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11/10/06 ****     RADIATION BULLETIN(RADBULL)       **** VOL 14.267
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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Won't Back Down on Nuclear Program 
2 Guardian Unlimited: Israel Official: Strike on Iran Possible 
3 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Nuclear technology IRI right -Jordan 
4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Hong Kong view towards IRI positive 
5 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Arabs not to follow anti-IRI policy 
6 AFP: Iran to 'review' work with IAEA if UN resolution adopted -
7 AFP: Iranian nuclear negotiator warns against UN sanctions 
8 Guardian Unlimited: Vice-president faces isolation over Iran and Syr
9 UPI: Russia, Iran renew nuclear talks
10 UPI: Olmert says Iran requires cool head
11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiator to Attend Talks 
12 Korea Herald: Uri, Labor parties demand N.K. envoy   
13 Korea Herald: [Nayan Chanda]Let's talk, but change the subject: N.K.
14 Korea Times: Hans Blix Urges US to Ratify CTBT 
15 UPI: U.S., North Korea to renew money talks
16 UPI: Next U.N. chief focuses N. Korea, reform
17 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Negotiating Korea Energy Deals
18 Korea Herald: Three allies to coordinate stance on N.K.   
19 [NYTr] Does US Election Imperil Bush's Nuke Deal with India?
20 US: washingtonpost.com: Nuclear Policy Meltdown 
21 US: EBR: Environmental concerns drive power-generating technology ch
22 Guardian Unlimited: Rumsfeld exit lessens threat to nuclear sites, h
23 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy: U.S. Eager for India Nuke Deal 
24 Guardian Unlimited: Bolton Unlikely to Win Senate Approval 
25 US: ENS: Democratic Congress Expected to Right Environmental Wrongs 
26 Independent: Brown may be left with Trident dilemma when Blair leave
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
27 The Hindu: Nuke deal with US not to affect indigenous programme - Ka
28 US: Clarion-Ledger: Entergy official downplays talk of sale 
29 Xinhua: Greenpeace: nuclear power plants risky in Indonesia   
30 China Daily: Sino-Russian energy ties set to surge
31 FOCUS Information Agency: NPP Kozloduy’s Unit 5 will not be Stopped 
32 Prague Daily Monitor: SUJB head Drabova to chair EU nuclear supervis
33 The Australian: Australia 'turning a nuclear blind eye' 
34 AFP: Top US aide bets on snap approval of Indo-US nuclear deal -
35 AZ Star: Palo Verde nuclear plant facing special federal inspection 
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
36 IAEA: A Life-Saving Hotline
37 AU ABC: Veterans cite shortfalls in cancer treatment funds. 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
38 PRN: MHF Logistical Solutions Supported Early Closure of Fernald
39 Mining Journal Online: Nuclear clean-up
40 ArmsControlWonk: Guangyuan Plutonium Production Reactor
41 NEWS.com.au: Waste laws 'sideline traditional owners' | 
42 reviewjournal.com: Gibbons putting together his team
43 US: Bradenton Herald: Tallevast renews probe call
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
44 Knox News: Y-12 official: Deserted nuke process 'no longer needed'
45 SF New Mexican: LANL contractor information could be at risk  
46 Star-News: Aiken County officials like idea of new nuclear weapons p
47 Inside Bay Area: Lab workers being urged to unionize
48 Knox News: Oak Ridge's nanoscience research centers attract top scie
49 lamonitor.com: Regulator: LANL 'pushing back' on consent order 
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Won't Back Down on Nuclear Program 

From the Associated Press        


[UP] 

Friday November 10, 2006 5:46 PM

AP Photo MOSB103 

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV 

Associated Press Writer 

MOSCOW (AP) - Iran's top nuclear negotiator said Friday his
country wanted international talks on its disputed nuclear
program, but would not relinquish its right to pursue atomic
energy. 

``We want to use our rights under the Nuclear Nonproliferation
Treaty, and in this context, there will be no retreat, but we
are ready for negotiations,'' Ali Larijani said after meetings
with Russian officials. 

Larijani said Iran was prepared to renew negotiations with
European Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana or to hold talks
``in any other format,'' according to Russian news agencies. 

Using a familiar mix of threats and offers, Larijani warned the
U.N. Security Council against passing a European-proposed draft
resolution that would slap sanctions on Tehran for its refusal
to halt uranium enrichment. 

``Those who support adopting the resolution want to aggravate
the problems of the region,'' he said, adding that imposing the
measures on Iran ``will not promote a political solution of the
problem.'' 

The remarks followed hours of talks with Russian Security
Council secretary Igor Ivanov, who said discussions would
continue Saturday. Larijani met earlier with Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov. 

Shortly after arriving in Moscow, Larijani warned that Tehran
would reconsider its ties with the International Atomic Energy
Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, if the European-drafted
sanctions were passed by the U.N. Security Council. 

``We will reconsider relations with the IAEA if the United
Nations passes the ... resolution ignoring Russia's
amendments,'' Russian news agencies quoted him as saying. 

Tehran has warned repeatedly that it would respond to U.N.
sanctions by blocking the IAEA's inspections of its nuclear
facilities. 

Larijani repeated that the standoff should be solved through
talks with the five permanent U.N. Security Council members and
Germany. 

The six nations offered Iran a package of economic incentives
and political rewards in June if it agreed to freeze its uranium
enrichment effort. But his comments marked Tehran's latest
insistence that it would continue enrichment, a process central
to both civilian power generation and the production of nuclear
weapons. 

The Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty allows for peaceful nuclear
power programs, but Iran's activities and its secrecy have led
to accusations by the United States and others that it is
seeking atomic weapons. Larijani insisted that was not the case,
saying that ``nuclear weapons have no place in our defense
doctrine,'' Russian news agencies reported. 

Russia is building Iran's first nuclear power plant and strongly
supports Iran's right to nuclear energy, but has joined the
United States and Europe in demanding it halt enrichment in
order to ease concerns. 

However, Moscow has rejected the European draft, saying the
sanctions are too broad and too strong, and urging revisions
including the removal of all references to the plant Russia is
building in the Iranian city of Bushehr. 

Both Russia and China, which also has major commercial ties with
Iran, have publicly pushed for dialogue instead of U.N.
punishment, despite the collapse last month of a European Union
attempt to entice Iran into talks. 

Lavrov said at the start of his talks with Larijani that their
discussion would focus on ways to resume negotiations. ``We
stand for solving the problem through talks, let's see how we
can advance in that,'' Lavrov said. 

The European draft resolution would order all countries to ban
the supply of material and technology that could contribute to
Iran's nuclear and missile programs and impose a travel ban and
asset freeze on companies, individuals and organizations
involved in those programs. It would exempt the Bushehr plant,
but not the fuel needed for the reactor. 

While rejecting the sanctions proposal, Russian officials have
hinted they could postpone Bushehr's scheduled launch next year
- a signal that Moscow was applying its own pressure on Tehran
to comply with international demands. But analysts said Moscow
would draw the line at scrapping the $1 billion project. 

Tehran has balked at a Russian offer to move its enrichment work
to Russian soil to assuage international concerns that Iran
could misuse the enrichment process to develop weapons. Larijani
said the proposal remains on the table. 

He called Russia ``our neighbor and friend,'' and told Lavrov
the countries are ``natural allies.'' 

``We are looking into the future relying on the development of
relations in political, economic and military fields,'' Larijani
said. 

Russia has provided spare parts for Soviet-built weapons in the
Iranian inventory and has also reached a deal to supply air
defense missiles to Iran, shrugging off U.S. concerns. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
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 2 Guardian Unlimited: Israel Official: Strike on Iran Possible 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday November 10, 2006 2:01 PM

AP Photo JRL135 

By AMY TEIBEL 

Associated Press Writer 

JERUSALEM (AP) - The deputy defense minister suggested Friday
that Israel might be forced to launch a military strike against
Iran's disputed nuclear program - the clearest statement yet of
such a possibility from a high-ranking official. 

``I am not advocating an Israeli pre-emptive military action
against Iran and I am aware of its possible repercussions,''
Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh, a former general, said in
comments published Friday in The Jerusalem Post. ``I consider it
a last resort. But even the last resort is sometimes the only
resort.'' 

Sneh's comments did not necessarily reflect the view of Israel's
government or of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said government
spokeswoman Miri Eisin. 

Olmert, who was arriving in Washington on Sunday, said he was
confident in the U.S. handling of the international standoff
over Iran's nuclear program. The Bush administration and other
nations say is a cover for developing atomic weapons, but Tehran
says the program is peaceful. 

``I have enormous respect for President Bush. He is absolutely
committed,'' Olmert said in an interview on NBC's ``Today''
show. ``I know that America will not allow Iran to possess
nuclear weapons because this is a danger to the whole Western
world.'' 

The United States and its European allies have proposed a raft
of sanctions to try to curb the country's nuclear development. 

Israel sees Iran as the greatest threat to its survival.
Hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for
Israel's destruction, and Israelis do not believe his claims
that Iran's nuclear program is meant to develop energy, not
arms. 

Israel crippled Iraq's atomic program 25 years ago with an
airstrike on its unfinished nuclear reactor. Experts say Iran
has learned from Iraq's mistakes, scattering its nuclear
facilities and building some underground. 

Sneh's tough talk is the boldest to date by a high-ranking
Israeli official. Olmert and other Israeli leaders frequently
discuss the Iranian threat in grave terms, but stop short of
threatening military action. 

Years of diplomacy have failed to persuade Iran to modify its
nuclear program so it can't develop weapons. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 3 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Nuclear technology IRI right -Jordan 

  2006/11/10   
  
Head of Islamic Republic of Iran-Jordan Parliamentary Friendship
Group Mohammad Bani Hani Thursday said that peaceful nuclear
technology is the right of the Iranians as well as the countries
of the world. 

He said that the technology is beneficial for all people, and
they are to be allowed to their right.

 Turning to America and the West pressures on Iran to halt its
nuclear program, he asked, "Why do the West reach consensus with
other countries in this respect? What is the difference between
Iran and other state?"

 He underlined, "We want the world, the Middle East and
particularly the Zionist regime to be free from nuclear
weapons." 

The lawmaker said that Iranian parliamentary delegation's trip
to Jordan was positive and it will definitely be effective in
expanding ties between the two Muslim countries. 

The delegation arrived in Amman last Friday night, and left for
Iran on Thursday.

 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     
*****************************************************************
 4 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Hong Kong view towards IRI positive 

  2006/11/10   
  
Secretary for Hong Kong Education and Manpower Bureau Arthur Li
Thursday said that the territory has a positive attitude towards
the Islamic Republic of Iran.
 
In a meeting with IRI's Consul General in the territory Abdollah
Nekounam, he said, "We try to view IRI in a different way and
not as it is portrayed by the West and America's propaganda
against it."
 
Referring to the contribution of Iranian civilization in human
advancement as quite significant, he welcomed the expansion of
scientific cooperation between IRI and Hong Kong.
 
He also declared the willingness of Hong Kong universities to
cooperate with IRI in the fields of scientific and research
coordination as well as exchange of students.
 
For his part, Nekounam called for expansion of scientific and
educational cooperation between the two sides.
 
He informed the official about IRI's scientific structure as
well as the achievements of its researchers and specialists.
 
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     
*****************************************************************
 5 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Arabs not to follow anti-IRI policy 

  2006/11/10   
  
An expert on Arab world strategic issues has called on Arab
countries, in particular the Persian Gulf littoral states, not
to follow America's anti-Islamic Republic of Iran diplomacy.
 
In an article published in Syria-based daily of Tishrin on
Thursday, Rafat Seyyed Ahmad said that IRI has always supported
Arab nations since victory of the Islamic Revolution, and never
committed aggression against any Arab state, therefore, IRI is
not a threat to regional states.
 
"The real threat is the other side (America and its Western
allies) because of they are conducting unlawful maneuvers
outside their borders," he pointed out.
 
M/D   

  
  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 6 AFP: Iran to 'review' work with IAEA if UN resolution adopted -
     
 Fri Nov 10, 3:06 AM ET 		 	 

MOSCOW (AFP) - Iran" /> Iranwould "review" its cooperation with 
UN nuclear inspectors if a draft UN resolution aimed at curbing 
its nuclear program is adopted in its current form, Iran's top 
nuclear negotiator warned here. 

 "We will review our relations with the IAEA if the UN adopts
the European resolution without the amendments proposed by
Russia," Iranian negotiator Ali Larijani was quoted by Russian
news agencies as saying on his arrival in Moscow, referring to
the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International
Atomic Energy Agency. 

And even if the Russian amendments are included, adoption of a
UN resolution "will not make Iran change its mind" about its
nuclear program, he said. 

"We have to find a logical way to solve this problem," he added,
apparently referring to international concerns over Iran's
nuclear program. 

The United States and the European Union" /> European Unionsay
they suspect Iran of using a nuclear energy program to mask
nuclear weapons work. Tehran denies this and insists its nuclear
activities are legal and strictly for energy purposes. 

Larijani announced he would be meeting with Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov and with the head of the Russian national security
council, Igor Ivanov, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. 

He said that a Russian proposal to enrich uranium jointly with
Iran on Russian territory was still under consideration. "This
proposal was never rejected and it remains on the negotiating
table." 

The Iranian negotiator said Tehran was carefully studying a
package of proposals from six world powers aimed at dissuading
Iran from pursuing sensitive nuclear work on its own. 

"We hope that the problem will be solved within the framework of
these proposals," he said. 

Larijani's visit takes place against a backdrop of negotiations
among permanent member nations of the UN Security Council over a
European draft resolution to impose sanctions on Iran. 

Iran has refused to halt sensitive nuclear fuel work that can be
used for atomic energy generation and, eventually, to build
atomic weapons. 

Larijani this week shrugged off the threat of UN sanctions,
saying "this will not have any effect on the economic situation
and on the people's daily life," Iran's semi-official Mehr news
agency reported. 

Russia, one of the permanent members along with Britain, China,
France and the United States, has said the resolution is too
tough on Iran and has proposed major amendments to the draft. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 7 AFP: Iranian nuclear negotiator warns against UN sanctions 

 by Stephen Boykewich Fri Nov 10, 12:04 PM ET 		 	 

MOSCOW (AFP) - Top Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani has 
warned that Tehran would reconsider its cooperation with UN 
nuclear monitors if the UN Security Council imposes tough 
sanctions currently under consideration. 

 Larijani, who met in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister
Sergei Lavrov, said the current draft UN resolution put forward
by major European powers was unacceptable. 

"We will review our relations with the IAEA ( International
Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy Agency) if
the UN adopts the European resolution without the amendments
proposed by Russia," Larijani was quoted by Russian news
agencies as saying Friday. 

Even if Russian amendments softening the proposed UN resolution
are included, that "will not make Iran" /> Iranchange its mind"
about developing nuclear power, he said. "We have to find a
logical way to solve this problem." 

Larijani said after the end of talks Friday that any UN
resolution was "not in the interests of resolving" the row over
Iran's nuclear ambitions. He was to continue talks with Russian
officials Saturday. 

The United States and the European Union" /> European Unionsay
they suspect Iran of using a budding civilian nuclear energy
program to mask atomic weapons work and have spearheaded
international pressure for tough measures against Iran. 

Russia, which is building Iran's first civilian nuclear power
plant at Bushehr, has sought to steer the standoff away from
direct confrontation. "We consistently call for a negotiated
solution to this problem," Lavrov said. 

Tehran denies having military plans, insisting its nuclear
activities are legal and strictly for energy purposes. The
country's nuclear programme remains under supervision of the UN
inspectors from the IAEA. 

Iranian officials were also expected to discuss progress in the
Bushehr construction contract, which Russia says is a legitimate
project, but the United States has asked to be stopped. Iran's
ambassador to Moscow told ITAR-TASS news agency there was no
reason to halt the project. 

Larijani also reiterated Iran's openness to a Russian compromise
proposal under which uranium needed for any future Iranian
nuclear programme would be enriched at Russian facilities,
thereby preventing Iran from mastering the sensitive technology
on its own soil. 

"This proposal was never rejected and it remains on the
negotiating table," Larijani said. 

The Iranian negotiator also said Tehran was carefully studying a
package of proposals from six world powers aimed at dissuading
Iran from pursuing sensitive nuclear work on its own. 

"We hope that the problem will be solved within the framework of
these proposals," he said. 

Larijani this week shrugged off the impact of any sanctions,
saying "this will not have any effect on the economic situation
and on the people's daily life," Iran's semi-official Mehr news
agency reported. 

Russia, one of the permanent UN Security Council members along
with Britain, China, France and the United States, has said the
draft sanctions resolution is too tough on Iran and has proposed
major amendments. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 8 Guardian Unlimited: Vice-president faces isolation over Iran and Syria after key
ally leaves Pentagon 

Julian Borger

Friday November 10, 2006 The Guardian             

Donald Rumsfeld's replacement by Robert Gates at the Pentagon 
could mark the most significant shift in the balance of power 
inside the Bush administration since it took office nearly six 
years ago, with consequences for both Iraq and Iran.

Political observers in Washington predicted that the appointment 
could pave the way for talks with Iran and Syria in a bid to 
contain the violence in Iraq, and could also put off a military 
confrontation with Iran over its nuclear programme.

Donald Rumsfeld's departure and the Democratic takeover of 
Congress leaves Dick Cheney isolated in Washington, and almost 
alone in his backing for a military solution to the Iranian 
challenge. The Cheney-Rumsfeld axis acted as a stone wall around 
the White House, keeping out criticisms and doubts. Now, those 
doubts are beginning to seep in, opening the way for a 
fundamental rethink of policy.

However, that does not mean that Mr Cheney's influence is at an
end. He has a formidable staff within the White House and
remains an important influence on the president. "He's isolated
but you know when you corner a dangerous animal, it doesn't make
him any less dangerous," said a senior Democratic foreign policy
official. "He's going to continue to push for what he believes
in. It doesn't mean he's going to put his toys away and go home."

Melvin Goodman, a former CIA official who worked under Mr Gates,
expressed doubts that Mr Gates has the strength of conviction to
stand up to Mr Cheney. "He never has, so it would be the first
time," said Mr Goodman, now a senior fellow at the Centre for
International Policy.

Nevertheless, the choice of Mr Gates strengthens the hand of
Condoleezza Rice, who has clashed repeatedly with the Pentagon.
The two know each other from their days as Soviet experts in the
first Bush White House. Both feel more at home with the foreign
policy pragmatists around the elder George Bush than among the
neo-conservatives who rallied to the current president.

In terms of the family conflict that has provided a
Shakespearean backdrop to the administration, it represents near
total victory for the father over the son. The elder Bush
distrusted Mr Rumsfeld and warned against his appointment. Mr
Gates, by contrast, is very much his man.

When Mr Gates, as deputy-director of the CIA, was tainted by the
Iran-Contra scandal of the Reagan era, Mr Bush stood by him and
gave him the top job in the agency in 1991. Mr Gates
demonstrated his loyalty by becoming the curator of the Bush
presidential library in Texas.

As the Iraq war grinds on, and the broader neoconservative
project in the Middle East is sliding towards disaster, former
aides to the elder Bush - once spurned by his son - are
reappearing one by one at the policy-making helm.

"In the past, when Bush got enmeshed in a big mistake ... daddy
came to the rescue - that's what's happening here," said Vincent
Cannistraro, a former counter-terrorist chief of operations at
the CIA. "Daddy was insistent on getting Gates in."

James Baker, the secretary of state in the first Bush
administration, has already saved the younger Bush from
disaster, taking charge of the legal effort in Florida that
clinched victory in the 2000 election. He now plays a pivotal
role as the co-chairman of the Iraq Study Group.

Mr Gates is a member of the commission and his appointment
guarantees that its recommendations will be given a favourable
hearing. "At least he'll read the thing," Mr Goodman said.
"Rumsfeld would have thrown it out of the window."

Both Mr Baker and Mr Gates have advocated the multilateralism
that was typical of Bush senior but not Bush junior. In
particular they believe the US should talk to Iraq's neighbours,
Iran and Syria.

Mr Gates co-authored a study on Iran policy two years ago which
concluded that Washington should hold comprehensive talks with
Tehran before it achieved nuclear capability. His fellow author
was President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, Zbigniew
Brzezinski, who yesterday declared Mr Gates's selection as "the
best appointment President Bush has made in the course of his
six years in office."

However, resistance to opening a dialogue with Iran will be
fierce, particularly from Mr Cheney, and Mr Baker has made clear
his commission will have no easy solutions to the mess in Iraq.
 
[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 9 UPI: Russia, Iran renew nuclear talks
     
United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/10/2006 4:02:00 PM -0500
 
MOSCOW, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Iran's top nuclear negotiator met in
Moscow with Russian officials Friday, but talks produced no
lessening of tensions over the Iranian nuclear program. 

Ali Larijani, head of the Iranian Supreme National Security
Council, dismissed suspicions that his country has nuclear
weapons ambitions. He said Iran is ready for U.N. inspectors,
Novosti reported. 

"There is no place for nuclear weapons in our defense doctrine,"
Larijani said. "We want to use our rights in the framework of
the Non-Proliferation Treaty. We are ready for talks." 

Larijani met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and
held five-hour talks with Igor Ivanov, the Russian Security
Council head. Talks will continue, Novosti said.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 10 UPI: Olmert says Iran requires cool head
     
United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/10/2006 6:47:00 PM -0500

PETAH TIKVA, Israel, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister
Ehud Olmert says Iran poses a serious threat, but it needs to be
addressed with a cool head. 

Olmert's remarks in the Jerusalem Post contrast with those of
new Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh. 

Sneh said Iran's nuclear ambitions must be stopped "at all
costs," the newspaper reported Friday. He said he wants "fewer
declarations and more deeds." 

Sneh said Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could "kill the
Zionist dream without pushing a button." He said the Iranian
nuclear program causes Israel to live under a "dark cloud of
fear from a leader committed to its destruction." This causes
people to be afraid to live in Israel, he added. 

The newspaper reported during a meeting in Petah Tikva, Olmert
expressed caution about creating public panic. "We have to
handle the issue with cool-headedness and wisdom." 

Sneh said he doesn't believe international sanctions against
Iran will succeed. He said improving Israel's defenses is a high
priority.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 11 Guardian Unlimited: Iran Nuke Negotiator to Attend Talks 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday November 10, 2006 9:46 AM

AP Photo VAH101 

By STEVE GUTTERMAN 

Associated Press Writer 

MOSCOW (AP) - Russian officials said Thursday that Iran's top
nuclear negotiator would be in Moscow for talks on Friday, but
his visit appeared unlikely to bring major progress toward
ending the international standoff over Tehran's nuclear program. 

Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, said Ali Larijani
would hold talks at his ministry and the Russian Security
Council. Lavrov said that Russia - which has repeatedly
emphasized it favors negotiations with Iran over punishment -
would push for a rapid start to international talks on the
nuclear issue. 

While Russia has more sway over Iran than European nations that
have proposed sanctions to punish Iran for its refusal to halt
uranium enrichment, its influence over Tehran - and willingness
to use it - are limited, analysts said. 

Moscow has rejected the European-draft sanctions, saying they
are too broad and too strong, but Russian nuclear officials have
hinted they could postpone the scheduled launch next year of the
nuclear power plant they are building in the southern Iranian
city of Bushehr - the nation's first. 

But analysts said Moscow would draw the line at scrapping the
project, which is more than a decade old and worth some $1
billion. 

``Russia will on no condition agree to stop the construction of
Bushehr,'' said Anton Khlopkov, deputy director of the
Moscow-based PIR Center, a think tank that specializes in
nonproliferation. 

Mikhail Margelov, a Kremlin-connected senator in Russia's upper
house, said Thursday that Russia was again pressing Iran to
accept a proposal under which uranium for its nuclear activities
would be enriched on Russian soil. The proposal had been quietly
dropped earlier this year after months of fruitless talks. 

On Wednesday, a planned visit to Moscow by Iran's foreign
minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, was abruptly postponed, seemingly
suggesting Iranian annoyance at the hints of a delay in the
Bushehr project. Lavrov said Thursday that the Iranians had
requested the delay. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 12 Korea Herald: Uri, Labor parties demand N.K. envoy   
        
Lawmakers yesterday proposed dispatching a special envoy to
North Korea in a bid to diffuse the ongoing tension on the
Korean Peninsula following Pyongyang's recent nuclear test. 

Uri Party lawmakers said Seoul should send former President Kim
Dae-jung or a bipartisan delegation to the North to talk with
high-level North Korean officials, including dictator Kim
Jong-il. 

"I am sorry that former President Kim's visit to the North has
been long delayed, but I believe the North's invitation of Kim
still stands. Whether as a special envoy or on a personal visit,
he should make the trip so that we can resolve the North Korean
nuclear issue," Uri Rep. Kim Sun-mi said in a parliamentary
interpellation session. 

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kim had planned to meet with Kim
Jong-il this year, but the trip was postponed several times
because of local elections, the North's missile launch and other
reasons. 

Uri Party floor leader Kim Han-gill also previously asked Seoul
to dispatch a high-ranking envoy to the North. A prominent
ruling politician, Choi Sung, said the communist nation would
accept bipartisan special envoys, quoting a "key North Korean
official." 

Uri Rep. Kim Hyeong-joo also said, "Seoul should send a
bipartisan delegation comprising ruling and opposition lawmakers
to the North and find ways to untangle the North Korean nuclear
issue. To maintain peace, we should have dialogue even with the
devil."

 Kwon Young-gil, chairman of the minor opposition Democratic
Labor Party, also told a parliamentary speech yesterday, "I
suggest Seoul name a highly-trusted figure as a special envoy
specializing in the North Korean nuclear problem. 

"The envoy should coordinate North Korean policy with
high-ranking officials in related countries and should
participate in discussions with the North Korean authorities." 

Meanwhile, yesterday's interpellation session on unification,
diplomacy and security was dominated by a battle between ruling
and opposition parties over Seoul's key policies regarding its
communist neighbor. 

The main opposition Grand National Party attacked President Roh
Moo-hyun's latest reshuffle of his security and diplomatic team.
Roh recently filled the posts with supporters of his policy of
engaging North Korea, despite mounting pressure to revise the
policy in the wake of the North's atomic test on Oct. 9. 

"The Roh Moo-hyun administration's obsession with its engagement
policy with North Korea went beyond its limit. A good example is
his latest reshuffle of his top diplomatic and security
officials. The personnel decisions were hardly understandable as
followers of his failed engagement policy have been named
again," said GNP Rep. Park Jin.

 The hearings for nominees for foreign minister, defense
minister and unification minister will be held Nov. 16-17. The
date for a hearing on new intelligence chief Kim Man-bok has not
been set. Parliamentary ratification is not mandatory for the
president's appointment of ministers. 

In the wake of the Cabinet reshuffle, GNP leader Kang Jae-sup
said that Roh should form a Cabinet whose members have no party
affiliation to guarantee fair management of next year's
presidential election. 

Shortly before the Cabinet shakeup, Kim Han-gill had urged Roh
to create a Cabinet "dream team" with a wide spectrum of figures
to focus on the urgent issues of the North Korean nuclear crisis
and the economic slowdown. 

In response to the increasing calls for drastic change in the
government lineup, Cheong Wa Dae said President Roh is willing
to form a nonpartisan Cabinet if rival parties cooperate in
legislating key bills in the National Assembly.

 The GNP immediately snubbed the proposal.

 (hjjin@heraldm.com)

By Jin Hyun-joo

2006.11.11
*****************************************************************
 13 Korea Herald: [Nayan Chanda]Let's talk, but change the subject: N.K.   
        
SEOUL - With its two-steps-forward one-step-back approach, North
Korea has fulfilled its long-held nuclear ambition and for now
holds back on further tests in return for an easing of U.N.
sanctions. Diplomats suspect that in the long months of
negotiations ahead North Korea will try to change the subject
while carrying on production of fissile material. North Korea
agreed to return to the six-party talks on the condition that
the United States would negotiate about Macau bank accounts
blocked by the U.S. Treasury on charges of money-laundering.
Even when the bank account issue is resolved, tortuous
negotiations lie ahead while Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal is
likely to grow. 

Commonly accepted interpretation credits China for pressuring
North Korea back to the negotiating table. But many seasoned
observers see the North Korean move as a tactical shift to
consolidate its gains and not a prelude to making concessions. 

According to Paik Jin-hyun, professor of international relations
at Seoul National University, North Korea has agreed to return
to the six-party talks because the country has accomplished what
it has long wanted to do. "It is time to shift gears," he says.
The agreement to return to talks could also be due to Chinese
pressure, he adds, "but one would never know." 

Privately South Korean officials and analysts are skeptical
about the U.S. claim that resumption of talks is a major
concession by North Koreans who had insisted on returning to the
talks only if Washington lifted financial restrictions. When the
talks resume in December, the subject will be restrictions
imposed a year earlier on the charge of the North Korean
counterfeiting U.S. currency. 

A senior U.S. official said that, after a working lunch with his
Chinese and North Korean counterparts, U.S. negotiator
Christopher Hill held a bilateral meeting with Kim Kye-gwan.
Although the resumption of talks has been labeled unconditional,
the North Koreans agreed to return only if the United States
would discuss and resolve the issue of frozen bank accounts. The
United States responded that the resolution would depend on
North Korea's response, but was willing to hold the talks. 

"We do want to resolve these, but it also depends on the DPRK's
(Democratic People's Republic of Korea) willingness to get out
of the illicit activities business," Hill said. 

The Chinese-sponsored six-party talks involving North Korea, the
United States, South Korea, Japan and Russia started in 2003 and
seemed to attain some success during the fourth round, in
September 2005, when the parties agreed on a statement calling
for Pyongyang to dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for
security guarantees, energy and other assistance. However, the
talks broke off last November after the United States froze
North Korean bank accounts. 

North Korea is already benefiting from this shift in position.
South Korea, which froze shipments of rice and fertilizer after
the missile test in July, said it would resume sending aid.
"North Koreans after all are our cousins," says a South Korean
journalist critical of Pyongyang, "no matter what Kim Jong-il
does, we simply cannot see them starve or ask international
community to help."

 An official of China's largest oil company, the
state-controlled China National Petroleum Corp., was quoted as
saying that China's oil exports to North Korea were likely to
return to normal when talks get under way. 

Meanwhile the only pressure on North Korea seems to be U.N.
sanctions on imports of weapons-related components and luxury
goods. South Korean officials make it clear that they will not
halt their export-zone and tourism projects that bring foreign
exchange to the cash-starved nation. South Korean domestic laws
also stood in the way of that nation participating in the
American Proliferation Security Initiative, which requires
inspection by boarding vessels carrying North Korean goods. Now
that North Korea has agreed to the talks, Seoul would be doubly
reluctant to provoke North Korea with aggressive inspections at
sea and, worse, provoke naval clashes with Pyongyang. Will the
application of U.N. sanctions now be softened? "No one has to
worry about anybody going wobbly," U.S. Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice said. But Paik believes Pyongyang will use its
agreement to talk to deflect pressure and delay and elude
sanctions. 

Highly critical of South Korea's Sunshine Policy, Paik says
North Korea is applying salami tactics. By returning to the
negotiating table, Pyongyang will turn the talk itself into
another card to play. While preparation goes on for talks, the
6-megawatt reactors continue to function, accumulating plutonium
to make more bombs. By the end of 2008, North Korea might have
enough material for five or six bombs. 

Meanwhile despite the strong American backing for South Korean
Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon to assume the position of U.N.
secretary-general, U.S. relations with its treaty-ally South
Korea are showing signs of strain. U.S. Assistant Secretary of
State Hill kept Korean officials in the dark about his Beijing
trip and quietly slipped into China from Hong Kong, where he had
traveled ostensibly to discuss sanctions enforcement. Kept in
the dark, officials in Seoul felt isolated when the news broke
in Beijing about the resumption of talks. 

As the North Korean news agency explained, Pyongyang decided to
return to the six-party talks "on the premise that the issue of
lifting financial sanctions will be discussed and settled
between the DPRK and the United States." North Korea, which had
agreed in 2005 to discuss dismantling its nuclear program in
exchange for material and security guarantees, now claims that
the nuclear test was a "self-defensive countermeasure" against a
gathering threat from the United States. "The present
development clearly testifies to the justice of the decision
made by the DPRK to have access to nuclear weapons." 

The tactic that Pyongyang is likely to adopt when talks resume
was revealed in its statements made in the wake of the agreement
for negotiations. While dispensing the usual invective toward
Washington, the North Korean news agency reserved special insult
for Japan, calling for its removal from the six-party talks.
With South Korea smarting at being kept in the dark - it's not
known if Tokyo and Moscow had prior knowledge - China, the
original convener of the talks, has emerged as an even more
important player. China delivered North Korea to the negotiating
table and gained brownie points in Pyongyang by arranging the
U.S.-North Korea bilateral talks that Kim Jong-il had long
wanted. When the six-party talks resume later this year, they
are likely to serve as a backdrop for these bilateral
negotiations. 

The question is: After succeeding in getting an American
interlocutor face to face, will North Korea try to change the
original purpose of the conversation, fighting to unfreeze the
bank accounts and presenting that as the first tangible benefit
from the nuclear test? More importantly, after the bank issue is
resolved, will North Korea be more amenable to making
concessions on the nuclear front or will it return to earlier
demands that the Bush administration rejected? North Korea
watcher Paik suspects that the opening gambit of the DPRK might
be to present itself as a nuclear-weapon state and an equal
partner of the United States, asking for the global disarmament
that his father Kim Il-sung had long demanded. 

Whatever course the talks take, one thing is certain: While
diplomatic jousting continues, Asia's newest nuclear state will
continue to accumulate plutonium for its bombs. 

Nayan Chanda, an editor with YaleGlobal Online, is the author of
"Bound Together: A Brief History of Globalization," to be
published by Yale University Press in spring 2007. - Ed.

2006.11.10
*****************************************************************
 14 Korea Times: Hans Blix Urges US to Ratify CTBT 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times   

By Yoon Won-sup Staff Reporter

 Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix urged the United
States Friday to ratify the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty
(CTBT), saying the issue was the most important for world peace
in terms of disarmament. 

Speaking to students at Korea University in Seoul, Blix, former
director-general of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),
said joining the CTBT is vital in preventing the development of
a new generation of nuclear weapons. 

Blix, chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission,
further said that ratification of the treaty would help reduce
the reliance on nuclear deterrence in security policies and
reset the stage for global nuclear disarmament. 

He indicated that the world should focus not only on preventing
the transfer of nuclear weapons to non-nuclear weapons states
but also on disarming nuclear ones. 

He said that today the world's attention is riveted on North
Korea's missiles and testing of a nuclear weapon, but stressed
that that the world must not forget there are still 27,000
nuclear weapons in the world mainly in the possession of the
United States and Russia. 

While particularly dangerous in the hands of unstable states or
terrorist groups, there are no safe possessors of nuclear
weapons, he added. 

Against this backdrop, he brought up two points to reduce the
threats of nuclear weapons and to address proliferation risks.
First is the basic respect for the restriction on the threat or
use of force in the U.N. Charter, and the second is the revival
of arms control and disarmament. 

He said the double purpose of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
was for non-nuclear weapons states to commit themselves not to
acquiring the weapons, and for nuclear weapons states to
negotiate toward nuclear disarmament. 

But there is a feeling of frustration among non-nuclear member
states that while they have remained non-nuclear, the nuclear
weapons states have done little to engage in negotiations toward
disarmament. 

Last but not least, he also suggested a treaty on the cut-off of
production of highly enriched uranium and plutonium for weapons
use, including an effective verification mechanism. Recently,
the United States presented a draft on the treaty. 

He recommended that the U.N. Security Council establish a small
subsidiary unit that could provide advice on weapons of mass
destruction for countries such as North Korea. 

yoonwonsup@koreatimes.co.kr11-10-2006 17:23         
*****************************************************************
 15 UPI: U.S., North Korea to renew money talks
     
  United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/10/2006 12:59:00 PM -0500

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- U.S. Treasury representatives are laying
plans for bilateral talks with North Korea over counterfeiting
and money laundering charges. 

At the same time, efforts will be renewed to convince North
Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons program, the Financial
Times said. 

During a secret meeting in Beijing last week, the U,S., North
Korean and Chinese nuclear negotiators agreed to restart the
stalled six-party nuclear talks. 

On the counterfeit issues, the United States is likely to face
calls to conclude its 14-month investigation into North Korean
state companies who had accounts at Banco Delta Asia in Macao,
the report said. 

The financial sanctions tabled by the United States last
September in effect blocked North Korea from the global banking
system, the Financial Times said.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 16 UPI: Next U.N. chief focuses N. Korea, reform
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

11/10/2006 6:40:00 AM -0500

SEOUL, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- South Korea's foreign minister, who is
set to take over the top U.N. post, promised Friday to use the
world body to resolve North Korea's nuclear threats. 

In a farewell speech to Seoul's National Assembly, Ban Ki-moon
also said he would reform the United Nations and tackle
terrorism and poverty. 

Ban has stepped down from his post as South Korea's foreign
minister to take office as the U.N. secretary-general next year. 

"The reform of the United Nations, which has been put off for
the past 60 years, must be carried out in earnest," he told
parliament. 

Ban, a 62-year-old career diplomat, said the North's nuclear
standoff will be one of his top priorities as head of the world
body. 

"I will take the utmost advantage of my status as the U.N.
secretary-general to help resolve the North Korean nuclear issue
and settle peace on the Korea peninsula," Ban said. 

Ban will be replaced as foreign minister by Chief Presidential
Security Adviser Song Min-soon. 

Ahead of assuming the top U.N. post, Ban has traveled to the
United States, China, Japan, Russia and other countries to call
for concerted efforts to resolve the North's nuclear problem.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 17 Guardian Unlimited: Russia Negotiating Korea Energy Deals

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Saturday November 11, 2006 2:16 AM

AP Photo SEL106 

By BURT HERMAN 

and 

ALEX NICHOLSON 

Associated Press Writers 

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Russia has been negotiating deals to
provide electricity to North and South Korea, a Russian official
said, although the talks are now in jeopardy because of U.N.
Security Council sanctions against the communist nation. 

The two projects, being proposed by the Far Eastern department
of Russia's electricity monopoly RAO Unified Energy Systems,
would help meet the North's dire need for electricity to bolster
its sagging economy plagued by endemic shortages, while also
providing energy-hungry South Korea with power for its bustling
economy. 

The plans would also create a way to bring the divided Koreas
together on a joint electricity project, while leaving the power
switch in the hands of an outside country whose main concern
would be keeping the venture going to reap the financial reward. 

``In my opinion, this project could be attractive commercially,
technologically and in terms of increasing security. It could
introduce a certain amount of stability into the situation on
the peninsula,'' UES deputy board chairman Leonid Drachevsky
told The Associated Press. 

Drachevsky said the original idea for the project had been
proposed by South Korea and based on current electricity prices
would require investment of at least $2 billion. 

``At the moment this is at the level of ideas. We haven't got as
far as the details,'' he said. However, Drachevsky confirmed the
deal had been under consideration for some time. 

``This idea didn't come about today and it didn't come about
yesterday,'' he said. 

South Korea last year offered to provide electricity directly to
the North to help resolve the nuclear standoff with Pyongyang.
But it's believed the North would be highly reluctant to leave
control of its power grid at the whim of Seoul and dependent on
the state of relations on the peninsula - despite South Korea's
assurances that it wouldn't unilaterally pull the plug. 

Last year, on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit at a
meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia and South Korea,
a printed agenda seen by the AP included an item about Moscow's
plans for energy aid to the North. At the time, officials
refused to comment directly on those plans. 

Russian officials discussed the plans in early October with
high-ranking South Korean officials in Seoul. 

An official at South Korea's Ministry of Commerce, Industry and
Energy said only that South Korean and Russian officials agreed
on ``the need to expand cooperation in the electricity field''
during their meeting in Seoul last month. 

But the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he
wasn't the ministry's official spokesman, said no details were
discussed at the working-level meeting. 

One problem would be that the Russians want North Korea to pay
in cash - something Pyongyang doesn't have to spare. 

The South Koreans, with their deep pockets and hunger for
energy, could pay the North Koreans transit fees for the
electricity lines running to the South. 

``If you had transit (through North Korea), then of course there
is interest in supplying North Korea,'' said Drachevsky. 

The Russian electricity for South Korea would simply pass
through the North, without any generation capacity located in
North Korea itself. The lines would be elevated high above
ground, meaning the only way to stop the electricity would
simply be to blow up the support poles, a person close to the
negotiations told the AP in Seoul. 

However, the North Koreans would be very reluctant to do
anything to prevent electricity from passing through their
territory, because that would anger Russia and also mean they
would forfeit the transit fees. 

The power being provided to the North would be on a separate
line, because the North's power grid operates differently than
the South. 

The U.N. sanctions imposed after the North's Oct. 9 test have
placed the plans in doubt. Any new projects are on hold because
of escalated tensions in the region, and providing electricity
to the North would obviously be something that could be dual-use
- and possibly go to supporting the country's military along
with missile or nuclear programs, which is banned under the
sanctions. 

Drachevsky noted the sanctions could delay the plans, but wasn't
ready to dismiss the proposal altogether. 

``I don't think (sanctions) will be eternal,'' he said. 

--- 

Burt Herman reported from Seoul, Alex Nicholson from Moscow. 
		 	 	   
    Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 18 Korea Herald: Three allies to coordinate stance on N.K.   
        
Chief nuclear negotiators from South Korea, the United States
and Japan will gather in Hanoi to prepare for six-party talks
over North Korea slated to resume next month.

 The trilateral talks will be held Wednesday, in advance of the
annual Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit scheduled for
the weekend of Nov. 18.

 "Considering various diplomatic schedules, it is more likely
for the six-party talks to resume early or mid-December rather
than within this month," a government official said on condition
of anonymity.

 North Korea agreed to resume negotiations almost a year after
walking out on the talks and barely a month after its nuclear
test.

 The three negotiators - Chun Yung-woo of South Korea,
Christopher Hill of the United States and Kenichiro Sasae of
Japan - will have sessions to coordinate their measures on North
Korea's return to the nuclear talks and ways to implement the
Joint Statement, the official said.

 South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and U.S. President George
W. Bush are scheduled to hold summit talks on the morning of
Nov. 18. Their last meeting was in September in Washington.

 Roh will also meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday
or Saturday of the APEC week, according to Japanese daily Tokyo
Shimbun.

 Abe and Roh held their first summit meeting in Seoul last
month. Abe took office in September.

 It is highly likely that the leaders of China and Russia will
also join bilateral talks on the sidelines of the APEC forum.

 This would be the first time for the heads of state of the
six-party members to discuss their stances on returning to the
six-party talks.

 "I am sure the issue will be a subject of discussion," National
Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said at a White House briefing. 

"The way ahead, though, I think is pretty clear. We have said,
well, if you come back, it's not just to talk, it has to be
about concrete steps to implement the Sept. 19, 2005 joint
statement."

 The Joint Statement lists principles to be turned into actions
on denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and the economic and
diplomatic incentives to be given to the communist regime in
exchange.

 Washington also cautioned North Korea against taking any
belligerent actions during the APEC period.

 "It's possible that they would take some action," Hadley said.
"I think it would be very ill-advised."

 North Korea defied international warnings and test-fired
missiles in July before conducting an underground nuclear test
last month.

 Japan's Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Hakubun Shimomura said
yesterday that no date has been set for a meeting with South
Korea, but added that Japan was open to as many bilateral
meetings as possible.

 South Korea's ruling Uri Party officials said yesterday they
plan to hold a meeting with the government to fine-tune the
nation's position on the U.S.-led Proliferation Security
Initiative.

 South Korea is being urged to assume a greater role in the
global network against trade of weapons of mass destruction.

 "High-ranking officials of the party, the government and Cheong
Wa Dae will meet and finalize the decision," a Uri source was
quoted as telling Yonhap News.

 South Korea currently commits to the initiative as an observer.
Full status would require sending teams to participate in drills.

 The meeting, which will be undisclosed to the press, will be
attended by Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook, Uri Party Chairman
Kim Geun-tae, Uri floor leader Kim Han-gill, Cheong Wa Dae Chief
of Staff Lee Byung-wan, Presidential Chief Security Adviser Song
Min-soon, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung, Unification Minister
Lee Jong-seok and First Vice Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan,
Yonhap said. 

(angiely@heraldm.com)

By Lee Joo-hee

2006.11.11
*****************************************************************
 19 [NYTr] Does US Election Imperil Bush's Nuke Deal with India?
 
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 2006 14:28:17 -0600 (CST)


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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
InterPress Service - Nov 9, 2006
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=35431

US Election Verdict Imperils India Nuclear Deal

Analysis by Praful Bidwai

NEW DELHI, Nov 9 (IPS) - The Democratic Party's strong showing in the
United States Congressional elections has enlarged the question-mark
which hangs over Washington's nuclear cooperation deal with India. But
no major change in U.S.-India relations appears to be on the cards.

The controversial nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in July 2005
by President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Under
its terms, the U.S. would effectively "normalise" India as a de facto
nuclear weapons-state (NWS) and resume civilian nuclear commerce with
it, which has stood suspended since India's first nuclear test in 1974.

The deal makes a unique exception for India, which is not a signatory
to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and which conducted five
nuclear weapons test in 1998.

In return for this special treatment, India would put 14 of its 22
nuclear power reactors (operating and under construction) under
International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards and also secure approval
for the deal from the IAEA and the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
India can continue to produce fuel for nuclear weapons in its
non-safeguarded facilities.

The deal was cleared by the foreign relations committees of both
chambers of the U.S. Congress, which formulated enabling legislations.
The House of Representatives passed the relevant Bill by a 359 to 68
vote last July.

However, the Senate is yet to vote on its own Bill. In its last
session, just before the election recess, it failed to clear it because
the Democrats moved 19 amendments which could not be voted on.

Now, both Chambers are likely to meet for what is called a "lame duck"
session next week, with their existing members participating. The Bush
administration has promised to try to get the Senate Bill passed as
early as Friday next week.

The administration is at pains to emphasise its commitment to the deal.
U.S. ambassador to India David C. Mulford in a media briefing on
Thursday stressed that the election results do not mean that the deal
is off: "It still has a chance."

"But it is by no means certain that the deal-related Bill will be taken
up by the Senate next week", says Chintamani Mahapatra, Professor of
American Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University here. "And if it is not
passed next week, the legislation is as good as dead."

Usually, the lame duck session passes urgent money Bills and does not
take up substantive legislation. Besides, other legislations are
competing with the India-specific Bill for the top place in the Senate
agenda, including one which permits full trade relations with Vietnam,
which Bush is due to visit soon.

"The most important cause for a possible delay in clearing the Bill is
that the Democrats may be unwilling for domestic reasons to hand an
easy diplomatic victory to Bush," adds Mahapatra. "Relations between
the Democrats and Republicans have turned extremely fractious over the
Iraq war and domestic policies."

If the legislation is not cleared next week by the Senate, then the
planned reconciliation of the two Bills, and their passage by the full
Congress, will not go through.

In that case, the deal will return to the drawing-board. And the entire
legislative process will have to re-start from scratch.

"That puts the issue in an area of great uncertainty", says Muchkund
Dubey, a former foreign secretary (chief of the diplomatic service) of
India. "For, it is by no means clear that the Democrats strengthened by
their full control over Congress will agree to the same terms and
language as the original Bills."

The Democrats, say India's Foreign Office sources, recently assured New
Delhi that they would move no more than 10 amendments during the
lame-duck session. But it is not clear that they would stick to that
commitment.

Already, the existing Senate Bill contains clauses and language that
New Delhi finds unpalatable, including a requirement for annual
certification from the President that India is observing nuclear
restraint and not diverting nuclear material to military uses.

The Bush administration had hoped that the reconciliation process would
lead to a dilution of these conditions in a Senate-House conference
committee. But after the Congressional elections, "the administration
would be lucky to be able to retain the clauses," holds Dubey.

If the deal goes back to a fresh debate in Congress, its terms could
well be transformed in keeping with the Democrats' stronger adherence
to nuclear non-proliferation. Although India would probably still not
be asked to make tougher commitments, the Manmohan Singh government
will find it difficult to sell the deal as a major diplomatic coup.

The Senate legislation has evoked strong negative reactions from
India's political opposition.

The Left parties, whose support is vital for the Singh government's
survival, oppose any change in the "original goal-posts" set by the
Bush-Singh agreements of July 2005 and this past March. And the
opposition, right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party is even more hostile to
any change in the agreement's terms.

New Delhi will find it near-impossible to renegotiate the deal. But it
has no fall-back or fall-soft options. "It's either a win-win situation
for the U.S. and India, or lose-lose one for both; it cannot be a
win-lose situation," says Mohapatra.

The U.S. Congress is not the only obstacle the deal will have to
overcome. The Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) too has to clear it. At
least some of its 45 member-states, including the Nordic countries,
Ireland, New Zealand and, above all, China are known to have
reservations about it.

India has been lobbying individual NSG members. It also made a
presentation on the deal before the NSG in mid-October in Vienna. But
the NSG would probably wait for the U.S. Congress vote before deciding.

"The nuclear deal is only one part of the India-U.S. relationship,"
says Dubey. "Even if it is delayed or falls through, the overall thrust
of U.S. policy towards India is unlikely to change. There is bipartisan
support in Washington for a special strategic relationship with India.
The two leaderships increasingly see their interests as congruent, not
least vis-?-vis containing China."

There is one respect in which things might change somewhat. If the
departure of Donald Rumsfeld as U.S. defence secretary leads to a major
shift of U.S. plans for Iraq, India might once again come under
pressure to train or assist Iraq's military and police forces.

On two occasions in the past, India was on the verge of sending troops
to Iraq to assist U.S. forces. The move fell through because of its
immense domestic unpopularity.

However, with Rumsfeld's resignation, there is likely to be some
cooling off of the enthusiasm with which India's strategic planners
welcomed the so-called ?Revolution in Military Affairs' involving the
use of "smart" weapons, and a technological "transformation" in
war-fighting, which the former defence secretary advocated.

The "smart" weapons did not prove particularly effective during the
last two Gulf wars. 

(END/2006) 
       
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*****************************************************************
 20 washingtonpost.com: Nuclear Policy Meltdown 

Friday, November 10, 2006; Page A30

Regarding the Oct. 20 news story "U.S. Plan for New Nuclear 
Weapons Advances": The United States needs a new nuclear policy 
rather than new types of nuclear warheads and a revamped nuclear 
weapons complex.

The Energy Department evidently forgot to mention an essential 
fact at its press briefing on "Complex 2030" and the "Reliable 
Replacement Warhead" program: The core nuclear warhead components 
it wants to redesign and replace are already determined by the 
nuclear weapons labs themselves to be essentially 100 percent 
reliable. The misplaced obsession with warhead reliability and 
the rationale for continuing to maintain thousands of nuclear 
weapons on high alert are part of an outdated U.S. nuclear 
weapons policy.

The Cold War is over. The United States should end its nuclear
war-fighting doctrine and dramatically reduce the number of its
nuclear weapons.

ROBERT NELSON

Senior Scientist, Global Security Program

Union of Concerned Scientists

Cambridge, Mass.
 	 
1996- The Washington Post Company | |   [ border=] 
*****************************************************************
 21 EBR: Environmental concerns drive power-generating technology changes
     
Energy Business Review
 	 	 	 
 9th November 2006 By EBR Staff Writer 

While combined cycle gas turbine plants continue to dominate new
electricity generation build, environmental concerns and
government policy are having an increasing influence on
generating technology development. The majority of technical
research at present is focused on environmental considerations;
both cleaning up traditional thermal power plants and improving
new forms of technology.

 'Content There are two fundamental reasons why combined cycle
gas turbine (CCGT) plants are the most popular choice for new
plant build; their low capital costs and high fuel efficiency. 

In comparison with coal power plants, CCGT plants are physically 
smaller, have less complicated fuel handling requirements and are 
faster to build - all factors that contribute to lower the 
upfront capital costs. Once built, the combination of both gas 
and steam turbines allows efficiencies approaching 60% to be 
achieved by a modern plant. This far surpasses what even modern 
coal powered plants - which can typically only reach around 45% 
fuel efficiency - are capable of. 

Investments in renewables concentrated within wind farms 

Wind energy is now a mature generation technology as the
industry has largely consolidated around horizontal axis,
three-bladed turbines for both on- and offshore applications.
Offshore wind farms benefit from higher average wind speeds and
the absence of geographic features that would otherwise block or
lessen the wind speed ultimately experienced by the turbine. 

With power output proportional to wind speed, the average annual
wind speed is a critical metric for site selection. A typical
offshore wind turbine is much larger and more expensive than its
on-shore equivalent, as a result of the challenge of
installation and interconnection at sea. 

In many countries wind farms are financially attractive, at
least in part as a result of government support. However, many
still struggle for suitable sites as a result of resistance from
local communities that both resent their intrusion into the
natural environment and retain significant control over local
planning consent procedures. 

With growing international resistance to new large hydro
developments on account of their ecological harm and impact upon
local populations, other renewable technology is looked to for
the future. However, these technologies, be it solar, tidal
energy or wave power, are challenged by their lower energy
concentrations. 

DG promises benefits if hurdles can be overcome. 

One incentive for people to install solar or wind generation
technology in their own homes or businesses is the potential to
actually make money via distributed generation (DG), or selling
excess electricity back to the network. However, there are many
commercial and technical barriers that need to be overcome or at
least mitigated if complete DG networks are to be built. 

Technically, distribution systems that have been designed for
power flow in one direction only must be made capable of
bi-directional current for consumers to become producers, if
they are indeed able to generate more power than they need
themselves. The grid network itself will also need to balance
itself in new ways as historically only the large centralized
power plants needed to be controlled, whereas DG would require a
coordinated approach from all of the discrete power-generating
nodes. 

However, it is the commercial side of the network that is likely
to be more complicated, as instead of a central utility or
station distributing power throughout a network to individually
metered load points, it would be possible to trade power with
any number of different participants. It would also become less
clear what network charges are most appropriate as there is the
potential for significant fractions of the power network to
become stranded, or at least less utilized than they would have
been in a centralized system. 

The existence of localized power production also provides
significant opportunity for the growth of combined heat and
power (CHP) applications, where the waste heat from a generator
is then used for space, water or industrial process heating
on-site. The recovered waste heat can then displace the
consumption that would otherwise have required its own fuel
source and the overall energy requirements of the facility can
be reduced. This would not be possible when a large central
power plant was used to generate the power, however, as it is
prohibitively expensive and inefficient to pipe hot water or
steam over the same distances as power. 

The nuclear question 

While nuclear power stations have fallen from favor in many of
the largest economies in the world, such as the US, the UK, and
Germany, there are increasing signs that they are set to be
welcomed back into the fold. Nuclear power stations are
garnering increasing levels of support from governments and the
public as a result of their reduction of national dependence
upon imported fossil fuels and the relatively small quantity of
greenhouse gases that they emit while operating.

Third-generation reactor technologies, such as pebble bed
reactors are likely to feature more prominently because of their
passive safety features. 

It should be noted however, that significant government
investment will be required for a new generation of nuclear
build. Financial planning of any real certainty is difficult
because, along with the huge upfront costs of getting a nuclear
power plant up and running, there is no guarantee of what price
will be paid for the electricity once it actually starts being
generated. 'End Intelliext 

©2006 Business Review Ltd 				 			 		 			 				 			 		 
*****************************************************************
 22 Guardian Unlimited: Rumsfeld exit lessens threat to nuclear sites, hardliners believe 

Robert Tait in Tehran

Friday November 10, 2006 The Guardian             

Iranian hardliners are hailing the US Republican electoral
defeat and Donald Rumsfeld's downfall as a symbolic victory that
lessens the risk of American military strikes on Iran's nuclear
facilities.

Sources close to the Islamic republic's theocratic leadership
said yesterday that the replacement as US defence secretary of
the hawkish Mr Rumsfeld by the more emollient Robert Gates
improved the chances of direct talks between Tehran and
Washington.

"This will be seen as a sign of two things," said a recently
retired senior Iranian diplomat with close ties to the regime.
"First, it signals the decline in legitimacy of the policies of
President Bush and his fellow hardliner [Mr Rumsfeld] in the
Middle East, including on Iran's nuclear programme. Second,
Rumsfeld's departure signals the diminishing in power of those
believing in military solutions compared with those favouring
diplomacy."

Sadegh Zibakalam, a political scientist at Tehran University, 
said: "With Rumsfeld gone, the possibility of selected strikes on 
Iran's nuclear facilities is even more remote than before."

Mr Gates was lauded as favouring negotiations with Iran by the
influential Aftab website, which is attached to Hasan Rowhani,
Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, who has close official
links with the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The website noted with approval Mr Gates's affiliation with
James Baker, the former US secretary of state and head of the
recently convened Iraq Study Group, who has also voiced support
for such contact.

However, talks are more likely to centre on Iraq than on Iran's
nuclear programme, which the Bush administration and many others
in the west fear is designed to build an atomic bomb. Iranian
officials disclosed this week that they are considering a
renewed US request for meetings on Iraq, where Iran has strong
influence with leaders of the majority Shia population. While
that now seems likelier, a breakthrough on the nuclear impasse
is as distant as ever, analysts say.

"I don't believe Democrats view the prospect of Iran with
nuclear technology as any less of a threat than Republicans do,"
said Saeed Leylaz, a Tehran-based political analyst. "It may be
that the means used by Washington to try and convince Iran to
suspend uranium enrichment will be more varied, but other than
that I don't believe we are any freer from American pressure,
and I don't foresee a strategic change in the relationship."
 

[UP] 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 23 Guardian Unlimited: Envoy: U.S. Eager for India Nuke Deal 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday November 10, 2006 11:31 PM

AP Photo XGO103 

NEW DELHI (AP) - A top U.S. official said Friday that Washington
is eager to finalize a civilian nuclear pact with India, and
urged it to work with neighboring Pakistan in the fight against
terrorism when they resume peace talks next week. 

The agreement to provide India with much-needed nuclear fuel is
seen as a cornerstone of the emerging alliance between New Delhi
and Washington after nearly a half-century of Cold War
estrangement. 

It has strong supporters in both U.S. political parties and was
overwhelmingly endorsed by the House of Representatives in July. 

The Senate, however, must still approve the deal, and Assistant
Secretary of State for South Asia Richard Boucher said he was
``very hopeful'' the matter would be taken up by the outgoing
Senate. 

``We want to do it as fast as possible because it is important
to the U.S.,'' he told reporters in New Delhi. 

``We made a deal. We want to implement it as agreed as soon as
we can,'' he said. ``We are determined to do it. Whatever
happens, we will make sure, it happens.'' 

The pact is not expected to be affected by the Democrats'
midterm election victory in which they took control of Congress.
On Thursday, Democratic leaders in the Senate, including Sen.
Joseph Biden, the top Democrat on the Senate foreign relations
panel, said they were ready to move ahead with the India bill. 

The deal reverses decades of U.S. anti-proliferation policy by
shipping civilian nuclear technology to India in return for
safeguards and inspections at certain nuclear plants. Critics
say the deal would ruin global nonproliferation efforts. 

Congress must approve the agreement because India has not signed
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which current U.S. law
requires for such nuclear cooperation. 

Even if Congress should complete its work, several other steps
remain before the plan can be implemented, including approval of
the Indian exemption by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an assembly
of nations that export nuclear material. 

Boucher, who is on a swing through South Asia and visited
Pakistan before heading to India, also said New Delhi and
Islamabad must work together against terrorism as they reopen
peace talks that were stalled by July's train bombings in
Mumbai, which killed 207 people. 

The two-day talks begin Tuesday in New Delhi, and Boucher said
``we hope they can make progress on some of the big political
issues that stand between India and Pakistan.'' 

``I am confident that both sides are getting together to try to
achieve progress on issues, to try to work together against
terrorism,'' he said. 

The nuclear rivals have fought three wars since the bloody
partition of the subcontinent after independence from Britain in
1947. 

They began a peace process in 2004, and have since taken several
fitful steps to improve relations. 

But the process broke down after the Mumbai bombings, which
India says were carried out by Pakistani militant groups with
links to that country's intelligence service - an allegation
Islamabad denies. 

However, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Indian
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed to resume talks when they
met in Havana, Cuba, on the sidelines of the Nonaligned Movement
Summit in September.	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 24 Guardian Unlimited: Bolton Unlikely to Win Senate Approval 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Friday November 10, 2006 6:01 AM

AP Photo NYAR105 

By ANNE PLUMMER FLAHERTY 

Associated Press Writer 

WASHINGTON (AP) - John Bolton's prospects for winning Senate
approval to stay on as U.N. ambassador essentially died Thursday
as Democrats and a pivotal Republican said they would continue
to oppose his nomination. 

It was another blow to President Bush, two days after Democrats
triumphed in elections that will give them control of Congress
next year. On Wednesday, Bush had announced that Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, a polarizing figure and face of
the Iraq war, would step down. 

On Thursday, the White House resubmitted Bolton's nomination to
the Senate, where the appointment has languished for more than a
year. Bush appointed him to the job temporarily in August 2005
while Congress was in recess, an appointment that will expire
when the Congress adjourns, no later than January. 

Bush could not make a second recess appointment of Bolton for
the same job, though there was some speculation that the
administration might try to keep the ambassador at the U.N. in
some fashion. 

If Bush is forced to find a replacement for Bolton, it would
come as the administration is relying heavily on the U.N. in
confrontations with North Korea and Iran over their nuclear
programs and in trying to end fighting in Sudan's Darfur region. 

``He has been extraordinarily effective up there at the U.N. and
now is not the time to have a gap in your U.N. ambassador,''
said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack. 

Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who was defeated by Democrat
Sheldon Whitehouse on Tuesday, told reporters in Rhode Island
that he would continue opposing Bolton. That would likely deny
Republicans the votes needed to move Bolton's nomination from
the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the full Senate. 

``The American people have spoken out against the president's
agenda on a number of fronts, and presumably one of those is on
foreign policy,'' Chafee said. ``And at this late stage in my
term, I'm not going to endorse something the American people
have spoke out against.'' 

Democrats indicated that even should the Senate try debating
Bolton's nomination when lawmakers reconvene next week - still
under Republican control - they would stretch out debate on
Bolton with the aim of killing it. Republicans lack the 60 votes
needed to force a vote on the nomination. 

``I see no point in considering Mr. Bolton's nomination again in
the Foreign Relations Committee because, regardless of what
happens there, he is unlikely to be considered by the full
Senate,'' said Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, top Democrat on the
Foreign Relations Committee. 

Bolton's 2005 recess appointment came after Democrats blocked
repeated attempts by GOP leaders to grant him Senate
confirmation. Democrats said Bolton was a bully who lacked the
diplomatic skills necessary to broker international deals. 

In 2005, Chafee wavered on his support for Bolton, citing
concerns at one point about Bolton's tie to a government
investigation into faulty prewar intelligence on Iraq. In
September, Chafee - who was in a tight re-election race - said
he would oppose Bolton's nomination until the administration
answered questions about its policy in the Middle East, which in
effect delayed any vote until after the elections. 

Bush asked congressional Republicans Thursday morning at the
White House to confirm Bolton during their ``lame duck'' session
beginning next week, said White House spokesman Tony Snow. 

Asked if Bush thinks Bolton will be confirmed, Snow said,
``We'll find out.'' 

Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith in Rhode Island
contributed to this report. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 25 ENS: Democratic Congress Expected to Right Environmental Wrongs 

Environment News Service (ENS)
 
WASHINGTON, DC, November 9, 2006 (ENS) - Democrats will control
both the House and Senate when a new Congress convenes in
January, after one of the closest races of the 2006 midterm
election was settled in Virginia. 

Republican Senator George Allen has conceded defeat in the U.S.
Senate race, handing a victory to former Navy Secretary James
Webb, and shifting power to the Democrats. 

Senator Allen, who trailed Webb by a narrow margin, had the
legal right to seek a recount - an opportunity he declined today
to avoid causing "more rancor by protracted litigation." 

[Webb] Jim Webb has written six best-selling war novels. He has
traveled worldwide as a journalist, and his PBS coverage of the
U.S. Marines in Beirut earned him an Emmy Award from the
National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. (Photo
courtesy Webb for Senate) In his acceptance speech, Webb, a
former Republican who served as Secretary of the Navy in the
Reagan administration, said Democrats would press the Bush
administration to change course in Iraq. 

The Democrats' victories were fueled in large part by public
dissatisfaction over President George W. Bush's handling of the
Iraq war. They plan hearings into the decision-making that led
to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. 

The results of the Virginia race give Democrats not only a 51
seat majority in the 100 member Senate but control of Congress
for the first time in President Bush's six years in office. 

Senate Democrats held a victory rally on the grounds of the
Capitol shortly after Allen's concession speech. 

They pledged to work in bipartisanship with the President, but
on their own terms. 

The new Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, said,
“America needs change, and change starts in Iraq. The President
must listen and work with Democrats to fix his failed policy.
Americans have demanded a new direction. Democrats are ready to
deliver.” 

[Reid] Senator Harry Reid, from the small Nevada town of
Searchlight, will become Senate Majority Leader in January.
(Photo courtesy Office of the Senator) President Bush is less
likely to be able to advance the stalled Yucca Mountain
geological repository for America's highest level radioactive
waste, as Reid and the entire Nevada Congressional delegation
are long-standing opponents of the facility planned for 90 miles
northwest of Las Vegas. 

"Will we stand up to the President when we think he is wrong?
Yes," said Senator Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat. "But
our real mission is to work together and help American families
and make a better America." 

Conservationists hope the new Congress will restore
environmental protections that the Bush adminstration and
Republican Congress stripped away. 

Democrats will be able to accomplish this when they take over
committees. Much of what makes it to the floor of the House or
the Senate for a vote must first go through a committee, where
it can be stalled if it runs afoul of committee chairs. 

One of the most obstructive Republican committee chairs has been
Congressman Richard Pombo of the House Resources Committee. 

Representing the agricultural district of Stockton, California,
Pombo made it his mission to revoke the Endangered Species Act
and enforced a six-point screen on any proposals for new
Wilderness protection, so that few measures made it to the House
Floor. 

He was defeated by Jerry McNerney, an engineer and renewable
energy specialist who is the CEO of a company that produces
wind-energy turbines. 

Pombo will now be replaced as the chair of the House Resources
Committee by Ranking Democrat Congressman Nick Rahall of West
Virginia. 

[Rahall] Congressman Nick Rahall has represented Southern West
Virginia in Congress Since 1977. He has worked to pass mine
safety legislation, establishing the Gauley River National
Recreation Area, and the Bluestone as a National Scenic River.
(Photo courtesy Office of the Congressman) 

The House Resources Subcommittee on Forests and Forest Health,
another important environmental post has been chaired by
Congressman Greg Walden. He is considered "second only to Pombo
in his anti-environmental record," by Bark-Out.org, an Oregon
based forest conservation group. 

Over the past six years, the Forest Service has removed
requirements for analyzing the environmental impacts of logging
and restricted public participation in the management of public
forests. 

Walden is a supporter of fire salvage logging conducted by the
U.S. Forest Service. But environmentalists such as Bark-Out say
salvagers take old-growth trees in areas that could recover if
allowed to regenerate naturally, and at a financial loss to the
taxpayers. 

Walden will be replaced as subcommittee chair by Congressman
Thomas Udall of New Mexico, who has earned a 95 percent
pro-environment rating by the League of Conservation Voters. He
has voted to yes to preserve Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge instead of drilling it, no to deauthorizing "critical
habitat" for endangered species, and no on speeding up approval
of forest thinning projects. 

[Udall] Congressman Tom Udall led efforts purchase the pristine
Baca Ranch in northern New Mexico for public access and
enjoyment, to create a National Historic Trail to honor Native
Americans of the Long Walk, and to designate the Ojito
Wilderness Area. (Photo courtesy House Veterans Affairs
Committee) Global warming is likely to receive more attention in
the Democratic Congress. A number of Democrat and bi-partisan
bills have already been introduced, including one by Congressman
Udall. 

Udall and Wisconsin Republican Tom Petri, re-elected unopposed,
introduced the “Keep America Competitive Global Warming Policy
Act of 2006,” last month. 

Udall and Petri say that it is time for America to take steps to
address global warming. “Our bill is modest, certain and
efficient,” they said. “It begins to slow the growth of
greenhouse gases, but minimizes the negative impacts to the U.S.
economy.” 

Senate Democrats, including new members elected on Tuesday, will
caucus November 14 to formally select their leaders. 

The Energy and Natural Resources Committee is likely to be
chaired by Jeff Bingaman, a New Mexico Democrat, who would take
over from fellow New Mexican Republican Pete Dominici. Bingaman
helped write and supported the 2005 energy bill, but he did not
succeed in including tax breaks for conservation and renewable
energy development. 

The Environment and Public Works Committee chair is likely to be
California Democrat Barbara Boxer. 

For the nonprofit League of Conservation Voters, the Democratic
sweep was about public dissatisfaction with the Bush energy
policy. 

LCV President Gene Karpinski said, "The American people's vision
of an energy future that is very different from current policies
is the winner, and Big Oil is the big loser." 

"Energy independence and the creation of a new energy economy
was the singular domestic issue that cut across partisan,
geographic and demographic lines, Karpinski said. 

In ballot initiatives across the country, voters nationwide
approved $5.7 billion in new public money to protect land for
parks and open space-the highest amount ever according to the
Trust for Public Land, a national land conservation organization
that has tracked conservation funding results since 1988. 

Voters passed 99 out of 127 measures, or 78 percent. The
monetary increase can be attributed in large part to a
California measure, Proposition 84, that included $2.25 billion
to improve drinking water, flood control, protection of
coastlines, and state parks. 

A complete list of results from local and state balloting on
conservation and parks is available online today from LandVote
2006, http://www.landvote.org. 

"The 2006 election results demonstrate that no matter what their
party affiliation, American voters overwhelmingly vote 'green'
for open space," said Ernest Cook, director of conservation
finance for The Trust for Public Land. 

Since 1994, voters have approved more than 1,500 conservation
measures, generating more than $43.3 billion in new public funds
for conservation. 

Meanwhile, the current Republican-led Congress will reconvene
next week in a so-called lame duck session to finish this year's
business.   

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2006. All Rights
Reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 26 Independent: Brown may be left with Trident dilemma when Blair leaves office 

By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor 

Published: 10 November 2006 

Ministers have revealed that the decision on the £25bn
replacement of Britain's Trident nuclear missile system is
likely to be delayed until next year. 

There are growing suspicions among ministers that the Prime
Minister is seeking to leave the decision to Gordon Brown, after
his departure. 

Tony Blair promised MPs when he was challenged by David Cameron,
the Tory leader, in June that the decision would be made by the
end of 2006. 

However, one senior minister said: "There's no sign of any
decision being taken by Christmas. It's looking increasingly
like Blair wants to push it into Gordon's lap." 

The Prime Minister's spokesman has refused to confirm that there
will be a decision before the end of the year. Campaigners
against Trident said last night they were on the alert for an
announcement about the timing of a decision on Trident next
Wednesday with the Queen's Speech setting out the programme of
Bills for the next session. 

Mr Blair is facing an angry backlash over the strategy for
securing approval for the replacement of Trident. He has
signalled he will seek approval for a replacement by the Cabinet
in principle, followed by a White Paper and a final vote in
Parliament before the next general election. 

Mr Brown has infuriated MPs by indicating he would support a
full-scale replacement for Trident, rather than cheaper options
such as nuclear-armed cruise missiles, if the armed forces
chiefs wanted a more expensive option. Mr Blair is confident
that the Cabinet will back a replacement and there are clear
signs that the Aldermaston nuclear weapons establishment is
already gearing up to make the new warheads. 

But the end of the Cold War raised far-reaching questions by
Labour moderates on defence about the need for a weapon that can
penetrate hardened targets such as Moscow. Mr Blair was
challenged about plans for replacing Trident this week by Walter
Wolfgang, the veteran CND supporter, at a meeting of Labour's
national executive committee. 

Mr Blair told Mr Wolfgang, who was thrown out of Labour's 2005
conference for heckling Jack Straw, then Foreign Secretary, but
later won an NEC seat, that they would never agree on the issue.
Mr Blair said a failure to replace Trident would send Labour
back to its position in the 1980s when it was unelectable. 

Ann Black, a left-wing member of the NEC, said: "Tony Blair is
very keen that we develop ways of getting new policies but on
Trident, he seems to be saying that we had that argument in the
1980s and it is exactly the same today: we failed politically in
the 1980s because we opposed nuclear weapons and it would be the
same now. It is very odd to say the least." 

A total of 271 MPs - a majority of backbench MPs - have signed a
cross-party Commons motion calling for a debate in Parliament in
the next new session. Launching a campaign for change in the
Government's direction, the former environment minister Michael
Meacher said the running costs of a replacement for Trident
could add up to £75bn over 30 years, equivalent to 6 per cent of
the country's GDP. 

Alan Simpson, a left-wing Labour MP, said that it was "insane"
to contemplate spending £75bn on nuclear weapons when the
country faced other pressing needs. He said it was one of the
dilemmas facing Labour MPs that they were being presented with a
fait accompli over the spending of huge sums. 

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited 
*****************************************************************
 27 The Hindu: Nuke deal with US not to affect indigenous programme - Kakodkar 

Friday, November 10, 2006 : 1820 Hrs

Tarapur, Nov. 10 (PTI): Irrespective of the outcome of the
Indo-US civil nuclear deal, the country will push ahead with
indigenous atomic programme using different fuels, the Atomic
Energy Commission (AEC) chief said today. 

AEC Chairman Anil Kakodkar said the Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE) will move ahead vigorously with its second and third stage
programmes using mixed oxide (MOX) fuel for fast breeder nuclear
reactors, and thorium for advanced heavy water reactors. 

Kakodkar was speaking at the golden jubilee celebrations of a
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) unit here, about 100 km
from Mumbai. 

He said though there was a mismatch of fuel for the pressurised
heavy water reactors, India is "gearing up the second and third
stage of our nuclear programme by augmenting the MOX fuel for
fast breeder reactors and thorium for advanced heavy water
reactors". 

"We want to get imported fuel for our reactors to meet our ever
increasing power demand and will be giving priority to MOX fuel
for our fast breeder reactors due to its high energy efficiency.

The uranium fuel can be imported," said Kakodkar, one of the
architects of the July 2005 agreement with Washington. 

If ratified by the US Congress, the pact will allow New Delhi to
tap the global market for nuclear fuel and technology. 

At the same time, India is "making efforts to augment our own
uranium production by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd", he
said. 

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu.
*****************************************************************
 28 Clarion-Ledger: Entergy official downplays talk of sale 

November 10, 2006 

+ Unloading Ark. assets an option, CEO says

LITTLE ROCK — The president of Entergy Arkansas says selling the
utility is among possible options for the future.

Entergy Corp. chief executive J. Wayne Leonard said in a talk
Tuesday at a Las Vegas trade conference that Entergy could sell
its operations in Arkansas and Texas and that the company could
also sell its nuclear division.

Entergy Arkansas president Hugh McDonald worked Wednesday to
downplay Leonard's comments.

McDonald said a financial assessment prepared for analysts took
in many different aspects of the business, including the
bankruptcy of Entergy New Orleans, the system agreement among
Entergy divisions and other issues.

"When you look at all the alternatives that are on the table to
create the best solution for shareholders and consumers at large
... one option is to go to the extreme and consider that there
may be a better owner for the Arkansas utility," McDonald told
the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

"There's been no analysis. We're not shopping the idea around.
It's just one of many options that has been put on the table.

"Unfortunately, it's been perceived as a serious offer. But its
only an option, and even if it were to occur, were talking
several years away," McDonald said.

Jackson-based Entergy Nuclear has a nuclear plant near Port
Gibson and is seeking to build another.

Entergy spokeswoman Devona Dolliole Greenstone said there are no
current plans to spin off or sell any of its nuclear or other
company assets.

Arkansas Public Service Commission Chairman Sandra Hochstetter
said Leonard should have spoken to state regulators first.

"I'm still in a state of shock. It's disappointing, disturbing,
troubling, and I'm still trying to get a grip," Hochstetter
said. "I have no comprehension of what he is thinking. Maybe
it's part of a bigger plan they haven't bothered to share? Maybe
it's a slip of the tongue of what their true corporate
intentions are." 

©2006 The Clarion-Ledger
*****************************************************************
 29 Xinhua: Greenpeace: nuclear power plants risky in Indonesia   
    
  www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-10 17:35:16   

    JAKARTA, Nov. 10 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia can suffer from a
high-risk of its plan to build nuclear power plants, due to the
country's vulnerability from earthquake which can crack and leak
the reactors, an environmental watchdog said here Friday. 

    The nuclear reactors needs to be placed in a stable
condition to prevent from damaging, while Indonesia is laid on
the ring of fire, where the continental plates meet, causing
frequent seismic and volcanic activity, Greenpeace Southeast
Asia campaigner said. 

    There are at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia. 

    "The nuclear reactors can be dangerous, especially when they
are placed in a susceptible area like Indonesia," Greenpeace
Southeast Asia campaigner Nur Hidayati was quoted by the Antara
news agency as saying. 

    Besides, Indonesia still does not have a secure disposal
system for the toxic and hazardous nuclear waste, she said. 

    Indonesia will begin to build its first nuclear power plant,
with a capacity of 1,000 Megawatts, on densely-populated Java
island by 2010. 

    Indonesia, the only Asia member of the Association of
Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), has oil production
capacity of about 1 million barrel per day, but the production
has gradually slowed down due to the aging of several wells and
the exploration have yet found new oil source.   

  Editor: Yao Runping   
*****************************************************************
 30 China Daily: Sino-Russian energy ties set to surge

 By Qin Jize (China Daily)

 Updated: 2006-11-10 06:31

China plans to significantly increase the import of electricity 
from Russia, a move that both countries consider important to 
raise bilateral co-operation in the energy sector. 
  
[Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov 
raise a toast after a signing ceremony yesterday. ] Premier Wen 
Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov raise a toast 
after a signing ceremony Thursday. [China Daily]

The agreement between State Grid Corporation of China and 
Russia's electricity monopoly Unified Energy Systems was one of 
the 13 key deals the two countries inked Thursday in Beijing in 
the presence of Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian Prime Minister 
Mikhail Fradkov. 

Under the new agreement, Russian media reported, the country 
would supply up to 60 billion kWh of electricity to China per 
year, starting with 4.3 billion kWh. China's current consumption 
is about 2.2 trillion kWh. 

The other documents include protection and encouragement of
investment, exports of Russian machinery and technical products
and a framework agreement on strategic co-operation between oil
companies. 

Before the agreement-signing ceremony, Fradkov, on a two-day
visit to China, had two hours of talks with Wen at the 11th
regular meeting of the heads of governments. 

Both highlighted energy and the peaceful use of nuclear power as
the key areas to boost partnership. 

The Tianwan nuclear power plant, a major Sino-Russian project
now under construction in Lianyungang, a port city in East
China's Jiangsu Province, is an example of collaboration in the
use of nuclear power for peaceful purposes. 

Jiangsu media reported that the first unit of the plant started
generating electricity last month; while Russian media said it
would reach full capacity next month. 

Wen said the strengthening of the Sino-Russian strategic
partnership is essential as the development of the two countries
as well as global peace and development require it. 

Wen also noted that the two countries have co-ordinated well in
resolving some sensitive and complicated international issues. 

Fradkov echoed Wen's remarks, saying Russia is willing to take
more measures to push bilateral ties to a new high. 

Also yesterday, the two countries sealed eight other agreements
covering trade and technical co-operation at the beginning of
Sino-Russian Investment Promotion Week. The contracted
investment volume from the Chinese side is US$1 billion. 

The two leaders also attended the closing ceremony of the "Year
of Russia" in China at the Great Hall of the People last night. 

The Tchaikovsky State Academic Big Symphony Orchestra played
classical Russian music as well as traditional Chinese pieces
under the batons of Vladimir Fedoseev and Chinese conductor Shao
En. 

*****************************************************************
 31 FOCUS Information Agency: NPP Kozloduy’s Unit 5 will not be Stopped   

  10 November 2006 | 19:42 | FOCUS News Agency   
    
  Kozloduy. Unit 5 of Bulgaria’s NPP Kozloduy will not be
stopped as was announced earlier because the technical problem
that came up is already fixed, the Nuclear Power Plant informs.

The Nuclear Regulatory Agency confirms that the problem is fixed
and it is not necessary to stop the unit. The agency’s Deputy
Chairman Borislav Stanimirov said that despite this the plant
would continue supervising the unit but additional measures were
not needed. 

  
      Focus Information Agency © 2006   

  
    




  
*****************************************************************
 32 Prague Daily Monitor: SUJB head Drabova to chair EU nuclear supervision - 

http://www.praguemonitor.com

Prague, Nov 9 (CTK) - Dana Drabova, head of the Czech State 
Authority for Nuclear Safety (SUJB), will chair the EU nuclear 
supervisory bodies joined in the Western European Nuclear 
Regulatorsâ€™ Association (WENRA) for the next three years, the 
daily Lidove noviny (LN) writes today. 

Drabova confirmed the information to the paper. 

"I will be officially appointed to the WENRA management in Sweden 
on Friday," Drabova told LN. 

The information on DrabovaÂ´s appointment surfaced at the time 
when Austrian activists sharply protest against the approval of 
construction works at the Czech nuclear power plant Temelin, 
situated 60 kilometres from the borders of Austria and Bavaria, 
the paper says. 

Austrian and Czech environmentalist consider Temelin dangerous as 
it combines Soviet design and western fuel and safety technology. 
Czech authorities have consistently dismissed all criticism. 

Environmentalists from Austria challenge the independent
character of the Czech nuclear supervision, which, they say,
plays into the hands of the CEZ state-owned power utility and
does not provide an independent assessment. 

Member states of the WENRA, comprising nuclear supervisory
bodies of the EU countries, Romania, Bulgaria and Switzerland,
regularly rotate at the associationÂ´s helm, the paper says. 

The Czech Republic will take over WENRA presidency only two days
after Austrians threatened with an international lawsuit against
the Czech Republic over Temelin. 

The paper points out that that the WENRA cannot actually affect
the result of the Czech-Austrian dispute. However, if Austrian
activists filed complaints about the Czech nuclear supervision
with the WENRA, it would be paradoxically Drabova who would
reply the complaints, LN writes. 

This story copyright 2006 CTK Czech News Agency. 
*****************************************************************
 33 The Australian: Australia 'turning a nuclear blind eye' 

This story is from our network Source: AFP 

Australia 'turning a nuclear blind eye'

 From correspondents in Jakarta November 10, 2006 

ENVIRONMENTALISTS today accused Australia of turning a blind eye 
to Indonesia's plans to build nuclear power plants by agreeing to 
sign a security pact next week.

Australia and Indonesia are due to sign a new security treaty on
the resort island of Lombok on Monday. The treaty covers
bilateral co-operation in a range of areas, including defence,
counter-terrorism and steps to battle trans-national crime, but
will also cover agreements on nuclear programs. 

Indonesia's nuclear power plans were shelved in 1997 in the face
of mounting public opposition and the discovery and exploitation
of the large Natuna gas field. But the plans were floated again
last year amid growing power shortages. 

"Australia is closing their eyes to the whole non-transparent
process and only put forward their uranium export business
aspect," despite efforts to support democracy in Indonesia, the
Indonesian Anti-Nuclear Community said. 

"It is not fair for Australia to support Indonesia's nuclear
program but prohibit the industry in some of their own states,"
Dian Abraham, spokesman for the non-governmental organisation
said. 

"There seem to be no plans to consult the people in developing
nuclear plans in Indonesia as written in the 1997 Nuclear Energy
Act," he said. 

Australia holds 40 per cent of the world's known uranium
reserves. 

Prime Minister John Howard has said Australians "would be
foolish, from the national interest point of view, with our vast
resources of uranium, to say that we are not going to consider
nuclear power." 

"Indonesia is developing a legal framework for the country's
nuclear industry in preparation for an operational nuclear plant
by 2017, as laid out in the 2005 National Energy Policy,"
Sukarman Aminjoyo, head of the National Nuclear Monitoring Body,
said. 

He said that monitoring body "will open the tender for
construction and operation (for the nuclear power plant) as soon
as we have the law ready." 

Indonesia has previously said that it plans to build its first
nuclear power plant, with a capacity of 1000 megawatts, on
densely-populated Java island. 

[&raquo;] Print Friendly Version [&raquo;] Email this story 

Privacy Terms © The Australian
*****************************************************************
 34 AFP: Top US aide bets on snap approval of Indo-US nuclear deal -
     
 Fri Nov 10, 4:33 AM 		 	 

NEW DELHI (AFP) - A key US-India nuclear deal is likely to be 
approved by Congress in the next session starting from Monday, a 
senior US official said. 

"I'm very hopeful," US Assistant Secretary for South and Central
Asian Affairs Richard Boucher told reporters in New Delhi on
Friday. 

"The president has made very clear this is a priority," he said,
adding that Democrats and Republicans were strongly behind it. 

"They want to take this up in the lame-duck session," Boucher
said, referring to the deal which would end a three-decade US
ban on the supply of nuclear fuel and equipment to
energy-starved India. 

Fears had been raised in India that loss of control of the House
of Representatives and the Senate by President George Bush's
Republican Party in this week's elections would consign the
historic agreement to the dustbin. 

At best the new Congress would have to consider the legislation
from scratch again next year. 

But Boucher said he would bet on it going through. 

"There's been very solid support for the specific legislation,"
he said. "There's also been enormous spupport for the Indo-US
relationship." 

"I can't give you a certainty, but my bet is it's gonna happen.
We are determined to do this. We are all gonna try to make this
happen now. 

"Congress has been extremely supportive of the US-India
relationship, both Democrats and Republicans. This process will
go forward." 

But he cautioned: "It's always hard to predict exactly what's
gonna happen on the Senate floor." 

The agreement, clinched during Bush's March visit to India as
the centerpiece of a bilateral strategic relationship, is a
controversial component of his administration's foreign policy. 

India, which has not signed the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty
(NPT), would be allowed access to civilian nuclear technology in
return for placing its atomic reactors under international
safeguards. 


  Copyright © 2006 Yahoo! Canada Co. All Rights Reserved. 
*****************************************************************
 35 AZ Star: Palo Verde nuclear plant facing special federal inspection |
                      
www.azstarnet.com Â®
 
 Associated Press Tucson, Arizona | 

Published: 11.10.2006

PHOENIX - The nation's largest nuclear power plant, under 
increased scrutiny by federal regulators after numerous outages 
and equipment problems over the past two years, may be facing 
repair issues involving millions of dollars.

Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials said Thursday that they
will begin a special inspection of the Palo Verde Nuclear
Generating Station's core safety injection valves next week. NRC
officials have scheduled a Nov. 20 meeting with the executives
of the triple-reactor plant west of Phoenix to discuss ongoing
repair issues. Palo Verde already is under heightened scrutiny
from federal regulators, primarily because of a 2004 safety
violation for a "dry pipe" that had the potential to disrupt the
flow of water to the core's emergency cooling system. Findings
from recent investigations into Palo Verde's emergency diesel
generators and an improper chemical mix in pipes in the
emergency cooling system could have further implications. Palo
Verde now is listed by federal regulators as a "degraded
cornerstone," and only two of the nation's 103 nuclear reactors
have poorer ratings. According to commission documents, the
agency already has preliminarily issued a "greater than green"
finding about the problems, meaning the problems could be
classified as either moderate or significant safety violations.

Federal investigators had found 24 minor violations at Palo
Verde in relation to worker performance earlier this year.
However, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co., which
operates Palo Verde, said he believes that the needed repairs
already have been made and that the fixes will pass muster with
the commission. Victor Dricks, an NRC spokesman in Texas, said
Palo Verde "is operating safely but there are a number of areas
we have concerns about in human performance and the
identification and resolution of problems." The NRC is expected
to rule by early next year whether to issue a safety violation
to Palo Verde concerning the generators and spray ponds.

Commission officials said that another rating downgrade for Palo
Verde would take the plant years to recover from, likely would
involve spending millions of dollars for fixes, and would
require developing a comprehensive improvement plan for plant
operations. Palo Verde, located in Wintersburg some 50 miles
west of downtown Phoenix, supplies electricity to about 4
million customers in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.

*****************************************************************
 36 IAEA: A Life-Saving Hotline

+ [IAEA.ORG :: Atoms for Peace] 
 
The IAEA Incident & Emergency Centre Answers the Call 
9 November 2006 [A Life-Saving Hotline] 
Ms Elena Buglova was part of the IEC team to respond to Chile´s
call for assistance, after a construction worker was severely
burned by a lost radioactive source. The Centre is a 24-hour
contact point for countries dealing with nuclear or radiological
emergencies. (Photo: D.Calma/IAEA) 	
  + Story Resources 	
  + Incident &amp; Emergency Centre 	
  + International Safety Conventions 	
  + Radiation Sources 	
  + IEC Mock Emergency Test 
  + Photo Essay: 
A Life Saving Hotline 

Chile, 15 December 2005 -- A construction worker finds a small,
shiny, metallic object at a building site in Chile. He puts it
in his pocket, and later shows it to a colleague. They take it
to their boss. By the end of the day, six others have examined
it. By evening, the worker is in hospital, vomiting from
radiation poisoning. What he´d found was a powerful, unshielded
iridium-192 source. By accident, it had dislodged from equipment
where it was used to check for welding flaws in the building
under construction. Within days, Chile´s radiation and health
authorities place an urgent call for help to the IAEA in Vienna.
The worker´s medical condition had turned for the worse. Who can
help? 

This story is by no means unique. Venezuela, Thailand, US,
Brazil, Georgia, Australia, in fact most countries around the
world, have experienced radiological accidents involving lost,
stolen, or damaged radioactive sources. Many of them contact the
IAEA for specialized support and assistance, through an
emergency hotline that´s been built up internationally. 

"We´re lucky the system´s in place," says Ms. Elena Buglova, a
doctor who specializes in radiation protection. "A quick
response can minimize danger to people and contamination of the
environment." 

Ms. Buglova works with the hotline -- the IAEA Incident and
Emergency Centre (IEC) -- and was called in to assist Chilean
authorities. The Centre has become a 24-hour contact point for
notification and support to countries in dealing with nuclear or
radiological emergencies, including security-related threats. 

"The IEC can leverage global resources and expertise to respond
to local accidents anywhere in the world," says the IEC Head,
Warren Stern. "In the case in Chile we quickly had a team of top
international experts coming from France, Brazil, Argentina and
the IAEA on the ground," he said. 

"A big part of our job is also to make sure countries are
prepared for an emergency ahead of time," Mr. Stern said. Right
now, many countries find it hard to handle all the safety or
security problems that can arise when radiological or nuclear
material is involved, he says, especially injuries demanding
specialized care. 

Quick Action in Chile 

When Chilean authorities called on the IAEA for help, the Centre
assembled and dispatched Ms. Buglova and an international team
of five more experts within the day. Once in Santiago, the team
reconstructed the sequence of events at the construction site to
piece the puzzle together: how did the source come to be lying,
unshielded, on the ground in the first place? Who might possibly
have been exposed to it? What dose of radiation did they
receive? 

The team examined the patients and advised on the best
treatment. For the construction worker who found the source, the
fast assessment "helped to save his life," Ms. Buglova said. He
had severe radiation burns where the source had rested in his
back-pocket, and was flown to a specialized hospital in France
for surgery. 

Answering Chile´s call for help is a key part of the IEC´s work,
but its raison d´être lies in the rare event of an accident at a
nuclear power plant. The Centre was established in the wake of
the Chernobyl accident in 1986, when winds swept radioactive
materials from the burning reactor over much of Europe. In the
absence of timely and verifiable information about the accident,
the need for it became paramount. International conventions were
drawn-up and adopted within months of the disaster. The IAEA was
tasked with new responsibilities, should there ever be a
transboundary release of radiation again. 

Under the Convention on Early Notification of an Nuclear
Accident and the Convention on Assistance in Case of a Nuclear
Accident or Radiological Emergency, the IAEA is responsible for
gathering, verifying and exchanging official, real-time
information among countries, relevant organisations, and the
media and public when transboundary consequences might occur. An
important part of the task is to provide and coordinate
assistance and advice to the affected State, should it request
help. 

The IEC, based at the IAEA´s Vienna headquarters, recently
underwent a million dollar upgrade, with financial support from
the United States and other countries. A large screen dominates
the Centre, where the latest information on any radiation
incident or emergency is beamed for all in the room to see. 

In an emergency, the Centre shifts from "normal-ready" to
"basic-response" to "full-response" depending on the severity of
the event. It´s a quick transformation into a hive of activity,
as phones ring and workstations fill with IAEA specialists from
across the house -- from scientists that can calculate possible
radioactive fallout patterns and the implications of what a
subtle change in wind direction may mean; to experts in nuclear
terrorism; and engineers versed in the design and operation of
nuclear power plants. Their expertise is pooled, to keep the
Centre operational around the clock. 

Over the years, the IEC was activated during an accident at a
nuclear facility in Tokaimura, Japan (1999) and more recently
during an incident at a nuclear power plant in Paks, Hungary
(2005). Neither event resulted in a transboundary release of
radiation, but they did make international headlines. The IAEA
was called in, and fact-finding teams sent to independently
assess what went wrong, and offer lessons learnt. 

Each year the Centre receives on average, one to two calls for
help that are severe enough to swing it to "basic-response"
mode, with teams typically sent to the emergency site to assist.
Thankfully its "full-response" mode has never needed to be
activated. But the readiness for the unexpected, or what was
once unimaginable, is the concrete of the IEC´s foundations,
backed by the best brains on calls from around the world. Mock
drills are run to test the IEC capabilities, the most recent
exercise lasted 50 hours straight, and involved over 60
countries and seven international organizations. 

A good share of the IEC´s work also focuses on helping IAEA
Member States develop their own emergency plans, train personnel
to deal with nuclear and radiation emergencies; and put into
place radiation monitoring programmes, procedures and standards. 

"A particular priority now is to strengthen arrangements in case
of a terrorist attack using nuclear or radioactive materials,"
says Mr. Stern. "We´re working closely with Member States to
help them to develop their national response capabilities." See
the Photo Essay under Story Resources for more. 
-- Kirstie Hansen, IAEA Division of Public Information Copyright
©, International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, Wagramer
Strasse 5, A-1400 Vienna, Austria 
Telephone (+431) 2600-0; Facsimilie (+431) 2600-7; E-mail: 
*****************************************************************
 37 AU ABC: Veterans cite shortfalls in cancer treatment funds. 

10/11/2006. ABC News Online
 	
Veterans who took part in British nuclear tests 50 years ago
have welcomed new benefits for those with cancer, but say it
falls short of what they deserve.

 Eleven-thousand personnel watched as nuclear tests were carried
out at Maralinga in South Australia's remote north.

 The Department of Veterans Affairs has announced that
applicants will be eligible for funding to cover the cost of
cancer treatments.

 But a test site officer, Avon Hudson, says other illnesses such
as psychological trauma have never been recognised.

 "These should be recognised, but they choose not to, but the
reality is that after 50 years our numbers are relatively low
now," he said.

 "Additional recognition on top of that pension would not be a
lot of money in the overall scheme of things." 

*****************************************************************
 38 PRN: MHF Logistical Solutions Supported Early Closure of Fernald
Uranium Cleanup Site

Source: MHF Logistical Solutions Inc.  

Thursday November 9, 1:34 pm ET 

PITTSBURGH, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- MHF Logistical Solutions Inc.
(MHF-LS), a leading provider of packaging, transportation and
technical services for generators and shippers of radioactive,
hazardous and non-hazardous waste, materials and byproducts,
said today that it supported the early completion of the Fernald
uranium cleanup project, one of the largest environmental
restoration efforts in history.

Fernald, a 1,050-acre former uranium production plant near
Cincinnati, Ohio, owned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE),
has been the site of the massive environmental cleanup program
since the 1990s. Early estimates projected total costs of $12.2
billion, with completion targeted for 2019.

Under the leadership of Fluor Fernald, DOE's general contractor,
the cleanup program was completed last month at an approximate
total cost of $4.4 billion.

"Fluor Fernald managed this program with great expertise and we
are delighted to have played a significant role as its
subcontractor in supporting the Fernald completion years early
and billions under budget," said Richard Santello, MHF-LS
president and CEO.

Added Fluor Fernald's Project Director Con Murphy, "MHF-LS was a
valuable team member in our work at the Fernald. They brought in
the right people and the right assets to get the job done in a
timely manner, and with skill and innovation. That made a real
difference for us. We're grateful to have had MHF-LS involved."

MHF-LS handled a number of crucial elements of the cleanup
program, including:

     -- The design, fabrication, installation and operation of a 
customized mechanical loading and packaging system to package 
approximately 135,000 cubic feet of hazardous cold metal oxides 
(including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, selenium and thorium-230, 
a byproduct of uranium decay) from inside the Fernald site's Silo 
3.

     -- Supply and utilization of 25 railcars and 170 intermodal 
containers, part of MHF-LS' extensive portfolio of private rail 
and container equipment, for transporting dirt and debris from 
the site to a final disposal facility in Utah.

     -- Mixed-waste shipments, via MHF-LS intermodal containers, 
of pond sludge, also to a disposal site in Utah.

     -- Delivery of one-yard flexible packaging for containment 
and shipment of asbestos-laden waste.

"Our work with Fluor Fernald underscores our commitment to
environmental remediation projects," Santello said. "We look
forward to ongoing partnerships with DOE and its contractors to
help achieve society's important cleanup goals."

ABOUT MHF LOGISTICAL SOLUTIONS

MHF Logistical Solutions (www.mhfls.com) is an asset-based,
vertically integrated packaging and transportation logistics
provider that offers seamless solutions for generators and
shippers of radioactive, hazardous and non-hazardous waste,
materials and byproducts.

The company's clients include nuclear utilities, environmental
services companies, large corporations, manufacturers and
government agencies, such as the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers,
the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Department of Energy
and others.

MHF-LS operating units provide all of the project engineering
and regulatory management, packaging, technical services,
transportation (rail, truck, marine) and equipment necessary for
end-to-end movement and disposition of clients' streams of
waste, materials and byproducts. Its integrated approach offers
improved project safety and lower overall costs.

MHF-LS provides its transportation services by utilizing its
portfolio of private railcars and intermodal container
equipment. It handles container and bulk material transfers for
its North American clients at permanent transload facilities and
a network of other short-term or temporary transload sites. The
company's packaging division designs and manufactures various
rigid and flexible packaging systems for all types of materials.
The company also provides specialized transport and
waste-related technical services and consulting, both
domestically and internationally, through a dedicated business
unit.

MHF Logistical Solutions is based in the Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.,
suburb of Cranberry Township, with other offices in the U.S. and
representation in the U.K. The company's headquarters may be
reached at 724.772.9800, or info@mhfls.com.

    MEDIA CONTACT
    For More Information:
    John Buckman
    Buckman Communications
    412.381.2900
    jbuckman@buckman.biz

Source: MHF Logistical Solutions Inc.

       Copyright © 2006 PR
Newswire. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 39 Mining Journal Online: Nuclear clean-up


Atlas Copco] 
					 					 				 				 				 					[20:20 Series - Australia Day] 
The D1225 shaft at the Dounreay nuclear establishment, Caithness, 
was sunk during the 1950s as part of enabling works for the 
construction of the Dounreay liquid effluent discharge tunnel 
(LEDT).

The Shaft is located approximately 96 m west of the Dounreay fast 
reactor (DFR) sphere adjacent to the coastline. The shaft was 
originally used for the transport of equipment into the drive, 
for the removal of spoil, and as a collection and pumping point 
for groundwater to keep the tunnel dry during excavation. The 
landward section of the LEDT comprises an inclined tunnel driven 
at a gradient of 1:3 from the surface to meet the main drive some 
29 m seaward of the shaft.

The section of tunnel between the shaft and the junction with the 
incline is known as the stub tunnel and the point at which the 
stub tunnel and incline meet the main drive for the LEDT is known 
as the triple point.

Following completion of the LEDT, a 2.4 m thick concrete plug
was installed in the stub tunnel 18.6 m from the shaft and 8.4 m
from the centre of the triple point to provide hydraulic and
mechanical isolation between the shaft and the LEDT.

In 1958 the Scottish Office authorised the use of the shaft for
the disposal of radioactive waste and in 1959 the shaft was
licensed as a disposal facility. Between 1959 and 1970 the shaft
was routinely used for the disposal of unconditioned
intermediate and low level waste (ILW and LLW) which continued
intermittently until 1977, when disposals ceased following an
explosion in the head-space of the Shaft.

The radioactive waste presently stored in Shaft D1225 is to be
removed as part of the decommissioning and remediation programme
for the Dounreay site.

To allow the safe and efficient removal of the waste by dry
retrieval methods, the shaft has first to be hydraulically
isolated from the surrounding rock mass to reduce the
groundwater inflow into the shaft to a manageable quantity.

Without hydraulic isolation the estimated likely inflow is about
350m3/d and with hydraulic isolation it is judged possible to
reduce this to below 15m3/d, a rate similar to the current daily
inflow.

Scope of works

A target cost contract for the design and construction of the
hydraulic isolation barrier has been awarded to Edmund Nuttall
Ltd (ENL), with its Ritchies Geotechnical Division as the
specialist grouting contractor, and Halcrow Group Ltd as its
design consultant.

A full description of the works and the technical requirements
of the project are set out in the contract documents. The
technical requirements are based on the results of preceding
studies by ENL and others which identified concept designs to
achieve hydraulic isolation using grouting methods.

The present contract for the design and construction of the
hydraulic isolation barrier forms part of the shaft isolation
project (SIP) and commenced in August 2004. Completion of the
hydraulic isolation barrier is currently programmed for August
2008.

The definitive design of grouting works in advance of
construction is rarely possible. An observational approach is
therefore required to enable the design and control procedures
to be developed progressively during execution. Because of the
nature of the shaft, the observational approach for this project
has taken the form of the comprehensive pre-works site trials
programme in an area of land adjacent to the shaft.

Through this programme, suitable grout materials have been
identified and a series of trial injections undertaken to assess
likely performance.

Following completion of the trial grout injection, a post-trials
demonstration barrier has commenced to provide further design
data and evidence to help confirm details for the design of the
isolation barrier around the shaft.

The pre-works site trials have been undertaken in an area of the
site (the field trials area) provided by UKAEA to be
stratigraphically and hydrogeologically as similar as possible
to the shaft area, recognising the uniqueness of the shaft area
and the presence of related structures such as the LEDT and stub
tunnel.

The available area for the trials is of limited extent measuring
approximately 30 m NW-SE by 90 m NE-SW and occupies a cliff top
location between the shaft and the former pump house.

The area is located approximately 65 m to 160 m NE from the
shaft at an elevation of approximately 14 m altitude over datum.

Edmund Nuttall Ltdâ€™s Â£19.9m Dounreay contract, as typical in
the construction industry, has a tight programme. To meet this
programme all drilling and grouting works must be as efficient
as possible. During drilling on the site trials area Ritchies
was using two Boart Longyear DB520 rigs. These rigs were each
drilling on average 25-30 m/d at which boreholes were within
1-2% deviation. To increase drilling production Ritchies
purchased a Boart Longyear DB430 rig. This rig in itself is much
larger than the DB520s and should on paper drill at a rate of
1.5 times a DB520.

The DB430 on average has been drilling 40 m per day and
achieving a deviation accuracy of within 1% (see verticality
results below). The types of holes that the DB430 rig has
drilled so far are:

- LEDT borehole; an SQ borehole at 80Â° inclination from
horizontal. This borehole was drilled to an unplanned depth in
order to breakthrough into a tunnel located at ~45-60 m below
ground level. Coring through mass concrete for ~6 m before
Dounreay Shore/Upper Sandside Bay formation to a total depth of
45.8 m.

- FEX boreholes; two no vertical HQ boreholes that have a depth
of 85 m for extensometer installation. Coring through type one,
topsoil and clay for ~3 m before Dounreay Shore/Upper Sandside
Bay formation.

The drilling systems used onsite are HQ and SQ. Both involve
wireline removal of core effectively at depths sufficient for
the contract. HQ is a nominal 4 in core while SQ is a 6 in core.

The above LEDT borehole was drilled at an inclination of 80Â°.
In order to hit the tunnel roof, the DB430 had to be set up at
an orientation to that of the tunnel. This would allow maximum
chance of achieving breakthrough into the tunnel. Setting up the
rig involved setting out tramlines for the tracks to sit and
line of sight points for the mast.

Once the rig was set at the correct orientation, leveled and
mast positioned at correct inclination this was checked by EDM
on the LOS points, which proved to be in position first time. In
total the borehole only deviated 0.8%, which considering
possible misalignments due to setting up, setting out errors,
weight of rods pulling deviation downwards and lateral
deviations was considered to be very accurate.

Future work for the DB430 rig includes the following:

- Re-drilling of grouted LEDT boreholes to further pressure
grout following bulk filling of the tunnel.

- Drilling 92 m HQ boreholes at an inclination of 80Â° to allow
grouting underneath the D1225 shaft at designed orientation.

- Drilling 102 m HQ boreholes for extensometer installation.

- Be part of the drilling fleet for the 140 planned HQ boreholes
used as part of the hydraulic isolation of the D1225 shaft.

- Installation of borehole pumps and hydrotesting equipment
using its main winch.

Verticality explanation:

FEX3

- Vertical HQ borehole.

- Deviation at 74 m was 0.43 m (0.6%).

- Azimuth is the path of deviation.

- The top right graph shows plan view of deviation with a 2%
allowable deviation (red circle).

- Bottom left graph shows closure distance (down hole deviation)
against depth.

- Bottom middle graph shows azimuth (orientation of deviation)
throughout borehole.

- Bottom right graph shows the tilt (another name for
inclination).

LEDT12

- Inclined HQ borehole.

- Deviation at 44 m was 0.33 m (0.8%).

- Azimuth is the path of deviation.

- The top right graph of first sheet shows plan view of
deviation with a 1% allowable deviation (red circle).

- The top right graph of second sheet shows plan view of
deviation with against planned path.

- Bottom left graph shows closure distance (down hole deviation)
against depth.

- Bottom middle graph shows azimuth (orientation of deviation)
throughout borehole.

- Bottom right graph shows the tilt (another name for
inclination). (November 10) 					
 					
+     All Content Copyright Mining Journal 2006, all rights 
reserved. info@mining-journal.com                                                          
*****************************************************************
 40 ArmsControlWonk: Guangyuan Plutonium Production Reactor

[Photo of jeffrey] 

posted Thursday November 9, 2006 under chinaby jeffrey	

Google Earth now has high resolution imagery of what is generally 
believed to be Chinas Guangyuan plutonium production reactor. 
Click on the image for a .kmz file.    

The annotations are reproduced from David Albright and Corey 
Hinderstein, <em>Chinese Military Plutonium and Highly Enriched 
Uranium Inventories</em>(Institute for Science and International 
Security, June 30, 2005). David and Corey were the first people 
to publish commercial images of the facility.   

David Wright and Lisbeth Gronlund provide a nice summary of the 
reactors operating history in <em>A History of China&#8217;s 
Plutonium Production</em>(Union of Concerned Scientists, January 
16, 2003).      

Although China has never disclosed the amount of plutonium, 
classified DOE estimates leaked to the press suggest China 
produced 1.7  2.8 tons  at the low end of the two open source 
estimates listed above.         

One explanation is that Chinas plutonium production reactors
had operating probelms evident to the US intelligence community.
Estimates of South African HEU production in the 1980s, for
example, were significantly higher than actual production, in
part because South Africas facilities encountered substantial
difficulties that were not widely known. 	

Wright and Gronlund mention rumors of a a fire during the 1970s
that seriously crippled one of the reactors. Declassified U.S.
intelligence documents confirm that Chinas plutonium production
facilities encountered significant technical problems. 	

The declassified report, <em>China: Plutonium Production Reactor
Problems</em>(CIA: January 1988), is almost entirely redacted &
but the title kind of sez it all, dont it? 
 
ACW title photograph is used with the generous permission of
photographer Paul Shambroom, nukephoto.com. 
*****************************************************************
 41 NEWS.com.au: Waste laws 'sideline traditional owners' | 

By Tara Ravens and David Crawshaw 				

November 09, 2006 04:38pm                                                                               Article from: AAP                                               
		 			 				
LAWS that allow for a radioactive waste dump on Aboriginal land 
in the Northern Territory sideline the rights of traditional 
owners, environmentalists said today.

Legislative changes were introduced to Federal Parliament last 
week aimed at preventing legal challenges against any move by the 
Northern Land Council (NLC) to offer up its land for a 
radioactive waste dump. 

The Government is currently looking at three commonwealth-owned
sites in the territory for a repository to store low and
medium-level radioactive waste. 

It also is negotiating with indigenous communities in the hope
an Aboriginal land council may offer some of its land to the
Government to build the waste facility. 

Science Minister Julie Bishop said the Commonwealth Radioactive
Waste Management 

Legislation Amendment Bill would provide for the eventual return
of any "volunteered'' Aboriginal land should it be chosen for
the controversial radioactive dump. 

She pledged that the Government would not hand back a
contaminated site.
 
But environmentalists said today the legislative changes would
remove the need for procedural fairness and community consent.
 
"These changes have seen (Prime Minister) John Howard and Julie
Bishop stoop to new lows,'' said Natalie Wasley of the Beyond
Nuclear Initiative.

"There's a real reason to fear that the passage of these
amendments may be designed to expedite this process.'' 

Ms Wasley said the proposed changes meant that a nomination by a
land council would no longer require consultation with the
traditional owners. 

"Clearly the federal Liberal government sees procedural fairness
as something that could prevent them imposing their radioactive
waste on the territory,'' she said. 

Tim Collins, coordinator of the Arid Lands Environment Centre,
called on the NLC to take a stand on the issue and back
traditional Aboriginal owners. 

"Given the likely passage of the amendments the ball is now
squarely in the Northern Land Council's court,'' he said. 

''(It) must publicly declare its intentions in regard to the
consultation of the traditional owners ... 

"If their process is anything but completely transparent, it
will raise questions that they have either bowed to bully-boy
tactics of the Howard government, or have been enticed by
undisclosed benefits that may have been offered.'' 

A spokesman for Ms Bishop last week told AAP that a private
contractor was examining the three mooted commonwealth-owned
sites in the territory - Harts Range and Mt Everard, near Alice
Springs; and Fishers Ridge, near Katherine. 

A full report on the possible sites was due by March 2007, he
said. 
	 
Copyright 2006 News Limited. All times AEDT (GMT + 11).

*****************************************************************
 42 reviewjournal.com: Gibbons putting together his team
 
  Nov. 10, 2006

By MOLLY BALL <br />REVIEW-JOURNAL
	
Dawn Gibbons and her husband, Jim Gibbons, walk down a hallway at 
the Red Rock hotel and casino in Las Vegas on Tuesday. Photo by 
John Locher. 

Nevada Gov.-elect Rep. Jim Gibbons with his wife, Dawn, speaks to 
supporters Tuesday in Las Vegas. Photo by Isaac 
Brekken/Review-Journal

Now that he has been elected governor, Jim Gibbons said
Wednesday that he's working to put together a governing team and
forge ties with the players in the upcoming Legislature. 

On Thursday morning, Gibbons had just gotten off the phone with
newly minted Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, who
was elected to the lower house's top position by her caucus
Wednesday evening. 

"We talked about the future," he said. "I called to congratulate
her and told her I look forward to working with her. I told her
I want to sit down and discuss what her priorities are and what
our priorities are and find common ground before the session
starts." 

Gibbons confirmed he made a similar pitch to Senate Majority
Leader Bill Raggio, R-Reno, on Wednesday. 

"We only have so many days until the legislative session
starts," he said. "We have a very short period of time to
establish an administration and start working. We've already had
our first transition team meeting (Wednesday), and we'll
continue to meet in the next few days." 

Gibbons said he hadn't formulated an agenda but had some ideas
of what his priorities would be. 

"We've been elected now for two days. We haven't made any formal
decisions about our direction yet," he said. "I do know we want
to do what we promised the public during the campaign, and that
is to work on education, transportation infrastructure and the
security of the state of Nevada." 

Gibbons said he hoped to put the bitterness and scandal of the
campaign behind him and start fresh. 

"The wounds of this campaign and this election need to be
healed," he said. "We need to build those bridges that will
allow us to move forward and do what's best for the citizens of
this state." 

But Gibbons can't start fresh until he clears the cloud that
hangs over his head, state Democratic Party Chairman Tom Collins
said. 

The state party has filed a request to unseal records in a
federal lawsuit that reportedly contains allegations that
Gibbons took cash in exchange for helping a friend, Reno
software entrepreneur Warren Trepp, get federal contracts.
Gibbons has said the accusation is untrue and stems from a
disgruntled former Trepp employee attempting to get revenge. 

There has been no response to the records request, Collins said,
and Trepp in turn has sued Collins for defamation for his
comments on the matter. A spokeswoman for Trepp said that
lawsuit is going forward. 

The House of Representatives' Ethics Committee also must weigh
in on the Trepp issue. Gibbons has acknowledged not disclosing a
vacation cruise he accepted from Trepp and has asked the
committee for a retroactive waiver of the rules. 

In addition, an illegal immigrant and former household worker
for Gibbons has asked the Internal Revenue Service to
investigate his family's payments to her. 

And police are continuing an investigation into charges Gibbons
attacked a Las Vegas woman in a parking garage last month, Las
Vegas police Deputy Chief Greg McCurdy said on Thursday. 

"None of that is going to go away," Collins said. "All of those
investigations are going to continue." 

Collins, a Clark County commissioner who previously served in
the state Assembly, also said he was skeptical of Gibbons'
claims of bipartisanship and unity. 

"I served with him in the Legislature, and I don't see him being
very happy in the (Governor's) Mansion," Collins said. As an
assemblyman more than a decade ago, "you either agreed with him
or he just walked away. He was never a negotiator or a
deal-maker. He was so rigid. I don't think he's going to play
well with the Legislature, which means he's not going to get
much done up there." 

Buckley on Thursday said she was encouraged by Gibbons' overture
to her and was trying to keep an open mind. 

"I've never worked with him before," she said. "I hear lots of
reports, but I don't know first hand. I give everybody the
benefit of the doubt." 

Gibbons is saying the right things, but it will be his actions
in the coming months that demonstrate whether he is willing to
work with others, she said. 

"The key for a successful governor is someone who is willing to
put Nevada first, to not engage in partisanship and work
together for the good of the state," she said. 

The important thing, she said, is that the governor be willing
to keep lines of communication open even when there are
disagreements. 

"I have very strong philosophical beliefs. I think we have a
great state but we can be better in a lot of areas, such as
education, health care and renewable energy," she said. Buckley
hopes she would be able to find common ground with Gibbons but
wouldn't hesitate to stand her ground. 

"I've gone toe to toe with Governor (Kenny) Guinn before, but we
worked very well on a number of issues," she said. 

Gibbons said Thursday that he planned to move many of the
staffers from his Washington, D.C., congressional office to
Carson City, including Robert Uithoven, who was his
congressional chief of staff before managing his gubernatorial
campaign for the past two years. 

Despite his promises to reach across the aisle, Gibbons said he
hadn't been in touch with the four Democrats who will serve in
constitutional offices and was less than effusive in his
appraisal of them. 

"I've spoken with my lieutenant governor," Republican Brian
Krolicki, Gibbons said. As for Secretary of State Ross Miller,
Treasurer Kate Marshall, Controller Kim Wallin and Attorney
General Catherine Cortez Masto, Gibbons said, "I have not had a
chance to meet them, but I plan to sit down with them. We should
have a common team effort." 

Asked whether he was confident in his fellow elected officials'
competence, he said, "The voters have reviewed the candidates
and decided they were the best choice for the jobs, and I trust
the voters." 

Gibbons said he hadn't yet reviewed budget suggestions issued by
Guinn on Monday, which included a proposal to make all-day
kindergarten universally available, something Gibbons hasn't
supported. 

"We plan to look at that blueprint and meet with the governor to
talk about his issues," he said. He stuck to his stance that
all-day kindergarten requires further study on its current
limited basis before it can be expanded. 

"We owe it to the taxpayers of the state of Nevada to give the
program a chance to produce results for Nevada's children," he
said. "If it is productive, we should be able to go forward and
find the funding." 

Gibbons said his leadership style would be inclusive. 

"I'm a person who believes that good ideas don't always come
from the leader," he said. "They come from all kinds of people,
all kinds of sources. I'm someone who looks for good ideas in
all corners of the state and from all people. I want to take
those good ideas and put them into reality." 

The new clout of Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, who stands to
become majority leader of the next U.S. Senate, will be a boon
to the state, Gibbons said. 

Gibbons expressed hope that Reid could put a stop to the
proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, as Reid has
indicated he hopes to do. 

"I think Yucca Mountain will finally be put to rest," he said.
"I think it's going to end now because of Senator Reid." 	   

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 43 Bradenton Herald: Tallevast renews probe call

11/10/2006 | 

herald wathchdog Residents steadfast after Wednesday meeting
with DEP lawyers

 DONNA WRIGHT Herald Staff Writer 

TALLEVAST - Tallevast residents want further investigation of a
toxic chemical plume under their homes, and a meeting of lawyers
this week did not convince them otherwise. 

The residents have been granted an extension until Nov. 27 to
appeal the approval by state environmental regulators of
Lockheed Martin Corp.'s final site assessment of the plume, said
Wanda Washington, vice president of FOCUS, a residents' advocacy
group that does not believe Lockheed has fully defined the
plume. 

A room full of people met Wednesday at Mount Tabor Church. 

"I should have come away feeling we really made progress, and I
do think we did make some progress in improving communications,
but I have a problem with people patting me on the head and
saying that we will have better procedures going forward," said
Washington. 

"If we keep accepting pats on the head, we will end up missing
something critical. How do we go back and address mistakes that
happened in the past?" 

The 200-acre plume has been traced to a beryllium plant that the
defense giant once owned. 

"Now we have to decide whether or not to go forward," said
Washington. 

She and others said they feel the community's health risks
connected to the plume have not been adequately addressed. 

At the meeting Wednesday, which was closed to the Bradenton
Herald, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection told
Tallevast residents that those concerns will still be addressed
even though the plume maps have been approved. 

"Approval of the site assessment does not end the
investigational stage," said Pamala Vasquez, DEP spokeswoman.
"Even though remediation begins, investigation continues. This
is just the end of the first chapter." 

Vazquez said it's time to start cleaning up the plume, which has
been traced to the former Loral American Beryllium Co. plant on
Tallevast Road. 

Lockheed owned the plant when the contamination was discovered
in 2000 and now has the responsibility for cleaning the mess. 

DEP estimates it could take 20 years or more to remediate the
plume. 

Residents must now determine what if any legal basis exists for
an appeal of the state's decision as defined by laws that govern
what the Department of Environmental Protection can require a
polluter to do, said Jeanne Zokovitch, an attorney from WildLaw
Inc., an environmental advocacy organization that is advising
Tallevast. 

Tallevast residents have expressed frustration since January
that DEP and Lockheed are leaving them out of the loop on key
decisions involving the plume, including the state's decision to
approve the plume maps. 

In October, FOCUS held a community meeting to request the help
of state Reps. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, and Frank Peterman,
D-St. Petersburg, to open broken communications with DEP and
Lockheed. 

Finally, after three written requests for a community meeting
since January, DEP and FOCUS sat down Wednesday to discuss
residents' concerns. 

But it wasn't open - what FOCUS leaders originally requested. 

Instead, DEP officials along with their attorneys met with
Tallevast leaders and their lawyers behind closed doors at Mount
Tabor Church for more than four hours. 

The Herald was excluded, at DEP's request, according to
Washington. 

Galvano and Peterman, who were the catalysts who brought the
parties together, also attended. 

Tallevast's technical consultants, Tim Varney and Michael
Graves, were also present, as well as Leon Harris of the
Democratic Caucus in Sarasota. 

Zakovich described the meeting as a breakthrough that will help
establish trust between the agency and the residents. 

"Yesterday's meeting went a long way toward providing answers -
not all of the answers - but it helped explain what DEP can and
cannot do," said Varney. 

Laura Ward, president of FOCUS, said the meeting left her
feeling frustrated. 

"Personally, I don't know what we accomplished from the
meeting," said Ward. "We didn't come to any conclusions on
anything. It would appear that DEP has no actual power to do
anything." 

Most troublesome to Ward is the fact that DEP said it has no
authority to require health risk assessments. 

"They write the rules and change them, according to how they
need them to fit," said Ward. 

Galvano described the meeting as "a clearing of the air," a
frank discussion that helped define residents' expectations and
what DEP has the power to do. 

Galvano said believes DEP is genuine and sincere in its desire
to work with the community. 

Donna Wright, health and social services reporter, can be
reached at 745-7049 or at . 

Bradenton.com 

Go to the Special Coverage area online to read more about the
Tallevast investigation and to view important documents. 

*****************************************************************
 44 Knox News: Y-12 official: Deserted nuke process 'no longer needed'

By FRANK MUNGER, munger@knews.com 

November 10, 2006

OAK RIDGE - Officials at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant have 
abandoned development of a uranium process that exploded during a 
2003 test. 

Bill Wilburn, a spokesman at the Oak Ridge plant, confirmed that 
work on the process known as "saltless direct oxide reduction" 
was stopped earlier this year. 

He said the decision had nothing to do with the 2003 accident. 

"Programmatic requirements changed, and we no longer needed to 
pursue that technology," Wilburn said in an e-mail response to 
questions. On April 15, 2003, a container of wet uranium exploded 
inside a sealed glove box in Y-12's Building 9202. The blast from 
the overpressurized container broke the seal on the glove box and 
caused a brief fire that exposed three workers to smoke and 
uranium particulate. 

None of the exposures was considered a health concern, but 
federal and contractor officials who investigated the accident 
said the situation could have been worse if employees had been 
working at the glove box. 

"It was a near miss," Bill Brumley, then-federal manager at Y-12, 
said at the time. 

BWXT, the government's contractor, was fined $82,500 for 
violations under the Price-Anderson Act, which covers nuclear 
safety at federal facilities. 

Engineers in Y-12's development division had worked on saltless 
direct oxide reduction for years as a technique for processing 
highly enriched uranium to produce a metal form of uranium 
"buttons." 

The test operation in 2003 was conducted using depleted uranium, 
with most of the fissile U-235 removed. 

Last year, Y-12 officials said the processing system had been 
revised significantly and indicated that it was on course for 
possible use in the plant's production activities. 

"We are still investigating the process after having redesigned, 
basically from the ground up, the part of the process that had 
the problem," Wilburn said. 

A recent report by Bob Alvarez, a former investigator with the 
U.S. Senate's Government Affairs Committee and a former adviser 
at the Department of Energy, was critical of Y-12's operations 
with enriched uranium. He cited 23 fires or explosions during a 
15-year period. 

According to Alvarez, saltless direct oxide reduction was being 
developed to replace a fluoride process, "which generates a large 
amount of uranium-bearing waste salts and presents potentially 
serious occupational and public hazards due to significant 
amounts of hydrogen fluoride used." 

Alvarez also said, however, that the substitute process posed 
"potential environmental, safety and health problems." 

Senior writer Frank Munger may be reached at 865-342-6329.

© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
 45 SF New Mexican: LANL contractor information could be at risk  

[FreeNewMexican.com]                         
 		   			
Fri Nov 10, 2006 6:02 pm                                                                                                       

By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican             

As many as 1,000 contract employees who work in Los Alamos have 
been warned that a compact disk containing their personal 
information could be missing.

 The disk belongs to KSL Services Inc., a contractor to Los
Alamos National Laboratory, lab spokesman Jeff Berger said
Thursday.

 The compact disk did not contain any lab information, Berger
said. Instead, it has what's known as personally identifiable
information. 

Berger was unable to provide more details. It's unclear if law
enforcement is involved.

 A source familiar with the investigation said as many as 1,000
people could be affected.

 Personally identifiable information can include full names,
telephone numbers, birth dates and Social Security numbers.

 KSL Services is a contractor to the lab that provides services
such as maintenance, engineering and transportation.

 Company officials could not immediately be reached for comment
late Thursday.

Berger was not sure how the disk ended up missing, but said lab 
officials are helping KSL officials look for it. He also said the 
lab will review the company's process for handling that 
information.

 Affected employees have been notified by KSL, Berger said. And 
the lab has notified the National Nuclear Security Administration 
about the matter.

 Berger said the lab became aware of the issue Nov. 3.

 The matter appears to be separate from an ongoing FBI 
investigation into how other classified information ended up in 
the home of a former lab contract employee. That employee worked 
for a different contractor.                                                             
 		   			 		   	 
  I want to read and/or post comments on this story   	

  Privacy Policy / Terms of Use | ©2006, Santa Fe New Mexican,
*****************************************************************
 46 Star-News: Aiken County officials like idea of new nuclear weapons plant at SRS 

| StarNewsOnline.com | | Wilmington, NC 

Published November 09. 2006 8:43PM
 	 	
The Associated Press

 NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. | Businesses like the possibility of
combining all of the country's plutonium processing at the
Savannah River Site, but opponents say the U.S. doesn't need any
more nuclear weapons.

The U.S. Energy Department wants consolidate where it handles
plutonium to one site by 2030, and SRS is one of five places
being considered. Among the jobs at the consolidated site would
be making new plutonium triggers for nuclear weapons.

The National Nuclear Security Administration held the first of
17 hearings on the issue Thursday in North Augusta, the Aiken
Standard reported.

The Energy Department calls the plan Complex 2030. It calls for
the overall reduction of the nation's nuclear stockpile, but
also calls for a new generation of nuclear weapons to be created
to replace Americas aging weapons, said Ted Wyka, the document
manager for the project.

Some people at the meeting said the project is not needed.

"It's time to think beyond the bomb," said Glenn Carroll of
Nuclear Watch South. "We don't feel protected by the bomb. We
don't need the bomb."

While the program could bring 2,500 new jobs to SRS, its
national impact or more important than its local economic
impact, said Fred Humes, director of the Economic Development
Partnership of Aiken and Edgefield counties.

"We do not consider this as a jobs program," Humes said. "It is
rather a matter of national security."

Information from: Aiken Standard, 

StarNewsOnline.com » 
*****************************************************************
 47 Inside Bay Area: Lab workers being urged to unionize

Lawrence Livermore's staff will soon lose protections as 
University of California employees

By Betsy Mason and Ian Hoffman, MEDIANEWS STAFF AND STAFF WRITER

Article Last Updated:11/10/2006 02:56:06 AM PST

Two decades after scientists tried to unionize the Lawrence 
Livermore nuclear weapons lab and went down in flames, they're 
trying again. 

This time their efforts are bolstered by the looming 
privatization of the lab's management and the loss of job 
protections as University of California employees. 

The Society for Professionals, Scientists and Engineers launched 
an e-mail campaign this week to organize not just scientists as 
in 1983, but the entire lab of almost 6,500 full-time workers 
with the exception of top management. 

SPSE conducted a survey recently to see what parts of the lab's 
workforce would support a union. According to physicist and SPSE 
board member Jeff Colvin, found broad support labwide. "We said 
let's just go for everybody and see what comes out of it," he 
said. 

It marks the first time anyone has tried unionizing an entire 
U.S. nuclear weapons design lab. 

SPSE needs 50 percent of lab employees plus one to sign a 
petition card to gain collective bargaining status. 

"We're aggressively pursuing getting employees to sign cards," 
said Sue Byars, a Livermore lab site planner and SPSE board 
member. 

She said there is a sense of urgency because of the impending 
management change. Contract bids were due last month, and a new 
manager will take over Oct. 1. 

"We need to do it now before the transition so we can negotiate 
with the new contractor," Byars said. "Then we'll at least have a 
seat at the table." 

Adding to the urgency is the fact that organizing is much easier 
at a public or nonprofit enterprise than at a privatecompany. 

The Department of Energy will require the new manager to form a 
private company to manage the lab. Employees of a private 
institution must put to a vote the question of whether to 
organize. 

"A vote makes it much more public and open," said Richard 
Montoya, a manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. 

Los Alamos workers tried unsuccessfully to unionize ahead of the 
management transition in July from UC to the new private company 
run by UC and Bechtel Corp. 

"We got too late of a start, and people were too fearful," 
Montoya said. "They didn't see the writing on the wall." 

If what has happened at Los Alamos is any indication, Livermore 
can expect new uncertainties about jobs, as well as new costs for 
pension payments and state taxes that could be paid in layoffs. 

"People see that happening at Los Alamos and see it coming this 
way," said Colvin. "Employees are worried that our job security 
and job rights go away as of Oct. 1 of next year. People are 
angry and upset about this." 

"My advice to them was that their only real defense against 
whatever the new contractor might want to do is to have a 
contract of their own in place," he said. 

During the 1983 union push, executives fought the union, said 
Colvin, and spent by his estimates $2 million on posters urging a 
"no" vote. Scientists and engineers rejected the union by more 
than three to one. This time will be different, he said. 

Livermore lab executives have not settled on a position on the 
unionization bid, said lab spokeswoman Lynda Seaver. 

"The laboratory will not stand against any union coming into here 
but will try to answer any employee's questions," she said. 
"They're going to look where they can for answers but until a new 
contractor is picked, there's going to be some uncertainty." 

About a third of UC's 

170,000 employees are represented by system-wide unions, and many 
campuses have local unions as well.

 © 2000-2006 ANG Newspapers |   	     
*****************************************************************
 48 Knox News: Oak Ridge's nanoscience research centers attract top scientists

By FRANK MUNGER 

November 9, 2006

Doug Scalapino, a theoretical physicist at the University of 
California at Santa Barbara, allots about four weeks each year to 
visit other facilities to advance his scientific studies. 

He's trying to explain aspects of high-temperature 
superconductivity, such as an interaction that causes electrons 
in certain materials to glue together instead of repelling each 
other. 

Over the course of his lengthy career, Scalapino has anchored his 
research at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and 
Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois and other beloved 
institutions. 

"This is now where I come," Scalapino said as he stretched his 
lanky frame in a comfortable chair at Oak Ridge National 
Laboratory's Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences. 

During his stay, Scalapino occupies a third-story office at the 
newly opened nanoscience center - a $65 million facility that 
boasts plenty of tools to characterize and synthesize materials 
at a near-atomic scale. But CNMS is not the only thing that 
attracts Scalapino to Oak Ridge. 

He and his research teammates are using ORNL's Jaguar, a Cray 
supercomputer that can perform trillions of calculations per 
second, to explore their theories of how things work. He's also 
anxious to have scientists test some of the theories with 
experiments at the newly constructed Spallation Neutron Source, a 
$1.4 billion complex that's just gearing up for action. 

The CNMS was the first of five nanoscience research centers 
funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. It's part of a strategy 
to make the U.S. more competitive in this super-hot area of 
science. 

Some of the Oak Ridge staff - including Linda Horton, the 
director - moved into the 80,000-square-foot facility months ago, 
even as construction continued around them. That proved helpful 
as they tweaked the interior design, reduced the number of 
offices and opened up more conversation areas for scientists to 
share thoughts and generate ideas. 

The nanoscience center is next door to the Spallation Neutron 
Source and actually adjoins the main office complex for SNS 
researchers. 

That arrangement makes it easy for visitors to use both 
facilities. Researchers can prepare samples of newly engineered 
polymers and other materials at the nanoscience labs and evaluate 
their structures and properties with neutron-scattering 
experiments at the SNS. 

Mike Kilbey, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering 
at Clemson University, is on a year's sabbatical and spending his 
time at ORNL. 

Kilbey has been coming to Oak Ridge for a few years as part of 
the "Jump Start" program, which was designed to help U.S. 
researchers get going on nanoscience projects. He's one of the 
few scientists already taking advantage of both the nanoscience 
labs and the SNS. 

The Spallation Neutron Source is still in its early test phases 
and probably 18 months away from full-scale research operations, 
but Kilbey is working there during the setup of instruments. 

It's not exactly research, but the work will give him an intimate 
understanding of the neutron-scattering instruments and might 
ultimately help him design better experiments. 

"It's a trade-off," Kilbey said. 

The CNMS is stocked with $20 million worth of specialized 
equipment, such as electron beam lithography and a scanning 
electron microscope with polarization analysis. 

Lian Li, physics professor at the University of Wisconsin at 
Milwaukee, uses the special microscope to look at the way 
electrons spin in material samples - some of which he prepared at 
his college lab, some of them fabricated here. He's trying to 
create new materials that would integrate magnetism into 
semiconductors, a project with potential to improve computers. 

CNMS is a national user facility, as are many of ORNL's other 
research facilities, and it's built to make visiting scientists - 
expected to grow from about 100 the first year to 250 in 2008 - 
feel right at home. 

Joe Pickel is a chemist on the Oak Ridge staff and part of a 
research group dedicated to creating new breeds of polymers. 

"Using stringent procedures, we can make polymers behave the way 
we want them to," Pickel said. 

That could mean a class of polymers that behave like metals and 
conduct electricity but retain the flexibility of plastics. 

"The ideas out there are just amazing," Pickel said during a tour 
of the chemistry labs. "We're working the area of electronic 
polymers, polymers for solar applications, polymers for 
biomaterials - such as drug-delivery devices. We're doing a lot." 

Scalapino said the Oak Ridge laboratory offers the best of 
everything. 

"It's an incredible facility that's been built here. The people 
range from biology all the way over to where I am, a theoretical 
physicist," he said "What draws me here is partly the 
experimental work that goes on and will go." 

The theorists want the experimentalists to test their theories, 
and the experimentalists want the theorists to help them 
interpret their research. 

"It's a two-way street," Scalapino said. "That's the real part of 
being here - the communication. You can read people's papers and 
you can write a paper, but it's a huge difference when you sit 
down and talk with them." 

(Reach Frank Munger at 865-342-6329.) 

(Contact Frank Munger of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee 
at www.knoxnews.com.)

© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
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 49 lamonitor.com: Regulator: LANL 'pushing back' on consent order 

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
 

ROGER SNODGRASS Monitor Assistant Editor

SANTA FE - State Environment Secretary Ron Curry caught
legislators by surprise when he told them that relations between
the state regulators and Los Alamos National Laboratory have
taken a turn for the worse. 
Speaking at the LANL Oversight Committee hearing in the Capitol
Thursday, Curry raised three issues that he said were disturbing
the relationship between his department and the new managers of
the nuclear weapons laboratory.

"We thought they were a breath of fresh air," he said, referring
to his first impressions and assurances from the laboratory. "We
don't feel that way any more." 

Rep. Nick Salazar, D- Mora, Rio Arriba, San M., Santa Fe and
Taos, said, "We were under the impression that everything was
going well. We're saddened to hear that."

Curry said these were new developments that had arisen in the
last 30 days that led him to believe that the new LANL
management, Los Alamos National Security (LANS) LLC, was trying
to undercut or work around the consent order that has governed
the relationship and defined the schedule and processes the two
entities would follow toward a comprehensive environmental
cleanup of lab property. 

He based this assessment on two sets of incidents and a sudden
downgrading for a three-year-old, $4.5 million risk-assessment
program, known as RACER.

Curry said he had become aware that LANL environmental staff
members were attempting to sound out the potential for
renegotiating the historic consent order agreement that began
during the administration of Republican Gov. Gary Johnson and
entered into effect in March 2005. 

He said DOE officials in Washington had confirmed the intention,
but that when he asked responsible LANL officials about it, they
had denied it.

Shortly afterward, he said, he found out from U.S. Environmental
Protection Administration officials in Dallas, that LANS had
approached them about possibilities for circumventing state
regulators by making LANL a superfund site under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and
Liability Act (CERCLA) rather than a state-supervised
responsibility under the generally more rigorous Resource
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).

'We want them to stop pushing back on an order that was
negotiated in good faith," Curry said.

After Curry's statements to the committee, laboratory
spokesperson James Rickman responded.

"First, the laboratory has always respected the environment
department's authority," he said. "Nobody has approached anybody
about renegotiating the consent order or changing to CERCLA."

He said the laboratory is committed to abiding by the
stipulations of the consent order.

For Curry, the laboratory's near abandonment of the RACER
project raised important issues about "how the laboratory is
going to address environmental data," he told the legislators.

RACER is an acronym that stands for "risk analysis,
communication, evaluation and reduction." The project was
introduced with some enthusiasm at the laboratory in 2003, as a
way to increase public involvement in evaluating environmental
risks.

One key to the program was collecting data from multiple sources
in a consistent format that can be accessed by all the different
people and groups, including community stakeholders.

A series of meetings, reports and technical workshops introduced
the concept to the northern New Mexico community during the
first two years, as the databases and decision-making models
were developed.

John Till, president of the Risk Assessment Corporation, was
also somewhat surprised that his project had been a subject at a
legislative hearing.

By telephone from South Carolina Thursday, he said the project
has not done any work since the end of September and that the
new management has questioned the value of the project.

He confirmed Curry's statement to the committee that LANL was
proposing to cut the contract budget from $1.5 million a year to
$250,000 and, rather than continue the community involvement, to
bring the project "in-house."

Till has directed the project under a contract between the
laboratory and Colorado State University. He said the way the
project was structured enabled his team to maintain scientific
independence and credibility with the public.

"We have been completely open and transparent," he said. "We
work with everybody as partners in the same way, whether it's
the lab, NMED, or San Ildefonso. I can't turn my back on those
people."

Speaking for the laboratory, Rickman said the laboratory has
published environmental data for several decades, noting as an
example, the laboratory's environmental surveillance report for
2005, that was just released.

"That won't change," he said.

Till said that even within the laboratory different groups
collect data for their own databases. Some, he said as an
example, spell out "plutonium," some use the abbreviation "Pu."

During questions to the secretary, Salazar also wondered if
there might not be some connection between the problems Curry
was reporting and the federal budget cuts.

Salazar is chairman of the House Rules and Order of Business
Committee and an outside governor on the board of the company
that manages the laboratory. He is retired from LANL.

Curry said he understood that DOE had restored FY07 funding for
environmental management.

"If funding is restored, why are they looking at RACER cuts?" he
said.

"I realize budgets are tight, but RACER is all about saving
money," Till said later in the day. "The state, lab, EPA - all
using consistent data, that's saving money and making wise
decisions."

LANL officials said that Curry was welcome to have direct talks
with lab director Michael Anastasio, but Curry said they had
been unable to arrive at a time to meet that was convenient for
both of them.   

  © 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.   
    
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