referred to the Supreme 
Court earlier this year. 

The PAEC sought time to file its reply but requested the 
proceedings be kept in camera given the nature of the case. The 
court agreed and the next date of hearing is not yet known. 

'Chemical sludge' 

Lal Mohammed, one of the petitioners who has worked for the PAEC 
for eight years, says the nuclear waste being stored in his area 
may contaminate the environment for "centuries". 

He pointed at several large and malodorous piles of what he 
called the toxic effluent of "yellow cake" - a raw form of mined 
uranium - lying openly around the place. 

"Rain washes the chemicals in this sludge into the main water 
channels which are used both by humans and animals," he said. 

Co-petitioner Naseer Shah says there has been a dramatic increase 
in infant mortality since the dumping of toxic waste started. 

He says it has seriously affected milk producing cattle - many of 
which have died after contracting previously unseen diseases. 

The petitioners say that the residents of Baghalchur should be 
assured that the dumping is not going to do them harm. 

If guarantees cannot be given, they want immediate measures to 
cleanse Baghalchur of any contamination already caused.                                         
	 	 

*****************************************************************
 63 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: No crimes at Yucca?

Today: April 28, 2006 at 7:49:53 PDT 

No charges in falsified data case involving proposed nuke dump 
raise doubt about probe

On Tuesday the Energy Department announced that the U.S.
attorney's office in Nevada would not file criminal charges
against scientists working on the proposed Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste repository who had falsified data. 

This wasn't just any ordinary paperwork that had been falsified
- this was data that involved how fast water can travel through
the mountain and ultimately corrode canisters containing nuclear
waste if a dump is ever built. 

The Energy Department's inspector general, who worked with the
FBI and the U.S. attorney on the criminal investigation, issued
a five-page memo to Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman outlining the
probe's findings. The memo, however, is terribly vague regarding
the evidence that had been gathered during the investigation,
including how widespread the falsifying of data was. 

There also wasn't an adequate explanation as to why such
activities are legal. In the eyes of the federal government,
apparently, falsifying data is legal and par for the course at
Yucca Mountain. 

The inspector general's report did note that the falsified data
undermined public confidence in Yucca Mountain. Of course,
public confidence in the repository, which has been riddled by
politics and bereft of quality scientific work, has been
undermined since its inception. It was the discovery of e-mails
written by scientists, which talked about the falsifying of
data, that provided a smoking gun about just how corrupt and
shoddy the work has been at Yucca Mountain. 

Bodman certainly hopes this report is the end of the controversy
over the falsifying of data. And we're sure President Bush, who
wants the dump built, would like to see the controversy go away,
too. 

The release of the inspector general's report on Tuesday was
interesting, if not curious: It came one day after Bush had been
in Las Vegas for a fundraiser for Rep. Jon Porter, who chairs a
House subcommittee that is investigating the very falsifying of
data in the inspector general's report. Imagine how the release
of the report prior to Tuesday would have affected the public's
reaction to the president's visit here. 

The bottom line is that Nevada's congressional delegation needs
to push for a public accounting from the U.S. attorney and the
inspector general as to exactly what happened with the
falsifying of the data and, just as important , why such actions
didn't constitute criminal behavior. 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 64 reviewjournal.com: LETTERS: Yucca Mountain's science not broken

Apr. 28, 2006

To the editor: 

Several articles and editorial cartoons have appeared recently in 
the Review-Journal alleging that the science on the Yucca 
Mountain Project is broken. It is not. 

Two scientists from the world-renowned U.S. Geological Survey
who once worked on the project acted in what was later admitted
in a congressional hearing to be an unprofessional manner. They
failed to follow a procedure for model development and instead
completed the required paperwork some time after the work was
done. This does not necessarily mean that the results of the
analysis were flawed. 

An evaluation of the model results shows that the U.S.G.S.
estimate of how much water flows into Yucca Mountain is in line
with other estimates and those for other parts of the desert
southwest. Nevertheless, the secretary of energy adopted a
conservative approach and directed the project's scientific
staff to treat the work as suspect. As a result, the model will
be redeveloped, and we will not rely on the U.S.G.S. model for
our license application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

This failure to follow protocol by two of the more than 2,000
employees working on the Yucca Mountain Project hardly qualifies
it as a "broken" project. However, we certainly agree with
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and acting project Director Paul
Golan "that this project will be done according to good science
or it will not be done at all." 

What is often overlooked is the fact that we, too, are Nevadans.
Like other Nevadans, we have a vested interest in the safety of
this project. We have made our homes here and are raising our
children here. We drive on the same roads and share the same
concerns about trucks carrying hazardous materials (not just
nuclear), as well as about air and water quality. None of these
issues is uniquely attributable to nuclear waste. 

Jane Summerson 

Paige Russell 

DEBORAH BARR 

Eric Smistad 

April Gil 

LAS VEGAS 


THE WRITERS ARE SCIENTISTS WHO WORK ON THE YUCCA MOUNTAIN
PROJECT, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY'S PLANNED HIGH-LEVEL
NUCLEAR WASTE REPOSITORY LOCATED ABOUT 100 MILES NORTHWEST OF
LAS VEGAS. 

Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 65 reviewjournal.com: NRC: Nominee backs repository

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION:
                    
Apr. 28, 2006

Bush choice aided Nevada Initiative      

By STEVE TETREAULT <br/>STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- Dale Klein, a nuclear waste expert with a long 
history of support for Yucca Mountain, is in line to be appointed 
head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

White House officials announced on Thursday that President Bush 
intends to nominate Klein to a five-year term as chairman of the 
commission that regulates the nuclear industry and which will 
play a major role in judging the Nevada site for a nuclear waste 
repository. 

Klein, a longtime professor, associate dean and vice chancellor
at the University of Texas, currently works at the Pentagon as
assistant defense secretary for nuclear, chemical and biological
programs. 

But Nevada officials said they remember Klein from the early
1990s when he participated in the Nevada Initiative, an $8.7
million advertising campaign sponsored by the American Nuclear
Energy Council to build public support for the Yucca Mountain
project. 

"I certainly believe (Klein) is completely and totally biased
about Yucca Mountain," said Bob Loux, director of the Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects who participated in debates against
the engineering professor at the time. 

Industry officials justified the multi-pronged Nevada Initiative
as an effort to educate residents about nuclear waste and to
counter anti-nuclear spin as the government stepped up efforts
to characterize Yucca Mountain as a potential repository. 

But state leaders and repository critics blasted the campaign as
propaganda. Then-Sen. Richard Bryan, D-Nev., called it a
"declaration of war." 

Klein "was in ads about Yucca Mountain long before any of the
scientific information was in," Loux said. "He is entirely
biased and completely subservient to the nuclear industry." 

According to a November 1991 account in Nuclear Fuel, a
newsletter that covers the industry, Klein appeared in a Nevada
commercial in which he holds a simulated fuel pellet and
"stresses that spent fuel is a solid, not a gas or a liquid, and
that it does not leak (spill) or explode." 

Klein also was to be featured in newspaper ads listing a
toll-free number where Nevadans could call and ask questions,
Nuclear Fuel reported then. 

Earlier, Klein was on a presidential commission that studied the
need for an interim storage site where nuclear waste could be
packaged and consolidated until a repository was finished. 

Klein would replace outgoing commissioner Nils Diaz as chairman
of the five-member nuclear regulatory board. 

Klein's pending nomination was applauded by Frank "Skip" Bowman,
president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, who said Klein "has a
broad understanding of commercial nuclear technology and policy
issues that will suit him well as NRC chairman." 

But Loux suggested Klein be called on to recuse himself from
Yucca Mountain matters at the NRC, a position that some Nevada
lawmakers also were considering. 

Klein faces confirmation in the U.S. Senate, where Sen. Harry
Reid, D-Nev., customarily scrutinizes appointees who could
affect the Yucca project. Reid had no comment on Klein. 

After a struggle with the Bush administration and Senate
Republicans during which he held up dozens of Bush appointees,
Reid won confirmation of his science aide, Gregory Jaczko, to a
two-year term to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2004. 

As a condition, Jaczko was required to recuse himself for one
year from participating or commenting on NRC activities related
to Yucca Mountain. Jaczko's term expires this year, and Reid has
said he is seeking to have him reappointed. 

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., believes Klein should be held to a
similar recusal standard, spokesman David Cherry said. 

"If that was the condition the Republicans put upon that
nominee, then what is good for the goose is good for the gander.
The congresswoman would expect the nominees to be treated the
same way." 	   

Copyright � Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 66 Salt Lake Tribune: Company accused of targeting 2 officials 

Article Last Updated: 04/28/2006 03:32:49 AM MDT 

Tooele County: Pair say EnergySolutions had hand in election 

By Christopher Smart The Salt Lake Tribune 

Dennis Rockwell, The two commissioners lost in convention vote 

EnergySolutions - the company once known as Envirocare - wields 
a big stick in Tooele County, and two county commissioners say 
they have the scars to prove it. 

Commissioners Matthew Lawrence and Dennis Rockwell were 
ousted at the Republican County convention last week because, 
they say, they bucked EnergySolutions' Joyce Hogan and refused 
to demote community development director Nicole Cline. 

"Joyce Hogan told me you're going to have to make changes at 
the county or you are going down," Lawrence said. "She said 
Cline had to be taken out of her position, that she couldn't be 
the face of economic development in Tooele County, that she was 
an embarrassment." 

Cline, who has worked at Tooele County for 15 years, earlier 
underwent sex-change procedures to become a woman. 

+ Statements from EnergySolutions officials 

Hogan, EnergySolutions' Tooele County liaison and vice chair of 
the county's Republican Party, refused numerous requests for an 
interview, but denied the allegations in an e-mail. 

"In the recent Tooele County Republican Convention, I did 
not campaign against Commissioners Lawrence or Rockwell or any 
other candidate. Furthermore, I have never threatened any 
candidate to work toward their defeat in an election if they did 
not take my advice." 

Hogan said Lawrence asked her about Cline heading up the 
county's economic-development program. 

"I gave it as my opinion that it is the role of the County 
Commission to act as the voice of economic development in the 
county. My comments were about the role of the County 
Commission, not Ms. Cline, and in no way intended to disparage 
Ms. Cline." 

Nicole Cline, Tooele Co. community development chief 

EnergySolutions' vice president of public relations, Mark 
Walker, issued a one-sentence response to inquiries from The 
Salt Lake Tribune: "EnergySolutions would never presume to get 
into the internal operations of any governmental entity." 

Asked if the company denies the commissioners' allegations, 
Walker said: "The only statement EnergySolutions has is what I 
just gave you." 

Nonetheless, Rockwell said he had a conversation with Hogan 
six or seven months ago similar to the one described by his 
commission colleague. 

"Joyce Hogan said, 'If you want to continue on as county 
commissioner, you have to put Nicole in a backroom where she 
can't be seen,' " Rockwell said. 

But, like Lawrence, Rockwell said he wouldn't do it. 

"I would never threaten anyone's job or career without 
cause," Rockwell said. 

Cline said she was disappointed after learning of the 
allegations earlier this week. 

She maintains her department has made great strides and said 
she has no intention of stepping down. 

"I'm pretty tough to have done the things I've done," she 
said. "It's not going to bother me." 

Historically, Envirocare - and later EnergySolutions - has 
enjoyed a cozy relationship with Tooele County officials. The 
company pays 5 percent of its annual gross receipts to the 
county - an amount in excess of $5 million. And both Lawrence 
and Rockwell have been supporters of the radioactive- and 
hazardous-waste disposal company. 

But now, Lawrence fears, the company may have too much 
influence. 

"I don't have a problem 

Matthew Lawrence 

with political brokering," he said. "But I don't like the idea 
of a company buying a county." 

Lawrence lost to Jerry Hurst at the GOP county convention, 
and Rockwell was upended by Bruce Clegg. In addition, Doug 
Hogan, Joyce Hogan's son, upset incumbent Tooele County Attorney 
Douglas Ahlstrom and will run unopposed in November. 

With her EnergySolutions' credentials, Joyce Hogan packs a 
lot of clout in Tooele County, Lawrence said. But she went too 
far when she demanded action against a county employee, he 
added. 

"I wouldn't sell out a person who had a transgender 
operation," Lawrence said. "And now I'm not a candidate in the 
fall. That's pretty heavy-handed." 

But Tooele County GOP Chairman Greg Copeland said Lawrence 
and Rockwell simply are angry they lost. 

"I had several discussions with Ms. Hogan, and she said she 
had no contact with any delegates before or after the 
convention," he said. "I have surveyed about half of the 
delegates and, so far, they have said they felt no pressure to 
vote a certain way." 

csmart@sltrib.com 

© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 67 kutv.com: Hunstman, Hatch Rally Opposition To Waste Site
          
Apr 28, 2006 4:08 pm US/Mountain 

SALT LAKE CITY Gov. Jon Huntsman and Sen. Orrin Hatch on Friday
rallied public opposition to a proposed storage site for spent
nuclear fuel on the Goshute Indian reservation, urging Utah
residents to submit their comments to the U.S. Bureau of Land
Management before the May 8 deadline. 

Private Fuel Storage, a consortium of power utilities, wants to
store up to 44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel above ground on
the Skull Valley Goshute Indian Reservation, about 45 miles
southwest of Salt Lake City. 

``We have an opportunity to put the final nail in the coffin of
PFS,'' Huntsman told about 100 people at the State Capitol
Complex. 

Congress created a federal wilderness area near the proposed
storage site that opponents hope will block movement of nuclear
waste there by rail. Opponents are now focused on fighting plans
for a transfer station at the site, which could handle shipments
arriving by truck. 

So far, more than 10,000 people have weighed in during the BLM's
90-day comment period, officials said. Opponents would like to
see at least 110,000 comments before May 8, when the 90-day
period ends. Huntsman noted that about the same number of people
have already expressed their preference for one of three designs
for a state quarter. 

The state also launched an Internet campaign, with about 20 Web
sites promoting the letter-writing campaign against the PFS
plan. 

``The more we get, the better chance we have of getting the BLM
to back off,'' said Hatch, R-Utah. 

Hatch and Huntsman were joined at the ``No Way Day'' rally by
U.S. Reps. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, and Chris Cannon, R-Utah, state
and local leaders, business associations and environmental
groups. U.S. Sen. Robert Bennett and U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, both
Utah Republicans, were not at the event, but also oppose the
plan. 

Opponents contend it is too dangerous to transport nuclear waste
to the site, with rail lines and roads passing close to hundreds
of thousands of Utah residents. The site is also near a military
bombing range for jet fighters. 

``Storing high-level nuclear waste in an aboveground facility
next to a bombing range doesn't make sense, and it can't and
won't be a solution,'' Bishop said in statement. 

PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin also encouraged people to write the
BLM � in support of the project. She said the company spent
eight years crafting its application for the proposal, and that
the plans meet federal and state safety requirements. 

``We also encourage people to educate themselves and make sure
they're up to speed on both sides of the issue,'' Martin said. 

PFS won a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission earlier
this year to build the temporary storage facility. But the
license was granted just as several of the utilities that make
up PFS pulled out of the project. 

The facility is planned to be an interim storage site until the
federal government opens a national repository for nuclear waste
at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Political opposition, money
shortages and other problems have delayed the project, and
Energy Department managers now can't say when the site will
open. 

(� 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) 
	 
 [KUTV Skull Valley] 

� MMVI, KUTV Holdings Inc. All Rights Reserved. [ /] [ /] [ /] 
*****************************************************************
 68 KRNV.com: EPA conducting emergency clean up of contaminated Nevada mine

Channel 4 

  YERINGTON

The EPA is conducting an emergency clean up on more than 100
acres of contaminated land, at the Anaconda Mine.

The mine is located near Yerington in Lyon County.

It's a problem that will take two months or longer to fix and it
will cost taxpayers nearly a million dollars. 

Jim Sickles, Environmental Protection Agency, "It took Anaconda
a long time to put all of this rock on the surface, and it's
gonna take us a while to figure it out. But just based on the
sheer scale of it it's not going to be something that happens
quickly." 

The Anaconda Copper Mine has changed owners several times over
the years and in the changing, the EPA says environmental
hazards, some decades old, have been left unattended.

That's why it is handling an emergency clean up on the site.

Crews are covering acres of sulfide tailings with dirt and
gravel so that heavy metal clouds won't blow into the air.
They're also cleaning retention ponds.

The EPA is also assisting in an investigation into weather a
period of extracting uranium on the site could have anything to
do with unsafe levels of uranium in nearby residential water
wells.

It's an undertaking with multiple problems and multiple
solutions, and it's not going to be fixed overnight.   

All content � Copyright 2001 - 2006 WorldNow and KRNV. All
Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 69 News & Star: Sellafield a key site
             
Published on 28/04/2006
                                                        
The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management recommends 
underground bunkers being built to store the UK’s nuclear 
waste.
 
CoRWM won’t be drawn on where the bunkers might be sited.
 
But as 60 to 70 per cent of the waste is already stored at
Sellafield, it’s safe to assume it’s a key contender.
 
After all, Nirex fought for years in the Nineties to build a
rock lab at Sellafield to see whether an underground dump would
be safe.
 
Planning consent for the lab was turned down but the 9/ll terror
attacks rekindled concerns about nuclear waste storage and the
issue rose high up the government’s agenda.
 
If Sellafield, with its world class expertise, is identified as
a site for underground bunkers, it certainly deserves to reap
the benefits for which GMB union convener, Peter Kane, is
calling.
 
*****************************************************************
 70 News & Star: Call to bury nuclear waste underground

Published on 28/04/2006

By Mark Preskett
 
CUMBRIA’S mountain of nuclear waste should be buried deep 
underground, a government body has announced.
 
The Committee on Radioactive Waste Management (CoRWM) has 
recommended that underground bunkers be built to store all of the 
UK’s radioactive waste.
 
The announcement could pave the way for an underground storage 
facility being built in west Cumbria.
 
The CoRWM said possible sites should be identified with support 
from the local community.
 
If a bunker is built the waste would be buried at 300m-500m and 
sealed.
 
The government-appointed body has been examining for three years 
what should be done with 470,000 cubic metres of waste produced 
by reactors, experiments and military activities since the 1940s.
 
Most of the UK’s high-level waste is currently stored at 
Sellafield.
 
Peter Kane, Sellafield’s GMB union convener, said Sellafield 
was the natural choice for an underground store.
 
He said: “Between 60 and 70 per cent of Britain’s nuclear 
waste is stored here already and there would be issues if this 
was moved off the site.
 
“We would prefer an underground storage site where the waste is 
monitorable and retrievable rather than sealed away forever.
 
“The CoRWM envisages an permanent, sealed store – a proposal 
we would need to monitor closely.
 
“If west Cumbria is identified as a site for storage site we 
would ultimately be resolving an national issue and we would hope 
to see some major benefits to the local area.”
 
CoWRM said suitable facilities would take several decades to 
build and urged the Government to move as quickly as possible to 
implement its recommendations once they are finalised by the end 
of July.
 
Around one third of the land in the UK could be geologically 
suitable, including parts of the Sellafield site.
 
The CoRWM will deliver its final report to Defra in July.
 
A spokesman for the British Nuclear Group, which manages the 
Sellafield site, said: “The group maintains that it is 
important for the UK to secure a radioactive waste management 
policy that achieves public confidence.
 
“The company operates as a contractor to the Nuclear 
Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and as such we do not have a 
formal preference for a long-term waste management solution.”
 
*****************************************************************
 71 Pahrump Valley Times: Nye/Yucca audit 'glowing'; Hammermeister resigns 

April 28, 2006

By PHILLIP GOMEZ PVT 

 The home of Nye County's Nuclear Waste Repository Project Office 
on East Basin Avenue - ensuring the possible future of Nye County 
residents.

Yucca Mountain's host county has some healthful news apropos to
the week following the fourth annual Earth Day celebration in
Pahrump April 23. 

Nye County received a glowing report on the quality of its
quality assurance program - the county's own QA oversight of
potential after-effects that could be found in the earth's
groundwater surrounding the nuclear waste repository yet to be
built 20 miles east of Beatty. 

The county's program consists of an independent series of
groundwater studies and the collection of scientific data
regarding water flow pathways inside the earth. The studies,
serving as public health precautions, are to ensure the safe
long-term storage of 70,000 metric tons of highly radioactive
materials under Yucca Mountain. 

The county's facility, the nuclear waste repository project
office, is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy through
cooperative agreements with Nye County.

 Dale Hammermeister, who recently took over as director and who
is resigning May 5, according to Nye County Commissioner Joni
Eastley, reports that an in-depth audit of his office's quality
assurance program, conducted last month, turned up no conditions
adverse to the quality of its operations.

 "A periodic, rigorous audit," according to Hammermeister, is
one aspect of the QA program conducted by experts in the field.
Quality assurance in Nye County aims to assure the scientific
community and ultimately the public that nuclear radioactive
particles won't get into their water supply. 

The "quality" at stake refers to the reliability of the
hydro-geological data scientists amass about the area of
concern. 

Last month Nye County contractors performing an in-depth audit
could not find anything wrong with the way the project office
implemented its QA program across the range of activities,
mostly related to groundwater, that it regularly monitors.

 "The QA program is intended to ensure that scientific
activities are conducted in a systematic manner, using
documented instructions and procedures to ensure the validity,
integrity, preservation and reliability of the data generated,"
Hammermeister said in a news release.

 "We attribute this good report to the experience and
professionalism of our fine staff," said Hammermeister. "For our
studies to be accepted by the scientific community, they must be
performed to the highest professional standards."

 Nye County recently contracted with two such experts, Bill
Belke and Ken Hooks, both of whom previously worked as QA
officers for the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The NRC
is the federal agency with ultimate authority for deciding
whether to license the Yucca Mountain Repository - if and
whenever it gets its act together.

For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
Copyright � Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006 
*****************************************************************
 72 Rocky Mountain News: Board delays Flats decision
                                
Ex-workers at plant must wait to learn if illnesses covered

By Ann Imse, Rocky Mountain News

April 28, 2006

When Charley Wolf was an engineer running demolition of a 
plutonium building at Rocky Flats, he'd check on the work daily. 
Often, his radiation monitoring badge was somewhere else. 

"Now, I've got a big hole in my head," he told a federal
radiation board meeting in Denver on Thursday, while rubbing his
fingers against a scar where a tumor was cut out of his brain. 

But Wolf has been rejected in his attempt to get federal
compensation. Without the badge readings, he can't prove that
radiation at the defunct nuclear weapons plant caused his
cancer. 

Many workers say Rocky Flats radiation exposure records are
missing and wrong, so it's impossible to prove a connection
between their work and their illnesses. They argue they should
be allowed to join cancer patients from four other weapons
plants who have been grandfathered into the compensation program
because of a lack of records. 

After hearing other stories like Wolf's, the Advisory Board on
Radiation and Worker Health decided Thursday there are still too
many questions about whether Rocky Flats radiation records are
accurate and whether they should be used to deny compensation. 

So the board postponed until June its recommendation on whether
the denials should stand, or whether all Rocky Flats workers
with 22 specific cancers should be given $150,000 and medical
care. 

More than 1,100 former Rocky Flats workers with cancer have
applied for compensation. If the exemption from proof is
approved, first by the board and then by Secretary of Health and
Human Services Michael Leavitt, thousands more would be
eligible. 

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has
been plowing through workers' radiation exposure records and
extrapolating to fill in the gaps. That has infuriated workers,
who say many records are missing, erroneous or downright
falsified. NIOSH is filling in blanks on records with the
average dose of a large group of other workers. 

Jerry Hardin, who spent 35 years monitoring radiation at the
plant, said that won't work, however, because the radiation
hazard could be dramatically different just a short distance
apart within the same building. 

imsea@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5438 				 				 	 -->

| |     2006 � The E.W. Scripps Co.
*****************************************************************
 73 the news tribune : No way out of Hanford but through cleanup 

TheNewsTribune.com | Tacoma, WA
 
THE NEWS TRIBUNE

 Published: April 28th, 2006 01:00 AM 

The radioactive mess left behind by plutonium production at
Eastern Washingtons Hanford nuclear reservation has always been
an issue of statewide concern, but perhaps never more than now. 

Nearly half of the sites 149 single-shell underground tanks
have leaked, releasing 1 million gallons of a radioactive and
toxic witchs brew that has reached the water table. Now, its
just a matter of time  as few as 12 years  before some of the
faster-moving contaminants reach the Columbia River a few miles
away. 

That threat is lending a new sense of urgency to Gov. Christine
Gregoires longtime role as watchdog for Hanford cleanup. 

Gregoire was head of the state Department of Ecology when she
negotiated the agreement that governs the U.S. Department of
Energys obligation to clean up Hanford. Later, as attorney
general, she threatened to take the feds to court to enforce the
agreement. 

Now, as governor, shes using the weight of her office to insist
the federal government not walk away. Gregoire was in
Washington, D.C., this week to press federal lawmakers to pony
up the money needed to continue progress on Hanfords most
important project, the vitrification plant that will solidify
and stabilize tank wastes. 

Its not enough to just deal with the plume thats headed toward
the river; the federal government has to stop the contamination
at its source. The aging tanks are not leaking right now, but
its only a matter of time before they will be again. 

Hanford workers have been pumping the waste into double-shell
tanks, but they expect to run out of room by 2008. The permanent
solution  the vitrification plant  is not expected to come on
line until 2018 at the earliest. 

The project is taking far longer and costing far more to build
than originally projected, thanks in part to a revolving door of
energy secretaries (11 to be exact), Hanford contractors and
Department of Energy contracting approaches. 

Members of Congress are getting fed up  as they should be. But
they seem to think they can exact accountability by cutting
cleanup funding. Gregoire and the state congressional delegation
successfully staved off cuts last year, but convincing Congress
will become increasingly difficult as future funding needs grow
to cover the increased cost of the vitrification plant. 

The alternative  to place Washington further in peril  in no
alternative at all. Time is not on the states side; the federal
government should be.   

 1950 South State Street, Tacoma, Washington 98405 253-597-8742 
� Copyright 2006 Tacoma News, Inc. A subsidiary of The McClatchy
Company   
*****************************************************************
 74 Hanford News: Gregoire pushes for Hanford funding
 
This story was published Thursday, April 27th, 2006 

By Matthew Daly, Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Washington state Gov. Chris Gregoire has
visited the other Washington, seeking more money for cleanup of
the Hanford nuclear reservation. 

She met Wednesday with Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, members
of the Washington congressional delegation and House and Senate
leaders as she sought to boost funding for cleaning up the
nation's most-contaminated nuclear site. 

The Bush administration has proposed more than $1.8 billion for
Hanford cleanup in the budget year that begins Oct. 1, including
$690 million for a waste treatment plant that will dispose of
millions of gallons of radioactive waste. 

The latter figure is $200 million higher than current spending,
which was slashed after members of Congress and the
administration became concerned about skyrocketing costs and
construction delays at the treatment plant. 

A report by congressional investigators last month cited poor
management by the Energy Department, mistakes by a private
contractor and unanticipated technical challenges, among other
problems at the so-called vitrification plant. The $11 billion
plant is expected to convert millions of gallons of toxic and
radioactive waste, currently stored in 177 underground tanks, to
a stable glass form for permanent disposal. 

Gregoire, at a news conference Wednesday, called further delays
in the project unacceptable. 

"What we can't afford is another cut in the vit plant" budget,
she said. "Every one of these delays costs us time, money and
hurts the environment." 

The president's budget plan reduces the amount of money for tank
waste retrieval by about $52 million. Retrieving the toxic and
radioactive waste from the underground tanks is considered a
crucial project because many of the tanks have leaked into the
aquifer, threatening the Columbia River less than 10 miles away. 

"Cleaning up Hanford is not just a Washington state priority -
it's a national priority," said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. "Our
congressional delegation and our governor stand united on this
project, and that is the message we sent to Senate leadership
today. In a tough budget year, we made our case that cleaning up
Hanford must be a priority." 

Megan Barnett, a spokeswoman for Bodman, called the meeting with
Gregoire productive. 

"A key component of moving forward with the plant's design,
construction and operation is full funding of the president's
(budget) request, and they agreed this was necessary," Barnett
said. 

Bodman has called for independent reviews of the project's cost,
schedule and technical requirements, as well as continued
oversight, "so that we have a defensible plan for completion of
this project, which will safely and permanently treat and
dispose of Hanford's nuclear waste," Barnett said. 

Gregoire, Murray and Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., also met with
Senate leaders, including Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., chairman
of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Senate
Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada. 

Later, Gregoire and Reps. Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Doc Hastings,
R-Wash., met with Reps. David Hobson, R-Ohio, and Peter
Visclosky, D-Ind. Hobson chairs the House Appropriations energy
and water subcommittee, while Visclosky is senior Democrat. 

George Behan, Dicks' chief of staff, said Gregoire and
Washington members of Congress are all in agreement on Hanford. 

"What the governor wants to do - and certainly Norm thought it
was a good idea - was to take the opportunity to express how
important she believes that maintaining funding for the vit
plant will be, because she has a perspective that reaches all
the way back to the original Tri-Party Agreement" signed by
state and federal officials more than 15 years ago, Behan said. 

Gregoire, a former state attorney general and former head of the
Washington state Ecology Department, cited her long experience
with Hanford at each of her meetings. "I go back with this to
1989," she said. 

While Gregoire has threatened to sue the federal government
unless funding for the waste treatment plant was restored, she
said Wednesday she hopes to accomplish her goals without a
lawsuit. 

"I'm not a governor who believes in suing," she said. 

� 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 75 Hanford News: PNNL names associate lab chief
 
This story was published Thursday, April 27th, 2006 

By the Herald staff 

Doug Ray has been named associate laboratory director for the
Fundamental Science Directorate at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory, replacing Steve Colson, who is retiring. 

Ray will oversee more than 400 staff in research activities
valued at about $100 million annually, focused on advancing
fundamental understanding of complex systems across the
physical, chemical and biological sciences. 

The Fundamental Science Directorate does research for the
Department of Energy's Office of Science, the National
Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Defense and NASA, as well as private industry. 

Ray says he plans to continue the directorate's legacy of world
leadership in the areas of experimental and theoretical
interfacial chemistry, chemical analysis, environmental
microbiology, applied proteomics, climate physics and integrated
assessment. He also would like to expand into systems biology,
interfacial catalysis, self-assembled materials, carbon
management and aerosol science. 

Ray will continue as PNNL's chief research officer while a
search is conducted to find a replacement. 

From 2002 to 2005, Ray served as director of PNNL's chemical
sciences division where he helped establish the Institute for
Chemical Catalysis. Earlier, Ray was deputy associate laboratory
director for PNNL's Fundamental Science Directorate, and from
1998 to 2001 served as deputy director of the Environmental
Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a national scientific user
facility located at PNNL. 

He joined PNNL as a senior research scientist in 1990 after
working as a postdoctoral research associate at the Joint
Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics in Boulder, Colo. 

A laser spectroscopist, Ray earned a bachelor's degree in
physics from Kalamazoo College in Michigan in 1979 and a
doctorate in chemistry from the University of California,
Berkeley in 1985. 

PNNL has 4,100 employees, and an annual budget of more than $700
million. It has been managed by Ohio-based Battelle since the
lab's inception in 1965. 

� 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 76 Hanford News: Last liquid dump site cleaned up
 
This story was published Thursday, April 27th, 2006 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

Every few minutes Wednesday morning, a dump truck rumbled to the
edge of a former waste trench near Hanford's N Reactor and
dropped a mound of fill dirt and rock. 

It's one of the last steps in a 11-year cleanup project that
will substantially reduce the pollutants that could make their
way to the Columbia River from the Hanford nuclear reservation. 

Hanford workers have dug up the contaminated dirt in the last of
the 65 major waste sites - one stretching a mile over the desert
- where contaminated water was once released into the ground
along the river. 

Since 1995, crews have removed 5.6 million tons of contaminated
material from the sites. The only work that remains is to fill a
17-foot-deep hole, all that remains of the last contaminated
waste trench. 

"The Department of Energy deserves a pat on the back for the
work they've done along the river corridor to reduce risk to the
river," said Rod Lobos, a project director for the Environmental
Protection Agency, a Hanford regulator. 

Left in the ground, contaminants in the soil could be carried
deeper by moisture, entering the ground water and the Columbia
River. 

The pollution is the legacy of the reactors that lined the river
to produce plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program. 

When uranium fuel was irradiated in the reactors, water was
pumped from the river to cool their cores. The water,
contaminated with chemical and radioactive pollutants, was
returned to the river. 

When the first eight reactors were operating at full power,
about 500,000 gallons per minute were pumped through them and
piped back into the river after a cooling period for short-lived
radionuclides to decay. 

In later years, cribs and trenches were built to dispose of
water from the reactors and from fuel manufacturing. They were
designed to let the water percolate through the ground, allowing
some contaminants to be filtered out in the soil before the
effluent reached the ground water table. 

At the K East and K West Reactors, 1 billion gallons of water
were released from 1956 to 1972 into a trench stretching a mile
over the ground. 

Over the past three years, more than 1 million tons of
contaminated soil and materials were removed from that trench
and related retention basins. 

The clean soil required to fill in the site is equal in volume
to a building that would cover a football field and stand 37
stories high, according to Washington Closure Hanford, the DOE
contractor on the project. 

Removing the milelong trench for the K Reactors removed one of
the largest sources of chemical contamination near the river,
particularly for hexavalent chromium that moves easily through
the ground. 

Once used as a corrosion inhibitor in the reactors, it's a
potential threat to fish that spawn along the shores of the
Columbia River. 

"The key to protecting Hanford's ground water and the Columbia
River is cleaning up sources of contamination," Dick Wilde, a
vice president for DOE contractor Fluor Hanford, said in a
statement. "This is especially important near the old production
reactors, because they are close to the river." 

At N Reactor, the only reactor that never discharged reactor
effluent directly into the river, an estimated 10 billion
gallons of contaminated water were released into the ground
between 1963 and 1991. 

"Ten-thousand curies of contamination were removed from the N
trenches," said Scott Parnell, Washington Closure Hanford field
remediation manager. "That's 10,000 curies that will not make it
to the ground water." 

Hanford workers have finished removing contaminated dirt there
and are filling in the excavated site with dirt from a nearby
borrow pit. Contaminated material was taken to a landfill for
low-level radioactive waste in central Hanford for permanent
disposal. 

Work will continue through the end of the year to finish filling
in the last excavated trench, then shape the surface of the
ground into hilly mounds. 

But far more work remains to be done to clean the ground along
Hanford's river corridor. Some small liquid waste sites still
must be cleaned up, and old sites where solid waste was buried
must be dug up to meet current environmental standards. 

However, the solid waste burial sites present less of a risk to
ground water contamination than the trenches did, Parnell said. 

"This takes away a large risk that would be there for the
river," said Kevin Bazzell, DOE project director for the river
corridor. 

� 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 77 Hanford News: Gregoire makes case for vit plant
 
This story was published Thursday, April 27th, 2006 

By Les Blumenthal, Herald Washington, D.C., bureau 

WASHINGTON - Though she remains optimistic, Washington Gov.
Chris Gregoire received no commitments Wednesday from crucial
congressmen on the $690 million needed to move forward with
Hanford's troubled Waste Treatment Plant. 

"We cannot afford another cut in funding," Gregoire told
reporters after meeting with Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M.,
chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations
subcommittee. 

She also met with Rep. David Hobson, R-Ohio, chairman of the
House energy and water spending panel. 

Domenici and Hobson have been highly critical of the Hanford
cleanup program in general and specifically of the cost overruns
and schedule delays at the vitrification plant, called the Waste
Treatment Plant. 

Gregoire said the two are as frustrated as she is with the
problems at the vit plant, where highly radioactive waste from
Hanford's aging underground storage tanks will be processed into
glassified logs for permanent storage. 

Cost of the plant has nearly doubled in a year to $11.3 billion,
and it is not expected to begin operating until 2018. That's
more than seven years behind schedule. 

As Washington state attorney general, Gregoire signed the 1989
Tri-Party Agreement that governs Hanford cleanup. She has dealt
with three presidents and 11 energy secretaries on Hanford
issues, and the Tri-Party Agreement has been amended more than
400 times since it was negotiated. 

"No one is more frustrated than myself, but now is not the time
to walk away," Gregoire said. 

While Gregoire, as attorney general, threatened to sue the
federal government over delays in the cleanup and funding
shortfalls, she said now is not the time to renew such threats. 

"I'm not interested in suing as long as we are moving forward,"
she said. "That's why I am back here. Lawsuits are a last
resort." 

During her day in Washington, D.C., Gregoire also met with
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, who remains committed, she said,
to providing $690 million for the vit plant in the coming fiscal
year. 

Gregoire said Bodman indicated he would continue to increase
oversight of Hanford contractors and would implement the
recommendations of an independent panel, dubbed the "best and
the brightest," for resuming and completing work on the plant. 

As for future funding, Gregoire said Bodman and Domenici are
well aware that as the cost of the plant has grown, so will its
future funding needs go beyond $690 million per year. 

A Bodman spokeswoman, Megan Barnett, described the secretary's
meeting with Gregoire as "productive," and said the $690 million
requested for the plant for the next fiscal year is essential to
getting it back on track. 

Though Domenici offered no promises, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.,
said it was clear he understands the issues. 

� 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 78 cbs4denver.com: Rocky Flats Workers Encouraged By Panel Decision
 		 	 	 	 
Federal Panel To Take More Time To Consider Petition

(AP) DENVER With some Rocky Flats workers saying time is running
out for them, a federal panel decided on Thursday to take more
time to consider a petition that seeks compensation for
employees who became ill after working at the nuclear weapons
plant.

"The petition is still alive," said Tony DeMaiori, a former
president of the United Steelworkers of America, Local 8031.

About 10,000 people who worked at the former nuclear weapons
plant between Denver and Boulder want to be classified under a
program that makes workers at a Department of Energy site
immediately and automatically eligible for medical coverage and
compensation. Workers wouldn't have to file individual health
claims.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
recommended against the petition filed by Rocky Flats workers
more than a year ago. The agency said it's feasible to determine
in individual cases whether an employee's exposure to
radioactive materials can be tied to an illness.

The union counters that the records can't adequately establish
those connections.

An advisory board appointed by President Bush made its decision
to more time after a consultant raised questions about the data.

During a public hearing Wednesday, former employees and their
families told the panel that time is running out for many of
them. One of the employees was George Barrie, a former machinist
who has a precancerous stomach condition.

"I'm dying," Barrie said. "You guys have got to get this
straightened out."

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., urged Health and Human Services
Secretary Michael Leavitt in a recent letter to do everything
possible to ensure the Rocky Flats petition is reviewed fairly
and a decision made soon.

"I am proud of the service of the men and women who worked at
Rocky Flats," Allard said. "Many had jobs that brought them into
contact with some of the most dangerous substances known to man.
They deserve fair and just compensation."

DeMaiori said Allard, Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and Reps. Mark
Udall, a Democrat, and Bob Beauprez, a Republican, have all
lobbied for the employees and sent representatives to the
advisory board's meeting that started Tuesday.

In 2002, Congress approved the Energy Employees Occupational
Illness Compensation Program Act to expedite financial and
medical benefits for the country's Cold War-era veterans.

Rocky Flats made plutonium triggers for nuclear warheads until
1992, when it was shut down because of safety concerns.

The $7 billion cleanup of the 6,420-acre site was declared
complete last fall. Energy Department officials have said the
site is ready for conversion to a national wildlife refuge,
expected by 2008. 

(� 2006 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material
may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.) 
	 
 
"I am proud of the service of the men and women who worked at
Rocky Flats." [ height=] 

Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. 

  + CBS Television Stations Digital Media
� MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. [ /] [ /] [
/] 
    
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