***************************************************************** 12/01/06 **** RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL) **** VOL 14.284 ***************************************************************** RADBULL IS PRODUCED BY THE ABALONE ALLIANCE CLEARINGHOUSE ***************************************************************** Send News Stories to news@energy-net.org with title on subject line and first line of body NUCLEAR POLICY 1 washingtonpost.com: U.S. May Pursue Iran Sanctions Even if Russia Ba 2 Persian Journal: IRAN'S BUSHEHR NUCLEAR REACTOR - 3 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Minister Says Iran Talks Coming 4 YONHAP NEWS: Rice says six-party prep talks may take time but are wo 5 Korea Times: Sign of Rearmament? 6 AFP: IAEA chief says North Korea nuclear sanctions not enough - 7 US: President Bush wants to build new nuclear weapons! 8 US: SF New Mexican: Report sparks debate over weapons programs 9 UCS: Global Warming's Day in Court 10 UPI: Analysis: Shock and awe about-face 11 US: UPI: America's old plutonium still reliable 12 Guardian Unlimited: Rebellion brewing as MPs face Trident vote withi 13 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Envoy Says Nuke Talks Possible 14 Guardian Unlimited: Campbell calls for Trident capacity to be halved NUCLEAR REACTORS 15 US: NRC: New NRC Senior Resident Inspector Assigned to Calvert Cliff 16 RIA Novosti: Lukashenko backs project to build NPP in Belarus 17 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear industry on path of systemic change 18 US: Platts: NRC conducts special inspection at Catawba regarding wat 19 Regnum: Lukashenko sees no alternative to establishment of nuclear p 20 Mos News: Belarus President Supports Nuclear Power Plant Plan - 21 AFP: China to decide nuclear power contract winner this month - 22 US: Salt Lake Tribune: No to nuclear energy 23 Xinhua: China, France pledge stronger nuclear power collaboration 24 Xinhua: Revised regulations on nuclear export controls issued 25 US: Journal Times: Committees scheduled to meet next week 26 US: Charlotte Business Journal: Duke wants plants despite rise in co 27 US: NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 a 28 US: NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Find 29 Kyiv Post: Chornobyl officials nearing decision on arch bid 30 AFP: India, US to resume nuclear pact talks next week 31 US: Hudson Valley News: Indian Point 2 returns to service 32 US: Journal-Standard: LETTER: Wind power beats nuclear alternatives 33 US: UPI: Analysis: Reid to change U.S. energy plan 34 UPI: Thorium plant should be built in Norway NUCLEAR SECURITY 35 IHT: China tightens export controls on nuclear technology - 36 Guardian Unlimited: Letters 'revealed secret hit squad' 37 UPI: U.S. boosts nuke security in Slovenia NUCLEAR SAFETY 38 [v911t] Depleted Uranium Munitions War Production Targeted 39 [NYTr] Depleted Uranium Weapons Production Targeted 40 Guardian Unlimited: Litvinenko affair: now the man who warned him po 41 US: PRX: DIRTY HARRY - When the American Dream Became a Nightmare 42 AFP: Post-mortem due on former Russian spy as more people tested for 43 AFP: British radiation poisoning case: suspect BA plane back in Lond 44 AFP: Italian contact of ex-spy 'well' in hospital after positive rad 45 Reuters: Polonium tightly controlled in Russia-atomic chief 46 US: Gazette.com: Records unsealed, but case still murky 47 Guardian Unlimited: Brit. Airways to Scan Jet for Radiation 48 UPI: Polonium 210 kills if swallowed or inhaled 49 UPI: Secret squad mentioned in ex-spy's death 50 Guardian Unlimited: Former Spy's Wife Positive for Radiation NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE 51 Earth Times: DOE wants 208K acres for nuke waste route 52 reviewjournal.com: Yucca coalition presses Reid on 'abusing' powers 53 RGJ: Impacted residents not likely to have say in Yucca traffic 54 US: Deseret News: EnergySolutions to study possible plant sites 55 US: www.mineweb.net: Uranium mining renaissance led by World politic 56 US: SPIEGEL ONLINE: Teabags in the Uranium Pit: A Peek Inside Austra 57 US: Herald Tribune: Lockheed given OK for cleanup planning 58 US: Carlsbad Current-Argus: Waste container model seeing duty as Chr 59 Daily News: Reid putting politics before public interest on Yucca Mo 60 LasVegasNOW.com: The I-Team Talks With Senator Reid in Searchlight 61 times and star: Nuke work key to port’s future 62 times and star: Sellafield’s future discussed PEACE 63 [NYTr] Nuclear-Free Central Asia: A Model for Korea? US DEPT. OF ENERGY 64 AP Wire: Discovery of radioactive mounds prompts survey of wildlife 65 AP Wire: Major area at SRS cleaned and closed 66 YHR: Hanford families petition government for radiation claims 67 Knox News: ORNL research team admits errors 68 Las Vegas SUN: Explosive issue pits future jobs against nukes 69 SPI: Hanford contracts could steer cleanup for next 10 years 70 Law.com: High Court Vets False Claims Act 71 SunValleyOnline: INL Chosen as Possible Site for Nuclear Spent Fuel 72 SunValleyOnline: Nuclear Watchdogs Nudge Idaho Power to Remove Nucle 73 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah, 74 WAVE 3: Discovery Of Radioactive Mounds Prompts Survey Of Wildlife A ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** FULL NEWS STORIES ***************************************************************** ***************************************************************** 1 washingtonpost.com: U.S. May Pursue Iran Sanctions Even if Russia Balks By Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, December 1, 2006; Page A22 DEAD SEA, Jordan, Nov. 30 -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled Thursday that the United States is willing to risk a breach with if the Russians do not soon sign on to a U.N. Security Council resolution to punish for its nuclear activities. "I am all for maintaining unity, but I am also in favor of action," Rice told reporters traveling with her as she devoted much of her day to other Middle East crises: trying to nurture a fledgling truce between and the Palestinians, and attending talks in Amman, Jordan, between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. [Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at a news conference in Jericho, West Bank, with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas.] Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice speaks at a news conference in Jericho, West Bank, with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. (By Sebastian Scheiner -- Associated Press) VIDEO | Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Israelis and Palestinians Thursday to step up efforts to achieve a long-stalled peace deal, saying neither side should take actions that would prejudge a final accord. Nuclear Development in Iran Six months ago, the United States said it would join European-led talks on Iran's nuclear programs if Iran agreed to halt uranium enrichment. Officials said at the time that they would give Iran "weeks, not months" to comply. But since Iran rejected the offer, the administration has engaged in difficult negotiations with Russia over the terms of a U.N. resolution to impose sanctions. Until now, a key administration goal has been to keep the five nations on the Security Council that hold veto power, plus , unified on the Iran issue. But Rice's remarks suggested that the administration's patience is waning and that officials could soon offer a resolution, daring Russia to veto it. Officials say they believe Russia would abstain instead, allowing passage of a resolution under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Russia has strong business ties with Iran and is building a nuclear reactor in Bushehr, which it has sought to shield from the sanctions resolution. "Obviously, we'd like to keep the unity of the P5-plus-one," Rice said, referring to the five permanent Security Council members and Germany, "but unity is not an end in itself. The goal is to get a resolution that makes sense in terms of convincing the Iranians that their behavior is not acceptable in the international community. We have to do something." Rice, who is at this Jordanian resort to attend a conference on Arab democracy, devoted much of her day to trying to revive long-stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Palestinian factions and Israel agreed this past weekend to a tenuous cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert offered to release some Palestinian prisoners, reduce controls on the movement of people and goods in Gaza and the West Bank, and restart negotiations to create a Palestinian state. Rice met first with the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Jericho before traveling to Jerusalem, where she met with Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. In Jericho, Abbas announced that months of talks to establish a unity government had "unfortunately reached a dead end." The victory by the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, in legislative elections in January resulted in a cutoff of international aid, so Abbas, who heads the rival Fatah party, said the failure of the talks "is very painful for us because we know how badly the people have been suffering over the last nine months. All options are open, with the exception of civil war, which we will never accept." Saeb Erekat, chief Palestinian negotiator and a Fatah legislator, said Abbas sought Rice's help on several issues. He asked her to work with Egyptian officials to support a so-far elusive exchange of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails for Israeli army Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held by Palestinian gunmen since late June. Abbas also urged Rice to press Israeli officials to adhere to the terms of an agreement she helped broker last year governing the operation of the crossings between Israel and Gaza, Erekat said. Citing security concerns, Israel has kept the key cargo passages closed for much of the year. Correspondent Scott Wilson in Jerusalem contributed to this report. The Washington Post Company: ***************************************************************** 2 Persian Journal: IRAN'S BUSHEHR NUCLEAR REACTOR - Dec 1st, 2006 - 18:51:06 > Still, there is no agreement on U.S.-European demands for an assets freeze and a travel ban on individuals and groups involved in the nuclear program. Russia opposes those steps. One of Russia's key objections has been to any mention in the text of the $800 million Bushehr light-water reactor it is building on Iran's coast. The original draft resolution and any new one would not put the reactor under sanctions. But in dispute is whether Russia would be able to deliver a fuel cycle for the reactor, expected to begin operation in the next half of 2007, two senior council members said. Russia wants the sanctions to expire in three months, subject to renewal, which the Western nations adamantly reject until Iran suspends enrichment activities. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met the British, Italian and German foreign ministers and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana on Friday to discuss Iran and other issues during a conference at the Dead Sea in Jordan. No details of the meetings were released but Rice indicated her patience was running out. "I'm all for maintaining unity but I'm also in favor of action," she told reporters. ***************************************************************** 3 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Minister Says Iran Talks Coming From the Associated Press [UP] Friday December 1, 2006 9:16 PM AP Photo XND101 MOSCOW (AP) - Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday that talks on proposed sanctions against Iran's nuclear program could take place early next week, Russian news agencies reported. He said the meeting, suggested by France, would focus on the draft U.N. resolution on Iran and would take place at a top diplomatic level, the ITAR-Tass news agency reported from Jordan, where he was on an official visit. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns will attend a European conference in Brussels next week, probably on Tuesday, and will confer there with European diplomats about the resolution. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier all agreed Friday to the meeting, Lavrov said, according to the Interfax news agency. China also might attend, although it is not clear if it will. Lavrov said Russia was ready to vote for a U.N. ban on exports of nuclear materials and sensitive technologies to Iran. But he said Moscow was opposed ``to such sanctions and steps that could affect the International Atomic Energy Agency's activities in Iran,'' ITAR-Tass reported. The Europeans and Americans pushed for tough, broad sanctions against Iran after it ignored a U.N.-imposed Aug. 31 deadline to halt uranium enrichment. Russia has said it will agree only to more narrowly focused sanctions. In Washington, the State Department said it remained confident that a resolution imposing sanctions on Iran would ultimately be adopted. ``No action is not acceptable,'' spokesman Tom Casey said. ``We have to do something.'' Russia and China, who have major commercial ties with Iran, have urged the U.N. to seek talks rather than sanctions, despite the failure of a European Union effort to draw Iran to the negotiating table. The Europeans circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution in October that would order all countries not to sell Iran materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. The draft resolution would also impose a travel ban and asset freeze on any companies, individuals and organizations involved in those programs. The draft sanctions would not halt construction of a nuclear power plant at Bushehr, Iran, being built by the Russians. They would bar the sale of nuclear fuel needed for the reactor. Russia proposed major changes that would limit sanctions solely to measures that would keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. Russia wants to eliminate any travel ban, asset freeze, or mention of Bushehr. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 4 YONHAP NEWS: Rice says six-party prep talks may take time but are worth doing Saturday, December 02, 2006 WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (Yonhap) -- The United States will make sure North Korea comes back to nuclear negotiations fully prepared to make progress, even if it takes time, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reaffirmed Thursday. She expressed confidence that the North Koreans would come back, even though a resumption date was not set at a meeting in Beijing earlier this week. "The North Koreans have said they will come back to the talks. That's a done deal," she said in a media roundtable in Jordan, where she was visiting. The transcript of her comments was released here Friday by the State Department. "What we are doing is preparing the talks, and so if it takes some time to prepare the talks, that's worth doing," she said. "It really is, what are the expectations of this next round. And that may take some time." Most of the negotiators from the six-party talks were in Beijing, sitting down for bilateral and trilateral sessions to explore what is necessary at the next round of nuclear negotiations. The six-nation forum, involving South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia and Japan, is set to reopen after nearly a year in hiatus. Pyongyang last month agreed to return to the table. But the negotiators left without concrete agreements in Beijing. North Korean officials said they need to go back to Pyongyang for internal discussions. Christopher Hill, chief U.S. negotiator, earlier hoped for the talks to reopen in mid-December. Stopping in Tokyo on his way back to Washington, he said he was still hopeful for a resumption in December. "But I think the ball is very much in the North Korean court," he told reporters at the airport. The U.S. gave North Koreans suggestions on how the next six-party talks can proceed and invited them to give their own ideas, said Hill. "Unfortunately, he (North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-gwan) didn't have anything new, but I told him to take his time," he said. ldm@yna.co.kr (END) ***************************************************************** 5 Korea Times: Sign of Rearmament? Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Opinion Status of Japanese Defense Agency Elevated to Ministry The status of Japans Defense Agency will be upgraded to a full-fledged cabinet ministry, next year. A bill to that effect was passed in the lower house of parliament Thursday. It is enough to make people in the neighboring nations who experienced the bitter taste of Japanese colonial rule worrisome. Thats why people in this region would have no choice but to wonder if it is a prelude to the beginning of Japans transformation into a military power. The decision bolstering the agencys status within the government is seen as a move to strengthen its military organization to allow its troops a greater role in case of a possible military threat from outside. Upon the passage of the bill, major Japanese politicians discounted the significance of the move, saying that there would not be any immediate change in its military. It may be true. But, the potential significance the change can bring about is incalculably big. It will greatly expand the scope of the defense forces overseas activities, now limited to the roles of peacekeeping and disaster relief. It also paves the way for the Japanese defense force to become a combat unit, both in name and fact. However, the change might be something expected under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who has long vowed to revise the Pacifist Constitution, strictly constraining Japans military activities, with a view to turning Japan into a nation that can wage a war. Other Japanese rightwingers have incessantly sought for ministry status and the defense minister post. The worrisome fact is that the moves of Japanese right-wing politicians are closely related to Japans growing inclination to beef up its military capabilities. Coupled with recent Japanese efforts to gloss over its wartime atrocities in school textbooks, the decision may be the reflection that the sense of national guilt over wartime atrocities has receded among the people. Japan is already a major military power. In terms of military spending, it ranks second in the world following the United States. Japans Self-Defense Force (SDF) has been steadily strengthening its military capability at a rapid pace, introducing state-of-the-art weaponry and expanding its sphere of operation. Lately, a growing number of its ruling camp politicians openly talk about the need for Japan to consider a nuclear armament because of the North Korean nuclear weapons test. It may not be too much for the people of its neighboring countries to think that the creation of the defense ministry would be the first step in becoming a regional military power. The recent move of Japan to strengthen its military organization is hardly justifiable especially in the eyes of neighboring countries. It is our hope that the elevation of its military status would not serve as the momentum to rapidly transform its forces into a military power. 12-01-2006 19:22 ***************************************************************** 6 AFP: IAEA chief says North Korea nuclear sanctions not enough - Fri Dec 1, 8:09 AM ET TOKYO (AFP) - Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, has called for flexibility in talks with North Korea " /> North Koreaand Iran " /> Iran, saying that sanctions alone were not enough. North Korea came under fresh sanctions after testing an atom bomb on October 9, while Iran also faces threats of punitive measures for refusing to freeze nuclear enrichment. "Sanctions alone do not resolve issues," ElBaradei, the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency " /> International Atomic Energy Agency, told a news conference in Tokyo Friday. "The focus in addition to sanctions should be on how to bring North Korea back to the negotiating table, how to make sure that North Korea shows the necessary flexibility, and ultimately to be able to succeed in defusing the nuclear crisis in North Korea. "The same applies to the situation in Iran," he said. "You can use sanctions but sanctions alone as we know by experience will not resolve issues. You need to use incentives and disincentives." While the IAEA has been investigating Iran's nuclear program since February 2003, North Korea kicked out inspectors from the UN watchdog in 2002 amid escalating tensions with Washington. ElBaradei repeated that IAEA inspectors were ready to return as soon as North Korea "has given the green light." "We can go back on very short notice. Now we see that there is that prospect so our people are making themselves ready, preparing themselves to go back." "It might not be a comprehensive inspection at the beginning. It might be a gradual, incremental process but I think that would be a very important step in the right direction," he said. North Korea agreed on October 31 to return to stalled six-nation disarmament talks. But two days of meetings this week in Beijing involving US and North Korean envoys failed to set a date for the next round of negotiations, which also bring together China, Japan, Russia and South Korea " /> South Korea. The US and Japan led a drive that imposed further sanctions on the North after its nuclear test. The atomic watchdog chief said that the North's test "sends the wrong message and sets a dangerous precedent." Washington has also called for UN sanctions against Iran in response to its sensitive nuclear work. But Russia and China have been more cautious. ElBaradei arrived in Japan on Wednesday and met Thursday with Foreign Minister Taro Aso. He heads to China on Monday. Aso has led calls for Japan to consider going nuclear in the wake of North Korea's test. But Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki told ElBaradei Friday that Japan stood by its 1967 three-point policy of refusing the production, possession or presence of nuclear weapons on its soil, the foreign ministry said. "I have been assured, obviously, by government officials here in Japan that Japan has no intention to abandon its non-nuclear policy," ElBaradei said. "Clearly Japan is concerned about the ramification of the (North Korea) situation. It clearly has negative regional security implications and it is legitimate for every country to assess its security in light of regional developments," he added. Japan is the only country to have suffered a nuclear attack. US nuclear bombs obliterated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in the closing days of World War II, killing more than 210,000 people. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 7 President Bush wants to build new nuclear weapons! Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:32:45 -0600 (CST) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-DSPAM-Result: mail; result="Innocent"; class="Innocent"; probability=0.0000; confidence=1.00; signature=N/A X-Spam-Class: HAM Dear Rich, As we in the peace movement have predicted for years, the U.S.s continued insistence on retaining thousands of nuclear weapons (along with a handful of other nuclear powers) is leading more governments to seek what we have and wont give up. North Korea tested its first nuclear weapon on July 4 of this year, and many people have concerns about Irans nuclear intentions as well. So what is the Bush Administrations response? They want to start building new nuclear weapons! The Energy Department program is called Complex 2030, but in reality the name should be Nuclear Bombplex 2030. Click here to contact the Department of Energy and demand that they abandon their Bombplex 2030 plan, which is a threat to the security of the U.S. and the planet. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/Peaceact/campaign.jsp?c ampaign_KEY=6141 This plan was made public just a few weeks ago, and only when the Department of Energy (DOE) released a Notice of Intent to prepare a programmatic environmental impact statement for Complex 2030. They are holding hearing across the country right now were notifying members who live near those hearings so you can attend but it is also possible to send a comment via email to the DOE, and they are obligated by law to take public comments. Please click here to let the DOE know what you think of their plans to build new nuclear weapons. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/Peaceact/campaign.jsp?c ampaign_KEY=6141 This program started with the proposal to build the so-called Reliable Replacement Warheads in spite of the fact that the nuclear warheads in our arsenal are perfectly reliable and do not need replacing. It has now grown into a $155 BILLION program that would build new nuclear bomb factories capable of producing up to 125 new plutonium pits the core of a thermonuclear weapon each and every year. This is, to put it bluntly, insanity. New nuclear weapons facilities and production would add to the already tragic legacy of cancerous health effects and environmental destruction caused by 60 years of U.S. nuclear program. Bombplex 2030 would also be a slap in the face of the world community, constituting continued refusal of the U.S. to uphold its obligation for nuclear disarmament as called for in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which we signed in 1975. And perhaps worst of all, it would encourage still more nations to build their own nuclear weapons. The whole point of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was a mutual pledge: non-nuclear countries would agreed not to acquire nuclear weapons, if the nuclear powers agreed to get rid of theirs. If we now decide to build new nuclear weapons, what does that say to the rest of the world? Now is not the time to build new nuclear weapons, it is the time to meet our standing obligations for nuclear disarmament. Nobel Laureates are calling for it. Our European Allies are calling for it. Now it is time for the American people to call for it. Please let the Department of Energy know that they must drop their nuclear expansion plans. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/Peaceact/campaign.jsp?c ampaign_KEY=6141 Sincerely, Kevin Martin Executive Director, Peace Action P.S. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan recognized the acute danger to the world when, in a November 28 statement, he noted that "mutually assured paralysis" has replaced "mutually assured destruction" as the greatest nuclear threat to the planet. "We are asleep at the controls of a fast-moving aircraft, Annan warned. Unless we wake up and take control, the outcome is all too predictable." Contact the Department of Energy today, let them know its time to wake up. http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/Peaceact/campaign.jsp?c ampaign_KEY=6141 /*Your email ID. --*/ ***************************************************************** 8 SF New Mexican: Report sparks debate over weapons programs Fri Dec 1, 2006 6:05 pm By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican Some question the need for new plutonium pits A new report is fueling debate over nuclear weapons programs that could someday be housed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and draw millions of dollars to Northern New Mexico. Los Alamos has been identified as one of five possible sites for a new center to build plutonium pits -- the triggers at the core of the country's nuclear weapons. However, the National Nuclear Security Administration this week said scientists have determined the county's existing stockpile of plutonium pits should last decades longer than previously believed. The announcement adds a new element to the debate over whether the country should build more triggers and new warheads in the coming years. Supporters say it's good to have replacement parts and new designs in the nuclear-weapons stockpile. Others, however, say it's not necessary, or it could set a bad example to the rest of the world. Scientists from Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories spent five years conducting classified studies of plutonium pits for the NNSA. ``These studies show that the degradation of plutonium in our nuclear weapons will not affect warhead reliability for decades,'' NNSA Administrator Linton Brooks said in a news release. ``It is now clear that although plutonium aging contributes, other factors control the overall life expectancy of nuclear weapons systems.'' Plutonium is a highly radioactive substance that degrades over time, Brooks' agency explained. The studies reported the ``majority of plutonium pits for most nuclear weapons have minimum lifetimes of at least 85 years.'' An independent panel of scientists that reviewed the work -- called the JASON panel -- said most pits have lifetimes of at least 100 years. That's in contrast to a previous estimate of 45 to 60 years. ``This confirms that our existing stockpile does not require new pit manufacturing,'' U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., said in a statement. A top NNSA official has discussed opening a Consolidated Plutonium Center with the ability to produce as many as 125 pits a year. No site has been selected, but Los Alamos is among five potential places for the new center. In the meantime, there's been limited pit production at Los Alamos. Also, there's a competition between Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories to design a new nuclear warhead -- called the Reliable Replacement Warhead. A decision on the winning design is expected by the end of the year. ``I hope the Senate Armed Services Committee holds a hearing on the findings of this report early next year so that we can determine whether we need the new Reliable Replacement Warhead,'' Bingaman said. ``Regardless of the outcome, I believe LANL is not the best choice for a permanent pit production facility.'' Jay Coghlan of Nuclear Watch New Mexico agrees and said the agency's rationale is undermined. His group asked Bingaman to sponsor an amendment that required the independent study. ``Now that the potential effects of plutonium aging have been knocked out as an excuse for the future that NNSA wants, let's move on to a sharper debate over current U.S. policies that provide bad examples for global nonproliferation,'' Coghlan said in a statement. ``We need to guard against pork interests making the nuclear weapons complex an end (unto) itself. We simply don't need new-design nuclear weapons and expanded bomb production.'' But plutonium aging is just one variable that can affect the reliability of a weapon, the NNSA explained. ``Other factors include aging of high explosives and other organic components in the design, corrosion of uranium or plutonium components, or discovery of defects uncovered in surveillance programs,'' the agency reported. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said the report was good news and reflects well on the durability of the country's weapons. ``Even with that in mind, however, I still believe that we must pursue a reliable replacement warhead to better be equipped to deal with evolving threats,'' he said. ``The RRW program will bring increased safety and security of our weapons systems, lead to a more cost efficient weapons program and bring better technology to the forefront.'' Regarding pit production, Domenici said he's still reviewing the report. ``It will be important to evaluate the results of the report as we prepare the pit production component of Complex 2030,'' he said. ``It is possible that we will not need the same level of capacity as originally proposed.'' Complex 2030 is the NNSA's vision for a smaller and modernized nuclear weapons complex for the country. The Consolidated Plutonium Center is part of that vision. The agency will host public hearings related to its supplemental environmental impact statement in New Mexico beginning next week. From 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, a meeting is scheduled at the Macey Center, New Mexico Tech campus, 801 Leroy Place, in Socorro. Tuesday's meeting is at the Albuquerque Convention Center, 401 2nd St. NW, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Meetings in Los Alamos will be held Wednesday morning and in Santa Fe on Wednesday evening. The Los Alamos meeting is scheduled from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Mesa Public Library, 2400 Central Ave. The Santa Fe meeting is planned for the Genoveva Chavez Community Center, 3221 Rodeo Road, from 6 to 10 p.m. Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or alenderman@sfnewmexican.com. Terms of Use | 2006, Santa Fe New Mexican ***************************************************************** 9 UCS: Global Warming's Day in Court November 29, 2006 Statement by Julie Anderson, Senior Advisor, Union of Concerned Scientists "For climate scientists, the verdict has long been in: the burning of fossil fuels is contributing to dangerous climate change. Now the issue of who has the right to fight the problem has moved to the Supreme Court, where for the first time justices heard oral arguments in a case that will have ramifications not only for future legal efforts to combat global warming, but also for legislative efforts to address this challenge. "The case, Massachusetts v. EPA, is critical because the Court could decide: 1) whether states or individuals have "standing"the legal right to initiate a suitto demand that EPA regulate global warming emissions from cars and trucks, 2) whether EPA has authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate global warming emissions, including carbon dioxide, and 3) whether EPA has the discretion to decide not to regulate global warming emissions from cars and trucks if it has the authority to do so. "For the sake of future generations, we hope the justices are persuaded by our case. Unfortunately, the administration continues to oppose any efforts to require the fossil fuel industry to reduce its emissions. Hopefully reason, and not politics, will win the day. "The case began in 1999 when groups petitioned EPA to set standards for global warming pollutants emitted from cars and trucks. In 2003, EPA declined to regulate these pollutants, claiming that it has no authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate air pollutants associated with climate change. The Union of Concerned Scientists joined with 12 states, three cities, one territory and 12 other organizations to appeal the EPA's decision. "A deeply divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit dismissed the case in 2005 and the Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. Following oral arguments today, a decision is expected sometime next summer." Reporters: Join our notification listto receive breaking news from UCS. For general media inquiries, please call our press office at 202-331-5420. Press Contacts: EMILY ROBINSON Press Secretary 202-331-5427 erobinson@ucsusa.org AARON HUERTAS Assistant Press Secretary 202-331-5458 ahuertas@ucsusa.org RICH HAYES Media Director 202-331-5437 rhayes@ucsusa.org Union of Concerned Scientists ***************************************************************** 10 UPI: Analysis: Shock and awe about-face United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 12/1/2006 9:02:00 AM -0500 By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE UPI Editor at Large WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush promoted Pakistan in 2004 to MNNA, the same status enjoyed by close allies Israel, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Egypt and Jordan. Major Non-NATO allies get priority in defense purchases. They have no North Atlantic Treaty obligations, but club rules preclude undermining NATO. Pakistan has been violating club rules -- big time. President Pervez Musharraf presumably knows about his Inter-Services Intelligence agency's major operations. Official fiction holds that Pakistan is not assisting Taliban's comeback insurgency in Afghanistan. Yet the interrogation of Taliban prisoners and suspected agents reported to Hamid Karzai's intelligence service -- a total of about 1,500 so far -- shows that every single one (not even one exception) had come from Pakistan, many of them former pupils in madrassas (Koranic schools). Admittedly, these Taliban fighters may have come from Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, or FATA, where Pakistani soldiers are not welcome. But most of them had been trained and equipped in Baluchistan and the Northwest Frontier Province, Pakistan's two provinces that border Afghanistan, both governed by pro-Taliban administrations and both friendly to al-Qaida. The entire Taliban resurgence, the interrogations show, was conducted "under the supervision of ISI operatives, one to three layers removed." The Taliban prisoners also told Afghan security interrogators that Pakistan supplied medical services, as well as rest and recreation facilities near the provincial capitals of Quetta and Peshawar. Taliban was an ISI project to quell the mayhem that followed the humiliating withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989 after a disastrous 10-year occupation. Its first recruits came from major madrassas, under Wahhabi or Deobandi control, where they were taught the holy book by heart, along with the love of holy war to kill all enemies of Islam. ISI claims it did not sire the Taliban. But it was present at its birth and assumed the role of wet nurse and then foster parent. ISI also provided training and equipment, and guided tactics and strategy as Taliban, based in Pakistan, under ISI supervision, conquered Afghanistan. Kabul fell to a victorious Taliban in 1996 where flat-earth clerics established their medieval dominion. Mullah Mohammed Omar, an Islamist Torquemada, tyrannical regime ruled for the next five years until the U.S. invasion in Oct. 2001. ISI had 1,500 officers and operatives in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. The country represented Pakistan's defense in depth in the event of an Indian invasion. Many ISI agents were veterans of the anti-Soviet guerrilla campaign that was fought by the mujahideen under ISI direction, with funding and weapons from Saudi Arabia and the U.S. The culture of ISI has been anti-American ever since the U.S. turned against Pakistan after the Soviets left Afghanistan. The country's secret nuclear weapons program, protected by ISI, incurred a slew of hostile U.S. diplomatic, military and economic sanctions. The Pakistani military, particularly ISI, is in a Dr. Jekill-Mr.Hyde mode when it comes to U.S. military requests. President Musharraf reacts favorably to U.S. intelligence on al-Qaida's operations in FATA and the rest of Pakistan. Almost 700 al-Qaida terrorists have been arrested since Osama bin Laden and his entourage escaped from the battle of Tora Bora in Dec. 2001. ISI also gets high praise for its cooperation with British and U.S. intelligence on the movements of Pakistani Brits and Americans suspected of plotting terrorist actions. But ISI stubbornly protects Taliban insurgents when they cross back into Pakistan after killing U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. And al-Qaida's bin Laden, despite a $25 million bounty for information leading to his capture or death, continues to lead a charmed life in a secret location in Pakistan. The controversial pact Musharraf signed with tribal leaders in North Waziristan last Sept. 5 was officially described as an attempt to sharply curtail Taliban activities. In fact, the deal was signed by pro-Taliban tribal chiefs who went right on helping the Taliban in their privileged sanctuaries. And Taliban incursions into Afghanistan trebled over the following four weeks. Musharraf tries to placate rival factions and forces -- in this case Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal -- MMA, a six-party coalition of religious extremists -- and, on the other side, the U.S., Afghanistan and NATO. The British, Canadian, Dutch and German NATO allies fighting in Afghanistan know the score on ISI's assistance to the Taliban. Now fighting with battalion-size units, the Taliban enjoys ISI-protected privileged sanctuaries on the Pakistani side of the border. But Musharraf's hanky-panky diplomacy is running out of hokey-pokey disinformation. ISI assigned itself the task of scaring reporters away from embarrassing investigations. Four were held and beaten regularly for several months in 2006. On Nov. 1, the body of the Islamabad bureau chief for Pakistan Press International (PPI) was found near his home in Islamabad, one of four killed during the past six months. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) that represents more than half a million journalists in 115 countries described the Pakistani media as "rapidly skidding toward lawlessness." Taliban's Operation Comeback now enjoys seamless battle space that stretches from Afghanistan's border provinces all the way into Pakistan's Pashtun region. And 12,000 U.S. and 32,000 (including 10,000 U.S.) NATO troops (from 11 of the alliance's 26 members) are fighting with one hand tied behind their back. Intel notwithstanding, they all make believe Pakistan's ISI isn't helping its Taliban wards. The Taliban and its ISI guardians also enjoy a nice slice of the multi-billion dollar opium poppy cake. Many of the allies imposed some 50 caveats on where and when their soldiers could be used. Some said "no dusk to dawn operations," which is when Taliban guerrillas are on the move. Others would only serve in "tranquil provinces" in the north with little Taliban activity. At the NATO summit in Riga this week, president Bush obtained pledges to lift some -- unspecified -- combat curbs on troop use. But France, Germany, Italy and Spain, still declined to allow their troops to be deployed in "hot" combat zones close to the mythical Pak-Afghan demarcation. But they agreed to make unspecified "exceptions" for unspecified "emergencies." And France even suggested bringing Iran into the mix to for a "global strategy" to address NATO's difficulties in Afghanistan. Latvia and Estonia, former Soviet colonies, committed 10 percent of their armed forces (Latvia has an army of 1,817) to Iraq and Afghanistan. National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley praised them for "punching above their weight" militarily. By week's end, Pakistan's "Major Non-NATO Ally" status became a total sham when a government spokesman said NATO needed to reach an accommodation with the Taliban insurgency. "Instead of fighting Taliban militants, foreign troops should reconcile themselves to this reality," he said, and "if the Western world makes the mistake of prolonging this war, we would only see a never-ending conflict." By this Pakistani logic, NATO was now the culprit and should make way for Taliban. At this rate, al-Qaida could look forward to getting its Afghan bases back. And Afghanistan could be volte-face "shock and awe." With 70 percent illiteracy and an economy 60 percent dependent on opium and heroin, democracy was never a viable option. Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 11 UPI: America's old plutonium still reliable United Press International - Security &Terrorism - 12/1/2006 11:52:00 AM -0500 WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- New studies by U.S. research labs show America's aging plutonium is still reliable for nuclear weapons. "Recent studies by Lawrence Livermore and Los Alamos National Laboratories show that the aging of plutonium in U.S. nuclear weapons will not affect reliability over the next several decades," the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration said Wednesday. The NNSA said it had commissioned the classified studies, which took five years to complete. "Plutonium, which is used in pits for all U.S. nuclear weapons, is highly radioactive and degrades over time. The material was first produced in significant quantities in the 1940s," the NNSA said. NNSA Administrator Linton F. Brooks said the recent aging studies revealed the plutonium was still reliable and that no unanticipated significant or alarming transformations had happened to them, or were expected to take place, that could influence or change the anticipated performance of pits apart from the regular, and anticipated processes. "These studies show that the degradation of plutonium in our nuclear weapons will not affect warhead reliability for decades," Brooks said. "It is now clear that although plutonium aging contributes, other factors control the overall life expectancy of nuclear weapons systems." "Overall, the weapons laboratories studies assessed that the majority of plutonium pits for most nuclear weapons have minimum lifetimes of at least 85 years," the NNSA said. "The scientific process used in the assessment of plutonium aging on pit lifetimes was peer reviewed by the JASON panel, an independent scientific panel of academics with experience in nuclear physics and the nuclear weapons program," the NNSA said. "The JASON study concludes that most plutonium pit types have credible lifetimes of at least 100 years, while other pit types with less than 100 years of projected stability have mitigations either proposed or being implemented." Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 12 Guardian Unlimited: Rebellion brewing as MPs face Trident vote within three months Patrick Wintour and Richard Norton-Taylor Friday December 1, 2006 The Guardian Tony Blair is personally to launch a white paper backing an expensive replacement for Britain's Trident nuclear submarine in a Commons statement on Monday. The cabinet will endorse the white paper hours earlier at a special morning session. However, some cabinet ministers have protested they were not aware until yesterday that Monday's discussion would be followed by immediate publication of the white paper, meaning in effect they will have no chance to alter the detail of a paper that will already be printed. MPs will vote on the issue about 10 weeks after Christmas, Jack Straw, the leader of the house, said. The government is expecting a large rebellion both in the party and in the Commons, but is confident that it will win as long as it secures Tory support. Mr Straw yesterday rejected suggestions by the former home secretary Charles Clarke that the cabinet decision was premature, and the retention of nuclear weapons inappropriate in a post-cold war world. Mr Straw argued that nuclear weapons remained relevant: "There was a good deal of optimism when the Berlin wall collapsed that this spelt the end of both ideological and military global conflict. But the world has become, paradoxically, a much less certain place and in some respects a more dangerous place." In conversations with cabinet ministers, the defence secretary, Des Browne, and the foreign secretary, Margaret Beckett, have been telling cabinet members that they must adopt a new weapons system, rather than prolong the existing submarine-based system. Mr Straw said yesterday that the cost, spread over a number of years, need not be seen as excessive. Mr Clarke said: "I think we have to take our security decisions on the basis of what are likely to be the main security threats in the future, rather than building weapons to fight the last war." Trident was developed to deter the invasion of Europe or the deployment of nuclear weapons by the Soviet Union, while Britain's main security threats today involve terrorism, organised crime and people trafficking, Mr Clarke said. CND's chairwoman, Kate Hudson, attacked the nature of the consultation: "The government has promised a three-month consultation period, but what is the point of a consultation if the decision is already made? Jon Trickett, Labour MP for Hemsworth, West Yorkshire, said: "There should not be a predetermined outcome on a decision of this magnitude. There is more than one alternative to Trident replacement and there should be a full debate on each one." [UP] Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 13 Guardian Unlimited: Japan Envoy Says Nuke Talks Possible From the Associated Press [UP] Friday December 1, 2006 4:16 AM AP Photo TOK805 By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Writer TOKYO (AP) - North Korea won't unilaterally abandon its atomic weapons program, the communist nation's nuclear envoy said Thursday, speaking after two days of meetings with his U.S. counterpart failed to produce a date on restarting six-nation disarmament talks. Japan's envoy said talks could still resume before the end of the year. But speaking to reporters in Tokyo, Kenichiro Sasae - Japan's representative - said the timing for a new round would depend on what progress was made in preparatory meetings. ``The possibility that talks could resume (in December) cannot be denied. So long as there is a forward-looking prospect we can hold talks anytime,'' Sasae said after discussions with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, who passed through Tokyo on his way home from Beijing. ``We need to achieve results when we hold a next round of six-party talks,'' Sasae said. The multinational negotiations have been stalled for more than a year due to a North Korean boycott, and efforts to resume the talks have taken on a new urgency since the North tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9. The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency on Friday called for ``incentives'' for North Korea to return to the stalled six-party talks that might include economic and humanitarian aid. ``There are sanctions but that alone does not resolve the security issues,'' Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told reporters in Tokyo, where he was meeting Japanese officials. ``We need to look back into the incentives for North Korea to come back to the negotiations and to show the necessary flexibility.'' North Korea agreed in September 2005 to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security guarantees and aid. But Washington imposed financial sanctions against a Macau-based bank on suspicions it was laundering counterfeit money for the North Koreans. Angered by the move, Pyongyang withdrew from the talks two months later. ElBaradei's comments came after North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye Gwan said his country won't unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons program. But Kim, after meeting South Korea's main nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo in the Chinese capital, said Pyongyang stands by an agreement made last year to ban nuclear weapons and manufacturing facilities on the Korean peninsula. ``Our denuclearization is the great leader's (Kim Il Sung's) 'dying instruction' and we are ready to implement our commitment in the Sept. 19 joint statement,'' the North Korean envoy said. Kim Il Sung was the leader of North Korea from its founding in 1948 until his death in 1994, when he was succeeded by his son, Kim Jong Il. Kim Kye Gwan added that his country ``cannot unilaterally abandon'' its atomic weapons program at this point. Hill said he presented ideas to Kim on how the North Korean regime could disarm. ``These are ideas designed to make rapid progress,'' Hill told reporters before leaving Beijing. ``We discussed them and they're taking them back to Pyongyang and we hope to hear from them soon.'' He said dates for the next round of six-nation discussions were raised but gave no details. The China-hosted talks involve the United States, North Korea, Japan, South Korea and Russia, which did not send an envoy to Beijing for the informal talks. Participants in the Beijing talks, however, did not set a deadline for North Korea to respond, Hill told reporters during his stopover in Tokyo. ``The purpose is that when we start the talks, that we really do make progress,'' Hill said. ``The purpose of the six-party talks is not to talk, it's to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.'' Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe echoed Hill's comments. ``The important thing is for North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons, including existing plans,'' Abe told reporters. ``We have to make six-party talks the first step toward that goal.'' North Korea's nuclear test alarmed Japanese leaders, and raised fears of a regional arms race. On Thursday, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said his country has the technological know-how to produce a nuclear weapon, but has no immediate plans to do so. ``Japan is capable of producing nuclear weapons,'' Aso told a parliamentary committee on security issues. ``But we are not saying we have plans to possess nuclear weapons.'' Aso, who has called for discussion of Japan's policy of not possessing, producing or allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons on its territory, also said his nation's pacifist constitution does not forbid possession of an atomic bomb for defense. Japan's Kyodo News agency, citing unidentified people at the Beijing talks, reported that North Korea's envoy Kim demanded that the U.S. lift financial sanctions and freeze U.N. sanctions that were imposed after the nuclear test. Hill said the issue of Washington-imposed sanctions was discussed but he made it clear that nuclear disarmament had to be addressed first. ``The best way for them to get out of sanctions is to get out of nuclear programs,'' he said. ``Unless they denuclearize, nothing is going to be possible.'' --- Associated Press Writer Charles Hutzler in Beijing contributed to this report. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 14 Guardian Unlimited: Campbell calls for Trident capacity to be halved Michael White Saturday December 2, 2006 The Guardian The Liberal Democrat leadership last night called for Britain's Trident nuclear warhead capacity to be halved and urged delay on a final decision on renewal of the independent UK deterrent until it was absolutely necessary, in about 2014. The party leader, Sir Menzies Campbell, unveiled the findings of a working group which had been examining options ahead of Tony Blair's expected announcement on Monday of - with Gordon Brown's blessing - a move towards replacement of Trident earlier rather than later. Long lead times for procurement of new systems could take more than 10 years. Despite the end of the cold war threat from the old Soviet Union, Mr Blair and his senior ministers appear to be convinced that the world remains sufficiently insecure in an age of global terrorism to require retention of what some experts call an insurance policy. In asserting that, with North Korea and Iran edging towards nuclear military status, now is not the time for Britain to abandon its capability, Sir Menzies also hints he may still think that in 2014 when the fleet of four Vanguard class nuclear submarines are expected to come to the end of their working lives. As a gesture he wants to keep the minimum deterrent, up to 100 warheads on three boats. Sir Menzies says he hopes such a downscaling would "kickstart" renewed multilateral disarmament talks, to show Britain took non-proliferation seriously. That may not impress anti-nuclear campaigners. But it chimes with a cautious note adopted by defence establishment experts who do not think Britain has to take irrevocable decisions now. Sir Menzies says ending the independent deterrent "would in practice be irreversible". Among New Labour heavyweights only Charles Clarke, the former home secretary, has publicly voiced doubts. In a statement sent to Lib Dem members, Sir Menzies says: "As the defence select committee has concluded, we can delay making the final decision without wasting billions ... Cutting our stockpile in half would send a strong signal that nuclear disarmament is back on the international agenda and that Britain is prepared to act first." Labour politicians on both wings of the party have urged Mr Blair to allow a public debate before the Commons vote he wants to hold next spring. Lib Dems will debate their leader's policy at their spring conference in Harrogate. politics.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk [UP] Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 15 NRC: New NRC Senior Resident Inspector Assigned to Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Plant News Release - Region I - 2006-06 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I No. I-06-062 November 30, 2006 CONTACT: Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. Sheehan (610) 337-5331 E-mail: opa1@nrc.gov Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa., have selected Silas Kennedy as the new senior resident inspector at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. Constellation Energy operates the two unit site in Lusby, Md. Kennedy first joined the NRC in October 2001 as a reactor engineer and worked as a specialist inspector out of the Regional office. Most recently he was a resident inspector at Millstone Station in Waterford, Conn. He served as an officer in the Navys nuclear submarine service for twelve years and worked as an engineer for Agere Systems in Allentown, Pa.. He earned a Bachelors degree in electrical engineering from the University of South Carolina and a Masters in administration from the University of Central Michigan. Silas Kennedy has the experience and commitment to safety that will help the NRC ensure that Calvert Cliffs conducts operations with the highest safety standards to protect public health and safety," said NRC Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. Kennedy joins NRC Resident Inspector Marlone Davis at Calvert Cliffs. Davis was assigned to the site last December. Davis first joined the NRC in 2003. After completing a rigorous training program, he was assigned as a reactor inspector in the Regional Office. Prior to joining the agency he worked as an engineer for Sargent and Lundy at various nuclear power plants across the country. Davis has a bachelors degree in nuclear engineering with a specialization in waste management and environmental restoration from Kansas State University. Each U.S. commercial nuclear plant has at least two NRC resident inspectors. They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the facility, conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects and interacting with plant workers and the public. The Calvert Cliffs resident inspectors can be reached at 410/586-2626. NRC news releases are available through a free list serve subscription at the following Web address: http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are posted to NRC's Web site. Last revised Friday, December 01, 2006 ***************************************************************** 16 RIA Novosti: Lukashenko backs project to build NPP in Belarus 01/ 12/ 2006 MINSK, December 1 (RIA Novosti) - Belarus' president said Friday he supported an estimated $2.5-billion project to build a nuclear power plant in the country to cut its dependence on energy imports. Belarusian scientists drafted a plan for the NPP in May but no final decision followed. The plant with generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts would take about 10 years to build and is expected to reduce Belarusian dependence on Russia's energy by 24%. "Belarusian scientists and experts ... have unanimously approved a resolution to build an NPP in the country and to begin all necessary arrangements this year," Alexander Lukashenko told an energy security conference. Belarus currently imports most of its energy from Russia. The two countries are in tense talks over the gas price for next year. Russia is seeking to quadruple the current price of $46.68 per 1,000 cubic meters. Lukashenko said his latest talks with the Russian leadership concerned a possible hydrocarbon deficit. "Our negotiations for the first time highlighted a possible hydrocarbon deficit in the future, and Belarus might have to face lack of hydrocarbons due to shortfalls inside Russia," he said. Lukashenko said nuclear plants were the best way to overcome a global energy crisis. "Nuclear energy is widely used in Europe. About 80% of France's electricity is generated at nuclear plants," he said. Experts said the share of nuclear power in Belarus' energy balance could rise to 20%, and the share of natural gas could decline to 50% by 2020 if the project was implemented. By 2050, the plant could bring the share of nuclear power to 85%. Lukashenko said a location for the plant would be carefully selected to avoid any risks to human health. "There can be no mistake in choosing the site," he said, adding that safety requirements must be strictly observed. Belarus was one of the worst-hit areas in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl NPP disaster. 2005 RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 17 RIA Novosti: Russian nuclear industry on path of systemic change Opinion &analysis - 01/ 12/ 2006 MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti commentator Tatiana Sinitsyna) - "This year has been important for the nuclear industry from two points of view," said Sergei Kiriyenko, head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power, at a news conference at RIA Novosti. "This is a year when strategic decisions have been made that will divide the nuclear industry into military and civilian parts. The former will remain unchanged, while the latter will become independent and subject to universal transparency standards." The nuclear industry, a conservative heavyweight which has preserved Soviet traditions longer than any other, can be pushed forward only by systemic change. Kiriyenko, a prominent politician and manager, initiated the sector's restructuring. The agency has surprised the country with the scale of its transformation. On December 6, the Russian parliament is expected to consider a bill that will finalize the division of the nuclear industry. Civilian enterprises will be reincorporated as joint-stock companies, and legal entities will receive access to nuclear materials. At the same time, the state will maintain total control over the sector. The change will allow the fuel cycle and power generation to be combined into one process and to compete on the industrial market, which will eventually make the end product, kilowatt-hours, cheaper. It is also important that the industry will be able to attract private capital to meet some of its huge financial demands. The new bill will also eliminate obstacles to foreign trade. For example, Australia, a major exporter of uranium, is willing to sell it to Russia only if it is not used in the defense industry. The size of Russia's nuclear industry means that it needs significant amounts of uranium, but its own reserves will soon be exhausted. This year, the agency has managed to improve the situation. It set up a Mining Company that consolidated all uranium-producing assets in Russia and even international projects, which include a joint venture with Kazakhstan. This has allowed Russia to take a new position on the global market and to obtain additional opportunities of implementing innovative technology and boosting the construction of nuclear power plants (NPPs). The NPPs that are currently in place were mostly built in the 1960s-1970s, and their service life is coming to an end. Together, they produce 16% of the electricity generated in Russia. Now the agency has set itself the task of maintaining this share until the 2020s-2030s. There is only one way to do this: to build at least two (or better three or four) nuclear generation units a year. Kiriyenko's plan is based on the assumption that the reform of the nuclear industry has to be coordinated with the government's strategy and endorsed at the top level. This is why his agency drafted a federal target program for the nuclear sector's development, which was signed by President Vladimir Putin last July. In accordance with the strategy, the federal draft budget for 2007 allocates 17 billion rubles for the first couple of new reactors. Digging deep into corporate problems, Kiriyenko found out that Atomstroiexport, a company that builds NPPs abroad, had been sold to private investors for $20 million, while its order portfolio stood at several billion dollars and was guaranteed by the state budget. The situation was inexplicable and illogical: a private company was an operator under intergovernmental agreements. Efforts were made to return a controlling stake (50.8%) in Atomstroiexport to the government. This move helped to dispel any doubts the company's foreign partners may have had. Perhaps, these developments influenced Bulgaria's decision, which after a long delay chose Russia in a tender for the construction of an NPP in Belena. This victory signaled Russia's "return to the European market," Kiriyenko said. The country also won other European tenders, including ones for supplying nuclear fuel to the Czech Republic's Temelin NPP and to Finland's Loviisa, defeating a powerful rival, Westinghouse, on its traditional market. "Russia is a member of all international organizations, including Generation IV, a global partnership which seeks to develop the nuclear reactors of the future," said Yevgeny Velikhov, president of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center and member of the Russian Academy. "We are members of an unprecedented global program to construct the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor in France. Overall, the agency is making notable progress." 2005 RIA Novosti ***************************************************************** 18 Platts: NRC conducts special inspection at Catawba regarding water issues Washington (Platts)--29Nov2006 Inspectors from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Region II offices have begun a special inspection at Duke Energy's Catawba nuclear power plant to look into issues involving water flowing into underground electrical penetrations, the agency said. NRC said the special inspection would review the facts surrounding degraded penetration seals in some areas and the lack of seals in others, determine if there are any generic issues for other nuclear plants, and assess the company's overall response and investigation, including areas of the plant where the lack of watertight seals or degradation might be an issue. In May, water from the Catawba-2 reactor's cooling towers flowed into a diesel generator room, and plant employees decided that other electrical conduits and penetrations had degraded seals, NRC said. During a heavy rainstorm in late August, water entered the turbine building through unsealed electrical penetrations and the water accumulated around some electrical transformers, NRC said. An NRC inspection in early November determined that the standby shutdown facility was also susceptible to flooding from two possible sources, the agency said. The facility would be used as a command center if a plant had a severe nuclear accident. A Catawba spokeswoman said Duke immediately made repairs following each incident. The seal degradation was due to normal age and wear, she said. The diesel generator room remained available and there was no damage to equipment, she said. Duke had planned to conduct an inspection of the turbine building walls in early 2008 to look for areas of potential penetration, she said. Following the August incident, it moved up the inspection as a proactive measure, but no significant issues were found, she said. The sources of potential flooding of the safe shutdown facility--degraded cable trenches and a gap in the door to the building--were repaired. Engineering evaluations were under way to determine other measures to be taken, she said. --Tom Harrison, tom_harrison@platts.com Copyright 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved [The McGraw-Hill Companies] ***************************************************************** 19 Regnum: Lukashenko sees no alternative to establishment of nuclear power engineering in Belarus - 09:10:28 December 02, 2006 Subscribe The question of establishing our own nuclear power engineering practically has no alternative in guaranteeing Belarusian national safety and is a condition for proving the country with cheap energy, Belarusian President said at a session on increasing energy security of the Republic of Belarus, informs. The president said that today that proportion of imported energy resources in the general amount of the resources consumed in Belarus is about 85%. It is the true reason for our dependence on the foreign supplies, Alexander Lukashenko said. According to him, there are several ways to overcome this dependence. At a general session of the Belarusian National Academy of Sciences researchers and experts voted unanimously for construction of a nuclear power station in the country and starting preparatory works as early as this year. Permanent news address: 16:25 12/01/2006 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency Registration certificate No. El 77-6430 of the 6th August, 2002 ***************************************************************** 20 Mos News: Belarus President Supports Nuclear Power Plant Plan - MOSNEWS.COM Alexander Lukashenko / Photo: AP Created: 01.12.2006 16:14 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 16:14 MSK MosNews Belarus president said Friday he supported an estimated $2.5-billion project to build a nuclear power plant in the country to cut its dependence on energy imports, Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reports. Belarusian scientists drafted a plan for the NPP in May but no final decision followed. The plant with generating capacity of 2,000 megawatts would take about 10 years to build and is expected to reduce Belarusian dependence on Russias energy by 24%. Belarusian scientists and experts ... have unanimously approved a resolution to build an NPP in the country and to begin all necessary arrangements this year, Alexander Lukashenko told an energy security conference. Belarus currently imports most of its energy from Russia. The two countries are in tense talks over the gas price for next year. Russia is seeking to quadruple the current price of $46.68 per 1,000 cubic meters. Lukashenko said his latest talks with the Russian leadership concerned a possible hydrocarbon deficit. Our negotiations for the first time highlighted a possible hydrocarbon deficit in the future, and Belarus might have to face lack of hydrocarbons due to shortfalls inside Russia, he said. Lukashenko said nuclear plants were the best way to overcome a global energy crisis. Nuclear energy is widely used in Europe. About 80% of Frances electricity is generated at nuclear plants, he said. Experts said the share of nuclear power in Belarus energy balance could rise to 20%, and the share of natural gas could decline to 50% by 2020 if the project was implemented. By 2050, the plant could bring the share of nuclear power to 85%. Lukashenko said a location for the plant would be carefully selected to avoid any risks to human health. There can be no mistake in choosing the site, he said, adding that safety requirements must be strictly observed. Belarus was one of the worst-hit countries in the aftermath of the 1986 Chernobyl NPP disaster, RIA-Novosti reports. Copyright 2004 MOSNEWS.COM ***************************************************************** 21 AFP: China to decide nuclear power contract winner this month - Fri Dec 1, 5:31 AM ET BEIJING (AFP) - China will decide the winner of a long-awaited, multi-billion-dollar nuclear power contract this month, with companies from France and the United States in the running, state press have reported. "The final decision will be made by the State Council, China's cabinet, at the end of the month," the weekly financial Caijing magazine reported in its current edition on Friday. France's Areva and Westinghouse of the United States are front-runners in the bidding for four "third generation" nuclear reactors that will be built in Sanmen, Zhejiang province, and in Yangjiang, Guangdong province, it said. China launched the bidding process in September 2004, with Russia's AtomStroyExport also competing. A decision had been expected last year but has continually been put off. China National Nuclear Corporation, the nation's largest nuclear power conglomerate, is in favor of the French EPR technology as it is similar to their own, Caijing quoted a company official as saying. But Westinghouse's AP1000 technology was seen as easier to operate and understand, especially in the event of an emergency, and their price was competitive, the magazine said. The bid was originally seen to be worth about eight billion dollars for the four reactors but China has been seeking to lower the costs by buying the reactor design and building the plants themselves, reports have said. France's nuclear industry has long been engaged in supplying reactors to China, with four of the nation's currently operating 11 nuclear reactors French-made. At the end of 2005, China got just 2.3 percent of its energy from nuclear power plant, but is hoping to increase that to four percent by 2020, which will make it the world's fastest developer of atomic energy. The plan will require about two 1,000 megawatt nuclear power plants to be built annually for the next 15 years, previous reports have said. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 22 Salt Lake Tribune: No to nuclear energy Updated:11/30/2006 This is in response to Kevin J. Carney (Forum, Nov. 28). He addresses "people who are up in arms because of the Delta Center name change" and writes that he would be interested in their solutions to dealing with radioactive waste disposal. I have a solution. Do not use nuclear energy at all. No amount of nuclear energy is safe. Therefore, no amount of nuclear waste is safe. Therefore, let the states that choose to use nuclear energy figure out a way to dispose of their waste. We don't use it in Utah for a good reason. We know the harms of nuclear energy in this state. There is a good reason there is such high security at the Tooele chemical depot. Larry Miller should have kept the Delta Center name. Delta Air Lines will come out of bankruptcy and the airline's name is much more positive than reminding us of the Cold War with EnergySolutions Arena. Mat Carter West Valley City © Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. ***************************************************************** 23 Xinhua: China, France pledge stronger nuclear power collaboration www.chinaview.cn 2006-12-01 22:38:44 BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China and France on Friday vowed to expand their nuclear power cooperation. The pledge came out of a meeting between Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan and French presidential special envoy and Minister for the Economy, Finance and Industry Thierry Breton. Zeng said China's power shortage made the rapid development of nuclear power plants a necessity, and France, which had the most advanced nuclear power technology and equipment, had cooperated well in this field. Breton said the French government would take practical steps to boost nuclear power cooperation with China. China first used nuclear power technology from France in its Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, in southern Guangdong Province, and cooperated again with France on Ling'ao Nuclear Power Plant, in the same province. During French President Jacques Chirac's visit to China in October, the two countries agreed on closer nuclear power cooperation. Editor: Mu Xuequan ***************************************************************** 24 Xinhua: Revised regulations on nuclear export controls issued www.chinaview.cn 2006-12-02 06:07:21 BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- China's State Council Friday published revised regulations on nuclear export controls that give the government more control over the end use of exported nuclear technology. The new regulations, signed by Premier Wen Jiabao on Nov. 9, will take immediate effect. According to the revised version, the goal of the regulations is to enhance control over nuclear exports, prevent proliferation, guard against nuclear terrorism, safeguard national security and promote international cooperation in using nuclear energy peacefully. The new regulations add an article that requires the government of countries importing Chinese technology to guarantee they will seek Chinese government consent before attempting to enrich uranium to a level above 20 percent using the equipment provided by China. The new regulations also allow Chinese customs to require exporters to apply to the Ministry of Commerce for documents that demonstrate whether the export comes under the nuclear export controls. Since the mid-1990s, China has gradually set up a comprehensive legal system for export controls on nuclear, biological, chemical, missile and other sensitive items and technologies as well as all military products. The government has promulgated Regulations on the Control of Nuclear Exports, Regulations on the Export Control of Dual-Use Biological Agents, Regulations on the Export Control of Missiles and Missile-Related Items and Technologies, and Regulations on the Administration of Arms Export. The Foreign Trade Law, the Customs Law and the Criminal Law also provide a legal basis for China's non-proliferation export controls. The government has stepped up campaigns to publicize laws and regulations on export controls. Editor: Mu Xuequan ***************************************************************** 25 Journal Times: Committees scheduled to meet next week Sat Dec 2, 2006 LEGISLATIVE COMMITTEE HEARINGS Monday, Dec. 4: 10 a.m. Special Committee on Airport Authorities. 411 South. Representative Jeff Stone, Chair. Discussion of options relating to airport governance, including local government control, airport authorities, and privatization. 3 p.m. Special Committee on Nuclear Power. Boulder City, Nev. Representative Phil Montgomery, Chair. 3-5 p.m. Tour of the Nevada Solar One Concentrating Solar Power Facility. Tuesday, 7 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Tour of the Proposed Yucca Mountain Repository, Nye County, Nev. Members of the public wishing to attend the Yucca Mountain tour with the committee must make their own travel arrangements to Nevada and complete the federal Department of Energy's Access Information form necessary to access the Nevada Test site. A copy of this form and other information on the tour is posted at the committee's web site at http://www.legis.state.wi.us/lc/3_COMMITTEES/Special%20Committees /2006/NPOWR/index.htm. In addition, committee members and other interested persons may attend an optional tour of the Solargenix concentrating solar power facility, known as Nevada Solar One, on Dec. 4. This tour is not an official activity of the Special Committee. It is being posted as part of this notice in case a quorum of the members of the Special Committee chooses to participate in the tour. Additional information on this tour is included in the Yucca Mountain tour materials posted at the committee's web site given above. Tuesday, Dec. 5: No meetings scheduled. Wednesday, Dec. 6: No meetings scheduled. Thursday, Dec. 7: No meetings scheduled. Friday, Dec. 8: 10 a.m. Special Committee on Uniform Debt Management Services. 411 South. Representative Steve Wieckert, Chair. Discussion of proposed substantive and technical amendments to LRB-5042/1, relating to the Uniform Debt Management Services Act. If testimony is taken, it will be by invitation only. A service of the Associated Press(AP) This entire web site content copyright 1996-2006, The Journal Times, 212 4th St., Racine, WI, 53403. All Rights Reserved.Phone: (262) 634-3322. ***************************************************************** 26 Charlotte Business Journal: Duke wants plants despite rise in cost - Charlotte Business Journal - 2:19 PM EST Thursday by John DowneySenior Staff Writer At $3 billion, Duke Energy Corp.'s proposed Cliffside coal plants no longer provide the lowest-cost energy option under most calculation models the company has used to forecast the lifetime price of the operations. And the utility's revelation that it might take on a 50 percent partner on the project would mean Duke could have to build another plant later at an unspecified price. Duke says it may not resolve the partnership issue before the N.C. Utilities Commissionholds what is supposed to be a final hearing on the proposed plants next month. Sharon Miller of the Carolina Utility Customers Associationthinks it would be foolish for regulators to approve the plants if Duke cannot say how much power ratepayers will get from them or whether a third plant will be necessary. The two plants, she contends, would increase Duke's $9.9 billion rate base by 30 percent. According to her group's analysis, that would mean double-digit rate increases for industrial customers once the plants start production after 2010. "Going ahead now would be to Duke's advantage but might be costly to ratepayers," Miller says. "A one-year delay on any decision would be a more prudent course of action." The plants appeared to be on their way to approval after a public hearing in September. Then in October, Duke announced the projected costs of the plants had jumped nearly $1 billion. Additional hearings begin Jan. 17 regarding the new cost information. While many details appear up in the air, Duke has clarified its position on energy conservation, committing to 1 percent of its revenue, or about $50 million, per year for that purpose. Charlotte-based Duke (NYSE:DUK) and its customers got good news Thursday regarding Cliffside. The federal government says the company has qualified for $125 million in tax breaks for the project. That will directly reduce the costs for ratepayers -- although it is only about 4 percent of the estimated price tag. The tax break is for innovative, clean-coal technology. So the award may bolster Duke's argument that Cliffside is an environmentally sound option. Meanwhile, Duke has recalculated its construction alternatives based on initial bid information for the 800-megawatt plants. The updated assessment shows the lowest-cost option for new generating plants would be a combination of nuclear and gas plants. When the coal plants' price had been around $2 billion, that had been the least expensive option under most scenarios. But Ellen Ruff, chief executive of Duke Energy Carolinas, says the coal plants remain the best way to go, even at the higher price. The nuclear and gas combination was only marginally less expensive under many of the company's scenarios, she says. 2006 American City Business Journals, Inc. ***************************************************************** 27 NRC: Exelon Generation Company, LLC Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; FR Doc E6-20319 [Federal Register: December 1, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 231)] [Notices] [Page 69598-69600] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01de06-117] Braidwood Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2; Exemption 1.0 Background Exelon Generation Company, LLC (EGC, or the licensee) is the holder of Facility Operating Licenses NPF-37, NPF-66, NPF-72, and NPF-77, which authorize operation of Byron Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (Byron), and Braidwood Station, Unit Nos. 1 and 2 (Braidwood), respectively. The licenses provide, among other things, that the facilities are subject to all rules, regulations, and orders of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC, the Commission) now or hereafter in effect. The Byron facility consists of two pressurized-water reactors located in Ogle County in Illinois. The Braidwood facility consists of two pressurized-water reactors located in Will County in Illinois. 2.0 Request/Action Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Part 50, Appendix G, requires that pressure-temperature (P-T) limits be established for reactor pressure vessels (RPVs) during normal operating and hydrostatic or leak rate testing conditions. Specifically, 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G states, ``[t]he minimum temperature requirements * * * pertain to the controlling material, which is either the material in the closure flange or the material in the beltline region with the highest reference temperature * * * [T]he minimum temperature requirements and the controlling material depend on the operating condition (i.e., hydrostatic pressure and leak tests, or normal operation including anticipated operational occurrences), the vessel pressure, whether fuel is in the vessel, and whether the core is critical. The metal temperature of the controlling material, in the region of the controlling material which has the least favorable combination of stress and temperature, must exceed the appropriate minimum temperature requirement for the condition and pressure of the vessel [[Page 69599]] specified in Table 1 [of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G].'' Footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, specifies that RPV minimum temperature requirements related to RPV closure flange considerations shall be based on ``[t]he highest reference temperature of the material in the closure flange region that is highly stressed by bolt preload.'' In order to conform to certain provisions of proposed amendments that would modify the Byron and Braidwood Technical Specifications (TS) to revise the pressure-temperature limits report (PTLR) methodology for each unit, EGC requested in its application dated October 3, 2005, that the NRC staff exempt Byron and Braidwood from the specific requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, as they pertain to the establishment of minimum temperature requirements, for all modes of operation addressed by 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, based on the material properties of the material of the RPV closure flange region that is highly stressed by the bolt preload. The requirements from which EGC requested that Byron and Braidwood be exempted shall be referred to, for the purpose of this exemption as, ``those requirements related to the application of footnote (2) to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G.'' EGC's technical basis was submitted to the NRC by letter dated October 3, 2005, which included as an attachment Westinghouse Report WCAP-16143-P, ``Reactor Closure Head/Vessel Flange Requirements Evaluation for Byron/Braidwood Units 1 and 2.'' WCAP-16143-P included a fracture mechanics analysis of postulated flaws in the Byron and Braidwood RPV closure flange regions under boltup, 100 [deg]F/hr heatup, 100 [deg]F/hr cooldown, and steady-state conditions, with the heatup and cooldown transients being modeled in accordance with what would be permissible using P-T limit curves based on Byron and Braidwood beltline materials. Westinghouse performed finite element modeling to calculate the stresses present at critical locations within the flange region and determined that the 100 [deg]F/hr heatup transient was the most severe condition, with the upper head-to-flange weld being the most limiting location. With these stresses, Westinghouse calculated the applied stress intensity (KI applied) for semi-elliptical, outside diameter initiated, surface breaking flaws with an aspect ratio (length vs. depth) of 6:1, and with depths ranging from 0 to 90 percent of the thickness of the component wall. The KI applied values were calculated in accordance with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (ASME Code) Section XI, Appendix G, Subparagraph G-2220 requirements for the analysis of flange locations. Westinghouse then compared these KI applied values to ASME Code lower-bound static crack initiation fracture toughness (KIC) values determined from the nil-ductility transition reference temperature (RTNDT) values for the Byron and Braidwood RPV closure flange materials. Westinghouse also provided an assessment of the potential for changes in the material RTNDT values for the Byron and Braidwood RPV closure flange materials due to thermal aging resulting from exposure to the RPV operating environment. The use of ASME Code KIC as the material property for the fracture mechanics analysis represents the most significant change between the analysis provided in WCAP-16143-P and the analysis that was performed as the basis for establishing the minimum temperature requirements in 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G. The minimum temperature requirements related to footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G were incorporated into the Code of Federal Regulations in the early 1980s and were based on analyses that used ASME Code lower- bound crack arrest/dynamic test fracture toughness (KIA) as the parameter for characterizing a material's ability to resist crack initiation and propagation. The use of ASME Code KIA is always conservative with respect to the use of ASME Code KIC for fracture mechanics evaluations, and its use in the evaluations that established the requirements in 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G was justified based on the limited knowledge of RPV material behavior that was available in the early 1980s. However, the use of ASME Code KIC is more consistent with the actual physical processes that would govern flaw initiation under conditions of normal RPV operation, including RPV heatup, cooldown, and hydrostatic and leak testing. Based on its current understanding of the behavior of RPV materials, the NRC staff has routinely approved the use of ASME Code KIC by licensees as the basis for evaluating RPV beltline materials; licensees have previously demonstrated compliance with the intent of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G through the use of the ASME Code, first as Code Cases N-640 and N-641, and now via ASME Code, Section XI, Appendix G, which has been revised to use KIC in lieu of KIA. The minimum KIC value given in the ASME Code for RPV steel, regardless of the material RTNDT value or temperature, is 33.2 ksi[radic] in. This value represents the ``lower shelf'' of the ASME Code KIC curve. Based on information in WCAP-16143-P, it is apparent that the KI applied for any flaw up to \1/4\ of the wall thickness (\1/4\ T) at the limiting location (refer to WCAP-16143-P, Figure 4-2), would not exceed 33.2 ksi[radic] in (even taking into account the NRC staff's consideration of ASME Code structural factors), until between 1 and 2 hours into the 100 [deg]F/hr heatup transient. The temperature at the tip of postulated flaws up to \1/4\ T size would be adequate at that time to ensure that the limiting Byron and Braidwood flange materials would exhibit fracture toughness properties in excess of ASME Code ``lower shelf'' behavior. The NRC staff has determined that the analysis provided in WCAP- 16143-P has demonstrated, for the most limiting transient addressed by 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, that the combination of factors that would have to exist for brittle failure to occur (high stresses in the RPV flange region along with low temperature at the metal of the flange region) cannot exist simultaneously, and based on consideration of Byron and Braidwood's beltline materials, the structural integrity of the Byron and Braidwood RPV closure flange materials will not be challenged by facility operation in accordance with P-T limit curves. Therefore, the more conservative minimum temperature requirements related to footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G are not necessary to meet the underlying intent of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, to protect the Byron and Braidwood RPVs from brittle failure during normal operation under both core critical and core non-critical conditions and RPV hydrostatic and leak test conditions. 3.0 Discussion Pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12, the Commission may, upon application by any interested person or upon its own initiative, grant exemptions from the requirements of 10 CFR Part 50, when (1) the exemptions are authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to public health or safety, and are consistent with the common defense and security; and (2) when special circumstances are present. Special circumstances are present whenever, according to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2): (i) Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances conflicts with other rules or requirements of the Commission; or (ii) Application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would not serve the underlying purpose of the rule or is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule; or [[Page 69600]] (iii) Compliance would result in undue hardship or other costs that are significantly in excess of those contemplated when the regulation was adopted, or that are significantly in excess of those incurred by others similarly situated; or (iv) The exemption would result in benefit to the public health and safety that compensates for any decrease in safety that may result from the grant of the exemption; or (v) The exemption would provide only temporary relief from the applicable regulation and the licensee or applicant has made good faith efforts to comply with the regulation; or (vi) There is present any other material circumstance not considered when the regulation was adopted for which it would be in the public interest to grant an exemption. If such condition is relied on exclusively for satisfying paragraph (a)(2) of this section, the exemption may not be granted until the Executive Director for Operations has consulted with the Commission. The NRC staff finds that special circumstances exist pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii) in that the application of the regulation is not necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule. As stated in Section 2.0 above, the more conservative minimum temperature requirements related to footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G are not necessary to meet the underlying intent of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, to protect the Byron and Braidwood RPVs from brittle failure during normal operation under both core critical and core non-critical conditions and RPV hydrostatic and leak test conditions. Authorized by Law This exemption would allow the use of an alternative methodology in calculating the RPV P-T limits for Byron and Braidwood in lieu of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, paragraph IV.A.2.c. As stated above, 10 CFR 50.12 allows the NRC to grant exemptions from the requirement of 10 CFR Part 50. Furthermore, Section 50.60(b) to 10 CFR Part 50 allows the use of alternatives to 10 CFR Part 50, Appendices G and H, when an exemption is granted by the NRC under 10 CFR 50.12. Therefore, this exemption is authorized by law. No Undue Risk to Public Health and Safety The underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, paragraph IV.A.2.c, is to maintain the appropriate fracture margin in the RPV closure head region. The proposed methodology for the Byron and Braidwood P-T limits relies, in part, on ASME Code, Section XI, Appendix G, which allows the use of the KIC fracture toughness curve rather than the KIA curve. P-T limits developed using the KIC fracture toughness curve permit a much higher allowable pressure through the entire range of temperatures. The benefit is negated at temperatures below RTNDT +120 [deg]F because of the additional flange requirement of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G. Using the KIC fracture toughness curve, the analyses presented in WCAP-16143-P show that there is significant margin between the applied stress intensity factor at boltup and the material fracture toughness at cracks postulated to exist in the highest stress region of the closure head/flange region. The analyses also show that the boltup temperature requirement for Byron and Braidwood could be satisfied at 60 [deg]F or higher, easily justifying boltup at ambient temperature. Based on its review, the NRC staff finds that the results presented in WCAP-16143-P demonstrate that the 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G RPV closure head flange requirement can be eliminated and appropriate fracture margins would still be maintained. Based on the above, no new accident precursors are created by using an alternative methodology in calculating the RPV P-T limits; thus, the probability of postulated accidents is not increased. Also, based on the above, the consequences of postulated accidents are not increased. Therefore, there is no undue risk to public health and safety. Consistent with Common Defense and Security The proposed exemption would allow the use of an alternative methodology in calculating the RPV P-T limits, in lieu of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, paragraph IV.A.2.c. This change has no relation to security issues. Therefore, the common defense and security is not impacted by this exemption. Special Circumstances Special circumstances, in accordance with 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2), are present whenever application of the regulation in the particular circumstances would not be necessary to achieve the underlying purpose of the rule. The underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, paragraph IV.A.2.c is to maintain the appropriate fracture margin in the RPV closure head region. The NRC staff examined the licensee's rationale to support the exemption request and, based on its independent review of the information provided in WCAP-16143-P and in EGC's October 3, 2005, application, the NRC staff agrees that an acceptable technical basis has been established to exempt Byron and Braidwood from requirements related to the application of footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G. The NRC staff finds that the technical basis provided by EGC demonstrates that an adequate margin of safety against brittle failure would continue to be maintained for Byron and Braidwood RPVs without the application of those requirements related to the application of footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, for normal operation under both core critical and core non-critical conditions and RPV hydrostatic and leak test conditions. The NRC staff concludes, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2)(ii), that the underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G will be achieved for Byron and Braidwood without the application of those requirements related to the application of footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G. Therefore, since the underlying purpose of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G is achieved, the special circumstances required by 10 CFR 50.12(a)(2) for the granting of an exemption from those requirements related to the application of footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, exist. 4.0 Conclusion Accordingly, the Commission has determined that, pursuant to 10 CFR 50.12(a), the exemption is authorized by law, will not present an undue risk to the public health and safety, and is consistent with the common defense and security. Also, special circumstances are present. Therefore, the Commission hereby grants EGC an exemption from those requirements related to the application of footnote 2 to Table 1 of 10 CFR Part 50, Appendix G, for Byron and Braidwood. Pursuant to 10 CFR 51.32, the Commission has determined that the granting of this exemption will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment (71 FR 57577). This exemption is effective upon issuance. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 22nd day of November 2006. For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Catherine Haney, Director, Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation. [FR Doc. E6-20319 Filed 11-30-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 28 NRC: Notice of Availability of Environmental Assessment and Finding FR Doc E6-20327 [Federal Register: December 1, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 231)] [Notices] [Page 69601-69602] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01de06-118] [[Page 69601]] of No Significant Impact for License Amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 45-25404-01, for Termination of the License and Unrestricted Release of the Insmed Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated Facility Located in Glen Allen, VA AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission. ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact for License Amendment. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Betsy Ullrich, Senior Health Physicist, Commercial and R Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region I, 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania; telephone (610) 337-5040; fax number (610) 337-5269; or by e-mail: exu@nrc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Introduction The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is considering the issuance of a license amendment to Byproduct Materials License No. 45- 25404-01. This license is held by Insmed Pharmaceuticals, Incorporated (the Licensee), for its facility located at 4851 Lake Brook Drive in Glen Allen, Virginia (the Facility). Issuance of the amendment would authorize release of the Facility for unrestricted use and termination of the NRC license. The Licensee requested this action in a letter dated September 30, 2006. The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment (EA) in support of this proposed action in accordance with the requirements of Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), part 51 (10 CFR part 51). Based on the EA, the NRC has concluded that a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) is appropriate with respect to the proposed action. The amendment will be issued to the Licensee following the publication of this FONSI and EA in the Federal Register. II. Environmental Assessment Identification of Proposed Action The proposed action would approve the Licensee's September 30, 2006, license amendment request, resulting in release of the Facility for unrestricted use and the termination of its NRC materials license. License No. 45-25404-01 was issued on December 10, 1997, pursuant to 10 CFR part 30, and has been amended periodically since that time. This license authorized the Licensee to use unsealed byproduct material for purposes of conducting research and development activities on laboratory bench tops and in hoods. The Facility is situated in a 70,000 square-foot office park building, and consists of office space and laboratories. The Facility is located in a suburban area. Within the Facility, use of licensed materials was confined to three laboratories having a total area of approximately 3,000 square feet. On September 28, 2006, the Licensee ceased licensed activities and initiated a survey and decontamination of the Facility. Based on the Licensee's historical knowledge of the site and the conditions of the Facility, the Licensee determined that only routine decontamination activities, in accordance with their NRC-approved, operating radiation safety procedures, were required. The Licensee was not required to submit a decommissioning plan to the NRC because worker cleanup activities and procedures are consistent with those approved for routine operations. The Licensee conducted surveys of the Facility and provided information to the NRC to demonstrate that it meets the criteria in Subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release and for license termination. Need for the Proposed Action The Licensee has ceased conducting licensed activities at the Facility, and seeks the unrestricted use of its Facility and the termination of its NRC materials license. Termination of its license would end the Licensee's obligation to pay annual license fees to the NRC. Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The historical review of licensed activities conducted at the Facility shows that such activities involved use of the following radionuclides with half-lives greater than 120 days: hydrogen-3 and carbon-14. Prior to performing the final status survey, the Licensee conducted decontamination activities, as necessary, in the areas of the Facility affected by these radionuclides. The Licensee conducted a final status survey on September 28, 2006. This survey covered all three laboratories used for licensed activities. The final status survey report was attached to the Licensee's amendment request dated September 30, 2006. The Licensee elected to demonstrate compliance with the radiological criteria for unrestricted release as specified in 10 CFR 20.1402 by using the screening approach described in NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance,'' Volume 2. The Licensee used the radionuclide-specific derived concentration guideline levels (DCGLs), developed there by the NRC, which comply with the dose criterion in 10 CFR 20.1402. These DCGLs define the maximum amount of residual radioactivity on building surfaces, equipment, and materials, and in soils, that will satisfy the NRC requirements in Subpart E of 10 CFR part 20 for unrestricted release. The Licensee's final status survey results were below these DCGLs and are in compliance with the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) requirement of 10 CFR 20.1402. The NRC thus finds that the Licensee's final status survey results are acceptable. Based on its review, the staff has determined that the affected environment and any environmental impacts associated with the proposed action are bounded by the impacts evaluated by the ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities'' (NUREG-1496) Volumes 1-3 (ML042310492, ML042320379, and ML042330385). The staff finds there were no significant environmental impacts from the use of radioactive material at the Facility. The NRC staff reviewed the docket file records and the final status survey report to identify any non-radiological hazards that may have impacted the environment surrounding the Facility. No such hazards or impacts to the environment were identified. The NRC has identified no other radiological or non- radiological activities in the area that could result in cumulative environmental impacts. The NRC staff finds that the proposed release of the Facility for unrestricted use and the termination of the NRC materials license is in compliance with 10 CFR 20.1402. Based on its review, the staff considered the impact of the residual radioactivity at the Facility and concluded that the proposed action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the human environment. Environmental Impacts of the Alternatives to the Proposed Action Due to the largely administrative nature of the proposed action, its environmental impacts are small. Therefore, the only alternative the staff considered is the no-action alternative, under which the staff would leave things as they are by simply denying the amendment request. This no-action alternative is not feasible because it [[Page 69602]] conflicts with 10 CFR 30.36(d), requiring that decommissioning of byproduct material facilities be completed and approved by the NRC after licensed activities cease. The NRC's analysis of the Licensee's final status survey data confirmed that the Facility meets the requirements of 10 CFR 20.1402 for unrestricted release and for license termination. Additionally, denying the amendment request would result in no change in current environmental impacts. The environmental impacts of the proposed action and the no-action alternative are therefore similar, and the no-action alternative is accordingly not further considered. Conclusion The NRC staff has concluded that the proposed action is consistent with the NRC's unrestricted release criteria specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. Because the proposed action will not significantly impact the quality of the human environment, the NRC staff concludes that the proposed action is the preferred alternative. Agencies and Persons Consulted NRC provided a draft of this Environmental Assessment to the Commonwealth of Virginia for review on October 17, 2006. On October 24, 2006, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Division of Radiological Health and Safety Regulation, responded by e-mail. The Commonwealth agreed with the conclusions of the EA, and otherwise had no comments. The NRC staff has determined that the proposed action is of a procedural nature, and will not affect listed species or critical habitat. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. The NRC staff has also determined that the proposed action is not the type of activity that has the potential to cause effects on historic properties. Therefore, no further consultation is required under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. III. Finding of No Significant Impact The NRC staff has prepared this EA in support of the proposed action. On the basis of this EA, the NRC finds that there are no significant environmental impacts from the proposed action, and that preparation of an environmental impact statement is not warranted. Accordingly, the NRC has determined that a Finding of No Significant Impact is appropriate. IV. Further Information Documents related to this action, including the application for license amendment and supporting documentation, are available electronically at the NRC's Electronic Reading Room at http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. From this site, you can access the NRC's Agencywide Document Access and Management System (ADAMS), which provides text and image files of NRC's public documents. The documents related to this action are listed below, along with their ADAMS accession numbers. 1. Letters dated September 30, 2006, (ML062770396) and October 16, 2006, (ML062900505); 2. NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning Guidance;'' 3. Title 10 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 20, Subpart E, ``Radiological Criteria for License Termination;'' 4. Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 51, ``Environmental Protection Regulations for Domestic Licensing and Related Regulatory Functions;'' 5. NUREG-1496, ``Generic Environmental Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for License Termination of NRC- Licensed Nuclear Facilities.'' If you do not have access to ADAMS, or if there are problems in accessing the documents located in ADAMS, contact the NRC Public Document Room (PDR) Reference staff at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail to pdr@nrc.gov. These documents may also be viewed electronically on the public computers located at the NRC's PDR, O 1 F21, One White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, MD 20852. The PDR reproduction contractor will copy documents for a fee. Dated at 475 Allendale Road, King of Prussia, Pennsylvania this 20th day of November 2006. For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission. James P. Dwyer, Chief Commercial and R Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region 1. [FR Doc. E6-20327 Filed 11-30-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P ***************************************************************** 29 Kyiv Post: Chornobyl officials nearing decision on arch bid by Vlad Lavrov, Kyiv Post Staff Writer Dec 01 2006, 17:58 French joint venture Novarka appears likely to get the lucrative contract to build the long-awaited protective arch over Chornobyls nuclear reactor No. 4, whose meltdown in 1986 triggered the worlds worst nuclear disaster. Novarkas bid came in about $30,000 lower than that of the runner-up, CH2M Hill, a U.S.-Ukrainian venture, which bid $584 million for the contract, said Ihor Hramotkin, the stations general director. Novarka appears to be the frontrunner because officials must consider the least expensive bid first under tender rules established by The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is funding the archs construction, Hramotkin said. But CH2M Hill is still in the running. Should talks with Novarka over 12 unresolved issues fail, Hramotkin said, the competitors bid will be considered. The sides are expected to begin negotiations Dec. 11, and a final decision could be made before the years end. If we get the answer that would satisfy [us as] the contract-awarding party, the tender could be finalized by the end of December, he said. Technical and administrative delays have prevented Chornobyl officials from choosing a contractor for the project, which they hoped will be completed by 2010. 2004 - 2006, SputnikMedia.net. Contact Kyiv Post ***************************************************************** 30 AFP: India, US to resume nuclear pact talks next week Fri Dec 1, 12:44 PM ET NEW DELHI (AFP) - The United States and India will resume talks on a landmark nuclear energy cooperation deal which was passed by the US Senate last month, a report said. The US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns is likely to arrive in the Indian capital December 7, a day after the joint session of the House of Representatives and the Senate meets, the Press Trust of India reported. Burns will hold talks with Shyam Saran, Indian pointman on the agreement reached last year between the two countries during a visit here by US President George W. Bush " /> President George W. Bush, it said. The US official will also meet Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon for talks, the news agency quoted unnamed government officials as saying. The agreement is the centrepiece of India's new relationship with Washington after decades of Cold War chill and is part of the import-dependent nation's bid to increase its energy sources to sustain its booming economy. Nuclear power supplies around three percent of the fuel needs of the country of more than one billion people, but India hopes the figure will rise to at least 20 percent within two decades. India's top official in the nuclear establishment, meanwhile, warned Delhi will not do business in atomic energy with the US unless American lawmakers take on board its concerns while finalising legislation linked to the deal. "We expect all our concerns to be addressed and unless the US rules are modified to take care of our country's interest, the business between the two countries is not possible," Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar said. The military and sections of India's political establishment have expressed fears the deal could hurt the defence capability of the country, which has fought three wars with nuclear rival Pakistan. The nuclear watchdog chief said the final legislation should address India's requirements. "The final legislation to be made by the US should be such that it is acceptable to India if business has to be done with them --- as a real cooperation," Kakodkar said in Mumbai, India's commercial capital. The accord has been seen as controversial because the US Congress had to exempt New Delhi from the requirements of the US Atomic Energy Act, which bans nuclear sales to countries outside the Non Proliferation Treaty, such as India. US weapons experts also warn that such a deal would make it harder to enforce rules against nuclear renegades Iran " /> Iranand North Korea " /> North Koreaand set a dangerous precedent for other nations with nuclear ambitions. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 31 Hudson Valley News: Indian Point 2 returns to service Friday, December 1, 2006 Buchanan  The Indian Point 2 nuclear power plant returned to service shortly after midnight Friday morning after workers completed repairs to a one-inch pipe used in a system that purifies non-radioactive water that is heated to make steam in the plants four steam generators. The steam spins the main turbine for electricity production. There was no release of radioactivity. The plant was expected to reach full power by later Friday. The NRC and local officials have been notified. Indian Point 3, which is unaffected by the work, is operating at full power. HEAR today's news on MidHudsonRadio.com, the Hudson Valley's only Internet radio news report. ***************************************************************** 32 Journal-Standard: LETTER: Wind power beats nuclear alternatives Opinion Published: Thursday, November 30, 2006 11:09 PM CST I have listened and read the pros and cons (mostly cons) of these proposed wind farms. It is good we all have different opinions on the issue. But the alternative is nuclear, a fuel that remains radioactive forever. Wind and solar power are here and will always be here, I hope. Windburn and sunburn will heal. Radiation will not. I know of a family in Europe who does not have loved ones with them anymore, as they were outside in the rain when a cloud from the Chernobyl reactor disaster went over. They live in Estonia, several hundred miles away from Chernobyl They will not eat or drink anything (milk, veggies, eggs, etc.) that is fed from anything grown from the land in the area. Noise and eyesore is one thing, but living next to a nuke plant is another thing. I worry about Byron. Hope the wind stays out of the north. I would like my descendants around to remember me with a safe gene pool. Betty Bell Riddott Editor's note: Letters on the wind-farm issue were placed before Thursday's vote. See news for coverage of the County Board action. &images Copyright 2006 The Journal Standard, a GateHouse Media paper ***************************************************************** 33 UPI: Analysis: Reid to change U.S. energy plan United Press International - Energy - 12/1/2006 4:30:00 PM -0500 By BEN LANDO UPI Energy Correspondent LAS VEGAS, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- When he takes control of the U.S. Senate in January, Harry Reid's agenda will include moving the country toward energy independence -- a U.S. security issue, he says -- which he blames the Republican Congress and president for hindering. In an exclusive interview with United Press International in his Las Vegas office, the future Senate Majority Leader said Thursday he's astonished by how much oil the United States consumes and by the lack of attention paid to drawing down the crude habit. "Think about this: We use 21 million barrels of oil every day," said Reid, D-Nev. "But then to make it even more profane, we import 65 percent of that." He said voters Nov. 7 decided on the Democratic Party, partly because "energy independence" was part of its platform. "With the Republican-dominated Congress and the president, we couldn't change it. We offered amendments that were turned down easily. We were voted down on party line basis most every time." Reid said Congress needs to invest away from fossil fuels and more in solar and wind power, geothermal (generating power from the natural heat deep in the Earth) and biomass (converting plant matter to fuels). "We can't do it overnight but I think we have to set goals. How about something as simple as reducing the importation of oil by a million barrels a year," Reid said. "If we could only import 20 million barrels then we could do a number of things. What I hope that we would do is move to alternative energy. Give tax credits over a long period of time, not a year or two, so people could invest in alternative energy. We could certainly do more with conservation that we're not doing." Of the 7.6 billion barrels of crude and petroleum products the United States consumed in 2005, 3.3 billion barrels was burned in the nation's vehicles, according to the Energy Information Administration, the data arm of the U.S. Energy Department. Reid says this is a great starting point for reducing U.S. consumption and increasing energy efficiency, and favors raising the bar for fuel economy standards, which the industry is against. "We really feel that the best way to encourage efficiency is by stimulating the market with incentives," said Wade Newton, communications director for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. "The industry supports putting as many fuel efficient vehicles on the road as soon as possible," not with mandates, but by creating a market of many options and giving consumers tax incentives to purchase efficient vehicles. Reid says he'd also be open to new nuclear power in the United States. But he's at odds with the industry over what to do with the nuclear waste. Reid wants it kept safe at the nuclear plants as opposed to a proposed repository inside Yucca Mountain, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. While the Yucca argument is a major one, Trish Conrad, spokeswoman for the Nuclear Energy Institute, said the industry is looking forward to working with the new Congress. "We know that he has supported nuclear energy in the past," she said. Without giving exact details, Reid said to expect a tax on oil company profits he deems excessive. "Yeah, we're going to do a number of things. We believe that there should be a windfall profits tax. See I personally think it's not right that Exxon makes $40 billion a year net profit and we give them subsidies." He said he's in favor of some domestic oil and gas drilling off the U.S. coast, part of an offshore drilling bill the Senate passed earlier this year (although it's at odds with a House version), but won't allow exploration in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "ANWR will not happen. I am opposed to it. That was one of the joys of my life was when we defeated that legislative initiative of Sen. (Ted) Stevens (R-Alaska) to drill in ANWR," he said. "There are things we can do for domestic production but keep in mind we control less than 3 percent of oil in the world," Reid said. "Ninety-seven- plus percent is in Saudi Arabia, Russia, other countries. We can't produce our way out of the problems that we have. It's not improbable, it's impossible. "We have two years guaranteed and I hope by the end of this Congress we have things that are in motion to cut down our dependence on foreign oil." Reid said the country has been short-sighted when making decisions on energy, which he said should be looked at as both a security and an economic issue. And he said foresight requires a move away from Bush administration policies; away from the secret energy strategy meetings held by Vice President Dick Cheney in 2001, which created the basis for all energy legislation and policy over the past six years. "How did we come up with the energy policy that we have? Obviously this is the most oil-friendly administration in the history of our country. They both made their fortunes in oil." -- (Comments to energy@upi.com) Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 34 UPI: Thorium plant should be built in Norway United Press International - NewsTrack - 12/1/2006 6:18:00 PM -0500 OSLO, Norway, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- The theory of a nuclear-power plant based on thorium is proven and now it's time to build a prototype, a Norwegian scientist says. Scientists at the European particle physics research center in Switzerland said the theoretical issues have been resolved. Thorium is more plentiful than uranium, produces less waste and cannot melt down. Political will and money are needed now, said Petter Omtvedt at the Institute for Nuclear Chemistry at the University of Oslo. "A prototype thorium power plant must be built before they can be built on a commercial basis," Omtvedt told the Aftenposten. "The day that thorium-based power plants can be built on a commercial basis will revolutionize the world's power supply." Omtvedt said Norway should be considered because the country has the financial resources and should be looking to find a safe and carbon dioxide-free source. The environmental group Bellona, however, has raised concerns about how to counter corrosion problems that will occur when lead, a part of the process, is heated to 700 Celsius. Disposing of thorium waste is another thorny point and as is using uranium-233, which can be used in nuclear weapons production. Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 35 IHT: China tightens export controls on nuclear technology - International Herald Tribune The Associated Press Published: December 1, 2006 BEIJING: China has tightened controls on exports of nuclear technology, announcing Friday revised regulations to prevent sensitive items from passing into the hands of governments at risk of colluding with terrorists. The revised rules, published by the Xinhua News Agency, come as China is still fuming over neighbor North Korea's October nuclear test-explosion and as Beijing is expanding nuclear energy cooperation with ally Pakistan. The revisions to earlier regulations issued in 2001 expressly state that the rules are for "preventing the proliferation of nuclear weapons (and) safeguarding against nuclear terrorism." Among the items added to the new controls are uranium enrichment facilities, equipment to produce heavy water, which can used to generate fuel for nuclear weapons, and facilities and equipment that deal with radioactive materials. Today in Asia - Pacific Chinese government agencies involved in approving transfers of nuclear equipment are now authorized to halt exports to foreign users or governments "in danger of nuclear proliferation or nuclear terrorism," the revisions said. China began tightening control over nuclear exports in the late 1990s under pressure from the United States and, after the September 11 terror attacks on the U.S., out of fear its security interests could be threatened by nuclear terrorism. Though China has not been accused of abetting North Korea's nuclear program in recent years, it repeatedly came under criticism for aiding Pakistan in the 1980s and 1990s and in the past few years Iran, with Chinese companies at times getting slapped with U.S. sanctions. China has argued that countries have a right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes and that its trade in nuclear technologies is to assist those programs. Last week Chinese President Hu Jintao announced plans to step up cooperation on civilian nuclear energy with Pakistan, where China helped build a 300-megawatt nuclear power station in 1999 and construction on a second plant is under way. All rights reserved [IHT] ***************************************************************** 36 Guardian Unlimited: Letters 'revealed secret hit squad' [UP] Press Association Friday December 1, 2006 12:13 PM Detectives are investigating letters smuggled out of Russia purporting to show the existence of a secret squad set up to target poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko and others. Scotland Yard has been passed copies of two letters apparently penned in jail by former Russian intelligence officer Mikhail Trepashkin, in one of which Mr Litvinenko is warned that both he and his family are at risk. Mr Litvinenko's London friend Alex Goldfarb said scans of the letters came into his possession on Thursday and he passed them to Scotland Yard. Mr Trepashkin, who worked for the KGB's successor the FSB until 1997, was tried in 2004, accused of being a British spy and passing secret information to Mr Litvinenko and his close friend the tycoon Boris Berezovsky, both exiled in London. Mr Litvinenko, who died a week ago from radiation poisoning, believed he had been murdered for criticising Russian president Vladimir Putin. A special post-mortem examination is taking place on his body at the Royal London Hospital. Traces of the radioactive substance polonium 210, which was found in a sample of Mr Litvinenko's urine, have since been detected at 12 sites, including British Airways planes. The letters include one to Mr Litvinenko which he never received, as well as one to his friend Mr Goldfarb. In the message to Mr Litvinenko on November 20, Mr Trepashkin recalls a conversation in August 2002 in which he warned Mr Litvinenko - already living in London - that he and his family were at risk from the FSB. Mr Trepashkin tells his friend that he had met an FSB contact near a railway station in Russia who told him that a "very serious group" had been set up, which "will knock out all those associated with Berezovsky and Litvinenko". The letter says that Mr Trepashkin was urged to co-operate with the group and provide information on Mr Litvinenko and members of his family. Mr Goldfarb said the other letter, addressed to him and written on November 25, detailed an offer to be a witness in the British investigation. Mr Goldfarb, who says that he can attest to the authenticity of the handwriting, said he had immediately passed the letters to police. Scotland Yard said that it could not confirm specific details on the investigation. "This continues to be an extremely complex investigation and detectives are pursuing many lines of inquiries," a spokesman said, adding: "I think it is significant because it shows that there was an FSB group set up back in 2002 that targeted Litvinenko and Berezovsky." Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 37 UPI: U.S. boosts nuke security in Slovenia United Press International - Security &Terrorism - 12/1/2006 11:54:00 AM -0500 WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A U.S. agency has boosted nuclear detection screening security in the former Yugoslav republic of Slovenia. The U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration has announced that in cooperation with the Slovenia authorities, it has completed the installation of radiation detection equipment to screen for nuclear and radiological material at the port of Koper in Slovenia. The equipment is now "fully operational," the NNSA said in a recent statement. The agency said the new equipment "was installed ... under NNSA's Second Line of Defense program, which works around the world to prevent the illicit trafficking of nuclear weapons and 'dirty bomb' material." "Detecting smuggled nuclear material is part of our overall efforts to prevent nuclear terrorism. The Slovenian Port of Koper is a major crossroad between eastern and western Europe. It is important that we have adequate detection there," said NNSA Administrator Linton F. Brooks. "Since April 2005, NNSA has worked with the Customs Administration of Slovenia to install the radiation equipment and train the appropriate law enforcement officials to use the system and respond to alarms," the agency said. "The enhanced screening capabilities at this port will improve the security of Slovenia, the United States, and all of our neighbors and allies," said Brooks. "This cooperative effort provides a strong defense against illicit trafficking of nuclear and other radioactive materials." The NNSA said its Second Line of Defense Program involved cooperating with other nations and authorizes in other countries "to equip border crossings, airports and seaports with radiation detection equipment." "The specialized radiation detection technology deployed under this program is based on technologies originally developed by NNSA laboratories as part of overall U.S. government efforts to guard against proliferation of weapons material," the agency said. Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 38 [v911t] Depleted Uranium Munitions War Production Targeted Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 13:12:59 -0600 (CST) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-DSPAM-Result: mail; result="Innocent"; class="Innocent"; probability=0.0000; confidence=1.00; signature=N/A X-Spam-Class: HAM _____ From: Bush_Be_Gone@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Bush_Be_Gone@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Donna C Sent: Friday, December 01, 2006 8:23 AM To: Subject: [Bush_Be_Gone] Depleted Uranium Munitions War Production Targeted FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bob Nichols San Francisco Bay View Newspaper bob.bobnichols@ gmail.com Depleted Uranium Munitions War Production Targeted by Bob Nichols Project Censored Award winning writer San Francisco Bay View Newspaper (Jonesborough, Tennessee) Friday, December 1, 2006 - The well known and widely respected Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) announced Wednesday in a press release the start of a 1! 0 day prayer vigil at the Aerojet Ordnance plant in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Aerojet produces weaponized uranium gas penetrators for use by the US Military Expeditionary and Occupation forces worldwide. The Christian Peacemaker Teams announced they will intersperse the prayer vigil with meetings with local townspeople and weapons makers to provide them with various perspectives on this deadly radioactive weaponry drama. Team members also announced a second prayer vigil at the notorious Alliant Tech plant in Rocket Center, West Virginia. CPT members will also intersperse the prayer vigil with meetings to provide various perspectives on the production and use of genocidal radioactive weapons. A Christian Peacemaker Team spokesman stated "The Alliant Tech annual corporate statement on expenses and profits proclaimed proudly the weapons factory had manufactured 18 Million uranium tank penetrator rods for the US Military. At slightly more than ten pounds of radioactive uranium apiece that is more than 190 Million pounds of weaponized uranium gas, a genocidal weapon." The spokesman concluded "Using the same calculation method that the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority employed in their 1990 projection of potential DU consequences in Iraq, the estimated 95,400 tons of DU from the Alliant plant could result in as many as 954 Million cancers within the next ten years. That is unacceptable." Christian Peacemaker Team members announced that their many Christian and other supporters, throughout America and the world, can see and read about what is happening on the scene in their Blog report at www.stop-du. org Therefore, Christian Peacemaker Teams calls on: 1. Alliant Tech/ABL, Rocket Center, WV, to stop all DU manufacture as well as the shipping of all DU products; 2. all world militaries to stop using DU weapons; 3. all military personnel to refuse to load DU ammunition or use it in any of its forms; 4. the US. Defense Department and all manufacturers of DU products, to join with BAE Systems of Great Britain and the British Defense Ministry as they have stopped DU weapons production and stopped its use in war theaters and practice ranges; 5. the U.S. Army and Air Force to follow the lead of the U.S. Navy as it has stopped its use of DU weapons. If the Navy has recognized the dangers of DU's use, it follo! ws that the other military services should also end their use of DU weapons. C Copyright Bob Nichols. Copying permitted if you credit the source and leave everything intact, including any notes. Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award winner and lives in California. He formerly lived in Oklahoma. He is a contributor to online publications and is a correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Nichols is a former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. He can be reached by email at bob.bobnichols@ gmail.com [End] If the crazies and the psy ops aren't after you, then you're barking up the wrong tree. ~ S.P. ~ _____ Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. ***************************************************************** 39 [NYTr] Depleted Uranium Weapons Production Targeted Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 17:32:19 -0600 (CST) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-DSPAM-Result: mail; result="Innocent"; class="Whitelisted"; probability=0.0000; confidence=1.00; signature=N/A X-Spam-Class: HAM Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Christian Peacemaker Teams / Bob Nichols FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - Dec 1, 2006 Depleted Uranium Munitions War Production Targeted by Bob Nichols bob.bobnichols@gmail.com Project Censored Award winning writer San Francisco Bay View Newspaper (Jonesborough, Tennessee) Friday, December 1, 2006 - The well known and widely respected Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) announced Wednesday in a press release the start of a 10-day prayer vigil at the Aerojet Ordnance plant in Jonesborough, Tennessee. Aerojet produces weaponized uranium gas penetrators for use by the US Military Expeditionary and Occupation forces worldwide. The Christian Peacemaker Teams announced they will intersperse the prayer vigil with meetings with local townspeople and weapons makers to provide them with various perspectives on this deadly radioactive weaponry drama. Team members also announced a second prayer vigil at the notorious Alliant Tech plant in Rocket Center, West Virginia. CPT members will also intersperse the prayer vigil with meetings to provide various perspectives on the production and use of genocidal radioactive weapons. A Christian Peacemaker Team spokesman stated "The Alliant Tech annual corporate statement on expenses and profits proclaimed proudly the weapons factory had manufactured 18 Million uranium tank penetrator rods for the US Military. At slightly more than ten pounds of radioactive uranium apiece that is more than 190 Million pounds of weaponized uranium gas, a genocidal weapon." The spokesman concluded "Using the same calculation method that the U.K. Atomic Energy Authority employed in their 1990 projection of potential DU consequences in Iraq, the estimated 95,400 tons of DU from the Alliant plant could result in as many as 954 Million cancers within the next ten years. That is unacceptable." Christian Peacemaker Team members announced that their many Christian and other supporters, throughout America and the world, can see and read about what is happening on the scene in their Blog report at http://www.stop-du.org Therefore, Christian Peacemaker Teams calls on: 1. Alliant Tech/ABL, Rocket Center, WV, to stop all DU manufacture as well as the shipping of all DU products; 2. all world militaries to stop using DU weapons; 3. all military personnel to refuse to load DU ammunition or use it in any of its forms; 4. the US. Defense Department and all manufacturers of DU products, to join with BAE Systems of Great Britain and the British Defense Ministry as they have stopped DU weapons production and stopped its use in war theaters and practice ranges; 5. the U.S. Army and Air Force to follow the lead of the U.S. Navy as it has stopped its use of DU weapons. If the Navy has recognized the dangers of DU's use, it follows that the other military services should also end their use of DU weapons. C Copyright Bob Nichols. Copying permitted if you credit the source and leave everything intact, including any notes. [Bob Nichols is a Project Censored Award winner and lives in California. He formerly lived in Oklahoma. He is a contributor to online publications and is a correspondent for the San Francisco Bay View newspaper. Nichols is a former employee of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. He can be reached by email at bob.bobnichols@gmail.com] * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 40 Guardian Unlimited: Litvinenko affair: now the man who warned him poisoned too Ian Cobain, Ian Sample and Mark Rice-Oxley in Moscow Saturday December 2, 2006 The Guardian The unknown assassin who killed Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, appeared last night to have claimed a second victim after tests revealed that one of the dead man's associates had been poisoned with the same radioactive isotope, polonium-210. Mario Scaramella was found to have ingested a potentially fatal dose of the substance and was being treated at a London hospital last night. The Italian self-styled security consultant says he flew to London last month to warn Mr Litvinenko that both their lives were at risk. At a meeting at a West End sushi restaurant he claimed he gave the Russian a document which named five people on a hitlist allegedly drawn up by Russian intelligence officers. Mr Scaramella's urine was tested after he returned to London this week following Mr Litvinenko's death. The Guardian has been told that the amount of polonium-210 found in the Russian's body could have killed him 100 times over, and would have cost as much as 20m to acquire. Last night it emerged that Mr Litvinenko's wife, Marina, had also tested positive for polonium-210. Tests showed that she had ingested a small amount, which posed no immediate health risk and a "very small" long-term risk. While the amount detected in Mr Scaramella's body is considerably less than was found in Mr Litvinenko's, it presents a grave threat to his health. The Health Protection Agency (HPA) said "high quantities" of polonium-210 had been found. "The quantities are such that they are likely to be of concern for his immediate health," a spokesman said. Mr Scaramella was last night being treated at University College Hospital, where Mr Litvinenko died nine days ago. The hospital released a statement last night saying that Mr Scaramella was "currently well" and showed "no symptoms of radiation poisoning". Scientists advising police believe it is possible he was poisoned at the same time as the former spy, who complained of feeling ill shortly after the meeting at the Itsu sushi restaurant in Piccadilly on November 1. Mr Litvinenko ate fish, while the Italian only drank water. Since his voluntary return to the UK last Monday, Mr Scaramella, 36, has been under the protection of Scotland Yard and has been having a debriefing at Ashford Park Hotel near Forest Row, East Sussex, part of which was sealed off last night. When he spoke to the Guardian by telephone shortly after 1pm yesterday, he said he had been cleared of any wrongdoing, and hoped to be back in Italy by the weekend. He also said he had been undergoing tests, adding: "I'm clear of contamination." Less than an hour later he was learning that he had, in fact, suffered potentially fatal radiation poisoning. At another London hospital yesterday three pathologists donned protective suits to carry out a postmortem examination on Mr Litvinenko's body. Police have found traces of polonium-210 at a dozen locations in London, including Mr Litvinenko's home in Muswell Hill, two luxury hotels, and two British Airways 767s, which had been flying to and from Moscow. By examining hotel records, immigration files and CCTV images - and by discovering traces of radioactivity at address which Mr Litvinenko did not visit - police are believed to have built up a detailed picture of how the isotope may have been smuggled into the country. British officials say the perpetrators were probably former Russian security agents, or members of a criminal gang linked to them. They also say that only a "state" institution would have access to polonium-210. They insist there is no evidence of the involvement of the Russian government, which has issued repeated denials and said it is prepared to cooperate fully with Scotland Yard. The Kremlin's deputy spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told the Guardian yesterday that Russia produced polonium at only one city, which is closed to foreigners, and kept strict controls on the eight grammes it exports to American companies each month. "It is completely impossible for nuclear materials to be stolen and smuggled," he said. Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European commission, voiced his concern about the case yesterday. "We have a problem with Russia. In fact, we have several problems. Too many people have been killed and we don't know who killed them." [UP] Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 41 PRX: DIRTY HARRY - When the American Dream Became a Nightmare Summary: The effects of the nuclear weapons tests in Nevada on people working at, and living downwind from the test site Hosted by Jon Beaupre. Production assistance: KNPR-Las Vegas Support for the program comes in part from the PRX's Reversioning Project Timely on: November: Ten year anniversary of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty Description: Ten years ago, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The same year it was signed by 71 nations, including the United States. Between 1951 and 1992, the United States detonated a total of 928 nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site. Starting in the early 1990s producer Claes Andreasson has interviewed people working at, and living nearby the test site. As well as scientists, legal scholars and test officials. "Dirty Harry-When the American Dream Became a Nightmare" is a look back, with added interviews done in 2006. "Dirty Harry" is hosted by Jon Beaupre. Support for the program comes from PRX's Reversioning Project. New to PRX? + copyright 2003-2006 PRX ***************************************************************** 42 AFP: Post-mortem due on former Russian spy as more people tested for radiation - by Robin Millard Fri Dec 1, 7:51 AM ET LONDON (AFP) - Pathologists are preparing to carry out a potentially hazardous post-mortem on former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, as growing numbers of people were tested for possible exposure to radiation. The specialist autopsy was due to be carried out at a London hospital, a week after the defector and Kremlin critic's urine was found to have large quantities of the radioactive substance polonium-210. Those present were to wear protective clothing to avoid contamination by traces of the highly-toxic isotope, believed to be responsible for ravaging Litvinenko's body before his death last week, the BBC reported. The Russian's death last Thursday has triggered a growing health scare as traces of radiation have been found at more locations, and on board aircraft, apparently linked to the ex-spy or those who allegedly killed him. According to the latest figures, about 1,700 people have called the government-run health service's hotline saying they were at the locations Litvinenko is said to have visited on the day he fell ill. Of those, the Health Protection Agency (HPA) -- the body managing the unprecedented situation -- has followed up on 139 cases. As of Thursday, a total of 24 had been referred to specialists for an exposure assessment. Home Secretary John Reid told parliament Thursday that traces of radiation had been found at around 12 locations, out of a total of about 24 venues which were under investigation. Among people concerned about possible exposure to a radioactive substance found on two British Airways planes so far were Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell and 2012 London Olympics organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe. They travelled to Barcelona on one of the BA aircraft. They have spoken to the authorities and the plane has since been given the all-clear. Britain's top police officer Sir Ian Blair said the cost of the police investigation so far was 300,000 pounds (590,000 dollars, 445,000 euros). The probe has gradually homed in on a string of London locations -- including two hospitals, a sushi bar and a hotel -- and three BA planes used on London-Moscow flights. BA said it was doing everything it could, after taking calls from more than 7,500 concerned customers so far on its special helpline and receiving more than 60,000 hits on its Internet page relating to the radiation alert. The airline said earlier that about 33,000 of its passengers may have come into contact with a radioactive substance. British police and intelligence services increasingly suspect that "rogue elements" within the Russian state are behind Litvinenko's death on November 23, The Guardian reported on Friday, and they have apparently ruled out official Kremlin involvement. Citing sources within the police and intelligence services, the paper said investigators were hunting a group of five or more men who arrived in London shortly before Litvinenko fell ill on November 1, and watched a Champions League football match between London club Arsenal and CSKA Moscow the same day. The group, described thus far only as witnesses, flew back to Moscow shortly afterward. Meanwhile, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported that Russian businessman Andrei Lugovoi said that he was in London to attend the CSKA game with Dmitry Kovtun and Vyacheslav Sokolenko, all three of whom met with Litvinenko at the hotel on November 1. Police also believe that Litvinenko was poisoned at or near the sushi bar, The Independent reported on Friday. Meanwhile, stricken former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar's spokesman said he was the victim of an "unnatural" poisoning, fuelling fears his case may be linked to that Litvinenko and Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, also a critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin " /> , who was murdered in October. Police in Ireland, where Gaidar fell ill, have started an inquiry into what caused his illness. Gaidar is currently at a hospital in Moscow. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 43 AFP: British radiation poisoning case: suspect BA plane back in London - Fri Dec 1, 6:17 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - A British Airways jet which was grounded in Moscow amid fears of radioactive contamination linked to the death of a Russian ex-spy was flown back to London, a company spokeswoman said. "It landed at 2054 (GMT). It was flown over empty from Moscow. It's landed at Heathrow. That's where the testing will be undertaken this weekend," she told AFP. The plane -- a Boeing 767 -- had two pilots on board but neither was wearing protective clothing, the spokeswoman said. It was taken to BA's engineering base at Heathrow where two other 767s are currently being tested for suspected exposure to radioactive polonium 210. British authorities revealed on Thursday that traces of radiation had been found at 12 locations as part of the probe into Alexander Litvinenko's death on November 23. They include at least two BA planes grounded at Heathrow. The airline has issued an alert for some 33,000 passengers who were on planes potentially contaminated with radiation over the last month or so. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 44 AFP: Italian contact of ex-spy 'well' in hospital after positive radiation test - by Robin Millard Fri Dec 1, 6:53 PM ET LONDON (AFP) - Britain's radioactive poisoning affair took a dramatic new twist as officials confirmed that a close contact of dead Russian ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko had also tested positive for radiation. Italian academic Mario Scaramella was admitted to University College Hospital London (UCHL) after tests detected polonium 210 in his body, but he was said to be "well". "Tests have detected polonium 210 in Mr Scaramella's body, but at a considerably lower level than Mr Litvinenko," consultant haemotologist Keith Patterson said in a statement read to reporters on the hospital's steps. "He is currently well and shows no symptoms of radiation poisoning. He's receiving further tests over the weekend." Scaramella's partner, whose name was not divulged, has left the southern Italian city of Naples to be at his bedside in London and undergo tests herself, the Italian ANSA news agency reported. Meanwhile, ANSA quoted Maxim Litvinenko as confirming that his brother's wife Marina had been exposed to polonium 210 -- a highly radioactive isotope -- but neither she nor the couple's son were contaminated. It also emerged that police cordoned off the Ashdown Park Hotel and Country Park in the county of Sussex, south of London, but there was no confirmation that either Scaramella had been a guest or whether radiation was found. The developments came as pathologists completed a potentially-hazardous post-mortem on Kremlin critic Litvinenko, who died a week ago claiming his killing was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin " /> . Health authorities reiterated that the risk to public health remained low, since the radioactive material at the heart of the scare is only harmful if ingested. But in a sign of the continuing high alert on the political level, the government's top level COBRA committee, which usually meets in national emergencies, was convened again. Scaramella has increasingly become the focus of the investigation. He met Litvinenko at a sushi restaurant on November 1 shortly before the Russian fell ill. The self-styled security expert, who has been under police guard at a London safe house, claimed he met Litvinenko to tell him both their names were on a Russian secret services hit list. Some have accused Scaramella of having a role in the poisoning case, but he has denied involvement. Earlier Friday, a specialist post-mortem took place on Litvinenko's body at the Royal London Hospital with those present reportedly wearing protective clothing to avoid potential contamination. On the diplomatic front, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett met her Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a conference in Jordan, and sought renewed assurances that Moscow would cooperate in the probe. The tension generated by the affair was clear in his testy response. "We don't understand these daily reminders about the ongoing investigation and that there are some questions to the Russian side. There are none," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency. Moscow is still waiting for "concrete questions" from British authorities, he added. In another new twist, Litvinenko's friend and spokesman said he had given police scans of letters penned by a jailed former Russian intelligence officer showing the existence of a secret squad targeting Litvinenko and others. The two letters were purportedly written by Mikhail Trepashkin, said Alex Goldfarb. In one message, Trepashkin said a contact in the FSB Russian intelligence service had told him a "very serious group" had been set up to "knock out" all those associated with Litvinenko and exiled Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky. The probe initially focused on a string of London locations linked to Litvinenko before he died, including two hospitals, the sushi bar and a hotel. But on Thursday authorities said traces of radiation had been found at 12 locations, including at least two British Airways planes grounded at London's main Heathrow airport. The airline has issued an alert for some 33,000 passengers who were on planes potentially contaminated with radiation over the last month or so. A BA spokeswoman told AFP that a third plane that was grounded in Moscow over contamination fears returned to Heathrow on Friday night for testing. In Ireland, nuclear watchdog the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland (RPII) was assisting police there with a separate probe into the mystery illness of former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar. State broadcaster RTE said the RPII was also testing for traces of polonium 210 at a university where Gaidar spoke before falling ill with what his friends and family say was suspected poisoning on November 24. Copyright 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. ***************************************************************** 45 Reuters: Polonium tightly controlled in Russia-atomic chief Fri 1 Dec 2006 3:42 AM ET MOSCOW, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Polonium 210, a highly toxic radioactive substance found in the boby of an ex-KGB spy who died in London last week, cannot be obtained illegally in Russia, its nuclear energy chief was quoted as saying on Friday. Traces of polonium have also been found in several passenger aircraft and at several places in London, some of which Alexander Litvinenko -- a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin -- visited before his death. In his last note, made public by friends after his death, Litvinenko said Putin was behind his murder. The Kremlin and Russian secret services have denied any connection with his death. The head of Russia's state atomic energy agency Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, told the government daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta that Russia produces only 8 grams of Polonium 210 a month. "All this amount goes to U.S. companies through a single authorised supplier, Tekhsnabexport company," the newspaper quoted Kiriyenko as saying. Kiriyenko refused to say how polonium was produced, but said nuclear reactors like the Russian RMBK or the Canadian CANDU were needed to make it. "In Russia all nuclear reactors, including those used for research, are government property tightly controlled by federal authorities," he said. Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 46 Gazette.com: Records unsealed, but case still murky December 01, 2006 By PAM ZUBECK THE GAZETTE The wife of a retired federal agent missing for 2 years from Fremont County gave numerous inconsistent statements about his disappearance, according to court documents released Thursday. The records, unsealed after The Gazette sought their disclosure, show investigators conducted a search Sept. 20 and removed four knives, blood samples from the homes rock-wall facing, bank statements, documents, green sticky notes, his wifes will and a wiccan date book. Investigators also took cash, a passport and a computer the mans wife said he smashed before leaving and that she said she later threw away. Theres no indication investigators found Gene Fishs remains, deepening the mystery of what became of the former Nuclear Regulatory Commission agent. The affidavit stops short of naming a suspect but clearly states officials sought evidence of a murder. It may certainly produce further leads for us, Sheriff Jim Beicker said. It is an active investigation into the disappearance of Gene Fish. I will not comment or discuss any items collected during our search as it is an active investigation. The matter dates to June 20, 2004, the day Gene Fish, 54 at that time, last spoke to his father, Bill Fish of Fultonville, N.Y., on the phone. He hasnt been heard from by any of his friends or family since and hasnt tapped into his financial assets or used his credit cards, cell phone or passport. Fremont County authorities didnt seek the search warrant for the 35-acre tract west of Caon City until after Bill Fish asked the governors office in August to order the Colorado Bureau of Investigation involved. Gov. Bill Owens office said the CBI is assisting. Private investigators hired by Bill Fish drafted an affidavit for a search warrant in March 2005, but officials declined to act on it. The affidavit submitted by Fremont County authorities 18 months later contained little substantive information that wasnt known long before. In court documents submitted Sept. 15, Sheriffs Sgt. Robert Dodd said he would search for Fishs remains; weapons or any device thought to have caused a death; old blood, using Luminol, a substance that detects it; documents that could lead to the whereabouts of Fish; and computers. Dodds 13-page search warrant affidavit recounts contradictory statements Genes wife, Lynn, has given. Among them: c Lynn told Bill Fish on July 2, 2004, that Genes pickup had reappeared in her driveway two days after he left with a smashed CB radio inside. When talking to investigators on Sept. 2, 2004, she said the truck never had a CB radio. c She told Bill Fish that Gene left on June 21 after destroying the family computer and some tools in the garage and taking about $10,000 in cash. On Sept. 2, 2004, she told investigators he left with $20,000 in cash and investigators saw no signs of obviously damaged tools. c In July 2004, she told Genes friend Chuck DeLuca of New York, We are outside working on the stone wall; Gene is not going to be able to make it to a golf tournament in New York. She also said she thought hed gone to Mexico. On Sept. 2, 2004, a neighbor, Dan Ainsworth, told investigators that Lynn had told him Gene had gone to New York. She also told another neighbor, Tony Revak, that Gene went to New York to be with his parents. Dodds affidavit notes suspicious elements. One was Lynns purchase of a mattress on July 6, 2004, the affidavit notes. A delivery crew said they didnt haul away a used mattress. Ogden, the trash man, said he never found a mattress in the Dumpster. Necro dogs, which can detect human remains, were used during the Sept. 20 search, but the warrant inventory lists no samples indicating remains were found. COMMENT ON THIS STORY (0) Copyright 2006, The Gazette, a division of Freedom Colorado ***************************************************************** 47 Guardian Unlimited: Brit. Airways to Scan Jet for Radiation From the Associated Press [UP] Friday December 1, 2006 9:31 AM AP Photo MOSB108 MOSCOW (AP) - British Airways said Friday that one of its planes that has been parked at a Moscow airport will fly to London later in the day for a radiation check. The plane is among three grounded by the airline amid the investigation into the radioactive poisoning death of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in London. Litvinenko was poisoned by the rare radioactive element polonium 210, and investigators are looking into radioactive traces founded on three British Airways planes that have traveled the Moscow-London route since Nov. 1, when Litvinenko is believed to have been poisoned. Britain's Health Protection Agency said Thursday night that it had confirmed that passengers on one of two planes grounded at London's Heathrow airport had not been put at risk and the plane had now been cleared to fly again. But officials were still monitoring the possible exposure of passengers on the other. It was unclear how the traces of radiation found their way on board the planes. The press office of British Airway's Moscow office said the British government had allowed the Boeing-767 currently parked at Moscow's Domodedovo airport to return to London on Friday. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 48 UPI: Polonium 210 kills if swallowed or inhaled United Press International - NewsTrack - 12/1/2006 4:15:00 PM -0500 COLUMBIA, Mo., Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Polonium 210 is a deadly element only if a person swallows or inhales it, a University of Missouri nuclear expert said Friday. The recent death of a former Russian spy in England prompted questions about the deadly radioactive element, said William Miller, professor of nuclear engineering in the university's Nuclear Science and Engineering Institute. Before dying, the ex-spy-turned-journalist blamed the Russian government for poisoning him with polonium 210. "He had to have eaten or drank it, ingested it into his body. Otherwise, it wouldn't have harmed him at all," Miller said. "This material is only hazardous inside of your body." The dead skin layer offers sufficient protection from the element outside of the body, he said. Miller said the incident is unusual because, excluding the victims of the atomic bombing of Japan during World War II, fewer than 200 people in the history of the world have died from acute radiation exposure. Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 49 UPI: Secret squad mentioned in ex-spy's death United Press International - NewsTrack - 12/1/2006 10:21:00 AM -0500 LONDON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- British investigators looking into the death of ex-Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko reportedly have information of a secret squad that targeted the ex-spy. Alexander Goldfarb, a friend of Litvinenko, said he handed Scotland Yard copies of two letters purportedly written by former Russian intelligence officer Mikhail Trepashkin while he was in prison, the Times of London said. In one letter, Litvinenko was warned that both he and his family were at risk. Litvinenko blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for his death. Investigators do not agree but are said to believe that polonium 210, the radioactive element used to poison him, must have been obtained by someone with access to government nuclear facilities. Meanwhile, the Kremlin was at the center of another poison mystery after the family of former Russian Prime Minister Yegor Gaidar claimed that he had been sickened by unknown toxins. Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 50 Guardian Unlimited: Former Spy's Wife Positive for Radiation From the Associated Press [UP] Friday December 1, 2006 9:16 PM AP Photo MOSB835 By TARIQ PANJA Associated Press Writer LONDON (AP) - An Italian security expert who met with former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko the day he fell fatally ill has tested positive for the same radioactive substance found in the ex-spy's body, authorities said Friday. Litvinenko's wife tested positive as well, a friend said. The Italian agent, Mario Scaramella, met with Litvinenko at a sushi bar in London on Nov. 1 - the day the former intelligence agent first reported the symptoms that ultimately led to his death. The impact of the investigation was widely felt Friday - from southern England, where a hotel was temporarily evacuated and checked for radiation, to Ireland, where a hospital was tested, and to Italy, where the Health Ministry sought to reassure the public there was no danger there. Scaramella tested positive for polonium-210, the rare isotope found in Litvinenko's body, but he was exposed to a much lower level of radiation than the ex-spy, doctors treating him at London's University College Hospital said Friday. He has shown ``no symptoms of radiation poisoning,'' hospital spokesman Keith Paterson said. Litvinenko's wife, Marine, was also ``very slightly contaminated'' by the radioactive substance found in her husband's body, the former agent's friend, Alex Goldfarb, told The Associated Press. He said she did not have to seek medical treatment. Home Secretary John Reid confirmed that a member of Litvinenko's family had tested positive for signs of polonium-210, but he did not name the person. Pat Troop, chief executive of the Britain's Health Protection Agency, said the family member faced a ``very small'' long-term health risk. In Ireland, meanwhile, authorities also tested the hospital that treated former Russian prime minister Yegor Gaidar after he became violently ill during a conference last week - an incident his aides have described as another poisoning. Irish health officials said tests were being carried out to gauge any risks to public health at the Dublin hospital, but they refused to say whether they were searching for traces of polonium. Litvinenko died Nov. 23 at a central London hospital and pathologists, wearing protective suits to guard against radiation, began an autopsy Friday. At the Nov. 1 meeting with Litvinenko, Scaramella - who earlier this week said doctors had cleared him - discussed an e-mail he received from a source naming the killers of Anna Politkovskaya, the investigative journalist and Kremlin critic who was gunned down Oct. 7 in Moscow. The e-mail reportedly outlined that he and Litvinenko were also on the hit list. In a letter released Friday by human rights activists, a former Russian security officer - now jailed - said he had also warned Litvinenko about a government-sponsored death squad that intended to kill him and other Kremlin opponents. Litvinenko, 43, a Kremlin critic who lived in Britain, died at a London hospital. In a deathbed statement, he blamed President Vladimir Putin for his poisoning - charges the Kremlin rejected as ``sheer nonsense.'' ``Back in 2002, I warned Alexander Litvinenko that they set up a special team to kill him,'' the former security services officer, Mikhail Trepashkin, wrote in the letter dated Nov. 23 - the day of Litvinenko's death. The letter was released by rights activists in Yekaterinburg, the center of the Ural Mountains province where he is serving his four-year sentence. Its authenticity could not immediately be confirmed. A spokesman for Russia's Federal Security Service, the KGB successor agency known by its Russian acronym FSB, refused to comment on Trepashkin's claim. Trepashkin was arrested in October 2003 and convicted on charges of divulging state secrets while investigating allegations of FSB involvement in a series of deadly apartment bombings that killed about 300 people in Moscow and two other cities in 1999. The government blamed the explosions on Chechnya-based rebels, but Litvinenko and other Kremlin critics alleged they were staged by authorities as a pretext for launching the current Chechen war. The FSB, where both Trepashkin and Litvinenko worked, alleged that Trepashkin had been recruited by British agents to collect compromising materials on the explosions with the aim of discrediting the Russian security agency. Trepashkin said in his letter that after his arrest authorities had put him in a cell contaminated with poisonous chemicals and threatened to kill him. ``Litvinenko and I aren't the last in this chain of victims of persecution,'' he wrote. ``Maybe Litvinenko's death could make you believe in what he was saying.'' Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow was ready to answer concrete questions from Britain concerning Litvinenko's death, Russian news agencies reported. ``When the questions are formulated and sent through the existing channels, we will consider them thoroughly,'' Lavrov was quoted as saying in Jordan by the ITAR-Tass news agency. ``There have been no such questions yet.'' Gaidar, the former Russian premier who fell ill in Ireland, was treated in the intensive care unit at Dublin's James Connolly Memorial Hospital, which was also being tested Friday for signs of hazardous materials. Gaidar, 50, who served briefly as prime minister in the 1990s under President Boris Yeltsin and is one of the leaders of a liberal opposition party, began vomiting and fainted during a conference in Ireland on Nov. 24 - a day after Litvinenko's death. Gaidar's daughter, Maria, said told AP Television News in Moscow that his life was no longer in danger and he was slowly recovering. Gaidar's aides believe he may also have been poisoned. Irish police have launched an inquiry into Gaidar's illness, but they said the investigation was routine and should not worry the public. ``Tracing the movements of the subject and establishing the facts is the focus'' of the investigation, police said in a statement. Traces of radiation have been found at a dozen sites in Britain and five jetliners were being investigated for possible contamination. A hotel in Sussex, southeastern England, was briefly evacuated Friday as police and health workers carried out tests for polonium-210. The hotel, set in 186 acres of countryside, had been visited by Scaramella after he met with Litvinenko, authorities said. It was later reopened. British Airways said Friday that one of its planes that has been parked at a Moscow airport would be flown back to London later in the day for a radiation check. Traces of radiation were found on it and two other aircraft that have traveled the Moscow-London route since Nov. 1, when Litvinenko is believed to have been poisoned. In 1998, Litvinenko publicly accused his superiors of ordering him to kill the tycoon Boris Berezovsky and spent nine months in jail from 1999 on charges of abuse of office. He was later acquitted and in 2000 sought asylum in Britain. Trepashkin's letter also mentioned official targeting of Berezovsky. --- Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Moscow. Guardian Unlimited Guardian News and Media Limited 2006 ***************************************************************** 51 Earth Times: DOE wants 208K acres for nuke waste route : Fri, 01 Dec 2006 22:38:00 GMT | Author : Agencies WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 The U.S. Energy Department wants access to 208,000 more acres of public land to study a route for delivering nuclear waste to a repository in Nevada.The department filed an application with the Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management for two tracts of land around Yucca Mountain, where a geologic repostority is proposed.Located 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, it would hold at least 77,000 tons of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel produced by U.S. weapons programs and nuclear plants. The Energy Department hasn't submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for the site, and has not even decided on how the fuel would make it there.It requested sole-access to 139,391 acres between Hawthorne and Goldfield, Nev., that it would study as part of the Mina route.That is considred the least expensive of the railroad options. Opponents say it bring nuclear waste -- though sealed and protected -- too close to large populations.The department has also asked the BLM for access to 69,000 more acres as part of the proposed Caliente route, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.Doran Sanchez, a BLM spokesman, said the requests are under review and a public hearing will be held.Opponents say the Energy Department hasn't been open enough will local communities that would be affected by the routes.Copyright 2006 by United Press International Web earthtimes.org (c) 2006 , All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 52 reviewjournal.com: Yucca coalition presses Reid on 'abusing' powers Dec. 01, 2006 Project supporters challenge senator to schedule votes By STEVE TETREAULT STEPHENS WASHINGTON BUREAU Sen. Harry Reid on Thursday tours the 99th Logistics Readiness Squadron Vehicle Management Flight building on Nellis Air Force Base. Photos by Clint Karlsen. Sen. Harry Reid shakes hands with Nellis Air Force Base personnel on Thursday. Earlier, he rejected criticism by a nuclear energy coalition that his pledge to block votes on the Yucca Mountain Project would be an abuse of his new powers as Senate majority leader. WASHINGTON -- Leaders of a coalition that supports the Yucca Mountain repository applied pressure on Sen. Harry Reid on Thursday, saying that he is "abusing" his new powers as Senate majority leader by pledging to block votes on the project planned in Southern Nevada. Reid, who will lead the Senate when it reconvenes in January, was challenged to allow debate and votes on "fix Yucca Mountain" bills that could pass even though he adamantly opposes them. By refusing to schedule votes, the Nevadan is putting parochial interests before the needs of the nation to relocate radioactive spent fuel away from communities, and the desires of fellow Democrats who have nuclear waste piling up in their states, the repository advocates said. "When (Reid) is leading the majority, he has to act in the best interests of the majority, and the best interests of the majority is to move nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain," said LeRoy Koppendrayer, chairman of the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission. "Would he vote for it himself? I doubt it, but he should let his members vote," Koppendrayer, coalition chairman, said at a news conference. "To even prohibit it from coming to the floor to be addressed to me is a misuse and an abuse of the position," said Charles Pray, a former Maine legislator who now is that state's nuclear adviser. "Please, Senator Reid, stand aside," declared Jack Edlow, president of Edlow International, a nuclear transport company. Edlow said Reid is "conflicted" between roles as Nevada senator and as majority leader and should "remove himself from this debate to let others make the decisions." The coalition consists of public service commissions, nuclear utilities and business interests in 26 states where radioactive spent fuel is stored. It focuses on how the government is managing more than $14 billion that utility ratepayers have contributed into a repository construction fund. Reid said Thursday the coalition was "whistling in the wind" if it thought he would step aside or relax his efforts against Yucca Mountain. "This is not a Nevada parochial issue," he contended. "People all over the country don't like nuclear waste. There is not an environmental group around that supports (Yucca Mountain)." "Yes, the responsibilities I have are broader now, I have more to do than before, but Nevada comes first," Reid said. "I am not going to abuse my power." Reid has contended that a proposal he and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., have made to have the government manage nuclear waste at reactor sites would be a safer alternative than shipping it to Nevada, where elected leaders argue the Yucca site is flawed and unsafe. That plan, which he has said he will continue to promote in the new Congress, has picked up little support since it was introduced last year. Reid also has backed a bill by Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., to authorize interim nuclear waste sites in as many as 31 states, but that idea has been roundly criticized by governors and the Department of Energy as unwieldy. The last time the Senate voted on Yucca Mountain was July 9, 2002, when the repository was approved 60-39. Thirty of the senators serving then have since retired or lost office. Political scientist Barbara Sinclair said congressional leaders occasionally confront questions of "where to draw the line" between state and national priorities. "What the national interest is tends to some extent to be in the eye of the beholder, but mostly the general notion is that of course leaders are going to use their positions to help their own states," said Sinclair, who teaches at UCLA. Considering public opposition to Yucca Mountain in Nevada, "it would be crazy" for Reid to be seen as loosening his hold, Sinclair said. Reid is up for re-election in 2010. "Unless he plans on retiring, this is a no-brainer," because Reid's races generally have been close and he has little wiggle room electorally to compromise, said Richard Semiatin, a political science professor at American University. But Pray said Reid risks being accused of abusing his leadership if his decisions on nuclear waste cause problems for Democrats in states like Pennsylvania and Illinois, which are leading states in terms of nuclear waste being stored in cooling pools and on-site dry casks. "If (Illinois Senators Richard) Durbin and (Barack) Obama want to vote to protect Nevada as perceived by Senator Reid, that is a decision they will have to make," Pray said. With Democrats just having captured the Senate on Election Day and Reid in line to become majority leader, the Nevadan said on Nov. 8 that bills to help Yucca Mountain would never see the Senate floor. Two bills that would allow the Department of Energy to make progress at the repository site, 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas, were proposed in the Congress that is coming to an end this month. It is not yet clear what will be reintroduced in the next session. Another Domenici bill would allow DOE to begin storing nuclear waste on above-ground concrete pads at the Yucca site in 2010, which is at least seven years sooner than the Bush administration has envisioned. A separate "fix Yucca" bill proposed by the administration would authorize a series of changes in law to enable DOE to obtain permits, land ownership and the necessary financing to build the repository. Interest groups and industry organizations that deal with nuclear waste are refocusing their Yucca Mountain strategies on a reconstituted Congress. While the public utility coalition appears to be adopting a combative stance, reaction among other nuclear interests has varied. The Edison Electric Institute earlier this week signaled a willingness to work with Reid. "Harry Reid and the Democrats have to be part of the solution," institute President Tom Kuhn said at a news conference Tuesday. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the largest nuclear lobbying organization, has been low key so far, offering no glimpses as to how it plans to operate in the new Congress. Spokeswoman Trish Conrad said NEI does not share the view that Reid would be abusing power by marshaling his leadership against the repository. "I am told we have not held that opinion nor do we have plans to do so in the future," Conrad said. As for calling on Reid to step aside on repository bills, "we are not aware of any precedent of this kind," Conrad said. Copyright Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006 ***************************************************************** 53 RGJ: Impacted residents not likely to have say in Yucca traffic [Reno Gazette-Journal] [Reno Gazette-Journal] December 01, 2006 Reno, Nevada, USA 775-788-6200 Agenda item to gauge County Commissions reaction slated for Dec. 7 regular meeting. Patrick Abanathy Posted: 12/1/2006 12:09 pm A newly proposed route to haul nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain as early as 2017 would pass within or near three Lyon communities; however, most impacted residents have likely missed recent public scoping sessions on the matter, which were held outside the County. The Mina Corridor, proposed via the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), would see nearly 77,000 tons of nuclear waste materials from the nations nuclear reactor sites pass through Fernley, near Silver Springs and through Wabuska. From there it would head toward Schurz on its way through several other areas to an eventual resting place in Yucca Mountain. Mondays session in Reno was the sixth and, currently, final listed on a recent press release; however, an extended public comment period ends Dec. 12. Other sessions began Nov. 1 and included Amargosa Valley, Caliente, Goldfield, Hawthorne and Fallon. Jon Summers, spokesman for Yucca repository opponent U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, said the scoping sessions were more or less rooms with information and, if citizens wished, a court reporter was present to record their comments/concerns. Also, a press release said the session included opportunities for people to talk one-on-one with DOE officials, though no formal presentation was given. Although their sessions lacked presence in Lyon County, Lyon County Emergency Management Coordinator Jeff Page said wheels are turning to have an item placed on the Dec. 7 meeting of the Lyon County Board of Commissioners (beginning at 9 a.m. at 27. S. Main Street in Yerington). With this, he hopes to gauge the Boards reaction to there being no scoping session held in Lyon. Page said he attended the Reno session and was impressed with DOEs setup of a con table, which contained literature opposing the Yucca project. He said they are trying to give both sides of the issue when it comes to this controversial topic. Summers said Lyon should have been included in the public sessions and, with an overall lack of actual public hearings on the matter, he added the DOE seems to be less than concerned with impacted residents comments. Mirroring Summers sentiment, Bob Loux, Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects executive director, said, Theyre doing the bare minimum under the law, regarding their public responsibility. He said the State recommended several other locations for sessions including Yerington and the I-80 corridor; however, of those suggested, only Reno was added to the original five. The new Reno train trench lies along the newly proposed route. The (original session) notices of Oct. 13, 2006, are yet another example of DOE burdening Nevadans with short time limits and inadequate information for meaningful participation, Loux wrote in his letter to Edward Sproat, director of DOEs Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management. Allen Benson, media contact for the DOE, later countered saying the department has actually gone beyond the legal requirements. In total, he counted eight scoping sessions, which is more than the one required by law. Of those held, he said the DOE believes Lyon had ample opportunity to attend at least one of the sessions. Of the scoping session format, Benson previously said, People said theyve preferred it because they are intimidated by microphones or an audience. People come in and sit in with a DOE officer (and) if somebody else wants to listen to the comments they are welcome to do so. In any case, he reiterated the public comment period is still open and all materials, including maps and comment forms, are online at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov under the tab Virtual Meeting Room. Those who wish to submit comment may do so until Dec. 12, 2006. Several options exist including sending comments by mail to Mr. M. Lee Bishop, EIS Document Manager, Office of Logistics Management, Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management, U.S. Department of Energy, 1551 Hillshire Drive, M/S 011, Las Vegas, NV 89134. The office can also be reached via telephone at 1-800-967-3477 or by fax at 1-800-967-0739. One may also receive more information or email comments online at http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov. One comment Page offered was hopes for provision of training and equipment for emergency situations if the Yucca project comes to fruition. Originally, the Caliente Corridor was being considered southeast of Lyon, which includes construction of new track. The Mina route was considered more than 15 years ago; however, the Walker River Paiute Tribe, which owns track from Wabuska to Schurz would not allow nuclear waste transportation on their land. In May of this year, the Tribe did not give the green light; however, it did give permission to include the corridor in an Environmental Impact Study (EIS), which would allow a more informed decision on the matter. As a result, this corridor is back under the microscope and is being considered over portions of the Caliente Corridor as it would be cheaper to use existing tracks. Loux said this still does not guarantee permission from the Tribe, as annually elected Tribal Council Members could see differing opinions in the future. Also, any and all opinions, which would allow transport on their tracks, could change following the EIS. The Tribe kind of believes they are in the drivers seat on this, he said. In a press release, Walker River Paiute Tribal chairwoman Genia Williams said safety was a motivating factor to agree to the study. Let me make it clear that we have not said yes to the route through our reservation until we fully evaluate studies on a new rail route that would be constructed miles away from our main population center, Williams said. We have no control over the highway traffic through our reservation and believe DOE will bring high level nuclear waste through our tribal community even if we protest. Even before the Tribes portion of the track, Loux said a snag exists with a portion of the track reaching from Hazen to Wabuska, as it is not adequate to sustain the weight or speed required for the nuclear waste transport. This section is not currently under the DOEs study; however, they have requsted Union Pacific to look at upgrading the tracks, which would require a separate EIS. Of course it is not the transportation, which causes concern of proximity to ones home. Loux said the proposed method of transport is relatively risk free; however, even a small hole in one of the containers could spell local headache. Depending on the accident, wind direction and speed and other variables, a small hole could contaminate 42 square miles and cost billions of dollars for cleanup, Loux said. Wabuska resident Jeff Haugen, who lives a stones throw from the tracks, said improvement to the railroad could be a boost to the area, though the transport of nuclear waste is not quite what he would like to see as cargo. That really disturbs me, he said noting the intersection of the railroad tracks and U.S. Highway 95A in Wabuska is already dangerous without adding hazardous waste accidents to the realm of possibilities. Overall, there are some who believe the Yucca project is moving nowhere fast. Summers said Reid holds the science simply is not sound and, as Summers put it, Yucca Mountain is a dying beast, and everything that we are seeing are last-ditch efforts to breath life into it. Originally, waste was to begin arriving onsite in the late 1990s; however, lawsuits and other obstacles saw this date extended. Tentatively, it now rests at 2017. Copyright Reno Gazette-Journal, a Gannett Co. Inc.Newspaper. ***************************************************************** 54 Deseret News: EnergySolutions to study possible plant sites [deseretnews.com] Friday, December 1, 2006 By Suzanne Struglinski Deseret Morning News WASHINGTON EnergySolutions will get a share of $16 million in federal grants to study three different sites as possible locations for a nuclear-waste reprocessing facility, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The department named 11 sites throughout the nation that could be home to nuclear reprocessing facilities under its Global nuclear Energy Partnership, a plan to restart reprocessing to encourage the growth of the use nuclear power to generate electricity. "As our economy grows, so will the need for reliable, emissions-free energy generation," assistant secretary for nuclear energy Dennis Spurgeon said in a statement. "nuclear energy can help meet that need, and GNEP can do it in a way that maximizes the benefit of nuclear fuel while minimizing the risk of nuclear proliferation." None of the potential sites is in Utah, but Salt Lake City-based EnergySolutions proposed sites for study in Atomic City, Idaho; Barnwell, S.C.; and Roswell, N.M. and the department approved them. "We believe that if reprocessing is going to happen, there is going to have to be a large private component to it," said Greg Hopkins, EnergySolutions spokesman. "It is an enormous investment for the federal government, and it will have to have private experience and expertise to pull this off." Hopkins pointed out that EnergySolutions is the only U.S. company with reprocessing technology. A British division of the company has already reprocessed the same amount of waste that the Energy Department has sitting in various places around the United States, Hopkins said. The department will award the specific grants to the companies early next year after it completes final negotiations with the companies. EnergySolutions will then have 90 days to complete studies and environmental work needed to determine if a particular site would be suitable to house the Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center and the Advanced Burner Reactor. Each facility plays a different part in the fuel-recycling process. Hopkins said EnergySolutions will focus on the recycling process over the burner reactor. "We are pleased that so many communities across the country are interested in hosting the initial facilities necessary to support this exciting project," Spurgeon said. "These selections are an important initial step in proceeding to evaluate and select locations to host GNEP facilities." Other sites to be studied include the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Ohio, as proposed by the Piketon Initiative for nuclear Independence; and the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Kentucky, submitted by the Paducah Uranium Plant Asset Utilization Inc. Of the 11 sites, six are currently owned and operated by the Energy Department. The facilities would be used to house equipment that would separate used nuclear fuel into waste components and material that could be used again to help generate electricity. The United States abandoned nuclear recycling decades ago because of proliferation concerns, because material made through recycling could be used to make nuclear weapons. But the point of GNEP is to develop a way of recycling that would alleviate this problem. Vanessa Pierce, executive director of Healthy Environment Alliance of Utah, and other environmental groups oppose the GNEP plan, saying that recycling nuclear waste does not solve the waste problem and will actually generate more waste in the process. "The nuclear industry would have us believe that they can invent a silver bullet to eliminate lethal nuclear waste altogether. That's a fantasy we all share, but unfortunately, it doesn't reflect reality," Pierce said. "After spending hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars and over half a century of research, nobody in the world has invented a technology that eliminates lethal nuclear waste." The federal government is still working on a plan to put nuclear waste inside Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas, but that is not likely to open until 2020, by the latest estimates. The fact that incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., is one of the project's chief opponents may make that time frame even longer. GNEP is designed to supplement not replace the Yucca program, the department emphasizes. 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company ***************************************************************** 55 www.mineweb.net: Uranium mining renaissance led by World politics By: Tessa Kruger Posted: '01-DEC-06 08:00' GMT Mineweb 1997-2006 JOHANNESBURG (Mineweb.com) --The likelihood of a major uranium mining renaissance is increasing as political support for increasing nuclear energy output is growing in the different corners of the world. A nuclear power growth scenario which sees Europe, North America, Japan, Korea, India and China develop nuclear generation capacity to attain a 30% contribution to each countrys generating mix will see demand for uranium grow an average of 3.5% over the next 25 years, said Adam Schatzker, RBC Capital Markets analyst, in a uranium market outlook report. Both China and India have stated they want to dramatically expand the contribution of nuclear reactors to their power generating mix and the United States recently formed the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) to encourage the development of nuclear generation in order to meet the growing global need for energy. At the moment, China and India already have a total of 62 new reactors either under construction, planned or proposed that will significantly increase their nuclear contribution to power generation. The most prominent factors supporting this expansion of nuclear power are greenhouse gas emissions and energy security, which implies that countries are less dependent on fuel imports for power generation. China and India currently use fossil fuels - coal, oil and gas - for 92% and 93% respectively of their electricity and heat generation in 2002, resulting in significant greenhouse gas emissions and pollution. Both countries are also significant importers of coal, gas and oil and significant nuclear generation would reduce their dependence on fossil fuel imports and provide a stable domestic energy source. Recent price increases in coal and oil have also made nuclear generation more attractive as nuclear power generation is on average one of the lower cost major generation options, said Schatzker. And while the potential for a hydrogen-based fuel industry may be years away, nuclear technology is one of the front-runners for the creation of hydrogen especially by using very high temperature reactors. China and Indias current electricity requirements are modest when compared with developed economies, and the contribution of nuclear power to the energy mix is currently minimal at 2% and 3% respectively. According to the NEA, China and Indias electricity demand will increase 139% and 179% respectively; from 2006 to 2030 compared with a 39% increase in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) North American countries, 32% in OECD Europe and 31% for Japan and Korea combined. China has already shown interest in securing a supply of uranium to fuel its nuclear generation growth and has started negotiations with Australia and South Africa to lock-in future uranium supplies. The country is seeking to import approximately 52 million pounds of uranium annually by 2015. Supporting demand for uranium the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP), a consortium of nations with advanced nuclear technologies, would provide fuel and reactors sized to meet the grid and industry needs of other countries. President Bush recently said the GNEP was working with other leaders in nuclear energy, such as Russia, France and Japan, to help developing nations use civilian nuclear energy, while guarding against weapons proliferation. A panel appointed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard also recommended last week that Australia consider nuclear power as an option for one-third of the nations electricity as it would reduce the nations reliance on brown and black coal and natural gas. A nuclear renaissance would represent a significant departure from the current state of global nuclear generation, but it appears that the political landscape is changing in a way that the likelihood of a renaissance is improving, Schatzker said. However, a few political obstacles still remain in the way of increased and widespread uranium use. The fact that uranium and plutonium are used in atomic weapons has limited the ability of various countries to participate in the development of nuclear reactor technology and has severely limited the potential for fuel trade. India has also not been able to participate fully in reactor development and construction or in the global uranium fuel cycle, as it is not yet a signatory nation to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The United States did start changing legislation that would allow India to participate in nuclear commerce at the beginning of 2006 and Australia has been mulling the idea to sell the country uranium, despite its status under the treaty. Schatzker also highlighted the difficulty of moving spent fuel, which represents another tremendous obstacle for the development of future waste handling and fuel reprocessing schemes. Mineweb always carries details of at least 20 independently written top mining, mining finance, metals and mining sector analysis articles on its homepage as well as a fast news feed to keep you right up to date with what is going on in the mining and metals sectors worldwide. These are continuously updated through the day. Click here to go to Mineweb's home page and access the latest news and comments on developments in mining and metals worldwide. Mineweb, a division of Moneyweb Holdings Limited, 1997-2004. ***************************************************************** 56 SPIEGEL ONLINE: Teabags in the Uranium Pit: A Peek Inside Australia's Largest Underground Mine - December 01, 2006 Australia's largest underground mine, Olympic Dam, is located in the outback. It's a world unto itself. Olympic Dam Mine consumes 30 million liters of water a day. During their lunch break, workers at the Olympic Dam mine like to relax at the Hard Rock Cafe. That's what they call the long tunnel whose walls have been layered with concrete to prevent the granite from crumbling. It's damp down here, 420 meters (1,378 feet) below the earth's surface, and chilly too, since air is being pumped in constantly. The men unpack their sandwiches and drink their tea. Then they perform a bizarre ritual. They take their teabags, swing them through the air and hurl them upward. Sometimes one of the teabags gets caught in the iron matting attached to the ceiling. Then a cheerful mood breaks out in the tunnel. Several dozen teabags are already hanging from the ceiling, like bats. Such are the small joys of the Australian miner. Work enough 12-hour shifts in Australia's largest underground mine, and you'll be sure to develop a few odd habits. When their tea break is over, the workers get back to work with their oxygen masks strapped to their belts. They keep their heads lowered so as not to shine their pit lamps in each other's eyes. It's important for no one to forget to update the data on their electronic navigation systems, since new tunnels are opened up every day in Olympic Dam, and they all look alike. A labyrinth of roads and pits snakes through the granite. It's a world unto itself. An automated underworld Some 700 miners are at work in the tunnels at any given time. Many of them are responsible for maintenance work on drills, vehicles or conveyor belts. Hardly any are involved in the actual physical extraction of ore -- that can be taken care of by means of a joystick and a camera, from inside the control room above the ground. It's there that the remote-controlled drilling machines are operated from. The machines that extract rocks from the so-called "stopes" -- hollow spaces blasted out of the rock with explosives. The machines also place the material they extract on the electric train system. There it's broken into pieces the size of footballs as it travels towards the light of day. The scope of the treasures hidden in the granite isn't immediately apparent: The copper content of the ore is 1.5 percent. The average ton of ore also contains about 3.6 grams (0.13 ounces) of silver, 0.5 grams (0.017 ounces) of gold, and -- most importantly -- 600 grams (21.2 ounces) of uranium oxide. That makes Olympic Dam the world's largest uranium site. The trip to the surface takes three minutes. Step out of the pithead cage and you'll be asked to hand over your protective suit and make your way to the shower room. The tires of every vehicle that leaves the mine are hosed down as well. These are just regular security precautions, according to mine director Dean Dalla Valle, who insists radiation levels are "well below the risk threshold." Iron, gold and yellow cake Above the ground, single raw materials are extracted from the ore. The ore is ground and watered, treated with brine and refined -- a lengthy process that produces an annual yield of 230,000 tons of copper, 4,200 tons of so-called "yellow cake" (the yellowish preliminary product that is later converted to uranium), 2.3 tons of gold and 24 tons of silver. Processing the ore requires vast amounts of water -- a precious resource out here in the desert. The Olympic Dam facility uses up some 30 million liters (7.9 million gallons) of water every day. The water arrives from 100 kilometers (62 miles) away by pipeline. If the Olympic Dam facility should be expanded to include an open pit mine -- and the operator, BHP Billiton, is considering such an expansion of the facility -- then more than three times as much water would be required. The company would have to specially build a desalination plant near the coast. The pipeline connecting the desalination plant would cost an additional $400 million alone. Dalla Valle says it's been a while since business operations "on this scale" have been carried out in Australia. The expansion of Olympic Dam would lead to a dramatic rise in the population of Roxby Downs, the town near the facility. The population of Roxby Downs would be catapulted upward from 4,000 residents today to 9,000. The present real estate grab in Roxby Downs began as soon as BHT Billiton's plans for the expansion of Olympic Dam became public. It's mainly young families that are drawn to the town. In those families, gender roles are usually clearly distributed: The man works in the mine and earns about 50,000 ($64,000) a year. He works four days in a row; then he has four days off. The woman takes care of the household and the children. The result is a birth rate in Roxby Downs is one of the highest in Australia: A third of the town's inhabitants are younger than 12. Everyone in the town has some relationship to the mining facility. Everything that happens here depends in some way on BHT Billiton. But the corporation also does a great deal to improve the lives of its employees: Roxby Downs features a golf course, four football teams, two gymnasiums and a bowling club. And there's not a single graffiti to be seen anywhere. It's a bit like Singapore in the outback. That the citizens of Roxby Downs don't elect a city council like other Australians fits the picture. A specially appointed administrator oversees all public affairs. Roxby Downs is a world unto itself as well -- just like its underground counterpart. SPIEGEL ONLINE 2006 All Rights Reserved ***************************************************************** 57 Herald Tribune: Lockheed given OK for cleanup planning December 01. 2006 5:46PM STAFF REPORT TALLEVAST Lockheed Martin has been given the go-ahead to start planning how it will clean up roughly 200 acres of polluted groundwater and soil around a defunct beryllium plant. The OK came after the residents group FOCUS decided Friday it would not appeal the states sign-off on a survey that Lockheed say shows the extent of pollution in the south Manatee community. The decision was made after residents received reassurances that testing that could reveal if the pollution is still spreading will continue, said Jeanne Zokovitch, an attorney for FOCUS. Residents will also have the chance to challenge the cleanup plan once the state approves it. Were hopeful that their concerns will get addressed and there will be a meaningful remedial plan for this community, but well have to wait and see, Zokovitch said. Friday, December 1, 2006, 5:46 pm By STAFF REPORT Lockheed given OK for cleanup planning TALLEVAST Lockheed Martin has been given the go-ahead to start planning how it will clean up roughly 200 acres of polluted groundwater and soil around a defunct beryllium plant. The OK came after the residents group FOCUS decided Friday it would not appeal the states sign-off on a survey that Lockheed say shows the extent of pollution in the south Manatee community. The decision was made after residents received reassurances that testing that could reveal if the pollution is still spreading will continue, said Jeanne Zokovitch, an attorney for FOCUS. Residents will also have the chance to challenge the cleanup plan once the state approves it. Were hopeful that their concerns will get addressed and there will be a meaningful remedial plan for this community, but well have to wait and see, Zokovitch said. Contact a reporter for the Herald-Tribune or SNN News 6 at (941) 361-4646. ***************************************************************** 58 Carlsbad Current-Argus: Waste container model seeing duty as Christmas decoration By Kyle Marksteiner Article Launched:11/30/2006 10:30:33 PM MST + CARLSBAD It isn't easy competing for viewer attention against Christmas Central, but Dick and J.D. Raaz give it the old college try. Brad Light's residence is across the Pecos River from the Raaz home. Light's annual glittering backyard presentation of amusement rides, movies and much more is almost certainly the most gawked at of the annual Christmas on the Pecos offerings. The Chamber of Commerce event brings visitors up and down the Pecos River. What Light doesn't have is a decorated model of a TRUPACT-II in his backyard. Dick Raaz, president and general manager of Washington TRU Solutions in Carlsbad, does. The model of a Transuranic Package Transporter, the container used to bring radioactive waste to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant, sits on the back of a sleigh being pulled by eight plastic reindeer. It's the cornerstone of the Raaz backyard light decoration, which also includes candy canes, a snowman and a "Merry Christmas from WIPP" wish. "EPD (Engineer Products Department), our sister company, manufactured the bulk of the TRUPACT fleet," Raaz said. "So they offered to build me a model." He has plans for more. "Next year, we plan to add the RH 72-B, which is the new cask that will be used for remote handled waste," he said. "We're working extremely hard to get that first RH shipment. We're also going to add a TRUPACT III. It's in its testing cycle right now." Raaz's background sleigh, as of Wednesday, was still missing a key component a driver. "I ordered a Santa to go with the sleigh here, but it just arrived," he said. "That's part of tonight's project." It's Dick and J.D.'s second year as Carlsbad residents and as holiday decorators. "This was one of three dark houses on the river in 2004," Dick Raaz said. "When you buy a home on the river, you normally inherit the decorations as part of the deal. When we bought this one, there was literally not one light bulb. This was all from scratch." The two just returned from a Thanksgiving vacation, but friends and neighbors helped man the WIPP wonderland. The spotlight on the TRUPACT went out, and was going to be replaced this week. "We had two reindeer lose headlamps, too," he said. "There are probably 100 lights on each animal's head." Raaz knows that it is hard to compete with Light's backyard presentation across the river. Light, who runs the Fiesta drive-in, even has a movie playing. "That's a half hour tape," Raaz said, laughing. "On a typical night we'll hear it about 10 times. We now know The Grinch Who Stole Christmas' by heart." Still, the TRUPACT decoration offers a little something for Carlsbad residents. "The tourists who come in aren't going to know what it is," he said. "But it's kind of nice to have something the locals recognize." Raaz said his bright candy canes, which run along the perimeter of the yard, actually draw the most attention. This season took some last minute setup. Chamber Christmas on the Pecos board chairman Mike Calvani was able to track down some assistance for Raaz. "Every year, Mike goes up and down the river. If anyone is having trouble he gets them some help," Raaz said. This year's layout is very similar to the layout the Raazs used last year. The few changes were made to accommodate Cleopatra, the family dog. "One reason I moved things around a bit is because she would get tangled up in them," he said. "We'd go out and come back and she'd be all wrapped around the drummer boy lights." Overall, Raaz said he still enjoys being a Christmas on the Pecos participant. "The payoff is good," he said. "I feel this is a focus of community pride." ***************************************************************** 59 Daily News: Reid putting politics before public interest on Yucca Mountain Friday December 1, 2006 Nov 28, 2006 - 07:49:40 am PST The midterm elections may have dealt a fatal blow to plans for the nation's first nuclear waste repository near Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a long-time foe of the project, becomes the new majority leader in the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress. The Associated Press reported Friday that Reid convened a conference call with home-state reporters not long after the Nov. 7 election to declare plans for the repository "dead right now." That's no idle posturing on Reid's part. As majority leader, he will determine what legislation reaches the Senate floor. Reid will be in a position to block annual appropriations bills, cutting off funding for construction. Could the project lay dormant for however many years the Nevada senator is majority leader, waiting for a more favorable political climate? Possibly, given the billions of dollars and more than two decades of planning already invested in the Yucca site. And, too, the government has no Plan B for keeping its promise to take possession of the some 50,000 tons of nuclear waste now stored at commercial utilities in 31 states, including more than 4,700 tons at the idled Trojan power plant in Rainier. Still, further delay would prove very costly for American taxpayers, who already owe $243 million in damages for the government's failure to meet the original 1998 deadline for accepting shipments of radioactive waste from the nuclear plants. This nearly quarter of a billion dollars owed commercial utilities is just a fraction of the potential public liability, which has been estimated at about $60 billion. The earliest possible completion date for the repository now is 2017. Even with the project's completion on that date, which now looks unlikely, taxpayers would continue to pay damages for the next decade. The government broke a contractual agreement to take possession of this waste in 1998 -- after commercial utilities held up their end of the bargain by collecting more than $20 billion from ratepayers to help fund construction of the waste facility. The lawsuits won't stop coming because the government lacked the competence to meet its contractual obligations, and they certainly won't stop because Sen. Reid assumes a leadership position that allows him to further delay or kill this project. The senator is putting his political interest ahead of the public interest -- at taxpayers' expense. 2006 The Daily News Lee Publications, Inc. Contact Us | Employment Opportunities 770 11th Avenue P.O. Box 189 Longview, WA 98632 360-577-2500 ***************************************************************** 60 LasVegasNOW.com: The I-Team Talks With Senator Reid in Searchlight George Knapp, Investigative Reporter In his first interview since returning to Nevada, Reid invited the I-Team's George Knapp to his home in Searchlight to talk about the future. The I-Team's George Knapp talks with Senator Reid over coffee at the Searchlight Nugget. Senator Reid talks with other diners at the Searchlight Nugget. Nevada U.S. Senator Harry Reid will become the majority leader of the U.S. Senate when the new Congress convenes in January. It is the highest political position ever attained by a Nevadan. Reid will have his hands full with national issues but knows he needs to take care of business here at home as well. In his first interview since returning to Nevada, Reid invited the I-Team's George Knapp to his home in Searchlight to talk about the future. You can learn plenty about a person by walking around in their home. Sen Harry Reid said, "Here, I'll show you the bathroom. This is my prized possession, a signed poster of the Grateful Dead." Harry Reid, a deadhead? Can it be true? For security reasons, the I-Team cannot show the outside of Reid's home in the small mining town of Searchlight, but we got quite a tour of the inside -- the collection of Searchlight butterflies, the late Denny Dent's two-fisted art attack version of Martin Luther King Dent, likenesses of young Harry from high school days, and an amazing discovery from his high school yearbook where Reid was voted most humorous. Sen. Harry Reid said, "Here it is, most humorous, right next to the most attractive." It's doubtful Republican leaders find much to laugh about in Reid's ascension to the heights of political power. He has vowed to put Washington on a much more even keel, to hold hearings into such controversies as warrantless surveillance and the use of torture, and hope that the president keeps his promise to strive for bipartisan accord. The time for ideological purity, he says, is over. "We have to govern the way we did for a couple hundred years, not on the basis of ideology, but to get things done. Think, it's been ten years since we've had a raise in the minimum wage. That's scary. Forty-seven million Americans don't have health insurance. We have someone trying to destroy social security," Reid said. Thursday morning, Reid took a call at home from Bill Clinton. As we had coffee at the Searchlight Nugget, he got a call from New York Senator Charles Schumer. It's a heady time for Harry Reid, but he knows that he's now a lightning rod for Republicans and if he hopes to be reelected in four years, he needs to get things done for Nevada, to bring home the bacon without making it look like pork. One of those priorities is the Nevada Test Site. Reid says he will be in a much stronger position to get compensation for hundreds of Test Site workers now dying of cancer and other diseases. And while he is not able to kill the Yucca Mountain Project outright, he says he can at least keep it from be fast-tracked. He wants to try and secure water resources including a bigger share of Colorado River water, and get money to help Southern Nevada's infrastructure keep up with our relentless growth. His public lands bills have already brought tens of millions of dollars to the state for parks and preservation. He knows there are tough battles ahead on the national stage, and that if he wants to stay there, he needs to listen to the little folks back home. Sen. Harry Reid said, "I am who I am and will do the best I can. It's a new title, but I'm still the same person." Reid will be sworn in as majority leader on January 4th. All content Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and KLAS. All Rights Reserved. ***************************************************************** 61 times and star: Nuke work key to port’s future workington lake district 01/12/2006 NUCLEAR decommissioning could help the Port of Workington prosper, experts have predicted. A meeting of the Workington Harbour Board heard an upbeat message on the port’s commercial future from consultants Genecon. It depends to a large extent, however, on developing the port’s potential as the premier handling centre for the decommissioning industry, not just for West Cumbria but for the UK and possibly Europe. The consultants said there was a potential for the handling of 100,000 tonnes per year of nuclear materials but Genecon partner Graeme Collinge told the board it would be unwise to focus entirely on the nuclear industry, because the port’s decline after 2000 was largely linked to its over-reliance on steel and bulk chemicals which had since almost gone. There was also an outside chance of the Sellafield site developing its own facility for sea cargoes. He said that the West Cumbrian nuclear industry needed to develop its business as a UK or European centre of excellence and would need a well-equipped commercial port at the centre of its supply chain. He added: “We need to share this vision with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and to align it with their aspirations.” A boom in nuclear cargoes assumes continued dismantling of the old Sellafield plant, alongside nuclear new build. Potential cargoes being identified included spent fuel, incinerator waste, treated waste, metal waste and asbestos. Mr Collinge warned that a long slog lay ahead before the port and its investment partners, like West Lakes Renaissance, Northwest Development Agency, the Environment Agency and Defra, would be able to put the port on to a sustainable footing. Annual port tonnage had to be tripled to around the 600,000-tonne mark, he said, to secure annual revenue of around £2 million and a profit of £400,000. There were also huge opportunities for development of other business, including agricultural cargo, ‘short sea’/coastal shipping and as a rail freight terminal and leisure marina. Port business development manager Colin Sharpe was looking at ‘bulk goods’ companies which could use the port. He had identified 77 companies which employ 40 or more people in the port’s hinterland but only five currently used the port’s services. Development ideas were contained in a 2006 to 2012 business plan which is expected to be adopted at the January 25 board meeting. The outlook for the port has been transformed since closure was considered two years ago, with a profit of £22,857 posted for the 10 months up to October 31. Revenue for the same period of £823,681 was nearly £17,000 over forecast. There were concerns about the future of a proposed marina after consultants increased their estimate of a viable number of berths from 100 to 240 and estimated project costs rose from £3 million to a maximum of £12 million. The marina, however, is not looked upon as a major money-spinner and will remain a secondary consideration to commercial operations. The port remains in Cumbria County Council ownership but is run on a partnership basis which could lead to full trust status. County councillor Tim Heslop (Con., Cockermouth West) congratulated the harbour board’s secretariat and said: “As councillors, we often take projects into traffic lights but here, for once, we see them all glaring amber.” * The port is currently closed to large vessels because the gates on the Prince of Wales Dock have been removed for maintenance, which will cost £500,000. The port is scheduled to reopen on December 4. ***************************************************************** 62 times and star: Sellafield’s future discussed workington lake district, Published on 01/12/2006 EXPERTS from the nuclear industry met in Manchester this week to discuss the fate of West Cumbria’s Sellafield plant. Senior management from British Nuclear Group and the UK Atomic Energy Association were lobbied by interested parties at an industry seminar on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority is organising the sale of British Nuclear Group. An audience of more than 200 people, including potential bidders and sub-contractors, listened to presentations on the basis for the contract competition, the expectations of the industry, workforce and local community and details of the next stage in the process. Under plans agreed by the Government last month, companies will be invited to bid for the contract next year. The award will be made in 2008. The Sellafield contract could be worth around £5 billion initially but could include an option to extend the deal. ***************************************************************** 63 [NYTr] Nuclear-Free Central Asia: A Model for Korea? Date: Fri, 1 Dec 2006 16:21:00 -0600 (CST) X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu X-DSPAM-Result: mail; result="Innocent"; class="Whitelisted"; probability=0.0000; confidence=1.00; signature=N/A X-Spam-Class: HAM Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit World War 4 Report - Dec, 2006 http://ww4report.com/node/2861 Originally published by Toward Freedom - Oct 31, 2006 http://towardfreedom.com/home/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/limit,12/l imitstart,12/ NUCLEAR-FREE CENTRAL ASIA A Model for the Korean Peninsula? by Rene Wadlow Toward Freedom With a political sky darkened by the nuclear weapon test of North Korea and the growing tensions over the nuclear program of Iran, a ray of sunlight comes from Central Asia. On September 8, 2006, the five states of Central Asia--Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan--signed the treaty establishing a nuclear-weapon free zone which can serve as a model for a nuclear-weapon free Korean Peninsula. The treaty aims at reducing the risk of nuclear proliferation and nuclear-armed terrorism. The treaty bans the production, acquisition, deployment of nuclear weapons and their components as well as nuclear explosives. Importantly, the treaty bans the hosting or transport of nuclear weapons as both Russia and the USA have established military airbases in Central Asia where nuclear weapons could have been placed in times of crisis in Asia. The treaty was signed at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan, which was the main testing site for Soviet nuclear tests. Between 1949 and 1989, some 500 nuclear tests took place at Semipalatinsk leaving a heritage of radioactivity and health problems. A non-governmental organization called Nevada-Semipalatinsk was formed in the 1980s--made up of persons in the US and the USSR who had lived in the nuclear-weapon test areas--both to work to abolish nuclear weapons and to take responsibility for the medical consequences of the tests. Thus Rusten Tursunbaev, vice president of Nevada-Semipalatinsk, could say, "The signing of the agreement on a nuclear-weapon free zone in Central Asia is a remarkable, unbelievable moment and event--not just for Central Asia, but for the whole world." Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev and Uzbek President Islam Karimov, the two Central Asian states to have peaceful nuclear-power programs, have been advocating for such a nuclear-weapon free zone for a number of years, especially during meetings of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which celebrated its 10th anniversary in July 2006. However, Turkmenistan, with a largely isolationist foreign policy, is not a member of the SCO and needed to be brought into the nuclear weapons treaty for it to be meaningful. The representatives of the Mongolian government have welcomed the nuclear-weapon free zone as an important confidence-building measure and may join the zone at a later date. The concept of nuclear-free zones has been an important one in disarmament and regional conflict reduction efforts. A nuclear-weapon free zone was first suggested by the Polish Foreign Minister Adam Rapacki at the United Nations General Assembly in October 1957--just a year after the crushing of the uprising in Hungary. The crushing of the Hungarian revolt by Soviet troops and the unrest among Polish workers that broke out at the same time showed that the East-West equilibrium in Central Europe was unstable--with both the Soviet Union and the USA in possession of nuclear weapons, and perhaps a willingness to use them if the political situation got out of control. The Rapacki Plan, as it became known, called for the de-nuclearization of East and West Germany, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The Plan went through several variants, including its extension to cover the reduction of armed forces and armaments, and as a preliminary step, a freeze of nuclear weapons in the area. The Rapacki Plan was opposed by the NATO powers, in part because it recognized the legitimacy of the East German state. It was not until 1970 and the start of the 1975 Helsinki Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe that serious negotiations on troop levels and weapons in Europe began. While the Rapacki Plan never led to negotiations on nuclear policies in Europe, it had the merit of re-starting East-West discussions which were then at a low point. The first nuclear-weapon free zone to be negotiated--the Treaty of Tlatelolco--was a direct aftermath of the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. It is hard to know how close to a nuclear exchange the US and the USSR came in the Cuban crisis. It was close enough so that Latin American leaders were moved to action. While Latin America was not an area in which the potential for military confrontation was as stark as in Europe, the Cuban missile crisis was a warning that you did not need to have standing armies facing each other for there to be danger. Mexico under the leadership of Ambassador Alfonso Garcia-Robles at the UN began immediately to call for a denuclearization of Latin America. There were a series of conferences held, and in February 1967 the Treaty for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America was signed at Tlatelolco, Mexico. For a major arms control treaty, Tlateloco was negotiated in a short time, due to the fear inspired by the Cuban missile crisis but also to the energy and persistence of Garcia-Robles and the expert advice of William Epstein, then the UN's director of disarmament affairs. The Treaty established a permanent and effective system of control which contains a number of novel and pioneering elements as well as a body to supervise implementation. It is an unfortunate aspect of world politics that constructive, institution-building action is usually undertaken only because of a crisis. Although a Central Asian nuclear-weapon free zone was discussed at the time of the break-up of the Soviet Union and the agreement of Kazakhstan to yield the 1,400 nuclear warheads that had been stationed on its territory by the Soviet military, it is only as the North Korean nuclear-weapon program became a serious factor of Asian politics that the Central Asian nuclear-free zone was finalized. Since the North Korean nuclear test has become a concern of the whole world community, we must look to Central Asian leadership to show the way in developing structures for a nuclear-weapon free Korean Peninsula. [Rene Wadlow is the editor of the online journal of world politics Transnational Perspectives and the representative to the United Nations of the Association of World Citizens.] * ================================================================ .NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems . Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us . .339 Lafayette St., New York, NY 10012 http://www.blythe.org .List Archives: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ .Subscribe: https://olm.blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr ================================================================ ***************************************************************** 64 AP Wire: Discovery of radioactive mounds prompts survey of wildlife area 12/01/2006 | Herald-Leader Associated Press PADUCAH, Ky. - Six areas of overgrown, radioactive dirt mounds have been found east of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, prompting plans to survey all of the 6,463-acre West Kentucky Wildlife Management area to see if there are more. All the mounds have been roped off and posted with warning signs. "So far, the levels from raw data don't indicate biological risks or health hazards, but they do exceed levels for which we do postings," Mitch Hicks, health physicist for the Department of Energy's Paducah and Portsmouth, Ohio, Project Office, told the Paducah Sun. Larger mounds, estimated by tree growth to be at least 20 to 30 years old, are in wooded areas on both sides of a road running into the plant. They were found during routine DOE surveys during the first two weeks of November and were determined to contain uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. "Where we found one, we figured we'd find some more," Hicks said. Subsequent surveys identified five more areas considerably smaller than the bigger mounds, estimated to be 1,400 feet long, 20 feet wide, from a few feet to more than 12 feet high, and containing 6,000 cubic yards of soil. All are believed to have been created decades ago during dredging of Little Bayou Creek, which runs through the wildlife area to the Ohio River. "We based that on what we were seeing," Hicks said. "There is about 30 feet of flattened area next to the creek where it looked like some heavy equipment was sitting there. You can picture a trackhoe dredging, spinning and dumping about 30 feet away." The digging, which apparently took place long before uranium and PCBs were found in Little Bayou, was done before environmental regulations governing the work, he said. "It was during a time frame when we wouldn't have had any well-established rules and regulations for dealing with contaminated soils," Hicks said. "For that period of time, to do something like that was perfectly normal." Little Bayou has been posted for contamination since 1989. Finding uranium and PCBs wasn't unexpected because the two are among the chief plant contaminants, said Tony Hatton, assistant director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management. PCBs were present for decades in insulating materials for the plant's power system. The plant separates uranium for use in nuclear fuel. Results of five samples of the bigger dirt piles received Thursday showed a high reading of about 47 parts per million for PCBs, well above DOE's action level of a few parts per million, Hatton said. A part per million is roughly equivalent to one drop of ink in a 40-gallon drum of water. Before the mounds were found, the area was opened to hunters, Hicks said. Hunters were warned after the findings. Ultimately DOE must determine whether to remove, treat and dispose of the dirt or not disturb it, spokeswoman Laura Schachter said. Information from: The Paducah Sun, News ***************************************************************** 65 AP Wire: Major area at SRS cleaned and closed 12/01/2006 | The State Associated Press AIKEN, S.C. - An area of the Savannah River Site that once served as port bringing parts to the former nuclear weapons complex has been officially shut down. The company that runs SRS for the government said Thursday that the cleanup of "T Area" was a success story. "This one is special because this one's the first," said Leo Sain, the executive vice president of Washington Savannah River Co., the private contractor that manages SRS for the Energy Department. It cost $36.4 million to remove contaminated soil from T Area and cover it with a protective cap. That doesn't include the money spent to level 28 buildings that used to be located there. The Energy Department took a different approach to the cleanup, working to close the entire area at once instead of working piecemeal. The process saved years off the original schedule, officials said. "Our main focus has to be to the public that we can handle these cleanup issues," said Jim Rispoli, the Energy Department's assistant secretary for environmental management. News | ***************************************************************** 66 YHR: Hanford families petition government for radiation claims Yakima Herald Republic Online - Published on Friday, December 1, 2006 From AP: RICHLAND -- Two sisters, whose father was a former Hanford worker and died of colon cancer, have filed a petition they hope will make it easier for Hanford workers to get compensation for cancers potentially caused by radiation exposure. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, agreed the petition included all required information to be reviewed. The agency now has 180 days to evaluate it. Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., urged the agency Thursday to give the petition a thorough and fair review. "Too many of these workers have waited years for help," Cantwell said in a statement. "We need to get them the help they deserve without any further delays." NIOSH has been struggling for years to gather data on the amount of radiation that Cold War-era workers in nuclear weapons plants may have been exposed to at Energy Department sites nationwide. That includes Hanford, which the federal government created in the 1940s as part of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb. Hanford workers and their survivors currently receive compensation for radiation-related cancers only if the federal government determines there is at least a 50-percent chance that radiation exposure at work caused the cancer. However, certain workers at other weapons sites don't have to meet that threshold because the federal government determined it is not feasible to determine whether radiation likely caused their illness, often because monitoring was inadequate or records are not available. A 2005 audit at the Hanford site also found insufficient data about workers' radiation exposure between 1944 and 1968. Rosemary Hoyt, of Lyle, and her sister, Mary Ann Carrico, believe their father's death at the age of 47 likely was caused by working at Hanford. He did construction and maintenance work at the nuclear reservation from 1942 until 1961, when he could no longer pass the physical because of colon cancer, Hoyt said. She and her sister applied for compensation, but have twice been denied. When their father's estimated dose of radiation was compiled using available historical records, the government decided the chance of the cancer being caused by Hanford radiation exposure was just 41 percent. The family does not have a history of cancer, Hoyt said. The petition they have filed covers all Hanford employees from 1942 though 1990 who developed any of 22 cancers. The workers, or their survivors, would be eligible for $150,000 in compensation from the federal government and coverage of medical expenses. To date under the current guidelines, 496 Hanford workers or their survivors have received the $150,000 payment because they developed cancer or berylliosis, a rare lung disease. 2006 - Yakima Herald-Republic - www.yakimaherald.com ***************************************************************** 67 Knox News: ORNL research team admits errors Scientists acknowledge 'inconsistencies' in data published 13 years ago By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com December 1, 2006 OAK RIDGE - At the peak of a brilliant scientific career, Steve Pennycook is having to defend his reputation. "It's difficult," Pennycook, 53, said in a telephone interview this week from Boston, where he was attending a conference of the Materials Research Society. He was the talk of the town, at least in scientific circles, and for once in his life, that wasn't a good thing. Just about everybody at the conference knew of the emerging controversy regarding the work of Pennycook and colleagues at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. In the November issue of Nature, a British journal that is among the world's most prestigious places in which to publish scientific findings, Pennycook and two co-authors wrote a corrigendum - a correction of errors - for an important paper published 13 years earlier. Pennycook, a native of Kent, England, is a corporate fellow at ORNL and was chosen the lab's "scientist of the year" in 2005. He's considered one of the world's leading microscopists, and his research team established a record for image resolution in an experiment a couple of years ago. The 1993 paper, "Atomic resolution chemical analysis using a scanning transmission electron microscope," has been termed a landmark piece of science. It documented the ability to look at individual atoms to analyze the composition of a material. After the work was challenged earlier this year in a confidential report to Nature, the Oak Ridge team acknowledged there were "inconsistencies" in the way key data were presented. Basically, they admitted that they didn't do things exactly like they said they did in the paper and as they had assured the editors of Nature at the time. The scientists said the errors did not affect the paper's scientific conclusions. An investigation team convened by ORNL cleared the researchers of misconduct on that and another paper that aroused suspicions and allegations this year, said Jim Roberto, ORNL's deputy director for science and technology. "We take allegations of this type very serious," Roberto said, noting that a three-person team from academic institutions conducted the review that took most of the summer to complete. "The overall finding of the report was there was no evidence of research misconduct. There were some errors in the papers but they were not intentional," ORNL's research administrator said. Rival scientists, however, have suggested that there's more going on than a minor bout of sloppiness, and one scientist, John Silcox of Cornell University told Nature, "It's obvious that some games are being played. I don't trust their work." Nature even wrote an editorial to discuss the issue and explain why it decided not to retract the 1993 paper in its entirety. "Without doubt, there has been in this case a severe breach of trust on which the publication of science is based," the editorial states. "After all," the editors noted, "if researchers and editors cannot safely assume, even as a starting point, that scientific results are essentially true as reported, then the advancement of science is in serious trouble." Nature chose not to retract the paper because the essence of the science was still intact. In their correction, the ORNL authors, including Nigel Browning (now at the University of California at Davis) and Matt Chisholm, admitted to "inconsistencies" in the way key data were presented. "In particular, the electron energy-loss spectroscopy data central to the work were not subject to the background subtraction processes as described in the paper, despite the assurances to the contrary that we offered at the time to both the referees and the Nature editors," they wrote. Other issues were raised about the handling of scientific results in another paper that was submitted to and rejected by Nature Physics, a sister publication, earlier this year. Pennycook was a co-author on that paper, which was headed by Maria Valera of ORNL. Pennycook insisted that there was no attempt to gain a scientific advantage in the highly competitive field. He said he realized his entire body of work would now come under greater scrutiny as a result of the problems. "It's very embarrassing, and it does undermine confidence in what we do," Pennycook said. "That's the extent of it I think most people in the community, if all their papers were put under the microscope, there'd be some embarrassments in there." He said he did not think his research funding, which comes from the U.S. Department of Energy, would be affected. Roberto said he wasn't sure what the impact would be on ORNL, which has been on a positive roll in recent years and lays claim to being DOE's top scientific laboratory. The lab staff publishes about 1,500 research papers annually, he said. "We don't see a sinister, dark side," he said. "We should have been more careful I believe we did a robust review. I also believe we learned some lessons here internally in terms of the risk that staff encounter if they make mistakes." Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329. 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel ***************************************************************** 68 Las Vegas SUN: Explosive issue pits future jobs against nukes Photos: Rocky Flats aerial view from 1991 | Worker at Rocky Flats in 2004 Today: December 01, 2006 at 8:48:28 PST Critics question need for a plutonium center at Test Site By Launce Rake Las Vegas Sun The nuclear weapons production cycle The federal government is looking for a place to resume what it stopped doing 17 years ago at its notorious Rocky Flats facility in Colorado: manufacturing the metal cores at the heart of nuclear weapons. And this time it has Southern Nevada in its sights. The Nevada Test Site, the Rhode Island-sized swath of federal land used for decades for above- and below-ground test detonations of nuclear bombs, is one of five places in the country under consideration to host the manufacturing process. Intrinsic to the process is the manufacturing of plutonium - a task that is both industrial and high-tech that would bring jobs and educational opportunities to the Las Vegas region. It also conjures up memories of environmental nightmares and, opponents argue, unnecessarily escalates the manufacturing of nuclear weapons. The weapon cores, called "pits," are manufactured from an isotope of plutonium - a toxic metal formed by exposing uranium to radiation in a nuclear reactor, then chemically or mechanically isolating the metal. The federal government got into the business of making plutonium pits during the Manhattan Project in World War II. The research, design and manufacture of nuclear weapons continued over the next five decades at 16 sites scattered around the United States - many of which have left legacies of serious ongoing environmental problems. Rocky Flats, outside Denver, was the primary manufacturing plant for all nuclear weapons, employing 10,000 people during the height of production in the mid-1980s. In 1989 a combined raid by the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency shut down the 6,500-acre plant because of charges of environmental mismanagement and cover-ups, leaving the government only limited production at other sites. The collapse of the Soviet Union, treaties with the Soviets and their successors and a changing geopolitical situation meant that the U.S. military did not need all of the more than 20,000 nuclear weapons already stockpiled. But the senior Bush administration wanted flexibility to design, test and potentially use new and different nuclear weapons - requiring a new, modernized manufacturing site. The government has been holding meetings around the country, including Las Vegas, to discuss proposed changes to its weapons-production system, and is accepting comments on it until Jan. 17. A draft environmental impact statement is expected this summer. A decision on the system overhaul, including the location of a new plutonium plant, will come in fall 2008, officials say. The other sites under consideration are outside Amarillo, Texas; Los Alamos, N.M; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; and Aiken, S.C. A primary issue being analyzed by the government in where to site the facility is its proximity to population. The Nevada Test Site, although just an hour's drive from Las Vegas, is isolated from the city by hundreds of square miles of federally controlled desert. Another factor is the existing ability to handle the dangerous materials. The Test Site has a record there as well, working with actual nuclear weapons and detonating the bombs for three decades. The Test Site continues to work with plutonium and other dangerous materials in its ongoing research, which includes tests of nuclear weapons that stop short of a detonation. The biggest factor in the decision, says Theodore Wyka, a manager in the Energy Department's effort, is the ability to work within the larger effort of modernizing the nuclear-weapons production system. "We need to have a nuclear weapons complex in place to support the nuclear weapons policy decisions" of the president, whoever that is, and whatever those decisions are, says Wyka, who represented the Energy Department's National Nuclear Security Administration at the meeting on the modernization program Tuesday in Las Vegas. "We have to have the infrastructure in place to meet the national security requirements in terms of numbers and types of nuclear weapons." The so-called Consolidated Plutonium Center planned by the Bush administration could manufacture 125 new warheads a year and conduct research and development for the weapons industry. Additionally, it will continue to monitor the reliability of plutonium pits and the hundreds of components in the weapons already in the stockpile. Wyka says the environmental issues at Rocky Flats and other sites can be avoided at a new manufacturing site. When Rocky Flats and other weapons sites were selected and built - spanning World War II through the Cold War - environmental effects were not widely considered. The federal government spent $7 billion to clean up the Rocky Flats plant, much of which today is a wildlife refuge. Spills of highly toxic chemicals involved in purifying the explosive metal and the spread of radioactive materials led to widespread contamination throughout the plant structures, the ground and water in and around the plant. The government removed more than 3 million square feet of contaminated structures and shipped enough radioactive waste to fill a string of railcars 90 miles long in the massive cleanup effort. The Energy Department won't repeat its environmental sins of the past, says Darwin Morgan, a National Nuclear Security Administration spokesman. Decontamination and decommissioning of the plants are now planned for the beginning of a plant's development, Morgan says. Terrie Barrie, a founding member of the Alliance of Nuclear Worker Advocacy Groups, hopes that the environmental problems associated with manufacturing plutonium pits can be avoided. She says her husband, George, suffers numerous health problems she associates with his work at Rocky Flats from 1982 until the plant closed in 1989. George Barrie, 51, is completely disabled, she says. Several thousand ex-workers and residents near the urban plant are seeking compensation because of health problems they blame on it. Most have cancer or, like George Barrie, have chronic lung diseases. Health issues aside, "the big controversy is whether we need this (plutonium manufacturing) at all," says Robert Nelson, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, a national nonprofit group that has been critical of the Bush administration. Nelson noted that a government-commissioned review of the plutonium pits in the existing stockpile of nuclear weapons - including 900 bombs stored at Nellis Air Force Base, an estimate from the nonprofit group Natural Resources Defense Council - shows that they will remain reliable bomb triggers for decades. Energy Department officials don't say they need the new manufacturing site to replace the aging, existing plutonium in the stockpile, but to be ready if new bombs are needed. And Nelson takes that to mean the government is planning a new generation of bombs that could lead to the resumption of nuclear testing at the Nevada Test Site. "We think it's a bad idea to build new warheads that will need to be tested," he says. Nelson also worries that plutonium will need to be trucked in from military reactors in Washington state or elsewhere. Nelson is in Washington, D.C., but reflects local sentiment. "I am concerned that we're doing a nuclear buildup," says Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director of Citizen Alert, a Nevada-based group that opposes resumption of nuclear testing or the dumping of radioactive waste at the Test Site. "I think we should put a lot of people to work out there, but we ought to put a lot of people to work producing alternative energy." The Energy Department should do a comprehensive environmental analysis before any site is selected, Johnson says, and not after the site is chosen. Denis Beller, a UNLV research professor in nuclear engineering, says the plutonium-processing plant would benefit Southern Nevada, including by generating jobs for UNLV graduates. Beller says there is an ongoing effort to establish a doctoral-level program in nuclear engineering, an effort that would be boosted with a new manufacturing plant. Research programs also would get a boost if the plant were located an hour away, he says. "All of these programs that are coming to Nevada can certainly benefit our academic programs and our nation as well." He says the environmental difficulties at Rocky Flats and at other weapons sites need not be repeated here. "We know so much more," Beller says. "Not only do we know more, there's a lot more oversight of activities." The federal government plans to have a draft environmental analysis of its modernization plan this summer . Operations would begin in 2020 with full-scale production in 2022. Launce Rake can be reached at 259-4127 or at lrake@lasvegassun.com. All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc. ***************************************************************** 69 SPI: Hanford contracts could steer cleanup for next 10 years [seattlepi.com] [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] Thursday, November 30, 2006 Last updated 7:11 p.m. PT By SHANNON DININNY ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER YAKIMA, Wash. -- The U.S. Department of Energy is getting ready to bid out three contracts at south-central Washington's Hanford nuclear reservation - nothing new in terms of the federal government's long-running environmental cleanup at the former weapons facility. But these contracts - worth potentially billions of dollars - would be among the largest at Hanford and could steer cleanup at the highly contaminated site for the next 10 years. "Very significant," Todd Martin, chairman of the Hanford Advisory Board, said when asked to describe the importance of the new contracts. "These will be very important in determining whether cleanup ultimately is successful over the next few years." For 40 years, the Hanford reservation made plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons arsenal, beginning with the top-secret Manhattan Project to build an atomic bomb. Today, it is the nation's most contaminated nuclear site. Cleanup costs are expected to total as much as $60 billion, with the work to continue until 2035. The contracts to go out to bid are substantial as well. Fluor Hanford currently holds the contract to retrieve and dispose of waste from Hanford's central plateau. Among other things, the contract requires monitoring and remediation of contaminated groundwater and cleanup of the Plutonium Finishing Plant, which was the last stop in converting plutonium nitrate solutions into pure plutonium "buttons" for atomic bombs. [advertising] Through September 2006, the five-year contract with a five-year extension was valued at $7.87 billion. The Energy Department further extended the contract by as long as 24 months for $1.3 billion while it accepts bids for a new contract to start in 2008. Meanwhile, CH2M Hill Hanford Group since 2000 has managed Hanford's 177 underground tanks, which hold a stew of toxic and radioactive waste. Many of the tanks have leaked into the aquifer, threatening the groundwater and the nearby Columbia River. The contract was valued at $2.7 billion through September 2006, with a $500 million extension of up to 24 months. The Energy Department has now added a third contract to the mix, reassigning some of the duties currently covered under Fluor's contract. These so-called "mission support" duties include safety and security, information technology and road work. "The main thing we're trying to look at with these contracts is to make sure there's no disconnects between contractors," said Ken Niles, assistant director of the Oregon Department of Energy, which makes recommendations to the federal agency. "Over the years, that has been one of the problems with Hanford cleanup - there have been gray areas in terms of contractor responsibilities." Niles, whose agency is preparing comments for the Energy Department's draft request for proposals, also raised concerns that only companies with an insider-knowledge of Hanford could attempt to bid on the contracts. "It's always positive to maybe take a new look at something that has had some struggles," he said. "The drawback to that, though, is it almost always means lost time and added costs. You'd have the new folks trying to find their way. "There's a little bit of good and little bit of bad in both," he said. Washington state generally doesn't get involved with the Energy Department's contracting process, said Joye Redfield-Wilder, spokeswoman for the state Department of Ecology. "Our main concern is that the Energy Department hire contractors that can conduct a quality cleanup and that they are in compliance with the milestones - that the work in no way is hampered or slowed down," she said. Others are already raising concerns about the Energy Department's draft request for proposals. Gerry Pollet, executive director of the Seattle-based Hanford watchdog group Heart of America Northwest, criticized the short time frame for comments - they're due Dec. 22 - for such a massive project. He also faulted the incentive-laden contracts that often steer contractors to completing work that might not be most crucial or time-sensitive. "Contractors are like anyone else - they do what they're paid to do, and out of what they're paid to do, they choose to do the things they have the highest profit from," Pollet said. The last large contract the Energy Department awarded took two years to resolve following disputes among bidders, workers and the department itself. The agency eventually awarded the $1.9 billion contract to clean up the 210-square-mile Columbia River Corridor to Washington Closure LLC in March 2005. The Energy Department also is in the process of renegotiating its contract with Bechtel, the company hired to build a massive waste treatment plant that has been mired in cost overruns and delays, and is accepting bids for the contract to manage the nearby Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. With all of that going on, the latest bidding process is almost certain to result in delays in cleanup, Martin said. "There is absolutely no doubt that this system is not very nimble when it comes to these large contracts and awarding them in an efficient manner and then transitioning to a new contractor," he said. "Changing of the letterhead can take a lot of money and a lot of time." [Seattle Post-Intelligencer] 101 Elliott Ave. W. Seattle, WA 98119 (206) 448-8000 1996-2006 Seattle Post-Intelligencer ***************************************************************** 70 Law.com: High Court Vets False Claims Act Marcia Coyle The National Law Journal December 1, 2006 A 17-year-old whistleblower suit by a now 81-year-old former engineer at the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant has triggered U.S. Supreme Court review of a crucial issue under the fastest growing area of federal civil litigation today, the False Claims Act. In Rockwell International Corp. v. U.S. and ex rel. Stone, No. 05-1272, the justices on Dec. 5 will examine a critical restriction on who can bring so-called qui tam lawsuits under the act. Was Principal Engineer James S. Stone "an original source of the information" that served as the basis for a jury's finding that Rockwell, starting in 1987, violated the act by hiding from the government environmental, safety and health problems related to its processing of nuclear waste? The high court's interpretation of a statute that Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. as a lower court judge criticized as unclear will affect not only who qualifies as a qui tam "relator" but also the ability of defendants, often large corporations, to dismiss early these complex and expensive suits. The False Claims Act is becoming the principal tool by which the federal government combats fraud, said FCA practitioner Peter B. Hutt II, a partner at Miller &Chevalier, who filed an amicus brief supporting Rockwell on behalf of the Washington Legal Foundation. The FCA provides for treble damages and penalties and a lesser burden of proof than criminal statutes that require proof beyond a reasonable doubt and do not necessarily allow the government to recover as much money, he explained. "Anyone who does business with the federal government and takes federal money in any way is a potential target of an FCA lawsuit either by the federal government directly or by a qui tam plaintiff," said Hutt. "There has been a constant, slow increase in the number of cases, constantly changing theories of liability and new classes of industries as defendants." And where there is alleged fraud by large companies, such as by the most recent target -- pharmaceutical companies -- Hutt said, "The dollars get very large, very quickly." From fiscal years 1987 through 2005, settlements and judgments for the federal government in FCA cases have exceeded $15 billion, of which $9.6 billion, or 64 percent, was for cases filed by whistleblowers under the FCA's qui tam provisions, according to a report last January by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The whistleblowers' share of the qui tam settlements and judgments was more than $1.6 billion during this period. QUI TAM HURDLES The FCA provides that any person who knowingly submits, or causes the submission of, false claims for government funds or property is liable for damages and penalties. Under the FCA, the government can prosecute an action on its own, or a private person may bring a qui tam action. The FCA calls a qui tam plaintiff a "relator," also known popularly as a whistleblower. The government has the right to intervene in the relator's lawsuit. If the government declines intervention, the relator has the right to go forward alone. To prevent so-called parasitic lawsuits by relators who try to capitalize on information about fraud already made public, the FCA prohibits qui tam suits "based upon the public disclosure of allegations or transactions in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing, in a congressional, administrative, or [Government Accountability Office] report, hearing, audit, or investigation, or from the news media." This "public disclosure" bar has one exception. A qui tam suit that triggers the public-disclosure bar may proceed only if the relator is "an original source of the information." An original source must have "direct and independent knowledge of the information on which the allegations are based," and have "voluntarily provided the information to the Government before filing [a suit] which is based on the information." The original-source exception is at the heart of Rockwell's case in the Supreme Court. It has argued unsuccessfully before a district court and an appeals court that Stone was not an original source because he had no first-hand knowledge of the fraud at issue. "The public-disclosure bar with its original-source exception is the single most litigated issue in the entire False Claims Act jurisprudence," said John T. Boese, partner in the Washington office of New York's Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &Jacobson and author of the leading FCA treatise, Civil False Claims and Qui Tam Actions. The government, he said, intervenes in about 20 percent of all qui tam cases. In the 80 percent proceeding without the government, the original-source issue arises in much more than half, he said, adding, "It also can arise, as in Rockwell, where the government intervenes, and that is more and more true because of the legal fees issue." If a relator can be dismissed on the original-source issue, the defendant doesn't have to pay legal fees and costs if it loses, explained Boese. "You can imagine the amount in a case litigated as actively and vigorously as the Rockwell case," he said, estimating legal fees at up to four times the $4.2 million jury award. "And the government doesn't have to pay the relator a share of what it recovers." Over the years, the courts have expanded what is a public disclosure, and therefore the original-source exception has become more important, said James Moorman, president of Taxpayers Against Fraud Education Fund, which operates a False Claims Act Legal Center and will file an amicus brief supporting Stone. "None other than then Judge Alito ruled in a FCA case that when the government gave a document to a relator who had filed a [Freedom of Information Act] request, it had, in effect, issued a public report triggering the public-disclosure bar," Moorman said. "This astounded everybody, but there it is. "So the original-source rule, which protects you from being bumped out by the public-disclosure bar, is crucial." ORIGINAL SOURCE? Rockwell operated the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons facility in Colorado under a contract with the U.S. Department of Energy from 1975 through 1989. Stone worked as principal engineer there from November 1980 until March 1986. After Stone was laid off, he informed an FBI agent that environmental crimes had allegedly been committed at Rocky Flats during his period of employment. The FBI agent prepared an affidavit, obtained a search warrant and conducted a search. About a month after the search, Stone filed his qui tam action alleging that in an effort to maximize its receipt of award fees and other payments under its government contract, Rockwell had violated the FCA by falsely representing to DOE that it had complied with applicable environmental, safety and health requirements in its operation of the facility. In the meantime, the government conducted a criminal investigation into Rockwell's management of Rocky Flats. In March 1992, Rockwell pleaded guilty to 10 environmental violations. In 1995, the government intervened in Stone's qui tam action and both filed an amended complaint restating Stone's initial allegations and asserting additional claims. At trial, the primary issue was whether Rockwell had concealed from DOE environmental, safety and health problems related to the processing and storage of saltcrete and pondcrete, two forms of processed toxic waste. Rockwell's counsel, veteran high court litigator Maureen Mahoney, head of the appellate practice at Latham &Watkins from the firm's Washington office, argues that Stone had no direct and independent knowledge that the pondcrete leaked toxic waste or that Rockwell had represented otherwise to DOE because he left Rocky Flats before either the pondcrete or the toxic waste statements were made. The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Mahoney contends, incorrectly interpreted the statute's requirement of "direct and independent knowledge" of the later fraud to require only limited knowledge "underlying or supporting" the fraud allegation. "The 10th Circuit expanded that narrow exception so broadly that it effectively swallows the jurisdictional bar," she wrote in court papers regarding the original-source exception. Noting that the federal circuits have adopted varying standards, Mahoney argues, "The best reading is that the relator must have direct and independent knowledge of information sufficient to permit the trier of fact to conclude that a false statement was made to the Government in support of a fraudulent claim for payment." NO PARASITE In its opposition to Supreme Court review and in lower court proceedings, the government argued that Rockwell had understated substantially the significance of Stone's knowledge. He had been instructed in his job not to divulge environmental and other problems to DOE, and he had uncovered through his own efforts design problems for the pondcrete blocks that would result in toxic-waste releases. "Stone's role in this case was therefore very different from that of the 'parasitic' relators at whom the 'public disclosure' bar is directed," the government argued in its opposition brief. Stone's high court counsel, Maria T. Vullo, a partner in New York's Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton &Garrison, said there is no confusion in the circuits on how to interpret the original-source exception. "I think the way the circuits have approached the issue is really a function of how they describe particular facts of the case," she said. "The plain language of the statute is what it is and to the extent Rockwell has a gripe, that's a gripe for the Congress to add some standard that's not existing in the statutory language right now. We will argue that we meet all of Rockwell's new tests." Fried Frank's Boese noted that defendants and the government can question whether someone is an original source at any stage of the litigation because it is a jurisdictional issue. "What Rockwell is arguing very effectively is that Stone's theory of liability was abandoned both by Stone and the government and never presented to the jury," he said. "What was presented was a whole new theory that the government developed in course of its criminal investigation. They argue he was not the original source of the theory of fraud that was eventually successful." But Rockwell is "throwing all kinds of smoke" in front of the Supreme Court, countered Moorman of Taxpayers Against Fraud. The case, he said, is part of a continuing campaign by business and industry "to hobble and undermine" whistleblower lawsuits. "They struck out on their constitutional attacks on the statute and now they're trying to get an interpretation that would do the same thing," said Moorman. About ALM| About Law.com| ***************************************************************** 71 SunValleyOnline: INL Chosen as Possible Site for Nuclear Spent Fuel Reprocessing: www.sunvalleyonline.com By Jeremy Maxand Thursday, November 30, 2006 Also read: DOE Suspends INL Waste Shipments To New Mexico; Waste Not Characterized Properlyand Nuclear Watchdogs Nudge Idaho Power to Remove Nuclear From Energy Plans The Department of Energy (DOE) today announced the selection of 11 sites that will receive up to $16 million in grants to conduct siting studies for a Consolidated Fuel Treatment Center and an Advanced Burner Reactor, major components to the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP). GNEP is a Bush Administration proposal that would designate supplier nations (including the US) that would send nuclear reactors and fuel to user nations and then take the irradiated fuel back, reprocess it, and start the cycle again. Of the 11 sites, there are two proposals for Idaho: one for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) from the Regional Development Alliance, Battelle Memorial Institute, AREVA, and Washington Group International; and the other for Atomic City from EnergySolutions, based in Utah. The site chosen to host these reprocessing facilities would play host to spent commercial nuclear fuel for up to a century. Idahos 1995 settlement agreement, however, bans spent commercial fuel from coming into the state. We havent even cleaned up the nuclear waste from Idahos past reprocessing waste that has contaminated the Snake River Aquifer and the soil at INL and the DOE is shelling out money to do it again, said Jeremy Maxand, executive director of the Snake River Alliance. Besides being an economic waste, environmental risk, and proliferation threat, its basically against the law to bring commercial fuel into the state, but that doesnt seem to matter to the DOE. Reprocessing is the must-take step between a nuclear reactor and a nuclear bomb. Bomb ingredients are made when fuel rods are irradiated, or spent, in reactors. If the fuel rods are broken down somehow, the ingredients for bombs or fresh fuel can be preferentially extracted. Three Department of Energy sites Hanford (WA), the Idaho National Laboratory, and the Savannah River Site (SC) all reprocessed government fuel for nuclear weapons production. A commercial reprocessor ran for a few years in West Valley, New York. Though reprocessing for the nuclear weapons program wasnt halted until 1992 (by the first President Bush), commercial reprocessing effectively ended in 1972 when West Valley shut down. President Ford formally curtailed it after India imported US commercial reprocessing technology and used it to build a nuclear weapon in 1974, and President Carter strengthened the ban. President Reagan lifted the hold, but by then the power industry had lost interest because of the exorbitant costs and because uranium ore deposits are far more plentiful than first thought, removing any perceived need to capture plutonium for power reactors. Proliferation Risk The US has a stockpile of 7 tons of civilian plutonium and substantially more in its weapons program. Worldwide, there are about 250 tons of separated civilian plutonium, enough to make 30,000 nuclear bombs. All of this plutonium is far more vulnerable than if it had been left in the spent fuel. Spent fuel rods, even after half a century, are so radioactive they deliver a fatal dose in less than half an hour to anyone within a yard. The new plan to centralize reprocessing in a few countries acknowledges that no reprocessing technology is proliferation proof. Environmental Risk All four US sites that reprocessed remain dangerously contaminated. Reprocessing has high routine air emissions and leaves enormous quantities of highly radioactive, acidic, liquid waste. In fact, 99 per cent of the radioactivity in nuclear weapons waste ended up in buried tanks at Hanford, INL, and Savannah River, endangering crucial water supplies. US taxpayers will spend tens of billions of dollars over decades to control this single waste stream. Economic Risks Cleanup costs are not the full bill. The National Academy of Sciences estimates reprocessing the US spent fuel now targeted for the failing repository at Yucca Mountain would cost between $50 billion and $100 billion more than direct disposal. This is not a cost the nuclear industry is eager to assume, nor is the cost of converting their reactors so they could run on the extracted plutonium. The costs for these reactors, which are far more expensive and liable to safety problems than those currently used, would no doubt be borne by the taxpayer as well. The Snake River Alliance is an Idaho-based grassroots group working through research, education, and community advocacy for peace and justice, the end to nuclear weapons, responsible solutions to nuclear waste and contamination, and sustainable alternatives to nuclear power. Internet Link : www.snakeriveralliance.org 2003 - 2006 | SunValleyonline.com ***************************************************************** 72 SunValleyOnline: Nuclear Watchdogs Nudge Idaho Power to Remove Nuclear From Energy Plans: By Jeremy Maxand Thursday, November 30, 2006 Also read: INL Chosen as Possible Site for Nuclear Spent Fuel Reprocessingand DOE Suspends INL Waste Shipments To New Mexico; Waste Not Characterized Properly The Snake River Alliance today called on Idaho Power to remove nuclear energy from its draft 2006 Integrated Resource Plan. The plan includes 250MW of electricity from a new nuclear reactor at the Idaho National Laboratory scheduled to come on-line in 2022. Department of Energy officials, however, were surprised at the plan to use electricity from INL and maintain there have been no formal discussions between the DOE and Idaho Power. Watchdogs point out that in addition to the lack of planning and communication between DOE and Idaho Power, there has been no National Environmental Policy Act decision, no funding appropriated for the new reactor, and no final reactor design. Including nuclear is like using a crystal ball to predict our energy future, said Jeremy Maxand, executive director of the Snake River Alliance. If these plans are to be meaningful, they should be based on reality, and nuclear in Idaho is far from reality. The Snake River Alliance is advocating for the replacement of nuclear with 250MW of clean and renewable energy, such as wind and solar. Idaho currently ranks 13th in the US for wind energy potential, and the Energy Atlas (www.energyatlas.org), produced in conjunction with the Idaho Department of Water Resources, shows Idaho with nearly 5 times as much energy potential in renewables than we currently consume altogether. The 17th Annual Idaho Public Opinion Survey conducted by Boise State University shows Idahoans overwhelmingly prefer wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal to nuclear, coal, and gas. If we planned right, and created the right incentives, Idaho could be a net exporter of electricity, Maxand said. Technologies like wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass are going to put millions of dollars back into rural communities and strengthen Idahos economy, all while reducing our dependence on outside electricity and oil and improving our environment. Utilities are required to develop an Integrated Resource Plan every two years. These plans project future energy needs and sources out to twenty years. More information on Idaho Powers IPR can be found at www.idahopower.com/2006irp. The Snake River Alliance is an Idaho-based grassroots group working through research, education, and community advocacy for peace and justice, the end to nuclear weapons, responsible solutions to nuclear waste and contamination, and sustainable alternatives to nuclear power. Internet Link : www.snakeriveralliance.org 2003 - 2006 | SunValleyonline.com ***************************************************************** 73 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Paducah, FR Doc E6-20316 [Federal Register: December 1, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 231)] [Notices] [Page 69557] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr01de06-66] KY AGENCY: Department of Energy (DOE). ACTION: Notice of Open Meeting. SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Paducah. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. No. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register. DATES: Thursday, January 18, 2007 5:30 p.m. ADDRESSES: 111 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky 42001. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reinhard Knerr, Deputy Designated Federal Officer, Department of Energy Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001, (270) 441-6825. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of environmental restoration, waste management and related activities. Tentative Agenda 5:30 p.m. Informal Discussion 6 p.m. Call to Order Introductions Review of Agenda Approval of November Minutes 6:15 p.m. Deputy Designated Federal Officer's Comments 6:30 p.m. Federal Coordinator's Comments 6:35 p.m. Liaisons' Comments 6:45 p.m. Review of Action Items 6:50 p.m. Public Comments and Questions 7 p.m. Presentations Site Management Plan Community Relations Plan 7:30 p.m. Subcommittee Reports Water Disposition/Water Quality Subcommittee Community Outreach Subcommittee Long Range Strategy/Stewardship Subcommittee Executive Committee 7:45 p.m. Public Comments and Questions 7:55 p.m. Administrative Issues Budget Review Review of Work Plan Review of Next Agenda 8:05 p.m. Final Comments 8:15 p.m. Adjourn Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public. Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral statements pertaining to agenda items should contact Reinhard Knerr at the address or telephone number listed above. Requests must be received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday-Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes will also be available at the Department of Energy's Environmental Information Center and Reading Room at 115 Memorial Drive, Barkley Centre, Paducah, Kentucky between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Monday through Friday or by writing to Reinhard Knerr, Department of Energy, Paducah Site Office, Post Office Box 1410, MS-103, Paducah, Kentucky 42001 or by calling him at (270) 441-6825. Issued at Washington, DC on November 27, 2006. Rachel M. Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer. [FR Doc. E6-20316 Filed 11-30-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P ***************************************************************** 74 WAVE 3: Discovery Of Radioactive Mounds Prompts Survey Of Wildlife Area TV Louisville, KY :: (PADUCAH, Ky.) -- Six areas of overgrown, radioactive dirt mounds have been found east of the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, prompting plans to survey all of the 6,463-acre West Kentucky Wildlife Management area to see if there are more. All the mounds have been roped off and posted with warning signs. "So far, the levels from raw data don't indicate biological risks or health hazards, but they do exceed levels for which we do postings," Mitch Hicks, health physicist for the Department of Energy's Paducah and Portsmouth, Ohio, Project Office, told the Paducah Sun. Larger mounds, estimated by tree growth to be at least 20 to 30 years old, are in wooded areas on both sides of a road running into the plant. They were found during routine DOE surveys during the first two weeks of November and were determined to contain uranium and polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs. "Where we found one, we figured we'd find some more," Hicks said. Subsequent surveys identified five more areas considerably smaller than the bigger mounds, estimated to be 1,400 feet long, 20 feet wide, from a few feet to more than 12 feet high, and containing 6,000 cubic yards of soil. All are believed to have been created decades ago during dredging of Little Bayou Creek, which runs through the wildlife area to the Ohio River. "We based that on what we were seeing," Hicks said. "There is about 30 feet of flattened area next to the creek where it looked like some heavy equipment was sitting there. You can picture a trackhoe dredging, spinning and dumping about 30 feet away." The digging, which apparently took place long before uranium and PCBs were found in Little Bayou, was done before environmental regulations governing the work, he said. "It was during a time frame when we wouldn't have had any well-established rules and regulations for dealing with contaminated soils," Hicks said. "For that period of time, to do something like that was perfectly normal." Little Bayou has been posted for contamination since 1989. Finding uranium and PCBs wasn't unexpected because the two are among the chief plant contaminants, said Tony Hatton, assistant director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management. PCBs were present for decades in insulating materials for the plant's power system. The plant separates uranium for use in nuclear fuel. Results of five samples of the bigger dirt piles received Thursday showed a high reading of about 47 parts per million for PCBs, well above DOE's action level of a few parts per million, Hatton said. A part per million is roughly equivalent to one drop of ink in a 40-gallon drum of water. Before the mounds were found, the area was opened to hunters, Hicks said. Hunters were warned after the findings. Ultimately DOE must determine whether to remove, treat and dispose of the dirt or not disturb it, spokeswoman Laura Schachter said. (Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) .gif"> All content Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and WAVE, a Raycom Media Station. ***************************************************************** NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more information go to: *****************************************************************