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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 [NukeNet] Nuclear Association Accused of False Adverting
2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran: sanctions will not stop nuclear plans
3 AFP: Russia satisfied with UN draft resolution on Iran - minister -
4 Guardian Unlimited: Pentagon Mulling Show of Force to Iran
5 Guardian Unlimited: Annan: Iran Intervention Would Be Unwise
6 UPI: Ahmadinejad reasserts Iran's nuclear right
7 Guardian Unlimited: Russia: Differences Remain on Iran Nukes
8 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea, U.S. Meet on Nuclear Issues
9 YONHAP NEWS: Strategist says U.S. should accept coexistence with Nor
10 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: North has a long list of demands in Beijing
11 AFP: White House firm on North Korea sanctions
12 AFP: US, NKorea meet directly as nuke talks enter crucial phase -
13 AFP: US, NKorea meet directly as nuke talks enter crucial phase -
14 UPI: Early rift in N. Korean nuclear talks
15 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., North Korea Financial Experts Meet
16 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Nuclear Envoy: No N. Korea Progress
17 US: Congress in 2007, No Nukes & More - FCNL
18 AFP: India says it will keep nuclear test option open -
19 BBC: Trident 'demands skilled workers'
20 IAEA: Director General & Indonesia President Discuss Nuclear Coopera
21 Telegraph: Skills shortage 'threatens UK nuclear deterrent'
NUCLEAR REACTORS
22 IPS-English POLITICS: India Split Over US Nuke Deal
23 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
24 US: palm beach post: One hurdle left for FPL plant
25 washingtonpost.com: Bush Signs India Nuclear Law -
26 US: montgomeryadvertiser.com: Browns Ferry reactor raising concerns
27 US: Blue Bayou: Nukes in Amarillo
28 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Deal With U.S. Criticized in India
NUCLEAR SECURITY
29 Nuclear Bomb-grade Fuel Removed From Germany; Largest Such UN Operat
NUCLEAR SAFETY
30 [NYTr] Rush to Judgment in the Ex-Spy Poisoning
31 Guardian Unlimited: London hotel staff test positive for polonium-21
32 MDN: Workers exposed to radiation -
33 US: NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Renewal
34 AFP: Islanders hit by US nuclear tests awarded 307 million dollars -
35 Guardian Unlimite: Comment is free: Waste not, want not
36 AFP: Russia completes joint inquiry into Litvinenko case
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
37 US: [NukeNet] Showdown on nuke waste storage
38 Nevada Appeal: Lyon County smart to demand a voice on Yucca
39 US: Philadelphia Inquirer: Waste must be cleaned up - now!
40 Idaho Statesman: Our View: Nation, Idaho need Yucca Mountain
41 US: sacbee.com: Showdown on nuke waste storage -
42 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Which way the wind blows
43 IAEA: Largest Batch of HEU Returned from Germany to Russia
44 US: globeandmail.com: Uranium glows even brighter
PEACE
45 YONHAP NEWS: N. Korea committed to denuclearization of peninsula - r
46 Korea Times: Japan's Peace Activist Speaks Out Against Atomic Bombin
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
47 Las Vegas SUN: Empty uranium cylinders from Tennessee shipped to Nev
48 Chillicothe Gazette: Uranium transfer to Piketon complete
49 KnoxNews: ORNL building evacuated after reaction
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1 [NukeNet] Nuclear Association Accused of False Adverting
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:11:27 -0800
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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2006/12/18/pf-2859919.html
December 18, 2006
Nuclear association accused of false advertising
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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"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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2 Guardian Unlimited: Iran: sanctions will not stop nuclear plans
Staff and agencies
Tuesday December 19, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, today said UN
sanctions would not stop Iran from enriching uranium.
The show of defiance came as the UN security council moved closer
to adopting a resolution after months of wrangling. Russia said
today a new draft met most of its concerns.
"The new draft resolution, which has been drawn up by the
European troika (Britain, France and Germany) and is now being
debated within the UN security council, takes most of our
approaches into consideration," the Russian foreign minister,
Sergei Lavrov, told the news service Interfax.
Russia, which has close economic ties with Tehran, and China have
been reluctant to approve too tough a resolution, which has been
in the works since Iran's failure to comply with an August 31
deadline to suspend uranium enrichment.
To meet Russian and Chinese concerns that the initial resolution
was too broad, the draft has been revised to specify exactly
what materials and technology would be prohibited, and to name
affected individuals and companies.
The revised draft also removed a reference to a nuclear facility
being built by the Russians at Bushehr in south-west Iran. The
facility, expected to go online in late 2007, would be Iran's
first atomic power plant.
Mr Ahmadinejad today warned Britain, France and Germany that
Iran will consider their support for any sanctions as an act of
hostility.
Speaking a day after election results indicated his allies
suffered an embarrassing defeat in local council elections, the
Iranian president said: "These three European countries should
know that if they insist on preventing the Iranian nation from
its path, the Iranian nation will consider their behaviour as
enmity and an act of hostility, and will change its behaviour
towards them accordingly."
Mr Ahmadinejad also said it was shameful for the world to turn a
blind eye to an apparent Israeli admission that it has nuclear
weapons while continuing to pressure Iran to give up its
programme.
"They shamelessly remain silent or smile in consent towards the
official announcement by the Zionist occupying regime possessing
nuclear weapons, but insist, using their influence in global
organisations, to impose so-called sanctions against the Iranian
nation," he said.
Mr Ahmadinejad was referring to an interview aired in Germany
last week, when the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert,
appeared to include Israel in a list of nuclear states.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
3 AFP: Russia satisfied with UN draft resolution on Iran - minister -
December 19, 07:04 PM
MOSCOW (AFP) - A draft resolution on Iran that is being worked
out in the United Nations largely corresponds to Russia's views
and should get Security Council backing, Russian Foreign
Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Interfax as saying.
"The new proposed resolution... that is now being discussed in
the UN Security Council largely reflects our approach," Lavrov
said.
"The proposal focuses on those spheres of nuclear activity that
concern the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) --
enrichment of uranium, chemical processing and heavy water
programmes as well as limiting deliveries... of goods and
technology related to creating nuclear weapons delivery
systems," Lavrov said.
"We think that on that basis it will be possible to achieve a
consensus decision of the UN Security Council that would induce
the Iranians to sit down at the negotiating table and ensure
active and full cooperation with the IAEA on all remaining
questions about Iran's nuclear activities," Lavrov said.
Lavrov's comments came after he spoke with US Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice about outstanding obstacles to agreement of a
resolution.
Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday that Russia
still objected to a plan to impose travel restrictions on
persons and entities thought to be involved in nuclear and
ballistic missile programmes.
The West suspects Iran is developing a nuclear weapons programme
under cover of a civil nuclear energy programme. Tehran denies
this.
Russia, a permanent Security Council member, has close ties to
Iran and has balked at earlier international proposals for UN
sanctions against Tehran, but has lately appeared more amenable.
Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
4 Guardian Unlimited: Pentagon Mulling Show of Force to Iran
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 8:16 PM
AP Photo XHS112
By PAULINE JELINEK
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is considering a buildup of Navy
forces in the Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a
senior defense official said Tuesday.
Speaking on condition of anonymity because the idea has not been
approved, the official said one proposal is to send a second
aircraft carrier to the region amid increasing tensions with
Iran, blamed for encouraging sectarian violence in neighboring
Iraq as well as allegedly pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
The United States and its European allies are seeking sanctions
against Iran because of its refusal to stop uranium enrichment,
a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for
civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear bomb.
In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that U.N.
sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its uranium
enrichment program, which he has said is for peaceful
development of energy.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly declined to rule
out the use of force against Iran, though they have also said
their first choice is to rely on diplomacy.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said military
action against Iran would be ``rather unwise and disastrous.''
Annan, who is leaving his job Dec. 31, made the comment to
reporters at a news conference as the Security Council debated a
resolution that would impose sanctions on Tehran.
The idea of building up U.S. Navy forces has been discussed over
some time and it's unclear when a decision will be made, the
defense official said.
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is already in the
region. It left the United States in late September with four
other Norfolk-based ships and submarines carrying 6,500 sailors.
The flotilla headed to the Mediterranean Sea and eventually went
to relieve the Norfolk-based aircraft carrier USS Enterprise
strike group, which was in the region supporting operations in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Also, the U.S. in late October led a naval training exercise
aimed at blocking smuggling of nuclear weapons in the Persian
Gulf.
The six-nation maneuvers off the coast of Iran were the first of
their kind since North Korea's Oct. 9 nuclear test and U.N.
sanctions that called on the international community to conduct
searches at sea to ensure the reclusive communist nation is not
secretly expanding its nuclear program.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
5 Guardian Unlimited: Annan: Iran Intervention Would Be Unwise
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 8:16 PM
AP Photo NYSW112
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said
Tuesday a negotiated settlement with Iran over its nuclear
program should be sought, and he warned that military
intervention would be ``unwise and disastrous.''
Annan, who steps down as U.N. chief Dec. 31, issued the warning
as the Security Council debated a resolution that would impose
sanctions on Tehran for refusing to suspend uranium enrichment.
The United States is considering sending a second aircraft
carrier to Persian Gulf as a show of force against Iran.
He addressed concerns about a possible military operation in
Iran at a farewell news conference in response to a question
about how the Security Council should deal with crises after the
Iraq war. The council refused to authorize a war against Saddam
Hussein in 2003 and Annan called the U.N.'s failure to stop the
conflict ``the worst moment'' of his 10 years as
secretary-general.
``You mentioned Iran, which implies that there is concern that
there may be another military operation there,'' Annan told a
reporter. ``First of all, I don't think we are there yet, or we
should go in that direction.''
``I think it would be rather unwise and disastrous,'' he said.
``I believe that the council, which is discussing the issue,
will proceed cautiously and try and do whatever it can to get a
negotiated settlement for the sake of the region and for the
sake of the world,'' he said.
The Bush administration has repeatedly declined to rule out the
use of force in Iran, although senior officials have also said
their first choice is to rely on diplomacy.
A senior U.S. defense official said the idea of building up U.S.
Navy forces has been discussed for some time and one proposal is
to send a second aircraft carrier to the region. The official,
speaking on condition of anonymity because the idea has not been
approved, said it's unclear when a decision will be made.
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful
production of nuclear energy, but the Americans and Europeans
suspect Tehran's ultimate goal is the production of nuclear
weapons
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad reiterated Tuesday that
possible Security Council sanctions would not stop Iran from
pursuing uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to
produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear
bomb.
Annan expressed concern that because of Iran's nuclear program
and the situation in Israel, which is widely believed to possess
nuclear weapons, several governments in the Middle East have
said recently they are going to explore facilities to produce
nuclear energy.
``What I'm worried about is we may see competitive development
of these devices,'' Annan said. ``And we need to take time - we
need to take real effort to assure that we don't get into that
situation in the region.''
The latest draft resolution being discussed by key Security
Council members would order all countries to ban the supply of
specified materials and technology that could contribute to
Iran's nuclear and missile programs. It would also impose a
travel ban and asset freeze on key companies and individuals in
the country's nuclear and missile programs who are named on a
U.N. list.
Russia and China remain at odds with the United States and key
European countries over the travel ban and a list of companies
and individuals that should be subject to a freeze of their
financial assets.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday there had been
``some progress'' during talks among the six key nations trying
to negotiate with Iran - Britain, France, Germany, the U.S.,
Russia and China. But he called the travel ban ``unnecessary''
and said that while Moscow accepts the concept of having some
financial restrictions related to prohibited nuclear-related
activities, ``we have not agreed with the list.''
Ambassadors from the six countries met again Tuesday, with the
United States and Britain pushing for adoption of the resolution
this week, but the same problems remained, with Churkin
reiterating his opposition to the travel ban.
Chinese Ambassador Wang Guangya said there were still
differences.
``I would say sometimes it looks like a technical difference,
sometimes it looks like a political difference,'' Wang said.
The full 15-member council was scheduled to discuss the proposed
resolution later Tuesday.
``We are very close, we think,'' State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said in Washington. ``This should be easy; there
should be a 15-0 vote.''
Acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said Monday the U.S.
views the travel ban as ``a priority and an important element of
this resolution and we will continue to push for it.''
The six countries offered Iran a package of economic incentives
and political rewards in June if it agreed to consider a
long-term moratorium on enrichment and committed itself to a
freeze on uranium enrichment before talks on its nuclear
program.
With Iran refusing to comply with an Aug. 31 council deadline to
stop enrichment, Britain and France circulated a draft sanctions
resolution in October.
---
Associated Press Writers Paul Burkhardt at the United Nations,
Pauline Jelinek in Washington, and Ali Akbar Dareini in
Kermanshah, Iran, contributed to this report.
---
Earlier Tuesday, the Associated Press retransmitted an old story
concerning a United Nations vote on Iran. The above story
represents the latest developments.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
6 UPI: Ahmadinejad reasserts Iran's nuclear right
United Press International - NewsTrack -
12/19/2006 2:08:00 PM -0500
PAVEH, Iran, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad lashed out at countries opposed to Iran's nuclear
program Tuesday, saying access to nuclear energy is a country's
right.
Speaking to a large gathering in the western city of Paveh,
Ahmadinejad said despite a threat of U.N. sanctions, Iran's
nuclear program would continue, the state-run IRNA news agency
reported.
"The enemies threaten to impose sanctions against our nation for
not giving up its nuclear right," the president said. "However,
they should know that we are not afraid of their sanctions and
that Iranian youth will build up the country."
Iran refused to meet a U.N. Aug. 31 deadline to stop enriching
uranium, which it claims is solely for electricity production,
but which the United States and several allies suspect is for
building nuclear weapons. The Security Council voted to impose
sanctions, but permanent council members have not yet come to
agreement on what they should be.
Russia, which is helping Iran build a new nuclear plant in
Bushehr, has balked at some of the elements of sanctions
proposed by the United States, Britain, France and Germany.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
7 Guardian Unlimited: Russia: Differences Remain on Iran Nukes
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 6:01 AM
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Russia failed to resolve differences with
the United States and key European countries Monday over a U.N.
resolution that would impose sanctions on Iran for refusing to
suspend uranium enrichment.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said there had been
``some progress'' during talks among the six key nations trying
to negotiate with Iran - - Britain, France, Germany, the U.S.,
Russia and China. But he said differences remain over a travel
ban and a list of companies and individuals that should be
subject to a freeze of their financial assets.
Churkin called the travel ban ``unnecessary'' and said that
while Moscow accepts the concept of having some financial
restrictions related to prohibited nuclear-related activities,
``we have not agreed with the list.''
The latest draft resolution would order all countries to ban the
supply of specified materials and technology that could
contribute to Iran's nuclear and missile programs. It would
impose a travel ban and asset freeze on key companies and
individuals in the nuclear and missile programs who are named on
a U.N. list.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Russian Foreign
Minister Sergey Lavrov Monday morning about some of the
outstanding issues, and State Department spokesman Sean
McCormack said afterward: ``We are hopeful that we can get a
vote in the very near future.''
Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said he would like
the draft resolution to be finalized on Tuesday if possible, but
the resolution needs to be discussed by the entire 15-member
Security Council, which is expected to take place on Tuesday.
Asked whether he expected a vote by the council before
Christmas, China's U.N. Ambassador Wang Guangya said there is a
50/50 chance.
Wang said the travel ban might be the sticking point.
Acting U.S. Ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States
views the travel ban as ``a priority and an important element of
this resolution and we will continue to push for it.''
``It's a complicated exercise,'' he said.
The six countries offered Iran a package of economic incentives
and political rewards in June if it agreed to consider a
long-term moratorium on enrichment and committed itself to a
freeze on uranium enrichment before talks on its nuclear
program.
But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly said
his country would continue enrichment and is not intimidated by
the possibility of sanctions.
Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful
production of nuclear energy, but the United States and
Europeans suspect Tehran's ultimate goal is the production of
nuclear weapons.
With Iran refusing to comply with an Aug. 31 council deadline to
stop enrichment, Britain and France circulated a draft sanctions
resolution in late October.
To meet Russian and Chinese concerns that the initial resolution
was too broad, the draft has been revised to specify in greater
detail exactly what materials and technology would be prohibited
from being supplied to Iran and to name those individuals and
companies that would be affected.
The revised draft also removed a reference to a nuclear facility
being built by the Russians at Bushehr, Iran - another demand by
Russia. The facility, expected to go on line in late 2007, would
be Iran's first atomic power plant.
---
Associated Press Writer Paul Burkhardt contributed to this
report from the United Nations.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
8 Guardian Unlimited: N. Korea, U.S. Meet on Nuclear Issues
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 6:46 PM
AP Photo BEJ105
By BURT HERMAN
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - The United States and North Korea on Tuesday
stepped up diplomacy at international arms talks, meeting
one-on-one to address the communist nation's nuclear weapons
program and alleged financial crimes that have been an obstacle
to the disarmament negotiations.
But U.S. officials gave no indications of any early breakthrough
after the second day of the latest round of six-nation
disarmament talks - which have failed over more than three years
of meetings to prevent the communist nation from further
developing its nuclear program that culminated with its
first-ever atomic detonation on Oct. 9.
``We don't have really any breakthroughs to report,'' said the
main U.S. envoy, Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill.
The North entered this week's talks restating a catalog of its
long-held demands, emboldened as many experts predicted by its
confirmed nuclear status - and raising doubts about an imminent
resolution of the standoff that began in late 2002.
Hill conceded the negotiations faced an international test to
prove the five partners involved - China, Japan, Russia, South
Korea and the U.S. - could convince the North to disarm.
``We need to establish credibility with that marketplace of
opinion and we need to show that in fact this can lead us to the
goal, because we cannot accept anything less than the goal of
denuclearization,'' he said.
No end date has been set for the talks, but Hill added, ``I
really want to see something get done this week.'' Earlier, the
U.S. diplomat said a failure of the talks could lead to more
sanctions against Pyongyang.
The North pledged in September 2005 at the talks to abandon its
nuclear programs in exchange for security guarantees, diplomatic
recognition and aid.
But just days before that agreement, the U.S. blacklisted a
Macau bank where the regime held accounts, alleging it was
complicit in the North's alleged counterfeiting of US$100 bills
and money laundering.
The North later blamed that move for its refusal to attend the
nuclear talks for more than 13 months, but it agreed to return
after its nuclear test to discuss the financial issue. When the
nuclear talks opened Monday, the North demanded anew that the
measures be lifted as a precondition to disarm.
U.S. and North Korean financial experts met for about three
hours at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday, but the head of the
American delegation said the issue wouldn't see any quick
solution.
``This is going to have to be a long-term process by which we
all work to address the fundamental underlying concerns that
we've expressed in the past, and that are frankly the concerns
of the international financial community,'' said Daniel Glaser,
the U.S. Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary for
terrorist financing and financial crimes.
The two sides were to meet again Wednesday at the North Korean
Embassy.
At the nuclear talks, Hill praised China's renewed will to
persuade its neighbor North Korea to disarm since the nuclear
test. Hill said Beijing had a ``very special role to play.''
``To solve the problem of the (North's) nuclear ambitions is
going to require a great effort by China,'' he said. ``We cannot
do it by ourselves, we need to work in this multilateral
framework.''
China backed a U.N. Security Council resolution sanctioning the
North after its atomic detonation, but has refrained from tough
moves to cut off the North's economic lifeline. China is the
isolated country's largest trading partner.
The North itself must also work to resolve the crisis to
establish where it stands in the world, Hill said.
``I really do believe that at the end of this six-party process,
however it turns out, it will help determine that country's
future in a way I think is fairly profound,'' he said.
---
Associated Press reporters Bo-mi Lim and Mari Yamaguchi
contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
9 YONHAP NEWS: Strategist says U.S. should accept coexistence with North Korea
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- The best option for the United
States in resolving North Korea's nuclear issues is to accept
that it has to coexist with the communist regime, an American
strategy specialist argued Tuesday.
Professor Michael Mazarr of National War College said the U.S.
should start by removing economic sanctions imposed on
Pyongyang, even if it means allowing North Korea to counterfeit
some of U.S. currency.
"I think that's relatively a small price to pay" compared to
resolving the nuclear dilemma, he said in his lecture hosted by
the South Korean culture center in Washington.
Negotiators from South and North Korea, the U.S., China, Russia
and Japan, members of the six-nation denuclearization forum,
were meeting in Beijing this week to carve out a deal in which
Pyongyang would take concrete steps to dismantle its nuclear
weapons and programs.
North Korea had signed on to the dismantlement in a joint
statement of September last year, but implementation was delayed
with Pyongyang's boycott of the six-party talks. The North
insists the U.S. lift the sanctions on a Macau bank accused of
laundering money that Pyongyang allegedly earns through illicit
financial activities, including counterfeiting of American
dollars and trafficking in drugs and contraband.
Mazarr said the U.S. is still caught up in World War II
analogy, wanting to see itself as the advocate of freedom and
democracy.
"The analogy tells us that a regime like North Korea is not to
be trusted... that they are not to be tolerated," he said.
"The problem is, for whatever combination of political,
psychological, strategic, cultural reasons, the United States
simply cannot bring itself to commit to have a regular
relationship with and peaceful coexistence with North Korea,"
said Mazarr.
"As long as that is true, we cannot solve the North Korean
nuclear issue."
ldm@yna.co.kr
(END)
*****************************************************************
10 INSIDE JoongAng Daily: North has a long list of demands in Beijing
December 20, 2006 KST 14:56 (GMT+9)
Hill says U.S. runs low on patience
December 19, 2006 ¤Ñ BEIJING ¡ª The opening day of the
six-party talks started with an "all-you-can-give" demand by
Pyongyang, which asked for immediate compensation in return for
a serious start to the nuclear negotiations. Separately, the
U.S. delegation said bluntly that American patience had run out
and that the North must start taking action.
In the planetary sessions at the Chinese state guest house in
Beijing, the delegation heads made their opening statements,
with North Korea's Kim Gye-gwan speaking second to last. He
called on Washington to lift its financial sanctions and also
demanded an end to United Nations sanctions imposed in response
to his country's nuclear test in October. Only after those steps
were taken, he said, would Pyongyang be willing to begin
discussing the implementation of a tentative settlement reached
in September 2005 that would give Pyongyang aid, security
assurances and wider diplomatic recognition in return for an end
to its nuclear weapons programs.
Mr. Kim added that until conditions were "mature," the only way
to draw his government into negotiations on those weapons would
be to convert the six-party talks into a general nuclear weapons
disarmament forum.
Although he did not define what he meant by "mature" conditions,
he did say that state of affairs would include Washington's
scrapping of all its "hostile policies" toward North Korea and
an end to all sanctions. He added that a precondition for
disarming would be the completion of a nuclear power reactor
and, for good measure, a supply of heavy fuel oil while the
reactor was being built.
Mr. Kim was drawing on the terms of a 1994 agreement that
defused an earlier nuclear standoff between the United States,
an agreement that was buried formally early this year.
Speaking just before Mr. Kim, Christopher Hill of the United
States said that Washington had no patience remaining and
demanded immediate action by Pyongyang to scrap its nuclear
programs. He promised large rewards for Pyongyang's cooperation,
but said it would get nothing if it did not cooperate.
He repeated that theme to reporters after the meeting, saying,
"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." Asked what he thought of
North Korea's demands, he said he gave them more credit for
their delegates' capacity to give long speeches than to their
content.
Korean officials also seemed little bothered by the North's
demands; one official described them as "nothing new" and said
more time would be needed to discern Pyongyang's real
intentions. The North's shopping list, he added, was
purposefully complex, intertwined and bloated in a bid to
maximize the concessions other negotiators might be persuaded to
give.
Another Korean official likened Pyongyang's approach to
shopping in a department store, and commented, "Basically, the
North listed the maximum demands it could make. They summed up
everything they have said in the past."
But if Pyongyang's Mr. Kim was less than clear or modest in his
demands, some of his rhetoric suggested that he had his
negotiating hat on.
He was also dramatic, saying at one point that a non-nuclear
Korean Peninsula was the deathbed wish of Kim Il Sung, the
strongman who led North Korea from its founding after World War
II until his death in 1994.
But, he added, conditions would have to be met to make that wish
come true and reach North Korea's final goal.
Speaking last, Wu Dawei of China said in his opening statement,
"The issues to be discussed and addressed by this meeting are
complex and profound." He urged the participants to make a
political decision to end the crisis.
Seoul's envoy, Chun Young-woo, also acknowledged the
difficulties the negotiators faced, but said he was still
hopeful. "The window of opportunity is still there," he said.
"We can halt the negative force behind the vicious cycle that
has limited the six-party talks and reverse it to a positive
force."
He urged the delegations to concentrate on defining first steps
for the next few months and set out a timeline for implementing
the September 2005 draft accord.
The Russian and Japanese delegations called for a "package deal"
to implement that earlier agreement.
In perhaps another signal of something having gone amiss
despite the laborious preparations for the new round of talks,
the U.S. and North Korean delegations did not meet privately
yesterday.
Sources at the negotiations said that Washington had requested
such a meeting but had been rebuffed by Pyongyang. The North
also refused a request by the South Korean delegation for a
bilateral meeting.
But Seoul's Mr. Chun was not fazed by that development either,
in particular on the lack of direct communication between the
Americans and the North Koreans."It just didn't happen," he
said. "If you put too much meaning on the fact that the meeting
didn't materialize, you might lose sight of the whole picture."
by Brian Lee africanu@joongang.co.kr>
Copyright by Joins.com, Inc.
*****************************************************************
11 AFP: White House firm on North Korea sanctions
Tue Dec 19, 1:51 PM ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) - The White House appeared to rule out lifting
economic sanctions on North Korea" /> , a move the Stalinist
regime says must take place before it will consider surrendering
its nuclear arms.
Asked whether Washington would consider ending the financial
restrictions, spokesman Tony Snow replied: "No, the conditions
are pretty clear. We're not going to change what they need to
do."
"North Korea needs to abide by the September 19 agreement," he
said after his regular briefing, referring to the 2005 accord
offering diplomatic, economic and security incentives to
Pyongyang.
His comments came as two senior US delegations held direct talks
with officials from North Korea as a diplomatic drive to
persuade the Stalinist regime to give up its nuclear weapons
entered a crucial phase.
Finance experts from the two nations met in Beijing to discuss a
drawn-out dispute over the US sanctions, one day after the
six-nation talks resumed after a 13-month freeze caused by
Pyongyang's objections to the sanctions.
"Yesterday what you had was, kind of, a typical first day of
negotiations with North Koreans, where they took a maximalist
position and the rest of the people said, 'Come on,'" said Snow.
"There will be continued conversations.
"The idea that this is a juncture to start drawing conclusions
about the ultimate outcome of the six-party talks is, again,
premature. We expect that there will be talks through much of
this week and then they will reconvene at some time next month,"
said the spokesman.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
12 AFP: US, NKorea meet directly as nuke talks enter crucial phase -
by Hiroshi Hiyama and Jun Kwanwoo
Tue Dec 19, 2:50 PM ET
BEIJING (AFP) - Two senior US delegations held direct talks with
officials from North Korea" /> as a diplomatic drive to persuade
the Stalinist regime to give up its nuclear weapons entered a
crucial phase.
Finance experts from the two nations met in Beijing to discuss a
drawn-out dispute over US sanctions on the North that the
cash-strapped nation has said must be resolved before it will
consider surrendering its nuclear arms.
They met for three hours on the sidelines of six-nation talks
aimed at convincing North Korea to disarm, which resumed only on
Monday after a 13-month suspension caused by Pyongyang's
objections to the sanctions.
Daniel Glaser, the US Treasury Department" /> 's deputy
assistant secretary for terrorist financing and financial
crimes, said in Beijing that discussions were scheduled to
continue Wednesday at the North Korean embassy in the Chinese
capital.
"We think these discussions are a good opportunity for us to
have an initial exchange of views," he said.
"If these talks are to be really productive it has to be a
long-term process by which we all work to address the underlying
concerns we have expressed in the past."
The restart of the talks came after North Korea conducted its
first-ever atomic test on October 9. Kim Jong-Il's regime
celebrated the test as a major national achievement but the
detonation triggered international condemnation.
As the financial teams huddled down in Beijing Tuesday, the
chief US and North Korean envoys to the six-nation forum met
separately for their first formal face-to-face encounter since
the talks restarted.
But US envoy Christopher Hill said there was no breakthrough to
report after a bilateral meeting with the North's
representative.
"We don't have any breakthrough to report. We had a substantive
discussion. We will meet again tomorrow," he told reporters late
Tuesday.
"I would say, without revealing elements of their positions,
there was certainly a willingness to listen to some of our
ideas," he said.
But Hill added that the six-nation forum needed to push on.
"We do feel the real sense that our six-party process needs to
do more than forming working groups and to talk about process,"
he said.
"I think we need to engage in progress and find a way to move
forward on our goal of denuclearization. I think we need to show
some progress. I am not ready today to announce any, but I tell
you we worked hard today."
Japan's envoy said North Korea's stance remained "far apart"
from that of its counterparts in the six-nation talks.
"Our basic stances remain far apart. At this point, I cannot say
that the outlook is optimistic," Kenichiro Sasae told reporters
Tuesday night.
North Korea had returned to the forum in a defiant mood on
Monday with its chief envoy Kim Kye-Gwan outlining a long list
of demands he said must be met before it would consider
scrapping its nuclear arms.
Under the US sanctions, 24 million dollars belonging to North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and other members of his ruling elite
have been frozen in a Macau bank over allegations of
counterfeiting and money laundering.
Aside from unfreezing those funds, Kim said that United Nations"
/> sanctions imposed on North Korea in October after its test
must also be lifted.
Kim further demanded that North Korea be given help in building
a nuclear reactor for power needs and that the US policy of
"hostility" against it must be dropped.
North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks -- which include
the United States, China, Russia, South Korea" /> and Japan --
in November 2005 in protest at the US financial sanctions.
Two months earlier that year it had agreed to scrap its nuclear
program in return for security guarantees and aid.
Many observers saw the North's decision to pull out as just a
stalling tactic while it continued to develop its nuclear
arsenal.
The United States had previously maintained the sanctions must
not be brought into the six-party forum, insisting they were a
law enforcement issue unrelated to the North's nuclear program.
But following the nuclear test, Washington agreed to discuss the
sanctions in the forum.
China, which remains North Korea's closest ally despite being
angered over the nuclear test and supporting the UN sanctions,
on Tuesday called for all sides in this week's talks to show
more patience.
"The meeting is only two days old. We suggest that participants
in the talks have patience. Maybe they should do some marathon
exercises to build up their endurance," foreign ministry
spokesman Qin Gang said.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
13 AFP: US, NKorea meet directly as nuke talks enter crucial phase -
by Hiroshi Hiyama and Jun Kwanwoo
Tue Dec 19, 7:20 AM ET
BEIJING (AFP) - Two senior US delegations have held direct talks
with officials from North Korea" /> North Koreaas a diplomatic
drive to persuade the Stalinist regime to give up its nuclear
weapons entered a crucial phase.
Finance experts from the two nations met in Beijing to discuss
a drawn-out dispute over US sanctions on the North that the
cash-strapped nation has said must be resolved before it will
consider surrendering its nuclear arms.
They met for three hours on the sidelines of six-nation talks
aimed at convincing North Korea to disarm, which resumed only on
Monday after a 13-month suspension caused by Pyongyang's
objections to the sanctions.
The restart of the talks came after North Korea conducted its
first-ever atomic test on October 9. Kim Jong-Il's regime
celebrated the test as a major national achievement but the
detonation triggered international condemnation.
As the financial teams huddled down in Beijing Tuesday,
officials said the chief US and North Korean envoys to the
six-nation forum met separately for their first formal
face-to-face encounter since the talks restarted.
While no details were immediately available on what was
discussed in both meetings, US envoy Christopher Hill said
earlier Tuesday that the day's events would be vital in
determining if Pyongyang may be prepared to disarm.
North Korea had returned to the forum in a defiant mood on
Monday with its chief envoy Kim Kye-Gwan outlining a long list
of demands he said must be met before it would consider
scrapping its nuclear arms.
Under the US sanctions, 24 million dollars belonging to North
Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and other members of his ruling elite
have been frozen in a Macau bank over allegations of
counterfeiting and money laundering.
Aside from unfreezing those funds, Kim said that United Nations"
/> United Nationssanctions imposed on North Korea in October
after its test must also be lifted.
Kim further demanded that North Korea be given help in building
a nuclear reactor for power needs and that the US policy of
"hostility" against it must be dropped.
Hill, as well as the Japanese and South Korean chief delegates,
expressed disappointment at the North's opening demands, saying
they ensured no quick progress would be made.
Hill said on Monday night he was losing patience with the North
Koreans although on Tuesday morning he still held out hope of a
breakthrough.
"I would be hard pressed to say any progress was made (on
Monday)," Hill said.
"Today is a much more important day to see how things are going
to go. We need to make progress on the basis of our September
agreement. We need to get going on implementing that."
The September agreement was a deal brokered in the six-party
forum in which North Korea said it would give up its nuclear
program in return for security guarantees, energy benefits and
other aid.
North Korea pulled out of the six-nation talks -- which include
the United States, China, Russia, South Korea" /> South Koreaand
Japan -- two months after the September deal in protest at the
US financial sanctions.
However, many observers saw the North Korean position as just a
stalling tactic while it continued to develop its nuclear
arsenal.
The United States had previously maintained the sanctions must
not be brought into the six-party forum, insisting they were a
law enforcement issue unrelated to the North's nuclear program.
But following the nuclear test, Washington agreed to discuss the
sanctions in the forum.
China, which remains North Korea's closest ally despite being
angered over the nuclear test and supporting the UN sanctions,
on Tuesday called for all sides in this week's talks to show
more patience.
"The meeting is only two days old. We suggest that participants
in the talks have patience. Maybe they should do some marathon
exercises to build up their endurance," foreign ministry
spokesman Qin Gang said.
Qin said vice foreign minister Dai Bingguo would host a dinner
for six-party talks participants on Tuesday evening, after which
Hill was expected to brief the press on the US perspective on
the day's events.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
14 UPI: Early rift in N. Korean nuclear talks
United Press International - NewsTrack -
12/19/2006 3:50:00 PM -0500
BEIJING, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Six-nation talks on North Korea's
nuclear weapon program in Beijing showed little progress Tuesday
in light of demands Japan called unacceptable.
The latest round of talks opened with North Korea saying it
would not give up its nuclear weapons program until all
financial sanctions against Pyongyang are lifted, that it be
given a nuclear reactor for power generation and that the North
be considered a nuclear power.
Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae was quick to dismiss the demands,
Voice of America reported.
"The position of North Korea is widely apart from the rest of
the countries. This is absolutely unacceptable to us," Sasae
said.
U.S. treasury officials Tuesday met with North Korean delegates
to discuss the sanctions imposed a year ago on a Macau-based
bank, which holds $24 million of the regime's money. No details
were immediately available on the outcome, the (South) Korea
Herald reported.
The talks involving North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia
and the United States resumed Monday after a 13-month hiatus,
during which Pyongyang conducted an underground nuclear test.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
15 Guardian Unlimited: U.S., North Korea Financial Experts Meet
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 12:01 PM
AP Photo TOK204
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
Associated Press Writer
BEIJING (AP) - U.S. and North Korean financial experts met
Tuesday over Washington's campaign to isolate the communist
country from the international banking system, the key stumbling
block in negotiations over Pyongyang's nuclear program.
The meeting came on the sidelines of renewed multinational
nuclear negotiations, which North Korea had refused to attend
for 13 months in anger over Washington's blacklisting of a Macau
bank where Pyongyang deposited $24 million.
The U.S. alleged the bank was complicit in the North's
counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering to sell
weapons of mass destruction. American officials have sought to
rally other countries to bar any North Korean accounts, saying
all the country's transactions are suspect.
The North and U.S. delegations also held their first one-on-one
meeting over the nuclear standoff Tuesday afternoon, the Chinese
press center said.
All six nations involved in the nuclear negotiations - the two
Koreas, Russia, China, Japan and the U.S. - met for two hours
Tuesday morning at a Chinese state guesthouse in the second day
of talks. Negotiators focused on the logistics of implementing a
pledge made by the North in September 2005 to abandon its
nuclear weapons program in exchange for security guarantees and
economic aid.
During its long boycott of talks, North Korea test-fired a new
long-range missile in July and then set off an underground
atomic blast Oct. 9. The country agreed to return to
negotiations because the U.S. said it could discuss the
financial issue in separate meetings.
Representing the U.S. at the financial talks was Daniel Glaser,
the Treasury Department's deputy assistant secretary for
terrorist financing and financial crimes. The North Korean
delegation was led by O Kwang Chol, president of the North's
Foreign Trade Bank of Korea. The talks were held at the U.S.
Embassy, an embassy official said on condition of anonymity
because of policy.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular
news briefing that Beijing hopes the two sides can ``solve the
issue properly.''
``We wish to see them make positive achievements that we believe
will facilitate the process of the (nuclear) talks,'' he said.
It is unlikely, however, that the U.S. would bow to the North's
demands to remove the restrictions because Washington views them
as a legal defense against criminal activity.
The isolated regime staked out a tough position as the
six-nation talks opened Monday, demanding a long list of
previously stated preconditions for its disarmament, including
the lifting the U.S. financial restrictions and all U.N.
sanctions.
North Korea also insisted it be treated as a full-fledged
nuclear power, meaning the arms reductions should be mutual. But
the United States has said time was running out for Pyongyang to
dismantle its nuclear arsenal and threatened more sanctions.
U.S. envoy Christopher Hill told reporters Tuesday morning that
``not too much progress'' had been made toward implementing the
North's 2005 agreement to disarm.
A South Korean official said some countries proposed forming
working-level groups to implement the deal and ``there have been
many opinions on the issue.''
``But no consensus has been reached and the issue is still in
discussion,'' the officials said on condition of anonymity due
to the sensitivity of the diplomacy.
The meetings ``were held in a much more serious atmosphere,'' he
said. ``The countries ``could better understand each other's
position.''
Pyongyang has insisted 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.
``It is extremely regrettable that North Korea claims to be a
nuclear weapons state,'' Japan's chief Cabinet spokesman
Yasuhisa Shiozaki said Tuesday in Tokyo. ``While the comments
were expected, nonetheless, the discussions should be more
positive to bring about progress.''
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
North'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.
---
Associated Press reporters Burt Herman, Bo-mi Lim and Alexa
Olesen contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
16 Guardian Unlimited: U.S. Nuclear Envoy: No N. Korea Progress
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 4:16 PM
AP Photo BEJ110
By MARI YAMAGUCHI
BEIJING (AP) - The United States and North Korea held their
first face-to-face meeting Tuesday at the six-nation nuclear
arms talks, and also met separately to discuss U.S. financial
restrictions on the communist regime that have been a key snag
to the arms negotiations.
The main U.S. nuclear envoy said no progress had been made at
the talks seeking to persuade North Korea to dismantle its
atomic weapons program.
``We don't have any breakthroughs to report,'' Assistant
Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters.
He said the meeting with the North Koreans had been
characterized by a ``healthy exchange of information.''
Although he declined to put a timeline on the nuclear talks,
which began Monday with no end date set, Hill said he hoped for
progress in coming days on an earlier pledge by the North
Koreans to abandon their development of atomic weapons in
exchange for aid.
``We cannot accept anything less than the goal of
denuclearization,'' Hill said. ``I really want to see something
get done this week.''
Japan's chief delegate, Kenichiro Sasae, said he hoped North
Korea would ``take a more forward-looking stance'' when talks
resumed Wednesday.
``There is still a big gap remaining despite our earlier
expectations for an early result,'' chief Japanese delegate
Kenichiro Sasae said Tuesday evening. ``There was nothing that
we can be optimistic about.''
North Korea also met individually with all the other countries
at the talks except Japan, a South Korean official said on
condition he not be quoted by name.
The North had stayed away from the nuclear talks since November
2005, claiming the United States remained hostile to the
communist nation because it refused to lift restrictions on a
Macau bank where the Pyongyang regime deposited some $24
million.
Washington alleged the bank was complicit in the North's
counterfeiting of $100 bills and money laundering to sell
weapons of mass destruction. American officials have urged other
countries to bar North Korean accounts, saying all the country's
transactions are suspect.
The North agreed to return to the nuclear talks after its Oct. 9
nuclear test explosion because the U.S. said it could discuss
the financial issue in separate meetings.
Daniel Glaser, the Treasury Department's deputy assistant
secretary for terrorist financing and financial crimes, met for
more than three hours at the U.S. Embassy with a North Korean
deleo be a long-term process,'' Glaser told reporters.
He said the financial teams would meet against Wednesday, at the
North Korean Embassy.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular
news briefing that Beijing hopes the two sides can ``solve the
issue properly.''
``We wish to see them make positive achievements that we believe
will facilitate the process of the (nuclear) talks,'' he said.
It is unlikely that the U.S. would simply remove the financial
restrictions as the North demands, since it views them as a
legal matter against criminal activity that it wants halted.
Earlier Tuesday, all six chief nuclear envoys met in a closed
session at a Chinese state guesthouse for less than two hours.
They also gathered for dinner.
``The first step for us is to map out the measures that help
realize the joint statement and to decide what moves we will
take,'' said Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei, according
to the Chinese press center.
The ``joint statement'' refers to a September 2005 agreement at
an earlier round of the talks in which the North said it would
abandon its nuclear arms programs in exchange for aid and
security guarantees.
The North staked out a tough position as the six-nation talks
opened Monday, demanding a long list of previously stated
preconditions for its disarmament such as the lifting of all
U.N. sanctions and U.S. financial restrictions.
It 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. The North said it
would increase its nuclear arsenal if its demands are not met.
The North also renewed its demand that it be given a nuclear
reactor for generating electricity.
The latest North Korean nuclear crisis erupted in 2002 after
U.S. officials said the North had admitted having a secret
nuclear program in violation of a 1994 disarmament deal, leading
to the North's withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty.
---
Associated Press correspondents Audra Ang, Burt Herman, Bo-mi
Lim and Alexa Olesen contributed to this report.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
17 Congress in 2007, No Nukes & More - FCNL
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:07:43 -0600 (CST)
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Read this newsletter online at:
http://www.fcnl.org/email/e-newsletter/19dec06.htm
*From the Hill: What's up in 2007?
Members of the new Congress plan to get right down to work when they
return on January 4, 2007. We expect votes on legislation to stop the
spread of nuclear weapons, raise the minimum wage, roll back subsidies
for big oil. With this in mind, we hope that you will have a joyous and
restful holiday and be ready for some exciting opportunities to
influence Congress on critical issues of concern to all of us early in
the new year.
Find out more:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=2225&issue_id=120
*No Nukes: FCNL Opposes New Nuclear Bomb Plant
FCNL led a coalition of 23 national religious organizations that
submitted comments opposing the new nuclear weapons plant during a
public hearing on Monday, December 18 . The petition says, "While
we come from separate religious traditions, we speak with one voice to
say that we oppose the construction of a new nuclear weapons complex.
The production of nuclear weapons brings with it a legacy of health
problems and environmental degradation, borne in large part by the
poorest of the poor."
Read more: http://www.fcnl.org/pdfs/nuclear/Complex_2030_Comments.pdf
*Report Back: Stopping the Spread of Conventional Weapons
Stockpiles of deadly conventional weapons from previous wars are often
poorly guarded and routinely fall into the black market where they are
sold to violent extremists, insurgent groups, and criminal
organizations. While often old and obsolete, these weapons can still be
used to kill. In December, Congress passed legislation that includes a
Lugar-Obama provision which authorizes the State Department to secure
or eliminate stockpiles of these conventional weapons. This is an
important step toward preventing the emergence and lethality of deadly
conflicts.
Find out more:
http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=1850&issue_id=46%20
*From the Quakers' Colonel: Politics versus Humanism
The initial announcement of Senator Tim Johnson's (SD) sudden
incapacitation and emergency brain surgery struck political Washington
like the proverbial bombshell. Listening to the commentaries on the
television, hearing others describing the reaction of colleagues who
were mingling at holiday parties last night, and eavesdropping on
conversations of people on the commuter train this morning, it was
quite clear that the first response of Washington-area residents to
Johnson's medical emergency was political.
Read more:
http://quakerscolonel.blogspot.com/2006/12/politics-versus-humanism.html
*Do You Know A Recent College Grad?
Do you know a college graduate who may be interested in applying for a
position as an FCNL intern? The FCNL Intern program is an exciting way
for a recent graduate to have an opportunity to learn about the
legislative process, politics, communications, and relating to a
network of active constituents. For over 30 years young adults have
been spending a year or more working in the nation's capital,
furthering FCNL's goals. FCNL is now accepting applications for the
2007-2008 internships.
Find out more about the Intern program: http://www.fcnl.org/young/intern.htm
*FCNL in the News: U.S. Reaffirms Need for Modernizing Nuclear Complex
(Global Security Newswire)
FCNL and other groups speak out against administration plans to spend
$150 billion to increase the U.S. capacity to build a new generation of
nuclear weapons.
Read the entire article:
http://www.nti.org/d_newswire/issues/2006_12_15.html#774DF0AF
*Quote of the week: Colin Powell on Iraq
"I am not persuaded that another surge of troops into Baghdad for
the purposes of suppression of this communitarian violence, this civil
war, will work.."
~ Former Secretary of State Colin Powell speaking on Face the Nation
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/17/AR2006121700494.html
*War Is Not the Answer Photo of the Week: Ginger Bread Green Building
_______________________________________
The Next Step for Iraq: Join FCNL's Iraq Campaign, http://www.fcnl.org/iraq/
Contact Congress and the Administration:
http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/officials/
Order FCNL publications and "War is Not the Answer" campaign
bumper stickers and yard signs:
http://www.fcnl.org/pubs/
http://www.fcnl.org/forms/forms.php?type=bump
Contribute to FCNL:
http://www.fcnl.org/donate/
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the end of this message.
Subscribe to other FCNL legislative, policy, and action alert lists:
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________________________________________
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fcnl@fcnl.org * http://www.fcnl.org
phone: (202)547-6000 * toll-free: (800)630-1330
We seek a world free of war and the threat of war
We seek a society with equity and justice for all
We seek a community where every person's potential may be fulfilled
We seek an earth restored.
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*****************************************************************
18 AFP: India says it will keep nuclear test option open -
by Pratap Chakravarty Tue Dec 19, 1:36 PM ET
NEW DELHI (AFP) - India said it will keep open the option to
conduct more nuclear weapons tests despite a deal with the United
States to access long-denied Western civilian nuclear technology.
"We will keep our options open to conduct nuclear tests and the
decision will be left to the wisdom of the decision-making
authority at that point of time," Foreign Minister Pranab
Mukherjee announced in parliament.
"We will not like to foreclose the option," he said during a
debate on the deal.
US President George W. Bush" /> signed the controversial pact
into law Monday and hailed it as a sign of warm ties between the
world's two largest democracies.
The agreement will pave the way for US sales of nuclear fuel and
know-how to India for the first time since New Delhi tested a
nuclear device in 1974, becoming an international atomic pariah.
Mukherjee's comments came after opposition leaders warned the
deal could stump the nuclear programme in India. In 1998 India
exploded nuclear weapons and then imposed a unilateral
moratorium on further testing.
Some Western critics warn that exempting India from the US ban
on nuclear exports to non-signatories of the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) may hurt US efforts to confront
North Korea" /> and Iran" /> over their atomic ambitions.
Mukherjee attacked the NPT and said India, which declared itself
a fully-fledged nuclear weapons state after 1998, would not sign
the accord.
"We consider it a fraud treaty which is creating a class where
the nuclear weapons states will have the right of stockpiling,
experiments. We refuse to accept this discriminatory treatment,"
he told parliament's upper house.
Allaying fears voiced by opposition leaders as well as a section
of India's scientific community, Mukherjee also said the
government would not accept any pre-conditions in the treaty
that would cap India's strategic programme.
"This is a civil nuclear agreement and not an arms control
measure," Mukherjee said.
"We are not accepting any additional commitment and we are just
sticking to the voluntary moratorium which we have declared.
Also, we are not going to accept any treaty-bound commitment,"
Mukherjee said.
The foreign minister said India and the US would now embark on
"hard negotiations" before the start of supply of American
nuclear technology to India.
"In my mind the real negotiation will start now because we will
have to enter into an 123 Agreement with the US," he said.
The 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 100 billion
dollars in opportunities for American businesses.
The bilateral agreement will have to be approved again by the US
Congress, controlled next year by Democrats, who are known for
their strong non-proliferation views.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
19 BBC: Trident 'demands skilled workers'
Last Updated: Tuesday, 19 December 2006
[HMS Vanguard]
Trident will reach the end of its scheduled life in 2024
Ministers have been warned by MPs that the skills base for
building a new generation of nuclear submarines in the UK is at a
"critical level".
The Commons defence select committee said the shortage of
engineers was a "cause of serious concern".
Tony Blair has outlined plans - currently being consulted on - to
spend up to £20bn on a new generation of submarines for Trident
missiles.
Defence officials said they would study the MPs' recommendations
carefully.
Committee members said the UK must work to keep its "world-class"
skilled workforce.
'Huge undertaking'
They added that any future decisions must be based on the
"strategic defence needs of the country, not on industrial and
employment factors".
Replacing the current Vanguard submarine would be a "huge
undertaking" and require a "uniquely skilled and specialist
workforce".
Committee chairman Conservative James Arbuthnot said: "If we are
to build a new generation of Trident submarines here in the UK,
as the government's white paper suggests, we will have to work to
sustain our manufacturing and skills base.
"The skilled workforce we have at Barrow, Devonport, Derby and
Aldermaston are truly world class.
"If we lose them, we will lose our capability to design and build
nuclear submarines."
A number of Labour MPs oppose the government's plan, but the
Tories say it would be "crazy" not to have UK nuclear weapons.
The Lib Dems want a decision put back to 2014.
The lifespan of the current Trident system is set to end in 2024
and ministers have said a decision is needed now to ensure the
replacement is ready by then.
Critics believe the estimated £10-25bn cost would be better spent
elsewhere and that Trident belongs in the Cold War era, not a
time of threats to the UK such as international terrorism.
The Ministry of Defence said the committee's report would
"provide a useful contribution to the forthcoming debate and vote
in the House of Commons".
Defence procurement minister Lord Drayson told a meeting of the
committee that it was "important that we ensure we have
confidence" in the supply of submarines.
It was necessary to encourage scientists to have careers in the
defence industry "so that we get greater expertise in the
technology", he added.
*****************************************************************
20 IAEA: Director General & Indonesia President Discuss Nuclear Cooperation
+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace]
Staff Report
18 December 2006 [Mohamed ElBaradei and ]
IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei (left) with Indonesia´s
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (right). (Photo: Jing
Zhang/IAEA)
During an official visit to Indonesia this month, IAEA Director
General Mohamed ElBaradei met with Indonesia´s President Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono and other senior governmental officials on a
range of issues, including the country´s plans to introduce
nuclear power for electricity production.
"In 2004, Indonesia and the Agency completed a technical
cooperation project to analyse the country´s overall energy
system and assess nuclear power options," Dr. ElBaradei said in
Jakarta. "We are currently supporting Indonesia´s preparation
for its planned nuclear power plant construction." He visited
Indonesia from 7-9 December 2006.
The Director General noted that Indonesia has been a strong and
supportive partner of the IAEA. On the non-proliferation front,
Indonesia is party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with
both a comprehensive safeguards agreement and an additional
protocol in force. In the field of safety and security,
Indonesia is a party to international conventions under the
Agency´s auspices. Additionally, Indonesia has been a full
participant of the Asian Nuclear Safety Network, a regional
initiative.
The IAEA has a large and active technical cooperation programme
in Indonesia. Projects include those related to health, water
resources, and food production, for example. For example, the
IAEA has been supporting the establishment of the first
radiotherapy centre in Kalimantan, which should become
operational next year and will be a great asset in the diagnosis
and treatment of cancer. Other projects have focused on
developing hardier crops, including rice varieties with improved
tolerance for saline soil.
See Story Resources for the full text of his remarks in Jakarta.
Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100,
Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail:
*****************************************************************
21 Telegraph: Skills shortage 'threatens UK nuclear deterrent'
Wednesday 20 December 2006
[telegraph.co.uk]
By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
Britain's ability to build an independent nuclear deterrent is
being threatened by a "critical shortage" of skilled craftsmen to
make submarines, MPs say in a report published today.
[HMS Vanguard]
Vanguard-class submarines will be retired from 2024
The Commons Defence Committee said the skills base in Britain
had fallen to the "minimum level" necessary to maintain a
submarine industry. It also expressed concern that the Ministry
of Defence (MoD) lacked the capacity to effectively manage a
large and complex project.
An announcement that the Government intends to go ahead with a
£20 billion fleet of four nuclear-powered submarines capable of
delivering Trident missiles was made earlier this month. Downing
Street said the decision was necessary in order for the new
submarines to be built by 2024, when the first of the current
Vanguard-class boats is decommissioned.
Parliament will vote on the proposals to keep a nuclear
deterrent in March, although with Tory support the approval for
construction is guaranteed. But the entire programme could be
derailed by the "haemorrhaging" of essential skills from the
shipbuilding industry, the committee warned.
"The skills base is now at a critical level," it said "Any
further erosion of the workforce may have significant
implications for the future of the submarine programme."
The committee said it was essential for Britain to retain its
"uniquely skilled and specialist workforce" to build the
submarines if it wanted to remain a global nuclear force. The
MoD's shortage of systems engineers and project managers, skills
essential at the start of a programme, was "a cause of serious
concern".
Expert witnesses who appeared before the inquiry warned that
submarine manufacturing skills were currently at "the minimum
level necessary to sustain a viable submarine industry".
Murray Easton of BAE Systems, which will make the boats, told
the committee there were "already some shortages" in certain
areas. Any further depletion of the submarine workforce at
Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, would leave the British submarine
industry "in a very perilous state".
He added that the standards required for submarine design and
building were so exclusive that they did not exist anywhere else
in industry.
Rolls-Royce, which builds the submarines' nuclear reactors, said
it was already facing a "significant skills continuity
challenge" over the next decade.
The committee hoped that the builders of the new hunter-killer
Astute submarines would remain at Barrow to be available for the
construction of the Vanguard successors.
If Britain wanted to build a new class of submarine to fire the
Trident missile, the MoD would have to "give clear direction"
about the future submarine programme to encourage industry to
invest.
Reducing the frequency of building submarines to below one every
two years would be "risky", leading to an erosion of the skilled
workforce, and would make the boats "prohibitively expensive".
Developing a successor to Vanguard would be a huge undertaking
and it was essential that the MoD had the capacity to manage
such a programme effectively.
© Copyright of Telegraph Media Group Limited 2006.
*****************************************************************
22 IPS-English POLITICS: India Split Over US Nuke Deal
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:09:39 -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
ROMAIPS AP NA WD DV SC=20
POLITICS: India Split Over US Nuke Deal
Praful Bidwai=20
NEW DELHI, Dec 19 (IPS) - While President George W. Bush has signed into =
law a new legislation passed by Congress to enable the controversial U.S.=
-India nuclear cooperation deal, the agreement has come under flak in Ind=
ia's Parliament and a massive confrontation has broken out between its su=
pporters and opponents.
The supporters say the deal offers India the best chance to get its nucle=
ar weapons status accepted and legitimised by the great powers even if it=
compromises India's sovereignty. According to them, the deal also holds =
the key to India's long-term energy security.
Most of the deal's critics claim that Washington has =94shifted the origi=
nal goalposts=94 agreed in July last year and imposed conditions on India=
calculated to cap its nuclear arsenal and limit India's freedom to pursu=
e nuclear power generation the way it likes.=20
Neither side is particularly worried at the likely consequences of the de=
al in encouraging the spread of nuclear weapons or further weakening the =
already-fragile global nuclear order. =20
Yet, the opponents have put the Manmohan Singh government on the defensiv=
e. It has pledged that it will not allow India's sovereign interests to b=
e compromised.=20
Meanwhile, former top scientists and engineers of India's Department of A=
tomic Energy (DAE) have emerged as the deal's most trenchant critics. Whe=
ther or not the government can =91sell' the deal to the larger public wil=
l depend to a large extent on its success with this lobby of nuclear sup=
er-hawks.=20
The outcome of the current debate is likely to substantially influence th=
e shape of the next stage in the process of the deal's finalisation: name=
ly, a bilateral agreement between Washington and New Delhi, called the =94=
123 agreement=94 because it will amend Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Ene=
rgy Act of 1954 pertaining to =94cooperation with other nations=94 to per=
mit civilian nuclear commerce with India although it's a nuclear weapons =
power which has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The high-pitched debate over the deal, in particular, over the legislatio=
n called the Henry J. Hyde U.S.-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation =
Act of 2006, passed by the U.S. Congress 10 days ago, is being conducted =
largely in the media.=20
The Hyde Act restricts the scope of nuclear commerce with India and makes=
it conditional upon certain steps to be taken by India and upon periodic=
certification by the US President that it's complying with the condition=
s.
India's national newspapers are sharply divided over the deal and are rop=
ing in all manner of =94experts=94, =94authorities=94 and officials to ar=
gue in its favour or to criticise it. Several are running a campaign or c=
rusade for or against it.
Underlying these differences are other fault-lines too. These include riv=
alry between the Prime Minister's Office and the Foreign Ministry, on the=
one hand, and the nuclear establishment, on the other; and divisions bet=
ween those who want India to align itself completely with Washington, and=
those who prefer a degree of foreign policy autonomy.
The deal's supporters contend that the Hyde Act does not impose any new s=
pecial restrictions on India, or that the conditions it stipulates, for i=
nstance, that India must not conduct further nuclear tests, have long bee=
n part of U.S. law. Some even concede that the deal reflects the asymmetr=
y of power between India and the U.S.; but =94it can't get any better tha=
n this=94.
=94This is a pretty abject admission that the nuclear deal is inseparably=
tied to a larger agenda, of promoting a strategic partnership between In=
dia and the U.S.,=94 says Achin Vanaik, a professor of international rela=
tions and global politics at Delhi University. =94It was proposed by the =
Americans in the first place because they want India as a junior partner =
in their global system of alliances. It's dishonest to depict it as a de=
al about energy.=94=20
Adds Vanaik: =94The ruling Indian elite craves recognition and approval f=
rom the U.S. And the nuclear deal provides it by making a special except=
ion for India and declaring it a 'responsible nuclear power' -- as if sta=
tes willing to kill millions of non-combatant civilians can ever be respo=
nsible.=94
Some supporters of the deal argue that without it, India would have no ac=
cess to imported uranium, without which it cannot run its ambitious nucle=
ar power programme, which aims at a five-fold increase in electricity gen=
eration to 20,000 Mw by 2020: India is running out of domestic uranium or=
e, and cannot import uranium unless sanctions imposed after its nuclear b=
lasts of 1998 are lifted.
=94This is the DAE's self-created problem,=94 holds MV Ramana, an indepen=
dent nuclear affairs expert at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies i=
n Environment and Development, Bangalore. =94It has always set arbitrary =
targets which have never been reached. And it hasn't established that nuc=
lear power is economically competitive or ecologically sound. In fact, it=
's neither in India's case. There's nothing sacrosanct, even convincing, =
about 20,000 Mw or the much larger 275,000 Mw goal that the DAE has decla=
red for the mid-century.=94
Besides, adds Ramana: =94India, strictly speaking, isn't running out of u=
ranium, but only out of relatively high-quality ore. Mining lower-grade o=
res will increase the cost, but Indian will still have access to uranium.=
The deal isn't a precondition for access.=94
The deal's critics make many arguments against the Hyde Act. First, it ex=
cludes from civilian cooperation technologies for spent-fuel reprocessing=
, uranium enrichment and heavy water production, and does not allow India=
to stockpile strategic reserves of fuel to last the lifetimes of importe=
d reactors.=20
Secondly, they contend, the Hyde Act mandates India's participation with =
the U.S. in cooperative nuclear threat reduction through the involvement =
of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration and other agencies, =
as also India's compliance with certain plurilateral arms-trade restrict=
ion agreements which India has not signed. These obligations, they say, =
go well beyond International Atomic Energy Agency norms and =94constitute=
[an] intrusion into India's independent decision-making and policy matte=
rs=94.
The third, and perhaps most important, objection of the critics, especial=
ly former DAE officials, is that the Act forces India to abandon its =94r=
ight to conduct future nuclear weapon tests, if these are found necessary=
to strengthen our minimum deterrence.=94=20
This represents a considerable hardening of the nucleocrats' position: af=
ter the 1998 tests, most of them did not object to India's declaration of=
a unilateral moratorium on further testing although it was widely recogn=
ised that India's hydrogen bomb test was a dud. Only one former chairman =
of the Atomic Energy Commission called for further testing.=20
Now, seven former DAE top officials, including two other former chairmen,=
demand that India preserve the =94right=94 to test.
=94These are all parochial and sectarian pleas for a limitless Indian nuc=
lear arsenal, which has nothing to do with strategic rationality or with =
the so-called doctrine of minimum credible deterrence that India professe=
s,=94 says Vanaik. =94There's no reason why the international community s=
hould accept them.=94
Equally flawed is the insistence on India's right to reprocess spent fuel=
burned in imported reactors because that's essential for its fast-breed=
er programme. These plants, theoretically, generate more fissile material=
(nuclear fuel such as plutonium) than they consume. India has drawn up p=
lans to use the additional plutonium in special reactors for burning thor=
ium, a nuclear material that does not readily fission. (India and has lar=
ge stocks of thorium, but is short of uranium.)
Argues Ramana: =94Fast-breeders have not proved successful anywhere, cert=
ainly not in India, which has only experimented with a small laboratory-s=
ized reactor, with poor results. As for the thorium cycle, it is as of no=
w science fiction. Our calculations show that electricity from fast breed=
ers will be so expensive that it would be better to run normal reactors w=
ith uranium that's five times costlier than it is today.=94
However, the nuclear establishment is asserting itself strongly against t=
he deal. Last Friday, the DAE chief convened a meeting in Mumbai of forme=
r senior officials. They issued a hawkish statement savaging the Hyde Act=
and demanding that Manmohan Singh's assurances about the deal be reflect=
ed in the 123 agreement, which is currently under negotiation.=20
=94Of the political opposition and the nucleocrats' lobby, it's the lobby=
that's clearly more important for the government to tackle,=94 says Vana=
ik. =94If the government manages to split the lobby, it might still win r=
elatively broad acceptance for the deal. Otherwise, opinion will remain p=
olarised.=94=20
*****
+ Like Mushrooms =FB IPS coverage
(http://www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/nuclear/index.asp)
(END/IPS/AP/IP/WD/NA/NU/DV/SC/PB/RDR)=20
=20
=3D 12190958 ORP007
NNNN
*****************************************************************
23 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
FR Doc 06-9787
[Federal Register: December 19, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 243)]
[Notices] [Page 75987] From the Federal Register Online via GPO
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr19de06-90]
Agency Holding the Meetings: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Date: Weeks of December 18, 25, 2006, January 1, 8, 15, 22, 2007.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, Maryland.
Status: Public and closed.
Matters To Be Considered: Week of December 18, 2006 Thursday,
December 21, 2006 12:55 p.m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting)
(Tentative) a. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, & Entergy
Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station),
LBP-06-20 (Sept. 22, 2006), reconsid'n denied (Oct. 30, 2006)
(Tentative). b. Final Rulemaking to Revise 10 CFR 73.1, Design
Basis Threat (DBT) Requirements (Tentative).
Week of December 25, 2006--Tentative There are no meetings
scheduled for the Week of December 25, 2006.
Week of January 1, 2007--Tentative Thursday, January 4, 2007
12:55 p.m. Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative) a.
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station),
Intervenor Pilgrim Watch's Appeal of LBP-06-23 (Ruling on
Standing and Contentions) (Tentative).
Week of January 8, 2007--Tentative Wednesday, January 10, 2007
9:30 a.m. Briefing on Browns Ferry Unit 1 Restart (Public
Meeting) (Contact: Catherine Haney, 301-415-1453).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
Thursday, January 11, 2007 1:30 p.m. Periodic Briefing on New
Reactor Issues (Public Meeting) (Contact: Donna Williams,
301-415-1322).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
Week of January 15, 2007--Tentative There are no meetings
scheduled for the Week of January 15, 2007.
Week of January 22, 2007--Tentative Tuesday, January 23, 2007
1:30 p.m. Joint Meeting with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
on Grid Reliability (Public Meeting) (Contact: Mike Mayfield,
301-415- 5621).
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
* * * * * *The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to
change on short notice. To verify the status of meetings call
(recording)--(301) 415- 1292. Contact person for more
information: Michelle Schroll, (301) 415- 1662.
* * * * * Additional Information Affirmation of Entergy Nuclear
Vermont Yankee, LLC, & Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Vermont
Yankee Nuclear Power Station), LBP- 06-20 (Sept. 22, 2006),
reconsid'n denied (Oct. 30, 2006) (Tentative) tentatively
scheduled on Thursday, December 14, 2006 at 9:25 a.m. has been
rescheduled tentatively on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 12:55
p.m. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found
on the Internet at:
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. * * *
* * The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals with
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable
accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need
this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from
the public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, large
print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program Coordinator,
Deborah Chan, at 301-415-7041, TDD: 301-415-2100, or by e-mail at
DLC@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for reasonable
accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
* * * * * This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the
Secretary, Washington, D.C. 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition,
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic
message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: December 13, 2006.
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 06-9787 Filed 12-15-06; 1:56 pm] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
24 palm beach post: One hurdle left for FPL plant
The state's siting board will discuss the Loxahatchee project
today.
By KRISTI E. SWARTZ and MITRA MALEK
Palm Beach Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The fate of the first power plant to be opened in Palm Beach
County since the 1960s lies in the hands of Gov. Jeb Bush and the
Cabinet, despite last-minute attempts by some residents to delay
the decision.
The Cabinet, meeting as the Power Plant Siting Board, will meet
today to discuss Florida Power &Light Co.'s proposed $1.2
billion, 2,200-megawatt natural gas-fired plant, set to open in
Loxahatchee in 2009.
The plant would have two 1,100-megawatt units, the second of
which would open in 2010. It would provide enough power for
466,000 homes and businesses. A third 1,100-megawatt unit might
be added later.
Called the West County Energy Center, the plant would be the
county's first since FPL's two Riviera Beach units opened in
1962 and 1963.
The board's decision is the last of several procedural hurdles
for FPL, including obtaining approvals from state utility
regulators, a host of state agencies and the Palm Beach County
Commission, which in January 2002 approved zoning for a plant
generating up to 3,000 megawatts of power.
But some residents and environmentalists are worried about many
aspects of the plant, including a 35-mile-long, 36-inch-wide
high-pressure gas pipeline that would drop down from western
Martin County and 12.6 million gallons of diesel fuel that would
be stored on site. In addition, two rock-mining operations lie
east and west of the plant: Palm Beach Aggregates, which has
permits to blast rock through 2032; and Stewart Mining
Industries, which this year won permits to blast rock through
2052.
Also, hundreds of Loxahatchee-area homes are to the north, with
Wellington to the southeast and a subdivision called Highland
Dunes approved at the Aggregates site.
"It's a Molotov cocktail," said community activist Alexandria
Larson, who lives in Loxahatchee. "No one could look at this and
not see this."
The original timetable for the West County Energy Center would
have put the plant before the siting board in February, but that
date, as well as one for an administrative law judge's ruling,
were moved up in April. During a September public hearing,
residents and environmental activists questioned the accelerated
approval process.
FPL spokeswoman Rachel Scott said Friday the siting board must
vote on the plant within 60 days of Oct. 24, the date the
state's administrative law judge issued a ruling.
"There's a specific time frame that it has to go before governor
and Cabinet, so it needed to go before the end of the year," she
said.
In general, natural gas plants are among the cheapest to build
and the cleanest to run. FPL says it needs a new plant by at
least 2010 to maintain a 20 percent margin of reserve power and
neither a coal plant nor a nuclear plant can be built that
quickly.
The Public Service Commission signed off on the plant after FPL
promised to further diversify its fuel mix, 40 percent of which
is natural gas, and to speed up plans to build a coal plant.
The center would sit across from the Arthur R. Marshall
Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge.
Refuge project leader Mark Musaes said his primary concern with
the energy center's location is toxic emissions. He is worried
about air quality and whether an excessive amount of pollutants
would fall onto the 147,000-acre site, home to water
conservation areas and the endangered Everglades snail kite.
But the refuge isn't opposing the project because FPL reports
and engineering analyses show pollutants should be within an
acceptable range, Musaes said.
Rosa Durando, Audubon Society of the Everglades conservation
chairwoman, is less sure.
The first two units of the power plant would create 3,464 tons
of toxic emissions a year. That includes carbon monoxide, sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds, Durando
said.
"It's a tragedy waiting to happen," she said.
West County Energy Center
• Would have two generating units of 1,100 megawatts apiece.
• Would serve about 466,000 homes and businesses.
• Would cost about $1.2 billion and provide
40-50 full-time jobs.
• Completion expected in 2009-10.
Source: FPL
Contact PalmBeachPost.com
*****************************************************************
25 washingtonpost.com: Bush Signs India Nuclear Law -
Critics Say Deal to Share Civilian Technology Could Spark Arms
Race
By Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 19, 2006; Page A03
President Bush signed legislation yesterday permitting civilian
nuclear cooperation with India, reversing three decades of
nonproliferation policy in the interest of redefining U.S.
relations with the world's largest democracy and reshaping the
geopolitical balance as China asserts itself in Asia.
Bush, who has made the fight against the spread of nuclear
weapons a centerpiece of his foreign policy, persuaded Congress
to make an exception for India despite its not having signed the
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Although critics warn that the
deal could spark a regional arms race, Bush called it a landmark
moment that finally relegates Cold War-era tensions to the past.
[President Bush, seated, center, surrounded by members of
Congress and officials, signs the U.S.- India Peaceful Atomic
Energy Cooperation Act in the East Room of the White House in
Washington on Monday.] President Bush, seated, center,
surrounded by members of Congress and officials, signs the U.S.-
India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act in the East Room of
the White House in Washington on Monday. (Lawrence Jackson - AP)
"The United States and India are natural partners," Bush said at
a signing ceremony in the East Room attended by lawmakers,
diplomats and Indian Americans. "The rivalries that once kept
our nations apart are no more -- and today, America and India
are united by deeply held values."
The new law marks a rare foreign policy success for Bush at a
time when he has suffered enormous setbacks elsewhere on the
global map. Some top advisers believe that a closer relationship
with India will be one of Bush's primary legacies and could help
build up a counterweight to a rising China. The administration
made the India deal its top priority to push through a lame-duck
Congress that otherwise passed little of consequence after the
Nov. 7 elections.
The deal represents a strategic calculation by Bush that it is
better to embrace India than to continue isolating it for
building nuclear weapons outside international legal structures.
India tested bombs in 1974 and 1998, and specialists believe it
can produce enough fuel for half a dozen weapons a year, but it
is not one of five official nuclear states under the
Non-Proliferation Treaty, the main instrument governing nuclear
weapons. Neither is its archrival, Pakistan, which set off its
own nuclear blasts after India's in 1998.
The law Bush signed yesterday carves out an exception to the
Atomic Energy Act, which prohibits nuclear trade with countries
outside the treaty. U.S. companies will now be allowed to trade
in nuclear fuel and to invest in and build civilian nuclear
plants in India. In exchange, India has agreed to open up its
civilian nuclear facilities to international inspection.
But under the deal that Bush cut with Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh during a March visit to New Delhi, India is designating
only 14 of its 22 nuclear reactors as civilian. The other eight
are considered military and will remain shielded from
international scrutiny. And because the deal will allow India to
import nuclear fuel for civilian use, critics estimate that it
could then use its own facilities to produce enough fuel for 40
or 50 nuclear bombs per year.
"For the president to say this is good for nonproliferation
suggests he's being badly advised," said Daryl G. Kimball,
executive director of the Arms Control Association. "India only
agreed to put half of all its electricity-producing reactors
under safeguard, and that's troubling."
Critics complained that granting an exception to India creates a
dangerous precedent and undermines the administration's efforts
to pressure North Korea and Iran to abandon nuclear aspirations.
Like India and Pakistan, North Korea has tested a nuclear bomb
outside the treaty. Israel is also believed to have nuclear
weapons.
"What's good for India is good for Israel," said Henry D.
Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy
Education Center and a former Pentagon official under President
George H.W. Bush. "And once you have Israel, can Pakistan be far
behind? . . . They have pretty much signaled the end to any
benefit for following the rules."
Bush provoked further concern with a signing statement released
hours after his ceremony that said he reserves the right to
ignore certain safeguards built into the legislation. The
signing statement took issue with language inserted by Congress
into the law prohibiting the transfer of nuclear material to
India in violation of guidelines set by the Nuclear Suppliers
Group, a consortium of 40 nuclear-fuel-producing nations that
includes the United States.
Since "a serious question would exist as to whether the
provision unconstitutionally delegated legislative power to an
international body," Bush said the administration would
interpret the provision "as advisory."
Some opponents have questioned India's nonproliferation record.
The U.S. government sanctioned several Indian companies and
scientists for supplying weapons or technology to Iran even as
Washington and New Delhi were negotiating the nuclear deal. At
one point this summer, the administration sanctioned two Indian
firms for selling missile parts to Iran, a decision that
remained secret until after a House vote on the pact.
Undersecretary of State R. Nicholas Burns said India has a
strong record on nonproliferation and that the administration is
confident that New Delhi shares Washington's concerns about
Iran. "We don't have any doubts that India also wishes to deny
Iran a nuclear weapons capability," he said.
Robert D. Blackwill, a former U.S. ambassador to India whose
firm, Barbour Griffith & Rogers, now represents the New Delhi
government, said the agreement pushes aside a boulder that has
blocked closer ties for 30 years. "There was a specific ceiling
on how far the relationship could change until that boulder was
removed," he said.
The agreement still faces three final tests: India must now
conclude an agreement with the International Atomic Energy
Agency over inspections. The United States must work out a
technical agreement with India on nuclear trade. And both
countries must persuade the Nuclear Suppliers Group to accept
the U.S.-India agreement. Burns predicted those steps could be
wrapped up in six months.
The Washington Post Company
*****************************************************************
26 montgomeryadvertiser.com: Browns Ferry reactor raising concerns
December 20, 2006
The Associated Press
DECATUR -- The director of Limestone County's Emergency
Management Agency on Monday urged federal officials to update
26-year-old radiological emergency response plans by requiring
evacuation shelters to have alternate power sources.
Spencer Black detailed his worries following an oversight panel
meeting between the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the
Tennessee Valley Authority on progress toward restarting the Unit
1 reactor at TVA's Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant near Athens.
"No reception centers have backup power," Black said. "And it's
not just my county. It's all the counties in the state."
Black said it would cost about $50,000 to provide generators at
Limestone County's four shelters -- at Ardmore, Elkmont and East
and West Limestone schools.
Black also called for state, federal and TVA help in funding
backup power sources for outdoor sirens or an indoor system that
would call residents to signal an emergency.
"If I'm outside, I'll hear that outdoor warning system," Black
said. "But if it's 2 a.m. and my heating system is going, I'm not
going to hear the outdoor warning system."
During the meeting, TVA officials said progress on the Unit 1
reactor is on schedule to meet its restart deadline of May
2007.TVA shut down all three Browns Ferry reactors in 1985
because of safety concerns, but has since restarted Units 2 and
3.
TVA spokesman Craig Beasley said the agency will request NRC
authorization to restart the reactor once it completes testing
of Unit 1.
Brian O'Grady, Browns Ferry vice president, said two licensing
classes are being held to meet the projected need for more
staff. A third is scheduled for August 2007.
"To fill the gap, we've been blessed at Browns Ferry with the
option of using some people who have been retired for decades to
come back to help out," O'Grady said. "Last year we hired 200 at
Browns Ferry for operational maintenance and support groups."
Copyright © 1997- 2005 The Advertiser Co.
*****************************************************************
27 Blue Bayou: Nukes in Amarillo
December 19, 2006
Last week the Los Angeles Times ran a brief but chilling story
about . The Pantex plant, operated by BWX Technologies under a
contract with the Department of Energy, decommissions nuclear
weapons. Safety procedures are under investigation after an
anonymous letter from employees (the authenticity of which BWX
does not dispute) blew the whistle on conditions at the plant.
Employees characterized conditions at the Pantex complex, which
sits on 25 square miles and began nuclear work in the early
1950s, as "degraded" and in disrepair in many areas. The letter
also said engineers were being required to work up to 84 hours
in a seven-day week and production technicians 72 hours in a
six-day week.
The employees said the company was preoccupied with safety
slogans, such as the recently created "Pantex High Reliability
Organization," that were masking the stresses in the plant.
"Senior management is distracted, losing sight of the overall
picture and circumstances," the letter said, adding that some
managers lacked specific experience in handling nuclear weapons.
"The consequences are almost too awful to speak," the employees
said, adding that an accidental nuclear detonation would kill
everybody in the plant, destroy the complex and parts of
Amarillo, as well as contaminate thousands of square miles.
The authenticity of the letter has not been called into
question, though BWXT officials issued a statement sharply
disputing the allegations.
What happened to prompt employees to write the letter? From the
:
The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) notified BWXT Pantex that it will fine the
company $110,000 for violations of the department's nuclear
safety requirements. BWXT Pantex is the contractor responsible
for managing and operating the Pantex Plant in Amarillo, Texas,
the country's only nuclear weapons assembly and disassembly
facility.
The Preliminary Notice of Violation (PNOV) cited violations
associated with three unsuccessful attempts to separate two
parts of a weapon assembly, which occurred between March 30,
2005 and April 26, 2005.
On two occasions during the separation attempts, several
controls that were designed to limit the applied force to the
weapon assembly were exceeded. The primary cause for the
failure to maintain these controls is attributed to both
inadequacy in the operating procedure and failure to follow the
operating procedure.
Although no personnel radiation exposures or injuries resulted
from the failure to limit the application of force to the
assembly, the actions taken during the attempts to separate
parts of the assembly demonstrated a nonconservative approach in
decision making during a process in which strict adherence to
established procedure was vital.
So the fine for mishandling a nuclear weapon is $110,000.
Considering the magnitude of the danger, that seems like a
fairly weak punishment.
The investigation illustrates one of the problems that arises
when corporations are responsible for dangerous activities and
oversight is inadequate. The idea of farming these things out is
that private companies can compete for the work, leading to
lower costs.
Unfortunately, one way to make a profit is to lower costs -
including the costs of running a safe operation. It's not unique
to government contracts; locally, we've all seen what happened
when BP saved money by not investing in new equipment and 17
people in Texas paid with their lives.
Even in the best of operations, accidents can happen; when the
stakes are as high as they are at the Pantex plant, though
(thousands of deaths, loss of part of a city, long term
contamination of the surrounding land), why are we waiting for
whistle-blowers?
Any operation this dangerous should be under constant scrutiny
from government inspectors. Yes, that is a form of regulation; I
know that's unpopular these days, when we want the government to
take a hands-off approach to businesses and let them regulate
themselves. Politicians can score easy points by talking about
keeping government unintrusive.
But sometimes small government and its lackluster enforcement of
safety rules has a price. We saw it in Texas City; let's hope we
never see it in the form of a nuclear blast in Amarillo.
Posted by John Whiteside at December 19, 2006 08:02 AM
Comments
While I know just a bit about nuclear weapons, I doubt that a
nuclear explosion would be a major problem in disassembly of the
weapons. An explosion from the high explosives in the weapon is
a major concern though since it would do a large amount of
damage and contamination.
As for having private companies do government work of this kind,
I think it is foolish to think that a private company could do
it cheaper and still make a profit which is what they are in
business for. Such a long term work can and should be done only
by government employees since it will encourage long term
employment and have NO incentive for taking short cuts to make a
buck.
As for the BP plant explosion, I DO have a lot of knowledge
about refinery operations since I was a chief operator on a
Benzene Toluene unit at a refinery. I read about what caused the
fire and explosion, and was astounded to read about a blowdown
drum being used for venting and overflow of excess hydrocarbons.
At the refinery I worked at that did not exist for such things.
I can only be amazed that it was even designed that way, much
less that the operators allowed it to continue. Had I worked
there, I would have shut the unit down for such a blatant safety
violation. We had blowdown drums on our unit, but it was ONLY
for water and steam service, NOT hydrocarbons. I am also more
than a little disappointed that the union did not stop this kind
of thing.
I know how on our unit we almost had a similar accident, but it
was not due to a design flaw of such magnitude. The level in an
accumulator simply got too high, and vented to the air since it
was on a vacuum ejector system that went to the air. It was
never designed to take or allow hydrocarbons to vent to the air.
After that, the company went to vacuum pumps to prevent such a
thing from happening again. We were just lucky on that time.
Posted by: Randy Erb at December 19, 2006 08:29 AM
According to a couple of items I found on the Pantex website the
plant has been managed by contractors since it reopened in the
early 1950's. The current management includes Honeywell and
Bechtel, who ahve long experience in defense work. I doubt using
all government employees would improve things, as the
contractors have to get approval for everything they do, and for
any money they spend. Maybe it's better oversight that's needed,
not more.
Posted by: Oilacct at December 19, 2006 10:06 AM
Honeywell and Bechtel - great. That gives me all kinds of
confidence. Why a large corporate bureaucracy would be any more
efficient than a government bureaucracy is not exactly to me.
Posted by: Dennis at December 19, 2006 03:59 PM
*****************************************************************
28 Guardian Unlimited: Nuke Deal With U.S. Criticized in India
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Tuesday December 19, 2006 9:01 PM
AP Photo WHRE101
By MATTHEW ROSENBERG
Associated Press Writer
NEW DELHI (AP) - A nuclear cooperation pact touted as the
cornerstone of an emerging India-U.S. partnership faced renewed
criticism Tuesday in New Delhi, underscoring how far the
countries have to go as they try to overcome decades of
mistrust.
One Indian lawmaker called the pact an American attempt to
undermine India's cherished atomic weapons program. Another
suggested Washington wanted to dictate New Delhi's foreign
policy.
The criticism came a day after President Bush signed a law
allowing Washington to ship nuclear fuel and technology to New
Delhi. The law, which reverses 30 years of U.S. atomic policy,
was a key step toward implementing the deal.
The pact is firmly supported by India's government and is
unlikely to be rejected by New Delhi.
The rancor here illustrates the shared democratic values that
are bringing India and the United States together - and similar
independent streaks, which could present the biggest obstacles
to a closer partnership.
``When it comes to foreign policy, like America, the record says
India has always pursued its own interests, acting unilaterally
if necessary,'' said C. Uday Bhaskar, a senior analyst at the
Institute for Defense Studies in New Delhi.
New Delhi's and Washington's foreign policy goals are often not
in sync, as evidenced by a nonbinding clause in the new U.S.
legislation directing the president to determine whether India
is cooperating with American efforts to confront Iran about its
nuclear program.
Many here are rankled by suggestions from Washington that New
Delhi should support American policy, be it on longtime ally
Iran or on China, with whom India is seeking closer ties.
``Our foreign policy must remain independent,'' said Basudeb
Acharia of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which
supports India's governing coalition. ``If they don't agree to
remove these conditions then we will have no choice but to put
pressure on the government not to sign.''
On the other side of the political spectrum, the opposition
Bharatiya Janata Party, a Hindu nationalist group, is
criticizing the deal as an American plan to undermine India's
nuclear weapons program.
Many Indians argue nuclear weapons are key to the country's
international standing, and nearly everyone agrees they are a
needed deterrent against neighboring archrival Pakistan, which
has them as well.
``The objective of Washington's policy is to halt, roll back and
eliminate'' India's nuclear capability, BJP lawmaker Arun
Shourie said Tuesday during debate in the upper house of India's
Parliament.
In exchange for nuclear fuel and knowledge, India has agreed to
place 14 civilian nuclear plants under international
inspections. Eight military plants would remain off-limits.
The deal, if completed, would open the international nuclear
market to India after it was closed by the country's
long-standing refusal to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty. New Delhi wants to get the fuel and know-how it needs to
build new reactors and overcome a chronic energy crunch, which
analysts say could limit economic growth.
American critics say the plan could boost India's nuclear
arsenal and spark a nuclear arms race with Pakistan.
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday defended the deal
as good for the country, and said any concerns New Delhi has
would be dealt with during technical negotiations next year.
He didn't elaborate on India's concerns, but some of India's top
nuclear scientists have voiced fears the deal could limit New
Delhi's right to reprocess spent atomic fuel and employ other
sensitive nuclear technologies.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
29 Nuclear Bomb-grade Fuel Removed From Germany; Largest Such UN Operation
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 13:01:47 -0500
NUCLEAR BOMB-GRADE FUEL REMOVED FROM GERMANY; LARGEST SUCH UN-MONITORED
OPERATION
New York, Dec 19 2006 1:00PM
Nearly 270 kilos of fresh highly enriched uranium fuel (HEU) that
could be used by terrorists to make nuclear explosives have been
returned from a German research reactor to Russia in a secret airlift
jointly monitored by the United Nations atomic watchdog agency,
the largest amount ever transported in such an operation.
“This action is an important step towards promoting a global cleanout
of HEU in the civilian sector,” UN International Atomic Energy
Agency (<"http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/News/2006/germany.html">IAEA)
Project Manager Arnaud Atger said of the five-day operation
that ended yesterday. “The security of HEU is of particular concern
due to the technical feasibility of constructing a crude nuclear
explosive device from HEU.”
The mission was jointly carried out under tight security measures
by Germany, Russia, the United States and the IAEA. A total of 268
kilos of HEU and 58 kilos of fresh low-enriched uranium fuel (LEU)
were taken from the reactor in Rossendorf near Dresden and airlifted
to Russia, where the fuel originated. Russia will blend
the HEU down into LEU for further civilian use.
IAEA safeguards inspectors monitored the loading of the fuel to 18
special transportation containers and sealed them. They were joined
by experts from both the US National Nuclear Security Administration
and from Russia during this process and during the departure
of the cargo plane from Dresden Airport.
The removal was carried out under an IAEA Technical Cooperation project,
entitled ‘Repatriation, Management and Disposition of Fresh
and/or Spent Nuclear Fuel from Research Reactors.’ This project
supports the US-funded Global Threat Reduction Initiative that
aims to identify, secure and recover high-risk vulnerable nuclear
and radiological materials around the globe.
“Every kilogramme of material that is moved is one less kilogramme
of material that could be used by terrorists to make a bomb,” US
National Nuclear Security Administration Deputy Administrator Andrew
Bieniawski said. “The total amount of 326 kg [kilos] of fresh
fuel is the largest ever shipment ever done under our programme.”
Before the latest shipment, the IAEA had facilitated 11 shipments
of a total of 165 kilos of fresh HEU from eight countries – Serbia,
Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Latvia
and Poland.
The latest batch was supplied by the former Soviet Union the former
German Democratic Republic in 1960s and 1970s. After German reunification,
the Federal Government decided to shut down the two
Soviet-design research reactors at Rossendorf, which were decommissioned
in 1991 and 2005. The fuel had since then been kept under
strict security measures at the site.
Research reactors produce radioisotopes for medicine and industry,
for research in physics, biology and material science, and for
scientific education and training.
More than half of research reactors worldwide – 132 out of 244 –
are still fuelled with HEU, considered high-risk since it can also
be used in the making of a nuclear explosive device. Together with
the Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the IAEA works with Member
States to return fresh or spent fuel and convert their research
reactors to LEU, leading to the eventual elimination of international
trade in HEU for research reactors.
2006-12-19 00:00:00.000
___________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news
To listen to news and in-depth programmes from UN Radio go to: http://radio.un.org/
_______________________________
To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/
*****************************************************************
30 [NYTr] Rush to Judgment in the Ex-Spy Poisoning
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 21:25:34 -0500 (EST)
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X-DSPAM-Result: mail; result="Innocent"; class="Innocent"; probability=0.0000; confidence=1.00; signature=N/A
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Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
The Nation - Dec 10, 2006
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=147021
Rush to Judgment in the Ex-Spy Poisoning
by Katrina vanden Heuvel
As the mystery of Alexander Litvinenko's death by polonium 210 continues
to unfold--and the shadowy world of spies, former agents, defectors and
seedy characters revealed seems lifted from a twisted Le CarrC)
plot--questions continue to arise about the poisoning of the former FSB
agent and defector to Britain.
What we do know is that Litvinenko died in London on November 23. What
we also know is that in the days after many in the British and US media
rushed to judgment--reporting rumor and speculation as fact.
As one British journalist put it, four days after Litvinenko's death:
"As the case rolls on, and the media hysteria continues, more and more,
I feel what the situation is exposing is not the evilness of the Kremlin
but our own gullibility, the sloppiness of our media, the
irresponsibility of our politicians, and the greed of our PR industry."
Take the British magazine The Spectator, whose end of November cover
featured a caricature of Russia's president and the headline, "The Long
Arm of Putin." The story didn't even engage other hypotheses than that
the Kremlin was responsible for the poisoning. In one typical paragraph,
the author wrote, "poisoning a British citizen on British soil
demonstrates a new level of chutzpah even for the Putin regime."
In its editorial on November 25, the venerable Times of London demanded
that "President Putin must prove by deeds that he is not linked to Mr.
Litvinenko's murder."
In the United States, the Washington Times's Arnold Beichman trumpeted:
"Meet today's Murder Inc. Headquartered in the Kremlin." Echoing the
charge, the Times's Wesley Pruden wrote, "A hit job worthy of the KGB."
Pruden went on to assert that "nearly everybody assumes that the Russian
government probably with the assent, if not the encouragement, of
Vladimir Putin, ordered the hit and assigned the hit man." The Wall
Street Journal on November 26 announced that Russia is "the enemy of the
United States," arguing that "Alexander Litvinenko's death is the latest
in a series of killings, attempted murders, imprisonments and forced
exiles whose victims just happened to be prominent opponents of Mr.
Putin." And last weekend, the New York Post's headline told the world
that it was "Putin's poison."
In more respected media outlets--such as the Washington Post--regular
columnists Charles Krauthammer and Anne Applebaum were more
sophisticated in their indictments. Nevertheless, they too concluded
that Putin did it. "Well, you can believe," Krauthammer wrote, " in
indeterminacy. Or you can believe the testimony delivered on the only
reliable lie detector ever invented--the deathbed--by the victim
himself, Litvinenko directly accused Putin of killing him" ("The Murder
in London," 12/8/06). Applebaum, just a few days earlier, wrote: " But
though it's doubtful that he ever gave an actual order to an actual
thug, Putin is certainly responsible for Litvinenko's death in this
deeper sense: He presides over this web of old intelligence operatives,
indeed sits at its center. And he approves of their methods." A central
piece of evidence: According to Applebaum, "One of his first acts as
Prime Minister in 1999 was the unveiling of a plaque to Yuri
Andropov."
What does it reveal about the Western media's standards that so many
news organizations--even the most reputable--have rushed to confuse
speculation and rumor-mongering with fact-based reporting? "It seems
safe to say," wrote a Western commentator in Moscow news, "that the
juridical dictum 'innocent until proven guilty' does not apply to
Russia."
As the investigation unfolds, we're bound to see more media hype.
Witness yesterday's New York Times article, "When an ex-KGB man says
they're out to get him" (December 10).
But what is also emerging, as the investigation and radioactivity spread
to Germany, is an alternative hypothesis, a counter-story--focusing on
the business dealings of members of Russia's private security industry
and the security (and health) risks posed by trafficking of the
dangerous (and extremely valuable) radioactive isotope polonium 210.
(To its credit, the New York Times's William Broad--in two stories,
"Polonium, $22.50 Plus tax," Dec. 3, 2006, and "US and Foreign
Regulators Consider Tightening Controls on Deadly Polonium 210," Dec.
10--debunked the conventional media line that only the Kremlin had the
wherewithal to administer a lethal dose. Broad writes that "public and
private inquiries have shown that it proliferated quite widely during
the nuclear era, of late as an industrial commodity.")
As an antidote to the media frenzy, it's been valuable to read
investigative writer Edward Jay Epstein's blogs about the Litvinenko
case. What sets him apart is his interest in cooly and rationally
raising the questions that few are asking. On November 30, Epstein
raised the question of whether it was murder--or an accident which, as
he put it, is even "scarier." And in "The Polonium Puzzle: The
Alternative Hypothesis," Epstein suggests the alternative hypothesis to
murder: polonium smuggling--for profit rather than assassination.The
real question we have to ask, Epstein says, is not who killed Litvinenko
but how did it come about that he was exposed to a very rare
isotope--one which is produced only in a few grams? In his latest blog,
" A Diversion From Hell: The Polonium Mystery" (December 10), Epstein
raises a whole new set of questions--specifically about the
relationships Litvinenko had with his contaminated associates--that need
to be answered in order to resolve the extraordinary mystery of the
poisoned ex-spy.
Stay tuned.
*
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31 Guardian Unlimited: London hotel staff test positive for polonium-210
Staff and agencies
Tuesday December 19, 2006
Guardian Unlimited
Three more London hotel workers have tested positive for low
level exposure to the radioactive isotope that killed Alexander
Litvinenko, health officials said today.
The news came as British police finished two weeks of
investigations in Moscow into the suspected murder of the Russian
former spy.
Tests on two staff members at the Millennium hotel in Mayfair,
central London - which police suspect was the scene of Mr
Litvinenko's poisoning - revealed small doses of polonium-210,
the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said.
Exposure was also revealed by tests on an employee at the
Sheraton hotel, Park Lane.
Previously, the HPA said Mr Litvinenko's widow, Marina, and
seven members of staff at the Millennium hotel's Pine Bar had
tested positive. However, one of the hotel workers was later
shown to have normal levels of polonium.
Mr Litvinenko died on November 23 after receiving a huge dose of
polonium-210. Before his death, he blamed the Russian government
for the incident.
Police are examining a number of theories, including that he was
targeted by powerful Russian figures acting independently of the
Kremlin.
Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitry Kovtun, two Russian businessmen who
met him at the Millennium hotel on November 1, have also been
treated for suspected polonium-210 poisoning, according to
reports.
Mario Scaramella, an Italian contact of Mr Litvinenko, has
undergone treatment in London for the effects of contamination.
British police officers, who arrived in Moscow on December 4,
"were shown complete and all-round assistance", the Russian
prosecutor general's office said.
A statement said the officers had completed their enquiries, but
did not specify when they would leave. It added that British
police had been handed an array of material relating to the
case, including transcripts of witness questioning.
UK investigators were not allowed to question witnesses
themselves, but instead observed as Russian investigators
conducted interviews.
Neither the Russian nor the British side have given details
about who was questioned and whether any of those interrogated
were regarded as suspects or simply witnesses.
However, Russian news reports said the questioning focused on Mr
Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun.
German authorities found traces of polonium-210 at several
locations in Hamburg visited by Mr Kovtun just before he flew to
London for the November 1 meeting, as well as in his ex-wife's
Hamburg flat.
Prosecutors in Germany are investigating Mr Kovtun on suspicion
that he may have illegally handled radioactive material.
Mr Litvinenko once worked for the Federal Security Service, or
FSB, one of the main successor agencies to the Soviet KGB. He
broke his links with the agency in 1998 after accusing his
superiors of ordering him to kill the tycoon Boris Berezovsky,
and later fled to Britain.
[UP]
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
32 MDN: Workers exposed to radiation -
MSN-Mainichi Daily News
December 20, 2006 National
Two workers were exposed to a small amount of radiation at a
casting plant in southwestern Japan but suffered no ill health
effects, an official said Tuesday.
The two male workers were using an inspection device containing
the radioactive material cobalt 60 when they were exposed in May,
said Eiichiro Watanabe of the Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology Ministry.
They were trying to place the device's radiation source in a
shielding container using a remote control device, but mistakenly
came too close to the source, Watanabe said.
The workers were unaware that they should report the incident to
authorities because the amount of radiation was small, he said.
The tiny amount had no effect on their health, he said.
The company reported the incident on Monday, Watanabe said.
The incident occurred at the Japan Casting & Forging Corp.'s
factory in Kitakyushu. (AP)
December 20, 2006
Have your say in the MSN-Mainichi Daily News Readers' Forum
Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
33 NRC: Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards; Renewal
FR Doc E6-21583
[Federal Register: December 19, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 243)]
[Notices]
[Page 75986-75987]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr19de06-89]
AGENCY: Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of renewal of the Charter of the Advisory
Committee on
Reactor Safeguards (ACRS).
-----------------------------------------------------------------
------
SUMMARY: The Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards was
established
by Section 29 of the Atomic Energy Act (AEA) in 1954. Its
purpose is to
provide
[[Page 75987]]
advice to the Commission with regard to the hazards of proposed
or
existing reactor facilities, to review each application for a
construction permit or operating license for certain facilities
specified in the AEA, and such other duties as the Commission
may
request. The AEA as amended by Public Law 100-456 also specifies
that
the Defense Nuclear Safety Board may obtain the advice and
recommendations of the ACRS.
Membership on the Committee includes individuals experienced
in
reactor operations, management; probabilistic risk assessment;
analysis
of reactor accident phenomena; design of nuclear power plant
structures, systems and components; materials science; and
mechanical,
civil, and electrical engineering.
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has determined that
renewal of
the charter for the ACRS until December 12, 2008 is in the
public
interest in connection with the statutory responsibilities
assigned to
the ACRS. This action is being taken in accordance with the
Federal
Advisory Committee Act.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew L. Bates, Office of the
Secretary, NRC, Washington, DC 20555; telephone: (301) 415-1963.
Dated: December 13, 2006.
Andrew L. Bates,
Advisory Committee Management Officer.
[FR Doc. E6-21583 Filed 12-18-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
*****************************************************************
34 AFP: Islanders hit by US nuclear tests awarded 307 million dollars -
by Giff Johnson Mon Dec 18, 11:05 PM ET
MAJURO (AFP) - The people of a tiny atoll in the western Pacific
have been awarded 307 million US dollars in compensation for the
devastation caused by US nuclear bomb testing but may never
receive any cash.
The Nuclear Claims Tribunal in the Marshall Islands awarded the
compensation to inhabitants of Utrik atoll in a decision
released at the end of last week but the tribunal has exhausted
funds intended for payments.
The US, which carried out 67 atmospheric nuclear tests in the
Marshall Islands between 1946 and 1958, argues it has already
paid "full and final" compensation for the damage caused by the
nuclear tests.
Under a 1986 agreement, it paid about 80 million to fund the
tribunal but the body has already awarded more than 90 million
dollars in health injury cases and over 1.2 billion dollars in
land damage awards for the Bikini, Enewetak and Utrik atolls.
Utrik is about 230 miles (370 kilometres) from Bikini, where the
largest ever atmospheric test -- the 15-megaton Bravo hydrogen
bomb -- was detonated on March 1, 1954.
A mist-like radioactive fallout hit Utrik atoll a few hours
after the Bravo test, prompting the evacuation of the islanders
several days later for medical observation by US officials. They
were returned to their islands about two months later.
In subsequent years, the people of Utrik suffered a higher than
normal rate of thyroid and other cancers, as well as other
health problems, because of their "acute and chronic" exposure
to radiation, the tribunal said.
The people of Utrik suffer from a dread their bodies have been
invaded by potentially lethal doses of radiation, US
psychiatrist Dr Robert J. Lifton, told the tribunal.
The tribunal said some people are still exposed to more than
double the US Environmental Protection Agency" /> 's standard of
15 milirems of radiation a year.
Current levels of radiation were unlikely to cause significant
harm to Utrik residents but said they were entitled to the same
standards as applied in the US, it said.
The 307 million dollars compensation included 257 million
dollars for past loss of use of Utrik and neighboring Taka Atoll
as a result of their contamination by the nuclear tests.
It also includes five million dollars to clean up Utrik and more
than 45 million dollars for the psychological problems resulting
from the radioactive fallout.
Four years ago, more than 385 million dollars was awarded by the
tribunal to Enewetak and 563 million dollars to Bikini. Both
atolls have filed suit in the US Federal Court of Claims to
enforce the awards after the tribunal was able to pay less than
one percent of the awards.
A ruling is expected soon after the New Year in the Bikini and
Enewetak court cases.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
35 Guardian Unlimite: Comment is free: Waste not, want not
[Kate Hudson]
Alexander Litvinenko's death from radiation poisoning is a timely
reminder of the dangerous nuclear products criss-crossing Britain
daily.
December 19, 2006 05:00 PM |
The recent extraordinary case of Alexander Litvinenko, and the
of radioactive polonium-210 linked to his demise, has done much
to raise public concerns about the dangers of radiation
poisoning. Not surprisingly, given the consequences of exposure.
What is more worrying, though, is how little we are aware of the
continual dangers that we face from radioactive waste trains
crossing Britain, on their way to the Sellafield reprocessing
plant in Cumbria. Many of these trains pass through
densely-populated areas of London.
Every week, trains carrying containers of highly radioactive
fuel rods from nuclear power stations in Suffolk, Essex and
Kent, pass through London on their way to Sellafield. Trains
coming from Sizewell and Bradwell nuclear power stations travel
on the route that passes through Stratford, Hackney Central,
Highbury and Islington, Camden Road and Willesden Junction.
Trains from Dungeness come on the route to Willesden Junction
via Hither Green, Lewisham, Brixton and Olympia. The trucks
carrying the waste then stand in sidings at Stonebridge Park,
where they may wait for hours at a time, before travelling up to
Sellafield.
This is a matter for serious concern. In July this year, a Daily
Mirror reporter entered the Willesden-Brent sidings at
Stonebridge Park undetected, and placed a fake bomb on one of
the trucks. The Daily Mirror then reported this security lapse
with pictures in a . These cargos are the most dangerous carried
on British railways and if the bomb had been real and had
breached the flask, highly radioactive material would have been
released, killing thousands of people and requiring mass
evacuation. Following the coverage of the death of Alexander
Litvinenko, it is easier to understand the type of agonising
death people would face as a result of such a disaster.
Of course, the flasks in which the waste is carried are sturdy,
and built to withstand a nine metre fall onto a concrete surface
or a fire of 800 degrees centigrade for 30 minutes.
Unfortunately, these safety levels would not protect in all
circumstances. Most railway viaducts are more than nine metres
high, and fires in tunnels involving petrol tankers would burn
at more than 800 degrees. Each flask contains 2-2.5 tonnes of
extremely radioactive used fuel rods at about 1m . If dispersed,
this is enough to kill thousands of people outright, or many
more by cancer and leukaemia in the long term. In the event of a
serious accident, the emergency services would be overwhelmed.
The fire, police, ambulance and local authorities have neither
monitoring equipment nor protective clothing against radiation.
Over the past few years, hundreds of flasks have been reported
with levels of radiation exceeding safety limits. BNFL, the
company responsible, has always stated that there is no danger
to the public, but the National Radiological Protection Board
admitted in 1996 that there is no safe level of radiation.
Transportation is only one minor aspect of the problem of
radioactive waste. No safe storage site has yet been found for
the massive amount of waste already produced from our nuclear
power stations. Some of it will remain highly radioactive for
tens of thousands of years. Yet the government wants to
construct a new generation of nuclear power stations. More
waste, more risk, more likely deaths, especially if you factor
in the increased possibility of terrorist attack on nuclear
facilities and nuclear waste trains travelling throughout the
country.
In the light of this, and the risks these transports pose to
London residents, it was good the mayor of London, with
Greenpeace, beginning a public information campaign last week on
the issue of nuclear waste - in both financial and environmental
terms. The campaign highlights the fact that the cost of
clearing up the last generation of power stations has gone up to
a massive £70bn. No doubt it will rise higher than that. The
mayor has also taken steps to address the nuclear trains
problem. The GLA has conducted an inquiry into the safety of
nuclear trains through London, and recommended that they should
be re-routed outside London through less populous areas. And it
is reassuring to know that the mayor is now carrying out a risk
assessment of nuclear trains through London, as recommended by
the inquiry.
Safe alternatives to nuclear power exist. They are cheaper and
generally faster to bring on stream than new nuclear power
stations. Why poison the planet when we don't need to?
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006.
Registered in England and Wales. No. 908396
Registered office: 164 Deansgate, Manchester M60 2RR
*****************************************************************
36 AFP: Russia completes joint inquiry into Litvinenko case
by Stephen Boykewich Tue Dec 19, 2:00 PM ET
MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia said it had completed a joint inquiry with
visiting British detectives into the death of former Russian
agent Alexander Litvinenko -- a case that strained relations
between London and Moscow.
In a statement, the Russian prosecutor general's office
stressed that the Scotland Yard team had been given "complete
and thorough assistance" while in Moscow.
The British team, working under tight restrictions imposed by
the Russian authorities, carried out joint interviews with key
witnesses to events surrounding the radiation poisoning of
Litvinenko in London last month.
"Our prosecutors have not received any complaints from the
British," said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who confirmed
that the final meeting had been held with the visiting
detectives.
The British Embassy declined to comment on the investigation
into the Litvinenko case which upset the Kremlin amid intense
speculation -- widely reported in the British media -- over the
possible involvement of Russian President Vladimir Putin" />
Vladimir Putin.
Litvinenko was a harsh Putin critic and, in a letter written
before his death on November 23, he directly accused the
president of ordering his murder.
The British investigators had arrived in Moscow on December 4 to
a frosty reception from Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika
who made it clear that they would not be allowed to interview
witnesses independently.
But Chaika's office stressed that it had given them transcripts
from the joint questioning of six witnesses in the case.
"Both sides decided not to waste time on translation from
Russian to English and agreed to the prompt transfer of all the
materials," news agency Interfax quoted an informed source in
the Russian capital as saying.
Litvinenko, a former Russian federal security service agent, was
granted political asylum in Britain, then British citizenship.
He died after an agonising illness caused by contamination with
the radioactive material, polonium 210.
The apparent poisoning occurred around the same time he met with
ex-Soviet army officer Dmitry Kovtun and ex-KGB officer Andrei
Lugovoi, at a hotel in London's Mayfair district on November 1.
British and Russian investigators jointly questioned the men,
both of whom deny any role in Litvinenko's killing.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
37 [NukeNet] Showdown on nuke waste storage
Date: Tue, 19 Dec 2006 15:11:29 -0800
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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)
Check out the last paragraph and the comment by Barbara Boxer - very
disheartening; I always thought she was on our side. MoJo
Showdown on nuke waste storage
With power in the Senate shifting to the Democrats, opponents of a Nevada
repository push for keeping the material at nuclear reactor sites.
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, December 19, 2006
A few years ago, the plan to store the nation's nuclear waste in Nevada
seemed all but certain.
Congress decided that highly radioactive waste from commercial nuclear
power plants, which takes centuries to decay, needed to be stored
underground. And it voted by a wide margin in 2002 that Yucca Mountain, 100
miles from Las Vegas, was the place to build such a repository.
But after the Nov. 7 elections, which propelled Democrats into power on
Capitol Hill, the plan is facing challenges.
Despite strong bipartisan support for Yucca Mountain in Congress, the
incoming majority leader of the Senate, Nevadan Harry Reid, pledges that
Yucca Mountain will never open. The incoming chairwoman of the Senate
Environment and Public Works Committee, Californian Barbara Boxer, agrees.
Both voted against the Yucca repository.
They say nuclear waste should stay right where it is -- at the nation's
nuclear power plants -- at least until better waste technology comes along.
"There's no rush to put it someplace that's dangerous," Boxer said.
Opponents are raising questions over how safe the Yucca Mountain facility
would be and whether transporting radioactive waste on roads and rail lines
would pose unacceptable risks of accidents or terrorist attacks. 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 include permanent storage of used
fuel at the reactor sites.
"The problem is the concept that the public wants the waste moved," said
Michele Boyd, the legislative director and nuclear expert at Public
Citizen. "That's a 20-year-old concept."
The nuclear power industry is giving ground. It still wants Yucca Mountain
opened, but it's willing to allow taxes that plant operators pay into a
fund for Yucca Mountain to be used for interim storage, a euphemism for
aboveground storage until a way is found to reprocess old fuel assemblies
safely into new fuel.
Because of the long delay, plants already are turning to surface storage.
At facilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s Diablo Canyon, near
San Luis Obispo on California's scenic central coast, construction is well
under way on thick concrete pads that eventually will hold concrete-encased
steel containers where fuel assemblies would be entombed.
PG&E spokesman Shawn Cooper said the company was still hopeful that Yucca
Mountain would open someday. But as long as the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission licenses cask storage, the waste could be there well into the
next century, venting heat from the decaying fuel into the brisk Pacific
Ocean winds. "It's called temporary dry-cask storage, but the canisters can
hold the waste 100 years," he said.
Jill ZamEk, a leader of 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 that they'd
better survive a terrorist attack, and the Supreme Court will decide soon
whether to hear that case.
"We want Diablo Canyon plants shut down," ZamEk said. When it comes to the
plant's waste, however, 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,
agrees that the waste should stay put but with more security.
"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.
Among Boxer's biggest concerns about Yucca Mountain is that it's not as
impervious 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, Reid's spokesman, said the senator would do all that he could
to make sure Yucca Mountain never opened because the site was unsuitable.
He said Reid had introduced legislation a year ago directing the Energy
Department to take possession of the waste at the nation's nuclear plants
and store it on site.
The bill went nowhere this year. The chairman of the Senate environment
committee, James Inhofe, R-Okla., favors a Yucca Mountain repository. When
the bill is reintroduced next year, however, Boxer will be heading the
committee. She leans toward on-site storage but with the possibility of
constructing regional or state gathering places for some of it, such as
that at Rancho Seco where a reactor closed in 1989.
Boxer also favors research into reprocessing, something that
environmentalists oppose.
Boxer said that if a way to reprocess nuclear waste safely could be found,
it would help with 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 from oil-, natural gas- and
coal-burning power plants.
Growing interest in building a new generation of nuclear plants since the
enactment of an energy bill that offers generous government subsidies is
driving the industry's shifting attitude about waste storage.
Since Congress began working on the energy bill, nearly three dozen
applications for new reactors have been planned. The bill was signed into
law in August 2005, 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."
----------
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"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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38 Nevada Appeal: Lyon County smart to demand a voice on Yucca
Opinion
December 19, 2006
For Lyon County residents worried about trains carrying
high-level nuclear waste through their back yards, we remind them
of these words from Sen. Harry Reid: "The proposed Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste dump is never going to open. ... The tide is
turning on Yucca Mountain, and it is time we look at viable
alternatives and realistic approaches to long-term nuclear waste
storage."
Even longtime supporters of Yucca Mountain are beginning to
change their minds, which will likely doom not only the project,
but the proposed rail line that would carry the waste.
The question remains then, why doesn't the Bush administration
quit throwing money into the project when there are so many more
worthwhile things to do with that cash? The rail line alone could
cost more than $1 billion and Yucca Mountain itself could top $58
billion, yet work toward completing both continues.
But there's a lot more at stake than money, and we applaud Lyon
County and Fernley officials for demanding a voice in the
process. They're sending letters of complaint that a meeting was
not conducted in their county about the rail line. The nearest
meeting was in Reno, and plans for the rail line came as a
surprise to many residents recently.
The director of the state Agency for Nuclear Projects said a
terrorist with a missile launcher could put a hole in a cask
containing nuclear waste and contaminate a 42-square-mile area.
All we have to say to that is we hope Sen. Reid is a man of his
word.
All contents © Copyright 2006 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
39 Philadelphia Inquirer: Waste must be cleaned up - now!
12/19/2006 |
A residents' group in Newfield, Gloucester County, is pushing
for proper treatment of the environment.
By Terry Fox Ragone
When our daughter was born, we started to wax poetic about
leaving our small Brooklyn apartment and finding a house where
she could have a "retro" childhood just like ours.
When she was 3, we found an abandoned farm on the edge of the
small town where my husband grew up. It seemed ideal.
Family would be nearby; he would have a studio in one of the old
outbuildings; I could grow organic vegetables (our very own
Jersey tomatoes), and, most important, our daughter could run
and play in woods and fields.
We convinced ourselves that both Philly and New York were close
enough to obtain our urban fix and fulfill our cultural
requirements. We would have a balance of both country and city.
So, we came to Newfield, Gloucester County, in 1989.
Then in 1993, the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
held a "scoping meeting" in a nearby town. We read about it in
the local paper.
It turned out that unbeknownst to us and many other residents,
there was a manufacturer in town that used radioactive materials
at its plant less than a mile away. Not only that, but the
company had dumped radioactive slag, 1,160,000 cubic feet of it,
in its back lots.
At that time the Federal Registry said the radioactivity
exceeded the NRC's criteria for allowing release of the site for
normal, unrestricted use.
The scoping meeting was part of a process by which the NRC
prepared an EIS, or environmental impact study, to determine how
best Shieldalloy Metallurgical Corp. could develop a
"decommissioning plan" to return its property to an everyday,
safe standard.
A few neighbors and I formed the ad hoc Newfield Residents
Environmental Group. We researched as much as we could in those
days without the Internet and with the public document room more
than 25 miles away.
So much for spending time growing organic vegetables.
We collected more than 200 signatures on a petition to the NRC,
published newsletters, set up a reference file at our local
library, and hosted two public meetings, including one that NRC
folks attended, along with representatives from U.S. Sen. Frank
Lautenberg's office.
Then things moved into a governmental bureaucratic stall.
Shieldalloy's proposed decommissioning plans were rejected,
which could have been good news, except business as usual was
still licensed, allowing the slag piles to grow into small hills
30 feet high.
The corporation went in and out of bankruptcy and finally ended
production in 1998.
Residents fell into a stall, too, as action on the site moved in
slow motion. Our daughter moved from playing in the garden to
driving a car to going off to college.
Now, 13 years later, the NRC is holding scoping meetings again.
At least this time in our town. They have been well-attended.
Residents and our local governmental representatives have spoken
eloquently and pointedly to the NRC, which this time wants to
grant Shieldalloy a permit for "long-term control" - 1,000 years
- allowing it to store the radioactive waste at the site.
This would set a new and, in the opinion of most speakers,
dangerous precedent.
U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez was particularly articulate about how the
current administration in Washington has allowed Superfund money
for cleanups to significantly diminish, and agencies charged
with environmental safety to have no enforcement teeth.
Every speaker called for complete removal of the waste. (Oh, did
I mention that it sits on the Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer, the
water supply for pretty much all of South Jersey?)
The NRC currently is only considering two options: the proposal
from Shieldalloy, and no action. But the community has been
vociferous: The polluter needs to clean up and pay for it.
Everyone agrees this needs to happen quicker than another 13
years. This third option is the only alternative.
I think our family has managed a balance of the urban and rural
life we sought.
We have learned that there really is just one connected
"environment" we live in.
Terry Fox Ragone is cofounder of the Newfield Residents
Environmental Group and director of Philadelphia Dance Projects.
*****************************************************************
40 Idaho Statesman: Our View: Nation, Idaho need Yucca Mountain
12-19-2006
A new Democratic Congress is talking about ending the 20-year
Yucca Mountain debate by burying the proposed nuclear waste dump.
A Virginia energy startup company is talking about building the
nation's first nuclear power plant in a generation in remote
Bruneau.
The first conversation is troubling. The second, while sketchy,
is overdue. And of course, the topics are inextricably linked.
The longer the nation procrastinates and politicizes its nuclear
waste disposal issue, the more it complicates building the next
generation of nuclear plants, in Bruneau or anyplace else.
Yucca Mountain a remote ridge 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas
is supposed to be the federal government's burial ground for
high-level nuclear waste. At least that's why the feds have
studied Yucca Mountain's geology since 1978; in 1987, Congress
made Yucca Mountain the nation's nuclear waste dump of choice.
The topography hasn't changed since then, or in the 11 million to
14 million years since volcanic eruptions created Yucca Mountain,
but the political geology is shifting. New Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid of Nevada is vowing to block Yucca Mountain, and he
may have some key party allies on his side.
The not-in-my-backyard politics, while unfortunate, is bad
enough. What's worse is the suggestion that highly radioactive
nuclear waste ought to simply stay put, in 126 backyards in 39
states across the country. Even Idaho, which gets no electricity
from nuclear reactors, is on the hook. High-level waste stored at
the Idaho National Laboratory is slated for Yucca Mountain.
We've said this before we've had some practice these past 20
years and we'll say it again.
It's unacceptable to indefinitely store waste above Idaho's
Eastern Snake Plain Aquifer, a primary source of water for much
of southern Idaho.
It's insulting to Idaho, since the feds have promised to move
this waste.
And it's inefficient to manage waste at dozens of sites; the
benefits of permanent storage at one site override the challenges
of transport.
As long as the nation does nothing to address nuclear waste,
critics have a ready argument against any nuclear power proposal,
such as Alternate Energy Holdings' idea to build a nuclear plant
near Bruneau.
At first blush, the proposal sounds surreal. The cost would
approach $2 billion. The plant could power 1.5 million homes and
would be twice as large as the Three Mile Island reactor, the
site of a 1979 accident that threw the industry into a 30-year
tailspin.
We cannot and will not reflexively dismiss the idea. We support
pursuing a second generation of nuclear plants. We believe
nuclear power offers a possible answer to several problems:
greenhouse gases; the demands of providing power in a growing
Northwest; and the need to replace hydropower generated at four
lower Snake River dams, a fish-killing obstacle to recovering
Idaho salmon.
However, a viable nuclear industry requires an efficient method
for storing the waste.
Many of the activists who oppose Yucca Mountain also would oppose
new nuclear power. Killing Yucca Mountain would serve their
interests nicely. But it doesn't serve the nation's interest.
*****************************************************************
41 sacbee.com: Showdown on nuke waste storage -
With power in the Senate shifting to the Democrats, opponents of
a Nevada repository push for keeping the material at nuclear
reactor sites.
By David Whitney - Bee Washington Bureau
Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Story appeared in MAIN NEWS section, Page A3
Construction workers build the reinforcement for a concrete pad
that will hold large casks of nuclear waste from the Diablo
Canyon power plant. A plan to store the nation's nuclear waste
at Nevada's Yucca Mountain faces new opposition in Congress as
Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., a foe of the project, becomes Senate
majority leader next year. San Luis Obispo Tribune file/Jayson
Mellom
A few years ago, the plan to store the nation's nuclear waste in
Nevada seemed all but certain.
Congress decided that highly radioactive waste from commercial
nuclear power plants, which takes centuries to decay, needed to
be stored underground. And it voted by a wide margin in 2002
that Yucca Mountain, 100 miles from Las Vegas, was the place to
build such a repository.
But after the Nov. 7 elections, which propelled Democrats into
power on Capitol Hill, the plan is facing challenges.
Despite strong bipartisan support for Yucca Mountain in
Congress, the incoming majority leader of the Senate, Nevadan
Harry Reid, pledges that Yucca Mountain will never open. The
incoming chairwoman of the Senate Environment and Public Works
Committee, Californian Barbara Boxer, agrees. Both voted against
the Yucca repository.
They say nuclear waste should stay right where it is -- at the
nation's nuclear power plants -- at least until better waste
technology comes along.
"There's no rush to put it someplace that's dangerous," Boxer
said.
Opponents are raising questions over how safe the Yucca Mountain
facility would be and whether transporting radioactive waste on
roads and rail lines would pose unacceptable risks of accidents
or terrorist attacks. 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 include permanent
storage of used fuel at the reactor sites.
"The problem is the concept that the public wants the waste
moved," said Michele Boyd, the legislative director and nuclear
expert at Public Citizen. "That's a 20-year-old concept."
The nuclear power industry is giving ground. It still wants
Yucca Mountain opened, but it's willing to allow taxes that
plant operators pay into a fund for Yucca Mountain to be used
for interim storage, a euphemism for aboveground storage until a
way is found to reprocess old fuel assemblies safely into new
fuel.
Because of the long delay, plants already are turning to surface
storage. At facilities such as Pacific Gas and Electric Co.'s
Diablo Canyon, near San Luis Obispo on California's scenic
central coast, construction is well under way on thick concrete
pads that eventually will hold concrete-encased steel containers
where fuel assemblies would be entombed.
PG spokesman Shawn Cooper said the company was still hopeful
that Yucca Mountain would open someday. But as long as the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission licenses cask storage, the waste
could be there well into the next century, venting heat from the
decaying fuel into the brisk Pacific Ocean winds. "It's called
temporary dry-cask storage, but the canisters can hold the waste
100 years," he said.
Jill ZamEk, a leader of 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 that they'd better survive a
terrorist attack, and the Supreme Court will decide soon whether
to hear that case.
"We want Diablo Canyon plants shut down," ZamEk said. When it
comes to the plant's waste, however, 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, agrees that the waste should stay put but with more
security.
"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.
Among Boxer's biggest concerns about Yucca Mountain is that it's
not as impervious 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, Reid's spokesman, said the senator would do all
that he could to make sure Yucca Mountain never opened because
the site was unsuitable. He said Reid had introduced legislation
a year ago directing the Energy Department to take possession of
the waste at the nation's nuclear plants and store it on site.
The bill went nowhere this year. The chairman of the Senate
environment committee, James Inhofe, R-Okla., favors a Yucca
Mountain repository. When the bill is reintroduced next year,
however, Boxer will be heading the committee. She leans toward
on-site storage but with the possibility of constructing
regional or state gathering places for some of it, such as that
at Rancho Seco where a reactor closed in 1989.
Boxer also favors research into reprocessing, something that
environmentalists oppose.
Boxer said that if a way to reprocess nuclear waste safely could
be found, it would help with 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 from oil-, natural gas- and
coal-burning power plants.
Growing interest in building a new generation of nuclear plants
since the enactment of an energy bill that offers generous
government subsidies is driving the industry's shifting attitude
about waste storage.
Since Congress began working on the energy bill, nearly three
dozen applications for new reactors have been planned. The bill
was signed into law in August 2005, 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."
About the writer:
+ The Bee's David Whitney can be reached at (202) 383-0004 or
dwhitney@mcclatchydc.com.
Workers examine a shipment of uranium fuel rods in 2001 at the
Diablo Canyon power plant in San Luis Obispo County. Pacific Gas
and Electric Co., owner of the plant, is planning to store used
fuel on site. San Luis Obispo Tribune file/Jayson Mellom
Jeff Lewis, an official at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power
plant, heads down a ladder toward a water pool where used
nuclear fuel rods are stored. After rods have cooled, they can
be moved to dry storage facilities. San Luis Obispo Tribune
file, 1999/Jayson Mellom
Copyright © The Sacramento Bee, (916) 321-1000
Contact The Bee: (916) 321-1000 | E-Mail
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42 Salt Lake Tribune: Which way the wind blows
Letter
Article Last Updated: 12/18/2006 07:04:32 PM MST
EnergySolutions' most recent ad campaign lauds Utah and itself
for "doing its part to save the environment." This is at best
disgusting PR, but it attempts to obscure consideration of an
imminent threat with the potential to devastate this area.
Earthquakes here are an absolute certainty, and the
sedimentary plane from ancient Lake Bonneville will act much
like a ribbon to transmit and amplify shock waves from the quake
epicenter. In that coming event, surface impounds of radioactive
waste will be levitated and dislodged from those storage cells.
The citizens of this state will then have to clean it up, if it
is even possible. Or, worse, that radioactive waste from all
over the nation will become a devastating part of our
environment.
Radioactive waste should only be disposed of in deep
geologic caverns. No amount of money to rename the Delta Center
or create a few jobs in the short run is worth the long-term
threat to the northern population of this state from these
expanding surface impounds. Do the governor and Legislature know
the direction the wind blows?
Randy Potter
Salt Lake City
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
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43 IAEA: Largest Batch of HEU Returned from Germany to Russia
Rossendorf, Germany -- The IAEA today supported the largest ever
return of highly enriched uranium from a civilian research
reactor back to Russia. At the end of a five-day operation, 268
kg of fresh highly enriched uranium fuel (HEU) and 58 kg of fresh
low-enriched uranium fuel (LEU) were taken from a German research
reactor, airlifted and safely delivered to Russia, where the fuel
originated."/>
+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace]
IAEA, Germany, Russia, USA Join to "Take Back" Sensitive Nuclear
Material
Staff Report
18 December 2006 [Rossendorf]
An IAEA safeguards inspector checks the seals of special
containers carrying fresh nuclear fuel loaded on an airplane.
The fuel was airlifted on 18 December 2006 from Germany´s
Dresden Airport back to Russia in an IAEA-supported operation.
(Credit: IAEA)
Rossendorf, Germany -- The IAEA today supported the largest ever
return of highly enriched uranium from a civilian research
reactor back to Russia. At the end of a five-day operation, 268
kg of fresh highly enriched uranium fuel (HEU) and 58 kg of
fresh low-enriched uranium fuel (LEU) were taken from a German
research reactor, airlifted and safely delivered to Russia,
where the fuel originated.
The mission was carried out under tight security measures and
jointly by Germany, the Russian Federation, the US and the IAEA.
The German federal state of Saxony has covered the cost of the
return. Russia will downblend the HEU into LEU for further
civilian use in a facility at Podolsk near Moscow.
IAEA safeguards inspectors have monitored the loading of the
total of 326 kg of non-irradiated fuel to 18 special
transportation containers at the former research reactor site in
Rossendorf near Dresden and have sealed them. They were joined
by experts from both the US National Nuclear Security
Administration (NNSA) and from Russia during this process and
during the departure of the cargo plane from Dresden Airport.
The removal was carried out under an IAEA Technical Cooperation
project, entitled "Repatriation, Management and Disposition of
Fresh and/or Spent Nuclear Fuel from Research Reactors". This
project supports the US-funded Global Threat Reduction
Initiative (GTRI) that aims to identify, secure and recover
high-risk vulnerable nuclear and radiological materials around
the globe.
With extra-budgetary funding from NNSA of the US Department of
Energy, the IAEA had so far facilitated 11 shipments of a total
of 165 kg of fresh HEU from eight countries, namely Serbia,
Romania, Bulgaria, Libya, Uzbekistan, Czech Republic, Latvia and
Poland.
"Today´s 12th batch from Rossendorf not only represents the
first such shipment from Germany to Russia, but also brings the
total amount of fresh HEU repatriated to Russia to a record
amount of 433 kg," said Arnaud Atger, the Project Manager at the
IAEA.
"This action is an important step towards promoting a global
cleanout of HEU in the civilian sector," he added. "The security
of HEU is of particular concern due to the technical feasibility
of constructing a crude nuclear explosive device from HEU."
Andrew Bieniawski, Deputy Administrator of NNSA, also emphasized
the importance of the joint US-Russia-IAEA programme, entitled
the Russian Research Reactor Fuel Return (RRRFR), which is aimed
at supporting the return to Russia of fresh or irradiated HEU
and LEU fuel: "Every kilogram of material that is moved is one
less kilogram of material that could be used by terrorists to
make a bomb. The total amount of 326 kg of fresh fuel is the
largest ever shipment ever done under our programme."
He praised Germany´s funding of the return mission: "Germany
demonstrates a leadership by this funding. It is a sign of the
shared responsibility that we all have."
The HEU fuel that was returned today was supplied by the USSR to
the former German Democratic Republic in 1960s and 1970s. After
the reunification of Germany in 1989, the Federal Government
decided to shut down the two Soviet-design research reactors at
Rossendorf, which were decommissioned in 1991 and 2005. The
fresh fuel was since then kept under strict security measures at
the site.
Saxony´s Science Minister Eva Maria Stange said the fuel return
would save her state budget one million euros a year: "This
joint operation means more security for our citizens, and more
money to be spent for more useful purposes instead of securing
old nuclear burden."
She thanked the IAEA for "the significant responsibility it
carried for securing the material" and added: "The return
mission emphasizes the multi-lateral work so that the nuclear
fuel does not fall into the hands of the wrong people."
Research reactors produce radioisotopes for medicine and
industry, for research in physics, biology and material science,
and for scientific education and training.
More than half of all the operational research reactors
worldwide - 132 out of 244 - are still fuelled with HEU. This is
considered a high-risk material since it can also be used in the
making of a nuclear explosive device. In conjunction with the
USA´s GTRI programme, the IAEA works with its Member States both
to return the fresh or spent fuel and to convert their research
reactors to LEU fuel. The final goal is to reduce and eventually
eliminate international commerce in HEU for research reactors.
Copyright ©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100,
Wagramer Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail:
*****************************************************************
44 globeandmail.com: Uranium glows even brighter
Posted AT 11:56 AM EST ON 19/12/06
ANDY HOFFMAN Globe and Mail Update
The price of uranium surged to a record $72 (U.S.) a pound,
capping an extraordinary year for the radioactive metal which
has now doubled over the past 12 months.
The spot price for the material used to fuel nuclear reactors
jumped 9.9 per cent from a week earlier, according to Roswell,
Georgia-based Ux Consulting Co.
The gains came after an auction last week of 260,000 pounds of
uranium by Mestena Uranium LLC, a privately held producer based
in Corpus Christi Texas.
Spot uranium prices have climbed from $36.25 a pound last
January, to current levels as hedge funds and other financial
investors have snapped up the commodity in anticipation of
supply shortages amid increasing demand from energy producers.
Globemedia Publishing Inc. All Rights Reserved.
globeandmail.com and The Globe and Mail are divisions of Bell
Globemedia Publishing Inc., 444 Front St. W., Toronto, Canada M5V
2S9 Phillip Crawley, Publisher
*****************************************************************
45 YONHAP NEWS: N. Korea committed to denuclearization of peninsula - reports
2006/12/19 19:24 KST
SEOUL, Dec. 19 (Yonhap) -- North Korea remains committed to
ridding the Korean Peninsula of nuclear weapons but will be
compelled to push for "nuclear arms reduction talks" if the
United States keeps demanding an unconditional and unilateral
dismantlement, a pro-North Korea newspaper published in Japan
reported Tuesday.
The Choson Sinbo added that the communist North has no intention
of surrendering its nuclear deterrent "at least for now" under
current conditions, in a Beijing dispatch posted on its Internet
site.
North Korea shocked the world by conducting its first nuclear
weapons test on Oct. 9, almost a year after deciding to boycott
six-way disarmament talks. Nuclear negotiators from the two
Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the United States resumed the
North Korean nuclear talks Monday in the Chinese capital.
"It is clear that the DPRK has no intention whatsoever to give up
its nuclear war deterrent at the current stage," the newspaper
reported, referring to the North's official name, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea.
The newspaper is an official organ of a pro-Pyongyang
organization in Japan, the General Association of Korean
Residents.
The report came one day after the North's chief nuclear
negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, reportedly demanded the focus of the
six-way talks be shifted to the "mutual disarmament" of nuclear
weapons in both his country and the United States.
Quoting unidentified sources, the Choson Sinbo confirmed Kim's
remarks.
"(Kim's remarks) mean that the DPRK would link its nuclear
weapons not to the threats of a possible U.S. nuclear attack, but
to the U.S.' nuclear weapons themselves, if the U.S. continues to
insist on its absurd logic that the DPRK should immediately give
up its nuclear weapons," the newspaper said.
"At the current stage, it is not just hard but impossible for
the U.S. to demand the DPRK immediately give up its nuclear
weapons." Pyongyang avoided the nuclear talks for 13 months
before the latest round, demanding Washington lift financial and
other sanctions imposed on it.
Separate talks between the two got underway in Beijing on
Tuesday to discuss ways to end or ease the financial restrictions
implemented on the reclusive state to curb its alleged
counterfeiting and other illegal activities.
The results of the bilateral meeting on the financial issue have
not yet been disclosed.
bdk@yna.co.kr (END)
*****************************************************************
46 Korea Times: Japan's Peace Activist Speaks Out Against Atomic Bombing
Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation > People
By Park Chung-a Korea Times Correspondent
Fumiko Amano
HONG KONG _ South Koreans associate the nuclear bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki with the liberation of their country,
which leads them to be less sensitive to the danger of nuclear
arms, a Japanese peace activist said.
``It is true that some Asian countries were released from
Japanese rule after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan.
However, I can¡¯t find a message in any war museum in South
Korea, China or North Korea that warns of the possibility of
nuclear war in the future,¡¯¡¯ said Fumiko Amano last week on the
Peace &Green Boat, a chartered passenger ship that travels on
peace voyages.
In an open session to discuss the United States¡¯ nuclear
bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, she said, ``They seem
to only focus on the atomic bombs¡¯ role in their liberation and
Japan¡¯s surrender. I think that it would be a tragedy for Asian
people if we do not realize that we all now live at risk of
potential terror from nuclear warfare.¡¯¡¯
The event was organized by Korea Green Foundation and Peace Boat,
which are nongovernmental organizations from Korea and Japan,
respectively, that work to promote peace, human rights and
respect for the environment in Northeast Asia.
Amano said that since the South Korean government and many
South Koreans think that the atomic bombs contributed to their
liberation, they often ignore South Korean radiation victims,
saying that such a sacrifice was inevitable and acceptable.
Amano was exposed to radiation at the age of 14 when she was a
student at a girls¡¯ school in Hiroshima. Later, she worked as a
teacher at an elementary school near ground zero. Since
attending the United Nations Disarmament Special Conference as
the representative of Japan¡¯s religious nongovernmental
organizations in 1978, she has retold the story her horrific
experience during the nuclear bombing to advocate peace.
``Although we have seen such tragedies, it is unbelievable that
many people just don¡¯t seem to be aware of or care about the
danger of nuclear bombs. Developing nuclear arms cannot be
justified for any reason. I cannot agree with North Korea¡¯s
idea that having nuclear arms is necessary for defense,¡¯¡¯ she
said.
``It is important that the nuclear crisis and every
international conflict be resolved in a peaceful way. North
Korea, South Korea, the United States and Japan should cooperate
with each other. I am extremely concerned about the rightist
Japanese lawmakers in power now and the generation of young
Japanese who tend to speak easily about the possibility of
war.¡¯¡¯
The theme of the Peace &Green Boat¡¯s trip this year is
denuclearization. The 600 some people from Japan and Korea on
the ship this year are discussing the issue as well as other
peace and environment-related topics.
The ship left from Pusan on Dec. 12. Its destinations are Japan,
Hong Kong, Vietnam and the Philippines. The destinations were
chosen because they are places where participants can witness
traces of oppression by imperial powers such as Japan, European
countries and the Unites States. The peace voyage will end in
Pusan on Dec. 26.
Participants of Peace &Green Boat and Amano will make banners
with messages for peace and denuclearization and will give them
to North Korea and Ban Ki-moon, the new U.N. secretary-general,
at the end of their trip.
12-19-2006 20:18
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47 Las Vegas SUN: Empty uranium cylinders from Tennessee shipped to Nevada, Utah
December 18, 2006
ASSOCIATED PRESS
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Energy has
removed some 118 million pounds of uranium hexafluoride from its
reservation in Oak Ridge three years ahead of the mandated
deadline from the state and within budget.
The uranium compounds were left over from the government's
uranium enrichment process for nuclear weapons and fuel at Oak
Ridge. Operations were ended in 1985, and the site is currently
being cleaned up to be an industrial park. Outdoor storage yards
that contained the waste required daily security and
maintenance.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation ordered
DOE to remove the uranium hexafluoride by Dec. 31, 2009.
The project to remove about 6,000 cylinders, some weighing as
much as 14 tons, and truck them to Ohio cost $27.5 million, and
there were no major safety issues.
"We're glad to have the cylinders gone," John Owsley, the
state's environmental oversight chief in Oak Ridge, told The
Knoxville News Sentinel.
The cylinders posed the highest radiation threat to visitors at
the site, he said.
"While there were sufficient controls in place, it was a
concern," Owsley said.
The first shipment left in March 2004 after years of debate
between officials in Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee.
"For a long time, it didn't look like they'd ever get rid of
those cylinders," said Susan Gawarecki, executive director of
the Local Oversight Committee, which evaluates environmental
projects for local governments in the Oak Ridge area.
"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?"
Most of the uranium-loaded cylinders were trucked to Piketon,
Ohio, where the uranium is being converted to a safer oxide form
and hydrogen fluoride is being extracted and sold commercially,
officials said.
Hundreds of empty cylinders were shipped to disposal sites in
Nevada or Utah. The trucks hauling the waste traveled more than
3.6 million miles over the past three years.
Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel,
http://www.knoxnews.com
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
48 Chillicothe Gazette: Uranium transfer to Piketon complete
www.chillicothegazette.com - Chillicothe, OH
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
OAK RIDGE, Tenn. (AP) - The government has transferred nearly 120
million pounds of depleted uranium from a processing plant in
Tennessee to a Piketon 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, 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.
Copyright ©2006 Chillicothe Gazette
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49 KnoxNews: ORNL building evacuated after reaction
By News Sentinel staff
December 19, 2006
OAK RIDGE — A couple of hundred workers were evacuated from a
building at Oak Ridge National Laboratory this afternoon as a
precaution because of an "adverse chemical reaction" in a
research lab.
A Department of Energy spokesman said no one was injured and
there were no hazardous releases to the environment.
John Shewairy of DOE said the incident occurred when a worker
poured nitric acid into a container that apparently contained
other chemicals, causing the reaction. The incident occurred in
Building 4500 North at about 3 p.m., he said.
"I would liken it to something you might see in a high school
chemistry classroom," Shewairy said.
The DOE spokesman said all of the work took place under a
ventilating hood. He said there were no releases outside the room
and no involvement of radioactive materials.
The lab worker was evaluated by medical personnel and released,
according to a DOE statement released to the news media.
Employees evacuated from 4500 South were sent to an auditorium in
a nearby building, but they were later cleared to go home if they
wanted. However, some of the employees were waiting for a
hazardous material team to OK their return to 4500 South so they
could retrieve their personal belongings, a spokesman said.
Copyright 2006, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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