***************************************************************** 05/28/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.126 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 New York Times: Iraqi Minister Backs Iran on Nuclear Research - 2 [NYTr] Iran, History and Preventive War 3 Ron Paul: Avoiding War With Iran 4 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Opposes Use of Force Against Iran 5 IRNA: Ahmadinejad: Iran firm on pursuing its rights to nuclear ener 6 New York Times: U.S. Is Debating Talks With Iran on Nuclear Issue - 7 New York Times: Iran Chief Eclipses Power of Clerics - 8 IRNA: World Bank to continue cooperation with Iran - WB official 9 AFP: Chinese FM discusses Iran nuclear crisis with Rice 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: US, main loser of regional tension 11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Musharraf supports IRI nuclear right 12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI, Syria sign commercial agreement 13 AFP: Top Russian officials hold nuclear talks in Iran 14 AFP: Iran leader rules out nuclear climbdown 15 AFP: Oman shows solidarity with Iran in nuclear standoff - analysts 16 AFP: Russian envoy to visit Iran for nuclear talks 17 AFP: Russian envoy to visit Iran for nuclear talks 18 AFP: Iran, Russia agree to continue nuclear talks 19 AFP: Bush administration debates direct talks with Iran - report - 20 AFP: Iran dismisses Afghan role in nuclear mediation 21 Korea Herald: Korea promotes exports of new modular reactor 22 IPS-English POLITICS: India, US Tighten Nuclear Handshake 23 US: BCSE: Push for a Texas based nuclear research institute 24 US: Spectrum: Divine Strake meeting to be held 25 US: Deseret News: U.S. puts big blast in Nevada on hold 26 US: Guardian Unlimited: Senate Confirms Hayden As CIA Director 27 US: WorldNetDaily: The best Congress money can buy 28 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada blast plan implodes 29 Guardian Unlimited: Comment is free | The iceberg cometh NUCLEAR REACTORS 30 US: [NukeNet] SUNDAY--NPR'S MORNING EDITION -- Nuclear Relapse 31 Independent: Concern over Labour cash gifts from nuclear industry 32 NEWS.com.au: Labor demands nuclear details - 33 Guardian Unlimited: Blair adviser calls for more nuclear power 34 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear policy old and dangerous - Labor - 35 Sydney Morning Herald: PM told to name nuclear reactor sites 36 Sydney Morning Herald: Labor asks govt to reveal nuclear sites 37 Sydney Morning Herald: N-power plant would cost $400m to insure - 38 AU: The Age: Nuclear risk cost 'falls to taxpayers' - 39 AU The Age: Sharing the vision for a nuclear future - 40 US: Herald News: Report faults Exelon's handling of leaks 41 Sunday Herald: Short clean-up contracts prompt safety warning - 42 Green Left Weekly: Climate change: Nuclear is no solution! 43 AU: Green Left Weekly: Our Common Cause: For a nuclear-free future! 44 US: reviewjournal.com: Energy, NRC nominees confirmed 45 US: reviewjournal.com: Reid secures deal for Kempthorne approval 46 US: toledoblade.com: Fermi II nuke plant to be back online next week 47 US: Boston Globe: Pilgrim workers launch search for two lost radioac 48 US: BlueOregon: Clean nuclear power? Same ol' song and dance. 49 Comment is free: Creating a climate for change 50 US: JS Online: Nuclear plant alert cleared by agency 51 Scotsman.com: UK - Call for new nuclear plants to create 30% of UK's 52 US: Burlington Free Press: My Turn: Making policy on Vermont Yankee NUCLEAR SECURITY NUCLEAR SAFETY 53 US: Brattleboro Reformer: How safe is safe? 54 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Test explosion in Nevada put on indefinite ho 55 US: Spectrum: Sunday protest still on 56 US: Spectrum: Bomb test delayed indefinitely 57 US: reviewjournal.com: Downwinders petition to stop detonation 58 US: Daily Herald: Mushroom cloud blast in Nevada delayed NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 59 US: CBC: Fernald completes removal of radioactive waste - 60 US: TheKansasCityChannel.com: Radioactive Waste Shipment Crosses Mis 61 US: Arizona Republic: Power surge 62 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast legal team puts relocation talks on 63 US: The State: Future uncertain for SRS MOX plant 64 US: Charlotte Observer: Plutonium-conversion project funds uncertain 65 Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun wonders why the Review-Journal's 66 reviewjournal.com: EDITORIAL: Yucca Mountain Johnny 67 Pahrump Valley Times: Working on the railroad 68 Sunday Business Post: Ireland set to lose in Sellafield decision 69 US: Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Ash cleanup: BWX should pay - 70 Pahrump Valley Times: Boosters plan yucca strategy PEACE 71 US: Las Vegas SUN: About 70 anti-nuclear activists arrested outside US DEPT. OF ENERGY 72 Tri-City Herald: Highly contaminated plutonium incinerator coming do 73 WKYT 27: Cleanup, demolition slow for K-25 in Oak Ridge 74 Hanford News: Hanford tours fill up in 15 minutes 75 Hanford News: U.S. House passes Hanford budget ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 New York Times: Iraqi Minister Backs Iran on Nuclear Research - By RICHARD A. OPPELJr. and JOHN O'NEIL Published: May 26, 2006 BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 26 — Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari of Iraq today endorsed the right of Iranto pursue the "technological and scientific capabilities" needed to create nuclear power for peaceful purposes, in the first high-level meeting between officials from the new Iraqi government and its eastern neighbor. Skip to next paragraph

The Reach of War

Go to Complete Coverage But Mr. Zebari's statement, made at a news conference after a meeting with the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, appeared deliberately ambiguous and reflected the complex position of Iraq between the United States, which wants Iran to abandon efforts to enrich uranium, and Iran, which says it needs enrichment to create fuel for nuclear reactors. The meetings in Baghdad were the first opportunity for the new government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq to tackle what is sure to be one of the most divisive issues facing his government: the relationship and influence that Iran wields in Iraq, which was a bitter enemy of Iran when Saddam Husseinwas in power but whose new government contains many Shiite leaders who want close ties to Tehran. While Mr. Maliki and nearly half of the Iraqi national parliament are members of the dominant Shiite political coalition, Sunni Arabs, Kurds and secular Shias account for about half of the cabinet appointments in Mr. Maliki's administration. To varying degrees, many of them are wary of the extent of the influence that Iran will exert as Iraq struggles to defeat a resilient Sunni insurgency, marginalize powerful Shiite militias, and find a way to pay for its reconstruction and security programs as United States funding is curtailed. In his statement about Iran's nuclear plans, Mr. Zebari appeared to lend support to Iran as it faces enormous pressure to sharply curb its nuclear ambitions from the United States and Europe. While emphasizing that Iraq does not want any of its neighbors to obtain nuclear weapons, Mr. Zebari said Iran should enjoy the right to "possess the scientific and technological capabilities for research" in the field of nuclear power. In the context of the debate over Iran's nuclear plans, such language normally implies uranium enrichment, which Iran has long said it needs to create nuclear fuel. But Mr. Zebari's statement avoided any specific reference to enrichment, and a high-ranking aide later cautioned that Mr. Zebari was in no way endorsing or taking a position on uranium enrichment. "We're not referring to this at all," Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi said in an interview. "This is a sensitive issue and it's not for us to say." "It's all up to the Iranian government and the atomic energy agency," he said, a reference to the I.A.E.A. For his part, Mr. Mottaki used the appearance with Mr. Zebari to rule out talks with United States officials over the future of Iraq and warn American officials about any aggression toward his country. While Iran decided to have direct talks with the United States about the future of Iraq, "Unfortunately, the Americans tries to use this decision as propaganda and raised some other issues," Mr. Mottaki said. "They tried to create a negative atmosphere." He did not elaborate on what he believed the propaganda or "other issues" were.The United States and Europe have insisted that Iran give up its program of nuclear research. Iran says the program is meant only to give it the ability to generate nuclear energy and denies it is seeking weapons. President Bush, speaking Thursday night at a news conference with Prime Minister Tony Blair, said that Iran's dropping its research would be a precondition for a new package of incentives being prepared by European countries. "If they would like to see an enhanced package, the first thing they've got to do is suspend their operations, for the good of the world," Mr. Bush said. Mr. Zebari said today that he and Mr. Mottaki had discussed security arrangements between their two countries. "We want to activate those mechanisms to overcome any interference or infringement, let's say of our sovereignty," he said. The United States has accused Iran of fomenting violence and instability by sending weapons and fighters into Iraq. On Thursday, according to Reuters, Mr. Maliki, in an interview with Arab television, accused organizations and charitable groups based in neighboring countries of funding armed groups within Iraq. Mr. Maliki's Dawa party was long based in Iran during its years of struggle against the regime of Saddam Hussein. But the leaders of the other main Shiite party, the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution, are considered even closer to the government in Tehran, which helped fund and train its militia, the Badr Brigade. Meanwhile today, eight people died and another 33 were wounded by a bomb placed under a car in a bus service garage in central Baghdad, the Interior Ministry said. Reuters also reported that the Interior Ministry announced today that the coach of the national tennis team and two of his players had been shot to death on Tuesday as they drove through Baghdad. Richard A. Oppel Jr. reported from Baghdad for this article and John O'Neil from New York. NYTimes.com Copyright 2006The New York Times Company ***************************************************************** 2 [NYTr] Iran, History and Preventive War Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 15:16:44 -0400 (EDT) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit CounterPunch - May 27-29, 2006 http://www.counterpunch.org/smith05272006.html Freezing History Iran and the Uses of "Preventive" War By Col. DAN SMITH "For the cause of all wars and revolutions--in a word, of all violence--is always the same: the negation of hierarchy." -Meditations on the Tarot (Anonymous) History, it has been said, is what the winning side--the strongest, the most nimble, the most devious, and on occasion the most enlightened--remembers and records for posterity. But in the 21st century, there is a conscious and calculated undercurrent--manifested in the use of military power in preventive war--that seeks to freeze the future by forcing the present to conform to an unchanging hierarchy of power among nation-states. (This of course, assumes that the "record" survives; particularly when history was primarily oral, emendations and omissions would not be rare. And even when histories were written, manuscripts could disintegrate or be destroyed in subsequent natural or man-made catastrophes.) There are competing views of history--e.g., that great men (and women) are the catalysts for history and shape it, or that the unfolding of events calls forth the women and men with the talents, energy, and drive to seize the moment. This latter, it seems, is where the world is today, at least as seen by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and U.S. President George Bush. After months of verbal jabs at the U.S., the UN, and others trying to find a way out of the impasse over Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad sent Bush an 18-page letter that, as a cartographer might say, was "one over the world." Perhaps not willing to study such a wide-ranging tome, the White House dismissed the letter as philosophical and irrelevant. Reportedly, among other subjects, the Iranian president pointed to what he saw as a chasm between Bush's professed Christian values, his actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, and his threats against Iran. The problem, as the administration sees it, has nothing to do with spiritual values and everything to do with nuclear values--who is trustworthy enough to join the select club of countries permitted to operate the nuclear fuel cycle. Washington says that Tehran's 18-year history of concealing its nuclear research program makes it untrustworthy to operate domestically the nuclear fuel cycle. Thus Bush's efforts at the UN to write or at least influence history. The first attempt by the U.S. to get a UN Security Council resolution sanctioning Iran for re-starting its uranium enrichment program stalled in early May when both China and Russia declined to endorse a condemnation under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter. Over the subsequent two weeks, the European Union -3 (Britain, France, and Germany) have been putting together a new packet of "carrots and sticks" to entice Iran to reconsider its defiance and accept control of the fuel rods (supply, insertion, extraction, return to Russia) necessary to run its Russian-built reactor. The U.S. is backing the EU-3's efforts largely because it has no military option to employ--which the Iranians know. Nonetheless, the U.S. "all options are on the table" rhetoric survives and even thrives--including preventive war. And considering the lead-in to the Iraq war, this cannot be ignored as a possibility if Iran does not change its course. For Iran's part, their very latest letter is an offer--which when made by the U.S. to Tehran earlier was rejected--to sit down for one-on-one discussions. Given the quality of the challenges made and the responses elicited, it appears that neither president did very much to actually unravel the Iranian nuclear conundrum. Another way to consider how history is made acknowledges the unfolding of natural forces and rhythms which form the backdrop for the movements and activities of animals and humans--or in some cases their lack of activity. This latter aspect is not trivial. Inaction is a shaper of history as much as action is, for each constitutes a choice, and the future is charted--or perhaps distorted -- through the myriad choices made or perhaps simply accepted. And because we live in a single, still unfolding universe, we cannot achieve an Archimedean point from which to look at our universe and see how great any one distortion might be. At one time, war was considered one of the great rhythms of life. Even a cursory look at the history passed down through the generations reveals that the causes of war are legion and could be aggressive or defensive. From time to time, the so-called" Great Captains" would emerge, men who seemed at home on the battlefield making the history that others would record. But war is not simply a rhythm. War is a choice. Most particularly, preventive war is a distorted choice, for it comes not in the face of a plausible and imminent threat but because a ruler comes to believe, based on present day actions or inaction, that at some indeterminate time in the future, another country or group will pose a threat of great magnitude to that ruler's successors and to their country. This was the Bush administration's calculus for Iraq in 2002-2003. Glimpses of the same calculus can be seen with respect to Iran. Before the White House orders the Pentagon to do a detailed update ("operationalize") of its war plan for Iran, Congress needs to reassert its constitutional power by putting the administration on notice that "war (against Iran) is not the answer." Instead, in trying to induce Iran to abide by UN decisions and guarantees, Congress should lay down a marker stating that U.S. policy is to engage Iran bilaterally, through the UN, and in other multilateral fora, to develop and implement procedures for safeguarding fissile materials, while permitting Iran to develop peaceful nuclear energy programs in accordance with the provisions of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Among the myriad possible combinations of today's events, personalities, and choices, one will eventually emerge to form a yesterday in human history. The conundrum confronting the international community is to anticipate which among the myriad possible combinations of today's events, personalities, and choices will eventually emerge to form a yesterday in human history. The options available are largely known on the macro scale, but their interaction is largely unpredictable. Hence strong efforts are needed to circumscribe the unpredictable elements to diminish ensuing disruption, distortion, and destruction. This is the philosophical and pragmatic failing of preventive war. At first glance it appears to short circuit a future potentially more distorted by "correcting" it before the cost can grow exponentially. But the instigator of preventive war assumes, consciously or unconsciously, that future intentions and actions can be predicted based on an extrapolation of the past into the context of today's status quo. Preventive war purports to freeze history, thereby contradicting the fundamental law that the only universal constant is change. Even in Iran. [Col. Daniel Smith, a retired colonel and Vietnam veteran, is a West Point graduate and a grad against the war. ] * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 3 Ron Paul: Avoiding War With Iran Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 14:52:10 -0500 (CDT) Avoiding War With Iran by Rep. Ron Paul In recent weeks, the Bush administration has stated its willingness to use diplomacy in dealing with Iran, which is a welcome change from previous policy. Let's hope it's more than just a change in tone. With ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan costing more than $5 billion per week, record levels of federal spending and debt, and oil hovering around $70 per barrel, American taxpayers certainly cannot afford another war. Iran, like Iraq, is a major source of global oil. For all our posturing, the truth is that worldwide crude prices would spike rapidly if we attacked Iran. With summer coming, demand will increase and gas prices at the pump will be over $3 for most of the nation. Airlines are raising ticket prices to compensate for jet fuel prices that have nearly doubled in a year. A strike on Iran in coming months would create serious trouble for an American economy that is already struggling with high energy prices. It's time for a foreign policy based on reality, a foreign policy that serves the interests of ordinary Americans. The reality is that we will continue to use oil as a major source of energy in this country for the foreseeable future, and therefore the health of our economy will be affected by the price of oil. Like it or not, some of that oil will continue to come from the Middle East even if we get serious about tapping domestic sources. The U.S. has not used diplomacy with Iran for nearly 26 years, since the hostage crisis of the Carter era. But this "no negotiation" stance hasn't worked: Iran's defiant behavior continues, and its uranium enrichment program has not been dismantled. Is Iran a nuclear threat? Not according to our own CIA, which says Iran is years away from developing nuclear weapons. This is not to say we should sit back as nuclear weapons proliferate in the Middle East. But we shouldn't allow war hawks to wildly overstate the threat posed by Iran, as they did with Iraq. Since 2001, we have spent over $300 billion occupying Afghanistan and Iraq. We're poorer but certainly not safer for it. We removed the Taliban from power in Afghanistan much to the delight of the Iranians, who consider the Taliban an archenemy. Warlords now control the country, operating a larger drug trade than ever before. Similarly in Iraq, our ouster of Saddam Hussein will allow the majority Shia to claim the leadership title if Iraq's election actually leads to an organized government. This delights the Iranians, who are close allies of the Iraqi Shia. Talk about unintended consequences! This war has produced chaos, civil war, death and destruction, and huge financial costs. It has eliminated two of Iran's worst enemies, and placed power in Iraq with Iran's best friends. Even this apparent failure of policy does nothing to restrain the current march toward a similar confrontation with Iran. What will it take for us to learn from our failures? Government power in Iran is divided, and President Ahmadinejad the man responsible for hateful comments about Israel does not control their nuclear policy. We should ignore him as a pariah, and deal instead with Ali Larijani, head of Iran's National Security Council, who has made several reasonable statements about the U.S. and shows a desire to have direct diplomatic talks. Discussions with Iran are not appeasement. On the contrary, dialogue is needed to explain clearly that America's objectives of nonproliferation and peace in the Middle East will not be compromised. Twenty-five years of isolating Iran has moved us farther from, not closer to, achieving those objectives. Find this article at: http://www.antiwar.com/paul/index.php ***************************************************************** 4 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Opposes Use of Force Against Iran From the Associated Press [UP] Sunday May 28, 2006 10:31 PM AP Photo XHS104 By ALI AKBAR DAREINI Associated Press Writer TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Russia's security council chief said Sunday the Kremlin opposes the use of force against Iran over the country's nuclear program, state television reported. Igor Ivanov was in the Iranian capital ahead of Wednesday's meeting in London of foreign ministers from six world powers who are trying to agree on a package of incentives to get Iran to stop enriching uranium. ``Unlike the U.S., Russia believes Iran's nuclear program needs to be resolved only through dialogue. Any use of force will further complicate the issue and will cause tension in the region,'' Ivanov was quoted by state television as saying during a meeting with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, meanwhile, discussed Iran's nuclear standoff with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice by telephone, the Russian Foreign Ministry said. In Germany, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned that European countries risked losing influence in the Middle East by lining up with the United States against Iran's nuclear program. In an interview Sunday in Der Spiegel, Ahmadinejad claimed that European governments know Iran's nuclear activities are peaceful. ``The Europeans are in the process of losing entirely their role in the Middle East, and in other regions of the world they are losing their reputation,'' he was quoted as saying. Nations meeting in London on the Iranian incentives include the five permanent Security Council members - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - plus Germany. Russia and China have opposed calls by the United States, Britain and France for a resolution that would threaten sanctions and be enforceable by military action if Iran does not give up enriching uranium. The U.S. and some of its allies accuse Tehran of using its civilian nuclear program as a cover to produce nuclear weapons. Tehran has denied this, saying its nuclear program is merely to generate electricity. Iran has said it will not give up its right to enrich uranium and produce nuclear fuel. But Iran's ambassador to the U.N., Javad Zarif, was quoted by local media Sunday as saying that Tehran could limit its enrichment as a way to resolve the crisis. Also Sunday, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, declared the United States would fail to provoke ethnic strife in Iran after several days of protests in the Azeri region over a cartoon deemed insulting to the country's largest minority. ``Trying to provoke ethnic and religious unrest is the last desperate shot by enemies,'' said Khamenei in a televised speech. Ahmadinejad has accused the United States of seeking to provoke ethnic tensions in Iran but offered no evidence to support the charge. The upheaval in northwestern Iran, which included more protests Sunday, was provoked by a cartoon in a government newspaper that showed a cockroach speaking Azeri. The government closed the newspaper on Wednesday and detained its chief editor and cartoonist. Azeris, a Turkic ethnic group, make up about a quarter of Iran's 70 million people. --- Associated Press Writer Nasser Karimi contributed to this report from Tehran. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 5 IRNA: Ahmadinejad: Iran firm on pursuing its rights to nuclear energy Tehran, May 27, IRNA Iran-President-Nuclear President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a meeting with the new Sri Lankan ambassador to Tehran, Muhammad Zuhair, here Saturday said that Iran is determined to pursue its rights to access nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. At the meeting, in which the Sri Lankan ambassador submitted his credentials to the president, Ahmadinejad said that Iran's approach to its nuclear issue is quite legal and within the framework of NPT. Stressing that Iran is a proponent of peace and tranquility as well as friendship and brotherliness among all countries, the chief executive said that all world states should consider justice as a criteria for developing relations. President Ahmadinejad added that certainly once justice is established, all problems will be solved. Turning to the friendly bilateral ties and its growing trend, he said, "Fortunately, both countries are determined to expand ties in various levels. I hope that given the history of the two nations' culture and civilization, the numerous existing capacities will be used to broaden cultural exchanges." Pointing to the fact that the economic exchanges between Iran and Sri Lanka are not so satisfactory as their political ties and that economic transactions between the two countries have been limited to exchange of petroleum and tea, he called for expansion of such exchanges in all fields. For his part, Zuhair said that Sri Lanka supports Iran's intention to gain its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purpose and declared his country's will for solving the current tensions on Iran's issue through talks. The Sri Lankan diplomat underlined Iran's key role in the Middle East and said, "Despite the growing trend of bilateral ties, there are still grounds for further expansion of such relations." According to a report released by the Media Department of the Presidential Office, Zuhair appreciated Iran's support for his country in various domains, in particular on safeguarding Sri Lanka's territorial integrity. ***************************************************************** 6 New York Times: U.S. Is Debating Talks With Iran on Nuclear Issue - By Published: May 27, 2006 WASHINGTON, May 26 — The Bush administration is beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding policy taboo and open direct talks with , to help avert a crisis over Tehran's suspected nuclear weapons program, European officials and Americans close to the administration said Friday. European officials who have been in contact with the administration in recent weeks said the discussion was heating up, as Secretary of State worked with European foreign ministers to persuade Iran to suspend its efforts to enrich uranium. European leaders make no secret of their desire for the to join in the talks with Iran, if only to show that the Americans have gone the extra mile to avoid a confrontation that could spiral into a fight over sanctions or even military action. But since the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages in November that year, the United States has avoided direct talks with Iran. There were sporadic contacts during the war in Afghanistan, in the early stages of the Iraq war and in the days after the earthquake in Bam, Iran, at the end of 2003. European officials say Ms. Rice has begun discussing the issue with top aides at the State Department. Her belief, they say, is that ultimately the matter will have to be addressed by the administration's national security officials, whether talks with Iran remain at an impasse or even if there is some progress. But others who know her well say she is resisting on the ground that signaling a willingness to talk would show weakness and disrupt the delicate negotiations with Europe. Ms. Rice is also said to fear that the administration might end up making too many concessions to Iran. Administration officials said President Bush, Vice President and Defense Secretary have opposed direct talks, even through informal back channels. As a result, many European officials say they doubt that a decision to talk is likely soon. The prospect of direct talks between the United States and Iran is so politically delicate within the Bush administration that the officials who described the emerging debate would discuss it only after being granted anonymity. Those officials included representatives of several European countries, as well as Americans who said they had discussed the issue recently with people inside the Bush administration. Some of the officials made clear that they favored direct talks between the United States and Iran. State Department officials refused to talk about the issue, even anonymously. But over the last week, administration spokesmen have been careful not to rule out talks. Discussion about possible American contacts with Iran has been fueled not simply by the Europeans, but by a growing chorus of outsiders with ties to the administration who have spoken out in favor of talks. Former Secretary of State , in a recent column in The Washington Post, raised the possibility that the recent rambling letter from President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to President Bush — dismissed by Ms. Rice as an offensive tirade— could be seen as an opportunity to open contacts. Both Richard N. Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations and a former top aide to Secretary of State , and , the former deputy secretary of state under Mr. Powell, have also advocated talks with Iran. "Diplomacy is much more than just talking to your friends," Mr. Armitage said in a telephone interview. "You've got to talk to people who aren't our friends, and even people you dislike. Some people in the administration think that diplomacy is a sign of weakness. In fact, it can show that you're strong." Mr. Armitage held the last high-level discussions with Iran, after the Bam earthquake. In November 2004, Mr. Powell sat next to the Iranian foreign minister at a dinner during a conference in Egypt on Iraq, but he said they engaged only in small talk. The United States has stayed out of the talks with Iran, which began in late 2004 and got new life last summer when, with American endorsement, the Europeans offered to help Iran integrate politically and economically with the West if it ended its nuclear ambitions. Also on the table were unspecified security guarantees suggesting that Iran would not have to worry about outside efforts to topple the government. The Europeans are now working with the United States, Russia and China on a revised package of economic, political and nuclear energy incentives if Iran ended its nuclear enrichment activities. Also being sought, at least by the Europeans and the United States, is an agreement to take Iran to the Security Council if it continues to defy the demands for compliance on nuclear issues. European officials say the discussions about possible American-Iranian contacts are not part of these talks, but would be a way to improve the atmosphere with Iran. Among the European diplomats who have urged Ms. Rice to consider direct contacts with Iran are Germany's foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and the foreign policy chief, . The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, raised the issue with President Bush when she visited Washington earlier this year. "What's interesting about Rice is that she listens when you make your case," a European official said. Another European diplomat said, "It's a European aspiration for talks to happen," but added, "Nothing is likely at the moment." Still another European diplomat said of the Americans that "everyone and their brother has been telling them to do it." One reason senior administration officials do not like the idea of talking with Iran, many of them say, is that they are not certain Iranian leaders would respond positively. A rebuff from Iran, even to a back-channel query, is to be avoided at all costs, various officials agree. The administration, for example, has been embarrassed by the on-again, off-again possibility of talks with Iran on Iraq, which were authorized by Ms. Rice late last year. The concern, some say, is that talking to Iran only about Iraq will anger Sunni dissidents in Iraq, reinforcing the Sunni-led insurgency while enhancing the status of Iraqi Shiites, whose strong ties to Iran make Washington uneasy. On the other hand, the American ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, was said to be eager to enlist Iran in helping to deal with Iranian-backed Shiite militias, which are accused of carrying out killings and kidnappings of Sunnis in Iraq. Some Europeans favor American participation in the European-Iranian talks, at least down the road. Others raise the possibility of informal contacts through nongovernmental organizations or policy institutes. Incentives and possible sanctions against Iran are to be the focus of negotiations between the United States and the European nations in coming days and weeks. The United States is resisting the Europeans' desire to increase economic incentives for Iran, because that would involve a lifting of American sanctions on European businesses that helped Iran. At the same time, Russia and China are resisting the idea of seeking a new resolution at the United Nations Security Council that could be seen as clearing the way for sanctions or possible military action against Iran. David E. Sanger contributed reporting for this article. More NYTimes.com ***************************************************************** 7 New York Times: Iran Chief Eclipses Power of Clerics - By MICHAEL SLACKMAN Published: May 28, 2006 TEHRAN, May 27 — President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is trying to consolidate power in the office of the presidency in a way never before seen in the 27-year history of the Islamic Republic, apparently with the tacit approval of Iran'ssupreme leader, according to government officials and political analysts here. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge this Image [ border=] Reuters President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has become the voice of Iran's conservative government. Readers Opinions Forum: The Middle East Behrouz Mehri/Agence France-Presse--Getty Images President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, left, has overshadowed chief cleric Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. That rare unity of elected and religious leadership at the highest levels offers the United States an opportunity to talk to a government, however combative, that has often spoken with multiple voices. But if Washington, which severed relations with Iran after the 1979 revolution, opened such a dialogue, it could lift the prestige of the Iranian president, who has pushed toward confrontation with the West. Political analysts and people close to the government here say Mr. Ahmadinejad and his allies are trying to buttress a system of conservative clerical rule that has lost credibility with the public. Their strategy hinges on trying to win concessions from the West on Iran's nuclear program and opening direct, high-level talks with the United States, while easing social restrictions, cracking down on political dissent and building a new political class from outside the clergy. Mr. Ahmadinejad is pressing far beyond the boundaries set by other presidents. For the first time since the revolution, a president has overshadowed the nation's chief cleric, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on both domestic and international affairs. He has evicted the former president, Mohammad Khatami, from his offices, taken control of a crucial research organization away from another former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, challenged high-ranking clerics on the treatment of women and forced prominent academics out of the university system. "Parliament and government should fight against wealthy officials," Mr. Ahmadinejad said in a speech before Parliament on Saturday that again appeared aimed at upending pillars of the status quo. "Wealthy people should not have influence over senior officials because of their wealth. They should not impose their demands on the needs of the poor people." In this theocratic system, where appointed religious leaders hold ultimate power, the presidency is a relatively weak position. In the multiple layers of power that obscure the governance of Iran, no one knows for certain where the ultimate decisions are being made. But many of those watching in near disbelief at the speed and aggression with which the president is seeking to accumulate power assume that he is operating with the full support of Ayatollah Khamenei. "Usually the supreme leader would be the front-runner in all internal and external issues," said Hamidreza Taraghi, the political director of the strongly conservative Islamic Coalition Party. "Here we have the president out front on all these issues, and the supreme leader is supporting him." Mr. Ahmadinejad is pursuing a risky strategy that could offer him a shot at long-term influence over the direction of the country — or ruin. He appears motivated at least in part by a recognition that relying on clerics to serve as the public face of the government has undermined the credibility of both, analysts here said. The changing nature of Iran's domestic political landscape has potentially far-reaching implications for the United States. While Iran has adopted a confrontational approach toward the West, it has also signaled — however clumsily — a desire to mend relations. Though the content of Mr. Ahmadinejad's letter to President Bush was widely mocked here and in Washington for its religious focus and preachy tone, it played well to Iran's most conservative religious leaders. Analysts here said it represented both Mr. Ahmadinejad's independence and his position as a messenger for the system, and that the very act of reaching out was significant. "If the U.S. had relations with Iran under the reform government, it would not have been a complete relationship," said Alireza Akhari, a retired general with the Revolutionary Guard and former deputy defense minister, referring to Mr. Khatami's administration. "But if there can be a détente now, that means the whole country is behind relations with the West." Mr. Ahmadinejad is trying to outpace the challenges buffeting Iran, ones that could undermine his presidency and conservative control. The economy is in shambles, unemployment is soaring, and the new president has failed to deliver on his promise of economic relief for the poor. Ethnic tensions are rising around the country, with protests and terrorist strikes in the north and the south, and students have been staging protests at universities around the country. Mr. Ahmadinejad's critics - and there are many - say that the public will turn on him if he does not improve their lives, and soon. It may ultimately prove impossible to surmount these problems while building a new political elite, many people here said. "The real issue here is we now have a government with no experience running a country and dealing with foreign policy," said Nasser Hadian, a political science professor at Tehran University and childhood friend of the president. Mr. Ahmadinejad, who was elected last June, has adopted an ideologically flexible strategy. He has called for restoring the conservative values of the Islamic Revolution, yet at the same time has relaxed enforcement of strict Islamic social codes on the street. During the spring, when the warm weather sets in, young women are often harassed by the volunteer vigilantes known as the Basiji for their dress, but not this year. More music seems to be available in stores than in the past - small but telling changes, people here say. If there is one consistent theme to his actions, it is the concept of seeking justice, reflecting a central characteristic of Shiite Islam. In more temporal terms, his strategy appears to be two-pronged: to reinforce his support among hard-liners with sharp attacks on Israel and the West, for example, while moving to appease a society weary of the social and economic challenges of life in the Islamic republic. "He is reshaping the identity of the elite," said a political science professor in Tehran who asked not to be identified so as not to affect his relations with government officials. "Being against Jews and Zionists is an essential part of this new identity." Mr. Ahmadinejad has been far freer to maneuver than his predecessor, Mr. Khatami, whose movement for change frightened religious leaders. Instead of having to prove his fealty to the system, Mr. Ahmadinejad has been given - or has taken - the opportunity to try to calm the streets. Perhaps most surprising, the man who was rumored to want to segregate men and women on elevators and even sidewalks has emerged as a proponent of women's rights, challenging some of the nation's most powerful religious leaders. "I believe Ahmadinejad's government will be the most secular we have had since the start of the revolution," said Mahmoud Shamsolvaezin, a journalist and political analyst. "The government is not a secular one with secular thought. Ahmadinejad is a very religious man. But the government recognizes it has no choice, this is what the public demands." Mr. Ahmadinejad called for allowing women into stadiums, in an attempt to reverse a post-revolution ban when religious leaders decreed that sports arenas were not the proper environment for women. Four grand ayatollahs objected to his decision, but he backed down only when the supreme leader stepped in. Even then, Mr. Ahmadinejad said he was suspending the decision, not canceling it. Most significant, during the discussion of the stadium issue, the president defended women in a way that put him outside the mainstream of conservative Islamic discourse, even beyond Iran's borders. "Unfortunately, whenever there is talk of social corruption, fingers are pointed at women," Mr. Ahmadinejad said, in comments that for a leader in this society were groundbreaking. "Shouldn't men be blamed for the problems, too?" The president's strategy is also aimed at limiting political challenges to the system. While political arrests are down, and the government has not moved to close privately held newspapers, it has staged a few crucial arrests - sending a chill through intellectual and academic circles - and it has pressured newspapers to be silent on certain topics, like opposition to the nuclear program. He also has struck back at those who would undermine or mock him. The local press reported that the president became so incensed with jokes about his personal hygiene that were being exchanged via text messages on cellphones, that he had the messages stopped and people at the top of the cellphone system punished. Mr. Ahmadinejad offered voters change and promises to improve the lives of the poor, who make up the majority of this country. But he has been unable to push through economic changes by personal fiat, as he has done in the political realm. He ordered the banks, for example, to lower interest rates, and was rebuffed by the head of the central bank. He offered to give inexpensive housing loans to the poor - but with only 300,000 available, more than 2 million people applied. The program will cost the government more than $3 billion. He has traveled around the country, promising to dole out development projects the government can hardly afford. In the last year, the cost of construction materials has jumped 30 to 50 percent, and prices of dairy products have increased by more than 15 percent. Many people are asking how this can happen when the price of oil is so high. Without a strong grasp of economics, and an economy that is almost entirely in the hands of the government, Mr. Ahmadinejad has grappled with ways to inject oil revenue into the system without causing inflation to soar. At the same time, the volatile political situation has caused capital flight and limited foreign investment as the needs of the public continue to grow alongside the president's promises. In politics, the president by turns ignores and confronts those who have opposed him from the start, whether conservative or liberal, all the while playing to the masses. "Ahmadinejad knows there is a big gap between the intellectual elite and the masses, and he knows how it serves his interest," said Emadedin Baghi, director of a prisoners' rights group. "He is playing to the masses and trying to widen this gap." He has managed to sideline opponents like Mr. Rafsanjani, either through his own initiative or with the back-channel support of Mr. Khamenei, the supreme leader. Mr. Rafsanjani, a midlevel cleric whom Mr. Ahmadinejad defeated in a runoff for the presidency, "has been undermined, he's not a powerful person anymore," said Muhammad Atrianfar, a close ally of Mr. Rafsanjani and publisher of the daily newspaper Shargh. He said Mr. Rafsanjani had tried to get the supreme leader to rein the president in, but was unable to convince him. Mr. Rafsanjani is representative of the class of people - wealthy and influential from the first generation of the revolution - that the president is trying to displace, said the retired general, Mr. Akhari. Nazila Fathi contributed reporting for this article. ***************************************************************** 8 IRNA: World Bank to continue cooperation with Iran - WB official Tehran, May 28, IRNA Iran-World Bank-Cooperation Deputy president of the World Bank for Middle East and North African Region Portman said "We will continue cooperation with Iran." In an interview with the London-based daily Asharq-al-Awsat which was published on the the newspaper's internet site, Portman said the World Bank will continue with its bilateral projects with Iran despite the UN row with Iran over its nuclear program. "The bank is adamant in continuing with its long-term programs with Iran and is not reneging on its commitments and has not received any request for imposing sanctions on Iran." On a question on Washington's pressure on the bank to suspend its cooperation with Iran, he added the institution is non-political and the bank is only interested in improving the situation of the deprived people across the globe. On another issue, he added World Bank has not cut its financial assistance to the Palestinians after the victory of Hamas in election and will continue with its program in the area. Over 40 percent of the Palestinians live below the poverty line and one out of four people is unemployed. The World Bank plans to finance 12 developmental projects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip for dlrs 154 million, he added. One of the latest World Bank financing schemes in Iran is to be channelled for water and sewage projects. Deputy Minister of Energy Reza Amrollahi here last year announced that World Bank has approved a 224-million-dollar loan to be allocated to Iran's water and sewage sector. Speaking to reporters at a press conference, he added that the relevant facilities will be earmarked for implementation of water supply and treatment of waste water in the cities of Rasht, Anzali, Sari and Babol in northern Iran. Turning to 819 million dollars of loan extended to the national water and sewage sector by the World Bank over the past three years, he noted, "A credit of 279 million dollars was also allocated by WB to modernization of the sewage systems of the cities of Ahvaz and Shiraz in the past Iranian year (ended March 20). ***************************************************************** 9 AFP: Chinese FM discusses Iran nuclear crisis with Rice Sunday May 28, 07:17 AM [Condoleezza Rice] BEIJING (AFP) - Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice discussed the Iranian nuclear issue during telephone talks, the foreign ministry said. They exchanged views on resolving the issue through diplomatic efforts during their conversation Saturday night, the ministry said on its website. Details were not given. Li and Rice also exchanged views on "implementing the consensus" reached between Chinese President Hu Jintao and US President George W. Bush during Hu's visit to the United States in April, the ministry said. The two leaders have pledged to boost economic and diplomatic cooperation between the two countries, agreeing on the need to ease trade tensions and work together to keep the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea in check. The international community is still unable to reach consensus on how to tackle the crisis over Tehran's determination to enrich uranium, a process that can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The European Union has put forward a proposal that would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran with the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defies a UN injunction to halt enrichment. China and Russia oppose the threat of sanctions against Iran. Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved. AFP '); [ src=] ***************************************************************** 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: US, main loser of regional tension 2006/05/27 Baghdad, May 27 - Visiting Minister of Foreign Affairs Manoucheher Mottaki said on Friday evening that the America would be the main loser of fomenting any tension in the region. Mottaki told a joint press conference with his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari, "the United States gains nothing out of the various crisis it creates, save for the hatred of the world nation." He said, "In the event that America launches strike from any place, Iran will retaliate by targeting that place." The Iranian Minister made the comment at the press briefing at the end of his two-day visit to Iraq and after a meeting with the country's parliament speaker and a number of parliamentarians. Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. E-Mail: Webmaster@IRIBNEWS.ir ***************************************************************** 11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Musharraf supports IRI nuclear right 2006/05/27 Islamabad, May 27 - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday expressed support for Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology under appropriate International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards. President Musharraf was talking to Iran's First Vice-President Dr Parviz Davoudi, who visited Pakistan Thursday and Friday to attend the 16th session of the Pak-Iran Joint Economic Commission, a Foreign Ministry statement said. "Pakistan wanted a peaceful settlement of this issue. It was important that confrontation be avoided and flexibility shown by all sides. Pakistan would support efforts to reach an amicable settlement," President Musharraf told the Iranian first vice-president, according to the statement. President Musharraf underlined Pakistan's opposition to proliferation of nuclear weapons, the statement said. Dr Davoudi appreciated Pakistan's principled stand and explained that nuclear weapons had no place in Iran's defence strategy, the statement said. Iran was prepared to give necessary assurances to that affect, it added. Bilateral relations and developments on regional as well as global issues of current concern came under discussion. President Musharraf expressed satisfaction on the successful conclusion of the 16th session of the Pak-Iran Joint Economic Commission, (JEC) which ended in Islamabad yesterday. He noted that JEC decisions together with the two new protocols signed would further increase trade and economic cooperation between the two countries. The president reiterated Pakistan's keen interest in the Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project. Progress had been made at various meetings of the Joint Working Groups on the project. However, efforts should be accelerated to settle the remaining issues relating mainly to pricing. President Musharraf thanked the people and government of Iran for their generous support to the earthquake victims in Pakistan. It was reflective of the bonds of sincere friendship that characterized relations betweens the two countries, he said. The Iranian vice-president agreed that an acceptable price structure should be worked out at the experts level. Vice-President Davoudi was accompanied by the Iranian minister for commerce and housing and town planning. During his visit, he inaugurated the Artificial Limb Centre in Islamabad donated by Iran. Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. ***************************************************************** 12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI, Syria sign commercial agreement 2006/05/28 Tehran, May 28 - The Syrian Minister of Economy and Finance said Saturday that his country is interested in closer economic ties with Iran, the Commerce Minister reported. Meeting Iranian Commerce Minister Massoud Mir-Kazemi, Amir Husnilutfi said following the meeting of the two presidents, the Iran-Syria supreme committee met in Damascus to explore various ways of cooperation. The committee focused on following the activities already carried out and finding a solution for problems faced by the two countries companies, he added. He also called for increasing trade and investments between the two nations through holding exhibitions and forming a free trade zone based on signing a preferential trade agreement. He said a list should be drawn up of the products made in Iran which are eligible for preferential tariffs. Mir-Kazemi also called for closer ties in all areas between the two nations. He said the preferential tariffs should be a positive step in bolstering the mutual relations. Iranian companies have made investment in the projects for reconstruction and development of the electricity power plant and oil refinery in Banias. The volume of cooperation between iran, including export of the technical and engineering services as well as the industrial projects -- either the half-finished or completed ones -- commissioned by the Iranian companies in Syria, are estimated to stand at dlrs 750 million, he added. In May Iran and Syria signed 23 agreements on telecommunication and information technology (IT). The agreements were inked by Iran's Minister of Telecommunications Mohammad Soleimani and his Syrian counterpart Amr Nazir Salem in Tehran. KH Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. ***************************************************************** 13 AFP: Top Russian officials hold nuclear talks in Iran Sun May 28, 6:26 AM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - Top Russian officials were holding high-level talks in Iran" /> Iranover the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme amid a fresh drive to find a diplomatic solution to the worsening crisis. Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak were meeting with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, an AFP correspondent said. They were also lined up for talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh. No details from the talks were immediately available, but the mission follows up on a meeting of senior officials from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- as well as Germany that failed to break an impasse on how to deal with Iran although progress was reported. A follow-up meeting at the foreign ministers' level is expected to take place in the coming week. US officials said it would probably take place in a European capital. At their meeting in London last Wednesday, the major powers discussed a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran, but also the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment. Tehran has rebuffed the EU proposal, repeating that its right to enrich uranium was not negotiable. Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran, which has consistently denied US claims that its nuclear programme is a cover for the development of atomic weapons. Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Tehran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to back down on nuclear research and development. "The Islamic Republic of Iran remains firm in its position, to use nuclear technology in a peaceful and legal framework," Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in newspapers on Sunday. "The position of Iran concerning the nuclear issue is totally legal and in the framework of the NPT," he said. But there have been signs of compromise in the stand-off. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations" /> United Nations, Javad Zarif, said Friday that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons. And the New York Times reported Saturday that President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bush's administration was beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the crisis. The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages, and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil". Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 14 AFP: Iran leader rules out nuclear climbdown Sunday May 28, 01:20 PM [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's supreme leader ruled out backing down in a dispute over his country's nuclear programme, as top Russian officials made a fresh bid to find a diplomatic solution to the worsening crisis. "The young Iranian engineers, with their successes, have guaranteed the long-term energy future of the country," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said of Iran's progress in nuclear fuel cycle work, seen in the West as a cover for weapons development. "We must not lose this at any price, because (Advertisement) [ src=] any retreat would be a 100 percent loss," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television. His comments came as Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak held a series of meetings with top Iranian officials. "Russia believes that the nuclear question cannot be solved by anything except dialogue, and any violent measures would complicate the situation more," Iranian state television quoted Ivanov as saying in a meeting with Ali Larijani, Iran's top negotiator. Ivanov and Kislyak were also lined up for talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza Aghazadeh. No details from the talks were immediately available, but the mission follows up on a meeting of senior officials from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- as well as Germany that failed to break an impasse on how to deal with Iran although progress was reported. A follow-up meeting at the foreign ministers' level is expected to take place in the coming week. US officials said it would probably take place in a European capital. At their meeting in London last Wednesday, the major powers discussed a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran, but also the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment. Tehran has rebuffed the EU proposal, repeating that its right to enrich uranium was not negotiable. Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran. Russia in particular has huge economic interests in Iran's atomic energy drive. Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Tehran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to back down on nuclear research and development. "The Islamic Republic of Iran remains firm in its position, to use nuclear technology in a peaceful and legal framework," Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in newspapers on Sunday. "The position of Iran concerning the nuclear issue is totally legal and in the framework of the NPT," he said. But there have been signs of compromise in the stand-off. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Javad Zarif, said Friday that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons. And the New York Times reported Saturday that President George W. Bush's administration was beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the crisis. The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages, and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil". Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved. AFP '); [ src=] ***************************************************************** 15 AFP: Oman shows solidarity with Iran in nuclear standoff - analysts - by Christian Chaise Sat May 27, 3:29 PM ET MUSCAT (AFP) - Oman has quietly distinguished itself among Gulf countries as showing the most interest in avoiding a potential US strike on Iran" /> Iranand the least concern over the prospect of a nuclear power next door, analysts say. With its nearest shoreline just 50 miles (80 kilometres), across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, Oman's subtle solidarity with the Islamic republic owes in part to fears of how isolation and military action could affect Oman's own economy and stability. "The problem (for Oman) would not be Iran having nuclear weapons, but a US strike," said one diplomat in Muscat. "If Iran were isolated, boycotted, that would affect Oman's own relations with Iran." Russian and German foreign ministers separately toured the Gulf this week in a bid to gain support for European-backed plans to convince Iran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment, in an escalating standoff over Iran's nuclear aims. However, Oman backed away from its slot as proposed leader of a diplomatic mission to Iran, leading Qatar to admit on Thursday that the six Gulf Cooperation Council members had been unable to hammer out a common stance. "There is no initiative in a real sense by the Gulf states, it is more that we support and encourage a diplomatic solution to this issue," Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani said. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait had been among the six wealthy Gulf monarchies -- also including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar -- to talk of plans to send a delegation to Tehran to "tell the Iranians about our fears." Oman's foreign minister swiftly denied Monday that a visit to Iran was imminent, saying it was only an "idea that was considered." "Some Gulf states worry a lot about Iran and its nuclear ambitions," said a second diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity. "Oman is more relaxed, because it has always had a neutral policy." Omani leaders have said publicly they have no reason to doubt Iran's assertion that its nuclear program is peaceful, despite claims by the United States that it is solely a cover for atomic weapons-making. "One doesn't find at all the prickly reactions in Omanis that can be seen in the UAE, Saudi or Bahrain," one Western observer told AFP. "Omanis are sure that Iranians want to have nuclear weapons... but what scares them more is the prospect of American strikes because they see the region as already handicapped by a number of conflicts and can't handle another crisis." Even though economic sanctions on major trading partner Iran would undoubtedly impact the economy of Oman, the reasons for the Gulf state's solidarity are also historical. During the 1970s under the shah's rule, Iranian soldiers came to the aid of the Omani sultan in suppressing a rebel uprising in the south. Oman was also the only Gulf country to maintain good relations with the Islamic republic during the 1980-1988 Iran- Iraq" /> Iraqwar. "Oman understands our position more than others, more than other countries," Iran's ambassador in Muscat, Mohammad Javad Asayesh Zarshi, told AFP. "We don't think Oman would let the Americans use their bases... We don't think countries in this area would let foreigners use their land to attack Iran," Zarshi said. "I think the officials in Oman will make a good decision, as they did during the (Iran-Iraq) war." Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 16 AFP: Russian envoy to visit Iran for nuclear talks by Hiedeh Farmani Sat May 27, 6:40 AM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - A top Russian envoy is due in Iran" /> for talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear programme, with the world community still unable to reach consensus on how to tackle the escalating crisis. Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov is expected to hold talks with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani during his two-day visit. His trip follows a meeting this week of senior officials from Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- as well as Germany -- that failed to break an impasse on how to deal with Iran although progress was reported. The major powers discussed at their meeting in London a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran with the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment. Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran, which has consistently denied US claims that its nuclear programme is a cover for the development of atomic weapons. The New York Times reported Saturday that the administration of President George W. Bush" /> is beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the nuclear crisis. Washington also said Friday it would still like to hold talks with Iran on the security situation in neighbouring Iraq" /> , although Tehran has said it is not interested. And Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki warned during a visit to Baghdad on Friday: "In the event that America launches a strike from any place, Iran will retaliate by targeting that place." The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil". But Iran's ambassador to the United Nations" /> said that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons. "This cap I think should be below 10, meaning reactor grade. Iran is prepared to put in place other measures to ensure fuel produced is not re-enriched and used for nuclear (weapons) purposes," Javad Zarif said Friday. Early this month, Iran announced it had managed to enrich uranium up to 4.8 percent and said it had no plans to go beyond that level as this was sufficient for making nuclear fuel to generate electricity. A process in the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium enrichment can also make the fissile core of an atom bomb when extended to levels of purity of more than 90 percent. Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the UN's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency" /> , also suggested that Tehran was willing to compromise on enrichment. "The Iranians, as far as I know, agreed in principle that for a number of years enrichment should be part of an international consortium outside of Iran," he said Wednesday. During a tour of Arab Gulf countries Kuwait and Qatar earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow supported the EU proposal and urged Tehran to cooperate. Asked if Russia would back military action against Iran if the proposed negotiations collapsed, Lavrov declined to answer but insisted that Moscow does not support the use of force "in principle." Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the southeast coast and has said it would honour a contract to sell TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles to Iran despite US calls to reconsider. Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday that Russia would honour the deal "except in the case of some major event" adding that "world experience shows sanctions are not efficient". Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Iran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil. But as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to go back on nuclear research and development. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 17 AFP: Russian envoy to visit Iran for nuclear talks by Hiedeh Farmani Sat May 27, 3:49 PM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - A Russian envoy was headed to Iran" /> Iranfor talks on Tehran's controversial nuclear program, with the international community still unable to reach consensus on how to tackle the crisis. Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov was expected to arrive in Tehran at 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) to hold talks on Sunday with Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani. The semi-official Fars news agency said he would also meet the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Gholamreza Aghazadeh. His trip follows a meeting this week of senior officials from Britain, France, China, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- as well as Germany -- that failed to break an impasse on how to deal with Iran although progress was reported. The major powers discussed at their meeting in London a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran with the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment. Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran, which has consistently denied US claims that its nuclear program is a cover for the development of atomic weapons. The New York Times reported Saturday that the administration of President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bushis beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the nuclear crisis. Washington also said Friday it would still like to hold talks with Iran on the security situation in neighbouring Iraq" /> Iraq, although Tehran has said it is not interested. The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil." But Iran's ambassador to the United Nations" /> United Nationssaid that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons. "This cap I think should be below 10, meaning reactor grade. Iran is prepared to put in place other measures to ensure fuel produced is not re-enriched and used for nuclear (weapons) purposes," Javad Zarif said Friday. Early this month, Iran announced it had managed to enrich uranium up to 4.8 percent and said it had no plans to go beyond that level as this was sufficient for making nuclear fuel to generate electricity. A process in the nuclear fuel cycle, uranium enrichment can also make the fissile core of an atom bomb when extended to levels of purity of more than 90 percent. Russia, which is building Iran's first nuclear power plant at Bushehr on the southeast coast, said it would honour a contract to sell TOR-M1 surface-to-air missiles to Iran despite US calls to reconsider. Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov said Friday that Russia would honour the deal "except in the case of some major event" adding that "world experience shows sanctions are not efficient." Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Iran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil. But as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to go back on nuclear research and development. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 18 AFP: Iran, Russia agree to continue nuclear talks by Siavosh Ghazi Sun May 28, 5:28 PM ET TEHRAN (AFP) - Russia and Iran" /> wrapped up high-level talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, with Tehran saying both sides agreed to continue negotiations and work towards a peaceful solution to the crisis. But the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei continued to rule out any climbdown in the dispute, centred around Western fears the clerical regime could acquire nuclear weapons under the guise of an atomic energy drive. "The two delegations insisted on a peaceful and diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear question," the ISNA student news agency quoted a statement from Iran's Supreme National Security Council as saying. "The two parties agreed to continue their discussions," it added. Russian National Security Council chief Igor Ivanov and Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Kislyak held a series of meetings with top Iranian officials -- led by Ali Larijani, Tehran's top negotiator -- in talks lasting more than five hours. The Russian mission followed Wednesday's meeting of senior officials from Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN Security Council members -- and Germany. The major powers discussed a European proposal aimed at breaking Iran's determination to enrich uranium, a process which can be extended from making reactor fuel to nuclear weapons. The EU proposal would combine technology, economic and other incentives for Iran, but also the threat of an arms embargo and other sanctions if the Islamic republic defied a UN injunction to halt enrichment. Tehran has rebuffed the EU proposal, repeating that its right to enrich uranium was not negotiable. A follow-up meeting at foreign ministers level is expected in the coming week. US officials said it would probably take place in a European capital. The Russian delegation was to leave Tehran later Sunday, and a source close to the Iranian delegation told AFP that more talks with Russia would likely take place after the foreign ministers meeting. Despite the intensive talks with Russia, Khamenei signalled that Iran was still in no mood to back down on enrichment. "The young Iranian engineers, with their successes, have guaranteed the long-term energy future of the country," the top cleric said of Iran's progress in nuclear fuel cycle work. "We must not lose this at any price, because any retreat would be a 100 percent loss," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state television. Both Russia and China oppose talk of sanctions against Iran. Russia in particular has huge economic interests in Iran's atomic energy drive, and is helping build its first nuclear reactor in Bushehr. Last year Russia offered to produce nuclear fuel on Iran's behalf in order to ease fears Tehran would divert uranium into warheads. Talks broke down when Iran insisted uranium enrichment had to be carried out on its soil. As a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), Iran insists it has a right to uranium enrichment and has vowed not to back down on nuclear research and development. "The Islamic Republic of Iran remains firm in its position, to use nuclear technology in a peaceful and legal framework," hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying in newspapers on Sunday. "The position of Iran concerning the nuclear issue is totally legal and in the framework of the NPT," he said. But there have been some signs of a compromise. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations" /> , Javad Zarif, said Friday that Tehran was willing to accept a cap on its uranium enrichment capability to ensure the fuel produced is not used to develop nuclear weapons. And the New York Times reported Saturday that President George W. Bush" /> 's administration was beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran and open direct talks to try to resolve the crisis. The United States severed relations with Iran after the 1979 Islamic revolution and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages, and Bush in 2002 famously described Tehran as part of an "axis of evil". Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 19 AFP: Bush administration debates direct talks with Iran - report - Sat May 27, 1:25 PM ET NEW YORK (AFP) - The administration of President George W. Bush" /> is reportedly beginning to debate whether to set aside a longstanding boycott of Iran" /> and open direct talks to try to resolve the crisis over its suspected nuclear weapons program. European officials who have been in contact with the administration in recent weeks described the Bush administration as intensifying its discussions on the issue, The New York Times reported. European leaders who have conducted lengthy, and so far fruitless, negotiations with Iran have made no secret of their desire for Washington to join in the talks. But since the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the crisis over the seizure of American hostages in November that year, the United States has avoided direct talks with Iran. The paper cited European officials as saying that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice" /> had begun discussing the issue with top aides at the State Department. Her belief, they say, is that ultimately the matter will have to be addressed by the administration's national security officials, whether talks with Iran remain at an impasse or even if there is some progress, The Times said. But others who know her well say she is resisting on the ground that signaling a willingness to talk would show weakness and disrupt the delicate negotiations with Europe, the report said. Rice is also said to fear that the administration might end up making too many concessions to Iran, the paper pointed out. Administration officials said President Bush" /> , Vice President Dick Cheney" /> and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld have opposed direct talks, even through informal back channels, The Times reported. As a result, many European officials say they doubt that a decision to talk is likely soon, according to the report. Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The ***************************************************************** 20 AFP: Iran dismisses Afghan role in nuclear mediation Australia &NZ News May 27, 09:28 PM TEHRAN (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai began a two-day trip to neighbouring Iran to meet the Islamic republic's top leaders and seek investment for his war-shattered nation. But as he arrived, Iran angrily dismissed suggestions that Aghanistan might play a mediating role in Tehran's standoff with the West over its nuclear programme. Karzai, accompanied by senior members of his government, will meet Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the country's supreme leader Ali Khamenei as well as other officials, his office said on Saturday. He was expected to sign several agreements, including on the exchange of prisoners, a rail link across the border and investment. "The main purpose of the visit is to discuss bilateral relations, matters of mutual interest, regional issues and expansion of financial relations," presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi said earlier in the week. Rahimi also said Kabul was ready to mediate in the growing dispute between the United States, one of Afghanistan's key backers, and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme. But foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the official IRNA news agency: "We say these reports are baseless and such a matter is not on the agenda of discussions with Mr Karzai." Asefi said the talks would be focused on ties including the exchange of prisoners, a cross-border rail link and investment. Afghanistan has good ties with Iran, which took in around two million Afghan refugees during the country's 25 years of war, and has said it wants to deepen this relationship. The country also has a close relationship with the United States. There are about 22,000 US troops in Afghanistan, helping to battle a mounting insurgency launched by the Taliban after it was removed from government in a US-led campaign in 2001. Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information ***************************************************************** 21 Korea Herald: Korea promotes exports of new modular reactor Korea's locally-developed midsized nuclear reactor is expected to be put up for export once it is certified for practical use, the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute said yesterday. The research institute plans to begin a pilot study next month for putting the "system integrated modular advanced reactor" to practical use, KAERI chief Park Chang-kyu said during a news conference. The SMART, which has both the steam generator and the cooler pump placed in a single reactor pressure container, was developed for small-scale power generation, and the produced energy will be used for the desalination of sea water. Negotiations with countries interested in the SMART such as Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Chile are likely to move into a higher gear. "The SMART was developed with our own technologies in nuclear fuels and reactor system design," Park said. "It has the capacity to supply 100,000 kilowatts of electricity and 40,000 metric tons of water every day to a city of 100,000 people." Safety of the SMART has been enhanced a 100-fold compared to the older, pressurized-water reactor and it is more economic thanks to the simplified system and equipment modularization, Park said. The concept of modules, or functional sets of components, applied to the SMART has improved its quality and reduced the construction time. It is also safer as the modules of the reactor are manufactured in a factory and are assembled at the site, Park said. Park added that the nuclear reactor for research purposes named HANARO will also be sold overseas. "The design, construction and utilization technologies we have accumulated so far for the HANARO will be exported," he said. "There could be a big demand as most of the reactors for research activated around the world have neared their average durability of 35 years." The KAERI plans to set up a consortium with related organizations such as the Korea Hydro &Nuclear Power Co., Korean Electric Power Corp. and the Korea Nuclear Fuel Co. to build export systems and technologies. Expected export destinations are the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central and South America. (sophie@heraldm.com) By Kim So-hyun 2006.05.29 ***************************************************************** 22 IPS-English POLITICS: India, US Tighten Nuclear Handshake Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 20:55:12 -0700 ROMAIPS AP WD DV EN IP NU=20 POLITICS: India, US Tighten Nuclear Handshake Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, May 27 (IPS) - The United States and India have taken yet anot= her step towards finalising the nuclear cooperation agreement they signed= in July last year and more key lawmakers in Washington have expressed su= pport for the deal. The agreement makes a special, one-time exception in the global nuclear n= on-proliferation regime for India by acknowledging and legitimising it as= a 'responsible' nuclear weapons state.After decades of technology sancti= ons, civilian nuclear commerce with it will now be resumed.=20 The deal has provoked controversy because of the unique country-specific = treatment given to India which is not a signatory to the nuclear non-prol= iferation treaty (NPT) and =91weaponised' its nuclear programme eight yea= rs ago. The deal is part of, and further consolidates, the emerging India= -U.S. =94strategic partnership=94 which is designed to contain China. Both governments are making hectic efforts to get the agreement through U= .S. Congress before it goes into a recess in August. The Bush administrat= ion staunchly defended the deal in Congressional hearings. And India has = redoubled its lobbying on Capitol Hill through professional public relati= on agencies and influential groups of Indians settled in the U.S. Their e= fforts have borne fruit as increasing numbers of U.S. lawmakers, who were= earlier sceptical, have come around to backing the deal.=20 Washington and New Delhi are negotiating the language of what they hope w= ill be the final text of the agreement, under which India must separate i= ts civilian nuclear facilities from military ones, and place the former u= nder International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. India has offered to = put 14 out of its 22 operating and planned civilian reactors under safegu= ards.=20 The current negotiations centre on issues other than the civilian-militar= y separation. They also highlight the limits beyond which neither side ca= n press the other. On Friday, India's foreign secretary (chief of the diplomatic cadre) Shya= m Saran and U.S. under secretary of state Nicholas Burns concluded two da= ys of talks in London, which the State Department described as =94another= good step forward=94. At the talks, the U.S. prodded India on making a l= egal commitment to abjure further nuclear testing.=20 Saran, however, made it plain that =94we are not in a position to deviate= from the July 18 joint statement=94 signed between President George W. B= ush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in which India only said it would = continue with its voluntary moratorium on testing.=20 A voluntary moratorium can be lifted at will. Nuclear hardliners in India= do not want to write off the option of further tests to develop a fusion= (hydrogen) bomb. India claimed it successfully tested a fusion assembly = in 1998, but independent experts say it turned out to be a dud. Nuclear testing is one of the two issues on which the U.S. has been tryin= g to push India, the other being a treaty to ban the production of fissil= e material, the fuel that goes into nuclear weapons. Last fortnight, the = U.S. introduced a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) at the United Na= tions Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.=20 In the past, India was lukewarm towards the FMCT which it regards as a me= asure to limit the size of its nuclear arsenal. India, like Pakistan, is = still producing and stockpiling fissile material, whereas the major nucle= ar weapons-states have a surplus of it. But in the nuclear deal, initiall= ed last July, New Delhi had to make a concession on the issue. =94This is part of the small price that India paid for the deal,=94 says = Achin Vanaik, professor of International Relations and Global Politics at= Delhi University. =94The U.S. is keen on an FMCT because it wants to fre= eze nuclear competition among the major states at the present level. Chi= na resists this and would like the Conference on Disarmament (CD) to nego= tiate a treaty to ban an arms race in outer space before it takes up the = FMCT.=94 China is especially anxious about Washington's plans for =94Star Wars=94-= style ballistic defence (BMD). Beijing believes the BMD programme is targ= eted primarily at China.=20 By committing itself to =94work with=94 Washington on getting the FMCT pa= ssed, New Delhi has signalled that it stands by the U.S., not with China.= India has nevertheless entered a minor caveat by emphasising the issue o= f verification of the FMCT. The London talks showed that Indian officials are wary of introducing eve= n minor changes in the agreement, which was fleshed out further during Pr= esident George W. Bush's visit to India during March. The Bush administration finds itself under some pressure to show =94flexi= bility=94 in =94accommodating some of the desires of Congress=94, Assista= nt Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Richard Boucher= told an Indian news agency. =94We certainly accept the views of Congress= on different issues but we are also going to make clear that we cannot d= o things --legislations or conditions--at this point that will break the = deal=94. India's lobbying efforts on Capitol Hill received a big boost when it man= aged to win over a traditionally anti-Indian Republican Congressman, Dan = Burton. He joined three members of the Congress' India Caucus to write a= letter countering =94distortions=94 and =94erroneous=94 statements made = by detractors of the nuclear deal.=20 Describing the deal as =91visionary', the letter said: =94We firmly beli= eve that the facts underlying the decision to enter into the agreement fu= lly warrant the conclusion that its implementation is in the best interes= t of both the U.S. and India.'' =20 The letter commends India's record on nuclear non-proliferation to reassu= re Congress that legitimising India's nuclear weapons would not lead to t= heir further spread. The letter said: =94For 30 years, India has protecte= d its nuclear programmes. It has not engaged in or allowed proliferation= of its nuclear technology. Simply put, India is treated uniquely because= of its history of maintaining a successful nuclear non-proliferation reg= ime=94. New Delhi is anxious to have the agreement ratified along with the necess= ary legislation during the term of the present (109th) Congress. Election= s to the 110th Congress are due in November. It is possible that it will = be controlled by the Democrats, who are less amenable than the Republican= s to persuasion to ratify it. Both governments are testing the waters to see how far they can go to mee= t domestic concerns and head off accusations that they are compromising t= heir respective national interests. In the U.S., much of the opposition = to the deal in the Senate has been softened. But in the House of Represen= tatives, it still faces significant opposition, in particular from a grou= p of Democrats led by Ed Markey. In India, the deal faces opposition from the right-wing, especially the H= indu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which accuses the Manmohan= Singh government of having sold India's interests short. It was a BJP go= vernment that, in 1998 ran a series of tests and declared India a nuclear= weapons state. Domestic pressure will limit the extent to which India can be flexible. H= aving tabled the main contents of the deal in Parliament, the government = cannot ask for amendments without inviting the charge that it succumbed t= o U.S. pressure. (END/IPS/AP/WD/IP/NU/DV/EN/PB/RDR/06)=20 =20 =3D 05270947 ORP006 NNNN ***************************************************************** 23 BCSE: Push for a Texas based nuclear research institute Bryan-College Station Eagle A newly created nuclear research institute at Texas A University may get a substantial boost in funding if the Senate passes a bill recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives.--> Updated 6:05 AM on Friday, May 26, 2006 Bill to boost A nuclear research Eagle Staff Report A newly created nuclear research institute at Texas A University may get a substantial boost in funding if the Senate passes a bill recently approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. The 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which was approved Wednesday by the House, would include a $1.6 million funding request for A's Nuclear Security Science and Policy Institute. The institute was created in March by the board of regents. It is a joint operation between the university's Nuclear Engineering Department and the George Bush School of Government and Public Service. According to U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards, D-Waco, the funding will allow A to develop the next generation of security experts and work with the U.S. Department of Energy in solving nuclear security problems. Edwards requested that the funding be added to the bill. PETS AND SUPPLIES + TheEagle.com| Classifieds| Aggiesports.com| BrazosSports.com| © 2000 - 2006 The Bryan-College Station Eagle ***************************************************************** 24 Spectrum: Divine Strake meeting to be held St. George UT.- www.thespectrum.com - By BRIAN PASSEY bpassey@thespectrum.com ST. GEORGE - The Pentagon plans to hold a public meeting in St. George before the Divine Strake test, though it has not determined a specific date. Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said Thursday that the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency confirmed to congressional staff last week that it would hold a public meeting in St. George prior to the 700-ton non-nuclear fuels explosion at the Nevada Test Site 150 miles west of St. George. The test was originally scheduled for June 2 but was delayed to June 23 at the earliest, pending litigation. Matheson said DTRA officials will attend the meeting, which he thinks will offer residents a chance to ask questions about the proposed blast. Some residents fear it will re-suspend radioactive particles left over from Cold War-era atomic testing into the atmosphere. Matheson said he hopes to attend the meeting himself, but it will depend on when the meeting is scheduled. There have been similar requests for public meetings in other areas downwind of the site, including Salt Lake City. "I think we have a higher rate of concern about this than other areas of the country," Matheson said. "I think that merits going the extra mile to make sure people are informed." St. George Mayor Dan McArthur said he too has concerns about the proposed test and is not sure a public meeting will change anything. "It seems like the government has its mind made up on these things," he said. However, McArthur said he is not opposed to testing if it is necessary - he just wants to know it will be safe. "When it comes to the Nevada Test Site I'm concerned," he said. "They're telling us it's a clean area, but I'm not convinced it's safe." Originally published May 26, 2006 Print this article Email ***************************************************************** 25 Deseret News: U.S. puts big blast in Nevada on hold [deseretnews.com] Saturday, May 27, 2006 By Suzanne Struglinski and Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News The federal government has put the Divine Strake test on hold again, until it can come up with a clearer way to describe any potential effects of the planned weapons test. ['Photo'] Deseret Morning News graphic The large-scale, open-air explosive detonation planned at the Nevada Test Site will be delayed until further notice, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced Friday. No new date has been set, according to NNSA spokesman Darwin Morgan. The agency withdrew its earlier finding, in an environmental assessment, that the test would have no significant impact, because of questions from the public, Morgan said. The announcement came one day after a petition signed by more than 600 people protesting the planned test was delivered to the St. George offices of Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett. NNSA now plans to seek to better understand and explain the effects of background radiation that would be picked up with the dirt moved by the explosion, Morgan said. The announcement Friday was good news to elected officials and activists alike. "We have always been concerned about background radiation at the site," said Hatch, R-Utah. "We have been repeatedly told, even during my staff's visit to the site, that this was not a concern. But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified." Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, said the decision is in line with his request to federal officials for more research into potential environmental hazards that may pose a risk to Utahns. "After reading comments about 'mushroom clouds' and 'low-yield nuclear weapons,' I was greatly concerned and expressed as much to the director" of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Matheson said. "I advised him to put all the health and safety data out on the table so that people's fears about being once again exposed to radioactive contamination could be addressed. I am very pleased to see that these agencies have acted on my advice." The test was supposed to take place June 2 but then was postponed to no sooner than June 23, and now there is no new date, Morgan said. St. George resident Helene Stone said Friday that the announcement to delay Divine Strake was "very good news." "This delay does not address future testing of any nuclear-weapons tests, but I would hope this ends any plans for that as well," said Stone, who delivered the petition to the senators. The 600 people who signed it were among many Dixie residents opposed to the test. Stone said more petitions are circulating. About 60 people attended a protest rally held against Divine Strake in St. George earlier this month. "I'm glad they're starting to listen to us," said St. George resident Hughette Nordin, who has actively campaigned against Divine Strake. "We won't give up." © 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 26 Guardian Unlimited: Senate Confirms Hayden As CIA Director From the Associated Press [UP] Saturday May 27, 2006 1:16 AM AP Photo NY118 By KATHERINE SHRADER Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Gen. Michael Hayden won confirmation to be the 20th CIA director Friday in a lopsided Senate vote, placing a career Air Force officer in charge of the civilian spy agency that is grappling with intelligence reform at home as well as al-Qaida and other international threats. The Senate approved Hayden in under three weeks by a vote of 78-15. He is expected to be sworn in next week. Breaking with the White House, Senate Judiciary Chairman Arlen Specter voted against the four-star general. The Pennsylvania Republican said he was protesting the administration's failure to inform Congress of intelligence operations, particularly its warrantless surveillance program. ``I have no quarrel with General Hayden,'' Specter said on the Senate floor. On the final day before a weeklong Memorial Day break, the Senate rushed through a string of nominations, including former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne as interior secretary, R. David Paulison as the new chief of the embattled Federal Emergency Management Agency and former U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. President Bush called Hayden a patriot and dedicated public servant whose experience makes him the right choice to head the CIA at a critical time. ``Winning the war on terror requires that America have the best intelligence possible, and his strong leadership will ensure that we do,'' Bush said of Hayden in a written statement. For just over a year, Hayden served as the top deputy to National Intelligence Director John Negroponte. He was National Security Agency director for the six years before that, beginning in 1999. Through that role, Hayden became a key figure in the debate about Bush's post-9/11 directive ordering the NSA to monitor - without court approval - the calls and e-mails of Americans when one party is overseas and terrorism is suspected. Hayden's defenders say he was relying on the advice of top government lawyers. Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., who voted against Hayden, praised his ability to distill complicated issues into clear briefings for policymakers. But Feingold said he has a problem with the Bush administration's surveillance, which he considers illegal. ``My concerns were about this administration's attitude about the law, which Gen. Hayden adopted,'' Feingold said in an interview. ``That is unacceptable to me.'' On Friday, Vice President Dick Cheney said at the Naval Academy's commencement that the program is ``fully consistent with the constitutional responsibilities and the legal authorities of the president.'' He called the program ``essential.'' Hayden, 61, is the first military officer to run the CIA in 25 years, when retired Adm. Stansfield Turner was in charge. Some lawmakers questioned whether now is the right time for a uniformed officer to head the CIA, as the Pentagon assumes an increasingly dominant role in intelligence collection and analysis. At his confirmation hearing, Hayden sought to assure lawmakers he would be independent from his military superiors, but he said he would consider how his uniform affects his relationship with CIA personnel. If it were to get in the way, he said, ``I'll make the right decision.'' The administration had to fill the CIA position after the sudden resignation on May 5 of Director Porter Goss, who had disputes with Negroponte and Hayden over the agency's direction. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., considers Hayden ``eminently qualified.'' He said most of his committee's members are not too concerned about Hayden or his relationship to the NSA program. ``He is probably recognized by Congress as the best briefer and the best person who has ever come to a hearing on intelligence,'' Roberts said. Among other confirmations: -Paulison has served as acting FEMA director since September, taking over the beleaguered agency two weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The way was cleared for his confirmation after Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., ended his stall on the nomination because of a dispute over the agency's flood insurance program. -Kempthorne's confirmation overcame objections from a small number of Democrats. The two-term Idaho governor and former Republican U.S. senator won approval on a voice vote after eight Democratic senators registered their opposition in an earlier test vote. -Portman, the U.S. trade representative and a former GOP congressman from Cincinnati, will succeed White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He was confirmed without opposition. -Susan Schwab's nomination to replace Portman as the president's top trade negotiator ran into trouble. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he bar a vote until Schwab - now a deputy trade representative - explained how the administration planned to get China to remove barriers that limit the ability of U.S. and other foreign financial service firms to do business in China. -White House aide Brett Kavanaugh, after a three-year wait, was confirmed on a 57-36 vote as a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, which has often served as a stepping stone to the Supreme Court. -Dale Klein, Gregory Jaczko and Peter Lyons were confirmed as members of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Bush plans to appoint Klein chairman of the commission. Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 27 WorldNetDaily: The best Congress money can buy Founded 1997 Sunday, May 28, 2006 Today's Edition [Supercritical Thoughts] [Gordon Prather] Posted: May 27, 2006 Ehud Olmert – who assumed the office of prime minister of Israel earlier this month – has just addressed a joint session of what some cynics have been referring to lately as The Best Congress Money Can Buy. That's the same Congress where House members voted overwhelmingly (361-37) the day before Olmert's address for a billdeclaring "it shall be U.S. policy that no U.S. government officer or employee shall negotiate or have substantive contacts with members or official representatives of Hamas" – the political party that just won 76 of the 132 seats in the Palestinian parliament – until it: + recognizes Israel's right to exist; + renounces the use of terrorism; + dismantles the infrastructure necessary to carry out terrorist acts, including disarming militias and elimination of all terror instruments; and + recognizes and accepts all previous Israel-PLO agreements and understandings. OK. Congresspersons – on behalf of their constituents – intend to prohibit "negotiations" and "substantive" contact by Americans with the Palestinians. Well, how about negotiating and/or having substantive contact with the Iranians? Nothing doing. After quoting Abraham Lincoln to the effect he had become a "success" because he once had an un-named friend who "believed" in him, Olmert allowedas how Israel is grateful that America "believes in us." What makes Olmert think we do? Said the prime minister: Iran, the world's leading sponsor of terror and a notorious violator of fundamental human rights, stands on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. With these weapons, the security of the entire world is put in jeopardy. We deeply appreciate America's leadership on this issue and the strong bipartisan conviction that a nuclear-armed Iran is an intolerable threat to the peace and security of the world. It cannot be permitted to materialize. This Congress has proven its conviction by initiating the Iran Freedom Support Act. We applaud these efforts. And well they might. Because the stated purpose of the Iran Freedom Support Act– which also passed overwhelmingly in the House – is "to hold the current regime in Iran accountable for its threatening behavior …" Threatening to whom? Well, according to Olmert, the United States and Israel: The radical Iranian regime has declared the United States its enemy. Its president believes it is his religious duty and his destiny to lead his country in a violent conflict against the infidels. With pride he denies the Jewish Holocaust and speaks brazenly, calling to wipe Israel off the map. For us, this is an existential threat. A threat to which we cannot consent. But it is not Israel's threat alone. It is a threat to all those committed to stability in the Middle East and the well-being of the world at large. So, the Iran Freedom Support Act declares that: efforts to bring a halt to the nuclear weapons program of Iran, including steps to end the supply of nuclear components or fuel to Iran, should be intensified, with particular attention focused on the cooperation regarding such program – (A) between the government of Iran and the government of the Russian Federation; and (B) between the government of Iran and individuals from China, Malaysia and Pakistan, including the network of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan Wow! Not only can we not have substantive contact with the Iranians; we're supposed to prevent the Russians, Chinese, Malaysians and Pakistanis from having substantive contact with them, too. Why do we have to ignore the dozens of resolutions the U.N. General Assembly passes each year to deal with the real crisis in the Middle East? And, why do we have to subvert the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the U.N. Charter, itself, to deal with a phony crisis? Well, according to Olmert, we have no choice: Mr. Speaker, our moment is NOW. History will judge our generation by the actions we take NOW … by our willingness to stand up for peace and security and freedom, and by our courage to do what is right. The international community will be measured not by its intentions but by its results. The international community will be judged by its ability to convince nations and peoples to turn their backs on hatred and zealotry. If we don't take Iran's bellicose rhetoric seriously now, we will be forced to take its nuclear aggression seriously later. That's scary, since Bush has already said that "the prime minister and I shared our concerns about the Iranian regime's nuclear weapons ambitions." And the world already knows how Bush deals with those he deems to have nuclear weapons ambitions. Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy implementing official for national security-related technical matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. He also served as legislative assistant for national security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. Dr. Prather had earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National Laboratory in New Mexico. ***************************************************************** 28 Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada blast plan implodes Article Last Updated: 05/27/2006 02:50:26 AM MDT Feds postpone test indefinitely to double-check the risks By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune WASHINGTON - Divine Strake, a massive explosives test originally planned for next month at the Nevada Test Site, has been put on hold. The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said Friday it was postponing the test - which entails detonation of 700 tons of explosives - so it can reassess the potential for radioactive contaminants left in the ground from earlier nuclear tests becoming airborne. Darwin Morgan, a spokesman at the Nevada Test Site, said the agency plans to do additional sampling at the blast site to measure background radiation in the soil. "We'll do the analysis of background radiation, what will happen as it's suspended into the dust cloud, and that will become part of our finding'' for the environmental assessment, Morgan said. The test will be put off until agency completes the new studies. Its findings could lead it to reaffirm its earlier decision of no significant impact or it could order even more in-depth environmental studies, leading to still further delays of the test. The decision comes after concerns were raised by Nevada environmental officials, Utah's U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Jim Matheson, and a lawsuit by Utah Downwinders, who blame deaths and illnesses on exposure to Cold War nuclear testing. "We have always been concerned about background radiation at the site. We have been repeatedly told, even during my staff's visit to the site, that this was not a concern," Hatch said in a statement. "But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified." Matheson said he became concerned after reading about "mushroom clouds" and low-yield nuclear weapons, and urged the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency to release all the health and safety data "so that people's fears about being once again exposed to radioactive contamination could be addressed." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., also had asked Defense Threat Reduction Agency to hold public meetings to answer questions about the test and is happy to hear about the delay and outreach effort. "It is incumbent upon the Department of Defense to take every possible precaution before going ahead with tests of this kind," said Reid spokeswoman Sharyn Stein. The Pentagon also has committed to holding public meetings in Utah and Nevada to answer questions about the tests. "Clearly the public wants to know, have a better understanding of that background radiation, what is going to happen to it," Morgan said. "There is a clear concern from the Downwinders and we understand that and we need to better explain it so they can understand it." The National Nuclear Security Administration already had issued a revised environmental assessment earlier this month and postponed the test from June 2 to sometime after June 23 after it was sued by the Utah Downwinders and a Nevada Indian tribe. "We need to make sure the concerns that have been raised have been satisfied before moving on with that," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah. The Divine Strake test entails the detonation of 700 tons of explosives. The goal is to measure the ground tremors that would be produced and use the information to build computer models to simulate explosions. Originally, Defense Department budget documents said that the test would help war planners choose the smallest possible nuclear weapon to destroy buried and fortified targets, but the Pentagon later said that the inclusion of the word "nuclear" in the document was a mistake. The blast would use explosives similar to those used in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, but the blast would be 280 times larger. It would also be nearly 50 times larger than the biggest known conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal and on par with the smallest U.S. nuclear weapons. That fact, along with efforts by the Bush administration to repeal a ban on development of low-yield nuclear weapons, prompted concern among nonproliferation advocates that the aim was to create new tactical nuclear weapons. Vanessa Pierce, program director at the Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, said it is hard to imagine that the soil at the test site wouldn't be contaminated from past nuclear testing, and the Friday announcement lends weight to those suspicions. "We hope the NNSA will conduct a thorough and independent analysis of the soil out there to ensure the public isn't put at risk by fallout from this test," Pierce said. That testing should be done by an entity outside of the Pentagon or Energy Department. "Ultimately, the safest way to protect health from any contaminated fallout would be to cancel the test altogether," she said. gehrke@sltrib.com Not so divine * What: A federal agency withdrew its finding that a huge explosives test planned for Nevada next month will have little environmental impact. * Next: Agencies will do additional studies to see if radioactivity already in the ground could cause environmental or health problems if it becomes airborne. * Possible outcomes: The agency could reaffirm its earlier decision of no significant impact or order more in-depth environmental studies that could delay the explosion even further. © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 29 Guardian Unlimited: Comment is free | The iceberg cometh Ministers may have wet feet before they confront the imminent dangers of climate change Peter Preston Monday May 29, 2006 The Guardian There is a bizarre hiatus here. On the one hand, our political masters suddenly take a very long view. If you're 18 today - as you read this - then you know how your pension will be configured half a century hence. And if you're worried about the security of the energy supply, whatever your age, that's high on Whitehall's agenda, too. Tony Blair will begin commissioning more nuclear power stations at the double: the rest of the 21st century is safe in his hands. Nobody is turning out the lights. But here, with the ominous crack of icebergs collapsing, comes the other hand. "Something almost unprecedented in the entire history of the human species" is happening, says one American expert. David Attenborough, patron saint of species everywhere, agrees. This is a "planetary emergency". The polar icecaps are melting. Indeed, the Arctic will be ice free this summer. Perhaps global average temperatures will be rising by three degrees over this century. Perhaps that means sea levels going up by as much as 0.88 of a metre. But perhaps - because such estimatess oscillate and usually accelerate - that's five degrees, maybe even seven degrees. Perhaps the Antarctic icecap is thawing at a rate of knots - and, as it does, the oceans will be five metres higher. Perhaps too, the year 2100 is much too relaxed a date with destiny. Try tipping points 25 years from now, or sooner still. I can quote from an avalanche of experts, all of them eager to underwrite forecasts of alarm, predictions that (among other unpleasant things) see low-lying coastlines submerged around the globe. And, of course, the government's own scientific adviser stands tall amongst them. Take the crisis as real, then. Take the steps needed to counter it as urgent, here, now. But also compare and contrast. Where will the next generation of nuclear power stations be built, pray? It's a small problem with a neat political escape route: on the sites of the older, decommissioned plants. No change: no problem. Yet stand on Suffolk's shores and look across at Sizewell B, to name but one. What happens there when the North Sea level rises? It's not a debate, it's a calculation: great swaths of eastern Britain, including this one, will lie beneath the waves - a fate threatening cities, towns, villages, farms. Consider London. Is there a property portfolio here propping up your pension fund? Pretend you're the Duke of Westminster, with half the Grosvenor Estates subject to flood. Pretend you're a prime minister wading across Downing Street, or David Attenborough heading for Portland Place by boat. Has Mr Speaker got his feet wet? Order, disorder! Even the more prudent projections of doom entail scenarios like these. But they also don't appear to figure on any agenda of "joined up" government thinking. Sometimes the joins are relatively visible, to be sure. When John Prescott, in earlier mode, recommends building thousands of homes in the Thames Gateway, the Environment Agency points out that he's chosen a flood plain and wonders if that's entirely bright. Exit Big John: though his dreams still live. But much of the time, relevant debate seems hopelessly stuck in separate little boxes. Remember New Orleans, flooded to the brink of destitution last year? It must be rebuilt and restored, so resolute politicians tell us: federal billions swill in. A few decades down the road, though, a swelling, threatening sea must inevitably put all this toil at obvious risk. When Greenland melts, the Gulf of Mexico also rises. There's some wan excuse for George Bush: he doesn't believe in global warming anyway. His advisers shrug away predictions of New York, Baltimore and other eastern seaboard cities struggling to survive. But New Orleans? How many times must it founder before reality bites? If climate change is certain and imminent, then official policy has to acknowledge that clearly. There will be more cities beneath the sea. There will be catastrophic economic repercussions, dragging down stock markets, pension schemes and much, much else. And there must at last be linkage. So far, from Kyoto to Rio, the argument about climate change has been conducted in its own box, with policies and targets that can be pursued - or not. What if they're not? Then the debate drifts on, seemingly too distant and variable to demand action. But if house prices in potential swamp regions are going down ... if related insurance policies are spiralling up ... if the Dow Jones and FTSE have the shakes ... Then the crisis is current, non-deferrable, joined to today and today's decisions. Or not... Time to join up, I think: and choose. preston@guardian.co.uk Newspapers Limited 2006. Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396 Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR ***************************************************************** 30 [NukeNet] SUNDAY--NPR'S MORNING EDITION -- Nuclear Relapse Date: Sat, 27 May 2006 21:03:58 -0700 NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net) FYI -- if you see this in time to tune in -- or see the web site... is focussed on Southeast Mary, I wanted to let you know that our story on nuclear power is tentatively scheduled to be broadcast this Sunday morning on our program "Weekend Edition." If you miss it on the radio, you can hear it later at www.npr.org. Thanks again for your help. Adam Hochberg Correspondent National Public Radio _______________________________________________ Rt-list mailing list Rt-list@main.nc.us http://main.nc.us/mailman/listinfo/rt-list _______________________________________________________________________ Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/ Change your settings or access the archives at: http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net ***************************************************************** 31 Independent: Concern over Labour cash gifts from nuclear industry By Andy McSmith Published: 27 May 2006 Labour has received thousands of pounds in donations from energy companies and lobbying firms linked to the nuclear industry. The cash donations give the pro-nuclear lobby access to decision makers, campaigners for the environment warned. Details published by the Electoral Commission showed that the money from nuclear interests flooded in as the government prepared for a review of long-term energy needs. The review is due to be published in July, but Tony Blair gave a strong indication of its outcome earlier this month, when he told the CBI that nuclear power was "back on the agenda with a vengeance". Donors included EDF Energy, which has 58 reactors across Europe. It gave Labour £6,000 last September. In the same month, Labour received £19,500 from the lobbying firm Weber Shadwick, whose clients include British Nuclear Fuels. Two weeks after Mr Blair's speech, the party was given £8,000 by Sovereign Strategy which represents the US nuclear firm Fluor. Sovereign, run by the former Labour MEP Alan Donnelly, gave another £5,875 on 30 January, seven days after the Government announced a review of energy needs. Powergen, which is owned by a German firm with nuclear stations in Germany and Sweden, is another past contributor to Labour. Jean McSorley, a nuclear campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "It's worrying to see cash donations made by the energy firms and lobbying companies and unions that have links to the nuclear industry." © 2006 Independent News and Media Limited ***************************************************************** 32 NEWS.com.au: Labor demands nuclear details - From: AAP May 28, 2006 LABOR has renewed its call for the Federal Government to reveal where future nuclear power stations or waste dumps could be sited. Prime Minister John Howard called for a national debate on nuclear energy and an expansion of uranium exports during a recent tour of North America and Ireland. Opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese today said Labor opposed nuclear power for Australia. He said debate about its merits was not new, and supporters of nuclear energy had not solved the problems of cost, safety, waste and proliferation. "If John Howard thinks nuclear energy is inevitable and clean, instead of a hypothetical debate, he should say where he'll put the nuclear reactors," Mr Albanese said. ***************************************************************** 33 Guardian Unlimited: Blair adviser calls for more nuclear power Press Association Monday May 29, 2006 The Guardian Nuclear power should supply around 30% of the UK's energy needs as part of the country's contribution towards tackling climate change, Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, said yesterday. At present the UK's 12 nuclear sites generate 19% of national energy consumption, but this is set to fall as ageing facilities shut. Restoring nuclear to its previous 30% share would require up to 20 new plants, funded by private money, not taxes, he said. Mr Blair recently signalled his support for the nuclear option, which he described as "back on the agenda with a vengeance". Useful link Green party of England and Wales Email us Email your comments for publication to politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk [UP] Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 34 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear policy old and dangerous - Labor - www.smh.com.au By Kerry-Anne Walsh May 28, 2006 PRIME Minister John Howard has returned to the past and dusted off an "old, dangerous and very expensive" nuclear energy proposal of Malcolm Fraser's, Labor says. Environment spokesman Anthony Albanese slammed the Prime Minister's borrowing of the 25-year-old policy of the former Fraser government as an "attempt to pretend he's taking action on climate change". Mr Howard ratcheted up his support for a "full-blooded debate" on the need for a homegrown nuclear energy industry on his recent trip to the US. In 1981, Liberal prime minister Malcolm Fraser also raised the prospect of an Australian nuclear power industry before the end of the century when he was visiting the US. Mr Fraser told a New York business dinner that a nuclear industry could be developed in Australia "in a sensible and modest way, designed to suit those parts of Australia where other forms of energy are more distant and expensive". He confidently predicted that Australia would have nuclear power by the end of the century. Mr Howard has based his push for debate on the need to explore cheaper energy options to sustain Australia in the future. It was inevitable Australia would have a nuclear industry and it could happen within a few decades, he has stated. "John Howard was Malcolm Fraser's treasurer and has waited 25 years to reveal his nuclear reactor plans for Australia," Mr Albanese said yesterday. "I know he'd like the public to help him forget he was treasurer in the Fraser government, but he clearly hasn't forgotten the policies". He said the debate over nuclear power had been around for decades but its proponents had not solved the intractable problems of economic cost, community safety, nuclear waste and nuclear proliferation. The Fraser government's Nuclear Energy Advisory Committee reported in June 1981, proposing sites for nuclear reactors. It advised the Government that it would have to give a firm assurance to the community that adequate financial compensation would be available if there was an accident in a nuclear power plant. After independent think-tank the Australia Institute last week floated possible sites, which included Port Stephens and Jervis Bay in NSW, Mr Albanese again challenged the Government to say where reactors would be located. "John Howard's nuclear reactor will have to be close to electricity users," he said. "Where in western Sydney will the reactor go? Where at Port Stephens? Where on the Central Coast? Where on the South Coast?" On Friday, the Government received a report by the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, revealing that a nuclear power station would be competitive with coal. Science Minister Julie Bishop is taking the report to cabinet for discussion. Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 35 Sydney Morning Herald: PM told to name nuclear reactor sites www.smh.com.au May 27, 2006 - 5:49PM Labor has challenged Prime Minister John Howard to start naming sites for nuclear reactors as part of the "full blooded" debate he wants on nuclear power in Australia. Labor leader Kim Beazley said a proper economic study of nuclear power cannot be done unless reactor sites are identified. "So John Howard's got to start naming sites," Mr Beazley told reporters in Terrigal on Saturday. "He's got to start including and excluding sites, and he's got to start it now if he is determined to have this debate of his. "For us, we're happy enough to hear the debate, but we've already made up our minds. No nuclear power for Australia." Mr Howard has responded that it is hypocritical to support the export of uranium from Australia, but oppose its use for power generation in Australia. © 2006 AAP ***************************************************************** 36 Sydney Morning Herald: Labor asks govt to reveal nuclear sites www.smh.com.au May 28, 2006 - 1:59PM Labor has renewed its call for the federal government to reveal where future nuclear power stations or waste dumps could be sited. Prime Minister John Howard called for a national debate on nuclear energy and an expansion of uranium exports during a recent tour of North America and Ireland. Opposition environment spokesman Anthony Albanese said Labor opposed nuclear power for Australia. He said debate about its merits was not new, and supporters of nuclear energy had not solved the problems of cost, safety, waste and proliferation. "If John Howard thinks nuclear energy is inevitable and clean, instead of a hypothetical debate, he should say where he'll put the nuclear reactors," Mr Albanese told reporters. © 2006 AAP Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. ***************************************************************** 37 Sydney Morning Herald: N-power plant would cost $400m to insure - www.smh.com.au By Stephanie Peatling May 29, 2006 THREE nuclear power stations would be needed to produce the same amount of energy created by existing and planned coal fired power stations, according to a brief summary of a report on nuclear power commissioned by the Federal Government. The report also warned that the increased likelihood of a terrorist attack on a nuclear power plant since September 11 meant any plant could require a $400 million insurance policy. The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation handed a 400-page report on nuclear power to the Government on Friday but yesterday made public only a five-page synopsis of its contents. The Opposition's science spokeswoman, Jenny Macklin, said any debate about nuclear power was "farcical" until the full report was released. The Minister for Science, Julie Bishop, would not comment on the contents of the report but promised to release it once she had distributed it to her cabinet colleagues. The report looks at two ways of starting a nuclear power plant - one with government funding and one without - and compares the cost of power produced by a nuclear power station with the cost of power produced by coal. It says the cost of nuclear power is only comparable to energy generated by coal-fired power stations if Australia waited to use technology until after it had been used elsewhere. Just one station would mean the initial costs would make nuclear power much more expensive. The report was done by Professor John Gittus, a consultant and engineer who teaches at the universities of London, Plymouth and Swansea. Professor Gittus estimated that the risk presented by an Australian nuclear power station was low but still 50 per cent higher after the terrorist attacks of September 11. Similar security assessments made by Professor Gittus for the governments of Britain, Canada and Japan resulted in insurance policies of $400 million for their power plants. The Federal Government has been promoting nuclear power as an immediate way of coping with global warming. But it is unlikely a nuclear power plant could be built for at least 15 years. The Opposition and environment groups say alternatives to fossil fuels must be increased now if the worst excesses of climate change are to be headed off. The full ANSTO report is expected to be submittedto an inquiry to be set up by the Prime Minister, John Howard. Mr Howard yesterday would not be drawn on whether the inquiry would investigate possible locations for any nuclear power plants, but it wouldexamine the feasibility of an Australian nuclear power industry as well as uranium mining and enrichment. "I don't know whether it's economically feasible to have nuclear power generation in this country, but I want to find out," Mr Howard said yesterday. Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- Four officials expected to influence the future of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste site were installed in key posts Friday by the Senate. The Senate confirmations unclogged personnel impasses at the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, enabling the Bush administration to move forward on nuclear power initiatives including the proposed Nevada repository. Edward "Ward" Sproat, a nuclear industry executive from Pennsylvania, was approved as director of the Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management at the Energy Department. The post makes him head of the Yucca Mountain Project. Dale Klein, a Defense Department assistant secretary, was confirmed to a five-year term as chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which will decide the safety of a Yucca repository based on an application expected at some point from DOE. Gregory Jaczko and Peter Lyons, who had been serving on the five-member NRC on temporary appointments, were extended to full terms. Frank "Skip" Bowman, president of the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the NRC appointments will allow the agency to work toward licensing new nuclear power plants "that will expand nuclear energy's role as a key component of the U.S. energy portfolio." The NRC officials were approved in a deal between the Bush administration, Senate Republicans and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., congressional officials said. Klein, a nuclear waste expert and former University of Texas professor and associate dean, was opposed by some officials in Nevada because he appeared in a series of television commercials funded by the nuclear industry during a Yucca Mountain public relations drive in the early 1990s. Reid and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., allowed Klein's appointment to go forward after a meeting this week in which the nominee pledged to be objective in weighing the proposed repository. The deal also allowed Reid to win full appointment for Jaczko, his former science adviser who handled Yucca Mountain matters. Lyons is a former aide to Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The Nevada senators concluded that they were not going to be happy with almost anybody the pro-Yucca Bush administration proposed for the NRC, and they accepted Klein to cement Jaczko's post, Senate sources said. "For that spot that Klein has, we are not going to get someone who says they hate Yucca Mountain," Reid said in an interview Wednesday. "The best we can get is somebody who will say they have an open mind, and (Klein) said that." Reid had blocked Sproat's confirmation since last November but removed his hold a week or so ago, spokeswoman Sharyn Stein said. That came after DOE agreed to give Reid a full copy of its investigation report into the Yucca Mountain e-mail scandal. A redacted copy of the report made public this month explored allegations that hydrologists with the U.S. Geological Survey authored e-mails discussing possible quality assurance document falsification at the site. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 45 reviewjournal.com: Reid secures deal for Kempthorne approval May 27, 2006 By STEVE TETREAULT
STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has given up its claim to millions of dollars from the bulging fund that holds profits from Southern Nevada public land sales, Sen. Harry Reid said Friday. The Nevada Democrat said he obtained a White House promise to lay off the windfall in order for former Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne to win confirmation as Interior secretary. Kempthorne was approved 85-8 on Friday and was sworn in by White House Chief of Staff Joshua Bolten soon afterward, with President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice present. "I said before that I couldn't support Governor Kempthorne's nomination unless we could come to an agreement about key public land issues," Reid, the Senate minority leader, said in a statement from his office. "I'm happy to say that we have. "The White House has agreed to honor the purpose of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act, and will not try to divert any funding away from the state of Nevada for the duration of this administration," another two years, Reid said. "Senator (John) Ensign and I have worked together in recent years to defeat multiple proposals that would have stolen Nevada's money," Reid said. "I'm pleased that these battles are now over." The Bush administration and lawmakers in Congress who write spending bills have cast covetous eyes on the fund created by the 1998 Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act. The law directed the Bureau of Land Management to set orderly auctions of excess federal land in Clark County, and to spend the profits entirely within the state. Because of skyrocketing land prices around fast-growing Las Vegas, the sales have generated $2.7 billion since 1999. Under the law, 85 percent of the proceeds have funded parks and trails and conservation improvements throughout the state. Portion also go to the Southern Nevada Water Authority and into the state education fund. Ensign cut a deal with the White House in January that would shield the Nevada fund this year, but not beyond that. When Gale Norton resigned as Interior secretary in March, she warned it is inevitable that federal executives and lawmakers would continue to try to siphon the lucrative account. The administration earlier proposed to redirect 70 percent of the profits back to the Treasury for deficit reduction. Norton argued there would be more than enough money left over to satisfy Nevada's needs. White House officials could not be reached for comment Friday night. Ensign had no immediate comment, and a Reid spokeswoman said no further details were available on the matter. Kempthorne overcame objections from a small number of Democrats in winning confirmation. The two-term Idaho governor and former Republican senator won approval on a voice vote after eight Democratic senators registered their opposition in an earlier test vote. Kempthorne told senators earlier this month he was eager to expand oil and gas development on public lands and waters that already are producing 30 percent of the nation's domestic supply of energy. Bush said Kempthorne would work to effectively manage national parks, support historic and cultural sites and pursue energy development that would treat the environment responsibly. Kempthorne, 54, becomes steward of one-fifth of the nation's land and head of an agency with a $9 billion budget and 80,000 employees. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 46 toledoblade.com: Fermi II nuke plant to be back online next week Article published Saturday, May 27, 2006 NEWPORT, Mich. — Detroit Edison Co.’s Fermi II nuclear plant in northern Monroe County is expected to go back online sometime next week, a utility spokesman said yesterday. Fermi II was taken offline a week ago to replace a leaky fuel rod, days after the plant had been restarted following normal refueling and planned improvements. Spokesman John Austerberry said the repair work is on schedule. The utility chose to do the work now rather than wait until the peak summer demand for electricity. Fermi II’s reactor core has 63,304 fuel rods bundled into 764 fuel assemblies, an average of 74 to 92 rods per bundle. The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660 , (419) 724-6000 ***************************************************************** 47 Boston Globe: Pilgrim workers launch search for two lost radioactive parts - By Carolyn Y. Johnson, Globe Staff | May 28, 2006 PLYMOUTH -- Workers at the Pilgrim nuclear plant were searching last week for two small pieces of radioactive equipment reported missing on Monday . Two ballpoint pen-size neutron detectors -- moved from the reactor core to the spent fuel pool in the mid-1980s -- could not be found during a recent housekeeping clean up, according to Pilgrim spokesman David Tarantino . The detectors are radioactive, but do not pose a safety threat to the public, officials said, because they are almost certainly somewhere in the spent fuel pool -- just not where officials thought they were -- or they were sent to a low-level radioactive waste facility in Barnwell, S.C., and the transfer was not properly recorded. Each contains less than .003 grams of uranium-235. That's not enough to make a weapon, and there is no reason to suspect the material was stolen, Tarantino said. ``We're talking about a small quantity of material, but it's something we take very seriously," said Neil Sheehan , a spokesman for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, who said it was too early to know whether the plant would face a fine or other penalty. ``It's unusual (and unacceptable ) for a plant to lose track of nuclear material, especially special nuclear material like uranium-235," Sheehan wrote in an e-mail. The standards, he said, are clear: ``They need to know all the time what they have in there, and keep very good track. . . . What this boils down to is the whole issue of accountability." David Lochbaum , director of the nuclear safety project at the Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group based in Cambridge, agreed that the missing devices are not a threat to the public because they would have triggered sensors at the plant if they had been removed. Such detectors are extremely radioactive when they are removed from the reactor, as these were two decades ago, but by now they would be emitting roughly the equivalent of a chest X-ray, according to Lochbaum. The detectors were used to measure power levels in the reactor. In recent years, the NRC has asked plants to tighten accountability for small pieces of equipment that may be stored in the spent fuel pool, according to Lochbaum . A `` Pandora's box" was opened, he said, when the Millstone 1 nuclear plant in Connecticut reported that two spent fuel rods were missing in 2000. The plant, which is now permanently shut down, was fined $288,000. Last summer, the NRC issued a ``severity level three" violation to the Vermont Yankee power plant because two pieces of spent fuel rods were reported missing, although they were later found. In December of last year, the Humboldt Bay Unit 3 nuclear power plant in California was fined $96,000 for losing segments of a fuel rod that were reportedly removed from the reactor in 1968. ``The good news is people are now looking to get their arms around the problem and do the tracking," Lochbaum said. Because plants are tracking the contents of their spent fuel pool more assiduously now, they will have a complete inventory. ``Knowing is better than being in the dark." Said Tarantino : ``The reporting requirements weren't as stringent" in the 1980s ``as they are today. We don't believe they left the plant, and are continuing to look for them." Results of the plant's internal investigation of the spent fuel pool will be released Tuesday, he said. What do you think? 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. More: ***************************************************************** 48 BlueOregon: Clean nuclear power? Same ol' song and dance. BlueOregon is a place for progressive Oregonians to gather 'round the water cooler and share news, commentary, and gossip. Learn more about BlueOregon and meet our contributors. Find Oregon progressives: advertise on BlueOregon This site is published by Kari Chisholm at Mandate Media, but copyright to and responsibility for all posts and comments are owned by their respective authors. Obviously, the posts and comments here are the views of their authors, and not of anyone else. While we're strong believers in free speech, we reserve the right to delete comment spam or other offensive material. Our contributors, however, reserve the right to embarass themselves in public. Sponsorship of BlueOregon (above) does not imply an endorsement of every post or comment on BlueOregon - and BlueOregon does not endorse the sponsors above. We do, however, reserve the right to reject ads for any reason. Clean nuclear power? Same ol' song and dance. Russell Sadler The media coyly called it the “Trojan Implosion.†It was a controlled demolition of the 500-foot cooling tower that loomed as a landmark over the lower Columbia River for nearly 30 years at the site of now-defunct Trojan Nuclear Power Plant. The demolition of the cooling tower was an inconvenient reminder that Trojan was sold as a “clean, inexhaustible†supply of electric power in the 1970s. It went on line in 1976 after a protracted political battle over nuclear energy’s safety and economics. It was expected to produce power for 30 years or more. Trojan’s owner, Portland General Electric, shut it down just 17 years later in 1993, not because of environmental or safety concerns, but because of economics. The utility learned that the corrosion inside the reactor’s cooling system was so severe that the plumbing would have to be replaced. It would be so costly that Trojan could no longer generate affordable electricity. So PGE shut it down. Trojan’s ratepayers are still paying off the 30-year bonds sold to build the plant even though it has not produced electricity for 13 years. Trojan cost about $400 million to build in 1976. It is costing ratepayers $410 million to decommission the plant. The reactor and its associated radioactive machinery went first. Encased in concrete and lead, it was dropped on barges and hauled up river to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington. The stately parade had a funereal air. The barge, pushed by a tugboat, was followed by a Navy grey warship, operated by a private contractor, constantly sniffing the air for any escaping radiation. Last week, the huge cooling tower came down. But decommissioning is not done. Every year over its 17-year life span, Trojan was shut down for a month or so while technicians replaced one-third of the fuel rods in its reactor core. These radioactive fuel rods were supposed to be moved to a federal nuclear waste repository for reprocessing and safe storage. But the promised federal repository never materialized. The official repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada hasn’t opened because of public opposition. So spent radioactive fuel rods have accumulated at every nuclear power plant in the country, stored in basins of water, from the time each plant began producing electricity. At Trojan, there are 17 years of spent fuel rods, accumulated in a glorified swimming pool, on the flood plain of the lower Columbia River, sitting on an earthquake fault with no serious plans to move them in the foreseeable future. The legacy of the Atomic Age has not been kind to the Pacific Northwest. The Hanford Nuclear Reservation is a product of the Manhattan Project, the super-secret effort to build the atomic bomb during World War II. Plutonium from Hanford was in one of the two bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, persuading the Japanese to surrender and ending World War II. During the war, officials at Hanford deliberately released radioactive gas from Hanford to see where the wind currents would carry it. Decades later thousand of people who had lived downwind were treated for or were dying of cancer -- usually thyroid cancer -- attributed to the radioactive releases. After the war, Hanford became a facility for producing more material for atomic and hydrogen bombs. It also became a repository for high-level radioactive waste from all over the country. Radioactive material is highly corrosive. It has eaten through the tanks designed to hold it and it is leaching into the water table below Hanford. A plume of radioactive water is advancing on the Columbia. The federal government is years behind and billions of dollars short doing what it promised to stop the leaks and clean up the ground water. No one is sure what the consequences will be if radioactive tritium reaches the Columbia and heads for the sea. There is also the saga of the Washington Public Power Supply System, aptly nicknamed Whoops! WPPSS began construction of five nuclear powerplants in the 1970s. Only one ever generated electricity. The other four were doomed by huge cost overruns when construction was stopped in 1982, resulting in the largest public bond default in history -- $2.25 billion. The Northwest has not built a new thermal power plant in decades and is not running out of electricity. Why? It’s the accelerated construction of wind farms in Eastern Oregon and Washington, conservation of electricity we already generate and more efficient use of the hydropower generated in the region. The long, tragic history of incompetence in the nuclear industry and government has made the Pacific Northwest skeptical. You will forgive us, please, if their PR offensive hailing a “revival†of “clean†nuclear power sounds like the same old song and dance. May 28, 2006 | Russell Sadler Permalink: Clean nuclear power? Same ol' song and dance. Posted by: Ginny Ross - DFO | May 28, 2006 9:10:38 AM Trojan's gone. Hurray for NW activists who were able to pull it off. I think the real insight to be gained from this implosion is to compare it to the collapse of WTC 7, another building that was brought down by controlled demolition. Posted by: anonymous | May 28, 2006 9:43:53 AM I understand that it is possible to condense radioactive waste to a solid form, and that the consolidation of all condensed waste in the USA, from all nuclear power plants that have operated in the U.S., would be small enough to fit in a container the size of a high school gymnasium. The problem is that technology of this sort has only been dangled before voters as a means of enticing them to support nuclear energy. The actual cost of appropriate nuclear waste storage has never seriously been incorporated into the financial analysis of building a nuclear power plant. Citizens have no reason to trust the nuclear power industry and no reason to trust the US Government to appropriately regulate it. Therefore, the true potential of nuclear power has never fully been realized. I would support nuclear power IF and ONLY IF, it was legislated under criminal penalties, that nuclear power plants must pay a federal tax that is exclusively dedicated to proper consolidation and storage of nuclear waste, subject to citizen audits, on demand. THEN and ONLY THEN will the public get a clear accounting of the costs of safe nuclear production, to weigh in its consideration of bond measures for nuclear power production. Posted by: Ross Williams | May 28, 2006 9:52:13 AM Trojan’s owner, Portland General Electric, shut it down just 17 years later in 1993, not because of environmental or safety concerns, but because of economics. The utility learned that the corrosion inside the reactor’s cooling system was so severe that the plumbing would have to be replaced. It would be so costly that Trojan could no longer generate affordable electricity. So PGE shut it down. I think this is only in part true. They were also faced with a ballot measure that was well-financed by Marilyn and Jerry Wilson of Soloflex. That measure, if passed, would have transferred the costs of closing the plant and storing the waste from it to PGE's stockholders. It was only after the measure got on the ballot that PGE announced Trojan's closure and they used the promise of closure to defeat the ballot measure. Because of the way electrical facilities are financed, PGE was able to make a profit (return on investment) from Trojan even after the plant was closed. I believe they also got approval for investments in natural gas powered generation facilities to replace it - paid for by ratepayers with an additional return on investment for PGE. In short, Trojan was highly profitable for PGE. It was just expensive for their customers. Posted by: Jonathan Poisner | May 28, 2006 12:10:24 PM Russell, Another great post. But there's one point in your post that I think misses the point. You write: The official repository under Yucca Mountain in Nevada hasn’t opened because of public opposition. While public opposition in Nevada has been fierce, Yucca Mountain hasn't opened because it's not safe and engineers have yet to be shown it can be safe for its intended purpose. For one of many articles in this subject, check out: http://www.wsws.org/articles/2005/apr2005/yucc-a06.shtml Nuclear power has and never would make financial sense without massive federal subsidies in the form of legislation limiting liability for any nuclear disaster and without taxpayers picking up the tab for waste storage. Conservation, wind, and solar power are far cheaper non-fossil fuel resources that won't saddle our great, great grandkids with the ongoing costs of storing dangerous waste and don't contribute to global warming. Posted by: Clackablog | May 28, 2006 3:54:36 PM Ross Williams wrote on May 28, 2006 9:52:13 AM: ***************************************************************** 49 Comment is free: Creating a climate for change > [Stephen Tindale] The BBC's climate chaos season shows Britain is ready to act on global warming. Al Gore's film is moving the US in a similar direction. May 27, 2006 10:23 AM | [Hay Festival] Next Monday Al Gore will do a star turn at the Hay festival (you can watch him at 7pm GMT). His film, An Inconvenient Truth, is on release in the US and was well received at Cannes - it opens in the UK later in the summer. The man who "used to be the next president of the United States," as he introduces himself, the famously wooden politician, has reinvented himself as a passionate environmental campaigner. Or rather, he has re-reinvented himself. He has been an effective environmental advocate before, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, before he became vice president. His book Earth in the Balance, published then, remains one of the best books on the subject of climate change. It might seem churlish to point out, then, that his record in office was pretty poor. Yes he played an important part in negotiating the Kyoto Protocol. But the Clinton administration never tried to get it ratified by the Senate, and Gore himself seemed to show little interest in climate policy while in the White House. US greenhouse gas emissions rose dramatically between 1992 and 2000. Still, belated commitment to a cause is better than no commitment. And Gore is clearly doing something right, because he's got the rabid free enterprise fanatics and climate deniers really hot under the collar. Gore has been compared to Goebbels and accused of wanting to destroy the US economy through "socialist regulation". The Exxon-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute has made TV ads in praise of carbon dioxide, with the memorable pay-off line "they call it pollution, we call it life". Hysterical reactions like these show that the rabid right wing knows it is losing the battle on climate change. Reality can be evaded for only so long. This is the most heartening development of recent years - indeed pretty much the only heartening development, since the news from the natural world and the scientific community has been unremittingly bad. To see how much debate has shifted, just look at the BBC's current climate chaos season. Up until a couple of years ago, a lazy interpretation of the Corporation's commitment to balance, plus a tendency to prioritise "good TV" over truth, meant that every time one of the 99.9% of scientists who accepted human influence on the climate was interviewed, they would be "balanced" by one of the 0.1% - almost all of them industry funded - who claimed not to. Now we have a season dedicated to raising public awareness of an acknowledged crisis, spearheaded by David Attenborough's masterly documentary Are We Changing Planet Earth? The answer the great man gives, for anyone who didn't see it, is an unequivocal yes. Attenborough's second programme, on next Thursday, will cover the solutions. That's important, because there is plenty we can still do to avoid the worst impacts, and much of it wouldn't even be that painful. This is something Gore doesn't really cover, leaving him open to the accusations that he wants to shut down the American economy. The climate debate in the UK has now matured from "is there a problem?" to "what should be done about it". The debate about nuclear power, which even the protagonists find quite stale and repetitive, is part of this. The US debate is some years behind, but thanks to Gore it is at last moving in the right direction. • Al Gore will be speaking at the Guardian Hay festival at 7pm GMT on Monday May 29. You can watch the man who might have been president . Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006. Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396 Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR ***************************************************************** 50 JS Online: Nuclear plant alert cleared by agency Journal Sentinel Kewaunee reactors are back in service; firm replaces top official By THOMAS CONTENT tcontent@journalsentinel.comPosted: May 26, 2006 The operators of the Kewaunee nuclear plant took actions that were "appropriate" when they took the unusual step of declaring an alert, mobilizing state and local emergency personnel, while the plant was being shut down for repairs last month, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission says. The Kewaunee nuclear plant, which shut down April 26, returned to service this week and was generating electricity at full power on Thursday, said plant spokesman Joe Reid of Dominion Resources Inc. The plant was restarted on Tuesday, with NRC inspectors observing in the control room, the agency said. Separately, Dominion told the NRC earlier this month that it replaced the top official at Kewaunee. Leslie Hartz is the new site vice president at Kewaunee, replacing Mike Gaffney, "who has left the utility to pursue other career interests." The change was unrelated to the shutdown that triggered the alert, Reid said. Hartz has been Dominion's vice president of nuclear engineering since 1998. She is already familiar with the plant, as she was part of a four-person transition team of Dominion employees who came to Wisconsin several years ago after the sale to Dominion was announced, Reid said. The return to service means all three of Wisconsin's nuclear reactors are operating as a weekend with summerlike temperatures approaches. Last year, the Kewaunee and one of the two Point Beach reactors were out of service on Memorial Day weekend. Together, the state's three reactors supply about one-fifth of Wisconsin's electricity. In recent weeks, the NRC has conducted two special inspections at the Kewaunee plant, which Dominion, based in Richmond, Va., bought last year from Wisconsin Public Service Corp. of Green Bay and Wisconsin Power & Light Co. of Madison. In the first incident, the NRC was reviewing why Dominion decided to declare an alert. The alert was declared after the reactor failed to shut down automatically when a plant water-cooling system stopped working. The NRC said Dominion "responded appropriately" to the unexpected failure of the water pump, and that inspectors said the decision to declare an alert was "appropriate." This month, a separate problem triggered an inspection when plant operators attempting to restart the plant failed to follow proper procedures. Dominion "determined that the operating crew performed the start-up procedural steps out of sequence," the NRC said in a notice posted on its Web site this week. After that incident, Dominion began its own review of what went wrong. That review is still proceeding, Reid said. Before the plant was permitted to restart, Dominion revised its procedures and then retrained all of Kewaunee's operators, supervisors and shift managers, Reid said. The operators then practiced using the new procedures in the Kewaunee plant's control room simulator, Reid said. Viktoria Mitlyng, an NRC spokeswoman, said the agency's final conclusions about the incidents will be included in reports that are scheduled to be issued in the next 30 to 45 days. A preliminary assessment about the start-up problem found that Dominion's actions afterward were "adequate," the NRC said. From the May 27, 2006 editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Journal Sentinel Inc. is a subsidiary of Journal Communications. ***************************************************************** 51 Scotsman.com: UK - Call for new nuclear plants to create 30% of UK's energy [Scotsman.com News] Monday, 29th May 2006 HAMISH MACDONELL BRITAIN'S nuclear capacity should be increased by 20 new nuclear power stations so it can provide a third of the country's energy needs, Sir David King, Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser, claimed yesterday. But Sir David rejected suggestions new taxes would be needed to pay for a fresh generation of nuclear power stations, insisting it would be for the money markets to decide if they want to invest in them. At present, the UK's 12 nuclear sites generate about 19 per cent of national energy consumption, but this is set to fall as ageing facilities are closed. In Scotland, nuclear energy provides 34 per cent of energy capacity and this could be maintained for the next 15 years at least if, as expected, the licences of the existing stations at Hunterston and Torness are extended for a further decade. But England is much more reliant on fossil fuel-powered generation, making the nuclear issue a much more pressing concern south of the Border. The Prime Minister recently signalled his support for the nuclear option, which he described as "back on the agenda with a vengeance". However, Sir David said he did not believe a final decision would be made until after the publication of the government's energy review, expected in July, and the report of the Stern Commission on climate change. New nuclear stations, combined with increased renewable energy generation, would allow the UK to move towards its 2050 target of a 60 per cent cut in the use of the fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas, which are blamed for global warming, Sir David said. Asked what proportion of Britain's energy needs should be supplied by nuclear, Sir David said: "Around 30 per cent. We would then have baseline energy through the year from nuclear plus renewables and can then diminish our dependence on fossil fuels. It also means in terms of security of supply that we have a better range of sources." Reports earlier this year suggested Sir David supported a levy on taxpayers of as much as £170 a year per family to pay for new nuclear plants. But he said: "This isn't going to be government using public money to build new nuclear power stations. It depends on whether the City or the markets think nuclear is going to be one of the sensible ways of producing a government policy which is very clearly determined to be 60 per cent cut in emissions by 2050." ©2006 Scotsman.com| contact ***************************************************************** 52 Burlington Free Press: My Turn: Making policy on Vermont Yankee Opinion burlingtonfreepress.com | Burlington, Vermont Published: Friday, May 26, 2006 By Rep. Steve Darrow At the end of last year’s legislative session a bill passed that allowed Entergy to use “dry casks” to store high level nuclear waste from Vermont Yankee (VY), by petitioning the Public Service Board for a Certificate of Public Good. Many Vermonters were unhappy with both last minute changes that weakened the original bill, and how those changes were made. One of the biggest changes was that while Entergy had to return to the Legislature to get approval for more dry cask storage in order to operate after 2012, the Legislature would not vote on relicensing. Relicensing of VY would have been left to the Public Service Board. Whether VY should continue to operate after 2012 is an enormous policy issue that should be made by elected officials, not by three regulators who are political appointees. The Legislature makes policy. The job of regulators is to implement policy. This year, Senators Jeanette White, Rod Gander and Mark McDonald introduced S.124 to remedy the situation. With Sen. Peter Welch’s leadership, S.124 passed the Senate. On the House side, our committee, House Natural Resources and Energy, substantially strengthened the bill. The bill is designed to ensure that there is adequate fact finding and public engagement in one of the most critical decisions facing Vermont’s economy, environment and public health. S.124, now called Act 160, requires the Department of Public Service(DPS) to arrange for studies to be conducted which will assist the Legislature and create a public engagement process. The DPS will do this “in consultation with” the Joint Energy Committee, which consists of eight senators and representatives. We would have preferred that the Joint Energy Committee have veto power over the DPS, but this would have created a constitutional separation of powers issue that could have ended up in court. The objectives of the studies will be: Ö to assess the long term economic and environmental benefits, risks and costs of continued operation of VY and the storage of nuclear waste, Ö to assess all practical alternatives to the continued operation of VY, and Ö to facilitate a public discussion of the long term economic andenvironmental issues related to the operation of VY. The studies will collect information on and analyze: Ö long term accountability and financial responsibility for theongoing guardianship of the onsite nuclear waste, closure obligations, dates of completion, and assurance of funds to ensure that these obligations and dates are met, Ö federal obligations, and the availability of funds if those obligations are not kept, Ö funding for emergency management and evacuation planning both before and after closure, and Ö long term environmental, economic and public health risks related to dry cask storage and decommissioning options. Act 160 sets the stage for a comprehensive and informed societal and legislative discussion of the long term economic and environmental risks and benefits of the continued operation of VY and the long-term storage of high level nuclear waste in Vermont. There will be a minimum of three public meetings held around the state. If the Legislature approves relicensing, then Entergy may petition the Public Service Board for a certificate of public good. The Board will use the information gathered in the legislature’s process, as well as information outlined in section 248. The Board will also have to use current assumptions and analyses and not extensions of the cost benefit assumptions and analyses forming the basis of the original license. The Legislature will be considering this policy question of continued operation of VY and increased amounts of high level nuclear waste in the next biennium. That means that the legislators who are elected this November will be making the decision. Rep. Steve Darrow represents Windham and serves on the House Natural Resources and Energy committee. Copyright ©2006 Burlingtonfreepress.com All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 53 Brattleboro Reformer: How safe is safe? Reformer.com Friday, May 26 On Wednesday, President Bush took a tour of the Limerick Generating Station, a nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, about 40 miles from Philadelphia. The trip was another opportunity for the Bush administration to tout nuclear energy as being abundant, safe, affordable and clean. Meanwhile, Wednesday night, there was an "unusual event" at Vermont Yankee. An electrical problem with one of the nuclear plant's cooling pumps triggered the switching room's fire extinguishing system to go off. No one was in danger, but when we heard the police scanner sounding multiple tones in the Reformer newsroom Wednesday night and heard the words "unusual event" and "this is not a drill," admittedly, we felt a chill. This was the third significant electrical incident that has occurred at Vermont Yankee in the last two years. Fortunately, none has been a threat to public safety. But with each mishap in Vernon, the tension grows. How safe are we? How safe is the plant? And will more incidents occur as the plant started running at 120 percent of its original generating capacity? We've been repeatedly reassured that the plant can handle its so-called "uprate," and that it can safely run for another 20 years. But "events" keep happening at the plant, and they erode the trust and confidence area residents might still have that Vermont Yankee is safe. Nights like Wednesday -- when, for about an hour, we weren't totally sure that the "unusual event" was just a minor mishap -- make Bush's rhetoric on nuclear energy seem ridiculous. The arguments about nuclear energy being safe, clean and affordable disappear when you run into its biggest flaw -- what to do with the tens of thousands of tons of radioactive waste. While the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday night voted to fully fund the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump in Nevada, after years of reduced spending on the program, Yucca has yet to receive a license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It is years behind schedule and there is no firm date for its completion. Meanwhile, the waste keeps piling up and it looks increasingly like there is going be a nuclear waste dump in Vernon. That is because the spent fuel from Vermont Yankee will be eventually encased in concrete "dry casks" to sit and wait for transport to a facility that may never open. "Nuclear power helps us protect the environment and nuclear power is safe," Bush said Wednesday. Few in Windham County would say that statement is true, and fewer still would agree after the latest mishap. » (802) 254-2311 » 62 Black Mountain Road » Brattleboro, VT 05301-9242 ***************************************************************** 54 Salt Lake Tribune: Test explosion in Nevada put on indefinite hold Article Last Updated: 05/26/2006 02:57:24 PM MDT By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune WASHINGTON -- Divine Strake, a massive explosives test originally planned for next month, has been put on indefinite hold. The National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday it was postponing the test -- which entails detonation of 700 tons of explosives at the Nevada Test Site -- so it can address concerns raised that Divine Strake could spew radioactive contaminants from earlier nuclear tests into the air. Questions about the test were raised by Nevada environmental officials, Sen. Orrin Hatch and Rep. Jim Matheson, and in a lawsuit that includes Utah Downwinders, who were sickened by fallout from Cold War nuclear testing. "We have always been concerned about background radiation at the site. We have been repeatedly told, even during my staff's visit to the site, that this was not a concern," Sen. Orrin Hatch said in a statement. "But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified." National Nuclear Security Administration said Friday that it would withdraw its original finding that the test would not have any significant environmental impact so it can provide additional information regarding "background levels of radiation." "After reading comments about 'mushroom clouds' and 'low yield nuclear weapons', I was greatly concerned, and expressed as much to the director of DTRA [Defense Threat Reduction Agency]," Matheson said in a statement. "I advised him to put all the health and safety data out on the table so that people's fears about being once again exposed to radioactive contamination could be addressed. I am very pleased to see that these agencies have acted on my advice." The agency said it will determine how to best proceed after it decides how to address the questions raised by interested parties. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said there was no harm in postponing the test. "We need to make sure the concerns that have been raised have been satisfied before moving on with that," he said. Divine Strake was originally scheduled for June 2, but was postponed after the Pentagon and the National Nuclear Security Administration were sued by the Utah Downwinders and a Nevada Indian tribe. The test entails the detonation of 700 tons of explosives. The goal is to measure the ground tremors that would be produced by such a blast, and use the information to build computer models to simulate explosions. Originally, Defense Department budget documents said that the test would help war planners choose the smallest possible nuclear weapon to destroy buried and fortified targets, but the Pentagon later said that the inclusion of the word "nuclear" in the document was a mistake. The blast would use explosives similar to those used in the bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building, but the blast would be 280 times larger. It would also be nearly 50 times larger than the biggest known conventional weapon in the U.S. arsenal and on par with the smallest U.S. nuclear weapons. That fact, along with efforts by the Bush administration to repeal a ban on development of low-yield nuclear weapons, prompted concern from nonproliferaion advocates that the aim was to create new tactical nuclear weapons. © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 55 Spectrum: Sunday protest still on St. George UT. - www.thespectrum.com - By BRIAN PASSEY bpassey@thespectrum.com ST. GEORGE - With the ghosts of the Cold War-era atomic testing still haunting communities throughout the West, many residents are ready to fight the government this time around. From small, rural protests to a large-scale demonstration Sunday at the Nevada Test Site 150 miles west of St. George, survivors of above-ground nuclear testing in the desert 50 years ago are trying to stop a large non-nuclear explosion they fear will once again send radioactive particles from the soil raining down on their communities. That explosion was delayed indefinitely Friday, but the Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency still has plans to explode 700 tons of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil at the Nevada Test Site. Though the effects of the test, code-named Divine Strake, could mimic a small nuclear weapon, agency officials have stressed that it is not a nuclear blast. But those who say the government lied about the testing in the 1950s and 1960s are less trusting when it comes to Divine Strake. A large demonstration is planned for Sunday on the southern border of the test site near Mercury, Nev. Nearly 40 environmental, human rights, American Indian and peace groups have joined the coalition sponsoring the protest. Organizers expect at least 1,000 people to attend from as far away as Georgia and Pennsylvania. Citizen Alert, a Nevada-based environmental justice organization, and the Western Shoshone Defense Project joined together in planning the large demonstration for three reasons: Possible health hazards from contaminated soil, the chance Divine Strake could lead to renewed nuclear testing and claims from the Western Shoshone tribe that the test would violate ancestral lands. Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of Citizen Alert, said a goal of Sunday's demonstration is to convince the government to do a more complete environmental impact study. So far, federal officials have only completed a less-demanding environmental assessment for the test. "We're saying, 'Prove to us you're not lying now,'" said Johnson, who lives in Las Vegas. "The government has the opportunity to bring back some of the trust they lost." Despite the worries of downwind residents, the government maintains the test - which was scheduled for June 23 prior to Friday's announcement - will be safe. "The Divine Strake experiment will not include any radioactive materials," Irene Smith, DTRA spokeswoman, said Wednesday. "Surveys conducted in the area directly affected by the Divine Strake experiment confirm the lack of any surface contamination." Smith said it is unlikely that significant dust from the blast would travel beyond the boundaries of the test site. The National Nuclear Security Administration will also monitor the air following the blast to assure downwind residents there is no risk. The Cold War-era atomic testing created a group of people known as Downwinders, who attribute reported increases in cancer and other diseases to the testing. According to the test's environmental assessment, the blast location is only 1.1 miles away from the closest concentration of surface radiation remaining from the atomic testing. That is a little too close for comfort for downwinders nervous about the powerful blast shooting radioactive particles into the atmosphere. One downwinder, Michelle Thomas, referred to the test as "unfriendly fire," saying she refuses to trust the same government that assured downwind residents that the Cold War-era testing was safe. "I'm not nearly as afraid of the terrorists as I am of being terrorized by my own country at this point," Thomas said. "I'm not sure Iran knows where Utah is, but I can guarantee Washington does." Small protests already have occurred in southern Nevada and Utah. A group of downwinders and members of the Western Shoshone tribe also sued the government in an attempt to stop the blast. The lawsuit bought protesters some needed time as the blast, originally planned for June 2, was delayed until June 23 at the earliest. It is unclear whether Friday's announcement of an additional delay will change that date significantly. A May 13 protest in St. George drew 70 people. And now at least 600 local residents have signed their names to petitions asking Utah's senators to fight the planned explosion. Petitions are also circulating through other areas in the West. Thomas, who spoke at the local protest, is not planning to travel to Sunday's demonstration at the test site because she said it would be too "emotionally disturbing" to go there. She does plan to continue supporting local events and speaking out against the test. "For those of us who grew up here, we're just trying on a regular basis to go to our chemotherapy, our radiation and our funerals for our loved ones," she said. "Now I'm not so much fighting for my own life - they've already poisoned me - but I'm sure as hell going to fight for the little children." Not all residents see health risks in the planned blast. Daniel Miles, a former physics professor who was born and raised in St. George, argues that humans live with radiation around them every day. Even if contaminated soil at the site is disrupted during the blast, Miles said it would not be harmful. "I can't see any risk at all," he said. Miles also said that accounts of Southern Utah life during the atomic testing are myths. These include stories of doctors removing thyroid glands from elementary school students and radioactive fallout forming like snow on the cars. Miles said the "fantastic stories" only began when lawyers came to town in response to the atomic testing. Originally published May 27, 2006 Print this article Email ***************************************************************** 56 Spectrum: Bomb test delayed indefinitely St. George UT. - www.thespectrum.com - By BRIAN PASSEY ST. GEORGE - Federal officials announced Friday that Divine Strake, the 700-ton non-nuclear fuels explosion scheduled for this summer at the Nevada Test Site, has been delayed indefinitely. The Nevada Site Office of the National Nuclear Security Administration announced it will withdraw its finding of "no significant impact," which it issued following an environmental assessment of Divine Strake. A news release from the administration said the action was to "clarify and provide further information regarding background levels of radiation from global fallout in the vicinity of the Divine Strake experiment." Many residents downwind of the test site are concerned the large blast could spread radioactive particles left over from Cold War-era atomic testing at the site. Due to a lawsuit aimed at stopping the test, the detonation was postponed from its original date of June 2 until June 23 at the earliest. The NNSA's announcement Friday indicates that the test will be delayed until an even later date. But Darwin Morgan, test site spokesman, said Friday that federal officials have not yet determined if the new test date will be later than June 23. The news release indicated the NNSA will determine how to best proceed with the test as the Nevada Site Office takes the appropriate steps to address stakeholder concerns about the blast. Both Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, released statements Friday in support of the delay. Matheson said the decision was in keeping with his request for more research into potential environmental hazards from the blast. "I was greatly concerned, and expressed as much to the director of (Defense Threat Reduction Agency)," Matheson said. "I advised him to put all the health and safety data out on the table so that people's fears about being once again exposed to radioactive contamination could be addressed." Hatch said he and his staff were concerned about background radiation at the site, though government officials repeatedly assured them there was no cause for concern. "But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified," Hatch said. "And the test will be delayed until these questions are resolved." Originally published May 27, 2006 Print this article Email Copyright ©2006 The Spectrum. ***************************************************************** 57 reviewjournal.com: Downwinders petition to stop detonation May 26, 2006 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ST. GEORGE, Utah -- It took just two weeks for opponents of a planned explosives test in Nevada to gather 600 signatures in the St. George area on petitions asking Utah's senators to help stop the test. People downwind of the Nevada Test Site fear the June 23 detonation of the 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb will kick up radioactive-contaminated soil left from last century's nuclear weapons tests. Organizer Helene Stone said she would turn over the first batch of petitions Thursday to the offices of Utah Republican Sens. Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch. Michelle Thomas, another organizer, said many petitions still are being circulated and have not been collected. Thomas said residents in Iron and Kane counties have contacted her about speaking at protests they plan to hold. Activist J. Preston Truman, a former St. George resident now living in Malad, Idaho, said petitions for Idaho senators are being circulated in Gem County, Idaho. Truman is president of Downwinders, an organization of people who attribute health problems among people downwind of the Nevada Test Site to the fallout from the open-air nuclear tests in the 1950s and early 1960s. Thomas said she thinks some people do not embrace the fight against the test because they think of it as a political issue, which she said it is not. "You can still be a great American and protest bomb tests," she said. "We have a right to want to protect ourselves. I don't see a conflict with wanting to stay alive." The federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency said the Divine Strake test is intended to help design a weapon to penetrate hardened and deeply buried targets. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 Stephens Media ***************************************************************** 58 Daily Herald: Mushroom cloud blast in Nevada delayed Saturday, May 27, 2006 E-mail KEN RITTER - The Associated Press LAS VEGAS -- The federal government on Friday indefinitely postponed a massive explosion that planners said would generate a mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert and critics feared would spread radioactivity across the West. Officials said delaying the non-nuclear explosion dubbed "Divine Strake" would allow time to answer legal and scientific questions about whether it would kick up radioactive fallout left from nuclear weapons tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas. "The previously announced date of no later than June 23 is no longer accurate," said Darwin Morgan, spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration in North Las Vegas. "The experiment will be scheduled at a date later to be announced pending the legal action." Anti-nuclear activists, an Indian tribe and Utah and Nevada congressional lawmakers have pressed the government to address safety concerns raised since James Tegnelia, director of the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency, said the blast "is the first time in Nevada that you'll see a mushroom cloud over Las Vegas since we stopped testing nuclear weapons." He later retracted the statement, saying it was inaccurate. A federal judge in Las Vegas let government lawyers on Friday withdraw a finding that there would be "no significant impact" from the blast without acknowledging any shortcomings alleged in a lawsuit filed by the Winnemucca Indian Colony and several Nevada and Utah "downwinders." U.S. District Court Judge Lloyd George said he wanted questions about the test resolved. "You tell the bureaucrats that the time has come for this thing to move in a timely fashion," the judge told Justice Department lawyers as he canceled a June 8 hearing but called for written filings from both sides within four weeks. "I will not endure delay after delay," the judge said. The explosion was first scheduled June 2 and delayed to June 23 to allow time for a court review of the lawsuit filed by Reno-based lawyer Bob Hager. The suit claims the federal government failed to complete required environmental studies before planning to detonate the 700-ton ammonium nitrate and fuel oil bomb. Designers said the blast would be of the same material but some 280 times larger than the bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. "This is the second time they have announced the intention to explode this bomb at the Test Site and the second time that we've stopped them," Hager said. "Until they do the science right, they'll never be allowed by the court to do this test, and that's the way it should be." A spokesman for the federal Defense Threat Reduction Agency declined comment. The agency has said the explosion would help gather data about penetrating hardened and deeply buried targets. Critics have called the planned blast a surrogate for a low-yield nuclear "bunker-buster" bomb. This week Hager filed an affidavit from John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers' Committee on Nuclear Policy in New York, calling the test "wholly inconsistent" with U.S. nuclear weapons nonproliferation treaty obligations. Hager also submitted opinions from experts, including Richard Miller of Houston, author of the "U.S. Atlas of Atomic Fallout," and Dr. Thomas Fasy, a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility in New York City, that the blast posed a risk of increased cancer to people living downwind of the Test Site. The planned blast rekindled fears of illness among "downwind" residents in Nevada, Utah and Arizona who recalled government assurances that nuclear tests in the 1950s and early 1960s posed no risk. Since 1990, the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act has provided for payments to downwinders who contracted certain cancers and other serious diseases. Opponents have collected signatures in Utah to block the explosion, and a Memorial Day weekend protest is planned at the Nevada Test Site. Nevada Sen. Harry Reid, the Democratic Senate minority leader, and Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, issued statements welcoming the delay. "We have always been concerned about background radiation at the site," Hatch said. "We have been repeatedly told ... that this was not a concern. But since we've asked them to back up their conclusions with scientific evidence, it looks like our concerns are justified." A spokeswoman for Utah Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said the postponement showed explosion planners were "proceeding responsibly and with appropriate caution." AP Writers Erica Werner and Jennifer Talhelm contributed to this report. This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1. Copyright © 2006 Daily Herald and Lee Enterprises ***************************************************************** 59 CBC: Fernald completes removal of radioactive waste - Cincinnati Business Courier: Cincinnati Business Courier - 1:33 PM EDT Friday The last of the radioactive raw ore that was stored in two silos at the former Fernald plant was transported Friday, the U.S. Department of Energy said. Contractor Fluor Fernaldhas been treating the ore since last May, blending it with flyash and cement and sealing it in steel canisters, the DOE said in a news release. Fluor Fernald and waste carrier Visionary Solutionshave been shipping the canisters -- 254 in all -- to a storage facility in Andrews County, Texas. Demotion of structures related to the silos is expected to be completed by mid-June. "We're coming down the home stretch for the cleanup," said DOE Ohio Field Office Manager Bill Taylor. "Silos one and two treatment has been long seen as our biggest challenge. Now we will focus on the remaining demolition and soil excavation." Cleanup efforts at the former uranium processing plant in Crosby Township have been ongoing since 1992. © 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. and its licensors. ***************************************************************** 60 TheKansasCityChannel.com: Radioactive Waste Shipment Crosses Missouri POSTED: 10:43 am CDT May 26, 2006UPDATED: 10:58 am ST. LOUIS -- Thousands of radioactive waste containers will cross the state Friday on the way to be stored in West Texas. Six flatbed trucks carrying 4,000 canisters of spent uranium are traveling from a Cincinnati-area processing plant. The containers will travel 1,300 miles through St. Louis and along Interstate 44 to Andrews County, Texas. Friday marks the last of many shipments that started in June of last year. Officials with the Ohio company shipping the waste said there has been only one minor fender bender while transporting the waste. Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 61 Arizona Republic: Power surge May 28, 2006 Max Jarman The Arizona Republic FREDONIA A breakfast meeting at the office of Roger Smith and Lawrence Casebolt, uranium mining consultants, often begins with a shot of Jack Daniel's. "It's sort of a tradition," Smith said. Excitement is in the air at the former headquarters of defunct Energy Fuels Nuclear Inc., now occupied by Smith and Casebolt. Uranium, which sold for $7.10 per pound in 2000, now is going for $43, and the vast, rugged Arizona Strip once again is crawling with prospectors. Demand for uranium to fuel new nuclear power plants around the world has pushed prices through the roof, and many people believe the prices will go even higher. Smith and Casebolt have waited more than a decade for this. "Things got so far down that I didn't think I'd see it come back in my lifetime," said the wiry Smith, who is 62. Since 2004, when the price of uranium began to climb, almost 2,500 new claims have been filed on the Arizona Strip - 1,993 in 2005 alone. "Before that, we had basically nothing for about 10 years," said Rody Cox, a geologist with the Bureau of Land Management's Arizona Strip field office in St. George, Utah. 'No better scenario' Prospectors are attracted to the Strip's compact, high-grade ore deposits and deep aquifer. These qualities combine to make it relatively easy to get mining permits. "There's probably no better scenario in the world," said Gene Spiering, vice president of operations for Quaterra Resources Inc., a Vancouver, British Columbia, company now prospecting on the Strip. "You have flat-lying country with compact, high-grade ore deposits and little danger of water contamination." Becky Hammond, manager of the BLM's Arizona Strip field office, estimates that a mining permit could be obtained in 12 to 18 months, considerably less than at other sites managed by BLM. The federal agency manages the 2.8 million acres on the Arizona Strip and has to approve any mining activity. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality also would have to approve. With the aquifer lying more than 1,000 feet below the mine depth, that permit could be relatively easy to obtain, too. "The process would be less involved," said Steve Owens, director of the department. Renewed interest in uranium mining promises to bring badly needed jobs to communities such as Fredonia and nearby Kanab, Utah. Still, the situation has opened old wounds left by deadly mining activities in the 1940s and 1950s and galvanized environmental groups against the mines. Meanwhile, prospectors are staking new claims and restaking those given up in the mid-1990s when uranium prices plunged and the government started charging an assessment of $125 per year for each claim that measured 1,500 feet by 600 feet. "It used to cost nothing to hold large numbers of contiguous claims," Cox said. While individuals have filed some claims, most are held by companies such as Liberty Star Gold Corp., International Uranium Corp. and Lucky Irish Silver Inc., which are gobbling up the Arizona Strip's mineral rights. Two companies, U.S. Energy Corp. and Quaterra, have filed exploration notices with BLM indicating intent to drill. Quaterra has drilled a dozen holes and found uranium in one and another looks promising, Spiering said. U.S. Energy Corp. of Riverton, Wyo., also is seeing positive results. "We've located a couple of prospects, and we're drilling deeper to test the mineralization," said Mark Larsen. president of U.S. Energy. The company is looking for ore deposits to supply the uranium mill at Shootaring Canyon it is trying to reopen in southeastern Utah near Ticaboo. So far, no company has filed a plan of operations that would indicate intent to begin mining a claim. "It's no turning back after that," Smith said. "That's when you put up your money." Smith and Casebolt were executives with Energy Fuels Nuclear which, from the late 1970s until the market went bust in the mid-1990s, pulled $600 million worth of uranium out of a handful of mines on the Strip. Since the mines closed, they have formed a company, Silver Arrow Stone, and are mining the Strip's sandstone while waiting for the price of uranium to go up. Now, stockpiles of cheap uranium that glutted the market after the collapse of the Soviet Union have been used up, and the world faces a supply imbalance that could keep prices up for years. The World Nuclear Association estimates that nuclear utilities are using 175 million pounds of uranium per year, while mines are producing only 105 million pounds. The gap, which has been filled by uranium from dismantled nuclear weapons, is expected to widen as 30 new nuclear power plants come online in 12 countries. Arizona Public Service Co. is considering adding two units to the three that the Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station west of Phoenix now comprises. "We're going to need a lot of new mines, and the ones we have will have to be expanded," said John Hazelbaker, Palo Verde's manager of nuclear fuel procurement. Until those mines are located and opened, Hazelbaker predicts prices will stay high. Three Arizona Strip mines formerly operated by Energy Fuels have proven reserves and could be opened relatively quickly, Smith said. The mines now are owned by International Uranium Corp., which is evaluating whether to reopen them. International Uranium also owns the White Mesa uranium mill near Blanding, Utah, one of only four such processing facilities in the country. Ore from Arizona Strip mines would be trucked 200 miles to White Mesa or, if it reopens, Shootaring Canyon, which is marginally closer. It's a long way to truck ore for processing, but the ore's high grade makes it economically feasible, particularly at today's prices. Ore grades from former mines on the Arizona Strip have averaged 0.5 percent to 1 percent uranium, while those on the Colorado Plateau to the east typically produce grades from 0.2 percent to 0.3 percent. Different points of view Not everyone is in favor of uranium mining on the Arizona Strip. BLM has developed a proposed comprehensive land-management plan that includes uranium mining in specific locations. BLM is charged with managing the lands under its purview to make money and, given the remote nature of the Arizona Strip, Hammond believes uranium mining is a legitimate use of the land. "We want to encourage it," she said. Environmental groups such as the Arizona Wilderness Coalition, Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, Sierra Club, Friends of the River and Center for Biological Diversity, among others, have weighed in against uranium mining on the Arizona Strip. The Navajo Nation, whose members suffered myriad health problems and deaths stemming from uranium mining in the 1940s and 1950s, has banned the activity on its enormous reservation adjacent to the Strip. Coconino County also opposes mining. The Arizona Strip is located in Coconino and Mohave counties, and the Coconino County Board of Supervisors officially has opposed uranium mining in the area. "Knowing there have been health issues and a long history of litigation, I would just as soon not see the industry come back," said Carl Taylor, the Coconino County supervisor who represents the area that includes the Arizona Strip. That doesn't sit well with many of the approximately 5,000 residents in Fredonia and Kanab, Utah, where big government and environmentalists are viewed as the enemy. "They're mean people," Cindy Robinson of Fredonia said of environmental groups active in the area. "They cut down power poles and chain themselves to Forest Service buildings." Robinson and others blame environmental groups for the loss of about 150 jobs in the mid-1990s when Energy Fuels closed its uranium mines and the loss of 200 jobs in 1994 when Kaibab Industries shut its 30-year-old sawmill in Fredonia. The company blamed environmentalists who successfully sought to set aside much of the North Kaibab Forest as habitat for the endangered Mexican spotted owl and threatened northern goshawk. Both of Robinson's parents lost their jobs at the time. Her mother eventually found another job; her father never did. "When the mines were here, the economy was good," said Zee Jarvis of Fredonia. "You could make a good living. Now, you have to struggle." Taylor understands the residents' desire for better jobs but said, "There has to be another way for people to earn a good living." He wants to have the whole region declared a National Heritage Area, making it eligible for federal funds to promote main-street improvements and tourism. While Taylor says the designation would not affect the BLM's authority to approve mining in the area, residents at Buckskin Tavern in Fredonia are suspicious. They still are stinging from President Clinton's designation of two national monuments in the area: Vermilion Cliffs and Grand Canyon-Parashant. These designations closed Mike Dettamonti's raspberry alabaster mine in the area. He now makes headstones. Pete Byers, chairman of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors, is in favor of uranium mining on the Strip. "The idea of a main street and tourist stuff is nice," he said, "but these people need jobs so they can make a living." Buckskin's patrons also were supportive of the renewed interest in mining. Deor Perkins worked for Energy Fuels for seven years and calls it the best job he ever had. "Hell, yes, I'd go back if they reopened," he said. "It would be a big present for everybody." Reach the reporter at max.jarman@arizonarepublic.comor (602) 444-7351. Copyright © 2006, azcentral.com. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 62 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast legal team puts relocation talks on hold 05/27/2006 | DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer TALLEVAST - State Rep. Bill Galvano has put his relocation plan for Tallevast on hold, heeding advice from the legal team representing residents who are suing Lockheed Martin Corp. over the pollution in their backyards. "From their perspective, they do not believe it is prudent for the community to be overtly participating in a side relocation deal because of the litigation," Galvano said. Tallevast residents are following their legal team's advice, said Wanda Washington, vice president of Family Oriented Community United Strong, or FOCUS, a community advocacy group. "I think that Rep. Galvano is doing all he can to help us," said Washington. "He has been very fair in trying to do the right thing. We are depending on our legal people to help sort through all of this. We are trusting them." Still, the fear from living on top of the plume is growing, Washington said. "The community wants to get out of here for health reasons," she said. "Four more cancer cases have been diagnosed since our health survey in April, and a fifth is pending confirmation. We really need to get out of here, but we just don't know how to do it." Lockheed disagrees. Company spokeswoman Gail Rymer has repeatedly told the community that there is no health risk that would warrant relocation. "There is no indication that the residents of Tallevast, Florida, face a health risk as a result of the contaminated groundwater plume originating from the former Loral American Beryllium Company located there," according to a posting Friday on Tallevast.info, Lockheed's Web page. FOCUS leaders are not convinced. They say they have been tracking dozens of cancer cases over recent years, as well as compiling a list of other medical conditions they believe are related to exposure to the toxins in the ground. Galvano met with Tallevast attorneys this week. "This is a legal battle, now," Galvano said. "There is more discovery to be done. We may get to a global resolution in the future, but right now the attorneys felt it is not prudent to share a final position of the Tallevast people on relocation." Galvano, who is also an attorney, said he respects and understands this is the most prudent position. Galvano had approached both Manatee County officials and his colleagues in Tallahassee, hoping to build financial support for relocating the community. For years, it has been threatened by an underground plume of contamination stemming from the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant in Tallevast. Galvano declined to be specific, but said he is working with parties interested in helping create a new Tallevast community. "There are entities that are interested in the Tallevast area, and that is the consideration for having the private dollars to facilitate the relocation," Galvano said. Putting plans on hold could jeopardize those parties' participation, he acknowledged. "If they have to wait for a legal battle, it ties the property up and it becomes a waiting game," Galvano said. "In the early stages, it might have been easier to bring everybody together in a straight relocation plan," he said. "But as time goes on there are more and more issues that come to the surface." Ed Cottingham, an attorney with the firm of Motely Rice in Mt. Pleasant, S.C., heads the Tallevast legal team. Cottingham said Friday he expects the discovery process to answer many questions regarding the risk Tallevast residents face. Lockheed Martin acquired the beryllium plant in 1996 in a corporate buyout of Loral. While Lockheed never operated the plant and has since sold the property, it is still liable for cleaning up the contamination because the underground plume was discovered while it still owned the facility. Lockheed data released in April revealed that the underground plume now covers more than 200 acres. More than 250 Tallevast residents filed a civil suit last September against Lockheed and other entities connected to the plant, alleging the contamination has decreased property values and put them at risk. A second, similar lawsuit was filed by a smaller group of residents in November. Cottingham commended Galvano for his willingness to help Tallevast residents. Galvano said he is committed to helping Tallevast find a solution. "If a time comes when I can play a role to facilitate relocation or a global solution, I will do everything I can to make it happen," Galvano said. "I just need to know what I can do to help." ***************************************************************** 63 The State: Future uncertain for SRS MOX plant 05/27/2006 House bill provides no funding for nuclear conversion program The Associated Press AIKEN  The future of a program at the Savannah River Site that would take material from nuclear weapons and turn it into fuel for nuclear power plants is uncertain after the U.S. House approved an energy bill without money for the effort. The program to convert the weapons-grade plutonium into mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, may still be funded by the U.S. Senate, which has yet to vote on the energy bill. TheNational Nuclear Security Administration plans to continue to work to get the money for the MOX facility, spokeswoman Julianne Smith said. At this point its very early in the congressional process, she said. Things can change at any point, especially in Congress. Six years ago, the United States and Russia each agreed to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium by converting it to fuel for use in commercial nuclear reactors. Duke Power wants to use the fuel in four of its reactors. South Carolina agreed in 2002 to accept 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium at SRS if the U.S. Energy Department built a facility to convert the plutonium into fuel. At the same time, the United States agreed to help fund the construction of a similar MOX plant in Russia, meant to operate on a parallel track with the SRS plant. Liability issues and Russias full-funding demands have delayed the construction of both plants, U.S. Rep. John Spratt, D-S.C., has said. The process could create commercial energy, reduce the amount of waste going to the Yucca Mountain waste storage site in Nevada and allow MOX fuels to be burned in nuclear reactors, said Rep. Gresham Barrett, R-S.C., whose district includes SRS, which is near Aiken. Plus, were making the country safer. It gets the weapons-grade plutonium in a fashion that cannot be used by terrorists, Barrett said. Joining Barrett to vote against the energy bill were Reps. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., and others. News | ***************************************************************** 64 Charlotte Observer: Plutonium-conversion project funds uncertain 05/27/2006 | Associated Press AIKEN, S.C. - The future of a program at the Savannah River Site that would take material from nuclear weapons and turn it into fuel for nuclear power plants is uncertain after the U.S. House approved an energy bill without money for the effort. The program to convert the weapons-grade plutonium into mixed oxide fuel, or MOX, may still be funded by the U.S. Senate, which has yet to vote on the energy bill. The Nuclear Security Administration plans to continue to work to get the money for the MOX facility, spokeswoman Julianne Smith said. "It's very early in the congressional process," she said. Six years ago, the U.S. and Russia each agreed to dispose of 34 metric tons of weapons-grade plutonium by converting it for use in commercial reactors. Duke Energy wants to use the fuel in four reactors. South Carolina agreed in 2002 to accept 34 tons of weapons-grade plutonium at SRS if the Energy Department built a conversion facility. ***************************************************************** 65 Las Vegas SUN: Brian Greenspun wonders why the Review-Journal's boss unleashed a diatribe against Harry Reid Today: May 28, 2006 at 7:37:56 PDT Sherm Frederick has a fascination with women's dresses. There were two things I could have taken from the Review-Journal publisher's column last Sunday. The first one is that he doesn't like Nevada's senior U.S. senator, Harry Reid. Despite what he said in his attempt to read the tea leaves of Nevada politics, it was made abundantly clear that Harry is not Sherm's favorite U.S. senator. If I had to make a guess, it would be that Rick Santorum, the darling of the ultra-far right and a man who may go down in flames in the November election because his constituents have figured him out, is more to the R-J leader's liking. I am still perplexed as to the reason Sherm tried to gut the good senator when there are 4 1/2 years left on his current term. We all know that a year is forever in politics, so what makes the man think that what is or isn't happening in 2006 will have any real bearing on the kind and quality of senator the voters will want in 2010? Maybe Sherm just didn't have anything else to write about. Maybe he really didn't like his walk in the desert with Harry - for the life of me I can't imagine what would cause Harry to take a walk anywhere with Sherm, let alone the desert! Whatever the reason, the hit piece was not very manly because it attacked the good senator on the wrong issues and on issues he was wrong to bring up. First, there was a not-so-subtle reference to Harry's religion. Who does that in this day and age? Everyone knows that Sen. Reid is a devout Mormon who believes deeply and consistently in the kind of family values that have served this country well since the beginning of our democracy. As a pro-life Democrat, Harry has stood up to his pro-choice constituents every time he puts his name on the ballot. And while I am sure some Democrats won't vote for him because of his deeply held moral beliefs, he has never wavered, even though doing so could have saved him sleepless nights as election day drew near. The truth is that Sen. Reid is the kind of politician our Founding Fathers envisioned - a man who holds strong moral and religious beliefs and a man who is guided by that moral code. But, also, a man who knows the difference between his personal morality and the oath he has taken in which he swore to represent all the people and act in the best interests of his country. Simply put, to attack a man through his religion is not only unfair, it is un-American. Sherm tried to show his bona fides by saying that his newspaper had supported Harry every time he ran for the Senate. As if that inoculates a person when he expresses bad taste, bad genes, and bad manners. Shame on Sherm. At a time when the political heat in this country is so high that the peoples' business cannot get done and normally decent people can't even talk to one another without some political hack taking them to task, what are Sherm and his newspaper trying to do? Make things that much worse? The least he could have done was tell his readers the truth. This is where I come in. Thanks to the latest amendment to our Joint Operating Agreement, I get to be the one-man truth squad for Sherm and all his wacko writers at the other paper. They tell it the way they want it, however wrong that may be, and I get to set the facts straight. For instance: "The Review-Journal has endorsed Sen. Reid every time he has run for the U.S. Senate." So says Sherm. But the facts say something entirely different. Not that the truth ever got in the way of an R-J diatribe, but the truth is supposed to be that sacred trust between a newspaper and its readers. If Sherm would fib about something as easily ascertainable as the R-J's endorsement record, what else would that newspaper say that would be untrue and much harder to ascertain? For the record, the Review-Journal did endorse Harry Reid in 1992 and in 2004. However, it endorsed his opponent in 1986 and 1998. And then to call our senior senator, who just happens to be the minority leader of the U.S. Senate, a "lily-livered coward on terrorism," is an outrageous lie. Nevadans know their senator. They know him to be one of the toughest public servants ever to be elected by the people of Nevada. Tough on crime, tough on terrorists and tough on anyone who attacks him, his family, his friends, his countrymen and the way of life that has become so important to Nevadans. No one can claim a front seat in the fight against worldwide terrorism while Harry is aboard. The problem with that other paper is that it hasn't printed the facts in so long that it is starting to believe its own (what's another word for manure?). There is one area where I understand the depth of Sherm's distaste. That's when he talks about Harry's support from working men and women and the unions that often represent them. It is no secret that the R-J hates unions. So much so that it has refused to endorse any politician who runs for office who is supported by, been a member of or even says something nice about union men and women. And that is regardless of the eight ball who may be running against an otherwise qualified candidate! I understand it, but I cannot fathom the reasoning behind such hatred. I don't know what possessed Sherm to go after Harry Reid. Perhaps he is trying to soften him up for the 2010 elections. What I do know is that the last time the Review-Journal went on the offensive like this, it convinced a majority of Nevadans to support the challenger against Nevada's then-senior senator, Howard Cannon. With Cannon out of the picture and out of seniority in the U.S. Senate, all kinds of bad things happened and no good things happened to Nevada. We got no money and no respect. What we did get was this 25-year fight by the federal government to put the nation's high-level radioactive waste in our Yucca Mountain. Had the R-J stayed out of the fight, or at least acted in the best interests of Nevadans by supporting a good man with gobs of seniority, there would be no Yucca Mountain and Nevada would be near the top of the heap of federal dollar recipients instead of near the bottom. With Harry's new job as minority leader and, dare I say it, possibly as majority leader, Nevada is well on its way to the kind of respectful position among its sister states that its growth, its vision and its people deserve. Unless, of course, Sherm Frederick gets his way and convinces Nevadans to do the dumbest thing they have ever done - again - and send Harry home from the highest elected position a Nevadan has ever achieved. So, that's the first thing a person could take from Sherm's column last week. The second thing one might get from reading through his rant is that the head of the other paper knows a lot about transvestites and cross-dressers. Maybe there is a reason. Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 66 reviewjournal.com: EDITORIAL: Yucca Mountain Johnny May 27, 2006 EDITORIAL: Yucca Mountain Johnny Rep. Shelley Berkley fights a gallant battle He seems an innocuous enough character -- square-jawed like G.I. Joe, donning a miner's helmet and protective glasses. But to Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., Yucca Mountain Johnny is just another symbol of the federal government's insistence on shoving nuclear waste down the throats of Nevadans. On Wednesday, Rep. Berkley fought a gallant battle in an effort to erase Johnny, a cartoon miner who serves as the mascot for the youth pages on the Department of Energy's Yucca Mountain Web site. She offered an amendment to an energy appropriations bill that would have cut off funding for portions of the Web site, thus killing Yucca Mountain Johnny. "This character was created with taxpayer money to convince elementary school children that nuclear waste is a good thing," she said. Alas, the amendment was soundly defeated, 271-147. Johnny lives on. Rep. Berkley took a bit of ribbing for her crusade, with a DOE spokesman calling it "pure silliness." But perhaps Rep. Berkley was on to something: There's a fine line between government "awareness" campaigns and outright propaganda. And when it's all paid for by taxpayers -- many of whom may oppose the message at issue -- strict oversight is even more important to ensure that such "educational" efforts don't deteriorate into advocacy. In addition, far too many government "informational" campaigns are the result of public agencies with way too much money on their hands. You don't have to be an opponent of Yucca Mountain to argue that spending taxpayer funds to create a cartoon character to teach children about safety at the nuclear repository is a dubious use of funds. Let's hope Yucca Mountain Johnny is eventually sealed up in a mine shaft, where he belongs. Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 67 Pahrump Valley Times: Working on the railroad May 26, 2006 By PHILLIP GOMEZ PVT SPECIAL TO THE PVT The 318-mile-long Caliente Railroad would go from Caliente in Lincoln County, far right, through Nye and Esmeralda counties to Yucca Mountain via a circuitous route around the Nellis Air Force Range and the National Wildhorse Management Area. PHILLIP GOMEZ / PVT The Big Four government stakeholders in the battle for Yucca Mountain, foreground, right to left: Commissioner George "Tommy" Rowe from Lincoln County; Commissioner Bill Kirby from Esmeralda County; Caliente Mayor Kevin J. Phillips; and Commissioner Gary Hollis from Nye County. Standing at the podium is David C. Blee, director of the U.S. Transportation Council. At the far end is a panel of speakers from the nuclear power industry. "We're losing our very best assets and resources," said Mayor Kevin Phillips of Caliente at Tuesday's workshop on the future of Yucca Mountain's and a dried up Central Nevada. Phillips told how his daughter recently left home for college. "I probably won't see her again," he said sadly. "We want to create economic opportunity so our kids can live here." He and other central Nevada officials believe there is a way to guarantee that. Phillips said the National Transportation Project, otherwise known as the Caliente Railroad, which would transport high-level nuclear waste from across the nation to Yucca Mountain, would be a boon to the economy of the region. The rail corridor follows a 318-mile route from Caliente in Lincoln County about 30 miles from the Utah line, snaking around the Nevada Test and Training Range through Nye and Esmeralda counties to the proposed repository site at Yucca Mountain. Phillips and Lincoln County Commission Chairman George "Tommy" Rowe, along with Esmeralda County Commissioner Bill Kirby, are proponents of what they want to see designated as "the Central Nevada Energy Corridor." The remote railroad corridor, containing 0.3 people per square mile, should become home to America's energy's future, the boosters say. "The corridor can become the place for America to begin to solve its energy challenge," said Kirby. At the same time, Nevada could diversify its economic dependence on gambling, said Phillips. Ballast rocks for the roadbed would engage various businesses; some 9,000 railroad ties would come from area timber, which he estimated to cost $28 million; cement and steel brackets to hold the ties would come from a local supplier; castings and molds used in the construction process would likewise need someone already established in the region to provide them for less than the cost of shipping them from outside the region. "We need to build them out here," Phillips said. "We're an old railroad town. We know how to take care of railroads." The goal of the "Vision 2020" program is to designate "energy zones" within the Caliente corridor. The zones would be identified as "ideal places for solar, wind, geothermal, nuclear and other promising energy technologies," Rowe said. Kirby said Esmeralda County needs to increase its tax base by 8 percent by 2008. The county is facing a 15 percent deficit by that time, Kirby said, but with the geothermal potential the county has, that threat would be diminished if it were developed. By developing the energy zones before the U.S. Department of Energy applies for a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license to operate Yucca Mountain, objections to locations for construction of electrical power plants would be minimized, the planners reason. The vast empty spaces of central Nevada would provide plenty of room for laying out power lines and transmission substations, Kirby said. The zones would be designated in 2007 in conjunction with designation of Yucca Mountain as a "national energy reserve." Construction of the reserve would begin next year, providing a place to hold spent nuclear fuel until it is reprocessed. Caliente could see construction of the railroad begin in 2008. An energy grid along the corridor would begin the following year, with energy production facilities initiated in 2010. By 2020 the goal is to be producing 100,000 megawatts of electrical energy. Plans also call for an energy research center at the Yucca Mountain site. "The fertile minds of America's youth would have a place to develop energy solutions for America's future," said Kirby. For comment or questions, please e-mail webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 68 Sunday Business Post: Ireland set to lose in Sellafield decision 28 May 2006 By Kieron Wood The European Court of Justice (ECJ) will give its decision on Tuesday on whether Ireland breached EU law by referring its dispute over Sellafield to a United Nations tribunal instead of the ECJ. Ireland instituted proceedings in 2001 before the UN Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), following Britain’s refusal to provide the Irish authorities with a copy of the PA Report, an assessment of the economic justification for the MOX plant. The MOX plant is designed to recycle plutonium from spent nuclear fuel, by mixing plutonium dioxide with depleted uranium dioxide and converting it into mixed oxide fuel, which can be used as an energy source in nuclear power plants. The British government gave British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) the go-ahead to build the plant following an environmental impact study published by BNFL in 1993. The plant was completed in 1996. In October 2001, after five public enquiries into the economic justification for the MOX plant, the British government authorised BNFL to operate the plant and manufacture MOX. Later that month, Ireland instituted proceedings against Britain before the Unclos tribunal. Following the hearing, the UN tribunal ordered the two governments to exchange information, monitor potential risks for the Irish Sea and establish pollution prevention measures. The European Commission subsequently claimed that Ireland had breached the ECJ’s exclusive jurisdiction by taking the action before the international tribunal. It said community institutions should be given precedence as the forum for resolution of disputes about environmental protection. The ECJ is likely to rule against Ireland, following the opinion of Advocate General Poiares Maduro, delivered on January 18. He said: ‘‘The court’s exclusive jurisdiction in disputes between member states concerning community law is a means of preserving the autonomy of the community legal order. ‘‘It serves to ensure that member states do not incur legal obligations under public international law which may conflict with their obligations under community law. ‘‘Member states have agreed to settle their differences through the ways provided in the treaties; they must abstain from submitting disputes relating to those treaties to other methods of settlement. ‘‘Whenever community law is concerned, member states must settle their differences within the community.” Maduro proposed that the ECJ should declare that Ireland had failed to fulfil its obligations under the EU treaties and should order Ireland to pay the costs of the case. © The Sunday Business Post, 2006, Thomas Crosbie Media TCH ***************************************************************** 69 Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Ash cleanup: BWX should pay - Contaminated lagoon ash cleanup: BWX should pay Saturday, May 27, 2006 We hope the state lays its full weight of influence onto BWX Technologies to force the company to pay for the cleanup of the uranium-contaminated lagoon ash at the Kiski Valley Water Pollution Control Authority site in Allegheny Township. Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Kathleen McGinty met with BWX representatives this week to press the company on the issue. The meeting came a month after McGinty issued a statement asking the company to contribute to the cleanup of the site. BWX Technologies is the successor of companies that created the contamination at their nuclear fuels processing plants in Apollo and Parks Township in the 1970s and 1980s. Unfortunately, we're not sure what the state legally can do to BWX. Despite repeated attempts to get McGinty -- or the DEP's lawyers -- to explain to us the legal situation, they haven't returned telephone calls. Maybe that means there isn't much the DEP can do if BWX tells the state to go pound ash. As it stands now, the Kiski authority is on the hook for the cleanup. That cost is estimated at $2.7 million to $3 million. We have sympathy for the authority's plight. It has tried several times to have the ash removed properly and sent to a disposal site. Each time, the landfill's neighbors have protested, blocking disposal. This stuff now must go to a low-level nuclear waste disposal site, hence the multimillion dollar cost. The authority and its customers should not have to pay for disposal. Director Bob Kossak said the authority could come up with $800,000. Without BWX's participation, that would leave $2.2 million the authority would have to raise via loans, government grants, a gigantic rate increase or some combination of the three. We believe in the "You break it, you bought it" theory or, in this case, the "You polluted it, you dispose of it" theory. BWX should pay the freight here. McGinty and her boss, Gov. Ed Rendell, need to use their substantial power to make sure that happens. Reproduction or reuse prohibited without written consent from Tribune-Review Publishing Co. ***************************************************************** 70 Pahrump Valley Times: Boosters plan yucca strategy May 26, 2006 By PHILLIP GOMEZ PVT Marge Detraz, a Lincoln County activist against Yucca Mountain for the past 11 years, drove herself to Pahrump from Caliente for Tuesday's workshop at the Community College of Southern Nevada. The only anti-Yucca person among the 50 people attending the workshop, Detraz enjoyed some cut-and-thrust debate with her opponent, Allen Benson, left, the U.S. Department of Energy's communications manager, during a workshop break. Fifty VIPs, political allies in their support for the Yucca Mountain Repository, rallied Tuesday at a technical workshop held at Pahrump's Community College of Southern Nevada. The workshop speakers and invited attendees included local government and high-ranking federal Energy Department officials, planners, nuclear industry consultants and sales managers, nuclear waste cask designers and waste recyclers, as well as other persons interested in business development. The speakers presented what appeared to be a coordinated new marketing strategy that unites the administration's new GNEP initiative. GNEP is the administration's new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program, intended to increase U.S. and global energy security and to reprocess - or "recycling," as the conferees put it - spent nuclear fuel. The regional "Vision 2020" program promises the economic development of rural Nevada along the 318-mile Caliente corridor in the central part of the state where the Yucca railroad is to run, bringing high-paying jobs to towns from Caliente to the proposed repository site. The convention was a more lively follow-up to one held at the community college last June. Tuesday's all-day workshop focused on the status of the proposed nuclear waste repository in light of developments in the past year that have set the project back. Alan B. Brownstein, chief operating officer for the Department of Energy's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management in Washington, D.C., presented the keynote address - "The Imperative for Yucca Mountain, the Outlook for New Nuclear Plants." The forum was sponsored by the Central Nevada Community Protection Working Group in cooperation with the U.S. Transport Council. "Delay, political fallout and timidity are our worst enemies," said Brownstein. "As Winston Churchill once said, 'Never, never, ever give up.'" Brownstein emphasized the Department of Energy's new approach to transporting nuclear fuel by using "clean canisters," designed to minimize the handling of packaged fuel rods, limiting the need for multiple facilities for repacking at the Nevada repository. Brownstein also spoke of DOE's recent development of "a safety culture" in which to conduct its transport and storage operations. A cavalier regard for quality assurance has underlain much recent criticism of Yucca Mountain's safety management over the past year. An email scandal and an earlier court decision brought to an abrupt halt DOE's scheduled licensure application with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Legislation pending in Congress proposes Yucca Mountain's budget at $306 million, Brownstein said. Adam H. Levin, director of spent fuels and decommissioning strategy for Exelon Generation Co. in Warrenville, Ill., said licensing of the Yucca Mountain facility ought to become an easier task because of pending "legislative streamlining of amended application procedures." Exelon operates a nuclear power plant and sued the government over its failure to take nuclear waste off its property as promised, Levin said. He touted the advantages of nuclear power and how "clean energy development around the world" would reduce the nation's dependence on fossil fuels as well as the risk of nuclear proliferation by reducing the volume of uranium stockpiles. Perhaps a dozen new repositories would need to be constructed to securely store nuclear waste if research and development on reprocessing under the new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership program didn't proceed, participants said. Already, there are 42 facilities around the nation where spent nuclear fuel waits in dry storage for transport to the Yucca Mountain Repository for final deposition. Some 60 civil lawsuits, conservatively estimated, are in the courts asking for damages against the federal government for the long delays in opening the repository as promised. The cost to taxpayers for settling litigation with nuclear power companies related to Yucca Mountain's failure to open on schedule has been estimated at $1 billion per year, according to reports. "What you're seeing now is just the tip of the ice berg," said Don Baepler, director of the Nevada Environmental Monitoring and Research Institute, referring to coming damage claims against the government even when - or if - Yucca Mountain is opened, due to the anticipated growth in industry waste stockpiles. David C. Blee, executive director of the U.S. Transport Council, added, "Until you have the storage problem solved, you won't get substantial new plant generation." David C. Jones, director of policy and strategic issues at Duke Energy in Charlotte, N.C. reported there were 10 new nuclear power plants planned across the southeastern U.S. The growth of the industry is such that nuclear power is becoming a more attractive alternative to fossil fuels but creates issues of storage with the exponential growth of nuclear waste. Technological advances in nuclear reactors - such as the new Westinghouse A1000 model - are leading in the direction of simplification of design, ease of operation, cheaper maintenance costs and increased safety. Bob Quinn, president of the spent fuel division of Energy Solutions of Campbell, Calif., called for disposal of spent nuclear fuel as European countries have done through reprocessing, or recycling. Currently, 95 percent of uranium is wasted, Quinn said. "The waste volume can be dramatically reduced and reused as new fuel," he said, improving on space management at Yucca Mountain. "You still need Yucca Mountain," Quinn said, but "You would only need one repository." Otherwise, in 30 to 40 years, other repositories would have to be built. One uninvited person at the meeting silently dissented from that view: Longtime activist Marge Detraz from Caliente wore a T-shirt that said it all: "Nevadans say nuclear waste no way." Detraz added privately that Yucca Mountain was a federal project conducted by and for the benefit of consultants. For comment or questions, please e-mail Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 71 Las Vegas SUN: About 70 anti-nuclear activists arrested outside Nevada Test Site Today: May 28, 2006 at 17:17:44 PDT ASSOCIATED PRESS MERCURY, Nev. (AP) - About 300 anti-nuclear demonstrators gathered at the Nevada Test Site to celebrate the indefinite postponement of a massive explosion that they feared would spread radioactivity across the West. About 70 people were cited for trespassing during Sunday's gathering, said Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of the Nevada environmental group Citizen Alert, which co-sponsored the event. Efforts to reach Nye County sheriff's deputies at the remote site were unsuccessful, and Sheriff Tony DeMeo did not immediately return a phone call. The gathering was held two days after the federal government announced it was delaying the non-nuclear explosion dubbed "Divine Strake." "Initially, it was going to be a protest," Johnson said. "But we had the win, and we decided it was important we be there and celebrate that win. "It isn't often that we the people win against the behemoth called the United States government but it happened," she added. Among those arrested was Carrie Dann, a key figure with her late sister, Mary, in the Shoshone Nation's effort to reclaim millions of acres they claimed as their ancestral land. Also arrested was Roman Catholic priest Louis Vitale of San Francisco, who recently completed a six-month prison term for trespassing onto Fort Benning in Georgia during a protest of a school there that has been blamed for human rights abuses in Latin America. Federal officials said delaying "Divine Strake" would allow time to answer legal and scientific questions about whether it would kick up radioactive fallout left from tests conducted at the Nevada Test Site, about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas. Anti-nuclear activists, an Indian tribe and Utah and Nevada congressional lawmakers have pressed the government to address safety concerns. The government sought to detonate 700 tons of explosives in an experiment designed to study ground motion and shock waves. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 72 Tri-City Herald: Highly contaminated plutonium incinerator coming down Published Friday, May 26th, 2006 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer The 232-Z building at Hanford could hardly look more benign. It's a gray concrete-block building measuring just 35-by-60 feet squeezed between other squat gray buildings. But Hanford workers have spent three years cleaning it out -- sometimes wearing double layers of protective clothing, hoods and supplied-air respirators -- and were guided by the glow of flashlights in its dim interior as utilities were removed. A few years ago, the building was contaminated with about 1,300 grams of plutonium. Today the building has less than a gram of plutonium. What remains weighs about as much as the crumbs you'd get if you took a razor blade and scraped it down the side of an aspirin pill. "I can't wait until I see it as rubble," said Mike Hammer, a nuclear chemical operator who's spent the last three years cleaning up the building. The building that took three years to clean out will come down in about three days next month. It will be the first highly contaminated building at Hanford's Plutonium Finishing Plant to be demolished. Because weapons-grade plutonium remains at the plant until the Department of Energy comes up with a plan to consolidate it elsewhere, an accelerated cleanup plan has been set aside. That means just two highly contaminated buildings likely will be demolished at the plant before 2010 or 2011. The 232-Z incinerator building will go first, and next year, the nearby 241-Z Liquid Waste Facility will come down. Starting with 232-Z was a deliberate choice, said Stacy Charboneau, project manager for DOE. "It's got a lot of complexity in the facility that will help with lessons learned in demolishing the rest of the Plutonium Finishing Plant," she said. For nearly four decades, the plant made plutonium produced in Hanford reactors into metal buttons the size of hockey pucks for shipment to the nation's weapons production plants. More than half the nation's plutonium for nuclear weapons came through the plant. From 1962 to 1973 anything contaminated with plutonium that could be burned was sent to the incinerator: Protective clothing, filters, gloves, cartons. Then, grams of plutonium were recovered through a wet-leaching process performed on the ashes. "During the Cold War we wanted every gram of high-grade plutonium we could get," said Bruce Klos, Fluor Hanford vice president of Plutonium Finishing Plant closure. The problem with the process was that the ash was so flighty it was easily blown into any little nook or cranny. In 2003, workers began to decontaminate the building so it could be safely torn down. The glove box that contained the incinerator was refitted with new gloves so workers could reach inside and safely handle contaminated materials. Over the next year, they removed contaminated equipment and material. Last summer, the 9,000-pound glove box was lifted out and sent to T Plant to be cut into pieces small enough to be sent to the nation's underground repository in New Mexico for waste contaminated with plutonium or other long-lived radionuclides. After finishing work on the glove box, crews moved to the 75-square-foot scrubber cell used to capture ash when the incinerator was operating. It was one of the most highly contaminated areas of the plant. The work was cramped, and hot because of layers of protective clothing and high hazard, Hammer said. Workers removed enough waste to fill a 16-by-16-foot room with a 10-foot ceiling. Then a fixative was sprayed to the building's inside surfaces to glue any remaining plutonium to the walls so it would not become airborne during demolition. In June, heavy equipment with a jawlike hydraulic shear will begin carefully chewing through the concrete until nothing remains but the slab it was built on. The work will be engulfed in a cloud of mist created by a Fog Cannon to make sure any radioactive dust released falls to the ground. "We're taking extreme measures to make sure the plutonium stays with the facility," Klos said. The rubble will have so little plutonium contamination that waste can be taken to Hanford's landfill for low-level radioactive waste. Hammer plans to be back at the incinerator building one last time to watch its demolition. "I'll feel like we've gotten something done," he said. © 2006 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services ***************************************************************** 73 WKYT 27: Cleanup, demolition slow for K-25 in Oak Ridge NEWSFIRST & WYMT Mountain News - OAK RIDGE, Tenn. -- The federal government spent 18 months building the massive K-25 uranium enrichment plant in this once-secret city for the World War II-era Manhattan Project. Tearing it down has been much slower. After the plant shut down in 1987, nearly 10 years passed before work began to decontaminate it and turn it and the other buildings on a sprawling 1,500-acre site into a private industrial park. Another decade has gone by since then and the vacant K-25 building is in disrepair but still standing. The Department of Energy cleanup project began in 1996, and a year later the site was renamed the East Tennessee Technology Park. Since then, it has faced several delays because of funding and safety issues. Original estimates had the project costing $5 billion and taking generations to complete. But recent work on the technology park was split into two contracts that will together cost about $2 billion. A completion date of September 2008 has been pushed back to summer of 2009. Buildings not occupied by the deadline could be torn down to save money on maintenance. "It was very aggressive, very optimistic," said Steve McCracken, DOE's environmental manager, of the timeline. "For various reasons it will take longer and cost more. It's just huge. We run into things every day." "If we have safety issues, we're not going to push the schedule to our detriment," he said. K-25 is the name of the site's centerpiece, a mile-long U-shaped building considered the largest in the world when it was built from 1943-45. It is also the name of the entire site that consists of many other buildings _ known as K-33, K-31 and K-29, some built after the war. K-25 enriched uranium in a process called gaseous diffusion. The uranium was fed into the nearby Y-12 plant to make highly enriched uranium that was used in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. Many employees didn't know the nature of their work until the bombing was announced on the radio. During the Cold War, gaseous diffusion was the only process used to enrich uranium, and K-25 became a forerunner of other plants. Farmland covering 59,000 acres was selected in 1942 to be one of the secret sites of the Manhattan Project. A city sprang up almost instantly and had 75,000 residents at its peak in 1945 working at K-25, Y-12 and the X-10 reactor. Yellow radiation warning signs still dot the premises at K-25 but the armed guards at the entry gates are gone. Currently, 25 companies are signed on as tenants in some of the old, refurbished buildings through leases negotiated by the Community Reuse Organization of East Tennessee. "We'd always like to have many more clients visit and we're working diligently to get there, but we have achieved some level of success we're proud of," CROET President Lawrence Young said. CROET is in charge of finding tenants, negotiating the leases and sometimes maintaining buildings under lease. The current tenants include a waste management company and an auto part component manufacturer. A motorsports race course has even been proposed. Companies looking at the technology park have typical concerns about locating at a former uranium enrichment site with aging buildings. But Young says contamination shouldn't be much of an issue. "There's reams of data that shows a worker is going to be safe in that environment just like they would be at any other industrial or business park, and by and large most companies accept that," he said. Still, two of the biggest buildings on the site _ K-31 and K-33 _ have been cleaned out and remain vacant. BRI Energy LLC of Florida announced tentative plans earlier in May to use K-31 for an ethanol production facility. The buildings were grouped with K-29 in a $356 million cleanup contract awarded to BNFL Inc., now called BNG America. The company removed more than 156,000 tons of material and equipment from the buildings that together cover 4.8 million square feet of floor space. It was one of the largest decontamination and decommissioning projects in the country. Officials later determined that the 650,000-square-foot K-29 needed to be torn down because it was not structurally sound, and Bechtel Jacobs started demolition earlier this year. Completion was targeted for July. The buildings and others still vacant could come to the same fate as K-29 if leases cannot be signed in time. "They are big buildings and as a result are expensive to maintain," Young said. "It just becomes a function of economics. If we can get tenants into those buildings that would ultimately allow us to maintain the buildings then obviously we would be fulfilling our mission and the buildings would be leased long term. Conversely if we're not successful in doing that, then the department would have to make a decision with regard to the buildings." Officials say they will begin tearing down K-25 next April and finish in two years. An enormous edifice from any angle, K-25 looks like an abandoned warehouse with peeling holes in the roof and exterior walls. Cleaning up K-25 has been slow because of the age of the building and its lingering contamination. The roof was last repaired in 1994, and water has leaked in and onto the operating floor, making it "not safe to walk on or under," said Jack Howard, manager of the three-building project. "This is an example of one that sat too long," McCracken said during a recent tour. Now workers are draining and inspecting equipment and about 400 miles of piping inside the building. They use tiny cameras to check for residue. The K-25 building cleanup was combined in a five-year Bechtel Jacobs contract worth $1.6 billion that also includes other parts of the Oak Ridge reservation. Preservationists, who believe K-25 has historic significance, are hoping workers will leave a building footprint of the building or the north tower that forms the bottom of the U. The National Park Service is looking at creating a Manhattan Project park including several sites around the country including K-25. McCracken moved to Oak Ridge with his family in 1947 when his father worked with the Atomic Energy Commission. He understands the concerns. "I think Oak Ridge has a tremendous history that should be preserved," he said. "You can't leave those big buildings with contaminants in them. What we have to do is save the legacy." As for the future, Young hopes the changes will draw more industry and not just tourists. "Hopefully someone drives past who may not be from the area and they see it as simply a business industrial site," he says, "and it's not until they read the historic markers that they find that it was once the K-25 site." On the Net: ETTP: http://www.ettpreuse.com/main1.html Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. and WYMT. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 74 Hanford News: Hanford tours fill up in 15 minutes This story was published Thursday, May 25th, 2006 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer All 350 seats for the June tours of Hanford were filled within 15 minutes of the start of Internet registration Wednesday morning. "The response was overwhelming," said Geoff Tyree, spokesman for Fluor Hanford. The Department of Energy had planned to offer two rounds of tours this year, one in June and a second in October. But because of the high interest DOE announced Wednesday afternoon that it will offer an additional round of tours sometime this summer. When registration for the June tours opened at 8 a.m. Wednesday, the Web registration site received thousands of inquiries, and some people had delays in getting the registration screen to open, Tyree said. Fluor is looking at ways to expand server capacity to avoid the problem in the future, he said. A few seats are expected to open up through cancellations for the June tours. Those who were not able to register Wednesday can keep checking at www.hanford.gov/information/ sitetours/registration/ for spaces to open up on the tours through 6 a.m. June 19. "There is tremendous interest in people coming out to see the site, coming out to see B Reactor and learning about the site's history," Tyree said. Because of security restrictions, the Hanford tours are one of the few ways people can visit the site. Families of employees enjoy seeing where their relatives work and retirees like to come back to see progress made at the site. But the tours also draw people from across the nation who are interested in seeing the reservation because of its role in World War II and the Cold War. B Reactor, which will be opened for the tours, made the plutonium used in the first nuclear explosion in New Mexico and then provided plutonium for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, helping end World War II. The B Reactor Museum Association and others are working to save the reactor for a museum, but for now the tours of the Hanford site are the only times the public can see the reactor. The current registration is for tours starting at 7:30, 9 and 10:30 a.m. June 21-23 and lasting four hours. Dates have not been set for the second round of summer tours or the October tours, but both will include nine tours over three days. Participants must be at least 16 years old and U.S. citizens. © 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 75 Hanford News: U.S. House passes Hanford budget This story was published Thursday, May 25th, 2006 By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer The U.S. House passed a Hanford budget for fiscal year 2007 of about $1.8 billion Wednesday night as part of the energy and water spending bill. The Senate has not scheduled action on its Fiscal Year 2007 Energy and Water Appropriations bill, which then will be reconciled with the House bill to set the final budget. "While a final budget won't be written for several months, I'm encouraged by increases in many areas including ground water cleanup, alternate tank waste treatment testing and PNNL," (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory), said Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash., in a statement. However, money for Hanford's vitrification plant was reduced from the Bush administration's request of $690 million to $600 million. The amount was a compromise after the Government Accountability Office estimated that the plant's costs in 2007 would be $510 million, given management and technical issues that need to be resolved. The GAO has recommended a continued halt to some work at the plant after the estimated cost increased from $5.8 billion to a preliminary estimate of $11.3 billion in the last 18 months. The plant, which will turn millions of gallons of radioactive waste into a stable glass form, is critical to Hanford cleanup, Hastings said on the floor of the House. Since problems on the project were revealed, it has undergone extensive reviews by DOE, the GAO, the Army Corps of Engineers and independent experts, he said. DOE should provide a detailed plan for the vitrification plant before Congress finishes the final Hanford budget for 2007, he said. "A final path forward from DOE is critical for making decisions on this project for next year and for the future," he said. "I cannot stress enough the importance of Congress getting this information from DOE in a timely manner," he added. Bechtel National is expected to have a detailed, updated cost estimate on building the Waste Treatment Plant by the end of the month, which the Army Corps could finish validating by the end of July. Last year, Congress agreed to a budget of $526 million for the plant, after withholding money to spend on Gulf hurricane relief. Work which already had slowed on key parts of the plant halted at the first of the year. Hastings had more success in other areas of the 2007 Hanford budget that was passed by the House. He increased money for building replacement labs at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory from about $8 million to almost $25 million. "The funds are needed to transition the lab personnel into new lab buildings," Hastings said. "Some lab buildings dating back to the mid-1940s are slated for demolition and cleanup due to radioactive contamination of the structures, soil and ground water." The bill matches the administration's request for Hanford in most areas. However, it increases money to develop technology for cleaning up contaminated ground water by $20 million. It also restores $20 million for the bulk vitrification demonstration project. Bulk vitrification is being considered to supplement the Waste Treatment Plant's glassification of low-activity radioactive waste, but first a pilot plant must be built to test the technology. The budget also includes $7.5 million for the Volpentest HAMMER training center and $500,000 for preservation of Hanford's historic B Reactor. In one increase above spending in the current year at Hanford, the budget for cleanup along the Columbia River would be boosted $44 million to $221 million, as requested by the administration. Buildings are being torn down, reactor cores sealed up and waste burial grounds and contaminated soil dug up. Hastings showed "leadership and dogged determination to follow through on very complicated issues relative to Hanford," said Rep. Peter Visclosky, the ranking Democrat on the House Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee, as the spending bill was introduced. © 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************