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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 Guardian Unlimited: If it is broke, don't fix it
2 [NukeNet] Iran Offers To Transfer Nuke Tech To Gulf States,
3 Guardian Unlimited: Bush accused of gagging critic of Iran policy
4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: No state has right to sanction IRI
5 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Nuclear case is closed - President
6 AFP: US sees UN sanctions against Iran voted within days
7 AFP: Rice, Lavrov try to overcome hurdle to Iran sanctions -
8 AFP: Iran within four years of nuclear bomb: Israel spy chief -
9 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. - Iran Makes Headway on Nuke Weapons
10 UPI: Iran claims to have 1,400 uranium mines
11 [NYTr] US Warns N.Korea that Sanctions May Replace Diplomacy
12 AFP: NKorea should spend money on food not nukes - UN rights envoy -
13 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Insists on Nuclear Status
14 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Wants U.N. Sanctions Lifted
15 HS: Finns provided intelligence to U.S. nuclear interests during Col
16 BBC: Bush signs US-India nuclear bill
17 US: FedCast: Government fails 10th consecutive audit
18 CANOE: CNEWS: Environmental groups accuse nuclear association of fal
NUCLEAR REACTORS
19 US: [NukeNet] Radioactive isotope found near Oyster Creek nuclear
20 [NukeNet] US Nuclear Tech Suppliers Swarm India
21 RIA Novosti: Moscow research facility shuts down six of 12 nuclear r
22 US: Daily Item: Sirens mistakenly sound at nuclear power plant
23 AFP: Westinghouse deal kicks off Chinese nuclear energy drive -
24 US: NRC: Notice of Opportunity To Comment on Model Safety Evaluation
25 US: NRC: Notice of Environmental Assessment Related to the Issuance
26 Mos News: Moscow Researchers Shut Down Six of Twelve Nuclear Reactor
27 Mos News: Russia Loses Multibillion Chinese NPP Tender to U.S. Firm
28 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Signs Nuclear Deal With India
29 AFP: Bush set to sign controversial nuclear deal with India -
30 US: AFP: Bush signs US-India pact, hails ties
31 UPI: United States, China agree on reactor sale
32 Guardian Unlimited: Key Provisions of India Nuclear Deal
NUCLEAR SECURITY
33 RIA Novosti: Germany returns shipment of enriched uranium to Russia
NUCLEAR SAFETY
34 [NukeNet] U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke
35 Litvinenko 'killed over dossier' on senior Putin ally
36 US: Too much radiation in child CT scans
37 BBC: Germany sends uranium to Russia
38 Prague Daily Monitor: Radioactivity level of Nalzovice waste not ala
39 Radio New Zealand: Nuclear Claims Tribunal awards compensation to Ma
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
40 [NukeNet] Yucca Mtn - Balance may shift for waste to stay put
41 US: IRNA: Iran has 1,400 uranium mines - AEOI official -
42 Nevada Appeal: DOE held no Yucca rail line meetings in Lyon County
43 Nevada Appeal: Rail line to Yucca divides small towns
44 US: Pahrump Valley Times: Tech Review Board to meet in Las Vegas
45 SLO Trib: Question for Democrats: Will Sin City and Yucca Mtn. set c
46 Xinhua: Russia to launch int'l uranium enrichment center in January
47 ITAR-TASS: Rosatom brings back over 300 kg of fuel from Germany’s re
48 US: Paducah Sun: 6 more dump sites reported to DOE -
49 US: AU ABC: New aerial survey system seeks out uranium deposits.
50 AU ABC: Nuclear material transported out of Sydney
51 UPI: Enriched uranium returned to Russia
52 US: Bangor Daily News: Viewpoints: Don't change course on nuclear wa
53 Guardian Unlimited: Will Nev. Set the Course for 2008 Pick?
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
54 Pahrump Valley Times: Homestead Road signal could be a year away
55 AP Wire: DOE completes transfer of uranium hexafluoride to Ohio
56 Knox News: DOE removal project done early
57 DOE: U.S.-Chinese Agreement Provides Path to Further Expansion of
58 KnoxNews: Nuke news brightens outlook at container company
59 Radio Iowa: Search on for former Ames Lab employees
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 Guardian Unlimited: If it is broke, don't fix it
Comment is free:
[Robert Fox]
Only the Bush White House and its Pentagon planners believe Iraq
is a war still be won. When will the reality dawn on them?
December 18, 2006 06:05 PM |
"Denial," Bill Clinton once remarked, "ain't just a river in
Egypt." Go tell that to the Dubya White House and Tony Blair,
now on his very own shuttle diplomacy of the Middle East - a
project so clunky it could have been designed by Lego.
Having confined the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group report to
the municipal shredder, the Bush administration is about to
adopt a radical new operational plan to commit an extra 50,000
of US forces to Iraq and to extend the tours of service there to
15 months.
The plan has been devised by a panel at the American Enterprise
Institute (AEI), high temple of the neo-con movement, and by
Frederick W Kagan. "Victory is still an option in Iraq," he
writes. "America is a country of 300 million people with a GDP
of $12 trillion, more than 1 million soldiers and marines can
regain control of Iraq, a state the size of California with a
population of 25 million and a GDP of under $100bn."
one of the AEI's cheerleaders, Fred Barnes of the Weekly
Standard, Bush has already decided to adopt the plan. When the
commander-in-chief was urged by a chum at his recent Christmas
soirée at the White House, "Don't let the bastards get you
down," according to Barnes, he replied, "Don't worry, I'm not."
When the courtier interjected, "I think we can win in Iraq," he
got the immediate reply: "We're going to win."
Tony Blair didn't quite use the same phraseology when he
addressed British troops outside Basra . But he echoed the Bush
sentiment by declaring that British soldiers would remain In
Iraq "until the job is done". The recent statement to parliament
by Margaret Beckett that the bulk of British troops would be out
next year now seems, like the ISG report, to have gone
shredder-wards.
The AEI plan drawn up by Frederick Kagan and the former deputy
head of the US army, General Jack Keane, envisages increasing
the current US force of around 150,000 by about 50,000. Next
summer, they will mount an operation "to clean out" Ramadi and
Baghdad of Sunni insurgents and the Shia militias now running
death squads in large parts of the capital.
The plan rejects the Baker-Hamilton plan of pulling back US
troops, increasing training to the Iraqi army and police, and
engaging neighbours like Syria and Iran in negotiation. "We must
change our focus from training to securing the rising violence.
Securing the population has never been the primary mission of
the US military effort in Iraq, and now it must become the first
priority."
"This misses the whole point," a British commander with wide
experience of Iraq remarked. "They don't seem to get it - it's
not a question of saving the ordinary population from the
insurgents and the militias: the ordinary population are the
insurgents and militias."
The new plan says that the "surge" of extra US troops will allow
at least 11 brigades to be moved in to Baghdad by the summer for
"clear and hold operations", quarter by quarter. Having arrived,
they will then stay for an unspecified period. This will mean
tours will have to be extended - ominously, the summary suggests
that "the (US) ground forces must accept longer tours for
several years. National Guard units will have to accept
increased deployments during this period."
The idea of any sustained increase was dismissed in a rare
public appearance this weekend by the former secretary of state
and head of the armed forces, Colin Powell. In words strangely
of his British colleague General Sir Richard Dannatt two months
ago, he : "There really are no additional troops," and added
that the US army "is about broken".
Other former commanders have pointed out that the cost in extra
logistics of a surge of only 30,000 extra troops would be
prohibitive, and, at the very most, could be managed for only
two or three months. Powell said it would be "a surge you would
have to pay for later".
Britain already seems to be paying for the extra strain on its
armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Tony Blair is trying to
keep a small division and a large brigade in the field in
guerrilla wars in both countries - on a flat defence budget.
Afghanistan and Iraq are currently costing around £1,410m a
year. At the same time, the government wants to go ahead with
new aircraft carriers and aircraft, costing at least £12bn, new
land systems at least £9bn, and hugely costly submarine,
Eurofighter and Nimrod programmes. And now it wants to order
replacement for the strategic nuclear weapon, Trident, at an
estimate of around £25bn - though the through-life cost is
likely to be much nearer the of £76bn.
Something has to give in all this, and it is likely to be
training and welfare of the troops. The services are so short of
transport aircraft that most parachute training has been
cancelled - so 16 Air Assault Brigade should be renamed 16
Grounded Brigade. Tours are becoming more frequent, and veterans
who have served five times in Iraq and/or Afghanistan since 2001
are becoming a common species in the forces.
The real problem, according to the progressive strategic
planners in both the US and UK forces, is that the leaders of
both countries still believe they can win "kinetically" - that
is, by the sheer brute force of arms. "They don't understand the
people we're now amongst, and how to connect with them," says a
British commander. Tell that in Downing Street and on
Pennsylvania Avenue.
The problem with the state of denial of Bush and his neo-con
clique of the American Enterprise Institute is that they are
about to breach the cardinal military maxim: don't reinforce
failure.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006.
Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396
Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR
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2 [NukeNet] Iran Offers To Transfer Nuke Tech To Gulf States,
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:00:47 -0800
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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Mothersalert: http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html
1. Iran Offers to Transfer Nuke Technology
2. U.S. Firm to Build China Nuke Reactors
3. Westinghouse Wins Massive China Nuclear Deal
Please notice below the insanity of :
>Unlike Iran, the United States said it had no
problem with Gulf Arab states developing nuclear
energy >capability because they show no interest
in using the technology to build atomic weapons.
Assuming this is true this is such a short
sighted view of what the future may bring, whom
these countries, in turn, may transfer their nuke
tech to and the fact that nuclear power is
extraordinarily dangerous from an environmental,
health, genetic, economic and mental health [or
lack thereof] perspective.
1.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html
Iran Offers to Transfer Nuke Technology
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 16, 2006
Filed at 6:25 p.m. ET
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said Saturday his country was ready to transfer
nuclear technology to neighboring countries,
nearly a week after Arab states on the Persian
Gulf announced plans to consider a joint nuclear
program.
Ahmadinejad told a top Kuwaiti envoy he welcomed
the decision by the Islamic republic's Arab Gulf
neighbors to pursue peaceful nuclear technology,
state-run television said.
''The Islamic Republic of Iran is prepared to
transfer to regional states its valuable
experience and achievements in the field of
peaceful nuclear technology as a clean energy
source and as a replacement for oil,'' state media
quoted Ahmadinejad as telling Mohammed Zefollah
Shirar, a top adviser to the Kuwaiti emir.
Such a technological transfer would be legal as
long as it is between signatory states to the
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or NPT, and as
long as the International Atomic Energy Agency
that monitors the treaty is informed of the
transfer.
Iran is at odds with the United States and its
European allies over its nuclear program. The
Western powers are seeking a U.N. Security Council
resolution imposing sanctions on Iran for its
program, which the U.S. and Europe say is aimed at
producing nuclear weapons. Iran insists its
nuclear program is solely for the peaceful
production of nuclear energy.
In Washington, Edgar Vasquez, a State Department
spokesman, told The Associated Press on Saturday
that Iran's continued defiance of international
nuclear safeguards represents ''a serious threat''
to maintaining peace and stability in the region.
''We expect Iran to comply with international
obligations under the NPT and its safeguards
agreement with the IAEA,'' Vasquez said.
''Iran's noncompliance up to this point is a
serious threat, which we continue to work with our
international partners and the international
community in the U.N. Security Council to
remedy.''
Unlike Iran, the United States said it had no
problem with Gulf Arab states developing nuclear
energy capability because they show no interest in
using the technology to build atomic weapons.
The Gulf Corporation Council -- made up of Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar,
Bahrain and Oman -- said last week it was
commissioning a study on setting up a nuclear
energy program for peaceful purposes, which would
abide by international standards and laws.
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said
Friday that a deal was emerging on a resolution to
impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to suspend
uranium enrichment.
Ambassadors from six key nations drafting the
resolution -- Britain, France, Germany, the U.S.,
Russia and China -- reported some progress at the
latest round of talks. But Russia said it opposes
a U.S. and European proposal to ban travel against
top Iranian officials.
Ahmadinejad has repeatedly and defiantly said his
country would continue enrichment and is not
intimidated by the possibility of sanctions.
------
Associated Press writers John Heilprin in
Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United
Nations contributed to this report.
2.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/business/AP-China-Energy-Westinghouse.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
U.S. Firm to Build China Nuke Reactors
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By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 16, 2006
Filed at 4:59 a.m. ET
BEIJING (AP) -- China and the United States on
Saturday signed an agreement that paves the way
for Westinghouse Electric Co. to build four
civilian nuclear reactors in China, a multibillion
dollar coup for U.S. business over French and
Russian competitors.
A memorandum of understanding supporting the
transfer of nuclear technology to China was signed
by China's Minister for the National Development
and Reform Commission Ma Kai and U.S. Energy
Secretary Samuel Bodman.
''This is an exciting day for the U.S. nuclear
industry,'' Bodman said at the ceremony. ''It is
an example that if we work together we can advance
not only our trade relations but also our common
goal of energy security.''
The agreement capped several days of top-level
trade talks between China and the U.S. that
otherwise yielded few concrete results. It was
signed on the sidelines of a closed-door meeting
of five major oil importing nations hosted by
China.
Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse's president and CEO,
said the details of the contract to build
facilities at Sanmen, in the eastern province of
Zhejiang, and at Yangjiang in southern China's
Guangdong province have yet to be completed but
that it was a multibillion dollar deal. He said
the company want the plants up and running by
2013.
The agreement, negotiated late into the night
Friday, makes Westinghouse's AP1000 -- which
relies on gravity rather than mechanical pumps to
carry water to a reactor in an emergency --
China's choice for developing its own nuclear
industry.
Westinghouse, U.S. engineering and construction
services contractor Shaw Group Inc. -- which holds
a 20 percent stake in Westinghouse -- and China's
State Nuclear Power Technology Co. signed a
companion agreement to follow through with
negotiations on specific terms for the technology
transfer.
According to a statement issued by the Chinese
side, French nuclear group AREVA was their second
choice, and a competing bid by Russia's
AtomStroyExport was apparently rejected.
Both U.S. and French politicians had lobbied hard
for the deal. The Chinese side said it chose
Westinghouse based on its technology, its
agreement on transferring expertise, the style of
cooperation and the prospects for developing
locally based technology.
The agreement ''pushes mankind into a new level of
nuclear technology development,'' said Ma, China's
planning minister. ''This project will certainly
play a very important role in enhancing the
cooperative partnership between China and the
U.S.''
Bodman said the agreement was reached after a
meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and
President Hu Jintao.
''I think they have superior technology,'' Bodman
said after the agreement was signed. ''It will
allow production of electricity in an efficient,
safe fashion,'' he said.
The deal in China will create more than 5,000 jobs
in the U.S., Bodman said, helping to redress the
mammoth U.S. trade deficit which is on line to
exceed last year's record US$202 billion.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Westinghouse, which
was acquired earlier this year by Japan's Toshiba
Corp., is banking on its AP1000 technology to help
lead an atomic-energy renaissance in the U.S. and
the rest of the world.
The system, according to Westinghouse, uses much
less cable, piping, valves and pumps than the
previous generation of reactors, cutting costs and
eliminating the need for huge cooling towers,
redundant pumps and backup diesel generators.
''There is going to be some benefit on both
sides,'' Tricht said. ''As we take this technology
forward in China we believe it will also help
accelerate the efforts for the United States
market as well.''
China is building scores of new nuclear power
plants, seeking the latest technology from
industry leaders while working to shore up its own
expertise.
Asia offers the promise of a bonanza for American
companies such as Westinghouse and General
Electric Co. which already have a strong presence
in the region. Westinghouse has helped build 14
nuclear plants in South Korea and provided
technology for almost half of Japan's 55 nuclear
units. GE, meanwhile, has helped build 36 reactors
in Japan, India and Taiwan.
Eighteen reactors -- about 70 percent of the
world's total under construction -- are going up
in Asia, and another 77 are planned or proposed,
according to the Nuclear Energy Institute, an
industry advocacy group based in Washington, D.C.
3.
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/business/business-china-nuclear-westinghouse.html
Westinghouse Wins Massive China Nuclear Deal
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By REUTERS
Published: December 16, 2006
Filed at 5:24 a.m. ET
Skip to next paragraph
BEIJING ( Reuters) - U.S.-based Westinghouse
Electric Co. has won a two-year battle for a
multibillion-dollar nuclear power deal with China,
edging out French and Russian rivals to secure a
contract that may help Beijing smooth ties with
Washington.
The deal, estimated in the past at some $8
billion, should warm relations between the world's
top two energy consumers, who have clashed lately
over a range of issues from the yuan currency to
the Chinese bid for U.S. independent oil firm
Unocal.
It will also reaffirm China -- now a laggard in
the nuclear sector -- at the forefront of a global
trend toward increased use of atomic power, touted
by many nations as the cleanest, cheapest solution
to the world's strained energy industry.
``(The agreement) represents a major step forward
in our relations and will advance our bilateral
trade relationship and the energy security of both
our nations,'' U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman
said in a statement after signing the memorandum
with Ma Kai, the chairman of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's
powerful energy policymaking body.
He said it would help the U.S. balance of payments
and create more than 5,500 U.S. jobs. The United
States had a record $202 billion trade deficit
with China last year.
Westinghouse, based in Pittsburgh but now owned by
Japan's Toshiba Corp., had been pressing to win
tenders to build China's third generation of
nuclear power plants since 2004, and offered a
significant technology transfer to secure it.
Other suitors included France's Areva, with French
President Jacques Chirac lobbying Beijing on an
October visit, and Russia's Atomstroiexport.
China said it chose Westinghouse partly because of
technology transfer and issues of self-reliance
and localisation of technology, it said in a
statement.
But given Toshiba's presence, the deal may have
also been eased by a thaw in ties with Japan after
Shinzo Abe took over as Prime Minister earlier
this year promising to patch up a relationship
that had sunk to its worst in decades.
Analysts say China hopes to use the deal, which
came after a two-day visit to Beijing by the
U.S.'s top economic policy-makers and amid fears
of a surge in protectionist sentiment, to soothe
more than just energy ties.
``This is all relationship driven,'' said David
Hurd, energy analyst at Deutsche Bank in Beijing.
``The U.S. is putting pressure on China at the
moment so China's response is 'let's throw them a
bone','' he added.
WORKING BY 2013
Stephen Tritch, Westinghouse Electric Co.
President and CEO, said the four plant deal was a
multi-billion dollar one, but gave no specifics.
Past estimates put the deal at $8 billion.
The two sides aim to move from the memorandum of
understanding signed on Saturday to a framework
agreement and then draw up a contract within
several months.
The 1.1 gigawatt plants will use Westinghouse's
advanced AP1000 design, which was only fully
certified by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission last year.
In an undated brief on its Web site, Westinghouse
estimates capital costs for the reactor at less
than $1,200 per kilowatt, which would take the
total expenditure to about $5.3 billion.
Tritch said the company, which says its technology
is the basis of nearly half the world's operating
nuclear plans, wants the units up and running by
2013. The company's Web site says the AP1000
plants take about three years to build.
China, the world's second-largest energy consumer,
is working fast to make up for its weakness in the
nuclear sector, which generates only about 2.3
percent of its electricity compared with
three-quarters in France or more than a quarter in
Japan. Beijing plans to spend some 400 billion
yuan ($50 billion) on building around 30 new
nuclear reactors by 2020, lifting the share to 4
percent and raising its installed nuclear capacity
to 40 gigawatts -- nearly enough to power Spain.
It currently has only nine working reactors.
ATOMIC RENAISSANCE
The deal may give a fillip to the global nuclear
industry, now emerging from decades of malaise due
to safety concerns.
``It is my hope that this very serious commitment
by the Chinese government will help persuade the
nuclear power industry in the U.S. that now is the
time to commit to building new nuclear power
plants in our country to expand our own sources of
clean, emissions-free electric power and further
diversify our energy portfolio,'' Bodman said.
In a report last month responding to G8 calls for
an energy blueprint, the International Energy
Agency said nuclear power offered the best hope
for slowing climate change and increasing energy
security, its strongest ever backing of atomic
energy.
With an estimated $20 trillion of investment in
new energy supplies required to meet demand by
2030, nuclear power is an increasingly attractive
option for governments confronted with an
increasing dependence on costlier, imported oil or
natural gas, and those trying to halt global
warming by cutting back on coal.
Nuclear plants generated just 15 percent of the
world's electricity last year, the rest produced
mainly from gas or coal.
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3 Guardian Unlimited: Bush accused of gagging critic of Iran policy
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Monday December 18, 2006 The Guardian
The White House yesterday faced fresh accusations of tailoring
intelligence to suit its political viewpoint from a former CIA
analyst barred from publishing a critical newspaper commentary on
American policy towards Iran. Flynt Leverett, a former Middle
East analyst at the CIA and the National Security Council who has
criticised the Bush administration for going to war with Iraq and
for its handling of Iran, accuses the White House of pressing the
CIA to demand sweeping cuts to an opinion piece he wrote for the
New York Times on Washington's policy towards Tehran.
Mr Leverett, who now works at the New America Foundation, a
thinktank in Washington, is the latest in a series of analysts
and agents to accuse the CIA publication review board of stifling
criticism of the administration or the intelligence-gathering
operations in the run-up to the war in Iraq. However, Mr Leverett
goes a step further in accusing the White House of putting
pressure on the CIA to prevent the distribution of views which do
not conform to its policy of refusing any diplomatic discussions
with Iran.
His 1,000-word article was based on a longer published piece that
the CIA had cleared without demanding any changes, and that is
available on the net. At the website talkingpointsmemo.com, Mr
Leverett wrote: "The White House inserted itself into the
prepublication review process for an op-ed on the
administration's bungling of the Iran portfolio."
Mr Leverett said he was ordered to drop references to Iran's
cooperation with the US on Afghanistan in the aftermath of the
September 11 2001 attacks. He claims the White House has had no
objections to similar assertions by less critical analysts.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: No state has right to sanction IRI
2006/12/18
Venezuelan Ambassador to Egypt Victor R Carazo said in Cairo on
Sunday that no country has the right to impose sanctions on the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
Speaking to IRNA, Carazo said big states use sanctions as a tool
to make countries tow their line or achieve certain ends and, in
the case of Iran, because of its nuclear activities which are
decidedly for peaceful purposes and not to produce a nuclear
bomb as claimed by its enemies.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has never contemplated an attack on
regional states and has always tried to settle problems through
peaceful means, he added.
He voiced his country's support for the international call for a
Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction, saying
implementation of all articles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT) to countries without discrimination was a prerequisite to
achieving this goal.
Pointing to the current situation in Iraq, he said the Iraqi
people have made it clear that they want foreign forces out of
their country and the right to run their own affairs.
Turning to the situation in Lebanon, he said that Venezuela
favors negotiations between opposing groups in Lebanon to settle
the country's problems.
sam
Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center.
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir
*****************************************************************
5 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Nuclear case is closed - President
2006/12/17
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Sunday that Tehran considered
its nuclear issue as closed.
He made the remarks on the sidelines of a surprise visit to the
Interior Ministry's election headquarters two days after the
fourth Leadership Assembly of Experts election was held on
Friday simultaneously with the third Civil and Village Councils
elections.
The second by-elections of the Majlis was also held on the same
day (Friday) in three constituencies -- Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat
and Eslamshahr (taken as one), Bam and Ahvaz.
Asked how the Friday's elections would influence the fate of IRI
nuclear issue at the international arena, the President said,
"we believe that the nuclear issue is closed."
He added that massive turn-out in the elections was a "great
epic" which has made enemies of the country disappointed.
The President praised domestic media and press for their full
coverage of the elections saying they have done "a good job."
President Ahmadinejad urged winners of the Civil and Village
Council elections to serve the nation and avoid serving their
own interests or those of their relevant parties.
He advised them to make use of the opportunity and serve the
noble nation of IRI.
M/D
Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center.
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir
*****************************************************************
6 AFP: US sees UN sanctions against Iran voted within days
Mon Dec 18, 12:31 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The UN Security Council will adopt sanctions
against Iran " /> within days in response to Tehran's refusal to
suspend its uranium enrichment program, a senior US official
said.
After months of intense negotiations, the five permanent members
of the Security Council plus Germany were nearing agreement on
the text of a resolution, said Undersecretary of State Nicholas
Burns.
"There will be sanctions passed against Iran in the next several
days at the United Nations " /> ," Burns said on CNN after
President George W. Bush " /> signed a controversial civilian
nuclear deal with India, which is already a nuclear weapons
power.
The United States has been leading efforts to impose sanctions
against Iran over its refusal to comply with an earlier UN
resolution demanding that it stop reprocessing and enriching
uranium -- activity that could provide material to produce
nuclear weapons.
But drawn-out negotiations with the four other veto-wielding
Security Council members -- Britain, China, France and Russia --
along with Germany have so far failed to yield agreement on the
exact terms of a sanctions resolution.
Russia, which has close energy and economic ties with Iran,
objected to an initial draft resolution as too harsh.
But over the weekend Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said
a consensus was forming around a revised draft presented by
France and Britain earlier this month.
"I hope that it is entirely realistic to come to a consensus in
the days remaining before the New Year if our partners take a
realistic approach and do not insist on certain positions which
we are convinced have nothing to do with the task before us,"
Lavrov was quoted by Russian media as saying.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
7 AFP: Rice, Lavrov try to overcome hurdle to Iran sanctions -
by David Millikin Mon Dec 18, 5:01 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The top US and Russian diplomats intervened
personally in a bid to overcome the final obstacles to a UN
sanctions resolution against Iran " /> Iranover its nuclear
program, but with little apparent success.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice " /> Condoleezza Ricespoke
by telephone Monday morning with her Russian counterpart, Sergei
Lavrov, about "some of the outstanding issues" preventing
agreement on the Iran resolution, State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said.
"We are hopeful we can get a vote in the very near future -- it
is time for a vote" on the UN Security Council measure, said
McCormack, who would not elaborate on the details of their
conversation.
But Russian and US diplomats involved in the negotiations at UN
headquarters in New York later said the two sides were still
disputing a key provision of the resolution, which is designed
to force Iran to comply with earlier UN demands that it freeze
its uranium enrichment program.
The draft submitted by Britain, France and Germany would impose
a ban on trade with Iran in goods related to its nuclear and
ballistic missile programs and place financial and travel
restrictions on persons and entities involved in the sectors.
But Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow could not
agree to the travel limits.
"We think this travel ban does not fit, it is something which is
not necessary," Churkin told reporters in New York.
US acting ambassador Alejandro Wolff countered that the travel
ban was "a priority and an important element" of the resolution,
which in order to pass needs the support of all five
veto-wielding members of the Security Council -- Britain, China,
France, Russia and the United States.
Envoys from the five and Germany, which also has been deeply
involved in the negotiations, failed to resolve the dispute
during two hours of talks on Monday.
They agreed to hold another session Tuesday before briefing the
10 non-permanent members of the council.
"A proposal is on the table to try and cover all the
(outstanding) points," said British UN envoy Emyr Jones Parry.
"Wednesday we will see where we are," he said.
Earlier Monday, US Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns
expressed optimism that the sanctions against Iran would finally
be passed by the council "in the next several days" following
months of arduous negotiations.
Tehran spurned the United Nations
" /> United Nations' August 31 deadline to freeze uranium
enrichment, a process which can provide fuel for nuclear
reactors but also, in highly refined form, material for the core
of a nuclear bomb.
Western powers suspect the Islamic Republic is seeking to
acquire a nuclear weapons capability under the cover of its
civilian nuclear program.
Tehran insists its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful and
aimed at generating electricity.
Russia and China, which have close energy and economic ties with
Iran, have steadily sought to water down the proposed sanctions,
with Moscow taking the firmest stance as the negotiations
entered the final phase, US officials said.
Over the weekend, Lavrov said a consensus was forming around a
revised draft presented by the Europeans earlier this month.
"I hope that it is entirely realistic to come to a consensus in
the days remaining before the New Year if our partners take a
realistic approach and do not insist on certain positions which
we are convinced have nothing to do with the task before us,"
Lavrov was quoted by Russian media as saying.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
8 AFP: Iran within four years of nuclear bomb: Israel spy chief -
Mon Dec 18, 9:58 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Iran " /> will have its first atomic bomb
within three or four years if its nuclear weapons programme
continues to develop at the current pace, Israel " /> 's spy
chief Meir Dagan has said.
General Dagan, head of the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence
agency, made the comments in an address to parliament's foreign
affairs and defence commission, according to military radio.
"If Iran's nuclear programme continues at its current pace, they
will succeed in having a bomb within three of four years," Dagan
was quoted as telling the commission Monday.
The general had in November 2003 told the same commission that
Iran's nuclear programme constituted "the greatest threat" to
Israel since its creation in 1948.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has on a number of occasions said
Israel will "not tolerate" an Iran with nuclear weapons
capability.
A week ago, Olmert appeared to admit -- in breach of the Jewish
state's decades-long policy of ambiguity -- that Israel
possessed nuclear weapons.
The blunder sparked outrage, with lawmakers from across the
political spectrum calling on the premier to resign.
Iran, meanwhile, is facing United Nations
" /> sanctions for refusing to stop enriching uranium, which the
West fears may be used for weapons development but which Tehran
insists is destined for its civilian energy programme.
But the Security Council's five veto-wielding members --
Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- plus
Germany have been struggling to reach consensus on a resolution
because of Russia and China's opposition to harsh sanctions
favored by Western states.
Israel is particularly fearful of Tehran developing a nuclear
bomb in the light of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's constant
threats against the Jewish state and his calls for its to be
"wiped off the map".
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
9 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. - Iran Makes Headway on Nuke Weapons
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 11:31 PM
AP Photo XHS111 By BARRY SCHWEID AP Diplomatic Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - Iran is making headway in building nuclear
weapons, the Bush administration said Monday as Secretary of
State Condoleezza Rice tried to iron out differences with Russia
over a U.N. resolution designed to stop the program with
economic sanctions.
While not predicting when Iran would join the nuclear club,
State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the Iranians were
trying to perfect technology to enrich uranium. Iran has denied
an effort to build nuclear weapons and says its work is for
energy development.
``It's a very tricky matter of perfecting centrifuge technology
so you can actually enrich all the uranium,'' McCormack said.
``So, yes, they are going along their way in trying to go down
the various pathways.''
The spokesman provided no details of Rice's telephone
conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. ``They
went over some of the outstanding issues,'' McCormack said.
Russia, which has close economic ties with Iran, has favored
diplomacy over punitive sanctions, but the Bush administration
is hoping Moscow may be prepared to approve a watered-down
resolution at the U.N. Security Council.
``We are hopeful that we can get a vote in the very near future.
It is time for a vote,'' McCormack said. ``I think we need to
see a vote on this in a matter of days.''
The United States and its European allies have proposed offering
Iran economic concessions in exchange for halting its enrichment
of uranium, a key part of the process of building nuclear
weapons.
U.S. and other diplomats met Monday at the United Nations in an
effort to narrow differences over a draft text.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
10 UPI: Iran claims to have 1,400 uranium mines
United Press International - NewsTrack -
12/18/2006 10:08:00 AM -0500
MASHHAD, Iran, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A senior nuclear official in
Iran said that the country has 1,400 uranium mines it is using
to fuel its growing nuclear power generation.
Hossein Faqihian, deputy head of nuclear fuel at the Atomic
Energy Organization of Iran made the disclosure in a speech
Monday in the northeastern city of Mashhad and used the
opportunity to reassert the government's declared right to
enrich uranium for peaceful civilian use.
"There are currently 10 countries in the world that are able to
enrich uranium. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of these,"
Faqihian said.
He said when the Iranian-Russian Bushehr nuclear plant comes
online late next year, it will have the capacity to produce
1,000 megawatts of electricity, the state-run IRNA news agency
reported.
The U.N. Security Council has authorized sanctions against
Tehran for its refusal to abandon uranium enrichment, which
numerous countries suspect is part of a military nuclear weapon
buildup.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
11 [NYTr] US Warns N.Korea that Sanctions May Replace Diplomacy
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 10:46:41 -0600 (CST)
X-Sender-Host-Name: chumbly.math.missouri.edu
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
[Christ what a bunch of boorish nudniks they are. The US has barely sat
down to the negotiating table (again, at last) and they're already
threatening the DPRK with "sanctions." Ooooh, the North Koreans must
be really quaking in their boots over that one. -NYTr]
sent by Simon McGuinness
[If the experience of Cuba under 47 years of the US blockade is anything
to go by, the North Korean leadership will be drinking champaign in
anticipation of US sanctions. -SMcG.]
The Independent - Dec 18, 2006
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2083907.ece
America warns North Korea that sanctions may replace diplomacy
By Burt Herman in Beijing
Talks on North Korea's nuclear programme have reached a "fork in the
road" between diplomacy and sanctions, America's top envoy on the issue
said yesterday.
US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill called for progress at
the talks, which are set to resume after a 13-month hiatus during which
the North detonated an atomic bomb.
Negotiators were gathering to discuss how to implement a September 2005
agreement, the only accord reached at the six-nation talks, under which
the North pledged to disarm in exchange for aid and security guarantees.
Mr Hill said when he arrived in Beijing that all sides "have to take
those ideas on paper and move them to the ground". He continued: " We
can either go forward on a diplomatic track or ... go to a much more
difficult track ... that involves sanctions."
The UN Security Council passed a resolution punishing the North's 9
October nuclear test with sanctions barring its weapons trade. But it is
not clear how much effect those measures have had given the North's
economic isolation and the fact that its main trading partners, China
and South Korea, have so far held back from taking tough measures.
South Korea's main envoy, Chun Yung-woo, said that the talks that have
taken place sporadically since 2003 faced "more difficult conditions
than other times" because of the atomic test.
*
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12 AFP: NKorea should spend money on food not nukes - UN rights envoy -
Monday December 18, 05:13 PM
SEOUL (AFP) - A United Nations rights envoy urged North Korea to
spend its money feeding its people rather than on nuclear
weapons, as talks opened in Beijing on scrapping the nuclear
program.
Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN's special rapporteur on human rights
in North Korea, was speaking after a four-day fact-finding visit
to South Korea. He is barred from visiting the North.
"The military-first policy, particularly its expenditure on arms
and nuclear proliferation in the DRPK (North Korea),
(Advertisement)
[Click Here] [ src=] is regrettable because the money should be
spent on human development and particularly to address food
security issues as well as other human needs," he told a press
conference in Seoul.
Vitit said donors had also become less willing to contribute
after the North's missile tests in July and its nuclear test on
October 9.
He said the UN's World Food Programme had appealed for just over
100 million dollars to feed 1.9 million people over the next two
years, but had received only 12-13 percent of this in donations.
"The whole humanitarian aid has been very much impacted upon by
the nuclear test and missile tests, as some contributors become
much more reluctant both multilaterally and bilaterally to give
aid."
Vitit also noted that food shortages dated back to the mid-1990s
"due to natural disasters and mismanagement." But at the end of
last year the North decided to accept less monitoring of food
aid and "started to pressure UN agencies and NGOs to limit their
operations and even to leave the country."
Saying it "takes two to tango," he urged the North to show its
commitment by allocating its own funds to ensure adequate food
supplies.
Vitit visited South Korea's Hanawon refugee resettlement centre
and said all those he met talked of "hardship, deprivation and
repression" in the North.
He urged nations which receive North Koreans fleeing their
homeland to treat them as refugees rather than economic migrants.
Vitit did not single out any nation but rights groups have
strongly criticized China which routinely returns refugees to
North Korea, where they face imprisonment and torture.
He said positive developments in the six-party talks, which
resumed Monday, would open opportunities for humanitarian action.
"There may be in that process, some possibilities for addressing
other issues, security concerns, as well as possibly human
rights," Vitit said.
He urged the North to end its "discrepancies and transgressions"
on human rights and implement the four international treaties to
which it is a party.
In a report released in October, Vitit accused North Korea of
practising "merciless discrimination against handicapped persons
by setting up collective camps for them where they are
designated according to their physical deformity or disability."
The report also charged that women in North Korea were being
subjected to violence as well as "human trafficking and sexual
exploitation."
The envoy, in the report, also focused on the root causes
pushing North Koreans to flee abroad -- citing political
repression and widespread hunger.
AFP
*****************************************************************
13 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Insists on Nuclear Status
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 9:31 PM
AP Photo TOK205 By BURT HERMAN Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - North Korea insisted Monday it be treated as a
full-fledged nuclear power as six-nation arms talks convened for
the first time since its atomic test, but the United States said
time was running out for Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear
arsenal and threatened more sanctions.
U.S. officials dismissed the communist regime's opening comments
as unsurprising rhetoric, while the chief American delegate said
it was time to move forward on disarmament.
``The supply of our patience may have exceeded the international
demand for that patience, and we should be a little less patient
and pick up the pace and work faster,'' envoy Christopher Hill
told reporters.
The resumption of the talks - consisting of the United States,
China, Japan, Russia and the two Koreas - came after a more than
13-month break during which the communist North tested fired a
new long-range missile in July and then set off an underground
atomic blast Oct. 9.
North Korea had refused to return to the multinational talks in
anger over the U.S. blacklisting of a Macau bank where Pyongyang
deposited some $24 million, alleging the bank was complicit in
the North's counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering to
sell weapons of mass destruction.
On Monday, the North again called for Washington to lift those
restrictions and demanded U.N. sanctions imposed for its nuclear
test explosion be lifted, according to a summary of its opening
statement released by one of the delegations.
Washington previously agreed to discuss the financial issue at
separate talks alongside the nuclear meeting. The North's
experts were expected to arrive in Beijing on Tuesday, although
Treasury officials in Washington said a time and a place for the
talks had not been set.
The North demanded again Monday that it be given a nuclear
reactor for electricity generation and also that its struggling
economy get other help in meeting its energy needs until the
reactor is built.
Pyongyang repeated its assertion that it be considered a nuclear
weapons power and that the talks be transformed into
negotiations over mutual arms reductions in which it would be
accorded equal footing with the United States. If its demands
aren't met, the North said, it would increase its nuclear
arsenal, according to the summary.
But the United States and other countries stressed the main
focus would be on getting the North Korean regime to give up
atomic arms.
``We would like denuclearization via a diplomatic negotiation.
If they don't want that, we're quite prepared to go the other
road ... which is a pretty tough road,'' Hill said, implying
North Korea could face further international sanctions.
In Washington, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns
brushed off the North's opening salvo as no surprise.
``If past is prologue, I mean that's the way the North Koreans
operate,'' he said. ``Let's see where we are by the end of the
week.''
Burns said the talks were expected to last three or four days,
with Hill expected back in Washington before Christmas.
Hill said he expected to have talks with the North's delegation,
but added that the U.S. would not give up the multi-nation
negotiations to engage in one-to-one talks with Pyongyang.
``The reason,'' he said, ``is that we want other countries to
take responsibility for their security in the region, namely
China,'' one of the North's closest allies.
Japanese negotiator Kenichiro Sasae told reporters that North
Korea would have to give ground. ``The position of the North
Korean delegation is wide apart from the rest of us and we
cannot accept it,'' he said.
In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said his government
expected North Korea to be more flexible. ``North Korea should
take a step forward toward the dismantlement of its nuclear
weapons,'' he said.
The North pledged in September 2005 to abandon its nuclear arms
program in exchange for economic aid and security guarantees,
and Hill said the other countries at the talks hoped to lay out
a plan to form working groups to discuss its implementation.
``What I want to see from the North Koreans is a willingness to
get on with implementing their elements of the September
agreement,'' Hill said. ``Our expectation is to get this done
this week.
China, the North's key benefactor, noted the sides had some
``very pronounced differences'' but pushed for results.
``We have finished the stage of commitment for commitment and
now should follow the principle of action for action,'' Foreign
Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters, echoing phrasing
from the earlier agreement.
South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo proposed that the
parties push for implementing the 2005 agreement within a few
months.
``We urged North Korea to take bold and substantial initial
steps to dismantle its nuclear program and stressed that the
other five countries' corresponding measures should also be bold
and substantial,'' he told reporters.
The latest North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in 2002 after
U.S. officials said the North had admitted to a secret nuclear
program in violation of a 1994 disarmament deal, leading to the
communist nation's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty.
North Korea is believed to have enough radioactive material to
make about a half-dozen atomic bombs, and its main nuclear
reactor remains in operation to create more weapons-grade
plutonium.
AP writers Audra Ang, Bo-mi Lim, Alexa Olesen and Mari Yamaguchi
contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
14 Guardian Unlimited: North Korea Wants U.N. Sanctions Lifted
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 10:46 AM
AP Photo TOK208 By ALEXA OLESEN Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - North Korea defiantly declared itself a nuclear
power Monday at the start of the first full international arms
talks since its nuclear test and threatened to increase its
nuclear deterrent if its demands were not met.
Reiterating those demands in its opening speech, the North said
the United Nations must lift the sanctions imposed on the
communist nation for its Oct. 9 nuclear test. It also said the
United States must remove the financial restrictions that led
the North to break off the six-nation nuclear negotiations 13
months ago.
The North also said it wants a nuclear reactor constructed for
it and help covering its energy needs until the reactor is
completed, according to a summary of the speech released by one
of the delegations involved. Five nations are trying to persuade
the North to abandon nuclear weapons - the United States, China,
South Korea, Japan and Russia.
The North said that now that it is a nuclear power, it should be
treated on equal footing with the U.S. It warned that if its
demands aren't met, it would increase its nuclear deterrent,
according to the summary.
The U.S. offered in its opening comments to normalize relations
with Pyongyang, but only after it halted its nuclear program.
A South Korean official who declined to be named because of the
sensitivity of the talks said the North was entering the
negotiations with a maximum of conditions for success.
Opening the talks at a Chinese state guesthouse in Beijing, head
Chinese delegate Wu Dawei urged the envoys to strive for the
implementation of a September 2005 agreement in which the North
pledged to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for security
guarantees and aid.
``This session has significant meaning in building on past
progress and paving the way for the future,'' he said. ``We hope
that with the concerted efforts of all parties, we will be able
to produce positive results.''
North Korea agreed to return to the six-nation negotiations just
weeks after its nuclear test, saying it wanted to discuss U.S.
financial restrictions against a Macau bank where the regime
held accounts.
That issue will be addressed in separate U.S.-North Korean
meetings expected to start Tuesday.
The arms talks have been plagued by delays and discord since
they began in August 2003.
The U.S. has sought to line up support against Pyongyang's
nuclear ambitions by enlisting its neighbors in the discussions.
The North exploited divisions among the U.S. and its partners in
an effort to change the subject and buy time to develop its
atomic arsenal.
But North Korea's nuclear test of a low-yield nuclear device
seemed to stiffen the will of other countries - particularly
China - to persuade it to disarm.
Beijing joined a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution
sanctioning North Korea for its nuclear test, and brought
Pyongyang and Washington together just a few weeks later to
agree to resume nuclear discussions.
North Korea had boycotted the talks in response to the financial
restrictions imposed by the United States. Washington had
accused North Korea of using the Macau bank in scheme to launder
money and print counterfeit U.S. currency.
Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill, the U.S. nuclear
envoy, said the United States supports the U.N. sanctions until
the North disarms and said the goal now was to make the 2005
agreement a reality.
``The supply of our patience may have exceeded the international
demand for that patience, and we should be a little less patient
and pick up the pace and work faster,'' Hill told reporters
Monday.
China, the North's last major ally, also pushed for results.
``We have finished the stage of commitment for commitment and
now should follow the principle of action for action,'' Foreign
Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu told reporters, echoing phrasing
from the earlier agreement.
``We hope that with the concerted efforts of all parties, we
will be able to produce positive results at this session,'' Wu,
the Chinese envoy, said at the talks' start.
South Korean nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo suggested getting
North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program was a
two-way process.
``We urged North Korea to take bold and substantial initial
steps to dismantle its nuclear program and stressed that the
other five countries' corresponding measures should also be bold
and substantial,'' Chun told reporters.
The latest North Korean nuclear crisis began in late 2002, when
U.S. officials said the North admitted running a secret nuclear
program. The program violated a 1994 deal with the U.S., in
which North Korea agreed to halt its atomic development.
After its admission, North Korea withdrew from the Nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty, expelled international inspectors and
restarted its main nuclear reactor in order to make plutonium
for bombs.
---
Associated Press reporters Burt Herman and Bo-mi Lim contributed
to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
15 HS: Finns provided intelligence to U.S. nuclear interests during Cold War
Helsingin Sanomat -
Radio Helsinki
Tuesday 19.12.2006
Proximity to Soviet test sites a major advantage in monitoring
According to the Finnish Broadcasting Company's digital
channel for news and current affairs YLE 24, new information has
come to light on intelligence collaboration between Finland and
the United States during the Cold War years.
In the 1940s and 1950s, the U.S. recruited several eminent
Finnish scientists to assist in clandestine research on nuclear
arms and Soviet nuclear testing. Among other tasks, the Finnish
scientists monitored the Soviet nuclear test programme, drafted
calculations for the flight routes of intercontinental bombers,
and plotted trajectories for missiles - ICBMs - aimed at targets
inside the Soviet Union.
In a trailer for a report on the subject to be screened
later today, YLE 24 noted that in the early 1960s the Department
of Seismology at the University of Helsinki was discreetly
provided with U.S. equipment to help in monitoring Soviet
nuclear tests.
The information gathered was passed back via Norway and then
uplinked using the U.S. Defense Department's so-called Arpanet
network, the military forefather of the modern Internet. At the
time the United States feared that the Soviets were gaining an
advantage in the development of battlefield nuclear arms, or
small tactical weapons.
One of the principal players was the Department of
Seismology's founder, Prof. Eijo Vesanen, who had spent four
years shortly after World War II engaged on military research
programmes in Washington State. The Finnish measuring apparatus
was part of an extensive network of seismographic monitoring
stations with which the U.S. had ringed the Soviet Union.
Finland was an important node, since the country is located on
the same continental plate as the Kola Peninsula and the key
Soviet nuclear testing area in the twin islands of Novaya Zemlya
in the Arctic Ocean.
Finland also enjoyed conditions with little "seismological
background noise", thus rendering the results more accurate.
Furthermore, our geographical proximity to the testing sites
meant that seismic waves reached Finland relatively quickly,
thereby assisting spy satellites in pinning down the exact
location of an underground nuclear test.
YLE goes on to divulge that Veikko Heiskanen, a Finnish
professor of geodesics, led a research department in Ohio that
was funded by the U.S. intelligence community and which
concentrated on missiles and surveillance satellites.
The research team explored such things as ways in which
nuclear-armed missiles could be guided in to designated targets
in Leningrad, Moscow and elsewhere within the USSR.
Information on the role of Finnish scientists during the Cold
War era is not exactly thick on the ground.
Many of the details of projects from this time remain
classified, or material has been lost or deliberately destroyed,
and those who do know something are reluctant to speak publicly
about it.
The most obvious reason for secrecy at the time was the
fact of Finland's close security position vis-a-vis the Soviet
Union through the YYA Treaty [The Treaty of Cooperation,
Friendship and Mutual Assistance, dating from 1948].
Cooperation with the West was thus a politically sensitive
issue, and was kept very much under wraps, on a need-to-know
basis. Very few people needed to know anything.
A more comprehensive report on the subject is to be broadcast
tonight, Monday, on the A-Piste current affairs programme on
YLE's TV1, at 21:00.
Helsingin Sanomat
*****************************************************************
16 BBC: Bush signs US-India nuclear bill
Last Updated: Monday, 18 December 2006
[President Bush in India]
Mr Bush and Mr Singh finalised the deal in India in March
President George W Bush has signed into law a historic agreement
allowing the United States to export civilian nuclear fuel to
India.
The deal was finally approved by Congress earlier this month.
Mr Bush and Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh agreed on the
deal in principle in July, 2005.
Critics say it will harm efforts to stop the spread of nuclear
weapons as India has not signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT).
Even with Mr Bush signing the legislation, it still has three
more hurdles to overcome.
'Client state'
President Bush described the new law as an important achievement
for the whole world.
"The bill will help keep America safe by paving the way for India
to join the global effort to stop the spread of nuclear weapons,"
he said.
"After 30 years outside the system, India will now operate its
civilian nuclear energy programme under internationally-accepted
guidelines and the world is going to be safer as a result."
Mr Bush has insisted that the deal "will strengthen the strategic
relationship between America and India and deliver valuable
benefits to both nations".
Under the deal, energy-hungry India will get access to US civil
nuclear technology and fuel, in return for opening its civilian
nuclear facilities to inspection.
But its nuclear weapons sites will remain off-limits.
Indian opposition leader LK Advani denounced the deal in a debate
in the Indian parliament on Monday, saying it would make India "a
client state of the United States".
"The primary objective is to cap, roll back and ultimately
eliminate [India's] nuclear weapons capability," he told
legislators.
The government's communist allies are also opposed to the
agreement.
The deal does not have to be ratified by the Indian parliament.
However, the opposition could try to force a full debate followed
by a vote to reject the agreement.
Next steps
There are three more stages before the agreement actually starts
working.
+ India and the US have to agree terms for the lucrative trade
deal by which the US sells India nuclear technology and fuel -
the US Congress has to ratify the deal
+ The International Atomic Energy Agency has to approve a
separate nuclear inspection programme
+ The Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of nations that
exports nuclear material, has to give its approval.
Once on opposite sides of the Cold War fence, India and the US
have become allies with close economic, political and even
defence ties.
NUCLEAR POWER IN INDIA
India has 14 reactor in commercial operation and nine under
construction Nuclear power supplies about 3% of India's
electricity By 2050, nuclear power is expected to provide 25% of
the country's electricity India has limited coal and uranium
reserves Its huge thorium reserves - about 25% of the world's
total - are expected to fuel its nuclear power programme
long-term Source: Uranium Information Center
Correspondents say that India sees the deal as a tacit acceptance
of its emergence as a global nuclear power.
But some say that by making an exception for India, the US will
find it difficult to rein in the nuclear ambitions of North Korea
and Iran.
The proposed agreement reverses US policy to restrict nuclear
co-operation with Delhi because of its refusal to sign the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its testing of nuclear
weapons in 1974 and 1998.
Mr Bush and Mr Singh finalised the agreement in India in March.
Some critics of the deal say it could boost India's nuclear
arsenal. They say it sends the wrong message to countries like
Iran, whose nuclear ambitions Washington opposes.
India has made clear that the final agreement must not bind it to
supporting the US policy on Iran and does not prevent it from
developing its own fissile material.
*****************************************************************
17 FedCast: Government fails 10th consecutive audit
12/18/06 In this episode:
[GovExec.com]
By Jenny Mandel jmandel@govexec.com
As anticipated, the federal government flunked its audit for
fiscal 2006, with $797 billion, or 53 percent, of its reported
assets and an additional $790 billion, or 27 percent, of net
costs, on the balance sheets of five agencies that could not be
fully audited.
This marks the 10th year in a row in which the government's
consolidated audit statement received a judgment of "no comment"
from auditors. The Defense, State and Homeland Security
departments, as well as NASA, received disclaimers on their 2006
audits. The Energy Department, which was only partially auditable
due to a disclaimer in 2005, earned a qualified opinion -- a step
up from no opinion but still short of a clean bill of health.
The difficulty of valuing complex, one-of-a-kind systems
contributed to the problems at those agencies. After new
accounting rules for property went into effect in 2003, about
$325.1 billion in military equipment appeared on the books for
the first time, according to a Treasury Department analysis.
In fiscal 2006, the government's total reported assets increased
$48.6 billion, to $1.5 trillion.
As it did last year, the Government Accountability Office cited
three major shortcomings: financial management problems at the
Defense Department, an inability to account for and to reconcile
balances that cross agency lines and an ineffective process for
preparing financial statements.
The consolidated report also showed that the Transportation
Department and Smithsonian earned qualified opinions on their
audits, indicating significant problems.
In a letter reporting the audit results, Comptroller General
David M. Walker called for the adoption of another report in the
annual arsenal -- a new statement that would provide "a long-term
look at the sustainability of current social insurance and other
federal programs."
Walker has spent the past 15 months crisscrossing the country in
what he has called a "fiscal wake-up tour" to speak about the
problems the nation faces with its social insurance programs.
Fiscal 2006 was the first year for which a statement of social
insurance, which covers outlays for Social Security, Medicare,
railroad retirement and black lung disease benefits, was
considered a key financial statement. The statement showed
projected outlays for those programs exceeding revenues by about
$39 trillion over the next 75 years, Walker said.
Combined with other long-term projected expenses, he said, the
total government exposure was about $50 trillion at the end of
fiscal 2006, up $4 trillion from the previous year and up $20
trillion since 2000.
©2006 by National Journal Group Inc. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
18 CANOE: CNEWS: Environmental groups accuse nuclear association of false advertising
December 18, 2006
By DENNIS BUECKERT
OTTAWA (CP) - Environmental, health and church groups have filed
a false-advertising complaint against the Canadian Nuclear
Association over its ad campaign touting nuclear energy as
clean.
The complaint, submitted to the Competition Bureau on Monday,
comes amid renewed debate about the nuclear option as an
alternative to fossil fuels that are mainly responsible for
greenhouse gas emissions.
It's false to claim nuclear energy is clean because radioactive
waste remains dangerous for thousands of years, said Mark
Winfield of the Pembina Institute, one of the groups in the
coalition.
"We've got generation of just enormous amounts of waste at each
stage of the process, and these are extraordinarily
difficult-to-deal-with wastes," he said in an interview.
The complaint is based on $1.7 million in advertising by the
Canadian Nuclear Association in 2005, mostly on television,
touting nuclear energy as "clean, reliable and affordable." The
ad campaign continued this year as well.
The Canadian Nuclear Association did not respond to a request
Monday for comment.
A Pembina report found that the Canadian nuclear sector
produces:
-An estimated 575,000 tonnes of acidic tailings each year from
the mining of uranium fuel. These contain a range of acids,
long-lived radioactive material, heavy metals and other
contaminants.
-Approximately 85,000 waste-fuel bundles annually. As of 2003,
1.7 million radioactive bundles were in storage at reactor
sites. It's estimated these wastes will have to be secured for
approximately a million years.
Canada still lacks a plan for permanent disposal of nuclear
waste although the problem has been under study for many years.
Health Canada and Environment Canada have determined that the
discharge from nuclear plants meets the criteria to be
categorized as toxic under the Canada Environmental Protection
Act.
The Pembina study also found that nuclear plants in Canada have
a history of cost overruns. In Ontario, for example, nuclear
construction projects have run 40 per cent to 270 per cent over
their projected capital costs.
"Our concern is that the nuclear industry's advertising budget
and approach distorts objective decisions which have to be made
right now about the future of (Canada's) electricity system,"
said Julia Langer of the Canadian arm of the World Wildlife
Federation.
A spokeswoman for the Competition Bureau, which is responsible
for charges of false-advertising, said the bureau does not
comment on individual complaints, and not all complaints are
investigated.
The bureau receives 40,000 complaints a year, said Maureen
McGrath.
*****************************************************************
19 [NukeNet] Radioactive isotope found near Oyster Creek nuclear
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:02:38 -0800
X-Nohoney: yes white-hard - relay H=adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net (borg.energy-net.org) [63.203.231.61]
X-Sender-Host-Address: 63.203.231.61
X-Sender-Host-Name: adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net
X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY-WHITELIST
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
The possibilities do exist of similar levels at and around Diablo
Canyon. If this is happening at other nuke plants it could also be
happening here. Molly
FYI -
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/Hbase/nucene/fisfrag.html#c4
Cesium-137 and
strontium-90
are the most dangerous radioisotopes to the environment in terms of their
long-term effects. Their intermediate half-lives of about 30 years suggests
that they are not only highly
radioactive
but that they have a long enough halflife to be around for hundreds of
years.
Iodine-131
may give a higher initial dose, but its short halflife of 8 days ensures
that it will soon be gone. Besides its persistence and high activity,
cesium-137 has the further insidious property of being mistaken for
potassium by living organisms and taken up as part of the fluid
electrolytes. This means that it is passed on up the food chain and
reconcentrated from the environment by that process.
Radioactive isotope found near Oyster Creek nuclear power plant
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/16/06
BY JOSEPH CACCHIOLI
AND ERIK LARSEN
STAFF WRITERS
LACEY — The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant reported Friday it has
detected elevated levels of the radioactive isotope Cesium-137 in leaf and
soil samples near the plant.
The amounts detected were within a range typically found in the general
environment and pose no health or safety threat to people or wildlife,
plant officials said. The amounts found were also below levels that would
require them to report their findings to federal regulators, plant
officials reported in a prepared statement.
However, exposure to radiation from Cesium-137 can result in increased risk
of cancer, according to information on the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency Web site.
Oyster Creek's technical staff "will get to the bottom of this," said Tim
Rausch, the plant's chief executive. "We will find out the source and
extent of the Cesium-137 we are seeing, and we'll continue to keep the
community informed as information becomes available."
The test was part of the plant's routine monthly monitoring program, said
Rachelle Benson, a plant spokeswoman.
Cesium-137 in the environment comes from a variety of sources, according to
the EPA. The largest single source was fallout from atmospheric nuclear
weapons tests in the 1950s and 1960s, which dispersed and deposited
Cesium-137 worldwide. However, much of the Cesium-137 from testing has now
decayed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent
people for a purpose which is unattainable." : U.S. historian Howard Zinn, 1993
Molly Johnson
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA 93451
Cell: 805 296-0524
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20 [NukeNet] US Nuclear Tech Suppliers Swarm India
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:00:34 -0800
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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
>The bill must be finalised in December before
the end of
>this Congressional session, otherwise the process
will have to start anew
>next year.
This needs to be stopped/not passed in December.
Please call your Senators & Reps telling them this
is a disaster in the making and must be snuffed.
The Congressional switchboard can be reached at:
202-224-3121 & 1-877-762-8762. People on relevant
committee[s] can be found at:
http://www.senate.gov
http://www.house.gov Please forward this as
widely as possible.
-Bill Smirnow
Alice Slater
Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, New York
446 E. 86 St.
New York, NY 10028
212-744-2005
646-238-9000(cell)
aslater@rcn.com
www.wagingpeace.org
-----Original Message-----
From: NucNews@yahoogroups.com
[mailto:NucNews@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of
et@nucnews.net
Sent: Friday, December 15, 2006 9:32 PM
To: nucnews@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [NucNews] US nuclear tech suppliers swarm
India
US nuclear tech suppliers swarm India
Financial Times / MSNBC
By Amy Yee in New Delhi
Nov 23, 2006
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15861048/
US companies are clamouring to break into India's
nuclear energy market -
forecast to be worth $100bn (£53bn) - as lawmakers
race to finalise the
US-India civilian nuclear agreement cleared last
week by the US Senate.
Two dozen US groups with nuclear energy interests
will join more than 200
other American companies at the US India Business
Summit in Mumbai next
week, which represents the largest ever US trade
mission to India.
The energy and infrastructure heavyweights GE,
Westinghouse, Bechtel, United
Technologies, Thorium Power, US Enrichment
Corporation and Fluor are part of
the delegation.
The US Senate last Thursday approved a historic
deal to legalise nuclear
trade with India, bringing the country a step
closer to being allowed to buy
US nuclear fuel, reactors and related technology.
US companies across a range of sectors, from IT to
manufacturing to
entertainment, have pushed hard for the new
legislation.
"This goes far beyond nuclear reactors," said Ron
Somers, president of the
US India Business Council, an industry advocacy
group based in Washington.
"We are ripping the lid off so the market can grow
at a much faster pace."
India's power generation capacity stands at
132,000MW but it is seeking to
add 100,000MW from conventional energy sources to
sustain economic growth
running at about 8 per cent a year.
Nuclear energy could provide a further 60,000MW.
In addition to satisfying growing consumer demand
as incomes rise, India
also needs energy to bolster its weak
infrastructure.
Overhauling and expanding ports, airports, roads
and railways - crucial to
boosting India's industry and trade - will carry
an estimated price tag of
$500bn over the next decade.
"We've only just begun significant economic
activity with India," said Mr
Somers. Passage of the civilian nuclear agreement
would signal the "end of a
technology denial regime imposed on India for the
past 35 years".
Both chambers of US Congress must now reconcile
their versions of the bill
and bilateral agreements with India must be
hammered out before it can be
signed into law. The bill must be finalised in
December before the end of
this Congressional session, otherwise the process
will have to start anew
next year.
In addition, several more critical approvals, by
the International Atomic
Energy Agency and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers
Group, are needed before
the agreement can take effect.
Although several hurdles stand in the way of
opening India's civilian
nuclear industry, "there is interest from
countries all over the world to
position themselves", said David Mulford, US
ambassador to India, last week.
Opening India's civilian nuclear industry is
"achievable in a matter of
months...Deals will come through quite quickly,"
he added.
--
Posted for educational and research purposes only,
~ in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 ~
NucNews Links and Expanded Archives -
http://nucnews.net
Looking for solutions? http://prop1.org/prop1/
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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* See also: NucNews Links and Archives (by date)
at http://nucnews.net *
(Posted for educational and research purposes
only, in accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. section 107) *
*****************************************************************
21 RIA Novosti: Moscow research facility shuts down six of 12 nuclear reactors
18/ 12/ 2006
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - Six out of 12 nuclear
reactors at the Kurchatov nuclear research institute in Moscow
have been shut down and pose no danger, a deputy director of the
institute said Monday.
Russian ecologists have repeatedly called for the removal of all
nuclear research reactors from the capital, citing radiation and
health risks. Moscow is one of the only European capitals with
operating nuclear reactors on its territory.
"In all, 12 reactors were constructed at the Kurchatov
Institute," Andrei Gagarinsky said. "Only six of them remain
operational. Another reactor will be shut down soon, and we will
continue exploiting [the remaining] five."
He added that three of the idled reactors are undergoing uranium
removal.
Nikolai Ponomaryov-Stepnoi, a vice president of the institute,
said the remaining reactors are safe and pose no threat to human
health, although some areas at the institute were radioactively
contaminated.
"There were some areas that were significantly contaminated with
radiation, but our specialists have successfully cleared them,"
Ponomaryov-Stepnoi said.
The vice president also said that all reactors still in use at
Russia's leading nuclear energy research and development
institute have licenses from the Federal Service for the
Oversight of the Environment, Technology and Nuclear Management.
Ponomaryov-Stepnoi said the institute still operates the oldest
reactor in Europe and Asia, the F-1 graphite research reactor,
which is very safe.
"Physically, the reactor is an excellent shape and can work for
hundreds of years," he said. "It is safe, and we can continue
using it for scientific experiments."
The Kurchatov Institute is funded through the Ministry of
Industry, Science and Technology, and federal budget resources
represent about 15% of its total financing.
© 2005 RIA Novosti
*****************************************************************
22 Daily Item: Sirens mistakenly sound at nuclear power plant
Sunbury, PA
The Daily Item 200 Market Street Sunbury, PA 17801 (570) 286-5671
(800) 792-2303
December 18, 2006
BERWICK — Emergency sires near PPL’s Susquehanna nuclear power
plant went off around 11 a.m. this morning, but company
officials said it was part of a test and not an actual emergency.
“We conduct silent tests of the siren system every two weeks,”
said Lou Ramos, spokesman for the plant. “During a scheduled
test this morning, the sirens mistakenly received a signal to
sound, rather than a signal for a silent test. We apologize for
any anxiety that this may have caused among area residents.”
The sirens can be sounded by PPL Susquehanna or by emergency
management agencies in Luzerne or Columbia counties.
“The sires that sounded today were part of the old siren system,
which PPL Susquehanna is in the process of replacing,” Mr. Ramos
said. “We will conduct a full-scale test of the newly installed
siren system tomorrow.”
Emergency sirens around the plant are in place to notify the
public to tune into emergency broadcast stations on television
or radio in the event of an emergency at the nuclear plant or in
the community.
Did this article satisfy your expectations?
Copyright © 2006 The Daily Item Publishing Company
*****************************************************************
23 AFP: Westinghouse deal kicks off Chinese nuclear energy drive -
by Robert J. Saiget Mon Dec 18, 8:23 AM ET
BEIJING (AFP) - China's decision to buy four nuclear power
reactors from US-based Westinghouse represents a major step in an
ambitious drive to boost atomic energy production.
In March this year, China's cabinet approved blueprints to bring
nuclear energy capacity from its current level of about 9,600
megawatts to 40,000 megawatts by 2020, or about four percent of
its overall energy production.
The deal for the third-generation 1,000 megawatt reactors marks
only the beginning of the production drive to wean the country
away from dependency of polluting fossil fuels.
"The target will require China to build some 32 nuclear power
units, each capable of generating at least one gigawatt (1,000
megawatts), over the next 15 years," Xinhua news agency quoted
Zhang Guobao, vice minister in charge of the National
Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), as saying at the time.
China currently has nine nuclear energy reactors in commercial
operation with two more Russian-made units expected to go on
line by the end of March 2007. France has built four nuclear
reactors in China, while Canada has built two atomic power units.
The four Westinghouse reactors will be constructed in nuclear
power stations in Yangjiang in south China's Guangdong province
and in Sanmen, in Zhejiang province along the nation's east
coastline.
The multi-billion dollar deal was announced on Saturday and
comes after years of intense competition with France's Areva and
Russia's AtomStroyExport.
According to the Chinese government, Westinghouse won the bid on
technical merits, with insiders saying the American-based, but
Japanese-owned company, was willing to transfer more technology
than their French rivals.
The deal for the Westinghouse AP 1000 reactors was valued at
between 5.5 billion dollars and 8.0 billion dollars, the
insiders said. Westinghouse said the deal will create up to
5,000 jobs in the United States.
China also announced this year plans to start building a nuclear
power station in the nation's northeastern Liaoning province
next year that consist of two 1,000 megawatt reactors. It was
unclear if those reactors will be imported or Chinese made.
Meanwhile state press reports said that more plants are in the
pipeline for the provinces of Fujian, Shandong, Anhui, Hunan,
Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan, as well as Shanghai. All must get
final approval from the NDRC, China's planning ministry.
"The basic policy to reach the 40,000 megawatt goal is to rely
on our own technology to build these plants," an official with
the China Atomic Energy Authority told AFP.
"But we also have policies calling for the import of advanced
technologies from around the world," he added while asking not
to be named.
He insisted that all international tenders would be judged on
their commercial and technical merits, while refusing to comment
on the political elements that inevitably become involved with
major Chinese projects.
"Right now the biggest political element is whether to go with
indigenous technology or imported technology, with much of the
infighting taking place in the regions and the bureaucracies," a
Singapore-based China energy analyst told AFP.
"Some people in China are saying that if you give all the
contracts to foreign companies, then you are taking away an
opportunity for the indigenous industry to develop," he said
while declining to be named.
According to the China Atomic Energy Authority official, China's
indigenous nuclear power industry would continue to produce
"second generation" plants of around 600 megawatts each until
2015.
After that the nation would be capable of manufacturing "third
generation" reactors like the Westinghouse AP 1000s, he said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
24 NRC: Notice of Opportunity To Comment on Model Safety Evaluation and
FR Doc E6-21462
[Federal Register: December 18, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 242)]
[Notices] [Page 75774-75777] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18de06-61]
Model License Amendment Request on Technical Specification
Improvement Regarding Adding an Action Statement for Two
Inoperable Control Room Air Conditioning Subsystems AGENCY:
Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Request for comment.
SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the staff of the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has prepared a model license
amendment request (LAR), model safety evaluation (SE), and model
proposed no significant hazards consideration (NSHC)
determination related to changes to Standard Technical
Specification (STS) 3.7.5 (STS 3.7.4 for BWR/6), ``Control Room
Air Conditioning (AC) System'' for NUREG-1433 and NUREG-1434. The
proposed changes would also revise the Bases for STS 3.7.5 (STS
3.7.4 for BWR/6). The General Electric Boiling Water Reactor
Owners Group (BWROG) participants in the Technical Specifications
Task Force (TSTF) proposed these changes to the STS in TSTF-477,
Revision 3, ``Add an Action for Two Inoperable Control Room AC
Subsystems.'' The purpose of these models is to permit the NRC to
efficiently process amendments to incorporate changes into
plant-specific Technical Specifications (TS) for General Electric
Boiling Water Reactors (BWR). Licensees of nuclear power reactors
to which the models apply can request amendments conforming to
the models. In such a request, a licensee should confirm the
applicability of the model LAR, model SE and NSHC determination
to its plant. The NRC staff is requesting comments on the model
LAR, model SE and NSHC determination before announcing their
availability for referencing in license amendment applications.
DATES: The comment period expires 30 days from the date of this
publication. Comments received after this date will be considered
if it is practical to do so, but the Commission is able to ensure
consideration only for comments received on or before this date.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be submitted either electronically or via
U.S. mail.
Submit written comments to: Chief, Rules and Directives Branch,
Division of Administrative Services, Office of Administration,
Mail Stop: T-6 D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555-0001. Hand deliver comments to: 11545
Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, between 7:45 a.m. and 4:15
p.m. on Federal workdays. Submit comments by electronic mail to:
.
Copies of comments received may be examined at the NRC's Public
Document Room, One White Flint North, Public File Area O1-F21,
11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter C. Hearn, Mail Stop:
O-12H2, Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of
Nuclear Reactor Regulation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
Washington, DC 20555- 0001, telephone (301) 415-1189.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Background Regulatory Issue Summary
2000-06, ``Consolidated Line Item Improvement Process [CLIIP] for
Adopting Standard Technical Specifications Changes for Power
Reactors,'' was issued on March 20, 2000. The CLIIP is intended
to improve the efficiency and transparency of NRC licensing
processes. This is accomplished by processing proposed changes to
the STS in a manner that supports subsequent license amendment
applications. The CLIIP includes an opportunity for the public to
comment on proposed changes to the STS following a preliminary
assessment by the NRC staff and finding that the change will
likely be offered for adoption by licensees. This notice is
soliciting comments on a proposed change to the STS that adds an
action statement for two inoperable control room subsystems to
the General Electric BWR STS Revision 3.0 of NUREG-1433 and
NUREG-1434. The CLIIP directs the NRC staff to evaluate any
comments received for a proposed change to the STS and to either
reconsider the change or proceed with announcing the availability
of the change for proposed adoption by licensees. Those licensees
opting to apply for the subject change to TSs are responsible for
reviewing the staff's evaluation, referencing the applicable
technical justifications, and providing any necessary
plant-specific information. Following the public comment period,
the model LAR and model SE will be finalized, and posted on the
NRC Web page. Each amendment application made in response to the
notice of availability will be processed and noticed in
accordance with applicable NRC rules and procedures.
This notice involves adding an action statement for two
inoperable control room air conditioning subsystems. By letter
dated September 8, 2006, the BWROG proposed these changes for
incorporation into the STS as TSTF-477, Revision 3. These changes
are accessible electronically from the Agency-wide Documents
Access and Management System's (ADAMS) Public Electronic Reading
Room on the Internet (ADAMS Accession No. ML062510321) at the NRC
Web site ]cgi-bin/
leaving.cgi?from=leavingFR.html&[fxsp0]log=linklog=
[fxsp0]reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have access to
ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the documents
located in ADAMS should contact the NRC Public Document Room
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or
by e-mail to .
Applicability These proposed changes will revise Section 3.7.5
(Section 3.7.4 for BWR/6) for the General Electric plants.
To efficiently process incoming license amendment applications,
the NRC staff requests that each licensee applying for the
changes addressed by TSTF-477, Revision 3, using the CLIIP submit
an LAR that adheres to the following model. Any variations from
the model LAR should be explained in the licensee's submittal.
Variations from the approach recommended in this notice may
require additional review by the NRC staff, and may increase the
time and resources needed for the review. Significant variations
from the approach, or inclusion of additional changes to the
license, will result in staff rejection of the submittal.
Instead, licensees desiring significant variations and/ or
additional changes should submit a LAR that does not claim to
adopt TSTF-477.
Public Notices This notice requests comments from interested
members of the public within 30 days of the date of this
publication. Following the NRC staff's evaluation of comments
received as a result of this notice, the NRC staff may reconsider
the proposed change or may proceed with announcing the
availability of the change in a subsequent notice (perhaps with
some changes to the model LAR, model SE or model NSHC
determination
[[Page 75775]] as a result of public comments). If the NRC staff
announces the availability of the change, licensees wishing to
adopt the change will submit an application in accordance with
applicable rules and other regulatory requirements. The NRC staff
will, in turn, issue for each application a notice of
consideration of issuance of amendment to facility operating
license(s), a proposed NSHC determination, and an opportunity for
a hearing. A notice of issuance of an amendment to operating
license(s) will also be issued to announce the revised
requirements for each plant that applies for and receives the
requested change.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 7th day of December, 2006.
Timothy J. Kobetz, Chief, Technical Specifications Branch,
Division of Inspection and Regional Support, Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation.
ENCLOSURE 1 1.0 Description This letter is a request to amend
Operating License(s) [LICENSE NUMBER(S)] for [PLANT/UNIT
NAME(S)].
The proposed changes would revise Technical Specification 3.7.5
(3.7.4 for BWR/6) ``Control Room Air Conditioning (AC) System''
to add an action statement for two inoperable control room
subsystems. Technical Specification Task Force (TSTF) change
traveler TSTF-477, Revision 3, ``Add Action for Two Inoperable
Control Room AC Subsystems'' was announced for availability in
the Federal Register on [DATE] as part of the consolidated line
item improvement process (CLIIP).
2.0 Proposed Changes Consistent with NRC-approved TSTF-477,
Revision 3, the proposed TS changes include: Add an action
statement for two inoperable control room subsystems.
3.0 Background The background for this application is as stated
in the model SE in NRC's Notice of Availability published on
[DATE] [ ] FR [ ]), the NRC Notice for Comment published on
[DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]), and TSTF-477, Revision 3.
4.0 Technical Analysis [LICENSEE] has reviewed References 1 and
2, and the model SE published on [DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]) as part of
the CLIIP Notice for Comment. [LICENSEE] has applied the
methodology in Reference 1 to develop the proposed TS changes.
[LICENSEE] has also concluded that the justifications presented
in TSTF-477, Revision 3 and the model SE prepared by the NRC
staff are applicable to [PLANT, UNIT NOS.], and justify this
amendment for the incorporation of the changes to the [PLANT] TS.
5.0 Regulatory Analysis A description of this change and its
relationship to applicable regulatory requirements and guidance
was provided in the NRC Notice of Availability published on
[Date] ([FR [ ]), the NRC Notice for Comment published on [Date]
([ ] FR [ ]) and TSTF-477, Revision 3.
6.0 No Significant Hazards Consideration [LICENSEE] has reviewed
the proposed no significant hazards consideration determination
published in the Federal Register on [DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]) as part
of the CLIIP. [LICENSEE] has concluded that the proposed
determination presented in the notice is applicable to [PLANT]
and the determination is hereby incorporated by reference to
satisfy the requirements of 10 CFR 50.91(a). 7.0 Environmental
Evaluation [LICENSEE] has reviewed the environmental
consideration included in the model SE published in the Federal
Register on [DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]) as part of the CLIIP. [LICENSEE]
has concluded that the staff's findings presented therein are
applicable to [PLANT] and the determination is hereby
incorporated by reference for this application.
8.0 References 1. Federal Register Notices: Notice for Comment
published on [DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]) Notice of Availability published
on [DATE] ([ ] FR [ ]) Enclosure 2 Proposed Technical
Specification Changes and Technical Specification Bases Changes
(Mark-Up) Enclosure 3 Final Technical Specification and Bases
Pages [Clean copies of Licensee specific Technical Specification
(TS) pages, corresponding to the TS pages changed by TSTF-477,
Rev 3, are to be included in Enclosure 3] Model Safety
Evaluation--U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission Office of Nuclear
Reactor Regulation--Technical Specification Task Force TSTF-477,
Revision 3, ``Add an Action for Two Inoperable Control Room AC
Subsystems.'' 1.0 Introduction By letter dated [--, 20--],
[LICENSEE] (the licensee) proposed changes to the technical
specifications (TS) for [PLANT NAME].
The requested changes are the adoption of TSTF-477, Revision 3,
``Add Action for Two Inoperable Control Room AC Subsystems''
which was proposed by the Technical Specification Task Force
(TSTF) by letter on August---- , 2006. The proposed changes
revising Technical Specification 3.7.5 (3.7.4 for BWR/6)
``Control Room Air Conditioning (AC) System'' involve adding the
following Limiting Conditions for Operation (LCO):
B. Two [control room AC] B.1 Verify control Once per 4
subsystems inoperable. room area Temperature hours.
*****************************************************************
25 NRC: Notice of Environmental Assessment Related to the Issuance of a
FR Doc E6-21463
[Federal Register: December 18, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 242)]
[Notices] [Page 75772-75774] From the Federal Register Online via
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr18de06-60]
License Amendment to Byproduct Material License No. 21-01443-06,
for Unrestricted Release of a Former Facility for Warner-Lambert,
LC., Ann Arbor, MI AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Issuance of Environmental Assessment and Finding of No
Significant Impact for License Amendment.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William Snell, Senior Health
Physicist, Decommissioning Branch, Division of Nuclear Materials
Safety, Region III, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 2443
Warrenville Road, Lisle, Illinois 60532; telephone: (630)
829-9871; fax number: (630) 515-1259; or by e-mail at
wgs@nrc.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) is considering the issuance of an amendment to NRC
Byproduct Materials License No. 21-01443-06, which is held by
Warner-Lambert, LLC (licensee), which is a wholly owned
subsidiary of Pfizer, Inc.
The amendment would authorize the decommissioning and
unrestricted release of the licensee's former Traverwood facility
located at 2900 Huron Parkway, Ann Arbor, Michigan (the
facility). The NRC has prepared an Environmental Assessment in
support of this action in accordance with the requirements of 10
CFR Part 51. Based on the Environmental Assessment, the NRC has
determined that a Finding of No Significant Impact is
appropriate. The amendment to Warner-Lambert's license will be
issued following the publication of this Environmental Assessment
and Finding of No Significant Impact.
I. Environmental Assessment Identification of Proposed Action The
proposed action would approve Warner-Lambert's request to amend
its license and release the licensee's facility for unrestricted
use in accordance with 10 CFR Part 20, Subpart E. The
[[Page 75773]] proposed action is in accordance with the
licensee's request to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
(NRC) to amend its license by letter dated August 31, 2006 (ADAMS
Accession No. ML062440517). Warner-Lambert was first licensed to
use byproduct materials at its Traverwood facility on June 27,
2000. The licensee is authorized to use byproduct materials for
activities involving in-vitro biochemical research. Hydrogen-3
and carbon-14 were the only two isotopes with a half-life greater
than 120 days that were used at the facility in an unsealed form,
and these were limited to less than 25 millicuries at any one
time in the entire building. On May 17, 2006, Warner-Lambert
completed removal of licensed radioactive material from the
Traverwood facility.
The licensee conducted surveys of the facility as part of its
decommissioning activities and provided this information to the
NRC to demonstrate that the radiological condition there is
consistent with radiological criteria for unrestricted use in 10
CFR Part 20, Subpart E. No radiological remediation activities
are required to complete the proposed action.
Need for the Proposed Action The licensee is requesting this
license amendment because it has moved out of the Traverwood
facility, and is conducting licensed activities at another
location. The NRC is fulfilling its responsibilities under the
Atomic Energy Act to make a decision on the proposed action for
decommissioning that ensures that residual radioactivity is
reduced to a level that is protective of the public health and
safety and the environment, and allows the facility to be
released for unrestricted use.
Environmental Impacts of the Proposed Action The NRC staff
reviewed the information provided and surveys performed by the
licensee to demonstrate that the release of the Traverwood
facility is consistent with the radiological criteria for
unrestricted use specified in 10 CFR 20.1402. Based on its
review, the staff determined that there were no radiological
impacts associated with the proposed action because no
radiological remediation activities were required to complete the
proposed action, and that the radiological criteria for
unrestricted use in Sec. 20.1402 have been met.
Based on its review, the staff determined that the radiological
environmental impacts from the proposed action for the Traverwood
facility are bounded by the ``Generic Environmental Impact
Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological Criteria for
License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear Facilities''
(NUREG-1496). Additionally, no non-radiological or cumulative
impacts were identified.
Therefore, the NRC has determined that the proposed action will
not have a significant effect on the quality of the human
environment.
Alternatives to the Proposed Action The only alternative to the
proposed action is to take no action. Under the no-action
alternative, the licensee's facility would remain under an NRC
license and would not be released for unrestricted use. Denial of
the license amendment request would result in no change to
current conditions at the Traverwood facility. The no-action
alternative is not acceptable because it is inconsistent with 10
CFR 30.36, which requires that decommissioning of by-product
material facilities be completed and approved by the NRC after
licensed activities cease. This alternative would impose an
unnecessary regulatory burden in controlling access to the former
Traverwood facility, and limit potential benefits from the future
use of the facility.
Conclusion The NRC staff 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 The NRC staff has determined that
the proposed action will not affect listed species or critical
habitats. Therefore, no further consultation is required under
Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act. Likewise, the NRC staff
has determined that the proposed action is not a type of activity
that has potential to cause effect on historic properties.
Therefore, consultation under Section 106 of the National
Historic Preservation Act is not required.
The NRC consulted with the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality (DEQ). The Michigan DEQ, Waste and Hazardous Materials
Division, Radiological Protection and Medical Waste Section was
provided the draft EA for comment on November 9, 2006. Mr. Bob
Skowronek, Chief, Radioactive Material and Medical Waste Unit,
with the Michigan DEQ, responded to the NRC by e-mail on November
13, 2006, indicating that the State had no comments regarding the
NRC Environmental Assessment for the release of the
Warner-Lambert, Traverwood facility .
II. Finding of No Significant Impact On the basis of the EA in
support of the proposed license amendment to release the facility
for unrestricted use, the NRC has determined that the proposed
action will not have a significant effect on the quality of the
human environment. Thus, the NRC has not prepared an
environmental impact statement for the proposed action.
III. Further Information Documents related to this action,
including the application for 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. 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. The
documents and ADAMS accession numbers related to this notice are:
1. Carol Lentz, Pfizer, Inc., letter to Patricia Pelke, U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission, August 31, 2006 (ADAMS Accession
No. ML062440517).
2. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Environmental Review
Guidance for Licensing Actions Associated with NMSS Programs,''
NUREG- 1748, August 2003.
3. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, ``Generic Environmental
Impact Statement in Support of Rulemaking on Radiological
Criteria for License Termination of NRC-Licensed Nuclear
Facilities,'' NUREG-1496, August 1994.
4. NRC, NUREG-1757, ``Consolidated NMSS Decommissioning
Guidance,'' Volumes 1-3, September 2003.
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.
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission,
[[Page 75774]] Dated at Lisle, Illinois, this 5th day of December
2006.
George M. McCann, Acting Chief, Decommissioning Branch, Division
of Nuclear Materials Safety, Region III.
[FR Doc. E6-21463 Filed 12-15-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
26 Mos News: Moscow Researchers Shut Down Six of Twelve Nuclear Reactors -
MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 18.12.2006 17:32 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 22:43 MSK
MosNews
According to the deputy director of the Kurchatov nuclear
research institute Moscow, six out of twelve nuclear reactors at
the institute, RIA Novosti news agency reportes Monday.
Moscow is the only capital in Europe with nuclear reactors
operating on its territory. Russian ecologists have repeatedly
called for the removal of all nuclear research reactors from the
city to prevent radiation and health risks.
The institute official informed that another operating reactor
would be shut down soon, so it would be five left. Three of the
closed reactors were undergoing uranium removal, he added.
Nikolai Ponomaryov-Stepnoi, a vice president of the institute,
said that the remaining reactors are safe and pose no threat to
human health, although some areas at the institute were
radioactively contaminated. The areas that were significantly
contaminated with radiation have been already cleared by the
specialists of the institute.
All the reactors operating at the institute have licenses from
the Federal Service for the Oversight of the Environment,
Technology and Nuclear Management, said the vice president.
The Kurchatov Institute is funded through the Ministry of
Industry, Science and Technology, and federal budget resources
represent about 15% of its total financing.
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
27 Mos News: Russia Loses Multibillion Chinese NPP Tender to U.S. Firm -
MOSNEWS.COM
Created: 18.12.2006 12:25 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 12:26 MSK
MosNews
U.S.-based corporation Westinghouse Electric Company has won $8
billion international tender for construction of four new
nuclear power plants in China. The tender also included Russia’s
state-controlled company Atomstroyexport and French firm Areva.
General Electric was excluded from the tender earlier because it
makes boiling water reactors, instead of pressurized water
reactors.
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman of the United States and Ma
Kai, the minister of China’s National Development and Reform
Commission, signed a memorandum of understanding for the
reactors in Beijing on Saturday. The deal calls for the
state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation to buy the
reactors from Westinghouse Electric, which the Toshiba
Corporation, based in Tokyo, bought earlier this year.
Neither side announced a value for the reactors. But outside
analysts have suggested the total price tag may be $5 billion to
$8 billion.
Some U.S. politicians have already expressed concern about the
deal. Michael R. Wessel, a commissioner of the United
States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, which was
created by Congress to review bilateral relations, expressed
concern on Sunday that based on the broad outlines of the deal,
“it appears they are doing what other companies have done, which
is to transfer the technology upfront.”
Russia’s Atomstroyexport is currently working in China on
building Tianwan NPP. The first power bloc began production of
electricity in May 2006, while the second one is set to be
commissioned in 2007. Tianwan NPP project boasts a lot of
innovations from Russian nuclear scientists and technologists,
but it was not enough to convince the Chinese government to
award Russian company another deal. Nonetheless, the Russian
company and its rivals still have a chance at further orders.
The International Energy Agency predicted last month that by
2015 China’s nuclear power generation capacity would increase by
9,000 megawatts to 15,000 megawatts. Meanwhile, the four
reactors ordered from Westinghouse will only account for 4,000
megawatt increase.
Copyright © 2004 MOSNEWS.COM
*****************************************************************
28 Guardian Unlimited: Bush Signs Nuclear Deal With India
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 7:31 PM
AP Photo DCLJ101 By DEB RIECHMANN Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed legislation on Monday to
let America share its nuclear know-how and fuel with India even
though New Delhi refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation
Treaty.
``By helping India expand its use of safe nuclear energy, this
bill lays the foundation for a new strategic partnership between
our two nations that will help ease India's demands for fossil
fuels and ease pressure on global markets,'' Bush said in a
bill-signing ceremony at the White House.
The bill carves out an exemption in U.S. law to allow civilian
nuclear trade with India in exchange for Indian safeguards and
inspections at its 14 civilian nuclear plants. Eight military
plants, however, would remain off-limits to the inspections.
The House and Senate had overwhelmingly approved the nuclear
cooperation bill, giving Bush a foreign policy victory at a time
when the administration is struggling to come up with a new
approach to the unpopular war in Iraq
Critics worry the agreement could spark a nuclear arms race in
Asia by boosting India's atomic arsenal. They also argue that
the measure undermines international efforts to prevent states
like Iran and North Korea from acquiring nuclear weapons. In
Beijing on Monday, North Korea defiantly declared itself a
nuclear power at the start of the first full international arms
talks since its atomic test in July and threatened to increase
its arsenal if its demands were not met.
The White House said it was willing to make an exception for
India, the world's largest democracy, because it had protected
its nuclear technology and not been a proliferator.
``India has conducted its civilian nuclear energy program in a
safe and responsible way for decades,'' Bush said. ``Now, in
return for access to American technology, India has agreed to
open its civilian nuclear power program to international
inspection.''
The administration also argued it was a good deal because while
India's military plants that work with nuclear material would
not be subjected to inspections, there would be international
oversight for the civilian program, which has been secret since
India entered the nuclear age in 1974.
``After 30 years outside the system, India will now operate its
civilian nuclear energy program under internationally accepted
guidelines and the world is going to be safer as a result,'' the
president said.
The Bush administration said the pact deepens ties with a
democratic Asia power, but was not designed as a counterweight
to the rising power of China. ``We don't have a policy that
would build up a relationship with India to contain China,''
Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters before the
bill signing.
Bush said the law would make it possible for India, the world's
fifth-largest consumer of energy, to reduce emissions and
improve its environment. India, whose demand for electricity is
expected to double by 2015, currently produced nearly 70 percent
of its electricity by burning coal, which produces air pollution
and greenhouse gases.
The deal also could be a boon for American companies that have
been barred from selling reactors and material to India where
the economy has more than doubled in size since 1991.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defended the nuclear
deal, rejecting strong opposition from critics that it would
lead to the dismantling of India's atomic weapons. He said he
had some concerns about the legislation, but that they would be
dealt with during technical negotiations on an overall
U.S.-India cooperation agreement.
``The United States has assured us that the bill would enable it
to meet its commitments'' made in agreements struck in July 2005
and in March by Bush and Singh.
Singh said India would not accept new conditions and its nuclear
weapons program would not be subject to interference of any kind
because the agreement with the United States dealt with civil
nuclear cooperation.
Earlier, opposition leader L.K. Advani of the Bharatiya Janata
Party said India should not accept the U.S. legislation, saying
that the deal would prevent India from conducting nuclear tests
in the future. India conducted its first nuclear test in 1974
and followed it up with a series of nuclear tests in 1998.
``The primary objective is to cap, roll back and ultimately
eliminate its (India's) nuclear weapons capability,'' Advani
warned.
Before civil nuclear trade can begin, several hurdles remain.
American and Indian officials need to work out a separate
technical nuclear cooperation agreement, expected to be finished
next year. The two countries must now obtain an exception for
India in the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly
of nations that export nuclear material. Indian officials must
also negotiate a safeguard agreement with the IAEA.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
29 AFP: Bush set to sign controversial nuclear deal with India -
by P. Parameswaran Mon Dec 18, 8:34 AM ET
WASHINGTON, Dec 18, 2006 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush " />
President George W. Bushwill sign into law a landmark civilian
nuclear agreement with India, but experts say the two nations are
bracing for tough negotiations on the nuts and bolts of the
complex deal.
The deal finally sailed through the US Congress on 09 December
allowing the export of civilian nuclear fuel and technology to
India for the first time in the more than 30 years since the
Asian country first tested a nuclear device.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said the deal "reflects not only
the growing importance of India as a partner and ally with the
United States, but I think we have the growing importance of the
United States, also, as an ally with India."
Even so, experts said, there were significant hurdles to be
crossed.
"There are still many steps before it becomes something that is
complete," Michael Levi, a science and technology expert at the
Council on Foreign Relations, a respected US think tank, told
AFP.
They include devising a bilateral agreement incorporating all
technical details of the deal as well as nuclear safeguards for
India that must be endorsed by the international community.
Popularly known as a "123 Agreement," the bilateral pact will be
the sole binding document defining the terms of the anticipated
nuclear commerce arising from the deal, which the US Chamber of
Commerce says could open up a whopping 100 billion dollars in
opportunities for American businesses.
The bilateral agreement will have to be approved again by the US
Congress, to be controlled next year by Democrats known for
their strong non-proliferation views.
"The completion of a 123 Agreement is really a codification of
the major and difficult decisions we have already made," said
Nicholas Burns, the top US negotiator of the nuclear deal.
"And, of course, there is a long process towards the finish
line, but it is not going to be, in my judgment, as difficult as
the last 18 months," he said of the deal, agreed by Indian Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush way back
in July 2005.
One key component of the bilateral agreement is nuclear
safeguards, which India, a non-signatory of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), would be subject to under a
separate agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency "
/> International Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA), the global nuclear
watchdog.
The other is the guidelines governing civilian nuclear commerce
to be drawn up with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The pace of the negotiations for the bilateral pact would depend
on how far the Indians will go in accepting IAEA safeguards aimed
at ensuring that New Delhi does not use any US nuclear materials
or technology to expand its military nuclear arsenal.
"I think the primary obstacles going forward are in crafting an
appropriate safeguards agreement with the IAEA and an appropriate
agreement at the NSG," Levi said.
"The main point of conflict is over how permanent the safeguards
will be," he said.
India first agreed for the safeguards to be permanent but now is
asking for an exception if bilateral nuclear cooperation is
scrapped in the future, Levi said.
Washington stopped nuclear cooperation with India after it
conducted its first nuclear test in 1974.
Under the US legislation passed last week, if Indian conducts
another nuclear test, the US president "must terminate all export
and reexport of US-origin nuclear materials, nuclear equipment,
and sensitive nuclear technology to India."
Indian atomic
scientists and military officials are wholly opposed to a
moratorium on nuclear testing, and likely will declare this
provision a deal-breaker, said Stratfor, a leading US security
consulting intelligence agency. The other "big sticking point"
for India, it said, was a US provision -- although non-binding --
on securing New Delhi's cooperation in containing Iran " />
Iran's sensitive nuclear program.
"Though the requirement has been watered down, the mere inclusion
of an Iran clause will be cause for protest by India's vocal
leftist parties," which provide needed support for India's ruling
Congress-led coalition, Strat for said.
The US Congress created a rare exception for India from some of
the requirements of the US Atomic Energy Act, which currently
prohibits nuclear sales to non-NPT signatories. "But before the
waiver can come into effect, the US President has to certify that
the IAEA and NSG agreements with India meet certain standards,"
Levi said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
30 AFP: Bush signs US-India pact, hails ties
by Olivier Knox Mon Dec 18, 7:04 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President George W. Bush " /> signed a
landmark civilian nuclear deal with India, hailing the
controversial pact as a sign of warm ties between the world's two
largest democracies.
"The relationship between the United States and India has never
been more vital, and this bill will help us meet the energy and
security challenges of the 21st Century," Bush said at a White
House signing ceremony.
The agreement creates a rare exception to US law in order to
pave the way for US sales of nuclear fuel and know-how to India
for the first time since Delhi tested a nuclear device in 1974,
becoming an international atomic pariah.
Such transfers still require approval from the UN nuclear
watchdog agency, the 45-country Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the
US Congress to pass a new bilateral agreement laying out the
nuts and bolts of the accord.
Some critics warn that exempting India from the US ban on
nuclear exports to countries that have not signed the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) may hurt US efforts to confront
North Korea
" /> and Iran
" /> over their atomic ambitions.
Washington is currently pushing Pyongyang in six-country talks
to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs, while pressing for UN
sanctions against Tehran over its refusal to heed world demands
to freeze sensitive nuclear work.
Bush and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to the deal
during Singh's July 2005 visit to Washington, and the US
Congress approved the arrangement on December 9 after often
contentious debate.
The two countries now face tough talks on the details of the
complex deal -- though US Under Secretary of State Nicholas
Burns told reporters Monday that it may be possible to tie up
the diplomatic loose ends by mid-2007.
"If we're in fifth gear and move real fast at the beginning of
2007? I would hope we could do all that in six months," he said,
adding that the pact highlighted "the emergence of India as a
global power."
US critics have charged that the pact erodes non-proliferation
efforts because it leaves eight of India's 22 nuclear plants
outside a safeguards and inspections regime that will not cover
the country's military programs.
Indian critics worried about US sway over Indian foreign policy,
pointing to the deal's required moratorium on atomic testing by
Delhi and a clause calling on India to help pressure Iran over
its nuclear programs.
In New Delhi, Singh told lawmakers that the final agreement
contained elements that "continue to cause concern" and vowed to
"seek full civil nuclear cooperation on the terms acceptable to
us" in subsequent negotiations.
Popularly known as a "123 Agreement," the bilateral pact will be
the sole binding document defining the terms of the anticipated
nuclear commerce arising from the deal, which the US Chamber of
Commerce says could open up a whopping 100 billion dollars in
opportunities for American businesses.
The bilateral agreement will have to be approved again by the US
Congress, which will be controlled next year by Democrats, who
are known for their strong non-proliferation views.
"This deal is an historic mistake," said Democratic
Representative Ed Markey. "The bill that President Bush
" /> has signed today may well become the death warrant to the
international nuclear nonproliferation regime."
One key component of the bilateral agreement is nuclear
safeguards, which India would be subject to under a separate
agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency
" /> (IAEA), the UN nuclear watchdog.
The other component are guidelines governing civilian nuclear
commerce to be drawn up with the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
The pace of the negotiations for the bilateral pact would depend
on how far the Indians will go in accepting IAEA safeguards
aimed at ensuring that New Delhi does not use any US nuclear
materials or technology to expand its military nuclear arsenal.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
31 UPI: United States, China agree on reactor sale
United Press International - NewsTrack -
12/18/2006 9:56:00 AM -0500
HONG KONG, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The United States has given its OK
for China to buy four Westinghouse nuclear reactors, it was
reported Monday.
While no sale price was given, The New York Times said outside
analysts place value as high as $8 billion.
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and Ma Kai, China's National
Development and Reform Commission minister, signed a memo of
understanding for the reactors in Beijing on Saturday.
Under the plan, state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation
would buy the reactors from Westinghouse Electric, now owned by
Tokyo's Toshiba.
There was some concern voiced over the deal. Michael R. Wessel,
a commissioner of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review
Commission, said such deals limit long-term benefits to the
United States while clearly helping China.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
32 Guardian Unlimited: Key Provisions of India Nuclear Deal
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 5:16 PM
By The Associated Press
Key provisions of a bill signed by President Bush on Monday for
nuclear cooperation with India:
-Allows U.S. shipments of civilian nuclear fuel and know-how to
India, providing an exemption to American law that bans nuclear
trade with countries such as India that have not submitted to
full international inspections.
-Requires Indian safeguards and inspections at 14 civilian
nuclear plants. Eight military plants would be off-limits.
-The United States and India must obtain an exception for India
in the rules of the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly of
nations that export nuclear material.
-Indian officials must also negotiate a safeguard agreement with
the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy
Agency.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
33 RIA Novosti: Germany returns shipment of enriched uranium to Russia
18/ 12/ 2006
MOSCOW, December 18 (RIA Novosti) - A Russian cargo plane
carrying around 330 kilograms (730 lbs) of enriched uranium from
Germany has landed at an airport near Moscow, Russia's nuclear
watchdog said Monday.
The uranium was supplied to the Rossendorf nuclear research
center, shut down in 1991, as part of bilateral cooperation
agreements between the former Soviet Union and former East
Germany, the Federal Nuclear Power Agency said in a statement.
The one million euro ($1.31 million) relocation, funded by
Germany, falls under the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return
(RRRFR) program, designed to reduce global stockpiles of highly
enriched uranium.
The shipment includes about 268 kilograms (590 lbs) of highly
enriched uranium and 58 kilograms (128 lbs) of low-enriched
uranium, and is set to be used at one of Russia's nuclear power
plants.
The weekly storage cost of the uranium at the Rossendorf center
was 92,000 euros ($120,000), including spending on security.
Therefore, the authorities of Germany's Saxony region are
interested in relocating of all its "nuclear legacy," estimated
at around 4,500 kilograms (9,900 lbs), to its ex-Soviet
supplier. The program will end in 2011.
Since 2004, Russia has also repatriated new highly enriched
uranium from Soviet-built plants in eight other countries --
Serbia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Libya, Latvia,
Poland and Uzbekistan.
© 2005 RIA Novosti
*****************************************************************
34 [NukeNet] U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:00:49 -0800
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http://tpr.typepad.com/thepeacockreport/2006/11/us_to_ship_tons.html
U.S. To Ship Tons of Uranium Across Globe for Nuke Energy Production
November 24, 2006 The Peacock Report
Over 17 metric tons of highly enriched uranium (HEU) are slated for
transfer into the hands of private contractors, whom under the
auspices of the U.S. Dept. of Energy program will "down-blend" the
weapons-grade material into nuclear reactor-friendly low-enriched
uranium (LEU) -- which would then be shipped to foreign nations. The
purported goal of the project is to dissuade other countries from
pursuing uranium enrichment weapons-development programs, a measure
which the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) hopes to
accomplish by providing those nations with the products necessary to
move forward with nuclear energy initiatives.
The Reliable Fuel Supply program seeks to "ensure reliable access to
nuclear fuel feedstock for power reactors in foreign countries...,"
according to a planning document that TPR located through a routine
search of the FedBizOpps database. The Nov. 8 document further notes
that "This material will provide a significant reserve that will
increase the confidence of countries voluntarily choosing not to
pursue enrichment and reprocessing that they will not risk losing the
benefits of nuclear power."
The selected contractor will convert 17.5 MT of the highly enriched
uranium into 40 MT of the low-enriched uranium, it said. NNSA's
Office of Fissile Materials Disposition will oversee the activities
of the vendor, who likewise will be responsible for transporting "a
substantial majority" of the resulting low enriched uranium to an
unnamed, designated storage facility.
NNSA did not specify what percentage of this "substantial majority"
of LEU would be shipped internationally. Similarly, it vaguely noted
that "much" of this reprocessed uranium would be given to the
contractor as compensation for its efforts, in addition to the
execution of a "property loan agreement" to conduct the operation.
The agency plans to release a formal Request for Proposals for this
endeavor sometime in late December or early January. It also said it
expects to award a five-year contract by April or May 2007.
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35 Litvinenko 'killed over dossier' on senior Putin ally
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 08:59:15 -0600 (CST)
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http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2081649.ece
Independent/UK
17 December 2006 14:57
* Home o > News + > Europe
Litvinenko 'killed over dossier' on senior Putin ally By Raymond
Whitaker Published: 17 December 2006
Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by radioactive poisoning because of a
dossier he had compiled on a high-ranking Russian figure close to
President Vladimir Putin, another former agent claimed yesterday.
Yuri Shvets, an ex-spy based in the United States, said Mr Litvinenko,
who died in a London hospital on 23 November from poisoning by
Polonium-210, had been employed by a British company to provide
information on five potential Russian clients before they committed to
investment. He had helped the former KGB man with information on one of
the five.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Shvets said the report had led to the
British company pulling out of a deal, losing the Russian figure
potential earnings of "dozens of millions of dollars". Neither the
Russian nor the British company was named, but asked whether the report
had lead to Mr Litvinenko's death, he replied: "I can't be 100 per cent
sure, but I am pretty sure."
Scotland Yard, which sent a team of nine detectives to Russia to
investigate the murder, has a copy of the dossier. The BBC said it had
obtained extracts, which contained damaging personal details about a
"very highly placed member of Putin's administration".
More than three weeks after Mr Litvinenko died agonisingly, and a month
and a half after he first complained of being poisoned, the trail
constantly leads back to Russia, where he served in the KGB and its
successor organisation, the FSB. He came to Britain in 2000 after
alleging that he had been ordered to assassinate Boris Berezovsky, a
hugely rich oligarch who fell out with the Kremlin and also sought
refuge in Britain.
According to associates, Mr Litvinenko blamed Mr Putin for his poisoning
before he died. The Kremlin has denied involvement, and sent its chief
spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, to Britain last week to dampen speculation in
the British media. Although the British Government had not fallen for
"media hysteria", he told The Independent on Sunday, Russia's reputation
was in jeopardy because of what he termed "Cold War thinking".
The Kremlin has sought to portray Mr Litvinenko as a low-level operative
who did not have any information that would have made it worthwhile
killing him. On Friday the Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said he had
never been a spy, but an ex-prison guard who had been sacked by the FSB
amid questions over his integrity and honesty.
"He had no training, not much intellect and a tendency for provocation,"
Mr Ivanov said. "His character was not right". He was fired during Mr
Putin's brief spell as head of the FSB.
According to the Kremlin, only those who wanted to discredit Russia
would have reason to murder Mr Litvinenko. Privately, however, Russian
officials concede that it is impossible to rule out involvement by
well-connected Russians in the affair, though they insist that none of
them hold official positions in the Kremlin or the FSB.
Investigators following the trail of radiation from the Polonium-210
that killed Mr Litvinenko are focusing on a meeting he held with
Moscow-based associates at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor
Square on 1 November, the day he fell ill. German police have discovered
that Dmitry Kovtun, one of the men at the meeting, left radiation traces
in Hamburg before he came on to London.
But there are indications that Polonium-210 may have been brought to
Britain as early as mid-October, when the ex-FSB man held the first of a
series of meetings with Andrei Lugovoy, a former colleague whom he had
known for many years. Mr Lugovoy too has left traces of radiation in
several places, including the British Embassy in Moscow.
According to Mr Shvets, Mr Litvinenko showed a copy of the dossier to Mr
Lugovoy in late September or early October, adding: "I believe that
triggered the entire assassination." He claimed Mr Lugovoy was still
employed by the FSB, and had leaked the dossier to the Russian figure.
Mr Lugovoy has repeatedly denied having anything to do with Mr
Litvinenko's death. On Friday he told AP that when he spoke to the
Scotland Yard detectives in Moscow it was as a witness, rather than as a
suspect. "Police are not accusing me of anything," he said. "As for all
that is being said - it's nothing but hysteria in the media."
Alexander Litvinenko was murdered by radioactive poisoning because of a
dossier he had compiled on a high-ranking Russian figure close to
President Vladimir Putin, another former agent claimed yesterday.
Yuri Shvets, an ex-spy based in the United States, said Mr Litvinenko,
who died in a London hospital on 23 November from poisoning by
Polonium-210, had been employed by a British company to provide
information on five potential Russian clients before they committed to
investment. He had helped the former KGB man with information on one of
the five.
In an interview with the BBC, Mr Shvets said the report had led to the
British company pulling out of a deal, losing the Russian figure
potential earnings of "dozens of millions of dollars". Neither the
Russian nor the British company was named, but asked whether the report
had lead to Mr Litvinenko's death, he replied: "I can't be 100 per cent
sure, but I am pretty sure."
Scotland Yard, which sent a team of nine detectives to Russia to
investigate the murder, has a copy of the dossier. The BBC said it had
obtained extracts, which contained damaging personal details about a
"very highly placed member of Putin's administration".
More than three weeks after Mr Litvinenko died agonisingly, and a month
and a half after he first complained of being poisoned, the trail
constantly leads back to Russia, where he served in the KGB and its
successor organisation, the FSB. He came to Britain in 2000 after
alleging that he had been ordered to assassinate Boris Berezovsky, a
hugely rich oligarch who fell out with the Kremlin and also sought
refuge in Britain.
According to associates, Mr Litvinenko blamed Mr Putin for his poisoning
before he died. The Kremlin has denied involvement, and sent its chief
spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, to Britain last week to dampen speculation in
the British media. Although the British Government had not fallen for
"media hysteria", he told The Independent on Sunday, Russia's reputation
was in jeopardy because of what he termed "Cold War thinking".
The Kremlin has sought to portray Mr Litvinenko as a low-level operative
who did not have any information that would have made it worthwhile
killing him. On Friday the Defence Minister, Sergei Ivanov, said he had
never been a spy, but an ex-prison guard who had been sacked by the FSB
amid questions over his integrity and honesty.
"He had no training, not much intellect and a tendency for provocation,"
Mr Ivanov said. "His character was not right". He was fired during Mr
Putin's brief spell as head of the FSB.
According to the Kremlin, only those who wanted to discredit Russia
would have reason to murder Mr Litvinenko. Privately, however, Russian
officials concede that it is impossible to rule out involvement by
well-connected Russians in the affair, though they insist that none of
them hold official positions in the Kremlin or the FSB.
Investigators following the trail of radiation from the Polonium-210
that killed Mr Litvinenko are focusing on a meeting he held with
Moscow-based associates at the Millennium Hotel in London's Grosvenor
Square on 1 November, the day he fell ill. German police have discovered
that Dmitry Kovtun, one of the men at the meeting, left radiation traces
in Hamburg before he came on to London.
But there are indications that Polonium-210 may have been brought to
Britain as early as mid-October, when the ex-FSB man held the first of a
series of meetings with Andrei Lugovoy, a former colleague whom he had
known for many years. Mr Lugovoy too has left traces of radiation in
several places, including the British Embassy in Moscow.
According to Mr Shvets, Mr Litvinenko showed a copy of the dossier to Mr
Lugovoy in late September or early October, adding: "I believe that
triggered the entire assassination." He claimed Mr Lugovoy was still
employed by the FSB, and had leaked the dossier to the Russian figure.
Mr Lugovoy has repeatedly denied having anything to do with Mr
Litvinenko's death. On Friday he told AP that when he spoke to the
Scotland Yard detectives in Moscow it was as a witness, rather than as a
suspect. "Police are not accusing me of anything," he said. "As for all
that is being said - it's nothing but hysteria in the media."
*****************************************************************
36 Too much radiation in child CT scans
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 01:16:53 -0600 (CST)
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Too much radiation in child CT scans
At least two Ontario hospitals exposed young patients to high levels, report says
Dec. 6, 2006. 01:00 AM
ROB FERGUSON
QUEEN'S PARK BUREAU
Some children getting CT scans at two Ontario hospitals have been
getting excessive doses of radiation, putting them at greater risk
of developing cancer later in life, the province's auditor general
warns.
The problem was found at the Peterborough Regional Health Centre
and Grand River Hospital in Kitchener and raises questions about
what is happening elsewhere in Ontario, the auditor-general's report
said.
"Staff at the two hospitals we visited ... indicated that in close
to 50 per cent of selected cases, the appropriate equipment settings
for children were not used," Jim McCarter wrote.
"The children were exposed to more radiation than necessary."
Giving a small child an adult dose of radiation in a CT scan can
actually deliver the same amount of radiation as 4,000 traditional
X-rays, McCarter told a news conference at Queen's Park.
"We thought it was a pretty important issue ... Our concern is
there's not enough awareness out there in the community."
The number of children affected was not available, but the risk
increases as the number of CT scans rises because children's organs
are developing and more susceptible to damage.
"There's a lot of research out there that increased exposure to
radiation, over time, especially over decades, can cause radiation-induced
cancer," McCarter said, noting 94 per cent of pediatricians surveyed
were unaware of how much X-ray radiation patients are bombarded
with in a CT scan.
However, medical experts said CT scans remain valuable diagnostic
tools because they use X-rays to create 3-D images of a patient's
insides, giving doctors a better view of head injuries, chest trauma,
cancer and fractures.
McCarter's report said hospitals need to improve their management
and use of both CT scans and magnetic resonance imaging and noted
that at some hospitals they were not being used on weekends.
The revelation about radiation doses put Health Minister George
Smitherman on the defensive, with opposition parties demanding to
know what worried moms and dads should do.
"They want to know, `Is my child going to be safe?'" Progressive
Conservative Leader John Tory said.
Smitherman said the health ministry has been aware of the issue and
formed a "diagnostic image safety committee" of doctors and experts
from across the province last September to come up with standards
and "do a more appropriate job" of tracking radiation levels.
"This is getting our attention," he added.
Tory said a bulletin should be sent to all hospitals right away.
Later yesterday, an aide to Smitherman said the health ministry
will be "communicating with hospitals to reinforce the issues raised
in the auditor-general's report."
The chief of staff at the Peterborough hospital said the hospital
welcomes McCarter's report and is reviewing its procedures, but
maintained excessive doses of radiation are not the norm.
The larger the patient, the more radiation is needed to get an image
to diagnose the condition, be it an adult or child, said Dr. Peter
McLaughlin.
"Our technicians are trained to tailor each dose to be the least
possible for that size of patient."
He added radiation doses are "not straightforward," for example,
because younger children who move around more on the CT table will
need higher doses to get a useful image than kids who lie still.
That's when technicians, who receive years of training and must be
certified, make a "judgment call," McLaughlin said.
Parents of children who've had CT scans should not be unduly worried
unless their kids have had a lot of them, said a biomedical engineer
at the University Health Network.
"I want to make sure people don't panic and stop having CTs," said
Tony Easty, who has a doctorate in his field and serves on the
government's new committee studying the issue raised in the auditor's
report.
"If it were my child going for a CT scan, I would simply ask the
people doing the scan if they're using a pediatric protocol," he
added, meaning a child's dose.
"That's a reasonable question for any parent to ask."
A problem with Ontario's medical system and most others is that
there is no central registry for tracking how much radiation patients
get from X-rays, CT scans and other radiation-based diagnostic
imaging in their lifetimes, Easty added.
"This is an emerging international issue," said McLaughlin. "We
would all welcome standard guidelines."
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1165359015217
*****************************************************************
37 BBC: Germany sends uranium to Russia
Last Updated: Monday, 18 December 2006
[Container of uranium being loaded onto Russian plane at Dresden
airport]
An armoured lorry was used to bring the uranium to the plane
A large consignment of uranium - most of it highly enriched - has
been flown to Russia from eastern Germany.
Anti-nuclear protesters forced a convoy carrying the uranium to
take a detour on its way to Dresden airport.
The protesters - about 30 in all - were heavily outnumbered by
police escorting the uranium from a long-decommissioned research
reactor at Rossendorf.
It is going to a reprocessing centre at Podolsk, outside Moscow.
The shipment is part of a nuclear safety programme.
It is not clear if the uranium is sufficiently enriched to make a
nuclear bomb.
The consignment of about 300kg (660 pounds) includes 200kg of
uranium. A Russian transport plane took off with it early on
Monday.
The fuel belonged to a research reactor built by the Soviet Union
in the former East Germany, which was shut down in 1991, a year
after German reunification.
The plan is to mix the highly enriched uranium with low-grade
uranium - part of an international programme to prevent nuclear
materials falling into the wrong hands.
The transfer was organised under a US-Russian programme of
co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
called the Global Threat Reduction Initiative.
*****************************************************************
38 Prague Daily Monitor: Radioactivity level of Nalzovice waste not alarming -
SUJB head
Prague/Mnichovo Hradiste, Central Bohemia, Dec 16
(CTK) - The level of radioactivity of the chemical substances
found in a former agricultural building in Nalzovice, central
Bohemia, are raised, but not alarming, State Authority for
Nuclear Safety (SUJB) director Dana Drabova told CTK today.
"No danger is threatening," she said, adding that the chemicals
are fortunately well packaged. They have been removed tonight
and they will be taken care of by the Administration of
radioactive waste storage facilities. It will take one to a few
days to examine the samples taken, Drabova said.
SUJB experts will determine whether the substances are not
uranium compounds that are subject of the international control
regime, she added.
Central Bohemian governor Petr Bendl also said earlier today
that according to experts, the locals do not face any danger and
that nothing indicates for the time being that earth and water
had been contaminated.
Nalzovice mayor Jana Psenickova informed police about the
possible existence of dangerous chemicals in the building on
Thursday when she found out that the building had been opened.
A special chemical unit of firefighters has detected only a
minimal leak of chemicals into the air that was probably caused
when the barrels in which the poisons are deposited were
manipulated with.
Psenickova allegedly informed the regional office of her
suspicion in 2004 already, but sanitary officers found nothing
dangerous.
ms/dr
This story copyright 2006 CTK Czech News Agency.
Prague Daily Monitor
*****************************************************************
39 Radio New Zealand: Nuclear Claims Tribunal awards compensation to Marshalls atoll
Posted at 7:53am on 19 Dec 2006
The Nuclear Claims Tribunal has awarded more than 307 million US
dollars to a group of islanders dusted with fallout from
America's biggest hydrogen bomb test in the Pacific.
But with the Majuro-based Tribunal's nuclear investment trust
fund virtually exhausted, islanders from Utrik Atoll will not
receive any of this compensation award unless the United States
government does an about face and agrees to provide additional
funds.
The Tribunal¹s award for Utrik Atoll comes as islanders from
Bikini and Enewetak atolls seek to convince a U.S. Federal Court
of Claims judge to hear their billion dollar lawsuits despite a
U.S. Justice Department motion to dismiss the court cases.
Bikini and Enewetak were the ground zeroes of 67 nuclear tests
between 1946 and 1958.
A ruling on the appeal is expected soon after the New Year.
U.S. government officials say that the U.S. has already provided
full and final nuclear test compensation through an agreement
funded by the U.S. government in 1986 that established the
Nuclear Claims Tribunal and ultimately provided it with about 80
million to compensate health and land damage claims.
But the Tribunal awarded more than 90 million in health injury
cases and more than one point two billion in land damage awards
for Bikini, Enewetak and Utrik.
Copyright © 2006 Radio New Zealand International
*****************************************************************
40 [NukeNet] Yucca Mtn - Balance may shift for waste to stay put
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2006 15:01:26 -0800
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Posted on Sun, Dec. 17, 2006 11edf6.jpg11ee09.jpg 11ee1d.jpg
11ee2f.jpg
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/16260286.htm
NOTE: Please follow link and click on the poll then vote!
Balance may shift for waste to stay put
By David Whitney
dwhitney@mcclatchydc.com
WASHINGTON — A few years ago the idea seemed unthinkable: Highly
radioactive waste should be stored above ground at nuclear power plants.
The spent fuel needed to be stored underground, where it would take
centuries to decay. Yucca Mountain, 100 miles from Las Vegas, was the place
to build such a repository, Congress reaffirmed in 2002 by wide margins.
But now, despite strong bipartisan support in Congress for Yucca Mountain,
the unthinkable is being rethought — accelerated in part by the elections
that propelled Democrats into power.
The new majority leader of the Senate, Nevadan Harry Reid, pledged that
Yucca Mountain will never open. Californian Barbara Boxer, the new
chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, couldn’t
agree more.
Both think nuclear waste should stay right where it is — at the power
plants — at least until better waste technology comes along.
"There’s no rush to put it some place that’s dangerous," Boxer said.
Work is already under way on above-ground storage facilities at some plants.
Crews are building thick concrete casks at Diablo Canyon nuclear power
plant, storage that is meant to be temporary until Yucca Mountain opens.
But company officials say the facilities could function on a longer term.
More than 100 national and state environmental groups — including the
Sierra Club, Greenpeace and the Natural Resources Defense Council —
coalesced in September behind a set of principles that includes permanent
storage of used fuel at the reactor sites.
"The problem is the concept that the public wants the waste moved," said
Michele Boyd, legislative director and nuclear expert at Public Citizen.
"That’s a 20-year-old concept."
Even the nuclear power industry is giving ground. It still wants Yucca
Mountain opened but is willing to allow taxes that plant operators pay into
a fund for that facility to be used for interim storage — a kind of
euphemism for above-ground storage until casks can be reopened and old fuel
assemblies reprocessed into new fuel.
Nuclear Energy Institute President Frank L. Bowman told the Senate
environment committee in September that surface-level interim storage can
"instill public confidence in the waste management program."
The Energy Department is eight years late in a federal mandate to open an
underground repository. Deputy Energy Secretary Clay Sell recently
estimated that it could be decades before Yucca Mountain opens.
Storage for a century
Shawn Cooper, a spokesman for Diablo Canyon owner Pacific Gas and Electric
Co., said the utility is still hopeful Yucca Mountain will open some day.
But as long as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses cask storage, the
waste could be at Diablo Canyon well into the next century, safely venting
heat from the decaying fuel into the brisk winds blowing off the Pacific Ocean.
"It’s called temporary dry cask storage," he said, "but the canisters can
hold the waste 100 years."
Jill ZamEk, a leader of nuclear watchdog group San Luis Obispo Mothers for
Peace, was one of the signers of the environmentalists’ principles in
September.
Mothers for Peace is fighting to force a rearrangement of the dry casks so
they would better survive a terrorist attack, and the Supreme Court soon
will decide whether to hear that case.
"We want the Diablo Canyon plant shut down," ZamEk said. But when it comes
to the plant’s waste, she said, "the risk of transporting it is so great it
needs to stay where it is."
Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara, whose district includes Diablo Canyon,
also agrees that the waste should stay put, but with more security to
protect it.
"I believe that we should actually be beefing up security against potential
terrorism and improving safety to prevent accidents at all nuclear
facilities around the country," she said in a statement.
Commercial nuclear power plants in the United States are guarded by
paramilitary forces armed with semiautomatic assault weapons. Since the
Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, these forces have been beefed up at all
nuclear plants and extra security precautions have been put in place. These
precautions include sensors to detect intruders and barriers to prevent
truck bombs from getting close to the reactors. Once in operation, Diablo
Canyon’s dry cask storage facility would be guarded in the same manner as
the reactors.
Debate over Yucca
Among Sen. Boxer’s biggest concerns about Yucca Mountain is that it’s not
as impermeable to water as initially thought. Sophisticated testing has
shown that water percolates through its caverns and heads toward the
Colorado River.
"Sixteen million Californians drink from that river," Boxer said.
Jon Summers, Sen. Reid’s spokesman, said the senator will do all he can to
make sure Yucca never opens because the site is unsuitable. Summers said
the senator has introduced legislation directing the Energy Department to
take possession of the waste at the plants and to store it there.
The bill drew a sharp rebuke in January from the nuclear energy industry,
which said it would only further undercut Yucca Mountain — which of course
is what Reid wants.
This year, the bill went nowhere. The outgoing chairman of the Senate
environment committee, James Inhofe, R-Okla., has favored Yucca Mountain.
But Boxer will lead the committee when the bill is reintroduced next year —
and she likes it, or something like it.
Her preference leans to on-site storage, with the possibility of building
regional or state gathering places for some of it — like that at Rancho
Seco near Sacramento, where the reactor was closed in 1989.
Although a skeptic, Boxer also favors research into reprocessing —
something that the environmentalists still oppose.
If a way to safely reprocess nuclear waste could be found, Boxer said, it
would help on the waste issue, produce new fuel for reactors and "make me
feel more positive about nuclear power" as a pollution-free alternative for
lowering greenhouse gas emissions.
The United States banned the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel into new
fuel during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, who was concerned that
reprocessing could be used to create nuclear weapons, like Iran is now
suspected of doing. The ban on reprocessing remains in effect.
The end of Yucca?
Driving the industry’s shifting attitude about waste storage is growing
interest in building a new generation of nuclear plants since enactment of
an energy bill offering generous government subsidies.
Since Congress began working on an energy bill, there have been nearly
three dozen planned applications for new reactors. The bill was signed into
law in August, touching off what Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., called a
"nuclear renaissance."
"I am a pragmatist," Boxer said. "The vast majority of the members on my
committee support nuclear power, and so do the majority in the Senate. So
my focus is on safety, security and research because I don’t think there is
any question that we are going to be seeing new plants."
Victor Gilinsky, who served on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission as an
appointee of Presidents Ford and Carter from 1975 to 1984, said what’s
under way is a reshaping of the waste debate that will eventually spell the
end of Yucca Mountain.
Gilinsky, who now consults for Nevada against the repository, said he was
on the NRC when it began debating underground storage, and it was never
about safety.
"It was intended as a PR device," he said.
The commission faced lawsuits by environmentalists trying to stop plant
licensing, and he said the lack of a waste disposal plan was seen as a
vulnerability in the courtroom.
"Now that they have a possibility of building new reactors, they don’t want
to be chained to this," Gilinsky said of the nuclear industry. "They are
working their way around to saying that surface storage of the waste is a
workable solution."
David Whitney covers Central Coast issues for The Tribune from the
McClatchy Washington Bureau
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent
people for a purpose which is unattainable." : U.S. historian Howard Zinn, 1993
Molly Johnson
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA 93451
Cell: 805 296-0524
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41 IRNA: Iran has 1,400 uranium mines - AEOI official -
Tuesday December 19, 2006
Mashhad, Razavi Khorassan Prov, Dec 18, IRNA
Iran-Uranium-Mine
Iran has 1,400 uranium mines, an official at the Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran (AEOI) said here Monday.
AEOI Deputy Head for Nuclear Fuel Hossein Faqihian made the the
disclosure in an address to a conference introducing the
nation's nuclear technologies and achievements in the
northeastern city of Mashhad.
"The mines are scattered in one-third of Iranian territory
particularly in the central areas of Saghand, south of Bandar
Abbas, Khashouri, Narigan and Zarigan," he said.
He pointed out that nuclear energy is a good alternative to
energy derived from non-renewable fossil fuels as they are
cleaner and cause less environmental damage.
"We need power plants and mastery of the nuclear fuel cycle as
indispensable requirements for producing nuclear fuel. But the
initial step is to have a sufficient supply of uranium to
produce yellowcake.
"The intial process is being carried out in Bandar Abbas (in
southern Hormuzgan province) and in Ardekan (in central Yazd),"
Faqihian said.
He said that the third step involves a process of converting
yellowcake into a new combination, adding that this process is
being carried out at Isfahan's uranium conversion facility (UCF).
"The fourth and most important step of the nuclear fuel cycle
is enrichment," he said.
"There are currently 10 countries in the world which are able
to enrich uranium. The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of
these." The AEOI official further said that "there are 450
nuclear power plants in the world which produce 300-1,000mw of
electricity.
"When Iran's Bushehr power plant becomes operational, it will
have the capacity to produce 1,000mw of electricity."
The AEOI deputy head stressed the importance of nuclear energy
in civilian life and said Iran should not cower to the West's
opposition to its peaceful nuclear program.
*****************************************************************
42 Nevada Appeal: DOE held no Yucca rail line meetings in Lyon County
December 18, 2006
'Scoping' meeting not held in affected communities
Karen Woodmansee Appeal Staff Writer, December 18, 2006
The Department of Energy is considering using a rail line that
passes through the Lyon County communities of Silver Springs and
Wabuska for the transport of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain,
but officials didn't hold a public meeting in that area.
"We held a scoping meeting in Reno," said Allen Benson, director
of External Affairs for the Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste. "One could ask why we don't hold scoping meetings all
over the country."
Benson said the meeting was held in Reno because it was the
population center of Northern Nevada.
"We've gone far beyond the minimum requirement of the law in
order to allow people to give public comments on what we should
be looking at in trying to prepare this impact statement," he
said. "There were a lot of locations that were not included."
Lyon County emergency management director Jeff Page attended the
Reno meeting, and said meeting officials didn't seem to know
where the affected communities were located.
"They thought Silver Springs and Fernley were in Washoe County,"
he said. "Our concern is folks locally didn't have the
opportunity to comment."
Since the session involved discussion of the Mina corridor from
Hazen in Churchill County, through Silver Springs, Wabuska and
south to Schurz, and didn't cover concerns about transporting
the waste through Reno, Page said he saw no point to holding the
meeting in Reno.
Benson said the meetings were designed to look at a rail spur
that will connect from Hawthorne to Yucca Mountain, not to
discuss the route of the nuclear waste shipments.
He added, "We certainly provide the citizens in the area of the
rail spur with the ability to talk. That is the proposed action.
This is a very defined project. That's all we're talking about."
He said the Department of Energy held scoping meetings from Nov.
1 through Nov. 27 in Amargosa Valley, Caliente, Fallon,
Goldfield, Hawthorne and Reno, but none were held in Lyon
County.
Lyon County commissioners and Fernley officials both plan to
send a letter of complaint about the absence of meetings in the
affected communities.
The Mina route to transport 77,000 tons of nuclear waste to the
proposed facility at Yucca Mountain was considered in 1989.
However, the Walker River Paiute Tribe would not allow nuclear
waste transportation on the track it owns from Wabuska to
Schurz. This year, the tribe gave the federal government
permission to include the stretch in an environmental impact
study.
The other route under consideration is the Caliente corridor in
Southern Nevada.
• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at or 882-2111, ext. 351.
All contents © Copyright 2006 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
43 Nevada Appeal: Rail line to Yucca divides small towns
December 18, 2006
Proposed route would pass by Silver Springs
BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal June Mick looks out her bedroom window at
the train tracks the Energy Department is studying as a possible
rail line to transport nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain. Mick
moved to Silver Springs from south Florida with her husband six
month ago.
ED VOGEL Las Vegas Review-Journal December 18, 2006
SILVER SPRINGS - June Mick fled to this rural Lyon County
community six months ago to get away from the crime and high
costs of south Florida.
She and her husband paid $230,000 for a manufactured home and
4.7 acres of jackrabbits and sagebrush near an infrequently used
railroad track. Only recently did Mick learn the track in her
backyard was under study as the rail line on which Energy
Department trains would carry high-level nuclear waste to Yucca
Mountain.
"I don't want that stuff," she said. "What if there is an
accident? There is no telling what could happen."
Mick's thoughts were shared by neighbors a few blocks away.
Retired Navy veteran Robert Brittain moved to his track-side
Silver Springs home last year. Ruth Curtis purchased her
manufactured home 16 years ago.
"I'm pro-military. But I don't care for Yucca Mountain.
Ammunition is different. It's for national security," Brittain
said.
"Nuclear waste?" Curtis questioned, then answered herself: "Oh,
no."
Ninety percent of homeowners interviewed in Silver Springs
oppose the proposal to haul nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain
through their inexpensive but rapidly growing community.
They've found peace and quiet in Silver Springs' wide-open
spaces. They knew trains have occasionally carried bombs past
their homes to the Army Ammunition Depot at Hawthorne since the
1930s. But they were not aware that the Energy Department was
considering using the same tracks to carry waste from commercial
nuclear power plants across the country to Yucca Mountain, 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.
State laws require county planning departments to notify
homeowners when new developments are planned in their
neighborhoods, but the federal government isn't obliged to
notify people when it wants to haul radioactive waste through
their backyards.
The Energy Department placed advertisements in Fallon's
Lahontan Valley News about a recent hearing at which residents
could discuss the railroad plan, but in Silver Springs, news
travels largely by word of mouth.
Whether hauling 77,000 tons of radioactive waste within a few
yards of Silver Springs' bedrooms poses any danger depends on
whom you ask.
Bob Loux, executive director of the state Agency for Nuclear
Projects, said a terrorist with a shoulder-held, anti-tank
missile launcher could put a hole in a cask containing nuclear
waste.
"If 1 percent of the cargo escaped, it would contaminate a 42
square-mile area and take a couple of decades and $8 billion to
$10 billion to clean up," Loux said.
It is not just Silver Springs residents who have reason for
concern, he added. Trains from power plants will move along the
main Union Pacific line paralleling Interstate 80 from the east
and west. Nuclear waste would be hauled through downtown Reno.
The nuclear trains would veer off the Union Pacific line north
of Fallon and head more than 300 miles south to Yucca Mountain
along a route near U.S. Highway 95 that goes through Silver
Springs and close to the rural communities of Schurz, Hawthorne,
Mina, Tonopah and Goldfield.
Costs of constructing this "Mina Corridor" route, including
laying 209 miles of track from Hawthorne to Yucca Mountain, have
been estimated at more than $1 billion.
Allen Benson, director of external affairs for the Energy
Department's Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management,
does not share Loux's alarm.
He noted the federal government has been hauling nuclear waste
by truck for 50 years with no problems, including more than
4,000 shipments to the Waste Isolation Pilot Project in New
Mexico.
"The safety record is quite remarkable," Benson said.
Benson noted the waste going to Yucca Mountain would be in
solid, not liquid, form. If a cask were penetrated, some pellets
might fall onto the ground, but a hazardous materials team would
be sent out "to clean it up and move on," he said.
Security officers will accompany the trains, according to
Benson, and the Energy Department "is not going to advertise"
when shipments will move. He anticipates about two trains a week
over a 24-year period.
"There is no such thing as a 100 percent safety guarantee,"
Benson said. "But this is definitely not Chernobyl. People have
this fear of nuclear. We understand that. But nuclear is
medicine. Nuclear is electricity."
The public reaction to the word nuclear is far different farther
south in economically depressed rural Nevada. Of 25 people
interviewed in Goldfield, Hawthorne, Tonopah, Schurz and Mina,
22 expressed support for the rail line.
Hawthorne businessman Rex Mills expressed their views during a
hearing in Hawthorne. He said rural Nevadans want the Energy
Department to share its Yucca Mountain track with commercial
trains.
"If they put the railroad here, it will be great," Mills said.
"It will give an incentive for companies nationwide to move into
a lower-taxed area. The waste is going into Yucca Mountain,
whether we like it or not."
So far the Energy Department has spent $9 billion on the
project. Costs could top $58 billion, based on an estimate made
in 2001.
Postmistress Theora Janis and resident Dollie Murillo stood in
front of the Mina Post Office and discussed the desperate need
for economic revival in their community.
The town's population has dropped to about 100 people, most of
them senior citizens. Many homes and businesses are abandoned.
The elementary school was closed five years ago. The train
tracks were pulled out 10 years ago.
"They already carry (hazardous) waste through here by trucks,"
Janis said. "We need jobs. A railroad would help us."
Whether the Energy Department allows private business to share
its Yucca Mountain line has not been determined.
Bob Halstead, a transportation consultant for the state, said
the Energy Department has been trying to win favor for the new
rail line by suggesting that the line will be shared with
commercial trains.
Loux said a new rail line would provide little upside to rural
Nevada.
"They had a rail line to Mina for 50 years and it didn't do
anything for them," Loux said. "Every rail line there in the
past has been torn out."
The only reason the Energy Department can contemplate
construction of the Mina route is because of a change in
thinking by the Walker Lake Paiute Indian Tribe, Loux said.
The tribal council in 1991 rejected an Energy Department move to
study moving waste through the reservation by rail. Last April,
council members agreed to the study.
Ammunition bound for the Hawthorne depot is carried by rail past
tribal headquarters, homes and a school in the town of Schurz.
Under the Energy Department study plan, the rail line would be
relocated about four miles outside of town.
Chairwoman Genia Williams responded to questions by handing out
a prepared statement saying the council opposes the new rail
line unless the Energy Department addresses all safety issues
and agrees to ban shipments of nuclear waste by truck on U.S.
Highway 95.
"Historically our tribe has been a victim of federal government
decisions," Williams said. "I do not like the idea of Nevada
being a dumping ground for nuclear waste, but this may be a
chance to make my tribal community safer from nuclear waste that
may come through our community on a highway," she added.
All contents © Copyright 2006 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
44 Pahrump Valley Times: Tech Review Board to meet in Las Vegas
e-mailed to: dmcmurdo@pvtimes.com.
Dec. 15, 2006
The U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board will meet Jan. 24
in Las Vegas. The agenda will include updates on Department of
Energy (DOE) technical and scientific activities related to the
proposed repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste at Yucca Mountain.
The meeting will be open to the public and opportunities for
public comment will be provided.
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. and conclude at
approximately 6 p.m. It will be held at the Atrium Suites Hotel;
4255 South Paradise Road; Las Vegas; (tel.) 702-369-4400; (fax)
702-369-3770.
A final agenda detailing meeting times, topics and participants
will be available approximately one week before the meeting
date. Copies of the meeting agenda can be requested by telephone
or obtained from the board's Web site at nwtrb.gov.
Time will be set aside at the end of the meeting for public
comments. Those wanting to speak are encouraged to sign the
"public comment register" at the check-in table. A time limit
may have to be set on individual remarks, but written comments
of any length may be submitted for the record.
Interested parties also will have the opportunity to submit
questions in writing to the board.
Transcripts of the meeting will be available on the board's Web
site, by e-mail, on computer disk and on a library-loan basis in
paper format from Davonya Barnes of the board's staff, beginning
Feb. 19.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Atrium Suites Hotel
for meeting participants. When making a reservation, state that
you are attending the Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board
meeting. Reservations should be made by Jan. 8 to ensure
receiving the meeting rate.
For more information, contact Karyn Severson, NWTRB external
affairs; 2300 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 1300, Arlington, VA
22201-3367; (tel.) 703-2354473; (fax) 703-235-4495.
For comment or questions, please e-mail
webmaster@pahrumpvalleytimes.com
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
45 SLO Trib: Question for Democrats: Will Sin City and Yucca Mtn. set coure
for 2008 pick?
San Luis Obispo Tribune
| 12/18/2006 |
Nedra Pickler The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Forget Hillary vs. Obama. There’s another
question in the Democratic presidential race: Does what happens
in Vegas really stay there, or can Sin City set the course for
the nation?
Nevada has a new prominence in deciding the party’s next
nominee. It will hold an early caucus Jan. 19, 2008, sandwiched
between Iowa and New Hampshire. The prized position is an
attempt to bring more diverse voices into determining the
Democratic candidate beyond the two overwhelmingly white, rural
states that have traditionally dominated the process.
The hope is that a Western state with a large population of
Hispanics and union workers will bring fresh issues to the
debate.
"I’ve always felt that the system we have of choosing our
president has been very cockeyed," said incoming Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, the state’s top Democrat. Nevada "will give
the American people a better idea of what a candidate should be
for and against."
That doesn’t mean candidates should be for gambling and against
limits on prostitution. Nevada may be famous for some of the
nation’s most liberal entertainment laws, but state leaders are
more interested in promoting other, less sexy political
concerns. Those include water rights, nuclear waste disposal,
health care, education and maintaining military installations.
Local activists say they don’t expect to see the candidates on
the Strip, except maybe to hold fundraisers in the large meeting
rooms or spend the night in the hotels. However, they can be
expected to be asked where they stand on Internet gaming and
betting on collegiate sports, issues important to the local
economy.
"You are going to get certain questions about local issues just
like you get questions in Iowa about corn subsidies," said
Democrat Tony Sanchez, chairman of the committee drafting the
caucus rules and overseeing its operation. "But the thought of,
‘Hey, let’s get a picture of you rolling the dice,’ that’s not
going to happen."
The selection of Nevada is part of an effort to increase
Democratic support in the West, once a bastion of conservatism.
Democrats won several statewide elections in the West last month
and the Democratic National Committee is considering holding its
2008 convention in Denver.
Reid was the driving force behind moving up Nevada’s caucus and
has a lot at stake in its success.
That will be a big job. Nevada had only 17 caucus sites in 2004
– one per county – and just 8,500 of the state’s nearly 1
million active registered voters took part. That was a huge jump
from 2000, when fewer than 1,000 participated, and the increase
overwhelmed the party and delayed results for hours.
This time, the party plans to have as many as 1,000 sites, Reid
said.
The Nevada Democratic Party hired Jean Hessburg, the former head
of the Iowa Democratic Party who helped oversee the last Iowa
caucus, to run the operation and avoid some of the problems seen
in 2004. She will be assisted by Iowa political veteran Jayson
Sime and a trio of media consultants experienced in presidential
politics – Jamal Simmons, Bill Buck and Roger Salazar.
The question is how much time the candidates will spend in
Nevada versus Iowa and New Hampshire, where they are expected to
attend parties in people’s homes statewide. The candidates will
have an incentive to stick to the Las Vegas area because
two-thirds of the voters live in Clark County. Reno also has a
concentration of Democrats, but the rest of the state is
sparsely populated and overwhelmingly Republican.
At stake in the Nevada Democratic caucus voting will be 22 base
delegates, compared to Iowa’s 39 and New Hampshire’s 19.
Many Democrats considering a bid have been working Nevada. New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has visited repeatedly from his
nearby home state, and John Edwards has been courting the
state’s labor leaders. The 2004 vice presidential nominee
already has an endorsement from the Laborers’ Local 872.
The labor support will be critical in Nevada because unions will
be the most natural organizations to get voters to the caucus.
The largest is the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, with 60,000
members who serve the drinks, clean the hotel rooms and cook the
food at casinos. Political director Pilar Weiss said the union
has many friends in the race and won’t make an endorsement until
late in the process.
"There is not a favored son or daughter," she said.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack stopped in Las Vegas on his presidential
campaign announcement tour and Edwards plans to include it on
his later this month. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, John Kerry of
Massachusetts and Chris Dodd of Connecticut have also made trips
in recent months.
Two top-tier contenders who have not announced – Sens. Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois – have
not visited since Nevada moved up its date.
It’s too early to gauge what kind of appeal they would have in
the swing state, although former President Clinton made many
friends here with his 2000 veto of a bill that would have sent
nuclear waste – including from the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power
Plant near Avila Beach – to Nevada’s Yucca Mountain.
One of Bill Clinton’s fans is Billy Vassiliadis, who created Las
Vegas’ successful "What happens here, stays here" marketing
campaign and a slick brochure and video that helped convince
Democrats to bless Nevada’s early caucus.
Vassiliadis has a picture of himself with Obama hanging in his
office and once held a fundraiser for Edwards at his chic
headquarters. He said he wants to stay neutral in the
presidential primary, but paused when asked what he would do if
the former president asked him to support his wife.
"There’s almost nothing Bill Clinton couldn’t ask me for,"
Vassiliadis said. "That would be tough."
Reid said that with so many senators in the race, he will not
endorse anyone. "That would be a little bit foolish for me to do
that when I have to ask them for things here all the time and
they have to ask me for things," he said in a recent interview.
He said he will ask the gambling industry to support the caucus
effort.
"I hope they step up and help with funding some of the things
that need to be funded in this new environment we have there,"
Reid said. "And I’m confident they’ll do that."
Reid rejects suggestions that associations with legalized
gambling could hurt presidential candidates, noting that
numerous states have it.
Frank Schreck, an attorney who has worked for gambling clients
and was a chief fundraiser for Bill Clinton, said the industry
is sensitive to appearances for politicians but will want to
know where they stand on issues important to them.
"It’s in private conversations because you don’t want to
embarrass anybody," Schreck said.
On the Net:
Nevada Democratic Party: http://www.nvdems.com
*****************************************************************
46 Xinhua: Russia to launch int'l uranium enrichment center in January
www.chinaview.cn 2006-12-19 06:44:52
£ÍOSCOW, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- An international uranium
enrichment center will start operations in Siberia by the end of
January next year, Russia's nuclear energy chief said on Monday.
Early this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his
Kazakh counterpart Nursultan Nazarbayev jointly proposed setting
up uranium enrichment centers to provide nuclear fuel to
countries¡¡with nuclear energy programs under International
Atomic Energy Agency safeguards.
"All conditions for the center's work will have been created
by late January. An intergovernmental agreement with Kazakhstan
will be signed at the end of this year," Sergei Kiriyenko, head
of the Federal Atomic Energy Agency, was quoted by the Interfax
news agency as saying.
The center is to be located at a plant in the Siberian city
of Angarsk.
Kiriyenko said new facilities could be built in the future.
"So far, no new centrifuge is being planned," he added.
Uranium enriched to low levels can be used as fuel for
nuclear power plants, but highly enriched uranium can be used to
make the core of a nuclear bomb.
Editor: Luan Shanglin
*****************************************************************
47 ITAR-TASS: Rosatom brings back over 300 kg of fuel from Germany’s reactor
18.12.2006, 16.37
According to the Rosatom, Russian companies delivered most of
nuclear fuel to Germany within the framework of bilateral
cooperation between the Soviet Union and East Germany, known as
the German Democratic Republic, in creating a nuclear fuel cycle
back in the 1990-s.
The research and production association Luch got a consignment
of unused fuel to process it within three and four months into
nuclear low-enriched material for production of fuel elements
for nuclear reactors.
Rosatom delivers nuclear fuel from research reactors built in
Russia in compliance with the Russian-US intergovernmental
agreement of May 27, 2004 on the return of nuclear fuel with
assistance of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Under this agreement, Russia and the U.S. have already scrapped
433 kilograms of high-enriched uranium.
© ITAR-TASS. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
48 Paducah Sun: 6 more dump sites reported to DOE -
Paducah, Kentucky
State to search for waste piles
By Joe Walker jwalker@paducahsun.com 270.575.8656
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Al Puckett remembers the 1960s when Paducah Gaseous Diffusion
Plant supervisors ordered a worker to bury uranium waste in a
gravel pit west of the plant on Saturdays.
I dont know what was in it, but it came out of the process
buildings, so it couldnt have been good, Puckett said of the
plants massive uranium enrichment structures.
Puckett, a union steward then, told the employee to file a
grievance if his bosses repeated the orders. They had sworn they
would deny everything if he got caught secretly dumping, Puckett
recalled.
Now 80, Puckett suffers from illnesses he thinks are related to
breathing an accidental release of uranium hexafluoride gas
during his 12 years at the plant.
The gravel pit, in the West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area,
is one of six old dump sites both above and below ground
newly reported to the Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
Former plant landfill manager Gary VanderBoegh presented the
information based on help from three or four plant neighbors and
former employees.
This is not trying to implicate the new cleanup contractor, past
contractors or anyone else, VanderBoegh said. All Im saying is
this stuff has been dumped and not cleaned up.
VanderBoegh has an ongoing labor claim against the Department of
Energy that he wasnt rehired last spring because he had too much
knowledge of plant contamination problems. DOE and its
contractors deny that.
State regulators will start looking for the six sites next week
based on maps presented by VanderBoegh. Waste piles are
typically easier to spot than burial areas, said Tony Hatton,
assistant director of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
At this point we just dont know whats there until we get out
there and look, he said.
VanderBoegh forwarded the information to members of the Kentucky
congressional delegation. Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Ed
Whitfield wrote Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman expressing
concerns over six mounds of radioactive dirt newly found in the
management area.
We need to know the extent of the contamination at the site,
Whitfield said. It is very concerning to me that the waste was
deposited nearly 30 years ago, yet no efforts were taken during
that time to clearly identify the contamination or warn people
about potential health hazards.
Twenty-two more overgrown, contaminated dirt piles have now been
found on the east and west sides of the plant. Hatton said the
mounds apparently came from the dredging of Little and Big Bayou
creeks 20 to 30 years ago.
DOE spokeswoman Meagan Barnett said initial surveys of the 22
piles showed radiation levels much lower than the first six.
Sections of piles found earlier contained radiation and
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) both common plant
contaminants at levels not posing immediate risks to humans or
the environment, Hatton said.
Hatton said DOE is preparing a plan to sample and analyze the
dirt mounds, determine what contaminants are there and plan a
course of action. The plan is expected within 30 to 45 days.
Although the state has stopped searching for earthen waste, DOE
will continue surveying, Barnett said. It will take several
months, using sophisticated technology that is sensitive to low
levels of radiation.
Earlier this year, the state identified 47 old rubble piles 34
in the West Kentucky management area and 13 in the Ballard
County Wildlife Management Area containing concrete, metal
beams and other construction-demolition materials from the
plant. Eight of the piles had been identified in 1997 amid plant
cleanup work, while the rest were newly discovered, according to
state documents obtained by VanderBoegh and confirmed by Hatton.
Several piles scanned for more than natural levels of radiation
have been or will be removed and taken inside the plant fenced
area, Hatton said. VanderBoegh said some of the levels were high
enough that the debris wouldnt been allowed to go into the
landfill off Ogden Landing Road that he once managed.
Initial field surveys showed low levels of radiation in the
rubble piles, but they are still being evaluated, Barnett said.
Hatton said he isnt surprised that more and more dump sites are
being found in the sprawling, 6,463-acre West Kentucky wildlife
area, which surrounds the 54-year-old, 750-acre uranium
enrichment factory.
We may continue to find other things as well, he said. But it
certainly appears that most if not all of it is historical.
VanderBoegh said he compiled the maps over the past several
months after being contacted by people knowledgeable of the old
dump sites. Some of them told him that DOE and Department of
Justice officials were informed about the sites in 1999 when an
investigation began based on a whistle-blower lawsuit,
VanderBoegh said. I cant confirm whether thats true or not.
The case, alleging former plant contractors covered up
environmental problems to protect huge award fees, continues in
federal court and may go to trial next year. The contractors
deny the allegations.
VanderBoeghs maps also depict a waste pile near Dyke Road
southeast of the plant, as well two piles at or near the
northwestern plant boundary. Two other areas depict burial
sites.
VanderBoegh said uranium reportedly was buried in an area at or
near the southwestern corner of the plant fence. Burial was done
to keep the uranium from catching fire on contact with the air,
he said.
Drums of waste reportedly are buried in the river bottom in the
West Kentucky Wildlife Management Area north of the plant,
VanderBoegh said.
*****************************************************************
49 AU ABC: New aerial survey system seeks out uranium deposits.
18/12/2006. ABC News Online
A new aerial survey system designed to better identify drill
targets for mining companies is being pioneered in South
Australia.
The new system is being used for the first time in Australia to
identify possible uranium deposits at a prospect between Maree
and the Beverley uranium mine.
The system, called REPTEM, replaces an older method of aerial
surveying.
It is attached to a helicopter, allowing operators to fly
closer to the ground.
Kevin Lines, the managing director of the company using the
technology, says the system uses the latest computer technology
to give greater access to previously unexplored areas.
"What it allows us to do is to survey very large areas, in our
case, quite remote, quite arid areas," he said.
"So it makes it cost effective now for us to explore in areas
that 20 years ago we just couldn't work in."
*****************************************************************
50 AU ABC: Nuclear material transported out of Sydney
The World Today - Monday, 18 December , 2006 12:33:00
Reporter: Karen Barlow
ELEANOR HALL: While Sydney was sleeping last night, a secret
and heavily armed operation was transporting radioactive fuel
rods across the city.
A large police and fire brigade presence escorted 10 large
trucks from the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor to the Botany Bay
container terminal.
The hundreds of spent nuclear fuel rods are now en route to the
United States for reprocessing.
Karen Barlow was there as the convoy arrived at Port Botany
early this morning.
(Sound of truck driving past)
KAREN BARLOW: Two AM on Foreshore Road, Port Botany, one of
Australia's biggest and busiest ports is receiving shipping
containers around the clock. But this morning's shipment from
Lucas Heights is different, so special the route is examined by
scores of police over several hours. Finally, with a helicopter
flying overhead, the convoy arrives with emergency lights
flashing.
First motorcycle escorts zip by, then several patrol cars.
They're guarding 10 trucks with shipping containers, but only
six are marked with radioactive warnings.
Two fire brigade hazardous materials trucks follow, then more
police vehicles.
They stream to the docks where the containers are loaded on a
vessel called the Seabird, although Greenpeace protest boats are
also waiting in the port's waters.
Greenpeace campaigner Steve Campbell says it's secret and
dangerous shipment.
STEVE CAMPBELL: This is highly enriched uranium fuel that's been
in the Lucas Heights reactor, which is being transported to
America. And the point that we're trying to make, really, is
that if the Government pushes ahead with its plans for nuclear
power reactors in Australia, these kinds of dangerous and secret
transports are going to escalate around the country.
KAREN BARLOW: Do you think anyone was at risk throughout this
transport?
STEVE CAMPBELL: Well, they wouldn't have done it in the dead of
night if they weren't, and they wouldn't have done it secretly.
There have been accidents with nuclear casts in the past,
there's definitely been accidents with nuclear reactors. We've
had major impact on human health and on environmental wellbeing.
So, there's no reason for it. We shouldn't be producing nuclear
waste, and we should be looking at the alternatives.
KAREN BARLOW: Where is this fuel exactly going, and what's going
to happen to it?
STEVE CAMPBELL: Well, we're not entirely sure where it's going.
We believe the ship's bound to the east coast of the United
States. There's a number of American storage facilities there,
and of course you know that the American Government has a huge
problem with nuclear waste, they don't know what to do with it,
they don't know where to store it. And it's a subject of
increasing and escalating public protest.
So, you know, while we are starting to potentially produce more
waste, it'll just be shipped around the world, or somewhere
else, because there is no solution to it.
ELEANOR HALL: That's Greenpeace Campaigner Steve Campbell ending
that report from Karen Barlow. And the operators of the Lucas
Heights nuclear reactor, ANSTO, have not been available for
comment.
*****************************************************************
51 UPI: Enriched uranium returned to Russia
United Press International - NewsTrack -
12/18/2006 4:25:00 PM -0500
MOSCOW, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- A large shipment of enriched uranium
was returned to Russia from Germany on Monday.
The consignment, 730 pounds of uranium, was flown from the
airport in Dresden to Moscow on a Russian military cargo plane,
the Novosti news agency reported. The uranium was taken to a
reprocessing center at Podolsk near Moscow.
The Soviet Union supplied the uranium to a research reactor in
Rossendorf in the former East Germany. The Soviet-built reactor
was closed 15 years ago, a year after the two Germanies merged.
In Germany, the route the shipment took to the airport was
changed because of 30 protestors who lined the road, the BBC
reported.
In the past two years, highly enriched uranium has been returned
to Russia from Soviet-built plants in Serbia, Romania, the Czech
Republic, Bulgaria, Libya, Latvia, Poland and Uzbekistan.
Russia's repatriation program is done in cooperation with the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
52 Bangor Daily News: Viewpoints: Don't change course on nuclear waste storage
By BDN Staff
Monday, December 18, 2006 -
The history of nuclear waste disposal in the United States is
one of broken promises, wasted money, obfuscation and delays -
decades worth of them. It may get worse as incoming Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid has declared the federally designated
repository in his home state of Nevada to be "dead." For states
such as Maine, which are holding nuclear waste that was supposed
to be deposited at Yucca Mountain, this is unacceptable.
It is also illegal. A federal court earlier this fall ordered
the Department of Energy to pay more than $75.8 million to Maine
Yankee for failing to abide by federal law requiring that the
department provide a disposal site by Jan. 31, 1998. The
department has appealed the decision, but if any damage award is
upheld, the money would be returned to ratepayers, most of whom
are in Maine.
The damage award pales next to the $24 billion the nation’s
electric ratepayers have paid to research and develop a
permanent storage site and to store nuclear waste at reactor
sites in the interim. An estimated $6 billion has been spent so
far on Yucca Mountain. Billions more are being spent to store
waste at current and former nuclear power plants, including
Maine Yankee in Wiscasset.
Faced with the reality that Yucca Mountain was decades behind
schedule and continues to face political and legal challenges,
New Mexico Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, the outgoing chairman
of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, proposed
that federal money for Yucca Mountain be diverted to the states
to pay for storage at interim sites. This would have been a
reasonable compromise if governors and others had reason to
trust that the federal government would agree on a final storage
site and that the 126 storage sites scattered around the country
would be short-lived. There is no basis for such trust.
Fortunately, the new chair of the committee, Democratic Sen.
Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, opposes the dispersed storage plan
and wants to move forward on Yucca Mountain.
Sen. Reid’s threats aside, disposing of waste at Yucca
Mountain is settled policy for Congress. The Department of
Energy began studying the suitability of Yucca Mountain as a
long-term repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level
radioactive waste in 1978.
In July 2002, President Bush signed legislation officially
establishing Yucca Mountain as the nation’s nuclear waste
repository. It is supposed to begin accepting waste in 2017. The
Department of Energy is currently in the process of preparing an
application to obtain the Nuclear Regulatory Commission license
to proceed with construction of the repository.
Switching to another site or multiple sites, which would be
harder to secure, makes no sense. Further, as discussions about
alternatives to fossil fuels get more serious, nuclear power is
likely to be part of the conversation. It can’t be seriously
considered until waste disposal is settled.
Congress has slowly, expensively and deliberately settled on
Yucca Mountain. Now is not the time to change course for
political gain.
Bangor Daily News PO Box 1329 491 Main Street Bangor, ME 04401
Switchboard: In-State Long Distance 1-800-432-7964 or
207-990-8000 ©2005 All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
53 Guardian Unlimited: Will Nev. Set the Course for 2008 Pick?
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Monday December 18, 2006 6:01 PM
AP Photo NY111 By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer
LAS VEGAS (AP) - Forget Hillary vs. Obama. There's another
question in the Democratic presidential race: Does what happens
in Vegas really stay there, or can Sin City set the course for
the nation?
Nevada has a new prominence in deciding the party's next
nominee. It will hold an early caucus Jan. 19, 2008, sandwiched
between Iowa and New Hampshire. The prized position is an
attempt to bring more diverse voices into determining the
Democratic candidate beyond the two overwhelmingly white, rural
states that have traditionally dominated the process.
The hope is that a Western state with a large population of
Hispanics and union workers will bring fresh issues to the
debate.
``I've always felt that the system we have of choosing our
president has been very cockeyed,'' said incoming Senate
Majority Leader Harry Reid, the state's top Democrat. Nevada
``will give the American people a better idea of what a
candidate should be for and against.''
That doesn't mean candidates should be for gambling and against
limits on prostitution. Nevada may be famous for some of the
nation's most liberal entertainment laws, but state leaders are
more interested in promoting other, less sexy political
concerns. Those include water rights, nuclear waste disposal,
health care, education and maintaining military installations.
Local activists say they don't expect to see the candidates on
the Strip, except maybe to hold fundraisers in the large meeting
rooms or spend the night in the hotels. However, they can be
expected to be asked where they stand on Internet gaming and
betting on collegiate sports, issues important to the local
economy.
``You are going to get certain questions about local issues just
like you get questions in Iowa about corn subsidies,'' said
Democrat Tony Sanchez, chairman of the committee drafting the
caucus rules and overseeing its operation. ``But the thought of,
'Hey, let's get a picture of you rolling the dice,' that's not
going to happen.''
The selection of Nevada is part of an effort to increase
Democratic support in the West, once a bastion of conservatism.
Democrats won several statewide elections in the West last month
and the Democratic National Committee is considering holding its
2008 convention in Denver.
Reid was the driving force behind moving up Nevada's caucus and
has a lot at stake in its success.
That will be a big job. Nevada had only 17 caucus sites in 2004
- one per county - and just 8,500 of the state's nearly 1
million active registered voters took part. That was a huge jump
from 2000, when fewer than 1,000 participated, and the increase
overwhelmed the party and delayed results for hours.
This time, the party plans to have as many as 1,000 sites, Reid
said.
The Nevada Democratic Party hired Jean Hessburg, the former head
of the Iowa Democratic Party who helped oversee the last Iowa
caucus, to run the operation and avoid some of the problems seen
in 2004. She will be assisted by Iowa political veteran Jayson
Sime and a trio of media consultants experienced in presidential
politics - Jamal Simmons, Bill Buck and Roger Salazar.
The question is how much time the candidates will spend in
Nevada versus Iowa and New Hampshire, where they are expected to
attend parties in people's homes statewide. The candidates will
have an incentive to stick to the Las Vegas area because
two-thirds of the voters live in Clark County. Reno also has a
concentration of Democrats, but the rest of the state is
sparsely populated and overwhelmingly Republican.
At stake in the Nevada Democratic caucus voting will be 22 base
delegates, compared to Iowa's 39 and New Hampshire's 19.
Many Democrats considering a bid have been working Nevada. New
Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has visited repeatedly from his
nearby home state, and John Edwards has been courting the
state's labor leaders. The 2004 vice presidential nominee
already has an endorsement from the Laborers' Local 872.
The labor support will be critical in Nevada because unions will
be the most natural organizations to get voters to the caucus.
The largest is the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, with 60,000
members who serve the drinks, clean the hotel rooms and cook the
food at casinos. Political director Pilar Weiss said the union
has many friends in the race and won't make an endorsement until
late in the process.
``There is not a favored son or daughter,'' she said.
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack stopped in Las Vegas on his presidential
campaign announcement tour and Edwards plans to include it on
his later this month. Sens. Joe Biden of Delaware, John Kerry of
Massachusetts and Chris Dodd of Connecticut have also made trips
in recent months.
Two top-tier contenders who have not announced - Sens. Hillary
Rodham Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois - have
not visited since Nevada moved up its date.
It's too early to gauge what kind of appeal they would have in
the swing state, although former President Clinton made many
friends here with his 2000 veto of a bill that would have sent
nuclear waste to Nevada's Yucca Mountain.
One of Bill Clinton's fans is Billy Vassiliadis, who created Las
Vegas' successful ``What happens here, stays here'' marketing
campaign and a slick brochure and video that helped convince
Democrats to bless Nevada's early caucus.
Vassiliadis has a picture of himself with Obama hanging in his
office and once held a fundraiser for Edwards at his chic
headquarters. He said he wants to stay neutral in the
presidential primary, but paused when asked what he would do if
the former president asked him to support his wife.
``There's almost nothing Bill Clinton couldn't ask me for,''
Vassiliadis said. ``That would be tough.''
Reid said that with so many senators in the race, he will not
endorse anyone. ``That would be a little bit foolish for me to
do that when I have to ask them for things here all the time and
they have to ask me for things,'' he said in a recent interview.
He said he will ask the gambling industry to support the caucus
effort.
``I hope they step up and help with funding some of the things
that need to be funded in this new environment we have there,''
Reid said. ``And I'm confident they'll do that.''
Reid rejects suggestions that associations with legalized
gambling could hurt presidential candidates, noting that
numerous states have it.
Frank Schreck, an attorney who has worked for gambling clients
and was a chief fundraiser for Bill Clinton, said the industry
is sensitive to appearances for politicians but will want to
know where they stand on issues important to them.
``It's in private conversations because you don't want to
embarrass anybody,'' Schreck said.
On the Net:
Nevada Democratic Party: http://www.nvdems.com
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
54 Pahrump Valley Times: Homestead Road signal could be a year away
Dec. 15, 2006
By MARK WAITE
Nevada Department of Transportation officials have presented a
draft agreement to Nye County for the construction of a traffic
light at Homestead Road and Highway 160.
However, it could still be another year before motorists see
relief from the lines of cars waiting to enter Highway 160 there.
Under the agreement with Nye County, NDOT agrees to pay $250,000
in federal safety grant money and $100,000 for drainage
improvements, according to Rudy Malfabon, NDOT deputy director
for southern Nevada. The state will also pay for the design of
the signal.
Nye County officials last July offered to contribute $300,000
from impact fees and the remainder of the cost from the payments
it receives from the U.S. Department of Energy for the Yucca
Mountain Project.
That came after Pahrump residents loudly rejected a proposal
from NDOT to build a roundabout at that intersection instead of
a traffic signal.
The slow pace of the agreement with NDOT was a subject of
concern for Nye County Commissioner Patricia Cox, who leaves
office at the end of this month.
"It's five months later and we still don't have a contract," Cox
said at the Dec. 5 county commission meeting.
Nye County Public Works Director Samson Yao said Monday he is
hoping NDOT adds comments to the draft agreement this week so he
can put it on the next Nye County Commission agenda Dec. 19.
"We're going to try to figure out how to design that (signal) to
accommodate the county's future plans to widen Homestead,"
Malfabon said.
Yao said the widening of Homestead Road to five lanes is in the
county's capital improvement plan for 2007. But he said the
county plans to install the traffic signal before the widening
project occurs, placing the light far enough to the right so it
won't have to be moved again.
"Initially, when you put traffic lights in, you want to put it
in the ultimate location," Yao said. "Otherwise it'd be very
costly to relocate."
Yao said he didn't know when the full build-out of Homestead
Road to five lanes would take place, but initial plans are for a
three-lane approach to Highway 160.
Yao said the traffic light at Blue Diamond Road and Durango
Drive in Las Vegas Valley is an example of a traffic signal
placed far enough off the road to allow for the future widening
of Highway 160.
Once the design is approved, the project will be put out for
bid. Contractors will then have three weeks to review the plans,
Malfabon said. The signal lights are custom fabricated for each
location, which he said takes about four months. It would then
take another 45 days to construct them. Finally, activation of
the light would depend on when the utility company can hook up
the new traffic signal, he said.
"If the county comes up with their share of the money, it should
be about a year," he predicted.
"I was told it would take 16 months or 18 months to get this
stuff fabricated and installed because there's such high demand
for those traffic lights," Yao said. "That's from the time you
actually have the design completed and actually place an order
for those poles."
NDOT engineers may determine the traffic light can't be
installed properly, in which case some modification to the
interchange may occur, he said.
There are other intersections in Pahrump that meet NDOT warrants
as requiring a traffic signal, Malfabon said. He said Nye County
is negotiating with developers to make those improvements. The
Homestead Road interchange with Highway 160 has aroused the most
interest.
NDOT estimates the average annual daily traffic on Highway 160
just south of Highway 372 increased from 18,900 vehicles in 2004
to 23,000 vehicles in 2005. That's significantly more traffic
than a counter just north of the Clark County line farther south
on Highway 160, which averaged 9,800 vehicles per day in 2005,
an increase from 8,600 in 2004.
Nye County Sheriff Tony DeMeo said Homestead Road has been
getting busier, which has also led to the deterioration of the
road.
"Traffic has been increasing. It's now becoming a route for
heavy trucks," he said. "The road is becoming horrifying, all
those heavy trucks are ripping up Homestead."
DeMeo suggested some temporary solutions to solve the lack of a
traffic light that weren't entirely tongue in cheek.
"Actually, they could give me the money. I could put a deputy
out there in the busy times to direct traffic," DeMeo said. As
another alternative, "I was hoping maybe a temporary traffic
light, solar powered, wouldn't require anything."
Insurance agent Robert Worden, from Worden's Insurance Agency,
said auto insurance premiums are determined by a number of
factors in addition to the accident rate on State Highway 160,
like the rising cost of auto repairs, the cost of litigation and
increased medical costs.
Worden said he sees accident claims from various locations on
Highway 160, not just Homestead Road. He discounted the positive
effect a traffic light at that intersection might bring.
"I see as many accidents at Highway 372 and Highway 160 as I see
at Homestead and 160," Worden said. "Drivers don't follow the
traffic control signals when we have them."
He added, "We have an infrastructure that cannot keep up with
the population."
"We're going to try to move as fast as we can. That's all we can
say," Yao said.
Meanwhile, Highway 160 motorists heading to and from Las Vegas
are finding more signals along the way.
NDOT has constructed a number of new traffic lights on Blue
Diamond Highway going into Interstate 15 on Blue Diamond Road.
Whereas there used to be only a few traffic lights for Pahrump
motorists to navigate going into or driving from Las Vegas,
there are now seven signals on the highway west from I-15, and
two more for those traveling eastbound.
Malfabon said those new traffic lights were paid for out of the
contract for the improvements to the I-15 interchange with Blue
Diamond Road.
"It may look like it just sprung up there but the interchange
contract was awarded a year and a half ago," he said.
Two temporary lights have been installed at the entrance to a
new shopping center with a Kohl's Supermarket and Target
discount store just west of I-15.
NDOT was able to speed up the installation of the traffic light
at Decatur Avenue with traffic light poles loaned by Clark
County, Malfabon said.
"There have been cases where we've been able to get help from
the county to help address the need for a signal," he said.
For comment or questions, please e-mail
Copyright © Pahrump Valley Times, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
55 AP Wire: DOE completes transfer of uranium hexafluoride to Ohio
12/18/2006
Associated Press
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. - The government has transferred nearly 120
million pounds of depleted uranium from a processing plant in
Tennessee to a southern Ohio facility, three years ahead of
schedule and within budget.
The uranium hexafluoride was left over from the government's
uranium enrichment process for nuclear weapons and fuel at the
Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Operations ended there in 1985,
and the site is currently being cleaned up to be an industrial
park.
Tennessee began transferring the slightly radioactive material
in 2004 to Piketon, Ohio, where the compound will be processed
into a more stable form for long-term storage. The process also
will extract hydrogen fluoride that can be sold commercially,
officials said.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation had
ordered the Department of Energy to remove the uranium
hexafluoride by Dec. 31, 2009.
The project removed about 6,000 cylinders, some weighing as much
as 14 tons, and trucked them to the Piketon facility at a cost
of $27.5 million.
The cylinders, kept in an outside storage yard that required
daily security and maintenance, posed the highest radiation
threat to visitors at the Tennessee site, said John Owsley, the
environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge.
"While there were sufficient controls in place, it was a
concern," Owsley said.
No major safety issues arose during transportation, said Susan
Gawarecki, executive director of the Local Oversight Committee,
which evaluates environmental projects for local governments in
the Oak Ridge area.
After the waste was trucked to Ohio, hundreds of empty cylinders
were shipped to disposal sites in Nevada or Utah.
*****************************************************************
56 Knox News: DOE removal project done early
Uranium hexafluoride relocated within budget, reducing radiation hazard
By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com
December 18, 2006
OAK RIDGE - The U.S. Department of Energy is wrapping up its
uranium road show and declaring a big success. "It has removed
the single greatest potential hazard on this site," DOE's David
Hutchins said as he watched workers secure a protective overpack
on a 10-ton cylinder of depleted uranium hexafluoride.
About 6,000 of the cylinders, some weighing as much as
14 tons, have been hauled to Ohio over the past three years.
The $27.5 million project was accomplished within its budget.
There were no major safety issues. The work was completed far
ahead of schedule.
For DOE's cleanup program, which has endured more than its share
of failures, mishaps and cost overruns in recent years, that's
like winning the triple crown in horse racing.
"When DOE puts their mind to it, they can get things done," said
Susan Gawarecki, executive director of the Local Oversight
Committee, which evaluates environmental projects for local
governments in the Oak Ridge area.
The uranium compounds are a toxic legacy of the government's
uranium-enrichment activities at Oak Ridge. The K-25 plant was
built during World War II as part of the Manhattan Project and
later expanded to provide the U-235 needed for atomic bombs and
fuel in nuclear reactors.
Enrichment operations were shut down in 1985, and the Oak Ridge
site - now called the East Tennessee Technology Park - is being
cleaned up and prepared for use as an industrial park.
The outdoor storage yards, where the remnants of Cold War
nuclear production sat and rusted for decades, are now virtually
empty. They no longer require the day-to-day security and
maintenance associated with a Category-2 nuclear facility.
DOE was under orders from the Tennessee Department of
Environment and Conservation to remove all of the cylinders of
uranium hexafluoride from Oak Ridge by Dec. 31, 2009. The
federal agency and its contractors beat the deadline by three
years.
"We're glad to have the cylinders gone," said John Owsley, the
state's environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge.
He said they posed the highest radiation dose to visitors
walking around the site.
"While there were sufficient controls in place, it was a
concern," Owsley said.
After a couple of years of debate and negotiations involving
environmental officers in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, DOE made
the first shipment on March 17, 2004. After that,
representatives from each of the three states talked by phone on
a weekly basis.
"For a long time, it didn't look like they'd ever get rid of
those cylinders," Gawarecki said. "The LOC had been pushing them
to do it, and we're very pleased they've had such great success.
I think there were one or two little incidents - no spills or
crashes or disasters. What more could you ask for?"
Removing the 118 million pounds of uranium hexafluoride was a
major part of the government's cleanup strategy. Bechtel Jacobs
Co., a partnership of Bechtel National and Jacobs Engineering,
is managing DOE's cleanup program in Oak Ridge.
Most of the uranium-loaded cylinders were transported by truck
to a facility near Piketon, Ohio, where a company called Uranium
Disposition Services will process the depleted uranium
hexafluoride from Oak Ridge and other sites. The uranium will be
converted to an oxide form for safer long-term storage or
disposal, and the hydrogen fluoride will be extracted and sold
commercially.
Hundreds of empty cylinders associated with the Oak Ridge
operations or others that contained small amounts of the uranium
compound were treated and shipped to disposal sites in Nevada or
Utah, Hutchins said.
All told, there were thousands of trips to and fro, and trucks
used for the project logged more than 3.6 million miles during
the past three years, he said.
Visionary Solutions LLC managed the transportation under a
subcontract to Bechtel Jacobs.
Lance Mezga, who heads a citizens' board that advises DOE on
environmental issues, said removing the rusting cylinders from
outdoor storage was a significant milestone.
"Some of those things were in pretty bad shape," Mezga said. Not
only did the project reduce the risks to humans and the
environment, but it also set the stage for revitalizing the Oak
Ridge facilities for other uses, he said.
Hutchins said he was proudest of the fact that no injuries were
incurred during the loading and shipping operations over a
three-year period. "That's a real good thing," he said.
Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.
MICHAEL PATRICK NEWS SENTINEL
Workers move the lid on an overpack box into place, sealing one
of the last shipments of DOE's uranium hexafluoride cylinders for
transport to Ohio.
© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
57 DOE: U.S.-Chinese Agreement Provides Path to Further Expansion of
Nuclear Energy in China
December 16, 2006
BEIJING, CHINA U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Samuel
W. Bodman and Chinese Chairman of National Development and Reform
Commission (NDRC) Ma Kai today signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) that will pave the way for Westinghouse
Electric Company to construct four civilian nuclear power plants
in China. This agreement illustrates the United States
government's support of the Chinese expansion and use of safe,
emissions-free nuclear power and the related technology transfer.
This is an exciting day for the U.S. nuclear industry. This
agreement is good for the people of China and good for the
people of the United States. It is an example that if we work
together, we can advance not only our trade relations, but also
our common goal of energy security, Secretary Bodman said.
This DOE-supported, Generation 3+ reactor is safer and more
efficient than current reactors and could help spur development
of a nuclear renaissance in the U.S.
The initial agreement between China and Westinghouse is for four
reactors, two at each site in Sanmen and Yangjing. The reactors
will be Westinghouse design AP1000 and will be 1100 megawatts
each. The agreement could lead to as many as 5,500 jobs in 12
U.S. states.
The precursor to the AP1000, the AP600, was funded by DOE in the
1990s under a program to develop an Advanced Light Water
Reactor. The Department is currently engaged in a cost-sharing
agreement with Westinghouse for the AP1000 detail design. The
total design is set to cost $436 million, of which DOE will fund
$218 million over seven years, FY 2005-FY 2011. This cost share
supported the completion of Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
design certification in 2005 and supports engineering for the
NRC licensing and construction of the first standard AP1000
nuclear plant design.
The U.S. government began working with the Chinese government to
support the bid of a U.S. manufacturer in 2004 under
then-Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham and then-Secretary of
Commerce Don Evans. Since then, Secretary Bodman and his
Cabinet colleagues Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez have also contributed
supported Westinghouse's bid.
Currently, nuclear energy provides about 1.5 percent of Chinas
total energy. The Chinese have expressed a goal of building 30
new reactors over the next 15 years, which would produce 4
percent of their electricity. In addition, last month the U.S.
accepted China as a partner in the development of the Generation
IV nuclear reactor.
Media contact(s): Anne Womack Kolton, (202) 586-4940 [ ]
U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW |
Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403
*****************************************************************
58 KnoxNews: Nuke news brightens outlook at container company
By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com
December 18, 2006
A recent permit change at the government's Waste Isolation Pilot
Plant in New Mexico was big news locally.
The approval opened up the waste repository to receive
remote-handled transuranic waste, a particularly hot and nasty
form of radioactive waste that's a legacy of reactor operations.
That means federal nuclear sites that currently store
the materials, including Oak Ridge, can begin making definitive
plans to package and ship their wastes to New Mexico.
It also signals a likely increase in business for Bull Run
Metal, which fabricates a line of lead-lined steel containers
specially designed for the storage and disposal of so-called TRU
wastes.
"That was huge for us," said Rob Love, president of Bull Run,
which has a fabrication facility in Clinton's Eagle Bend
Industrial Park.
A couple of years ago, Bull Run won a contract under a "basic
ordering agreement" with Washington TRU Solutions, the U.S.
Department of Energy's managing contractor at the waste
repository at Carlsbad, N.M.
Since then, Love estimates that Bull Run has produced 25 to 50
of the TRU containers, which vary in size and cost $7,000-$8,000
apiece. But there is the potential for growth in the market —
big growth.
"There could be several thousand a year produced at this site,"
he said. "We have lots of additional capacity. We're only
running one shift."
Indeed, the past year was a slow one for Bull Run.
Bull Run employs 26 workers at the Clinton facility, only half
of the work force there 14 months ago, Love said.
The company's revenue stream, typically in the range of $4
million a year, was down 40 percent this past year, he said.
That was blamed on a tight federal budget that cut down on the
Department of Energy's purchases.
"But we were still in the black," Love said, attributing the
profitable picture to a good business model.
Bull Run Metal Fabricators and Engineers Inc. has been around
for about 20 years but shifted its focus to waste containers
seven years ago. The company now markets itself as BRM
Containers.
In addition to the TRU-Shield containers, which reportedly are
the only ones certified for disposal at the WIPP facility in New
Mexico, Bull Run manufactures a catalog of other containers for
storing and shipping wastes, including low-level radioactive
materials and hazardous wastes. Bull Run only makes containers
for solid wastes, none for liquids.
The company's contract for TRU waste containers could mean as
much as $12 million a year. Some of that goes to subcontractors.
Toxco's Oak Ridge facility, for instance, injects the lead
lining after containers are manufactured at Bull Run's Clinton
plant.
Love said many of the TRU containers use recycled lead that's
contaminated with low levels of radioactivity. If not for use in
the containers, the lead would have to be disposed of as waste,
he said.
With the recent permit approval for remote-handled waste in New
Mexico, Bull Run's business orders could be picking up soon, he
said.
"I'm really optimistic that over the next three or four months
there'll be a complete change," Love said. "It's a great
opportunity for small business to be able to manufacture these."
Contract change good for all? DOE earlier this year agreed to
change the terms of Foster Wheeler Environmental Corp.'s
contract to process transuranic waste in Oak Ridge.
That was good news for New Jersey-based Foster Wheeler because
it was pretty clear that the original fixed-fee arrangement
wasn't working. The company apparently was losing big bucks in
Oak Ridge, although officials didn't want to discuss the
financial bottom line — at least not publicly.
Interestingly, after months of difficult negotiations (Foster
Wheeler reportedly threatened to stop work at one point), DOE's
top cleanup officer in Oak Ridge said the contract change was
also good for the government.
"I think what it did was recognize the true cost of doing this
work," said Steve McCracken of DOE. "The contractor that we had
was losing money and he wasn't about to start the RH
(remote-handled waste) under the contract terms that we had. He
said he just couldn't afford to."
Foster Wheeler launched the project in the 1990s when DOE was
touting "privatization" initiatives as a way to involve
companies in the environmental cleanup program at Oak Ridge and
other sites.
Here's the way it was supposed to work:
Foster Wheeler would invest tens of millions of dollars in
building the waste-processing facilities and acquiring the
necessary permits to operate the plant off Highway 95. DOE, in
turn, would reimburse the contractor after it achieved certain
milestones and then pay additional amounts based on the waste
processed and shipped off-site.
There were flaws in this and other privatization projects, some
of which were abandoned before they ever met success.
McCracken said the privatization concept worked well early,
during construction of the plant, but it became more difficult
once the contractor began processing complex waste streams.
As an example, he cited a 14-foot-high box that recently arrived
at the Oak Ridge facility for processing. The container
contained a full glove-box assembly with compressors and "all
that junk still in it" that had to be taken apart and processed
and repackaged. The dismantling of the highly radioactive
equipment would have been difficult and unpredictable, making it
almost impossible to put an accurate price tag on the work, he
said.
McCracken said there's no doubt that the contractor could have
filed a request for additional money, requiring more
negotiations. "It would have just been bogged down while we
argued about it," he said.
"The waste is so difficult to anticipate ... that trying to
fix-price that work just doesn't make sense any more. So,
really, what we are doing now is paying the true cost, what it
really costs to run that plant. Now our goal has to be to make
sure that we don't let the cost go up simply because of the kind
of contract that we have," the DOE official said.
DOE will monitor Foster Wheeler and EnergX, the subcontractor
that operates the plant, to make sure costs aren't artificially
inflated.
"The good thing is they've been operating for a while. You kind
of know what it costs to run the place," McCracken said "There
is nothing better than having a baseline of several years' worth
of work, so if things start creeping up you can challenge that
based on your experience — not just on a disagreement on what
something ought to cost."
As part of that contract renegotiation, DOE took over ownership
of the plant ahead of schedule.
Frank Munger is a senior writer covering the Department of
Energy for the Business Journal.
J. MILES CARY
BUSINESS JOURNAL
William Baird welds the inside seams of a large metal container
at Bull Run Metal, which fabricates a line of lead-lined
containers designed for the storage and disposal of transuranic
waste.
J. MILES CARY NEWS SENTINEL
Rob Love, president of Bull RunMetal, which has a fabrication
facility in Clinton’s Eagle Bend Industrial Park, stands with a
TRU-Shield lead-lined storage container BRMmakes for customers.
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant inNew Mexico recently was approved to
receive remote-handled transuranic waste, a boost for BRM, Love
says, because his metal containers are specially designed to
store and dispose of TRU wastes.
© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
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59 Radio Iowa: Search on for former Ames Lab employees
Monday, December 18, 2006, 8:05 PM
by Darwin Danielson
A nationwide search is on to find former employees at a federal
lab in Ames that may've been exposed to harmful substances.
Doctor Laurence Fuortes of the University of Iowa says the Ames
Lab was a key research facility in the Manhattan Project that
built the first nuclear weapons.
Fuortes says the Ames Lab processed thousands of pounds of
uranium ore until that process was sent elsewhere. He says the
lab later produced thorium, another radioactive metal, for the
defense industry. And Fuortes says the lab later worked with
beryllium. Fuortes is now heading up the project to find workers
who toiled at the lab from 1942 through 1960.
Fuortes says they're trying to find the over 10-thousand former
Ames Lab workers to allow them to get a medical screening
allowed by the Department of Energy. Fuortes says they do the
screenings in Iowa City, Burlington and Ames. Fuortes says the
government paid screenings came out of a settlement with the
Burlington arms and ammunition factory that used to make atomic
weapons.
Fuortes says they want to be sure that all former Ames Lab
employees are checked for problems, some of which may not be
apparent. He says you could have sensitization to beryllium and
have no symptoms, or you could have evidence of an occupational
lung disease and have very few symptoms. Or Fuortes says you
could have lung disease and be a non-smoker and not know why you
had the disease.
Fuortes says they're not just looking for the workers. He says
they're also trying to assist the families of the former
workers, especially those form the early years who might have
died. Fuortes says they can go through the medical records of
the new dead workers and see if there might be a claim for
compensation due to work related illnesses. Fuortes asks former
workers, or their family members to get ahold of his program.
Fuortes says they can call a toll-free number: 1-866-282-5818 to
find our more or ask any questions about the program. Fuortes
says they've just been working on finding the Ames Lab employees
after working for several months with the former Burlington
employees. Fuortes says it's harder to get the word out to Ames
Lab workers, because it's a facility at the college and many of
them worked only a short time as students or faculty. And with
the work going back to the 1940's, many of the workers are dead,
and they're trying to find surviving family members.
Fuortes says the health screening includes a health and work
history questionnaire, general blood tests, a blood test for
beryllium sensitization, urinalysis, lung function tests and
chest X-rays, if needed. Participants will receive their test
results and will be informed of any recommendations for
follow-up medical care.
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