*****************************************************************
06/16/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.143
*****************************************************************
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 [NYTr] Iranian Women Protest in Shadow of Nuclear Face-off
2 AFP: Iran president calls nuclear offer 'step forward'
3 AFP: US and Europe want an answer from Iran
4 AFP: Rice to Iran: we need an answer
5 AFP: Iran's Ahmadinejad meets China's Hu, US wary
6 Guardian Unlimited: Ahmadinejad: Nuke Package a 'Step Forward'
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran softens rhetoric over nuclear deal
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran warms to six-nation nuclear offer
9 Korea Herald: Ballistic missile test
10 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Enacts Bill on Sanctioning N.Korea
11 UPI: S. Korea, France pledge energy cooperation
12 London Times: Nuclear scientist is off-limits, Pakistan tells US - W
13 Platts: Nuke decommissioning to stop if Swedish government lose elec
14 AFP: Putin takes swipe at US policy in Central Asia
15 Guardian Unlimited: Key Senator Backs U.S.-India Nuclear Deal
NUCLEAR REACTORS
16 US: FW: Nuclear tax subisdy/ TMIA Testimony Doc. #00061957
17 US: [NukeNet] Blakeslee take First Legislative Action on Seismic
18 US: NRC: Commissioner Gregory B. Jaczko Takes Oath of Office at NRC
19 Guardian Unlimited: Contract signed for first floating nuclear react
20 US: NRC: Amergen Energy Company, LLC; Oyster Creek Nuclear Generatin
21 globeandmail.com: Critics blast limits on nuclear review
22 CeskeNoviny: One cable fastening Temelin's containment breaks
23 Telegraph: Britain's energy woes
24 US: The Day: Regulators Approve Regional Energy Plan
25 UPI: Australian nuke plant mishaps up
NUCLEAR SECURITY
NUCLEAR SAFETY
26 [DU Information List] Mod Ignores ruling on gulf war syndrome
27 US: Deseret News: Kanab residents to rally against blast
28 US: SignOnSanDiego.com: Government: September or later for mushroom
29 US: KGWN: Air Force Base Trains For Nuclear Accident
30 US: Platts: NRC to include Category 3 radioactive sources in NSTS
31 NEWS.com.au: Minister 'in dark' on leaks - Nuclear Fears
32 US: New Haven Advocate: Nuclear New Haven
33 AFP: US warns North Korea against 'provocative' missile test
34 US: Reid: REID CONTINUES TO FIGHT FOR COMPENSATION FOR NEVADA TEST
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
35 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast riddle
36 Platts: France's waste bill voted out of National Assembly June 15
37 US: SignOnSanDiego.com: Train carrying water used at nuclear plant d
38 US: Muskogee Phoenix: Army to remove uranium from Gore
39 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Uranium mining may restart
40 US: WWMT: Train carrying water used at nuclear plant derails
41 US: Los Angeles Times: Democrats Say Key Superfund Data Is Being Wit
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
42 Concern over lab's plans (SF Chronicle)
43 CONTRA COSTA TIMES: UC regents take get a first-hand look at Livermo
44 Seattle Times: I-297's false promise
45 Hanford News: Bechtel names Albert new vit plant project manager
46 Hanford News: Officials say K East Basin sludge treatment a success
47 Hanford News: Vit plant cost continues to climb; Bechtel officials p
48 Hanford News: PNNL sends researcher to meet Nobel prize winners
49 Rocky Mountain News: Ruling revives hopes that story can be told
50 Gazette: USEC eyes nuclear plant revival
51 DenverPost.com: Court says part of Flats probe can be released
52 Chattanooga Times Free Press: Manhattan Project vets relive history
53 TheDenverChannel.com: Ruling Lets Rocky Flats Grand Jurors Go Public
54 Seattle Weekly: Politics: Losing the Initiative
55 Knox News: Panel: Sick OR workers should get benefits
56 SHAWNEE SENTINEL: Attention All Sentinel Readers (USEC)
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
1 [NYTr] Iranian Women Protest in Shadow of Nuclear Face-off
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 15:06:33 -0500 (CDT)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Womens ENews - June 16, 2006
http://www.womensenews.org
Irani Women Protest in Shadow of Nuclear Face-off
By Allison Stevens - Washington Bureau Chief
WASHINGTON, D.C. (WOMENSENEWS)--Hundreds of women gathered in downtown
Tehran to protest institutionalized sex discrimination in Iran Monday,
voicing a peaceful message that drew a violent rebuke from baton-wielding
police.
About 100 male and female police officers beat demonstrators to disperse the
crowd, wounding one in the face and the head, and detaining 20 more,
according to The Associated Press. Other publications reported the number of
arrests as high as 70.
The protest--and the alleged beatings of some of the activists--drew scant
media coverage in the West, where U.S. efforts to dissuade Iran from
developing nuclear weapons are claiming major attention.
"For the time being, it's all about nuclear issues," said Najmeh Bozorgmehr,
a Tehran correspondent for London's Financial Times who is currently a
visiting fellow at the Brookings Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C.
"They don't talk about women's rights any more."
Genevieve Lynch, vice president of The Pluralism Fund, a San Francisco-based
coalition of donors to Iran and Pakistan, says the debate over whether Iran
should have enriched uranium has drowned out discussion of women's rights in
Iran and allowed authorities there to crack down on women's rights
activists--and women in general--without fear of international reprisal.
"With the international focus completely on the nuclear issue, it's really
allowed the conservative leaders of Iran to pretty systematically dismantle
the space we've created for civil society, especially for women," Lynch
said.
Earlier this month Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice announced the United
States would enter into talks with Iran to discuss a package of incentives
designed to convince the country to abandon its nuclear program. Iranian
officials have indicated interest but have not said whether they will meet
the precondition to the talks.
More Freedoms Than Saudi Arabia
Iranian women have more freedoms than women in Saudi Arabia and other Arab
states; they can work, drive, vote and run for most political offices.
But the state is cracking down on the country's dress code, which requires
women to cover their hair and wear long, loose-fitting clothing in public to
hide the shape of their bodies. Segregation laws on buses and in some public
areas--such as parks, sidewalks and elevators--are tightening, and women's
advocacy groups and publications have come under closer scrutiny, said Jila
Kazerounian, executive director of the Women's Forum Against Fundamentalism
in Iran, a small membership advocacy group in Boston.
Women's rights advocates in Iran face complex political turf. They can be
accused of being aligned with Western values if they push for their rights.
Conciliatory gestures by the U.S. toward Iran, meanwhile, could undermine
the political leverage they do have at home.
"As soon as Western governments, including the United States, start
appeasing and engaging the mullahs, they take that as a go-ahead and a green
light to increase the internal suppression," Kazerounian said. "What comes
next is women are one of the first targets."
Ramesh Sepehrrad, president of the National Committee of Women for a
Democratic Iran, a small membership-funded organization in Washington, D.C.,
agreed, saying formal U.S. engagement with Iran will only legitimize the
regime's oppression of women.
Zainab al-Suwaij, executive director of the American Islamic Congress, a
nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., dedicated to building
inter-faith and inter-ethnic understanding, disagreed, saying she sees no
effect of U.S. incentives to negotiate on the women's rights movement. "The
negotiation simply is not about women," she said.
Climate Fraught With Tension
In a fraught foreign policy climate, some advocates wish that U.S. policy
would be more nuanced when it comes to women's rights and pro-democracy
initiatives.
Secretary of State Rice, in a 2005 speech at the American University in
Cairo, made a strong call for women's equality. "There are those who say
that democracy is for men alone," Rice said at the time. "In fact, the
opposite is true: Half a democracy is not a democracy."
But such comments may as well go left unsaid because they are generally
viewed with suspicion in Iran, Bozorgmehr said.
"There is always this skepticism that when they talk about democracy and
other issues, they don't really mean that," she said. "I don't think
Iranians see sincerity in U.S. comments about Iran."
Last week, the State Department downgraded Iran to the lowest category--from
Tier 2 to Tier 3--on the question of the country's efforts to stop human
trafficking, citing the public hanging of a 16-year-old sex trafficking
victim for acts "incompatible with chastity." Characterized by some as a
bold move at a time of delicate nuclear diplomacy, others saw the downgrade
as a political label reserved for nations like Iran, Syria and North Korea,
already low on the U.S. government's list of allies.
The Bush administration has requested $75 million to promote political
change in Iran, some of which would go to women's rights groups, said State
Department spokesperson Amanda Rogers-Harper. She declined to reveal the
names of any potential beneficiaries for security reasons. The House
Appropriations Committee approved $56 million of that request; a floor vote
is expected later this summer.
Protest Timed to Anniversary
Monday's rally marked the one-year anniversary of a Tehran demonstration of
hundreds of women six days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a religious
conservative, was voted into office. That protest was the first of its kind
since the 1979 revolution that ousted the constitutional monarchy and
recreated Iran as an Islamic state. There were uncorroborated reports that
some women were clubbed and detained during that rally, according to press
reports.
Women's rights activists staged another major demonstration on March 8 of
this year to commemorate International Women's Day. Iranian police and
plainclothes agents dumped garbage on the heads of participants and beat
them to disperse the crowd, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.
In all three protests, women pressed for greater equality. Islamic law
favors men in such areas as divorce, child custody, polygamy, employment
rights, the age of adulthood and court proceedings, where a woman's
testimony is viewed as half as valuable as a man's. Women cannot work or
travel outside the country without the permission of a male guardian.
Challenging these policies has become more complicated as tensions have
increased between Iran and the West, said Shireen Hunter, a specialist in
Islam and human rights and a visiting scholar at Georgetown University in
Washington, D.C.
"It's a dilemma," said Hunter. Women's rights activists, she said, feel they
have to speak out on human rights, but don't want their statements to be
used as justification to harm Iran.
In some ways, however, the West's focus on nuclear issues has been a boon
for women, said Hunter. With the United States and Europe putting diplomatic
pressure on Iran, Ahmadinejad must reach out to women to shore up his
political base, Hunter said.
This, she said, motivated him to issue a recent ruling allowing women to
attend soccer games. The decision was later overturned by the Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Khamenei but nonetheless indicated a willingness to make small
concessions to women for political reasons, Hunter said.
[Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.]
For more information:
Women's Forum against Fundamentalism in Iran: - http://www.wfafi.org/
The National Committee of Women for a Democratic Iran: -
http://ncwdi.igc.org/
Human Rights Watch: Iran: -
http://www.humanrightswatch.org/doc?t=mideast&c=iran -
Copyright 2006 Women's eNews.
*
================================================================
.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
================================================================
*****************************************************************
2 AFP: Iran president calls nuclear offer 'step forward'
by Peter Harmsen Fri Jun 16, 5:40 AM ET
SHANGHAI (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the
international incentive proposal to curtail his nation's nuclear
program was a "step forward" that would be carefully considered.
His announcement came a day after Iran " /> Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Islamic regime would not bow to
pressure over its atomic program.
Ahmadinejad, attending the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, a regional security grouping, told journalists his
nation would look at the proposal, which offers incentives if
Tehran suspends uranium enrichment.
"We regard the offer of a package as a step forward and I have
instructed my colleagues to carefully consider it," Ahmadinejad
said.
"We will give a response in due time in line with the
international interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Uranium enrichment produces nuclear reactor fuel but also atom
bomb material. The United States has led international warnings
that Iran intends to build a nuclear weapons program.
The incentives package includes the lifting of some US trade
sanctions and international support for the "building of new
light water reactors in Iran," according to a copy of the
proposal shown to AFP.
Tehran insists its nuclear program is only for energy purposes
and that it has a right to enrich uranium.
"We are not seeking to develop nuclear weapons," Ahmadinejad
reiterated Friday.
He then sought to focus attention on the United States dropping
two atomic bombs in Japan at the end of World War II, becoming
the first and only nation to use nuclear weapons.
"Pay attention to the fact that Hiroshima is only a few hundred
kilometers away," he said, referring to one of the Japanese
cities that was bombed.
"We believe that war-minded and selfish nations must correct
their behavior if they want to have a place in the future world."
Iran has previously given mixed signals over whether it will
accept the incentive offer, made by the United States, China,
Russia, Britain, France and Germany to Tehran on June 6.
Ahmadinejad was evasive on whether he had discussed the
possibility of UN sanctions while meeting with his Chinese and
Russian counterparts in Shanghai.
"I believe the word 'sanction' should be removed from political
discourse. Sanctions should not be used as pressure or
intimidation against countries of the world," he said.
"In principle we don't accept it, so we never talk about it."
The Shanghai summit had attracted extra attention because of
Ahmedinejad's presence, but he said the Iranian nuclear issue
had not been on the agenda.
"Of course, there was no need for that to be on the agenda. Some
countries make problems for others and they give the impression
that these have become problems for the entire international
community," he said.
"Let's remember that those who try to make trouble for others
will be the first to be in trouble."
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency
" /> International Atomic Energy Agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh,
said Thursday the international community's "carrot-and-stick"
policy over the Iranian nuclear program was counterproductive.
"Humiliation and the use of language of threat of referring the
nuclear dossier to the UN Security Council... have had a serious
impact on mutual trust and confidence on parties involved and
thus the process of negotiations," he said.
Supreme leader Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of
state, said Thursday his country would not bow to pressure,
implicitly rejecting the calls to suspend enrichment.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not bend to these pressures.
The continuation of this scientific progress is its fundamental
and basic right," Iranian state television quoted Khamenei as
saying.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
3 AFP: US and Europe want an answer from Iran
Fri Jun 16, 6:55 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States and Europe pressed Iran " />
to give a firm response to an international offer of incentives
to end its nuclear programme.
The call for an answer came after Iran's President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said the proposal by the world powers was a "step
forward" while not predicting an end to the dispute.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
" /> led the cautious western reaction to Ahmadinejad's
statement made at a summit in Shanghai.
"We have heard some positive statements from the Iranians," she
told reporters after talks in Washington with Italian Foreign
Minister Massimo D'Alema.
But she added, "We need an answer, the international community
needs an answer (from Iran) so we know if, in fact, the
negotiating track is going to bear fruit."
Washington and its allies believe the Iranian programme is a
cover for an attempt to build a nuclear weapon. Iran insists it
is peaceful.
Leaders of the 25-nation European Union
" /> meeting in Brussels also urged Iran to respond quickly and
positively to the international package.
In their final summit communique, the leaders reiterated their
commitment to a diplomatic solution "which addresses concerns
about Iran's nuclear programme while affirming Iran's right to
the peaceful use of nuclear energy".
They expressed "full support to the balanced approach" built
into the incentives, unveiled June 1 by the Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States -- the five permanent UN
Security Council nations -- plus Germany.
"The European Council urges Iran to give an early positive
response to this far-reaching initiative and to create the
conditions whereby negotiations can resume," the communique said.
Iran, it added, should "take the positive path that is offered."
China and Russia have resisted talk of UN Security Council
sanctions against Iran, but China's President Hu Jintao
" /> also urged Iran to resume talks in a summit Friday with the
Iranian leader, China's state media reported.
"The proposal put forward by China, Russia, the United States
and Europe has provided a new opportunity for the settlement of
the issue," Hu told Ahmadinejad, according to the official
Xinhua news agency.
"We hope the Iranian side will earnestly study (the proposal),
positively respond and seek an earlier resumption of the nuclear
talks," Hu said.
Under the initiative, the United States would lift some of its
trade sanctions on the Islamic republic, which would also get
international support for building new light-water nuclear
reactors.
Speaking Friday in Shanghai, Ahmadinejad said the international
incentives offered in return for the curbing of his nation's
nuclear programme were a "step forward" that would be carefully
considered.
"We regard the offer of a package as a step forward and I have
instructed my colleagues to carefully consider it," Ahmadinejad,
in China for the leaders' summit of the Shanghai Cooperation
Organization, told a press conference.
"We will give a response in due time in line with the
international interests of the Islamic Republic of Iran."
Iran's refusal to say when it will respond to the offer has
increased suspicion in western capitals.
But diplomats and analysts following the nuclear dispute say
that Iran and the major powers seem to be inching toward each
other.
"For once I'll be slightly optimistic because Ahmadinejad has
changed his tune a bit," said Christopher Rundle, an analyst in
Iranian studies at Britain's University of Durham.
Ahmadinejad's comments came a day after Iran's supreme leader
Ayatollah Ali Khameini struck a harder tone when he said the
Islamic regime would not bow to pressure over its atomic
programme.
A European diplomat close to the International Atomic Energy
Agency " /> (IAEA) in Vienna said the Iranian president and the
supreme leader's comments were not contradictory.
"No one has rejected the offer out of hand," the diplomat said.
The diplomat said the bottom line was that Iran wants
"unconditional talks" as it does not accept the condition that it
suspend enrichment.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
4 AFP: Rice to Iran: we need an answer
Fri Jun 16, 4:37 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice " />
said Friday Iran " /> had made "positive statements" about
Western proposals to resolve a row over its nuclear program, but
added "we need an answer" from Tehran.
The chief US diplomat was cautious about the outcome of an
Western offer to Iran to entice it to abandon suspected efforts
to build a nuclear bomb.
"We have heard some positive statements from the Iranians," she
told reporters after talks here with Italian Foreign Minister
Massimo D'Alema.
"But she added, "We need an answer, the international community
needs an answer (from Iran) so we know if, in fact, the
negotiating track is going to bear fruit."
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
5 AFP: Iran's Ahmadinejad meets China's Hu, US wary
June 16, 02:43 PM
SHANGHAI (AFP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has held
his first meeting with Chinese leader Hu Jintao in Shanghai, a
day after warning the Central Asian region to be wary of foreign
"domineering powers".
The hardline Iranian leader raised eyebrows in Washington with
typically feisty comments on Thursday to the leaders' summit of
the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) that were apparently
directed at the United States.
Ahmadinejad told the other leaders that deeper cooperation among
SCO nations could help "ward off the threats of domineering
powers to use their force against and interfere in the affairs
of other states."
He also called on the SCO -- which groups China, Russia and four
Central Asian nations with Iran as one of four observer
countries -- to deepen their economic links, offering to host a
summit of the forum's energy ministers.
Ahmadinejad held a one-on-one meeting with Russian President
Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the summit on Thursday, in
which Iran's nuclear program was one of the main topics
discussed.
He then received a warm welcome from Chinese President Hu on
Friday morning as they began their first official meeting.
"As mayor of Tehran, you provided support to Chinese businesses
in Iran," Hu said in brief comments to Ahmadinejad at the start
of their meeting at Shanghai's Xi Jiao guest house, a building
often used for state functions.
"Now that you are president, I hope that we will have many
opportunities to take the relationship between China and Iran to
the next level."
Reporters were then ushered out of the room without hearing a
response from Ahmadinejad.
Ahmadinejad's presence in Shanghai and his comments did not go
unnoticed in Washington, especially as the world waits for
Tehran's official response to an international offer of
incentives aimed at curtailing Iran's nuclear ambitions.
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters in
Washington that the SCO should not have invited Ahmadinejad to
the summit.
"Having Iran there as an observer -- Iran, the world's largest
or most significant state sponsor of terrorism -- again runs
counter to the idea that this is a group dedicated in part to
countering terrorism in the region," McCormack said.
White House spokesman Tony Snow also on Thursday suggested that
Iran's talks with Russia and China on its nuclear program might
be an attempt to divide the United States and its partners and
predicted that it would fail.
"It's safe to say that they'll try to test the unity of the P-5
plus one, but everybody's agreed," Snow said, referring to the
United States, Russia, China, France and Britain plus Germany.
Those countries, after much diplomatic maneuvering, united this
month behind the incentives package that is meant to ensure Iran
does not develop nuclear weapons. Tehran denies that it is
seeking an atomic arsenal.
Asked whether Iran was trying to divide the United States and
its partners, Snow said: "I'm not going to get into that. But
you'd expect them, as a negotiating tactic, to see if there is
any daylight (between the partners)."
Although China and Russia united with the other four nations to
put the incentive offer to Iran, they did so only after months
of negotiations that resulted in a much softer joint position
than the United States had hoped for.
Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Australia &NZ Pty Limited. All rights
reserved.
Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
6 Guardian Unlimited: Ahmadinejad: Nuke Package a 'Step Forward'
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday June 16, 2006 6:46 AM
AP Photo XGB103
SHANGHAI, China (AP) - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said Friday that the six-nation incentive package aimed at
getting his country to halt uranium enrichment was a step
forward in resolving the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
``Generally speaking, we're regarding this offer as a step
forward and I have instructed my colleagues to carefully
consider it,'' Ahmadinejad told reporters after meeting with
Chinese President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of a regional
summit in Shanghai.
Ahmadinejad's remark was the highest-level sign that Iran was
preparing to negotiate over the package of incentives offered by
the Big Five of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany.
The proposal called for negotiations, with the U.S. to take
part, and other incentives on the condition that Iran freeze its
uranium enrichment program.
Iran's leadership, however, has sent mixed signals on how it
will respond to the proposals.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed Thursday that Iran
would never back down on its nuclear program and dismissed the
threat of U.N. Security Council sanctions.
``The Islamic Republic of Iran will not succumb to these
pressures,'' state television quoted Khamenei as saying.
Speaking to Iranian nuclear experts in Tehran, Khamenei said the
development of nuclear technology was more important than oil
extraction - the source of about 80 percent of Iran's foreign
exchange.
``Let me tell you, the importance of achieving and using nuclear
energy is higher than oil exploration for our country,''
Khamenei said.
Iranian officials have insisted that enrichment is an
inalienable right and that talks must be unconditional. The
process can produce fuel for nuclear power plants or material
for atomic bombs.
The country denies accusations by the U.S. and others that it is
seeking to develop nuclear weapons, saying its program would
only generate energy.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Iran was
prepared to negotiate on the basis of the incentives.
Speaking after talks with Ahmadinejad in Shanghai, Putin said:
``The Iranian side responded positively to the six-nation
proposal for a way out of the crisis.''
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran softens rhetoric over nuclear deal
Jonathan Watts in Shanghai
Friday June 16, 2006
The Guardian
[The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a press
conference in Shanghai. Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/AP]
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, at a press
conference in Shanghai. Photograph: Elizabeth Dalziel/AP
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, praised on Friday a
six-nation incentive package aimed at resolving the
international dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme.
Raising hopes for a breakthrough, Mr Ahmadinejad said the
package - which aims to curtail Iran's uranium enrichment
activities - was a "step forward".
But despite the conciliatory tone of his comments, the president
said his government had made no decision about whether to accept
the proposal, which is backed by the US, Russia, China, France,
Britain and Germany.
Article continues
"Generally speaking, we're regarding this offer as a step forward
and I have instructed my colleagues to carefully consider it," he
told reporters in Shanghai. "In due time they will give the
response."
Under the package proposal, the EU has offered to provide trade
and economic benefits to Iran in return for a halting of its
nuclear programme. On the table is also a transfer of peaceful
nuclear technologies, airplane parts and support for Iran to
join the World Trade Organisation.
The package is supported by the US, which believes that Iran is
enriching uranium so that it can produce enough high-grade
fissile material for warheads.
Last month, Washington offered Iran the first face-to-face talks
between the two sides in more than 25 years, but it has also
threatened to seek UN sanctions against Tehran if it continues
its enrichment activities.
On Friday, the top US delegate to the International Atomic
Energy Agency, Gregory Schulte, warned that if Iran rejected the
incentives, it could face "the weight of the security council".
Mr Ahmadinejad denied that his country's nuclear program had a
military application. "Sanctions shouldn't be used as a form of
intimidation against countries of the world," he said.
The Iranian president is in Shanghai for a summit of central
Asian nations, where he has taken the opportunity to press
Tehran's case with the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, and the
Russian president, Vladimir Putin. Both countries support the
package and oppose US attempts to bring the issue to the
security council.
After bilateral talks with Mr Ahmadinejad, Mr Putin said Iran
has the right to nuclear technology if it poses no concern to
the rest of the world. Mr Hu said he had urged the Iranian
president to accept the proposal. Beijing is particularly keen
to see a peaceful resolution of the dispute because Iran is the
third biggest supplier of the crude oil that China needs to fuel
its booming economy.
Whether Mr Ahmadinejad maintains his conciliatory tone after he
leaves China remains to be seen. Iran continues to send out
mixed signals. The country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, appeared to maintain a hardline approach in his latest
reported comments.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran will not succumb to these
pressures," state television quoted Khamenei as saying.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: Iran warms to six-nation nuclear offer
Jonathan Watts in Shanghai
Saturday June 17, 2006
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, yesterday praised a
six-country package of incentives aimed at resolving the
international dispute over Tehran's nuclear programme. Raising
hopes of a breakthrough, he said the proposal, which aims to
curtail Iran's uranium enrichment activities, was a "step
forward".
But despite his conciliatory tone Mr Ahmadinejad said his
government had made no decision about whether to accept the
package, which is backed by the US, Russia, China, France,
Britain and Germany. "Generally speaking, we're regarding this
offer as a step forward and I have instructed my colleagues to
carefully consider it," he told reporters in Shanghai. "In due
time they will give the response."
The EU has offered to provide trade and economic benefits to Iran
in return for a halt to its nuclear programme. Also on the table
is a transfer of peaceful nuclear technology, aeroplane parts,
and support for Iran to join the World Trade Organisation.
The package is supported by the US, which believes that Iran is
enriching uranium to produce a nuclear weapon. Last month
Washington offered Iran the first face-to-face talks between the
two sides in more than 25 years, but it has also threatened to
seek UN sanctions if Tehran continues its enrichment activities.
Yesterday Gregory Schulte, the top US delegate to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, said if Iran rejected the
incentives it could face "the weight of the security council".
Mr Ahmadinejad is in China for a summit of central Asian
countries, where he has taken the opportunity to press Tehran's
case with Chinese and Russian leaders.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
9 Korea Herald: Ballistic missile test
Editorial
North Korea is reportedly preparing to test a multiple-stage
ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States. But
Pyongyang must be made to realize it has more to lose than to
gain if it follows the preparations with an actual test.
A recent news article said North Korea has completed the initial
preparation work on the test launch of an intercontinental
Taepodong 2 missile, an unmistakable threat to move out of a
1999 self-imposed moratorium on long-range missile tests. A year
ago it fired a Taepodong 1 missile over Japan which landed in
the Pacific, sending neighboring countries into shock.
It is too early to tell whether it is really serious about a
test launch or merely displaying its missile capability to
convince the United States that it is not an easy target of
American financial and other sanctions. Either way, the threat
cannot be taken lightly.
When the Japanese news media first reported the North Korean
moves on May 19, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe did
not take it very seriously. He said he did not believe the
missile launch was imminent.
But such reservations gave way to deepening concern this past
Monday when an unidentified U.S. government official was quoted
as saying that a launch could take place within weeks. On
Wednesday, both South Korea and the United States issued public
warnings against a North Korean missile launch.
The firing of a Taepodong 1 missile in 1998, which put Japan
within range, was a shock to Tokyo but not of too much concern
to Washington as the missile could not reach U.S. territory. But
a Taepodong 2 is different. Its test would pose a direct threat
to U.S. security, as it would be able to strike western regions
of the U.S. if it was a two-stage missile, and most of the
continental United States if it was a three-stage version.
No wonder Washington is making a thinly veiled threat of
retaliation against North Korea. Should it go ahead with a
missile test, it "would be regarded as a very serious matter and
we would have to take appropriate measures in response,"
Alexander Vershbow, U.S. ambassador to Seoul said, not
specifying what those measures would be.
North Korea has been silent about its upcoming missile test,
with no clues as to the intended target. But it is not so
difficult to imagine that North Korea, by preparing a missile
launch, is expressing its anger with the United States, which
has imposed financial sanctions on North Korea's counterfeiting
of $100 supernotes and money laundering.
But North Korea is risking so much by flexing its missile-muscle
in this manner. First of all, it is inviting countermeasures
from the United States. Didn't Vershbow say that the United
States has rarely tolerated any provocation of such magnitude in
the past?
Should tension build up to an intolerable level as a consequence
of a missile test, major sources of hard currency for the North
would dry up. South Korea would have to halt tourist visits to
Mt. Geumgang and the industrial project in Gaeseong, in addition
to freezing its food and fertilizer aid for the destitute
communist state.
Moreover, Japan would be more than happy to join the United
States in slapping sanctions on North Korea. For example, it
could begin by banning remittances by pro-Pyongyang Korean
residents to the North.
North Korea will do well to heed the U.S. warning and back away
from visible preparations to launch a missile. Instead, it will
have to return to the six-party talks without preconditions and
negotiate terms of dismantling its nuclear weapons program, in
return for which South Korea and the United States are willing
to provide massive economic aid.
2006.06.17
*****************************************************************
10 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Enacts Bill on Sanctioning N.Korea
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday June 16, 2006 4:46 AM
By CARL FREIRE
Associated Press Writer
TOKYO (AP) - Japan's parliament enacted a bill Friday that would
impose sanctions on North Korea if it fails to cooperate in
clearing up details of its past abductions of Japanese citizens.
The upper house approved the bill, after it passed the more
powerful lower house on Tuesday.
The legislation would authorize the government to ban the
docking of North Korean ships at Japanese ports and stop the
private transfer of much-needed hard cash from Japan to the
reclusive communist country.
The legislation is part of Japan's mounting efforts to pressure
North Korea into conclusively solving a series of abductions in
the 1970s and 80s that have long fanned tensions between Tokyo
and Pyongyang.
North Korea in 2002 admitted to kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens
and allowed five to return, saying the other eight were dead.
Japan has continued to demand proof of the deaths, and suspects
other citizens have also been abducted by the North.
Japan two years ago approved a similar measure, and the latest
measure is aimed at strengthening that policy, according to
ruling Liberal Democratic Party officials.
Tokyo has discussed possible sanctions against North Korea for
several years while sporadic talks to solve the problem, most
recently in February, have made no noticeable progress.
Pyongyang has said in the past that the imposition of sanctions
would be considered a ``declaration of war.''
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Thursday that Japan will
``strenuously negotiate'' with North Korea over the abductions
as well as nuclear weapons and missile issues.
Japan has recently stepped up its pressure on Pyongyang. In
April, Tokyo issued arrest warrants for two former North Korean
agents suspected in the 1980 disappearance of Japanese citizen
Tadaaki Hara.
Hara was among the 13 Japanese kidnapped by the North in the
1970s and 80s. Pyongyang claims eight of the victims later died,
including Hara.
The mother of abductee Megumi Yokota - who Pyongyang says is
also among those who died - visited Washington in April and
urged American officials, including President Bush, to put
greater pressure on North Korea over the kidnappings.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
11 UPI: S. Korea, France pledge energy cooperation
United Press International - Energy -
6/16/2006 12:21:00 PM -0400
SEOUL, June 16 (UPI) -- South Korea and France agreed Friday to
increase cooperation in the energy sectors in a bid to better
cope with rising global oil prices.
In an energy cooperation group meeting held in Paris on
Thursday, the South Korean minister of commerce, industry and
energy said the two counties had agreed to make concerted
efforts to better develop overseas energy resources, including
oil and gas fields, Yonhap news agency reported.
The ministry said South Korea could benefit from France's
extensive experience in exploration and exploitation of energy
resources. Seoul has already won rights to develop oil and gas
fields in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
Both sides also agreed with growing oil prices, it was vital to
pursue alternative energies, including nuclear power and
reusable energy sources.
The two countries are members of the International Thermonuclear
Experimental Reactor project in Cadarache, France.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
12 London Times: Nuclear scientist is off-limits, Pakistan tells US - World -
Times Online June 15, 2006
From Zahid Hussain in Islamabad and Tom Baldwin in
Washington
Pakistan has refused US demands to talk to Abdul Qadeer Khan,
whose black market network sold nuclear technology to Iran and
North Korea
Abdul Qadeer Khan
The security ring surrounding Abdul Qadeer Khan's sprawling
mansion at the foot of Margalla hills in Islamabad has visibly
tightened in recent weeks.
Uniformed soldiers with machine guns block all access to the
property and scrutinise every passing vehicle.
Mr Khan, the "Father" of Pakistan's nuclear bomb, has been under
house arrest since February 2004 when he confessed to operating
an international bazaar for nuclear technology, and spends his
days confined with his Dutch wife, Henny, inside his
well-protected home.
The iron front gate is completely covered to ensure that no one
sees him taking his evening stroll in his lush green garden. Even
his daughter, Ayesha Khan, has been stopped from entering the
house and his fleet of antique cars languishes unused.
Pakistani military intelligence officials visit him. A long list
of others would like to but are forbidden. That list is headed by
the Americans, for Mr Khan is perhaps the only man outside Iran
who knows precisely what nuclear technology the Tehran regime has
received, and what it plans to do with it.
The United States has repeatedly asked the Pakistani authorities
for permission to interrogate him, but is always rebuffed.
Pakistan recently announced that its investigation into the whole
affair was closed.
Ed Royce, the Republican chairman of the congressional
sub-committee on non-proliferation, said: "The A.Q. Khan network
has been described as `the Wal-Mart of private-sector
proliferation'. Its handiwork has helped deliver to us two of the
most threatening security challenges we face: North Korea and
Iran."
Like other congressmen, Mr Royce expressed deep concern that Mr
Khan remained "off-limits to foreign investigators" even though
Pakistan receives $700 million (œ379 million) in aid from the US
was designated a significant ally in the War on Terror. "The US
and the international community should expect more from
Pakistan's Government," he said.
A senior Pakistani official said that the US continued to press
Islamabad for more information on Mr Khan's network, "but we have
told them in no uncertain terms that he is off-limits".
He insisted that Pakistan had shared all it knew with the US and
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), as well as putting
questions to Mr Khan on behalf of US investigators. Pakistan
should be trusted with the investigation and anything else would
be violation of national sovereignty, he added.
Mr Khan has confessed to passing nuclear technology to Iran,
Libya and North Korea.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, claimed last month
that his country was conducting research on a more advanced P-2
centrifuge. Mr Khan's deputy, Buhary Seyed Abu Tahir, has told
interrogators that the network probably supplied three samples of
the P-2 centrifuges, even though Tehran insists it has only
received drawings of the machines.
Documents discovered by the IAEA suggest the Khan network might
also have given Iran information about how to make the
hemispheres of uranium metal needed for nuclear weapons.
But Washington believes the Khan network may still be active. The
US Congress has been told how Swiss police recently foiled a plot
to ship 60 tons of specialised aluminum tubes - used for building
parts of a centrifuge cascade to enrich uranium - through Europe
to Pakistan.
According to Andrew Koch, a defence expert, this involved using a
middleman in Britain who was not previously known to be a Khan
associate. The tubes, which he said could have ultimately been
sent to Khan network customers, were eventually seized in the UAE
by government authorities.
The US State Department will not comment on the case but a senior
Western diplomat said that while there was no formal request for
direct access to Mr Khan, the US believed the case was far from
over. "We still want to know more about his network. There are
many questions which have remained unanswered," he said.
The renewed international attention on Mr Khan has put President
Musharraf's Government in an awkward situation because the
scientist is still revered by Pakistanis as a national hero whose
birthday is celebrated in mosques and whose portrait hangs in
public places.
The Pakistani Senate recently backed unanimously a resolution
appreciating the contribution of Mr Khan and his associates in
developing the country's nuclear programme and ruled out handing
him over to the Americans.
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
13 Platts: Nuke decommissioning to stop if Swedish government lose election
London (Platts)--15Jun2006
Nuclear decommisssioning will not continue if Sweden's four main
opposition parties win the September election and run a coalition
government, they said in a joint statement yesterday.
The minority Social Democratic government now in power is
officially committed to phasing out nuclear, and has shut down
the two 600-MW Barsebaeck reactors.
In a compromise move, the opposition said that it does not
support building of new nuclear now, but would look at the issue
toward the end of its four-year term if elected. The Center
Party, which is part of the opposition group, has traditionally
supported a nuclear phase-out, but recently said it was
withdrawing from the agreement on phase-out it supported with the
government and the Left.
For similar stories, request a free trial to Platts Nucleonics
Week at http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
14 AFP: Putin takes swipe at US policy in Central Asia
by Nick Coleman Thu Jun 15, 10:14 PM ET
SHANGHAI (AFP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin " /> Vladimir
Putinhas taken a swipe early at the US military presence in
Central Asia, while defending a regional security group that some
critics have seen as a rival to NATO " /> NATO.
Referring to Washington's loss of a military base that Uzbekistan
ordered closed last year, Putin likened the US approach in the
region to that of a "bull in a china shop", saying the closure
was not at all surprising.
"We call on everyone to be very careful and allow each country
to develop in a natural way," the Russian leader told
journalists at an informal gathering after a summit of the
six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO).
"We need to support them (the Central Asian states)... don't
forget where Uzbekistan is located -- it borders Afghanistan
" /> Afghanistan," he said.
Putin said outsiders showed they did not understand Central Asia
when they used "stamps and cliches" to complain about the
region, particularly about Uzbekistan, which has been widely
criticised for human rights abuses.
Having only gained independence after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, the Central Asian states should not be compared with
countries that have had longer to mature, Putin said.
The Russian president met with journalists for two hours in his
hotel suite in the early hours of Friday, sipping cranberry
juice and cracking the occasional joke.
He rejected claims that the Shanghai group -- which focuses on
security issues and economic cooperation -- was emerging as a
rival military bloc to the Western-led North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO).
"It's not a military bloc, it's open to all," he said.
"There's a feeling of alarm that Russia and China are combining
forces. But this organisation is open. There's nothing covered
up," Putin said.
The Shanghai group had been a "good instrument" after the fall
of the Soviet Union for settling border demarcation questions
that had remained unresolved for decades, he said.
"It was a good instrument for solving them and became a good way
for solving other problems. It was a natural process," Putin
said.
In addition to China and Russia, the SCO also comprises
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran
" /> Iran, Pakistan, India and Mongolia are observer nations of
the SCO.
Putin also reiterated his optimism that a recent set of Western
proposals to Iran aimed at resolving the standoff over Tehran's
nuclear programme would ease tensions.
"It's a real move forward thanks to the six countries who sought
a solution and thanks to Iran which didn't reject the
proposals," Putin said of the deal put forward by Britain,
China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States.
Putin, who met here with Iranian counterpart President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad on Thursday, also said that Moscow hoped to create a
joint venture with Tehran on exploiting natural gas reserves in
the two countries.
"We're talking about getting a Russian deposit and an Iranian
deposit and creating a joint venture. It is only an idea for
now, not worked out at a technical level," he said.
Asked about recent polls suggesting that most Russians would
support a change in the constitution to allow Putin to stand for
a third term in 2008, the Russian leader rejected the idea,
echoing earlier comments he has made on the subject.
While such polls were "objective", such a constitutional change
would undermine public faith in Russia as a rules-based society,
he said.
"I thank our citizens who think I have the right to stay" beyond
2008. But "you can't ask others to observe the law if you break
it yourself," Putin said.
The Russian leader was due to leave Shanghai later Friday bound
for Kazakhstan, where he was to participate in another regional
forum.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
15 Guardian Unlimited: Key Senator Backs U.S.-India Nuclear Deal
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Friday June 16, 2006 5:46 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) - An influential U.S. senator said Friday the
United States should move quickly to approve a nuclear agreement
with India that he described as ``the most important strategic
diplomatic initiative undertaken'' by President George W. Bush.
Sen. Richard Lugar, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee,
said a congressional rejection of the agreement or an open-ended
delay risks wasting an opportunity ``to expand beyond Cold War
alliance structures to include dynamic nations with whom our
alliances are converging.''
It was the strongest statement of support for the agreement by
Lugar, who has been one of Congress' leading advocates of
nuclear nonproliferation.
He described the agreement as a departure ``from the crisis
management mentality'' that has dominated U.S. diplomacy in
recent years. Lugar's comments came in remarks prepared for
delivery to the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island.
The nuclear agreement was signed in March by Bush and Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh but now must be cleared by the
U.S. Congress, which needs to change laws that prohibit export
of nuclear fuel and technology to countries that have not
submitted to full inspections.
Some U.S lawmakers have expressed concerns that the deal could
undermine the Nuclear Nonproliferation treaty and help foster
the spread of nuclear weapons. India has never signed the treaty
and thus has not been subject to inspections.
The State Department says the agreement would bring
international inspections and safeguards to 14 nuclear reactors
India has designated as civilian; India's eight military
facilities would remain off-limits.
In return, the United States would agree to ship nuclear
technology and fuel to India. The accord does not include
Pakistan, India's nuclear-armed neighbor and rival, which has
also refused to sign the NPT.
Critics, including former Sen. Sam Nunn, an arms specialist who
has worked closely with Lugar, have raised concerns the deal
could promote a regional arms race with China and Pakistan and
make it more difficult for the United States to win support for
sanctions against such countries as Iran and North Korea.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
16 FW: Nuclear tax subisdy/ TMIA Testimony Doc. #00061957
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 11:46:40 -0700
June 15, 2006
PA Public Utilities Commission
Commonwealth Keystone Building
P.O. Box 3265
Harrisburg, PA 17105-3265
Re: Docket No. 00061957
Options to Mitigate Potential Significant Increases
in Electricity Prices
Comments submitted by Eric J. Epstein on behalf of
Three Mile Island Alert, Inc. and the EFMR Monitoring Group, Inc.*
Deregulation in Pennsylvania has already produced significant increases
for local tax payers living in the vicinity of a power plant. Deregulation
shifted power plants back to the local tax rolls under the assumption that
utilities would pay at least the same amount as they would pay if they been
subject to real estate taxes. The reality was quite different and much
harsher.
The Public Utility Realty Tax Assessment (PURTA) was the formula used to
assess power plant value prior to deregulation PURTA was predicated on a
statewide distribution plan. Electric companies influenced the legislature
to "restructure" PURTA in the Deregulation Act (1998). The utilities claimed
that local communities would increase their revenues, and allow utilities to
decrease the amount of taxes paid by focusing on local school districts and
municipalities.
After deregulation the utilities claimed that their generating stations
were assessed and taxed disproportionate to the value of their facilities.
For example, nuclear plants were being sold at a fraction of their book
value, but electric companies utilized this type of date to calculate the
value of their generating assets . Nuclear plants now sell for the same
value as traditional fossil stations. The ³stranded costs" Pennsylvania
electric utilities received, through the competitive transmission costs
(CTC) were based on earlier miscalculations.(1)
FirstEnergy, Exelon, PECO Energy and PPL essentially double dipped from
the pockets of rate payers by collecting over $11 billion in stranded costs
and avoiding up to $100 million in annual real estate taxes.
From 1998 to 2002, U.S. utilities leapt into deregulation and
created multiple strategies to compete... The top five companies
in annualized shareholder return were Exelon Corp., Southern
Company, Entergy Corp., Western Gas Resources and PPL Corp. (2)
But shareholder return came at a cost for local residents living near power
plants who absorbed all 0f the risk and received a penalty rather than a
reward.
While homeowners are paying an average of 30 percent more than
They did in 1997, Exelon, Pennsylvania Power & Light, and the
Other major electric utility companies in the state are paying 85
Percent less in taxes on their plants, down from about $120 million
annually to about $20 million, an Inquirer analysis has found.
Meantime, the utilities are passing on their real estate levies to
their customers, based not on what the companies are currently
taxed but on the far higher sums of six years ago. (3)
_____
1 Millstone was purchased at $665 per megawatt of generating capacity by
Dominion Resources on August 7, 2000, Nine Mile Point -2 was purchased by
Constellation Energy at $652 per megawatt of generating capacity on
December 12, 2000, and Indian Point t -2 was purchased at $621 per
megawatt of generating capacity by Entergy on November 9, 2000.
2 Study Finds Utility Winners During Deregulation Are Companies Tha 'Stuck
to Their Knitting' , Monday August 4, 2003.
3 Utilities Save Big As Towns Lose Out by Anthony R. Wood, Inquirer Staff
Writer, July 13, 2003.
The three case studies which follow (which are by no means exhaustive)
serve to illustrate the impact of deregulation on power plant communities.
These economic hardships should be factored when addressing the
consequences of future rate shock.
AmerGen & Exelon: Three Mile Island Unit 1
Summary
Since the advent of deregulation tax revenues have plummeted $571,440
annually. (4) The difference has been absorbed by tax increases, including
double digit tax hike in Dauphin County. Lower Dauphin School District
spent $75,000 in legal and appraisal fees to fight AmerGen¹s assessment of
Three Mile Island, and increased its taxes and the price of school lunches
to make up for the shortfall. In addition, staffing levels at TMI decreased
by 25% to 30%.
On July 17, 1998 AmerGen announced that it reached an Agreement with
General Public Utilities (GPU )t o purchase Three Mile Island -1. According
to AmerGen, their labor force has shrunk substantially during deregulation:
Year Exelon + Contractor = Total Number of
Employees
1998
804
(Source: EFMR Meeting at TMI)
1999
704
(Source: EFMR Meeting at TMI)
2000 579 65
644
(Source: EFMR Meeting at TMI)
2001 517 81
598-618
(Source: EFMR Meeting at TMI)
2002: 532-540 103
643
(Source: EFMR Meeting at TMI)
2003:
550
(Source: Bruce Williams, TMI site VP.)
2005:
620
(Source: Press & Journal, Middletown, 9/14/05)
___
4 Source: AmerGen and Exelon Business Sevrice Company representatives in
annual meetings with EFMR Monitoring at Peach Bottom and Three Mile Island.
TMI-1 was the first nuclear power plant sold in the United States
(1999). The net book value at the time of the sale was approximately $592
million, but the plant and fuel inventory sold for $99 million. (5) TMI-1¹s
present value is estimated between $600 to $650 million. (6)
According to Dauphin County, the Fair Market Value for TMI-1 ws
$64,942,500. According to TMI¹s owners, the plant is only worth $5
million. This position is baffling given the Company's replacement of the
reactor vessel head Exelon stated cost between $15 million and $18 million.
(7)
Capacity uprates have actually increased the value and generating
capacity of TMI when deregulation shifted power plants back to the local
tax rolls under the assumption that utilities would pay at least the same
amount had they been subject to real estate taxes.
From 1998 through 2003, according to AmerGen and Exelon, TMI¹s tax
payments to Dauphin County have steadily decreased from $506,956 in 1998 to
$146,940 for 2002 and 2003.
Year Amount
1998 $506,956
1999 $206,397
2000 $129, 171
2000 - 2001 $146,940 (Two years)
2002 -2003 $146,940 (Two years)
_____
5 Source: 1999 GPU Annual Report.
6 Projected value based on British Energy sale. ³Exelon was British
Energy's (BE) partner in the AmerGen joint venture that bought three U.S.
nuclear plants--Clinton, Oyster Creek and Three Mile Island-1. As expected,
BE received about (U.S.)$277-million prior to various adjustments.² (Platts
Nuclear News, December 23, 2003)
7 Sources: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ³Nucleonics Week², (Platts
Publications) and Company Press Releases.
The figures from 2000-2003 reflect an Interim Settlement Agreement
amount. AmerGen will actually pay less in future years, ³Under the proposed
settlement, the assessment of Unit 1 would drop from $64.9 million to $20
million in 2005, then $18.3 million through 2008.² (8)
FirstEnergy: Three Mile Island-2
Summary
Area residents are actually paying to have a high-level radioactive
waste in their back yard. Over a five year period. FirstEnergy will receive
$756,826 from Lower Dauphin School District,$258,593 from Dauphin Count and
$51,038. Londonderry Township.
Three Mile Island Unit-2 (TMI-2) was built at a cost to rate payers of
$700 million. The plant had been on-line for just 90 days, or 1/120 of its
expected operating life, before the March-April 1979 meltdown.
One billion dollars was spent to de-fuel the facility. Three months of
nuclear power production at TMI-2 has cost close to $2 billion dollars in
construction and cleanup bills; or the equivalent of over $10.6 million for
every day TMI-2 produced electricity. The above-mentioned costs do not
include nuclear decontamination and decommissioning or restoring the site to
³Greenfield.
From a cleanup staff of over 1,000, GPU-Nuclear know maintains a
skeletal crew and subcontracts with Exelon for services on the Island.
8 Source: Patriot News, January 05, 2005.
In March, 2005 FirstEnergy declared that Three Mile Island Unit-2 was
³worthless². In an out-of-court settlement with Lower Dauphin School
District, Londonderry Township and Dauphin County, the plant assessment was
reduced from $16.2 million to zero. Not only will the plant will be exempt
from property taxes, but the tax appeal settlement forced Dauphin County,
Lower Dauphin School District and Londonderry Township to pay back real
estate taxes of $1.07 million collected from 2002 to 2004.
EFMR was retained as a consultant to Dauphin County during the
property valuation case. On February 20, 2005, the group submitted its
findings, Re: Property Valuation Assessment of Three Mile Unit-1 & Three
Mile Unit-2 prepared by EFMR Monitoring Inc., and found that:
TMI-2 is well situated to host another electric generating facility due
To access to water, the PJM grid, and proximity to air, rail, and
highway systems...TMI-2 has immense value as an interim
high-level, radioactive waste storage site for TMI-1 which loses
off-load refueling capacity in 2018...According to the NRC , as of
September, 2004, $421 million resides in the TMI-2 Decommissioning
Fund
(2003 dollars.) (Please refer to enclosed PDF).
Three Mile Island is located in the PPL rate base (and with the
exception of Met Ed pockets in York and Lebanon Counties) few area residents
receive electricity from TMI.
Pennsylvania Power Light Corporation
Summary
PPL innovated the ³coal shoulder² approach to property tax
reconciliation. Communities and schools located near its power plants were
starved of revenue and school budgets were held hostage as PPL refused to
escrow taxes.
PPL has been recovering $2.97 billion in uneconomical stranded costs
associated with constructing a nuclear generating station over an eleven
year period. The terms are part of the 1998 Negotiated Settlement approved
by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on April 13, 1998.
The Susquehanna Steam Electric Station (SSES) was at a cost to rate
payers of $4.0 billion. Some of us have already paid PP&L $315 million to
recover the cost of building SSES-1. The Commission also granted $203
million or the equivalent of a 16% rate increase in 1983. An additional 8%
rate increase, or $121 million, was added in 1985 to pay for SSES-2.
Under PURTA, the SSES was assessed at $3.8 billion. PPL argued that
the asset was only worth $74 million. PPL refused to pay or escrow back
taxes that they owed to the Berwick School District and Luzerne County. The
Company now pays $3 million a year to the county, school district and Salem
Township as opposed to the $30 million PPL ³contributed² to PURTA prior to
deregulation. (9)
The current transmission and distribution increase of 8% has amplified
the burden hostage rate payers paid to construct the ³uneconomical² nuclear
plant.
In addition, there is a gap between what PPL collects from rate
payers and what the Company pays in taxes. The Company¹s adversarial
position with Pennsylvania communities in regard to Revenue Neutral
Reconciliation at GENCO facilities, e.g., Berwick, Northeastern and Penn
Manor School Districts has created funding deficits and a vast reservoir of
ill-will.
_____
9 In December 2000 PPL persuaded a Luzerne County judge to assess the
nuclear power plant at $165.4 million.
From 2000 through 2009 PPL is including in its customer billings $280
million in real estate levies but paying only $3 million annually in tax
payments. This an estimated 10-year windfall of $250 million
This pattern was repeated in northern York County where PPL refused to
pay property taxes on Brunner Island in the Northeastern School District for
2000 and 2001 because it claimed the assessed value, originally set by the
county at $43 million, was grossly inflated.
Northeastern School District, where more than 20 percent of the
residents live below the poverty line, proposed cutting textbooks,
maintenance, technology and athletics in May-June 2002 to make up for an
$850,000 short fall. PPL refused to pay $2.2 million in back taxes. PPL did;
however, pay $788,067 for its 2002 taxes.
Proposed Remedies
€ The PUC should acknowledge that there is a problem and that communities
living near devalued power pants have already experienced economic hardship
as a result of deregulation.. As such, the PUC should authorize an
Investigation.
€ The PUC should recommend statewide power plant valuation be predicated on
an income based approach in order to rectify the existing tax anomalies.
€ The PUC should recommend that the "comps" for power plants be based on
real equivalents. For example, the SSES a boiling water reactor, was
compared to two pressurized water reactors ten years older, i.e., Three
Mile Island-1 and Indian Point-2.
The night before the PPL case came to court, 90% of IP was sold for $900
million and
Undermined PPL¹s argument.
€ The PUC should create a reduced rate tariff for customers adversely
affected by Revenue Neutral Reconciliation tax rates to offset the economic
hardship imposed by RNR collections.
€ The PUC should create a dedicated residential program for low income
households, senior citizens, those living on fixed incomes and other special
populations living in RNR affected areas.
Respectfully submitted,
Eric Epstein
* Mr. Epstein is the Chairman of Three Mile Island Alert , Inc., a
safe-energy organization based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and founded in
1977. TMIA monitors Peach Bottom, Susquehanna, and Three Mile Island nuclear
generating stations. tmia.com
He is the Coordinator of the EFMR Monitoring Group, Inc. a
nonpartisan commun ity based organization established in 1992. EFMR monitors
radiation levels at Peac Bottom and Three Mile Island nuclear generating
stations, invests in community development, and sponsors remote robotics
research. efmr.org
Date: June 15, 2006
Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\TMIA Testimony Doc. #00061957"
Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\TMI valuation"
*****************************************************************
17 [NukeNet] Blakeslee take First Legislative Action on Seismic
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:32:14 -0700
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Blakeslee take First Legislative Action on Seismic and Radioactive Waste
Vulnerabilities in 20 years
Bill AB 1632
The Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility has sent a letter of support for
San Luis Obispo's Assemblyman Sam
Blakeslee bill, - AB 1632. This is a ground breaking step to address both
high-level radioactive waste and
seismicity on our precious coast. It is our position that this bill is not
about a good neighbors, jobs, property
taxes or other benefits from a nuclear plant on an earthquake active
coastal zone. It is about lethal
radioactive waste left on our county's earthquake active coast for
generations long after the last job,
the last property tax payment, the last kilowatt has flowed from PG&E's
nuclear plant.
Although this bill falls short of the Alliance mission to end the
production of high-level radioactive waste
at Diablo Canyon when current licenses expire (mid 2020's), we are
encouraged that after 20 years there is a reasonable and unemotional
dialogue on aging nuclear reactors. The Alliance will continue to
encourage support for the California Energy Commission's cost, benefit and
risk analysis of the state's dependence on aging nuclear reactors post
current license terms. We hope PG&E will view this as an opportunity to
achieve the utility's goal of "wind, sun and water" as future energy
supplies for our state. We also hope this will cause PG&E's management to
rethink the possibility of filing for a license renewal in 2010, fifteen
years before current licenses are set to expire.
Our county should be proud that they have elected a representative who
will work with all state legislators
and oversight agencies to assure that his community is able to address
issues that could devastate the economy and leave a legacy of fear each
time the earth moves or a terrorist threatens our country. How can anyone
oppose such a responsible state action to assure these issues are
addressed and resolved long before a license renewal can be filed by
California's two operating nuclear utilities?
For the past two years the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility has been
meeting with state representatives,
energy groups, service and environmental organizations, businesses and
oversight agencies in hope that
Californians will begin to address issues of energy, waste, jobs, taxes,
infrastructure, environment and economics of aging nuclear reactors. We
are pleased that it is our Assemblyman who has taken the lead
and we look forward to working with his office and all California
representatives over the next few years.
We are also please that Senators from California's other reactor
communities and energy committees have agreed to co-sponsor this bill.
This is a bipartisan effort due in large part from Assemblyman Blakeslee's
reputation as a legislator who will work openly to protect our community
and our state. Co-authors of the Blakeslee bill include: Senators Chesbro
(D) Humboldt, Kehoe (D) San Diego and Assemblymembers De La Torre, Evans
and Harmon. The bill is also co-authored by the Chairs of both Senate and
Assembly energy oversight Committees: Senator Escutia and Assemblyman
Levine.
Among the first supporters for AB 1632 are the Sierra Club, Environment
California, TURN, Environmental Priorities Network, ECOSLO, Physicians for
Social Responsibility -LA.
www.a4nr.org
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries
ago": Sir George Porter, quoted in The Observer, 26 August 1973
"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military
service": Albert Einstein
"Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have
acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence
of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible
for evil to triumph": Haile Selassie
Molly Johnson
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA 93451
__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
_______________________________________________________________________
Subscribe/Unsubscribe Here: http://www.energyjustice.net/nukenet/
Change your settings or access the archives at:
http://energyjustice.net/mailman/listinfo/nukenet_energyjustice.net
*****************************************************************
18 NRC: Commissioner Gregory B. Jaczko Takes Oath of Office at NRC Ceremony
News Release - 2006-08 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office
of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC
20555-0001 E-mail: opa@nrc.gov No. 06-081 June 16, 2006
Nuclear Regulatory Commission yesterday by Chairman Nils J. Diaz
in a ceremony at the NRC headquarters in Rockville, Md. Jaczko
had been appointed by the President during a Congressional
recess and assumed office on Jan. 21, 2005. Commissioner Jaczko
was recently confirmed by the Senate to fill out the remainder
of the full term, which will end June 30, 2008.
During his tenure on the Commission, Jaczko has worked to ensure
the agency clearly communicates with the public and its
licensees. He believes that to best accomplish its mission of
protecting public health and safety, the NRC should be as open
with information as possible and transparent in explaining the
processes the Commission uses to make decisions. Because he
believes public involvement strengthens the formulation of
public policy, Jaczko has encouraged all stakeholders including
the industry, state and local government, and public interest
groups to participate constructively in NRC policy-making
efforts. Jaczko has also worked to achieve a common safety and
security culture. He has specifically focused his attention on
the security of nuclear power plants, emergency preparedness,
and the safe use of radioactive sources.
Jaczko's professional career has been devoted to science and its
use and impact in the public policy arena. Immediately prior to
assuming the post of Commissioner, Jaczko served as
appropriations director for U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and had also
served as the Senator's science policy advisor. Previously, he
advised members of the Senate Committee on Environment and
Public Works on nuclear policy and other scientific matters, and
worked as a congressional science fellow in the office of U.S.
Rep. Edward Markey. In addition, he has been an adjunct
professor at Georgetown University, teaching science and policy.
Originally from upstate New York, Jaczko earned a bachelor's
degree in physics and philosophy from Cornell University, and a
doctorate in physics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Jaczko is a resident of Washington, DC.
Last revised Friday, June 16, 2006
*****************************************************************
19 Guardian Unlimited: Contract signed for first floating nuclear reactor
Associated Press in Moscow
Friday June 16, 2006
The Guardian
An Arctic military shipbuilding plant and Russia's Atomic Power
Agency signed a contract yesterday to build the world's first
floating nuclear reactor.
The 9bn ruble (£267m) reactor will be built by the Sevmash plant
in the Arctic port of Severodvinsk next year, and will be
commissioned in October 2010, said Sergei Obozov, head of the
state-controlled Rosenergoatom consortium in charge of nuclear
power plants.
The reactor is intended to provide heating and electricity to the
remote northern coast. Russian authorities are also looking at 11
other possible sites for such reactors.
Useful links
Itar-Tass news agency
Moscow Times
Russia Today
St Petersburg Times
Caucasian Knot
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
20 NRC: Amergen Energy Company, LLC; Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating
FR Doc E6-9057
[Federal Register: June 16, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 116)]
[Notices] [Page 34969] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr16jn06-151] [[Page 34969]]
Station; Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplement 28 to the
Generic Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of
Nuclear Plants, and Public Meeting for the License Renewal of
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station Notice is hereby given
that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, Commission) has
published a draft plant-specific supplement to the Generic
Environmental Impact Statement for License Renewal of Nuclear
Plants (GEIS), NUREG-1437, regarding the renewal of operating
license DPR-16 for an additional 20 years of operation for the
Oyster Creek Nuclear Generating Station (OCNGS). OCNGS is located
along the western shore of Barnegat Bay between the South Branch
of Forked River and Oyster Creek, in Ocean County, New Jersey.
Possible alternatives to the proposed action (license renewal)
include no action and reasonable alternative energy sources.
The draft Supplement 28 to the GEIS is publicly available at the
NRC Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North,
11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852, or from the
NRC's Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS).
The ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room is accessible at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html. The accession
number for the draft Supplement 28 to the GEIS is ML061520231.
Persons who do not have access to ADAMS, or who encounter
problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, should
contact the NRC's PDR Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-
4209, or 301-415-4737, or by e-mail at pdr@nrc.gov. In addition,
the Lacey Public Library, located at 10 East Lacey Road, Forked
River, NJ 08731, has agreed to make the draft supplement to the
GEIS available for public inspection.
Any interested party may submit comments on the draft supplement
to the GEIS for consideration by the NRC staff. To be certain of
consideration, comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS and
the proposed action must be received by September 8, 2006.
Comments received after the due date will be considered if it is
practical to do so, but the NRC staff is able to assure
consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
Written comments on the draft supplement to the GEIS should be
sent to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch, Division of
Administrative Services, Office of Administration, Mailstop
T-6D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC
20555-0001.
Comments may be hand-delivered to the NRC at 11545 Rockville
Pike, Room T-6D59, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:30 a.m. and
4:15 p.m. on Federal workdays. Electronic comments may be
submitted to the NRC by e- mail at OysterCreekEIS@nrc.gov. All
comments received by the Commission, including those made by
Federal, State, local agencies, Native American Tribes, or other
interested persons, will be made available electronically at the
Commission's PDR in Rockville, Maryland, and through ADAMS.
The NRC staff will hold a public meeting to present an overview
of the draft plant-specific supplement to the GEIS and to accept
public comments on the document. The public meeting will be held
on July 12, 2006, at the Quality Inn located at 815 Route 37 in
Toms River, New Jersey. There will be two sessions to accommodate
interested parties. The first session will convene at 1:30 p.m.
and will continue until 4:30 p.m., as necessary. The second
session will convene at 7 p.m. with a repeat of the overview
portions of the meeting and will continue until 10 p.m., as
necessary. Both meetings will be transcribed and will include:
(1) A presentation of the contents of the draft plant-specific
supplement to the GEIS, and (2) the opportunity for interested
government agencies, organizations, and individuals to provide
comments on the draft report. Additionally, the NRC staff will
host informal discussions one hour prior to the start of each
session at the same location. No comments on the draft supplement
to the GEIS will be accepted during the informal discussions. To
be considered, comments must be provided either at the
transcribed public meeting or in writing. Persons may
pre-register to attend or present oral comments at the meeting by
contacting Dr. Michael Masnik, the NRC Environmental Project
Manager at 1-800-368-5642, extension 1191, or by e-mail at
OysterCreekEIS@nrc.gov no later than July 5, 2006. Members of the
public may also register to provide oral comments within 15
minutes of the start of each session. Individual, oral comments
may be limited by the time available, depending on the number of
persons who register. If special equipment or accommodations are
needed to attend or present information at the public meeting,
the need should be brought to Dr. Masnik's attention no later
than June 28, 2006, to provide the NRC staff adequate notice to
determine whether the request can be accommodated.
For Further Information Contact: Dr. Michael Masnik,
Environmental Branch B, Division of License Renewal, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Mail Stop O-11F1, Washington, DC 20555-0001. Dr. Masnik may be
contacted at the aforementioned telephone number or e-mail
address.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 6th day of June, 2006.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Frank P. Gillespie, Director, Division of License Renewal,Office
of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
[FR Doc. E6-9057 Filed 6-15-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
21 globeandmail.com: Critics blast limits on nuclear review
POSTED AT 5:17 AM EDT ON 16/06/06
Minister defends exemption as storm erupts
MARTIN MITTELSTAEDT From Friday's Globe and Mail
TORONTO — The Liberal government's decision to exempt its
multibillion dollar, 20-year electricity supply plan from a full
environmental assessment was assailed by environmental critics
yesterday, while cabinet ministers insisted that the action will
still provide adequate independent review of the province's
power program.
The Ontario government is allowing part of its plan -- each
individual power plant being built -- to receive an assessment.
This means the advisability of the overall initiative, which
includes explicit targets for conservation, new nuclear
reactors, renewable energy goals and new transmission lines,
will not be given an independent review under the Environmental
Assessment Act to see if there are better and cheaper
alternatives available to the proposal.
"Each of these projects will get a very thorough environmental
review," Energy Minister Dwight Duncan told The Globe and Mail's
editorial board at a meeting in Toronto yesterday.
He said the government believed its overall plan didn't legally
need to be designated for an environmental assessment, but it
granted itself an exemption from the requirements of the
province's assessment act anyway, "to give clarity to the
government's view." The only other major energy plan comparable
to the one that the government announced earlier this week -- a
program of roughly similar scope that was unveiled in 1989 --
was subjected to a full assessment.
In the legislature, NDP Leader Howard Hampton demanded that
Environment Minister Laurel Broten resign for approving the
exemption, which was posted on the government's e-Laws website
Wednesday. As it happens, that was the day after the province
announced it would go ahead with a massive electricity supply
plan that may ultimately cost more than $80-billion and lead to
the first new nuclear power plant construction in Ontario since
the Darlington station in 1981.
Mr. Hampton accused the minister of undermining environmental
protection, prompting a testy exchange.
"Why do you get the limousine? Why do you get the title of
Minister of Environment, if you're not prepared to stand up and
do your job?" Mr. Hampton asked about the perks she receives as
a department head, before suggesting that she should resign.
But Ms. Broten retorted: "Anybody who knows me, knows that I
drive a hybrid."
Although the government announced its energy plan on Tuesday, it
didn't publicly divulge at the time that the program would
receive only a partial environmental assessment.
Mr. Hampton accused Ms. Broten of acting in secret to hide the
government's activities, an accusation the Environment Minister
rejected.
"You didn't find [notice of the exemption] in my desk drawer.
"You didn't find it under a rock.
"You found it on a publicly accessible website," she responded.
Environmentalists were also angered by the decision.
Greenpeace contended in a statement that Ms. Broten "is caving
in to the nuclear industry and letting it rewrite Ontario's
environmental protection laws."
"In our view, this exemption is unacceptable, unjustified and
contrary to the public interest," said Richard Lindgren, a
lawyer with the Canadian Environmental Law Association. He said
a full review is needed to "rigorously scrutinize the
significant environmental, public health and socio-economic
impacts of the provincial energy plan, particularly the nuclear
component."
Under the government's plan, the province intends to construct
new nuclear reactors and refurbish the Pickering B station
outside of Toronto.
Mr. Duncan said undertakings dealing with nuclear energy will be
subject to a federal environmental assessment.
He conceded that a federal assessment process is not as rigorous
as the oversight that would occur under Ontario's own
environmental review process, but he said improving federal law
isn't his responsibility.
"I'm told by people who are more expert than I at these things
that the federal process is not as fulsome as the Ontario
process. If that needs amending, that's up to the feds," he told
The Globe's editorial writers.
Federal review tends to look at technical aspects of projects,
such as the appropriateness of the site being selected, but not
more contentious issues, such as whether there are more
effective and cheaper ways the province could generate the
electricity.
Mr. Duncan said that he has been besieged by company
representatives offering to sell Ontario new nuclear plants,
including the world's four major vendors, General Electric
Canada Inc., Westinghouse Electric Co., Areva NP and Atomic
Energy of Canada Ltd.
Of these approaches, Mr. Duncan said: "They all say 'We're going
to give you a great deal,' " although none of the manufacturers
have made firm offers to build a plant. The minister said that
he's committed to get "the best technology at the best price
that we can for our ratepayers."
globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of Bell
Globemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, Canada M5V
2S9 Phillip Crawley, Publisher -->
*****************************************************************
22 CeskeNoviny: One cable fastening Temelin's containment breaks
17.6. 2006
Ceske Budejovice- One steel cable around the containment at the
currently shut down first unit of the nuclear power plant at
Temelin broke on Thursday afternoon, about an hour after it had
been tested, Temelin spokesman Milan Nebesar told adding that
safety has not been threatened.
"It is not a serious problem but rather a technological one. The
unit can operate safely with as many as four broken cables. The
cable will be replaced during the shutdown. It is the first such
event in Temelin's history," said Nebesar.
"If the cable broke suddenly because of a fault of material it
would be serious but as far as I know it was the fault of the
technicians," State Authority for Nuclear Safety (SUJB)
chairperson Dana Drabova said.
The SUJB will now insist that the cable be replaced as soon as
possible.
There are 96 cables around the 45-metre containment, each
measuring 15 centimetres in diameter.
Monika Wittingerova of the South Bohemian Mothers association,
one of Temelin's opponents, pointed out it was yet another of
the many problems at Temelin.
"Even if this happened in a test there is no guarantee that this
will not happen during regular operation", said Wittingerova.
She added Temelin should not be granted approval for use
allowing its regular operation.
Temelin has recently been the subject of sharp criticisms by
several environmentalist associations claiming that it has been
operating in defiance of limits set by the SUJB.
The SUJB has admitted some problems but said the plant's
operator CEZ has proposed sufficient solutions.
The anti-Temelin activists have moreover pointed at problems
with the control rods.
They want all fuel at both reactors to be exchanged at once.
The problems with the clusters of control rods have also been
criticised by Radko Pavlovec, commissioner of Upper Austria's
government for cross-border nuclear equipment.
Author: TK.15:26 - 16.06.2006
PRO VÁS ISSN 1213-5003 Copyright
(c) 1995-2006 Neris s.r.o. Ochrana osobních dat [ Titulní strana
| Redakce | Reklama | Kontakt | Kódování | RSS ]
*****************************************************************
23 Telegraph: Britain's energy woes
17 June 2006
[telegraph.co.uk]
By Philip Aldrick and Stephen Seawright (Filed: 16/06/2006)
The decision by Centrica, Britain's largest gas and electricity
supplier, to build a new power plant has been hailed as a step
towards making Britain's energy supplies more secure.
The new gas-powered plant at Langage, Devon, which is to be up
and running in time for the winter of 2008/09, will replace some
of the lost generation capacity from Britain's older coal and
nuclear plants, many of which are scheduled to close by 2020.
But there is a wider concern. About two fifths of our
electricity is generated from gas and getting enough gas into
Britain also has to be resolved, particularly in the short term.
Centrica only produces enough gas from its North Sea fields to
meet a quarter of what it needs to supply customers and fire its
power plants.
The issue of gas supply has become increasingly political over
the past year, after last winter's shortage forced up household
energy bills. Then Russia's Gazprom, one of the world's largest
producers, withheld gas from Ukraine over a tariff dispute -
underlining the threat of dependency.
Rumours that Gazprom may make a bid for Centrica have only
sharpened the political tone, with Gordon Brown recently
deflecting questions about whether he would allow such a deal to
go through by saying: "I think with Gazprom there are questions
about politics as well as economics."
Politics came to the fore as last year's bitingly cold winter
kicked in. The lack of storage facilities in the UK and
Britain's new-found dependence on imported energy, amid
dwindling North Sea reserves, left the UK at the mercy of
wholesale continental providers.
Last November, wholesale gas prices soared to £1.70 a therm,
almost five times the level at the start of that month. The
problem was particularly acute in the UK, raising the suspicion
that continental providers were catering to their domestic
customers ahead of British ones. At times over the winter, the
interconnector pipeline through which much of our gas supply is
pumped was running at only 50pc capacity.
Ofgem, the energy regulator, said British companies paid nearly
£1bn more for their gas over "winter, notably because of the
failure of the Belgium-UK interconnector pipeline to import at
its full rate. If this happens next winter, British wholesale
prices could be up to £3bn higher."
An investigation has subsequently been launched, with the EU's
competition commission warning continental energy companies that
they face an anti-trust crackdown. It backed this up with raids
on the offices of energy companies last month.
Britain's energy woes were heightened in February, when a fire
caused the closure of Centrica's Rough storage facility - the
largest storage facility in the UK. Once again, the
vulnerability of the country's energy position was exposed.
In the long term it is hoped that new pipelines from overseas and
greater storage capacity that are scheduled to come on stream
within the next few years will ease the pressure on supplies and
lead to fewer price spikes. But until then, the volatile energy
prices will continue to hit businesses and consumers.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2006.
*****************************************************************
24 The Day: Regulators Approve Regional Energy Plan
theday.com
Settlement Touted As Way To Improve Reliability, Spur Supply,
But At A Cost
By Patricia Daddona Day Staff Writer, p.daddona@theday.com
Phone No.: (860) 701 - 4324
Published on 6/16/2006 in Business » Business Local
Connecticut consumers will pay $470 million over the next three
years as part of a settlement approved Thursday by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission to spur reliable production of
electricity in New England.
FERC approved a so-called forward capacity market instead of
the local installed capacity market plan, or LICAP, originally
proposed two years ago by ISO New England, when FERC first
called attention to problems in the region's energy market.
The intent of the FERC order is to stimulate the building of new
power plants, improve the efficiency of existing ones, and set
the value of electricity at its true worth in today's
marketplace, said ISO spokesman Ken McDonnell.
ISO manages the sale of electricity for Connecticut, Maine,
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. The
agency sets the price of electricity on a daily basis through
the spot energy market, and over the long term through contracts
in the generation capacity market.
Capacity refers to the amount of electricity power plants have
available or can readily supply to meet the region's need over
the life of long-term contracts.
Thursday's decision authorizes ISO to hold an auction three
years from now that would allow power plant owners to bid for
contracts based on the price they want to be paid to guarantee
an available supply of electricity, McDonnell said. Three years
gives producers time to build the plants needed to meet demand
that is, site, finance and build plants in the real world, at
today's costs, he said.
In the meantime, from next January through January of 2010,
McDonnell said, consumers who have been paying artificially low
costs will pay transitional payments to the power companies.
Producers can, but are not required, to use that money to invest
in new power plants, or improve operations at existing plants,
he said.
According to rough estimates from Lisa Thibdaue, Northeast
Utilities' vice president for regulatory and governmental
affairs, the average residential customer who now pays $125 to
use 700 kilowatts of electricity a month will pay an additional
$3.50 starting in January.
NU is the parent company of Connecticut Light &Power, which
delivers electricity and is pushing to get back into the
business of generating it at times of high demand.
The reason electricity producers need incentives to build new
power plants is because, three years ago, the spot price went up
to $6,000 per megawatt hour in a single day. FERC set a limit on
future daily prices, but even with that cap, some power plant
owners cannot afford to stay in business, McDonnell said.
For too long, New England has felt that it can have reliable
electricity for nothing, McDonnell said. The true price for
reliability is what it costs three years out.
Reaction to the long-awaited decision was mostly favorable,
since all but eight of the 115 parties involved in settling the
matter considered LICAP even more costly. LICAP would have
imposed extra costs on areas that don't have enough of an
available supply or the ability to import electricity from other
places.
The settlement is not the perfect solution, said Mitch Gross,
a spokesman for CL, but it better controls costs to the consumer.
State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, one of eight parties
to oppose the settlement, called it LICAP lite. The order
rewards the power industry at the expense of consumers,
Blumenthal said.
We feel it sends the right signal to the market to encourage
companies to build new generation, said Pete Hyde, a spokesman
for Millstone Power Station owner Dominion Nuclear Connecticut.
Dominion has no plans to build new power plants in Connecticut,
he said.
p.daddona@theday.com
[TheDay.com]
London, CT | © 1998-2006 The Day Publishing Co.
*****************************************************************
25 UPI: Australian nuke plant mishaps up
United Press International - Security &Terrorism -
6/16/2006 1:14:00 PM -0400
ADELAIDE, Australia, June 16 (UPI) -- Concerns have been raised
about worker safety at Australia's sole nuclear power plant
after three incidents in 24 hours.
The Australian reported on June 16 that one worker was sent to
the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital after radioactive material
splashed into his eye, while another worker at the plant was
exposed when radioactive material splashed his garments and
boots.
The Lucas Heights nuclear reactor was forced to ration supplies
of an isotope used for medical scans after an earlier accident
halted production, halving the weekly shipments of diagnostic
isotopes to hospitals in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and
Brisbane.
A week ago a pipe ruptured about one third of a mile from the
reactor, expelling a plume of radioactive gas into the
atmosphere. Lucas Heights officials insisted that the "puff of
gas" was harmless to the public.
On June 15, Labor MPs lambasted Science Minister Julie Bishop in
federal parliament over a separate incident Wednesday involving
a canister carrying radioactive material. Bishop told her
critics, "We know what this is about. This is about Labor trying
to get the Lucas Heights reactor closed down. You are trying to
close down a medical service for cancer sufferers across
Australia."
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization
admitted last night that Bishop was unaware of the "Cluster" of
Lucas Heights reactor incidents when she lambasted Labor over
their "scare campaign."
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
advertisement
*****************************************************************
26 [DU Information List] Mod Ignores ruling on gulf war syndrome
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 12:02:08 -0700
MoD ignores ruling on Gulf war syndrome
David Hencke, Westminster correspondent
Tuesday June 13, 2006
The Guardian
Thousands of war veterans will lose the right to claim additional money for
Gulf war syndrome because the Ministry of Defence has decided to ignore a
landmark decision which ordered it to recognise the condition, the Guardian
has learned.
The action has provoked a row between the judiciary and the M0D with the
president of the commission which made the ruling accusing the ministry of
illegally "tampering" with the process to avoid recognising the syndrome.
----------
----------
Lawyers acting for Gulf war veterans say the effect will be to save the MoD
millions of pounds and prevent between 2,000 and 6,000 disabled
ex-servicemen receiving a supplement to their small pensions, as well as
calling into question payments already being paid.
According to Mr Vijay Mehan, a lawyer who has represented war veterans:
"Huge numbers of veterans will lose out in being able to claim a pension as
a result of this move and it could also call into question pensions already
being paid under Gulf war syndrome."
The ruling on Gulf war syndrome was made by the pensions appeal tribunal in
November last year. It was seen as a landmark as it was the first time in
15 years that the ministry was forced to acknowledge the existence of the
condition. The ministry chose not to appeal against the decision to the
House of Lords.
The president of the pensions tribunal, Harcourt Concannon, has now
discovered that the MoD has ignored his ruling by changing the terms of the
award to one of the men involved in the test case, Mark McGreevy.
Mr McGreevy is suffering from a crumbling spine which, he claims, was
caused by Gulf war syndrome. Since last year's ruling, the MoD has
concluded that his illness has nothing to do with the condition.
Last month, Mr Concannon wrote to Alan Burnham, chief executive of the
Veterans Agency, in unusually strong language. He said: "The Ministry of
Defence have clearly and deliberately departed from the terms of the
tribunal decision in order to substitute their own expression. In my view
the Ministry of Defence have no legal authority to tamper with the terms on
which a tribunal allows an appeal. The Ministry of Defence have taken on
themselves to manipulate the terms of the tribunal's decision.
"What they have done is a purely unilateral decision. It is a decision that
at least questions and probably undermines any confidence the tribunal
might have that its decisions will be faithfully implemented."
Labour's former minister for the disabled, Lord Morris, told the Guardian:
"The Ministry of Defence has effectively overturned the tribunal's
decision. This could affect hundreds, if not thousands of servicemen who
are suffering from Gulf war syndrome. This could stop them getting
additional money."
Last Thursday, the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association wrote to
Lord Craig of Radley, the former Air Chief Marshall at the time of the
first Gulf War, to highlight the MoD's change of heart. The association
accused the MoD of playing "another sleight of hand".
Last night the MoD said it would not accept the existence of Gulf war
syndrome. The ministry said money was already being paid to ex-servicemen
with disabilities, and that it did not need to pay extra money for those
who claimed they were suffering from Gulf war syndrome.
In an unreported exchange in the Lords last week, Lord Drayson, the
government's defence spokesman in the Lords, was challenged about the
change to the McGreevy decision. At first he said the MoD had not
overturned it, but then added: " The government cannot accept that Gulf war
veterans should receive an additional payment because of the particular
condition of Gulf war syndrome. It is not a question of geography or the
cause; it is a question of the level of disability." Lord Drayson said it
was not practical for the government to implement last year's ruling
because that would involve writing to 53,000 former soldiers to ask them
whether they were suffering from Gulf war syndrome.
He told peers: "We have looked at the potential of writing to the 53,000
veterans from the conflict and do not regard that as appropriate. It is not
possible for us to differentiate between those for whom the specific issue
of Gulf war syndrome is relevant. We are doing everything that we can to
make sure that people are informed via the use of the internet and
veterans' agencies."
Yesterday the Veterans Agency declined to comment on the letter sent to
their chief executive accusing them of acting illegally. They said the
decision to change Mr McCreevy's award had been a policy decision by the
Ministry of Defence.
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1796266,00.html#article_continue
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com
__._,_.___ 21ab29.jpg
SPONSORED LINKS
E
government
Government
procurement
Government
leasing
Government
grants for women
Government
lease
Government
contract
----------
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
* Visit your group
"pandora-project" on the web.
*
* To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
*
pandora-project-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
*
* Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the
Yahoo! Terms of Service.
----------
__,_._,___
Attachment Converted: 21ab29.jpg: 00000001,692e37a7,00000000,00000000
*****************************************************************
27 Deseret News: Kanab residents to rally against blast
[deseretnews.com]
Friday, June 16, 2006
They fear Nevada test would raise tainted soil
By Nancy Perkins Deseret Morning News
KANAB — Karen Tobin had never heard of the term "downwinder"
before moving to Kanab from Connecticut six months ago.
"I moved here for my dream job at Best Friends Animal
Sanctuary," said Tobin, a 31-year-old who now is the sanctuary's
caretaker for 20 shelter cats. "I found out in May about the
Nevada Test Site, and it was very scary to read about
downwinders and the fact that the southern Utah area was ground
zero for these nuclear tests."
Downwinder is a term used to describe people who lived
downwind from hundreds of nuclear tests conducted by the federal
government between 1951 and 1992 at the Nevada Test Site.
Thousands of downwinders eventually contracted specific forms of
cancer from exposure to the fallout.
Tobin said her concerns were heightened after reading
about the federal government's plan to detonate a massive
700-ton conventional bomb called Divine Strake at the test site.
Although that test was placed on indefinite hold May 26 until
questions about its safety are answered, Tobin said she believes
the test should be scrapped altogether.
"It's very upsetting to read about the families who were
affected by past nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site, and I'm
sure the soil there is contaminated," she said. "This proposed
explosion was going to disturb the soil, and I didn't want to be
directly downwind of those contaminants."
Tobin is spearheading an informal rally on Saturday at
the Kanab City Library from 1 to 3 p.m. for residents to discuss
their concerns about Divine Strake. Two St. George downwinders,
Michele Thomas and Michelle Bird, are scheduled to share their
personal stories. A petition to stop the blast will be available
for signatures.
"I was inspired by the rally held in St. George last
month, and I decided to have my own rally," Tobin said. "The
more attention this gets, the better. I hope people educate
themselves about Divine Strake, too. I just don't think it's
necessary."
Helene Stone, who helped organize the St. George rally,
said 100 people signed a petition that day against the proposed
Divine Strake test. Several hundred more signed petitions in the
following weeks.
"We are continuing the effort and are gathering more
signatures," said Stone, who delivered the petitions with more
than 600 signatures to the St. George offices of Republican
Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett.
The decision by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency to
halt its plans for Divine Strake came on the heels of public and
political pressure to take another look at possible health risks
from the blast. Both open-air and underground nuclear tests were
carried out in the vicinity of the Divine Strake location, and
critics contend the site is contaminated.
Public hearings will be held in St. George and Salt Lake
City once the agency issues its revised environmental assessment
on the proposed test, Hatch spokesman Peter Carr said on
Thursday.
"Senator Hatch has been pressing for some environmental
data that would back up the claims they are making that this
will be safe, and he wants that information, along with the
revised assessment, to be made public before the meetings," Carr
said.
E-mail: nperkinsi@desnews.com
© 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
28 SignOnSanDiego.com: Government: September or later for mushroom cloud blast in Nevada
By Ken Ritter ASSOCIATED PRESS
2:09 p.m. June 16, 2006
LAS VEGAS A non-nuclear explosion expected to cast the first
mushroom cloud over the Nevada desert in decades won't happen at
least until September, a government lawyer told a federal judge
Friday.
The Divine Strake defense experiment will not occur due to
weather reasons during July or August, Justice Department
lawyer Carolyn Blanco in Washington told U.S. District Judge
Lloyd George in Las Vegas during a telephonic hearing.
We have agreed at this hearing to provide notice to the court
and plaintiff if this test is authorized to proceed, Blanco
said.
National Nuclear Security Administration and the federal Defense
Threat Reduction Agency officials have cited concerns that
summer lightning could detonate 700 tons of explosive ammonium
nitrate and fuel oil slurry that the government plans to pour
into a huge pit for the blast. 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.
Robert Hager, the Reno-based lawyer representing the Winnemucca
Indian Colony and Utah and Nevada downwinders who earlier
persuaded the judge to temporarily postpone the experiment,
worried the government might reschedule the blast and provide
short notice before going ahead.
But George said he was satisfied there would be time to hear
legal and scientific arguments about whether the explosion would
kick up radioactive fallout left from atmospheric and
below-ground nuclear weapons tests. From 1951 to 1992 the
government conducted 928 such tests at the Nevada Test Site,
about 85 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Announcements about the blast first scheduled June 2 and then
June 23 raised complaints from Nevada and Utah congressional
representatives and rekindled fears of illness among downwind
residents in Nevada, Utah and Arizona, who recalled government
assurances that nuclear tests posed no risk.
The federal government postponed the massive explosion to allow
time to answer legal and scientific questions about it effects.
The Defense Threat Reduction Agency said the Divine Strake blast
would produce data about ground motion and shock waves about
penetrating hardened and deeply buried targets. Critics have
called the planned blast a surrogate for a low-yield nuclear
bunker-buster bomb.
*****************************************************************
29 KGWN: Air Force Base Trains For Nuclear Accident
Cheyenne- Posted 6/16/06
Associated Press
The exercise is called ``Comanche Warrior.'' It involves both
military and civilian teams and a scenario in which a diesel
tanker truck hits a truck carrying sections of a Minuteman Three
nuclear missile.
Base officials say that while the exercise assumes radiation
would be released, that wouldn't be likely to happen in a vehicle
accident.
The exercise leads up to a demonstration June 20th through the
22nd that will be monitored by delegates of the NATO-Russia
Council.
Copyright © 2006
Sagamore Hill
*****************************************************************
30 Platts: NRC to include Category 3 radioactive sources in NSTS
Washington (Platts)--14Jun2006
The NRC has told the staff to include Category 3 radioactive
sources in the National Source Tracking System and to study
whether the commission should specifically license so-called
Category 3.5 sources, which have activity levels a factor of 10
below the lower limit of Category 3 sources.
In a June 9 memo to the staff, released today on the agency's web
site, the commission said that staff should develop a proposed
rule to include Category 3 sources in the NSTS within three
years. Category 3 sources have wide uses, including as industrial
gauges, plutonium-based pacemakers, and research reactor startup
sources.
Category 3 sources are also increasingly being used in security
screening at ports and cargo terminals. Separately, NRC published
a notice in yesterday's Federal Register, asking for comments on
changing the basis for the NSTS from NRC's authority to promote
the common defense and security to protection of public health
and safety. The change would give Agreement States a larger role
in the NSTS.
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill
Companies]
*****************************************************************
31 NEWS.com.au: Minister 'in dark' on leaks - Nuclear Fears
From: AAP
June 16, 2006
[Lucas Heights / Reuters] Safety fears
... Australia's only nuclear reactor has had to ration an
isotope used in medical scans after an accident halted
production / Reuters
SCIENCE Minister Julie Bishop was extraordinarily uninformed
about radioactive leaks at Sydney's Lucas Heights nuclear
reactor, Labor said today. Opposition environment spokesman
Anthony Albanese said the public, particularly residents living
near the reactor, had a right to be kept informed of such
incidents.
The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
(ANSTO) yesterday confirmed there had been four accidents in a
week involving radioactive material at the reactor, but insisted
they posed no threat to public health. [Enter your feedback]
[Full coverage]
Labor pressed the Government on the issue in Parliament
yesterday, amid government claims it was scaremongering.
"It's pretty reasonable that, when you have an incident at a
nuclear facility, the local community should have a right to
know," Mr Albanese said.
"It's reasonable that the science minister not stand up in
Parliament and say that there hasn't been any radioactive gases
into the atmosphere when in fact there were xenon and krypton
leaked into the atmosphere around Lucas Heights.
"I find it extraordinary that even after that incident on June
8, which, significantly, was the day that Ziggy Switkowski stood
aside from the ANSTO board to take up his position as chair of
the prime minister's taskforce to impose nuclear power on
Australia, that the minister didn't seem to be aware of that
detail.
"(She) didn't seem to be aware yesterday when we raised it in
Parliament that there'd been another incident the day before."
Mr Albanese said Australians should be concerned about the
developments at a time when the government was heightening
interest in nuclear issues.
"(These incidents are) also in the context whereby, in the
leaked Cabinet report from 1997, where the Government looked at
a shortlist of 14 nuclear sites, they made a conscious decision
to keep those sites secret from the Australian public because of
a political decision that's very explicit in those cabinet
documents," he said.
Mr Albanese said the Prime Minister had a responsibility to
outline where his nuclear reactors would go and where the
nuclear waste should go.
"It's no wonder the Prime Minister wants to keep those details
of locations of nuclear facilities secret from the Australian
public in this inquiry, which has no credibility unless it
actually looks at where they will go," he said.
*****************************************************************
32 New Haven Advocate: Nuclear New Haven
A Cold War relic leaves hot zones in a city neighborhood
by Carole Bass. Photographs by Kathleen Cei - June 15, 2006
The Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) issued special nuclear
material License No. SNM-368 to Olin Mathieson Corporation in
1959, which was transferred to United Nuclear Corporation in
1961. This license authorized the use of enriched uranium
(greater than 97% uranium 235) and later source materials,
including natural uranium, depleted uranium and thorium for
research and nuclear fuel fabrication in New Haven, Connecticut.
"Radiological Characterization of the Former UNC Manufacturing
Facility, New Haven, Connecticut" (May 2005)
Once upon a time, in the mini city of old factory buildings
where the Dixwell neighborhood meets Newhallville, the Olin
Corp. made chemicals, metals, rifles, ammunition . . . and
nuclear fuel.
That's right: From 1956 to 1976, enriched uranium, used to power
nuclear submarines, was manufactured on Shelton Avenue in New
Haven.
It's been 30 years since the Olin offshoot, United Nuclear
Corp., closed the place down and cleaned it up. But the
atomic-energy police, who approved Olin's formal decommissioning
in 1976, decided some years later that maybe the site wasn't so
clean after all. In 1996, the federal Nuclear Regulatory
Commission did additional tests, which showed that United
Nuclear had left some uranium behindin concentrations of up to
60 times the NRC's acceptable level.
So the company wrote a new cleanup plan, the feds approved it,
and
And, nothing. A decade later, an NRC project manager says he's
putting the finishing touches on a document that will move the
bureaucratic process forward. Later this year, he predicts,
United Nuclear's cleanup crews will be able to go back to
Shelton Avenue and finish the job they started back when Gerald
Ford was president.
The story of United Nuclear Corp.'s New Haven plant remains a
story without an ending. It's a story that makes you think that
when Nobel Prize winner Mohamed ElBaradei gets Iran's nuclear
ambitions straightened out, maybe he can plug some of the gaps
in this bizarre story.
There are gaps in the hundreds of pages of NRC documents. Gaps
in people's memories. Communication gaps so glaring that, woven
throughout a mysterious tale of Cold Warriors and hot zones, is
a tale of government confusion at every level.
There's a property owner who's not really the owner. A city
government that thinks all the radiation has been cleaned up
(apparently because the state government said it was). A federal
government that didn't know the city now owns the property,
isn't sure who's legally responsible for cleaning up the
radiation, and doesn't think the neighbors need to know anything
about it.
But the biggest unsolved mystery of all is: What's in that
building?
The Former UNC Facility is located at 71 Shelton Avenue in New
Haven, Connecticut. . . . The facility is generally bounded by
Division Street on the north, Shelton Avenue on the west, and
Science Park on the east. The building at the Former UNC
Facility is currently used as a warehouse, and it is surrounded
by a chain link fence. Access to the site is controlled by the
current owner, Mr. Alan Jarman.
"Radiological Characterization of the Former UNCted
Manufacturing Facility, New Haven, Connecticut" (May 2005)
You barely notice 71 Shelton Ave. An unremarkable warehouse with
a corrugated-metal facade and a weedy, trash-strewn front yard,
the building is dwarfed by the gigantic white factory next door,
which a local entrepreneur has partly renovated and is marketing
as office space and artist studios.
But when you stop to examine 71 Sheltonespecially when you know
its historythe site begins to look a little creepy. Barbed wire
on the fence. A locked gate with the building number
spray-painted in orange. And the spookiest part:
yellow-and-white diamond-shaped signs on the front of the
building that say Radioactive.
Owner Alan Jarman said he'd meet us here. The gate is locked,
but the driveway's not fenced off, and in it is a pickup and a
man shoveling gravel from the truck bed into potholes in the
driveway. Further back is another man, in a sweatshirt and a
baseball capAlan Jarman.
Jarman says he has owned the building since about 1988. At first
he ran a business there, packaging household cleaning products.
Then he sold the business, he says, "and the building has been
sitting here ever since."
The building is enormous. You can't tell from the street, but it
must be hundreds of feet long. The city assessor's records say
it's about 60,000 square feet, all on one floor. It's in rough
shapelots of broken windows, cinder blocks crumbling in some
placesbut you can see that it's extremely sturdy.
The side yard is home to all kinds of junk. A red school bus
with the name of its former food-vendor owner, Chic "n'Jake,
painted on the side. Another old school bus, painted black.
Piles of scrap wood, scrap metal, old tires, you name it.
Jarman knew the building's nuclear history when he bought it, he
says. "But they had a clean signoff from the Navy and the Atomic
Energy Commission. When they came back [to test for radiation],
I figured, "Well, it's good to know, for my own well-being."
Jarman continues: "I've had some quiet, sit-down,
heart-to-hearts with people at the NRC and said, "Hey, am I
going to have children with three toes?' I'm pretty satisfied."
According to the test samples, all the remaining radiation is
under the building's thick concrete floor, or in an old sewer
pipe.
"Their plan is to dig up various areas of the floor, various
areas outside," says Jarman. "I'm kind of stuck in the middle."
Stuck, but convinced the site poses little riskso convinced, in
fact, that Jarman let his daughter (who has 10 toes) hold her
high-school graduation party in the building.
As for those radioactive signs, "A friend of mine put them there
to bust my chops."
We've been standing outside all this time. I ask to see the
inside of the building. Jarman says no.
Why not?
Pause.
"Because there's stuff in there that nobody needs to know
about."
The site is now acceptable for unrestricted future use-all
radiological aspects are o.k. (Kevin Scott, DEP, 9/8/99)
"Summary of Site Characterization and Decommissioning Plan for
71 Shelton Avenue," prepared by New Haven City Hall (2004)
The state of Connecticut and the city of New Haven have some
interest in the site, because it is part of a redevelopment
area. The general public has relatively low interest in the
site.
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission online summary (May 2006)
If Jarman's daughter has the right number of toes, the same
can't be said of the government hands involved in the Olin
cleanup. There are too many, and none seems to know what the
others are doing.
After Jarman denies access to the building, the next step is a
call to the city's office of business development. Helen
Rosenberg, point person for abandoned industrial buildings, is
familiar with the property: "We just foreclosed on it," she
says. She's surprised to hear that Jarman was on the property
that morning, filling potholes. "I wonder what he's doing there.
Does he not know?"
Surely he knew that he didn't pay his taxes. The city took title
in January. Why Jarman was still there in late May is a mystery.
Not that the city has been in any hurry to take charge. The
building is now the responsibility of Frank D'Amore, from the
Livable City Initiative, the city's anti-blight agency. He tells
me the padlocks on 71 Shelton are Jarman's, and he doesn't have
the key. He doesn't have Jarman's phone number. And he's not
sure when he'll be able to get inside the building.
Rosenberg is also surprised to hear that the NRC is requiring
more cleanup. A note in her file says she talked to Kevin Scott,
a radiation specialist at the state Department of Environmental
Protection, in 1999. According to her notes, Scott told her the
radiation was all cleaned up.
Did Rosenberg misunderstand? Was Scott misinformed? Who knows
for sure: Scott didn't return repeated phone calls.
Rosenberg's files also contain a "radiological characterization"
and cleanup plan that United Nuclear submitted in 1998, at the
NRC's request. The NRC approved the plan the following year, but
the company never did the work.
Instead, it did more sampling in 2003 and wrote a new
characterization and cleanup plan last year. Neither the NRC
project manager nor a spokesman for General Electric, which
bought United Nuclear in 1997, can fully explain why the 1999
cleanup never went forward.
It's also puzzling to read the NRC's statement that "the general
public has relatively low interest" in a site contaminated with
radiation. The building is in the middle of a residential
neighborhood. There's a house next door, and houses directly
across the street.
Yet Everhart says there's no plan to notify the neighbors
before, during or after the cleanup.
"The risks are relatively small, because it's in the ground
under the building," he says. "You'd have to get into the
building, which is locked or somebody's there, usually. You'd
have to know where to dig. You'd have to break up the concrete
floor, probably. I'm trying to think of a scenario where
somebody in the neighborhood could get a dose. I can't imagine
it."
That low risk is the main reason it has taken so long to get
moving on the cleanup, Everhart says. He also maintains that the
Shelton Avenue property was cleaned up to 1976 federal
standards; the standards, he says, got stricter in the 1990s. So
the NRC systematically (well, sort of systematically) revisited
hundreds of sites where the nuclear licenses had already been
terminated, and where cleanups had putatively been completed.
Based on the 1996 testing at Shelton Avenue, says Everhart, "we
did triage. If this were a high-risk site it would not have
taken 10 years to work through this."
There were other reasons for the delay. United Nuclear Corp. was
taken over by GE in 1997. Tracking down the people responsible
for the old New Haven site took time. The cleanup experts had to
check not only for radiation but also for "other hazards,"
especially in the sewer, Everhart says: Since Olin used to make
ammunition in a nearby building, "their concern was, is there
anything down there that's going to blow up if we start playing
around?"
There was also the question of cost. United Nuclear manufactured
its sub fuel for the Department of Energy, a federal agency
distinct from the NRC. The energy department will pay for the
cleanup, but negotiating that took time.
Everhart says he hopes the cleanup will start later this summer
and be completed in 2007.
The nuclear-powered submarine revolutionized naval warfare when
it burst upon the scene over four decades ago.
Admiral Bruce DeMars, USN (Retired), speaking at Pearl Harbor
in August 1997
City and state officials aren't the only ones in the dark about
the leftover radiation at 71 Shelton Ave. Just about nobody
knows. The Advocate wouldn't know except for Leslie Ryan.
Researching the old Olin properties for her masters thesis in
environmental design from the Yale School of Architecture, Ryan
became fascinated by this slice of New Haven nuclear history.
She read scores of pages of NRC documents. She dug up old maps.
She pored through newspaper archives.
She found that, for all that's been written about our nation's
nuclear navy, little attention was paid to the fuel that powered
it. The New Haven Register published a couple of articles in
1956, when Olin Mathieson started its nuclear manufacturing
operation in New Haven. After that, almost nothing appeared in
the paper.
"It just was erased," Ryan says. "And for whatever reason, our
memories are short."
Pointing out that United Nuclear's New Haven facility regularly
housed up to 4,000 kilograms of U-235, an element with a
radioactive half-life of 700 million years, Ryan wryly observes:
"They were very optimistic."
The nuclear alarm system consists of gamma sensitive detectors,
audible alarms and remote indicator panel at or near the guard
station.
"General Information and Procedures Applicable to the Handling
of Special Nuclear Material" (United Nuclear Corp., 1968)
Steve Berman remembers the nuclear alarm. As a young engineer,
he supervised various manufacturing processes at United Nuclear
from about 1969 to 1972.
"They would take two slabs of titanium, put a uranium core in
the middle, and then put it through a rolling machine," he
remembers. "That bonded the titanium and made it long and
skinny, about as big as a ski."
These "ski-looking things"otherwise known as nuclear fuel
rodswould then be machined to precise dimensions and combined
into a fuel assembly, Berman recalls. Then they were shipped to
United Nuclear's larger facility in Montville, where workers
assembled them into reactor barrels. (That building now houses
the Mohegan Sun casino.) From there, the reactors went to
Electric Boat in Groton, and into nuclear subs "that could go
under the polar ice cap" and never need to surface, Berman says.
He worked at United Nuclear for three or four years, then went
to law school. Now he's a partner at the law firm of Rogin
Nassau, with an office that overlooks New Haven Green. Berman
recalls that the plant was "nondescript, just a factory. They
could've been making bicycles."
Except for the uranium.
"The room where they dealt with the actual uranium was a clean
room, with people wearing whites and masks," Berman recounts.
"Certainly the garb, I think, wasn't to protect me from the
radiation"; it was the other way around. "But there was some
kind of screening process after you came out."
Then there was the nuclear alarm, another feature that set the
factory apart from others. "The nuclear alarm used to go off in
the rain," Berman says. "When [it] went off, your instructions
were: Run. Get out of the building. It's not like a fire drill,
where you're supposed to leave in an orderly fashion. Just get
out. We had a place a few blocks away where we were supposed to
meet up."
The alarm went off "maybe two times a year," says Berman. "You
always took it seriously. It was a loud siren. It interrupted
your day." But it always turned out to be a false alarm.
Told that United Nuclear has to go back and clean up more
radiation, he remarks: "I can't imagine how it got there. The
controls were so tight."
Process waste and laundry water is transfered to a lagoon or
liquid handling system prior to discharge. Where particulate
contaminants constitute a significant radioactive component of
the liquid, filtration may be required before discharge. The
contamination level of these effluents is monitored.
"General Information and Procedures Applicable to the Handling
of Special Nuclear Material" (United Nuclear Corp., 1968)
The acceptable limit for uranium in the soil, according to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, is 30 picocuries per gram. In
2003, testing at 71 Shelton Ave. found 21 samples above that
limit; the highest concentration was 60 times the acceptable
level.
The NRC's Everhart calls the levels "really quite low." He also
says that the sewer in which United Nuclear found uranium has
been disused for a long time and is no longer connected to the
city sewer system. Sewer chief Dominick DiGangi, of the Greater
New Haven Water Pollution Control Authority, says, "We have no
answers," but he's confident that "if it were a problem, [the
NRC] would have informed us."
Everhart is fuzzy on who bears legal responsibility for cleaning
up the radiation. First he says United Nuclear is, then he
corrects himself: Because the NRC terminated the company's
license, it can no longer order UNC around, he says. "They're
cooperating because it's the right thing to do."
If United Nuclear is not required to cooperate, who is?
Everhart admits that he's not sure. "That's not a good answer,"
he says, "but it's the truth. I'd find out real quick if I had
to."
When you're talking about a half-life of 700 million years,
"real quick" could mean almost anything.
Copyright © 1995-2006 New Mass Media. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 AFP: US warns North Korea against 'provocative' missile test
by Olivier Knox Fri Jun 16, 6:16 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States sharply warned North Korea "
/> against a "provocative" ballistic missile test, promising to
protect itself as speculation mounted that a launch was imminent.
"Together, our diplomacy and that of our allies has made clear
to North Korea that a missile launch would be a provocative act
that is not in their interests and will further isolate them
from the world," said US State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack.
"We have a variety of national technical means that we could use
to monitor the situation. We, of course, will take necessary
preparatory steps to track any potential activities and to
protect ourselves," he told reporters.
North Korea shocked the world in August 1998 by firing a
long-range Taepodong-1 missile with a range of up to 2,000
kilometers (1,250 miles) over Japan into the Pacific Ocean. The
North claimed that was a satellite launch.
The communist regime, which is boycotting nuclear disarmament
talks, could be preparing to fire a 35-meter (116-foot)
Taepodong-2 in the range of 3,500 to 6,000 kilometers (2,200 to
3,750 miles), Japanese officials said.
North Korea is believed to be developing the missile for a range
of up to 10,000 kilometers (6,200 miles), which would put the
continental United States within striking distance.
Asked about the possible missile test, White House national
security spokesman Fred Jones replied: "We're not going to
discuss or speculate about intelligence matters. Our concerns
about North Korea's missile program are well-known."
"North Korea should abide by the long-range missile test
moratorium it has observed since 1999 and return to the
six-party talks" aimed at ending the crisis over its nuclear
weapons, said Jones.
On Friday, South Korean officials and analysts said that North
Korea had not yet begun fueling a long-range missile on its
northeast coast, the final step before a possible launch.
"It will take at least two days to fill the rocket with liquid
fuel and if they finish it, we can say they are ready to start
the countdown," said Baek Seung-Joo from the government-backed
Korean Institute for Defence Analyses.
Also on Friday, Japan warned North Korea against testing a
ballistic missile, saying it would set back efforts to normalize
diplomatic relations.
"If a ballistic missile is launched, it would directly affect
our nation's security and constitute a violation of the
Pyongyang Declaration," Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, the
government spokesman, told reporters.
The latest developments led prominent Democratic senators
Hillary Clinton
" /> and Carl Levin to send President George W. Bush
" /> a letter on Thursday pushing for a policy change after
"largely fruitless" six-party talks.
"We may be approaching the nightmare scenario in which our only
option is to negotiate with a North Korea that can attack the
United States with a nuclear weapon instead of a North Korea
that is still working towards that capability," they wrote.
The lawmakers urged Bush to craft a "single, coordinated
presidential strategy" to deal with North Korea's nuclear and
missile programs, led by a senior envoy.
The United States had been involved with China, Russia, Japan
and South Korea
" /> in talks with North Korea to disband the reclusive state's
nuclear arms program in return for security and diplomatic
guarantees and energy aid.
Six-party talks came to a head in September 2005, with North
Korea agreeing in principle to end its atomic weapons program.
But talks collapsed two months later, after the United States
imposed financial sanctions on Pyongyang for alleged US dollar
counterfeiting and money laundering activities.
North Korea refused to come back to the table unless sanctions
were lifted, while the United States did not budge, saying it
cannot compromise on issues such as counterfeiting that threaten
national sovereignty.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
34 Reid: REID CONTINUES TO FIGHT FOR COMPENSATION FOR NEVADA TEST
SITE VETERANS:
06/15/2006
Strategic Move Aims to Bring Legislation Closer to Passage
Washington, D.C. – Continuing to live up to his vows of
bringing fair compensation for Nevada Test Site workers, U.S.
Senator Harry Reid today introduced his bill, the Nevada Test
Site Veterans’ Compensation Act, as an amendment to the Defense
Authorization Bill now under debate on the Senate floor.
“These men and women are our atomic energy veterans,†said
Reid. “They helped this country win the Cold War, sacrificing
their personal health in the process. After decades of waiting
and suffering, it is time that we honored these sacrifices.â€
Reid’s bill would cover all Nevada Test Site workers who were
employed at the site between 1950 and 1993 if they were present
during an atmospheric or underground nuclear test or performed
certain work immediately after a test. It would also cover
workers who were present at an episodic event involving radiation
releases, such as an atomic blast, or worked at the Nevada Test
Site for at least 250 days in a job that was – or should have
been – monitored for exposure to ionizing radiation.
The U.S. held 100 above-ground nuclear tests and 828 underground
tests at the site between 1951 an 1993. Many people at the Test
Site worked with significant amounts of radioactive materials
without knowledge of the risks. Some of those workers have been
waiting for decades for the government to acknowledge the
sacrifices they made for their country. Many have been waiting
for compensation while they suffer from life-threatening cancers,
and others have already died.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is
recommending that Nevada Test Site Cold War veterans who worked
for at least 250 days between 1951 and 1962 be designated as a
Special Exposure Cohort (SEC) -- a legal designation that already
applies to workers at some other atomic sites. The SEC
designation expedites the compensation process for workers
exposed to radiation, and makes the compensation process fair and
equitable. Reid’s bill would expand the SEC designation to
cover more Nevada Test Site veterans.
Today, the Presidential Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker
Health Advisory Board held a hearing on the issue in Washington
D.C. Reid submitted a statement, which is attached below.
The Presidential Advisory Board is recommending compensation for
employees who worked at the site for more than 250 days from 1951
– 1962. Senator Reid is urging NIOSH to expand that group.
Nevadan Lori Hunton also testified at the hearing today, and read
testimony from former Test Site workers and their surviving
family members. Hunton is the surviving daughter of Oral
Triplett, who was employed with the Nevada Test Site during the
cold war.
“During the years that he was employed he was vented on,â€
said Hunton. “As a child I can remember that after one
incident, when he was sent home after a post-shot drilling
operation, he had little red cheerios on the side of his face. We
have been seeking compensation for over 28 years.â€
**
Statement of U.S. Senator Harry Reid (D-NV)
The Presidential Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health
Thursday, June 15 2006
I am sorry that I could not be with you today, but want to thank
the Advisory Board for moving forward on a Special Exposure
Cohort for some Nevada Test Site workers employed at the site
from 1951 through 1962, and I want to speak to the breadth of
that compensation.
As you are meeting here today, I will be addressing this issue on
the Floor of the Senate, urging my Congressional colleagues to
support compensation for the Test Site’s atomic energy veterans
who valiantly served their country during the above-ground tests.
As you all know, I support a broader SEC than is going forward,
including for below-ground workers. However, the discussion today
is whether workers employed at the site less than 250 days
deserve compensation. Clearly, they do.
Five years ago I worked with then-President Bill Clinton to
ensure that Department of Energy workers and contractors who were
exposed to radiation, beryllium or silica received compensation.
Unfortunately, five years later, very few Test Site workers who
have cancer have received compensation. As you know, Test Site
workers are receiving compensation at a rate lower than the
national average and many who have waited decades are being told
that they have to wait longer. Many have already died while
waiting for their compensation, stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare
of obstruction and delay.
Congress and NIOSH have already designated classes of atomic
energy veterans at many sites as members of the Special Exposure
Cohort under EEOICPA. They have even provided compensation for
workers employed less than 250 days.
Nevada Test Site workers deserve the same designation.
The contribution of the State of Nevada to the security of the
United States throughout the Cold War and since is unparalleled.
The United States conducted 100 aboveground and 828 underground
nuclear tests at the Nevada Test Site from 1951 – 1992. That is
88 percent of the nuclear tests conducted in the United States.
Unfortunately, Nevada Test Site workers, despite performing this
service for their country, having worked with significant amounts
of radioactive materials and having known exposures leading to
cancer, have been denied compensation under EEOICPA as a result
of flawed calculations based on records that are incomplete or in
error as well as the use of faulty assumptions and incorrect
models.
NIOSH itself acknowledges that it cannot estimate the internal
radiation dose received by employees at the Nevada Test Site from
1951 through 1962, yet is arguing that many Test Site workers,
including those present for the atmospheric tests do not deserve
compensation.
There are many reasons that NIOSH cannot estimate dose, including
inadequate monitoring, incomplete radionuclide lists, and
NIOSH’s ignoring significant data on the Site and the tests.
We also know that DOE and its contractors did not monitor for
beta radiation before 1966, that there were significant efforts
to prevent badges from registering dose, that DOE ignored
voluminous evidence and never even spoke with the lead health
physicist at the site during both the above and below ground test
(although the auditors did), that Nevada Test Site workers
frequently worked greater than eight hour days, and that DOE
claims to have dosimeter readings for workers when they were no
longer employed at the site.
In addition, there is voluminous anecdotal information about the
severe acute effects that many workers present during the tests
suffered, workers that would not be covered within this cohort. I
cannot tell you the number of stories that my staff has been told
outlining these effects, many of which have been transmitted to
the agencies. Lori Hunton, whose father, Oral Triplett, worked at
the site, is here to share some of these stories with you.
Further, Under NIOSH’s reasoning is in direct contravention of
Congress’ intention in passing the Energy Employees
Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000. Under this
rationale, someone who was present for all 100 above-ground tests
would be denied compensation, even if they were on the front
lines. This is not what Congress intended.
And, it is unfair.
These men and women, our atomic energy veterans, helped this
country win the Cold War, sacrificing their personal health in
the process. After decades of waiting and suffering, it is time
that we honored these sacrifices.
I urge this Advisory Board to do the right thing and grant an SEC
for workers employed at the site less than 250 days. All workers
present at the atmospheric test should be granted compensation.
Please let me know how we can assist the board in its efforts.
*****************************************************************
35 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast riddle
| 06/16/2006 |
Same questions, always different answers
How big is the plume of pollution beneath the soil of Tallevast?
How close to the surface? How deep into the aquifer?
How dangerous to residents living atop the known boundaries of
the plume?
We keep asking the same questions - and getting different
answers. Just a few weeks ago, we thought we knew for sure. On
May 3, we wrote that the plume resembled "a slightly irregular
oval . . . like an artist's palette - a 200-acre palette that
encompasses virtually the entire community of Tallevast, a
corner of Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport property to
the west and big chunks of land to the east."
But, following an all-too-familiar pattern of the last two
years, just when it appears you have your arms around the
Tallevast pollution problem, new information surfaces to dash
hopes for a timely and speedy resolution. Such is the situation
today with an analysis of the latest data by The Herald's
independent expert, chemist Wilma Subra. The data, provided by
Lockheed Martin, the company that owns the former American
Beryllium Co. plant from which the poisonous plume is believed
to have leaked years ago, still does not adequately define the
plume's dimensions nor assess its health threat to residents,
Subra concluded.
This comes as Lockheed Martin officials await an opinion by the
state Department of Environmental Regulation on whether its data
is sufficient to trigger approval of a plan to clean up the
plume, a pumping and filtering operation that could take up to
20 years to complete. Lockheed officials dispute Subra's
findings, saying she may not have had access to all of the
company's documents and reached conclusions not justified by the
data.
Yet an independent engineer hired by Tallevast residents, Tim
Varney, says Subra's findings confirm his own analysis of the
data. He urges more test wells to confirm the plume's depth as
well as its horizontal movement, saying groundwater hydrology
has not been adequately assessed.
Also at issue is the threat posed by toxic vapors from chemical
contaminants that Subra believes are at very shallow depths.
Subra contends the vapors represent a health threat to residents
whose homes are atop the plume and that they should be relocated
at Lockheed Martin's expense.
It is unfortunate that there is such a level of rancor between
residents and Lockheed Martin, but perhaps it is inevitable. The
stage for distrust was set when residents learned in 2004 that
Lockheed and the DEP had known of the chemical plume beneath
Tallevast for more than three years before informing them of it.
Meanwhile, the residents continued to drink, cook and wash with
water from private wells that pulled from the contaminated
groundwater source.
That blackout was exacerbated by Lockheed's continuing efforts
to limit the investigation to the smallest scale possible.
Originally assured the plume was confined to the old beryllium
plant site, they later learned it had spread to 50 acres.
Further drilling of wells expanded the plume to 131 acres, which
produced demands for more test wells. Those results announced in
April expanded it to 200 acres - four times Lockheed's
assurances of its size a year earlier. Now residents - and Subra
- say that some private wells outside the boundaries currently
drawn also show contamination but are not being considered by
Lockheed.
We continue to advocate for all necessary testing of soil and
water in the Tallevast area to ensure the scope of this plume is
fully defined. It will do little good to approve a clean-up plan
only to learn later there is additional pollution outside the
parameters of the plan. That may limit Lockheed's liability
exposure, but it will do little for the peace of mind of nearby
property owners - or for their property values.
For all of its efforts to build community trust, with a website,
full-time community relations representative and newsletter,
Lockheed undermines those efforts by not including residents in
important planning decisions, such as a vapor testing program
launched last month. This should not be an adversarial process -
not if the goal is complete and thorough clean-up of a toxic
plume that represents a health hazard of unknown dimensions.
That must be the goal.
*****************************************************************
36 Platts: France's waste bill voted out of National Assembly June 15
London (Platts)--16Jun2006
France's waste bill was voted out of the National Assembly June
15, after much less debate than the government had budgeted and
in a version identical to that passed by the Senate earlier this
month.
That means it can be promulgated by the French President within
15 days. The law, called the "Nuclear Materials and Waste
Sustainable Management Program Act," sets France's nuclear waste
policy for the next 15 years and, in particular, endorses the
concept of deep geologic disposal for ultimate wastes, i.e.,
those for which no further use is foreseen. The bill passed by a
large majority, with the majority UMP and UDF groups voting for
and the Socialists abstaining.
The Communist group did not vote. Claude Birraux, the assembly's
rapporteur for the waste bill, expressed "great satisfaction" at
the way the parliament and the government had worked together to
craft legislation acceptable to all parties, including provisions
added by the legislators for greater parliamentary control over
future waste policy. For similar stories, request a free trial to
Platts Nucleonics Week at
Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
[The McGraw-Hill Companies]
*****************************************************************
37 SignOnSanDiego.com: Train carrying water used at nuclear plant derails in Michigan
ASSOCIATED PRESS
12:07 p.m. June 16, 2006
SURREY TOWNSHIP, Mich. A freight train carrying water once
used for cooling nuclear materials at Big Rock Point Nuclear
Power Plant derailed early Friday, but officials said there was
no danger from the accident.
All of the cars carrying the water remained upright and no one
was injured, Clare County Sheriff's Sgt. William J. Larson said.
The 17 cars that derailed included two empty coal cars and 15
cars carrying material for a foundry in Cleveland.
The cause of the derailment wasn't immediatly known. It happened
about 1:15 a.m. on the Tuscola and Saginaw Bay Railway line in
central Michigan near Farwell, 135 miles northwest of Detroit.
It's not dangerous at all, said Jim Dunn, the railroad's
director of operations.
The Big Rock Point plant, located on Lake Michigan near
Charlevoix, was shut down in 1997 after 35 years of operation.
Union-Tribune | About the Union-Tribune
*****************************************************************
38 Muskogee Phoenix: Army to remove uranium from Gore
www.muskogeephoenix.com - Muskogee, OK
From staff, wire reports
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Congressman Dan Boren, D-Okla., and U.S.
Senator Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., today announced plans for the
removal of depleted uranium from Gore. The announcement follows
inclusion of language in the Defense Authorization Act requiring
removal by the Army no later than March 31, 2007.
“Today we have a solution to this long-standing problem in Gore
and I am pleased we were able to reach an agreement with the
Army allowing us to clean up this site,” Inhofe said.
“After 13 years of uncertainty we can now safely say the uranium
will be out of Gore within a year,” Boren said. "It’s long past
time to get it out of Eastern Oklahoma.”
Approximately 1,200 barrels, or 1.5 million pounds, of depleted
uranium has been stored at the former Sequoyah Fuels Corporation
site in Gore since 1993, when the facility finished contract
work involving uranium provided by the federal government. The
site was used to convert DU6 to DU4 for use by the U.S. Army in
anti-tank ammunition.
Gore Mayor Mike Kinnear said he would like to see the uranium
removed and the site cleaned.
“Because of the infrastructure in place, I would like to see an
industrial park which would be a benefit,” Kinnear said. “That
would be a good deal and allow everyone to move forward.”
Over the past 13 years Sequoyah Fuels and the Army have been
deadlocked over whose responsibility it was to remediate the
site.
Inhofe broke the log jam this week by including language in the
Senate version of the Defense Authorization Act, requiring the
Secretary of the Army to transport all government-furnished
uranium from Sequoyah Fuels in Gore no later than March 31, 2007.
After numerous attempts to engage the Department of Defense on
the issue, Boren offered an amendment to the House version of
the Defense Authorization Act in May requiring the Secretaries
of Defense and Energy to submit a report to Congress outlining
remediation plans for the site. The Army responded on June 5,
noting that “the indefinite storage of the material at the Gore
site is not an acceptable solution.” It was also noted, however,
that the agency lacked congressional authorization to remove the
depleted uranium.
“I appreciate Rep. Boren’s assistance with this issue and I am
confident we have lasting solution after this week’s action,”
Inhofe said.
“With the senator’s help we were able to put this issue to rest
once and for all,” Boren said.
Originally published June 16, 2006
Copyright ©2006 Muskogee Daily Phoenix.
All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
39 Salt Lake Tribune: Uranium mining may restart
Article Last Updated: 06/16/2006 12:10:39 AM MDT
Rising price spurs move that would mean 500 jobs in Utah
By Steven Oberbeck The Salt Lake Tribune
Utah soon may find itself in the midst of another uranium
mining boom.
Spurred by record prices for the radioactive metal,
International Uranium Corp. of Vancouver said this week it
intends to begin reopening its mines in the western United
States, including its Henry Mountain property west of Blanding
in southeastern Utah.
"We've been considering reopening our mines for a couple of
years now," said Ron Hochstein, president of International
Uranium. "And with uranium now trading around $43 a pound - the
highest it's ever been - the economics are right for us to start
producing again."
International Uranium holds properties on the Colorado
Plateau, the Arizona Strip between the Grand Canyon and Utah's
border, and in the Henry Mountains.
The company will begin mining immediately on the Colorado
Plateau. Production on its Henry Mountain property is expected
to start late next spring, after the company acquires necessary
permits from the state, Hochstein said. "Once we have the Henry
Mountain property in full production we'll probably be employing
about 500 miners there," he said.
International Uranium anticipates its properties in Arizona
will be online by late summer 2007.
Ore from International Uranium's mines will be stockpiled at
its White Mesa mill until late next year, when processing can
begin. The White Mesa mill, six miles south of Blanding, is one
of only two operating uranium mills in the country.
Although there has been a lack of raw ore to process in
recent years, International Uranium kept its mill operating by
periodically processing "alternative feeds" - or radioactive
waste containing small quantities of uranium. Much of that
feedstock material comes from the cleanup of old nuclear-weapon
research and production sites.
"Most of the uranium mines closed in the 1980s when the price
fell below $20 a pound," said Ken Krahulec, a Utah Geological
Survey metals geologist. "And even though prices have now gone
up, when you consider inflation, prices now are only a little
better than those [prices] that closed the mines 20 years ago,"
he said.
Still, Krahulec said many people in the uranium
mining-and-refining industry make a good case that the lack of
ore production in recent years has resulted in tight supplies of
the metal just as the world is becoming more enamored with
producing power at nuclear generating plants.
During the first year of mining and milling, International
Uranium projects it will produce approximately 3.4 million
pounds of refined uranium and 5.9 million pounds of vanadium,
which is often alloyed with steel and also has nuclear
applications.
This year, the company expects to produce more than 500,000
pounds from one "alternative feed contract," Hochstein said.
Susan White, mining program coordinator at the Utah Division
of Oil, Gas and Mining, said International Uranium has worked
diligently to secure its "large mine permit" from the state and
could have the certificate within six months.
In the past year, she noted, the state has granted six
permits for uranium exploration on state, federal and private
lands in Utah. In addition, nine more applications for
exploration permits are under review.
"Prior to those permits, there hadn't seen much activity for
years," she said.
steve@sltrib.com
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
40 WWMT: Train carrying water used at nuclear plant derails
June 16, 2006 - 2:25PM
SURREY TOWNSHIP (AP) - A freight train carrying water once
used for cooling nuclear materials at Big Rock Point Nuclear
Power Plant derailed today in Clare County. But officials say
there was no danger and the water did not spill.
Eight to 10 of the train's 38 cars were carrying the water, but
those remained upright. The 17 cars that derailed included two
empty coal cars and 15 carrying material for a foundry in
Cleveland.
The derailment happened about 1:15 a.m. on the Tuscola and
Saginaw Bay Railway line near Farwell. It likely did NOT damage
the containers carrying the water. The cause wasn't immediately
known.
The Big Rock Point plant -- located on Lake Michigan near
Charlevoix -- was shut down in 1997 after 35 years of operation.
Copyright © 2006 Freedom Broadcasting of Michigan WWMT-TV 590
W. Maple St Kalamazoo, MI 49008
*****************************************************************
41 Los Angeles Times: Democrats Say Key Superfund Data Is Being Withheld
From the Public -
10:43 PM PDT, June 16, 2006
The EPA won't release some data on 140 Superfund locations.
Senate Republicans say their rivals may want to reinstate a
cleanup fee. By T. Christian Miller, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON Senate Democrats on Thursday accused the Bush
administration of withholding key details about toxic waste
sites that present risks of exposure to nearby residents.
At a congressional hearing, Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said
the Environmental Protection Agency had designated as
confidential the details of about 140 Superfund sites where
toxic exposure remained uncontrolled.
Boxer and other Democrats said the secret data included
information about how much money and time it would take to clean
up the dangerous sites, including one site where the EPA
predicted it would take 26 years to close off access to toxics.
"This isn't a question of left or right," Boxer said, waving a
document marked "Privileged" by EPA officials to prevent its
release to the public. "This is a question of right and wrong."
The EPA said that it had blocked only information related to law
enforcement and that the public had access to all relevant
health-risk data for the sites, seven of which are in California.
"There is far more information available for each
[high-priority] site than has ever been available before," said
Susan Parker Bodine, the assistant administrator responsible for
the Superfund program, which was designed to clean up toxic
waste sites such as chemical dumping grounds and contaminated
factories.
Republicans said Democrats were trying to manufacture a
political issue, and noted that Senate tradition had long
prevented the release of sensitive information.
They also said they feared that Democrats were seeking to
reinstate a controversial tax in which chemical manufacturers
and other companies were forced to pay a fee to contribute to
cleaning up waste sites, even if the firms played no role in
creating the mess.
"This tax would fall on businesses already paying for their own
cleanup or that had never created any kind of a Superfund site,"
said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), chairman of the Senate
environment committee. "It would put a burden on those
companies."
Democrats have routinely accused the Bush administration of
restricting access to information designed to protect the
public. One Republican-sponsored bill moving through Congress
would limit data available on toxic substances released into
communities, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has blocked
information on flooding dangers in Florida.
Thursday's hearing of the Superfund and waste management
subcommittee was the first in four years. The Superfund program
was created almost three decades ago in response to
environmental disasters such as Love Canal, a neighborhood in
Niagara Falls, N.Y., where chemical contamination forced the
removal of 800 families and led to $200 million in remediation
costs.
The cleanup effort has drawn criticism ever since, from
environmentalists who claim it is underfunded and too slow, and
from industry officials who say it is costly and punitive.
Bodine said that the agency had made significant progress, but
that larger, more costly projects including many of the 140
sites at issue at Thursday's hearing take more time to
remediate.
Those sites are areas where the public still faces some possible
exposure to toxic substances such as a building near buried
radioactive waste that was not surrounded by a fence. A
skateboard park built over the site, however, was protected by a
layer of dirt.
Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said he was disturbed by some
of the answers from Bodine, who at times appeared flustered and
at a loss for words under the Democrats' questions. New Jersey,
with 20, has the highest number of sites with uncontrolled
exposure.
The EPA's decision to withhold information is "nonsense, and
everybody knows it's nonsense," Lautenberg said. "It's
deceptive."
(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOBOX)
California sites
Seven California sites on the national Superfund list still
present a risk of exposure to residents. The Environmental
Protection Agency has refused to release details on such areas.
Ft. Ord, Marina
• Lava Cap Mine, Nevada City
• McCormick & Baxter Creosoting Co., Stockton
• Montrose Chemical Corp., Torrance
• Omega Chemical Corp., Whittier
• Sulphur Bank Mercury Mine, Clearlake
• United Heckathorn Co., Richmond
Source: EPA
Los Angeles Times
Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times | Privacy Policy
*****************************************************************
42 Concern over lab's plans (SF Chronicle)
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:32:12 -0700
Hi -- This follows the AP story I sent regarding the court hearing on our
case to challenge (under the National Environmental Policy Act) mixing
advanced biowarfare agent research and nuclear weapons at Livemrore Lab
without a comprehensive environmental review. It is a most excellent
article by Keay Davidson from the SF Chronicle -- and I commend it to you
for your reading pleaseure. Additional articles are posted at
www.trivalleycares.org. Just click into TVC in the news at the left hand
side of the web site. And, read on... Peace, Marylia Kelley
San Francisco Chronicle
Concern over lab's plan to test microbes
Court panel weighs request for detailed environmental study
by Keay Davidson, Chronicle Science Writer
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
A federal court judge in San Francisco hinted on Tuesday that she finds
it troubling that Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory plans to build
a lab in the Bay Area to store and experiment with trillions of deadly
microbes without proper environmental review.
The nuclear weapons lab's environmental report on the project does not
include "any discussion anywhere of what seems most troublesome," namely
that the proposed biodefense lab "is being built in a very highly
populated area of Northern California," said Chief Judge Mary M. Schroeder.
But an attorney representing the lab and the U.S. Department of Energy
told a Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel that plans for the lab
had been thoroughly thought out.
The attorney, Todd Aagaard, said the biodefense lab would be so safe
that even if an accident occurred, the microbes wouldn't hurt anybody.
In case of a fire, for instance, no one need fear that the microbes
would escape because they would disperse and the fire would burn up the
microorganisms, he said.
A lawyer for the lab's opponents strongly disagreed, telling the
three-judge panel that an accident -- perhaps caused by an earthquake --
might eject killer microbes that winds could blow as far as San
Francisco or points beyond.
Stephan Volker, the opponents' attorney, asked the judges to order the
lab to conduct a more thorough environmental assessment of the project
or a full-fledged environmental impact statement, which would be a more
involved and intricate study of the environmental risks.
"I don't desire to unduly frighten the public," Volker said after the
hearing, "but (the lab's) decision to create pathogens (in a populous
community) for which there might not be any cure is unconscionable." The
result could be thousands of deaths after a lab accident, he said.
Volker is representing Tri-Valley CARES (Communities Against a
Radioactive Environment) of Livermore and Nuclear Watch of New Mexico,
which have sued the federal government to delay the project. The groups
are asking the appellate court to overturn a 2004 ruling by a federal
judge in Oakland that gave the project a go-ahead.
During the hearing, Judge Susan P. Graber asked both sides questions,
but went easier on Volker than on Aagaard, even offering a question that
underscored one of Volker's arguments against the biodefense lab.
Volker cited scientific evidence of a high failure rate of the lab's
special filters that are designed to prevent the escape of microbes into
the environment. The government, he said, seems convinced that the
filters are no problem.
Graber interjected, "Which, of course, would not be true if a plane
(piloted by a terrorist) blasted the whole thing apart?"
Visiting district Judge H. Russell Holland from Alaska asked no questions.
The panel's ruling is expected to come later. After the hearing, Aagaard
declined to discuss details of the case with reporters.
Its outcome could significantly affect the future of the nuclear lab,
which is run by the University of California under contract to the
Energy Department. For a half-century, the lab has been one of the
United States' two nuclear weapons design and research labs. The other
is the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.
But the Livermore lab's future as a nuclear laboratory is uncertain, in
light of the department's decision in April -- sparked apparently by
safety concerns triggered by recent lab accidents -- to move almost all
of the lab's huge stockpile of plutonium and highly enriched uranium to
an as-yet unidentified, and probably remote, site by 2014. Meanwhile,
the lab's other big project -- the development of the world's most
powerful laser, the National Ignition Facility, faces serious technical
problems and delays.
The lab hopes to establish a major role in biodefense research in the
post-Sept. 11 world.
In addition to seeking to build the biodefense lab at the lab's main
campus in Livermore, UC and Livermore officials recently expressed
interest in building a second biodefense lab near Tracy -- a lab that
could experiment with even deadlier microbes, especially those that harm
crops and cattle.
Page B - 1 -- ends
Marylia Kelley
Executive Director
Tri-Valley CAREs
(Communities Against a Radioactive Environment)
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA USA 94551
- is our web site address. Please visit us
there!
(925) 443-7148 - is our phone
(925) 443-0177 - is our fax
*****************************************************************
43 CONTRA COSTA TIMES: UC regents take get a first-hand look at Livermore lab
Friday, Jun 16, 2006 Posted on Thu, Jun. 15, 2006
By Betsy Mason
LIVERMORE - A small contingent of University of California
regents toured Lawrence Livermore Lab Thursday in preparation
for a future vote on whether UC should bid to continue managing
the lab.
"It was an opportunity for regents to come and get an update on
all the developments at this lab as we are considering bidding
on the contract," said board of regents chairman Gerald Parsky.
"For me it was a good opportunity, for the first time, to have a
chance to see first-hand the kind of contribution the university
has made here."
In December, UC successfully bid to hang on to its management
contract at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico along
with a trio of companies led by Bechtel National.
At a March regents meeting, Parsky said UC and Bechtel had
previously agreed that if they won the Los Alamos contract, and
regents approved a bid for Livermore, they would partner for
that competition as well.
After a tour of Livermore's National Ignition Facility, Parsky
said Thursday that regents wanted to be sure the Department of
Energy would continue to put science and technology at the fore
at Livermore before entering the contract competition.
He also said UC would take the lead role in any joint bid. The
need for a strong industrial partner was plainly evident at Los
Alamos where a string of security and safety lapses had sparked
intense scrutiny from media and lawmakers and prompted the DOE
to put both nuclear weapons labs up for bid. But Livermore has
had a much healthier report card under UC's direction, Parsky
said.
"The Department of Energy has indicated some very high marks
with respect to the management of this lab," he said. "That
doesn't mean we shouldn't put our best foot forward and bring in
other partners, but we have to do it in a way that doesn't in
any way reverse what has been a very strong record here."
The half dozen regents visited Livermore toured key facilities
including the NIF super laser, the Terrascale Simulation
Facility, and the National Atmopsheric Release Advisory Center.
Behind closed doors they were briefed on homeland security
programs and nuclear nonproliferation. But first, the regents
got a virtual tour of the lab's past achievements and ongoing
projects from director George Miller.
Peppering his presentation with words and phrases like "truly
remarkable," "world class," and "special," Miller touted lab
work on energy, supercomputing, monitoring the nuclear weapons
stockpile, national security, climate change, public health and
other areas. He made a quick pitch to encourage UC to bid for
the lab's contract.
"The University of California is an essential part of our
culture and how we do business," he said. "I'd like to see it
continue."
Positive feedback also came from Livermore Mayor Marshall Kamena
and city manager Linda Barton, and Kelly Bowers of the Livermore
School District.
"We are honored to be the home of one of the nation's most
prestigious research institutions," Kamena said.
The regents were also urged to keep a close eye on how much
plutonium is allowed at the lab and Livermore's role in DOE
plans to redesign nuclear weapons by Tara Dorabji and Marylia
Kelley of Tri-Valley Communities Against a Radioactive
Environment.
Reach Betsy Mason at or 925-847-2158.
*****************************************************************
44 Seattle Times: I-297's false promise
Editorials &Opinion:
Friday, June 16, 2006 - Page updated at 12:00 AM
The Hanford nuclear-waste initiative was wishful thinking and
bad law from the start. We opposed the popular initiative in
2004 because I-297 would never stand up to scrutiny in federal
court. As expected, it has not.
A federal judge ruled Monday the initiative preempted the
federal government's regulation of nuclear materials, violated
the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and had the effect
of the state interfering with interstate commerce. Supporters
had offered a false promise of an expedited cleanup at the
nuclear reservation before more waste could be dumped from other
states. If that idea had prevailed, the argument could have
doubled back on itself.
Hanford's waste is intended for permanent disposal in Nevada,
New Mexico and South Carolina. If the I-297 concept were invoked
by other states, then the long-term cleanup of Hanford would be
in jeopardy.
Washington has made more progress with purposeful state
officials bird-dogging the federal government in court to
enforce negotiated goals and deadlines.
Cleanup at Hanford is a duty and obligation owed the state, but
the federal government was not going to be bullied into the task
by I-297.
Copyright © 2006 The Seattle Times Company
*****************************************************************
45 Hanford News: Bechtel names Albert new vit plant project manager
This story was published Thursday, June 15th, 2006
By the Herald staff
Craig Albert has been named Bechtel National's project manager
for the vitrification plant at the Hanford nuclear reservation.
He succeeds Bill Elkins, who was promoted to project director to
replace Jim Henschel. Albert has worked for Bechtel since 1998
and earlier worked for Westinghouse Electric Corp.
In addition, Larry Simmons, the president of Bechtel Savannah
River in South Carolina, will become Bechtel's deputy project
manager for capital project execution on July 1. He has spent the
last 16 years at the Savannah River site.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
46 Hanford News: Officials say K East Basin sludge treatment a success
This story was published Thursday, June 15th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Hanford workers have finished treating the first radioactive
sludge recovered from the K East Basin without any major
complications.
"Everything just went swimmingly," said Dale McKenney, Fluor
Hanford vice president of waste stabilization and disposition.
That could help with treatment of the remainder of the sludge to
be removed from the K Basins, which is more radioactive.
"Working with this first sludge has taught us valuable lessons
that we can apply to treating the balance of the K Basins
sludge," said Mark French, Department of Energy project
director, in a statement.
It's an important step in cleaning up the K Basins, said Nick
Ceto, Hanford project manger for the Environmental Protection
Agency. But it comes later than EPA would have liked, he said.
The K Basin cleanup schedule has repeatedly been extended.
The K Basins were built in the 1950s to hold irradiated fuel
until it cooled and could be processed to remove plutonium for
the nation's nuclear weapons program. When processing at Hanford
for the Cold War ended, fuel was stranded in the basins.
Before it was removed in 2004, some of the fuel corroded and
mixed with fragments of concrete from the basin walls and sand
blown in from the desert to form a radioactive sludge.
The first sludge removed from the K Basins was in a portion of
the K East pool called the North Load Out Pit, where fuel was
not held for long periods of time. It originally was used to
load irradiated fuel into railroad cars to be taken to central
Hanford for processing. More recently, it held sand that washed
back from the basin's water-filtration system.
Sludge from North Load Out Pit was taken to T Plant and mixed
with grout in 55-gallon drums. Over about seven months, 332
drums were filled with waste solidified and encapsulated in
grout.
Some of the drums will be disposed of at Hanford as low-level
waste and those with certain quantities of long-lived
radioactive wastes, such as plutonium, will be shipped to a
national repository in New Mexico.
The sludge was not as homogenous as expected. As it was vacuumed
up from the basin, it tended to separate into layers.
"It varied from being flighty and light, to having the
consistency of thick pudding," McKenney said.
Among the project's successes was a system that Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory in Richland developed with Fluor
to calculate the amount of waste that could be loaded in each
drum, based on its radioactivity, McKenney said. The
radioactivity coming off the drums needed to be kept low enough
for workers to safely handle them.
The project also showed that grout and waste could be mixed in a
drum, a practice that could be used again during Hanford
cleanup, McKenney said.
But the biggest payoff toward successful completion may have
come before the first drum was mixed, McKenney said.
Hanford workers who operated the grouting system at T Plant had
direct input into the design and layout of the equipment. They
visited the fabrication shop and suggested improvements to the
engineering team. They also practiced with the equipment before
removing the first sludge.
About 5 cubic yards of approximately 65 cubic yards of total
sludge from the K East and K West Basins were treated at T
Plant.
Work is continuing to remove the more radioactive sludge from
the basins. About 92 percent of the sludge in the most
contaminated basin, K East, has been vacuumed into underwater
containers. All the sludge in the basin is expected to be in
containers this fall. Work is continuing to consolidate the
sludge in K West.
Treatment of the more contaminated sludge is expected to begin
by the end of 2008 and be completed by November 2009. That work
will be done at the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility using different
equipment.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
47 Hanford News: Vit plant cost continues to climb; Bechtel officials plan to
turn in report of estimate today
This story was published Thursday, June 15th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer By Annette Cary, Herald
staff writer
Hanford's vitrification plant potentially could cost as much as
$11.55 billion, according to Bechtel National's latest estimate,
a trade publication is reporting.
The Department of Energy and Bechtel National, which is building
the huge plant to treat some of Hanford's worst radioactive
waste, both declined to confirm that number.
However, the number is in line with Bechtel's estimate from
December, if an independent review's recommendations for
contingency costs and a reduced budget are factored in, said
John Britton, company spokesman.
In December, Bechtel finished a 44,000-page report that
estimated the cost at $10.5 billion. However, that estimate was
based on a budget of $626 million being approved for building
the plant in fiscal year 2006.
After Congress reduced the budget, leaving Bechtel just $490
million for construction of the plant, DOE requested that
Bechtel rework the estimate to figure the increased cost on the
final project after reducing spending this year.
In the meantime, a team of independent experts reviewed
Bechtel's cost and schedule estimate and said it was solid. But
the team recommended more money be added to the schedule for
"unknown unknowns," or problems that come up that are not
predicted as even possibilities in the contract, to increase the
confidence level of the estimate to 80 percent.
That would put the estimate at about $11.3 billion, the team
said in April.
In May, Bechtel National told the Hanford Advisory Board that
when the updated preliminary estimate was completed at the end
of the month it would be somewhat higher than $11.3 billion.
Bechtel National submitted the estimate to the Department of
Energy on May 31 and expects to turn in a summary report of it
today. DOE could release numbers as soon as next week.
The trade publication Weapons Complex Monitor reported the
$11.55 billion estimate and a 2018 start to operations
Wednesday. The 2018 projected plant startup also was in the
independent team's April report.
The plant's costs have increased from an estimated $5.8 billion
over the past18 months because of technical and management
problems, including increased design standards to withstand a
severe earthquake, overly optimistic initial projections and
problems finding suppliers with nuclear quality experience.
Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman is "looking to get an actual,
legitimate, defensible cost and schedule from which we can
effectively plan," said Megan Barnett, DOE spokeswoman in
Washington, D.C.
Bechtel's new estimate will be verified by the Army Corps of
Engineers by mid- to late summer.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
48 Hanford News: PNNL sends researcher to meet Nobel prize winners
This story was published Friday, June 16th, 2006
By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has nominated
geosciences Ph.D. candidate Nick Wigginton of Michigan to attend
a meeting of Nobel laureates in Lindau, Germany, next week.
Wigginton, 24, spent four months of the past year at the
Richland laboratory investigating how certain strains of
bacteria can react with nuclear waste and make it less of a
threat to the environment.
Kevin Rosso, Wigginton's mentor at PNNL, said 10 outside
researchers were assigned to the multi-million-dollar
bioremediation project, which involves materials scientists,
protein structure crystallographers, mineralogists and
geochemists like Wigginton.
While at PNNL, Wigginton used a scanning tunneling microscope to
observe how electrons transfer from bacteria to metals such as
uranium, changing the character of the metal so that it encrusts
or dissolves. If the metal is encrusted with electrons, then it
tends to become immobilized and less likely to spread
underground.
The bacteria, Shewanella, is easy to grow in the lab and is
found in many environments, Wigginton said. It "breathes"
oxygen, exchanging electrons in the process, but where there is
no oxygen, the bacteria seeks other alternatives to meet its
breathing needs. Those alternatives include metals such as
uranium, plutonium, iron and manganese.
Wigginton's research used the specialized microscope to observe
electron transfer on a protein surface in near-contact with the
metals.
The research relies on the work of Rudolph Marcus, who in 1992
was awarded the Nobel prize in chemistry for his work on
electron transfer reactions.
Wigginton said he is excited to know that Marcus will be at the
meeting in Germany.
"I will be able to talk to him and get an expert opinion because
he laid the foundation for the research I am doing," Wigginton
said.
Being selected to attend the laureates' 56th annual meeting is a
great honor, Rosso said.
"It's the first time PNNL has had a graduate student accepted
for this," he said. "It is very significant for Nick to have an
opportunity to hobnob with some of the brightest people in the
world."
Wigginton was recommended for the PNNL project by his doctoral
adviser at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.
Rosso had the same adviser when he was a student at Virginia
Tech.
Wigginton entered Michigan State University thinking he might
get a degree in English. But an interest in science changed his
focus, first to science journalism, then to pure science. Part
of his study included field research in the Amazon rain forest.
He said working on bioremediation for nuclear waste is exciting,
but he also is interested in exploring possibilities for
efficient alternative energy sources.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
49 Rocky Mountain News: Ruling revives hopes that story can be told
By Chris Barge, Rocky Mountain News
June 16, 2006 They can't break their silence yet,
but the Rocky Flats grand jurors, who have been barred for 14
years from revealing what they learned during their
investigation of the bomb plant, had their hopes of someday
talking publicly revived by an appeals court Thursday.
U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch ruled last year that jurors
couldn't speak about the case and that their reports and
testimonies were forever sealed. The ruling came in response to
an unprecedented civil action filed by jurors demanding that the
public be allowed to know what they learned about the nuclear
weapons facility when they met from 1989 to 1992.
Matsch told the jurors that while he was sympathetic to their
cause, he didn't have the authority to allow them to break with
the federal rule of criminal procedure, which seals grand jury
proceedings.
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision
Thursday and remanded the case back to Matsch. In a 39-page
opinion, the court explained that Matsch had the authority to
provide an exception to the rule, if he wanted to.
The grand jurors' lawyer, Jonathan Turley, was elated by the
development. He said the jurors hope that Matsch, having now
been given clear authority to reverse his decision, will do so.
"After 10 years, they are still here, trying to disclose the
reason they took their historic stand in the Rocky Flats grand
jury room," Turley said of his clients.
"The government is reviewing the court's decision and we have no
further comment," said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Denver.
Rocky Flats, which occupied 6,400 acres north of Arvada,
produced triggers for nuclear weapons until it was shut down
more than a decade ago. The FBI opened an investigation in 1987
into possible crimes against the environment at the plant, which
had been operated by Rockwell International from 1975 through
1989.
In 1989, the grand jury was empaneled. For 2 1/2 years, jurors
heard from more than 100 witnesses and pored over hundreds of
boxes of evidence.
In 1992, prosecutors reached a plea deal with Rockwell, which
pleaded guilty to five felonies and five misdemeanors. The
company agreed to pay $18.5 million in fines.
That year, the grand jury issued a report, but now-retired Judge
Sherman G. Finesilver refused to make most of it public.
Eighteen members of the grand jury filed a petition in 1996
"seeking permission to release information and freedom to speak
publicly about their experience as grand jurors and their
perceptions of the conduct of government employees and the
Department of Justice lawyers," according to court documents.
" I can tell you it's worth the fight," Turley said. "Their
testimony is consistent and it is very troubling."
2006 © The E.W. Scripps Co.
*****************************************************************
50 Gazette: USEC eyes nuclear plant revival
Bethesda provider of enriched uranium likely to gain customers
with approval of additional reactors
Friday, June 16, 2006
If the federal government approves the construction of new
nuclear power plants, USEC, a Bethesda provider of enriched
uranium fuel for nuclear facilities, is on a short list of
companies worldwide that stand to gain more business in the
enriched uranium fuel industry.
New nuclear plants are being built in other nations, and
utilities that operate in the United States are preparing
applications to construct such facilities that they expect to
file starting next year, said Elizabeth M. Stuckle, a USEC
spokeswoman.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the federal agency that
oversees nuclear facilities, expects several applications for
new nuclear power plants in late 2007 and early 2008, with
construction activities possible after significant agency
review, officials said in a recent news release.
The NRC conducted a public meeting Thursday in Rockville
related to requirements for licensing new reactors. A workshop
on the issue is planned Aug. 22-23. The agency plans to soon
form an organization in Atlanta to coordinate the inspection of
new plants.
USECs main competitors in providing uranium fuel for such new
plants come down to two: Urenco of Germany and Areva Group of
Paris, France, Stuckle said. She said she could not estimate
what a contract to provide fuel to a new plant might cost.
USEC saw its revenue from uranium grow by 17 percent to $261
million last year over 2004. Total sales were also up by 10
percent to $1.6 billion. The company saw a net profit of $22
million last year, about the same as in 2004.
Nuclear power is a critical and growing part of the worlds
energy future, Stuckle said. Any additional nuclear power plants
built anywhere is good news for all enrichment companies.
Its not so good news for the environment, as the possibility of
new U.S. nuclear facilities raises questions, such as what to do
with the toxic nuclear waste, said Larry Schweiger, president
and CEO of the National Wildlife Federation. The environmental
organization is part of the Apollo Alliance, a Washington, D.C.,
coalition that includes businesses developing alternative energy
sources such as solar and wind power.
We have to make sure that accidents like the one at Three Mile
Island do not occur again, said Schweiger, who spoke on the
issue Monday with actor Robert Redford and others at a
conference organized by Washington think tank Campaign for
Americas Future.
The industry has implemented safeguards since the 1979 Three
Mile Island accident and has a long record free of accidents,
according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, a Washington industry
group. The NRC recently conducted a hearing on nuclear waste.
Redford, founder of the Sundance Channel and other businesses,
added that its important for businesses to find ways to reduce
dependence on foreign oil. We can do that and create new jobs
through developing clean technology, he said.
Besides phasing in more forms of renewable energy, the alliance
promotes constructing energy efficient homes and buildings and
incentives for hybrid vehicles.
USEC believes in a strong energy mix, Stuckle said. Certainly,
solar, wind and fuel cells have their place in this energy mix,
she said. But they cannot provide large-scale, baseload
electricity.
About 20 percent of electricity in the United States is
generated with nuclear power, while more than one-third of the
energy in Europe and Japan comes from nuclear, Stuckle said. She
called nuclear power an emission-free, clean, safe and reliable
energy supply.
But a recent report from the Nuclear Information and Resource
Service, a Takoma Park organization, found that all U.S.
radioactive waste policies have failed. The group recommends
that an independent commission be formed to come up with new
radioactive waste policies.
The governments present proposals, which include shipping waste
through 45 states and the District of Columbia to bury it in a
leaky volcanic earthquake zone in the Western U.S., dont make
sense, said Kevin Kamps, a radioactive waste specialist with the
NIRS.
What is needed is a complete re-evaluation of our radioactive
waste programs, and that needs to be done before construction of
anymore nuclear reactors is even considered, Kamps said.
USEC officials were happy about a recent ruling by the U.S.
Department of Commerce that unfair dumping of uranium would
likely occur if the U.S. lifted restrictions on the importation
of enriched uranium from Russia. USEC believes that ending such
restrictions would undermine the companys commitment to sell
enriched uranium under a program that has eliminated Russian
weapons-grade material equivalent to more than 10,500 nuclear
warheads, Stuckle said.
The U.S. International Trade Commission is expected to issue a
ruling on the matter next month.
USEC is at a critical juncture in its advanced centrifuge
technology and will soon seek financing for a commercial plant
in Ohio, Stuckle said. The technology may be threatened if USEC
is unable to secure financing due to the Russian issue, she said.
Public meeting
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will meet from 10 to
11:30 a.m. Tuesday to discuss issues related to new reactor
applications. The meeting will be at 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville.
-->
Copyright © 2006 The Gazette - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Privacy
*****************************************************************
51 DenverPost.com: Court says part of Flats probe can be released
Article Launched: 06/16/2006 01:00:00 AM MDT
By Alicia Caldwell Denver Post Staff Writer
Deer graze at the former Rocky Flats nuclear weapons site.
(AP)
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that a
federal trial judge must closely examine what parts of the Rocky
Flats grand-jury investigation can be released to the public.
The decision was hailed as a victory for members of a federal
grand jury who have long lobbied for the right to discuss what
they say was prosecutorial misconduct in the investigation of
environmental crimes at the now-defunct nuclear-trigger plant.
"It's a wonderful opinion," said Jonathan Turley, a Washington
lawyer representing grand jurors. "We will now have an
opportunity to explore what information can be released and in
what form."
The government, represented by the Colorado U.S. attorney's
office, had no comment, said Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the
office.
Rocky Flats, a Cold War-era munitions factory, grabbed headlines
in 1989 when the FBI raided the plant.
A grand jury was convened to investigate sloppy procedures and
met for 2 1/2 years.
Jury members examined hundreds of boxes of evidence and heard
from more than 100 witnesses.
At the end of their service, jurors submitted to the court a
report and draft indictments that would have charged current and
former employees of plant operator Rockwell International and
the U.S. Department of Energy.
The jurors also submitted a statement detailing wrongdoing at
the plant.
The U.S. attorney refused to sign the indictments and struck a
plea agreement with Rockwell that enabled the company to plead
guilty to five felonies and five misdemeanors and pay an $18.5
million fine.
The grand jury's report was sealed.
In 1996, grand jurors filed a petition in federal court
requesting that they be relieved from secrecy obligations imposed
on them.
They testified in a closed-door hearing about what had
transpired during the investigation.
Turley, who questioned jurors in the secret proceeding, said he
"was shocked by the testimony."
The grand jurors have acknowledged the need for secrecy where
witnesses and crimes were concerned.
They have argued, however, for the past decade for the ability
to speak about what they saw as misconduct, Turley said.
The opinion Thursday offered guideposts for Senior U.S. District
Judge Richard Matsch to consider as he determines what can be
released.
The passage of time reduces the need for secrecy, the appeals
court said. And the redaction of names could alleviate concerns
about violating grand-jury secrecy.
"Some relief may be proper under the court's inherent
authority," the opinion said.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or .
All contents Copyright 2006 The Denver Post or other copyright
*****************************************************************
52 Chattanooga Times Free Press: Manhattan Project vets relive history
By Ian Berry Staff Writer
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. Sixty years after they last saw each other,
Bill Tewes and Larry ORourke didnt need name-tags to pick each
other out of a crowd Thursday.
The old roommates and co-workers on one of the worlds most
famous projects didnt even need to look for one another.
I heard Larry talking, and I recognized his voice, Mr. Tewes
said.
Soon the pair were catching up and reminiscing about their days
living together, going on double dates and working at Oak
Ridges K-25 plant, an enormous project that played a key role
in the first atomic bomb.
Im just a loudmouth, I guess, Mr. ORourke said.
Thursdays reunion, for people who worked on the Manhattan
Project in Oak Ridge, was organized by the Atomic Heritage
Foundation. The reunion was for those who worked at K-25,
although many who attended also worked at the Y-12 plant,
another facility in Oak Ridge constructed to enrich uranium at
the same time.
Atomic Heritage Foundation Director Cynthia Kelly said it was
crucial for these veterans, most of whom are in their early 80s,
to tell their stories. A video camera was documenting the
reunion, which will continue today with a tour of whats left of
the K-25 site.
Historians will come decades from now and try to put the story
in their context, Ms. Kelly said. As youve seen in the past
60 years, its taken different colorations with each decade.
Many people overlook Oak Ridges role in the Manhattan Project,
Ms. Kelly said. Although many associate the project with Los
Alamos, N.M., Oak Ridges facilities accounted for more than
half of the federal money spent in 1945, while operations at Los
Alamos cost only a fraction of that.
In the race to build the atomic bomb, the Y-12 and K-25 plants
were built simultaneously to enrich uranium. The two facilities
used different methods, and workers at either facility did not
know what the other was doing.
The work at K-25 was crucial to getting over the hump Ms.
Kelly said. Although the uranium produced through gaseous
diffusion at the K-25 plant was not enough, when added to the
process at the Y-12 plant it greatly increased uranium
enrichment there.
In Chattanooga, Eric Swanson is proud of his contribution at the
Y-12 plant, where he worked from 1944 to 1949. The two atomic
bombs dropped in Japan are credited by many with ending World
War II.
Mr. Swanson said he also has feelings of insecurity about the
works legacy, especially when he thinks of his children and
grandchildren. He notes with concern the other countries that
since have pursued nuclear weapons.
Many at Thursdays reunion said Oak Ridges legacy includes
nuclear energy.
That whole nuclear power movement was born here, said Robert
Kupp, of Tarrytown, N.Y.
Joseph McCoon, a graduate student in nuclear engineering at the
University of Tennessee who attended the reunion out of
curiosity, said he often has to explain to people that he is not
studying to make big explosions.
We certainly have a different feel for it, Mr. McCoon said.
We dont think the bomb as soon as you say nuclear.
Many at the reunion were Mr. McCoons age or younger when they
arrived in Oak Ridge.
Mr. ORourke brought photos that proved his friendship with Mr.
Tewes, including one that showed their room, which included
photos on their nightstands of their sweethearts.
Mr. ORourkes album also included photos of him and friends
enjoying celebratory drinks on a Sunday morning after they
learned of the first bomb dropping.
There were plenty of other good times for Mr. ORourke, of
eastern Pennsylvania, and Mr. Tewes, of New Jersey. Mr. ORourke
and Mr. Toombs are in photos taken atop Lookout Mountain
overlooking Chattanooga and at the Walker County, Ga., line.
We had never been in Georgia, Mr. ORourke said. It was
something to do.
Copyright ©2006, Chattanooga Publishing Company, Inc.
All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
53 TheDenverChannel.com: Ruling Lets Rocky Flats Grand Jurors Go Public
Jurors Looked Into Potential Crimes At Nuclear Weapons Plant
POSTED: 9:30 am MDT June 16, 2006UPDATED: 10:21 am
MDT June 16, 2006
DENVER -- A federal appeals court has revived the hopes of
former grand jurors who want to go public with details of their
investigation into potential environmental crimes at a nuclear
weapons plant.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday ordered a
lower court to review information that members of the federal
grand jury want to discuss about the 1989-1992 probe of Rocky
Flats.
The grand jury had recommended indicting two corporations and
eight people involved with Rocky Flats. The plant, about 10
miles northwest of Denver, made plutonium triggers for nuclear
weapons from the 1950s until it was shut down in 1989.
Prosecutors refused to sign the indictments, instead working
out a plea bargain involving an $18.5 million fine.
Grand jury proceedings are secret by law, but 18 of the 23
members of the Rocky Flats panel have long sought permission to
speak out. U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch in March 2004
denied their request to release information, and they appealed.
A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit said Matsch should
reconsider and set out some guidelines for determining what
information may be released.
"It's a wonderful opinion," said Jonathan Turley, a Washington
lawyer representing 17 of the grand jurors. The 18th is an
attorney representing himself.
"We will now have an opportunity to explore what information
can be released and in what form," Turley said.
"I can tell you it's worth the fight," he said. "Their
testimony is consistent and it is very troubling."
Turley told the appeals court during oral arguments in January
that members of the grand jury want to see alleged misconduct by
government lawyers punished.
Jeff Dorschner, a spokesman for the Colorado U.S. attorney's
office, said the Justice Department had no comment.
The appeals court said the passage of time has reduced the need
for secrecy but said the disclosure sought by the former grand
jurors is still governed by secrecy rules, "with perhaps a few
modest exceptions."
"Some relief may be proper under the court's inherent
authority," the appeals court said.
A seven-year cleanup of Rocky Flats is complete, and portions
are to become a wildlife refuge open to the public.
The cases are Nos. 04-1193 and 04-1215.
*****************************************************************
54 Seattle Weekly: Politics: Losing the Initiative
Mind Over Matters Political columnist Geov Parrish comments on
local and global news as the featured guest every Saturday from
Losing the Initiative
The most popular citizens ballot measure in state history has
been struck down, and we shouldn't be surprised.
By Geov Parrish
Waste cleanup at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation.
U.S. Department of Energy
Last week, judges in Washington state struck down two separate
statewide, voter-approved initiatives.
King County Superior Court Judge Mary Roberts ruled that I-747,
Tim Eyman's 2001 initiative limiting property-tax increases, had
deceived voters. It isn't entirely clear why it took a judge five
years to figure out that Tim Eyman was deceptive. The concept
isn't exactly new.
Attorney General Rob McKenna has already announced he will
appeal the I-747 ruling, but he has not said whether his office
will appeal a ruling the previous day in Yakima by U.S. District
Judge Alan McDonald. Even though only a portion of the law had
been appealed, McDonald invalidated the entirety of I-297, the
2004 initiative prohibiting the federal government from sending
more radioactive waste to the Hanford Nuclear Reservation until
most types of existing noncommercial waste was cleaned up. (The
timeline for said cleanup is presently sometime shortly after
the sun goes supernova.)
With 70 percent of the vote, I-297 was the most popular
statewide initiative in Washington history. When the Hanford
watchdog group Heart of America Northwest launched its drive to
approve I-297, the question was never seriously whether voters
wanted more nuclear waste at Hanford. It was always whether the
measure would hold up in court. With McDonald's ruling, we have
our first, and, if McKenna chooses not to appeal, quite possibly
final, answer.
Only a week earlier, when the I-297 hearing was held in
McDonald's court, Heart of America confidently said it would
prevail. But McDonald's ruling was unequivocal. He agreed with
the federal government's argument that I-297 violated the feds'
sole authority to manage nuclear waste, as codified in the
Atomic Energy Act, and, furthermore, that it impinged on federal
regulation of interstate commerce.
This should not have come as a surprise. McDonald's ruling
parallels a situation in the late 1990s in Nevada, when local
residents, the legislature, the governor, and Nevada's
congressional delegation all opposed turning Yucca Mountain into
the nation's sole permanent repository of high-level nuclear
waste. Their arguments were compellingamong other things, that
Yucca Mountain rests on an active earthquake faultbut it didn't
matter. Congress voted to site the waste there, and the courts
ruled that the federal government had sole authority to decide
what happened to the waste.
Heart of America and its supporters were thoroughly convinced
that they had found a legal strategy that could compel the
federal government to abandon its plan to import more nuclear
waste to Hanford. And they still might prevail on appeal. But at
first glance, the odds are against it. And let's be clear on
this one: Yeah, it's great that I-297 got 70 percent of the
vote. But we should know by now that the federal government does
not particularly care what we think, especially on matters
having anything to do with national security. And moral
victories are no longer enough. If they ever were.
Moral victory, in this case, sucks. But it seems like a great
many progressive ballot measures in recent years have met this
same ineffectual fate: passed by voters, and then either struck
down by the courts, eventually reversed by the Legislature,
ignored due to lack of funding, or (a local favorite) ignored as
an "advisory" measure that advises nobody. Advocates get their
message before voters, they get a free ad in the state Voters
Pamphlet, they even get their perspective ratified by voters.
But public policy does not change.
Eyman, accompanied by a slew of well-funded corporate special
interests, discovered the possibilities of the modern
citizen-sponsored ballot measure before local progressives did.
Despite Eyman's various court setbacks, Republican and business
interests have been more successful at crafting measures that
stand up in court and have a real impact. Progressives haven't
been as good at turning public support into law.
That also shows up in many electoral challenges. As a current
notorious example, consider all the agitation over U.S. Sen.
Maria Cantwell's qualified support of the war in Iraq. Three
progressive campaigns are challenging her in November with
emphasis on the war: Mark Wilson and Hong Tran in the Democratic
primary, and the Greens' Aaron Dixon. (Libertarian Bruce Guthrie
is also running on an antiwar platform.) None has held office,
and none has any real chance of affecting the race, let alone
winningeven though polls show a majority of voters, especially
Democrats, oppose the war and want troops brought home. But
without strong, unified pressure, why should Cantwell
reconsider?
Filing initiatives and running electoral campaigns are steps up
from protests and letter writing. They are attempts to not just
influence the dialogue but create policies that reflect actual
public sentiment. Even in a state where Democrats control the
Legislature and most statewide offices, these efforts usually
haven't succeeded.
Not yet. The barriers are formidable, but they can be overcome.
Hopefully, progressive activists will figure out how to tap into
that sentiment in a way that actually does change public
policysometime before the sun goes supernova.
email story printer friendly
| | | | | | | Copyright © 1998-2006 by Seattle Weekly
Media, 1008 Western Ave, Suite 300, Seattle, WA 98104. Seattle
Weekly is a registered trademark. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
55 Knox News: Panel: Sick OR workers should get benefits
By NANCY ZUCKERBROD, Associated Press
June 16, 2006
WASHINGTON — Some sick Tennessee nuclear weapons workers may soon
be getting the federal help they’ve been seeking.
A scientific advisory board unanimously recommended today that
the government give workers from the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant
in Oak Ridge automatic benefits under a five-year-old program.
Getting automatic benefits means the workers would not have to go
through a lengthy and often frustrating process in which
officials try to estimate how much radiation they were exposed to
on the job.
Under the program, workers get $150,000 plus medical benefits.
Workers’ survivors are eligible for the lump sum payment only.
Friday’s recommendation by the Advisory Board on Radiation and
Worker Health covers some workers at Y-12 from 1948 to 1957.
The workers must have cancer linked to radiation. They also must
have worked in buildings where they were exposed to thorium or
worked around the facility’s cyclotron, an accelerator involved
in making isotopes.
The board’s recommendation follows a previous one that resulted
in automatic compensation for people who worked at Y-12 in the
mid-1940s.
In addition, uranium enrichment workers at the Oak Ridge nuclear
reservation were granted automatic compensation.
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt makes the final
decision on compensation. He is expected to go along with the
board’s recommendation.
Tennessee Republican Sens. Bill Frist and Lamar Alexander sent a
letter to the board earlier this month urging automatic
compensation.
"Y-12 was among our nation’s first nuclear production facilities
and began operating at a time when there was very limited
knowledge about the effects of radiation exposure and little or
no monitoring of workers," the senators wrote.
Copyright 2006, Associated Press. All rights
© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
56 SHAWNEE SENTINEL: Attention All Sentinel Readers (USEC)
The world as we know it in Piketon is about to change.
Fed up with all of the illegal trick shenanigans going on with
the little Enron games USEC, or USEC inc., Bechtel-Jacobs, aka
LATA/Parallax aka Pro2Serve aka we're all friends here, the U.S.
Congress is about to issue a report sometime in mid-June
charging that these companies have been engaging in potentially
illegal practices involving a shell game intended to defraud
federal taxpayers by over billing the Department of Energy or
possibly illegally billing the Dept. of Energy.
The Shawnee Sentinel became aware some time ago that companies
involved in the preparation of the site for the new Centrifuge
were engaging in potentially illegal union-busting activities by
attempting to rob union workers there of their seniority and
retirement benefits. Now, we have learned that employees were
paid union wages by USEC, or USEC inc., or some other fake
company, either Pro2Serve or LATA/Parallax, & then USEC or one
of its fake brother "partners," turned around and billed the
DOE, three times the amount the workers were paid.
Why is this wrong? Because the taxpayers are the ones picking
up the tab! And they will be pissed when the mid-June report
comes out.
Now what's the big deal? The big deal is that USEC's stock has
been in the crapper for some time now. Late last fall, Forbes
magazine gave USEC's stock a very bad rating and urges investors
not to buy.
Says Geoffery Seiler of Forbes Newsletter...
"A third way to play the trend in uranium and nuclear power is
with USEC (nyse: USU - news - people ), a uranium enrichment
company. As more nuclear power plants go online and the demand
for uranium increases, so too should the need for uranium
enrichment. The company expects to have a solid 2006, with
revenues increasing 12% and pro forma earnings jumping 50% based
on the low end of guidance. While this sounds impressive,
analysts at Jefferies are forecasting earnings to peak in 2006.
Special Offer: Turnarounds can pay huge rewards. George Putnam
told subscribers to buy Apple Computer three years ago at $7.82
per share. Click here for Putnam's latest picks in the May
Turnaround Letter.
"One of the biggest issues facing USEC is the huge investment it
is undertaking with its American Centrifuge Project. This
multi-year project, which is expected to cost $1.5 billion, is
supposed to create a facility that is able to enrich uranium
more quickly and cheaply, according to the company. Many bear
investors, however, have criticized the project as a huge bet on
an unproven technology that is bound to have numerous delays and
setbacks.
"Increased electricity prices also remain a concern, and the
company expects “higher electricity prices to have a substantial
impact on financial results in 2007 and beyond.” The bearish
sentiment surrounding USEC has led the stock to flounder over
the past year, finding it up just 11% over this period in a hot
metals market. While the concerns regarding the company's
American Centrifuge Project and other issues are legitimate, if
USEC can prove its critics wrong, the stock could be setting
itself up for a nice run. As for us, we'd stay on the sidelines
for now until more clarity on these issues are revealed.
"Overall, the trends in nuclear power look like they have the
staying power to make uranium companies good long-term
investments. Nonetheless, with Cameco and Fronteer near all-time
highs, we'd wait for a pullback before jumping in these names,
and believe Cameco offers the best and safest way to invest in
the growing demand for uranium and nuclear energy. More
aggressive investors, meanwhile, can wager on Fronteer's assets,
although the risks are significantly higher (as is the potential
reward) and the stock much-hyped. Contrarian investors,
conversely, should keep their eye on much-maligned USEC and its
American Centrifuge Project.
http://www.forbes.com/investmentnewsletters/2006/05/11/uranium-ca
meco-aurora-fronteer-in_gs_0511intrepidinvestor_inl.html
From USEC's first quarterly report:
"The Company continues to evaluate various options for financing
construction of the American Centrifuge Plant, including an
equity securities offering later this year. Any offering would
be subject to market conditions. Restrictions in our revolving
credit facility provide that unless we complete an offering of
at least $150 million prior to July 19, 2006, availability under
the $400 million credit facility will, until we complete such an
offering, be reduced by up to $150 million. "
http://www.forbes.com/businesswire/feeds/businesswire/2006/05/03/
businesswire20060503006232r1.html
So USEC has until July 19th to sell $150 million in stock or
they are going to lose their line of credit before construction
on the ACP is complete. Market conditions: well, they're about
to lose their monopoly on the US market as competition is coming
in from Russia--- trade deal in the works.
http://www.mosnews.com/money/2006/05/22/uraniumdeal.shtml
When the GAO report comes out in June, we'll see in black and
white what all this business is about, but it is unlikely that
the DOE is going to be in the mood to play nicety-nice. Does
Bankruptcy loom just over the horizon?
*****************************************************************
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:
*****************************************************************