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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Annan Appeals To Iran To Reply Positively To UN Offer On Nuclear Iss
2 IRNA:China cautions West against creating tension over Iran nuclear
3 BBC: Iran 'will not halt enrichment'
4 IRNA: Asefi: Enrichment suspension not on Iran's agenda -
5 IRNA: China cautions West against creating tension over Iran nuclear
6 Independent: Iran vows to push on with nuclear fuel programme
7 AFP: Iran military exercises show danger of nuclear ambitions - US -
8 AFP: Iran stages massive military war games -
9 AFP: Iran complains about UN nuclear inspector
10 AFP: Iran defiant as nuclear deadline nears
11 IRNA: Iran rejects preconditions for nuclear talks
12 AFP: South Africa and Iran to discuss nuclear, Mideast, trade issues
13 UPI: Iran to stick with nuclear plans
14 IRNA: Iran completes study on incentive package - Asefi
15 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Tests Short-Range Missile
16 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Launches Military Exercises
17 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Preparing a nuke test
18 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul Closely Watching N.Korea Over Nuke
19 North Korea Times: N. Korea watched for possible nuke test
20 AFP: Seoul steps up monitoring of NKorean nuclear work
21 Guardian Unlimited: Gadhafi Says He Spoke With North Korea
22 US: [NYTr] Divine Strike in the Bible Belt
23 US: Evansville Courier Press: U.S. must take full advantage of abund
24 The Tribune: India breaking out of nuclear apartheid
NUCLEAR REACTORS
25 US: The State: Industry hopes for nuclear power resurgence
26 US: Gary Patton's As I See It: Democratic energy plan uses common se
27 US: Rutland Herald: State seeks ideas for power future
28 US: OC Register: City shuts water well to confirm no danger of radia
29 China Post: Reactor at Japan nuclear plant shuts down after water le
30 US: Easy bourse: MARSHALL LOEB: The Coming Rebound Of Nuclear Power
NUCLEAR SECURITY
31 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: The sirens may sound different, but it’
32 US: SF Chronicle: Bush ordered plans for air travel safety / Protect
33 People's Daily: U.S. to equip Manila port with nuclear detecting fac
34 Japan Times: Cop kills himself at nuclear plant
NUCLEAR SAFETY
35 US: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Molycorp shows flood-control system
36 US: Galveston County Daily News: Radioactive device spills onto I-45
37 Independent: Company testing mine to determine extent of uranium con
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
38 US: [NYTr] Radioactive Leak Reaches Calif Nuke Plant's Groundwater
39 London Times: Madonna’s magical nuclear waste cure
40 Nevada Appeal: Yucca Mountain project may soon be put to rest
41 US: San Luis Obispo Tribune: Full steam ahead for Diablo project
42 KAVKAZ CENTER: Secret Russian Military Uranium Enrichment Plant Oper
43 Sunday Herald: BNFL paid union to back new nuclear power stations -
44 reviewjournal.com: Report faults DOE on nuclear waste
45 Independent: Nuclear stalemate plunges Sellafield auction 'into cris
46 Czech Happenings: Pacejov area residents protest against nuclear was
PEACE
47 Green Left Weekly: Alliance calls a nuke free Australia
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
48 The State: S.C. delegation needs to preserve plutonium project
49 Tri-City Herald: Fluor ordered to pay whistleblower
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Annan Appeals To Iran To Reply Positively To UN Offer On Nuclear Issue
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 20:00:10 -0400
ANNAN APPEALS TO IRAN TO REPLY POSITIVELY TO UN-BACKED OFFER ON NUCLEAR ISSUE
New York, Aug 20 2006 8:00PM
Reacting to a signal from Iran that it was set to reply next week
to a package of Security Council-backed proposals on resolving the
nuclear issue, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today
appealed to Iran to seize "this historic opportunity" and respond
positively to the offer.
"I am pleased that the Islamic Republic of Iran has indicated it
will respond to the proposal of the EU3 plus 3 for a comprehensive
solution to the nuclear issue on Tuesday, 22 August 2006," the
Secretary-General said in a statement, referring to the offer made
by China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom
and the United States, with the support of the European Union's
High Representative.
"Iran's reply will, I trust, be positive and that this will be the
foundation for a final, negotiated settlement," Mr. Annan said
in his appeal to the Government of Iran issued at UN Headquarters
in New York.
The EU3 plus 3 proposals, endorsed by the Security Council in resolution
1696 of 31 July, envisaged a long-term comprehensive arrangement,
which would allow for the development of relations with
Iran based on mutual respect and the establishment of international
confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear
programme.
The Secretary-General stressed that in a time of acute crisis in
the Middle East, progress on the nuclear issue was essential for
the stability not only of the region, but the international system
itself.
"It is time to take steps in the right direction," Mr. Annan said.
"I am convinced that a way is now open for setting a milestone
for international non-proliferation efforts."
Noting that the EU3 plus 3 had reaffirmed Iran's right to develop
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, the Secretary-General said
it was important for Iran to assure the world that its intentions
are peaceful, and that it re-builds confidence in its nuclear programme,
as both the International At
called for.
By its action last month, the Council requested IAEA to report, by
31 August, on whether Iran has established full and sustained suspension
of all activities mentioned in resolution 1696, as well
as on the process of Iranian compliance with all the steps required
2006-08-20 00:00:00.000
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/
*****************************************************************
2 IRNA:China cautions West against creating tension over Iran nuclear issue -
Beijing, Aug 19, IRNA
Iran-China-Nuclear
China on Saturday called on all parties to the Iranian nuclear
program to avoid any tension and exercise self-restraint and give
enough chance to negotiations.
China International Radio which echoes the views of the Chinese
government said Saturday in an analysis that, "Iranian people
are confident that this issue can be resolved through dialogue
and by diplomatic means."
It said that Iran has so far acknowledged that it will give a
reply to the EU Package on August 22 and called on the so-called
5+1 group (five permanent members of the Security Council and
Germany) to focus on diplomatic channels to resolve the crisis.
*****************************************************************
3 BBC: Iran 'will not halt enrichment'
Last Updated: Sunday, 20 August 2006
[Iranian troops on military exercise]
Iran has launched a series of wargames to test its military
Iran has said it will not suspend uranium enrichment, a key
demand of an international proposal aimed at resolving the
nuclear programme row.
It comes two days before Iran was due to respond to a proposal by
Russia, China, France, Britain, Germany and the US aimed at
resolving the nuclear row.
Iran's foreign ministry said a final decision would be based on
negotiations.
But he warned that a halt to uranium enrichment was "not on the
agenda".
Enrichment halt 'illogical'
Foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said suspending
enrichment - a key step in the nuclear fuel making process -
would be a return to the past.
His comments come a few days after Iran's foreign minister,
Manouchehr Mottaki, said the country was ready to discuss the
issue, but would explain in any talks that a halt to enrichment
would be "illogical".
The international proposal to Iran calls for a suspension of
uranium enrichment in return for the partial lifting of economic
sanctions and assistance with nuclear technology.
Mr Asefi said Iran's response - expected by Tuesday - would be
"multi-faceted", though he did not elaborate.
[Preliminary installation of a turbo generator at Iran's Bushehr
nuclear power plant]
Iran says its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful
In July, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution
calling on Iran to suspend enrichment by 31 August or face
unspecified economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Iran has said that it would respond to any possible sanctions
with a painful response - which may involve a cut in its oil
production.
Missile tests
On Saturday, Iran launched a series of major military exercises,
with 10 short-range surface-to-surface missiles being launched in
a test on Sunday.
According to Iranian state television, the tests included a
launch of a Saegheh (Lightning) missile, which reportedly has a
range of 80 to 250 kilometres (50 to 155 miles).
The missile is not thought to be capable of carrying a nuclear
warhead, news agency AP reported.
The Iranian military has said its wargames are a reaction to what
it sees as a heightening of tension in the Middle East.
A military training plane caught fire and crashed after trying to
make an emergency landing on a highway outside of Tehran. The
pilot managed to eject safely.
*****************************************************************
4 IRNA: Asefi: Enrichment suspension not on Iran's agenda -
Tehran, Aug 20, IRNA
Iran-Asefi-Nuclear
Iran on Sunday said suspension of uranium enrichment is not on
its agenda.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi made the remark
while speaking to domestic and foreign reporters at his weekly
press conference.
"The issue of suspension is a return to the past and is not on
Iran's agenda," he said.
Pointing to recent remarks by Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki on suspension of enrichment, Asefi said Mottaki's
remarks stressed that every thing should come out of
negotiations.
*****************************************************************
5 IRNA: China cautions West against creating tension over Iran nuclear issue -
Beijing, Aug 19, IRNA
Iran-China-Nuclear
China on Saturday called on all parties to the Iranian nuclear
program to avoid any tension and exercise self-restraint and give
enough chance to negotiations.
China International Radio which echoes the views of the Chinese
government said Saturday in an analysis that, "Iranian people
are confident that this issue can be resolved through dialogue
and by diplomatic means."
It said that Iran has so far acknowledged that it will give a
reply to the EU Package on August 22 and called on the so-called
5+1 group (five permanent members of the Security Council and
Germany) to focus on diplomatic channels to resolve the crisis.
1486/2322/1412
*****************************************************************
6 Independent: Iran vows to push on with nuclear fuel programme
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 21 August 2006
Buoyed by the success of its proxy militia in Lebanon, Iran has
rejected a demand from the West, aimed at curbing Tehran's
suspected nuclear weapons programme, setting itself on a new
course of confrontation.
On the eve of a self-imposed deadline for responding to a
Western offer of economic and technology incentives in return
for a suspension of uranium enrichment by Iran, the Iranian
Foreign Ministry spokesman said yesterday: "We won't suspend."
"Everything should come out of negotiations but suspension of
uranium enrichment is not on our agenda," Hamid Reza Asefi told
reporters in Tehran.
He said that Iran would offer a "multi-faceted response" to the
proposed package tomorrow.
Anything short of the suspension of the uranium enrichment that
many fear would eventually lead to production of a nuclear
weapon, will force the United Nations Security Council to
consider its threat of sanctions against Iran. In a resolution
adopted at the end of last month, the council ordered Iran to
suspend uranium enrichment by 31 August or face the possibility
of economic and diplomatic sanctions.
Nicholas Burns, the United States Under-secretary of State for
political affairs, warned last week that he expected the
Security Council to move rapidly in September to impose
sanctions against Iran because of the country's intransigence.
Iran underlined its determined stand by holding war games over
the weekend, which included the televised launch of Saegheh
("lightning" in Farsi) short-range missiles. The television
commentator said the ground-to-ground missiles had a range of
between 50 and 150 miles.
Iran has said the military exercises - called The Blow of
Zolfaghar in reference to a sword that belonged to Imam Ali, one
of the holiest figures of Islam for Shia Muslims - were aimed at
"introducing Iran's new defensive doctrine".
Iran clearly feels it has a strong position in the light of
Israel's failure to disarm the Iranian-backed Hizbollah militia
in southern Lebanon, despite a 34-day war launched after the
Shia guerrillas in Lebanon captured two Israeli soldiers in a
cross-border raid.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian President, has warned that Iran
would be prepared to use oil as a weapon if sanctions are
considered, prompting market analysts to predict a further surge
in the oil price as tomorrow's deadline looms.
The proposed package from the West provides for direct talks
between Washington and Tehran, as well as an offer of nuclear
technology and the easing of some trade restrictions.
However Iran has consistently refused to suspend uranium
enrichment, saying that its nuclear programme is purely
peaceful, and is permitted under the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty.
Western concerns about the prospects of a nuclear Iran have
deepened since the beginning of the Lebanon war, which has been
described as a proxy war between the US and Iran.
The Iranians may feel that they can play for time because the UN
decided that any "further decisions" would have to be discussed
by the 15-member Security Council, where veto-holding powers
Russia and China have been supporters of Iran.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
*****************************************************************
7 AFP: Iran military exercises show danger of nuclear ambitions - US -
Sun Aug 20, 4:26 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House said that Iran" /> Iran's
military exercises, which included a short-range missile test,
was a reminder of the danger of the Islamic republic's nuclear
ambitions.
President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bush's
administration also recalled that Iran has until August 31 to
respond to a UN Security Council demand that it suspend uranium
enrichment and warned that failure to comply could swiftly lead
to sanctions.
"We have made clear that if Iran fails to comply with the
Security Council's mandate we will move quickly at the United
Nations" /> United Nationsto impose sanctions," Emily Lawrimore,
a White House spokeswoman, said in a statement.
The White House statement came after Iran test-fired a
short-range, surface-to-surface missile during the second day of
nationwide military exercises in a demonstration of its
readiness to "respond to any threat," state television reported,
Iranian state television reported.
"Iran's show of military force while it continues to defy the
international community's unanimous demands regarding its
nuclear program serves to remind us of the dangers of its
nuclear ambitions," Lawrimore said.
"Iran sits at the nexus of weapons of mass destruction and
terrorism; we know that Iran is producing and developing
delivery systems that could threaten our friends and allies in
the Middle East and Europe and eventually the United States
itself," she said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
8 AFP: Iran stages massive military war games -
Sat Aug 19, 4:00 PM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iranian armed forces held a massive military
maneuver to test new weapons and tactics against a potential
enemy, state television reported.
The first stage of "Zolfaghar Blow" commenced in the restive
southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan. The maneuvers will
continue in 15 other provinces in northeastern, northwestern,
western and southern Iran" /> .
"Zolfaghar" was the two-point sword of Ali, the cousin and
son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed and is a revered figure in
Shiite Islam, the dominant religion in Iran.
The chief commander of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Army said
that the country should be ready for possible attacks by the
United States and Israel" /> .
"The enemy has gone insane because of the capabilities of
Lebanon's Hezbollah. And given the insane enemy's history, we
should always be prepared," Major General Ataollah Salehi was
quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA.
Since the ceasefire in Lebanon on August 14, top Iranian
officials have been praising the the Shiite militant group for
their resistance.
"The main objective of this operation is to adopt up-to-date
tactics and use new equipment to be able to respond to possible
threats, enabling us to confront the enemy in several fronts in
the country," Brigadier General Kiumars Heydari said.
According to the report, the maneuver tests a new anti-aircraft
strategy to "make the air space insecure for the enemy," while
using different types of helicopters, fighter planes and land
forces warfare.
"We have been alert and watching the world's (war) developments
and we have invested in both modern tactics and equipment,"
Heydari noted.
In April, the Islamic republic unveiled a wide range of weaponry
such as multiple-head missiles, high-speed torpedoes and
radar-evading anti-ship missiles in a week of military exercises
in the strategic Gulf waters to the south.
The latest operations come amid rising tensions with the West
over Tehran's controversial nuclear program, under suspicion to
be a cover for developing an atomic bomb.
Iran has two bodies of armed forces, the traditional army and
the elite Revolutionary Guards, an ideological army, equipped
with terrestrial, naval and air units. All are under the command
of the supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
9 AFP: Iran complains about UN nuclear inspector
by Michael Adler Sat Aug 19, 12:03 PM ET
VIENNA (AFP) - Iran" /> Iranhas formally complained about a UN
atomic inspector, after refusing to admit two other inspectors,
with tension high over Tehran's nuclear program, diplomats told
AFP.
Iran is to respond Tuesday to a call by six world powers to
suspend uranium enrichment, the process that makes nuclear power
reactor fuel but also raw material for atom bombs.
If Iran refuses, UN sanctions could follow.
Iran has recently filed a verbal complaint with the Vienna-based
International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic
Energy Agency, which has been investigating Tehran's nuclear
program for over three years, about an IAEA expert "acting
outside the responsibilities of an inspector," a senior Western
diplomat close to the IAEA said Saturday.
This apparently involves comments the inspector made while in
Iran recently and even alleged spying activities but this could
not be confirmed.
Iranian officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
The diplomat, and a second source close to the IAEA, both
requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, said
Iran had "withdrawn the designations" of two other agency
inspectors, in March and April.
There had been no such previous incidents since the IAEA began
its investigations in Iran in February 2003, the diplomats said.
A third diplomat said the "Iranians are posing a lot of problems
to inspectors" as deadlines fall for it to rein in its nuclear
activities.
A fourth, Middle Eastern diplomat, said: "The Iranians are
showing that they will not respond under duress and they think
they'll get away with it."
The IAEA verifies compliance with safeguards guarantees mandated
under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), checking on
whether nuclear material is being diverted for non-peaceful
purposes.
For instance, the IAEA monitors activity at a uranium enrichment
facility in Natanz in Iran.
The first diplomat said that while Iran's recent actions do not
make the IAEA's job easier, it was "not a crisis because the
IAEA can still do its inspections."
"It would be a crisis if the agency were unable to verify
(Iran's nuclear activities) and we are a long way from that,"
the diplomat said.
Iran cut down on IAEA access once the agency had referred it to
the United Nations" /> United NationsSecurity Council earlier
this year, ceasing to apply an Additional Protocol to the NPT
that allowed for wider, short-notice inspections.
But it is still applying the Safeguards Agreement.
The IAEA "designates" inspectors to countries with which it has
a safeguards agreement, and countries are then free to accept,
or not, these experts.
"The IAEA has more than 200 inspectors designated for Iran," the
first diplomat said, adding that the actual investigative work
is carried out by "a team of about 20."
The inspectors who have been rejected were "a non-European
Caucasian" in March, and in April, the Belgian Chris Charlier,
who is the IAEA's chief inspector for Iran, diplomats said.
The Iranians said Charlier had been talking to the media and had
made unauthorized tape recodings, diplomats said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
10 AFP: Iran defiant as nuclear deadline nears
by Aresu Eqbali Sun Aug 20, 8:48 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran" /> Iraninsisted that a nuclear freeze was
not on the agenda and showed off its latest weaponry, two days
before it is to respond to an international offer aimed at ending
the long-running crisis.
Tehran risks sanctions if it fails to abide by a UN Security
Council resolution calling for a halt to uranium enrichment, a
process which creates fuel for nuclear power plants but can also
be used to make the core of a bomb.
"The issue of suspension means returning to the past. It is not
on the agenda of the Islamic republic of Iran," foreign ministry
spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters Sunday.
Tehran is due to respond on August 22 to a package of incentives
offered by major powers in return for a freeze in enrichment,
amid Western fears its nuclear programme is a cover for efforts
to build atomic weapons.
The Security Council has also given Iran until August 31 to halt
enrichment and reprocessing activities or face possible
sanctions.
"The resolution is of no legal and lawful validity. Therefore,
it is unacceptable for the Islamic republic," Asefi said.
"It (sanctions) would be more harmful to them (the West) than
for us. We have been under informal sanctions since the 1979
Islamic revolution and we can deal with the consequences by
planning," Asefi said.
In the meantime, Iran is preparing for any possible military
action over its nuclear activities and showed off new tactical
missiles on Sunday during nationwide war games.
Iran test-fired a short-range missile in a demonstration of its
"readiness to respond to any threat," state television reported.
The upgraged surface-to-surface missile, called Saegheh or
lightning in Farsi, has a range of between 80 and 250 kilometers
(50 and 155 miles).
Massive military exercises began Saturday with the aim of
testing new weapons and tactics against a potential enemy.
Twelve army divisions along with air and naval forces and
missile units are involved in the military operation, named
"Zolfaghar Blow" after the two-point sword of Ali, the cousin
and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.
"The enemy has gone insane because of the capabilities of
Lebanon's Hezbollah," army chief Major General Ataollah Salehi
was quoted as saying by official news agency IRNA Saturday,
referring to the Shiite group which was locked in a 34-day
conflict with Israel" /> Israelunder a ceasefire last week.
"And given the insane enemy's history, we should always be
prepared," he said.
In April, the Islamic republic unveiled a wide range of weaponry
such as multiple-head missiles, high-speed torpedoes and
radar-evading anti-ship missiles during a week of exercises in
the strategic Gulf waters to the south.
Iran has remained defiant since a UN resolution was adopted on
July 31 after Tehran ignored a previous non-binding deadline and
failed to respond to the incentives package, although it says it
is still oen to negotiations.
The package, backed by the five permanent UN Security Council
members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States
-- plus Germany, offers Iran trade, technology and diplomatic
incentives if the country agrees to suspend uranium enrichment.
Asefi again rejected any precondition for negotiations that Iran
insists are the only way to resolve the long-running nuclear
standoff.
"We still believe the issue must be settled through negotiations
... They have conditioned talks to execution of the resolution
by us. This is baseless. It tightens the atmosphere for both
sides to reach a solution," Asefi said.
Tehran, an OPEC" /> OPECmember and one of the world's top oil
producers, has repeatedly insisted its nuclear programme is for
peaceful purposes only and that it has the right to enrich
uranium as a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
"We will decide based on the country's interests. We will not
give up this technology under pressure and threats," said Asefi.
"We are in the final stage of our studies on the package. Since
the package had different dimensions, our response will be also
multi-dimensional," he said without elaborating.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
11 IRNA: Iran rejects preconditions for nuclear talks
, Aug 20, IRNA
--
Iran on Sunday once again rejected any precondition for holding
nuclear talks.
"It is baseless to condition the nuclear talks to implementing
the UN Security Council Resolution 1696," Asefi told reporters
at his weekly press conference.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran believes setting preconditions
for negotiations will tighten the atmosphere for the two sides
to reach a solution," he added.
"Why do they believe that the two parties should not negotiate
in an open atmosphere?"
The spokesman said, "The UN Security Council's resolution was
of no legal and lawful validity. Therefore, it will be
unacceptable for Iran.
"It is not the way that five or six persons decide on one issue
in contravention with the conventions still in force and the
others accept," he said in reference to validity of the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Asked about Iran's response to a package of incentives offered
by the European Union, he said, "The Europeans have changed the
path.
Instead of continuation of talks, they referred to the Security
Council and changed the positive atmosphere."
Iran has said its response to the package would be ready by
August 22.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran believes the nuclear case can be
settled through negotiations," Asefi said
He expressed hope the case "would return to its main position".
"If the Europeans' attitude is rational, the package of
incentives can settle problems. The package has still
ambiguities and questions which should be answered."
In response to a question on the time Iran would present its
response to the package of incentives, he said, "Iran has
finished study on the proposed package and will present its
response within the next two or three other days.
"We have told the Europeans since the beginning that August 22
will not be end of the world."
Asefi said that Iran's nuclear case is not complicated, adding,
"There was no necessity for the case to be sent to the Security
Council. A tie that can be opened by hand should not be opened
with tooth."
Asked about topics to be raised during an upcoming visit to
Iran of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the spokesman said,
"Nuclear case will be among topics to be discussed.
"Iran welcomes Annan's visit and is drawing plans for the visit
to take place within the next weeks.
In talks with Annan, we will express our views on improvement
of the UN status."
Asefi added that Lebanon and regional and international
developments would be among other issues to be discussed with
Annan.
Pointing to Iran's cooperation with the UN and inspectors of
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), he said, "We hold
talks with different states in this regard and do not assess it
as a complicated issue.
"We should wait and see what decision is being made by Group
5+1 and Europe on Iran and will act in proportion with it."
He said Iran has caused no obstacle for the IAEA inspectors,
adding, "Just in one case that the inspection was not within
frameworks of the IAEA's duties, we called for a change of
inspectors which was accepted by the agency.
Iran will continue its cooperation with the IAEA. Currently,
all nuclear activities of the country are under the IAEA
surveillance." Asked about the possibility of imposing sanctions
against Iran, the spokesman added, "If the opposite side follows
up logic and wisdom, the possibility of sanctions is not the
question.
"But if the case was led to complication and the issue of
sanctions is raised, the other party, the Europeans will
undoubtedly lose.
"The Islamic Republic of Iran has been under informal sanctions
since the 1979 Islamic revolution and we can deal with
consequences of such schemes.
"If the Europeans impose sanctions on Iran, they will damage
all bridges behind them," Asefi said.
He added, "However, we are not pessimistic about the Europeans.
We do not think they intend to revise all issues and destroy
all bridges behind them."
He said Iran enjoys great potentials, adding, "If other
countries refrain from cooperating with Iran, they will sustain
more damage (than Iran).
"The Islamic Republic of Iran reached a record position in
several fields that has no need to others."
The spokesman stressed, "Iran decides on the basis of its
national interests and will not give up its rights of access to
peaceful nuclear energy under pressure or threats."
*****************************************************************
12 AFP: South Africa and Iran to discuss nuclear, Mideast, trade issues
Sun Aug 20, 6:54 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - South Africa's Foreign Minister Nkosazana
Dlamini-Zuma will this week meet her Iranian counterpart for
talks touching on Tehran's nuclear programme, the Middle East and
trade.
Manouchehr Mottaki is expected in South Africa on Monday for a
two-day session of a joint bilateral commission between the host
country and Iran" /> -- one of South Africa's chief suppliers of
oil, said Ronnie Mamoepa.
"Issues on the agenda of discussions between Ministers
Dlamini-Zuma and Mottaki are expected to include among others
Iran's nuclear programme and the current crisis in the Middle
East," he said in a statement Sunday, issued from Pretoria.
Iran said Sunday that the suspension of uranium enrichment was
not on its agenda, just two days before it has to respond to an
offer by world powers aimed at securing a freeze of nuclear
work.
The UN Security Council has given Iran until August 31 to halt
enrichment and reprocessing activities or face possible
sanctions, amid Western fears its nuclear programme is a cover
for efforts to build an atomic bomb.
Tehran is due to respond on August 22 to reply to a package of
incentives offered by major powers in return for a freeze in
enrichment, which creates fuel for nuclear power plants but can
also be used to make the core of a bomb.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has said there should be "no
nuclear weapons for Iran, absolutely," but that Theran should be
allowed to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Mamoepa said talks would also look at the current crisis in the
Middle East, where Hezbollah fighters have been locked in battle
with the Israeli army in southern Lebanon.
Shiite-majority Iran helped to create and arm Hezbollah in 1982,
but denies allegations it is channeling weapons to the movement,
saying it only provides "moral support".
South Africa also wanted to discuss a 13.5 billion dollar trade
imbalance in Iran's favour, mainly as a result of oil imports
from the Middle Eastern country, Mamoepa said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
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13 UPI: Iran to stick with nuclear plans
United Press International - NewsTrack -
8/20/2006 7:50:00 AM -0400
TEHRAN, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Iran said Sunday it would not suspend
uranium enrichment and repeated it is for nuclear power not a
weapons plan as feared by the West.
"The issue of suspension is a return to the past and is not on
Iran's agenda," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told
a weekly news conference.
Asefi said any suspension of Iran's nuclear program should be
worked out in negotiations, the official IRNA news agency
reported.
It makes no sense to suspend the enrichment beforehand, he said,
because Iran insists its aims are purely civilian.
Western diplomats say Iran must first halt uranium enrichment
before talks can start.
Iran will issue a formal response by Tuesday to proposals made
by the United States, Russia, China, France, Britain and
Germany. The six have offered incentives for Iran to suspend
enrichment, a process that has both military and civilian uses.
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© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
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14 IRNA: Iran completes study on incentive package - Asefi
Tehran, Aug 20, IRNA
Iran-Asefi-Nuclear
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said here Sunday
that Iran has finished study on a package of incentives offered
by the Group 5+1.
A package of incentives was drawn up by the five permanent UN
Security Council members -- Britain, France, the United States,
China and Russia -- plus Germany (Group 5+1) and offered to Iran
by European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on June 6
in exchange for suspension of its uranium enrichment activities.
Iran has said its response to the package would be ready by
August 22.
"The proposed package had different aspects. Iran will also
present a multi-dimensional response to the package," Asefi told
domestic and foreign reporters at his weekly press conference.
"There are still questions about certain parts of the proposed
package but some other parts are acceptable," he added.
Asefi cautioned the Europeans not to destroy all the bridges
behind them by imposing sanctions against Iran.
Asked about the UN Security Council Resolution 1696 on Iran's
nuclear case, he added, "Our assessment is that the resolution
is illogical and unacceptable."
Elsewhere in his remarks, Asefi said the Lebanese Hizbollah's
victory was a turning point in international relations, adding,
"The events that took place in Lebanon mark the start of the
Zionist regime's collapse."
*****************************************************************
15 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Tests Short-Range Missile
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Sunday August 20, 2006 7:31 AM
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)- Iran on Sunday test-fired a surface-to-surface
short-range missile a day after its army launched large-scale
military exercises throughout the country, state-run television
reported.
``Saegheh, the missile, has a range of between 80 to 250
kilometers (50 to 150 miles),'' the report said. It said the
missile was tested in Kashan desert, about 150 miles southeast
of Tehran, the capital.
Saegheh means lightning in Farsi.
Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to
improve its combat readiness and to test equipment such as
missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers. But the new
tests, in the wake of the Lebanon-Hezbollah fighting, seemed
certain to create new tensions with the West.
State-run television said the missile was built based on
domestic know-how, although outside experts say much of the
country's missile technology originated from other countries.
State-run TV showed video showing 10 missiles being launched
from mobile launching pads.
Iran said it launched the new military exercises Saturday to
introduce a new defensive doctrine. They are being held in 14 of
the country's 30 provinces and could last five weeks, the
government has said.
The Islamic Republic, which views the United States as a foe, is
concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighboring Iraq
and Afghanistan.
It also has expressed worry about Israeli threats to destroy its
nuclear facilities, which the West contends could be used to
make a bomb but which Iran insists are for civilian uses only.
Iran is already equipped with the Shahab-3 missile, which means
``shooting star'' in Farsi, and is capable of carrying a nuclear
warhead. An upgraded version of the ballistic missile has a
range of more than 1,200 miles and can reach Israel and U.S.
forces in the Middle East.
Last year, former Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said Tehran had
successfully tested a solid fuel motor for the Shahab-3, a
technological breakthrough for the country's military.
Iran's military test-fired a series of missiles during
large-scale war games in the Persian Gulf in March and April,
including a missile it claimed was not detectable by radar that
can use multiple warheads to hit several targets simultaneously.
After decades of relying on foreign weapons purchases, Iran's
military has been working to boost its domestic production of
armaments.
Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel
carriers, missiles and a fighter plane, the government has said.
It announced in early 2005 that it had begun production of
torpedoes.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
16 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Launches Military Exercises
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Saturday August 19, 2006 9:46 AM
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)- Iran on Saturday launched a series of
large-scale military exercises aimed at introducing the
country's new defensive doctrine, state-run television reported.
The television report said the military exercise would occur in
14 of the country's 30 provinces and could last as long as five
weeks.
The first stage of the maneuvers began with air strikes in the
southeastern province of Sistan va Baluchistan, the report said.
The military exercises come as Iran faces heightened
international scrutiny because of its contentious nuclear
program and for supporting the guerrilla group Hezbollah in
Lebanon.
Iran has denied Israeli accusations it is arming and training
Hezbollah fighters but also has declared Hezbollah victorious in
its battle against the Jewish state.
The Islamic Republic, which views the United States as an arch
foe, also is concerned about the U.S. military presence in
neighboring Iraq and Afghanistan and Israel's threats to destroy
its nuclear facilities.
The military exercise, involving 12 infantry regiments, is
called ``The Blow of Zolfaghar,'' in reference to a sword that
belonged to Imam Ali, one of the most revered figures of Islam
for Shiite Muslims. A majority of Iran's 70 million people are
Shiite.
Iran has routinely held war games over the past two decades to
improve its combat readiness and test locally made equipment
such as missiles, tanks and armored personnel carriers.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
17 Korea Herald: [EDITORIAL] Preparing a nuke test
Back in 1992, the two Koreas signed a historical document, in
which they pledged not to "test, manufacture, produce, receive,
possess, store, deploy or use nuclear weapons." Shortly
thereafter, however, Pyongyang was found to be working on a
nuclear weapons development program.
Now North Korea is preparing to put the last nail in the coffin
of the Joint Declaration of the Denuclearization of the Korean
Peninsula, if a news report on U.S. intelligence proves to be
correct.
On Thursday, an American television network reported that a
U.S. intelligence agency observed suspicious vehicle movement on
a suspected North Korean test site. ABC News quoted an
unidentified State Department official as saying, "It is the
view of the intelligence community that a test is a real
possibility."
Vehicle movement on the site alone is too flimsy to cite as
evidence. Yet it undoubtedly is a cause of great concern to
Seoul because a nuclear test would further escalate tensions on
the peninsula, which was already heightened by Pyongyang's
missile launches in July.
North Korea will have to understand that it would invite severe
sanctions not only from the United States but also from the rest
of the international community if it should detonate a nuclear
bomb for a test. It would also cut off economic assistance from
South Korea.
True, Pyongyang said it had nuclear bombs. But it is one thing
to say one has nuclear weapons in its possession and it is
another to declare oneself as a nuclear state by detonating a
bomb for a test.
It is about time for Seoul to resume efforts, suspended by the
missile launches, to bring Pyongyang back to the six-party talks
on its nuclear ambitions together with Washington and Beijing.
In particular, Washington is urged to seriously consider a
direct contact with Pyongyang prior to the reopening of the
multilateral negotiations, a demand North Korea previously put
forward.
It is necessary to stop Pyongyang from testing a nuclear bomb
and resurrect the moribund denuclearization pact because it will
serve the interests of all parties involved.
2006.08.21
*****************************************************************
18 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Seoul Closely Watching N.Korea Over Nuke Test Threat
Updated Aug.21,2006 07:39 KST
The government has stepped up monitoring of North Korea's
activities after reports that Pyongyang seems to be preparing to
conduct a nuclear test, dispatching six soldiers to an
observatory to maintain 24-hour vigilance.
¡°Following the UN Security Council resolution condemning North
Korea¡¯s missile launch on July 5, there is a greater
possibility that the North will conduct a nuclear test,¡± an
official with the Defense Ministry said. ¡°So the ministry sent
six soldiers on Aug. 14 to the Korea Institute of Geoscience
&Mineral Resources," a state-run agency in Daejeon, to monitor
seismic tremors on the Korean Peninsula.
The agency, under the Ministry of Science and Technology, has
regularly monitored nuclear test activities since 1996 when
South Korea joined the UN¡¯s Comprehensive (Nuclear) Test Ban
Treaty (CTBT). But since North Korea¡¯s missile launch and the
UN resolution, the government apparently concluded that there is
high chance that the North will carry out a nuclear test. The
agency has some 30 observation stations across the nation and
monitoring about possible nuclear test has mainly been conducted
by analyzing data sent to related agencies from an observation
station in Wonju, Gangwon Province.
Indeed, the North hinted at a nuclear weapons test right after
the missile launch and the UN resolution, saying if the U.S.
tries to pressure the North, it will be forced to take
¡°stronger physical action.¡± The U.S. broadcaster ABC on Friday
said North Korea seems to be preparing for a nuclear test in
Gilju, North Hamgyeong Province, quoting anonymous State and
Defense Department officials.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
*****************************************************************
19 North Korea Times: N. Korea watched for possible nuke test
NorthKoreaTimes.com Monday 21st August 2006 Issue 851
Big News Network
Sunday 20th August, 2006 (UPI)
South Korea has stepped up the monitoring of North Korea
following a report Pyongyang may test a nuclear bomb, a military
official said Sunday.
The Defense Ministry is on a 24-hour watch to monitor the
North's possible nuclear test, a ministry spokesman told The
Korea Times.
The heightened alert followed an ABC News report quoting a
senior U.S. military official as saying a U.S. intelligence
agency had detected suspicious vehicle activity at a suspected
North Korean test site.
The suspected site was an underground facility in northeastern
North Korea, ABC News said.
South Korea and the United States have monitored the North's
nuclear program since the 1980s, but it is unusual for Seoul to
maintain the current around-the-clock vigilance, a defense
official told the newspaper.
Seoul officially denied any connection between the heightened
surveillance and the ABC News report.
*****************************************************************
20 AFP: Seoul steps up monitoring of NKorean nuclear work
Sun Aug 20, 4:24 AM ET
SEOUL (AFP) - South Korea" /> South Koreahas stepped up its
monitoring of North Korea" /> North Korea's nuclear activities
amid news reports that the communist state may be preparing to
test an atomic bomb, officials said.
The South recently stationed six military personnel at a
state-run seismology center to be on constant alert for any test,
a defense official said, confirming an earlier news report.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the rare
deployment of military personnel to the Korea Institute of
Geoscience and Mineral Resources on August 14 followed a request
for reinforcements from the "understaffed" institute.
"It is not linked to the US media reports, but we have been on
an around-the-clock vigilance on North Korea's nuclear
activities since July," the official said.
The institute, 160 kilometers (99 miles) south of Seoul,
monitors seismic tremors on the peninsula through detection
facilities nationwide, including those along the border with
North Korea.
ABC television network in the US reported Thursday that
Pyongyang may be preparing an underground nuclear test. The
governments in both Seoul and Washington remain cautious about
the authenticity of the report.
ABC said a US intelligence agency had recently observed
"suspicious" activities, including the unloading of large reels
of cable outside a suspected underground test site called
Pungyee-yok in northeast North Korea.
North Korea announced in February 2005 that it had manufactured
nuclear weapons but nuclear weapons tests have never been
reported.
Concern has been rising since it warned of taking "stronger
physical actions" following UN condemnation and sanctions over
its July 5 ballistic missile tests.
North Korea has boycotted six-way nuclear disarmament talks --
which also include China, the United States, South Korea, Japan
and Russia -- since November.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
21 Guardian Unlimited: Gadhafi Says He Spoke With North Korea
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Saturday August 19, 2006 1:16 AM
TOKYO (AP) - Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi told a visiting
Japanese official that his country has urged North Korea to give
up efforts to develop weapons of mass destruction, the Foreign
Ministry said Friday.
Iwao Matsuda, Japan's state minister for science and technology
policy, held talks with Gadhafi in Sebha, about 375 miles south
of Tripoli, on Wednesday, the ministry said in a statement
issued Friday.
Gadhafi surprised the world in late 2003 when he swore off
terrorism and announced plans to dismantle his country's weapons
of mass destruction programs. Libya was eager to end his
international isolation and economic hardships from United
Nations and U.S. sanctions, and Gadhafi concluded the weapons
programs were best used as a bargaining chip.
Gadhafi told Matsuda that Libya has been urging North Korea to
follow his country's example and called for cooperation from
developed countries including Japan in persuading Pyongyang, the
ministry said.
Matsuda was the first Cabinet member to hold talks with Gadhafi.
Gadhafi expressed his hope that Japan's prime minister would
visit Libya, the ministry said.
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between
the two countries. Matsuda was quoted by the ministry as saying
that it will be desirable that the leaders of the two countries
could reciprocate visits.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
22 [NYTr] Divine Strike in the Bible Belt
Date: Sun, 20 Aug 2006 15:12:41 -0400 (EDT)
X-Sender-Host-Name: olm.blythe-systems.com
X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY-WHITELIST
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
CounterPunch - Aug 17, 2006
http://www.counterpunch.org/blair08182006.html
Will They Bomb Bedford?
Divine Strike in the Bible Belt
By JOHN BLAIR
More than two tons of cyanide compounds, 1,535 pounds of phosgene gas, the
primary chemical in "mustard gas" chemical weapons, 1,318 pounds of
methylene chloride, a human carcinogen, 2,387 pounds of carbon
tetrachloride, another carcinogen and 1,650 pounds of chlorine, a poison,
will be released from the giant explosion being suggested by the United
States Department of Defense for southern Indiana in 2007.
Bizarrely named "Divine Strake," the explosion is meant to mimic a nuclear
bomb dropped on underground nuclear weapons facilities in Iran. While no
nuclear material will be used in this weapons test, the huge amount of
explosive material is nevertheless a deadly stew that could have devastating
impacts on people's health in surrounding communities for years to come.
A limestone quarry owned by the giant highway builder, the Rogers Company in
Lawrence County, near Spring Mill State Park and close to numerous populated
areas is suggested as a possible site for the massive 1,400,000 pound
explosion by DOD personnel, who have been stymied from setting the device
off at the Nevada Test Site by outraged regional citizens.
When the test was postponed after proposed dates of June 2 and June 23 were
met with severe opposition, DOD indicated that other sites were being
considered. The original site was once the primary test zone for America's
nuclear arsenal in northeast Nevada, some thirty miles from any populated
area. Southern Indiana and another site at White Sands, NM were given as
possible alternative sites to reporters who queried DOD officials what might
happen since the test had been effectively stopped in Nevada.
Lawrence Country, where DOD has suggested the test be done has a population
of 45,922 according the US Census Bureau and is home to both Bedford and
Mitchell. Bedford is considered the 'Limestone Capitol of the World" because
of the high quality building stone that lies beneath the surface of the
region.
It is the limestone that is attracting the DOD. In fact, they have already
set off two, 3,000 pound explosives there as part of the Divine Strake
experiment. Those tests were conducted in 2004 and 2005 without any sort of
local notice or input. Apparently, DOD was hoping to keep this a secret as
well since several recent reports indicate that there are no state or local
officials who have been informed as to the blast's possibility.
DOD theorizes that the limestone embedded in the earth in Lawrence County is
similar to what would be experienced if a nuclear "bunker busting" bomb was
dropped on the underground nuclear facilities in Iran.
Such a nuclear weapon cannot be tested under the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty
that America proposed and signed nearly fifty years ago. So DOD is seeking
to use the next best thing, Divine Strake. 1.4 million pounds of mostly
ammonium nitrate, the same as used by bomber, Terry McVeigh to blow up the
federal building in Oklahoma City a decade ago is a mere substitute for the
nukes that Rumsfeld and Bush are raring to use on Iran.
Already there is concern that this is just a cheap trick to get around the
Test Ban Treaty since it use would be ostensibly designed to test a similar
nuclear weapon.
But Bush seems to care little for our treaty commitments. Earlier this year
he signed an agreement with India that allows India to secure nuclear
material from the US although they have refused to sign the international
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, something that looks like an illegal act
according to some legal scholars.
Although word of Divine Strake in Indiana only arrived a couple of days ago,
activists listserves have been abuzz with discussion and organization. One
activist even indicated that such a plan would come to pass "only over (his)
dead body."
Others have been in contact with activists in the West, seeking input on how
they have successfully opposed the test there. It has been suggested that
those against the test gather commitments from all candidates for office in
the upcoming election to oppose such a test. It is being postured as a
win-win for politicians since it is clear that "DOD's proposal reeks of
insanity. Dr. Strangelove stuff!"
Mitchell, Indiana the nearest community to the site was Virgil "Gus"
Grissom's hometown. Grissom was the second American after Alan Shepard, Jr.
to go into space. Grissom later died in NASA's first fatal accident when he
and two others were killed in a fire during a test of Apollo 1 in January
1967. Grissom's legacy is certainly threatened by the same federal
government that made him an American hero.
It is threatened because instead of Mitchell being known as Gus Grissom's
home, it could well become "the big hole" in the ground that was made by
man's quest to spread democracy to the middle east.
Toxic Chemicals Galore
The Revised Environmental Assessment released in May was the project's
undoing in Nevada. People in the region were up in arms when it was revealed
that the Divine Strake blast would create a "mushroom cloud" rising more
than 10,000 feet into the sky. The prospect of such an event shook locals
who were forced in the 1950s to endure a whole series of atmospheric and
underground nuclear explosions, leaving much of the Nevada desert unfit for
much of anything, especially life of all sorts.
In this case, area citizens united to oppose the bomb because they fear the
detonation will unleash radioactive material that permeates the test site
both on the surface and underground. But their concerns were even greater
when it was revealed that large amounts of toxic chemicals would be blown
into the Nevada sky to fall wherever the wind blew.
Opponents in Indiana also fear the release of things like phosgene, chlorine
and methylene chloride which each could have immediate and long term health
consequences for those who may be unfortunate enough to breathe them in from
ambient air affected by the explosion.
This is not the first time that DOD has made Indiana countryside a quagmire
of dangerous chemistry. For years, DOD operated the Jefferson Proving
Grounds about 60 miles east of Mitchell. There, they left a "no-mans land"
of depleted uranium and other "unexploded ordnance" which has left an
otherwise beautiful region unfit for much of anything.
Also, the Army is proposing to burn 327 lead and PCB contaminated buildings
at the Indiana Army Ammunition Depot, some sixty miles southeast of Mitchell
because it the least expensive method of demolition. Several buildings were
burned in 2004 until citizen opponents, led by Valley Watch protested and
temporarily stopped the burn.
If Hoosier opponents of Divine Strake succeed, they will get a fairly quick
determination from the Defense Department that the high population area
around the proposed Indiana site is unsuitable for such a scheme,
In the meantime, regional opponents are exasperated as to how such an insane
plan could even be proposed, in Indiana or anywhere.
[John Blair is president of the environment health advocacy group, Valley
Watch and earned a Pulitzer Prize for news Photography in 1978. He can be
reached at: Ecoserve1 @aol.com]
*
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23 Evansville Courier Press: U.S. must take full advantage of abundant, secure coal
: Opinion Columnists :
ROBERT BOSCH, Columnist
Sunday, August 20, 2006
The U.S. economy consistently has been the most dominant over
the past century. Its success has been related to the
availability of low-priced energy. Instability in the Middle
East coupled with hurricane damage in the United States has sent
energy prices soaring. This has created an opportunity to
develop secure fuel sources to meet the energy needs of our
nation. Politicians tend to shy away from mentioning nuclear
power, because it scares people. Environmentalists have put an
end to any new hydroelectric projects. Renewable energy is solid
gold in politics, but it accounts for less than 3 percent of
U.S. electricity generation. Wind and solar power have gained
much attention because they are environmentally friendly.
It would be great if all of our electric power came from cheap,
renewable sources. However, this reality is still decades away.
The one fuel that is rarely mentioned, yet currently produces
more than half of all electricity generated in the United
States, is coal.
Annual domestic coal production has exceeded 1 billion tons in
each of the past six years. At this rate, the United States has
well over 200 years of reserves left.
The United States has more than a quarter of the world's coal
reserves. The energy content of these reserves dwarfs that of
all of the known oil reserves.
The cost of generating electricity with coal is far lower than
using natural gas.
Kentucky relies on coal to generate 97 percent of its electric
power and enjoys the lowest average cost-per-kilowatt-hour of
electricity of any state.
States with few coal-fired electric generators, such as
California, had rates up to 2½ times higher than Kentucky.
In addition to supplying low- cost electricity, coal has the
potential to displace petroleum in some markets.
Coal has successfully been transformed into synthetic liquid
fuels, such as diesel, as far back as the 1940s. South Africa
has been using this coal-to-liquids process for years to produce
synthetic fuel.
Converting coal into a liquid fuel has never had much success in
America, due to the relative low price of oil. Unless oil stays
above the $35-to-$40-per- barrel range, then this alternative is
not feasible.
With the current energy market, $35 oil is hard to imagine any
time soon. Coal has supplied the United States with cheap
electricity for decades, but coal-to-liquid technology holds an
even greater promise.
Current technology also has the ability to greatly decrease
emissions from coal-fired power plants. Additional research will
eventually lead to a near-zero-emissions coal plant.
The Tri-State plays a major role in the coal industry. It is
home to the Illinois Basin coal field, which includes Indiana,
Illinois and Western Kentucky. Together, miners in the Tri-State
produced more than 90 million tons of coal last year.
Most of the coal mined in the Tri-State is consumed by electric
utilities.
If the coal-to-liquids market develops, then the coal industry
would see a huge increase in the number of mining and
construction jobs.
Coal provides the Tri-State with low-cost electricity and
thousands of well-paying jobs.
With the high price of oil, there is no excuse for the United
States not to take full advantage of this abundant and secure
fuel source. Contact Robert Bosch at rbosch75@yahoo.com
Comments
This site does not necessarily agree with comments posted below
-- responsibility lies with the relevant reader alone. Read our
privacy agreement.
Posted by OK_Henry on August 20, 2006 at 1:53 p.m. (Suggest
removal)
Right on, Mr. Bosch! Then we would quit enriching the Muslim
countries which provide money to the Islamo-fascists who want to
kill us. Another thing we should do is form OGEC (the
Organization of Grain Exporting Countries), fix prices
artificially high, and tell them if they don't pay they can
literally eat "sand" wiches.
© 2006 The Evansville Courier Co.
*****************************************************************
24 The Tribune: India breaking out of nuclear apartheid
Chandigarh, India - Main News
K. Subrahmanyam
Among our nuclear scientific establishment, sections of the
media and academia and some of our political parties, both on
the right and the left, there is an understandable fear of the
Indo-US nuclear deal getting India entrapped. The fear is
understandable because of the history of the past 60 years in
which the US has tilted towards Pakistan and has been estranged
from the Indian democracy.
Even after the 1998 Indian nuclear tests, during the Jaswant
Singh-Talbott talks, the US attempted to get India into the CTBT
and to cap, reduce and rollback the Indian nuclear arsenal.
President Clinton during his eminently successful visit to India
in March 2000, still lectured to the Indians about the
inadvisability of a nuclear arsenal. Therefore, if one goes by
our experience with the US up to the end of President Clinton’s
term the conclusion that the successive US Administrations have
consistently aimed at curbing Indian nuclear arsenal will be
valid.
But the point that should not be missed is that the Bush
Administration has come into office with a different perspective
about the world and has a different strategy to advance US
interests in a world that has changed. The American behaviour
pattern has not changed. They are still out to sustain their
pre-eminence in the international system.
But as President George Bush explained to an American
correspondent at the Hyderabad House Press briefing on March 2,
2006, why he was rewarding India which violated the
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), times and circumstances have
changed. The Americans, ever keen on securing their own
interests, feel the need to change their strategy to suit the
requirements of times and circumstances.
Unfortunately, in India those who are still harping on the US
hostile attitude to India in the past six decades have failed to
take note of this clear exposition by President Bush that the US
strategy towards India has changed because of the change in
times and circumstances.
Those who have reservations on the Indo-US nuclear deal also do
not give consideration to the fact that Russia, which is now
emerging as the leading energy power, and is assertive vis-à-vis
the United States on many international issues, fully backs this
Indo-US nuclear deal. So do the European Union and Japan.
While there are still a few countries which are NPT
fundamentalists in the Nuclear Suppliers group, the bulk of the
group of 45 is in favour of this Indo-US deal and India being
brought into the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.
In India we should give some thought to the changes in times and
circumstances which have brought about this attitudinal change
all over the world.
India will have the largest population in the world and also the
youngest population in terms of age profile. Its economy is
growing at 8 per cent and it is expected to be within the first
five markets of the world. India also gives signs of becoming a
knowledge-based society. This is no longer a bipolar world with
two adversarial blocs, but a balance of power system in which no
major power considers any other as an adversary. It is a
globalised world in which there is a great deal of
interdependence among the major nations of the world.
China has a 300-billion-dollar trade with US and has $ 250
billion in bonds and bank deposits in the US. The US and Russia
manage together a space station. There is a common research
project on thermonuclear energy with participation of all major
powers and now of India as well.
There is a security organisation covering all nations from
Vladervostock to Vancouver. The Asia Pacific economic
cooperation group covers the Pacific rim countries, including
the US, Japan, Russia and China. It is expected that the
economic centre of gravity of the world is shifting from the
trans-Atlantic area to Asia where four of six major economies —
China, Russia, Japan and India — are located.
These changes in the international economic and security
environment have led the US, the European Union and Russia to
conclude that India should be incorporated in the international
system fully and the technology apartheid to which India was
subjected should be lifted.
The equation of this India with other major powers of the world,
including the United States, is different from what it used to
be before economic liberalisation and India started growing at a
healthy rate economically. India has more foreign policy options
in a world of balance of power than it had in a bipolar world.
Today India has a very significant foreign exchange surplus. The
US,the European Union and Russia treat India as a strategic
partner. Even China is engaged in a strategic dialogue with
India.
The Indo-US nuclear deal recognises the existence of the Indian
nuclear arsenal and does not seek to cap, reduce and rollback
that arsenal as the Clinton administration aimed to do.
Therefore, our scientists, sections of our media and academia
and some of the political parties, who still have an image of
India as one of the non-aligned Third World countries of the
Cold War era to which the major powers did not pay much
attention, will have to wake up to this new reality.
In these new circumstances other major powers and particularly
the United States find that partnership with India will be to
their advantage. India could serve to promote a better balance
in Asia and the world. Effective Indian statecraft would call
for a strategy to exploit this change of attitude to India's
advantage and to advance India's interests.That calls for a
recognition that the international system has undergone radical
changes and India has to change to adjust itself to the new
system.
Unfortunately, not all people are able to appreciate the nature
and extent of change that has taken place. They resist the
changes others, who are cognizant of the changes are trying to
introduce. They did this when the economic liberalisation or
green revolution was introduced. A rapidly changing world will
pass them by. India has already changed along with the rest of
the world. India is determined to break out of its nuclear and
technological apartheid though some strong vested interests want
to perpetuate the status quo.
*****************************************************************
25 The State: Industry hopes for nuclear power resurgence
| 08/20/2006 |
By JEFF NESMITH Cox News Service
+ NUCLEAR PLANS
WASHINGTON Roughly 35 years after construction began on the
last nuclear power plant built in America, at least 16 utilities
three in South Carolina are making tentative plans to build
new plants, and the industry hopes a nuclear power resurgence is
about to begin.
We really do believe ... its going to be a renaissance of
nuclear power, said Mitch Singer, spokesman for the Nuclear
Energy Institute, the lobbying group for nuclear power
interests.
But some energy experts remain cautious over whether the most
important ingredient in the renaissance Wall Street financing
will fall into place.
For the past few decades, the most potent opponent of nuclear
power wasnt some guy with Greenpeace, said Bob Simon,
Democratic staff director of the Senate Energy and Natural
Resources Committee. It was some guy with green eyeshades.
So far, a dozen companies including SCE, Santee Cooper and
Duke Power in South Carolina have announced that they are
considering building nuclear plants or have formally begun the
paperwork involved in obtaining licenses from the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission.
Four more have told only the commission of their plans. NRC
Chairman Nils Diaz told the Senate energy committee in May that
a total of 16 companies had formally notified authorities that
they are considering building new plants.
And the number of applications is expected to increase in the
near future, said Diaz.
Energy experts say three factors are chiefly responsible for the
first serious interest in nuclear power since 1971, when the
Tennessee Valley Authority began work on its Watts Bar Plant in
east Tennessee:
• Billions of dollars in federal subsidies that became available
with the passage national Energy Policy Act of 2005
• Energy Department projections of a 50 percent increase in U.S.
demand for electricity over the next two decades. The greatest
need is expected in Florida and the Deep South states served by
the Southeast Electric Reliability Council grid.
• The increasingly obvious threat that global warming will cause
worldwide climate havoc, and the corresponding need to find a
source of electricity that does not increase atmospheric
concentrations of carbon dioxide
Global warming is the elephant in the room, said former U.S.
Rep. Philip Sharp of Indiana, president of Resources for the
Future, a nonprofit research center.
It is the problem we have to solve, and many of us believe that
nuclear power is the only realistic, near-term means available
to us.
DETAILS OF THE ENERGY BILL
The nuclear industry claims regulatory delays and litigation by
local opposition groups and others have been largely responsible
for unpredictable cost overruns in previous power plant
construction.
The energy bill would insure developers of the next two nuclear
plants for up to $500 million each against cost overruns
attributed to delays caused by NRC license processing or by
litigation.
The four plants that follow those would be insured for up to
$250 million each for costs incurred after the first six months
of such a delay.
Beyond the total of $2 billion in insurance subsidies, the bill
has more incentives.
Nuclear power production tax credits of $750 million per year
for the next 6,000 megawatts of nuclear power to come online
would cost another $6 billion over the next eight years.
Like the cost-overrun insurance, the tax credits would reward
early construction, meaning the current flurry of interest
likely is stimulated at least in part by companies rush to be
among the first six to build.
Loan guarantees, also available to renewable energy
developments, added billions more to the energy bills nuclear
power incentives.
AN INVISIBLE EXPANSION
Whether the energy bills subsidies will have any impact beyond
the next six plants remains to be seen.
But Sharp points out that the country already has experienced an
almost invisible nuclear power expansion over the past decade
because of two trends unnoticed by most Americans:
• The NRC agreed to technological fixes that made it possible to
increase most plants operating levels from around 70 percent of
capacity to nearly 90 percent. That caused a substantial
increase in nuclears contribution to the countrys electricity
mix, he said.
• Dozens of plants have received 20-year extensions of what were
to be 40-year operating licenses.
Nearly every one of them will be extended, Sharp said, and
the most significant point in this is that it happened with
virtually no opposition from the environmentalists. That tells
me that they have made a decision that this has to be part of
the solution to the climate change problem.
Thomas Cochran, director of the nuclear program at the Natural
Resources Defense Council, cautioned against reading too much in
the fact that environmental groups did not object to license
extensions and increased operating levels at nuclear plants.
He said NRC rule changes have virtually eliminated the ability
of environmentalists or other intervenors to challenge licensing
decisions.
As we see it, all that is kind of irrelevant anyhow to whether
nuclear power is going to return in any significant way and
contribute to solving the global warming problem, he said. The
real problem is the economics of nuclear power.
Thats why the industry went up to the Hill last year and got
from $6 billion to $12 billion worth of subsidies put in the
energy bill.
*****************************************************************
26 Gary Patton's As I See It: Democratic energy plan uses common sense
August 20, 2006
By Gary Patton
gandlpatton@comcast.net
Gary Patton is chairman of the Hampton Town Democratic
Committee. Send an email to him at grandlpatton@comcast.net.
Crawford Notch grinned when he saw me walking toward him. "Well,
Patton," he said, "do you Democrats still dislike nuclear power
now that gas prices have topped $3 a gallon? A cheaper,
alternative energy source like nuclear power doesn't seem so bad
now, does it?"
"Crawford," I said, "I must admit that thought crossed my mind
lately. But, then I remembered all the problems we've had with
the Seabrook nuclear power plant over the years. In 2002, stress
corrosion cracking was found in one of the plant's four steam
generators. In 2003, inspectors discovered a coolant leak inside
the containment dome. In 2005, a security fence intended to
prevent terrorists from invading the plant failed a Nuclear
Regulatory Commission inspection and was declared inoperable.
Apparently, it had not worked since it was installed six months
previously."
Crawford mocked me. "Well, la-de-da, I don't see terrorists
swarming over the plant. I guess the problem wasn't serious, was
it?"
I replied, "The problem was serious enough that the NRC fined
the owners of the Seabrook station $65,000 for that violation."
"That's old news," said Crawford. "All those problems were
solved without a serious incident occurring."
"The thing that bothers me," I responded, "is that every time
one difficulty at Seabrook is taken care of, another pops up.
Some day, our luck will run out. Some years ago, Yucca Mountain
in Nevada was designated a national depository site for
radioactive waste. The Portsmouth Herald noted in an editorial,
Political power struggles and technical problems have stalled
completion of the Yucca Mountain facility. It was scheduled to
be up and running by 1998. Now, the date is 2017, and from all
indications, that is a very optimistic projection.'
"Because of that delay," I continued, "Republican Sen. Pete
Domenici of New Mexico has proposed an amendment to the federal
energy appropriations bill to establish interim sites for
radioactive waste in all 31 states with commercial nuclear
reactors. The Herald editorial points out there is already a
high-level waste dump in the state, and the indication is it
will continue to fill with spent nuclear fuel for some time. It
is called the spent fuel pool,' and it is on the grounds of the
Seabrook Station nuclear power plant, right here on the
Seacoast.'"
"Not only that," I went on, "the plan for evacuating people
living within a 10-mile radius of the plant has not been updated
by FEMA and the NRC since 1998. The Hampton Union wrote in an
editorial, All of us here on the Seacoast know that if there
were a real emergency at the Seabrook plant, getting those who
live here year-round, much less the thousands of visitors who
flock to our beaches this time of year, out of harm's way is an
impossibility.'"
"Look," said Crawford, "I don't see people around here staying
up nights worrying about an accident at Seabrook Station."
"Crawford," I replied, "Nobody lost much sleep beforehand
worrying that the World Trade Center could be destroyed by
terrorists or a major hurricane could decimate New Orleans.
Those were classic cases of closing the barn door after the
horses escaped. The same thing could happen at Seabrook."
"Well," responded Crawford, "what do you dim-bulb Democrats
propose we do -- move into caves and warm ourselves by
campfires?"
"How about getting serious about alternative energy sources like
wind power?" I replied.
Crawford burst into laughter. "Oh, you tree-hugger Democrats are
all the same. What would you have us do? Wear plastic propellers
on top of beanies to generate electricity? You know, Patton, you
could use a jolt or two of electricity to your brain to rid it
of those nutty liberal ideas."
"You'd better tell that to the nutty Yankees in Lempster, N.H.,
because plans are under way there to install 12 two-megawatt
wind turbines that will create power to accommodate 10,000
homes. Laura Richardson, president of the New Hampshire
Sustainable Energy Association, writes in the Union-Leader,
(wind power) works in New Hampshire as it works elsewhere.
Surely, common-sense Yankee thinking hasn't disappeared.'"
"Imagine that, Crawford. A common-sense Democratic idea. My,
my."
Gary Patton is chairman of the Hampton Town Democratic
Committee. Send an e-mail to him at gandlpatton@comcast.net.
Copyright © 2006 Seacoast Online. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
27 Rutland Herald: State seeks ideas for power future
Rutland Vermont News & Information
August 19, 2006
By Louis PorterVermont Press Bureau
MONTPELIER — Vermonters have been enjoying a stable electricity
supply compared to their New England neighbors during the last
few years. Long-term power contracts with the Vermont Yankee
nuclear plant and Hydro-Quebec network of dams have meant
predictable — and, at least recently, fairly low power prices
compared to those paid in Massachusetts, Connecticut and some
other Northeastern states.
Vermont, unlike its neighbors, has retained a fully regulated
market for electricity, something states that once led the
vanguard on deregulation now look at with envy.
Over the next decade those contracts will end and state and
Legislative officials are asking Vermonters to help them prepare.
At the request of lawmakers, the Department of Public Service is
looking for a contractor to run a series of public hearings,
polls and Internet-based dialogue over the next several months.
The goal of the search is to figure out where Vermonters want
their power to come from and what they expect to pay for it
during the next quarter-century.
"We have very imperfect choices on our plate. There are
trade-offs to every decision," said Speaker of the House Gaye
Symington, D-Jericho.
"We hope we will be able to present an informed public with our
energy picture and what our energy options are going forward,"
said Commissioner of Public Service David O'Brien. That public
will be "a diverse cross-section of Vermonters in terms of what
their thoughts, desires and ultimately priorities are."
Those Vermonters have a lot of choices to make. Industrial-scale
wind power is one potential renewable electricity source, but
opponents, including Gov. James Douglas, worry about the damage
to the state's ridgelines.
Nuclear power is fairly reliable, but leaves spent fuel waste
that must be stored indefinitely, and it is unlikely that a new
plant will be built in the region anytime soon, even if Yankee
is relicensed.
Meanwhile, burning natural gas to produce power is subject to
price changes and residents worry about the pollution coal
plants produce.
And bringing in electricity from other places means more power
transmission lines like the ones now being built by the Vermont
Electric Power Co.
Vermonters who are directly involved have been weighing in on
those issues and questions like how much to spend on energy
efficiency in a piecemeal way, but it is time for a
comprehensive conversation about the issues, Symington said.
"Figuring out what Vermont's energy future is going to be is
really critical and we are running out of time if we really want
to have choices," she said. "We are going to have no choices if
we keep waiting."
That is because, although the major power supply contracts don't
start expiring for several years, it also takes several years to
build new electricity generating stations, whether they are
powered by the wind or some other source, said Rep. Robert
Dostis, D-Waterbury, chairman of the House Natural Resources and
Energy Committee.
Dostis, Symington and Sen. Virginia Lyons, D-Chittenden, worked
with other lawmakers to include what Symington calls the "public
engagement process" in the energy bill passed last year and
signed by Douglas. It is a good example of cooperation between
Democratic lawmakers and the Republican administration on
addressing an issue, O'Brien said.
The power will still be there to run everything from
manufacturing machinery to residential light bulbs in Vermont.
But the cost will go up — some customers in other states have
seen an 80 percent increase — especially if Vermont utilities
end up buying their power on the open market, which is dependent
in the Northeast on the cost of natural gas.
"Right now it is still relatively inexpensive. That is going to
change as the cost of the resources increase, especially fossil
fuels," Dostis said.
The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger in Burlington,
where Dostis works, has already seen a drastic increase in its
electricity bills over the same period last year, despite
reducing its power usage, Dostis said.
"Despite using less we are paying more," he said. "That is going
to be the trend for the future. Vermonters need to understand
that and it is a resource we can no longer take for granted."
And many of the utilities in the state, including the two
largest, are seeking rate increases.
Since the state has just issued its "request for proposals" to
consulting firms potentially interested in running the "public
engagement process" it is not clear how long the program will
take, or what it will cost.
O'Brien said it is likely to take more than six months, given
the complexity of the issue and the number of components in the
program.
"One of the best things we can accomplish is to get more people
in the public to understand these issues," he said. "The broader
that conversation is the better."
Vermont has some advantages as it embarks on planning for its
future energy supply, he said.
One of the big ones is that the state remains a regulated
market, where utilities' rates are based on their costs. He
considered whether Vermont should follow other New England
states into deregulation when he came into office, but decided
the state had been right several years earlier to turn away from
the idea, O'Brien said.
"If my peers around the region had to do it over again, I don't
believe they would have made the decision they did," he said
Friday.
Another advantage is having a few years of long-term contracts
left to work on the issue.
But if Vermont has some benefits it also remains a tiny part of
a larger national and international power market. For instance,
disruptions in the natural gas supply sent a price spike into
the Northeast and elsewhere.
"Hurricane Katrina happens and that affects the New England
grid. We are not an island in this whole discussion," Symington
said.
"We have been talking tower-by-tower, whether it is a wind
tower, a cooling tower for a nuke plant or a VELCO (power
transmission line) tower," she said. "We don't have a context
for it."
Contact Louis Porter at louisporter@rutlandherald.com
Contact Louis Porter at louisporter@timesargus.com
© 2006 Rutland Herald
*****************************************************************
28 OC Register: City shuts water well to confirm no danger of radiation
[OCRegister.com]
+ Saturday, August 19, 2006
San Clemente does the testing after contamination is found under
a unit at San Onofre.
By JOHN McDONALD The Orange County Register
SAN CLEMENTE – The city's only operating municipal well has been
closed until test results can confirm it is untainted by a
radioactive leak at San Onofre, officials said Friday.
"There is no indication that there has been contamination, but
we will keep it closed until the test results are in," San
Clemente Public Works Director David Lund said.
He said the well, on the grounds of the city golf course,
produces about 3 percent of the city's water.
Most of the well's water is used for irrigating the golf course,
but some goes to homes.
The well was tested this week when it was disclosed that
groundwater under the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station Unit
1 had radiation levels up to 16 times higher than permitted for
drinking water by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Plant officials said tritium had apparently leaked into the
groundwater between 1968 and 1992, while the unit was operating.
Crews decommissioning the plant found the contamination Aug. 7.
The level of tritium would have had to have been three times
higher for San Onofre operators to have had to report it to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The report was made in compliance with recent nuclear industry
guidelines regarding releases of low levels of radiation.
Lund said there is little chance the tritium under the San
Onofre plant could have contaminated the city's well.
"It's two miles away and uphill from the plant. The plant is at
sea level, and water doesn't run uphill," he said.
San Onofre officials pumped 10,000 gallons of contaminated
groundwater and flushed it out to sea in the plant's 8,600-foot
outfall pipe.
The dilution of the contaminated water with the ocean water was
believed to render it harmless, according to plant officials.
Lund said the city saves money by operating the well but that it
is not essential to the city's water supply.
Copyright 2006 The Orange County Register
*****************************************************************
29 China Post: Reactor at Japan nuclear plant shuts down after water level drops
Taiwan News,Taiwan newspaper
2006/8/19 TOKYO (AP)
A reactor at a central Japan nuclear power plant automatically
shut down overnight after the water level in one of its steam
generators dropped, an electric company spokesman said Saturday.
Kansai Electric Power Co. spokesman Masaharu Tanibuchi said no
injuries or radiation leakage resulted from the shutdown late
Friday at the No. 3 reactor of the Takahama plant in the town of
Takahama in Fukui prefecture (state).
The incident occurred while the plant operator was gradually
lowering the output of the reactor in preparation for regular
inspections set to begin about an hour later, Tanibuchi said.
The company will investigate the cause of the shutdown at the
870,000-kilowatt pressurized water reactor during the
four-month-long inspections, he said.
A malfunctioning valve on a pipe that supplies water to the steam
generator was one possibility because the reactor would
automatically shut down to prevent overheating if the water
supply stops, Tanibuchi said.
Takahama is approximately 360 kilometers (225 miles) west of
Tokyo.
Copyright © 1999~2006 The China Post.
*****************************************************************
30 Easy bourse: MARSHALL LOEB: The Coming Rebound Of Nuclear Power
Monday August 21st, 2006 / 0h36
By Marshall Loeb
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) - As more and more heat waves, hurricanes
and other natural catastrophes batter the world, the mood among
people just about everywhere is turning increasingly green.
The feeling is strong that global warming is not a phony fear
but a real, rapidly growing and dangerous force. Moreover, the
only way to stop it -- or merely slow it -- is to reduce the
carbon dioxide emisions produced by the burning of fossil fuels
that power industrial plants as well as planes, trains and
automobiles.
And the surest way to accomplish that is to depend more on
nuclear power instead of oil, gas and coal. Consequently, the
nuclear industry is beginning to show signs of revival if not
renaissance.
It's about time.
For a quarter century, nukes in the United States have been
dormant.
Though 103 reactors now produce 20 percent of the nation's
electricity, no new nuclear plant has won Nuclear Regulatory
Commission approval to begin operating since 1978. This is a
result of widespread fears among the public after the near
meltdown at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, in 1979 and the
meltdown at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.
But many other nations have surmounted those apprehensions.
Nukes generate fully 78 percent of France's power and about 33
percent of Japan's.
Finally, the U.S. may be beginning to catch up. Not only have
the safety records abroad been impressive, but the stiff rise in
oil and natural gas prices has been daunting, and the political,
military and terrorist threats posed by some foreign producers
(Iran, Venezuela, etc.) have been fearsome.
Then there is the happy fact that nuclear power is far cleaner
than fossil fuels, notably coal, which produces 52 percent of
the nation's electric power and poses no problems of global
warming in an environmentally sensitive world.
According to C. Randy Hutchinson, senior vice president of
Entergy Nuclear in Jackson, Miss., many utilities have declared
that they are filing applications with the NRC to construct and
operate 15 to 20 reactors. Among them: Entergy Nuclear, Southern
Company, Duke Energy, Progress Energy, Dominion, South Carolina
Electric Gas and Electric, Constellation Energy, among others.
Each will cost close to $2 billion or so.
Expect construction of the first plants to begin about
2009-2010. But don't expect them to begin producing juice any
time soon. The complex process of designing, winning regulatory
permissions and building a plant devours at least a dozen years.
At best, the first of the new nukes will start coming on line in
about 2015.
But even before that, large numbers of people stand to benefit.
Among them are producers of many sophisticated goods (steam
generators, turbines, pumps, specialty steel and alloys),
skilled craftsmen and professionals (pipefitters, welders,
engineers, architects), uranium miners, and, of course,
shareholders in companies that make and build the plants.
Alas, there aren't many of the last mentioned in the U.S. Only
General Electric remains. And its nuclear business -- designing
and building reactors and providing services and nuclear fuel --
is about $1 billion a year. Westinghouse, long the other major
U.S. manufacturer, sold out in 1999 to British Nuclear Fuels
Ltd., which in turn sold the business early this year to Japan's
Toshiba.
However, many of the new nuclear plants are planned to be in the
U.S. South, and railways, trucking and barge lines in the region
are likely to benefit from a broad pickup in traffic.
Says Richard Myers, executive director of the Nuclear Energy
Institute, a trade group: "All roads now lead to nuclear power.
It's not the total solution to our energy challenges, but it is
part of the solution."
The numbers are so big that being only part of the solution
could be dramatically profitable.
# # #
Reporter Ismat Sarah Mangla contributed to this article.
Monday August 21st, 2006 / 0h36
sources : Dowjones Business News
Copyright © 2006 Easybourse - All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
31 San Luis Obispo Tribune: The sirens may sound different, but it’s still the same old test
| 08/19/2006 |
Today’s test is the first for the newer models with battery
backup power that PG recently bought
David Sneed The Tribune
San Luis Obispo County will conduct its annual full-scale test
today of the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant emergency warning
system.
Twice today — once at noon and again at 12:30 p.m. — all 131 of
the sirens in the system will be activated to their full volume.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. recently replaced all the sirens
with newer models that have battery backup power.
"The new sirens may sound louder and a little different than the
old sirens" said Meg Swearingen, a county emergency services
coordinator.
Each test will last from three to five minutes. The siren system
is operated by the county and PG.
The sirens are arrayed from Cayucos to Willow Road on the
northern Nipomo Mesa and as far inland as San Luis Obispo. They
are intended to warn the public of a radiological release at the
nuclear power plant but can be used for any other major
emergency.
If the sirens sound, the public is asked to stay indoors and
tune into local television and radio stations for information
and instructions. No such actions are required for today’s test.
*****************************************************************
32 SF Chronicle: Bush ordered plans for air travel safety / Protection from
terror attacks needed for skies
Paul Caffera, Chronicle Correspondent
Sunday, August 20, 2006
A little-known directive issued by President Bush two months ago
requires federal agencies to produce a comprehensive plan to
protect the nation's airspace from terrorist attacks.
The order, confirmed to The Chronicle by officials with
knowledge of its contents, focuses on threats to aircraft from
passenger baggage and air cargo -- including detection of
conventional, nuclear, radiological, and chemical devices --
securing the airspace over the continental United States, and
developing technologies to detect and prevent missile attacks on
aircraft.
The directive, known as both National Security Presidential
Directive 47 and Homeland Security Presidential Directive 16,
also orders the agencies to implement a plan to check airline
passenger lists against the government's watch lists and to
assume the costs of conducting the database searches. The cost
of checking passenger lists currently falls to the airlines.
The security plan is due on the president's desk in the middle
of October, according to officials, who spoke on condition of
anonymity because the directive has not been publicly disclosed.
The White House would not comment for the record on the
presidential order.
Larry Orluskie, senior spokesman for the Department of Homeland
Security, said: "As a matter of policy, the department doesn't
comment on pending legislation or presidential directives.
However, when a directive is issued by the president, we take it
very seriously and will work to meet the requirements within the
edict."
The directive, issued in June, comes amid heightened fears of
aviation terrorism, prompted by allegations of a plot by
British-based Islamic militants to down U.S.-bound commercial
planes.
Earlier last week, approximately 100 officials gathered for a
"tabletop exercise" at the U.S. Northern Command headquarters in
Colorado Springs intended to counteract possible terrorist
missile attacks on commercial airliners, and how various
agencies would coordinate their responses in the event of such
an attack.
The Northern Command was established in 2002 to provide command
and control of the Defense Department's homeland defense efforts
and to coordinate military assistance to civil authorities.
Participants at the exercise determined that the nation's
airspace would have to be shut down -- meaning no civilian
flights would be allowed -- but did not reach agreement on when
commercial flights would resume after a missile attack,
according to members present, who requested anonymity because
they are not authorized to speak publicly. There was also
disagreement as to whether passengers would be willing to fly on
unprotected aircraft after a missile attack, said some of the
members present.
Currently the Department of Homeland Security is overseeing a
program to assess the feasibility of adapting military
anti-missile systems for use on commercial airliners.
"There is next to no defined plan to deal with a localized
MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) attack," Capt. Bob
Hesselbein, chairman of the National Security Committee of the
Airline Pilots Association, which had a representative at the
tabletop exercise.
Asked about plans for reopening the nation's airspace were it to
be shut down after a missile attack, Hesselbein said, "The
(Federal Aviation Administration) has nothing on paper. It's
time to come up with a process to deal with any such attack."
Page A - 15
San Francisco Chronicle]
*****************************************************************
33 People's Daily: U.S. to equip Manila port with nuclear detecting facility
UPDATED: 12:57, August 19, 2006
The United Stateswill provide watchdog equipment to detect
shipments of nuclear and other radioactive materials into the
Philippines, the U.S. embassy said here on Friday.
In a statement, the embassy said that the U.S. Department of
Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) is in
charge of the equipment project in the Philippines, which is a
part of the U.S. government's worldwide Megaports Initiative to
detect nuclear smuggle at some of the international ports.
The monitor equipment was donated to the Port of Manila and an
NNSA team has recently visited the busy industrial harbor to
evaluate its installation progress, which was due to operate by
October, according to the statement.
"Port facilities in the Philippines will be among the safest in
Southeast Asia," the U.S. embassy said, referring to the "extra
security measures".
In July 2005, the NNSA signed a Memorandum of Intent with the
Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST) to
officially make the Philippines a recipient partner of the
Megaports Initiative.
As a host country, the Philippines will assume ownership of the
equipment, responsible for its operation, while the NNSA
continue to provide spare parts, maintenance and technical
support for a specified time, the statement added.
In addition to the Philippines, the United States has signed 17
other partnership agreements in 20 ports worldwide.
Source: Xinhua
Copyright by People's Daily Online, all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
34 Japan Times: Cop kills himself at nuclear plant
Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006
FUKUI (Kyodo) A 23-year-old riot police officer was found dead
Saturday afternoon after apparently shooting himself at the
Takahama nuclear power plant in Fukui Prefecture, police said.
The officer apparently died instantly after shooting himself in
the head at a water-treatment building for the No. 2 and No. 3
reactors of the plant, operated by Kansai Electric Power Co.,
the police said.
The officer had been assigned to the Takahama nuclear plant as a
guard by the Osaka Prefectural Police since Aug. 6.
He went missing at 2:20 p.m. after having worked earlier in the
day. A colleague found him dead at about 4 p.m., the police
said.
A note addressed to his family was found, the Osaka police said,
adding they are investigating his reason for committing suicide.
The water-treatment building, where the body was found, is
designed to send high-temperature and high-pressure water into
the reactors' steam generators.
The Japan Times (C) All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
35 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Molycorp shows flood-control system
Company cleaning up radioactive soil buys portable device it
will give to the community
Sunday, August 20, 2006 By Janice Crompton,
Canton officials saw a demonstration of a new portable flood
control system designed to protect people near Chartiers Creek.
The system, called AquaDam, was purchased by Molycorp and will
be donated to the township after the company finishes a cleanup
project at the site of its former plant on Caldwell Avenue.
People living in about 10 homes near the western portion of the
72-acre site were flooded during the remnants of Hurricane Ivan
in 2004. Molycorp Project Manager Jack Wright said the company
wanted to put a flood control system in place to protect those
people while low-level radiological material is being excavated
and moved.
"The idea is to protect these homes from another Ivan," Mr.
Wright said.
The system, manufactured by East Coast AquaDam in Easton, Md.,
is a large water-filled tube which acts as a flood wall and has
been used in other ways, such as diverting rivers for work on
bridge piers. It is more economical and effective than sand
bags, according to company owner and President Herb Haschen.
The portable AquaDam can be emptied and rolled away, takes
about a day to set up and comes in sections of various lengths.
Molycorp bought 700 feet of tubing, and used about 150 feet for
its demonstration Aug. 11 at the Canton Volunteer Fire
Department on Weirich Avenue. Although it features heights up to
16 feet, the system Molycorp bought is three feet tall and six
feet wide.
Canton Supervisor Ron Harton said two people turned out for the
demonstration, but that township officials were impressed.
"I've never seen anything like it," he said.
The company is using the system in conjunction with a cleanup
project which began in 2001 with the removal of 13,000 cubic
yards of low-level radiological soil and waste in two large
mounds.
The next year, Molycorp demolished its plant and other
buildings on the site, and this year began excavating and
removing radioactive fill and tar buried at various spots on the
property.
Contaminated with uranium and thorium, the material consists of
about 120,000 tons of slag used as fill on the property in the
1960s.
The material will be sent to a licensed disposal facility in
Idaho and the project is expected to be finished by 2008.
Molycorp invested about $100,000 in the AquaDam system, Mr.
Wright said.
It also donated land and $300,000 to the township fire
department for the construction of a new fire house, and agreed
to remove large mounds of excavated soil near two reservoirs in
North Franklin to be used for fill at its Canton site.
(Janice Crompton can be reached at jcrompton@post-gazette.comor
724-223-0156. )
Copyright ©1997-2006 PG Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights
*****************************************************************
36 Galveston County Daily News: Radioactive device spills onto I-45
Sunday, August 20, 2006 | Texas' Oldest Newspaper:
By TJ Aulds The Daily News
Published August 19, 2006 LEAGUE CITY — Part of Interstate 45
was shut down at the height of morning rush-hour traffic Friday
after a device containing radioactive material spilled onto the
freeway.
No dangerous materials were released, but the road was closed
while hazardous material response teams assessed and cleaned up
the mess.
Sgt. Dan Krieger said a passenger car driven by a 36-year-old
League City woman struck the truck carrying equipment used to
measure soil density.
The accident occurred at 8:03 a.m. in the 2000 block of I-45
southbound near FM 518, he said.
When the truck, owned by Houston-based Geoscience, was hit, the
measuring device — which contained an undetermined amount of
radioactive material — was ejected and slid across all three
lanes of the southbound side of the freeway.
Police cordoned off a safety perimeter as a precaution while the
hazardous materials team decided if anything dangerous had
escaped.
“They determined the levels of radioactivity to be minimal and
not dangerous,” he said. Traffic resumed on the freeway just
before 9 a.m.
The passenger car driver was cited for failure to control her
speed, police said.
© 2006 The Galveston County Daily News. All rights reserved. A
Publication.
*****************************************************************
37 Independent: Company testing mine to determine extent of uranium contamination
August 18, 2006:
By Jim Tiffin
Cibola County Bureau
GRANTS — A state geologist said Thursday afternoon Rio Cinto
Mining Co., also known as Sohio Western Mining, is planning to
drill two water wells and sample 11 vent shafts at a former
uranium mining site north of the Pueblo of Laguna.
Jerry Schoeppner, a Ground Water Quality Bureau geologist with
the New Mexico Environment Department, said the mining company
will be testing ground water at the site.
"In 2005, the company voluntarily sampled four of 11 vent shafts
at the site and three of those came back with contamination
exceeding the standards of New Mexico water quality Control
Commission standards," he said.
As a result, the company is now responding to an abatement plan,
Stage One, where it will sample all 11 vent shafts and drill two
water wells in an effort to determine the extent of the
contamination, Schoeppner said.
A vent shaft where air is blown out of a mine, or "vented out,"
after it is pumped into the mine for the miners to breathe.
Contamination
The contaminates exceeding the state's levels were: sulfate,
total dissolved solids, iron, manganese, pH, radium and uranium,
he said.
While he did not immediately have numbers, he said radium and
uranium were the most lethal, with manganese recently being
shown to be more toxic than known before.
Radium in the soil turns to radon which causes cancer, he said.
"I am not sure what it does if it is ingested with water," he
said.
Uranium is a toxic metal and is known to cause kidney problems.
Another core
He said between the JJ Number 1/L-Bar Mine, two miles north of
the pueblo, where the testing is being performed, and another
mine in the area, St. Anthony, there is a core of uranium that
has not yet been mined.
There may be more requirements for the company to follow,
Shoeppner said, depending on what the results of the additional
testing shows.
The mine is about four miles southeast of Seboyeta and two miles
northeast of Moquino. It was in operation from 1976 to 1981 in
conjunction with the L-Bar uranium mill and a mill tailings
operation, according to information provided by Shoeppner.
The mine was closed between 1986-1987.
The Cebolleta Land Grant owns the surface rights to the area
where the mine is situated, about 600 acres.
A smaller part of the surface area is owned by the U.S.
Department of energy.
Public comment
After the state receives the company's cleanup plan, the public
will be allowed comment for 90 days on Stage Two, which will
include a proposal for remediating contamination discovered
during the Stage One assessment.
A Rio Cinto company official who asked not to be named or quoted
said the company would not respond to inquiries about the mine
because it had not yet seen information contained in a press
release issued by the state.
In any event, the company would only respond to submitted
written questions with written answers when it did decide to
respond.
He said that was the only way the company dealt with media in
Montana, Colorado and Wyoming, where the company is based.
To contact reporter Jim Tiffin, call (505) 287-2197 or e-mail:
tiffin.independent@yahoo.com.
Friday
August 18, 2006
Please send the Gallup Independent feedback on this website and
Send questions or comments to gallpind@cia-g.com
*****************************************************************
38 [NYTr] Radioactive Leak Reaches Calif Nuke Plant's Groundwater
Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:37:08 -0500 (CDT)
X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu
X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Los Angeles Times - Aug 18, 2006
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-radioactive18aug18,1,2974609.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true
Radioactive Leak Reaches Nuclear Plant's Groundwater
At San Onofre, the cancer-causing tritium isn't known to infect
drinking water, but experts are checking.
By Seema Mehta and Dave McKibben, Times Staff Writer
Radioactive, cancer-causing tritium has leaked into the groundwater beneath
the San Onofre nuclear power plant, prompting the closure of one
drinking-water well in southern Orange County, authorities said.
Officials have not found evidence that the leak from the San Onofre Nuclear
Generating Station, California's largest, has contaminated the drinking
water supply.
As a precaution, San Clemente officials shut down and are testing a city
well near the contaminated area.
"We owe it to our residents and business folks to properly test the water,"
said Dave Lund, San Clemente's public works director.
In recent years, tritium leaks have been found at more than a dozen nuclear
plants across the nation, prompting the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to
form a task force this year to study the cause of the contamination. The
findings are scheduled to be released this month.
Sandwiched between Camp Pendleton and the Pacific Ocean in northwestern San
Diego County, the San Onofre power plant has had a controversial presence
on the coast since its construction in the 1960s.
In the years since, sea lions and endangered sea turtles have been killed
when caught in the plant's seawater intake pipes for its cooling system.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, nearby residents also have grown wary of the plant as
a potential terrorist target that stores highly radioactive spent nuclear
fuel.
One of two nuclear power plants in California, San Onofre provides 2,150
megawatts of power, enough for 2.2 million homes throughout Southern
California.
The plant is operated by Southern California Edison and houses two working
reactors. A third, 450-megawatt reactor was shut down in 1992 and is being
dismantled.
While workers were taking apart the containment dome that housed the
inactive reactor, they discovered that groundwater beneath the reactor
complex was tainted with tritium, said Ray Golden, spokesman for the power
plant. The source of the leak has not been determined, he said.
Tritium occurs naturally in the environment but is also a byproduct of
nuclear fission, said Victor Bricks, spokesman for the NRC's regional
office in Arlington, Texas. It has a half-life of 12 years, meaning its
radioactivity is reduced by half every 12 years.
Tritium, an isotope of hydrogen that can cause not only cancer but also
miscarriages and birth defects, is increasingly stoking fears in
communities near nuclear plants across the country.
A tritium leak that contaminated millions of gallons of groundwater near
the Braidwood Nuclear Generating Station in northeast Illinois led that
state to sue the owner of the plant in March.
"So far, the spills ... haven't resulted in people off-site being exposed
to excessive amounts of radiation," said David Lochbaum, director of the
nuclear safety project for the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington,
D.C., a nonprofit advocacy group that focuses on environmental problems.
"But the law is supposed to be that nothing radioactive leaves the site,
either in water or in air, unless it's monitored or controlled. They have
had a series of failures."
Samples of the groundwater beneath San Onofre's decommissioned unit
contained 50,000 to 330,000 picocuries per liter, Bricks said.
In drinking water, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's safety limit
for tritium is 20,000 picocuries per liter, a measurement of radioactivity
based on one-trillionth of a unit. The state of California has recommended
a "public health goal" of no more than 400 picocuries per liter, a level
the agency determined could still cause one cancer case per million people
exposed.
San Onofre has extracted more than 10,000 gallons of the contaminated
groundwater and piped it into the Pacific about 8,600 feet offshore, where
it is instantly diluted in seawater, Golden said.
Since groundwater will continue to seep into the contaminated area, plant
officials will continue removing contaminated water and discharging it into
the ocean until they can remove all traces of the contamination.
It's unknown how much tritium has seeped into the ground, where it came
from, or when the leak occurred, Golden said. It's likely that it leaked
from the reactor, the spent-fuel pool, various water storage tanks or
pipes. The leak probably occurred sometime between 1968 and 2004, Golden
said.
Edison officials have tested nearby soil, water and sand all around the
plant over nearly four decades and have never seen unusual radiation
levels, so there is nothing to indicate that the contaminated groundwater
has left the site, he added.
John Robertus, executive officer of the San Diego Regional Water Quality
Control Board, which governs the area, also said that because of the area's
hydrology, it's unlikely that local groundwater sources were contaminated.
Groundwater is likely to migrate toward the ocean and away from drinking
water wells, he said.
There are two drinking water wells about two miles from the site, one on
Camp Pendleton and one in San Clemente.
A Camp Pendleton spokeswoman said the base draws its water from 20 on-base
wells regularly checked for pollutants, including radioactive ones.
In San Clemente, Lund said, the city gets 3% of its drinking water from the
well two miles north of the plant. Much of that is used to irrigate San
Clemente's city golf course, but some serves homes in the southernmost part
of town, he said.
The city gets the rest of its water supply from the Colorado River and
Northern California.
"There's concern, but I don't think it should be heightened concern," said
Mayor Wayne Eggleston. "We just have to wait for the results."
Some residents and visitors were worried Thursday evening.
"I have a lot of concerns. It's radioactive, isn't it?" Craig Ervin, a San
Clemente resident playing golf at the municipal course. "I don't know why
they put that plant next to a city."
Lucio Tiberio, a San Diego resident who had just finished surfing at nearby
Trestles, was more concerned about the tritium's effect on the ocean.
"There's pollution everywhere, but this is scary because there's no way you
can see it," he said.
The regional water board regulates all discharges from the plant but has no
jurisdiction over nuclear waste, which is handled by the federal
government.
Robertus, the board's chief, said he was unhappy to learn of San Onofre's
disposal methods for the contaminated water.
"My hands are tied; we don't regulate radioactive waste," he said. "I'm not
particularly pleased with hearing ... that they're dumping nuclear
radioactive waste" into the ocean.
NRC spokesman Bricks said the ocean dumping meets his agency's standards.
But Daniel Hirsch, director of the nuclear watchdog group Committee to
Bridge the Gap in Los Angeles and former director of the Adlai Stevenson
program on nuclear policy at UC Santa Cruz, said it was foolhardy to make
the ocean the dumping ground.
"It's extremely hard to clean up water that's contaminated with tritium,"
he said. "There's this incredible illusion that you can dump radioactive
waste in the ocean and it won't come back to you in the fish you eat.
That's troubling. Dilution is irrelevant."
*
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39 London Times: Madonna’s magical nuclear waste cure
The Sunday Times August 20, 2006
Abul Taher
Kabbalah fluid can clean it up
MADONNA and her husband Guy Ritchie have been lobbying the
government and nuclear industry over a scheme to clean up
radioactive waste with a supposedly magic Kabbalah fluid.
The couple, both followers of the Jewish spiritual movement,
approached Downing Street, Whitehall and British Nuclear Fuels
(BNFL) promoting a “mystical” liquid tested in a Ukrainian lake.
“It was like a crank call . . . the scientific mechanisms and
principles were just bollocks, basically,” one official said.
But civil servants at the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI)
and scientists at BNFL were obliged to take the celebrity couple
seriously.
It is understood that the couple, who live in London and
Wiltshire, were promoting a water-based solution that had
allegedly proved successful in neutralising dangerous nuclear
waste in Ukraine.
The Kabbalah Centre, which is based in California, believes
water is a uniquely important substance that can be given magic
healing powers through “meditations and the consciousness of
sharing”.
Madonna is said to have approached Downing Street, before being
directed to the DTI. “She relentlessly pursued people,” said a
former DTI civil servant. “She wanted to get this Russian
scientist to explain this to civil servants.”
But her campaign became bogged down by Whitehall bureaucracy.
“It was a case of pass the parcel,” said the civil servant.
Ritchie, the film director, cold-called BNFL and wrote a series
of letters accompanied by scientific papers. A panel of BNFL’s
best scientists was tasked with looking into the proposal but
could find no scientific basis for the claims.
The lobbying, which took place a few years ago, was part of a
campaign by Madonna, who saw it as her mission to rid the world
of nuclear waste. She made this clear in newspaper interviews at
the time.
“I mean, one of the biggest problems that exists right now in
the world is nuclear waste,” she said. “That’s something I’ve
been involved with for a while with a group of scientists —
finding a way to neutralise radiation, believe it or not.”
The Kabbalah Centre, which is based in Los Angeles but has
branches worldwide, was set up by Philip Berg, a former
insurance salesman. One devotee has described how Berg leads
chants of “Chernobyl” and the names of other nuclear power
plants. Followers believe this helps “heal the problem of
nuclear waste”.
Undercover reporters who attended a Kabbalah Centre dinner in
London described how Madonna and Ritchie were among guests who
turned east towards Chernobyl and began shouting its name.
Some Kabbalah followers are even said to believe that nuclear
waste is the cause of the Aids epidemic.
Madonna has said: “According to science we aren’t going to have
a planet in about 50 years at the rate we’re going with nuclear
waste.
"I can write the greatest songs and make the most fabulous films
and be a fashion icon and conquer the world, but if there isn't a
world to conquer, what's the point?
"I've just come to a place in my life where I'm trying to really
see what the big picture is and where my energy is better spent,
and that's one area I'm really concerned about."
The Kabbalah Centre is believed to have sponsored Oroz, a
"23rd-century" research body in New York that heralded a
"breakthrough" in neutralising radioactive waste.
Dr Artur Spokojny, the director of Oroz and a Kabbalah follower,
is said to have developed a "revolutionary" decontamination agent
called Orodyne, which can reportedly also treat gynaecological
problems in cows and sheep.
Three years ago the research centre claimed it had experimented
with the agent in Lake Glyboke near Chernobyl and had
successfully decontaminated the water.
BNFL says it was approached by "a Mr Ritchie" at that time.
Ritchie was told by one senior executive that the scheme defied
the laws of physics but he persisted and was referred to a team
led by Sue Ion, BNFL's executive director of technology, said to
have "a brain the size of a planet".
The industry is trying to find ways to dispose of enough waste to
fill five Royal Albert Halls, with more on the way if plans for
new nuclear power stations go ahead, so anyone with a viable
solution could expect a sympathetic hearing.
Paul Vallance, director of communications for British Nuclear
Group, the nuclear clean-up arm of BNFL, said: "If Mr Ritchie, or
anyone else for that matter, has such a solution we would be more
than happy to speak to them."
Madonna was not available to comment because she is on tour in
Germany.
A spokeswoman said: "I've spoken to Guy's office and I don't
think he is going to be available to talk about this . . . I
don't think it's top of the list of things they are working on at
the moment."
Copyright 2006 Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
40 Nevada Appeal: Yucca Mountain project may soon be put to rest
Opinion
August 20, 2006
Gov. Kenny Guinn
During my two terms as Nevada's governor, perhaps no single
issue has been as vexing and problematic as the efforts of the
federal government to locate a repository for highly radioactive
waste and spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain, just 90 miles
from Las Vegas. Despite a decade of revelations about the site's
fatal geotechnical flaws and the systematic falsification of
scientific data by project personnel, somehow this federal
project, spearheaded by the Department of Energy (DOE), continues
to be pushed down our collective throats.
Now, after years of strong, sustained, and unified opposition by
the State, its political leaders, congressional delegation,
citizens, local governments, and others, Yucca Mountain finally
and deservedly appears to be headed toward the trash bin of
history.
In 2002, I issued a statement outlining reasons why I had
disapproved the President's decision to recommend Yucca Mountain
as a nuclear waste repository. In that statement, I observed
that, "Yucca Mountain is but the latest in a long series of DOE
boondoggles-one based on bad science, bad law, and bad public
policy. In addition, better, cheaper, and safer alternatives
exist." The statement went on to conclude, "the only thing
inevitable about Yucca Mountain is that it will plot the course
of so many other doomed DOE mega-projects." More than two billion
dollars of taxpayer and ratepayer dollars later, Congress finally
appears to have reached the same conclusion.
U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Pete
Dominici-a prominent supporter of nuclear power and the nuclear
industry-recently introduced new legislation that shifts focus
from the failed Yucca Mountain program to the concept of interim
storage, either at existing reactor locations or at regional
"consolidation and preparation" (CAP) facilities. The
legislation, subsequently approved by the full Committee,
implicitly recognizes for the first time that the country is on
the wrong track in its approach to dealing with spent nuclear
fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The importance of this
legislation cannot be overstated.
Despite the looming death knell for the Yucca Mountain project,
recent media coverage of DOE's revised Yucca Mountain schedule-a
timetable that would have the facility begin operations in 2017-
clearly demonstrates that officials at DOE's Office of Civilian
Radioactive Waste Management will continue the agency's
bureaucratic effort to keep the fiction surrounding this site
alive.
As with other major federal programs that have ultimately
collapsed under the weight of shoddy science, excessive costs,
and strong opposition-a super colliding superconductor and the
Clinch River breeder reactor to name just two-the Yucca Mountain
program is not likely to disappear overnight. Like General
Douglas MacArthur's reference to old soldiers, such federal
programs tend to fade away over time. Sen. Dominici may have
envisioned such an eventuality when he suggested that the time
has come to put Yucca on the "back burner" while the country
explores more reasonable and potentially successful nuclear waste
strategies.
The Yucca Mountain fight has been a long and difficult one.
Nevadans can be justifiably proud of how the State has pulled
together to bring this dangerous, ill-advised, and unnecessary
project to a standstill. For years, Nevada has stood alone in
opposing the project and exposing Yucca's fraudulent science,
excessive costs, and unacceptable impacts and risks. Nevada has
also been at the forefront of the effort to alert the rest of the
nation to the tremendous hazards associated with transporting
thousands of shipments of deadly radioactive waste across the
country to an unsafe site in Nevada.
It has been Nevada's strong and unyielding opposition over the
past two decades that has prevented an out-of-control federal
bureaucracy from making a mistake of unprecedented proportions,
which would impact many generations of citizens-both in Nevada
and around the United States-for thousands of years to come.
Although the battle is not yet over, I am very encouraged by the
new thinking and direction in Congress. Thanks to the sustained
efforts of all Nevadans, we may finally be seeing the light at
the end of the Yucca Mountain tunnel and the beginning of a new
chapter in the nation's approach to solving the nuclear waste
problem.
• Kenny Guinn is the governor of Nevada.
All contents © Copyright 2006 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
41 San Luis Obispo Tribune: Full steam ahead for Diablo project
| 08/19/2006 |
PG starts building a place to house radioactive waste despite
requests for an injunction to stop construction
David Sneed dsneed@thetribunenews.com[Diablo Canyon dry storage
construction. Each circle will be the location of a container. ]
Tribune Photo by Jayson Mellom Diablo Canyon dry storage
construction. Each circle will be the location of a container.
+ Siren test this afternoon
Diablo Canyon’s dry cask spent fuel storage facility is
beginning to take shape.
Twenty metal rings embedded in an 8-foot-thick concrete slab
mark where large casks will one day be mounted. Each cask will
contain 32 used but still highly radioactive reactor fuel
assemblies.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is proceeding apace with the
project despite a requested injunction to stop it. Construction
on a hillside behind the plant is expected to be completed by
year’s end but the first cask will not be loaded until November
2007.
Next to the slab sits another one in the making. It consists of
a dense cage of metal reinforcing bars with 20 more metal rings
perched atop it. On Tuesday, workers will fill that metal cage
with more than 2,000 cubic yards of concrete, a job so big it
will take 14 hours to complete.
The rings make this project unique, said Jearl Strickland,
Diablo Canyon’s spent fuel manager. The cask will be bolted to
the rings. At all other aboveground spent fuel storage
facilities, the casks sit unattached on their concrete pads.
"We are the only site in the world that anchors the casks,"
Strickland said.
Bolting the casks to the pad is intended to prevent them from
toppling over during an earthquake, a particular concern along
the seismically active Central Coast. At 20 feet tall and
weighing 170 tons each, the casks need 8 feet of concrete to
provide a sufficient anchor.
PG is authorized by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build
seven such pads to accommodate 138 dry casks. It will initially
build only two — enough for 40 casks. The remaining slabs will
be added as needed. When complete, it will cover an area the
size of one and a half football fields.
Since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, storage facilities
for high level radioactive waste have been lightning rods for
controversy, none more so than the one at Diablo Canyon.
A federal appeals court recently ruled that the NRC should
examine the environmental impacts of a terrorist attack on the
dry cask facility. The NRC and PG are still deciding whether
they will appeal the ruling.
In the meantime, the San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace and other
groups have asked the NRC to order PG to stop building the dry
cask facility until the federal court case is resolved.
Officials with the agency say the commission will rule on the
injunction request sometime before the facility opens.
Spent fuel at Diablo Canyon has generated another lawsuit. PG
has sued the federal Department of Energy in the Court of
Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. for its failure to open an
underground nuclear storage facility at Yucca Mountain.
The utility is seeking $100 million from the agency to offset
the costs it incurred through 2004 developing on-site storage
facilities at Diablo Canyon and its defunct Humboldt Bay nuclear
plant. A ruling on that case is expected in early September,
Strickland said.
David Sneed at 781-7930.
*****************************************************************
42 KAVKAZ CENTER: Secret Russian Military Uranium Enrichment Plant Operating
in Chechnya Publication time
: 20 August 2006, 10:09
In connection with some suspicious Russian-American activity for
removing highly radioacrive materials, independent analysts
remind of the fact that a secret Russian uranium enrichment
military facility was operating in the Chechen capital of Jokhar
(former Groznyi) at least at the time of the USSR.
A reference to this facility is contained in the book by Avraham
Shifrin called The First Guidebook to Prisons and Concentration
Camps in the Soviet Union, Stóphanus Edition, Uldingen/Seewis
(Switzerland), 1980. On page 34 in a list of 41 Russian death
camps, camp No 10 is described as "Groznyi, Chechen-Ingush
A.S.S.R. - underground uranium mining, uranium enricment
facility".
The books says that the Groznyi camp belongs to the first group
of Russian death camps, that is "camps that almost no one ever
comes out of alive again (the prisoners work in uranium mines and
uranium enrichment plants)".
Nothing is known about the fate of this uranium enrichment plant
today but there is enough evidence that the Russians secretly use
radioactive materials for their genocide of the Chechen people.
KC
Copyright © 1999-2006. "Kavkaz-Center" News Agency
*****************************************************************
43 Sunday Herald: BNFL paid union to back new nuclear power stations -
By Rob Edwards, Environment Editor
TRADE unionists have been given thousands of pounds by their
government company bosses to campaign in favour of Tony Blairs
new nuclear power programme.
Funding from state-owned British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) paid for
airfares, hotels, dinners and refreshments for union members
from nuclear plants to lobby delegates at Labour and TUC
conferences in Brighton last autumn.
BNFL has been accused of using taxpayers money to create a
pro-nuclear front organisation, while the trade unionists
involved have been attacked by fellow unionists for getting into
bed with the employer.
But this is denied by the nuclear trade unions, who insist that
they are defending our jobs, our livelihoods and our communities
from attack.
Documents obtained by the Sunday Herald reveal that £15,050 was
claimed in expenses from BNFL for Nuklear21 union meetings in
2005-06.
Nuklear21 is a campaign group that brings together workers from
five trade unions at nuclear plants across the UK to lobby for
new reactors.
Included in the expenses was £3311 for activists to attend the
annual Labour and TUC conferences in Brighton in September 2005.
There, they were able to lobby ministers, MPs and trade union
leaders in support of nuclear power.
Copies of the expense claims filed on behalf of Nuklear21 show
that £2050 was spent on hotels, £343 on air travel from
Newcastle and £275.77 on dinners.
The five unions involved in Nuklear21 are GMB, Amicus, Prospect,
TGWU and UCATT. It is led by workers from nuclear plants at
Sellafield in Cumbria, Capenhurst in Cheshire and Chapelcross in
Dumfries and Galloway and has been lobbying politicians at
Westminster and Holyrood to back nuclear power.
But their activities have drawn fierce fire from within the
trade union movement. If somebody gets into bed with the
employer, they are totally compromised, said Ronnie Waugh, a
member of the GMB national executive, speaking in a personal
capacity. Their independence is eroded. And they dont mention
within the GMB that they are subsidised by the employer.
Jean McSorley, from the anti-nuclear group Greenpeace, pointed
out that if trade unions wanted a political fighting fund they
could levy their members. For them to go cap-in-hand to their
employers is just appalling, she said.
They have a legitimate right to fight for their jobs, but they
are using illegitimate means taxpayers money.
Nuklear21s expense claims were released to the Sunday Herald by
BNFL in response to an appeal under the Freedom of Information
Act. The company had initially claimed that it did not hold any
information about the groups funding.
But this was overturned after a review by BNFLs head of
taxation, David Canfield. He said the companys initial attempts
to trace documents about Nuklear21 funding were evidently not
sufficient.
BNFL said last week that it had paid out £15,050 in support of
trade union activities in general, suggesting that not all the
money was spent by Nuklear21. Accredited trade union
representatives, it has argued, have a legitimate role in
promoting and defending employment in the nuclear industry.
Nuklear21s national secretary Howard Rooms, who works at
Sellafield, said: Were doing the work of trade unionists in
defending our jobs, our livelihoods and our communities.
The company has no say in what we lobby for and who we lobby.
There was no conflict in accepting expenses from BNFL while
representing its workers on pay and conditions, he argued.
Rooms pointed out that it would be difficult to distinguish
between payments for Nuklear21 and for other activities because
expense claims were mostly just made for trade union duties. He
brushed aside criticism of BNFL paying for dinners out in
Brighton. Weve got to eat, havent we? he said.
20 August 2006
Got something to say about this story? Write to the Editor
© newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
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44 reviewjournal.com: Report faults DOE on nuclear waste
Aug. 19, 2006
Investigators say mistakes on Yucca repeated
By STEVE TETREAULT
Stephens Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy still is failing to do a
good job of correcting mistakes in its nuclear waste program, a
problem that could affect safety and delay the proposed Yucca
Mountain repository even more, investigators said in a report
issued Friday.
Since DOE put a new corrections program in place in October 2003,
workers have reported more than 5,600 potential problems with
data, software and computer models for repository designs.
But auditors found that more than half of the most significant
potential problems were not addressed in a timely manner, and
mistakes continued to be repeated. More than 100 possible
problems that should have been handled through formal corrective
action were not managed properly, they added.
The 20-page report released by the Energy Department's inspector
general underscored DOE's continuing struggle to manage details
of the complex undertaking.
DOE had asked the inspector general to audit its corrections
program, which was put in place after it was found that earlier
systems for fixing deficiencies were not working.
DOE accepted the latest audit and "initiated an aggressive plan
of action to improve the program," according to the report.
"This review shows the commitment that this department has
toward improving the management and oversight of the Yucca
Mountain Project," DOE spokesman Craig Stevens said in a
prepared statement.
Bob Loux, a repository critic and director of the Nevada Agency
for Nuclear Projects, said the latest audit spotlighted the same
DOE problems as before with quality assurance.
"We have been seeing and hearing about these kinds of things for
some time," Loux said.
"If anything, the IG is understating the effect these problems
have. In other nuclear facilities, these things have resulted in
cancellations."
The Energy Department has set a June 2008 goal to send the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission a comprehensive application to
license a repository where 77,000 tons of highly radioactive
spent fuel would be handled and stored within Yucca Mountain,
100 miles northwest of Las Vegas.
Following an eight-month audit, inspectors said they were told
by Yucca managers that some corrections "proved to be more
complicated than anticipated." In some cases, corrections were
delayed for budget reasons.
Problems could delay NRC licensing to begin repository
construction, auditors said.
DOE missed its original 1998 deadline to open a Yucca repository
and also abandoned a 2010 startup date. Its new target for
repository operations is March 2017.
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
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45 Independent: Nuclear stalemate plunges Sellafield auction 'into crisis'
Britain's £70bn decommissioning plans falter as BNFL goes back to
the drawing board over sale of subsidiary
By Tim Webb
Published: 20 August 2006
Fears are growing that the Government's auction of BNG, the
nuclear clean-up group, could be delayed by up to a year.
The board of BNG's parent company, BNFL, will hold a special
meeting later this week to try to find a way forward.
The Government is selling off a number of state-owned assets and
BNFL had planned to get the sale under way in the autumn. But it
is understood that disagreements with the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the body set up to handle the
UK's estimated £70bn clean-up job, are likely to delay the
plans.
The proposed sale of BNG, which was confirmed by the Government
in March, is complex. It is being run jointly by the NDA and
BNFL but they have yet to agree on how to proceed. Both deny
there is any disagreement.
The NDA is still drawing up a new five-year contract for BNG to
continue to operate and decommission the huge Sellafield site in
Cumbria. Whoever buys BNG will inherit the Sellafield contract,
which currently generates most of BNG's profits.
Earlier this month, the NDA pencilled in an "industry day" on 22
August for those companies interested in buying the company to
take a closer look. However, this was scrapped. Instead, the NDA
is planning to start the sale by issuing a public procurement
notice, an official document announcing that a government
contract is being put out to tender.
BNFL and the Treasury also want to set a high price tag for BNG.
But the NDA does not share their priorities. It could, for
example, sell BNG for a token £1 if the company's new owner
promises to make a smaller profit on the Sellafield contract.
The alternative, preferred by BNFL, is to allow the new owner to
recoup its large up-front outlay in buying BNG by making higher
margins on the contract.
The Amicus union claimed the impasse had plunged the
Government's plans to create a competitive market for
decommissioning into crisis. It is also concerned that small UK
companies will be put off from bidding for BNG as, in its
current guise, it is too large and has a wide range of
activities. The original plan was to sell BNG as a whole, but
this could now change.
Dougie Rooney, Amicus national officer for energy, said: "We
urge the Government to delay the sale of BNG while the process
is re-evaluated."
A spokesman for BNFL said: "It's a complex business and
obviously with such a complex set of issues we want to make sure
we get it right. If the sale takes a bit longer so be it."
A statement from the NDA said: "A sale of BNG by competitive
process, together with a new contract for our biggest and most
important site, is a complex challenge on which the NDA has been
focusing enormous effort since the end of March.
"We want a new contract in place at Sellafield as soon as
possible, and the NDA is doing everything it can to make
progress on the timetable to achieve this. We must ensure,
however, that the competition process follows strict EU
procurement rules."
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
*****************************************************************
46 Czech Happenings: Pacejov area residents protest against nuclear waste storage site
ÈeskéNoviny.cz
Azorské ostrovy
21.8. 2006
Pacejov- Dozens of people from Pacejov and its surroundings
took part in a march in protest against Pacejov figuring on the
list of possible sites where spent nuclear fuel could be stored
in the future.
The locals regularly organise the protest marches in spite of
the fact that the state has suspended the preparation of the
nuclear waste storage site until 2009.
"This problem does not concern only the Pacejov area, but the
whole Sumava," Jirina Rippelova, mayor of Susice, a town
situated further southwards at the Sumava foothills, said.
Pacejov is among the five localities that the authorities have
selected as potential spent nuclear fuel storage sites. Local
inhabitants want to repeat their protests until the government
definitively deletes the area from the list.
People fear underground water contamination, problems with the
depositing and transport of the waste and also a possible
terrorist attack. Inhabitants of Pacejov and the two nearest
villages have rejected the project in a local referendum in
April 2004.
Author: ÈTK. 16:51 - 19.08.2006
(c) 1995-2006 Neris s.r.o. Ochrana osobních dat [ Titulní strana
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47 Green Left Weekly: Alliance calls a nuke free Australia
www.greenleft.org.au
Holly Creenaune
An Alliance against Uranium meeting on July 29-30, on Athenge
Lhere land at Mt Everard near Alice Springs in central
Australia, resolved to oppose federal government plans for a
nuclear waste dump.
Attending were members of the Arrernte, Luritja, Adnymathahana,
Arabunna, Warlmanpa and Larrakia/Wulna Aboriginal nations,
Engawala and Atitjere communities and environmental, public
health and social justice groups including Friends of the Earth,
Medical Association for the Prevention of War, Anti-Nuclear
Alliance of WA, Australian Conservation Foundation, Wilderness
Society, Arid Lands Environment Centre, Environment Centre NT,
Beyond Nuclear Initiative, Australian Student Environment
Network, Canberra Region Anti-Nuclear Campaign and the
Queensland Nuclear Free Alliance.
The meeting place is one of the areas being targeted by the
federal government as a potential Commonwealth radioactive waste
dump. The other sites being considered are Harts Range, Fishers
Ridge and Muckaty Station, all in the Northern Territory.
The Indigenous participants told of their deep concerns about
the horrific impacts of nuclear activities on land, water, bush
tucker and culture. The meeting committed itself to campaign
against the imposition of a dump anywhere in Australia.
Participants also affirmed the traditional owners’ rights to a
clean country and clean water, and called on all political
parties to oppose more uranium mining and greater involvement in
the global nuclear industry. There was unanimous agreement to
share information and campaign together for a safe, clean,
nuclear-free Australia.
[Holly Creenaune is the national convenor of the Australian
Student Environment Network.]
From Green Left Weekly, August 23, 2006.
Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.
Authorised by K. Miller, 23 Abercrombie St, Chippendale, NSW
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48 The State: S.C. delegation needs to preserve plutonium project
| 08/20/2006 |
[Opinion] Opinion [XML]
AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE, the K Reactor is being put to a new
purpose. It is storing weapons-grade plutonium; 34 tons of the
highly radioactive substance is on its way there from around the
country.
The reactor was not built to be used as a large storage
facility, and this role is no long-term answer.
Unless Congress gets its act together, however, that
accumulating plutonium will be a long-term problem for South
Carolina. If that happens, no excuse from Washington will be
sufficient.
South Carolina agreed, amid much debate, to take on the tough
job of reprocessing this substance, which otherwise would be
lethal for thousands of years. The federal government pledged to
build at SRS a facility for transforming the weapons material
into mixed-oxide fuel that could produce nuclear power. In
effect, the stuff of nuclear bombs would become light and heat
for homes and businesses in the Southeast.
The project has been under way since 2002: More than $500
million has been spent, and design work on the reprocessing
facility is almost complete. The plutonium has been coming in
from across the United States. A bad time to stop and rethink
the whole project? You might think so, but youre not Congress.
A U.S. House budget bill has a big zero in it for the MOX
project. The Senate has indicated its support for continuing the
project as have the White House and the Department of Energy.
But unsightly things can happen when Congress tries to compile a
final budget in a hurry, as it is likely to do after Election
Day this year. When the congressional break ends in September,
the South Carolina delegation needs to step forward to ensure
that the MOX project continues.
One of the reasons cited for the budget cut is concern over a
Russian parallel project for plutonium reprocessing that seems
to be stalled. That should not bring the work at SRS to a halt.
The Russians have reiterated their pledge to put 34 tons of
weapons-grade plutonium beyond use; the disagreement is over how
to proceed, not the goal. However the Russian end of the
arrangement works out, the project in South Carolina should
proceed.
Theres a lot at stake here. About a half-billion dollars has
been spent already. The plutonium is piling up in a building
that is not any kind of long-term storage facility, and it cant
just be left there for centuries. Doing nothing is not an
option with weapons-grade plutonium, says Rep. John Spratt, who
has worked to remind colleagues of the need to keep MOX going.
At stake here, too, is the word of the U.S. government. If the
Energy Departments past assurances are blown away by
congressional whim, the respect accorded to the federal
government, often in short supply already, will be further
diminished.
Right now, many members of the congressional delegation are
meeting with constituents across the state. They need to be
assuring the public that on this vital South Carolina project,
they will keep their eye on the ball during the coming budget
battle. And voters need to tell them to go back and make sure
the MOX project is given the funding it needs, for the sake of
South Carolina, the nation and the world.
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49 Tri-City Herald: Fluor ordered to pay whistleblower
Published Saturday, August 19th, 2006
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
Fluor Hanford retaliated against a worker who raised safety
concerns at Hanford's K Basins, a Washington administrative
judge has ruled.
Richard Cecil was laid off after he challenged a 2003 management
decision to operate a crane moving radioactive spent fuel
despite a warning its brakes might be faulty, according to
testimony in the case.
Fluor has been ordered to pay Cecil $13,391 in back pay, plus
interest. It also must post findings of the violation of the
employee protection provision for 60 days on all bulletin boards
at Hanford where Fluor's official documents are posted, the
Department of Labor judge directed.
Cecil, who started work at Hanford in 1988, was working as
field-work supervisor at the K Basins in February 2003. While
looking for the source of an unusual noise in the crane, workers
found uneven brake wear that could tilt the cask and spill
radioactively contaminated water, according to Cecil.
He refused to sign the work order to return the crane to service
until engineers certified it was safe. At a meeting to discuss
the issue, Cecil and two millwrights ordered to put the brakes
back together said the brakes needed to be reinstalled and a
load test conducted before the crane was returned to operation.
Managers at the meeting pushed to restart the crane quickly and
"expressed displeasure with those who slowed this progress,"
according to the ruling. When the crane was not operating, the
transfer of fuel out of the K East Basin stopped, and production
goals could not be met.
One manager confirmed that possible disciplinary action against
one of the millwrights was discussed at the meeting when that
millwright objected to reassembling the brakes, according to the
ruling.
In addition, two millwrights testified they believed their jobs
were in jeopardy because a Fluor human resource officer who
usually attended disciplinary actions attended the meeting on
the crane's brakes after his regular working hours.
The brakes were reinstalled, rather than replaced, and a load
test performed.
A few weeks later, Cecil was transferred to another job with
less responsibility and little work to do. Less than two months
later, Cecil was given an evaluation with reduced performance
ratings, then laid off, according to the ruling.
Cecil applied for several jobs beginning in May 2003, but was
not rehired until the end of September.
Administrative Law Judge William Dorsey wrote that the presence
of a human resource officer at the brake safety meeting outside
his regular working hours "was a deliberate management strategy
to pressure the millwrights to get the crane back in operation
as soon as possible, regardless of their misgivings."
The judge also found a probable connection between the drop in
Cecil's performance rating and evidence "that management
harbored resentment toward him for slowing down the crane's
production with his safety concerns."
Two coworkers testified that managers said Cecil was laid off
because he did not "keep his mouth shut." The judge said he was
inclined to believe the workers, despite management denials.
"The plaintiff has shown that Fluor retaliated against him for
whistleblowing," the judge concluded.
Cecil has 20 days to file for attorney fees.
The ruling follows a September 2005 jury verdict awarding 11
Fluor Federal Services pipefitters $4.76 million in damages,
noted the Government Accountability Project, which represented
Cecil. The workers lost their jobs after they complained about
safety problems or supported those who did.
In addition, Fluor agreed to pay a $415,000 settlement out of
court in July to a worker who lost his job after accusing Fluor
of releasing hexavalent chromium into the ground in the 100 H
Area in the early 2000s during cleanup work, said Tom Carpenter,
GAP nuclear oversight director. Fluor released a statement
saying there was no finding of liability in the case.
"Mr. Cecil is just the latest victim in a campaign by Fluor
Hanford against workers who voice safety concerns," Carpenter
said.
Fluor issued a statement saying there is room for improving the
way safety concerns are raised and addressed, but, "Our general
experience over the past 10 years is that Fluor Hanford
employees who raise concerns are supported without retaliation.
"Each employee has a right and a responsibility to stop work
until concerns can be addressed," the company said.
© 2006 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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