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NUCLEAR POLICY
1 [southnews] Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
2 [NYTr] Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
3 [NYTr] IAEA, Non-Aligned Envoys Tour Iranian Nuclear Site
4 [NYTr] Iran's Nuke Program: No Secrets Here
5 BBC NEWS: Envoys visit Iran nuclear plant
6 Independent: Iran steps up production of weapons-grade uranium
7 SF Chron: Crisis de-fusion in Iran / The case for a nuclear time-out
8 IHT: News Analysis: Tehran's nuclear bravado may exceed its expertis
9 AFP: Gulf states to discuss nuclear ambitions with UN watchdog -
10 UPI: Iran giving tours of nuclear facility
11 CNN.com: Former military chiefs urge talks with Iran -
12 Guardian Unlimited: Analysis: Bush's Iran Stance Echoes Iraq
13 AFP: Iran says it allows UN nuclear inspectors free hand
14 AFP: Iran vows to defy UN nuclear resolution
15 AFP: Military action against Iran 'highly dangerous'
16 AFP: Bush Iraq strategy shifts toward containing Iran
17 Korea Herald: Pyongyang to demand fuel oil at nuclear talks
18 YONHAP NEWS: N. Korea ineligible for nuclear reactors until
19 AFP: NKorea demands oil to suspend nuclear reactor, says report -
20 Guardian Unlimited: U.S.: N.Korea Disarmament May Take Time
21 US: [NYTr] US Physicists: Congress Must Forbid US Nukes vs Non-Nuke
22 US: Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Removing scientific oversight
23 US: Antiwar.com: Next on Bush's 'Hit List' -
24 US: Los Angeles Times: Can Washington get smart about science? -
25 Malta Independent: US to enlarge Sigonella nuclear base -
26 US: OpEd News: Have we forgotten the lesson of Hiroshima?
27 Guardian Unlimited: Report: Russian Calls U.S. 'Difficult'
NUCLEAR REACTORS
28 US: Sydney Morning Herald: Crack in nuclear option -
29 Sydney Morning Herald: Consider nuclear, PM challenges Rudd -
30 US: AP Wire: Nuclear plant cited over dozing shift manager
31 US: ENS: Global Warming Shock Wave Awakens World Leaders
32 IRNA: Indian president stresses on thorium based nuclear reactors -
33 US: POAC: Big step forward for Lacey N-plant
34 US: Rutland Herald: Don't fall for nuclear fiction
35 US: Alamogordo Daily News: A new energy future for a new Congress
36 Xinhua: U.S. supporting Egyptian peaceful nuclear efforts
37 News and Star: Blair praises Copeland's nuke-stance
38 UPI: Faults shut down Swedish nuclear reactor
39 UPI: Aussie PM pushes case for nuclear power
40 The Local: Swedish nuclear reactor shut down
41 FOCUS Information Agency: 2 units of Forsmark NPP in Sweden shut dow
42 AFP: Indonesia to push ahead with nuclear plans
43 The Australian: Climate report 'makes nuclear case' | |
44 AFP: Problem-prone Swedish nuclear reactor shut down -
45 AFP: Australian PM uses UN climate report to push for nuclear power
NUCLEAR SECURITY
46 UPI: Mystery surrounds scientist's death
NUCLEAR SAFETY
47 US: [shundahaialert] Divine Strake, Nuclear and Indigenous updates
48 US: Divine Strake comments requested by feds by 02.07.07
49 US: Las Vegas SUN: Nevada governor urged to request public hearings
50 US: Nevada Appeal: Dozens protest detonation of non-nuclear bomb at
51 US: reviewjournal.com: Activists march in Carson City
52 US: Corvallis Gazette-Times: Poisoning by uranium
53 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada activists pressure governor to fight b
54 US: Salt Lake Tribune: Radiation board allows Blanding mill to proce
55 Sunday Herald: Nhs Defiant On Publishing Child Leukaemia Figures
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
56 US: Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions sets the record straight on S
57 US: Carlsbad Current-Argus: DOE adds Carlsbad to public session rost
58 US: Salt Lake Tribune: What a waste
59 US: Cape Cod Times: State challenge of fuel rods at Pilgrim denied
PEACE
US DEPT. OF ENERGY
60 Aiken Today: SRS may get work from Congress plan
61 SF New Mexican: Lab workers react after a tough week
62 Tri-City Herald: Vit plant may receive boost in its budget
63 Tri-City Herald: HAB offers changes to Hanford contracts
64 Inside Bay Area: New nuclear arsenal on table
65 UPI: NNSA plan to streamline U.S. nuke complex
66 WAVE 3 TV: DOE to file soil testing plan for Paducah plant
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FULL NEWS STORIES
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1 [southnews] Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 14:57:39 -0600 (CST)
Six envoys representing the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations
visited a nuclear facility in Iran on Saturday as part of Tehran's
attempt to be open about its disputed atomic programme.
The NAM diplomats, accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived for a tour of the site near
the central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into
feedstock uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas.
Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
Reuters, February 4, 2007 - 7:24AM
Six envoys representing the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations
visited a nuclear facility in Iran on Saturday as part of Tehran's
attempt to be open about its disputed atomic programme.
The NAM diplomats, accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived for a tour of the site near
the central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into
feedstock uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas.
About 90 Iranian and foreign journalists were also taken to the facility
in a barren area in the shadow of a mountain southeast of Isfahan.
Anti-aircraft guns surrounded the site.
The United States accuses Iran of secretly working to make atomic bombs
under cover of a civilian nuclear programme to generate electricity. It
has said putting Iran's nuclear activities on display would not build
confidence abroad.
"The aim of ... this visit is to underline again the transparency of
Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Hossein Simorgh, spokesman for
Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told reporters at the site.
The envoys, who stay in Iran until Monday, are not due to visit the
Natanz uranium enrichment site where UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges to
make power plant fuel or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads.
The group comprises ambassadors from Egypt, Malaysia, Cuba, Algeria and
Sudan, and a Syrian representing the Arab League.
"They are not technical people and will not be able to pass judgment on
what is going on (technically). This is a publicity exercise, that's the
main point," a NAM ambassador in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said
of the visit.
Iran has said it will soon start work to expand enrichment capacity at
Natanz, prompting speculation Tehran could announce the beginning of
this work during celebrations to mark the 1979 Islamic revolution that
run to February 11.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying
Feb. 11 would be a day to "prove the Iranian nation's obvious right" to
nuclear technology. He also said Iran would announce "great
achievements" in days but did not give details.
The UN Security Council slapped sanctions on Iran on December 23,
banning the transfer of sensitive materials and know-how for Iran's
nuclear and missile programmes. The resolution gave Iran 60 days to
suspend uranium enrichment work.
In response to the resolution, Iran has barred entry to 38 out of 200
IAEA inspectors whose role is to check Iranian sites to verify material
is not used to make bombs.
The United States has also increased pressure by imposing sanctions on
two big Iranian banks and sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf.
Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the standoff but has not
ruled out military action if that fails. US officials dismiss
speculation that it is planning a conflict.
Iran has said it plans to press ahead with installing 3,000 more
centrifuges at Natanz, adding to about 350 experimental machines it now
runs. With 3,000 machines, it could make material for at least one
warhead in a year, experts say.
The six envoys are due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza
Aghazadeh, before they leave on Monday.
) 2007 Reuters,
*****************************************************************
2 [NYTr] Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 16:39:18 -0500 (EST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Dave Muller (southnews)
Reuters - Feb 4, 2007
Foreign envoys tour Iran nuclear site
Six envoys representing the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations
visited a nuclear facility in Iran on Saturday as part of Tehran's
attempt to be open about its disputed atomic programme.
The NAM diplomats, accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived for a tour of the site near
the central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into
feedstock uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas.
About 90 Iranian and foreign journalists were also taken to the facility
in a barren area in the shadow of a mountain southeast of Isfahan.
Anti-aircraft guns surrounded the site.
The United States accuses Iran of secretly working to make atomic bombs
under cover of a civilian nuclear programme to generate electricity. It
has said putting Iran's nuclear activities on display would not build
confidence abroad.
"The aim of ... this visit is to underline again the transparency of
Iran's peaceful nuclear activities," Hossein Simorgh, spokesman for
Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, told reporters at the site.
The envoys, who stay in Iran until Monday, are not due to visit the
Natanz uranium enrichment site where UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges to
make power plant fuel or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads.
The group comprises ambassadors from Egypt, Malaysia, Cuba, Algeria and
Sudan, and a Syrian representing the Arab League.
"They are not technical people and will not be able to pass judgment on
what is going on (technically). This is a publicity exercise, that's the
main point," a NAM ambassador in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said
of the visit.
Iran has said it will soon start work to expand enrichment capacity at
Natanz, prompting speculation Tehran could announce the beginning of
this work during celebrations to mark the 1979 Islamic revolution that
run to February 11.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was quoted by Fars News Agency as saying
Feb. 11 would be a day to "prove the Iranian nation's obvious right" to
nuclear technology. He also said Iran would announce "great
achievements" in days but did not give details.
The UN Security Council slapped sanctions on Iran on December 23,
banning the transfer of sensitive materials and know-how for Iran's
nuclear and missile programmes. The resolution gave Iran 60 days to
suspend uranium enrichment work.
In response to the resolution, Iran has barred entry to 38 out of 200
IAEA inspectors whose role is to check Iranian sites to verify material
is not used to make bombs.
The United States has also increased pressure by imposing sanctions on
two big Iranian banks and sending a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf.
Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the standoff but has not
ruled out military action if that fails. US officials dismiss
speculation that it is planning a conflict.
Iran has said it plans to press ahead with installing 3,000 more
centrifuges at Natanz, adding to about 350 experimental machines it now
runs. With 3,000 machines, it could make material for at least one
warhead in a year, experts say.
The six envoys are due to hold talks with Foreign Minister Manouchehr
Mottaki and the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Gholamreza
Aghazadeh, before they leave on Monday.
) 2007 Reuters,
*
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3 [NYTr] IAEA, Non-Aligned Envoys Tour Iranian Nuclear Site
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 17:42:52 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Al Jazeera English - Feb 3, 2007
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/3B8B694D-4A1E-470E-9B21-61840B1473E4.htm
Envoys from IAEA and Non-Aligned Nations Tour Iran nuclear site
Envoys from the Non-Aligned Movement of developing nations were shown UN
surveillance cameras while touring a nuclear site in Iran as part of
Tehran's bid to be open about its disputed atomic programme.
The six NAM diplomats, accredited to the UN nuclear watchdog, the
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), visited the site near the
central Iranian city of Isfahan that converts uranium ore into feedstock
uranium hexafluoride (UF6) gas.
About 90 Iranian and foreign journalists were also shown round the site,
where employees in white overalls and face masks feed uranium "yellow cake"
into a conversion line.
"All these journalists can see and tell the world that Iran's activities
are peaceful," Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's IAEA envoy, said during the
tour.
Monitor work
Soltanieh said the trip showed Iran's "transparency" and pointed out two
IAEA cameras to monitor work in a room were UF6 is produced at the site,
situated in a barren area southeast of Isfahan and surrounded by
anti-aircraft guns.
The United States has said putting Iran's nuclear activities on display
would not build confidence abroad.
The envoys, who stay in Iran until Monday, are not due to visit the Natanz
uranium enrichment site where UF6 gas is fed into centrifuges to make power
plant fuel or, if greatly enriched, material for warheads.
Publicity excercise
The group comprises ambassadors from Egypt, Malaysia, Cuba, Algeria and
Sudan, and a Syrian representing the Arab League.
"They are not technical people and will not be able to pass judgment on
what is going on. This is a publicity exercise, that's the main point," a
NAM ambassador in Vienna, where the IAEA is based, said ahead of the visit.
The IAEA says it needs more information about Iran's atomic work before it
can give a clean bill of health and has urged Iran to reconsider a move to
bar 38 out of 200 inspectors whose role is to check whether materials are
diverted to bomb making.
Iran blocked the inspectors after the United Nations penalised Tehran last
month for refusing to halt enrichment.
The UN sanctions bar the transfer of sensitive materials and know-how to
Iran's nuclear programme.
Source: Agencies
*
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4 [NYTr] Iran's Nuke Program: No Secrets Here
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 17:42:38 -0600 (CST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Channel 4 News - Snowmail (UK) - Feb 3, 2007
http://www.channel4.com
Inside Iran's nuclear programme
No secrets here - says Iran: and to prove it, they've invited a group
international observers to tour one of their nuclear facilities.
The Iranians said they wanted to show the world their disputed programme was
for peaceful purposes, not weapons.
Six ambassadors from non-aligned countries along with a number of
journalists, including Channel 4 News were invited by the Iranian government
to visit the site just south of Isfahan.
However, they weren't allowed to the more controversial Natanz enrichment
plant - where Tehran wants to install 3,000 centrifuges - activity that
could breach a United Nations embargo.
From Central Iran - our diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Rugman reports.
*
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5 BBC NEWS: Envoys visit Iran nuclear plant
Last Updated: Saturday, 3 February 2007, 19:30 GMT [
[Tour of Isfahan plant]
The tour group was shown yellow cake, or raw uranium
A group of ambassadors from non-aligned countries has been taken
on a tour of a nuclear facility in Iran on what is being billed
as a transparency visit.
It is the first such trip since the UN imposed limited sanctions
on Iran in December for refusing to suspend its uranium
enrichment programme.
The UN's chief nuclear inspector is to report on Iran's
compliance with the Security Council's demands this month.
Some countries suspect Iran of secretly trying to develop a
nuclear weapon.
Iran insists on its right under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty to enrich uranium on its own soil for what it says is a
peaceful nuclear programme.
Surveillance cameras
The touring delegation included six envoys accredited to the
UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA), from Cuba, Malaysia, Egypt, Sudan, Bolivia and Algeria.
[Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ]
Mr Ahmadinejad is to announce important news on the nuclear front
They were taken on a tour, along with journalists, of the nuclear
plant near the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
Iran resumed sensitive uranium conversion work there in 2005.
The BBC's Frances Harrison, who was on the tour, says the group
was dressed in protective clothing and shown yellow cake, or raw
uranium, and then the finished products stored in large
cylinders.
The organisers were keen to demonstrate that the IAEA still has
surveillance cameras in the plant to observe the large quantities
of uranium gas it has produced so far.
Correspondents say the 116-strong Non-Aligned Movement is hoping
to reassert the influence it had in the 1960s as a third bloc to
the US and Soviet superpowers.
However, they say it is more likely it has been invited to Iran
not for its relevance on the world stage but because of its
recent endorsement of Iran's stand-off with the US over its
uranium enrichment.
UN SANCTIONS ON IRAN
Ban on import and export of nuclear-related material Assets
frozen of 10 companies and 12 individuals Threat of further
non-military sanctions [ border=] Quick Guide: Iran crisis
Tehran is under increasing pressure from the international
community over the issue.
Iran insists that it is continuing to co-operate with the IAEA,
despite recently barring 38 of the agency's inspectors from
entering the country.
On Friday an Iranian official denied reports that Tehran had
prevented the IAEA installing surveillance at its uranium
enrichment plant at Natanz. The envoys and journalists were not
taken to Natanz.
Tehran has frequently said it intends to install 3,000
centrifuges there, stepping up its controversial uranium
enrichment programme in defiance of UN Security Council calls for
a suspension.
The country's hardline president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said
recently that he would soon be announcing some important news on
the nuclear front.
*****************************************************************
6 Independent: Iran steps up production of weapons-grade uranium
By Anne Penketh, Diplomatic Editor
Published: 05 February 2007
The nuclear brinkmanship between Iran and the West is expected
to step up a gear amid predictions that Tehran is about to
announce that it has begun industrial-scale production of
enriched uranium.
Iran has started installing about 3,000 centrifuges, the
machines that can turn uranium into fuel for nuclear reactors or
bombs, at a huge plant in Natanz - a prime target if the US or
Israel conclude that there is no other way to stop Iran
acquiring the bomb.
For all Iran's bluster, the International Atomic Energy Agency
(IAEA) believes that technological setbacks mean it is still
some years away from being able to produce enriched uranium on a
big enough scale. But fear of imminent bombing of Iran's nuclear
facilities is so strong that Robert Gates, the new US Defence
Secretary, said at the weekend: "We are not planning for a war
with Iran."
Today a newly formed British alliance spells out the disastrous
consequences of military action against Iran while urging
greater engagement with Tehran to avert "global catastrophe".
"We need a new diplomatic push at a time when the drumbeat of
war is getting louder," said Brendan Cox, a spokesman for Crisis
Action which has co-ordinated publication of a new report backed
by Oxfam, the Muslim Council of Britain and other faith groups,
trade unionists and a leading think-tank.
"Military action has to be the last resort," said Sir Richard
Dalton, a supporter of the initiative who has spent the past
four years as Britain's ambassador to Iran. He said there was
still time for negotiations. "We have a period of months to
build up diplomacy, even though it is not certain to succeed."
Sir Richard, and other senior European diplomats, sought to play
down suggestions that the Bush administration is dusting off
plans for military action against Iran, which has failed to heed
UN demands to halt its uranium enrichment programme.
Tensions have risen in recent days after the US dispatched a
second aircraft carrier to the Gulf and accused Iranian
operatives of supplying weaponry to kill US troops in Iraq.
In its report, Time To Talk, the new coalition puts the case for
a negotiated solution with Iran, including direct talks between
Iran and the US. It also calls for a compromise on the
suspension of uranium enrichment as a precondition for
negotiation, and further exploration of a "grand bargain"
offered by the EU to Iran last year which could be broadened to
include security guarantees between Israel, Iran and the US.
"The consequences of military action against Iran are not only
unpalatable, they are unthinkable. Even according to the worst
estimates, Iran is still years away from having a nuclear
weapon. There is still time to talk and the Prime Minister must
make sure our allies use it," said Stephen Twigg, director of
the Foreign Policy Centre.
With Israel framing Iran's nuclear programme as an "existential
threat" to that country, and the Iranians only months away from
reaching the so-called "point of no return" on mastering the
technology needed to produce a nuclear bomb, this year is
critical for diplomacy to succeed. Asked whether the diplomatic
timeline was now out of step with Iran's progress on its nuclear
programme, Sir Richard said: "I don't think the timeline has
shrunk to the point where there is no room for diplomacy. It
should be allowed to take its course."
European diplomats say that the American "sabre rattling" should
be seen as a means of increasing the pressure on Iran to comply
with the UN demands which are now being enforced by global
economic sanctions. "It's a show of force. The Americans want to
demonstrate that they are not weak and have not disappeared from
the region," said one.
Mr Cox said the coalition had learnt the lessons of the Iraq
war, and wanted to raise public awareness of the issues well
before the "endgame" looms. The report warns that the
consequences of military action, which would cause significant
civilian casualties, would destabilise the Middle East and
severely undermine hopes for stability in Iraq. It argues that
the position of hardliners in Iran would be bolstered while the
chances of reform within Iran would be set back at a time when
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is in political difficulties
because of his failure to deliver on economic policies.
It predicts that other consequences of bombing would include
rising oil prices and a threat of serious environmental
contamination. And, a senior European diplomat said, it would be
unlikely to halt Iran's nuclear programme, only delay it.
Also in this section
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
*****************************************************************
7 SF Chron: Crisis de-fusion in Iran / The case for a nuclear time-out
[San Francisco Chronicle]
Kaveh L. Afrasiabi
Sunday, February 4, 2007
The head of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has put
forth a viable formula to offset the escalating tensions between
Iran and the United States, i.e., the simultaneous suspension of
Iran's uranium-enrichment activities and the U.N. sanctions on
Iran. The United States is reportedly poised to reject this
formula in spite of Iran's serious consideration of IAEA
Director-General Mohammed El Baradei's proposal.
El Baradei regards the regional situation as "potentially
explosive" and wants to avert the escalation of an Iranian
nuclear crisis that could turn "catastrophic," according to
spokeswoman Melissa Fleming.
In reaction, Iran has retracted a top lawmaker's statement about
the installation of 3,000 centrifuges at its nuclear facility in
Natanz.
Iran's foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, has said that Iran
will seriously review this proposal. Iran's top nuclear
negotiator, Ali Larijani, has expressed a similar sentiment,
adding that the nuclear standoff is a complex issue that does
not lend itself to simplistic solutions. That is precisely what
may be wrong with the United States' approach, which is fixated
on the idea of a permanent suspension of Iran's enrichment and
reprocessing program, even though the Iranian program is
sanctioned by the articles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Legally, there is no basis for the United States' request, given
the absence of any "smoking gun" corroborating the allegations
of a clandestine nuclear weapons program in Iran.
The White House, however, would be wise to take advantage of a
temporary suspension of Iranian nuclear program, which puts an
immediate stop to the escalating crisis that might trigger yet
another war in the turbulent Middle East, by pushing for the
Russian proposal of fabricating nuclear fuel for Iran on its
territory through a Russian-Iranian joint venture.
Subsequent to the recent visit to Tehran of Russia's national
security chief, Igor Ivanov, the Iranian government has publicly
renewed its interest in the Russian proposal -- a proposal that
was openly endorsed by President Bush two years ago; and, unlike
the United States, Russia has openly embraced El Baradei's
timeout proposal.
A key advantage of El Baradei's proposal is that it represents
an intermediate crisis-prevention initiative with the potential
of telescoping into a long-term agreement. While the proposal
falls short of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1737, which
calls for an indefinite suspension of the Iranian uranium
enrichment program, El Baradei's proposal is, in fact, closer to
the various IAEA resolutions passed since early 2003. These
demanded the suspensions as a "non-legally binding, voluntary
confidence-building measure."
Another advantage is that, if agreed by both sides, this
proposal paves the way toward a new round of negotiations that
can have salutary effect on the Iraq crisis by generating a
much-needed basis for direct dialogue between Iran and the
United States.
The Iraq Study Group's report has called on the Bush
administration to engage Iraq's neighbors in an effort to stop
the growing Iraqi chaos. Unfortunately, President Bush has opted
for a policy of confrontation with Iran by arresting several
Iranian consulars in Basra and issuing an "order to kill"
Iranian operatives who try to "stop our objectives," as if Iran
and the United States operate at cross purposes in Iraq all the
time. That is not so, and the sooner the Bush administration
eschews its one-dimensional approach vis-à-vis Iran, the better.
Iran has good neighborly relations with both the U.S.-backed
regimes in Afghanistan and Iraq, and has recently offered to
increase its economic and security assistance to Iraq.
There is a growing sentiment in Iran today that favors nuclear
compromise and moves away from the hard-line position of
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. But this positive mood can
quickly evaporate if the Iranian leaders perceive a lack of
flexibility and outright hostility on the part of the United
States.
Indeed, the White House would be remiss to ignore the window of
opportunity to put the genie of Iran's nuclear crisis afforded
by the IAEA chief's proposal back in the bottle.
Kaveh L. Afrasiabi is a political scientist and a former adviser
to Iran's nuclear negotiation team (2004-2005). He is the
director of an NGO, Global Interfaith Peace.
Page E - 5
The San Francisco Chronicle]
*****************************************************************
8 IHT: News Analysis: Tehran's nuclear bravado may exceed its expertise
International Herald Tribune
Ahmadinejad may be boasting in an act of political showmanship
By William J. Broad and David E. Sanger
Published: February 4, 2007
After decades of largely clandestine efforts, Iran is expected
to declare in coming days that it has made a huge leap toward
industrial-scale production of enriched uranium — a defiant
act that the country's leaders will herald as a major technical
stride and its neighbors will denounce as a looming threat.
But for now, many nuclear experts say, the frenetic activity at
the desert enrichment plant in Natanz may be mostly about
political showmanship.
The many setbacks and outright failures of Tehran's experimental
program suggest that its bluster may far outstrip its technical
expertise. And the problems help explain U.S. intelligence
estimates that Iran is at least four years away from producing a
bomb.
After weeks of limited access inside Iran, inspectors from the
International Atomic Energy Agency have reported that Tehran has
succeeded in manufacturing parts for about 3,000 centrifuges,
the devices that can spin uranium into reactor fuel or bomb
fuel. In recent days, the Iranians have begun installing the
machines and supporting gear in a cavernous plant at Natanz,
which would be a potential target if the United States or one of
its allies decided that diplomacy would never keep Iran from
getting the bomb.
What the Iranians are not talking about, experts with access to
the atomic agency's information say, is that their earlier,
experimental effort to make centrifuges work has struggled to
achieve even limited success and appears to have been put on the
back burner so the country's leaders can declare that they are
moving to the next stage.
To enrich uranium on an industrial scale, the machines must spin
at incredibly high speeds for months on end. But the latest
report of the atomic agency, issued in November, said the
primitive machines of Iran's pilot plant ran only
intermittently, to enrich small amounts of uranium. And the
Iranians succeeded in setting up just two of the planned six
groupings of 164 centrifuges at the pilot plant.
"It looks political unless they've made progress that we don't
know about," said Mark Fitzpatrick, a senior fellow at the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, a weapons
analysis group in London.
Iran's nuclear boasts come in the midst of an increasingly
rancorous chess game between Tehran's mullahs and the Bush
administration over the aims of Iran's nuclear programs, its
role in Iraq and its ambitions to become the dominant power in
the Middle East. The speculation about imminent conflict has
grown so strong that President George W. Bush's new secretary of
defense, Robert Gates, who is intimately familiar with Tehran's
nuclear ambitions from his days as director of the CIA, declared
on Friday, "We are not planning for a war with Iran."
If Iran's latest move proves successful, in open defiance of a
UN Security Council demand that it suspend all enrichment
activity, nuclear experts outside the U.S. government, including
Fitzpatrick, say that in the worst case, it could yield fuel for
an atomic bomb in two or three years, faster than U.S.
intelligence has suggested.
The Iranians insist their effort is solely to fuel nuclear
reactors, a statement that R. Nicholas Burns, the U.S. under
secretary of state for political affairs, said recently that "no
country that has seriously looked at the evidence believes."
There also appear to be large doses of domestic political
posturing and outright bluffing to Iran's very public
declarations. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has become the
face of Iranian defiance, is under growing pressure at home
because of unemployment and the effect of economic sanctions —
and Bush's advisers have said he may view a nuclear standoff
with the United States as a way to help his standing.
At Natanz, where Iranian crews are installing the centrifuges,
the desert south of Tehran gives way to barbed wire,
anti-aircraft guns and a maze of buildings. Two of those
buildings are cavernous halls that, together, are roughly half
the size of the Pentagon. They are buried deep underground to
withstand attack.
The crews are installing pipes, wiring and control panels and
are stringing together the centrifuges into a "cascade" of
connected machines, which spin in parallel to achieve
enrichment. "They're working on the first cascade," a European
diplomat said Friday.
The diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity as
protocol required, added that international inspectors who had
just returned from Tehran saw parts for 3,000 centrifuges.
However, all of them are of the most elementary type, known as a
P-1. The "P" stands for Pakistan, a legacy of the fact that Iran
obtained the design from Abdul Qadeer Khan, the rogue nuclear
engineer from Pakistan.
Ahmadinejad claimed last year that the Iranians were also working
on a more sophisticated centrifuge, called the P-2, which would
enrich uranium far faster. But inspectors have yet to be shown
any of those, leading to speculation in Washington and Vienna -
the home of the atomic energy agency - about whether Iran has
another, hidden facility.
In the underground halls at Natanz, Iranian officials say, the
country plans to eventually expand the number of centrifuges from
3,000 to 54,000, in theory letting it enrich uranium by the ton
and giving it the capability to make many reactor fuel rods or
nuclear weapons.
However, Fitzpatrick, a former State Department official in the
field of nuclear nonproliferation, said the industrial push made
little sense given Iran's problems, as reported by the atomic
energy agency, in getting its experimental centrifuges to run
smoothly at the pilot plant near the halls of Natanz.
The dimensions of Iran's technical woes are suggested by its
delayed schedules. Tehran originally planned to have all six
cascades of its experimental plant operating by 2003, and to
begin installing centrifuges in the industrial halls in 2005.
Fitzpatrick added that the industrial push made little strategic
sense because the thousands of centrifuges would present a
tempting target to an adversary. "You might as well draw a big
bull's-eye around them," he said.
Fitzpatrick said Iran would need this year to install the 3,000
machines at Natanz, next year to get them running smoothly, and 9
to 11 months of spinning to have them produce the fuel for a
single bomb. He cautioned, however, that such an accomplishment
would require all the machinery working more or less perfectly
and the Iranians moving "as quickly as they can."
All rights reserved [IHT]
*****************************************************************
9 AFP: Gulf states to discuss nuclear ambitions with UN watchdog -
Sun Feb 4, 10:49 AM ET
RIYADH (AFP) - The Gulf Cooperation Council, which groups the six
pro-Western Gulf states, is to discuss its plans for a civil
nuclear programme with the UN watchdog later this month, its
secretary general has said.
Abderrahman Al-Attiya said he would meet International Atomic
Energy Agency" /> International Atomic Energy Agencychief
Mohamed ElBaradei on February 22 "to discuss the study proposed
by the GCC countries to possess nuclear power for peaceful
purposes".
"The international agency is the body concerned with such
activities and we will take its viewpoint about this study into
consideration," he told AFP.
This is to make sure that the process is "transparent", he
added.
At a summit in Riyadh in December, the GCC's six members --
Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates -- set out plans for a joint civil nuclear programme.
They denied the plans were a response to the nuclear programme
of Shiite-ruled Iran" /> Iranacross the Gulf, whose efforts to
master the nuclear fuel cycle have sparked US-led accusations
that it is covertly seeking to develop an atomic bomb.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
10 UPI: Iran giving tours of nuclear facility
United Press International - News. Analysis.
/05/2007 1:05:13 AM -0500 UTC advertisement
Tehran, Feb 03 (UPI) -- Iran Saturday denied reports it had
started installing 3,000 centrifuges at its uranium enrichment
site at Natanz, the Fars News Agency reported.
The denial came as representatives from the International Atomic
Energy Agency arrived in Iran to tour the country's nuclear
facility.
Representatives from Egypt, Malaysia, Cuba, Algeria and Sudan
and a Syrian representing the Arab League will tour a facility
near central Isfahan that converts uranium ore into feedstock
uranium hexafluoride, Alalam TV reported.
The U.N. Security Council has ordered Iran to stop its
enrichment program and implemented sanctions banning the transfer
of sensitive materials that could result in nuclear weapons.
Iranian officials say they need nuclear power to generate
electricity.
The Fars News Agency quoted "an informed source" who said
technical and political issues will dictate when the Natanz
centrifuge installation begins.
LICENSE © Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All
*****************************************************************
11 CNN.com: Former military chiefs urge talks with Iran -
" 2 retired generals, retired admiral say war with Iran would be
"disastrous"
" They air opinions in a letter to London's Sunday Times
newspaper
" U.S. defense secretary says Washington not planning for war
with Iran"
LONDON, England (Reuters) -- Three former senior U.S. military
officials warn that any military action against Iran would have
"disastrous consequences" and urged Washington to hold immediate
and unconditional talks with Tehran.
The Bush administration has increased the regularity and
vehemence of its accusations against Iran, prompting speculation
it could be laying the ground for military attack against the
Islamic state.
Washington has also sent a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf,
a move seen as a warning to Iran, which the United States
accuses of seeking atomic arms and fueling instability in Iraq
and elsewhere in the Middle East. Iran denies the charges.
In a letter to London's Sunday Times newspaper, the three former
U.S. military leaders said attacking Iran "would have disastrous
consequences for security in the region, coalition forces in
Iraq and would further exacerbate regional and global tensions,"
they wrote.
"The current crisis must be resolved through diplomacy," they
said.
The letter was signed by retired Army Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a
former military assistant to Defense Secretary Robert McNamara,
retired U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joseph Hoar, a former commander
in chief of U.S. Central Command; and retired Navy Vice Adm.
Jack Shanahan, a former director of the Center for Defense
Information.
They urged the U.S. government to "engage immediately in direct
talks with the government of Iran without preconditions.
"There is time available to talk, we must ensure that we use
it," they said.
The three men have joined previous petitions calling on the Bush
administration to change course in its policy on Iran.
Washington broke ties with Iran in 1980. It has offered to hold
direct talks with Iran but only once Tehran halts its drive to
produce nuclear fuel through uranium enrichment.
Iran, which says it wants to enrich uranium to make nuclear
reactor fuel, not bombs, has refused.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Friday said Washington
was not planning for war with Iran, but again accused Tehran of
supplying bombs for deadly attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.
Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
12 Guardian Unlimited: Analysis: Bush's Iran Stance Echoes Iraq
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Sunday February 4, 2007 5:46 PM
AP Photo DCMC103, VAH102
By TOM RAUM
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush's tough new stance on Iran and
his military buildup in the Persian Gulf recall some of the
drumbeats that preceded the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
As then, the Bush administration is making allegations about
Iran without providing proof.
It is suggesting Iran is sending weapons to Iraq, yet offering
no evidence the supplies can be traced to Tehran. There are
whispers, too, that Iranian intelligence agents were behind the
recent abduction and execution of five U.S. soldiers.
Iran is the ``axis of evil'' country whose nuclear ambitions
must be stopped. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is now
Bush's primary Mideast nemesis, replacing the late Saddam
Hussein.
Bush's efforts to rally public support behind his harder line on
Iran have many lawmakers and some from the intelligence and
defense world wondering if it is a prelude to military activity.
``We are not responsibly in the region if we don't deal with
them,'' said Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va. ``And the situation that we
have right now where we continue to talk only about the military
side - again, it's half a strategy,'' he told ``Fox News
Sunday.''
Bush insists he has no plans to invade Iran, only to protect
U.S. troops in Iraq.
But in recent days:
-Bush raised the U.S. naval presence in the Persian Gulf to its
highest level since 2003 by ordering a second aircraft carrier
strike group to the region.
-The administration confirmed that Bush has authorized the
military to kill or capture Iranian agents who are plotting
attacks on U.S. forces.
-The administration has armed Iran's Arab neighbors with Patriot
missiles. The Pentagon halted sales of spare parts from the its
recently retired F-14 fighter jet fleet because of concerns they
could be transferred to Iran.
Administration critics suggest the White House is exaggerating
Tehran's ties to attacks inside Iraq to justify a possible
future military assault - just as it manipulated prewar
intelligence to build its case for its 2003 invasion of Iraq,
they claim.
``He again is convinced that he's on the side of right, fighting
against the forces of evil, expressing this somewhat
oversimplified view of the world he has,'' said Michael
O'Hanlon, a foreign policy analyst for the Brookings Institution
and an adviser to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group. ``He's doing
what he thinks is right to show resoluteness.''
Bush's saber-rattling - rather than reaching out to Iran and
Syria diplomatically as recommended by the Iraq Study group and
many in Congress - is a risky strategy. Many national security
professionals suggest this approach could lead to wider
conflict.
If conditions continue to deteriorate in Iraq, ``the final
destination on this downhill track is likely to be a head-on
conflict with Iran and with much of the world of Islam at
large,'' Zbigniew Brezinski, President Carter's national
security adviser, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Bush is betting he can help prop up the shaky government of
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and stop a supply line of
weapons and fighters into Iraq.
It's a big bet.
Iran has denied accusations it is supplying weapons to Shiite
militias in Iraq. But an official assessment of Iraq by U.S.
intelligence agencies said Iran was providing lethal support to
select Shiite groups.
Still, the National Intelligence Estimate released Friday said
``outside actors'' such as Iran and Syria are ``not likely to be
a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability'' in
Iraq.
Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser, said the
declassified public document ``does not adequately reflect'' the
degree of concern in nearby Sunni nations about Shiite-run
Iran's meddling in Iraq. He disputed suggestions that Bush has
overemphasized Iran's role.
In his Iraq speech to the nation last month, Bush said the U.S.
would ``seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced
training and weaponry to our enemies in Iraq,'' citing Iran and
Syria.
Critics of Bush's harder line on Iran fall into two camps: those
who worry his recent strong talk might lead to a military
conflict and those who claim he should have gotten tough
earlier.
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, for instance, has
criticized what he suggests is previous indifference to the
Iranian threat.
``In order to ensure Iran never gets nuclear weapons, all
options must remain on the table,'' Edwards says in a hint at
possible military action. The vice presidential nominee in 2004
has called for withdrawing troops from Iraq.
For now, time appears to favor Iran, says Anthony Cordesman, an
analyst with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Even if the United States and Iraq's Shiite-led government can
bring stability, ``Iran must now feel it can outwait the U.S.,
exploit U.S. unpopularity in many Shiite areas, and has every
reason to be opportunistic.
``Iran wins to some degree even if it does not exploit the
situation. A Shiite-dominated Iraq is going to need Iranian help
and support for years to come.''
---
EDITOR'S NOTE - Tom Raum has covered national and international
affairs for The Associated Press since 1973.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
13 AFP: Iran says it allows UN nuclear inspectors free hand
Sat Feb 3, 8:13 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran" /> 's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani
has asserted that Tehran will allow United Nations" /> officials
free reign to inspect the country's atomic sites, amid claims it
is blocking inspectors.
"According to the nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty ... Iran
allows the inspectors the freedom to carry out their
inspections," Larijani was quoted as saying by the ISNA news
agency.
"Any type of cooperation is carried out on this basis," he said
Saturday. "We have said from the start that we accept all
international arrangements to become a nuclear state."
He added that Iran supports "all peaceful methods to regulate
the Iranian nuclear issue" but cautioned, "The nuclear issue has
completely become part of Iran's fate and its development" and
that "no one can prevent it."
Diplomats at the UN watchdog International Atomic Energy Agency"
/> (IAEA) told AFP that Iran had begun installing 3,000
centrifuges, the machines which enrich uranium, in a huge
underground bunker at its main nuclear facility in the central
town of Natanz.
The diplomats claimed that the Islamic state had this week
stopped visiting UN inspectors from installing surveillance
cameras in the bunker where the production lines, or cascades,
of centrifuges are being set up.
On Friday, a high-ranking Iranian official denied that new
centrifuges are being installed.
"There is no and there will be no restriction of inspectors'
access," the official added, speaking to AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Tehran is under growing international pressure over its
controversial nuclear programme, which the West fears is masking
plans to build an atomic bomb.
The Islamic state denies the allegations, insisting that the
sole purpose of the activities is to generate electricity.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
14 AFP: Iran vows to defy UN nuclear resolution
Sun Feb 4, 6:51 AM ET
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran" /> has vowed to defy a UN resolution calling
for a freeze to its controversial nuclear work but promised to
open up its disputed uranium enrichment facility in Natanz to the
media.
"We believe this resolution has legal and executive problems,
we will not implement it, as we have said before," the head of
Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Gholamreza Aghazadeh was
quoted as saying Sunday by the Mehr news agency.
He was referring to UN resolution 1737 that calls on the Islamic
republic to halt uranium enrichment -- the process that makes
nuclear fuel as well as the fissile core of an atomic bomb.
The resolution imposes limited sanctions on Iran for its refusal
to freeze such work, which the West fears could be diverted to
make weapons. Iran insists its nuclear programme is entirely
peaceful.
Aghazadeh also promised journalists a visit to Iran's enrichment
facility in Natanz "in seven or eight days to see the latest
stages of the work," and that "good nuclear news will be
announced soon," the Fars news agency reported.
He did not give further details on the nature of the news, which
has been promised by a number of Iranian officials over the past
weeks.
Iran has said it has started work to install 3,000 uranium
enriching centrifuges at the plant, but it is unclear which
stage the work has reached.
Iran's envoy to the UN nuclear watchdog Ali Asghar Soltanieh
said on Saturday work was continuing to install uranium
enrichment centrifuges but did not give further details.
A media trip to the enrichment plant would come after the press
was allowed on Saturday to visit the uranium conversion facility
in Isfahan along with a group of ambassadors from the UN nuclear
watchdog.
Diplomats close to the International Atomic Energy Agency" /> in
Vienna (IAEA) have said that Iran had begun construction of
3,000 centrifuges in Natanz.
Iranian officials had declared that the country was set to
complete the installation in Natanz by the end of the current
Iranian year (March 20) but it remains unclear whether this
target will be reached.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
15 AFP: Military action against Iran 'highly dangerous'
Sun Feb 4, 7:08 PM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Military action against Iran" /> Iranwith the goal
of shutting down its nuclear programme would be "highly
dangerous" and "counter-productive," according to an independent
British report.
The report, which concludes that diplomatic solutions to the
issue must be "resolutely" pursued, and says that while Britain
and Prime Minister Tony Blair" /> Tony Blaircan play a major
role in resolving the impasse by putting pressure on the United
States, "only through direct US-Iranian engagement can an
agreement be found."
Among the report's authors are the development charity Oxfam,
the Blairite think-tank the Foreign Policy Centre, along with
Unison, Amicus and the GMB -- three of Britain's biggest trade
unions.
Also co-authoring the report are religious organisations such as
the Muslim Council of Britain, and Pax Christi, an international
Christian anti-war charity.
"The consequences of any possible future military action could
be wholly counter-productive as well as highly dangerous.
Diplomatic solutions to the Iranian nuclear issue must be
pursued resolutely," the report read.
It noted several possible negative consequences of any military
action, including paradoxically strengthening "the resolve of
the Iranian regime to become a nuclear weapons power" and the
likelihood of Iran's exit from the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
According to the authors, another possible consequence would be
an "inflammation" of the war on terror, along with a chance that
the European Union" /> European Union, which partially depends
on Iran for its energy needs, "could feel the squeeze and
possibly even experience recession."
It called for Britain to use its diplomatic clout with the
United States to "advocate for direct US engagement" which it
says is essential to resolving the current situation.
But, according to the report's authors, "it cannot be said that
the potential for diplomacy has been explored fully when direct
talks between Iran and the US have not taken place."
The UN Security Council late last year passed a resolution
imposing limited sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt
uranium enrichment -- the process that makes nuclear fuel as
well as material for making an atomic bomb.
The West fears the nuclear programme is covertly designed to
make weapons, while Iran insists it is entirely peaceful.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
16 AFP: Bush Iraq strategy shifts toward containing Iran
Sun Feb 4, 1:00 PM
WASHINGTON (AFP) - President George W. Bush's heightened
rhetoric against Iran's alleged role in Iraq violence is aimed
at ratcheting up pressure over Tehran's political activities
more widely, Stephen Hadley, a top White House adviser,
confirmed.
Calling Iran "a disruptive factor in the region," Hadley, Bush's
national security adviser, said the US president's tough remarks
recently were not only aimed at Iran's alleged interference in
Iraq.
In an interview on January 30 Bush warned on National Public
Radio that "if Iran escalates its military action in Iraq to the
detriment of our troops and/or innocent Iraqi people, we will
respond firmly."
The White House also last month revealed that Bush had
authorized the killing or capture of Iranian agents threatening
US soldiers in their activities in Iraq in the second half of
2006.
The US has claimed to have strong proof that Iran is providing
the arms and explosive devices to Shiite militias that have
caused so many casualties in Iraq, including US military
casualties.
While Bush has stopped short of branding Iran a "major factor"
in Iraq's instability, as part of his new controversial strategy
to boost troop levels in Iraq he has vowed to use all the means
necessary to protect US forces from Iranian actions there.
The frequent mention of Iran has been a marked shift in the
White House's message on how it is conducting the Iraq war.
But analysts say this is deliberate. Lawrence Korb, an expert at
the Center for American Progress, summed up the change in
rhetoric: "This is not about Iraq, it's about Iran."
Hadley said Bush wanted to increase pressure on the Islamic
Republic's support of the radical Palestinian group Hamas, its
efforts "to destabilize" the Lebanese government, and its
alleged program to develop nuclear weapons.
He made clear the US rhetoric reflects concern about
Shiite-dominated Iran's region-wide activities among other Arab
countries.
"There's a suggestion almost that the concern of Sunni nations
for Iran's activities comes out of their assessments of what's
happening in Iraq. But, of course, if you talk to any of those
leaders, their concerns about Iran go much beyond an Iranian
role in Iraq," Hadley said.
"They are concerned about what Iran is doing to destabilize the
democratically elected (Fuad) Siniora government in Lebanon.
They're concerned about Iranian training and support for Hamas
that is making it difficult for (Palestinian) President (Mahmud)
Abbas to move forward with (Israeli) Prime Minister (Ehud)
Olmert to try and find a way forward to a peace.
"And of course, there's concern in the region about a
nuclear-armed Iran because if the current Iran can cause this
much disruption, the concern is with a nuclear Iran."
A Western diplomat posted in Tehran said there was an impression
that Arab nations in the region were pushing the US to confront
Tehran because the Arab leaders themselves did not dare do so.
The change in Washington's tone has led to some suspicion that
the White House is exaggerating Iran's role in the Iraq
violence, a view underscored by the Bush administration's twice
putting off planned conferences in which the government intended
to provide proof of its allegations.
Asked whether Bush had willingly overstated Iran's role in Iraq,
Anthony Cordesman, of the Center for Strategic International
Studies, pointed out that the National Intelligence Estimate
(NIE), portions of which were released Friday, presented "a
notably more balanced picture of this threat."
The NIE said that while Iran was not the principal cause behind
the violence in its western neighbor, "Iranian lethal support
for select groups of Iraqi Shia militants clearly intensifies
the conflict in Iraq."
It added that the involvement of Iran and Syria "is not likely
to be a major driver of violence or the prospects for stability
because of the self-sustaining character of Iraq's internal
sectarian dynamics."
Iran insists Washington should show proof of its alleged
scheming. In not responding, some suspect the Bush
administration is only looking for a scapegoat for its problems
in Iraq.
That suspicion is paralleled by the fears among opposition
Democratic Party politicians in Washington who hear an echo of
the strident White House tone that preceded the March 2003
invasion of Iraq, when faulty intelligence had served to justify
the war.
Some experts believe that the radical Iranians are supporting
their Iraqi counterparts just to annoy the Americans.
But Dennis Ross, a counselor at the Washington Institute for
Near East Policy, said in testimony to US senators in January
that Iran and Syria "have little interest in an Iraq that begins
to unravel."
Ross, a former top US diplomat, pointed to the risk of a flood
of refugees, the spilling of instability and terrorism into the
region, and heightened rivalry with Saudi Arabia.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
17 Korea Herald: Pyongyang to demand fuel oil at nuclear talks
North Korea is demanding up to 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil a
year in exchange for freezing activity at its main nuclear
facility in Yongbyon, Japan's Asahi Shimbun reported yesterday.
The newspaper reported that North Korea is also likely to
repeat demands for a lifting of U.S. financial sanctions and to
be taken off the list of terrorist sponsor countries when the
six-party talks reconvene later this week.
The paper cited Joel Wit, a former U.S. State Department
official who coordinated the Agreed Framework in 1994, and David
Albright, president and founder of the Institute for Science and
International Security. The two had visited North Korea last
week and met North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan.
Quoting the American officials, the newspaper said the North
Korean delegation will agree to freeze its nuclear related
facilities in Yongbyon and allow the return of International
Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to recommence surveillance as
the first stage of denuclearization at the upcoming six-party
talks this Thursday.
The reported offer and demand by the North resembles the Agreed
Framework signed between the United States and North Korea in
1994. Following the agreement, North Korea froze its Yongbyon
reactor in return for the construction of two light-water
reactors and interim fuel supplies.
The deal, however, broke down in 2002 when Washington accused
North Korea of developing a secret uranium enrichment program.
The Yongbyon complex produces spent fuel that can be reprocessed
to create plutonium for a nuclear weapon.
The paper said North Korea appears to have invited U.S.
officials to up their bargaining stake by highlighting their
offer.
With the chief nuclear negotiators forecasting a productive
outcome, what North Korea will demand once the negotiations
start is considered the key point.
"We do have some reason to believe we can make some progress"
on implementing the agreement and see "some changes actually
take place on the ground," top U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill
told reporters after he arrived in Seoul over the weekend.
Hill was in Seoul to meet his South Korean counterpart Chun
Yung-woo to finalize their coordinated position before heading
to Beijing for the negotiations.
Hill leaves for Japan today.
According to the Asahi, the North is prepared to shut down the
reactor in its main nuclear facility and accept inspections, but
the reactor itself would remain off limits. In addition, the
North does not plan to close the site used for weapons testing,
nor would it allow inspectors there.
The United States and its allies have been careful to emphasize
that while the first step agreement may look like the 1994
agreement, the agreement would be preconditioned with follow-up
measures that would eventually get North Korea to fully
dismantle all existing nuclear programs.
In September 2005, North Korea and the other five negotiating
partners - South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and
Russia - agreed on a set of principles for North Korea to
denuclearize in return for security guarantees, normalization of
ties, and economic and energy aids.
The follow-up negotiation hit a snag when North Korea boycotted
the talks citing the U.S. Treasury Department's labeling of a
Macau bank as a conduit for counterfeit dollars allegedly
produced in North Korea.
Signs of progress began to emerge as financial officials from
Washington and Pyongyang began to discuss the issue on the
sidelines of the nuclear negotiations last December, and
bilateral contacts between the nuclear negotiators became more
frequent.
"A lot of what the DPRK needs to do is to begin to work on
getting a better reputation in banking circles, and to get out
of some practices which, I think, have been very harmful to
their reputation," Hill said referring to the financial issue.
DPRK is short for Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North
Korea's official name.
At the bilateral talks in Seoul, Hill and Chun agreed that
there must be no country that deviates from their coordinated
steps to reward North Korea when progress is made.
Japan's Kyodo News reported yesterday that the Japanese
government will not participate in food and energy aid to the
North, even if progress towards denuclearization is made at the
next six-party talks.
The news report said that the Japanese government believed such
measures would be premature while there are no developments in
the kidnapping controversy with North Korea.
For domestic politics, solving the controversy over North
Korea's kidnapping of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s
is considered as crucial as the nuclear negotiation.
(angiely@heraldm.com)
By Lee Joo-hee
2007.02.05
*****************************************************************
18 YONHAP NEWS: N. Korea ineligible for nuclear reactors until
denuclearization: Seoul official
2007/02/04 21:46 KST
By Byun Duk-kun
SEOUL, Feb. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will not be given any
nuclear reactors as a reward before it fully dismantles its
nuclear weapons program, a senior South Korean official said
Sunday.
"Since North Korea conducted a nuclear test, it no longer has
the right to the peaceful use of nuclear power," said the
official closely involved in six-nation nuclear disarmament
talks, speaking on condition that he not be identified.
"It is impossible, and illegal according to international laws,
to negotiate nuclear cooperation with a country that does not
have the right" to peacefully use nuclear power, he said.
The remarks came in response to earlier reports that Pyongyang
was likely to demand as much as half a million tons of heavy
fuel oil annually in exchange for it making any concessions
during the upcoming round of six-party nuclear disarmament talks
set to reopen in Beijing on Thursday.
Quoting a former U.S. State Department official returning from
a five-day trip to Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, last
week, Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported Sunday that North
Korea is expected to ask for fuel oil supplies.
In Pyongyang, the former U.S. official, Joel Wit, met the
North's nuclear envoy, Kim Kye-gwan, the paper said.
The South Korean official said such a request, if made, would
be open to discussions, but noted that no such request has been
filed so far.
"It is too early to say what would be too much (to give North
Korea) because we first have to discuss what and how much of it
will be provided to the North in return for its early steps in
denuclearization and under what conditions," the official said.
The chif U.S. nuclear envoy, Christopher Hill, in Seoul for
talks with South Korean officials, declined to discuss specifics.
"I am not going to get into specific elements of what might
come up" during this week's session, Hill told reporters at a
Seoul hotel, where he met his South Korean counterpart, Chun
Yung-woo.
Earlier in the day, Japan's public TV network NHK quoted Hill
as saying that North Korea has requested energy aid in exchange
for taking early steps to implement a September 2005 agreement,
in which it agreed to give up its nuclear weapons program.
The U.S. negotiator dismissed the report, but said the issue
can be discussed at the upcoming session if requested by the
North.
"Everything in the September 2005 agreement needs to be
addressed sooner or later," he said.
Also on Sunday, Japan's Kyodo News agency said Tokyo was
unlikely to agree to any economic assistance for the North
unless Pyongyang returns all Japanese believed kidnapped and
held in the communist nation.
Hill said he was unaware of any such movement in Japan, though
the abduction issue is of tremendous importance to the Japanese,
especially to the families of the victims.
"All I can tell you is that we are talking about
denuclearization (of North Korea). I know Japanese are working
very hard to get ready for the next round of the six-party
talks," he said.
The U.S. negotiator, however, said the Japanese may approach
North Korea with the abduction issue during the nuclear talks.
"We discuss many issues that pertain to continued instability
in Northeast Asia," he said.
Hill arrived in Seoul on Saturday to fine-tune joint strategy
for the Beijing meeting. He will visit Tokyo on Monday for
similar discussions with Japanese officials before heading to
the Chinese capital.
The six-party talks, which began in 2003, bring together the
two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
*****************************************************************
19 AFP: NKorea demands oil to suspend nuclear reactor, says report -
Sun Feb 4, 1:54 AM ET
TOKYO (AFP) - North Korea" /> North Koreahas demanded more than
500,000 tons of oil a year in return for suspending a a
plutonium-producing nuclear reactor, according to a Japanese
daily.
High-ranking North Korean officials, including nuclear
negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan, met two US nuclear experts -- former
State Department official Joel Witt and Institute for Science
and International Security president David Albright -- last
week, the influential Asahi Shimbun daily said.
The North Koreans told the US experts, who visited Pyongyang for
five days from January 30, that the country would halt the
plutonium-producing Yongbyon nuclear reactor if they received
more than 500,000 tons of fuel oil a year or an equivalent
volume of energy assistance, the Asahi said.
The two Americans met with an Asahi Shimbun reporter at Beijing
airport after the visit, the report said.
US nuclear negotiator Christopher Hill told Japan's public
broadcaster NHK in Seoul: "I think we can talk about the energy
assistance, but what needs to be discussed really and what needs
to be resolved is to get moving on the implementation of
denuclearisation."
Japan's Kyodo news agency reported, citing unnamed government
sources, that Japan had decided to refuse food and energy aid to
North Korea without a guarantee that the abduction issue would
be resolved, even if major progress was made at the six-party
nuclear talks on other issues.
North Korea admitted in 2002 that Pyongyang agents had abducted
13 Japanese in the 1970s and 1980s to train spies. It returned
five of them to Japan along with their families and said the
other eight had died.
But Japan believes they are still alive and suspects more
Japanese nationals were kidnapped and are being kept under wraps
because they know too many secrets.
The multilateral disarmament talks are set to resume on February
8 in Beijing.
Under a 1994 energy agreement, Washington promised to provide
500,000 tons of oil a year until two nuclear power plants were
completed in North Korea, in a deal aimed at freezing the
North's nuclear weapons activity.
But the project fell apart after the United States in October
2002 said Pyongyang had admitted running a secret uranium
enrichment programme in violation of the deal.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved. The
*****************************************************************
20 Guardian Unlimited: U.S.: N.Korea Disarmament May Take Time
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Sunday February 4, 2007 10:31 AM
AP Photo TOK202
By BO-MI LIM
Associated Press Writer
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - The main U.S. envoy to North Korea
nuclear talks said Sunday the upcoming round could see
agreements on initial steps toward the communist nation's
disarmament, but he cautioned it would take longer for the North
to completely give up its nuclear weapons drive.
``Frankly, we cannot accept anything less than 100 percent
implementation of the September statement,'' U.S. Assistant
Secretary of State Christopher Hill told reporters, referring to
a 2005 pledge in which the North agreed to give up its nuclear
program in exchange for aid and security guarantees.
``We won't get it this month, but maybe we can have a good
beginning,'' Hill said before a meeting with his South Korean
counterpart, Chun Yung-woo, to coordinate strategy ahead of the
nuclear talks set to resume Thursday in Beijing.
``But, the ultimate task for us is to complete denuclearization,
not just begin denuclearization,'' Hill said.
Hill's comments came after a Japanese news report on Sunday said
that North Korea is prepared to halt operations at a key nuclear
facility in exchange for oil and an easing of U.S. financial
restrictions.
Japan's Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that North Korea was
prepared to close the reactor in its main nuclear complex in
Yongbyon and accept inspections by the International Atomic
Energy Agency - though the reactor itself would remain
off-limits.
Asahi quoted former U.S. State Department official Joel Wit, who
was in Beijing following meetings with chief North Korean arms
negotiator Kim Kye Gwan and other senior officials in Pyongyang
days ago.
The North, however, does not intend to close the site used for
its October nuclear weapons test, will not allow inspections
there, and is not prepared to reveal details of its nuclear
weapons program, the report cited Wit as saying.
Hill declined to comment on the report.
At the coming disarmament talks this week, North Korea also will
demand it be taken off Washington's list of states sponsoring
terrorism, the report said.
In return, Pyongyang plans to demand energy aid of more than
500,000 tons of crude oil a year to compensate for an aborted
project to build two light-water reactors in the country,
according to the report.
The North also will insist that Washington take steps to lift
financial sanctions against North Korean assets held in Macau,
imposed over the communist regime's alleged counterfeiting of
U.S. dollar bills and money laundering activities, the report
said.
U.S. treasury and North Korean officials last week wrapped up
another inconclusive round of negotiations over the financial
sanctions. But U.S. officials have since expressed optimism the
financial dispute would not disrupt the main nuclear talks.
Wit was accompanied by U.S. nuclear expert David Albright and
traveled to Pyongyang on an official invitation, the report
said.
The United States had supplied 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil
annually to the North until Pyongyang received the two
light-water reactors as a reward under a 1994 deal to freeze its
nuclear program.
The deal was scrapped in 2002, however, when the nuclear crisis
re-emerged and North Korea kicked out IAEA inspectors.
The international arms talks, which involve the U.S., the two
Koreas, China, Japan and Russia, have made little headway since
the 2005 accord, the only agreement reached in the process.
At the latest round of discussions in December, the first since
the North's Oct. 9 nuclear test, Pyongyang refused to discuss
disarmament and demanded the U.S. lift financial sanctions
first.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
21 [NYTr] US Physicists: Congress Must Forbid US Nukes vs Non-Nuke
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2007 03:39:33 -0500 (EST)
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
sent by Dave Muller (southnews)
Source: University of California, San Diego
01-Feb-2007, 16:20 ET
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/527021/
Prominent U.S. Physicists Ask Congress to Forbid Use of Nuclear
Weapons Against Non-Nuclear
Newswise - Twenty two of the nation's most prominent physicists
asked Congress today to restrict the authority of President Bush
to order nuclear strikes against non-nuclear-weapon states.
The physicists include twelve Nobel laureates, the current and three
past presidents of the American Physical Society, the nation's
preeminent professional society for physicists, and the chair of
the Union of Concerned Scientists.
The physicists said their letter was prompted by "the rising tensions
with Iran and the potential for military confrontation, as well as
the public statement by President Bush on April 18, 2006, that a
nuclear strike against Iran is an option 'on the table'."
It was initiated by Jorge Hirsch, a professor of physics at the
University of California, San Diego, who last year put together a
petition signed by more than 2,000 physicists that repudiated new
U.S.
nuclear weapons policies that include preemptive use of nuclear
weapons against non-nuclear adversaries
(http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/).
"The very fact that nuclear weapon use is not being ruled out as
an option-against a state that does not have nuclear weapons and
does not represent a direct or imminent threat to the United
States-illustrates the extent to which the Bush administration has
changed U.S. nuclear weapons policy," said Kurt Gottfried, chair
of the Union of Concerned Scientists. "The use of such a weapon
against deeply buried targets would create massive clouds of
radioactive fallout that could spread far from the site of the
attack, including to other nations."
The physicists said in their letter that they "are firmly convinced
that Congress should have a say on which course of action would
best serve the American people on the use of the terrible weapons
our profession helped create."
"Under present law, the President has sole authority to order the
use of nuclear weapons," said Hirsch. "We could wake up tomorrow
to learn that he has ordered preemptive tactical nuclear strikes
against Iran's underground facilities. By not legislating on this
issue, Congress is implicitly condoning and even abetting such a
potential action by the Executive."
The letter, which is available at
http://physics.ucsd.edu/petition/physicistslettercongress.html,
points out that "in the case of non-nuclear adversaries there is
no extreme urgency associated with response or preemption of nuclear
attack against our country or our allies."
"Leaving such a fundamental decision to the executive branch of our
government alone, in the absence of imminent danger of nuclear
attack, defies common sense," added Douglas Osheroff, a physics
professor at Stanford University and Nobel laureate who signed the
letter.
The letter echoes the main objection of last fall's physicists'
petition to the changes in U.S. nuclear weapons policies, as well
as last year's statement by the American Physical Society expressing
"deep concern"
about the "possible use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear
states and for pre-emptive counterproliferation purposes."
It stresses that the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty will be
irreversibly damaged by the use of nuclear weapons by a nuclear
nation against a non-nuclear one, "with disastrous consequences for
the security of the United States and the world."
"Crossing the nuclear threshold, even with a low-yield weapon, would
erase the 60-year old taboo against the use of nuclear weapons and
make their use by others more likely," the physicists pointed out.
"There are no sharp lines between small 'tactical' nuclear weapons
and large ones, nor between nuclear weapons targeting facilities
and those targeting armies or cities."
"Presumably, Congress would not authorize the use of nuclear weapons
against non-nuclear-weapon countries unless under extraordinarily
exceptional circumstances," said Andrew Sessler, a former director
of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and former president of the American
Physical Society who signed the letter. "The passing of such
legislation would have a very positive effect in encouraging
non-nuclear countries that presently may be considering the development
of nuclear weapons to not do so, as well as encouraging nuclear
weapons countries with small arsenals to disarm."
The letter concludes: "A decision that would have a major impact
on the course of history and could ultimately threaten the survival
of civilization should not be in the sole hands of the President
unless absolutely unavoidable. We urge Congress to pass binding
legislation to forbid the use of nuclear weapons by the United
States against countries which do not possess nuclear weapons,
except with explicit prior Congressional authorization for such
action."
The 22 physicists who coauthored the letter are: Philip Anderson,
professor of physics at Princeton University and Nobel Laureate in
Physics; Michael Fisher, professor of physics at the Institute for
Physical Science and Technology, University of Maryland and Wolf
Laureate in Physics; Jerome Friedman, professor of physics at MIT
and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Kurt Gottfried, emeritus professor
of physics at Cornell University and Chair of the Union of Concerned
Scientists;
David Gross, professor of theoretical physics and director of the
Kavli Institute of Physics at the University of California, Santa
Barbara and Nobel Laureate in Physics; John Hall, NIST senior fellow
at University of Colorado, Boulder and Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Jorge Hirsch, professor of physics at the University of California,
San Diego; Leo Kadanoff, professor of physics and mathematics at
the University of Chicago and current president of the American
Physical Society; Wolfgang Ketterle, professor of physics at MIT
and Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Daniel Kleppner, professor of physics at MIT and Wolf Laureate in
Physics; Walter Kohn, emeritus professor of physics at University
of California Santa Barbara and Nobel Laureate in Chemistry; Joel
Lebowitz, professor of mathematics and physics at Rutgers University
and Boltzmann Medalist; Anthony Leggett, professor of physics at
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Nobel Laureate in
Physics; Eugen Merzbacher, emeritus professor of physics at University
of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and former president, of the
American Physical Society; Douglas Osheroff, professor of physics
and applied physics at Stanford University and Nobel Laureate in
Physics; Norman Ramsey, emeritus professor of physics at Harvard
University and Nobel Laureate in Physics; Edwin Salpeter, emeritus
professor of physics at Cornell University and Dirac Medalist;
Andrew Sessler, former director of Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and
former president of the American Physical Society; Jack Steinberger,
member of the European Center for Nuclear Research and Nobel Laureate
in Physics; George Trilling, emeritus professor of physics at
University of California, Berkeley, and former president of the
American Physical Society; Steven Weinberg, professor of physics
at University of Texas at Austin and Nobel Laureate in Physics;
Frank Wilczek, professor of physics at MIT and Nobel Laureate in
Physics.
The physicists are submitting their letter to each of the 535 members
of the 110th Congress.
February 1, 2007
United States Congress Washington, DC
Dear Member of Congress:
As physicists, members of the profession that brought nuclear weapons
into existence, we write to urge you to pass binding legislation
to restrict the authority of the President to order nuclear strikes
against non-nuclear-weapon states.
Last year, the American Physical Society issued a statement of "deep
concern" about the "possible use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear
states and for pre-emptive counterproliferation purposes". In
addition, 2000 of our fellow physicists have joined in a petition
opposing recent changes in US nuclear weapons policies that contemplate
the use of nuclear weapons against underground facilities of
non-nuclear-weapon countries and for "rapid and favorable war
termination on US terms".
Some of us wrote to the President last year urging him to refrain
from considering nuclear weapons use against non-nuclear adversaries.
Nuclear weapons are unique among weapons of mass destruction.
Employment of nuclear weapons would kill untold number of innocent
civilians in the target area, and the associated radioactive fallout
could kill many thousands in other countries very far from the
target. There are no sharp lines between small "tactical" nuclear
weapons and large ones, nor between nuclear weapons targeting
facilities and those targeting armies or cities. Crossing the nuclear
threshold, even with a low-yield weapon, would erase the 60-year
old taboo against the use of nuclear weapons and make their use by
others more likely. If the victim is a non-nuclear-weapon state,
such action would destroy, or at the very least severely undermine,
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with disastrous consequences
for United States and world security.
In view of the rising tensions with Iran and the potential for
military confrontation, as well as the public statement by President
Bush on April 18, 2006, that a nuclear strike against Iran is an
option "on the table", we believe it is essential that Congress
address this issue at the earliest possible time. In the case of
non-nuclear adversaries there is no extreme urgency associated with
response or preemption of nuclear attack against our country or our
allies. We are firmly convinced that Congress should have a say on
which course of action would best serve the American people on the
use of the terrible weapons our profession helped create.
A decision that would have a major impact on the course of history
and could ultimately threaten the survival of civilization should
not be in the sole hands of the President unless absolutely
unavoidable. We urge Congress to pass binding legislation to forbid
the use of nuclear weapons by the United States against countries
which do not possess nuclear weapons, except with explicit prior
Congressional authorization for such action.
Sincerely,
Philip Anderson, Nobel Laureate, Physics Michael Fisher, Wolf
Laureate, Physics Jerome Friedman, Nobel Laureate, Physics Kurt
Gottfried, Chair, Union of Concerned Scientists David Gross, Nobel
Laureate, Physics John Hall, Nobel Laureate, Physics Jorge Hirsch,
Professor of Physics Leo Kadanoff, National Medal of Science,
Physical Sciences Wolfgang Ketterle, Nobel Laureate, Physics Daniel
Kleppner, Wolf Laureate, Physics Walter Kohn, Nobel Laureate,
Chemistry Joel Lebowitz, Boltzmann Medalist Anthony Leggett, Nobel
Laureate, Physics Eugen Merzbacher, President, American Physical
Society, 1990 Douglas Osheroff, Nobel Laureate, Physics Norman
Ramsey, Nobel Laureate, Physics Edwin Salpeter, Dirac Medalist
Andrew Sessler, President, American Physical Society, 1998 Jack
Steinberger, Nobel Laureate, Physics George Trilling, President,
American Physical Society, 2001 Steven Weinberg, Nobel Laureate,
Physics Frank Wilczek, Nobel Laureate, Physics
Titles and addresses of authors
Philip W. Anderson: Joseph Henry Professor of Physics, Princeton University,
Princeton, NJ 08544. Tel: 609-258-5850, Email: pwa_at_pupgg.princeton.edu.
Michael E. Fisher: Distinguished University Professor and Regents
Professor, Institute for Physical Science and Technology, University
of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742-2431. Tel: 301-405-4819, Fax:
(301) 314-9404, Email: xpectnil_at_ipst.umd.edu.
Jerome Friedman: Institute Professor and Professor of Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue,
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. Tel: (617) 253-7585, Email: jif_at_mit.edu.
Kurt Gottfried: Emeritus Professor of Physics, Newman Lab, Cornell
University, Ithaca, NY 14853-2501. Tel: 607-255-2387, Email:
kg13_at_cornell.edu.
David J. Gross: Frederick W. Gluck Professor of Theoretical Physics,
Director-Kavli Institute For Theoretical Physics, University of
California Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4030. Tel: 805-893-7337, FAX:
(805) 893-2431, Email: gross_at_kitp.ucsb.edu.
John L. Hall, NIST Senior Fellow, Emeritus, and Lecturer, Department
of Physics, and JILA Fellow, University of Colorado, Boulder CO
80309 - 0440. Tel: 303 497-3126, E-mail: jhall_at_jila.colorado.edu.
Jorge E. Hirsch: Professor, Department of Physics, University of
California San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093. Tel: 858-534-3931, Fax:
858-534-0173, Email: jhirsch_at_ucsd.edu.
Leo P. Kadanoff: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of Physics and
Mathematics, Emeritus University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637. Tel:
773-702-7189, 773-702-7184 (messages), Email: l-kadanoff_at_uchicago.edu.
Wolfgang Ketterle, John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics, Massachussets
Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
02139. Tel: 617.253.6815, Email: ketterle_at_mit.edu.
Daniel Kleppner, Lester Wolfe Professor of Physics, Emeritus and
Co Director, MIT-Harvard Center for Ultracold Atoms, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA
02139-4307. Tel: (617) 253-6811, Email: kleppner_at_mit.edu.
Walter Kohn,:Professor of Physics, Emeritus and Research Professor
University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA 93106.
Joel L. Lebowitz: George William Hill Professor of Mathematics and
Physics, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, 110 Frelinghuysen
Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019. Tel.: 732-445-3117, Email:
lebowitz_at_math.rutgers.edu.
Anthony J. Leggett: John D. and Catherine T.MacArthur Professor and
Professor of Physics and Professor in the Center for Advanced Study,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 1110 West Green Street,
Urbana, IL 61801-3080. Tel: 217-333-2077, Email: aleggett_at_uiuc.edu.
Eugen Merzbacher: Kenan Professor Em. of Physics, Department of
Physics and Astronomy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3255. Tel: 919-942-5429, Email:
merzbach_at_physics.unc.edu.
Douglas D. Osheroff: J.G. Jackson and C.J. Wood Professor of Physics
and Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305-4060.
Tel: 650-723-4228, Fax: 650-725-6544, Email: osheroff_at_stanford.edu.
Norman Ramsey: Higgins Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Harvard
University, Cambridge, MA 02138. Tel: 617-495-2864, Email:
ramsey_at_physics.harvard.edu.
Edwin Salpeter: James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the
Physical Sciences, Emeritus, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Tel: 607-255-4937, Email: ees12_at_cornell.edu.
Andrew M. Sessler: Distinguished Director, Emeritus, Lawrence
Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, mS71-259, Berkeley,
CA 94720. Tel: 510-486-4992, Email: AMSessler_at_lbl.gov.
Jack Steinberger: European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN),
Geneva, Switzerland. Tel: 41-22-7678125, Email:
Jack.Steinberger_at_cern.ch.
George H. Trilling: Professor Emeritus of Physics, Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory, MS 50B-6222, Berkeley, CA 94720. Tel: (510)
486-6801, Email: GHTrilling_at_lbl.gov.
Steven Weinberg: Jack S. Josey-Welch Foundation Chair in Science
and Regental Professor, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX
78712-1081. Tel: 512-471-4394, Email: weinberg_at_physics.utexas.edu.
Frank Wilczek: Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics, Department of
Physics, Massachussets Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
02139-4307. Tel: 617-253-0284, Email: wilczek_at_mit.edu.
*
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22 Las Vegas SUN: Editorial: Removing scientific oversight
February 03, 2007
President's directive gives White House the power to taint
federal regulations
President Bush has signed an order that allows the White House
to have more control over shaping the federal rules and policies
that guide protection of the public's health, safety,
environment, civil rights and privacy.
According to a story by The New York Times on Tuesday, the
executive order that Bush issued last week requires every
federal agency to have a regulatory policy office that is run by
a political appointee. This appointee will oversee the
development of rules and regulatory guidance documents - duties
that previously were performed by scientific experts and civil
servants.
This essentially gives Bush the power to dictate how policies on
protecting the public's health, safety and environment should be
crafted, regardless of what scientists say. Rep. Henry Waxman,
D-Calif., chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform
Committee, told the Times that the president's order "is great
news for special interests."
Indeed. The president's directive seems as though it was crafted
specifically to benefit special interests.
Business groups immediately applauded the order as a way of
streamlining what they consider to be an overbearing federal
regulatory system. But critics rightly fear that regulations by
government agencies, including the Environmental Protection
Agency and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
will fall prey to Bush's loyalty to private business interests,
which have lavished the president and other Republicans with
generous contributions.
Bush's order opens a back door through which he can exert more
control over federal regulations. Federal agencies will have to
run their rule changes past a Bush political appointee and also
must provide details on why a problem - such as factories
releasing dangerous chemicals into the air - warrants government
intervention.
So the order doesn't streamline federal regulation. It actually
adds a layer of bureaucracy and review to the regulatory
process.
And it is precisely the kind of behind-the-scenes meddling that
Bush uses to manipulate the laws and government regulations to
his liking, regardless of what the facts show to be the most
responsible and scientific course of action.
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
23 Antiwar.com: Next on Bush's 'Hit List' -
by Gordon Prather
February 3, 2007
They won't admit it, but four years ago practically everyone in
Congress knew that President Bush intended to invade Iraq
irrespective of what Saddam had done, was doing, or intended to
do.
Senator Robert Byrd (D, WV) was one of the few who tried to stop
Bush In the Senate on February 12, 2003, Byrd had to say :
"This nation is about to embark upon the first test of a
revolutionary doctrine applied in an extraordinary way at an
unfortunate time.
"The doctrine of preemption – the idea that the United States or
any other nation can legitimately attack a nation that is not
imminently threatening but may be threatening in the future – is
a radical new twist on the traditional idea of self-defense.
"It appears to be in contravention of international law and the
UN Charter.
"And it is being tested at a time of worldwide terrorism, making
many countries around the globe wonder if they will soon be on
our – or some other nation's – hit list."
On September 14, 2001, Bush had issued a "," on the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon, and "the continuing and immediate
threat of further attacks on the United States."
The day before Bush had presented draft legislation to Congress
that given him
"[T]he authority to use all necessary and appropriate force a)
against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines
planned, authorized, committed or aided the attacks against the
United States that occurred on September 11, 2001; and b) to
deter and prevent any future acts of terrorism against the
United States."
But Congress refused to give Bush the blanket authority he
sought to use force "to deter and prevent" future acts of
terrorism. The use of force had to be 9/11 related.
Nevertheless, in his , Bush charged that Iraq, Iran and North
Korea
"[C]onstitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of
the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes
pose a grave and growing danger. They could provide these arms
to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. "I
will not wait on events, while dangers gather. I will not stand
by, as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of
America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to
threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
Now, the only true "weapons of mass destruction" are
uncontrolled chain-reaction nuclear-fission devices (aka nukes)
like the ones we dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
But, at the time Bush leveled his charge, Iraq, Iran and North
Korea were non-nuclear-weapon state (NNWS) signatories to the .
Hence, all their NPT-proscribed nuclear materials and activities
had long been subject to a Safeguards Agreement with the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The IAEA had accepted the
responsibility for assuring all other NPT signatories that no
NNWS had diverted safeguarded materials to a military purpose.
In particular, , an IAEA team was just completing its annual
Safeguards verification that none of Iraq’s remaining
NPT-proscribed materials – low-enriched, natural and depleted
uranium-oxides (yellowcake) – had been diverted to a military
purpose.
(All other NPT-proscribed materials had long ago been removed
from Iraq and all facilities capable of modifying the physical
or chemical states of NPT-proscribed materials had been
destroyed, under IAEA supervision, pursuant to UN Security
Council Gulf War resolutions.)
So, with respect to Iraq, what was Bush talking about?
Well, in late 2001, the Italian Military Intelligence and
Security Service had informed the CIA that the Iraqi ambassador
to the Vatican had reportedly attempted on a visit to Niger to
arrange the purchase of "yellowcake."
Vice President Cheney had immediately asked the CIA to
substantiate the report.
So, in February 2002, the CIA sent former Ambassador to Niger to
look into it. Wilson's oral report to CIA officials upon his
return resulted in the CIA characterization of the Italian
report as being "of questionable credibility."
That was also the conclusion of the State Department's
independent assessment of March 1, 2002, entitled " [.pdf]."
Nevertheless, that intelligence "of questionable credibility"
found its way into the , hurriedly constructed during the summer
of 2002 to provide a fig leaf for those Congresspersons inclined
to Bush's intended invasion of Iraq.
Bush even included that and other intelligence "of questionable
credibility" in his .
Now, four years ago, practically everyone in Congress knew that
President Bush intended to invade Iraq irrespective of what
Saddam had done, was doing, or intended to do.
Senator Robert Byrd was one of the few who tried to stop Bush.
Well, it’s four years later, and practically everyone in the
rest of the world – if not Congress – knows what country is next
on Bush’s hit list.
And while most Congresspersons busy themselves debating Bush’s
intended escalation of the war in Iraq, Senator Byrd has once
again [.pdf].
"In the State of the Union Address last night, the President
called out Iran no less than seven times.
"Was this speech the first step in an effort to blame all that
has gone wrong in the Middle East on Iran? Was the focus on Iran
during the President’s address an attempt to link Iran to the
war on terrorism, and by extension, start building a case that
our response to the 9/11 attacks must include dealing with Iran?
"I fear that the machinery may have already been set in motion
which may ultimately lead to a military attack inside Iran, or
perhaps Syria, despite the opposition of the American people,
many in Congress, and even some within his Administration.
"Today I am introducing a resolution that clearly states that it
is Congress, not the President, that is vested with the ultimate
decision on whether to take this country to war against another
country. This resolution is a rejection of the bankrupt,
dangerous, and unconstitutional doctrine of preemption, which
proposes that the President may strike another country before it
threatens us.
"If there exists a reckless determination for a new war in the
Middle East, I fear that the attorneys of the Executive Branch
are already seeking ways to tie this war to the use of force
resolution for Iraq, or the resolution passed in response to
9/11.
"But the American people need only be reminded about the
untruths of Iraq’s supposed ties to the 9/11 attacks so see how
far the truth can be stretched in order to achieve the desired
outcome.
"If the Executive Branch were to try to prod, stretch, or
rewrite the 9/11 or the Iraq use of force resolutions in an
outrageous attempt to apply them to an attack on Iran, Syria, or
anywhere else, this resolution is clear: the Constitution says
that Congress, not the President, must make the decision for war
or peace.
"The power to declare war resides in Congress, and it is we –
the elected representatives of the people – who are the
"deciders."
Physicist James Gordon Prather has served as a policy
implementing official for national security-related technical
matters in the Federal Energy Agency, the Energy Research and
Development Administration, the Department of Energy, the Office
of the Secretary of Defense and the Department of the Army. Dr.
Prather also served as legislative assistant for national
security affairs to U.S. Sen. Henry Bellmon, R-Okla. -- ranking
member of the Senate Budget Committee and member of the Senate
Energy Committee and Appropriations Committee. Dr. Prather had
earlier worked as a nuclear weapons physicist at Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory in California and Sandia National
Laboratory in New Mexico.
Copyright 2007 Antiwar.com
*****************************************************************
24 Los Angeles Times: Can Washington get smart about science? -
10:03 PM PST, February 4, 2007
How Congress can safeguard science from distortion, something
of which both parties are historically guilty. By Chris Mooney
and Alan Sokal, CHRIS MOONEY is the Washington correspondent for
Seed magazine and the author of "The Republican War on Science."
ALAN SOKAL is a professor of physics at New York University and
the coauthor of "Fashi
February 4, 2007
By beginning to investigate the Bush administration's
interference with scientists' work on global warming, the
Democratic Congress has embarked on a key task: restoring respect
for science and more generally, for evidence and reason in
the federal government.
That we need such reform, and from Democrats, is a historic
irony, because it's the Republicans who have often tried to paint
themselves as defenders of "sound science" against ideologically
motivated attacks.
In the 1990s, conservatives such as Dinesh D'Souza, Gertrude
Himmelfarb and Roger Kimball wrote best-selling jeremiads
attacking postmodernist academics who, they insisted, were taking
over American universities and subverting the standards of
scholarship. Although much exaggerated, this contained a grain of
truth. Some self-described leftist academics did seem determined
to reduce the real world to mere "discourse." No worldview, they
insisted, could be considered objectively more valid or factual
than any other. Even the findings of science were described as
reflecting societal conditions and struggles for power and
dominance rather than something true about the nature of the
world.
One of us Sokal was sufficiently disturbed by these trends
to try an unorthodox experiment: write a parody of postmodern
science criticism to see whether a trendy academic journal would
accept it as a serious scholarly article. Asserting up front that
"physical 'reality' [note the scare quotes] … is at bottom a
social and linguistic construct," Sokal averred that the latest
conceptions of quantum gravity support deconstructive literary
theory, Lacanian psychoanalysis, "postmodernist epistemology"
and, of course, progressive politics. The cultural-studies
journal Social Text ate it up.
After Sokal revealed his hoax in the magazine Lingua Franca, a
debate exploded about the nature of science and rationality,
popularly known as the "science wars." It pitted scientists and
their staunch defenders within and outside of the academic
community spanning the political spectrum from left to right
against a band of intellectuals from the humanities, virtually
all of them situated on the left.
Sokal took on his postmodernist colleagues because he feared that
the rejection of a rigorous, evidence-based standard for
assessing claims of purported fact would disarm us not only in
the face of quack medical remedies or alleged paranormal
occurrences, but also when confronted by distortions of
scientific information having major public-policy implications. A
classic example is the tobacco industry's well-documented
campaign to sow doubts about the health risks of smoking. Another
is the interminable push by religious fundamentalists to
undermine the teaching of evolution in American schools.
As these cases suggest, attacks on science by ideologues and
special interests have a long history in this country. A stance
of postmodernist relativism or, on the part of the media, of
giving "equal time" to unequally substantiated viewpoints
weakens us in the face of such strategic campaigns to undercut
well-established knowledge.
But the abuse of science has lately materialized in an even more
disturbing form, this time within the corridors of our own
government. Driven by the Bush administration and its
congressional allies, the new American "science wars" have
reached an alarming stage.
HOW AND WHY did the science wars move out of academia and
reemerge in Washington, with political poles reversed? During the
Clinton years, many of the worst science abusers such as
anti-evolution fundamentalists remained politically out in the
cold, at least at the federal level. That began to change in
1994, as the Gingrich Republicans, highly sympathetic to the
party's emerging socially conservative "base" and to the
interests of private industry, laid claim to Congress.
They proceeded to attack evidence demonstrating a human role in
climate change, all as well as in the depletion of the ozone
layer as part of a sweeping attempt to undermine environmental
regulation. Simultaneously, they dismantled Congress'
world-renowned scientific advisory body, the Office of Technology
Assessment, which had provided our elected representatives with
reliable scientific counsel for more than two decades.
Meanwhile, the focus on the academic left's undermining of
science following the Sokal hoax was generating worthwhile
debates and even real soul-searching. For instance, the prominent
French sociologist of science, Bruno Latour, has wondered whether
his earlier work questioning the objectivity of scientific
knowledge went too far: "Was I wrong to participate in the
invention of this field known as science studies? Is it enough to
say that we did not really mean what we meant?"
In truth, there was nothing wrong with inventing science studies;
the error was to leap from the valid observation that science
arises in a social context to the extreme conclusion that it is
nothing more than politics in disguise.
Such introspection on the academic left has been a heartening
sign, and the pronouncements of extreme relativism have subsided
significantly in recent years. This frees up defenders of science
to combat the enemy on our other flank: an unholy (and uneasy)
alliance of economically driven attacks on science (on issues
such as global climate change, mercury pollution and what
constitutes a good diet) and theologically impelled ones (in
areas such as evolution, reproductive health and embryonic stem
cell research).
The potency of this combination has become apparent during the
six years of the Bush administration, as many if not most
scientific agencies of our government have become embroiled in
scandals involving the misrepresentation or suppression of
scientific information, gag orders on scientist employees, or
other interferences with the processes by which science feeds
into decision-making. Tracing these intrusions back to their
source, we almost always uncover the same pattern: It concerns an
issue in which one of the two principal constituencies of the
current administration religious conservatives or big
corporations has a vested interest.
Perhaps they wish to disrupt the path of Plan B emergency
contraception (the "morning-after" pill) through the Food and
Drug Administration on its way to over-the-counter availability.
Or perhaps they don't like the way global warming has been
discussed in government documents.
That's at the core of a case recently investigated by the new
Congress: A lawyer who had formerly worked for the American
Petroleum Institute and had moved to the Bush White House's
Council on Environmental Quality was accused in 2005 of editing
government climate science reports in such a way as to raise
doubts about global warming and downplay the strong consensus of
mainstream scientists. Following the initial scandal, the lawyer
went to work for Exxon Mobil Corp.
In these and countless other cases, members of the Bush
administration appear to have efficiently channeled their
constituents' grudges, leading to a distortion of the scientific
evidence and a steady stream of scandals.
TO ADDRESS this new crisis over the relationship between science
and politics, we propose a combination of political activism and
institutional reform. Congress needs to establish safeguards to
protect the integrity of scientific information in Washington
strong whistle-blower protections for scientists who work in
government agencies would be a good start.
We also need a strengthening of the government scientific
advisory apparatus, starting with the revival of the Office of
Technology Assessment. And we need congressional committees to
continue with their investigations of cases of science abuse
within the Bush administration, in order to learn what other
reforms are necessary.
At the same time, journalists and citizens must renounce a lazy
"on the one hand, on the other hand" approach and start analyzing
critically the quality of the evidence. For, in the end, all of
us conservative or liberal, believer or atheist must share
the same real world. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria do not spare
deniers of evolution, and global climate change will not spare
any of us. As physicist Richard Feynman wrote in connection with
the space shuttle Challenger disaster, "nature cannot be fooled."
To avoid nature's punishment, we must take steps now to restore
reality-based government.
Copyright 2007 Los Angeles Times
*****************************************************************
25 Malta Independent: US to enlarge Sigonella nuclear base -
Noel Grima
Along with the recent controversial enlargement of the Dal Molin
airbase in Vicenza in northeast Italy, the Americans will be
enlarging the nuclear base they have in Sigonella in southern
Sicily from where operations can be mounted to the Middle East
and the Horn of Africa.
Italian newspapers have reported new residences being planned
for near Lentini, 660,000 cubic metres in all.
In a heavily sarcastic comment, former Italian President
Francesco Cossiga said there must be a very serious reason for
the enlargement of the US base: that Malta will tear up the
treaty in which Italy guarantees Malta’s neutrality, and attempt
a mass invasion of Sicily.
Senator Cossiga declared that he has always known of the
presence of nuclear warheads in Sigonella. However, he added
that he would vote in favour of the Sigonella base enlargement.
The base lies across the territories of the communes of Lentini
(Syracuse) and Motta Sant’Atanasia (Catania) and is divided into
Naval Air Station 1 and 2. The first includes the administrative
and security offices, officers’ lodgings, some services,
recreational and sports facilities, school facilities for the
children of US personnel, and a commercial centre with shops,
restaurants and fast food outlets.
The second lies some 10km away and includes two military zones
used by the US and Nato, more residential, commercial and
sporting units, an air terminal, two runways each 2,500 metres
long, and two parking areas used by the around 80 transport
planes, bombers, reconnaissance planes and military helicopters.
There are also munitions warehouses, and radar and interception
systems.
Independent Online © Standard Publications Ltd 2004
Registered in Malta
Registered office: Standard House, Birkirkara Hill St. Julian's
STJ09
*****************************************************************
26 OpEd News: Have we forgotten the lesson of Hiroshima?
February 3, 2007 at 08:32:31
When the A-bombs exploded over Japan in August 1945, the world
changed. Humans, the dominant species of planet Earth, have
gained the ability to annihilate life, to destroy the creation
which has evolved slowly over hundreds of millions of years.
Aware people in every nation realized that war has become
obsolete.
The UN was founded that year. The preamble begins: "WE THE
PEOPLES OF THE UNITED NATIONS DETERMINED to save succeeding
generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime
has brought untold sorrow to mankind..."
Across the street from the UN a wall was erected, inscribed with
the words of a Hebrew prophet who lived 2600 years earlier:
Isaiah 2:4 "And they will beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore."
In 1947, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, put out by
people who understood better than anyone else the implications
of these new weapons, started the Doomsday Clock. This famous
clock shows how close we are to nuclear annihilation. It was set
at 7 minutes to midnight then, got as close as 2 minutes when
the H-bombs were developed in 1953, was back to 17 minutes to
midnight in 1991, and has steadily moved forward since, as the
US has grown increasingly belligerent.
Two weeks ago, it was moved again, in response to the threats of
nuclear war over Iran. It now reads 5 minutes to midnight- the
end of human civilization, perhaps of higher life forms.
Since 1945, the international community has struggled to make
treaties that prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons.
Although imperfect, and sometimes ignored, these treaties have,
in fact, served to limit their spread and prevent their use. Key
treaties are the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (1968), the
Antiballistic Missile Treaty (1972- Bush withdrew the US from
this one, which capped the arms race, shortly after 9-11), and
the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (1996- the US has signed this
one, not ratified it, but does observe it).
It's an amazing fact that no thermonuclear devices have been
used in war since 1945, a form of self-discipline unheard of in
human history. Of course, "depleted uranium" weaponry is also
terrible, in disseminating radioactive, mutation and
cancer-causing material over wide areas, but some self-
restraint has developed. There are also rumors, unconfirmed,
that mininukes were used in Lebanon last year. Bush keeps
pushing for new and more horrible weapons.
The lesson of Hiroshima was simple- it's time for humanity to
grow up, learn self-control and cooperation, work for peace and
survival. With the added threat of global warming and climate
change, the need for spiritual growth has become more urgent
than ever.
Now Bush is threatening to start a nuclear war over Iran, and
the pundits are predicting it will happen sometime this year.
Have we forgotten the lesson of Hiroshima?
In reaction to the despair about the future engendered by the
horrors of contemplating nuclear extinction, people develop
psychological defenses. The key defense is psychic numbing, a
shutting down of awareness in many areas. People concentrate on
individual goals, or at best goals for the nuclear family, and
ignore the big picture. We used to work for future generations,
for leaving a good legacy to our children and grandchildren. Now
the goals tend to be short-term. Why worry about the future when
there may not be a future?
I have written elsewhere about the role that the rapture cult
has played in conditioning us to passively accept nuclear
annihilation as our fate. (Nuclear Terror and Psychic Numbing
www.counterpunch.org/wolman12082003.html)
The Bible has been hijacked, along with the US government, by a
pseudo-christian cabal that seeks to empower and enrich itself
at the expense of everyone else. With the coming of George W.
Bush, these satanic forces became firmly entrenched, and are
driving us to mass suicide.
In fact, the Bible tells us to choose life (Deut. 39:19), and
says that the Prince of Peace will return and overthrow
antichrist, using the weapons of truth and "the iron rod with
which to rule the nations" (Rev 19: 15) - which I believe is the
threat of nuclear annihilation.
The blatant aggression of Bush has stimulated an awakening on
the part of the American people. Let's turn our attention to the
overriding threat of nuclear war. We were given a powerful
lesson in August 1945. We don't need to repeat it.
We need to get rid of the warmongers in power, by impeaching
Bush and Cheney. We the people need to assert our sovereignty,
given us by the Founding Fathers in the Constitution. We have
little time, with nuclear war over Iran looming. If Congress
won't do impeach Bush and Cheney, we need to impeach them too!
Remember Hiroshima! Impeach now, before it's too late!
In the name of the Prince of Peace, Carol Wolman
http://voteCarolWolmanforCongress.com
Carol S. Wolman, MD is a psychiatrist in Northern California. A
lifelong peace activist, she has written extensively on the
psychology of our times. She is actively working to impeach Bush
and Cheney, and suggests you join or form a local group at
http://impeachbush.meetup.com/ She is running for Congress as a
nonpartisan write-in candidate in CA district 1, and is a
coordinator of The Longhouse Coalition.
Copyright © OpEdNews, 2002-2007
*****************************************************************
27 Guardian Unlimited: Report: Russian Calls U.S. 'Difficult'
From the Associated Press
[UP]
Sunday February 4, 2007 11:01 PM
AP Photo DCMC113
By STEVE GUTTERMAN
Associated Press Writer
MOSCOW (AP) - Russia's foreign minister said the United States
was perhaps Moscow's ``most difficult'' partner and urged
Washington to learn from its mistakes on the world stage,
according to a news report on Sunday.
Sergey Lavrov also blamed Washington for impasses in the Middle
East, suggesting the U.S. approach there was too
confrontational, Interfax news agency reported.
``Like any other country, we are interested in having good,
smooth, clear relations with the United States'' but it is ``not
easy,'' Interfax quoted Lavrov as saying in an interview on
state-run television.
While Moscow and Washington have been able to ``achieve mutually
acceptable results'' on many issues, the United States ``is not
an easy partner at all - probably the most difficult partner,''
he said.
The remarks reflected the troubled ties between the former Cold
War foes, despite avowals of common aims on matters such as
terrorism and weapons proliferation. Relations have been
strained by disagreements over an array of international issues
as well as Russia's record on democracy under President Vladimir
Putin.
Russia sharply criticized the U.S. invasion of Iraq and has
sought to counter what it has suggested are Washington's
uncompromising positions on the nuclear programs of Iran and
North Korea.
Lavrov repeated criticism he made in Washington last week, when
he rebuked the Bush administration for its resistance to
diplomacy with certain Middle East governments. He suggested the
U.S. was being shortsighted by not engaging countries that could
help resolve problems in Iraq, Lebanon and the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
``The Middle East settlement has been suspended because, despite
our position and the position of the European Union, Washington
has conducted policy based on the principle, 'He who is not with
us is against us,''' Lavrov said.
He said the United States was isolating Iran, Syria, Hamas and
Hezbollah even though they were ``key actors in solving the
Middle East puzzle.''
Lavrov said Moscow has been frank with Washington when it
questions U.S. foreign policy, and that the United States should
learn from its experiences.
``Too much potential for crisis has built up in addition to Iraq
and Afghanistan,'' he said.
The foreign minister also said relations were far less positive
at lower levels than between Putin and President Bush.
``In spite of the mutual respect of the presidents and their
readiness to accept the sovereign decisions of the other side,
the situation looks entirely different at other levels of the
executive branch,'' he said.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian News and Media Limited 2007
*****************************************************************
28 Sydney Morning Herald: Crack in nuclear option -
www.smh.com.au
Kerry-Anne Walsh Political Correspondent
February 4, 2007
NUCLEAR power plants in Australia could suck up 80 per cent more
water than conventional power stations, research for MPs
conducted by the federal Parliamentary Library has found.
The findings have prompted Labor to demand that Prime Minister
John Howard rule out his nuclear ambitions for Australia as a
motive for trying to wrest control of the nation's water supply
system from the states.
"Australia has a water crisis and it's obscene for John Howard
to say he favours nuclear power when it guzzles up to 80 per
cent more water than other power," Labor spokesman on water
Anthony Albanese said.
"Given that nuclear power stations must be sited near
significant water supplies, the Prime Minister must give an
assurance that his plan to control Australia's water supplies
does not include a plan to divert water for his planned 25
nuclear reactors."
Mr Howard has backed a report by former Telstra chief Ziggy
Switkowski that Australia could have 25 nuclear reactors running
by 2050.
And, as he grapples to respond to rising voter concern about
Australia's drastic water shortage, the Prime Minister is
arm-wrestling three key states into ceding control of the
Murray-Darling Basin to the Commonwealth as part of a $10
billion emergency water rescue package.
But as communities contemplate drinking recycled sewage with
national water supplies drying up, the Parliamentary Library's
study presents a political stumbling block in Mr Howard's plans
to sell the nuclear energy option to the community.
The research paper found nuclear power plants needed more
cooling water than fossil-fired power stations.
It cited research by the US Electric Power Research Institute,
which compared the water needs and consumption rates of existing
American power stations.
The US body found nuclear power stations used and consumed
significantly more water per megawatt hour than electricity
generation powered by fossil fuels.
Depending on the type of system used, the extra water usage
ranged from 25 per cent to 83 per cent more for nuclear than
other power stations.
Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
29 Sydney Morning Herald: Consider nuclear, PM challenges Rudd -
www.smh.com.au
February 4, 2007 - 4:56PM
Prime Minister John Howard says Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd
should consider nuclear energy if he is serious about tackling
climate change.
Mr Rudd today announced he would convene a climate change
conference involving the nation's best business and science
brains.
His move follows the release on Friday of the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, which
stated it was 90 per cent certain that human activity was
responsible for global warming and predicted serious
consequences for the planet from rising temperatures.
"Climate change is an environmental challenge. It is an economic
challenge. And, it directly affects Australia's long-term
sustainable prosperity," Mr Rudd told reporters.
"It is in the national interest that we work together to develop
the best national response to the climate change challenge.
"In recent times, others have called for a national summit on
climate change, although the government has rejected these
calls.
"For this reason, I have decided to convene a National Climate
Change Summit, bringing together some of the nation's best
business and science brains."
But the prime minister's office said another talkfest was not
needed.
"The Australian public does not want more summits and speeches
on climate change, it wants practical actions to tackle the
problem," a spokesman for Mr Howard told AAP.
"The proposal is not designed to provide solutions to the
problem of climate change, but rather to generate political
propaganda for the Labor Party and, of course, the government
will not be attending."
He said Mr Rudd could not be serious about the subject if he did
not consider all scenarios, including nuclear power.
"If the opposition leader was serious about climate change, he
would support an examination of all the options to tackle the
problem, including nuclear power," Mr Howard's spokesman said.
"He would also support the government's examination, in
conjunction with the business community, of a workable emissions
trading scheme."
Mr Rudd said he would welcome any of the range of views on how
to tackle climate change but would not change his party's
opposition to nuclear generated electricity.
"My approach to this is we have nothing to fear whatsoever from
an evidence-based approach to people's submissions to a climate
change summit," he said.
"People from that side of the argument are welcome to attend.
"(But), on the question of nuclear reactors in this country, no.
Absolutely not.
"Our position in relation to nuclear reactors is clear-cut and
unchangeable."
Mr Rudd said the summit would be held for one or, possibly, two
days, in late March or early April. Prominent businessman and
chairman of Labor's council of business advisers, Sir Rod
Eddington, would help coordinate business participation.
Australian Conservation Foundation chairman and science
professor Ian Lowe also would help coordinate a cross-section of
representation from the scientific community specialising in
climate change.
"The summit will begin to shape a national consensus on the best
way forward for Australia over the next decade," Mr Rudd said.
"Invitations will be extended to the prime minister and his
ministers, premiers, chief ministers and their opposition
counterparts, representatives of local government and senior
government officials."
AAP
Copyright © 2007. The Sydney Morning Herald.
*****************************************************************
30 AP Wire: Nuclear plant cited over dozing shift manager
02/03/2007
Associated Press
MIDDLETOWN, Pa. - The operator of Three Mile Island has been
cited over an incident in which a shift manager apparently fell
asleep on the job.
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said the employee had
asked for a schedule change because of personal issues, but the
request was denied. Regulators said the company should have
approved the request.
The agency cited AmerGen Energy, which operates the central
Pennsylvania nuclear plant, with two low- to moderate-level
violations.
One citation involved the shift manager having apparently fallen
asleep during an overnight shift in the control room for one of
the plant's reactors. The second citation involves the failure to
replace him during the December 2005 shift or report it until the
end of the shift.
AmerGen blamed the incident on the employee's failure to come to
work well-rested.
TMI reported four other incidents of inattentiveness in 2004 and
2005.
AmerGen is a subsidiary of Exelon Nuclear, which owns TMI, Peach
Bottom, Limerick and seven other nuclear plants.
The Patriot-News
*****************************************************************
31 ENS: Global Warming Shock Wave Awakens World Leaders
Environment News Service (ENS)
WASHINGTON, DC, February 2, 2007 (ENS) - This morning in Paris,
hundreds of scientists from around the world released a report
showing that global warming is accelerating, that human activity
is responsible for this warming, and that it is likely
irreversible for centuries, even if greenhouse gas emissions are
stabilized.
The report, entitled "The Physical Science Basis: a Summary for
Policymakers," was adopted in a line-by line review by the
governments of 113 countries, including the United States,
The new report says that warming during the last 100 years was
0.74 °C (1.3 °F), with most of the warming occurring during the
past 50 years. The warming for the next 20 years is projected to
be 0.2°C (0.3°F) per decade.
[flood] Flooded homes in a subdivision in Louisiana's St.
Bernard Parish following Hurricane Katrina. September 19, 2005.
(Photo by Andrea Booher courtesy FEMA) Mid-range scenarios
predict severe droughts and floods, more intense hurricanes and
cyclones, pressure on fresh water and food supplies, increased
spread of diseases, and rising sea levels that could displace
hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
Reaction to the first report in six years from the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, has ranged
across the spectrum.
Dr. Sharon Hays, leader of the U.S. delegation at the Paris
meeting and chief science official in the White House Office of
Science and Technology Policy, said the IPCC report "reflects
the sizeable and robust body of knowledge regarding the physical
science of climate change, including the finding that the Earth
is warming and that human activities have very likely caused
most of the warming of the last 50 years."
U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman said the United States
embraces the findings of the IPCC report. "We agree with it, and
the science behind it is something that our country has played a
very important role in," he told journalists today in
Washington.
The Bush administration continues to rely on technology to
counter global warming rather than the limits on emissions
adopted by other industrialized nations under the Kyoto
Protocol. Bodman said the United States has invested nearly $29
billion since 2001 in climate-related science and technology
programs.
"We estimate that the U.S. has invested more in climate change
science than the rest of the world combined," Bodman said.
[drought] Abandoned agricultural field in the drought-stricken
Fremont Valley, California. (Photo courtesy USGS) In Congress,
Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee Jeff Bingaman, a New
Mexico Democrat said, "This U.N. report is only the latest in a
series of signals that increase the urgency of our efforts to
deal with global warming," Bingaman said. "Today I am again
urging the President to show leadership and work with Congress
to implement a mandatory, market-based cap and trade program to
address this challenge."
Bingaman said he and Senator Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania
Republican, are developing bipartisan consensus on legislation
that Congress can pass this year. "The consequences so clearly
spelled out in this report, and many others, compel us to act
now," he said.
Environmental groups generally welcomed the IPCC's information
in hopes that it may prompt swift action to limit global
warming.
"This new IPCC report makes it clear that global warming is here
now, and we must take swift and effective action to stave off
the most severe consequences," said Dr. Dan Lashof, science
director at NRDC’s Climate Center. "At this point, some warming
is unavoidable, but there is a world of difference between one
degree and seven degrees."
"The good news is that the political climate in Washington is
changing as well," Lashof said. "Congress needs to enact
comprehensive emission limits that will steadily reduce global
warming pollution. We have an opportunity to fix this problem,
but only if we act before it’s too late."
On Tuesday, 44 Greenpeace activists scaled the Eiffel Tower in
Paris to hang banners proclaiming, "It's Not Too Late."
[banner] Greenpeace activists hung banners proclaiming hope from
the Eiffel Tower. (Photo courtesy Greenpeace) "The more we know,
the worse it is," said Greenpeace climate campaigner Stephanie
Tunmoore. "We're in Paris to urge the governments of the world
to act, while there's still time. To date, the world's
governments have done far too little to face up to the reality
of climate change and to coambat it."
Conservative U.S. think tanks brought out an arsenal of
arguments to counter the IPCC findings. The Center for Science
and Public Policy produced a report claiming that greenhouse gas
emissions are rising faster in European countries which are
bound by the Kyoto Protocol than in the United States, which has
rejected the international treaty under the Bush administration.
National Center for Policy Analysis Senior Fellow H. Sterling
Burnett said the new IPCC "shows less expected warming and lower
estimated sea level rise than previous reports."
"We can expect this news to be lost among dramatic claims of
impending disaster by politicians and environmental lobbyists
alike," said the conservative, whose main point is that the
United States must not join the Kyoto Protocol.
"You'd never know it from watching the news, but every time the
IPCC releases a new report, future warming is reduced and the
impacts are less severe and more distant," Burnett said.
[Bangladesh] The low-lying country of Bangladesh is subject to
monsoon flooding that may become worse as the planet warms.
(Photo courtesy WFP) But at the Center for Global Development in
Washington, which works to reduce global poverty and inequality,
senior fellow David Wheeler warned that a recent World Bank
study of sea level rise to which he contributed, found that
"even a one meter rise will force 60 million people to
relocate."
"We confront a stark reality here," Wheeler said. "Millions of
poor people will be displaced by sea-level rise that has been
caused by the affluent West. When this happens, current
international turbulence may seem placid by comparison."
Corporate Reaction
The DuPont corporation, one of the 10 companies in the newly
formed U.S. Climate Action Partnership, called again today on
the federal government to enact climate change legislation to
create a national cap on carbon dioxide emissions and a market
in carbon credits.
DuPont Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Linda
Fisher said, "Climate change is a serious global issue that must
be addressed through concerted global action. We believe that
the science on climate change is sufficiently strong and the
risks serious enough to merit a timely action."
"We believe that voluntary measures, while constructive, are not
sufficient to address an issue of this magnitude by themselves,"
Fisher said. "The challenge is global and requires broad and
coordinated action across all sectors of the economy."
Dupont sees economic opportunity in the need to combat climate
change. The company manufactures materials for photovoltaic
solar panels and fuel cells and a new breathable roofing
membrane that creates an energy saving seal around a home.
The world's largest and most profitable petroleum giant,
ExxonMobil, acknowledged today, "Many global ecosystems,
especially the polar areas, are showing signs of warming. CO2
[carbon dioxide] emissions have increased during this same time
period - and emissions from fossil fuels and land use changes
are one source of these emissions."
ExxonMobil said, "Because the risks to society and ecosystems
could prove to be significant, it is prudent now to develop and
implement strategies that address the risks, keeping in mind the
central importance of energy to the economies of the world."
The company said it is working to curb global warming through
"partnerships with auto and engine makers on programs that could
significantly reduce vehicle emissions, conducting internal
research on potential for hydrogen-fuelled vehicles, investing
in energy efficiency in our facilities, and working with
organizations such as the European Union and Stanford University
on groundbreaking research to reduce greenhouse gas emissions."
International Reaction
Newly appointed UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said today that
climate change will be one of his "top priorities" over the next
five years of his term.
"The report highlights the scientific consensus regarding the
quickening and threatening pace of human-induced climate
change," said Ban. "The global response therefore needs to move
much more rapidly as well, and with more determination."
"Protecting the global environment is largely beyond the
capacity of individual countries," Ban said in a video message
to the Conference for Global Ecological Governance in Paris.
"The natural arena for such action is the United Nations."
[drought] Drought struck Kenya in April 2006, affecting 3.5
million people, including these children at the Wajir District
Hospital. (Photo by Peter Smerdon courtesy WFP) Ban said the
world is witnessing an "assault on the global environment" that
risks undermining the many advances human society has made in
recent decades. "It is undercutting our fight against poverty.
It could even come to jeopardize international peace and
security," he said.
Last month, Ban called for a special summit of heads of state to
address global warming.
"We need clear objectives and strong ecological governance at
the global level, a concept that continues to elude us," UN
General Assembly President Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa told
conference delegates.
She asserted that the General Assembly is the best forum for the
international community to work to combat climate change.
European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas called for "an
urgent start to international negotiations on a comprehensive
new global climate change agreement."
"I am deeply concerned at the accelerating pace and the
increasing extent of climate change," Commissioner Dimas said.
"To stabilize global emissions of greenhouse gases," he said,
"the next step must be for developed countries to cut their
emissions to 30 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, as the
Commission proposed last month."
"We are on the historic threshhold of the irreversible," warned
French President Jacques Chirac, who convened a meeting today to
plan for a new international body to protect the global climate.
"In the face of this urgency, it is no longer the time for
half-measures. It is time for a revolution," Chirac said as he
opened the conference.
"While climate changes run like a rabbit, world-wide politics
move like a snail: either we accelerate or we risk a disaster,"
said Italy's environment minister, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.
The Italian minister called for urgent action to impose a global
tax on carbon emissions and create a United Nations organization
to deal with climate change.
Canadian Environment Minister John Baird said today that the
government accepts the IPCC's findings, and he called on
Canadians "to get ready for some tough decisions on reducing
greenhouse gas emissions."
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia's new minister of environment and
water resources, said the science in the IPCC report "is
important, but it's not new."
[fire] A bushfire races through forested land on the Australian
island state of Tasmania. 2004. (Photo courtesy Emergency
Management Australia) “We know our Australian climate is
volatile – we have always been the land of droughts and flooding
rains. But while it isn’t possible to say that any particular
drought, or flood, is caused by global warming, the overall
warming trend means that we must assume that, at least in
Southern Australia, we will be living in drier and hotter
times," said Turnbull.
South Africa's Environmental Affairs Minister Arthinus van
Schalkwyk said failure to act would be "indefensible."
In particular, van Schalkwyk said in a statement, "the new IPCC
report is a wake-up call to the world’s largest emitter, the
United States.
"We applaud the unilateral climate actions taken by the State of
California and others and strongly encourage the federal
government of the USA to hear the growing groundswell of opinion
in that country, and act on their moral obligation to join the
global effort under the Kyoto Protocol and future negotiations
to combat climate change," he said.
[islands] Some of Indonesia's thousands of low-lying islands
(Photo courtesy Greenpeace) Indonesian Environment Minister
Rachmat Witoelar says that his country could lose about 2,000
islands by 2030 due to climate change.
"It is very, very serious," Witoelar told reporters Monday at a
press conference attended by Yvo de Boer, executive secretary of
the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
Witoelar said the science presented by the IPCC shows that sea
levels are expected to rise about 89 centimeters, or 35 inches,
by 2030, which means that about 2,000 mostly uninhabited islands
would be inundated.
Today, de Boer called for "speedy and decisive international
action" to combat global warming.
"The findings, which governments have agreed upon, leave no
doubt as to the dangers mankind is facing and must be acted upon
without delay," said de Boer. "Any notion that we do not know
enough to move decisively against climate change has been
clearly dispelled."
To view the IPCC report, click here.
To read the Environment News Service article on the IPCC's
findings, "Evidence of Human-Caused Global Warming Unequivocal,"
click here.
Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2006. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
32 IRNA: Indian president stresses on thorium based nuclear reactors -
Feb 3, IRNA
-
Indian President A P J Abdul Kalam has emphasized the
development of thorium based nuclear reactors for
self-dependence in energy sector.
He said the country should also work for development of
Hydrogen Energy which is totally pollution free.
Delivering the 77th Convocation of Osmania University in
Hyderabad, the president called for research to evolve a drought
resistant Jatropha variety besides improving the Productivity of
Jatropha seed, an All India Radio (AIR) report said here.
He asked the scientists of Osmania University to collaborate
with the Combustion Experts to produce engines that can run with
100 percent Bio Diesel or Ethanol produced from Jatropha or
sugarcane.
Dr. Kalam asked the Universities and Educational systems to
take steps for creating global cadres of skilled youth with
special skills and Higher Education both to power the
manufacturing and services sector of the country.
Later the president visited Kurnool Medical College where he
called upon the medical students to render service in the
Primary Health centers to extend medical aid to the Rural Poor
and suggested that the compulsory service should be made part of
the medical curriculum.
*****************************************************************
33 POAC: Big step forward for Lacey N-plant
During an evening meeting at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
Maryland headquarters, the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards, or ACRS, worked on a draft letter that recommends the
Lacey Township nuclear facility be allowed to continue operation
beyond April 2009. " />
[The Press of Atlantic City On The Web]
By DAVID BENSON Published: Saturday, February 3, 2007
ROCKVILLE, Md. — The Oyster Creek Generating Station gained the
conditional approval of a federal committee Friday, clearing a
large hurdle toward a 20-year extension of its operating license.
During an evening meeting at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's
Maryland headquarters, the Advisory Committee on Reactor
Safeguards, or ACRS, worked on a draft letter that recommends the
Lacey Township nuclear facility be allowed to continue operation
beyond April 2009.
While that letter will be tweaked for language and grammar over
the next few days, the official recommendation is expected to be
sent next week to the five commissioners of the NRC who could
grant the renewal as early as May.
But that approval comes with conditions — some required by
the staff scientists of the NRC, and others volunteered by
AmerGen, the operator of the nation's oldest operating nuclear
plant.
Conditions for the license renewal by NRC staff:
n Ultrasonic testing in sandbed region of all 10 bays every
four years;
n Identify and eliminate water leaks inside reactor cavity.
AmerGen also commits to:
n 3D modeling of drywell shell before April 2009;
n Applying epoxy coating to reactor cavity every refueling
(about two years);
n A visual inspection of epoxy coating in sandbed region every
refueling;
n A visual inspection of drywell shell every refueling.
One ongoing area of concern for the Oyster Creek facility, as
well as environmentalists and the staff scientists of the NRC,
has been the corrosion of the drywell shell that surrounds the
reactor and is designed to contain radioactivity in the event of
an accident.
At a meeting of an ACRS subcommittee last month, two reports
were presented that attempted to gauge the thickness of the
shell.
One is from GE, the designer of the reactor. The second study
is from Sandia National Laboratories. The two studies used
different methods of analysis and reported different thicknesses
for the drywell shell.
The minimum thickness of that shell is governed by the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers code. Although each report
seemed to show that the drywell shell was in compliance with the
code, that the numbers differed was enough for the subcommittee
to question which was correct.
This week, AmerGen brought Clarence Miller to the full
committee meeting to explain why both studies were accurate, and
that the Sandia study confirmed the study done by GE. Miller is
the author of the code in question.
That was the turning point for AmerGen in the ACRS meeting.
Although Miller spoke in mathematical equations for nearly 15
minutes, it was a comfortable language for the ACRS members:
None is a member of the NRC, but all are pulled primarily from
academia or the nuclear industry.
By the end of Friday night's meeting, several of the ACRS
members said they expected the 3D modeling committed to by
AmerGen to show even greater margins of safety in the drywell
shell.
To e-mail David Benson at The Press:
*****************************************************************
34 Rutland Herald: Don't fall for nuclear fiction
Rutland Vermont News & Information
February 4, 2007
The Vermont Legislature is discussing global warming. One of the
many speakers was Patrick Moore who has argued that "it is
incorrect to call (nuclear waste) waste."
Nuclear waste reprocessing is not a new idea. In fact, more than
$40 billion has been spent globally on reprocessing technologies
that have never become commercially successful. A 1996 report by
the National Academy of Sciences concluded that the costs of
reprocessing and transmutation of irradiated fuel from waste
produced by existing U.S. reactors alone "easily could be more
than $100 billion," in the addition to the cost of a geologic
repository. The Department of Energy has not presented any
estimate for the life cycle cost of the Global Nuclear Energy
Partnership program, which also proposes reprocessing waste from
new reactors and foreign waste.
Reprocessing will not solve our country's nuclear waste problem,
because it will make more waste streams that must be managed and
cannot eliminate the need for a geologic repository. The United
States has not cleaned up the mess from past reprocessing. The
only private commercial reprocessing facility in the United
States, West Valley in New York, resulted in radioactive waste
that is still threatening the Great Lakes watershed more than 30
years later and will cost $5.2 billion to clean up.
U.S. taxpayers are also on the hook for more than $100 billion
to clean up the reprocessing waste at the U.S. sites. Finally
krypton 85 and zenon are emissions from them that affect the
hydrological cycle. Talk about dangerous emissions.
Robert Lincoln
Rutland
© 2007 Rutland Herald
*****************************************************************
35 Alamogordo Daily News: A new energy future for a new Congress
By Dr. Robert Bernstein and Lauren N. Ketcham
Article Launched: 02/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
As Washington rings in 2007 and the 110th Congress begins,
change is in the air. Voters have made it clear that they want
new ideas from Washington.
The last Congress voted for billions of dollars in tax breaks
for oil companies, which were taking in record profits. This
year's Congress must look to the future and chart a new path for
energy in America.
We now have an historic opportunity and obligation to develop
our renewable energy resources, advance energy efficiency and
promote innovation. At the same time, we will be eliminating our
dependence on fossil fuels, which are the main factor causing
global warming, and reducing pollution that contributes to major
health problems.
Because of a lack of innovative leadership our country remains
powered by 19th century energy technologies coal and oil. In
2005, the Environmental Protection Agency found that America
could realize more than $130 billion in health benefits by 2010
simply by reducing air pollution from fossil fuel power plants.
It is both alarming and unfair that pollution from these
outdated and dirty technologies contributes to the deaths of
30,000 Americans each year and puts millions of children at risk
of learning problems and birth defects.
We believe that America can do better, and, by pursuing the
following goals, Congress can create a new energy future for our
nation:
* Reduce U.S. dependence on oil. By building cars that go
farther on a gallon of gas, giving Americans better
transportation choices and using clean, renewable fuels, we can
slash our use of oil.
The National Academy of Sciences reports that automakers have
the technology to double the efficiency of our nation's
vehicles. Yet, the fuel efficiency of American vehicles has not
improved since the 1980s. This Congress should increase the
average fuel efficiency of vehicles to at least 40 mpg.
* Replace polluting energy with renewable sources. With a vast
supply of energy resources like wind, solar and geothermal
power, the United States can and must expand its use of clean,
renewable energy sources.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates that the
United States could develop cost-effective wind power to meet
half of America's current electricity needs by 2025. The
potential for distributed and concentrated solar in New Mexico
and the greater Southwest is similarly vast.
We should no longer be subsidizing established energy sources
like coal, oil and nuclear power. Eliminating government support
for these polluting fuel sources will allow clean renewables to
become competitive in the energy marketplace.
* Save energy. Congress can also immediately help consumers save
energy and money by promoting high-performance buildings. This
will help meet the challenge of global warming as buildings are
the source of one-half of global warming emissions.
This Congress should create tax credits that will spur
innovation in the building industry, and Congress should also
require all government-funded buildings to meet the Architecture
2030 Challenge and utilize 50 percent less fossil fuels.
Congress can follow the lead of the U.S. Conference of Mayors,
the American Association of Architects and the U.S. Green
Building Council, which have all adopted the 2030 Challenge.
Redirecting our energy future is indeed a challenge, but
America certainly has the resources and will to successfully
meet this challenge, as we have met others in the past. The time
to move forward is now.
By rolling back tax breaks for the oil industry and investing in
renewable energy and energy efficiency, we will jumpstart the
transition to a clean energy economy and put the health of our
nation first. Now is the time for new vision, new leadership and
bold action.
Dr. Robert Bernstein is a physician in Santa Fe and is the
president of the New Mexico Physicians for Social
Responsibility, which represents 30,000 doctors and health care
professionals in the U.S. Lauren Ketcham is an advocate with
Environment New Mexico, a statewide environmental advocacy
group.
Copyright © 2005 Alamogordo Daily News, a MediaNews Group
Newspaper.
*****************************************************************
36 Xinhua: U.S. supporting Egyptian peaceful nuclear efforts
www.chinaview.cn 2007-02-03 21:14:36
CAIRO, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- The United States is supporting
Egypt's efforts to develop peaceful nuclear program, a senior
U.S. official said here on Saturday.
"The U.S. is encouraging Egypt to go ahead in its peaceful
nuclear program," Robert Joseph, visiting U.S. State Department
Undersecretary for Arms Control and International Security, was
quoted as saying in a statement after meeting Egyptian Foreign
Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit.
Joseph said that means of boosting bilateral cooperation in
the peaceful nuclear energy and Egypt's plans on this score were
high on the agenda of his talks with Abul Gheit.
The two senior officials also discussed challenges facing
the efforts to prevent nuclear proliferation, focusing on
nuclear files of Iran and the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea, he added.
Joseph arrived here Friday on a two-day visit to Egypt, the
last leg of his Arab tour.
In September 2006, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak declared
that his country will continue its scientific research to
develop peaceful nuclear technology.
Egypt started very limited nuclear technological research in
1957, but its nuclear program was frozen in 1986 after the
accident at former Soviet Union's Chernobyl nuclear plant in the
same year.
In 1968, Egypt signed the international nuclear
Nonproliferation Treaty and officially supports the elimination
of nuclear weapons in the region.
Editor: Han Lin
*****************************************************************
37 News and Star: Blair praises Copeland's nuke-stance
Published on 02/02/2007
By Anika Bourley Parliamentary Correspondent
PRIME Minister Tony Blair has praised the residents of Copeland
for recognising the need for nuclear power stations and local
economic benefits that Sellafield could provide if it were to
lead the global market.
Mr Blair issued another warning that decisions needed to be taken
now over replacing power stations, amid fears Britain will depend
on gas imports and fail to meet C02 emission targets otherwise.
His praise came after being questioned by Copeland MP Jamie Reed
at Prime Minister’s Question Time.
Mr Blair told MPs that a consultation paper expected to be
published in the next few weeks was expected to indicate how
licensing requirements for a new generations of power stations
can be taken forward.
He said: “I was heartened to be told when I was in Copeland
that Mr Reed’s constituents are very willing to participate in
the nuclear programme.
“If we do not take action now and make these decisions now we
will have a situation over the next few years when we will have a
situation where our dependants of imports of gas will rise and we
will be unable to meet our C02 emission or indeed to make sure we
have proper energy security.â€
Speaking in the chamber, Mr Reed said there was a huge and
growing international nuclear marketplace and incredible demand
for reactor technologies, fuel manufacture and reprocessing as
well as decommissioning expertise.
He said making Sellafield a national player in the industry could
provide a vast economic benefit for the local economy.
Mr Reed said: “Sellafield is one of perhaps only two places in
the world where many of these services can be provided and could
stand to benefit by billions of pounds if the UK was to seek to
operate in these markets. “
I believe that we should be seeking to exploit these markets –
there is a great desire for British expertise abroad – and I
think that the forthcoming energy white paper should enable the
UK nuclear industry to capitalise on these commercial
opportunities.â€
*****************************************************************
38 UPI: Faults shut down Swedish nuclear reactor
United Press International - News. Analysis.
02/05/2007 1:05:45 AM -0500
Stockholm, , Feb 03 (UPI) -- A nuclear reactor at Sweden's
Forsmark nuclear power plant was temporarily shut down after some
security system faults were discovered by officials.
The Local reported that when plant officials discovered that a
rubber seal on the reactor may have lost elasticity, they
promptly shut down the reactor Friday night to conduct an
appropriate analysis.
"There's a rubber seal in the reactor which has possibly aged.
Earlier a sample was sent away and the result will be back next
week," Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate official Anders Jorle
said.
"If it's not tight then the system in the reactor does not work.
If a real accident were to happen this controls the flow of steam
to the reactor -- if it does not work then you have fewer options
for dealing with a possible disaster," he added.
A technical meeting was expected to take place Saturday with the
nuclear inspectorate to determine exactly how serious the
situation truly is, the newspaper said.
© Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All Rights
*****************************************************************
39 UPI: Aussie PM pushes case for nuclear power
United Press International - News. Analysis.
Updated: 02/05/2007 1:05:41 AM -0500 UTC
Sydney, Feb 03 (UPI) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard
says the new U.N. report on climate change presents an argument
for the use of nuclear power.
The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change
found that global warming was very likely man-made and will
continue for centuries.
Howard told reporters at his Sydney residence the report was the
strongest confirmation that greenhouse gas emissions were
destroying the earth's environment and must be reduced.
"We must do it in a way that does not unfairly hurt or damage
the Australian economy and destroy Australian jobs," he said.
Howard said Australia's energy needs could not be met by
replacing fossil fuel with solar and wind power and therefore "we
should look at the nuclear option."
"There is no point, in the face of such a comprehensive
challenge, of ruling out consideration of something which may,
over time, provide part of the solution to the problem," he said.
© Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All Rights
*****************************************************************
40 The Local: Swedish nuclear reactor shut down
Published: 3rd February 2007 10:49 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/6291/
Reactor 1 at the Forsmark nuclear power plant on Sweden's east
coast was shut down overnight, after faults were discovered in a
security system.
"There's a rubber seal in the reactor which has possibly aged.
Earlier a sample was sent away and the result will be back next
week," said Anders Jörle, head of information at the Swedish
Nuclear Power Inspectorate, SKI.
An analysis of the seal showed that the elasticity of the rubber
could have declined, according to a press message from power
company Vattenfall, which owns the plant.
"If it's not tight then the system in the reactor does not work.
If a real accident were to happen this controls the flow of
steam to the reactor - if it does not work then you have fewer
options for dealing with a possible disaster," Jörle explained.
He stated that the decision to close Forsmark 1 was correct, but
would not be drawn on how serious the matter was.
"I don't want to answer that. We will have a technical meeting,"
he said.
The shutdown of the reactor began at midnight on Friday. On
Saturday the nuclear inspectorate will hold a meeting about the
incident.
[Copyright 2007, Linden Research, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
*****************************************************************
41 FOCUS Information Agency: 2 units of Forsmark NPP in Sweden shut down
4 February 2007 | 14:03 | FOCUS News Agency
Stockholm. Two units of Forsmark NPP in Sweden have been shut
down over failure in the security system, RIA Novosti reports,
citing publications in the local media.
First, only one of the units was shut down over a problem with
a rubber gasket in the security system. After a thorough check
the second unit was also shut down.
According to the Swedish authorities if the gaskets are not
replaced with new ones, the security system might not be
activated in case there is a breakdown in the nuclear power
plant.
Information Agency FOCUS
is a member of FIBEP
and is certified under the
ISO 9001:2000 standard
Focus Information Agency © 2006
*****************************************************************
42 AFP: Indonesia to push ahead with nuclear plans
Sat Feb 3, 7:41 AM ET
JAKARTA (AFP) - Indonesia will pursue its plans to develop
nuclear power as part of efforts to find alternative energy
sources to address its growing needs, Environment Minister
Rachmat Witoelar has said.
Jakarta shelved atomic energy plans in 1997 in the face of
mounting public opposition and the discovery and exploitation of
the large Natuna gas field. But the plans were floated again in
2005 amid increasing power shortages.
"We will continue to discuss how to utilise nuclear energy, but
this does not mean that we will develop it right now," the state
Antara news agency quoted Witoelar as saying Saturday.
Indonesia's nuclear plans are part of its policy to develop and
diversify energy resources in Southeast Asia's largest economy.
"But for us, this has not become a priority as the government is
conducting a series of endeavours to develop various other
alternative sources," he said.
Witoelar said Indonesia was also developing other energy sources
such as bio-fuels and wind and geothermal power to reduce carbon
dioxide emissions which are blamed for global warming.
Indonesia had previously said it planned to build its first
nuclear power plant on densely-populated Java island by 2015.
The government, however, has yet to secure investors.
The province of Gorontalo, on Sulawesi island, is considering
developing a floating nuclear power plant using Russian
expertise.
The International Atomic Energy Agency" /> International Atomic
Energy Agencyhas backed Indonesia's plans to build nuclear
plants despite opposition from environmentalists.
Greenpeace says the plan poses a danger to quake-prone Indonesia
and its neighbours.
Indonesia is Southeast Asia's only member of the Organisation of
Petroleum Exporting Countries ( OPEC" /> OPEC), but its oil
output has fallen in recent years to about one million barrels
per day amid flagging investment.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
43 The Australian: Climate report 'makes nuclear case' | |
February 03, 2007
Source: AAP
PRIME Minister John Howard has used a United Nations report on
climate change to push his nuclear plan.
The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report,
released in Paris last night, specified a greater than 90 per
cent chance that temperatures were rising due to human
activities.
The IPCC report is bad news for Australia as temperatures and
sea levels are predicted to rise, unleashing increasingly
intense storms, heatwaves and heavy rains in the 21st century.
The Federal Opposition has said Mr Howard leads a Government of
climate change sceptics, who have done nothing to address the
problem of global warming.
Mr Howard said the report was the latest and strongest
confirmation that greenhouse gas emissions were damaging the
earth and Australia must continue moves to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
"We must be open-minded and courageous enough to look at all of
the options, including nuclear power," Mr Howard said today.
"There is no point, in the face of such a comprehensive
challenge, of ruling out consideration of something which may,
over time, provide part of the solution to the problem."
Mr Howard said Australia could not meet its energy needs by
relying on solar and wind power, and should, therefore, look at
the nuclear option as cleaner coal power became more expensive.
"Let's be realistic, you can only run power stations in a modern
Western economy on fossil fuel, or in time, nuclear power," he
said.
"And as time goes by and we make the fossil fuels cleaner, that
will make them dearer to operate, and therefore there'll be a
greater opportunity and competitive situation for nuclear
power."
Federal Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the
Government had demonstrated an open-minded approach to cutting
back greenhouse gas emissions.
"We are approaching it in a commonsense, practical, cool-headed
way," he said.
"We are not interested in ideological arguments of any kind,
we've got to look at what measures are available, what they
cost, how effective they'll be and choose the right ones."
Mr Turnbull said the UN report confirmed global warming was not
a myth and had to be addressed.
"The UN report confirms that global warming, with all of its
consequences, is happening," the minister said.
"It's happened and happening, not something over the horizon."
Mr Turnbull said he had never denied climate change was a
reality and said the Government was working hard to stop global
warming.
"The Australian Government's response to climate change has been
fast and decisive, evidenced by the fact that it was the first
Government in the world to establish a dedicated climate change
office - the Australian Greenhouse Office - a decade ago," the
minister said.
But Labor's environment spokesman Peter Garrett said the
Government did not understand climate change and had done little
to stop it.
"They have done nothing for 10 years of any consequence and for
Australians who are serious about wanting to have a future for
their children where we start to address climate change, the
only option now is a change of government," Mr Garrett said.
He said the report shows a number of urgent steps must be taken
to stop global warming.
"We need to get onto Kyoto, we need to commit ourselves to deep
reductions in greenhouse pollution, we need to have a national
emissions trading scheme ... We need to greatly increase our
support of renewables, particularly solar, wind, looking at
solar thermal, looking at energy thermals as well - hot rocks,"
he said.
Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd said Australia now faced "a fork in
the road".
"We can either go Mr Howard's road, which is one of climate
change denial, which is very risky for our economic and
environmental future, or we can take an alternative road which
demands action now," he said.
"Mr Howard's Government is full of climate change sceptics, how
can they therefore be part of the climate change solution?"
Australian Greens senator Christine Milne said the most
important thing was for the Government to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol.
"For 11 years the Howard government has frustrated international
efforts to address climate change, refusing to ratify the Kyoto
Protocol - the only global climate agreement we have - and in
doing so providing cover for the world's largest greenhouse gas
emitter, the US," Senator Milne said.
However, the Prime Minister continues to hold off on the issue,
saying Kyoto is irrelevant.
"Signing Kyoto is not going to solve the problem because Kyoto
does not include the world's major polluters," Mr Howard said.
"We've moved on from that, and in any event Australia is going
to meet our target under Kyoto. Many of our critics who have
signed Kyoto will not do so."
© The Australian [/]
*****************************************************************
44 AFP: Problem-prone Swedish nuclear reactor shut down -
Sat Feb 3, 10:38 AM ET
STOCKHOLM (AFP) - A Swedish nuclear reactor has been shut down
after a fault was found in rubber pannels in the reactor's
housing.
Forsmark 1 was shut down after a sample taken from one of three
rubber pannels in the reactor's outer housing was found to have
lost its required elasticity, a spokesman for Forsmark's FKA
operator told AFP.
"The rubber had become stiff ... it needs to be elastic,"
Claes-Inge Andersson said Saturday.
Further tests were to be carried out on the reactor on Sweden's
east coast.
Later on Saturday initial tests on Forsmark 1's sister reactor,
Forsmark 2, also led to its shutdown for similar analysis.
"We will do the same work on Forsmark 2 as we are doing on
Forsmark 1," Andersson said.
It was not known when either of the reactors would resume power
production, he added.
The twin shutdowns follow the emergence earlier in the week of a
damning internal report into safety standards at Forsmark, made
public six months after a serious incident at the plant.
The report blamed lax security on a series of "potentially fatal
accidents", including a nitrogen gas leak, employees handling
live electrical wires, falls in the workplace and employees sent
home for failing sobriety tests.
An electricity failure at the facility on July 25, 2006, led to
the immediate shutdown of Forsmark 1 after two of four backup
generators, which supply power to the reactor's cooling system,
malfunctioned for about 20 minutes.
Some experts have suggested that a catastrophic reactor meltdown
was narrowly avoided.
The incident prompted authorities to temporarily shut down five
of Sweden's 10 reactors for security checks and maintenance.
Some of the reactors remained shut down for several months.
The Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate has asked prosecutors to
investigate whether FKA broke the law in its response to the
malfunction at Forsmark.
On Friday a prosecutor announced the launch of a preliminary
investigation into FKA's handling of the incident.
Nuclear power accounts for nearly half of Sweden's electricity
production.
The country has shut two of its 12 nuclear reactors since 1999
as part of a plan to phase out nuclear power over the next 30 or
so years, or when the reactors' lifespan expires.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
45 AFP: Australian PM uses UN climate report to push for nuclear power -
by Neil Sands Sat Feb 3, 12:26 AM ET
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australian Prime Minister John Howard has said a
UN report blaming human activities for global warming bolstered
the case for using nuclear energy as an alternative fuel source.
Howard's government dismissed the UN report as "nothing new"
and defended its climate change polices from attacks by top
scientists.
The prime minister said the report showed all options must be
examined, arguing nuclear power offered a realistic alternative
to carbon-producing fossil fuels, unlike wind and solar power.
"We must be open-minded and courageous enough to look at all of
the options, including nuclear power.
"There is no point, in the face of such a comprehensive
challenge, of ruling out consideration of something which may,
over time, provide part of the solution to the problem.
"You can't run power stations on solar and wind, let's be
realistic."
Australia currently has no nuclear power stations and operates
only one nuclear reactor, which is used to produce isotopes for
medical purposes.
Howard has frequently expressed scepticism about global warming
but recently softened his stance as an election looms later this
year and opinion polls show widespread public concern about the
issue.
But his government remains the only developed economy to join
the United States in refusing to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on
greenhouse gas emissions, saying it is unfair because it does
not impose caps on developing countries.
Howard defended his government's stance that Australia would
only sign up to emission limits that were "economically
realistic" and did not hand a competitive advantage to other
countries.
"Signing Kyoto is not going to solve the problem because Kyoto
does not include the world's major polluters," he said.
"We've moved on from that, and in any event Australia is going
to meet our target under Kyoto. Many of our critics who have
signed Kyoto will not do so."
Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull welcomed the report but
said the Australian government had long accepted that the
country must prepare for hotter and drier conditions in the
future.
"The science in this report is important but it is not new," he
said.
"The Australian government's response to climate change has been
fast and decisive... but this is a global challenge and for the
world to cut emissions, we need all the major emitting countries
to join in global action."
But the normally staid Australian Academy of Science launched a
rare attack on the government, accusing it of being too slow to
take climate change seriously.
"The government and policymakers haven't taken much interest in
the climate change issue until very recently, and in that sense
we've lost time," academy president professor Kurt Lambeck told
Melbourne's Age newspaper.
"Other parts of the world have taken different positions and
started doing remedial things, so it has been frustrating.
"But I think the message has finally got through. The evidence
has become such that it can't be ignored any longer."
The opposition Labor Party accused Howard of being "asleep at
the wheel" on the issue of climate change during more than a
decade in power.
"This is a national challenge, a national crisis, an
international crisis and Mr Howard has spent 10 years denying it
exists," Labor leader Kevin Rudd said.
The UN report warns fossil fuel pollution will raise
temperatures this century, worsen floods, droughts and
hurricanes, melt polar sea ice and damage the climate system for
1,000 years to come.
Copyright © 2007 Agence France Presse. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
46 UPI: Mystery surrounds scientist's death
United Press International -
Updated: 02/05/2007 1:05:07 AM -0500 UTC
Tehran, Feb 04 (UPI) -- An Iranian scientist who worked at the
country's Isfahan nuclear facility may have been assassinated by
Israeli operatives, it was reported Sunday.
The U.S.-funded Iranian Radio Farda says Adreshire Hassanpour,
44, died under mysterious circumstances Jan. 15, the Sunday
Times of London reported.
Intelligence sources said Hassanpour may have been assassinated
by Mossad, the Israeli secret service, The Times said.
Rheva Bhalla of the the U.S. intelligence company Stratfor, told
The Times that Mossad had targeted the scientist and there was
"very strong intelligence" that he had been assassinated.
Hassanpour was a nuclear physicist at the Isfahan nuclear plant
that produces gas to enrich uranium for the Natanz nuclear plant.
The Natanz plant has been the focus of international concern that
Iran is developing nuclear weapons.
Radio Farda said Hassanpour's death was attributed to "gas
poisoning."
© Copyright 2007United Press International, Inc. All Rights
*****************************************************************
47 [shundahaialert] Divine Strake, Nuclear and Indigenous updates
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 19:38:58 -0800
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Shundahai Network E Newsletter, February 2007
Read it online at http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Contents Include:
· Divine Strake Action deadline is February 7, 2007
· Divine Strake Petition
· The Western Shoshone Nation responds to the threat of
another explosion PFS files suit seeking to store nuclear
waste
· Nevada Desert Experience invitation to converge on the
Nevada Test Site
· 106 organizations urge Congress to oppose Global Nuclear
Energy Partnership program
· Indigenous resistance to coal mining and power on tribal
lands still need your help
· Beyond Nuclear working for a world free from nuclear
power and weapons
· The U.S. Department of Energy FY 2008 Budget: What to
Look for in Request to Congress
· Nanish Shontie urgently needs your help and invites your
participation in a variety of ways
· Corbin Harney needs our love, prayers and support - help
raise $10,000 for his care
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Divine Strake action deadline is February 7, 2007
This past month hundreds of concerned citizens gathered at
public events in Nevada, Utah and Idaho, to demand that
Divine Strake be candled. We thank all of those who have
already taken the opportunity to voice their opinion. If
you have not already, please consider sending in your
comments before February 7, 2007.
The National Nuclear Security Administration’s Nevada Site
Office (NNSA/NSO) has released, for public comment, the
Draft December 2006 Revised Environmental Assessment, for
the Large-Scale, Open-Air Explosive Detonation Divine
Strake at the Nevada Test Site. Public comments can be
mailed, faxed or emailed. The deadline is February 7, 2007
Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#dsaction
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Divine Strake Petition - Demand a full review and formal
public hearings regarding the purposed Divine Strake
open-air detonation at the Nevada Test Site!
The federal government has performed only a minimal
Environmental Assessment (EA) of the proposed test. Tribes
were not consulted and there has been no meaningful period
for public comment, public hearings, or enough details
about the purpose of Divine Strake . A full Environmental
Impact Statement (EIS) would remedy these concerns, allow
public hearings and a detailed explanation related to the
purpose of the Divine Strake detonation. Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#dspetition
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
The Western Shoshone Nation responds to the threat of
another explosion at the Nevada Test Site code named
“Divine Strake” intended to simulate effects of a nuclear
weapon
The explosion is condemned as related to further
development of a new generation of weapons of mass
destruction and a violation of International Law, US law
and Western Shoshone law, custom and tradition. Read more
>>> http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#wsnc
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
PFS files suit seeking to store nuclear waste
Private Fuel Storage is not giving up on its quest to store
nuclear waste on the Skull Valley Goshute Reservation in
Utah, according to court documents filed in a federal
appeals court on 1/29/07. Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#pfs
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Nevada Desert Experience invitation to converge on the
Nevada Test Site: Many Faiths, One Heart - Mobilization
March 27 to April 1, 2007
In response to the urgent threats of nuclear war and
nuclear terrorism, we are calling members of concerned
groups to gather in the desert near the Nevada Test Site.
We will be speaking out against nuclear proliferation at
home and abroad and building momentum for nuclear
abolition, which includes transforming the Test Site into a
facility that serves human and environmental needs.
Threats of nuclear weapons-related violence loom large in
2007. From the Bush Administration' s threats of war on
Iran, to political fallout from the North Korean nuclear
test, to the Divine Strake chemical detonation at the
Nevada Test Site, to the new Complex 2030 plan to spend
$150 billion on new nuclear weapons, this is a crucial time
for collective action.
Sacred Peace Walk from Las Vegas to the Nevada Test Site,
March 27 to April 1, 2007
Rally and direct action at the Nevada Test Site, Sunday,
April 1st, 2007, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The rally will feature
speakers and musicians from many faiths as well as our
secular allies and will end with an optional, nonviolent
direct action at the gates of the Test Site. The weekend
will also be a chance for people to create a peace camp in
the desert outside the Test Site. Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#nde
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Indigenous resistance to coal mining and power on tribal
lands still need your help
Support Dine and Hopi Communities in Stopping Massive Coal
Mining Plans - Massive mining plans underway at Black Mesa,
Arizona have serious environmental, social, and human
rights impacts. Send a letter today to the Office Of
Surface Mining, asking them to extend the critical deadline
to allow impacted communities adequate time to prepare
their input on stopping a destructive coal-mining project.
Read more >>> http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#coal
Dine (Navajo) traditional elders blockade power plant site
- Sithe Global & DPA are proposing to build the Desert Rock
power plant, a 1,500 MW Coal Fired plant in the Four
Corners area on the Navajo Reservation. Dine supporters and
community members have blockaded the road leading to the
construction site. They are elderly women and youth, and
they have been camped out on the road over night since mid
December! Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#coal
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
The U.S. Department of Energy FY 2008 Budget: What to Look
for in Request to Congress
A press release by Alliance for Nuclear Accountability
including analysis of Nuclear Weapons Activities, Nuclear
Waste & Plutonium Disposition, and Environmental Cleanup.
The Department of Energy (DOE) FY 2008 budget request will
be released on Monday, February 5, 2007. The Alliance for
Nuclear Accountability (ANA), a national network
representing communities downwind and downstream from U.S.
nuclear weapons facilities, is concerned that spending on
nuclear weapons and energy will divert funds away from
environmental cleanup, radiation health programs and
plutonium disposition.
While the United States accuses other countries of pursuing
nuclear weapons, the DOE budget proposal will demonstrate
that the U.S. is massively retooling its own nuclear
weapons research, testing, and production infrastructure to
create new weapon designs and maintain thousands of
warheads for many decades to come, in direct contradiction
to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. Read more >>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#budget
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Beyond Nuclear working for a world free from nuclear
power and weapons
Beyond Nuclear was created because the world is moving ever
more rapidly toward an increased build-up and use of
nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons. These twin nuclear
threats have been separated in the minds of the public for
too long. The goal of Beyond Nuclear is to change this
dangerous misconception, to dispel nuclear myths, and to
lay out pathways to a world without nuclear reactors and
without nuclear weapons.
Reactors are inviting terrorist targets. If successfully
attacked, they can release enormous amounts of deadly
radiation into our air and water. Thousands of nuclear
weapons remain on “hair-trigger” alert, able to launch
accidentally or deliberately in minutes. Meanwhile, the
nuclear power industry is deceptively positioning itself as
a “solution” to climate change.
Beyond Nuclear aims to educate new audiences about the
connection between nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The
project will promote positive, solutions-focused messages
and provide guides to safer alternatives to these dangerous
and obsolete technologies. Through concerted media
campaigns, high-profile press work and using its stable of
expert spokespeople, Beyond Nuclear will work to create a
consistent, national media presence for these issues. Read
more >>> http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#beyond
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
106 organizations urge Congress to oppose GNEP (Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership) program
We, the undersigned groups, oppose the Department of
Energy’s new Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP)
variously on grounds of national security, local security,
degradation of our obligations under the Nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty, our responsibility for
environmental and cultural resource stewardship,
endangerment of public health, and because it will further
hurt our stature of leadership in the world.
As a community of concerned citizens and organizations
nationwide, we work together to oppose centralized interim
storage of commercial high-level radioactive waste at any
site. As time goes by, the values we share grow only
stronger:
• Concern for a scientifically sound, sustainable basis for
long-term disposition of
radioactive waste (Yucca Mountain does not meet this
criterion)
• Concern for security of radioactive material and of any
community that hosts it
• Recognition that the risks associated with the transport
and centralization of irradiated fuel are only acceptable
if moving the waste will greatly enhance the security and
long term sustainability of stewardship, as well as keep
transport risks to a minimum To date, all proposals for the
“temporary” centralization of commercial high-level
radioactive waste have not met these criteria. Today, the
ever increasing concern for security in our nation, all by
itself, is a basis to oppose moving high-level radioactive
waste to a temporary site. In addition, the storage site
adds one more, even bigger “target,” since the operating
reactor sites will continue to generate waste, and if plans
are approved, generate even more. Temporary storage will
always dictate additional transport if, or when a permanent
site is chosen. If no permanent site is found, the
temporary site will, by default, become a permanent dump.
It is a long history, over several decades, where all the
so-called “temporary” storage sites have targeted
low-income, often Native American communities, or lands
sacred to Native Americans. Interim high-level storage is
falsely sold as a jobs program to these poor communities,
when the reality is that radioactive waste storage drives
away more economic development than it brings. Read more>>>
The Department of Energy (DOE) intends to prepare a
Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for the Global
Nuclear Energy Partnership initiative (GNEP PEIS) Public
Comments will be accepted through April 4th, 2007 Read more
>>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#gnep
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Nanish Shontie urgently needs your help and invites your
participation in a variety of ways
Nanish Shontie is a community on 17 acres of property in
the country in Western Oregon. It is a place where people
have an opportunity to learn from traditional native people
about the native way of living with Mother Earth. Nanish
Shontie is helping to build a bridge between the modern
world and indigenous world so that we may work together for
the healing of Mother Earth.
Nanish Shontie is sharing the teachings of the ways that
were taught to us from Mother Earth. This is being taught
to those who come in a respectful manner. Native people
recognize that there are many good paths on this Mother
Earth, we willing share ours so that it may guide people to
help restore the balance of Mother earth. As each one of us
helps in restoring that balance to Mother Earth, we will
find that it will help in our own personal healing.
Nanish Shontie urgently needs your help and invites your
participation in a variety of ways. Indigenous people
believe that everyone and everything is put on Mother Earth
with a purpose and a gift. If there is any way that you
feel you may be able to help, please let us know. Read
more>>> http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#nanish
< || > | < || > | < || > | < || >
Corbin Harney needs our love, prayers and support - help
raise $10,000 for his care
Corbin Harney is a revered Western Shoshone elder who has
brought spiritual healing to the world. Corbin has made
invaluable contributions to many important political,
environmental and indigenous struggles. Corbin should not
go without in his time of need. With sufficient support, he
will be able to get the personal assistance and medical
care he deserves. Immediate needs also include the
installation of a hot shower in Corbin's trailer and an
emergency generator so that he will not be in the freezing
cold and dark when the electricity fails. The goal is to
raise $10,000 in the next three months. Read more>>>
http://www.shundahai.org/enews0207.htm#corbin
Shundahai Network
http://www.shundahai.org
P.O. Box 1115
Salt Lake City, UT 84110
shundahai@shundahai.org
If you are a Myspace user, you can now add us!
http://www.Myspace.com/shundahai
Over a Decade of Resistance
Dedicated to Breaking the Nuclear Chain
Shundahai is a Newe (Western Shoshone) word meaning
"Peace and Harmony with all Creation"
*****************************************************************
48 Divine Strake comments requested by feds by 02.07.07
Date: Sun, 04 Feb 2007 15:52:21 -0800
Do you want new bomb tests to take place in your state? Do you want new
bomb testing anywhere? Do you want new nuclear testing to begin? If not,
you need to let the government and your congressional delegation know!
Comments must be received by the federal agencies no later than February 7,
2007.
When the detonation of a conventional weapon named Divine Strake was
scheduled for the Nevada Test Site (NTS) in 2006, several organizations,
many Downwinders (people hit with fallout from earlier tests), and a few
concerned politicians said No. When Indiana was picked as a possible new
test site, Indiana's citizens said No. There was some concern that the test
might then be moved to New Mexico, but the plan has gone full circle and
right back to the NTS!
In 2003 Congress repealed a ban on research and development of low-yield
nuclear devices. There has been ongoing concern that the planned detonation
is actually intended to "further the pursuit of a new nuclear weapon"
(Deseret Morning News, article by Joe Bauman). In 2006 comments by the
Defense Threat Reduction Agency and others indicated that this may, in
fact, be true. Since that time, the possibility of more nuclear testing has
been downplayed, if mentioned at all.
The Divine Strake test is now planned for 2007 in Nevada. Besides the
possibility of this being a precursor to more nuclear tests, knowledgeable
citizens are concerned that doing the test at the NTS will stir up
radioactive particles from the old tests. Officials say that the amount
that will be stirred up is minimal, but we now know that any amount of
radioactivity has the potential to be harmful. We also know that they lied
to us before about the tests and the danger; there is no reason to believe
them now. They have not owned up to what was done to the Downwinders
previously, but they want to start new tests that have the potential to
damage another generation of people.
The draft revised environmental assessment is available at
www.nv.doe.gov. Comments can be submitted by
e-mail, regular post, or fax, no later than February 7, 2007. Mail to:
NNSA/NSO, Divine Strake EA Comments, PO Box 98518, Las Vegas, NV
89193-8518. E-mail to
divinestrake@nv.doe.gov. Fax to: (702)
295-0625.
You will note in the NNSA document that they mention the meteorological
conditions. They say that "winds blowing to the northeast to northwest help
direct the blast pressure forward onto the northern half of the NTS, away
from most NTS facilities and the off-site communities south of the NTS"
(page 4-35). If this test is as safe as they say, why is it important to
direct the blast pressure (and fallout) away from the NTS, the facilities,
and the off-site communities and toward the rest of us? This is nothing but
the 1950-1960 lies revisited!
You will also notice on page 2-14 that "a safety plan is currently under
development to ensure the detonation would be performed in a safe manner .
. . ." They don't even have a plan for safety, but they want comments by
February 7 so they can decide whether to proceed!
Please give this matter your attention as quickly as possible. Attached is
a sample form letter that you may wish to use or revise to suit your needs.
Be sure to send a copy to your congressional delegation (see
www.congress.org for names and addresses).
Please pass this information along to others.
Attachment Converted: "c:\program files\eudora\attach\Divine Strake Form Letter 02.03.07.doc"
*****************************************************************
49 Las Vegas SUN: Nevada governor urged to request public hearings on explosion
February 03, 2007
By MARTIN GRIFFITH ASSOCIATED PRESS
RENO, Nev. (AP) - A group of Nevada activists is pressing Gov.
Jim Gibbons to request an environmental impact statement and
public hearings on the federal government's plans for a 700-ton
explosion on the Nevada desert.
More than two dozen activists marched a mile Saturday in Carson
City from the Legislative Building to the Gov.'s Mansion, where
they held a news conference to express concerns over the planned
non-nuclear explosion at the Nevada Test Site.
The event was sponsored by "No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada,
Or Anywhere!, a coalition of such groups as the Reno Anti-War
Coaliton, the Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace and the Western
Shoshone Defense Project.
"We don't think it's right that our new governor has been silent
on the issue," said Lee Dazey, an event organizer. "We sent a
letter to him January 22 and we haven't heard anything from him.
"We think he has a responsibility to clarify what his stance is
given what his predecessor requested," Dazey added.
Before leaving office, former Gov. Kenny Guinn asked for a
supplemental EIS on the test that would require public hearings.
Both Gibbons and Guinn are Republicans.
Gibbons' communications director Brent Boynton did not return
phone calls seeking comment Saturday.
The "Divine Strake" explosion, first scheduled for June 2006,
was postponed indefinitely after Western Shoshone tribe members
filed suit.
Critics fear radioactive material from decades of previous
weapons tests will be loosened by the blast and scattered across
Nevada and southern Utah. They call it a step toward developing
"bunker buster" nuclear weapons.
Activists said they're puzzled that members of Nevada's
congressional delegation have recently been silent on the issue,
while top elected officials in Utah and Idaho have pressed for
public hearings.
Since releasing a revised environmental assessment on the
explosion in December, the government has held public "open
houses" in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Saint George, Utah.
The EA claims that the level of radiation released would be
below federal safety standards and the blast presents no public
health hazards.
Dazey said a full EIS would provide more details about the
explosion and ensure public hearings. The recent public meetings
provided information but did not allow for public comment on the
test, she said.
On the Net:
No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, or Anywhere!:
http://renopeace.org/nonewnukes.htm
All contents copyright 2005 Las Vegas SUN, Inc.
*****************************************************************
50 Nevada Appeal: Dozens protest detonation of non-nuclear bomb at Test Site
February 4, 2007
Message: Don't turn Nevada into a dangerous testing ground
Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal Steve Gifford, of Reno, protests in front
of the Governor's Mansion on Saturday. The protest, 'No New
Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, or Anywhere,' was organized to call
upon Gov. Jim Gibbons and congressional delegation to do more to
protect the health and safety of all people downwind of "Divine
Strake."
Jarid Shipley
Appeal Staff Writer, jshipley@nevadaappeal.com
More than two dozen activists marched at the Governor's Mansion
on Saturday, hoping to send a message to Gov. Jim Gibbons and
Nevada's congressional delegation.
Their message: Don't turn Nevada into a dangerous testing ground.
The No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, or Anywhere! protest,
organized by Healing Ourselves and Mother Earth - or HOME - was
in response to the proposed test of the "Divine Strake" bomb on
the Nevada test site north of Las Vegas. The 700-ton bomb is
composed of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil that could be used to
develop bunker-busting bombs.
While organizers said the test won't involve a nuclear payload,
it could stir up radioactive material in the soil from previous
tests.
"It's still an explosion that will lift these particles 5,000 to
10,000 feet into the air and re-suspend plutonium and strontium
among elements in the air," said John Hadder, HOME program
director.
Above, Cynthia Dewey, center, a Reno member of the Paiute tribe,
protests in front of the Governor's Mansion on Saturday. The
protest, 'No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, or Anywhere,' was
organized to call upon Gov. Jim Gibbons and lawmakers o do more
to protect the health and safety of all people downwind of
"Divine Strake." Dewey has been involved with the Western
Shoshone effort to stop nuclear testing for 30 years. The picture
of a mushroom cloud was created by one of Laura Smith Fillmore's
art students at a Smith Valley school. Right, Steve Gifford
flashes a peace sign Brad Horn/Nevada Appeal
Browse and Buy Nevada Appeal Photos
The Department of Energy conducted an environmental assessment
on the area slated for the proposed explosion in 1996, as well
as an updated assessment late last year. Before leaving office,
Gov. Kenny Guinn wrote a letter to the Department of Energy
asking for a more complete impact study.
The concern expressed at the rally is that the stirred-up
particles will be carried on the winds farther than predicted,
impacting populated areas and potentially causing severe health
problems.
"One-millionth of an ounce embedded in lung tissue has a 99
percent chance of causing cancer. That amount can be carried on
a speck of dust," Hadder said.
"It's a numbers game to our government. They are looking for the
lowest risk, but if that person is you, it's a huge concern."
Lee Dazey, event organizer and a member of the Western Shoshone
Defense Project, told the crowd it was time for our
representatives to be heard.
"We want to know why our new governor and delegation have been
so quiet," Dazey said. "Enough is enough."
Peter Fletcher and his wife, Robin, brought their two children
down from Reno for the march.
"We are trying to spread peace in the world and what does it say
that our government is testing new weapons," Fletcher said.
The protesters gathered at the Legislative building and walked
to the Governor's Mansion, where several speakers addressed the
crowd. Laura Smith-Fillmore, a Smith Valley art teacher, brought
pictures from her students depicting mushroom clouds.
"They are doing this to get us used to the idea that you can be
in a swimming pool in Las Vegas and see the mushroom cloud
behind you, and that's OK," Smith-Fillmore said.
• Contact reporter Jarid Shipley at jshipley@nevadaappeal.comor
881-1217.
At a glance
The Nevada Test Site is a Rhode Island-size testing ground
northwest of Las Vegas, where the U.S. conducted the majority of
its nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War.
Initially called the Nevada Proving Grounds, the site consisted
of 680 square miles, about half its present size. Additional
land was added in 1958, 1961, 1964 and 1967.
Since its creation by President Truman in 1951 until testing was
suspended in 1992, 928 nuclear tests were conducted on the site,
100 of which were atmospheric and the other 828 underground.
Source: The Shundahai Network, shundahai.org
On the Web
http://renopeace.org/nonewnukes.htm
http://www.h-o-m-e.org
All contents © Copyright 2007 nevadaappeal.com
Nevada Appeal - 580 Mallory Way - Carson City, NV 89701
*****************************************************************
51 reviewjournal.com: Activists march in Carson City
Feb. 04, 2007
Gibbons urged to request public hearings on plans for desert explosion
By MARTIN GRIFFITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Steve Gifford of Reno protests Saturday in front of the
Governor's Mansion in Carson City. More than two dozen activists
protested a planned non-nuclear blast at the Nevada Test Site.
Photo by Brad Horn/The Associated Press.
RENO -- A group of Nevada activists is pressing Gov. Jim Gibbons
to request an environmental impact statement and public hearings
on the federal government's plans for a 700-ton explosion in the
Nevada desert.
More than two dozen activists marched a mile Saturday in Carson
City from the Legislative Building to the Governor's Mansion,
where they held a news conference to express concerns over the
planned non-nuclear blast at the Nevada Test Site.
The event was sponsored by No New Mushroom Clouds Over Nevada, Or
Anywhere!, a coalition of such groups as the Reno Anti-War
Coalition, the Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace and the Western
Shoshone Defense Project.
"We don't think it's right that our new governor has been silent
on the issue," said Lee Dazey, an event organizer. "We sent a
letter to him January 22, and we haven't heard anything from
him.
"We think he has a responsibility to clarify what his stance is,
given what his predecessor requested," Dazey added.
Before leaving office last month, former Gov. Kenny Guinn asked
for a supplemental EIS that would require public hearings on the
test. Both Gibbons and Guinn are Republicans.
Gibbons' communications director, Brent Boynton, did not return
phone calls seeking comment Saturday.
The "Divine Strake" explosion, first scheduled for June 2006,
was postponed indefinitely after Western Shoshone tribe members
filed a lawsuit.
Critics fear radioactive material from decades of Cold War-era
weapons tests will be loosened by the blast and scattered across
Nevada and southern Utah. They call it a step toward developing
"bunker buster" nuclear weapons.
Activists said they're puzzled that members of Nevada's
congressional delegation have recently been silent on the issue,
while top elected officials in Utah and Idaho have pressed for
public hearings.
Since releasing a revised environmental assessment on the
explosion in December, the government has held public "open
houses" in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Saint George, Utah.
The EA claims that the level of radiation released would be
below federal safety standards, and the blast presents no public
health hazards.
No date has been set for detonation of the 700-ton ammonium
nitrate and fuel oil bomb, which would generate the first
mushroom-shaped dust cloud in decades at the test site, 85 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal, 1997 - 2007
*****************************************************************
52 Corvallis Gazette-Times: Poisoning by uranium
[gazettetimes.com]
Last modified Saturday, February 3, 2007 10:00 PM PST
A recent documentary whose main focus was to help us understand
why world peace is so important brought out information about
some of the weapons that our troops are using in Iraq. Most of
the heavy armament, including shoulder-firing missiles, contain
uranium in the warhead.
As the weapon explodes, the uranium immediately oxidizes and
creates a cloud of super-fine particulate. This uranium dust
settles on everything, including soil. It floats in the air and
is breathed in by our troops as well as the men, women and
children of Iraq and all other countries in which American
troops are fighting. Many of the particles are carried into the
atmosphere by the wind currents and can settle to earth again at
any place at any time.
Depleted uranium has a half-life of several billion years and is
one of the most toxic, destructive substances on earth. This
itself classifies these U.S. weapons as those of mass
destruction. For more information on the use and effects of
uranium warheads, please refer to the U.S. Army Technical
Bulletin-TB 9-1300-278.
Over 350,000 U.S troops, who fought in the Gulf and the Middle
East between 1990 and 2006, have been listed as permanently
disabled due not only to wounds but to uranium poisoning from
our own weapons.
Uranium is not eliminated from the body and causes genetic
mutation in the DNA, which is passed down to all future
generations of those who have inhaled the initial particles. So
not only do our sons and daughters develop health problems, but
their children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and all yet
to come.
We may not all agree on matters of politics, war or the
environment, but we must all agree on world peace. Peace now,
today.
Linda Stewart
Alsea
Copyright © 2007 • Lee Enterprises
*****************************************************************
53 Salt Lake Tribune: Nevada activists pressure governor to fight bomb-test plan
By Martin Griffith
The Associated Press
Article Last Updated: 02/04/2007 01:00:27 AM MST
RENO, Nev. - A group of Nevada activists is pressing Gov. Jim
Gibbons to request an environmental impact statement and public
hearings on the federal government's plans for a 700-ton
explosion on the Nevada desert.
More than two dozen activists marched a mile Saturday in
Carson City from the Legislative Building to the Governor's
Mansion, where they held a news conference to express concerns
over the planned non-nuclear blast at the Nevada Test Site.
The event was sponsored by No New Mushroom Clouds Over
Nevada, Or Anywhere!, a coalition of such groups as the Reno
Anti-War Coalition, the Sierra Interfaith Action for Peace and
the Western Shoshone Defense Project.
''We don't think it's right that our new governor has been
silent on the issue,'' said Lee Dazey, an event organizer. ''We
sent a letter to him January 22 and we haven't heard anything
from him.
''We think he has a responsibility to clarify what his
stance is given what his predecessor requested,'' Dazey added.
Before leaving office last month, former Gov. Kenny Guinn
asked for a supplemental EIS that would require public hearings
on the test. Both Gibbons and Guinn are Republicans.
Gibbons' communications director, Brent Boynton, did not
return phone calls seeking comment Saturday.
The ''Divine Strake'' explosion, first scheduled for June
2006, was postponed indefinitely after Western Shoshone tribe
members filed suit.
Critics fear radioactive material from Cold War-era weapons
tests will be loosened by the blast and spread across Nevada and
southern Utah.
They call it a step toward developing ''bunker buster''
nuclear weapons.
Activists said they're puzzled that members of Nevada's
congressional delegation have recently been silent on the issue,
while top elected officials in Utah and Idaho have pressed for
public hearings.
Since releasing a revised environmental assessment on the
explosion in December, the government has held public ''open
houses'' in Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and Saint George, Utah.
The EA claims that the level of radiation released would be
below federal safety standards and the blast presents no public
health hazards.
No date has been set for detonation of the 700-ton ammonium
nitrate and fuel oil bomb that would generate the first
mushroom-shaped dust cloud in decades at the test site, 85 miles
northwest of Las Vegas.
Dazey said a full EIS would provide more details about the
explosion and ensure public hearings. The recent public meetings
provided information but did not allow for public comment on the
test, she said.
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
54 Salt Lake Tribune: Radiation board allows Blanding mill to process Oklahoma waste
International Uranium Corp.Radiation board allows Blanding mill
to process Oklahoma wasteEnvironmentalists call the ruling
illegal, say they will try to block the action in the courts
By Judy Fahys
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 02/03/2007 01:37:55 AM MST
A Utah uranium mill can begin processing waste from an Oklahoma
metals plant cleanup after a decision Friday by the Radiation
Control Board.
The Glen Canyon chapter of the Sierra Club said immediately
it would try to block the ruling in court.
"I think this decision is transparently illegal," said Travis
Stills, an attorney representing the Sierra Club. "But, of
course, you have to leave that to a court to decide."
Bluff resident Krisanne Bender addressed the board after it
decided, 7-3, to uphold a permit granted last year to the
International Uranium Corp. for its Blanding mill by the state
Division of Radiation Control. She said the panel did not have
enough data about current groundwater pollution trends to be
sure the addition of the Oklahoma waste will contaminate the
water.
“It amazes me how so many intelligent and well-regarded
folks, in my mind, can go forward with this,” she said.
Members of the committee have been considering the Sierra
Club's request to revoke IUC's latest license amendment for
months. Over the past two Fridays, they took testimony from
state regulators, the company and the Sierra Club.
And, while board members generally agreed the waste properly
qualified to go to the mill, they wrestled with a provision that
allows the permit only if there is no “incremental increase” in
environmental degradation because of the added materials.
Board members criticized the amount of data available on
groundwater impacts at the White Mesa mill site, as well as the
quality of the data provided by the company.
“The evidence is inconclusive,” said board member Peter A.
Jenkins, a University of Utah health physicist.
But Michael Zody, an attorney for the company, reminded board
members they were not deciding on the groundwater issues because
IUC has a valid groundwater permit.
In the end, board members indicated they did not have enough
information to suggest there would be environmental damage that
could justify denying the permit. They also directed radiation
regulators to work closely with the Division of Water Quality on
a groundwater review that is already underway.
IUC generally waits until it has all of the material it plans
to process on site before beginning to run it through the mill,
and all of the Oklahoma material is at least a couple of months
from being on site, said Company President Ron Hochstein.
That gives the Sierra Club some time to seek a stay in court,
if the group decides to pursue its objections. The group
contends the 32,000 tons of Oklahoma tailings should be
regulated as hazardous and radioactive waste. It contains high
concentrations of radium - as much as 85 times the
concentrations federal and state laws allow - and highly toxic
contaminants that including cyanide, lead, cadmium and tin.
Stills also called it "immoral [and] unacceptable" to allow
possible further contamination near the site, given its possible
impacts on Utah's poorest county.
fahys@sltrib.com
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
55 Sunday Herald: Nhs Defiant On Publishing Child Leukaemia Figures
February 05, 2007 Est 1999 Scotland's award-winning independent
By Appeal to Lords to keep statistics secret despite FoI ruling
Comment
THE NHS is set to appeal to the House of Lords in a last-ditch
attempt to stop the publication of child leukaemia statistics.
Officials in the NHS Common Services Agency (CSA) have opted not
to accept a court of session ruling which ordered the body to
hand over the secret data.
The legal move is the first time a public body has taken a
freedom of information (FoI) dispute to the UK's final court of
appeal.
The saga began when Michael Collie, a researcher for Green MSP
Chris Ballance, asked the CSA in January 2005 for records of
leukaemia in under-15s in Dumfries and Galloway.
He wanted to know if there were any cancer hotspots next to the
Chapelcross nuclear plant or the Dundrennan military range.
There have long been suspicions that clusters of the potentially
fatal blood cancer could have been caused by radioactive
pollution.
Plutonium from the Sellafield nuclear plant washes up on the
Solway coast, and depleted uranium shells have been tested at
the Dundrennan military range near Kirkcudbright. Scotland's
oldest nuclear station, which is now being decommissioned, is at
Chapelcross, near Annan.
The CSA, which is also known as NHS National Services Scotland,
released limited details and the case ended up with Scottish
Information Commissioner Kevin Dunion, who ruled in Collie's
favour. The NHS body refused to hand over the data and appealed
to the court of session, which dealt with the case late last
year.
In a landmark ruling, the court rejected the CSA's arguments and
found in favour of Dunion's ruling. Lord Marnoch said at the
time that the FoI law "should be construed in as liberal a
manner as possible ... I do not see why the commissioner should
not be accorded the widest discretion in deciding the form and
type of information which should be released."
However, despite their two defeats, the CSA is set for one final
attempt at stopping the leukaemia statistics coming out. The NHS
body has instructed its solicitors to appeal the court of
session's decision. Such a move is likely to take months to be
resolved and would probably drag the row out into its third
year.
Green MSP Chris Ballance said of the CSA's decision to go to the
Lords: "I am appalled, if unsurprised, that the CSA has decided
to appeal this decision. They failed to convince the information
commissioner of their case, and they failed to convince three
eminent Scottish judges. Clearly they are now hoping that they
will have better luck with the House of Lords, but if justice is
to be done, the appeal will be thrown out."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish information commissioner said:
"Our understanding is that the CSA is intending to appeal the
court of session's decision to the House of Lords."
A spokesperson for the CSA said: "We have been advised by
counsel that we have grounds for appeal to the House of Lords,
and in view of the fundamental principle at the heart of this
matter - patient confidentiality - we have decided to proceed
with this appeal."
©2007 newsquest (sunday herald) limited. all rights reserved
*****************************************************************
56 Salt Lake Tribune: EnergySolutions sets the record straight on SB 155
Editorials
Greg HopkinsArticle Last
Updated: 02/03/2007 12:59:38 PM MST
»In an editorial dated Feb. 1, The Salt Lake Tribune took a
position in opposition to Senate Bill 155, legislation supported
by EnergySolutions.
The opening paragraph of the editorial states:
"EnergySolutions wants a license to pile its nuclear wastes
higher and deeper. But the company has a problem. Utah law says
that when a radioactive waste facility wants to increase
capacity by 50 percent, it must get the approval of the city or
county where the waste will be located, plus the OK of the
governor and the Legislature."
Actually The Tribune has a problem. It can't get its facts
straight. Utah law does not require legislative or gubernatorial
approval for a facility to increase its capacity at its existing
facility. In fact, SB 155 does not alter a single regulatory
requirement that has governed the operation of the Clive
facility since its original license was granted in 1988.
The legislation simply reaffirms that the process the
Department of Environmental Quality and the Division of
Radiation Control has followed for the past 18 years was and is
the correct process under the law. There have been 50 license
amendments approved by the DRC over the past 18 years. This
system of regulatory oversight would not change under SB 155.
In 2003 the Utah Legislature initiated a task force which
evaluated every aspect of the radioactive waste business,
including review of every single license amendment granted the
Clive facility. The task force established once again that the
license amendment process followed by the DRC was the right
process to govern the disposal of class A low-level radioactive
waste on the existing Clive facility (Section 32).
In 2005, following completion of the task force's work,
legislation was passed and enacted into law that inadvertently
removed a 1990 "grandfathering" clause - language that was
important in establishing legislative intent related to the
original license and the regulatory process by which subsequent
amendments to the license were granted.
SB 155 simply restores the grandfathering clause and
reaffirms EnergySolutions' existing rights under its existing
license.
The Department of Environmental Quality has regulatory
authority over a whole host of environmental issues ranging from
clean water and clean air to the disposition of hazardous and
radioactive waste. Trained and seasoned professional scientists
and engineers enforce these regulations. The Legislature has
repeatedly indicated that this is the appropriate process. SB
155 simply reaffirms that process.
---
* GREG HOPKINS is senior vice president of communications at
EnergySolutions.
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
57 Carlsbad Current-Argus: DOE adds Carlsbad to public session roster
By Kyle Marksteiner
Article Launched: 02/02/2007 08:07:39 PM MST
CARLSBAD — Carlsbad residents will now have a chance to voice
their opinions on the area being a potential location for a
nuclear fuel-recycling center.
The Eddy/Lea Energy Alliance recently received $1.59 million in
Department of Energy funds to conduct suitability studies on the
potential site, which is located halfway between Carlsbad and
Hobbs. Eleven sites around the country received $10.4 million to
conduct detailed site studies to determine their viability of
hosting either a nuclear fuel recycling center or an advanced
recycling reactor. The proposed facilities are part of the
Department of Energy's Global Nuclear Energy Partnership.
A nuclear fuel-recycling center would separate spent fuel into
reusable and waste components and then manufacture new nuclear
fuel using the reusable components, according to the DOE. An
advanced recycling center would destroy long-lived radioactive
elements in the new fuel while generating electricity.
The DOE is currently in the process of putting together an
Environmental Impact Statement. As part of the impact statement,
the DOE's office of Nuclear Energy will conduct public scoping
meetings to discuss issues and receive comments.
A public comment period for the site selected by the Eddy/Lea
Energy Alliance was originally selected to take place Feb. 26 in
Hobbs, but a separate Carlsbad comment session has now been
added.
"I just called and told them that the reason all of this is
happening is because of WIPP (the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant)
and the people of Carlsbad," Carlsbad Mayor Bob Forrest said.
"It would be a slap in the face to not have it here."
The first comment period for the proposed site was set in Hobbs
because the alliance uses a Lea County mailing address, Forrest
said. Participants work to make sure Hobbs, Carlsbad, Lea County
and Eddy County are all fairly involved, he said.
The Carlsbad session will take place from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Feb.
27 at the Pecos River Village Conference Center.
"They were very gracious," Forrest said. "They had the time, so
they squeezed it in. I appreciate that."
Later in the evening, energy department officials will
participate in another scoping meeting in Roswell.
Another company, EnergySolutions, has received $1.13 million to
conduct a site study at a location near Roswell.
The public session in Carlsbad will include a presentation on
GNEP and the proposed facilities.
"I want a lot of people to come to get an education of what GNEP
is and get a good understanding of what we're doing. This is the
way we did years ago with WIPP," Forrest said.
The DOE will then solicit feedback. No advance registration is
required to speak at the event. The time allocated for each
commenter will be between three and five minutes, depending on
how many people show up.
"I think one thing that is important is how receptive the
community is," he said. "I think we should have a good turnout.
They want to know how the community feels and address any
questions and concerns," Forrest said.
The site study, which will be conducted with Eddy/Lea Energy
Alliance partners Washington Group International and Areva, will
also soon begin. Forrest said the study will be administered out
of offices in Hobbs and Carlsbad. The Alliance and its partners
have 90 days to complete the study.
"The clock is moving," Forrest said. "We have presidential
candidates trying to come up with an energy plan, and GNEP is at
the top of a lot of lists."
Copyright © 2005 Carlsbad Current Argus, a MediaNews Group
Newspaper.
*****************************************************************
58 Salt Lake Tribune: What a waste
Public Forum Letter
Article Launched: 02/04/2007 12:00:00 AM MST
Radioactive waste and reclamation is a serious business that
affects the health of workers and surrounding populations.
Radioactivity lasts beyond our lifetimes into future generations
of Utahns. It's one of those gifts that just keeps on giving.
SB155 (sponsored by Sen. Darin Peterson, R-Nephi), if passed
into law, would prevent all future governors, legislators and
Tooele County commissioners from stopping expansion at the
EnergySolutions dump site.
It seems ironic that some of the people we elect to
represent us are considering voting into law a bill that keeps
them from representing us. Perhaps those legislators are tired
of representing the interests of the public. It must be
difficult for them to see the payoff in actually representing
their constituents when waging battles against lucrative big
business. If legislators don't have the stomach to represent the
interests of the public, and to protect the health of future
Utahns, they should not have asked for our votes in the first
place.
Lori Shields
Salt Lake City
© Copyright 2006, The Salt Lake Tribune.
*****************************************************************
59 Cape Cod Times: State challenge of fuel rods at Pilgrim denied
(February 3, 2007)
By STEPHANIE VOSK STAFF WRITER
In a setback for foes of the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station's
relicensing, the state attorney general's bid to force federal
regulators to address spent fuel rods as part of the license
review has been denied.
The five-member board that oversees the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory
Commission rejected the attorney general's appeal of an earlier
decision against scrutinizing spent nuclear fuel at the Pilgrim
plant. The attorney general's office is now trying to determine
whether it can appeal in federal court, according to a document
state officials sent to the NRC this week.
''This is obviously an important issue to the office and we are
taking this one step at a time,'' Beth Stone, deputy press
secretary for Attorney General Martha Coakley said in an e-mail.
At issue is an NRC finding last year that storing spent fuel
rods in containment pools at Pilgrim for an additional 20 years
would not have a significant environmental impact. For decades,
nuclear plants have been forced to store most of their spent
fuel on-site because efforts to establish a federal disposal
site have languished for years in Congress and the courts.
The state attorney general requested a hearing on the NRC
finding in conjunction with the Duxbury-based watchdog group
Pilgrim Watch.
''We felt because of new and significant information, that was
site specific, it should be looked at,'' Pilgrim Watch leader
Mary Lampert said of the nuclear waste issue.
The state has also filed a petition to the NRC for ''rule
making'' changes in nuclear plant license renewals. The petition
requests the NRC to change its license renewal statute to allow
issues such as spent fuel to be considered in license reviews.
A decision on the ''rule making'' request has not been
announced.
Similar requests for procedural changes were made by officials
in New York and New Jersey in the course of renewal proceedings
for plants there.
Westchester County, N.Y., Executive Andrew Spano and former
Brick Township, N.J. Mayor Joseph Scarpelli requested that
plant-specific factors such as demographics, siting, emergency
evacuation and site security be considered in renewal
applications, NRC spokesman Neil Sheehan said.
The New York and New Jersey requests were denied.
When the NRC created license renewal regulations in the 1990s,
the federal agency decided such issues should not be included in
license reviews because they were being addressed in ongoing
inspections and regulatory supervision, Sheehan said.
''We don't believe that we should look at these issues in ...
that snapshot period of time when a license renewal application
is before us for review,'' he said.
The New York and New Jersey requests to change the licensing
rules provided no compelling reasons for NRC officials to change
course, according to Sheehan.
While the request for a hearing about Pilgrim's spent fuel rods
was denied, two topics for hearings have been approved.
Pilgrim Watch is scheduled to appear before the NRC in February
2008 to discuss monitoring leaks of contaminated water from
buried tanks and pipes that could flow into Cape Cod Bay. The
group will also discuss the need for a better plan to figure out
economic impacts and evacuation management in the event of an
accident at the nuclear power plant.
Entergy Nuclear Operations, which owns the Plymouth plant, and
the NRC are appealing to block the hearings, Sheehan said.
If those hearings go forward, it would likely lengthen the
renewal process to 30 months.
Pilgrim's 40-year operating license runs out in 2012. Entergy is
seeking a 20-year renewal.
The Plymouth nuclear reactor produces enough electricity to
power 670,000 homes in the region.
Stephanie Vosk can be reached at svosk@capecodonline.com.
(Published: February 3, 2007)
Copyright © 2007 Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.
*****************************************************************
60 Aiken Today: SRS may get work from Congress plan
+ AikenStandard.com
Sat, Feb 3, 2007
By PHILIP LORD Senior writer
A plan submitted to Congress Friday calls for the nation's
nuclear weapons complex to shrink, which could benefit Aiken
County.
Complex 2030, as the National Nuclear Security Administration
report is called, would see different security missions
consolidated at specific sites, which would allow for
concentrated security efforts to protect the materials.
The Savannah River Site is identified in the report as the
location for tritium operation through the newly opened Tritium
Extraction Facility. Also mentioned in the report is the
consolidated plutonium mission, for which SRS is a contender.
If selected as the plutonium center of excellence, SRS would
create 2,500 jobs, according to figures provided by the U.S.
Department of Energy.
While Complex 2030 calls for the reduction of the nation's
nuclear stockpile, the concept calls for a smaller, more
flexible organization that consolidates materials in one place
for security purposes. Materials currently distributed at a
number of sites would be brought to one place for disposition.
"Transformation of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the complex
that supports the stockpile are essential to ensuring that the
nation's nuclear deterrent is reliable and credible in the 21st
century," the report given to Congress reads.
Mal McKibben, executive director of the Citizens for Nuclear
Technology Awareness, said his organization has already made it
clear to DOE that SRS is the ideal location for the so-called
plutonium center of excellence mission.
"We think the Savannah River Site will be an excellent place to
do that," McKibben said.
Included in the plutonium center of excellence is a revised plan
to create pits, or nuclear triggers, for America's next
generation of nuclear weapons at the site selected.
Critics of the DOE program say the government is breaking the
law by creating new nuclear weapons.
In November, during a public hearing in North Augusta, Louis
Zeller of the Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League said
Complex 2030 is not a program America needs to start.
"This whole scheme is a retread of the Modern Pit Facility,"
Zeller said. "One thing they haven't done is to be able to
justify this."
He added, "The basic assumption that we need anything like this
is undercut by the reports that come out of DOE itself."
Greenpeace spokesman Tom Clements agreed with Zeller.
"Given that plans for a new plutonium pit plant have totally
stalled, DOE's dream-like plans for a costly new bomb complex
will have little impact on SRS," Clements said. "Instead of
reaching for a nuclear plum that will never be picked, the
wisest course of action for SRS and those concerned about the
site would be to focus on what will remain about 70 percent of
the budget – cleanup of nuclear waste from past activities."
Previously DOE said it would consider locating the consolidated
plutonium mission at SRS, Pantex in Texas, Y-12 National
Security Complex in Tennessee, the Nevada Test Site in Nevada
and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in Nevada.
McKibben said all those sites have developed problems –
including multiple security issues in Los Alamos – and that SRS
should be the top site.
"We think we should be in the drivers seat as far as the
competition," he said.
All four sites are mentioned as possible locations for the
mission in the Complex 2030 document, but even there a specter
hangs over Los Alamos.
"The consolidated plutonium capability will be analyzed at the
Los Alamos Site, but any proposed facility could be
contractually and administratively separate from LANL," the
document said.
Also mentioned in the document is safety at DOE sites.
Previously, the report said, contractors have used practices
that call for safety at all costs. The new complex will develop
a set of safety standards and call on contractors to exercise
"risk management" will undertaking missions.
"The NNSA would implement uniform, streamlined safety and
security risk-management practices across the complex," the
document read.
Contact Philip Lord at plord@aikenstandard.com
© 2005 The AikenStandard. All Rights Reserved
*****************************************************************
61 SF New Mexican: Lab workers react after a tough week
LANL: Congress set to probe lab's security failings
Congressional committee scrutinizes LANL security
Editorial, 02/01/2007 -- For LANL, long road to restore
reputation
Report: LANL could make do with much less
Andy Lenderman | The New Mexican
Eric Fairfield gets calls from people who want to leave town.
David Carroll is tired of a few people making all of Los Alamos
National Laboratory look bad. And Brad Lee Holian says morale has
never been worse.
These current or former lab scientists had a lot to say at the
end of a rough week for the lab, capped by Energy Secretary
Samuel Bodman's comment that "arrogance" among lab scientists
contributes to security problems there.
Bodman's comments, made to a House subcommittee, prompted an
unusually strong reaction from lab scientists and many anonymous
comments at an employee Web log called "LANL -- The Corporate
Story."
"It's really interesting that all of the screw-ups are our fault
and that (the Department of Energy) and (National Nuclear
Security Administration) don't have any culpability in it," said
Carroll, a scientist with 38 years at Los Alamos.
He said nearly all the people at the lab take security
responsibility seriously but don't get credit for it. "And
something goes wrong that's caused by one or two people. ... That
gets smeared over all of us," he said.
The FBI has investigated how classified documents ended up last
fall at the home of a former lab contract worker. No one has been
charged with a crime, but 24 people at the lab have been
disciplined.
Former scientist Eric Fairfield is now a financial consultant who
advises people on money and how to get a new job. "I get a lot of
calls saying, 'Get me the hell out of here,' " he said. But
Fairfield said the lab can be run well in the presence of
headstrong scientists.
Holian said people "are absolutely incredulous" that they would
be hearing the same kind of talk years after former director Pete
Nanos shut the lab down to review safety and security procedures.
"It's never been worse," Holian said of worker morale. "And that
includes Nanos' shutdown. It's a real low." He also said people
are "appalled" that no one seems to be defending the lab.
Director Michael Anastasio was unavailable for comment Friday. In
any case, spokesman Jeff Berger said, Anastasio prefers to speak
to employees before speaking publicly about the events of this
week.
Anastasio's written testimony to Congress this week said there's
more to last fall's security incident.
"This incident exposed a problem not only involving employees'
attention and attitude but also the laboratory's reliance on a
very complex and confusing set of cyber-security policies and
procedures that made it difficult for the employees to make good,
immediate judgment calls," Anastasio said.
On Friday, U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., disagreed with
Bodman's comments. U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., said he would
speak to Bodman about the matter Wednesday and that he has
encouraged scientists "to recognize their own personal
responsibilities" regarding security.
U.S. Rep. Tom Udall, D-N.M., believes "security issues should be
addressed, but they should not be placed at the doorstep of the
scientists themselves," according to spokeswoman Marissa Padilla.
Contact Andy Lenderman at 995-3827 or
alenderman@sfnewmexican.com.
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62 Tri-City Herald: Vit plant may receive boost in its budget
Published Saturday, February 3rd, 2007
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
The budget for Hanford's vitrification plant could jump back to
$690 million this year under a resolution passed by the House of
Representatives.
That would be enough to gear up to resume construction on the
two largest buildings at the vitrification plant by October if
technical issues are resolved.
Work on most other programs across the Hanford nuclear
reservation would continue at the current pace, if the 2007
Hanford budget plays out as anticipated at $1.88 billion, up
from $1.75 billion in fiscal year 2006.
The current budget year began Oct. 1, but Congress hasn't
approved a spending package. After the new congressional session
started in January, congressional leaders announced they would
pass a continuing resolution to cover the Department of Energy
appropriations through Sept. 30 rather than take up unpassed
budget bills.
The House passed the continuing resolution this week, and some
details emerged Friday during a meeting in Richland. The
resolution gives the Department of Energy broad authority to
spend $5.7 billion as it sees fit on cleanup of former weapons
sites such as Hanford, rather than detailing how much money must
be spent on specific projects.
DOE leaders intend to increase spending at the vitrification
plant to $690 million, said Shirley Olinger, deputy manager of
DOE's Hanford Office of River Protection at the meeting of the
Hanford Advisory Board.
However, DOE still must wait to see if the Senate approves the
continuing resolution with the same budget amount and same free
rein for DOE. The Senate could consider the resolution next
week.
Work is continuing at the $12.3 billion vitrification plant
based on an annual budget of $526 million, the amount set for
fiscal year 2006. Because of studies and other costs, the 2006
amount available to contractor Bechtel National was actually
closer to $490 million.
Long-term planning for the plant had been done based on an
annual budget of $690 million. To meet the reduced 2006 budget,
Bechtel National laid off about 1,700 workers.
Work has stopped temporarily on the largest and most technically
complex structures, the Pretreatment Building and the High Level
Waste Facility.
The vitrification plant, officially named the Waste Treatment
Plant, is to turn some of the worst waste left from production
of plutonium for the nation's nuclear weapons program into a
stable glass form for permanent disposal. The waste now is
stored in underground tanks.
A budget of $690 million would allow work to resume on those
buildings by Sept. 30, Olinger said.
However, some technical issues remain. DOE leaders in
Washington, D.C., would need to approve a revised earthquake
standard for both buildings.
Data from new bore holes drilled on the vitrification plant site
indicate the revised earthquake standard is sufficient, Olinger
said. The standard was strengthened after a smaller 2004 study
showed the previous standard might be inadequate.
Approval of the revised standard would allow work to ramp up at
the High Level Waste Facility, she said. And at least concrete
work could resume at the Pretreatment Facility.
Some additional technical issues are being addressed at the
Pretreatment Facility, such as the possible collection of
hydrogen in piping and the best ways to keep the waste mixed.
At the Office of River Protection's other project, the tank
farms holding 53 million gallons of radioactive waste, DOE would
plan to spend $274 million this year, Olinger said.
That is down by about $52 million from 2006, allowing no money
for the bulk vitrification pilot plant. However, it would allow
waste to continue to be retrieved from leak-prone older tanks at
the current rate.
The other DOE Hanford project office, the Richland Operations
Office, would receive $917 million under tentative plans based
on the House version of the continuing resolution. That's up
from about $900 million in fiscal year 2006.
Work would continue at the same level, and DOE could meet its
legal requirements for cleanup, said Dave Brockman of the
Richland Operations Office. The office's assignments include
cleanup along the Columbia River and central Hanford, with the
exception of the tank farms. Its contractors include Fluor
Hanford and Washington Closure Hanford.
However, Hanford DOE officials still were uncertain Friday about
money for some projects that were separate budget items added
into the fiscal year 2007 budget under the earlier plan. That
included extra money to research cleaning up ground water and
money to perform preservation work at B Reactor.
© 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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63 Tri-City Herald: HAB offers changes to Hanford contracts
Published Sunday, February 4th, 2007
By Annette Cary, Herald staff writer
The Department of Energy needs to put more emphasis on safe
working conditions as it plans for contracts that will cover
much of the work at Hanford over the next decade, according to
the Hanford Advisory Board.
That includes requiring the use of the HAMMER training center,
which DOE already is paying for, the board said.
It recommended several changes to draft requests for proposals
-- which are basically proposed bid requests -- for three new
Hanford contracts during the board's February meeting Friday in
Richland.
DOE plans to award new contracts to provide services at the
Hanford nuclear reservation to operate its underground tank
farms holding 53 million gallons of radioactive waste and to
clean up the radioactive and hazardous chemical waste in central
Hanford.
The new contracts would continue the work now done by about
4,650 workers under contractors CH2M Hill Hanford Group and
Fluor Hanford for as long as a decade.
Under the draft bid requests, DOE would give less emphasis to
safety than it would project strategy and organizational
structure and leadership when picking new contractors.
The advisory board said the draft requests should make it clear
that safety and health are top priorities. DOE needs to outline
specific expectations for safety, including ensuring that safety
systems are in place for subcontractors on Hanford projects.
One way to improve safety at the site is requiring contractors
use HAMMER for training when possible, the board said. That was
DOE's intent a decade ago when HAMMER opened, several board
members said.
"It's not clear why DOE is not requiring contractors to use
HAMMER," said Dave Molnaa, who represents the Hanford Atomic
Metal Trades Council on the Hanford Advisory Board. "We pay for
it. Everyone in the room pays for it. Why not require everyone
to use it?"
He singled out Washington Closure Hanford, which has had
questions raised about its corporate attitude to safety in the
last year, as a contractor not using HAMMER enough.
Washington Closure Hanford officials said the contractor does
use HAMMER for some training but its subcontractors, many of
them small businesses, choose their own training programs.
HAMMER offers behavior-based training using worker peers, while
the less expensive alternative of "hotel lobby training" can be
little more than a consultant standing at the front of a room
reading from a manual, said Keith Smith, who represents the
public on the Hanford Advisory Board.
Standardized training across the site is needed, said Mike
Keizer, representing Central Washington Building Trades.
Workers often move from contractor to contractor at the site and
contractors and subcontractors come and go, Smith said. Workers
are asking for uniform safety training, which HAMMER offers,
across the site, he said.
The board also recommended other changes in the draft requests
for proposals:
* The board emphasized that bid requests should make clear that
estimates about budget and level of effort from prospective
contractors must be adequate to meet legally binding cleanup
requirements and schedules under the Tri-Party Agreement. That
could be bolstered by making clear that pay incentives are tied
to meeting legal milestones, it said.
"Attempts to circumvent environmental regulations to find a
cheaper way of completing work is unacceptable," the board said
in written advice to DOE.
DOE needs to choose a bidder who provides a credible proposal
based on realistic effort, expertise and pricing, it said.
* The board repeated its concerns over a move to "market-based"
pensions and benefits for new workers.
* It asked that independent reviews be required when new
contractors build new technical facilities. The reviews would
validate the project design, processes, schedule and cost.
© 2007 Tri-City Herald, Associated Press &Other Wire Services
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64 Inside Bay Area: New nuclear arsenal on table
Tauscher speech mentions replacement warheads as option
By Ian Hoffman, STAFF WRITERArticle Launched:
02/03/2007 02:35:08 AM PST
Democrats in Congress are floating the rough outlines of a
nuclear weapons deal with the Bush administration that would tie
support for a new U.S. nuclear arsenal with ratification of the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and reductions in the arsenal
overall.
The administration Friday rolled out its latest ideas for a
leaner, modernized nuclear weapons complex built around new
warheads. Several committees in Congress already have been
weighing a broader plan that would seek to achieve several arms
control aims at the same time.
Critics of the new nuclear arsenal cautioned, however, that
those arms controls could be elusive, especially as weapons
physicists havent yet settled on a design for the first of the
new warheads, which would be untested.
The latest signals of a Democratic willingness to consider new
nuclear weapons came last week as U.S. Rep. Ellen Tauscher, the
new chair of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic
forces, suggested a political linkage with the test ban treaty
that the administration so far has rejected.
Tauscher, D-Alamo, took the stage as keynote speaker before a
Washington, D.C., conference sponsored by Lawrence Livermore and
Los Alamos nuclear weapons labs and stressed that she thought
the administrations case for nuclear bunker busters and other
new kinds of nuclear weapons was unpersuasive.
But Tauscher said she backed replacing the current U.S. arsenal
with newly designed bombs called reliable, replacement warheads
or RRWs that would be manufactured and fielded without explosive
nuclear testing.
As many of you know, I am a strong believer in RRW, because I am
a strong believer in you and the work that you do, she told an
audience of weapons scientists, government officials and defense
contractors at the Strategic Weapons in the 21st Century
conference in a speech first reported in Thursdays edition of
InsideDefense.
As benefits of the new bombs, she cited
rejuvenation of the factories and labs that maintain U.S.
nuclear arms and eliminating doubts about the reliability of
existing H-bombs as an obstacle to ratifying the test ban
treaty.
If new warheads cant be made and fielded without testing,
Tauscher said, I see no alternative but to terminate funding for
the program.
But if, as Bush administration and lab officials have promised,
the new warheads can be deployed without live explosive testing,
she said, then ratifying the CTBT should be a central objective
of our nation.
The 1996 treaty banned nuclear testing worldwide. The Clinton
administration submitted it to the U.S. Senate but it was
rejected in 1999. The Bush administration has committed to
maintaining a moratorium on U.S. nuclear testing but laid out a
policy of not seeking ratification of the treaty.
Administration officials also have sold the new warhead designs
as linked to a responsive infrastructure that can turn out the
warheads on demand, lessening the need to keep thousands of
bombs and bomb components in storage as insurance against
breakdown.
Staff to other key Democrats with jurisdiction over nuclear
weapons matters have seized on those claims and are considering
calling for new, mandatory limits on the total U.S. arsenal. At
present, the Moscow Treaty calls for cutting deployed U.S.
strategic arms roughly in half to no more than 2,200 warheads by
2012, but still leaving about 6,000 other weapons.
Skeptics and critics of the new warheads cautioned that the
apparent arms control gains could be deceptive. The Clinton
administration reached an agreement with the nuclear-weapons
design labs to provide billions of dollars in new experimental
facilities and supercomputers to verify the operation of U.S.
nuclear weapons without testing. Yet when Clinton submitted the
test ban treaty for ratification years later, the weapons lab
directors did not endorse it, and one lab chief suggested there
was uncertainty in the reliability of U.S. weapons.
When push came to shove they pulled that premise back and said
were not sure, said Steve Young, a lobbyist for the Union of
Concerned Scientists, who foresees a repeat performance coming
with the new warheads.
Potential reductions in the weapons held in storage, he said,
only would come when the entire arsenal was replaced by new
warheads, in about 2030 or at least five presidential
administrations from now.
Our perspective is that deal from any perspective is not a good
deal, Young said. What is needed instead is a change in policy
that says we have enough reliability in the current arsenal, and
we dont need a new arsenal so we can have the reductions now.
Weapons experts also appear divided on whether some changes
built into the new warheads require explosive testing for
confidence in the weapon, according to UCS weapon analyst Robert
Nelson. Deploying untested warheads could make the United States
vulnerable to some supposed expert claiming years in the future
that the weapons were unreliable and compelling a return to
explosive tests, opening the floodgates on nuclear testing and
advancing the state of nuclear arsenals worldwide.
Berkeley planetary scientist Ray Jeanloz, who serves on numerous
advisory panels on nuclear weapons policy, emphasized that he is
not opposed to the new warheads but remains cautious about what
they have to offer over the current arsenal.
Its not so much that I dont believe the labs now, but I dont see
how the labs can predict what a future administration can do 15
or 20 years from now, he said.
Friday, in updating its plans for the factories and labs that
maintain U.S. nuclear weapons, the nations nuclear weapons
agency proposed reducing the money spent maintaining the
existing, fully tested nuclear arsenal in order to free up money
to design and build the new, untested warheads.
The new Complex 2030 plan from the National Nuclear Security
Administration also said federal weapons officials had begun the
design and cost definition phase for the first of the new
warheads, the first signal that the administration has shifted
into the second of six phases of warhead development.
Contact Ian Hoffman at ihoffman@angnewspapers.comor at (510)
208-6458.Print Friendly View
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65 UPI: NNSA plan to streamline U.S. nuke complex
United Press International - Security &Terrorism -
2/2/2007 4:36:00 PM -0500
WASHINGTON, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. government Friday released
a new plan to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons complex.
The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security
Administration said in a statement that its new "Complex 2030"
plan "is seeking to transform today's complex into one that is
smaller, more efficient, more secure and better able to respond
to technical problems in the stockpile and emerging national
security needs."
"NNSA's Complex 2030 is built around a comprehensive strategy to
transform the nuclear weapons stockpile, reduce the size of and
modernize the physical infrastructure of the complex, make the
operations of NNSA more efficient, advance science for our
mission, and better secure materials and property through
consolidation," said Thomas P. D'Agostino, NNSA's acting
administrator.
"The report was directed by the 2007 National Defense
Authorization Act and it was developed in consultation with the
Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Nuclear Weapons
Council," the agency said.
"A key finding of the report says that the complex's total
square footage and the number of employees funded by NNSA's
nuclear weapons accounts could each be reduced by as much as
one-third in the future. The report also notes that it is NNSA's
goal to carry out Complex 2030 within existing funding levels
and program structures," the NNSA said.
"By 2012, the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile will be reduced by
nearly 50 percent from the 2001 level, making it the smallest
stockpile since the Eisenhower administration," the agency said.
"We need to begin now to transform today's Cold War complex and
to modernize it so that we have the infrastructure, the people
and the business practices in place that are agile, dependable
and able to meet tomorrow's national needs -- whatever they may
be," D'Agostino said.
© Copyright 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights
Reserved.
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66 WAVE 3 TV: DOE to file soil testing plan for Paducah plant
Louisville, KY
(PADUCAH, Ky.) -- Department of Energy officials will submit a
plan next week to state and federal regulators for more
extensive testing of contaminants in old dirt piles found around
the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant.
"If we're in agreement, that will allow the path forward for
more intense sampling of all the piles, Yvette Cantrell,
spokeswoman for the Department of Energy cleanup contractor
Paducah Remediation Services, told the Paducah Sun.
The work will determine the extent and depth of uranium and
polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination, particularly in
seven old, overgrown mounds near Little Bayou Creek in the West
Kentucky Wildlife Management Area.
Found in November, those areas were cordoned off and posted.
Uranium and PCBs are common contaminants of the 55-year-old
uranium-enrichment plant.
Since the initial findings, surveyors walked more than 30 miles
of creeks and ditches around the plant, identifying about 30 old
soil piles and 70 rubble piles.
Many are adjacent to Little Bayou and Bayou creeks, which run
northerly through plant property.
Levels of radiation and PCBs found in shallow soil sampling were
not an imminent threat to public health, but the additional
testing will be deeper and more thorough to determine a
long-term plan of action, Cantrell said.
Regulators are reserving judgment on long-term risks until the
additional testing is done, said Tony Hatton, assistant director
of the Kentucky Division of Waste Management.
"We think the field screening was a good thing to do because it
gave some measure of whether perhaps people were in danger by
just being in the vicinity, he said. "But it doesn't give you a
measure of risk if you are more directly exposed to soils in
these piles."
Hatton said the danger might increase if people ingested the
soil or got it on their skin.
Because the piles are several decades old, they are overgrown
and the covering provides some measure of protection, he said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also says more studies
are needed to determine public health risk.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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