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                         NUCLEAR POLICY
 
1 [NYTr] Iran, Russia Again Urge Talks over Nukes
2 [NYTr] Israelis deny Iran nuclear attack plan
3 [NYTr] Time to Lift Iran's Sanctions
4 [southnews] Israel Plans/Denies Plans for Iran Nuke Strike
5 Iran to Produce Atomic Fuel on Industrial Scale Soon 
6 Israel denies plan to hit Iran enrichment plant with tactical nukes 
7 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Iran willing to talk with Group 5+1 
8 AFP: Khamenei says Iran will pursue its nuclear rights 
9 UPI: Analysis: Iran runs Iraq terror network
10 UPI: Iran would respond to any attack - warning
11 IRNA: Japan calls for nuclear talks between Iran, Group 5+1 - 
12 [NYTr] US Stages Another Mock Air Strike on N.Korea
13 Korea Herald: Seoul mulls envoy for N.K. summit   
14 Korea Herald: Six-party talks end without results   
15 Korea Times: Too Hasty to Send Special Envoy to N. Korea
16 UPI: Seoul may send envoy to North for summit
17 US: [NukeNet] Kissinger, Schultz, Nunn Call For Nuclear Abolition
18 [NukeNet] Scotlamd : SNP plan to criminalise pro-Trident
19 UPI: Walker's World: Rumors of war
 
                         NUCLEAR REACTORS
 
20 [NukeNet] Arizona Republic Newspaper - Many countries turning
21 US: [NYTr] The USA's New, Untested, Risky Hybrid Nukes
22 US: [NukeNet] Expose of Patrick Moore's Group
23 US: GNEP
24 Guardian Unlimited: Unions fear cut in cash for clean-up of nuclear 
25 Guardian Unlimited: EU: green and nuclear power are the future 
26 AFP: Japan to back nuclear plant construction in US - reports 
27 US: NRC: NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to the Peach Bottom Atomic 
28 BBC: Radioactive water leaks at
29 Platts: Europe decommissions seven nuclear reactors by end-2006 - Fo
30 US: NRC: NRC Issues Confirmatory Order in Employment Discrimination 
31 US: NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
32 US: NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
33 US: NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
34 US: OpEd News: Nuclear Power Not Clean, Green or Safe
35 Japan Times: U.S. nuclear plant trade insurance eyed | 
36 US: NRC: NRC Commissioner Edward McGaffigan to Leave Agency
37 US: UPI: Ohio energy group destroyed key documents
38 US: NRC: NRC’S Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Elects Chair
39 US: NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice: Commissioner's Conference
 
                          NUCLEAR SECURITY
 
40 US: Guardian Unlimited: Miscommunication Cited in Port Alert 
 
                          NUCLEAR SAFETY
 
41 [NYTr] US Nuclear Sub Collides w/Japanese Ship Off Iran
42 [NYTr] US Sub and Japanese Tanker Collide in Strait of Hormuz
43 Police believe Litvinenko poisoned twice
44 [DU Information List] new study detects traces of uranium in
45 US: [du-list] Compensation Board
46 US: [du-list] EEOICPA compensation
47 US: NRC: eks Public Comment on Environmental Assessment of Proposed 
48 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear risk could be an inside job - 
49 US: Beacon Journal: Workers seek nuclear files
50 US: KCPW: Utah Sets Date for Public Hearings on Divine Strake - 
51 UPI: British detectives know Litvinenko killers
 
                         NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
 
52 [NukeNet] Nuclear Waste: A Mountain of Questions - E-Magazine
53 Guardian Unlimited: Tribe Keeps Fighting for Treaty Rights
54 US: West Australian: Fed, WA govts at loggerheads on uranium
55 US: Western Australian: WA govt stands by uranium mining ban
56 US: LA Daily News: Water standard pushed
57 US: AU ABC: Public won't stand for uranium mining ban: Campbell. 
58 US: AU ABC: Legal action halts mining applications. 
59 US: The Australian: Battle for uranium before the courts | 
 
                           PEACE
 
60 US: 2007 - MOVING TOWARDS A NON-NUCLEAR CALIFORNIA
61 US: Guardian Unlimited: Politicians held at naval base demo 
62 BBC: Trident demo
 
                        US DEPT. OF ENERGY
 
63 [NukeNet] Feds reject green bid for nuke lab, Oakland Tribune
64 Nuclear weapons chief leaving under pressure
65 PRESS: Push to make Portsmouth a high level wast dump by DOE
66 DOE: DOEs Office of Science Awards 95 Million Hours of 
67 Hanford News: Comment period nears on DOE study - Hanford being cons
68 Hanford News: Vit plant construction a huge undertaking
69 The Enquirer: Farewell to Fernald's foundry
70 Recordnet.com: Force of explosions may triple
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                         FULL NEWS STORIES
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 1 [NYTr] Iran, Russia Again Urge Talks over Nukes
 
Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 12:03:37 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[Russia is supporting Iran's call for talks to reach a solution on the
issue of nuclear development. The US keeps insisting on surrender before
negotiations, and Iran will not give up its right, under the NPT, to
develop nuclear power. Nothing changes. But Russia is assuming the 
temporary rotating Presidency of the UN Security Council and continues
to urge restraint (2nd item below). -NY Transfer]

Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Iranian Diplomat Favors Nuclear Talks

Havana, Jan 6 (PL/NYTr) The Iranian ambassador to Cuba Ahmad Edrisian
has declared that only dialogue will solve the controversies on the nuclear
issue between the US and his country.

In an interview released by the Granma newspaper on Saturday and in a clear
allusion to a declaration recently endorsed by the UN Security Council
against Iran, the diplomat stated that the matter would not be solved with
resolutions or sanctions by that international organ.

After recalling that his nation has not occupied any other State in the
last 200 years, Edrisian asserted they would never create atomic weapons
but that they would defend their right to the generation of nuclear energy
for peaceful aims.

"We don't want controversies, we want dialogue and respect," emphasized the
ambassador and announced the planned February 11th opening of 3,000
centrifuges to produce enriched uranium contributing to the generation of
electric energy.

On the other hand, Edrisian highlighted the advances of the Persian state
and described as truly democratic the electoral process of the Municipal
Councils recently concluded, with more than 60 percent attendance and in
which 5,000 women were candidates.

ln isn ro mf

PL-9
                         ***

Russia Again Urges Nuclear Talks

Moscow, Jan 5 (PL/NYTr) Iranian nuclear negotiations will be central to the
agenda of Russia's temporary presidency of the UN Security Council in
January, a diplomatic source said Friday.

The Moscow UN representative, Vitali Churkin, has recently taken the post,
and says he will prioritize peace and security on the planet, according to
declarations in the press.

Churkin said the considerations of the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) will make possible talks with Teheran, noted the radio station La
Voz de Russia.

The diplomat said Moscow has clearly aimed its efforts towards the IAEA
regarding the Persian nation's nuclear program.

On the other hand, Churkin urged a calm response from Iranian authorities
to the UN Security Council's sanctions, encouraged by US and Great Britain.

"Perhaps some commitments will arise in diplomatic and political circles
after these angry declarations," said the Russian representative, making
reference to Iran negotiating with the international community.

ln abo oda mf

PL-15
       
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 2 [NYTr] Israelis deny Iran nuclear attack plan
 
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 18:58:14 -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 - Jan 8, 2007
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2007/0108/1168033061183.html

Israelis deny Iran nuclear attack plan

by Peter Hirschberg in Jerusalem

ISRAEL: Israel has drafted plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment
programme using tactical nuclear weapons and Israeli pilots are already
training in Gibraltar for the mission, a British newspaper reported
yesterday.

A spokesman for prime minister Ehud Olmert refused to comment on the
report in the Sunday Times , but a foreign ministry spokesman denied it,
saying Israel was committed to resolving the issue of the Iran nuclear
issue via diplomacy.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to strike at an Iranian
nuclear plant using "low-yield nuclear 'bunker-busters'", the report
claimed, quoting "several" Israeli military sources.

The newspaper, which said Israeli pilots had recently flown to Gibraltar
to train for the 2,000-mile trip to Iran and back, did not identify the
sources.

According to the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would be used to
smash open passages toward the targets and then "mini-nukes" would be
fired into the plants, where they would explode underground, reducing
the risk of radioactive fallout.

The plants mentioned are at Natanz, Isfahan and at a heavy water reactor
at Arak.

While Israeli leaders have expressed a preference for a diplomatic way
out of the showdown with Iran over its nuclear aspirations, they have
not ruled out the possibility of a military strike.

Israelis are unnerved by the prospect of Iranian president Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, who has called for their country to be destroyed and who
recently hosted a conference that questioned the Holocaust, having his
finger on the nuclear button.

The head of Israel's Mossad spy agency, Meir Dagan, recently estimated
that Iran would acquire nuclear weapons within three years, while deputy
defence minister Ephraim Sneh warned that if the international community
displayed sufficient will to curb Iran's nuclear drive, "then there will
be no need to weigh other options" - a clear reference to the military
alternative.

But some analysts question whether Israel, acting alone, has the ability
to strike effectively at Iran's nuclear programme in the way it did when
it knocked out the reactor Saddam Hussein had built in the Iraqi city of
Osirak in 1981.

While a single, surprise strike by fighter jets was sufficient 26 years
ago, the Iranians have learned from that event, spreading out their
nuclear facilities and building them deep underground.

The Sunday Times report states that several installations "have been
built beneath at least 70ft of concrete and rock". Israel would only
resort to using tactical nukes, the report states, if the United States
decided not to intervene militarily. Many observers believe US
intervention in the case of Iran has become unlikely as the American
military has become increasingly bogged down in Iraq.

Besides serving as a warning to Iran, details of a possible strike might
have been leaked to the Sunday Times in a bid to spur the Americans and
the rest of the international community into taking action against
Tehran that goes way beyond the sanctions recently imposed by the UN.

Asked about the report, Miri Eisen, a spokesman for Mr Olmert, replied:
"We don't comment on stories like this in the Sunday Times ." Foreign
ministery spokesman Mark Regev was more forthcoming: "The focus of the
Israeli activity today is to give full support to diplomatic actions,"
he said. "If diplomacy succeeds, the problem can be solved peaceably."

Despite a recent slip of the tongue in which Mr Olmert seemed to admit
that Israel possessed nuclear weapons, successive governments have for
decades adopted a policy known as "nuclear ambiguity", neither denying
nor confirming a nuclear weapons capability. According to foreign
reports, Israel has some 200 nuclear warheads.

While Israeli leaders have stated that they will not allow Iran to have
nuclear weapons, some observers suggest that Tehran's surge toward an
atomic bomb cannot be halted and that Israel will ultimately have no
choice but to come to terms with a nuclear Iran. At that point, they
say, Israel may well choose to discard "nuclear ambiguity" for a more
open policy in the hope that this will deter Tehran.

C 2007 The Irish Times
       
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 3 [NYTr] Time to Lift Iran's Sanctions
 
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 19:02:14 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Foreign Policy in Focus - Jan 4, 2007
http://www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/3867

Time to Lift Iran's Sanctions

by Roger Howard

Conjuring images of nuclear terrorism and the "annihilation" of the Jewish
state, the spectre of an Iranian bomb readily haunts the Western
imagination. But Tehran's nuclear ambitions also pose a very different type
of challenge to America. This challenge is not years from fruition, as a
warhead still seems to be. It is instead already unfolding. 

This Iranian challenge is borne of America's policy of trying to
economically isolate Iran in retribution for its apparent pursuit of
nuclear weapons, and for alleged support for Middle East militias that are
deemed to be inimical to the American national interest. Heavy economic
investment in the Iranian economy, runs the argument, not only provides the
Tehran regime with the spare cash it needs to fund both of these policies.
It also sends out a clear message to other miscreants that such wrongdoings
do not go unnoticed and unpunished but always come at a heavy price.

The trouble for Washington is that any attempt to meaningfully isolate the
Iranians does not just mean cutting off its own trade with the mullahs, as
the United States has done since imposing a full trade embargo in 1995. To
stop the Iranians from simply looking for alternative markets elsewhere it
also requires the close cooperation of other countries, including its
closest friends and allies the world over. Hitherto these sanctions have
had mixed fortunes, penalizing Iran in some respects while barely touching
it in others, but in the future they look set to inflict more harm on
Washington than Tehran.

UN Roadblocks

In the course of 2007, the United States will be sharply stepping up
pressure on many other countries to cut their economic and commercial links
with the Iranians. The reason is simple: trying to persuade the United
Nations Security Council to impose a package of meaningful sanctions on
Tehran is virtually impossible when the Russians and Chinese can veto any
meaningful proposals. The first such package, Resolution 1737, was passed
on December 23, 2006 but imposed only the mildest of measures despite
months of intense diplomatic wrangling. If, as seems likely, the mullahs
continue with their programme of uranium enrichment, then Washington will
find the path to another, more stinging, resolution far more arduous. This
will prompt the administration to look outside the Security Council,
relying on its own unilaterally imposed measures instead, to put pressure
on Tehran.

Even at the very best of times, prompting one's international allies to
abstain from doing business with another country is of course a very
difficult task indeed. A lot of trade, income and jobs can be at stake, and
Iran, as one of the largest and fastest-growing Middle Eastern economies is
no exception: last year the Iranians bought about #1 billion worth of
British goods and thousands of jobs are said to depend on this market. But
there is one very obvious further complication. Iran has vast amounts of
oil and natural gas: its oil reserves are estimated to hold 120 billion
barrels, which is surpassed only by Saudi Arabia, while the size of its
natural gas deposits are probably outsized only by to those of Russia. In
today's extremely tight energy market America's allies can ill-afford to
sacrifice their own stake in Iranian oilfields, knowing that if they do so
then the Chinese will not waste a minute in snapping them up. Iran
currently pump out around 3.5 million barrels of crude oil every day, of
which 2.3 million is exported into international markets. And with more
foreign investment, its vast reserves could probably produce a good deal
more.

Stark Choice

This presents governments and businesses in Japan, Pakistan and Europe with
a stark choice. Should they respect Washington's wishes by distancing
themselves from Iran's energy sector, looking elsewhere for lucrative
contracts to develop oil and natural gas fields and finding other sources
of energy supply? Or should they risk incurring American wrath by making
such investments, facing retaliatory measures in the U.S. market that could
potentially impose enormous damage on their business interests?

Hitherto the pendulum has been swinging marginally in Washington's favor.
Numerous Western oil companies have shied from investing in Iran for fear
of incurring American retribution, most notably BP, whose chairman, Lord
Browne, decreed in January 2005 that "politically Iran is not a
flyer...because 40% of BP is in the U.S. and we are the largest producer of
oil and gas in the U.S."

Browne would have been only too well aware that Washington has several ways
of sanctioning any companies that go too far inside Iran. It can, for
example, invoke domestic legislation that prevents any company with a
presence in the United States from doing business with another country that
supports terrorism. In 2006, the mere spectre of such laws has been
sufficient to frighten several European banks- ABN Amro, UBS, Credit Suisse
and Standard Chartered- into substantially reducing their presence in Iran.
Another option is simply to invoke the recently enacted Iran Freedom and
Support Act. Under the terms of this legislation, any foreign entity that
invests more than $20 million in Iran's energy sector risks provoking
draconian economic retaliation.

China's Predatory Tactics

But if in 2007 an energy shortage looms, and if China continues to deploy
highly predatory tactics to meet its own fast-growing need for oil and gas,
then America's allies will be more tempted than ever to openly defy
Washington's pressure. Since policy towards Iran impinges so strongly on
matters as vital as nuclear proliferation and terrorism, such defiance will
risk creating huge political rifts. In September the French announced that
they would probably not be severing their financial ties with Tehran. "We
generally prefer measures that are decided in the framework of the United
Nations. We have never liked unilateral sanctions," announced a spokesman
for the French foreign ministry.

The Pakistanis desperately need Iranian natural gas, and look ready to
build a pipeline in spite of immensely strong U.S. pressure not to do so.
Tokyo urgently needs Iranian oil, and has spent the last two years
committed to developing Azadegan, a giant Iranian oilfield, that in their
absence the Chinese will pounce on.

In fact, in today's tight energy market, sanctioning any country with oil
and gas deposits is looking increasingly futile. America's trade embargo
against Cuba, merely gives the Chinese and others an entirely free hand to
drive a stake hard and deep into Cuba's untapped oil fields.

Grand Bargain

So if Washington's policy of isolating Iran exacts such a heavy political
cost, then it is more important than ever before that the United States
finds ways of striking up a dialogue and a "grand bargain" of political
reconciliation with Tehran. Lifting economic sanctions, or at the very
least allowing American allies to invest as they think fit, should be seen
as real priority.

Of course any such approach would leave the Bush administration vulnerable
to charges that it is "appeasing" a callous and dangerous regime, one that
is openly committed to the destruction of Israel. But such accusations are
easily countered. For by opening up strong commercial links with the United
States, the Iranians would have much more to lose by initiating any
hostilities. Not only that, but the Iranians might recognize that their
critics also have an equal interest in maintaining the status quo rather
than trying to implement any regime change. So removing sanctions would
therefore undermine the chronic and extremely dangerous state of mistrust
between Iran and the United States.

Stronger trade links would also raise standards of living among ordinary
people in a way that is likely to undermine the mullahs' regime. Put money
in people's pockets and of course you change their ideas, expectations, and
values. Edward Gibbon famously wrote about the corrosive effects of
opulence on the Roman mentality, but one only has to look at the changes in
Britain, where a strand of plutocracy began to creep in more than a decade
back, to see the powerful changes it can bring about. If standards of
living were to rise dramatically in Iran over the coming years, the days of
the theocratic regime would be numbered. The regime would gradually lose
its Islamist character--something it was doing in any case before
Ahmadinejad's election last summer--and there would be strong popular
pressure for political freedoms to match economic liberties.

To meet Iran's challenge to America, it is more important than ever that
the White House follows what the Iraq Study Group has recommended:
negotiating with Tehran and then lifting sanctions against Iran.

[Roger Howard is the author of Iran Oil: The New Middle East Challenge to
America (IB Tauris, 2007) and a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.]
       
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 4 [southnews] Israel Plans/Denies Plans for Iran Nuke Strike
 
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2007 17:54:25 -0600 (CST)

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Israel has drawn up secret plans to use low-yield nuclear weapons to 
knock out Iran's uranium enrichment facilities, it was claimed last night.

According to a report in The Sunday Times, two Israeli air force 
squadrons are training to use nuclear "bunker busting" bombs to demolish 
Iran's heavily guarded enrichment programme. Israeli military commanders 
are said to believe that conventional strikes may not be sufficient to 
wipe out Iran's enrichment facilities, some of which are built beneath 
70ft of concrete and rock.

Under the plans conventional laser-guided bombs would open tunnels into 
the targets and then mini nuclear weapons would be fired, exploding deep 
underground. The nuclear-tipped, bunker-busting bombs would only be used 
if a conventional attack was ineffective, or if the US, which also wants 
to halt Iran's nuclear programme, fails to act. The leaking of the 
"plans" may well be designed to apply pressure on the US.

__________________________________________________________________--

Revealed: Israel plans nuclear strike on Iran

The Sunday Times January 07, 2007
Uzi Mahnaimi, New York and Sarah Baxter, Washington

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-2535310,00.html

ISRAEL has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment 
facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

Two Israeli air force squadrons are training to blow up an Iranian 
facility using low-yield nuclear "bunker-busters", according to several 
Israeli military sources.

The attack would be the first with nuclear weapons since 1945, when the 
United States dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The 
Israeli weapons would each have a force equivalent to one-fifteenth of 
the Hiroshima bomb.

Under the plans, conventional laser-guided bombs would open "tunnels" 
into the targets. "Mini-nukes" would then immediately be fired into a 
plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce the risk of 
radioactive fallout.

"As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike 
and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished," said one of the 
sources.

The plans, disclosed to The Sunday Times last week, have been prompted 
in part by the Israeli intelligence service Mossad's assessment that 
Iran is on the verge of producing enough enriched uranium to make 
nuclear weapons within two years.

Israeli military commanders believe conventional strikes may no longer 
be enough to annihilate increasingly well-defended enrichment 
facilities. Several have been built beneath at least 70ft of concrete 
and rock. However, the nuclear-tipped bunker-busters would be used only 
if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United States declined 
to intervene, senior sources said.

Israeli and American officials have met several times to consider 
military action. Military analysts said the disclosure of the plans 
could be intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, cajole 
America into action or soften up world opinion in advance of an Israeli 
attack.

Some analysts warned that Iranian retaliation for such a strike could 
range from disruption of oil supplies to the West to terrorist attacks 
against Jewish targets around the world.

Israel has identified three prime targets south of Tehran which are 
believed to be involved in Iran's nuclear programme:

# Natanz, where thousands of centrifuges are being installed for uranium 
enrichment

# A uranium conversion facility near Isfahan where, according to a 
statement by an Iranian vice-president last week, 250 tons of gas for 
the enrichment process have been stored in tunnels

# A heavy water reactor at Arak, which may in future produce enough 
plutonium for a bomb

Israeli officials believe that destroying all three sites would delay 
Iran's nuclear programme indefinitely and prevent them from having to 
live in fear of a "second Holocaust".

The Israeli government has warned repeatedly that it will never allow 
nuclear weapons to be made in Iran, whose president, Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad, has declared that "Israel must be wiped off the map".

Robert Gates, the new US defence secretary, has described military 
action against Iran as a "last resort", leading Israeli officials to 
conclude that it will be left to them to strike.

Israeli pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 
2,000-mile round trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible routes have 
been mapped out, including one over Turkey.

Air force squadrons based at Hatzerim in the Negev desert and Tel Nof, 
south of Tel Aviv, have trained to use Israel's tactical nuclear weapons 
on the mission. The preparations have been overseen by Major General 
Eliezer Shkedi, commander of the Israeli air force.

Sources close to the Pentagon said the United States was highly unlikely 
to give approval for tactical nuclear weapons to be used. One source 
said Israel would have to seek approval "after the event", as it did 
when it crippled Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak with airstrikes in 1981.

Scientists have calculated that although contamination from the 
bunker-busters could be limited, tons of radioactive uranium compounds 
would be released.

The Israelis believe that Iran's retaliation would be constrained by 
fear of a second strike if it were to launch its Shehab-3 ballistic 
missiles at Israel.

However, American experts warned of repercussions, including widespread 
protests that could destabilise parts of the Islamic world friendly to 
the West.

Colonel Sam Gardiner, a Pentagon adviser, said Iran could try to close 
the Strait of Hormuz, the route for 20% of the world's oil.

Some sources in Washington said they doubted if Israel would have the 
nerve to attack Iran. However, Dr Ephraim Sneh, the deputy Israeli 
defence minister, said last month: "The time is approaching when Israel 
and the international community will have to decide whether to take 
military action against Iran."

______________________________________________________________
The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily

Monday, 8, January, 2007 (19, Dhul Hijjah, 1427)

'Israel Plans Iran Nuke Strike'
Agencies -

LONDON, 8 January 2007 - Israel has drawn up plans to destroy Iranian 
uranium enrichment facilities with a tactical nuclear strike, a British 
newspaper said yesterday in a report.

The Sunday Times quoted several Israeli military sources as saying that 
two of the country's air force squadrons are training to use 
"bunker-busting" bombs for a single strike.

The story is "incorrect," Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev 
said. "Israel is 100 percent behind the international community's 
efforts to bring about an end to Iran's nuclear program. Israel totally 
supports Resolution 1737 and the international community must be ready 
to take even tougher measures against Iran," he said.

The Sunday Times, which in 1986 first revealed Israel's undeclared 
nuclear arsenal, said the plans involved sending conventional, 
laser-guided missiles to open up "tunnels" in the targets before 
"mini-nukes" with a force the equivalent of one-fifteenth of the 
Hiroshima bomb are fired in.

"As soon as the green light is given, it will be one mission, one strike 
and the Iranian nuclear project will be demolished," one of the unnamed 
sources was quoted as saying.

A senior Israeli official dismissed the report out of hand. "This is 
absurd information coming from a newspaper that has already in the past 
distinguished itself with sensationalist headlines that in the end 
amounted to nothing," the official, who asked not to be named, said.

"To think that we will launch an atomic attack against Iran, and on top 
of that that we would reveal it in advance to a foreign newspaper is 
doubly ridiculous," the official added.

"The Israeli policy on this dossier, recommended by former Prime 
Minister Ariel Sharon and followed by his successor Ehud Olmert, has not 
changed and Israel is not planning to attack Iran militarily," he said. 
"The solution that we recommend, along with the international community, 
is that of sanctions imposed on Iran."

Iran warned of dire consequences in the event of any such Israeli attack.

"Any action against the Islamic republic will not go without a response 
and the aggressor would regret the action very quickly," Foreign 
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters in Tehran. He 
described the Sunday Times report as "proof of the weakness of the enemy 
and will have no effect on the determination of the Islamic republic to 
continue its (nuclear) activities."

"This comes after the confession of the Israel prime minister who 
acknowledged that the Israeli regime possesses a nuclear weapon," 
Hosseini said. "It will convince world public opinion that the main 
threat for the world and the region is the Zionist regime," he added.

Israel and the United States, the Islamic republic's two archenemies, 
accuse Iran of seeking a nuclear weapon - a charge vehemently denied by 
Tehran, which refuses to bow to United Nations demands to halt uranium 
enrichment work.

Even after the UN Security Council agreed to impose its first-ever 
sanctions on Iran in December, Israel has pushed for tougher 
international action against the country.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has in the past sparked 
consternation by calling for Israel to be wiped off the map and also 
casting doubt on the scale of the Holocaust.

Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against Iran. 
In 1981, it took action against Iraq's nuclear reactor in Osirak.

Israel is itself considered the sole nuclear weapons power in the Middle 
East. It does not officially acknowledge that it has an arsenal although 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appeared to do so in an apparent lapse last 
year.

The three prime targets for Israeli action are said to be the uranium 
enrichment plant at Natanz, a uranium conversion facility near Isfahan 
and a heavy water reactor at Arak, The Sunday Times reported.

The nuclear option is being considered because Israeli military 
commanders believe conventional strikes may not be effective enough at 
destroying the well-defended facilities, it said.

The atomic weapons would explode deep underground to minimize the risk 
of radioactive fall-out, it added.

US and Israeli officials had met several times to consider military 
action, it added, saying military analysts assessed that disclosing the 
plans could put pressure on Iran to halt sensitive uranium enrichment 
activities.

It could also be designed to persuade the United States to act or 
"soften up" world opinion ahead of an Israeli pre-emptive strike. 
Israeli pilots are said to have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to 
train for the 3,220-km round-trip to the Iranian targets. Three possible 
routes have been mapped out, including one over Turkey, the report said.

The plan is similar to one said in a report in the New Yorker magazine 
last April to have been considered by the United States. The White House 
dismissed investigative reporter Seymour Hersh's article as "ill-informed."

Asked whether the Israeli Air Force was training for an attack against 
Iranian nuclear facility, the Israeli Army declined comment.

"I refuse to believe that anyone here would consider using nuclear 
weapons against Iran," Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent defense analyst and 
columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, said.

Israel Rejects Report It May Attack Iran

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6328899,00.html

Sunday January 7, 2007 6:16 PM

AP Photo JRL121

By DAVID STRINGER

Associated Press Writer

LONDON (AP) - A British newspaper reported Sunday that Israeli pilots 
are training to possibly strike as many as three targets in Iran with 
low-yield nuclear weapons, aiming to halt Tehran's controversial uranium 
enrichment program.

Israeli officials swiftly denied the report, which comes amid growing 
global concerns over an Iranian project that Washington and other 
governments believe is secretly intended to build atomic weapons.

Israel has never confirmed it has nuclear bombs itself, although 
analysts widely believe the Jewish state possesses a significant 
stockpile and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates referred to the 
Israeli atomic arsenal during his recent confirmation hearing.

Citing multiple unidentified Israeli military sources, The Sunday Times 
said plans had been drawn up in Israel for a potential attack using 
``bunker-buster'' nuclear weapons against atomic facilities at three 
sites south of the Iranian capital.

The U.S. and its allies suspect Tehran of trying to produce atomic 
weapons there - and the issue has taken on redoubled urgency because of 
Iranian leaders' statements calling for the destruction of Israel as 
well as their recent hosting of a conference at which the Holocaust was 
questioned.

Though Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has not explicitly ruled out a 
military strike on Iran's nuclear program, he says the issue should be 
dealt with diplomatically - and stresses that an Iranian nuclear bomb 
would be a problem for the entire world, not just Israel.

Some view Israeli officials' occasional implied threats as a means of 
pressuring the world community to take action itself, building on the 
recent U.N. Security Council decision to impose some economic sanctions 
on Tehran for its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment.

Iran claims its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, 
including generating electricity, and Iranian President Mahmoud 
Ahmadinejad has condemned the U.N. move as invalid and illegal.

The Sunday Times said Israeli military officials believed Iran could 
produce enough enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons within two years.

It said Israeli pilots had made flights to the British colony of 
Gibraltar while training for the 2,000-mile round trip that would be 
required to reach the Iranian targets.

Israeli pilots conducted a similar raid on Iraq in 1981, destroying a 
nuclear facility being built by Saddam Hussein's regime.

But Iran's program may be far more difficult to cripple as it is 
believed to be distributed over many sites and in part deep underground.

Olmert's office and the Israeli military declined to comment on report 
by The Sunday Times.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the report, saying 
Israel was supporting diplomatic efforts. ``If diplomacy succeeds, the 
problem can be solved peaceably,'' he said.

Some analysts viewed the report as another element of a delicate 
diplomatic dance.

``I refuse to believe that anyone here would consider using nuclear 
weapons against Iran,'' Reuven Pedatzur, a prominent Israeli defense 
analyst and columnist for the newspaper Haaretz, told The Associated 
Press in Jerusalem. ``It is possible that this was a leak done on 
purpose, as deterrence, to say: 'Someone better hold us back, before we 
do something crazy.'''

Ephraim Kam, a former senior Israeli intelligence official who is now at 
Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies, also 
suggested the report should not be taken literally.

``No reliable source would ever speak about this, certainly not to The 
Sunday Times,'' he said.

---

Associated Press writer Matti Friedman in Jerusalem contributed to this 
report.

The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Teheran: Israel will regret any attack
JPost staff and AP, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 7, 2007

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467680167&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter 

Previous 200 talkbacks

Israel on Sunday denied a British newspaper report that it is planning 
to attack Teheran's nuclear sites using low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."

Iran said any such attack would provoke a reaction and that "anyone who 
attacks will regret their actions very quickly." According to Iranian 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Muhammad Ali Husseini, the report, published 
in The Sunday Times, confirmed the danger posed by Israel's possession 
of nuclear weapons.

"This step even comes after the Israeli prime minister's admission, 
which revealed the fact that the Israeli regime has nuclear weapons in 
its possession," Husseini said, referring to Prime Minister Ehud 
Olmert's slip-of-the-tongue last month, when he hinted on German 
television that Israel was among the world's nuclear-equipped nations.

# Iran's moment of choice, by Margaret Beckett
# Editor's Picks: Decision time

"Now this will convince the international community that the main threat 
to the world, and to our region in particular, is the Zionist regime," 
Husseini added.

Olmert's office said it would not comment on The Sunday Times claim. "We 
don't respond to publications in The Sunday Times," said Miri Eisin, 
Olmert's spokeswoman.

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman also declined to comment on 
the report, which claimed that Israel had drawn up plans to destroy 
Iran's uranium enrichment facilities with tactical nuclear weapons.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev denied the report and said: 
"The focus of the Israeli activity today is to give full support to 
diplomatic actions and the expeditious and full implementation of 
Security Council Resolution 1737. If diplomacy succeeds, the problem [of 
Iran's nuclear drive] can be solved peaceably."

Earlier, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On urged Olmert to refute the report.

"It is impossible that Israel would plan to get caught up in another 
adventure after [our] experience in Lebanon, and act as the world's 
sheriff," Israel Radio quoted Gal-On as saying. She added that diplomacy 
was the only way to solve the problem.

According to the British report, military sources have disclosed details 
of two IAF squadrons that have been training to blow up an enrichment 
plant in Natanz using low-yield nuclear bunker busters.

A heavy-water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion plant at Isfahan 
would also be targeted, using conventional bombs, according to the 
newspaper.

Reportedly, the plan envisages conventional laser-guided bombs opening 
"tunnels" into the targets. Nuclear warheads would then be fired into 
the plant at Natanz, exploding deep underground to reduce radioactive 
fallout.

IAF pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the 
2,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the newspaper said, adding 
that three possible routes to Iran had been mapped out, including one 
over Turkey.

It suggested that Israel may be trying to scare Iran or to cajole the US 
into taking stronger action against Teheran's nuclear program.

However, the report went on to speculate that Israel may strike at 
Iran's nuclear facilities and pressure the Americans to agree with the 
move after the event.

Israeli analysts derided the report. Ephraim Kam, a strategic expert at 
Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Strategic Studies and 
formerly a senior IDF intelligence officer, said: "No reliable source 
would ever speak about this, certainly not to The Sunday Times."

In March 2005, the same newspaper reported that Israel had drawn up 
secret plans for a combined air-and-ground attack on targets in Iran if 
diplomacy failed to halt the Iranian nuclear program.

The newspaper then claimed that the inner cabinet of former prime 
minister Ariel Sharon had given "initial authorization" for an attack at 
a private meeting on his ranch in the Negev.

The Sunday Times reported that Israeli military officials believe Iran 
could produce enough enriched uranium to build nuclear weapons within 
two years.

This article can also be read at 
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467680167&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 

Y-Net (Israel) Is nuke attack realistic?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3349390,00.html

Experts say nuclear strike on Iranian targets feasible but unlikely

Roi Mandel
Published: 01.07.07, 21:02

"No country has launched an attack using nuclear weapons since Hiroshima 
and Nagasaki. If there's indeed a strike on Iran, the last thing the 
forces would want to do is to use nuclear arms, as long as there are 
other means," Deputy Director of the Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies 
Dr. Ephraim Kam told Ynet Sunday morning.

Kam's comments come in response to a Sunday Times report that Israel has 
formulated a plan to strike three Iranian nuclear facilities using 
tactical nuclear weapons.

According to Dr. Kam, the use of nuclear arms is an extreme step. "Even 
though this plan is realistic, I don't know if ultimately we'll see a 
strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Even in case a decision is taken to 
act, it doesn't have to be done with nuclear weapons - that's a 
far-reaching move."

Original Report
'Israel has plans for nuclear strike' / Dudi Cohen and Reuters
British paper reports Israel has secret plan to take out Iranian nuclear 
facilities with Israeli nukes; cites 'Israeli military sources' as 
saying pilots already training for mission against nuclear sites in 
Natanz, Arak and Isfahan. Iran in response: Aggressor will very quickly 
regret its acts
Full Story

As to the targets presented in the British report, Dr. Kam says that 
"there are dozens of targets related to the Iranian nuclear program, 
including three of four that are considered highly critical. If these 
specific targets are hit this would constitute a significant blow to the 
nuclear program.

Addressing the overall intelligence picture possessed by international 
intelligence organizations, Dr. Kam said that "I do not read 
intelligence information, but logic dictates that there cannot be a full 
intelligence picture. It's highly unlikely that comprehensive and 
accurate intelligence information regarding Iran's nuclear project exists."

'Criminal neglect'

Former Air Force Commander Eitan Ben Eliyahu says that "the defense 
establishment is prepared for all possibilities, but there's a great 
distance between that and the concrete details in the Sunday Times."

Similarly to Dr. Kam, Ben Eliyahu also believes that the Iranian nuclear 
program features several central sites and that hitting them would stop 
or at least significantly disrupt Tehran's nuclear project.

"When talking about more realistic strikes or a more balanced military 
action we focus on those three sites - Natanz, Arak and Isfahan. If they 
are hit, the program would be annulled or significantly delayed.

Ben Eliyahu refused to address the British newspaper report directly, 
but argued that the defense system's duty is to prepare for the possibly 
of such strike.

"It would be an irresponsible, criminal neglect if a certain country 
presents a high-likelihood threat against Israel without us preparing 
for it. I don't even want to imagine the possibility of facing a 
commission of inquiry in the future because we didn't prepare for the 
Iranian problem."

Regarding the claim in the British report that the Air Force engaged in 
long-range training in Gibraltar, Ben Eliyahu said that the Air Force 
has been preparing for long-range strikes for many years now:

"Ten years ago the Air Force already started to undertake this kind of 
training - not only against Iran but also Iraq and distant targets in 
northern Syria. One of the clear signs for it is that 15 years ago, in 
the framework of budgetary constraints, we made do with 25 long-range 
F-15A bombers instead of purchasing 50 other planes."

The Jerusalem Post Internet Edition

Background: If Israel had tactical nukes, would it use them against Iran?
Yaakov Katz, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 8, 2007

A nuclear weapon has not been used since 1945, when the US Armed Forces 
dropped two such bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 
during World War II. Now, according to London's Sunday Times, Israel is 
preparing for its own Hiroshima and has drawn up plans to not only 
introduce the weapon of mass destruction into the Middle East but even 
use it against Iran.

The newspaper report, improbable as it might sound, should not be 
immediately dismissed. While Israel is publicly rooting for diplomatic 
efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program, there is no doubt that the IDF - 
and particularly the Air Force - are preparing for the possibility that 
Israel might decide to launch a military strike against the Islamic 
Republic's nuclear facilities.

But would Israel use tactical nuclear weapons - if it had them - to do 
so? According to foreign reports, Israel has a large arsenal of nuclear 
weapons and according to the Sunday Times report, has been training with 
low-yield warheads that are just large enough to cause the necessary 
destruction at Iran's nuclear facilities, but also just small enough to 
contain the blast and prevent major collateral damage and fallout.

While it would be difficult to completely destroy all of Iran's several 
dozen nuclear facilities, senior officials and IAF officers believe that 
a successful strike on a number of key elements of the nuclear program - 
such as the uranium enrichment center in Natanz, the heavy water 
facility at Arak and the Isfahan nuclear technology center - would be 
enough to stop the country's race for nuclear power.

Assuming strikes on these facilities would suffice in at least 
temporarily stopping Iran's atomic race, there are still many hurdles 
along the way, some of which could potentially be passed by using 
tactical nuclear weapons.

The Sunday Times report is not the first to raise the "tactical nuclear" 
possibility. Last April, Seymour M. Hersh wrote in the New Yorker 
magazine that the United States was considering using bunker-buster 
bombs tipped with nuclear warheads to strike at Iran's nuclear facilities.

If Israel decided to attack Iran, in addition to the difficulty in 
flying directly to the country and neutralizing its air defenses, the 
IAF would also have to succeed in penetrating bunkers at the nuclear 
facilities - some known to be dozens of feet below ground and reinforced 
by concrete and steel.

According to Israeli officials, while an air strike on Iran could be 
successful, the IAF would need exact intelligence on each target and on 
the type of bunker, its depth, and what type of reinforcements it 
featured. Those pieces of information are crucial for choosing the type 
and number of bombs the IAF would need to drop.
This is where tactical nuclear weapons could conceivably come in.

While bunker buster bombs would still be needed, the powerful blast of a 
low-yield nuke could do the trick in further penetrating and destroying 
the underground facility. If Israel indeed has nuclear weapons and the 
ability to manufacture low-yield warheads, as the Sunday Times report 
claims, this option would definitely be under consideration.

While the use of nuclear weapons might be tempting - due to their 
strength - there is a downside that could in the end tilt the scales in 
the direction of conventional weapons. While Israel is suspected of 
possessing nuclear weapons, the official Israeli policy has for years 
been not to be the first country in the Middle East to introduce nuclear 
weapons into the region. In addition, Israel would be reluctant to use a 
WMD that could set off a regional war.

If, however, Iran is Israel's greatest existential threat ever, as Prime 
Minister Ehud Olmert claims it is, then even the hitherto unthinkable 
might be considered - even tactical nukes - when it comes to Israel's 
survival.

This article can also be read at 
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1167467682469&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull 

www.jnewswire.com
Jerusalem Newswire
Israel planning to nuke Iran's nukes - Sunday Times

By Stan Goodenough
Jan 07, 2007

In a story that topped headlines in all Israel's news media Sunday, the 
widely read and highly influential London Sunday Times reported that the 
Israel Air Force was preparing to carry out a nuclear attack on 
Iranian's nuclear plants.

IAF pilots had been carrying out special training in Gibraltar and three 
flight paths to target sites in Iran had already been mapped out.

The plan, according to the paper, is for Israel to use bunker-busting 
bombs to drill 'tunnels" through thickly reinforced steel and concrete 
shields at the Natanz plant, and then drop relatively small tactical 
nuclear bombs into the actual facility, destroying it.

Conventional bombs will be used on two of the country's other sites - at 
Isfahan and Arak.

If employed, it would be the first time that nuclear weapons were used 
in war since 1945. The Israeli nukes for this operation are thought to 
render about one-fifteenth of the yield of the atomic bomb dropped on 
Hiroshima.

Israel's plan has been formulated as Tehran continues its race to 
acquire nuclear know-how unperturbed by the international community's 
half-hearted effort to boycott the Islamic Republic into compliance.

The growing fear in Israel is that the world will sit by and allow yet 
another genocide of the Jews.

While Israeli governments have long insisted that Israel will not be the 
first to introduce nuclear weapons into the region, the nation feels 
that it has its back to the wall in the face of increasingly determined 
Islam-driven efforts to destroy it.

Aljazeera "It's time for the world to stop looking at the Arab world 
through Israel's eyes!!!"
1/6/2007 7:13:00 AM GMT

http://www.aljazeera.com/cgi-bin/news_service/article_full_story.asp?service_ID=12527 

Why is it that those who resist an illegal occupation of their land are 
considered freedom fighters except for those who resist an illegal 
Israeli occupation? In that case they are considered terrorists.

Why is it that when Israel abducts more than 9000 Palestinians this is 
called an arrest but when Hamas or Hezbollah abducts 2 Israeli soldiers 
it is called a kidnap?

Why is it when Hamas or Hezbollah fires a rocket into Israel it is 
considered an act of provocation but when Israel deliberately shells a 
Palestinian beach and kills 7 members of one family it is considered an 
act of self-defense?

Why does there exist such a double-standard? Why is that?

Why is it okay for the United States to supply Israel with cluster bombs 
and precision guided missiles and billions more of military weapons but 
wrong for Iran or Syria to supply Hezbollah with Kytusha rockets?

Why is it wrong for Iran to cultivate nuclear weapons when its neighbor, 
Israel, has hundreds of nuclear weapons aimed at it on land and on sea?

Why is it that UN Security Resolutions against Hezbollah must be 
complied with but those against Israel are ignored?

Why the double standard?

How long can we go on accepting this double standard?

If the United States wants to win this war on terrorism then getting 
tough with Israel would be the best step they could take. Politically, 
it is a hard choice, but ultimately a sensible and realistic one that 
would bring about true peace and justice in the Middle East.

Instead of answering I thought it would be better to leave you dear 
readers do that.

I think many of you would like to engage in an open discussion to answer 
the above questions sent to me by one of the constant visitors of the 
message board

Sheikha Sajida
The Sheikha can be reached via email at Content@Aljazeera.com

The archives of South News can be found at
http://southmovement.alphalink.com.au/southnews/ 
*****************************************************************
 5 Iran to Produce Atomic Fuel on Industrial Scale Soon 
 
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 08:59:43 -0600 (CST)

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601100&sid=aJ3Zzw4gTk5E&refer=germany

Iran to Produce Atomic Fuel on Industrial Scale Soon (Update1)

By Marc Wolfensberger

Jan. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Iran will start producing nuclear fuel on an
industrial scale soon, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, in a new
snub to the efforts of the U.S. and its allies to persuade the Islamic
Republic to abandon its atomic program.

Iran is determined to ``achieve peaks of success and defend its
interests powerfully,'' the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency
quoted Ahmadinejad as telling supporters in Khuzestan province today,
in a reference to the nuclear project. The newswire didn't elaborate on
Ahmadinejad's comments on industrial-scale production.

Iranian scientists in April 2006 successfully produced nuclear fuel on
a laboratory scale, using two cascades each made up of 164 centrifuges.
The country later announced plans to install an additional 3,000
centrifuges by March this year, paving the way for industrial-scale
production in the face of opposition from the U.S. and European
partners.

On Dec. 23 the United Nations Security Council unanimously voted to
impose sanctions on Iran over its atomic program, including a ban on
acquisition of materials and technology that might be used to build
nuclear weapons. It also froze the financial assets of named
individuals and groups associated with the program and gave 60 days for
Iran to halt uranium enrichment. The Iranian government says the
project is intended to produce fuel for power stations.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear organization,
in March 2006 referred Iran to the Security Council after three years
of agency inspections failed to declare Iran's atomic work peaceful. In
November 2003, the UN agency criticized Iran for concealing parts of
its program for 18 years.

`Not Afraid'

The U.S. and its allies ``should know that our nation is not afraid of
them,'' Ahmadinejad, pronounced ah-ma-deen-ah-ZHAD, told supporters.
``They can neither make Iranians give up through threat, bullying,
pressure and issuing of worthless resolutions, nor threatening them
with sanctions.''

Iranian government spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham yesterday told IRNA
that ``more transparent information'' over the installation of the
3,000 centrifuges will be given during Feb. 1-10 celebrations that mark
the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Iran is the second-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries, which pumps 40 percent of the world's oil. The
country sits on one side of the Straits of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf.
Nations including the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
ship most of their crude exports through the waterway.

Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator, will start a two-day visit
to China tomorrow, during which he will meet Chinese President Hu
Jintao, IRNA reported separately. The talks will focus on ``matters of
bilateral concern,'' IRNA said, without elaborating.

To contact the reporter on this story: Marc Wolfensberger in Tehran at
mwolfens@bloomberg.net Last Updated: January 3, 2007 10:35 EST
*****************************************************************
 6 Israel denies plan to hit Iran enrichment plant with tactical nukes 
 
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 08:55:35 -0600 (CST)

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http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/810130.html

Last update - 15:07 07/01/2007       

Israel denies plan to hit Iran enrichment plant with tactical nukes 

By Haaretz Service and Agencies

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem denied Sunday a report in the
British media that Israel has drawn up secret plans to destroy Iran's
uranium enrichment facilities with conventional and tactical nuclear
weapons.

Citing what it said were several Israel Defense Forces sources, the
British newspaper The Sunday Times said two Israel Air Force squadrons
had been training to blow up an enrichment plant in Natanz using
low-yield nuclear "bunker busters."

Two other sites, a heavy water plant at Arak and a uranium conversion
plant at Isfahan, would be targeted with conventional bombs, the
Sunday Times said.
 
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said that Israel wanted the
issue of Iran's nuclear program resolved through diplomacy.

"The focus of the Israeli activity today is to give full support to
diplomatic actions and the expeditious and full implementation of
Security Council resolution 1737. If diplomacy succeeds, the problem
can be solved peaceably."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office declined earlier to respond to the
report.

"We don't comment on stories like this in the Sunday Times," said
Olmert's spokeswoman, Miri Eisin.

Minister of Strategic Threats Avigdor Lieberman also declined to
comment.

In Tehran, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini
told a news conference that the newspaper report "will make clear to
the world public opinion that the Zionist regime is the main menace to
global peace and the region."

He said "any measure against Iran will not be left without a response
and the invader will regret its act immediately."

The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously last month to
slap sanctions on Iran to try to stop uranium enrichment that Western
powers fear could lead to making bombs. Tehran insists its plans are
peaceful and says it will continue enrichment.

Israel has refused to rule out pre-emptive military action against
Iran along the lines of its 1981 air strike against an atomic reactor
in Iraq, though many analysts believe Iran's nuclear facilities are
too much for Israel to take on alone.

The newspaper said the Israeli plan envisaged conventional
laser-guided bombs opening "tunnels" into the targets. Nuclear
warheads would then be used fired into the plant at Natanz, exploding
deep underground to reduce radioactive fallout.

IAF pilots have flown to Gibraltar in recent weeks to train for the
2,000 mile round-trip to the Iranian targets, the Sunday Times said,
and three possible routes to Iran have been mapped out including one
over Turkey.

However, it also quoted sources as saying a nuclear strike would only
be used if a conventional attack was ruled out and if the United
States declined to intervene. Disclosure of the plans could be
intended to put pressure on Tehran to halt enrichment, the paper
added.

Washington has said military force remains an option while insisting
that its priority is to reach a diplomatic solution.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be
"wiped off the map." Israel, widely believed to have the Middle East's
only nuclear arsenal, has said it will not allow Iran to acquire
nuclear weapons.

Israel has long maintained a policy of nuclear ambiguity. Recent
perceived slips by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have reinforced
suspicions that Israel does have nuclear arms, but Jerusalem has stuck
to its line that it will not be the first to introduce atomic weapons
to the region.

The Sunday Times newspaper was the first to report on Israel's nuclear
capabilities in 1986, based on leaked information by Mordechai Vanunu,
a former employee at the Dimona research plant.

Following the expose, Vanunu was snatched by Israeli agents in Italy
and returned to Israel, where served an 18-year prison sentence. He
was released in April 2004.
*****************************************************************
 7 IRIB PERSIAN NEWS: Iran willing to talk with Group 5+1 

2007/01/08   

Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Mohammad-Ali Hosseini, said on Sunday 
that Iran is willing to hold talks with the five permanent 
members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany (5+1 
group) on the nuclear dispute.
 
He made the remark at this week's briefing, in response to a
question, whether Iran has any plan to negotiate with the Group
5+1 after the Resolution 1737.
 
Hosseini said that diplomacy is something that can never be left
aside, adding that all capacities should be used to discuss the
nuclear issue with representatives of various countries.
 
Concerning the will of Iran and Egypt to resume relations, he
said that given the significant status of both states in the
region, there are good grounds for cooperation.
 
Turning to the favorable cooperation between the two nations on
the international scene and the economic and cultural domains,
he noted, "To expand mutual ties we should witness Egypt's
measures to this end. Removal of the existing obstacles will
help enhance level of bilateral ties."
 
In response to a question about composition of a committee to be
established to revise Iran-IAEA relations, he said that the
committee will be formed by Secretary of Supreme National
Security Council (SNSC) Ali Larijani.
 
"A number of officials from Foreign Ministry and other
organizations will participate in the committee to propose their
plans. Necessary decision will be made as per the proposals.
 
Replying to another question about negotiations of several
officials from regional states with the Zionist regime of
Israel, he said that it conveys the general concern of the
regional states on the need for regional peace and security.
 
"Since the Zionist regime has always accounted for the
insecurity, instability and threats posed to the regional
countries, so that such negotiations would be futile," he added.
 
The Spokesman underlined that the interests of regional states
cannot be secured through talks with the Zionist regime, the
major parameter of instability and insecurity in the region.
 
mk   

  Copyright 2004, All Rights Reserved By Islamic Republic of Iran 
Broadcasting News Network Sponsored By IRIB News Computer Center. 
E-Mail: Info@IRIBNEWS.ir     
*****************************************************************
 8 AFP: Khamenei says Iran will pursue its nuclear rights 

 Monday January 8, 12:20 PM 
  
  [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei]   

TEHRAN (AFP) - Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said
that Iran would not refrain from its right to use nuclear
technology, shrugging off a UN resolution against its
controversial atomic plans.

"The Iranian nation undoubtedly will not refrain from their
right (to nuclear energy) and the country's officials do not
have the right to refrain from the nation's right," Khamenei
said in a speech on state television Monday.

On December 23, the United Nations Security Council imposed its 
first ever sanctions on Iran over Tehran's failure to heed calls 
to suspend uranium enrichment, a process that can be used both to 
make nuclear fuel or a nuclear bomb.

Iran vehemently denies charges that it is seeking nuclear
weapons, insisting that it wants to enrich uranium only for
peaceful energy ends.

In his speech Khamenei also warned against what he called a
US-UK-Arab alliance against Iran.

"If the Americans, British and one or more Arab countries sit
down and discuss Iran's nuclear energy to see whether not to
allow it or approve it or relieve Israel's concerns in this
regard, this would be a political mistake" by Islamic
governments, he said.

"Islamic countries' statesmen, especially those in the region,
should know that Islam's glory and the Islamic republic's power
is a support for them," Khamenei said.

"The occupying Zionist regime always blackmails the United
States, and in return it blackmails some Arab governments. If
these governments rely on a great power they will never have to
be blackmailed."

He warned Arab nations to beware falling into a trap.

"This alliance, with the cooperation of two dirty and sinister
governments, is against a nation that Islam is proud of -- a
nation that has sacrificed a lot. Therefore Arab countries must
be careful about this dangerous trap."

Monday's broadcast showed Khamenei to be in apparent good
health, scotching rumours that surfaced Thursday on a US
neoconservative academic's website that he had died.

On Sunday the foreign ministry dismissed the rumours, saying
Khamenei was "in good health".

Khamenei, 67, who has the final say on foreign policy and
military matters, has been Iran's supreme leader since 1989.
 
AFP
*****************************************************************
 9 UPI: Analysis: Iran runs Iraq terror network
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

1/8/2007 11:58:00 AM -0500

 By CLAUDE SALHANI UPI International Editor

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Newly obtained intelligence reports
indicate Iran is increasing its efforts to destabilize Iraq just
as President George W. Bush is reviewing his policy options. 

While Bush is looking at changing key military and political
personnel and is considering deploying 20,000 to 40,000
additional U.S. troops in a last-ditch effort to try and impose
security in the chaos that Iraq has become, new intelligence
reveals Iran may have other plans. 

"Al-Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards is
stepping up terrorism and encouraging sectarian violence in
Iraq," says Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy
Consulting in Washington, an Iranian dissident who keeps close
contact with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MeK. 

It was Jafarzadeh who first revealed the existence of the
Islamic Republic's clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak
in August 2002. 

"There is a sharp surge in Iran's sponsorship of terrorism and
sectarian violence in the past few months," said Jafarzadeh at a
conference organized by the Iran Policy Committee, a lobby group
pushing to get the MeK off the State Department's terrorist
list. 

Retired U.S. Air Force General Thomas McInerney, an IPC member,
said Jafarzadeh's presentation was "powerful evidence" that Iran
has become the primary killer of U.S. forces in Iraq. 

The spike in terror activities in Iraq according to Jafarzadeh
is the work of the al-Quds Force, which the Iranian dissident
calls "the deadliest force" within the Revolutionary Guards.
Al-Quds Force is responsible for what they call
"extra-territorial activities," which Jafarzadeh says is a
euphemism for terrorism. 

"Nothing but terrorism," says Jafarzadeh. "All they do is
terrorism. This deadly force has been heavily involved in Iraq." 

Al-Quds Force is headquartered in the building that once used to
house the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and where American diplomats
were held captive for 444 days shortly after the Islamic
revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979. It is from here,
according to MeK sources, that al-Quds Force directs all its
activities in Iraq. 

They secretly build improvised explosive devises, or IEDs,
train, finance and arm an extensive terrorist network in Iraq,
says Jafarzadeh. "Iran's goal is to create insecurity in Iraq
and compel the coalition forces to leave in order to establish
an Islamic Republic in Iraq." 

This vast Iranian terrorist network is commanded by a
brigadier-general by the name of Abtahi, who formerly served in
Lebanon. Abtahi is based in the Fajr Base in Ahwaz, in
southwestern Iran. He is aided by a number of senior commanders,
according to Jafarzadeh. 

"Iran has been heavily involved, to say the least, in Iraq;
destabilizing the situation there, sending arms, ammunition,
intelligence agents, providing training since 2003, not to
mention the more than two decades of opportunity the ayatollahs
had to network," he said. 

Al-Quds Force (which means Jerusalem Force) has established a
command and control center in Iraq from where it runs its terror
network. The Iraq network is under the command of Jamal Jaafar
Mohammad Ali Ebrahimi, who is also known as Mehdi Mohandes. 

According to the MeK, Mohandes was responsible for planning the
bombing of the U.S. and the U.K. embassies in Kuwait in the
1980s. 

Interpol placed Mohandes on its wanted list in 1984. He has not
traveled outside Iran since. until 2003. when he moved to Iraq.
Ebrahimi is considered a veteran and senior officer of the
Revolutionary Guards. He has completed the command curriculum at
the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Imam Hossein University,
and is currently on the payroll of al-Quds Force. 

The new terror network established in Iraq, still according to
Jafarzadeh, was named "Hezbollah," after Lebanon's own Shiite
movement with which Mohandes, aka Ebrahimi, is allegedly in
contact. The network is operational in Basra, in the south, and
in the capital, Baghdad. 

Members of the outfit undergo military and "terrorist" training
in Basra. Their arms and munitions are smuggled to Basra through
the Shalamche border passage. 

Sustaining such a large-scale terror network demands huge sums
of money. According to MeK sources, Abtahi, the
brigadier-general, "sends millions and millions of dollars from
Ahwaz into Iraq every month." The money is transported to Iraq
by a special courier who picks up the funds in Ahwaz and carries
them across the Shalamche border where "affiliate" border guards
whisk him through. 

Gen. McInerney urged George Bush to confront Iran's role
directly if he wants to stabilize Iraq. 

"Just sending more troops to Iraq doesn't solve the problem
unless you attack this problem (of Iran's involvement),"
McInerney said. "And it must be attacked in a covert way in
Iran. We're going against a very formidable enemy that thinks we
will not respond." 

President Bush's intended surge in Iraq may be too little, too
late in addressing a situation that requires major surgery
rather than a band-aid. It is comparable to what one observer
termed "the good doctor theory." That is when the patient is
terminally ill and no amount of medicine or medical intervention
will cure him, but the good doctor feels compelled to administer
drugs to the patient just to feel he is doing something. 

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 10 UPI: Iran would respond to any attack - warning
 	
1/8/2007 11:15:00 AM -0500

TEHRAN, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- An Iranian official warned Sunday that
his country would react immediately to any attacks on it,
including its nuclear facilities. 

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini
appeared to be responding to a report in the London Sunday Times
that Israel was preparing for an air strike to knock out the
Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Hosseini said that "Israel's possible attack on Iranian nuclear
facilities will not affect the will of the people of Iran to
continue civilian nuclear activities," the Russian RIA Novosti
news agency reported from the Iranian capital. 

"According to Hosseini, any aggression against Iran will not be
left unanswered and the aggressor will instantly regret about
its actions," the RIA Novosti report said. 

The Sunday Times report said the Israeli Air Force was preparing
to strike up to three nuclear facilities in Iran, possibly even
using low-yield nuclear weapons. However, the Israeli government
immediately denied the report. 

International tensions over the Iranian nuclear issue have risen
ever since Iran made clear it would not adhere to the demands of
a United Nations Security Council resolution passed on Dec. 23
that requested all U.N. member nations to end their trade in
nuclear technology with Tehran. 

In his comments Sunday, Iranian spokesman Hosseini added that
his country would continue work with the International Atomic
Energy Agency, which is based in Vienna, Austria, under the
guidelines established by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 11 IRNA: Japan calls for nuclear talks between Iran, Group 5+1 - 

, Jan 7, IRNA

Director General for Middle East and African department of
Japanese foreign ministry Norihiro Okuda on Sunday called for
continued nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1.

 Okuda who is visiting Tehran met his Iranian counterpart as
well as deputy foreign minister for Asia, Pacific and
Commonwealth affairs Mehdi Safari.

 The Iranian and Japanese officials called for developing
Tehran-Tokyo cooperation.

 Okuda said that Japan recognizes Iranian rights for peaceful
use of nuclear energy and described Iran as an important state
in the Middle East region and major supplier of energy for Japan.

 The Japanese official also acknowledged Iran as a vital trade
partner for Japan calling for development of relations and
exchange of views between officials of the two countries.

 Emphasizing Iran's rights for civilian use of nuclear energy,
the Iranian official explained the legal and logical bases for
the national nuclear program.
*****************************************************************
 12 [NYTr] US Stages Another Mock Air Strike on N.Korea
 
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 01:22:53 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
Prensa Latina, Havana
http://www.plenglish.com

Another US Mock Air Raid against North Korea

Pyongyang, Jan 7 (Prensa Latina) The US launched another mock air strike
against the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, using B-52 warplanes,
local media denounced on Sunday.

A report from KCNA news agency revealed that Washington warplanes, which
can carry nuclear weapons, flew about 2485 miles of distance from their
base in Guam Island, in the Pacific Ocean.

The B-52 warplanes crossed in pairs over the sky of South Korea, carrying
out a mock air raid against the DPRK4s ground targets, added the note.

The drill was carried out in coordination with F-16 and A-10 warplane
flights belonging to the 7th US Air Unit, stationed in the south part of
the peninsula.

This is the first mock air raid carried out by Washington this year in the
Korean peninsula.

hr ajs jhb

PL-4
       
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*****************************************************************
 13 Korea Herald: Seoul mulls envoy for N.K. summit   
        
 South Korea's point man on North Korea said yesterday the
government might consider sending a special envoy to North Korea
to arrange a second inter-Korean summit and mend strained ties
following the communist country's nuclear test last year, Yonhap
News agency reported.

 Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung also said the establishment
of a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula should be the No. 1
topic of the envisioned talks if North Korean leader Kim Jong-il
honors his earlier promise to hold the meeting. 

In an interview with Yonhap, he stressed that it is desirable
for the South and North Korean leaders to hold summit meetings
on a regular basis to discuss the future of the Korean people in
a more productive and responsible manner. 

"As U.S. President Bush mentioned, the peace regime should
include the declaration of the end of the Korean War. As it is
directly related to peace in Northeast Asia, the task should be
discussed seriously," Lee said.

 The 1950-53 war ended with an armistice between the
American-led U.N. Command, North Korea and its main ally China.
South Korea is not a signatory to the treaty. The two Koreas are
still technically in a state of war because of the absence of a
peace treaty.

 His remarks come as keen attention is being paid to whether the
Seoul government will attempt to make a surprise move to realize
a second inter-Korean summit ahead of a presidential election in
December. 

But Lee Jae-joung made clear that the government has "no
concrete program" to arrange a second inter-Korean summit,
although the meeting should be held as North Korean leader Kim
Jong-il promised during the summit with former South Korean
President Kim Dae-jung on June 15, 2000.

 "But now is not a good time, as we are dedicated to the
six-party talks and the international community is strengthening
sanctions against North Korea," the Anglican
priest-turned-politician said. 

The six parties are the two Koreas, China, the United States,
Japan and Russia.

 On Monday, Foreign Minister Song Min-soon said the United
States and North Korea have agreed in principle to hold talks on
a dispute over U.S. financial restrictions against the communist
regime in the week starting Jan. 22.

 Song made the remark after arriving from Washington, where he
held talks with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on
Friday.

 The financial dispute was the main stumbling block that
deadlocked last month's six-nation talks on North Korea's
nuclear program. 

The North insisted that Washington lift the financial
restrictions first before disarmament discussions can begin in
earnest.

 Financial experts from Washington and Pyongyang held separate
talks on the row on the sidelines of the nuclear talks but no
progress was reported.

 The two sides have agreed to continue the talks, but did not
set a date.

 Song did not provide specifics, including where the talks will
be held. News reports have said the venue will be either New
York or Beijing.


2007.01.09
*****************************************************************
 14 Korea Herald: Six-party talks end without results   
        
The six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear program ended in 
Beijing Dec. 22 without any progress being made. The four-day 
talks were the first in 13 months and took place in a highly 
charged atmosphere due to North Korea¡¯s test of a nuclear device 
last October. The participants also failed to set a date for the 
talks to resume. 

The most sensitive issue during this round of talks was the 
United States'strong financial sanctions against Pyongyang, 
especially the freezing of North Korean deposits in the Banco 
Delta Asia in Macau. 

North Korea demanded the financial restrictions be lifted before 
talks on denuclearization could proceed. But the United States 
has accused the BDA of helping North Korea circulate counterfeit 
U.S. currency and refuses to relate the two issues. 

"We have entered the talks while U.S. sanctions continued. Thus 
we have demanded that sanctions be lifted first to discuss the 
implementation of the joint statement," Kim Kye-gwan, North 
Korea's chief negotiator, said to reporters after the talks. 

Christopher Hill, the chief U. 

S. negotiator, complained about North Korea's attitude. "They had 
a hard time talking about anything but the BDA," Hill told 
reporters. 

Since the talks resumed as a result of North Korea's nuclear 
weapons test, which resulted in harsh sanctions for the North, 
the negotiators were hoping to convince the North to denuclearize 
in exchange for financial benefits. However, due to the 
disagreements, the talks remain deadlocked. 

Some pessimists expressed doubts about whether there would be 
another round of talks in the future. But China's chief 
negotiator, Wu Dawei, seemed optimistic at the closing ceremony. 
"The parties agreed to recess and report to capitals and to 
reconvene at the earliest opportunity," said Wu. 

By Yun Hyo-won (ally@heraldm.com) 

2007.01.08
*****************************************************************
 15 Korea Times: Too Hasty to Send Special Envoy to N. Korea

Hankooki.com > The Korea Times > Nation   

By Lee Jin-woo Staff Reporter 

Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said Monday it is not the
appropriate time to send a special envoy to North Korea for
talks on a second inter-Korean summit. 

He said he would need time to monitor the outcome of the
six-party talks on the North's nuclear weapons program. 

``If necessary, we should consider sending a special envoy to
the North,'' Lee said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.
``However, I don't believe it's the right time to make such a
decision as the North has not felt the need to do so.'' 

Lee, who took office on Dec. 11, said sending a special envoy
should be aimed at not only arranging a second inter-Korean
summit, but mending strained ties between the two Koreas
following the North's nuclear test last October. 

Pyongyang returned to the nuclear negotiations following its
underground nuclear blast on Oct. 9, but the China-hosted talks
ended last month without any significant progress. 

The minister said the establishment of a peace regime on the
Korean Peninsula should be the No. 1 agenda of a second
inter-Korean summit, if North Korean leader Kim Jong-il decides
to keep his promise to hold the second summit. 

``As U.S. President Bush mentioned, the peace regime should
include the declaration of the end of the Korean War. As it is
directly related to peace in Northeast Asia, the task should be
discussed in a serious manner,'' Lee was quoted as saying by
Yonhap. 

The first inter-Korean summit between former President Kim
Dae-jung and the reclusive North Korean leader was held in
Pyongyang in June 2000, but Kim Jong-il did not keep his promise
to make a return visit. 

Lee's remarks came amid rumors that the South Korean government
has made efforts to realize a second inter-Korean summit ahead
of the Dec. 19 presidential election. 

The minister once again made it clear that the government has no
concrete plan for arranging a summit at the moment. 

The 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice. South Korea is
not a signatory to the treaty. The two Koreas are still
technically in a state of war because of the absence of a peace
treaty. 

things@koreatimes.co.kr01-08-2007 17:41         

*****************************************************************
 16 UPI: Seoul may send envoy to North for summit
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

1/8/2007 7:14:00 AM -0500

SEOUL, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- South Korea may consider sending a
special envoy to North Korea to arrange a cross-border summit, a
senior Seoul official said Monday. 

"An exchange of special envoys may be needed not only to arrange
a second inter-Korean summit but also to mend strained ties
following the North's nuclear test (last year)," Unification
Minister Lee Jae-joung said in an interview with Seoul's Yonhap
News Agency. 

"The establishment of a peace regime on the Korean peninsula
should be the number one topic of a second inter-Korean summit,"
said the South's pointman on the North. 

The remarks come amid speculation that Seoul was pushing for an
inter-Korean summit to influence South Korea's presidential
election later this year. 

Seoul's polling agencies say an inter-Korean summit can boost
the popularity of the ruling camp which has sought
reconciliation with the North. According to surveys, more than
70 percent of South Korean people expect the opposition and
anti-communist Grand National Party to take power in December's
presidential election. 

North and South Korea held their first-ever summit talks in 2000
which produced landmark agreements on cross-border cooperation
and exchanges. But the cross-border reconciliatory mood has been
overshadowed by the North's missile and nuclear tests last year.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 17 [NukeNet] Kissinger, Schultz, Nunn Call For Nuclear Abolition
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:13:21 -0800

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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)



http://acdn.france.free.fr/spip/article.php3?id_article=261&lang=en
       A BIPARTISAN PLEA FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ABOLITION
       A World Free of Nuclear Weapons
       By GEORGE P. SHULTZ, WILLIAM J. PERRY, HENRY
A. KISSINGER and SAM NUNN - With a Commentary By
David Krieger


       Publication date : 5 January 2007


       Below is an impassioned call for US
leadership to abolish nuclear weapons by a
bipartisan foursome of prominent former US Cold
Warriors.


       The Wall Stree Journal- January 4, 2007;
Page A15

       Nuclear weapons today present tremendous
dangers, but also an historic opportunity. U.S.
leadership will be required to take the world to
the next stage - to a solid consensus for
reversing reliance on nuclear weapons globally as
a vital contribution to preventing their
proliferation into potentially dangerous hands,
and ultimately ending them as a threat to the
world.

       Nuclear weapons were essential to
maintaining international security during the Cold
War because they were a means of deterrence. The
end of the Cold War made the doctrine of mutual
Soviet-American deterrence obsolete. Deterrence
continues to be a relevant consideration for many
states with regard to threats from other states.
But reliance on nuclear weapons for this purpose
is becoming increasingly hazardous and
decreasingly effective.

       North Korea's recent nuclear test and Iran's
refusal to stop its program to enrich uranium -
potentially to weapons grade - highlight the fact
that the world is now on the precipice of a new
and dangerous nuclear era. Most alarmingly, the
likelihood that non-state terrorists will get
their hands on nuclear weaponry is increasing. In
today's war waged on world order by terrorists,
nuclear weapons are the ultimate means of mass
devastation. And non-state terrorist groups with
nuclear weapons are conceptually outside the
bounds of a deterrent strategy and present
difficult new security challenges.

       Apart from the terrorist threat, unless
urgent new actions are taken, the U.S. soon will
be compelled to enter a new nuclear era that will
be more precarious, psychologically disorienting,
and economically even more costly than was Cold
War deterrence. It is far from certain that we can
successfully replicate the old Soviet-American
"mutually assured destruction" with an increasing
number of potential nuclear enemies world-wide
without dramatically increasing the risk that
nuclear weapons will be used. New nuclear states
do not have the benefit of years of step-by-step
safeguards put in effect during the Cold War to
prevent nuclear accidents, misjudgments or
unauthorized launches. The United States and the
Soviet Union learned from mistakes that were less
than fatal. Both countries were diligent to ensure
that no nuclear weapon was used during the Cold
War by design or by accident. Will new nuclear
nations and the world be as fortunate in the next
50 years as we were during the Cold War?

       * * * Leaders addressed this issue in
earlier times. In his "Atoms for Peace" address to
the United Nations in 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower
pledged America's "determination to help solve the
fearful atomic dilemma - to devote its entire
heart and mind to find the way by which the
miraculous inventiveness of man shall not be
dedicated to his death, but consecrated to his
life." John F. Kennedy, seeking to break the
logjam on nuclear disarmament, said, "The world
was not meant to be a prison in which man awaits
his execution."

       Rajiv Gandhi, addressing the U.N. General
Assembly on June 9, 1988, appealed, "Nuclear war
will not mean the death of a hundred million
people. Or even a thousand million. It will mean
the extinction of four thousand million: the end
of life as we know it on our planet earth. We come
to the United Nations to seek your support. We
seek your support to put a stop to this madness."

       Ronald Reagan called for the abolishment of
"all nuclear weapons," which he considered to be
"totally irrational, totally inhumane, good for
nothing but killing, possibly destructive of life
on earth and civilization." Mikhail Gorbachev
shared this vision, which had also been expressed
by previous American presidents.

       Although Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev failed at
Reykjavik to achieve the goal of an agreement to
get rid of all nuclear weapons, they did succeed
in turning the arms race on its head. They
initiated steps leading to significant reductions
in deployed long- and intermediate-range nuclear
forces, including the elimination of an entire
class of threatening missiles.

       What will it take to rekindle the vision
shared by Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev? Can a
world-wide consensus be forged that defines a
series of practical steps leading to major
reductions in the nuclear danger? There is an
urgent need to address the challenge posed by
these two questions.

       The Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)
envisioned the end of all nuclear weapons. It
provides (a) that states that did not possess
nuclear weapons as of 1967 agree not to obtain
them, and (b) that states that do possess them
agree to divest themselves of these weapons over
time. Every president of both parties since
Richard Nixon has reaffirmed these treaty
obligations, but non-nuclear weapon states have
grown increasingly skeptical of the sincerity of
the nuclear powers.

       Strong non-proliferation efforts are under
way. The Cooperative Threat Reduction program, the
Global Threat Reduction Initiative, the
Proliferation Security Initiative and the
Additional Protocols are innovative approaches
that provide powerful new tools for detecting
activities that violate the NPT and endanger world
security. They deserve full implementation. The
negotiations on proliferation of nuclear weapons
by North Korea and Iran, involving all the
permanent members of the Security Council plus
Germany and Japan, are crucially important. They
must be energetically pursued.

       But by themselves, none of these steps are
adequate to the danger. Reagan and General
Secretary Gorbachev aspired to accomplish more at
their meeting in Reykjavik 20 years ago - the
elimination of nuclear weapons altogether. Their
vision shocked experts in the doctrine of nuclear
deterrence, but galvanized the hopes of people
around the world. The leaders of the two countries
with the largest arsenals of nuclear weapons
discussed the abolition of their most powerful
weapons.

       * * * What should be done? Can the promise
of the NPT and the possibilities envisioned at
Reykjavik be brought to fruition? We believe that
a major effort should be launched by the United
States to produce a positive answer through
concrete stages.

       First and foremost is intensive work with
leaders of the countries in possession of nuclear
weapons to turn the goal of a world without
nuclear weapons into a joint enterprise. Such a
joint enterprise, by involving changes in the
disposition of the states possessing nuclear
weapons, would lend additional weight to efforts
already under way to avoid the emergence of a
nuclear-armed North Korea and Iran.

       The program on which agreements should be
sought would constitute a series of agreed and
urgent steps that would lay the groundwork for a
world free of the nuclear threat. Steps would
include:

       . Changing the Cold War posture of deployed
nuclear weapons to increase warning time and
thereby reduce the danger of an accidental or
unauthorized use of a nuclear weapon.

       . Continuing to reduce substantially the
size of nuclear forces in all states that possess
them.

       . Eliminating short-range nuclear weapons
designed to be forward-deployed.

       . Initiating a bipartisan process with the
Senate, including understandings to increase
confidence and provide for periodic review, to
achieve ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, taking advantage of recent technical
advances, and working to secure ratification by
other key states.

       . Providing the highest possible standards
of security for all stocks of weapons,
weapons-usable plutonium, and highly enriched
uranium everywhere in the world.

       . Getting control of the uranium enrichment
process, combined with the guarantee that uranium
for nuclear power reactors could be obtained at a
reasonable price, first from the Nuclear Suppliers
Group and then from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) or other controlled
international reserves. It will also be necessary
to deal with proliferation issues presented by
spent fuel from reactors producing electricity.

       . Halting the production of fissile material
for weapons globally; phasing out the use of
highly enriched uranium in civil commerce and
removing weapons-usable uranium from research
facilities around the world and rendering the
materials safe.

       . Redoubling our efforts to resolve regional
confrontations and conflicts that give rise to new
nuclear powers.

       Achieving the goal of a world free of
nuclear weapons will also require effective
measures to impede or counter any nuclear-related
conduct that is potentially threatening to the
security of any state or peoples.

       Reassertion of the vision of a world free of
nuclear weapons and practical measures toward
achieving that goal would be, and would be
perceived as, a bold initiative consistent with
America's moral heritage. The effort could have a
profoundly positive impact on the security of
future generations. Without the bold vision, the
actions will not be perceived as fair or urgent.
Without the actions, the vision will not be
perceived as realistic or possible.

       We endorse setting the goal of a world free
of nuclear weapons and working energetically on
the actions required to achieve that goal,
beginning with the measures outlined above.

       Mr. Shultz, a distinguished fellow at the
Hoover Institution at Stanford, was secretary of
state from 1982 to 1989. Mr. Perry was secretary
of defense from 1994 to 1997. Mr. Kissinger,
chairman of Kissinger Associates, was secretary of
state from 1973 to 1977. Mr. Nunn is former
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

       A conference organized by Mr. Shultz and
Sidney D. Drell was held at Hoover to reconsider
the vision that Reagan and Mr. Gorbachev brought
to Reykjavik. In addition to Messrs. Shultz and
Drell, the following participants also endorse the
view in this statement: Martin Anderson, Steve
Andreasen, Michael Armacost, William Crowe, James
Goodby, Thomas Graham Jr., Thomas Henriksen, David
Holloway, Max Kampelman, Jack Matlock, John
McLaughlin, Don Oberdorfer, Rozanne Ridgway, Henry
Rowen, Roald Sagdeev and Abraham Sofaer.

       URL for this article:


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB116787515251566636.html


--------------------------------------------------
------------------------

       A BIPARTISAN PLEA FOR NUCLEAR WEAPONS
ABOLITION

       By David Krieger

       An amazing and important commentary appeared
in the January 4, 2007 issue of the Wall Street
Journal, co-authored by four high-level architects
of the Cold War: George Shultz, William Perry,
Henry Kissinger and Sam Nunn. The article,
entitled "A World Free of Nuclear Weapons," was
amazing not so much for what it proposed, but for
who was making the proposal. The four prominent
former US officials reviewed current nuclear
dangers and called for US leadership to achieve
the abolition of nuclear weapons. Their argument
was as follows:

       1. Reliance on nuclear weapons for
deterrence is becoming increasingly hazardous and
decreasingly effective.

       2. Terrorist groups are outside the bounds
of deterrence strategy.

       3. We are entering a new nuclear era that
will be more precarious, disorienting and costly
than was Cold War deterrence.

       4. New nuclear weapons states lack the
safeguarding and control experiences learned by
the US and USSR during the Cold War.

       5. The nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
envisioned the elimination of all nuclear weapons.

       6. Non-nuclear weapons states have grown
increasingly skeptical of the sincerity of the
nuclear weapons states to fulfill their
Non-Proliferation Treaty obligations to eliminate
their nuclear arsenals.

       7. There exists an historic opportunity to
eliminate nuclear weapons in the world.

       8. To realize this opportunity, bold vision
and action are needed.

       9. The US must take the lead and must
convince the leaders of the other nuclear weapons
states to turn the goal of nuclear weapons
abolition into a joint effort.

       10. A number of steps need to be taken to
lay the groundwork for a world free of nuclear
threat, including de-alerting nuclear arsenals;
reducing the size of nuclear arsenals; eliminating
tactical nuclear weapons; achieving Senate
ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
and encouraging other key states to also do so;
securing nuclear weapons and weapons-usable
materials everywhere in the world; and halting
production of fissile materials for weapons,
ceasing to use enriched uranium in civil commerce
and removing weapons-usable uranium from research
reactors.

       For many of us committed to the global
effort to abolish nuclear weapons, there is
nothing new in their arguments. They are arguments
that many civil society groups have been making
since the end of the Cold War. Other former
officials, such as Robert McNamara and General
George Lee Butler, former head of the US Strategic
Command, have also made such arguments. What is
new is that these former Cold Warriors have joined
together in a bipartisan spirit to publicly make
these arguments to the American people. This means
that the perspectives of the Nuclear Age Peace
Foundation, the Global Security Institute, the
Nuclear Policy Research Institute and other
dedicated civil society groups are finally being
embraced by key former officials who once presided
over Cold War nuclear strategy.

       The bipartisan advice of Shultz, Perry,
Kissinger and Nunn to abolish nuclear weapons will
require a full reversal of the current Bush
administration nuclear policies. The Bush
administration has thumbed its nose at the other
parties to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,
behaving as though the US had no obligations to
fulfill its commitments for nuclear disarmament
under the treaty. The administration has largely
opposed the 13 Practical Steps for Nuclear
Disarmament agreed to by consensus at the 2000
Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference.

       If the administration wants to demonstrate
leadership toward nuclear weapons abolition, it
could immediately submit the Comprehensive Test
Ban Treaty to the Senate for ratification; call
for negotiations at the Conference on Disarmament
of a Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty; reach an
agreement with Russia to begin implementing deeper
cuts in the nuclear arsenals of the two countries,
which Russia supports; and call for a summit of
leaders of all nuclear weapons states to negotiate
a new treaty for the elimination of nuclear
weapons.

       If the United States becomes serious about
leading the way to a world free of nuclear
weapons, as called for by the former US officials,
it can assume a high moral and legal ground, while
improving its own security and global security.
Each day that goes by without US leadership for
achieving a nuclear weapons-free world undermines
the prospects for the future of humanity. There is
no issue on which US leadership is more needed,
and there is no issue on which the US has more to
gain by asserting such leadership.

       The 19th century philosopher Arthur
Schopenhauer said, "All truth passes through three
stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is
violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being
self-evident." The truth that if we are to have a
human future the US must lead the way in
abolishing nuclear weapons has been frequently
ridiculed and violently opposed. The commentary by
Shultz, Perry, Kissinger and Nunn suggests that
this truth may now be entering the stage of being
self-evident.

       David Krieger is president of the Nuclear
Age Peace Foundation (www.wagingpeace.org). He has
lectured and written widely on the need to abolish
nuclear weapons.






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 18 [NukeNet] Scotlamd : SNP plan to criminalise pro-Trident
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:14:54 -0800

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<http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display>http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display
.var.1107515.0.snp_plan_to_criminalise_protrident
_politicians.php
Sunday Herald Newspaper

SNP plan to criminalise pro-Trident politicians
By <mailto:Paul.Hutcheon@sundayherald.com>Paul Hutcheon

AN SNP-LED Executive would put itself on a collision course with the UK 
government by criminalising ministers and civil servants who prepare the 
groundwork for using nuclear weapons based in Scotland.

Nationalist leader Alex Salmond has said he will back a bill as first 
minister which would thwart the renewal of the Trident missile system. He 
believes the measure will help make Holyrood the political centre for 
ridding Scotland of weapons of mass destruction.

The SNP's intentions will be spelled out on Tuesday when Nationalist MSP 
Michael Matheson begins the process of introducing anti-Trident legislation 
to the parliament.
<http://ads-delivery1.newsquest.co.uk/RealMedia/ads/click_lx.ads/www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.1107515.0.snp_plan_to_criminalise_protrident_politicians.php/224243152/Frame2/default/empty.gif/34386430343137633435613036316230>e95ac.jpg 


He intends to launch a bill that will make it a criminal offence to plan 
for using any of the nuclear weapons stationed north of the Border.

It will be aimed at ministers "responsible for the preparations needed to 
use nuclear weapons based in Scotland" and officials in the Ministry of 
Defence.

But the bill will not apply to workers in the nuclear industry, whose 
rights the SNP are keen to safeguard.

Matheson's legislation will alarm the government because it is an 
unambiguous attempt to hamper the renewal of Trident. Although it has no 
chance of being passed before the Scottish elections in May, SNP leader 
Alex Salmond has let it be known that an incoming Nationalist Executive 
would support it.

The move raises the prospect of the Nationalists using the parliament to 
frustrate the decisions of the UK government. The SNP are already exploring 
ways to use Holyrood's environmental powers to block the transportation of 
nuclear weapons around Scotland.

Salmond has also promised to veto proposals for new nuclear power stations 
through the parliament's control of the planning system.

In addition, the anti-nuclear bill is likely to exploit tensions within 
Scottish Labour over the government's decision to renew Trident. Labour MSP 
Malcolm Chisholm recently quit as communities minister after voting with 
the SNP on their motion opposing the replacement of Trident.

The bill is also set to trigger a debate on whether MSPs can pass 
legislation that strongly affects defence policy.

Scottish advocate John Mayer helped Matheson draft the legislation so that 
it falls within the ambit of criminal justice, which is devolved to Holyrood.

The left-wing SNP MSP will use Tuesday's launch to put out his plans for a 
three-month consultation. Matheson said of his anti-nuclear bill: "It will 
seek to criminalise those responsible for the preparations needed to use 
nuclear weapons based in Scotland, while protecting the rights of Scottish 
workers.

"My expert legal advice confirms that Holyrood has the power to pass such a 
law, and we will unveil the full details of this in the next few days.

"Members of the Scottish parliament have a moral responsibility to oppose 
the proliferation of new nuclear weapons in Scotland. I look forward to 
working with interest groups, churches, elected politicians and the public 
to prevent the replacement of Trident on the Clyde."

David McKenzie of Trident Ploughshares said he welcomed the Matheson bill. 
"We in the anti-Trident movement have tried the criminal justice system to 
point out the illegality of nuclear weapons. We are delighted this route is 
being taken," he said.

But a source close to the first minister slammed the bill, saying: "This is 
an outrageous gimmick. Alex Salmond must disown it immediately or else 
justify criminalising neutral civil servants who simply carry out the 
policies of a democratically elected government."

A spokesman for the Labour Party also attacked the SNP plan. "Michael 
Matheson's bill shows the extremist tendencies of the SNP are very much 
alive and well," he said. "If the SNP want to lock up democratically 
elected politicians and independent civil servants in a separate Scotland, 
it is little wonder the prospect of trusting government to the Nationalists 
is so unappealing."

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 19 UPI: Walker's World: Rumors of war
     
United Press International - Intl. Intelligence - 

1/8/2007 10:23:00 AM -0500

 By MARTIN WALKER UPI Editor Emeritus

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- The firm denial by Israel of a
report in the London Sunday Times that its Air Force was
training for a strike against Iran's nuclear facilities was as
predictable as it is hollow. There is no doubt that Israel's
fighter-bombers have been training for a long-distance mission;
NATO sources say they have for weeks been watching Israeli
warplanes running flights the length of the Mediterranean to
Gibraltar -- and nobody expects an Israeli strike on Gibraltar. 

The drumbeats of war are beginning to sound from several
directions. In Washington, the transfer of Admiral William "Fox"
Fallon from Pacific Command to run Central Command (which runs
the Iraq war and the Afghan mission) startled the Army and
Marines, who had seen these as ground wars. But Central Command
also includes Iran. 

Fallon's appointment comes as the White House wants to increase
the military pressure on Tehran. Fallon is heading to the region
with some heavy reinforcements of two aircraft carrier strike
groups, led by the USS John C. Stennis and the state-of-the-art
new USS Ronald Reagan which left San Diego last week. 

And then there was the remarkable suggestion from Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak, one of the Sunni leaders appalled by
the fate of fellow Sunnis in Iraq and the growing prospect of a
Shiite alliance led by Iran. 

"We don't want nuclear arms in the area but we are obligated to
defend ourselves," Mubarak said at a joint press conference last
week with Israeli premier Ehud Olmert. "We will have to have the
appropriate weapons. It is irrational that we sit and watch from
the sidelines when we might be attacked at any moment." 

The abrupt resignation last month of the Saudi ambassador to
Washington, Prince Turki, reflected the sharp debate in Riyadh
over the best way to respond to the Iranian threat. Prince
Turki's predecessor in Washington, Prince Bandar, is now acting
as the Saudi equivalent of the national security adviser and he
is a hawk, convinced that the Saudi monarchy must rally the Gulf
states and the Sunni nations against the prospect of a Shiite
empire led by a nuclear-armed Iran. 

Prince Turki was a dove, who wanted dialogue and negotiations
and feared that military strikes against Iran would set the
entire region ablaze. Pessimists among the Saudi-watchers say
that he lost; optimists say that he returned to Riyadh to
continue the argument. 

Meanwhile back in Washington, the new House majority leader,
Democratic Congressman Steny Hoyer, gave an interview to the
Jerusalem Post, published Sunday, that declared a nuclear-armed
Iran would be unacceptable. 

Hoyer stressed that he backed "discussions, negotiations,
sanctions." But Hoyer added that the threat of air strikes had
to remain. On the possible use of force to end any Iranian
ambitions to deploy nuclear weapons, Hoyer said, "I have not
ruled that out. It is not an option we want to consider until we
know there is no other option." 

The Iranians, for their part, seem to be closing ranks against
what they perceive as the mounting threat of military action.
Former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is seen as a
relative moderate in Tehran terms and was defeated in the last
presidential election by the fiery Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, said
last week that "the enemies of the Islamic Republic have plans
against the country." 

Rafsanjani warned the "arrogant powers" (the United States and
Britain) against launching a new crisis in the Middle East.
"They are creating problems for themselves and the region that
will not be confined to Iran. This is a fire that could burn
many others," he went on. "They are looking for a pretext." 

This closing of the ranks in Tehran is significant, since many
top Iranian officials make little secret of their distaste for
the rhetoric and populism of Ahmedinejad. However much they may
sympathize with Ahmedinejad's statements that "Israel must be
wiped from the map," or that the Holocaust was an "invention of
the Zionists," or that the "Zionist state is illegitimate," they
have found him to be an embarrassment. But now they are rallying
round. 

Most striking was the message by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei to
the pilgrims to Mecca to celebrate the Haj, which endorsed
Ahmedinejad's skepticism of the Holocaust and Israel's right to
exist. How, Khamenei asked, could it be a punishable offense in
the West to question the Holocaust when the Pope could "openly
defame Islam." 

But then he went on to challenge the leaders of the Arabic
world, the Saudi monarchy and Jordan and Egypt, to end their
support for the West and rally round the "united identity of the
Muslim ummah" (nation). 

Every disaster that had affected the Islamic world in the 20th
century, Khamenei said, from colonization to "the creation and
strengthening of authoritarian regimes, plundering of their
natural wealth and destruction of their human resources, and
thereby keeping Muslim nations behind the caravan of progress in
science and technology -- all this has became possible only
under the shadow of Muslim disunity that in some cases reached
the level of internecine and fratricidal strife." 

"Today any divisive action in the Islamic world is a historical
sin," Khamenei went on. "Those who maliciously use takfir to
declare large groups of Muslims as unbelievers (by this he means
the Shiites, seen by the puritan Wahhabites of Saudi Arabia as
not true Muslims), will be regarded as culprits, detested by
history and future generations, and looked upon as mercenaries
of the brutal enemy." 

Khamenei has not spoken in such extreme terms for some years,
and his rhetoric points to the nervousness, perhaps even verging
on panic, which seems to be gripping the Tehran leadership.
Alarmed by the decision of Russia and China at the United
Nations Security Council to agree on the relatively modest
sanctions against Iran, the Iranians sent their top nuclear
negotiator, Ali Larijani, to Beijing last week where he sought
to continue Tehran's traditionally equivocal tactics. 

Larijani stressed that Iran had not (unlike North Korea)
abrogated the nuclear non-proliferation treaty nor had it
stopped its cooperation with the International Atomic Energy
Agency. Iran remained open to negotiations, Larijani said, and
pointedly referred to the close economic relations that now
existed between Iran and China, symbolized by the privileged
role China now enjoyed in helping to develop Iran's oil and gas
reserves. 

Back in Tehran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad-Ali Hosseini
said Sunday that Chinese officials had agreed that the dispute
should be resolved through negotiations, noting that China had
adopted "a much more logical and fair stance on Iran's peaceful
nuclear program." 

But for once, these well-honed Iranian tactics did not work; the
Chinese appeared to hold firm, insisting that Tehran come up
with "realistic proposals." Yet the political mood in Tehran
does not seem conciliatory, and the military pressure is
building ominously.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 20 [NukeNet] Arizona Republic Newspaper - Many countries turning
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:14:57 -0800

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Many countries turning to nuclear power

Doug Struck
Washington Post
Jan. 7, 2007 12:00 AM

Sixty miles outside Buenos Aires, construction crews soon will be swarming 
over a partially built concrete dome abandoned 12 years ago, resuming work 
on Argentina's long-delayed Atucha II nuclear power plant. They will be in 
the vanguard of surging interest in nuclear power worldwide.

Faced with evidence that coal- and oil-fired electric plants are 
overheating the planet, and alarmed by soaring demand for electricity, 
governments from South America to Asia are turning once again to a power 
source mostly shunned for two decades as too dangerous and too costly.

Globally, 29 nuclear power plants are being built. Well over 100 more have 
been written into the development plans of governments for the next three 
decades. India and China each are rushing to build dozens of reactors. The 
United States and the countries of Western Europe, led by new nuclear 
champions, are reconsidering their cooled romance with atomic power. 
International agencies have come on board; even the Persian Gulf oil states 
have announced plans for nuclear generators.

"Energy and climate changes can't remain tied to carbon or hydrocarbon," 
the European Union's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, said in October. 
"They are polluting, and we'll have to find substitute energies, including 
nuclear energy." It creates heat through nuclear reactions rather than 
combustion, giving off no carbon dioxide, the most important of the 
so-called greenhouse gases that trap heat in the Earth's atmosphere.



New threats, old concerns

Utilities are dusting off plans for nuclear plants even though most of the 
problems that shelved those projects remain. Critics say governments have 
forgotten the crises of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl. The costs and time 
to build the concrete-encased plants far exceed those of conventional 
plants. There still is no safe permanent storage for the used fuel that 
will remain radioactive for a million years. Added to these problems are 
the newly realistic worries of a terrorist attack on a nuclear plant.

"It can be very controversial," Mexican Congressman David Maldonado said of 
his country's plans to build a $4 billion nuclear plant in Veracruz. "The 
things that have happened in years past, going back to Chernobyl, have 
created a lot of fear here."

In the United States, the Bush administration has strongly pushed nuclear 
power and backed a 2005 energy bill offering subsidies to utilities to go 
ahead with projects in a shortened, streamlined regulatory process. The 
industry talks enthusiastically of 10 to 30 new nuclear plants being 
started in the next two decades.

Critics say those predictions will stall without long-term subsidies, and 
they scoff at the administration's explanations that nuclear plants will 
help battle global warming and reduce dependence on foreign oil. "The Bush 
administration doesn't believe climate change is a threat unless it is 
arguing for nuclear power," said Edwin Lyman, a senior staff scientist at 
the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington.

Skeptics contend that the nuclear resurgence is still just talk. In the 
United States, they note, not a single reactor has been ordered. The high 
costs and long delays that vexed nuclear construction soon will diminish 
the atomic ardor in other countries, they say. Argentina's Atucha II was 14 
years in construction before it was halted.

"Even with all the respective subsidies, nuclear power plants are still too 
expensive," Lyman said. "We need to move faster to really take a bite out 
of greenhouse emissions, and there aren't any scenarios in which nuclear 
power can do that."

At present, 442 nuclear plants are operating in more than 31 countries, 
according to the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna. The United 
States has the most with 103, which provide about 19.3 percent of the 
country's electric power. Next is France, with 59, and Japan, with 55. 
Worldwide, atomic energy accounts for 16 percent of electrical production. 
The vast majority of electricity is generated by burning coal, oil and 
natural gas.

But carbon emissions from conventional plants bring "higher global 
temperatures, rising sea levels that would threaten to submerge coastal 
regions, prolonged droughts and more frequent violent storms," IAEA 
Director General Mohamed ElBaradei warned in Jakarta, Indonesia, in December.



Need for energy to grow

The world's energy needs will rise 51 percent by 2030 because of 
industrialization and population growth, the International Energy Agency in 
Paris predicts. Add up the carbon-dioxide emissions from all the oil and 
coal plants that would be built to meet that need, and scientists see an 
environmental nightmare in the making.

Natural gas is a cleaner fuel for making electricity, but the price has 
soared. Hydropower from dams has largely topped out at less than 20 percent 
of the world's electric supply. Alternatives such as solar, thermal and 
wind power remain a tiny contributor in most countries and would require 
dramatic economic changes to become substantial sources. To many 
policymakers, that leaves nuclear.

In Britain, such calculations led to a striking reversal in policy. In 
2003, a government white paper called nuclear power an unattractive 
option.; in May, Prime Minister Tony Blair declared that nuclear power is 
"back on the agenda with a vengeance."

Blair argued that the technology is a way to ensure British energy security 
in an unstable world and to combat global climate change, a top priority of 
his government. Twenty-three nuclear plants now provide almost 20 percent 
of the United Kingdom's power, and Blair has called for a new mix of 
non-polluting sources, including nuclear plants and renewable alternatives.

"In the future, energy security will be almost as important as defense," 
Blair said in October.



Building and maintaining

Similar jitters about the reliability and price of traditional fuels are 
adding to the rush to nuclear. Japan, as host to the 1997 Kyoto conference 
that mandated a global reduction in greenhouse gases, is building three and 
planning 10 more nuclear plants in the next decade. Its plans are spurred 
by Japan's wariness over neighboring China's campaign to lock up oil and 
gas supply contracts with foreign countries.

"The timing of Kyoto Protocol coming into effect and the timing of China 
endeavoring in its mission to secure natural resources in the world 
coincide," said Tadao Yanase, director of nuclear energy policy at Japan's 
Agency for Natural Resources and Energy.

China's plans call for 15 to 30 new nuclear plants by 2020 and even more 
conventional plants, most of them coal-fired. Its researchers are working 
on creating smaller, less-expensive nuclear plants. India, with 16 nuclear 
plants, is building seven more plants and has been promised U.S. help to 
triple its collection by 2020.

Some nuclear construction will merely keep the status quo. The first big 
wave of nuclear plants, built in the 1970s and 1980s, are near their 
planned obsolescence; six have been shut down. Regulators in the United 
States have extended licenses to 60 years, but other countries are 
replacing aging plants to make sure the nuclear component of their base 
supply does not disappear.



Nuclear worries remain

Proliferation of nuclear material remains a worry. And another disaster 
like the Soviet Union's at Chernobyl in 1986 or a near-disaster like that 
at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island in 1979 would likely freeze the plans 
for nuclear construction.

"The industry is sticking its head in the sand," said Jim Riccio, a policy 
analyst at anti-nuclear Greenpeace in Washington. "They haven't gotten 
close to addressing safety or security."

Because nuclear fission emits no greenhouse gases, some environmental 
groups have grudgingly concluded that nuclear power is preferable to global 
warming. Others still argue that aggressive conservation and a dramatic 
increase in solar, wind, thermal and biofueled production can meet future 
electric needs.

"The voices of opposition have drastically decreased," Yanase said in his 
office in Tokyo. "They obviously won't say they totally support" nuclear 
power, "but they are giving a tacit consent."

Industry advocates say the old complaints about nuclear technology have 
been addressed with simpler and cheaper designs, faster regulatory review, 
improved security and more operating experience.

"Things have changed," said Adrian Heymer, director of new plant deployment 
for the Nuclear Energy Institute in Washington. The industry expects U.S. 
companies to apply for 11 construction permits by the end of the decade. 
"When you put it all together, nuclear becomes an attractive package," he said.

Companies and countries that build nuclear plants are riding that pitch. 
Westinghouse Electric Co., which has made about half the world's reactors, 
signed a deal with China in December to help in construction of four 
nuclear plants there.

"There is a lot of opportunity now, in Southeast Asia, in the Near East and 
Europe," Valery Arabkin, an official at Rosenergoatom, the Russian entity 
that competes with Westinghouse, said in an interview in Moscow. "These are 
good markets for Russia."

Russia is building two reactors in China, two in India and one in Iran. It 
just signed a $5.1 billion deal to build two reactors in Bulgaria and is 
sniffing out business in Finland, Indonesia and Egypt.

Russia's own nuclear industry is rebounding after years of neglect. 
President Vladimir Putin wants to sell the country's natural gas abroad and 
offset the exported energy by increasing nuclear power production, now 
provided by 31 reactors. That involves an ambitious program to build 42 
more reactors in Russia by 2030, Sergey Kiriyenko, director of the Federal 
Nuclear Agency, or Rosatom, said in testimony before parliament last month.


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 21 [NYTr] The USA's New, Untested, Risky Hybrid Nukes
 
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 01:22:46 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[They're risky, untested, and combine two different competing designs. And
they're meant to be given to the US Navy submarine fleet, which has been
doing such a great job ... -NY Transfer]

The New York Times - Jan 8, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/washington/07nuke.html

U.S. Selecting Hybrid Design for Warheads

By WILLIAM J. BROAD, DAVID E. SANGER and THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 ? The Bush administration is expected to announce next
week a major step forward in the building of the country?s first new nuclear
warhead in nearly two decades. It will propose combining elements of
competing designs from two weapons laboratories in an approach that some
experts argue is untested and risky.

The new weapon would not add to but replace the nation?s existing arsenal of
aging warheads, with a new generation meant to be sturdier, more reliable,
safer from accidental detonation and more secure from theft by terrorists.

The announcement, to be made by the interagency Nuclear Weapons Council,
avoids making a choice between the two designs for a new weapon, called the
Reliable Replacement Warhead, which at first would be mounted on
submarine-launched missiles.

The effort, if approved by President Bush and financed by Congress, would
require a huge refurbishment of the nation?s complex for nuclear design and
manufacturing, with the overall bill estimated at more than $100 billion.

But the council?s decision to seek a hybrid design, combining well-tested
elements from an older design with new safety and security elements from a
more novel approach, could delay the weapon?s production. It also raises the
question of whether the United States will ultimately be forced to end its
moratorium on underground nuclear testing to make sure the new design works.

On Friday, Bryan Wilkes, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security
Administration of the Energy Department, said the government would not
proceed with the Reliable Replacement Warhead ?if it is determined that
testing is needed.? But other officials in the administration, including
Robert Joseph, the under secretary of state for arms control and
international security, have said that the White House should make no
commitment on testing.

Congress authorized exploratory research for the weapon three years ago, and
has financed it at relatively low levels since. But now the costs will begin
to increase.

If Mr. Bush decides to deploy the new design, he could touch off a debate in
a Democrat-controlled Congress and among allies and adversaries abroad, who
have opposed efforts to modernize the arsenal in the past. While proponents
of the new weapon said that it would replace older weapons that could
deteriorate over time, and reduce the chances of a detonation if weapons
fell into the wrong hands, critics have long argued that this is the wrong
moment for Washington to produce a new nuclear warhead of any kind.

At a time when the administration is trying to convince the world to put
sanctions on North Korea and Iran to halt their nuclear programs, those
critics argue, any move to improve the American arsenal will be seen as
hypocritical, an effort by the United States to extend its nuclear lead over
other countries. Should the United States decide to conduct a test,
officials said, China and Russia ? which have their own nuclear
modernization programs under way ? would feel free to do the same. North
Korea was sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council for conducting
its first test on Oct. 9, and it may be preparing for more, experts said.

Both administration officials and military officers like Gen. James E.
Cartwright, head of the Strategic Command, which controls the nation?s
nuclear arsenal, argue that because the United States provides a nuclear
umbrella for so many allies, it is critical that its stockpile be as
reliable as possible.

?We will not ?un-invent? nuclear weapons, and we will not walk away from the
world,? General Cartwright said in a recent interview. ?Right now, it is not
the nation?s position that zero is the answer to the size of our inventory.?

?So, if you are going to have these weapons, they should be safe, they
should be able to be secured, and they should be reliable if used,? General
Cartwright said in the interview, conducted before the Department of
Energy?s decision was announced.

The current schedule, which is subject to change, would call for the
president to make a decision in a year or two and, if approved, to begin
engineering development by fiscal year 2010 and production by 2012.

The two teams competing to design the weapon, one at Los Alamos in New
Mexico, the other at the Livermore National Laboratory in California,
approached the problem with very different philosophies, nuclear officials
and experts said. Livermore drew on a single, robust design that, before the
testing moratorium, was detonated in the 1980s under a desolate patch of
Nevada desert. The weapon, however, never entered the nation?s nuclear
stockpile.

The Los Alamos team drew on aspects of many weapons from the stockpile and
pulled them together in a novel design that has never undergone testing.

A winner of the competition was to have been announced in November. But
federal officials said they had a hard time choosing between the two
designs, calling both excellent.

The question now, arms experts said, is whether a mix-and-match approach
combining the two will produce a clever hybrid or an unworkable dud. They
said the nuclear laboratories, bitter rivals for decades, have never before
shared responsibility for designing a weapon.

?There has not been what I would consider a real partnership,? said Philip
E. Coyle III, a former director of weapons testing at the Pentagon and
former director of nuclear testing for Livermore. ?In some respects, it?s
unprecedented.?

Ray E. Kidder, a senior Livermore scientist who pioneered early arms
designs, said the hybrid approach appeared to be based more on the politics
of survival for the laboratories than on technical merit.

?It?s spreading the wealth,? he said. Federal officials, Dr. Kidder added,
?tend to do that fairly rigorously so as to keep the labs alive. To
foreclose the possibility of closure, they try to divide the work load.?

General Cartwright cast that problem differently, saying that it is critical
to keep America?s ?intellectual capital? in producing weapons alive. ?We are
starting to get to the point where the people who actually have experience
designing a weapon are reaching that point at which they will start to leave
the industry,? he said. ?And are we able to attract the minds that we will
need to sustain this activity??

Nonetheless, several nuclear experts expressed doubts about the wisdom of
using a design that has never undergone testing, saying future presidents
might lose confidence in the arsenal?s potency and be tempted to conduct
test explosions.

?It?s one thing to have all the components working and another to have them
all working together,? said Raymond Jeanloz, a geophysicist at the
University of California, Berkeley, who advises the government on nuclear
arms. ?To me, that?s the key technical issue that has yet to be resolved.?

In the few years since its debut, the reliability program has grown from a
fringe effort at the nation?s nuclear arms laboratories into a centerpiece
of the Bush administration?s nuclear policy.

Advocates say a generation of more reliable arms would give military
commanders the confidence to abandon the current philosophy of holding onto
huge inventories of old weapons, and could speed a shrinkage of the American
arsenal from some 6,000 warheads to perhaps 2,000 or less.

Critics say a main justification for the program vanished in November when a
secretive federal panel known as Jason found that the plutonium ?pits? at
the heart of many nuclear warheads aged far better than expected, with most
able to work reliably for a century or more.

?This research eliminates a major rationale,? Lisbeth Gronlund, a nuclear
arms specialist at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a private group based
in Cambridge, Mass., said in a November statement.

Since that study was revealed, the administration has emphasized other
reasons to build a new warhead, especially new, highly classified
technologies to make the weapons virtually impossible to use if they fall
into unfriendly hands. Other objectives are to simplify manufacturing,
reduce toxic byproducts and improve safety of triggering devices.

As a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, the United States and
other nuclear weapons states have committed, at least on paper, to the
ultimate goal of ?the liquidation of all their existing stockpiles? of
weapons. But General Cartwright cautioned that much of the criticism of the
program was cast in terms of achieving that disarmament, and he said the
government?s policy, and that of the new warhead program, was to maintain a
nuclear stockpile ?that would be the smallest practical to maintain its
credibility.?

He described the nation?s nuclear weapons stockpile as ?an artifact of the
cold war ? cold war both in its delivery systems and its characteristics and
certainly in its technology.?

?We stopped testing a while back. So, from the testing standpoint, we have
not been fielding new weapons,? General Cartwright said. ?From the
standpoint of engineering and design, there has been only marginal activity,
mostly reacting to the age of components.?
       
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 22 [NukeNet] Expose of Patrick Moore's Group
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:12:45 -0800

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http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition

Expose of Patrick Moore's group:



Clean and Safe Energy Coalition





 From SourceWatch (Project Center for Media & Democracy)   December 22, 
2006 update

The Clean and Safe Energy Coaltion is a public relations campaign for new 
reactors launched April 24, 2006, funded by the trade association, the 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nuclear_Energy_Institute>Nuclear 
Energy Institute, and headed by former Bush Environmental Protection Agency 
administrator, 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Christine_Todd_Whitman>Christine 
Todd Whitman and 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenpeace>Greenpeace 
co-founder 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patrick_Moore>Patrick Moore, 
who left that group in 1986. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/us/25nuke.html?ex=1146974400&en=993d75a6dbd2c2e3&ei=5070>[1] 




Contents

[hide]
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#Mission_Statement#Mission_Statement>1 
Mission Statement
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#Members#Members>2 
Members
        * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#Organizations#Organizations>2.1 
Organizations
        * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#Individuals#Individuals>2.2 
Individuals
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#Funding#Funding>3 
Funding
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition#External_Links#External_Links>4 
External Links
[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=1> 
edit]



Mission Statement

According to the group's website, "The Clean and Safe Energy Coalition 
(CASEnergy Coalition) supports the increased use of nuclear energy to 
ensure an environmentally clean, safe, affordable and reliable supply of 
electricity. Nuclear power enhances America's energy security and economic 
growth, helps attain cleaner air and improves the quality of life, health 
and economic well-being for all 
Americans."<http://www.cleansafeenergy.org/index.php/about_us/mission_statement.html> 
[2]
[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=2> 
edit]



Members

[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=3> 
edit]



Organizations

As of May 5, the website listed the following organizations as members 
<http://www.cleansafeenergy.org/index.php/about_us/our_members.html>[3]:
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=ABB&action=edit>ABB 
<http://www.abb.com/>[4]
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=AFL-CIO>AFL-CIO, Building 
& Construction Trades Department
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=African_American_Environmentalist_Association&action=edit>African 
American Environmentalist Association
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Alliance_for_Sound_Nuclear_Policy&action=edit>Alliance 
for Sound Nuclear Policy
    * AmerenUE
    * American Boiler Manufacturers Association
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Energy_Independence&action=edit>American 
Energy Independence
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Homeowners_Grassroots_Alliance&action=edit>American 
Homeowners Grassroots Alliance
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Iron_and_Steel_Institute&action=edit>American 
Iron and Steel Institute
    * American Nuclear Insurers
    * AREVA, Inc.
    * Associated Equipment Distributors
    * B&D Consulting
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bechtel>Bechtel Power 
Corporation
    * Blackledge Furniture
    * CMS Energy
    * Conference of Minority Transportation Officials
    * Constellation Energy
    * Consumers First, Inc.
    * ConverDyn
    * Cornell University
    * Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S.
    * Dominion
    * DTE Energy
    * Duke Power Company
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Edison_Electric_Institute&action=edit>Edison 
Electric Institute
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Electric_Consumers%27_Alliance&action=edit>Electric 
Consumers' Alliance
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Entergy_Corporation&action=edit>Entergy 
Corporation
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Exelon&action=edit>Exelon 
Corporation
    * FirstEnergy Corp.
    * Florida Power & Light
    * GE Energy
    * General Atomics
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Greenspirit_Strategies_Ltd.&action=edit>Greenspirit 
Strategies Ltd.
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=H.O.P.I._Consulting&action=edit>H.O.P.I. 
Consulting
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Illinois_Energy_Association&action=edit>Illinois 
Energy Association
    * International Access Corporation
    * International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
    * International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
    * International Brotherhood of Teamsters
    * International Paper
    * iNuclear
    * Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce
    * Maracor Software & Engineering, Inc.
    * NAC International
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=National_Association_of_Manufacturers>National 
Association of Manufacturers
    * National Enrichment Facility
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=New_England_Energy_Alliance&action=edit>New 
England Energy Alliance
    * North American Young Generation in Nuclear
    * North Carolina State University, Department of Nuclear Engineering
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nuclear_Energy_Institute>Nuclear 
Energy Institute
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nuclear_is_Our_Future&action=edit>Nuclear 
is Our Future
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=The_Outlaw_Group&action=edit>The 
Outlaw Group
    * PG&E Corporation
    * PNM Resources
    * Progress Energy
    * Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG)
    * RWE Nukem, Inc.
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sandia_National_Laboratories>Sandia 
National Laboratorie 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Sandia_National_Laboratories>s
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Scientech%2C_LLC&action=edit>Scientech, 
LLC
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=60_Plus_Association>60 
Plus Association
    * Sheet Metal Workers' International Association
    * Southern Company
    * Sterling Heights Area Chamber of Commerce
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Talisman_International%2C_LLC&action=edit>Talisman 
International, LLC
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Thorenco%2C_LLC&action=edit>Thorenco, 
LLC
    * University of Florida, Department of Nuclear and Radiological 
Engineering
    * University of Missouri-Columbia, Nuclear Science and Engineering 
Institute
    * University of Tennessee, Nuclear Engineering Department
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=U.S._Chamber_of_Commerce>U.S. 
Chamber of Commerce
    * USEC, Inc.
    * Vermont Chamber of Commerce
    * 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Vermont_Energy_Partnership&action=edit>Vermont 
Energy Partnership
    * Westinghouse Electric Company
    * WOLFCO, Inc.
[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=4> 
edit]



Individuals

The group listed the following "sampling of individuals" as of May 5, 
2006<http://www.cleansafeenergy.org/index.php/about_us/our_members.html> [5]:
    * Iowa State Representative Philip Wise
    * New Hampshire State Representatives Caitlin A. Daniuk and Michael Rollo
    * Michigan State Senator Buzz Thomas
    * Reverend Willie Toone - North End Church of God and Christ, Michigan
    * Reverend Charles Williams - Michigan
    * Greg Fedon - Warren Jaycees - Michigan
    * Barney Bishop, President, Associated Industries of Florida
    * Brownstone, Michigan Town Supervisor Arthur Wright
    * Denis Beller, Professor, University of Las Vegas
    * Mike Hamby - Former Executive Director of the Florida Democratic Party
    * Keith Bullen - Volt Technical Services
    * Jim Scaratino - 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Coalition_for_New_Mexico_Wilderness&action=edit>Coalition 
for New Mexico Wilderness
    * Berol Robinson - 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Environmentalists_for_Nuclear_Energy&action=edit>Environmentalists 
for Nuclear Energy
    * Christopher Yeaw - United States Naval War College
[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=5> 
edit]



Funding

In April 2006 a spokesman for the NEI told New York Times reporter, Matthew 
L. Ward, that it was providing all the funding for the group but refused to 
state what the budget was. 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/us/25nuke.html?ex=1146974400&en=993d75a6dbd2c2e3&ei=5070>[6] 

[<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition&action=edit&section=6> 
edit]



External Links

    * <http://www.cleansafeenergy.org/>Coalition's website
    * Ward, Matthew 
L.,<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/us/25nuke.html?ex=1146974400&en=993d75a6dbd2c2e3&ei=5070> 
"Ex-Environmental Leaders Tout Nuclear Energy", New York Times 
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/25/us/25nuke.html?ex=1146974400&en=993d75a6dbd2c2e3&ei=5070>, 
April 25, 2006.
    * <http://www.cleansafeenergy.org/>Coalition's mission statement on its 
website accessed May 5, 2006
    * "<http://www.cjr.org/issues/2006/4/editorial.asp>False Fronts: Why to 
look behind the label", Editorial, Columbia Journalism Review, May/June 2006.
    * "<http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0712nuke_front_group.htm> Press 
Rapped for Coverage of Nuke Front Group", O'Dwyers PR Daily (sub req'd), 
July 12, 2006.
    * Ben Lando, 
"<http://www.upi.com/Energy/view.php?StoryID=20061020-041832-8032r> 
Analysis: Democrats, greens nuclear fans?," United Press International, 
October 20, 2006.
    * Scott Peterson, "Power Failure", Columbia Journalism Review, Letter 
to the Editor, , November/December 2006, page 6. (Not available online). 
(Peterson is Vice-President of the 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Nuclear_Energy_Institute>Nuclear 
Energy Institute).
    * <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frank_Mankiewicz>Frank 
Mankiewicz, "Power Failure", Letter to the Editor, Columbia Journalism 
Review, November/December 2006, page 6. (Not available online). (Mankiewicz 
is Vice-Chairman of 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hill_and_Knowlton>Hill and 
Knowlton, which works for the NEI).
Retrieved from " 
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition "

<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Special:Categories&article=Clean_and_Safe_Energy_Coalition>Categories: 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Environment>Environment 
| <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Front_groups>Front 
groups | 
<http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:Nuclear_PR>Nuclear PR 
| <http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Category:United_States>United 
States
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 23 GNEP
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:13:24 -0800

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From: DOENEWS - Office of Public Affairs 
[<mailto:mailto:DOENEWS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV>mailto:DOENEWS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV] 
On Behalf Of DOE NEWS
Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 8:02 AM
<mailto:To:DOENEWS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV>To:DOENEWS@VM1.HQADMIN.DOE.GOV
Subject: Department of Energy Releases the Notice of Intent for the GNEP 
Environmental Impact Statement


NEWS MEDIA CONTACT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Julie Ruggiero, (202) 586-4940
Thursday, January 4, 2007

Department of Energy Releases the Notice of Intent for the GNEP
Environmental Impact Statement
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today announced that a 
Notice of Intent (NOI) to prepare a Programmatic Environmental Impact 
Statement (PEIS) for President Bush’s Global Nuclear Energy Partnership 
(GNEP) Initiative is posted in the Federal Register. The NOI outlines the 
programmatic and project-specific proposals of GNEP.
“We continue to mark significant progress with GNEP and we look forward to 
gaining a broader understanding of the environmental conditions under which 
we will be operating,” DOE Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Energy Dennis 
Spurgeon said. “Our need for nuclear power – a safe, emissions-free and 
affordable source of energy – has never been greater and GNEP puts us on a 
path to encourage expansion of domestic and international nuclear energy 
production while reducing nuclear proliferation risks.”
The GNEP PEIS will analyze the potential environmental impacts for both 
programmatic and project-specific proposed actions, as well as reasonable 
alternatives, and will also evaluate, at a programmatic level, the 
potential environmental impacts associated with the international initiatives.
GNEP will recycle spent nuclear fuel and destroy its long-lived radioactive 
components. To accomplish this, DOE proposes to design, build, and operate 
three facilities:
1) A nuclear fuel recycling center, which would separate spent nuclear fuel 
into reusable and waste components and then manufacture new nuclear fast 
reactor fuel using the reusable components.
2) An advanced recycling reactor, which would destroy long-lived 
radioactive elements in the new fuel while generating electricity.
3) An advanced fuel cycle research facility, which would perform research 
and development into spent nuclear fuel recycling processes and other 
advanced nuclear fuel cycles.
At this time, DOE contemplates that the PEIS will consider 13 sites as 
possible locations for one or more of the proposed GNEP facilities. Eleven 
of these sites were selected based on responses received regarding the 
Funding Opportunity Announcement 
(<http://www.energy.gov/news/4492.htm>http://www.energy.gov/news/4492.htm), 
as well as 2 additional DOE sites that the Department has preliminarily 
identified as a possible location for a DOE-directed advanced fuel cycle 
research facility.
GNEP also includes two international initiatives: 1) Ensure reliable fuel 
services, in which the U.S would cooperate with countries that have 
advanced nuclear programs to supply nuclear fuel services to other 
countries that refrain from pursuing enrichment or recycling facilities to 
make their own nuclear fuel; and, 2) Development of proliferation-resistant 
nuclear power reactors suitable for use in developing economies.
To further define the GNEP PEIS and identify key issues, DOE invites the 
public to comment on the proposed scope during the 90-day comment period 
that begins with the Federal Register notice and continues through April 4, 
2007. All comments received during the public scoping period will be 
considered in preparing the GNEP PEIS.
To encourage public participation in the GNEP PEIS process, DOE will host 
scoping meetings, as follows:
February 13 Oak Ridge, TN
February 15 North Augusta, SC
February 22 Joliet, IL
February 26 Hobbs, NM
February 27 Roswell, NM
March 1 Los Alamos, NM
March 6 Paducah, KY
March 8 Piketon, OH
March 13 Pasco, WA
March 15 Idaho Falls, ID
March 19 Washington, DC
As part of President Bush's Advanced Energy Initiative, GNEP encourages 
expansion of domestic and international nuclear energy production while 
minimizing proliferation risks, and reductions in the volume, thermal 
output, and radiotoxicity of spent nuclear fuel before disposal in a 
geologic repository.
For more information on GNEP or to review the full text of the GNEP PEIS 
NOI, visit: <http://www.gnep.gov.>www.gnep.gov.
-DOE-



Vina Colley
<mailto:vcolley@earthlink.net>vcolley@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.



Vina Colley
<mailto:vcolley@earthlink.net>vcolley@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.



Vina Colley
<mailto:vcolley@earthlink.net>vcolley@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.



</x-flowed>
*****************************************************************
 24 Guardian Unlimited: Unions fear cut in cash for clean-up of nuclear plants 

Mark Milner Monday January 8, 2007 The Guardian             

Unions representing workers in Britain's nuclear industry are
seeking urgent talks with the government over concerns about a
shortfall in funding for the country's nuclear clean-up
programme.

The unions are angry over what they say is a £160m cut in the
money available to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, (NDA)
the organisation responsible for cleaning up Britain's civil
nuclear legacy, in the coming financial year.

In a letter to Alistair Darling, the trade and industry
secretary, and Stephen Timms, the chief secretary to the
Treasury, the four unions - Amicus, GMB, T and Prospect -
protest against what they describe as "this government
bombshell".
 			 		 			 			Article continues
"What appals the trade unions is the lack of transparency and 
openness around such issues; we only found out ... about the 
shortfall at a very late stage." Concerns about a shortfall in 
the NDA's £2bn-a-year funding emerged just before Christmas. The 
government said then that it was not planning to cut its 
£1bn-a-year grant to the NDA but acknowledged there were 
uncertainties about the amount the NDA would earn from its 
commercial activities - its other source of money. 

In their letter to the two ministers, the unions warned: "Nuclear 
decommissioning is an issue that will affect job security, job 
opportunity and skills retention and recruitment in the industry 
at the very time when effective partnerships are being built to 
ensure we have a skill base to safely decommission nuclear 
sites."
 
	
Useful links
British Energy
Department of Trade and Industry
British Nuclear Fuels Ltd
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament
Greenpeace
Come Clean WMD awareness programme
UK atomic energy authority
National Radiological Protection Board
Friends of the Earth
World Nuclear Association
World Nuclear Transport Institute

[UP] 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 25 Guardian Unlimited: EU: green and nuclear power are the future 

Surprise recall for nuclear power in EU energy mix
 
David Gow in Brussels

Monday January 8, 2007

[A wind farm] 
Photograph: Corbis
 
 The European commission will on Wednesday call for "a new 
industrial revolution", promoting renewable energy and nuclear 
power to replace dwindling fossil fuels and combat climate 
change.

Its controversial proposals, outlined in a series of papers on 
energy policy and competition, are partly based on research 
published on Monday showing the price of oil and gas is likely to 
double to $110 a barrel as global reserves plateau. Coal, it 
says, will stage a comeback prompted by new carbon-capture and 
storage systems. Article continues 
 			 			 						 						 						
The commission's white paper foresees EU energy imports
jumping to 65% of consumption by 2030, when 84% of gas and 93%
of oil will come from overseas, making the drive to increase the
use of renewables, hydrogen and nuclear inexorable.

Its promotion of atomic energy, partly for use in producing
hydrogen, is the most controversial aspect of its proposals as
nuclear power is banned in countries such as Austria and is
being phased out in others such as Germany and Sweden. It is
couched in implicit terms - not least because an EU-wide poll
shows only a 20% backing for nuclear power.

With the commission setting a minimum target of a 20% reduction
in greenhouse gases by 2020, nuclear power is seen in
yesterday's research as providing 30% of Europe's energy demand
by 2050. Renewables such as wind power would provide slightly
more than a fifth. But, in a low-carbon scenario, these two
would fuel three-quarters of power generation, with half of the
rest coming from plants with CO2 capture and storage.

The commission's plans are accompanied by proposed measures to
break up the monopolist stranglehold of huge energy groups such
as France's EDF and Germany's Eon on the internal market and to
introduce more competition. But the commission has not yet
reached full agreement among the 27 commissioners on the
proposal.

A majority is said to favour forcing integrated energy groups,
deemed to be colluding to prevent new entrants, to sell off
their electricity transmission and gas-pipeline networks. A
minority, grouped around president José Manuel Barroso, would
prefer to see these networks retained in their ownership but
handed over to an independent systems operator.

France and Germany have already told Mr Barroso they would
scupper the more ambitious "ownership unbundling" proposal when
the 27 governments discuss the white paper at their March
summit. German chancellor Angela Merkel has also signalled her
resistance to beefing up national regulation or handing powers
over either to the EU itself or the European group of energy
regulators.

· Email business.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk

[UP] 

    Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 26 AFP: Japan to back nuclear plant construction in US - reports 

 Monday January 8, 2007, 1:19 pm 

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan has agreed to extend financial support to 
Japanese firms helping to construct nuclear power plants in the 
US, according to the reports.
 
The Japanese government will provide trade insurance for firms 
scheduled to join US nuclear power plant construction, the 
Yomiuri Shimbun and the Sankei Shimbun newspapers said.
 
Trade insurance would compensate firms for losses suffered from 
overseas investment and trading.
 
A formal accord between the US and Japan will be signed Tuesday
when Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari meets US
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman.
 
The US government will provide debt guarantees under the accord,
the reports said.
 
This was because US financial institutions were reluctant to
extend loans for nuclear construction projects as US companies
lacked current experience in the field, they said.
 
Last year, nuclear energy company Westinghouse Electric was
taken under the umbrella of Japan's electronic giant Toshiba and
General Electric said it would integrate its nuclear business
with that of Toshiba's rival Hitachi.
 
The construction cost for each nuclear power plant is an
estimated 300 billion to 400 billion yen (2.5 billion to 3.4
billion dollars).
 
The two governments separately aim to map out joint assistance
policies in April, including a technological tie-up, the Yomiuri
said.
 
The agreement will help boost Japanese companies' presence in
the United States -- the world's largest energy consumer, where
many firms plan to build nuclear power plants.
 
More than 30 nuclear power plants are under consideration in the
US following a policy change by the administration of George W.
Bush to promote their construction.
 
Japanese companies are expected to help build all the plants
under a Japan-US corporate alliance, the Yomiuri said.
     
   Copyright © 2006 AFP. All rights reserved. All information
*****************************************************************
 27 NRC: NRC Resident Inspector Assigned to the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station
 
News Release - Region I - 2007 - U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region I 475 Allendale Road, 
King of Prussia, Pa. 19406 No. I-07-001                          
January 8, 2007 CONTACT:     Diane Screnci (610) 337-5330 Neil A. 
Sheehan (610) 337-5331                     E-mail:   
  
Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials in King of Prussia, Pa.,
have selected Michael Brown as the new resident inspector at the
Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station in Delta, Pa. He joins NRC
Senior Resident Inspector Fred Bower at the two-unit site.
 
He replaces Dan Schroeder who was promoted to senior resident
inspector at Salem Station in Hancocks Bridge, N.J.
 
Brown first joined the NRC in May 2004 as an operations engineer
in the Division of Reactor Safety the Region I office in King of
Prussia, Pa. Prior to joining the agency, he worked as an
NRC-licensed shift supervisor at Plant Vogtle in Georgia; and as
a contractor licensed operator instructor at various nuclear
power plants around the country. He earned a bachelors degree in
mechanical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
 
Mike Brown has the experience and dedication to carry out NRCs
commitment of protect people and the environment," said NRC
Region I Administrator Samuel J. Collins. 

Each U.S. commercial nuclear plant has at least two NRC resident
inspectors to independently monitor activities at the plants.
They serve as the agency's eyes and ears at the facility,
conducting inspections, monitoring major work projects and
interacting with plant workers and the public. 

The Peach Bottom resident inspectors can be reached at
717/456-7614.
   
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 Monday, January 08, 2007  
*****************************************************************
 28 BBC: Radioactive water leaks at
 
Last Updated: Monday, 8 January 2007
 
[Sizewell A]                            

The plant had been producing electricity for 40 years                                                                

About 40,000 gallons of radioactive water leaked from a pipe at a 
nuclear power station which closed at the end of last year. 

The leak, at Sizewell A power station in Suffolk, happened on 
Sunday afternoon after a pipe broke. 

A spokesman for Sizewell said the water was contained within the 
plant and no one was injured. 

Health and safety inspectors are investigating at the plant, 
which had produced electricity for 40 years. 

'Stopped rapidly' 

Its reactors are now being decommissioned. 

A spokesman said the escape of the water was quickly detected and 
"stopped rapidly". 

The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate confirmed it was 
investigating, adding that no water had left the site and there 
had been no contact with members of the public or workers. 

A spokesman said the water contained traces of a radioactive 
substance. 

Gary Smith, national officer of the GMB union, said: "The 
incident highlights decades of chronic under-investment in our 
nuclear industry. 

"It also comes at a time when the Government is proposing to cut 
funding to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA)." 
*****************************************************************
 29 Platts: Europe decommissions seven nuclear reactors by end-2006 - Forum 

Freiburg (Platts)--8Jan2007
 
Seven nuclear reactors were decommissioned in Europe at the end 
of 2006, German nuclear opposition group, Forum, said Monday.

     Among its tasks, Forum opposes a nuclear waste site in 
Bavaria and promotes energy saving, energy efficiency and 
renewables.

     Bulgaria saw reactors three and four of the Kosloduj nuclear 
reactor shut down, Slovakia's first Bohunice reactor and the UK's 
Dungeness A1 and Dungeness A2 as well as Sizewell A1 and Sizewell 
A2 were shut down for good. The decommissioned units have a total 
net generation capacity of 2,094 MW. This reduced the number of 
operating nuclear power plants to 435 from 442.

     Forum said that even though countries like China and India 
were building many nuclear units at present, the total number of 
nuclear units under construction had for the past 40 years never 
been as low as in 2006. It added that some of the decommissioned 
units had been so unsafe that the European community had demanded 
their closure and spent much tax income on their withdrawal.

     Three nuclear units are scheduled for decommissioning in 
Germany during the current legislative period--Biblis-A (operated 
by RWE), Brunsbuttel (operated by Vattenfall Europe) and 
Neckarwestheim-1 (operated by ENBW). While RWE and ENBW have 
applied for life extensions for their units by way of capacity 
transfer, Vattenfall Europe is still debating such a move. A 
decision by environment minister Sigmar Gabriel is outstanding.

     Germany plans to phase out all its reactors by 2020, under 
the nuclear decommissioning law agreed between government and 
industry in 2001.

     Critics have slammed the applications for capacity 
transfers, which they say reveal a cynical belief that a change 
of government after the next federal election may herald a return 
to support for nuclear power. For more news, request a free trial 
to Platts Power in Europe at 
http://www.platts.com/Request%20More%20Information/index.xml?stor 
y or subscribe now at 
http://www.platts.com/infostore/product_info.php?cPath=2_31&amp;p 
roducts_id=55

Copyright © 2007 - Platts, All Rights Reserved
 [The McGraw-Hill Companies]       
*****************************************************************
 30 NRC: NRC Issues Confirmatory Order in Employment Discrimination Case At Point
Beach Nuclear Plant

News Release - Region III - 2007-00 U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY 
COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs, Region III 801 Warrenville 
Road, Lisle IL 60532 No. III-07-001           January 5, 2007 
CONTACT:     Jan Strasma (630) 829-9663 Viktoria Mitlyng (630) 
829-9662     E-mail: opa3@nrc.gov  
  
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a Confirmatory Order 
to Nuclear Management Co., operator of the Point Beach Nuclear 
Power Station, for a violation of the Commissions regulations 
protecting workers who raise safety issues from employment 
discrimination. The Point Beach plant is located near Two Rivers, 
Wis.
 
An investigation by the NRCs Office of Investigation determined 
that a Senior Reactor Operator at the Point Beach plant was 
discriminated against in December 2004 by plant management for 
raising safety issues involving deficiencies in a safety system 
operating procedure. The operator had identified possible 
violations of NRC requirements in a document prepared as part of 
the plants correction action program, and the NRC investigation 
determined that raising the issue had affected the operators 
employee evaluation.
 
The Order issued by the NRC confirms the companys agreement to 
take corrective actions at the Point Beach plant and at the other 
three plants operated by Nuclear Management Co., Palisades in 
Michigan and Monticello and Prairie Island in Minnesota. The 
company agreed to review and revise its policy for the writing of 
correction action reports and to train employees and managers on 
managements expectation that employees should not be discouraged 
from using the corrective action program.
 
Nuclear Management Co. supervisors and managers are to be 
provided with training on the companys policies for maintaining a 
safety conscious work environment, one in which employees are 
free to raise safety issues without concern for retaliation or 
discrimination.
 
The corrective actions being taken by the company at its four 
sites were the result of an agreement reached between the company 
and the NRC staff through an Alternative Disputes Resolution 
process, conducted by an independent mediator on October 31, 
2006. There is no fine or other enforcement action associated 
with the Order.
 
The Confirmatory Order will be available on the NRCs web site at: 
http://www.nrc.gov/what-we-do/regulatory/enforcement/current.html 
#reactor and from the Region III Office of Public Affairs. 
  
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 Monday, January 08, 2007  
*****************************************************************
 31 NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
 
                          FR Doc E7-1 
[Federal Register: January 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 4)] 
[Notices] [Page 800-801] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08ja07-88]                         
 
Generation Corp. (Perry Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1); Order 
Approving Application Regarding Proposed Corporate Restructuring 
I FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and FirstEnergy 
Nuclear Generation Corp. (FENGenCo), along with the Ohio Edison 
Company, are the holders of Facility Operating License NPF-58, 
which authorizes the possession, use, and operation of Perry 
Nuclear Power Plant, Unit No. 1 (Perry). The facility is located 
in Lake County, Ohio.
 
II By letter dated June 6, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated 
June 9 and August 15, 2006, FENOC, the licensed operator of 
Perry, acting on behalf of FENGenCo and FirstEnergy Solutions 
Corp. (FE Solutions), submitted an application to the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) requesting, 
pursuant to Section 50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), approval of the indirect transfer of 
control of FENGenCo's license to own 87.42 percent of Perry. FE 
Solutions and FENGenCo are both currently wholly owned direct 
subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. (FirstEnergy). This action is 
being sought as a result of a planned corporate restructuring 
which would make FENGenCo: (1) A wholly owned direct subsidiary 
of FE Solutions; and (2) a wholly owned second-tier subsidiary of 
FirstEnergy.
 
The Ohio Edison Company, which holds a leased interest in Perry 
and is licensed to possess such interest, is not involved in the 
planned corporate restructuring. The proposed corporate 
restructuring involves no changes to the facility license. 
Accordingly, no license amendments are requested in the 
application.
 
A ``Notice of Consideration of Approval of Application Regarding 
Proposed Corporate Restructuring, and Opportunity for a 
Hearing,'' was published in the Federal Register on July 12, 2006 
(71 FR 39370-39371). No comments or hearing requests were 
received.
 
Under 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, shall be 
transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control 
of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in 
writing. Upon review of the information in the application 
submitted by FENOC and other information before the Commission, 
the NRC staff has determined that the subject corporate 
restructuring will not affect the qualifications of FENGenCo to 
hold the license to the same extent now held by FENGenCo, and 
that the indirect transfer of the license as held by FENGenCo 
effected by the corporate restructuring is otherwise consistent 
with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued 
by the Commission pursuant thereto, subject to the condition 
discussed herein.
 
The findings set forth above are supported by a safety evaluation 
dated December 28, 2006.
 
III Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 
Sec. 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, It is hereby 
ordered that the application regarding
 
[[Page 801]] the proposed corporate restructuring and indirect 
license transfer is approved, subject to the following condition: 
Should the proposed corporate restructuring not be completed by 
December 28, 2007, this Order shall become null and void, 
provided, however, upon written application and good cause shown, 
such date may be extended by order.
 
This Order is effective upon issuance.
 
For further details with respect to this Order, see the 
application dated June 6, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated 
June 9 and August 15, 2006, and the safety evaluation dated 
December 28, 2006, which are available for public inspection in 
the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White 
Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland, and accessible electronically from 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing 
the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR 
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by e-mail to

 
pdr@nrc.gov. Dated: December 28, 2006.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
John W. Lubinski, Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E7-1 Filed 1-5-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 32 NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
 
                          FR Doc E7-2 
[Federal Register: January 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 4)] 
[Notices] [Page 801] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08ja07-89]                         
 
Generation Corp. (Beaver Valley Power Station, Units 1 and 2); 
Order Approving Application Regarding Proposed Corporate 
Restructuring I FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and 
FirstEnergy Nuclear Generation Corp. (FENGenCo) are the holders 
of Facility Operating License DPR-66 and along with the Ohio 
Edison Company and Toledo Edison Company Facility Operating 
License NPF-73, which authorize the possession, use, and 
operation of Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 1 (BVPS 1) and 
Beaver Valley Power Station, Unit 2 (BVPS 2), respectively. The 
facilities are located in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
 
II By letter dated June 6, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated 
June 9 and August 15, 2006, FENOC, the licensed operator of BVPS 
1 and 2, acting on behalf of FENGenCo and FirstEnergy Solutions 
Corp. (FE Solutions), submitted an application to the U.S. 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC or Commission) requesting, 
pursuant to Section 50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (10 CFR), approval of the indirect transfer of 
control of FENGenCo's licenses to own FENGenCo's interest in BVPS 
1 and BVPS 2. FE Solutions and FENGenCo are both currently wholly 
owned direct subsidiaries of FirstEnergy Corp. (FirstEnergy). 
This action is being sought as a result of a planned corporate 
restructuring which would make FENGenCo: (1) A wholly owned 
direct subsidiary of FE Solutions; and 2) a wholly owned 
second-tier subsidiary of FirstEnergy. The Ohio Edison Company 
and the Toledo Edison Company, which hold leased interests in 
BVPS 2 and are licensed to possess such interests, are not 
involved in the planned corporate restructuring. The proposed 
corporate restructuring involves no changes to any of the 
facility licenses. Accordingly, no license amendments are 
requested in the application.
 
A ``Notice of Consideration of Approval of Application Regarding 
Proposed Corporate Restructuring, and Opportunity for a 
Hearing,'' was published in the Federal Register on July 12, 2006 
(71 FR 39371-39372). No comments or hearing requests were 
received.
 
Under 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, shall be 
transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control 
of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in 
writing. Upon review of the information in the application 
submitted by FENOC and other information before the Commission, 
the NRC staff has determined that the subject corporate 
restructuring will not affect the qualifications of FENGenCo to 
hold the licenses to the same extent now held by FENGenCo, and 
that the indirect transfer of the licenses as held by FENGenCo 
effected by the corporate restructuring is otherwise consistent 
with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued 
by the Commission pursuant thereto, subject to the condition 
discussed herein.
 
The findings set forth above are supported by a safety evaluation 
dated December 28, 2006.
 
III Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. 
2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, It is hereby 
ordered that the application regarding the proposed corporate 
restructuring and indirect license transfers is approved, subject 
to the following condition: Should the proposed corporate 
restructuring not be completed by December 28, 2007, this Order 
shall become null and void, provided, however, upon written 
application and good cause shown, such date may be extended by 
order.
 
This Order is effective upon issuance.
 
For further details with respect to this Order, see the 
application dated June 6, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated 
June 9 and August 15, 2006, and the safety evaluation dated 
December 28, 2006, which are available for public inspection in 
the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White 
Flint North, Public File Area O1 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland, and accessible electronically from 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing 
the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR 
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by e-mail to

 
pdr@nrc.gov. Dated: December 28, 2006.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
John W. Lubinski, Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E7-2 Filed 1-5-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 33 NRC: FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company, FirstEnergy Nuclear 
 
                          FR Doc E7-3 
[Federal Register: January 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 4)] 
[Notices] [Page 802] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08ja07-90] [[Page 802]]
 
Generation Corp. (Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Station, Unit No. 1); 
Order Approving Application Regarding Proposed Corporate 
Restructuring I FirstEnergy Nuclear Operating Company (FENOC) and 
FirstEnergy Nuclear Generation Corp. (FENGenCo) are the holders 
of Facility Operating License NPF-3, which authorizes the 
possession, use, and operation of Davis-Besse Nuclear Power 
Station, Unit No. 1 (Davis- Besse). The facility is located in 
Ottawa County, Ohio. II By letter dated June 6, 2006, as 
supplemented by letters dated June 9 and August 15, 2006, FENOC, 
the licensed operator of Davis-Besse, acting on behalf of 
FENGenCo and FirstEnergy Solutions Corp. (FE Solutions), 
submitted an application to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission (NRC or Commission) requesting, pursuant to Section 
50.80 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR), 
approval of the indirect transfer of control of FENGenCo's 
license to own 100 percent of Davis-Besse. FE Solutions and 
FENGenCo are both currently wholly owned direct subsidiaries of 
FirstEnergy Corp. (FirstEnergy). This action is being sought as a 
result of a planned corporate restructuring which would make 
FENGenCo: (1) A wholly owned direct subsidiary of FE Solutions; 
and (2) a wholly owned second-tier subsidiary of FirstEnergy. The 
proposed corporate restructuring involves no changes to the 
facility license. Accordingly, no license amendments are 
requested in the application.
 
A ``Notice of Consideration of Approval of Application Regarding 
Proposed Corporate Restructuring, and Opportunity for a 
Hearing,'' was published in the Federal Register on July 12, 2006 
(71 FR 39370). No comments or hearing requests were received.
 
Under 10 CFR 50.80, no license, or any right thereunder, shall be 
transferred, directly or indirectly, through transfer of control 
of the license, unless the Commission shall give its consent in 
writing. Upon review of the information in the application 
submitted by FENOC and other information before the Commission, 
the NRC staff has determined that the subject corporate 
restructuring will not affect the qualifications of FENGenCo to 
hold the license to the same extent now held by FENGenCo, and 
that the indirect transfer of the license as held by FENGenCo 
effected by the corporate restructuring is otherwise consistent 
with applicable provisions of law, regulations, and orders issued 
by the Commission pursuant thereto, subject to the condition 
discussed herein.
 
The findings set forth above are supported by a safety evaluation 
dated December 28, 2006.
 
III Accordingly, pursuant to Sections 161b, 161i, and 184 of the 
Atomic Energy Act of 1954, as amended (the Act), 42 U.S.C. Sec. 
Sec. 2201(b), 2201(i), and 2234; and 10 CFR 50.80, It is hereby 
ordered that the application regarding the proposed corporate 
restructuring and indirect license transfer is approved, subject 
to the following condition: Should the proposed corporate 
restructuring not be completed by December 28, 2007, this Order 
shall become null and void, provided, however, upon written 
application and good cause shown, such date may be extended by 
order.
 
This Order is effective upon issuance.
 
For further details with respect to this Order, see the 
application dated June 6, 2006, as supplemented by letters dated 
June 9 and August 15, 2006, and the safety evaluation dated 
December 28, 2006, which are available for public inspection in 
the Commission's Public Document Room (PDR), located at One White 
Flint North, Public File Area 01 F21, 11555 Rockville Pike (first 
floor), Rockville, Maryland, and accessible electronically from 
the Agencywide Documents Access and Management System (ADAMS) 
Public Electronic Reading Room on the Internet at the NRC Web 
site, http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams.html. Persons who do 
not have access to ADAMS or who encounter problems in accessing 
the documents located in ADAMS, should contact the NRC PDR 
Reference staff by telephone at 1-800-397-4209, 301-415-4737, or 
by e-mail to

 
pdr@nrc.gov. Dated: December 28, 2006.
 
For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
 
John W. Lubinski, Acting Director, Division of Operating Reactor 
Licensing, Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation.
 
[FR Doc. E7-3 Filed 1-5-07; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 7590-01-P

 
*****************************************************************
 34 OpEd News: Nuclear Power Not Clean, Green or Safe

  January 8, 2007 at 06:26:38
 
by Sherwood Ross

By Sherwood Ross

In all the annals of spin, few statements are as misleading as 
Vice President Cheney's that the nuclear industry operates 
"efficiently, safely, and with no discharge of greenhouse gases 
or emissions," or President Bush's claim America's 103 nuclear 
plants operate "without producing a single pound of air pollution 
or greenhouse gases."

Even as the White House refuses to concede global warmining is
really happening, it touts nuclear power as the answer to it as
if it were an arm of the Nuclear Energy Institute(NEI), the
industry's trade group. NEI's advertisements declare, "Kids
today are part of the most energy-intensive generation in
history. They demand lots of electricity. And they deserve clean
air."

In reality, not only are vast amounts of fossil fuels burned to
mine and refine the uranium for nuclear power reactors,
polluting the atmosphere, but those plants are allowed "to emit
hundreds of curies of radioactive gases and other radioactive
elements into the environment every year," Dr. Helen Caldicott,
the antinuclear authority, points out in her book "Nuclear Power
Is Not The Answer"(The New Press).

What's more, the thousands of tons of solid radioactive waste
accumulating in the cooling pools next to those plants contain
"extremely toxic elements that will inevitably pollute the
environment and human food chains, a legacy that will lead to
epidemics of cancer, leukemia, and genetic disease in
populations living near nuclear power plants or radioactive
waste facilities for many generations to come," she writes.
Countless Americans are already dead or dying as a result of
those nuclear plants and that story is not being effectively
told.

To begin with, over half of the nation's dwindling uranium
deposits lie under Navajo and Pueblo tribal land, and at least
one in five tribal members recruited to mine the ore were
exposed to radioactive gas radon 220 and "have died and are
continuing to die of lung cancer," Caldicott writes. "Thousands
of Navajos are still affected by uranium-induced cancers," she
adds. 

As for uranium tailings discarded in the extraction process,
265-million tons of it have been left to pile up in, and
pollute, the Southwest, even though they contain radioactive
thorium. At the same time, uranium 238, also known as "depleted
uranium,"(DU) a discarded nuclear plant biproduct, "is lying
around in thousands of leaking, disintegrating barrels" at the
enrichment facilites in Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Portsmouth, Ohio, and
Paducah, Ky., where ground water is now too polluted to drink,
Caldicott writes.

Fuel rods at every nuclear plant leak radioactive gases or are
routinely vented into the atmosphere by plant operators.
"Although the nuclear industry claims it is 'emission' free, in
fact it is collectively releasing millions of curies annually,"
the author notes.

Speaking of safety, since the Three Mile Island(TMI) plant
meltdown on March 28, 1979, some 2,000 Harrisburg area residents
settled sickness claims with operators' General Public Utilities
Corp. and Metropolitan Edison Co., the owners of TMI. 

Area residents' symptoms included nausea, vomiting, diarrhea,
bleeding from the nose, a metallic taste in the mouth, hair
loss, and red skin rash, typical of acute radiation sickness
when people are exposed to whole-body doses of radiation around
100 rads, said Caldicott, who arrived on the scene a week after
the meltdown.

David Lochbaum, of the Union of Concerned Scientists, believes
nuclear plant safety standards are lacking and predicted another
nuclear catastrophe in the near future, stating, "It's not if
but when." Not only are such plants unsafe but the spent fuel is
often hauled long distances through cities to waste storage
facilities where it will have to be guarded for an estimated
240,000 years.

"The magnitude of the radiation generated in a nuclear power
plant is almost beyond belief," Caldicott writes. "The original
uranium fuel that is subject to the fission process becomes 1
billion times more radiactive in the reactor core. A thousand
megawatt nuclear power plant contains as much long-lived
radiation as that produced by the explosion of 1,000
Hiroshima-sized bombs."

Each year, operators must remove a third of the radioactive fuel
rods from their reactors as they have become contaminated with
fission products. The rods are so hot they must be stored for 30
to 60 years in a heavily shielded building continuously cooled
by air or water lest they burst into flame, and afterwards
packed into a container.

"Construction of these highly specialized containers uses as
much energy as construction of the original reactor itself,
which is 80 gigajoules per metric ton," Caldicott points out.

What's a big construction project, though, when you don't have
to pay for it? In the 2005 Energy Bill, Congress allocated
$13-billion in subsidies to the nuclear power industry. Between
1948 and 1998, the U.S. government subsidized the industry with
$70-billion of taxpayer monies for research and development,
corporate Socialism pure and simple.

As for safety, an accident or terrorist strike at a nuclear
facility could kill people by the thousands. About 17-million
people live within a 50 mile radius of the two Indian Point
reactors in Buchanan, N.Y., just 35 miles from Manhattan.
Suicidal terrorists, Caldicott noted, could disrupt the plant's
electricity supply by ramming a speedboat packed with explosives
into their Hudson River intake pipes, where water is sucked in
to cool the reactors. Over time, the subsequent meltdown could
claim an estimated 518,000 lives.

Caldicott points out there are truly green and clean alternative
energy sources to nuclear power. She refers to the American
plains as "the Saudi Arabia of wind," where readily available
rural land in just several Dakota countires "could produce twice
the amount of electricity that the United States currently
consumes." Now that sounds clean, green, and safe. And I betcha
it could be done through free enterprise, too. Somebody,
quick,call in the entrepreneurs! 
#
(Sherwood Ross is a Miami-based reporter. Reach him at
sherwoodr1@yahoo.com) 

  
Sherwood Ross has worked in the civil rights movement and as a
reporter for major dailies and wire services. 

Solar, not nuclear
 						
I very much endorse Sherwood Ross's article "Nuclear Power Not
Clean, Green or Safe" (2007-01-08). It is surprising that anyone
should be considering building new nuclear power plants in the
US when there is a simple mature technology available that can
deliver huge amounts of clean energy without any of the
headaches of nuclear power.

I refer to 'concentrating solar power' (CSP), the technique of
concentrating sunlight using mirrors to create heat, and then
using the heat to raise steam and drive turbines and generators,
just like a conventional power station. It is possible to store
solar heat in melted salts so that electricity generation may
continue through the night or on cloudy days. This technology
has been generating electricity successfully in California since
1985 and half a million Californians currently get their
electricity from this source. CSP plants are now being planned
or built in many parts of the world.

CSP works best in hot deserts and, of course, these are not
always nearby! But it is feasible and economic to transmit solar
electricity over very long distances using highly-efficient
'HVDC' transmission lines. With transmission losses at about 3%
per 1000 km, solar electricity may be transmitted to anywhere in
the US. An area of 160 km x 160 km in California, Nevada or
Arizona would be sufficient to meet the entire current US demand
for electricity.

In the recent 'TRANS-CSP' report commissioned by the German
government, it is estimated that CSP electricity, imported from
North Africa and the Middle East, could become one of the
cheapest sources of electricity in Europe, including the cost of
transmission. A large-scale HVDC transmission grid has also been
proposed by Airtricity as a means of optimising the use of wind
power throughout Europe.

Further information about CSP may be found at www.trec-uk.org.uk
and www.trecers.net. Copies of the TRANS-CSP report may be
downloaded from www.trec-uk.org.uk/reports.htm. The many
problems associated with nuclear power are summarised at
www.mng.org.uk/green_house/no_nukes.htm. 			
by GerryWolff(0 articles, 1 comments)                      

on Monday, January 8, 2007 at 9:25:42 AM 

Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2006     
*****************************************************************
 35 Japan Times: U.S. nuclear plant trade insurance eyed | 

Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2007

WASHINGTON (Kyodo) Japan and the United States have agreed that
Tokyo will provide trade insurance to help Japanese companies
take part in the construction of nuclear power plants in the
U.S., sources said Sunday.
 
The insurance is designed to compensate companies in the event
of a loss related to exports or direct investment overseas.
Private-sector companies are reluctant to provide cover for
nuclear power plants because of their high costs and the
environmental and political risks they entail.
 
In addition to the insurance, the U.S. government hopes to
encourage companies to build plants by providing guarantees for
loans they take out to finance construction, the sources said.
 
The basic agreement will be formalized in a meeting Tuesday
between visiting Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira
Amari and U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, the sources said.
 
U.S. utilities are planning to build a number of new nuclear
plants as higher crude prices raise production costs for
oil-fired power plants.
 
Tokyo wants Japan's reactor makers to play a part in the U.S.
nuclear plant business.

 The Japan Times (C) All rights reserved 
*****************************************************************
 36 NRC: NRC Commissioner Edward McGaffigan to Leave Agency

News Release - 2007-002-


U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: 
www.nrc.gov   
  
  No. 07-002     January 5, 2007   
  
ROCKVILLE, MD  Nuclear Regulatory Commission member Edward
McGaffigan, Jr., a 31-year veteran of public service and member
of the Commission since 1996, announced today he will leave the
regulatory body upon the confirmation of a successor.
 
McGaffigan, 58, announced his intention in letters to President
Bush and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev, dated Jan. 4,
2007. The longest-serving member in the NRCs 32-year history and
the only member to have served over 10 years, McGaffigan is
undergoing treatment for metastatic melanoma. Copies of the
letters are attached.
 
Ed McGaffigan has made exceptionally valuable contributions to
the work of the NRC over the past decade. Our thoughts and
prayers are with him and his family, said NRC Chairman Dale
Klein.
 
Commissioner McGaffigans current biography is available on the
NRCs web site (www.nrc.gov).
 
Editors Note: Commissioner McGaffigan's age is 58, not 59 as
reported in the original release.
 
January 4, 2007 	 

The President
 The White House 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
 Washington, DC 20500
 
Dear Mr. President:
 
I have had the high honor of serving my country in a variety of
federal civilian positions for almost 31 years. You gave me my
most recent opportunity by appointing me to my third term as a
Commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in 2005.
I deeply appreciate your confidence in me.
 
Unfortunately, for the past six months I have been battling an
aggressive recurrence of metastatic melanoma. My life expectancy
is limited. Therefore, I will resign upon the confirmation by
the Senate of the successor whom you nominate. My hope is that
you will be able to pair the nomination of my successor with
that of Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifields successor and that will
in turn ease Senate confirmation of your nominees and help
maintain a full five-member Commission. I had hoped to be an
element of stability at NRC as the Commission faces enormous
challenges in the years ahead. I fear now that I will contribute
to instability at the worst possible time.
 
Thank you, again, for this last opportunity to serve my country.
 
Sincerely, 

Edward McGaffigan, Jr.

January 4, 2007
 
The Honorable Harry Reid
 Majority Leader
 United States Senate
 528 Hart Senate Office Building
 Washington, DC 20510
 
Dear Senator Reid:
 
I have today submitted to the President my resignation as a
Commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC),
effective upon the confirmation of my successor.
 
I deeply appreciate your support for my nomination to a third
term on the Commission in 2005. I feel like I am letting you and
the President down. But the melanoma which reappeared last July
is marching on and I no longer have any prospect of defeating it.
 
The NRC faces enormous challenges in the years ahead. It is
vital that every effort be made to maintain a full five-member
Commission. My resignation, combined with the end of
Commissioner Jeffrey Merrifields term on June 30, will allow for
the pairing of the two successors whom the President nominates
in the Senate confirmation process. My hope would be that the
Commission will not drop to three members on July 1.
 
Thank you so much for this last opportunity to serve my country
and for the warm letter you sent in November when I became the
longest serving Commissioner in NRCs history and received NRCs
Distinguished Service Award. I wish you all the best in your
service to the Nation as Senate Majority Leader starting today.
 
Sincerely,
 
Edward McGaffigan, Jr.
 
Enclosure: Letter to The President 
  

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 Monday, January 08, 2007  
*****************************************************************
 37 UPI: Ohio energy group destroyed key documents
     
   United Press International - NewsTrack - 

1/8/2007 4:22:00 PM -0500

MIAMISBURG, Ohio, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- Ohio workers' advocates said
they were stunned that Energy Department officials sent off 400
boxes of classified documents to be destroyed. 

The Dayton (Ohio) Daily News reported that since the 2005
records destruction was made public in December, area worker
advocates have criticized the move as it may have resulted in
vital data related to potential radiation poisoning of Energy
Department employees. 

The documents from Ohio's Mound Plant were shipped to New
Mexico's Los Alamos National Laboratory where they were disposed
of in a landfill designed for radioactive waste. 

A spokeswoman for the Energy Department denied that the
destroyed records held any revelations regarding alleged
radiation exposure suffered by former Mound Plant employees. 

Such former employees and area advocates suggested that if the
documents were indeed contaminated to the point that they had to
be added to the landfill, that acts as evidence that the plant
was leaking radiation, the paper said.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 38 NRC: NRC’S Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards Elects Chairman, 
Vice Chairman and Member-at-Large

News Release - 2007-003 - 

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office of Public Affairs     
Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 20555-0001     E-mail: 
opa@nrc.gov www.nrc.gov   
  
  No. 07-003     January 8, 2007   
  
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on Reactor 
Safeguards (ACRS) has elected William J. Shack as Chairman, John 
D. Sieber as Vice-Chairman, and Mario V. Bonaca as 
Member-at-Large. 

The ACRS advises the Commission independently from the NRC staff
on the safety and safeguards aspects of nuclear facilities and
the adequacy of safety standards.
 
Dr. Shack received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and a masters
degree and doctorate in applied mechanics from the University of
California-Berkeley. Previously, Dr. Shack was an associate
professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at MIT, and
joined the Argonne National Laboratory in 1975, where he is
currently research program director in the Nuclear Engineering
Division. His work has included measurement and modeling of
residual stresses, fracture mechanics analyses of stress
corrosion crack growth, assessment of leak-before-break behavior
in piping systems, and fatigue of reactor materials. He was
appointed to the ACRS in 1993.
 
Mr. Sieber received his bachelor of science degree in mechanical
engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He also attended
Purdue University and the MIT. He has served as a member and
director of the Electric Power Research Institute, Nuclear
Electric Insurance Limited, Nuclear Energy Institute, Institute
of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and the Westinghouse
Owners Group. He was senior vice president and chief nuclear
officer at Duquesne Light Co. prior to retirement. Mr. Sieber
has been the president of Northmont Consulting, Inc. since 1994.
His primary activities include nuclear plant assessments,
management oversight, event analysis, root cause determinations,
and operational and human performance analysis. He was appointed
to the ACRS in 1999.
 
Mr. Bonaca is a nuclear consultant with more than 30 years of
experience in analysis, design and operation support of nuclear
power plants. He has worked at Combustion Engineering, Babcock
and Wilcox, and was director of Nuclear Engineering Services at
Northeast Utilities prior to his retirement. He received his
doctorate in physics from the University of Florence, Italy, in
1964. He was appointed to the ACRS in 1999.
 
The other members of the ACRS include:
 
Dr. Said Abdel-Khalik, Georgia Power Distinguished Professor,
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Ga; 

Dr. George Apostolakis, Professor of Nuclear Engineering,
Professor of Engineering Systems, Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass;
 
Dr. J. Sam Armijo, Adjunct Professor of Materials Science and
Engineering at the University of Nevada, Reno, Nev.
 
Dr. Sanjoy Banerjee, Professor, Department of Chemical
Engineering, with a joint appointment in Mechanical Engineering,
University of California, Santa Barbara.
 
Dr. Michael L. Corradini, Professor and Chair, Nuclear
Engineering and Engineering Physics Program, University of
Wisconsin.
 
Mr. Otto Maynard, retired consultant in the nuclear and aviation
sectors of industry, Grand Lake, Okla. Dr. Thomas S. Kress,
retired Head of Applied Systems Technology Section, Oak Ridge
National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn.
 
Dr. Dana A. Powers, Senior Scientist, Nuclear Facilities Safety
Department, Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM.
 
Dr. Graham B. Wallis, Sherman Fairchild Professor Emeritus,
Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.
   
  
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 Monday, January 08, 2007  
*****************************************************************
 39 NRC: Sunshine Federal Register Notice: Commissioner's Conference

FR Doc 07-22 

[Federal Register: January 8, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 4)] 
[Notices] [Page 802-803] From the Federal Register Online via GPO 
Access [wais.access.gpo.gov] [DOCID:fr08ja07-91]                         

NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION
 
Date: Weeks of January 8, 15, 22, 29, February 5, 12, 2007.
Place: Commissioners' Conference Room, 11555 Rockville Pike,
Rockville, 
Maryland.
Status: Public and Closed.
Matters to be Considered: 
Week of January 8, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007.
9:30 a.m.

    Briefing on Browns Ferry Unit 1 Restart (Public Meeting)
(Contact: 
Catherine Haney, 301-415-1453).
    This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--
.
Thursday, January 11, 2007.
1:25 p.m.
    Affirmation Session (Public Meeting) (Tentative).
    a. Final Rulemaking to Revise 10 CFR 73.1, Design Basis
Threat 
(DBT) Requirements (Tentative).
    b. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, & Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc. Reconsid'n denied (Oct. 30, 2006) (Tentative).
    c. Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Pilgrim Nuclear Power 
Station), Intervenor Pilgrim Watch's Appeal of LBP-06-23 (Ruling
on 
Standing and Contentions) (Tentative).
    d. Entergy Nuclear Vermont Yankee, LLC, & Entergy Nuclear 
Operations, Inc. Generation Company & Entergy Nuclear
Operations, Inc. 
(Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station), LBP-06-23 (10/16/06)
(Tentative).
1:30 p.m.
    Periodic Briefing on New Reactor Issues (Public Meeting)
(Contact: 
Donna Williams, 301-415-1322).
    This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--
.
Week of January 15, 2007--Tentative
    There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of January 15,
2007.
Week of January 22, 2007--Tentative
Tuesday, January 23, 2007.
1:30 p.m.
    Joint Meeting with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on
Grid 
Reliability (Public Meeting) (Contact: Mike Mayfield,
301-415-0561).
[[Page 803]]
This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--
.
Week of January 29, 2007--Tentative
Wednesday, January 31, 2007.
9:30 a.m.
    Discussion of Security Issues (Closed--Ex. 1 & 3). To be
held at 
Department of Homeland Security Headquarters, Washington, DC.
Thursday, February 1, 2007.
9:30 a.m.
    Discussion of Management Issues (Closed--Ex. 2).
1:30 p.m.
    Briefing on Strategic Workforce Planning and Human Capital 
Initiatives (Public Meeting) (Contact: Mary Ellen Beach,
301-415-6803).
    This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--
.
Week of February 5, 2007--Tentative
    There are no meetings scheduled for the Week of February 5,
2007.
Week of February 12, 2007--Tentative
Thursday, February 15, 2007.
9:30 a.m.
    Briefing on Office of Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
Programs, 
Performance, and Plans (Public Meeting) (Contact: Edward New,
301-415-
5646).
    This meeting will be webcast live at the Web address--
.
* * * * *
    \*\ 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: By a vote of 5-0 on December 13, 2006,
the 
Commission determined pursuant to U.S.C. 552b(e) and 9.107(a) of
the 
Commission's rules that ``Discussion of Management Issues
(Closed-
Ex.2)'' be held December 14, 2006, and on less than one week's
notice 
to the public.
    Affirmation of ``Entergy Nuclear Operations, Inc. (Pilgrim
Nuclear 
Power Station), Intervenor Pilgrim Watch's Appeal of LBP-06-23
(Ruling 
on Standing and Contentions)'' tentatively scheduled for
Thursday, 
January 4, 2007, at 12:55 p.m. has been rescheduled tentatively
on 
Thursday, January 11, 2007, at 1:25 p.m.
* * * * *
    The NRC Commission Meeting Schedule can be found on the
Internet 
at: 
 * * * *
    The NRC provides reasonable accommodation to individuals
with 
disabilities where appropriate. If you need a reasonable
accommodation 
to participate in these public meetings, or need this meeting
notice or 
the transcript or other information from the public meetings in
another 
format (e.g. braille, large print), please notify the NRC's
Disability 
Program Coordinator, Deborah Chan, at 301-415-7041, TDD:
301-415-2100, 
or by e-mail at . 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 .
    Dated: January 3, 2007.
R. Michelle Schroll,
Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 07-22 Filed 1-4-07; 10:01 am]
BILLING CODE 7590-01-P
 
*****************************************************************
 40 Guardian Unlimited: Miscommunication Cited in Port Alert 

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 
 	 
Monday January 8, 2007 11:01 AM
 	
AP Photo FLWL103 By KELLI KENNEDY Associated Press Writer 

MIAMI (AP) - Three Middle Eastern men in a cargo truck sparked a
brief terrorism scare at the Port of Miami until officials
determined their freight was harmless and the incident had
stemmed from a simple misunderstanding. 

The port's cargo area was shut down Sunday and a bomb squad
moved the truck away from public areas to scan it for
radioactive materials. Nothing unusual was found, officials
said. 

The men in the truck - two Iraqis and one Lebanese national -
were in local police custody, but authorities said no federal
charges were expected. Officials initially said the men, all
permanent U.S. residents, had been caught trying to slip past a
checkpoint at the port's entrance. 

The truck's contents - electrical automotive parts in a 40-foot
container - matched the driver's cargo manifest, said Miami-Dade
police spokeswoman Nancy Goldberg. 

A port security officer became suspicious when the truck driver
could not produce proper paperwork in a routine inspection to
enter the port about 8 a.m., Goldberg said. 

The driver also indicated he was alone in the truck, though
security officers found two other men in the cab, she said. The
two passengers, ages 28 and 29, were a friend and a relative of
the 20-year-old Iraqi driver, she said. 

``Due to a miscommunication between the gate security personnel
and the truck driver, we believe there was a discrepancy in the
number of people in the vehicle,'' Goldberg said. ``This, and
the fact that one of the individuals did not have any form of
ID, raised our level of concern.'' 

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security were called to
the scene, along with federal and local law enforcers, ``in an
abundance of caution,'' Goldberg said. 

More than 20 pallets containing spools of wire and other
automotive parts taken from the truck were being scanned, but no
radioactive material had been found, said Jose Ramirez, a U.S.
Customs and Border Protection spokesman. 

The three men do not appear on any terrorist watch list, said
Barbara Gonzalez, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
spokeswoman. Their identities were not released and their
employer was unknown. 

The Port of Miami is among the nation's busiest. More than 3.6
million cruise ship passengers traveled through in 2005. Its
seaport services more than 30 ocean carriers, which delivered
more than 1 million cargo containers there in 2005. 

Passengers in the normally busy cruise ship area of the port
were unaware of the official bustle in the cargo area. When told
of the situation, some said they thought it probably made
boarding lines longer. But officials said Sunday's long lines
were normal. 

``I feel freaked out,'' said Connecticut resident Allie
Tetreault, 23, who was waiting to board a Caribbean cruise when
she heard about the security alert. ``That's not good to hear
right before you are going on vacation.'' 

Associated Press writer Phil Davis in Tampa, Fla., contributed
to this report. 	 
		 	 	   
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 41 [NYTr] US Nuclear Sub Collides w/Japanese Ship Off Iran
 
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 01:22:54 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
[ANOTHER screw-up by a US Navy nuclear sub! Incredible. They're
beginning to look like the threadbare Russian Navy. Last week 4
crew members "fell off" a sub as it was leaving port in England,
and two died.  Last year, a nuclear sub ran aground on a huge
underwater mountain, because no one was watching the depth sounder.

What are these guys doing? Are they eating lead cornflakes? Has
everyone with experience and judgment jumped ship?  -NY Transfer]

Forward from mart - Jan 9, 2007

Important - Please Distribute!

US nuclear sub crashes into ship while spying on Iran.

================================
BBC News - Tue. 9 January 2007
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6243395.stm

US sub collides with Japan ship

A US nuclear-powered submarine has collided with a Japanese ship in the
Arabian Sea, Japanese and US government officials have said.

The collision took place south of the Straits of Hormuz, located between
Iran and Oman, but no details were available about the submarine's exact
location.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that a collision had taken place, AFP
reports.

A US Navy spokeswoman told the news agency that there were no reports of
injuries following the collision.
       
                                *
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 42 [NYTr] US Sub and Japanese Tanker Collide in Strait of Hormuz
 
Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2007 02:28:56 -0600 (CST)

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Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
The New York Times - Jan 9, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/09/world/09japan.html

U.S. Sub and Japanese Vessel Collide

By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 ? An American nuclear-powered attack submarine has
collided with a Japanese commercial vessel in the Arabian Sea. Initial
reports from the area said there were no injuries and only slight damage, a
Pentagon spokesman said Monday night.

The collision, south of the Strait of Hormuz, was first reported by the
Kyodo news agency in Japan, which said the Foreign Ministry in Tokyo had
been officially notified of the accident by American officials.

A Pentagon spokesman identified the submarine as the U.S.S. Newport News.
The Japanese vessel was thought to be a tanker. American military officials
in Washington were seeking a fuller accounting.

The U.S.S. Newport News is a nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarine in the
Los Angeles class of vessels, and was commissioned in 1989, according to
Pentagon records.

The Japanese oil company Showa Shell Sekiyu K. K. said the ship involved is
the tanker Mogamigawa, operated by Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd., The
Associated Press reported, citing a report from the Kyodo news agency. It
was traveling from the Persian Gulf to Singapore and was carrying a crew of
eight Japanese and 16 Filipinos.

In February 2001, a United States Navy submarine rammed into a Japanese
fishing vessel in waters off Hawaii, killing nine people. The American
captain?s delay in apologizing for the crash set off protests by the
victims? families.

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 43 Police believe Litvinenko poisoned twice
 
Date: Sun, 7 Jan 2007 08:59:38 -0600 (CST)

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/07/nlitvin07.xml

Police believe Litvinenko poisoned twice

By David Harrison, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:29am GMT
07/01/2007

Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian spy, was the victim of a "double
hit" by the assassins who poisoned him with radioactive polonium-210,
police believe.   Pescatori restaruant Traces of polonium have been found
at Pescatori

Detectives suspect that Mr Litvinenko, 44, who lived in north London, was
first poisoned several days before he was attacked at a central London
hotel on November 1.

Officers had initially believed he was first poisoned that day at the
Itsu sushi bar in Piccadilly, central London, when he met Mario
Scaramella, an Italian espionage expert, for lunch. But now Scotland Yard
is investigating whether Mr Litvinenko was attacked several days before
the lunch meeting and are examining his movements during that period.

Police believe the second attack took place at the Pine Bar of the
Millennium Hotel in Mayfair. They are focusing their inquiries on two
Russians - Andrei Lugovoi and Dmitri Kovtun, both former KGB officers -
who met Mr Litvinenko there on the day he fell ill.

His post-mortem examination revealed two "spikes" of radiation poisoning,
suggesting he received two separate doses. A detective said last night:
"It may well be that Mr Litvinenko's killers poisoned him twice, possibly
because they wanted to make absolutely sure he would not recover."
advertisement Click to learn more...

On Friday it emerged that traces of polonium had been found in the
Pescatori restaurant in Mayfair, where Mr Lugovoi is understood to have
dined before November 1. The Health Protection Agency said it had
monitored the restaurant last week at the request of police. Polonium
traces had been found but there was no risk to public health, the agency
said.

Detectives believe that Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun may have been in the
restaurant on the same day they met Mr Litvinenko in the Millennium
Hotel. Mr Litvinenko, a former lieutenant colonel in the FSB, successor
to the KGB, became a business consultant and private security adviser in
exile, and was an outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin, the Russian
president.

Before Mr Litvinenko died in London on November 23, he blamed Mr Putin
and his regime for his murder, a claim the Kremlin denies.

Tests have found radiation at all three hotels where Mr Lugovoi stayed
after flying to London on October 16. Polonium-210 was also discovered
aboard two aircraft on which he had travelled. Mr Lugovoi and Mr Kovtun
have admitted meeting Mr Litvinenko on November 1. Both men, and
Vyacheslav Sokolenko, a third former KGB officer who was with them in
London, have denied any involvement in the murder. Mr Lugovoi claims he
is being framed.

Nine British detectives went to Moscow last month as part of their
investigation. They were not allowed to interview Mr Lugovoi or Mr Kovtun
directly but were present when Russian officers questioned them.

The Russian authorities have said that British officers cannot
re-interview anyone who has already been questioned in Russia, and that
any Russian who might be arrested in connection with the case will not be
tried in a foreign country.
*****************************************************************
 44 [DU Information List] new study detects traces of uranium in
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:18:34 -0800

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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=78163


New study detects traces of uranium in South
By Rym Ghazal
Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 04, 2007
BEIRUT: Yet another study of soil samples in South Lebanon has detected the 
presence of radioactive depleted uranium left over from last summer's war. 
In a report published Wednesday by local daily As-Safir, Mohammed Ali 
Qbayssi, an expert in nuclear physics based in Germany, was quoted as 
confirming that depleted uranium had been found in samples taken recently 
from a bomb crater in the southern region of Khiam.
Speaking to As-Safir, Qbayssi stressed that "it is important to distinguish 
between enriched and depleted uranium, as the two pose different health 
risks."
Similar results were reported in December by Chris Busby, the British 
secretary of the European Committee on Radiation Risk, who said that "there 
is no way the signs of uranium found in Khiam were the result of natural or 
industrial materials. Their only source is nuclear reactors."
Busby was commenting in an interview with Environment Hotline, a research 
team affiliated with Environment and Development magazine.
However, the National Council for Scientific Research ruled out on 
Wednesday the possibility of radioactive residue being present in olive 
oil, after 30 samples were tested in the Southern and Bekaa regions of Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

"There is no evidence of any degree of radioactivity in any of the samples 
tested, and so the oil is safe for human consumption and exporting poses no 
danger to public health," a statement released by the council said on 
Wednesday.
The council's results mirrored those of the United Nations Environment 
Program (UNEP), which has been studying ecological damage caused by last 
summer's war in Lebanon.
The UNEP released a statement in November declaring that there was "no 
evidence" of radioactive residue in Lebanon. A team of 20 UNEP scientists 
had spent two weeks with their Lebanese counterparts at the beginning of 
October evaluating the environmental impact of the month-long war.
The team tested air, water and soil samples at 30 heavily bombarded sites 
in Southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut.
The UNEP said the samples showed no evidence of "metal made of depleted 
uranium or other radioactive material." There was "no depleted uranium, nor 
enriched uranium, nor higher than natural uranium," it said. The full UNEP 
Post-Conflict Assessment report is expected to be released in mid-January.

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 45 [du-list] Compensation Board
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:21:44 -0800

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Wednesday, December 27, 2006

Headline News
Former LANL worker on compensation board

ROGER SNODGRASS, <mailto:roger%40lamonitor.com>roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor 
Assistant Editor

Phillip Scofield, a disabled former employee of Los Alamos National
Laboratory, has been appointed to the board that oversees the worker's
compensation program for occupational illnesses in the nuclear complex.

"I'm excited. I hope I can represent our state and nation well,"
Scofield said this morning from his home in Bosque Farms.

Scofield is a member of the Los Alamos Project on Worker's Safety and
has been a volunteer and worker advocate in areas of safety, health
physics and chemical use and exposure.

He said he was one of the first claimants to testify before the board
and subsequently had testified at hearings in Santa Fe and Espanola.

He left the laboratory under full disability after handling radioactive
and hazardous materials for 15 years in a hot cell, and wears a neck
brace for damaged vertebrae, an ergonomic injury caused because he was
too tall for the equipment. He said he had to squat with his head bent
over and his shoulders hunched.

"The doctor who first diagnosed it called it 'hot box syndrome,'" he said.

"I'm not bitter at the laboratory," he added. "I took my chances. I had
a family to support."

While he was appointed as a worker's representative on the board that
also includes representatives from industry and the medical profession,
Scofield said he would try to be open-minded about everything

Scofield's appointment to the board comes at a time of renewed
controversy for the program, which was created in 2000 to compensate
energy workers who were exposed to particular hazards related to nuclear
weapons production.

The bill's purpose was to provide for "timely, uniform and adequate
compensation of covered employees," but very little about the program
has been easy for employees or the government.

The act provided that those who qualified were entitled to a lump sum
payment of $150,000 under Part B of the program administered by the
Department of Labor, and up to $250,000 in worker's compensation and
medical expenses under Part D, managed by the Department of Energy.

The program, especially Part D, was beset by controversy and delays from
the beginning. In the first four years of the program, only six percent
of DOE's Part D claims from Los Alamos were approved, while nearly a
thousand were denied.

In a startling revelation earlier this year the Government
Accountability Office found that DOE contractors had spent $92 million
during the first four years of the program to compensate only 31 sick
workers.

Part D was pulled out of the Department of Energy and given to the
Department of Labor to administer, but last year a leaked memo from
Office of Management and Budget appeared to implicate DOL and the White
House in efforts to impose "cost containment" on the program by changing
the balance on the board and forcing additional reviews of board
decisions, among other tactics.

Last month, Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., chairman of a subcommittee
overseeing the energy employees occupational illness program, noted that
there were only two "worker representatives" on the board at the time
and pointed to a number of irregularities and inadequacies in recent
appointments, including the appointment of a member who stated that her
position was none of the workers were sick because of their exposure to
radiation.

"Those involved in this backroom manipulation of the program have
destroyed the Government credibility again," he said in his prepared
remarks on Nov. 15. "This program was supposed to assure workers the
deceit was over and their government was finally going to do right by
them. Those tasked with implementing the program have failed that
purpose miserably."

In announcing the appointment, Northern New Mexico's congressional
delegation expressed solid bipartisan support for Scofield's appointment
to the Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, administered by
the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health.

"Phil Scofield has unique experiences that make him an important
addition to this board," Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M, said in the press
release. "I'm very glad that a New Mexican has been appointed to help
oversee this compensation program."

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. said he was pleased that a New Mexican with
Los Alamos ties had been appointed to advisory board for the Energy
Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program.

"Phil Scofield is an excellent choice and is well-qualified to look out
for the interests of those suffering from work-related illnesses,"
Domenici said in the announcement.

Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. expressed his confidence as well, based on
Scofield's "experience at LANL and ongoing concern for worker safety."

Scofield summed up the current situation: "It's not a perfect process,
even though it is better than it was a few years ago," he said. "A few
more people at least can have hopes now. We're battling a demon, but
we've got to start somewhere."

__________________________________________________
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 46 [du-list] EEOICPA compensation
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:21:18 -0800

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<x-flowed>
 >From Gai
TO: UNDISCLOSED RECIPIENTS
SUBJECT: Newly assigned members of the USHHS-NIOSH EEOICP Advisory Board on 
Radiation and Worker's Health

Hi!

Reminder. . . By overwhelming vote, the members of Congress delegated 
current U.S. President George W. Bush to administer the EEOICP and Advisory 
Board on Radiation and Worker's Health. It was reported that a certain 
Advisory Board member believes that the workers weren't injured by their 
nuclear exposures. This revealed attitude would indicate that serious 
conflicts of interest exists.

It is reported that Phillip Scofield is a disabled stakeholder whose 
appointment to the USHHS-NIOSH Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker's 
Health is lauded by certain government Officials. The Hanford chemical 
operator--Josie Beach--was designated by Senator Cantwell to fill one of 
the vacated Advisory Board seats. The first question to ask is, "What 
qualifies Josie Beach to represent sick workers who have been denied 
government assistance?" The second question to ask is, "Why wasn't the 
public allowed to comment or submit nominations before the parties--who 
would represent countless numbers of denied sick workers--were selected by 
the current U.S. President?"
********
EXCERPT: Hanford safety advisory board. . . This story was published 
Friday, December 22nd, 2006 By the Tri-City Herald staff

"M. Josie Beach, a nuclear chemical operator at Hanford, will be appointed 
to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board 
on Radiation and Worker Health, said Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash. Cantwell 
appointed Beach, who works for CH2M Hill Hanford Group at the tank farms 
where 53 million gallons of radioactive and chemical waste are stored. She 
will fill a recently vacated seat on the board set aside to provide a 
worker's perspective. The board considers issues related to compensation 
for workers who have had health problems related to exposure to radiation 
or chemicals at Hanford and other Department of Energy sites."
********

Senator Cantwell seems to only support the compensation of claimants who 
were exposed and injured during the 1940 to the 1968 time frame. Then, the 
findings of fact would conclude that Senator Cantwell's advertised time 
frame would only support the compensation of spouse survivors who still 
survive. And, of course, many of the qualified workers from that time frame 
were already deceased when the ACT was approved and would average in age 
from 75 to 90+.

The current U.S. President approved the appointments of the two new 
"nuclear worker" members because key members of Congress designated that 
the Advisory Board was "unbalanced." Even though Josie Beach has been 
assigned the opportunity to represent qualified sick claimants' best 
interests, her involvement is currently objectionable according to too many 
of her co-workers. Beach would definitely not have first-hand knowledge of 
the demise of the worker complaints or the subsequent advocate work being 
accomplished by the worker advocates. It is reported that her loyalities 
are objectionable. I attend most of the subject conferences and hearings 
that Beach has not saw fit to attend. FYI, Wanda Munn--retired Hanford rad 
engineer--was recently reinstated as an EEOICP Advisory Board on Radiation 
and Worker's Health member by the current President after being ejected 
from the board by concensus. Wanda Munn is also a member of the Hanford 
Advisory Board. Even though "special interest" considerations are still 
evident, the EEOICP scandal is being investigated by key members of 
Congress. The new year and the democrat controlled Congress could prove to 
be an important advantage for countless numbers of denied EEOICP claimants.

Gai Oglesbee, Independent National Advocate
EEOICP Claimant | Downwinder
National Nuclear Victims for Justice
http://www.nnvj-goglesbee-eeoicp-abuse.com

================

lamonitor.com: Former LANL worker on compensation board

The Online News Source for Los Alamos
ROGER SNODGRASS, roger@lamonitor.com, Monitor Assistant Editor

Phillip Scofield, a disabled former employee of Los Alamos
National Laboratory, has been appointed to the board that
oversees the worker's compensation program for occupational
illnesses in the nuclear complex. "I'm excited. I hope I can
represent our state and nation well," Scofield said this morning
from his home in Bosque Farms.

Scofield is a member of the Los Alamos Project on Worker's Safety
and has been a volunteer and worker advocate in areas of safety,
health physics and chemical use and exposure.

He said he was one of the first claimants to testify before the
board and subsequently had testified at hearings in Santa Fe and
Espanola.

He left the laboratory under full disability after handling
radioactive and hazardous materials for 15 years in a hot cell,
and wears a neck brace for damaged vertebrae, an ergonomic
injury caused because he was too tall for the equipment. He said
he had to squat with his head bent over and his shoulders
hunched.

"The doctor who first diagnosed it called it 'hot box
syndrome,'" he said.

"I'm not bitter at the laboratory," he added. "I took my
chances. I had a family to support."

While he was appointed as a worker's representative on the board
that also includes representatives from industry and the medical
profession, Scofield said he would try to be open-minded about
everything

Scofield's appointment to the board comes at a time of renewed
controversy for the program, which was created in 2000 to
compensate energy workers who were exposed to particular hazards
related to nuclear weapons production.

The bill's purpose was to provide for "timely, uniform and
adequate compensation of covered employees," but very little
about the program has been easy for employees or the government.

The act provided that those who qualified were entitled to a
lump sum payment of $150,000 under Part B of the program
administered by the Department of Labor, and up to $250,000 in
worker's compensation and medical expenses under Part D, managed
by the Department of Energy.

The program, especially Part D, was beset by controversy and
delays from the beginning. In the first four years of the
program, only six percent of DOE's Part D claims from Los Alamos
were approved, while nearly a thousand were denied.

In a startling revelation earlier this year the Government
Accountability Office found that DOE contractors had spent $92
million during the first four years of the program to compensate
only 31 sick workers.

Part D was pulled out of the Department of Energy and given to
the Department of Labor to administer, but last year a leaked
memo from Office of Management and Budget appeared to implicate
DOL and the White House in efforts to impose "cost containment"
on the program by changing the balance on the board and forcing
additional reviews of board decisions, among other tactics.

Last month, Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., chairman of a
subcommittee overseeing the energy employees occupational
illness program, noted that there were only two "worker
representatives" on the board at the time and pointed to a
number of irregularities and inadequacies in recent
appointments, including the appointment of a member who stated
that her position was none of the workers were sick because of
their exposure to radiation.

"Those involved in this backroom manipulation of the program
have destroyed the Government credibility again," he said in his
prepared remarks on Nov. 15. "This program was supposed to
assure workers the deceit was over and their government was
finally going to do right by them. Those tasked with
implementing the program have failed that purpose miserably."

In announcing the appointment, Northern New Mexico's
congressional delegation expressed solid bipartisan support for
Scofield's appointment to the Advisory Board on Radiation and
Worker Health, administered by the National Institute of
Occupational Safety and Health.

"Phil Scofield has unique experiences that make him an important
addition to this board," Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M, said in the
press release. "I'm very glad that a New Mexican has been
appointed to help oversee this compensation program."

Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M. said he was pleased that a New
Mexican with Los Alamos ties had been appointed to advisory
board for the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation
Program.

"Phil Scofield is an excellent choice and is well-qualified to
look out for the interests of those suffering from work-related
illnesses," Domenici said in the announcement.

Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M. expressed his confidence as well, based
on Scofield's "experience at LANL and ongoing concern for worker
safety."

Scofield summed up the current situation: "It's not a perfect
process, even though it is better than it was a few years ago,"
he said. "A few more people at least can have hopes now. We're
battling a demon, but we've got to start somewhere."

© 2003 Los Alamos Monitor All Rights Reserved.




Vina Colley
vcolley@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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 47 NRC: eks Public Comment on Environmental Assessment of Proposed Irradiator in Hawaii
 
News Release - 2007-NR U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION Office 
of Public Affairs     Telephone: 301/415-8200 Washington, DC 
20555-0001     E-mail: No. 07-001     January 5, 2007   
  
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is seeking public comment on a
draft environmental assessment for a proposed irradiator
facility to be operated by Paina Hawaii LLC adjacent to the
Honolulu International Airport. The draft assessment concludes
that there would be no significant environmental impact from the
proposed facility.
 
Paina submitted the application for the irradiator license in
June 2005. The irradiator would be used primarily to kill pests
on fresh fruit and vegetables bound for the mainland United
States from the Hawaiian Islands and produce imported to Hawaii,
as well as irradiate cosmetics and pharmaceutical products. It
would also be used for research and development projects and to
irradiate a range of other items as approved by the NRC on a
case-by-case basis.
 
The NRC staffs environmental assessment considered potential
impacts to the health of the public and workers at the facility,
transportation of the radioactive material, socioeconomics,
ecology, water quality, and the effects of aviation accidents
and natural phenomena. 

Considering the location of personnel and operational practices
of the irradiator, it is unlikely during normal operations that
any employee could receive more than the NRCs annual
occupational dose limit of 5,000 millirem. The expected dose
rates outside the building are expected to be indistinguishable
from naturally occurring background radiation. Therefore, it is
unlikely that a member of the public could receive more than the
annual public dose limit of 100 millirem.
 
The staffs finding of no significant impact means that a formal
Environmental Impact Statement is not warranted for this license
application review.
 
The draft environmental assessment is available on the NRCs Web
site at by selecting Paina Irradiator in the Quick Links box.
 
Public comments will be accepted through Feb. 8. Written
comments should be submitted to the Chief, Rules Review and
Directives Branch, Mail Stop T6-D59, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission, Washington, D.C., 20555-0001. Comments will also be
accepted by e-mail at or by facsimile to (301) 415-5397,
Attention: Matthew Blevins. 

The NRC staff will conduct a public meeting Feb. 1 in Honolulu
to discuss the draft environmental assessment and accept written
and oral public comments. More information on that meeting is
included in a Federal Register notice, published Dec. 28.
 
More information on irradiators is available at
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/commerc
ial-irradiators.html.
   
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 Monday, January 08, 2007 	
*****************************************************************
 48 Sydney Morning Herald: Nuclear risk could be an inside job - 

Opinion - smh.com.au

www.smh.com.au
 
Charles Ferguson

January 9, 2007
 	 	
  + Stolen rocket launchers could be in Melbourne 
  + Nuclear plant target for stolen rocket launchers, police
allege 

  + Stolen rocket launchers 'sold to terror suspect'                    
The comment by the Prime Minister, John Howard, in November
about nuclear energy as "one weapon in the armoury" in the fight
against climate change now has an unfortunate ring to it in
light of the recent news that a home-grown terrorist group
allegedly planned to attack the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor
with rocket launchers from an Australian armoury.
 
The good news is that the rockets would not have done much, if
any, significant damage to the reactor. The bad news is that the
emerging details of the case point to the harm that insiders can
perpetrate. If Australia moves forward with ambitious plans - as
proposed in the controversial Switkowski report - to build 25
nuclear power reactors by 2050, it should take adequate
precautions to guard against external and internal security
threats.
 
First, let's look at the threat from the stolen army rockets.
The rockets are 66-millimetre light shoulder-fired anti-armour
weapons. The rocket's warhead can penetrate up to 350
millimetres of tank armour. The weapon's maximum effective range
is about 220 metres against moving targets and about 300 metres
against stationary targets.
 
In comparison, the Lucas Heights reactor is protected by a
containment building that uses heavy shielding. Assuming that
terrorists could get access to the inside of the building, they
would then need to breach the shielding around the reactor core.
The core is about the size of a household washing machine and is
surrounded by a steel tank encased in 10 centimetres of lead and
1.5 metres of dense concrete. Thus, the stolen rockets could not
penetrate the reactor's protective shielding.
 
But the disturbing aspect of this case is the insider threat.
Someone or some group infiltrated the Australian Army and seized
several rocket launchers. The military has even more potent
anti-armour weapons than the stolen 66-millimetre rockets. The
Defence Force has dozens of shoulder-fired Javelin
"fire-and-forget" missiles that have lock-on targeting and
infra-red (night-time) guidance. The Javelin has a range of up
to 2500 metres, making it an excellent stand-off weapon, and can
penetrate more than 600 millimetres of armour. Australian
Special Forces used this weapon during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
 
Although, as with the stolen rockets, the Javelin would probably
not be able to do much damage to the Lucas Heights reactor, the
worry is that long-range and highly penetrating anti-armour
weapons could pose a threat to shipments of spent nuclear fuel.
In December, casks containing spent fuel from Lucas Heights were
shipped from Botany Bay to the United States. While police had
tight security during the night journey from the reactor to the
ship, it is conceivable that a Javelin missile fired more than a
kilometre away could have penetrated the relatively thin shell
of the casks.
 
If the military is susceptible to the insider threat, how
susceptible are Australian nuclear facilities? Here again, there
is good news and bad news.
 
The good news is that Australia recently hosted an International
Atomic Energy Agency workshop about strengthening physical
protection of research reactors, such as used at Lucas Heights.
The workshop considered how to guard against the insider threat.
But research facilities, by their very nature, are designed to
be open to scientific researchers. So, unless thorough
background checks are done on every scientist or technician who
has access to Lucas Heights, there will be at least some risk to
that facility.
 
Lucas Heights has provided substantial benefits to Australia
since 1958. Millions of Australians have benefited from the
medical isotopes produced by the nuclear facility, for example.
 
Weighing the risks versus the benefits, Lucas Heights comes out
a winner. However, Australia confronts a debate about the future
risks posed by the Howard Government's plan to build nuclear
power plants. Australia has no experience in operating
commercial nuclear power plants, which are many times more
powerful than the Lucas Heights research reactors.
 
Faced with increased risks of terrorism, Australia should
proceed carefully with plans for nuclear expansion and should
work co-operatively with foreign governments to protect against
common threats.
 
Charles Ferguson, based in Washington, is a fellow for science
and technology at the Council on Foreign Relations, co-author of
The Four Faces of Nuclear Terrorism, and a former nuclear
engineering officer in the US Navy.
 
Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
 49 Beacon Journal: Workers seek nuclear files

01/08/2007 | 

Former Mound weapons plant employees say records buried at Los
Alamos should be dug up

 Associated Press 

DAYTON - Former nuclear weapons workers have questioned why the
federal government buried records they say could help determine
if exposure to radiation and other industrial toxins made them
sick, a newspaper reported. 

About 400 boxes of records from the Mound nuclear weapons plant
in Miamisburg were buried in 2005 at the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico. 

The records, which tested positive for radioactive
contamination, were declared a health threat and had little
overall value, officials with the U.S. Department of Energy
said. 

``I find it stunning,'' Richard Miller told the Dayton Daily
News for a story published Sunday. Miller, an analyst for the
Government Accountability Project, a Washington-based watchdog
group, said the government should exhume the records, if
possible. 

About 700 former workers or their survivors have filed 1,143
cases with a federal atomic worker compensation program,
claiming toxins from the plant caused cancer and other
illnesses. Compensation totaling $21.4 million has been granted
in 149 cases so far. 

Energy Department spokeswoman Megan Barnett said the records
were not pertinent to worker health and no rules were broken. 

She said documentation shows the records were lab notebooks,
scientific records, nonpersonnel X-ray film, accounting files
and records of weapons components and production assembly. 

The Mound plant, built in 1947, sat on a 306-acre site about 10
miles south of Dayton. The workers, who numbered more than 2,000
at the height of production, made plutonium detonators for
nuclear weapons. Their work was highly secretive -- the plant
had a small army of security guards and was ringed by chain-link
fencing and razor wire. 

When the Cold War ended, the plant discontinued the detonator
work but continued to make generators for space probes. The
Energy Department ended production in 1996, leaving cleanup of
radioactive and hazardous waste as the primary activity. 

Mike Gibson, who worked at the plant for 22 years, said he
doesn't think federal health officials can confidently determine
whether illnesses are work-related without knowing what's in the
buried documents. 

``The whole process just has a smell to it,'' Gibson said.
*****************************************************************
 50 KCPW: Utah Sets Date for Public Hearings on Divine Strake - 
 
Jan 08, 2007 by Julie Rose

 (KCPW News) The Utah Department of Environmental Quality will
hold two public hearings on the proposed Divine Strake explosive
test. They will be held on January 18th in St. George and

January 24th at the Utah State Capitol. 
Governor Jon Huntsman Junior decided to hold the hearings after
overwhelming requests from Utahns upset that federal public
meetings will not allow public comment. The Governor will submit
a transcript of the Utah hearings with his own letter opposing
the Divine Strake experiment to federal authorities.

 
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom. Copyright 2007 KCPW
 
 Comments: Name: Email Address: Website URL: Copyright © 2006
KCPW 




*****************************************************************
 51 UPI: British detectives know Litvinenko killers
     
United Press International - NewsTrack - 

1/8/2007 1:32:00 PM -0500

LONDON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- British detectives, after weeks of
investigation, reportedly are "100 percent" certain they know
who poisoned Russian spy-turned-reporter Alexander Litvinenko. 

Litvinenko died Nov. 23 in a London hospital after being exposed
to radioactive polonoium-210. Scotland Yard sent nine detectives
to Moscow before Christmas to conduct interviews and they are to
submit their report to the Crown Prosecution Service, the Mirror
reported Monday. 

"We are 100 percent sure who administered the poison, where and
how," a police source told the newspaper, which said that
Russian authorities were not likely to send the two suspected
killers to Britain for trial. 

"Both claim to have been contaminated as victims of the plot,"
the Mirror quoted the source as saying. "The view in Moscow is
that we have the wrong men." 

The Independent said Litvinenko may have been poisoned days
earlier than previously thought and could have been exposed to
radioactive material twice. Two Russian businessmen, one a
former KGB officer and the other a former Soviet soldier, were
subjects of Scotland Yard's investigation.

© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
 52 [NukeNet] Nuclear Waste: A Mountain of Questions - E-Magazine
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:18:31 -0800

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<http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3550>http://www.emagazine.com/view/?3550


COMMENTARY: Nuclear Waste: A Mountain of Questions

By Matt Gaffney

Clean, renewable energy. Reducing the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. 
Lowering greenhouse gas emissions and curbing global warming. These are the 
selling points, say nuclear advocates, for a “nuclear renaissance” in this 
country. The Bush Administration, federal lawmakers, industry lobbyists and 
numerous utility companies want the country to consider the nuclear option 
as a solution for our future energy needs. In addition to the 103 nuclear 
power plants that currently supply the nation with 20 percent of its 
electricity, as many as 30 new nuclear power plants are now being 
considered by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
11e3c7.jpg
Yucca Mountain: Will it ever hold nuclear waste?
The fact that nuclear waste is the most toxic substance on the planet may 
be lost on those who vehemently call for the country to pour its resources 
into creating more plants. And the U.S. currently has no viable near-term 
storage options for nuclear waste which continues to pollute for generations.
President Bush has long been a staunch supporter of nuclear power, and the 
9/11 terrorist attacks gave him and fellow Republicans the power and 
leverage to finally allow the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to apply for 
a construction authorization license from the NRC to build a high-level 
nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. June 30, 2008 now looms 
as the much-anticipated date when the DOE will submit its license 
application (LA) to the NRC for construction authorization. Despite the new 
Democratic majority Senate leadership, the date is not expected to change.
The licensing proceeding is expected to last three to four years, so a 
final decision on the repository is still years away. The DOE has spent 
over 20 years and approximately $7 billion for research at Yucca Mountain, 
and the cost of repository construction is expected to exceed $60 billion. 
Whatever NRC’s decision, it will certainly have far-reaching implications 
for energy policy, national security and environmental protection. It may 
be the most important land-use decision ever made by the U.S. Government.
There are two main reasons why Yucca Mountain projects have languished 
since 1987, the year Congress mandated that it be the only site in the 
nation considered for deep geological disposal: lack of a coherent and 
comprehensive transportation plan, and potential impacts to regional 
groundwater resources.
Getting it There
 From the beginning, a general vagueness and an unwillingness to work 
cooperatively with state and local agencies and other stakeholders have all 
plagued DOE’s transportation plan for moving waste to Yucca Mountain. If 
authorization to construct the depository is granted, it will impact almost 
every state in the West because of the nationwide transportation of 
high-level nuclear waste from U.S. Department of Defense weapons-making and 
research facilities, and commercial nuclear power plants.
The DOE prefers a “mostly rail” method of transporting waste to Yucca 
Mountain. Under this scenario, 9,000 to 10,000 railcars would carry waste 
on the nationwide rail network for a period of 24 years. There is, however, 
no rail line to the site, so DOE is considering two rail corridor options.
The Caliente Rail Corridor would enter Nevada from the east, and would cost 
more than $2 billion. The bill is stratospheric because the rail line would 
have to cut through incredibly demanding terrain on its way to Yucca 
Mountain. The 319-mile route would cross seven different north-south 
mountain ranges with steep grades, as well as numerous areas subject to 
flash flooding and potential washouts. The DOE has stated that this route 
would have the fewest land-use conflicts. Nevertheless, the route will 
conflict with recreation, the movement of both wildlife and water, and 
mineral extraction. Many local ranchers would also lose access to 
traditional grazing lands and watering holes.
11e44e.jpg
Federal lands in southern Nevada
The Caliente Corridor could also impact the Railroad Valley Springfish, 
which is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the 
endangered desert tortoise, and three other species classified as sensitive 
by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). This corridor could also 
impact springs and riparian areas in the area, 97 identified 
Native-American archeological sites, three BLM Wilderness Study Areas and 
eight BLM designated wild horse or wild burro herd management areas.
The DOE did not consult with local residents about the routing process of 
the rail corridor, and has admitted that the route is not “clearly 
environmentally preferable.” Most of the corridor is on federal land 
managed by the BLM, but this does not guarantee fewer land-use conflicts. 
Rarely does land ownership correlate with land use in the state because 
more than 85 percent of Nevada is federally owned, but most is open to the 
public.
The second option is the Shurz-Mina Rail Corridor, which would travel 
approximately 250 miles in a north-south direction in western Nevada, with 
a cost of $1.5 billion. The Walker River Paiute Tribe, which owns a crucial 
piece of land within the corridor, was previously against waste being 
transported through its reservation. This route is now on the table because 
the tribe has since allowed DOE to conduct a feasibility study.
This second route may require a 3,000-foot long bridge over the Walker 
River, and several intersections with Nevada Highway 95. The area is home 
to several endangered species under the ESA, including the Lahontan 
Cutthroat Trout. It offers wintering grounds for the bald eagle, and houses 
one plant species classified as critically endangered by the State of 
Nevada. Impacts to wetlands along the Walker River Corridor may also 
require special permits under the Clean Water Act. Other land-use conflicts 
for the route include condemnation of private land, interference of mineral 
extraction and processing facilities, and disruption to utility corridors. 
Native American cultural resources also exist in the Shurz-Mina Corridor.
If the DOE is unable to resolve costs, legal impediments, and land use 
conflicts in relation to a rail shipping campaign, then a “mostly truck" 
alternative may be the most feasible way of transporting nuclear waste. In 
this event, the DOE would most likely use the interstate highway system. 
The most attractive routes for the DOE to transport waste would be I-5, 
I-10, I-15, I-40, I-70 and I-80. The DOE anticipates that 53,000 truck 
shipments over a period of 24 years would be needed to transport nuclear 
waste from 131 interim storage facilities nationwide to Yucca Mountain. 
Another critical issue the DOE must resolve is Clark County, Nevada’s 
steadfast opposition to the transportation of nuclear waste through Las 
Vegas. If a “mostly truck” scenario becomes a reality, the DOE could 
transport all nuclear waste from the southern U.S. through Las Vegas 
because of its location and proximity to Yucca Mountain. The Mayor of Las 
Vegas, Clark County, the State of Nevada, and Nevada’s federal lawmakers 
oppose the shipment of nuclear waste to Yucca Mountain through the 
tourist-dominated city.
Groundwater Issues
11e4d2.jpg
The repository could also have significant groundwater impacts in both 
Nevada and California due to escaping radionuclides from waste packages in 
the repository. The DOE discovered several faults and many more fissures 
when excavating exploratory tunnels at the site, indicating a geologically 
complex and active site. The Ghost Dance Fault, the Soltario Fault, the 
Sundance Fault and the Drill Hole Wash Fault would run beneath or very near 
the proposed repository boundaries. An earthquake at Little Skull Mountain 
in 1992, with a magnitude of 5.4, was centered less than 12 miles from the 
repository site. The DOE surface facilities at Yucca Mountain suffered 
minor structural damage from the earthquake. The DOE maintains that seismic 
shaking on the Earth’s surface is more intense than in the consolidated 
rock matrix at Yucca Mountain, and that even a strong earthquake in the 
region would have little impact on a deep geologic repository.
Another concern for the DOE is that hydrologic analysis conducted in the 
mid 1990s showed water may move from the surface through the rock at Yucca 
much quicker than first predicted. The repository will be located 
approximately 950 feet below the surface and 950 feet above the water 
table. Currently, critical uncertainties remain with regard to water flow 
through “fast pathways” in the rock fractures at Yucca Mountain. The DOE 
claims that surface processes, such as evaporation and plant transpiration, 
will remove 95 percent of water entering from the surface into the Yucca 
Mountain. The DOE believes that any remaining water entering the repository 
through fractures will evaporate due to heat output from highly radioactive 
waste packages, or simply drain around the waste packages into a cooler 
area via fractures in the rock. Where the water goes from here, and how 
long that will take, is still unknown. Movement of radionuclides from 
corroded or failed waste packages is yet another uncertainty.
Initially, the DOE wanted to rely primarily on the geologic features of the 
site to isolate and contain radionuclides. However, a complex and robust 
waste package system was conceived in response to the hydrologic and 
geologic conditions discovered at Yucca Mountain. The DOE is now relying 
primarily on engineered barriers to contain and isolate radionuclides 
within the repository. The waste package will consist of an inner 
stainless-steel package, a nickel alloy outer covering, and a titanium 
“drip shield” to prevent corrosion. If the DOE believes that geologic 
features will play a very small role in containing radioactivity from waste 
packages, the site ceases to be effective or distinctive for deep geologic 
disposal. The DOE may be better served by beginning to study other sites 
where the geologic features can be more adequately utilized to contain 
escaping radionuclides.
The DOE uses intricate computer modeling programs to evaluate groundwater 
flows and predict how the repository will perform over time. Such modeling 
is the most effective form known for making predictions, but is it 
reliable? Can computer modeling based on the assumptions of the DOE 
scientists be relied upon to predict repository performance and groundwater 
movement 10,000 years in the future? Since 1988, the U.S. General 
Accountability Office has issued eight reports criticizing the DOE’s 
Quality Assurance and model validation programs. These programs ensure the 
accuracy of all the DOE’s methods and results from its myriad of modeling 
programs, and provide a foundation for all scientific research conducted at 
Yucca Mountain. Will the DOE ever reduce the numerous uncertainties in the 
modeling process to an acceptable level? It will ultimately be up to the 
NRC to decide.
Groundwater contamination from escaping radionuclides in Nye County, 
Nevada, where the repository will be located, and Inyo County, California, 
are significant not only because of the disastrous environmental 
consequences on groundwater resources, but because of several other 
regional factors.
Groundwater contamination from Yucca Mountain could affect the U.S. Fish 
and Wildlife Refuge at Ash Meadows, Nevada. Groundwater from the Lower 
Carbonate Aquifer, which underlies the repository site, reaches the surface 
at numerous spots in Ash Meadows to provide a haven for rare fish, plants, 
snails and insects. Ash Meadows provides habitat for at least 24 endemic 
plants and animals. Four different types of fish, including the famous 
Devil’s Hole Pupfish, and one plant species found at Ash Meadows are 
currently listed as endangered species under the ESA. Six other species of 
plants found at the refuge are listed as threatened. Ash Meadows holds the 
greatest concentration of endemic life in the U.S. and the second greatest 
in all of North America.
11e527.jpg
• Sites storing spent nuclear fuel, high-level radioactive waste, and/or 
surplus plutonium destined for geologic disposition.
Many communities in Southern Nevada and Eastern California, soon to be 
complemented by proposed residential developments, depend on large amounts 
of pumped groundwater to sustain their needs. A number of organic farms and 
dairies in the Amargosa Valley, Nevada are located down-gradient from the 
repository, and they rely on groundwater for irrigation and farming 
operations. Groundwater resources in Death Valley National Park could 
possibly be threatened by escaping radionuclides. Park employees and the 
1.5 million people who visit the Park annually rely on pumped groundwater 
as the only source of potable water in the region. Finally, the historic 
tribal lands of the Timbisha Shoshone would be threatened due to any 
release of radionuclides from Yucca Mountain.
What the Future Holds
If Yucca Mountain is licensed, it will be the first-ever deep geologic 
disposal site for high-level nuclear waste in the U.S., and only the second 
planned deep geologic disposal site for high-level waste in the world. If 
the NRC turns the plan down, the U.S. Government will have to scramble to 
find new solutions for the long-term storage of nuclear waste. In fact, if 
Yucca Mountain does not go forward, the DOE may be forced to look at 
several interim regional storage sites in the West while a longer-term 
search continues. The West might again be targeted as a site for deep 
geologic disposal because of an abundance of federal lands, huge tracts of 
remote and unpopulated areas, and a generally arid climate, which minimizes 
surface water intrusion into a potential repository.
Many have argued that the DOE was the wrong agency to be given the task of 
constructing a repository in the first place, and that a new, separate 
federal agency should have been created to build a national repository. 
Since its inception, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, which was later 
reorganized into the DOE, operated covertly, focusing almost exclusively on 
weapons-making activities. The DOE may be ill-equipped to handle the 
construction of a geologic storage facility under the intense microscope of 
public and governmental oversight.
One of the chief reasons the DOE wants Yucca Mountain to become a reality 
is the U.S. Government’s liability to utility companies, which presently 
store used fuel onsite in aboveground casks. Under the Nuclear Waste Policy 
Act of 1982 (NWPA), the federal government became legally obligated to take 
title and possession of waste generated by utility companies in early 1998. 
The date came and went, and now close to $300 million has been paid by the 
U.S. Treasury to compensate utility companies. This amount will grow 
substantially, and may eventually exceed $1 billion as more utility 
companies file suit in the U.S. Court of Federal Claims for breach of 
contract claims under the NWPA. The big loser is the American taxpayer, who 
foots the bill for missteps by Congress and the DOE in implementing our 
nation’s nuclear waste policy.
MATT GAFFNEY is the Project Associate of Inyo County’s Yucca Mountain 
Repository Assessment Office.
CONTACTS: <http://www.inyoyucca.org/index.html>Inyo County Yucca Mountain 
Repository Assessment Office; <http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/>Federal Government 
Yucca Mountain Site; <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yucca_Mountain>Yucca 
Mountain Wikipedia entry; <http://www.rgj.com/extra/yuccaMtn/>Yucca 
Mountain news from the Reno Gazette-Journal


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"The point of public relations slogans like "Support our troops" is that 
they don't mean anything... That's the whole point of good propaganda. You 
want to create a slogan that nobody's going to be against, and everybody's 
going to be for. Nobody knows what it means, because it doesn't mean 
anything. Its crucial value is that it diverts your attention from a 
question that does mean something: Do you support our policy? That's the 
one you're not allowed to talk about.": Noam Chomsky

“The enormous gap between what US leaders do in the world and what
Americans think their leaders are doing is one of the great propaganda
accomplishments of the dominant political mythology.” : Michael Parenti
political scientist, author

Molly Johnson
6290 Hawk Ridge Place
San Miguel, CA 93451
Cell: 805 296-0524

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 53 Guardian Unlimited: Tribe Keeps Fighting for Treaty Rights

From the Associated Press        

[UP] 

Monday January 8, 2007 7:31 PM
 	
AP Photo NDWK101 By KEN RITTER 

Associated Press Writer 

LAS VEGAS (AP) - The way Allen Moss sees it, vast stretches of
the West and all of their wealth belong to the Indians. 

And despite being turned back in lawsuit after lawsuit for
decades, the Western Shoshone leader says he won't rest until
the U.S. government honors a 19th-century treaty that, according
to the tribe, entitles it to reclaim ancestral lands extending
from California through Nevada and Utah to Idaho. 

The lands include much of the Las Vegas area. The Shoshones say
they are not interested in Sin City - too many people, too many
problems. But they want the rugged desert hills that have
yielded tens billions of dollars worth of gold over decades. 

At issue is the 1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley, which the Shoshone
say gave the tribe - not the federal government - royalties and
final say over water, mineral and property rights for land
covering 93,750 square miles, an area roughly the size of Maine. 

Moss, a representative to the eight-member tribal council in
Nevada, estimates the number of Shoshone at 5,000 to 8,000 -
descendants of people who lived from the Snake River Valley in
Idaho to the Salt Lake Valley in Utah, across most of eastern
and central Nevada, and in Death Valley and the Mojave Desert in
California. 

The tribe has taken its case to fence lines, courts,
international tribunals and the public. 

It sued to block the nation's nuclear waste from being stored in
Nevada. It succeeded in postponing government plans to explode a
non-nuclear bomb that would send the first mushroom cloud in
decades over the desert. And it went all the way to Switzerland
to ask the United Nations to intervene in the land dispute. 

The tribe keeps losing on most fronts, but also keeps appealing
- and some cases its members have notched a place in Western
lore. 

Tribal elder Carrie Dann and her sister Mary became folk heroes
for defying the government in a losing, quarter-century battle
to graze cattle on federal land without authorization. 

The Supreme Court ruled against the tribe in another case in
1979, saying the Treaty of Ruby Valley gave the U.S. trusteeship
over the tribal lands. And in September, the Court of Claims in
Washington accepted the government position that the treaty was
``merely one of friendship and that it conveyed no treaty
rights.'' 

Lawyer Bob Hager, who has been handling Western Shoshone cases
for free since 1983, maintains the tribe is losing on
technicalities. He said the tribal claim finally got traction -
and attention - with the U.N. Committee for the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination last year in Geneva. 

The panel said the U.S. government is trampling on Shoshone
rights. It cited the privatization of Shoshone ancestral lands
for mining and energy developers and federal efforts to open a
nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain, 90 miles from Las Vegas. 

Cynthia Magnuson, a U.S. Justice Department spokeswoman in
Washington, said the government would not comment on the dispute
because the case is still in court. 

The government has offered tribal members money, arguing it is
unrealistic to expect the U.S. to give back lands acquired
through ``gradual encroachment'' and now dotted with cities,
crisscrossed by interstate highways and railroads, and used for
mining, ranching and recreation. 

A law signed by President Bush in 2004 approved the distribution
to tribal members of more than $145 million, including some $26
million that a federal Indian claims commission awarded in 1979. 

Some Shoshones have said they would take the cash, but others
balked. Moss, who loads preprinted newspaper advertisements for
a living, said the money will not be touched because to take it
would be to concede the government's position. 

``Our land is not for sale,'' he said. The money continues to
collect interest. 

Moss is not sure his sons, now 25 and 21, will take up the
decades-long fight. 

``They can't believe how long the battle has taken,'' said Moss,
52. ``They were taught in school this is a land of laws. I sit
here saying, `This is how the laws have been manipulated and
twisted.''' 

``The whole thing boils down to, `How many times can you break
the law or twist the law in your favor?' That's what the
government has done.'' 
		 	 	   

    Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
 54 West Australian: Fed, WA govts at loggerheads on uranium

thewest.com.au

 	8th January 2007, 13:05 WST 	

The West Australian government is refusing to consider ending its 
ban on uranium mining, a policy the commonwealth says should be 
dropped as part of the fight against climate change.

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said WA should reassess 
the ban because nuclear power could significantly help reduce 
greenhouse gas emissions.

But WA is standing by the ban, one of Labor's central policies in 
the 2005 state election.

Senator Campbell and WA Environment Minister Tony McRae hotly 
debated the issue in Perth while announcing joint funding to 
improve water quality and tackle salinity in the state.

Mr Campbell said WA's position was "obscene" and "absurd."

"The world will need more uranium and WA should not just sit on 
it, it's obscene," Mr Campbell told reporters.

Senator Campbell said a Princeton University study showed
nuclear energy was one of seven measures, including renewable
energy and a stop to deforestation, that could stabilise
greenhouse gas emissions.

The WA government would do a backflip on the issue as the
community increasingly became aware of the contribution nuclear
energy could make to preventing climate change, Mr Campbell
predicted.

"The public pressure will build to the extent that the absurdity
of the WA government policy will become obvious and (Premier) Mr
(Alan) Carpenter will do what he does so well and that is change
his mind."

But Mr McRae said energy efficiency, renewable energies and
clean energies where the key to fighting climate change and the
Carpenter government would not review its ban on uranium mining.

"Nuclear really is a dud technology, the best uranium available
in the world today could run at current demand and be depleted
within about 30 years," Mr McRae said.

"There is not one nuclear power plant operating in the world
today that is not subsidised to the tune of millions of dollars
for its construction and operation.

"And that's not even taking into account the legacy of 25 to
50,000 years of storage of the waste."

Australia Democrats Leader Lyn Allison said Senator Campbell's
call for WA to overturn its ban on uranium mining was "a fool's
response to an urgent problem".

"If Senator Campbell was serious he would set up a carbon levy
so nuclear, fossil and renewable power can compete on a level
playing field," Senator Allison said.

"Australia's poor response to climate change is not the shortage
of uranium or uranium mines, it's the Howard government's
protectionism on coal." 	AAP   

thewest.com.au'         'The West Australian' is a
trademark of West Australian Newspapers Pty Ltd 2006. All Rights
*****************************************************************
 55 Western Australian: WA govt stands by uranium mining ban

thewest.com.au

 	8th January 2007, 10:03 WST 	

.The West Australia government has rejected a federal call to end 
its ban on uranium mining.

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell said WA should
reassess its ban because nuclear power could be used in the
fight against climate change.

Senator Campbell also said there were huge benefits to be made
by the WA and Australian economies from mining uranium as the
world was hungry for it.

But Acting Premier Eric Ripper rejected the call to dump the
ban, one of Labor's central policies in the 2005 state election.

Mr Ripper dubbed Senator Campbell "a nuclear fanatic".

"I mean, the answer to greenhouse gas emissions is to look at
clean coal technology, to promote renewables, solar, wind, wave,
biomass, to invest in energy efficiency," Mr Ripper told ABC
Radio.

"And, of course, Western Australia is contributing substantially
to one of the other answers, which is to export LNG so that it
replaces coal, for example, in Chinese power stations."

Mr Ripper said if WA lifted the ban it would come under intense
pressure to accept an international waste dump.

"And that's something I know our electorate would be strongly
opposed to," he said.

"We went to the people at the last election saying we're opposed
to nuclear power, we're opposed to uranium mining and we're
opposed to a waste dump in Western Australia, that's the
contract we have with the people and we intend to honour that
commitment." 	AAP   

'The West Australian' is a trademark of West Australian 
Newspapers Pty Ltd 2006. All Rights Reserved.                                                        
*****************************************************************
 56 LA Daily News: Water standard pushed

Boxer, Feinstein want federal perchlorate law

BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS, Staff Writer

Article Last Updated: 01/07/2007 10:25:39 PM PST       

California's two U.S. senators have introduced legislation to 
establish a federal drinking water standard for perchlorate, the 
rocket fuel component found on the Whittaker-Bermite site in 
central Santa Clarita. 

Sen. Barbara Boxer, incoming chairwoman of the Senate Environment 
and Public Works Committee, described the legislation as a 
measure to protect the health of pregnant women, fetuses and 
children. And she faulted the Environmental Protection Agency for 
not setting a tap water standard for the chemical. 

"Perchlorate is a clear and present danger to California's and 
much of America's health," Boxer said in a written statement 
entered Thursday into the Congressional Record. 

California is considering setting a perchlorate standard of
6parts per billion for drinking water. The EPA in 2005 set
24.5parts per billion as the safety limit - but not an
enforceable standard - for daily human intake of perchlorate in
drinking water. 

But the agency does not impose limits on perchlorate in drinking
water, as it does for other pollutants. 

In Santa Clarita, the Castaic Lake Water Agency has pledged to 
reduce perchlorate to nondetectable levels in water from two 
wells the agency says were contaminated with perchlorate from the 
Whittaker-Bermite property. Perchlorate was used in the aerospace 
industry. At the shuttered Whittaker-Bermite site, a former 
munitions manufacturer, it was a component in missiles. 

Jeffrey Dintzer, a Los Angeles attorney with Gibson, Dunn &
Crutcher, represents companies that have been sued over
perchlorate. 

He said the 24.5parts per billion limit set by the EPA, in
consultation with the National Academy of Sciences, is strict
enough. 

"It is more than safe for our population," he said. 

But environmentalists have argued for a limit even stricter than
the 6parts per billion the state is considering. 

Sujatha Jahagirdar, clean-water advocate for the Los
Angeles-based Environment California, welcomed the new
legislation, which Boxer introduced with fellow California
senator Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J. 

"If the EPA is looking at the latest science, and if EPA looks
at the new Centers for Disease Control (study), I think the only
logical place to go is a stronger standard," Jahagirdar said. 

"Stronger than what California is moving forward with." 

(661) 257-5253

Los Angeles Newspaper Group 
*****************************************************************
 57 AU ABC: Public won't stand for uranium mining ban: Campbell. 

08/01/2007. ABC News Online

Ban: Ian Campbell says the issue needs to be revisited (file
photo). (ABC TV)                

Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell says he believes with
time, public opinion will force the Western Australian
Government to lift its ban on uranium mining.

 The State Government has rejected the Commonwealth's calls to
lift the ban on uranium mining, saying it is not the best
approach to solving climate change.

 However Senator Campbell says the Government needs to revisit
the issue.

 "The more the community is aware of the seriousness of climate
change and the contribution that WA can make, not just exporting
gas, but also exporting uranium, the public pressure will build
to the extent that the absurdity of the WA policy will become
obvious, and Mr [Alan] Carpenter will do what he does so well,
and that is change his mind, become flexible and become
pragmatic, and I commend him for that," he said.

 And Senator Campbell says the question of whether the
Commonwealth will override the State Government's ban on uranium
mining is a distraction.

 "I don't know that we have power to override, that is an
argument that is a distraction, the reality is that the WA
Government has the power to ensure that uranium is exported from
Western Australia, that'll be very good for the environment," he
said. 

In other developments:
 
  + Acting Western Australian Premier Eric Ripper has rejected a
claim by the Commonwealth that the state cannot be taken
seriously on climate change while it continues to ban uranium
mining. (Full Story) 

  + The Federal Government is increasing pressure on the Western
Australian Government to overturn its ban on uranium mining.
*****************************************************************
 58 AU ABC: Legal action halts mining applications. 

09/01/2007. ABC News Online

Territory mine developer Norm McCleary is taking the Northern
Territory Government to court, alleging the Department of Mines
mishandled his application for a mineral claim. 

The claim relates to the uranium-rich Angela and Pamela
deposits, 25 kilometres south of Alice Springs. 

The application follows the Martin Government's release of 18
new possible mine sites last month. 

Mr McCleary says he submitted an application for a mineral claim
but his application was denied and he was not given a reason
why. 

The legal action has put a halt on all mining applications for
the Angela and Pamela deposits. 

The matter will be heard at the Supreme Court on January the
18th. 


*****************************************************************
 59 The Australian: Battle for uranium before the courts | 

The Australian &mdash; Northern Territory
 			 								 					 						 			
  + By Alison Bevege                                    

  + January 08, 2007                                                                                                                                                                    

THE Northern Territory Department of Mines is facing legal
action over the coveted Angela and Pamela uranium deposits,
which are said to be worth as much as $2 billion.
 			 
An injunction has been lodged in the Darwin Supreme Court,
preventing the Department of Mines from making a decision over
which - out of almost 40 applicants - will be granted mining
exploration rights over the deposits. 

Territory mine developer Norm McCleary, founder of Arafura
Resources, says the NT Department of Mines did not follow
correct procedure when dealing with his application for access
to the Angela and Pamela sites, unfairly denied consent for him
to enter the land and did not provide reasons for their refusal. 

NT Department of Mines spokesman Stephen Yates confirmed the
department could not make a decision now on the Angela and
Pamela deposits, as the matter was before the courts. 

"Because the matter is before the courts, we can't make any
comment and the timeframe for it to be resolved is entirely up
to the courts," Mr Yates told the Northern Territory News. 

The uranium deposits are about 25km south of Alice Springs on
land released when the NT Government lifted its reservation from
occupation (ROs) over 18 sites last month. 

The Australian Uranium Association reports that the Angela
deposit alone contains about 10,250 tonnes of uranium at an ore
grade of 0.13 per cent. 

The two deposits have been estimated to be worth between $1
billion and $2 billion. 

Almost 40 applicants, reading like a "who's who" of the global
uranium industry - including Cameco, Paladin, Energy Resources
of Australia and China's state-owned Sinosteel - have applied
for mineral exploration rights over the deposits. 

It is believed that China's giant state-owned conglomerate,
China National Nuclear Corporation, may also have applied. 

The NT Department of Mines is to decide which applicant will be
granted the exploration rights. 

The decision had been expected by the first quarter of 2007. 

An injunction restraining the Mines Department from giving
consent to any other party to enter the land for mineral
exploration was lodged on December 21. 

A directions hearing will be go before Justice Stephen Southwood
at the Darwin Supreme Court on January 18. 

© The Australian
*****************************************************************
 60 2007 - MOVING TOWARDS A NON-NUCLEAR CALIFORNIA
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:23:14 -0800

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2007 - MOVING TOWARDS A NON-NUCLEAR CALIFORNIA

A Message from Rochelle

To our wonderful Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility supporters

The year of 2006 has been a watershed year for the Alliance. We have come 
significantly closer to achieving our goal of stopping the production of 
high-level nuclear waste and limiting the need for its storage on our coast 
<http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-successes/view>http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-successes/view

This was the year we found out that there actually are state legislators in 
California who do not know that nuclear waste is stored on the grounds of 
nuclear power plants - right there on our coast, north of San Diego and 
south of San Francisco, and not going anywhere for decades, if ever. They 
know it now, because we told them. And when we told them, they suddenly got 
what needed to be done. Thatâ€™s why lobbying to pass AB 1632 - mandating a 
full study of the economics of nuclear power - was actually easy. It took a 
lot of work and time and travel and meetings, of course, but it wasnâ€™t a 
matter of fighting opponents to get a bill passed; it was a matter of 
educating lawmakers who were open to being educated. And with that 
educational framework in place, we now have enormous momentum as we go into 
the next phase: The foreclosure of license renewals for Californiaâ€™s 
nuclear power plants, which, when secured in California, will spread to the 
rest of the nationâ€™s nuclear dinosaurs, paving the way for and hastening 
the transition to clean, renewable energy.

Building on our achievements, 2007 will be even more exciting and we hope 
some of you will want to join us as we travel the state, visiting 
Sacramento and attending forums on why and how California can lead the 
nation in asking the tough questions about the economic risks of continued 
reliance on aging nuclear plants. 
<http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-goals/view>http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-goals/view

We have hired a wonderful, part-time outreach and development person, none 
other than the talented David Weisman, and with an actual staff we hope to 
double our efforts in the New Year.

Yes, the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility is in need of funding, but we 
are also in need of committed citizens who want to participate in this 
project and invite you to join us in our efforts.

This has gotten very exciting. The passage of AB 1632 has taken everything 
to a new level and brought our goal within sight. If just so you can know 
what it feels like to be part of an historic change, a turning point for 
the betterment of society, future generations and the planet, we would urge 
you to get more involved with ANR.

Tax-deductible donations for outreach can be made to ANR, but if you are 
willing to support our campaign to create legislation to prevent license 
renewals for Californiaâ€™s aging nuclear plants, non-tax deductible checks 
should be written to ANR Legal Fund. Both can be sent to PO Box 1328, San 
Luis Obispo, CA 93406

A special thanks to our San Francisco board member, Deidra O'Merde and her 
wonderful partner and fantastic golf fundraiser for a fun-filled and 
profitable weekend for the Alliance. The event was perfect, the players 
were so much fun - laughter filled the day and $1,000 was raised.

Wishing you all Peace and NO NUKES

Rochelle

THIS JUST IN: Congress is now calling for a shift in funding to green 
technologies, amazingly nuclear power is listed as "green". Please call 
Boxer 415 403-0100, Feinstein 310 914-7300 and Pelosi 415 556-4862 asap and 
ask them to remove nuclear from "green" options. If you can only make one 
call Boxer is Global Warming lead and sits on NRC oversight.

Rochelle Becker, Executive Director Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility 
www.a4nr.org (858) 337 2703

<http://a4nr.org/elements/psupporters/howToSuggest>163738.jpg


Breaking News

Here's the latest news
    * NRC unwilling to include threats of terrorism in building new nuke 
plants
    * With construction of many new nuclear reactors under discussion, the 
Nuclear Regulatory Commission is grappling with the question of whether 
they should be designed to withstand a Sept. 11-style airplane attack. The 
commission has told its staff to study the vulnerabilities of the four new 
reactor designs, two of which it has already approved. But it has decided 
not to make the nuclear power industry meet security requirements any 
tougher than those for existing plants, which were designed before suicide 
airliner attacks, and even before the development of such airplanes.
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/security/11.09.2006-newyorktimes>Read more
    * A FEW OF OUR OUTREACH AND EDUCATION SUCCESSES

    * <http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-successes>Read more
    * GOALS FOR 2007

    * <http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.07-goals>Read more
    * Fresno Mayor Wants to Build Nuclear Power Plant in My Backyard
    * There is a proposal to build a nuclear power plant in Fresno. The 
mayor of Fresno suggested that my backyard might be a good location to 
build this 1,600 megawatt reactor.
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/12.30-06-fresnonukeplant>Read more
    * THE GIFT OF HOPE

    * <http://a4nr.org/articles/01.03.06-giftof%%20hope>Read more
    * Showdown on nuke waste storage
    * With power in the Senate shifting to the Democrats, opponents of a 
Nevada repository push for keeping the material at nuclear reactor sites.
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/waste/waste.yuccamtn/12.19.2006-sacbee>Read 
more
    * Nuclear association accused of false advertising
    * Environmental, health and church groups have filed a 
false-advertising complaint against the Canadian Nuclear Association over 
its ad campaign touting nuclear energy as clean.
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/12.18.2006-cnews>Read more
    * Radioactive isotope found near Oyster Creek nuclear power plant
    * The Oyster Creek nuclear power plant reported Friday it has detected 
elevated levels of the radioactive isotope Cesium-137 in leaf and soil 
samples near the plant. NOTE: Cesium-137 and strontium-90 are the most 
dangerous radioisotopes to the environment in terms of their long-term 
effects. Their intermediate half-lives of about 30 years suggests that they 
are not only highly radioactive but that they have a long enough halflife 
to be around for hundreds of years. Iodine-131 may give a higher initial 
dose, but its short halflife of 8 days ensures that it will soon be gone. 
Besides its persistence and high activity, cesium-137 has the further 
insidious property of being mistaken for potassium by living organisms and 
taken up as part of the fluid electrolytes. This means that it is passed on 
up the food chain and reconcentrated from the environment by that process.
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/failures/12.16.06-asburyparkpress>Read more
    * Nuclear plant's cooling pump explodes: fire quickly snuffed
    * A loud explosion and an electrical fire in an ocean water circulation 
pump at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant Tuesday afternoon caused an 
emergency shutdown of one of the plantâ€™s two reactors.
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/12.13.2006-telegramtribune>Read more
    * Uranium to Top $110 a Pound by 2010: Analyst
    * Uranium prices have recently gone ballistic, tacking on 7.1%% last 
week. This climb represents the biggest weekly gain in over two decades. 
But according to one analyst, the party is far from over. Uranium is now 
trading at a 26-year high of $60/lb and hasn't had a down month in nearly 
five years. But that hasn't stopped Luke Burgess, managing editor of 
GoldWorld.com and contributor to EnergyAndCapital.com, from claiming, "the 
radioactive metal still has a lot of steam behind it."
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/11.07.2006-marketwire>Read more
    * Introducing Beyond Nuclear!
    * Beyond Nuclear is a new NIRS initiative that aims to educate wider 
audiences about the connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons 
and the need to abandon both to safeguard our future. Beyond Nuclear 
promotes positive, solutions-focused messages and will provide guides to 
safer alternatives to these dangerous and obsolete technologies.
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/2006.09-nirs>Read more
    * Sunny Side Up
    * . . .G.M. and a small but growing number of other companies and 
municipalities are getting solar energy from systems installed by others. 
Even though the installations are right on their own roofs, they buy the 
electricity much as they would from a utilityâ€™s grid. And because the 
companies that paid for the systems will get a steady income, they can 
provide power from the sun at competitive electricity rates.
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/renewables/10.21.2006-newyorktimes>Read more
    * Author says solar power to replace fuel
    * Solar energy has emerged as the wave of the present for replacing 
dwindling fossil fuels as the primary source of the world's energy needs, 
writes fund manager and former corporate buyout expert Travis Bradford.
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/renewables/10.22.2006-myrtlebeach>Read more
    * An interview with Amory Lovins re: Nuclear Power
    * The Star recently had the opportunity to speak with Lovins at his 
office in Snowmass, Colorado. What follows is an edited version of a rather 
lengthy phone interview, during which Lovins questioned the wisdom of 
building new nuclear reactors in Ontario. Alternatively, he said that 
reducing power consumption through efficiency, and embracing what he calls 
"micropower â€” solar, wind, geothermal, biomass and combined heat and 
power projects â€” offers a quicker, less risky and more environmentally 
responsible way of achieving the province's energy objectives.
    * <http://a4nr.org/news-and-events/10.22.2006-torontostar>Read more
    * Mired in Yucca Muck - Nuclear power is trendy again, but what about 
the waste?

    * 
<http://a4nr.org/library/waste/waste.yuccamtn/10.22.2006-usnewsandworldreport>Read 
more


Recent Articles

Recent articles of interest posted on the ANR website
    * Impact of a Meltdown at Nuclear Plant - Consequences of Reactor 
Accident (CRAC-2) Report
    * Follow the link to an alphabetical listing of every commercial 
nuclear power plant in the US, extant, or under construction at the time 
this report was published in 1982. The 4 categories listed are: Peak Early 
Fatalities, Peak Early Injuries, Peak Cancer Deaths, and Property Damage. 
The numbers given are in case of a class-9, or worse case scenario 
meltdown, and are based on 1982 population data and on 1982 dollars. This 
report was mandated by the Nuclear regulatory Commission and carried out by 
the Sandia Labs of New Mexico. The Calculation of Reactor Accident 
Consequences (CRAC-2) report was published by Congress November 1, 1982. It 
was also printed by the Washington Post the same day. Other major media, 
including the New York Times published it shortly thereafter. Some experts 
claim that the assessment of the dangers inherent in any and all commercial 
nuclear power plants has several faults. Among the faults -- any accident 
can spread to the spent fuel pool where huge amounts of radioactive waste 
are stored. The authors of the Reactor Safety Study concluded that changing 
some of the criteria for data gathering would actually increase the number 
of early fatalities by a factor of 3 to 4 depending upon circumstances 
[NUREG-0340].
    * <http://a4nr.org/library/safety/crac2report>Read more
    * SLO Mothers for Peace
    * San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace - Legal cases in California 
addressing nuclear security and continued operation of the Diablo Canyon 
Nuclear Power Plant
    * <http://a4nr.org/links/slo-mothers-for-peace>Read more

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 61 Guardian Unlimited: Politicians held at naval base demo 

[UP] 

Press Association 

Monday January 8, 2007 4:18 PM
 	
Several politicians have been arrested outside a naval base 
during a cross-party political protest against the renewal of the 
Trident weapons system.
 
Three MSPs, two MEPs, one Welsh Assembly member and a Dutch MP 
were hauled off by police after attempting to blockade the 
entrance of Faslane submarine base on the Clyde
 
They had been part of a group of around 30 politicians from 
several different parties who joined a year-long demonstration by 
anti-nuclear campaigners outside the heavily-guarded site.
 
Among those present were SNP depute leader Nicola Sturgeon and 
SSP national convener Colin Fox, as well as other SNP and Green 
MSPs, Welsh Assembly members, and several Westminster MPs.
 
They watched as a small group of politicians and activists lay 
down in front of the Faslane gates about an hour into the 
protest, trying to lock themselves together with cable and 
bicycle locks.
 
SSP MSPs Carolyn Leckie, Rosie Kane and Frances Curran were 
immediately picked up by police officers before being arrested 
and escorted away from the base.
 
Officers then spent about half an hour trying to remove three
other politicians - Green MEP Caroline Lucas MEP, Plaid Cymru
Welsh Assembly member Leanne Wood and Dutch socialist MP Krista
Van Velzen - who all managed to chain themselves together on the
ground.
 
They were also arrested and placed in a police van before being
removed from the scene.
 
It emerged later that the European Parliament's Plaid Cymru
deputy president Jill Evans MEP was also arrested during the
protest, along with two other activists.
 
As she was led away, Rosie Kane MSP said her arrest was not a
waste of police time, adding: "It's important to take a stand
here... It is the nuclear weapons on the Clyde that are wasting
everyone's time and everyone's money."
 
© Copyright Press Association Ltd 2007, All Rights Reserved.
 
    Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

*****************************************************************
 62 BBC: Trident demo
 
  			 Last Updated: Monday, 8 January 2007
 
		   		 		 		 
	 		 	 		 			 	 		

			
			 				[Politicians at protest]  				A number of politicians
were involved in the protest 			 			   		

		 	 	 Several politicians have been arrested during a protest
against the renewal of the Trident nuclear missile system. 

About 30 politicians had gathered to continue demonstrations
outside the Faslane submarine base on the Clyde. 

SSP MSPs Rosie Kane, Carolyn Leckie and Frances Curran were
escorted from the base after a protest at about 1100 GMT. 

Plaid Cymru Welsh Assembly member Leanne Wood, Green MEP
Caroline Lucas and Dutch socialists MP Krista Van Velzen were
also removed by police. 

Plaid Cymru's Jill Evans MEP was also understood to have been
arrested. 

They were continuing protests made by the Faslane 365 which said
renewing Trident at a cost of £20bn would be anti-democratic,
illegal and unethical. 

	

	
		 	 		  		This is a day for the elect
representatives to come here and make their thoughts known 		[
src=] 
	 	Nicola Sturgeon MSP
SNP   	

	 

Police had been monitoring the protest from early in the
morning, which was attended by various elected representatives
including SNP deputy leader Nicola Sturgeon and SSP national
convener Colin Fox. 

Officers moved in after a small number of politicians lay down
outside the entrance to the naval base. 

The UK Parliament is due to formally decide this March on
whether to give the renewal of Trident the go-ahead. 

As she was led away, Ms Kane denied that protesters were wasting
police time. 

"It's important to take a stand here," she said. 

"We are not the ones wasting police time here, it is the nuclear
weapons on the Clyde that are wasting everyone's time and
everyone's money." 

	

	
TRIDENT MISSILE SYSTEM 		 [Trident missile] 	
Missile length: 44ft (13m) Weight: 130,000lb (58,500kg)
Diameter: 74 inches (1.9m) Range: More than 4,600 miles
(7,400km) Power plant: Three stage solid propellant rocket Cost:
£16.8m ($29.1m) per missile Source: Federation of American
Scientists 
	 		 			How Trident works 		 	   	

	 

Ms Evans said: "We have taken part in the blockade today to
reflect the views of the majority of people in Wales who oppose
and have protested against Trident." 

Earlier SNP Holyrood leader Nicola Sturgeon had reiterated her
party's stance against the renewal of Trident. 

"This is a day for the elected representatives to come here and
make their thoughts known," she said 

"I think the majority of people in Scotland are opposed to the
billions of pounds that are going to be spent on these nuclear
weapons. 

"People oppose it on economic grounds as well as political and
moral grounds." 

However, Labour MSP Jackie Baillie told BBC Radio Scotland she
thought the protests were directed at the wrong place. 

"It is in fact Westminster that make the decision," she said. 

"While I'm thankful we live in a democracy, and people have the
right to protest, I do wish they would focus on those who are
making the decision - those in the House of Commons." 		 	 		 	
	 



*****************************************************************
 63 [NukeNet] Feds reject green bid for nuke lab, Oakland Tribune
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:14:44 -0800

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NukeNet Anti-Nuclear Network (nukenet@energyjustice.net)

On point and a good read, one of the articles from today's papers...

Feds reject activists' Livermore Lab bid
'Green team' wanted move toward nonproliferation

Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITER
Inside Bay Area
(Oakland Tribune, Tri-Valley Herald)
01/06/2007

Federal nuclear weapons officials have rejected a bid by disarmament and
renewable energy activists to manage Lawrence Livermore weapons design lab,
saying the "green team" didn't fit federal plans.

The team, calling itself GREEN LLC, was led by two weapons-lab watchdog
groups, Livermore-based Tri-Valley CAREs and Nuclear Watch of New Mexico,
who never really expected to run the sprawling bomb lab.

But they were offended that the National Nuclear Security Administration
said the team's proposal ran afoul of federal law and "did not demonstrate
an understanding of the requirements of the solicitation where it proposed
'change in the overall direction' at the Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory."

Officials of the nuclear agency so far haven't identified what laws might
have been broken by the GREEN LLC bid, which proposed a gradual shift from
weapons work into unclassified research on climate change and renewable
energy.

"It's ironic because our bid proposed to bring Lawrence Livermore Lab more
in line with national and international law," said Marylia Kelley, head of
Tri-Valley CAREs.

For the first time, the activists figured, the lab could be managed in
accordance with U.S. promises in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty to
work toward full disarmament, rather than maintaining and designing new
weapons.

"Our proposal was arbitrarily and improperly eliminated because NNSA
rejects the principle that the U.S. should lead the world toward nuclear
nonproliferation by demonstrating restraint in its own weapons programs,"
said Jay Coghlan, head of Nuclear Watch of New Mexico.

Federal officials say GREEN LLC was proposing a different lab than the
government specified in its bid request.

"The bottom line is their proposal did not meet the criteria for running
the lab," said NNSA spokesman Bryan Wilkes. The activists said federal
officials erroneously claimed that mandatory pieces were missing from the
team's bid, yet the NNSA hasn't made itself available to discuss the matter
in a required post-bid debriefing.

"So in a weird way, there's no way for us to even tell them, 'Why don't you
look on this page and find what you say is missing,'" Kelley said. "We are
expecting our next step will be a (formal contract) protest."

###

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia@trivalleycares.org or marylia@earthlink.net

Marylia Kelley,
Executive Director

Tri-Valley CAREs
2582 Old First Street
Livermore, CA  94551

Ph: (925) 443-7148
Fx: (925) 443-0177
Web: www.trivalleycares.org
Email: marylia@trivalleycares.org or marylia@earthlink.net



_______________________________________________________________________
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 64 Nuclear weapons chief leaving under pressure
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:18:35 -0800

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16474886/

Nuclear weapons chief leaving under pressure
Head of agency dismissed over security breaches at Los
Alamos, elsewhere
	
FREE VIDEO
	
• 2006 in America
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Updated: 3:12 a.m. CT Jan 5, 2007

WASHINGTON - Tens of millions of dollars and repeated
security reviews haven’t stopped embarrassing security
breakdowns in the government’s nuclear weapons program
— and now the man in charge has been sent packing.

Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman on Thursday ousted the
head of the National Nuclear Security Administration,
which maintains the nuclear weapons stockpile and
oversees the nation’s weapons research laboratories.

“I have decided it is time for new leadership at the
NNSA,” Bodman said in announcing that the agency’s
chief, Linton Brooks, would resign within the month.
Story continues below &#8595; advertisement

Brooks, a former ambassador and arms control
negotiator, said he accepted the decision, one he
understood was “based on the principle of
accountability that should govern all public service.”

“This is not a decision that I would have preferred,”
he said in a statement to NNSA employees.

Earlier reprimand
Brooks was reprimanded in June for failing to report
to Bodman the theft of computer files at an NNSA
facility in Albuquerque, N.M., that contained Social
Security numbers and other data for 1,500 workers.

Then in October hundreds of pages of classified
weapons-related documents from the Los Alamos National
Laboratory in New Mexico were found during a drug raid
in the home of a woman who had worked at the lab.

That security breakdown was especially troubling, a
department inspector general’s report said, because it
came after tens of millions of dollars had been spent
to upgrade cyber-security at Los Alamos. A new
management group also had been put in charge only a
few months earlier — also a fallout over the repeated
security problems.

The New Mexico laboratory is one of three major
research labs that are part of the nuclear weapons
complex under the NNSA. The agency was created after
the security flap involving Los Alamos scientist Wen
Ho Lee in the late 1990s in hopes that a single agency
within DOE might provide more control over security.

In announcing Brooks’ resignation, Bodman said the
NNSA had “done its best” to address the problems, but
that progress had not been adequate.

“Therefore, and after careful consideration, I have
decided that it is time for new leadership at the
NNSA,” Bodman said.

‘Systemic and pervasive’ problems described
Some members of Congress questioned whether Brooks’
departure is enough to make the changes that are
needed.

“It will take more than a new boss to fix the
problems, which are far more systemic and pervasive in
nature,” said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., a member of
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is
considering hearings on DOE security.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said she also plans a
hearing by her House Armed Services subcommittee on
“the important policy and structural changes” planned
to improve the nuclear agency. Her aides said she
believes the issue is one that goes beyond Brooks,
whom she praised.

Sen. Pete Domenici of New Mexico, the ranking
Republican on both the Senate Energy Committee and the
Appropriations subcommittee on NNSA spending, said
Bodman “has sent a clear message” that improvements
are needed at the agency.

A number of lawmakers as well as private watchdog
groups have maintained that Brooks had not responded
forcefully enough to the Los Alamos security
breakdowns.

“His departure is long overdue,” Rep. Joe Barton,
R-Texas, said Thursday. He had called for Brooks’
immediate firing last summer when the theft involving
information on the 1,500 employees came to light.

In November, the Project on Government Oversight, a
private watchdog group, urged that Brooks be fired,
saying he had been slow in implementing a two-year-old
policy to do away with removable storage devices in
weapons-related computers.

In his message to employees, Brooks, who came to NNSA
in July 2002, bemoaned the lack of progress in solving
security problems at Los Alamos. “We have not yet done
so in over five years,” he said.

But the rash of security problems date back to the
late 1990s, frustrating senior DOE officials.

They include the disappearance of two hard drives
containing classified material that later were found
behind a copying machine and the disappearance of two
computer disks that forced a virtual shutdown of Los
Alamos. It later was learned the two disks never
existed.

Among other incidents were lost keys to classified
areas containing highly enriched uranium, use of less
secure e-mail systems to transmit classified material,
scientists losing track of vials of plutonium and the
alleged improper use of government credit cards.
© 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.



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 65 PRESS: Push to make Portsmouth a high level wast dump by DOE
 
Date: Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:14:41 -0800

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Press Release, January 5, 2007: Yesterday's DOE announcement moves our area 
one step closer to becoming a high level radioactive waste dump.

From: PRESS (Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and 
Security)

Contacts: Vina Colley vcolley@earthlink.net, phone   740-353-2275 cell 
740-357- 8916

Lorry Swain lorryswain@yahoo.com phone 606- 932- 2383

While the people of Piketon/Portsmouth are still reeling from the 
devastating effects of the past 50 years of A-Plant operations, they have 
recently been hit with another atomic whammy. Yesterday the DOE announced 
another step in the newly hatched scheme called Global Nuclear Energy 
Partnership (GNEP), a plan that is focusing more and more sharply on 
Piketon. Among several interrelated proposals, GNEP calls for the "interim 
storage" of high-level radioactive waste. That means that irradiated fuel 
rods from nuclear reactors across this nation and the world, the most 
lethal materials known to humankind, could be transported to Piketon and 
dumped here for a long time, maybe forever. Other aspects of the GNEP 
proposal include reprocessing plutonium and a yet-to-be-developed 
fast-burner reactor. Yesterday's announcement by the DOE centered on its 
"notice of intent" to prepare a "programmatic environmental impact 
statement," one of the first public steps required by law for a project 
that has the potential of greatly damaging the human environment. As part 
of this public process, the DOE is required to hold a meeting to allow 
comments from the community. According to the DOE, that meeting is 
scheduled for March 8 in Piketon.

While the DOE claims that Piketon is but one of 11 sites being considered 
to take on this scheme, a whistle-blower report says that a deal has 
already been struck between the DOE and a business consortium named ePIFNI 
to set up the high-level radioactive waste dump at Piketon.

Meanwhile, the community is still saddled with about 800,000 tons of 
depleted uranium stockpiled at Piketon, some of it in rusting, corroding 
containers. There's the stalled, under-funded and overdue clean-up of 
legacy contamination, a clean-up that will be dead-in-the-water if GNEP 
comes to pass. Then there's USEC's application for a centrifuge uranium 
enrichment plant, like the one the U.S. is telling Iran they aren't allowed 
to have. At the bottom of this heap are the dead or sick, former A-Plant 
workers, many of whom have fallen through the wide cracks of the energy 
employees' compensation bill.

This week PRESS joined with other local and national groups to condemn the 
plans of the DOE and its nuclear industry partners to turn Piketon (or any 
other community) into a high-level radioactive waste dump. PRESS urges the 
entire Portsmouth/Piketon and "downwind" community to investigate these 
proposals and join efforts to stop GNEP now by attending the upcoming 
meeting and refusing to allow the DOE to ignore our condemnation of these 
plans.

People from around here are accustomed to fighting hard for what they need 
and this current battle promises to be a major one.

PRESS (Portsmouth/Piketon Residents for Environmental Safety and Security)

Contacts: Vina Colley vcolley@earthlink.net, phone 740 357 8916

Lorry Swain lorryswain@yahoo.com phone 606 932 2383


Vina Colley
<mailto:vcolley@earthlink.net>vcolley@earthlink.net
EarthLink Revolves Around You.


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 66 DOE: DOEs Office of Science Awards 95 Million Hours of 
Supercomputing Time to Advance Research in Science, Academia and 
Industry

  January 8, 2007
 
WASHINGTON, D.C.  The U.S. Department of Energys (DOE) Office
of Science announced today that 45 projects were awarded a total
of 95 million hours of computing time on some of the worlds
most powerful supercomputers as part of its 2007 Innovative and
Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE)
program.  DOEs Under Secretary for Science Dr. Raymond Orbach
presented the awards at the Council on Competitiveness in
Washington, DC. 

Supercomputers are playing an increasingly important role in
scientific research by allowing scientists to create more
accurate models of complex processes, simulate problems once
thought to be impossible, and to analyze the increasing amount
of data generated by experiments.  The supercomputers will allow
cutting-edge research and design of virtual prototypes to be
carried out in weeks or months, rather than the years or decades
that would be needed using conventional computing systems. 

The Department of Energys Office of Science has one of the top
ten most powerful supercomputers in the world and 4 of the top
100 and were proud to provide these resources to help
researchers advance scientific knowledge and understanding,
Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman said.  I look forward to
witnessing the promise of these efforts as some of the worlds
greatest thinking minds use some of the worlds greatest
thinking computers. 

Of the programs selected, nine are from industry and include
five new proposals and four continuations from last year.  This
will double the number of companies with INCITE awards in 2007
compared to 2006 - a clear indication that U.S. industry has
realized the potential benefits of our nations investment in
high-end computing. 

Launched in 2003, the INCITE mission is to advance American
science and industrial competitiveness.  These awards will
assist in that mission by support computationally intensive,
large-scale research projects and award them large amounts of
dedicated time on DOE supercomputers.  The projects, with
applications from aeronautics to astrophysics, consumer products
to combustion research, were competitively chosen based on the
potential impact of the science and engineering research and the
suitability of the project for use of supercomputers. 

One of the most important aspects of the INCITE program is that
the resulting knowledge will largely be available, so that the
information and technologies can be used by other researchers,
further broadening the impact of this work, Dr. Orbach said.
Our scientific leadership underpins nearly every aspect of our
economy and by making these resources available to a broad range
of science and engineering disciplines, we believe the resulting
work will make us more competitive in the years and decades to
come. 

Processor-hours refer to how time is allocated on a
supercomputer. A project receiving one million hours could run
on 2,000 processors for 500 hours, or about 21 days. Running a
one-million-hour project on a single-processor desktop computer
would take more than 114 years. 

Research areas to be addressed in 2007 include accelerator
physics, astrophysics, chemical sciences, climate research,
computer science, engineering physics, environmental science,
fusion energy, life sciences, materials science, nuclear physics
and nuclear engineering. Fact sheets describing the projects can
be found at: http://www.science.doe.gov/. 

Practical applications of the research include designing quieter
cars, improving commercial aircraft design, advancing fusion
energy, studying supernova, understanding nanomaterials,
studying global climate change, and the causes of Parkinsons
disease. 

For 2007, the projects were awarded time at DOEs Leadership
Computing Facilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in
Tennessee and Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, the
National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center at Lawrence
Berkeley National Laboratory in California, and the Molecular
Science Computing Facility at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory in Washington. 

Industrial firms receiving new 2007 INCITE awards include
Corning Inc., Fluent Inc., General Atomics, and Procter and
Gamble. Firms with renewed awards are DreamWorks Animation,
Pratt and Whitney, The Boeing Co., and General Atomics. 

University researchers receiving INCITE awards represent Auburn
University; Fisk University; Northwestern University; the
University of Alaska, Fairbanks; the University of California
campuses at Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Cruz; the
University of Chicago; the University of Colorado; the
University of Michigan; the University of Rochester; the
University of Washington; and the University of
Wisconsin-Madison. 

DOE scientists receiving awards conduct research at Argonne,
Lawrence Berkeley, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Sandia National
Laboratories, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility,
the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab and the Stanford Linear
Accelerator Center. 

Awards were also made to researchers at the National Center for
Atmospheric Research, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center, the
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and the
Max-Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany. 

The Council on Competitiveness is the only non-governmental
group of corporate CEOs, university presidents, and labor
leaders committed to driving U.S. competitiveness through the
creation of high-value economic activities such as the INCITE
program, to ensure the prosperity of all Americans. 

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic
research in the physical sciences in the nation and helps ensure
U.S. world leadership across a broad range of scientific
disciplines.  For more information about the Office of Science,
go to htttp://www.science.doe.gov. 

Media contact(s): Jeff Sherwood, 202/586-5806     [ ]   

  U.S. Department of Energy | 1000 Independence Ave., SW | 
Washington, DC 20585 1-800-dial-DOE | f/202-586-4403
*****************************************************************
 67 Hanford News: Comment period nears on DOE study - Hanford being considered 
for research center on nuclear energy expansion
 
This story was published Friday, January 5th, 2007 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

The Department of Energy is considering Hanford as one of six
possible sites for a new research center as part of a national
program to expand nuclear energy production worldwide. 

The advanced fuel recycle research facility would be one of
three U.S. facilities proposed for the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership, or GNEP, Initiative. 

Hanford already had been named as a possible site for the other
two GNEP facilities, a nuclear fuel recycling center and
advanced recycling reactor. While Hanford is among six sites
being looked at for the research center, it's among 11 sites
being looked at for the recycling center and reactor. 

DOE released information about the proposed research facility
Thursday in a notice in the Federal Register about its plan to
prepare an environmental study, called an environmental impact
statement, for GNEP. 

A public meeting will be held from 6 to 9:30 p.m. March 13 at
the Pasco Red Lion to hear comments on what the environmental
study should cover. It's one of 11 public meetings planned
across the nation beginning Feb. 13. 

As previously announced, the Tri-City Development Council has
been picked to study whether Hanford might play a role in
recycling fuel from commercial nuclear power reactors with a
recycling center, reactor or both. Under DOE's directives, it's
working with Columbia Basin Consulting Group, which has pushed
for a restart of the Fast Flux Test Facility with Claude Oliver. 

Oliver has been interested in using FFTF and other nearby
buildings for testing the recycling program, which could mesh
with plans for the third facility, the fuel cycle research
facility. 

TRIDEC and Columbia Basin Consulting Group applied for grants to
study whether parts of Hanford would be appropriate for the
recycling center and recycling reactor. 

But DOE did not seek grant proposals for siting the research
facility because only DOE sites are being considered. In
addition to Hanford, DOE is looking at Idaho National
Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, Los Alamos
National Laboratory in New Mexico, Savannah River Site in South
Carolina and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. 

The research facility would perform research on recycling
nuclear fuel that's been used in nuclear power plants, and
research on other aspects of advanced nuclear fuel cycles. 

GNEP's goal is to encourage the production of nuclear energy
while reducing nuclear proliferation risks and reducing the
amount of waste produced that must be disposed of at a
repository for high-level radioactive waste, such as Yucca
Mountain, Nev. 

DOE proposes to recycle nuclear fuel that's only used once now,
and offer nuclear fuel services to countries that refrain from
pursuing enrichment or recycling facilities to make their own
nuclear fuel. Such countries would have no need to develop the
technology to enrich uranium or separate plutonium, both of
which have applications in the production of nuclear weapons,
according to the notice in the Federal Register. 

Used commercial nuclear fuel would be processed in a recycling
center to separate the potentially reusable constituents, such
as uranium, from nonusable constituents, such as fission
products. 

The reusable materials would be made into fuel for an advanced
recycling reactor and possibly other reactor fuels. For
instance, recovered uranium might be re-enriched to be used in
current commercial reactors. 

The advanced recycling reactor would produce electricity while
consuming fuel that otherwise would be waste. After multiple
cycles, some non-reusable constitutions would be converted to
waste forms for disposal. 

Comments on the environmental study for GNEP, which includes the
three facilities that could come to Hanford, may be submitted
through April 4 to Timothy Frazier, GNEP PEIS document manager,
Office of Nuclear Energy, U.S. DOE, 1000 Independence Ave. S.W.,
Washington, D.C., 20585-00119, or e-mailed to
GNEP-PEIS@nuclear.energy. gov. Envelopes and e-mails should be
marked "GNEP PEIS Comments." 

To read the notice of intent for the GNEP environmental study,
go to www.gnep.gov. 

© 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 68 Hanford News: Vit plant construction a huge undertaking
 
This story was published Saturday, January 6th, 2007 

By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer 

A village of buildings is growing up around the core of
Hanford's $12.2 billion vitrification plant as construction
progresses on support systems for the huge waste treatment
plant. 

"These aren't the everyday industrial facilities," said John
Eschenberg, the Department of Energy manager of the vit plant
project. "Everything is big." 

Hanford's aging infrastructure could not be upgraded at a
reasonable cost to support the plant, which is planned to
immobilize much of Hanford's worst waste in glass logs. Instead,
the 65-acre site will have its own electrical power distribution
systems, backup power systems, compressed air, chilled water,
process water, drinking water, steam and fire suppression. 

Those and other support services will require 20 facilities, the
largest of them covering the area of one football field. 

But they'll still be dwarfed by the four main buildings at the
plant that will separate, treat and analyze the waste. The
largest of those has a footprint of four football fields and
will stand 119 feet tall. 

Work has temporarily stopped on the two buildings that will
handle high-level waste to resolve funding and technical issues.
But work continues on the Low-Activity Waste Facility, the
Analytical Laboratory and the support facilities. 

While the plant may not be operating until 2019, the support
facilities should be completed in 2012 along with the lab and
the Low-Activity Waste Facility, Eschenberg said. 

Among the most complex is the chiller compressor plant, which
will supply compressed air to keep waste mixed in tanks and to
mix the waste with glass- forming materials. 

"Moving parts mean maintenance, which we don't want to do,"
Eschenberg said. 

Some of the radioactive waste the plant will treat is so
radioactively hot that it must be held in tanks in "black cells"
that people cannot enter again to fix any malfunctioning
equipment after the first waste is pumped in. The waste is left
from the past production of plutonium for the nation's nuclear
weapons program. 

Much of the major support systems are needed for heating and
cooling. 

Before construction began on the plant, a new substation was
installed. Power will be needed to keep melters for the glass
and waste at about 1,800 degrees. It also will be needed to
operate the pumps that move millions of gallons of waste from
building to building. 

Steam from boilers heated by fuel oil will be used to heat waste
in the tanks and in the off-gas system from the melters. 

Because of the intense heat required in the plant, chilled water
will be needed for cooling. 

Not only will the melters have cooling water jackets, but also
some entire rooms will need to be lined with cooling jackets to
protect the integrity of their concrete. In addition, waste
that's heated in the Pretreatment Facility to about 160 degrees
to speed up removal of aluminum and chrome will have to be
cooled back down. 

The first three buildings to support the plant have been
completed and are being used to support construction. They
include the construction office, which will become the
administration building; a fabrication shop that will become the
maintenance shop and a warehouse. 

Construction is under way on 13 buildings or facilities and the
design is being done on the remaining four buildings. In
addition, the piping and control systems between the plant's
main buildings have been completed. 

"When complete, this facility will be the largest of its kind in
the world, and it will take a lot of support capability to keep
it operating day-to-day," Eschenberg said. 

To see photos of construction progress, go to www.waste2glass.
com. 

© 2007 Tri-City Herald. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
 69 The Enquirer: Farewell to Fernald's foundry
 	 
Updated: 5:35 am | Monday, January 8, 2007

Farewell to Fernald's foundry Massive cleanup took 10 years, $4.4 
billion 

BY PEGGY O'FARRELL | POFARRELL@ENQUIRER.COM

Neighbors, former workers and state and federal regulators will 
celebrate the end of the Fernald cleanup project Jan. 19 at the 
former Cold War uranium foundry in Crosby Township.

And there is more good news for families living near the site.

Data from a medical monitoring program show people who live near
the site are living longer and following healthier lifestyles
than the general population. Doctors overseeing the program
credit regular health checks to catch things like cancer and
risk factors for heart disease.
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Most adults in the program lowered their blood pressure and
cholesterol levels.

Fluor Fernald, the contractor overseeing the site cleanup,
announced in October that the 10-year, $4.4 billion effort to
remove uranium, radon and other toxic materials from the site
was complete.

The celebration later this month will include a photoexhibition
of work at the Fernald site, as well as two other U.S.
Department of Energy cleanup sites in Ashtabula and Columbus.
U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman will speak.
Representatives from the U.S. and Ohio environmental protection
agencies will attend, along with former workers, residents and
others, said Jeff Wagner, a Fluor Fernald spokesman. Attendance
is by invitation only.

More than 900 acres of the 1,030-acre site is being turned into
an undeveloped nature park.

During the celebration, a grove of "a couple dozen" trees will
be dedicated in honor of workers, homeowners and others involved
in the cleanup, Wagner said. "It will be a lasting tribute to
the community, which has been integral in getting this job
completed," he said.

Workers at the site refined uranium ore for use in nuclear
weapons and atomic power plants from 1951 until 1989.

The plant operated under a shroud of secrecy until 1984, when
neighbors learned uranium runoff had contaminated drinking water
wells at three homes near the site.

A massive federal lawsuit was brought against the U.S.
Department of Energy, which owned the site, and National Lead of
Ohio, which operated the foundry.

As part of the settlement, residents around the site were made
eligible for free health screenings to offset worries about
future health problems resulting from exposures to toxins.

Some 9,500 people have received health checks through the
program, said Robert Wones, medical director of the program.

Data show most of the adults have taken steps to reduce high
blood pressure and high cholesterol levels diagnosed through the
program, said Susan Pinney, an environmental health expert at
the University of Cincinnati.

Data also show that 195 people who, statistically speaking,
should have died are still alive. Wones and Pinney credit
regular checks for cancer, heart disease and other ailments with
participants' survival.

Wones and Pinney are collecting data from the monitoring program
for ongoing research.

Previous studies showed higher numbers of kidney cancer and
melanoma among program participants than the general population,
but those numbers are preliminary.

Micki Daniel, 56, of Springdale credited the program for
catching her breast cancer early.

Daniel grew up near the site and an uncle worked as a painter at
Fernald.

Her husband, Larry, was laid off last year, and the couple lost
their health insurance.

But Daniel was able to get a mammogram through the medical
monitoring program, and the test showed a small cancerous lump.
She will undergo surgery to remove the lump and learn if she'll
need chemotherapy or radiation.

"The program's been a real blessing," she said. "If not for it,
I could not have paid for the mammogram that caught this."

Wones said program staff regularly send out reminders to
patients when it's time for screenings, including mammograms.
Program nurses also persistently follow up with patients if
screenings show something suspicious, he said.

"That would be a good model for the general population, but I'm
not sure how to make it happen," he said.
 					 					 					
[This aerial view from July shows progress at the Fernald site. 
The cleanup used eight lined disposal cells. At left, the 
developing wetlands can be seen.] 
 					   			 			 
THE ENQUIRER/CRAIG RUTTLE
 			   			 			 
This aerial view from July shows progress at the Fernald site. 
The cleanup used eight lined disposal cells. At left, the 
developing wetlands can be seen.
 					   			 			
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 70 Recordnet.com: Force of explosions may triple

LIVERMORE LAB Force of explosions may triple Boost pending appeal 
over fears of radiation

By Jake Armstrong Record Staff Writer 

January 08, 2007 6:00 AM

TRACY - Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has permission to 
more than triple the amount of explosives it uses at its Site 
300, south of Tracy.

The approval from the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control 
District allows the lab to detonate up to 350 pounds of 
explosives a day but not more than 8,000 pounds annually. The lab 
plans to conduct only three, 350-pound detonations in the next 
year and a half, laboratory spokeswoman Susan Houghton said.

But first, the lab's permit from the air district must withstand 
a challenge from activist and Tracy shoe-store owner Bob Sarvey, 
who contends a radioactive material used in the blasts could 
spread over Tracy from Site 300 if caught in winds.
	 	 	 		 		
Sarvey said tritium, a radioactive form of hydrogen used in 
triggers for nuclear weapons, might be included in the blasts. 
The air district, which does not regulate radioactive material, 
should have referred that issue to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory 
Commission, Sarvey says.

Asked Friday, Houghton denied that the laboratory will use 
tritium in the blasts.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District board will 
hear Sarvey's appeal Feb. 7 in Modesto.

Detonations including tritium have occurred at the 7,000-acre 
Site 300 in the past - the material is one of the targets of the 
Superfund environmental cleanup there - but Houghton said she 
cannot remember the last time the isotope was used in a blast.

Nevertheless, Sarvey does not believe the agency's denial. "As 
usual, they're not quite expressing the truth," he said.

The permit allowing larger amounts of explosives in tests, some 
of which use depleted uranium in simulated nuclear bombs, does 
not address any increase in sound the blasts may have, largely 
because the air district does not regulate sound. The laboratory 
has a self-imposed sound limit of 126 decibels - roughly the 
volume of a jet engine - as measured at the Site 300 fence line, 
Houghton said.

"We are not going to be exceeding that," she said.

Lab workers launch weather balloons four hours before a test to 
gauge wind speed and barometric pressure.

If the results show weather conditions would spread sound and 
particulate matter beyond the site, tests are postponed, Houghton 
said.

Outdoor explosives tests at Site 300 have averaged about 60 per 
year at 100 pounds each since 1997, she said. An average of eight 
tests are conducted inside the contained firing facility, she 
said.

Some explosives contain depleted uranium, steel and other 
materials meant to simulate a nuclear bomb. Houghton did not have 
readily available figures for the amount of depleted uranium used 
in detonations, nor the frequency of detonations involving the 
element.

The amount of explosives used in tests varies with the needs of 
the U.S. weapons program, Houghton said. Explosions were as large 
as 1,000 pounds in the 1980s. Since 1997, no more than 100 pounds 
of explosives have been detonated in one test, she said.

"Doing different-size tests is normal for us, and it all depends 
on what the program wants," Houghton said.

Contact reporter Jake Armstrong at (209) 833-1141 or 
jarmstrong@recordnet.com. 

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