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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 AFP: Iran offers to share nuclear know-how with Algeria - 
2 AFP: UN nuclear probe of Iran hampered by blind spots - ElBaradei -
3 MNA: Major powers cannot hinder Iranâ€™s nuclear activities - Ahmadi
4 UPI: U.S. opposes Georgia-Iran deal
5 Korea Herald: U.S. changes strategy on North Korea   
6 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: No Progress as N.Korean, U.S. Nuke Negoti
7 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Nuclear Envoys from US, China, North Kore
8 Guardian Unlimited: China, U.S. and N.Korea Nuke Envoys Meet 
9 Korea Times: 6 US Lawmakers Plan to Visit Kaesong Complex 
10 AFP: US, NKorea to hold second round of meetings Wednesday - 
11 AFP: Bullish North Korea says ready for nuclear talks - 
12 UPI: N. Korea nuclear talks possible next month
13 London Times: Pentagon targets Kim's nuclear sites - 
14 US: [NYTr] Poison DUst: The Pentagon's Radioactive Weapons
15 Independent: Blix vs Blair (but this time it is over our weapons of 
16 Daily Times: Leading News Resource of Pakistan
17 UPI: Outside View: Trouble with Russia-EU ties
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
18 US: NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with South Texas Project Officials to Dis
19 US: Sydney Morning Herald: WA mulls ban on nuclear power plants - 
20 US: St. Paul Pioneer Press: Get to it: Nuclear should be part of div
21 AU ABC: WA to ban nuclear facilities
22 US: NRC: NRC Begins Special Inspection at Catawba Nuclear Plant
23 TCPS: Reed: No, environmentalists don't back nuclear power
24 RIA Novosti: Russia's OMZ, Czech research center to jointly upgrade 
25 RIA Novosti: Russia-EU: problematic marriage of convenience?
26 US: NRC: Notice of Sunshine Act Meetings
27 REGNUM: IAEA to render technical and financial assistance to Kyrgyzs
28 US: sacbee.com: Opinion - Olivia Albrecht: Nuclear power for the fut
29 AFP: Dwindling forests and resources force Africa to mull nuclear en
30 CB: Atomic Energy Canada aims to generate $1-billion-plus from Argen
31 Knox News: Ukrainian physicist recalls Chernobyl
32 CMMWO: Africa nuclear power still seen far off
33 US: Times-Union: Veteran rallied for Atlantic power plants
34 Shanghai Daily: Nuclear not the only way, says AGL
35 AU ABC: Nuclear opponents criticise report
36 AU ABC: Finland's bleak nuclear future could be ours
37 Business Day: SA poised to embark on nuclear route for power
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
38 US: NY Times:  Scientists Say Trained Bees Can Sniff Bombs
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
39 US: Poison Dust -the Pentagon's illegal weapons
40 [NYTr] Brits back-peddling on Litvinenko poisoning accusations
41 RIA Novosti: Russia scraps 145 out of 197 decommissioned nuclear sub
42 BBC: Sophistication behind spy's poisoning
43 Independent: Litvinenko 'smuggled nuclear material' 
44 AFP: Traces of radiation at Berezovsky's office as Britain seeks to 
45 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Find out about radioactivity
46 Xinhua: Russia denies intelligence service's role in ex-agent's deat
47 Guardian Unlimited: Spy death: Eight facing tests 
48 Japan Times: Kyoto U. lab fire spurs brief radiation scare 
49 Guardian Unlimited: Spy Death Figure Tested for Radiation 
50 UPI: More radiation turning up in London
51 Guardian Unlimited: Polonium detected at Berezovsky's office 
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
52 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN RAIL LINE: DOE seeks more land to 
53 Las Vegas SUN: DOE seeks land for Yucca Mountain railroad studies 
54 Las Vegas SUN: Industry exec: Yucca backers must work with Reid, wei
55 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear waste dump a step closer - 
56 US: Deseret News: Hello, Glow Center; goodbye, Mark
57 Royal Society of Chemistry: Cold war clean-up
58 GAZETA.KZ: Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment JV to start functioning
59 US: LA Daily News: Santa Clarita to be tested for chemicals
60 RGJ.com: Dozens get to question officials on Yucca plans
61 Hemscott: Exec: Yucca backers must work with Reid
62 US: Los Angeles Times: Blighted Homeland - Photographic presentation
63 US: The Mercury: Storage of spent nuclear fuel rods at Limerick plan
64 US: Cibola County Beacon: Uranium: A "Renaissance in power"
65 US: LasVegasNOW.com: Weapons-Grade Plutonium Storage Considered For 
 
                           PEACE
 
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
66 reviewjournal.com: Group fears resumption of nuclear testing
67 Las Vegas SUN: Agency outlines plan in Vegas for nuclear arms compon
68 SF New Mexican: Curry: Lab isn't cleaning up its mess
69 Hanford News: Researchers to be honored as fellows in science group
70 The Enquirer: Fernald future to be discussed
71 DOE: Proposal to downgrade INEL High Level Waste using 2005 Reagan A
72 DOE: Amended Record of Decision: Idaho High-Level Waste and
73 UPI: U.S. upgrading plutonium facilities
*****************************************************************
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
*****************************************************************
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 1 AFP: Iran offers to share nuclear know-how with Algeria - 

 Tue Nov 28, 6:27 AM ET 		 	 

TEHRAN (AFP) - President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has offered to share 
Tehran's nuclear expertise with Algiers, in a meeting with 
Algerian energy minister Shakib Khalil. 

 "We are ready to share our experience in different domains
including peaceful nuclear technology with Algeria," the
government daily Iran" /> quoted Ahmadinejad as saying during a
meeting with Khalil on Monday. 

Algeria is a member of the Non-Aligned Movement, which supports
Iran's civilian nuclear activities -- feared by the West to be a
cover for secretly developing nuclear weapons. 

Oil-rich Iran denies the allegations, saying it only wants to
generate electricity. 

World powers have been debating a draft UN resolution that would
impose limited sanctions on Iran over its failure to comply with
an earlier UN resolution on halting uranium enrichment. 

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 2 AFP: UN nuclear probe of Iran hampered by blind spots - ElBaradei -

 by Michael Adler Tue Nov 28, 3:55 PM ET 		 	 

VIENNA (AFP) - The UN atomic agency's investigation of Iran" /> 
Iran's nuclear program is still being hampered by unanswered 
questions about sensitive work hidden by Tehran for almost two 
decades, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said in comments obtained 
by AFP. 

 "When we ask questions in Iran, we ask them because we want to
reconstruct the 'history.' What did Iran procure? Who was
involved? What was a certain experiment for? When and where did
it take place?," ElBaradei said. 

The comments were made last week at the end of a closed-door
session of the International Atomic Energy Agency" />
International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of
governors, in which they shelved indefinitely appeals for
technical aid for an Iranian nuclear reactor. 

Tehran insists the reactor is for peaceful purposes only, but
the United States argues it could produce plutonium for nuclear
weapons. 

ElBaradei said the aid was being turned down due to a lack of
confidence in Iran's nuclear program, at a time when the UN
Security Council is considering imposing sanctions on Tehran for
defying its call to suspend uranium enrichment. 

Iran agreed last week to hand over records of its uranium
enrichment work and to allow environmental sampling at a crucial
site in a boost to UN efforts to determine whether Tehran seeks
nuclear weapons, but diplomats and analysts said more
cooperation is needed. 

The IAEA has other outstanding issues it wishes to clear up but
Iranian ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh made clear that there
would be no more such steps unless the UN Security Council stops
threatening Iran with sanctions. 

ElBaradei had told his board in a regular report that limited
cooperation by Iran had blocked the IAEA from making "further
progress" on clearing up questions about Tehran's nuclear
program, including the scope of its enrichment work. 

Diplomats described ElBaradei's impromptu speech that closed the
board meeting on Thursday as indicative of his frustration that,
after more than three years of investigation, the IAEA is still
unable to conclude the true nature of the Iranian program. 

The IAEA does know "that Iran has knowledge over the entire
spectrum of the fuel cycle," ElBaradei said. 

While this is legitimate under the nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, "it is something that should have been declared to us
years back." 

Nuclear reactor fuel, such as enriched uranium, can also provide
material for atom bombs. 

The IAEA investigation began in February 2003 after it was
revealed that Iran had been hiding nuclear work for almost two
decades. 

"ElBaradei has staked all his reputation and career on working
with the Iranians," a Western diplomat said of the IAEA chief's
insistance on peaceful diplomacy to defuse the nuclear crisis. 

ElBaradei's comments showed that he saw Iran's lack of
cooperation with IAEA inspectors "as a direct challenge to
everything he has been trying to do," the diplomat added. 

While the IAEA has managed to verify that all declared nuclear
material and facilities in Iran are under safeguards, ElBaradei
said it lacked reassurance "that there is nothing in Iran that
has not been declared to us." 

A unique element in Iran's case was that the IAEA investigation
was unable to start its work on a clean slate, he said. 

"We started from a situation where we came to realize that there
had been activities for 20 years which we did not know about." 

"Obviously that creates a different situation and means that
Iran must take the initiative to explain what happened,"
ElBaradei said. 

He said he was "basically telling Tehran, 'if you want to fully
restore the confidence of the international community you need
to go out of your way to clarify the situation for us." 

That means allowing the IAEA to interview key officials as well
as "getting records, having evidence of what happened,"
ElBaradei said. 

US ambassador to the IAEA Gregory Schulte told a university
seminar in Vienna Monday that the US estimate is that Iran could
have a nuclear bomb as early as the beginning of the next
decade. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 3 MNA: Major powers cannot hinder Iranâ€™s nuclear activities - Ahmadinejad            
                                                        
Tehran

2006/11/27                                                                              
                                                                                                                                                                        
TEHRAN, Nov. 27 (MNA) -- Although some major powers possess 
nuclear weapons, they are trying to hinder Iranâ€™s scientific 
nuclear activities, but they will not be successful, President 
Mahmud Ahmadinejad said here on Monday.

In a meeting with Algerian Energy Minister Chekib Khelil,
Ahmadinejad said, â€œThe Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to
share its experiences in various fields, especially peaceful
nuclear technology and the energy sector, with Algeria.â€ 
  
Shakib said that Algeria is interested in utilizing Iranâ€™s
experiences in various spheres, particularly in oil, gas, and
nuclear energy. 
  
â€œAlgeria is ready to establish expansive ties with Iran based
on the interests of the two countries,â€ he added. 
  
Shakib traveled to Iran as the special envoy of Algerian
President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and personally delivered a
message from Bouteflika to Ahmadinejad. 
  
RS/HG END MNA                                                                                                                                             
 										     									 									
Â© 2003-2005 Mehr News Agency
*****************************************************************
 4 UPI: U.S. opposes Georgia-Iran deal
     
 United Press International - Security &Terrorism - 

11/28/2006 9:42:00 AM -0500

TBILISI, Georgia, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The United States publicly
opposes gas cooperation between Georgia in the Caucasus and
Iran, the RIA Novosti news agency reported Monday. 

RIA Novosti reported U.S. Ambassador to Georgia John Tefft told
a Georgian newspaper in an interview published Monday that
Washington opposed long-term strategic cooperation between
Georgia and Iran in natural gas deliveries. 

"In an interview with a Tbilisi newspaper, the diplomat said the
statement of Matthew Bryza, the U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, saying that the
White House will not oppose Tbilisi's use of Iran's gas to
overcome an energy crisis, had been wrongly interpreted," RIA
Novosti said. 

RIA Novosti noted that Iran and Georgia had reached a temporary
agreement on Iranian gas deliveries to Georgia in January 2006
after explosions on pipelines in Georgia interrupted the supply
of Russian gas to Georgia, a former Soviet republic that is
seeking to join the U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 

RIA Novosti noted that Russia and the United States currently
disagree on what form of economic sanctions should be imposed
upon Iran over its nuclear program. Washington wants a stronger
version of the current United Nations resolution that has been
drafted by European nations, but Russia and China want the EU
resolution to be watered down. 

Tefft said in his reported interview that Washington supported
the completion of a new pipeline to transport gas to Georgia
from neighboring Azerbaijan.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 5 Korea Herald: U.S. changes strategy on North Korea   

The Nation's No.1 English Newspaper
 
2003-11-18 ±è´ë¸® ¼öÁ¤          -->   

Washington's willingness to hold bilateral talks with North
Korea with China on the side as a buffer shows the United
States' determination to secure ground ahead of the six-party
negotiations.

 It also shows that Washington has eased on its earlier refusals
to hold one-to-one talks with the isolated state, observers said.

 North Korea, which has been relentless in trying to arrange an
exclusive meeting with the United States, was quick to highlight
the change. 

Upon arriving in Beijing, North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator
Kim Kye-gwan told reporters, "I am here on a kind invitation
from Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill."

 International relations professor Park Kun-young of the Korea
Advanced Institute of Science and Technology said, "The George
W. Bush administration, after its midterm election debacle,
appears to have made a mild change in its approach to the North
Korean problem.

 "It would be hard to expect Washington to drastically change
its policy due to domestic politics and other factors. Agreeing
to speak bilaterally with North Korea would have been the least
difficult choice."

 Observers said that the change shows how intent the United
States is on making sure that the next six-party talks do not
fall apart.

 This week's meetings in Beijing will therefore be crucial in
the failure or success of the next six-party talks, they said. 

North Korea, in a rare gesture, echoed the U.S. determination
when Kim Kye-gwan said he expected to "narrow down" the
differences with the United States during his Beijing visit.

 The six-party talks - comprising the two Koreas, the United
States, Japan, Russia and China - ended in failure last November
with no discussions on how to implement the Joint Statement on
denuclearization principles.

 The North Korean nuclear problem remained a problem for
Northeast Asia as North Korea refused for nearly a year to
return to talks, finally agreeing last month to restart
negotiations. 

The United States has been holding discussions with its allies
to coordinate strategies before reopening the negotiations,
which are a crucial political tool to contain the nuclear threat
posed by North Korea.

 Government sources underscored that it was important to watch
the overall development of the talks rather than focusing on
particular details.

 "We are entering an important stage of deciding whether to
enter a new phase of the six-party talks and the nuclear crisis
which has been going on for over a decade," a source was quoted
as saying by Yonhap News on condition of anonymity. 

(angiely@heraldm.com)

By Lee Joo-hee

2006.11.29
*****************************************************************
 6 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: No Progress as N.Korean, U.S. Nuke Negotiators Meet 
 
  >     Updated Nov.29,2006 09:57 KST   
 
Christopher Hill and Kim Kye-gwan, on Tuesday discussed the
resumption of six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program
in Beijing. But the two reached no agreement on the key issues
-- unfreezing North Korea's accounts in the Macau-based Banco
Delta Asia, Pyongyang's dismantlement of its nuclear program and
a date for the resumption of talks, sources said. The two sides
meet again on Wednesday, but it is unlikely the stalled talks
can resume this year unless they narrow their differences. 

The two top negotiators talked for eight hours, both face to
face and in a trilateral meeting with Chinese delegation head Wu
Dawei, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Hill reportedly said
North Korea should make it clear what steps it will take to
implement its side of a statement of principles agreed in the
six-party talks in September last year, to dismantle its nuclear
facilities and halt all operations there, and make a complete
report of all nuclear programs. 



*****************************************************************
 7 Korea: Digital Chosunilbo: Nuclear Envoys from US, China, North Korea to Meet Again
 
 Updated Nov.29,2006 07:34 KST   

North Korean negotiator Kim Kye-gwan waves to reporters as he 
arrives at Beijing airport 28 Nov. 2006   
    
U.S. officials say American, Chinese and North Korean
negotiators will meet again Wednesday in Beijing to discuss
re-starting the six-party talks aimed at dismantling North
Korea's nuclear weapons program. 

A State Department spokesman in Washington told reporters
Tuesday that U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill,
North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan and China's Vice
Foreign Minister Wu Dawei will continue the talks they began
Tuesday. 

The spokesman would not call the talks a "negotiation," but
rather he said it was an exchange of information. 

He said the three are meeting in hopes that when the six-party
talks are held, there will be a good solution that will move the
process forward. 

It is hoped the talks will be held before the end of the year. 

The spokesman said that initially all three men will meet
Wednesday, followed by a meeting between Hill and North Korea's
vice foreign minister. 

Neither a Chinese spokeswoman nor the U.S. officials would say
whether Hill and Kim met separately during Thursday's meetings. 

VOA News 
*****************************************************************
 8 Guardian Unlimited: China, U.S. and N.Korea Nuke Envoys Meet 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Tuesday November 28, 2006 7:46 AM

BEIJING (AP) - Nuclear negotiators for China, the United States
and North Korea met Tuesday to discuss details of restarting the
North Korean disarmament talks, China's Foreign Ministry said. 

Retarting the six-nation talks took on new urgency after the
North conducted its first nuclear test last month. 

Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei met with U.S. Assistant Secretary
of State Christopher Hill and North Korean Vice Foreign Minister
Kim Kye Gwan, ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said. 

She did not elaborate but said China hopes the parties can have
an ``in-depth exchange of ideas in order to promote the early
resumption of talks.'' 

On Kim's last known visit to the Chinese capital last month, he
held an unannounced meeting with Hill that led to the North
agreeing to return to the nuclear talks. 

The talks have been stalled for more than a year because of
North Korean anger over financial sanctions imposed by the
United States. Restarting them took on new urgency after the
North conducted its first nuclear test on Oct. 9. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 9 Korea Times: 6 US Lawmakers Plan to Visit Kaesong Complex 

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation   

By Lee Jin-woo Staff Reporter 

Six U.S. lawmakers are planning to visit the joint inter-Korean
industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea, Saturday, the
Ministry of Unification said Tuesday. 

The communist North has not yet approved the U.S.
representatives¡¯ application for the one-day trip. If approved,
the six would be the first U.S. legislators to visit the
complex. 

A number of U.S. officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary
of State Kathleen Stephens and congressional assistants, have
visited the joint industrial complex just north of the heavily
fortified inter-Korean border. 

The planned visit is part of an international forum in which
lawmakers from South Korea, the United States and Japan will
participate in Seoul on Friday, a spokesman of the ministry
said. 

He said Japanese legislators refused to visit the inter-Korean
joint business site. 

The U.S. representatives are: Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas;
Michael M. Honda, D, Calif.; Jim McDermott, D-Wash.; and Eni
Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa; F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.;
and Phil English, R-Penn., according to an official at the
ministry¡¯s office for the Kaesong Industrial Complex project.
They arrived in Seoul yesterday. 

They are to be accompanied by Rep. Chung Eui-yong, chairman of
the governing Uri Party¡¯s foreign relations committee, two
other Uri legislators and a member of the main opposition Grand
National Party, the ministry official said. 

The visit follows the North¡¯s nuclear test on Oct. 9 that
prompted a strong U.S. reaction and international condemnation
and led to the adoption of a U.N. Security Council resolution to
impose sanctions on the Stalinist state. 

11-28-2006 17:18         
*****************************************************************
 10 AFP: US, NKorea to hold second round of meetings Wednesday - 

 Tue Nov 28, 3:02 PM ET 		 	 

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US and North Korean diplomats will hold their 
second round of meetings in two days Wednesday in an invigorated 
push to resume six-party negotiations aimed at unravelling 
Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, a senior US official said. 

 US Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill and North
Korean envoy Kim Kye-Gwan met Tuesday in Beijing amid a flurry
of efforts to prepare for a return to the six-party talks after
a year-long hiatus. 

It was their first meeting since October 31 when North Korea" />
North Koreaagreed to rejoin the negotiations after being hit
with UN sanctions for having carried out its first test
explosion of a nuclear bomb. 

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the two sides
would meet again on Wednesday, both in a three-party format with
their Chinese hosts and then bilaterally. 

"That's the way it worked today -- there was a meeting with the
Chinese, North Koreans and us and then a meeting with the North
Koreans. I think the idea is that we replicate that tomorrow,"
he said. 

McCormack described the talks as preparation for a formal
resumption of the six-party meetings involving China, Japan,
Russia, South Korea" /> South Korea, North Korea and the United
States. 

The aim is to "start to provide information on how we might be
able to define what is an effective round of the six-party talks
that produces concrete results," he said. 

Washington has insisted it will not resume the multilateral
negotiations without assurances they will not be used as a
stalling tactic while North Korea pursues its nuclear arms
ambitions. 

Japanese and South Korean envoys are also in Beijing and
McCormack said there was "some convergence" of views among
Washington and its four partners on how to proceed in the
negotiations with Pyongyang. 

He would not provide details of Tuesday's meeting, other than to
say it generally involved both what will be expected from North
Korea in terms of beginning its denuclearization and what the
other five parties could offer in return. 

"Before the next round of these talks convene, all parties,
including North Korea and us, will, we hope, have a good
understanding of what are the possibilities for making
progress," he said. 

Kim, the North Korean envoy, indicated to reporters on his
arrival in Beijing that Pyongyang expected to re-enter the
multi-party talks with the added leverage of being a nuclear
power, a position the US has rejected. 

"As we have attained that position, we can now have discussions
on an equal level," he said. 

McCormack brushed the North Korean's comments aside. 

"The whole aim of these talks is to have a denuclearised Korean
peninsula," he said. 

The six-party process was launched in 2003 to persuade North
Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but broke down in
November last year when Pyongyang walked out in protest at US
financial sanctions against it. 

Pyongyang agreed in principle on October 31 to rejoin the
six-party talks following a day of secret meetings in Beijing
between Kim, Hill and China's Wu Dawei. 

However, the parties have since been unable to announce a start
date. Despite its decision to return to the negotiating table, a
top North Korean diplomat said last week that Pyongyang would
not give up its nuclear weapons. 

US President George W. Bush" /> President George W.
Bushdiscussed the issue late Monday in a phone call with Chinese
President Hu Jintao" /> Hu Jintao, a White House spokesman said. 

On a trip to the Baltics, he asked Hu for "continued Chinese
leadership on various international issues such as the situation
in North Korea," the White House spokesman said. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 11 AFP: Bullish North Korea says ready for nuclear talks - 

 by Dan Martin Tue Nov 28, 8:00 AM ET 		 	 

BEIJING (AFP) - North Korea" /> is ready for six-nation talks on 
its nuclear program after winning extra bargaining clout with its 
first atomic test, its top negotiator said as he met US and 
Chinese diplomats. 

 Kim Kye-Gwan headed straight into meetings here with Christopher 
Hill, his US counterpart at the six-nation forum, and chief 
Chinese negotiator Wu Dawei after flying into the Chinese capital 
early Tuesday. 

Diplomats from Japan and South Korea" /> were also in Beijing
with the aim of setting a firm date for the resumption of the
six-party talks on dismantling Pyongyang's weapons program,
following a hiatus of over one year. 

Kim told reporters on arrival that North Korea was ready for the
six-party talks to restart at "any time", although he indicated
that Pyongyang would use its recent entry into the global
nuclear club as leverage. 

"We have taken defensive measures against sanctions imposed on
us, through the nuclear experiment," Kim told reporters,
referring to his nation's first ever atomic weapons test on
October 9. 

"As we have attained that position, we can now have discussions
on an equal level. 

"We will hold talks at any time, from the grand standpoint (of
being a nuclear nation)." 

The talks' process was launched in 2003 to persuade North Korea
to abandon its nuclear ambitions, but broke down in November
last year when Pyongyang walked out in protest at US financial
sanctions against it. 

Kim's comments mirror North Korea's negotiating position, which
is that it wants to be treated as a nuclear-armed power --
something the United States, Japan and South Korea have said
they will not accept. 

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated that position on
Tuesday. 

"Japan simply cannot allow North Korea to possess nuclear
weapons," Abe was quoted as saying in Tokyo by Japan's Kyodo
news agency, adding that Pyongyang must take "concrete steps"
toward scrapping its weapons. 

Pyongyang agreed in principle on October 31 to rejoin the
six-party talks following a day of secret meetings in Beijing
between Kim, Hill and Wu. 

China, which has remained North Korea's closest ally despite its
anger over Pyongyang's nuclear program, has hosted the full
six-party talks in the past and has played the role of mediator
in trying to get them restarted. 

Hill said on his arrival Monday that he expected progress to be
made this week toward restarting full talks. He has said
previously he hoped to see them restart by mid-December. 

"Again, the issue for us is to make sure we are extremely well
planned for six-party talks, which we expect to get going again
very soon," he said. 

The Chinese foreign ministry and the US embassy confirmed that
Hill and Kim had met on Tuesday although neither side could say
what progress, if any, had come out of the meetings, as the
talks were continuing into the afternoon. 

"As far as a date for the next round of six-party talks, right
now the sides are having consultations," said Chinese foreign
ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. 

Hill met with Japanese envoy Kenichiro Sasae on Monday. On
Tuesday he held separate morning meetings with South Korea's
representative Chun Yung-Woo and later met with Wu, a US embassy
spokesperson said. 

Wu also had separate bilateral meetings with Sasae and Chun on
Monday night, according to Jiang. 

The resumption of the six-party talks took on a new urgency
after North Korea's test, which triggered international
condemnation and United Nations" /> sanctions. 

However, the parties have since been unable to announce a start
date. Despite its decision to return to the negotiating table, a
top North Korean diplomat said last week that Pyongyang would
not give up its nuclear weapons. 

US President George W. Bush" /> discussed the issue late Monday
in a phone call with Chinese President Hu Jintao" /> , a White
House spokesman said. 

On a trip to the Baltics, he asked Hu for "continued Chinese
leadership on various international issues such as the situation
in North Korea," the White House spokesman said. 

Russia is the sixth nation involved in the talks, but there was
no sign of Russian involvement in this week's diplomatic flurry.
	 		 			
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 12 UPI: N. Korea nuclear talks possible next month
     
 United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/28/2006 11:39:00 AM -0500

BEIJING, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- The top U.S. negotiator for North
Korea's nuclear program said in Beijing Tuesday the resumption
of six-nation talks may come as early as mid-December. 

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill made the
remarks after bilateral and trilateral meetings with his
counterparts from North Korea and China, which is hosting
efforts to get the stalled talks back on track. 

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan said he flew to
Beijing on the "kind invitation" of Hill, South Korea's Yonhap
news agency reported. 

Sources told the news agency the three envoys' main discussion
point was what Pyongyang had to do and what sort of incentives
it sought in exchange. 

Kim told reporters his country's underground nuclear test Oct. 9
gave North Korea more leverage at the bargaining table. 

"We can participate in the talks at any time with a dignified
status, as we have taken all the defensive measures to counter
sanctions and pressure through the nuclear test," Kim said. 

North Korea has insisted for nearly a year the United States
must lift economic sanctions against it before talks among the
two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia and the United States can
resume.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 13 London Times: Pentagon targets Kim's nuclear sites - 

Sunday Times - Times

November 05, 2006                    

Sarah Baxter, Washington
 		   		 		
THE Pentagon is speeding up plans for possible military strikes 
on North Korea’s nuclear programme as concern mounts that Arab 
states are also looking to acquire nuclear technology. 

US defence officials said detailed planning was under way for 
precision strikes on nuclear facilities such as the North Korean 
plutonium reprocessing plant at Yongbyon. The plant is thought to 
have supplied the plutonium fuel used in an underground nuclear 
test carried out by Kim Jong-il’s pariah regime on October 9. 

A Pentagon official said “various military options” for halting
North Korea’s nuclear programme were under consideration. “Other
than nuclear strikes, which are considered excessive, there are
several options now in place. Planning has been accelerated,”
the official told The Washington Times. 

According to defence sources, one option includes strikes on
Yongbyon by Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from submarines or
ships. Precision-guided bombs and missiles could also be
delivered by B-52 or B-2 stealth bombers. 

Navy Seals and other commandos would be deployed inside North
Korea to help blow up facilities such as Yongbyon. It is
believed such an operation could set back Kim’s nuclear
programme by 10 years. 

The plans emerged as the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) revealed that Algeria, Egypt, Morocco and Saudi Arabia
are seeking to join the nuclear club of nations. Tunisia and the
United Arab Emirates were also said to have expressed interest. 

The Arab countries claim to be interested in developing civilian
nuclear power, which they are entitled to do under international
law. But Iran and North Korea have increased concern that
assistance with peaceful nuclear know-how can be used to boost
covert nuclear weapons programmes. 

Michael Rubin, an expert on the Middle East at the
neoconservative American Enterprise Institute in Washington,
said: “Iran and North Korea have shown that non-compliance
equals reward.” 

The United Nations Security Council is still wrangling over
Russian opposition to mild sanctions against Iran, even though
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is defiantly proceeding with
Tehran’s nuclear enrichment programme. 

The threat of a nuclear- armed Iran is encouraging apprehensive
Arab states to reverse their support for a nuclear-free Middle
East and develop atomic technology. In oil-rich countries such
as Saudi Arabia, the benefits of a civilian nuclear power
programme may be hard to fathom. 

David Albright, a nuclear proliferation expert at the Institute
for Science and International Security in Washington, said:
“With Iran moving forward with its nuclear programme, it is
difficult for the IAEA to say to other nations, ‘No, you can’t
have it’, and the United States is not able to stop it.” 

According to Rubin, America is partly responsible for the rush
to acquire civilian nuclear energy. The US has been encouraging
developing nations to embrace nuclear power under the global
nuclear energy partnership (GNEP), launched by the State
Department in February. 

Robert Joseph, US undersecretary for arms control and
international security, said the GNEP aimed to promote clean,
renewable energy while maintaining strict controls on
non-proliferation. “We think that would help us to envision a
future where we can bring the benefits of nuclear power to the
developing world,” he said. 

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said last week that
America had no objection to Egypt’s nuclear programme. And
President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen also recently announced
plans to generate nuclear power in co-operation with America. 

But Rubin warned: “The idea that we can keep making concessions
to nuclear proliferation and that it won’t spread is a fantasy.
If you cannot answer the question, ‘Who is going to be in charge
of these countries in 10 years’ time?’ it is idiotic to help
them develop these programmes.” 

Once a country acquires nuclear weapons, it becomes difficult to
threaten militarily. McCormack said of North Korea “In terms of
the military and the Pentagon, planners plan. But the president
has made very, very clear that we are committed to finding a
diplomatic solution to the current issues before us.” 

North Korea agreed last week to return to international
disarmament negotiations under pressure from China and UN
sanctions. But it also called Japanese officials “political
imbeciles” for claiming they would not allow Pyongyang to remain
a nuclear power. 

A senior US defence official said America was committed to
protecting South Korea and Japan from North Korean aggression,
if necessary by using US nuclear weapons. “We will resort to
whatever force levels we need to have,” the official said. “That
nuclear deterrence is in place.”   	 		

Copyright 2006                 Times Newspapers Ltd.
*****************************************************************
 14 [NYTr] Poison DUst: The Pentagon's Radioactive Weapons
 
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:21:39 -0500 (EST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by International Action Center - Nov 27, 2006

Poison DUst 
http://poisondust.org/

Poison DUst -the Pentagon's illegal weapons

A NEW  LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS

Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use of these illegal weapons

On November 1, the BBC reported that the U.S. and British governments 
have continued to use radioactive and chemically toxic Depleted Uranium 
weapons in Iraq, disregarding warnings that these weapons pose a cancer 
risk and are linked to numerous other health issues.

According to the article, a report by a senior UN scientist said 
research showing how depleted uranium could cause cancer and other 
health problems was suppressed in a recent World Health Organization report:

    But Dr Keith Baverstock, who worked on the project, ...described a
    process known as genotoxicity, which begins when depleted uranium
    dust is inhaled.   "The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part
    radioactive - and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung," he
    said.  Later, he said, the material enters the body and the blood
    stream, potentially affecting bone marrow, the lymphatic system and
    the kidneys.  The research was not included in the WHO report, and
    Dr Baverstock believes it was blocked.

During the current Iraq War the U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons 
increased from 375 tons used in 1991 to 2200 tons. Geiger counter 
readings at sites in downtown Baghdad record radiation levels 1,000 and 
2,000 times higher than background radiation. The Pentagon has bombed, 
occupied, tortured and contaminated Iraq. Millions of Iraqis are 
affected. Over one million U.S. soldiers have rotated into Iraq. Today, 
half of the 697,000 U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported 
serious medical problems and a significant increase in birth defects 
among their newborn children.

The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater. Many other 
countries and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing 
facilities, bases and arsenals have also been exposed to this 
radioactive material which has a half-life of 4.4 billions years.

http://poisondust.org/

                                   ***

The Queens Tribune, 4/21/2005

Queens veterans of the War in Iraq share military stories, pay 
tribute to their fallen comrades and talk to each other about their 
experiences -- and one element keeps ringing true to many of the 
soldiers. Depleted uranium.

On Tuesday night, in the basement of All Saint's Episcopal Church 
in Sunnyside, there was a screening of Poison DUst, a documentary that 
chronicles the United States government's use of depleted Uranium. ...

The movie makes a convincing case for its argument that depleted 
uranium is being used rampantly in Iraq, among other places, and that 
wherever it is used it causes terrible health problems. The audience was 
clearly disturbed by the film.

"Isn't there some crime being committed?" Bill Hagel, who 
attended, asked in the question and answer session that followed. 
"Shouldn't someone be in jail?" 

You thought they came home safely from the war. They didn't.

Poison DUst tells the story of three young men from New York who could 
not get answers for their mysterious ailments after their National Guard 
unit's 2003 tour of duty in Iraq. A mother reveals her fears about the 
extent of her child's birth defects and the growing disability of her 
young husband -- a vet.

Filmmaker Sue Harris skillfully weaves, through interviews, their 
journey from personal trauma, to 'positive' test results for uranium 
poisoning, to learning the truth about radioactive Depleted Uranium 
weapons. Their frustrations in dealing with the Veterans 
Administration's silence becomes outrage as they realize that thousands 
of other GI's have the same symptoms.

Veterans, anti-war organizers, environmentalists and health care 
providers will find this wake-up call to today's GIs invaluable.

Today more than 1/3 of all 1991 Gulf war vets are on VA Disability 
Benefits. Meanwhile U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons has increased 
six-fold from 1991 to Gulf War II!

Scientists expose the Pentagon Cover-Up!

Poison DUst <http://poisondust.org/> includes a powerful indictment of 
past U.S. use of radioactive weapons....

The U.S. military now admits that it deliberately radiated its own 
soldiers, known as the "Atomic Veterans," during the Cold War. This 
documentary exposes U.S. use of radioactive weapons on peoples in not 
only Iraq, but the Marshall Islands; Vieques, Puerto Rico; Meihyang-Ri, 
South Korea; and Yugoslavia.

Poison DUst mixes interviews with soldiers with experts such as Dr. 
Helen Caldicott, Dr. Michio Kaku, and Dr. Rosalie Bertell 
explaining how DU contamination spreads and how residue from exploded DU 
shells radiates people.

A growing global resistance is expressed by former Attorney General 
Ramsey Clark, scientists and activists from Vieques, Puerto Rico, by 
New York Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez, Sara Flounders of the 
International Action Center's DU Education Project and Major Doug 
Rokke - the former U.S. Army DU Project head.

Poison DUst <http://poisondust.org/> is an important educational tool in 
building the movement to stop this horror.

Help us get the word out--this important film is already being shown in 
schools, churches, community centers, and in a Coffee House set up for 
GIs outside of Fort Drum.

Join the campaign to stop the use of these illegal weapons.

_How you can help:_

Order the video from http://poisondust.org - arrange showings in your 
community

Donate - You can make a difference! Funds are urgently needed to 
publicize and distribute Poison DUst. Send donations to the Depleted 
Uranium Education Project; 55W. 17 St., Rm. 5C, New York, NY 10011. Or 
donate on-line: http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml 
<http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml>

For more information, additional resources, bibliography, and more, see: 
PoisonDUst.org <http://poisondust.org/>
Call 212-633-6646 for information
       
                                *
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*****************************************************************
 15 Independent: Blix vs Blair (but this time it is over our weapons of mass
destruction) 

By Colin Brown, Deputy Political Editor 

Published: 27 November 2006 

Dr Hans Blix, the former UN weapons inspector, will launch a new
attack on Tony Blair today, warning that the decision to press
ahead with a full replacement for Trident will make it more
difficult to stop Iran acquiring the bomb. 

The respected chairman of the Commission on Weapons of Mass
Destruction will use a speech in London to renew hostilities
with Mr Blair. He will say that modernising Britain's arsenal
puts the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) under "strain" and
increases the feeling among non-nuclear states, such as Iran,
that they are being "cheated" by the nuclear states. 

Dr Blix will take Britain and the other permanent members of the
UN Security Council - America, China, Russia and France - to
task for failing to comply with their obligations under the NPT
by failing to do more to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. He
will point out "the strong feelings of frustration" at the way
nuclear nations "are in the process" of developing new types of
weapons rather than examining how they could manage defence
needs with non-nuclear weaponry. 

His remarks, in a speech to the British Institute of
International and Comparative Law, follow the decision of the
Cabinet last Thursday to "whip" a decision on the replacement
for Trident through the Commons in the new year. Although the
Tories are likely to back Mr Blair, there is strong concern over
the issue on the Labour back benches. 

Dr Blix will tell the international gathering of lawyers that
his Stockholm-based WMD Commission believes the UN General
Assembly should call a world summit on disarmament to revive the
NPT efforts to reduce the risk of a nuclear war. 

He will say it is 60 years since the UN called for the
elimination of all nuclear weapons, but there has been a
fragmented approach to tackling nuclear proliferation. The five
members of the nuclear club have been joined in recent years by
Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea. 

The Commission, Dr Blix will say, believes top priority should
be given to ratification of a comprehensive nuclear test ban
treaty, including North Korea, the latest member of the "nuclear
club". 

Dr Blix infuriated Britain and the US before the Iraq war when,
as the leader of the inspection team on WMD, he challenging the
"dodgy" dossier claiming that Saddam Hussein possessed chemical,
biological or nuclear weapons. Rebel Labour MPs said last night
he had been proved right over Saddam's WMD, and they believed he
would be proved right again over Trident. 

MPs have been demanding a wide debate on the options. Some
senior MPs, reported to include Geoff Hoon, the former defence
secretary, have questioned the wisdom of backing the most
expensive option favoured by the chiefs of staff, instead of a
cheaper alternative such as nuclear-tipped cruise missiles on
planes. 

However, a White Paper setting out the Government's preferred
option will be published next month and Labour MPs will be told
to back it. They will be allowed three months for "debate" but
Labour MPs will be "whipped" to support the cabinet decision in
a vote in the Commons in the new year. 

Peter Hain, the Northern Ireland Secretary, and a former member
of CND, defended the decision to push the issue through
Parliament on a whipped vote. "You couldn't expect a serious
government in charge of one of the world's global powers,
Britain, making a recommendation to Parliament and just say you
can do what you like chaps ... and make your own mind up," he
said on the BBC AM programme. "We're a serious government and
serious Cabinet. We will put our view when that view is
finalised by the Cabinet, and it hasn't been yet. We've not had
a further cabinet discussion on the detail of all of this. We'll
make a recommendation through a White Paper. Then there'll be a
full debate." 

Gordon Brown, the Chancellor, has already made it clear he will
support the most expensive replacement for Trident - a new
generation of submarines, with US-designed missiles and a new
nuclear warhead. Early estimates suggested it could cost £25bn,
but some experts have claimed the true cost could be nearer
£76bn over 30 years. 

Mr Brown's position on the issue has dismayed even some of his
own supporters. Other Labour MPs rallied behind Dr Blix. Neil
Gerrard, a Labour MP who tabled a Commons motion signed by more
than 20 Labour colleagues warning the Trident replacement would
breach the terms of the NPT, said Dr Blix would strengthen
opposition. 

"Dr Blix was proved right on WMD and a lot of people will agree
with what he is saying now," he said. "It is possible that Mr
Blair will lose a majority of Labour MPs on this issue." 

The ending of the Cold War has changed the argument in the
Labour Party. It is no longer a simple divide between those
favouring multilateral disarmament and those supporting
unilateral disarmament. Dr Blix's speech will increase the
doubts among those who question the value of a more powerful
nuclear weapon with multiple warheads designed to penetrate
"hardened" targets, when the foreseeable threat is from rogue
states or terrorists. Unlike in the 1980s, there are significant
military figures with doubts over the renewal of Trident. 

A spokesman for Greenpeace, said: "Hans Blix said that invading
Iraq to tackle concerns about WMD was wrong. He was proved
correct. Now he's pointing out that the Labour Government
building new WMD "because of an unknown future" is wrong and
will destroy the UN disarmament process. Let's hope this time
Labour listen." 

The other nuclear states 

* US: 10,000 warheads, Trident fleet being extended to 2,040 but
developing "mini-nukes" for tactical battlefield use 

* FRANCE: 482 warheads on air-to-surface missiles and ballistic
missiles on subs being modernised 

* RUSSIA: Ageing arsenal of 15,000 warheads which it is seeking
to put into storage 

* CHINA: Unknown, but thought to have 100 to 500 nukes, mostly
ageing, keen to avoid race with US 

* ISRAEL: 200 warheads, getting nuclear-capable subs from
Germany 

* INDIA: 150 warheads, has not tested since 1998 but recently
tested missiles. 

* PAKISTAN: 50 warheads. Not tested since 1990s, but tested
missiles recently. 

* NORTH KOREA: Tested first nuclear bomb this year 

South Africa, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus have all disarmed 

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited 
*****************************************************************
 16 Daily Times: Leading News Resource of Pakistan
 
November 29, 2006    

PURPLE PATCH: Tactical Nuclear Weapons —Stansfield Turner 
One experience I had with tactical nuclear planning in the 1970s
reflected the attitude that nuclear weapons could be treated as
large conventional ones. I was commander-in-chief of NATO’s
southern flank, responsible for, among other things, the defence
of Italy. One day I asked for a briefing on how, in the event of
a general war in Europe, we would stop a Soviet thrust through
the Alps at the Brenner Pass into northern Italy. The briefer
displayed a photo of the road descending from the Brenner to the
northern plain. A dozen or so concrete columns that were about
100 feet high supported the road, which literally clung to the
side of the mountain. The briefer explained that we would
detonate an atomic demolition charge, a small tactical nuclear
weapon, at the base of one of these columns. I asked why we
would not use TNT to bring down such a vulnerable structure?
There was no answer. We had nuclear weapons and they were the
best way to be absolutely sure the Soviets would be prevented
from using the road. The overkill and the collateral effects on
Italy of radiation and fires were simply not addressed.

The long-standing impulse to use the more powerful weapon leads
to finding uses for powerful weapons. Today armchair strategists
have cast about for targets suitable for tactical nuclear
weapons. The primary one is deeply buried, hardened bunkers that
are used for weapon storage or for command posts. Interestingly,
we already have lots of nuclear warheads that would demolish
these safe havens, but we are talking of designing new, smaller
ones. The idea is not to do too much ‘collateral’ damage,
through excessive blast effect, radiation, or fires. In short,
the conundrum of nuclear weapons in an age when firebombing and
carpet-bombing would be unacceptable is that we want these
weapons because their size ensures sufficient destructiveness,
but we want them downsized enough so that they won’t do too much
damage. This is walking a very thin tightrope.

The odds are extremely slim that any president would ever
authorise the first use of tactical nuclear weapons. The
uncertainties associated with both direct and collateral damages
would be daunting. And who could predict what might happen next
if a 57-year taboo on the use of nuclear weapons were to be
broken? Even beyond that, a president would surely ask, “What
alternatives do I have?” One is to employ conventional weapons
to destroy ingress and egress points for people, supplies,
power, water, air, weapons, etc. A second is to develop
conventional weapons that could penetrate all the way to the
bunker. The United States is working, for instance, on a
multiple warhead conventional weapon where the first warhead
opens up a hole and a carefully timed second one burrows in and
exploits that. Finally, we need to recognise that just because
there is a target out there, we do not necessarily have to be
able to destroy it. There will always be a calculus as to
whether the importance of the target warrants the risks and
uncertainties of unleashing a nuclear weapon.

If I am correct that there will be great reluctance on the part
of presidents to unleash tactical nuclear weapons, our
developing them and inserting them into war plans could be
dangerous. That is, we may be counting on a weapon that will not
actually be available when the time comes and we may not have
developed the conventional ones that would be used.

An irony in this quest for new, smaller tactical nuclear weapons
is that the United States, the most militarily powerful nation
in the world, is saying there are circumstances of war in which
it will need to resort to nuclear weapons. Surely this
legitimises nuclear weapons for weaker nations that might have
no other recourse for defending themselves. And it is the United
States that is most likely to be deterred from employing
military force by the threat of even a small nuclear attack on
its soil or its deployed forces.

It must be in the interest of the United States to lead the
world away from nuclear catastrophe since it is a more likely
target and has more to lose than anyone else. Getting tactical
nuclear weapons under control, rather than attesting to their
usefulness by building new ones, should be our goal. This
excellent book helps us to understand these issues.

Admiral Stansfield Turner, former director of Central
Intelligence, is on the faculty of the School of Public Affairs
of the University of Maryland. This passage is taken from his
forward to the volume titled Tactical Nuclear Weapons: Emergent
Threats in an Evolving Security Environment 

Daily Times - All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
 17 UPI: Outside View: Trouble with Russia-EU ties
     
 United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

11/28/2006 11:34:00 AM -0500

 By YEKATERINA KUZNETSOVA UPI Outside View Commentator

MOSCOW, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- When Finland assumed the presidency of
the European Union six months ago, it listed progress in
relations with Russia among the three priorities of its "reign"
in united Europe. The Russia-EU summit in Helsinki last Friday
showed that this is too much of a challenge for Finnish
diplomacy. 

It has been a long time since the EU received such a slap in the
face from its own member -- on November 13, Poland denied to the
EU negotiators a mandate for talks on a new agreement on
partnership and cooperation with Russia. 

The results of the summit are as follows: Russia has agreed to
gradually reduce and eventually phase out payment for Siberian
overflights; the EU has qualified Russia's embargo on Polish
meat imports as excessive and inappropriate; and Russia has
joined the European Northern Dimension initiative. 

Northern Dimension is the most indicative result of the summit.
In effect, for the first time Russia took part in the EU program
for a specific region. Before, the EU efforts to involve Russia
in European undertakings ended in failure. In response to the
criticism of four common spaces for being abstract and
non-binding, European diplomats like to recall that Russia was
offered to join European policy of good neighborly relations,
which has been elaborated specifically for the post-Soviet
republics. Russia refused to be part of it in the belief that it
was worth a separate program. 

It seems that the Northern Dimension guarantees equal
partnership to Russia because it has been joined by Norway and
Iceland, which are not EU members. However, if cooperation in
the protection of the environment can become reality (Europe
believes that the Kola Peninsular and Novaya Zemlya are too
polluted with nuclear waste, and is already investing in the
effort to "clean" them), there should be no illusions about
partnership in health care or social security. 

It would be great to achieve progress in the implementation of
the Northern Dimension -- the Russian projects of building new
sewage facilities in St. Petersburg, a fast railway linking the
latter with Helsinki, and creating a cross-border system for
monitoring the biological and landscape diversity of the region
are very tempting. But we should not forget that Norway is
almost a EU member that contributes 800 million Euros to its
budget every year. In this context, it would be naive to expect
the EU to fund anything else except nuclear safety. 

Without counting on any major decisions, the EU has achieved
everything it wanted. Russia has promised to abolish duties for
Siberian overflights, and has gained nothing. The EU has not
changed a single word in the Energy Charter, having thereby
confirmed its intention to liberalize the gas market (without
Gazprom's participation, of course). 

The EU has rendered public support to Poland in the "meat
scandal," and now the Kremlin will have to wait patiently for
the EU to adopt a common position, that is, until the first
session of the WTO appeals panel since Russia's WTO entry is not
far off. 

At the same time, Russia's intentions as regards the EU remain
rather vague. On the eve of the summit President Vladimir Putin
went on the record as saying that Russia was not going to join
the EU. But the exchange of experience, dialogues, and branch
cooperation he mentioned boil down to Russia's borrowing from
the European experience and practice. For instance, dialogue in
the sphere of law stands for the EU commission's funding of
upgrading courses for Russian judges (currently being held in
four Russian regions). One of the goals is to reduce the number
of appeals by Russians to the European Court of Human Rights. 

Russia's reluctance to join the EU does not mean that it should
not become closer to Europe. For this reason, Moscow and the EU
should concentrate on fundamental problems, such as visa-free
travel, or mutual access of oil and gas companies to each
other's markets. 


(Yekaterina Kuznetsova is a political commetator at RIA Novosti.
This article was reprinted with permission from the news
agency.) 


(United Press International's "Outside View" commentaries are
written by outside contributors who specialize in a variety of
important issues. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect
those of United Press International. In the interest of creating
an open forum, original submissions are invited.)

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 18 NRC: NRC Staff to Meet with South Texas Project Officials to Discuss Security Issues 

News Release - Region IV - 2006-02 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region IV No. IV-06-026           
November 28, 2006 CONTACT:     Victor Dricks Phone: 817-860-8128 
E-mail: opa4@nrc.gov  

The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will meet with South 
Texas Project Nuclear Operating Co. officials on December 4, to 
discuss the results of its review of recent security issues at 
the South Texas Project nuclear plant near Bay City, Texas. 

A summary of the results of NRCs review of recent security
issues at STP is available on the NRC web site at:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/for-the-record/2006
/south-texas-project.pdf. 

The meeting, which will be open to public observation, will
begin at 1 p.m. in the NRC Region IV offices in Arlington,
Texas. The public will have an opportunity to observe and ask
questions of NRC staff before the meeting is adjourned. Members
of the public can listen to the meeting via a special telephone
line by calling 1-800-952-9677, and requesting ext. 474.   
  

NRC news releases are available through a free list serve
subscription at the following Web address:
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC
homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail
notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are
posted to NRC's Web site.   


 	Last revised Tuesday, November 28, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 19 Sydney Morning Herald: WA mulls ban on nuclear power plants - 

www.smh.com.au

November 28, 2006 - 8:00PM

Western Australia is considering laws banning a nuclear power
industry in the state. 

Premier Alan Carpenter made the announcement on Tuesday in the
wake of a similar move by Queensland Premier Peter Beattie. 

Queensland says it plans to pass laws banning the building of
nuclear facilities within its borders. 

And if John Howard's government decides to go ahead anyway,
voters will be asked in a statewide poll whether they support a
nuclear industry. 

Mr Carpenter said WA already had laws banning the importing,
transporting and storage of nuclear waste. 

"However given the Howard government's commitment to
establishing a nuclear industry in Australia, I think it is now
time to go one step further and explicitly ban the construction
of nuclear power plants and uranium enrichment in our state," Mr
Carpenter said. 

He said the federal government had signalled an intention to use
commonwealth powers to ride roughshod over the states on this
issue. 

"Like Mr Beattie, I also think a referendum on the issue would
be warranted." 

Mr Carpenter said WA would be watching the passage of the
Queensland legislation with interest. 
© 2006 AAP
 	Brought to you by [aap] 

 | | Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald.                                                   
*****************************************************************
 20 St. Paul Pioneer Press: Get to it: Nuclear should be part of diverse energy mix

11/28/2006 | 

 BY OLIVIA ALBRECHT 

Today, the United States imports oil at a rate of $400,000 a
minute. It is estimated that by 2030, U.S. energy demands will
increase by nearly two-thirds, and that by 2050, global energy
demand will more than double. Americans must realize the
necessity of finding a reliable energy supply in order to
sustain economic growth and prosperity and to reduce the
security, economic and political risks of U.S. dependence on
foreign oil. 

The imperative is clear: The United States must develop a
diverse energy portfolio, encourage technological advancements
and make energy policy a priority on the foreign and domestic
fronts. 

Nuclear energy is the most promising source of power, and it is
making a comeback. 

However, skeptics question how nuclear energy could wean America
off oil, given that transportation, not electricity generation,
is the primary guzzler of oil. 

It is true that oil contributes only 2 percent of U.S.
electricity, and nuclear energy generates thousands of megawatts
of electricity. Yet analysts agree that as the price at the pump
continues to grow, more global consumers will turn away from
gas-fueled vehicles and toward alternative-power items to avoid
the cost of oil. 

Imagine if all car owners in the United States traded in their
oil engines for electric cars: The drastic surge in electricity
consumption could not be sustained by our current
electric-output capability. Nuclear energy is ready to handle
the demands created by increased electricity consumption as we
free ourselves from oil dependence. 

There has been quiet progress on this front. In the last year,
the Energy Policy Act was passed, the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership was introduced, additional reactor designs were
certified and numerous utilities began the licensing process to
build new reactors. But serious nuclear ambitions have not been
sufficiently acted upon. 

Despite the fact that the United States operates 103 of the
world's 443 reactors, the United States has not ordered a
commercial power reactor for decades. The industrial
infrastructure that supported America's unsurpassed nuclear
industry faded with the end of the Cold War, just as demand for
new U.S. nuclear power plants diminished. In contrast, those
nations that continued to develop their nuclear industry over
the past three decades are positioned to lead the emerging
global nuclear renaissance. 

Few realize the United States must build new reactors in order
to sustain the nuclear contribution of 20 percent to the
nation's electricity total — let alone amping up that amount, as
many comprehensive energy plans suggest must occur. The United
States will have to build 75 to 110 nuclear power reactors of
equivalent power to current reactors over the next 25 years just
to sustain nuclear power's current level of contribution.
Achieving the status quo would require bringing three new
reactors on line by 2012, with six or seven being brought on
line in most years between then and 2030. Expanding the industry
to contribute 30 percent of the nation's electricity would
require approximately 200 new reactors over the next 25 years. 

Even if there were sufficient political will to dictate a grand
return to nuclear energy, the American industrial base could not
meet the demand. 

The global economic facts are unpleasantly basic: Oil supplies
are tight, prices are high and energy demands are increasing —
primarily because of the exploding consumption rates in places
such as India and China. Today, the haves and have-nots of the
world are being defined in terms of oil supply. The countries
with oil have more influence and more money, while the countries
needing oil have less leverage and less money. And those
countries that need oil but can't afford to buy it are becoming
even poorer. 

Witness the recent move by three members of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries — Venezuela, Nigeria and Kuwait —
to cut oil production to keep prices above $60 per barrel,
increasing uncertainty in the volatile oil market and sustaining
the pressure that high oil prices place on the global economy.
OPEC's message: As long as the world depends on its oil, we are
at its mercy. 

Of even greater concern are countries that have energy resources
but think they need more weapons, and countries that have
weapons but not enough energy. Symbiotically, these two groups
have concluded there is ample business to conduct. 

In a rational attempt to guard against the oil cartel, foreign
nations, friend and foe, are increasingly looking to nuclear
energy as a critical ingredient of their future energy
production. They recognize that nuclear energy will stabilize
energy prices, reduce pollution and decrease their reliance on
foreign sources. If Americans do not engage in this global
conversation today, the risks associated with nuclear technology
will escalate, and the United States will not be in a position
to play a leading role in shaping the future of nuclear
technology. 

If nuclear energy is to be a fundamental piece of the U.S.'s
diversified energy portfolio, as it should, America must get to
work on it — starting today. 

Olivia Albrecht, a Fox News contributor, was the John Tower
national security fellow at the Center for Security Policy. She
wrote this piece for the Baltimore Sun.
*****************************************************************
 21 AU ABC: WA to ban nuclear facilities
 
ABC Perth | Local News | Story 
 Tuesday, 28 November 2006. 18:15 (AEDT)Tuesday, 28 November

 Western Australia is to follow the lead of Queensland and
introduce legislation banning the construction of nuclear power
stations. 

Premier Alan Carpenter says the legislation will be introduced
early next year. 

He says it will include a provision for an immediate referendum,
should the Federal Government override Western Australia's laws. 

Mr Carpenter says the results of the referendum would send a
clear message to Canberra that the people of Western Australia
do not want a nuclear power industry. 

But State Opposition leader Paul Omodei says he does not take
the proposal seriously. 

"I think the nuclear power referendum situation is the biggest
red herring that I've seen in my whole life," he said. 

"It's unlikely that we'll ever have a nuclear power plant in
Western Australia, given our abundant natural resources -
certainly gas and coal. 

*****************************************************************
 22 NRC: NRC Begins Special Inspection at Catawba Nuclear Plant
 
News Release - Region II - 2006-04
 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION 

Office of Public Affairs, Region II
  No. II-06-044   		        November 28, 2006   
  CONTACT:     Ken Clark (404) 562-4416
 Roger D. Hannah (404) 562-4417     E-mail: opa2@nrc.gov  
  

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission Region II office in Atlanta
began an inspection this week at the Catawba nuclear power
plant, operated by Duke Energy near York, S.C., to look into
several issues involving water flowing into below-grade
electrical penetrations. Water from the Catawba plants Unit 2
cooling towers flowed into a diesel generator room in May and
plant employees determined that other electrical conduits and
penetrations had degraded seals. During a heavy rainstorm in
late August, water entered the turbine building through unsealed
electrical penetrations and that rainwater accumulated around
some electrical transformers. Duke Energy initiated corrective
actions for degraded penetration seals and entered the issues
into the companys corrective action program. 

An NRC inspection in early November determined that the Standby
Shutdown facility was also susceptible to flooding from two
possible sources. 

The special inspection will review the facts surrounding the
degraded seals in some areas and the lack of seals in others,
determine if there are any generic issues for other nuclear
plants, and assess the companys overall response and
investigation including areas of the plant where the lack of
watertight seals or degradation might be an issue. 

The NRC will document its findings and conclusions in a report
to be issued within 30 days of the inspection.   
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------


NRC news releases are available through a free list serve
subscription at the following Web address:
http://www.nrc.gov/public-involve/listserver.html. The NRC
homepage at www.nrc.gov also offers a SUBSCRIBE link. E-mail
notifications are sent to subscribers when news releases are
posted to NRC's Web site.   



  


 	Last revised Tuesday, November 28, 2006 	   
*****************************************************************
 23 TCPS: Reed: No, environmentalists don't back nuclear power
 
Opinion
 	
Cyrus Reed, TEXAS CENTER FOR POLICY STUDIES 

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Some press reports have begun to claim that nuclear power is 
gaining favor among the public, politicians and even 
environmental groups as an acceptable alternative to meet future 
energy demand. Nuclear power, the argument goes, does not produce 
global warming gases. 

On Nov. 7, the American-Statesman announced boldly in a 
front-page article, written by Asher Price, that 
"Environmentalists rethink nuclear power." It claimed that "a lot 
of" environmentalists worldwide and "some activists in Texas" 
have been asking themselves "if they would rather live next to a 
nuclear reactor or a coal-fired power plant?" Among those listed 
were Jim Marston, who heads the Austin office of Environmental 
Defense, and Colin Leyden, executive director of Texas League of 
Conservation Voters.                                                                                                                                                            
		 
The answer from the major environmental groups in Texas is 
neither. We do not want to live next to new 50-year coal-fired 
power plants, particularly those proposed that do not have 
state-of-the-art pollution control technology for pollutants such 
as mercury and nitrogen oxides, or for global warming gases. We 
certainly do not want ourselves, our children, grandchildren and 
great-grandchildren to inherit the specter of exposure to 
radioactive wastes, the potential for catastrophic accidents or 
terrorist attacks, or the liability that would accompany new 
nuclear power plants. We wholeheartedly continue to oppose the 
development of nuclear power and are not "rethinking" our 
opposition. This opposition is based on the five fatal flaws of 
nuclear power. 

"Waste. Nuclear power  and nuclear weapons for that matter 
generate huge amounts of toxic, radioactive and "mixed" waste 
during the uranium mining process, the conversion of the uranium 
into usable isotopes and the use of the uranium in the generation 
of electricity. 

Ask the residents of South Texas who have born the brunt of 
uranium mining  both earlier, dirtier strip mining, which 
produced uranium mining "tailings," as well as the cleaner 
in-situ solution mining process  whether they want more mining 
next to or on their ranchland. Communities in Kleberg, Duval and 
Webb counties have all discovered that their groundwater was not 
cleaned up as promised in the original permits, and the EPA has 
told them not to drink their water. 

In Texas, operating nuclear power plants have nowhere to send 
their high-level radioactive waste. The attempt to put a federal 
high-level radioactive waste site in Yucca Mountain is mired in 
lawsuits and analysis. They suggest the proposed underground site 
is not what is was cracked up to be because of, well, cracks. 
Meanwhile the company  Waste Control Specialists  in Texas that 
supposedly will be taking "low-level" radioactive waste to its 
proposed site in Andrews County has not been able to meet the 
permit requirements established by the state. 

"Security. In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists published a 
report on the security flaws of Texas' South Texas Project in Bay 
City. The report cites problems with security, unrestricted 
entrance into the plant and lax background checks for employees. 
A congressional agency investigation found that several nuclear 
facilities were unable to locate all their spent fuel, and traced 
the problem to inadequate federal oversight. More nuclear plants 
means more security risks. 

"Safety. While there have been no major nuclear accidents in the 
United States since Three Mile Island, safety concerns because of 
lax oversight, mismanagement and deterioration of physical 
infrastructure continue to plague the nuclear industry in the 
United States and in Texas. Risks of serious accidents and 
meltdown increase with the age of nuclear plants. 

"Proliferation. The process of nuclear enrichment that creates 
uranium usable for making energy can also be used to create 
weapons-grade fissile material. The potential that uranium or 
plutonium could be stolen from these nuclear plant or uranium 
enrichment sites could result in dire consequences for the 
American public. 

"Cost. Nuclear power plants  once constructed and when operating 
properly  can provide cheap electricity. The problem is that they 
cost a whole lot of money up-front, they need continual 
maintenance and upkeep, and are subject to frequent shut-downs. 
Comanche Peak, which houses two of Texas' nuclear reactors, cost 
$11 billion to build, 13 times the proposed construction costs of 
$800 million. Texans are still paying for these nuclear plants. 
If not for massive federal subsidies recently approved in the 
2005 Energy Act, there would be no talk of new nuclear plants 
because it would be too expensive. 

We will be working with the Texas Legislature during the coming 
session to expand the use of renewable energy sources such as 
wind, solar and geothermal power, and to increase funding for 
state and utility programs that would enhance energy efficiency 
and reduce energy demands These are real answers to our energy 
needs, not dangerous nuclear power plants and air polluting coal 
plants. Let's "rethink" our energy future with smart energy 
solutions rather than create problems. 

This editorial was a joint effort with Ken Kramer of the Sierra 
Club, Karen Hadden of the SEED Coalition and Tom "Smitty" Smith 
of Public Citizen.

Copyright 2001-2006 Cox Texas Newspapers, L.P. All rights 
reserved. [Cox Newspapers, Inc.]                           
*****************************************************************
 24 RIA Novosti: Russia's OMZ, Czech research center to jointly upgrade reactors
 
28/ 11/ 2006

MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - A nuclear production unit of
Russia's OMZ [RTS: OMZZ] signed a $4.4 million deal on November
16 with the Czech Nuclear Research Institute Rez to upgrade
research reactors, the Russia company said Tuesday.

 Russian machine building company OMZ said that under the
project, Skoda JS, part of OMZ Atom, and the Czech institute,
will modernize LVR-15 and LR-0 research reactors. 

The work will be completed in the first half of 2008, and will
be 50% funded by the European Union.

 Skoda JS specializes in developing and manufacturing
experimental reactors as well as supplying equipment for power
reactors. The company has built seven research reactors since
1970.

 OMZ (formerly United Heavy Machinery), controlled by Russian
energy giant Gazprom, is one of Russia's largest integrated
heavy industry companies. It specializes in equipment and
machinery for the nuclear energy and mining industries, and has
clients in more than 30 countries.

© 2005 RIA Novosti
*****************************************************************
 25 RIA Novosti: Russia-EU: problematic marriage of convenience?

Opinion &analysis - 

28/ 11/ 2006

MOSCOW. (Yekaterina Kuznetsova for RIA Novosti) - When Finland
assumed the Presidency of the European Union six months ago, it
listed progress in relations with Russia among the three
priorities of its "reign" in united Europe. 

The Russia-EU summit in Helsinki last Friday showed that this is
too much of a challenge for Finnish diplomacy. 

It has been a long time since the EU received such a slap in the
face from its own member - on November 13, Poland denied to the
EU negotiators a mandate for talks on a new agreement on
partnership and cooperation with Russia. 

The results of the summit are as follows: Russia has agreed to
gradually reduce and eventually phase out payment for Siberian
overflights; the EU has qualified Russia's embargo on Polish
meat imports as excessive and inappropriate; and Russia has
joined the European Northern Dimension initiative. 

Northern Dimension is the most indicative result of the summit.
In effect, for the first time Russia took part in the EU program
for a specific region. Before, the EU efforts to involve Russia
in European undertakings ended in failure. In response to the
criticism of four common spaces for being abstract and
non-binding, European diplomats like to recall that Russia was
offered to join European policy of good neighborly relations,
which has been elaborated specifically for the post-Soviet
republics. Russia refused to be part of it in the belief that it
was worth a separate program. 

It seems that the Northern Dimension guarantees equal
partnership to Russia because it has been joined by Norway and
Iceland, which are not EU members. However, if cooperation in
the protection of the environment can become reality (Europe
believes that the Kola Peninsular and Novaya Zemlya are too
polluted with nuclear waste, and is already investing in the
effort to "clean" them), there should be no illusions about
partnership in health care or social security. 

It would be great to achieve progress in the implementation of
the Northern Dimension - the Russian projects of building new
sewage facilities in St. Petersburg, a fast railway linking the
latter with Helsinki, and creating a cross-border system for
monitoring the biological and landscape diversity of the region
are very tempting. But we should not forget that Norway is
almost a EU member that contributes 800 million Euros to its
budget every year. In this context, it would be naive to expect
the EU to fund anything else except nuclear safety. 

Without counting on any major decisions, the EU has achieved
everything it wanted. Russia has promised to abolish duties for
Siberian overflights, and has gained nothing. The EU has not
changed a single word in the Energy Charter, having thereby
confirmed its intention to liberalize the gas market (without
Gazprom's participation, of course). 

The EU has rendered public support to Poland in the "meat
scandal", and now the Kremlin will have to wait patiently for
the EU to adopt a common position, that is, until the first
session of the WTO appeals panel since Russia's WTO entry is not
far off. 

At the same time, Russia's intentions as regards the EU remain
rather vague. On the eve of the summit President Vladimir Putin
went on the record as saying that Russia was not going to join
the EU. But the exchange of experience, dialogues, and branch
cooperation he mentioned boil down to Russia's borrowing from
the European experience and practice. For instance, dialogue in
the sphere of law stands for the EU commission's funding of
upgrading courses for Russian judges (currently being held in
four Russian regions). One of the goals is to reduce the number
of appeals by Russians to the European Court of Human Rights. 

Russia's reluctance to join the EU does not mean that it should
not become closer to Europe. For this reason, Moscow and the EU
should concentrate on fundamental problems, such as visa-free
travel, or mutual access of oil and gas companies to each
other's markets. 

Yekaterina Kuznetsova is a political scientists 

© 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 26 NRC: Notice of Sunshine Act Meetings
 
                         FR Doc 06-9450 
[Federal Register: November 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 228)] 
[Notices] [Page 68846-68847] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr28no06-90]                         
 
Date: Weeks of November 27, December 4, 11, 18, 25, 2006.
 
January 1, 2007.
 
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike, 
Rockville, Maryland.
 
Status: Public and Closed.
 
Matters to Be Considered: Week of November 27, 2006.
 
There are no meetings scheduled during the week of November 27, 
2006.
 
Week of December 4, 2006--Tentative Wednesday, December 6, 2006 
2:45 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1) 
(Tentative).
 
Thursday, December 7, 2006 9:25 a.m. Affirmation Session (Public 
Meeting) (Tentative). a. Hydro Resources, Inc. (Crownpoint, NM) 
Intervenors' Petition for Review of LBP-06-19 (Final Partial 
Initial Decision--NEPA Issues) (Tentative).
 
9:30 a.m. Discussion of Management Issues (Closed--Ex. 2). Week 
of December 11, 2006--Tentative Monday, December 11, 2006 1:30 
p.m. Briefing on Status of Decommissioning Activities (Public 
Meeting) (Contact: Keith McConnell, 301-415-7295).
 
This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web 
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Tuesday, December 12, 2006 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Threat 
Environment Assessment (Closed--Ex. 1).
 
1:30 p.m. Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 & 3). 
Wednesday, December 13, 2006 9:30 a.m. Briefing on Status of 
Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Programs (Public Meeting) 
(Contact: Barbara Williams, 301-415-7388).
 
This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web 
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Thursday, December 14, 2006 9:25 a.m. Affirmation Session (Public 
Meeting) (Tentative). a. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, & 
Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power 
Station), LBP-06-20 (Sept. 22, 2006), reconsid'n denied (Oct. 30, 
2006) (Tentative). 9:30 a.m. Meeting with Advisory Committee on 
Nuclear Waste (ACNW) (Public Meeting) (Contact: John Larkins, 
301-415-7360).
 
This meeting will be Webcast live at the Web 
address--http://www.nrc.gov .
 
Week of December 18, 2006--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of December 18, 2006.
 
Week of December 25, 2006--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of December 25, 2006.
 
Week of January 1, 2007--Tentative There are no meetings 
scheduled for the Week of January 1, 2007.
 
* The schedule for Commission meetings is subject to change on 
short notice. To verify the status of meetings call 
(recording)--(301) 415-1292. Contact person for more information: 
Michelle Schroll, (301) 415-1662.
 
additional information: Affirmation of Hydro Resources, Inc. 
(Crownpoint, NM) Intervenors' Petition for Review of LBP-06-19 
(Final Partial Initial Decision--NEPA Issues) tentatively 
scheduled on Thursday, November 30, 2006 at 12:55 p.m. has been 
rescheduled tentatively on Thursday, December 7, 2006 at 9:25 
a.m. The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the 
Internet at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/policy-making/schedule.html. The 
NRC provides reasonable accommodations to individuals with 
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable 
accommodation to participate in these public meetings, or need 
this meeting notice or the transcript or other information from 
the
 
[[Page 68847]] public meetings in another format (e.g. braille, 
large print), please notify the NRC's Disability Program 
Coordinator, Deborah Chan, at 301- 415-7041, TDD: 301-415-2100, 
or by e-mail at DLC@nrc.gov. Determinations on requests for 
reasonable accommodation will be made on a case-by-case basis.
 
This notice is distributed by mail to several hundred 
subscribers; if you no longer wish to receive it, or would like 
to be added to the distribution, please contact the Office of the 
Secretary, Washington, DC 20555 (301-415-1969). In addition, 
distribution of this meeting notice over the Internet system is 
available. If you are interested in receiving this Commission 
meeting schedule electronically, please send an electronic 
message to dkw@nrc.gov. Dated: November 22, 2006.
 
R. Michelle Schroll, Office of the Secretary.
 
[FR Doc. 06-9450 Filed 11-24-06; 10:27 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-M

 
*****************************************************************
 27 REGNUM: IAEA to render technical and financial assistance to Kyrgyzstan
        
08:18:36  ¤  November 29, 2006

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will render technical
assistance to Kyrgyz government; an agreement on it was signed
at the IAEA headquarters on November 27; a REGNUMcorrespondent
was informed at Kyrgyz foreign ministry press office.  

Kyrgyzstan Ambassador to the OSCE and other international
organizations in Vienna Rina Prizhivoyt signed the agreement
form the Kyrgyz side; the IAEA Deputy Director General, Director
of Technical Cooperation Department Anna Maria Chetto – from the
side of the IAEA. 

According to the agreement, Kyrgyzstan received possibility to
start together with the IAEA realization of national projects
about $2mln worth in the sphere of preservation of the
environment and medicine, as well as completely to use potential
of the IAEA to settle acute problems such as radioactive waste,
protection of nuclear materials, treatment of oncological
diseases at the sum of $2mln environmental protection. Permanent
news address: www.regnum.ru/english/746321.html

19:32 11/28/2006

© 1999-2006 REGNUM News Agency
*****************************************************************
 28 sacbee.com: Opinion - Olivia Albrecht: Nuclear power for the future -
            
By Olivia Albrecht - 

Published 12:00 am PST Tuesday, November 28, 2006 

Today, the United States imports oil at a rate of $400,000 a
minute. It is estimated that by 2030, U.S. energy demands will
increase by nearly two-thirds, and that by 2050, global energy
demand will more than double. Americans must realize the
necessity of finding a reliable energy supply in order to
sustain economic growth and prosperity in the 21st century and
to reduce the security, economic and political risks of U.S.
dependence on foreign oil.

The imperative is clear: The United States must develop a
diverse energy portfolio, encourage technological advancements
and make energy policy a priority on the foreign and domestic
fronts. The ever-apparent synergy among geopolitics, diplomacy,
environmental concerns, economic fears and domestic policy
dictates that Americans must periodically reassess our energy
portfolio and seek to diversify our sources -- and generate a
comprehensive approach to the transnational issues surrounding
energy policy.

Nuclear energy is the most promising source of power, and it is
making a comeback. In recent months, Washington has been buzzing
with talk about this subject. 

However, skeptics question how nuclear energy could wean America
off oil, given that transportation, not electricity generation,
is the primary guzzler of oil.

It is true that oil contributes only 2 percent of U.S.
electricity, and nuclear energy generates thousands of megawatts
of electricity.

Yet analysts agree that as the price at the pump continues to
grow, more global consumers will turn away from gas-fueled
vehicles and toward alternative-power items to avoid the cost of
oil.

Imagine if all car owners in the United State traded in their
oil engines for electric cars: The drastic surge in electricity
consumption could not be sustained by our current
electric-output capability. Nuclear energy is ready to handle
the demands created by increased electricity consumption as we
free ourselves from oil dependence.

There has been quiet progress on this front. In the last year,
the Energy Policy Act was passed, the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership was introduced, additional reactor designs were
certified and numerous utilities began the licensing process to
build new reactors. But serious nuclear ambitions have not been
sufficiently acted upon.

Regrettably, each passing year without substantial changes in
U.S. nuclear energy pursuits means America falls further behind
in this burgeoning sector.

Despite the fact that the United States operates 103 of the
world's 443 reactors, the United States has not ordered a
commercial power reactor for decades. The industrial
infrastructure that supported America's unsurpassed nuclear
industry faded with the end of the Cold War, just as demand for
new U.S. nuclear power plants diminished. In contrast, those
nations that continued to develop their nuclear industry over
the past three decades are positioned to lead the emerging
global nuclear renaissance.

Few realize that the United States must build new reactors in
order to sustain the nuclear contribution of 20 percent to the
nation's electricity total -- let alone amping up that amount,
as many comprehensive energy plans suggest must occur. The
United States will have to build 75 to 110 nuclear power
reactors of equivalent power to current reactors over the next
25 years just to sustain nuclear power's current level of
contribution. Achieving the status quo would require bringing
three new reactors on line by 2012, with six or seven being
brought on line in most years between then and 2030. Expanding
the industry to contribute 30 percent of the nation's
electricity would require approximately 200 new reactors over
the next 25 years.

Even if there were sufficient political will to dictate a grand
return to nuclear energy, the American industrial base could not
meet the demand. This means that Americans would shift energy
dependence from foreign oil fields to foreign nuclear
manufacturing facilities.

The global economic facts are unpleasantly basic: Oil supplies
are tight, prices are high, and energy demands are increasing --
primarily because of the exploding consumption rates in places
such as India and China. Today, the haves and have-nots of the
world are being defined in terms of oil supply. The countries
with oil have more influence and more money, while the countries
needing oil have less leverage and less money. And those
countries that need oil but can't afford to buy it are becoming
even poorer and are further removed from the center stage of
world affairs.

Witness the recent move by three members of the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries -- Venezuela, Nigeria and Kuwait
-- to cut oil production to keep prices above $60 per barrel,
increasing uncertainty in the volatile oil market and sustaining
the pressure that high oil prices place on the global economy.
OPEC's message: As long as the world depends on its oil, we are
at its mercy.

Of even greater concern are countries that have energy resources
but think they need more weapons, and countries that have
weapons but not enough energy. Symbiotically, these two groups
have concluded that there is ample business to conduct.

In a rational attempt to guard against the oil cartel, foreign
nations, friend and foe, are increasingly looking to nuclear
energy as a critical ingredient of their future energy
production. They recognize that nuclear energy will stabilize
energy prices, reduce pollution and decrease their reliance on
foreign sources. If Americans do not engage in this global
conversation today, the risks associated with nuclear technology
will escalate and the United States will not be in a position to
play a leading role in shaping the future of nuclear technology.

If nuclear energy truly is to be a fundamental piece of the
diversified U.S. energy portfolio, as it should, America must
get to work on it -- starting today. 
About the writer:
 
  + Olivia Albrecht, a Fox News contributor, was the John Tower
national security fellow at the Center for Security Policy. She
wrote this article for the Baltimore Sun. Distributed by the Los
Angeles Times-Washington Post News Service. 

[The Sacramento Bee] 

Contact The Bee: (916) 321-1000
*****************************************************************
 29 AFP: Dwindling forests and resources force Africa to mull nuclear energy - 

 by Mariette le Roux Tue Nov 28, 3:17 PM ET 		 	 

CAPE TOWN (AFP) - Depleting forests and coal reserves, compounded 
by the environmental cost of traditional energy sources, are 
forcing Africa to seriously consider going nuclear, experts say. 

 "For the sake of humanity and the environment we should accept
nature's gift," South African energy analyst Andrew Kenny told a
conference in Cape Town of scientists, businessmen, energy
watchdogs and African government officials. 

But some warn that a lack of financing, a regulatory void and a
dearth of specialist skills could impede Africa's participation
in the "nuclear renaissance". 

"There are good reasons for certain African countries to be
considering nuclear energy, but this does not mean they will be
able to do it overnight," Alan McDonald from the Vienna-based
International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic
Energy Agencytold AFP. 

Franklin Osaisai, director-general of Nigeria's atomic energy
commission, said Africa simply had to find the money for nuclear
energy. 

"It is not affordable not to invest in energy. We found nuclear
to be a viable option -- an expensive initial investment but
cheaper in the long-term," he said. 

Nigeria planned to start generating nuclear power in the next 10
to 12 years, Osaisai said. 

Several delegates mooted regional cooperation as a possible
solution to many of the constraints facing the continent. 

These included harnessing South Africa's existing regulatory
framework and sharing infrastructure between countries. 

But McDonald said Africa did not feature strongly in IAEA
projections for increased nuclear energy production. 

"Most of the additional plants being foreseen are in countries
with established programmes and existing, big plants. It is much
easier to start a new plant when you have an established
programme ... and a skilled workforce." 

The construction cost of a nuclear power plant averages about
one million euros per megawatt it produces. 

Nuclear energy was "definitely" an affordable option for Africa,
said Anne Renzi, deputy head of export finance at Areva, a
global nuclear energy company. 

"It is a question of comparison. Each time the barrel price of
petrol is more than 45 dollars, any nuclear project is
competitive," she said. 

South Africa's Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said Africa
should tap its rich uranium resources rather than exporting
them, adding that this would need "deliberate and calculated
planning on the part of leaders of the continent." 

South Africa is the only African country with a nuclear power
station, which produces about six percent of its electricity. It
now wants to expand capacity by developing a pebble bed modular
reactor. 

Several speakers told the conference that nuclear energy was a
safe alternative. 

Kenny said there had only been one nuclear accident claiming
more than five human lives, as opposed to 187 such accidents at
coal-based power plants. 

He also said radiation was not a major problem in countries
harnessing nuclear energy while coal, wood and paraffin fires
caused death, disease and disability on a massive scale in
Africa. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved
*****************************************************************
 30 CB: Atomic Energy Canada aims to generate $1-billion-plus from Argentina 

Canadian Business Online

Gary Norris TORONTO 

(CP) - Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is hoping to generate more 
than $1 billion in business f 

November 28, 2006 - 1:48 p.m. 

TORONTO (CP) - Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. is hoping to
generate more than $1 billion in business for Canada through a
co-operation agreement on three projects in Argentina. 

The potentially most lucrative deal for the federal Crown
corporation is a feasibility study on a new 740-megawatt Candu 6
nuclear reactor complex. 

The study is to be completed by the autumn of 2007, and the
station - envisaged as a joint project with the Argentines doing
more than half of the work - could go into service around 2015.

The other two projects with Nucleoelectrica Argentina S.A. cover
the refurbishment of Embalse, a Candu 6 that went into service
in 1983, and project management, engineering and other support
to complete a German reactor provided by Siemens. 

The German plant was 80 per cent complete when work was halted
during Argentina's 1999-2002 economic crisis, which featured a
public debt default in 2001. 

The South American country has had a stressful economic and
political history since emerging in the early 1980s from decades
of military dictatorship, but "now, with the economy on an
upswing, the government has made this a national priority, to
revitalize the whole energy industry," AECL chief operating
officer Ken Petrunik said in an interview Tuesday. 

"We have been involved in Argentina for years. All of our
accounts have been paid," he said. 

"They've been an excellent customer, the economy of Argentina is
growing - GDP is up about eight per cent per year, the
government sees that continuing - so we believe that Argentina
is economically moving ahead very successfully." 

The Argentine government has said its overall package to
reactivate nuclear activity will cost more than US$3 billion
over eight years. 

This includes $700 million on the German Atucha completion, $400
million on the Embalse renovation and $2 billion or more on the
new plant, which "will be covered with budgetary resources and
external credits." 

The Embalse refurbishment will extend the reactor's life for 25
to 30 years, and the German reactor is to go into service in
2010, Petrunik said, adding that AECL brings unique expertise to
such projects. 

Despite the decades-long slowdown in the nuclear industry,
"we've never stopped constructing nuclear power plants in the
last 30 years," he said. "We know how to get jobs done on time
and on budget." 	   		 		 		   			

© 1997- Rogers Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Terms of
Service.
*****************************************************************
 31 Knox News: Ukrainian physicist recalls Chernobyl

By DARREN DUNLAP, dunlapd@knews.com 

November 28, 2006                                                               

He didn’t believe it at first. 

The Chernobyl nuclear power plant was safe, Vladimir Tokarevsky
thought, when his wife delivered the news. 

Maybe there had been a mechanical failure at the plant,
but not an explosion in the plant’s reactor vessel, he said. 

Tokarevsky, a Ukrainian nuclear physicist, told audience members
today at the University of Tennessee Visitors Center that he was
at home in Kiev when Unit 4 of the power plant was damaged by an
explosion in the early morning hours of April 26, 1986. 

"The word ‘Chernobyl’ is known by everyone now," he said. 

Scientists are still assessing the impact on its people and
environment 20 years later. 

Tokarevsky was not in East Tennessee in an official capacity, he
said. He teaches physics at Kiev University and is director of a
Ukrainian agency overseeing hazardous waste treatment and
disposal at Chernobyl. 

He said he was visiting an old friend, Bob Shelton, senior
associate of energy policy at the UT’s Howard Baker Jr. Center
for Public Policy. He was on vacation. 

Shelton said the two worked on a project to cleanse contaminated
soil around Chernobyl through a process called
phyto-remediation. It was a project that got the support of the
Ukrainian government but not the U.S., he said. 

While Tokarevsky visits, the two hoped to reinvigorate interest
in the project. Tokarevsky plans to visit the UT student center
on Wednesday to talk about the impact of Chernobyl. 

His presentation Tuesday included photos of the Chernobyl site
after the explosion, construction of a massive "shelter" over
the contaminated section of power plant in 1986, and maps
designating areas contaminated by nuclear fallout in the
Ukraine. 

More details as they develop online and in Wednesday’s News
Sentinel. 

Darren Dunlap may be reached at 342-6334.

© 2006 - Knoxville News Sentinel
*****************************************************************
 32 CMMWO: Africa nuclear power still seen far off

Creamer Media's Mining Weekly Online, South African Mining News

Massive costs and a lack of specialists could scupper the
nuclear ambitions of energy-starved Africa, where power
shortages continue to hamper economic development, energy
experts said on Monday.

 Despite increasing world interest in nuclear power as an
alternative to coal and oil-powered generation, Africa still had
a way to go before it could join the nuclear club, said
delegates to a nuclear power conference.

 "In Africa there are parts where infrastructure doesn't exist
and that's a large cost that has to be considered as part of a
regional strategy to build important facilities," said Nils
Breckenridge, marketing manager for Westinghouse, the U.S. power
plant unit of Japan's Toshiba Corp.

 Breckenridge said without "significant investments" the
necessary infrastructure needed for nuclear technology in Africa
would not be developed.

 "We at Westinghouse would probably not invest in
developments... unless there is a extremely large regional
market that that facility will support," he said.

 South Africa was seeking to build just such an integrated
regional market, its Minister of Minerals and Energy Bulelwa
Sonjica said.

 "I believe that for this continent it may be beneficial for
regional approaches to be adopted in building this
infrastructure... South Africa was considering the establishment
of a regional nuclear and radiation safety regulatory forum,"
said Sonjica.

 She said South Africa was holding preliminary discussions with
Nigeria to establish how to strengthen regulatory frameworks,
infrastructure and safety standards in the region.

 South Africa is home to Africa's only nuclear power plant at
Koeberg outside Cape Town, and is developing new pebble-bed
nuclear technology which it says will be more suited to
developing countries.

 Egypt, Nigeria and Tunisia have announced intentions to build
nuclear power stations.

 But a nuclear expert attached to the International Atomic
Energy Agency warned against a one-size-fits-all approach for
African countries.

 "How countries trade off among things like accident risks,
cheap electricity, pollution, jobs, import dependence and
climate change is at least partly a matter of personal and
national preference, and thus an area of legitimate disagreement
even if everyone were to agree precisely on all the facts," said
Alan McDonald.

 McDonald said if today's rising expectations are met, it would
be because developed countries with existing nuclear capacity
built more plants and not because a host of new countries
decided to start new programmes.

 According to Rob Adam, chief executive of South Africa's
Nuclear Energy Corporation, there are research reactors in South
Africa, Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Ghana, the Democratic
Republic of Congo and Morocco.

 "Generally, skills are thinly dispersed. Fewer than 5,000
people work in the nuclear sector in Africa, excluding mining,
compared to 70 000 in (world's biggest nuclear reactor
manufacturer) Areva alone," he said.

   
  Author: Reuters
  
29 November 2006 News Today 

  Copyright Â© Creamer Media (Pty) Ltd   
*****************************************************************
 33 Times-Union: Veteran rallied for Atlantic power plants

metro 5 Jacksonville.com William J. Staten, who helped
lead an unsuccessful effort during the 1970s to place floating
nuclear power plants in the Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville,
died Saturday after a battle with cancer. He was 85.--> 	

 Last modified Tue., November 28, 2006 - 12:59 AM

By JEFF BRUMLEY, The Times-Union

 William J. Staten, who helped lead an unsuccessful effort
during the 1970s to place floating nuclear power plants in the
Atlantic Ocean near Jacksonville, died Saturday after a battle
with cancer. He was 85.

Mr. Staten was vice president of Offshore Power Systems, a
subsidiary of Westinghouse, which pitched a $2.2 billion deal
with the city in 1971 to establish two floating reactors and
also to manufacture similar systems on Blount Island for sale
and distribution around the world.

 His efforts led to the city selling 900 acres on the island to
the company, which built a gigantic, $13 million crane on the
property and employed 1,500 at its peak, according to
Times-Union news reports.

 JEA signed a letter of intent with the company in 1973 but
canceled its plans in 1975 in the face of opposition and
regulatory red tape. After continuing efforts to revive the
deal, Westinghouse closed OPS in 1984. The Marine Corps now
occupies the Blount Island parcel.

 By 1984, OPS and Mr. Staten had become household names in the
city, where the promise of up to 14,000 jobs and a nearly $200
million investment generated widespread support among municipal
and civic leaders.

 But those leaders, Mr. Staten and OPS eventually were overcome
by a sluggish energy demand, regulatory hurdles and by growing
opposition from environmental and other groups.

 Betty Staten said Monday her husband was comfortable making
deals and had a knack for building coalitions in support of a
cause.

 Mr. Staten was born Sept. 2, 1922, in Millcreek, Utah, and
served in the Marine Corps during World War II. He earned a
degree in civil engineering from the University of Colorado and
a law degree from Georgetown University before becoming an FBI
agent and later going to work for Westinghouse. He came to
Jacksonville in 1972 to help lead OPS.

 After his retirement in 1982, he and his wife made Jacksonville
their home. Mr. Staten taught business law at Jacksonville
University for 12 years.

 "Oh Lord, yeah, there was a big fight over that [the OPS
deal]," Hans Tanzler, Jacksonville's mayor from 1967 to 1978,
said Monday.

 Tanzler said he supported the concept because it would have
provided jobs and energy for the city for decades to come. He
chided opponents for having an irrational fear of nuclear power.

 "When you said 'nuclear' they thought there was going to be
another Hiroshima here in Jacksonville," he said.

 State Attorney Harry Shorstein, then Jacksonville's general
counsel, said there was overwhelming political and media support
for the project, which he fought from 1974 until JEA quit the
deal a year later. Shorstein said he opposed the project, which
would have involved the city issuing revenue bonds, because
taxpayers would be out $2.2 billion if the idea flopped.

 "It was irresponsible for us to expend public funds on an
experimental and novel project," Shorstein said Monday. "If the
project had fallen on its face, the city would have been
bankrupt."

 Both men remembered Mr. Staten as a brilliant champion of the
plan.

 "He was a good spokesman for his cause - confident - and he put
tremendous pressure on me," Shorstein said.

 "He was a darned good advocate for it," Tanzler said. "He had a
good personality, and he knew the subject."

 Besides his wife, Mr. Staten is survived by a son, three
daughters and five grandchildren.

 A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. today in the chapel
at Southside United Methodist Church, 3120 Hendricks Ave.

   The Florida Times-Union. All rights reserved.         
*****************************************************************
 34 Shanghai Daily: Nuclear not the only way, says AGL

The Wenhui-Xinmin United Press Group 

Nuclear not the only way, says AGL Angela Macdonald-Smith 

2006-11-29 

AUSTRALIA doesn't need nuclear power to meet greenhouse gas 
emissions targets while satisfying increasing electricity demand, 
said Paul Anthony, chief executive of AGL Energy Ltd, the 
nation's biggest energy retailer.

Rather, Australia's power generation industry will probably
shift toward natural gas-fired plants to meet energy demand and
cut emissions, particularly as companies take into account a
likely price being placed on carbon emissions, Anthony said
yesterday at a conference in Sydney.

Last week, a draft government report suggested Australia could
use nuclear power in 10 to 15 years, and that 25 reactors could
be built by 2050, producing one-third of the nation's energy
needs. Australia, which produces 85 percent of its power from
coal, holds about 40 percent of the world's known low-cost
uranium reserves.

"Whilst Australia has a huge abundance of uranium resources, I
don't believe it needs to embark on a nuclear build program,"
Anthony said. "Importantly, Australia will continue to have a
secure, competitively priced electricity supply even if
emissions are to be reduced. Gas and renewables will play an
increasingly important part in meeting electricity demand."

AGL, which also produces electricity from coal, natural gas,
wind and water, assumes in its investment decisions a price of
A$11 (US$8.57) per ton of carbon emitted, Anthony said.

Price rise

Electricity prices will probably rise in Australia as natural
gas and coal prices increase, he said.

No non-government-owned companies will build new coal-fired
generators in Australia, because of the risk of regulations
being introduced that place a price on carbon emissions, Anthony
said.

Prime Minister John Howard, who has refused to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, said
earlier this month he will form a task force with the nation's
businesses to investigate a carbon trading system in a bid to
combat global warming.

"I don't believe there's a single private-sector company in
Australia that would consider building a new coal-burn power
station at the moment with the overhang of a potential carbon
regime," Anthony said. "It's only government generators that
don't have to bear the full costs of that because the likes of
me, the taxpayer, bear the brunt of it, that will build new
coal, and quite frankly I think it's sinful."

Shanghai Daily Home | Copyright © 2001-2005 Shanghai Daily
*****************************************************************
 35 AU ABC: Nuclear opponents criticise report
  
7.30 Report - 21/11/2006: 

Australian Broadcasting Corporation 7.30 Report
 
Reporter: Matt Peacock
  
KERRY O’BRIEN: Political editor Michael Brissenden. The nuclear
industry has hailed the Switkowski report as proof that it has a
rosy future in Australia. But nuclear opponents say the report
has provided more proof that the industry is a non-starter in
this country. Matt Peacock reports. 

MATT PEACOCK: It's official, until and unless Australians pay
for this fossil fuel pollution, then nuclear power can never
compete with coal.

LORD OXBURGH, FORMER UK CHIEF DEFENCE SCIENTIST: Perhaps in an
ideal world one wouldn't have nuclear power but given the threat
of global warming, I think it is the lesser of two evils.

BERTRAND BARRE, FORMER DIRECTOR, FRENCH ATOMIC ENERGY
COMMISSION: It's not sustainable that the average Australian
emits three times more CO2 than the average European. We have
the same way of life, we have the same wealth but we don't have
the same impact and that's not sustainable.

MATT PEACOCK: Today's Government report confirms what overseas
nuclear enthusiasts like the former British defence scientist
and chairman of Shell, Lord Oxburgh, have already been saying,
that in a country with vast, cheap coal reserves only a price on
carbon emissions could make the nuclear sums add up.

LORD OXBURGH: Australia really has, if it's going to reduce its
carbon footprint as I believe that almost certainly it will want
to, you've got the choice of burning the coal cleanly or using
nuclear. You've got the uranium and you've got the coal. Now,
the fact is that the technology for burning coal cleanly is
probably 10 years away.

MATT PEACOCK: But nuclear power too is at least 10 years away
and that's just too long for the planet, according to
environmental scientist Mark Diesendorf.

MARK DIESENDORF, ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENTIST, UNIVERSITY OF NEW
SOUTH WALES: Nuclear power is being used in Australia right now
politically as a way of distracting attention away from the fact
that the present government has failed to deal with the
greenhouse problem, it's failed to promote renewable sources of
energy, some of which are available now and are actually cheaper
than nuclear power and could be installed much, much faster.

MATT PEACOCK: US President George Bush was also talking
greenhouse when he met with Prime Minister Howard earlier this
year.

GEORGE W BUSH, US PRESIDENT: Nuclear power helps us protect the
environment. And nuclear power is safe.

MATT PEACOCK: President Bush proposed a global nuclear energy
partnership, or GNEP, under which countries that enriched
uranium would lease the fuel to others and then take back their
waste. It's this scheme in part that prompted Mr Howard to
rekindle the nuclear debate at home.

BERTRAND BARRE, FRENCH ATOMIC ENERGY FOUNDATION: One of the
parts of GNEP was this question of fuel leasing, this question
of containing the "Sensitive" part of the fuel cycle
technologies to a few countries.

MATT PEACOCK: While France has nearly 60 nuclear power stations,
Australia's yet to build even one. According to Bernard Barre of
the French nuclear company Areva, that makes any talk of joining
the enrichment club seem a little premature.

BERNARD BARRE: The right time for Australia to go to enrichment
would be having already nuclear power and then that would make a
lot of sense.

MATT PEACOCK: Although Australian enrichment could be lucrative,
today's report also warns it would be a very difficult market to
break into. According to Melbourne University's Professor Jim
Falk, it's not going to happen.

PROFESSOR JIM FALK, MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY: I think a bit of
reality has struck. There is no prospect for an enrichment
industry for Australia unless we were to subsidise it to the
hilt, and we don't have the technical capacity to do it anyway
and there is a surplus of supply on the market for the
conceivable short- to mid-term future.

MATT PEACOCK: There is, too, another dimension to the nuclear
debate, graphically highlighted by North Korea's recent weapons
test. Does the spread of nuclear power increase the risk of
nuclear war?

LORD OXBURGH: Certainly if you have a degree of nuclear
competence that you've gained through the power industry, it is
less of a step to move into the weapons area than if you don't
have any competence. But, frankly, there is still a world of
difference between the two.

MARK DIESENDORF: We need to be looking much more closely at the
spread of nuclear weapons. This is a very serious problem and
since September 11, we should be focussing on nuclear terrorism
as well. It's really strange that the present Government
expresses so much concern about terrorism and yet it is
proposing to build an ideal source of terrorism in terms of
nuclear facilities in Australia. It is so easy for a small,
armed group to create major nuclear destruction.

MATT PEACOCK: Ironically, today's report has provided as much
comfort for the industry's critics as its supporters.

JIM FALK: Funnily enough, I think the report is more anti
nuclear report than pro-nuclear report when you put it all
together. It says most of the nuclear fuel cycle is
inappropriate for Australia and the picture it paints of a
nuclear reactor future seems economically and technically
unrealistic.
   
*****************************************************************
 36 AU ABC: Finland's bleak nuclear future could be ours
 
PM - Tuesday, 28 November , 2006  18:30:00
 
Reporter: Stephanie Kennedy

 MARK COLVIN: Last week the Prime Minister's taskforce on
nuclear energy proposed building up to 25 nuclear reactors by
the year 2050. 

So where would a country like Australia look for experience in
building such plants?

Finland is currently building the first plant in Europe in more
than a decade. 

But that plant, on the island of Olkiluoto, has already run into
problems. After not much more than a year of construction, it's
already about a year behind schedule and its budget has blown
out.

Stephanie Kennedy filed this report for PM.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: There's nothing new about nuclear power in
Europe.

The UK was the first country to use nuclear energy to generate
power for civilian use. That was 50 years ago. Now there are 173
nuclear reactors producing power.

Some countries, like Germany and Spain, are phasing out nuclear
power, while others, including Britain, are rethinking whether
to continue down the nuclear route.

Finland has already decided. And it's building its fifth nuclear
reactor at a cost of five billion dollars, and it's destined to
be the most advanced in Europe.

Paavo Lipponen is the current speaker of the Finnish Parliament,
and a former Prime Minister.

PAAVO LIPPONEN: Our industry has been growing, consumption
otherwise has been going up, so we needed more power. Otherwise
we would have to import electricity.

And the other major consideration was that we could not meet the
Kyoto targets, that is reduction of CO2 emissions by 20 million
tonnes by 2012 without another nuclear power plant that will
make ten million tonnes of that reduction. It will contribute
that much.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The new plant is being built on the site of
two existing reactors. It's on a remote island in western
Finland. 

It'll use the latest pressurised water technology. More
importantly, it will dispose of radioactive waste in a deep
underground bunker.

Hundreds of metres below the surface, two vast silos will be
built into the bedrock of the solid granite rock of the island. 

When it's finished, the power plant will be Europe's most
advanced nuclear reactor.

But Heidi Hatala is the Chairperson of the Green Parliamentary
Group in the Finnish Parliament, and she points out there's
already been stumbling blocks.

HEIDI HATALA: There's been lots of problems relating to this
project. In fact it's delayed, and there have been severe sort
of conventional construction failures, and the European
Commission is studying at the moment some loans and credit which
have been awarded this project, which may be against their fair
competition rules of the European Union.

So this project is not a tremendously successful project. So we
have a reason to ask that it really has to follow the safety and
health requirements of a construction project, and it has not
been successful at all.

It will be delayed, and the consumers will have to pay the
difference in price.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: So Australia should not look to Finland for
any advice on how to build a nuclear power plant?

HEIDI HATALA: No, I think it was a mistake that the Finnish
Parliament and Government gave the go-ahead for this nuclear
power station. We from the Green Party knew that it could be a
kind of a worldwide signal for more nuclear, and now we see that
Australia and many other countries are actually considering if
they should follow Finland, and we don't think that Finland is a
good example, that's all.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: The Finnish Government acknowledges the
problems with construction. The plant was due to be operating by
2009. That's now been put back a year.

Paavo Lipponen argues the delays are a sign of rigorous safety
checks.

PAAVO LIPPONEN: The problem has not at all been in the reactor
technology or anything connected directly with that. It's been
the construction process that's been the problem.

And I think this is extremely important for the credibility of
our nuclear safety agency has been quite tough, so they
intervened in laying the concrete basis of the reactor building. 

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: What were their concerns?

PAAVO LIPPONEN: Because the mix of the concrete was not up to
the level, up to the standards. So they had to lay it once more,
with an acceptable mix of concrete.

STEPHANIE KENNEDY: Is it also over budget?

PAAVO LIPPONEN: Of course, this means extra costs, but that's
carried by the consortium.

MARK COLVIN: The Speaker of Finland's Parliament and former
Prime Minister Paavo Lipponen, with Stephanie Kennedy.   

*****************************************************************
 37 Business Day: SA poised to embark on nuclear route for power

Posted to the web on: 28 November 2006

Linda Ensor Political Correspondent


 CAPE TOWN  Government was poised to make a decision on a
significant nuclear energy programme as part of the countrys
investment in new electricity generation capacity, Minerals and
Energy Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said yesterday. 

She was addressing a two-day meeting of African energy
decision-makers who belong to the executive committee of
Powering Africa: The Nuclear Option. 

The aim of the conference was to develop an understanding about
how nuclear power could be developed and used on the continent. 

Apart from the Koeberg nuclear plant, SA is also developing the
pebble bed modular reactor technology for its power generation
and Eskom is examining the feasibility of building another
conventional nuclear plant. 

Sonjica said governments had to provide leadership to facilitate
the use of nuclear technology. 

They had to make sure, she said, that clear and unambiguous
policies are developed which will create an enabling environment
for the exploitation of this energy source. SA is busy
developing its own strategy at the moment, Sonjica said. 

The minister said that Africa possessed significant uranium
resources which not only should be beneficiated but also used to
generate energy. 

This is going to require deliberate and calculated planning on
the part of the leaders of the continent. We will require
strategic partnerships from those who have extensive nuclear
programmes. 

A nuclear programme requires extensive infrastructure and huge
investment in skills. 

I believe that for this continent it may be beneficial for
regional approaches to be adopted in building this
infrastructure. 

Sonjica said the National Nuclear Regulator of SA was engaged in
preliminary discussions with its Nigerian counterparts to
establish a regional nuclear and radiation safety regulatory
forum. 

The aim of the forum would be to strengthen regulatory
frameworks and infrastructure and harmonise safety standards in
the region, she said. 

The minister acknowledged public concern over radioactive waste
management, which she said was the Achilles heel of nuclear
energy but said the government was serious about dealing with
it. 

Government is in the process of finalising a draft law to give
effect to the provisions of the radioactive waste management
policy and strategy published last year. 

A radioactive waste management fund is expected to be finalised
by March 2008. 

Also, Sonjica announced that SA had submitted its accession to
the joint convention on the safety of spent fuel management and
the safety of radioactive waste management to the International
Atomic Energy Association. 

While SA was a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, it
also believed that concerns over proliferation should not be
used to prevent other countries from benefiting from nuclear
technology. 

Africa in particular needed nuclear energy, Sonjica said. 

Copyright Â© 2005 BDFM Publishers (Pty) Ltd. All Rights
Reserved
*****************************************************************
 38 NY Times:  Scientists Say Trained Bees Can Sniff Bombs
 
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 18:12:36 -0800

X-Nohoney: yes white-hard - relay H=adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net (borg.energy-net.org) [63.203.231.61]
X-Sender-Host-Address: 63.203.231.61
X-Sender-Host-Name: adsl-63-203-231-61.dsl.snfc21.pacbell.net
X-Spam-Class: HAM-VERY-WHITELIST

<x-flowed>
Mothersalert: http://www.mothersalert.org
http://www.mothersalert.org/moreinfo.html

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-bombs-bees.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
    Scientists Say Trained Bees Can Sniff Bombs

By REUTERS
Published: November 28, 2006
Filed at 6:39 a.m. ET

PHOENIX (Reuters) - Scientists at a U.S. weapons
laboratory say they have trained bees to sniff out
explosives in a project they say could have
far-reaching applications for U.S. homeland
security and the Iraq war.

Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory
in New Mexico said they trained honeybees to stick
out their proboscis -- the tube they use to feed
on nectar -- when they smell explosives in
anything from cars and roadside bombs to belts
similar to those used by suicide bombers.

Researchers in the program, dubbed the Stealthy
Insect Sensor Project, published their findings on
Monday.by a sugar water reward, researchers said
they trained bees to recognize substances ranging
from dynamite and C-4 plastic explosives to the
Howitzer propellant grains used in improvised
explosive devices in Iraq.

``When bees detect the presence of explosives,
they simply stick their proboscis out,'' research
scientist Tim Haarmann told Reuters in a telephone
interview. ``You don't have to be an expert in
animal behavior to understand it as there is no
ambiguity.''

The findings followed 18 months of research at the
U.S. Energy Department's Los Alamos facility, the
nation's leading nuclear weapons laboratory.

``We are very excited at the success of our
research as it could have far-reaching
implications for both defense and homeland
security,'' Haarmann said.

While scientists have trained wasps to respond to
the trace of explosives, Haarmann said research
with bees appeared to show more promise.

Haarmann said the bees could be carried in
hand-held detectors the size of a shoe box, and
could be used to sniff out explosives in airports,
roadside security checks, or even placed in robot
bomb disposal equipment.

He said the next step would be to manufacture the
bee boxes and train security guards in their use.

``It would be great to start saving some lives
with this,'' he said.

</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 39 Poison Dust -the Pentagon's illegal weapons
 
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 15:00:36 -0800

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<http://poisondust.org/>5702a.jpg
A NEW  LOOK AT U.S. RADIOACTIVE WEAPONS

Join us in a campaign to expose and stop the use of these illegal weapons

On November 1, the BBC reported that the U.S. and British governments have 
continued to use radioactive and chemically toxic Depleted Uranium weapons 
in Iraq, disregarding warnings that these weapons pose a cancer risk and 
are linked to numerous other health issues.

According to the article, a report by a senior UN scientist said research 
showing how depleted uranium could cause cancer and other health problems 
was suppressed in a recent World Health Organization report:
But Dr Keith Baverstock, who worked on the project, ...described a process 
known as genotoxicity, which begins when depleted uranium dust is 
inhaled.   "The particles that dissolve pose a risk - part radioactive - 
and part from the chemical toxicity in the lung," he said.  Later, he said, 
the material enters the body and the blood stream, potentially affecting 
bone marrow, the lymphatic system and the kidneys.  The research was not 
included in the WHO report, and Dr Baverstock believes it was blocked.

During the current Iraq War the U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons 
increased from 375 tons used in 1991 to 2200 tons. Geiger counter readings 
at sites in downtown Baghdad record radiation levels 1,000 and 2,000 times 
higher than background radiation. The Pentagon has bombed, occupied, 
tortured and contaminated Iraq. Millions of Iraqis are affected. Over one 
million U.S. soldiers have rotated into Iraq. Today, half of the 697,000 
U.S. Gulf War troops from the 1991 war have reported serious medical 
problems and a significant increase in birth defects among their newborn 
children.

The effects on the Iraqi population are far greater. Many other countries 
and U.S. communities near DU weapons plants, testing facilities, bases and 
arsenals have also been exposed to this radioactive material which has a 
half-life of 4.4 billions years.

<http://poisondust.org/>5707b.jpg

From: The Queens Tribune, 4/21/2005

     Queens veterans of the War in Iraq share military stories, pay tribute 
to their fallen comrades and talk to each other about their experiences and 
one element keeps ringing true to many of the soldiers. Depleted uranium.

     On Tuesday night, in the basement of All Saints Episcopal Church in 
Sunnyside, there was a screening of Poison DUst, a documentary that 
chronicles the United States governments use of depleted Uranium. ...

     The movie makes a convincing case for its argument that depleted 
uranium is being used rampantly in Iraq, among other places, and that 
wherever it is used it causes terrible health problems. The audience was 
clearly disturbed by the film.

     Isnt there some crime being committed?Bill Hagel, who attended, asked 
in the question and answer session that followed. Shouldnt someone be in jail?
You thought they came home safely from the war. They didnt.

Poison DUst tells the story of three young men from New York who could not 
get answers for their mysterious ailments after their National Guard units 
2003 tour of duty in Iraq. A mother reveals her fears about the extent of 
her childs birth defects and the growing disability of her young husband a vet.

Filmmaker Sue Harris skillfully weaves, through interviews, their journey 
from personal trauma, to positivetest results for uranium poisoning, to 
learning the truth about radioactive Depleted Uranium weapons. Their 
frustrations in dealing with the Veterans Administrations silence becomes 
outrage as they realize that thousands of other GI's have the same symptoms.

Veterans, anti-war organizers, environmentalists and health care providers 
will find this wake-up call to todays GIs invaluable.

Today more than 1/3 of all 1991 Gulf war vets are on VA Disability 
Benefits. Meanwhile U.S. use of radioactive DU weapons has increased 
six-fold from 1991 to Gulf War II!

Scientists expose the Pentagon Cover-Up!

<http://poisondust.org/>Poison DUst includes a powerful indictment of past 
U.S. use of radioactive weapons....

The U.S. military now admits that it deliberately radiated its own 
soldiers, known as the Atomic Veterans,during the Cold War. This 
documentary exposes U.S. use of radioactive weapons on peoples in not only 
Iraq, but the Marshall Islands; Vieques, Puerto Rico; Meihyang-Ri, South 
Korea; and Yugoslavia.

Poison DUst mixes interviews with soldiers with experts such as Dr. Helen 
Caldicott, Dr. Michio Kaku, and Dr. Rosalie Bertell explaining how DU 
contamination spreads and how residue from exploded DU shells radiates people.

A growing global resistance is expressed by former Attorney General Ramsey 
Clark, scientists and activists from Vieques, Puerto Rico, by New York 
Daily News reporter Juan Gonzalez, Sara Flounders of the International 
Action Centers DU Education Project and Major Doug Rokke - the former U.S. 
Army DU Project head.

<http://poisondust.org/>Poison DUst is an important educational tool in 
building the movement to stop this horror.

Help us get the word out--this important film is already being shown in 
schools, churches, community centers, and in a Coffee House set up for GIs 
outside of Fort Drum.

Join the campaign to stop the use of these illegal weapons.

How you can help:

Order the video from <http://poisondust.org>http://poisondust.org - arrange 
showings in your community

Donate - You can make a difference! Funds are urgently needed to publicize 
and distribute Poison DUst. Send donations to the Depleted Uranium 
Education Project; 55W. 17 St., Rm. 5C, New York, NY 10011. Or 
<http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml>donate on-line: 
http://iacenter.org/iacdonate.shtml

For more information, additional resources, bibliography, and more, see: 
<http://poisondust.org/>PoisonDUst.org
Call 212-633-6646 for information


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 40 [NYTr] Brits back-peddling on Litvinenko poisoning accusations
 
Date: Tue, 28 Nov 2006 14:42:31 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
sent by Simon McGuinness

The Irish Times - Nov 28, 2006
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/1128/1164403617215.html

"We are not yet at the stage that there is definitely a third party
involved in this."

Police find polonium at Berezovsky office

by Sandra Laville and Tania Branigan in London

BRITAIN: Detectives have found traces of polonium 210 at the London
offices of the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, it was revealed
last night.

Officers were searching 7 Down Street in Mayfair, central London, after
the discovery of the radioactive substance which killed Mr Berezovsky's
friend and former employee, Alexander Litvinenko.

A uniformed officer and at least one plainclothes policeman were
stationed inside the lobby of the property last night.

Outside another 15 officers were on standby in two marked police vans
and the area was cordoned off. Sources confirmed that traces of polonium
210 had been found at the address.

Mr Berezovsky, a multimillionaire who is an outspoken critic of Russian
president Vladimir Putin, refused to comment yesterday on the
revelations.

Detectives were also searching a second new address at a security firm
in Grosvenor Street, in the West End of London, where traces of polonium
210 have also been found.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the home secretary, John Reid,
stressed that police had yet to open a murder inquiry.

He warned against any speculation about the death and said the police
were not yet saying that Mr Litvinenko had been unlawfully killed.

"The police have been very careful in the words they have used; they are
dealing with a suspicious death," he said. "We are not yet at the stage
that there is definitely a third party involved in this."

Mr Litvinenko, a former KGB officer and vocal opponent of Mr Putin, died
on Thursday night.

A large dose of alpha radiation from the isotope polonium 210 was found
in his urine. A statement he composed before his death blamed Mr Putin.
The Kremlin has denied the claim.

Mr Reid drew back from Peter Hain's outspoken criticism of the Kremlin
at the weekend. The Northern Ireland secretary had strained Britain's
relations with Moscow further by accusing Mr Putin of "huge attacks" on
liberty and democracy.

An inquest on Mr Litvinenko's death is expected to open tomorrow.
       
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 41 RIA Novosti: Russia scraps 145 out of 197 decommissioned nuclear submarines
 
28/ 11/ 2006

MOSCOW, November 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia has dismantled 145
out of 197 decommissioned Soviet-era nuclear submarines, the
head of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Power said Tuesday.

 Russia has signed cooperation agreements on the disposal of
decommissioned nuclear submarines with the United States,
Britain, Canada, Japan, Italy and Norway. The disposal program
will cost an overall $2 billion, toward which Russia had
allocated $850 million as of 2005.

 "We have a joint nuclear submarine dismantlement program that
involves a number of countries, including EU members," Sergei
Kiriyenko said. "Out of 195 nuclear submarines decommissioned
from the Russian Navy, we have dismantled 145." 

"The disposal of another 17 is under way, and we are preparing
to scrap 32 more in the future," he said.

 During the dismantling process, spent nuclear fuel is removed
from the submarine's reactors and sent to storage, the hull is
cut into three sections, and the bow and stern are removed and
destroyed. The reactor section is sealed and transferred to
storage.

 "We will scrap all decommissioned nuclear submarines by 2010,"
the nuclear chief said.

© 2005 RIA Novosti   
*****************************************************************
 42 BBC: Sophistication behind spy's poisoning
 
Last Updated: Tuesday, 28 November 2006
 
By Paul Rincon 

Science reporter, BBC News   

[Alexander Litvinenko  Image: AFP/Getty Images] 
                                
Mr Litvinenko was a fierce critic of Russian President Vladimir 
Putin                                                          

The poisoning of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko 
would have required considerable scientific know-how, according 
to experts. 

Mr Litvinenko's death on 23 November was linked to a "major dose" 
of radioactive polonium-210 found in his body. 

Traces of radiation have since been found at five locations 
around London, including a sushi restaurant and hotel visited by 
the deceased. 

But the radioactive substance implicated is as difficult to 
obtain as it can be to detect. 

Polonium-210 occurs naturally in the environment and in people at 
low concentrations. But acquiring enough of it to kill would 
require individuals with expertise and powerful connections. 

Professor Nick Priest, one of the few UK physicists to have 
worked with polonium-210, told BBC News that just one milligram 
(a thousandth of a gram) of the radioactive substance could have 
been responsible for Mr Litvinenko's death. 

Higher doses than that would have killed the former KGB agent 
more quickly. 

To produce the amounts requir you would need to use a nuclear 
reactor Professor Nick Priest, University of Middlesex          

Polonium-210 emits intense radioactivity in the form of alpha 
particles. These are unable to travel very far; penetrating about 
60 micrometres through biological tissue - equivalent to the 
thickness of a few cells. 

But because alpha particles deposit their energy in a rush, they 
can cause terrible damage to those cells if they get inside the 
body through swallowing or inhalation. 

Lethal dose 

"If you had it in a glass or tin vessel, you wouldn't be able to 
detect it outside. Which makes it rather ideal as a poison," said 
Dr Frank Barnaby, a nuclear consultant to the Oxford Research 
Group. 

But once that container is open, polonium-210 particles have a 
tendency to creep out and contaminate the surrounding 
environment. 

Professor Priest, now at Middlesex University, said the polonium 
could, in theory, have been dissolved in a liquid: "It could have 
been any volume from a litre down to a few drops," he said. 
Equally, it could have been bound to another material such as 
chalk. 

	 		

			
                                                        [Millennium
 
Hotel in central London  Image: AP] Radiation has been found at 
several sites around London                         
			   		

                                 There are at least three ways to 
make polonium-210. It can either be extracted from rocks 
containing radioactive uranium, produced in a nuclear research 
reactor, or separated chemically from the substance radium-226. 

The element was discovered in 1897 using the extraction method. 
Marie Curie isolated polonium from the uranium-rich mineral 
pitchblende, later naming it after her native country of Poland. 

But according to Nick Priest, this method could not have produced 
enough of the material to kill Alexander Litvinenko. 

"To produce the amounts required you would need to use a nuclear 
reactor," he told BBC News. 

Nuclear research reactors are used primarily for the production 
of so-called radioisotopes (the radioactive forms of elements in 
the periodic table) and differ from the power reactors used to 
generate electricity. 

Professor Priest has worked for the UK's National Radiological 
Protection Board - now part of the Health Protection Agency - and 
the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) at Harwell. 

EXPOSURE THREAT                  

Contact with carrier's swea or urine could lead to exposure But 
polonium-210 must be ingested to cause damage Radiation has very 
short range and cannot pass through skin Washing eliminates 
traces      

He says the most likely way of producing the required 
polonium-210 is to bombard the element bismuth in a reactor with 
neutron particles in order to change it into a radioactive form 
called bismuth-210. 

This undergoes radioactive decay, yielding polonium-210 and a 
smaller amount of radioactive thallium-206 as "daughter 
products". 

"Early on, there was a suggestion of radioactive thallium present 
[in Mr Litvinenko]. That might be consistent with 
reactor-produced polonium," said Professor Priest. 

"Thallium-206 has a very short half-life, so you would have to 
have some bismuth-210 left in the polonium to produce thallium." 

This might occur if the chemical separation of bismuth from 
polonium carried out in the final stage of the process was 
incomplete. 

Production of polonium from radium-226 is considered difficult 
because the latter substance produces dangerous levels of 
penetrating radiation. 

Research reactors 

Experts estimate the number of reactor facilities around the 
world capable of producing polonium-210 are in the region of 
40-50 - and the available evidence points to a source outside the 
UK. 

RADIATION TYPES                  
[Infographic]           

Alph particles are stopped by a sheet of paper and cannot pass 
through unbroken skin Beta particles are stopped by an aluminium 
sheet Gamma rays are stopped by thick lead      

These include several facilities throughout the former Soviet 
Union, along with other countries such as Australia and Germany. 

"There is only one reactor in the United Kingdom that could 
produce it, and I'm pretty sure they didn't," said Nick Priest. 
He explained that it was unlikely that polonium-210 could be 
produced in a reactor without administrators knowing about it. 

Alternatively, the radioactive substance could have been 
purchased from a commercial supplier. Polonium-210 is used 
commercially in devices used to control static electricity. 

Chris Lloyd, a radiation protection adviser, said the 
polonium-210 in anti-static devices was not in a form that could 
be removed easily. 

Polonium, along with the element beryllium, was once used as a 
neutron trigger in atomic bombs produced by the US, the UK and 
Russia. It was also used as a heat source in the Soviet Lunokhod 
Moon rovers during the 1970s. 

Stolen goods? 

The Litvinenko affair also placed Russia's black market trade in 
radioactive materials under renewed scrutiny. 

Since 1995, the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic 
Energy Agency (IAEA) has maintained a database on the illicit 
trafficking of nuclear and radioactive materials. 

As of last year, the database contained 827 confirmed incidents. 
Of these, 224 incidents involved nuclear materials and 516 
involved radioactive materials. 

The IAEA said it had not received confirmation of polonium 
finding its way into this underground market, but there have been 
a number of unconfirmed reports. 

On Tuesday, Russia's nuclear chief rejected suggestions that the 
polonium-210 linked to Mr Litvinenko's death could have been 
stolen from the country. 

Sergei Kiriyenko said Russia exports 8g of polonium-210 each 
month, all of it to the US. Exports to Britain ended about five 
years ago. 

While he stressed the tough export controls on polonium-210, the 
nuclear chief said the final products in which polonium is used 
worldwide are outside official controls. 

Nuclear forensics 

In theory, it might be possible for investigators in the 
Litvinenko case to trace the origin of the polonium-210. But this 
would probably depend on finding trace amounts of other 
substances. 

"In general, different types of [radioactive] materials pick up 
characteristics during their production," said Ian Hutcheon, an 
expert in nuclear forensics at the Lawrence Livermore National 
Laboratory in Livermore, California. 

"If you have samples of the material, you can gather information 
about where they were or were not produced by analysing trace 
constituents." 

He told BBC News: "There aren't many places around the world that 
make polonium. I was able to find only two or three, so I don't 
think we are looking at 50 different places." 

Klaus Luetzenkirchen, director of nuclear chemistry at the 
Institute for Transuranium Elements in Karlsruhe, Germany, said: 
"If there was only polonium-210 and nothing else then I presume 
it would be extremely difficult - if not impossible - to trace it 
back. 

"All you have is a certain kind of element or isotope, which, in 
principle, could come from anywhere." 

Even if the origin of the polonium could be tracked down, 
commentators point out that there is no guarantee it would lead 
to a suspect, especially if the material was stolen. 

Professor Alistair Hay, from the University of Leeds, told BBC 
News 24 that those responsible had carefully chosen polonium-210 
for its toxicity and difficulty of detection. 

"Where the substance has come from is highly important, of 
course, and that's now the job of Scotland Yard," said Professor 
Alistair Hay from the University of Leeds. 

<i>Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk</i>		 	 		 	 	 



*****************************************************************
 43 Independent: Litvinenko 'smuggled nuclear material' 

By Cahal Milmo, Peter Popham and Jason Bennetto 

Published: 29 November 2006 

Alexander Litvinenko, the poisoned former Russian agent, told
the Italian academic he met on the day he fell ill that he had
organised the smuggling of nuclear material out of Russia for
his security service employers. 

Mario Scaramella, who flew into London yesterday to be
interviewed by Scotland Yard officers investigating Mr
Litvinenko's death, said Mr Litvinenko told him about the
operation for the FSB security service, the successor to the
KGB. 

Police said that Mr Scaramella, who met Mr Litvinenko at a sushi
bar in London on 1 November to discuss a death threat aimed at
both of them, was a potential witness. He was being interviewed
at a "secure location" in London but was not in custody. 

The Health Protection Agency said that eight people had been
referred to a clinic in London for tests for exposure to
polonium-210, the radioactive substance that killed Mr
Litvinenko. It declined to say whether Mr Scaramella was among
them. 

A post-mortem examination will be carried out on Mr Litvinenko
on Friday. 

In an interview with The Independent shortly after the poisoning
became public, Mr Scaramella said that Mr Litvinenko, a friend
and professional contact since 2001, told him he had
masterminded the smuggling of radioactive material to Zurich in
2000. There have long been concerns that turmoil in Russia and
other former Soviet states after the fall of Communism created
an international black market in radioactive substances. 

The operation would have been one of the last carried out by Mr
Litvinenko while still an FSB officer, in a unit tackling
organised crime and smuggling. He fled Russia for London that
year after the FSB began investigating him for corruption -
charges which he claimed were invented as revenge for his
decision to expose an FSB plot to assassinate the Russian
oligarch Boris Berezovsky. 

Friends of Mr Litvinenko, a critic of the Russian President,
Vladimir Putin, said last night that they were unaware of his
involvement with any smuggling for the FSB. Alex Goldfarb, an
ally of Mr Berezovsky, said: "He did not mention anything about
nuclear material while serving with the FSB." 

Mr Litvinenko died on Thursday last week after publicly accused
Mr Putin of ordering his poisoning. 

Mr Scaramella, an academic and examining magistrate based in
Rome and Naples, had been due to meet Mr Litvinenko on 10
November in London, but brought the meeting forward at short
notice on 1 November. The Itsu restaurant in Piccadilly, where
traces of polonium-210 have been found, is thought to be the
first location visited by Mr Litvinenko on 1 November. 

Later he met two Russian business associates at a Mayfair hotel
and visited the nearby offices of Mr Berezovsky and a security
firm, where polonium traces have also been found. Last night
police confirmed that they were searching the five-star Sheraton
Park Lane Hotel in Mayfair as well as an office building in the
West End. 

Mr Scaramella has denied any involvement in his friend's death
and derided suggestions that he was himself a Russian agent.He
claims that he has long been involved in investigating the
smuggling of radioactive material by the KGB and its successors.
He claimed last year that Soviet destroyers had laid 20 nuclear
torpedoes in the Bay of Naples in 1970, where they remain. 

Mr Berezovsky, the exiled Russian billionaire visited almost
daily by Mr Litvinenko, said: "I am deeply saddened at the loss
of my friend. I credit him with saving my life and he remained a
close friend and ally." 

Russian authorities again denied involvement in the case, while
Tony Blair vowed that there would be no "diplomatic or political
barrier" to the inquiry. 

© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited 
*****************************************************************
 44 AFP: Traces of radiation at Berezovsky's office as Britain seeks to quell fears - 

 by Prashant Rao Tue Nov 28, 1:59 AM ET 		 	 

LONDON (AFP) - Police had found radioactive traces at two more 
locations following the death of a Russian ex-spy as British 
authorities sought to quell fears among the public, after a 
handful of people were sent for tests. 

 One of the locations with traces of polonium 210, the substance
linked to the death last week of Kremlin critic Alexander
Litvinenko, was the London office of exiled Russian oligarch
Boris Berezovsky. 

On the political front, Litvinenko's death, which his supporters
claim was a Soviet-era type sting, is also increasingly
threatening to strain relations between London and Moscow. 

Speaking to lawmakers on Monday, Home Secretary John Reid
confirmed that traces of the radioactive substance polonium 210
had been found in two hospitals where Litvinenko spent his dying
days, a sushi bar and a hotel he visited on November 1, and
"certain" other places in London. 

A police spokesman told AFP on Tuesday that traces of polonium
210 had been found at an address on Grosvenor Street in the
up-scale neighbourhood of Mayfair, and another on Down Street in
west London, which Litvinenko's friend Alexander Goldfarb
confirmed was Berezovsky's office. 

The Daily Telegraph reported that the address on Grosvenor
Street was the office of the private security firm Erinys. 

The spokesman said that traces of the substance were also found
at Litvinenko's home. 

According to the BBC, police were also searching another
property on Grosvenor street late on Monday, though the police
spokesman declined to confirm or deny the report. 

"There is no need for public alarm," Reid said in a
hastily-arranged statement to parliament on the rapidly-evolving
situation following the radioactive poisoning of Litvinenko. 

"We are not yet even at the stage where the police have been
telling me that there is definitely a third party involved in
this," he added, repeatedly refusing to point the finger at
Russia. 

But in a sign of how seriously London is taking it, Reid again
called a meeting of COBRA, the top security body which in the
past has met for incidents including last year's July 7
terrorist attacks, to assess the risks. 

The COBRA security body first met last Thursday, the day the
43-year-old ex-spy finally succumbed to a mysterious illness
which struck him down on November 1, shortly after he met two
unidentified Russians in a London hotel. 

In a letter read out by his spokesman the morning after his
death, Litvinenko bluntly accused Russian President Vladimir
Putin" /> of his "barbaric" killing. 

Putin has dismissed the allegations as "political provocations"
from critics, adding: "I hope British authorities will not allow
the fueling of political scandals." 

At the weekend one government minister, Northern Ireland
Secretary Peter Hain, voiced concern about some "extremely murky
murders of the senior Russian journalist," referring to the
death of Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya. 

Britain has already asked Russia, via its ambassador in London,
for any information on the unprecedented killing, which critics
blame on Moscow, pointing out the difficulty of obtaining
polonium 210. 

But Reid was careful not to fuel the diplomatic fire on Monday,
noting the diplomatic request to Moscow and refusing to be drawn
despite repeated questioning by opposition lawmakers. 

"I think it would be unwise for me to ... start pointing
fingers," he said. 

Reid also confirmed that health authorities had so far sent
three people for radiological tests, after some 500 people rang
a helpline over the weekend concerned that they may have been
contaminated. 

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has also sought to allay
concern, pointing out that the kind of alpha radiation involved
can only travel tiny distances, so the risk of contamination is
minimal. 

Also on Monday officials confirmed that an inquest into
Litvinenko's death will be formally opened on Thursday. 

The formal inquiry is likely to adjourn shortly after being
opened, since the full inquest will have to wait until the
police investigation has been completed. 

Doctors have postponed carrying out a post-mortem on Litvinenko
due to safety fears for the medics involved. 	 		 			

Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 45 Salt Lake Tribune: Find out about radioactivity

Public Forum Letter

Article Last Updated:11/27/2006 07:15:25 PM MST

How did EnergySolutions become a curse word? 

    People are up in arms because of the Delta Center name
change. It fueled groups like HEAL Utah and people like The
Tribune's own Holly Mullen. I'd like to hear their solutions to
dealing with radioactive waste disposal. They don't want it in
Utah, but they don't want it lying around, either (unless it's
in someone else's backyard). They'll reap the benefits of
nuclear power, nuclear medicine and the thousands of ways
radioactivity benefits us in our daily lives, but they'll never
offer a viable alternative to dealing with the wastes. 

    Larry Miller said, "Any time you hear the word, 'nuclear,'
ears perk up. But before they do that, I suggest they find out
what they are talking about." 

    So, people, please, before you start twitching and jerking
over the words "radioactive" or "nuclear" or EnergySolutions,
find out what you're talking about. A little education goes a
long way. Don't rely entirely on what the anti-nuke folks have
to say. Find out the facts. 

    If you want to know how chocolate is made, you would go to
Hershey or Nestle, not to an organization that hates the taste
of chocolate. Wouldn't you? 
    
    Kevin J. Carney 
    Tooele 
   
Â© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune. 
*****************************************************************
 46 Xinhua: Russia denies intelligence service's role in ex-agent's death 
 
  www.chinaview.cn 2006-11-29 08:40:00   

Related: Poisoned former Russian spy dies  

  [Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko at London's University 
College Hospital on 20 November 2006.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)]   
  
Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko at London's University 
College Hospital on 20 November 2006.(Xinhua/AFP Photo)
  
    MOSCOW, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Russian Defense Minister Sergei
Ivanov denied claims that Russia's intelligence service was
involved in the death of former Russian agent Alexander
Litvinenko. 

    "I rule out this possibility and see no sense in it. I was
not personally acquainted with Litvinenko, but I know that he
worked in a division of the Federal Security Service (FSB) which
dealt with organized crime," Ivanov said in an interview with
Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, the transcript of which was
posted on his ministry's website on Tuesday. 

    Litvinenko died of radioactive poisoning on Thursday in
London. British police are studying footage from security
cameras after finding radioactive traces at three London
locations visited by Litvinenko. 

    Litvinenko was an open critic of the FSB and was arrested
several times. He fled to Britain with his wife and son in
November 2000 and was granted asylum. He became a British
citizen last month. 

    He accused the Kremlin of orchestrating his poisoning just
before his death, an accusation Moscow vehemently denies. 

    An official of the Russian Prosecutor General's Office was
quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying on Tuesday that the
office "is ready to assist Scotland Yard in its investigation of
the circumstances surrounding the death" of Litvinenko. 

    Russia had not received any requests from Britain, the
official added. 

    BEIJING, Nov. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Traces of radiation have
been found at several more sites in London during investigations
into the death of a former Russian spy, British Home Secretary
John Reid said on Monday. 

    Besides Alexander Litvinenko's home and a hotel and
restaurant he visited on Nov. 1, the day he fell ill with
radiation poisoning, "several other premises" also have the
indications of radiation. But Reid didn't give the names of the
places and said there was no need for public alarm. 

  Editor: Mu Xuequan   
*****************************************************************
 47 Guardian Unlimited: Spy death: Eight facing tests 

From Press Association   

[UP] 

Press Association 

Tuesday November 28, 2006 6:08 PM

The scale of the radiation scare sparked by the poisoning of
former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko has become clear, as
eight people were tested for possible contamination. 

The Health Protection Agency revealed that more than 1,100
people had called a national helpline concerned that they could
have been exposed to the deadly radioactive element that killed
Mr Litvinenko. 

That came as the exiled Russian billionaire Boris Berezovsky
made his first public statement on the death of his close
friend. 

Mr Berezovsky credited Mr Litvinenko with saving his life and
said he had complete faith in the British authorities to conduct
a "thorough and professional" investigation into his death. 

He also confirmed that traces of radiation had been found at his
offices in London's West End by police retracing Mr Litvineko's
movements on the day he was allegedly poisoned. 

"I am deeply saddened at the loss of my friend Alexander
Litvinenko," Mr Berezovsky said. "I credit him with saving my
life and he remained a close friend and ally ever since. I will
remember him for his bravery, his determination and his honour. 

"All of my thoughts are with his bereaved wife Marina, his son
and the rest of his family. 

"Many of Mr Litvinenko's friends and I have already publicly
expressed our views about what we think might have happened.
Therefore I believe the most helpful course we can take is to
let the police get on with their work. 

"I have complete faith in the British authorities and the
police. They are conducting a thorough and professional
investigation and we should now wait for the results." 

Mr Litvinenko's friends claim he was poisoned by the Russian
security services for his outspoken criticism of the country's
President, Vladimir Putin. 

© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2006, All Rights Reserved. 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 48 Japan Times: Kyoto U. lab fire spurs brief radiation scare 

Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2006

 Kyoto U. lab fire spurs brief radiation scare Compiled from AP,
Kyodo 

Firefighters ordered the evacuation of a Kyoto University 
building where radioactive materials are stored after smoke was 
spotted coming from the basement, a fire official said Tuesday. 

  [News photo]   


Radioisotopes are stored in the building, but no radiation
appears to have been released, according to Kyoto Fire
Department official Makiko Hayashi. 

Firefighters responding to an emergency call found smoke coming
from an air duct connected to a basement laboratory, Hayashi
said. A fire in the duct was quickly put out with water. 

The Japan Times (C) All rights reserved 



*****************************************************************
 49 Guardian Unlimited: Spy Death Figure Tested for Radiation 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Tuesday November 28, 2006 9:31 PM

AP Photo LMD109 

By JILL LAWLESS 

Associated Press Writer 

LONDON (AP) - An Italian security expert who met with a former
KGB agent the day he fell ill with radiation poisoning was under
British protection and being tested for contamination Tuesday,
and officials ordered tests for eight people who exhibited
possible symptoms. 

Mario Scaramella has said that he met the ex-spy turned Kremlin
critic, Alexander Litvinenko, at a London sushi restaurant on
Nov. 1, the day Litvinenko became sick. He died Nov. 23. 

Scaramella said he showed Litvinenko e-mails from a confidential
source identifying the possible killers of a Russian
investigative journalist and listing other potential targets for
assassination - including himself and Litvinenko. 

In a deathbed statement, Litvinenko blamed the Kremlin for his
poisoning, which has cast a shadow over British-Russian
relations. Prime Minister Tony Blair said ``there is no
diplomatic or political barrier in the way'' of a thorough
investigation. 

Blair said he would speak to Russian President Vladimir Putin
about the case ``at any time that is appropriate.'' Putin has
strongly denied any Kremlin links to the poisoning. 

Moscow is important to Britain as an energy supplier and member
of the Group of 8 industrialized nations, but many are critical
of human rights abuses and unexplained deaths, including last
month's slaying of investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. 

Scaramella said Tuesday he was being protected by a security
team and would be tested for traces of polonium-210, the rare
radioactive element found in Litvinenko's body. The isotope is
deadly in tiny amounts if ingested or inhaled. 

The Italian, an academic who helped investigate KGB activity in
Italy during the Cold War, declined to say whether he would be
questioned by police. 

London police say they are investigating the Litvinenko case as
a ``suspicious death'' rather than murder, although they have
devoted a large anti-terrorist force to the inquiry. 

Since Litvinenko's death, more than 1,100 people have called a
health hotline over concerns they may be at risk from polonium
poisoning. Of those, eight exhibited symptoms that health
officials thought should be examined as a precaution, the Health
Protection Agency said. The tests should take about a week. 

Russia's top nuclear official on Tuesday denied the polonium,
usually manufactured in specialized nuclear facilities, could
have been stolen from a nuclear facility in Russia. 

``Allegations that someone stole it during production are
absolutely unfounded,'' said Sergei Kiriyenko, director of the
nuclear agency Rosatom. ``The controls are very tough.'' 

Kiriyenko said Russia exports 8 grams of polonium-210 monthly,
all of it to the United States. He said there had been no
exports to Britain in five years. 

A coroner will perform an autopsy on Litvinenko's body Friday,
``subject to appropriate precautions,'' to try and pin down the
cause and circumstances of death, said the local authority
responsible, Camden Council. Doctors had sought expert advice on
whether Litvinenko's radioactive body posed a threat to the
doctors and technicians performing the post-mortem. 

A coroner's inquest will be opened Thursday and then adjourned
until the police investigation is complete, the council said. 

Detectives on Tuesday continued to retrace Litvinenko's steps
Nov. 1. 

Traces of radiation have been found at six sites, including the
central London office of Boris Berezovsky, the self-exiled
Russian billionaire and Litvinenko's mentor. 

In a statement, Berezovsky said he had ``complete faith in the
British authorities and the police.'' 

Litvinenko's friend Andrei Nekrasov told The AP that Litvinenko
frequently visited Berezovsky's office to use the telephone,
computer or photocopier. 

``Berezovsky's office was open to him informally,'' Nekrasov
said. ``His routine typically consisted of moving around,
hopping on a bus, meeting people. He was trying to be active and
needed.'' 

Polonium-210 also was found in a building in the posh Mayfair
neighborhood that houses Erinys UK Ltd., an international
security and risk management company that Litvinenko visited the
day he fell ill. 

Police also have found traces of radiation at a bar in London's
Millennium Hotel, a branch of Itsu Sushi restaurant near
Piccadilly Circus, Litvinenko's house in North London and a
section of the hospital where he was treated. 

Police said Tuesday they were searching two more Mayfair
addresses - a building at 58 Grosvenor St. and Sheraton Park
Lane Hotel. A spokeswoman for Britian's Health Protection Agency
confirmed that experts had already conducted tests in ``key
public areas'' of the hotel and found no risk of radiation
poisoning. 

--- 

Associated Press writers Ariel David in Rome, Vladimir
Isachenkov in Moscow, Maria Hegstad in London and Jennifer Quinn
in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 50 UPI: More radiation turning up in London
     
 United Press International - NewsTrack - 

11/28/2006 8:38:00 AM -0500

LONDON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- British investigators have found traces
of radiation at two more London locations, one of them at the
offices of exiled Russian oil tycoon Boris Berezovsky. 

The second site where polonium 210, a rare radioactive element,
was found was at the offices of the private Erinys security
firm, which guards oil installations, The Telegraph reported
Tuesday. 

Polonium 210 is believed to be responsible for the death last
Thursday of former KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko. Before he died,
Litvinenko claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered
his death because of what he knew about the Russian government's
takeover of the $42 billion Yukos oil company. 

Meanwhile, police in London would not reveal what led them to
test the two sites Monday where more radiation was found. 

"We are still trying to piece together Litvinenko's movements,
who he met and where," a source told the Telegraph.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 51 Guardian Unlimited: Polonium detected at Berezovsky's office 

Sandra Laville and Tania Branigan

Tuesday November 28, 2006

The Guardian             

Detectives have found traces of polonium 210 at the London 
offices of the exiled Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky, it was 
revealed last night. Officers were searching 7 Down Street, 
Mayfair, after the discovery of the radioactive substance that 
killed Mr Berezovsky's friend and former employee, Alexander 
Litvinenko.

A uniformed officer and at least one plain clothes policeman were 
stationed inside the lobby of the property last night. Outside 
another 15 officers were on standby in two marked police vans and 
the area was cordoned off.

Sources confirmed that traces of polonium 210 had been found at 
the address. Mr Berezovsky, an outspoken critic of President 
Vladimir Putin, refused to comment yesterday on the revelations. 
"I don't want to comment anything about it," he told the 
Guardian. "I don't know anything about police at my office."

Mr Berezovsky, a former maths professor, made his millions in
the 1990s when he bought stakes in the Russian car, oil and
media industries, many of which he sold off for enormous
profits. He lives with his fourth wife in a Surrey mansion but
has an office at the Mayfair address.

Detectives were also searching the offices of a security and
risk management company in Grosvenor Street, in the West End of
London, where traces of polonium 210 have been found. A
spokesman for the company, Erinys, said it had alerted police
because Mr Litvinenko had visited its offices on a "totally
unrelated" matter some time before he was admitted to hospital.
He added: "None of our staff with whom he had contact have
suffered any ill effects."

The development came as the Health Protection Agency (HPA) said
three people had been referred for further radiation tests at a
special clinic after contacting NHS Direct in the past few days.
They were among 18 people referred to the HPA for possible
further examination since the radiation alert was issued on
Friday.

In the past four days around 500 people have contacted NHS
Direct saying they were concerned they may have been
contaminated after visiting the Piccadilly restaurant Itsu or
the Millennium Hotel in Grosvenor Square on November 1, the day
Mr Litvinenko first became ill.

Dr Pat Troop, the chief executive of the HPA, said people
referred to the specialist clinic would undergo urine tests for
radioactivity over the next couple of days. The decision to
refer them for tests was taken on "a very precautionary basis",
she stressed. Further tests might be carried out if police
identified other locations of concern.

Dr Troop said the HPA had not precisely identified when and
where Mr Litvinenko ingested the poison. Working out the time of
poisoning on the basis of radioactivity found in his body was
"not a precise calculation", she said.

In a statement to the House of Commons, the home secretary, John
Reid, stressed that police had yet to open a murder inquiry. He
warned against any speculation about the death and said the
police were not yet saying that Mr Litvinenko had been
unlawfully killed. "The police have been very careful in the
words they have used; they are dealing with a suspicious death,"
he said. "We are not yet at the stage that there is definitely a
third party involved."

Mr Reid's statement came in response to an urgent question from
the shadow home secretary, David Davis, who said in the House of
Commons that there were grounds to suspect that this was a "a
particularly cruel, protracted and unpleasant assassination".

Mr Davis said the apparent use of polonium 210 raised "a number
of issues" over how such material had been obtained, how it was
transported and delivered undetected, and who had the knowledge
to use it.

Mr Reid said there were 130 premises in England and Wales with a
known use of polonium 210, each regulated and controlled by the
Environment Agency. "There has been no recent report of the loss
or theft of polonium 210 in England and Wales," he said.

Mr Reid drew back from Peter Hain's outspoken criticism of the
Kremlin at the weekend. The Northern Ireland secretary had
strained Britain's relations with Moscow further by accusing
President Putin of "huge attacks" on liberty and democracy.

Tony Blair and President Putin are due to meet this week at the
Nato summit in Riga, Latvia. A spokesman for Mr Blair said
yesterday: "The prime minister and other ministers have
repeatedly underlined our concerns about some aspects of human
rights in Russia. In terms of this particular case, however, we
do have to proceed carefully."

Mr Litvinenko, an ex-KGB officer and vocal opponent of Mr Putin,
died last Thursday night. A large dose of alpha radiation from
the isotope polonium 210 was found in his urine. A statement he
composed before he died blamed Mr Putin, a claim denied by the
Kremlin.

The inquest into the death is expected to open on Thursday at St
Pancras coroner's court, north London. It will be adjourned
until a later date. Dr Andrew Reid, London's inner north
district coroner, has to decide if and when to conduct a
postmortem examination.
 
Useful links
Itar-Tass news agency
Moscow Times
Russia Today
St Petersburg Times
Caucasian Knot

[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2006
*****************************************************************
 52 reviewjournal.com: YUCCA MOUNTAIN RAIL LINE: DOE seeks more land to examine
 
  Nov. 28, 2006

Agency asks BLM for additional withdrawal        

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Energy is seeking to broaden its 
access to public land in rural Nevada for studies of nuclear 
waste railroad corridors to Yucca Mountain, asking permission to 
reserve use of another 208,000 acres along possible shipping 
routes. 

DOE officials have filed an application with the Bureau of Land 
Management to withdraw 139,391 acres of land in a mile-wide 
corridor running 130 miles from Hawthorne to Goldfield, a BLM 
spokesman confirmed Monday. 

The land withdrawal would enable the department to move forward
with environmental studies of the so-called Mina route to the
Yucca site, which is 100 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

The Mina corridor has gained favor among some government
officials as possibly a less expensive and less complicated
route to the proposed nuclear waste repository than a $2 billion
rail line that would run from Caliente in eastern Nevada. 

But critics say the Mina corridor could expose more communities,
including downtown Reno, to nuclear waste shipments. Rail cars
carrying shielded canisters of spent nuclear fuel would travel
across Northern Nevada along the Interstate 80 corridor and then
south through the Walker River Indian Reservation and through
old mining districts in the western part of the state. 

The Walker River Paiute tribe has consented to allow DOE to
study the route through its reservation but is reserving
judgment on whether to allow the segment to be developed. 

As it continues to study the Caliente corridor, DOE also has
asked permission to withdraw an additional 68,646 acres of
public land along portions of that route, BLM spokesman Doran
Sanchez said. 

Sanchez said Interior Department officials in Washington were
reviewing the DOE application for the two land transactions,
which was filed on Oct. 17 and seeks reserved use status of the
land until Dec. 27, 2015. A public hearing on the application
will be held but has not yet been scheduled, Sanchez said. 

Specific information on what areas along the Caliente corridor
would be affected by the new land withdrawal was not available
Monday. 

DOE officials previously have said they were seeking new
analyses of alignments in several areas, including Caliente and
Eccles, through Garden Valley, near the Reveille Range, near
Goldfield and the ghost town of Bonnie Claire, and in Oasis
Valley. 

Generally the withdrawals would prevent any new mining claims to
be filed, and forbid the government from selling or trading any
of the land, Sanchez said. Grazing and other public access would
not be restricted, he said. 

But one Yucca Mountain critic said the latest application
coupled with earlier land withdrawals means DOE is reserving use
of more than 500,000 acres of government-managed property in the
state for railroad studies. 

"You have guys tying up as much as half a million acres of
public land in Nevada for them to make their minds up what they
want to do," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects. 

Richard Bryant, chairman of the Mineral County Commission, said
county leaders were unaware of the pending land withdrawal. 

"DOE really hasn't sat down and talked with us as a board,"
Bryant said. 

Bryant said Mineral County residents have "mixed feelings" about
the possibility of Yucca Mountain rail -- they like the
potential economic boost of a rail line but don't like that it
would be carrying radioactive spent fuel. 

"If DOE wants to spend their money on a rail corridor, I would
welcome that but I would still fight to keep nuclear waste out,"
he said. 

The Energy Department was holding a public meeting in Reno on
Monday night to discuss the Mina railroad corridor. Officials
were not available to discuss the land withdrawal application. 

Peggy Maze Johnson, director of the Citizen Alert nuclear
watchdog group, said she was "disappointed but not surprised"
the public had not been informed of DOE's land withdrawal
application. 

"I am sure that people here today making comments would have
appreciated the opportunity to know what you had up your
sleeve," Johnson said in written comments submitted to DOE at
the meeting. 	   

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
*****************************************************************
 53 Las Vegas SUN: DOE seeks land for Yucca Mountain railroad studies 

Today: November 28, 2006 at 7:45:18 PST 

ASSOCIATED PRESS 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Department of Energy wants access to
208,000 acres of public land for studies of two possible rail
routes to the proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. 

DOE officials have filed an application with the Bureau of Land
Management to withdraw 139,391 acres of land in a mile-wide
corridor running 130 miles from Hawthorne to Goldfield, the
so-called Mina route. 

It also has asked permission to withdraw an additional 68,646
acres of public land along portions of the Caliente route, BLM
spokesman Doran Sanchez said Monday. 

The land withdrawals would allow the department to move forward
with environmental studies of the rail routes to the proposed
nuclear repository 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

The Mina corridor has gained favor among some government
officials as possibly a less expensive and less complicated than
a $2 billion rail line that would run from Caliente in eastern
Nevada. 

But critics say the Mina corridor could expose more communities,
including downtown Reno, to nuclear waste shipments. 

Sanchez said Interior Department officials in Washington were
reviewing the DOE application for the two land transactions,
which was filed on Oct. 17 and seeks reserved use status of the
land until Dec. 27, 2015. 

The withdrawals would prevent any new mining claims to be filed,
and forbid the government from selling or trading any of the
land, Sanchez said. Grazing and other public access would not be
restricted, he said. 

But one Yucca Mountain critic said the latest application
coupled with earlier land withdrawals means DOE is reserving use
of more than 500,000 acres of government-managed property in the
state for railroad studies. 

"You have guys tying up as much as half a million acres of
public land in Nevada for them to make their minds up what they
want to do," said Bob Loux, executive director of the Nevada
Agency for Nuclear Projects. 

A public hearing on the application will be held but has not yet
been scheduled, Sanchez said. 

Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com 

         All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 54 Las Vegas SUN: Industry exec: Yucca backers must work with Reid, weigh options 

Today: November 28, 2006 at 10:20:11 PST 

By ERICA WERNER ASSOCIATED PRESS 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Industry supporters of the Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste dump must work with incoming Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., but also consider alternate waste
storage plans, an energy executive said Tuesday. 

Despite Reid's strong opposition to a nuclear waste dump in his
state, "Harry Reid and the Democrats have to be part of the
solution," said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric
Institute, a utility trade group. 

"If they are going to support nuclear power, we've got to figure
out ways that we continue to move forward on the nuclear waste
issue," Kuhn said at a press conference on the energy industry's
agenda in a Democrat-controlled Congress. 

Some congressional Republicans have offered plans to create
temporary waste storage sites around the country because of
increasing delays at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas, which is not projected to open until 2017 at earliest. 

Some 50,000 tons of nuclear waste is already waiting at power
plant sites around the country. Reid and others in the Nevada
delegation want to leave it there, stowed in long-term storage
containers. 

"We're open, I think, to looking at various alternatives that
might be able to move forward on a step-by-step basis," Kuhn
said of that idea, which may get more attention with Reid vowing
to cut funding for Yucca and keep pro-Yucca legislation off the
Senate floor. 

"I think that there is going to have to be talks with the
Republican and the Democratic side about some new ideas that are
coming up here, too, to perhaps look at other interim sites for
the nuclear waste," Kuhn said. "But I think it is extremely
important for us to continue moving forward with Yucca
Mountain." 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 55 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear waste dump a step closer - 

www.smh.com.au
 
November 28, 2006 - 3:04PM

Australia's nuclear research body will have a greater say in the
storage of radioactive material. 

Federal parliament passed legislation on Tuesday enabling the
Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO)
greater power in managing nuclear waste. 

This would also include control of radioactive material or waste
if an Australian nuclear facility becomes the target of a
terrorist or criminal attack. 

The move comes despite attempts by the Australian Democrats to
limit the storage to material generated by Australia's Lucas
Heights Research facility in Sydney and also health and medical
facilities. 

The Democrats amendment was designed to stop the storage of
radioactive waste from overseas. 

However government minister Amanda Vanstone told the Senate that
the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
Amendment Bill 2006 did not allow for the importation of all
manner of radioactive waste. 

"(The Bill) will not authorise ANSTO to import any radioactive
waste. It will authorise ANSTO to manage once returned to
Australia the waste arriving from overseas, re-processing of
ANSTO's spent fuel," she said. 

The Democrats proposed changes would also have had an impact on
the government's planned radioactive waste dump scheduled for
2011 in the Northern Territory. 

Democrat leader Lyn Allison said there were concerns that the
legislative changes would make it easier to import nuclear
waste. 

"It's really to make sure that there is no hidden agenda here,
no intention that high level waste from anywhere else...ends up
in the Northern Territory," Senator Allison said. 

Despite backing from Labor and the Greens, the Democrats were
unable to force a change to the government's legislation which
was passed. 	
© 2006 	AAP

Brought to you by [aap]          

| Copyright © 2006. The Sydney Morning Herald. 
*****************************************************************
 56 Deseret News: Hello, Glow Center; goodbye, Mark
 
[deseretnews.com] 

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

By Marjorie Cortez

Deseret Morning News

The first day back from

Thanksgiving break and there's a laundry list of items to
address.

       • First, thanks to so many of you who chimed in on the
new nickname for the EnergySolutions Arena. Such clever readers.
       
Barbara M., who was once recognized by this newspaper as
a Letter Writer of the Month, suggested Waste Basket. It gets to
the heart of EnergySolutions' business, the disposal of
low-level radioactive waste (as well as nuclear waste
reprocessing). And who among us hasn't practiced hoops using the
waste basket?

       Other suggestions took on a radioactive flair, such as
Eric R.'s submissions, The Curie Center or the Rad Arena.
Meanwhile, Steve F. recommended The Jazzardous Materials Center
or JazzMat, for short. In an apparent homage for the former Jazz
TV announcer, he also submitted the Hot nuclear Rod Hundley
Center.

       See what I mean, it's great stuff. And there's more.

       A couple of readers suggested Plutonium Center, with
David R. suggesting that it be shortened to Pluto Center.

       An e-mail from Tena suggested the name Centrifuge. "And
now instead of singing 'We will, we will, rock you,' we can sing
'We will, we will, nuke you."'

       In the same vein, Shonnie S. submitted The Glow Center.

       Others took this homework assignment very seriously. Todd
H., for instance, submitted four ideas. As he explained, "There
should be at least one that appeals to everyone out there."

       His suggestions:

       — The 76ers have "The Answer," the Jazz now have "The
Solution." 

      — With the great start the Jazz are off to this year, how
about the Hot House or the Hot Box.

       — ESA has been thrown out already, and that's not much
better than the full-out name. (It does make me think of EA
Sports video games, though.)

       — How about a friendly common name like the former BOB
(Bank One Ballpark in Arizona)? How about ESAU? Named after a
guy who sold his birthright for a mess of pottage. That sounds
about right.

       Melissa K., who works in the computer industry, says she
always jumps to acronyms. "ESA doesn't sound too bad," she wrote.

       Other submissions included Steve W.'s Miller's Mouthful
and from Earl G., The Glow Palace and Radiation Retreat. Josh
T.'s suggestions, The Fallout Palace, The Gimme Shelter and The
Nuke House, took a decidedly nuclear theme.

       The most stinging submissions were The Dump (multiple
submissions) and Dr. John K.'s, Sell-Out Arena. "Isn't that just
what Jazz business people are looking for — sell-outs? Too bad
their greed just blighted the outstanding play of their very
promising team."

       Thanks for all of your submissions. Let's see if any of
these nicknames stick, shall we?

       • Second, I'd like to give a shout out to Mark Eubank,
who will retire from KSL this week after 42 years of forecasting
the weather. I've never met the man, but he's been a part of my
life since I was a very little girl living outside Redding,
Calif., in the mid-1960s. It was there that Eubank got his start
in television. Eubank returned to his native Utah where the rest
is history.

       After a couple of years of living in California, my
family returned to Colorado, where I lived until the late 1980s,
when my then-fiance and I relocated to Utah. My jaw almost hit
the floor the first time I heard Eubank do a weather report in
Utah. "I know that guy," I shrieked at the television.

       Life takes some strange turns, doesn't it? It's strange
that I should witness the beginning of Eubank's career as well
as its end. I shall miss his quirky sound effects, animal
"weather" reports and, yes, even the white sports coat.
Godspeed, Mark.

       • Last, all kids in organized sports (all of us, for that
matter) could take a page from the conduct of University of Utah
football sensation Eric Weddle during the recent BYU-Utah
rivalry game. Weddle, as my colleague Doug Robinson contends, is
Heisman trophy-worthy. More important, he's a gentleman. After
losing the biggest game of the year in his senior year and in
the final second no less, Weddle had the wherewithal to offer a
sincere congratulations to winning quarterback John Beck. And it
wasn't one of those oft-heard "Yeah, he played a heck of a game"
lines, it was something to the effect that he was genuinely
happy for the guy. That's impressive sportsmanship.

Marjorie Cortez, who acknowledges the danger of allowing readers
to write her column, lest her esteemed editors think her
dispensable, is a Deseret Morning News editorial writer. E-mail:

© 2006 Deseret News Publishing Company

*****************************************************************
 57 Royal Society of Chemistry: Cold war clean-up
 
[RSC - Advancing the Chemical Sciences] 

28 November 2006
 
Fiona Case/San Francisco, California, US 

US developers say they are close to a breakthrough in efforts to
clean up post-cold-war missiles. The new approach, which is
renewable and would cut costs by more than half, would be a
significant improvement on what is currently available, they
claim. 

It is a long time since the peak of the cold war. In the 1960's
1000’s of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) such as
the Minuteman in the US were poised ready to fire. By 1989, it
was clear that this particular war between the world's
superpowers was coming to a close. Negotiation were started to
reduce the number of missiles. On 31 July, 1991, the Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty (Start) was signed and efforts were
initiated to deactivate the ICBM’s. Currently, ICBMs are
deactivated using a jet of water ‘to grind out the explosive
materials,’ explained Edward Coppola, principle engineer with
Applied Research Associates, speaking at the American Institute
of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) annual meeting in San Francisco,
California. 

[Cold war missiles] 


  Due for a clean up  

The water deactivates the ammonium perchlorate oxidizer used in
the solid propellant. This approach has been used for many years
– and not only for the continuing arms reduction efforts around
the world. Even missiles that are not going to be deactivated
cannot simply be left in place. ‘The energetic materials have a
shelf life of about 15–20 years, but the casings and electronics
will last much longer,’ explained Coppola. The army simply
washes out and reuses the rockets. 

But, even though it is no longer going to trigger an explosion
the perchlorate is far from safe. It blocks uptake of iodine by
the thyroid gland and can hinder the development of foetuses and
young children. This environmentally persistent and highly water
soluble compound now contaminates the drinking water of tens of
millions of people in California (where several missile testing
and manufacturing sites are located) and other parts of the US.
The California legislature has acted, requiring remediation at
heavily contaminated sites and improved drinking water
treatment. 

‘There are now about 33 facilities treating for perchlorate at
low levels in California,’ explained Coppola. These facilities
clean drinking water using single-use ion exchange resins. Once
the resin is exhausted it is thrown away. ‘This would be
expensive for remediation, where a significantly larger amount
of resin would be needed,’ said Coppola. The Applied Research
Associates website quotes costs from $200 (£103) to more than
$500 per acre-foot (1233 cubic meters). Coppola was at the AIChE
meeting to report the success of an alternative approach using a
weak-base resin. Once the new resin is exhausted it can be
regenerated using sodium hydroxide and reused. ‘We have a patent
pending on this new approach, and we have recently completed a
successful field demonstration at the Redstone Arsenal in
Alabama,’ said Coppola. The company expects the resin to reduce
the cost of remediation of highly contaminated areas to less
than $100 per acre-foot. 
Also of interest

Destroying the poisons of war 


It is almost a decade since the Chemical Weapons Convention came
into force but many signatories are failing to meet targets.
Simon Hadlington investigates. 
The nuclear solution 


Tony Ryan argues that nuclear power should be put back on the
agenda 
Related Links
 

[Link icon] <strong>Applied Research Associates</strong>
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 58 GAZETA.KZ: Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment JV to start functioning in December
 
28.11.2006                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 Kazakhstan today                                                                                                                       

ASTANA. A Russian-Kazakh uranium enrichment JV will start 
functioning in December in Angarsk. Danial Akhmetov, Prime 
Minister of Kazakhstan, has stated this today, November 28, at a 
government meeting, Kazakhstan Today correspondent reports.

"The uranium enrichment JV will be established in December. It 
will be created in Angarsk. It is a huge step forwards, from 
which we will start to implement our own programme of nuclear 
industry development," - he has said.

"As per a presidential order we implement our new nuclear 
ideology, and good results have been achieved. On December 7 we 
will extract our first tonne of uranium ore at JV "Zarechnoye" 
together with "Rusatom", - the PM has stressed.


Copyright © Internet Department of PH "Alma-Media", 2000-2006

*****************************************************************
 59 LA Daily News: Santa Clarita to be tested for chemicals

Defense contractor allows search for contaminants

BY JUDY O'ROURKE, Staff Writer

Article Last Updated:11/27/2006 08:43:53 PM PST

SANTA CLARITA - A defense contractor that conducted secret
testing projects in what is now the center of Santa Clarita has
agreed to allow a state environmental agency to test the
property for contaminants. 

National Technical Systems signed a voluntary cleanup agreement
Nov. 16 with the state Department of Toxic Substances Control, a
company official said Monday. 

The specifics of how many samples would be taken and from where
are being worked out. 

"It would be a systematic approach, looking at historical
activities on the site and sampling for potential contaminants
of concern," said Jose Diaz, a project manager for the DTSC who
is also overseeing the cleanup of the nearby contaminated
Whittaker Bermite property. "At this point there is no reason to
think they need to go to the groundwater. 

Soil would be tested first, and should contamination be found,
the extent would determine whether groundwater needs to be
investigated. 

He said the agency would likely test for perchlorate, solvents,
metals and perchlorate, a by-product of rocket fuel that in
large doses has been linked to thyroid problems. 

Preliminary tests done by the DTSC in 2003 found perchlorate in 
the soil at NTS but water agencies have said the chemicals have 
not contaminated public water sources. The NTS property - where 
products and components were tested for aerospace, 
telecommunications and military uses - has since been converted 
to commercial uses. 

NTS property abutted the contaminated Bermite property until
last year, when Golden Valley Road was built between the two.
The DTSC has begun its cleanup of Bermite, where contaminants in
the soil and groundwater remain from five decades of weapons
manufacture and testing on the 996-acre site. 

Lloyd Blonder, senior vice president and chief financial officer
for NTS, said if there is perchlorate on the NTS property it
must have migrated from Bermite. 

"The only one in the area that ever used perchlorate is
Whittaker, in the manufacture of fireworks and ammunition for
the military," Blonder said. "We never manufactured anything. In
areas on the NTS side of the road the only way it could get
there is if it leached from the Whittaker site." 

In May, NTS announced it was selling about 120 acres of its
150-acre parcel for $40 million, but the acreage lies in a
buffer zone where no testing was done. Blonder would not
disclose information about the sale, but said no potential
buyers have asked "at this point" for clearances on the
property. 

Testing could begin in early 2007 and could take a couple of
weeks, Diaz said. 

judy.orourke@dailynews.com

(661) 257-5255 

Los Angeles Newspaper Group 
*****************************************************************
 60 RGJ.com: Dozens get to question officials on Yucca plans

November 28, 2006

MAGGIE O'NEILL

RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL -->

PROVIDED TO THE RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL

Haze hangs over Amargosa Valley, which some called uninhabited.
In the left foreground is part of Yucca Mountain, from the top
of which this photo was taken. The dark mount to the right is a
70,000-year-old volcano. photo by marilyn newton 

Kim Wyatt left the snowy conditions of South Lake Tahoe to
attend a Monday afternoon meeting hosted by federal officials on
a new proposed route to transport nuclear waste through Nevada
to a storage site near Las Vegas.

"I love Nevada," said the 41-year-old woman who's toured Yucca
Mountain, the proposed home for the nation's nuclear waste. "I
think the whole Yucca Mountain proposal is unsound, not just the
transportation aspect."

She was one of about 65 people at the Reno session seeking more
information on the Mina Corridor, railways through the northern
part of Nevada before turning south at Winnemucca and heading
through Walker River Paiute Tribal land toward Yucca Mountain 90
miles northwest of Las Vegas.

The proposed route in place since 2002 has been the Caliente
Corridor, which approaches Yucca Mountain through the southern
portion of Nevada.

"The main problem for me is now they're proposing a route that
goes through all the major waterways, through habitats and
through areas of more people," Wyatt said. "It just seems
strange."

An environmental impact statement -- looking at land use and
ownership, noise, vibration, cultural resources, aesthetic
resources, ground water and biological resources and more -- is
expected on the Mina Corridor in 2007, likely after the summer.

The public will be invited to comment. By 2008, department
officials will make a recommendation for either the Mina or
Caliente corridors or neither.

In May, members of the Walker River Paiute Tribe who had
objected to a route through their land agreed to an
environmental impact study of the area. The study does not bind
them in any way. And if unhappy with the environmental impact
statement, they can refuse use of their land.

"The tribe has only given the Department of Energy the
possibility (of using the route)," said Bob Peel of URS Corp.,
an engineering firm hired by the U.S. Department of Energy to
work on the transportation project. "They haven't actually
supported construction of the route. It's a fine line there. It
could be they decide they don't want to go farther once the
study is done."

According to a letter written by tribal chairwoman Genia
Williams to the DOE, high-level explosives are transported
through the center of the community on their way to the
Hawthorne Army Depot. If the Mina Corridor is recommended by
planners, and the tribe is in agreement, a new route for the
nuclear waste would remove the transportation of munitions
through the center of town.

The Mina Corridor would be cheaper because it would use less new
track and tie in with existing Union Pacific lines, the DOE
said. Some of the nuclear waste could travel through Washoe
County or nearby counties on existing Union Pacific lines.

This was a concern of Aaron Kenneston, Washoe County emergency
planner, whose team prepares for any type of disaster.

"The county is always very concerned with public safety," he
said. "If this came to pass, it could pose a hazard. We want to
make sure we have adequate plans, and do the training and
exercises we need."

The purpose of Monday's meeting at Lawlor Events Center was to
provide information to the public and seek feedback on whether
routes should be eliminated from consideration or whether
alternative ones should be proposed. The meeting concluded a
recent series across Nevada and in Washington, D.C. More than
300 people attended all of the meetings.

Proposals for the facilities at Yucca Mountain have also changed
since the last environmental impact statement and DOE employees
were present to answer questions. A supplemental environmental
impact statement will be produced in 2007 along with rail
corridor draft statement.

Proposed changes to the Yucca Mountain facility include six
small buildings with limited functions as opposed to one large
multi-functional building, according to Jane Summerson of the
DOE.

"There are a lot of people that are curious about what is
different," she said. "The majority of the comments here are why
is this taking so long."

Less than a dozen people left comments to be passed on to
transportation planners. Comments are used in generating the
environmental impact statement.

"Anything we get will be considered," said Allen Benson,
director of external affairs for Office of Civilian Radioactive
Waste Management. 
*****************************************************************
 61 Hemscott: Exec: Yucca backers must work with Reid

WASHINGTON (AFX) - Industry supporters of the Yucca Mountain
nuclear waste dump must work with incoming Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., but also consider alternate waste
storage plans, an energy executive said Tuesday.

Despite Reid's strong opposition to a nuclear waste dump in his
state, 'Harry Reid and the Democrats have to be part of the
solution,' said Tom Kuhn, president of the Edison Electric
Institute, a utility trade group.

'If they are going to support nuclear power, we've got to figure
out ways that we continue to move forward on the nuclear waste
issue,' Kuhn said at a press conference on the energy industry's
agenda in a Democrat-controlled Congress.

Some congressional Republicans have offered plans to create
temporary waste storage sites around the country because of
increasing delays at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las
Vegas, which is not projected to open until 2017 at earliest.

Some 50,000 tons of nuclear waste is already waiting at power
plant sites around the country. Reid and others in the Nevada
delegation want to leave it there, stowed in long-term storage
containers.

'We're open, I think, to looking at various alternatives that
might be able to move forward on a step-by-step basis,' Kuhn
said of that idea, which may get more attention with Reid vowing
to cut funding for Yucca and keep pro-Yucca legislation off the
Senate floor.

'I think that there is going to have to be talks with the
Republican and the Democratic side about some new ideas that are
coming up here, too, to perhaps look at other interim sites for
the nuclear waste,' Kuhn said. 'But I think it is extremely
important for us to continue moving forward with Yucca Mountain.'

Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 62 Los Angeles Times: Blighted Homeland - Photographic presentation


Go to the below link to see this series

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-navajo-series,0,4515615.special

 
9:17 PM PST, November 28, 2006        



(Gail Fisher / LAT)  

Elsie Begay believes a contaminated hogan like this one caused 
her sons' deaths at ages 25 and 38.     

PART I They took shelter amid the poison By Judy Pasternak During 
the Cold War, uranium mines left contaminated waste scattered 
around the Navajo Nation. Homes built with it silently pulsed 
with radiation. People developed cancer. And the U.S. did little 
to help. 

  PART II Oases in desert contained 'a witch’s brew' Rain-filled
uranium pits provided drinking water for people and animals.
Then, a mysterious wasting illness emerged. 

  PART III Navajos' desert cleanup is a mirage Through a federal 
program, decontamination seemed possible. But delays and disputes 
thwarted the effort. 

  PART IV Mining firms again eyeing Navajo land Demand for
uranium is soaring. But the tribe vows a 'knockdown, drag-out
legal battle.' 

    	
ABOUT THIS SERIES From 1944 to 1986, 3.9 million tons of uranium 
ore were dug and blasted from Navajo soil, nearly all of it for 
America's atomic arsenal. Navajos inhaled radioactive dust, drank 
contaminated water and built homes using rock from the mines and 
mills. Many of the dangers persist to this day. This four-part 
series examines the legacy of uranium mining on the Navajo 
reservation. SUNDAY: Unaware of the danger

 MONDAY: Toxic water

 TUESDAY: Botched cleanup

 WEDNESDAY: New technology

Copyright 2006 Los Angeles Times

*****************************************************************
 63 The Mercury: Storage of spent nuclear fuel rods at Limerick plant could become permanent
 		 			 	 	 
Evan Brandt, ebrandt@pottsmerc.com

11/28/2006

LIMERICK -- The "temporary" storage of highly radioactive spent 
nuclear fuel rods at Exelon Nuclear’s Limerick Generating Station 
could become permanent, at least as far as the new Democratic 
leader of the U.S. Senate is concerned.                                                        

With the November takeover of Congress by the Democrats, 
opponents of the federal government’s planned spent nuclear fuel 
storage facility beneath Nevada’s Yucca Mountain gained a 
powerful new ally.

Harry Reid, the new Senate Majority Leader, hails from Nevada and 
told reporters in his home state last week that the much-delayed, 
over-budget project is "dead right now," according to reports by 
The Originally targeted for opening in 1998, the Energy 
Department now says the best case scenario for the opening of the 
Yucca Mountain facility is 2017.

It is intended to hold 77,000 tons of the radioactive spent fuel 
left over after it has been used to boil water in the nation’s 
nuclear reactors. About 50,000 tons of that fuel is now stored in 
dry casks at 65 power plants in 31 states, according to the 
Associated Press.

One of those plants is in Limerick.

In July, Limerick’s Board of Supervisors approved the land
development plans for the Exelon plant to install a concrete pad
on which its own dry cask storage facility will be erected. 

During meetings on those subjects, officials with Exelon and the
Nuclear Regulatory Commission insisted the dry casks are only
needed for temporary storage and that the fuel will be moved to
Yucca Mountain when it opens.

But Reid told reporters that not only would he refuse to allow
any bill that helps the Yucca project to reach the Senate floor
during his tenure over the next two years, but also that funding
for the project may dry up quickly.

Reid also said that keeping the fuel in dry cask storage at the
nation’s nuclear power plants will keep it safe for 100 years.

That’s not cutting it for Edward F. Sproat, director of the
Energy Department’s Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste
Management. He told The Associated Press "leaving everything
where it is, is not a solution to the problem."

Leaving the fuel stored at the plants is just "pushing the
solution off to future generations," Sproat said.

But don’t count Limerick supervisors’ Chairman David Kane among
those overly concerned by Reid’s statements.

"I don’t believe the decision is his to make," Kane said of
Reid’s pledge to oppose the Yucca Mountain project, adding he is
"not surprised" that Reid has taken that position. 

He called the idea of leaving the fuel at individual power
plants, Limerick included, "a terrible solution" and added "I’m
confident the federal government will continue to pursue the
best possible solution."

Kane added that the township would continue to "be aware and
monitor the situation."

Asked about Reid’s comments, Beth Rapczynski, a spokeswoman for
Exelon, said, "It’s important to keep in mind that the federal
government has an obligation under the law to build a central
repository for used nuclear fuel, which was mandated by Congress
in the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1983.

"Since then, consumers of nuclear-generated electricity have
paid more than $25 billion into the Nuclear Waste Fund for that
purpose," Rapczynski said.

"While we believe dry cask storage is a safe interim solution,
we continue to fully support Yucca Mountain as the long-term
storage solution for used nuclear fuel," she said.

Donna Cuthbert, vice president of the Alliance for a Clean
Environment, does not support Yucca Mountain and lauded Reid’s
stand in the issue.

"The more I’ve studied this issue, the more I’ve come to realize
the removal and transport of this deadly waste is as much or
more of a threat than keeping it where it is now," Cuthbert
said. "I commend Sen. Reid for taking a thoughtful approach to
this."

"Yucca is a scientifically unsafe place to put this fuel and
while it’s unfortunate that we have a place with this stuff in
our backyard, I think everyone has to come to the realization
that it’s not going anywhere," Cuthbert said.

"I think we need to make that project at Limerick safer, which
is why I’m so concerned about Exelon refusing Pottstown’s
request for additional monitoring, and I think we need to stop
making more of this waste," said Cuthbert.

She was referring to the push by President Bush to build new
nuclear plants, an initiative he reiterated when he visited the
Limerick plant in May. 

The NRC has already begun to plan for more applications by
adding funds to its budget to review those applications.

"There is more than enough wind and solar power available to
make all the electricity we need and we can stop making this
horrible waste that will be a threat for thousands of years,"
said Cuthbert. 

©The Mercury 2006
*****************************************************************
 64 Cibola County Beacon: Uranium: A "Renaissance in power"

Tuesday, November 28, 2006
   
GRANTS - Grants City Council unanimously passed Resolution No.
06-1256 last week supporting uranium mining in Grants and
throughout Cibola County.

Joe C. Lister, of Grants, with the Rio Grande Resources
Corporation, Mt. Taylor Mining Operations, spoke in support of
the resolution and of mining the uranium deposits in Cibola
County.

The 56-year-old arrived in Grants as a toddler and graduated
from Grants High School in 1968. Lister said he started in the
mining industry after high school, working in mills to mine
construction. He has been with Mt. Taylor company since 1977.

I think this time around that the boom cycle will be around for
quite a while, he contended, adding that uranium mining is now
a market-driven commodity to support electricity, rather than a
weapons-buying program.

He said all of the environmental and international groups know
that nuclear generated power has to play a role in making
electricity. We're not going to eliminate coal, we're not going
to eliminate natural gas, he said, but noted that fossil fuels
could run out and the nuclear alternative for energy has to
increase.

Lister also described how the electrical grid is often
associated with lack of electricity, brownouts and blackouts. He
defined electrical grid as the transmission lines that bring
electricity from generators into people's homes & the power
plants, poles and infrastructure of electricity. You have to
invest in infrastructure, he said. We have the opportunity to
produce the raw product of uranium. He said a mill will have to
be built to make yellow cake and one potential site is in San
Mateo.

Lister said uranium mining will result in employees in the area
spending new money in Grants, and in more jobs in other business
sectors such as food and retail.

Lister told the council that uranium is expected to increase to
more than $100 a pound. Marketable uranium, called U3O8, dropped
to $7.10 a pound in November 2000. On Oct. 23 it was valued at
$56 per pound. As of Nov. 20 the price for U3O8 was $62.50 per
pound.

Historically, Ambrosia Lake produced 40 percent of the uranium
in the United States and there is plenty more to mine in the
Grants area, Lister explained. He said the United States is
currently dependent on uranium from sources around the world,
such as South Africa and Australia. Hopefully, we can reduce
the dependency, he contended, adding that there will be many
sources of power to produce electricity. He noted that the
United States will require 60 nuclear power plants to maintain
20 percent of the energy used now, and power plants are
95-percent more efficient than in the past. He said there will
not be any 1950 mills or current evaporation ponds and leakages.
Also communities are passing carbon taxes to fund research and
alternative energy methods to decrease global warming. Global
warming is associated with the negative changes to the
environment's natural life cycle because of emissions from cars,
trucks and industrial plants.

Grants City Manager Robert Horacek said he does not recall the
city ever considering a carbon emissions tax on energy bills,
but Albuquerque imposes a vehicle emissions requirement.

The reason I brought it up is to make people aware that outside
of Grants, these are some of the issues, Lister said.

The new generation of power plants is different, Lister said,
describing how energy companies expect to recycle uranium waste
deposited at Yucca, Wyo., and use it for fuel. We're standing
on a real Renaissance in power generation.

By Ilene Haluska 

Copyright © 2006Cibola County Beacon. 
*****************************************************************
 65 LasVegasNOW.com: Weapons-Grade Plutonium Storage Considered For Nevada Test Site

  Edward Lawrence, Reporter

NNSA nuclear storage project website   

The Nevada Test Site is once again being considered to house
nuclear materials from across the country. It is not nuclear
waste but materials used to make nuclear bombs. 

A public hearing continues tonight at Cashman Center near
downtown from 6 to 10 p.m. Unable to attend? Scroll down to find
out how to submit your comments.


The Nevada Test Site is one of five sites being examined to
consolidate the country's nuclear weapons program. 

Channel 8 Eyewitness News sources say the National Nuclear
Security Administration puts it at the top of the list to build
a warehouse to hold weapons grade plutonium until it's needed.
Right now, the plutonium is held in Amarillo, Texas. 

Anytime the federal government mentions nuclear material and
Nevada in the same sentence, people in Las Vegas take notice. 

Peggy Maze Johnson said, "Sometimes I feel like we have this big
target on our backs saying, hey, it's Nevada. Let's give it to
them." 

Maze Johnson runs Citizen Alert, a non-profit group formed to
fight the proposed nuclear waste site on the Nevada Test Site at
Yucca Mountain. With her experience delaying that project,
Johnson knew it would be an up hill battle at Tuesday's public
hearing. 

"They are going to do what they are going to do. I don't think
they give a damn what we say because they have their plans," she
continued. 

Maze Johnson says why not keep the current process? 

The National Nuclear Security Administration currently uses nine
sites across the country to build a nuclear warhead. Under the
agency's proposed 2030 plan, the federal government wants to
consolidate locations and make the process more efficient. 

The Nevada Test Site tops the list of places to store all of the
weapons grade plutonium. 

Ted Wyka, with the NNSA, said, "We have a lot of very skilled
work force in this area that is used to working with special
nuclear materials." 

When pressed about specifics, the government project manager
deflected answers. "We are talking about material waiting to be
used. How long would something like that be stored in the
facility at the test site? Again, we will have to analyze that.
It will be part of the supplement." 

Storing weapons-grade plutonium at the Nevada Test Site means
the material will be driven into and out of the test site, some
through the Las Vegas Valley. 

Wyka responses to the government's transportation concerns,
"That is again something that will have to be looked at as we
consider Nevada as a potential site for the consolidated
plutonium center." 

With all the unanswered questions, Maze Johnson pledges not to
give up on this battle. "I think it's pretty scary," she
responded. 

The Nevada Test Site is one of five locations considered for the
consolidation. 

If you could not attend the public meeting on Nov. 28th, the
National Nuclear Security Administration still wants to hear
from you. Public comments must be received on or before Jan. 17,
2007.  

Email your comments to:
<STRONG>Complex2030@nnsa.doe.gov</STRONG>. 

You may also submit comments through the project website:
www.complex2030peis.com

If you have the NNSA written consent form, fax it to: 
703-671-5197, or mail it to: Theodore A. Wyka Complex 2030 SEIS 
Document Manager Office of Transformation U.S. Department of 
energy, NA-10.1 1000 Independence Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20585 

All content © Copyright 2000 - 2006 WorldNow and KLAS.
All Rights Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 66 reviewjournal.com: Group fears resumption of nuclear testing
 
Nov. 28, 2006

By KEITH ROGERS <br />REVIEW-JOURNAL

The Union of Concerned Scientists says a pair of meetings today 
by the National Nuclear Security Administration to discuss 
reorganizing the government's nuclear weapons facilities by 2030 
is a "misguided drive to rebuild the U.S. nuclear 
infrastructure." 

The meetings, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. 
at the Cashman Center, are expected to raise the issue of 
resuming nuclear weapons testing at the Nevada Test Site, 
according to union officials, even though the government asserts 
that the so-called "reliable replacement warhead" can be 
developed and certified without a full-scale nuclear weapons 
test. 

The Union of Concerned Scientists is an independent, nonprofit
alliance of more than 100,000 scientists and citizens that
advocates a clean environment and safer world. 

Full-scale nuclear weapons tests at the Nevada Test Site, 65
miles northwest of Las Vegas, were put on hold indefinitely in
1992. 

Robert Nelson, a physicist and senior scientist for the Union of
Concerned Scientists, said replacing nuclear weapons with a new,
untested warhead "has never been done." 

"It's hard to believe that DOD (the Department of Defense) will
accept a substantial fraction of our nuclear deterrent in the
form of an untested weapon," Nelson said Monday by telephone
from Washington, D.C. 

"It's really going to lead back to the road of testing," he
said, noting that "ultimately a political decision would be
made" by some future administration to resume nuclear testing. 

The reorganization plan, among other things, calls for
downsizing U.S. nuclear facilities and closing the Tonopah Test
Range, a central Nevada proving ground for ballistics and
bombing experiments. 

The National Nuclear Security Administration will study whether
the flight testing mission can be transferred to White Sands
Missile Range in New Mexico or to the Nevada Test Site. 	   

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2006
 Stephens Media GroupPrivacy Statement
*****************************************************************
 67 Las Vegas SUN: Agency outlines plan in Vegas for nuclear arms component plant 

Today: November 28, 2006 at 16:10:10 PST 

By RYAN NAKASHIMA ASSOCIATED PRESS 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The U.S. nuclear weapons agency outlined plans
Tuesday to consolidate operations and build a plant to produce
nuclear arms components called plutonium pits by 2022. 

The plan by the National Nuclear Security Administration, called
"Complex 2030," calls for the construction of a plutonium pit
plant in one of five locations, including the Nevada Test Site,
about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas, said Ted Wyka, document
manager for the plan's environmental impact study. 

Such pits, which serve as the trigger of a nuclear weapon, have
been produced in low quantities at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico since the Rocky Flats facility near
Denver, was shut down by the FBI in 1989 for alleged
environmental crimes. 

The Los Alamos facility was designed for interim production, and
a new, higher capacity plant producing 125 pits per year is
needed to help rejuvenate an aging stockpile that contains
nuclear weapons averaging more than 20 years old, Wyka said at a
public hearing in Las Vegas. 

"We haven't replaced any weapon in over a decade," Wyka said.
"Components will continue to age and wear out, and we must be
able to continue to fix those problems." 

Other sites being considered for the pit plant include the
Savannah River Site in South Carolina, the Y-12 National
Security Complex in Tennessee, the Pantex Plant in Texas and Los
Alamos. 

The plan to overhaul the U.S. nuclear complex also includes
moving flight testing from the Tonopah Test Range in Nevada to
the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico or to the Nevada
Test Site. 

Overall, the plan aims to consolidate operations from eight
nuclear weapons sites around the country by cutting redundancies
and making security more efficient. 

Since December 2004, the agency has begun moving a ton of
high-security nuclear material from Los Alamos to the Nevada
Test Site, which is considered better protected. The move will
be complete by September 2007. 

Peggy Maze Johnson, executive director Citizen Alert, a Nevada
group that is opposed to the planned Yucca Mountain nuclear
waste dump, said her group favors reducing plutonium pit
production rather than expanding it. 

"How many nuclear bombs do we need?" she said. "My biggest
concern is that they really don't want our input and that
they're going to go ahead and do what they want to do." 

The United States has committed to reducing its nuclear arsenal
to some 1,700 to 2,200 operational, deployed nuclear weapons by
2012, about half the level of 2001. 

The agency is holding 90 days of public hearings on its plan
until Jan. 17 in South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Nevada, New
Mexico and California. It expects to draft an environmental
impact statement by the summer, hold more hearings and make a
decision in late 2008. 

--- 

On the Net: 

Complex 2030, http://complex2030peis.com/ 

All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
 68 SF New Mexican: Curry: Lab isn't cleaning up its mess

[FreeNewMexican.com]                         
 		   			
 Tue Nov 28, 2006 5:33 pm   							 						

By ANDY LENDERMAN | The New Mexican             

State Environment Secretary Ron Curry is again leaning on Los
Alamos National Laboratory to clean up its mess and protect the
state's groundwater.

Curry is pressuring the lab to stick to a historic agreement
that calls for the lab to clean up its hazardous waste by 2015.
But the lab's new manager has met all requirements and takes its
cleanup job seriously, a lab spokesman said.

Curry's discontent was clear in a recent interview. "We went
them to get back on track," he said. 

The lab should spend its money on actually cleaning up its waste
rather than paying fines for violating a legal agreement with
the state, he said.

"We want them to embrace it," Curry said of the agreement, or
consent order, reached in March 2005. The agreement requires all
hazardous waste be dealt with by 2015.

The lab has had four run-ins with the state recently.

Last month, Curry proposed fining the lab $2.3 million over
mixing demolition rubble with other waste on Sigma Mesa.

Also in October, Curry fined the lab $30,000 for failing to clean 
up an ash pile where classified documents and trash were burned 
in the 1950s.

In September, Curry proposed a $795,620 fine for the lab's
failure to quickly report chromium contamination in ground
monitoring wells.

And in July, the state proposed a $125,000 fine when the lab and
the National Nuclear Security Administration dumped 20 tons of
hazardous waste into a Los Alamos County landfill.

Each of those fines are still being negotiated.

"The laboratory takes its environmental responsibilities very
seriously and is following the consent order," lab spokesman
James Rickman said in a statement. To date, Rickman said, the
lab's new manager -- Los Alamos National Security LLC -- has met
all requirements.

Rickman said lab managers agree it's better to spend on cleanup
and not penalties. "With fixed funding, it's crucial that the
laboratory maximize activities that meet consent order
requirements. However, the consent order is heavily weighted
toward up-front investigation."

Rickman also said the lab's leaders have talked several times
about ways to accelerate the cleanup. The department in
particular is concerned about groundwater contamination.

"New Mexico's water resources are so precious, and Los Alamos is
just beginning to understand its effects on the groundwater,"
said James Bearzi, chief of the department's hazardous waste
bureau.

Asked to characterize the nature of pollution in the lab area,
Bearzi mentioned chemicals, explosives, metals and radio
nuclides. "It's quite a cocktail of contaminants in the aquifer
up there," he said.

Although hexavalent chromium was found in a monitoring well at
four times the drinking water standard, the pollution has not
been detected in the regional aquifer, the department reports.

Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or
alenderman@sfnewmexican.com. 

The state Environment Department has had several issues with
LANL in the past 
four months. 

In October: 

ISSUE: Demolition rubble mixed with other waste on Sigma Mesa. 
RESULT: Proposed fine of $2.3 million 

ISSUE: Ash pile where documents and other trash were burned in
the 1950s is left 
uncleaned. 
RESULT: Fine of $30,000 

In September: 

ISSUE: Chromium contamination is not reported. 
RESULT: Fine of $795,620 

In July: 

ISSUE: 20 tons of hazardous waste are dumped into a Los Alamos
County landfill. 
RESULT: Fine of $125,000		 	   	 	 	 		
 		   			 		   	 
/ Terms of Use | ©2006, Santa Fe New Mexican
*****************************************************************
 69 Hanford News: Researchers to be honored as fellows in science group
 
This story was published Tuesday, November 28th, 2006 

By the Herald staff 

Five researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
will be honored as Fellows of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science when the association meets in February in
San Francisco. 

James Fredrickson is chief scientist in the biological sciences
division at PNNL where he has led work on microbial ecology and
environmental microbiology, with emphasis on subsurface
microbiology and biogeochemistry. 

Fredrickson earned a bachelor's degree in soil sciences from the
University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He also has a master's
degree in soil sciences and a doctorate in soil microbiology
from Washington State University. 

Richard Smith, also a chief scientist in the biological sciences
division, is being recognized for leadership in analytical
chemistry, specifically in the deployment of advanced separation
methods with high-performance mass spectrometry for
high-throughput proteomics. 

Smith earned a bachelor's in chemistry from the University of
Massachusetts at Lowell and a doctorate in physical chemistry
from the University of Utah. 

S.K. Sundaram is the chief materials scientist in PNNL's
advanced processing and applications group. 

His selection as an AAAS Fellow is for innovative contributions
to a diverse cross-section of materials sciences, particularly
new tools for synthesis and characterization of novel materials,
diagnostics and nanomaterials. 

Sundaram earned a degree in ceramics and glass technology from
the Indian Institute of Ceramics at Calcutta, a master's in
materials science and engineering from the Indian Institute of
Technology at Kharagpur, and a doctorate from the Georgia
Institute of Technology at Atlanta in 1994. 

William Weber is being recognized for leadership and innovative
research on defects, ion-solid interactionsand radiation effects
in ceramics, particularly modeling and simulations of radiation
damage processes. He is the team leader for the material
interfaces group. 

Weber earned a bachelor's in physics from the University of
Wisconsin-Oshkosh and a master's and a doctorate in nuclear
engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

John Zachara is senior chief scientist for environmental
chemistry in the chemical and material sciences division at
PNNL. 

Zachara's outstanding work was with chemical and microbial
processes affecting subsurface contaminant transport at Hanford. 

Zachara earned a bachelor's in chemistry from Bucknell
University, a master's in soil and watershed chemistry from the
University of Washington and a doctorate in soil chemistry from
Washington State University. 

Selection is determined by peer reviewers and is based on
efforts to advance science or its applications. 

The honorees join 15 current PNNL staff members previously
elected as AAAS Fellows. Founded in 1848, AAAS has worked to
advance science for human well-being through science policy,
science education and international scientific cooperation.

© 2006 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 70 The Enquirer: Fernald future to be discussed
 	 
Last Updated: 5:24 am | Tuesday, November 28, 2006
 					   				 			
THE ENQUIRER

The U.S. Department of Energy plans a community meeting on the 
future of the former Fernald uranium foundry at 6:30 p.m. 
Wednesday at the Ross Firehouse, 2565 Cincinnati-Brookville Road. 
Fluor Fernald, the contractor overseeing the cleanup of the 
Superfund site, announced remediation of the site was complete at 
the end of October.

Wednesday night's meeting will focus on how to make the site, 
being turned into an undeveloped natural park, into a community 
asset.

For information, call Jane Powell, 513-648-3148 or e-mail .
					 					 					
Copyright © 1995-2006:




*****************************************************************
 71 DOE: Proposal to downgrade INEL High Level Waste using 2005 Reagan Act

Determination Under Section 3116 of the Ronald W. Reagan ACT
 
                        FR Doc E6-20107 

[Federal Register: November 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 228)] 
[Notices] [Page 68813-68814] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr28no06-46]                         
 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 for the 
Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center Tank Farm 
Facility at the Idaho National Laboratory 

AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Notice of availability.
 
SUMMARY: Section 3116 of the Ronald W. Reagan National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2005 (NDAA) provides that 
certain waste from reprocessing spent nuclear fuel is not 
considered high-level radioactive waste (HLW) if the Secretary of 
Energy, in consultation with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission 
(NRC), determines that the waste meets the statutory criteria set 
forth in Section 3116(a). The Department of Energy (DOE) 
announces the availability of the Secretary's Section 3116 
Determination for the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering 
Center (INTEC) Tank Farm Facility (TFF), which addresses the 
stabilized residuals in the TFF and TFF system on the Idaho 
National Laboratory (INL) near Arco, Idaho, and the document that 
sets forth the basis for the Section 3116 Determination (Basis 
Document). The Section 3116 Determination sets forth the 
Secretarial finding that the stabilized residuals in the TFF and 
TFF system: (1) Do not require permanent isolation in a deep 
geologic repository, (2) have or will have had highly radioactive 
radionuclides removed to the maximum extent practical, (3) will 
be disposed of in accordance with NRC performance
 
[[Page 68814]]

objectives for the disposal of low-level waste, (4) will be 
disposed of pursuant to DOE's disposal plan developed in 
consultation with the NRC, and (5) will be disposed of pursuant 
to closure plans approved by the State of Idaho. The Basis 
Document sets forth the facts and analyses supporting the 
Secretary's Section 3116 Determination. DOE's Amended Record of 
Decision to close the TFF pursuant to the Idaho High-Level Waste 
and Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(DOE/EIS-0287, September 2002) is being provided separately and 
concurrently with this Notice.
 
 
ADDRESSES: The Section 3116 Determination and the Basis Document, 
as well as the public comments received on the draft Section 3116 
Determination, are available on the Internet at 
http://apps.em.doe.gov/idwd , and are publicly available for 
review at the following locations: U.S. DOE, Public Reading Room, 
1000 Independence Avenue, SW., Room 1E- 190, Washington, DC 
20585, Phone: (202) 586-5955, or Fax: (202) 586- 0575; and U.S. 
DOE, Idaho Operations Office, Public Reading Room, 850 Energy 
Drive, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415-2300, Phone: 208-526-0709, Fax: 
208-526-8789.
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on the 
Section 3116 Determination, contact Scott Van Camp, Assistant 
Manager, Facility and Materials Disposition Project, U.S. DOE, 
Idaho Operations Office, 1955 Fremont Avenue, MS-1222, Idaho 
Falls, ID 83415, Telephone: (208) 526-6503.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The INTEC TFF and TFF system consists 
of eleven 300,000-gallon belowgrade stainless-steel tanks in 
unlined concrete vaults, four 30,000-gallon belowgrade 
stainless-steel tanks, and associated ancillary equipment and 
piping. Historically, the TFF tanks were used to store various 
INTEC wastes, including those from reprocessing spent nuclear 
fuel, decontamination waste, laboratory waste, and contaminated 
liquids from other INTEC operations. DOE has initiated cleaning 
of the TFF and TFF system, a process that includes consolidating 
remaining wastes in the minimum number of tanks necessary, and 
then cleaning the empty tanks and ancillary equipment and piping. 
After completing cleaning operations, a small amount of residual 
radioactive waste that cannot be removed will remain in the tanks 
and ancillary equipment and piping. DOE plans to stabilize the 
residuals by filling the TFF and TFF system with grout. The 
Secretary's Section 3116 Determination concludes that the TFF and 
TFF system residuals will meet the criteria in NDAA Section 3116.
 
Therefore, and pursuant to Section 3116, that material is not 
HLW. The Basis Document sets forth the reasons supporting the 
Section 3116 Determination. DOE's Amended Record of Decision to 
close the TFF pursuant to the Idaho High- Level Waste and 
Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(DOE/EIS-0287, September 2002) is being provided separately and 
concurrently with this notice.
 
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 20, 2006.
 
Charles E. Anderson, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for 
Environmental Management.
 
[FR Doc. E6-20107 Filed 11-27-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 72 DOE: Amended Record of Decision: Idaho High-Level Waste and
 
                        FR Doc E6-20109 
[Federal Register: November 28, 2006 (Volume 71, Number 228)] 
[Notices] [Page 68811-68813] From the Federal Register Online via 
GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr28no06-45]                         
 
Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement 
AGENCY: Department of Energy.
 
ACTION: Amended Record of Decision.
 
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is amending its 
Record of Decision (ROD) published December 19, 2005 (70 Federal 
Register [FR] 75165), pursuant to the Idaho High-Level Waste and 
Facilities Disposition Final Environmental Impact Statement 
(Final EIS) (DOE/EIS- 0287, September 2002). The Final EIS 
analyzed two sets of alternatives for accomplishing DOE's 
proposed actions regarding the Idaho Nuclear Technology and 
Engineering Center (INTEC): (1) Waste processing alternatives and 
(2) facility disposition alternatives. As described in this 
Amended ROD, DOE has decided to conduct performance-based closure 
of the INTEC Tank Farm Facility (TFF). This decision to conduct 
performance-based closure of the TFF does not affect decisions 
made in the initial ROD concerning: performance-based closure of 
other existing facilities directly related to the HLW Program; 
planned clean closure of newly constructed waste processing 
facilities needed to implement the initial ROD; steam reforming 
treatment of sodium-bearing waste (SBW) to allow disposal at the 
Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico 
(DOE's preferred disposal path) or at a geologic repository for 
spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and HLW; management of newly generated 
liquid waste (NGLW); and DOE's strategy to retrieve HLW calcine 
for disposal outside the State of Idaho. Nor does this Amended 
ROD affect future decisions concerning the retrieval strategy for 
HLW calcine stored at INTEC, potential calcine treatment if 
necessary, and closure of the bin sets in which the calcine is 
stored.
 
 
ADDRESSES: Copies of this Amended ROD will be available on DOE's 
National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Web site at: under DOE 
NEPA Documents. Copies of the Section 3116 Determination and 
associated documents are available on DOE's Web site at .
 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For further information on this 
Amended ROD and the Idaho Cleanup Project, contact Scott Van 
Camp, Assistant Manager, Facility and Materials Disposition 
Project, U.S. DOE, Idaho Operations Office, 1955 Fremont Avenue, 
MS-1222, Idaho Falls, ID 83415, Telephone: (208) 526-6503.
 
For general information on DOE's NEPA process, please contact: 
Carol M. Borgstrom, Director, Office of NEPA Policy and 
Compliance (GC- 20), U.S. DOE, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW., 
Washington, DC 20585- 0103, Telephone: (202) 586-4600 or leave a 
message at (800) 472-2756.
 
 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background From 1952 to 1991, DOE 
and its predecessor agencies reprocessed SNF at INTEC, known 
prior to 1998 as the Idaho Chemical Processing Plant, on the 
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Site. Reprocessing operations 
used solvent extraction systems to remove mostly uranium-235 from 
SNF. The waste product from the first extraction cycle of the 
reprocessing operation was liquid HLW mixed with hazardous 
materials, which was stored in belowgrade stainless steel tanks 
at the INTEC TFF.
 
Subsequent extraction cycles, treatment processes, and follow-on 
decontamination activities generated additional liquids that were 
combined to form liquid SBW, which is generally much less 
radioactive than HLW generated from the first extraction cycle. 
After SNF reprocessing was curtailed in 1991, the first cycle 
reprocessing wastes were removed from the tanks in the TFF and 
the tanks were reused to store liquid SBW.
 
The liquid SBW was stored in ten of the eleven 300,000-gallon 
belowgrade storage tanks in the TFF. The eleventh tank was 
maintained as a spare (but was contaminated with a small quantity 
of waste). The TFF also includes four 30,000-gallon belowgrade 
tanks that were used in reprocessing operations. The last 
campaign of SNF reprocessing at INTEC was in 1991, and HLW is no 
longer generated at INTEC. From 1963 to 1998, DOE processed HLW 
and some SBW through calcination that converted the liquid waste 
into a dry powder calcine. Additional SBW was processed by 
calcination from 1998 to 2000. At present, approximately 4,400 
cubic meters of HLW calcine remains stored in six bin sets (a 
series of reinforced concrete vaults, each containing three to 
seven stainless steel storage bins). Over the past several years, 
TFF operations have included removing SBW from the tanks, 
consolidating the remaining approximately 900,000 gallons of SBW 
into three 300,000- gallon belowgrade tanks, and cleaning the 
emptied tanks. Tank cleaning to remove the tank heels in the 
emptied tanks (the amount of liquid remaining in each tank after 
lowering the tank contents to the greatest extent possible by use 
of the existing transfer equipment) began in late 2002. Seven of 
the 300,000-gallon tanks, the four 30,000-gallon inactive tanks, 
and associated ancillary equipment have been cleaned, and DOE 
plans to clean and complete closure of the remaining tanks, 
piping, valve boxes, encasements, and vaults by December 31, 
2012.
 
The Final EIS, issued in October 2002, analyzed two sets of 
alternatives for accomplishing the proposed action: (1) Waste 
processing alternatives for treating, storing, and disposing of 
liquid SBW and NGLW stored in belowgrade tanks and solid HLW 
calcine stored in bin sets at the INTEC on the INL Site; and (2) 
facility disposition alternatives for final disposition of 
facilities directly related to the HLW Program after its missions 
are complete, including any new facilities necessary to implement 
the waste processing alternatives. This Amended ROD addresses 
only disposition of the TFF and not waste processing or other 
facilities addressed in the initial ROD.
 
On October 28, 2004, the NDAA was enacted. Among other provisions 
of the Act, Section 3116 provides that certain wastes from 
reprocessing SNF are not HLW if the Secretary, in consultation 
with the NRC, determines that the criteria in Section 3116(a) 
have been met.
 
In DOE's initial ROD, published December 19, 2005 (70 FR 75165), 
DOE decided, among other things, to pursue a phased 
decision-making process and stated its plan to issue an Amended 
ROD in 2006 specifically addressing closure of the TFF, in 
coordination with the Secretary's Determination under Section 
3116. As explained in the initial ROD, the State of Idaho, as a 
cooperating agency on the Draft and Final EIS, stated that it 
would continue to coordinate with DOE and NRC, as appropriate, 
regarding Section 3116 activities.
 
DOE submitted a Draft Section 3116 Determination concerning the 
TFF to the NRC on September 7, 2005, and consulted with the NRC 
pursuant to Section 3116(a) of the NDAA. Although not required by 
Section 3116, DOE issued a Notice of Availability of the Draft 
Section 3116 Determination in the Federal Register on September 
14, 2005 (70 FR 54374), for public review,
 
[[Page 68812]] concurrent with DOE's consultation with the NRC.
 
The NRC consultation process has been completed. On October 20, 
2006, the NRC issued its Technical Evaluation Report (TER) (NRC 
ADAMS ML062490108) of the DOE Draft Section 3116 Determination. 
The TER presents the results of NRC's consultation with respect 
to whether DOE meets the applicable provisions of Section 3116(a) 
of the NDAA for the Secretary to determine that the stabilized 
residuals are not HLW. As noted in its executive summary, ``Based 
on the information provided by DOE, NRC staff has concluded in 
this TER that there is reasonable assurance that the applicable 
criteria of the NDAA can be met for residual waste associated 
with the TFF.'' DOE considered the NRC's TER, as well as comments 
received from the State of Idaho and the INL Site Environmental 
Management Citizens Advisory Board (no additional public comments 
were received) on the Draft Section 3116 Determination, before 
issuing the Section 3116 Determination. In the Section 3116 
Determination for the TFF, the Secretary concluded that, for 
reasons set forth in the Basis for Section 3116 Determination for 
the Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center Tank Farm 
Facility (Basis Document), and based on DOE's consultation with 
the NRC, the criteria of Section 3116(a) have been met, and 
therefore the stabilized residuals may be disposed of in place. 
Disposal of the grouted TFF waste in place will meet the 
performance objectives set forth in 10 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 61, Subpart C. DOE estimates that this 
action will result in an annual maximum exposure risk (total 
effective dose) to members of the public from all pathways of 
well below 25 mrem. A Federal Register Notice of Availability of 
the Secretary's Section 3116 Determination is being provided 
separately and concurrently with this ROD.
 
II. Comments on the Final EIS DOE received five letters and two 
emails on the Final EIS and responded to those comments in the 
initial ROD. However, because DOE deferred its decision regarding 
the TFF, it is appropriate to address one additional comment made 
by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (letter on the Final 
EIS of November 18, 2002) in this Amended ROD. That is, the EPA 
noted that ``the Final EIS did not define, in the case of tank 
closures, the degree of retrieval and/or decontamination 
necessary to provide a defensible basis for reclassifying 
residuals''. The Basis Document addresses this comment.
 
III. Facility Disposition Alternatives Analyzed The Final EIS 
analyzed six facility disposition alternatives: No Action, Clean 
Closure, Performance-Based Closure, Closure to Landfill 
Standards, Performance-Based Closure with Class A Grout Disposal, 
and Performance-Based Closure with Class C Grout Disposal.\1\ 
Under the No Action Alternative, the transuranic/SBW waste would 
remain in the Tank Farm, and eventually over thousands of years, 
this waste would migrate into the environment. Under the Clean 
Closure Alternative, facilities would have the hazardous and 
radiological contaminants, including contaminated equipment, 
removed from the site or treated so that these contaminants would 
be indistinguishable from background concentrations. Under the 
Performance-Based Closure Alternative, contamination would remain 
that is below the levels that would impact human health and the 
environment as established by regulations. Under the Closure to 
Landfill Standards Alternative, wastes would be removed to the 
extent practicable; however, quantities remaining would not meet 
clean closure or performance-based action levels. Under the 
Performance-Based Closure with Class A Grout Disposal and 
Performance-Based Closure with Class C Grout Disposal 
Alternatives, SBW and calcine would have been separated into high 
and low activity fractions, and the low-level waste fraction 
would be grouted to meet either Class A or Class C levels and 
disposed of in the tanks or bin sets. These six alternatives 
reflect different ways to address the risk associated with 
disposition of residuals remaining in facilities and closing 
facilities directly related to the HLW Program at INTEC after its 
missions are complete. These alternatives differ in the degree to 
which facilities are cleaned up and in the type of use that could 
be made of the land as a result.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \1\ The names of the alternatives in the Final EIS use 
terminology that is similar to terminology used in the context of 
closure of hazardous waste management units under HWMA/RCRA. 
However, the terminology used in the names of the EIS 
alternatives and the HWMA/RCRA is not synonymous in all cases. 
For example, the Clean Closure Alternative included removal of 
the tanks, whereas clean closure of the tanks under HWMA/RCRA 
means cleaning the tanks to action levels established in the 
state approved closure plan.
 
The INL TFF is subject to closure under HWMA/RCRA pursuant to 
closure plans approved by the State of Idaho.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- Preferred Facility Disposition Alternative In the 
Final EIS, DOE and the State of Idaho, as a cooperating agency, 
identified three of the six facility disposition alternatives as 
preferred: Performance-Based Closure, Clean Closure, and Closure 
to Landfill Standards. DOE and the State of Idaho weighed several 
factors in identifying the Preferred Alternatives for facility 
disposition, including size and complexity of facilities, volume 
of waste generated during facility disposition, residual 
waste/contaminant risk reduction, technical and economic 
feasibility, and protection of workers, the public, and the 
environment.
 
Under the Performance-Based Closure Alternative evaluated in the 
EIS, radioactive contamination would remain below levels that 
would impact human health and the environment as established by 
regulations. These levels, referred to as action levels, are 
either risk-based (e.g., residual contaminant levels) or 
performance-based (e.g., corrosivity). Once these action levels 
and the action levels set forth in the HWMA/RCRA Closure Plan 
approved by the State of Idaho are achieved, the unit/facility is 
deemed closed according to the HWMA/RCRA and DOE requirements. 
Other activities may then occur at the unit/ facility such as 
decontamination and decommissioning or future operations (where 
nonhazardous waste can enter the unit/facility). Most abovegrade 
units/facilities would be demolished and most belowgrade 
facilities/units (tanks, vaults, and transfer piping) would be 
stabilized and left in place. The residual contaminants would no 
longer pose any unacceptable exposure (or risk) to workers, the 
public, and the environment. Pursuant to HWMA/RCRA regulations, 
if the action levels cannot be achieved, then the TFF and TFF 
system may need to be closed in accordance with closure and 
post-closure regulations that apply to landfills.\2\ 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \2\ Although not part of this Amended ROD, DOE also 
has proposed to cap the surface of the TFF to meet the remedial 
action objectives agreed to by DOE, the State of Idaho, and the 
EPA pursuant to the 1991 Federal Facility Agreement and Consent 
Order under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA). DOE's Proposed Plan for 
Tank Farm Soil and INTEC Groundwater, Operable Unit 3-14 
(RPT-223, 2004), which includes capping the surface of the TFF, 
has been issued for public comment. The CERCLA decision is 
planned for 2007. Capping would reduce water infiltration and 
provide worker protection where appropriate.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
----------
 
[[Page 68813]] IV. Environmentally Preferable Alternative The 
initial ROD, in identifying the environmentally preferred 
alternative, considered: potential risk to the public (e.g., 
latent cancer fatalities); potential environmental risks in the 
short- and long-term, including environmental risks after loss of 
institutional control; and potential short-term risk to workers. 
The initial ROD identified the facility disposition alternatives 
that actively closed the TFF facilities under 
environmentally-based standards as preferable to the No Action 
Alternative. Based on the analyses in the Final EIS, the Clean 
Closure Alternative is the environmentally preferred alternative 
over the long-term. However, the Performance-Based Closure 
Alternative would be protective of the public and environment in 
the short- and long-term while minimizing short-term risks to 
workers.
 
V. Decision DOE has decided to conduct performance-based closure 
of the TFF as set forth in the Final EIS. DOE has decided to 
close the TFF in phases to support continued INTEC operations, 
with final closure of the TFF planned by December 2012. DOE is 
making the decision in this Amended ROD following the Secretary's 
Determination, in consultation with the NRC, that the grouted 
residuals at disposal are not HLW because they meet the criteria 
in Section 3116(a) of the NDAA. By law, material covered by such 
a determination is not HLW.
 
Performance-based closure of the TFF and TFF system pursuant to 
this Amended ROD includes removing waste to the maximum extent 
practical from the eleven 300,000-gallon tanks, the four 
30,000-gallon tanks, associated piping, valve boxes, encasements, 
and vaults, and grouting and disposing of stabilized residuals in 
place.\3\ Closure of the TFF will be undertaken pursuant to 
closure plans approved by the State of Idaho under the HWMA. DOE 
intends for the TFF closure activities to remove or decontaminate 
waste residues to meet State of Idaho-approved action levels for 
hazardous constituents. If these action levels cannot be 
achieved, then the TFF may be closed in accordance with closure 
and post-closure regulations that apply to landfills. The closure 
of the TFF will also be in accordance with applicable DOE 
requirements, regulations, and Orders, which ensure that this 
action will result in an annual maximum exposure risk (total 
effective dose) to members of the public from all pathways of 
well below 25 mrem.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- \3\ Under closure pursuant to this decision, a small 
amount (approximately 3/8 inch) of residual radioactive 
(non-HWMA/RCRA) waste that cannot be removed would remain after 
completing tank cleaning operations.
 
----------------------------------------------------------------- 
---------- The State of Idaho has commented and coordinated with 
DOE and NRC, as appropriate, concerning Section 3116 of the NDAA. 
The State has concurred with the performance-based closure of the 
TFF, subject to the State's separate approval of individual 
closure plans under the HWMA/ RCRA.
 
This decision to conduct performance-based closure of the TFF 
does not affect the decisions made in the initial ROD concerning: 
performance-based closure for other existing facilities directly 
related to the HLW Program; planned clean closure of newly 
constructed waste processing facilities needed to implement the 
initial ROD; steam reforming treatment of SBW to allow disposal 
at the WIPP near Carlsbad, New Mexico (DOE's preferred disposal 
path) or at a geologic repository for SNF and HLW; management of 
NGLW; and DOE's strategy to retrieve HLW calcine for disposal 
outside the State of Idaho. Nor does this Amended ROD affect 
future decisions concerning the retrieval strategy for HLW 
calcine stored at the INTEC, potential calcine treatment if 
necessary, and the closure of the bin sets in which the calcine 
is stored.
 
No impact resulting from operations under this decision would 
require specifically designed mitigation measures. DOE will, 
however, use all practicable means to avoid or minimize 
environmental harm when implementing the actions described in 
this Amended ROD. Those measures include employing engineering 
design features to meet regulatory requirements, maintaining a 
rigorous health and safety program to protect workers from 
radiological and chemical contaminants, monitoring worker and 
environmental risk, and continuing efforts to reduce the 
generation of wastes. DOE will implement the comprehensive list 
of standards and requirements to protect workers, the public, and 
the environment specified in Chapter 6 of the Final EIS, as 
appropriate.
 
VI. Basis for Decision DOE's decision to implement 
performance-based closure methods for disposition of the TFF is 
based on the analysis of the potential environmental impacts 
identified in the Final EIS. The Performance- Based Closure 
Alternative would minimize short-term risk to workers as compared 
to the Clean Closure Alternative, while also being protective of 
health and the environment in the long term. In addition, this 
Amended ROD is based on consideration of regulatory requirements 
such as the HWMA/RCRA, applicable DOE Orders, and cost. As part 
of its basis for decision, DOE also emphasizes that, on balance, 
performance-based closure would be protective of the public and 
environment in the short- and long-term, while limiting the risk 
to workers. This decision also takes into account the Secretary's 
Determination pursuant to Section 3116(a) of the NDAA.
 
Issued in Washington, DC, on November 19, 2006.
 
James A. Rispoli, Assistant Secretary for Environmental 
Management.
 
[FR Doc. E6-20109 Filed 11-27-06; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6450-01-P

 
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 73 UPI: U.S. upgrading plutonium facilities
     
United Press International - Security &Terrorism - 

        11/28/2006 9:22:00 AM -0500

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- Washington is considering
establishing a new consolidated plutonium center at Nevada's
Test Site, 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas. 

The Las Vegas Sun reported on Nov. 26 that federal officials are
convening in Las Vegas this week to discuss an extensive
overhaul of America's nuclear weapons facilities. 

One of the proposals under consideration by the Energy
Department's National Nuclear Security Administration could
result in plutonium being manufactured at the 1,400-square-mile
Nevada Test Site, one of the eight sites in the national
research and production system. In 1989 the Department of Energy
closed its former manufacturing site, the Rocky Flats Plant
outside Denver. 

Among the positive considerations for situating the new facility
at the Nevada Test Site are its relative isolation and
extensive, existing security systems. 

A number of public advocacy groups are opposed to the plan.

© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
    
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