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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 ICH: Why Did Russia And China vote to sanction Iran?
2 UN Atomic Watchdog Chief Calls For Talks To Resolve Iranian Nuclear 
3 AFP: OIC urges peaceful end to Iran nuclear standoff - 
4 BBC: Ahmadinejad rejects UN sanctions
5 AFP: China urges more talks on Iran's nuclear program - 
6 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: MPs urge on suspension of inspection 
7 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: India: IRI program is peaceful 
8 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI follows peaceful N-technology 
9 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Gov't to revise relations with IAEA 
10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI not to quit NPT 
11 Guardian Unlimited: Ban Says Nuke Talks Require Patience
12 AFP: Iran parliament mulls limiting IAEA cooperation 
13 AFP: Defiant Iran heading to industrial enrichment 
14 AFP: Iran vows not to cut oil exports after UN sanctions - 
15 AFP: Iraq and Iran protest US arrest of Iranian officials 
16 UPI: Iran officials slam U.N. resolution
17 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Official Hails Iran Sanctions 
18 Guardian Unlimited: Egypt Slams Iranian President 
19 [NYTr] US, N Korea May Resume Talks in January
20 Korea Herald: U.S. demanding too much, says N. Korea envoy   
21 Korea Herald: 2006: A bitter, fruitless year for six-party talks   
22 AFP: Ban calls for patience on NKorea -
23 AFP: NKorea rejects NY for sanctions talks - report 
24 Finance Navigation 2006: Sanctions-hit NKorea selling off gold 
25 UPI: New U.N. chief urges patience over N.Korea
26 RIA Novosti: Test launch of Bulava missile fails third time this yea
27 RIA Novosti: Bulava missile requires 12-14 test launches - space off
28 Kommersant Moscow: Rocket Flop Threatens Rearmament Program - 
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
29 US: AP: Feds Consider Guards at Nuclear Plants  (pm)
30 Iran may need nuclear power: study 
31 US: Patriot News: NRC fails to act on 2001 petition; TMI Alert
32 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
33 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: A new day for energy 
34 US: Platts: New reactor construction is in jeopardy due to funding
35 US: Detroit News: Nuclear waste powers disposal struggle - 
36 US: Journal News: Time to get after Indian Point staffers who muzzle
37 Yemen Observer: Yemen to have nuclear energy by 2007
38 US: NRC: Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1; Notice of Consideration of
39 AFP: Egypt wants end to 'nuclear double standards' - 
40 Russia-InfoCentre: Oldest Nuclear Reactor In Europe To Celebrate Its
41 US: Guardian Unlimited: Industry: Build Reactors to Survive Hit
42 Times Union: Nuclear power could ease global warming 
43 US: UPI: Industry: Protect nuke plants from the air
44 Guardian Unlimited: Report: Japan Looked at Nuke Development
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
45 USATODAY.com: Nuclear traffic doubles since '90s - 
46 AFP: US asks to install anti-missile radar in Japan - 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
47 US: KCPW: Public Hearings Scheduled for Divine Strake - 
48 US: Economic Times: Whistleblowers need to be protected-Editorial-
49 Guardian Unlimited: Italian who met Litvinenko arrested 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
50 US: [NukeNet] Fissile Uranium Truck Overturns on Major Highway
51 Lahontan Valley News: Letter: THE ONLY THING CERTAIN ABOUT YUCCA MOU
52 Platts: Nevada petitions against indefinite interim spent fuel stora
53 LA Daily News: Yucca dump doomed?
54 US: TPR: Energy Dept. Plans Further Cleanup of Nuclear Waste in Wash
 
                           PEACE
 
55 Global Network Turns 15 in 2007
56 [NukeNet] The Christmas Truce
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
57 Knox News: Secret nuclear find revealed
58 Hanford News: Pumping under way on underground tank
59 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Nevada
60 lamonitor.com: Local doctor called to military service - for third t
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 ICH: Why Did Russia And China vote to sanction Iran?
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 19:13:56 -0600 (CST)

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"The man who craves disciples and wants followers is always more
or less of a charlatan. The man of genuine worth and insight wants
to be himself; and he wants others to be themselves, also." --
Elbert Hubbard - (1856-1915)

= "Loud speech, profusion of words, and possessing skillfulness in
expounding scriptures are merely for the enjoyment of the learned.
They do not lead to liberation."-- Adi Shankaracharya (c. 650) Hindu
reformer

= "The real searcher after truth will not receive the old because
it is old, or reject the new because it is new. He will not believe
men because they are dead, or contradict them because they are
alive. With him an utterance is worth the truth, the reason it
contains, without the slightest regard to the author. He may have
been a king or serf -- a philosopher or servant, -- but the utterance
neither gains nor loses in truth or reason. Its value is absolutely
independent of the fame or station of the man who gave it to the
world." -- Robert G. Ingersoll - (1833-1899) American political
leader, orator

= "Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we
must do." -- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - (1749-1832)

===

Read this newsletter online http://tinyurl.com/dy6yy

=== Number Of Iraqi Civilians Slaughtered In America's War? More
Than 655,000 http://tinyurl.com/usq4x

Number of U.S. Military Personnel Sacrificed (Officially acknowledged)
In Bush's War  2979 http://icasualties.org/oif/

The War in Iraq Costs $353,301,970,914

See the cost in your community
http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182

=== Troop 'surge' in Iraq would be another mistake

BY W. PATRICK LANG and RAY MCGOVERN

Robert Gates' report to the White House on his discussions in Iraq
this past week is likely to provide the missing ingredient for the
troop ''surge'' into Iraq favored by the ''decider'' team of Vice
President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush.

http://tinyurl.com/yzg62p

=== Top Ten Myths about Iraq 2006

By Juan Cole

Myth number one is that the United States "can still win" in Iraq.
Of course, the truth of this statement, frequently still made by
William Kristol and other Neoconservatives, depends on what "winning"
means. But if it means the establishment of a stable, pro-American,
anti-Iranian government with an effective and even-handed army and
police force in the near or even medium term, then the assertion
is frankly ridiculous.

http://tinyurl.com/ydkn83

=== Military considers recruiting foreigners

Expedited citizenship would be an incentive

By Bryan Bender

The armed forces, already struggling to meet recruiting goals, are
considering expanding the number of noncitizens in the ranks --
including disputed proposals to open recruiting stations overseas
and putting more immigrants on a faster track to US citizenship if
they volunteer -- according to Pentagon officials.

http://tinyurl.com/yaw5kx

=== Why Did Russia And China vote to sanction Iran?

By Jorge Hirsch

While Russia may prefer for its own reasons that Iran not enrich
uranium, it fully recognizes that Iran's pursuit is legal under
international law. Furthermore, as Western news media constantly
emphasize, Russia and China have extensive commercial ties with
Iran, hence it is not in their interest to antagonize Iran. Their
support of UNSC1737 doesn't seem to make sense.

http://tinyurl.com/yjjlmz

=== Iran backed dangerously into a corner

By Linda S. Heard

Washington and Tel Aviv, aided by London, are taking this region
on a collision course. Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa once
warned that the invasion of Iraq would open the gates to Hell. They
opened alright but if there is war with Iran they may take a long
time to swing shut.

http://tinyurl.com/ykyumq

=== Will Stinky Cut The Big One?

by Sheila Samples

Bush is a brutal, pathological liar -- arguably a homicidal maniac.
After losing two wars against helpless, unarmed nations, he's bored.
The Decider is moving on to greater things, and those who know how
to listen to him know the decision to nuke Iran has already been
made.

http://tinyurl.com/y23x3r

=== Washington's Game in Turkmenistan

By Mike Whitney

At the very least, Niyazovs death has turned out to be another great
opportunity for Uncle Sam and it looks like Bush may have already
put the pieces in place to take full advantage of it.

http://tinyurl.com/ymnfat

=== In Somalia, a reckless U.S. proxy war

By Salim Lone

Undeterred by the horrors and setbacks in Iraq, Afghanistan and
Lebanon, the Bush administration has opened another battlefront in
the Muslim world. With full U.S. backing and military training, at
least 15,000 Ethiopian troops have entered Somalia in an illegal
war of aggression against the Union of Islamic Courts, which controls
almost the entire south of the country.

http://tinyurl.com/yjkb89

=== Why Condemning Israel and the Zionist Lobby is so Important

By James Petras

We American have a necessity to put our fight against Israel and
its Lobby at the very top of our political agenda. It is not because
Israel has the worst human rights agenda in the world  other states
have even worst democratic credentials  but because of its role in
promoting its US supporters to degrade our democratic principles,
robbing us of our freedom to debate and our sovereignty to decide
our own interests.

http://tinyurl.com/yew54c

=== Historical Perspectives on Latin American and East Asian Regional
Development

By Noam Chomsky

There was a meeting on the weekend of December 9-10 in Cochabamba
in Bolivia of major South American leaders. It was a very important
meeting. One index of its importance is that it was unreported,
virtually unreported apart from the wire services.

http://tinyurl.com/ycakg9

=== Iraq: More than 94 people killed as U.S. occupation grinds on:

The bodies of six people, gagged and bound, were found in two
districts in Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, a hospital
source said.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO624150.htm

=== 7 Americans Killed in Iraq; 90 in Dec. :

At least 54 Iraqis died Tuesday in bombings, officials said, including
a coordinated strike that killed 25 in western Baghdad. Separately,
the U.S. military announced the deaths of seven American soldiers
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/26/ap/world/mainD8M8MBBG0.shtml

=== Occupied Iraq: At least 73 killed on a bloody Christmas Day:

A total of 29 bodies were found shot dead, with most showing signs
of torture, in different districts of Baghdad
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM522917.htm

=== UK raid angers Basra politicians :

Basra City Council has withdrawn co-operation from UK forces in
southern Iraq after the police's serious crimes unit was disbanded
by troops. More than 1,000 troops blew up a police station run by
the unit, which has been blamed for robberies and death squads.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6209249.stm

=== U.S. military deaths in Iraq tops number killed in 9/11 attacks:

The U.S. military death toll in Iraq has reached at least 2,974,
one more than the number of deaths in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks
in the United States, according to an Associated Press count on
Tuesday.

http://wave3.com/Global/story.asp?S=5857468

=== Ron Paul: More of the Same in 2007:

Incoming congressional leaders have publicly stated their support
for increasing troop levels, and Democrats have no intention of
pursuing any serious withdrawal plan in Congress. They will not
withhold war funding. The war will plod on, and Democrats will call
for more of the same.

http://tinyurl.com/yaxxur

=== U.S. officials send fugitive minister out of Iraq :

A fugitive former Iraqi minister, with dual U.S. citizenship, flew
to Jordan in an American plane after escaping from a Baghdad jail
earlier this month, Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakheet said
on Tuesday.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=L26386901

=== Iraqi court says Saddam must hang in 30 days:

Iraq's highest appeals court today upheld Saddam Hussein's death
sentence and said he must be hanged within 30 days for the killing
of 148 Shiites in the central city of Dujail.

http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/287821274558334

=== Will Bush or Blair be held responsible?:

Horrors that mirrored Saddam's worst excesses:

The Serious Crimes Unit was regarded as one of the most corrupt
elements of the British-mentored and trained constabulary in Iraqs
second city.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2518729,00.html

=== Iraqi lawyer wants Haditha massacre marines in Iraqi courts:

The Iraq lawyer points out that harsher sentences are delivered for
killings of American citizens. Only an Iraqi court can deliver
justice for killings of Iraqi citizens in Iraq.

http://tinyurl.com/yalu33

=== U.S. Military graduates calls War in Iraq illegal and criminal:

America stands shamed in the eyes of the world thanks to the Bush
administrations crime spree. And, as a partial result, the Democrats
scored a resounding triumph in an election where only 40.4% of
eligible Americans cast ballots. 40.4%! So much for urgency.

http://tinyurl.com/ynyddh

=== Experts: Iraq vets wrongly diagnosed:

'Personality disorder' assessment allows for quick honorable discharge
but tags veterans with a label that is hard to remove.

http://fairuse.100webcustomers.com/fairenough/aas0.html

=== Soldier went AWOL over atrocities:

Soldier tried to report abuses but was rebuffed
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A41687

=== Biden vows to fight any Iraq troop boost:

The incoming chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
says he will fight President Bush if the decision is made to send
more U.S. troops to Iraq.

http://www.wate.com/Global/story.asp?S=5859073

=== US Sen. Biden says intends to run for president :

Delaware Sen. Joseph Biden, one of the Democratic party's leading
voices on foreign policy and a sharp critic of President George W.
Bush's handling of the Iraq war, on Tuesday said he intends to run
for president in 2008.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3344950,00.html

=== Noam Chomsky Comments on the Iraq Study Group Report:

What matters is the opinion of Iraqis. If there is remaining doubt,
the question of withdrawal should be submitted to a referendum,
conducted under international supervision to minimize coercion by
the occupying forces and their Iraqi clients
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/opinion/?id=18938

=== U.S. Detains Two Iranians In Iraq:

Two Others Released Who Had Diplomatic Immunity; Iraqi President
'Unhappy' About Incident
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/12/25/iraq/main2295239.shtml

=== Iran summons US representative over detention of diplomats: -

This move will have unpleasant consequences, the spokesman said
without giving further details.

http://tinyurl.com/sjyvl

=== Report says Irans oil exports could decline to zero in less
than a decade:

Iran is suffering a staggering decline in revenue from its oil
exports, and if the trend continues income could virtually disappear
by 2015, according to an analysis released Monday by the National
Academy of Sciences.

http://news.bostonherald.com/international/view.bg?articleid=173850&srvc=news

=== U.S. pursues financial strategy against regimes it can't otherwise
corral :

Over the past year, the Bush administration has persuaded bankers
across Europe and Asia to choke off some Iranian and North Korean
access to the world financial system, using the taint of terrorism
and corruption as leverage.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20061226-0805-financialsanctions.html

=== Ethiopia pushes deeper into Somalia :

Thousands of Ethiopian troops, backed by aircraft, artillery and
tanks, have escalated a military offensive against fighters from
the Islamic Courts Union.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4A2D7333-9E99-4B63-A455-A1260251BED8.htm

=== Ambush kills 14 Colombian soldiers :

Fighters have ambushed an army patrol in southern Colombia, killing
14 soldiers, amid continuing violence over control of a remote
village.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/BFB89EFE-556B-49A1-91AF-EF50873DB0A0.htm

=== Clashes leave 2 militants dead, 7 wounded in occupied Afghanistan
:

Clashes between Afghan police and anti-government militants left
two rebels dead and seven others wounded in Afghanistan's eastern
Paktika province, provincial governor Akram Khapalwak said Monday.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200612/26/eng20061226_335762.html

=== Pakistan to mine and fence Afghan border:

Pakistan said on Tuesday it would lay landmines and put up fences
along parts of its border with Afghanistan in response to international
concerns that Taliban militants can slip between the two countries
with ease.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/f4b31b4c-950a-11db-a911-0000779e2340.html

=== Surge in overdoses blamed on powerful Afghan heroin:

A steep rise in drug overdose deaths in Los Angeles is being blamed
on an influx of highly potent heroin from occupied Afghanistan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20061226/hl_afp/uscrimedrugs_061226180000

=== Groups Mute Criticism of Iraq Report :

Jewish and pro-Israel groups, after initially greeting the report
of the Baker-Hamilton Iraq Study Group with outrage, have begun to
mute their criticisms on the basis of assurances that the Bush
administration will not adopt the reports proposed linkage between
Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

http://www.forward.com/articles/groups-mute-criticism-of-iraq-report/

=== Once, Labour wanted Blair to go, now it wants him in jail:

Perhaps some of Labours hatred for Blair is because many feel that
the party has been kidnapped by an outsider. They see the prime
minister as a barely disguised Tory who has trampled on Labours
constitution and traditions
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,24392-2517634,00.html

=== US and EU visit Fatah training base :

US and European officials have visited a base in Jordan where Fatah
is training troops to reinforce Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian
president, in any showdown with Hamas.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/03338AED-5317-4328-A3EA-DC99977F3C42.htm

=== Israeli PM agrees to transfer $100 million in frozen Palestinian
taxes to Abbas:

Olmert agreed to a series of concessions to help bolster the PA
chairman, including the transfer of $100 million in frozen taxes
collected on behalf of the PA. The funds will be transferred directly
to Abbas, and not to the Hamas-led government.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/804608.html

=== Dr.Cisar Chelala: Innocents pay the price of Gaza war :

On a recent visit to Gaza, Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, stated that "massive" violations against civilians
have taken place in the Gaza Strip. The lack of accountability for
human rights violations in Gaza leaves the local population with
no one to turn to when there is a breach, she told journalists.

http://tinyurl.com/ymsusn

=== New Ilegal settlement planned for former Gaza squatters:

The Defense Ministry has approved the building of a new settlement
in the northern Jordan Valley, outside of the West Bank separation
fence, which will house families evacuated from Gaza settlements.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/805829.html

=== U.N. Chief Pressured To Bypass Businessman :

The incoming United Nations secretary-general has yet to take office,
but a controversy is already engulfing his nascent relationship
with the American Jewish community.

http://www.forward.com/articles/un-chief-pressured-to-bypass-businessman/#

=== Disappearing world: Global warming claims tropical island :

Rising seas, caused by global warming, have for the first time
washed an inhabited island off the face of the Earth.

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2099971.ece

=== Interior, Pentagon Faulted In Audits:

Defense auditors said that deal cost taxpayers millions more than
necessary, and they have referred the matter for possible criminal
investigation.

http://tinyurl.com/ykemvc

===

Peace & Joy Tom Feeley === Liberty can not be preserved without
general knowledge among people." (August 1765) John Adams

_____________________________ Change address / Leave mailing list:
http://ymlp.com/u.php?feminine+rich@math.missouri.edu Hosting by
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 2 UN Atomic Watchdog Chief Calls For Talks To Resolve Iranian Nuclear Issue
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 12:01:47 -0500


 
UN ATOMIC WATCHDOG CHIEF CALLS FOR TALKS TO RESOLVE IRANIAN NUCLEAR 
ISSUE
New York, Dec 26 2006 12:00PM
The head of the United Nations atomic watchdog agency has called 
for negotiation and mutual accommodation to achieve a long-term solution 
to the issue of Iran’s nuclear programme after the Security 
Council <" http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2006/sc8928.doc.htm">imposed 
sanctions and called for a full and sustained suspension 

Following Saturday’s unanimous Council vote, UN International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Muhamad ElBaradei issued 
a statement <" http://www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/PressReleases/2006/prn200621.html">hoping 
“for a long-term comprehensive agreement 
which would allow for the development of relations and cooperation 
with Iran based on mutual respect and the establishment of international 
confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s 
nuclear programme.” 

In previous reports, Mr. ElBaradei has noted that the IAEA was unable 
to conclude that there are no undeclared materials or activities 
in Iran’s nuclear programme, which Iran says is purely for the 
peaceful purpose of producing energy but which other countries 
including the United States maintain is aimed at making nuclear 
weapons.


He said the Agency would implement the relevant parts of the Council 
resolution, which called on the IAEA to verify the suspension 
of “proliferation sensitive nuclear activities,” including all enrichment-related 
and reprocessing activities and work on all heavy 
water-related projects. Enriched uranium can be used for producing 


The resolution bans trade with Iran in all items, materials, equipment, 
goods and technology which could contribute to such activities 
or to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems. States 
are also required to prevent the provision to Iran of any technical 
assistance or training, financial assistance, investment, 
brokering or other services.


Mr. ElBaradei was requested to report within 60 days to the Council 
on whether Iran has suspended enrichment activities. If that report 
shows that Iran has not complied, the Council threatened “further 
appropriate measures.”


The crisis began with the discovery in 2003 that Iran had concealed 
its nuclear activities for 18 years in breach of its obligations 
under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (<" http://www.opcw.org">NPT). 
Mr. ElBaradei has previously reported that while IAEA 
inspectors have not found evidence that Iran is pursuing nuclear 
weapons, they also cannot affirm positively that it is not doing 
so.
 2006-12-26 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/
*****************************************************************
 3 AFP: OIC urges peaceful end to Iran nuclear standoff - 

December 26, 01:41 AM 

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - The Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC) has called for a peaceful resolution of the
Iran nuclear crisis after the United Nations decided to impose
sanctions over Tehran's refusal to stop enriching uranium. 

Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, head of the 57-member grouping that
includes Iran, said in a statement Monday that he "hopes all
possible efforts will be made to encourage new talks on reaching
an amicable solution" with Tehran. 

"The region cannot withstand a new adventure... after Iraq,"
said the secretary general of the pan-Islamic organisation,
referring to the 2003 US-led invasion aimed at ridding that
country of its presumed weapons of mass destruction. 

On Saturday, the 15-member UN Security Council unanimously
adopted a resolution directing all states "to prevent the
supply, sale or transfer... of all items, materials, equipment,
goods and technology which could contribute to Iran's nuclear
and ballistic missile programmes". 

Tehran reacted on Sunday by saying it would begin work to
install 3,000 centrifuges used for enriching uranium. 

Ihsanoglu's statement expressed his "deep regret at these
developments" and underlined "the inalienable right of all OIC
member states, Iran included, to develop nuclear energy for
peaceful purposes". 

The United States accuses Iran of wanting to develop nuclear
weapons, charges denied by Tehran which says it only wants to
provide energy to a growing population. 

The UN resolution warned that if Iran refuses to comply with UN
demands to freeze enrichment, the Security Council "shall adopt
further appropriate measures under Article 41 of Chapter Seven"
of the UN charter, a reference to non-military sanctions. 

   Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 4 BBC: Ahmadinejad rejects UN sanctions
 
Last Updated: Sunday, 24 December 2006
 
[Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 24 December 2006]                           

Mr Ahmadinejad said the West had lost its chance to improve 
relations                                                               

Iran's president has rejected UN Security Council sanctions 
against Tehran, insisting his country would press ahead with its 
nuclear programme. 

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the resolution passed on Saturday was a 
"piece of paper" adding that the 15 countries who voted in favour 
would regret it. 

Iran said it would immediately begin installing 3,000 centrifuges 
at a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. 

The sanctions ban nuclear trade with Iran, but the US wants 
tougher curbs. 

Mr Ahmadinejad said the West had lost its chance to improve 
relations with Iran. 

Iran is now an establish nuclear state and it is in [the West's] 
interest to live along the Iranian nation Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 
Iranian president Stand-offs set to continue                                                                                                              

"They seek to mobilise a group of their agents on the pretext of 
this piece of paper in order to sow seeds of discord among the 
Iranian nation," the Iranian Fars news agency reported him as 
saying. 

"No matter [whether] they accept it or not, Iran is now an 
established nuclear state and it is in their interest to live 
alongside the Iranian nation." 

A foreign ministry spokesman said the "continuation of peaceful 
nuclear activities" would be Iran's "best response" to the UN 
sanctions. 

A recent satellite image of t Natanz site

In the Iranian parliament, an overwhelming majority of deputies 
approved an emergency bill directing the government to review 
co-operation with the UN nuclear watchdog, the International 
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

The UN sanctions, passed unanimously, ban the supply of nuclear 
materials to Iran and freeze some assets overseas. 

The Security Council resolution demands that Tehran end all 
uranium enrichment work, which can produce fuel for nuclear 
plants as well as for bombs. 

Traces of weapons-grade uranium were found at Natanz, in central 
Iran, during UN inspections in 2003, although this was later 
blamed on contaminated imported equipment. 

Iran's plan to install thousands of centrifuges at Natanz would 
enable a vital stage of the process of enriching uranium into 
weapons-grade material. 

Sanctions 'warning' 

The Security Council backed sanctions against Iran after intense 
debate over the terms of the resolution. 

UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN             

Ban on import and expor of nuclear-related material Assets frozen 
of 10 companies and 12 individuals Threat of further non-military 
sanctions    

The vote by the 15-member council took place exactly two months 
after Britain, France and Germany first introduced a draft 
resolution proposing sanctions. 

The resolution, under Chapter Seven of Article 41 of the UN 
Charter, makes enforcement obligatory but limits action to 
non-military measures. 

Acting US ambassador to the UN Alejandro Wolff said the 
resolution sent a "warning" to Iran. 

"If necessary, we will not hesitate to return to this body if 
Iran does not take further steps to comply," Mr Wolff said. 

But a senior official at the US state department, Nicholas Burns, 
said the UN resolution was not enough. 

He said the US would try to persuade other countries, especially 
Russia, to impose stronger penalties individually. 

Iran wi continue enriching until the US or Israel takes military 
action
		
Jonathan, Chicago 
	 		 			 		 	   	
"We don't think this resolution is enough in itself. We want to 
let the Iranians know that there is a big cost to them," he said. 

The draft resolution was amended several times after objections 
from both the Russians and Chinese, which have close financial 
ties with Iran. 

It was watered down to take account of Russian concerns over such 
provisions as a freeze on the assets abroad of specific Iranian 
individuals and organisations. 

Russia is building a nuclear power station in Iran and China has 
significant oil interests there.                                                         



*****************************************************************
 5 AFP: China urges more talks on Iran's nuclear program - 

  [Wang Guangya, China's Ambassador to the United Nations]   
  

BEIJING (AFP) - China, a veto-wielding member of the United
Nations Security Council, wants more talks on Iran's nuclear
program, state media and the government have reported, after the
UN voted in favor of sanctions.

China reacted after the Security Council passed a resolution
that mandated sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear and ballistic
missile programs over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and
reprocessing activities.

"We hope the UN resolution is carried out in an earnest fashion,
but we also think sanctions are not the objective and cannot
fundamentally resolve the issue," foreign ministry spokesman Liu
Jianchao said in a statement.

"China wants... to see a peaceful solution to the Iranian
nuclear issue through talks," he said in the statement, posted
on the ministry's website.

The state-controlled China Daily newspaper Monday also supported
further negotiations, arguing a peaceful solution was in the
interest of all parties concerned.

"It would save the issue (from) becoming a new source of
instability from the Middle East," the paper said in an
editorial.

Following the decision at the UN Security Council, a defiant
Iran vowed Sunday to start work immediately on drastically
expanding its capacity to enrich uranium.

Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! UK Limited. All rights reserved.
AFP
*****************************************************************
 6 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: MPs urge on suspension of inspection 

  2006/12/24   
  
A number of Iranian MPs introduced a double-urgency motion to
Majlis on Sunday calling for suspension of the UN nuclear
watchdog's inspection of Iranian nuclear sites following the
approval of an anti-Iran resolution by the United Nations
Security Cou ncil.
 
A member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy
Commission Heshmatollah Falahat-Pisheh told IRNA on the
sidelines of a Majlis open session Sunday that the motion did
not indicate Iran's withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
 
Reacting to the approval of the UNSC resolution for imposing
sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, the MP said that
adoption of the resolution "was a politically-motivated act and
part of a psychological warfare against Iran.
 
The MP added the fact that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
recently designated the February 11 as the day of Iranians'
nuclear celebration indicated that imposing sanction on Iran
would, by no means, affect Iranians' national will to achieve
their (n uclear) rights. February 11 is the day when Iranians
will celebrate the victory anniversary of the 1979 Islamic
Revolution which led to the ouster of the then Shah,
Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi.
 
M.H.Z   

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 7 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: India: IRI program is peaceful 

  2006/12/25   
  
India said Sunday that I.R. of Iran has right to pursue a
nuclear energy programme and that the crisis over Tehran's
nuclear issue should be resolved by dialogue.
 
"Iran has the right to pursue its nuclear programme for peaceful
civilian use. It has undertaken certain obligations that its
nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes," the
Indian Foreign Ministry said.
 
The statement was issued the day after the 5+1 group sponsored a
UN resolution against IRI.
 
"We have noted the passage of the UN Security Council resolution
and are studying its implications," the India foreign ministry
said.
 
India has also signed a landmark civilian nuclear deal with
America, under which India -- a non-signatory to the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) -- will get nuclear fuel and
technology.
 
"We continue to feel that all possible efforts should be made to
address the Iranian nuclear issue by peaceful means through
dialogue and negotiation," Indian foreign ministry said, adding
the IAEA "should play a central role in resolving outstanding
issues."
 
mk   

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir
*****************************************************************
 8 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI follows peaceful N-technology 

  2006/12/26   
  
A lawmaker and member of Majlis National Security and Foreign
Policy Commission Hamid Reza Haji Babaei said on Monday that
Iran's peaceful nuclear technology is going along the same lines
as the nationalization of the oil industry.
 
In an exclusive interview with IRNA, he said issuance of UNSC's
resolution against Iran would discredit the Security Council,
adding that the America's measure would mobilize the world
public opinion against them.
 
The UNSC's resolution is a politically-motivated move which
lacks legal and judicial bases, he underlined.
 
UNSC has acted as a tool in the hands of the Americans and a
number of European countries, he said.
 
Following subsequent defeats of America in Afghanistan, Iraq,
Lebanon and Palestine, the Americans went into desperation over
Iran's nuclear activities and forced the UNSC to issue a
resolution against it, he said.
 
Calling the UNSC's resolution as very 'weak', he said since the
resolution which won approval of Russia and China is politically
motivated, it has no effect.
 
Since the global economy is moving toward globalization, it is
not possible to ignore influential countries such as Iran, he
said.
 
Playing significant role in regional and strategic developments,
Iran's ideology along with national unity would reduce the
impact of UNSC resolution, he underlined.
 
The country's officials should take advantage of the political,
social, cultural and economic potential to thwart the resolution
or reduce its impact, he said.
 
mk   

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 9 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Gov't to revise relations with IAEA 

  2006/12/26   
  
  01:09:51 È.Ù 
The government supports a bill to revise Islamic Republic of
Iran's relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), currently under review by the Majlis, Foreign Minister
Manouchehr Mottaki said Tuesday.
 
Mottaki made the remark at the end of Majlis session held
Tuesday behind closed doors.
 
The Minister attended the session to brief MPs on the latest
developments with respect to Iran's nuclear case and the Western
sponsored 1737 UNSC resolution adopted Saturday.
 
"I should have given information to the Majlis deputies on
nuclear issues," he said.
 
M.H.Z   

  

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 10 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: IRI not to quit NPT 

  2006/12/26   
  
Islamic Republic of Iran currently has no intention of quitting
the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and will continue its
peaceful nuclear activities, a senior Iranian official said on
Tuesday.
 
The remark was made by Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi
while speaking to reporters.
 
"IRI will not remain indifferent towards the UN Security
Council's illegal and unfair measure (adoption of a resolution
against the country's peaceful nuclear activities).
 
"We will adopt necessary measure based on our national will," he
said.
 
He added, "The first step towards producing nuclear fuel on
industrial scale will start during the ten-Day Dawn'
celebrations (February 1-10, marking the victory of the Islamic
Revolution).
 
"IRI has explicitly announced it is not after acquiring nuclear
weapons. In political and ideological terms and based on the
fatwa religious decree) of the Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Sayed
Ali Khamenei) and according to the strategic principles of the
Islamic Republic of Iran we do not consider nuclear weapons as a
means for establishment of peace in the region."
 
Mostafavi stressed, "The main point in the Security Council's
resolution is that demands of Group 5+1 (the five permanent
members of the Security Council -- Russia, Britain, France,
China and America - plus Germany) are beyond NPT regulations.
 
"It also had a dual attitude towards signatories to the NPT."
 
He said, "The Iranian government and nation will not accept the
demands which Group 5+1 and the Security Council intend to
impose on the country beyond regulations of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the NPT.
 
"Based on the NPT, all countries have the right to access
nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Other states are also
duty-bound to provide the NPT signatories with necessary
research facilities needed for nuclear activities."
 
M/D   

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 11 Guardian Unlimited: Ban Says Nuke Talks Require Patience

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Tuesday December 26, 2006 8:31 AM

AP Photo SEL802 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The next U.N. secretary-general
expressed regret Tuesday about the lack of progress in recent
international talks aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear
weapons program. 

Ban Ki-moon, who returned to his native South Korea on Sunday
before officially assuming his new job at the United Nations,
called for patience in resolving the nuclear standoff. 

``I think the continuation of the six-nation talks is
positive,'' Ban told reporters. 

He said he does not have any immediate plan to visit Pyongyang,
the North's capital, for talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong
Il over the nuclear weapons program. 

The negotiations - which involve the two Koreas, the United
States, China, Russia and Japan - haven't seen any progress
since September 2005 when the North pledged to disarm in
exchange for security guarantees and aid. 

The North had boycotted talks for 13 months because of U.S.
financial sanctions, but returned to the negotiating table last
week in China. Those talks ended with no progress being made. 

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, was unanimously
elected to succeed Kofi Annan in October and will become the
first Asian to lead the world body in 35 years when he takes
over as secretary-general on Jan. 1. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 12 AFP: Iran parliament mulls limiting IAEA cooperation 

 Tuesday December 26, 09:49 AM 

  [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks during a 
parliament session]   
    
TEHRAN (AFP) - The Iranian parliament has started debating a
bill that would require the government to reduce its cooperation
with the UN nuclear watchdog after the sanctions imposed on the
Islamic republic.

The latest text of the bill says that the government must
"revise its cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA) after the UN Security Council voted to penalise
Iran over its contested nuclear programme.

Parliament had decided to debate the bill as a matter of "urgent
priority" but speaker Gholam Hossein Hadad Adel said that there
would be no vote today owing to the large number of MPs wishing
to speak.

"Numerous MPs have been registered to speak. We will continue
the debate on Wednesday," he said.

During the session, deputies asked for changes to toughen up the
bill, such as by explicitly banning UN inspectors from visiting
Iran's nuclear sites.

The current wording of the bill gives the government a free hand
to "revise" its cooperation with the UN nuclear agency as it
sees fit, possibly by limiting inspections.

After weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the UN Security Council on
Saturday adopted a resolution which imposes restrictions on
Iran's nuclear industry and ballistic missile programme.

The United States accuses Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear
weapon, a charge vehemently denied by the Islamic republic which
says it only wants to provide energy to a growing population.
 
AFP
*****************************************************************
 13 AFP: Defiant Iran heading to industrial enrichment 

 by Farhad Pouladi Tue Dec 26, 7:21 AM ET 
		 	 
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran " /> has maintained its defiance of UN 
sanctions over its nuclear programme, declaring it was heading 
towards enriching uranium on an industrial scale and mulling a 
reduction of cooperation with the UN atomic watchdog. 

 The deputy foreign minister said Iran would announce a major
step forwards towards industrial-scale enrichment of uranium to
coincide with the celebrations for the 28th anniversary of the
Islamic revolution in February.
 
"During this (Iranian) year's revolutionary celebrations, the
first phase of nuclear fuel production to meet industrial needs
will be launched," First Deputy Foreign Minister Mehdi Mostafavi
said in Saudi Arabia, where he is attending the hajj pilgrimage,
according to the official IRNA news agency on Tuesday.
 
His comments were an apparent reference to Iran's plan to
install 3,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges by March next year,
which would be a major step up from its current declared line-up
of two 164-centrifuge cascades.
 
The UN Security Council on Saturday imposed its first ever
sanctions on Iran over its failure to heed calls to suspend
uranium enrichment, a process that can be used both to make
nuclear fuel or a nuclear bomb.
 
Meanwhile, the Iranian parliament held the first session of
debate on a bill that would require the government to reduce its
cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog in retaliation for the
sanctions move.
 
The latest text of the bill says that Iran must "revise its 
cooperation" with the International Atomic Energy Agency " /> 
(IAEA), a formulation that leaves the government a free hand to 
cut cooperation as it feels best.
 
This could involve limiting UN inspections of its atomic sites, a 
move that has been urged by several lawmakers. However it is 
highly improbable that the government would pull out of the 
nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
 
It is almost certain the bill will be passed by the 
conservative-dominated parliament and then approved by the 
hardline Guardians Council vetting body to become law.
 
It remains unclear how close Iran is to installing the 3,000 
centrifuges at its uranium enrichment plant in the central town 
of Natanz.
 
The completion of such an installation would be a major act of 
defiance towards the West, which fears the technology could be 
used to make nuclear weapons.
 
Iran insists its nuclear drive is aimed solely at generating 
energy for a growing population.
 
MP Ali Asgari said Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had told a 
closed session of parliament that "Iran has prepared the putting 
into service of 3,000 centrifuges and this piece of news will 
soon be announced publicly", the Fars and Mehr news agencies 
reported.
 
The deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation Mohammad 
Saeedi said the new centrifuges would be put into operation in 
line with a programme announced to the IAEA.
 
"We need to wait for the right moment to announce it. The 
judicial and legal process has to be completed so that it is 
easier to make the announcement," he told the parliament session, 
according to Iranian media.
 
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly predicted in recent 
weeks that Iran will mark its "nuclearisation" during the 
celebrations for the 28th anniversary of the revolution in 
February.
 
After weeks of diplomatic wrangling, the UN Security Council on 
Saturday adopted a resolution which imposes restrictions on 
Iran's nuclear industry and ballistic missile programme.
 
Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh said Iran would be prepared to 
use "any weapon" in the standoff over its nuclear programme but 
assured world markets it had no intention of cutting off its oil 
exports. "The country will use any weapon if necessary to defend 
itself," he was quoted by the Fars news agency as saying. "But 
other countries should not be concerned about Iran cutting off 
its oil exports to the world market since we are currently 
signing new deals and there are also ongoing transactions," he 
added. Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer and the 
second largest in the OPEC " /> cartel.
 	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 14 AFP: Iran vows not to cut oil exports after UN sanctions - 

 Tue Dec 26, 5:43 AM ET 
		 	 
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran " /> Iranhas said that it would be prepared 
to use "any weapon" in the standoff over its nuclear programme 
but assured world markets it had no intention of cutting off its 
oil exports. 

"The country will use any weapon if neccessary to defend itself," 
Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri Hamaneh was quoted as saying by the 
Fars news agency following the UN Security Council's imposition 
of sanctions against Tehran.
 
"But other countries should not be concerned about Iran cutting 
off its oil exports to the world market since we are currently 
signing new deals and there are also ongoing transactions," he 
added on Tuesday.
 
Iran is the world's fourth largest oil producer and the second 
largest in the OPEC " /> OPECcartel.
 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 15 AFP: Iraq and Iran protest US arrest of Iranian officials 

 by Dave Clark and Mona Salem Mon Dec 25, 8:31 AM ET 
		 	 
BAGHDAD (AFP) - The Iraqi government has protested after US 
forces arrested a number of Iranian officials in Baghdad, 
allegedly because they were planning to incite attacks in the 
already war-torn country. 

"Two people who were invited by the president to Iraq " /> have 
now been apprehended by the Americans, and the president is 
unhappy with the arrests," Hiwa Osman, President Jalal Talabani's 
media adviser, told AFP Monday.
 
"The invitation was within the framework of an agreement between 
Iran " /> and Iraq to improve the security situation," he added.
 
It was not clear how many Iranian officials are still in US 
custody.
 
Osman confirmed two had been arrested, but the New York Times 
reported four were still being held even after two with 
diplomatic status had been released.
 
Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said: "A 
few days ago we became aware that US forces, contrary to 
international laws, had arrested Iranian diplomats who were 
invited by the Iraqi government.
 
"This action is not compatible with international law and it will 
have unpleasant consequences," he warned, according to the Mehr 
news agency.
 
Separately, leading Iraqi lawmaker and imam, Sheikh Jalal Eddin 
al-Saghir of the Baratha mosque, told AFP that two Iranian 
diplomats had been seized by US forces in Baghdad last Thursday, 
but were later released.
 
"Two diplomats from the Iranian embassy came to see me at the 
mosque to offer condolences on the death of my mother," he said.
 
"After they left the mosque and were travelling back to the 
embassy they were arrested by the Americans, with two of their 
guards. I don't know why. I later heard that they'd been 
released," he said.
 
Confirmation of arrests came after the New York Times, citing 
senior US officials, reported that several Iranians were detained 
by US forces in Iraq last week on suspicion of planning attacks 
on Iraqi troops.
 
"We continue to work with the government of Iraq on the status of 
the detainees," Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the US National 
Security Council, told the New York Times, according to its 
report.
 
Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie declined an 
AFP request for comment on the arrests, which the Times reported 
had put strain on the relationship between the Iraqi government 
and its American allies.
 
A spokesman for the US embassy in Baghdad also declined to 
comment.
 
US commanders in Iraq regularly accuse Iran of fomenting unrest 
in its troubled neighbour, but the Shiite-led Baghdad government 
has insisted on pursuing a policy of closer security ties with 
Tehran.
 
According to White House officials cited in the Times report, the 
Iranians include two "senior military officials" with links to an 
Iranian Revolutionary Guard unit which trains Lebanon's Shiite 
Hezbollah guerrilla movement.
 
If US authorities produce evidence against the detainees it could 
be the first proof of their longstanding charge that Iranian 
agents are stirring violence in Iraq by arming and training 
illegal militias.
 
The arrests come amid mounting diplomatic tension between Iran, 
the United States and the international community, after the UN 
Security Council voted to impose sanctions on Iran's nuclear 
programme. 

In response to the vote, Iran defiantly vowed to start work 
immediately on drastically expanding its capacity to enrich 
uranium. Washington accuses Iran of seeking to develop a nuclear 
weapon, a charge vehemently denied by the oil-rich Islamic 
republic, which says it only wants to provide atomic energy to a 
growing population. Several of the Shiite parties that have risen 
to power in Iraq since the downfall of former dictator Saddam 
Hussein " /> have ties to Iran. 

Shiite cleric Abdel Aziz Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic 
Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI) was founded by Tehran to mobilise 
Iraqi exiles against their own government during the Iran-Iraq 
war in the 1980s. Today, the movement is an important part of 
Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's ruling coalition.

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 16 UPI: Iran officials slam U.N. resolution
     
  United Press International - NewsTrack - 

12/25/2006 12:05:00 PM -0500

TEHRAN, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- Two senior Iranian officials said
Monday the country will not end its nuclear program, despite a
U.N. resolution condemning it. 

Government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham said U.N. Security
Council Resolution 1737, which condemns the country's nuclear
enrichment activities, criticizes a peaceful nuclear program
based on imagination, the Islamic Republic News Agency reported
Monday. 

Elham said the country would not shut down its operation because
of imagined infractions. 

"Access to peaceful nuclear technology is a recognized right,"
he said. 

Ahmad Jannati, secretary of the Guardian Council, called the
resolution "worthless" and said the country would continue its
peaceful nuclear activities. 

"The Islamic Republic of Iran has no enmity with anybody but the
Iranian government and nation will resist against conspiracies
of enemies and will not yield to them. 

"Iran calls for establishment of peace and security in the
world. Peaceful use of nuclear energy is Iran's inalienable
right," he said.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 17 Guardian Unlimited: Russian Official Hails Iran Sanctions 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Monday December 25, 2006 12:31 PM

AP Photo UNFF101 

MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's foreign minister on Monday hailed the
U.N. Security Council's resolution that imposed sanctions on
Iran as a reasonable compromise that wouldn't hurt Moscow's
commercial contacts with Tehran. 

Sergey Lavrov said the resolution approved unanimously over the
weekend was also a compromise that would allow diplomatic
efforts to continue. 

``The resolution fully reflects economic interests of Russia and
other partners of Iran,'' Lavrov said at a Cabinet session
chaired by President Vladimir Putin, according to the ITAR-Tass,
Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies. 

He emphasized that the resolution allowed the fulfillment of all
contracts signed prior to its passage. Russia is building a
nuclear power plant in the Iranian port of Bushehr, which is set
to come on line next fall. Russia demanded that both the plant
and the nuclear fuel intended for it be exempt from sanctions. 

The resolution orders all countries to stop supplying Iran with
materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear
and missile programs. It also freezes assets of related Iranian
companies and individuals. 

The U.S. administration had pushed for tougher penalties, but
Russia and China, which both have strong commercial ties to
Tehran, balked. To get their votes, the resolution dropped a ban
on international travel by Iranian officials involved in nuclear
and missile development and specified the banned items and
technologies. 

Iran insists its nuclear program is aimed solely at the peaceful
production of nuclear energy, but the U.S. and European nations
suspect that it serves as a cover to produce nuclear weapons. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 18 Guardian Unlimited: Egypt Slams Iranian President 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Monday December 25, 2006 11:46 PM

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egypt rebuked Iran's president on Monday for
claiming his state is ``a nuclear country'' - a comment that
touched a nerve among Iran's neighbors in the Middle East. 

Iran has consistently denied it seeks to build nuclear weapons,
saying it aims to use its nuclear technology only to produce
electrical power. But President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's ambiguous
statement stirred fears about its nuclear ambitions. 

Ahmadinejad's comments came in reaction to a U.N. Security
Council resolution adopted Saturday which imposed limited
sanctions on Iran for its refusal to cease uranium enrichment.
Enriched uranium, which Iran insists on producing, can be used
as fuel for nuclear reactors or as material for atomic weapons. 

``Iran is a nuclear country'' whether the world likes it or not,
he told a gathering Sunday in Tehran. 

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit responded Monday by
saying only states that possess atomic bombs should claim to be
nuclear powers. 

``Nuclear states are only those that have military nuclear
capabilities,'' he said in a statement. ``The possession by some
countries of peaceful nuclear technology or some of stages of
the nuclear cycle or carrying out some peaceful nuclear
activities does not mean by any means that it can call itself a
nuclear state.'' 

The United States and some allies have accused Iran of using a
civilian nuclear program as a cover for acquiring nuclear
weapons. 

Iran's decision to declare itself a nuclear power could
undermine Egypt's campaign to get the Middle East to declare
itself a zone free of nuclear weapons. 

Iran's nuclear ambitions are of particular concern to Israel,
the only Middle Eastern state believed to now have a nuclear
arsenal. Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be wiped off the
map. 

Israel has been ambiguous about its program, refusing to either
confirm or deny it has nuclear weapons. It has said it will not
be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East. 

Many Sunni Arab states, including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia
are worried about the growing influence of Shiite Iran in Iraq,
and its potential for stirring up religious tensions between the
region's Shiite and Sunni populations. Both Iran and Iraq have
Shiite Muslim majorities. 

Under Saddam Hussein, Iraq was run by its Sunni Arab minority.
Now, the Shiites lead the government and some Sunnis fear their
political success may embolden Shiite communities across the
Arab world. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 19 [NYTr] US, N Korea May Resume Talks in January
 
Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2006 14:50:41 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

US, N Korea May Resume Talks in January

Seoul, Dec 25 (Prensa Latina) The US and Peoples Democratic Republic of
Korea may discuss in January the financial sanctions on Pyongyang.

Quoting diplomatic sources, the Korean news agency Yonhap said the talks
would start January 22 in New York, while negotiations in Beijing on the
nuclear affair could be resumed too.

The delegations were led by US Assistant Treasury Secretary Daniel Glasser,
and O Kwang-Chol, president of the DPRK Foreign Trade Bank.

Talks on the peninsula's nuclear cleanup conducted simultaeously with last
week's six-party meeting in Beijing with China, the US, Japan, Russia and
North and South Korea were apparently a big obstacle.

Pyongyang warned last year that it would not resume negotiations unless the
US opens its bank accounts at Delta Bank in Macao.

However China convinced the DPRK to resume negotiations based on promises by
Assistant Secretary of States Christopher Hill for parallel treatment of
the financial issue.

Stagnation wrecked the entire talks since Korean Deputy Foreign Minister
Kim Kye-Gwan said it was unthinkable to dismantle its nuclear program with
financial sanctions in force.

Kim Kye-Gwan stressed that Washington's refusal to lift the sanctions
blocked the talks.

hr emw jhb mf

PL-9
       
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*****************************************************************
 20 Korea Herald: U.S. demanding too much, says N. Korea envoy   
        
From news reports

 North Korea's main nuclear negotiator, Kim Kye-gwan, said the
lifting of U.S. financial restrictions against North Korea won't
automatically lead to the communist regime freezing its nuclear
programs.

 Kim was quoted by Dong-a Ilbo newspaper as saying that the U.S.
wants "too much" in exchange for dropping the financial
sanctions imposed for the North's alleged counterfeiting of
American currency and money laundering.

 "The U.S. is trying to win a nuclear freeze at once just by
lifting the financial sanctions, but that's not possible," Kim
was quoted as saying in Beijing on Saturday.

 Kim said the North could only start discussions on freezing its
nuclear programs if the restrictions are lifted.

 His comments raised further questions over whether the North is
serious about giving up its nuclear programs.

Kim was returning home from Beijing after five days of talks
with his counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, Russia and
the United States on dismantling the country's nuclear programs. 

The negotiations - the first in more than a year and since the
North's Oct. 9 nuclear test - produced no progress as North
Korea persistently demanded Washington first drop the
restrictions before real disarmament negotiations begin.

 Kim said the one-on-one talks with the United States on the
financial row were a "perfunctory meeting," saying that the
United States didn't even present evidence that the North
engaged in illegal activities.

 A Seoul diplomat source said Sunday that financial specialists
from North Korea and the United States are likely to resume
talks in the week beginning Jan. 22 in New York to handle the
financial sanctions. 

During working-level talks on the issue in Beijing, Assistant
U.S. Treasury Secretary Daniel Glaser represented the American
side, while O Kwang-chol, president of the Foreign Trade Bank of
Korea, the reclusive regime's arm for foreign banking, led the
North Korean delegation to the talks. 

Diplomatic sources also forecast the next round of the six-party
talks will take place as early as late next month. 

2006.12.26

*****************************************************************
 21 Korea Herald: 2006: A bitter, fruitless year for six-party talks   

[YEAR-END REVIEW]

Following is the fifth in a series of articles reviewing Korean 
politics and society over the past year - Ed.

By Lee Joo-hee

A lot has happened but very little has been done this year to
resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. North Korea played with
the patience of the international community in general, and the
United States in particular, by test firing its missiles and
detonating an atomic device.

 Inter-Korean relations also deteriorated following the
provocative tests with South Korea suspending all food and
fertilizer aid.

 The inter-Korean economic talks in June and ministerial talks
in July also ended without any progress being made.

 The year 2006 began on a negative note as prospects for the
six-party talks remained pessimistic following North Korea's
boycott of the process in protest at against Washington's
financial sanctions. 

The chief negotiators from the United States, China and South
Korea met one another in the first half of this year to discuss
coordinated efforts to move the process forward, but failed to
bring North Korea back to the table.

 The two Koreas went ahead with their scheduled economic talks
in June but the attempt failed to achieve any tangible
development. 

North Korea, in fact, seemed to be heading deeper into seclusion.

 Supporting such concerns and defying repeated warnings, North
Korea test-fired seven missiles on July 5, including the
long-range Taepodong-2, creating security concerns in the region
and giving voice to hard-liners against the reclusive state.

 The United Nations responded with Resolution 1695, calling upon
the member states to tighten their existing sanctions against
the North.

 Ignoring criticism from conservative forces and signs of
displeasure from the United States, the Seoul government went
ahead with the slated ministerial talks with the North a few
days later.

 The talks that were held in Busan closed earlier than scheduled
with both delegations returning empty handed.

 South Korea's efforts to maintain relations with the North
received a decisive slap in the face Oct. 9 with the detonation
of a nuclear device in Hwadae near Gilju. 

The test dealt a serious blow not only to the Seoul government,
but also to the Bush administration facing crucial mid-term
elections in November.

 The test also proved that North Korea indeed had nuclear
capabilities, changing the world map of nuclear powers. 

Very soon after the test, the United Nations passed Resolution
1718, obligating all member states to take measures against
North to prevent the proliferation of materials, finances and
technology related to weapons of mass destruction. 

The Bush administration, as predicted, lost in the mid-term
elections amid dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and other
foreign policy missteps. The hawks in Washington were now being
pressured to take a more flexible approach in dealing with its
main security concerns including the war in Iraq, Iran's nuclear
ambition and North Korea's nuclear threat.

 North Korea, after having tested the nuclear bomb, became
visibly more confident.

 In November, North Korean envoys met with chief U.S. nuclear
negotiator Christopher Hill in Beijing and agreed to return to
the six-party talks.

 After a 13-month hiatus, the six nations including the two
Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia gathered
again at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.

 But Pyongyang's intention was clear.

 It's main purpose was to use its nuclear card to resolve the
Banco Delta Asia problem as soon as possible without giving
anything in return. 

North Korea had been boycotting the negotiations in protest
against the U.S. Treasury Department's designation in September
last year of the Macau-based bank as a "primary concern." 

Based on suspicions that BDA had helped circulate counterfeit
U.S. currency allegedly produced by North Korea, Washington
banned American banks from dealing with the institution that had
been serving as Pyongyang's main overseas correspondent bank. 

Responding to Washington's action, BDA froze all of its North
Korean accounts, amounting to $24 million.

 Although the sum itself is not significant, Washington's move
on the BDA and other banking institutions, presented North Korea
with almost insurmountable difficulties in finding alternative
correspondent banks.

 The financial sanctions against Pyongyang have become a major
stumbling block in moving the six-party talks forward. 

North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator told Hill that North
Korea will only begin to discuss its nuclear dismantlement when
the United States lifts its financial sanctions. 

North Korea also demanded that in return for it agreeing to
freeze its plutonium-producing reactor, the other members must
provide alternative energy supplies while constructing a
light-water reactor.

 The United States had entered into the negotiations hoping that
the North would accept its proposal of dealing with the BDA
issue on the sidelines, and that North Korea would freeze its
nuclear program in return for a security guarantee and promises
of economic aid. 

The six-party talks ended without any progress just before the
Christmas holiday.

 With all negotiators standing by their commitment to
denuclearize the Korean peninsula despite all these
developments, it remains to be seen how 2007 will unfold. 

(angiely@heraldm.com)

2006.12.27
*****************************************************************
 22 AFP: Ban calls for patience on NKorea -

 Tue Dec 26, 4:43 AM ET 
		 	 
SEOUL (AFP) - Incoming UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has 
called for patience in international efforts to persuade North 
Korea " /> North Koreato give up its nuclear weapons. 

"The issue requires time and patience. As UN secretary general, I 
will step up efforts to resolve it," Ban said.
 
He returned to South Korea " /> South Koreafrom New York on 
Sunday, two days after the latest round of six-party nuclear 
talks ended in Beijing without any apparent agreement.
 
The talks involving the two Koreas, Japan, China, Russia and the 
United States resumed last week after a 13-month hiatus during 
which Pyongyang tested a nuclear bomb.
 
"It is regrettable that six-party talks failed to produce 
concrete results but I believe a channel of multilateral dialogue 
must be maintained," Ban told reporters.
 
He said the nations involved in the forum should continue takling 
to the North, "with faith that the issue can be resolved" through 
negotiations.
 
"As the UN secretary general, I will also make efforts to help 
the process move ahead smoothly."
 
Asked whether he will visit North Korea after taking office on 
January 1, Ban said: "As yet, I don't have such a plan."
 
He said his work next year would focus on solving regional 
conflicts and reforming the United Nations " /> United Nations. 
"I feel a great mental burden as I have to face many tough 
issues," he added.
 
"Lebanon, Darfur, the Iranian nuclear issue and the dispute 
between Israel " /> Israeland Palestine as well as the entire 
Middle East issue are the most urgent matters.
 
"After taking office, I will immediately make preparations to 
solve the issues involving Lebanon, Darfur and Iran " /> Iran."
 
Ban last week urged Tehran to resume stalled talks with three 
European powers after the UN Security Council passed a resolution 
mandating sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear and missile 
programmes.
 
He said he would start visiting conflict areas early next year 
but did not name them. "I have plans to make two trips soon, 
while the secretariat is working to arrange additional trips."
 
Ban, 62, was formerly South Korea's foreign minister. He was to 
meet President Roh Moo-Hyun " /> Roh Moo-Hyunand Prime Minister 
Han Myeong-Sook later in the day.
 
He said his upcoming inauguration was creating "expectation and 
tension" from many UN members.
 
"There are expectations that South Korea's dynamism may bring a 
fresh wind of reform to the United Nations," Ban said.
 
"There are high expectations among UN members on the role of 
South Korea, which I believe could become a role model in the 
international community."
 
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 23 AFP: NKorea rejects NY for sanctions talks - report 

 Monday December 25, 07:43 AM 

  [North Korean negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, (L) and US Assistant 
Secretary of State Christopher Hill (R)]   
    
SEOUL (AFP) - North Korea has rejected New York as a venue for
talks on US financial sanctions which it insists must be lifted
before any further nuclear negotiations, a South Korean
newspaper has reported.

Chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan was speaking Saturday,
Dong-A Ilbo newspaper reported, the day after a week of
six-party nuclear talks ended in Beijing without any apparent
progress.

The talks -- the first for 13 months -- closed without even
setting a date for the next round. (Advertisement)
 [Click Here] [ src=] They aim to persuade the hardline
communist state to scrap its nuclear programmes in return for
aid and security guarantees.

US Treasury and North Korean officials held two days of
discussions on the sidelines about the US banking curbs imposed
for alleged counterfeiting and money-laundering, but reached no
agreement.

US officials said they hope to meet again in New York next month.

"We have no intention to go to New York. The two sides should
find another place," Kim was quoted as telling the paper in an
interview in Beijing.

Asked when the next six-party round may be held, Kim added: "The
sanctions issue should be resolved first."

The United States blacklisted Macau's Banco Delta Asia (BDA) in
September 2005, saying it suspected that 24 million dollars in
North Korean accounts was linked to counterfeiting or
money-laundering.

The accounts have been frozen and other Asian banks have taken
similar moves.

North Korea boycotted the six-party talks -- which link the two
Koreas, the United States, China, Japan and Russia -- for over a
year in protest. After conducting its first nuclear test in
October, it agreed to return on condition the banking issue is
"discussed and settled."

Kim accused US Treasury officials of not being serious.

"The US didn't even offer evidence that North Korea committed
illegal activities," he was quoted as saying.

"The US wasted time, insisting that the BDA issue is a legal
matter. Sanctions should be resolved through political decision."

Kim also reiterated that the North would not begin nuclear
negotiations until the BDA issue is settled. "Once the US lifts
its financial sanctions, we can discuss freezing nuclear
activities, not doing it right away," he said. 

He added: "The US wants to see North Korea freezing its nuclear
facilities by lifting its financial sanctions alone, which is
unacceptable." 

The negotiator also repeated demands for construction of a
light-water reactor in exchange for suspending its existing
reactor, along with interim energy aid.

The US and its allies reached a deal with North Korea in 1994 to
supply fuel oil and light-water reactors, which are less
vulnerable to proliferation, in exchange for a freeze. The deal
fell apart in 2002 when the US accused the North of running a
secret uranium enrichment programme.

North Korea warned the United States Saturday of retaliation if
it stepped up sanctions after the six-party deadlock, saying its
armed forces "are not afraid of war."
 
AFP
*****************************************************************
 24 Finance Navigation 2006: Sanctions-hit NKorea selling off gold 
reserves: report 

  Tuesday December 26, 08:43 AM 

TOKYO, Dec 26, 2006 (AFP) - North Korea, desperate for foreign
currency under US-imposed sanctions, has started to sell its
gold reserves on international markets, a Japanese newspaper has
reported.

 The United States last year blacklisted a Pyongyang-linked bank
in Macau, infuriating the communist regime which walked out of
disarmament talks for 13 months during which it tested an atom
bomb.

 Since the US crackdown on the bank, North Korea has earned 28
million dollars in foreign cash by exporting gold to Thailand,
which had not imported gold from Pyongyang for the previous five
years, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

 North Korea exported 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds) of bullion to
Thailand in April and another 800 kilograms a month later, the
conservative Japanese daily said without identifying its sources.

 North Korea's central bank, Choson Central Bank was also
relisted on May 12 for trading on the London Bullion Market,
said the newspaper, quoting a spokesman for the London market.

 The North Korean central bank, which can issue currency, joined
the London gold market in 1976 but was delisted in June 2004 due
to inactive trading, the newspaper said. 
The Yomiuri, citing South Korean data, said North Korea was
estimated to have between 1,000 and 2,000 tons of gold reserves.

 The United States blacklisted Macau's Banco Delta Asia in
September 2005, saying it suspected that 24 million dollars in
North Korean accounts was linked to counterfeiting or
money-laundering.

 The accounts have been frozen and other Asian banks have taken
similar moves.

 The financial sanctions were a main topic during six-nation
talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to end its nuclear
program, which ended in deadlock last week in Beijing.
 
Copyright © 2006 AFP AFP. All rights reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 25 UPI: New U.N. chief urges patience over N.Korea
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

12/26/2006 7:14:00 AM -0500

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (UPI) -- The U.N.'s next Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon Tuesday called for more patience to resolve North
Korea's nuclear issue peacefully. 

The latest round of six-nation talks aimed at persuading North
Korea to end its nuclear programs ended last week in Beijing
with no progress due to a clash between the United States and
North Korea over the financial issue. 

"It is very regrettable that the latest round of the six-party
talks produced no significant progress," Ban told a press
conference during a visit to Seoul. 

"We need to be patient and we should not lose hope," he said.
"As I have said before, finding a solution through a
multilateral framework takes time." 

He pledged to "take supportive measures as the secretary-general
of the United Nations to help the process move ahead smoothly." 

Ban, who spent years on North Korea as South Korea's foreign
minister, said the North's nuclear problem will be a top
priority when he becomes secretary-general next month, along
with Iran's nuclear issue and Middle East conflicts. 

Ban will succeed Kofi Annan for a five-year term that officially
begins on Jan. 1.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 26 RIA Novosti: Test launch of Bulava missile fails third time this year - paper
 
26/ 12/ 2006                                  

MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - A test launch of Russia's
newest ballistic missile, Bulava, failed Sunday for a third time
in the past four months, putting in jeopardy the national
nuclear re-armament plan, a leading business daily reported
Tuesday. 

The national defense program envisions that the Bulava be
deployed on nuclear submarines beginning in 2007. The missiles
are expected to become the mainstay of the naval component of
Russia's strategic nuclear forces in decades to come, Kommersant
said. 

"The failure puts into question the state weapons procurement
program, which stipulates equipping Russia's strategic nuclear
forces with Bulava missiles starting with 2007," a Kommersant
source in the Defense Ministry said. 

The missile was initially launched December 24, but no official
reports covered the event, the daily said. 

Captain Igor Babenko, deputy chief of the North Fleet's press
service, told the paper that the R-30 Bulava (SS-NX-30)
ballistic missile was developed at the Moscow Institute of
Thermal Technology. 

"The military is not authorized to comment on the tests of the
missile until it is commissioned by the Navy," he told
Kommersant. 

The two previous unsuccessful launches occurred September 7 and
October 25 from a ballistic missile submarine in the White Sea.
The first missile failed to reach its target, and the second
self-destructed after deviating from its trajectory. 

A source in naval headquarters said a ban had been imposed on
any reports about tests of Bulava after the October 25 failure,
which coincided with President Vladimir Putin's
question-and-answers conference. 

Igor Panarin, a spokesman for the Federal Space Agency, neither
confirmed nor denied the December 24 test launch. 

In his state of the nation address in May, President Putin said
current research was focused on the development of unique
high-precision weapons and warheads "whose trajectory could not
be predicted by a potential enemy." 

© 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 27 RIA Novosti: Bulava missile requires 12-14 test launches - space official
 
26/ 12/ 2006                                  

MOSCOW, December 26 (RIA Novosti) - Russia's top space official
said tests of Russia's newest ballistic missile, Bulava, would
continue despite recent failures, adding it would take about 12
to 14 test launches to bring it into readiness. 

The Russian daily Kommersant said Tuesday that a test launch of
the Bulava failed Sunday for a third time in the past four
months, putting in jeopardy the national nuclear re-armament
plan. 

Anatoly Perminov, head of the Federal Space Agency, said
describing the latest test: "The first stage performed well, the
second stage performed well, but the third stage, not so well." 

The national defense program envisions the deployment of the
Bulava on nuclear submarines beginning in 2007. The missiles are
expected to become the mainstay of the Russian Navy's strategic
nuclear forces in decades to come, Kommersant said. 

Perminov said the Bulava had undergone a total of five test
launches in the past two years. 

The R-30 Bulava (SS-NX-30) ballistic missile was developed at
the Moscow Institute of Thermal Technology. It can carry up to
10 nuclear warheads and has a range of 8,000 kilometers (about
5,000 miles). 

The two previous unsuccessful launches occurred September 7 and
October 25 from a ballistic missile submarine in the White Sea.
The first missile failed to reach its target, and the second
self-destructed after deviating from its trajectory. 

© 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 28 Kommersant Moscow: Rocket Flop Threatens Rearmament Program - 
 	 	
Dec. 26, 2006 

 // Third accident in a row

The test of the newest version of the Bulava naval atomic
missile from on board the nuclear submarine Dmitry Donskoi ended
in failure. This is the third accident in a row for the Bulava.
The problems with testing the rocket cast doubt on the weapons
program under which submarines are to be equipped with those
rockets beginning next year so that they become the basis of the
Russian naval strategic forces. 

Kommersant learned that the Dmitry Donskoi went to sea for
the purpose of launching a Bulava at the end of last week.
Yesterday, the submarine returned to its base at Severodvinsk.
The rocket launch was to take place on Sunday, but there was no
official report that it occurred. The Defense Ministryalways
reports successful missile launches, and sometimes Defense
Minister Sergey Ivanov reports them to Russian President
Vladimir Putinpersonally on television. A Kommersant source in
the Navy General Staff stated that, after the unsuccessful
launch of a Bulava on October 25 (the sale day that Putin spoke
with the public on live television), a ban was placed on the
distribution of any information on missile tests.
 
Igor Panarin, press secretary for the Federal Space Agency,
which is responsible for creating the Bulava, would not confirm
or deny yesterday that there had been an unsuccessful rocket
launch. He told Kommersant that “the agency's commentary will
come immediately after the official Defense Ministry statement.”
The ministry had made no statement as of last night. Head of the
Defense Ministry information and public relations department
Sergey Rybakov declined to comment on the Bulava launch for
Kommersant yesterday, but Capt. Igor Babenko, press secretary of
the Northern Fleet, noted that responsibility for Bulava test
carried out the day before by the Fleet lies with the Naval
Thermotechnics Institute. 

After tests of the Bulava ended in failure in September and
October 2006, changes were made in the test program. Those test
were made with the Dmitry Donskoi submerged, while Sunday's test
was conducted with the craft on the water's surface. 

In 1997, after three unsuccessful launches of the modernized
Bark naval nuclear missile, the Russian Security Council
scrapped its development and the Moscow Institute of
Thermotechnics began developing a unified naval missile for
production at the Votkinsk plant in Udmurtia. That institute was
the developer of the strategic land rocket force. 

A source in the Defense Ministry says that an interagency
commission will begin an investigation today of the causes of
the failed launch. “The failure places under threat the
implementation of the state armament program to equip the
Russian strategic naval forces with Bulava missiles in 2007,”
the source said. Delays in the Bulava program, the source
continued, could prevent the Sevmash plant in Severodvinsk from
supplying the Navy with even the Yury Dolgoruky, the first of
three model 955 Borei missile-carrying submarines, by the end of
2007, in spite of statements by Russian President Vladimir
Putin. 

Ivan Safronov; Elina Bilevskaya, Murmansk                

All the Article in Russian  as of Dec. 26, 2006

© 1991-2006 ZAO "Kommersant. Publishing House". All rights
*****************************************************************
 29 AP: Feds Consider Guards at Nuclear Plants  (pm)
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:58:48 -0800

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<x-flowed>
   Dec. 26, 2006, 2:43PM

Feds Consider Guards at Nuclear Plants


By MARC LEVY Associated Press Writer
© 2006 The Associated Press


HARRISBURG, Pa. ‹ The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to ask for
public comment on a five-year-old petition by an activist group that wants
the agency to require nuclear power plants to station guards at facility
entrances.

Members of the nuclear watchdog group Three Mile Island Alert developed the
petition during the summer of 2001 and say a response by the federal agency
is long overdue. The group proposed the idea as a deterrent to terrorists
who think an unmanned entrance gate is a sign that a successful attack is
possible.

Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan said posting a guard at an entrance boils
down to appearance, not an actual layer of security. Beyond the entrance
gate, there are multiple security checkpoints that a person must pass before
getting into the sensitive part of a plant, said Sheehan.

Still, the commission plans to ask for public comment on the petition in the
next two weeks as part of a wider effort to make permanent some of the
security improvements it ordered after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11,
2001. A public comment period that addresses a broad array of security
measures ends Jan. 9, but the agency plans to extend the period and ask for
comments on Three Mile Island Alert's petition, commission spokesman Neil
Sheehan said.

"It's a petition that has been kind of on hold for a long time because there
have been a multitude of security issues that we've been looking at,"
Sheehan said Tuesday.

Since the terrorist attacks, Three Mile Island has beefed up its defenses,
adding concrete barriers, fencing, guard towers and more security officers.
Nuclear plants everywhere were required to toughen background checks for
plant workers and contractors, add more physical barriers and security
patrols, and extend the distance between the plant and the vehicle
checkpoint, Sheehan said.

Last January, Three Mile Island's operator, AmerGen Energy Co., moved its
armed guards posted at the entrance a few hundred yards back to a vehicle
checkpoint. It said the move would consolidate security at a crucial
entryway and prevent the guards from being isolated along Route 441, which
runs past the plant on the Susquehanna River.

Critics, however, said the move would leave unprotected two bridges to the
island, about 10 miles south of Harrisburg.

A partial meltdown occurred in Three Mile Island's Unit 2 reactor in March
1979.

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 30 Iran may need nuclear power: study 
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 11:26:54 -0600 (CST)

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/26/AR20061226003
61.html

Iran may need nuclear power: study
By Jim Wolf1 hour, 21 minutes ago

Iran's claim to need nuclear power may be genuine, given that it could run out
of oil to export as soon as eight years from now, according to an analysis
published on Tuesday by the National Academy of Sciences.

The study's author, Roger Stern, a researcher at Johns Hopkins University in
Maryland, said investment in Iranian oil production had been inadequate to
offset oil field declines and the explosive growth in domestic demand.

"I'm not saying that Iran will have no oil in eight years," Stern said in a
telephone interview. "I'm saying that they will be using all of it for
themselves."

The analysis, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, said the Iranian government could become "politically
vulnerable" from declining exports.

Oil exports account for about 70 percent of Iranian government revenue, said
Stern, of the university's department of geography and environmental
engineering.

He projected that in five years, Iranian oil exports may be less than half
their present level, and could drop to zero by 2015.

"It therefore seems possible that Iran's claim to need nuclear power might be
genuine, an indicator of distress from anticipated export revenue shortfalls,"
he wrote. "If so, the Iranian regime may be more vulnerable than is presently
understood."

Iran has vowed to boost its uranium enrichment drive despite new U.N.
sanctions approved on Saturday aimed at rolling back a nuclear program that
the West fears is a prelude to atomic weapons.

Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns called on Japan, Europe, Russia and
China to stop "business as usual" with Iran "to drive up the cost to the
Iranians of essentially doing what they're doing" with uranium enrichment.
*****************************************************************
 31 Patriot News: NRC fails to act on 2001 petition; TMI Alert
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:58:22 -0800

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<x-flowed>
NRC fails to act on 2001 petition
TMI Alert wants entrance guards
Tuesday, December 26, 2006

BY GARRY LENTON
Of The Patriot-News

Long before the world changed on Sept. 11, 2001, Harrisburg-based watchdog
Three Mile Island Alert said commercial nuclear power plants were vulnerable
to terror attacks.

In the summer of 2001, the group spent weeks developing a petition to ask
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to create a rule requiring plant
owners to post guards at the entrances to their properties.

In timing described by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as "eerily prophetic" TMI
Alert's petition arrived at NRC headquarters on Sept. 12, the day after the
attacks.

Five years later, the NRC has taken no action on the petition.

The agency received 11 comments on the request, seven of them expressing
support.

The Washington, D.C.-based industry group Nuclear Energy Institute urged the
commission to reject the petition, saying guard posts at entrances were
unnecessary.

Local elected officials embraced the petition, including then Lancaster
Mayor Charles W. Smithgall; state Rep. Bruce Smith, R-Dillsburg; the
Cumberland County commissioners; and representatives from Lower Allen and
Springettsbury townships.

"I'm convinced they are just going to ignore it or table it for eternity so
they don't have a public relations disaster," said Scott Portzline, who
helped write the petition.

Eric Epstein, chairman of TMI Alert, accused the NRC of a "conspiracy of
inertia."

The NRC, which has repeatedly promised to act on the request soon, says it
is not dragging its feet.

NRC spokeswoman Diane Screnci said the agency is reviewing the petition to
see how it fits with security changes the agency made since Sept. 11, and
other rule changes announced in October.

"We expect to have a document in the Federal Register around the end of the
year or so that describes our plan for resolving this petition," she said.

Epstein dismissed the statement as meaningless. "What does 'or so' mean?" he
asked.

Portzline and Epstein said the agency is caught between the industry, which
doesn't want the added expense, and a desire to avoid publicly opposing a
request for better security.

Both the agency and industry officials reject the characterization. Industry
officials point to the millions they have invested in security upgrades
since Sept. 11, and say adding guard posts at the plant entrances would do
nothing to improve security.

TMI Alert maintains that a visible security presence at the entrances to the
plants would be a deterrent. Terrorist research targets, Portzline said.

If no one is guarding the entrance to the plant, they might conclude that an
attack is possible, he said.

At the time the petition was filed in 2001, Three Mile Island had no
security at its main entrance off Route 441 in Londonderry Twp. Exelon had
eliminated the post.

The security officers were returned after the terrorist attacks and remained
until January 2006, when plant officials decided to reposition the officers
closer to the plant's main area.

Plant officials said the change would improve security around the core area
of the facility. The post was also too vulnerable to attack, they said.

The move left the two bridges that connect the nuclear station to the
highway unprotected, and that rankled some. If the bridges were destroyed,
fire trucks and ambulances would not be unable to get to the plant.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the nuclear industry has increased security by
adding concrete barriers, high-tech fencing, guard towers and more security
officers.

The security force at TMI recently scored well on two mock commando raids.

The drills, conducted by the NRC, are designed to simulate combat situations
and are used to judge the adequacy of plant security.

GARRY LENTON: 255-8264 or glenton@patriot-news.com




©2006 The Patriot-News
© 2006 PennLive.com All Rights Reserved.

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 32 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice
 
                         FR Doc 06-9868 
[Federal Register: December 26, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 247)] 
[Notices] [Page 77417-77418] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26de06-73]                         
 
Dates: Weeks of December 25, 2006, January 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 
2007.
 
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
 
Status: Public and Closed.
 
Matters To Be Considered Week of December 25, 2006 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. 
Final Rule: Secure Transfer of Nuclear Material (RIN 3150-AH90) 
(Tentative).
 
b. 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.govThursday , January 11, 2007 1:25 p.m. 
Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative) a. Final 
Rulemaking to Revise 10 CFR 73.1, Design Basis Threat (DBT) 
Requirements (Tentative).
 
b. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, & Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Station), 
LBP-06-20 (9/ 22/06): Entergy Nuclear Generation Company & 
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station), 
LBP-06-23 (10/16/06) (Tentative).
 
1:30 p.m. Periodic Briefing on New Reactor Issues (Public 
Meeting) (Contact: Donna Williams, 301 415-1322).
 
This meeting will be webcast lie 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).
 
The meeting will be webcast live at the Web address: 
http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Week of January 29, 2007--Tentative Wednesday, January 31, 2007 
9:30 a.m. Discussion of Security Issues (closed--Ex. 1 & 3). To 
be held at department of Homeland Security headquarters, 
Washington, DC.
 
Thursday, February 1, 2007 9:30 a.m. Discussion of management 
Issues (Closed--Ex. 2). 1:30 a.m. Briefing on Strategic Workforce 
Planning and Human Capital Initiatives (Public Meeting) (Contact: 
Mary Ellen Beach, 301 415-6803).
 
* * * * * 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.
 
* * * * * Addition 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) tentatively scheduled on 
Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 12:55 p.m. was cancelled and will 
be rescheduled at a later date. Affirmation of Final Rulemaking 
to Revise 10 CFR 73.1, Design Basis Threat (DBT) Requirements 
tentatively scheduled on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 12:55 
p.m. was cancelled and tentatively rescheduled on January 11, 
2007, at 1:25 p.m. * * * * * The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule 
can be found on the Internet at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/[fxsp0]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 301-415-2100, or by
 
[[Page 77418]] 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, DC 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 20, 2006.
 
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
 
[FR Doc. 06-9868 Filed 12-21-06; 10:58 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M

 
*****************************************************************
 33 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: A new day for energy 

Today: December 26, 2006 at 7:10:46 PST 

Under the new Democratic leadership, Congress has a chance to 
boost green industries 

The 110th Congress will convene Jan. 4, with Democrats in charge
for the first time in 12 years. One of the changes that we
believe will become almost immediately apparent is Congress' new
attitude toward energy. 

The Republican-controlled Congress almost exclusively embraced -
for now and the long term - the traditional energy industries
that deal in oil, coal, natural gas and nuclear power. It is
true that the country is dependent upon these industries, but it
is also true that this dependence should not go on forever. 

For the United States, dependency on oil means dependency on the
Middle East, jeopardizing our national security. 

And while the U.S. has plenty of natural gas, as does Canada,
where most of our imported natural gas comes from, it is
vulnerable to sudden and sustained price increases. 

The burning of coal contributes greatly to air pollution, and
extracting the mineral is dangerous and exposes miners to health
hazards. 

Finally, nuclear energy produces waste that remains deadly for
hundreds of thousands of years, and the federal government's
only plan for the waste is to bury it in Southern Nevada in
unsafe tunnels at Yucca Mountain. 

It is clear to us that the Democrats were right, given these
problems, to have committed themselves to begin planning for the
day when renewable energy provides a much greater percentage of
our total energy use. 

Democrats want 25 percent of all new cars by 2010 capable of
running on alternative fuels. And they want the government to
provide incentives, beginning immediately, to jump-start a
nationwide boom in industries that produce either renewable
energy or products that are much more energy-efficient. In
addition to their environmental benefits, the industries would
spur the economy by creating tens of thousands of new,
well-paying jobs. 

We hope the Democrats can initiate this new day for America
without encountering resistance from a source whose current
policies have been repudiated by the voters - the White House. 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 34 Platts: New reactor construction is in jeopardy due to funding
 
Washington (Platts)--26Dec2006
 
The nuclear industry's plans to break ground for three or more 
plants by late 2008 or early 2009 is in jeopardy because of 
problems with the federal government's budget for fiscal 2007 and 
2008, Nuclear Energy Institute President/CEO Frank "Skip" Bowman 
said in a December 18 letter to President George W. Bush. 

Most government agencies are operating on FY-06 funding levels 
and might continue to run without an increase for the full fiscal 
year. In the letter, Bowman said three key areas needed to be 
addressed. He urged the president to ensure that DOE's Nuclear 
Power 2010 cost-sharing program for reactor design and 
engineering work continues to be funded. 

He also asked that DOE receive enough funds to start up an energy 
loan guarantee office. In addition, he said, NRC needed 
congressional approval for its full funding request in order to 
avoid licensing delays.

Bowman told Bush it would be a "fitting legacy for your 
administration" to have new reactor construction under way while 
he was still in office.

Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 35 Detroit News: Nuclear waste powers disposal struggle - 

12/25/06 - The 

[Detnews.com]  		 			

Monday, December 25, 2006                                                       
 			
G. Randall Goss / Associated Press 			

BIG ROCK POINT NUCLEAR PLANT: The facility near Charlevoix was
the nation's longest-running commercial nuclear plant before it
closed in 1997. Groups want to turn Big Rock into a park, but
experts say leftover nuclear waste is hazardous to humans,
wildlife and the Great Lakes. 		 					 					 					 						 
											 												 			
Clarence Tabb Jr. / The Detroit News 			

FERMI 2 POWER PLANT: The facility in Newport keeps radioactive
spent fuel in indoor pools, but it is running out of room.
												 	 	 	 	 											 											 											
												 			
With no end in sight for the opening of a proposed communal dump
in Nevada to permanently store the nation's nuclear waste,
Michigan's radioactive waste is piling up -- a costly and
perplexing legacy of the reliable generator of electricity that
residents have depended on since 1962.

It's also a costly and perplexing legacy for the environmentally
sensitive Great Lakes basin, where 31 reactors are near lakes
Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario, producing waste that must be
stored on site for now.

Like the United States, Canada is searching for a permanent
community dump site for high-level waste. But a proposal
unfolding in Ontario to build a permanent underground repository
less than a mile from Lake Huron to store low and intermediate
radioactive waste -- such as contaminated mops, clothes and
tools -- from all of the provinces' nuclear plants is being
fought by a Michigan congressman who fears a leak could make its
way into Lake Huron, creating a nightmare throughout the Great
Lakes region.

"It's a technology that they pushed forward without resolving
what to do with the end product -- the nuclear waste. It's like
building a house without a toilet," said Michael Keegan of the
Coalition for a Nuclear-Free Great Lakes.

Michigan has four operating commercial reactors at three sites
that daily add to the nation's as-yet unresolved problem of
long-term storage of waste, the radioactive leftovers from
reactors that no longer produce economically viable energy, but
are so hazardous that they will have to be stored safely for 1
million years.

And Detroit Edison, the owner of the Fermi 2 Power Plant, is
considering building a new nuclear plant to meet the state's
electricity needs.

But even the state's closed commercial facility -- Big Rock
Point Nuclear Plant near Charlevoix -- is sparking controversy
because of its remaining radioactive waste.

A local conservancy and the state's natural resources agency
would like to buy a huge scenic and pristine stretch of land
along Lake Michigan where the Big Rock plant once operated and
turn it into a public park. Critics vow to stop it, charging
that the eight 20-foot-tall casks of radioactive material on the
property threaten the health of humans, wildlife and Lake
Michigan.

Of the four sites in Michigan that have or are producing nuclear
energy commercially, Big Rock Point and Palisades near South
Haven have outdoor casks storing radioactive waste.

The two other facilities -- Cook, with two reactors in Bridgman,
and Fermi 2 in Newport -- have been able to keep radioactive
spent fuel in indoor cooling and shielding pools adjacent to the
reactors. But Cook and Fermi 2 are running out of space in the
pools and will have to build outdoor storage in the next few
years in order to keep operating.
U.S. entices plant builders

Michigan gets about 13 percent of its energy from nuclear
plants, although most -- more than 75 percent -- of Cook's
production goes to Indiana.

Meanwhile, as the nation's energy needs soar, the federal
government is trying to entice companies to start building new
nuclear plants.

The energy bill signed by President Bush last year provides loan
incentives, tax credits and federal risk insurance for builders
of new nuclear plants. No nuclear plants have been built in the
United States since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979.

But even without new plants, more than 100 facilities around the
country are waiting for a permanent burial site for their waste.
Ten sites with 13 reactors -- in Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio and
New York -- are along the U.S. side of the Great Lakes.

Ontario has 20 reactors and proposes more.

The sprawling Bruce nuclear facility, 150 miles northeast of
Detroit, wants to build a huge repository for low- to
intermediate-level radioactive waste less than a mile from Lake
Huron. In addition to storing its own lower-level wastes, Bruce
would take the lower-level waste of the Pickering and Darlington
plants.

Concerned about potential leaks, U.S. Rep. Bart Stupak,
D-Menominee, a supporter of nuclear power generally, is trying
to stop the repository in Kincardine.

"How foolhardy to have this on the shores of Lake Huron," said
Stupak, who is in line to lead the House Energy and Commerce
subcommittee on oversight in the next Congress and hopes to hold
hearings on the Bruce proposal. "How do you clean up (nuclear
contamination) in water?"

Michigan nuclear site owners are exasperated by how long it's
taking the federal government to take over the waste.

A huge fight is under way over the sole site being studied as
the nation's potential permanent dump -- Yucca Mountain in
Nevada.

Questions have been raised about whether Yucca Mountain has two
of the characteristics needed for long-term storage to work --
being geologically stable and dry.

The Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate means that Sen. Harry
Reid of Nevada, a longtime opponent of having the national dump
at Yucca Mountain, will become Senate majority leader, giving
him huge levers to delay or even derail it.

"Who knows when Yucca Mountain will be ready?" said Mark Savage,
spokesman for Nuclear Management Co., which operates the
Palisades plant.

"The waste sits here, and the operators have to maintain its
safety and security. We're doing that, but the federal
government really has shirked its responsibility."

Even if Yucca Mountain works out, the most rosy projection for
when it could open is 2017. And once it or an alternative site
opens, Michigan's waste will be in line with all the other
states that are just as anxious to get rid of their waste piling
up at commercial power plants.

In the meantime, Michigan and the other Great Lakes states have
to wait, though storage casks are built to safely store waste
for 100 years.

You can reach Deb Price at dprice@detnews.comor (202) 662-8736.
								 							 							 						 					 					 					 					
© Copyright 2006 The Detroit News. All rights reserved. 	 	 	 	
*****************************************************************
 36 Journal News: Time to get after Indian Point staffers who muzzle workers 

(Original publication: December 26, 2006)
 
Usually when we hear from rank-and-file Indian Point employees,
it is to remind us that the nuclear power plans are "safe,
secure and vital," with some emphasis on vital, as in, "our jobs
are vital to us." It was a bit disheartening then to read where
some workers at the Buchanan plants feel stifled by supervisors
when it comes to raising safety issues - so much so that they
have complained to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "Safe,
secure and muzzled" doesn't sound like much of a slogan or
policy, now does it?

Allegations of the employee angst is referenced in the NRC's
54-page inspection report to Indian Point setting forth what
regulators gleaned during inspections and interviews with
workers. An article by staff writer Greg Clary included this
from NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan: "We rely on plant workers
coming forward to raise concerns, not only with (the operator),
but with us, too. If they feel like they're impeded from doing
that because there would be a backlash, we want to know what the
company is doing to address that."

The NRC gave Indian Point 30 days to come up with a plan to make
workers feel more comfortable about speaking up, and the plants
have already announced steps aimed at reinforcing "the
importance and necessity for raising safety issues," said Indian
Point spokesman Jim Steets. At the same time, the NRC said the
conditions at the plants are safe for workers and the public -
perhaps evidence that the NRC employee interviews did not reveal
any extraordinary safety problems. In any case, the allegations
have to sting; employees can't sing the company's praises so
well in public while they are biting their tongues on safety in
private.

Certainly more than their jobs are at stake.

The NRC findings come as Indian Point owner Entergy Nuclear
Northeast is ramping up for what portends to be a difficult and
politics-charged relicensing process. At the same time, a host
of New York and Connecticut lawmakers is pressing for an
independent safety study of Indian Point. The GOP-led Congress
has resisted legislation authorizing the studies, spurred in
part by problems that have ranged from faulty emergency sirens
to leaking radioactive material.

"Everything changes with the new Democratic Congress," Rep.
Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, a co-sponsor with Reps. Maurice Hinchey,
D-Middletown, Nita Lowey, D-Harrison, outgoing Sue Kelly,
R-Katonah, and Christopher Shays, R-Conn., of the Independent
Safety Assessment. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., sponsored
similar legislation in the Senate.

In the meantime, Entergy and the NRC should dismiss whoever -
supervisors? their bosses? employee peers? - is responsible for
the mum's-the-word approach on safety. They undermine the
efforts of everyone at Indian Point who believes the plants are
"safe, secure and vital," and heighten skepticism among the
legions who aren't so sure.
 
                                
Most NRC documents, including Indian Point related
inspection reports can be accessed at the NRCs web based public
reading room: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html 

IR 05000247-06-006; Entergy Nuclear Northeast; 09/18/06 -
10/06/2006; Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem
Identification and Resolution. 

Now you can read the real report instead of the lame and biased
opinion of the nyjournalnews that they would have you believe is
news. Below is the summary from the NRC Report. I encourage you
to the read the real report rather than rely on the JN biased
and lame opinion. 

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 
IR 05000247/2006-006; 09/18/2006 - 10/06/2006; Indian Point
Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem Identification and
Resolution. 
This team inspection was performed by three regional inspectors
and two resident inspectors. 
Three findings of very low safety significance (Green) were
identified, two of which were also non-cited violations (NCVs).
The significance of most findings is indicated by their color
(Green, White, Yellow, Red) using Inspection Manual Chapter
(IMC) 0609, “Significance Determination Process” (SDP). Findings
for which the SDP does not apply may be Green or be assigned a
severity level after NRC management review. The NRC’s program
for overseeing the safe operation of commercial nuclear power
reactors is described in NUREG-1649, “Reactor Oversight
Process,” Revision 3, dated July 2000. 

Identification and Resolution of Problems 
The inspectors concluded that the implementation of the
corrective action program at Indian Point Unit 2 was generally
effective. The inspectors noted that Entergy staff had a low
threshold for identifying problems and entering them in the
corrective action program. The inspectors also noted that once
entered into the system, items were screened, prioritized, and
evaluated commensurate with their significance using established
criteria. The inspectors determined that corrective actions
addressed the identified causes and were typically implemented
in a timely manner. In addition, the team noted that Entergy was
generally effective in reviewing and applying lessons learned
from industry operating experience. The inspectors found that
audits and assessments were critical and, in most cases,
appropriate actions were taken to address identified issues.
However, the inspectors also found that the results of an
independent safety culture assessment were not entered into the
corrective action program for timely evaluation and appropriate
action. The inspectors found that most workers indicated that
they would raise issues that they recognized as nuclear safety
issues. However, the inspectors also found that a number of
workers interviewed indicated that they were aware of
individuals they perceived as having been treated negatively by
management for raising issues; most of these workers were in the
Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) department. Some workers
expressed reluctance to raise issues under certain circumstances
due to a number of reasons, including fear of disciplinary
action and concerns with the efficacy of the corrective action
program. While most workers made a distinction between nuclear
safety issues and other concerns, the inspectors noted that some
of the illustrative examples provided by plant workers could
have nuclear safety implications. However, the inspectors did
not identify any more than minor issues, which had not been
raised.

Posted by: nuclear environmentalist on Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:54 am 
 
      Most NRC documents, including Indian Point related
inspection reports can be accessed at the NRCs web based public
reading room: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html 

IR 05000247-06-006; Entergy Nuclear Northeast; 09/18/06 -
10/06/2006; Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem
Identification and Resolution. 

Now you can read the real report instead of the lame and biased
opinion of the nyjournalnews that they would have you believe is
news. Below is the summary from the NRC Report. I encourage you
to the read the real report rather than rely on the JN biased
and lame opinion. 

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 
IR 05000247/2006-006; 09/18/2006 - 10/06/2006; Indian Point
Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem Identification and
Resolution. 
This team inspection was performed by three regional inspectors
and two resident inspectors. 
Three findings of very low safety significance (Green) were
identified, two of which were also non-cited violations (NCVs).
The significance of most findings is indicated by their color
(Green, White, Yellow, Red) using Inspection Manual Chapter
(IMC) 0609, “Significance Determination Process” (SDP). Findings
for which the SDP does not apply may be Green or be assigned a
severity level after NRC management review. The NRC’s program
for overseeing the safe operation of commercial nuclear power
reactors is described in NUREG-1649, “Reactor Oversight
Process,” Revision 3, dated July 2000. 

Identification and Resolution of Problems 
The inspectors concluded that the implementation of the
corrective action program at Indian Point Unit 2 was generally
effective. The inspectors noted that Entergy staff had a low
threshold for identifying problems and entering them in the
corrective action program. The inspectors also noted that once
entered into the system, items were screened, prioritized, and
evaluated commensurate with their significance using established
criteria. The inspectors determined that corrective actions
addressed the identified causes and were typically implemented
in a timely manner. In addition, the team noted that Entergy was
generally effective in reviewing and applying lessons learned
from industry operating experience. The inspectors found that
audits and assessments were critical and, in most cases,
appropriate actions were taken to address identified issues.
However, the inspectors also found that the results of an
independent safety culture assessment were not entered into the
corrective action program for timely evaluation and appropriate
action. The inspectors found that most workers indicated that
they would raise issues that they recognized as nuclear safety
issues. However, the inspectors also found that a number of
workers interviewed indicated that they were aware of
individuals they perceived as having been treated negatively by
management for raising issues; most of these workers were in the
Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) department. Some workers
expressed reluctance to raise issues under certain circumstances
due to a number of reasons, including fear of disciplinary
action and concerns with the efficacy of the corrective action
program. While most workers made a distinction between nuclear
safety issues and other concerns, the inspectors noted that some
of the illustrative examples provided by plant workers could
have nuclear safety implications. However, the inspectors did
not identify any more than minor issues, which had not been
raised.

Posted by: nuclear environmentalist on Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:54 am 
 
  
      Most NRC documents, including Indian Point related
inspection reports can be accessed at the NRCs web based public
reading room: 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html 

IR 05000247-06-006; Entergy Nuclear Northeast; 09/18/06 -
10/06/2006; Indian Point Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem
Identification and Resolution. 

Now you can read the real report instead of the lame and biased
opinion of the nyjournalnews that they would have you believe is
news. Below is the summary from the NRC Report. I encourage you
to the read the real report rather than rely on the JN biased
and lame opinion. 

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS 
IR 05000247/2006-006; 09/18/2006 - 10/06/2006; Indian Point
Nuclear Generating Unit 2; Problem Identification and
Resolution. 
This team inspection was performed by three regional inspectors
and two resident inspectors. 
Three findings of very low safety significance (Green) were
identified, two of which were also non-cited violations (NCVs).
The significance of most findings is indicated by their color
(Green, White, Yellow, Red) using Inspection Manual Chapter
(IMC) 0609, “Significance Determination Process” (SDP). Findings
for which the SDP does not apply may be Green or be assigned a
severity level after NRC management review. The NRC’s program
for overseeing the safe operation of commercial nuclear power
reactors is described in NUREG-1649, “Reactor Oversight
Process,” Revision 3, dated July 2000. 

Identification and Resolution of Problems 
The inspectors concluded that the implementation of the
corrective action program at Indian Point Unit 2 was generally
effective. The inspectors noted that Entergy staff had a low
threshold for identifying problems and entering them in the
corrective action program. The inspectors also noted that once
entered into the system, items were screened, prioritized, and
evaluated commensurate with their significance using established
criteria. The inspectors determined that corrective actions
addressed the identified causes and were typically implemented
in a timely manner. In addition, the team noted that Entergy was
generally effective in reviewing and applying lessons learned
from industry operating experience. The inspectors found that
audits and assessments were critical and, in most cases,
appropriate actions were taken to address identified issues.
However, the inspectors also found that the results of an
independent safety culture assessment were not entered into the
corrective action program for timely evaluation and appropriate
action. The inspectors found that most workers indicated that
they would raise issues that they recognized as nuclear safety
issues. However, the inspectors also found that a number of
workers interviewed indicated that they were aware of
individuals they perceived as having been treated negatively by
management for raising issues; most of these workers were in the
Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) department. Some workers
expressed reluctance to raise issues under certain circumstances
due to a number of reasons, including fear of disciplinary
action and concerns with the efficacy of the corrective action
program. While most workers made a distinction between nuclear
safety issues and other concerns, the inspectors noted that some
of the illustrative examples provided by plant workers could
have nuclear safety implications. However, the inspectors did
not identify any more than minor issues, which had not been
raised.

Posted by: nuclear environmentalist on Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:53 am 
 
  Copyright 2006 The Journal News, a Gannett Co.Inc. newspaper 
serving Westchester, Rockland and Putnam Counties in New York. 
Use of this site signifies your agreement to the Terms of 
Serviceand Privacy Policy, updated June 7, 2005.
*****************************************************************
 37 Yemen Observer: Yemen to have nuclear energy by 2007

  By Huda al-Kibsi
 Dec 25, 2006, 17:17

  Nuclear energy could be one solution to Yemen’s electricity
problem.   

Yemen’s electricity generating and distribution capacity is
currently vastly deficient in meeting the public’s electrical
needs. Less than one-third of households in Yemen have access to
electricity from the national power grid.   Most cities have
regular rolling blackouts, and in rural areas, only 13 percent
of the population has access to the national grid. 

Yemen’s electricity shortage, in addition to harming the
quality of life, has a negative impact on economic development,
and foreign investment. Yemen’s electrical requirements will
grow substantially as Yemen’s population of 20 million is
expected to double in less than 25 years.  Nuclear energy could
be one solution to the country’s electricity problems, said
Dr. Moustafa Y. Bahran, Science and Technology Advisor to the
President of Yemen and Chairman of the National Atomic Energy
Commission of Yemen.  

“Energy enables agricultural countries to produce food and
those who can not produce food to buy it. Thus, we can say that
the national energy security is taking a big part of the general
national interest to cover the future and present needs,� he
said. “This energy security is the one which is leading the
international policies to control the energy sources in the
world,� said Bahran. “A nation without energy security is a
nation without a future.�   

Critics of nuclear energy point out that it is not without
risks. There is, for example, the possibility of an accident at
a nuclear plant, such as the lethal accident that occurred at
Chernobyl, a nuclear power plant in the former USSR (now
Ukraine), in 1986, killing scores of people. Also, a nuclear
power plant presents a huge security risk. If the technology
falls into the wrong hands, nuclear weapons production could
pose a global threat. Also, the threat of nuclear waste and
reactor malfunction, both potentially producing toxic radiation,
need to be considered But nuclear energy could dramatically
boost the economic and social development of developing
countries, said Bahran.

“It could be a strong economic and developmental
motivation.� In a lecture entitled “The Future of Nuclear
Energy in Yemen� held last Wednesday, Dec. 13, organized by
the al-Afif Cultural Foundation, Bahran declared that the
country will start working on producing nuclear energy in 2007.
“This could be the best solution for the problem of producing
electricity in Yemen,� he said. “The total production of
electricity in Yemen is only 700 mega watts.

This is not enough for human needs, let alone the industrial and
agricultural needs. This production only suffices for about 53
percent of the Yemeni population. We need a scientific solution
to overcome this shortage in energy,� said Bahran. “Science
has no limitation and producing electricity through nuclear
energy, which is not impossible but very close,� he said.
“We expected the production of electricity through nuclear
energy to be quintupled in the coming five years.� 

This nuclear energy project is part of President Ali Abdullah
Saleh’s election program. Saleh has invited the private sector
to participate in renewable energy activities in Yemen, and
agreed to buy electric stations generated by foreign or local
companies.  Saleh has also declared that Yemen will use nuclear
energy to cover the shortage of electricity in the country, in
cooperation with the United States and Canada. “We will
generate electrical energy from nuclear energy in cooperation
with the United States and Canada,� said Saleh. “In the
first stage, we will generate 20,000 mega watts.�  

A national committee headed by Abdul-Aziz Abdul-Ghani, head of
the State Consultative Council, has been formed to tackle this
issue. Bahran and Abdul-Kareem al-Arhabi, Minister of Planning
and International Cooperation, are also members of the
committee.  “The NAEC has negotiated the project with a number
of American and Canadian companies to produce electricity
through nuclear energy,� Bahran said. “The government of
Yemen is going to support these companies with security, safety
and lands. It is also going to buy electricity from these
companies.�     

In his new book, Nuclear Energy: A Look at the Future, Bahran
followed the cost of the electricity power sources’ unit, the
kilowatt-hour, through the years 1999-2004 in the United States.
He compared the cost of power in the four sources used in
producing electricity.  Nuclear power costs $0. 0168 per
kilowatt-hour, while  coal costs $0.0192; gas $0.0587; and oil
$0.0539.  Nuclear energy is the cheapest, even cheaper than
coal, which contributes to 40 percent of the world’s
electricity production, according to Bahran’s book. In
addition, coal, gas, and oil reserves will eventually be
exhausted, and are consistently increasing in price while
nuclear energy has a stabilized price. 

Coal is also very dangerous, because it pours carbon into the
atmosphere, contributing to global warming and climate change.
Bahran founded the National Atomic Energy Commission of the
Republic of Yemen, which is now one of the leading organizations
in the region. He has been able, through NATEC, to build one of
the most effective Regulatory Systems for the Safety and
Security of Radioactive materials in the world.  

In the areas of the peaceful application of Nuclear Energy,
NATEC, in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency under Bahran’s leadership, has been able to introduce
relevant technologies servicing the developmental processes in
Yemen.  “The NAEC is establishing a number of projects in
areas such as public health, agriculture, industry, water
resources, environment, and many others in Sana’a and Dhamar
governorates,� he said. “Since these projects have achieved
amazing results, and because of its being a healthy, safe, and
inexpensive energy for the society and individual, there will be
more experiments on other coming projects,� said Bahran.
“Today Yemen is reaping the benefits of nuclear technology.�
 

Nuclear energy has many other uses other than power generation. 
In medicine, for example, it can be used to diagnose and treat
various diseases. The first Radiation Oncology Center and the
first Nuclear Medicine Center in Yemen were established under
Bahran’s leadership. Since 2000, Bahran has been heavily
involved both regionally and internationally in the global
efforts to strengthen Nuclear and Radiological Security, both
technically and politically. 

He as participated in countless national, regional and
international professional meetings related to Nuclear Safety
and Security and the Peaceful Application of Atomic Energy in
addition to representing his country in many political events
worldwide. Bahran has been one of the strongest advocates of the
International Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime. Copyright 2002 -
2006 Yemen Observer 
*****************************************************************
 38 NRC: Arkansas Nuclear One, Unit 1; Notice of Consideration of
 
                        FR Doc E6-22026 
[Federal Register: December 26, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 247)] 
[Notices] [Page 77414-77417] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26de06-72]                         
 
Issuance of Amendment to Renewed Facility Operating License, 
Proposed No Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, and 
Opportunity for a Hearing The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(the Commission) is considering issuance of an amendment to 
Renewed Facility Operating License No. DPR-51 issued to Entergy 
Operations, Inc. (the licensee), for operation of the Arkansas 
Nuclear One, Unit 1 (ANO-1), located in Pope County, Arkansas.
 
The proposed amendment would revise Technical Specification (TS) 
3.7.14, ``Spent Fuel Pool Boron Concentration,'' TS 3.7.15, 
``Spent Fuel Pool Storage,'' and the associated Figure 3.7.15-1, 
and TS 4.3, ``Fuel Storage,'' and the associated Figure 
4.3.1.2-1. In addition, this amendment would add TS 5.5.17, 
``Metamic Coupon Sampling Program,'' and Surveillance Requirement 
3.7.15.2 that directs the performance of the coupon sampling 
program.
 
The proposed TS changes support a modification to the ANO-1 spent 
fuel
 
[[Page 77415]] pool (SFP) that would utilize Metamic[supreg] 
poison insert assemblies (PIAs). In addition to the proposed 
plant modification, the licensee would increase the SFP boron 
concentration and credit boron to ensure that a 5-percent 
subcriticality margin is maintained during normal and accident 
conditions. This proposed amendment also would increase the 
allowable initial fuel assembly uranium-235 (U-235) enrichment 
from 4.1 weight percent (wt%) to a maximum U-235 enrichment of 
4.95 wt%. Before issuance of the proposed license amendment, the 
Commission will have made findings required by the Atomic Energy 
Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), and the Commission's 
regulations.
 
The Commission has made a proposed determination that the 
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration. 
Under the Commission's regulations in Title 10 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations (10 CFR), Section 50.92, this means that 
operation of the facility in accordance with the proposed 
amendment would not (1) Involve a significant increase in the 
probability or consequences of an accident previously evaluated; 
or (2) create the possibility of a new or different kind of 
accident from any accident previously evaluated; or (3) involve a 
significant reduction in a margin of safety. As required by 10 
CFR 50.91(a), the licensee has provided its analysis of the issue 
of no significant hazards consideration, which is presented 
below: 1. Does the proposed change involve a significant increase 
in the probability or consequences of an accident previously 
evaluated? Response: No.
 
Fuel Handling Accidents The current licensing bases for the dose 
consequences associate with a fuel handling accident (FHA), which 
was performed considering a maximum U-235 enrichment of 4.95 wt% 
and a maximum burnup of 60,000 megawatt-days/ton of uranium, does 
not exceed 25% of 10 CFR 100 limits. The proposed change does not 
impact the current analysis and therefore, there is no increase 
in the dose consequences associated with a[n] FHA.
 
The probability of having a[n] FHA has not increased.
 
Although it could be postulated that a Metamic[supreg] panel 
could be dropped during installation, the approximate 50 pound 
weight of the panel falling on the racks is bounded by the 
current fuel assembly drop analysis.
 
Criticality Accidents Associated With a Dropped Fuel Assembly The 
three fuel assembly drop accidents described below can be 
postulated to increase reactivity. However, for these accident 
conditions, the double contingency principle of ANS[I] [American 
National Standards Institute] N-16.1-1975 is applied. This states 
that is is unneccessary to assume two unlikely, independent, 
concurrent events to ensure protection against a criticality 
accident. Thus, for accident conditions, the presence of soluble 
boron in the storage pool water can be assumed as a realistic 
initial condition since its absence would be a second unlikely 
event.
 
Three types of drop accidents have been considered: A vertical 
drop accident, a horizontal drop accident, and an inadvertent 
drop of an assembly between the outside periphery of the rack and 
the pool wall. The structural damage to the pool liner, the 
racks, and fuel assembly resulting from a dropped fuel assembly 
striking the rack, the pool floor, or another assembly located in 
the racks is primarily dependent on the mass of the falling 
object and drop height. Since these two parameters are not 
changed by the proposed modification, the postulated structural 
damage to these items remains unchanged. In all cases the 
proposed TS limit for boron concentration ensures that a five 
percent subcriticality margin is met for the postulated 
accidents.
 
Criticality Accidents Associated With a Misplaced Fuel Assembly 
The fuel assembly misplacement accident was considered for all 
storage configurations. An assembly with high reactivity is 
assumed to be placed in a storage location which requires 
restricted storage based on initial U-235 loading, cooling time, 
and burnup. The presence of boron in the pool water assumed in 
the analysis has been shown to offset the worst case reactivity 
effect of a misplaced fuel assembly for any configuration. This 
boron requirement is less than the boron concentration required 
by the ANO-1 TS. Thus, a five percent subcriticality margin is 
met for postulated accidents, since any reactivity increase will 
be much less than the negative worth of the dissolved boron.
 
Optimum Moderation Accident For fuel storage applications in the 
SFP, water is usually present. An ``optimum moderation'' accident 
is not a concern in SFP storage racks because the rack design 
prevents the preferential reduction of water density between the 
cells of a rack (e.g., boiling between cells). In addition, the 
criticality analysis has demonstrated that keff [k-effective] 
will remain less than 1.0 when the SFP is fully flooded with 
unborated water. An ``optimum moderation'' accident in the new 
fuel vault was evaluated and the conclusions of that evaluation 
confirmed that the reactivity effect is less than the regulatory 
limit of 0.98 for keff.
 
Loss of SFP Cooling The proposed changes to the ANO-1 SFP racks 
do not result in changes to the SFP cooling system and therefore 
the probability of a loss of SFP cooling is not increased.
 
The consequences of a loss of spent fuel pool cooling were 
evaluated and found to not involve a significant increase as a 
result of the proposed changes. A thermal-hydraulic evaluation 
for the loss of SFP cooling was performed. The analysis 
determined that the minimum time to boil is more than three hours 
following a complete loss of forced cooling. This provides 
sufficient time for the operators to restore cooling or establish 
an alternate means of cooling before the water shielding above 
the top of the racks falls below 10 feet. Therefore, the proposed 
change represents no increase in the consequences of loss of pool 
cooling.
 
Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant 
increase in the probability or consequences of an accident 
previously evaluated.
 
2. Does the proposed change create the possibility of a new or 
different kind of accident from any accident previously 
evaluated? Response: No.
 
The presence of soluble boron in the pool water assumed in the 
criticality analysis is less than the boron concentration 
required by the ANO-1 TSs. Thus, a five percent subcriticality 
margin is met for postulated accidents, since any reactivity 
increase will be much less than the negative worth of the 
dissolved boron.
 
No new or different types of fuel assembly drop scenarios are 
created by the proposed change. During the installation of the 
Metamic[supreg] panels, the possible drop of a panel is bounded 
by the current fuel assembly drop analysis. No new or different 
fuel assembly misplacement accidents will be created. 
Administrative controls currently exist to assist in assuring 
fuel misplacement does not occur.
 
No changes are proposed to the spent fuel pool cooling system or 
makeup systems and therefore no new accidents are considered 
related to the loss of cooling or makeup capability.
 
Therefore, the proposed change does not create the possibility of 
a new or different kind of accident from any previously 
evaluated.
 
3. Does the proposed change involve a significant reduction in a 
margin of safety? Response: No.
 
With the presence of a nominal boron concentration, the SFP 
storage racks will be designed to assure a subcritical array with 
a five percent subcritical margin (95% probability at the 95% 
confidence level). This has been verified by criticality 
analyses.
 
Credit for soluble boron in the SFP water is permitted under 
accident conditions. The proposed modification that will allow 
insertion of Metamic[supreg] poison panels does not result in the 
potential of any new misplacement scenarios. Criticality analyses 
have been performed to determine the required boron concentration 
that would ensure the maximum keff does not exceed 0.95. The 
ANO-1 TS for the minimum SFP boron concentration is greater than 
that required to ensure keff does not exceed 0.95. Therefore, the 
margin of safety defined by taking credit for soluble boron will 
be maintained.
 
The structural analysis of the spent fuel racks along with the 
evaluation of the SFP structure indicated that the integrity of 
these structures will be maintained with the addition of the 
PIAs. The structural requirements were shown to be satisfied, 
thus the safety margins were maintained.
 
 
[[Page 77416]] In addition the proposed change includes a coupon 
sampling program that will monitor the physical properties of the 
Metamic[supreg] absorber material. The monitoring program 
provides a method of verifying that the assumptions used in the 
SFP criticality analyses remain valid.
 
Therefore, the proposed change does not involve a significant 
reduction in a margin of safety.
 
The NRC staff has reviewed the licensee's analysis and, based on 
this review, it appears that the three standards of 10 CFR 
50.92(c) are satisfied. Therefore, the NRC staff proposes to 
determine that the amendment request involves no significant 
hazards consideration.
 
The Commission is seeking public comments on this proposed 
determination. Any comments received within 30 days after the 
date of publication of this notice will be considered in making 
any final determination.
 
Normally, the Commission will not issue the amendment until the 
expiration of 60 days after the date of publication of this 
notice. The Commission may issue the license amendment before 
expiration of the 60- day period provided that its final 
determination is that the amendment involves no significant 
hazards consideration. In addition, the Commission may issue the 
amendment prior to the expiration of the 30- day comment period 
should circumstances change during the 30-day comment period such 
that failure to act in a timely way would result, for example, in 
derating or shutdown of the facility. Should the Commission take 
action prior to the expiration of either the comment period or 
the notice period, it will publish in the Federal Register a 
notice of issuance. Should the Commission make a final No 
Significant Hazards Consideration Determination, any hearing will 
take place after issuance. The Commission expects that the need 
to take this action will occur very infrequently.
 
Written comments may be submitted by mail to the Chief, 
Rulemaking, Directives and Editing Branch, Division of 
Administrative Services, Office of Administration, U.S. Nuclear 
Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC 20555-0001, and should cite 
the publication date and page number of this Federal Register 
notice. Written comments may also be delivered to Room 6D59, Two 
White Flint North, 11545 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 
from 7:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. Federal workdays. Documents may be 
examined, and/or copied for a fee, at the NRC's Public Document 
Room (PDR), located at One White Flint North, Public File Area 
O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, Maryland.
 
The filing of requests for hearing and petitions for leave to 
intervene is discussed below.
 
Within 60 days after the date of publication of this notice, the 
licensee may file a request for a hearing with respect to 
issuance of the amendment to the subject facility operating 
license and any person whose interest may be affected by this 
proceeding and who wishes to participate as a party in the 
proceeding must file a written request for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene. Requests for a hearing and a 
petition for leave to intervene shall be filed in accordance with 
the Commission's ``Rules of Practice for Domestic Licensing 
Proceedings'' in 10 CFR Part 2. Interested persons should consult 
a current copy of 10 CFR 2.309, which is available at the 
Commission's PDR, located at One White Flint North, Public File 
Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first floor), Rockville, 
Maryland. Publicly available records will be accessible from the 
Agencywide Documents Access and Management System's (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/cfr/. If a 
request for a hearing or petition for leave to intervene is filed 
by the above date, the Commission or a presiding officer 
designated by the Commission or by the Chief Administrative Judge 
of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board Panel, will rule on the 
request and/or petition; and the Secretary or the Chief 
Administrative Judge of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board 
will issue a notice of a hearing or an appropriate order.
 
As required by 10 CFR 2.309, a petition for leave to intervene 
shall set forth with particularity the interest of the petitioner 
in the proceeding, and how that interest may be affected by the 
results of the proceeding. The petition should specifically 
explain the reasons why intervention should be permitted with 
particular reference to the following general requirements: (1) 
The name, address and telephone number of the requestor or 
petitioner; (2) the nature of the requestor's/petitioner's right 
under the Act to be made a party to the proceeding; (3) the 
nature and extent of the requestor's/petitioner's property, 
financial, or other interest in the proceeding; and (4) the 
possible effect of any decision or order which may be entered in 
the proceeding on the requestors/petitioner's interest. The 
petition must also identify the specific contentions which the 
petitioner/requestor seeks to have litigated at the proceeding.
 
Each contention must consist of a specific statement of the issue 
of law or fact to be raised or controverted. In addition, the 
petitioner/requestor shall provide a brief explanation of the 
bases for the contention and a concise statement of the alleged 
facts or expert opinion which support the contention and on which 
the petitioner intends to rely in proving the contention at the 
hearing. The petitioner/requestor must also provide references to 
those specific sources and documents of which the petitioner is 
aware and on which the petitioner intends to rely to establish 
those facts or expert opinion. The petition must include 
sufficient information to show that a genuine dispute exists with 
the applicant on a material issue of law or fact. Contentions 
shall be limited to matters within the scope of the amendment 
under consideration. The contention must be one which, if proven, 
would entitle the petitioner to relief. A petitioner/requestor 
who fails to satisfy these requirements with respect to at least 
one contention will not be permitted to participate as a party.
 
Those permitted to intervene become parties to the proceeding, 
subject to any limitations in the order granting leave to 
intervene, and have the opportunity to participate fully in the 
conduct of the hearing.
 
If a hearing is requested, the Commission will make a final 
determination on the issue of no significant hazards 
consideration. The final determination will serve to decide when 
the hearing is held. If the final determination is that the 
amendment request involves no significant hazards consideration, 
the Commission may issue the amendment and make it immediately 
effective, notwithstanding the request for a hearing. Any hearing 
held would take place after issuance of the amendment. If the 
final determination is that the amendment request involves a 
significant hazards consideration, any hearing held would take 
place before the issuance of any amendment.
 
Nontimely requests and/or petitions and contentions will not be 
entertained absent a determination by the Commission or the 
presiding officer of the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board that 
the petition, request and/or the contentions should be granted 
based on a balancing of the factors specified in 10 CFR 
2.309(c)(1)(i)-(viii). A request for a hearing or a petition for 
leave to intervene must be filed by: (1) First class mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary of the
 
[[Page 77417]] Commission, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 
Washington, DC 20555- 0001, Attention: Rulemaking and 
Adjudications Staff; (2) courier, express mail, and expedited 
delivery services: Office of the Secretary, Sixteenth Floor, One 
White Flint North, 11555 Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland, 
20852, Attention: Rulemaking and Adjudications Staff; (3) e-mail 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, HEARINGDOCKET@NRC.GOV; or (4) facsimile transmission 
addressed to the Office of the Secretary, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Washington, DC, Attention: Rulemakings and 
Adjudications Staff at (301) 415-1101, verification number is 
(301) 415-1966. A copy of the request for hearing and petition 
for leave to intervene should also be sent to the Office of the 
General Counsel, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, 
DC 20555-0001, and it is requested that copies be transmitted 
either by means of facsimile transmission to 301-415-3725 or by 
e-mail to OGCMailCenter@nrc.gov. A copy of the request for 
hearing and petition for leave to intervene should also be sent 
to Terence A. Burke, Associate General Council-- Nuclear Entergy 
Services, Inc., 1340 Echelon Parkway, Jackson, Mississippi 39213, 
the attorney for the licensee.
 
For further details with respect to this action, see the 
application for amendment dated July 27, 2006, as supplemented by 
letters dated October 4 and October 9, 2006, which is available 
for public inspection at the Commission's PDR, located at One 
White Flint North, File Public Area O1F21, 11555 Rockville Pike 
(first floor), Rockville, Maryland. Publicly available records 
will be accessible from the ADAMS Public Electronic Reading Room 
on the Internet at the NRC Web site, 
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do not have 
access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing the 
documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR Reference 
staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or by e-mail 
to pdr@nrc.gov. Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 15th day of 
December 2006.
 
For The Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
Farideh E. Saba, Project Manager, Plant Licensing Branch IV, 
Division of Operating Reactor Licensing, Office of Nuclear 
Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E6-22026 Filed 12-22-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 39 AFP: Egypt wants end to 'nuclear double standards' - 

 Mon Dec 25, 12:51 PM ET 
		 	 
CAIRO (AFP) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit called 
for an end to nuclear double standards, after the United Nations 
" /> United Nationsimposed sanctions on Iran " /> Iranfor 
refusing to halt uranium enrichment. 

"The negligence of certain Western countries over questions of 
non-proliferation, and the fact that they permit some states to 
acquire a nuclear capacity while preventing others from doing so, 
is nothing but double standards," the foreign minister said in a 
statement.
 
"That must stop," he added. "It is known that Israel " /> 
Israelhas a nuclear capability that is not subject to any control 
by the International Atomic Energy Agency " /> International 
Atomic Energy Agency," the United Nations' nuclear watchdog in 
Vienna.
 
Israel has never officially admitted having nuclear weapons, but 
it is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, 
and refuses to allow international inspections of its Dimona 
nuclear facility.
 
"The fact that some countries obtain peaceful nuclear technology, 
that they master some steps in making nuclear fuel ... does not 
in any way mean they can be deemed to be 'nuclear countries,' 
because nuclear countries are those that have military nuclear 
capabilities," the Egyptian foreign minister said.
 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad defiantly declared Iran "a 
nuclear country ... whether the West likes it or not" after the 
UN Security Council on Saturday voted unanimously to impose 
sanctions on Iran's nuclear industry and ballistic missile 
programme.
 
Iran is suspected of secretly developing nuclear weapons, but its 
Islamic government insists that its nuclear programme is for 
civilian purposes only and that it will keep expanding its 
uranium enrichment capability.
 
Egypt recently revived its civilian nuclear programme after a 
20-year freeze, with hopes of building a nuclear power station by 
2020.
 
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 40 Russia-InfoCentre: Oldest Nuclear Reactor In Europe To Celebrate Its Anniversary

25.12.2006                                   

Today the oldest nuclear reactor of Eurasia, located at Russian 
science centre "Kurchatov Institute" celebrates its 60th 
anniversary. 
      
      The reactor was launched for the first time December 25 of 
1946 in northern suburbs of the Russian capital, where Russian 
physicists have performed self-sustaining chain reaction of 
uranium fission on the first nuclear reactor F-1 on the European 
continent.
      
      The rector required 500 tons of graphite and 50 tons of 
uranium for performing said reaction. The unit is a sphere with 
7.5 m in diameter. The reactor's power excursion exceeded 1 
thousand kVt, and uranium's temperature reached 60-70 degrees 
Centigrade. These power excursions were aimed at accumulating 
plutonium, for performing biological experiments and studies of 
changes in material properties under radiation impact. 
      
      This unique unit is still working nowadays and today 
celebrates its 60th anniversary.
      
      Source: Science News 	
 	 	 	
© Garant-InfoCentre,
2004-2006. All rights reserved and protected by the copyright
law.
*****************************************************************
 41 Guardian Unlimited: Industry: Build Reactors to Survive Hit

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Monday December 25, 2006 8:16 PM

By KASIE HUNT 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - The nuclear power industry wants the
government to require companies to design new nuclear reactors
that would better withstand large fires and explosions, such as
those that could be caused by a terrorist attack using hijacked
aircraft. 

``If you need to change the design to accomodate greater
security, particularly for large fires and explosions, you want
to do that up front in the design process, not after you build
the plant'' as the government requires, said Scott Peterson, a
spokesman for the Nuclear Energy Institute. 

The industry's position, set out in a Dec. 8 letter, runs
counter to the government's. 

More than a month ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission decided
to keep the current design rules - now more than a decade old -
for new plants and make those facilities fulfill security
requirements later. 

At question is the Design Basis Threat, or DBT, the largely
secret requirements for threats for which nuclear plant
operators must be prepared. A hijacked airliner is not on that
list of threats, Peterson said, because defending against that
kind of attack requires assistance from other government
agencies and the military. 

Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, new and existing plants
have been required to develop procedures to handle airplane
attacks. NRC commissioner Gregory B. Jaczko told The New York
Times for an article published Monday that those procedures were
insufficient. He said the Dec. 8 letter is ``the clearest
acknowledgement so far'' that the industry believes plant
designers should incorporate lessons from previous terrorist
attacks. 

``The industry acknowledges that action should be taken to
prevent or mitigate certain...events including those resulting
from large fires and explosions,'' the industry letter said. 

The NRC, an independent government agency that regulates
civilian use of nuclear materials, is currently rewriting two
different sets of regulations - one for licensing new reactors
and the other for security procedures at plants. Gary Holahan,
an NRC official, said the security rules are at least nine
months behind the new licensing procedures. 

Peterson said the lag will hamper companies who want to apply to
build new reactors. 

``We want this done sooner rather than later,'' he said. 

--- 

On the Web: 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission: http://www.nei.org 

Nuclear Energy Institute: http://www.nrc.gov 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 42 Times Union: Nuclear power could ease global warming 

- Albany NY
 	
First published: Tuesday,               December 26, 2006                                
 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
Many thanks to Peter Desrochers for writing us a reasonable view 
of nuclear power in his Dec. 20 letter. As an engineer, it 
usually frightens me to read the opinion letters on this subject.

Power use and generation is a complex engineering problem with 
many economic, technical, environmental and sociological aspects. 
At the risk of grossly oversimplifying things, to alleviate our 
global warming problem, we must stop burning so much stuff.

Nuclear power generation is a great alternative to dumping 
thousands of tons of pollutants into the atmosphere, with 
consequent health and environmental impacts. Nothing is free, but 
the waste generated by a nuclear reactor is relatively easy to 
cope with in comparison, even if it means long term storage of 
waste materials.

"Nuclear" does not automatically imply mushroom clouds. Indeed, 
as Mr. Desrochers pointed out, the complete system failure at 
Three Mile Island resulted in no release of radioactive material. 
This is not a simple issue, but I hope considered opinions like 
Mr. Desrochers' hold sway, for all of our sakes.

JOHN NEUN

Clifton Park

jneun@aol.com 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	   	 
      
  All Times Union materials copyright 1996-2006, Capital 
Newspapers Division of The Hearst Corporation, Albany, N.Y.
*****************************************************************
 43 UPI: Industry: Protect nuke plants from the air
     
 United Press International - NewsTrack - 

12/25/2006 6:14:00 PM -0500

WASHINGTON, Dec. 25 (UPI) -- The nation's nuclear power industry
is asking the U.S. government how to protect new plants from
airplane terror attacks. 

The official request comes weeks after the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission issued initial regulations for new plants that are no
tougher than those in effect for decades, The New York Times
said. 

The request is focused on the commission's Design Basis Threat,
a list of possible attack threats the commission has put
together on possible defenses for each nuclear company. 

Based on post-Sept. 11 concerns, the nuclear power companies and
some commission members, such as Gregory B. Jaczko, have
suggested new reactors be built with airborne attacks in mind. 

"I am encouraged the nuclear industry acknowledges the
commission should do more to strengthen security requirements,"
Jaczko said of the official request, while cautiously adding,
"This proposal does not ensure that any new nuclear reactors
will be designed to withstand commercial aircraft crashes."

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 44 Guardian Unlimited: Report: Japan Looked at Nuke Development

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Monday December 25, 2006 5:16 AM

By CHISAKI WATANABE 

Associated Press Writer 

TOKYO (AP) - The Japanese government recently looked into the
possibility of developing a nuclear warhead, a news report said
Monday, citing an internal government document. 

Yasuhisa Shiozaki, the government's top spokesman, however,
denied any knowledge of such a document. 

The Japanese daily Sankei reported that experts at several
government organizations concluded it would take at least three
to five years to make a prototype weapon. 

The experts also estimated that the project would cost about
$1.68 billion to $2.52 billion and require the efforts of
several hundred engineers, according to Sankei. 

The experts did not say whether Japan should develop nuclear
arms, the newspaper reported, only what such a project would
require. The newspaper published a summary of the document,
dated Sept 20 and titled ``On the Possibility of Developing
Nuclear Weapons Domestically.'' 

``The government is not aware of such a document,'' Shiozaki
told reporters at a regular news conference. 

As the only country ever attacked with atomic weapons, Japan for
decades has adhered to a strict policy of not possessing or
developing nuclear weapons, and not allowing their introduction
onto Japanese territory. 

This stance, however, has become a subject for discussion since
North Korea conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9, causing
deep concern in Japan. Just months prior to North Korea's
nuclear test, it test-fired several ballistic missiles capable
of hitting Japan. 

Several politicians have suggested Japan should at least debate
starting a nuclear weapons program following the North Korean
test. 

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said the
country's pacifist Constitution does not ban it from possessing
nuclear weapons for self-defense. But the government stressed
that Japan would stick to its policy of forbidding nuclear
weapons on Japanese soil. 

Japan's huge plutonium stockpile from its nuclear power stations
is a major international concern, partly because that stockpile
could be a target of terror attacks or be used to build nuclear
arms. 

Officials at the Defense Agency could not immediately comment on
the report early Monday. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 45 USATODAY.com: Nuclear traffic doubles since '90s - 
 
   NUCLEAR CASES  
    
The largest seizures of enriched uranium and plutonium since the
IAEA began tracking such incidents in 1993 all took place in
states that are former members of the Soviet bloc. Among them: 

June 2003: Sadahlo, Georgia; 6 ounces of enriched uranium taken
from a would-be smuggler. 

May 1999: Rousse, Bulgaria; 0.35 ounces of enriched uranium
taken from a would-be smuggler at a border checkpoint. 

June 1995: Moscow, Russia; 3.75 pounds of enriched uranium taken
by local police from a would-be seller. 

December 1994: Prague, Czech Republic; 6 pounds of enriched
uranium taken by local police from would-be seller. 

March 1994: St. Petersburg, Russia; 6.55 pounds of enriched
uranium stolen from a nuclear plant captured. 

Source: International Atomic Energy Agency   
		 				 
  Nuclear traffic doubles since '90s  

 
  Posted 12/25/2006 10:55 PM ET     E-mail | Save | Print |   

By Richard Willing, USA TODAY Annual incidents of trafficking
and mishandling of nuclear and other radioactive material
reported to U.S. intelligence officials have more than doubled
since the early 1990s, says the director of domestic nuclear
detection at the Department of Homeland Security. 

Also up: scams in which fake or non-existent nuclear or
radioactive material is offered for sale, often online, says
Vayl Oxford, nuclear detection director at the department. 
"We sense that people have recognized the value of nuclear
material as a useful way of making money," Oxford said. "Nuclear
material is becoming a marketable commodity." 

The incidents tracked by the department, based on its reporting
and information from foreign diplomatic and intelligence
sources, average about twice the number made public each year by
the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). 

Oxford said reports of nuclear and radioactive materials
trafficking have ranged from 200 to 250 a year since 2000, up
from about 100 a year in the 1990s. 

The reports include incidents in which material was stolen,
offered for sale, lost or mishandled. 

The IAEA, whose members self-report trafficking incidents on a
voluntary basis, said there were 121 such incidents in 2004 and
103 last year. The agency, based in Vienna, reports only
trafficking incidents that its members have confirmed and
elected to make public. The Department of Homeland Security
numbers include all known or suspected trafficking incidents
identified by the United States and allied governments. 

Reported incidents may be increasing, Oxford says, because since
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, governments have become more
diligent about policing material that could be used by
terrorists to build a radioactive "dirty bomb" or similar
device. 

Most reported incidents occurred outside the USA. There are no
reported incidents in which radioactive or nuclear material was
successfully sold to a terror group, according to the IAEA. 

Some of the incidents have involved enriched uranium or
plutonium of the type that can be used to make a nuclear weapon.

In June 2003, for instance, a smuggler was arrested trying to
carry 170 grams of enriched uranium across a border in Sadahlo,
Georgia, in the former Soviet Union. 

Most incidents involved very small amounts of material that were
mishandled by authorities and never intended to be sold, the
IAEA said. In New Jersey last year, a package containing 3.3
grams of enriched helium was "accidentally disposed of," the
IAEA reported. 

Some experts are concerned that the increase in trafficking
incidents makes it more likely terrorists could acquire nuclear
material. 

"We're only seeing the dysfunctional part of the market  the
supplier who's dumb enough to try to sell it to the police,"
said Jeffrey Lewis, director of the Project on Managing the Atom
at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and
International Affairs. 

  Posted 12/25/2006 10:55 PM ET     E-mail | Save | Print |   

Copyright 2006 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
*****************************************************************
 46 AFP: US asks to install anti-missile radar in Japan - 

 Mon Dec 25, 7:34 PM ET 
		 	 
TOKYO (AFP) - The United States has asked to install 
anti-ballistic missile radars in Japan, following North Korea " 
/> North Korea's nuclear weapons test in October and missile 
launches in July, a report said. 

US military troops and the US Department of Defense " /> 
Department of Defensehave lodged a request with Japan's Defense 
Agency to locate a radar in Japan aimed at counter-attacking 
inter-continental ballistic missiles, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper 
reported, without clarifying sources.
 
Japan's Defense Agency, following the US approach, is
considering the plan, in light of Japan-US Security Treaty,
which demands "providing security of Japan and keeping peace in
the Far East" as conditions for offering US troops facilities in
Japan, the report said.
 
Japan was prompted to boost its missile defenses in cooperation
with the United States in 1998 when North Korea sent a suspected
long-range missile over its main island and into the Pacific.
 
North Korea's October 9 atom bomb test, in addition to its July
5 firing of seven missiles into the Sea of Japan (East Sea),
also fueled the drive for the joint missile scheme.
 
Japan's post-World War II pacifist constitution bans waging war
as means of resolving international conflicts, and providing
support to foreign troops except for the purpose of Japan's
self-defense is politically controversial.
 
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 47 KCPW: Public Hearings Scheduled for Divine Strake - 

Dec 26, 2006 by Julie Rose 

(KCPW News) A massive explosives test at the Nevada Nuclear Test 
site appears to be on track for the spring. The Pentagon has a 
released a study suggesting the weapons test will not pose any 
risk to people down wind. Several members of Utah's Congressional 
Delegation have questioned the safety of the test. So, too, does 
Vanessa Pierce of the Health Environment Alliance of Utah.

"When has the Department of Energy ever said that their programs
would be dangerous to human health or the environment?" asks
Pierce. "They've always maintained that testing nuclear weapons
and blowing things up is safe. And what we found in the 1950s is
that wasn't true."

The so-called Divine Strake would detonate 700 tons of
explosives underground to simulate a bunker-buster bomb. The
report says the maximum possible exposure to radioactive
material kicked up by the explosion at the Nevada site would be
well below the threshold required for EPA approval. Pierce
questions the validity of the study because it was performed by
the agency planning the blast. 

"And there's a clear conflict of interest there," says Pierce.
"We think this puts civilians at risk of being downwind of
nuclear debris from past tests." 

The Pentagon's Defense Threat Reduction Agency will hold public
hearings on the test in Salt Lake City on January 10th at the
EnergySolutions Arena and in St. George on January 11th. 


Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2006 KCPW 
Add your comment:
 Comments: Name: Email Address: Website URL: Copyright © 2006
KCPW 

  + Podcasts KCPW's Annual EEO Public File Report 
*****************************************************************
 48 Economic Times: Whistleblowers need to be protected-Editorial-

Opinion-The

RAGHU DAYAL

[ TUESDAY, DECEMBER 26, 2006 12:09:43 AM]   

  The Veerappa Moily Commission on Administrative Reforms II has
recommended the system of whistleblowers. It advocates that an
honest and conscientious public servant, privy to information
relating to gross corruption, abuse of authority or grave
injustice, should be encouraged to disclose it in public
interest without fear of retribution. In conjunction with the
Freedom of Information Act, a Whistleblowers Protection Act can
indeed be a potent tool for promoting good and transparent
governance in the country. 

Endorsing the right to information as a fundamental right
flowing from Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution, Chief Justice
Y K Sabharwal has emphasised that public accountability is a
facet of administrative efficiency, information serving as an
instrument for the oversight of citizens. He has stoutly pleaded
for the enactment of the whistleblower law on the basis of the
draft bill suggested by the Law Commission. 

In its Report No 179 in 2001, the Law Commission favoured a
whistleblowers law, called Public Interest Disclosure
(Protection) Act. All that has so far been done in the country
is a pusillanimous notification issued by government at the
instance of Supreme Court, following the case of Dubey killed in
Bihar for highlighting corruption in NHAI. The vigilance
commissioner was designated as the authority to receive
complaints about corruption and mismanagement in government. 

The term whistleblowing is a relatively recent entry into the
public lexicon. The overriding public interest may lie in
protecting the publics right to be told, and the
whistleblowers right not to be punished for doing so. In the
words of the noted US journalist Reed Irvine, Coal miners used
to carry caged canaries into the mines with them. 

When the canaries stopped singing, they knew they were in
trouble and they had better get out fast. Whistleblowers in
government and other large organisations are, in a way, our
canaries. When they are free to sing, those institutions are
healthy. When they are silenced, we are in trouble. 

Whistleblowing is a distinct form of dissent. Citizens in the US
blow the whistle on waste, fraud, and abuse more than anywhere
else in the world. Whistleblowing is not for the faint of heart.
The burden of proof to show reasonable cause devolves
overwhelmingly on the whistleblower. In the US, whistleblowing
is also encouraged by statute as an ethical duty. 

In 1980, a code of ethics for government service (PL 96-303) was
unanimously passed by Congress and signed into law by President
Ronald Reagan. On October 8, 1994, Congress acted to strengthen
the Whistleblower Protection Act. The amendments they passed
plugged holes, improved procedures, and provided additional
safeguards for whistleblowers. 

After the spectacular collapse of Enron and WorldCom, US
Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, granting
sweeping legal protection to whistleblowers in publicly-traded
companies. Anyone retaliating against a corporate whistleblower
can now be imprisoned for up to 10 years. 

In December 2002, in a unique gesture, Time magazine named three
whistleblowers: Sherron Watkins of Enron, Coleen Rowley of the
FBI and Cynthia of WorldCom as its Persons of the Year for
2002 for their bravery in exposing how American corporations to
government agencies really operate. Whistleblowing has featured
in Hollywood films such as Serpico, Silkwood, Marie, and, of
course, The Insider. 

A I Pacino was portraying the controversial television producer
Lowell Bergman in The Insider. He as Bergman aggressively tried
to persuade a former tobacco executive to appear on 60 Minutes
as a whistleblower. 

 The beleaguered tobacco executive, Jeffrey Wigand (played by 
Russell Crowe), the one-time head of R&D of America's third 
largest tobacco company, Brown & Williamson, had signed a 
non-disclosure agreement and, in violating it, would lose all his 
perquisites. Among his many allegations, Jeffrey Wigand in 1994 
accused B&W of using additives to manipulate nicotine delivery, 
and intentionally misleading the public. He was the central 
witness in the US government's lawsuit against the tobacco 
industry.

Frank Serpico as the celebrated former cop of the New York police 
department figured in a book and a film starring A I Pacino - 
both titled Serpico. Frustrated, Serpico revealed NYPD's scourge 
of pay-offs, kickbacks and protection rackets he had observed 
since he joined the department in 1960 to the New York Times in 
1971.

He became a target of attacks by the cops as well as the 
criminals. Likewise, Peter Wright, who worked in Britain's 
Security Service M15 between 1955 and 1976, described in his 
whistleblowing autobiography, The Spycatcher (1987), the shadowy 
world of secret services that often transgressed propriety as 
much as the law - how the M15 had `bugged and burgled its way 
across London'; how it had conspired to discredit the Labour 
Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

Dr Stephen Bolsin, a former anaesthetist at the UK Bristol Royal 
Infirmary (1988-95), blew the whistle on a large number of deaths 
of children occurring during heart surgeries owing to the 
incompetence of the hospital's surgeons. Although forced to 
emigrate to Australia in 1995, his disclosure led to enquiries by 
the General Medical Council and the debarment from future 
practice of two surgeons and the hospital chief in 1998, besides 
several far-reaching reforms in the National Health Service.

Back in 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, whom The Guardian named "the most 
important whistleblower of the past half century" - a Vietnam War 
veteran, working as an analyst at the Rand Corporation - `blew 
the whistle' on a top-secret defence department document on the 
Vietnam War, the Pentagon Papers, his revelations to the New York 
Times and the Washington Post largely influenced US public 
opinion against the Vietnam War.

The Nixon White House launched a retaliatory campaign against 
Ellsberg; engaged the Watergate burglars to break into his 
psychiatrist's office in the hope of finding something 
defamatory; bugged his telephones; engaged musclemen to 
physically attack him; and tried to influence the trial judge 
with the offer of the post of FBI director. When these 
machinations came to light, the judge abandoned the trial and 
acquitted Ellsberg.

These machinations formed the basis of two of the three articles 
of impeachment against Nixon. The Ellsberg incident proved the 
dictum, If you must sin, sin against God, not against the 
bureaucracy. God may forgive you, but the bureaucracy never 
will".

(The author is a former MD of Concor)
  
Copyright © 2006 Times Internet Limited. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 49 Guardian Unlimited: Italian who met Litvinenko arrested 

From Press Association   

[UP] 

Press Association 

Monday December 25, 2006 4:03 AM

The Italian academic who met poisoned Russian ex-spy Alexander
Litvinenko on the day he was taken ill is spending Christmas Day
in custody after being arrested on his return home from Britain. 

Mario Scaramella was held at Naples airport under a warrant
issued by Italian magistrates investigating claims of arms
trafficking and revealing state secrets. 

Mr Scaramella was being transferred to Rome where he was not
expected to be questioned by Italian authorities until Wednesday
because the Italian judge overseeing the case was on holiday,
according to his father Amedeo. 

His lawyer, Sergio Rastrelli, told Italian television's RAI Tg1
he expected Mr Scaramella to tell investigators that all his
actions were "legitimate and rightful". 

The arrest was not part of the investigation by British police
into the murder of Mr Litvinenko, who died after ingesting a
large dose of radioactive polonium 210. 

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer, met Mr Scaramella at the
Itsu sushi bar on November 1 before going on to see two Russian
men at London's Millennium Hotel. 

Later that day he was taken ill and his condition deteriorated
until he died on November 23, after accusing Russian President
Vladimir Putin of having him poisoned. 

Mr Scaramella was arrested by officers from Italy's DIGOS
anti-terrorist unit as he stepped off a British Airways jet from
Gatwick. 

It was in connection with the seizure of rocket-propelled
grenades made by Italian police in the summer of 2005. 

Mr Scaramella had tipped off police about the shipment after he
claimed to have been told about it by Mr Litvinenko. 

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 50 [NukeNet] Fissile Uranium Truck Overturns on Major Highway
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:03:50 -0800

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<x-flowed>
NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)


A truck overturned Thursday evening on Interstate 95 in North Carolina.  It 
was carrying 6,600 pounds of uranium powder, described as "packaged 
fissile" in a few media reports, but also described (universally in the 
mass media) as "low-grade uranium."  The uranium was being transported by 
Portsmouth Marine Terminal from Portsmouth, Va., to Global Nuclear Fuels in 
Wilmington, NC -- where nuclear reactor fuel is made.  According to news 
reports, no radiation was released.

Bloggers have made an issue out of how this is being censored in the media, 
how fissile material is not "low-grade," how NRC should have stepped in 
right away instead of letting the North Carolina state environmental agency 
handle it as an "agreement state."  They've also claimed that it's yellow 
cake and is related to reprocessing and that the shipment came from Japan 
and is going to the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Portsmouth, Ohio.  This last 
part may just have been a misunderstanding between the two "Portsmouth" towns.

Below are some news stories and blogger accounts of this...

Mike Ewall
Energy Justice Network
215-743-4884
catalyst@actionpa.org
http://www.energyjustice.net
=================================

http://www.wxii12.com/news/10587013/detail.html

Truck Hauling 6,000 Pounds Of Uranium Overturns On I-95

POSTED: 12:18 am EST December 22, 2006
UPDATED: 9:21 am EST December 22, 2006

BENSON, N.C. --  A tractor-trailer hauling about 6,000 pounds of low-grade 
uranium overturned as it exited Interstate 95 in Johnston County.

Authorities said the truck crashed onto its side after the driver lost 
control while exiting onto Interstate 40. One of two people in the truck 
suffered minor injuries, and no other vehicles were involved.

Highway Patrol spokesman Everett Clendenin said the truck was carrying a 
radioactive material called packaged fissile. He said powdered uranium was 
packed in containers that weren't breached by the accident.

The accident happened just before 9 p.m. Thursday. Traffic was diverted and 
the exit ramp was closed for several hours, but it was expected to open by 
Friday morning.

The uranium was being transported by Portsmouth Marine Terminal from 
Portsmouth, Va., to Global Nuclear Fuels in Wilmington.


http://www.dunndailyrecord.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=83507

12/22/2006 11:12:00 AM
Uranium Truck Flips Near Benson

Steve Reed, Reporter
sreed@mydailyrecord.com

Interstate 40 near Benson reopened at 3 a.m. this morning after a 
tractor-trailer truck transporting 6,000 pounds of low-grade powdered 
uranium overturned while exiting off of Interstate 95 onto the exit ramp of 
eastbound I-40.

[Photo: A tractor-trailer transporting 6,000 pounds of low-grade powdered 
uranium overturned last night on the Interstate 40 eastbound ramp near 
Benson. The uranium was securely packed in steel and the container was not 
breached. The interstate re-opened at 3 a.m. -Daily Record Photo/Steve Reed]

Uranium is a radioactive chemical element that is an important nuclear 
fuel. One pound of uranium yields as much energy as 3 million pounds of coal.

According to the state Highway Patrol, the accident happened at 8:58 p.m., 
when the driver lost control of the vehicle.

The vehicle overturned on its side on the shoulder of the exit 328 ramp at 
the I-40/I-95 interchange.

The product on the truck was identified by Highway Patrol spokesperson Lt. 
Everett Clendenin as Packaged Fissile, Placard No. 3327, and was in powder 
form.

The container was not breached and was not a threat to the public. The 
threat level was low because the uranium was securely packed in steel.

There were three levels of containment, an outer layer of thick steel, 
followed by a thinner, second layer of steel and the cylinders that were 
containing the uranium.

The product was being transported by Portsmouth Marine Terminal from 
Portsmouth, Va., to Global Nuclear Fuels in Wilmington.

According to The News & Observer, the truck's driver, Ken Brotsche, 63, 
said his brakes did not seem to be working when he headed onto the ramp at 
30 to 35 mph.

He attempted to shift gears but overcorrected, and the truck overturned.

Mr. Brotsche, from Joplin, Mo., said he was not injured. But his wife, 
Nancee, who was sleeping in the back of the cab, was bumped around, he said.

Johnston County Fire Marshal Harold Henrich said Mrs. Brotsche, 51, was 
taken to Betsy Johnson Regional Hospital with minor injuries.

No other vehicles were involved.

Troopers detoured eastbound traffic off I-40 around the crash scene.



http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/524653.html

Published: Dec 23, 2006 12:30 AM
Modified: Dec 23, 2006 03:22 AM

No radiation in I-95 wreck
The exit where a truck carrying uranium overturned is reopened

Jean P. Fisher and Catherine Clabby, Staff Writers

State law enforcement and safety officials reopened the Interstate 40 
eastbound exit on Interstate 95 in Benson about 3 a.m. Friday, six hours 
after a tractor-trailer carrying 6,000 pounds of low-grade uranium powder 
overturned on the exit ramp.

Lee Cox, radioactive materials manager with N.C. Radiation Protection, a 
branch of the state Division of Environmental Health, said tests confirmed 
that cargo containers were not breached during the accident and no 
radioactive material escaped.

"There was no material, no contamination, no risk," Cox said.

The uranium powder had been en route to Global Nuclear Fuel Americas in 
Wilmington, which uses it to make fuel for reactors at nuclear power plants.

Charges may be filed against the driver of the truck, said Lt. Everett 
Clendenin of the Highway Patrol. Clendenin said it appears the driver, Ken 
Brotsche, 63, may have taken the exit too fast. Neither Brotsche nor his 
wife, Nancee, who was riding in the truck's sleeper compartment, was 
seriously injured.

David Bennett, executive vice president of Tri-State Motor Transport, 
Brotsche's employer, confirmed that the state Department of 
Transportation's investigation found no mechanical defects with the wrecked 
truck.

"We suspect it may have been driver error," Bennett said. He said the 
company will review the details of the accident with the driver and 
determine whether additional training or discipline is warranted.

Tom Rumsey, a spokesman for Global Nuclear, said the overturned truck was 
one of four on its way to Global Nuclear on Thursday. The facility receives 
up to 15 shipments a month. Global Nuclear, which is jointly owned by GE 
Energy, Hitachi and Toshiba, employs about 800 people in Wilmington.

Cox, of the state radiation protection branch, said the company has a 
spotless safety record going back to 1994, the earliest year for which Cox 
had inspection records. The federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which 
issued Global Nuclear's federal license, could not provide details about 
the company's federal record Friday.

Uranium is shipped to Global Nuclear in polycarbonite-lined stainless steel 
drums, which in turn are placed inside heavy metal shipping containers 
secured to a flatbed trailer, Cox said. The outermost containers of the 
overturned truck remained securely bolted to the trailer after the crash, 
Cox said. Soil testing around the crash site and tests of the cargo 
containers confirmed that no material escaped.

A second truck collected the uranium and carried it to Wilmington.

Staff writer Jean P. Fisher can be reached at 829-4753 or 
jfisher@newsobserver.com.


http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=131949

Uranium truck overturns on I-95
12/22/2006 7:24 AM
By: Associated Press

BENSON, N.C. -- A tractor-trailer hauling about 6,000 pounds of low-grade 
uranium overturned Thursday as it exited Interstate 95 in Johnston County, 
authorities said.

The truck crashed onto its side after the driver lost control while exiting 
onto Interstate 40, said Jason Barbour, the county's emergency 
communications director. One of two people in the truck suffered minor 
injuries, and no other vehicles were involved, he said.

Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said the truck was carrying 
a radioactive material called packaged fissile. The powdered uranium was 
packed in containers that weren't breached by the accident, he said.

"There's no threat to the public," Clendenin said. "It's a low grade uranium."

The accident happened just before 9 p.m. Traffic was diverted and the exit 
ramp was closed for several hours. Clendenin said the ramp should reopen 
early Friday morning.

The uranium was being transported by Portsmouth Marine Terminal, from 
Portsmouth Va., to Global Nuclear Fuels in Wilmington, a coastal city about 
130 miles southeast of Raleigh.



http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/1114715/

These shipments go directly to the GE Plant in Castle Hayne, north of 
Wilmington. The
uranium is delivered in these huge steel drums that look kind of like bank
vaults...practically indestructible. There isnt anything at all shady about 
it, the
uranium arrives and is processed into the fuel rods which then get shipped 
out to GE's
nuclear power plant customers.

Posted by: sauron@ec.rr.com
December 22, 2006 12:25 a.m.



From:
http://congressmanjohnhall.blogspot.com/2006/12/major-nuke-accidenti-95-just-in-from.html
via: http://endindianpoint.blogspot.com

Thursday, December 21, 2006
MAJOR NUKE ACCIDENT....I-95 JUST IN FROM CNN

Just in from CNN as reported on Porgie's News and Views....a truck hauling 
Uranium (Believed to be FUEL RODS, and perhaps heading to Indian 
Point/Entergy plant) has tipped over on Interstate 95...more as this story 
develops...if someone that has access to John can get him on the phone, he 
needs his staff on this one IMMEDIATELY.

Thursday, December 21, 2006

HOLY CHIT...Truck Hauling Uranium Tipped Over on ! 95!

Safe NUCLEAR ENERGY....a truck hauling Uranium has TIPPED OVER ON 
I-95...was it heading to an ENTERGY PLANT? Have we just averted what could 
have been the BIG ONE we all have feared? DETAILS AS THEY DEVELOP! Indian 
Point Must be closed.

Posted by Porgie Tirebiter
roycepenstinger@ aol.com
Royce Penstinger and Pinto Bean at 11:25 PM

Below from:
http://theporgietirebiter.blogspot.com


Friday, December 22, 2006

http://theporgietirebiter.blogspot.com/2006/12/global-ge-nuclear-fuelalmost-disaster.html
Global (GE) Nuclear Fuel...Almost a Disaster


Update from Washington Scandal on last nights horrid situation in North 
Carolina when a truck hauling reactor grade nuclear fuel powder tipped 
over. Government's EXCLUSION ZONE kept a lid on the news and video getting 
out. Which explains why we never saw and update from Anderson Cooper.



http://washingtonscandal.blogspot.com/2006/12/reactor-grade-uranium-fuel-accidentmore.html
Friday, December 22, 2006
Reactor Grade Uranium Fuel Accident...MORE BREAKING NEWS.
First, before I break what I have uncovered so far, find it interesting 
that the Pro-Nuke People RACED to this blog to put up a PROPAGANDA PIECE. 
Now, let's share what I have found out so far.

Did We Just Dodge A Nuclear BULLET?

What's wrong with the story that there is no story in the National News 
when a flat bed truck carrying a container of Fuel Grade Uranium Dioxide 
tips over coming down the exit ramp at the intersection of I-95 and I-40 in 
Johnson County, North Carolina? The story briefly broke on Anderson 
Cooper's 360 last night with a singular photo of the truck laying over on 
it's side, and Anderson Cooper telling us that a truck hauling uranium fuel 
had tipped over, more details to follow. Problem is, those details never 
came forward, the story is almost NON-Existent in the news loops. Speaking 
with an unidentified staffer in Congressman Hinchey's office, they said 
they could find nothing on the accident, and only had what I had sent them.

As a grassroots person opposed to the re licensing of Entergy's failing 
nuclear reactors at Indian Point here in New York, the story instantly 
caught my attention, and when no additional reporting was forthcoming, I 
started to tract the story down myself...what is being found out is very 
disturbing, and raises serious concerns about both the NRC, and our 
National Security Response in the case of a NUCLEAR INCIDENT. They (NRC) 
seem to have dropped the ball in their own response to the accident (there 
was NONE) and the people at Homeland Security apparently took DRASTIC STEPS 
to kill the story, keep it out of the news cycle.

Lee Cox with the North Carolina Department of Environmental Health provided 
much of the base details of the incident and it's aftermath to me over the 
phone today. According to Mr. Cox, the driver of the truck (Ken Brotsche 
who is 63) stated in his statement on the accident, that as he began coming 
down the ramp the brakes went out, and when he tried to shift gears to 
correct the problem he over compensated and the truck went over. In 
speaking with David Bennett and Donny Lester of Tri-State Border Transport 
(They said this was the first accident of its type in the 55 years they 
have been hauling radioactive materials for the nuclear industry and DOE) 
said this was the first they had heard of the drivers comments, and 
suggested that there was a terminology mix up in how the driver described 
things. Their contention is that the driver went to apply the Jake Brake 
while the driver was in neutral, and that a Jake Brake will not work if the 
truck is in neutral. They went on further to state their oldest trucks are 
2003 Peterbilt's, and that Ken Brotsche was driving a 2004 Peterbilt at the 
time of the incident. The driver went on to say that his wife Nancy had 
been sleeping in the back bunk, and though removed to a local hospital she 
had only received minor injuries. So, did the brakes go out suggesting 
inadequate maintenance, or was this driver error...where is the truck, and 
who is examining it?

Lee Cox went on further to state, that the materials on said truck were 
high level powdered uranium and not within the jurisdictional control of 
North Carolina as an Agreement State with the NRC, but within the control 
of the NRC. However because the NRC had not dispatched any one to the 
scene, the North Carolina Environmental Health people had acted as lead 
agency for the safety of their citizens and the environment of North 
Carolina. In short, they COVERED NRC's ASS. This was/is interesting, as 
when NRC's emergency response people were contacted last night around 
10:30, they, when pressed, admitted that the accident had indeed occurred, 
but that they were not investigating it as it was the responsibility of the 
state of North Carolina as a Agreement State to act as lead agency. Simply 
put, WRONG. Once uranium becomes ENRICHED, it is the NRC's duty and 
responsibility...which is why the NRC in a phone conversation with Lee Cox 
this morning said they would be taking over as the lead agency. What is 
disconcerting in this, is that the NRC had a MAJOR INCIDENT going on with 
one of their licensee's, and never put one boot on the ground in North 
Carolina. What is more alarming, is this was not just ANY Nuclear Fuel, but 
spent fuel from a Japanese reactor...more on that later.

Digging further, it was learned that the licensee charged with the safety 
for these materials was Global Nuclear Fuel (GE) out of Wilmington, North 
Carolina. The person handling DAMAGE CONTROL is one Alan Mabbry and I 
believe Tom Rumsy, who admitted the truck was carrying Reactor Grade 
Uranium Fuel in powdered form, but that the container was not breached. Or 
was it? Donnie Lester from the trucking company admitted this set of facts 
to be the case, stating that the container had been locked down onto the 
flat bed trailer, and though tipped over on it's side, it had never broke 
lose from the lock down mechanism...the trailer was hoisted right side up 
by not one, but two cranes, and eventually the container of high level fuel 
was placed onto another flatbed. Alan Bennett said that East Bound I-40 had 
been shut down for safety reasons, and that the response team for this 
incident involved several hundred emergency responders...any one at this 
point wondering where video at eleven is, or something in the way of video 
first thing this morning? This should be FRONT PAGE NEWS across the entire 
United States, so who is sitting on this story? More on this later in the 
article, as it would take all day for that answer to emerge.

Bennett was not overly forth coming with information, and suggested I 
contact the trucking company...they were very frank and honest, and as I 
spoke with them, more details came out about the incident, and the 
materials in question. The materials had been picked up in Portsmouth, 
Virginia, and we are talking some seriously LETHAL STUFF HERE. You see, 
what this truck was hauling, was SPENT FUEL being sent back to Global 
Nuclear Fuel for REPROCESSING...but wait a minute, we do not reprocess our 
fuel here in the United States...Donnie Lester explained that one for 
me...the spent fuel was from OVER SEAS, had been shipped into America on a 
cargo vessel for reprocessing from some foreign country. They would not, or 
could not identify the country of origin for these materials, so I called 
back Lee Cox who verified that the material was from a reactor in Kurihama, 
Japan...now, explain this one to me....Lee was adamant that it was not 
spent uranium from the reactor, yet agreed it was here for reprocessing. 
Seems you cannot have your cake and eat it too. Maybe someone from the NRC 
who so far has had no comment, though I left my number with three people 
could clarify this for us?

I was still confused (as I stated earlier) though on how such an accident 
could occur, that CNN could briefly break it, then have the whole thing 
POOF up into thin air...enter Homeland Security, one incident Commander, 
and Lt. E Mark Dalton of the North Carolina Highway State Patrol, first on 
the scene. This axis of security is a perfect example of the Bush 
Administration's desire to keep us in the general public STUPID. These 
three in some combination as yet unknown, though Lee said Lt. Dalton made 
the call, decided to throw up and implement and EXCLUSION ZONE...now, this 
is a scary thing in a free society...you see, the press was CUT OFF, denied 
access to the scene.

Lt. Dalton so far has refused to comment, refused to let me know if this 
Exclusion zone included aerial access to the area, though looking at the 
size of the on the ground force involved in the cover up (I mean clean up), 
one has to assume it included keeping aerial equipment away from the 
scene...otherwise, how does one explain no follow up on CNN? A spokesperson 
for the North Carolina Highway State Patrol verified that numerous members 
of the press were denied access to the area, were not allowed to get even 
close to it. Which is odd, since Lt. Dalton had also made the decision that 
there had been NO BREACH of the CONTAINER, decided there was no need to 
evacuate any one in the general area...if it was so SAFE, why was the press 
kept away, other than someone(s) trying to cover up the whole event, keep 
it from becoming MAJOR NEWS. Was this the ACCIDENT that the Nuclear 
Industry and NRC have tried to convince us for years could never 
happen...did we just miss a disaster of biblical proportions?

There is a SKUNK in the wood pile here, and this blogger does not have the 
tools or manpower to get to all of it, though have uncovered what I can. To 
that end, I am listing here all the contacts I have so far been able to dig 
up, in the hopes that someone out there can get this story the coverage it 
deserves.

Lt. E. M. Dalton 1 (800) 412-9532 I tried this number, but it is a limited 
area access number than cannot be reached from my area. (fax# 919 737 9528)

Alan Maybry (With Global Nuclear) 910 675-5601

Donnie Lester and David Bennett Tri-State Motor Transport Company (417) 
621-2658

Lee Cox and Beverly Hall (North Carolina Division of Environmental Health 
919 571-4141

North Carolina Emergency Response Hot Line (Verified the accident) 800 858 0368

Tom Rumsy 910 646-6004

Number to access North Carolina Public Relations Department 919 733 5027


Posted by Porgie Tirebiter, Royce Penstinger and Pinto Bean at 8:05 PM

Labels: Entergy, GE, Global Nuclear Fuel, I 95, Kurihama Japan, NRC, 
nuclear fuel, politics, Uranium Dioxide, USEC


http://theporgietirebiter.blogspot.com/2006/12/update-on-uranium-accident-nrc-trying.html
UPDATE on Uranium ACCIDENT! NRC Trying To HIDE IT.


WE ARE TALKING YELLOW CAKE/Uranium Powder here folks...in from Washington 
Scandal, it appears that the truck has CRASHED on the off ramp of I-95 and 
I-40 in Johnson County, North Carolina...the driver apparently made 
IMMEDIATE CONTACT with the Portsmouth Ohio Gaseous Diffusion Plant, owned 
by USEC after President Bush Senior privatized the former DOD/DOE site in 
the 1992 Energy Policy Act. The NRC is NOT GIVING OUT ANY INFO, refused to 
identify the location of the accident...this information came from Division 
of Environmental Health in North Carolina.




http://washingtonscandal.blogspot.com/2006/12/update-on-uranium-accident.html
Friday, December 22, 2006
UPDATE ON Uranium ACCIDENT


BREAKING NEWS.....the truck that CRASHED in North Carolina was carrying 
uranium powder, which leads one to believe it was YELLOW CAKE, and on it's 
was to the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in either Portsmouth, Ohio or Paducah, 
Ohio. This is speculation, but Portsmouth was almost IMMEDIATELY contacted 
by the driver of the truck according to and unidentified phone operator at 
North Carolina's Division of Environmental Health.

The accident occurred at the off ramp of 1-95 and I 40. The truck is 
currently laying on it's side awaiting a tow truck...the NRC is trying to 
keep this quiet, and refused to give this blogger any useful information on 
the incident.

For reporters needing more information, you can call Beverly Hall at (919) 
571-4141, though no one is there right now. You can call the Emergency 
Response people for the Division of Environmental Health in North Carolina 
at (800) 858-0368. My advice...if you want more on this story, you are 
going to have to put a reporter on the scene at I-95 and I-40 or you are 
NOT going to get the story, or the truth in this.

Posted by Porgie Tirebiter, Royce Penstinger and Pinto Bean at

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 51 Lahontan Valley News: Letter: THE ONLY THING CERTAIN ABOUT YUCCA MOUNTAIN 
IS ITS THAT IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN

December 25, 2006
 						
 Several aspects of Viktoria Pearson's article on Churchill
County's comments relative to the proposed Schurz-Mina rail spur
to Yucca Mountain need clarification. 

First, Commissioner Lynn Pearce's assertion that there could be
nuclear waste shipments by truck through Churchill County is
wrong. Federal regulations require that highway shipments of
spent nuclear fuel or high-level radioactive waste must use the
interstate highway system to the nearest U.S. highway. That
makes I-15 and U.S. 95 in Southern Nevada the default route for
such shipments. The only way shipments could be routed on
another highway would be if the state were to formally designate
an alternative route and get agreement from bordering states
that would be affected. There is virtually no chance that Nevada
would designate I-80 and US 95 in the northern part of the state
as an alternative nuclear waste route.

Second, and most important, Commissioner Pearce's inference that
Yucca Mountain is inevitable and the only thing that will stop
it is insurmountable scientific problems is misleading. In fact,
those "insurmountable problems" already exist in abundance at
the Yucca site.The project is in such bad shape that Congress,
even before the recent party changeover, was beginning to look
at alternatives. The same is true for formerly hard-core Yucca
Mountain supporters in the commercial nuclear industry. 

Given the major scientific and technical problems with the site
and the changes taking place in Washington, D.C., the only thing
inevitable about the Yucca Mountain program is its ultimate end.

Joseph C. Strolin

Planned division administrator
Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects
Carson City

All contents © Copyright 2006 lahontanvalleynews.com
Lahontan Valley News and Fallon Eagle Standard - 562 North
Maine Street - Fallon, NV 89406 			 		   	 
*****************************************************************
 52 Platts: Nevada petitions against indefinite interim spent fuel storage
 
Nevada petitions against indefinite interim spent fuel storage 

Washington (Platts)--26Dec2006
 
Indefinite interim spent fuel storage should not be allowed at 
the proposed Yucca Mountain repository site, the state of Nevada 
said in a petition filed December 22 with the NRC. 

Robert Loux, executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear 
Projects, said in a statement that DOE's proposal for interim 
surface storage at the Yucca Mountain site could lead to decades 
of surface storage and violates federal law which, the Nevada 
agency asserted, "prohibits a large interim storage site in 
Nevada as long as the state is the proposed location of a 
repository." 

The petition is available online at 
http://www.state.nv.us/nucwaste/news2006/pdf/nvag061222petition.p 
df.

Copyright © 2006 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 53 LA Daily News: Yucca dump doomed?

Dems takeover may kill project that would ship nuke waste through Valley

By Lisa Friedman, Washington Bureau

Article Last Updated: 12/25/2006 09:31:36 PM PST       

WASHINGTON  While supporters vow to plow forward with plans for
a nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, Nev., critics hope
Democrats will be able to kill the project  which would take
highly radioactive material transported through the Southland 
when they take control of Congress next month.

 Led by incoming Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who
already has declared the federal nuclear waste repository
"dead," congressional Democrats are expected to severely
decrease funding for the dump.

 That, opponents say, is good news for Ventura, Los Angeles, San
Bernardino and other communities through which approximately
70,000 tons of radioactive waste would likely be shipped on its
way to the site 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

 "All of us in the Inland Empire will be safer if shipments of
nuclear waste are not traveling through our communities on local
highways or railroad tracks," said Democrat Rep. Joe Baca, whose
San Bernardino district lies smack in the middle of the proposed
shipment route.

 "An accident could have deadly consequences," Baca said. "We
are fortunate that Harry Reid will be the Senate majority leader
and in a better position to block the Yucca Mountain project."

 First proposed in 1982, the Yucca Mountain depository has been 
strongly supported by President George W. Bush and the nuclear 
energy industry. Proponents say it is a secure alternative to 
storing waste at nuclear plants and hundreds of other sites 
around the country.

 Originally targeted to open in 1998, Yucca Mountain has been
repeatedly set back by lawsuits, money shortfalls and scientific
controversies. The Department of Energy's best-case opening date
is now 2017.

 Southern Californians are concerned about proposals to ship
spent nuclear fuel to Yucca Mountain from the Diablo Canyon
Nuclear Power Plant in San Luis Obispo County  a trek that
could take it by train through Ventura County and the San
Fernando Valley.

 There have also been discussions about a rail line through the
Antelope Valley and across the High Desert; multiple rail links
through the San Gabriel, Pomona and San Bernardino valleys; and
a truck route from the San Onofre nuclear power plant along the
Santa Ana, San Gabriel and San Bernardino freeway corridors.

 The DOE is poised to submit a license application to the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission in mid-2008 that will allow it to
proceed. But activists on both sides of the issue acknowledge
that the DOE is quietly preparing for the likelihood of reduced
funding and political support for Yucca.

 "I'm getting the sense there may be some reluctance to submit a
sizeable, needed budget if Mr. Reid is just going to have it
reduced," said Brian O'Connell, director of the National
Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners' nuclear waste
program.

 He and other supporters of the repository have accused Reid of
overstepping his power by refusing to allow Yucca legislation to
come for a vote, and they argue that safety concerns have been
blown out of proportion and politicized.

 "The typical representation of nuclear waste is a 50-ton
cannister with green goo hanging out the sides," O'Connell said.
"It is well-protected. And the reality is that it has been
shipped safely for over 30 years."

 Annual federal funding for Yucca Mountain has ranged from $450
million to $550 million in recent years. O'Connell predicted
that Reid and other lawmakers will "drastically reduce" that
amount.

 Michelle Boyd, legislative director at Public Citizen, agreed,
saying Yucca officials "are hobbling along, and they're going to
be hobbling even more when they have less money. It's certainly
on its last legs."

 She and others also noted that the newly empowered anti-Yucca
coalition in Congress has vowed to block bills like the one
introduced last year by Sen. Pete Dominic, R-N.M., and Rep. Joe
Barton, R-Texas, to guarantee funding for the repository.

 "No legislation will occur as long as Reid is there," said Bob
Loux, executive director of Nevada's Agency for Nuclear
Projects. "We believe this project has been on life support
anyway for the last several years. This may be the final nail."

 O'Connell disagreed that the death of Yucca is near.

 "I don't think so," he said. "(Reid) will do everything he can
to impede it, but he can't kill it outright."

 Argun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and
Environmental Research agreed.

 Though an opponent of Yucca Mountain who calls it a "badly
botched project," Makhijani said he expects plans for the
repository to move ahead with shrunken resources.

 "I don't think the project can be stopped altogether without
setting in motion some larger scheme for the management of spent
fuel," he said.

 The Associated Press contributed to this report. 
---

 Lisa Friedman, (202) 662-8731 lisa.friedman@langnews.com

Los Angeles Newspaper Group 
*****************************************************************
 54 TPR: Energy Dept. Plans Further Cleanup of Nuclear Waste in Washington State 

PEACOCK REPORT 

by writer Steve Peacock 
	 			 				 					 						 							 
December 24, 2006
 			
Energy Dept. Plans Further Cleanup of Nuclear Waste in Washington 
State 
	 	 		 			
[Hanford] Nuclear "burial grounds" at a U.S. Dept. of 
Energy-owned wasteland in southeastern Washington state are 
slated to undergo additional environmental remediation this 
summer, part of a larger cleanup aimed at ultimately removing 
millions of tons of contaminated soil and materials.
 
The 586 square-mile area known as the <span style="font-size: 
1.2em;">Hanford Site</span>operated for 50 years as a military 
plutonium-production facility, beginning with the Manhattan 
Project’sWorld War II development of one of the atomic bombs 
dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. 

<span style="font-size: 1.2em;">Washington Closure 
Hanford</span>LLC (WHC), which DoE selected in 2005 as the prime 
contractor for the initiative, is vetting potential 
subcontractors to focus on the cleanup of specific radiological 
trenches and other nuclear hotspots at the sprawling Benton 
County complex. According to a <span style="font-size: 
1.2em;">contracting document</span>that TPR located during a 
routine search of the FedBizOpps procurement database, this phase 
of the remediation effort will take between two and four years to 
complete at an additional cost of $10-$20 million.
 
The contracting document, dated Dec. 14, says that work for the
latest procurement action involves "excavation and removal of
radiologically and/or chemically contaminated soils and debris.
Work may be performed in radiation areas (including High
Radiation Areas and Airborne Radiation Areas)..."
 
This segment of the cleanup is just one part of a larger effort
centering on a 210-mile stretch of land along the Colombia River
corridor, portions of which in 2000 were designated as the <span
style="font-size: 1.2em;">Hanford Reach National Monument/Saddle
Mountain National Wildlife Refuge</span>. According to WHC’s
website, the cleanup "is scheduled to be completed in 2012 and
cost $1.9 billion." During that time, WHC will "decontaminate
and remove 510 facilities, close or remediate 486 waste sites,
cocoon three reactors, and dispose of about four million tons of
contaminated material."
 
To put the breadth of this endeavor in additional context,
progress made -- and progress that needs to be made -- was
spelled out in a 1,256-page declassified reportreleased a year
ago.
 
Public meetings and updates on the Hanford Site are regularly
held in Richland, WA. For further information, a DoE "<span
style="font-size: 1.2em;">public involvement&quot; site</span>
is available.
 		 		 		 		 	 	
 		December 24, 2006 | Permalink 	
 						 					 					 						 							 	
*****************************************************************
 55 Global Network Turns 15 in 2007
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 16:13:37 -0600 (CST)

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Global Network Turns 15 in 2007

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2IeW7TAu5o

The Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space was
created in 1992 to build an international movement to prevent the
arms race from moving into space.

Each year we meet in a different part of the world. If you click
on the link above you will see our new video called War from Space?
This video is from our 2006 annual meeting in Vancouver, Canada
which was held in conjunction with the World Peace Forum.

On March 22-24, 2007 we will meet in Darmstadt, Germany to celebrate
our work together and continue our deliberate and determined effort
to expand opposition to Star Wars. We should be posting the full
agenda for the Germany space organizing conference on our web site
soon.

Our friend Holly Gwinn Graham from Olympia, Washington, pictured
above, is one of our new members of our board and is a singer/songwriter
who has composed a number of great songs about space. This picture
was taken last October as Holly entertained and taught folks during
our annual Keep Space for Peace Week of local actions.

The Global Network now has about 150 affiliated organizations all
over the world and we are working hard to reach out to new regions
of the planet in hopes that a widening consciousness about preventing
an arms race in space will help build the kind of international
grassroots movement that will be necessary to keep the heavens free
from the bad seed of war and greed.

We thank all of you who have helped us in the past and look forward
to working with you again in 2007.

Peace to you and your families.

Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space PO Box 652
Brunswick, ME 04011 (207) 729-0517 http://www.space4peace.org
globalnet@mindspring.com http://space4peace.blogspot.com (our blog)

[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type image/jpeg which had a
name of Holly.jpg]
*****************************************************************
 56 [NukeNet] The Christmas Truce
 
Date: Tue, 26 Dec 2006 15:03:45 -0800

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http://www.citizensedproject.org/trenches.mp3

   THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE

          On Christmas Day, 1914, in the first
      year of World War I, German,
      British, and French soldiers disobeyed
      their superiors and fraternized
      with "the enemy" along two-thirds of the
      Western Front. German troops
      held Christmas trees up out of the
      trenches with signs, "Merry Christmas."
      "You no shoot, we no shoot." Thousands of
      troops streamed across a
      no-man's land strewn with rotting corpses.
      They sang Christmas carols,
      exchanged photographs of loved ones back
      home, shared rations, played football,
      even roasted some pigs. Soldiers embraced
      men they had been trying to
      kill a few short hours before. They agreed
      to warn each other if the top brass
      forced them to fire their weapons, and to
      aim high.
          A shudder ran through the high command
      on either side. Here was
      disaster in the making: soldiers declaring
      their brotherhood with each
      other and refusing to fight. Generals on
      both sides declared this
      spontaneous peacemaking to be treasonous
      and subject to court martial. By March,
      1915 the fraternization movement had been
      eradicated and the killing
      machine put back in full operation. By the
      time of the armistice in
      1918, fifteen million would be
      slaughtered.
          Not many people have heard the story
      of the Christmas Truce.
      Military leaders have not gone out of
      their way to publicize it. On
      Christmas Day, 1988, a story in the Boston
      Globe mentioned that a local FM radio
      host played "Christmas in the Trenches," a
      ballad about the Christmas Truce,
      several times and was startled by the
      effect. The song became the most
      requested recording during the holidays in
      Boston on several FM
      stations. "Even more startling than the
      number of requests I get is the
      reaction to the ballad afterward by
      callers who hadn't heard it before,"
      said the
      radiohost. "They telephone me deeply
      moved, sometimes in tears, asking,
      `What the hell did I just hear?'"
          I think I know why the callers were in
      tears. The Christmas Truce
      story goes against most of what we have
      been taught about people. It
      gives us a glimpse of the world as we wish
      it could be and says, "This really
      happened once." It reminds us of those
      thoughts we keep hidden away, out
      of range of the TV and newspaper stories
      that tell us how trivial and
      mean human life is.
      It is like hearing that our deepest wishes
      really are true: the world
      really could be different.

      Excerpted from David G. Stratman, We CAN
      Change the World: The Real
      Meaning of Everyday Life (New Democracy
      Books, 1991). Available for
      $3.00 from
      New Democracy Books, P.O. Box 427, Boston,
      MA 02130.



Christmas in the Trenches
words & music by John McCutcheon

Inspired by a back-stage conversation with an old
woman in Birmingham, AL, this song tells a story
that is not only true, but well-known throughout
Europe.

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from
Liverpool,
Two years ago the war was waiting for me after
school.
To Belgium and to Flanders to Germany to here
I fought for King and country I love dear.
'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost so
bitter hung,
The frozen fields of France were still, no
Christmas song was sung,
Our families back in England were toasting us that
day,
Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying with my messmate on the cold and rocky
ground
When across the lines of battle came a most
peculiar sound
Says I, "Now listen up, me boys!" each soldier
strained to hear
As one young German voice sang out so clear.
"He's singing bloody well, you know!" my partner
says to me
Soon one by one each German voice joined in in
harmony
The cannons rested silent, the gas clouds rolled
no more
As Christmas brought us respite from the war.

As soon as they were finished and a reverent pause
was spent
"God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" struck up some lads
from Kent
The next they sang was "Stille Nacht," "Tis
'Silent Night'," says I
And in two tongues one song filled up that sky.
"There's someone coming towards us!" the front
line sentry cried
All sights were fixed on one lone figure coming
from their side
His truce flag, like a Christmas star, shone on
that plain so bright
As he bravely strode unarmed into the night.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No
Man's land
With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to
hand
We shared some secret brandy and we wished each
other well
And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave 'em hell.
We traded chocolates, cigarettes, and photographs
from home
These sons and fathers far away from families of
their own
Young Sanders played his squeeze box and they had
a violin
This curious and unlikely band of men.

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France
once more
With sad farewells we each began to settle back to
war
But the question haunted every heart that lived
that wondrous night
"Whose family have I fixed within my sights?"
'Twas Christmas in the trenches, where the frost
so bitter hung
The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs
of peace were sung
For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the
work of war
Had been crumbled and were gone for evermore.

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell
Each Christmas come since World War I I've learned
its lessons well
That the ones who call the shots won't be among
the dead and lame
And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

©1984 John McCutcheon/Appalsongs (ASCAP)




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 57 Knox News: Secret nuclear find revealed

Highly radioactive material found in 2005 at Oak Ridge junkyard 
moved to safe site

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com 
                                
December 25, 2006

OAK RIDGE - Inside the fences of a Cold War junkyard, with 
contaminated scrap stacked in mountainous piles across 30 acres, 
cleanup workers were told to expect the unexpected. 

But nobody expected this - three unmarked casks containing 
thousands of curies of radioactive cesium-137. 

"It was a total surprise," said John Lea of Bechtel Jacobs Co., 
the government's cleanup manager in Oak Ridge. 

Cesium-137 is a product of nuclear fission that's created in 
reactors. It is used in lots of radiation equipment, ranging from 
medical therapy units that treat cancer to well-logging 
instruments in the oil industry. It also is considered an optimum 
material for radiological dispersal devices - so-called dirty 
bombs - and therefore coveted by terrorists. 

Oak Ridge National Laboratory officials were told the three casks 
contained about 10,000 curies of cesium and strontium-90, another 
fission product, said Tim Powers, a manager at ORNL. 

John Owsley of the Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation said state officials were told that one of the casks 
contained more than 200,000 curies of cesium, with lesser amounts 
in the other two casks. 

"That is a significant amount of material," he said. "It is 
unusual to find something of this magnitude." 

A curie is unit of measure used to describe the amount of 
radioactivity in material. Owsley said state officials more 
typically deal with cesium in picocuries as found in the 
environment. A picocurie is a trillionth of a curie. 

Oak Ridge authorities are unable to explain how the cesium, 
especially such a huge source of radioactivity, got into a scrap 
yard devoted mostly to discards from the former K-25 
uranium-enrichment plant. 

"We have no idea," Lea said. Efforts to track the origin of the 
highly radioactive materials or their lead-lined containers were 
unsuccessful, he said. 

Workers reportedly identified the first of the cesium-bearing 
casks in October 2005 as they surveyed a truckload of scrap ready 
to leave the site on the way to a nuclear landfill several miles 
away. Radiation-detection equipment picked up abnormally high 
readings. 

Two similar casks were found later at the bottom of a big pile 
containing about 1,600 tons of scrap, Lea said. 

Bechtel Jacobs officials revealed the find to the News Sentinel 
during a recent briefing and tour of the scrap yard, which is now 
in the final stages of cleanup. 

After the load of cesium was discovered in late 2005, officials 
upped security at the scrap yard, which is a couple of miles west 
of K-25, now known as the East Tennessee Technology Park. 

"That's not normally a very secure site," said Dennis Hill, a 
spokesman for Bechtel Jacobs. Steps were taken to restrict access 
until the materials could be transferred to a safe storage site 
at ORNL, he said. 

The transfer took about six months to complete because of 
required safety plans and other preparations, he said. 

It's still not clear how much cesium is contained in the rusty 
casks, which may have been sitting outdoors for decades. 

Bechtel Jacobs officials said an initial evaluation, using 
"nondestructive assay" techniques, indicated there were thousands 
of curies of cesium-137. They declined to be more specific. 

Powers said nuclear experts would conduct a comprehensive 
examination of the contents sometime this winter. That work will 
involve taking samples from the casks to identify the 
radioisotopes present and to provide the detailed information 
necessary for disposal, he said. 

Powers said UT-Battelle, the contractor that manages ORNL, does 
not yet have custody of the casks. They are being stored at a 
Bechtel Jacobs facility at the laboratory, he said. 

Most of the scrap was dumped at the storage yard in the 1950s and 
1960s. If that was true of the cesium casks, that means the 
radioactivity back then was more than double what it is today. 
Cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years, which means that half of 
an amount would decay in that period. 

The potential danger of untended cesium is well documented. In 
1987, at Goiania, Brazil, four people died of radiation poisoning 
and hundreds of others were contaminated after an abandoned 
radiation therapy source fell into curious hands. The glowing 
cesium inside the capsule fascinated villagers, who shared the 
mysterious stuff with their friends, used it for jewelry and even 
smeared it on their bodies. 

The cesium source at Goiania was reported to be 1,375 curies. 

TDEC officials were told of the Oak Ridge cesium discovery last 
year but were sworn to secrecy. 

"I was informed there was a security concern with the material 
being stored on site and not until the material was in a secure 
place was I to discuss it. Our role is environmental, and, 
basically, we do what we're told when security is concerned," 
Owsley said. "The manner they chose to deal with security was 
through secrecy." 

The scrap-yard finding elevated the state's concerns about what 
may be in some of the Oak Ridge waste sites, Owsley said. In some 
cases, disposal or storage records don't exist, and in other 
cases, they are simply inadequate, he said. 

The state used the incident to emphasize the need for closer 
monitoring, Owsley said. 

Following the discovery, cleanup workers constructed a new 
concrete pad at the scrap yard to do additional sorting of 
materials prior to loading the trucks, Lea said. 

Washington Safety Management Solutions is doing the cleanup under 
a $16.9 million subcontract with Bechtel Jacobs. The project 
began in May 2004, and more than 45,600 tons of contaminated 
materials have been removed from the area, known officially as 
the K-770 Scrap Yard. 

The cleanup project has required thousands of truck shipments 
from the scrap yard to the government's nuclear landfill. The 
disposal cells have multiple liners to prevent leaks into the 
environment. 

Senior Writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.

 Copyright 2006, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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 58 Hanford News: Pumping under way on underground tank
 
This story was published Saturday, December 23rd, 2006 

By the Herald staff 

Contractor CH2M Hill Hanford Group has started retrieving waste
from a ninth underground tank holding radioactive and hazardous
chemical waste at Hanford. 

It recently finished emptying the sixth of the nuclear
reservation's 149 leak-prone, single shell tanks for the
Department of Energy and work is under way on three more. 

Work started most recently on Tank C-108, one of 16 tanks in a
grouping called C Tank Farm. The six tanks that have been
emptied so far are in the C Tank Farm. 

Modified sluicing is being used to empty the World War II era
Tank C-108, which has a capacity of 530,000 gallons. 

Liquid waste was removed earlier to reduce the risk of leaks,
but 66,000 gallons of sludge remain. 

In modified sluicing, liquid is sprayed at a pressure of about
100 pounds per square inch and a flow rate of about 100 gallons
per minute to break up the waste inside the closed tank. The
waste is then pumped to a newer double shell tank to await
processing. 

To limit waste created in the process, liquids already in the
double shell tanks are being recycled for the sluicing. 

CH2M Hill also is trying a 10 horsepower, variable height pump
in Tank C-108. Because it is mounted on a telescoping assembly,
the pump may be moved to remain near the top of the waste during
retrieval and is less likely to clog. 

Waste retrieval also is under way on tanks S-112 and S-102, and
work is expected to begin soon on tanks C-104 and C-109. The
waste is left from the past production of plutonium for the
nation's nuclear weapons program.

© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
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 59 DOE: Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board, Nevada
 
                        FR Doc E6-22046 
[Federal Register: December 26, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 247)] 
[Notices] [Page 77394] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr26de06-47]                         
 
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of open meeting.
 
SUMMARY: This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental 
Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Nevada Test 
Site. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 
Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be 
announced in the Federal Register.
 
 
DATES: Wednesday, January 10, 2007, 5 p.m.
 
ADDRESSES: 7710 West Cheyenne Avenue, Conference Room  130, Las 
Vegas, Nevada.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Snyder, Deputy Designated 
Federal Officer, P.O. Box 98518, Las Vegas, Nevada 89193. Phone: 
(702) 295-2836; E-mail: snyderk@nv.doe.gov.
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Purpose of the Board: The purpose of 
the Board is to make recommendations to DOE in the areas of 
environmental restoration, waste management, and related 
activities.
 
Tentative Agenda: Committee updates and discussion of future 
meeting topics.
 
Public Participation: The meeting is open to the public.
 
Written statements may be filed with the Board either before or 
after the meeting. Individuals who wish to make oral 
presentations pertaining to agenda items should contact Kelly 
Snyder at the telephone number listed above. The request must be 
received five days prior to the meeting and reasonable provision 
will be made to include the presentation in the agenda. The 
Deputy Designated Federal Officer is empowered to conduct the 
meeting in a fashion that will facilitate the orderly conduct of 
business. Individuals wishing to make public comment will be 
provided a maximum of five minutes to present their comments. 
This notice is being published less than 15 days prior to the 
meeting date due to programmatic issues that had to be resolved 
prior to the meeting date.
 
Minutes: The minutes of this meeting will be available for public 
review and copying at the U.S. Department of Energy's Freedom of 
Information Public Reading Room, 1E-190, Forrestal Building, 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585 between 9 a.m. and 
4 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays. Minutes 
will also be available by writing to Kelly Snyder at the address 
listed above.
 
Issued at Washington, DC, on December 20, 2006.
 
Rachel Samuel, Deputy Advisory Committee Management Officer.
 
[FR Doc. E6-22046 Filed 12-22-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
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 60 lamonitor.com: Local doctor called to military service - for third time 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
 
CAROL A. CLARK, lanews@lamonitor.com, Monitor Senior Reporter

This holiday season is bittersweet for White Rock's Daly family. 
The moment their loved one must leave them is drawing near. Dr. 
Paul Daly is a colonel in the Army Reserve. He departs Jan. 6 to 
treat the walking wounded and seriously injured American soldiers 
fighting the war in Iraq.

Daly is scheduled to serve 90 days at the Regional Medical Center 
overlooking Landstuhl, Germany. He'll stop first in Fort Benning, 
Georgia, to collect his gear and ensure his shots are current. 

This is Daly's third tour of duty. His first deployment was to
Bosnia in December 2002. His second was Heidelberg, Germany, in
December 2004. "That's the thing with medicine - we are only
gone 90 days - boots on the ground - but we rotate more
frequently."

Daly's wife is Los Alamos Family YMCA Executive Director Linda
Daly. 

"I have to admit, I cried when Paul first told me he was going
again," Linda said. "But I realized how selfish I was when I met
soldiers at Paul's army reserve holiday party, men and women who
were in Iraq for 12 months or longer. I am very proud of Paul,
and others like him, more proud than sad now."

Daly belongs to the Army Reserve Medical Corps. He is
officer-in-charge of Unit 2 in Albuquerque, which is part of the
2291st United States Army Hospital headquartered in El Paso. 
"I don't like leaving my family - but if I have to - the
consolation is I get to help the troops," Daly said. "Especially
this time of year when they're in the hospital not feeling well
and we can make them as comfortable as possible."

Before joining the reserves in 2000, Daly served 16 years active
duty in the Navy. His residency was with the Navy on a military
scholarship at Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton outside Oceanside,
Calif.

Daly is board-certified in family practice. He focuses on
wilderness and sports medicine. Wilderness medicine involves
counseling for trip planning and prevention and includes
treatment of injuries and illness such as altitude, mountain
sickness, bites, stings, and heat and cold injuries.

For nearly five years, Daly has practiced with Medical
Associates of Northern New Mexico at 3917 West Rd., Ste. A. One
of the largest practices in the region, MANNM has eight health
care providers specializing in family practice, internal
medicine, cardiology, gastroenterology and more. MANNM provides
patients with a full-service laboratory and technologically
advanced diagnostic procedures.

"They're a good group to work with and very supportive of my
deployments," Daly said. "While the hardest part is leaving my
family, it's also difficult to leave the practice, they're
having to take over while I'm gone. It's also very hard to leave
my patients."

Daly said the positive side of deployment is the opportunity to
work with the troops and feel like he's doing his part. "It's
unfortunate the soldiers are put in harm's way, but I feel good
that I can help them recover and heal."

Daly also gets a chance to learn new surgical and orthopedic
techniques. "Often new techniques develop out of war," he said.
"How to handle wounds, prevent amputations and advancements in
trauma and life support that have direct applications to
accident victims over here."

Daly was born in West Virginia and has four brothers and five
sisters. He is part of two sets of twins. His twin sister died.
Daly's sister Kit Ruminer lives in Los Alamos with husband John,
who recently retired from Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Daly also has a sister living in Santa Fe, two brothers in
Albuquerque, a brother in Carlsbad, a sister in Phoenix and a
sister and brother in Washington, D.C.

When 18-months of age, Daly moved to the area with his family.
His parents were born and raised in Santa Fe.

His father, Richard John Daly, began his career in 1956 as a
chemical engineer at LANL. Now retired, he lives in Santa Fe.
Daly's mother Barbara Frances has passed away. She worked as a
LANL secretary.

Daly was a Monitor paperboy while attending Cumbres Junior High
School. He married two-and-a-half years ago after meeting Linda
at the Y. Daly's sons Seth and Dylan are former Hilltoppers who
now attend college. His step-daughters Sarah and Emily attend
Los Alamos High School.

Daly is scheduled to return home from his deployment in April.   

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.
    
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NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 this 
material is distributed without profit or payment to those who 
have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for 
non-profit research and educational purposes only. For more 
information go to: 
<http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml> 
    
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