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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [NYTr] Cheney Defends War on Iraq, Even if No WMDs
2 Guardian Unlimited: Senate Finds No al-Qaida-Saddam Link
3 Iran Has Continued Uranium Enrichment Activities, Says UN Nuclear Wa
4 [southnews] Annan sees fears Iran standoff could lead to war
5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiations Go Into 2nd Day
6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiators Report Progress
7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran May Consider Enrichment Suspension
8 IRNA: Davoodi: No logic can justify Iran's non-access to nuclear ene
9 Guardian: Attacking Iran is not a long-term solution
10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Larijani, Solana resume talks 
11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Belarus supports Iran N-issue, FM 
12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Russia vows to complete Bushehr deal 
13 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI's access to N-energy is logical 
14 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: America continuing to make mistakes 
15 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Door open for nuclear talks- Speaker 
16 AFP: Larijani arrives in Vienna for last-ditch EU-Iran meeting -
17 AFP: Last-ditch EU-Iran nuclear talks to continue amid 'progress' -
18 AFP: US wants sanctions on Iran to focus on finances - Rice
19 AFP: EU-Iran nuclear talks resume as Tehran rules out enrichment hal
20 AFP: Iran, EU to resume crunch atom talks 
21 AFP: Iran said to offer 2-month atomic enrichment halt 
22 AFP: In change of tone, Bush interested in 'learning more' about Ira
23 Hankyoreh: N. Korean leader 'determined' to test nuclear weapons
24 Korea Herald: 'N.K. plans to test nukes'   
25 IHT: SKorea, Japan to conduct joint survey on radioactive waste near
26 Korea Times: Pyongyang Ready for Underground Nuclear Test Highly Pro
27 Korea Times: Seoul, Tokyo Plan Joint Survey Near Dokdo 
28 Korea Times: Pressuring Pyongyang One Way to Resume 6-Way Talks
29 AFP: Roh and Bush set for bumpy summit amid strains over North Korea
30 US: WorldNetDaily: Bolton and the vigilantes
31 The Hindu: 'Strip parts of Bill on Indo-US N-deal that worry lawmake
32 Hankyoreh: East Sea radioactive waste survey with Japan not linked t
33 AFP: Asian leaders gather in Helsinki for summit with EU 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
34 US: The State: S.C. must take lead in developing hydrogen technology
35 US: Beacon Journal: FirstEnergy reactor off-line
36 The Hindu: Chaos at public hearing on uranium project 
37 US: Houston Chronicle: South Texas Project nuclear plant faces scrut
38 The Hindu: Tamil Nadu: Time ripe for India to clinch nuclear deal
39 Independent: Government blocks Ł400m US bid for British Nuclear Grou
40 US: toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse back after 2-day outage
41 US: Brattleboro Reformer: Legal fight over VY uprate enters final st
42 BUCHAREST DAILY NEWS: Romania's nuclear reactor turned off for annua
43 US: Capital Reports: Proposed rule would expand NRC's authority over
44 US: Daily Press: Other Voices: Don't fear nuclear plants
45 IHT: Romania's nuclear reactor turned off for annual tests - 
46 CNIC: GNEP Expression Of Interest
47 US: Investor's Business Daily: Confronting The Power Shift
48 Bahrain News Agency: Nuclear technology effects conference commences
49 AFP: Norwegian nuclear reactor shut down after alarm 
50 AFP: Norwegian nuclear reactor shut down after alarm 
51 US: IANS: US think tank seeks quick senate action on n-deal
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
52 TorontoSun.com: Nuke sites strengthened against attack
53 US: Gainesville Sun: Nuclear reactor at UF will house safer uranium 
54 US: recordonline.com: Used nuclear fuel vulnerable to terrorists, Re
55 US: Connecticut Post: Power plants vulerable or secure?
56 US: Boston Globe: Five years after 9/11 and the spending of millions
57 US: Newsday.com: Chertoff: NYC to test nuclear screening devices - 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
58 US: Rutland Herald: Vermont Yankee shipment exceeds radiation limits
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
59 London Times: Divers risk death to clear atomic beach - 
60 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast widow attests to husband's slow decl
61 reviewjournal.com: Transporting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain coul
62 US: Pahrump Valley Times: Nuke recycling not trip's focus         
63 reviewjournal.com: ADS URGE LAWMAKERS: 'Fix Yucca Mountain'
64 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Politics glows: Politicians deserve credit fo
65 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nuke-dump backers ponder their next move 
66 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Hatch jawboned N-dump decision 
67 US: The Dispatch: Olin Lambasted For 'Do Nothing' Approach in Ground
68 US: JournalStar.com: Nuke waste needs to be safely buried
69 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Interior dumps N-waste plan 
 
                           PEACE
 
70 IAEA: Central Asia: Towards a Nuclear-Free World
71 UPI: U.N. welcomes nuclear-free Central Asia
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
72 Tri-City Herald: PNNL research jumps after 9/11 
73 Tri-City Herald: PNNL creates threat scenario 
74 Tri-City Herald: Board tells DOE to clarify cleanup 
75 LA Daily News: CLWA set to clean toxic wells
76 Knox News: ORNL workers put at risk
77 KnoxNews: Y-12 acquires new machine tool
78 Knox News: S.C. hopes for hydrogen economy
79 Knox News: Fast facts about hydrogen
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [NYTr] Cheney Defends War on Iraq, Even if No WMDs
 
Date: Sun, 10 Sep 2006 18:59:47 -0400 (EDT)

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X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
MSNBC - Sep 10, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14767199/

Cheney: WMD or not, Iraq invasion was correct

Vice president says 'we would do exactly the same thing' regardless of
intel

President Bush would have ordered an invasion of Iraq even if the CIA had
told him that Saddam Hussein had no weapons of mass destruction, Vice
President Dick Cheney said Sunday.

In the build-up to the U.S. invasion in 2003, Bush and other administration
leaders argued that Saddam should be removed from power because he had
stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and was actively seeking to
build a nuclear weapon.

Subsequent investigations concluded that he did not have such weapons, and
in an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press," Cheney acknowledged that,
"clearly, the intelligence that said he did was wrong."

Asked by "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert whether the United States would
have gone ahead with the invasion anyway if the CIA had reported that
Saddam did not, in fact, have such weapons, Cheney said yes.

"He'd done it before," Cheney said. "He had produced chemical weapons
before and used them. He had produced biological weapons. He had a robust
nuclear program in '91."

The U.S. invasion "was the right thing to do, and if we had to do it again,
we would do exactly the same thing," he said.

U.S. will being tested

Cheney also said he was wrong when he said shortly before the invasion that
U.S. forces would be "greeted as liberators." Instead, more than three
years later, violent resistance to the U.S.-backed government in Baghdad
continues, and more than 2,600 U.S. service members have been killed.

"No doubt, we did not anticipate that the insurgency would last this long,"
Cheney said. The United States must stay the course, however, because while
the situation is "difficult," it is significantly better, he said.

Cheney acknowledged opinion polls that show that a majority of the U.S.
public believes Iraq is a more dangerous threat than it was before U.S.
forces invaded.

"The people obviously are frustrated because of the difficulty, because of
the cost and the casualties, but you cannot look at Iraq in isolation," he
said. "You have to look at it within the context of the broader global war
on terror. ... If Saddam Hussein were still in power, we would be in a
vastly worse position."

Should the United States pull out of Iraq, Cheney said, the governments of
Iraq and Pakistan, which he said had staked their futures on the U.S.
commitment, would conclude that "the United States hasn't got the stomach
for the fight. Bin Laden's right, al-Qaida's right, the United States has
lost its will and will not complete the mission."

U.S. faces long haul in Afghanistan

In neighboring Afghanistan, meanwhile, a U.S.-backed government is facing
its worst surge of violence in the nearly five years since the United
States booted out the militant Islamic Taliban government, and Cheney said
Western forces would likely be fighting a nationwide insurgency for "some
considerable period of time."

Appearing on "Meet the Press" on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Cheney similarly
defended the U.S. military performance in Afghanistan, contending that "we
are much better off today because Afghanistan is not the safe haven for
terrorism that it was five years ago."

Insurgent leaders there are proving unexpectedly dangerous because they
have changed their tactics, abandoning direct attacks on military units in
favor of a guerrilla-style hit-and-run approach, he said.

The new approach makes it vital that the American public remain committed
to the U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Cheney said, because the
insurgents are willing to absorb heavy losses in a long battle of
attrition.

"They can't beat us in a stand-up fight, but they're also convinced they
can break our will," Cheney said.

He acknowledged that U.S. and Afghan forces, now joined by NATO forces,
were "still in the fight for Afghanistan" almost five years after U.S.
forces invaded to remove the Taliban for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama
bin Laden, mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

NATO said Sunday that 94 militants were killed in the Panjwayi and
neighboring Zhari districts overnight, raising the toll from a
counterinsurgency operation now in its ninth day past 420. Six NATO
soldiers and 14 members of the British crew of a reconnaissance plane have
also died.

Meanwhile, in eastern Afghanistan, a suicide bombing killed three people
Sunday, including the governor of Paktia province, and wounded three
others, police said.

The U.S. military said Saturday that a suicide bombing cell targeting
foreign troops was operating in the capital, Kabul. The warning came two
days after a car bomber rammed into a U.S. army convoy near the U.S.
Embassy, killing 16 people, the worst such attack in the capital.

Other topics

In the hour-long interview, Cheney also:

  * Said he still disagreed with the Supreme Court's decision in June that
    the administration overstepped its authority in holding suspected
    terrorists without trials or the protections of the Geneva Conventions.
    He would not discuss specific treatment of detainees but said
    information gleaned from interrogations "helped us prevent attacks
    against the United States."

  * Refused to criticize plans by Republicans to spend millions off dollars
    on negative campaign ads against Democrats. "I hope our guys have good,
    hard-hitting advertisements. Certainly, the opposition does," he said.
    He predicted that Republicans would keep control of both House and the
    Senate.

  * Called his former chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, who is
    awaiting trial in the CIA leak case, "a good man ... entitled to a
    presumption of innocence." Cheney would not comment on what his own
    role in that case may have been, saying he was likely to be called as a
    witness in Libby's trial.

  * Said that he had not been hunting since a Feb. 11 hunting trip in Texas
    when he accidentally shot lawyer Harry Whittington in the torso, neck
    and face but that he intended to go hunting again. "I don't know that
    you ever get over it," he said. "Fortunately, Harry is doing very
    well."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
       
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 2 Guardian Unlimited: Senate Finds No al-Qaida-Saddam Link
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday September 9, 2006 9:01 AM

AP Photo NYOL777 

By JIM ABRAMS 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Saddam Hussein rejected overtures from
al-Qaida and believed Islamic extremists were a threat to his
regime, a reverse portrait of an Iraq allied with Osama bin
Laden painted by the Bush White House, a Senate panel has found. 

The administration's version was based in part on intelligence
that White House officials knew was flawed, according to
Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee, citing newly
declassified documents released by the panel. 

The report, released Friday, discloses for the first time an
October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam's
government ``did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind
eye toward'' al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his
associates. 

As recently as an Aug. 21 news conference, President Bush said
people should ``imagine a world in which you had Saddam
Hussein'' with the capacity to make weapons of mass destruction
and ``who had relations with Zarqawi.'' 

Democrats singled out CIA Director George Tenet, saying that
during a private meeting in July Tenet told the panel that the
White House pressured him and that he agreed to back up the
administration's case for war despite his own agents' doubts
about the intelligence it was based on. 

``Tenet admitted to the Intelligence Committee that the
policymakers wanted him to 'say something about not being
inconsistent with what the president had said,''' Intelligence
Committee member Carl Levin, D-Mich., told reporters Friday. 

Tenet also told the committee that complying had been ``the
wrong thing to do,'' according to Levin. 

``Well, it was much more than that,'' Levin said. ``It was a
shocking abdication of a CIA director's duty not to act as a
shill for any administration or its policy.'' 

Leaders of both parties accused each other of seeking political
gain on the eve of the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11
attacks. 

Republicans said the document contained little new information
about prewar intelligence or postwar findings on Iraq's weapons
and connection to terrorist groups. 

Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., accused
Democrats of trying to ``use the committee ... insisting that
they were deliberately duped into supporting the overthrow of
Saddam Hussein's regime.'' 

``That is simply not true,'' Roberts added, ``and I believe the
American people are smart enough to recognize election-year
politicking when they see it.'' 

The report speaks for itself, Democrats said. 

The administration ``exploited the deep sense of insecurity
among Americans in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11
attacks, leading a large majority of Americans to believe -
contrary to the intelligence assessments at the time - that Iraq
had a role in the 9/11 attacks,'' said Sen. Jay Rockefeller,
D-W.Va., the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. 

Still, Democrats were reluctant to say how the administration
officials involved should be called to account. 

Asked whether the wrongdoing amounted to criminal conduct, Levin
and Rockefeller declined to answer. Rockefeller said later he
did not believe Bush should be impeached over the matter. 

According to the report, postwar findings indicate that Saddam
``was distrustful of al-Qaida and viewed Islamic extremists as a
threat to his regime.'' It quotes an FBI report from June 2004
in which former Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz said in an
interview that ``Saddam only expressed negative sentiments about
bin Laden.'' 

Saddam himself is quoted in an FBI summary as acknowledging that
the Iraqi government had met with bin Laden but denying that he
had colluded with the al-Qaida leader. Claiming that Iraq
opposed only U.S. policies, Saddam said that ``if he wanted to
cooperate with the enemies of the U.S., he would have allied
with North Korea or China,'' the report quotes the FBI document. 

The Democrats said that on Oct. 7, 2002, the day Bush gave a
speech speaking of that link, the CIA had sent a declassified
letter to the committee saying it would be an ``extreme step''
for Saddam to assist Islamist terrorists in attacking the United
States. 

Levin and Rockefeller said Tenet in July acknowledged to the
committee that subsequently issuing a statement that there was
no inconsistency between the president's speech and the CIA
viewpoint had been a mistake. 

They also charged Bush with continuing to cite faulty
intelligence in his argument for war as recently as last month. 

The report said that al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaida leader killed by a
U.S. airstrike last June, was in Baghdad from May 2002 until
late November 2002. But ``postwar information indicates that
Saddam Hussein attempted, unsuccessfully, to locate and capture
al-Zarqawi and that the regime did not have a relationship with,
harbor or turn a blind eye toward Zarqawi.'' 

In June 2004, Bush also defended Vice President Dick Cheney's
assertion that Saddam had ``long-established ties'' with
al-Qaida. ``Zarqawi is the best evidence of connection to
al-Qaida affiliates and al-Qaida,'' the president said. 

The report concludes that postwar findings do not support a 2002
intelligence community report that Iraq was reconstituting its
nuclear program, possessed biological weapons or ever developed
mobile facilities for producing biological warfare agents. 

A second part of the report finds that false information from
the Iraqi National Congress, an anti-Saddam group led by
then-exile Ahmed Chalabi, was used to support key intelligence
community assessments on Iraq. 

^--- 

On the Net: 

Senate Intelligence Committee:
http://www.intelligence.senate.gov 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 3 Iran Has Continued Uranium Enrichment Activities, Says UN Nuclear Watchdog
 
Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2006 16:00:23 -0400

IRAN HAS CONTINUED URANIUM ENRICHMENT ACTIVITIES, SAYS UN NUCLEAR WATCHDOG
 
New York, Sep  6 2006  4:00PM
Iran has neither suspended its nuclear enrichment-related activities 
nor complied with all of its obligations under international 
non-proliferation agreements, according to a report by the United 
Nations atomic watchdog which states that further verification of 
the country’s declarations is difficult because of a lack of transparency 
from the Iranians.

The findings emerge in a <"http://www.un.org/Docs/journal/asp/ws.asp?m=s/2006/702">report 
by the International Atomic Energy Agency 
(<"http://www.iaea.org/index.html">IAEA)’s Director General Mohamed 
ElBaradei to the Security Council, sent last week and made public 
today.

In his report, Mr. ElBaradei said Tehran “has not addressed the long 
outstanding verification issues or provided the necessary transparency 
to remove uncertainties associated with some of its activities.”

While there are no signs of any reprocessing activities taking place, 
he said “Iran has not suspended its enrichment-related activities; 
nor has Iran acted in accordance with the provisions of the 
[IAEA] Additional Protocol.”

The Council has threatened sanctions if Iran does not suspend uranium 
enrichment and reprocessing activities, including research and 
development, and take steps to assure the world that its nuclear 
programme is exclusively peaceful. Following a resolution on 31 
July, the IAEA was requested to report back in a month on whether 
Iran had complied with those demands.

Mr. ElBaradei reported that Iran has supplied the IAEA with access 
to nuclear material and facilities, as well as the required reports. 
But it continues to refuse access to some operating records 
at an enrichment plant.

Although the Agency plans to maintain its investigation of Iran’s 
activities, it “remains unable to make further progress in its efforts 
to verify the correctness and completeness of Iran’s declarations 
with a view to confirming the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear 
programme.”

Ambassador Adamantios Vassilakis of Greece, which holds the Council’s 
rotating presidency for September, told reporters yesterday 
that the Council’s five permanent members and Germany are scheduled 
to meet tomorrow in Berlin to discuss the IAEA report.

Iran has said repeatedly that its activities are aimed at the production 
of energy only, but the United States and other countries 
insist it is clandestinely seeking to produce nuclear weapons.

Last August, Iran rescinded its voluntary suspension of nuclear fuel 
conversion, which can produce the enriched uranium necessary 
either for nuclear power generation or for nuclear weapons.
 2006-09-06 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/
*****************************************************************
 4 [southnews] Annan sees fears Iran standoff could lead to war
 
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 00:35:04 -0500 (CDT)

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X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY

Middle Eastern leaders are worried the current standoff between Iran and 
the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions could degenerate into war, U.N. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

Annan sees fears Iran standoff could lead to war

Reuters
Sunday, September 10, 2006; 3:04 PM

PARIS (Reuters) - Middle Eastern leaders are worried the current 
standoff between Iran and the West over Tehran's nuclear ambitions could 
degenerate into war, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said in an 
interview broadcast on Sunday.

Interviewed on French radio, Annan urged a negotiated settlement to the 
crisis but acknowledged there were concerns in the region that it could 
worsen and end in military action.

Asked whether he could envisage a situation escalating from sanctions 
against Iran to war, Annan said: "That's the fear among a lot of 
government leaders I met in the region, because they lived through Iraq 
and they're afraid."

Iran's nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani and European Union foreign policy 
chief Javier Solana met at the weekend to seek a compromise before 
possible punitive action after Iran ignored an August 31 Security 
Council deadline to stop enriching uranium.

They said they had made progress at the talks in Vienna and Annan said 
he hoped more could be made.

"Frankly, I think the best solution is a negotiated one. If we move 
toward confrontation, I fear that will create an enormous number of 
problems for them, especially in a region where there are already 
several crises," he said in a pre-recorded interview.

He said Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told him he intended to go 
to the United Nations in New York.

Annan sees no need to become directly involved in the discussions for 
the time being.

"The countries are discussing things between themselves. The moment 
hasn't come for me to intervene. So I leave them and I encourage them," 
he said.

Western powers including the United States and the European Union 
suspect Iran of trying to develop technology that would allow it to 
produce atomic weapons and want Tehran to stop uranium enrichment 
activities.

Iran says its nuclear program is peaceful and insists it has the right 
to develop the technology.

The United States has been pressing for Security Council sanctions after 
Tehran ignored the August 31 deadline but Annan expressed skepticism 
about the prospects of agreement in the face of strong opposition from 
some Council members.

"It's not whether I'm in favor or not, it isn't sure that they would 
pass so easily in the Council," he said. "There's a division at the moment."

Russia and China, both of which have strong trade ties to Iran, oppose 
sanctions and could block them.
*****************************************************************
 5 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiations Go Into 2nd Day
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Sunday September 10, 2006 11:16 AM

AP Photo XPZ101 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - EU and Iranian officials met for a second
day of talks in Vienna on Sunday, hoping to build on progress in
efforts to resolve a dispute over Tehran's refusal to meet
international demands that it freeze uranium enrichment. 

The talks between Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani
and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana could be Iran's last
chance to avoid penalties for rejecting the U.N. Security
Council's demands that it stop enriching uranium, which can be
used to make nuclear weapons. 

Both sides reported progress in talks Saturday. 

Larijani spoke of ``good and constructive talks, and ... some
progress in some areas,'' while Solana's spokeswoman, Cristina
Gallach, described them as ``constructive and positive.'' 

The two sides have been working to see if there is common ground
for negotiations between six world powers and Iran over its
nuclear defiance. While the five permanent Security Council
members and Germany have demanded that Iran fully freeze
enrichment as a condition for further negotiations, Tehran has
steadfastly refused to do so. 

Hopes for success have been slim, but positions appeared to have
shifted slightly. 

European officials, who demanded anonymity for sharing
confidential information with The Associated Press, suggested
that at least some of the six nations were ready to listen if
Iran committed itself to an enrichment freeze soon after the
start of negotiations instead of as a condition for such talks. 

The officials declined to provide details. But such readiness
would be a blow to U.S.-led attempts to hold fast to the demand
that Iran freeze enrichment before any talks - or face the
prospect of Security Council sanctions. 

One of the officials said Solana discussed the issue with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before going into the
meeting, but declined to offer details. Solana is authorized by
the six powers to carry their message and listen to the
Iranians, without actually negotiating. 

As late as Friday, Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said
Washington expected the Security Council to start discussing a
draft on sanctions as early as next week, unless Tehran agreed
at the last minute to halt enrichment. 

But there might be opposition to that within the council. Russia
and China have resisted a quick move to sanctions even though
they agree to them as the ultimate punishment. And French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Thursday appeared to
suggest that the demand to stop enrichment before talks was
negotiable, saying: ``The question is to know at what moment
this suspension takes place compared to negotiations.'' 

He later appeared to reverse himself, saying in separate
comments that ``suspension ... is an absolute prerequisite for
restoring trust and resuming negotiations.'' 

A European diplomat told the AP such vacillation appeared to
reflect that a sizable number of countries within the 25-member
EU oppose a quick move to sanctions. Britain, France and Germany
formally represent the European Union within the six-nation
coalition. 

Iran says it wants to develop an enrichment program to generate
power. But there are growing concerns it seeks the technology to
enrich uranium to weapons-grade for the core of warheads. 

The six powers agreed in June on a package of economic and
political rewards for Iran if it stops enrichment before
negotiations, which are meant to achieve a long-term moratorium
on the activity. 

But the international alliance also warned of punishments -
including the sanctions - if Tehran does not halt enrichment.
Iran refused to do by the U.N.'s Aug. 31 deadline. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 6 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiators Report Progress
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday September 9, 2006 9:46 PM

AP Photo XPZ101 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Senior negotiators for Iran and the
European Union reported progress Saturday at talks meant to find
common ground for resolving Tehran's defiance of a U.N. demand
that the Islamic republic freeze uranium enrichment or risk
sanctions. 

In an encouraging sign, the two sides agreed to hold further
discussions Sunday. 

``We had some good and constructive talks and we have made some
progress in some areas, and we shall continue ... tomorrow,''
chief Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said, speaking
through an interpreter. 

Cristina Gallach, spokeswoman for Javier Solana, the EU's
foreign policy chief, confirmed that more talks would be held
Sunday. ``The feedback from the table is that the talks have
been constructive and positive,'' she said. 

The discussions have been billed as possibly the last chance for
Iran to avoid sanctions for rejecting the U.N. Security
Council's demand that it suspend its uranium enrichment
processes, which can be misused to make nuclear bombs. 

Being held at the Austrian chancellor's office, the talks are
looking for a basis to open negotiations between Iran and six
world powers that have offered a package of economic and
diplomatic incentives meant to persuade Tehran to limit its
nuclear program. 

The five permanent Security Council members - the United States,
China, Britain, France and Russia - along with Germany have
demanded that Iran halt enrichment as a condition for the talks,
but the Iranians have steadfastly refused to do so. 

With the two side seemingly so far apart, hopes for success had
been slim for the mission by Solana, who is formally authorized
by the six powers to carry their message and listen to the
Iranians, without actually negotiating. 

Still, positions appeared to have shifted slightly. 

European officials who insisted on anonymity for sharing
confidential information with The Associated Press suggested
that at least some of the six nations were at least ready to
listen if Iran committed itself to an enrichment freeze soon
after the start of negotiations instead of doing so as a
condition for such talks. 

The officials declined to provide details. But such a readiness
would deal a blow to U.S.-led attempts to hold fast to the
demand that Iran freeze enrichment before any talks commence -
or face the prospect of Security Council sanctions. 

One of the officials said Solana discussed the issue with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before going into the
meeting but declined to offer details. 

As late as Friday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns
said Washington expected the Security Council to start
discussing a draft on sanctions as early as next week unless
Tehran reversed course and agreed to freeze enrichment. 

But there might be opposition to that within the council. Russia
and China have resisted a quick move to sanctions even while
agreeing to them as the ultimate punishment. 

And French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy on Thursday
appeared to suggest the demand on freezing enrichment first and
talking later was negotiable. ``The question is to know at what
moment this suspension takes place compared to negotiations,''
he said. 

He later appeared to reverse himself, saying in separate
comments that suspension ``is an absolute prerequisite for
restoring trust and resuming negotiations.'' 

A European diplomat told AP the mixed signals seemed to reflect
that a sizable number of countries within the 24-member EU
oppose a quick move to sanctions - even though Britain, France
and Germany formally represent the bloc within the six-nation
negotiating group. 

China, meanwhile, repeated on Saturday its stance that patience
was needed in dealing with Iran. 

During a meeting with EU leaders in Finland, Chinese Premier Wen
Jiabao urged Tehran ``to make constructive steps'' toward ending
the standoff, but added: ``Our purpose is that the nuclear issue
of Iran will be settled peacefully.'' 

Burns had dismissed suggestions of cracks in the six-power
coalition on when Iran should commit to enrichment Friday, a day
after those six countries ended confidential discussions on Iran
in Berlin. 

Outlining the U.S. view of the timetable on Iran, Burns said the
six nations would consult further by phone Monday and hoped to
present a unified approach on sanctions to their foreign
ministers by the time the U.N. General Assembly opens Tuesday. 

``The American view is that following these discussions on
Monday and perhaps some others early next week, we should move
this to the Security Council and draft a resolution'' on
sanctions, he said. 

Iran says it wants to develop an enrichment program to produce
fuel for nuclear reactors that generate electricity. But there
are growing concerns it seeks enrichment technology to make
weapons-grade uranium for the core of warheads. 

The six powers agreed on a package of economic and political
rewards in June to be offered to Tehran, but only if it stops
enrichment before the start of negotiations aimed at a long-term
enrichment moratorium. 

But the international alliance also warned of punishments,
including U.N. sanctions, if Tehran did not halt enrichment -
something Iran refused to do by the Aug. 31 deadline set by the
Security Council. 

--- 

Associated Press writer Robert Wielaard in Helsinki, Finland,
contributed to this report. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 7 Guardian Unlimited: Iran May Consider Enrichment Suspension
 
From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Sunday September 10, 2006 9:01 PM

AP Photo VIE102 

By GEORGE JAHN 

Associated Press Writer 

VIENNA, Austria (AP) - Iran is ready to consider complying - at
least temporarily - with a U.N. Security Council demand that it
freeze uranium enrichment, which can be used in developing
atomic weapons, diplomats told The Associated Press on Sunday. 

Such a concession would be a major departure by Tehran as it
faces possible U.N. sanctions for its nuclear defiance and would
be a huge step toward defusing a confrontation over the program
it says is only aimed at generating electricity. 

The compromise was mentioned by senior Iranian nuclear
negotiator Ali Larijani during two-day talks that ended Sunday
with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the
diplomats said. 

The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange
for sharing confidential information, were familiar with the
substance of the discussions. 

One of them said Larijani floated the possibility of Iran
stopping its enrichment activities ``voluntarily, for one or two
months, if presented ... in such a way that it does it without
pressure.'' The diplomats did not say when such a move might
occur. 

Iran says its nuclear program is intended solely to produce fuel
for nuclear reactors to generate electricity. But there are
growing concerns Tehran seeks the technology to enrich uranium
for use in atomic warheads. 

The compromise, which would defuse a confrontation that all
sides do not want, would likely be welcomed by three of the five
U.N. permanent members of the Security Council who are reluctant
to support a quick move to sanctions. 

It might fall short of U.S. and British demands that Iran freeze
enrichment before broader negotiations on its nuclear program.
But Washington and London - the chief backers of a quick move to
sanctions - might back off and accept a later freeze for the
interests of maintaining council unity. 

Russia and China have resisted U.S. pressure for fast action on
sanctions even though they agree to them as a lever. And French
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy last week appeared to
suggest that the demand to stop enrichment before any talks on
Iran's nuclear program begin was negotiable. 

He later reversed himself. Still, such vacillation appeared to
reflect that - although Britain, France and Germany formally
represent the European Union in the talks- a sizable number of
countries within the 25-member bloc are against quick
punishment. 

A European diplomat told AP on Sunday that much of the
opposition came from Italy, Spain, Portugal and Slovenia. Italy
and Spain have agitated for a larger role in talks with Iran,
and Larijani met with Spanish and Italian leaders before coming
to Vienna on Friday. 

A European official said Solana discussed the issue with
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice before going into the
weekend meetings, but declined to offer details. 

Solana was to brief senior representatives of the six powers on
Monday by phone on his Vienna talks in a conference call, he
added. Those discussions will likely influence what steps are
next taken by the Security Council. 

Before the Solana-Larijani talks, U.S. Undersecretary of State
Nicholas Burns had said Washington expected the Security Council
to start discussing a draft on sanctions as early as next week. 

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Janelle Hironimus
said the telephone conference would proceed as scheduled on
Monday and further negotiations on sanctions would be held at
the United Nations later in the week. 

Emerging from the Vienna talks, both Larijani and Solana spoke
of progress and agreed to meet again later this week. 

While neither side disclosed the substance of discussions,
Solana said ``the meeting was worth it,'' while Larijani told
reporters that ``many of the misunderstandings were removed.'' 

``We have reached a common point of view on a number of
issues,'' he said. 

The meeting had been billed as possibly the last chance for Iran
to avoid penalties for rejecting the U.N. Security Council's
demand to stop uranium enrichment by Aug. 31. 

The six powers agreed in June on a package of economic and
political rewards to be offered to Tehran, but only if it stops
enrichment before the start of such negotiations - meant to
achieve a long-term enrichment moratorium. 

Iran's package of counterproposals, made Aug. 22, has not been
disclosed but was initially dismissed as inadequate by leaders
of the six-nation alliance, primarily because it did not mention
the demanded pre-negotiation enrichment freeze. A confidential
memo from Britain, France and Germany made available to AP and
sent to dozens of capitals also said it fell short. 

Still, both Solana and Larijani suggested Sunday the gap had
been narrowed. 

Their comments - and the information given the AP on Iran's
readiness to consider a temporary enrichment stop - jibed with
indications that positions may have shifted, both for Iran and
within the six-nation alliance. 

European officials had suggested earlier that at least some of
the six nations were ready to listen if Iran committed itself to
an enrichment freeze soon after the start of negotiations
instead of before talks. 

Ali Ashgar Soltanieh, the chief Iranian delegate to the
International Atomic Energy Agency, told AP that Larijani
briefed IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei before flying back to
Tehran on Sunday. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 8 IRNA: Davoodi: No logic can justify Iran's non-access to nuclear energy - 

Isfahan, Sept 9, IRNA

Iran-Nuclear-Davoodi 

Iran's vice-president Parviz Davoodi said here Saturday that no
logic can justify Iran's abandonment of nuclear activities.

 Addressing the inaugural session of the 53rd Meeting of the
World Health Organization's Regional Committee for the Eastern
 Mediterranean, Davoodi said the intelligent and brave Iranian
youth have gained remarkable success in finding AIDS/HIV
medicine, production and multiplication of stem cells, curing
cerebral defects and conducting peaceful nuclear research.

 He voiced strong protest at efforts to prevent Iran from access
to sophisticated scientific technology and impede the country's
progress.

 "If they manage to prevent the Islamic Republic from access to
the technology at higher scientific level -- as other states
have attained such a level of progress -- then we will not be
able to reach the latest global standard of welfare, so we
cannot remain silent before them," said Davoodi to the four-day
meeting.

 He said today's world is, on one hand, characterized by
globalization and suffers, on the other hand, from such
 classifications as `developed' and `underdeveloped,' showing
they differ in terms of the level of health and development
provided to them. Further, he added, the classifications show
unfair distribution of health facilities being necessary for a
healthy life.

 "This doubles responsibility of such scientific centers as the
World Health Organization to fill the appalling gap as much as
they can," he added.

 Elsewhere in his speech, Davoodi said today, global village is
almost materialized thanks to the advanced communications
facilities but the scheme falls short of guaranteeing essentials
of family such as fraternity and kindness, thus it cannot
honorably be called as a family.

 He said one cannot ignore double-standards in today's world.

 "On one hand, the big states possess nuclear bombs with high
devastating power and on the other hand, the same governments
ban other states' using peaceful nuclear technology.

 "What a sort of global family is it wherein the developing
states should be deprived of access to peaceful nuclear energy
for such purposes as medicine, health, agriculture and industry?
The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of the victims of blatant
injustice and tyranny," announced Davoodi.

 He called on governments and international organizations to
strive for materialization of a global community dominated by
justice and humanity.

 Davoodi noted that WHO Regional Committee for the Eastern
Mediterranean has 22 Muslim states as its members, covering
about 500 million people with different standards of health and
medicare.

 There are some countries suffering from such infectious and
contagious diseases as tuberculosis and malaria, while there are
some others that have AIDS/HIV and hepatitis, said Davoodi,
warning that if the avian flu is not brought under control, it
can be a threat to the countries.

 Furthermore, he said, about 60 percent of deaths in the region
are caused by such non-contagious diseases as cancer and
vascular diseases and due to the same reason Iran has given the
priority to poverty campaign and administration of justice as
well as direct cure of diseases, hoping that other countries
will set the country's pattern of success as their model.

 The Islamic Republic of Iran would spare no efforts to
materialize the ongoing meeting's objectives, he said.

 Iran believes that problems of human communities cannot be
solved unless through efforts of countries and scientists and it
is the characteristic of scientists who do not consider borders
and race, said Davoodi, adding that a look at the health and
medicare indexes and scientific achievements testify the claim
that the indices can be improved through following Islamic
injunctions, thus lowering death rate.

 The present WHO meeting is to set policies and approve programs
and budgets in the Region.

 The participants will be discussing major health-related issues
that have arisen in the Region during the year since the closing
of the last session of the Regional Committee and following up
the implementation of the recommendations made to the
Director-General, Regional Director and Member States.

 Emergency preparedness and response will top the agenda this
year, in light of the disasters, wars and conflicts which many
countries of the Region have recently experienced.

 These include the Pakistan earthquake, Darfur crisis and the
recent war on Lebanon.

 A progress report on the subject reviews what has been
implemented with regard to enhancing country preparedness for
emergencies, an issue that was the subject of a resolution of
the 52nd Session of the Regional Committee.

 There are four diseases that have been globally targeted for
elimination by Member States in collaboration with WHO:
tuberculosis, measles, leprosy and neonatal tetanus.

 Four progress reports will follow up the latest steps taken to
eliminate these diseases and the obstacles being faced.

 Control and prevention of HIV/AIDS, tobacco control,
poliomyelitis eradication and strengthening efforts to achieve
the Millennium Development Goals are main challenges facing
health officials in the Eastern Mediterranean Region.

 Some progress has been achieved in developing an integrated
framework for action to tackle some of these issues, such as
tobacco control. More countries have ratified the WHO Framework
Convention for Tobacco Control; however, activation of the
Convention is still in the preliminary stages.

 Significant progress has been made in polio eradication in the
Region, with Egypt declared polio-free after a long battle with
the deeply-rooted virus.

 Pakistan and Afghanistan are still working towards achieving
this goal, while other countries that were previously declared
polio-free, such as Somalia and Sudan, are fighting to stop
outbreaks due to viruses transmitted from neighbouring countries.

 Activities initiated under the "3 by 5" initiative to provide
treatment for people living with HIV/AIDS are continuing, with
universal access to prevention, care and treatment as the new
goal.

 Efforts towards improving maternal and child health are making
progress and need further support within the framework of the
Millennium Development Goals.

 More detailed information about these health issues will be
reviewed by the Regional Committee in its meeting in Isfahan.

 The achievement of health for all and moving forward with
primary health care are two long-term goals of WHO that have
been renewed in past sessions of the Regional Committee.

 To what extent have Member States succeeded in moving forward
towards achieving these goals?
 The answer is included in another progress report during the
upcoming Regional Committee session.

 Pandemic influenza preparedness will figure high on the agenda
of the 53rd Session of the Regional Committee, as well as the
public health problems of alcohol consumption in the Region and
the regional strategy for knowledge management to support public
health.

 The Regional Committee will also review the Iranian experience
in integrating medical education and health services.

 The details and features of activities implemented by the
Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean during the past
year will be the subject of thorough discussion and evaluation
by the Regional Committee.

 Hussein A. Gezairy, WHO Regional Director for the Eastern
Mediterranean, will review the annual report for 2005.

 On the sidelines of the Regional Committee meeting, a book fair
will be held offering recent WHO publications, and will include
the launching of the Arabic version of the WHO report Preventing
chronic diseases: a vital investment.

 The book fair will also showcase the latest WHO media
productions in the field of health awareness. This includes
audiovisual materials, posters and publications produced by the
Regional Office on different health issues.                               
*****************************************************************
 9 Guardian: Attacking Iran is not a long-term solution

comment is free

We need to bring about regime change in Iran - but preferably
not by force.
 
Newt Gingrich

September 9, 2006 09:00 AM 

Iran's pursuit of a nuclear programin defiance of the United
Nations has led some to call for military strikes against Iran's
nuclear facilities to prevent the terror-sponsoring regime from
obtaining a nuclear weapon. While I agree that a military option
to replace the regime must be left on the table, I worry that
some believe a military strike on Iran's nuclear installations
is a viable long-term solution to stopping the Iranian regime's
pursuit of greater power in the region. 

In truth, until the Iranian regime itself is replaced with one
that does not sponsor terrorism and does not seek a nuclear
program, then the threat will remain and grow. 

Iran's nuclear facilities are well-hidden and well protected.
Many of them are spread out and underground, making them
especially difficult to target. The same weakness in our
intelligencecapabilities that led most countries to overestimate
Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program can also swing in
the other direction, causing us to underestimate the extent of
Iran's nuclear program (as it did in 1991 when intelligence
underestimated Saddam's program). 

A military strike would likely degrade their capabilities, but
it would not guarantee that Iran would not ultimately acquire a
nuclear weapon, whether by shifting to alternative facilities or
simply purchasing one. And it would not stop Iran from
continuing to sponsor terrorism in Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel. 

Let me be clear: Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear
weapons. Ahmadinejad has said he is committed to seeing Israel
"wiped off the map". If a military strike to replace the regime
is the only option left to prevent this from occurring, then I
would support it. However, it should be the last option because
it isn't a very good one. 

Instead, we should seek to replace the regime by bringing to
bear the non-military weapons in our arsenal. A successful
policy of regime change in Iran should start with what President
Ronald Reagan did in eastern Europe to defeat communism. 

By using America's full economic, political, and diplomatic
clout and by working with dissident groups, the Soviet Union was
defeated without firing a shot. This can be our goal in Iran as
well. Remember, over 1,000 candidates were removed from the
ballot in the recent Iranian election because they were too
hostile to the current regime. Certainly there are those among
the 1,000 candidates who we could work with immediately to help
the Iranian people overthrow the current, oppressive government.
Still more could be found in the pro-democracy and religiously
moderate college professors that Ahmadinejad is now trying to
purgefrom Iranian universities. 

The Iranian regime is indeed dangerous and must be stopped.
However, it is dangerous not just because of what weapons it has
or is pursuing, but because of its evil intent. Therefore, the
only viable long-term strategy for safety against Iran is
replacing the regime - with force if necessary, but without
force if possible. 


 Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2006. 
Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396
 Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR
*****************************************************************
 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Larijani, Solana resume talks 

  2006/09/10   

Ali Larijani, Secretary of Iran's National Security Counciul
started second round of talks with EU Foreign Policy Chief
Javier Solana over IRI nuclear program.
 
Solana and Larijani met for second round of talks at the federal
chancellery in Vienna after extending discussions that began
Saturday.
 
Larijani reported some progress after the first meeting.
 
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hamid-Reza Asefi said the
Vienna talks between Solana and Larijani, which were extended
despite being expected to only last one day, had been good.
 
The talks has already made Washington angry as America is
wanting the United Nations to impose sanctions against Iran.
 
Solana and Larijani were discussing Iran's answer to a package
of proposals offered by the so-called 5+1 group.   

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 11 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Belarus supports Iran N-issue, FM 

  2006/09/09   
  
Belarus supports Iran's policies and stances, especially its
peaceful nuclear activities, said Iran's Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki upon return from Belarus on Friday.

 "Belarus defends Iran's legal policies and has thus far voted
in our favor at the votings of the International Atomic Energy
Agency," Mottaki told reporters at Tehran's Mehrabad Airport.

 Calling his Belarus visit helpful, Mottaki said Iran and
Belarus are to make about 500 million dollars investment in
different economic sectors.

 He said Belarus president has welcomed an invitation by
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and is to pay a visit to Iran
probably in November. He went on to say that Belarus is among
countries being a friend to Iran, and the two sides share
stances and are in agreement to bolster trans-continental and
closer cooperation.

 "We will in the Havana meeting highlight expansion of such
trans-continental cooperation with other friendly states," he
added.

 During his stay in Belarus, Mottaki met and conferred with
Belarus president, foreign minister and parliament speaker.

 M.H.Z   

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*****************************************************************
 12 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Russia vows to complete Bushehr deal 

  2006/09/09   
  
There are no reasons for suspending the construction of the
first reactor at the Bushehr nuclear power plant in IRI, the
Press Service of the Russian company Atomstroieksport said.
 
A representative of the Atomstroieksport said on Friday that
"our company is fulfilling all existing accords in accordance
with international agreements and contracts - it is our
professional duty to take the construction of the first energy
unit to the physical launch".
 
The construction of the reactor at the nuclear power plant in
the southeast of IRI by Atomstroieksport is nearing completion.
 
M/D   

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 13 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI's access to N-energy is logical 

  2006/09/10   
  
Vice-President Parviz Davoodi said Saturday that no logic can
justify IRI's abandonment of nuclear activities.
 
Addressing the inaugural session of the 53rd meeting of the
World Health Organization's regional committee for the eastern
Mediterranean, Davoodi said the intelligent and brave Iranian
youth have gained remarkable success in finding AIDS/HIV
medicine, production and multiplication of stem cells, curing
cerebral defects and conducting peaceful nuclear research.
 
He voiced strong protest at efforts to prevent IRI from access
to sophisticated scientific technology and impede the country's
progress.
 
"If they manage to prevent the Islamic Republic from access to
the technology at higher scientific level -- as other states
have attained such a level of progress -- then we will not be
able to reach the latest global standard of welfare, so we
cannot remain silent before them," said Davoodi to the four-day
meeting.
 
He said today's world is, on one hand, characterized by
globalization and suffers, on the other hand, from such
classifications as `developed' and `underdeveloped,' showing
they differ in terms of the level of health and development
provided to them.
 
Further, he added, the classifications show unfair distribution
of health facilities being necessary for a healthy life.
 
M/D   

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Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
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*****************************************************************
 14 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: America continuing to make mistakes 

  2006/09/10   
  
Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi bemoaned American
government's measure in boycotting IRI's Bank Saderat fund,
adding that the matter has no effect on IRI's policies.
 
"They are continuing to make mistakes", Asefi said.
 
"America uses any means whatsoever to perform it's policies,"
Asefi said, adding the policy is unacceptable.
 
Describing the first round of nuclear negotations with Europe as
useful, the Spokesman said that further talks depend on Europe
and Javier Solana himself.
 
"We are nogotiating with Europe on a logical base", Asefi said,
expressing hope that Europe would take such a logical way as
well".
 
Rejecting issue of possible sanctions against Iran in present
situation, Asefi said that China and Russia are opposing any
sanctions, though America is secretly exerting pressures to
materialize the issue, he said.
 
"In case of sanctions, we'll use our whole capacities and deal
with the matter duly," Asefi added.
 
M/D   

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 15 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Door open for nuclear talks- Speaker 

  2006/09/09   
  
The door is open for talks on Iran's peaceful nuclear program,
said Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel on Friday.

 "The door is open for talks on Iran's peaceful nuclear program
and we are for dialogue and negotiation and the P5+1 group is
wellaware of it," said Haddad-Adel in an interview with
reporters upon arrival in Tehran late Friday after a two-day
visit to Tajikistan, where he attended ceremonies marking the
15th anniversary of the republic's independence.

 On outcome of his Tajikistan visit, Haddad-Adel said he had
during his stay, participated in the independence commemoration
celebrations, met with Tajik president, his Afghan and Tajik
counterparts, the world Tajiks' association members and poets,
and visited Tajik Oriental Institute. 

He said that in talks with the Afghan and Tajik counterparts
they had stressed trilateral and bilateral parliamentary
cooperation and further exchange of visits by their
parliamentary friendship groups.

 M.H.Z   

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 16 AFP: Larijani arrives in Vienna for last-ditch EU-Iran meeting -
                           
 by Michael Adler Sat Sep 9, 7:29 AM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani 
arrived in Vienna for a last-ditch bid with EU foreign policy 
chief Javier Solana to avert a UN showdown over Tehran's atomic 
ambitions. 

 "Mr. Larijani is in Vienna and the meeting (with Solana) will
be held in the afternoon," Iran" /> 's ambassador to the UN
nuclear watchdog Ali Asghar Soltanieh said. 

Solana was apparently still in Brussels on Saturday morning,
raising a question mark over the scheduled meeting in Vienna
which has already been postponed once from Wednesday. 

Diplomats here, however, said the talks would go ahead in the
afternoon -- possible at the offices of Chancellor Wolfgang
Schuessel. 

Schuessel is not involved in the talks and Austrian authorities
would merely be making a meeting place possible, they said. 

The meeting comes with the United States pushing for a UN
Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on Iran over its
contested nuclear program to be drafted as early as next week. 

This would allow foreign ministers from the six nations trying
to win guarantees that Iran will not make nuclear weapons to
"complete a sanctions resolution" when they meet in New York at
the UN General Assembly the week after next, US Undersecretary
of State Nicholas Burns said Friday in Berlin. 

Washington charges Iran with hiding work to develop nuclear
weapons but Iran says its program is a peaceful effort to
generate electricity. 

The six world powers are seeking talks with Iran on a package of
benefits for the Islamic Republic but demand that Tehran first
suspend uranium enrichment, which can be used to produce
weapons-grade fissile material. 

Iran has defied the call along with a Security Council
resolution demanding a freeze by August 31 of the strategic fuel
work and threatening sanctions if Tehran does not comply. 

Solana said Friday in Copenhagen that no UN sanctions would be
imposed on Iran "as long as meetings with Mr. Larijani
continue." 

The United States wants clarification of these remarks, which
seem to contradict what Burns was saying, the US State
Department said Friday. 

Solana said it would become clearer on Saturday whether it would
be possible to begin negotiations between Tehran and the six
world powers. 

He said he was "optimistic but not naive" about the outcome of
talks with Larijani. 

"Saturday's meeting will enable us to see if we can prepare the
groundwork" for future talks, he said. 

"I'm sure that the conversations or discussions will be
difficult, otherwise the matter would have been resolved months
ago. 

"But we have to go into this making every effort in order to
succeed," he added. 

A Vienna-based diplomat said the problem in getting Larijani and
Solana together was "because they want to be sure there will be
an (good) outcome before they go into the meeting." 

"There's a very clear agenda," notably to facilitate the
resumption of talks, the diplomat said. 

Another diplomat said the six world powers were watching how the
Larijani-Solana meeting went to see if there was a hope of
moving towards negotiations rather than sanctions. 

The diplomat said Iranians would be explaining their 21-page
response on August 22 to the incentives package. 

"The response is not clear in all aspects. The Europeans are
seeking some clarification and Iran is also interested in
clearing things up," the diplomat said. 

Iran is seeking time guarantees on getting benefits, such as
light-water reactors, two experts on Iran, Abbas Maleki and
Kevah Afrasiabi, had said in August. 

A senior European diplomat, who saw the confidential Iranian
response, said Iran had "not said 'no' to the offer but did say
'no' to suspending enrichment." 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 17 AFP: Last-ditch EU-Iran nuclear talks to continue amid 'progress' -
                           
 by Michael Adler Sat Sep 9, 6:33 PM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - Last-ditch EU- Iran" /> nuclear talks to avert UN 
sanctions over Tehran defying a call to stop uranium enrichment 
are to continue Sunday after Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani 
reported progress. 

 The talks, which began here Saturday, are aimed at preventing a
further escalation in a three-year showdown over what the United
States says is secret Iranian work to develop nuclear weapons. 

Washington wants the United Nations" /> to crack down on Iran
with sanctions for its refusal to suspend enrichment, which
makes nuclear reactor fuel but also atom bomb material, despite
being offered trade and other benefits in return. 

"We had some good and constructive talks, we made some progress
in some areas and we shall continue tomorrow," Larijani told
reporters, after meeting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana
for over three hours Saturday evening. 

"We had some long talks with Mr Solana and one of his deputies,
and we discussed different issues, somehow enshrined within the
package proposed by the European side and also the response
which was given by Iran," Larijani added after the meeting, held
at the federal chancellory in central Vienna. 

Solana will stay overnight in the Austrian capital, his
spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said, adding that "the talks have
been positive and constructive." 

The United States wants a UN Security Council resolution
imposing sanctions on Iran over its contested nuclear program to
be drafted as early as next week. 

This would allow foreign ministers from the six nations trying
to win guarantees that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons to
"complete a sanctions resolution" when they meet in New York at
the UN General Assembly the week after next, US Undersecretary
of State Nicholas Burns said Friday in Berlin. 

World powers Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the
United States are seeking talks with Iran on a package of
benefits for the Islamic Republic but demand that Tehran first
suspend uranium enrichment. 

Iran has rejected this demand, as well as a UN Security Council
resolution that called for an enrichment freeze by August 31 and
threatened sanctions if Tehran did not comply. 

A diplomat said the six world powers would be watching the
Larijani-Solana meeting to see if there was hope of moving
towards negotiations rather than sanctions. 

There seems to be differences among the six, however, over
taking punitive action. 

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China, one of the six and which has
repeatedly spoken out for a negotiated settlement with Iran,
warned Saturday against stepping up pressure on Tehran. 

"To mount pressure or to take sanctions will not necessarily
bring about a peaceful solution," Wen told a news conference in
Helsinki after an EU-China summit there. 

Russia, like China a key trading partner with Iran, is also
reluctant to impose sanctions. 

In Tehran, the Iranian news agency IRNA said Larijani had, in
meetings with the Spanish and Italian prime ministers over the
past two days, "underlined Iran's readiness to resolve the
nuclear standoff in the framework of obtaining Iran's right to
peaceful nuclear technology." 

Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to generate
electricity. 

Solana said Friday in Copenhagen that it would become clearer
after the talks with Larijani whether it would be possible to
begin negotiations between Tehran and the six powers, and added
that he was "optimistic but not naive" about the outcome of his
meeting with the Iranian. 

A Vienna-based diplomat said the Larijani-Solana meeting had "a
very clear agenda," notably to facilitate the resumption of
negotiations with the six powers. 

The diplomat said Iranians would be explaining their 21-page
response last month to the incentives package. 

"The response is not clear in all aspects. The Europeans are
seeking some clarification and Iran is also interested in
clearing things up," the diplomat said. 

Iran is seeking time guarantees on getting benefits, such as
light-water reactors, two experts on Iran said in August. 

A senior European diplomat, who saw the confidential Iranian
response, said Iran had "not said 'no' to the offer but did say
'no' to suspending enrichment." 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 18 AFP: US wants sanctions on Iran to focus on finances - Rice

 Sun Sep 10, 5:04 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A US push for sanctions against Iran" /> 
Iranover its suspect nuclear program will likely focus on cutting 
Tehran's access to international finances, Secretary of State 
Condoleezza Rice" /> Condoleezza Ricesaid. 

 Rice said she was "quite, quite certain" that the major UN
Security Council members, including Russia and China, will
support the sanctions in light of Iran's refusal to suspend
uranium enrichment as called for under a UN resolution adopted
in July. 

She said the sanctions, due to be discussed this week at the
United Nations" /> United Nations, would not aim to halt Iran's
exports of oil, the mainstay of its economy. 

"We believe that the key here is, perhaps, on the financial
side," she said on CNN television. 

"There are things that you can do to cut off financing to Iran's
programs, to make clear to Iran that it will not be able to take
advantage of the international financial system in the way it
needs to to be able to use those proceeds from oil," she said. 

Asked about signs that some veto-wielding permanent members of
the Security Council -- notably France, Russia and China --
appeared reluctant to impose sanctions, Rice said: "There will
be, I'm quite, quite certain, sanctions that demonstrate to Iran
that it can't continue on this course." 

She said the five permanent members plus Germany had developed a
list of potential sanctions that would be imposed in a phased
manner as long as Iran refuses to halt its enrichment of
uranium, which Washington says is aimed at producing nuclear
weapons. 

"I believe we'll want to match those (sanctions) to Iranian
activities and to Iranian behaviour at any point in time," she
said. 

But Rice also left the door open for continuing talks with Iran
in parallel with moves towards a new UN resolution imposing
sanctions. 

"It is true that people want to leave open the path of
negotiations, that talks are continuing, but Iran also needs to
understand, and I think will understand, that the world is
prepared to act on the resolution that it passed just six weeks
ago," she said. 

Earlier Sunday senior European Union" /> European Unionand
Iranian officials said they had made progress in last-ditch
talks to avert UN sanctions. 

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said two days
of talks in Vienna with top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali
Larijani had been "productive". 

He said the discussions had "cleared up some of the
misunderstanding that existed" over Iran's response to a
US-backed offer of incentives if Tehran heeded the Security
Council call to freeze work on enrichment. 

He said the talks would continue. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 19 AFP: EU-Iran nuclear talks resume as Tehran rules out enrichment halt
     
 by Michael Adler Sun Sep 10, 6:02 AM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - Last-ditch EU- Iran" /> Irantalks to avert UN 
sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program resumed here, even as 
Iran ruled out ceding to global demands to suspend its uranium 
enrichment activities. 

 European Union" /> European Unionforeign policy representative
Javier Solana and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani
met for second round of talks at the federal chancellery in
Vienna after extending discussions that began Saturday. 

Although Larijani reported "some progress" after the first
meeting, the Iranian foreign ministry in Tehran said Sunday that
the question of suspending enrichment work -- a key demand if
sanctions are to be avoided -- was a "thing of the past". 

"Iran will not take a step back," ministry spokesman Hamid Reza
Asefi told reporters Sunday. 

Iran says its nuclear program is a peaceful effort to generate
electricity but the United States charges that Tehran is
secretly developing atomic weapons. Enrichment makes nuclear
power reactor fuel but also atom bomb material. 

Asefi said the Vienna talks between Solana and Larijani, which
were extended despite being expected to only last one day, had
been "good" but that Iran "rejected any negotiations with
preconditions". 

Washington wants the United Nations" /> United Nationsto crack
down on Iran with sanctions for its refusal to heed a UN
Security Council call to suspend enrichment despite being
offered trade and other benefits in return. 

Solana and Larijani were discussing Iran's answer to the
benefits package offered by Britain, China, France, Germany,
Russia and the United States which is conditional on a halt to
enrichment activity. 

A diplomat said the six world powers were watching the
Larijani-Solana meeting to see if progress could be made in
order to move towards negotiations rather than sanctions. 

The United States wants a Security Council resolution imposing
sanctions to be drafted as early as next week, and the six world
powers are to hold a telephone conference call on Monday, US
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said Friday in Berlin. 

The goal is to be ready so that foreign ministers from the six
nations trying to win guarantees that Iran will not develop
nuclear weapons can "complete a sanctions resolution" when they
meet in New York at the UN General Assembly" on September 19,
Burns said. 

The Security Council had called for an enrichment freeze by
August 31 and threatened sanctions if Iran did not comply. 

There seem to be differences among the six, however, over taking
punitive action. 

Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China warned Saturday against
stepping up pressure on Tehran, saying this would "not
necessarily bring about a peaceful solution". 

Russia, like China a key trading partner with Iran, is also
reluctant to impose sanctions. 

And European countries such as Germany, France and Italy fear
damage to their considerable trade with Iran if strong economic
measures are imposed. 

A senior European diplomat told AFP: "The United States is
trying hard to get sanctions. Others are trying to put their
foot on the brakes." 

But the diplomat said the six did agree that they must remain
united in order to be able to pressure Iran. 

Other diplomats noted that the application of sanctions is
expected to be gradual, with symbolic measures such as banning
travel by Iranian nuclear officials coming first. 

Non-proliferation analyst Gary Samore, a former US Clinton
administration official who now works at the Council on Foreign
Relations think tank in New York, said the Russians and Chinese,
and even some European countries, may be open to a compromise. 

"The idea that the Iranians have been floating behind the scenes
is for technical level discussions at the political director
level without suspension to prepare for full discussions at the
foreign ministry level," Samore said. 

But Burns in Berlin had ruled out any compromise on enrichment.
	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 20 AFP: Iran, EU to resume crunch atom talks 

 By Mark Heinrich Sat Sep 9, 7:32 PM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran" /> 's nuclear negotiator and the EU 
foreign policy chief meet again on Sunday after what they termed 
constructive talks in search of compromise that might avert 
looming U.N. sanctions over Tehran's atomic program. 

The European Union" /> 's Javier Solana was trying to clarify
whether Iran might shift closer to satisfying a demand to stop
enriching uranium to qualify for trade benefits offered by world
powers and pre-empt sanctions by the U.N. Security Council" /> . 

The United States is pushing to begin sanctions steps against
Iran, its arch Middle East foe, next week over Tehran's refusal
to halt its nuclear fuel drive before any negotiations to put
the wide-ranging incentives offer into effect. 

Washington's EU allies share its suspicions that Iran's nuclear
work is a veiled bid to assemble atom bombs rather than a quest
for an alternative electricity source as Tehran insists. 

But, fearing the economic repercussions of isolating the world's
No. 4 oil supplier, many in the EU prefer a face-saving
compromise that might lie in getting Tehran to curb enrichment
after the start of a process to implement the benefits package. 

Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani said Saturday's three hours of
talks in Vienna focused on the package and Iran's August 22
reply to it, which Western leaders criticized as obfuscatory. 

"We had some good and constructive talks and ... have made some
progress in some areas," he said. 

Solana's spokeswoman Cristina Gallach said the talks were
"positive and constructive" and they would resume in Austria's
ornate chancellery (prime minister's offices) on Sunday morning. 

SEQUENCING SUSPENSION IS CENTRAL ISSUE 

An EU diplomat, asking for anonymity to discuss confidential
details of the talks, said the critical issue of how to sequence
an enrichment halt and negotiations was discussed. 

"The fact they are reconvening shows they think it is worth it.
They may reach a point tomorrow where they feel it will be worth
continuing (after Sunday). That would be a sufficiently good
result. We don't think it will be resolved tomorrow." 

Tensions surged after Iran ignored an August 31 deadline,
approved in a Security Council resolution sponsored by the
United States, three major EU allies and Russia and China, to
stop enrichment work before talks to carry out the incentives. 

In the talks, Solana wanted Larijani to clarify Iran's dense and
nuanced 21-page reply to the offer from six world powers of
commercial and other inducements to halt its nuclear fuel work. 

Specifically, Solana sought to harden up hints in the response
that Tehran could curb the program via negotiations. 

Larijani meanwhile had been expected to again rule out the
powers' precondition that enrichment be suspended indefinitely. 

The United States has given no indication of willingness to
compromise on the issue of starting talks with Iran before it
suspends enrichment. But several EU diplomats told Reuters that
the French and Germans might be willing to consider such a deal. 

"Some NAM (Non-Aligned Movement) countries have told us that the
Iranians would be willing to suspend enrichment for the duration
of the talks, say two years. We haven't heard this directly from
the Iranians," one of the diplomats said. 

He said Tehran would be loath to give up small-scale enrichment
research and development (R) but that this was also something
Russia, China, France and Germany could live with. 

The United States and Britain appeared less inclined to back
down regarding R, he added. 

(additional reporting by Karin Strohecker in Vienna) 	 		 			
					 						Recommend It: 						Not at All 						Somewhat
Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 21 AFP: Iran said to offer 2-month atomic enrichment halt 

 By Mark Heinrich Sun Sep 10, 6:14 PM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran" /> Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali 
Larijani offered a 2-month suspension of Tehran's nuclear 
enrichment program in weekend talks with EU foreign policy chief 
Javier Solana, an EU diplomat said on Sunday. 

But it was unclear if Iran would meet the Western demand it
suspend enrichment before the start of any talks on trade
incentives. An Iranian official denied Tehran had offered any
freeze on enrichment. 

Larijani and Solana said they had cleared up some
misunderstandings in seven hours of talks in Vienna and would
meet again in the coming week. 

Their upbeat verdicts could slow Washington's push for swift
U.N. Security Council" /> U.N. Security Councilaction this month
to impose sanctions on Iran over its atomic fuel work. Europe
had already indicated misgivings about isolating the world's No.
4 oil supplier. 

The EU diplomat said the suspension offer did not appear to be a
significant concession since Washington and others want a
long-term suspension to restore confidence that Iran's nuclear
program is geared only to generate electricity, as it insists,
and not to produce atomic weapons. 

"We don't know any details about when it would begin; whether
before or after negotiations with Iran," the diplomat told
Reuters. "Two months is nothing," he added. 

Aliasghar Soltanieh, Iranian ambassador to the U.N. nuclear
watchdog agency who accompanied Larijani during part of his
visit, denied that a suspension had been discussed with Solana. 

White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters: "We are still
trying to assess what the Iranian position is.... There have
been times where Larijani and the foreign ministry have spoken
with different voices." 

The Vienna talks had been regarded as a last chance to explore a
face-saving compromise before possible punitive action after
Iran ignored an August 31 Security Council deadline to stop
purifying uranium for use as nuclear fuel. 

PUSH FOR SANCTIONS SLOWING? 

"The meetings ... have been productive. We clarified some of the
misunderstandings we had before" about Iran's 21-page reply to
six world powers' offer of trade inducements to halt nuclear
fuel work, Solana told reporters. 

"We...want to continue in that line and for that purpose we are
going to meet again next week," he said. An EU diplomat said
Solana meant another meeting later this week, most likely on
Thursday. 

Larijani, standing beside Solana, said: "We reached common
points of view on a number of issues. And as mentioned by Dr
Solana, many of the misunderstandings were removed. Our meetings
will continue." 

Solana consulted with foreign ministers of the six powers by
phone during the talks and would brief them on the results
before they hold a conference call on Monday to discuss what to
do next, EU diplomats said. 

The six powers -- the United States, Britain, France, Germany,
Russia and China -- have publicly insisted Iran suspend its
enrichment program before negotiations to foster trust. 

But fearing the repercussions of ostracising a strategic and
economic giant in the Middle East, many in the EU prefer a
face-saving compromise that might lie in getting Tehran to curb
enrichment during any talks on the inducements. 

Russia and China, heavy trade partners with Iran, see no
immediate security threat from its nuclear work, oppose
sanctions and could veto them in the Council. Both believe there
is room for a diplomatic solution despite the violated deadline. 

(Additional reporting by Lou Charbonneau in Berlin, Karin
Strohecker in Vienna, Edmund Blair and Parisa Hafezi in Tehran
and Paul Taylor in Brussels) 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 22 AFP: In change of tone, Bush interested in 'learning more' about Iran
     
 by Maxim Kniazkov Sat Sep 9, 2:33 AM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush" /> President 
George W. Bush, striking a rare conciliatory note toward a state 
he has included in an "axis of evil," has said that he was 
"interested in learning more" about Iran" /> Iranand its 
government. 

With US diplomats trying to drum up support for new sanctions
against Tehran over its nuclear program, Bush underscored the
importance of channels of communication -- and disclosed that he
had personally signed off on granting a US visa to former
Iranian president Mohammad Khatami" /> Mohammad Khatami. 

The former moderate Iranian leader, known for his diplomatic
entreaties to the Bill Clinton" /> Bill Clintonadministration,
has been on a speaking tour of the United States this week. 

"I was interested to hear what he had to say," Bush told The
Wall Street Journal in an interview. "I'm interested in learning
more about the Iranian government, how they think, what people
think within the government." 

The US president reiterated his conviction that the present
government in Tehran, which denies Israel" /> Israel's right to
exist and gives support to radical Islamic movements, should not
be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon. 

But he expressed the hope that Iranians could be persuaded to
give up their nuclear weapons ambitions through diplomatic
means. 

"And in order for diplomacy to work, it's important to hear
voices other than current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's," Bush
pointed out. 

The remarks contrasted with the US president's statement just
last Tuesday when he branded Iran's president a "tyrant." 

On Thursday, the White House also dismissed Ahmadinejad's offer
to debate Bush at the United Nations" /> United Nationslater
this month, when the Iranian president is expected to be in New
York to address the UN General Assembly. 

The interview came as European Union" /> European Uniondiplomat
Javier Solana looked set to hold talks at an undisclosed
location Saturday with Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali
Larijani, in another bid to persuade Tehran to abandon uranium
enrichment, which Iranians say is part of a peaceful energy
program but Western nations fear could be used to manufacture
nuclear bombs. 

Six world powers -- the United States, China, Russia, France,
Britain and Germany -- are weighing possible sanctions against
Iran now that it refused to comply with a UN Security Council
resolution demanding it freeze its enrichment program by August
31. 

Khatami is the most prominent Iranian to visit the United States
since the Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Iran
1979, after radical Islamic students occupied the US Embassy in
Tehran and held 53 US diplomats hostage for 444 days. 

In speeches in interviews delivered during the US tour, Khatami
appeared to attempt to smooth over tensions and emphasize the
language of reconciliation. 

He urged the two countries to stop trading threats and restart
dialogue while insisting that a freeze on Iranian nuclear
activities could be discussed during negotiations. 

There have been unconfirmed reports Khatami might meet with
former US president Jimmy Carter, who has played a mediating
role in the past. 

In May, President Ahmadinejad sent a personal letter to Bush,
which contained a broad overview of US-Iranian relations. The
White House has dismissed it as a publicity stunt. 

Although Bush has not attended any of Khatami's speeches, his
interview indicates he is well aware of their content. 

When asked to comment on Khatami's remarks that the United
States will not be able to take strong action against Iran
because it is bogged down in Iraq" /> Iraq, Bush replied: "Well,
he also said it's very important for the coalition troops to
stay in Iraq so that there is a stable government on the Iranian
border." 

Khatami's visit has sparked loud protests in Congress, with
lawmakers demanding the Iranian should be taken to task for his
government's support for groups seen by the US government as
terrorist. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 23 Hankyoreh: N. Korean leader 'determined' to test nuclear weapons

report 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is determined to conduct an
underground test of his country's nuclear weapons and has made
his intention clear to Russian and Chinese diplomats in
Pyongyang, a British newspaper reported Sunday in a dispatch
from the North Korean capital.
 
"Russian diplomats believe it is now highly probable that North
Korea will officially join the nuclear club by carrying out its
first underground test of an atomic device," the Telegraph
reported in its Web site.
 
The report also said the reclusive leader has reportedly "made
clear his intention" during a recent meeting with diplomats from
Russia and China, North Korea's closest allies.
 
The report comes amid concerns that the communist state may be
preparing an underground test at a suspected testing site on its
east coast.
 

Earlier reports said a U.S. intelligence agency has spotted
suspicious vehicle movements near the suspected underground
testing site, suggesting an imminent nuclear test.
 
Pyongyang declared its possession of nuclear arms early last
year, but has yet to conduct any known tests. The head of South
Korea's National Intelligence Service, Kim Seung-kyu, said late
last month that his agency believes the communist state is
capable of testing a nuclear weapon "at any time" as its testing
facilities are always on standby.
 
The U.S. State Department warned last week that a North Korean
nuclear test would be "deeply provocative" and that such an act
"would only add to and deepen their isolation."
 
"North Korea needs to listen to the world and what the world is
telling it," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State
Department, told a daily press briefing in Washington Saturday.
 
Both the United States and South Korea have been trying to
persuade North Korea to abandon its atomic ambitions in
multilateral negotiations also attended by China, Japan and
Russia since the nuclear dispute erupted in late 2002. But the
communist state has been refusing to attend the talks since
November, citing what it claims to be a hostile U.S. policy
toward it. 

Quoting an unidentified Russian diplomat, the Telegraph report
said the North Korean leader is "irritated" by U.S. sanctions
imposed on a Macau bank late last year for allegedly helping the
North launder counterfeit U.S. dollars.
 
"We would encourage the North Korean regime to act in a
constructive, responsible manner, set a date to come back to the
six-party talks," McCormack said Saturday.
 
North Korea stoked regional tension in early July by test-firing
seven ballistic missiles in what it claimed to be regular
military drills.
 
Seoul, Sept. 10 (Yonhap News)
 

© 2006 The Hankyoreh Media Company. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 24 Korea Herald: 'N.K. plans to test nukes'   
        
 North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is determined to conduct an 
underground test of his country's nuclear weapons and has made 
his intention clear to Russian and Chinese diplomats in 
Pyongyang, a British newspaper reported Sunday. 

"Russian diplomats believe it is now highly probable that North 
Korea will officially join the nuclear club by carrying out its 
first underground test of an atomic device," the Telegraph 
reported on its website. 

The report also said the reclusive leader has reportedly "made
clear his intention" during a recent meeting with diplomats from
Russia and China, North Korea's closest allies.

 The report comes amid concerns that the communist state may be
preparing an underground test at a suspected testing site on its
east coast.

 Earlier reports said a U.S. intelligence agency has spotted
suspicious vehicle movements near the underground testing site,
suggesting an imminent nuclear test.

 Pyongyang declared that it has nuclear arms early last year,
but has yet to conduct any known tests. The head of South
Korea's National Intelligence Service, Kim Seung-kyu, said late
last month that his agency believes the communist state is
capable of testing a nuclear weapon "at any time" as its testing
facilities are always on standby.

 The U.S. State Department warned last week that a nuclear test
would be "deeply provocative" and that such an act "would only
add to and deepen their isolation."

 "North Korea needs to listen to the world and what the world is
telling it," Sean McCormack, a spokesman for the State
Department, said in a daily press briefing in Washington
Saturday.

 Both the United States and South Korea have been trying to
persuade North Korea to abandon its atomic ambitions through
multilateral negotiations, which are also attended by China,
Japan and Russia. 

But the communist state has been refusing to attend the talks
since November, citing what it claims to be a hostile U.S.
policy toward it. 

Quoting an unidentified Russian diplomat, the Telegraph said the
North Korean leader is "irritated" by U.S. sanctions imposed on
a Macau bank late last year for allegedly helping the North
launder counterfeit U.S. dollars.

 "We would encourage the North Korean regime to act in a
constructive, responsible manner (and) set a date to come back
to the six-party talks," McCormack. 

North Korea stoked regional tension in early July by test-firing
seven ballistic missiles in what it claimed to be regular
military drills.

2006.09.11
*****************************************************************
 25 IHT: SKorea, Japan to conduct joint survey on radioactive waste near disputed islands

Asia - Pacific - International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2006

SEOUL, South Korea South Korea and Japan have agreed to conduct a 
joint marine survey of radioactive waste near islets claimed by 
both countries, South Korean officials said Saturday.
 
The survey is aimed at determining the level of radioactive 
pollution from nuclear waste dumped by the former Soviet Union, 
the Foreign Ministry said.

During working-level talks on Friday, South Korea and Japan 
agreed in principle to conduct the survey near the islets that 
lie in waters roughly halfway between the two countries, the 
ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site.  South Korea 
and Japan conducted a similar survey 1994-95 with Russia and the 
United Nation's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy 
Agency, the ministry said.  

The islets â€” called Dokdo in Korean and Takeshima in Japanese 
â€” are at the center of a long-simmering territorial feud 
between the two countries. Seoul effectively controls the rocky 
outcroppings, but Tokyo also claims ownership over them.  

The two countries will work out details of the survey, including 
its timing and location, in the near future, the ministry said. 

Earlier this week, the two neighbors failed to agree on setting 
their sea borders, with both sides demanding to use the islets as 
a basis for their respective claims to exclusive rights over the 
rich fishing grounds and possible deposits of methane hydrate, 
which can be used to produce natural gas.  

In April, South Korea dispatched gunboats to fend off an attempt 
by Japan to survey the same waters. South Korea views such 
surveys as efforts to bolster Japan's claims.                                                                                                                                                                      
						 												 						 						 					   				 				
Herald Tribune All rights reserved   [IHT]    
*****************************************************************
 26 Korea Times: Pyongyang Ready for Underground Nuclear Test Highly Probable

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter

 North Korea is determined to carry out an underground nuclear
test, a British newspaper reported, quoting diplomats in
Pyongyang. 

Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, is said to have made clear
his intention to explode a nuclear device during recent talks
with Russian and Chinese officials in Pyongyang, the Telegraph
reported on its Web site on Saturday. 

``Russian diplomats believe it is now highly probable that North
Korea will officially join the nuclear club by carrying out its
first underground test of an atomic device,'' the daily said. 

A Russian diplomat was quoted as saying that Kim has been
``irritated'' by financial sanctions imposed last year by the
United States for North Korea's alleged money laundering and
other illegal actions such as trade in drugs. 

Earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban
Ki-moon said in Seoul that the government has already begun
reviewing its response to a nuclear weapon test. 

But he said Seoul has not yet detected any concrete signal
indicating an imminent test. 

Late last month, Rep. Chung Hyung-keun of the opposition Grand
National Party, who formerly worked for the nation's
intelligence agency, claimed that an underground facility in
Punggye, North Hamgyong Province, is the best site for Pyongyang
to test its nuclear weapons. 

He said the facility is far away from the North's borders and
has firm granite bedrock. Preparatory activities, including
movements of vehicles and the unloading of large reels of cable,
have allegedly been taking place outside the facility. 

im@koreatimes.co.kr 09-10-2006 17:22         
*****************************************************************
 27 Korea Times: Seoul, Tokyo Plan Joint Survey Near Dokdo 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter

 Seoul's recent agreement to conduct a radioactive contamination
survey with Tokyo in the waters between the two countries does
not affect South Korea's sovereignty over Dokdo, an official
said on Sunday. 

The government made the decision apparently to avoid more
conflicts over the volcanic islets in the East Sea that have
been claimed by Tokyo in the lead-up to Japan's leadership
change later this month. 

But the agreement made on Friday night drew strong criticism as
some considered it a step backwards from Seoul's position that
it would not allow Tokyo to trespass in its territorial waters
near Dokdo. 

Working-level officials from both sides agreed in principle to
jointly carry out the surveys in the exclusive economic zones
(EEZs) of both sides with officials from the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade in Seoul said. 

They plan to meet again today to pin down exactly when and where
they will conduct the survey of radioactive waste believed to
have been dumped there by the former Soviet Union.

 ``The survey will take place over a wide area in the East Sea,
but the research spots will be several ten of nautical miles
away from Dokdo,'' a ministry official told reporters,
requesting not to be named. ``It will not affect South Korea's
sovereignty over the islets.''

 In the past, Japan said it wanted to conduct the research in
the overlapping area of EEZs, where Dokdo is located, after
simply notifying South Korea. But Seoul said it was a
nonstarter, adding that Tokyo needs Seoul's approval first. 

The distance between South Korea and Japan is less then 400
nautical miles, making the two neighbors prone to disputes over
the exact extent of the EEZ. A U.N. convention allows nations to
set economic waters 200 nautical miles from their shores. 

If Seoul did not compromise, Tokyo was allegedly planning to
unilaterally conduct the survey near Dokdo to trigger South
Korea's use of force, perhaps resulting in the capture of the
research ship, a Seoul official said. 

Tokyo allegedly believes that Seoul's use of force could
publicize its argument that Dokdo is an internationally disputed
area, the official said.

 The two countries held similar radioactive waste surveys in the
East Sea with Russia and the IAEA in 1994-95, the ministry said.
But JapanˇŻs recent attempt was the first time it has pushed to
conduct the survey alone.

 Seoul and Tokyo have held rounds of talks to settle the
demarcation of the EEZs, but have failed to narrow differences
because both wanted to use Dokdo as the starting point of their
territorial waters.

 Dokdo, called Takeshima in Japan, is located 87 kilometers east
of South Korea's Ullung Island and 157 kilometers northwest of
Oki, a Japanese island belonging to the Shimane Prefecture. 

Koreans _ both in the South and the North _ believe Dokdo has
been Korea's territory since its Three Kingdoms (Silla, Paekche
and Koguryo) period more than 1,500 years ago. 

Dokdo literally means ``rocky island'' or ``lonely island'' in
Korean, while Takeshima means ``bamboo island,'' though the
plant cannot grow there due to the nature of the soil. 

The South Korean Coast Guard has been stationed there since 1954
to symbolize KoreaˇŻs ownership. 

im@koreatimes.co.kr 09-10-2006 17:28         
*****************************************************************
 28 Korea Times: Pressuring Pyongyang One Way to Resume 6-Way Talks

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Ryu Jin Korea Times Correspondent
  
President Roh Moo-hyun, center, and other Asian leaders attend a
summit on the sidelines of the two-day Asia Europe Meeting
(ASEM) in Helsinki, Finland, Sunday. /Yonhap   

HELSINKI, Finland _ President Roh Moo-hyun is trying to take the
initiative ahead of talks with U.S. President George W. Bush
next week as their summit may be significant in restarting the
six-party talks on North KoreaˇŻs nuclear programs.

 In the latest in a series of remarks, apparently intended to
play down PyongyangˇŻs moves to escalate tensions, Roh said on
Saturday pressures on the isolated North should be considered
ultimately in the light of the resumption of the multilateral
negotiations.

 Roh, attending a summit with European Union (EU) leaders on the
sidelines of the sixth Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), said he would
strive to convince Pyongyang to return to the six-nation talks,
stalled for months since last year.

 Asked if he expected Bush to seek further sanctions on North
Korea, Roh said his discussions in Washington on Sept. 14 would
focus on finding a diplomatic way out of the current standoff.

 ``Whether there will be pressure or not, I donˇŻt know,ˇŻˇŻ he
said, adding all his efforts were aimed at a peaceful resolution
and persuading North Korea to return to the multilateral
negotiations.

 His comments came ahead of a visit to the region by chief U.S.
nuclear negotiator, Christopher Hill. Washington is said to be
considering additional economic sanctions on Pyongyang,
including a travel ban and restrictions on trade and
investments. 

On Thursday, Roh also cautioned against ``reckless
speculationsˇŻˇŻ about a possible North Korean nuclear test,
warning that they would only complicate the problem further and
hurt inter-Korean relations.

 He also tried to play down North KoreaˇŻs missile tests in
early July, describing them as an action motivated by political
purposes rather than a real threat. Roh, experts said, seems to
be mindful of his talks with Bush, which he expects to be
``tough.ˇŻˇŻ

 In the meantime, Roh and EU leaders voiced ``grave concernˇŻˇŻ
at the recent missile tests by the North and jointly urged the
reclusive state to return to the six-party talks, involving
South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the U.S.

 In a joint statement after the summit, South Korea and the EU
urged North Korea to reinstate its moratorium on missile tests
and return to the six-way talks ``without delay.ˇŻˇŻ

 ``EU leaders and myself agreed on the necessity of a diplomatic
and peaceful solution of the North Korean nuclear issue,ˇŻˇŻ Roh
told reporters in the joint press conference.

 He also used the ASEM summit as an opportunity to sell his idea
of a multilateral security system for Northeast Asia as a first
step toward a regional integration like the EU.

 Roh has been making successive state visits to Greece, Romania
and Finland since last Sunday. He tried to boost bilateral ties
with the European nations while seeking cooperation with the EU.

 South Korea, in particular, signed an agreement with the EU on
the ``Galileo Project,ˇŻˇŻ a satellite-based navigation program
which would have put a total of 30 satellites in orbit 23,000
kilometers above the Earth by 2007.

 After the three-nation European tour, Roh is scheduled to visit
Washington and San Francisco and come back home next weekend. 

jinryu@koreatimes.co.kr 09-10-2006 17:33         
*****************************************************************
 29 AFP: Roh and Bush set for bumpy summit amid strains over North Korea
                          
 by Simon Martin Sun Sep 10, 6:28 PM ET 		 	 

SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea" /> North Korea's military threat will 
dominate this week's summit between the South Korean and US 
presidents, but analysts say they are unlikely to narrow sharp 
differences on how to handle the isolated communist state. 

 The self-declared nuclear-armed North, which sparked
international alarm by test-firing seven missiles in July, is
seen by President George W. Bush" /> President George W. Bushas
part of an "axis of evil." 

President Roh Moo-Hyun" /> Roh Moo-Hyun's administration, which
wants engagement with its prickly neighbour rather than
isolation, plays down the military threat posed by the missile
tests and sees them as a negotiating tactic. 

Relations between the South and the US -- its ally for six
decades -- are in trouble, as Roh's administration admits. 

"Unfortunately there exists a perception gap between South
Korea" /> South Koreaand the US," Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon
acknowledged recently without elaborating. 

"This summit meeting between Korea and the United States is far
more important than before." 

Roh promised to coordinate relations "to make them trouble-free"
but acknowledged concerns. 

"Some people in South Korea and the United States are worried
that there are problems in Korea-US relations," he said last
week during a trip to Romania. 

"Such concerns die down for a time whenever I meet the US
president, though this does not last for long." 

The presidential Blue House said the two leaders were expected
on Thursday to discuss ways of strengthening their alliance "and
talk deeply and widely about North Korea's nuclear and missile
issues..." 

The greatest crisis facing the military alliance, Seoul's
international security affairs ambassador said Thursday, is the
different perceptions of North Korea's potential threat. 

Moon Chung-in told a seminar that Seoul looks at Pyongyang both
as a threat and a partner that it must deal with to bring peace
and stability. 

He was quoted by Yonhap news agency as saying Washington sees
the North merely as a rogue state that must be contained or
overturned. 

The North since November has boycotted six-nation talks aimed at
curbing its nuclear programme in return for economic and
diplomatic rewards, in protest at US financial sanctions. 

It also dismissed a UN Security Council resolution, backed by
its major ally China, which condemned the missile tests and
imposed missile-related sanctions. 

A US news report has said the North may now also be preparing a
nuclear test. It declared itself nuclear-armed in February last
year. 

With the US pushing for enforcement of the missile-related
sanctions and curbs on the North's missile exports, and South
Korea pushing its "Sunshine Policy" of engagement, "expectations
are very low going into the summit" as one analyst said. 

"They have fundamentally different world views on North Korea,"
said Peter Beck, director for Northeast Asia of the
International Crisis Group. 

"Seoul wants to expand economic cooperation with North Korea,
Washington wants to tighten the financial noose around its
neck." 

The two leaders, Beck told AFP, are from opposite ends of the
political spectrum and don't give "good chemistry". 

"Washington faces a president who thinks Japan is a bigger
threat than North Korea," he added in reference to a
Japanese-South Korean dispute over an island chain. 

"It will be really a 'grin and a handshake' kind of meeting." 

Beck said the distance between the two countries was growing
rather than diminishing. 

Other likely summit topics are a free trade agreement now under
negotiation, which Roh is pushing despite intense domestic
opposition. 

Seoul's push to regain wartime control over its military from a
US-led unified command may not come up for discussion, officials
say. 

The proposal has sparked protests in Seoul from veterans, former
defence ministers and academics which say it would threaten
security. 

The US, which has stationed tens of thousands of troops in the
South since the end of the Korean War in 1953, has not publicly
objected to the proposal. It even said the change could take
effect in 2009 -- three years earlier than Seoul proposes. 

"It may be a case of 'Be careful what you wish for'," said Beck.
	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 30 WorldNetDaily: Bolton and the vigilantes

Founded 1997    Sunday, September 10, 2006    Today's
 	   
 [Supercritical Thoughts] [Gordon Prather] 
 
Posted: September 9, 2006

Ever since the Soviet Union disintegrated, the United Nations
and its enforcement agency – the Security Council – has more
often than not thwarted what the neo-crazies wanted to do. 

In particular, in 2002 the Security Council refused to
"sanction" Bush's pre-emptive invasion of Iraq. 

The Security Council had been told Bush had "intelligence" that
Saddam Hussein had renewed his attempt to achieve a
uranium-enrichment capability for producing nuclear weapons with
which to nuke us and "our allies." 

But, the Council knew that intrusive go-anywhere see-anything
inspections in Iraq by its International Atomic Energy Agency
had failed to find any "indication" of such a renewal. 

Well, Bush defied the Security Council and invaded Iraq anyway.
Then Bush had Undersecretary of State John Bolton announce the
establishment of the Proliferation Security Initiative, a
"coalition of the willing," willing to act – as in Iraq – even
in defiance of the Security Council, the U.N. Charter and
international law generally. 

According to Bolton, the PSI posse had to be established because
"proliferators and those facilitating the procurement of deadly
capabilities are circumventing existing laws, treaties and
controls against WMD proliferation." 

Here are excerpts from Bolton&#39;s explication– made about the
time Bush had been proven wrong about Iraq – of the PSI's
necessity before the House International Relations Committee. 

We aim ultimately not just to prevent the spread of WMD, but
also to eliminate or "roll back" such weapons from rogue states
and terrorist groups that already possess them or are close to
doing so. While we stress peaceful and diplomatic solutions to
the proliferation threat, as President Bush has said repeatedly,
we rule out no options. 

While we pursue diplomatic dialogue wherever possible, the
United States and its allies must be willing to employ more
robust techniques, such as 1) economic sanctions; 2)
interdiction and seizure; and 3) as the case of Iraq
demonstrates, pre-emptive military force where required. 

The hard lessons learned by Iraq must resonate with other
proliferating countries. Those countries should heed that
thwarting international obligations and standards – by seeking
weapons of mass destruction – is not in their national interests
and will not be tolerated by the international community. 

What "proliferating countries" does Bolton have in mind? 

We now know that Iran is developing a uranium mine, a uranium
conversion facility, a massive uranium-enrichment facility
designed to house tens of thousands of centrifuges, and a
heavy-water production plant. 

All of them subject – of course – to Iran's IAEA Safeguards
Agreement. 

This costly infrastructure would support the production of both
highly enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. 

Notice that Bolton said "would" – not "could." 

While Iran claims that its nuclear program is peaceful and
transparent, we are convinced it is otherwise. … 

So when Bush made Bolton – by "recess-appointment" – our U.N.
ambassador last year, Bolton (surprise, surprise!) immediately
began to demand that the Security Council apply the "robust
techniques" of the PSI to "proliferators" (such as Iran) and to
those "facilitating the procurement of deadly capabilities"
(such as Russia and China). 

Then, this year, Bush-Rice-Bolton strong-armed the IAEA Board of
Governors into "reporting" the "Iranian dossier" – which
contained mostly IAEA reports certifying Iran to be in total
compliance with its Safeguards Agreement – to the Security
Council, with the expectation that the Security Council could
somehow be strong-armed by Bolton into determining under Article
39 of the U.N. Charter that Iran's safeguarded programs
constituted a "threat to the peace." 

Quoth Bolton: 

This is a real test for the Security Council. There's just no
doubt that for close to 20 years, the Iranians have been
pursuing nuclear weapons through a clandestine program that
we've uncovered. 

If the U.N. Security Council can't deal with the proliferation
of nuclear weapons, can't deal with the greatest threat we have
with a country like Iran – that's one of the leading state
sponsors of terrorism – if the Security Council can't deal with
that, you have a real question of what it can deal with. 

On Bolton's first try, the Council essentially remanded the
"Iranian dossier" to the IAEA Board. On his second, the Council
was strong-armed into passing UNSC Resolution 1696, but, as of
this writing the Council has yet to "determine" under Article 39
that Iran's safeguarded activities constitute a" threat to the
peace." 

No Article 39 determination; no U.N. sanctioned "robust
techniques." 

So, what's a poor neo-crazy "recess-appointee" – whose Senate
confirmation hearing has just been postponed, indefinitely – to
do? 

Well, look for Bolton and his PSI posse to "saddle up" and ride.
 
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy
implementing official for national security-related technical
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. He
also served as legislative assistant for national security
affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. Dr. Prather had
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National
Laboratory in New Mexico. 

All Rights Reserved. WorldNetDaily.com Inc.                  
*****************************************************************
 31 The Hindu: 'Strip parts of Bill on Indo-US N-deal that worry lawmakers' 

Sunday, September 10, 2006 : 1930 Hrs
 
Washington, Sept. 10 (PTI): The Senate should "strip" a
provision in a bill on Indo-US nuclear deal that envisages an
additional protocol which Washington is signing with IAEA if it
is causing undue delay in implementing the landmark pact, a
leading American think tank has said. 

The provision known as 'Title II' of US-India Peaceful Atomic
Energy Cooperation Act deals with the additional protocol, an
agreement on safeguards that countries are supposed to sign with
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) before entering into
bilateral civil nuclear trade. Some US lawmakers have expressed
wariness about it citing national security as the protocol
entails inspections and payments and a perceived interference in
the way Americans would want to run their nuclear programmes.

Some feel it runs the risk of jeopardising substantial part of
the legislation. 

"Some Senators are wary of passing the Title II legislation for
national security reasons, but US nuclear facilities used for
national security purposes are subject to a national security
exclusion clause under the agreement because the US is a
recognised weapons state under the NPT," the Heritage
Foundation's Lisa Curtis and Baker Spring said. 

"The national security exclusion clause should be broadened and
made permanent through an amendment to Title Two. As
appropriate, it should name specific facilities and categories
of facilities that are covered by the exclusion clause," they
said in a report. 

"However, if such an amendment will result in undue delay in the
adoption of the provisions of the bill related to the bilateral
agreement with India, the Senate should simply strip Title II
from the bill and take up S.2489 at a later date," they said. 

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.
*****************************************************************
 32 Hankyoreh: East Sea radioactive waste survey with Japan not linked to Dokdo
: official 

A planned joint survey with Japan to check for radioactive waste
levels in the East Sea does not compromise South Korea's
territorial rights over Dokdo Island, a government official said
Sunday.
 
The official, who declined to be identified, stressed the
radioactive waste checks are to be conducted far from Dokdo and
will not affect efforts by Seoul to designate the island as the
starting point for its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the East
Sea.
 
The remarks come a day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and
Trade confirmed South Korea and Japan will conduct the survey,
easing the long-running diplomatic standoff over the area. 

The Foreign Ministry received some criticism for agreeing to go
along with the research instead of rejecting any such steps
outright. South Korean public sentiment towards Japan turns
hostile whenever Tokyo takes steps to exert itself over the
island that lies little over 200 kilometers east of the mainland.
 

The two sides said they will meet again to finalize details on
the survey, including the timing and areas to be covered. The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will also take part in
the endeavor.
 
"The plan for the joint survey only deals with checking for
radioactive waste and has been accepted because it serves public
health purposes," he said. He stressed the agreement did not
automatically extend to other oceanographic research in the
region.
 
Tokyo informed Seoul in July that it will conduct a unilateral
survey for possible traces of radioactive survey in waters
declared by South Korea as its EEZ. Japan cited precedents,
pointing out it has conducted such surveys in the past following
a joint efforts by South Korea, Japan, the IAEA and Russia in
the same waters. The survey was first conducted in the 1990s
after concerns arose about possible contamination when it was
revealed that the former Soviet Union dumped radioactive waste
in the waters during the Cold War.
 
Seoul said that move was unacceptable and threatened to stop
such efforts. It added any such measure required formal approval
by Seoul. 

Seoul and Tokyo faced off in the area in April when the latter
said it wanted to conduct underseas research around waters near
Dokdo. South Korea dispatched coast guard cutters to the area
and warned it will seize any vessels that violated its standing
orders.
 
Seoul then conducted its own hydrographic survey in the area in
July, despite protests by Tokyo that claims Dokdo is part of its
territory.

 Seoul, Sept. 10 (Yonhap News)
 
© 2006 The Hankyoreh Media Company. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 33 AFP: Asian leaders gather in Helsinki for summit with EU 

 Sat Sep 9, 5:48 AM ET 		 	 

HELSINKI (AFP) - Asian leaders arrived in Helsinki for a two-day 
summit with European states that will focus on freeing up trade 
as well as security issues like North Korea" /> North Korea. 

 Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and South Korean President
Roh Moo-Hyun" /> Roh Moo-Hyunwere scheduled to hold separate
talks with the European Union" /> European Union(EU)'s Finnish
presidency and the European Commission" /> European
Commissionbefore the summit proper opens on Sunday. 

The two-yearly Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) brings together
leaders from the 25 European Union member states and 13 Asian
nations. 

Roh is expected to use the gathering as an opportunity to sell
his idea of multilateral security system for Northeast Asia --
possibly along the lines of the Organisation for Security and
Cooperation in Europe ( OSCE" /> OSCE). 

He will also lay out Seoul's stance on North Korea's nuclear
policy and recent missile tests, which are likely to figure
prominently during security discussions. 

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with his Finnish
counterpart Matti Vanhanen on Friday and urged him to use his
influence as holder of the rotating EU presidency to have
concerns over North Korea's missile development written into the
chairman's statement at the conclusion of the summit. 

North Korea on July 5 test-fired six short and mid-range
missiles and one long-range missile, the Taepodong-2. All of
them fell harmlessly in the Sea of Japan. 

Security issues aside, the main focus of the ASEM gathering will
be on liberalising trade, with talks about opening official
negotiations between the EU and the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the one hand and the EU and
South Korea" /> South Koreaon the other. 

"On trade issues, the big story is the chances for a bilateral
trade agreement between the EU and ASEAN and South Korea,"
Saturday said an official close to EU Trade Commissioner Peter
Mandelson, who cannot attend the meeting because he will be in
Rio for WTO talks. 

"There's no doubt that that will be talked about in the
corridors," the official added. 

The Asian leaders are expected to push for a revival of global
trade liberalisation talks even as they press ahead with their
own plans for a massive Asia-Pacific free-trade area. 

Talks were suspended in July largely due to disagreements over
subsidies given by industrialised nations, including EU members,
to their farmers. 

Trade between the two regions now accounts for more than 43
percent of total world trade in goods, and ASEM countries make
up about 52 percent of the world's gross domestic product. 

With ASEM 10 years old, the leaders will also discuss inviting
other countries to future talks with the aim of making a
declaration on expanding the club. 

For Japan's Koizumi, the summit will likely mark his final
foreign trip before he steps down after a five-year term as
premier that has, at times, alienated Asian neighbours. 

During the summit, Koizumi is expected to be snubbed once again
by leaders of China and South Korea who have been angered by his
visits to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine. 

The two Asian countries consider the shrine, which honors top
war criminals along with war dead, to be a symbol of Japan's
past militarism. 

	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 34 The State: S.C. must take lead in developing hydrogen technology

09/09/2006 

As fossil fuels enter the twilight years, South Carolina is
finding itself in a unique position to revolutionize the energy
industry. Hydrogen research and initiatives within our state
have the potential to end the U.S. reliance on foreign sources
of oil while catapulting South Carolina and Columbia into the
international spotlight. 

Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the
universe. It can be converted to an energy source through the
use of a fuel cell to power cars, homes, businesses and portable
devices. 

Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen can never be depleted and can be
derived from a variety of domestically available resources,
including renewable energies and nuclear power. 

Notably, hydrogen power emits no harmful pollutants  the only
exhaust from a vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell is water,
the very essence of life. 

The Clemson University International Center for Automotive
Research, the University of South Carolinas Horizon Center, the
Savannah River National Laboratory and its Center for Hydrogen
Research, South Carolina State University, General Motors and
BMW are all in-state institutions dedicated to developing and
commercializing hydrogen and fuel-cell technology. It is time to
put these resources to work. 

States such as California, Ohio, Florida and Connecticut have
invested state and federal money in the development and
commercialization of hydrogen technologies. These states have
created tax incentives and credits to retailers, consumers and
businesses investing in clean energies such as hydrogen. 

South Carolina already has an advantage over other states.
Organizations are gaining momentum with hydrogen and fuel cell
initiatives and are becoming major market players. 

In July, the National Hydrogen Association announced that it has
selected Columbia and the South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell
Alliance to host its annual conference in 2009. The economic
impact of the conference is estimated at $1 million, with around
1,200 visitors and 100 exhibitors. The announcement is a
significant step toward recognizing South Carolina as a world
leader in hydrogen research and initiatives and is a huge boost
for Columbia in general. 

Demand for hydrogen research will grow in the coming years, and
creating incentives now will put South Carolina ahead of the
curve and on the path to becoming the worlds hydrogen leader. 

South Carolina must not hesitate to capitalize on our assets,
create hydrogen incentives and secure our economic future. 

FRED HUMES 

Chairman 

South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance 

Aiken 
*****************************************************************
 35 Beacon Journal: FirstEnergy reactor off-line

09/09/2006 | 

Davis-Besse restarts as workers try to fix electronic issue at
Beaver Valley 1

 By Edward Klump Bloomberg 

FirstEnergy Corp. shut its Beaver Valley 1 nuclear reactor in
Pennsylvania and restarted Davis-Besse in Oak Harbor. 

The Beaver Valley 1 reactor in Shippingport, Pa., north of
Pittsburgh, went off-line about 10 p.m. Thursday, said Todd
Schneider, a spokesman for Akron-based FirstEnergy. Workers are
trouble-shooting an electronic problem in a control system. The
unit could be restarted in coming days once any repairs are
made, he said. 

The reactor can send 846 megawatts to the grid, according to the
company. That means it can produce enough power for 676,800
typical U.S. homes, according to U.S. Energy Department
estimates. 

Davis-Besse linked to the grid at 7:18 a.m. Friday, said
spokesman Richard Wilkins. 

A shutdown on Sept. 6 was caused by a break in a drain line that
passes through the condenser, Wilkins said. The condenser turns
steam from the turbine back into water, which then goes into the
steam generators, Schneider has said. 

Davis-Besse can send about 898 megawatts to the grid, Schneider
said. That means it can produce enough power for 718,400 typical
U.S. homes, based on Energy Department estimates. 

*****************************************************************
 36 The Hindu: Chaos at public hearing on uranium project 

 Monday, Sep 11, 2006
     
Staff Reporter 

Protestors caned; cars of Kadapa MP and Collector obstructed   

 Atomic Energy Commission official defends project 

KADAPA: Police caned protestors who pelted stones and raised
slogans opposing the proposed uranium project during a meeting
to mobilise public opinion in favour of the project at
Thummalapalle village in Vemula mandal on Sunday. 

Police chased away protestors to the nearby hillocks. Later,
some people of Mabbuchintalapalle, Bhoomayapalle and
Thummalapalle villages squatted on the road and obstructed cars
of Kadapa MP Y.S. Vivekananda Reddy, Collector M.T. Krishna Babu
and others demanding dropping of moves to set up the uramium
project. 

Earlier, Anti-Uranium Struggle Committee members B. Narayana, G.
Obulesu, K. Jayasri and A. Sampath Kumar and Siva Reddy
displayed a large banner containing pictures of people suffering
from skin and other disorders. They carried placards stating
that radiation would pose serious health hazards. 

The MP and Collector asserted that the project would not pose
any health hazards and promised to take adequate safety
measures. 

Uranium was being mined at Jaduguda in Jharkand and medical
tests had proved that mining workers as well as local people had
not suffered any radiation effects, Senior Administrative
Officer of Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Goverdhan Rao said at
the meeting. Mr. Rao said that the uranium project at
Thummalapalle would neither endanger the environment nor the
health of people in the vicinity, he said. 

Mr Rao said that the energy needs of domestic consumers,
industry and agriculture sectors were growing by leaps and
bounds, necessitating tapping of all forms of energy sources.
Collector M.T. Krishna Babu asked people to freely express their
opinions. 
The public opinion drive was aimed at dispelling notions among
people. He urged officials to explain about ongoing uranium
mining and projects proposed to be set up at different places. 


UCIL claim 

Hyderabad Special Correspondent: Meanwhile, the Uranium
Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) claimed that villagers at the
public hearing had supported the project and were "fully
convinced" with the presentations made by the officers of the
Department of Atomic Energy and UCIL. 

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.
*****************************************************************
 37 Houston Chronicle: South Texas Project nuclear plant faces scrutiny

Sept. 9, 2006, 11:16AM

 Agency to examine security at plant

 Investigation comes after guards at nuclear site allege flaws
 
By ANASTASIA USTINOVA

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said Friday it will
investigate security concerns at the South Texas Project nuclear
plant after a report saying guards pointed out holes in the
plant's security system. 

While a spokesman for the agency confirmed the investigation, he
declined to offer details. 

"We will take a look at the issues as they've been described,
and if there is anything that needs to be addressed, it will be
addressed," agency spokesman Scott Burnell said. "It's possible
that we will not say anything publicly." 

Earlier this week, the Union of Concerned Scientists, a
Washington-based nonprofit advocacy group, issued a report
citing security concerns raised by unnamed guards who work at
the South Texas Project, 90 miles southwest of Houston. The
owners of the plant are NRG Energy, CPS Energy and the city of
Austin. 

Mark McBurnett, vice president of oversight and regulatory
affairs at the South Texas Project, said the plant's management
has reviewed and addressed most of the complaints under review
by the federal agency that regulates the nuclear industry. 

"It's fully expected that they will look into that as well," he
said. "I would expect nothing less than a thorough evaluation by
them." 

The report includes allegations that security guards failed to
search equipment trucks entering the areas near the reactor and
once allowed a convicted felon into the plant. The report also
alleges that the plant's maintenance staff has easy access to
firearms, and it says some surveillance cameras and radio
equipment do not work. 

The Union of Concerned Scientists concluded that "the security
risk for the South Texas Project is violating federal
regulations and requirements and posing an undue threat to
nearby communities." 

The Security Police and Fire Professionals of America Union that
represents security guards at the plant could not be reached for
comment. 

Officials with the Florida-based Wackenhut Corp., the contractor
that provides plant security, said some of the complaints are
outdated and have already been investigated. 

"We welcome the NRC's investigation. It will legitimize our own
investigation," said Richard Michau, president of Wackenhut's
Nuclear Services Division. He declined to provide further
details. 

The federal investigation comes not long after NRG announced a
plan to spend up to $5.2 billion to more than double the plant's
capacity by 2,700 megawatts by adding two reactors, which it
hopes will be operating by 2014. 

[chron.com] Copyright
*****************************************************************
 38 The Hindu: Tamil Nadu: Time ripe for India to clinch nuclear deal

/ Chennai News : 

Stephen Cohen Special Correspondent 

Online edition of India's National Newspaper

 Sunday, Sep 10, 2006

  Indo-US relations will not be destroyed even if it fails, says 
defence expert Stephen Cohen Indo-US relations will not be 
destroyed even if it fails: Stephen Cohen   

+ "If it succeeds, it will shape India's nuclear policy towards
the U.S. 
+ "It is important for the U.S., India, Japan and Vietnam to
have a working relationship" 


CHENNAI: India now stands the best chance of going through with
the deal for civilian nuclear co-operation with the United
States as no other President is likely to show the same degree
of enthusiasm towards India as George Bush, according to Stephen
Cohen, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Division, Brookings
Institute. 

Though perceptions differed on both sides on the deal, the
Indo-US relations will not be destroyed if it fails, Mr. Cohen,
an internationally recognised expert on defence and strategic
issues, said at a round table on `Politics of the Nuclear Deal
and US-India Relations' organised by the Centre for Security
Analysis on Saturday. 

While India's critics in the U.S. "projected the past on to the
future" and argued that India would be an unreliable partner,
the view on the other side was that the country "would be pushed
around by the U.S." Also, the perception that India had not only
kept out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but also
thrashed it had aroused American anger. 

President Bush was decidedly pro-India, though there was still a
long way to go for the deal to become a reality. It stood a
60:40 chance of getting through the Senate. If it succeeded, it
would shape India's nuclear policy towards the U.S. "If the deal
does not go through, it will be an opportunity lost for India,"
Mr. Cohen said. 

One aspect that had to be factored in, as far as American
perception of India's role in the deal was concerned, was that
India's new found confidence was being interpreted as a degree
of aggressiveness, especially as one of the characteristics of
the Indian strategic elite had hitherto been a "tremendous lack
of self-confidence." 

Nuclear weapons would alter the rules of the game among major
powers. While the Bush administration was obsessed with China
before 9/11, the focus had shifted to countering terrorism since
then, Mr. Cohen said in response to a question whether India and
US getting together on the deal would contain China's
`expansionist' tendencies. It was important for the U.S., India,
Japan and Vietnam to have a working relationship. 

China was "suspicious but curious" about the deal, but was more
concerned about American interference in Taiwan. Also, though it
was not a strategic problem, there was a competition between the
U.S., China, India, Japan and Europe in achieving energy
security. The U.S. was showing no interest in signing a similar
nuclear deal with Pakistan. "Just by getting into a position of
attempting to acquire the technology for civil nuclear
co-operation from the U.S., India has already notched up a
victory. If the deal falls through, there will be no big
repercussions on India. There is also no great rush in the U.S.
to help Pakistan with its nuclear programme, especially at a
time when the latter is entering into a period of great
political uncertainty," Mr. Cohen said. 

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.
*****************************************************************
 39 Independent: Government blocks Ł400m US bid for British Nuclear Group 

Fluor rebuffed over clean-up deal 

By Tim Webb 

Published: 10 September 2006 

The controversial Ł400m bid by US engineering giant Fluor for
clean-up company British Nuclear Group (BNG) has been rejected
by the Government. 

BNG's parent company, BNFL, will will now have less influence
over how its decommissioning businesses are sold. 

The Government is understood to have told state-owned BNFL and
the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to formally approve
a new sale process for BNG. BNFL and the NDA, which owns the
UK's nuclear sites, had been supposed to run the process by
themselves. 

Fluor made the unsolicited offer for BNG last month and was even
in talks with UK services company Amec last week about making a
joint bid. 

The US company's surprise offer came despite a U-turn by BNFL
earlier last month, when it said it would sell the company
piecemeal, rather than in its entirety as first planned. 

But officials from the Treasury and the Department of Trade and
Industry decided late last week that BNFL would not be allowed
to sell the entire subsidiary to Fluor. 

BNG operates the huge Sellafield site in Cumbria and does
decommissioning work there, as well as at the UK's ageing Magnox
nuclear-reactor sites. It also has a project services business
that carries out other decommissioning work. 

The NDA will now issue contracts for the Magnox and Sellafield
sites in a bid competition. Once the new sale process has been
formally approved by ministers and the NDA and BNFL, the
decommissioning authority will hold an industry day for
companies interested in bidding. 

BNFL will be allowed to sell BNG's project services arm, worth
Ł100m, and its stake in the AWE Trident nuclear weapons venture. 

The NDA is in charge of puting the estimated Ł70bn worth of
future clean-up contracts out to tender in competitive auctions. 

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited 
*****************************************************************
 40 toledoblade.com: Davis-Besse back after 2-day outage

Article published Saturday, September 9, 2006
 
OAK HARBOR, Ohio - FirstEnergy Corp. restarted its Davis-Besse
nuclear reactor near here Thursday night after an unscheduled
outage of less than two days.

 
The outage was viewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a
relatively easy fix of a common problem: an air leak in the
29-year-old plant's main condenser. Operators manually shut down
Davis-Besse at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, about an hour after noticing
the vacuum was lost in the plant's nonnuclear, secondary loop
system.

 Plants need vacuumized pressure to draw steam into turbines
that generate electricity.

 The restart began a little after 11 p.m. Thursday. The reactor
was at 58 percent power yesterday afternoon. It was expected to
be at full power by last night.

 The Toledo Blade Company, 541 N. Superior St., Toledo, OH 43660
, (419) 724-6000 
*****************************************************************
 41 Brattleboro Reformer: Legal fight over VY uprate enters final stage

By ANDY ROSEN, Reformer Staff  

Saturday, September 9 NEWFANE -- A two-year-old legal battle
over Vermont Yankee's 20 percent power boost will enter the home
stretch next week. 

The federal Atomic Safety and Licensing Board has planned a
hearing, beginning Wednesday, that will serve as one last chance
for the nuclear watchdog New England Coalition to argue against
a license amendment that allowed the plant to increase its
output this spring. 

The hearing starts at 9 a.m. at the Windham County Courthouse,
and will be continued on Thursday and Friday if necessary. 

The three-member board, a quasi-judicial arm of the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission, will hear sworn testimony from
representatives and witnesses for the coalition, Vermont Yankee
and the NRC staff, which approved the uprate this spring. 

At issue is whether the plant needs to perform a full shutdown
from its new power level as a condition of the power boost. 

All sides appear to agree that the plant must be able to show
that it can safely cut its power in the event of an emergency. 

The NRC and Vermont Yankee agree that the plant sufficiently
tested its ability to do that while it was raising its power
level. 

But the New England Coalition believes that the Vermont Yankee
needs to perform a full shutdown or conduct more detailed
analysis to assure its safety. 

"If you think you can run this plant safely, prove it by
stepping on the brakes from full power," said Ray Shadis,
technical advisor to the coalition. 

Rob Williams, spokesman for Vermont Yankee, said the plant
followed NRC regulations in conducting its test. 

"We'll present to the ASLB our view that the New England
Coalition is wrong in their interpretation of NRC regulations
regarding transient tests," he said. 

The ASLB can impose additional conditions on the uprate, or even
revoke its approval, and will issue a final decision a few
months after the close of the hearing. 

But even if the coalition's argument, or "contention" is upheld,
Shadis said he would not expect the board to overturn the
uprate. Instead, he said it would probably result in additional
scrutiny of Vermont Yankee's ability to shut down. 

Still, according to NRC Spokeswoman Diane Screnci, Vermont
Yankee has already been more closely studied than any plant
that's boosted its power. 

"This is the most extensive uprate review conducted by the NRC,"
she said. 

The ASLB has never opened hearings on any other plant's power
increase, but none have ever been requested. 

Both the coalition and the Vermont Department of Public Service
requested hearings by filing contentions in late August of 2004.
The coalition filed seven, while the department filed five, and
two were accepted from each party. The coalition filed three
more contentions in April, all of which were denied. 

The state dropped its contentions, challenging the plant's
ability to count on vapor pressure to push water through pumps
that would cool the core in an emergency, in May. 

The coalition withdrew another contention, centered around the
integrity of a cooling tower ar Vermont Yankee, last month. That
move left just the full transient-testing contention standing. 

Still, it will be the first uprate-related contention to go
before the ASLB in a formal evidentiary hearing. 

There are still some uprate-related proceedings going on, even
after the ASLB case is settled. 

The Vermont Public Service Board is now reviewing a case to
decide whether Vermont Yankee should provide more financial
protection to ratepayers in case the uprate causes the plant to
become a less reliable source of low-cost power. 

Andy Rosen can be reached at or (802) 254-2311, ext. 275. 

New England Newspapers, Inc.
» (802) 254-2311
» 62 Black Mountain Road
» Brattleboro, VT 05301-9242 	   	 	
*****************************************************************
 42 BUCHAREST DAILY NEWS: Romania's nuclear reactor turned off for annual tests 

No 541  Date: Monday, September 11, 2006

AP  

A nuclear reactor at a power plant in eastern Romania was shut
down for almost a month on Saturday for annual tests, officials
there said. 

The plant in the eastern city of Cernavoda, near the Black Sea,
will remain closed for 25 days while it undergoes safety checks,
plant spokeswoman Mihaela Stiopol said. 

The plant, which has four reactors, produces an average of 10
percent of Romania's energy needs. 

South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun said this week that his
country was interested in investing in two nuclear reactors at
the Cernavoda plant. 

During the shutdown, other power plants which use gas and brown
coal will supplement energy needs, local energy company
Termoelectrica said Saturday.   

Copyright © 2004-2006 Bucharest Daily News   
*****************************************************************
 43 Capital Reports: Proposed rule would expand NRC's authority over radioactive material

WASHINGTON (08/09/06) -- The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
is seeking public comments on a proposed rule to incorporate
newly added radioactive "byproduct" material into its regulatory
framework as mandated by the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Act
expands the definition of byproduct material, placing additional
radioactive material under NRC's jurisdiction. The Act requires
final regulations to be issued by February 7, 2007. 

The proposed rule would establish the regulatory framework for
regulating certain discrete sources of radium-226,
accelerator-produced radioactive material (ARM), and certain
discrete sources of naturally occurring radioactive material
(NORM). The proposed rule would revise the definition for
"byproduct material," add a definition for "discrete source,"
amend existing regulations to include radium-226 and certain
accelerator-produced radioisotopes, and add provisions to the
regulatory framework for overseeing the newly added byproduct
material. 

Although the NRC has not regulated ARM or NORM in the past, most
states have regulatory programs for such material. Other federal
agencies, states, and affected personnel from the commercial,
industrial, and medical communities have been involved in the
rulemaking process that included interactive discussion at a
Nov. 9, 2005, roundtable public meeting. To enhance cooperation
and improve efficiency in rulemaking, the NRC provided a
preliminary draft of the proposed rule to the states and the
Advisory Committee on Medical Uses of Isotopes for an early
opportunity to comment on the proposed regulations; their
comments were considered in finalizing this proposed rule.  

Specifically for the proposed rule, the NRC seeks comments on
the issuance of general licenses and exemption provisions for
certain items containing radium-226, provisions for exemptions
and "grandfathering" certain products involving ARM or NORM, and
the compatibility designation of the proposed regulations for
state programs.  

The proposed rule also contains an implementation strategy,
including:  

(1) the use of a transition plan to lay out NRC's plan for
waiver termination and for regulatory transition,  

(2) the plan to have Agreement States continue to carry out
their regulatory programs until each state certifies, and the
NRC agrees, that its regulatory program adequately covers ARM
and NORM, and  

(3) the inclusion of specific regulatory provisions instead of
using enforcement discretion that would allow individuals to
continue using ARM and NORM provided that these individuals
comply with other applicable requirements while waiting for an
NRC licensing decision.  

The proposed rule is available online. 

Interested persons are invited to submit comments on the
proposed rule within 45 days of publication in the Federal
Register, expected shortly, to guarantee consideration by the
NRC.      
                                
3450 Palmer Dr. #4-264
Cameron Park, California 95682
Telephone: (530) 676-9334 
FAX: (530) 676-9387
Email: capitol@caprep.com
  
Copyright © 2006 Capitol Reports. All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 44 Daily Press: Other Voices: Don't fear nuclear plants

Opinion Today 

Hampton Roads, Virginia - September 10, 2006 11:56 PM     

By Mike Cohen                                                                                                                                                                           
September 9, 2006                                                                                                                                               

"Nuclear power has major drawbacks," Aug. 22, offered an 
interesting perspective from Matthew Auer, a professor of public 
and environmental affairs at Indiana University. He cites chances 
for "radioactive byproducts to end up in the wrong hands," and 
states that, "Nuclear power plants offer one-stop shopping for 
terrorists" because their radioactive contents can be made into 
weapons.
 
Those statements reveal Auer's lack of knowledge of the
technical aspects of these plants as well as the nuclear
materials they utilize.
 
He also seems oblivious to the fact that, while the United
States has not commissioned a new nuclear power plant in 25
years, the industry has not remained idle. Over 100 plants have
gone up in the rest of the world, and over 50 are under
construction as we speak, some in countries with governments far
less stable than our own. If terrorists truly want this
material, they don't need to wait another five or 10 years until
our next plant comes on line; they can get it right now.
 
Neither a nuclear power plant nor the radioactive material
generated therein is an attractive option for terrorists,
especially given how easy it is to manufacture chemical and
biological weapons. This is the scare boondoggle of the decade.
 
Here's my view, based on more than 30 years of experience in the
nuclear engineering field, including time in the Navy, the
private sector, and as an adjunct professor of nuclear
engineering technology at Old Dominion University: First, the
nuclear material is of far too low an enrichment to be used in
nuclear weapons, and cannot be reprocessed without massive,
sophisticated facilities, so it is useless to a terrorist whose
stock in trade is remaining hidden.
 
Second, it is heavy, solid metal and is molded into assemblies
that weigh over a ton. Those assemblies are stored in huge,
shielded casks, are highly radioactive and, assuming that anyone
has a huge vehicle that can transport them, will expose the
handler to deadly radiation if they are taken out of the casks.
There is no way that a few dozen terrorists could even move
these materials out of their storage areas, let alone transport
it anywhere.
 
Finally, sabotage would simply damage the plant in place, but
would not hurt anyone outside its perimeter.
 
Cohen lives in Virginia Beach 					

EDITORIAL PAGE CONTACTS Editorial Page Editor Jesse Todd | 
928-6448

Copyright copy 2006 Daily Press                         
*****************************************************************
 45 IHT: Romania's nuclear reactor turned off for annual tests - 

Europe - International Herald Tribune

The Associated Press
 						
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2006

CONSTANTA, Romania

A nuclear reactor at a power plant in eastern Romania was shut 
down for almost a month on Saturday for annual tests, officials 
there said.  The plant in the eastern city of Cernavoda, near the 
Black Sea, will remain closed for 25 days while it undergoes 
safety checks, plant spokeswoman Mihaela Stiopol said.  The 
plant, which has four reactors, produces an average of 10 percent 
of Romania's energy needs.  South Korea's President Roh Moo-hyun 
said this week that his country was interested in investing in 
two nuclear reactors at the Cernavoda plant.  During the 
shutdown, other power plants which use gas and brown coal will 
supplement energy needs, local energy company Termoelectrica said 
Saturday.                                                                                                                                                                   
						 												 						 						 					   				 				
Contact the IHT   
	 					   				 			
Herald Tribune All rights reserved   [IHT]    
*****************************************************************
 46 CNIC: GNEP Expression Of Interest

(Citizens' Nuclear Information Center)

9 September 2006 													 													 														

Media Release 													 													 														

On Friday September 8th Japan's ailing nuclear industry made a
collective lunge at a lifeline from George Bush. Eleven nuclear
industry players submitted a joint response to the US Department
of Energy's (DOE) request for expressions of interest (EOI) in
its Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). They hope that
GNEP will be just the lifeline that Japan's troubled nuclear
fuel cycle and fast breeder reactor programs desperately need.
More likely, however, time will show that they were clutching at
straws. 														

The EOI relates to two GNEP programs, the "Consolidated Fuel
Treatment Center" (CFTC) and the Advanced Burner Reactor (ABR).
Joint bidders include Japan's leading nuclear research agency,
Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), uranium enrichment and spent
fuel reprocessing facility owner, Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd (JNFL),
and Japanese nuclear plant makers Mitsubishi Heavy Industries,
Toshiba and Hitachi. 														

It is difficult to imagine how Japan could play a constructive
role in GNEP, given that the reprocessing technology it uses is
French technology and that this technology is recognized to be a
major proliferation risk. Furthermore, its fast breeder
technology has been plagued by accidents and delays and is a
major proliferation risk in its own right. 														

DOE has been chopping and changing its GNEP plan. Clearly it
doesn't know what it wants. It has opened this EOI up for all
comers to offer whatever they like. This shows that GNEP is
really just a public relations ploy for an industry suffering
from major credibility problems. GNEP will not solve the problem
of nuclear proliferation. Nor will it solve the problem of what
to do with nuclear waste. However, by lulling the public into a
false sense that these problems can be solved, GNEP's promoters
hope to gain funding and buy breathing space, before the
industry collapses under the weight of its own contradictions.
														

Japan's involvement in GNEP, far from solving the problems of
nuclear energy, is more likely to further undermine any spurious
claims that might be made for GNEP. Rather than participating in
GNEP, Japan should address the problems nuclear power and the
nuclear fuel cycle have created at home, and invest in
non-nuclear alternatives---energy conservation, efficiency, and
sustainable, renewable energy. 														

See also the following previous media releases: 														

Lessons the G8 Can Learn from Japan: the Nuclear Fuel Cycle is
an Economic Failure Providing no Energy (Media Release by CNIC
and Green Action, 14 July 2006) 														

Global Nuclear Energy Partnership and Japan (Statement by CNIC
and Green Action, 11 July 2006) 														

*****************************************************************
 47 Investor's Business Daily: Confronting The Power Shift

BY J. BONASIA INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY 

Posted 9/8/2006 

For a look at the fast-changing world of electric utilities,
check out California. 

Five years ago, the Golden State suffered through rolling
blackouts in the wake of utility deregulation. Today, it's
leading the charge to cut dependence on fossil fuels. 

The California Legislature passed a breakthrough law late last
month to achieve a 25% rollback in the state's greenhouse gas
emissions by 2020. That move sent shock waves throughout the
electricity industry, far beyond California. 

To craft the bill, Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger worked
with the Legislature's Democratic majority. Policymakers and
venture capitalists say the measure could usher in a new wave of
investments in clean, renewable fuels. 

Deregulation, meanwhile, remains a hot-button issue for U.S.
utilities. About half the states passed some form of
deregulation in the 1990s with mixed results. 

In many cases, competition grew and prices fell, but in some
areas, energy-trading schemes by Enron and other companies drove
up prices — and may have contributed to California's blackouts.
Many ratepayers no longer have faith in deregulation. 

As the need for power grows, the public wants more renewable
energy — and lower prices. Regulators in many states hope to
address those concerns. That's forcing utilities to keep
current. 

1. Business 

The electric power industry consists of two joined halves: power
generation, and transmission and distribution. The generation
side has been deregulated by 20 states, mostly in the Northeast
and West. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission oversees
power generation. 

Coal provides about half the nation's power. Most other utility
plants run on nuclear fuel or natural gas. Less than 2% of U.S.
electricity comes from wind, hydroelectric or solar sources.
(Related Story) 

The power transmission business, meanwhile, is regulated by the
states — since the companies involved often share power lines.
Generation plants transmit power over thick cables strung from
tall towers. Smaller distribution lines carry lower voltage
power into homes and businesses. 

A new power plant can cost $1 billion or more. 

Maintaining the transmission grid is costly too. And regulations
are constantly changing. For these reasons, new power plant
construction has slowed — especially for coal and nuclear
facilities. 

Despite major missteps in California, deregulation has benefited
customers across Pennsylvania and much of the Northeast, says
Jim Miller, incoming chief executive of PPL, (PPL) a utility in
Allentown, Pa. PPL also has plants in Montana, Britain, Chile
and El Salvador. 

"Deregulation has created a desire for companies to operate more
efficiently," Miller said. "Ultimately it has resulted in lower
power costs." 

 Name of the game: In this plugged-in world, utilities must
ensure continuous service at the lowest possible price. That
requires constant maintenance of their complex infrastructure.
It also means staying on top of rule changes handed down by
Congress and the states. 

2. Market 

The country's heaters, air conditioners, machines and appliances
depend on a steady power source. That's a big plus for the
utility industry, notes Daniele Seitz, an analyst with Dahlman
Rose. And demand is outstripping supply due to a lack of new
plants, she says. 

"People cannot live without power," Seitz said. "Yet we're
running out of cheap energy in the electricity sector." 

Record heat waves over the summer drove demand for coal and
natural gas. Electricity prices rose 11% in the first half of
the year, the Energy Department said. Total power consumption is
expected to grow 0.6% this year and 1.1% in '07. 

The long approval process for new coal and nuclear plants has
hindered their construction. Many communities view coal as too
dirty. Nuclear plants are challenged by the disposal of spent
fuel rods. A plan to bury the country's nuclear waste at Yucca
Mountain in Nevada has been hotly debated for years. 

As a result, many utilities have built cheaper natural gas
plants over the past decade. The downside to that: natural gas
prices have more than doubled in recent years. 

Still, the country remains addicted to power. Electric utility
stocks have gained 60% in cumulative value since January 2004,
Seitz says. That compares with the S's 19% growth over the same
period. Seitz has a buy rating on shares of PPL and Allegheny
Energy. (AYE) 

"This group (of utility stocks) has been an excellent commodity
investment tool for the last three years," she said. 

3. Climate 

California's mandate to cut carbon dioxide emissions should
serve as writing on the wall for the industry at large, says Ron
Minsk, an attorney in the energy practice of law firm Alston
&Bird. In the 1990s, he worked on energy issues as a special
assistant on economic policy in the Clinton administration. 

"We're at a point now in the industry where one can reasonably
foresee what may be a significant change in the rules with
respect to (cutting) emissions," Minsk said. "Pretty soon the
issue will not be 'Should we do it?' but 'How should we do it?'
" 

Minsk says he won't be surprised if by the end of 2010 Congress
passes a law to limit fossil fuels. Such regulation will bring
challenges for power companies, but opportunities as well.
Developers of wind plants and solar farms can expect a lift. 

General Electric, (GE) for instance, is the largest maker of
wind turbines. Some large utilities, such as Exelon (EXC) and
PPL, rely on a mix of fuel. They blend coal, nuclear and gas
power with renewable sources such as hydro. 

Some smaller utilities, such as Allegheny Energy, rely 100% on
coal. 

Coal burning emits a lot of unwanted carbon dioxide. Coal is the
country's last abundant energy resource, with a 250-year supply
on hand, notes Paul Evanson, Allegheny chief executive. That's
crucial in any talk on energy security, he says. 

"We can't just rely on gas and oil," Evanson said. "Global
warming is a major uncertainty and an overhang for the whole
industry." 

4. Technology 

To address global warming fears, utilities are exploring new
ways to extract carbon dioxide from the fuel-burning process.
The goal is to sequester the gas deep underground so that
existing sources of coal can be used without the negative
pollution effects, says Curt Morgan, executive vice president of
NRG Energy (NRG). The approach is also known as clean coal. 

"Even environmental groups have a hard time arguing against this
one," Morgan said. 

The approach is defined as integrated gasification combined
cycle, or IGCC. A chemical process converts coal into a gas,
which can be burned as fuel. The carbon dioxide is captured at
the plant. The hardest part of IGCC involves injecting the
carbon dioxide into subterranean caverns and reservoirs. 

"People are studying this now to ensure that there are no ill
effects from having the CO2 underground," Morgan said. 

Power plants have used smokestack scrubbers for years to reduce
harmful emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Now
other technologies are being developed to create nonpolluting
energy sources. 

Experts say wind power has become quite cost effective in
regions where winds reach 8 mph. This could be a huge advantage
for the Great Plains and coastal areas. Problems still exist,
however, when winds slow or stop. 

Many homes and businesses are adding solar panels. Sometimes,
this distributed form of generation can return power to the
grid, reversing the owner's meter. 

Also, the industry is testing new solar thermal plants. They
reflect the sun's rays to heat a liquid or gas and thus drive
turbines. Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas &Electric
are working on such projects in California's deserts. 

5. Outlook 

The industry isn't going away soon. The need for power will
grow. 

Upside: Americans are expected to use more gadgets per capita in
the future, driving demand. Electricity remains a critical
element of the overall U.S. economy. 

Risks: The industry faces much uncertainty. Legislators are
growing concerned about the effects of global warming. And with
a new president taking office in early 2009, the drive for new
rules could grow, says energy attorney Minsk. 

"The biggest question mark facing the industry addresses both
risk and opportunity," Minsk said. "This involves what air
emissions standards we're likely to see over the next several
years from every level of government." 		 		 		 		 		
Related Resources: 		 

 © Investor's Business Daily, Inc. 2000-2006. All Rights
*****************************************************************
 48 Bahrain News Agency: Nuclear technology effects conference commences 

date: 10 09, 2006   
 
Manama Sept. 10 (BNA) Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman
Al Khalifa delegated Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid bin
Abdullah Al Khalifa to inaugurate a conference on the effects
nuclear technology held in Manama today. 

The two-day conference is organised by the Interior Ministry in
cooperation with the London-based Gulf Centre for Strategic
Studies and is attended by 250 participants from various
specialties.

The conference is held at a time of critical regional and
international developments, said Shaikh Rashid at the conference.

He hoped for reaching practical recommendations and proposals
that could be relied on for preparing a programme aimed at
dealing with the effects of the spread of nuclear technology on
both regional and international levels.

Everyone is aware of this technology's risks and harms which
threaten the continuity of life on the planet, said the minister.

He said the issue discussed by the conference is a universal
issue requiring an international collaboration of efforts to
face it and take precautions for avoiding its harmful effects.

Efforts should be directed at peacefully employing nuclear
technology contributing to promoting life rather than destroying
it, emphasised the minister.

Observing the geographical position of the region shows that it
is surrounded by nuclear powers on all sides and that also
applies on other areas in the world, explained Shaikh Rashid.

Conflict, competition and contradicting strategic perceptions
increase the danger of the spread of nuclear technology,
particularly in the Middle East region, he continued.

This increases the need of conference as it focuses on the risks
and repercussions of nuclear power in a an area holding a
strategic importance on an international level, he added.
 
Minister of Interior, Shaikh Rashid bin Khalifa Al- Khalifa, 
called in his speech for more efforts to handle the nuclear 
proliferation issue to protect the region from its potentially 
disastrous effects. He explained that a constructive use of 
nuclear technology will benefit people, enrich life and sow seeds 
of hope to change this region from a place of strategic conflicts 
to a hub of human interactions. 

This is the real role this region has to play owing to its 
geographical location, precious resources, rich civilisations and 
natural preparedness to connect the East with the West, the 
Minister of Interior explained.

Shaikh Rashid also added that we must realize that the 
contemporary developments the world is witnessing push forward to 
more co-existence and co-operation as much as more conflicts and 
competitiveness. As a matter of fact, it's up to the scientists 
and intellectuals to highlight to the conflicting sides the 
necessity to collaborate, live together and work together to the 
benefit of all. 
z He also added that we have to be aware that despite all the 
difficulties besieging us, we still have cards to use for the 
benefit of this moral and lofty purpose. He even went further to 
say that we are able to generate more creative ideas and power 
resources that may back up our stance thanks to our scientists 
and thinkers.

The Bahraini Minister of interior assured in his concluding 
statement that the different issues submitted on papers and 
discussed will have a positive impact on this conference and 
generate more ideas and visions through which we can reach a 
joint conception of how to deal properly with this nuclear 
proliferation phenomenon and map out viable schemes and policies.

At the end of his speech, Shaikh Rashid wished the conference all 
success to achieve its goals and welcomed again all participants.


GCC Secretary General, Abdulrahman bin Hamad Al Attiyah, 
addressed the audience and called for launching a joint Arab 
nuclear energy project, in line with a shared Arab 
responsibility, which would be to the interest of various fields 
and scientific, medical, agricultural and industrial uses. 

 Al Attiyah explained the Arab nuclear energy would be a reliable 
and contingent reserve to oil, gas and other energy sources.

He also called for striving to rid the Middle East, including the 
Gulf, from all weapons of mass destruction and to reduce their 
use to purely peaceful purposes so as to eliminate duality in 
condemning those possessing these highly destructive weapons, 
calling on the international community and forces to deal 
positively with countries in the region and their issues. 

For his part, Chairman of the Gulf Centre for Strategic Studies, 
Dr. Omar Al Hassan, stressed that the conference reflects 
Bahrain's growing awareness of the danger posed by nuclear 
proliferation and the decision makers' awareness of the need to 
seek ways of dealing with the problem transparently and in depth 
so as to come up with a strategy capable of discerning well in 
advance the risks and tailor the necessary pre-emptive measures 
to prevent them. 

For his part, secretary General of Arab Interior Ministers' 
Council, Dr. Mohammed bin Ali Koman, drew attention to the fact 
that the risks posed by the nuclear substances are more than 
military, especially if these lethal weapons fall in the hands of 
terrorists as well as the problems engulfing the environment due 
to the nuclear dumping.

Dr. Koman stressed that Arab Interior Ministers' Council put 
these two issues at the top of its priorities, calling for 
further cooperation between Arab countries and coordination with 
concerned Arab, regional and international bodies.


Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa affirmed that the nuclear 
weapons spread issue should be given an advanced position on the 
joint Arab work priorities for its serious effects on the 
region's future. A radical remedy should be found after the 
failure of the nuclear spread prohibition system, he added. This 
should identify the reasons that led to the unprecedented 
increase of nuclear spread, he said. The only way of eliminating 
this technology's threat is a complete ban of its possession, he 
remarked. Mousa said the deterioration in the field of disarming 
and preventing the spread of nuclear power has dramatically 
affected the Middle East region which has been suffering 
conflicts and tension for decades. This had depleted the area's 
energy and resources and hindered efforts of its development and 
also increased the impact of the region's conflicts, he 
explained. Mousa said the Arab stance towards the nuclear issue 
has been very clear and steady for the last 30 years. During this 
time, the Arab League has been trying to remind the world that 
Israel's exclusive possession of nuclear weapons in the region 
forms a major threat on the area's security and stability, he 
explained. This requires strong unified Arab efforts that 
parallel the international efforts towards resolving the Iranian 
nuclear issue and urge the international community to put forward 
a comprehensive solution for the nuclear issue.

NTQ/

 Publishing Rights Reserved to Bahrain News Agency © 2003 - 2004 
Best viewed by IE 5.0 or later 800* 600 

*****************************************************************
 49 AFP: Norwegian nuclear reactor shut down after alarm 

 Sat Sep 9, 6:04 PM ET 		 	 

OSLO (AFP) - A nuclear research reactor in Norway was shut down 
after an alarm signal went off though no radiation leak has been 
detected and no one was evacuated, Norwegian nuclear authorities 
said. 

The incident occurred at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) at a

building in Kjeller, 25 miles (15 kilometers) from the capital
Oslo, according to a statement from the Norwegian Radiation
Protection Authority (NRPA).

They said the alarm set in motion safety procedures in the 
building housing the reactor at a technical institute.

The situation is under control, (the reactor) is shut down and 
all the emergency measures have been taken," Ingar Amundsen, an 
adviser at the NRPA, told AFP.


"Elevated levels of radioactivity" were detected "in (the) 
primary circuit" of the reactor, Amundsen said, but said there 
was "no leakage" outside the building.


No one was in the building when the alarm sounded and no 
residents were evacuated from the surrounding area.


Another spokeswoman for the radiation authority, Alte Valseth, 
was quoted by the NTB news agency as saying that increased levels 
of radiation were detected in water used to cool the reactor and 
also in the air surrounding it.

Samples from water in the reactor have been taken for analysis 
and test results were expected later in the day, Valseth said.

Norway has no nuclear power plants, but two small research 
reactors used for medical research.

Amundsen said the cause of the incident was so far unknown, but 
that it might have been due to a leak in a nuclear fuel rod.

"It is a serious matter but there was no risk that nature or 
people would be affected," the authority's director, Per Strand, 
added in a statement.

"The safety system functioned as it should have. It's been shut 
down and is completely under control... There hasn't been any 
increase of radioactivity in the surroundings."

Strand said the authority was waiting for radioactivity levels in 
the building to decrease sufficiently for staff to go inside and 
investigate the reasons for the incident.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
 50 AFP: Norwegian nuclear reactor shut down after alarm 

 Sat Sep 9, 7:18 AM ET 		 	 

OSLO (AFP) - A nuclear research reactor in Norway has been shut 
down after an alarm signal sounded, according to the Norwegian 
Radiation Protection Authority (NRPA). 

 The agency said no radiation leak had been detected around the
building housing the reactor at a technical institute in
Kjeller, some 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Oslo. 

The incident occurred at 3:00 am (0100 GMT) when an alarm was
triggered, setting in motion mandatory safety procedures. 

"The situation is under control, (the reactor) is shut down and
all the emergency measures have been taken," Ingar Amundsen --
an adviser at the NRPA -- told AFP. 

"Elevated levels of radioactivity" were detected "in (the)
primary circuit" of the reactor, Amundsen said Saturday, but
confirmed there was "no leakage" outside the building. 

Norway has no nuclear power plants, but two small research
reactors used for medical research. 

Amundsen said the cause of the incident was so far unknown, but
that it might have been due to a leak in a nuclear fuel rod. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 51 IANS: US think tank seeks quick senate action on n-deal

By Arun Kumar, Indo-Asian News Service
 
Washington, Sep 9 (IANS) A US think tank wants the Senate to 
quickly clear the nuclear deal with India by dropping the 
controversial 'Additional Protocol' if necessary to avoid any 
suspicions about Washington's commitment. 
  
Given the historical importance of this agreement, officials on
either side should resist the temptation to bargain endlessly
over details and instead focus their energies on finalising the
deal without further delay, the Heritage Foundation suggests in
a paper.

Both the countries must keep their eyes on the prize as it would
be disastrous for US-India relations if those opposed to the
deal on either side manage to scuttle it and undermine the
hard-won progress, said Lisa Curtis and F.M. Kirby, research
fellows at the conservative think tank. 

The Senate too should move as quickly as possible since further
delay would raise suspicions in India that the US is not fully
committed to sealing the deal and could chip away at Indian
public support for moving forward, they said.

Many in India are beginning to question the benefits of the
agreement, and any further hold-up could make it more difficult
for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to continue to back it, Curtis
and Kirby noted.

Despite Indian criticisms of the legislation, excessive
tinkering at this stage carries the risk the carefully crafted
legislation will lose the strong US bipartisan support it now
enjoys, they warned.

Some worry the addition of the 'US Additional Protocol
Implementation' could slow Senate passage of the India nuclear
deal. This is a second title of the bill that would implement an
agreement between the US and the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) regarding IAEA inspections of US civil nuclear
facilities.

Some senators are wary of passing the Title II legislation for
national security reasons, but US nuclear facilities used for
national security purposes are subject to a national security
exclusion clause under the agreement because the US is a
recognised weapons state under the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty (NPT).

The national security exclusion clause should be broadened and
made permanent through an amendment to Title II. As appropriate,
it should name specific facilities and categories of facilities
that are covered by the exclusion clause, the paper suggested.

However, if such an amendment will result in undue delay in the
adoption of the provisions of the bill related to the bilateral
agreement with India, the Senate should simply strip Title II
from the bill and take it up at a later date, Curtis and Kirby
said.

Meanwhile, another think tank, the Arms Control Association
(ACA) focusing on arms control policies, notes India is upset
about measures that US lawmakers have attached to the deal, and
both US and Indian negotiators are at a standoff on some key
aspects.

The Bush administration, however, is backing India's opposition
to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee provision that would
prohibit exports of uranium-enrichment, plutonium reprocessing
and heavy-water technologies to India unless destined for
facilities involved in approved bilateral or multilateral
projects, Wade Boese of the ACA suggested.

The Bush administration is also objecting to a Senate provision
mandating new end-use monitoring measures to ensure US nuclear
exports to India are not diverted to unintended destinations or
uses, he said.

The House and Senate bills also mandate annual reporting on all
US exports to India during the previous year, as well as Indian
adherence to or progress toward several non-proliferation
agreements and practices.

But Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has said these
reporting requirements were 'not acceptable' because the 'effect
of such certification will be to diminish a permanent waiver
authority into an annual one'.

If the US ceased cooperation with India because of any violation
of the agreement on New Delhi's part, the House bill obliges
Washington to try and prevent other foreign suppliers from
filling the void.

Similarly, the July 20 Senate Foreign Relations Committee report
stated: 'The committee is particularly concerned that the US
would not facilitate or encourage the continuation of nuclear
exports to India if US exports were to be terminated.'

Singh, however, made repeated references in his parliamentary
address to the US commitment in a March 2006 joint statement to
ensure India with an uninterrupted supply of nuclear fuel and to
join with India and other countries to restore fuel supplies if
a disruption ever occurred.

A key sticking point in US-Indian negotiations on the
cooperation agreement pertains to the conditions triggering its
termination. Washington is seeking inclusion of a clause
specifying that if India conducts a nuclear test, the agreement
would be abrogated, Boese said.

The testing issue is one of about a half dozen that need to be
worked out by US and Indian negotiators. The two sides met for
the first time in June and are expected to meet again in
September to discuss a revised draft of the cooperation
agreement the US provided Aug 8 to India.

Negotiators have agreed to resolve separately the process by
which India might be permitted to reprocess US-origin material.
India had wanted the agreement to include pre-approval for such
reprocessing, a benefit that the US has only extended to Japan
and the European consortium EURATOM. But the US delegation said
these were special cases and would not be replicated.

Estimates of when the negotiations may conclude vary greatly,
but the agreement cannot be finalised until after India
completes safeguards negotiations with the IAEA, Boese said.

Copyright Indo-Asian News Service							   						 						
Copyright © 2004-2006 DailyIndia.com    | |       
*****************************************************************
 52 TorontoSun.com: Nuke sites strengthened against attack
 
editor@tor.sunpub.com
  
September 9, 2006

By KATHLEEN HARRIS, OTTAWA BUREAU

OTTAWA -- The federal government is imposing tough regulations
for Canada's nuclear facilities to fend off a future terrorist
attack. 																			

 The sweeping safety regime set out by the Canadian Nuclear
Safety Commission, published this week in a government
newsletter, includes an on-site "armed response force,"
intensified screening for employees and contractors, and
stronger physical protections against "forced vehicle
penetration." 																			

 Added measures will cost the industry $300 million in capital
costs and another $60 million annually to comply.
																			

 "The possibility of a nuclear facility receiving a threat has
increased significantly since the terrorist events of September
2001 as well as other global terrorist events that have occurred
since that time," said CNSC spokesman Aurele Gervais.
																			

 Many emergency security measures were ordered for high-risk
nuclear facilities in the wake of 9/11, but the new regulations
make the requirements permanent and add new steps to bring
Canada in line with international safety practices.
                                                      
 The penalties set out under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act
could result in fines of up to $1 million a day for violations
or could require an offending plant to cease operations.
																																				 															 								
Copyright © 2006, Canoe Inc.All rights reserved. Proprietor and 
Publisher - Sun Media (Toronto) Corporation, 333 King St. E., 
Toronto, ON, M5A 3X5 Test-->                        
*****************************************************************
 53 Gainesville Sun: Nuclear reactor at UF will house safer uranium 

Gainesville.com

By JACK STRIPLING Sun staff writer                           

September 09. 2006 6:01AM

  Amid growing concerns about nuclear material falling into the
hands of terrorists, a federal agency is in the process of
downgrading the purity of uranium used at the University of
Florida's research reactor.

The National Nuclear Security Administration, a
quasi-independent subsidiary of the Department of Energy, is
spending some $1 million to switch UF's highly enriched uranium
to low-enriched uranium, a less pure form that officials say
would be extremely difficult to use for weapons.

"Our conversion of reactors, both domestically and overseas, is
a prudent threat-reduction effort to make it harder for
terrorists to get their hands on nuclear material," Bryan
Wilkes, director of public affairs for the National Nuclear
Security Administration, wrote in an e-mail.

Officials with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees
reactor safety protocols in the U.S., said the change is being
made out of an "abundance of caution."

"I don't think it would be accurate to say it's a security
concern (to use highly enriched uranium)," said Eliot Brenner,
director of public affairs at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
"We have security in place by regulation at every research
reactor. The NRC continues to feel there is adequate security at
UF and elsewhere."

The highly enriched uranium used at research reactors like the
one at UF falls well below the level of purity of weapons-grade
material, said Scott Burnell, a public affairs officer at the
regulatory commission. To be used in a weapon, uranium has to be
enriched to a level of 90 percent or above, he said.

Citing security reasons, officials wouldn't disclose how highly
enriched the uranium used at UF has been. In order to be
considered highly enriched, however, the uranium has to be
enriched to at least 20 percent.

Burnell said that "the technical possibility does exist" to
enrich the uranium used in research reactors to a weapons-grade
level. However, Burnell noted that "to say it's not easily done
is to vastly underestimate (the process)." The less pure
material that will be substituted at UF would be even more
difficult to use in weapons, he said.

"It frankly would require the assets of a nation," he said.
"It's not something you do in your backyard."

The switch to low-enriched uranium at UF and other campuses is
part of an international program headed up by the National
Nuclear Security Administration. A reactor at Texas A University
is also in the process of being converted to less pure uranium.

The UF reactor was installed in 1959 under President
Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" program, which placed similar
reactors at dozens of American colleges. UF's reactor came under
particular scrutiny last year when an ABC News report on "loose
nukes" questioned security protocols at UF and elsewhere.

Wilkes said the move to switch UF's uranium was under way before
the ABC special and unrelated to the concerns raised by the
report.

UF officials have defended the security at the reactor and said
that security was further upgraded after the ABC report.

The majority of the material used at research reactors is
"self-protecting," Burnell said.

"Once it's in the reactor, it's intensely irradiated," he said.
"It's what we call self-protecting. If you try to take it, it
will kill you."

Proliferation concerns exist, however, when it comes to "cold"
uranium that's not in the reactor and hasn't been irradiated,
Burnell said. That material is not self-protected and could be
transported, he said. But there is very little such material at
the small reactors used on college campuses, and at UF there is
no such material, according to Alireza Haghighat, chair of UF's
department of nuclear and radiological engineering.

The only reason to store uranium outside of the reactor would be
for refueling, Haghighat said, and UF hasn't had to refuel its
relatively low-powered reactor since 1963.

Haghighat said he saw no legitimate safety concern that
justified switching to a less pure uranium, but added that it
makes little difference in terms of research. The move to change
the uranium, he said, is more linked to politics after 9-11 than
any real safety issue.

"It is really, I would say, political because there's
sensitivity to highly enriched," he said. "The fuel is so secure
anyhow, it doesn't make a difference."

Jack Stripling can be reached at 374-5064 or
Jack.Stripling@gvillesun.com

Copyright 2006, The Gainesville Sun. The information contained
*****************************************************************
 54 recordonline.com: Used nuclear fuel vulnerable to terrorists, Rep. Maurice Hinchey says
	 	 		 	 	 	 
By Greg Bruno

September 09, 2006
 
Buchanan - Rep. Maurice Hinchey wants the Bush Administration to
do more to shield used nuclear fuel from terrorists. 
On Thursday, Hinchey, D-Hurley, urged the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission to require better safeguards for storing spent
nuclear material. 

He said “hardened on-site storage” technology would make it more
difficult for terrorists to target radioactive waste at the
nation’s 103 reactor sites, including Indian Point in
Westchester County.

“Spent fuel storage security, those are things we’ve been
looking at very hard since 9/11,” said Diane Screnci, an NRC
spokeswoman. “We believe that the fuel is being stored safely.”
 	 			 	 		



*****************************************************************
 55 Connecticut Post: Power plants vulerable or secure?

Article created: 09/10/2006 05:02:36 AM EDT  

Nuclear Threat

By Peter Urban  

  Despite efforts to improve security, the nation's nuclear
power plants remain vulnerable to terrorist attack five years
after Sept. 11, concerned citizens and members of Congress say.

 Connecticut is one of 31 states with nuclear power plants. The
Millstone complex, which has two operating reactors and one
closed reactor, is in Waterford, about 65 miles east of
Bridgeport. It is operated by Dominion Generation. About 50
miles west of Bridgeport, Entergy Nuclear Northeast operates the
Indian Point Energy Center in Buchanan, N.Y.

 Both plants have been the target of fierce criticism from some
neighbors who fear for their safety, especially if terrorists
should strike. Dominion and Entergy say the plants are safe and
secure and the nuclear power industry argues that a
Chernobyl-style meltdown in this country is improbable.

 Phillip Musegaas, policy analyst at Riverkeeper Inc., a New
York-based environmental group, said that his organization
believes security at Indian Point is inadequate and vulnerable
to terrorism.

 "There is still no evidence the [Nuclear Regulatory Commission]
has upgraded their security regulations enough to guarantee that
plants are protected from the type of attacks that occurred on
Sept. 11," he said.

 Riverkeeper officials have said that the Bridgeport region
faces a greater potential threat from Indian Point because
prevailing winds would likely drive any plume of radiation right
into the area.

 Most nuclear plants in the nation hire private security guards
to protect the facilities. NRC boosted requirements for these
guards in 2003 but not to the point where they would be able to
repel a dozen or more heavily armed, well-trained attackers,
Musegaas said. The exact level of force, however, is classified.
So it is impossible to say with certainty what requirements have
been imposed.

 In April, the General Accountability Office released a report
that gave mixed reviews to nuclear power security. The report,
requested by Rep. Christopher Shays, R-4, found that since 2003
a number of concrete steps had been taken to buttress the plants
against potential terrorist attacks.

 It found that buffer zones had been augmented where possible,
barriers thickened and detection equipment installed or upgraded.

 Security forces were enlarged and armed with new weapons.

 However, GAO said it was too early to claim victory since less
than half of the 65 sites overseen by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission had undergone "force-on-force" exercises intended to
test security.

 Moreover, GAO found gaps in security at some of the sites
inspected.

 "The bottom line is, our nuclear security facilities are safer
thanks to some security upgrades, but they are still not safe,"
said Shays, chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee
on national security. "I will continue to shine the spotlight on
this issue until we feel certain nuclear facilities are capable
of protecting their reactors from attack." The subcommittee has
held five hearings on nuclear security since 2004.

 Shays' Democratic opponent, Diane Farrell, has called for
better emergency and evacuation planning for nuclear power
plants. As Westport First Selectwoman, Farrell got the town to
purchase potassium iodide tablets that are recommended as a
prophylactic against exposure to cancer-causing radiation.
Entergy points to a Department of Homeland Security
comprehensive review that recognized nuclear plants as "the
best-protected assets of our critical infrastructure," but
acknowledged the value of enhancing the protection at these
facilities.

 "Despite new security provisions  including expanded disaster
coordination, more extensive background checks on personnel and
stronger criminal penalties for those involved in wrongdoing  I
remain concerned that the state of nuclear power plant security
is not at the level it should be five years after September 11,"
said Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn. "I will continue to support
efforts to ensure that security personnel are adequately
trained, and that Americans living in close proximity to plants
are fully protected."

 Sen. Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., also believes stronger security is
needed at nuclear power plants and in safeguarding nuclear
material.

 He has advocated that the NRC tighten its security regulations
and has actively pursued efforts to get the Department of
Homeland Security to develop effective screening systems for 
nuclear materials that could be used to make a dirty bomb, 
according to a spokeswoman.

 Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-3, blamed the Bush administration for
failing "to fully secure our nation's nuclear facilities." She
pointed to GAO complaints, included in its latest report, that
the energy industry had successfully pressured NRC to impose
less stringent security standards on nuclear power plants than
NRC staff had recommended.

 Marvin Fertel, a senior vice president at Nuclear Energy
Institute, a trade association, told Shays' subcommittee that
the industry maintains "extremely high levels of security" at
its facilities.

 Fertel pointed out that nuclear power plants are massive
structures with thick steel reinforced exterior walls and
internal barriers of reinforced concrete built to withstand
earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires and floods. In
addition, there are redundant safety systems, surveillance
equipment and trained security forces present, he said. "The
industry has invested more than $1.2 billion in security
improvements at nuclear plant sites and has increased the number
of specially trained, well-armed security forces by more than 60
percent," he said.

 The NRC has also elevated nuclear facility security
requirements on a number of occasions since Sept. 11, 2001, and
is in the process of codifying additional requirements.

 Nancy Burton, director of the Connecticut Coalition Against
Millstone and the Green Party candidate for Connecticut attorney
general, said that Millstone remains vulnerable to terrorist
attacks and worries that security systems are not functioning as
advertised.

 Burton said that a company whistleblower came forward to say
that Dominion routinely disabled its perimeter system because it
was overly sensitive to wind. Sham Mehta of East Lyme, has filed
a complaint with the Connecticut Department of Public Utility
Control, claiming that he was fired after informing supervisors
that company managers allowed operators to disable the
electronic trespass system used to near Millstone's three
reactors and spent-fuel pools.

 Burton also complained that Millstone was vulnerable to a
water-based attack. Dominion, she said, rejected an offer from
the Department of Homeland Security to have a floating barrier
installed around its massive water intakes similar to those that
protect the nuclear submarines in Groton.

 "If you drove a motorboat full of explosives into one of the
operating intakes you could disable the pumps and there would
inevitably be a nuclear meltdown," Burton said. "If you go to
Millstone you'll see there is no barrier."

 Lieberman had staff meet with DHS more than a year ago to
discuss the barrier issue. DHS said it had offered the barrier
as a technology demonstration project, but the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission did not

 believe it was necessary. Dominion backed out and no similar
barrier has been installed at any other nuclear power plant,
according to a Lieberman spokeswoman.

 Security concerns have also been raised about Indian Point.

 Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., spoke at the National Press Club
in May about energy policy and raised concerns about the
potential for more nuclear power as an alternative to fossil
fuels.

 "We do have to take a serious look, but there remain very
serious questions about nuclear power and our ability to manage
it in a world with suicidal terrorists," she said. "I have real
concerns, specifically about a plant in my state near where I
live, Indian Point, which has had a number of problems."

 Clinton and other members of the New York delegation have
pressed the NRC to conduct a thorough, independent safety review
of Indian Point.

Â©1999-2006 MediaNews Group, Inc. All rights reserved. This
*****************************************************************
 56 Boston Globe: Five years after 9/11 and the spending of millions, Boston is vulnerable 

by Stephen Kurkjian, Kevin Cullen, and Thomas Farragher of the
Globe staff. 

September 10, 2006 

The Berge Boston, a liquefied natural gas tanker on its way to
the Distrigas terminal in Everett, headed into Boston Harbor
under the flight path of Logan International Airport. The weekly
shipments have drawn extraordinarily tight security since the
Sept. 11 terror attacks. (David L. Ryan/ Globe Staff)   


First of three parts.

This story was reported and written by Stephen Kurkjian, Kevin
Cullen, and Thomas Farragher of the Globe staff. 

Under the brilliance of a late-summer sun, through a prism now
tinted by terror, there is a fragile beauty about Boston seen
from the air.

In every direction, the vista -- the sprawling harbor, the
storied skyline -- is colored by the shadow of vulnerability: a
cluster of petroleum tanks here, a terminal stacked with cargo
containers there, a T train disappearing into a distant tunnel,
the untraceable zigzag of ships and pleasure craft.

This is what Sept. 11 ringleader Mohamed Atta would have seen
that crystalline morning five years ago if he had glanced down
at the city he used as a staging area for the worst act of
terrorism in American history.

Since then, as the country launched a costly global war, efforts
to protect US soil have cost billions. An army of security
workers has blossomed. Surveillance cameras are ubiquitous.
There is suspicion and screening at every turn.

Yet five years later, even those sworn to protect a nation
transformed by terror acknowledge that if someone with Atta's
deadly diligence were to target Boston or another major American
city today, the chance of success remains high. And that
progress in addressing security needs has slowed, as the
calamity of 9/11 has faded into memory. ``When people focus on
things that could be done that have not been done, they will be
shocked," said US Representative James R. Langevin , a Rhode
Island Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee. ``And I
think the American people will be angry."

Indeed, a Globe examination of security measures in and around
Boston finds that while important progress has been made since
9/11, significant gaps remain on several fronts:


+ Sensitive areas of Boston Harbor remain clearly vulnerable,
even as security experts have long seen the nation's seaports as
especially attractive targets for terrorists. Officials are
scrambling to secure up to $5 million to purchase a
7,000-foot-long movable barrier that could, in an emergency,
seal off sections of the harbor to protect petroleum tankers,
cruise ships, or thousands drawn to a waterfront fireworks
festival, from a bomb on a boat.


+ Even after mass transit attacks in London and Madrid
underscored trains as potential targets, officials in Boston
have yet to complete a fully seamless communication network for
police and emergency crews responding to a mass transit attack.
``If there were an attack today, the first responders to a T
attack are, by all accounts, not any better prepared than they
would have been five years ago," said State Senator Jarrett T.
Barrios , chairman of the Joint Committee of Public Safety and
Homeland Security. 


+ Law enforcement officials generally agree that their ability
to gather and analyze raw intelligence about possible terrorists
has improved and that police agencies which once zealously
guarded their independence have been forced to cooperate. But
officials have little confidence that they could detect in time
the kind of threat they deem most likely: an assault on one of
the nearly limitless ``soft" targets an open society affords,
from schools to hotels to shopping malls.


+ The nuclear power plant at Plymouth remains a worrisome
potential target because the pool in which spent fuel rods are
kept has not been fortified against attack. While the nuclear
reactor is encased in a thick concrete liner which the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission believes could withstand a direct hit from
a terrorist-hijacked jetliner, there is no such encasement of
the spent fuel cell chamber.


+ Boston did well on a test of its ability to evacuate in the
event of an attack. But that showing was undercut by the fact
that none of the other eight communities in the evacuation plan
were included in the test. And the marked evacuation roots end
at the city line.


+ Massachusetts has received some $230 million in federal anti
terrorism funds -- more, proportionally, than most other states.
But the spending of the funds, which has yet to be audited by
the federal government, has been marred by some intramural
fights among cities and towns. And some major purchases have
gone awry -- including more than 1,000 Motorola emergency phones
that had to be replaced.


+ And at Logan International Airport, where Atta and nine other
terrorists hijacked the planes they used as missiles in
Manhattan, officials acknowledge that despite elaborate security
systems installed since 9/11, vulnerabilities remain,
particularly in air cargo. If well-trained terrorists had a 70
percent to 75 percent chance of success five years ago, a top
official estimated, today those chances have been trimmed to a
hardly reassuring 35 percent to 40 percent.

``We have to be perfect every day," said Massport chief
executive Thomas J. Kinton Jr. ``They've got to be right once."

Even critics of the nation's lingering security lapses
acknowledge that it would be impossible to eliminate the risk of
terrorism. But using a more rational measuring stick -- what
could reasonably have been expected five years after the attack
-- many security specialists say the country has left itself
remarkably unprotected along its waterfront, at its nuclear
facilities, at its chemical plants, and at shipping sites that
distribute cargo by air and by sea.

``Al Qaeda always tries to exploit the glaring vulnerability,"
said US Representative Edward J. Markey , a Malden Democrat and
a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. ``We saw that
on 9/11. And we'll see it when they execute their next attack on
our country. They will have found and exploited the
vulnerability that was identified but not protected against." 

Those charged with protecting passengers on trains and planes,
of securing busy ports, and guarding plants containing dangerous
chemicals or nuclear material say they are engaged in a
high-stakes balancing act that has safety and security on one
scale and the free flow of people and commerce on the other.

``I don't want to be so bold as to say, `Gee, nothing has
happened in this country,' but the fact is that nothing's
happened in this country" since Sept. 11, 2001, Kinton said.
``That doesn't give me great relief but it gives me some sense
that something is working."

A SHIFT IN PUBLIC SAFETY Thomas M. Menino, the mayor of Boston,
was standing in a florist shop in Brighton when his cellphone
rang on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. It was Police
Commissioner Paul Evans.

Minutes later, the two men most responsible for public safety in
Boston were standing at the huge plate glass window in Menino's
City Hall office, staring down at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Some
people seemed stunned, others crying.

``Tommy," Evans said, ``our world has changed forever."

A few weeks later, Evans and a half-dozen other police chiefs
met with FBI director Robert S. Mueller in Washington, telling
him that the way intelligence gathering took place in the United
States had to change forever, too.

The old days of one-way information trading, in which the locals
were expected to tell the feds everything without getting much
in return, were over, the chiefs told Mueller.

Five years later, there is a consensus among law enforcement
officials that the threat of terrorism has changed the way they
do their jobs, and the culture of law enforcement. This is
especially the case with the most important defense against
terrorism: the gathering and sharing of information about who
the bad guys are, and what they have in mind.

Kenneth W. Kaiser, the special agent in charge of the Boston FBI
office, whom many state and local officials credit with keeping
Mueller's promise to put aside the FBI's traditional elitist
``lead agency" mentality, said the single Boston-based terrorism
squad consisting of a dozen FBI agents and four or five state
and local officers that existed before 9/11 was expanded to
three separate squads, comprising 34 FBI agents and 20 state and
local officers.

Nationally, Kaiser said, the FBI has nearly doubled the number
of agents working on counterterrorism, to 4,600, in five years.
The number of intelligence analysts has more than doubled, to
2,100, while the number of translators has nearly doubled to
1,400, with expertise in more than 100 languages.

In Boston, where the number of translators analyzing
intelligence has doubled to 35, the importance of accurate
translation of foreign languages was underscored a week after
the 9/11 attacks, when a faulty translation of a benign
communication led to a brief, but unnerving warning that the
city was targeted for a terrorist attack. Boston-based
translators speak just a dozen languages, but investigators here
draw on the national bank of translators as needed. 

Meanwhile, hosting the Democratic National Convention in 2004
gave law enforcement chiefs the impetus to create an
intelligence center that is now being touted nationally. At the
Boston Regional Intelligence Center, or BRIC, Boston police and
officials from surrounding communities compile and analyze raw
information about common criminals, potential subversives, and
terrorists.

Kaiser agreed that a similar culture shift is occurring at the
FBI and at the state's so-called Fusion Center at Massachusetts
State Police headquarters in Framingham. The center is a
statewide version of the BRIC, where civilian analysts pore over
field reports filed by street cops, state troopers, and federal
agents.

An independent review earlier this year, however, showed there
is room for improvement. ``While the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts has a wealth of information and intelligence from
its agencies, much of it exists in information silos," the study
by CTC Inc. of Westborough for the state's Executive Office of
Public Safety concluded.

Boston police Superintendent Robert Dunford said police were
able to defuse potential unrest during the DNC by engaging in
behavioral profiling -- targeting potential troublemakers not by
the way they looked, or what group they belonged to, but by the
way they acted. He said it is a technique that Israeli security
agents use to great effect against suicide bombers.

But Dunford and other officials acknowledge that the number of
vulnerable sites far exceeds their ability to deter potential
attacks. ``If someone's willing to kill themselves, there's only
so much you can do to protect people in an open, democratic
society," he said.

Dunford says he drives the city's streets every day, looking for
vulnerabilities, and he sees many, though he won't name them.

Kaiser does the same.

``We go to great lengths to harden the airport and places like
that," he said. ``But you can't harden everything."

Kaiser said there have been about 100 major terror-related
prosecutions in the United States since 9/11, five of them in
Boston, including the so-called ``shoe bomber" Richard Reid, who
tried to blow up a trans-Atlantic flight from Paris to Miami.

``I worry about what I don't know," Kaiser said.

WATCHING THE HARBOR From the spotless bridge of the massive $230
million liquefied natural gas tanker under his command, captain
Ernst Roald Hansen shook his head in bemusement at the distinct
stir his arrival at the Distrigas terminal in Everett caused on
a muggy morning in early August.

Helicopters buzzed overhead. The Tobin Bridge closed briefly. A
small flotilla of law enforcement boats escorted the
940-foot-long vessel loaded with the equivalent of 3 billion
cubic feet of natural gas into its berth where a 25-foot rigid
hull inflatable Coast Guard vessel, a 60-caliber machine gun
mounted on its bow, stood guard. 

Hansen said all the flashing blue lights, all the high-profile
protection, are more about symbolism than security.

``I feel it is a little bit over the top," he said. ``You don't
see this in other ports. Here in Boston, it is something
special."

Pointing to a petroleum depot just a few hundred yards to the
south, where an oil tanker was being unloaded with no such
attention, Hansen said: ``She could be a bigger threat."

Indeed, the lead author of a study used by critics to assail the
risks of LNG shipping says Hansen is right.

``What you don't want to do is get so hysterical about LNG that
you forget about other hazardous materials imported by water
into Boston which could include oil, gasoline, chemicals, and
other hazardous materials," said Mike Hightower of Sandia
National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M.

But in Boston Harbor, where nearly 13 million tons of fuel,
241,000 cruise ship passengers, and 16.3 million tons of cargo
arrive each year, officials say resources are limited and must
be allocated based on intelligence about where terrorists might
strike. Right now, with one huge tanker arriving every week,
that means LNG.

``That's where we've got to put our security and our resources,"
Kinton, the Massport chief, said. ``If intelligence tells us
it's a chemical plant, or a nuke plant next week, or the tank
farms over here in Everett or Gillette Stadium or downtown
Boston or any football venue on any college weekend across the
country, then we've got to move our resources and respond to
that intelligence."

In short, Kinton said, the harbor ``is vulnerable. I do worry
about it. It does keep me awake."

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the country's 361 seaports --
sprawling, complex, and interwoven systems where access is
generally easy -- have increasingly been viewed as attractive
targets to terrorists seeking to inflict damage to cruise ships,
power plants, refineries, and fuel tanks along the water.

``I'm worried about a 50-foot, seagoing pleasure craft," said
Daniel Goure, a security specialist with the nonpartisan
Lexington Institute in Virginia. ``You put a bomb on board. I
can drive it right into Boston Harbor and nobody checks and
nobody knows. That's what scares me."

Standing in his 24-hour sector command center at the foot of
Hanover Street in the North End, Coast Guard Captain James L.
McDonald said he can't guarantee his people would stop an attack
such as that, but they monitor multiple live feeds from
surveillance cameras located around the harbor, and can zoom in
on suspicious vessels heading into port.

``We layer in a series of protections that make it very, very
difficult to carry out something like that," McDonald said.

One of those layers of protection would be a movable security
barrier, a 7,000-foot floating chain of stainless steel cables
encased in hard rubber that would allow law enforcement to
cordon off large sections of the harbor. McDonald said a deal to
secure the system is ``very, very close." The ports of Los
Angeles and Long Beach recently won funding for nearly-identical
systems. 

``Suffice it to say it's enough that you would preclude . . . a
small boat coming through laden with explosives from getting
through that barrier system," McDonald said.

FEW CHECKS ON CARGO It is packed into metal containers, row upon
row of brightly painted rectangles stacked high at a terminal
hard by Castle Island. In the belly of the airplane, it snuggles
next to the luggage and the golf clubs and the baby carriages of
passengers riding just above.

Cargo by the ton, arriving aboard container ships in Boston
Harbor and lifting off hourly aboard planes from Logan Airport,
represents one of the most glaring vulnerabilities in the
nation's defense against terrorism. Just a fraction of it is
inspected -- a dangerous loophole that security specialists say
many Americans believe had closed long ago.

``A vulnerability -- clearly," acknowledged Kinton, the
executive director and chief executive officer of the
Massachusetts Port Authority, which runs Logan.

About 22 percent of all US air cargo -- some 6 billion pounds --
is placed aboard passenger planes. A bare fraction of it is
inspected. For nearly all of it, airlines rely on random checks
and on what they call a known shipper program, which evaluates
the credentials of shipping companies with which they do
business.

``Five years later, there's no one who would reasonably expect
that they're going to get on a passenger plane and have
uninspected cargo underneath their feet," Markey said. ``Every
day, that's what happens all across this country."

Cathleen A. Berrick , a lead author of a Government Accounting
Office review of the air cargo system, said that because air
cargo comes in divergent shapes and sizes, existing explosive
detection systems are ineffective. The percentage of passenger
plane cargo that is inspected is a classified figure. But the
GAO has called it ``very small."

If technology is a barrier, so is money. Kinton said there is
only so much to go around. ``Commerce needs to move," he said.
``You can have the safest airport in the world [if you] shut it
down."

And the federal Transportation Security Administration agrees.
``If we impose a security regime that kills an industry, we've
failed in our job and let the terrorists win," said Ann Davis, a
TSA spokeswoman.

If cargo on airplanes represents an opening for terrorists to
exploit, cargo on ships is too.

Of the 11 million cargo containers that arrive in the United
States each year, only about 6 percent are physically inspected.
For the rest, customs officials check the manifests of
importers, use X-ray or radiation screening machines for some
suspect containers, and rely on voluntary cooperation from
oversea shippers.

``We don't know anything about the 94 percent that we are not
inspecting and we're not sure that the 6 percent that we are
inspecting is the right percentage," said Clark K. Ervin, the
former inspector general for the US Department of Homeland
Security. 

Retired Coast Guard Admiral James Loy, a former deputy secretary
of the Department of Homeland Security, called the existing
system ``a big house built on sand -- sand meaning it's
voluntary. Last time I checked, the bad guys weren't
volunteering information that can help us. It's only as good as
volunteerism allows it to be."

US Representative Rob Simmons, a Connecticut Republican and a
member of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the only
way to guarantee ironclad security in Boston Harbor, where
91,000 containers arrive each year, is to close the harbor.

``We can spend an infinite amount of money opening and
inspecting every container headed for the United States of
America and somebody can blow up Boston Harbor with a 50-foot
recreational or a commercial fishing vessel packed with a dirty
bomb," Simmons said. ``While you're opening every box, he might
be coming up the Charles River in a speed boat."

GAPS IN PREPAREDNESS The evacuation signs that are spaced every
three blocks along 10 principal thoroughfares in the city of
Boston are a reflection of the planning -- unfinished planning
-- for a terrorist attack or similar catastrophe.

The blue-and-white signs are part of an overall plan to guide
motorists onto the fastest routes from the city in the event of
mass evacuation order, or from a specific neighborhood in case
of a local threat. But the signs end at the city's borders. None
of the eight communities in Boston's homeland security planning
region -- the communities expected to accept the influx of
fleeing city residents -- have agreed to Boston's plan.

``I'm not sure what [the city] expects us to do when people from
East Boston start coming over the Chelsea and Meridian streets
bridges," said Chelsea Police Captain Keith Houghton. ``Our plan
is to follow the State Police evacuation routes and move them
north towards Saugus."

``It's a problem but we're working on it," said Carlo Boccia,
director of Boston's Office of Homeland Security.

The state is awaiting the results of a $150,000 study that will
recommend evacuation routes and the location of stations to
supply food, medicine, shelter, and other essentials for Boston
and other major urban areas, according to Jon Carlisle, a
spokesman for the state Executive Office of Transportation.

But the biggest need already identified by the security
specialists is a system to ensure that ``first responders" --
fire, police, and medical personnel arriving at a disaster scen
-- can communicate with one another. Commanders of such
emergency personnel have long complained that cooperation is
hampered by inadequate radio equipment. It is a problem that
plagued rescue efforts after the attacks on the World Trade
Center in New York.

But after the long-sought radios arrived last April, problems
developed. About a third of them gave off a high-pitch squeal.
The city demanded that Motorola replace 1,365. 

At the MBTA, General Manager Daniel A. Grabauskas said a
seamless communications system for first responders to an attack
on the subway is still 18 months away. ``To wire the entire
system for communications of more than a dozen different
agencies is a difficult task," he said.

Elsewhere on the system greater progress has been made,
Grabauskas said. The T has 310 surveillance cameras in operation
now -- most of them installed since 9/11 -- with nearly 200 more
on the way.

``I don't want to give a false sense of security to our
customers," the T chief said. ``We're doing what we can."

PROTECTING OTHER TARGETS Initially, those who plotted the 9/11
attack were looking to spread devastation far beyond the World
Trade Center.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, one of the terrorist masterminds now in
captivity, has said that the plotters considered a host of other
targets, including a nuclear power plant somewhere in the
country.

Five years later , nuclear plant vulnerability remains an acute
concern.

``Nuclear is the nightmare scenario," said Markey. ``Terrorists
are looking to create the largest possible deaths and mayhem,
and nuclear is the route to cause that."

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has concluded that a nuclear
power plant's chief vulnerability lies in the large pool of
demineralized water in which the spent reactor fuel rods are
stored. If a large airliner were to hit the nuclear reactor or
the spent fuel rod pool beside it, there could be a 45 percent
chance of a calamitous spill, the commission warned in a 2000
report.

And even a small amount of contaminated spillage at the Pilgrim
nuclear power plant could be disastrous for Plymouth and
surrounding communities. It would likely do even more harm if
the wind was blowing toward inland population centers.

An aircraft crashing into the spent fuel chamber could result in
the melting or burning of the rods, and the release of a highly
toxic by-product, Cesium 137. Such a release could result in
some 8,000 people contracting cancer a year or more later. The
cleanup cost could run into the billions.

That report was cited by Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly in
June when he asked the NRC to hold a hearing on the danger
presented by the storage of spent fuel rods before granting
Pilgrim another 20-year license to operate.

The current storage of spent fuel ``poses a significant and
reasonably foreseeable environmental risk of severe fire and
offsite release of a large amount of radioactivity," Reilly's
brief stated.

The spent-fuel storage system at Pilgrim is viewed as more
problematic than those at plants, like the one in Seabrook,
N.H., where used rods are bundled and stored underground.

The general risk from spent fuel has, however, increased over
the years as the federal government has failed to complete work
on a deep mine inside Nevada's Yucca Mountain where the used
fuel rods from Pilgrim and the other 103 nuclear plants across
the country would be stored. As a result, the 38-foot deep pool
at Pilgrim, which was designed to hold about 800 spent fuel rod
assemblies, now contains 2,602. 

David Tarantino, a spokesman for Pilgrim, said other industry
studies suggest that a 9/11-style attack on the nuclear
facility, including its spent fuel chamber, might not result in
a major radiation release.

Entergy, the company which owns and operates Pilgrim, says that
it has met NRC standards and that the storage system for spent
fuel rods at the plant is scientifically sound. Tarantino said
Entergy has spent $10 million since 9/11 to improve security at
the plant, and that additional protection for the spent-fuel
chamber may soon be required by the NRC.

He also said the firm has moved to take over -- and increase the
training and expertise of -- the force of more than 100 guards
at Pilgrim who now work for an independent firm. The increased
training may be needed: While the security force successfully
repelled a mock terrorist attack earlier this year, Time
Magazine reported last year that guards at Pilgrim failed 28 out
of 29 ``table top" drills.

And the spokesman for the Pilgrim plant downplayed the
possibility that the spent-fuel chamber is vulnerable to attack,
noting that it was unlikely that a terrorist would be able to
maneuver a plane to strike the 50-by-50 foot chamber, located
inside the building housing the nuclear reactor.

If the nuclear plant remains a real regional safety threat, a
hazard posed by a Boston chemical facility has been removed.

Until earlier this year, the Houghton Chemical Corp. in Allston
-- its pastel-painted tanks nestled next to a Doubletree Guest
Suites hotel -- was among some 100 chemical facilities in the
United States where the Environmental Protection Agency said an
accident would put more than a million people at risk. ``We just
quietly removed it," Bruce E. Houghton, the company's president,
said of the stocks of vinyl acetate, a highly flammable liquid
that, if attacked, could have sent a miles-long toxic cloud
through the city.

``Boston is markedly safer with those chemicals gone from that
site," said Paul Orum, a consultant to environmental public
interest groups on chemical security.

Tomorrow: A region reacts, a family makes its way [ /] ©

Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company. 
*****************************************************************
 57 Newsday.com: Chertoff: NYC to test nuclear screening devices - 
 
New York City
 
BY CAROL EISENBERG Newsday Washington Bureau
 	 	
September 8, 2006, 11:21 PM EDT

WASHINGTON --    Describing terrorists' desire to detonate 
weapons of mass destruction inside the United States as "the No. 
1 thing we have to attend to," Homeland Security Secretary 
Michael Chertoff said Friday that the federal government was 
deploying radiation screening devices along "principal pathways" 
into New York City to stop a potentially catastrophic attack.
 
The program, which is being tested in New York and then will be 
expanded to other cities, "will conduct nuclear and radiological 
scanning on the principal pathways into the cities, whether they 
be over land, in the water or underground," the nation's homeland 
security chief said in a speech at Georgetown University in 
Washington.
 
"These tools will allow us to build not only a layer of 
protection against weapons of mass destruction at the perimeter 
of the country, but they will allow us to build a second layer 
around our major cities for an added measure of protection," he 
said.
 
Chertoff described the plan to protect the city from a 
catastrophic nuclear or "dirty" bomb as part of a multilayered 
strategy developed since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York 
and Washington to try to stop terrorists and weapons from 
entering the country; to build multiple layers of security around 
high-risk targets; and to deter homegrown terrorists "who 
sympathize with terrorist organizations or embrace their ideology 
and are prepared to use violence."
 
City officials confirmed Friday that they had been working with 
the federal government to acquire an unidentified number of 
screening devices. "We're working with the federal government on 
a number of different sensor technologies, including biological 
and radiological sensors," said Jarrod Bernstein, spokesman for 
the New York City Office of Emergency Management.
 
But officials were tight-lipped about where the devices were 
being tested, or the progress of the program, called "Securing 
the Cities Initiative," to date.
 
"A lot of these things are very much in their infancy," said one
official who asked not to be named. "They contracted with
several different companies to manufacture some prototypes to be
tested."
 
Chertoff said the first phase of the program would be completed
by the end of 2008.
 
In a speech outlining the steps the government has taken since
Sept. 11, and what more needs to be done, he also urged Congress
to approve plans to better protect seaports and chemical plants
from terrorists -- or risk another attack on the scale of 9/11.
 
Chertoff also railed against those who have resisted stepped-up
safeguards as too costly or inconvenient.
 
"That kind of backsliding runs directly contrary to the lessons
of 9/11," he said, referring to critics of plans for
tamper-resistant driver's licenses and border-crossing cards.
 
"If we had it five years ago, there would not have been a 9/11,"
Chertoff said, noting that nearly all the 9/11 hijackers had
fake ID cards. "God help us if we don't take the steps to put
into place as soon as we can to prevent another 9/11."
 
Another area that needs continued action, he said, is equipment
to enable first responders to communicate. "And I will tell you
in a very straightforward way," he said, "the obstacle here is
not technological. The obstacle is that we need to build
procedures across governments ... about what the rules of the
road are going to be." 	 

 Copyright Newsday Inc. 
*****************************************************************
 58 Rutland Herald: Vermont Yankee shipment exceeds radiation limits

Rutland Vermont News & Information

September 9, 2006 

The Associated Press   
                         
BRATTLEBORO — A shipment of equipment sent by the Vermont Yankee
nuclear plant was found to be giving off more than four times
the allowable level of radiation when it arrived at its
destination in Pennsylvania, officials said.

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commisssion is considering
enforcement action against the Vernon plant over the incident,
according to NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan.

Last week's shipment began when Vermont Yankee loaded a device
designed to crush and cut reactor control rods into a container
with radiation shielding and placed it on a flatbed truck. The
truck left for the Susquehanna nuclear plant in Salem Township,
Pa.

When it arrived, engineers at the Susquehanna plant found that
the shipment was giving off 800 millirems of radiation per hour,
four times the limits for such shipments set by the U.S.
Department of Transportation.

Technicians from the NRC, Susquehanna and Vermont Yankee plants
opened the container Wednesday, determining that the radiation
was coming from a small strip of metal and two "hot particles"
that had been exposed to radiation, Sheehand said.

One of the particles was measured as giving off 2,200 millirems,
or 2.2 rems, of radiation, which Sheehan said had been kept
mostly within the container.

Vermont Yankee spokesman Rob Williams said the equipment, which
is owned by a vendor to the plant, was treated and checked for
radiation before it left the Vernon plant and registered at
below safety limits.

"The most likely possibility is that the vibrations during the
shipment caused the metal to fall to the base of the box,"
Williams said. The plant is reviewing its equipment cleaning and
shipping process, he said.

Raymond Shadis, technical adviser to the New England Coalition,
a nuclear watchdog group, said Vermont Yankee's methods should
be scrutinized.

"It looks to me as if it's a failure to properly decontaminate
and properly measure for radiation," he said.

A person exposed to the radiation being given off by the
shipment would hit the NRC's limit for yearly exposure in about
eight minutes, Shadis said.

The NRC says no member of the public was exposed to unacceptable
radiation levels. The truck's driver slept in the truck and wore
a device that measures radiation, which did not exceed
acceptable levels, Sheehan said.

The NRC, which is reviewing the incident, could impose new
oversight requirements on Vermont Yankee if the plant is found
to have violated safety rules.

"On its face, it's pretty clear cut that there was a violation
there, but we still have to make a determination on that," he
said.
   
*****************************************************************
 59 London Times: Divers risk death to clear atomic beach - 

The Sunday Times - Scotland   

September 10, 2006                           

Mark Macaskill
 		   		 		
THOUSANDS of radioactive particles from the seabed near Dounreay 
nuclear plant may need to be collected by divers. 

Scientists believe it could take three years to recover the 
leaked deposits, each no bigger than a grain of sand but capable 
of burning a hole in skin, causing ulcers and tissue damage. The 
task is so risky that lives could be lost, but if they are not 
retrieved it will take 100 years for the particles to naturally 
decay. 

In a report to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA)
on the extent of pollution around the nuclear research facility
in Caithness, scientists propose to send divers more than 100ft
down with radiation detectors to retrieve particles that have
leaked from the plant during the course of the last 40 years. 

Remote-controlled underwater vehicles could be used but Dounreay
Particles Advisory Group (DPAG), which compiled the report, said
that although using divers would be risky, it was the most
effective way to solve the problem. 

“Information has been given to SEPA which will enable them to
weigh up the risks of particles coming onshore at Dounreay, and
possibly elsewhere, and the risks of diver recovery,” said a
source. “It would take two or three years to clean [the seabed]
up. If something isn’t done, the beach will have to be closed
for quite a long time. But the risks to divers are real, divers
could be lost in the process.” 

It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of radioactive
particles — fragments of irradiated nuclear fuel — have leaked
since the 1960s from a waste pipe that runs 600 metres out to
sea. 

Most have dispersed harmlessly into the open sea but up to 2,000
are thought to be buried in sediment. Since November 1983, more
than 900 particles have been found on the seabed, and about 240
on the foreshore at Dounreay — including one last week. Another
68 were retrieved on the adjoining Sandside beach. 

Last year a contaminated pebble and radioactive particle were
found on Dunnet beach, Caithness, a short distance from the
Castle of Mey, a former residence of the Queen Mother and a
holiday retreat of the royal family. 

The UK Atomic Energy Authority is now facing prosecution after
an investigation by SEPA into the way Dounreay was managed. A
decision by the procurator fiscal is expected shortly. 

Geoffrey Minter, the owner of Sandside beach, said: “The size
and frequency of radioactive finds is increasing and I welcome
any steps to tackle the dreadful problem of radioactive
pollution.”   	 		

Copyright 2006                 Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 60 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast widow attests to husband's slow decline

09/09/2006 | 

 DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer 

LAKELAND - Mearl Garrett has been trying for two years to prove
her husband died because of his exposure to toxic dust and
chemicals at the Loral American Beryllium Co. plant in
Tallevast. 

Until this week, the 74-year-old widow had failed to make her
case to the federal government. 

More than the $150,000 compensation she is seeking, Garrett
wants justice. 

And she is fighting her battle without computer or fax machine;
rather, through long distance phone calls and trips to
Bradenton, Sarasota, Tampa and Greenville, N.C., where her
family once lived. 

Now there may be a glimmer of hope, after she testified at an
appeal hearing in Lakeland held by the U.S. Department of Labor. 

Although Mark Nolan, the hearing officer, made no decision, he
promised to review Richard Lee Garrett's medical file once
again. 

"There may have been something overlooked," Nolan said. 

Mearl Garrett recounted how her husband's arms began to turn red
and swell shortly after he started work at the Tallevast plant
in 1961. 

His hands, she said, were sometimes so swollen that he couldn't
move his fingers, and a rash of pimples and sores broke out
across his inflamed skin. 

She remembers his cough that worsened over the years, his
deathly gray pallor and how difficult it was for him to breathe. 

Then came the heart attack in 1975, followed by an abdominal
aortic aneurysm in 1980 and a quintuple coronary bypass graft in
1983. 

The medical records Garrett shared with The Herald detail that
history, along with reports on a thoracic aortic aneurysm that
led to his hospitalization May 26, 1998, at the Anderson Area
Medical Center near Greenville. 

He never came home. He passed away less than a month later, on
June 24, from multiple organ failure with presumed Acute
Respiratory Distress Syndrome. 

After listening to Garrett's tearful testimony, Nolan warned her
she would likely have to find more medical records to make her
case. 

Garrett was dismayed. She has already submitted a stack of
medical records more than a foot high. 

Those records include opinions from several doctors who found
evidence of lung problems they said were consistent with
beryllium disease. 

But those medical opinions have not satisfied Uncle Sam. 

And so Garrett must once again go back to the doctors and
hospitals who treated her husband over the past three decades to
try to unearth files and X-ray films that might satisfy the
strict letter-of-the-compensation law. 

Garrett hoped the appeal hearing would be her last battle. 

But that is doubtful, given yet another red tape snafu. 

Unfortunately, her latest appeal to reverse her second denial is
being made under a part of the compensation program that does
not apply to former workers at the Tallevast plant, Nolan
explained. 

Bewildered and dismayed, Mearl and her daughter, Phyllis, who
also testified, struggled to comprehend. 

Then, they broke down under the stress. 

"This opens up so many old wounds," the widow said as she tried
to find the words to tell Nolan about her husband's death. "It's
been eight years, but it all comes back when I have to go back
through all these papers." 

Her hands shook, rattling the crinkled pages of hand-written
notes she and her children had composed for the hearing. 

"So much time has passed since my husband died," she said. "I
didn't think of beryllium when he was dying. I didn't think of
getting an autopsy or labs done, but I do know his lungs were
full of disease." 

Nolan was not unsympathetic. He motioned for the court reporter
to stop the recorder. He reached for a box of tissues and as he
pushed them across the table, he dropped his chin to his chest
and closed his eyes. 

Nolan has been through this drill many times, listening to
former workers and their families try to fit medical opinions
into the narrow definitions of a law that strictly dictate what
he can and cannot decide. 

"Take all the time you need, Mrs. Garrett," Nolan said. "You can
have all of the time you need." 

And although the testimony she gave was not related to the part
of the compensation act the hearing was supposed to cover, Nolan
listened for as long as Garrett wanted to talk. 

What puzzles Garrett most is Uncle Sam's refusal to accept the
opinion of Dr. Lawrence Fuortes, a beryllium expert from the
University of Iowa who reviewed Richard Garrett's medical file. 

In a letter to Garrett, dated Feb. 11, 2005, Fuortes found
evidence of lung problems he believes are consistent with
chronic beryllium disease. He also cited radiology reports from
the Greenville hospital where Garrett died as descriptive of
obstructive lung disease. 

Fuortes encouraged Garrett to pursue her appeal for compensation
under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program. 

But he also cautioned her that she needed to find more chest
X-rays. 

"Without access to these films and especially films prior to and
after recuperation from his bypass surgery, it is difficult to
interpret the significance or cause of these X-ray
abnormalities." 

"But where do I look?" a puzzled Garrett asked Nolan. "Nobody
seems to know where they are." 

As an American Beryllium employee, Garrett had yearly chest
X-rays, but the whereabouts of those films are unknown. 

Lockheed Martin Corp., which purchased the beryllium plant from
Loral in a corporate buyout in 1996, was unable to locate Loral
employees' health records until May 2005. 

Loral health records are critical to supporting former workers'
claims of work-related illnesses, but unfortunately many files,
including Garrett's, are incomplete. 

Dr. Wesley Peterson, a Sarasota internist, was hired by Loral to
give beryllium workers annual physicals. 

But Garrett and many other workers interviewed by The Herald
have said Peterson's physicals were at best minimal and, when
evidence of lung problems was found, they were covered up. 

"Dr. Peterson," said Garrett's widow. "was paid off by Loral to
keep the workers working even when they were sick." 

Peterson, now retired and still living in Sarasota, said
Garrett's accusation is untrue. 

"If anything abnormal was found, it was noted and investigated,"
said Peterson in a phone interview with The Herald. 

Peterson said he thought he provided employee physicals for
beryllium employees for five or maybe 10 years, but he could not
be sure. He said the chest X-rays were done by local
radiologists and he had no idea where those films might be. 

But workers have told The Herald that Peterson was the only
doctor involved in annual physicals, which they say they
received the entire time the plant was in operation from 1961 to
1996. 

Richard Garrett, a machinist and shop steward, worked at the
plant from 1962 to 1992. He quit twice because of health
worries, but always returned because the pay was so good, his
widow said. 

He was one of several dozen employees at the Tallevast plant who
had top security clearance to work on parts for atomic weapons
and projects for the Energy Department, NASA and the military. 

"Beryllium, from what my husband told me, kills you a little at
a time," Garrett testified at Wednesday's hearing. "It eats at
you from the inside. . . . I truly believe that had he not
worked at that plant he would not have had heart problems or
lung illnesses. That's why he quit so many times. He kept
saying, 'I have to get out. I have to get out.' " 

Garrett cannot understand why workers' health issues are not
more important in the Tallevast pollution investigation. 

She pointed out that Lockheed's tests reveal Tallevast sits on
top of a toxic plume now known to stretch over 200 acres. 

If, over the years, the poison seeped through the ground,
Garrett reasoned, how could it have not affected the workers
inside the plant? 

Why no concern, she asked, for the ones who had their hands in
the chemical baths, the ones who breathed the air thick with
beryllium dust? 

"We accept the fact that he was exposed to beryllium dust and
that it went into his lungs," said Nolan. 

But, he added, the only way to prove he had chronic beryllium
disease and to receive compensation is to satisfy the strict
requirements of the law that are legal, not medical definitions
open to medical opinion. 

Putting his hand on the foot-thick file, Nolan promised Garrett
he would comb through the records again looking for any notation
that might have been missed that would provide that proof. 

Garrett left confused, but not without hope, that maybe, after
more frustrating and painful searches, she will finally be able
to prove what she believes in her heart - that her husband's
death was related to poisons involved in his work. 

*****************************************************************
 61 reviewjournal.com: Transporting nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain could offer a moving target

IN DEPTH: THE LONG SHADOW OF 9/11:
 
Sep. 10, 2006

By A.D. HOPKINS <br/>REVIEW-JOURNAL
  		
Graphic by Mike Johnson.
 	   
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last, 

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born? 

-- William Butler Yeats 

If America's waste from nuclear power plants ever starts rolling
regularly toward Nevada's Yucca Mountain, highways and rail
systems will become vulnerable to a new kind of attack. While a
terrorist attack on the nuclear transports might logically seek
maximum damage to America and thus be carried out in a more
populated area than the Battle Born state, it is Nevadan
opponents to Yucca Mountain who have pointed out the weakness. 

The earliest date at which the Nuclear Waste Repository might
receive shipments, projected by the Department of Energy in
June, is 2017. The delivery routes probably will include the
highway system that carries much of the rest of America's
commerce. However, the Department of Energy's preferred proposal
is to use mostly rail transport and to build a spur from
Caliente, a small and isolated railroad town on the Union
Pacific in eastern Nevada, west to the repository. This would
allow shipments from the eastern United States to bypass Las
Vegas. 

In 1999, Nevada petitioned the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
requesting it conduct a comprehensive assessment of consequences
of terrorist attacks against such shipments, with an eye toward
strengthening rules about safeguarding the shipments. No such
study has been revealed. Robert Loux, executive director of the
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects, said, "They say they are
doing their own reassessment of those standards and regulations,
but nobody is allowed to see that." 

David McIntyre, public affairs officer for the NRC, said, "We're
always looking at the security of spent fuel shipments and have
been for 30 years. Since 9/11, we have taken a closer look and
increased the security measures that licensees must take." He
wouldn't discuss specific security measures but said they
include armed guards and secrecy. When shipments start moving to
Yucca Mountain, federal agencies will be required by law to
notify state authorities that a shipment is coming and to train
emergency personnel in dealing with any spills. 

A study published by Loux's agency in 1997, however, made some
disturbing findings: 

• "Planners could expect two to three rail and three to four
highway shipments per week for a 30-year period." 

• One DOE study of a transportation accident, releasing 1
percent of the material from a nuclear waste cask being
transported by rail, would contaminate 40 square miles and cost
more than $600 million to clean up. A similar-size area probably
would be contaminated in certain kinds of intentional attacks. 

• Rocket-propelled military devices that already were available
on the black market in 1997, as well as improvised explosive
devices, were capable of penetrating transport casks. 

Dr. James David Ballard, a criminal justice professor who wrote
his UNLV dissertation on the Oklahoma City bombing, was
principal author of the report, and says he has seen little
happen since to mitigate the danger. Armor-piercing munitions
are more widely available, and exponentially better; improvised
explosives are more clever; and more people know how to use
both. "The sheer numbers of spent fuel rods require you ship
them in larger containers, and the heavy haul truck carrying
them will stand out like Bozo at the opera." 

The modest DOE and NRC estimations of terrorist danger, he
charged, are rooted in 1984 technology and attitudes. "In 1984,
it was hard to conceive that anybody would consider attacking
nuclear garbage because exposure to it would harm them
personally. But fast-forward to 2001 and the whole world
changes." 

Potential attackers are not limited to Middle Eastern jihadists,
Ballard said. "These shipments have symbolic value for any
number of groups. If a group is against the federal government,
Yucca Mountain is a large-scale federal program being imposed on
the state," he observed. "And a group that wanted to challenge
the nuclear industry might do it." 

Allen Benson, director of external affairs for DOE's office of
civilian radioactive waste management, said that over 30 years,
there have been some 3,000 shipments of spent nuclear fuel in
the United States, and more than 4,000 shipments of other
contaminated material. "These shipments have essentially been
incident free. There have been accidents, but I am unaware of
any release of waste that has been harmful to the public." 

But sabotage already has been attempted. In Golden Valley,
Minn., in 1986, Ballard said, an environmentalist group removed
a rail from the track in front of a shipment of nuclear waste.
"It so happened the train that actually derailed was a lumber
train, routed in front of the other train because of a
last-minute change in schedule." 

Robert Halstead, who served as a consultant to the state of
Nevada on nuclear waste transportation, said the DOE's own
studies have shown that available explosives could breach a cask
wall and release radioactive cesium 137 in particle sizes small
enough to be dispersed in a smoke cloud, inhaled by humans and
widely deposited on the landscape. 

The NRC's McIntyre said, "What you hear about most is a test
done in 1999. A TOW missile warhead was not fired at, but placed
right beside the outer wall of a shipping cask and exploded.
Yes, that created a small hole in the outer concrete cask. If it
were to get through all the way, though, what would happen?
Unlike a battle tank full of explosives, there's nothing inside
these casks that would explode and disperse the contents." More
elaborate scenarios, he said, have been studied mostly by
computer modeling rather than actual test, but he added, "Our
studies have reaffirmed the studies done back in the '70s about
the ability of the casks to withstand any event and the
effectiveness of any security measures in place." 

Halstead, however, said that the DOE, a separate agency, now
suggests that cleanup costs could run into the billions, and
state planners think the DOE estimate is conservative and a
realistic one might be several times as large. 

Halstead concluded, "The concern is not that any large number of
people would be immediately killed, but that a successful attack
would contaminate an area ranging in size from a couple of
football fields to several square miles, that would pose such a
significant threat to public health and the environment that it
would have to be thoroughly cleaned up, at a cost that would
constitute an economic catastrophe." 	   


Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement
*****************************************************************
 62 Pahrump Valley Times: Nuke recycling not trip's focus         

Sep. 08, 2006 

MISSION WILL BE TO STUDY TRANSPORT OF NUCLEAR MATERIALS          

By MARK WAITE PVT 

The extension of this rail line just south of Hawthorne, about 90 
miles northwest of Tonopah, is being considered as an 
alternativet to building a new rail line west from Caliente in 
eastern Nevada. A Nye County commissioner will travel to Japan 
next month to study shipments of nuclear waste in that country.
	 	 
TONOPAH -- Nye County Commissioner Roberta "Midge" Carver will
be saying "sayonara" soon as she travels to Japan from Oct. 21
through Oct. 28 to inspect nuclear waste processing facilities. 

Nye County Commissioners approved her trip, with funds coming
out of the nuclear waste repository program funds at an
estimated cost of $8,500. 

The purpose of the trip, which is being coordinated by the U.S.
Transportation Council, is to review key aspects of the programs
for the safe transport of spent nuclear fuel. She will travel
with Bob Gamble, the county's paid representative to the U.S.
Department of Energy. 

The only question about the safari came from Commissioner Joni
Eastley, who wanted to refute any misconception that Nye County
wanted a facility to reprocess nuclear waste, one of the site
visits on the tour. 

"It was not my understanding that Nye County was going to get
involved in any way with fuel recycling facilities or lobbying
to get them in Nye County, or negotiating with outside companies
to get them located here," she said. Carver said that's not an
issue she will be concerned with in Japan. 

But she said recycled nuclear fuel could eventually be
transported through Nye County. 

Eastley said Nye County's role in the project needs to be
limited to independent, scientific oversight. 

Pahrump resident Jim Petell urged commissioners to consider the
seismic risks of the project. 

Nye County Commission Chairman Gary Hollis, the county
commission's liaison on the Yucca Mountain project, said he was
invited to go on the trip but may have to monitor a legislative
bill on Yucca Mountain about that time. He endorsed the overseas
trips. 

"They're mandatory. They're absolutely essential how we know
their cask is working that transports the fuel from the reactor
plant to the recycling facility or wherever they store (it). 

Our goal is to get the fuel to Yucca Mountain as safely as
possible," Hollis said. Asked whether it was possible to monitor
the process in the U.S., he said, "We ship fuel all the time,
but it's not being made public all the time." Hollis will travel
to Washington, D.C., at the end of this month for meetings with
congressmen on the Yucca Mountain project. 

The memorandum from Interim County Manager Ron Williams on the
travel request states Carver's visit to facilities for
transferring nuclear waste casks, recycling fuel and waste
storage facilities is of particular interest to Nye County. 

Carver traveled to France last year to visit shipping facilities
in Cherbourg and a reprocessing plant in the Hague on a jaunt
coordinated by the U.S. Transport Council. 

The Nye County Community Protection Plan, adopted in August
2002, states that "all shipments of spent nuclear fuel or
high-level waste to interim or permanent storage facilities in
the site county (Nye County) should be by rail, using routes
which avoid site county communities and public mainline highways
and which are selected in consultation with the Nye County
Commission. No shipment of highly radioactive waste to Yucca
Mountain should use the two-lane, rural, public highways of the
site county." 

The plan states shipments of nuclear waste on two-lane rural
highways pose special risks for radiological exposure, accident
and a stigma for communities along the 371 miles of highway
routes. 

The community protection plan explains Nye County's perspectives
on the project to ship nuclear waste from 35 states to Yucca
Mountain, describes potential effects of the project and
suggests steps to protect Nye County. Recently, the scientific
community has expressed a renewed interest in studying the
recycling of nuclear waste to reduce storage space and other
benefits. 

Carver's hotel bill in Japan will be $150 per night, or $1,050
for seven nights. In-country air and train travel and meals are
estimated to cost another $2,000. The U.S. Transport Council is
making the travel arrangements; it said the round-trip airfare
to Japan is available for as little as $970 on . 

The agenda includes a welcome dinner; meeting with a federation
of Japanese nuclear energy organizations; travel to the Rokkosho
nuclear complex in northern Japan; a tour of the Tokai nuclear
waste interim storage facility; touring the Hitachi-Zosen
facility where nuclear transport casks are manufactured; and on
the last day, a cultural, sightseeing tour of Kyoto. 

Commissioners, however, turned thumbs-down an amended contract
with the Nevada Environmental Research and Monitoring Institute
through March 31, 2007, to help negotiate a partnership
agreement with the U.S. Department of Energy. 

Nye County had a similar agreement in 1991 and 1992. The maximum
total compensation would've been $250,000. 

Commissioner Eastley said Nye County officials can themselves
negotiate with DOE. 	 	     

Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006 
*****************************************************************
 63 reviewjournal.com: ADS URGE LAWMAKERS: 'Fix Yucca Mountain'
 
Sep. 09, 2006

Industry wants legislation bolstering repository         

By STEVE TETREAULT<br>STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON -- The nuclear industry has launched advertisements 
urging Congress to pass a "Fix Yucca Mountain" bill amid signs 
such legislation probably is too late for this year. 

The Nuclear Energy Institute is running full-page ads this week 
and next week in four publications read widely on Capitol Hill. 
The ads call on lawmakers "to get this project done and secure 
our energy future." 

"Congress approved a site for this facility in 2002 but the
government is already 8 years behind schedule in accepting used
nuclear fuel," the industry said. 

Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, was chosen for
a nuclear waste repository, but management problems, funding
shortfalls and legal challenges have stymied the effort. The
state of Nevada and environmental groups insist the site is not
safe. 

"The message is we would like Congress in what little time it
has left to get serious about fixing the Yucca Mountain
program," said Scott Peterson, communications vice president for
the nuclear trade association. 

The NEI ads are running in Roll Call, The Hill, National Journal
and Congress Daily. Peterson declined to say how much they cost. 

A Yucca Mountain bill urged by the Energy Department in April
has been a nonstarter in Congress, which is scheduled to recess
in only three weeks so lawmakers can go home to campaign.
Lawmakers expect to return for a post-election session. 

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., the chairman of the Senate Energy
and Natural Resources Committee, said this week he intends to
introduce a new Yucca bill "later this month" but for discussion
only. 

"Obviously, with less than a month before we recess, I don't
expect to pass the bill this year, but I hope to get useful
input from my Senate colleagues, the House and other interested
parties," Domenici said in a statement. 

"Yucca Mountain is a complicated issue that evokes strong,
diverse opinions. That's why I'm introducing a bill in the 109th
Congress that I will seek to pass in the 110th Congress,"
Domenici said. 

Domenici has said he will take parts of the Bush administration
bill that he likes but he has not said which ones. 

Peterson said NEI is "realistic" about chances to get a bill
passed in the fall. 

"We would like to be pushing forward to making something happen
but we recognize it might roll over into the next Congress," he
said. 

The NEI ads are scheduled to run next week when at least four
House and Senate committees have scheduled hearings to assess
where things stand on nuclear waste policies, including Yucca
Mountain and fuel reprocessing. 

"There are a lot of people out there who realize Yucca Mountain
is dying," said Jon Summers, a spokesman for Sen. Harry Reid,
D-Nev. "These are all last-gasp efforts to try to save it and
try to figure out what to do." 	   

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement
*****************************************************************
 64 Salt Lake Tribune: Politics glows: Politicians deserve credit for stopping PFS

Article Last Updated: 09/08/2006 11:40:41 PM MDT  

  Tribune Editorial  

  It may be impossible to say whether Thursday's Interior
Department rulings that apparently kill the planned nuclear
waste storage facility in Utah's Skull Valley were prompted by
the merits of the arguments or the unanimous political pressure
brought by our state's elected officials. 

   Not that anyone really cares. 

   It has been 12 years since Private Fuel Storage, a shrinking
consortium of electric utilities, and the Skull Valley Band of
Goshutes, a small tribe with a reservation west of Salt Lake
City, first started talking about what became a plan to store
44,000 tons of spent nuclear fuel atop a giant concrete slab. 

   Time was not on their side. 

   The idea was opposed from the start, and not just by the
usual environmentalist suspects. First Gov. Mike Leavitt, and
now Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., have fought it, as have all members
of the state's congressional delegation. 

   And, if it isn't too ominous an analogy, the ground has been
shifting under PFS all along. 

   The Yucca Mountain facility in Nevada, supposedly the
permanent resting place for the waste that would be parked in
Skull Valley, has been repeatedly delayed and may never open.
There have been innovations that make it possible, if not
downright smart, to continue to store the waste at power plants
where it is generated. 

   There were also concerns about 
security that only grew in a post-9/11 world. 

   All of that, though, may matter less than the fact that all
the political muscle Utah could bring to bear on the issue was
rolled out and kept out. 

   Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett and Reps. Chris Cannon, Rob
Bishop and Jim Matheson pulled every lever. None of them
succumbed to the arguments of economic development or blind
faith in technology that are so often used to excuse some really
bad ideas. 

   Added to the bird-dogging provided by such groups as the
Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah and the recent opposition
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that was
enough pull to put an end to a plan that was, in the best
possible light, far too sketchy to be believed in. 

   "Political pressure" is always decried when it's used in a way 
that you don't like. In the case of Skull Valley, though, it was 
a shining example of democracy in action. 
    
Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 65 Salt Lake Tribune: Nuke-dump backers ponder their next move 

Article Last Updated: 09/09/2006 01:11:42 AM MDT 

PFS plan squelched: Proponents had pressured U.S. agency for 
approval of the facility for months 

By Judy Fahys The Salt Lake Tribune 

Backers of nuclear waste storage in Utah had pressed the U.S. 
Interior Department to sign off on their project in the months 
before federal officials nixed it Thursday. 

But neither the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes, the Tooele 
County Indian tribe that promised reservation land for the 
storage, nor Private Fuel Storage, the nuclear-reactor operators 
that partnered with the Goshutes, were prepared to say Friday 
if, or how, they might fight the department's two-pronged 
decision killing the project. 

"It will probably be a week before we have any real notion of 
what our next steps will be," said Sue Martin, a spokeswoman for 
PFS. 

Deputies of Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the former 
Idaho governor and U.S. Senate Republican, issued twin rulings 
Thursday that appeared to deal a death blow to the 
multi-billion-dollar waste storage plan. 

James E. Cason, associate deputy secretary for Indian affairs 
at the Interior Department, voided the 1997 lease between the 
Goshutes and PFS. 

Chad Calvert, acting assistant secretary for land and 
minerals management, nixed the plan for transporting waste to 
the reservation, about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. 

Cason's decision noted the tribe had twice written letters 
last spring urging his agency to sign off on a "conditional 
lease" that was approved by a Utah-based Indian agency official 
more than nine years ago. 

"The [Skull Valley] Band has also made numerous phone calls 
to Department officials demanding immediate action," Cason 
wrote. 

The waste plan's critics - anti-nuclear activists, ordinary 
Utahns and state and federal officials - say the separate 
decisions kill the project. But PFS and the Goshutes were not 
ready Friday to concede. 

PFS's Martin said Thursday's decisions leave the nation no 
answer to its nuclear waste backlog. 

"The fact is, our facility was the closest, most immediate 
solution that was available to the [nuclear energy] industry," 
she said. 

Lacking an off-site option like the Skull Valley storage, the 
nation's nuclear reactors have resorted to storing roughly 
60,000 tons of high-level waste at 72 sites while they wait for 
the federal government to build the Yucca Mountain repository in 
Nevada, about 100 miles north of Las Vegas. The planned site is 
long past its deadline and is certain to be delayed for years to 
come. Congress has just begun to talk about creating federal 
interim storage sites. 

Meanwhile, Dianne Nielson, director of the Utah Department of 
Environmental Quality, said her agency would continue its fight 
to kill the license the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
granted to PFS in February. 

She noted the Interior Department's rulings echoed many of 
the safety and legal concerns Utahns have been raising about the 
waste proposal for nearly a decade. 

"The fact of the matter is they [at the Interior Department] 
did their homework," she said, "and I think they got it exactly 
right." 

fahys@sltrib.com 

Options for proponents of the Skull Valley nuclear storage 
site 

* Call it quits. 

* Fight the Interior Department's ruling in court. 

* Propose a new lease and/or alternative transportation 
plans. 

Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 66 Salt Lake Tribune: Hatch jawboned N-dump decision 

Article Last Updated: 09/09/2006 02:27:29 AM MDT 

Bennett also helped persuade against the project 

By Robert Gehrke The Salt Lake Tribune 

WASHINGTON - In a pivotal meeting between Sen. Orrin Hatch and 
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne in late June, Hatch persuaded 
the former Idaho governor to kick-start his department's verdict 
on plans to ship thousands of tons of nuclear waste to Utah. 

Interior had been waiting for Utah's lawsuit challenging the 
project to wend its way through court, potentially delaying any 
decision for years. That changed dramatically after Hatch's 
meeting with Kempthorne, who spent five years in the Senate 
before serving two terms as Idaho governor. 

On Thursday, just 10 weeks after the private session, 
Interior dealt the waste project two potentially fatal blows. 
Department officials rejected plans to ship 44,000 tons of 
radioactive waste to the Skull Valley Goshute Indian 
Reservation, just an hour's drive from Salt Lake City, and 
vetoed the agreement between Private Fuel Storage, a group of 
utilities, and the American Indian tribe. 

The Interior Department confirmed the meeting took place but 
wouldn't discuss specifics. 

Hatch, in an interview Friday, described it this way: 
Kempthorne, on the job barely a month, listened patiently and 
left the June 29 meeting assuring the Utah senator he would get 
the ball rolling. 

"Utah had such a strong case in my eyes, so I did everything 
I could to make sure the administration understood my position," 
Hatch said. "I felt pretty confident from the beginning that I 
could convince anybody this was not the way to go." 

Kempthorne, himself, did not make the decisions, although he 
had been briefed and was well aware of the issues, said Interior 
Department spokesman Shane Wolfe. The final opinions were 
delegated to two senior-level assistants. 

But Hatch and Sen. Bob Bennett both made clear to Kempthorne 
their views on the PFS plan in discussions before and after the 
secretary's confirmation at the end of May. 

"I made no attempt to pressure him," Bennett said Friday, 
"simply to call the issue to his attention and to pay close 
attention to all the merits because I was convinced that on the 
merits our point of view would come on top." 

For Hatch, sticking close by the Bush administration on 
nuclear issues was the strategy he had committed to a year 
before, despite pressure to reverse his course on a permanent 
nuclear repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada, for the nation's 
50-year stockpile of spent nuclear fuel. 

The rest of Utah's congressional delegation and the governor 
had come out against building a waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 
hoping standing with Nevada would help their case against the 
Skull Valley project. Bennett did a complete turnabout on Yucca 
during a Senate floor speech, arguing the permanent repository 
would never be built and a new approach was needed. 

Some publicly questioned the wisdom of Hatch's dogged stance 
at odds with other Utah politicians. 

Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said at the time that Hatch's 
continued backing of Yucca Mountain was "ill-advised." 

"It was one of the most miserable periods of my lifetime," 
Hatch said Friday. "[But] if I hadn't stuck with the 
administration, we wouldn't have got this done." 

Hatch said he put in countless calls and had many meetings 
with administration officials, from chief of staff Josh Bolton 
and his deputy Karl Rove on down. 

"This wasn't a case of political pressure. They couldn't 
ignore me, but we had a strong case. I kept building that case, 
call by call and meeting by meeting." 

Hatch convinced Kempthorne's predecessor, Gale Norton, to 
reassess the issue of moving waste to the reservation. With a 
reopened public comment period, thousands of Utahns sent letters 
urging the transportation plan be rejected. 

One of the key factors in Interior's decision against the 
Skull Valley project was Congress' designation of the Cedar 
Mountain Wilderness Area, which effectively blocks a proposed 
rail line to the site. Previous attempts to pass the wilderness 
bill were thwarted with the help of Senate Minority Leader Harry 
Reid, of Nevada. But when Bennett and other Utah leaders joined 
opponents to Yucca, Reid cleared the way for the Cedar Mountain 
legislation. 

Bennett said that in the end the divergent paths he and Hatch 
took may have helped reach the goal they both wanted. 

"He did what he thought was the right thing to do and I did 
what I thought was the right thing to do and both the 
administration's position and Congress' position . . . indicate 
that it all worked out," he said. 

Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 67 The Dispatch: Olin Lambasted For 'Do Nothing' Approach in Groundwater Cleanup

The Editor 

 Saturday, September 09, 2006

By Tony Burchyns Staff Writer

Morgan Hill - Local community leaders urged a "failing grade"
for alleged groundwater polluter Olin Corporation at a Central
Coat Water Quality Control Board meeting this week.

Morgan Hill Mayor Dennis Kennedy told the regional board
Thursday that Olin should be held responsible for perchlorate
detected in Morgan Hill's municipal wells located northeast of
the company's defunct Tennant Avenue plant. 

And, San Martin resident Sylvia Hamilton, chair of the
Perchlorate Community Advisory Group, criticized what she and
others see as Olin's "do nothing" approach to cleaning up the
South County's water basin.

Olin Corp. officials have admitted that the company polluted the
groundwater that flows south toward San Martin, but are
reluctant to take responsibility for a northerly flow.

There is one plume of contamination spreading south and
northeast, Kennedy said, and only one known source of the
contamination - the Olin Corporation and its operation of a road
flare manufacturing facility in Morgan Hill.

"Yet," he said, "it is puzzling that the board has adopted two
different regulatory approaches to what is a single problem."

Eighteen months ago, the regional board issued a comprehensive
clean up order for areas south of Olin's Tennant Avenue plant
that once produced road flares and ordered continued monitoring
of the perchlorate plume's northeast migration.

 Morgan Hill officials have since argued the two-track plan has
allowed Olin to escape accountability for perchlorate detected
in Morgan Hill wells. 

"Frankly, we don't understand the reluctance to amend the
Cleanup and Abatement Order, or to issue a separate CAO to cover
the portion of the plume north of Tennant Avenue," Kennedy told
the board that met in Monterey. 

According to Hector Hernandez, a regional water board engineer,
the analysis of groundwater contamination in parts of Morgan
Hill is proceeding at a "reasonable" pace. 

"We believe there's northeast flow in the deep aquifer zone,
under certain conditions."

Those conditions may include when high volumes of water are
pumped, he said.

During the first quarter of 2006, Olin reported the presence of
4.4 parts per billion of perchlorate in the deep aquifer - about
300 feet below the ground - at a test well 3,000 feet north of
its factory. 

California's public health goal is 6 ppb for perchlorate, a
chemical that can cause thyroid problems if consumed in high
enough quantities.

At the board meeting, Kennedy took aim at Olin's claim that the
City of Morgan Hill contaminated the basin when it used liquid
chlorine to disinfect the Nordstrom well. 

"During the first few minutes of my presentation so far this
afternoon, the Nordstrom well pumped 2,000 gallons of water and
treated it with ion exchange," Kennedy said. "In less than two
minutes, it removed more than the volume of perchlorate
estimated by Olin to have been introduced" in disinfecting the
well.

Kennedy noted Olin used more than 150,000 pounds of perchlorate
annually for decades.

Hamilton urged the regional board to reject Olin's proposed
clean up feasibility report as "incomplete" and "inaccurate."

In a letter to the regional board's executive officer, Roger
Briggs, Hamilton lambasted Olin for preferring a "No Further
Action" approach to its alleged widespread pollution. 

According to state law, alleged polluters must restore the
environment to its original state. Olin is arguing that
determining the "background level" of perchlorate in South
County may be impossible. 

Regional water board staff are continuing with an investigation
of other potential sources of perchlorate northeast of the Olin
site. Hernandez said the staff is currently waiting for
analytical results from two investigations that are presently
being conducted.
*****************************************************************
 68 JournalStar.com: Nuke waste needs to be safely buried

Saturday, Sep 09, 2006 

Construction of new dry cask storage systems for high-level
nuclear waste is a responsible attempt by Nebraskas two nuclear
power plants to cope with a real problem.

Its too bad that this step is necessary.

By now, the spent nuclear rods ought to be safely buried in a
national waste site.

The proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain in
Nevada was supposed to open in 1998. But its still snarled in
legal battles and shackled by congressional dysfunction.

Last week, the Department of Energy announced that the facility
would begin accepting fuel in 2017. Judging by the history of
the proposal, that date once again will be pushed back.

Environmentalists and Nevada residents contend that the Yucca
Mountain site is not safe enough. Others claim that
transportation of fuel rods will create mobile Chernobyls.

Opponents of the Yucca Mountain site exaggerate those risks and
trivialize the risks of leaving the waste at places such as
Cooper Nuclear Station near Brownville and the Fort Calhoun
Station near Omaha.

The two plants are among 31 scattered across the United States
that are temporarily storing about 50,000 tons of radioactive
waste.

The Fort Calhoun station already has built a $23 million system.
Its concrete bunkers have two-foot-thick walls containing
stainless steel canisters, each filled with fuel rods and fuel
assemblies. The canisters are filled with helium to prevent
corrosion.

Nebraska Public Power District announced recently that it plans
to spend about $45 million to build a similar facility.

Meanwhile, about $8 billion has been spent studying and
preparing the Yucca Mountain site. About 2,000 scientists and
staff work at the laboratory on the site.

It probably is the most scientifically studied piece of real
estate in the world. Study after study has deemed it safe for
storage of nuclear waste in vaults about 1,000 feet underground
in solid rock.

In recent decades, opponents of nuclear energy have succeeded in
preventing construction of new plants. But use of nuclear energy
to generate electricity has one advantage over coal-fired
plants. It contributes far less to global warming.

That has led environmentalists such as Patrick Moore, founder of
Greenpeace, to advocate a switch to more nuclear power plants.

The changing balance of power has led some members of Congress
to propose that the rest of the approval process for Yucca
Mountain be streamlined.

Lets hope that those efforts are successful. The temporary
storage of spent nuclear fuel at power plants is a poor
alternative to burying it for thousands of years under solid
rock.
   
  Viewer Comments:   

Susanne Vandenbosch wrote on September 09, 2006 11:33 AM:"there
are some legitimate scientific concerns about the repository for
spent fuel at Yucca Mountain. Water will penetrate the
repository through cracks in the rock and corrode containers at
a faster rte than was first estimated. An aftershock of the
landrs earthquake caused damage to a structure at Yucca
Mountain. The waste will remain radioactive for over 1 million
years and a volcano on site erupted 80,000 years ago. No country
has yet solved the problem of building geologic repository for
spent fuel from nuclear reactors."   

© 2002-, Lincoln Journal Star. All rights reserved.   |  
*****************************************************************
 69 Salt Lake Tribune: Interior dumps N-waste plan 

Article Last Updated: 09/08/2006 02:03:55 PM MDT 

Interior dumps N-waste plan 
Hatch says Utah site is dead; will PFS fight? 

By Robert Gehrke, Judy Fahys and Thomas Burr 

Decision document for the Skull Valley fuel storage 
installation (14mb PDF) 

In a move that may mean the death of a plan to store thousands 
of tons of nuclear waste about an hour's drive from Salt Lake 
City, the U.S. Interior Department on Thursday rejected the 
lease to build the facility. 

"We just wanted to put a spike right through the heart of 
this project and this does it," Sen. Orrin Hatch said Thursday 
after being notified of the department's action. 

In a pair of decisions, spanning 47 pages, two agencies in 
the department rejected a lease Private Fuel Storage signed with 
the Skull Valley Band of Goshutes to store 44,000 tons of spent 
nuclear rods on 100 acres of reservation land. PFS is a group of 
companies that operate nuclear reactors where waste has been 
piling up for a half-century. 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) found it could not 
approve a rail line to the reservation because it would have to 
cross a newly created wilderness area. 

A plan to transfer the waste onto tractor-trailers and truck 
the waste to the reservation was also rejected because it would 
significantly increase traffic along the two-lane road and 
because workers transferring the casks would be exposed to 
radiation. 

Those considerations and others - including unanswered 
questions about the vulnerability of the site to a terrorist 
attack - prompted the Bureau of Indian Affairs to reject the 
tribe's plan. The BIA cited inadequate police protection on the 
reservation, with Tooele County sheriff deputies lacking 
jurisdiction on the reservation and the nearest BIA officers 
stationed 4 1/2 hours away. 

Furthermore, with a planned permanent repository at Yucca 
Mountain, Nev., still up in the air, it is unclear when the 
waste would leave the reservation, and the department lacks the 
technical knowledge to monitor the waste. 

The rulings make it clear that the ultimate decision belonged 
to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, the former Idaho governor 
confirmed in May to his Cabinet post. The decisions describe him 
as a "trustee-delegate" charged with "the complex task of 
weighing the long-term viability of the Skull Valley Goshute 
reservation as a homeland for the Band (and the implications for 
preservation of tribal culture and life) against the benefits 
and risks from economic development activities. . . . " 

After conducting this balancing test, "we conclude that it is 
not consistent with the conduct expected of a prudent trustee to 
approve a proposed lease that promotes storing [spent nuclear 
fuel] on the reservation," wrote Associate Deputy Interior 
Secretary James Cason. 

But nowhere in the 47 pages is there any indication the Skull 
Valley Band was involved in the decision making. And, in fact, 
tribal Chairman Leon Bear apparently did not learn about 
Kempthorne's decision until after Hatch issued a press release, 
according to PFS spokeswoman Sue Martin. 

Martin indicated it is premature to declare the project dead. 

"We do need to see the record of decision and look at it in 
some detail before we get a good feel for what our options are. 
I believe Senator Hatch would lead you to believe we have no 
options and I'm not sure that's true," Martin said. "We'll have 
to see. Stay tuned." 

Mary Allen, one of three Goshute leaders who began 
negotiating the deal 10 years ago, said the tribe would fight 
the ruling because members want the financial benefit of the 
project. The exact sum the 125 members could expect from the 
deal has never been disclosed, although it is rumored to be in 
the tens or even hundreds of millions of dollars. 

Allen called Thursday's ruling "just another roadblock." 

"The lease was recognized" by the Interior Department, Allen 
said. "The BIA is scared because of the politics and Senator 
Hatch." 

Hatch, though, wasn't the only politician fighting the 
project. 

Sen. Bob Bennett noted that all five Utah congressional 
members have lobbied the Interior Department to kill the plan. 
Their pleas in recent months have been directed at Kempthorne. 

"I raised this issue with Secretary Kempthorne prior to his 
confirmation last spring and stressed the importance of it to 
our state. I am delighted with his prompt response," Bennett 
said in a statement Thursday. "This ends any possibility that 
the Goshute facility will ever be used for the storage of 
high-level nuclear waste." 

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. declared Thursday's action "the best 
news I think our state has seen in recent years . . . And it's 
one that people have fought very hard for and we're there. We 
can finally put a period at the end of the sentence." 

Despite what PFS says, Huntsman added, "This makes it a done 
deal. It's over." 

PFS received its Nuclear Regulatory Commission license last 
year, nine years after applying for it. The license was 
conditioned on the BLM's approval of a plan to transport the 
waste to the site and BIA's final OK of the Goshutes' lease with 
PFS. 

The Interior Department decision could be challenged in 
court. 

"We need to sort through the ashes and put out a few embers 
maybe, but other than that it's stone cold dead," Hatch said. 
"It couldn't happen to nicer people." 

Since the NRC voted to approve the PFS license a year ago, 
Utah's congressional delegation pushed through legislation 
creating the Cedar Mountain Wilderness Area adjacent to the 
Skull Valley reservation, blocking rail access to the site. All 
but two of the project's original 11 backers have said they will 
not help fund construction of the project. 

And efforts are underway in Congress to create at least one 
and possibly several government-run interim storage facilities, 
potentially making private storage unnecessary. 

In May, Hatch and Bennett wrote to the BLM, arguing the 
wilderness designation made it impossible for PFS to build the 
rail line to the reservation, and that an alternate plan - to 
build a station to move the nuclear material from trains to 
trucks and drive it to the reservation - was full of holes. 

There was no security plan for the proposed transfer 
facility, it would violate the land management plan for the 
area, would hurt Air Force training on the nearby Utah Test and 
Training Range and would be a terrorist target, the senators 
argued. 

The BLM received more than 4,500 letters, mostly from Utahns 
opposed to the nuclear waste site. 

"These are the largest nails in the coffin, but we know the 
nuclear industry is desperate to transfer the risks and 
liabilities away from their own users and to other states," said 
Vanessa Pierce, director of the Healthy Environment Alliance of 
Utah. "It just goes to show that when citizens speak up loud and 
clear, they have more power than they imagine." 

Margene Bullcreek said she was ecstatic about the ruling 
because the waste project has torn the tribe apart. 

"It's been a long, long trial and at this point it's a big, 
big triumph," Bullcreek said. "We still need to deal with 
economic development, but I'm glad we will not have this 
poisonous waste." 

Rep. Chris Cannon said he expected the Interior Department to 
reject the PFS plan. 

"PFS has never made sense," Cannon said. "We should be very 
pleased that Interior has done what we asked them to do." 

Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said the decision was a huge win for 
Utah and especially for the military and its test and training 
range, which is three miles from the proposed nuclear waste 
storage site. 

"They were looking for good reasons and I think we gave them 
good reasons and I applaud the Interior for their decision," 
Bishop said. 

"I wish it would have been resolved sooner," said Rep. Jim 
Matheson, D-Utah. "I don't know anyone in America who wants 
nuclear waste thrown in their backyard." 

--- 

Tribune reporter Thomas Burr contributed to this report. 

* The U.S. Interior Department denied a lease and a 
transportation plan that were crucial to proposed nuclear waste 
storage in Utah's Skull Valley, about 45 miles southwest of Salt 
Lake City. 

* Critics pronounced the project dead. But the decision could 
still be appealed in court. 

* The Skull Valley Goshutes and their commercial partner in 
the project have yet to say if, or how, they will fight the 
rulings. 

Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 70 IAEA: Central Asia: Towards a Nuclear-Free World
 
+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] 
 
Regional Leaders Sign Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty
 
Staff Report

 8 September 2006 [Map of Central Asia] 

Map showing the five countries of the Central Asian Nuclear
Weapon-Free Zone: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,
Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. 

Leaders from five Central Asia States – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan – met this month to sign
a treaty creating a nuclear-weapon-free-zone (NWFZ) in the
region. The treaty was signed 8 September in Semipalatinsk,
Kazakhstan – one of the former Soviet nuclear-weapon test sites
that was closed in 1996. Mr. Yuri Sokolov, IAEA Deputy Director
General, represented the IAEA as an observer at the signing
ceremony. 

The treaty signing concludes nearly ten years of talks that
began in 1997 when the five presidents of the Central Asian
States endorsed the Almaty Declaration on the creation of a
Central Asian Nuclear Weapon-Free Zone (CANWFZ). 

"By signing the document, the countries undertake commitments to
ban production, purchasing and deployment of nuclear weapons,
their components and other nuclear explosive devices,"
Kazakhstan Foreign Ministry spokesman Yerzhan Ashikbayev said in
briefing the press about the signing ceremony. 

The treaty, the first of its kind comprising newly independent
States of the Former Soviet Union, forbids the development,
manufacture, stockpiling, acquisition or possession of any
nuclear explosive device within the zone. Peaceful uses of
nuclear energy are permitted if placed under enhanced IAEA
safeguards. 

While the CANWFZ is the first nuclear-weapon-free zone located
entirely in the northern hemisphere, it is the world´s fifth
such NWFZ that foresees IAEA verification – falling in line
behind those in Latin America and the Caribbean, the South
Pacific, Southeast Asia and Africa* (*not yet in force). 

"The development of nuclear-weapon-free zones, over the past
four decades, is a testament to what nations can do, region by
region, to achieve common security objectives," IAEA Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei has said. 

The CANWFZ is the first such treaty to explicitly oblige Central
Asian countries to accept enhanced IAEA safeguards (which
includes a comprehensive safeguards agreement and the additional
protocol to that agreement) on their nuclear material and
activities. The treaty also requires Parties to meet
international standards regarding security of nuclear facilities
– a move that could reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism or
nuclear weapons smuggling in the region. 

The treaty also encompasses an environmental component which
addresses concerns unique to the region. Each of the five States
hosted former Soviet nuclear infrastructure and now confront
common problems of environmental damage resulting from the
production and testing of Soviet nuclear weapons. To this end,
all treaty Signatories must comply fully with the Comprehensive
Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. Copyright ©, International Atomic
Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna,
Austria 
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: 


*****************************************************************
 71 UPI: U.N. welcomes nuclear-free Central Asia
     
 United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

9/9/2006 2:38:00 PM -0400

UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 9 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi
Annan welcomes the creation of the Central Asia
Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone, calling it an important step towards
peace and security. 

In a statement by Annan read out Friday by Yuriko Shoji, the
U.N. resident coordinator in Kazakhstan, Annan said the
establishment of weapons-free zones strengthens the global
nuclear non-proliferation efforts, reinforces global efforts to
achieve a nuclear-free world and improves global and regional
peace and security. 

"May the efforts of the central Asian states help move us
further in that direction," the statement said. 

Annan also acknowledged some states had expressed concerns about
Friday's agreement and called on the five Central Asian nations
to ensure its effectiveness. 

"The General Assembly and the U.N. Disarmament Commission have
provided clear guidelines which recommend that
nuclear-weapon-free zones be worked out in close consultation
with the nuclear-weapon states, so as to ensure that such
agreements are effective and meaningful," it said. 

"This signing ceremony of the central Asia nuclear weapon-free
zone treaty marks another step in years of effort by the five
central Asian states to agree on a treaty establishing a
nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Asia." 

The treaty was signed by representatives from Kazakhstan,
Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan in the
northern Kazakh town of Semipalatinsk, near the now-defunct
testing ranges where the then Soviet Union exploded more than
400 atom bombs.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 72 Tri-City Herald: PNNL research jumps after 9/11 

Published Sunday, September 10th, 2006 

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer 

Helen Kreuzer was teaching a college biology class in North
Carolina on Sept. 11, 2001. 

And Heather Edberg was at home in Seattle, trying to complete
her doctoral dissertation when the World Trade Center towers
fell. 

Both women, now scientists at the Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Richland, are among hundreds of researchers whose
work has since has become intimately tied to 9/11 and the cause
of homeland security. 

Kreuzer's forte is bioforensics and isotope ratio analysis --
that's tech talk for detecting and decoding the materials a
living organism eats and drinks. Edberg works to make
biodetection -- methods for detecting toxins and pathogens --
faster and more sensitive. 

The events of Sept. 11 five years ago brought Kreuzer and Edberg
to PNNL, where research for Homeland Security has become the
fastest-growing part of the lab's business. 

Department of Homeland Security funding for the lab went from
zero in 2002, when the federal agency didn't exist, to $32.4
million the first year and $130 million in fiscal 2006, says
Mike Kluse, associate director for the national security
directorate at the lab. 

All the national security work at PNNL, which includes Homeland
Security, amounted to $271 million in 2003, compared with $400
million this year. And Homeland Security's part of that pie has
grown from approximately 14 percent three years ago to more than
34 percent, Kluse noted. 

"After 9/11 happened, we didn't know the Department of Homeland
Security would be formed, but we knew there would be new
opportunities for the lab," said Kluse. "I remember sitting in a
conference room with my guys, and we knew we had something to
offer." 

Kluse said the lab launched a Homeland Security initiative on
its own after 9/11, and immediately started building on existing
research that would become the basic platform for future
Homeland Security work. 

When the Department of Homeland Security was announced, PNNL
already was poised to work with the fledgling agency's leaders. 

Kluse notes that 15 years ago half of the lab's 

activities focused on environmental issues at Hanford related to
nuclear waste cleanup. Homeland security research was
nonexistent. 

Today, homeland security work constitutes half of what the lab
does, and it continues to expand. 

Much of the $130 million dedicated to homeland security work
this year is for the radiation monitoring that uses mobile and
fixed monitoring stations to scan ports of entry for concealed
nuclear materials. 

Edberg is tinkering in nanoscale science, trying to step up the
efficiency and sensitivity of technology for detecting
pathogens. 

She is looking for ways to find the bad things a terrorist might
try to put into everything from bottled apple juice to drinking
water. 

"We develop technologies to clean up detected pathogens and
toxins, and do the detection," she said. 

Such technologies have been around for years, but Edberg wants
to make them faster and better. 

After 10 months of effort, Edberg has reduced the turnaround
time from days to an hour or less. 

"If you are trying to warn or prevent, then time is your enemy,"
she said. 

Edberg is scheduled to report on the progress and success of her
work Monday -- the fifth anniversary of 9/11 -- before the
American Chemical Society meeting in San Francisco. 

Kreuzer's work in isotopic signatures is equally important. 

She left that college teaching job in 2001 to accept a research
position in Salt Lake City with a company that needed her
expertise in isotopic analysis. She came to PNNL a year ago,
bringing that knowledge to the bioforensic lab in Richland. 

Kreuzer has learned that every living thing has an isotopic
signature that can reveal what that organism has been eating and
drinking. 

By testing microorganisms, Kreuzer can tell if an anthrax spore
found in one place came from the same batch as an anthrax spore
taken as a sample from another faraway place. 

"We are developing methods in microbial forensics. We want to
know how do you interrogate these organisms? Where, when were
you produced and who produced you?" Kreuzer said. 

Homeland security issues have spawned many other research
programs at the Richland lab. 

One that doesn't involve test tubes and nanomaterials is all
about informational analytics. 

Ryan Hohimer, a senior researcher in knowledge sciences, is
leading a project that's trying to perfect a way for computers
to process images of vehicles so analysts can sort and locate
one particular vehicle. 

The technology attempts to convert visual characteristics into a
text-based query system. Once the vehicle of the right color,
wheelbase, height to length ratio, window configuration and
motion is located, the computer will have answered the query
correctly and found the vehicle in question. 

"It is a fusion of text analysis and visual analysis," Hohimer
said. "We are basing it on human perception technologies," he
explained. 

Kluse said the lab's capabilities in fundamental sciences and in
knowledge sciences are what make it especially suited as a
national lab to do homeland security work. 

PNNL also conducts homeland security work at its marine
facilities near Sequim where the goal is to establish a coastal
security institute. Kluse said the institute would be
responsible for port and harbor security programs, guarding the
lateral zone in the ocean and supporting coastal intelligence
monitoring. 

PNNL's broader goals for homeland security involve being a
regional leader to help build a network on security issues
combining law enforcement, the ports and universities. 

"We want to help pull together resources to address the
problems," Kluse said. 

© 2006 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 73 Tri-City Herald: PNNL creates threat scenario 

Published Sunday, September 10th, 2006 

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer 

In his real day job, Dave Thurman is a staff scientist at
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's downtown Seattle office. 

But in the made-for-Homeland Security movie Threat Alert 2006,
Thurman is supervisor of the newly formed Integrated Analysis
Center -- a windowless environment where experts on high-tech
information research track suspicious data around the globe,
looking to intercept terrorism before it happens. 

The 68-minute video details a make-believe, six-day scenario in
which the IAC team analyzes data that leads to the arrest of
suspects in Seattle before they can unleash a dirty bomb laden
with stolen sarin gas and radioactive materials. 

Doug Lemon, the leader of Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory's Homeland Security Initiative and the video's
producer, said the idea was to show how 17 independent
technologies under development at the Richland lab can be used
together or in sequence to solve the mystery. 

The ultimate end-game, said Lemon, is to perfect a system of
technologies that will provide stronger security in the post
9/11 era. 

Some of the technologies represented in the video were conceived
because of 9/11 and in response to the push for homeland
security, Lemon said. Others have been in the works for years. 

After Sept. 11, 2001, the focus on homeland security became
clearer. 

"The driving force was to focus all the technologies on some
common purpose. We wanted to show how it all could come together
as a system," Lemon said. 

The intended audience was and is clients and advisers for the
lab's Homeland Security Initiative, but it also has been the
scientists themselves, who after viewing Threat Alert 2006 can
appreciate the bigger picture of what their efforts can
accomplish. 

The movie's actors are PNNL employees, consisting primarily of
the staff which works at the Seattle office with Thurman. 

The story line was developed by another Seattle PNNL employee,
Michael Lind, and Imageworks of Pasco did the videotaping. 

Lemon said the movie showcases two kinds of research science:
Nanomaterial science and knowledge sciences. 

One is called SMART, which stands for selective mechanisms and
analysis recognition technologies. Using enzymes and antibodies
as the tools, this family of detection technologies senses and
separates to "better zero in on the targets," he said. 

ARCH is the second group of research systems. The acronym refers
to acquisition of information, the relationship of the
discovered information, context analysis and how it all can make
sense. 

Most of the technologies under development for the Homeland
Security Initiative are works in progress, but a few are close
to being ready to roll out, Lemon said. 

"We are very interested in getting this out of the lab and into
the hands of users," said Lemon. 

One of the early successes is radiation detection analysis,
which has seen technological improvements that can yield results
in as little as two days. It used to take at least seven days or
longer, Lemon said. 

Threat Alert 2006, which was first released in 2005, is a hit. 

The initial printing was 2,000 copies, and Lemon has ordered
another 1,000. 

"Some people saw it and said, 'Where can we get our own IAC?'"
Lemon said. 

Threat Alert 2006 has the feel of the television hit suspense
show 24, but without the violence and with much better science. 

"In our story, the technology has to work because it is the
story. Kiefer Sutherland (who plays the character Jack Bauer in
24) can break the laws of science, but all of our people are
Chloe's (a nerdy senior data analyst in 24)," Lemon said. 

There is one other big difference, 

"In our sequel, it will be the real deal," he added. 

© 2006 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 74 Tri-City Herald: Board tells DOE to clarify cleanup 

Published Sunday, September 10th, 2006 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

Pull together a credible plan for getting radioactive waste out
of Hanford's underground tanks and converting it to a safe form
for disposal, the Hanford Advisory Board has advised the
Department of Energy. 

"The program is in sufficient chaos to require an overall
assessment," said board Chairman Todd Martin. 

DOE is emptying radioactive waste from leak-prone underground
tanks, some dating to World War II, into newer double-shell
tanks. It is then to be transferred from the double shell-tanks
to the Waste Treatment Plant, or vitrification plant, and turned
into a sturdy glass form for permanent disposal. 

But because the Waste Treatment Plant, or vitrification plant,
may not begin operating until 2019, waste will remain in
underground tanks longer than planned. By the time the waste is
treated, even Hanford's newest tanks will be older than their
design life, Martin said. 

In addition, questions remain about how some of the waste will
be treated. The vitrification plant is designed to treat only 50
percent to 60 percent of it, including all of the most
radioactive waste and some of the low-activity waste. 

At meetings Thursday and Friday, board members also were
concerned about the slower-than-expected progress in emptying
the single-shell tanks. Although pumpable liquids have been
transferred to the newer tanks, removing the sludges and solids
is taking longer than planned. 

DOE also faces the problem of where to put the waste.
Double-shell tanks will be full before all the single-shell
tanks will be empty. Delays in building the vitrification plant
will mean delays in starting to empty wastes from the newer
tanks for treatment, creating more space for the single-shell
tank waste. 

A clear, credible, integrated path forward is needed to generate
support across the Northwest, the board said in advice to DOE. 

"This plan is necessary to maintain public and congressional
confidence," the board wrote. 

The plan also could provide a basis for preventing more tank
leaks and contaminant spread into the soil above Hanford ground
water that moves toward the Columbia River, it said. 

DOE is preparing a new baseline for tank farm work. However, the
board does not expect it to cover all the options the board
wants in an assessment of tank waste retrieval and treatment. 

DOE's baseline is expected to assume that bulk vitrification
will be used as a supplemental technology to treat millions of
gallons of low activity waste. However, DOE still is determining
whether that will be economically and technically feasible.
Construction on a pilot plant to test the process has been
temporarily halted and may not resume until 2008. 

The board is calling for an assessment of other alternatives for
treating some of the waste, such as expanding the main
vitrification plant's capabilities to treat low-activity waste
and considering whether that part of the plant could be opened
earlier than 2019. 

The schedule for retrieving waste from single-shell tanks was
based on the vitrification plant being ready to treat waste in
2011. Delays in operating the plant should not be allowed to
cause additional delays in retrieving waste, the board said. 

It also said the delay in getting waste out of the double-shell
tanks might require the construction of more new tanks, which
would compete for funding with construction of the vitrification
plant. 

"Retrieval, treatment and disposal of tank waste should be
completed as close to the 2028 deadline in the Tri-Party
Agreement as feasible," the board wrote in its 

© 2006 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
*****************************************************************
 75 LA Daily News: CLWA set to clean toxic wells

Article Last Updated: 09/09/2006 07:01:50 PM PDT  

Project would filter perchlorate, other pollutants from Bermite
site

BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS, Staff Writer  

SANTA CLARITA - After years of study, the Castaic Lake Water
Agency is getting ready to start pumping and treating
contaminated water from two wells that draw deep from within an
aquifer near the Whittaker-Bermite site. 

The operation is meant to protect groundwater sources from
perchlorate, a potentially dangerous rocket fuel component that
exists in high levels on the former munitions manufacturing
site. 

About half of the Santa Clarita Valley's water comes from
groundwater, and a quarter of that water is around the site. 

The water agency plans to use Saugus wells 1 and 2 - at Magic
Mountain Parkway near a fork of the Santa Clara River and at San
Fernando Road and Magic Mountain - to pump contaminated water
from the Saugus Aquifer 800 feet down. Agency officials expect
the operation to keep the plume of perchlorate from spreading. 

"It's exciting, "We're finally implementing the fix and getting
it behind us - although it will take decades before the water is
totally cleaned up. 

"But the main thing is the fix is in place and the plume will
not be spreading, and contamination is being remediated." 

The water agency and other local agencies sued owners of the
Whittaker-Bermite site in 1999, alleging pollutants from the
site contaminated water in four wells that had to be shut down
in 1997. 

Those wells included Saugus 1 and 2, where perchlorate was found
in quantities of 20 parts per billion. The California health
standard is 6 ppb. 

Perchlorate has been linked to thyroid problems in humans. 

A settlement of the lawsuit, from which the water agency expects
to receive tens of millions of dollars, is being negotiated. The
parties are scheduled to meet Sept. 18. 

"We're very close," said Eric Lardiere, an attorney for
Whittaker-Bermite. 

"Whittaker's always cooperated with the other parties, the city,
(the California Department of Toxic Substances Control), the
water agencies - we certainly intend to continue to do so," he
said. 

Later this year, the water agency expects to look for companies
to build pipelines and a treatment facility for its $10 million 
project to clean water from Saugus wells 1 and 2. 

It will start treating water toward the end of next year - and
expects to shell out up to $700,000 a year to replace resins
used in the treatment process, said Ken Peterson, the agency's
engineering and operations manager. 

The Whittaker-Bermite site has been closed for nearly 20 years.
A private team of pollution-control experts has been treating
its contaminated soil and studying how to further deal with the
pollution - even as the occasional Hollywood production company
uses the site's sprawling hills for filming. 

In addition to high levels of perchlorate, the site has other
contaminants, including two potentially carcinogenic chemicals
used as solvents - tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene. 

"I would say that it's a very complicated site, and very complex
site," said Sayareh Amir, chief of the DTSC's Southern
California cleanup branch. 

"The complexities (are) geology and also the type of
contaminants," Amir said. "Perchlorate dissolves in water and
runs in water, so it goes deep into the water." 

Wells could be dug on the Whittaker-Bermite site to deal with
the perchlorate plume there - what Masnada calls the "tail of
the snake." But the option is still being studied. 

"It's not definite," Amir said, "but it's most likely going to
be some pump and treatment." 

" said Dan Masnada, general manager of the water agency. 

(661) 257-5253   
                  

Los Angeles Newspaper Group 
*****************************************************************
 76 Knox News: ORNL workers put at risk

Report shows dozens exposed to beryllium were inadequately 
protected, notified

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com 

September 9, 2006                                                               

OAK RIDGE - Dozens of Oak Ridge National Laboratory workers were 
exposed to beryllium beginning in 2004 and put at risk because 
contaminated equipment was not properly identified and other 
controls were inadequate. 

That was a conclusion of a report released Friday by the U.S. 
Department of Energy's Office of Inspector General. 

The problem was associated with Building 9201-2. The facility, 
also known as Alpha-2, is located at the Y-12 National Security 
Complex but historically managed by ORNL. 

According to the audit report, beryllium contamination was noted 
during an inventory of the building in late 2001. Nearly three 
years later, the lab began transferring equipment from 9201-2 to 
other facilities - including the newly constructed Spallation 
Neutron Source - without being tested for the toxic metal. 

In addition to the SNS, equipment was moved to Buildings 7625 and 
7039 at the main ORNL complex and loaned to Theragenics Corp., a 
private company previously located at a site near the East 
Tennessee Technology Park. 

"Employees involved in operating and moving the contaminated
equipment were not always adequately protected from possible
beryllium exposure and were not fully identified, formally
notified, or provided the option of a medical evaluation," the
report states. 

Exposure to beryllium, a lightweight metal used in nuclear
weapons production and as components in nuclear reactors, can
cause a reaction in susceptible individuals and lead to chronic
beryllium disease - an incurable, sometimes-fatal respiratory
illness. 

Billy Stair, ORNL's communications chief, said about 85 lab
employees were notified that they might have been exposed to
beryllium. All of them will be eligible for testing for
beryllium sensitization at the Oak Ridge Institute for Science
and Education, and that process takes two to four weeks, Stair
said. 

Surface contamination in some areas inside Building 9201-2 was
well above the federal standard that requires personal
protective equipment, but workers were allowed to enter and work
there without warning or any protection, the report states. 

Also, not all of the lab employees potentially exposed to
beryllium were identified or offered a medical evaluation, the
report states. 

"This is significant," the IG report states, "since there is no
correlation between the amount of beryllium an individual is
exposed to and the likelihood of becoming beryllium-sensitized
on contracting chronic beryllium disease." 

During the audit, the DOE and its operating contractor,
UT-Battelle, "recognized the urgency" of addressing that
situation and developing a list of employees possibly exposed to
beryllium, the report states. 

DOE management agreed to follow the report's recommendations,
including "enhanced procedures" for control of workplace
beryllium, cleaning of dirty equipment, and labeling of all
equipment with contamination. 

John Shewairy, public affairs director in DOE's Oak Ridge
office, said the agency has asked the Oak Ridge Institute for
Science and Education to do an independent evaluation of ORNL
compliance with the government's prevention program for chronic
beryllium disease. 

Worker advocates said legacy contamination from Cold War nuclear
operations is a continuing problem at the Oak Ridge facilities. 

"We fight this all the time," said Glenn Bell, a veteran worker
at Y-12 who was diagnosed with chronic beryllium disease in
1993. 

Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.

 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
 77 KnoxNews: Y-12 acquires new machine tool

Device expected to improve efficiency, purchased as part of 
modernization program

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com 

September 9, 2006

OAK RIDGE - The Y-12 nuclear weapons plant has bought a new 
$700,000 machine tool for developmental and test purposes and 
eventual use in the plant's manufacturing programs. 

The "agile machine" - capable of milling, drilling and other 
machining tasks - was purchased from Pinnacle Machine Tool in 
Murfreesboro, according to information from BWXT Y-12, the 
federal plant's contractor, and a report by the Defense Nuclear 
Facilities Safety Board. 

The defense board discussed the machine in a brief report titled, 
"Enriched Uranium Machining," but BWXT refused to say if the 
newly purchased tool would be used to machine uranium or if it 
would be used to make nuclear warhead parts - one of the plant's 
primary missions. 

"It's being evaluated for a variety of applications at Y-12,"
plant spokesman Bill Wilburn said. 

Wilburn said the new machine should improve efficiency and
reduce the number of machines needed for Y-12's manufacturing
work in the future. 

"It will provide our machinists the opportunity to work with the
latest in machining technology. We believe it will put Y-12 in
the forefront of machining technology," he said. 

The safety board's staff said the new machine was purchased as
part of the modernization program at the nuclear-defense
facility in Oak Ridge. 

According to their report, the developmental machine will be
moved later this year to the Enriched Uranium Machining
Building. 

"The current project schedule is to complete installation and
readiness activities by spring 2007," the report said. 

The defense safety board said the machine would be deployed
eventually in the Uranium Processing Facility - a $1 billion
manufacturing complex still in the planning stages at Y-12. 

BWXT would not discuss the whereabouts of the new machine or
provide any other specific information. 

A 1997 worker study guide indicates that much of the plant's
enriched-uranium machining takes place in an area known as M
Wing, where special precautions are taken to prevent fires and
uncontrolled nuclear chain reactions. 

"Although specific operations differ from machine to machine,
the basic features are essentially identical at each location,"
the study guide said. "During machining a low-velocity jet of
aqueous machine coolant containing propylene glycol and
dissolved boron is directed at the cutting location to cool the
machine tools and to prevent the cuttings (chips) from igniting
spontaneously. The cuttings from the machine operations are
collected in a coolant reservoir that keeps the chips wet to
prevent fires." 

Finished parts are stored in nuclear-safe storage units called
birdcages, the training report said. 

The modernization program at Y-12 is supposed to dramatically
reduce the "footprint" of weapons-related activities at the
plant. Already dozens of facilities have been dismantled and
demolished at the government's sprawling operation in Bear Creek
Valley. 

Virtually all of the uranium activities will be consolidated
into two major facilities - a $500 million storage center for
highly enriched uranium, which is under construction, and the
aforementioned UPF, which is tentatively scheduled for
operations around 2015. 

Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.

      © 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
 78 Knox News: S.C. hopes for hydrogen economy

By SEANNA ADCOX, Associated Press Writer 

September 10, 2006

NEW ELLENTON, S.C. (AP) - Years ago, engineers for the federal 
government here studied hydrogen for its bomb-boosting 
capabilities. Now, scientists are working toward developing an 
economy that runs on the element. 

"Our people did indeed help win the Cold War," said Fred Humes, 
director of the Economic Development Partnership in Aiken and 
Edgefield counties. "And with the capability we have ... we can 
help the country gain energy independence." 

Using hydrogen as a fuel means cars will emit water rather than 
exhaust fumes, making it a clean, widely available alternative to 
fossil fuels. Hydrogen-run vehicles have been tested, but wide 
availability is probably at least a decade away, said Todd 
Wright, director of the Savannah River National Laboratory. 

Nearly every state has some sort of hydrogen initiative as they
scramble to discover ways to cheaply and practically use the
element as fuel. South Carolina lawmakers and business leaders
believe the Savannah River Site's work since the early 1950s
gives an edge to a state typically thought of as backward rather
than futuristic. 

"Because of SRS, we're ahead of the curve," said House Speaker
Bobby Harrell, R-Charleston. "Whoever cracks the nut first will
probably be the center of the universe. ... This can be so
powerful for South Carolina's economy." 

Humes believes the research and resulting industry investments
could tally $10 billion within the next 20 years and translate
into tens of thousands of well-paying jobs if the state rises to
the top. 

"Many of the states have the smoke but no fire," he said. "South
Carolina has the foundations and the fire." 

The Savannah River National Laboratory, designated one of 12
national labs two years ago, boasts of having the nation's
largest collection of hydrogen experts. The lab's initial
mission was studying tritium, a hydrogen isotope used to boost
nuclear bombs. 

Its new research specialty is separating hydrogen from sources
such as water and storing the element, normally a gas, onboard a
vehicle in a safe, solid, lightweight form. 

Making such expertise publicly available meant moving engineers
offsite. 

The lab is moving all its unclassified, nonradioactive hydrogen
work into the Center for Hydrogen Research, which opened in
February just outside the federal boundaries. The national
facility is leasing half the center, built and owned by Aiken
County; the rest is available for private industries. 

So far, Toyota is leasing space, and General Motors, though not
leasing, is working with the lab. Virtually every automaker is
testing hydrogen-powered vehicles, which have received support
from a five-year, $1.2 billion initiative announced by President
Bush in 2003. 

"Before, there was no mechanism for people to come in and work
at SRS," said Humes, who was instrumental in creating the
center. "We wanted to bring the technology outside of the fence
and make it available to the world." 

Half of the lab's 80 hydrogen scientists and engineers are
moving to the center, whose new facilities are a marked contrast
to the drab, '50s-era federal labs. 

"It's exciting," said Theodore Motyka, a hydrogen technology
program manager. "There are not many places you can do something
as important as this." 

The national laboratory and hydrogen center are two major
components in the larger statewide initiative. 

Others that make up what Wright calls the "dream team of
hydrogen" include the University of South Carolina's national
fuel cell center, the International Center for Automotive
Research at Clemson University and the James E. Clyburn
transportation center at South Carolina State University. 

The South Carolina Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Alliance was formed in
January to promote the groups' combined efforts, and it's
already proved successful. In July, the National Hydrogen
Association chose Columbia as the site for its 2009 convention,
which should further propel South Carolina's status as a
research and business leader. 

Patrick Serfass, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based
association, called South Carolina "one of the newest strong
players." He credited a "magic combination" of governments,
private industry and universities working together. 

"The activity is growing very, very fast," he said. "South
Carolina is really becoming a shining star." 

Humes, an alliance member, said he expects South Carolina to be
among the top three states for hydrogen research by the time the
national convention arrives _ but even that's not good enough
for him. 

"I will not settle for anything other than the recognition of
being the number one state," he said. 


Copyright 2006, Associated Press. All rights
*****************************************************************
 79 Knox News: Fast facts about hydrogen

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 

September 10, 2006

(AP) - Here are some facts on hydrogen from the Savannah River 
National Laboratory. 

_ Hydrogen is the most common element in nature but bound in 
water and other compounds. Separating hydrogen requires energy. 
Using heat from a nuclear reactor is a clean, cost-effective way 
to do this. 

_ At room temperature, hydrogen is a highly flammable, 
lighter-than-air gas. 

_ Storing hydrogen safely on a vehicle is a research challenge. 
The Savannah River National Laboratory is a national leader in 
developing metal hydrides, which absorb and release hydrogen like 
a sponge. The solid-state storage is safe and more compact than 
storing as a liquid or gas. Current hydrides are too heavy to be 
practical. 

Copyright 2006, Associated Press. All rights reserved.                                                               
    
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